Abstract
The aim of the article is to reconstruct the relationships between the Baptist understanding of baptism (credobaptism; believer’s baptism) and church and the religious policy promoted by the early Baptists. The following texts are explored: A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity (1612) by Thomas Helwys; Persecution for Religion Judged and Condemned (1615) by John Murton; and Religious Peace: Or, a Plea for Liberty of Conscience (1614) by Leonard Busher. Helwys and Murton were leaders of the congregation of Spitalfields, the first Baptist community in the Kingdom of England. Busher, lesser known, probably belonged to the congregation, and his said work is the first treaty to defend freedom of religion by a Baptist.