Who was Thomas Helwys?
Thomas Helwys was a country gentleman and lawyer who lived with his wife and family at Broxtowe Hall, Nottingham
at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Broxtowe Hall was not far from the site of the present Bilborough
Baptist Church where there is a plaque to his memory.
About this time some thinking people were breaking away from the Established church. They believed that the
Church of England was so corrupt as to be impossible to reform. A group of such people formed themselves into
a ‘separatist’ church which worshipped at Gainsborough. Their leader was John Smyth and Thomas Helwys became
a member. Soon this church came into conflict with the authorities and, in 1608, the membership fled to
Amsterdam where they would be free to worship according to their beliefs.
In Amsterdam there was serious debate about the meaning and practice of baptism and church membership.
The group soon constituted themselves into a Baptist church.
Eventually Helwys became convinced that he should return to England to bear witness to the truth. He
and twelve followers settled in Spitalfields, London, where they founded the first Baptist Church in
England in 1612 (the year after the Authorised Version of the Bible was published). Helwys wrote an
appeal to the King (James 1) to give all his subjects full liberty of conscience. "The King is a mortal
man and not God, therefore has no power over immortal souls of his subjects."
Thomas Helwys was arrested and died in prison in 1616 at forty years of age.
Source: http://www.thomashelwysnottingham.org.uk/html/who_was_thomas_helwys_.html
John Smyth
- died 1612
- British Baptist
- wrote Old Faith and New Life
- looked for compromise between science and the Bible
re: http://www.motorera.com/theology/spic/smyth.gif
bright_morning_star.pdf
character_of_the_beast.pdf
differences.pdf
paralleles.pdf
principles.pdf
true_prayer.pdf
Thomas Helwys
admonition.pdf
decrees.pdf
mystery.pdf
Roger Williams
John Clark
alleged portrait of John Clarke, ca. 1659, currently in the Redwood Library in Newport, RI
re: Wikipeda.org
Thomas Grantham - Christianismus Primitivus
contents
book 1
book 2 - part 1
book 2 - part 2
book 3
book 4 - part 1
book 4 - part 2
book 4 - part 3
book 4 - part 4
book 4 - part 5
book 4 - part 6
book 4 - reader
book 4 - conclusion
Thomas Grantham - other
apology.pdf
contents.pdf
dialogue.pdf
forerunner.pdf
friendly_epistle1.pdf
friendly_epistle2.pdf
hear_the_church.pdf
infants_advocate.pdf
presumption_no_proof.pdf
prisoner_against_the_prelate.pdf
queries_examined.pdf
religious_contest.pdf
sabbath.pdf
sigh_for_peace.pdf
six_principles.pdf
John Bunyan
O.B.U.
Old_Baptist_Union_Confession_of_Faith_1660.pdf
7 suppplementary rules OBU HA Squire 1898.pdf
A Revival of the Old Baptists.pdf
A_Call_to_Repentance_-_HA_Squire.pdf
Are Children born Sinful.pdf
Constitution_Articles_of_Faith_OBU.pdf
Diary of a Missionary.pdf
Divine Healing.pdf
How are the Dead raised up - HA Squire.pdf
Instructions for Ministers and Workerkers of the OBU.pdf
Salvation What it is and How to obtain it.pdf
Scriptural Holiness.pdf
Service_for_the_Burial_of_the_Dead.pdf
Substitution by the late Rev. Cousins.pdf
Synopsis of what we Beleeve,Teach and Practise.pdf
Yhe Coloured Gentleman and the Book - TH Squire.pdf
The Doctrine of Christ - HA Squire.pdf
The Good Report Yearbook.pdf
The Good Report, Cenenary Edition 1880-1980-2.pdf
The late Rev. William Brown-Guymer.pdf
The Laying on of Hands.pdf
The Obedience of Faith.pdf
The Scriptural Doctrine of Election.pdf
The Wondrous Gift of God to Mankind - HA Squire.pdf
Understandest thou what thou readest.pdf
Who are the Successors of the Apostolic Churches.pdf
Other documents
Confession_1611_Hellwys.pdf
The_works_of_Flavius_Josephus.pdf (67 MB)
PDF documents, how to read them
All the above documents are in PDF (= Portable Document Format) layout, you need Adobe
Reader® to view the content.
To obtain the latest version, click: 
(Intl version),
to download the Dutch version, click:
