Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/331

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BAR


281


BARAC


South Africa, of missionary origin. The Negro Bap- tists of the United States had at an early date missionaries in tliis field. Two coloured men, Lott Carey, a former slave, and CoUn Teague, set sail in 1820 for Liberia, where the first church was organized in 1821. To-day we find Baptist missions in various parts of Africa.

III. Mi.MOR B.iPTisT Bodies. — Side by side with the larger body of Baptists, several sects exist. They are found chiefly in the Uiiited States.

(1) The Baptist Church of Christ originated in Tennessee, about 1808, and spread to several other Southern States. Its doctrine is a mild form of Calvinism, with belief in a general atonement and admission of feet-washing as religious ordinance. [Communicants, 8,254 according to Dr. H. K. Carroll, the acknowledged authority, whose statistics, pub- lished in "The Christian Advocate" (New York, 17 January, 1907, p. 98), we shall quote for the.se sects.]

(2) The Campbellites, Disciples of Christ, or Christians, date back as a distinct religious body to the early part of the nineteenth centu^J^ They are the outgrowth of that movement which mani- fested itself simultaneously in some of the religious denominations in the United States in favour of the Bible alone without creeds. Thomas Campbell (1763- 1854) and Alexander CampbeU (1788-1866), father and son, became the leaders of the movement. (Com- municants, 1,264,758.)

(3) The Dunkards (from the German tunken, to dip), German Baptists, or Brethren, were founded about 1708 in Germany by Alexander Mack. Be- tween 1719 and 1729 they all emigrated to the United States and settled mostly in Pennsylvania. They are found to-day in many parts of the Union, but divisions have taken place among them. They practise threefold immersion, hold their communion service, which is preceded by the agape, in the even- ing, and seek to be excessively simple and unosten- tatious in their .social intercourse, dress, etc. (Mem- bership, 121,194.)

(4) The Freewill Baptists correspond in doctrine and practice to the English General Baptists, but originated in the United States. They exist in two distinct bodies. The older was founded in North Carolina and constituted an a.ssociation in 1729. Many of its members subsequently joined the Reg- ular Baptists. Those who did not unite became known as the "Free Willers" and later as the "Origi- nal Freewill Baptists", and are found in the two Carolinas. The larger body of the "Freewill Bap- tists" was founded in New Hampshire. Benjamin Randall organized the first church at New Durham in 1780. The denomination spread throughout New England and the West, and was joined in 1841 by the "Free-Communion Baptists" of New York (increa.se, 55 churches and 2,500 members). It maintains sev- eral colleges and academies, and has changed its of- ficial name to "Free Baptists". The American (ieneral Baptists are in substantial doctrinal agree- ment with the Freewill Baptists. (.Membership: Original Freewill Baptists, 12,000; Freewill Baptists, 82,303; General Baptists, 29,347.)

(5) The Old Tico-Secd-i7i-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists are Manicha^an in doctrine, holding that there are two seeds, one of good and one of evil. The doctrine is credited to Daniel Parker, who laboured in different parts of the Union in the first half of the nineteenth century (12,851 communicants).

(6) The Prinritive Baptists, also called Old- School, Anti-M is.'<ion. and Hard-Shell. Bapti.':ls constitute a sect which is opposed to missions, Sunday schools, and in general to human religious institutions. They arose about 1835 (126,000 com- nmnicants).

(7) The foundation of the Separate and of the United Baptists was the result, either immediate or


mediate, of the attitude taken by some Baptists toward the Whitefield revival movement of the eighteenth century (Separate Baptist, 6,479; I nited Baptists, 13,209).

(8) The Seventh-Day Baptists differ from the tenets of the Baptists generally only in their observance of the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath of the Lord. They appeared in England in the latter part of the sixteenth century under the name of "Sabba- tarian Baptists". Their first church in this country was organized at Newport, R. I., in 1671. In 1818 the name Seventh Day Baptists was adopted (Com- municants, 8,493).

(9) The Sii-principle Baptists are a small body and date from the seventeenth century. They are so called from the six doctrines of their creed, contained in Heb. , vi, 1-2: (a) Repentance from dead works; (b) Faith toward God; (c) The doctrine of Baptism; (d) The imposition of hands; (e) The resurrection of the dead; (f) Eternal judgment. (858 communicants.)

(10) The Winebrennerians or Church o/ Clod were founded by John Winebrenner (1797-1860) in Pennsylvania, where their chief strength still lies. The first congregation was established in 1829. The Winebrennerians admit three Invine ordinances: bap- tism, feet-washing, and the Lord's Supper (41,475 conununicants) .

IV. Statistics. — According to the American Bap- tist Year-Book. published annually at Philadelphia, there were in 1907, not including the minor Baptist sects, 5,736,263 Baptists in the world. They had 55,505 churches and 38,216 ordained ministers. The denomination counted 4,974,014 members in North America; 4,812,653 in the United States, with church property worth 8109,960,610; and 117,842 in Canada. South "America has but 4,465 Baptists; Europe 564,670 (434,751 in Great Britain, 44,656 in Sweden, 33,790 in Germany, 24,132 in Russia); Asia, 155,969; Australasia, 24,402; and Africa, 12,743. The statistic statement of Dr. H. K. Carroll, already referred to above, credits the Regular Baptists together with eleven branch denominations in the United States for 1906 with a membership of 5,140,770, 54,566 churches and 38,010 ministers; Regular Baptists, North, 1,113,222; South, 1,939,563; Coloured, 1,779,69.

The divisions in the bibliography correspond to the divisions of the article.

I. Strong, Systematic Theology (3d ed.. New York, 1890); ScHAFF, Tt\e Creeds of Christendom (New York, 1S77), I, 845- 859; III, 738-756; McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Bibl., Theol.. and Eccl. Lit. (New York, 1871), 1. 653-660: Cathcart, Tlie Baptist Encyclopedia (Philadelphia. 1881).

II. — (1) Crosby, The History of the English Baptists (Lon- don, 1738-40); IvlMET, A History of the English Baplistt (London. 1811-30); Taylor, T)ie History of Itie English Gtneral Baptists (London, 1818): Armitage, A History of the Baptists (New York, 1887); Vedder, Tlie Baptists (New York, 1903) in the Story of the Churches Series.

(2) Newman, A History of the Baptist Churches in the Vnited States (4th ed.. New York, 1902) in Am. Church Hist. Scr., II, bibliog., xi-xv; Burrage, A History of the Baptists in A'fw England (Philadelphia, 1S94); Vedder, History of the Baptists in the Middle States (Philadelphia, 1898); Smith, A History of the Baptists in the WtsUm States (Philadelphia, 1900); Rii.EY, A History of the Baptists in the Southern States (Philadelphia, 1899).

(3) Newman. A Century of Baptist Achierement (Philadel- phia, 1901); Lehmann, Geschichte dcr deutsch. Baplisten (Hamburg. 18961; Schroeder, History of the Swedish Baptists (New York. 1898).

III. Carroll. The Religious Forces of the United StaUs (New York. 1893) in Amer. Cliurch Hist. Series, I; Tyler, The Disciples of Christ (New York. 1894) in same Series, XII, 1-162; Stewart. History of tlic Freewill Baptists (.Dover, New Hampshire, 1862).

N. A. Weber.

Bar, Confederation of. See Pol.U'Id.

Barac (Heb. Baraq, lightning), the deliverer of the Israelites from the power of the Chanaanites imder the judgeship of Debbora. He was the son of Abinoem of Cedes in Ncphtali (Judges, iv, 6) and probably belonged to the tribe of Issachar (v, 15). When, after the death of the Judge Aod, " the children of Israel again diil evil in the sight of the Lord "