25-The Opening of the Floodgates

The Independent church which was formed in 1616 at Southwark, with
Henry Jacob as its first pastor, prospered to such an extent that several
churches were formed out of it. But the churches which arose, or were
formed out of those churches, were not all of an Independent persuasion.
Far from it. In fact, five out of the six churches which sprang directly from
the Southwark church adopted Baptist principles. What is more, the
original church itself became a Baptist church in 1645. Now, strange as it
may seem, this development from Independency into Baptist churches
should really cause little or no surprise. The contemporary critics of the
Nonconformists argued that the only logical outcome of both Separatism
and Independency was the Baptist position, which those fault-finders
derided by the abusive term ‘Anabaptist’. As one put it:
The tendency of Independency, does... of course breed Anabaptism... if they
judge Anabaptism a pestilent error... they should renounce their Independency,
which is so natural an occasion of it... The reason is plain, because no man can
be true to the principles of Independents and Brownists, but they must turn
Anabaptists.