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the communicants reported are to be found. Its articles of faith set forth a mild form of Calvinism, with a general atonement. They declare that Christ tasted death for every man" and made it possible for God to have mercy upon all who come unto him on gospel terms; that sinners are justified by faith; that the saints will persevere; that true believers are the only proper subjects of baptism; that immersion is the only proper baptism; and that baptism, the Lord's Supper, and feet-washing are ordinances of the gospel to be continued until Christ's second coming. This body claims to be the oldest body of Baptists, and that there were no others in Tennessee until 1825, when the Two-Seed churches came into existence as the result of what is known as the Antinomian Controversy.

There are 152 organizations, 135 church edifices, valued at $56,755, and 8254 communicants. Of the latter, 5065 are in Tennessee; the rest are divided between Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, and Texas. The average seating capacity of the edifices is 304, and their average value $422. are occupied as places of worship. capacity of 1275.

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12. THE PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS.

Those who are variously known as "Primitive," "Old School," "Regular," and "Anti-Mission" Baptists are so called because of their opposition, begun more than fifty years ago, to the establishment of Sunday-schools, mission, Bible, and other societies, which they regard as modern and human institutions unwarranted by the Scriptures and unnecessary.

Opposition among Baptists to the missionary and other church societies was manifested some years before the division began. In 1835 the Chemung Association, having churches in New York and Pennsylvania, adopted a resolution declaring that as a number of associations with which it had been in correspondence had "departed from the simplicity of the doctrine and practice of the gospel of Christ," "uniting themselves with the world and what are falsely called benevolent societies founded upon a monied basis," and preaching a gospel "differing from the gospel of Christ," it would not continue in fellowship with them. It urged all Baptists who could not approve the new ideas to come out and be separate from those holding them. The Baltimore (Md.) Association made a similar declaration in 1836, and a gradual separation was the result. The Warwick Association of New York issued a circular letter in 1840, which shows that a warm controversy was then in progress. This letter, which was written in behalf of the "new ideas," charged the Primitive brethren with holding hyper-Calvinistic doctrines, and insisted that their predestinarianism was such as practically to deny any responsibility in man for his conduct or condition. It attributed to them statements to the effect that God carries on his

work "without the least instrumentality whatever," and that “all the preaching from John the Baptist until now, if made to bear on one unregenerated sinner," could not "quicken his poor dead soul." dead soul." The Primitive Baptists do not oppose the preaching of the gospel, but believe that God will convert the world in his own way and own good time without the aid of missionary societies.

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Primitive Baptist associations generally print in their annual minutes articles of faith, a form of constitution, and rules of order. The articles of faith, while practically the same in doctrinal view, vary in length and phraseology. of them have eleven articles, some less, some more. They declare that by Adam's fall or transgression "all his posterity became sinners in the sight of God"; that the corruption of human nature" is such that man cannot by his own free will and ability "reinstate himself in the favor of God"; that "God elected, or chose, his people in Christ before the foundation of the world"; that sinners are justified "only by the righteousness of Christ, imputed to them"; that the saints will finally persevere and "not one of them will ever be finally lost"; that "baptism, the Lord's Supper, and washing the saints' feet are ordinances of the gospel and should be continued until Christ's second coming"; that "the institutions of the day [church societies] are the works of man"; that it is therefore "wrong to join them," and that no fellowship should be had with them. An article of the constitution declines "fellowship with any church or churches" which support any "missionary, Bible, tract, or Sunday-school union society or advocates State conventions or theological schools," "any other society" formed "under the pretense of cir

culating the gospel of Christ." The Primitive Baptists have no State conventions or theological seminaries. They acknowledge no other mode of baptism than immersion, and insist that only believers are proper subjects of it, that it is a prerequisite to the Lord's Supper, and that no minister has a right to administer the ordinances unless he has been "called of God," "come under the imposition of hands by a presbytery," and is "in fellowship with the church of which he is a member."

The denomination is represented in twenty-eight States and the District of Columbia. Its strongholds are: Georgia, 18,535; Alabama, 14,903; Tennessee, 13,972; North Carolina, 11,740; and Kentucky, 10,665. It has little strength in any Northern State except Indiana and Illinois. The total of members is 121,347. There are 3222 organizations which have 2849 edifices, with a seating capacity of 899,273 and a value of $1,649,851. The average seating capacity is 312 and the average value $580.

According to the Baptist Almanac of 1844, there were in that year 184 Primitive Baptist associations, with 1622 churches, 900 ordained ministers, and 61,162 members. If these returns were correct they have gained since that date 1600 churches and about 60,000 members. While their associations usually print annual minutes, which give statistics of membership and number of churches, no general returns for the denomination are published. For many years its membership has been estimated at 45,000 by statisticians of other churches. The census tables show that this estimate was wide of the mark. There are 279

associations, of which 15 are colored. Colored members are not numerous.

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13. THE OLD TWO-SEED-IN-THE-SPIRIT PREDESTINARIAN BAPTISTS.

These are very conservative Baptists, who are not in fellowship with the Regular or Missionary, nor with the Primitive or any other body of Baptists. They are strongly Calvinistic, holding firmly to the doctrine of predestination,

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