Against Baptists - 1646
Title page of a Baptist history covering the period of today's story.
Introduction
In seventeenth-century England, Parliament attempted to suppress Baptists for a number of reasons, among them a desire for greater religious unity. A law in 1645 forbade anyone from preaching unless they had been ordained in the Church of England or in some other reformed church. That law failed to have much effect because many Baptist preachers had previously been ordained in the state church. On this day, 26 December 1646, Parliament passed a new law in an attempt to suppress the growth of the Baptists.
Quote
“The commons assembled in parliament do declare, that they do dislike and will proceed against all such persons as shall take upon them to preach, or expound the scriptures in any church, or chapel, or any other public place, except they may be ordained, either here or in some other reformed church, as it is already prohibited in an order of both houses of the 26th of April, 1645, and likewise against all such ministers, or others, as shall publish or maintain, by preaching, writing, or any other way, any thing against, or in derogation of church government which is now established by authority of both houses of parliament; and all justices of the peace, sheriffs, mayors, bayliffs, and other head officers of corporations, and all officers of the army, are to take notice of this declaration, and by all lawful ways and means, to prevent offenses of this kind, and to apprehend the offenders, and give notice thereof to this house, that thereupon course may be speedily taken, for a due punishment to be inflicted on them.”
Christian, John T. A History of the Baptists. Baptist Standard Bearer, 2005.