August 12, 2025Open Access

Baptism and episcopalian piety in the English Civil War: Joseph Beaumont’s lyric poems

Key Points

Beaumont's poetry exemplifies a unique form of baptismal piety that emerged during the English Civil War.
The outlawing of public baptism according to the Book of Common Prayer led to the development of new baptismal practices.
The analysis highlights the role of Beaumont’s work alongside other episcopalian writers such as George Herbert and Jeremy Taylor.
This work underscores the adaptation of religious practices in response to restrictions on traditional worship.

Abstract

Abstract Joseph Beaumont's collection of devotional poetry, Minor Poems, exemplifies the development of an historically distinct form of baptismal piety developed among a number of episcopalian writers coping with the proscription of the Book of Common Prayer, episcopacy, and related forms of Cathedral-centered worship during the English Civil War. With public baptism according to the Book of Common Prayer outlawed, Episcopalians had occasion to develop new, more explicitly self-defining and often polemical, forms of baptismal commemoration. Developing the baptismal piety evident in George Herbert's The Temple (1633), Beaumont commemorated his own baptism as a way of maintaining fidelity to an established Church that had now gone into the wilderness, thus complementing the work of episcopalian writers such as Jeremy Taylor and John Cosin.

Baptism and episcopalian piety in the English Civil War: Joseph Beaumont’s lyric poems

Key Points

Abstract

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