The First Calvinistic Baptist Association in New England, 1754?–1767

Abstract

Baptist historians have frequently asserted that the first Calvinistic Baptist Association in New England was the Warren Baptist Association founded under the aegis of James Manning in 1767. Most historians are aware that an earlier association, founded in the 1690's, existed among the Six Principle General or Arminian Baptists in New England, but with the great Calvinistic reorientation in the Baptist movement following the Great Awakening this association ceased to be of any significance outside Rhode Island. Little notice has been taken, however, of the Six Pinciple Calvinistic Baptist Association which developed on the borders of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island in the 1750's to unite and serve a group of Separate-Baptist churches formed in the aftermath of the Awakening. And yet this association, short-lived though it was, merits attention. It represented the first spontaneous effort of the Separate- Baptists to seek unity and order in the confusion which followed the break-up of the Separate movement after 1754. Although it proved to be a false start, it nevertheless prepared the way for the Warren Association whose importance is acknowledged by all Baptist historians. And it is particularly interesting that the basis of the organization was agreement on the belief that the ritual of laying on of hands was essential to church membership.