156 EARLY HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
��what is its number, in what volume and on what page of the Historical Collec- tions it is copied, (if it is copied), and where the original document may be found. Thus every manuscript in the Society's possession is made accessible in half a minute.
In another volume, uniform with the Historical Collections^ are mounted the au- tographs of distinguished men and wom- en. Of these at present there are about 500. Each name is alphabetically index- ed, and has a biographical sketch of the person, written under the autograph, where the facts necessary could be ob- tained.
. In other volumes, uniform with the above, are the Scrap Collections of the So- ciety which consist of scraps from newspapers on historical subjects, obitu- aries, and papers descriptive of celebra- tions and important events, chiefly in New Hampshire. Each article in these is also alphabetically indexed. There are at present four volumes, each containing from 1000 to 1300 articles.
III. The wants of the Society in rela-
��tion to these departments.
Of course the Society wants to make its collections as nearly complete as pos- sible. Therefore contributions are soli- cited from all sources. Persons or fami- lies having collections of pamphlets, books, files of newspapers or magazines of any kind, would confer a favor by do- nating them. If in considerable quanti- ties, send by express or freight directing to The New Hampshire Antiquarian So- ciety, Contoocook, N. H. If in small parcels, address a letter to the Curator, George H. Ketchum, Contoocook, stating what the parcel contains, and he will re- ply, stating what is wanted and how to forward the same.
Publishers of newspapers would confer a favor by sending their issues regularly, to be preserved in files ; Town Clerks by forwarding copies of their Town Reports, and Pastors of Churches by sending cop- ies of their church manuals, directed to the Society as above. Authors are res- pectfully requested to present copies of their own works.
��EARLY HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
��BY JOSEPH FULLONTON.
��The denomination of whose early his- tory in this State we now write, is some- times called Regular Baptist, and Calvin Baptist. This is to distinguish the peo- ple of this sect from Free Will Baptists, found in this State and elsewhere, Six Principle Baptists, Seventh Day Bap- tists, General Baptists, etc., found in other places; but the name is simply Baptist. They wish no other and accept no other.
In doctrine they are about the same as to belief as other sects, styled evangeli- cal. Their church government is congre- gational. Baptism is administered to be- lievers only, and uniformly by immer-
��sion. Yet they are not bigoted, but tol- erant toward those who practice another mode of baptism.
There were Baptists in England and other old countries long ago; they were also early in this country. In 1639, but nineteen years after New England had its first settlement, a Baptist church was gathered in Providence, R. I., by that champion of religious liberty, Roger Williams. This was the first of the de- nomination in America. Five years later, that is in 1641, the next was formed in Newport in the same State. Another in the same town was in organized 1656. Thus there were three, all in Rhode Island.
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