Confinement in a Madhouse a few months, then for the pulpit." Winchester, now the minister of the Rehoboth church, adopted Lyon's open communion policy, also known as mixed communion. It is unknown if Winchester was fully aware of the controversy the open communion policy engendered among Baptists. Infant baptism had been a tradition that signified the inclusion of an infant into a church community. Once included, the infant would be nurtured into the faith. The First Great Awakening questioned the validity of passive infant baptism. The revivalist fervor demanded that an intentional new birth event was necessary to enter the faith. This regeneration was expressed by a personal profession of faith in Jesus Christ. This emphasis on a new birth experience led many Baptists to abandon passive infant baptism and adopt an intentional baptism, also known as believer baptism, through immersion as the only acceptable form. Winchester's open communion policy was short-lived. A 1772 church council questioning this communion policy split the church between those favoring open and those favoring closed communion. The closed communion adherents organized a new church selecting Jacob Hicks, the eldest son of the former pastor, as their minister. The open communion members stayed with the established church and continued with Winchester as their minister. Another crisis over Winchester's communion policy erupted eight months later. After senior Baptist ministers approached the young Winchester and discussed his communion policy, he changed his position. Winchester abandoned open communion and declared a church policy of closed communion. Church members claiming Winchester had broken his covenant with them removed his preaching privileges. Winchester defended his reversal by calling another council of Baptist churches. That council rebuked him and advised him to confess his imprudence. He was encouraged to seek membership in another church. The church in Bellingham Massachusetts received Winchester into their membership. Bellingham (1772-1776) The Bellingham First Baptist Church, organized in 1750, had called Elder Noah Alden as its second minister in 1766. Elder Alden described the church's Calvinist doctrine as "holding the Doctrine of Original sin, Universal Depravity, Absolute, Eternal, Unconditional, Personal Election." Just 21 years old and shaken by the outcome of his first ministerial experience, Winchester appeared susceptible to the Calvinist rigors of the Bellingham church. He renounced his Arminian sentiments and embraced sterner views consistent with [hyper-Calvinism]. Years later, Winchester reflecting on this time, described himself as "one of the most consistent Calvinists upon the