The Works of John Smyth, Fellow of Christ's College, 1594-8 (Vol. 1) PDF Download

Author: John Smyth
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ISBN: 9781546993933
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Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
This edition of the works of John Smith offers the opportunity for a pioneer to be studied at first hand. He had never been utterly forgotten, for when Americans who preferred to look to New England rather than to Virginia as the formative district of their nation, were telling its earliest story, they glanced casually at the friend of Brewster mentioned by Bradford; and when English Congregationalists were searching into their origins, they caught a glimpse of one who passed through their position. But in comparison with Browne and Robinson, Johnson and Ainsworth, or Jacob, Smyth has been but dimly known, chiefly by reflected light, even to Hanbury in 1839. Fifty years ago, Benjamin Evans broke new ground and printed many documents long unknown to Englishmen, revealing Smyth's doings in Amsterdam. Further search by John Waddington, Robert Barclay and Henry Martyn Dexter was so far rewarded that a better background was afforded, and then the last named student earned thanks by recounting the True Story of Smyth " as told by himself and his contemporaries," and by exposing a stupid forgery which bade fair to confuse the tale. His posthumous work on the England and Holland of the Pilgrims reverted to the earlier treatment of Smyth as an appendage to those heroes, while John Brown and Edward Arber had naturally adopted the same standpoint. The importance of Smyth's work had been discerned by Mandell Creighton, and when Henry W. Clark wrote the History of English Nonconformity to expound ideas rather than facts, a more sympathetic spirit was evinced. More errors were eliminated by J. H. Shakespeare in his study of Baptist and Congregational Pioneers, all too brief. When Walter H. Burgess prepared to publish on Baptist Origins, he not only added to our knowledge of fact by his minute research, but placed Smyth in the forefront, both of the narrative and of the title. Next year, Champlin Burrage in his Early English Dissenters treated of him in true perspective with the attention to detail that is so conspicuous in all his work. All students, however, who desired better acquaintance with Smyth, were seriously hindered by the difficulty of reading his works. Though seven books were published, only seventeen copies in all are known, and no town contains more than three works. At the very best, Cambridge, York, and Oxford must be visited; while Amsterdam must be added for manuscripts. Moreover, the typography of most of the books is trying in the extreme. So it has been far easier to read what Smyth's opponents said about him, or to copy some isolated sentence extracted for a purpose, than to consult the whole book and let Smyth speak for himself. To rescue him from this predicament has long been the hope of the present editor, and means have been provided by the Hibbert Trustees (through the kind offices of Sir W. J. Collins), by Principal Gould and Sir George Macalpine, president and vice-president of the Baptist Historical Society, under whose auspices the edition appears. The librarian of Emmanuel College arranged for a transcript of the Morning Starre, a copy of the Paterne was lent by Dr Gould, Bodley's librarian permitted the Paralleles and the Character to be rotographed page by page, the editor copied the Principles and the Retractations at York Chapter library, the Differences at the Bodleian, and supplied a slight defect in the Character from the Museum. The manuscripts at Amsterdam were consulted by the courtesy of Professor S. Cramer, and in their study the editor was aided by Carel J. Stroer, who arranged for transcripts. The archivist of the city of Amsterdam cleared up a longstanding obscurity as to the last home of Smyth, and produced a contemporary map showing its site and appearance; from this the frontispiece has been copied. W. T. W. Preston, November 1915