A Short Declaration of the Mistery of Iniquity
Thomas Helwys’s book of 1612, which attacks the Roman and English hierarchies and the Separatists alike and tells the king that he has no power over the consciences of his subjects. It argues for freedom of religion for all, Roman Catholics, Jews and Muslims included.
The title page is dated 1612. The preface says that the writers have “spoken unto our lord the King” in the book and are ready to confess their faith by word of mouth at the risk of their lives. The body of the work treats the Church of Rome, the bishops of the Church of England, the Puritans and the Separatists in turn.
Two passages are cited in the First Baptist Congregations. On page 69 Helwys says that the king is an earthly king with authority in earthly causes only, that he has no more power over the consciences of Roman Catholics than over those of Helwys’s own people, “and that is none at all”, and that it does not belong to the earthly power to punish heretics, Turks or Jews for their religion. In the closing pages (205–212) he argues that those who fled abroad from persecution misused Christ’s words about fleeing from city to city, and calls on them to come and lay down their lives in their own country. The book is printed in black letter and the scan is hard to read in places.
Cited in
- 1609, estimated date