The article first discusses the relation of William Blake to the Baptist chapel in Keppel Street, London, and in particular to its members John Linnell, Mary Linnell, Thomas Palmer, Charles Heathcote Tatham and Frederick Tatham. All these gave Blake support, especially in his final years. However, the most substantial Baptist influence on Blake came from reading The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan with its theme of freedom from the law, expressed by Blake through his water-colour Illustrations to Pilgrim's Progress. The article compares Blake's approach to this freedom from law with the different 'uses' of the law as understood by Baptists, and concludes that he was closer in sympathy to Bunyan than to Calvinistic Baptists of his own period. The article concludes by showing resonances between Blake and Baptists generally in their understanding of the function of law in society as well as between their opposition to the established church.
Paul S. Fiddes (Sat,) studied this question.