Today I want to tell you of evidence that Baptists were in the Highlands a lot earlier than you may have thought.
But before that remember if you have not completed the questionnaire please do so if you live in the Highlands of Scotland.
Brian Robertson says "It is fairly safe to say there were Baptists in Perth by 1653. Cromwell having established himself in Scotland set up 18 garrisons in towns like Leith, Ayr and Perth. Cromwell initially was tolerant of Baptists but at some point changed his mind and became anti Baptist. ( Was this because of a pacifist influence from them?)"
In
Archbald Maclean 1733-1812
Baptist Pioneer in Scotland
By Robert Dawson Mitchell 1950
he states in page 45 of his 348 page thesis that according to Hexham records p 301,302 "Baptists seem to have penetrated as far north as Sutherland, for there is a record of a letter written to the "soldiers in the garrison at Holmdell (Helmsdale) in Sutherland shire by William Packer. A reply to this letter was written in 1656 by Jonas Dell, soldier in opposition to those dipping themselves in water."
Hexham records p 301,302
History of Baptist in Scotland page 30
So there you are 1656 that's approx 200 years before the Free Church of Scotland (1843) and 100 years before Keiss Baptist Church was established(1750) recognised as the, first Baptist church in Scotland, in Caithness -there were Baptist in Helmsdale Sutherland.
