USA > Indiana > Indiana Baptist history, 1798-1908 > Part 6
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Philemon Vawter, the younger brother, was also efficient as a Baptist minister. He was present at the organization of the Silver Creek Association. He was born in Virginia also; was married to Anna Vaw- ter, a cousin, in 1779, and 1792 they emigrated to Ken- tucky, settling near Versailles, in Woodford county.
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Although reared in the Episcopalian church they now desired to unite with a Baptist church, and were re- ceived. In 1808 they crossed the Ohio River to In- diana, taking eighty acres where Springdale Cemetery, Madison, now is. He was a mechanic as well as a Bap- tist minister. "Elder Philemon Vawter was a man of piety and a faithful and successful pioneer preacher the few years that he remained." He died in 1814 and his final resting place is in the "Vawter grave-yard" a few miles northeast of. North Vernon.
Elder William McCoy, another of the ministers in the organization of the Silver Creek Association, preached in Kentucky for some time before he came to Indiana. He was, for a while, pastor of the Silver Creek church. He died in Charlestown, Indiana, in 1813 or 1814. It was honor enough for him and his wife to have been the parents of four such men as John McCoy, one of the founders of Franklin College; Isaac McCoy, the Judson to the Indians, James and Royce McCoy, the defenders of missions, education and Sunday schools at a time when these institutions were frequently and vigorously assailed.
Elder Moses Sellers was born in North Carolina in 1796. He came to Indiana in 1814, and settled in Washington county. He removed to Clark county in' 1817 and joined the Silver Creek church in 1824; was licensed to preach in 1828 and was ordained by the Little Flock church in 1837, and remained the pastor of that church for thirty-seven years. He died full of honor, as well as years, in 1868.
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BLUE RIVER ASSOCIATION .- (COUNTIES OF WASHING-
TON, HARRISON, CRAWFORD AND SCOTT.)
The Association was organized in October, 1816, at Sinking Spring church, in Washington county. Four- teen churches went into the organization. Elder Thomas Vandeveer was chosen moderator and James McCoy clerk. Correspondence was opened with the following Associations-Silver Creek, Long Run, Ken- tucky, and Wabash; also with the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions. The constitution and principles of the Silver Creek Association were adopted at the first session; the Articles of Faith were those usually in favor in Baptist Associations.
At the second session this query was propounded- "What is the proper authority for licensing a preach- er?" Answer, "We believe that Jesus Christ has given his church authority to do business in his personal absence, therefore she is the proper authority."
Most likely the real question was whether the church could invite and authorize a council to license, and or- dain. The membership of the churches at the first ses- sion was 581; at the third session 709 and at the fifth session 1,142. At the fourteenth session the Associa- tion passed a resolution favoring the work of Chris- tianizing the Indians.
Various questions were propounded from session to session-as "Is feet-washing to be considered an ordi- nance?" and "Is it consistent with good order to re- ceive into fellowship members belonging to that body of people who distinguish themselves by the name Christian ?- being baptized by immersion on profes-
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sion of their faith, by ministers of that order; and con- sider their baptism valid?" Answer-"We think that the church ought to be the proper judge of the validity of any one's baptism; but advise that the churches be very cautious in the reception of such members that it be with united voice; and the act of one church ought not to be a bar of fellowship with another in this case."
At the session in 1824 the Association declined to hold any further correspondence with the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions. In 1831 Elder Royce Mc- Coy was chosen to write the next "Circular Letter"; it was presented in 1832. This Circular and the treat- ment accorded it by the Association throws so much light upon the then existing conditions that a full state- ment should be made.
CIRCULAR LETTER.
"Dear Brethren and Sisters: We would be thankful to God for your continued christian regard for each other, and have sent letters and messengers to per- petuate union and so forth. May an enemy in no form whatever make such inroads upon us as to cause schism and distress; to prevent which we exhort you to live near to Jesus and cultivate acquaintance and brotherly kindness with each other. And now we call your at- tention to the use of those means for the promotion of true religion which the Lord directed in his inspired and holy word. Maintaining as we do, and as we think all genuine Baptists have ever done, from John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, to the present time, that candidates for baptism and members of the church
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should be regenerated by the Spirit of God, we con- clude his rich and sovereign grace lays them under the strongest obligations to do all to magnify his good cause, always taking care to be governed by his un- erring word.
"First. Let us each one examine his own heart, and see that it is not haughty; that the love of God be richly shed there by the Holy Ghost ; that it may have a deep sense of God, the cause of religion and the worth of souls-and keep thy heart with all diligence."
"Second. All that are heads of families especially, should recommend the blessed religion to them, and begin and end each day with prayer and other devo- tional exercises. Tell your children and others that they are sinners against God, although they are con- tinually dependent upon him; that he is exceedingly good and has long borne with sinners and has provided a great salvation for them. Teach them to respect his holy word, his worship, his people, and the Sabbath day; teach them that they are always in his presence, and will soon have to give an account to him for all they think, say and do; and that there is a necessity for all to repent immediately of their sins, and believe in Jesus Christ.
"Third. As we have opportunity let us do good to all men, especially to them of the household of faith. Give your brethren and sisters evidence, by your sym- pathy and Christian kindness, that you love them as members of Christ's body. Esteem it a privilege and duty to meet with them, talk with and encourage them in the good ways of the Lord. Let the cause of God
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be ever regarded as the best of all causes, and let not the affairs of this life so crowd on your minds as to make you neglect the great concerns of religion.
"Fourth. Let your conduct towards your neighbors and the world in general be according to godliness, and be zealous in every good word and work. In your intercourse with your neighbors let no opportunity pass unimproved to advance the religion of your Lord. Tell them often of his love, his rich gospel, and en- treat them to be reconciled to him. Tell them with reverence and humility what he has done for your own soul. This often produces a great effect, both on those who speak and those who hear. Are any of your neighbors or acquaintances destitute of a Bible; en- deavor to have them supplied with one, and impart to them any religious information and instruction that accords with God's word.
"Fifth. Let the children and youth of our land be a serious concern. No doubt they have been too much neglected in any wise. They are born in sin, their souls are precious, and they might be of immense service in the church of Christ. Moreover the Lord by the prophets, alluding to gospel times gives encouragement on this subject (see Isaiah 41-3, Joel 2-28, Psalms 8-12). Religious impressions may be made earlier on the minds of children than most people are aware of. Then let fathers, especially mothers, be actively and affectionately engaged to instruct their children and youth in the happifying doctrines of the gospel. Here also is a profitable field for active and zealous labors in the ministry, and forms an important part of their
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duties. Children will often regard and remember the affectionate counsel of a preacher, especially if it be given individually, accompanied with prayer and tokens of affection.
"Sixth. Give all the encouragement you can to the preaching of the gospel among the churches and desti- tute neighborhoods; when you pray try always to pray for preachers, and that the Lord would increase their numbers, their zeal and their faithfulness. Often when a preacher is invited to preach more frequently and to extend his labors farther abroad he has to reply, 'My temporal concerns and the wants of my family forbid it." Yet surely every preacher called of the Lord feels bound to preach and to do all he can to make known the glorious gospel. O brethren would it be wrong, would not heaven approve the deed, for his brethren to supply his needs so that they should not in any wise be a hindrance to him? Surely Jesus would regard such deeds of kindness as done to himself, and grant an ample reward in the awarding day. Then let our hearts and hands be open in this tender yet important matter ; and if the preacher neglects preach- ing in any case let not the sin lie at your door-God sees it. Neither let any insinuation that he is a hireling, or preaches for money because he receives something to afford him an opportunity to labor in the gospel; fear of this makes many preachers shrink from the glorious work, and almost sink down in distress and silence. But God sees them. Therefore endeavor to encourage your preachers, let them know by your
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affection, sympathy and brotherly kindness that you feel a deep interest in their prosperity and usefulness.
"Seventh. Preachers also should especially consider that the state of religion, both in and out of the church, must depend on them and their labors, as in- struments of usefulness or injury, of honor or disgrace. They should study the scriptures, pray to understand them, be established in the faith, use sound speech seasoned with grace, endeavor every way they can to win souls to the Lord, build up christians in Christ, and take great care to give no occasion for enemies to speak reproachfully of his good cause.
"Eighth. Let us duly consider the obligations they are under to fulfill the Saviour's high command. ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, etc.' Remember that there are millions of our race that have no Bible-have no knowledge of Jesus, and are worshipping idols, while their souls are perishing in sin; let each one ardently inquire : 'Can I do something to make known the glorious riches of that grace that brought me a sinner, outcast, and rebel as I was, to the feet of Jesus my Lord, and made my poor soul rejoice in the hope of his glory? Let each one reflect that while using means to temporal ends, for himself and others, it is his indispensable duty to declare the glory of God, and that sinners may be converted and saved. Remember that 'he that soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly' and 'he that will not plow by reason of the cold, shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.'
"Ninth. All, all should be done in accordance with
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the direction the Lord has given us, with humble dependence on him, and with fervent unceasing and united prayer to him for his direction, energy and in- crease. 'Tis he that makes it our duty to act-pre- scribes the means for us to use and he alone can crown our labor with a glorious end. O, then, brethren, whatever we find it to be our duty to do, let us do it without delay. God calls us to labor and fight; time is precious; our children are dear ; our fellow mortals have souls above value, and are hastening to eternity ; and God's cause is often wounded by the neglect of its professors. O, then, we beseech you by the love of God, by the sufferings of our dying Savior, and by the invaluable worth of the souls to work while it is today-to pray while Jesus is on his mercy-seat, and by lively faith to rest on his unshaken promises for the glorious reward. O, to see our children and youth become religious, and uniting their voices to sweet hosannas to Jesus, our neighbors and fellow mortals of every nation converted-surely would be most joy- ful to every christian. Then let us awake to duty, and let us never be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. May the Lord bless us all and revive his work, and save us for Jesus sake. Amen."
One might well suppose that such a statement and appeal would reach and move every christian heart; and that it did not must be due to some very persis- tent and very wrong teaching. The two heresies of that time and locality were hyper-Arminianism taught by the Christian Baptist, the organ of Alexander Camp-
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bell; and the hyper-Calvinism taught by Daniel Parker; however wide apart these two schools were, they agreed in underrating and ignoring missions, Sun- day schools, education, a paid ministry, etc. That their teachings had considerable effect upon the Baptists in that region may be judged by the cold reception, or rather the rejection of the Elder's Circular Letter.
Here follows the answer of a committee of the Association to which the Circular was referred:
"The above Circular was submitted to a select com- mittee for examination ; and while before the committee the following are some of the objections made by a minority of the committee, and others: They first objected to examine the Letter by the scriptures-the scriptures were no standard to write a Circular by." They objected to the later clause of the first section- "Keep thy heart with all diligence"-and said that it was impossible for any one to do so. They objected to the suggestion of beginning and ending each day with prayer, saying that they would be hurt with any brother who should make and keep such a rule. They objected to the exhortation "Are any of your neighbors or acquaintances without a Bible, endeavor to have them supplied with one" saying that they did not care a cent whether their neighbors had Bibles or not.
We can hardly believe our eyes when we read this, it is so unchristian; but we find another deliverance in keeping with it; the sixteenth item of business as printed in the minutes of that session was as follows: "We instruct the churches concerning the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, Tract Society, "Temper-
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ent" Society and Sunday School Union, etc., in our associated capacity, that the above named men-made societies are nowhere in our opinion predicated in the scriptures, but are the invention of "craftsmen"; and advise the churches to take a stand against them all and beware of their influence." It seems that some Mission Society had so favorable an opinion of the Circular that it asked for it for publication.
The Association is grieved even at this and says- "We do say Brother McCoy did wrong in suffering the publication of said letter over the counsel of the Association"-(but this is not enough !) "and the pub- lisher, if a Baptist in the connection, violated the gos- pel mode of dealing, and ought to be dealt with by the church he belongs to."
Evidently here is an "irrepressible conflict" between the missionary and the anti-missionary spirit. As to the results of the "conflict" so far as they have been developed I am glad to avail myself of the reflections of a well known Indiana Baptist pastor whose home for many years was in the southwestern part of the state. In an article in the Baptist Observer, over the signature of "A missionary pastor", he says :
"As a matter of historical interest I may state that a Blue River Association was organized at Sinking Spring meeting-house on the second Saturday in Oc- tober, 1816. At present there exist in this part of the state two Blue River Associations, one of which calls itself simply Regular Baptist. The other is the one of which I write and it calls itself Regular Pre- destinarian Baptist. By outsiders the members of each
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church are called "Hard-shells." In the organ ation there were fourteen churches, including Salem and Lost River, now known as missionary Baptist churches. Of the remaining twelve two, Sinking Spring and Union, affiliate with the Regular Blue River Associa- tion, and the remaining ten have become extinct. What is now our Missionary Union was organized two years before the organization of Blue River Association, and the minutes of this Association up to 1826-a period of eight years, show that the Association was in accord with the missionary spirit. But at the meeting in 1824 occurs the following minute: 16th. General circular of Baptist Board of Foreign Missions read, and at the request of several churches agreed to drop all correspondence with said Board. At this time the Association contained twenty-nine churches; of these, three, Salem, Mill Creek and Lost River, exist as mis- sionary bodies. They were the only ones of the twenty- nine that were not carried away with the anti-mission- ary sentiment. Four of the remaining twenty-six that took a stand against missions yet survive as members of the Regular wing of the Blue River Association. At the meeting of the Association in 1825 the number of churches had grown to thirty-one, and it was de- cided to divide it into two bodies; the body south of a certain line was to retain the name of Blue River and the body north of the line was to be named Lost River. The latter became extinct in 1874. Between 1820 and 1830 Daniel Parker came into this part of the state preaching his peculiar views (two-seedism). The teaching got a very strong hold on the Baptist
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churches of southern Indiana. The three churches named are all that are left to advocate the withering doctrine in this part of the country."
LAUGHERY ASSOCIATION (COUNTIES OF DEARBORN, OHIO, RIPLEY AND SWITZERLAND.)
The Association was constituted in 1818. It was composed of six small churches having an aggregate of 124 members. The minutes of 1819 give ten churches with a total membership of 203, and the fol- lowing ordained ministers-George Hume, John Watts, William Thompson and David Penwell. Elder Ezra Ferris, afterwards a prominent member of the Association, appears as a delegate from White Water Association. At the tenth session, 1828, there were twenty churches, and a total membership of 584. The ordained ministers at this date were: John Watts, William Morgan, Thomas Curtis, Nathaniel Rich- mond, Daniel Palmer and H. D. Banta. The largest church was Middle Fork, with sixty members; at this time Aurora had but twenty-one members. The Cir- cular Letter by Elder Jesse L. Holman was a review of the history of the past ten years; it contains many statements worthy of attention; 385 members have been added to the churches by experience and baptism ; since the organization of the Association thirteen min- isters have been ordained; the first minister in the Association-Elder George Hume-had fallen asleep; at first the correspondence was gladly entered into with several Associations in Kentucky, but gradually sev- eral members, and at least one church, declined to
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hold fellowship with churches that tolerate slavery. In 1826 three churches expressed the desire that we no longer correspond with Associations that counte- nance slavery. As a measure of mitigation it was re- called that most of our churches on the Indiana side were constituted by ministers from Kentucky who came at their own charges. It was further said :
"In the state of the ministry among us the evil is seen at once. Our ministers receive little or no sup- port-many of our churches are but partially supplied, and some of them are ready to die. We would urge it upon those churches that are already supplied, to enable their ministers to make full proof of their min- istry; and to afford them such a support that their temporal necessities may not compel them to seek support elsewhere."
The minutes of the twenty-first session mention the fact of twenty-four churches, and a total member- ship of 1,037. Jesse L. Holman was now an ordained minister, and had been for five years; Elder Ezra Ferris was a member of the Association, belonging to the Lawrenceburg church; Sparta church reported 117 members and Aurora seventy-six. The usual business was transacted at each session-the statistics from the churches gathered and tabulated, correspond- ence with other Associations provided, a Circular let- ter, discussing some phase of doctrine presented, ac- cepted and printed, and religious meetings in desti- tute parts of the Association arranged for-the dif- ferent ministers volunteering to spend a certain num- ber. of days in such service. In the minutes of the
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session of 1864 E. H. Davis, a member of the Aurora church, and one of the best clerks the Association ever had, in the Circular letter recites some of the causes that have made the Association what it is :
"In briefly reviewing the history of Laughery Bap- tist Association we may be profited by discovering the sources from which our fathers derived the power to achieve such signal success in building up the cause of Christ; and in discovering this we may ascertain the causes of our failures, not only to maintain the degree of prosperity which they left us, but in not pressing forward to the achievement of new and greater conquests over the opposing forces of satan and the world. It is true that they were men of sound judgment, strong common sense and some of them were possessed of more than ordinary attainments as ministers of Jesus Christ. These requisites of them- selves, combined with an unusual degree of industry and perseverance, would have made them an almost invincible power for the accomplishment of good. But these qualities, however important a part they may have borne, were not the elements of success which en- abled them to bring the power of the gospel within the knowledge of so many. They were men of God; and to the influence which they exerted by their godly lives and holy walk, was added an inflexible and un- compromising fidelity to the doctrine of Jesus Christ, which they pressed home upon the consciences of men -not merely for their intellectual assent, but as the only means through which they could be cleansed
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from the power of sin and enjoy the favor of God.
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At the session in 1825 the Indian Creek church asked: "Should a church grant a letter to a mem- ber to unite with a church of another denomination?" The answer was, "No." In 1842 three of the most active and influential ministers in the Association were called from their earthly labors to their eternal rest- Elders Jesse L. Holman, Thomas Curtis and John W. Givan. Elder Ezra Ferris was asked to preach a discourse commemorative of their many good and great qualities.
Somewhat out of line with our present church polity the Association at the close of the session of 1823 celebrated the Lord's supper. At the session in 1876 the minds of all being naturally turned to the history of our country as well as to denominational progress, Judge William S. Holman, in the Circular letter, reviewed the distinctive principles of Baptists, and emphasized the fact that we were the first advo- cates of freedom of conscience, as is acknowledged by such men as Judge Story and John Locke.
In 1899 there were thirteen churches in the Asso- ciation and the total membership was 1,438. At the present time (1907) there are fifteen churches and 1,791 members; Aurora is the largest church-mem- bership 503.
Foremost among the ministers of the Association, by odds, was Reverend and Honorable Jesse L. Hol- man. He was born near Danville, Kentucky, Octo- ber 22d, 1783. His father moved from Virginia to
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Kentucky while the latter State was mainly a wilder- ness, and was killed in a skirmish with the Indians. In very early life young Holman was subject to deep religious impressions ; he was in the habit of reading the Bible daily. In his seventeenth year he united with the Clear Creek Baptist church, in Woodford county. Early in his religious life he had the convic- tion that he should give himself to the Christian min- istry, but he met no encouragement, and so did not begin to preach to any considerable extent till later in life. Having completed the general course of study that he had undertaken, he entered the law office of Henry Clay, at Lexington. Of course his advantages were remarkable; to have known and been under the guidance of such a man was a liberal education in it- self. At the age of twenty-two he was admitted to the bar at Port William, and began practice there. He. moved to Indiana in 1810, and the next year General Harrison, governor of the territory, appointed him prosecuting attorney for Dearborn (and Jefferson?) county. In 1814 he was elected to the Territorial legislature at Corydon, and was made speaker of that body. In 1816-Governor Jennings appointed him one of the judges of the supreme court, in which capacity he served for fourteen years. In 1834 President Jackson appointed him judge of the United States dis- trict court in Indiana, and in this office he served till his death in 1842. But his service to the State was not more earnest and successful than that which he gave to the Baptist denomination. In 1834 he sub- mitted to ordination to the ministry; he became a
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