John Smyth
English minister who led a Separatist congregation into exile, concluded that only believers should be baptized, and about 1609 baptized himself and his people. He later held that baptism should be sought from an existing true church, and parted from Thomas Helwys.
William Bradford names him as pastor of one of the two Separatist churches formed where Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire meet, and says that its members went over to the Low Countries (Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, ch. 1 (pp. 13–14)). Smyth describes himself as having passed from Puritanism to Separatism and from there to “true Christian baptism”, the baptism of those who confess their faith and their sins (Smyth, Character of the Beast, Epistle to the Reader (Works 2, pp. 564–567)). John Robinson reports that he baptized himself and then the rest of his congregation (Robinson, Of Religious Communion, Works 3, p. 168), and Smyth defended the lawfulness of doing so where no true church exists (Smyth, Character of the Beast, Works 2, pp. 659–660). See the First Baptist Congregations.
In his last writing he says that he has often been charged with inconstancy and is ready to change again for the better; he there holds that baptism ought to be received from an existing true church where there is one, which set him against Thomas Helwys (Smyth, Last Book, Works 2, pp. 751–752, 756–757).
In the timeline
- 1609, estimated dateThe First Baptist Congregations
English Separatists in Amsterdam, led by John Smyth, reject infant baptism and found their church anew by baptizing believers on confession of faith. Thomas Helwys leads part of the group back to London and argues that no king has power over conscience.