Henry Jessey

Henry Jessey or Jacie (1603 in West Rowton, Yorkshire – 1663) was one of many English Dissenters. He was a founding member of the Puritan religious sect, the Jacobites. Jessey was considered a Hebrew and a rabbinical scholar.

Jessey attended the University of Cambridge from 1618–24; he was at St. John's College, Cambridge in 1622, B. A. (1623). He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1627. He was vicar of Assington, or simply resident in the family of Brampton Gurdon and then visited New England. He was vicar of Aughton, East Riding of Yorkshire from 1633; but was deprived of his living in 1634. He was then supported by Sir Matthew Boynton, who found him places to preach.

Henry Jacob had formed a non-separatist independent faction of former Church of England members. They were Calvinist in theological practise. Contemporary scholars refer to them as: Independents, Brownist, semi-Separatist, or Puritans. John Lothropp picked up Jacob's London congregation after his death; Jessey took over, from 1637.

The church faced hostility from the authorities, and migrated to Southwark. He travelled in November 1639 to set up with William Wroth, an Independent church at Llanfaches, Monmouthshire. He was imprisoned, with members of his congregation, in August 1641. He became a Baptist in 1645, under the influence of Hanserd Knollys.

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