Book by A. M. Stewart

Last year I published several posts about early East Texas Free Will Baptist preacher Angus McAllister Stewart. Last week while researching minutes of the Chattahoochee Association of Georgia, Free Will Baptist historian Robert Picirilli made an important discovery. Advertised for sale on the back of the 1895 minutes was a book by A. M. Stewart – Key to the Book of Job, Or, The Plan of Redemption Through the Lineage of Esau (St. Louis, MO: National Baptist Publishing Co. Press, 1895). Knowing the existence of a book by Stewart, I started doing some searching and found there is a Library of Congress scan of Key to the Book of Job by A. M. Stewart, as well as it being available from Forgotten Books. Here are a few excerpts.

In asserting this book of Job to be an allegory it is not assumed that it is a fiction. It is a true narative, written in Hebrew poetry, with names of characters and circumstances chosen by the Holy Spirit. It is at once an allegory and a true narative, with such poetic and parabolic touches as one would expect to find in oriental writings of early times, and even of any time. (Preface, p. 5)

Though it is essential that the whole Church get the healing of the “balm of Gilead,” the work must begin with the individual. Every one that sees the necessity of the general healing must have his own sores treated first. This is the only legitimate beginning. Every one can do something towards healing the whole if he is himself healed. In fact he has already done something for he is part of the whole; but he can do something still more far reaching. This presentation of Job is for the Church and for the individual; or addressed to the Church through individuals with the hope that some may hear and heed the precious doctrines of the book, and tell to others. (p. 6)

As is the Church so are her children, her converts. If the Church or congregation of believers in Christ, will be warned and turned to Christ as he is turning to her, her children, too, will be strong and fair and lovely and will reflect credit and honor on her and will be “the joy of the whole earth.” (p. 73)

Articles of Faith of the Southern Baptist Association

Below, if transcribed correctly,[i] are the Articles of Faith of the Southern Baptist Association, a fellowship of Free Baptists in the South formed in 1876. It can only be assumed that these may have been the articles as adopted in 1876. These articles, in almost exactly the same form, were adopted by the Jasper Free-Will Baptist Association when they organized in 1887.[ii] The Articles of Faith of the Young’s Chapel Freewill Baptist Church of Burnsville, North Carolina, appear to be based on the Articles of Faith of the Southern Baptist Association.

These articles were transcribed as printed in The Baptist Review (Goldsboro, NC) January 30, 1905, Vol. XXIX, No. 76 (B. W. Nash, editor)[iii] – housed in the archives of Moye Library at the University of Mount Olive, Mount Olive, North Carolina.[iv]

Articles of Faith of the Southern Baptist Association

Of God.—Article 1. We believe that there is one, and but one living and true God, Who is in personality the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Equal and harmonious in every divine perfection.

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.—1 Timothy 2 Chapter.

Of the Holy Scriptures.—Article 2. We believe that God is the author of the Holy Bible, and that its teachings constitute the only infallible doctrine for the government of His Church.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.—2 Tim. 3c., 16v.

Of Original Apostasy.—Art. 3. We believe that Adam was created holy, but by voluntary transgression fell into depravity, and consequently, involved his posterity in sin.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.—Gen. 3c., 6v.

Of Free Grace.—Art. 4. We believe that the grace of God comprehends all spiritual blessings. That the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. That the Holy Spirit, not only reproves the world of sin, but is the means whereby sinners are converted and made wise unto salvation.

For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.—Rom. 10c., 12v.

Of Christian Faith.—Art. 5. We believe that Christian Faith is belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Redeemer of the world; and in the divinity of the Holy Scriptures. That “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.—John 3c., 36v.

Of Repentance.—Art. 6. We believe that repentance is sorrow for sin, and the kind of sorrow that constitutes godly repentance must be preceded by effectual conviction of sin.

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.—2 Cor. 7c., 9 and 10 verses.

Of Free Agency.—Art. 7. We believe that the human will is free, and that men have the ability to accept or reject the conditions of salvation as they are revealed in the Holy Scriptures.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?—Micah 6c., 8v.

Of Perseverance.—Art 8. We do not believe under the gospel dispensation, that any soul is elected to eternal life unconditionally, but that those who by faith persevere to the end will be saved. That it is possible for men who have been converted to make shipwreck of the faith, turn again to sin and be finally lost.

And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.—Luke 9c. 62v.

Of Good Works.—Art. 9. We believe that good work is the result of faith, and not of necessity. That those who have faith will do works of righteousness; while those who have no faith, cannot do anything pleasing or acceptable to God.

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.—Matt. 7c., 19 and 20 verses.

Of Christian Baptism.—Art. 10. We believe that Christian Baptism is the immersion in water of a believer in the names of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. That baptism cannot be scripturally administered without faith in the subject who receives it.

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.—Rom. 6c. 4v.

Of the Lord’s Supper.—Art. 11. We believe the Supper was instituted by our Saviour as a commemorative ordinance. That the bread and wine represent His body and blood. That it was instituted for Christians, and that all Christians should unite in performing this sacred service, regardless of names of denominational distinction.

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.—1 Cor., 11c., 28 and 29 verses.

Of the Soul.—Art. 12. We believe that man is a living soul. That the body will die, but that the soul is immortal.  That death is the separation of the mortal and the immortal parts.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.—Gen., 2c. 7 verse.

Of the Resurrection.—Art. 13. We believe in the resurrection of the dead. When the resurrection shall take place the soul and body will reunite and form an immortal being. That the righteous will be received into a state of everlasting happiness, to reign with God forever and ever:  But the wicked shall be bound hand and foot, and be cast into outer darkness.

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.— [John 5c. 28 and 29 verses.]

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[i] The type of several of the first articles was especially difficult to read.

[ii] This is in northeast Alabama.

[iii] Page 3, though no number is visible on the page (Thanks, to Bro. Picirilli for this correction, rlv).

[iv] Thanks to Robert Picirilli and Gary Barefoot I obtained a scan of the paper.

Union Baptists, 3

Continued from yesterday and the previous day.

The Union Baptist denomination existed for approximately 70 years (but see footnote i), from the time James W. Hunnicutt organized it circa 1841 until about the time Bushrod W. Nash died in 1911. The extent of its geography was mostly confined to Virginia and North Carolina. Its outreach was larger than its geographical presence. In addition to these two states, Hunnicutt may have been an influence in Pennsylvania, where he lived during the Civil War. (For more information on Hunnicutt, see the Encyclopedia Virginia and Forgotten Heroes of Southern History.) Nash preached in Bristol, Tennessee “at Mr. Burson’s church.”[i] Both Hunnicutt (before the War) and Nash (both before and after the War) visited other open communion Baptists in view of uniting them under one banner and one common cause. “…the effort of Rev. J. W. Hunnicutt, of Virginia, [was] to unite all the wings of the open communion Baptists in one grand, aggressive body, under the name and style of the Union Baptist Church.”[ii] Hunnicutt was the principal leader in the first 20 years, and Nash in the last 50 years.

I have been unable to detect the ministry of Hunnicutt among the Union Baptists after the War. Perhaps he became disconnected from them altogether. Under Nash’s leadership the Union Baptist Church gradually faded away, with many of the churches and members uniting under the banner of open communion and immersion – but not continuing as Union Baptists. C. C. Ware’s report says that Bethel Union Baptist in Lenoir County joined the Disciples in December, 1870 (Hookerton History). B. W. Nash can be found preaching at Bethel as late as May 1900. Presumably this is the same place, and, if so, some of the members had apparently remained true to the Union Baptist faith – or else the Disciples were allowing Nash to preach for them! (But in 1884 the Bethel where Nash preached is called a Baptist church.)[iii] Newspaper searches from 1900 to 1911 show B. W. Nash preaching at Bethel (1900), Lousan Swamp (1900, 1904), the chapel in Kinston (1903), and Airy Grove (1903, 1904).[iv]

The legacy of Union Baptists lives on in the Disciples of Christ and Free Will Baptists in North Carolina – and very likely even the Missionary Baptists, as some of these independent churches that dropped “Union” from their names gradually found their way into the larger Baptist body. At least one church – Hickory Grove “in the rich whortleberry section of Lenoir County…about 5 miles southeast from LaGrange” – joined the Methodist Protestant Church.[v] The latter being an exception, the desires of the organizers were at least partially fulfilled by union with other open communion immersing bodies of Christians. My distinct impression is that the Disciples garnered the largest number of Union Baptists, which further research might prove or disprove. Hunnicutt’s and Nash’s aim “to promote unity” among evangelical Christians was fulfilled in a way possibly neither hoped nor expected – in the demise of the Union Baptist Church.

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[i] Bristol News, Tuesday, May 13, 1879, p. 3. A footnote by the editor of Origins in North Carolina by Rufus K. Hearne states “It is interesting to note that, not long after this [after one group of Free Will Baptists united with the Union Baptists, rlv], a group of these Union Baptists migrated to Oklahoma, and, in 1954, the Union Baptists of Oklahoma became a part of the Oklahoma State Association of Free Will Baptists.” This considered, a portion of the Union Baptist Church existed well beyond the 70 years associated with Hunnicutt and Nash, for over 110 years.

[ii] North Carolina Disciples of Christ, Ware, p. 321.

[iii] Ibid, pp. 106-07. A History of Original Free Will Baptists, Michael R. Pelt, p. 158. The Daily Journal, Wednesday, February 27, 1884, p. 1; The Daily Free Press, Tuesday, May 29, 1900, p. 1

[iv] These are very brief news bites, and I have chosen not to document each of them. Anyone with the time and energy can search for them at Newspapers.com.

[v] “Scenes in My Early Ministry,” E. A. Barnes, North Carolina Christian Advocate , Thursday, October 25, 1906, p. 4; Nash mentioned at this church in The Daily Journal, Wednesday, July 26, 1882, p. 1.

Union Baptists, 2

Continued from yesterday

By the 1870s, B. W. Nash was re-energized in his attempt to bring together various Baptist bodies holding free grace, free will and free communion. He began publishing the Baptist Review around July of 1873 at La Grange.[i] At the same time he was promoting union among the Baptist denominations. His reach through the Review helped bring the establishment of the Southern Baptist Association in 1876. According to the Freewill Baptist Register, the Southern Baptist Association included the Mount Moriah Association in Alabama, Ogeechee and Chattahoochee Associations in Georgia, Mount Zion, Piny Grove, Cape Fear and Pee Dee Associations in North Carolina, as well as the South Carolina, Tennessee River, and Butts County Conferences.

By the 1880s, B. W. Nash had moved away from the descriptor “Union Baptists” to the simple name Baptist. In 1885 Nash wrote to the editor of the Goldsboro Messenger, “our denomination bears the name of Baptist only,” after which he delineates a series of historical events. About 1858 “the Union Baptist, of Virginia, with head quarters at Fredericksburg, sent out a minister in search of brethren of like faith and order.”[ii] Some Free Will Baptists united with the Union Baptists and adopted their name. The population and churches suffered during the Civil War and many were scattered. In 1867 the Grand Council of Union Baptists dropped “the name ‘Union’ and rall[ied] under the denominational name Baptist.” This came to be called the Mt. Zion Association of Baptists by 1876, and in 1883 two other associations united with Mt. Zion under the name “Union Association.” Another organization – the United Baptist Conference – was created to be composed of delegates from the Union Association and the Cape Fear Free Will Baptist Conference.[iii]

The best source to obtain the faith and practice of the Union Baptists probably is Hunnicutt’s A Summary of the Doctrines, Held and Maintained by the Union Baptists. Without access to that document, I provide the following references to the doctrines held by Union Baptists.

Describing the Union Association that was comprised of Mt. Zion, Piny Grove and Central Associations, Nash wrote that “The doctrines on which the organization is based, is, free agency, free grace, free communion and immersion as the only mode of baptism.” This straightforward statement seems to accurately summarize the faith of the Union Baptists from their beginning circa 1841.

The Cape Fear Association, a Regular or Missionary Baptist Association that required immersion of members received from the Union Baptists, indicate that the Union Baptists held the doctrine of apostasy: “The Union Baptists are followers of Hunnicutt, are advocates of loose communion and of the privilege of falling from grace.”[iv]

The Union Baptists apparently did not hold feet washing as an ordinance, or else their leaders were willing to sacrifice it for union. The Union Baptists participated in the Union Convention in December of 1867, held at Hookerton in Greene County, North Carolina – which included delegates from the annual meeting of the Disciples of Christ, from the Free Will Baptist Conference, and from the Grand Council of the Union Baptists. Delegates from Grand Council of Union Baptists were B. W. Nash, Irvin Jones, Alfred Moore, Sylvester Carrow and C. C. Stilly. At this convention the delegates both the Union Baptists and Disciples favored the following resolution:

Resolved, 4th, That while we do not regard the washing the saints’ feet as an ordinance of the Christian Church, still we look upon it as a good work, designed to teach the Lord’s people the great lesson of humility; and that all Christians should be at liberty to assemble when, where, and as often as they please for this purpose.

“The 4th Resolution was voted for by the Disciples and the Union Baptists, and voted against by the Free Will Baptists.” [v]

B. W. Nash’s advertisement for his Baptist Review spells out a number of his beliefs:

It supports and defends the doctrine of free agency, and Personal Accountability. It advocates the doctrine of the unlimited atonement; and believes that salvation is attainable by all persons who hear and understand the gospel. It advocates the Union and Communion of all Christians at the Lord’s table regardless of Denominational or Sectarian distinctions. And vindicates the cause of Christian Union upon the basis of the New Testament. It recognizes Christians of all evangelical Churches as members of the Church of Christ; and advocates co-operation among the protestant denominations in the work of evangelization. It advocates Immersion as the only proper mode of baptism and believes as the only subjects. Our motto is:

FREE SALVATION, FREE COMMUNION AND IMMERSION.[vi]

In the Review, Nash also advocated for prohibition.[vii]

Nash’s references to the Grand Council or “headquarters” sending out “a minister in search of brethren of like faith and order” and his transferring from Virginia to North Carolina suggest the original government of the Union Baptists might have been more authoritative or “top-down” than the autonomy found in a typical Baptist church – though this remains to be seen.

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[i] Goldsboro Messenger, Thursday, July 17, 1873, p. 3

[ii] This minister may have been Nash himself, but the way he writes seems to suggest it was someone else.

[iii] “Union Association of Baptists,” Goldsboro Messenger, Thursday, October 15, 1885, p. 1.

[iv] “Cape Fear Association,” The Biblical Recorder, Wednesday, November 3 1869, p. 2

[v] North Carolina Disciples of Christ; a History of Their Rise and Progress, and of Their Contribution to Their General Brotherhood, Charles Crossfield Ware, pp. 104-106.

[vi] Wilmington Morning Star, Saturday, August 22, 1874, p. 4. As the most notable leader of this movement, Nash’s beliefs can be considered representative of the denomination as a whole.

[vii] The Daily Journal, Wednesday, July 26, 1882, p. 1

Union Baptists, 1

Two years ago Robert Picirilli (professor emeritus and former academic dean at Welch College, and member of the Free Will Baptist Historical Commission) produced, and Randall House published, Little Known Chapters in Free Will Baptist History. These are intriguing stories of interesting events in Free Will Baptist history – yet the kinds that are not well-known and don’t usually make it into a general denominational history. As I begin to look into Free Will Baptist history, I found that to me much of it was not only “little-known” but also unknown! One facet of the revelation was a 19^th century Baptist denomination called the Union Baptists of which I had never heard.

The Union Baptist Church was formed in Virginia by James Wesley Hunnicutt. It should not be confused with other Union Baptists that were a result of Civil War division.[i] Hunnicutt was born in 1814 in Pendleton District, South Carolina. Around 1832 he became a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and attended Randolph-Macon College at Boydton, Virginia.[ii] At some point Hunnicutt came to disagree with the Methodist practice of infant baptism and withdrew from the church. He had formed the Union Baptists by 1841, and in 1842 published A Summary of the Doctrines, Held and Maintained by the Union Baptists: To Which is Annexed a Recantation of Infant Baptism. Hunnicutt (and possibly others) formed congregations in Virginia and North Carolina.[iii] In 1845 he established in Richmond, Virginia a monthly titled Union Baptist Banner and Pioneer – “devoted to the interest of the Union Baptist Church.”[iv] He supported in the Union of the nation and opposed secession, and after the War took a Radical Republican position, which apparently damaged his credibility among the Union Baptist churches and the people of Virginia and Carolina generally. Henceforth Bushrod Washington Nash became the leading figure and promoter of the Union Baptists. Methodist minister E. A. Barnes described B. W. Nash as “an educated man—a true Christian and a first-rate preacher; he was gifted as an orator.”[v]

The grand mission of the Union Baptists was to urge “the necessity of union between all liberal Baptists.”[vi] Histories written by Disciples of Christ and Free Will Baptists often emphasize that the Union Baptists failed “to unite all stripes of Baptists into one denomination and so this movement ceased to have existence.”[vii] This is true, but another aspect is that they ceased to exist because individuals and churches themselves united with Disciples and Free Will Baptists and were no longer distinctly known as Union Baptists.[viii] This, apparently, was not exactly the goal of Nash, but certainly was a fulfillment of a primary portion of the rhetoric and goal of the Union Baptists.

Some of Nash’s work is documented in period newspapers and may have escaped the notice of historians generally. These, for the most part, express Union Baptist history from their point of view. B. W. Nash moved his center of operation from Virginia to North Carolina in 1858.[ix] He is found as a leader in the Free Will Baptist Conference that met at Lousan Swamp in November of that year. He preached the introductory sermon, was received as a member from the Grand Council of Union Baptists of Virginia, and, along with S. J. Carrow, was employed as an itinerant for the ensuing year. The conference was “in favor of uniting with the Union Baptists. A resolution changing from the name of a General Conference to that of a Grand Council.”[x]

In 1859 Nash is found at a Convention held in April at the Providence Church in Muscogee County, Georgia. This appears to be an ambitious attempt to unite Baptist bodies holding free grace, free will and free communion. Delegates were present from “several orders of Union, United, General and Free-will Baptist denominations,” including the Grand Council of Union Baptists of North Carolina, New Salem United Baptist Association, Chattahoochee United Baptist Association, and Mount Moriah (Ala.) Free-will Baptist Association. Attending this meeting were prominent leaders such as Ellis Gore of Alabama and James E. Broadnax & D. J. Apperson of Georgia. J. W. Hunnicutt of the Union Baptists of Virginia was present. Gore was elected moderator and Hunnicutt clerk. The General Baptists present at the meeting are not individually identified, and perhaps were only present as visitors.[xi] The meeting seems to have concluded with good feelings and general resolutions of unity; whatever unity was accomplished was probably halted by the gathering clouds of war and the torrent that burst from them.

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[i] This second group of Union Baptists owes their origin to the American Civil War. The national political conflict, secession, and war divided both Baptist churches and Baptist associations, especially in the Border States. Pro-Union Primitive Baptists often joined Union Leagues. The Primitive Baptists did not allow members to hold membership in secret societies. Considering the Union League a secret society, they often excluded these members from their churches or churches that held such members from their associations. The Mountain Union Association, formed in 1867, was the first “Union Baptist” association on this order and not connected to the Union Baptists formed by Hunnicutt.

[ii] Randolph–Macon College was founded at Boydton by Virginia Methodists in 1830. In 1868 it was removed to Ashland, Virginia, where it remains in operation today.

[iii] “Hunnicutt evangelized in Eastern North Carolina before the War Between the States. He established Churches in the counties of Lenoir, Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Duplin, Greene, Jones, Pender, Sampson and Wayne. 6 In these ten counties, in 1858, there were fifty Union Baptist Churches with over four thousand three hundred members.” –North Carolina Disciples of Christ; a History of Their Rise and Progress, and of Their Contribution to Their General Brotherhood, Charles Crossfield Ware, St. Louis, MO: Christian Board of Publication, 1927, p. 102

[iv] Richmond Enquirer, Friday, August 22, 1845, p. 2. “The ‘Union Baptist Banner and Pioneer’ shall be devoted to the interest of the ‘Union Baptist Church,’ to a fair and full exposition of their doctrines, usages, &c., &c., and to an untiring Christian defence of the same. Its constant aim will be to promote unity among all evangelical denominations of Christians…” The ad was signed by “Jas. W. Hunnicutt.”

[v] “Scenes in My Early Ministry,” E. A. Barnes, North Carolina Christian Advocate , Thursday, October 25, 1906, p. 4

[vi] A History of the Cape Fear Conference of Original Free Will Baptists: 1855-2010, compiled and written by Gary F. Barefoot, Alan K. Lamm, Michael R. Pelt, Ricky J. Warren, Commissioned by the Executive Committee of the Cape Fear Conference, 2011, p. 3; According to the compilers, “The term liberal was used to designate those Baptists who emphasized the concept of freedom implied in the terms ‘free will’ and ‘free salvation’.”

[vii] A Brief History Of The Liberal Baptist People In England and America From 1606 To 1911, G. W. Million and G. A. Barrett , Pocahontas, AR:  Liberal Baptist Book And Tract Company, 1911, pp. 179-180 ; See also North Carolina Disciples of Christ, Charles Crossfield Ware: Nash “died in 1911. The last standing Church property of this group was old Lousan Swamp. It burned after the death of Nash. In its ashes is the last material vestige of Nash’s movement among the Baptists.” pp. 102-103

[viii] For example: “In 1870 most of the Union Baptist leaders made an ingenuous application of this Article. The

old order was broken up. Many of them came to the Disciples. In 1887, they had but fifteen churches and 535 members. Five years later they had lost two more churches and their membership had declined to 442. Nash continued with a remnant.” (North Carolina Disciples of Christ, Ware, p.102 )

[ix] “Union Association of Baptists,” Goldsboro Messenger, Thursday, October 15, 1885, p. 1.

[x] American Advocate, Tuesday, November 16, 1858, p. 3.

[xi] “Georgia Convention,” American Advocate, Vol. IV, No. 49, Thursday, June 2, 1859, p. 3.

The Southern Baptist Association

Southern Baptist Association (Free-Will Baptist)

The Southern Baptist Association for the fellowship of Free Baptists in the South was formed in 1876. The association seems to have been the “brain-child” of Dr. S. G. Scoven and whomever was the editor of the Baptist Review circa 1874-ff, probably B. W. Nash.[i] Barring further discovery, it appears that Scoven, a medical doctor, was initially a missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,[ii] before joining the Regular or Missionary Baptists.[iii] The new associational body was effected, through the adoption of Articles of Faith, a Constitution, and By-laws, (as well as the name) at Deep Creek Free Will Baptist Church in Emanuel County, Georgia in May 1876 – even though Scoven and the editor were the only delegates who showed up for the meeting! Deep Creek church members were conscripted as proxy delegates and business was attended. This group appointed the first session of the association to meet with Friendship Free Will Baptist Church in Wayne County, North Carolina in September, 1877.

Other meetings that followed include:

• 1878 New Hope Church, Williamsburgh County, South Carolina, Lark O’Neall, mod.
• 1879 Mount Moriah Church, Pinkins County,[iv] Alabama, Ellis Gore, mod.
• 1880 Ebenezer Church, Tatnall County, Georgia
• 1881 Concord Church, Columbus County, North Carolina
• 1882 Union Grove Church, Henry County, Alabama
• 1883 Union Church, Lee County, Mississippi, Z. L. Burson, mod.[v]
• 1884 Bristol Baptist Church, Sullivan County, Tennessee
• 1889 Columbus, Georgia

Appletons’ Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1879, Volume 4 (New York, NY: D. Appleton and Company, 1880, p. 70) reported on the association in this manner in 1879:

“II. Free-Will Baptist Church. ... The Southern Baptist Association has 66 churches, 68 ministers, and 3,108 members; it holds correspondence with the Chattahoochee, South Carolina, Tennessee River, and Butts County Conferences, and is represented by the ‘Baptist Review,’ La Grange, N.C.”

The report in Appletons’, though dated 1879 and printed in 1880, must be older information, probably taken from The Freewill Baptist Register, which says, “The Southern Baptist Association held its first meeting with the Friendship church, Wayne Co., N. C, in 1877. The next session was in South Carolina, and it embraced the Mount Moriah Association in Ala., Ogeechee in Ga., and Mount Zion, Ping Grove,[vi] Cape Fear and Pee Dee in North Carolina. The number of churches was 66, ministers 68, and members 3108. There were Chattahoochee, South Carolina, Tennessee River, and Butts Co. Conferences with which it held correspondence. The Baptist Review, published at La Grange, N. C, is the organ of this people.”[vii] The Baptist Review report gives the statistics as: 83 churches, 72 ministers, and 3,296 members. It appears that these statistics mean to represent the 1879 meeting.

The Weekly Transcript and Messenger report from the Baptist Review suggests the association ended in 1883. That year the Southern Baptist Association had grown to 121 churches, 102 ministers, and 4,440 members. Nevertheless, it was still meeting in 1889. The “Local News” in The Goldsboro Headlight tells that “Rev. B. W. Nash left the city yesterday evening for Columbus, Ga., to attend the Southern Baptist Convention which meets in that city to-morrow, lasting three days. We wish him a pleasant journey.”[viii] This is not the more well-known Southern Baptist Convention, which met in Memphis, Tennessee in May of 1889 – but rather the Southern Baptist Association.

It seems to have still existed in 1890, when the Philadelphia Free Will Baptist Church of Charlton County, Georgia adopted its “articles of faith, covenant and the constitution.”

“Early in 1887 in Charlton County, Georgia, Rev. Welch, a Free Will Baptist preacher, and Newton Roddenberry discussed creating Philadelphia Free Will Baptist Church.  The church accepted the articles of faith, covenant and the constitution of the Southern Baptist Association on October 4, 1890.”

I have not found any reference to the association after 1890, and do not know how long it continued to exist.[ix]

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[i] Geo. P. Rowell & Co’s American Newspaper Directory (New York, 1879, p. 259) lists the Baptist Review at La Grange, NC as a weekly 4-page paper established in 1875. In it “Rev. B. W. Nash” is listed as the “editor and publisher.” Nash probably was the author of the article about the Southern Baptist Association and the other person involved in organizing it. B. W. Nash apparently is Bushrod Washington Nash, Sr.

[ii] “Bethel Mission, Rev. S. G. Scoven, Missionary, is reported in an improving condition. “ – Minutes of the Georgia Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Macon, GA: Telegraph Steam Power Press, 1861, p. 13

[iii] “…Dr. S. G. Scroven, of Emanuel county, Georgia, a minister of the closed communion Baptist order…” – “The Southern Baptist Association,” Weekly Transcript and Messenger (Goldsboro, North Carolina), Friday, May 6, 1887, p. 8

[iv] This probably should be Pickens County.

[v] Weekly Transcript and Messenger, Friday, May 6, 1887, p. 8; A news item in the Jonesborough, Tennessee Herald and Tribune (Thursday, November 1, 1883, p. 3) mentions Z. L. Burson going to the Southern Baptist Association at Tupelo, Mississippi, mentioning that he is the moderator and has been for about 4 years.

[vi] Probably “Piny Grove”.

[vii] The Freewill Baptist Register, Volumes 44-48 (Dover, NH, 1879, p. 79); “It then contained” in the 1879 issue of the FWB Register shows that these numbers refer to the year 1877, when the body held its first session. (1879, p. 74)

[viii] The Goldsboro Headlight, Wednesday, November 6, 1889, p. 5

[ix] It is hard to research “Southern Baptist Association” when so many references to it actually mean the Southern Baptist Convention (and in at least one case, above, where “Southern Baptist Convention” means the Southern Baptist Association).

Southern Baptist Association, partial report

Below is an excerpt about the Southern Baptist Association (Free Will Baptists)

“The Southern Baptist Association,” Weekly Transcript and Messenger (Goldsboro, North Carolina), Friday, May 6, 1887, p. 8