USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > Shrewsbury > A history of Seventh Day Baptists in West Virginia : including the Woodbridgetown and Salemville churches in Pennsylvania and the Shrewsbury church in New Jersey > Part 14
USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > Salemville > A history of Seventh Day Baptists in West Virginia : including the Woodbridgetown and Salemville churches in Pennsylvania and the Shrewsbury church in New Jersey > Part 14
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"We rejoice that the Lord is building up His churches in the western country, that the desert is blossoming like the rose, etc. We rejoiced at the reception of a brotherly letter from you, wherein we find an account of the rise, and the present number of your church, together with a short account of your faith and order; you say you hold the doctrines of election, and final perseverance of Saints, which doctrines we also hold; that is, we hold that all those saints who finally persevere, will compose God's elect, so perhaps we should not wrangle much about that, although we have known of some who hold that God has from eternity unconditionally elected a part of Adam's race for glory, and that He has unconditionally and eternally repro-
140 SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS IN WEST VIRGINIA
bated all the rest to misery; and tell the people 'they must do, and they cannot do, that they must go to God for salvation, and they cannot, etc., but these things being contradictions in term, and therefore mere nonsense, we pass it by, and hope better things of you.
"But further, you inform us that you hold a full communion with the First Day Baptists. Dear Brethren, we do not blame you for loving christians of any denomination, for we find it more than we can do to avoid it, nay, we do not wish to avoid it, would to God we could love them even out of that error, for we find many sweet and comfortable hours in joining with our First Day brethren, in the worship of our God; yet, for the sake of good order and discipline in God's house, we think it necessary to take up the cross in that one point, that is, to withhold our external fellowship, in token that we do not fellowship that error.
"Now we know that the sweetest part of religion is the internal work of grace and the love of God, shed abroad in the heart, which is the essence of charity. Now, all this, Brethren, we wish you to maintain with your First Day brethren, as saith the apostle, above all things put on fervent charity, which is the bond of perfectness; this we say is the sweetest part of religious fellowship, yet for the well ordering of God's house, He has seen fit to appoint external rules and ordinances; and it is in these alone that we wish you to withhold your communion, and that from no other motive but that of love. We think that you would readily grant that to come round the table of the Lord, to eat the bread and drink the wine, without the love of God in the heart, would be but a dry morsel. And do you think they can reason- ably be grieved with you when that outward part is all you withhold from them? So likewise we hope you will not be grieved with us, while we inform you that your liberty herein has exceeded the bounds of our external fellowship, although we love you still, hoping that you will upon further consideration discover the impropriety of that liberty and retract therefrom, upon which we know not but you will stand in full fellowship with this Conference, if it should be your desire.
"But we consider it not consistent to be in full fellowship with those out of the church, whose practise is such as we could not receive into the church, and if we receive First Day members into the church, and allow them the liberty of working on the Seventh Day, it would not be a consistent chain of discipline to deal with others for taking the same liberty; and if we cease to deal with members for the non- observance of that solemn, delightful, and necessary command of God, it would soon become a matter of indifference in the eyes of posterity; who would naturally act as worldly interest and temporal convenience should dictate, so that it is beyond a doubt if such a practise was uni- rersally adopted, that in a short time the observation of the Seventh Day Sabbath, would be nearly or totally extinct; that this would be the case is evident not only from the nature of things, but likewise from all the instances of the kind which has happened within the
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THE WEST FORK RIVER CHURCH
circle of our acquaintance. So we hope you will see the propriety of our conduct and put on charity for us.
"So dear Brethren, we commend you to God and the world of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified. AMEN.
"SEPTEMBER IIth, 1808."
The Conference minutes of the following year state that no report was received from the West Fork River Church, and nothing appears from it afterwards.1
So far as the present writer has been able to ascertain, the West Fork River Church is the only one of this group of churches in which the doctrine of open, or free, com- munion ever obtained a footing firm enough to menace its integrity.
The West Fork River Church, doubtless, carried its prac- tise of open communion to a much greater length than merely admitting their First Day friends to the communion service and inviting them to participate in the Lord's Supper. This, undoubtedly, opened the way to a much closer affiliation with members of non-Sabbath-keeping churches.
It is somewhat doubtful, however, if Benedict's statement (see note on p. 138) to the effect that First Day Baptists were admitted to membership, is correct; as the source of his information, probably, was the foregoing correspondence, published at that time in the minutes of the Seventh Day Bap- tist General Conference.
The Shrewsbury Church at one time censured one of its members for partaking of the communion with the Church of England, but that offence appears to have been sporadic.
After the removal of the church to western Virginia, however, the only trouble over the communion in that church arose from the position taken by the pastor, Rev. Peter Davis, to the effect that the Lord's Supper was akin to the Mosaic Ceremonial Law, and had been fulfilled and passed away. Few, if any, of the members of the church sympathised with his views, however, and the equipoise of the church was in no wise disturbed.
The West Fork River Church now rapidly declined, and
I. The author is under obligations to Rev. Samuel D. Davis, of Jane Lew, West Virginia, for much of his information concerning this article.
142 SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS IN WEST VIRGINIA
in a short time those who had not left the Sabbath, had become members of the Lost Creek Church.
A PARTIAL LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE WEST FORK RIVER CHURCH.
THOMAS MAXSON, Deacon and Church Clerk, TIMOTHY MAXSON, son of Thomas,
ANNA MAXSON, wife of Timothy, WILLIAM VANHORN, VIRGINIA VANHORN, wife of William,
ISAAC MORRIS, Elder, JAMES MAXSON, JOSEPH DAVIS, SR., WILLIAM DAVIS, Elder.
VIII.
THE LOST CREEK CHURCH.
THE original records of the Lost Creek Church, which was organ- ised October 27, 1805, have all T disappeared. On the 9th of March, 1855, William F. Randolph, a mem- ber of the Lost Creek Church, was instructed, by order of the church, to make an abridged transcript of the records as they existed at that time. This transcript is the oldest record now in possession of the church. On the title page of the book containing the transcript, is the following inscription :-
"Summary transcript of the original record of the institution and proceedings of the Seventh Day Baptist Church at Lost Creek, Harrison County, Virginia. Written 1857."
This book contains, as a sort of preface, four pages of explanatory remarks by the transcriber, reciting the history of his work and the manner in which he did it. It runs as follows :-
"The following is an abridged transcript of the rise and tran- sactions of the Seventh Day Baptist Church at Lost Creek, Harrison County, Virginia, inscribed in compliance with an order of the church, passed March 9, 1855.
"The writer here would say that it was with a considerable degree of reluctance that he engaged in the work, under various considerations ;
"First. Because he is aware that there is a liability, even with much faithfulness and care, in condensing writings, of not giving every feature contained in the original in its clear light.
"Secondly. Because the proper execution of such a work neces-
144 SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS IN WEST VIRGINIA
sarily required more time, labour, and attention, than could be given at one period by the writer, pressed as he is almost continually under a multiplicity of cares at home and abroad.
"Thirdly. On account of inability to do the work in a fair legible manner, because of a disabled hand.
"These embarrassments combined have made the work far more burdensome and tedious than it might have been under favourable circumstances. But, yet, however, notwithstanding these impediments, the need of the work, and the call of the brethren for me to engage in it has made the task rather a pleasant duty, whenever opportunity was found to engage in it, though but a few hours at a time.
"The writing was commenced, and the most of it done, in the win- ter of 1855 and 1856, but not finished until February, 1857.
"The Articles of Faith, Covenant, and Duty, found on pages 2 to 8 partly inclusive, are copied entire. The small amount of other matter on pages 2 and 8 is also given about in full. The abridgment begins with page 9.
"The original record shows that the business meetings were almost uniformly opened and closed with prayer, frequently accompanied with reading or singing, sometimes both. They show also that a moderator was frequently appointed at church meetings. These parts of the record are altogether omitted in this edition, yet the writer has endeav- oured to notice every meeting mentioned in the original, giving distinctly the nature and extent of business done at each.
"Names of members are given, commencing with page 72, show- ing the time of reception, baptism, etc., as far as the original record shows, or [as] such matters otherwise come to my knowledge. Con- siderable, however, is wanting to make this information full, the old writings being somewhat short in this respect.
"On page 115, a list is started giving the time of decease of mem- bers as far as found in the old book, with some others collected. This list, I think, should be filled out without delay as far as practicable.
"An alphabetical index will be found in the fore part of the book, giving names of members, with other persons, and subjects of matter contained in the book (though this index, with the arrangement of references to pages connected, has taken considerable time and care, and perhaps there may yet be room for improvement) [which] may prove to be beneficial, not only in saving time by readily pointing to subjects and matter, but also by saving the book from that wear and defacement which is the consequent result of much handling the leaves of any volume.
"Commencing with page 9, running forward over part of the 30th page, will be found the substance of the business matter recorded in the old book, covering the time from June, 1806, to March, 1844. That part from page 30 to page 38 never having been embodied in a book has come into my hands at a distance from the church, at various periods, on loose memorandum papers.
(9)
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THE LOST CREEK CHURCH
"Here it may be well to remark that, although much care and pains have been taken to make this a faithful, clear, condensed copy, and I feel to hope it is very near if not entirely so, yet as I have worked alone, which is rather an ill-convenient way of compiling writings, and far from being the readiest way of detecting errors, it may therefore be, upon examination with help, that matter may be found lacking, or out of place.
"This would seem probable, not only on account of the crowded and frequently interrupted circumstances under which the work has been executed, but more particularly, because of the detached names, that the embodied part of the original record is found in the old book, but few leaves in that being paged, and much of the matter standing scattered in irregular, interspersed parcels through the book.
"I would suggest, therefore, that the church either examine the work as a body, or appoint two or more members to .compare this summary with the original record and papers, and report to the church at some future time before the new copy is received [i. e., accepted]. Such an examination seems necessary, not only because errors or omissions, if any, may thereby be detected and the copy thus perfected ; but also because if such steps are not taken, heavy and undesirable responsibilities must rest upon your humble compiler, who has done the work unaided under unfavourable circumstances, but with little suitable opportunity to look over it. I hope, therefore, that these measures will be carried out by the church.
"Some 23 pages are used as an index; other matter now written occupies about 50 pages, giving the Articles, the Rise and Doings of the church for more than fifty years, leaving, I believe, rather more than half of the book yet blank; which, with proper handling, may serve as record paper yet for many years to come.
"With these remarks I submit the book to the brethren, at whose call the work has been done, concluding by mentioning the propriety of properly entering and preserving future records. The saying that 'What is worth doing at all, is worth doing well' is probably true, and will apply to putting down and keeping records as well as other matters of business.
"From the little experience I have had in looking over old manu- scripts, I find that ill-convenience is often given from poor ink having been used, as well as from [the] imperfect handling and preserving [of] record books and papers.
"I would suggest the propriety, therefore, of the church instructing her clerk not to attempt to spread business matter upon the regular record book at the time of transacting it; but then on a memorandum paper or book, and shorly afterwards, at his own convenience, always using good ink, in a short but explicit manner, enter it in the regular book, reading it at the next meeting for approval.
"This course, properly pursued, may prove to be an advantage to those who may follow after, if not to the present acting brethren.
"W.M. F. RANDOLPH."
146 SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS IN WEST VIRGINIA
The records proper of the church as transcribed, begin as follows :-
"Harrison County, State of Virginia, October 27, 1805, the Seventh Day Baptist Society on Lost Creek was formed into a church, comprising the following members :-
"RICHARD BOND, SR.,
"RICHARD BOND, JR.,
"WILLIAM VANHORN, JR.,
"CORNELIUS WILLIAMS,
"GEORGE DAVIS,
"MOSES HUFFMAN,
"MARY BOND,
"MARY BOND,
"MARVEL DAVIS,
"AMY DAVIS.
"These were the constituent members. Within the next six weeks the following additional members joined the church :-
"ABEL BOND, SR.,
"MARY DUNAWAY,
"WILLIAM VANHORN, SR.,
"JOHN DUNAWAY,
"SARAH VANHORN, (wife of William, Sr.),
"SARAH VANHORN, (wife of William, Jr.),
"ELISABETH HUFFMAN.
"Cornelius Williams was chosen Ruling Elder; Abel Bond, Sr., Deacon, and Moses Huffman, Clerk.
"The Church Covenant was as follows :-
"The Church of Christ on Lost Creek, in the observance of God's Holy Sanctified Seventh Day-Sabbath, first agreed to: We, who desire to walk together in the fear of the Lord, do, through the assistance of His Holy Spirit, profess our deep and serious humiliation for our transgressions. And we do also solemnly, in the presence of God and each other, in the sense of our unworthiness, give up ourselves to the Lord."
The Articles of Faith were twenty-two in number. These, in turn, were followed by "Short Articles, proper to be read to persons when received into this Church, and to be consented to, and confessed, by the persons so received."
These "Short Articles" consisted of six interrogations, concerning personal duty to God, four statements of duty as to church members in relation to the church, six statements of duty in relation to brethren as church members, and five statements of private duty.
The Lost Creek Church was formed of a group of
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THE LOST CREEK CHURCH
Seventh Day Baptists who settled on Lost Creek, and the neighbouring streams of Hackers Creek and Elk Creek, early in the nineteenth century.
In the early part of its history, the church was made up, for the most part, of the Bonds, who had come from Cecil County, Maryland, and the VanHorns, Williamses, and others, who had embraced the Sabbath in the south-western part of Pennsylvania, through the influence of the Woodbridgetown Seventh Day Baptist Church. These were joined by other families from time to time, from New Salem, and from Wood- bridgetown, as well as from points in Maryland and New Jersey. Among these were the Huffmans, Loofboros, Forsythes, etc.
In July, 1806, the church decided to build a meeting house, but the exact location was not determined upon until November 29, 1807. The building appears to have been completed in December, 1809.
At the session of the General Conference held with the church at Hopkinton, Rhode Island, in September, 1808, the Lost Creek Church, together with the New Salem Church, was admitted to membership in that body. Both churches were represented by Rev. John Davis, who was in attendance upon Conference that year.
Three years afterward, the church addressed the following letter to the General Conference :-
"Lost Creek Church, Harrison County, State of Virginia, July the 6th, 1811.
"DEARLY BELOVED BRETHREN IN CHRIST :-
"We send you our Christian salutation in the Lord. Grace, peace, and mercy, from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ be unto you all who look and long for His appearing the second time, without sin, unto salvation.
"DEAR BRETHREN : We thank you for your good will and brotherly love in sending us the letters of your Conference, and [we] greatly desire to keep up a correspondence with you by letter, if no more.
"Elder John Davis says that he would have been with you this fall, if he had not to move to the Ohio State.
"You ask the reason why his name was not in our letter to Cohan- sey. We can render no reason, only neglect, at this time; for we thought it was [in the letter]. He expects to move to the Ohio State to join and take the care of a church of about 18 members there, this fall.
148 SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS IN WEST VIRGINIA
"DEAR BRETHREN: We have received six members, and excom- municated two, since our last letter to you. Our number at present is thirty-one.
"May God of his infinite mercy and for Christ's sake, increase our faith and number, and bless you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places; and finally accept of you and us in the Beloved, is the prayer of your brothers and sisters in the Lord.
"JOHN DAVIS, Elder, "CORNELIUS WILLIAMS, Ruling Elder,
"ABEL BOND, Deacon, "MOSES HUFFMAN, Clerk.
"N. B. We beg you would overlook our weakness and bad writ- ing, and pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men-for all men have not faith-and the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. AMEN.
"M. H. "To the Conference at Rhode Island. [In care of] "MR.'S JOHN DAVIS, Elder, or JACOB WEST, "COHANSEY, WEST NEW JERSEY. "To be left at Bridge Town Post Office."
The church addressed the General Conference again in 1818, as follows :-
"ESTEEMED BRETHREN :-
"LOST CREEK, 1818.
"Having taken a deliberate view of the subject of the Missionary Society as proposed by a circular letter, communicated through the medium of Brother Manning Dunn, we most cordially acquiesce in the utility of the measure, conceiving the sole object to be no other than to supply those that are destitute of the Gospel, and to promote the cause of true religion; and earnestly hope, if adopted, that we shall shortly experience something of the cordial efforts, resulting from so benevolent an institution.
"From a conception that our situation calls loud for your earliest attention, as being situated in a very remote part, and destitute of such teachers as can be profitable or received, we do most fervently wish you, in your wisdom, may select and send forth to our relief a teacher whose superiour ability, external deportment, and innate virtues, are such as will secure confidence, and adorn the doctrine of God, our Saviour. Let him be furnished with such a recommendation in addi- tion, as will remove every doubt of his being an impostor, as we have been much imposed on by men of that description, which hath brought reproach on the Sabbatarian societies in this quarter. Let his system embrace a belief that he hath been called to preach to sinners, for such we are. And being useless to multiply words, we, nearly as sheep
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THE LOST CREEK CHURCH
without a shepherd, submit our case to your better judgment, to do for us as may seem meet in your eyes.
"And now, dear Brethren, we submit you to God, who is able to build you up, and give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified ; that we, with you all, may experience an unmeasurable flow of divine love, is the earnest prayer of your brethren and sisters whose names are hereunto annexed.
"WILLIAM VANHORN,
ELISABETH HUFFMAN, SARAH DAVIS,
"THOMAS VANHORN,
"JOHN FORSYTHE, Clerk,
J. W. L MOTBORO,
"WILLIAM WILLIAMS,
MARY LOOFBORO,
"JACOB DAVIS,
D. W. LOOFBORO,
"SARAH VANHORN, SR.,
RICHARD BOND, SR.,
"SARAH FORSYTHE,
MARY BOND,
"SARAH DAVIS,
ABEL BOND, JR.,
"SARAH VANHORN, JR.,
SARAH BOND,
"SARAH VANHORN, YE 3D,
"LOIS VANHORN,
"ZURAH KENNEDY,
"PRUDENCE BOND,
MARGARET BOND,
ELI BOND,
REUBEN BOND,
JAMES KENNEDY.
"BRETHREN: Let the following insertion be a sufficient apology for the subscribers' names all appearing in the same handwriting,- this being a copy of the original, which was sent to me this day, with a request that I should copy and direct to whomsoever I might think proper, lest the original should iniscarry, and this possibly might arrive safe.
"ABEL BOND, SR., "ELISABETH BOND.
"Clarksburg, Harrison County, Virginia. "July ye 12th, 1818.
"The above-signed (with only one exception) are heads of fam- ilies, and a considerable number more of a similar sentiment reside within the vicinity of the Lost Creek Church, that had not an oppor- tunity of seeing this letter; all of whom have rising families of the Seventh-day order.
"Although we are not in opulent circumstances, yet we feel will- ing to contribute something toward the support of a teacher, who, in addition to the foregoing requisite qualifications, can stand forth bold as a lion in support of the Fourth Commandment, as there is uncom- mon pains taken by some teachers of different orders to inform a belief that it is by no means binding, and exert every faculty to obliterate, if possible, the observance of that most prominent com- mand, which, indeed hath led some of our youths to query, whether or no we were not in an error.
"THOMAS BOND,
"AMELIA BOND,
"SARAH BOND,
RICHARD BOND, JR.,
MARY BOND, RICHARD BOND, Minor,
150 SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS IN WEST VIRGINIA
"DEAR BRETHREN: How are such teachers to account for their conduct at the great and decisive day of Acc'ts? But we must leave them to see to that.
"While we most earnestly desire an interest in your most fervent petitions that we may be enabled, through divine grace, to trace the remaining steps of our days in stability and firmness, that we, with you all, may be found included in the happified number at the last, that shall receive the approbatory sentence of 'Well done, good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of your Lord,' is the earnest prayer of your affectionate brethren and sisters. ADIEU.
"ABEL BOND.
"In behalf of the Lost Creek Church.
"Åddressed
"To the Elders and Messengers composing the Sabbatarian Gen- eral Conference to be held in East Jersey.
"To be left in the Post Office at Brunswick.
"To the immediate care of the Rev. Manning Dunn.
"CLARKSBURG, VA., JULY 26."
Rev. John Davis was pastor, not only of the New Salem Church, but of the Lost Creek Church as well.
In November, 1810, Moses Huffman and Cornelius Wil- liams were called to improve their gift of exhortation and preaching in the society at their own convenience, and a year afterward, Hamilton Goss was invited to preach for the church once a month.
Early in 1811, the meeting house was burnt down by accident, and the church decided to build again ; this time on the land of William VanHorn, who agreed to make the church a deed for a lot of one acre.
In 1815, some trouble arose between Rev. John Davis on the one hand, and various members of the church on the other. This continued to agitate the church at irregular intervals for a period of some fifteen years, and at times it interfered materially with its spiritual welfare. Indeed, the trouble was far reaching, and extended not only to the uttermost bounds of the Lost Creek and New Salem churches, but to the Mad River Seventh Day Baptist Church in Ohio, where Rev. John Davis had spent some time, after which he had returned to Virginia. The exact nature of the charges against him are not wholly clear from the records, but they were of such a nature that his personal character was impeached. Apparently, however, he succeeded in clearing himself of the charges in a satisfactory manner.
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