Barton Warren Stone
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF ELD. BARTON WARREN STONE, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF: WITH ADDITIONS AND REFLECTIONS. BY ELDER JOHN ROGERS. "Beware lest anyone make a prey of you, through an empty and deceitful philosophy, wkuk is accordmg to the trarutlOn of men, accordmg to the elements of the world, and not accordmg to ChrIst: For all the fulness of the Deity resides lubstantlally in h1m: And you are complete lJ1 Hlm."-Paul. CINCINN ATI: PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY J. A. & U. P. JAMES. 1847. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1846, By JOHN ROGERS, In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the District of Kentucky. _______________________________ James & Co , Stereotypers, Cincinnati. _______________________________ Henry, Barnard & Co.'s Steam Press. _______________________________ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . The editor wishes to recognize the very valuable assistance given him in the editing of this volume. To Dr. Roscoe Pierson, Librarian at the Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington, Kentucky for his professional advice on the documents to be published. His guidance and counsel at every step were willingly and freely given. To Mr. Everett Garrison of North Middletown, Kentucky for his drawing of the old Cane Ridge Meeting House which appears on the cover. And lastly, to my wife, Delores, who gave much time, not only in typing the introduction, but in helping with the reading and editing of the volume. Hoke S. Dickinson, D. D. III CONTENTS Acknowledgments ................................. III Introduction ....................................... V _________________ The Biography of Elder Barton Warren Stone, written by himself; with additions and reflections by Elder John Rogers. _________________ Observations on Church Government by the Presbytery of Springfield to which is added, The Last Will and Testament of that Reverend Body with a Preface and Notes by The Editor, Richard M'Nemar _________________ History of the Christian Church In the West by Barton Warren Stone __________________ IV INTRODUCTION For nearly fifty years, I have been aware of the old Cane Ridge Meeting House in Bourbon County, Kentucky. At first, I knew only vaguely what had transpired here in 1801, in 1804 and in the years following. But somehow I sensed that we, who are the beneficiaries of that heritage, did not know enough about it and did not properly evaluate and appreciate the courageous stance and follow-through of the man, Barton Warren Stone. Branded a heretic because he could not wholly accept the creedal statement of his church and insisted upon the primacy of the New Testament scriptures; branded a rebel because of his revolt against narrow sectarianism he, nevertheless, had the faith and the courage to wear, with honor, both brandings In my first pastorate in Millersburg, Bourbon County, Kentucky, I was given a good, sound course in Cane Ridge and early Christian Church history. Some of the older members of that congregation remembered the stories of the very early preachers under whom their parents and grandparents became members of the Christian Church, either by confession of faith or by the conviction that here was a part of the church that met their needs better than that part to which they then belonged. V We brought our church groups here to eat those delicious Central Kentucky picnic dinners and to hear again the tales of the famous camp meeting revival of 1801, and of the men who first formed the Springfield Presbytery and then resolved to let it "die, be dissolved and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large," and begin a church movement that was truly an American Christian Protestant body. In addition to renouncing man-made creeds in favor of proclaiming the New Testament statement of faith as its doctrine, this group was greatly influenced and shaped in its polity by the concept of freedom that was sweeping America at the time of the birth, boyhood and youngmanhood of Barton W. Stone. It was at the Cane Ridge Meeting House that Stone rejected the yoke of man-made creeds as tests of Christian fellowship, and gave the place of primacy to the New Testament as the document of Christian faith. It was here that he shed himself of the extreme Calvinistic theology and made the burden of his preaching the "Golden Text" of the Bible, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever should believe in him might have everlasting life." John 3:16. It was here that his love of God and man enabled him to preach with such fervor that hundreds were filled with the Holy Spirit and gave themselves in fidelity to Christ as Lord and Savior. The late Dr. Edgar DeWitt Jones in his introduction of the now out-of-print "Voices From Cane Ridge" had this to say, "When I reflect upon our Founding Fathers, I think of Thomas Campbell as the St. Paul, Walter Scott as the St. Peter, and Barton W. Stone as the Barnabas." Barnabas means "son of exhortation," and Stone was a powerful exhorter. Again the VI description of Barnabas as given in Acts 11:24 applies to Barton W. Stone; "For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith; and much people were added unto the Lord." It was here he raised his voice to denounce sectarianism and call for the unity of Christians. It was this passion for the oneness of all Christians that made him deliver the plea, "Let the unity of Christians be our polar star." When, in 1965, The Consultation of Christian Union met in Lexington, Kentucky, the delegates came to Cane Ridge for a worship service. It was in the old meeting house that the delegates observed their first Communion Service together. Commenting on the service, Dr. Robert J. Nelson had this to say in his report: "Stone would have been amazed by the scene in the Meeting House on April 7,1965. If he could have looked in, he would have seen the representatives of virtually all the Christian denominational groups in America and Canada except the Lutherans, united in worship and celebrating the Lord's supper... If this were, indeed, a foretaste of the more widely united church which is to come in America, no setting could have been more distinctly American." The Kentucky Christian movement under Stone and other leaders multiplied rapidly in the West. They were a non-creedal people, anti-Calvinistic in doctrine, congregational in polity, stressing the oneness of all Christians and the unity of the church. Christmas Eve, 1972 marks the bicentennial of the birth of Barton Warren Stone in Port Tobacco, Maryland. It is altogether fitting that during the observance of the bicentennial of his birth, we bring together some of the more VII significant Cane Ridge documents under the title, "The Cane Ridge Reader." This is, so far as I can determine, the only place in which these particular documents have been published between the two covers of one volume. It is just as appropriate that the leading document in the volume should be the auto-biography of Barton W. Stone, for. in the words of Howard Short: "His name is forever bound to Cane Ridge because it was here that many of the significant viewpoints of his religious faith were first developed." "The Christian Church In The West" is Stone's own account of the birth of the movement at Cane Ridge in 1804 and its subsequent life and development. This history first appeared in several successive issues of the Christian Messenger which Stone edited and published in Georgetown, Kentucky. "The Last Will And Testament Of The Springfield Presbytery" was as fully significant to the Christian Movement under Stone as Thomas Campbell's "Declaration And Address," published five years later, was to the Disciples Movement under Thomas and his son Alexander Campbell. No "Cane Ridge Reader" would be complete without a reprint of this remarkable document of faith. Here in this volume you will find a document which is lesser known than the others. Under the title "Observations of Church Government," you will find discussed by those who formed the Springfield Presbytery, the Nature of the Christian Church; what constitutes membership in it, and the mode of Constitution. After forty-two years in the pastorate and in general work of the church, it is my privilege in retirement to live on the grounds of the Cane Ridge Meeting House in the lovely home given by Mr. and Mrs. Julian Rogers in memory of the VIII historic Rogers family whose ancestors helped build the old Meeting House. While serving as curator and as host to the thousands of visitors who come from far and near each year, I am becoming more and more immersed in the spirit of those who preached, taught and labored here in years past. As I sit on the porch in the quietness and coolness of a summer evening, looking over the lovely stone edifice which protects the old log Meeting House and the cemetery which holds the earthly remains of those who made history here, these thoughts come to me: The wind in the stately trees symbolizes for me the Holy Spirit as it worked in this place, even as it worked in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost! The fireflies rising from the grass on soundless wings symbolize for me the light that shone from the dedicated souls who were among those of whom Jesus said, "Ye are the light of the world." It is our hope that you, the reader, may know with greater certainty from whence we came and may know with greater assurance whither we are bound as a part of the Body of Christ.