The Life of John Milton Volume 3 1643-1649: Narrated in Connexion with the Political, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of His TimeMasson, David
Religion
The Life of John Milton Volume 3 1643-1649: Narrated in Connexion with the Political, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of His Time
Masson, David
Milton, John, 1608-1674; Poets, English -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- Biography
principle of absolute non-interference.
The principle of the Anglo-Dutch Baptists, with the same exact difference
between the Baptists and the rest of the Independents on the Toleration
point, was imported into England. It is supposed that the person who had
the chief hand in drawing up the Confession of the English Baptists of
Amsterdam, after Smyth's death, was Smyth's successor in the Baptist
ministry there, Thomas Helwisse (Vol. II. 540-544). Now, this Helwisse,
returning to England shortly after 1611, drew round him, as we saw, the
first congregation of General or Arminian Baptists in London; and this
obscure Baptist congregation seems to have become the depositary for all
England of the absolute principle of Liberty of Conscience expressed in
the Amsterdam Confession, as distinct from the more stinted principle
advocated by the general body of the Independents. Not only did
Helwisse's folk differ from the Independents generally on the subject of
Infant Baptism and Dipping; they differed also on the power of the
magistrate in matters of belief and conscience. It was, in short, from
their little dingy meeting-house, somewhere in Old London, that there
flashed out, first in England, the absolute doctrine of Religious
Liberty. "_Religious Peace: or, A Plea for Liberty of Conscience_"
is the title of a little tract first printed in 1614, and presented to
King James and the English Parliament, by "Leonard Busher, citizen of
London." This Leonard Busher, there is reason to believe, was a member of
Helwisse's congregation; and we learn from the tract itself that he was a
poor man, labouring for his subsistence, who had had his share of
persecution. He had probably been one of Smyth's Amsterdam flock who had
returned with Helwisse. The tract is, certainly, the earliest known
English publication in which full liberty of conscience is openly
advocated. It cannot be read now without a throb. The style is simple and
rather helpless; but one comes on some touching passages. Thus:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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