Background
He was the son of Jeremiah Dyke, minister of Epping, Essex, and was educated first at a private school in the country, and then sent to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
He was the son of Jeremiah Dyke, minister of Epping, Essex, and was educated first at a private school in the country, and then sent to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
There he matriculated in 1629, graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1633 and Master of Arts
In 1636. He received episcopal ordination, but this was subsequently disputed, and on a marriage performed by him being sought to be set aside he produced his letters of ordination. He was presented as rector to Eastwick, Hertfordshire, about 1636, and resigned in 1658. In 1645 his talent caused him to be appointed to the valuable rectory of Great Hadham, Hertfordshire, by Parliament.
He resigned his preferments immediately after the Restoration, asserting that however well disposed the king might be towards dissent, the royalists would insist on the expulsion of the nonconformist clergy and their persecution.
Edmund Calamy, however, counts him among the ejected ministers. Dyke continued to preach, and, although writs were frequently issued for his apprehension, was never imprisoned longer than a few hours.
In February 1668, after preaching for a year on trial, he was "set apart" as joint elder with William Kiffin to the baptist congregation at Devonshire Square, London, where he continued until his death in 1688. His remains were interred in the dissenters" burial-ground in Bunhill Fields, his funeral sermon being preached by Warner.