CIRCULAR LETTER - ELDER SAMUEL TROTT (1865)
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Tom Adams
Mar 12, 2026, 8:23:02 AM (7 days ago) Mar 12
to Tom Adams
Dear Brethren and Friends,
CIRCULAR LETTER: The Salisbury Old School Baptist Association, in session with the Fishing Creek, to the several churches she represents, sends this her annual circular:
Beloved in the Lord: – We have another evidence of the goodness and mercy of our God, in permitting us to meet together, according to appointment, as an association. And especially have we great cause for thankfulness that the cruel strife which for four years has deluged our land in blood, in which all the worst passions of poor fallen, depraved human nature have been manifest, has seemed to pass away. Many of our brethren from whom we have been separated for so long a time, once more have the privilege of visiting us, some of whom we have the happiness to meet on this joyful occasion. It is most gratifying to know that after having passed through the most gigantic internal war which perhaps the world has ever seen, the fellowship of Old School Baptists in all parts of our wide spread country, throughout the dreadful strife has remained unbroken; no bitterness or animosity toward each other. But brethren whose lots were cast in each of the two contending sections have manifested that love and christian sympathy and unity of the spirit which should ever characterize the church of Christ, contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, preaching, as doors were opened in all sections of our land, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is a proclamation of peace to poor perishing sinners through the blood and righteousness of our blessed Mediator and Redeemer. And now after the smoke and dust of the terrible conflict has cleared away, we stand, as a church, where we did before it commenced, in fellowship and union with each other, and in opposition to all the schemes which men have devised to convert the world, usher in the millennium, and assist the everlasting God in the salvation of his people. Standing, as we believe, on the foundation of our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles, that salvation is only though the sovereign grace of God, and that he is the sole ruler and governor of his church, we feel we have great cause to rejoice and to thank and praise our heavenly Father that He has preserved us in peace and harmony, and granted us this interview.
We think we cannot call your attention in this our annual epistle, to any subject more profitable or interesting than the unity of the church; that everlasting, indissoluble union of all the Lord’s people with Christ, their living head, and with each other. The scriptures represent the church as the body of Christ. “And,” says the apostle, “He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.” – Colossians 1:18, 19. All the members of Christ’s body had an existence in Him in eternity as their spiritual head and representative. As his seed, those whom the Father had given Him that He might redeem them with His own most precious blood, wash them from the pollution of sin into which they have fallen, regenerate, sanctify and glorify them as members of his body, Christ as their head was identified with them from eternity. His covenant was an everlasting covenant, well ordered in all things, and sure, and as they were partakers of flesh and blood, He also took part of the same that He might be made in all things like unto them. They have transgressed the law of God, and His justice demanded their death; Christ suffered the penalty of their sins, and they stand justified on account of the obedience which He has rendered to the law of God; He bare their sins in His own body on the tree. The whole weight of God’s wrath which might have justly fallen upon the members of Christ’s body, fell upon their head. When He cried on the cross, “It is finished,” He accomplished the redemption of all His people, and brought in our everlasting righteousness which is imputed to every member of His body. Invested with this they can appear before God in judgment and plead the perfect obedience which was been rendered by their head. He has not only died for their sins and rose for their justification, but He as ascended to His Father, and is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, where He is highly exalted above all principalities and powers; has all power in heaven and in earth. And thither He will bring every member of his body, for it pleased God that in Him should all fulness dwell. His children, the members of his body, those for whom He gave His life a ransom, will every one be brought home to His Father’s house; not one will be left out. The poorest, the weakest of all who constitute His body are necessary to His fulness, and in virtue of their vital union to the head, they must all be brought into His glory. “Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.” What power on earth or in all the universe can sunder this union of Christ and his people? He being their head, in Him dwells all the fulness of God, the perfection of wisdom and power, nothing could ever befall the body but what was amply provided for by the head. There is a beautiful harmony and union between the head and the body; where the head leads the body follows. “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me; and a stranger they will not follow, for they know not the voice of strangers.” The spirit of Christ dwells in his church, they are consequently all animated by the same spirit, they all draw their life, their vitality from the same head. “As many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And if any man hath not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” By this we may know that we are his children, if we manifest his spirit. And the spirit of Christ leads all His children in union and fellowship with each other, to walk in obedience to all His commands, obey all His laws and ordinances, to accept nothing in doctrine or practice unless they have his authority. We see this spirit exemplified among the Lord’s people in all ages of the church in all parts of the world wherever they may be in the flesh, but there is a unity of the spirit, a harmony of feeling and sentiment, an agreement in doctrine and practice which is the result of their all being members of the body, directed by the same spirit, and ruled and governed by the same head. Brethren, let us strive to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace, let the potsherds of the earth strive with each other, but let the children of God, so far as in them lies, live peaceably with all men; leave the kingdoms and governments of this world in the hands of them to whom God has entrusted them, knowing He rules in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth, and that He will hold all those whom He has entrusted with power and authority to a strict accountability to Him for the way in which they exercise it, and that no weapon that is formed against Zion shall prosper, but that all things work together for good to them who live God, who are the called according to his purpose; let us seek that higher destiny which awaits all the subjects of Christ’s kingdom; peace, unity, love and fellowship with each other and our glorious head, so that the world shall be constrained to say, see how these people love one another. And now, the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
SAMUEL TROTT, Mod.
G. W. Staton, Clerk
CORRESPONDING LETTER: The Elders and brethren of the Salisbury Old School Baptist Association, in session with the church at Fishing Creek, Dorchester Co., Md., October 18, 19 and 20, 1865, to our sister associations, and other meetings with whom we correspond, send christian salutation:
Dear Brethren: – We desire to recognize the goodness of God in the privilege we have enjoyed of meeting on the present occasion as an association. Our meeting has been a pleasant and profitable one to us. Your messengers and messages of love have been received with gladness. It rejoices us to see the unity of the spirit manifested among our brethren in different parts of the land, and to see how it is kept in the bond of peace. The church of God, we know, is one that cannot be broken up into factions as anti-christian churches may be, by the convulsions and revolutions of this world. It is one, and its different branches and members are held together by a power above earthly or hellish powers. The spirit by which it is united is the spirit of immortality which exists only in him who is placed as head over all things to His church, higher than the kings of the earth. While the Old School Baptists are so scattered over the earth, and surrounded by false pretenders who are enemies to the truth, we rejoice at such evidence as we have received that they still belong to that city, the heavenly Jerusalem, which is builded compact together.
The ministering brethren have comforted us by declaring the accomplishment of our warfare and the pardon of our iniquities, through our Lord Jesus Christ. They have been enabled to present Christ as the justification of all his people, and to present every man perfect in him.
Our next anniversary meeting will be held, the Lord permitting, with the Messongoes Church, in Accomac Co., Va., to commence at 10 o’clock a. m., on Wednesday before the fourth Sunday in October, 1866, and continue three days; at which time and place we hope again to welcome your messengers, and receive your messages of love and fellowship.
SAMUEL TROTT, Mod.
G. W. Staton, Clerk.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Volume 33, Number 22; November 15, 1865.
I come before you presenting Elder Samuel Trott’s very last Circular and Corresponding Letter that he was given the pleasure to pen. It was almost a year after this Circular was published, October 30, 1866 to be exact, that this dear beloved elder and brother realized his hope and was immediately taken into the presence of the Almighty!
I hope it proves a blessing to you to read as much as it was to me!
A Sinner in Hope,
Tom
------------------------------
UNITY OF THE CHURCH
CIRCULAR LETTER: The Salisbury Old School Baptist Association, in session with the Fishing Creek, to the several churches she represents, sends this her annual circular:
Beloved in the Lord: – We have another evidence of the goodness and mercy of our God, in permitting us to meet together, according to appointment, as an association. And especially have we great cause for thankfulness that the cruel strife which for four years has deluged our land in blood, in which all the worst passions of poor fallen, depraved human nature have been manifest, has seemed to pass away. Many of our brethren from whom we have been separated for so long a time, once more have the privilege of visiting us, some of whom we have the happiness to meet on this joyful occasion. It is most gratifying to know that after having passed through the most gigantic internal war which perhaps the world has ever seen, the fellowship of Old School Baptists in all parts of our wide spread country, throughout the dreadful strife has remained unbroken; no bitterness or animosity toward each other. But brethren whose lots were cast in each of the two contending sections have manifested that love and christian sympathy and unity of the spirit which should ever characterize the church of Christ, contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, preaching, as doors were opened in all sections of our land, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is a proclamation of peace to poor perishing sinners through the blood and righteousness of our blessed Mediator and Redeemer. And now after the smoke and dust of the terrible conflict has cleared away, we stand, as a church, where we did before it commenced, in fellowship and union with each other, and in opposition to all the schemes which men have devised to convert the world, usher in the millennium, and assist the everlasting God in the salvation of his people. Standing, as we believe, on the foundation of our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles, that salvation is only though the sovereign grace of God, and that he is the sole ruler and governor of his church, we feel we have great cause to rejoice and to thank and praise our heavenly Father that He has preserved us in peace and harmony, and granted us this interview.
We think we cannot call your attention in this our annual epistle, to any subject more profitable or interesting than the unity of the church; that everlasting, indissoluble union of all the Lord’s people with Christ, their living head, and with each other. The scriptures represent the church as the body of Christ. “And,” says the apostle, “He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.” – Colossians 1:18, 19. All the members of Christ’s body had an existence in Him in eternity as their spiritual head and representative. As his seed, those whom the Father had given Him that He might redeem them with His own most precious blood, wash them from the pollution of sin into which they have fallen, regenerate, sanctify and glorify them as members of his body, Christ as their head was identified with them from eternity. His covenant was an everlasting covenant, well ordered in all things, and sure, and as they were partakers of flesh and blood, He also took part of the same that He might be made in all things like unto them. They have transgressed the law of God, and His justice demanded their death; Christ suffered the penalty of their sins, and they stand justified on account of the obedience which He has rendered to the law of God; He bare their sins in His own body on the tree. The whole weight of God’s wrath which might have justly fallen upon the members of Christ’s body, fell upon their head. When He cried on the cross, “It is finished,” He accomplished the redemption of all His people, and brought in our everlasting righteousness which is imputed to every member of His body. Invested with this they can appear before God in judgment and plead the perfect obedience which was been rendered by their head. He has not only died for their sins and rose for their justification, but He as ascended to His Father, and is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, where He is highly exalted above all principalities and powers; has all power in heaven and in earth. And thither He will bring every member of his body, for it pleased God that in Him should all fulness dwell. His children, the members of his body, those for whom He gave His life a ransom, will every one be brought home to His Father’s house; not one will be left out. The poorest, the weakest of all who constitute His body are necessary to His fulness, and in virtue of their vital union to the head, they must all be brought into His glory. “Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.” What power on earth or in all the universe can sunder this union of Christ and his people? He being their head, in Him dwells all the fulness of God, the perfection of wisdom and power, nothing could ever befall the body but what was amply provided for by the head. There is a beautiful harmony and union between the head and the body; where the head leads the body follows. “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me; and a stranger they will not follow, for they know not the voice of strangers.” The spirit of Christ dwells in his church, they are consequently all animated by the same spirit, they all draw their life, their vitality from the same head. “As many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And if any man hath not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” By this we may know that we are his children, if we manifest his spirit. And the spirit of Christ leads all His children in union and fellowship with each other, to walk in obedience to all His commands, obey all His laws and ordinances, to accept nothing in doctrine or practice unless they have his authority. We see this spirit exemplified among the Lord’s people in all ages of the church in all parts of the world wherever they may be in the flesh, but there is a unity of the spirit, a harmony of feeling and sentiment, an agreement in doctrine and practice which is the result of their all being members of the body, directed by the same spirit, and ruled and governed by the same head. Brethren, let us strive to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace, let the potsherds of the earth strive with each other, but let the children of God, so far as in them lies, live peaceably with all men; leave the kingdoms and governments of this world in the hands of them to whom God has entrusted them, knowing He rules in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth, and that He will hold all those whom He has entrusted with power and authority to a strict accountability to Him for the way in which they exercise it, and that no weapon that is formed against Zion shall prosper, but that all things work together for good to them who live God, who are the called according to his purpose; let us seek that higher destiny which awaits all the subjects of Christ’s kingdom; peace, unity, love and fellowship with each other and our glorious head, so that the world shall be constrained to say, see how these people love one another. And now, the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
SAMUEL TROTT, Mod.
G. W. Staton, Clerk
-----------------------------
CORRESPONDING LETTER: The Elders and brethren of the Salisbury Old School Baptist Association, in session with the church at Fishing Creek, Dorchester Co., Md., October 18, 19 and 20, 1865, to our sister associations, and other meetings with whom we correspond, send christian salutation:
Dear Brethren: – We desire to recognize the goodness of God in the privilege we have enjoyed of meeting on the present occasion as an association. Our meeting has been a pleasant and profitable one to us. Your messengers and messages of love have been received with gladness. It rejoices us to see the unity of the spirit manifested among our brethren in different parts of the land, and to see how it is kept in the bond of peace. The church of God, we know, is one that cannot be broken up into factions as anti-christian churches may be, by the convulsions and revolutions of this world. It is one, and its different branches and members are held together by a power above earthly or hellish powers. The spirit by which it is united is the spirit of immortality which exists only in him who is placed as head over all things to His church, higher than the kings of the earth. While the Old School Baptists are so scattered over the earth, and surrounded by false pretenders who are enemies to the truth, we rejoice at such evidence as we have received that they still belong to that city, the heavenly Jerusalem, which is builded compact together.
The ministering brethren have comforted us by declaring the accomplishment of our warfare and the pardon of our iniquities, through our Lord Jesus Christ. They have been enabled to present Christ as the justification of all his people, and to present every man perfect in him.
Our next anniversary meeting will be held, the Lord permitting, with the Messongoes Church, in Accomac Co., Va., to commence at 10 o’clock a. m., on Wednesday before the fourth Sunday in October, 1866, and continue three days; at which time and place we hope again to welcome your messengers, and receive your messages of love and fellowship.
SAMUEL TROTT, Mod.
G. W. Staton, Clerk.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Volume 33, Number 22; November 15, 1865.
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