USA > Indiana > Indiana Baptist history, 1798-1908 > Part 5
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It seems that one of these Associations-Little Pigeon-was not quite so orthodox as was assumed, for when Elder Parker visited the body in 1828 he found no desire to renew the correspondence, and he so reported. In the minutes of 1829 this occurs :
"It is a notorious fact that the war is between the Armenian (Arminian) and the predestinarian principles; or that of works and grace. They are the two opposites."
In the circular letter of the minutes of 1830 there is a series of warnings given in the following words :
"The mission errors do not intrude into your bounds, (it is addressed to the churches of the As- sociation), nor does the Campbellite iniquity dare to show its deformed head in your churches, nor in the bounds of your correspondence; however, we wish to warn you against the corrupting errors of a Mr. John M. Peck of Rockspring, Illinois, editor of the Pioneer and Western Baptist. He is to be considered a dangerous foe, because he has got the name and not the substance. Could he succeed in
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blending the church and state together, our religious rights would be gone, and our government over- turned, and we think you would do well to take notice on the north of you, that some of the Camp- bellite preachers have come in, who are aiming to establish a nest-egg which will no doubt, could they succeed, be constantly hatching vipers."
Poor Dr. Peck! Thousands of Baptists all over the country admiring him and loving him, and thanking God for him, and yet the Wabash District Association distrusting and denouncing him.
It is hardly worth while to pursue the history of this Association further, for it became nearly if not entirely an Illinois institution. The last minute accessible (1882) gives a list of four churches which "sent neither letter nor messengers"-out of a total of sixteen. The whole number of members in the Association was 508.
The Associations with which the Wabash cor- responded were such as Blue River, Eel River, Lit- tle Wabash, Vermillion, Okaw, Sugar Creek, Lost River and Danville. It would not be just, however, to say that every church, certainly not every mem- ber in these churches, was anti-missionary.
WHITE WATER ASSOCIATION-(COUNTIES OF FRANK- LIN, FAYETTE, RUSH AND HENRY).
The Association was formed in 1809 also, having come out from the Miami Association of Ohio. The published statistics of the Association are few; the number of churches as given in the Baptist Annual
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Register for 1833 is thirty-four and the total mem- bership 1,416. The number of churches reported in 1842 is twenty-eight, and the total membership 1,174. Money is collected at the meeting of the Association for minutes and for correspondence ; at one session $16.48 is given for the former and $17.37 for the latter. The largest membership in any church is at Rushville-119. The minutes for 1842 contain a circular letter written by Elder Wilson Thompson ; it concludes with an earnest exhortation against helping any of the "schemes of the sons of the mystery of Babylon, for they are spending their strength and thousands of treasure to preach salva- tion by that faith which is the act of the creature, the result of rational testimony, the duty of all men to perform, or originate-which at best is only sal- vation by works .... "
The minutes for 1844 give the number of churches as twenty-eight, with a total membership of 1,288; Big Cedar Grove reports 118 members; Lick Creek 114; Rushville 113; and East Fork of Flat Rock 107. It appears from the correspondence that friendly relations exist between White Water Association and West River, Lebanon, Conn's Creek, in Indiana, and Miami and Greenville, in Ohio.
The following brief note from Elder Ezra Ferris, of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, to Elder John M. Peck, bearing date of September, 1845, is sufficient ground for the statement that about this time in the history of the White Water Association there was a radical
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shaking up and consequent division : "The White Water Association is no longer an anti-effort body. At their "meeting last month they tested the ques- tion-the antis, about one-fourth, withdrew." This general conclusion is confirmed by the additional fact that the Convention minutes for 1847, in the list of Associations, give White Water means, and also White Water anti-means. In the Convention minutes for 1850 the White Water means reported nineteen churches with 810 members; while the anti-means part reported twelve churches with 384 members. Two of the most prominent ministers connected with the old White Water Association were Elders Wilson Thompson and Minor Thomas, brief sketches of whose lives and labors here follow.
Probably no minister ever exerted a wider in- fluence in the Association than did Elder Wilson Thompson. He was a man of strong powers-men- tal and physical. His mastery of logical processes of thought, after he came to his maturity, was far beyond the average; and he delighted in worrying his antagonist in debate, for after the Socratic method he would drive him to commit himself to some proposition without seeing the inferences that could easily be drawn; and then formulate these in- ferences, to the dismay and defeat of his opponent.
He scarce ever let a challenge, expressed or im- plied, from a representative of another denomination than his own, pass by. His power of reasoning be- came so well known that men were slow to antag- onize his statements, whether made in the pulpit
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or out. And his courage was as strong as his con- victions were clear. Somewhat out of the usual order, he was a man of poetic temperament also. He wrote many hymns, and was often in a mood to see and interpret visions that had to do with his own work and welfare. Indeed, as one reads his autobiography the conviction forces itself that this man was also superstitious. Moreover, his biases were so strong that arguments equally as forcible as his own could not convince him. This is to be accounted for in part by the fact that his range of thought was necessarily quite limited; he never had the advantages of the schools, or habitual as- sociation with men of learning and culture. He was chief in his own circle of associations, and most likely would not have enjoyed others in which he found mental superiors.
As has been suggested already, his thinking was characterized by depth rather than breadth; even in the matter of the teachings of the Bible he saw only one side of the sphere of truth. If his cast of mind and religious inheritances had led him to accept the doctrine of Arminianism he would have proved its doughty champion; as it was, he be- came a Calvinist of the Calvinists-yea more, a Pre- destinarian Calvinist; and finding such clear and abundant proof of God's sovereignty in the Bible, he evermore dwelt upon that and was impatient of any attempt on the part of anybody, to show that the doctrine of free-will and individual responsibility is as clearly and constantly taught in the same
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Bible. Like thousands of others, both before and after him, his quick conclusion was that if one of these great doctrines be true, the other must be false ; whereas both are true and equally true, even if our poor minds cannot comprehend how.
His practice was, for the most part, in keeping with his dominant doctrine; his preaching was "to feed the sheep." He had unusual power in portray- ing the holiness and love of God, and the heinous- ness of sin; and his assumption was that in the time of such presentations of divine truth God would convict and convert those whom he had from eternity chosen. He made no direct appeals to the sinner, and no invitations except occasionally when the true spirit of the gospel would shine out, and the ungodly would be asked to see and love and obey Him who came to seek and save the lost. Of course, missions were not encouraged, nor even mentioned, except to deny any scriptural authority for their existence. But the truest commentary on the spirit and methods of the Primitive Baptists whose representative he was, is the fact that the territory where they once held almost undisputed sway, is now "Baptist desert" indeed. A most in- teresting passage in Elder Thompson's life was that in which he was almost persuaded to join Elder Isaac McCoy in his mission work for the Indians. He went so far in the decision that he resigned the care of his churches, and disposed of his business so that he could set out on the journey. But just at the last his life-long religious bias asserted itself,
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and being familiar with the scriptures, it did not take him long to remember a passage that was suf- ficient authority for his change of purpose-"Who hath required this at your hand?"
Here follow some extracts from his own account of the matter: "Shortly after my return home I received a letter from Elder Isaac McCoy request- ing me to come and join him in his mission; his solicitation took a deep hold on my mind; for I had only viewed the missionary scheme as a benevolent plan for the spread of the gospel. Whether or not it was a scriptural plan I had not examined nor once questioned. My mind became greatly im- pressed with the vast importance of preaching the gospel to ALL nations."
After a great debate with himself as to what he should do about this new departure he remembered another scripture passage-"O Lord, teach me and let not my feet be taken in the snare of the crafty." He stood in the road long pondering the whole mat- ter. At last, as he says: "I proceeded homeward with my mind at ease, and I have never felt that sort of mission fever since." But what must have been his thought in after years as he saw how greatly God was blessing the work to which Isaac McCoy had so courteously and strongly urged him ?
Elder Thompson was a student of the word and he had had a deep work of grace in his own heart, and God blessed his ministry in large measure; but how much more of permanent effect he might have left if he had preached the whole sphere of truth,
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instead of one section only ! He was born in Ken- tucky in 1788; he preached in his native state, in southern Missouri, in Indiana and in Ohio. He came to Indiana in 1834 and made a home near Harrisburg, in Fayette county. He died while on a preaching tour in Wabash county, May 1st, 1866, passing away in the triumphs of the christian faith. He was attended in his last hours by many of the members of his family.
Another minister whose life and labors were for many years in White Water Association was Elder Minor Thomas. The following facts are taken from data furnished by his grandson, William O. Bates, of Indianapolis. He was born in Albany county, New York, in 1770, and was married to Miss Ellen Fairchild in 1792. His ancestors were of Puritan stock, and many of them were in the colonial wars. He traveled over a considerable part of his native State in his evangelistic tours and baptized many converts as he went on his way. He was a man of very positive character and would often persist in attending appointments in distant places when his friends would try to persuade him that he was tak- ing too much risk as to his health and comfort. In 1819 he moved to southwestern Ohio and divided his labors between farming and traveling as a mis- sionary. After a short stay in Ohio he came to Indiana and made a home in Fayette county. Among his labors after he came to Indiana was the plant- ing of the three Baptist churches-Lick Creek, Wil- liams Creek and Village Creek. At the close of one
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of his meetings that had witnessed great displays of the power of sovereign grace as he attended to the baptism of those who had presented themselves to the church he said to a friend-as to two of the men-"I have baptized two preachers today ;"-and so it came to pass. The two were John Sparks and George Harlan, both of whom became noted ministers among the Primitive Baptists of eastern Indiana. After many years of arduous service he was called to his reward in June, 1830. While affili- ated with the Primitive Baptists, he was as we are assured, missionary in spirit; and in this respect was the opposite of Elder Wilson Thompson. His descendants are numerous, many of them belonging to missionary Baptist churches.
His son, familiarly known as Father H. L. Thomas, was one of the founders and main sup- porters of Galveston Baptist church, Indiana; and when a meeting-house was to be built he was en- trusted with the task of securing funds and as- sisting in the erection of the structure. So ener- getic and successful was he that although he was sixty-five years of age, the church was able to dedi- cate a $4,500 meeting-house in January, 1870. And his son, M. H. Thomas, was no less efficient and no less beloved by the brethren in his church and As- sociation.
This also should be said of Elder Minor Thomas ; when the great "split" came in Lick Creek church between the "means" and "anti-means" factions, he and Elder Sparks held with the means party, while
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Elder Thompson led the opposition faction. It may be of interest to us, in gaining a correct notion of the doctrinal controversies of those times to hear what the old school Baptists themselves think of the matter, after a half century and more has passed. And fortunately we have an utterance from them as late as 1892. A general meeting of the Regular Baptists of America was called for November 22nd, 23d and 24th, 1892, and as somewhat of a coinci- dence the meetings were held with Lick Creek church, Fayette county, where so much of the con- troversy of the past had its center. There were del- egates from Virginia, Missouri, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Ontario. El- ders E. H. Burnam of Virginia, P. F. Sears of Missouri and H. McColl of Ontario were appointed to prepare for publication an address to the churches. We would naturally suppose that such a committee would express the ripe conclusions and convictions of the body. This address occupies eight octavo pages printed in small type. It contains this introductory salutation :
"To all Regular Baptist churches of America :
"Dear Brethren: Our Lord Jesus Christ, when proclaiming himself the foundation and builder of his church and redeemed and regenerate sinners of Adam's race the constituents thereof, further de- clared that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. This word is the life of the church's hope, the strength of her faith, the spur and incite- ment to all holy christian endeavor, the assurance of
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present spiritual joy and the guaranty of her final triumph."
To this we could all say, amen. Here follows an extract the purport of which is that all the early Baptists of this country were missionary :
"The records of the Philadelphia Association from 1707 to 1807, and other documents of past genera- tions, clearly show that-true to the spirit of their predecessors in all past ages to the times of Christ- the Baptists of those early years were full of the missionary spirit; that none could have been in- different, far less opposed, to the teaching and spread of the word of God; that the exhibition of such a spirit would have resulted in the separa- tion of such as entertained it, from the living body as dead members and enemies of the gospel of Christ; that nothing could have seemed to our people of that day more inconsistent with itself, or more strongly to have savored of infidelity than to account as 'heresy' the propagation of the very word one professes to love, and which he is com- manded to teach and preach to every creature, everywhere and always, until the consummation of the age of grace. The proof is at hand that as late as 1832 some Regular Baptist churches were of the same sentiment, and by their contributions to the American Bible Society, organized in 1816, aided in the spread of the holy scriptures."
And here is a statement that seems to that com- mittee a sad departure from the doctrine and prac- tices of the Baptist denomination as it would to
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any of us. The statement is given in the words of the committee: "Ketocton Association of Regular Baptists at her session in 1889 passed a resolution disfellowshiping preaching of the gospel,' Sunday schools' and 'sending out missionaries' as a means in 'quickening sinners dead in trespasses and sins ;' and at her session in 1890 Ebenezer Association dropped from her roll Carmel church because she believed in Sunday schools, and missions as a means of spreading abroad the word of God, and that when he pleased the Holy Spirit used his word in the conversion of sinners." "By so doing," the com- mittee says, "these bodies not only denounced our brethren of generations past as heretical but showed plainly that they themselves had departed from the faith." The report of the committee further re- hearsed that when Judson went to India and became a Baptist, the whole denomination rejoiced and took on new life. But by degrees the conviction be- gan to find expression that if we only had money enough we could soon evangelize the world; there began to be a far too great reliance on simply hu- man means, and not enough looking to God who alone is the author of salvation. As a rebound from this egregious error, and a radical defense of the Calvinistic doctrine of God's sovereignty in the re- generation of the heart and the preservation of the church, the Regular Baptists began to differentiate themselves from the missionary churches that were thought "to lean too strongly to Arminianism." The report further expresses the conviction that not
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all missionary Baptists are Arminians, and the be- lief is asserted that the missionary spirit is not a stranger to all the "old school." A committee was also appointed to report on Articles of faith. It was composed of seven members two of whom were the same as were on the previous committee. In the prefatory words of this committee we find the fol- lowing :
"On the subject of predestination, as we do not think our predecessors held or taught, neither do we hold or teach that the foreordination of God extends absolutely to all things whatsoever that come to pass; but absolutely to those only which are good and pertain to life and godliness."
Again, there is expressed a disagreement from the doctrine as to "elect infants dying in infancy." "The term elect is objectionable because it implies that 'non-elect' infants who die are lost; but we be- lieve that they are saved." The committee on evan- gelistic work reiterates for the hundredth time that the church is the highest authority; "and therefore all missionary societies are wrong because they take the place, and more than the place, of the church." Their inference is wrong for the societies are ser- vants of the churches. These deliverances of the General Meeting of 1892 clearly reveal that the Reg- ular Baptists do not stand on exactly the same ex- treme ground which they occupied in the days of Wilson Thompson and his colaborers. Their con- sciousness of a constant decline in numbers and
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power must have led to modifications of their dis- tinguishing tenets.
SILVER CREEK ASSOCIATION-(COUNTIES OF CLARK, FLOYD, WASHINGTON, SCOTT, JEFFERSON AND JENNINGS).
This Association was organized in 1812 and named for the oldest church; besides, the first meeting was held with this church. The churches that went into the organization were Silver Creek, Mount Pleas- ant, near Madison, Fourteen Mile, Knob Creek, Upper Blue River, Lower Blue River, Camp Creek and Salem; the ordained ministers were Elders Jesse Vawter, Philemon Vawter his brother, Wil- liam McCoy and John Reece. Correspondence was established with the following Associations: Salem Wabash, Long Run and White Water. In 1816 part of the churches withdrew to join in forming the Blue River Association, yet the minutes for 1819 show that the number of churches is seventeen, the number of ministers nine and the total membership 600.
It was not unusual to have queries as to doctrines or duties presented at the Association; one for 1819 was: "Can an orderly set of brethren constitute them- selves into a church state?" Answer: "We see no scripture reason why a number of orderly brethren may not constitute themselves into a church; yet, for the sake of church union we think it commendable to obtain the advice of neighboring churches." Another deliverance at that session is worthy of note: "The
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Association recommends to the churches to send up short letters and omit the Articles of Faith-unless they have changed their faith.
The Circular letter of the same year deals with an important matter, namely, whether the churches should adopt a statement of beliefs. The answer is in the affirmative, and the reasons are given: First, it does not ignore nor subordinate the scriptures; second, it lets the world know what we understand the Bible to teach, and so puts us in a position to refuse member- ship to such as might use that privilege to deny our doctrines and paralyze our best efforts.
The statistics for 1826 give twenty-eight churches, thirteen ordained ministers, and a total membership of 1,015. In 1827 a considerable number of members withdrew to join in forming the Coffee Creek Asso- ciation. The prosperity was never as great afterwards as it had been hitherto, and yet the statistics for 1828 show thirteen churches, five ordained ministers and 515 members. The Annual Baptist Register for 1832 gives fifteen churches and 622 members. We know that the teachings of Alexander Campbell had already begun to affect some of the churches of the Associa- tion. As a result, four or five churches had withdrawn to join the Lost River Association which was known to be strongly under the influence of Parkerism.
The "father" of the Association was, without doubt, Elder Jesse Vawter; he was its first moderator, and indeed the only one till he withdrew in 1827 to join in forming the Coffee Creek Association. For the fol- lowing facts as to Elder Jesse Vawter's life and work
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access has been had to J. C. Tibbetts' "History of the Coffee Creek Association," and Mrs. Grace V. Bick- nell's "History of the Vawter Family in America." He was born in Virginia in December, 1755; his parents were Episcopalians and accordingly he was sprinkled in infancy. In the spring of 1774 his work led him to a point about twenty miles from home, and here he heard a sermon by a Baptist minister named Thomas Ammons. The truths of sin and salvation were so forcibly presented that conviction took hold upon him and never left him till he accepted the Saviour. In October of the same year he joined the Rapidan Bap- tist church, Culpeper county, Virginia. In March, 1781, he and Elizabeth Watts were married, and in 1782 they moved to North Carolina, and within a - short time to Scott county, Kentucky. A great revival occurred in 1800, and many persons, including his two sons, John and William, were led to accept Christ as Lord and Saviour. A church named North Fork of Elkhorn was constituted; in 1804 it gave him license to preach and the next year ordained him. In 1806, having lost his land through a defective title, which seems to have been no unusual thing in Kentucky at that time, he decided to move to the Northwest Ter- ritory, and located about one mile north of where the present city of Madison, Indiana, stands. Other fam- ilies followed his; and soon he began preaching in his own and other cabins as the way opened. A church was constituted in 1807; according to what seems good authority the name of the church was first Crooked
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Creek (when the meeting-house was on a small stream of that name), afterwards when the meeting-house was built on the hill it was called Mount Pleasant.
As the country developed his preaching tours were enlarged, finally extending to Jefferson, Switzerland, Ripley, Jennings and Clark counties. In his autobiog- raphy he says :
"I have been at the constitution of twelve churches, have aided in the ordination of eight ministers, and have baptized persons in eighteen churches; the high- est number at one time was eighteen, and the greatest number in any one church one hundred and twenty- seven."
In 1831 Mount Pleasant church went down into the city and became, in large part, the Madison church, which has had so long and glorious a record. Elder Jesse Vawter died in March, 1838, and his body was laid to rest in the cemetery at Wirt, Indiana. His wife preceded him to the promised land, having died in September, 1830. "Jesse was a quiet, thrifty, brown- eyed, peace-loving man, and every one loved him." His name was a household word in almost every church of the three Associations-Silver Creek, Coffee Creek and Madison.
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