At about the same time a colony was begun at Newport, the leader of which was John Clarke, an English physician of Puritan tenden cies. The church formed by them soon be came, if it was not from the first, a Baptist church (the traditional date is 1644, but the early records have perished). A Welsh Bap tist church emigrated in a body in 1663, and settled first at Rehoboth, then at Swansea. The Puritans looked with little favor on any others who came into their colony, and perse cutions of the Baptists were frequent and severe. John Clarke and Obadiah Holmes came from the Newport church and held a religious service in a private house at Lynn, for which they were sentenced to pay a heavy fine or be ((well whipped)) A friend paid Clarke's fine, but Holmes was whipped in the streets of Boston, 6 Sept. 1651. A Baptist church was formed in Boston in 1665, and its first minister, Thomas Goold, was several times imprisoned and treated with such severity that his health was undermined and he died in 1675. Other members of this church were likewise treated, and when, in 1678, a small meeting-house was built, by order of the General Court the doors were nailed up. A church formed in Kittery, Me., then part of the Massachusetts colony, was so harassed that they removed in a body (17 members) to Charleston, S. C.2 where they established the first Baptist church in the South. Persecution continued until the charter of 1691, which granted ((liberty of conscience to all Christians except Papists?) Churches were gradually formed in the other New England colonies, but at the beginning of the Great Awakening (1740) there were but eight c.hurches in Massachusetts, and hardly as many more in the rest of New England.
Another group of Baptist churches gathered about Philadelphia, the first being formed in 1688 at Pennepek (now•within the city limits), while at the same time another church wa.s organized at Middletown, N. J. Within the next decade a number of churches were estab lished in New Jersey and about Philadelphia, which soon came into fraternal relations and held ((general meetings)) with each church in turn. Out of this custom grew the first Asso ciation (1707), a delegated body having no legislative or judicial authority over churches or ministers, but having in its care their com mon interests and conducting their missionary and benevolent work. As I3aptist churches became more numerous other associations were formed, but the Philadelphia was long the lead ing body and is still one of the most influen tial. The issue of a Confession of Faith in 1742, in the main a readoption of the Eng lish Confession of 1688 (which was essentially the Westminster), determined the theological trend of American Baptists toward Calvinism, rather than Arminianism.
The Baptist churches fully participated in the spiritual results of the Great Awalcening (q.v.), and in all the colonies they made rapid advance. In Massachusetts, for example, the number of churches grew in 40 years from 8 to 73, and of metnbers from 200 to over 3,000. In the whole of New England, the increase was tenfold, and even more rapid growth was made in the South Atlantic States. Severe persecutions in Virginia did little to retard this advance, and after the Revolution progress was greatly accelerated. From this time puni tive laws were repealed in all the States, and gradually all forms of religious belief were placed on an equal legal footing. The principle
of entire religious liberty, first embodied in law in the colony of Rhode Island, became the accepted principle of the Federal Constitution and was adopted soon in the various State Constitutions. This principle had been advo cated consistently by English Baptists from their beginning, and its incorporation into the fundamental law of the United States has been followed by practically every. American country and is to-day recognized by European jurists and statesmen as the most important contribu tion of modern times to political philosophy and the science of government. In 1906 France became the first European nation to adopt the same principle.
The settlement of the West after the Revolu tion offered a great opportunity to the Baptists. The churches and associations of the older communities sent traveling preachers as mis sionaries among. the new settlements. Baptist churches were m many cases the first to be formed in the new States, and in all cases among the first. There are no trustworthy statisucs, but an estimate generally accepted is that in 1800 there were 48 associations and 1200 Baptist churches in all the States, with 100,000 members. The growth of Baptists dur ing this early period far outstripped that of the population.
2. From the Foundation of the General Con vention to the Division of the Denomination.
—Up to this time the Baptist churcheS had little cohesion and no common enterprises. They were now led to unite in the work of foreign missions. In 1810 the American Board of Com missioners for Foreign Missions had been formed, mainly by the Congregational churches of Massachusetts, and had sent several mis sionaries to India, among them Adoniram Jud son (q.v.) and his wife and Luther Rice. From study of the Scriptures they became convinced that only believers should be baptized, and that the apostolic baptism was immersion. So on their arrival at Calcutta they sought out Eng lish Baptist missionaries and were immersed. This involved severance of their relations with the Board that had sent them out; so the Eng lish Baptists assumed temporary support of the Judsons, and Luther Rice returned to interest American Baptists in this missionary enterprise. He quickly found churches in and about Boston to undertake the support of the Judsons; and then undertook a tour of the country and the enlistment in foreign missions of all Baptist churches. His labors were so extensive and successful that a convention of delegates representing Baptists of all States met at Philadelphia in May 1814 and formed the General Convention of the Baptist Denomi nation in the United States for Foreign Missions. For a time the convention carried on home missions also, but in 1832 a separate American Baptist Home Mission Society (q.v.) was formed. A Tract Society begun at Washing ton in 1824 was later removed to Philadelphia and grew into the American Baptist Publica tion Society. These three national societies became the great bond of unity between the churches — the only bond of unity possible un der the congregational polity of Baptists, which insists on the independence of each church in its own affairs —by promoting co-operation in a common work. More than any other assign able cause, this explains the remarlcable growth of Baptists during the next three or four dec ades.