1. Benjamin Randall was an American Baptist minister the main organizer of the Free Will Baptists in the northeastern United States.
16 Facts About Benjamin Randall
1. 2.
Benjamin Randall was the oldest of 9 children born to the pair, both of whom were of ethnic English heritage.
3.
At the age of 17 Benjamin Randall was apprenticed to a sailmaker in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with whom he remained until the age of 21.
4.
Benjamin Randall 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.
5.
Benjamin Randall heard Whitefield's sermons several times and was shaken and moved by news of his death.
6.
Benjamin 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.
7.
Benjamin 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 Benjamin Randall's heartfelt efforts, thereby easing the situation.
8.
In 1776 Benjamin Randall found himself in fundamental agreement with the evangelical teachings of the Calvinistic Baptists, and he joined this comparatively small, isolated, and unpopular sect, which believed in active evangelism and the doctrine of baptism by immersion.
9.
Benjamin Randall soon was an active participant in the Baptist church, reading published sermons and becoming a layman preacher of original sermons in 1777.
10.
Benjamin 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.
11.
Benjamin Randall spent the summer of 1777 traveling farther and farther afield on preaching tours throughout the New England region.
12.
Benjamin Randall became the only resident preacher in the town, his predecessor having recently resigned over a salary dispute.
13.
Benjamin Randall would continue to travel and preach to outlying communities, making New Durham his base of operations.
14.
Orthodox followers of the church's doctrine charged Benjamin Randall with teaching anti-Calvinist doctrines, prompting his split from the church in 1780.
15.
Two such local ministers were found and Benjamin Randall was thereby officially qualified for the ministry, given the honorific "Elder," a title commonly given to gospel ministers in the day.
16.
Benjamin Randall's doctrine was based upon the notion that human beings had minds which provided them the free will to act and that God was ready to fully forgive behavioral errors resulting from that free volition.