THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN THE SOUTH NOT CALVINIST

 


 

Euhaw Baptist Church in South Carolina is the oldest baptist church in the state and in the South, founded 1686, and was founded as a general atonement church. It was important in the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention. It also ordained the SBC's first president. Was he a Calvinist? We shall see. Anyone who has studied Baptist history will pause and say "The Charleston Baptist Church was the first in the South! However is that so? What are the facts?

The "Baptist Church at Charles Towne" was founded in 1682. By all accounts, it was not founded upon Calvinist principles either. It was founded with a mixture of Calvinist and Arminian members. This was confirmed to me by the current pastor, Dr. Marshall Blalock, in a phone interview I had with him in 2025. He grew up in the church. They did not adopt a Calvinist confession until the year 1700. (The First Baptist Church Charleston, SC, chap 1, By Rev. Basil Manly) However the Baptist Church of Charles Towne did not migrate from Maine to South Carolina until sometime around 1696. While the Charleston Church is older, it did not exist in the South at the time of Euhaw Baptists's founding. This would mean the TWO oldest churches in the South were not founded upon Calvinist principles.

Euhaw Baptist originally met in the same space as the Presbyterians, however at some point the Presbyterians claimed they were the exclusive owners and declared Euhaw Baptist had no right to worship in the building. Euhaw members were originally "Anabaptists" and this was probably a sore point for the Presbyterians.  By 1726, Euhaw Baptist had built their own place of worship, and called William Fry (sometimes "Frie") as pastor. During this time they maintained that they were a "branch" of the Baptist Church of Charles Towne, not really because they had come from that congregation, but because they maintained that Charles Towne was their original home, and by doing so, they had a place of escape if attacked by Indians. I cannot know for certain just how "anabaptist" the Euhaw church was in doctrine,  but I can certainly know that if they were Anabaptists they certainly were not Calvinists. 

If Euhaw Baptist was not Calvinist, the statements made later b y William B. Johnson, first president of the SBC, makes perfect sense. See his sermon on free will below.

 As a free agent, man has life and death set before him, with the liberty of choosing the one, and rejecting the other. As a fallen creature, he is an enemy to God, and without the provision of mercy in his Son, would for ever remain such. Descending to the abode of the devil and his angels, as a company of kindred spirits, he would for ever unite with them in their unhallowed opposition to their common Creator. Mutual crimination and joint blasphemy against their Maker, would render them as miserable as their capacity would admit. But now, the announcement of pardon and restoration invites him to return. "Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price."

     As moral agents, for whom there is hope, I call upon you, then, fellow-sinners, to turn to the Lord; for thus saith the Lord, "Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" Your God commands, invites, entreats.  Pause, consider your latter end. "Choose you this day whom you will serve. If the Lord be God, serve him; if Baal, follow him." Difficulties attend the decision. For their removal, search the Scriptures, implore the teaching of that Holy Spirit, whom God will give to all who ask for him in sincerity. And O, may He enlighten the eyes of your understanding, and give you to see Christ in the Scriptures as your "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption."

Open your ears, and hear the word of this salvation which is sent unto you - "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." As disobedient subjects, as prodigal sons, come back. Your Sovereign is ready to receive you - your father's arms and house are open to embrace and entertain you. Come, then, the fatted calf shall be killed for you, the best robe shall be put upon you, joy and gladness shall thrill through your ransomed, heaven-born souls. The church on earth shall rejoice. Attending angels shall bear the tidings to the throne of the Eternal, and the holy company of cherubim and seraphim in his presence, shall make all heaven resound with hallelujahs of praise to God and the Lamb.

     But if ye refuse the invitations of love and mercy, and will not have the man Christ Jesus to reign over you, if ye will continue in sin, ye must receive its wages - death - eternal death. You must see that man Christ Jesus on the judgment-seat, and hear from his sacred lips the sentence - "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." But you will be your own destroyer; the Judge will only, as the organ of insulted justice and violated law, pronounce the sentence which you will have drawn down on your own head.

     Now, now, O fellow-sinners, you have it in your power to place yourselves under influences that are spiritual and saving; or under influences that are carnal and damning. You can read the Bible, or the book of infidelity; the sermon of truth, or the novel of fiction; you can attend the party of sinful pleasure, or the meeting for holy prayer; you can go to the midnight revel, or to the house of God. You can lift up the prayer of the publican, or the howl of the bacchanal. You can utter the praise of the Most High, or belch out the blasphemy of the arch-fiend. How solemn the responsibilities that are upon you! Under what awful accountability does your free agency place you! The freedom to choose is the freedom to reject. O, exercise this freedom aright! Pause, consider your latter end. "Choose you this day whom you will serve. If the Lord be God, serve him; if Baal, follow him." Difficulties attend the decision. For their removal, search the Scriptures, implore the teaching of that Holy Spirit, whom God will give to all who ask for him in sincerity. And O, may He enlighten the eyes of your understanding, and give you to see Christ in the Scriptures as your "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption."

Now I ask you, was the Euhaw Baptist Church, or the first president of the SBC, whom they ordained, Calvinist?

Read Johnson's sermon here . Read Euhaw Baptist's short history here. Read about First Baptist Charleston here.


 



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