ABSTRACT One Christian’s Plea: The Life, Ministry, and Controversies of Francis Johnson Kenneth Scott Culpepper Mentor: William H. Brackney, Ph.D. Francis Johnson (1562-1618) served as pastor of the English Separatist congregation that became known as the “Ancient Church” from 1592 until his death in 1618. The congregation was first gathered in London under the guidance of Henry Barrow and John Greenwood before its members fled to Amsterdam in 1593 under Johnson’s leadership to escape persecution by English civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Johnson joined his flock in 1597 after being released from prison. His ministry was filled with strife and conflict as he sought to implement the Separatist ecclesiological ideal of a congregational polity. Despite the turbulence of his early years in Amsterdam, Johnson’s Ancient Church finally enjoyed a period of relative peace and growth from 1604-1608. Johnson caused a split within his own congregation in 1610. This fissure was created by his determination to pursue a more congregational rather than presbyterian polity in response to external conflicts with his former Cambridge pupil, John Smyth. After a self- imposed period of exile from 1613-1617 at Emden, East Friesland, Johnson returned to Amsterdam in 1617 to publish his final polemical work. He died at Amsterdam in 1618. In this research project, the author explored the evolving theological views, career, social context, polemical exhanges, controversies, and writings of Francis Johnson with two primary objectives. The first of these objectives was to analyze the course of Francis Johnson’s ecclesiological views as he transitioned from an early presbyterian position to congregationalism and back to presbyterianism before he finally came to moderate his original hard-line Separatism. The second major objective of this project was to assess Johnson’s contributions to the religious and social context of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Even though Johnson held such an important place in the development of English Separatism and Nonconformity, there has not been a major study of his ministry. Assessments of Johnson’s career have been scattered throughout various general studies of English Separatism that have contributed much to our knowledge of Francis Johnson, but have not focused primarily on him. The purpose of this research project is to fill that unfortunate lacuna with a comprehensive treatment of Johnson’s life, influence and theology. Copyright © 2006 by Kenneth Scott Culpepper All rights reserved CONTENTS Acknowledgments...................................................................................................... v Chapter 1. Johnson’s Early Life and Cambridge Career........................................................ 1 Introduction The Method, Matter, and Manner of This Research Project Why Francis Johnson? The Writings of Francis Johnson Matters of Historiography Francis Johnson, John Smyth, and the Problem of Baptist Origins Birth and Childhood Francis Johnson’s Early Years At Cambridge Francis Johnson: Cambridge Puritan Radical 2. Francis Johnson: London Separatist Pastor .......................................................... 68 Introduction Francis Johnson at Middleburg: Coercion and Conversion The London Congregation: A Purposeful People The London Congregation: A Peculiar People The London Congregation: A Persecuted People The Organization of Persecution William Cecil’s déjà vu Experience Voyage To Freedom and Disaster 3. My Brother’s Keeper?: Family Strife and Dissent Within the Ranks ................. 119 Introduction Escape and Reunion A Trve Confession Enter Henry Ainsworth The Ancient Church and Franciscus Junius In Dialogue An Alluring Wife, An Indignant Brother, and A Fashionable Hat Daniel Studley: Scandalous Elder Brother Against Brother iii 4. The Spirit of Geneva and the Purity of the Church: Francis Johnson and the Reformed Tradition ....................................................... 170 Introduction Maister Francis Iohnson and Maister Henry Iacob Courting Royal Favor at Hampton Court An Arrow For the Separatists 5. Against Two Errors: Baptists, Anabaptists, and John Smyth .............................. 214 Introduction Teacher and Student: Francis Johnson and John Smyth’s CambridgeYears John Smyth’s Curious Theological Formation Dissension and Deviation: John Smyth and the Ancient Church Baptism and the Kingdom of God Francis Johnson, English Separatism, and the Baptist Tradition John Smyth: Anabaptist, Arminian, or Baptist? 6. One Christian’s Plea ............................................................................................. 259 Introduction Tell The Church Exit Henry Ainsworth Judgment Day (almost) for Daniel Studley Emden Interlude A Christian Plea A Life and a Legacy 7. Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 302 Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 308 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many individuals and organizations contributed to the completion of this research project. Foremost among them has been Dr. William H. Brackney. Dr. Brackney has served as mentor, critic, and guide with commendable skill and grace. His contributions to Baylor University through his duties as Professor of Historical Studies and Director, the Program in Baptist Studies, have been invaluable. The author’s choice of this topic for his doctoral research project arose from the mileau of the Baptist Studies Program at Baylor University and hopefully will be a worthy complement to the other fine research and instructional initiatives that have emerged from the Baptist Studies Program. The author would also like to thank the Religion Department of Baylor University and Dr. W. H. Bellinger in particular for their offer of travel funds to aid the completion of this research project. Many thanks also to the second and third readers for this project, Dr. William F. Pitts and Dr. Jeffrey Hamilton, who offered several important suggestions and critiques that have improved the quality of this project. The staff of the Baylor University Library was always ready to meet any request, no matter how far they might have to reach to provide the materials needed. Thanks also to William Karlson, whose friendship and spiritual insight have been a constant encouragement through the course of the doctoral program as well as the completion of this research project. My wife Ginger deserves special thanks for her thorough copy editing and for her loving support. I also want to thank Micah, Josiah, and Hannah Culpepper for their love and support. v CHAPTER ONE Johnson’s Early Life and Cambridge Career 1. Introduction Two sorts of adversaries, the Church still hath among men. The one, of such as be without: the other, of such as arise from within the Church it self. Both heavie enemies: but the latter, far the more grievous, many wayes. By both of them haue we (as others before vs) ben exercised, a long time, and in straunge maner. Yet in and against them all, hath the Lord by his power and of his mercy hitherto preserved vs, and I trust will so do vnto the end.1 The quotation above, taken from the writings of Francis Johnson, provides an apt description of the perennial problem that shaped the contours of his pastoral ministry, polemical writings, and personal theological reflection. Francis Johnson (1562-1618) was conscious of those “adversaries” who dwelt outside the church, yet it was those potential enemies within who might seek to pervert the church who most attracted his attention. Like most English Separatists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Francis Johnson had come to believe that the Established Church of England was a thoroughly corrupt compromise between the pure doctrine and practice of the Protestant Reformers, defined by Johnson as the Reformed tradition, and the idolatrous practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Questions of ecclesiology were not mere matters of opinion for Johnson and his ilk, but rather matters of eternal importance. The proper organization of Christ’s church had been properly set forth by Jesus Christ Himself to His Apostles. Faithful adherence to that pattern of church order and discipline set forth by Christ, in 1Francis Johnson, An inquirie and ansvver of Thomas VVhite his discoverie of Brovvnisme, (Amsterdam, 1606). 1 2 Johnson’s opinion, was essential to the church’s mission of bringing the message of salvation to the elect. Much of Johnson’s career was spent on a quest to define the proper boundaries of the rightly ordered community of faith and bring that community into existence. Over the course of his life, Johnson’s opinions regarding the shape of the ideal Christian community changed, but his zeal to bring that community into existence never waned. Toward the end of his life, a more generous Johnson defined the community of faith in broader terms than he had defined it previously and extended the boundaries of that community to incorporate a larger body of Christians. 2. The Method, Matter, and Manner of This Research Project The purpose of this research project is to present a detailed analysis of the life, theology, context, and controversies of Francis Johnson, pastor of the English Separatist “Ancient Church” from 1592 until his death in 1618. Johnson’s life and ministry are significant and warrant investigation for many reasons that are described in more detail below. The