Editor's note: The author was usually mentioned when the assignment was made in the year prior to the printing of the Circular. Because of missing Minutes, many authors are not known. - Jim Duvall
A Partial Index for the Circular Letters
of Licking Baptist Association (KY)
By Jim Duvall1811 - "Judgment has begun at the House of God." By Ambrose Dudley. This is the first Circular after the division from Elkhorn Baptist Association.
1814 - A Circular beginning with Ephesians 1 & 4th - "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." The author ends describing the riches of Christ ... "preserved for us (if children) by the three, one God, Father, Word, and Holy Ghost."
1815 - An exhortation to provoke love of peace by Absalom Bainbridge, Boon's Creek Baptist Church.
1816 - An exhortation as a "band of brothers, be earnestly and honestly engaged to glorify the captain of our salvation, and transmit to succeeding generations the pure doctrine, ordinances, and discipline of God our Saviour uncontaminated...." by James Payne, Poplar Grove Baptist Church.
1817 - A two-page Circular describing the great work of God in bringing the elect to salvation by Absalom Bainbridge, Boon's Creek Baptist Church.
1818 - Missing.
1819 - The importance of discipline in the churches by Richard Thomas, Mt. Dependence Baptist Church.
1820 - Missing.
1821 - A two-page Circular on Particular and Unconditional Election.
1823 - This Circular is an explanation of the "Particular Baptist" name for the association. There is a comparison of themselves with the Particular Baptists of England, Wales and early America. It is a long Circular. The author is not mentioned, but the style seems to be T. P. Dudley.
1824 - The New Covenant by Wm. Payne, Mt. Gilead Baptist Church.
1825 - Brotherly Love by Lewis Corbin, Pastor of Stony Point Baptist Church, Bourbon County.
1826 - "Faith" by T. P. Dudley of Bryan's. The 1825 Minutes say that "Elder Richard Thomas appointed to prepare a circular letter for next year." The 1826 Minutes say "The circular letter called for, read and rejected, and a Circular prepared by brother T. P. Dudley at the instance [insistence?] of the committee, was called for, read and approved." [p. 7.]
1827 - "On the Gospel Ministry" by R. T. Dillard, East Hickman Baptist Church. The subject is dealt with under two divisions: The first comprehending the duties of ministers to churches; the second that of churches to ministers.
1828 - "Your High Vocation or Calling" by Wm. Rash, Friendship Baptist Church.
1829 - An exhortation: First, We have a book of truth - the Bible. Secondly, like the Apostle John, we wish to stir up your remembrance. Thirdly, remember your liberty granted by Jesus, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Fourthly, beloved, we can do nothing against the truth. By Joel Morehead, Mt. Dependence Baptist Church.
1830 - A four and one-half page essay on associational unity, a review of the work of God in the Old Testament and the election of sinners to salvation by T. P. Dudley, Bryan's Baptist Church, Lexington.
1831 - Missing.
1832 - Experimental Religion: "by experimental religion we mean a work of Grace wrought in the heart, by which the individual is brought from death to life; from darkness to light;. . . " by Matthias Gossett, Rockbridge Baptist Church. He mentioned that the association had 29 churches that submitted letters that year.
* * * 1849 - Origin, Nature, and Effects of the Christian Warfare by T. P. Dudley. This Circular had been written in 1844 and was very divisive so the association voted not to publish it. When it was published in 1849, many churches withdrew from the association and many associations who previously corresponded with Licking stopped their correspondence.
* * * 1882 - A Circular lamenting the trials and tribulations they were experiencing. - author unknown. There were fifteen churches in the association at that time and they met at Sardis Baptist Church in Boone County, KY. A special memorial tribute regarding Elders J. F. Johnson and John Underhill, two ministers who had recently died, is in the Minutes, p. 4.=============== [These Circular Letters are from the originals at the University of Kentucky Library, Lexington, Special Collections. Transcribed and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
Kentucky Circular Letters
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