Although he had renounced the Calvinistic theory of conversion, and had laid aside its unyielding creed for the New Testament, he still considered himself a Baptist, and lived in fellowship with those who “stood resolutely by the old church covenant”, hoping that his brethren would one day accept the primitive Gospel. But his genial fraternal spirit was far from being reciprocated by the Baptist preachers with whom he associated. Once, meeting an old acquaintance, Smith said to him, kindly, “Good morning, my brother.” To which the other scornfully replied, “Don’t call me brother, sir! I would rather claim kinship with the devil himself.” “Go, then,” said Smith, “and honor thy father.”
But the bitterness of opposition did not always end in harmless railery. It too frequently resorted to misrepresentations and other unchristian means to check his growing popularity and influence. Churches were closed against him, compelling him to take his audience to some neighboring house, or hall, or, in fair weather, to a grove. But, whatever the discouragement or hindrance, he continued to preach. “Usually he divided his discourses, which were two or three hours long, into three divisions, according to the objects he had in view; in the first he corrected misrepresentations; in the second he exposed popular errors, and in the third he presented the simple Gospel to the people.” Having taken his stand upon the Bible, he felt himself secure. The truth made him fearless, and his courage at last won respect for the unpopular position to which he held.
“Ancient Order of Things” Among the Baptists In Kentucky
The years 1828-1830 were great years in the ministry of John Smith. In them was witnessed the fruition of years of self-sacrificing labor, and the triumph of the ancient Gospel on the soil of Kentucky. The year 1828 was a notable one among the Baptist associations. At the meetings of three of the largest associations the Reformers were in control, due in a very large degree to Smith’s preaching. As we have already seen, his influence over the people was tremendous. The churches for which he preached regularly—Spencer’s Creek, Grassy Lick and Mount Sterling—reported in their annual letters of 1828 to the North District Association of which they were members, the baptism of 392 persons during the year. The twenty-four churches of the Association reported the baptism of about nine hundred persons, “the greater part of whom had been immersed by Smith.” Five new churches had been organized by Smith on the Bible alone and became members of the Association.
The North District Association met in July, 1828. At its meeting the previous year the Lulbegrud Church had sent the following charges aimed at John Smith, but veiling the object of their charge under the designation, “one of their preachers.” The accusations were:
1. That, while it is the custom of Baptists to use as the Word of God the King James translation, he had on two or three occasions in public, and often privately in his family, read from Alexander Campbell’s translation.
2. That while it is the custom in the ceremony of baptism to pronounce, “I baptize you”, he, on the contrary, is in the habit of saying, “immerse you”.
3. That in administering the Lord’s Supper, while it is the custom to break the loaf into bits, small enough to be readily taken into the mouth, yet he leaves the bread in large pieces, teaching that each communicant shall break it for himself.
Without waiting for himself to be singled out, Smith arose and said, “I plead guilty to them all.” After bitter debating and wrangling over the charges it was finally voted that they be laid over for another year. The meeting of 1828 was the time when these charges should be brought up. Smith had been unceasingly engaged in preaching, and marvelously successful in winning men to Christ during the years. Still, when the Association met, he was in doubt at first as to which side had the majority of messengers. In the registration of messengers, it was soon found that the majority were favorable to him. The messengers, from the five new churches he had established turned the scale in his favor. The charges were not mentioned on the floor of the Association. In 1830 this Association divided, ten churches voluntarily withdrawing and forming a new association on Baptist principles. The North District Association met for the last time as an advisory council in 1831, and was dissolved one year later. Fourteen churches and four parts of churches were enrolled on the occasion of the dissolution. On the same day the churches that had withdrawn from the Association two years before met and formed a new association under the same name.
The Bracken Association was the next to meet, in 1828. Licking Association, rigidly Calvinistic and devoted to the Philadelphia Confession of Faith, desired to enter into mutual correspondence with Bracken, but had determined as a condition of it to require from Bracken a pledge to support the Philadelphia Confession of Faith, which no doubt would have been given in 1827; but in the meantime Smith had gone into that district, and preached among the churches; and such men as Walter Warden and Jesse Holton, already moved by the plea of Alexander Campbell, and encouraged by the boldness and success of Smith, were already favoring the return to the “ancient order of things.” The letter came from Licking requiring the pledge and was read before the Association. After a prolonged discussion by various members, during which Smith sat in silence, he finally saw his opportunity to speak. This opportunity was given when James Arnold, a messenger from the North Bend Association, moved that the terms proposed by Licking be rejected, and that all further correspondence with that body be dropped. Smith supported the proposition, and as he rose to do so took from his saddle bags a copy of the Confession of Faith, and said.
Brethren, Licking requires of Bracken an utter impossibility. No one can maintain inviolate the doctrine of grace as revealed in the Scriptures, and at the same time, defend that which is taught in the Philadelphia Confession of Faith; for the doctrine of the creed is not the doctrine of the Bible. No two books in the world differ more than these; and in no point do they differ more widely than on the doctrine of salvation by grace.
He then contrasted the teaching of the New Testament with that of the Confession of Faith, and his argument was so convincing that practically all seemed satisfied that the terms proposed by Licking were contradictory, and when the vote was taken the proposition to reject was carried almost unanimously. A prominent witness of these events said: