One of my very favorite characters in reading lots of stuff printed in 17C England is a man named John Tombes. He is rather obscure today because he never really fit into any "camp," and so no one really claims him in their heritage. But he was a heavy hitter in his day, a wonderful writer and extremely thoughtful (which is why I like him so much). When I have time *cough* I'll write a book about him one day. Right now, I just want to touch on something very specific. Context In my reading of early Baptists (thank God for Early English Books Online), I came across a fascinating paragraph in one of Tombes's books. To make a long story short, Tombes supported the idea of an established church (for the first 40 years of his life, that meant the Anglicans, and then the Presbyterians when they ascended). But in 1641 he lost a public debate in Bristol with a Baptist, which reinforced the doubts in infant baptism he developed while a student at Oxford. In 1645, he published Two Treatises and an Appendix to Them Concerning Infant-Baptisme which included his formal request to the Westminster Assembly to discuss the subject and his critique of a sermon by Stephen Marshall on the subject. (If you were not aware, Parliament forbade Westminster from responding to any private publications, and Stephen Marshall was widely considered the greatest preacher in England - Tombes was not just being bold, he was being borderline cheeky; I told you I liked the guy.) Well, he earned an immediate blacklisting by Westminster as well as some very angry responses in print, including Thomas Bakewell (A Justification of Two Points, 1645), John Geree (A Vindication of Paedobaptisme, 1645), Nathanael Homes (A Vindication of Baptizing Beleevers Infants, 1645), William Hussey (An Answer to Mr Tombes, 1646), and Stephen Marshall himself (A Defence of Infant-Baptism, 1646). Again, John Tombes was a major player in his day. Tombes responded to most of those books (including a book by John Ley I could not find) in 1646 with An Apology or Plea for the Two Treatises, and Appendix to them. For obvious reasons, the Presbyterians had lumped Tombes in with the Baptists, so in his Apology, Tombes included his thoughts about the recently published (now-called) First London Confession of Faith by the London Particular Baptists. His 1646 Apology sparked even more debate, and in response Tombes went directly to certain London Baptist leaders with questions that had arisen. One of those answers, printed in An Additional to the Apology for the two Treatises concerning Infant-Baptism (1652), is marvelous on many levels and worth lots of discussion.
John Tombes's Answer One of the most common question asked of Tombes was the relationship between baptism and church membership with respect to qualifications for either. The Presbyterians simply did not understand what the Baptists were doing, so they attacked Tombes for agreeing with the Baptists' perceived incoherence. Tombes asked some Baptists what they thought, and this is the reply:
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