Thomas Blake (minister)

The summer of 1642 brought the onset of the First English Civil War. Tamworth was soon under royalist occupation[12] and was used a base for harassing parliamentarian forces during the fighting at Lichfield. It was taken by parliamentarians from Coventry under William Purefoy on 25 June 1643.[13] In 1644 the town's garrison foiled a concerted royalist assault[14] and it retained Tamwoth the end of the fighting, although until March 1646 it confronted a strong royalist garrison at Lichfield, with devastating consequences for the surrounding countryside.[15] Blake was a strong supporter of parliament and it seems unlikely that he remained in Tamworth during the royalist occupation. His parish work must have been disrupted and it was during these years that he first made his mark as a controversialist. His published writings all focussed on the issue of infant baptism. In The Birth Priviledge, or, Covenant-Holinesse of Beleevers (1644) he defended the universal right to baptism against strict Calvinist exclusiveness, so long as the child's parents expressed visible penitence. Over the next two years he also published critiques of works by both Baptists and Presbyterians that upheld believer's baptism, including Two Treatises by John Tombes.

St Alkmund's, Shrewsbury. The tower and spire were retained from the medieval building when the church was largely rebuilt in the late 18th century.

Title page of the Solemn League and Covenant.

Blake then moved to the church of St Alkmund[16] (sometimes rendered Alkmond) in Shrewsbury, where the parliamentary committee had assumed power after overwhelming the royalist garrison on 21 February 1645.[17] It is possible he was established at Shrewsbury in 1645, although the first confirmation came on 21 August 1646, when the corporation agreed to add £5 to his annual income.[18] This corresponds well with the appointment of Ralph Hodges on 27 June 1646 as his replacement at Tamworth.[19]

At the time of Blake's appointment Parliament's alliance with the Scottish Covenanters was still strong and it had decided that each county should plan and secure approval for a Presbyterian polity, in fulfilment of the Solemn League and Covenant, to which parliamentarian forces had subscribed in 1643.[20] Shropshire was one of only eight counties that attempted to put such a scheme into practice.[21] It is set out in a document dated 29 April 1647. This is entitled: The Severall Divisions and Persons for Classicall Presbyteries in the County of Salop[22] and was issued over the signature of Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester.[23] It envisaged six classical presbyteries, the first centred on Shrewsbury itself. Thomas Blake was third on its list of eight serving ministers.[24] The ruling elders or lay leaders were headed by the mayor of Shrewsbury and Humphrey Mackworth, the town's governor. As the title "Saint" was now restricted to the Apostles, Blake's church was now named simply "Alkmonds".

In 1648 Blake signed the Solemn League and Covenant. He was one of 57 signatories to a document entitled A Testimony of the Ministers in the Province of Salop to the Truth of Jesus Christ and to the Solemn League and Covenant: as also against the Errors, Heresies and Blasphemies of these times and the Toleration of them.[25] Prominent by its absence from the document was the name of another Shrewsbury clergyman, Thomas Paget,[21] incumbent of St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury and governor Mackworth's parish minister. The Testimony was a broadside against Independency or Congregationalism – a show of strength by the Presbyterian clergy made necessary by the weakening of their political position.[25] Presbyterianism had been fatally wounded by the Scottish Engager invasion in support of Charles I. By the end of 1648 Pride's Purge had removed moderate Presbyterians from the English House of Commons and cleared the way for the execution of the king.

The divisions between the different strains of Puritanism led to conflict after Parliament in March 1650 imposed the Oath of Engagement: "I do declare and promise, that I will be true and faithful to the Commonwealth of England, as it is now established, without a King or House of Lords." This ran counter to the Covenant, which envisaged an established Presbyterian church headed by the monarch. In Shrewsbury Blake and Samuel Fisher of Mary's church preached against the Engagement, while Paget preached for it.[26] As the controversy began to become more heated, there was an outbreak of bubonic plague, starting at Frankwell in June and spreading rapidly through the town.[27] Lamont considers the plague the likely reason for Blake and Fisher's departure from Shrewsbury.[2] However, Auden[28] and Coulton[29] agree with Brook[30] in making the departure essentially a political expulsion. On 16 August the English Council of State wrote ordering Governor Mackworth "to turn out of his garrison all such persons as, either in the pulpit or elsewhere, by seditious words endeavour to stir up sedition and uproar among the people."[31] On 23 August the Council wrote again, specifically naming Blake and Fisher and ordering Mackworth to arrest and "examine them as to their former and late offences."[32] Fisher later wrote of their "continual expectation of arrest" during this period, when he and Blake were engaged in their pastoral office during the plague.[29] They found refuge for a time at Myddle with its minister, Joshua Richardson, who allowed them to preach. The leading lay Puritan in the area was Robert Corbet of Stanwardine[28] and his secretary, Richard Gough, later mentioned the visit in his famous Antiquities & Memoirs of the village.

The two chiefe and ablest Ministers in Shrewsbury, viz. Mr. Thomas Blake, Minister of St. Chads, and Mr. Fisher of St. Mary's removed to Myddle and dwelt both in Mr. Gittin's house att the higher well ; they preached often att Myddle. Mr. Fisher was a man of myddle stature and age, a fatt plump body, a round visage, and blacke haire. Mr. Blake was a tall spare man, his haire sandy browne; hee was somewhat aged a moderate, sober, grave, pious man; hee wrote a learned Treatise of the Covenants, wherein hee tooke some modest exceptions against some things mentioned by Mr. Baxter in his book of Justification.[33]

Later they stayed for some months at West Felton with Samuel Hildersham, a puritan writer and son of Arthur Hildersham, and his wife Mary. The following year, back at Tamworth, Blake dedicated to them a new tract, Vindiciae foederis, or, A Treatise of the Covenant of God Entered with Mankind, thanking them for their "free and liberal entertainment" and the use of their library.

Richard Baxter

Blake returned to his ministry in Tamworth. It is not clear exactly how this was achieved. However, it seems his successor, Ralph Hodges was occupying benefices in plurality, as he was appointed Rector of Birmingham on 29 June 1646,[34] only two days after he took up the post at Tamworth. Blake's allies in Tamworth had probably changed little and Sir John Repington was to survive until 1662,[10] so it seems it was possible to ease him back into position. He was then nominated one of the assistants to the commissioners of Staffordshire for the ejecting of scandalous ministers and schoolmasters.[30]

From Tamworth Blake carried on his writing of argumentative theological works. His focus moved from baptism to admission to the Lord's Supper, where he advocated the most open and inclusive approach.[2] This brought him into disputes with Richard Baxter, whose Aphorismes of Justification (1649) set the issue within an explication of Covenant theology, demanding that candidates for the Lord's Supper "might knowingly and seriously professe their consent, (and if they subscribed their names, it would be more solemly engaging) and this before they receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper."[35] The controversy continued until Blake's death, although with a degree of courtesy on both sides, despite provocation from Giles Firmin, a disciple of Baxter.