Editing Seventh Day Baptists (section)

===Mill Yard Seventh Day Baptist Church===
The beginning of the observance of the Sabbath in England caused the occurrence of well-known debates on the subject to arise. These started in [[London]], where one of the "Seventh-Day Men", a tailor and [[Autodidacticism|self-taught]] Bible student called Hamlet Jackson, converted a Minister couple, John & Dorothy Traske, to the observance of the seventh day ([[Sabbath in seventh-day churches |Saturday]]). In 1614, [[John Traske]] ordained Hamlet and three other Seventh-Day Men to proclaim their discoveries and anoint the sick. In 1616 John and Dorothy were arrested but Hamlet's Ministry was able to establish the Mill Yard Seventh Day Baptist Church in [[London]] in 1617. 

John Traske was accused of writing two scandalous letters to the king and sentenced by the authorities to prison on 19 June 1618, for "…aspiring to be the leader of a Jewish faction". After a year in prison, John Traske recanted, was released and tried to divert his followers from this and other doctrines he preached. However, Dorothy Traske did not deny her convictions and remained in prison for 25 years.<ref>{{Cite book|last= Katz |first= David S. |title= Philo-semitism and the Readmission of the Jews to England |publisher=Clarendon Press |year= 1982|location= Oxford |pages= 18–24}}</ref> After these, other groups also kept and declared Sabbath observance, which led to retaliation by the political and ecclesiastical authorities of the time such as when [[Theophilus Brabourne]] was imprisoned for 18 months and threatened with the loss of his ears for publishing his "Discourse on the Sabbath" in 1628. 

When Christmas, Easter and Pentecost were banned in 1643/4 leading to a number of riots, a variety of "independent" churches sprang up supporting the Seventh-Day Baptists' right to dissent. Then in 1645 [[Henry Jessey]] converted into a Seventh Day Baptist arguing in 1647 that the seventh-day was "[Christ's] Sabbath which he blessed and sanctified". Subsequently the new independent churches began to be tolerated and enjoyed relative religious and political freedom from 1649 under the republican rule of the [[Commonwealth of England]]. With this newfound freedom, England's first Seventh Day Baptist Church became secure. In 1650, Brabourne's pupil, James Ockford, published in London the book ''The Doctrine of the Fourth Commandment, Deformed by Popery, Reformed & Restored to its Primitive Purity'', which was the first writings of a Baptist defending Sabbath observance. The book generated such a nuisance that the mayor of [[Salisbury]], the city where Ockford lived, asked the president of Parliament for guidance on how to handle the work; a parliamentary committee determined that all copies should be burned without giving the opportunity for James Ockford to defend them. Only one copy has escaped, kept today in a library in [[Oxford]].<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Dr. Peter Chamberlen "o terceiro".jpg|thumb|Dr. Peter Chamberlen in 1658]]

The first official Seventh Day Baptist service in London took place at the Mill Yard Church in 1651,<ref>{{Cite book|last= Brackney|first=William H.|title=Baptists in North America: An Historical Perspective|publisher= Wiley-Blackwell|year=2006|location=USA|page =11}}</ref> led by [[Peter Chamberlen the third|Peter Chamberlen]]. M.D. "the Third". The first records of church activities were destroyed in a fire; the second record book is in possession of the Seventh Day Baptist Historical Library and Archives{{Refn | {{Citation | title = SDB History | url = https://www.sdbhistory.org/}}.}} and begins in 1673. The first pastor to be officially considered responsible for the congregation was William Saller, who among other activities, wrote eleven books and a booklet, in addition to an appeal to magistrates reporting concern over laws imposing rest on Sunday.<ref name=":0" /> The local church continues its activities to this day under the name of Mill Yard Seventh Day Baptist Church.<ref>{{cite web |title=UK SDB Churches |url=https://www.faithsdblondon.org/useful-links |website=Faith SDB Church London |access-date=8 April 2024 |archive-date=8 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240408114325/https://www.faithsdblondon.org/useful-links |url-status=live }}</ref>

There were matters among the Seventh Day Baptists that were discussed in addition to the uniform agreement of the Sabbath, among them the general [[propitiation]]. Most Baptists, as well as those of the seventh day, were "[[General Baptists]]" and believed in a general and unlimited propitiation. Certainly in 1710 when it attracted John Maulden (d. 1714) the Millyard Church was a Seventh-day [[Arminian]] Baptist Church.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924092446297/cu31924092446297_djvu.txt W. T. WHITLEY "Minutes of the General Assembly of the General Baptist churches in England : with kindred records", LONDON MINISTERS AND MEETING-HOUSES: 1709-1719. Cornel University 1924] </ref> However, some Seventh Day Baptists were influenced by [[Calvinism|Calvinist]] doctrine and believed in [[predestination]], in which salvation is limited to the elect, the rest being predestined to condemnation, which is why they were called "private Baptists". This difference does not appear to have prevented fellowship among Seventh Day Baptists in the beginning. However, it generated greater discomfort from the 17th century onwards.<ref name=":0" /> Today, Seventh Day Baptist churches still continue to leave this issue open, with no direct mention in their declaration of faith or other official church document.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kersten|first=Nick|date=June 14, 2016|title= Batistas do Sétimo Dia: Calvinistas ou Arminianos? | trans-title = Seventh Day Baptists: Calvinists or Arminians? |url= https://gracamaior.com.br/estudos/batistas-do-setimo-dia/608-batistas-do-setimo-dia-calvinistas-ou-arminianos.html|website=Graça Maior|language=pt}}</ref>