Chapter XXI - David's Fork Church
Now it will not be denied that Jesus Christ, the great King in Zion, has commanded his disciples to love one another, and that he has made this one of the highest evidences of the truth of his religion. Again, St. Paul exhorts his brethren to keep the unity of spirit in the bonds of peace, and to pursue the things that make for peace -- to avoid producing schism in the body of Christ. Yea, to mark them who cause divisions; to bear each other's burdens, and so to fulfill the law of Christ, &c. We presume those brethren who call themselves Reformers, do not presume that those churches from whom they have dissented are not the churches of Christ. How, then, can they in their consciences justify an act which goes to divide the body of Christ, and, in doing this, violate those solemn commands above alluded to; and, too, to support matters of opinion which, as far as we see, has no extraordinary godly influence on the hearts or lives of those who hold them.
It may be urged that Reformers have been under the necessity of producing contention and even schism in the churches; that Luther and Calvin, with their pious coadjutors in the Reformation, produced the effects of which we now complain. To which we answer, the causes are not analogous, our modern reformers themselves being the judges. Luther and Calvin, with their pious fellow-laborers, did not recognize the Church of Christ, but Antichrist. As such, they felt themselves bound by the command of God to come out of her, lest, in partaking of her sins, they should be exposed to her plagues. Could our brethren prove the Baptist Church, in her present order, to be Antichristian, it would be, certainly, their duty to come out of her; but we believe it to be a ground which few of them have taken. Indeed, if we are Antichrist so are they, for they were born among us; their repentance (though some of them seem to make light of it) was professionally the same. They related their experience as those from whom they now dissent; they rejoiced to hear their friends declare what God had done for their souls; they, too, were baptized in the name and by the authority of Jesus Christ, as an act of obedience, without any eye to the ordinance as being the law of regeneration, or the bath in which their sins were literally washed away, or forgiven; and they were not alarmed at the existence of the covenant, or creed, which enthroned in its first article the Holy Scriptures as the only infallible rule of faith and practice. Indeed, they were in every respect just like their brethren; and we trust, when they shall have reconsidered this matter, they will again appear in the livery of those old-fashioned Baptists which they now appear so anxious to reform. When this happy occurrence shall have taken place, we shall rejoice to hail them, heart, and hand, as brethren and fellow-laborers in the harvest of our Lord Jesus. But should our hopes be disappointed, and our love be in vain; should they still persist in sowing the seeds of discord, disturbing the peace of the church, we do and shall feel ourselves bound, as a church, to treat them as disorderly walkers, in that respect.
Resolved, Therefore, that this church highly disapproves of every means and every measure that has been or may be taken which has a tendency to produce discord or schism in this or any other orderly Baptist Church; and that we do, in the bonds of Christian love and regard, admonish each member of this church in particular to endeavor by all means to guard against a spirit of disunion, and to pursue the ways of peace with all men, and yourselves, and the God of peace will bless you. Amen.
We have known for twelve months that some of our brethren and sisters had embraced Alexander Campbell's system of religion, and have been very anxious to restore the church to the ancient order, as they call it, but we were still in hopes that the storm would blow over and not interrupt the peace and tranquility of the church; but in this we were mistaken, for at our December meeting, 1829, William True, one of the brethren above alluded to, requested that the church covenant be read, which was done. He then made a motion to expunge the said covenant and receive the Scriptures in lieu thereof, and got a second in order. A proposition was then made to the said True to revise the said covenant, but he said he would not have a vestige of it. Several of the brethren then objected to expunging the covenant, and pointed out the consequences that would result from urging the question; that it would in all probability split the church, and produce a wound that would not be healed in his day, and requested him, for the honor of the precious cause, and for the peace and happiness of the church, to withdraw the motion; but the said True observed that he could not withdraw his motion, for he had put his hand to the plow; he could not look back; the brethren must excuse him; he had come up to the battle of the Lord against the mighty and I call upon you, brethren, in the name of my God, to help me throw out that covenant, for it is not a bit better than Aaron's golden calf; nay, it is not as good, for Aaron's calf was out of the camp; the covenant is in the church. The children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt; they came out. The children of Israel were in bondage in Babylon under Cyrus; they came out. I can't withdraw my motion. I won't withdraw it. The church shall come out of Babylon.
The church at that time quashed it by the previous question at our January meeting, 1830. Inquiry being made by the Moderator for fellowship, several of the brethren observed that their feelings were wounded and their fellowship broke with some of the brethren who had been so industrious to get helps to expunge the covenant, and some of the helps had come about this time. R. Proctor, one of the brethren above alluded to, moved for the covenant to be read; but the Moderator observed that it was not in order at that time, and as the church was not in fellowship, it was best to adjourn and do no business. Some applications were then made for letters of dismission, which was objected by one of the brethren, stating that if she was not in order to do business she could not give letters, &c.; but a particular request being made by the clerk for a sister that was going to leave the State before our next, the church granted their letters, &c. At our February meeting the said True was taken under the discipline of the church for his unprovoked attack upon our covenant, and his obstinacy in refusing to withdraw his motion, and for comparing our covenant to Aaron's golden calf, and speaking of the church as being in Babylon. After much having been said, for and against, the voice of the church was taken on the conduct of True, and she voted that he was guilty of disorder. It was the opinion of some that he ought to be excluded, but it was urged by others that as he was a young member and inexperienced, and, as he had heard the voice of the church, which went to show him his improprieties, a reproof, it was hoped, would be sufficient; accordingly, a majority of the church voted that he should be reproved and borne with.
After receiving the reproof from the Moderator, he rose, and observed that he had received a very good reproof, and he had no doubt it was given from the best of motives; but immediately he went on to express his determination to pursue his course of opposition against the covenant, &c. He was entreated by the Moderator to desist, as he had just been borne with by the church. At this meeting the church adopted a preamble and resolution designed to stop the progress of schism and contention, affectionately admonishing the members of the church to cultivate the principles of brotherly love and Christian forbearance, solemnly declaring that all who pursued a different course would be considered disorderly walkers, and would be dealt with as such. But the forbearance of the church with True, as well as the admonitions she had given, were disregarded; for at our March meeting, the disaffected members presented a written remonstrance against the church. It appeared that nothing but an unqualified submission to their own views would satisfy them. The voice of the church, given on a former occasion, was disregarded, and a determination was manifested by them still to pursue their schismatical course; they even demanded an interest in the house. It appeared that since the last meeting they had held a number of meetings, and circulated their papers urging the members of the church to subscribe their names, and even enrolled the names of some without their consent. All these facts being before the church, the discord which they had caused, the longsuffering which they had abused, the admonitions which they refused to attend to, and withal, a determination to produce a schism in the church, it appeared that everything which the gospel required in the case had been complied with, and that the church was reduced to the disagreeable necessity of passing the sentence of exclusion upon them; this, however, was not done until each individual present belonging to the party were called on personally, who declared that they had put or caused their names to be put to the paper, and wished their them to remain there, one youth excepted, who declared that his name had been enrolled on that paper without his knowledge or consent, but as it was there it might remain there.
Upon a view of the whole case, we, as your committee, sorely lament the state of things which has been produced in the church and in the neighborhood. Husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, masters and servants, neighbors and friends, have been separated, and, what is still worse, the mouths of gainsayers have been opened, and the best of causes greatly dishonored; and we pray the Father of mercies to grant our unfortunate fellow beings a speedy repentance and return to the church from which they have been so justly excluded.
S.H.F.
[From Samuel H. Ford, editor, The Christian Repository, November, 1858, pp. 805-812. The document is from microfilm at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Library, Louisville, KY. Transcribed and scanned by Jim Duvall.]
The Christian Repository, 1858
By Samuel H. Ford
"At a meeting, held at the meeting-house on David's Fork, by a number of members of the church at Bryan's, on the 26th day of August, 1801: Being regularly dismissed for the purpose of a constitution - Helps, Ambrose Dudley, Henry Roach, and others. After mature deliberation and consultation on the subject, were accordingly constituted, the number being 294.
"Agreed, that the name of the church be known as the Baptist Church of Christ on David's Fork."
"On motion, to go into a private ballot in order to call on a preacher of the gospel to make his residence amongst us, and take charge of the church. Bro. Jeremiah Vardeman being named and unanimously called, brethren B. Robinson, A. Wilson, J. Welsh, and E. Darnaby were appointed a committee to write to him on the subject, and report at the next meeting."
"The Church ordered the Clerk to write to that church, of which he had been a member, for a statement of his case, in order that this church may legally proceed with the young man."
Preamble and resolution adopted January 1830, as follows:
It is with regret, and of heart, that the church at David's Fork views the contentions and divisions which have taken place in the Baptist churches belonging to our Union; that many of our ministering brethren, with whom we have been long associated, and under whose views and ministrations we have sat with the utmost delight, and whose visits and labors of love we have long and highly appreciated, and in whose ministry we had hoped we should have enjoyed an interest in future years, together with many of our brethren with whom we have been long associated, and whose fellowship in the gospel we have highly prized, have recently taken a course which we do most sincerely regret, and which we believe has already brought great distress in society, and dishonor on the cause of Christ, and which we fear, if persisted in, will lead on to consequences still more disastrous to the cause of religion. We think it our duty as a church of Christ, to enter our most solemn protest against such destructive proceedings, which have already marred the beauty and destroyed the fellowship and peace of many of the churches in our Union, and has, in a measure, broken the peace and happiness of this church, which, for more than twenty-eight years, has lived in the utmost harmony, and has frequently received tokens of divine regard in those happy revivals which she has experienced. In entering up our protest we do not assume to ourselves the power of dictating to our brethren, nor would we wish to lord it over their consciences; but we do it from a principle of duty to God, and of love to our brethren, and to clear our skirts of all the consequences which we fear will attend the progress of schism, as well as to show our standing to all men. Should it be alleged by them that they honestly believe that the Baptists are in an error, both in doctrine and discipline, and that a reformation is necessary, and that they feel themselves bound in conscience to take the course they have, we will not question the honesty of their hearts or those scruples of conscience; we would entreat them to remember that those points for which they contend are mostly, if not altogether, matters of opinion, and we trust, upon due reflection, that they will not urge matters of opinion to the violation of positive commands. This would be injurious indeed.
The committee, appointed to make out a statement of facts relative to the cause which led to the exclusion of thirty-one members at our March meeting, submit the following statement of facts, viz:
Ford's Kentucky Baptist History
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