Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Freewill Baptists,

A division of Baptists founded by Benjamin Randall in New Durham, N. H., in 1780. They gradually extended beyond New England into the West, but made no advance in the South, owing to their strong anti-slavery opinions. The doctrine and practice of the Freewill Baptists are embodied in a Treatise written in 1832. The chapters, [456] twenty-one in all, declare that man can be rescued from his fallen state and made a child of God by redemption and regeneration, which have been freely provided. The “call of the Gospel is co-extensive with the atonement, to all men,” so that salvation is “equally possible to all.” The “truly regenerate” are “through infirmity and manifold temptations, in danger of falling,” and “ought therefore to watch and pray lest they make shipwreck of faith.” They practise immersion, and hold that every Christian, whatever his belief regarding the mode of baptism, is eligible to partake of the Lord's Supper. In 1900 they reported 1,619 ministers, 1,486 churches, and 85,109 members.