Timothy Batte, the Recovery of Immersion, and an Unnoticed Early English Baptist Confession of Faith

Timothy Batte is an under-studied figure in early Baptist life. There is confusion over whether there are one or two individuals of that name, and a claim that he was instrumental in the recovery of immersion. I here attempt three tasks: First, I demonstrate that there are indeed two individuals named Timothy Batte who have been conflated: a Somerset-based Presbyterian, and a London-based physician who was converted to the Baptist cause whilst a chaplain in Nijmegen in about 1639, and was afterwards connected to Thomas Lambe's church. Second, I consider Wright's suggestion that Batte was instrumental in the recovery of immersion. I argue that the evidence against this is overwhelming, and that Barber's testimony, that he came to an immersionist position through solitary study of Scripture whilst incarcerated, is to be believed. Finally, I examine a Confession published by Batte, arguing that it demonstrates Waterlander influence, but that this influence is mediated through engagement with the Helwys/Murton/Lambe tradition.