DEARLY BELOVED BRETHREN AND SISTERS,
Custom has taught you to expect a circular letter to be attached to our minutes; and we do not feel disposed to disappoint your expectations on the present occasion. Touching the business transacted by the association, we need only to call your attention to the minutes.We have had for the most part a pleasing interview; simplicity and Godly sincerity, seemed to characterize our councils, during our session; for which we desire to be truly thankful to the God of peace, and that no material hindrance to the flow of Christian feelings has been manifested. Some of the churches complain of coldness and barrenness in the things of God and religion, whilst others communicate the pleasing intelligence of the ingathering of souls to the dear Redeemer's kingdom militant: the letters breathe mostly a spirit of peace and unanimity.
We propose addressing you on the subject of Faith, as forming a pleasing link in the great chain or scheme of salvation; we conceive it to be, not the least important point in the Divine economy, yet if we are permitted to judge from the pulpit declamations we hear, we should say there is no point in the gracious scheme less perfectly understood by the Divines of our day. We learn something of the great importance of this precious grace, when our attention is turned to the Apostolic language, viz: "But without faith it is impossible to please him." Hebrews XI. 6. The same Apostle has given us a definition of Faith. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews XI. 1. It is a firm persuasion of the power, faithfulness and love of God in Christ, and the interest the Saints have therein. A belief of the revealed truth of the Christian Religion. Faith is the chain which makes fast the vessel Hope, to the object upon which it is anchored; to wit: the Lord Jesus Christ; the Christian's only reliance for a blessed immortality beyond the Tomb. It is the medium through which spiritual communion is had with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ. Faith is an involuntary principle of the mind, based upon evidence, and apprehends things present, past and future, hence we learn that the children of God "walk by faith and not by sight." 2d Corinthians V. 7. and when this grace is in lively exercise, it tranquilizes the troubled spirit. The possession of this living principle is an evidence of everlasting life, "He that believeth on the son hath everlasting life" John III. 26, from what has been said, it is obvious that it is an effect and not the cause of life; for example, suppose you were told that believing was the cause of life, would you not conclude that a proposition so preposterous had emanated from a disordered intellect? And yet, as great an absurdity as this proposition presents to the mind, we find it has advocates, even amongst those who pretend to inculcate the doctrine of the Bible, and whose deep penetration has unfolded (to their own minds at least) the existence of many errors in the translation of the sacred volume, [end of the page].
========= [From Minutes of the Licking Association of Particular Baptists, 1826, p. 8. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
Kentucky Circular Letters
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