This paper examines the history of the use of blasphemy as a mechanism of othering and controlling the rise of Protestant sects between 1640 and 1830 in England. Protestant sects that challenged conventional spirituality were generally subject to official action from the state. This classed them as alternatively heretical or blasphemous. However, during the Interregnum/Commonwealth . This approach was challenged by the arrival of legislatively backed religious toleration. Yet also during this period the behaviour of some sects (and individuals within them) stimulated debates in Parliament and beyond about the nature and operation of religious tolerance. This was especially pertinent when some sects (Quakers, Ranters etc). and their members challenged public order and the ability of others to worship peaceably. Yet others who did not necessarily challenge public order (e.g. Socinians) were also caught up in this moral panic. In wrestling with these debates we encounter opposing Protestant paradigms of control and religious freedom as well as arguments about the new possibilities of where religious authority was to exist. How far should religion be state controlled and what was the basis of disciplinary authority and its value were questions late seventeenth century society faced alongside creating the providential justification for eventual legislative action in its defence. The paper concludes by observing the legal restrictions blasphemy laws still maintained into the 19 century and what these said about the confessional nature of this particular age.