John Smyth (c. 1554 – 1612) was an English
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
minister and
theologian
Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...
, former
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
cleric, defender of the principle of
religious liberty
Freedom of religion or religious liberty, also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice ...
, being a influential figure for the development of the
Baptist
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
tradition
A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common e ...
, and later personally developing a
Mennonite
Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...
theology.
Early life
Smyth is thought to have been the son of John Smyth, a
yeoman
Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of Serfdom, servants in an Peerage of England, English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in Kingdom of England, mid-1 ...
of
Sturton-le-Steeple,
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
. He was educated locally, most likely under Rev Quipp at Sturton though at the
grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...
in
Gainsborough has also been suggested. Then he attended in
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...
, where he became a
Fellow
A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
in 1594. Smyth was ordained as an
Anglican priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
in 1594 in England.
Ministry
He preached in the city of Lincoln in 1600 to 1602. During his time as
Lecturer
Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...
, he held somewhat moderate
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
views, accepting the set forms of prayer as well as both vocal and instrumental music in church. He was concerned with the influence of
recusants
Recusancy (from ) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation.
The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...
throughout the parish, and wrote in support of the
Crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...
's authority to govern the church and appoint ecclesiastical
magistrates
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a ''magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...
.
In 1606, he broke with the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
and became a
Dissenter
A dissenter (from the Latin , 'to disagree') is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Dissent may include political opposition to decrees, ideas or doctrines and it may include opposition to those things or the fiat of ...
. He gathered with other Puritan leaders in Coventry, and was chosen minister of a Dissented church in Gainsborough. These Dissenters were exiled to
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...
, and there they began to study ardently. In the beginning, Smyth was closely aligned with his
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
heritage. As time passed, his views evolved. Smyth's education at Cambridge included the "
trivium
The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
The trivium is implicit in ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but the term was not used until the Carolin ...
" and "
quadrivium
From the time of Plato through the Middle Ages, the ''quadrivium'' (plural: quadrivia) was a grouping of four subjects or arts—arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy—that formed a second curricular stage following preparatory work in th ...
" which included a heavy emphasis upon
Aristotelian logic
In logic and formal semantics, term logic, also known as traditional logic, syllogistic logic or Aristotelian logic, is a loose name for an approach to formal logic that began with Aristotle and was developed further in ancient history mostly b ...
and metaphysics. Smyth's evolving ecclesiology was due to his applying biblical truth about the truth into numerous logical
syllogism
A syllogism (, ''syllogismos'', 'conclusion, inference') is a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two propositions that are asserted or assumed to be true.
In its earliest form (defin ...
s.
It was in Holland that Smyth discovered
believer's baptism
Believer's baptism (also called credobaptism, from the Latin word meaning "I believe") is the practice of baptizing those who are able to make a conscious profession of faith, as contrasted to the practice of Infant baptism, baptizing infants. C ...
, opposed to
infant baptism
Infant baptism, also known as christening or paedobaptism, is a Christian sacramental practice of Baptism, baptizing infants and young children. Such practice is done in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, va ...
In 1608, he published ''The Differences of the Churches'', in which he explained the characteristics of a biblical church:
First, Smyth insisted that true worship comes from the heart and that there should be no books other than the
Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
in worship. Praying, singing and preaching should be spontaneous only. He did not read the Bible translation during worship, preferring the original language version.
Second, Smyth introduced a
twofold church leadership, that of
pastor
A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...
and
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions.
Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...
and said that a church could have several
pastors
A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicis ...
.
Third, the financial support of the church should come only from the members and not from the government, because that would mean giving them control over the church.
In 1609, Smyth, and
Thomas Helwys
Thomas Helwys (c. 1575 – 1616) was an English barrister (lawyer), Puritan leader, and theologian. His theological beliefs is one of the forming basis of the Baptist tradition. In the early 17th century, Helwys was the principal formulator of ...
, along with other Puritans, came to the conclusion of believer's baptism (thereby rejecting
infant baptism
Infant baptism, also known as christening or paedobaptism, is a Christian sacramental practice of Baptism, baptizing infants and young children. Such practice is done in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, va ...
). They were utterly convinced that
believer's baptism
Believer's baptism (also called credobaptism, from the Latin word meaning "I believe") is the practice of baptizing those who are able to make a conscious profession of faith, as contrasted to the practice of Infant baptism, baptizing infants. C ...
and a free church gathered by covenant were foundational to the church. Having been baptized as infants, they came to believe they would need to be re-baptized. Since he was the only minister to performance the sacrament, Smyth baptized himself in 1609 (for which reason he was called "the Se-baptist," from the Latin word '
neelf'), then baptized
Thomas Helwys
Thomas Helwys (c. 1575 – 1616) was an English barrister (lawyer), Puritan leader, and theologian. His theological beliefs is one of the forming basis of the Baptist tradition. In the early 17th century, Helwys was the principal formulator of ...
and the others.
John Clifford as cited in the ''General Baptist Magazine'', London, July 1879, vol. 81) records that "
1606 on March 24. . .this night at midnight elder John Morton baptized John Smyth, vicar of Gainsborough, in the River Don. It was so dark we were obliged to have torch lights. Elder Brewster prayed, Mister Smith made a good confession; walked to Epworth in his cold clothes, but received no harm. The distance was over two miles. All of our friends were present. To the triune God be praise." This account was later revealed to have been a forgery connected with the rebuilding of the Baptist Church at Crowle, where the church (now closed) still bears a plaque falsely claiming to have been founded in 1599.
It has been suggested by W. T. Whitley that Smyth may have coined such well-known theological terms as
Pedobaptist.
In February 1610, Smyth and members of the church wrote a letter to a
Mennonite
Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...
community in
Waterland
Waterland () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. It is situated north of Amsterdam, on the western shore of the Markermeer. It includes t ...
to join their movement. Thomas Helwys, who was a joint-pastor, did not support this action, because, like other Protestants, he considered the Anabaptists as heretical and radical. He also wanted to reform England, not stay in Holland. Then Helwys excommunicated Smyth and other Puritans for
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy.
Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...
. They joined a Mennonite church, while Helwys and the church returned to England, and reestablished themselves not at Gainsborough, but in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, in 1612. The churches that descended from the Gainsborough church were of the
General Baptist
General Baptists, also called Arminian Baptists, are Baptists that hold to the doctrine of general atonement (belief that Jesus Christ died for all humanity and not only for the elect). General Baptist soteriology initially was not Arminian, bu ...
persuasion because, as the Baptist historian Tom J. Nettles argues that, Helwys and his group "earned the name General Baptists" because they "claimed that Christ died for all men rather than for the elect only". This is seen as a step away from fully Calvinist commitments.
Death
He died from dysentery on 28 August 1612 in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
.
[J. Gordon Melton et Martin Baumann, ''Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices'', ABC-CLIO, 2010, p. 298]
See also
*
Baptists
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
*
Believer's baptism
Believer's baptism (also called credobaptism, from the Latin word meaning "I believe") is the practice of baptizing those who are able to make a conscious profession of faith, as contrasted to the practice of Infant baptism, baptizing infants. C ...
*
Baptist offices
References
Further reading
* Hathi Trust. In two volumes.
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smyth, John
1550s births
1612 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
16th-century English Anglican priests
17th-century English Baptist ministers
English separatists
People from Lincolnshire
English Baptist theologians
16th-century English theologians
17th-century English theologians
People educated at Queen Elizabeth's High School