Looking Back and Gazing Forward
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And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
This verse of scripture has the ability to stir the seat of my emotions with fond memories of those saints departed from this life. It moves my heart to grateful praise for the work of Christ in the lives of those who are now with Him. I thank God for the Baptist foundations that Jesus laid in the hearts and lives of my forefathers. And, even more, I bow my knees before Him for the honor He bestows on this generation by allowing them the privilege of carrying Baptistic Doctrines forward in this age of ever increasing compromise.
"And their works do follow them" permeates through my soul when I visit the grave of my great-great-great Grandfather, Henry McElmurry, whose body lies in a pasture near the Old Ham Schoolhouse close to Zion, Arkansas. He was a Kentucky Baptist, born December 27, 1797, and was married March 7, 1815 in Livingston County, Kentucky. The McElmurrys were listed among the faithful of the Old Salem Baptist Church of Livingston County, which was organized in 1805. She united with the Red River Association in 1808 and with the Little River Association about 1813. Her first Pastor was Daniel Brown, but Willis Champion pastored Her from 1834 to 1874. A history of the church states: "Her pastors for the most part were stern, hard traveling preachers, who served several churches on a once per month basis, and were rewarded for their hard travels and spiritual labors with very little monetary reward.....All down through Her history the ministry and missions of the Old Salem Church has always been to minister to the needs of people both spiritually and mentally, as it is described in the Gospels.....The members have kept the faith and contended for righteousness."
I am not one who gives "heed to fables and endless genealogies," but I do thank God for the six generations of Missionary Baptist Preachers and Deacons of which I am a part. I am grateful that God used those before me to establish in me a determination to stand for the same doctrines they defended during their lifetimes. Just what sort of doctrines did these early Kentucky Baptists stand for? The following quotes from the minutes of Old Kentucky Baptist Associations will identify some of their doctrinal stands: (1) They adhered to the Philadelphia Confession of Faith (Elkhorn Association, 1785) "It was agreed that the Philadelphia Confession of Faith be strictly adhered to." (2) They rejected alien immersion and any form of New Light heresy (Salem Association, 1833) "the association, in answer to queries from two churches, expressed the opinion that it was not according to good order to receive the baptism, either of ‘the Reformers’ or of ‘the Christian body.’ It was also, on motion of that most staunch and valuable church member, Abner King, of Cox's Creek, Resolved, that the churches composing this association, be advised not to open their meeting houses, for preaching, by any person holding the doctrines of Alexander Campbell, or who call themselves Reformers, or of the 'Christian order,' commonly called 'New Lights.''' (3) They limited the Deacon's duties to the temporal concerns of the church, and recognized that the church alone had the authority to give consent for baptism (Salem Association, 1801) "The duty of Deacons is defined: To take care of temporal concerns of the church. The question as to whether it is consistent with good order for a minster to hear experiences and baptize, within the bounds of a church, without its consent, was postponed, and subsequently answered in the negative." (Russells Creek Association, 1829) "Resolved, that the Association does not consider any person baptized, unless he has been immersed in water, in the name of the Trinity, by the authority of a regularly organized Baptist Church." (4) They rejected completely the Universal Church concept by stating one is not a member of the church until local, visible, water baptism takes place (Salem Association, 1815) "It was decided that a person who relates his experience to a church, and is approved for baptism, is not under its watch care, until he is baptized." (5) They rejected open communion (Salem Association, 1812) "It was decided that to partake of the love feasts with the Methodists was a transgression of Baptist rules, and should require of the transgressor a public acknowledgment." (South District Association, 1821) "The messengers from McCormacks Church were denied seats in the Association, because that church had practiced open communion." (6) They rebaptized those not coming from churches of like faith and order (Stocktons Valley Association, 1816) "Query from Caseys Fork church: What shall be done with persons suing for fellowship with us upon the baptism of other denominations not complying with the order of the Baptists? Answer. We advise that such persons be baptized is an orderly manner, agreeable to the order of the Baptist church."
Unfortunately, with the passage of time, some of the Kentucky Baptist Churches began to compromise God's two church ordinances. The following quote shows the drifting into error that occurred over a 68 year period in the South Kentucky Association of Separate Baptists: "As early as 1805, the subject of open communion was discussed, in the Association. The decision, at that time, was against this loose, unbaptistic practice; but in 1873 the body resolved that no person has the right to debar one of God's children from his table." According to the noted historian, J.H. Spencer, the only recorded case of alien immersion ever known to have been advocated by Kentucky Baptist up to 1885 was rendered by the South District Association in 1820 as follows: "We believe that all persons baptized by immersion, of good moral character, and sound in the faith, the administrator, himself, having been baptized by immersion, regularly ordained, and in good standing in his own society, ought to be received into any Baptist church."
My great-great-great Baptist Grandfather, Henry McElmurry, organized Antioch Missionary Baptist Church near Zion, Arkansas in 1844 in the living room of his son, who was my great-great Grandfather, Andrew J. McElmurry. Henry served as one of the first moderators of the Rocky Bayou Missionary Baptist Association in 1847 and 1848. My great Grandfather, Grandfather, and Father were all saved and then baptized by the authority of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church. As I stand by the graves of those Baptists out of whose loins I came, I am determined by the grace of God that I will not depart from those Biblical principles for which they stood. Today I look back into the lives of my dead fathers thanking God for the Baptist heritage they have left me by the Spirit of Christ. If Jesus does not come in my lifetime, then soon my children will stand looking down at their Father's grave. I live in the hope that I will leave them as uncompromised a heritage as my forefathers have passed on to me. I pray that the works which follow me will be as Baptistic as those that follow my predecessors. If your children were to stand remembering at your grave in 1993, just what kind of a spiritual heritage of scriptural teachings would you have left them to recollect? The material inheritances we leave them fade with the years, but the spiritual truths of God's Word, that we stood for and taught them during our lifetime by example, are an everlasting inheritance "and their works do follow them."