BAPTISTS

a Christian denomination originating in England about 1612, when the first Baptist church was organized in London. Other churches of the new sect sprang up, and from the movement arose the group known as the English Separatists, who revived the ancient practice of immersion, which they held ¥: sw was e ential to valid baptism of true believers in the Baptist doctrines. From these early Baptists came the Particular Baptists, who also adhered to immersion and held Calvin’s tenet of predestination. Though encouraged by the Puritan movement, neither the General nor the Particular Baptists made marked progre as church influences until late in the XVIII. cent., when they were stimulated by the religious awakening of John Wesley. With the formation of the English Baptist Mi ionary Society in 1792, both denominations developed rapidly. A century later the General and Particular Baptists were completely amalgamated as one church. The first Baptist Church in America was established as early as 1638 in Providence, R. I. Its founder. Roger Williams, had been a minister banished from the colony of Ma achusetts for holding dangerous religious views. A few years later other churches were opened in Newport and Boston. The early Baptists in. Ma achusetts were subject to persecutions until 1691, and up to the Wesley an revival in 1734 the creed made little headway in New England. Its growth was much more pronounced in the southern colonies. An influential group of churches in the Philadelphia district in 1707 organized the Philadelphia A ociation, which became the most influential body of Baptists in America. It adopted the Philadelphia Confe ion, embodying a standard of doctrine that survives today. At the outbreak of the Revolution the Baptists numbered about 10,000. By the close of the century they had increased to 100,000, distributed among 1,200 churches. Thereafter came the great westward movement and the Baptists developed with it by vigorous mi ionary work. In the XIX. cent. the church was rent by grave di ensions, resulting in ' the seceding of groups which formed the] Disciples and the Primitive Baptists as separate bodies. The divisions of the Baptist denomination in the United States embrace the Regular Baptists, Free Baptists, Free Will Baptists, GenDay Baptists, General Baptists, Separate Baptists, United Baptists, Baptist Church of Christ, Primitive Baptists, and Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestination Baptists. The American Baptists have a notable record in educational work. Even before the Revolution they began to establish schools. Brown, Colgate, and George Washington universities, as well as the University of Chicago, were founded by them. They have some 15 theological schools, as well as others of collegiate grade and academies numbering 130. Their churches in the United States aggregate 60,000 in number and their membership (1922), embracing all divisions, was about 8,000,000.