ABSTRACT
The lay baptism controversy began quietly in the context of a simple baptism service held on 31 March 1708. The rite of baptism was performed by the Reverend John Betts, a reader of Christ Church, Newgate Street, London. This service took on greater significance because the candidate, Roger Laurence, had been a Dissenter, baptized in infancy by a Dissenting minister. Performed without the knowledge of either the vicar of Christ Church, or the Bishop of London, the event occurred after Laurence experienced doubts about the validity of his earlier Dissenting baptism. Although it was not the policy of the established Church of England to rebaptize those persons who had been baptized by non-episcopally ordained clergy, Laurence chose to do this after he had adopted extreme High Church views, which led him to scruple over whether such sacraments were valid.1
