Henry Jacob

Henry Jacob (1563–1624) was an English clergyman of Calvinist views, who founded the first true congregational church in England. Associated with the Brownists, he asserted the autonomy of the church, and advocated for ecclesiastical government without bishops. This stance challenged the hierarchy of the Church of England and led to his imprisonment and exile.

Life
Henry Jacob was the son of John Jacob, yeoman, of Cheriton, Kent.

On 27 November 1581, he enrolled at St Mary Hall, Oxford and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1583, followed by a Master of Arts degree in 1586. Jacob inherited property at Godmersham near Canterbury, following the death of his father. He later served as a precentor of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

In 1590, Jacob became a member of the Brownists whose beliefs resulted in Jacob being labelled as a 'semi-Separatist'. Contemporary scholars commonly use terms such as Independents, Brownists, semi-Separatists, or Puritans to describe individuals with similar beliefs to those expressed by Jacob. These beliefs were rooted in Calvinism, a branch of Protestantism. In 1593, when the Brownists were forced into exile, Jacob relocated to Holland. While there, he established a group of non-separatist individuals who were former members of the Church of England. Upon returning to England in 1597, he attended a sermon by Thomas Bilson at St Paul's Cross on Christ's descent into hell as mentioned in the Apostles' Creed. In disagreement with Bilson's teaching, Jacob wrote a pamphlet expressing his opposing views and again fled the country.

At the age of 36, Jacob's ideology, which was moderate compared to others of his time, sparked controversy and debate with Francis Johnson. Johnson was a former don at Cambridge University who had since become a dissenting clergyman and prominent separatist in the Barrowist movement. In response to Johnson's views, Jacob published A Defence of the Churches and Ministry of Englande in 1599, advocating for moderate reforms within the Church of England.

In the early years of James I's reign, there was widespread efforts to challenge the king's support for the forms and practices of the episcopal church. This included the 1603 Millenary Petition campaign, the Hampton Court Conference, various written works, and discussions in Parliament. Despite these, James I remained unwavering in his defence of the established church. Within this context, Henry Jacob emerged as an influential figure in the movement for religious reform. Jacob published a series of publications between 1604 and 1609 in which he condemned the illegitimacy of prelatical church government and its associated dangers. He advocated for congregationalism, which called for greater autonomy within the church, and proposed a second conference to address ongoing religious disputes. Jacob was unable to achieve any notable success in his pursuit for reform. As a result, he abandoned his scriptural arguments and appealed for 'toleration' for nonconforming Protestants who remained politically loyal. As part of this, he also adopted language more commonly associated with political negotiations and reasoning of state.

The views Jacob expressed within his 1604 publication Reasons taken out of Gods Word and the best humane Testimonies proving a necessitie of reforming our Churches in England resulted in his incarceration for eight months. Following his release, Jacob was exiled to Holland where he settled at Middelburg in Zeeland, and collected a congregation of English exiles. His group of 'Jacobites' included William Ames, Paul Barnes, William Bradshaw and Robert Parker.

In 1610 he went to Leyden to confer with John Robinson. Ultimately Jacob adopted Robinson's views on church government, but the influence was mutual. In 1616 he returned to Southwark, London, with the aim of establishing a separatist congregation similar to those which he and Robinson had organised in Holland. The religious society which he brought together in Southwark is generally supposed to have been the first continuing congregational church in England. Puritan congregationalism represented a significant departure from the predominant presbyterianism of the Cartwright generation of puritanism. While the shift embraced a more liberal and democratic ecclesiological approach, the origins of this new polity have been a subject of interest among scholars. Jacob led this congregation for approximately six years, during which time the prominence of Henry Jacob's semi-separatist model and teachings inspired the spread of the movement to other congregations. These congregations did not completely break away from the Church of England but rather entered into a "covenant" pledging their commitment to a religious structure aligned with biblical principles commonly taught at the time. This church played a significant role in the development and spread of the Particular Baptist movement.

In October 1622, Jacob travelled to Virginia with some of his family and formed a settlement, which was named after him 'Jacobopolis'. He died in April or May 1624 in the parish of St Andrew Hubbard, London. By his wife Sara, sister of John Dumaresq of Jersey, who survived him, he had several children, including Henry Jacob the younger. John Lothropp picked up the threads of Jacob's London congregation.