Baptists first appeared in North America in the early 17th century.[5] Through the influence of the Philadelphia Baptist Association (org. 1707), the influx of members to the churches from the Great Awakenings, and the union of the disparate Regular and Separate Baptists, by the early 19th century Baptists would become an important American denomination. This growth was not without its pangs, and by 1820 these Baptists were embroiled in an intense and sometimes bitter "missions" controversy. Much of the controversy centered around the newly formed Baptist Board of Foreign Missions.
Elder Daniel Parker (1781–1844) was one of the earlier ministers to speak out against the "missions" movement. In 1820, he released a booklet entitled "A Public Address to the Baptist Society, and Friends of Religion in General, on the Principle and Practice of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions for the United States of America." The Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, organized at Philadelphia in 1814, is best known as the Triennial Convention, but its official name was the "General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States." Objections by Baptists to the Convention were based on both soteriology and ecclesiology. Parker was a strict predestinarian, but his chief objections in the booklet are based on ecclesiology - for example, "They have violated the right or government of the Church of Christ in forming themselves into a body and acting without of the union." Several important preachers on the east coast led in the "anti-missions" movement, but Elder Parker was the leader on the frontier, and probably spoke best to the common man.
It appears that during this time, Parker was also formulating views on God and man that he would first release in his Views on the Two Seeds (1826). Parker taught that all persons are either of the "good seed" of God or of the "bad seed" of Satan (the children of the good seed are roughly equivalent to the "elect" of Calvinism, and those of the bad seed similar to the "non-elect"), and were predestined that way from the beginning. Therefore mission activity was not only unbiblical, but as a practical matter useless, since the "decision" was already made prior to birth.
It seems that Parker spread his "two seeds" far and wide, and a goodly number of the "anti-missions" movement accepted his doctrine, though it never achieved anything near majority status. In 1834, Daniel Parker and others migrated to the Texas frontier. Texas was still part of Mexico and the government would not allow organization of Protestant (non-Catholic) churches in the region. Elder Parker determined to organize a church before he arrived in Texas. The Pilgrim Predestinarian Regular Baptist Church was constituted July 26, 1833 in Illinois. It still exists today, near Elkhart, Texas, though as "Primitive" rather than "Two-Seed." Daniel Parker's name is almost synonymous with "anti-missions", but he was one of the important frontier preachers in Texas, leading in the organization of about nine churches in the eastern part of the state.
After the "missionary" and "anti-missionary" controversy brought division among Baptists, the "anti-missionaries" were called by names such as Old School, Old Regular, Predestinarian, and Primitive (as well as the pejorative "hardshells"). The Two-Seed churches were often connected with the Primitive Baptists and seem to have been so until late in the 19th century. By that time, most Primitive Baptists had excluded the "Two-Seeders" for holding heretical doctrines. However, in southern Georgia, at least, according to historian John G. Crowley, one may still find Two-Seed doctrines expounded by Primitive Baptists "if one knows where to go and what to listen for."[6] Though they hold much in common with Primitive Baptists and often are so identified by outsiders, the Two-Seed churches do not consider themselves Primitive Baptists.
Following Parker's death
The Two-Seed theological stance is known in some circles as Hyper-Calvinism, i.e., only evangelize to those who can be discerned as being members of the elect. This group is extremely conservative. As one observer noted, "'Innovations' have never touched these people."[7] In 1845, shortly after Parker's death, this group experienced its first major schism. Central Kentucky's Elder Thomas P. Dudley, a member of a church of the Licking Creek Association, produced a work on "Two Souls" to supplement Parker's on the two seeds.[8]
Baptism is by immersion.[9] The only other ordinance this group practices is the Lord's Supper with foot washing.[10] One commentator stated that this group was "so Calvinistic that they would exclude John Calvin himself."[11]
The 1906 Census of Religious Bodies, there were nineteen churches in Tennessee, ten in Arkansas, nine in Kentucky, five in Georgia, four in Indiana, three in Florida, two each in Alabama and Texas, and one in Missouri with a total membership of 781. The Bear Creek, Bethlehem, Caney Fork, Drakes Creek, Elm Fork, Lookout Mountain, Pilgrims Rest, Richland Creek, and Suwannee River associations were affiliated with this movement.[12] The New Hope Predestinarian Baptist Association of Illinois existed in 1877, but, was evidently extinct by 1906.[13]
In 1936, this body reported two churches in urban settings and fourteen in rural areas. The membership stood at 201. One of the urban churches (in Alabama) had 57 members and was certainly the largest single congregation. Local churches existed in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Previously churches existed in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, and Missouri. Three associations were also enumerated: Caney Fork, Drakes Creek, and Richland Creek. In 1916, there had been nine associations.[14] For some reason, the congregations in Texas and Indiana are not included in the 1936 report (they were still in existence) although they had been listed in 1906 and 1916. Likewise, the Eel River Association, which folded in 1941, is omitted. Therefore, the figure of 201 adherents in 1936 is lower than it should have been.[15]
Current
Remnants of Two-Seed doctrine can still be heard among a few Primitive Baptists. In 2003, there appeared to be four remaining churches of the Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists (two in Texas, and one each in Indiana and Tennessee) with approximately 80 members. Two of the churches participate together in the Trinity River Association, and two are independent.
Baptist historian Albert W. Wardin Jr. reported the following statistics in an article published in the June 22, 2002, issue of Baptist History and Heritage:
The U.S. religious census of 1906 recorded 781 members with 279 in Tennessee in nineteen churches, the most in any state. Thirty years later, Tennessee had ninety-eight members in nine churches. Today, nationwide there are only five congregations left. Two are members of the Trinity River Association which includes the Little Hope Church near Jacksboro, Texas, and the Otter Creek Church in Putnam County, Indiana, with a total membership in 2001 of forty members. The Little Hope Church split in the 1940s, and the division meets in a home near Bryson, Texas. Another congregation, Mt. Moriah in Limestone County, Alabama, has only three members, existing practically in name only. The fourth congregation is the Concord Church in the Highland District near McMinnville, Tennessee, with ten members and an average attendance each Sunday from twelve to fifteen. Like other Primitive Baptists, it has no Sunday school and uses no musical instruments in worship. The Lord's Supper is observed annually with foot washing. Wine is used in the supper. It belongs to no association.[16]
In 2011, Valdosta State University announced that Dr. John G. Crowley, an assistant professor of history there, was writing the first comprehensive history of the Two-Seed movement[17]
Cultural references
In his 1945 supplement to The American Language, H. L. Mencken singled out the Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptist Church as an example of the proliferation of "dissenting" Christian denominations in the United States.[18]
The Church of God, with headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee, United States, is an international Holiness-Pentecostal Christian denomination. The Church of God's publishing house is Pathway Press.
The Independent Baptist Church of America traces its foundation back to a church organization by Swedish Free Baptist immigrants at Dassel, Minnesota in 1893. The body was initially known as the Scandinavian Baptist Church in America. In 1926 the denomination had 13 churches with 222 members. The name Independent Baptist Church of America was adopted in 1927. In 1936, there were 5 churches in Minnesota with 82 members. In 1956, there were 2 churches with 106 members, and down to 70 members in 1963. The church ceased to exist in the 1970s.
The National Primitive Baptist Convention, USA is a group of Black Primitive Baptists that has adopted progressive methods and policies not in keeping with the historical and theological background of Primitive Baptists in general. The Convention was organized in Huntsville, Alabama in 1907. These churches have adopted the use of instrumental music, Sunday Schools, revivals and church auxiliaries. The idea of a national convention is itself foreign to standard Primitive Baptist concepts. They still adhere the Calvinistic or Predestinarian teachings held by other Primitive Baptists, but in a more progressive manner and are similar to the black National Baptist Conventions. The NPBC churches continue with Primitive Baptist usage in retaining the observance of feet washing as an ordinance of the church, and in calling their ministers "elder." These churches are not in fellowship with the remaining "old school" white Primitive Baptists. Most of the National Primitive Baptist Convention churches are located in the southern United States.
Primitive Baptists – also known as Regular Baptists, Old School Baptists, Foot Washing Baptists, or, derisively, Hard Shell Baptists – are conservative Baptists adhering to a degree of Calvinist beliefs who coalesced out of the controversy among Baptists in the early 19th century over the appropriateness of mission boards, tract societies, and temperance societies. Primitive Baptists are a subset of the Calvinistic Baptist tradition. The adjective "primitive" in the name is used in the sense of "original".
The Separate Baptists in Christ are a denomination of Separate Baptists found mostly in United States.
The Six-Principle Baptists is a Baptist Christian denomination in United States.
The Old Regular Baptist denomination is one of the oldest in Appalachia with roots in both the Regular and Separate Baptists of the American Colonies and the Particular Baptist of Great Britain. This group has seen a marked decline in its membership during the last two decades. Part of the decline may be attributable to orthodox biblical interpretations like a dress code where men must wear long pants, not shorts, and women must wear long dresses. Other such interpretations include women not being allowed to cut their hair or speak publicly on church business, although women can frequently shout while praising. Members who do not comply with the strict dress code and norms face being "churched", i.e., being kicked out of the congregation and possibly shunned. The Old Regular Baptist Faith and order with her many branches and factions still remains the dominant Faith in some rural Central Appalachian Counties along or near the Kentucky Virginia border. In most churches, the congregation maintains a collection of photographs of deceased members.
Regular Baptists are "a moderately Calvinistic Baptist denomination that is found chiefly in the southern U.S., represents the original English Baptists before the division into Particular and General Baptists, and observes closed communion and foot washing", according to Merriam Webster. This definition describes Old Regular Baptists, not those who formed as a result of the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy.
Free Will Baptists or Free Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal establishment is widely linked to the English theologian, Thomas Helwys who led the Baptist movement to believe in general atonement. He was an advocate of religious liberty at a time when to hold to such views could be dangerous and punishable by death. He died in prison as a consequence of the religious persecution of Protestant dissenters under King James I.
The General Association of General Baptists is an association of Baptist Christian churches in the United States. It is affiliated with the National Association of Evangelicals and the Baptist World Alliance. The headquarters are located in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where they operate Stinson Press.
The Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT), more commonly known as the Texas Baptists, is a Baptist Christian denomination in the U.S. state of Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist World Alliance. Texas Baptist offices are located in the city of Dallas, though convention staff are located across the state. According to a denomination census released in 2023, it claimed 2,038,537 members and 5,375 churches
United Baptist is name of several diverse Baptist groups of Christianity in the United States and Canada.
The Covenanted Baptist Church of Canada is a small body of Predestinarian Baptists in Canada with Scottish roots.
The Church of God (New Dunkers) was a religious group that was formed in 1848 by dissidents of the Schwarzenau Brethren (now known as Church of the Brethren).
The doctrine of the serpent seed, also known as the dual-seed or the two-seedline doctrine, is a controversial and fringe Christian religious belief which explains the biblical account of the fall of man by stating that the Serpent mated with Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the offspring of their union was Cain. This event resulted in the creation of two races of people: the wicked descendants of the Serpent who were destined for damnation, and the righteous descendants of Adam who were destined to have eternal life. The doctrine frames human history as a conflict between these two races in which the descendants of Adam will eventually triumph over the descendants of the Serpent.
The Primitive Baptist Universalists are Christian Universalist congregations located primarily in the central Appalachian region of the United States. They are popularly known as "No-Hellers" due to their belief that there is no Hell per se, but that Hell is actually experienced in this life.
Missionary Baptists are a group of Baptists that grew out of the missionary / anti-missionary controversy that divided Baptists in the United States in the early part of the 19th century, with Missionary Baptists following the pro-missions movement position. Those who opposed the innovations became known as anti-missions or Primitive Baptists. Since arising in the 19th century, the influence of Primitive Baptists waned as "Missionary Baptists became the mainstream". Missionary Baptists do not constitute a distinct denomination, and many affiliate with the Southern Baptist Convention.
Daniel Parker was an American minister in the Primitive Baptist Church in the Southern United States and the founder of numerous churches including Pilgrim Primitive Baptist Church at Elkhart, Texas, the location of the Parker family cemetery. As an elder, Parker led a group who separated from that church and formed the Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists. Parker is one of the earliest documented proponents of the doctrine of Serpent Seed among Protestant Christianity.
The Latter Rain Movement was a late nineteenth-century radical Holiness theology and Revivalist phenomenon which began in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Elements of the movement gave rise to and merged with what would become incipient modern Pentecostalism.
Kehukee Primitive Baptist Church is a historic Primitive Baptist church building in Halifax County, North Carolina located about a mile south of Scotland Neck off NC Route 125. It was built in 1872 and is a simple gable-front frame structure subsequently sheathed in weatherboard. A Gothic Revival style frame tower was added in 1901. Also on the property is a church cemetery established in 1889.
References
↑ Crowley, John G. Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South: 1815 to Present. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1998, pp. 118-121. Hereafter cited as Crowley.
↑ 1906 Census "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists". in United States Department of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of the Census. E. Dana Durand, Director. Special Report—Religious Bodies, 1906: Part II Separate Denominations: History, Description, and Statistics. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1910, Vol. 2, pp.155–157.
↑ Clark, Elmer Talmadge. The Small Sects in America. Nashville, TN: Cokesbury Press, 1937, p. 249.
↑ Sparks, Elder John. The Roots of Appalachian Christianity: The Life and Legacy of Elder Shubal Stearns. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2001, p. 246.
↑ Evans, M. G. "Immersionists and Church Union" in Twenty-ninth Annual Session of the Baptist Congress Held in the First Baptist Church, At Atlantic City, N. J.—November 14, 15, and 16, 1911. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, p. 137.
↑ Albert W. Wardin, Jr. ″Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists: a Small Baptist Body.″ Baptist History and Heritage. June 22, 2002
↑ Carroll, Ref. H. K., D.D. "Greetings." in The Baptist World Alliance Second Congress Philadelphia, June 19–25, 1911. Record of Proceedings Published under the Auspices of the Philadelphia Committee. Philadelphia, PA: Harper and Brothers Company, 1911, p. 187.
↑ 1906 Census "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists". in United States Department of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of the Census. E. Dana Durand, Director. Special Report—Religious Bodies, 1906: Part II Separate Denominations: History, Description, and Statistics. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1910, Vol. 2, pp.155–157.
1936 census "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists". in United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. Dr. T. H. Murphy, Supervisor. Religious Bodies, 1936: Volume II Part 1 Denominations A to J: Statistics, History, Doctrine Organization and Work. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1941, Vol. 2, Part 1 pp. 234-236.
↑ Miller, Terry E. "Voices from the Past: The Singing and Preaching at Otter Creek Church." The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 88, No. 349 (July-Sept. 1975), pp. 268.
↑ Albert W. Wardin Jr. ″Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists: a Small Baptist Body.″ Baptist History and Heritage. June 22, 2002
Carroll, Ref. H. K., D.D. "Greetings." in The Baptist World Alliance Second Congress Philadelphia, June 19–25, 1911. Record of Proceedings Published under the Auspices of the Philadelphia Committee. Philadelphia, PA: Harper and Brothers Company, 1911, p.185-188.
Clark, Elmer Talmadge. The Small Sects in America. Nashville, TN: Cokesbury Press, 1937.
Crowley, John G. Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South: 1815 to the Present. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1999. Hardcover ISBN978-0-8130-1640-5 Paperback ISBN978-0-8130-4468-2
Evans, M. G. "Immersionists and Church Union" in Twenty-ninth Annual Session of the Baptist Congress Held in the First Baptist Church, At Atlantic City, N. J.—November 14, 15, and 16, 1911. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, pp.137–141.
Miller, Terry E. "Voices from the Past: The Singing and Preaching at Otter Creek Church." The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 88, No. 349 (July-Sept. 1975), pp.266–282.
Sparks, Elder John. The Roots of Appalachian Christianity: The Life and Legacy of Elder Shubal Stearns. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2001.
"Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists". in United States Department of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of the Census. E. Dana Durand, Director. Special Report—Religious Bodies, 1906: Part II Separate Denominations: History, Description, and Statistics. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1910, Vol. 2, pp.155–157.
"Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists". in United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. Dr. T. H. Murphy, Supervisor. Religious Bodies, 1936: Volume II Part 1 Denominations A to J: Statistics, History, Doctrine Organization and Work. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1941, Vol. 2, Part 1 pp.234–236.
Wardin, Albert W., Jr. ″Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists: a Small Baptist Body.″ Baptist History and Heritage. June 22, 2002
Further reading
Crowley, John G. Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South: 1815 to the Present. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1999. Hardcover ISBN978-0-8130-1640-5 Paperback ISBN978-0-8130-4468-2
——. "The Two Seed Baptists of Georgia". Viewpoints: Georgia Baptist History, Vol. 16 (1998), pp.39–57.
Exley, Jo Ella Powell. Frontier Blood: The Saga of the Parker Family., College Station, TX: Texas A & M University Press, 2001. ISBN978-1-60344-109-4
Lee, O. Max. Daniel Parker's Doctrine of the Two Seeds. Thesis (Th. M.)—Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1962. xi, [98] leaves.
——. Frontier Religion: Elder Daniel Parker, His Religious and Political Life. Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 2002. ISBN978-1571683205
Denominational overviews
Clark, Elmer Talmadge. The Small Sects in America. Nashville, TN: Cokesbury Press, 1937, pp.248–249.
———. "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists" in The Small Sects in America. Revised edition. New York, NY: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1949, pp.203–204.
May, Lynn E., Jr. "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists." in Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1958, Vol. 2, p.1433.
Mayer, Frederick Emanuel. "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists." in The Religious Bodies of America. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1954, p.271, col. 1.
Mead, Frank S., rev. by Samuel S. Hill. Handbook of Denominations in the United States. 8th ed. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1985, p.57.
"The Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists". in United States Department of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of the Census. The Census Bulletin. Issue No. No. 375, May 12, 1893: Statistics of Churches. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1893, pp.38–41.
"Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists". in United States Department of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of the Census. E. Dana Durand, Director. Special Report—Religious Bodies, 1906: Part II Separate Denominations: History, Description, and Statistics. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1910, Vol. 2, pp.155–157.
"Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists". in United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. Rogers, Sam. L., Director. Religious Bodies, 1916: Part II Separate Denominations: History, Description, and Statistics. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1919, pp.150–152.
"Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists". in United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. Murphy, Dr. T. H., Supervisor. Religious Bodies, 1936: Volume II Part 1 Denominations A to J: Statistics, History, Doctrine Organization and Work. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1941, Vol. 2, Part 1 pp.234–238.
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