Jarrel - Baptist Church Perpetuity - Landmark Baptist

“There were some good honest dissenters, who are mentioned as a new sect
newly sprung up in Kent, in the year 1552. Of this sect were Joan Boacher,
Joan of Kent, who, we are sure, was a Baptist. It is highly probable therefore
that they were all Baptists of whom Mr. Pierce speaks. If so the churches of
Kent can boast of great antiquity. … It has been already mentioned that there
is traditionary evidence that the general Baptist church of Canterbury has
existed 250 years; and that the church of Eyethorn is nearly of as early an
origin. In a letter from the present pastor of that church I am informed that
‘more than 220 years ago persons of the general Baptist denomination met for
the worship of God at Eyethorn.’” f785
As the volume which I quote was written in 1814, this would date the
Canterbury church as already existing in 1564 and the Eyethorn church in
1594. Here, existing in Kent, is one church in 1552, the Canterbury in 1564
and the Eyethorn in 1594. How long these three churches existed before we
had record of their existence no one can tell. Goadby says:
“The church at Eyethorn, Kent, owes its origin to some Dutch Baptists who
settled in the country in the time of Henry VIII. … According to a long
prevalent tradition, (‘uninterrupted and uncontradicted, says one authority,’)
Joan Boucher, or Joan of Kent, was a member of the Baptist church of
Eyethorn.” f786
“In the Calendar of State Papers, (Domestic Series, 1547-1580,) under date of
Oct. 28th, 1552, we have the entry: ‘Northumberland, to Sir William Cecil.
Wishes the king would appoint Mr. Knox to the Bishopric of Rochester. He
would be a whetstone to the archbishop of Canterbury and a confounder of
the Anabaptists lately sprung up in Kent.’ … One singular fact, perhaps
without a parallel in the history of this ancient General Baptist church at
Eyethorn, deserves to be mentioned; the names of the pastors from the close
of the sixteenth to the last quarter of the seventeenth century, were John
Knott. The first John Knott became the pastor of the Eyethorn church
somewhere between 1590 and 1600 and the last John Knott removed to
Chatham in 1780.” f787
Writing of this, before 1876, Goadby remarks:
“It is worthy of record that the church of Christ in this little village continued
more than three hundred years without a single unfriendly division and with a
steadfast adherence to the faith and practice of the Primitive church.” f788
This dates it before 1576.
“The Booking Braintree church-book, still in existence, carries back the
authentic records of the church for more than two hundred years, but there is
no question but the origin of the church itself dates back to the days of
Edward VI.” — between 1547 and 1648. f789