Benjamin Randall (February 7, 1749 – October 22, 1808) was an American
Baptist minister
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
the main organizer of the
Freewill Baptists
Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal est ...
(Randall Line) in the northeastern United States.
Biography
Early years
Benjamin Randall III was born February 7, 1749, at
New Castle,
Province of New Hampshire
The Province of New Hampshire was a colony of England and later a British province in North America. The name was first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America, and was nam ...
to
sea captain
A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel.Aragon and Messner, 2001, p.3. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficie ...
Benjamin Randall, Jr. (born 1712), and his wife, the former Margaret Mordantt.
[Frederick Levi Wiley]
''Life and Influence of the Rev. Benjamin Randall: Founder of the Free Baptist Denomination.''
Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1915; pg. 5. He was the oldest of 9 children born to the pair, both of whom were of ethnic English heritage.
Randall was provided with a "good commercial education" in the primitive
public schools of the day, supplemented with extensive personal reading. A considerable part of Randall's youth was spent as a
cabin boy
''Cabin Boy'' is a 1994 American fantasy comedy film, directed by Adam Resnick and co-produced by Tim Burton, which starred comedian Chris Elliott. Elliott co-wrote the film with Resnick. Both Elliott and Resnick worked for '' Late Night with Dav ...
aboard his father's ship, but he did not enjoy the experience, being a sensitive and pious youth who read the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
daily.
At the age of 17 Randall was apprenticed to a sailmaker in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmou ...
, with whom he remained until the age of 21. He parlayed the sewing skills he developed as a sailmaker to the profession of tailoring, becoming proficient at the craft, and occasionally venturing to the related craft of tent-making when such work was to be found.
On September 23, 1770, Christian
evangelist
Evangelist may refer to:
Religion
* Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels
* Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ
* Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...
George Whitefield
George Whitefield (; 30 September 1770), also known as George Whitfield, was an Anglican cleric and evangelist who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement.
Born in Gloucester, he matriculated at Pembroke College at th ...
paid a visit to Portsmouth as part of his last speaking tour of the country, arriving barely a week before his death. Randall heard Whitefield's sermons several times and was shaken and moved by news of his death. A short period of religious
meditation
Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally cal ...
followed with the effect that Randall's piety was awakened and he was himself energized as an evangelist of Christianity.
Despite his religious awakening, Randall continued to work in
Marblehead and
Salem,
during 1771, returning to his native New Castle in the fall of that year to set up shop as a sailmaker in October of that year. In November 1771 he married Joanna Oram (born 1748) of
Kittery, Maine
Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals. The southernmost town in t ...
, the daughter of another sea captain.
In 1772 Randall and his wife became members of the
Congregationalist church of New Castle, but he soon came to find it unfulfilling, finding himself possessed of a zealous religious passion and determination to save souls that was not reciprocated by his fellow congregants. In the spring of 1774 Randall pushed the idea of conducting open meetings which might be attended by a broader public, who could be drawn into the church through the reading of printed sermons, public prayer, and singing.
The holding of public meetings by laymen soon drew the ire of the local church
pastor
A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...
, who quickly came to regard Randall as a rival. This drama would be interrupted by the coming of the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
.
Military interlude
Randall was an ardent American patriot during the revolutionary crisis of 1775 to 1776, and with the outbreak of armed hostilities he briefly enlisted in the Massachusetts militia in the company of Captain John Parsons at New Castle during the first half of 1775. The immediate crisis subsided, however, and the company was soon dismissed.
Following another brief scare in the fall of 1775 Randall again enlisted for a term of two months as an assistant
commissary
A commissary is a government official charged with oversight or an ecclesiastical official who exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop.
In many countries, the term is used as an administrative or police title. It often c ...
. He would reenlist in September 1776 as a
sergeant
Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
in a regiment headed by Colonel Pierce Lang, ultimately serving as a militia soldier for a year and a half.
[Wiley, ''Life and Influence of the Rev. Benjamin Randall'', pg. 33.] Randall remained devout in his Christianity during his military stint, later declaring that he "never lived nearer to God than during that campaign experience."
During his military tenure Randall made a point of regularly visiting the sick and performing the duties of a
chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...
in offering religious consolation. Randall was mocked by some within the ranks for his religious exuberance but his actions were ultimately backed by the unit's commanding officer, who threatened severe punishment to any who continued to deride Randall's heartfelt efforts, thereby easing the situation.
Religious conversion
In 1776 Randall found himself in fundamental agreement with the evangelical teachings of the
Calvinistic Baptist
Reformed Baptists (sometimes known as Particular Baptists or Calvinistic Baptists) are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation). The first Calvinist Baptist church was formed in the 1630s. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith w ...
s, and he joined this comparatively small, isolated, and unpopular sect, which believed in active evangelism and the doctrine of
baptism by immersion
Immersion baptism (also known as baptism by immersion or baptism by submersion) is a method of baptism that is distinguished from baptism by affusion (pouring) and by aspersion (sprinkling), sometimes without specifying whether the immersion is ...
. He soon was an active participant in the Baptist church, reading published sermons and becoming a layman preacher of original sermons in 1777.
Randall was a zealous public speaker on behalf of his faith, holding public meetings day and night and preaching an average of four times a week. Some 30 people were converted at Randall's revival meetings, which were non-standard in form and perceived as a threat by many in the community.
[Wiley, ''Life and Influence of the Rev. Benjamin Randall'', pg. 49.]
Randall later recalled that "persecution grew very hot, and such threatening language was used that I really felt my life in danger."
He was nearly struck in the head with a thrown piece of a brick when walking down the street one day, narrowly escaping death or serious injury when the shard grazed his hair. Randall spent the summer of 1777 traveling farther and farther afield on preaching tours throughout the
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
region.
In March 1778 Randall and his family left New Castle for a new home in
New Durham, New Hampshire
New Durham is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,693 at the 2020 census. It is drained by the Merrymeeting, Cocheco and Ela rivers, and is known for Merrymeeting Lake. New Durham is home to the Pow ...
, where they would settle for the rest of Randall's life. Randall became the only resident preacher in the town, his predecessor having recently resigned over a salary dispute. The people of the community built a meeting house for their new religious leader, who maintained himself through the voluntary contributions of his congregation and various odd jobs in tailoring, also tending a small household farm. He would continue to travel and preach to outlying communities, making New Durham his base of operations.
Break with Calvinism
![Benjamin Randall grave Free Will Baptist](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Benjamin_Randall_grave_Free_Will_Baptist.jpg)
Randall's theological orientation tended towards the idea of rapid salvation, freely available to all who repented of their sins and believed. This idea of free salvation proved to be in conflict with the fundamental doctrines of
Calvinism
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
, including
predestination
Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby G ...
, which dominated the official Baptist church. Orthodox followers of the church's doctrine charged Randall with teaching anti-Calvinist doctrines, prompting his split from the church in 1780.
On April 5, 1780, Randall was ordained in New Durham, which was at the time performed by two ordained ministers in good standing laying hands upon the candidate. Two such local ministers were found and Randall was thereby officially qualified for the ministry, given the honorific "Elder," a title commonly given to gospel ministers in the day.
In June 1780, new Articles of Faith and Church Covenant were drawn up by Randall in New Durham and the first Free Baptist church was established — although for the first two decades after this date no prefix to the Baptist name was used. By the end of the year the church numbered seven men and thirteen women.
Randall's doctrine was based upon the notion that human beings had minds which provided them the
free will
Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded.
Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actio ...
to act and that God was ready to fully forgive behavioral errors resulting from that free volition. Complete atonement for sin was available to all based upon genuine repentance, which was a requirement of God.
[Rupp, ''An Original History of the Religious Denominations at Present Existing in the United States'', pp. 59-60.] The duty of religious exhortation to make known that free salvation was available for any to embrace were fundamental pillars of Randall's belief.
[Rupp, ''An Original History of the Religious Denominations at Present Existing in the United States'', pg. 60.]
Randall and his followers were dismissed by many contemporaries as adherents of a fanatical sect and were pejoratively called a variety of names, including "Randallites," "General Provisioners," "New-Lights," and "Freewillers."
Death and legacy
From the time of his lay preaching until his death of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
on October 22, 1808, Randall was instrumental in planting many Freewill Baptist churches throughout New England.
See also
*
Arminianism
Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the ''Re ...
*
Free Will Baptist Church
Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal est ...
*
American Baptist Church
The American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a mainline/evangelical Baptist Christian denomination within the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The organization is usually considered mainl ...
Notes and references
Further reading
* Scott Bryant, ''The Awakening of the Freewill Baptists: Benjamin Randall and the Founding of an American Religious Tradition.'' Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2011.
* John Buzzell
''Life of Elder Benjamin Randal: Principally Taken from Documents Written by Himself.''Limerick, ME: Hobbs, Woodman and Co., 1827.
* Frank S. Mead, ''Handbook of Denominations in the United States.'' Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2001.
* I. Daniel Rupp
''An Original History of the Religious Denominations at Present Existing in the United States, Containing Authentic Accounts of their Rise, Progress, Statistics, and Doctrines...''Philadelphia: J.Y. Humphreys, 1844.
* I.D. Stewart
''The History of the Freewill Baptists for Half a Century, with an Introductory Chapter: Volume 1, from the Year 1780 to 1830.''Dover, DE: Freewill Baptist Printing Establishment, 1862.
* Frederick Levi Wiley
''Life and Influence of the Rev. Benjamin Randall: Founder of the Free Baptist Denomination.''Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1915.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Randall, Benjamin
1749 births
1808 deaths
Free Will Baptists
Arminian ministers
18th-century Baptist ministers from the United States
19th-century deaths from tuberculosis
People from New Castle, New Hampshire
People from New Durham, New Hampshire
Massachusetts militiamen in the American Revolution
Tuberculosis deaths in New Hampshire