Religious body organized in Chowan County, North Carolina, in 1727 by Elder Paul Palmer. For a long time this body had no particular name, later being called Free Will Baptists and still later becoming known as Original Free Will Baptists. Since 1890 they have dropped the term "Original." Accepting the five points of Arminianism as opposed to the five points of Calvinism, they declare, in a confession of faith of 18 articles that Christ "freely gave Himself a ransom for all, tasting death for every man"; that "God wants an to come to repentance"; and that "all men, at one time or another, are found in such capacity as that, through the grace of God, they may be eternally saved." The believers' baptism by immersion is considered the only necessary requisite for admission. They uniformly practise open communion, and believe in foot-washing and anointing the sick with oil. The Free Will Baptists are congregational in government.
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