BIG HATCHIE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION (TN) NOT CALVINIST

 The Big Hatchie Baptist Association was formed in 1828. The land area covered by this association, now has 12 associations, so it covered a big chunk of Tennessee. The majority of the churches were "not predestinarian" or Non Calvinist, yet they allowed Calvinist churches to join.  This came to a screeching halt in 1835 when the Calvinists among them were found to be anti mission. It is unclear whether the anti mission faction voluntarily left, or were expelled. In any case, this left the Big Hatchie Assn. with no Calvinist faction. They became hardy Missionary Baptists, helping to later found the Tennessee Baptist Convention. 

J.R. Graves was a moderator of this association in the late 1886, and it seems he may not have been a Calvinist. You can read some remarks by him here .

W.M. Lea was a missionary in the Big Hatchie Assn. prior to 1852, when he moved to Arkansas. He disavowed both Calvinism and Arminianism in both his preaching and his writing. Not a single question ever arose about his doctrine. Let's read the Elder Lea said about Calvinism and Arminiainism.

"The Arminian prays as if his salvation wholly depended on God, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, but preaches as if his salvation was by works alone. The hyper Calvinist prays as though he had been a lost sinner, justly condemned to hell, while he preaches that he was eternally saved in Christ before the worlds were. First, "by grace are ye saved;" "not of works lest any man should boast". Second, he who was saved before the worlds were, has never been since that time a sinner lost." This comes from "The Prayer and The Preaching" by W.M. Lea as Published in The Baptist, Feb 20, 1875

 Notice how Elder Lea said hyper Calvinist in describing the view of Calvinism. This seems to be another instance of what I have said many times before, that Calvinist was a label used by some to mean not Arminian, thus hyper would be used to denote what we now properly call Calvinism.Seems to me that the missionary that the Big Hatchie Association supported with their money was neither Calvinist nor Arminian. Do you think the churches in that association  would support such a man to help found new churches, if they did not agree?

 

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