First section review of forthcoming Anthology of Early Baptists in Rhode Island

In 1768 Morgan Edwards . . .began collecting materials on the Baptists in each of the then twelve American Colonies. . . His stated motives in doing so stemmed from a “desire to know the American Baptists” and “an equal desire to make them known one to another,” with the overall goal being “to unite them together” in correspondence and fellowship. . . Unable to obtain sufficient subscribers to defray the cost of printing . . .the work on Rhode Island, composed in 1771, remained in manuscript form until its publication by the Rhode Island Historical Society in 1867. . . . John Callender’s account of the Baptists in the colony preceded this one by Edwards, but we chose to begin our anthology with the latter because it provides more detail in the way of individual biographies and church histories. --Terry Wolever