History of the Baptist Churches in the United States, contains excellent bibliography (New York, 1894); H. S. Burrage, History of the Baptists in New England (Philadelphia, 1894): H. C. Vedder, History of the Baptists in the Middle States (1898); J. A. Smith, History of the Baptists in the Western States (1896); B. F. Riley, History of the Baptists in the Southern States (1898); E. F. Merriam, History of American Baptist Missions (1900); J. Culross, Hanserd Knollys (London, 1895); D. Davies,
Vavasor Powell (1896); G. Smith, William Carey (London and New York, 1885); E. Judson, Life of Adoniram Judson (n. e. Philadelphia, 1898); O. S. Straus, Roger Williams (New York, 1894); R. A. Guild, Chaplain Smith and the Baptists (Philadelphia, 1885); The American Baptist Year-Book (Philadelphia, annually); A. J. Ramaker, Geschichte der deutschen Baptisten (Cincinnati, 1900); G. W. Schroeder, History of the Swedish Baptists (Brooklyn and New York, 1898).
Baptist Church of Christ. A denomination that originated in Tennessee, where the oldest congregations were formed about 1808. They have spread to six other States, all of them in the South. Their belief is a modified Calvinism, which makes room for a general atonement; they practice feet-washing as a religious ordinance. The census of 1890 gave them 152 churches and 8254 members.
Baptists, Free-will, correspond in doctrine and practice to the General Baptists of England, but originated in this country. There are two distinct" bodies known by this name. The older arose in North Carolina, and formed an association in 1729. Some of these afterwards joined the regular Calvinistic churches of the region, and those who remained true to their first principles were popularly called 'Freewillers.' This nickname was finally accepted by them; but later, to distinguish themselves from others, they took the name Original Freewill Baptists. They differ from the regular Baptist bodies mainly in practicing feet-washing and anointing the sick with oil. In 1890 they had 167 churches and 11,864 members, found only in the two Carolinas.
The larger and better-known body arose in New Hampshire. Benjamin Randall, a convert of the Whitefield revival, was practically though not formally excluded from fellowship because he did not believe and preach the doctrine of election. A church believing in free grace was organized in New Durham, N. H., in 1780, and Randall was ordained to the ministry. The strength of the denomination has from the first been in New England, but it has made considerable progress in the Central West. In 1827 a general conference was formed, at first meeting biennially, but of late years triennially. In 1841 the Free Communion Baptists (a body that originated among the Separates, or churches that sprang up as a result of the Whitefield revivals) united with them. The Freewill Baptists bore emphatic testimony against slavery, especially in 1845; and declined overtures for union with certain Baptists of Kentucky, because the latter defended slavery. The Foreign Mission Society of the denomination was organized in 1833, and a home mission society in 1834. They sustain a college at Lewiston, Me.; Hillsdale College. Michigan; theological seminaries at Lewiston, Me., and Hillsdale, Mich., and several academies. The official name was changed some years ago to Free Baptists, and the older name is going out of use. Overtures have been made for the union of the body with the regular Baptists, and also with the Disciples, but thus far nothing has come of them. They now report 1318 churches and 86,255 members, having slightly increased in membership during the last decade. See Stewart, History of the Freewill Baptists (Dover, N. H., 1862); J. J. Butler, Christian Theology (1861).
Baptists, Old School or Primitive, also known as Anti-Mission. and popularly called 'Hardshell.' A denomination whose members claim to be the original Baptists, from whose principles and practices all others have departed. In fact, this body originated about 1835 in an organized opposition to missionary societies, Sunday-schools, etc. This opposition really grew out of the hyper-Calvinistic theology held by some of the Baptist churches, and these human societies were held by them to make the salvation of men depend rather upon human effort than on divine grace. They do not believe in a paid or educated ministry, and sustain no colleges or theological seminaries. They were at one time quite numerous in the Middle States, but are now strongest in the mountain districts of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia, It is difficult to say whether they are decreasing or diminishing, since adequate statistical information is not to be had. The census of 1900, the first and only careful enumeration of them, gave them 3222 churches and 121,347 members.
Baptists, Seventh Day, as their name indicates, are distinguished from others mainly by their observance of the seventh day instead of the first as the Christian day of worship. They hold that the literal observance of the Fourth Commandment has never lost its obligation, and maintain that the early Christians observed the Sabbath. The first church of this order was founded in the Mill Yard, London, in 1676, by Rev. Francis Bampfield, a graduate of Oxford, and prebendary of Exeter Cathedral. This church still survives, but others founded in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries have become extinct. The first American church had an independent origin, being founded by Stephen Mumford, at Newport, R. I., in 1671. In this country they have increased steadily though not rapidly, and are active in the propagation of their principles through tracts and books. In 1842 they formed a foreign missionary society, which has its headquarters at Westerly, R. I., and they support a tract and publishing house at Plainfield, N. J, They have a college at Alfred Centre, N. Y., and another at Milton, Wis,, besides an academy at Salem, W. Va, They report 115 churches and 8991 members, distributed through 24 States — a decrease of about 1000 members in the last decade.
Literature. — J. Bailev, History of the General Conference (Toledo, Ohio, 1866); Seventh-Day Baptist Memorial; A. H. Lewis, Sabbath and Sunday (Alfred Centre. N. Y., 1886); and A Critical History of Sunday Legislation (1888).
Baptists, German Seventh-Day. A body confined to Pennsylvania, where it originated. The first church was founded at Germantown in 1728 by Conrad Beissel, and was an offshoot of the Dunkards, Under the leadership of the founder they established a colony at Ephrata, near Lan-
