1TASiB3
4Jf Imim w) o
Tioroi;-i CComZ;e County, JC. C) Sulurduy, tfovemlcr 21, iS35.
To. XT JYo. -:7.
CONTi-NTMA BAPTIST ASSOCIATION.
Association held its annual notion at Plensnnt
ijiris mm-ting hoii-i W.-iyiHi county, on iho c2.3d, 24ili,
j .-jjj, ,j,,vs of Ociolurr, HU5. Kldersi Thomas Du
,M."M'Hk Bi:Mut5ll, (irorjiii W. Wallace, 1 min By-
' Kiiu"l Moon 1 1 I Icliahod Moon; ;.lh:ndtMl. Let
. mil
i'1""' . . i . . .. : i I ... i -
,rs fnMll l J CMIMCIU'S ni: I eon v : 1 . I'imijt MSl
in tin several clmn h's, o(J wer; liuptizt'd, 4 received
jvl'Hi i, I restr'd, Jl distnicd ly lMier, 10 excluded,
j deceased 771 members. The J7t!i article of tin;
tViii-titiiiinn was amended lo read as follows:
kt. I"- We will nul countenance any preacher who shall (ravel
Vm tlie bounds of our Association, establishing societies for the
tollcclion of money, - who may himself he collecting money to sup-
t al)V institution whatever. We will not fellowship any member
I members of Missionary, Bible, Trai t, or Sunday School Union
Quieties, nor advocates of Theological Schools, nor any person who
Jes fellowship them; nor will we hold any such in our churches.
Tin' next Association is to be held ul White Oak uieet
jnir house, in this county.
Tlie following is tiie Circular Letter.
f i ' House, H'nunc county, this Zolli day of October, 1 SJo, to the Chvr-
, . i
(his t'lf'l reyrtdtiu.
bVi.ovm) UitETnur.N: No doubt you will be looking for a Circu
lar letter written upon some subject of importance. We have no
oilier subject n our minds at present but the memorable subject ofi
$ ;' 'Ion, from which n uou w in, we suan uuuerutiie lo oner you
some lew thoughts, and in doing ibis it bthoves u to oiler some defi
nition of the word religion. i he understanding we have of this word
is divine faith and worship and reverence of God. However, it is.
defined hv others, binding together; by others, inward piety of heart
i .... I ...... I. tliil. niiiilioi- ir -niLift - "... tl.u
Jil'TCHV VlOU IS ill IMIU" ii uru, " "in- Mii.im.i en i , it viimoimj m nil.
rtcluuoii of the will for God, and to avoid w hatever we are persua
ded he disapproves. The word religion only occurs in scripture
(perhaps) five times, and if the w hole heathen mythology was search
ed we know not whether it is to be found. Although there was no
lliinir siiil about religion, or the term not used in scripture till the
dav"of the apostles, religious devotions w ere practiced in a very ear
ly a:e of the world; fr we hear in scripture, men began to call on
tlie n un.' of the Lord, which implies ihey wofehipped God. Again:
Ae! oil'ered to God a : sacrifice which was accepted see Genesis.
But Ciiin brought of the fruit of the ground for his oll'criag, which
was not received. Therefore we see plainly two systems of religion
set up in the w orld, the one a pure religion, and the other a false or
Ipurious one. 1st. All false religion or the principles of it was com-!
ir.Jiiic.Ued to our fore parents in the garden of I'aradise, and has j
leeii in exercise more or less from that day to lhi; false or spurious)
reiijioa proceeds from our depraved nature or a fals conception ofi
God; and in proportion to the views we entertain of ourselves andj
God, so we. set up our forms of worship. Man in his depraved state'
is not without some knowledge of the Supreme Heine; but the views
which he entertains of him, can never enable him to worship in aj
pure or holy manner. lut to prove the fact stated, we bring the;
following scripture: For the invisible things of him from the creation I
of fie world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that:
a e made, even his eternal power and godhead, so that they are with-j
Out excuse, Romans, i. 20. We only shall divide religion into four'
einera! heads, viz: the heathen religion, the Roman religion, the Ma-
iunetin religion, and the Christian religion. To enlarge on all we
have proposed would extend far beyond the bounds of a Ciicular, ne
?t.tiie!ess we will glean a little as we pass on.
j First. It is evident that the heathen had some knowledge of the
true and living God, or they would not have had so many idol gods,
li:ch it is nut expedient lor us to name here; hut it is a plain prool
tta'.lhere is one true God, and we read of no other chiirarteis de
n ii.L- his existence but the fool, and he said in his heart, ''there is no
God' Tlie heathen gods were dumb and deaf, could neither see (
B"r smell, and vet on critical occasions, or in times of distress theyj
invoked thee gods. This is proven by the impudent act of Goliah
Ol Gaih. A"ain: bv the case of Nebuchadnezzar, when he wanted
Da .iel to worship his gods see Daniel. However, some of their
godj were beasts, which were no better than stoci; or stone. ioi-j
tithstanduig they done sacrifice to them, and reposed confidence inj
ttair gods, they could not save them. Moreover, it is said the hea-j
t'ien nd'miou can hardly be entitled a system, since the votaries there-;
0! are subject to the most gross vices. j
! -d. Under the tyranny of the pagans the followers and worship-:
p6sofGod sulfered many very many abuses, and even death itself.
Seethe unlawful decree of Nebuchadnezzar, recorded by Daniel the
prophet, as well as others. The second thing we shall notice is, the
'eiigion ofthe Church of Rome, w hich is said to have been in infancy a
Wucb of the true church of Jesus Christ. We w ill ask the reader if
the church at Corinth in Greece was not entitled to the same honor
He church at I'hilippi, in Macedonia the church at G alalia - the
ci)iiic!i ;u Collossia, and the seven churches in Asia, with many
O lier r Therefore, we do not see any cause why the church, at Rome,
; liquid claim any pre-eminence over those other churches, as to age
0l'T1;!li'y;.nnd if she did ever possess any over the rest, it is now
' p'Hhinjr toiler glory; for it is certain from the best authors we have
wrote of her proceedings, that she swerved from the Christian
fi'th from time to time, until she and her votaries went into lascivi
JUMiess, and went on to elect popes, cardinals, and peers, and estab
persecution against the true church or followers of Jesus Christ
111 several kingdoms, wearing names, titles and offices which Christ
his npoles never did, nor intend should be given to ouaYers ofthe
f 'lurch; which names are unwarranted in the New Testament. And
'.v tlitir influence they troubled kingdoms, established ecclesiastical
lvs, nut manv saints to death, nroclaimed themselves Vicar to
dnst, successor of St. Peter, having power to forgive all manner of
',:,si !:t, present, and to come; which is more than Christ himself
i ner assumed to do. Moreover they established universities, tneoio
fU;d seminaries, the mass, infant sprinkling, preaching (as they
l;tli) men out of purgatory, selling indulgences, pardons, and in the
,::f-aii ume forbidding to murrv would not have wives of their own,
hut wanted every odier man's and went so far as fo worship the re
lics of the dead. Many other errors they were guilty of, which we
shall not now notice. And popery is only paganism refined, or no
thing belter, and if you want a proof of all ibis, see Fo's History of
Martyrs, the Riography of John Wicklilfe, Zuinglish, Patrick, Ham
ilton, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ruck on the Church of Rome,
and many other writers on the same subjects. Some of these men in
the years 1 lj 1 5 and 1G00, set her at defiance and proved to the
world that she was nothing more or less than the beast which the
revelator saw having seven heads and ten horns; and made it appear
she was anti-Christ. We shall only now observe, thai Christian
Rome, (as it is called) done more injury to the followers of God, and
put to death more saints, than ever pagan Rome did.
13d. We now come on to take a short notice of the Mahometan
religion. It appears Mahomet was a Persian, or born under the
reign of the Persian empire, about the beginning of the seventh cen
tury. His father being poor and dying when his son was young, he
was necessarily raised by hi friends ami married a rich widow, which
gave him many advantages; and he made use of them for the purposes
of establishing a new system of religion and to break down paganism;
which religion be was suc essl'id Its seti:;g up in several countries in
a short time. Ho first fixed his plan, converted his wife and m ar
relations, and rich and noble friend; and by his own intrigues and
the assistance of his fiiem's, he proatiyu-d 51 sufficient number of men
and took the sword and forced Ids religion. The reason why men
embraced the Mahonelan religion was. they were afraid of Mahom
et's sword; and it is presumable the overthrow of this religion will
be caused by universal war, inasuic.ch as we think Mahomet is the
false prophet that John saw in ihe Revelations, and the beast the law
religion. And the beast was taken ami viii him the false prophet
that wrought miracles before him, with which be deceived them that
had received the mark of the !eal, and tluvm that worshipped his
image. These both were cast y i e into a lake of fire, burning with
brimstone, Revelations. l'Jih ami 20th. This religion is founded
pretty much in the belief of one God. and that Mahomet w as hsi
prophet. They believe the most (!' 'du Old Testament is of divine
authority. Mahomet sets himself nearly upon an equality with Jesus
Christ, but says he is the lat prophtl. lie also has a number of
otherseutimerits which there is not room here for. This religion is
no better than the former, as men cannot be saved without Jesus
Christ; therefore, we shall leave it and come to the last thing propos
ed see liuclc on -Mahomet.
4th. We shall now proceed lo notice the Christian religion, and
in order to set it forth in its proper colors, we shall try to find what
uinu oi religion me cnurcu ai ivnuocn possesseu, or ueiitveu in.
Now they w hich were scattered abroad upon the pei secutiou that arose
about Stephen, travelled as far as Phoenicia, ar.d Cyprus, aud An-j
lioeh, Sec. his also said some of them were men ol Cyprus and
Cyrene, which when they were come to Autioch spake unto tlie
Grecians preaching the Lord Jesus. Aud the hand ofthe Lord was
with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord.
Barnabas was also sent, whom when he came, preached (wc believe)
the Lord Jesus however, the scripture said, saw the grace of God
and was glad, and exhorted them all with purpose of heart to cleave
unto the Lord. He then went to Tarsus, and found Saul, and they
returned to Amioch and assembled themselves with the chinch, and
taught much peoph , and tho disciples were called Christians first in i
Aiiiioch. see Acts, ! J ill chapter, from the PJdi to 27lh verse. Rar-j
nabas was a man fe'i ofthe Holy Ghost. St. Paul was a Christian!
and believed in the t 'fnisian religion, and practiced the worship ofi
them aud taught Chri.h'tis, with the rest of the apostles, the perfect
ride d faith uui practice, as you u dl see in all his epistles to ihc
Christian churches. A few words relative to what the primitive j
Christians believed. They believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, lhatj
he was the Son of God, the onlj Saviour of sinners; that he was God!
manifest in the flesh; that he was God' one w ith the Father. They I
believed the llolv.Ghosl was one with the lather aud the Son. and
was engaged in the work o! redemption; for there are tlnee that bare
record in heaven, the Father, the '.Void, and the Holy Ghost; aud
these three are one. This language proceeded from John's own lips.
God never was manifest to Ad.-.m i.i a trimly of persons till after the
fall, vet he did exist as such; who h appears from h'ti own words: Go
to, let us make man in our i.wn image-. We could bring many other
proofs, see the Ncv. Teitament iboi.mi .:g w ith proofs, but we have
not time to insert them J; . V nc.U proeecd lo inform you that
no uuiegenerated m;;i: i:;;i Chriitiau, let h'.s pn fessinn be what it
mav; bill is a foreigner and an alien without hope and wiihout God
in the world. Thus having ; iucoi ;et t views of the Supreme Reing,
and of himself, he always worships incorrectly; in a word, a bad
principle in ver produces a good work, vvl.ub agrees with the words
of our Saviour: .Vake the tree good and the fruit will be good also.
Rut men in these modern times s;;y. they are making Christians almost
as fast as the want, but by what means? Most ministers, or our Ar-
minian mmUte;, tell the people the atonement is general, aud the!
spirit of God strives with every body, aud if they will believe, which j
is possible for them to do at any time, and reform, that is enough, j
God is merciful and he will save them, say they, this is the? Christian j
religion. We have not so learned Christ, aud we never knew any !
tree to change itself or its fruit, neither hav e we ever known any tree
to change another tree or alter its fruit; when the Ethiopian can
change Ids skin, or ihe leopard bis spots, then may an imregenerate
man make himself a Christian; and then may men make Christians,
and not till then.
To prove our position we will state a case. Suppose here is a
soring which in former times produced good water, but some enemy
poisoned the spring and of course it produced poisonous water, and
before ii is fit for use the spring must be cleansed. We ask, there
fore, can the spring cleanse itself, or can any other cleanse it? we
think not. The Armiuian says, the way to cleanse it is to send your
servants and make them work upon the stream below, aud cle anse all
the waters that run out of the spring ami that is the l ight way. If
that be the way, what will be done with what runs out, afier such
cleansing, seeing the fountain remains untouched? the waters .will be
like the original. Will they work on the outward passions of men,
,d the heart from whence all the actions flow is untouched, riiiu
they sin again (say they) they have fallen Irom grace, when it
J have been they fell for lack of grace. There is another set of
an
when
should
preachers that are manufactured over, according to tlie schemes ol
the day, that say, O no, brother Armiuian, you are a little mistaken;
let us prescribe a plan whereby- sinners hearts can be cleansed, iT
that spring above named. They then proceed to say, destitute places,
souls are going to hell in ignorance (or want ofthe gospel preached
to them; the Brahmins are perishing for the word of hie, and
Hindoos, Sec. and we have just studied out a plan to save them.
What plan, Sirs? Why let us erect theological schools, State conven
tions, religious schools in difiereut parts of the United States, and
polish men to work upon the bad spring above named, or sinncis
hearts; and learn them to persuade men and beg them out of their
money, and in a short time we can have servants a plenty. (Agreed,
for if you want martins set up a plenty of gourds'aud you will have
them.) However, they have proceeded lo all the above, and ai e
sending lazy young men, who are uot willing to woik, that can beg
even a shilling from a negro, and all he can get from other.-, in better
stations of life, to carry their point. Sayto him (or any of his
class,) Sir, who sent you to preach, am! what is yoio- motive? He
(perhaps holding a temperance paper in bis hand) will answer, such
or sucli a Board of Missions sent me. They are in waul of a little
money, and cannot you help us to some? They have learned to
cry to congregations and to private individuals, God loves the cheer
ful giver and deceive the people and carry i ff their money, and per
haps preach them an Armiuian or a money begging sermon, and
leave the spring uncleaned or their souls unsaved. We will just
remind the reader, where the money beggars aie gone to Hindostau
there is a salubrious climate, a fertile country, gold and silver mines,
and no doubt but a rich reward like this will be an effectual call lo a
number of t hese fellows. What is the sign of their call lo the minis
try? 1st. Every power of their souls being filled with the love of
money, which is the root of all evil. 2d. To put on a cloak of hyp
ocrisy. 3d. To beg well. 4lb. Put on two coats. .Oth. From
the study of Dr. Gill's divinity anh exposition ofthe scriptures, aud
others. Glh. The glory ofthe scheme- of the day, ike. and thereby
deceiving the people. But there are two or three ways by which
they are known: 1st. ly their wearing two coats; 2d. by their beg
ging of money; and 3d. by their sowing discord among the brethren.
All such religion is nothing belter than popery . So they leave the
hearts of men unclean.
Next we shall proceed to show how the fountain is cleansed, or tho
way to cleanse it. Begin in the very bottom of the fountain and
lake away every thing that defiles it, and ihe water will be good
And this is the way God cleanses the hearts of men, and makes them
Christians. God the Holy Ghost kills the poison of sin, and kills
the sinner to the lov e and practice of sin; changes the heart and
show s the sinner the unholiness of his nature; brings to his view his
own perfection and holiness, and the man dies to his former prospects
of getting to heaven. The apostle said, sin revived ai:d 1 (lied; and
again, God granted repentance unto life, and gives faith by which the
man believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is thus born again, a-
the apostles and primitive Christians were, born not ofthe fh sh nor
of blood, r.or of the will of man, but of God. This is the way thi
hearts of men are changed, and from thence proceed good fruits as the
United Baptists, w ho are changed as they were in Anlioch,and follow
the same rule of faith and practice. Again: pure religion and unde
filed before God aud the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the
widows in their afiliction, and to keep themselves unspotted from the
world; which shows it must be a pure heart to perform this woik.
For when the Christian does this work he has no claim on the Su
preme Being at all. In his visit to the house of mourning his it ligioii
is pure, because it proceeded from a pure heart or soul. He dis
charges a Christian duty, prays for ihe alllicted, and perhaps comfort
them, knowing not but God may bless his visit to iheir souls good;
for God evidently saw the end of all his work before he pushed il
into existence, and appointed his means to effect his work. One;
means is ihe preaching of the word for it pleased God by the fool
ishness of preach'mg to save them lhat believe. Bill see one of God's
preachers come forward and say, Sir, who sent yon to preach, and
w hat sign do you give of your call? He will say, 1 believe Jesus
Christ called me; now far t'ae sign I was once a hater of his king
don, and had no delight in holiness, but I hope he has changed my
heart, for now 1 love a holy life and the more like Jesus any Christian
is, the better 1 love him; and after ibis change took place, the worth
of souls vws imprest on my mind, the welfare of Zion, the boner of
the Christian cause and the glory of God; all these lay so heavy on
me 1 had an extreme burden, &c. and necessity was laid on me to
preach the gospel, and wo is me if I preach not the gospel. So the
man goes wiihout hire or reward, only he carries his reward withr
him. So he goes and strikes right at the fountain of sin in the heart;
God the Holy Ghost sending conviction home and rhanginc the
heart as at Antioeh. Of such are the Baptists in this Association,
and some others, made Christians by the eternal God. Therefore,
beloved brethren, make it manifest lhat you are in possession of pure
religion, ibis dark time ofthe night. Pray without ceasing, and iill
your seat in meeting houses, and be temperate but not abUainr and
above all things, love one another and keep the unity of the -:i:ii in
I the bond id' peace. Read the Bible every day of our lives, did y r,
may know wliat the w ill of the Lord is. Hold out faithful ;o the
end, and you have the promise cf a crown of lifr; for the da v will
sorely come when we. (f we be Christians,) shall all meet h; fliat
great Association above, wheie parting ha!l be no more and sorrows
never come. .May God grant us a happy entrance into lh.it Asso
ciation, for Christ's sake. Amen.
n
DOMESTIC.
JUela n ch ohj. On S at u r d ay
morning last, Mr. Jesse Converse
met with an unfortunate end,
while at his work in his saw-mill,
on Muddy Creek. Some un-
Capta in Boss ier. S t a te men ts
heretofore published have made
known the nature of the contest
between Capt. Bossier, Baltimore,
and Mr. Bay Jess, of Washington
known cause brought him in con-City. The former was indicted
tact with the saw, and he was saw-jfor an assault on the hitter, and
ed entirely through diagonally the ease wai decided on Saturday
from the shoulder to the hip
Crawford (Penu.) Messenger.
last by the honorable acquittal of
ihe captain, who plead his own
cause. It is stated that Mr. Bay-
less publicly acquitted Capt Bos-
HTThe number of candidates
for different offices, at present be- isier of all impropriety of conduct
fore the people of Mississippi, is towards his ward., and exonerated
estimated at about four thousand! her from all censure. AV Y. Sun.