John Smyth

John Smyth c.1554-1612, English nonconformist clergyman and early believer in adult baptism. Influenced by the Brownists, he separated from the Church of England and became (1606) minister of an independent congregation at Gainsborough. Shortly thereafter he and his followers went to Holland to escape persecution. There, under Mennonite influence, he became convinced that the Scriptures did not authorize infant baptism; he baptized himself (for which he was called se-baptist, or self-baptizer) and some of his followers. Later he was excommunicated by his followers. He attempted to join the Mennonite church, was refused admission and died soon after.

Bibliography: See biography in Smyth's works (ed. by W. T. Whitley, 1915); W. H. Burgess, John Smith the Se-Baptist (1911).

Smyth, John (fl. 1429–d. c.1460). English mason. He was a lodge-mason at Canterbury in 1429, and Warden of the Masons at Eton College, Bucks., in 1441, before being appointed Master-Mason at Westminster Abbey in 1453.

Bibliography

J. Harvey (1987)

Smyth, John, or Smith, John (? 1570–1612), the reputed founder of the General Baptists. Ordained in the C of E, he became a Puritan preacher at Lincoln and later (by 1607) was a Separatist pastor in Gainsborough. He led a company of exiles to Amsterdam c.1608 and there, after baptizing himself (hence his title, the ‘Se-Baptist’), in 1609 he established the first modern Baptist Church. He came increasingly under Mennonite influence.