"Emanations of deity are beings, principles, or the material world that are seen as "flowing" or "pouring forth" from a single, supreme, and undiminished source, rather than being created from nothing. This cosmological concept, often contrasted with creation ex nihilo, is found in various philosophical and religious traditions, most notably Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, where it describes a hierarchy of reality that descends from a perfect, unitary source through stages of progressively less perfect forms." (Google AI)
Daniel Parker, Gilbert Beebe, Samuel Trott, and the other apologists for Two Seedism believed that those who are the "seed of the serpent" (or the Devil) were a kind of emanation from the Devil or Satan and so too are those who are the "seed of the woman" (the church or the elect), or the seed of the Lord, emanations of the Deity. Wrote one source:
"In various pamphlets (1826-29) Parker made public some very peculiar theories he held concerning the introduction and perpetuation of evil in the human race. According to these beliefs, God, when He created Adam and Eve, infused into them particles of Himself, thus making them altogether good; the devil corrupted them by infusing into them particles of himelf. Eve, by predestination, brought forth a certain number of good and a certain number of bad offsprings; and all her daughters after her were predestined to do likewise." ("The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Baptists, Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit" (See here)
That is Gnostic language. In "DANIEL PARKER'S DOCTRINE OF THE TWO SEEDS" by 0. Max Lee (June 1962) we see Parker using this very terminology. Lee cites from Parker who wrote (emphasis mine):
"If the Devil, or body of corruption, be the product of the power and perfections of God, then of course all the progress and power of sin, (for sin is certainly a power) from the fall of man until now, has flowed from the same perfections of God. Now how will the glory of God appear in destroying the works of the Devil, it being but a power of his own production." (See here; page 41)
William Dudley Nowlin in "The Anti-Missionary Controversy of Baptists in Kentucky from 1832 to 1842" (See here at the Baptist History Homepage) also cites Daniel Parker who wrote (emphasis mine):
"The essence of God is good; the essence of evil is the Devil. Good angels are emanations from or particles of God; evil angels are particles of the Devil. When God created Adam and Eve, they were endowed with an emanation from himself or particles of God were included in their constitution. They were wholly good. Satan, however, diffused into them particles of his essence by which they were corrupted. In the beginning God had appointed that Eve should bring forth only a certain number of offsprings [sic]; the same provision applied to each of her daughters. But when the particles of evil essence had been infuse by Satan, the conception of Eve and her daughter was increased. They were now required to bear the original number, who were styled the seed of God, and an additional number who were called the seed of the serpent."
Again, to say that certain souls are eternal emanations or particles of the Deity is in keeping with Gnosticism, Platonism, and other heresies.
Nowling wrote further concerning Parker's Two Seedism:
"This Two-Seed doctrine is a curious revival, with some modifications of the ancient speculative philosophy of Manichaeus. Doctor Newman calls it a 'very disgusting form of Gnostic heresy.' It is easy to see how such a heresy would cause opposition to missions; for the progeny of one of the seed would constitute the body of Christ, whose salvation is provided."
Two Seedism borrowed as much from Gnosticism as it did from Manichaeism.
Nowlin wrote further, still citing Parker:
"On the other hand he taught that the remaining portion of the human family were the actual sons of God from eternity, and being allied to Jesus Christ ere 'the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy' by the nearest and dearest ties of consanguinity, being no less than 'particles' of his body - bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh..."
Again, we see Gnostic language. Also, it seems in this statement that Parker did believe in 1) that not only the human soul of Christ existed from eternity, but so too his human body, and 2) a Two Seed in the Flesh view, which in other places he does not. Notice too his thesis - "actual sons of God from eternity."
Nowlin also wrote:
"But there were many who embraced only half the doctrine of Mr. Parker and though they manifested no great apprehension for the liege subjects of the Prince of Darkness, yet they expressed great alarm lest the missionaries should help the Lord to perform his work, and convert the souls of some in a way God never intended they should be. They were such staunch friends of the Lord's doing all his work, that they set upon and terribly assailed their missionary brethren, for fear they should by some means assist the Lord in the salvation of his elect."
We have already observed more than once, citing others, how Two Seedism has appeared in several forms, some sub groups of Two Seeders accepting some propositions of the Two Seeders but not others. The one they all seem to have kept however is the belief that all the righteous have existed from eternity, or what is called the doctrine of "eternal children."
What Nowlin says about Two Seeders being alarmed lest they should "help the Lord to perform his work" is still true today with the Hardshell Baptists, being another instance where the remnants of Two Seed thinking is still evident among them, even though they have mainly now mostly freed themselves from believing in an eternal Devil and in eternal children, etc. We have also shown where Two Seedism gave rise to the notion that God saves people apart from the means of the word of God or the gospel, one of the principles of Two Seedism that is still adhered to by the Hardshells.
In "Interpretation of the Scriptures II" Sylvester Hassell, in The Gospel Messenger for March, 1894 (See here), wrote the following (emphasis mine):
The Serpent Seed doctrine, also known as the "two-seedline" doctrine, is a fringe belief, primarily in some Abrahamic religious movements, that posits the Serpent in the Garden of Eden had sexual intercourse with Eve, and their offspring was Cain. This belief asserts that humanity is divided into two races: the wicked, serpent-descended line destined for damnation, and the righteous, Adam-descended line chosen for eternal life. This point is what divides the two historical groups of Two Seeders, one called "Two Seed in the Flesh" and the other "Two Seed in the Spirit." The former hold to the view that Satan had sex with Eve. The latter say that Satan's "seed" was sown into the mind of Eve and not into her physical body via coitus. Satan's seed is equated with "sin." This was the view of Daniel Parker.
Otis Stone in a Facebook article cited from the late Dr. R.E. Pound, historian of the primitive Baptist sect, a man I have cited many times before, who is said to have said the following things about how the seed of the serpent came to be (See here emphasis mine):
"In the main body of the document, Parker says, “Some may think I believe the Serpent cohabited with the woman. Certainly he did, so far as to beget the wicked, sinful principle and nature in her, which, was the cause of the sentence being passed against her by her Maker: – but not to beget children by her, in no other way but through or by the man, which, as her husband had received the forbidden fruit, and partook of the same principle and nature of Satan.”
This is why we say that Parker was a "two seed in the spirit" and not "two seed in the flesh." Parker believed the evil "seed" were words the Devil "planted" in her mind.
Wrote another source (See here):
"Irenaeus (c. 180), an Early Church Father, condemned the notion of original sin as adultery between Eve and the serpent in his book Against Heresies as a "Gnostic" heresy espoused by Valentinus (100–160). It also appeared in medieval Jewish literature, including the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan."
Wrote the same source, citing other sources:
"During the 19th century, the serpent seed doctrine was revived by American religious leaders who wanted to promote white supremacy. The modern versions of the serpent seed doctrine were developed within the teachings of British Israelism by C. A. L. Totten (1851–1908) and Russel Kelso Carter (1849–1928). Daniel Parker (1781–1844) was also responsible for reviving and promoting the doctrine among Primitive Baptists.[1] Teachers of Christian Identity theology, which branched off from British Israelism, preached the doctrine during the early twentieth century and promoted it within the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, the American Nazi Party and other white supremacist organizations. The belief's adherents commonly use it to justify antisemitism and racism by claiming that Jews or members of non-white races are the descendants of Cain and the Serpent, who they variably interpret to be Satan or an intelligent non-human creature which lived before Adam and Eve.[2][3]"
Wrote the same source:
"The serpent seed teaching comes in several different forms. William M. Branham (1909–1965), Arnold Murray (1929–2014), Wesley A. Swift (1913–1970), and Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012) played important roles in spreading different versions of the doctrine among members of their respective groups throughout the 20th century. Around the world, there are millions of adherents of the serpent seed doctrine within Branhamism and the Unification Church."
All this proves a point I have previously made about the rise of Two Seedism via Daniel Parker. The leading ideas in Two Seed ideology did not originate with Parker nor the nineteenth century. The dualism of Two Seedism did not begin with Parker. The serpent seed doctrine did not begin with Parker. The idea of preexisting souls was not new to Parker. The idea that certain humans do not have souls is not unique to Two Seedism, nor its denial of a physical resurrection. Two Seedism is a mishmash of all these unbiblical ideas. The various forms of Two Seedism that historians such as Sylvester Hassell have mentioned are the result of some Two Seeders accepting some of the ideas but not all of them.
Seed "Planting"
"Seed" is from the Greek "sperma." The word "planting" is used inordinately by many Two Seeders and by Hardshell Baptists. It is also true with other words that one hears frequently in sermons and writings by Two Seed Hardshells, such as "manifestation," as we have seen. In the new birth, for instance, a new life is not begotten or created, but is only manifested. Regeneration merely manifests who are the elect, or who eternally existed as a spiritual person (who had been begotten in eternity past). Another instance is seen in their saying that a man is not justified by faith when he believes, but rather that faith only manifests that he had been justified from eternity. Another instance is seen in their contention that conversion or regeneration only gives evidence to a person that he is elect, born of God from eternity, having been begotten when Christ the Son of God was begotten.
When I was with the Hardshells I would hear them use this word "manifestation" frequently when interpreting certain passages of scripture. In interpreting the words "and as many as received him to them he gave the power to become the sons of God" (John 1: 12) they would add the word "manifestly" so that it read "power to become manifestly the sons of God." In interpreting the words "we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3: 26) they would add the word "manifestly" to the text and make it say "we are all manifestly the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."
Two Seedism proffers that the life that is given in regeneration or spiritual conception is but the implanting of an eternal living child of God, they being the "seed" of the "God-Man," being the third nature of Christ, his being made a Mediator back in eternity by the decree of God. This is why many of them objected to the idea of being born "again." If a person was begotten of God before the world began, then why does he need to be born again? That is why they would say that "born again" in John 3: 3-5 should rather be translated as "born from above" meaning that the eternal child that had been spiritually begotten before the world began would come down and take possession of a person who is of the elect. I cannot give the source for this information at this time, but I have lots of information about Two Seed beliefs, gathered through years of reading their history, that I did not keep notes.
When the Hardshell Baptists speak of "regeneration" or being "born again" they use certain words frequently, such as "manifested" as we have seen. Another word is "planted." In regeneration God plants within a person "life," or a "new nature," or Christ himself. All this is good except the Two Seeders would argue that what is "planted" is the life and new nature of a child of God who has existed from eternity.
We see this idea of "seed" planting in those who believe in infant regeneration, such as those in the traditional Presbyterian church or among the Hardshell Primitive Baptists, and is called "presumptive regeneration." In the former a baby is baptized and in that act a "seed of faith" is sown or planted within the infant which will, perhaps, later germinate into full regeneration or conversion. The Hardshells have taken the idea of "infant regeneration" and made far too much of it. This seed may be planted in a person, baby or adult, and it remains "dormant" in the person until it is later "manifested." It is like a woman being pregnant and not knowing it. She has the seed and its production within her but does not know it till the signs of it appear.
Yes, God does plant life, spiritual mindedness, faith, etc., in regeneration, but that is a far different thing than saying that God implants an eternal child into the physical bodies of some humans.
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