Minutes of the Elkhorn Association

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OF THE

LKHORN ASSOCIATION or BAPTISTS.

f:ou!)\t.

AssocuTIOM OF BAPTISTS,

met

at

Mount-Pleasant;

~-.UDllll8 cout~ty, Ky. on Saturday the 9th day of August, !,.828.

AB VARDEMAN,

preached

the

Introductory Sermon.

E11heiSiaLns, 8th & 9th verses :-•• By

grace are

ye

saved,

r and that not of yourselves: it

is

the

gift

of God: Not lest any man should boast."

wete receil·ed and read,

and the

Messengers'

names

the churches composing the Association, as follows,

JIIBSSElfGERS' NAiliS•

Jobn

G Eve, Thomas Herndon

• 'homaa Gaines a11d G

··--- c.uuun ovn.

1 15l 913:202

I

9 1 3 624

I

9 I 295

I

11 41

229

7

J

^15.2

7 1 11128

I

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11twi•l'a

For!.r'·

^Yardeuum,^E.^D~atuaby,.\. Wtlson

· 11. F.llis, J. Withers. and S W H':'nt. 29 6;:9 15 714, 57s Jll4 Pleasant, E. Waller, !\1 Singleton, l'e~er. \\ttth·

I I

~

^ers,^p,^Smith,^{T. L.}yne, and Ezekttl j

H»ydon · . n: 3. 14

Lang Uclc as. rinder and A. Robtnson.

s

1· ~:

J!ett11elu:m,' John. King, •Jametl Ingle, and •Jos.

Aclatr.

I

⁶ ¹ ^3S

i

58 Big Spring, ;c.org• JJlackllurn, Thomas Suter, and

2

!

: Nathan :\yr~s. 1

!

_I¹⁰¹

f" ~rsaiUe• J. Crca.lh, .1. Hewett, T. Bullcck, and ' Gondloc Carter.

Georg'etoum, John lJ•·yce, 'It lleecl, U D. Chambers.

and ^1. :\f Bower Harhtlootl, 'Early Scott, and • P S(lort.

Pr·O'flidellctt, L. Bryan, J . • \tarrs, Wm. T Bryan,

I

^B.^Arnett,^L.Singleton, and John Tr.mpkins.

ld Br:ptid ch .\ S. Qralte, J Beach, \V Poindexter.

at Lexittgfon, W. T. Smith, and P. Heddenburg.

.l'aris, • G. G Gate., •L. Warfield, T. R~spass,

W. T Bryan, II. M Bledsoe, and Jas Coons.

,Jib, Vernon, D. Steele, J. Christian, and G. F. II

1 rockett.

M•'n. Island o letler nor messenger.

Can• Run, !tog• r Qnarles \1 icajab Ston~, and Wm Z 'homson •

./lfrican ch Under tne care of the First Baptist

G'

^Lexirrgto Church at Lexington.

-!or- TOTU,

This(') denotes those who were absent.

Preacbers' pames in italicr.

3.

30 ~ 143 2·

I

²⁶

6 2! 1 171 13 1 142

·1'·"~

]

1! 82

I

⁴¹

3175-433

- '- l -

rv.tOS:244t434&

The Association proceeded to the election of Moderator and Clerk;

Whereupon, Bro: THO: :BULLOCK was elected Moderator, and

~Jhoo: B. S. CHAMBERS, Clerk.

. Letters from Corresponding Associations received and read, and-

~tbe Messengers' names enrolled as follows, vi~:

From Bracken-W. Powell, lfH, M. Batson, and *Jesse Sadler.

Prom 7ates' Creek-*C. Gentry, 'lfJ. Hockersmith, T. Bronsoq, 11J. Parish, Josiah Collins. Peter Treble, *Samuel Harris, *W.

&lamber., Jos. Bonnet, and Isaac Weegle.

From North District -^'ifJ..Mason, *John Smith, "'Asa .Maxy, "'John .Coons, Peter Mason, and ¹¹W. Rolls.

From Franklin-John TaylQr, S.M. Noel, and

•w.

L. Graddy.

From Salem-Spencer Clark. ·

From Soutlt Diatrict·-*G. Slaughter, 'lfC. Asher, J. P. Williamlil, W. Ferri go. lfC. Tompkins, Isaac Allspaugh, *Enoch M. Smith,* Ase~

Davi~, *B. Kemper, John Jennings, •T, Downton, *~.Rice,

and fl.

·

fish~r.

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3

i;c.ng

Run-John Dale, Geo. Waller, Jas. Roberts, -lfJ. B. Cui\\

"Geo. Bridges.

JJ9on's Creek-G. G. Boon,

H. T.

Chevis,

-J<W.

Boon, -l>J. Sacry.

'R.

Petty, 11-1'. Howard,

"'B. P.

Evans, -l>Jas. Vallamligham, and

W.

t.rtin.

From

Licking-P. C. Buck, J. C. Long, 11-f. Edwards, and R.

T. •

.,.rJard.

'from North Bmd-No letter nor Messenger.

~Union-G. Riley, T. Waggener, au.! "'D. L. Abernatta.

· .• ;J>.rto-...Mn Concord-"l>Tho. Craig, and Joel Elli~.

being opened for the reception of Chmches, a letter \'l":l.~

l:»felleil1l~cl ft-om the Baptist Church of Christ, on Cane. Hun, by her.

R. Q.ua1·le~, i\ficajah Stone, ;md Wm. Z. 1'hornson, un;witnously admitted as a member of this As~ociation, and the of fellowship given to the mc:;sengers by the Moderator.

ren fi'W. W. Penny, C. L. Barnes, ""John Downey. Ual.Jri<'l

tl.arr~>;On Ashford, "'::lam'!. Butt~. Joe!Uenry, \Vm. Dale, and Long, meoseugers, from the Baptist A~sociation on f.:ilenn:s tbcmoelves and -a~ked a Correspondence with (their letter having been mi@latd ;) Wf1ereupon,

j~ was Jlgreed unanimrJUsly, That a Correspondence ith said Association, and the right hand of fellowship messengers by the 1\loderntor.

•••~u11a-.::u Ed. Wallet·, John Bryce, Wm. T. Smith, with Moderator

nted to arriUJge the busint~s Bf the Association, and.

next.

Sullivan appcinted to write a Circular Letter, and Monday next.

-~reo George Blackburn, U.

B.

Chambers, Goorlloe Carter, eton, and Mareen Duvlill, nppointe•l to write letters to

~~' .... "'" Associations, anrl report on :\ionrlay next.

llllllfjik'"J.ohfl Bryce, S . .1\1. Noel, and Jacob Creath, Rppointed to Sunday; and Elders Wm . .1\lorlou, H. T. DillarJ, nod

appointed to preach on Monday, at tile stage.

10.-Eider Jno. Bryce preached from 1st ch. John, : "But as many as received him, to them gave he

~'"~"·'l""'"'uuat: the sons of God. even to them that believe on hi!

werP. born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, of man, but of God." Elder Luther Hice followed,

~;}lttlalnranhofthesame text, (viz): "To them gave he power

~"'-lll""l:De sons of God.'¹ And Elder S. l\1. Noel, from 3d ch. 1.5 : "But if I tarry long, that thou may est know bow thon behave thyself m the house of God, whit:h is the church

God, the pillar anrl ground of the truth."

!--uth~r Hace aniv<'d at the Association, on Sunday mor11ing, preacher of the gospel, h·cm a distanct,, Elder Jacob

ODe oftbose llppuinlt"d by the Associ:lfion to preach on tffa•

to Rro: Ricr.

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""londa!l, Jlugust lt.-1\Iet pnrsunnt to adjournmen!, arid after prayer. otfcred'by Elder G. Blackburn, proceeded to busmess.

The Committee of Arrangement made report, which was approved anfl adopted and the business taken up pursuaut thereto.

1. Agree;:bly to the desire of the Mount

y

ernon Church, as su~.

gesten in their letter, sh~ is no longer considered a member of tlus As~ociatiooJ

2. A ·Ciacur.AR LETTER reported, read,· and adopted as followsJ 1·iz:

CIBCULAR LE'l'TEB.

T~IE ELKHORN ASSOCIATION, • TO THE CHURCHES IN liEU CONJ'v'ECT/Ol11:

DEAR BnETHRF.N₁-Through the goodne!'s of God we have been allowed once more the pri\'ilcge of assembling together in an asso.

date capacity. For the particulars of .our proceedings, we refer you to the mi11utes and your messengers. Our primary objept in this letter will be, to bring your minds to bear upon the subject of" Free Communion," whieh was investigated in this Association in 1824, On the 4th page of the minutes of that year, you will lind the follow.

ing statement made, and question proposed, by the Fir~t Baptist Church of Lexington in their letter to the Association:

"The minds of a number of the members of this church, and we believe of other churches, have been exercised on the subject of Fru Communion, which has been urged upon them by Predo-Baptist frieuds. We think it proper to invite the attention of the Associa·

lion to thi~ suuject with a view to her making a public expression of her sentiments upon it, eit~er in her Circular Letter or in any other manner that may be deemed most expedient.

"W c propose the subject for the consideration of the Assocmtioo in the form of the following que11tion: 'Can or can there not be terms of free communion so stipulated that .Baptists in communing with real Christiaoe of other denominations, when invited, will not violate their duty according to the gospel?' We have never seen the expression of the sentiments of the Elkhorn Association on this sul~ect, and we hope to see it made in such a way, ifpracticRhle, ^al will a !ford a ~atisfact?ry defence ?f_Bapti~ts against the i"(llputation.

ri

Sec.~ nan btgotry, •gnorauce, llhberallly and want of CbristJaJI cbar1ty in their practice." ,

"i

•·•t

will at once see from the statement anrl querv above quoted,

that the object of that church was, to obtain from t"be Associ~tion •

"sati~f:u:tory_defencP; ofBapti~ts'~ in t~eir practice upon this 8ubjecl

"a~atnst the tmputattOn of sec tartan btgotry ," &c. &c. According11 the .1\ssociatwn in responrling to the question propounded by the firl¹ Haptil't church at Lexin15ton, proceed":

"Our Preao-Baphst brethren. in their inritation to us to a fret eommwtion, lind us in the practice of close communion, which b~·

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5

been th~ custom of the Baptists and those who have held Baptist senti me 1ts. mnre f)f less for upwards of .fifteen hundreJ year~. This has arisen from their i:icws of what constitutes a gosJ,Pl church, or the church of Christ, of the covenant on which that chorch is hnllt, of the requisites of membership, and of the absolute authority of the gospel in establishing aud regulnting the ceremoniPs, ordinances and government of the kingdom of C!1riRt, in which they have in many instances {litTered from Predo-Baptists. ln our pr11ctice. we haYe been influenced by a desire to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men. And we i<uppo>C that it is not the design of our Predo-Daptist brethren to involve us in a violation of our consciences hy accepting of their invitation, as 111 that case we should forfeit all claim to the character of honest, conscientious·

Christians, and would cease to deFerve their friendship and above all would lose what we uelievc,] to Le the approbation of our Gr,cl.

To preserve what they believed to be a goo i conscience, tbe Baptists have suffered persecution iu various rlegrcss eFer since they h;ul a separRte communion. Stipulations in their behalf would therefc)re SJeem to be necessary to secure them agninst the vi, Jation of what they bold to be the truth, in \Hinging about free communion; and if they cannot be made it is expected that the P~do-baptist brethren will withdraw their i111·itation to us to commune with them."

We here. see that fo!' upwards of 1500 years it h<tS been the custom and practice of the IJapti~ts and those who hold l:aptist sentiments, to ad!H're to cfo,e communion. A statement of the Bnptists' views upori this subject, the character of H1e church, the covenant on which it is ft)llnded, and the character of those wtw Rlone can he admitted under that coven;mt into the f:hurch, theu fotlows in the 6th, 7th, flth, 9th&, lOth pag-es of the mi11ntes of 182•1; lrom which the follo'wing couclusions are drawn, us the legitiumh1 result of the argument:

''Agreeably to these views we find, in e1·ery part of the New Testament where the tmcorrupted church of Chri,ot i~ r!escribed, it is composci! of those who have faith in the Lord J £'HJS Christ-who are called of Christ-who are sanctifier! in C1ui!'t .J,•sm, called to be Saints-who arc juslitied by faith-who arc childr"r• of light, and Abraham's ~eerl hy having Abraham's faitil; and who, being the children of God hy faith, h<tve put on Christ hy Bapl•s,n, having been buried with him in Baptism. Rom. vi, 2-4; GaL iti, 26-29; Colo!'.

ii, ll, 12.

''According to these I' iews, those who are born after the flesh only, whether they be the immedi:-tte decendants of Al.rnhnm, or born of believing parPnts, cannot be admitted to the ordinances ofthe New

Te~tament-and those onl.v who give a credible e1·itk'H·e of a chang"

of heart hy a proCession of theie t~tith and 'lutlntrd collduct, ought to be i·nmerseri in water in the name f)fthe Father, Son :;n.l Iluly Gi,ost Mark, x\'i, 15-lfl, Acts, ii, ~)'1-41, cb. viii, :>7-8:\. ">~d that infant

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~prinlding

is nolan ordinance of the

N~w

Testament, and cannot

b~·

admini•terc·d in f:tith bcr:ause unanthor•zec! by the word of God.

,, Tl.••sro are some 'of the peculiar views of' Baptists, which they hold as fu'ldamental truths in relation to the gospel. They moreo,·er toHsi₁!c₁₁t to be the imperative duty o~ their pre~che~s to baptize all

w :

1,1 belic>e, upon a. credibl~ profe~swn ~f _thetr fatth, notwith- fhn lin[~ they may have becn'sJ~rmkled m the1r mfimcy; and ~urt~er, that \\·ere they to comm~ne w!t~ soundly converted Predo-I,aptJsts, who hnd t.een baptized m thetr mfancy, that they ~ould commune with tJnhapti?..ed Christians. A system then of free communion, that

"·ould Fecu re to Baptists consciences void of offence towards God and towarJs man, must yield to them these points hy actual stipulation, as 'theY cannot compromise them away. If the Predo-Baptist breth- i·en a~e nnwilling to mal~:e these concessions, then we suppose they will withdraw their invitation to ns to commune with them, f'or we cannot suppose that they would, willingly, involve us in a violation of what we conscientiously belie\·e to be our allegiance to the Lonl .Jesus Chriet."

It may perhaps have suggested itselfto your minds, dear brethren, Why this reference to things hmg gone by? It is an unpleasant, but not the J·e!ils imperious necessity that calls thi~ subject before you.

From the charact~r of the query we have seen that a defence of the practice of the Baptists was called for by it. That practice we see defended, first on tlw gronnd of its antiquity, but more particularly on account of the view~ the Baptists have always held of the Church of Christ. It is for reasons there given, that we cannot commune w1tb those who solicit us to do so, without forfeiting the approbation of our God, unless certain concessions are made to us by actual stipulation;· aud finally we see those stipulations in ver.v word and character y~elrl to us, all that on that subject, we bold to be fundament!l'l truths in the gospel. And yet that very letter of 1824, has lately been quoted by its author, Dr. James Fishback, as authority for open communion, when none of those concessions contended for have ever been made, and on ground that very charitably yiPlds to the con- cience the observance IJ!I' negligence of those "fundamental truths·'~

~nrl

^thesanction of t_hi_s

As~ociation

^to

~hat

letter has been used

by

1ts author, as authonzmg Ius late prncttce of open commuuion. To this inference we oppose a positive denial from the query itself.

From the respon~e, and from the recollection of all those present the letter of 1824 was intended to be, and was considered, what

tb~

applicants de!'irecl, a" satisfactory defence," &c. of close communion.

Anti el'en iftl~at letter s~ould have bee~ so artfully and sophistic11l!y rlrawn, a_s to nave de~e1~ed the Assoc1atwn, Y.et, that is no ground upon wl11r:h tb1s Assoc1at10n can be charged w1th favoring that sy₈..

tern of things, now practised by its author.

But, bl'etbren, we have ~een that it cannot be so construed. We

·have extracted part of the result of the ~ble argument there giverr.

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'l'o the letter itself, however, we refer you fur the deroi.l. It wil~

there be seen, that when those stipulations required have I,Jecn mad¢', that all the deciples will indeed have a ''Free Communion," IJeing united in" one Lord, one Faith, and one Baptism;" that then they -will commune free from, and untrammelled by the traditiOns of

men.

Brethren, accorrling to the late suggestions of a brother, ought ll'e

JlOt to pray more than we have done for the arrival of such a stat~

of things. Let us sen1i up our petitions to heaven th3t the policy an1lworldly wisdom, and traditions of men upon religious suljeets, JDay be driven before the word of God as the chaff otr the summer threshing-floor before the wind; that the day may come when all shall bow to its authority, till the earth shall be full of the knowledge ofGod. Brethren, may the God of peace rest with, and guid<· you here, till 1ve meet in an Association above, is our prayer, for Jesa:.' pke-Amen.

3. Letters teported and read, and Messengers appointed to Cor-

·responding Association~, as follows, viz:

To Bra:ken- To be hel·l at Wilson's Hun meeting-house, Fleming- county, 1st Saturday Sept. 1828. A letter, but no messenger sent.

To J\"urth Bmd-To be held 3d Friday in August, 1 S£U-J. \ ar.

deman.

To Tate's C1·eek-At Tate's Creek stone meeting-house, Madison y, 4th Saturday Aug. 1828-Jacob Creath, Josephus Hewitt,

and James l\lcQ.uiddy. ·

To U11ion-At Indian Creek meeting-house, Harrison county, <lth ... , ... .., .••.. lay Aug. 1828-Jos. G. Chinn and Wm. L. Bryant.

To North District-At Unity, 4th Saturday July, 13~9, Clarke Cidunty-U. B. Chambers, Jacob Creath, and G. Carter.

To Franklin-At Jndian Fork meeting-house, Shelby county, 2d in Oct. 1828-Geo: Blackburn, Ea1·ly Scott, John Brj<:e, J.

llfl>~"uuucuu, and T. Lyne .

.:)aJ.:em·-1\.t - - - J. Creath, J. Hewitt, J. Bryce, and B.S . .U~wers.

District-At Cartright's Creek, Washington county, 3d Aug. 1828-(letter handed to Bro: Fisher.)

La,nr..~ra!--·1\t Cane Run meeting-bouse, Henry county, 'lth

~'lf•••,..•••• Aug. 1828-G. Blackburn and J. Creath.

Run--At Salem meeting-bouse, Shelby county, first Friday

SCt.

828-R Scarce, Ed. Waller, apd Sjmeon True .

. .' To

^Boon's Creek-At Friendship, Clarke county, 3d Saturday

liept.

1828-J. Hewett, W. Poindexter, G. G. Gates, Goodloe Carter,

.and P.

Hedenburg.

To Li..:kir~g-At Bryan's, Fayette county, 2d Saturclay Sept.

S!s.:-B. A. Hicks, B. S. Chambers, John Bryce, Geo.: Bl:lckb,um,, fl9, G. Ji:v~} .(\aa. Payne., and W m. Sugget~.

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z

·'1:0 tlte Baptist .?ssociation-J. McQ.uiddy, E. Haydon, Geo: Blade·,

~urn, Lewis Sullivan. and

T

. Lyne. .

4. T!w next Associ•ttion to be held at Lexmgton, Ky. 2d Saturday

Aug-'l~t. 1829.

5.

Elder John Bryce appointed to preach the next Introductory Sermon, nnd

in

case of fitilure, Elder Jacob Creath.

6. The Clerk appointed to superintend the printing and [distribn•

ting the minutes.

And afier an animated lecture and solemn charge by Elder John Bryce, the Association adjourned till meeting in course.

On Monday, Elders-- Butler, Wm. Morton, R. T. Dillard, and Lnthe1' I.~ icc, preached at the stage, to a large aml serious audience.

Jodeed, this Association throughout, has been rather unusually inter ..

esting. No business was presented calculated to interrupt the peace and hormony of the body. And the great additions made to many of the churches, seemed to have excited 11nd promoted a general feel- ing of lo\'e, and joy, and union, among the messengers. l\fay the Great King in Israel continue to reign and rule in the hearts of his subjects, that union and charity may abound, and that the triumphs

of

the cross of Chri~t

may

prevail universally.

TH: BULLOCK, Moderator'

Att :-B. S. CHAMBERS,

Clerk,

~. L. FINNELL, PRINTE~!

(GEOBGF.TQW'(, KY.)