By Darrell Holley The English General Baptists arose out of the diverse group of those dissenting from the official Church of England established by Henry VIII upon his break with Rome. Some, called Puritans, were willing to remain within that church but insisted on “purifying” it of many of its Romish practices, following the pattern of the Reformed churches of the Continent. Others, called Separatists, believed that the Church of England was so apostate that they should leave it completely and form new churches. Some of these Separatists fled to Holland for a time. (Some of these eventually made it to America as the “Pilgrims” of Plymouth Plantation.) Some of these Separatists (through the influence of Dutch Anabaptists) began to have doubts about infant baptism and to consider the importance of the voluntary nature of the church, as well as the Biblical sources of its worship. A couple of these English Separatist congregations in Holland also rejected many of the doctrines of Calvinism, through the influence of the Dutch Mennonites and especially the Dutch Remonstrants. These returned to England, where in 1612 they formed the first Baptist church in England, a General or Free Will Baptist church. (These names were … Continue reading Without a Monument: The Life of Elder Paul Palmer