<P> The perpetuity view is often identified with The Trail of Blood, a booklet of five lectures by J.M. Carrol published in 1931 . Other Baptist writers who advocate the successionist theory of Baptist origins are John T. Christian, Thomas Crosby, G.H. Orchard, J.M. Cramp, William Cathcart, Adam Taylor and D.B. Ray This view was also held by English Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon as well as Jesse Mercer, the namesake of Mercer University . </P> <P> In 1612, Thomas Helwys established a Baptist congregation in London, consisting of congregants from Smyth's church . A number of other Baptist churches sprang up, and they became known as the General Baptists . The Particular Baptists were established when a group of Calvinist Separatists adopted believers' Baptism . The Particular Baptists consisted of seven churches by 1644 and had created a confession of faith called the First London Confession of Faith . </P> <P> Both Roger Williams and John Clarke, his compatriot and coworker for religious freedom, are variously credited as founding the earliest Baptist church in North America . In 1639, Williams established a Baptist church in Providence, Rhode Island, and Clarke began a Baptist church in Newport, Rhode Island . According to a Baptist historian who has researched the matter extensively, "There is much debate over the centuries as to whether the Providence or Newport church deserved the place of' first' Baptist congregation in America . Exact records for both congregations are lacking ." </P> <P> The Great Awakening energized the Baptist movement, and the Baptist community experienced spectacular growth . Baptists became the largest Christian community in many southern states, including among the black population . </P>

When did the baptist church start in america