A Summary of the Circular Letters Written by Moses Scott The Bullitsburg Baptist Church Minutes indiate that Moses Scott was baptized and admitted as a church member on Sunday 26th July 1801 In April, 1803 he moved his membership to Middle Creek (now Belleview) Baptist Church.
When Moses Scott wrote the Circular Letter of 1814, his first of six, of the annual messages to the churches of the Northbend Baptist Association, the War of 1812 was still being fought and would end about three months later. John Watts, who had written the Circular in 1812, had referred to the war that had started three months earlier and wrote “our liberties, civil and religious, are about to be assailed by our enemies.” England and France were interfering with the trade of our country with the nations of Europe.
Scott begins by referring to the “vicissitudes through which we have passed.” He calls for humility, prayer and watchfulness because of the “calamitous [catastrophic or disastrous] situation of our beloved country.” He writes of the “ravages of war” and the “seas of bloodshed” in Europe. But he also admonishes the churches of Northbend: “Dear brethren, have we not sinned: have we not abused our privileges; or have we ascribed the glory of our former days to wisdom, and forgotten to give the praise to Him who governs the universe.”
He calls on the churches to have serious reflection and guard against relapses and to seek to follow the Word of God. The War of 1812 ended about two months after the publication of this Circular.
This Circular is nearly a page and a half long.
===================== Circular Letter for 1816
[This Circular indicates the Theological Understanding of Moses Scott.
Only a Portion of this Circular is included here.]“A Few Thoughts on the Advantages of Revelation”
"Glorious things shall be spoken of thee, O! city of God."
In the volume of Revelation, God is represented to us in the character of infinite perfection; as a being of transcendant incomprehensible majesty, of absolute rectitude and perfection of nature, of spotless purity, of strict justice and fathomless wisdom, of uncontrollable power, of boundless, unlimited and unchangeable goodness, worthy to be praised, feared, loved and served by all his intelligent creatures. His presence pervades every part of space. His omniscience thoroughly comprehends all subjects capable of being known, and is completely acquainted with whatever does and can exist. His will is invariably directed to the greatest possible good of the whole system of beings susceptible of happiness. His power is employed, in executing the purposes of consummate wisdom and good-ness; and in substantiating the glorious conceptions of infinite mind.
The universe exhibits His power, impressed on all its parts -- no less on the smallest particle of matter, than on its most complex and stupendous combinations; exerted no less conspicuously in the construction of the minutest insect, than in the seraph that stands before His throne. "All thy works, O! God, praise thee." Revelation further teaches, the depraved, fallen condition of man; his distance from, and enmity to God; and, under a conviction thereof, at the name of the Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Lord, the everlasting God, the creature sinks prostrate in the dust. Such is the effect of sin, that the guilty soul trembles at the voice of God walking in the cool of the day.
But here Revelation exhibits what natural religion cannot attain to. It exhibits a God-man dying for the sins of mankind, and offering grace to every penitent sinner. It exhibits the Deity, as an eternal and inexhaustible foundation of mercy; and leads us to contemplate his eternal goodness, his gracious and moderating justice, and almighty benevolence with delightful wonder, veneration and praise.
Admiration and astonishment are tempered with tenderness and gratitude; fear is succeeded by affection and joy, and the soul is drawn by the strongest bands of love. In God we contemplate the source of our life; and the length of our days; the reliever of wants; our defender against danger and calamity; the bestower of all our comforts and blessings; the instructor of our ignorances; our helper in temptation, the reformer of our follies and vices; our guide amidst uncertainty; our comforter under affliction; our counsellor in perplexity; the inspirer and supporter of our virtues; the redeemer and sanctifier of our souls; our friend in every circumstance of life; our present refuge and confidence; and our joy and happiness for ever. O! the blessings of Revelation!!
Open the history of redemption at whatever page, and it still unfolds the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Conducted by the spirit back to the eternal days of uncreated light; admitted to the deliberations of the council of peace, we hear the son of God proclaim, I am Alpha, the beginning. Carried forward in joyful hope, to the day when we shall make all things new -- the same voice still proclaims, I am Omega, the ending, who was, and is and is to come. Consult the prophets, to him they all give witness; examine the record, This is the record that God has given to us, eternal life; and this life is in his son. Hearken to a voice from the excellent glory -- This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him. All is light and glory, all is free sovereign and everlasting grace; but there is not one intimation of favour conferred but through the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. To him let every knee bow, to him every tongue confess.
===================== Circular Letter for 1819
[In progress]