A CURIOUS KIND OF CALVINISM

 Lately I've been going through the association minutes of many Baptist associations in south Alabama. In doing so I ran down many rabbit trails, and ended up miles away from what was my original search.  The first thing I do when reading about an association, is go through their articles of faith. At first this one seemed like any other Calvinist association, with the fourth article stating

"We believe in the eternal and particular election of a definite number of Adam's race to grace and glory/" 

Pretty standard for Calvinist articles. Then came the fifth article which states:

"We believe that for the sake of the elect, all other persons may partake of the benefits of the atonement, and drawn by the Spirit through the prayers and supplications of God's elect, so that they too may be saved." 

What to make of this? That's enough to drive a historian crazy! It took me hours of digging through hand written minutes, some barely legible to finally find an answer. In a doctrinal sermon in 1852 by Elder Ira Teke? (the ink was so faint I am not sure of the last name) he says "Just as Israel was the elect of God and through them God was made known, so too are we. Just as a Gentile could come into Israel and know the true God, so too can a sinner come into Christ's Zion and be reconciled. God called Jonah to preach to the non elect and because of that prophet, all of Nineveh repented and believed God. Through Abraham, Israel became elect, and through Christ we have become the same. Shall we neglect so great an election and calling? Shall we too be like the Pharisees, beating our breasts and wearing our tassels in pride, and yet forget why we were chosen? We are a holy nation of priests, but what is that if we neglect our priestly duties? We have no choice dear friends. Either Christ will be made known through our obedience, or he will be made known because of our disobedience. Shall we be blinded as Israel? "

Prophetic words indeed. The Rock Bend Primitive Baptist Association dissolved around 1892 and its churches applied to be accepted into the Piney Grove Baptist Association, which in turn went into the Pine Barren Association.  Quite a few of the churches still exist, but as of yet, I cannot find any who remembers the original doctrines. It appears they simply accepted the general atonement view of those around them, and I suppose in some sense they had always believed that, being more like a four point Calvinist, the difference being that they believed in both irresistible grace for the elect, and a resistible grace for the non elect. 

If anyone knows of any other associations with similar beliefs, please leave a comment!