William Calmes Buck: A Brief Defense of the Antiquity, History & Practice of the Baptists

(Continuing posts about William Calmes Buck)

While in Columbus, Mississippi, William Calmes Buck wrote "A Brief Defense of the Antiquity, History & Practice of the Baptists" which was then published by McDowell & Kimbrough, Columbus, Mississippi in 1854.  This book was actually two sermons.  Each sermon was said to be three hours long!  It appears that Wm. C. Buck delivered these sermons in response to a sermon delivered by a local pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  He then edited his sermons for a wider audience.

The book begins with a quote from Psalms 23.23:  “Buy the Truth and Sell it not”.  Wm. C. Buck then wrote “This is a divine aphorism; teaching the superior value of TRUTH above all other human attainments of possessions.  I adopt it as an inspired maxim, and lay it down as the foundation of the discourses which I am to deliver before you this day.  I have not quoted the text for exegesis, but as an exemplar to be followed and imitated in all that I may say.” 

Wm. C. Buck was adamantly against pedobaptism and pedobaptists (which he always wrote as Pedo baptists and Pedo baptism) and much of his sermon and book argue against pedobaptism.   

Pedobaptism is the practice of baptizing infants whereas Wm. C. Buck believed only in credobaptism; that is, a believer’s baptism.  This belief put him strongly opposed to Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists and many other religions. 

Wm. C. Buck goes into some detail to point out that the first Christians were baptized believers and therefore essentially the first Baptists.  Pedobaptism developed centuries later (amazing that he could even find some of his references and sources). 

"A Brief Defense of the Antiquity, History & Practice of the Baptists" is an extremely difficult book to read and must have been virtually impossible to follow as a sermon.

Wm. C. Buck ends his book with “I say in all earnestness, to all who truly love our Lord Jesus Chris; do you not know that infant baptism – infant sprinkling, is an invention of ‘the man of sin’, a tradition of the papacy and the mark of the Apocalyptic Beast?  Why not abandon this pernicious heresy, and take the Word of God, alone, for the rule of your faith and practice; upon which we may all meet ‘in the unity of the Spirit and the bonds of peace’.”

William Calmes Buck: Kentucky

(Continuing posts about William Calmes Buck)

About 1820, William Calmes Buck moved to the “wilderness” of Kentucky (Union and Woodford counties) where he founded several churches but supported his family by farming because preachers were not paid at the time.

David E. Buck noted " . . . Buck steered Kentucky Baptists through the very turbulent years 1820 - 1850, when bitter opposition to missions and salaried ministers almost did in the Baptist cause in that frontier state.   . . . For fifteen years William preached in small churches around Union and Woodford Counties, almost complete wilderness.  Paid nothing for his gospel labors (he later wrote his total receipts for his first twenty-four years in the ministry were $724, mostly merchandise!), Buck farmed to support his family of five."

In later years in Kentucky, Wm. C. Buck was founder and first pastor of the East Baptist Church of Louisville, editor of the state Baptist paper, compiler and publisher of a Baptist hymnal, and co-founder of a Bible society which later merged with what is now the American Bible Society.  Upon leaving Kentucky, he held a denominational post in Nashville, Tennessee and later was pastor of the First Baptist Churches of Greensboro, Alabama and Selma, Alabama and Columbus, Mississippi. 

While living in Louisville, Wm. C. Buck was appointed president of the (Baptist) American Indian Mission Association.  In 1845, he submitted to the U. S. 28^th Congress their recommendations for the welfare of the American Indian tribes.  The recommendations can be summarized as:

1. Boundaries for Indian Territory to be fixed per a Senate bill of 1837 (which was not passed)
2. A central tract to be used for Government of the Indian Territory by all tribes
3. Representation of Indian tribes in congress
4. An educational program for the Indian tribes.

Buck was known for his presence in the pulpit.  Spencer wrote “Perhaps no other man ever preached in Kentucky that could command the attention of so large an audience in the open air.”

Wm. C. Buck was adamantly opposed to infant baptism.  His book, “A Brief Defense of the Antiquity, History & Practice of the Baptists” explained his viewpoint.  The book was based on two of his sermons which each lasted for three hours!

Wm. C. Buck preached the annual sermon before the Alabama state convention which met in Gainesville in 1858.  He then settled in Selma as pastor of its Baptist church.  In 1859, he again felt the need to publish his views and began a new paper, "The Baptist Correspondent".  His paper was in competition with the existing "Southwestern Baptist" and failed after two years.

(To be continued)