John Smyth

A Cambridge-trained clergyman who became pastor of a Separatist congregation and led it into exile in Amsterdam. Persuaded that the New Testament gives baptism only to believers, he baptized himself in 1609 and then baptized his congregation, the first English Baptist church in the documentary record. He later doubted his self-baptism and sought union with the Dutch Mennonites, dying before it was completed.

Early life

A Puritan Preacher

John Smyth was probably born around 1570, perhaps in Nottinghamshire, though the details of his birth are uncertain and some writers place it earlier. He entered Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1586, took his degrees, and was elected a fellow of the college in 1594, the year he was ordained a minister of the Church of England. At Christ's he came under the influence of Francis Johnson, who would later lead a Separatist church in exile.

In 1600 Smyth was appointed preacher to the city of Lincoln, but he was dismissed in 1602 after disputes with some of the city's leaders, who complained of his pointed preaching. He published sermons on Psalm 22 and an exposition of the Lord's Prayer. In these years he was a Puritan: he wanted the Church of England purified from within, but he had not yet left it.

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