Before We Were A People 

Chapter I.

"Your society are much more like other folk than they were when I was young. Then there was a company of them in the back part of our town, and an outlandish set of people they certainly were. For yourself would say so if you had seen them. As it was told to me, you could hardly find one or more of them but what was deformed in some way or other. Some of them were hare-lipped; others were blear-eyed, or humped-
backed, or bow-legged, or clump-footed, hardly any of them looked like other people. But they were all strong for plunging, and let their poor ignorant children run wild, and never had the seal of the covenant put on them." ¹

Hard to believe the staid and respectable Baptists of the now well-buckled Bible Belt could ever have inspired such fear and disgust among their neighbors, but in the early years distrust and outright contempt of Baptist beliefs was far from unknown. The organization of the faith now known as 'Baptist' followed and in some cases blazed the American frontier.

An incorrect assumption still exists attributing the origin of Baptist belief to John the Baptist and the Anabaptists. This fallacy of this assumption can be easily disproved by examining the differences between John's baptism and the believer's baptism of New Testament ordinance. ²

In the early days, Baptist churches were known as "Baptized Churches." In the nineteenth century, churches carried such names as Baptized Church of Christ, Baptized Congregation, Congregation of the People Owning Believers' Baptism and so forth. Various sects have been identified as Baptist precursors and some, indeed, held beliefs later held by Baptist groups. It would be incorrect, however, to try to trace modern Baptist belief to these sects since there appear to have been more differences than similarities in their views. The earliest version of the modern Baptist movement can be more readily traced to Roger Williams from Massachusetts and his establishment of the Providence Plantation. With the formation of the first Baptist church in America in 1639 and subsequent formation of Baptist churches in Rhode Island, the Great Awakening found Baptists eager to spread their faith. ³

Unfortunately, the great ideal of religious freedom to be established in the new land of America did not encompass "religious freedom for all." The settlers of New Netherland attempted to enforce Reformed Church doctrines restricting public worship to orthodox believers. In 1641 settlers on Long Island received special permission to worship as Congregationalist and Presbyterian congregations. Maryland's Religious Toleration Act of 1649 again allowed a certain amount of religious freedom, but again only to particular already established religions. ⁴ No quarter was given to practitioners of the peculiar sect known as Baptists.

Even the Act of 1740, ensuring religious freedom and full rights of citizenship in the colonies granted such only to Jews living in America, Quakers and certain Protestant groups. ⁵ The Great Awakening in New England was greeted with distrust by many of the established clergy of the day. The leaders of the great revival--George Whitfield, Gilbert Tennent, James Davenport and, of course, Jonathon Edwards were considered 'no more than ranters' by ministers such as Charles Chauncey of Boston. ⁶ To be fair, his objection and that of other concerned clergy of the day had more to do with emotionalism being mistaken for genuine conversion. This distrust of evangelical Christianity may still be seen today. ⁷

There was in that day an idea that religious freedom should be extended to certain specific religions. The more broadminded even proposed allowing such freedom of worship to faiths as diverse as the Society of Friends (Quakers), Episcopalians, Catholics, Jews and, yes, even occasionally those rascally Baptists. It was not until the Constitution of the United States was being devised that American Baptists finally were able to convince the writers that religious freedom must be extended to all, regardless of a person's religion or lack thereof. The idea to extend such a freedom to those persons who were not Christians or had no faith at all was new and untried.

This bedrock principle of Baptist faith, that of the competency of the soul in religion, was a puzzle to George Washington. ⁸ The Baptist insistence upon the separation of Church and State and adamant refusal to accept state-run institutes for religious training, even that of their own faith frustrated him. ⁹ Thomas Jefferson and James Madison finally were persuaded to support the Baptists in this and eventually became staunch supporters for liberty of religious opinion. ¹⁰

With the liberty to worship as they pleased, the movement known as "Baptist" threatened to become dangerously fragmented. Reverend Whitefield's revival in New England so changed the lives of those involved that individual groups of Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians and others decided to form separate societies from their established churches. These groups were known as "New Light's" as opposed to the "Old Lights" and eventually became what was known as Separatist congregations. ¹¹

Separate congregations objected to a Confession of Faith and usually were suspicious of an educated clergy, believing education would over intellectualize the religious experience and make worship a dry rerun of high church services. They felt very strongly an individual should experience and profess a profound conversion experience before the act of baptism and, as a result, generally were opposed to infant baptism (Pedobaptism). ¹² Women were allowed to serve as elders and deacons in the earlier Separate churches, though this too, varied from congregation to congregation. The Separate congregations were more rigid about their beliefs than the Regular, General or Particular Baptists and generally were known for the ordinances of believer's baptism (though some accepted the baptism of infants), the Lord's Supper, laying on of hands, washing feet, anointing of the sick, devotion of children to church service and insistence on members adherence to church rules. Regular Baptists and General or Arminian Baptists were less strict about discipline of church members and encouraged infant baptism. ¹³

Separatist Baptists were regarded with suspicion by other Baptists as well as those of other churches. When one pastor (of a Regular church) was asked to join in the ordination of David Marshall of a Separate church, he refused, stating he held no fellowships with the Stearns party, that he believed them to be a disorderly set, suffering women to pray in public, and permitting every ignorant man to preach that chose, and that they encouraged noise and confusion in their meetings. ¹⁴ This suspicion may be due to the fact adherents of a Separatist church often regarded General Baptists to be rank heretics and in as great need of salvation as the
ordinary garden variety infidel. ¹⁵ Separate congregations could also be differentiated from those of Regular churches by the indoctrination and training of the membership of the separatists.

Eventually, however, the Separates and Regular Baptists achieved an uneasy truce. Many Separate churches accepted the Philadelphia Confession and started to encourage ministerial training. ¹⁶ Regular (by now Particular Baptists have been absorbed, for the most part, into this group) congregations started to lean more to believer's baptism though their support of mission activities remained strong and soon were known as Missionary Baptist. Though still influenced by Calvinism, this group were much more moderate than the Particular or Anti-missionary Baptist. Most of the early settlers in North Louisiana were from the areas of South Carolina which were strongly influenced by the Missionary Baptists. ¹⁷

The General Baptists soon transformed into what was known as Free Will (Arminian). This became the nucleus for the beginning of a new denomination which is now known as Original Freewill Baptist. These Free Will Baptists settled in Northeastern North Carolina and gradually moved into Tennessee and South Carolina. This group differed from other Baptists in the belief that the atonement of Christ was general and "whosoever will" by the exercise of his own free will should "come and partake of the water of life freely.^{" 18}

These groups are distinct from those now known as Primitive Baptist (Hard Shell), known as the Anti-Missionary Baptists. The anti-mission cause was once much stronger than it is now and kept many church and local associations from joining the Southern Baptist Convention and various State Conventions during the middle of the nineteenth century. Opposition to missions began mildly enough with Paul's words, "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he is called." Various interpretations of the verse led some to say, in effect, God prepares his ministers to preach and after their call to do so, it is blasphemy to seek further education, though there would be no objection if the education is received before the call to the ministry. In essence, God requires no human means to bring his elect to repentance (doctrine of the salvation of the elect). Therefore, there was no need to preach to the elect at all, for the non-elect could not be saved. ¹⁹ Alexander Campbell and his followers advocated much the same, though conversion of the heathen was possible, according to him. Mission work, however, should be done from one church to another and not through an organization because, after all God did not send Jonah to Nineveh through a missionary society nor did He send Jonah to a seminary before being sent.

Clearly, education or the lack of it and various views of the usefulness of training for the ministry combined and separated various Baptist splinter groups as well as the question of mission activities. Some feared over intellectualization of the religious experience and opposed the establishment of training schools for the ministry, preferring instead to rely upon the unschooled lay preachers who spoke from the heart and experience. This fear was in part due to a honest reluctance to allow any restriction of genuine religious fervor caused by an over educated clergy.

Other congregations supported religious education and began Brown University as a trial. This university, started in 1764, was to be controlled by Baptists, but Quakers, Congregationalists and Episcopalians were to share in the government of the institution. No religious tests were ever to be required and the faculty were free to support whatever (Protestant) religion they chose.

Various ethnic groups began their own version of Baptist belief and gave us the Seventh Day Baptists (German and English settlers who believed the seventh day should be observed as the Lord's Day), German Baptists or Brethren, also called Dunkers, Tunkers, or Tumblers (because of their preference in kneeling while being immersed) and the Moravians. Some churches were violently opposed to Freemasons and even expelled some members and pastors for belonging to the group. Other churches welcomed members who were masons.

It was the Separate Baptists that pushed the frontier, however. Their close ties to each other and fierce devotion to their principles held the churches together in hard times. In many cases, an entire church would decide to move, just as though they were family by blood and not just family by spirit. Often, the move was forced upon them by prejudice of their neighbors. From Virginia and Rhode Island, missionaries and the churches they formed spread into North Carolina and South Carolina.

From the Carolinas, the Baptists spread, first to Georgia, then Mississippi, then Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. ²⁰ Separate congregations in Edgefield District, South Carolina produced most of the early settlers of the Claiborne Parish area. Other separate congregations from Georgia soon arrived. Though direct connections with individual churches would be difficult and time consuming to prove, evidence suggests the settlers of this area were from churches originally begun by Daniel Marshall, a "New Light" missionary from New England and Reverend Shubal Stearns of Abbotts Creek, North Carolina. In 1760, Marshall and his followers moved to Beaver Creek near Broad River, South Carolina, then spread to Stevens Creek. A church house, only thirty feet by twenty six was erected in 1766. This church became known as Stevens Creek church in 1766 and changed its name to Big Stephens Creek Church in 1802.

Horns Creek church, about five miles away (still in Edgefield District) was constituted in 1768 and Little Saluda (Mine Creek) Church was formed in 1771, both by Daniel Marshall. He then appeared to have combined the Tunker Baptists and Seventh Day Baptists of Beaver Creek and Rock Creek into one group. He continued to combine various splinter groups into viable congregations. He and his associates worked to combine Baptists as much as possible while respecting the individuality of each congregation. Many churches continued to exist as splinter groups and exercised strict discipline over their members. Most churches expelled members for lying, anger, swearing, non-attendance, disrespect to church members, habitual and/or public drunkenness and gross immorality. ²¹

Some churches were even stricter and expelled members for dancing, riding with the saddle hind end foremost, joining the Methodists and "attending a courthouse at public times when business does not call her there. One such church, at Turkey Creek, expelled Nancy Hanks (but not her husband, Luke) for speaking "disrespectful of the brethren also for disavowing the truth and for busying herself in matters that she sought not." Of interest in this episode is the evidence that points to this Nancy Hanks as being Abraham Lincoln's mother. Some disagreement of this exists, however, and should be noted.

Joseph Willis, probably the person most responsible for the spread of the Baptist faith into Louisiana, Abraham Hargess (possible variation of Hargis, noted pastor of First Baptist Church Homer) Isaiah Stephens and others were members of churches in Cherokee County, South Carolina in 1799.

Footnotes:

Church records, including minutes of business meetings, meetings of deacon's meetings, WMU records, treasurer's reports and church bulletins were used so extensively that to document these sources would have produced a virtually unreadable result, therefore these sources are included in the bibliography, but not individually listed for footnotes.

Chapter one before we were a people
1. Sweet, William Warren. Religion on the American Frontier: The Baptists, p. 11.
2. Greene, Glen Lee. House Upon a Rock: About Southern Baptists in Louisiana, p. 15.
3. Galt, John. "Toleration in the Early Colonies," Annals, Volume 1, p. 87.
4. Van Doren, Charles. Commentary on above, Annals, Volume 1, p. 87.
5. Paine, Thomas. "Civil Rights for Religious Minorities," Annals, Volume 1, p. 419.
6. Van Doren, Charles. Commentary on above, Annals, Volume 1, p. 418.
7. Chauncey, Charles. "Revivalism and True Religion," Annals, Volume 1, p. 434.
8. Hobbs, Herschel. The Baptist Faith and Message, p. 8.
9. Jefferson, Thomas. "Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom," Annals, Volume 3, p. 53.
10. Sweet, p 15.
11. Ibid., p. 12.
12. Ibid., p. 71.
13. Huggins, Maloy A. A History of North Carolina Baptists 1727-1932. p. 44.
14. Sweet, p. 70.
15. Paxton, W. E. A History of The Baptists of Louisiana, from the Earliest Times to the Present, p. 24.
16. Huggins, p. 260.
17. Sweet, p. 75.
18. Huggins, p. 261.
19. Sweet, p. 78.
20. McLemore, Richard Aubrey. A History of Mississippi Baptists 1780-1970, p. 163.
21. Sweet, p. 85.

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