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 associa tion 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 nick name was finally accepted by them; but later, to distinguish themselves from others, they took the name Original Freewill Baptists. They dif ter from the regular Baptist bodies mainly in practicing feet-washing and anointing the sick with oil. In 1890 they had 167 churches and II,S64 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 consider able progress in the Central West. In 1S27 a general conference was formed, at first meeting biennially, but of late years triennially. In 1841
the Free Communion Baptists (a body that origi nated 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 cer tain Baptists of Kentucky, because the latter defended slavery. The Foreign 3lission Society of the denomination was organized in 1833. and a home mission society in 11334. They sustain a college at Lewiston, Me.; Hillsdale College. Michigan; theological seminaries at Lewiston, Me., and Hillsdale, Mich., and several avrol•inies, 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 mem bership during the last decade. See Stewart, His tory of the Freewill Baptists (Dover, N. H., 1862) ; J. J. Butler, Christian Theology (1861).