t likelihood of
procuring a charter from its legislature, and the probability that the
co-operation of other denominations in an institution under Baptist control
would be available. James Manning (1738-1791), who had just been graduated
from Princeton with high honours, was thought of as a suitable leader in
the enterprise, and was sent to Rhode Island (1763) to confer with leading
men, Baptist and other. As a result a charter was granted by the
legislature in 1764, and after a few years of preliminary work at Warren
(where the first degrees ever bestowed by a Baptist institution were
conferred in 1769), Providence was chosen as the home of the college
(1770). Here, with Manning as president and Hezekiah Smith (1737-1805), his
class-mate at Princeton, as financial agent and influential supporter, the
institution (since 1804 known as Brown University) was for many years the
only degree-conferring [v.03 p.0377] institution controlled by Baptists.
The Warren Association (1767) was organized under the influence of Manning
and Smith on the model of the Philadelphia, and became a chief agency for
the consolidation of denominational life, the promotion of denominational
education and the securing of religious liberty. Hezekiah Smith was a
highly successful evangelist, and through his labours scores of churches
were constituted in New England. As chaplain in the American Revolutionary
Army he also exerted a widespread influence.

The First Church, Charleston, which had become almost extinct through
Arminianism in 1746, entered upon a career of remarkable prosperity in 1749
under the leadership of Oliver Hart (1723-1795), formerly of the
Philadelphia Association. In 1751 the Charleston Association was formed,
also on the model of the Philadelphia, and proved an element of
denominational strength. The association raised funds for domestic
missionary work (1755 onward) and for the education of ministers (1756
onward). Brown University shared largely in the liberality of members of
this highly-cultivated and progressive body. Among the beneficiaries of the
education fund was Samuel Stillman (1737-1807), afterward the honoured
pastor of the Boston church. The most noted leader of the Baptists of South
Carolina during the four decades following the War of Independence was
Richard Furman (1755-1825), pastor of the First Church, Charleston. The
remarkable numerical progress of Baptists in South Carolina from 1787 to
1812 (from 1620 mem