Freewill Baptists, Or Free Baptists, a denomination of evangelical Christians in the United States and Canada. Its founder was Benjamin Randall (1749-1808), who was one of Whitefield's hearers at Portsmouth, N. H., Sept. 28, 1770. The impression made by the sermon, and more especially by the tidings of the preacher's death two days later, resulted in his conversion. At first a Congregationalist, he connected himself in 1776 with the Baptist church in South Berwick, Me., and soon after entered the ministry, but was called to account for preaching a doctrine different from that of his brethren. In 1780 he organized in New Durham, X. H., a church holding views similar to his own, which was the nucleus of the new denomination. The distinctive tenets of Randall and his coadjutors were the doctrines of free salvation and open communion, as opposed to those of election and close communion held by the Calvinistic Baptists. They also insisted upon the freedom of the will, as essential to man as a subject of moral government, and therefore as inviolable by the divine sovereignty, and not to be contravened by any explanation of it.

Their opponents styled them "General Provisioners,"'Freewill Baptists," and "Free Baptists," by the second of which names they have usually been designated, though the last is now preferred in some of their own publications. In government they are congregational. The first church held a conference once a month, which was called a monthly meeting. When other churches were formed in neighboring localities, a general quarterly meeting by delegation was held. As Randall and his associates travelled and extended the denomination through New Hampshire and the adjacent states, numerous quarterly meetings were organized, and yearly meetings were instituted, consisting of delegates from associated quarterly meetings. The organization was completed by the institution in 1827 of the general conference, composed of delegates from all the yearly meetings, which convenes once in three years. To all these bodies the laity and clergy are alike eligible, and they all combine the services of public worship with the discussion and decision of questions of business and benevolence.

In 1827 a correspondence was opened between the Freewill Baptists of New England and a few churches in North Carolina of similar sentiments, the result of which was that the latter in 1828 published their records as the "Minutes of the Freewill Baptist Annual Conference of North Carolina." They soon numbered 45 churches and about 3,000 members, and, though never formally united with the denomination in the north, maintained a constant correspondence with it. In 1839 Dr. William M. Housley of Kentucky, once a close communion Baptist clergyman, who for doctrinal reasons had taken a letter of dismission and commendation from his former connection, attended the general conference of the Freewill Baptists at Conneaut, Ohio, and there applied for ordination to the ministry. He had already been admitted to the church in that place. There was a prospect of a large accession to the sect from Kentucky, and a council reported that Dr. Housley had approved himself qualified for the sacred office, excepting only that he was a slaveholder.

But for this reason alone the council declined to ordain him as a minister or fellowship him as a Christian," and the general conference after a spirited discussion voted without opposition "that the decision of the council is highly satis-factory." The connection of the denomination with slaveholding churches in North and South Carolina was brought before the same conference, and was entirely dissolved. From that time the Freewill Baptists maintained the position then taken on the question of slavery, and the work of the denomination was confined mostly to the northern states until after the abolition of slavery. Since then much effort has been expended in educating the freed people and gathering them into churches. In Louisiana and in the Shenandoah and Mississippi valleys schools have been established and churches organized, and with the latter about 4,000 colored people have united. Some of the white churches in the south, holding similar views of doctrine and polity, have entered into correspondence that looks toward a formal union. There are several benevolent societies of denominational interest, supported and encouraged by all the churches.

The principal of these are the foreign and home mission societies, and the educational society, and by all of them an aggregate sum averaging about $30,000 is raised annually. They celebrate anniversary meetings together in the autumn, which are numerously attended. The foreign mission society has several stations in Orissa, India. The Freewill Baptists have recently given special attention to the interests of education, and since 1847 have raised nearly $1,000,000 for educational purposes. They have a flourishing college at Lewiston, Me., and another at Hillsdale, Mich., to which pupils of both sexes and all colors are admitted, a theological department in each of these institutions, and seminaries of high grade and repute in eight or ten different states. The denominational printing establishment is at Dover, N. H., where are published the Morning Star," which for nearly 50 years has been the weekly organ, and a variety of denominational, Sunday school, and miscellaneous books. Biographies have been published of Randall, Colby, Marks, Phinney, Martin Cheney, and other clergymen, which throw light upon the history and spirit of the denomination. A history of the Freewill Baptists is in preparation under the direction of the general conference, one volume of which has been issued.

In 1800 the whole number of communicants was less than 3,000. In 1829, when complete returns were for the first time obtained, there were 8 yearly meetings, 22 quarterly meetings, 311 churches, 263 ministers, and 12,860 communicants. There are now (1874) 35 yearly meetings, 161 quarterly meetings, 1,504 churches, 1,269 ministers, and 70,576 communicants. They are found in nearly all the states, but are most numerous in New England. There is also in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia a separate and rapidly increasing conference of Free Baptists, having about 9,000 members, who are not included in the above computation. They have a weekly newspaper, the "Religious Intelligencer," published at St. John, N. B. The Freewill Baptists hold correspondence by letters and delegations with the General Baptists of England, with whom they agree in doctrine.