View source for Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists

{{Short description|Christian denomination in the United States}}
{{Baptist}}'''Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists''' are part of a larger sub-group of [[Baptists]] that is commonly referred to as [[Primitive Baptists|"anti-mission" Baptists]]. This sub-group includes the [[General Association of Baptists|Duck River and Kindred Baptists]], [[Old Regular Baptist]]s, some [[Regular Baptist]]s and some [[United Baptist]]s. Only a minuscule minority of [[Primitive Baptist]]s adhere to the [[Serpent seed|Two-Seed doctrine]]. The primary centers of Two-Seedism were in Northern Alabama, Arkansas, Eastern Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, and Texas.<ref>Crowley, John G.  ''Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South: 1815 to Present''.  Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1998, pp. 118-121.  Hereafter cited as Crowley.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FD0uAAAAYAAJ&dq=two+seed+in+the+spirit+predestinarian+baptists+census+1906+bear+creek+bethlehem&pg=PA157 1906 Census "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists"]. in United States Department of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of the Census.  E. Dana Durand, Director. ''Special Report—Religious Bodies, 1906: Part II Separate Denominations: History, Description, and Statistics''. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1910, Vol. 2, pp.&nbsp;155–157.</ref><ref>Sermon, "Marriage", Elder Sonny Pyles, http://www.primitivebaptistsermons.com</ref> As of 2002, five churches or congregations of this faith and order still existed in Alabama, Indiana, Tennessee, and Texas.<ref>Albert W. Wardin, Jr. ″Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists: a Small Baptist Body.″  ''Baptist History and Heritage''. June 22, 2002 [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit+predestinarian+Baptists%3A+a+small+Baptist+body,...-a094160997]</ref>

==Origins==
[[Image:DanielParker.jpg|left|thumb|Elder Daniel Parker]]
Baptists first appeared in [[North America]] in the early 17th century.<ref name="redwoodlibrary_clarke">[http://www.redwoodlibrary.org/notables/clarke.htm Newport Notables] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927062252/http://www.redwoodlibrary.org/notables/clarke.htm |date=September 27, 2007 }}</ref> Through the influence of the [[Philadelphia]] Baptist Association (org. 1707), the influx of members to the churches from the [[Great Awakening]]s, and the union of the disparate Regular and [[Separate Baptist]]s, by the early 19th century Baptists would become an important American denomination. This growth was not without its pangs, and by 1820 these Baptists were embroiled in an intense and sometimes bitter "missions" controversy. Much of the controversy centered around the newly formed Baptist Board of Foreign Missions.

Elder [[Daniel Parker (Baptist)|Daniel Parker]] (1781–1844) was one of the earlier ministers to speak out against the "missions" movement. In 1820, he released a booklet entitled "''A Public Address to the Baptist Society, and Friends of Religion in General, on the Principle and Practice of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions for the United States of America''." The Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, organized at [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] in 1814, is best known as the ''Triennial Convention'', but its official name was the "General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States." Objections by Baptists to the Convention were based on both [[soteriology]] and [[ecclesiology]]. Parker was a strict [[Predestination|predestinarian]], but his chief objections in the booklet are based on ecclesiology - for example, "They have violated the right or government of the Church of Christ in forming themselves into a body and acting without of the union." Several important preachers on the east coast led in the "anti-missions" movement, but Elder Parker was the leader on the frontier, and probably spoke best to the common man.

It appears that during this time, Parker was also formulating views on God and man that he would first release in his ''Views on the Two Seeds'' (1826). Parker taught that all persons are either of the "good seed" of God or of the [[Serpent seed|"bad seed"]] of Satan (the children of the good seed are roughly equivalent to the "elect" of [[Calvinism]], and those of the bad seed similar to the "non-elect"), and were predestined that way from the beginning. Therefore mission activity was not only unbiblical, but as a practical matter useless, since the "decision" was already made prior to birth.

It seems that Parker spread his "two seeds" far and wide, and a goodly number of the "anti-missions" movement accepted his doctrine, though it never achieved anything near majority status. In 1834, Daniel Parker and others migrated to the Texas frontier. Texas was still part of [[Mexico]] and the government would not allow organization of [[Protestant]] (non-Catholic) churches in the region. Elder Parker determined to organize a church before he arrived in Texas. The ''Pilgrim Predestinarian Regular Baptist Church'' was constituted July 26, 1833 in Illinois. It still exists today, near [[Elkhart, Texas]], though as "Primitive" rather than "Two-Seed." Daniel Parker's name is almost synonymous with "anti-missions", but he was one of the important frontier preachers in Texas, leading in the organization of about nine churches in the eastern part of the state.

After the "missionary" and "anti-missionary" controversy brought division among Baptists, the "anti-missionaries" were called by names such as Old School, Old Regular, Predestinarian, and Primitive (as well as the pejorative "hardshells"). The Two-Seed churches were often connected with the Primitive Baptists and seem to have been so until late in the 19th century. By that time, most Primitive Baptists had excluded the "Two-Seeders" for holding [[heresy|heretical]] doctrines. However, in southern Georgia, at least, according to historian John G. Crowley, one may still find Two-Seed doctrines expounded by Primitive Baptists "if one knows where to go and what to listen for."<ref>Crowley, p. 133.</ref> Though they hold much in common with Primitive Baptists and often are so identified by outsiders, the Two-Seed churches do not consider themselves Primitive Baptists.

==Following Parker's death==
The Two-Seed theological stance is known in some circles as [[Hyper-Calvinism#Historic definitions of the term|Hyper-Calvinism]], i.e., only evangelize to those who can be discerned as being members of the elect. This group is extremely conservative.  As one observer noted, "'Innovations' have never touched these people."<ref>[[Elmer Talmage Clark|Clark, Elmer Talmadge]].  ''The Small Sects in America''.  Nashville, TN: Cokesbury Press, 1937, p. 249.</ref>   In 1845, shortly after Parker's death, this group experienced its first major schism.  Central Kentucky's Elder Thomas P. Dudley, a member of a church of the Licking Creek Association, produced a work on "Two Souls" to supplement Parker's on the two seeds.<ref>Sparks, Elder John.  ''The Roots of Appalachian Christianity: The Life and Legacy of Elder Shubal Stearns''.  Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2001, p. 246.</ref>

Baptism is by [[immersion Baptism|immersion]].<ref>Evans, M. G.  "Immersionists and Church Union" in ''Twenty-ninth Annual Session of the Baptist Congress Held in the First Baptist Church, At Atlantic City, N. J.—November 14, 15, and 16, 1911''. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, p. 137.</ref> The only other [[ordinance (Christianity)|ordinance]] this group practices is the [[Eucharist|Lord's Supper]] with [[Maundy (foot washing)|foot washing]].<ref>Albert W. Wardin, Jr. ″Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists: a Small Baptist Body.″  ''Baptist History and Heritage''. June 22, 2002 [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit+predestinarian+Baptists%3A+a+small+Baptist+body,...-a094160997]</ref>  One commentator stated that this group was "so Calvinistic that they would exclude John Calvin himself."<ref>Carroll, Ref. H. K., D.D.  "Greetings." in ''The Baptist World Alliance Second Congress Philadelphia, June 19–25, 1911.  Record of Proceedings Published under the Auspices of the Philadelphia Committee.''  Philadelphia, PA: Harper and Brothers Company, 1911, p. 187.</ref>

The 1906 Census of Religious Bodies, there were nineteen churches in Tennessee, ten in Arkansas, nine in Kentucky, five in Georgia, four in Indiana, three in Florida, two each in Alabama and Texas, and one in Missouri with a total membership of 781.  The Bear Creek, Bethlehem, Caney Fork, Drakes Creek, Elm Fork, Lookout Mountain, Pilgrims Rest, Richland Creek, and Suwannee River associations were affiliated with this movement.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FD0uAAAAYAAJ&dq=two+seed+in+the+spirit+predestinarian+baptists+census+1906+bear+creek+bethlehem&pg=PA157 1906 Census "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists"]. in United States Department of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of the Census.  E. Dana Durand, Director. ''Special Report—Religious Bodies, 1906: Part II Separate Denominations: History, Description, and Statistics''. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1910, Vol. 2, pp.&nbsp;155–157.</ref>  The New Hope Predestinarian Baptist Association of Illinois existed in 1877, but, was evidently extinct by 1906.<ref>Crowley, pp. 124, 126-127, 211 n. 60, 228.</ref>

In 1936, this body reported two churches in urban settings and fourteen in rural areas.  The membership stood at 201.  One of the urban churches (in Alabama) had 57 members and was certainly the largest single congregation.  Local churches existed in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky.  Previously churches existed in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, and Missouri.  Three associations were also enumerated: Caney Fork, Drakes Creek, and Richland Creek.  In 1916, there had been nine associations.<ref>*  [https://books.google.com/books?id=ae_VJJVV8eQC&dq=Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit+Predestinarian+Baptists&pg=PA234 1936 census "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists"]. in United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census.  Dr. T. H. Murphy, Supervisor. ''Religious Bodies, 1936: Volume II Part 1 Denominations A to J: Statistics, History, Doctrine Organization and Work''. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1941, Vol. 2, Part 1 pp. 234-236.</ref>  For some reason, the congregations in Texas and Indiana are not included in the 1936 report (they were still in existence) although they had been listed in 1906 and 1916.  Likewise, the Eel River Association, which folded in 1941, is omitted.  Therefore, the figure of 201 adherents in 1936 is lower than it should have been.<ref>Miller, Terry E.  "Voices from the Past: The Singing and Preaching at Otter Creek Church."  ''The Journal of American Folklore'', Vol. 88, No. 349 (July-Sept. 1975), pp. 268.</ref>

==Current==
Remnants of Two-Seed doctrine can still be heard among a few Primitive Baptists. In 2003, there appeared to be four remaining churches of the ''Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists (''two in Texas, and one each in Indiana and Tennessee) with approximately 80 members. Two of the churches participate together in the ''Trinity River Association'', and two are independent.

Baptist historian Albert W. Wardin Jr. reported the following statistics in an article published in the June 22, 2002, issue of ''Baptist History and Heritage'':

{{quote|The U.S. religious census of 1906 recorded 781 members with 279 in Tennessee in nineteen churches, the most in any state. Thirty years later, Tennessee had ninety-eight members in nine churches. Today, nationwide there are only five congregations left. Two are members of the Trinity River Association which includes the Little Hope Church near [[Jacksboro, Texas]], and the Otter Creek Church in [[Putnam County, Indiana]], with a total membership in 2001 of forty members. The Little Hope Church split in the 1940s, and the division meets in a home near [[Bryson, Texas]]. Another congregation, Mt. Moriah in [[Limestone County, Alabama]], has only three members, existing practically in name only. The fourth congregation is the Concord Church in the Highland District near [[McMinnville, Tennessee]], with ten members and an average attendance each Sunday from twelve to fifteen. Like other Primitive Baptists, it has no Sunday school and uses no musical instruments in worship. The Lord's Supper is observed annually with foot washing. Wine is used in the supper. It belongs to no association.<ref>Albert W. Wardin Jr. ″Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists: a Small Baptist Body.″  ''Baptist History and Heritage''. June 22, 2002 [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit+predestinarian+Baptists%3A+a+small+Baptist+body,...-a094160997]</ref>}}

In 2011, [[Valdosta State University]] announced that Dr. John G. Crowley, an assistant professor of history there, was writing the first comprehensive history of the Two-Seed movement<ref>[http://ww2.valdosta.edu/news/email/060611.shtml "Crowley Studies Rare Religion"].  Tuesday, June 7, 2011.</ref>

==Cultural references==
In his 1945 supplement to ''[[The American Language]]'', [[H. L. Mencken]] singled out the Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptist Church as an example of the proliferation of "dissenting" Christian denominations in the United States.<ref>{{cite book|title=The American Language: Supplement 1|url=https://archive.org/details/americanlanguage01menc|url-access=registration|last=Mencken|first=H.L.|authorlink=H.L. Mencken|year=1945|publisher=Knopf}}, p. 501.</ref>

[[United States|American]] [[novelist]] [[Kurt Vonnegut|Kurt Vonnegut Jr.]] refers to the [[sect]] in his early [[novel]] ''[[God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater]]'' (1965), when the title character claims that he is a member.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources cited==
*  Carroll, Ref. H. K., D.D.  "Greetings." in ''The Baptist World Alliance Second Congress Philadelphia, June 19–25, 1911.  Record of Proceedings Published under the Auspices of the Philadelphia Committee.''  Philadelphia, PA: Harper and Brothers Company, 1911, p.&nbsp;185-188.
*  [[Elmer Talmage Clark|Clark, Elmer Talmadge]].  ''The Small Sects in America''.  Nashville, TN: Cokesbury Press, 1937.
*  Crowley, John G.  ''Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South: 1815 to the Present''.  Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1999.  Hardcover {{ISBN|978-0-8130-1640-5}} Paperback {{ISBN|978-0-8130-4468-2}}
*  Evans, M. G.  "Immersionists and Church Union" in ''Twenty-ninth Annual Session of the Baptist Congress Held in the First Baptist Church, At Atlantic City, N. J.—November 14, 15, and 16, 1911''. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, pp.&nbsp;137–141.
*  [http://ww2.valdosta.edu/news/email/060611.shtml "Crowley Studies Rare Religion".  Tuesday, June 7, 2011.]
*  Miller, Terry E.  "Voices from the Past: The Singing and Preaching at Otter Creek Church."  ''The Journal of American Folklore'', Vol. 88, No. 349 (July-Sept. 1975), pp.&nbsp;266–282.
*  Sparks, Elder John.  ''The Roots of Appalachian Christianity: The Life and Legacy of Elder Shubal Stearns''.  Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2001.
*  [https://books.google.com/books?id=FD0uAAAAYAAJ&dq=two+seed+in+the+spirit+predestinarian+baptists+census+1906+bear+creek+bethlehem&pg=PA157 "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists"]. in United States Department of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of the Census.  E. Dana Durand, Director. ''Special Report—Religious Bodies, 1906: Part II Separate Denominations: History, Description, and Statistics''. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1910, Vol. 2, pp.&nbsp;155–157.
*  [https://books.google.com/books?id=ae_VJJVV8eQC&dq=Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit+Predestinarian+Baptists&pg=PA234 "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists"]. in United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census.  Dr. T. H. Murphy, Supervisor. ''Religious Bodies, 1936: Volume II Part 1 Denominations A to J: Statistics, History, Doctrine Organization and Work''. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1941, Vol. 2, Part 1 pp.&nbsp;234–236.
*  Wardin, Albert W., Jr. ″Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists: a Small Baptist Body.″  ''Baptist History and Heritage''. June 22, 2002 [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit+predestinarian+Baptists%3A+a+small+Baptist+body,...-a094160997]

==Further reading==
*   Crowley, John G.  ''Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South: 1815 to the Present''.  Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1999.  Hardcover {{ISBN|978-0-8130-1640-5}} Paperback {{ISBN|978-0-8130-4468-2}}
*  ——.  "The Two Seed Baptists of Georgia".  ''Viewpoints: Georgia Baptist History'', Vol. 16 (1998), pp.&nbsp;39–57.
*   Exley, Jo Ella Powell.  ''Frontier Blood: The Saga of the Parker Family''.,  College Station, TX: Texas A & M University Press, 2001.  {{ISBN|978-1-60344-109-4}}
*  Lee, O. Max.  ''Daniel Parker's Doctrine of the Two Seeds''.  Thesis (Th. M.)—Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1962.  xi, [98] leaves.
*  Wimberly, Dan D.  [http://repositories.tdl.org/ttu-ir/bitstream/handle/2346/21896/31295009151308.pdf?sequence=1 ''Daniel Parker: Pioneer Preacher and Political Leader''].  Dissertation–Texas Tech University.  May 1995.  (374 pdfs)
*  ——.  ''Frontier Religion: Elder Daniel Parker, His Religious and Political Life''. Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 2002.  {{ISBN|978-1571683205}}

==Denominational overviews==

*  [[Elmer Talmage Clark|Clark, Elmer Talmadge]].  ''The Small Sects in America''.  Nashville, TN: Cokesbury Press, 1937, pp.&nbsp;248–249.
*  ———.  "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists" in ''The Small Sects in America''.  Revised edition.  New York, NY: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1949, pp.&nbsp;203–204.
*  May, Lynn E., Jr.  "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists." in ''Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists''.  Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1958, Vol. 2, p.&nbsp;1433.
*  Mayer, Frederick Emanuel.  "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists." in ''The Religious Bodies of America''.  St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1954, p.&nbsp;271, col. 1.
*  Mead, Frank S., rev. by Samuel S. Hill.  ''Handbook of Denominations in the United States''.  8th ed. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1985, p.&nbsp;57.
*  [https://books.google.com/books?id=1i2ofe6fu9gC&dq=%22old+Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit+Predestinarian+Baptists%22&pg=PA110 "The Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists"]. in United States Department of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of the Census.  ''The Census Bulletin''. Issue No. No. 375, May 12, 1893: Statistics of Churches.  Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1893, pp.&nbsp;38–41.
*  [https://books.google.com/books?id=FD0uAAAAYAAJ&dq=two+seed+in+the+spirit+predestinarian+baptists+census+1906+bear+creek+bethlehem&pg=PA157 "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists"]. in United States Department of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of the Census.  E. Dana Durand, Director. ''Special Report—Religious Bodies, 1906: Part II Separate Denominations: History, Description, and Statistics''. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1910, Vol. 2, pp.&nbsp;155–157.
*  [https://books.google.com/books?id=oY7YAAAAMAAJ&dq=Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit+Predestinarian+Baptists&pg=PA150 "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists"]. in United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census.  Rogers, Sam. L., Director. ''Religious Bodies, 1916: Part II Separate Denominations: History, Description, and Statistics''. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1919, pp.&nbsp;150–152.
*  [https://books.google.com/books?id=ae_VJJVV8eQC&dq=Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit+Predestinarian+Baptists&pg=PA234 "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists"]. in United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census.  Murphy, Dr. T. H., Supervisor. ''Religious Bodies, 1936: Volume II Part 1 Denominations A to J: Statistics, History, Doctrine Organization and Work''. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1941, Vol. 2, Part 1 pp.&nbsp;234–238.
*  [https://books.google.com/books?id=Th5DAQAAMAAJ&dq=Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit+Predestinarian+Baptists&pg=PA40 "Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists"]. in Watson, E. O., ed. ''Year Book of the Churches 1921-22''. Washington, DC: Hayworth Publishing Company, 1922, pp.&nbsp;40–41.

==External links==
*  [http://asweetsavor.info/edp/ Online Collection of Daniel Parker's major writings] available either in PDF or HTML.
*  ''[http://www.primitivebaptist.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1461&Itemid=36 A Public Address to the Baptist Society, and Friends of Religion in General, on the Principle and Practice of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions for the United States of America]'' by Elder [[Daniel Parker (Baptist)|Daniel Parker]] (1820)
*  [http://www.danielhaston.com/places/churches/bigfork/big-fork-cf-assn.htm Old Caney Fork Two Seed Baptist Association]
*  [http://www.primitivebaptist.org/writers/parker_d/ Elder Daniel Parker]
*  [http://www.primitivebaptist.org/writers/parker_d/nmbm-articles.asp Old Pilgrim Church]
*  [http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/oldfort/ Old Fort Parker]
*  {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Baptists, Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit |short=x}}

{{US baptist denominations}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Two-Seed-In-The-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists}}

[[Category:1826 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:19th-century Reformed Christianity]]
[[Category:Calvinist denominations established in the 19th century]]
[[Category:19th-century controversies]]
[[Category:19th-century Protestantism]]
[[Category:Baptist denominations established in the 19th century]]
[[Category:Baptist organizations established in the 19th century]]
[[Category:Baptist denominations in the United States]]
[[Category:Bible-related controversies]]
[[Category:Christian denominations founded in the United States]]
[[Category:Christian groups with universalist beliefs]]
[[Category:Christian missions]]
[[Category:Christian organizations established in the 1820s]]
[[Category:History of Baptists]]
[[Category:Reformed Baptist movement]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in 1826]]
[[Category:Protestantism-related controversies]]
[[Category:Religion in the Southern United States]]
[[Category:Schisms in Christianity]]