Around 14 January, he preached at St Helen's, Bishopsgate, where he caused uproar by cursing and blaspheming from the pulpit for an hour, after which he left London.Įarly in 1649, Coppe's Some Sweet Sips of Some Sprituall Wine was printed by the radical publisher Giles Calvert. According to his own account, he spent nearly two weeks going about the streets abasing himself at the feet of beggars and cripples then haranguing gentlemen with proclamations that the day of the Lord was at hand. Towards the end of 1648, Coppe believed that God commanded him to go to London where he arrived early in January 1649. Convinced that the Apocalypse was imminent and that old conceptions of sinfulness and evil were irrelevant, he became one of the most notorious of the Ranters. Emerging from a four-day trance, Coppe believed himself to be transformed into 'a child of God' to whom the restrictions of conventional society no longer applied. However, Coppe's standing in the Baptist church was high: in the autumn of 1646, he acted as scribe to the influential Particular Baptist pastors William Kiffin and Hanserd Knollys when they travelled from London to Coventry to debate with local ministers.ĭuring 1647, Coppe underwent a spiritual experience which he regarded as a divine revelation. He was persecuted by the authorities at Coventry who imprisoned him for fourteen weeks without charge and complained about his activities to Parliament. He remained at Compton until the garrison was disbanded in June 1646 at the end of the First Civil War.Ĭoppe gained a reputation as a fiery Baptist preacher and boasted that he re-baptized seven thousand people in the Midlands.

In June 1644 Coppe was appointed chaplain to the Parliamentarian garrison that occupied Compton Wynyates in Warwickshire after its capture by Colonel Purefoy. He attended the grammar school at Warwick and was admitted to All Souls College, Oxford, in 1636 and then to Merton College, but left university without a degree. Baptist army preacher who became one of the most notorious of the Ranters and was imprisoned without trial for his blasphemous opinions.Ībiezer Coppe was born at Warwick on, the eldest son of an artisan.

A Fiery Flying Roll by Abiezer Coppe