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{{Short description|English Protestant dissenters}}
{{About|the historical religious group||Seekers (disambiguation)}}
[[Image:Catalogue of Sects.GIF|thumb|300px|right|{{center|A [[broadsheet]] "Catalogue of the several Sects and Opinions", 1647}}]]
The '''Seekers''', or '''Legatine-Arians''' as they were sometimes known, were an [[Kingdom of England|English]] [[English Dissenters|dissenting]] group that emerged around the 1620s, probably inspired by the preaching of three brothers – Walter, Thomas, and [[Bartholomew Legate]]. Seekers considered all organised churches of their day corrupt and preferred to wait for God's revelation. Many of them subsequently joined the Religious Society of Friends ([[Quakers]]).
==Origins==
Long before the [[English Civil War]] there already existed what the English [[Marxist]] [[historian]], [[Christopher Hill (historian)|Christopher Hill]], calls a "lower-class heretical culture" in England.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McDowell |first1=Nicholas |title=The English Radical Imagination: Culture, Religion, and Revolution, 1630-1660 |date=January 15, 2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0199260516 |page=2 |edition= 1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RuiiCKSxYT0C&q=Christopher+Hill+lower-class+heretical+culture&pg=PA2 |accessdate=25 July 2019}}</ref> The cornerstones of this culture were [[anti-clericalism]] and a strong emphasis on Biblical study, but specific doctrines had "an uncanny persistence": [[millenarianism]], [[Soul sleep|mortalism]], [[Nontrinitarianism|anti-Trinitarianism]] and a rejection of [[predestination]]. Such ideas became "commonplace to seventeenth-century Baptists, Seekers, early [[Religious Society of Friends|Quakers]] and other radical groupings which took part in the free-for-all discussions of the [[English Civil War|English Revolution]]."<ref>Hill, Christopher (1977) ''Milton and the English Revolution''. London: [[Faber & Faber]], pp. 71–76.</ref>
==Beliefs and practices==
The Seekers were not an organised religious group in any way that would be recognised today (not a religious [[cult]] or [[Religious denomination|denomination]]), but informal and localised. Membership in a local Seekers assembly did not preclude membership in another sect. Indeed, Seekers shunned creeds (see [[nondenominational Christianity]]) and each assembly tended to embrace a broad spectrum of ideas.
Seekers after the Legates were [[Puritan]] but not [[Calvinism|Calvinist]]. Some contemporary historians, though accepting their zeal in desiring a "godly society", doubt whether the English [[Puritans]] during the English Revolution were as committed to religious liberty and pluralism as traditional histories have suggested. However, historian John Coffey’s recent work has emphasised the contribution of a minority of radical Protestants who steadfastly sought toleration for so-called [[heresy]], [[blasphemy]], [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholicism]], non-Christian religions, and even [[atheism]].<ref>Coffey, John (1998) "Puritanism & Liberty Revisited: The Case for Toleration in the English Revolution," ''The Historical Journal'', Cambridge University Press.</ref> This minority included the Seekers, as well as the [[General Baptists]]. Their collective witness demanded the church to be an entirely voluntary, non-coercive community able to evangelise in a pluralistic society governed by a purely civil state. Such a demand was in sharp contrast to the ambitions of magisterial Protestantism held by the Calvinist majority. Nevertheless, in common with other Dissenters, the Seekers believed that the Roman Church corrupted itself and, through its common heritage, the Church of England as well. Only Christ himself could establish the "true" Church.
However, there were a number of beliefs and practices that made the Seekers distinctive from the large number of [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]] [[English Dissenters|dissenting groups]] that emerged around the time of the [[Commonwealth of England]]. Most significant was their form of collective worship; the Seekers held meetings free of all Church ritual and in silence, mindful of direct inspiration and guidance.
Seekers anticipated aspects of Quakerism and a significant number of them became Quakers<ref>See Watts, M. ''The Dissenters'' Vol 1. Oxford 1978. Ch ll: section 15, and specifically p. 196. See also Hatton, J. ''George Fox'' (Oxford 2007) ch 5.</ref> and many remaining Seekers attended the funeral of [[George Fox]]. A contemporary and unsympathetic author, [[Richard Baxter]], claimed that they had merged with the "Vanists" or followers of [[Henry Vane the Younger]].<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Seekers}}</ref>
Often when "heretics" were faced with being [[Execution by burning|burnt at the stake]] they retracted, retaining their beliefs in a less public way.<ref>Hill, Christopher (1977) ''Milton and the English Revolution,'' [[Faber & Faber]], London, pp. 70–71.</ref> The Legates were exceptional. Thomas died in Newgate Prison after being arrested for his preaching and Bartholomew was burnt for heresy in 1612.
==Influential "Seekers"==
*[[Roger Williams (theologian)]] (speculated)
*[[William Erbery]] (or "Erbury") (1604–1654) is credited with convincing Oliver Cromwell's daughter to become a Seeker.
*[[John Saltmarsh (clergyman)|John Saltmarsh]]'s ''The Smoke in the Temple'' (1646) is an important statement of the Seekers' beliefs.
*[[William Walwyn]] (see the [[Levellers]])
==See also==
* [[Religion in the United Kingdom]]
* [[English Dissenters]]
* [[17th century denominations in England]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
*Hill, Christopher (1972). "Seekers and Ranters". The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. 148-175. London: Temple Smith. {{ISBN|0-85117-025-0}}.
==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090219193319/http://exlibris.org/nonconform/engdis/seekers.html ExLibris' page on The Seekers]
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[[Category:History of Christianity in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:English Dissenters]]
[[Category:Former Christian denominations]]
[[Category:Christian denominations founded in Great Britain]]