USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky Baptists : From 1769 to 1885, including more than 800 biographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 44
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We have now come to the close of the eighteenth century. We have followed the footsteps of our fathers, for nearly 25 years, as they endured all hardships and dared all dangers, to plant the standard of the Cross in the great wilderness, which has now become a land of beauty, dotted all over with our own charming homes, and made glad with the voice of song, echo- ing from more than a thousand churches of the Redeemer. We have noted the planting, and traced the history, of 116 churches, and sketched the lives of about 250 of the laborers. Several of the churches were dissolved, and one (and possibly three others) of the laborers had died, before the close of the century.
At the close of the year 1800, in Kentucky there were six associations, six churches belonging to Mero District Associa- tion of Tennessee, and three unassociated churches, and an ag- gregate membership of about 5, 119, as shown in the following table:
Associations. No. of churches. No. of members.
¥
Elkhorn,
26
1642
South Kentucky,
18*
II34*
Salem,
22
497
Tates Creek,
12
579
Bracken,
IO
623
Green River,
9
350
Mero District,
6
234*
Unassociated,
3
60*
Total,
IO6
5119
In 1790, there were, in the State, three associations, 42 churches and 3, 105 members. At that date, the population of the State was 73,677. This gave one Baptist church, in round
*Estimated.
481
Baptists in 1880.
numbers, to every 1,754 of the population, and one Baptist to every 23 of the population.
In 1800, the population of the State was 220,955, while there were in the State six Baptist Associations, 106 churches and 5, 119 members. This gave one Baptist church to every 2,084 of the population, and one Baptist to every forty-three of the population.
These figures show a falling off of nearly Ico per cent in the number of the Baptists in Kentucky, in proportion to the pop- ulation of the State, during the period extending from 1790, to 1800, The statistics of the other religious denominations, for the periods specified, are not accessible at present, and perhaps cannot be procured, at all, but it is probable that the falling off among them was equal to that among the Baptists. Such was the religious condition of the people of Kentucky, just at the beginning of one of the greatest revivals of religion that ever occurred in modern times. We shall watch the rise, progress, and results of this mighty work of God, with deep and reveren- tial interest. But before entering upon this new era of our religious history, we may bring under brief review some of the customs, ceremonies, opinions and doctrinal differences that prevailed among the fathers of our denomination in the western country. We shall feel a deeper interest in all that occurred among the pioneers of the Cross in Kentucky, now that we have become familiar with the names, locations and history of the old churches, and acquainted ourselves with the noble old moral heroes who laid their foundations in the midst of bloody and fearfully cruel savage warfare, and privations of which we, their happy descendants, can have scarcely a remote conception.
CHAPTER XXV.
EARLY CUSTOMS OF THE BAPTISTS. THE CHARACTER OF THEIR PREACHING.
The early settlers of Kentucky were chiefly from Virginia and the Carolinas. Yet there were some from all the old States, both north and south, and from all the different localities there were some Baptists. These had their different local customs and prejudices, which often made it difficult to harmonize them in church relation. The early Baptists of Kentucky were dis- tinguished by the titles, Regular and Separate. Originally the Separate Baptists were more extreme Calvinists than the Regu- lar Baptists ; but refusing to adopt any creed or confession of faith, they were constantly changing in their doctrinal views. They also held a wide diversity of opinions among themselves. The Regular Baptists, especially in the Middle and Southern States, generally adopted the London Baptist confession of faith, or rather the American edition of that instrument, which was called the Philadelphia Confession of Faith. The Separate Baptists of Virginia finally adopted the Philadelphia Confession of Faith almost unanimously, and thereby paved the way for an easy union between them and the Regular Baptists, which was happily consummated in that State in 1787. But in Kentucky they were much divided on the subject, a majority, however, opposing all human creeds, and refusing to have even Rules of order, or decorum written. This led to an extensive division among them. The more Calvinistic, including nearly all of their most valuable preachers, united with the Regulars in the new country, adopted the confession of faith, and henceforth traveled with them in much harmony. The Arminian party of the Separates, constantly diverged farther and farther from the common standard of orthodoxy, till many very grave heresies crept in among them, as will be seen in the progress of their
[482]
C. S
483
Early Customs of the Baptists.
history. The Regular Baptists adopted the Philadelphia Con- fession of Faith, both in their several churches and also in their associations, amending, from time to time, such expressions as seemed to them erroneous. Various conventions were held for the purpose of accommodating the differences, and forming a union between the Regular and Separate Baptists. The first attempt of this kind was made in June, 1785, before any asso- ciations were formed in the new country. Again, hearing that the Regulars and Separates had united in Virginia, a second attempt was made, in 1788, to form a similar union in Kentucky, but without avail. A third attempt was made, in 1793. This also was unsuccessful. However, five churches and as many ministers split off from the Separate Baptist Association. Four of these churches formed themselves into a United Baptist Association the same year, and, in 1794, the fifth one united with them. This fraternity took the name of Tate's Creek Association of United Baptists. They did not, at first, adopt any confession of faith, but in general terms endorsed the doc- trines of the Elkhorn Association of Regular Baptists. After a few years, however, they adopted the confession of faith, and thus fully harmonized with the other associations of orthodox Bap- tists. No other formal effort was made to unite the Regulars and Separates till during the progress of "The Great Revival." This will be noticed in its appropriate place.
UNIVERSALISM was introduced at an early period among the Separate Baptists of Kentucky. It was then called the doctrine of Universal Restoration. It taught that the wicked would all go to Hell, and remain there till they suffered the penalty of the crimes they had committed during their lives, in the flesh. This might require a hundred years, a thousand years, a million of years, or even a much greater period. But ultimately, they would all be redeemed from their torments and carried to Heaven. The system is called, in many of the early records of the Bap- tists in Kentucky, Hell redemption, or redemption from Hell. The most prominent advocates of this chimerical notion in Kentucky were John Bailey and William Bledsoe, who were also the most eloquent and influential preachers among the Separates. Bailey was excluded from his people in 1791, and remained out of the church a number of years. He was afterwards restored to the Separate Baptists on condition that he might hold this doctrine
484
History of Kentucky Baptists.
"as a private opinion," but should not preach it. "Bledsoe was also excluded from his church. He soon became an avowed infidel, and lived a profligate life till he died. This heresy gave the young churches very considerable annoyance from about 1790 till 1800. After this, it measurably disappeared.
ETERNAL JUSTIFICATION was a speculation that caused some disturbance among the early churches in Kentucky. The doc- trine, as the term imports, supposed that all the elect of God were justified in His sight, from all eternity. William Marshall, who had been a distinguished Separate Baptist in Virginia, was the principle advocate of this doctrine in Kentucky. He became so infatuated with this idea, that he pressed it to such a degree as caused the church at Fox Run (now in Eminence), to exclude him from its fellowship, and he died out of the church. This notion prevailed more among the Regular Baptists than among the Separates. Still South Kentucky Association, which com- prised all the Separate Baptists in the State previous to 1819, saw fit to declare non-fellowship for all who held the doctrine.
SLAVERY was by far the most fruitful of mischief of all the questions that agitated the Baptist churches of Kentucky from 1788 till 1820. Opposition to slavery extended to every part of the territory, and engaged the talents of some of the ablest ministers of the denomination. Cornelius Duese, John Murphy, John H. Owen, Elijah Davidson, and Carter Tarrant, all men of piety and influence, openly opposed slavery in Green River Association from the constitution of its first churches. Joshua Carman, Josiah Dodge and Thomas Whitman, disturbed the churches of Salem Association, by preaching against slavery. until that fraternity was threatened with dissolution. The oppo- sers of slavery, in Elkhorn and Bracken Associations, were among the ablest men in those bodies. Among them were William Hickman, John Sutton, William Buckley, Donald Holmes, George Smith, George Stokes Smith and David Barrow. But this subject has been sufficiently presented in detail in the former pages. It is only necessary in this place to group it among the causes that disturbed the churches, and retarded the growth of the Baptist denomination in the West in its infancy.
EARLY CUSTOMS in our Baptist churches that do not prevail at the present time. Some of these were borrowed from other religious societies around us. Some of them were expedients
485
Ruling Eiders.
of the times, and some of them were. cumbersome ceremonies, deduced from misinterpretations of the holy oracles.
RULING ELDERS were nominal officers in many of our early churches. The name can only be appropriate when applied to the officer it designates, in a church having a Presbyterian form of government. In a Baptist church, the term is a misnomer. The office did not exist among the early Baptists of New Eng- land. It was most probably introduced into the Baptist churches of. Virginia, by the zealous Separate Baptists who borrowed it from the Puritans. Like most of our early customs, it was
brought from Virginia to Kentucky. There being no place in. Baptist church polity, for the office of ruling elders, the churches were constantly perplexed to know what to do with it. Tates Creek Association decided that one ordained preacher and two elders might constitute a church. But since one ordained preacher, with the advice of two judicious brethren (or without it, in case of emergency) could constitute a church, the elders could not be necessary in this work. After taking a year to study the subject, Elkhorn Association disposed of the matter in 1790, as follows: "QUERY from Coopers Run-Whether the office of elder, distinct from that of minister, be a gospel institu- tion or not? ANSWER : It is the opinion of the Association [that] it is a gospel institution." the purpose of the institution. But no opinion is given as to The churches continued to in- quire of their advisory councils, as to the proper functions of the office, without any satisfactory results. The church at New Liberty, in Owen county, took up the subject in 1806, and ar- rived at the conclusion : " That there ought to be such persons [as ruling elders] appointed, and their work agreeable to the word of God, is to be the overseers of the flock of God, in their respective neighborhoods to see that no improper conduct is car- ried on by the members that are under their notice, to see that offenders are dealt with according to the gospel, and to en- deavor, as in them lies, to promote the peace, union, and hap- piness of the church."
John Scott was the wise, prudent, and influential pastor of this church. He had been raised a strict Presbyterian, and hence his ideas concerning the eldership. But as every member of a Baptist church is under obligation to discharge all the duties here assigned to ruling elders, their ordination to that office,
486
History of Kentucky Baptists.
was wholly superfluous. The churches soon saw the matter in this light, and the office long since ceased to exist in Baptist churches.
LAYING ON OF HANDS was a ceremony in common use among the early Baptists of Virginia and Kentucky, as well as some other regions. Benedict traces the custom back many centuries, and thinks it prevailed generally among the Baptists of the Old World. The ceremony has been fully described in the pre- ceding pages. It was the final rite administered to candidates for church membership. After baptism, the pastor, or other ordained minister, laid his hands on the head of the candidate, gave him a few words of advice, or solemn admonition, and of- fered up a prayer for him. This completed the ceremonies of formally inducting the convert into the full fellowship of the church, and was, in that respect, equivalent to the present cus- tom of extending the right hand of fellowship to persons, after their baptism formally admitting them to church fellowship. The ceremony of laying on hands has long since been discontinued among the churches in Kentucky.
THE WASHING OF FEET was a very common ceremony among the early churches of Kentucky. It prevailed to some extent among the Regular Baptists, especially those of them who had been brought up among the Separate Baptists, as was the case with many of the Regular Baptists in Kentucky. The Elkhorn Association decided, as early as 1788, that : " As to feet washing, the Association is not unanimous, but agrees that the using or not using that practice shall not affect our fel- lowship." Among the Regular Baptists, it was practiced par- tially a few years, and then went entirely out of use. It was strenuously insisted on among the Separate Baptists, and has continued to be practiced among them to the present time. The following resolution, passed by the South Kentucky Associa- tion of Separate Baptists, in 1873, shows the position of the Separate Baptists on the question of feet washing : "10. That Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Washing of the saints' feet, are ordinances of the gospel, to be kept up until the coming of our Lord and Master." Some of the Anti-missionary Baptists also keep up the practice of feet washing to the present time. The ordinance is deduced from the example of our Savior, as recorded in the 13th chapter of John, and is there sufficiently described.
QUARTERLY MEETINGS are frequently referred to in the
487
Quarterly and Union Meetings.
early records of the Baptists, both in Virginia and Kentucky. These were not business meetings, as are those gatherings of the same name, among the Methodists. They were meetings, appointed by the Associations, usually, if not always, at the so- licitation of the churches with which they were held, only for public worship. They generally continued three days, during which there was much preaching, prayer, exhortation, and sing- ing. The ministers, and other brethren, came together from the neighboring churches, and the occasion was generally a reunion of brethren, as well as a happy season of worship. Four of these " big meetings " were held at different times, and at dif- ferent localities, in the bounds of the Association appointing them. This gave all the ministers and most of the other breth- ren an opportunity to attend at least one quarterly meeting dur- ing the year. Sometimes there would be but three of these meetings appointed for the year, the meeting of the Associa- tion sufficing for the fourth.
UNION MEETINGS was only another name for these quart- erly gatherings, and had no reference to the union of different sects, in holding a meeting, as the term frequently signifies, at a later period. Sometimes there would be but one of these re- unions, or union meetings, during the year. In this case it was called a yearly meeting.
These meetings, by whatever name they were known, were of much value to the churches, at the early period in which they prevailed. There was no attempt made to publish a religious periodical, in Kentucky, before 1812. Private letter writing, as a means of inter-communion among the churches, was both tedious and costly. The meetings of the Associations were great occasions, and often afforded opportunity for hearing from churches in all parts of the State. But all could not attend these gatherings, besides which they were too infrequent to satisfy the demand for a knowledge of the condition of the churches, or to afford the desired intercourse between the preachers who were laboring in a common cause. The union meetings, held in each association, three or four times a year, afforded opportunities for much pleasant and profitable intercourse. The need of such intercourse among the active servants of Jesus Christ, was not - only felt then, but always will be felt by those who labor and pray for the success of a common cause.
488
History of Kentucky Baptists.
BENEVOLENT ENTERPRISES, for advancing the Redeemer's kingdom, and bettering the condition of men, received the hearty approval of the early Baptists of Kentucky. From the organization of their first churches and associations, down to the year 1815, a period of more than thirty years, there appears no dissent from the spirit and practice of missions, on any ac- cessible record. This was the golden age of missions among the Kentucky Baptists. True, they lived in but a partially subdued wilderness, and possessed but little of the world's goods, and but few of the advantages of commerce. They could uot, therefore, give much money to the cause of missions. Yet, of the little they had, they gave a portion cordially, and their prayers went with their contributions. Those who had nothing to give regretted it, but never thought of op- posing those who were able to contribute to the cause of missions. An Anti-missionary Baptist was unknown, in Ken- tucky, previous to the year 1815. Abundant evidence of the universal prevalence of the doctrine of missions, among the Baptists of that period, is at hand. But it is intended at this place only to call attention to the fact, and not to discuss it. It will be seen at the proper place, that the Anti-missionary doctrine arose at a later period.
In nothing, perhaps, was the Baptist denomination more grossly misrepresented, than in regard to their position on the subject of EDUCATION. No one accuses them of being opposed to education now. And yet there is as much ground for such an accusation, to-day, as at any past period. They teach now, just what they have taught in the past : That a liberal educa- tion is not necessary to the salvation of a sinner: That a colle- giate education is not indispensible to the preaching of the gos- pel. But that education is of vast importance to the happiness and enlightenment of mankind, and to the fuller understand- ing and higher enjoyment of revealed truth. Baptists have been staunch advocates of both secular and theological education, wherever their history is known. The first classical school taught in Kentucky, was established by Elijah Craig, a distin- guished Baptist preacher, at what is now Georgetown, the first of January, 1788. But it is hardly needful to refute the old misapprehension now.
The idea that the Baptists were generally very illiterate and
Era
m m
h
489
Baptists and Education.
ignorant, at an early period of our commonwealth, was proba- bly asserted by their enemies, again and again, but it has been kept alive more through their own defiant retorts, than by their simpering and affected opponents. But by what- ever means the assertion gained curreney, it is untrue. It would be safe to assume that a larger proportion of the prom- inent citizens of Kentucky, have been members of Baptist churches, than have belonged to the churches of any other one sect. It is well known that a large majority of our public men, in the early days of the commonwealth, were openly irreligious men, and not a few of them were avowed infidels. Yet some of the leading spirits of that "age of infidelity" were men of pure faith and godly lives.
James Garrard, the second governor of the state, and who served two terms in that capacity, was a Baptist preacher be- fore he was elected governor. After him, Gabriel Slaughter, J. T. Morehead, T. E. Bramlette and P. H. Leslie were Bap- tists and governors of the State. Among the military heroes of the commonwealth were Col. Robert Johnson, General Joseph Lewis, Colonel R. M. Johnson, General Aquila Whitaker, Colonel Abraham Bowman, Gen. Henry Crist, and many others who are known to have been pioneer Bap- tists. Among the distinguished judges in the early days of the commonwealth, John Hall, Michael W. Hall, Porter Clay, Henry Davage and Silas M. Noel were prominent in Baptist churches. Among the early members of Congress from Ken- tucky, who are known to have been Baptists, were James Johnson, Henry Crist, R. M. Johnson, Richard French, Thomas Chilton, James T. Morehead and J. T. Johnson. In every department of the social compact, the Baptists have from first to last, held as honorable and conspicuous a position as any other religious denomination in the State. It is not de- signed to claim any superiority for the Baptists, in this respect. To be prominent in human society, or in positions of worldly honor and emolument, is far from being an evidence of piety, nuch less is the boasting of such prominence a proof of godli- ess. These simple facts have been presented, to show how holly unfounded were the assertions of that most contempta- le class of petty snivelers, who hope to elevate themselves by aducing their neighbors.
32
rst old and
n 1, ol
490
History of Kentucky Baptists.
At the close of the last century, the Baptists were in a position to exercise an extensive influence on the masses of the people in Kentucky. They had planted churches in all the principal settlements of the State, and most of these churches were supplied with preaching, suitable to the wants of the peo- ple among whom they were located. There were many good, pious preachers, of small gifts, and limited attainments, who, nevertheless, were good and true men, whose lives had been such as to gain the confidence of their neighbors, and who) were sufficiently taught in the Word of the Lord, to be able to) clearly point out the way of salvation to the unconverted. In the older and more thickly peopled settlements, there were preachers of a high order of talent. Gano, Hickman, Redding, Dudley, Taylor, Barrow, Sutton, Lewis and Elijah Craig, and a number of others would have been acceptable preachers in any part of the United States. In point of intellect, general culture, and practical knowledge, they ranked with the ablest lawyers and politicians of their times. Yet they gave themselves, with true zeal and consecration, to their holy call- ing, and, whatever wicked men may have thought of religion, they did not doubt the sincerity of these men, who so consist- ently advocated it, and practiced its precepts. If the time should come when the then skeptical masses of the people should become convinced of the truth of Christianity, these faithful ministers of Jesus, would exercise over them a mighty influence for their good.
Another feature of Baptist polity, at this period, tendec greatly to increase their influence over the people, when the time of religious awakening came. During the long season o coldness in religion, and the great increase of infidelity among the people, the Baptists had kept up a vigilant discipline ir their churches. They kept constantly before the eyes of the world the practical workings of Christianity. Men were made practically better by its rigid discipline, administered in love During the long, gloomy period of religious declention, which extended, with but slight relief, on two or three brief occasions from 1789, down to the close of the century, the churche were kept in as strict order as if they had been enjoying a con stant revival. The contrast between the church and th world was so striking, that infidels, themselves, could not fa to see the superior influence of religion.
0 fo st ha no do
the tru the his The ister Tha indiv taugh the ge may b the fol Elkhor
to suffe
491
Their Greatest Advantage.
In all the transactions of the churches and associations, there was a manifest jealousy for the purity of the churches, both in doctrine and practice. Heretics who could not be re- claimed, and offenders who could not be brought to repentance were promptly excluded. Disorderly churches were dropped from associational union. Churches of suspicious character, as regarded either doctrine or morals, which applied for admission to associational fellowship, were either rejected or held in sus- pense till the doubts could be removed. Clerical impostors were watched with a close scrutiny, advertised in the minutes of associations, and the churches were warned against encour- aging them, or being deceived by them. By these means the doctrines and morals of the churches were preserved in a good degree of purity. As to the spirituality of the membership of these churches, that was beyond the control of human discipline, and at the period now under consideration, was so low as to ap- pear almost extinct.
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