Isaac McCoy Week(s) #11 Snapshots from my library 28 The Autobiography of Isaac McCoy/ Early Ministry of Isaac McCoy

Jim Curran Admin 01/03/21

Isaac McCoy Week(s) #11 Snapshots from my library 28 The Autobiography of Isaac McCoy/ Early Ministry of Isaac McCoy

This is another compilation book done by Particular Baptist Press. As such it contains several Works

• The Autobiography of Isaac McCoy- this was written early in McCoy’s ministry shortly after his first very serious brush with death. As such it precedes “History of Baptist Indian Missions.” This gives details of Isaac’s family history, his conversion and his call to preach. It also shows his first attempt to go to Vincennes and fills in many details of his life. (As a side note this period is the hardest to research along with his early ministry- something that I am working on)
• Isaac McCoy Early Indian Missions- A Memorial by Walter Wyeth- This was reviewed separately yesterday but is included in the book.
• A Few Observations in Vindication of the Doctrine of the Final Perseverance of the Saints- Isaac McCoy. Let me state before anything is said this is not a Calvinistic treatise per se, instead as written this is a clear defense of the security of the believer. This was written in response to a pamphlet then circulating in the area written by Timothy Merritt a Methodist minister that presented the erroneous view that a Christian could loose their salvation. McCoy clearly teaches a security of the believer that is not dependent on the believer “persevering to the end” but rather dependent on God to preserve.
• Hymns and Spiritual Songs- Isaac McCoy In August of 1812 Isaac attempted to publish a collection of Hymns (This was encouraged by his church and the Wabash Association) Unfortunately he fell ill at Frankfort, KY and due to this and lack of funds the book was never published. This book contains about the first quarter of them. They would be best considered poetry- they do not ever appeared to have been set to music. I have looked through a portion of the handwritten manuscript on microfilm in the McCoy papers and there is no music written out. For years he kept the manuscript in a desk and always wanted to see the music published. There is a bit more of the rest of the story. Later when McCoy baptized his first Indian convert in the river outside of Fort Wayne he composed a song called Glad Tidings. Fifty years after his death the song would be the official hymn on a Baptist railroad chapel car of the same name- Glad Tidings. As far as I know after that point no one sang it- but I had the opportunity to sing it in quite a few churches around the country.
• Remarks on the Practicality of Indian Reform- Isaac McCoy. (I explained this subject in Video three) This is McCoy’s treatise on the need for Indian Canaan to protect the Indians from what he saw as certain extinction. This plan was designed to allow the Indians to VOLUNTARILY emigrate to a land that would be their own in perpetuity and governed by them. This is also available online at https://archive.org/details/Ayer_155_M15_1827
• There are also some photos as well as the statement of faith of Maria Creek Baptist Church.

The book is printed by Particular Baptist Press https://www.pbpress.org/the-autobiography-of-isaac-mccoy/ My copy came from ebay recently (and was still shrink wrapped when I got it) I had previously read through it before at a library in Indiana