Andrew Tribble, Pioneer

Excerpts from “Rev. Andrew Tribble, Pioneer,” Bess L. Hawthorne, in Register of Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 24, No. 71 (May, 1926), pp. 187-190.

The earliest known member of this family was George Tribble, of Welsh extraction, and a farmer in Caroline County, Virginia. Nothing further is known of him, though there are references to a George Tribble of King and Queen County, who may have been the same person. Of his family we know nothing with the exception of one son, Andrew Tribble…

Andrew Tribble was born 22 March 1741, and very early became a member of the Baptist Church. Often he was heard to say that he was the 53d Baptist north of the James River. Soon after his conversion he began to preach, and went to Orange and surrounding counties to baptize new converts. Then for a while he was a member of Goldmine Church in Louisa County. From this church he was sent as a messenger to the first meeting of the General Association of Virginia in May, 1771.

In 1777, he became pastor of a little Baptist Church in Albemarle County, variously known as Albemarle, Buck Mountain, and Chestnut Grove. This church was organized in January 1773, being the first Baptist church in Albemarle. It was near “Monticello,” the home of Thomas Jefferson. It is said the two men became personal friends and Jefferson often attended the meetings here. Many claim that Jefferson gained his idea of a popular government for this country through watching the business management of this little Baptist church by Rev. Andrew Tribble…

In 1768, most probably while he was preaching in Orange County, he was married to Miss Sarah Ann Burris (Burrus)…

Andrew Tribble and his family moved to Kentucky in 1783, and first settled on the Dix River, but soon moved into what is now known as Clark County…

Tate’s Creek Church…was…founded by him in 1786 under the name of “Tate’s Creek Church of Separate Baptists.”…they formed “Tate’s Creek Association of United Baptists” [in 1793].[i]

His last sickness was long and painful. It was caused by stricture of the bladder and resulted in his death on 22 December 1822 (or 30 December 1822)[ii] …His wife, Sarah Ann Burris-Tribble, survived him several years, her death occurring on 15 December 1830, when she was past 77.

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[i] The Tate’s Creek Association was formed by four churches from the South Kentucky Association, after the South Kentucky Association refused the terms of union offered by the Elkhorn Association. See A History of Kentucky Baptists, by J. H. Spencer, p. 88.

[ii] Tribble’s tombstone is inscribed with December 30.

Kentucky, King James, and A. Campbell

According to Frank M. Masters, “The occasion of Alexander Campbell’s first visit to Kentucky was to engage in the proposed debate with Rev. W. L. McCalla.” William Latta McCalla (1788-1859) was a leading Presbyterian preacher, and the debate took place October 15-21, 1823 in Washington, Mason County, Kentucky.[i]

Many Baptist preachers supported Campbell in this debate, and in the aftermath many viewed him as a champion of Baptist faith. Campbell chose Jeremiah Vardeman – a very well-known and popular preacher – as his moderator. According to Masters, Jacob Creath (who was enveloped by the Restoration),[ii] Walter Warder, and William Vaughan (who became chief opponents of Campbell) “were known to have been present.” “The debate, being so popular among the Baptists, prepared the way for the rapid spread of Alexander Campbell’s views throughout the state. The conditions were favorable for such a man as he, to gain a good following among the Baptists.”

The Campbell Restoration movement fueled controversy over the Bible. That controversy led to Baptist statements in favor of the King James Bible in the late 1820s and early 1830s. Henry K. Shaw’s reference to John Randolph (1773–1833), himself a Virginia planter and an Episcopalian, gives voice to the sentiments of many Baptists of that day. According to Shaw:

Among the orthodox, the King James text was thought to be the only true word of God. Therefore, they were suspicious of Campbell’s new publication.[iii] There are cases on record of ministers who had to stand trial before ecclesiastical bodies for reading Campbell’s translation or quoting from it in their pulpits. In this connection, the case of John Randolph, the Virginia statesman, is most interesting. Both Campbell and Randolph were elected delegates to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829. Randolph represented the Virginia aristocrats on the Atlantic seaboard, and Campbell represented the common people in the western part of the state. Campbell put up a strong fight for free public schools and libraries – a position which Randolph opposed…Campbell’s stubborn opposition to the aristocrats, who were accustomed to having their own way, so provoked the wrath of Randolph that he once stood up in convention and pointing his finger at Campbell, declared,

“That man is never satisfied. God Almighty could not satisfy him with the Bible which He gave and Mr. Campbell went and wrote a Bible of his own.”[iv]

According to Spencer, “Campbellism took root early, in North District Association.”[v] Alexander Campbell visited the Mount Sterling Church “as early as 1824, and preached three sermons there.” ‘Raccoon’ John Smith “was speedily converted to his views.” Smith’s conversion and adoption of views inconsistent with the Baptist faith led to problems in the North District Association.[vi] At its meeting in 1827 the Lulbegrud church sent up several charges aimed at the practices of John Smith. The accusations included: 

“1. That, while it is the custom of Baptists to use as the word of God King James translation, he had on two or three occasions in public, and often privately in his family, read from Alexander Campbell’s translation…”[vii] 

As in the North District Association, the Reformation doctrine of Alexander Campbell and Raccoon John Smith caused problems in the Green River Association of United Baptists. Alonzo Willard Fortune quotes from the Minutes of the 29th Session of Green River Association, 1828 (pp. 4-5):

“The query from Mount Zion Church, to wit, ‘What ought to be done with a preacher in our union that publicly declares that our translation of the Bible is a very imperfect Book, and that there is human agency in the conversion of a sinner, and that man has got physical power to do all that the Lord requires of man,’ was taken up.”[viii]

According to Fortune, the committee advised caution and charity. Ironically, the Mount Zion Church may have been too cautious and charitable! When the Green River Association took action against the Reformers in 1832, “It was ordered that the Mount Zion church should be dropped...”[ix]

About this time, a writer identified only as “Titus” reported to Campbell’s Christian Baptist periodical on a sermon by George Waller.[x]

“It is presumption, it is wicked, for an individual, and he a mere smatterer, to take the work of a translation out of the hands of king James’ translators, men so renowned for their learning and piety, who were so providentially protected, and who lived so much nearer the age of the apostles, that they must, consequently, have been much better acquainted with the original language than any man can be in the present age.”[xi]

When the Barren River Association of Baptists organized in 1830, they included as their first Article of Faith:

“We believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as translated by the authority of King James, to be the words of God, and is the only rule of faith and practice.”[xii]

Considering the time frame, it is likely that the felt-need for mentioning the King James Bible specifically was the raging Campbell controversy.

A Baptist remnant of the North District Association – which was destroyed by the followers of Campbell – met at Howard’s Upper Creek, Clark County, Kentucky, on the 4th Saturday in July 1831. The committee on “Baptist Customs and Usages” reported on “Constituting Churches,” “Subjects of Baptism,” “Words of Baptism,” “Mode of Baptism,” “Manner of Eating the Lord’s Supper,” and then concluded with this statement on the Bible:

“That translation of the Scriptures called King James’s is the version that the five names of Baptists treated of in this report receive, refer to, and confide in as authentic. The principles of government are exhibited in the proceedings of the council at Lulbegrud [the church where they met for a special meeting in April 1830, rlv].”[xiii]

The old veteran, John Taylor (1752-1835), broached the subject in 1830 in A History of Clear Creek Church: and Campbellism Exposed (Frankfort: KY, Printed by A. G. Hodges).[xiv] Perhaps slightly tongue-in-cheek, he proposed a debate between Alexander Campbell and Daniel Parker.

“Let this debate begin on Monday morning in long days, and continue six days. On the seventh, both the men preach to the same congregation, and neither of them exceed two hours in their address. Let the only book used in this debate, be the translation of the Bible, made under the reign of king James. If half the Baptists of the western world, will be drawn off by Campbell and Parker, the balance will refuse to be hoodwinked by either of them, and will stick together as united Baptists, in the name of the Lord.”

He further criticized Jacob Creath’s use of Campbell’s New Testament, as well as emphasized what he thought was Campbell’s own reason for despising the old Bible.

“This produced a fresh source of contention in the church. This young brother [Jacob Creath, Jr.], a few years before had preached in Kentucky with good acceptance among the churches. But now he would read and preach from the new, or Campbell’s translation of the New Testament, cast contempt on the Old translation, that the Bible was much corrupted by that translation.”

“This, I suppose too, is the reason why Campbell is better pleased with his new translation, for the word repentance is rarely seen in the whole work. The old translation mingles too much godly sorrow with gospel religion, for Campbell’s use.”[xv]

Frank Masters summed up the Campbellite defection (numerically) in this way:

“The available statistics of the Baptists in Kentucky in 1829 give thirty-four associations, six hundred fourteen churches, and 45,442 members; but the report in 1830 showed a loss of forty churches and 5,485 members largely as a result of the division. In 1832, an additional decrease of 4095 members was reported, which made a total loss of 9580 members in three years. The total membership in 1832 was 35,862, and in 1835, 39,806, which showed a gain of only 3,947 members in three years; and still 6,636 members less than reported in 1829.”

In his preface to the history of Clear Creek Church, John Taylor wrote, “The worst of all heresy, is corrupt views of the Scriptures, put into practice; and this is more seen in Campbellites, than any other people with whom we are acquainted.”[xvi] Perhaps this well sums up the problems Kentucky Baptists had with Campbell and his followers in the 1820s to 1830s – a poor view of the scriptures, and practice of the poor views they had. Most historians know well the problem of Campbell’s view on baptism “as a regenerating ordinance, and by which remission of sin is obtained” but fewer probably recognize that embedded within the Kentucky Campbellite struggle over contrary practices were contrary views of the scriptures themselves.

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[i] A Public Debate on Christian Baptism: between the Rev. W. L. MacCalla, a Presbyterian teacher, and Alexander Campbell

[ii] I suppose this to be Jacob Creath, Jr. His uncle, Jacob Creath, Sr., also embraced the Restoration movement.

[iii] Alexander Campbell’s “The Living Oracles” New Testament

[iv] Buckeye Disciples: a History of the Disciples of Christ in Ohio, St. Louis, MO: Christian Board of Publication, 1952, pp. 67-68

[v] The North District Association organized in August 1801, a friendly division of large territory of the South Kentucky Association of Separate Baptists.

[vi] A History of Kentucky Baptists, Volume II, J. H. Spencer, 1885, p. 121; The trial of Raccoon John Smith is also related in Raccoon John Smith: Frontier Kentucky’s Most Famous Preacher, John Sparks, pages 235-260; See also Old Cane Springs - A Story of the War Between the States in Madison County, Kentucky, revised edition by J. T. Dorris, 1936

[vii] The other two complaints were related to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Life of Elder John Smith: with Some Account of the Rise and Progress of the Current Reformation, John Augustus Williams, Cincinnati, OH: R. W. Carroll & Company, 1870, p. 146

[viii] The Disciples in Kentucky, A. W. Fortune, Lexington, KY: Convention of the Christian Churches in Kentucky, 1932, p. 82

[ix] Ibid, p. 93

[x] George Waller pastored Buck Creek Baptist Church in Shelby County, Kentucky for nearly fifty years, and is buried in the Buck Creek Baptist Church Cemetery. S. H. Ford wrote, “As a preacher, George Waller was argumentative, Calvinistic, and really eloquent. He was, in his day, amongst the most laborious and influential ministers in the West.”

[xi] Letter from ‘Titus’ to the Christian Baptist, Vol. IV, No. 10, May 7, 1827, as quoted in Alexander Campbell and His New Translation,” by David W. Fletcher, p. 11 (originally in The Seminary Review 20, No. 2, June 1984: 45-61). Fletcher also relates an account of George’s brother, Edmund Waller, burning Campbell’s New Testament: “I subscribed for Mr. Campbell’s Testament, and received it, paid $1.75 for it, kept it five or six months and compared it carefully with one I have loved ever since I was 13 years old. On the first reading I condemned it, but let it remain in my house some two or three months; then tried it again, condemned and burnt it.” (p. 9)

[xii] The Articles of Faith of the Barren River Association, adopted at her constitution at the Mount Pleasant Meeting House, Barren County, Ky., Sept. 15, 1830, recorded in Pioneer Church Records of South Central Kentucky and the Upper Cumberland of Tennessee 1799-1899, C. P. Cawthorn & N. L. Warnell, Dayton, OH: Church History Research & Archives, p. 23; See also Minutes of the One Hundred Sixty-Ninth Annual Session of the Barren River Missionary Baptist Association, August 26, 1999, p. 15. The Bethlehem Anti-Mission Baptist Association in their Abstract of Principles in 1838 declared “the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as translated by King James, to be the Word of God.” Though this is slightly later, the similarity to Barren River’s article suggests the residual effects of the Campbell controversy (A History of Kentucky Baptists, Volume II, J. H. Spencer, 1885, p. 508).

[xiii] Life of Elder John Smith: with Some Account of the Rise and Progress of the Current Reformation, John Augustus Williams, Cincinnati, OH: R. W. Carroll & Company, 1870, pp. 422-424; without inspecting the original document, it is hard to understand what is meant by “the five names of Baptists treated of in this report.” Perhaps it meant something like Regular Baptists, Separate Baptists, United Baptists, etc., or perhaps there were five churches represented.

[xiv] Clear Creek Church was in Woodford County, near Versailles, Kentucky.

[xv] A History of Clear Creek Church and Campbellism Exposed on Baptist History Homepage

[xvi] Campbellism Exposed or, A History of Clear Creek Church at Primitive Baptist Library

A. Campbell’s New Testament and the KJV

In older times, before tomes on the modern Bible controversy were written, most Baptists in the U.S. had little reason to discuss whether the King James Bible was the “only” Bible. For all intents and purposes it was! Once in awhile some controversy arose to ruffle the feathers of Baptist Zion. Alexander Campbell’s “The Living Oracles” New Testament was one such occasion. Baptist opposition to Campbell and his theology included opposition to his New Testament, while expressing support for the King James Bible. The controversy was especially rank in Kentucky, and some records survive of Baptist support of the KJV in this controversy.

The North District Association of Separate Baptists in Kentucky suffered much (and eventually died) from the controversy, much of it surrounding the popular preacher John Smith: 

“But the records reveal other difficulties which tried the souls of the church members. Even though six full pages of the minutes for the period from October, 1829, to April, 1831, inclusive, were cut from the record book and apparently destroyed, there remains enough in the minutes and in other sources to indicate that the teachings of Alexander Campbell and other kindred spirits disturbed Old Cane Springs. As early as July, 1827, the North District Association had convened in the church there with Elder David Chenault presiding as moderator. The renowned Elder John Smith, often called ‘Raccoon John,’ was present and was arraigned by the brethren for preferring the Holy Spirit to the Holy Ghost in the baptismal ritual, for preferring actually to break the bread when taking the sacrament, and for preferring a more recent translation of the Bible to the King James version. Chenault and a big majority were strongly against him and such innovations.” [History, Old Cane Springs Baptist Church,The trial of Raccoon John Smith is also related in Raccoon John Smith: Frontier Kentucky’s Most Famous Preacher, John Sparks, pages 235-260]

In a letter from ‘Titus’ to Campbell’s periodical, there is a reference to comments of Elder George Waller, saying the KJV translators were providentially protected: 

“It is presumption, it is wicked, for an individual, and he a mere smatterer, to take the work of a translation out of the hands of king James’ translators, men so renowned for their learning and piety, who were so providentially protected, and who lived so much nearer the age of the apostles, that they must, consequently, have been much better acquainted with the original language than any man can be in the present age.” [Christian Baptist, Vol. IV, No. 10 (May 7, 1827) [Vol. 4:196-197]. (As quoted in Alexander Campbell and His New Translation, p. 11)]

In July 1827  the Lulbegrud church brought 3 complaints to the North District Association re John Smith, one concerning the Bible directly:

“1. That, while it is the custom of Baptists to use as the Word of God King James’s translation, he had, on two or three occasions in public, and often privately in his family, read from Alexander Campbell’s translation.

“2. That, while it is the custom in the ceremony of baptism to take the candidate into the water, and solemnly pronounce the words, ‘I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,’ ‘he, on the contrary, is in the habit of saying, ‘By the authority of Jesus Christ, I immerse you into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

“3. That, in administering the Lord’s Supper, while it is the custom of the Baptists for an ordained preacher to stand at the table and give thanks, and break the loaf into bits, or morsels, small enough to be readily taken into the mouth, and then for the deacons to pass these around in a plate, or some like convenience, yet he leaves the bread in large pieces, teaching that each communicant should break it for himself.” (Life of Elder John Smith: with Some Account of the Rise and Progress of the Current Reformation, John Augustus Williams, Cincinnati, OH: R. W. Carroll & Company, 1870, p. 146)

Report of the Committee on “Baptist Customs and Usages,” at Howard’s Upper Creek, Clark County, Kentucky, 4th Saturday in July, 1831:
“That translation of the Scriptures called King James’s is the version that the five names of Baptists treated of in this report receive, refer to, and confide in as authentic. The principles of government are exhibited in the proceedings of the council at Lulbegrud [the church where they met for a special meeting in April 1830, rlv].” (Life of Elder John Smith: with Some Account of the Rise and Progress of the Current Reformation, John Augustus Williams, Cincinnati, OH: R. W. Carroll & Company, 1870, p. 424)

Williams says to see also “Alonzo Willard Fortune, The Disciples in Kentucky (Lexington, KY: Convention of the Christian Churches in Kentucky, 1932), 82-83, for similar charges against Smith from the Mount Zion Church of the Green River Association.”

A Singer and His Songs: E. W. Billups and The Sweet Songster

The Sweet Songster, a Collection of the Most Popular and Approved Songs, Hymns, and Ballads, Edward W. Billups, Catlettsburg, KY: C. L. McConnell, 1854.

Arrowood Brothers Edition

David E. Whisnant said that E. W. Billups’s Sweet Songster “appears from the [Katherine Rebecca Pettit] diaries[1] to have been in widespread use in the area [eastern Kentucky, possibly circa 1900]” and that “...Josephine McGill reported that during her collecting trip to Knott County [Kentucky] in 1914 she found The Sweet Songster and the Thomas hymnal ‘owned by nearly every mountain family’.”[2]

Despite the recent spate of interest in the Old Regular Baptists and their lined-out hymnody, there is a dearth of information on Edward W. Billups and The Sweet Songster – one of their most popular hymn books.

The editor
Edward W. Billups was born about 1799 or 1800 in Virginia – in the 1850 U.S. Census in Putnam County, Virginia he is listed as 51 years old and his occupation is Baptist preacher. He was the son of Edward and Susan Webster Billups,[3] probably born in the part of Virginia that later became West Virginia. He married Elizabeth Beck or Beach in Kanawha County on January 16, 1822, and they were living in that county in the 1830 and 1840 censuses. In 1850 they are on the Putnam County census, but it is probable that he did not move. Putnam County was established in 1848 from Cabell County, Kanawha County and Mason County. The Billupses lived in a part of Kanawha that became Putnam County. By this time his wife Elizabeth had apparently died, as she is not listed. He had four children in this census (George W., Mary A., John and Mathew) – all born roughly between 1831 and 1839.

In the 1860 U.S. Census Edward W. Billups was living next door to his son, G. W. Billups at Ironton, Lawrence County, Ohio. G. W. was a silversmith. Edward was 60 years old and his occupation is “book peddler” – which is consistent with his publishing and selling the hymn book. In 1860 a Margaret Billups, 27 years old, was in the household with him. This may be his daughter, who is called Mary in 1850, or it could be possible that he remarried. Edward W. Billups has not been located after the 1860 census. He could have died between that time and the compiling of the 1870 census.

Elder John Sparks hinted Methodist origins behind the Songster, writing that E. D. Thomas’s hymn book “was compiled expressly for use in Baptist churches, but The Sweet Songster appears to have been originally a Methodist hymnal borrowed and adopted by some Appalachian United Baptists...”[4] The census records show that Billups was a Baptist, but his more generic book title and possibly more eclectic choice of hymns may suggest that he hoped for a wider audience than just Baptists. I haven’t been able to determine the kind of Baptists with which Billups was affiliated. Considering the hymn book is primarily used by Old Regular Baptists,[5] he was probably a Regular Baptist – at a time before the Regular Primitives and Old Regulars split.

The edition
The Sweet Songster is a small words-only hymn book, about 5" by 3-1/2" with 350 pages.[6] The title is creative or uncommon, compared to many hymn books of the period. According to Dictionary.com, a “songster” is “a person who sings; a writer of songs or poems; a poet; a songbird.” There might be some allusion to King David, who is called “the sweet psalmist of Israel” in 2nd Samuel 23:1. In poetry of this period, the “sweet songster” often referred to the nightingale bird.

The hymn book was printed for Billups at Catlettsburg, Kentucky by C. L. McConnell in 1854. According to a family genealogist, Edward’s father “died and his Will was read in 1853. Evidently Edward W. sold his large land inheritance to have the money to publish ‘The Sweet Songster’ in 1854.”[7] Edward may have moved to Ironton, Ohio by 1854, considering that Ironton is only about 10 miles up the Ohio River from Catlettsburg, Kentucky.[8]

The work contains hymns by noted hymnists such as Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley and John Newton. The largest number of credited hymns belong to Billups himself, though he is often an arranger rather than the original author. In his preface he wrote, “Those hymns marked with the author’s name, Billups, were composed entirely or in part by him.” The next to last hymn in the book, beginning “Once upon the heaving ocean,” is credited to his son, G. W. Billups.[9] Older hymn books credited as sources include Dover Selection (1828), Dupuy (1811), Sacred Melodies (1836), The Psalmist (1844) and Rippon (1787) – all Baptist sources.

Though Billups may have died within 8 to 16 years of the publication of his hymn book, it has retained popularity among the Old Regular Baptists and has remained in print to the present.[10] As far as I know, there is only one edition and no changes have been introduced. The Union Old Regular Baptist Church web site relates, “We sing out of words only song books.  The two most prominent are the Thomas Hymnal and the Sweet Songster. Our style of singing is called lined out hymnody.” According to The Baptist Library “The Sweet Songster is used by the Old Regular Baptist, United Baptist and some Primitive Baptist.”

Not everyone liked The Sweet Songster. The American Missionary (Volume 41 No. 4, April 1887, p. 109) labeled it religious doggerel, writing “The Sweet Songster is the name of a little hymn book published in Catlettsburg, Ky. It contains verses composed, compiled altered or amended, according to the sweet pleasure of one Edward W. Billups, D.D. There are some old familiar hymns scattered through the book, but often sadly marred by omission, alteration or addition. The poet shows his estimate of education as he describes the Christians of old: [hereafter follows the 4 lines of the third stanza of Charles Wesley’s “Primitive Christianity”.] [11]

Unabated by the conceit and condescension displayed by those like “The American Missionary,” numerous churches are pleased as they journey to sweetly sing their Savior’s worthy praise from the pages of a worthy hymn book appropriately named The Sweet Songster.

Footnotes
[1] Katherine Rebecca Pettit (1868–1936) was an American educator who was part of the “settlement school” movement in Appalachia in the early 20th century.
[2] All That Is Native and Fine: The Politics of Culture in an American Region, David E. Whisnant, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1983, p. 281
[3] http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/th/read/BILLUPS/2008-08/1218205592
[4] The Roots of Appalachian Christianity: The Life and Legacy of Elder Shubal Stearns, Elder John Sparks, Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2015 p. 235
[5] “The Thomas Hymnal and The Sweet Songster are both favored by the Old Regulars...” Sparks, p. 259
[6] The copy I have contains 350 pages with 285 numbered hymns, followed by 5 “choruses,” then 6 more hymns that are not numbered, then “A Form of Matrimony” (a short marriage ceremony), and a first lines index. No topical theme is noted or followed. Billups excluded hymns in particular metre – those “having no regularity” – from his compilation.
[7] E-mail from Rachel Harbour, spouse of a great-great-grandson of Edward W. Billups
[8] According to where Billups lived in Putnam County, Virginia, he might have been some 40 to 60 miles away from Catlettsburg – though that would not exclude him from using a publisher there, which might still have been the closest.
[9] This is a rearrangement of the rhyme pattern of a hymn by Mary Dana Shindler.
[10] For example, it was reprinted by Arrowood Brothers of Wayne, West Virginia in 1970, and the copy I obtained circa 2003 was reprinted by Fast Print of Greenup, Kentucky.
[11] See Hymn 70, Hymns for Children, and Others of Riper Years. I find it humorous that in their ignorance The American Missionary cited first an example of one of the two foremost writers of English hymnody, Charles Wesley, “the Sweet Bard of Methodism”. Of course, the thrust of this was to highlight the perceived ignorance of the people in their appeal for more workers and more money.

Feet washing in Kentucky

“THE WASHING OF FEET was a very common ceremony among the early churches of Kentucky. It prevailed to some extent among the Regular Baptists, especially those of them who had been brought up among the Separate Baptists, as was the case with many of the Regular Baptists in Kentucky. The Elkhorn Association decided, as early as 1788, that: ‘As to feet washing, the Association is not unanimous, but agrees that the using or not using that practice shall not affect our fellowship.’ Among the Regular Baptists, it was practiced partially a few years, and then went entirely out of use. It was strenuously insisted on among the Separate Baptists, and has continued to be practiced among them to the present time. The following resolution, passed by the South Kentucky Association of Separate Baptists, in 1873, shows the position of the Separate Baptists on the question of feet washing: ‘10. That Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Washing of the saints’ feet, are ordinances of the gospel, to be kept up until the coming of our Lord and Master.’ Some of the Anti-missionary Baptists also keep up the practice of feet washing to the present time. The ordinance is deduced from the example of our Savior, as recorded in the 13th chapter of John, and is there sufficiently described.” -- p. 486, A History of Kentucky Baptists, Vol. I, By J. H. Spencer (Ch. 25)

Much Kentucky Baptist history can be found online HERE.