SABBATARIAN BAPTISTS IN AMERICA by Richard C. Nickels June 15, 1972 Revised, 1993 Important Ideas "The ground of our difference is, that you and others deny God's law" (William Hiscox in response to Sunday-keeping Baptists, 1671). "We do not forbear work on the first day of the week, yet [if] it should come to a trial the 7th day sabbath may be pleaded for in the audience of the people for ye common people are afraid to talk with us for fear of being tainted with heresy," (John Rogers, December 22, 1675 letter to Samuel Hubbard. "They read much, they sing and pray much . . . . they walk in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless: both in public and private, they bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord . . . . and whatsoever they believe their Savior commands, they practise without enquiring what others do" (Elhanan Winchester, writing of "Philadelphia Movement" Sabbatarians, 1788). "The Church of God, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ, living in Piscataway and Hopewell [New Jersey] . . . " (Piscataway church book, early 1700s). "March 20, 1853, it was voted that communion service be held once in twelve months on the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month, i.e., on the evening of the Passover," (church records of South Fork, western Virginia). "No fact is more fully established than that Sunday and its associate festivals [Christmas, Easter, Whitsunday, etc.] came into Christianity through pagan influence" (1892 SDB tract). TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. Earliest Sabbath-Keepers 41 II. Stephen Mumford and the Newport Church 42 III. Westerly and the Newport Movement 48 IV. The Philadelphia Movement 50 V. The Piscataway Movement 55 VI. Shrewsbury -- Emigration Church 59 VII. West Virginia -- An Enticing Enigma 61 VIII. Western Development 71 IX. Yearly Sabbatarian Meetings 75 X. Communion -- Varying Practices 83 XI. Church of God -- Church of Christ 85 XII. Seventh Day Baptist Doctrine 90 XIII. Signs of Spiritual Weakness 94 XIV. Conclusion: Will History's Lessons Be Remembered? 99 Footnotes 101 Sabbatarian Baptists in America I. Earliest Sabbath-Keepers Who was the first Sabbath-keeper in America? It is not known, but the first recorded Sabbatarian was Stephen Mumford, who came to America in 1664. There may have been others prior to Mumford, for as early as 1646, Sabbath discussion embroiled New England. Some of the earliest books published in America (see footnotes) supported the keeping of the seventh day Sabbath.[1] The Baptist historian Griffiths reports that the earliest Sabbath-keepers were at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1644: "It is said that in the province of Rhode Island, there were adherents of that faith [Sabbath keepers] at its early settlement contemporary with the founding of the first Baptist church."[2] The church organized by Mumford in 1671 was the first church of the "Sabbatarian Baptists" in America. Yet, "it appears, however, that there were already in existence in New England at the time some thirty other Seventh-Day Baptist churches, although they were not so named."[3] Another writer, a Seventh-Day Adventist, also mentions thirty other Sabbatarian churches in New England prior to Mumford's coming. Some of these were said to have sprung from seven known Churches of God (seventh day) in London at the time of the Puritan migrations to the New World. They also used the name, "Church of God," a name still retained by several groups.[4] Where were these thirty other churches? Did they keep the seventh day Sabbath -- or the Puritan Sabbath, which was Sunday? These are as yet unanswered questions, yet a continuous thread of Sabbatarian history can be traced from seventeenth-century England to modern America. The purpose of this paper is to trace a portion of that history. Baptist and Puritan history of the United States and England is complex and fragmentary owing to the independent nature of the many and varied groups. Benedict, in his Baptist history (1848), mentions the existence of "numerous little societies of Sabbath-keepers who are accustomed to meet weekly for prayer and conference, but who have not yet been organized into regular churches."[5] With so many independent little groups, it is no wonder history tells so little about despised sects of Sabbath-keepers. Pre-Beginnings In 1639, Roger Williams, a Separatist minister, established a Baptist church at Providence, Rhode Island. In 1644, John Clark established a Baptist church at Newport, Rhode Island. In the Providence church, a division occurred in 1652 over the question of laying on of hands upon every member of the church after baptism. Ten years before, English Baptists had adopted the opinion that every man who had a gift to preach also had a right to baptize, even before he was ordained in any church. Some in Providence apparently also held to this. William Wickenden was the chief leader of part of the Providence church which held to the laying on of hands no matter who baptized. In 1652, the question of laying on of hands on every new member also arose in the Newport first-day Baptist Church. A second church was formed here in 1656: it believed in laying hands on every member.[6] II. Stephen Mumford and the Newport Church In 1664, Stephen Mumford of the Bell Lane Sabbatarian Church in London emigrated to Newport, Rhode Island. He was originally from Tewkesbury. For some unknown reason, it has been reported that Mumford was sent by the Bell Lane Church although he was not a minister. As there was no Sabbatarian church in Newport, he affiliated (associated) with the first-day Baptist Church there. Why did Mumford come? Bearing in mind the 1661 execution of the Sabbatarian preacher John James and persecution of Sabbatarians in England at that time, it is amazing that there is record of no other than Mumford to flee to the New World for religious freedom to observe the Sabbath. Mumford may have been induced to come by Dr. John Clarke, pastor of the first-day Newport Baptist Church, who was agent of the colony to the court of King Charles II. The king's charter held by Clarke granted "unlimited toleration in religion" to all people of Rhode Island. Mumford could thus be escaping religious persecution by coming to the New World.[7] What were Mumford's beliefs? We have only this brief record: "He brought with him the opinion the Ten Commandments as they were delivered from Mt. Sinai, were moral and immutable and that it was an unchristian power which changed the Sabbath from the Seventh to the first day of the week."[8] Others Join Mumford did not succumb to Sunday-keeping, nor did he keep his Sabbath beliefs to himself. Apparently on October 6, 1665, he wrote to several Sabbatarian churches in England for advice. The first of his "converts," called "the first person upon the continent to begin the observance of the Bible Sabbath . . . was a woman, Tacy Hubbard, wife of Samuel Hubbard, who commenced its observance a little later."[9] Hubbard was one of the leading members of the Newport church, and was also a lifelong friend and associate of Roger Williams. Later Williams wrote Hubbard the following: " . . . after all that I have seen and read and compared about the seventh day . . . I cannot be removed from Calvin's mind, and indeed Paul's mind, Colossians 2, that all those Sabbaths of seven days were figures, types and shadows, and forerunners of the Son of God . . . [and ceased with the resurrection]. Accordingly I have read many, but see no satisfying answer to those three Scriptures, chiefly, Acts 20, I Corinthians 16, Revelation 1."[10] The Hubbards joined Mumford in Sabbath observance in 1665. The group increased with Ruth Burdick, wife of Robert, in 1666, and Rachel Langworthy (daughter of the Hubbards), wife of Andrew, and Bethiah and Joseph Clark in 1667, living in Misquamacut, Rhode Island. Apparently they continued to go to church on Sunday, but also met in private homes on Saturday. Others who embraced the Sabbath were William Hiscox, Roger Baster, Nicholas Wild and wife, and John Solomon and wife. In 1667, the Sabbath group petitioned the general assembly of the First Baptist Church to have market day changed from Sabbath to Thursday. Instead, both days were made market days. Persecution and Falling Away Elders John Clarke, Mark Luther, Joseph Lorey, and Obadiah Holmes, as leaders in the first-day church, began to preach against the Sabbath-keepers, denouncing them as heretics and schismatics. Clarke taught that the whole of the Ten Commandments were done away. It may have been in January or February of 1669 that the Wilds and Salmons (Solomons) deserted the Sabbath-keepers, returning to sole Sunday worship. This act caused great consternation among the rest of the Sabbath-keepers. The question that plagued their minds was, "Should we continue to take communion with a church that includes apostates?" In other words, they were willing to fellowship with Sunday keepers, but they questioned whether they should continue to fellowship with those who had once accepted the Sabbath but later rejected the Truth. Advice From England Dr. Edward Stennett of the Bell Lane Church in London wrote a letter to the Sabbath-keepers of Newport, dated February 2, 1668. They had apparently asked him for advice. He mentioned that there were nine or ten Sabbath-keeping churches left in England, plus many scattered disciples "in this tottering day, when many eminent churches have been shattered to pieces."[11] His advice was for them to carry the Sabbath truth "with all meekness and tenderness to our brethren who . . . differ from us."[12] That same year, on March 26, came a letter on behalf of the Bell Lane Church, signed by eleven members, including William Gibson (their future elder). The Newport Sabbatarians had apparently written to them, asking for advice, and the reply began with this greeting: "The church of Christ, meeting in Bell Lane, London, upon the Lord's holy Sabbath . . . to a remnant of the Lord's Sabbath-keepers, in or about Newport in New England . . . ." The advice was, not to be discouraged, for Sabbath-keepers will ride on the high places of the earth; be tender against differing brethren, and do not use harsh words against them.[13] Joseph Davis, Sr.'s letter to the Newport Sabbath keepers from Oxford prison on January 26, 1670, laments the dead condition of the English churches. He was affiliated with the Mill Yard Church and also used the term, "Church of Christ." He was replying to a query they had sent him in September, 1669.[14] Edward Stennett's letter of March 6, 1670, gives specific advice as to what the Sabbath-keepers should do: My dear friends, as for those that have drawn back from the Sabbath to profaneness . . . . [you] must withdraw yourselves from them, as sinful and disorderly persons: and if the [Baptist] church will hold communion with those apostates from the truth, you ought then to desire to be fairly dismissed from the church, which if the church refuse, you ought to withdraw yourselves, and not be partakers of other men's sins, but keep yourselves pure . . . .[15] Newport -- 1671 -- First Sabbath-Keeping American Church The situation remained fairly quiet from 1669 to 1671, but rose to a final climax beginning in June 1671 when Elder Holmes' sermon lambasted those who observed the Sabbath. Holmes said that the Ten Commandments were given to the Jews and were not binding on Gentiles; those who observed the seventh day were gone from Christ to Moses.[16] The Sabbath-keepers had not always communed with the first-day Baptist church, but met on the Sabbath for "mutual encouragement and prayer." When the Sabbath-keepers absolutely refused to continue taking communion with the Sunday church, their case was brought to open trial. Hiscox especially was called on the carpet for not taking communion. The Sabbath keepers were now fed up with being attacked by the minister, and were grieved at the apostasy of the four who had turned back from the Sabbath, and also the fact that the elders taught that God's law was abolished. Hiscox told Holmes in one of the meetings: "The ground of our difference is, that you and others deny God's law." Hiscox was charged with slandering the brethren in saying that they denied God's law, and slandering the former Sabbath-keepers as apostates. He was also condemned for working on Sunday before coming to church, and for breaking bread (communion?) on Saturday, and in so doing holding communion with those that were not in the church (the Mumfords). Hiscox and the Hubbards, especially Tacy Hubbard, stoutly defended their position. For over six years the Sabbath-keepers had tried to keep the Sabbath and remain in a church which observed Sunday. The discussions resulted in a total deadlock. They had no recourse but to withdraw from the church, as Edward Stennett had advised. This they did on December 7, 1671. A new church was formed, the first organization of Sabbath-keeping Christians in America known to exist. On December 23, 1671 (O.S.), William Hiscox, Stephen and Mrs. Mumford, Samuel and Tacy Hubbard, Roger Baster (or Baxter) and Rachel Langworthy entered into a church covenant. Hiscox was chosen pastor; there were no articles of faith except the Bible. Newport Church -- Connected with English Sabbatarians? James Bailey, a noted Seventh Day Baptist historian, states unequivocally that the Newport Sabbatarian Church was not an offshoot of the First Baptist Church: "Stephen Mumford and Mrs. Mumford were not members of the Baptist Church. By them a connecting link in the line of succession was formed with the Seventh-day Baptists of England. The seceders from the Baptist Church joined with them. The Seventh-day Baptist Church of America is not, therefore, a branch rent from the Baptist Church, but was independent of that Church."[17] Yet relations between the Sabbatarian and the Sunday Baptists were very cordial in the following years. Attempts were soon made to bring them together. Years later, the Seventh Day Newport Church was asked to send messengers to counsel with Baptist churches in settling internal Baptist problems.[18] An attempt to show a tie between Newport and England has been made by Dugger and Dodd. They cite the letter of December 21, 1680, addressed to "New Port" from East Smithfield, London, where the Mill Yard Church was meeting, and state that the oldest Sabbath-keeping church in America was thus connected with the oldest in London.[19] Yet Benedict, in his Baptist history, states that the Newport Sabbatarian Baptist Church was the sixth Baptist church in America, "and Baptists for several generations considered Seventh-day Baptist churches as regular Baptist churches." Backus calls the Newport Sabbatarian Church the Third Baptist Church of Newport.[20] Growth in membership was slow. There were less than 3,000 persons in the entire colony of Rhode Island, and there was much Indian trouble as well as disputes between Massachusetts and Connecticut over boundaries. Joseph and Bethiah Clarke, Ruth Burdick, and Mrs. Maxson, wife of John Maxson (later the first pastor of the Westerly church), soon joined the covenant with the original seven. "Owing to the fact that the roll of the church for many years is not extant, if one was kept at all, it is difficult to tell in some cases who did belong to the church."[21] Church records did not begin until 1692. However, in 1678, Samuel Hubbard reported that there were a total of 37 Sabbatarians in America: 20 in Newport, 7 at Westerly (originally called Misquamacut, later Hopkinton), and 10 at New London, Connecticut.[22] In 1681, there were 29 at Newport, 1 at Providence, 4 in Plymouth Colony, 5 at Martha's Vineyard (2 of whom were Indians), 1 at Narragansett, 7 at Westerly and 4 in New London. Seven in New London had left the church with differing doctrines and became the nucleus of the Rogerine Sabbatarians. Members were received by profession of faith, baptism, and laying on of hands.[23] Newport Ministers William Hiscox, the first Newport Sabbatarian minister, served from 1671 to his death in 1704. When he was ordained, if indeed he was, is unknown.[24] In 1675, Mumford went to London, and on October 16, he returned with a new assistant elder, William Gibson of the Bell Lane Church. Gibson was probably already ordained when he arrived, for he first preached at New London and eventually settled at Westerly. Gibson worked effectively against the Rogerine sect, and upon Hiscox's death, he became full pastor. [25] William Hiscox 1671-1704 William Gibson 1675-1717 Joseph Crandall 1718-1737 (son of Elder John Crandall, first minister of the Westerly church) no regular pastor 1737-1754 (Elders Joseph Maxson and Thomas Hiscox served occasionally) John Maxson 1754-1778 William Bliss 1778-1808 Henry Burdick 1807-1843 (not formally installed as pastor) Ebenezer David, son of Elder Enoch David of Pennsylvania, was ordained in Newport church in 1775. He subsequently joined the Continental Army as a chaplain and apparently died in the army near Philadelphia in 1778. "General Meeting" On October 31, 1683, Hubbard wrote Elder William Gibson, who was living in New London, "O that we could have a general meeting: but winter is coming upon us." With only the one church at Newport (on an island) and other members scattered on the mainland, it was difficult for them to meet together. The Newport church appointed May 25 (sic., should be May 24), 1684 (New Style), as a "General Meeting" and invited all the brethren in New London, Westerly, Narragansett, Providence, Plymouth Colony, and Martha's Vineyard to join them. "The object of this meeting was to bring the members, so widely scattered, together at a communion season."[26] This is the first recorded general meeting of early Sabbath-keepers in America. (May 24 was a Wednesday; Pentecost was on May 22.) Hubbard reports 26 or 27 in attendance. Prayers were given and questions were asked and answered. Some of the questions involved communion: a duty? how often and with whom? Should it be kept at night? Hubbard does not say.[27] The Rogerenes Even in America, it was dangerous during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to zealously keep the Sabbath. If you were too outspoken, you could be imprisoned. You would also face ridicule from other Sabbatarians. John Crandall, a Westerly minister, traveled to New London, Connecticut, and through his preaching during 1674-5, converted John Rogers, his brother James Rogers, and an Indian named Japeth. The local Protestant minister, Mr. Bradstreet, raged against the new Sabbath-keepers. Samuel Hubbard, William Hiscox and Joseph Clarke came to New London to receive the new members into the fold. In less than two months, John Rogers was in Hartford prison for his views. After being released, Rogers wrote Hubbard on December 22, 1675: We do not forbear work on the first day of the week, yet [if] it should come to a trial the 7th day sabbath may be pleaded for in the audience of the people for ye common people are afraid to talk with us for fear of being tainted with heresy. The times are so troublesome that there is no passing: we should be glad to see you: but the times being so bad we thought it not safe ventring [sic.].[28] Hubbard encouraged Rogers, reminding him that it was "not strange if we or you should meet with fiery trials as others have." Soon the entire Rogers family was imprisoned again, charged with violating the Sabbath by laboring on Sunday. James, John, Jonathan and James Rogers, Jr. wrote to the town court explaining their point of view, basing their conduct on the Ten Commandments and Jesus Christ. They were harassed and then released. In 1678, the Rogers family was in prison yet again. By this time, the extreme views of the Rogers family had put them at variance with other Sabbath-keepers. Their refusal to take medicines, and firm reliance on the Almighty for healing, made the sect, known as Rogerenes, despised throughout New England. John Rogers was fined "for not going to their [church] meeting on the first day, & for beating his lether [sic.] for his work for shoes on the first day." The other Sabbatarians tried to restrain the "excesses" of the Rogerenes. An official letter of reproof was sent on July 16, 1678, signed by William Hiscox, William Gibson, Samuel Hubbard, Stephen Mumford, John Maxon, John Read, Roger Baster and John Thornton. When William Gibson, lately of the Bell Lane church in London, England, was sent to New London to preach to the Rogerene Sabbatarians there, he ended up quarrelling instead. The Rogerenes remained adamant in their refusal to use medicine or seek medical help. Even when the elder Rogers injured his leg when a cart ran over it, he refused to get medical attention, but was healed anyway. It has been reported that during the smallpox epidemic of 1721 in Boston, John Rogers deliberately travelled there to demonstrate his divine immunity. Nevertheless, he caught the disease, and on his return spread it throughout his family. Backus reports that the Rogerene sect still existed in 1777.[29] III. Westerly and the Newport Movement By this time, more members lived on the mainland than at Newport. Sabbath- keepers, converts of Mumford, had lived at Westerly since 1666. It was common to hold the yearly meeting at Westerly, on the mainland. At a yearly meeting of the church at Westerly on September 28, 1708 (New Style), the decision was made to separate into two churches. At this time, there were 72 at Westerly and 41 at Newport. (The Feast of Tabernacles for that year started Saturday, September 29.) Westerly's first elder, John Maxson, was ordained on October 1, "by fasting and prayer and laying on of hands."[30] Westerly (First Hopkinton) Ministers In April, 1709, Joseph Clarke, Jr., was ordained as a deacon, and in 1712 he was ordained an elder, and John Maxson, Jr., a deacon. "The office of deacon meant much in that day, as the deacon was authorized to baptize, and it was understood that he was to become an elder in due time . . . . there was no time when the church did not have two elders and sometimes four or five." Pastors usually served as deacons before becoming pastors.[31] This practice no doubt strengthened the leadership of the Sabbatarians. John Maxson 1708-1720 Joseph Clarke, Jr. 1712-1719 Joseph Maxson, Jr. 1719-1747 Joseph Maxson (Bro.) 1739-1750 Thomas Hiscox 1750-1773 (preached at Newport, 1732-50) Thomas Clarke 1750-1767 (assisted Hiscox) Joshua Clarke 1768-1793 (state legislator, other public offices) John Burdick 1774-1802 (increased membership; organized several churches; preached among other denominations) Abraham Coon 1798-1813 Matthew Stillman 1804-1838[32] Westerly -- Leading Church The Sabbatarian church in Westerly was the first such church organized in the town, although others had tried before. In its best times, it numbered 1,000 members. As late as 1800, Seventh Day Baptists were more numerous in Westerly than all other persuasions combined.[33] Later, when the Newport church died, Westerly grew and eventually divided into several churches. Newport Movement: Emigration Spreads Seventh Day Baptists Westerly derived its name from being to the west of Newport. Its founding as a Sabbatarian church was the direct result of westward migration. Seven other churches were organized as a direct result of Newport-Westerly westward expansion. Newport is one of three centers from which all Sabbatarian churches in America sprang, the others being Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Piscataway, New Jersey. "Newport Movement" churches include Newport, Rhode Island; Westerly, Rhode Island (1708); Shrewsbury, New Jersey (1745); New London, Connecticut (officially organized in 1784, although Sabbath keepers were there in the 1670's); Little Hoosic Valley, Rensselaer County, New York, later the Petersburg church, and still later Berlin (1780); Burlington, Connecticut (1780); Bristol, Connecticut, later Farmington (1790); Oyster Pond, Long Island (c. 1790); and Brookfield, Madison County, New York (1797). IV. The Philadelphia Movement The second center of Sabbatarians in America was Philadelphia, where four churches began in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Few historical records exist of these churches, and they apparently died out by the early 1800's. Agitation concerning the Sabbath question began in Pennsylvania about 1687.[34] Abel Noble -- Controversial Figure In 1684, thirteen years after the forming of the Newport Sabbatarian Church, Abel Noble came to Philadelphia from London. Some historians report that he was a Seventh Day Baptist minister, a member of the Mill Yard Church in London. The evidence to support this assertion is found in two letters sent from London to Piscataway. The first, dated September 17, 1741, is addressed to the Sabbatarian church in Piscataway, New Jersey, and is signed by Robert Cornthwaite (pastor of Mill Yard Church, 1726-1755), Daniel Noble, and others. It acknowledges a letter from Philadelphia brethren Abel Noble and Nicholas Ashmead. Another letter from London, dated August 27, 1743, is addressed "To the Churches of Christ of the same faith, usually holding their yearly meeting at Piscataway," and is signed by Robert Cornthwaite, Daniel and Noah Noble, and others; the letter inquires about Abel Noble.[35] One may infer from these that Abel Noble had been a member of the Mill Yard Church. The official Seventh Day Baptist history, however, disputes this claim. It states that Noble's religious connections are unknown prior to his coming to America. Noble bought a large tract of land 25 miles north of Philadelphia. Soon after settling, Noble is said to have traveled extensively in New Jersey, where he met the "Rev." Thomas Chillingworth (or Killingsworth), believed to be the organizer of the First Baptist Church at Piscataway. Chillingworth is reported to have baptized Noble.[36] One source states that Noble was the son of a wealthy Quaker of Bristol.[37] It is reported that Noble soon affiliated with the Quakers and married among them (1692), which would not have been allowed had he not been recognized by them as a bona fide member.[38] Keithian Quakers In 1691 there arose a hot dispute among the Quakers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey "concerning the sufficiency of the 'Inner Light' and the value of the Scriptures as the rule of faith and practice." George Keith, who had left the Church of Scotland to become a follower of Penn and Fox, led a group of dissenters that broke off from the Quakers. They were termed "Keithian Baptists" or "Christian Quakers." Keith and his followers denied that man has within himself what is needed for salvation "and magnified the need and power of Christ and gave special prominence to the 'Commandments of God and the Holy Scriptures'." Abel Noble was one of the 48 signers of a document setting forth reasons for the Keithian separation, and he continued among them as a leader after Keith himself deserted the group he had founded and went back to the Church of England. The Second Sabbath-keeping Church in America -- Newtown (1697) Noble may have been a Sabbath-keeper on arrival in America, although he was "liberal" enough to affiliate with the Quakers. Or he may, as reported in Seventh Day Baptist history, have received the Sabbath from Dr. William Gillette, a Sabbatarian from Connecticut, on a tour in eastern New Jersey. Keithians were open-minded and determined to live entirely according to the Bible. When Noble introduced the Sabbath and baptism to the Keithian remnant at Upper Providence, Pennsylvania, they readily accepted these un-Quaker beliefs. In 1697 at Upper Providence, Pennsylvania, at the home of Thomas Powell, Abel Noble conducted a protracted series of meetings among the Keithians. In January (others say in the summer) of that year, he baptized Thomas Martin, an influential Quaker, who then became a Sabbath-keeper. Martin himself baptized five in August, and ten more new converts in September. A church was organized on October 12, 1697, and Martin was chosen minister by lot, whereupon he administered the Lord's Supper "to them for the first time." Another writer contends that it was not until 1700 that the new converts in Upper Providence founded a Sabbatarian church. Noble declined to be their minister, although he later ministered in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In 1752 he was in West Chester County, New York.[39] William Davis -- Pennepek Church (1699) In 1698 there were four reported baptisms; in 1699, eight. One of the new members was William Davis, who had come to Pennsylvania from Wales in 1684, the same year as Noble. He, too, had been a Quaker leader, but he had gone out in the Keithian separation in 1691. Soon thereafter, he had joined the First Baptist Church at Pennepek, Pennsylvania. In 1698 he was excommunicated from the Baptist Church because he believed Christ to be neither divine nor human, but a mixture of both. Noble invited him to Upper Providence, and through Noble, Davis embraced the Sabbath. In late 1699, he returned to Pennepek and organized a Sabbatarian congregation there, mainly from former Keithians. He baptized six in 1700.[40] Sabbath Debates Episcopalians, led by Evan Evans and George Keith, attacked the Sabbatarians with vigor and nearly succeeded in destroying the group, despite the "able defense" of Elders Thomas Martin and William Davis. Some of the most influential Sabbatarians at Upper Providence gave up the Sabbath, but the faithful remnant moved to David Thomas' home in nearby Newtown. In February of 1702, public debates were held between the leading ministers of each side, one of which was between Davis and Keith in nearby Philadelphia. The Sabbatarians of Pennepek lost their place of worship when its owner renewed fealty to the Church of England, and Davis left them in 1711 for the Westerly Sabbatarian Church, where he preached occasionally until 1714. Eventually the adverse tide turned, and Newtown emerged stronger by emigration and converts from the community.[41] Other "Philadelphia" Churches Nantmeal, also known as French Creek and possibly Canogocheage, was organized c. 1722 as a branch of the Newtown congregation, and was located about 30 miles from Philadelphia. In 1726, it was reinforced by former first-day Baptists. Nantmeal gained further members and became the largest church numerically, but Newtown was always considered the headquarters. In 1770 the Nantmeal church had 18 families and 24 members. A building was constructed in 1762. Nottingham, near the Maryland line, was the fourth church of the Philadelphia group. It is not known when this church was organized, but its meetings were held mainly at the house of Abigail Price or the homestead of the Bonds. Samuel and Richard Bond were the leaders.[42] Yearly Meetings In the early years of its history, Newtown opened correspondence with the churches in New Jersey and Rhode Island. Also, from the start, a yearly meeting was instituted. The New Jersey churches sometimes attended these meetings. Newtown, as the headquarters, held the "May Meeting," while the "August Meeting" was held at Nottingham. The purpose, dates, and proceedings of these meetings is not yet known. There is no detailed record of Pennsylvania churches. It is interesting to note that "while each church had its own place of meeting and maintained its own appointments for worship, they had a Yearly Meeting, which all were expected to attend."[43] Attendance, then, was apparently required. At a yearly meeting held at Nantmeal (French Creek) in 1745, the church at Piscataway, New Jersey, sent Jonathan Dunham for ordination. The ordination was performed by Elders Lewis Williams and Abel Noble.[44] Ministers The four churches had several ministers. Besides Noble, William Davis, Thomas Martin and Thomas Rutter, there were William Beckingham, Philip Davis, Lewis Williams (these three were from the Great Valley Baptist Church, converts to the Sabbath, members of the Nantmeal church), and John Bryman.[45] It appears that Rutter and Davis had relatives in the Newport Sabbatarian Church.[46] Enoch David of the Nantmeal church was a noteworthy minister in the middle 1700's. His son, Ebenezer David, graduated from Brown University in 1772 and was ordained at Newport in 1775. As stated previously, he became a chaplain in the Continental Army and died near Philadelphia in 1778. Sunday Law of 1794 In 1794 a Sunday "Blue Law" was passed in Pennsylvania, which caused great hardship on the Sabbatarian churches. Richard Bond of the Nottingham church was required to serve jury duty, and when the case continued, he refused to serve beyond Friday night.[47] Manner of Life -- Unusual Christians The Philadelphia Movement churches had many of the Quaker habits of life, speech, and belief. They dressed plainly, spoke directly and simply, and refused to take oaths and engage in war. Elhanan Winchester, a London minister, wrote of them in 1788: "Such Christians I have never seen as they are, who take the Scriptures as their only guide, in matters both of faith and practice . . . . [they] are so afraid of doing anything contrary to the commands of Christ, that no temptations would prevail upon them even to sue any person at law . . . . They are industrious, sober, temperate, kind, charitable people . . . . They read much, they sing and pray much . . . . they walk in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless: both in public and private, they bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord . . . . and whatsoever they believe their Savior commands, they practice without enquiring what others do."[48] Erstwhile Southern Sabbath-keeping Churches (1) Broad River, South Carolina. In 1754, a group of Pennsylvania and New Jersey Sabbatarians emigrated to South Carolina and organized a church on the Broad River, St. Mark's Parish, some 180 miles from Charleston, near present Manning, South Carolina. The leading members were "Rev." John Gregory and his two sons, Richard and John, from Piscataway, and Thomas Owen and Victor Nelly from Nantmeal (French Creek), Pennsylvania. In 1770, these Sabbatarians, Calvinistic in sentiment, numbered 18 families and 24 members. Their preacher was Israel Zeymore, who later deserted them and went into the army. In 1769 or 1770, it is reported that eight other families joined them from Chester (now Delaware) County, Pennsylvania. Principle family names were Price, Hughes, Johnston, Owen, Jackson, Gregory, Nelly, Seymour, and Noble. Records of this church disappear before the Revolutionary War. (2) Tuckaseeking, Georgia. In 1759, "Rev." Richard Gregory led eight families into Tuckaseeking, forty miles north of Savannah, and there organized a Sabbatarian church. In 1765 it appears that most of the party moved across the Savannah River and settled at Edisto, South Carolina. Records of these Sabbatarians vanish with the Revolutionary War, but traces of Sabbatarian influence were left in the South, especially in North Carolina.[49] Philadelphia's Part in Westward Migration The Sabbatarian church in Lost Creek, (West) Virginia, established in 1805, was made up largely of the descendants of the Nottingham church. Some of the Nottingham Sabbatarians also moved to Woodbridgetown, Pennsylvania, and the North and South Fork of the Hughes River. Others moved to Salem, West Virginia, where Sabbatarian churches were organized. Enoch David, son of Owen David of Wales, preached also at Pennepek, and moved later to Woodbridgetown, where he soon died.[50] Influence of Davis Family Enoch David and William Davis, two leading Sabbatarian ministers, were of Welsh descent. Welsh influence among Sabbatarian Baptists may parallel that among the first-day Baptists, in replacing Arminian philosophy with Calvinism.[51] Davis played a powerful role in shaping the future of Sabbatarian Baptists. It has been stated that William Davis has never lacked a direct descendant as a Seventh Day Baptist minister, and the denomination today is studded with his descendants. Corliss Fitz Randolph, the late "official" historian, was a descendant of Davis and colored his view of history in favor of his ancestor. V. The Piscataway Movement Close on the heels of and intimately associated with the Newport and Philadelphia centers was the Sabbatarian center of Piscataway, New Jersey. Here a church began in 1705 which soon led to the formation of sister churches and engaged in westward migration in conjunction with other Sabbatarians. Edward Dunham -- Forming of Piscataway Church A first-day Baptist church, the first in Jersey, was founded at Piscataway in the seventeenth century, probably by Thomas Chillingworth, the minister who is believed to have baptized Abel Noble. Around 1700, Edmund Dunham, a deacon and licensed preacher of the church, reproved his brother-in-law, Hezekiah Bonham, for working on Sunday. Dunham was challenged by Bonham to prove it was a sin to work on Sunday; he seriously investigated the subject and became convinced the Sabbath was still binding. The whole community was stirred by the Sabbath question, as Dunham was a respected and influential member of the community. The result was of necessity a separation, similar to the experience of Mumford at Newport.[52] At Benjamin Martin's home in Piscataway, on August 19, 1705, a church of 17 members was formed. Dunham was chosen elder and was sent to Westerly to be ordained; at a yearly meeting there on October 22, 1705 (N.S., the FT was October 3-10), Dunham was ordained by prayer and laying on of hands by Elder William Gibson.[53] [Dugger says it was September 5 (O.S.).] Piscataway's Stormy History The old Piscataway church book relates its founding as, "The Church of God, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ, living in Piscataway and Hopewell . . . ."[54] Meetings were held in private homes until 1736, when a church building was constructed on land donated by Jonathan Fitz Randolph.[55] In the ninth and last of the articles of faith adopted by the church at its founding, the signers stated: "We give up ourselves first unto the Lord, and to one another, to be guided and governed by one another according to the Word of God."[56] Yet soon they had a decided difficulty determining just what the Word of God meant! In 1753, a schism split the church down the middle between Calvinists and Arminians; apparently the controversy was resolved in 1757.[57] However, the biggest controversy involved the Revolutionary War. Piscataway members "differed among themselves in relation to the justness of the war," and the church actually broke up for a number of years. Some of the members joined the patriot army, some fled to the mountains to the north, and some stayed to have their farms devastated by the war machine. Elder Jonathan Jarman left to form a new church in Pennsylvania, and the only other minister died in 1777.[58] Piscataway Ministers Edmund Dunham 1705-1734 Jonathan Dunham, son 1734-1745 (licensed only) (ordained 1745 at French Creek by 1745-1777 Williams and Noble) Jonathan Jarman 1772-1776 (no pastor) 1777-1786 (a Sunday preacher, Elisha Gillette from Long Island, Enoch David from Philadelphia, and James Dunn, a local licentiate, sometimes preached) Nathan Rogers 1786-1797 (from New London (Waterford), Connecticut; moved to Petersburg, New York, in 1797) Henry McLafferty 1797-1811[59] Yearly Meeting -- Relationship with London A letter dated August 27, 1743, was addressed, "To the Churches of Christ of the same faith, usually holding their yearly meeting at Piscataway," and was signed by Robert Cornthwaite, and others of the Mill Yard Church. Thus it can be inferred that Piscataway had its own yearly meeting and that London considered her a sister church.[60] Connection with Other Sabbath Keepers Piscataway was intimately tied with the Newport and Philadelphia centers. Jonathan Davis and Abel Noble seem to have been active in introducing the Sabbath question to New Jersey. Noble is said to have first preached Sabbatarianism in New Jersey "about and before 1700."[61] Seventh Day Baptist history states that it is probable that both Noble and Dunham accepted the Sabbath as a result of the teaching and practice of Elders William Gillette and Jonathan Davis. Dr. William Gillette was a Huguenot (French Protestant) minister and physician from France who fled to America at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1698). He learned English and preached in Connecticut and, it is said, on Long Island and in New Jersey as well. He was a Sabbath-keeping member of the Baptist church, and it is believed that during this time he influenced Jonathan Davis to keep the Sabbath.[62] Jonathan Davis, of the Davis Welsh clan, migrated to Massachusetts and New Jersey from Glamorganshire, Wales in 1662, and seems to have embraced the Sabbath before he moved to Trenton in 1695. Either he got it from Noble or Noble and he both received the Sabbath from Rhode Islanders.[63] Cohansey (Shiloh) Church From 1695 to 1700 and later, Jonathan Davis visited his Welsh cousins in southern New Jersey, gaining many converts to the Sabbath. Augmented by converts from the Cohansey Baptist church, and Sabbath-keepers from Pennsylvania and Piscataway, the Davises joined to form a church on April 7, 1737 (N.S.), called Cohansey, later Shiloh. The first minister was Jonathan Davis, nephew of the original Jonathan Davis. Jonathan Davis 1737-1769 Jonathan Davis (no relation) 1769-1785 Nathan Ayars 1785-1802 Shiloh's covenant was the same as that of Piscataway (see Chapter XII). In 1811, the church was still continuing the customs of laying on of hands and of washing feet. It differed from other Sabbath churches in that many of its members began the Sabbath at midnight, while others who knew it should begin at sunset "charitably" allowed their brothers to continue their wrong practice. The question of when to begin the Sabbath was also agitated among Sabbath Adventists during the 1850's. In 1823, the Shiloh church sent its pastor, Elder John Davis, with Deacon John Bright, on a missionary tour into Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Indiana.[64] Other Churches of the Piscataway Movement Through Piscataway as the mother church, another church began at Oyster Pond, Long Island, with Elder Elisha Gillett. He joined the Piscataway church in 1769 but continued to live on Long Island. Upon request of the Piscataway church during its yearly meeting of 1786, Gillette was ordained by Elder William Bliss of Newport, Elder John Burdick of Hopkinton, and Elder Nathan Rogers (who in 1787 became pastor of Piscataway). Gillette soon organized a Sabbath church on Long Island, which in 1791 was recognized as a sister church of Piscataway. The church was short-lived, for it made the fatal mistake of admitting into membership Sunday keepers, and soon dissolved. In 1811 a church in Salem County, known as the Marlboro church, was organized. In 1838, Piscataway members organized the Plainfield church, which for long was the Seventh Day Baptist headquarters and location of the church archives.[65] (Now, headquarters is in Janesville, Wisconsin.) Westward Ho! Along with the Shrewsbury church, some Piscataway members were part of the westward migration after the Revolutionary War. Considering the devastating conditions produced by the war, it is not strange that many desired to move to less populated areas. In 1789 the Woodbridgetown church in Fayette County, Pennsylvania was organized largely from Piscataway church members who had migrated to western Pennsylvania. Among them was Samuel Fitz Randolph, who later founded a church in Salem, West Virginia. James Dunn in the late 1700's led a group of Piscataway Sabbath keepers to Meadville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania (in the Erie region), where a church named Shiloh was organized.[66] Considering the 1823 missionary tour of Elder John Davis and Deacon John Bright into Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana, it appears that migration of Sabbath keepers quickly spread to the southwest. VI. Shrewsbury -- Emigration Church The establishing of the Shrewsbury church appears to be the result of several migratory groups. In 1735, John Culver and family, plus twenty-one other Rogerenes (an independent group of Sabbath-keepers, distinct from regular Seventh Day Baptists), emigrated from Groton, Connecticut, to Morris County, New Jersey. Later in 1738, they moved to Waretown, Barnegat Bay, Monmouth County, New Jersey. They may have been joined by other Sabbatarians from Oyster Pond, Long Island; Saybrook, Connecticut; and Westerly, Rhode Island. The Rogerenes moved back to Morris County in 1749. In the fall of 1744, Peter Miller, famous pastor of the German Seventh Day Baptist church in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, visited various Sabbath-keepers along the route of a pilgrimage to New England. The company of Sabbath-keepers he met at Barnegat (fifty miles south of Shrewsbury) was said to have come from Stonington, Connecticut, and Westerly, Rhode Island, a few years before. This grous was joined by a few Sabbatarians from Pennsylvania. They had formed a church covenant, but were without a pastor. Peter Miller's preaching at Barnegat resulted in a church being organized in 1745, with William Davis, age 81, elected pastor. Davis, who had previously been a Sabbatarian preacher in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, died soon after his election as pastor of the Shrewsbury congregation. In 1743, both his son John Davis, and Thomas Hiscox, were chosen elders in Westerly but refused to serve (not an uncommon occurrence). In 1745, John Davis is mentioned as a member of the original Shrewsbury church, indicating that he had probably joined the flow of emigration south and west. After William Davis' death, John Davis was sent in 1746 to Westerly for ordination. He pastored Shrewsbury from 1747 to 1752. Then, for over twenty years, the Shrewsbury church had no pastor. Finally, in 1775, Jacob Davis, grandson of William Davis, was ordained as pastor and served until 1789, when the church as a whole moved to New Salem, Virginia (now known as Salem, West Virginia), by way of Woodbridgetown, Pennsylvania.[67] Distinguishing Tenets of Shrewsbury The church in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, generally followed Westerly, Rhode Island, in doctrine and practice. Here are some of its distinguishing beliefs: 1.Shrewsbury held communion once in two months, or quarterly, as Westerly did in 1775. 2.Its articles of faith (1774) stated that a "company of sincere persons being found in the faith and practice of the above said things may truly be said to be the church of God." The term "Church of God" is found in several other documents of the church. 3.Shrewsbury differed from "the church of Christ in Westerly," in observing footwashing (1750). This practice was kept by some in West Virginia, where Shrewsbury members had migrated.[68] 4.It appointed and ordained "ruling elders," who assisted the pastor and acted as arbitrators, settling and adjusting all differences between members. Individual members were not to sue each other at law but go before the elders; there was no appeal from the church's decisions. Straying or backsliding members often had to appear before church committees to answer for their deeds. This practice, which indicates "rulership from the top down," was in some cases continued in West Virginia.[69] 5.Shrewsbury was split by the Revolutionary War. Jacob Davis served also as chaplain in the Continental Army, and many members followed their pastor in joining the conflict. At least one, Simeon Maxson, violently disagreed and was temporarily banned from communion (September, 1776) for condemning the church members as "children of the devil" for supporting carnal warfare.[70] Big Move to Virginia.... Impoverished and decimated by the Revolutionary War, the Shrewsbury church sold their church building and on September 6, 1789, moved as a body to Woodbridgetown, Pennsylvania, and soon thereafter to New Salem, Virginia, on land donated by William Fitz Randolph. It is probable that the Shrewsbury emigrants were joined by recruits from Piscataway, New Jersey.[71] And Further West Some Sabbatarians had moved from Shrewsbury to southwestern Pennsylvania and western Virginia as early as 1774. After the Revolutionary War, small colonies went even farther west, into Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska. Near the close of the war, other members of the Rhode Island churches were migrating to Berlin, New York. By 1797 there was a church established at Brookfield, New York. Sabbath-keepers soon spread into western New York, and elsewhere. From the Newport and Piscataway movements sprang churches of Sabbath-keepers in northern, central, and western New York, northern Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas and western Nebraska.[72] Thus it was that a Sabbatarian influence lingered on in these regions well into the mid-1800's and even later, after many Seventh Day Baptist churches became defunct. Western New York, Ohio, Wisconsin (and Michigan), and Iowa were key regions from which sprang Sabbath Adventists (and later, the Seventh Day Church of God). It is not surprising that these areas were previously influenced by Seventh Day Baptist preaching. VII. West Virginia -- An Enticing Enigma Because Corliss Fitz Randolph (descendant of William Davis) has written the only extant detailed history of the West Virginia Seventh Day Baptist churches, knowledge of this important area of Sabbath-keepers is colored to his viewpoint. Nevertheless, Randolph reveals some very interesting information concerning the beliefs and practices of Sabbatarian Baptists, and creates incentive to examine the original records in Janesville, Wisconsin, to find more information. Samuel Fitz Randolph -- Western Pioneer Samuel Fitz Randolph was a member of the Piscataway church who served in the Revolutionary War. In 1785 he purchased land in what is now Fayette County, Pennsylvania. (Later he bought land in the vicinity of present-day Salem, West Virginia, then a wilderness.) Sometime between 1785 and 1790 he and several Piscataway members and a few converts to the Sabbath moved to Woodbridgetown, Pennsylvania, where his land was located. On November 8, 1789, a Seventh Day Baptist church (it termed itself the "Seventh Day Baptist Church of Christ") was formed, although it was not fully organized until June 6, 1790. The first pastor, namesake of the town, was Samuel Woodbridge. Woodbridgetown has been termed the "gateway to Western Virginia for early Seventh Day Baptist immigrants."[73] Assisting in the formation of the Woodbridgetown church was Jacob Davis, pastor of the Shrewsbury church, who was enroute to western Virginia. Woodbridgetown Church -- Corrupt The twenty-two articles of the Woodbridgetown church covenant were similar to those of Shrewsbury. On August 8, 1790, the church decided to have communion quarterly, on the third Sabbath in September, December, March and June. "Wine" (which may have actually been grape juice) was used for communion. Samuel Woodbridge's 1799 will, in which he gave half an acre to the church, describes such beliefs as (1) Holy Trinity, (2) fall of man, and (3) eternal happiness of the saints in heaven and torments of the wicked in hell. (Were these common Seventh Day Baptist beliefs at the time?) Other ministers who served at Woodbridgetown were John Patterson, later pastor at New Salem, and Enoch David (of the church in Nantmeal, Pennsylvania), who in 1809 divided pastoral duties with Woodbridge. The Woodbridgetown church became extinct some time after 1844.[74] New Salem Church -- Dissension Prevalent Internal dissension and squabbling seemed to be a way of life in the West Virginia churches. The church in New Salem, Virginia (later, Salem, West Virginia) was certainly no exception. Exactly when the Shrewsbury settlers arrived in western Virginia is not known. They originally settled on the West Fork of the Monongahela River but soon became dissatisfied with the land and moved to the present Salem, settling on land donated by Samuel Fitz Randolph. Jacob Davis, their pastor, died in 1793, and on March 8, 1795, the church voted John Patterson as their pastor. In 1801 John Davis was ordained pastor of the Salem church by Woodbridge and Patterson. In 1803 Patterson was banned from communion for lack of church loyalty. Dissension was rife and "Awful Sentences of Excommunication," as they were called, were issued as late as 1822. In 1808 the Salem church became a member of the newly formed Seventh Day Baptist General Conference.[75] Yearly and Quarterly Meetings Church records show that communion was observed at New Salem quarterly. On December 28, 1815, it was decided that quarterly meetings, which were times for communion, would be continued. On May 14, 1819, it was voted that quarterly business meetings be held on the Sunday preceding the communion service (always held on Saturday). Later, for thirty-seven years, 1822 to 1859, church meetings were held on the Friday preceding communion Saturday. Afterwards, church meetings were changed back to Sunday of the week preceding communion. Yearly meetings were also held. On August 16, 1822, it was voted that the yearly meeting be held on the third Sabbath in September. Apparently the Salem church was the headquarters for all the West Virginia churches, although others may have had their own yearly meetings. On August 19, 1859, New Salem received a request from the Lost Creek church for the two churches to have a joint yearly meeting on the third Sabbath in August.[76] Peter Davis -- Controversial Figure Peter Davis, great-grandson of William Davis, was born in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, in 1783, and came to Virginia at the age of six. He was a soldier in the War of 1812.[77] Davis was granted a license to preach at New Salem in 1819 (he entered the church in 1807) and was ordained in December of 1823 by John Davis and John Greene. Another of the Davis clan, Lewis A. Davis, was ordained by John Greene in January of 1824. Peter Davis assisted John Davis in pastoring the New Salem church while Lewis A. Davis conducted missionary work in western Virginia and later in Ohio. Peter Davis worked with Elder Greene in the Lost River area of western Virginia.[78] In 1825, Peter Davis was charged with preaching a new doctrine which the church did not approve. The church records of 1827 report that Davis maintained that the church did not understand his views, whereupon a committee was appointed to examine him. Apparently the key issue was Davis' views on the immortality of the soul. (What his views were on this subject is not known.) The church committee approved Davis, and he was fully restored to his former standing. However, in 1834 Peter Davis, along with Ezekiel Bee, was again in trouble with the church.[79] Salem church records for 1831 to 1847 are lost; a new record book was begun in 1847. Peter Davis was recorded as still being retained as pastor, John Davis had died in 1842, leaving Peter Davis the sole pastor. About 1856 to 1858, Peter Davis declined to officiate at communion services. The reason, it is reported, was that he said it was "fulfilled and passed away" and no longer binding. Communion was omitted a few times, but was soon resumed because the church was not favorable to the new doctrine. On November 16, 1860, Davis was excused from the active pastorate by the church, apparently still holding to his views on communion. New Salem records have been tampered with, making it difficult to determine just what his communion views were; the historian Randolph does not give the complete story.[80] With the passing of Peter Davis, Randolph states, "Thus harmlessly died away the last ripple of doctrinal excitement that disturbed the serenity of the church."[81] West Fork River Church -- Fraternizing With Unbelievers Organized with five members in 1793, the West Fork River church attempted to enter the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference in 1808, but the church was rejected, because it invited Sunday observers to partake of its communion. The church rapidly declined afterwards. Its remaining Sabbath-keeping members eventually joined the Lost Creek church.[82] Lost Creek Church -- Truth Almost Lost In Harrison County, Virginia, a church was formed on October 27, 1805, composed chiefly of the Bond family, which had migrated from Cecil, Maryland (the Nottingham Sabbath-keeping church), along with others from New Salem living in the area. The Lost Creek Church Covenant reads, "The Church of Christ on Lost Creek, in the observance of God's Holy Sanctified Seventh Day-Sabbath . . . ." Its twenty-two articles of faith were the same as Shrewsbury's.[83] John Davis pastored Lost Creek as well as Salem. From 1815 to 1830, Davis apparently had some unexplained differences with several Lost Creek members.[84] On June 20, 1806, the church decided to have communion three times a year, on the last Sabbath in March, July, and November. The Sunday preceding communion Sabbath was set aside for the regular business meeting of the church. Also, the Friday before each communion day was made a day of prayer and fasting. In September of 1815, the church rejected the idea of open communion. In 1821, the Calvinism controversy split the Lost Creek church wide open. In Lost Creek as well as in other Virginia Sabbatarian churches, internal dissension was common. Missionaries from Cohansey (Shiloh), New Jersey, Elder John Davis and Deacon John Bright, gave advice on the serious dispute. Finally on December 30, 1821, new articles of faith were adopted and peace was restored. Later, the church was split over the question of whether or not to ordain licentiate William Williams. A minority with Williams withdrew, ordaining him and seizing the meeting house. The Williams group in September of 1834 applied unsuccessfully for admission to the General Conference. In April, 1835, they petitioned the old church for a reconciliation but were rebuffed. Randolph reports that the old Lost Creek members built a new meeting place, and the minority group gradually died away.[85] The original Lost Creek church became a member of the General Conference in 1808, despite the fact that it was the only Sabbatarian church to allow slaveholders in its membership. The church held a yearly meeting of its own on the first Sabbath of October until 1859, when the church's annual meeting was combined with that of New Salem.[86] Middle Island Church -- Grave Internal Dissensions A church at Middle Island (later known as Lewisport, and presently West Union), western Virginia, was organized in 1831 or 1832, composed of New Salem members living west of the city. Numerous members of the Bee family were in this church. Organized under the direction of Elder John Davis of New Salem and Joel Greene, a Sabbatarian missionary from the East, Middle Island had only one pastor of its own until 1867. That minister was Ezekiel Bee, who became associated with the church in 1845 and served for only a few years. The Middle Island church depended upon New Salem ministers and traveling missionaries to deliver sermons. When there was no preacher, members met in private homes for Sabbath worship. Randolph castigates the church for its "grave internal dissensions . . . [which] grew out of the inability of many of its members to differentiate clearly between the civil statute and ecclesiastical law." Middle Island had doctrinal disputes similar to those in New Salem and was said to have ideas of "revolting literalism" of the Bible. Randolph declines to say just what was so revolting about this church. In August, 1866, a meeting was held to resuscitate the church, which for years "had rested in a state of apparent hopeless inactivity." In 1867 James B. Davis was ordained pastor and an declaration of faith was adopted. From its beginning in 1832, the Middle Island church was a member of the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference.[87] North Fork Church Meager records show that the church at the North Fork of the Hughes River originated in 1833. Lewis Bond, born in Cecil County, Maryland, in 1780, moved to the North Fork of the Hughes River in western Virginia in 1813. Bond was visited by Seventh Day Baptist missionaries in 1833, among whom was Alexander Campbell. Campbell's revival in the area resulted in a church being organized of eight to nine members, four of whom were of the Bond family. Lewis Bond was ordained deacon, was licensed, and became acting pastor. In 1837 the North Fork church became a member of the Western Association of Seventh Day Baptist Churches and, accordingly, a member of the General Conference. At this time, the church still had only nine members. It became extinct before 1851.[88] South Fork of Hughes River -- A Ray of Truth Peter Davis is reported as having baptized a considerable number at both Hughes River and Middle Island, western Virginia, in 1818 and 1819. However, the definite beginning of a Sabbatarian church at the South Fork of the Hughes River stems from the revival meetings of Seventh Day Baptist evangelist Alexander Campbell in 1833. After converting a number to the Sabbath near present-day Pennsboro, West Virginia, and visiting Lewis Bond there, Campbell came to Quiet Dell, where he publicly debated a local Methodist minister, Tichnell, on the Sabbath question. Great throngs from the countryside attended the debates, and among the listeners several embraced the Sabbath. These converts were organized into a Sabbath church about 1834. Peter Davis organized the church at the South Fork of the Hughes River, baptizing the nine original members, three Starkeys and six Lowthers. They began keeping the Sabbath on the first Sabbath in June of 1834; the church was constituted on July 13. Since Davis was pastor of the New Salem church, he could not stay at Hughes River for long. However, he and other ministers from time to time visited the Hughes River congregation. Asa Bee was received into the South Fork church on May 7, 1839, and on August 29, 1842, was elected pastor, serving until his death. Asa Bee is known in church records as "The Elder." He came from another Sabbatarian church, probably Middle Island. The church record book begins on January 25, 1842, with the words, "We, the Seventh Day Baptist Church of the South Fork of Hughes River . . . ." Its records also include use of the term "Church of Christ," but the records are scanty, and there are none at all from June 17, 1860 to February 12, 1868. For many years, the church business meetings were kept secret, and members who violated the secrecy were severely disciplined.[89] Unique "Mosaic" Practices The reason for the secrecy of the church can well be understood from reports of what they observed and practiced. Randolph laments, "In short here an attempt was made to apply the provisions of the Mosaic law governing the domestic life of the early Hebrews to American Seventh-day Baptists . . . ."[90] A few of their practices are listed as follows: 1.Pork was banned. Mutton and beef tallow took the place of lard; the more wealthy used olive oil. 2.The church stressed simplicity in dress and restricted frills and adornments. Numerous members were excommunicated for violating church-established dress codes. There were even rules for dress of the dead, style of coffin, and dress of the bride and groom. 3. Rules of courtship and dating were imposed. 4.The church told parents how to rear their children. A Sabbath school was organized probably as early as 1842, the first among Seventh Day Baptist churches. This practice did not become general until the latter 1860s in other churches. 5.The first meeting house built by the church, completed December 19, 1852, was designed to be used as a schoolhouse when not used for worship. As there was no free public school system in the area until after the Civil War, the church operated its own school, and "members of the church were commanded by that body to prepare themselves for teaching at some specified future time." 6.If a father died, his family and property were placed under the supervision of the church. 7."Investigating meetings" were held to ensure that the members would remain a peculiar people. 8.The church was governed "from the top down;" the elders were definitely in charge. 9.From questions for discussion submitted to the Virginia Seventh Day Baptist Association by the Hughes River church, it may be ascertained that they believed they were the only true Christians, that it was wrong for a Christian to hold public office, that tithing was commanded, and that it was wrong for Christians to marry non-Christians. 10.From the South Fork records, "March 20, 1853, it was voted that communion service be held once in twelve months on the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month, i.e., on the evening of the Passover." 11.Footwashing was observed by the South Fork church and some of the other churches in western Virginia. It had been a Shrewsbury practice. 12.The South Fork church withdrew fellowship from the General Conference and all other Seventh Day Baptist organizations, because of doctrinal differences. South Fork -- Pastors Peter Davis, the organizer of the South Fork church and baptizer of the nine original members, visited them form time to time from his pastorate at the New Salem church, as did other ministers.[91] Peter Davis 1834 - ? visited intermittently Asa Bee 1842 - ?received into church, 1839; served until death; called "The Elder" in church records Ezekiel Bee 1868 - ?worked with his brother Asa since 1857; died in 1893 Marcus E. Martin 1876 - ?called to be assistant pastor for a one-year term at a salary of $52 per year; (previous pastors served without pay); appears in 1881 records as first pastor of the Bear Fork (Conings) church, organized October 21, 1881 Alpheus A. Meredith 1878-1880chosen when Ezekiel Bee requested that the church look for a new minister Ordinations and Licentiates Licensed to preach: Ezekiel Bee, by New Salem church 1831 Asa Bee, " " " " 1832 Joshua S. Davis, by South Fork church 1843 Job Meredith, " " " " 1868 Marcus E. Martin, " " " " 1874 ordained April 7, 1878 Alpheus A. Meredith, " " " 1875 John Ehret, " " " " 1875 Zebulon Bee, " " " " 1878 renewed 1879[92] Randolph reports that church records show the names of over 130 members during the half century of existence of the South Fork church. Fierce Opposition From Within As in so many instances of a people attempting to literally obey the Bible, the South Fork Sabbath-keepers faced severe persecution. As is common, most of the persecution came from their "Christian" associates. Randolph sneeringly calls their practices "half-crazy ideas of Biblical interpretation."[93] A council of 18 delegates from the New Salem, Lost Creek and Middle Island churches, including Elder B. Gillette from the Seventh Day Baptist Missionary Society and five disaffected members of the South Fork (or Pine Grove, as it was also known) church, met together to face the challenge of the "heretics" of the South Fork. The result was the organization of an opposition church of 26 members, which included 11 from the South Fork church who had turned from their former beliefs. On October 22, 1870, a committee was appointed by the opposition group to select a suitable site for erection of a church building. The new group was called the Ritchie Church. Problems of an unexplained nature developed among the Ritchie group, but construction was finally completed in April, 1881. South Fork Loses to Ritchie Faction A life and death struggle resulted between the South Fork and the Ritchie groups. The Ritchie Church had received the aid and recognition of both the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference and the Southeastern Association when it was organized in 1871. However, the South Fork church did not join either association. The "mother" church steadily lost ground; c. 1880 it gave permission to pastor Alpheus A. Meredith to distribute Seventh-Day Adventist tracts. On February 22, 1883, ten members were excommunicated for affiliating with the Seventh-Day Adventists. The record book fell into the hands of one of the excommunicated members. The South Fork church continued for only a few more meetings; it was soon disbanded and the remaining few were absorbed into the Ritchie Church. The Ritchie Church soon demonstrated the decadence to which Seventh Day Baptists had sunk. A woman, Experience P. Randolph (later "Rev." Perie R. Burdick), publicly announced her decision to enter the ministry, and the Ritchie Church backed her, ordaining her in 1885.[94] West Virginia Legacy Seventh Day Baptists founded a college in West Virginia, called West Union Academy, in 1852. Open to other denominations, the academy folded in 1856 due to financial failure. Because local members desired a school tailored to Sabbath-keepers, another attempt was made to organize a college. Salem Academy was established in January, 1889, through the efforts of a stock company. Its name was changed to Salem College in 1890. Established under direct Seventh Day Baptist authority, the president and 2/3 of the board were required to be Seventh Day Baptists. Salem College is more "Sabbatarian" than its only sister Seventh Day Baptist institution, Milton College, of Wisconsin. Numerous independent Sabbath-keepers, not affiliated with Seventh Day Baptists, have attended Salem College. Seventh Day Baptists continue to be very active in West Virginia. Other chief centers are Wisconsin, western New York, and New Jersey. Seventh Day Baptist -- Church of God Link? In West Virginia especially, there appears to be a definite link between Seventh Day Baptist churches and the Seventh Day Church of God. Independent Sabbath-keepers, not associated with Seventh Day Baptists, nor with the tiny Seventh Day Church of God, continued through the late 1800's and early 1900's in West Virginia. When discovered by A.N Dugger (probably in the 1920's), these Sabbath keepers had existed since at least 1859. The Wilbur Church Dugger and Dodd, in A History of the True Church (pages 311 to 316), state that the Wilbur Church of God was "the oldest true Church of God now functioning [1930s] in the state of West Virginia." The church was organized in 1859, as a "Church of God" by Elder J.W. Niles, from Erie, Pennsylvania. Outsiders called them "Nilesites." Among the members were the names of Pierson, Wilcox, Vandergrift, Shuman, Baker, and Brown. The group faced great persecution, and sometimes physical harm, from other religionists in the area because of their "strange doctrines," such as Passover observance. Dugger and other Church of God ministers held debates at Wilbur. Importance of Salem, West Virginia Salem, West Virginia, came to be quite an important center for the Seventh Day Church of God. It yielded such leaders as F.L. Summers, C.O. Dodd, W.W. McMicken and others. West Virginia Church of God Sabbatarians tended to be doctrinally conservative. They abstained from unclean meats, adhered to strong church government with a central governing body, and observed the annual Passover on the beginning of the 14th of the Jewish month of Nisan. Coincidentally, these were the very same beliefs held by the "Seventh Day Baptist" South Fork (Pine Grove) church. When the Seventh Day Church of God split in 1933 over these issues (and the Dugger-Marrs leadership struggle), Salem, West Virginia, became the headquarters of the "clean church party." The Salem group established a ministerial school and published Sabbath literature. Those Seventh Day Church of God people who refused to accept the 1949 merger with Denver, went "Back to Salem" and re-established Salem, West Virginia, as headquarters of their church and publishing plant for their paper. Salem, West Virginia, continues to be a center for both Seventh Day Baptists and the Seventh Day Church of God, showing the close interrelationship between these two groups. VIII. Western Development Western Sabbath Missionaries -- Chronology[95] 1817At its annual session, the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference decided on a plan for organized missionary work. Elders Wm. Satterlee, Amos R. Wells, and Wm. B. Maxson were recommended to be employed as missionaries. 1818-19Elder Amos R. Wells visited various churches in Virginia, and baptized 35 in Harrison County, Virginia. He also visited the Mad River church in Ohio, 1820Wells again traveled to Virginia through New York and French Creek, Pennsylvania. 1821Elder John Davis and Deacon John Bright of the church in Shiloh, New Jersey, conducted a 3 1/2 month missionary tour of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. In Ohio and Indiana, they visited former members of the Shiloh and Piscataway churches. 1821-22Elder John Greene toured western New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Amos R. Wells made another tour of the churches in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and New York. 1823Greene again toured western New York and Pennsylvania, and advanced into Virginia, where he stayed a considerable time. 1828Elder Joel Greene was employed by the Piscataway church for a year in Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, and French Creek, Pennsylvania. 1832Joel Greene worked in Virginia for 4 1/2 months. 1833-34Elder Alexander Campbell, sent by the church in Shiloh, New Jersey, to Virginia, and was so successful that he was asked to return in 1834. He organized the church at the North Fork of the Hughes River with Lewis Bond. His debates on the Sabbath with Methodist Tichnell resulted in the conversion of the Lowther and Starkey families, baptized by Elder Peter Davis, the founder of the South Fork church. Campbell went as far as Woodsfield, Monroe County, Ohio, and preached five times in Ohio. Many meetings in Virginia were so well attended that meetings were held in groves because no house could contain the crowds. Revival meetings held were similar to camp meetings. 1835Elder Stillman Coon worked in Virginia. c.1832-35Elder Lewis A. Davis worked in Ohio and Indiana. 1836-39Joel Greene worked in Virginia. 1844Elder Azor Estee worked in Virginia. 1845Elder Richard C. Bond worked in Virginia. 1849Estee returned to pastor Salem and Lost Creek. He also worked to promote West Union Academy. 1866Elder Walter B. Gillette was sent as a missionary to West Virginia. 1870Gillette assisted in the formation of the Ritchie Church. Elder Charles A. Burdick was a missionary in West Virginia. 1875-76Elder Charles M. Lewis worked in West Virginia. Into Ohio Sabbath-keepers in Ohio were closely associated with the West Virginia churches. In 1824 a church was organized for the first time in Pike, Clarke County, Ohio, although Sabbatarians had been there for some time. Simeon Babcock and Samuel F. Randolph were its ministers. It grew at one time to 102 members, then declined due to a secession. In 1842, James B. Davis was its licentiate, but there was no pastor. The reason for the division in the Pike church was the issue of alcohol. A "Temperance Reform" movement gathered the support of some of the Pike members, and they broke off and formed another church, the dry North Hampton church, in 1837-40. A new church was also organized at Port Jefferson, Shelby County, in 1840 with 19 members with Lewis A. Davis as minister. The Jackson church, also formed in 1840, was composed of 38 members, most of which had moved from Pike. Also in 1840 a church at Stokes was organized with Joshua Hill as minister. The Scioto church, organized in 1842, was composed of immigrant members from the churches in Scott and Brookfield, New York.[96] Associations Formed The 1835 General Conference adopted a plan for reorganizing the conference into geographical divisions, or associations, of churches. Churches were to report to the associations, and the associations to the General Conference. As a result, in 1839 the Southwestern Association was formed of the following seven churches: Virginia:New Salem, Lost Creek, North Fork of Hughes River, South Fork of Hughes River Ohio:Pike, Temperance Reform Pike (North Hampton). Pennsylvania: Woodbridgetown Total membership was 271. In the early sessions, the Ohio churches brought their temperance dispute into the association meetings. Later, when the association took a strong pro-temperance stand, the Pike church failed to report to the association and severed its membership. In following years, the churches in Port Jefferson, Jackson Center, Scioto, and Stokes, Ohio, and Madison, Indiana, were admitted. In 1850 the association divided into the Ohio and Virginia associations.[97] Northwest Association The first Sabbath-keepers in the Old Northwest were emigrants from Allegheny County, New York, and included many from the Scott church. They arrived in 1838 and organized a church in Milton, Wisconsin, in 1840. A church at Albion, Dane County, was organized in 1843, and a church in Walworth in 1845. In 1846 these churches banded together in an association which in 1849 became known as the Northwest Association.[98] Milton, Wisconsin, became a center for Seventh Day Baptists, whose churches at one time dotted the state. A select school was started by Seventh Day Baptists at Milton in 1844, which was incorporated as Milton College in 1867. The college continued to be a repository of Seventh Day Baptist history. Other early western Sabbatarian Baptist churches were these: 1.Fredonia, Iowa, organized in 1842 by Rolean M'Reynolds, a former Sunday Baptist 2. Madison, Indiana, organized in 1843 3. Farmington, Illinois, begun in 1849, mostly with emigrants from Shiloh, New Jersey The Farmington church was pastored by Samuel Davison, previously a pastor at Marlboro (Salem) from 1844 to 1846, and Shiloh from 1846 to 1849. (It is interesting to note that a Samuel Davison was a leader with Gilbert Cranmer in the 1863 Hope of Israel movement in Michigan, which developed into the Seventh Day Church of God.) The church in Farmington, Illinois, was disbanded in 1856 and dropped from the association, but was reorganized again in 1872. By 1860, the following western Seventh Day Baptist churches had been organized. Wisconsin Milton 1840 Albion 1843 Walworth 1845 Christiana 1850 (Utica) Berlin 1850 Dakota 1853 Rock River 1856 Edgerton 1859 Iowa Fredonia 1842-1843 Madison 1842 (?) Welton 1855 Illinois Farmington 1849 Minnesota Trenton 1859 Dodge Center 1860 IX. Yearly Sabbatarian Meetings It is not known whether the English Sabbatarian churches observed a yearly meeting. As for American Sabbatarians, every recorded group held a yearly meeting, but more information needs to be gathered as to the time, nature, and purpose of these meetings. Scarce Information -- But Interesting The "Philadelphia Movement" churches established from the start a practice of holding yearly meetings. Sometimes the New Jersey Sabbatarians also attended. Jonathan Dunham, from Piscataway, New Jersey, was sent to be ordained at the 1745 yearly meeting at French Creek (Nantmeal), Pennsylvania. Newtown, as the headquarters, usually held the "May Meeting," while the "August Meeting" was conducted at Nottingham. "All were expected to attend" these regular yearly meetings.[99] German-speaking Seventh Day Baptists, established in America under the influence of Abel Noble, had "love feasts." The official Seventh Day Baptist history states that "at Ephrata and Morrison's Cove [both in Pennsylvania], the annual love-feast [written circa 1900] is celebrated in the autumn, the exact date being set from year to year. At Snow Hill, the annual love-feast is usually held in the Pentecostal season, commonly known as Whitsuntide, or the seventh week after Easter. Other love-feasts occur here at Christmas and Easter."[100] Early in its history, Piscataway established its own yearly meeting, as previously shown in Chapter V in the letter from the Mill Yard Church, dated August 27, 1743, addressed "to the Churches of Christ of the same faith, usually holding their yearly meeting at Piscataway."[101] The above records are among the few references discovered so far regarding yearly meetings outside of the Sabbatarian church in Newport, Rhode Island. Newport -- The First Recorded Yearly Meeting On October 31, 1683, Samuel Hubbard of Newport wrote Elder William Gibson, then at New London, Connecticut, desiring a yearly meeting. However, a severe winter prevented meeting that year. A yearly meeting date was eventually settled upon, and the first recorded Sabbatarian yearly meeting was held at Newport on May 14, 1684 (Old Style; Pentecost that year was May 12, Old Style). The stated purpose of the meeting was to bring the scattered members together "at a communion season." Members came from Newport, Westerly, Narragansett, Providence, Plymouth and Martha's Vineyard.[102] Twenty-six or twenty-seven attended this meeting, praying and listening to sermons and asking Bible questions. One of the questions asked was whether or not the Lord's Supper ought to be taken at night. No answer was given on this issue.[103] On Friday, April 13, 1696, Sabbath keepers met at Westerly, Rhode Island, and broke bread the same day (Passover that year was Sunday evening, April 15). On May 15, 1696 (Pentecost was June 11), they met at Newport, Rhode Island, and appointed a meeting at Westerly for September 5 (Feast of Trumpets was September 27). Here they also broke bread (had communion?). Another meeting was held on June 17, 1697 (Pentecost was May 27), at Newport. On the Sabbath, June 18, they broke bread. The 1698 meeting was set for June 6 (May 9 was Pentecost) at Newport and the third Friday of September in Westerly (September 20, New Style, which was the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles; or September 16, Old Style, which was the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles). Most of the yearly meetings came to be held at Westerly, also known as Hopkinton. The meeting dates continually hover around Passover, Pentecost, and Feast of Tabernacles times.[104] Events at Newport Yearly Meetings[105] 1703,1704A fraternal letter and a visiting committee were sent to the Pennsylvania brethren for the settlement of an unexplained difficulty. 1705Edward Dunham was ordained at the yearly meeting held at Westerly, by prayer and laying on of hands by Elder William Gibson, on October 22, 1705 (New Style; but History of the True Church cites the Seventh Day Baptist Memorial, page 121, as stating that the date was September 5, Old Style, which would equal September 16, New Style; the Feast of Tabernacles was October 3 to 10, New Style, from Saturday to Saturday), and the New Jersey brethren were admitted into "Christian association and communion." 1717Four persons were appointed on behalf of the church to sign letters addressed to brethren in Pennsylvania. 1734Two brethren were appointed to visit New Jersey. Correspondence was sent to Sabbath-keepers in England. 1762Apparently this year Newport decided to discontinue "General Meetings." 1763The yearly meeting was reinstituted as a means of unifying the various Sabbatarian churches. The date was set for the third Sabbath in September, with a church business meeting the Friday before, and an optional meeting on the Sunday after. What Yearly Meetings Were Like Other general meetings were held in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, and later among Sabbath-keepers in eastern and central New York, as well as western Virginia. Churches at the several Sabbatarian general or yearly meetings began to exchange fraternal greetings, letters, and delegates. Hopkinton was the central location to which all others looked. Burlington or Bristol, Connecticut, and Petersbury (now Berlin) and Brookfield, New York, were other centers for Sabbatarian yearly meetings.[106] The yearly church meeting at Hopkinton, Rhode Island, "was considered to be a day not for common church business, but a preparation day before communion. The Sabbath, with its general communion, was indeed an high day." The indication is that communion was taken on the Sabbath (Saturday) of the yearly meeting.[107] These annual gatherings were termed the "Yearly Meeting," or the "General Meeting," or the "Sabbatarian Great Meeting." They were devoted almost wholly to preaching and devotional exercises and are described thus by the Seventh Day Baptist historian, James Bailey: The journeys to attend them were often performed by ox teams, a distance of one hundred miles . . . great multitudes thronged to them for the spiritual profit to be gained, and multitudes more attended for curiosity or pleasure. No event, during the year, caused more excitement. The old members of the church, who attended them in their earlier times, love to live over again and again those pleasant and profitable meetings. Their social intercourse was of a holy and sanctified character, the influence of which still lingers in the hearts of those who enjoyed them.[108] Bailey further gives unique insight into the real meaning of these "feasts" observed by Sabbatarians: The meeting was REGARDED SOMEWHAT IN THE LIGHT OF THE YEARLY FEASTS OF THE JEWS [emphasis mine], when all tribes went up to Jerusalem to worship. It was a time when the members of the Church, generally, were expected to come together for a spiritual re-union . . . . The Lord's Supper was commonly observed at these General Meetings . . . . At a Church meeting of the 15th of September, 1722, was celebrated the ordinance of Bread and Wine.[109] Alcohol problems seemed to continually plague these Sabbatarian meetings: "The use of intoxicating drinks was common among all classes. Liquor dealers were accustomed to gather around the places of meeting, and sell to the multitudes assembled." Crowds often gathered of people who had no special interest in the meetings, causing trouble for the assemblies of Rhode Island and New Jersey. The annoyances became so great that state laws were enacted prohibiting the sale of intoxicating drinks within a mile of the place of meeting. The Hopkinton Yearly Meeting of August, 1797 appointed a committee to see that the law was not infringed.[110] Not a Unique Practice Holding yearly meetings was not a practice unique to Seventh Day Baptists. Sunday-keeping Baptists, in their various regional associations, held similar yearly meetings. The Warren Baptist Association met yearly in September; the Shaftsbury Association met on the first Wednesday in June; and the Vermont Association met the first Wednesday in October. These associations all began in the latter part of the 1700's.[111] Yearly Meetings Lead to Unification Emigration to new areas, including New York and West Virginia, led to the formation of new churches, and the desire among churches in the East to send missionaries to visit them and raise up additional members. The drive for this missionary activity was a major factor in the formation of the General Conference, and grew out of the practice of holding yearly meetings.[112] The following records of yearly meetings show the interest in missionary activity and the desire for communication between the scattered churches, which eventually led to unification. 1795"Reverend" Henry Clarke was commissioned as an evangelist to central New York by the Hopkinton Yearly Meeting. 1796Letters from Bristol and New London, Connecticut, and Petersburg, New York, were received during the annual meeting at Hopkinton. Brethren were appointed to attend the Bristol meeting, and letters were sent to Newport, Bristol, New London, Piscataway and Petersburg. 1797Progress was made toward closer unity. The Hopkinton circular letter told of their proposal to correspond or send delegates to every other yearly meeting. 1798Elder Henry Clarke and the Brookfield church asked for a change in time for the Rhode Island yearly meeting, looking forward to a general meeting for all the churches. 1799The Hopkinton "Yearly Meeting" or "Communion" was voted changed to the second Sabbath of September. 1800Sixty-five members met at Hopkinton for the Annual Communion on September 12, 1800. A letter was received from Brookfield urging enlarged and united plans for preaching the gospel, under the leadership of the Rhode Island Yearly Meeting. Not every church adhered to the unification movement: "In 1800 there were ten or twelve churches or Sabbath-keeping settlements in Massachusetts, on Long Island and in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina that had not yet become associated with the Rhode Island General Meeting." Records of Conference Meetings -- Truth Ebbs Away[113] 1800Seventy-two delegates from seven churches in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey attended the Rhode Island General Meeting. Elder Henry Clarke of Brookfield, New York, proposed unification so that "all Seventh-day Baptist churches should be united in active and aggressive missionary work." The Rhode Island Conference backed the proposal and a circular letter was sent to the other churches for their approval. Total reported membership was 1031. All churches were urged to send letters or delegates to the next conference at Hopkinton, in September, 1802. 1802Seventy-eight from seven churches attended this meeting. Newport, Hopkinton, New London, and Brookfield approved the proposed missionary movement. Cohansey and Petersburg were in the middle, while Piscataway opposed the movement. The "Annual Sabbatarian Conference" was in fact established. Brethren were exhorted to send money to the Conference treasury to support traveling ministers. The meeting site was to rotate among the various churches. 1803This year the Seventh Day Baptist Conference was organized. Voting was by churches, each church having from one to four votes, depending on its size. The Conference could only advise local churches, and contributions to the Conference were voluntary. The eight churches composing the Conference with their membership were: Hopkinton 605 Petersburg, New York 190 Piscataway 80 Cohansey 80 Brookfield 68 Newport 48 Bristol, Connecticut 32 Waterford, Connecticut 26 1804Apparently internal dissension was prevalent, indicated by the following circular letter: " . . . do nothing to wound the weak and feeble lambs of Christ, who cannot endure much; and be not offended with those who cannot see as far and walk as fast as you . . . establish nothing new, although it might be for the better, until the whole be generally agreed thereon, that peace and harmony may be established among ourselves . . . ." Here is the "have love" philosophy, also shown by the fact that the new constitution took especial pains to safeguard the independence and individuality of the churches. 1805The church in Bristol, Connecticut, opposed the missionary movement as "changing the custom and usages of the church," and opposed the call for money to support missionaries. The name "The Sabbatarian General Conference" was adopted. Not a single church voted against this conference's proceedings. 1808The Conference refused to receive into fellowship the West Fork church in Virginia on the grounds that it invited first-day Baptists to its communion. 1809"It was voted, as the opinion of the Conference, that, in the sacrament of the Lord's supper, once serving round of the bread and wine at one meeting answers the design of the institution" (once a year?). On the Sabbath during the meeting, about 300 partook of the communion. 1811Doctrinal disagreements were flourishing. The circular letter laments "a day of trial [which] generally prevails in the churches of our order," and (1) warns against anti-nomianism (doctrine that Christians are freed from moral law by grace), (2) exhorts that good works do not merit salvation, (3) regrets that many brethren have accepted the seventh-part-of-time theory, and (4) condemns the practice of open communion. 1812-13Large membership additions were reported: Berlin added 102, making a total of 437 members; Hopkinton added 200, making a total of 800. 1815Eleven churches were now part of the Conference. The Virginia churches seldom reported. Offensive war was condemned as unchristian. 1817The churches in Alfred and DeRuyter, New York, were received into the Conference, which was called the Seventh Day Baptist or Sabbatarian General Conference. 1818The churches in Lost Creek and Salem, Virginia, reported a destitute condition and requested ministerial assistance. The conference name was officially changed from Sabbatarian to Seventh-day Baptist General Conference. 1820The Conference exhorted the brethren to "show love" to the preachers and members of other denominations. 1822The Conference advised members "not to sacrifice the Sabbath in marriage." 1824-25The Conference met in June instead of in the autumn. 1826A letter from Elder Burnside was received by the Conference. He was pastor of Cripplegate (Pinner's Hall) Church in London, and "described certain fanatical and unworthy observers of the Seventh-day" in England. These were followers of Joanna Southcott in Manchester and elsewhere, keeping the Sabbath, wearing extra long beards, circumcising their children, and calling themselves "true Israelites." He mentioned other Sabbath-keepers in Devonshire near Torfay. (See Christian Intelligencer for May, 1825.) 1830The Conference recommended excommunication of brethren who persisted with Masonic connections. 1833The Conference voted unanimously to abstain from alcohol except as a medicine. 1836Strong resolutions were passed against slavery and alcohol; the "state of religion" was reported as "coldness and apathy," with more energy needed "for the salvation of the church." 1840The title "Reverend" before the names of ministers was voted to be omitted. (The earliest ministers had termed themselves "Elder." When the title "Reverend" came into use is not known.) "Apathy and backsliding were widespread," and the church was "languishing." 1841The question of whether or not the laying on of hands should be practiced in ministerial ordination and reception of new members was left to the individual churches to decide. The denomination was described by its own leaders as "very deficient in fervid and active piety." 1844The Mill Yard Church in London requested, and was granted, honorary membership in the Conference, despite "important doctrinal differences" between them and Seventh Day Baptists in America. 1849German Seventh Day Baptists in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, desired to cooperate with the Conference, and sent Dr. William M. Fahnestock as a delegate to the General Conference. 1854The amended statement of doctrine was "of no binding force," and "no longer set forth the practice of laying on of hands as being apostolic." 1864Seventh Day Baptist members were "greatly absorbed in national affairs" (engaged in the Civil War). 1869The Conference resolved to send a delegate to the next Seventh-Day Adventist meeting. 1870A resolution was passed for cooperation with the Seventh-Day Adventists, but without compromising the distinctive Seventh Day Baptist principles. 1871,73J.N. Andrews of the Seventh-Day Adventists visited the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference. 1876,79Elder James White spoke on the relations between the two denominations. The Seventh Day Baptist delegate to the Seventh Day Adventist convention reported that Seventh-Day Adventists were modifying their views and moving closer to the Seventh Day Baptists. Mention of Seventh Day Adventists in further Seventh Day Baptist conferences is absent. X. Communion -- Varying Practices As stated previously, communion was generally observed on Saturdays. However, during the various annual meetings down through Seventh Day Baptist history, there were many variant modes and times of communion observance. The 1926 Seventh Day Baptist Manual notes that the "Mill Yard Church of London, the original Seventh Day Baptist Church, celebrates it but once a year, at the time of the Passover, from the Jewish Church."[114] Besides the church at the South Fork of the Hughes River in West Virginia, no other Seventh Day Baptist church is known to have observed communion at the Passover time. A.H. Lewis, Seventh Day Baptist counterpart of the Seventh-Day Adventist Sabbath historian John N. Andrews, wrote that the crucifixion was on Wednesday, and the resurrection on Saturday. Further, he admitted, "The earliest Christians, i.e. those of the New Testament period, continued to observe the Passover; and since Christ died at that time, they associated His death with that festival. In this way the Passover became the festival of Christ's death." The Scriptural time, Lewis knew, was the 14th of Nisan, without reference to Sunday or any other day of the week.[115] Yet it is doubtful if Lewis, influential in Seventh Day Baptist circles, ever really kept the Passover. If the Mill Yard Church observed communion at the time of the Passover throughout its history, it appears that the American churches deviated from English practices from the start. The very purpose of holding yearly meetings (the first recorded one was May 14, 1684, Old Style) was to bring scattered members together "at a communion season."[116] From its earliest records, communion at Newport was reported to have been held in April, May, September, and at other times of the year. On December 1, 1754, Newport communion time was set on the last Sabbath of every month. It was still observed on the last Saturday of the month in 1771.[117] On July 12, 1746, the Shrewsbury church voted to observe communion once in two months in conformity with the practice of the Westerly church. On March 3, 1775, the church voted that communion be held quarterly, on the last Sabbath in November, February, May, and August.[118] In 1811, the Piscataway church was also observing communion quarterly, with the Friday before communion Sabbath, set apart as a day of fasting and prayer.[119] Closed Communion From the start, Seventh Day Baptists have differed with regular Baptists in restricting communion to members of the church. This practice stems from the original American group, which refused to commune with "apostate" former Sabbath-keepers.[120] Changes in the Communion Seventh Day Baptists have altered the elements of the communion which were originally used. "Formerly, fermented wine and unleavened bread both, only, were used." However, contents of the "cup" were replaced with grape juice, and today leavened bread is often used.[121] Footwashing The first mention of footwashing in connection with communion occurs in 1750, when Shrewsbury wrote a letter to its mother church at Westerly recommending that its members take up the washing of one another's feet. Some at Shrewsbury had observed this practice for years after the Lord's Supper and before the closing hymn. Footwashing was carried into West Virginia when the Shrewsbury church migrated there, and the practice was generally observed there until the middle 1800's. For a short time in the 1870's it was revived.[122] Further Communion Notes The early creeds and statements of belief are silent about the time of Seventh Day Baptist communion. The 1809 General Conference voted "that, in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, once serving round of the bread and wine at one meeting answers the design of the institution." Yet this statement did not mean conforming to the practice of once-a-year communion at the time of the Jewish Passover, for at the 1809 fall meeting of Seventh Day Baptists, communion was served.[123] According to the 1833 "Confession of Faith," it was the duty of members to take the Lord's Supper "as often as the church shall deem it expedient and the circumstances admit."[124] If Mill Yard, the "mother church" of London, England, always observed communion once a year on the date of the Jewish Passover, why didn't American Sabbatarians do the same? The exact reason is unclear. However, the fact that the Americans had forgotten how they had received their doctrines and beliefs (Revelation 3:3) cannot be denied. XI. Church of God -- Church of Christ A.N. Dugger, in his book A History of the True Church traces the name "Church of God" from English Seventh Day Baptists (so-called) to American Sabbatarian Baptists and on through the Adventists to the forming of the Church of God (Adventist) about 1863. Yet his "proofs" leave much to be desired in the way of historical rigor. English "Church of God"? Dugger states that it is evident that the Newport church was at first called "Church of God" because of its relationship with Sabbath-keeping churches of London known by this name.[125] In the "Confession of faith, and other public documents of the Baptist churches of England, in the 17th century," edited by E.B. Underfield, there is recorded the "humble petition of several 'Churches of God' in London [1640] commonly, though falsely, called anabaptists."[126] Francis Bampfield's book, Shem Archer (1600's) on page 28 mentions the "Church of God."[127] The letter by Joseph Davis, Sr. from Oxford prison to the Newport Sabbath keepers, 1670, uses the words "Church of Christ" at least twice. Davis wrote, "I believe there is but one true visible Church . . . noted by the Spirit in Revelation 14:12 to be such as keep the Commandments of God, and the Faith of Jesus, and such are, and shall be blessed, Revelation 22:14 . . . . They are the Lord Christ's Church."[128] First mention of the title "Seventh-day Baptist" in the Mill Yard records occurs on October 6, 1754: "the Congregation of Protestants dissenting from the Church of England, commonly called the seventh-day Baptists . . . ." The official history concludes, "How long they had been 'commonly' so called, we do not know."[129] A 1668 letter by William Gibson and ten others of the Bell Lane Church in London to the Newport Sabbath-keepers begins, "The church of Christ, meeting in Bell Lane, London, upon the Lord's holy Sabbath . . . ."[130] A. N. Rogers, former President of the Seventh Day Baptist Historical Society, refuted the idea that English Seventh Day Baptists ever termed themselves "Church of God." He reported that "the John Evans List of Dissenting Congregations and Ministers, 1715-29, London, designates our churches of that period as Sabbatarian Baptists."[131] Newport Name -- "Church of Christ" In a reply concerning an investigation respecting Sabbatarians in Newport, the members of Newport stated: "Under the former dispensation there was a church and a world as there is now; and as it is the duty of the world now to repent and believe the Gospel, so it was the duty of the world to be proselytized and joined to the then Church of God."[132] In a letter of admonition to Peter West in Martha's Vineyard, June 20, 1709, the Newport church termed itself "The church of Jesus Christ keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus . . . ." And the letter from Newport to the Mill Yard Church on September 2, 1753, began, "The Church of Christ at Newport, observing the Seventh-day Sabbath, to our well-beloved brethren of the same faith and order at London . . . ." And three times, in 1763, 1766, and 1775, Newport correspondence referred to the church as "the Sabbatarian Church in Newport."[133] In 1819 the Newport church obtained a charter with the name "Seventh Day Baptist Church of Christ."[134] Not an Exclusive Name -- Use of Name No Proof Sabbatarians were not the only religious people to use the name "Church of Christ" or "Church of God." A group of Sunday observers on Noodles Island, near Boston, were apparently in correspondence with the Sabbatarians at Newport. Samuel Hubbard wrote them on November 4, 1671, addressing them as "the church of Jesus Christ, meeting on Noodle's Island," and argued for the observance of the Sabbath. After the schism in Newport (in which the Sabbath- keepers formed a distinct church), the Noodle's Island people wrote Hiscox and the other Sabbath-keepers on September 1, 1672: "The church of Christ in or near Boston sends greeting."[135] Mere use of the name "Church of God" or "Church of Christ" is no definite indication that a group holds any particular religious belief. Both Sabbath-keepers, Sunday-keepers, including those in the Roman Catholic Church, have used the name "Church of God," although they differ widely in beliefs. Any attempt to classify a group as a "true church" merely because it bears the name "Church of God," is historically and theologically inaccurate. Westerly -- No Name? Three months after its organization, the church in Westerly, Rhode Island, wrote to Newport on December 19, 1708: "The church of Christ in and about Westerly, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, to the church of Christ in and about Rhode Island, in the same faith and order of fellowship."[136] The official Seventh Day Baptist history states the following about the Westerly church: . . . there seems to have been no special thought that it should have an official name . . . . For nearly fifty years after the separation from the brethren in Newport, it was referred to as the 'Sabbatarian Church in Westerly' . . . .[137] Additional evidence of "no official name" is presented by the same source: The Sabbath-observers in both places [Newport and Westerly] formed one communion which had no name and no articles of faith save the Bible. In the first minute in the first record book extant, the church is referred to as 'The Church of Rhode Island and Westerly.' . . . Sometimes it is spoken of as the 'Church,' at other times the 'congregation,' but it had no official name. However, in 1819 the Westerly Sabbatarians secured a state charter with the name, "The Seventh-day Baptist Church of Christ at Hopkinton."[138] Other Uses of A Name At its founding in 1705, the Piscataway church designated itself "the Church of God, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ, living in Piscataway and Hopewell." Article Eight of its Nine Articles of Faith states, "We believe that a company of sincere persons, being formed in faith and practices of the above . . . may truly be said to be the 'Church of Christ'."[139] The New London church, formed in 1784, agreed "to become a Church of Christ in fellowship with the . . . Church of Christ at Hopkinton, taking the Scriptures to be the rule of our faith and practice."[140] The Shrewsbury Church of God Formed in 1745, the Sabbatarian church at Shrewsbury, New Jersey, relates its beginning: "This is a book of records of the settlement and proceedings of the Church of Christ, keeping the Commandments of God, particularly the Holy Seventh Day . . . ."[141] Shrewsbury's Articles of Faith, stated June 13, 1774, refer to "The Church of Christ in Shrewsbury and Middleton." Article Thirteen states, "We believe a company of sincere persons being found in the faith and practice of the above-said things may truly be said to be the church of God." The short articles, or covenant, read to persons when received into the church, included this admonition: "That you shall walk honestly towards those that are without, that you give no offense to Jew or Gentile, or the Church of God." These same articles are in use today in the church in Salem, West Virginia. Standard procedure during ordination, used in the 1775 ordination of Jacob Davis, included this question to the ministerial candidate: "Have you entire freedom to administer the ordinances of God to them as to a church of God; to pray with them and for them and endeavor to build them up in the faith?" The charge to the new minister was, "Brother Davis, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, that thou take charge of the church of Christ dwelling at Shrewsbury . . . ." On September 8, 1750, Shrewsbury wrote a letter to its mother church at Westerly, addressing them as "the church of Christ in Westerly." Names in West Virginia The Woodbridgetown church in Pennsylvania, organized in 1790, termed itself "Seventh Day Baptist Church of Christ," and had 22 articles similar to Shrewsbury's. The covenant of the Lost Creek church, organized in 1805, reads, "The Church of Christ on Lost Creek, in the observance of God's Holy Sanctified Seventh Day-Sabbath." The church at the South Fork of the Hughes River called itself "Church of Christ" or "Seventh Day Baptist Church."[142] Names in 1833 "Expos‚ of Sentiments" The "Expos‚ of Sentiments," adopted in 1833 by the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference, uses both "Church of Christ" and "Church of God." It states that the law of God is "morally and religiously binding upon the Church of Christ," and also states, "We believe it is the duty of all men, and especially the Church of God, to observe religiously the seventh day of the week . . . ."[143] Controversy Surrounding the Name As can be seen in the above records, the words "Church of God" and "Church of Christ" were often used interchangeably. Later records show the use of the terms "Sabbatarian Church of Christ," and "Seventh Day Baptist Church of Christ." To the latter, the words "of Christ" were subsequently dropped. It is claimed by Dugger that at first these Sabbatarians held to "Church of God" but later became corrupted and adopted names other than the Biblical denotation.[144] However, Albert N. Rogers, President of the Seventh Day Baptist Historical Society, strongly refutes the historicity of the use of the name "Church of God." In a personal letter to the author, he states that the matter of the use of the term "Church of God" in Seventh Day Baptist history has come up many times since the publication of Dugger and Dodd's book. His counter-argument reads as follows: (1) Dugger and Dodd "appropriated much of our history without authorization." (2)"There is no instance of which I am aware of the term [Church of God] being used in a nominative sense as a title, although it may very well have been used in a general way as in Acts 20:28." (3)Seventh Day Baptists were known, says Rogers, as Sabbatarian Baptists until 1818, when the name was changed by the General Conference to "Seventh Day Baptist." XII. Seventh Day Baptist Doctrine Anti-Trinitarianism and "Soul Sleeping" William Davis in the early 1700's believed in the immortality of the soul and the Trinity. Yet his views were in direct opposition to the leading elders, Joseph Clarke, Joseph Crandall, and Thomas Hiscox, whom Davis derisively termed as "soul sleepers" and "Arians." Besides the name question, doctrinal disputes also mark the history of the Sabbatarian Baptists. Today, almost the only distinction between Seventh Day Baptists and Sunday Baptists is the date of weekly worship. However, it is obvious that this was not always the case. Current Seventh Day Baptist theological views are vastly different from those of early Sabbatarian Baptists. Three Major Points Dugger and Dodd give three cardinal points of doctrine of the "Church of God" throughout its history: (1) anti-Trinitarianism, (2) conditional immortality, and (3) Sabbath-keeping. They state, "There is no body of Christians in the world, with the exception of the Church of God, which teaches all three of these beautiful truths."[145] All three of these beliefs were held generally by early Sabbatarian Baptists, but later, through the influence of men like William Davis, Trinitarianism and immortal-soulism entered, along with a host of other false doctrines. The Holy Trinity? A Seventh Day Baptist wrote in 1811 that Sabbatarian Baptists believed the Holy Ghost to be the "operative power or spirit of God. Nevertheless, there are few, if any, of this denomination . . . who believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are three absolute distinct persons, coequal . . . and yet one God; as such an idea would be in the face of scripture."[146] However, the 1833 Expos‚ of Sentiments, passed by the General Conference, did stand "in the face of scripture." It declared: We believe that there is a union existing between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that they are equally divine and equally entitled to our adoration. James Bailey in 1866, although he was a Trinitarian, acknowledged that among some Seventh Day Baptist ministers, there was a strong aversion to the word, "Trinity." Bailey also reported that "there are a few societies of Sabbatarians in the state of New York, not of our fellowship, however, that may strictly be called Arians."[147] Who were these Sabbatarians? They could not have been Seventh-Day Adventists, since Adventists believe in the Trinity. Were these Arian Sabbath-keepers part of the Sabbatarian Church of God? Congregationalism Baptists generally are extremely congregational; individual churches have absolute independence in all matters of discipline and faith. Yet, "Seventh Day Baptists were even more independent than the Baptists . . . ."[148] Various statements of faith had no binding force over any church or individual.[149] The General Conference was designed as an advisory body, with no right to interfere with local autonomy. During individual church meetings, issues were decided by a vote of all members.[150] Church officers and elders were chosen by vote of the membership in all churches (except the one at the South Fork of the Hughes River). Moreover, at Piscataway, officers were chosen by casting lots in cases of lack of agreement.[151] Beliefs regarding church government were stated in the 1926 Manual: It is evident that in New Testament days the baptized believers in a community constituted a church and that each church was independent from every other organization, civil and religious, as to the management of its own affairs. To this policy Seventh Day Baptist churches have always held . . . [and have interpreted the New Testament] as teaching the freedom of the individual to approach God through Christ directly, to interpret the Scriptures for himself, to formulate his own beliefs, and to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. Further, Seventh Day Baptists believe the New Testament does not support the establishment of any central power to give instructions to local churches and individual members.[152] This "local autonomy" belief is very much like that held by the Seventh Day Church of God. Membership -- Reception and Excommunication Members were received only upon the vote of a Sabbatarian Baptist church at a business meeting. In the Westerly church (Hopkinton), a written confession of faith was required of candidates for membership so that the initiate knew the step he was taking.[153] After baptism, laying on of hands was generally performed. The Newport church observed this practice from the start, in accord with English Sabbatarian churches, and the 1833 Expos‚ of Faith upholds it.[154] Much internal dissension occurred within the churches. Personal and business differences among members were taken before a church council composed of the elders, deacons and several leading members.[155] Recalcitrant members were sometimes excommunicated with a formal "Awful Sentence of Excommunication." A frequent reason for excommunication was continual breach of the Sabbath, among other offenses.[156] Modified Calvinism In the Calvinism-Armenian controversy over predestination, Seventh Day Baptists generally held a middle position, indicating that they believed that the Holy Spirit guides a person but does not force him to do God's will.[157] Restricted Communion Regular Baptists practice open communion, but Seventh Day Baptists, owing to their origin, have always restricted their communion to Sabbath-keeping members.[158] Christmas An 1892 SDB tract stated: "No fact is more fully established than that Sunday and its associate festivals came into Christianity through pagan influence." This included Easter, Christmas, Whitsunday, and others.[159] This view was generally held by Seventh Day Baptists until the late 1800's, when Christmas influence began to show itself in the holding of "Founder's Day" on December 23, in order to hold the interest of the children during the holiday season. It was really only a pretense, a Christmas observation two days early.[160] Now, Christmas and Easter are commonly observed among Seventh Day Baptists. Creedal Statements The Articles of Faith of the Piscataway Church, founded in 1705, are as follows:[161] I.One God the Father, one Lord Jesus Christ, who is Mediator between God and mankind, and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. II.Both the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God, and are the rule of faith and practice. III.The Ten Commandments continue to be the rule of righteousness unto all men. IV. The six principles in Hebrews 6:1-2 are to be practiced and taught. V.The Lord's Supper ought to be administered and received in all Christian churches. VI.All Christian churches ought to have church officers in them, as elders and deacons. VII.All persons thus believing ought to be baptized by immersion after confession of faith in the above. VIII."We believe that a company of sincere persons, being formed in faith and practices of the above said things, may truly be said to be the 'Church of Christ'." (Acts 2:41, 42) IX."We give up ourselves first unto the Lord, and to one another, to be guided and governed by one another, according to the Word of God." The 1833 Expos‚ of Sentiments, the first creedal statement of the General Conference, holds a Trinitarian viewpoint. It declared the law of God to be "morally and religiously binding upon the Church of Christ," and that it is the "duty of all men, and especially the Church of God, to observe religiously the seventh day of the week . . . ."[162] XIII. Signs of Spiritual Weakness Since 1900, Seventh Day Baptist North American membership has steadily declined. In 1811, Clarke wrote of the history of Sabbatarian elders: ". . . there is not an instance of one of them being guilty of any scandalous immorality; but their lives have been marked by purity of morals, and exemplary piety and virtue."[163] Yet in 1971 the President of Milton College stated that the Seventh Day Baptist Church had become a haven for former Seventh-Day Adventists who smoked and ate pork, and former Church of God members who had divorced and remarried.[164] Sabbatarian Baptist views have been drastically watered down since the early days of their history! It is this spiritual decay from within that has led to the continuing decline in church membership. Five key reasons for their decline can be given: (1) Other Churches Condoned; Sabbath Neglected Seventh Day Baptists have been unusually tolerant of other churches. They quickly forgot the admonition of Dr. Peter Chamberlain not to become "little horn men," and that of Joseph Davis, Sr.: "As to the churches of Christ, they generally keep from a sinful compliance with the false worshipers." The city of Westerly, Rhode Island, was at one time nearly all Sabbatarian. However, when other ministers came to town, the Sabbath-keepers listened to them and even complimented them on their preaching. A first-day missionary who came to Westerly in 1722 expected Westerly's two Sabbatarian ministers to virulently attack him. But to his surprise, the Sabbatarian ministers were in his audience and thanked him for coming, and even spoke against some of the Sabbatarians who were critical of the Sunday-keeper's ideas. Quite naturally then, "The decline in [Sabbatarian] numbers was due . . . chiefly to the organization of other churches from its members."[165] In 1848 a first-day Baptist church was meeting on Sundays in the Newport Sabbatarian church building.[166] Sabbath-keeping ministers in America followed the corruption of their English counterparts by often preaching to Sunday congregations as well as to their own.[167] President Smith of Milton College has stated that Seventh Day Baptists do not believe they constitute the only true church, and that Sabbath-keeping is not essential to being a Christian.[168] Here were sown the seeds of their own destruction, which began with neglect of the Sabbath, the very practice which most distinguished Seventh Day Baptists from other non-Catholics. If a person believes one church is as good as another, he will marry a person of another church and go to the most convenient or socially desirable church rather than the one in which he was called. That is precisely what the "younger generation" of Seventh Day Baptists did. A decline in members also resulted, as Seventh Day Baptists joined the "Second Great American Migration" from farms and small towns to large industrial cities. (2) Their "Small Town Syndrome" Prevented Growth Seventh Day Baptist churches were invariably established in small rural towns, not in large cities. Seventh Day Baptist attempts to establish big city congregations failed. Six-day working weeks were common in 19th Century America, and this custom made Sabbath-keeping difficult, but this problem did not stop Seventh-Day Adventists from establishing big city churches. Seventh Day Baptists have not escaped the "small town syndrome," and therefore they are declining. They have been content to rest in sleepy little towns, and have not been fired with zeal to preach the gospel to the whole world as a witness. Apparently tithing was not observed in early Seventh Day Baptist churches. "Almost every method of raising money, except the lottery, has been before the church and many of them tried."[169] Some churches imposed a tax on their members, assessed by a committee of three "judicious" members.[170] Elders generally supported themselves. The care of the poor was given the most attention, with little or nothing set apart for the spread of the gospel. "Small Town Syndrome" has significantly affected not only Seventh Day Baptists but also the Seventh Day Church of God. And so it is that leading Seventh Day Baptist churches came to be located in such unknown places as Plainfield, New Jersey; Salem, West Virginia; and Milton, Wisconsin; while leading Seventh Day Church of God churches were established in Hartford, Michigan; Marion, Iowa; Stanberry, Missouri; Salem, West Virginia; Meridian, Idaho; and Harrisburg, Oregon. Why not New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago, or San Francisco? (3) Seventh Day Baptist "Have Love Attitude" Allowed the Entrance of False Doctrine Seventh Day Baptists were "most patient" with lax, backsliding members. Some cases of excommunication dragged on for years before the church finally acted.[171] At the church in Shiloh, New Jersey, many members held to beginning Sabbath at Friday midnight instead of Friday sunset. Instead of enforcing the correct practice, "charity was shown in letting everyone decide for himself, and some continued to begin at midnight."[172] In the Circular Letter of 1820, the Conference extolled "divine love" and exhorted the brethren to love all mankind and "to practice kindness toward preachers and people of other denominations."[173] It is recorded that individual members of a Seventh Day Baptist church had "loving regard" for those with differing views.[174] As a result of this "have love" philosophy, coupled with the independent nature of their church government, Sabbatarian Baptists were fraught with internal doctrinal dissension, and much false doctrine entered. William Davis False doctrines were introduced early to the Seventh Day Baptist church through the influence of William Davis. Born in Wales in 1663, William Davis switched from the Church of England to Quakerism and came to America with William Penn, but afterwards joined Keith in his revolt against Penn. Then he became a Baptist, but because of his orthodox views of Christ (he thought Christ was not divine), he was excommunicated from the Baptists and through Noble became a Sabbatarian. In 1706 Davis applied for membership in the Newport church, but was rejected because he held wrong doctrines. In 1710 he tried again and was accepted, although some still objected to him. In 1713 he was authorized by the church to preach and baptize.[175] Davis was "in" and "out" of the church for the rest of his life. He had views favoring the immortality of the soul, Trinitarianism, and going to Heaven, in opposition to church leaders such as Clarke, Crandall, and Hiscox. Davis' views crept in and later became official Seventh Day Baptist doctrine. Sabbath Schools The "have love" attitude made early Sabbatarian Baptists churches easy targets for these false doctrines. Once introduced, these wrong doctrines were able to take root because Sabbatarians were inadequately instructed in doctrine. "The beginning of the modern Sunday-school movement" stems from Robert Raikes at Gloucester, England in 1780. Interestingly, a Seventh Day Baptist Sabbath school was organized in 1740, at Ephrata, Pennsylvania, among German Sabbatarians.[176] This was years before the first Sunday School, but Sabbatarian doctrinal teaching did not effectively combat false teaching. Among English-speaking Sabbath Baptists, the first Sabbath School was probably begun, strangely enough, in the church at South Fork, of the Hughes River in c. 1842. However, it was not until later that Sabbath Schools became a general practice among Sabbatarians. By then, false doctrine had become dominant. (4) Seventh Day Baptists Mixed in Politics Another key reason for their decline was that Sabbatarian Baptists were active in political affairs. From the start, numerous Sabbatarian church members were in the colonial and later state legislatures. Richard Ward, member of the Newport church, was governor of Rhode Island from 1741 to 1742.[177] As noted previously, numerous Seventh Day Baptists participated in the Revolutionary War, as well as in the War of 1812. As late as the 1970's, U.S. Senator Jennings Randolph of West Virginia continued the SDB tradition of public service. Inside the church, "politics" was the name of the game. "Grave internal dissensions" seemed to be prominent in many West Virginia churches, as well as in others.[178] A new lowering of Scriptural standards was attained with the appearance of women preachers in Ritchie, West Virginia, and western New York during the mid-1880's.[179] Church "politics" supported this move. (5) Disunity and Lethargy Resulted in a "Dead" Church John Maxson, fourth pastor of the Newport church, 1754-1778, was examined by the Westerly church in 1743 but declined to preach there. The contents of his "exam" show the moribund spiritual condition of the Sabbatarian church:[180] Q: Do you believe the Seventh Day keeping church in Westerly is a Church of Christ? A: Maxson replied that he believed in their fundamentals, "but [I] have had fears of them, that they were as the church of the Laodiceans, or in a DEAD, dull, or cold state." Q: Do you believe Adam and Eve's sin brought eternal destruction on all their posterity? A: "I cannot find anything [in Scripture] to urge me in duty to ask forgiveness for Adam's transgression." Q: Do you believe that faith without works will justify man to salvation? A: " . . . true faith in Christ entitles to salvation, which faith must be evinced by good works or by keeping the commandments." Salvation is freely offered only to "true believers that are sincerely obedient." A Christian by sin can "totally destroy" his salvation. Conference reports are rife with admissions of the cold and lethargic state of the Sabbatarian churches at the turn of the nineteenth century. In 1836 there was said to be "general coldness and apathy" in the whole church. In 1840, despite the "revivals" in the church, there remained widespread "apathy and backsliding." By 1846 little interest was shown in denominational matters.[181] Periodical after periodical published by Seventh Day Baptists ceased due to lack of support. In fact, the history of nineteenth century Seventh Day Baptists is the record of one paper's demise after another. A "tent campaign" began in 1878, with several evangelist preachers in the effort. The program was soon abandoned, because church members would not support it. A feeble revival of the program was attempted in 1895, with few visible results.[182] A Declining Church Those few who did come into Seventh Day Baptist congregations during the 1830's and 1840's (the period of greatest growth) were termed "converts to the sabbath."[183] They had merely accepted the argument of the Sabbath. True conversion was sadly lacking. A declining church, both in numbers and in spiritual power, had significantly departed from the beliefs and practices of its ancestors: this characterizes the present state of Seventh Day Baptists. XIV. Will History's Lessons Be Remembered? "Rev." Stephen Burdick, in the official Seventh Day Baptist history, gives a number of "lessons from the past." He makes two major points: (1) God's chosen people must be separated from others of wrong doctrine to effectively perform His work. Burdick states: . . . co-operation in religious work, with others, known to be wrong in matters of religious doctrine and practice . . . . [results inevitably in] the loss of moral and spiritual power and the unavoidable experience of disappointment and failure. The lesson is obvious . . . [God's people] must be a peculiar people, zealous of good works . . . . (2) No other organization can take the place of the "church of God" in doing God's work: The church of God is a missionary organization . . . . [whose purpose is] world-wide evangelism . . . . The church of God, guided by His word and directed by His Holy Spirit is the only qualified and authorized body of men to develop, initiate and apply the agencies of grace and power and supply the conditions of success in the work of God's kingdom.[184] No more accurate statements could be made than the two above conclusions of Burdick. Yet Seventh Day Baptists have totally forgotten these lessons. They fail to remember the former practices of their church or the lesson of martyrs, such as John James, who refused to compromise with the truth. Dwell on the Past, But Forget Its Lesson Yet paradoxically, Seventh Day Baptists dote on their history. Their periodicals have continually emphasized the church's rich historical legacy. Seventh Day Baptists, including President Smith of Milton College, admit the lessons of their history, but refuse or cannot resuscitate their dying (or dead) church. Sardis Church Forgets Lesson of History The Bible records Christ's message to the Sardis era of His church: Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent . . . . He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Revelation 3:3, 13) A Sabbath-keeping church, terming itself the "Church of God," which condones false doctrines, neglects what little truth it has (as the Sabbath), and is infected with "small town syndrome," the "have love attitude," internal politics, and lack of proper church government, and is disunited and lethargic: such a church is in the "Sardis" condition. It is "dead" spiritually because it does not remember the lesson of its own history and does not choose to repent when shown to be in error. Unmistakably, the Sardis message applies to the history of a people who now term themselves "Seventh Day Baptists," but who at times formerly held the name "Church of God." Will the present-day Church of God remember the lessons from the history of the Sardis church?ê FOOTNOTES ENDNOTES******************************** [1]. Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America (Plainfield, New Jersey: American Sabbath Tract Society, 1910), 149. (Hereafter this source is referred to as "SDB.") [2]. Thomas S. Griffiths, A History of Baptists in New Jersey (Hightstown, New Jersey: Barr Press Publishing Company, 1904), 518. [3]. Robert G. Torbet in The American Church of the Protestant Heritage, Vergilius Ferm, ed.(New York: Philosophical Library, 1953), 199. [4]. Harry W. Lowe, Radio Church of God: How Its Teachings Differ from Seventh Day Adventists, (Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1970), 14-15; Frank S. Mead, Handbook of Denominations in the United States (New York: Abingdon Press, 1956), 64. [5]. David Benedict, A General History of the Baptist Denomination in America and other Parts of the World (New York: Lewis Colby and Company, 1848), 922. [6]. Isaac Backus, A History of New England with Particular Reference to the Denomination of Christians Called Baptists (Newton, Massachusetts: Backus Historical Society, 1871), 490-99. [7]. W.C. Whitford, Historical Sketch of the Seventh-Day Baptist Churches in America (Milton, Wisconsin: Milton College, no date), 71. [8]. A.H. Lewis, History of Sabbath and Sunday (Milton College Library), 218. [9]. SDB, 249. [10]. Backus, Vol. I, 411. [11]. Henry Clarke, A History of the Sabbatarians, or Seventh Day Baptists, in America (Utica, New York: 1811), 10-11. [12]. Seventh Day Baptist Memorial, I, January 1852, 26-27. [13]. Ibid., 24-26. [14]. The Last Legacy, or the Autobiography and Religious Profession of Joseph Davis Senior, Willaim Henry Black, ed. (London: Mill Yard Congregation, no date ), 51-57. [15]. Cited in Backus, Vol. II, 601 (?). [16]. Joseph Belcher, The Religious Denominations in the United States (Philadelphia: J.E. Potter, 1854), 265. [17]. James Bailey, "History of the Origin and Growth of Sabbath-Keeping in America," Seventh Day Baptist Quarterly, Vol. I, January, 1884, 15. [18]. SDB, 599-600. [19]. Andrew N. Dugger and Clarence O. Dodd, A History of the True Religion (Jerusalem: 1968), 270-71. [20]. SDB, 600. [21]. SDB, 600, 608. [22]. Frederic Denison, Westerly and Its Witnesses (Providence, Rhode Island: J.A. and R.A. Reid, 1878), 59-60. [23]. SDB, 601. [24]. SDB, 600. [25]. SDB, 606, 608. [26]. SDB, 602. [27]. SDB, 602-3, 613. [28]. David S. Katz, Sabbath and Sectarianism in Seventeenth-Century England (New York: E.J. Brill, 1988), 168. [29]. Cited in Katz, 175. [30]. SDB, 616. [31]. Ibid. [32]. Clarke, 23-28. [33]. Denison, 65. [34]. Griffiths, 518-19. [35]. James Bailey, History of the Seventh-Day Baptist General Conference, from Its Origin, September 1802, to Its Fifty-Third Session, September 1865 (Toledo: S. Bailey and Company, 1866), 12-13. [36]. SDB, 124-25. [37]. SDB, 140 (?). [38]. SDB, 668. [39]. SDB, 124-25, 660 (?); Henry C. Vedder, A History of the Baptists in the Middle States (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1808), page unknown. [40]. SDB, 670. [41]. SDB, 670-71. [42]. SDB, 672-73. [43]. SDB, 671-73. [44]. SDB, 130. [45]. SDB, 672-73, 607 [46]. Griffiths, 518-19. [47]. SDB, 673-74. [48]. SDB, 674. [49]. SDB, 152-53, 674-75; Benjamin F. Riley, A History of the Baptists in the Southern States East of the Mississippi (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1898), 339. [50]. Bailey, 13-15. [51]. Vedder, 93. [52]. SDB, 125; Clarke, 31-32. [53]. SDB, 130, 667. [54]. Seventh Day Baptist Memorial, Vol. II, 121, cited in Dugger, 275. [55]. Clarke 31-32. [56]. SDB, 685. [57]. Vedder, 52. [58]. SDB, 677. [59]. SDB, 130-32, 678-79; Clarke, 31-34. [60]. Bailey, 12-13. [61]. Griffiths, 518-19. [62]. SDB, 132, 150. [63]. SDB, 676, 683. [64]. Clarke, 37-38; SDB, 685. [65]. SDB, 681-82, 132. [66]. SDB, 678, 686. [67]. SDB, 1279, 638-39; Corliss Fitz Randolph, A History of Seventh Day Baptists in West Virginia (Plainfield, New Jersey: American Sabbath Tract Society, 1905), 1043-45. [68]. Randolph, 39-40. [69]. Theodore L. Gardiner History of the Salem Seventh-Day Baptist Church, (Alfred Center, New York: American Sabbath Tract Society, 1892), 11-13. [70]. SDB, 639. [71]. SDB, 826. [72]. Whitford, 72. [73]. SDB, 826-32. [74]. Randolph, 73-82; SDB, 831-33. [75]. SDB, 834-36. [76]. Randolph, 100-101. [77]. Randolph, 112-13. [78]. Gardiner, 21-23. [79]. Randolph, 112-13. [80]. Randolph, 95-97, 112-13. [81]. SDB, 837. [82]. SDB, 844. [83]. Randolph, 146. [84]. SDB, 844-50. [85]. Ibid. [86]. Randolph, 383. [87]. SDB, 850-53. [88]. SDB, 853-54. [89]. Gardiner, 22; Randolph, 199-201; SDB, 859. [90]. SDB, 855-59, 887-88; Randolph, 199-209; Clarke, 64. [91]. Randolph, 205-6, Gardiner, 37. [92]. SDB, 860-61. [93]. SDB, 855-57. [94]. SDB, 854-64, 1367. [95]. SDB, 874-85. [96]. Tamar Davis, A General History of the Sabbatarian Churches (Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston, 1851), 200-201. [97]. Randolph, 267-77; SDB, 868-71. [98]. SDB, 773. [99]. SDB, 673, 130. [100]. SDB, 1248. [101]. Bailey, 12-13. [102]. Dugger, 271-72. [103]. SDB, 602-3. [104]. SDB, 150, 613. [105]. SDB, 150-51. [106]. Bailey, 27. [107]. SDB, 151. [108]. Bailey, 25-26. [109]. Bailey, 20-23. [110]. Bailey, 31-32. [111]. Backus, Vol. II, 408-12. [112]. SDB, 150-54. [113]. SDB, 153-209. [114]. William L. Burdick, A Manual of Seventh Day Baptist Church Procedure (Plainfield, New Jersey: W.L. Burdick and C.F. Randolph, 1926), 47. [115]. A.H. Lewis, "The Time of Christ's Resurrection and the Observance of Sunday," Sabbath Reform Library, (New York: March, 1892), Vol. I, Number 3, 17-32. [116]. Dugger, 271-72. [117]. Seventh Day Baptist Memorial, Vol. II, January 1853, 38. [118]. Randolph, 99. [119]. Clarke, 34. [120]. SDB, 135. [121]. Burdick, 45. [122]. Randolph, 14-17. [123]. SDB, 163-64. [124]. W.B. Gillette, cited in I. Daniel Rupp, An Original History of the Religious Denominations at Present Existing in the United States (Philadelphia: J.Y. Humphreys, 1844), 81. [125]. Dugger, 274. [126]. The Bible Advocate, Vol. LX (July 6, 1926), 463. [127]. Ibid. [128]. Black, 28-47, 51-55. [129]. SDB, 42. [130]. Clarke, 11-12. [131]. A.N. Rogers, letter to the author, December 31, 1970. [132]. Seventh Day Baptist Memorial, Vol. I, 36; cited in Dugger, 274. [133]. Seventh Day Baptist Memorial, Vol. II, January 1853, 30, 37, 39. [134]. Dugger, 282. [135]. Backus, Vol. I, 316-26. [136]. Seventh Day Baptist Memorial, Vol. II, January, 1853, 27. [137]. SDB, 613. [138]. SDB, 610. [139]. Seventh Day Baptist Memorial, Vol. II, 120-21, cited in Dugger, 275-76. [140]. SDB, 650. [141]. Randolph, 11-12, 14-15, 20-24. [142]. Randolph, 73-74, 146, 199. [143]. Bailey, 99. [144]. Dugger, 282-83. [145]. Dugger, 277-78. [146]. Clarke, 61-64. [147]. Bailey, 94-101. [148]. SDB, 133-34. [149]. Burdick, 44. [150]. SDB, 133-34. [151]. Clarke, various pages. [152]. Burdick,. 21-23. [153]. Burdick, 28; SDB, 428. [154]. Gillette, cited in Rupp, 81; Seventh Day Baptist Memorial, Vol. I, July 1852, 113. [155]. Clarke, 53; SDB, 825. [156]. SDB, 824. [157]. SDB, 134. [158]. SDB, 135. [159]. C.D. Potter, "Pagan Origin of 'Christian' Festivals," Sabbath Reform Library, Vol. I, Number 8 (New York: American Sabbath Tract Society, 1892), 101-103. [160]. George B. Shaw, Pulpit Gleanings, (Plainfield: The Recorder Press, 1904), 123. [161]. Seventh Day Baptist Memorial, cited in Dugger, 275-77. [162]. Bailey, 99. [163]. Clarke, 64. [164]. Kenneth Smith, President, Milton College, Interview August 18, 1971. [165]. SDB, 617-18. [166]. Benedict, 468. [167]. James White, Life Incidents, Vol. I (Battle Creek, Michigan: Steam Press of the Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association, 1868), 335. [168]. Smith Interview. [169]. SDB, 632-33. [170]. Clarke, 53. [171]. SDB, 628-29. [172]. SDB, 685. [173]. SDB, 170. [174]. SDB, 138. [175]. Seventh Day Baptist Memorial, Vol. I, 101-108; Vol. II, 11. [176]. Randolph, 335; SDB, 271-73. [177]. SDB, 634. [178]. SDB, 850-51. [179]. Randolph, 219, 1367. [180]. Seventh Day Baptist Memorial, Vol. I, January, 1852, 9-11. [181]. SDB, 182-88. [182]. SDB, 438-39. [183]. SDB, 1287-90. [184]. SDB, 1298-99.