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k 113 k iii John noRcoTT Baptism Discovered plainly and Faithfully, according to the Word of god (london, 1675 [1672]*) When he wrote Baptism Discovered Plainly in 1672, John Norcott (?–1676) was the second minister of one of London’s oldest Baptist churches on Wapping Lane (a position he held between 1670 and 1676).1 Outside of this one publication, Norcott has not left an extensive paper trail, but his importance can be gathered from the prominence of his ministerial post, his involvements with his Baptist colleagues, and the popularity of his treatise.2 Norcott started his career as a minister in the Church of England. His early service is unclear, but in 1657 he was called to Stanstead Thele parish church (or Stanstead St. Margaret’s, often referred to as St. Margaret’s) in Hertfordshire, just north of London. His tenure there was short-lived, however, for he was removed from this post along with thousands of other dissenters by the Act of Uniformity in 1662.3 The restoration of the monarchy in 1660 that brought Charles II to the throne promised religious toleration, but a series of acts known as the Clarendon Code (of which the 1662 Act of Uniformity was a part) made clear that Charles II intended to bring Puritans, Baptists, Catholics, and other dissenters into greater conformity with the Church of England. Norcott’s Baptist and “Puritan” * Norcott’s book was originally published in 1672, but since original copies of this first edition are extremely rare, we have reproduced the 1675 edition below. 1 Ernest Frederick Kevan, London’s Oldest Baptist Church (London: Kingsgate Press, 1933). 2 Geoffrey F. Nuttall, “Another Baptist Ejection (1662): The Case of John Norcott,” in Pilgrim Pathways: Essays in Baptist History in Honour of B. R. White, ed. William Brackney and Paul S. Fiddes (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1999), 185. 3 Nuttall, “Another Baptist Ejection (1662),” 186. 114 k Decoding Roger Williams convictions prevented him from any oaths of allegiance or conforming to the Book of Common Prayer, so he lost his position. In 1670 he was called to the Baptist church at Wapping Lane. Norcott was also involved in a controversy between the Baptists and Quakers in 1674. The primary fight was between Baptist minister Thomas Hicks and the notable Quaker and founder of the colony of Pennsylvania William Penn, who argued against each other in print.4 When Penn accused Hicks of maligning the Quakers, the English Baptists called a meeting to examine Hicks. Norcott served on a panel of Baptist ministers who examined Hicks’ claims about Quaker teachings from Quaker publications, and he signed his name to a certificate stating that Hicks’ representations of the Quakers were accurate.5 John Norcott died on March 24, 1676. His colleague Benjamin Keach preached his funeral sermon, which was published as A Summons to the Grave.6 Keach additionally eulogized Norcott in poem form on a broadside printed that same year, titled An Elegy on the Death of That Most Laborious and Painful Minister of the Gospel, Mr. John Norcot.7 Before his death, Norcott’s 1672 treatise on adult baptism thrust him into an ongoing pamphlet war, started in the 1640s, regarding who should be baptized, when, and how. His clear argumentation in the essay made it a popular and well-used defense of adult baptism. A second edition of the essay came out in 1675, a year before Norcott’s death, and subsequent editions and reprintings continued into the twentieth century, even in different languages. 4 Thomas Hicks, A Dialogue Between a Christian and a Quaker Wherein Is Faithfully Represented , Some of the Cheif [sic] and Most Concerning Opinions of the Quakers, Together with Their Method and Manner of Reasoning in the Defence Thereof (London: Printed for Henry Hills, 1673); William Penn, Reason Against Railing, and Truth Against Fiction Being an Answer to Those Two Late Pamphlets Intituled A Dialogue Between a Christian and a Quaker, and the Continuation of the Dialogue &c. by One Thomas Hicks, an Anabaptist Teacher: In Which His Dis-ingenuity Is Represented . . . and Thomas Hicks Proved No Christian . . . (London, 1673). 5 Joseph Ivimey, A History of the English Baptists (London: Burdett & Morris, 1811), 392. 6 Benjamin Keach, A Summons to the Grave, or, The Necessity of a Timely Preparation for Death Demonstrated in a Sermon Preached at the Funeral of That Most Eminent and Faithful Servant of Jesus Christ Mr. John Norcot Who Departed This Life March 24, 1675/6 (London: Printed for Ben...

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