USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky Baptists : From 1769 to 1885, including more than 800 biographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 52
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Of messengers from these missionary societies and other Bap- tist organizations, was formed in Philadelphia, in April, 1814, "the Baptist General Convention," since called "The General Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States for Foreign Missions." This convention appointed a Board of Managers, known to the country as the Baptist Board of For- eign Missions. Dr. William Staughton of Philadelphia, where the Board was located, was elected Corresponding Secretary, and Luther Rice acted as General Agent of the Board. Mr. Rice had previously written letters to some of the ministers and as- sociations, and when the Board printed, in 1815, its first annual report, several copies were sent to each association in Kentuc- ky. Most of the associations entered cordially into correspond- nce with the Board; some of them took up collections and for- varded the money to the Board immediately-and of these Russells Creek has the honor of being the first and most liberal -some of them hesitated, and were confused on the subject, while a few promptly rejected the correspondence.
Mr. Rice visited most of the Associations in Kentucky, in 815, and was very cordially received. Many of the Associa- ons took up very liberal collections, for the object he repre- ented, and, but for the alarm of a few preachers, who were
*Lynd's Memoirs of Dr. Staughton, pp. 174, 176.
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jealous of an imaginary encro achment on church independence, or were startled at the idea of novelty, there is every appearance that Kentucky Baptists would have been almost a unit, in favor of Foreign Missions.
Previous to 1816, there was not an Anti-mission Baptist in Kentucky, so far as known. In every association, where a mis- sionary enterprise was proposed, it met with universal favor. In the early period of the first churches, planted on the soil of Ken- tucky, missionaries were sent to the surrounding country. The oldest church in what was then called West (now Middle) Ten- nessee, was constituted by Ambrose Dudley and John Taylor. These ministers, in 1791, traveled through a wilderness, on horseback, nearly two hundred miles, where they were con- stantly exposed to destruction by the Indians, to establish the Redeemer's cause in this remote settlement. John Sutton and James Sutton were afterward sent, in turn, by Elkhorn Asso- ciation, to minister to this church, and the moderator was di- rected to pay them £13, 12s, 8d, for this service. Buck Creek church, in Shelby county, sent William McCoy and George Waller to preach to the first church planted in Indiana, and Elk- horn Association sent John Taylor and John Gano to minister to the first church planted in Ohio. Tates Creek and South Ken- tucky Associations sent ministers to Chaplain, Green River and other points to supply destitution. Elkhorn, as before shown sent John Young to preach to the Indians, and Long Run sent Henson Hobbs to Missouri Territory. It is abundantly evi- denced by church and associational records, that the Bap- tists of Kentucky were imbued with the spirit of missions, from the beginning. Yet, even at this early period, there were germs of evil at work, which ultimately grew into a bitter opposition to missions and theological education.
The opposition to missions and an educated ministry which prevailed among a small faction of the Kentucky Bap tists, at a later periou, did not originate in covetousness ; "fo no people, from the carliest times," says Dr. J. M. Peck " were more generous and prompt to make contributions fc public purposes. There has been a profuseness-a kind prodigality in their gifts on public occasions.
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fering for want of provisions and clothing. In a few days, both sexes and all classes were gathering supplies ; pack-horses and wagons, loaded with necessaries, were on the march through the wilderness, and so abundant were the donations, that the officers in command sent back expresses to stay the profusion.
" When the late Rev. Luther Rice first visited the churches in Kentucky and Tennessee, and brought before them the sub- ject of Foreign Missions, the contributions were larger than in any other States. We have attended camp-meetings and asso- ciations in this Valley, where members of the church and other persons in the settlement would expend five hundred dollars in providing for the accommodation and entertainment of all who came from a distance. We must look for some other cause than want of liberality in western people for the origin of their prejudices."*
There were two causes manifest, that led to opposition to missions and an educated ministry. The first was the charac- ter of preaching among the pioneers, the second was the suf- ferings endured by their most prominent ministers, and others, at the hands of the Episcopal hierarchy, in Virginia and the Carolinas, before the Revolution. The one rendered missions unnecessary and presumptuous; the other illustrated the evils of system in religious operations, and of learning in the ministry.
Most of the ministers among the Regular Baptists in Ken- tucky, at an early period, were what would now be called hy- percalvinistic. They were men of vigorous intellects, but of very limited education. They studied the English Bible very closely, but without much aid from Biblical literature. Having mout a limited knowledge of the structure and use of language ton the English Scriptures, it is not remarkable that they should ave construed some figurative passages literally, and misinter- try reted others that were literal. In their theological system, Bap Christ died to redeem the elect, "gave himself for the "forhurch." His sacrifice was a literal payment of a debt for his Peckpeople. Of course none but his people had any part in the is focrifice. "Sinners were 'dead in trespasses and sins;' there- ndobre, they could no more help themselves than a dead man ; hd as it is the office-work of the Holy Spirit to quicken the
*Christian Review, v. xvii, pp. 490, 491.
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dead, the mode of preaching the doctrine of regeneration as the work of the Almighty Spirit, was in such a form, and by such illustrations, as to leave the impression that the gospel was preached, not to convert sinners, but to comfort God's people. It was at a much later period that these crude speculations exhibited their legitimate fruits in practical antinomianism.
"At a subsequent period, the hyper-Calvinistic doctrines were made more prominent, and speculations were taught, un- til antinomianism in spirit, theory, and practice prevailed to a ruinous extent among the churches in the Mississippi Valley."* Finally "eternal justification," the doctrine of the "two seeds" and the "two-souls" doctrine, with other equally absurd spec- ulations, were insisted on with earnest persistency, until schisms were produced, and a number of small factions were severed from the main body of the denomination. But it was before these divisions, and while the subsequent schismatics were still a factor in the Baptist denomination, that opposition to mis- sions was first manifested.
With men, holding these speculations as articles of faith, opposition to missions was natural, especially when they appre- hended danger to their liberties from organized societies as me- diums for carrying on missionary operations. If all God's peo- ple were eternally justified, literally purchased, or have all their obligations met by the sacrifice of Christ, while there are no provisions made for the salvation of others, and they are quickened from the dead (in sin) by the Holy Spirit-regen- erated before they can hear the gospel, the tidings of salvation could, at most, do no more than merely comfort such as were already saved ; of course the gospel could be of no benefit to those for whom no provisions were made, and who, being dead, could not hear it. To attempt to lead men to salvation, there- fore, would be not only useless, but sacrilegiously presumptu- ous, in as much as it would be an attempt to subvert God's designs.
On the other hand, these enthusiastic lovers of liberty, and especially religious liberty, feared that the organization of mis- sionary societies, which they supposed would control large amounts of money, would lead to a religious establishment ;
*Dr. Peck in Chistian Review.
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and their past experience, with that of their fathers handed down to them through tradition, caused them to dread and abhor this more than civil bondage.
Most of the early settlers of Kentucky were from Virginia and the Carolinas. In these provinces the Episcopal church was established by law. As the country was settled, it was laid off into districts, called parishes, somewhat after the manner that our counties are divided into common school districts, except that the parishes were larger than our school districts. A meet- ing-house was built in each parish, at the public expense. To this, a tract of land containing at least two hundred acres, and called a glebe, was attached, and a comfortable residence built on it for the benefit of the preacher, who, in technical lan- guage, was called the rector, but was popularly known as the parson. The preachers were educated in England to the pro- fession of the christian ministry, without regard to their having made any profession of personal religion. They were appointed in legal form as religious teachers in these parishes. Each was allowed a salary of sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco a year. This salary was to be paid by the people in his parish. None but these parsons were allowed to preach in the country. Many of them were not only wanting in piety, but were openly pro- fligate in their lives. Dissenters from the established church, who ventured to preach in any portion of the country, were subject, not only to rude and violent persecution by mobs, instigated by these profligate parsons, but were also subject to legal fines and imprisonment. Many of the Baptists, who afterwards settled in Kentucky, had been compelled to pay taxes to support these "learned preachers," and not a few of their preachers had suffered violent persecution and endured protracted imprisonment "for preaching the gospel of the Son of God contrary to law." Lewis Craig, Elijah Craig, John Shackleford, Thomas Ammen, John Tanner, and perhaps others of the pioneer preachers in Kentucky had suffered from confine- ment in Virginia jails. John Tanner had been shot and dan- gerously wounded for immersing a lady in North Carolina. David Barrow and William Mathews had been thrice dipped in foul ponds and held under the water till they were almost drowned, ind the eloquent David Thomas and a number of others had suffered rude indignities from mobs, who, as Morgan Edwards
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facetiously says, "had not wit enough to sin in a decent manner."
A remembrance of these things made the Baptists of Ken- tucky watchful of every tendency that might possibly lead to the recurrence of such a state of degradation. When they con- trasted the sincere piety, self-sacrifice and constant devotion to their holy calling, of their own illliterate preachers, who were " called of God as Aaron was," with the profligate lives of the learned "parsons" who had been selected and trained by men for the gospel ministry, it was by no means strange that they should be suspicious of "men-made preachers." Besides this, they had a striking illustration of their belief constantly before their eyes. The Presbyterians composed the only denomination in the country that boasted a learned ministry, and yet, of all the denominations in the State, they proved themselves most deficient in the elements of success. And despite all the learned logic of the schools, practical men, such as were the pioneer Kentuckians, will deduce their theories from the facts of which they are cognizant .
It will have been observed by the thoughtful reader that no faction, even of the Baptists, has ever opposed either education or missions abstractly. The opposition of those known as Anti- mission Baptists, which are now proven by their preserved official statistics never to have been numerous, as will be seen in due time, was against theological schools and missionary soci- eties. And this opposition originated in the fear that men would be educated in such schools to the profession of the ministry, without regard to a call from God to the sacred office, as had been the case in Europe, and even in many instances in this country, and the misapprehension that power might be vested in such societies for the abridgement of religious liberty.
The most prominent opposers of the Baptist Board of For- eign Missions, in Kentucky, were the venerable John Taylor and the eccentric Daniel Parker. Of the piety, usefulness, and strong practical good sense, in general, of Mr. Taylor, there can be no doubt. He was illiterate, in the scholastic meaning of that term, but by no means an ignorant man. The late dis- tinguished Dr. W. Vaughan had so high an opinion of his discres- sion that he was heard to say, with emphasis : "Everything John Taylor ever wrote is worth reading." But the Foreign Mission
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enterprise was new in this country, and originated among the " Yankees," who were still holding on to the Ghost of a relig- ous establishment. It is probable that the young men who were conducting the interests of the Mission Board, in the West, were not as prudent as they should have been. Mr. Taylor came to an unfavorable conclusion, as to the propriety of the measure of the Board, and too hastily published a closely printed pamphlet of 34 pages, against the whole enterprise. It was written with considerable ingenuity, and in that kind of style that most readily affects the illiterate. It exhibits more passion and prejudice, than reason and logic. He expresses his strong- est objection to the enterprise, and, perhaps, the single one that induced him to write the pamphlet, in the following sentence : " I consider these great men are verging close on an aristocracy, with an object to sap the foundation of Baptist republican go- vernment."* It is believed that Mr. Taylor repented of having writted on the subject ; some remarks he makes in his bio- graphical sketch of Absalom Graves, published seven years later, indicates that he had changed his mind on the subject. But his pamphlet had gone forth on its pernicious mission, and probably did more to check the cause of missions, in Kentucky, than any other publication of the period.
Daniel Parker was the most persistent and effective opposer of missions, in the Mississippi Valley. When the subject of For- eign Missions was first introduced into Kentucky in 1814, he lived in Sumner county, Tennessee, within a few miles of the Kentucky line, and preached in both States. He had been preaching about eight years, and had been in an almost per- petual controversy with the Methodists and Newlights. "This," says he, "is the way I became a man of war." When the re- ports of the Convention and its Board reached the churches in his neighborhood, setting forth the object, plans of operation and prospects of the scheme of Foreign Missions, he at once gave his attention to the subject. "At the first view," says he, "I was wonderfully pleased with the prospect of the gospel being extended with such rapidity." The subject was intro- duced into the Association of which he was a member, in 1814, and referred to the churches for their consideration. Mr. Par-
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ker did not commit himself on the subject. In 1815, a majority of the churches reported. themselves adverse to "the mission business." Luther Rice was present at the Association. Mr. Par- ker publicly opposed the whole scheme of Foreign Missions. From this time till his death, he opposed Missions, theological schools and all benevolent societies, with a tireless energy and perseverance, and with all the means he could command. For several years he traveled extensively in Kentucky, as well as in other sections of the country, sowing the seeds of discord with an unsparing hand. Several preachers of considerable local in- fluence adopted his views of Missions, among whom were An- drew Nuckols, James Tompkins, Richard Newport, and, at a subsequent period, R. W. Ricketts, Thomas P. Dudley, Jordan Walker and others less known.
DANIEL PARKER, a son of John Parker, was born in Cul- peper county, Va .. He was taken by his parents to Georgia, where he was raised up in extreme poverty, and with only edu . cation enough to enable him barely to read the New Testament. He was converted under the ministry of Moses Sanders and re- ceived into Nails Creek Baptist church in Franklin county, Georgia, where he was baptized, in January, 1802. Shortly after- wards, he received a license from the church, and began to ex- ercise in public. Next year he moved to what is now Dixon county, Tennessee. Here, in Turnbull church, he was ordained, May 20, 1806, by Garner McConnico, John Record and John Turner. About 1806, he moved to Sumner county, Tennessee, where he united with Hopewell church. A few years after- wards, he settled on the Ridge, in the same county, and near the Kentucky line .. Here he remained till 1817, when he moved to the south-eastern part of Illinois, where he did most of his life work-in. the main, if not altogether, a most mischievous one.
In 1820, he published, in a pamphlet of 38 pages, “ A Pub- lic Address to the Baptist Society," in opposition to the Bap- tist Board of Foreign Missions. This Address was republished, in 1824, with another of nearly the same length, and on the same subject, addressed to Maria Creek church. About the year 1826, he published a pamphlet, setting forth what he called the Doctrine of the Two-Seeds. It was a modification of the ancient speculative philosophy of Manicheus. He does not
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claim to have been the first advocate of the Two-Seeds Doctrine, but accredits this honor to an old brother in Tennessee, whom he had heard make a few remarks on the subject, about the year 1810, and whom he rebuked sharply for teaching such heresy. He does not give the name of the old brother. After studying the subject, sixteen years, he became fully convinced of the truth of the doctrine, and set it forth in the pamphlet spoken of above.
In treating the subject, Mr. Parker premises, and attempts to prove that the two existing moral, or spiritual principles, or essences which he recognizes, are eternal and self-existing. He attempts to investigate them on the principle of chemical analy- sis. The essence of God is God; the essence of Evil is the Devil, who is called in the Bible, by several additional names, as Satan, the Serpent, and other titles. Good angels are em- anations from, or " particles of God." Evil angels are particles of the Devil. God created Adam and Eve and endowed them with an emanation from himself. They were wholly good. Satan diffused into them particles of his essence, by which they were corrupted. God appointed that Eve should bear a cer- tain number of offspring, and this appointment was extended to her daughters, in all their generations. After the fall, God greatly multiplied the conception of Eve : so that she was now not only appointed to bear the original number, who were to be "the seed, or children of God, but also an additional number, who were to be " the seed of the Serpent, " or " the children of the Devil." All the seed of God were so connected with Christ as to form a unit, or "body," of which Christ was the head, and, by way of pre-eminence, was called " the . seed ;" but when so called, it was understood that all the members of the body were included. But, in all this family, Satan diffused his essence, till " they became as corrupt and sinful as the Devil himself." It was now necessary to make an atonement for their sins. The divine essence became incarnate in Christ (including his body), and Christ (including all the seed in himself), was crucified for the sins of God's children. This done, God, at his appointed time, and by his superior powers, would expel the alledevil essence from them, and thus accomplish their salvation.
Meanwhile, the Serpent's seed, with bodies created by the s nopower of God, in the same measure in which he created his own
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children, were, nevertheless, emanations from, or particles of the Evil essence. As the good essence was incarnate in the seed of God, so the Evil essence was incarnate in the seed of the Ser- pent. All the manifestations of good or evil in men were but manifestations of the good or evil essences within them. The Christian warfare was only a war between essences. God was superior in power, but, for wise purposes [explained by the ad- vocate of the system], he chose to exert only such measure of power as was necessary for the preseveration of his children. Lastly, the final punishment of the wicked will be only the pun- ishment of Satan within them, and, though not directly so stated by the defender of the system, the inference is irresis- table, that the final joys of the saints will be only the joys of God dwelling in them.
Such was the doctrine of the Two Seeds, which added its quota to the sum of opposition to missions. It caused no small distress to the churches in southern Illinois and Indiana, and split at least two associations in Kentucky. Sometime after Mr. Parker published his views on this subject, he issued anoth- er pamphlet, titled "The Second Dose of the Doctrine of the Two Seeds." In October, 1829, he commenced the publication of THE CHURCH ADVOCATE, a monthly devoted to the opposing of missions. It run through two volumes, and was discontinued for want of patronage. After this, Mr. Parker, though scarcely beyond mid life, and in vigorous health seems to have written but little. But he lost no opportunity to exert the full force of his influence, against the cause of missions.
Despite the opposition that began to exhibit itself so soon after the subject of Foreign Missions was introduced among the churches, much interest, and a commendable zeal was mani- fested in its favor. As early as 1816, we find no less than six missionary societies in Kentucky, viz .: Kentucky Baptist Soci- ety for Propagating the Gospel; the Green River Country So- ciety, auxiliary to the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions; the Bardstown Society, auxiliary to the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions; the Mt. Sterling Society, auxiliary to the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions; the Shelbyville Society, auxiliary to the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions; and the Washing ton Kentucky Missionary Society, auxiliary to the Baptis Board of Foreign Missions. The first named of these socie
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ties, held its meetings at Lexington; the names of the others in- dicate their localities. It has already been observed that lib- eral collections had been taken up at several of the associations and forwarded to the Board at Philadelphia.
As if God would show his approval of these efforts of his people to send the gospel to the heathen, another precious revival of religion was vouchsafed to the churches during 1817 and the three years following- and many people were added to the Lord. During this revival season the Kentucky Mis- sionary Society established a school for Indian children near Georgetown, Kentucky, to which they gave the name of Choc- taw Academy. The school opened with eight red children, in the spring of 1819. The number of students increased from year to year, till it became a large and flourishing school. In 1828, seventeen of the Indians in this school were baptized into Great Crossing church, in Scott county, and of the num- ber, Sampson Birch and Robert Jones became preachers of the gospel among their people in the far West.
The decade extending from 1810 to 1820, was one of great prosperity to the Baptists of Kentucky. There were ten asso- ciations formed during that period. Gasper River was taken from the west end of Red River, in 1812. Burning Spring was constituted, in the northern part of the mountain region of the State, in 1814. Franklin was taken from Elkhorn and Long Run, the same year. South Union was constituted in the upper Cumberland Valley, in 1815. Goshen was taken from the west end of Salem, in 1816. Nolynn was taken from the west end of South Kentucky, in 1819. Highland was taken from the north-east part of Little River, in 1820. And Drakes Creek was taken from Gasper River the same year.
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