The Elders and Messengers composing the SALEM ASSOCIATION OF PREDESTINARIAN BAPTISTS, now in session with the Church of Christ at Dry Creek, Kenton County, Kentucky, the fourth Friday in August, 1860, to the Churches composing the same:VERY DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS IN THE LORD: --
Through the kind care and unchanging love of our Heavenly Father we have been spared in time to see the revolution of another year, and have been permitted to meet in an associate capacity, and to greet your Messengers with the endearing appellation of Brother, and to hear from you once more by your epistle of love.And as it has been our custom heretofore to address you with a circular, we will again endeavor to do so as God may enable us; and if we are enabled to give you any comfort or instruction at this time, we must look to Him from whom all blessings flow, and every good and perfect gift comes, and to His written word, which He hath graciously given us, wherein is contained all that is necessary for us to know or do. Wherein we read that God created man in his own image, male and female created them, and called their name Adam. And God gave to him a law, which they transgressed, and thereby became sinners; for we further read that sin is a transgression of the law, and the soul that sins it shall die; so death hath passed upon all men, for all have sinned. And believing as we do that all the human family were created in Adam, for it is certainly plain that if they were not created in Adam they were no part of God's creation, for man was the last of God's creation brought visibly to view. In six days he created the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the work of creation was done; man was not only created but formed, and the breath of life breathed into him, and he became a living soul before the law was given to him; and the law was given before man transgressed or fell. Therefore he was the earthly head or representative of all his unborn posterity which was to people the world by ordinary generation; and thus standing in relation to him they partake of his nature, both animal and mental, and as such are subjects of God's law. Now where there is no law there is no transgression. If there are any people in the world that were not created in Adam, and did not stand in him previous to the fall, they could not partake of his nature; and if not, when and how did they get in possession of a living soul? Again: if they did not stand in Adam when the law was given to him, and if not given to them in him, they could not transgress it. The word of God says, Cain was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. Cain must have been according to the two seedism of the multiplied seed of the woman, and that seed according to the same principle, is called the serpent's seed; and if so Cain did not stand in Adam.1
This text is enough to prove the inconsistency of the doctrine, for it says Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she bare him a son. If he was not created in Adam, he could he have been his by ordinary generation? See also our Lord's gospel by the evangelist, John. i:1, 2, 3. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. When God says he made all things, we mortals dare not contradict his word. Then if God made it all, if his word is truth, he made all in six days; and if all men were made in six days, they must have been made in Adam; and if all were made in him, there were none made out of him. See also Acts, xvii:26. And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face fo the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation. Here also is the testimony of four and twenty elders, who cast their crowns before the throne of God says, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive honor, and glory, and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelations [sic], iv:11. see also Collosians [sic], i:16. The apostle Paul, speaking of Jesus Christ, says, For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible. Whether they are thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were made by him, and for him. Now, brethren, you can see that the apostle sums up all things in heaven and in earth, of every dignity, denomination and order, and not only says, they were made by him and for him, but also created by him.
Having, we think, sufficiently shown and proved that all the human family were created and fell in Adam, we can view him truly a figure of Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, a quickening Spirit. In this sense Paul would have us understand him. He says, therefore, as the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto the justification of life. In this we understand Adam to be a figure of Christ. Adam as an earthly head did represent an earthly posterity, and all of that posterity. Jesus Christ as a spiritual head, did represent a spiritual posterity, and all of that posterity. And though they stood in relation to Christ before creation was begun, yet in the order of creation they had an earthly relation or being in their earthly head, as well as all the human family, in their earthly head they sinned and fell into a state of sin and death. And though this is the case, we rejoice that in their spiritual head they never sinned, that union and relationship was never severed.
They were chosen in Christ before the world began. Grace was given them in Christ before the foundation of the world; he bear them all the days of old. He loved them with an everlasting love.
This is the very cause of his coming into the world, to pay the debt his bride owed, to redeem her from the curse of the law. He died for the transgressions of his people, arose again for their justification, and now lives again to intercede for them, and will until the last one is brought into the fold of God. Then he will take them home to himself, where they will ever be with the Lord. And now, dear brothers and sisters, in conclusion of this our Annual Address, we exhort you to look unto Him who is the author and finisher of our faith, and who is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. And may he enable us to comply with the exhortation of the apostle, to rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing, in every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
___________ Note
1 The 1860 Circular Letter seems to indicate that Daniel Parker's "Two-Seed" doctrine had influenced this association, at least to some degree. The author says, "The word of God says, Cain was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. Cain must have been according to the two seedism of the multiplied seed of the woman, and that seed according to the same principle, is called the serpent's seed; and if so Cain did not stand in Adam."
If a Letter had some questionable material in it, there was usually a committee of several brethren appointed to study the writing and reject or alter it, before the association voted to accept it for printing. There was no modification here; it was accepted as written. This is an extreme theological position from what they believed when they earlier aligned with the Northbend Association. - jrd
============== [From the Salem Association of Predestinarian Baptists Minutes (KY), 1860. Mrs. Elizabeth Kirtley, Florence, KY provided the records. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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