The Rise of Arminian Baptists in Europe and the New World

In America today, the National Association of Free Will Baptists and the General Baptists compose most of what is known as Arminian Baptists. These Baptists have their roots in Europe and are found during the beginning stages of the United States of America. To better understand Free Will and General Baptists, one must look at their long history and explore these historical roots. It is also vital to look at the two men who were influential in the development of Arminian Baptists in the early days of America. Paul Palmer and Benjamin Randall played a major role in the rise of Arminian Baptists in America during the infancy of the United States.

Introduction to Arminianism

A Brief Biography of Jacobus Arminius

            Before exploring Arminianism and Arminian Baptists, it is important to know about the individual for whom the belief system is named. Jacobus Arminius was born in 1559 and was given the birth name of Jacob Harmenszoon.[1] He was raised in Oudewater, Holland, and was originally educated by a priest, Theodore Aemilius, who had Protestant leanings. Once Aemilius passed away, he began to be educated by Rudolphus Snellius, who was a university professor. He studied under him for about a year after his family was killed by the Spanish forces who destroyed his hometown.[2] Eventually, Jacobus received his formal education at the University of Leiden. After graduation, he went to Geneva to study under Calvin’s son-in-law, Theodore Beza. Although it is unknown whether Arminius agreed with Beza’s views on predestination at the time, so extreme that some referred to them later as hyper-Calvinism, he did express admiration of Beza’s brilliance.[3]

            Arminius was ordained in 1588 and married in 1590 to Lijset Reael. He and his wife would eventually have a daughter and four sons who survived after losing two children in infancy.[4] Soon after his marriage to Lijset, he was accused of anti-Calvinist views. A fellow minister named Petrus Plancius labeled Arminius a Pelagian and accused him of moving away from the Reformed positions on predestination and perfectionism. Arminius insisted that his doctrine was in line with the Reformed Church. For the next decade, he avoided theological controversy. During this time, he served as a pastor and wrote extensively on theology. In 1603, he was appointed as professor of theology at Leiden and soon after was awarded a doctorate in theology. He would spend his last six years here, struggling with tuberculosis and theological controversy.[5]

A Brief Overview of His Theology and Soteriology

Dr. Leroy Forlines states, “Very few individuals throughout history have had so many viewpoints wrongly attributed to them as Arminius.”[6] As already shown, various accusations were thrown at him regarding Pelagianism, which he refuted. Others would refer to him as being semi-Pelagian. Dr. Matthew Pinson, who had done significant research into his life and teachings, notes this:

Because Arminius has usually been incorrectly associated with semi-Pelagianism, most writers, both Arminian and Calvinist, have tended to dissociate his theology from that of Augustine. An investigation of his theological writings, however, reveals that he held to an Augustinian view of depravity and inability that was within the bounds of Reformed confessional theology.

Arminius openly affirmed and defended the Reformed statements on original sin and total depravity in the Belgic Confession of Faith and Heidelberg Catechism. He was clear in his affirmation of the Reformed account of what would later be called total depravity.[7]

Arminius certainly believed in the freedom of the human will, but he also understood that this will was not free from the influence of sin. Pinson quotes from Arminius’ own writings, which reveal:

“The free will of man towards the true good is not only wounded, maimed, infirm, bent, and (nuatum) weakened; but it is also (captivatum) imprisoned, destroyed, and lost: And its powers are not only debilitated and useless unless they be assisted by grace, but it has no powers whatever except such are excited by divine grace.”[8]

            Another important element regarding what he taught had to do with conditional election. Picirilli notes in his work that Arminius disagreed with Calvinists regarding unconditional election. He understood the Scriptures to teach the “election of believers, " meaning that election is conditioned on faith. He also insisted that God’s foreknowledge of man’s choices did not cause or make those choices necessary.”[9] Furthermore, Arminius believed that predestination made God the author of sin, which is impossible.[10]

            A third point of contention that Arminius is known for, and often misunderstood, is his view of the doctrine of the atonement. Although some refer to themselves as Arminians who believe in the governmental view of the atonement, Arminius himself did not believe in this view. He believed the same concept of the atonement reiterated in the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism. In short, God extends His mercy to sinners by means of Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice. This enables Him to satisfy His justice.[11] 

            Much more could be said about the theology of Jacobus Arminius. One author summarizes his beliefs this way: “1) God extends his offer of salvation to all who will believe, 2) Jesus Christ died for all people, 3) the Holy Spirit enables people to achieve a right relationship with God, 4) people can resist God’s saving grace, and 5) Christians may [forfeit] their salvation.”[12] It’s quite sad that many church history and theology books do not recognize what a goldmine of information he offers to the body of Christ. While some Arminians today do not consider themselves connected to the “Reformed” label, many understand that Calvinism does not have a monopoly on the Reformed movement. The movement of Arminianism would spread and find its way to the shores of the New World.

The “Thomas” Connection: Connecting Arminian Baptists to the New World

Thomas Helwys (c. 1575-1616)

            The Essential Lexham Dictionary of Church History summarizes Thomas Helwys’ life this way, “General Baptist pastor, theologian, and defender of universal religious toleration.”[13] Thomas Helwys was born around 1575 to Edmund and Margaret Helwys in Nottinghamshire, England. He was raised in a Protestant home and entered the legal profession later in life. He married Joan Ashmore, and they parented seven children. He and his wife were known to open the doors of their home to community leaders, and during one such interaction, he met Separatist pastor John Smyth. Before meeting Smyth, Helwys had been involved in the Church of England. But through Smyth’s influence and others, Helwys became involved with Separatist congregations. Due to severe persecution, the congregations that Hewlys interacted with fled to Amsterdam around 1608.

            During this time, Smyth and Hewlys also recognized the errors of infant baptism and Calvinism. Smyth baptized himself, as well as members of his congregation. They became known as “General Baptists” because they believed in the general provision of salvation for all through the universal call and grace of God, who desired all to be saved.[14] They established what is believed to be the first Baptist church in Amsterdam.[15] Smyth and Hewlys eventually went their separate ways because of Smyth’s subsequent adoption of Waterlander Mennonite heresies about the person of Christ and other issues. Hewlys and his congregation returned to England in 1612 and established the First Baptist Church near London. As a result, he is the founder of what is known today as the Baptist movement, particularly what would become known as General Baptists, in contrast to the Particular Baptists who would arise about a generation later.

            Although not provable, there is a great possibility that Jacobus Arminius directly influenced Hewlys’ beliefs about salvation. When the controversy raged about Arminius’ doctrine, Hewlys lived in the same general area of the Netherlands. According to Pinson, Hewlys’ soteriology is more akin to Arminius than anyone else in the seventeenth century. Hewlys’ ecclesiology also greatly impacted the churches that would embrace his beliefs for generations.[16] Hewlys’ work entitled The Mystery of Iniquity, in which he delivered a special message to King Charles II in one copy. He said as follows in the preface of that copy:

Hear, O King, and despise not the counsel of the poor, and let their complaints come before thee. The king is a mortal man and not God: therefore hath no power over the immortal souls of his subjects, to make laws and ordinances for them, and to set spiritual Lords over them. If the king have authority to make spiritual Lords and laws, then he is an immortal God, and not a mortal man. O King, be not seduced by deceivers to sin against God whom thou oughtest to obey, nor against thy poor subjects who ought and will obey thee in all things with body, life and goods, or else let their lives be taken from the earth. God save the King. Spittlefield, near London. Tho. Helwys.[17]

Sadly, he passed away in Newgate prison around forty years of age because of his opposition to the Church of England.[18] In his short life, he founded General Baptists and would impact all of Baptist history.[19]

Thomas Lambe (c. 1600-c. 1663)

            The Baptist movement almost disappeared into obscurity after Hewlys and his successor passed off the scene. However, around 1640, a new vitality emerged, and a new leader, Thomas Lambe. While little is known about Lambe’s background and specific birth year, history does reveal he had little formal training. He married Dorcas Pretince in 1619, and in 1636, they were excommunicated from their church because they refused to have their child baptized. Sometime during the 1640’s, Lambe moved to London and began leading the Bell Alley congregation. During his time in London, he produced literature concerning believer’s baptism and even publicly debated his views on this matter. As a result, he became the most well-known Baptist in London at this time.

            Lambe promoted believer’s baptism and was a proponent of general atonement, much like Hewlys. However, he and Hewlys did differ on certain aspects of soteriology. Lambe believed in “particular predestination” but was often accused of being an Arminian because of his view that Christ died for all. Although Lambe did not believe in Arminian theology, many churches planted by his movement moved in that direction over time. It seems that they found the concept of General Atonement inconsistent with the doctrine of Calvinism.

            As the Baptist influence grew, the King of England’s opposition to the movement grew. David Lytle says, “There is reasonable evidence to suggest that Lambe was imprisoned in 1663 and may have died soon after. Like Thomas Hewlys before him, his convictions led him to his death.”[20]

Thomas Grantham (1633-1692)

            Little is known about Thomas Grantham’s early history. Historians suggest his birth occurred sometime in the vicinity of 1633 or 1634. Grantham’s parents were Anglican, and Thomas’ father was concerned about his Baptist leanings. Grantham professed faith in Christ as a teenager and later became associated with a church in the district of Lincolnshire. This congregation eventually separated due to differing beliefs regarding baptism. Grantham sided with those who held to believer’s baptism by immersion and eventually became a part of a General Baptist Church, where he was baptized at age nineteen. Although little is known about his personal life, his last will and testament revealed that he was a widower with seven children and others who died in infancy.

            Grantham was self-educated and became the pastor of a congregation in the South Marsh area and ministered to surrounding churches. As a result of his ministry, he found himself in and out of prison during the 1660’s.[21] It was also during this time he became a prolific writer and debater. In 1678, Grantham authored the first Baptist systematic, Christianismus Primitivus.[22]

Grantham’s soteriology was nearly identical to Hewlys and Arminius himself. Pinson notes, “his primary contribution to the Arminian Baptist tradition is his theology. His distinctives…lay in the unique Reformed-leaning version of Arminian theology he articulated, combined with his Baptist vision of the church.”[23] In Pinson’s biographical chapter about Grantham, he goes on to say:

He differed from the Calvinists in his doctrines of election, the extent of atonement, the resistibility of grace, and the perseverance of the saints. On these subjects he agreed with his fellow Arminians. Yet he differed substantially from many of his Arminian counterparts on the doctrines of sin and depravity, human inability, the nature of atonement and justification through faith, and the perseverance of the saints. Grantham stridently avoided a semi-Pelagianism that would take the focus off the sovereign grace of God and place it on humanity’s own merit.

Until the last few years, his name was found only in obscure older Baptist histories… However, Grantham distinguished himself as the most influential leader and theologian of the seventeenth century.[24]

Persecution in England

            King Charles II, who reigned from 1660-1685, ended religious toleration. Those who objected to the rites of the Church of England were often persecuted and even imprisoned.[25] One graphic example of Charles II’s cruelty is found in The Baptist Encyclopedia. Here, it is noted that Rev. John James, who was what was called a Seventh-Day Baptist, was “hung, drawn, and quartered.” His “quarters” were placed on the city gates and his head was placed on a pole across from the meeting house where he served. He was brutally massacred under King Charles II’s rule.[26]

John Bunyan and William Penn were among those imprisoned during this difficult time. William Penn was so disgruntled that he asked the king to grant him land in the New World to settle a debt the king owed his father. As a result, William Penn founded what is known today as Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania would become a haven for those seeking religious freedom and tolerance.[27] Others followed suit and left for the New World, hoping to be able to worship and serve God according to God’s Word and the dictates of their conscience. Another example of Charles II’s leniency on religious tolerance in the New World can be seen in the charter he granted, entitled “Proprietary Charter of Carolina.” William Davidson commented this about the charter, “Except for the simple requirement that settlers stop short of disturbing the peace and well-being of the colony, the religious freedom of Carolina was quite complete.”[28]

Arminian Baptist Forefathers in Colonial America

            As more and more believers fled to the New World to avoid the growing persecution in England, the Reformed doctrines of the Protestants came with them. Some areas were more open to Calvinism and/or Arminianism than others. Paul Palmer and Benjamin Randall became two of the most well-known Arminian Baptists during the infancy of the Colonies.

Paul Palmer’s Influence in the South

            Although records are scarce, historians believe Palmer was born around 1680 in Maryland. Before settling in North Carolina, he also traveled to Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Virginia. After his first wife passed, he married Joanna Paterson, a wealthy widow and landholder. His wife Joanna was the stepdaughter of a General Baptist leader, and in 1722, Palmer broke with the Quakers and became involved with the General Baptists.

Palmer traveled up and down the eastern seaboard preaching the Gospel and spent much time managing his estate and surveying land. Nothing is known of his education, but it is said that he authored a book and left a small library to his daughter. Sadly, Palmer was also a slaveholder, which is a scar for many Baptists in the South. As Lytle notes, “Frequently those who pursued religious and economic freedoms the most earnestly were willing to deny the same to others.”[29]

            North Carolina had become a haven of sorts for those who had been driven out of Anglican-influenced Virginia. In The Baptist Encyclopedia, Morgan Edwards is recorded as suggesting Baptists were in NC as early as 1695. In the same encyclopedia, someone identified as Dr. Hawks reveals that Paul Palmer organized the first church around 1727-1729 in Camden County[30], also known as the Chowan Precinct. Later, Palmer established a second church in Pasquotank, and a few years later, another church was begun in New River. Historical evidence reveals Palmer’s request to begin the second church; a copy can be found in the University of North Carolina library. It reads as follows:

North Carolina

To the Worshipfull Court of Pascotank Precinct Now Setting

The Humble Petition of us the Subscribers Humbly Sheweth That Whereas There is a Congregation of the People Calld Baptis Gathered In this Precinct meeting together for Religious Worship In ye Dewelling House of William Burgess on the North Side of Pascotank on the head of Ramonds Creek, he ye said Burgess having granted ye Same for use of ye said meeting we Pray ye Same may be recorded and we ye humble Petitioners in duty bound Should Pray

W Burgess

Paul Palmer

Frances Brockit

Thomas Heonrton

William Jones

Philip Torksey

Robert Wasson

Charles Leutrough[31]

By the time Palmer passed off the scene, it is believed he and his associates had established eleven different churches. Some of these established churches later became a part of the Southern Baptists, while the remaining churches would later be called Free Will Baptists. These Free Will Baptist Churches would become the fountainhead of what would eventually become the National Association of Free Will Baptists, Pentecostal Free Will Baptists, and the United American Free Will Baptist Conference.

            As mentioned earlier, Palmer’s father-in-law was an influential General Baptist leader, Benjamin Laker. Lake immigrated to the New World and moved to the Albemarle Sound region around 1680. He had a vast library, including Christianismus Primitivus, written by Thomas Grantham. Grantham influenced Laker with his writings, and Laker influenced his son-in-law, Paul Palmer. After almost a lifetime of church planting, traveling, preaching, and managing his estate, Palmer died around 1742. [32]

Benjamin Randall’s Influence in the North

            Benjamin Randall was born into a Congregationalist home in 1749 in New Castle, New Hampshire. In Randall’s journal, he reflects upon his memories of praying at his bedside as a boy when he says:

I felt as if I wanted something more than I could express in those words. And my heart was so affected that I covered up my little head and wept; and tryed to pray in other words, which would more fully express my feelings. From that time I practiced praying in secret, on my knees, or prostrate on my face, altho’ I had never known that kneeling was joined as a duty.…[33]

Evidently, his parents greatly influenced him, and God was working in his heart at an early age. As a young man, Randall was also influenced by the famous traveling preacher George Whitefield. In September of 1770, he heard Whitefield and left angry and unimpressed. John Buzzell, one of Randall’s successors, later wrote a work on Randall’s life, and he quoted Randall as saying this about Whitefield:

Although Mr. Whitefield’s coming was so disgustful to me, yet as almost everybody else turned out to hear him, I also went; but more as a spectator, than with a desire to reap any benefits, for I was resolved that his preaching should have no effect on me.…[34]

He rejected Whitefield’s preaching style but was overrun with unexplained anguish and grief when he heard of Whitefield’s passing just a few days later. This caused Randall to do some serious introspection of his own spiritual condition, and soon after, he surrendered to Christ.

            In 1772, Benjamin and his wife Joanna became members of a local Congregational church but soon became frustrated with the church’s lack of spiritual zeal. He separated from this congregation three years later.[35] He also realized the problems with closed communion[36] and infant baptism. He surrendered himself for baptism on August 14, 1776. At that time, he became a member of a Baptist church in Berwick, Maine.

Between 1772-1777, he hosted weekly meetings in his home. He felt the call to preach and began doing so wherever the doors were opened. The citizens of New Durham, New Hampshire, invited him to establish a church and become the minister. After moving there, he began to implore the citizens to reject infant baptism and be baptized as adults. Some caught wind of Randall’s belief that salvation and atonement were available for everyone. Still, the Berwick congregation did not dismiss him from fellowship, and he continued to preach the doctrine of unlimited atonement throughout New Durham. He was officially ordained in 1780, and on June 30 he and six others signed the articles of faith that established the church in New Durham. Although the church was officially called the Church of Christ in New Durham, those outside the congregation referred to its members as “Freewillers.” Eventually, that term was adopted by many of the churches that Randall helped establish.

Randall continued to minister in other places as God opened the door. After holding a few services in a particular area, Randall would encourage the gathered believers to begin new congregations. These churches were connected with the church he began in New Durham. By the end of 1781, fourteen new congregations began in New Hampshire and Maine. Randall would travel to these churches occasionally to ensure doctrinal purity, and by 1783, all the congregations came together for a joint meeting. As a result, Quarterly Meetings were also established in various locations. Randall lived twenty-eight years after his ordination, and during that time, he tirelessly preached, established new churches, and took time to monitor the spiritual vitality of the congregations he had begun.[37] According to the book Baptists and the Bible, New England had at least one hundred thirty Free Will Churches by Randall’s death in 1808.[38]

Conclusion

            Jacobus Arminius’ theology and soteriology impacted generations throughout Europe and the New World. It is without question that the two primary influencers in early America, as it relates to Arminian Baptists, are Benjamin Randall and Paul Palmer. Palmer’s fingerprints were found all over the Carolinas during the early days of our nation's history, while Randall's influence grew throughout New England in the years after the Great Awakening. Today, North American Arminian Baptists are still being impacted and blessed by the seeds they planted in the early days of the United States of America.

[1] J. Matthew Pinson, Arminian and Baptist: Explorations in a Theological Tradition (Nashville: Randall House, 2015), 4.

[2] Robert E. Picirilli, Grace, Faith, Free Will: Contrasting Views of Salvation: Calvinism and Arminianism (Nashville: Randall House, 2002), 3.

[3] Ibid., 4-5.

[4] Ibid., 8.

[5] Pinson, Arminian and Baptist, 4-5.

[6] F. Leroy Forlines, Classical Arminianism: A Theology of Salvation, (Nashville: Randall House, 2011), 22.

[7] J. Matthew Pinson, 40 Questions about Arminianism, ed. Benjamin L. Merkle, 40 Questions Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2022), 140–141.

 [8] Ibid., 141–142.

[9] Picirilli, Grace, Faith, Free Will, 10.

[10] Nathan P. Feldmeth, Pocket Dictionary of Church History: Over 300 Terms Clearly and Concisely Defined, The IVP Pocket Reference Series (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2008), 17.

[11] Pinson, 40 Questions about Ariminianism, 86.

[12] Sharon Rusten with E. Michael, The Complete Book of When & Where in the Bible and throughout History (Wheaton, IL: Michael E Rusten, 2005), 251.

[13] J. F. Owens, “Helwys, Thomas,” ed. Michael A. G. Haykin, The Essential Lexham Dictionary of Church History (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2022).

[14] J. Matthew Pinson, Arminian Baptists: A Biographical History of Free Will Baptists, ed. David Lytle and Charles Cook (Nashville: Randall House Publications, 2022), 7-17.

[15] C. Douglas Weaver and Rady Roldán-Figueroa, eds., Exploring Christian Heritage: A Reader in History and Theology, Second Edition. (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2017), 138.

[16] Pinson, Arminian Baptist, 7-17.

[17] L. Russ Bush and Tom J. Nettles, Baptists and the Bible, 40th Anniversary Edition., The Legacy Series of Seminary Hill Press (Fort Worth, TX: Seminary Hill Press, 2020), 18.

[18] Owens, The Essential Lexham Dictionary of Church History.

[19] Pinson, Arminian Baptists, 17.

[20] David Lytle, Arminian Baptists: A Biographical History of Free Will Baptists, ed. David Lytle and Charles Cook (Nashville: Randall House Publications, 2022), 23-34.

[21] Pinson, Arminian Baptists, 65-70.

[22] Rhyne R. Putman, “Baptists, Sola Scriptura, and the Place of the Christian Tradition,” in Baptists and the Christian Tradition: Toward an Evangelical Baptist Catholicity, ed. Matthew Y. Emerson, Christopher W. Morgan, and R. Lucas Stamps (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2020).

[23] Pinson, Arminian Baptists, 65-70.

[24] Ibid., 71.

[25] Rusten and Michael, The Complete Book of When & Where in the Bible and throughout History, 282.

[26] William Cathcart, ed., The Baptist Encyclopædia (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1881), 592–593.

[27] Ibid., 284.

[28] William F. Davidson, The Free Will Baptists in History (Nashville, TN: Randall House Publications, 2001), 40.

[29] Lytle, Arminian Baptists, 96-98.

[30] Cathcart, The Baptist Encyclopædia, 853.

[31] Copied from the original, now a part of the Ruth Hathaway Jones Papers in the Southern Historical Collection of the University of North Carolina Library. A copy may also be found in Hathaway, Register, I, 293. As quoted in William F. Davidson, The Free Will Baptists in History (Nashville, TN: Randall House Publications, 2001), 30.

[32] Lytle, Arminian Baptists, 98-104.

[33] John Buzzell, “An Extract of the Experience of Elder Benjamin Randall. (Taken from a manuscript) Written by Himself, Corrected by the Editor,” A Religious Magazine, VI (February 1822), 206. As quoted in William F. Davidson, The Free Will Baptists in History (Nashville, TN: Randall House Publications, 2001), 127.

[34] John Buzzell, Life of Elder Benjamin Randall (Limerick, Maine: Hobbs, Woodman & Co., 1827), 11:  “Apostolic Succession,” The Morning Star, XXXIV (April 27, 1859), 1.

[35] Scott E. Bryant, Arminian Baptists: A Biographical History of Free Will Baptists, ed. David Lytle and Charles Cook (Nashville: Randall House Publications, 2022), 129-131.

[36] Samuel Macauley Jackson, ed., The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Embracing Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology and Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Biography from the Earliest Times to the Present Day (New York; London: Funk & Wagnalls, 1908–1914), 476.

[37] Bryant, Arminian Baptists, 132-139.

[38] Bush and Nettles, Baptists and the Bible, 369–370.