Like a wildfire: the growth of Virginia Baptists between 1765 and 1774.

In the late 1760s and early 1770s, Baptists spread throughout Virginia through the efforts of a small group of men. Though often facing intense persecution and rejection, these men recruited scores of people across Virginia, organizing new churches wherever they went.

The Separate Baptists experienced the most significant growth, increasing from approximately seven churches in 1770 to at least fifty-four churches in 1774. (1) Baptist historian Robert B. Semple compared this growth to the spread of wildfire where sparks flew off uncontrollably and started new fires in the distance. (2)

Recent historians explain this growth in different ways. Rhys Isaac contended that Baptist growth was a countercultural movement that sprang largely from widespread dissatisfaction with contemporary society, ultimately resulting in a revolt against the traditional system. (3) Jewel Spangler, however, reconsidered the nature of the early Baptist movement in Virginia, arguing that Baptist faith and practice appealed to Virginians who sought social order. (4) She further claimed that a unique set of social conditions governed Baptist growth. Unlike Semple, Spangler concluded that their success came gradually through powerful social networks, Virginians' growing familiarity with Baptist ways, and the Baptist faith's soothing ability to meet rural people's emotional needs. (5)

While Spangler's analysis clarified why eighteenth-century Virginia Baptists experienced such remarkable success, more can be said. Spangler used only two Virginia Baptist churches as test cases. Yet, Morgan Edwards, eighteenth-century Baptist chronicler, found thirty-one Baptist churches in 1772, while other estimates claim up to seventy-two Baptist churches by the mid-1770s. (6) Two churches, therefore, may not offer an accurate representation of the Baptist movement.

Between 1765 and 1774, these early Virginia Baptists made active church members out of numerous unchurched people, something that the Anglican establishment had failed to do. Moreover, they did this in spite of a society that deemed them a sect at best and outlaws at worst. How did they achieve this feat? A careful examination of existing sources suggests that Baptists' growth hinged on a variety of factors including their preaching, polity, and determination to plant churches.

Baptist Preaching

The early Virginia Baptists sincerely believed that God had given them a "transforming" message that they were obligated to share. Semple described the Separate Baptists as thirsting "for the liberty of preaching the Gospel to every creature." (7) These men and women believed they had a heavenly mandate to preach. Furthermore, they believed that people would accept their message if given the opportunity. (8)

Such convictions shaped the evangelistic fervor and zeal of early Virginia Baptists. On June 6, 1768, John Waller, Lewis Craig, James Chiles, James Reed, and William Mash were arrested for disturbing the peace. One charge against them said that "they cannot meet a man on the road but they must ram a text of Scripture down his throat." (9) But neither persecution nor prison deterred these men from spreading the Baptist message of salvation throughout the colony. They were consumed with an intense passion to preach their message. (10)

This intense desire to convert people to the Baptist faith encouraged other Baptists. Reminiscing upon his life and ministry, John Leland wrote that the greatest trial of the first five years of his ministry was that he "did not possess that strong desire for the conversion of sinners, which many others evidently had. This made me fear that all was not right with me." (11) His anxieties notwithstanding, Leland's autobiographical account revealed a man compelled to share his faith with others. He traveled and preached for sixty years to convince people of their need for salvation. By the time he was eighty years old, Leland claimed that he had baptized 1,524 people. (12)

In addition to displaying urgency and passion in their preaching, most Virginia Baptist preachers came from among the ordinary people, which often resulted in a presentation that greatly appealed to the common folk. (13) Many Virginians, particularly those on the frontier, identified with these preachers who lacked a formal education and possessed unrefined manners and an awkward delivery.

Beyond these characteristics there may be a better reason why Baptist preachers were so successful: Baptist and Anglican preachers possessed different aims. Historian Wesley Gewehr claimed that the Anglican Church was marked by an almost "total lack of evangelical preaching." (14) Anglican sermons were often unanimated moral discourses. Instead of calling people to repentance, these sermons were designed to educate and uphold the social order. By contrast, the Baptists preached for results. They were not shy about asking women and men to respond to their message, and often challenged their listeners to commit their lives to God.

In addition to persuasive speech, Baptist preachers used biblical texts to challenge their listeners. James Ireland,s autobiography is one of the few extant firsthand accounts of early Virginia Baptist ministers. He recorded an occasion when he was asked to preach at an associational meeting. Ireland addressed the people from 2 Corinthians 6:2: "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (15) Ireland's text aided him in calling individuals to respond. On another occasion he preached from John 3:3: "Jesus answered and said unto him, 'Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" (16) Once again, Ireland picked a text that allowed him to urge his hearers to respond.

Ireland and other Baptists believed that people's acceptance of their gospel invitation hinged on a "new birth" experience. (17) This teaching, which said that individuals must be born again, was central to Baptist preaching, and distinguished it from Anglican preaching. Furthermore, the "new birth" experience was an essential part of becoming a Baptist. Therefore, while passion, urgency, and the call for action characterized their evangelistic techniques, the "new birth" experience distinguished the Baptist message.

Such preaching disturbed many Virginians, (18) yet nothing could deter the Baptists from preaching this message. They persevered despite persecution because they believed that God had given them a "transforming" message that they were obligated to share. (19) Apparently, many Virginians embraced that message.

Baptist Church Polity

Virginians may have found a sense of achievement in acquiring membership in a Baptist church. Not everyone could join a Baptist congregation because membership required a commitment that entailed accepting the stigmas and sacrifices involved in being a Baptist. (20) This initial commitment helped the congregations to grow strong, yet most churches went a step further by requiring members to participate actively on a regular basis in order to remain members in good standing. Such high costs of membership helped screen out potential affiliates whose commitment and participation would otherwise be low. These high costs also aided in making membership meaningful. (21)

To understand fully what it meant to be a Baptist in eighteenth-century Virginia, one must examine what non-Baptists thought about their religiously enthusiastic neighbors. Some Virginians regarded their Baptist neighbors as the most insignificant, poor, and ignorant of people. (22) In Fifty Years among the Baptists, David Benedict recalled this disfavor in the words of an elderly lady who once said, "You could hardly find one among them [Baptists] but what was deformed in some way or other. Some of them were hair-lipped, others were blear-eyed, or humpbacked, or bow-legged, or clump-footed; hardly any of them looked like other people." She continued, "But they were all strong for plunging, and let their poor ignorant children run wild, and never had the seal of the covenant put on them." (23) While this description may be exaggerated, it demonstrates a popular perception about Baptists and their identity.

The Anglican Church's membership requirements also clarify the consequences of becoming a Baptist. The law deemed that each person, except for formal dissenters, came under the Anglican umbrella. (24) Formal membership in the Anglican Church usually came by way of infant baptism, and civil law executed the only church discipline. Baptists complained that this situation created a clergy driven by a political-social agenda rather than preachers driven by a passion for "lost souls." Indeed, Leland described the sermons of the Anglican priests as "dry and barren, containing little else but morality." (25) Their learned discourses did little to inspire and promote holiness. (26)

Conversely, to join a Baptist congregation, prospective members had to testify to a life-changing conversion experience. The validity of this experience determined admission, (27) and any prospect not coming by recommendation from another Baptist church had to submit to believer's baptism. (28) This practice marked entrance into Baptist society, and demanded a rejection of infant baptism. (29) By employing such strict policies for admission into local fellowships, Baptists were able to control membership.

In addition, the early Baptists were able to maintain a committed church membership by exercising strict watchfulness over their members. When individuals joined a Baptist church, they placed themselves under that church's discipline. Existing church records show the process of discipline in action. In December 1771, Meherrin Baptist Church censured John Pamplin for persistently driving his wagon on the Sabbath. Later, in December of the same year, the church excommunicated Mary Fullerlove for lying, talking, and "some other loose behavior." She refused to repent and was therefore excommunicated. At the same meeting, the church restored John Pamplin to full fellowship after he publicly repented for his actions. Other grounds for church censure included playing cards, unchristian behavior, continual anger, unbecoming language, drunkenness, and continual absence from church. One woman, Susanna Rogers was censured for the "sin" of forging a love letter to herself from one W. R. Wheellock. (30) Such execution of discipline within Baptist congregations aided in weeding out members who failed to meet the community's standard of commitment and participation. (31) The preceding aspects of Baptist polity contributed to the movement's success by strengthening organizational structure and making membership meaningful. In addition, the early Virginia Baptists engaged their members by not only motivating individuals to spread the Baptist message, but also by encouraging a high level of member participation within individual congregations.

Baptist Mobilization and Church Planting 

Baptists also grew because they mobilized individuals to spread their message across Virginia. This ability may be connected to their understanding of "divine calling." Virginia law required dissenting ministers to secure a license in order to preach. The early Separate Baptists generally did not or could not comply. (32) Baptists believed that "the call of God" was the only requirement needed for ministry. (33) This belief created freedom with which lay people were allowed to express their religious sentiments. It is not surprising then that many lay people soon reached the conviction that they had an internal call from God to preach the gospel, which resulted in a number of itinerant evangelists who would spend days, even months, laboring in the Virginia countryside.

Daniel Marshall's actions illustrate this process. Marshall baptized Dutton Lane, James Reed, and Samuel Harris. Each of these men became Baptist leaders in Virginia. Lane became the minister of Dan River Baptist Church while Reed and Harris went throughout Virginia spreading their message. The latter two men were instrumental in constituting eight of the fifteen Separate Baptist churches on which Edwards recorded descriptive data. (34) Reed and Harris labored in eight counties planting new churches and winning many converts. Among these converts were such influential preachers as Lewis and Elijah Craig, John Waller, James Chiles, David Thomas, and John Burrus. (35)

The ability to mobilize regular church members to service within a congregation also helps explain Baptist growth. New converts were encouraged to use their gifts, particularly singing, praying, and in some cases even preaching, soon after their baptism. Samuel Harris exhorted the new converts in Orange County to continue in their faith by exercising their gifts and holding their own meetings. They took Harris's advice and began holding meetings every Sunday and most week nights in a tobacco house. (36)

Morgan Edwards's notes may provide the best evidence of a high level of participation in Baptist congregations. According to Edwards, Baptist churches provided many opportunities for service. In addition to ministers, many Baptist churches had ruling elders, assistants, exhorters, deacons, deaconesses, elderesses, and evangelists. At Fall Creek Church, Samuel Harris had ten assistants in a church with only 120 members. (37) This evidence shows that there were many opportunities to serve in Baptist congregations.

Finally, the aggressive church planting of the Virginia Baptists helps to explain their relative success in the early 1770s. Not only did the older Baptist churches plant new churches, but many of these new churches continued to plant churches. Edwards's description of the origin of Dan River Baptist Church illustrates how the Baptists may have spread in the 1760s and 1770s. Dan River was the first Separate Baptist church constituted in Virginia, and according to Edwards, this church was in some way the mother of all the rest of the Separate Baptist churches in Virginia. Dan River consisted of five branches when Edwards collected his materials in 1772. (38) Fall Creek Church, however, had constituted out of Dan River two years earlier and consisted of five branches by 1772. (39) This pattern helps explain how the Baptists spread all through Virginia.

Early Virginia Baptists, whether Regular or Separate, planted churches. A constituted church consisting of several branches seems to have been the pattern of growth. Each of these branches was considered part of the same church body. In a time and place where travel was not always easy, this organization made attending church meetings more convenient. It also allowed the Baptists to reach more people. As the branches began to grow and become stable, they became distinct churches. (40) These new churches continued the process of helping spread the Baptist message across Virginia.

Conclusion

Upon careful reflection, Virginia Baptist growth between 1765 and 1774 may not be surprising after all. Rhys Isaac was half right when he argued that Virginia was transformed in the late eighteenth century. Baptist preaching indeed rocked the Old Dominion but in ways that were far more spiritual than political. Many found solace as Baptists promised reconciliation with God even if they continued to have little or no leverage in their local courthouses. Similarly, Jewell Spangler's study explained how two Baptist churches south of the James River were formed after 1770.

The present study investigated the rise of Virginia Baptists between 1765 and 1774. By focusing on their remarkable success, one sees that a deep passion and conviction motivated Baptist preachers in spite of opposition, and this passion and conviction helped them to persuade listeners to respond to their message. Furthermore, the new birth emphasis both made the Baptists different and gave them a theology that both comforted souls and compelled sacrifice. This theology helped the Baptists to thrive in Virginia. As they grew, different aspects of Baptist polity made church membership meaningful and strengthened organizational structure. In addition, the Baptists created social networks as they succeeded in mobilizing their members to a high level of participation. Furthermore, their aggressive church planting protected them from becoming stagnant. The combination of these factors helps to explain how and why the Baptists made notable gains in a hostile environment.

(1.) See Wesley M. Gewehr, The Great Awakening in Virginia, 1740-1790 (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1930), 117.

(2.) Robert B. Semple, A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia, rev. and extended by G. W. Beale (Richmond: Pitt & Dickinson, 1894), 26.

(3.) Rhys Isaac, The Transformation of Virginia: 1740-1790 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999). Also, see Rhys Isaac, "Evangelical Revolt: The Nature of the Baptists' Challenge to the Traditional Order in Virginia, 1765-1775," in Colonial America: Essays in Politics and Social Development, ed. Stanley Katz and John Murrin, 3d ed. (New York: Knopf, 1983), 531.

(4.) Jewel L. Spangler, "Becoming Baptists: Conversion in Colonial and Early National Virginia," The Journal of Southern History 67, no. 2 (May 2001): 243-86.

(5.) Ibid., 246-47, 285.

(6.) Edwards lists thirty-seven churches (the number thirty-six given on page 75 is evidently a mistake). Three, however, are Tanker or Mennonite churches. Furthermore, three of the Regular Baptist churches listed are not in Virginia. Thus, Edwards catalogs thirty-one Baptist churches in Virginia in 1772. Furthermore, these churches contained twenty-eight branches. While a branch is not a constituted church, it does consist of a congregation of worshipers. This means that there were approximately fifty-nine Baptist congregations in Virginia in 1772. See Appendix 4 in Morgan Edwards, Materials towards a History of the Baptists, vol. 2 (Danielsville, GA: Heritage Papers, 1984), 72-75. For other estimates see, william Taylor Thom, The Struggle for Religious Freedom in Virginia: The Baptists, John Hopkins University studies in Historical and Political Science, ed. Herbert B. Adams (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1900; reprint, New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1973), 30. Gewehr estimates that there are at least fifty-four Baptist churches in Virginia in 1774. Great Awakening, 134.

(7.) Semple, History, 42.

(8.) william Lumpkin, Baptist Foundations in the South: Tracing through the Separates the Influence of the Great Awakening, 1754-1787 (Nashville: Broadman, 1961), 24.

(9.) Semple, History, 29-32. Cf. Edwards, Materials, 55.

(10.) Edwards, Materials, 55.

(11.) John Leland, The Writings of the Late Elder John Leland (New York: Wood; Reprint, Dayton, OH: Church History Research & Archives, 1988), 18.

(12.) Ibid., 39.

(13.) See Gewehr, Great Awakening, 134. Cf. Robert Boyle C. Howell, The Early Baptists of Virginia (Philadelphia: Bible Publication Society, 1857), 83.

(14.) Gewehr, Great Awakening, 38.

(15.) James Ireland, The Life of the Rev James Ireland, who was, for many years, Pastor of the Baptist Church at Buck Marsh, Waterlick and Happy Creek, in Frederick and Shenandoah Counties, Virginia (Winchester, VA: Foster, 1819), 144.

(16.) This occasion is described in Lewis Peyton Little, Imprisoned Preachers and Religious Liberty in Virginia. A Narrative Drawn Largely from the Official Records of Virginia Counties, Unpublished Manuscripts, Letters, and Other Original Sources (Lynchhurg, VA: Bell, 1938), 84.

(17.) Ibid.

(18.) Little explains that "such preaching was an assault upon the religious customs of that day and could not be tolerated, no matter by whom preached." Ibid.

(19.) The persecution is well documented, Cf. Little, Imprisoned Preachers, 32-46; Edwards, Materials, 34-71; Howell, Early Baptists, 78-82; and Garnett Ryland, The Baptists of Virginia, 1699-1926 (Richmond, VA: Virginia Baptist Board of Missions and Education, 1955), 60-91.

(20.) Cf. Roger Finke and Rodney Stark, The Churching of America 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy (New Brunswick, N J: Rutgers University Press, 2000), 254.

(21.) People tend to value religion on the basis of how costly it is to belong--the more one must sacrifice in order to be in good standing, the more valuable the religion. See Ibid., 250-55.

(22.) William Fristoe, A Concise History of the Ketocton Baptist Association (Staunton, VA: n.p., 1808), 148; quoted in Gewehr, Great Awakening, 116; cf. Little, Imprisoned Preachers, 36.

(23.) David Benedict, Fifty Years among the Baptists (New York: Sheldon & Company, 1860), 93-94.

(24.) Isaac, Transformation of Virginia, 58.

(25.) Leland, Writings, 99, 107-08.

(26.) Scruple, History, 39

(27.) An entry form Daniel Fristoe's journal preserved by Morgan Edwards illustrates this process of examination; see Edwards, Materials, 38.

(28.) Ireland records that both Regular and Separate Baptists held that "baptism was rightly administered ... by immersion and a public profession of faith in Christ." Ireland, Life of James Ireland, 156.

(29.) The Meherrin Baptist Church made it clear that it was not lawful for its members to baptize their infants. In addition, any member who held to the principle of infant baptism was subject to censure by the church. Meherrin Baptist Church (Lunenburg County, VA) Minute Book, 1771-1837, 1842-1844. Accession 24896, Church records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA 23219.

(30.) Ibid.

(31.) See the following for this process at work: the Meherrin Baptist Church Book or the Upper King and Queen Church Book (King and Queen County, VA) Minute Book, 1774-1816. Accession 27196, Church records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA 23219.

(32.) See Edwards, Materials, 67-71.

(33.) Gewehr, Great Awakening, 113.

(34.) Edwards, Materials, 44-65.

(35.) Semple, History, 25.

(36.) Ibid., 8.

(37.) Edwards, Materials, 47, 73.

(38.) For the distinction between churches and their branches, see note 6.

(39.) The Upper Spottsylvania Church also demonstrates the aggressive planting of the Virginia Baptists. See Ibid., 44-64.

(40.) This process is somewhat described in the Buck Mountain Church (Albemarle County, VA), Minute Book, 1773-1811. Accession 26758, Church records collection, The Library of Virginia Richmond, VA 23219.

John Ashley Nixon is instructor in Christian Studies at the University of Mobile in Mobile, Alabama.