The Madison Association of Baptists, convened with the Church at Geneva, to the Churches composing her body, sendeth this Epistle of Love:DEARLY BELOVED BRETHREN IN THE LORD: -- The annual custom of this Association authorizes you to expect an anniversary address from our present session, and we feel it to be both a duty and a privilege, on our part, to perpetuate a practice so ancient and laudable, believing that christian love and gratitude requires of all saints, and especially when convened for consultation and advice, to employ the best means in their power to advance the interests of Zion, edify her children, and stir up the pure mind of each other.
So many subjects have been presented as the basis of our former circulars, and so narrow the limits assigned us, that we do but little more than touch the theme, and leave it for your improvement.
In this brief way we shall now invite the churches of our body, and all the members of them, with all who hope for immortality, to a few thoughts on the atonement of Christ. This is an all absorbing subject, every way suitable for contemplation and gratitude, and we hope that all the children of our heavenly Father may derive great strength and comfort from a true and sensible knowledge of their interest in it. This is the foundation upon which all our hopes of pardon are based. It was by faith in the blood of Christ that all the saints of old lived in the hope of glory. This was the blood of the covenant by which the prisoners were sent forth out of the pit wherein was no water; without an application of this blood, no individual of Adam's race can be happy. When the conscience of a sinner is wounded with guilt and oppressed with fears of divine wrath, the blood of Christ alone can speak peace to his soul, and give rest to his mind. -- When all the oblations which for centuries had smoked on Jewish altars, when rivers of sacrificial blood had failed -- when all the powers of men and angels could not restore to the divine law its honors, and when the whole family of man lay engulfed in awful night, condemned to woe and misery, for rebelling against the government of God, it was then that Jesus, the Son of God, whom angels adore, laid down his precious life for his ransom. By his life he honored the law, and by his death he sustained its penal sanction, and thus removed every legal obstacle to the free invitation of the gospel; so that in view of what Christ has done, it may be safely said, to all who hear the gospel, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters -- seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him: and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." So we see that full and free pardon is with Him; repentance and remission of sins may be preached in His name among all nations; and the repenting sinner may be told, that God hath set him forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins. So that, in view of the atonement, God may be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. The gospel is a proclamation of the will of God, and by it the repenting sinner is invited to come and enjoy all the blessings it reveals, and feast eternally on the rich bounties it bestows, without money and without price. Grace is here bestowed to the unworthy, mercy is flowing to the suffering, life to the dying, pardon to the guilty, and salvation for the lost. The spirit of the Son of God awakens the sinner to a sense of his lost condition, and begets in him a godly sorrow for sin: they pant for the living waters, they hunger and thirst after righteousness, they confess their sins, renounce their own righteousness, die to the law, are crucified to the world, and come as bankrupt and guilty pensioners to God. They are encouraged thus to come by the gospel, which shows them Christ the way, opens his fullness to supply all their needs, sets before them the rich bounties of a feast, and says, eat, O friends: yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. This gospel proclamation of Christ having fulfilled the will of God; as the appointed Mediator, is a sufficient warrant to the most unworthy sinner to come to, and trust in him. Faith is the Spirit's evidence, which it bears in the soul, of its being an heir of the New Testament. And so, by faith, we have access into the grace, wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Now, dear brethren, while such rich grace is so freely given to such unworthy sinners as we are, how humble and thankful should we feel. -- Why was I made to be an heir of such immortal bliss? O, let all our hearts be dissolved into contrition and love; let every tongue be vocal in his praise; let every eye be looking to Jesus, and every foot be running the race set before us; let holy devotion, like a hallowed flame, burn on the altar of every renewed heart, and a deep sense of the unparallel riches of saving grace, call up every ransomed power of our souls to praise the God of love. This is the work we are called to do; not to save ourselves, or to make ourselves heirs, nor to fulfill the conditions of our acceptance; but to serve, adore, and praise Him who hath saved us, and called us "with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ before the world began." In this gospel plan the poor, the naked, the helpless and the polluted, may take encouragement to come to the Saviour, with all their crimson stains, and plead for his pardoning mercy; for the gospel invites all that labor and are heavy laden, to come to Christ for rest. Ask now the blessed Jesus why he descended from amidst thrones and dominion -- ask the reeking cross, on which his body hung -- ask the Jewish temple, that rent her vail in twain -- ask the darkened universe, which at mid-day hung out her mantle of mourning, and put on sackcloth -- ask the grim monster, Death, why he gave up his victim -- ask the Father, who owned and received him, why he now hears his intercession, in the court of inflexible justice, and with one voice they all respond: Because the soul is precious. Ask the Holy Spirit why he descended -- ask the Prophets and the inspired Apostles why they suffered the persecutions of men, and counted not their lives dear unto them -- ask all the faithful heralds of the cross why they now proclaim the everlasting gospel, and they all responsive, say, Because the salvation of the soul is precious.
Dear brethren, do you believe that souls are precious? do you feel an interest in their eternal welfare? We exhort you, then, by all that is sacred in the commands of God, to awaken speedily to the duties of your high calling, to be up and doing, while the day lasts. Ministers of the gospel, we call on all that is solemn in the ministerial function, to be instant in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. Think of Jesus; think of his humiliation in the manger; of his agony in the garden; of his suffering on the cross. Think of his dying groans and his dying prayer, and think of precious souls for which all this was endured. Can you then be cold and speculative? Can ministers of the gospel survey the glories of heaven -- a dying and risen Jesus -- and yet feel no emotion? Brethren, be vigilent; let no interest of a worldly nature hinder your work of love; your course is onward, and will soon be finished. Brethren, we are duly concerned for you. Enemies are becoming numerous and bold. Error is pouring in like a flood; divers and strange doctrines are endeavoring to make their way among us. But let us fervently pray that from all these we may be delivered. O, may we all contemplate this love-inspiring theme till the heart of the mourner is filled with joy, the feet of the lame leap as an hart, Zion's pilgrims become inspired with heavenly zeal in their journey -- until the tongue of the dumb sings, and all the sons of God rejoice in hope of his glory -- till the vestment of a glorious immortality adorn the mystic body of Christ, and celestial glories expand every redeemed power to swell the creed of the heavenly throng. -- Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thee be the glory for ever and ever -- Amen. William Wallace, Clerk.
William T. Stott, Mod'r.=========== [From Madison (IN) Baptist Association Minutes, 1841, pp. 3-4. From Franklin (IN) College Library, Special Collections. The title is added. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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