SENECA BAPTIST ASSOCIATION (NY) REJECTS CALVINISM

  Baptists organized the First Baptist Church of Caroline, New York in 1814. According to a historical sketch of  Tomkins County from 1894, "This society [i.e. the First Baptist Church] was organized in 1814 with fourteen members and Rev. Pliny SABIN pastor. In 1848 a house of worship was erected; this was removed in 1863 and a neat building erected at Brookton, which was dedicated January 11, 1864; its cost was $2,500. The society also owns a parsonage. The pastor is Rev. William A. HOUSE"(emphasis original)

In 1834, William Spaulding became Pastor and served until 1862. In Lewis Halsey's History of the Seneca Baptist Association with Sketches of Churches and Pastors (1879),  he speaks of controversy that arose in the Caroline church over missions and the atonement. Halsey says:

 "The church seems to have enjoyed peace and prosperity from its organization up to 1839, when a rupture occurred on account of differences of opinion in regard to the doctrines and practices of the church. The two parties called themselves respectively "New School” and "Old School." The old school held to "particular atonement," and were opposed to missions and benevolent organizations. The pastor, Elder Spaulding, and the other portion of the church, declared for "general atonement," and in favor of benevolent and missionary societies. A large minority seceded, and organized a church known as the old school Baptist church of Caroline. They built a church edifice in 1843. Their present pastor is Elder Kinner Hollister. Trustees, Jacob Lane, Geo. E. Stevens, Chas. Bogardus; number of members thirty-two. They claimed to be the original church, and that the other body, adopting modern views of doctrine, had left them."

It is quite clear that general atonement believers must have been in the association for a long time. Also of note, is that the pastor, Elder Spaulding must have been elected by a majority vote, and his view already known. If the "Old School" portion held the original view of the association, then that would include an anti missions spirit. Another question that might be asked, is how did the general atonement or "New School" faction become the majority, if they weren't there from the beginning? It would seem rather odd for the Calvinist faction to allow the Non Calvinists to become a majority, tolerating them, only to blow a fuse over the question of missions. Why did they not voice opposition much earlier? if the association were "Regular Baptists", missions had been in operation for some time.

At this point the Calvinist must make a decision. They would claim Baptists had "forsaken" the original Calvinist doctrines, but in so doing they would also have to admit that Calvinists had a tendency to be against missions, at least in the Seneca Association. The controversy spread to all the churches in the association. Halsey says of both the Calvinist anti missionary faction and the general atonement pro missionary faction  that“Both parties called councils from sister churches known to favor their respective views, and each was sustained by its own councils.” 

"Sister churches"? It's obvious that there were other churches adhering to general atonement principles. The Non Calvinists were a majority in the association, because the Calvinist portion, while claiming to be the originals, are the ones who left, leaving the Non Calvinists holding the titles to all property. If you understand Baptist congregational polity, then you know there is no "original", because either general atonement views had been normal since the founding of the association, or many Calvinists  abandoned Calvinism. There is simply no way that many Non Calvinists "snuck" in to take over the entire association. This makes it clear that there were not only already many Non Calvinists in the association, but they must have been a majority. In the end the Calvinists proved to be the minority within the association, and they all withdrew. So how is it that none of the Calvinists were in favor of missions, while all the Non Calvinists were in favor? No matter how you view it, the Calvinist must admit that there have always been those among them who rejected missions, going all the way back to the Particular Baptists of England, while the Non Calvinists had never rejected them in all their history. How was it possible that not a single Calvinist majority church within the association were in favor of missions?

Elder Spaulding  ever since was held in high esteem by the Seneca Association as a patriarch. Halsey says Spaulding, upon resigning the pastorate because of failing health in 1862, retained his membership in the church until his death in 1877. "For more than fifty years he was known among the churches as a faithful minister, and he died in the triumphs of faith. When the Seneca Association met here in 1876, he was able to take part in its deliberations, and dismissed its messengers with the apostolic benediction."