Bit-O-Baptist History

Here are some interesting bits of Baptist history from the “Rules of Decorum” of the Ebenezer Church of United Baptists in Smith County, Texas. In October 1849, the church had only recently been organized with nine members by Elders Boley Conner Walters (1802-1856) and Zachariah Rose (1809-1886). They composed a letter to present as a petitionary letter to the Sabine Baptist Association meeting at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Cherokee County, October 6-8, 1849. The letter included a statement of their abstract of principles and rules of decorum. I believe that this Ebenezer Church probably met just south of Arp, Texas, near the location of the Ebenezer Cemetery.

“9th. The members of the church will not commune with any other church who are not our faith & order. Any new or strange preacher coming amongst us will be required to Exhibit his credentials before he is invited to the stand – or satisfactory vouchers of his standing.”

This rule demonstrates strict communion and rejection of non-Baptist preachers for preaching in the church (as well as not rushing to receive Baptist preachers who were not yet known to be sound in the faith). I particularly liked the old phraseology we probably wouldn’t use today, about a “strange preacher coming amongst us. Additionally, the 7th article demonstrates the practice of feet washing was not at all uncommon in our early Texas Baptist history.

“7th. Church meetings shall be held once a month at least for the transaction of Business & shall attend to the Lords Supper & the Example of feet washing as often as she may appoint from time to time.”

This letter was adopted by the Ebenezer Church “August 3rd Saturday 1849.”

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Note 1: Both of these ministers mentioned above soon left the churches of East Texas. Zachariah Rose returned to the state of Tennessee. B. C. Walters apparently died in 1856.

Note 2: The name “United Baptist” developed out of the union of Regular and Separate Baptist Associations in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Many churches and associations adopted the term “United” to express this unity. Therefore, many Baptists who are now Missionary Baptists, Southern Baptists, and even Primitive Baptists may have once called themselves United Baptists. It is my inclination (based on “educated guessing”) to think that most of the earlier churches in Texas that emphasized they were “United Baptists” tended toward being pro-missionary but anti-missionary society. Or perhaps they just held on to the name longer than others. However, that is only a generalization that cannot be universally recognized.