Exactly a century ago Frederick W. Claybrook, a native of the Northern Neck of Virginia and for 40 years a prominent pastor and builder of churches, led in the constituting of a chapel in the farming and fishing community of Weems in the lower Northern Neck. The Baptists of Weems began in a borrowed schoolhouse and a private home. In time, they built a modest frame building and named their church after the founding pastor. Today, Claybrook Baptist Church occupies a beautiful brick house of worship.
Fred Anderson
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In 1893 Claybrook gave an address at the 50th anniversary of the Rappahannock Baptist Association. Others had spoken on the long and significant history of Baptists on both sides of the Rappahannock River. The charge to Claybrook, then about age 50 himself, was to help the area Baptists to see themselves 50 years into the future.
He knew that the area had always been isolated, reached primarily by steamboats. He envisioned increased access, more trade, the division of large plantations into smaller and more productive farms, and the gradual influx of more new residents. He predicted that oyster farming and harvesting would become as profitable as the gold fields of California. He saw the menhaden fisheries enlarging.
He recognized that the area lost many of its best and brightest youth to Baltimore, Washington, Richmond and the cities along Hampton Roads and the Elizabeth River. But he also saw country youth as an export of good Christians who would populate city churches.
He admitted that despite the area’s long Baptist heritage, there were “a great many weak Baptists in our midst who cannot give a better reason for being Baptists than their parents are Baptists.” He urged that “we must preach our doctrines and see that our children are taught our faith in our Sunday schools.”
Claybrook offered a prescription for the future. First, Baptists needed “earnest, decided preachers who have the courage of their convictions and will proclaim the truth without fear or favor.” He credited the state of Baptists in the late 19th century to “the faithfulness of the preachers of the past, preaching Baptist doctrine even though they suffered imprisonment and stripes.”
Second, people needed to become serious about Christian stewardship. “We must consecrate our bodies, souls and means to the cause of the Redeemer. We must stop placing God before the people as a beggar for their contributions to his cause, but teach that the great Sovereign of the universe demands that we shall glorify him with our substance.”
He stressed the tithe and declared that “our system of begging has created a false idea in the minds of people that giving is rather a privilege than a duty. We must go down to the root of the matter of Christian giving and insist from the pulpit that as Christians we are stewards of the means that God gives us and we are to set aside a certain portion every week for unselfish consecration to God’s cause. It may take a long time to drill this doctrine into the minds and hearts of the people.”
Third, religious life must permeate the home. “We must train our children to fear God and keep his commandments. This family life is the hope of the church. We must urge and insist that a family altar shall be erected in every household. Because we do not sprinkle the babies into the church and regard them as church members, we are accused of neglecting to train our children, by those who differ from us. We ought by our practice to show the world that as Christian fathers and mothers dedicated to God, we do live every day to God, and bring up our children in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.”
The years have piled high — 120 of them — since Claybrook made his address. He was envisioning only a half-century ahead. The area south and north of the Rappahannock has developed far beyond what even Claybrook imagined. Good highways and bridges at either end of the river have opened the territory. The population has grown, especially with “come heres” who enjoy weekends, summers or even retirement there.
The people are still, by and large, a faithful church-going folk. The area always has attracted some of the best ministers. They seem to be of two varieties: the young up-and-coming ministers who are trained by the people of the old churches and then sent forth for careers elsewhere, or the older, seasoned ministers who find the area accepting and inviting for the latter years of their ministry.
If we are thoroughly honest, the prescription given by Claybrook still applies to Baptists everywhere even in the beginning of the 21st century: sound doctrinal preaching; consecrated giving and living; and homes centered upon God.
Claybrook offered some other advice. He felt that the church folk of his day were resting on the achievements of the past.
“The past is the cradle of the future. No people ever rose higher than they aimed. No people ever advanced beyond their efforts for advancement. Whenever men begin to halt and lament and point back to the glorious past and rest upon their past glory, they have no future worthy of aspiration. But when men imbued with hope make the past the stimulant for greater efforts in the future, then they must have a glorious future.
“We have been living too much upon the consecrated zeal of our forefathers. Our present was their future and we are enjoying the inheritance. If we fail to avail ourselves of the God-given opportunities for work and advancement, what shall be the future for our children? If we fail to impress upon them Baptist principles, they will drift into other folds. If we fail to impress them with our example of piety, we will raise a nation of infidels. But if we live close to God and endeavor to glorify his name in all the walks of life, he will give us the land.”
Fred Anderson ([email protected]) is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies.