* APR 1 1 1910 * 
 
 BX 7343 .C2 E32 
 Egbert, James. 
 Alexander Campbell and 
 Christian liberty 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/alexandercampbelOOegbe_0 
 
APR 111910 
 
 ALEXANDER GAMPBEb^s? 
 CHRISTIAN LIBERTY 
 
 A Centennial Volume On His Controlling 
 Ideas — Elnforced By His Own Words. 
 
 By JAMES EGBERT, A.B., D.B. 
 
 fll^ntf tttttal lEbttinn. 
 
 laaa-isaa. 
 
 Truth has nothing to fear from investigation. It dreads not 
 the light of science, nor shuns the scrutiny of the mo^ pry- 
 ing inquiry. It challenges the fulled, the able^, and the 
 boldest examination. — Alexander Campbell. 
 
 ST. LOUIS: 
 CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
 1909. 
 
Neither Christian faith nor Christian character can be inherited, 
 as the goods and chattels of this world. There is no royal ©r 
 ancestral path to faith, piety, or humanity. Whatever truly 
 elevates, adorns, or dignifies a human being, must be, more or 
 less, the fruit of his own efforts. — Alexander Campbell. 
 
 Copyright, 1909, 
 Christian Publishing Company, 
 St. lyouis, Mo. 
 
To Thb Young Mkn op America with open minds eager for 
 truth: 
 
 To American Manhood which Alexander Campbell held in such 
 high esteem; 
 
 In his own spirit and word, **Not that we have lordship over 
 your faith, but are helpers of your joy." — 
 
 IS THIS BOOK DEDICATED: 
 
 That you may come in touch with and appreciate his great 
 personality: 
 That you may catch his spirit: 
 
 That you may express yourself in your chosen task to your 
 generation as faithfully as he did to his; 
 
 That you may get a vision of the Christ as impressive and be 
 as courageous in lifting your age up to it as he. 
 
 —3— 
 
PREFACE,. 
 
 The world ever has its revivals. The Renaissance which over- 
 spread Europe in the fifteenth Century was a shaking up of the 
 thought- world. Thoughts hidden for ages were resuscitated and 
 made to do service among men. The Reformation which followed 
 in its wake belonged properly to the moral realm and directed its 
 blows to conscience. 
 
 Each age is characterized in an especial way by some revival 
 in literature, in painting, in music, in morals, or in religion. The 
 revival of the present day through which we are passing, is the 
 Revival of Personality. Psychology has come. Man is under- 
 stood as never before. It is the age of humanity. The whole 
 man and the whole of men is the recognition. "All the world of 
 the beautiful and of art is but a single rose thrown over the 
 garden wall, as but a little hint of the infinite riches" of some 
 personal life. So President King is able to say:* 
 
 "All values finally go back to the riches of some personal life. 
 We can not be too often reminded that the best the world has 
 ever shown us in literature, or music, or art, is but a partial reve- 
 lation of the inner riches of some personal life. So Kaftan is in 
 the habit of saying in his lectures at the University of Berlin, 
 that the greatest problem of life is the problem of appreciative 
 understanding of the great personalities of history." 
 
 This book is an attempt in this direction. It seeks to know 
 and to feel the force and significance of the controlling ideas of 
 Alexander Campbell as they issue forth in Christian Liberty. 
 On the part of the author it is a soul experience. For the past 
 several years he has been sitting in the Dresence of this great 
 personality with a longing to know him and to feel the touch of 
 his soul in friendship. He brings only what he said to him with 
 
 * Personal and Ideals Elements in Education, p. 78. 
 
Preface. 
 
 the hope that you, too, may find such personal fellowship. 
 
 Mr. Campbell was a voluminous writer, having published about 
 sixty volumes. They are all more or less connected with matters 
 and discussions foreign to our time. Few would find time or 
 even care to go to them. Yet amid these pages of seeming dry- 
 ness are living gems of royal beauty which the world can ill 
 afford to lose. That the world needs these treasures and needs 
 them now justifies the bringing of them. 
 
 This is first of all a book for the people. Realizing that many 
 of the best works today are utterly beyond the reach of the aver- 
 age mind because of the use of technicalities of theology and 
 philosophy, the author has endeavored to put things in a clear, 
 straightforward way to the capacity of the average man. 
 
 Mr. Campbell is unknown today except by a few who have 
 spent years in his presence. All need to know him, from the 
 least to the greatest. There have been some excellent books 
 written about him. The uniqueness of this book is to let him 
 speak for himself. 
 
 In a time like this, when brother stands confronting brother, 
 when each would designate the other by some harsh and odious 
 name, when to slay a reputation is counted among earth's most 
 brilliant achievements, when soul would fetter soul — all need to 
 hear the clear, strong voice which rang through the nineteenth 
 Century calling for Christian Liberty. 
 
 Extensive quotations from others have been made in order 
 that Mr. Campbell's ideas might stand, both in their comparison 
 and their contrast, along with the best utterance of modern 
 thought. None but the ablest scholars of world-wide reputation 
 have been used in this way. It is the candid judgment of the 
 author that Mr. Campbell suffers nothing from such association. 
 On the contrary, he who began to speak one hundred years ago 
 proves himself by his own utterance to be a scholar among 
 scholars. 
 
 In the author's confining himself to the controlling idea 
 of Mr. Campbell in Christian liberty, the treatment may seem 
 
 —6— 
 
Preface. 
 
 partial, showing but one side of the man. This could not well 
 be avoided. The author proposes in the near future to sup- 
 plement this work with a treatment of his more constructive 
 labors. This will be a development of his controlling ideas 
 of liberty working out in his efforts for a Universal Christian 
 Brotherhood. The present theme is really limited to a consider- 
 ation of his principles of liberty. * 'Alexander Campbell and 
 Christian Unity," will show how he put these principles of 
 liberty to work in men's lives and how in the true American 
 fashion he joined "I^iberty and Union." 
 
 The author wishes to express his thanks to the Christian 
 Publishing Company of St. Louis, Mo., for their kindness in 
 granting him the use of Mr. Campbell's works. 
 
 He is under great obligations to Prof. Albert Temple Swing, 
 D. D., of the Church History Department of Oberlin Seminary, 
 under whom he sat for two years as a pupil, and who so kindly 
 read the manuscript, making valuable corrections and sug- 
 gestions. 
 
 He also desires to express his gratefulness to Miss Lora N. 
 Christe and Miss Jennie H. Jacobson, both of Anaconda, Mont., 
 who so patiently type- wrote the MS., the former Part I, and 
 the latter Part II. 
 
 Thu Author 
 
IXTRODUCTIOX. 
 
 It is eminently fitting that Alexander Campbell be introduced 
 to the world anew in the year that witnesses the Centennial of 
 the movement which he and his father inaugurated. Mr, Camp- 
 bell is not known to this generation. It is surprising how little 
 many men of letters and of high reputation in the theological 
 world know of this reformer of the nineteenth century. Great 
 men, however, like great objects in nature, require distance to 
 be seen in their true magnitude. Alexander Campbell's leading 
 ideas are much more in harmony with the thought of the pres- 
 ent time than they were with the ruling ideas of the age in 
 which he hved. Thinkers of today in the realm of religion need 
 only to be introduced to this bold thinker of the past centurj- 
 to be impressed with his intellectual iKDwer, his mental inde- 
 pendence and his rehgious genius. They wiU readily recognize 
 in Mr. Campbell one who loved truth more than popularity, 
 Ubert>- more than conformity- to existing standards, and loj-al- 
 t>- to Christ more than the cherished religious associations and 
 traditions of his early life. Such a man is a blessing to any 
 age, and to such men we are indebted for whatever progress 
 in religious freedom and in religious thought the world has 
 made. 
 
 The author of this volume introduces Mr. Campbell to us 
 in one of the most striking aspects of his character — his love 
 for, and his exercise of, rehgious hbert}'. He had other char- 
 acteristics, but without this he never could have been the re- 
 former that he was. It is scarcely too much to say that Mr. 
 Campbell is little known in this feature of his character, tc 
 many of those associated with the movement of which he was 
 the most distinguished leader. This fact has become increas- 
 ingly evident in later years. The timeliness of the book is 
 
 —9— 
 
Introduction. 
 
 as much due to this imperfect knowledge of Mr. Campbell on 
 the part of his friends as to the wider lack of acquaintance- 
 ship with him on the part of the religious world at large. If 
 ours be a providential movement in which the hand of God is 
 manifest, we cannot study too closely the men whom He used 
 to inaugurate the movement and to expound its principles. If 
 the religious reformation of which Alexander Campbell became 
 the most conspicuous representative is to be a continuous Re- 
 formation, adjusting itself to the new and changing conditions 
 of the world as they arise, the spirit of liberty, and love of 
 truth, and willingness to follow the truth whithersoever it 
 leads, must characterize its advocates, and especially its leaders, 
 in every age. It is in this fact that this volume has its chief 
 value. 
 
 Not the least praiseworthy feature of this valuable work is 
 the freedom and fullness with which Mr. Campbell is allowed 
 to speak for himself. After all, he will stand or fall at the 
 bar of impartial history, not by what others have said about 
 him, but by what he himself has said on the great themes upon 
 which he spoke and wrote. Time, which tests all things, will 
 sift out whatever was of transient value, in his utterances, or 
 which served a temporary purpose, but that which is of en- 
 during worth, because it is the worthy expression of immortal 
 truth, will live on and minister to the world's hunger long 
 after towers and monuments shall have crumbled from their 
 granite bases, and our "little systems" shall have had their 
 day and "ceased to be." Some of the statements herein quoted 
 deserve to take their place in the world's permanent literature. 
 
 The work is written m a style, and with a literary charm, 
 which comport well with the subject treated. There is, too, 
 an antecedent preparation in the life and experience of the 
 author which has well fitted him for this important task. None 
 but a student of the writings of Mr. Campbell can appreciate 
 at its true value the splendid personality which lies behind his 
 writings, and the greatness of the work he sought to accomplish. 
 
 —10— 
 
Introduction, 
 
 It is understood that it is the purpose of the author later to 
 write a companion book to this on ''Alexander Campbell and 
 Christian Union." Meantime, he has done well to put this 
 fearless reformer before the world as the champion of Christian 
 liberty. After examination of its contents, I can most heartily 
 recommend it to all lovers of Christian liberty, and especially 
 to those, whether among ourselves or others, who have never 
 yet come to a real acquaintance with, nor proper appreciation 
 of, the "Sage of Bethany." 
 
 J. H. GARRISON. 
 W. T. MOORE. 
 F. W. ALLEN, 
 
 —11— 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Part I.— IvIBERTY and the New Wori;d Conditions. 
 Chapter I. — A New Appreciation. 
 
 The outcome of an experience, 23. 
 
 The growing mind. 24. 
 
 True personal association, 24. 
 
 Early appreciation, 25. 
 
 New appreciation, 29. 
 
 A two-fold message, 31. 
 
 Inconsistencies, 35. 
 
 Adaptation, 36. 
 
 The fathers living, 39. 
 Chapter II.— I/iberty and Progress. 
 
 The spirit of freedom, 43. 
 
 Joined the side of progress, 45. 
 
 Two classes of people, 47. 
 
 Dominant note of 19th Century thinkers. 
 
 His task found, 53. 
 
 No reason for fear, 55. 
 
 The great gulf, 56. 
 
 Gauging by the past, 57. 
 Chapter III. — The Limits of Knowledge and the Free- 
 dom to Think. 
 
 A deep consciousness of limits, 63. 
 
 Obliged to change his views, 67. 
 
 His firm stand for truth, 68. 
 
 Feared the outcome of growing wise, 71. 
 
 Ivined up with liberty and progress, 72. 
 Chapter IV. — Appreciation of Great Personalities. 
 
 Appreciation of the great personalities of history, 
 79. 
 
 Coleridge, 80. 
 Luther, 80. 
 
 The world's great benefactors, 82. 
 Their extensive influence, 83. 
 Bow in reverence, 83. 
 Sees God's working in history, 84. 
 —13— 
 
Contents, 
 
 Indebtedness to various thinkers, 85. 
 
 His unique position, 87. 
 
 His type of mind, 87. 
 Chapter V. — A new Voice in Protestantism. 
 
 The tendency to crystallize, 93. 
 
 A new voice heard in Protestantism, 94. 
 
 His protest, 97. 
 
 The fault fundamental, 98, 
 
 A restoration proposed, 100. 
 
 Finds his task, 100. 
 
 "Back to Christ," 101. 
 
 Part II.— Liberty and the Bibi^e. 
 Chapter I.— The Bible Restored. 
 
 IvUther's experience, 111. 
 
 Mr. Campbell came to his task out of a growing 
 
 experience, 112. 
 His touch with his age, 115. 
 The confronting barriers, 116. 
 The general enlightenment, 117. 
 What attitude toward the Bible? 121. 
 Champions a new emphasis, 124. 
 In the quest of truth he feared not light, 126. 
 "The Old-Fashioned Bible," 127. 
 Foremost among critics, 129. 
 Chapter II. — Criticism. 
 
 As scholar and critic, 135. 
 
 Appealed to ablest critical scholarship, 136. 
 
 What is Biblical Criticism? 137. 
 
 The gyascutus broke loose! 138. 
 
 The savage cry, 138. 
 
 Luther and Melancthon on science, 139. 
 
 What criticism is, 141. 
 
 Arnold, King, Harper, 141. 
 
 Dr. Strong, 142. 
 
 Dr. Farrar, 143. 
 
 Dr. Selleck, 145. 
 
 Professors Smith, Ladd, and Hinsdale, 146. 
 Mr. Campbell a "Lower" and a "Higher" critic, 
 147. 
 
 One of the most opposed American critics, 148. 
 Chapter III. — New Versions. 
 
 As a critic — the temper of a scholar, 151. 
 —14— 
 
Contents, 
 
 The surrounding atmosphere, 153. 
 
 Different viewpoints, 154. 
 
 The human side of the Bible, 155. 
 
 Freed from false reverence, 157. 
 
 The timid non-progressive, 158. 
 
 New versions, unsettling, 160. 
 
 Effect on the world of literature, 161. 
 
 Book of God as leader, 162. 
 
 Objections to authorized version, 163. 
 
 Fears only the "weak minded," 165. 
 
 Enlarges upon reasons for new versions, 166. 
 
 Constant need of new language to convey the 
 
 newly felt, 167. 
 Translation affected by interpretation, 168. 
 Authorized version penetrated with views of 
 
 translators, 169. 
 The daring critic, 169. 
 Simply pours it on, 170. 
 Objections summarized, 170. 
 *'The Word of God," 171. 
 Indulges in irony, 173. 
 A dear sister, 175. 
 
 His common sense and logic applicable to other 
 
 problems, 175. 
 The long time required for truth to dawn, 175. 
 The real cause, 176. 
 
 Appreciated the ability of his times, 176. 
 Helped to give us the revised Bible, 180. 
 A Campbellian note sounded, 181. 
 
 Chapter IV.— Coming to the Bible. 
 Watch the critic as he works, 185. 
 The liberty of the individual to interpret the 
 Bible, 186. 
 
 The lost gospel due to a false interpretation, 187. 
 
 Come to Bible as to any book, 188. 
 
 In line with world's best critics, 189. 
 
 The rules applied — the Bible a human book, 189. 
 
 The popular method, 192. 
 
 Difficulties which beset the historian, 193. 
 
 Importance of this task, 194. 
 
 No small undertaking, 195. 
 
 Corrupted text, 196. 
 
 Errors few, 197. 
 
 No alarm from human imperfections, 197. 
 —15— 
 
Contents. 
 
 Human andDivine, 200. 
 His power in debate, 201. 
 Came to Bible critically, 202. 
 The personal equation, 203. 
 Progress in criticism, 204. 
 His optimism, 205. 
 No alarm from criticism, 205. 
 Bible not the fount of all wisdom, 207. 
 Shipwrecks of faith— why? 209. 
 Background of his labors, 212. 
 The true content, 216. 
 Coleridge and Campbell, 218. 
 Herder and Campbell, 219. 
 Figurative and literal meaning, 221. 
 Some examples, 222. 
 
 Chapter V. Hearing the Voice of God. 
 
 Uniqueness of his attitude, 229. 
 
 Bible divine, 230. 
 
 A revelation of man, 231. 
 
 Transcended the popular idea, 234. 
 
 Was coming to modern view, 236. 
 
 A large and gratifying outlook, 242. 
 
 Perfect revelation, 243. 
 
 Infallibility, 244. 
 
 True touch-stone, 245. 
 
 Ivistening for God's voice, 248. 
 
 A book of literature, 249. 
 
 Right attitude, 249. 
 
 The partisan spirit, 251. 
 
 True way to hear God's voice, 251. 
 
 Chapter VI. Certainty of the Divine Voice. 
 
 Bible speaks its own worth, 257. 
 
 Possible and probable that God has spoken, 258. 
 
 Impossible to prove to all, 262. 
 
 Personal and ethical proof has precedence, 264. 
 
 Ivove and sacrifice the key-note, 264. 
 
 Seeing God, 267. 
 
 Love everywhere, 267. 
 
 The day of the divine demonstration past, 270. 
 The real difficulty, 271. 
 The ethical, 274. 
 The ethical appeal, 275. 
 Certainty of the Divine Voice, 282. 
 —16— 
 
Contents. 
 
 The greatest infidels, 282. 
 
 Personal reformatiou, 283. 
 
 Criticism in the sphere of the personal, 283. 
 
 He transcends even criticism, 284. 
 
 Making a distinction, 286. 
 
 The authority of Jesus, 287. 
 
 Return to Christ as authority, 288. 
 
 Lordship of Jesus, 289. 
 
 Chapter VII. The Heretic. 
 
 A bold and fearless Biblical critic, 293. 
 A critical movement, 293. 
 As a Protestant, 294. 
 
 Why many thought him a destructionist, 296. 
 Modernism, 298. 
 
 Flashing the light upon conservatism, 300. 
 Labored for a new Bible, 301. 
 Passing through an experience, 302. 
 Orthodoxy, 303. 
 
 Consolation in the two never-failing facts, 307. 
 The arch -heretic, 307. 
 Bigotry, 308. 
 
 The peculiar merit of Mr. Campbell, 309. 
 His treatment as a heretic, 315. 
 Lifted to the world a new song, 315. 
 These singers of new songs, 315. 
 Yet the sacrifice has its compensation, 317. 
 Chapter VIII. The Outlook— "What of the Night?" 
 Their followers do not follow, 323. 
 What is the outlook? 324. 
 *Tis not night but glorious day! 328. 
 Our institutions, 329. 
 
 No chasm should yawn between church and school, 
 330. 
 
 Adjusting the truth to the age conditions, 330. 
 
 No new message needed , 331. 
 
 Our message manifold, 333. 
 
 Loyalty to the fathers, 334. 
 
 The tasks that confront the church to-day, 334. 
 
 Progress did not cease at his death, 336. 
 
 Coming to Mr. Campbell, 337. 
 
 His passing to God. Still speaking on earth, 338. 
 
 Bibliography, 341. 
 
 —17— 
 
PART I. 
 
 Liberty and the New World Conditions. 
 
CHAPTER 1. 
 A New Appreciation. 
 
If thou findest a good man, rise up early in the morning to go 
 to him, and let thy feet wear the steps of his door. — Bccl\Apoc- 
 rypha). 
 
 Whereof the man, that witli me trod 
 
 This planet, was a noble type, 
 Appearing ere the times were ripe, 
 
 That friend of mine who lives with God. — Tennyson. 
 
 You have read my book, but not my heart — Elizabeth B, 
 Browning. 
 
 The heroic souls of all time are those who grapple with the 
 hard, pros\^ facts of existence and draw from them a song of 
 cheer. These are the true helpers of himianity. The wilderness 
 and solitary places are glad for them. And deserts blossom be- 
 neath their feet. — £. 
 
 Into her hands fell a branch of beautiful white flowers, but in- 
 terspersed with black, ugly thorns. Through tears she said, '1 will 
 transform the thorns." So adown the years she went transforming 
 the thorns ; sometimes softly, sometimes with enthusiasm, but al- 
 ways with the consciousness that life was growing richer and 
 sweeter. For ever^-where about her pathway sprang the loveliest 
 of flowers. While the air was fragrant and the over-arching sky 
 was always blue. — E. 
 
 —22— 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 A Ndw Appreciation. 
 
 This book is the outcome of an experience. Just such 
 an experience as many have passed through during the 
 present age of inquiry. The author is assured, then, of a 
 large and appreciative audience. It is only in experience 
 that souls really touch one another and stand altogether 
 revealed. 
 
 Such experiences as followed upon the great awakening 
 
 of thought have been painful, pathetic and often tragic in 
 the extreme, and who would seek or ever care to portray 
 tne mental anguish of the growing mind? They are 
 costly in the passing of the most precious of which our 
 lives consist, not only in cherished ideals but often in the 
 loss of fond personal associations. How often we startle 
 when we awaken to the fact that the saddest death is the 
 loss of a soul which failed to rise with us into the reality 
 of life! 
 
 Yet amid the grief and loneliness which attend our way 
 we still keep the upturned face and trust the "Kindly 
 Light" to lead us on, and somehow, we believe that some- 
 time, somewhere there will be a recompense "to tear- 
 stained, saddened eyes." Somehow, we trust for such 
 glad surprise. Somehow, we believe that in the eternal 
 morning those angel faces shall greet us — those faces 
 "which we have loved long since, and lost awhile." 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 Still such an experience as attends the evolution of the 
 mind in its reach for knowledge is not wholly without its 
 compensation even here amid the struggle. What man 
 among us even though civilization has its world of com- 
 plexities, hardships and toils, would wish to go back to 
 the savage life of ease and quiet contentment Vv^ith its little 
 and insignificant? 
 
 In the passing of the old and the coming of the new we 
 are not wholly at loss, something of rich and abiding 
 worth is left us. Our new knowledge is but a truer grasp 
 of the Infinite. In such rise of the soul we are only pass- 
 ing out of a stage of mere existence to life itself. Nor 
 do we in the effort begrudge the sting. No such "spark 
 divine" disturbs the contented beast. In the throe we dis- 
 cover the marks of the man. So let the glorious work of 
 progress go on ! We would not hinder it, but would rise 
 with its tide ! We would step out of the black of night 
 into the radiance of day! We are confident that today 
 we are living in, not only a new world, but a better worldj 
 notwithstanding the pessimists. We believe that : 
 
 "Out of the shadow of night 
 The world rolls into light, 
 It is daybreak everywhere!" 
 
 Moreover, let us not say that development is only ad- 
 vance in knowledge. Let us not think, that in our rise 
 to God, we have lost anything of true personal associa- 
 tion. On the contrary, in touching the Infinite we are 
 brought into a circle of souls over which time and place 
 have no power. An unpleasant gulf may yawn between 
 
 —24— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 us and many whom we day by day meet face to face ; in 
 that there is no correspondence between us in our aim, 
 purposes and ideals. They may fail to understand us. But 
 we need not yield to such loneliness, for in coming into 
 the great heart of God, we have come into companionship 
 with the rare and choice souls of all time. Here there is 
 mutual understanding. Xo barrier rises to separate us 
 from these, except that which our own wills raise in our 
 low and sordid ideals of life. Therefore, we may rise up 
 with strength and turning from the apparent loneliness of 
 life, meet God and duty singing as we go. 
 
 ]\Ir. Campbell, himself, in one of his quiet soul medita- 
 tions feels this great truth. He is contrasting the happy 
 lot of those "who sail wdth wind and tide down the stream 
 of popular esteem," with ''yonder small company in a little 
 bark, toiling against wind and current, ascending the 
 rapid stream of vulgar applause." But he comforts his 
 soul with this satisfying conclusion : 
 
 "O, my soul, do you not know that every good intention of 
 yours, and every good effort of yours, were it only to subdue one 
 evil inclination, is witnessed with admiration by all the excellent 
 that ever lived * * * when you make one righteous effort to pro- 
 mote goodness in yourself, or in any human being, know that 
 t\try good man on earth approves your course, and is upon your 
 side; yes, and all the spirits of the dead. * * * Be assured, 
 then, in all your struggles in behalf of truth and goodness, that 
 ever}' just man upon earth, every happy spirit in the invisible 
 world, ever>' angel in heaven, and what is more than all, your 
 Redeemer and j-our Heavenly Father are upon your side.'"^ 
 
 1 C. B., p. 427. 
 
 —25— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 This was ]\Ir. Emerson's thought when he said: 
 
 "Be of good cheer, brave spirit! Steadfastly serve that low 
 whisper thou hast served. For know God hath a select famil) of 
 sons now scattered wide through earth, and each alone, who are 
 thy spiritual kindred, and each one by constant service to that in- 
 ward law is weaving the sublime proportion of a true monarch's 
 soul. Beauty and strength, the riches of a spotless memory, the 
 eloquence of truth, the wisdom got by searching of a clear and 
 loving eye that seeth as God seeth. These are their gifts, and 
 Time w^ho keeps God's word, brings on the day to seal the mar- 
 riage of these minds with thine, thine everlasting lovers." 
 
 From childhood I have appreciated Alexander Camp- 
 bell. He was the patron saint of my father and my 
 grandfather. His name was a household word from my 
 earliest recollection. Father never used to tire of telling 
 of his great wisdom and in describing his poweful ser- 
 mons. Nor did I ever grow weary in listening to the 
 mighty deeds of this wonderful man. He grew up into 
 my child-heart with such attachment that I often felt I 
 had been deprived of one of earth's chiefest joys not to 
 know him on earth. His name was often mentioned by 
 the preachers who used to visit our home, and they added 
 to my store of knowledge. I came to feel that I knew 
 him so well that if I should meet him upon the street I 
 would be able to recognize him. 
 
 By the time I had reached young manhood I had this 
 
 conception of him. One in wisdom who far surpassed all 
 
 the old Grecian philosophers and even rivaled Solomon in 
 
 all his glory. In fact I thought of him as in some way 
 
 belonging to those Bible worthies, only somehow he had, 
 
 —26— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 probably by mistake, been left out. So wise he was that 
 none in his own age dared to match minds with him. i 
 used to wonder if ever again such gigantic mind would 
 attach itself to piece of clay. And my loyalty to him was 
 as steadfast as my thought of him. When I was once 
 offered a scholarship and two hundred dollars a year if I 
 would take a course in one of the largest and best equipped 
 colleges in America, I refused because it was not con- 
 trolled by those who held the faith of Mr. Campbell. I 
 well remember the reply I gave to the friend who made 
 me this generous offer. "No professor knows anything 
 about truth unless he has learned it from Alexander 
 Campbell." The friend was assured of one thing, that I 
 was a fit subject for college. Nevertheless, one thing is 
 certain, I was sincere when I believed that all the wisdom 
 of the past, present and future was vested in him. Ig- 
 norance was bliss ! 
 
 I had learned, too, of his enviable reputation in polem- 
 ics and that all feared his dominant trait of pugnacity. 
 They told me he could, with Bible in hand, whip the whole 
 world, and even had completely demolished a number of 
 men beyond recognition, and that the world had never 
 heard of them since. Thus he became imaged upon my 
 mind as a stalwart fighter. Not unlike the pictures I had 
 seen in books, of ancient warriors, except that in place 
 of shield and sword, he held the Bible. Furthermore, I 
 was told that this Bible he literally believed from cover 
 to cover, and that he understood every word in it to be 
 mightily inspired by God. 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 I heard him quoted over and over again by ministers 
 who used his word freely. But generally he was used to 
 pin down some favorite point in doctrinal dispute. I often 
 found myself going to his books in the same way, always 
 camping about certain well trodden and sacred places. 
 Nor did I have any desire to get far from the camp. For 
 some years I enjoyed such an appreciation of Air. Camp- 
 bell. It was sincere as it was loyal, yet it is not the ap- 
 preciation that I hold today. It was my earlier apprecia- 
 tion, but it became old and passed away. 
 
 It was during this period in my development that I 
 became so depressed and pained. I had come into contact 
 with the world's great thinkers. Upon comparison I was 
 forced to the conclusion that ]\Ir. Campbell in his world 
 of ideas was not what he ought to have been, conse- 
 quently he fell into ruins all about me. While I still 
 admired him as a loyal, sincere servant of God, I thought 
 him in his intellectual holdings, narrow and antiquated. 
 A few years I passed in such delusion. The supposition 
 that I had learned him incorrectly never once occurred 
 to me. To go to the sources and know him from his own 
 works had never presented itself to my thought. How 
 often do we go down the years cherishing delusions sim- 
 ply from want of investigation! 
 
 It was when studying at Oberlin Seminary a few years 
 ago that I came under the spell of several professors who 
 are masters of thought in the theological world. And 
 here from somewhere out of God's great universe the 
 thought flashed to me, to go to the works of Alexander 
 
 —28— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Campbell and let him speak for himself. For the past 
 two years I have pursued this task in the midst of a busy 
 pastorate. It has been a delightful study of which this 
 book is the result. 
 
 Mr. Campbell means more to me now than ever before. 
 His contributions to life have captivated my mind and 
 enriched my heart. I have learned to love him more and 
 more. My firm conviction is that the world has not yet 
 come to recognize his true place in religious thought and 
 activity. That he was a prophet speaking in much far 
 beyond his age, I am impressed. Thus, I have come to 
 a new appreciation of Mr. Campbell. In a thousand ways 
 the new far exceeds the old. I have come to this appre- 
 ciation from a study of his works in the light of modern 
 thought and activity. What this appreciation is the book 
 will disclose. I have determined to allow '\lr. Camp- 
 bell to speak for himself to you, just as he has to me. 
 
 The author heartily accords with Laura Gerould Craig 
 in her delightful little book ''The Centennial Campfire," 
 p. 5, "We love to speak of the fathers of the nineteenth 
 century Reformation as 'our fathers' and of the move- 
 ment as 'our movement.' Our appreciation of its purpose 
 and participation in its results seem to impel this appro- 
 priation. But such men, such movements, belong to God 
 and the world." 
 
 Again, p. 49, she quotes George D. Prentice as saying : 
 "His intellect is among the clearest, richest, profoundest 
 ever vouchsafed to man ; indeed, it seems to us in the 
 quality of abstract thinking he has few, if any, rivals. 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Every cultivated person who has heard Mr. Campbell 
 must have been impressed with the wonderful faciHty 
 with which his faculties move in the highest planes of 
 thought. Surely the life of a man thus gifted must be 
 a part of the treasure of society. In his essential char- 
 acter he belongs to no sect, but to the world." 
 
 That Mr. Campbell's contributions to life is a treasure 
 that the world now needs, and that he himself belongs to 
 the world is the author's only apology for presenting this 
 book. 
 
 No one would think of designating this as 
 a destructive age. It is intensely constructive 
 to the smallest minutia. Even a criticism of 
 the lives of others need not be destructive, and 
 will not, if we put ourselves into their presence 
 with sympathetic appreciation. The very insight which 
 the fathers grant us ought to enable us to come to their 
 lives in a constructive way. We do not believe that they 
 saw all things in their totality. We often boast that we 
 can see farther than did they. This is the peculiar glory 
 of the heritage which they have granted us. Nor does 
 this render them in our estimation any less great. Since 
 they were so large, we are able to stand upon their broad 
 shoulders and get a larger, and hence, a truer range of 
 things. 
 
 Mr. Campbell was a many-sided man. We shall not 
 
 be able to comprehend him in a moment, perhaps not in a 
 
 lifetimiC. He had the soul of a poet, and could penetrate 
 
 beneath the crust and pierce the heart of things. His 
 
 —30— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 ability in establishing his ideas upon the bedrock of truth 
 is amazing. He possessed a deep and abiding religion 
 which his soul experienced and enjoyed. He was pro- 
 phetic. His far-seeing eye discerned from the signs of 
 the time, the movement and trend of things. He was a 
 liberator, critic, educator, scholar, theologian, reformer, 
 preacher. 
 
 As a theologian, he had a message for his times, yet he 
 spoke for all time. His message for his own age grew 
 out of the existing conditions plus his own personality. 
 His message for all time is the overflow of his soul in his 
 experience of religion. 
 
 Hie who comes to his age with a message requires a 
 method, a scheme of thinking based in the conceptions of 
 his day. Otherwise he would be out of touch with his 
 people and could bring them no vital message. Mr. Camp- 
 bell, true child of his age that he was^ had such a scheme. 
 Nevertheless, it is true, as all great minds confirm, that 
 in these same truth-bringers are truths inconsistent with 
 their small schemes of thought, and even transcending 
 them. Such truth comes bursting from the soul even 
 though there be no place in the scheme large enough to 
 hold it. This is because the soul is larger than the head. 
 The mind is more than thinking ; it is feeling and willing. 
 
 We always know the certainty of such truth, since the 
 soul knows its own. Such thoughts become an expression 
 of the soul. They are born, not made. They come as the 
 tide, flooding beyond the shore. They come as the dawn, 
 vanishing the night-line. They come as the song of the 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 imprisoned bird. They come as the spring time, burst- 
 ing the mould of winter. To our Httle creed-bound minds 
 such thoughts come suggesting the soul of things while 
 we awake to the largeness, light, and beauty, all about us. 
 Such is true poetry, the heart of art, and the very soul 
 of religion. It always finds us. It is soul answering 
 to soul. 
 
 The little thought systems have their day and hour, 
 their setting in the circumstance. But in one's religion, 
 are found the constant and eternal factors which con- 
 tinue to bless mankind. The one, is the letter; the 
 other, the spirit. One, is the husk ; the other, the ker- 
 nel. One, is form ; the other, essence. One, is the 
 phenomenon ; the other, reality. One, is the theological 
 expression ; the other, reHgion itself. 
 
 A man's theology is a reasoned, systematic, intellectual 
 expression of what he conceives religion to be — what it 
 means to him. His religion is his life in its relations with 
 not only of thoughts, but feelings and deeds often too 
 great to classify and frequently bursting from the soul 
 spontaneously. 
 
 Hence, it is not in the theology which was partial and 
 for the times, but in the religion of Alexander Campbell 
 that we will find the constant truths. These are the truths 
 that surged in his soul, longing for expression and burst 
 through at rare and favored moments.. So he comes to 
 us not more in what he consistently thought out, than in 
 what he felt, did and aspired. 
 
 It is true, as Mr. Garrison has admirably shown in his 
 —32— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 scholarly work on "The Theology of Alexander Camp- 
 bell," that his theology was made out of the only materials 
 at hand, was for the times, and is largely antiquated. 
 This could hardly be otherwise, since theology is but one's 
 expression of what religion means to him. Every theo- 
 logian must in this sense be a child of his own age and 
 clothe the statements of his conception of religion in the 
 language of the day. This is as true of Jesus and Paul 
 as of all who followed them. The theological expression 
 is but the lifeless thought-form to convey the religion, 
 known, felt and experienced in the soul, to the people of 
 one's age. And how inadequate they always are even 
 at their best! Who can hope to convey in words to an- 
 other, the felt joy or bliss ? Where is the thought-scheme 
 large enough to transmit the love that soul feels for soul ? 
 How often does the longing soul grow dumb in the effort 
 and leave the rest to silence ! The barrenness of all lan- 
 guage to express this relation of God to his children was 
 one of the constant recognitions of Mr. Campbell. It 
 was one of those lofty themes which ever taxed his pow- 
 ers of eloquence. Feeling this futile power of words to 
 voice religion in the soul he exclaims : 
 
 "On such a theme, who would not wish to be eloquent! But 
 how can we equal in style a subject which, when but faintly and in 
 prospective viewed, exhausted the sublimest strains of heaven- 
 taught prophets, and of poets fired with God's own inspiration — 
 whose hallowed lips tasted not the fabled springs of Pagan muses, 
 but the fountain of living waters, springing from eternal love ! 
 Yet, even these failed to lisp its praise. Nay, the brightest seraph 
 that burns in heavenly light, fails in his best effort, and, in pro- 
 (3) —33— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 found thought pores over the marvellous theme. The compassion 
 of the eternal God, the benevolence and philanthropy of the Father 
 of the whole family in heaven and in earth toward us, the fallen 
 children of his love, has transcended the loftiest grasp of the 
 highest intelligence, and made to falter the most expressive 
 tongue in all the ranks of heavenly powers. In all the raptur- 
 ous flights of those morning stars of creation, in all the 
 ecstatic acclamations of those elder sons of God, the theme has 
 not been reached; and though they have tuned their harps a 
 thousand times and swelled their voices in full chorus in count- 
 less efforts, yet, the theme is still unequalled, and, as it were, un- 
 touched. Vain, then, would be the attempt and fruitless every 
 effort, to express in corresponding terms, a subject so divine. 
 Indeed we have no language, we have not been taught an alphabet 
 adapted to such a theme. 'Come, then, expressive silence, muse its 
 praise!"'^ 
 
 On the Other hand, the religious truths are constant. 
 They come to each age with the demand that they be 
 dressed, not in a fashion long gone by, but in newly chos- 
 •en forms, in styles adapted to the requirements and cul- 
 ture of the age. But the dress changes not the essential 
 nature of the truth. Liberty is always liberty, righteous- 
 ness is always righteousness, and love is always love, re- 
 gardless of the dress of time. It is the constant factors 
 that are purposed to stand out in these selections from 
 Mr. Campbell. The great abiding religious truths which 
 so mightily stirred in his soul for utterance and made him 
 ever restless till they came forth. 
 
 It may be out of his many volumes he would have 
 spoken different words to you. The author is fully aware 
 
 1 Liv. Or., p. 26. 
 
 —34— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 that what we carry away from a great personality de- 
 pends largely upon what we bring. The master work of 
 art is to one a few lines and colors, worth only a casual 
 glance. To another it is all this and much more. It 
 presents to the eye a delightful picture. In the associa- 
 tions of the soul it has a significance which is life itself. 
 It becomes a joy forever. It is soul of my soul. So the 
 author brings only what Alexander Campbellbringstohim. 
 
 The author is, also, conscious of the fact, that really 
 great minds are subject to inconsistencies. A very small 
 mind has such few relations with life as to have them 
 tied at both ends. Such a mind is comprehensive to itself 
 and to all others. But a mind that opens itself to God's 
 vast universe touches too much of life for full and ade- 
 quate expression for it all. This fact furnishes the rea- 
 son why Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Luther and even Jesus 
 have each had such a varied following. For instance, 
 Paul finds in Jesus his doctrine of justification by faith 
 only, and James his doctrine that faith without works is 
 dead, being alone. Both of these ideas are found in Jesus, 
 but while one built upon one side of the Master's truth, 
 the other built upon the other side. Men in following 
 others often become extremists in the partial. It may 
 be that you in coming to Mr. Campbell's many-sided 
 thought would have followed a different trend. Be that 
 as it may, after all it still remains that we get largely what 
 we bring. The author brought to him his own experi- 
 ence and let him speak to him. Says President King:^ 
 
 2 The Seeming Unreality of the Spiritual I,ife, p. 41. 
 
 —35-- 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 "After all, the one great teacher is life, and our best words to 
 another of even the deepest in us must fall resultless, until life has 
 brought to the other the experience out of which the words can be 
 interpreted. * * * " 
 
 In Whitman's putting: 
 
 " 'No one can acquire for another — not one, 
 
 No one can grow for another — not one. 
 
 The song is to the singer, and comes back most to him, 
 
 The teaching is to the teacher, and comes back most to him.' " 
 
 Mr. Campbell was not only largely capacitated for the 
 reception of truth, but in dispensing truth, he had that 
 ■fine sense of adaptation which is characteristic of great- 
 ness. In his teaching and preaching he gave constant rec- 
 ognition to that fundamental pedagogical law, that truth, 
 in order to be received and avail good, must be leveled 
 to the capacity of the hearer. Such a course often makes 
 one appear inconsistent. The teacher's instruction about 
 the star would to the child be quite different than to the 
 man of celestial knowledge, if to each any beneficial 
 knowledge were brought. 
 
 He speaks about the Savior's pedagogical method in 
 veiling his mission through the medium of parables. Only 
 by degrees, from the known to the unknown, does he 
 teach. And this, too, "as the contingencies of his public 
 ministrations required." So about some lofty truths 
 which he desires to impart to the people he says of the 
 Savior's method: 
 
 "We wish to imitate him in this particular, so far as we can 
 have the full assurance of understanding, and so far only as the 
 
 —36— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 contingencies of the present living world may render it convenient 
 and fitting. He spake in parables and he spake without them, and 
 we see no good reason why his example in this particular should 
 not in certain conditions and circumstances be both prudential and 
 useful."^ 
 
 Of Mr. Campbeirs prudence in adaptation, Dr. W. T. 
 
 Moore, who sat under the "Sage of Bethany" as pupil, 
 speaks. On the reason why Mr. Campbell spoke with 
 such reserve in his popular lectures to young men on the 
 subject of Geology he mentions the recency of the science 
 and its slowness in establishing itself upon a firm basis. 
 He says:^ 
 
 ''This, doubtless, was one reason why he did not ven- 
 ture much upon it. But there was another all-controlling 
 reason which influenced him, and this will at once ex- 
 plain in a satisfactory manner to all unprejudiced minds, 
 why he so summarily disposed of the difficulties between 
 the Geological and Mosaic records. He was speaking, to 
 a class of young men, many of whom knew little or noth- 
 ing about geology, whose faith in the Christian religion 
 might easily have been shaken by an attempt to harmonize 
 the Geological and Mosaic accounts, when it must neces- 
 sarily be done at the apparent expense of the latter. To 
 treat the whole subject of Geology so that all the stu- 
 dents could understand its teachings, in a course of popu- 
 lar lectures not intended especially for such subjects, was 
 simply impossible. Hence, it was better to dispose of 
 all questions of this kind by confining himself to the plain 
 statements of the Bible. * * For this we ought to 
 
 1 Mill. Har. 1860, p. 308. 
 
 1 Lect. on Pent., pp. 139, 140. 
 
 —37— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 commend him, and especially for the good sense he mani- 
 fested in refusing to embark on the ocean of speculation, 
 while addressing a class of young men who were wholly 
 unprepared for it." One of the greatest teachers of young 
 men in America said that he in his teaching never sug- 
 gested doubts to the mind, but when those doubts arose 
 out of the mind's own understanding of things, he, then, 
 explained, and elucidated. He first let the doubt arise, 
 but did not plant it. 
 
 Mr. Campbell puts the matter in this plain, biblical 
 fashion : 
 
 "We should consider the circumstances of any people before 
 we address them. Do we address Jews? Let us address them as 
 the Apostles did. Persuade them out of their own law that Jesus 
 is the Messiah. Do we address professed Christians? Let us imi- 
 tate the Apostolic addresses in the epistles." 
 
 "Do we preach to Barbarians? Let us address them as Paul 
 preached to the Lycaonians. Speak to their consciences. Do we 
 preach to polished infidels or idolaters? Let us speak to them as 
 Paul spake to the Athenians. Speak to their consciences."* 
 
 Again, he says: 
 
 "On some occasions, we must indeed, address ourselves to all 
 classes, conditions, and forms of humanity, and therefore, we 
 must, as the great Teacher and his great Apostle did, 'become all 
 things to all men,' and speak all things to all men in adaptation to 
 their conditions and capacities.'" 
 
 In thus fitting the truth to the condition he was enabl- 
 ed to put the Bible to its designed use. First, to come to 
 
 1 Hist. Doc., p. 278. • Mill. Har. 1858, p. 455. 
 
 —38— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 such a knowledge of it himself as to bring his own soul 
 into harmony with God, and then to bring it to others 
 in such a way, in such adaptation to their mental hold- 
 ings, that they, too, might lay hold of it and come into 
 that Divine fellowship. Such is the only proper method 
 of conveying truth, yet it has the peculiar effect of pre- 
 senting a varied whole when the several teachings are 
 brought together. This accounts for many of the so- 
 thought inconsistencies. 
 
 No, the fathers are not dead! They are still living and 
 at work in the world. The word and spirit of Mr. Camp- 
 bell still live. Today he is lifting up his voice as tri- 
 umphantly as he did a century ago. Today just as truly 
 as throughout the past century he is going up and down 
 our land, championing the cause of religious freedom, 
 calling for peace and harmony among men, and pleading 
 for the education of man. He still lives, and through 
 thousands of great personalities touched by his own, he 
 calls to the twentieth century to come up higher. David's 
 word in Browning's Saul is true of Mr. Campbell: 
 "Each deed thou hast done 
 
 Dies, revives, goes to work in the world; until e'en as the sun 
 Looking down on the earth, tho' clouds spoil him, tho' tempests 
 efface, 
 
 Can find nothing his own deed produced not, must everywhere 
 trace 
 
 The results of his past summer prime, — so each ray of thy will. 
 Every flash of thy passion, and prowess, long over, shall thrill 
 Thy whole people, the countless, with ardour, till they too give 
 forth 
 
 A like cheer to their sons; who in turn, fill the South and the 
 North 
 
 With the radiance thy deed was the germ of." 
 
 —39— 
 
CHAPTER n. 
 Liberty and Progress. 
 
There is no grand poem in the world but is at bottom a biog- 
 raphy — the life of a man. — Carlyle. 
 
 I had my choice when I commenced. I bid neither for soft 
 eulogies, big money returns, nor the approbation of existing 
 schools and conventions. As now fulfilled after thirty years, 
 the best of my achievement is, that I have had my say entirely 
 my own way, and put it unerringly on record — the value thereof 
 to be decided by time. — Walt Whitman. 
 
 Authority says to it: — Rest luhere thou art; I alone strike 
 the hour of the march; ZL'hen I am silent everything should rest, 
 for all progress zvhich is accomplished without me and beyond 
 me, is impious. The human mind interrogates itself; it feels 
 its own right and power; it finds the germ of progress is in 
 itself, that strength and right come to it from God, and not 
 from an intermediate power coming between itself and God, as 
 if charged to lead it. — Mazzini. 
 
 I have faith in God, in the power of truth, and in the his- 
 toric logic of things. I feel in my inmost heart that the delay 
 is not for long. The principle which was the soul of the Old 
 World is exhausted. It is our part to clear the way for the 
 new principle; and should we perish in the undertaking, it shall 
 yet be cleared. — ^Mazzini. 
 
 —42— 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 LIBERTY AND PROGRESS. 
 
 "And lo ! the fullness of the time has come, 
 And over all the exile's Western home, 
 From sea to sea the flowers of freedom bloom!" 
 
 At the beginning of the 19th century this was not all 
 poetry, neither was it all fact ; else no place had been for 
 the Old World's gift to the New. In the year 1809 
 Scotland and Ireland joined hands in giving to America 
 a young man of twenty-one, educated in the University of 
 Glasgow, and by nature splendidly endowed. In his great 
 nature the spirit of freedom hulked large. Into this land 
 of freedom he came with the spirit of liberty throbbing 
 mightily in his breast. With many other of the large 
 souls of his day he felt, 
 
 "We must be free or die, who speak the tongue 
 That Shakespeare spake; the Faith and morals hold 
 Which Milton held." 
 
 In Alexander Campbell America obtained one in whom 
 the spirit of liberty not only grew strong with the years, 
 but whose spirit was ever restless till freedom^s thought 
 became deed. 
 
 Bright was the land with prospect and auspicious 
 the new century, as he stepped ashore in the New World 
 to work out his life's task. Such life must find fullest 
 
 —43— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 expression. It becomes necessary to test the mettle of 
 the man. Herein environment must meet man half way. 
 There must be no shackles of bondage, no narrow con- 
 finement. He must find room to act, else he must make 
 room. Mr. Campbell, himself, felt such need for per- 
 sonality when he said : 
 
 "To know the force of character of any individual, he must 
 be placed in a position on a theater where he has room to 
 act his part fully. Few persons ever know themselves or their 
 most intimate friends and relatives, because of the want of 
 opportunity of developing themselves."^ 
 
 Mr, Campbell was well aware that America, with all 
 its boast of freedom, was not wholly free ; and the world 
 for which he existed still less. Yet America furnished 
 room, the most opportune room, through which he might 
 reach the whole world. Though the times were out of 
 joint, he was not one to sit and wait for better conditions. 
 At once he arose and delivered himself in the spirit of 
 the poet: 
 
 "Heredity bondsmen! Know ye not. 
 Who would be free, themselves must 
 Strike the blow?" 
 
 From the year of his landing, 1809, till his death, 1866^/ 
 he ceased not to strike. And every blow was a blow 
 for freedom. To him, the first consideration in a true 
 protestantism is liberty. This is fundamental since it is 
 inherent. He says : 
 
 "The dearest liberty on earth is liberty of conscience; and 
 
 1 Add., p. 62. 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 this lost, all other liberty is but a name — a charm that lulls to 
 sleep."^ 
 
 Again 
 
 "Freedom of thought, and freedom of action, within the 
 prescribed area of rational and responsible beings, are the 
 zenith of all the aspirations of the human heart."^ 
 
 It is more than a curious interest in historical obser- 
 vation to witness with what forces great characters ally 
 themselves. The side one takes is often an index to his 
 character. Mr. Campbell joined himself to the side of 
 progress. Before many of us were born he had already 
 felt the thrill of the New Age. The 19th Century, the 
 age which saw progress, had burst upon the world. 
 Air. Campbell felt that to close his eyes to progress 
 would be to be blind toward God. Not to face progress 
 would be to turn his back upon Heaven. The fellow- 
 ship of the new was communion with the Divine. To 
 be out of harmony with the 19th Century spirit of prog- 
 ress was to be out of tune with the Infinite. So he 
 says, 
 
 "The intellectual nature vouchsafed to man communes with 
 the Supreme Intelligence in all his various and boundless works; 
 and such is its love of new ideas, of new conceptions of the 
 almighty source of its being and bliss, that if it could imagine 
 any fixed summit of its attainments, even in the heavens, beyond 
 which it could add no new discoveries, that summit would be 
 the boundary of its glory and of bliss; and repining, as did the 
 Grecian chief, that no new worlds were yet to be conquered, 
 
 1 Bapt., p. 409. 2 I^t. on Pent., p. 146. 
 
 —45— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 heaven itself would cease to be the place of infinite delight, the 
 ultimate and eternal home of man."^ 
 
 IMoreover he feels that in order to be in touch with 
 one's own age, to do it any real service, he must have 
 the open mind. This is especially true of young men 
 whom he addresses in these words, 
 
 "You owe it to yourselves, your country and the human race, 
 to understand the genius and character of your own age, and 
 its bearing upon the future, as far as you can."^ 
 
 This is all the more necessary to him at the present 
 time, since, 
 
 "There are new phenomena in our heavens, and new devel- 
 opments in our country and age which claim, and must com- 
 mand our attention. The age and the country we live in are 
 onward in their career, and we should be onward in our en- 
 deavors to keep up with them; and we should individually, and 
 in our concerted and concurrent action co-operate with the spirit 
 and tendency of our times."^ 
 
 He was not one to rest in the popular idea, so de- 
 pressing to human eft'ort, that all the great and capable 
 men had lived in the past. With him past efficiency 
 made present greatness not only possible, but gave to 
 it greater reaches. He says, 
 
 "We live now in the evening of the 19th Century — standing 
 upon the giant shoulders of the great men of Pagandom and 
 Romandom ; and with a government resting upon these Herculean 
 columns, we occupy a position, in art, science and literature, 
 transcendently paramount to that attained or enjoyed by any 
 
 1 Add., p. 123. 2 Add., p. 502. 3 Mill. Har. 1860, p. 5. 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 other people or nation, that has ever figured in the grand drama 
 of political or religious history."^ 
 
 Not in the past was the golden age. His face was to- 
 ward the future. His fine sense of progress saw things 
 in evolution, — they were becoming. He says, 
 
 "Society is not yet fully civilized. It is only beginning to 
 be. Things are in process, in progress to another age — a 
 golden — a millennial — a blissful period in human history.'" 
 
 Again he concords with a great philosopher and histo- 
 rian whom he quotes, 
 
 "Society and civilization are yet in their childhood. How- 
 ever great the distance they have advanced, that which they have 
 before them is incomparably, is infinitely greater.'" 
 
 The ipth Century has distinguished two classes of 
 people. The incoming revolution of change in thought 
 and in the conception of things drew the dividing line. 
 One class in their outlook upon life closed their eyes 
 to the new. They felt that the land was not able to 
 bear so much that was strange and contrary to repose. 
 The new idea was overwhelming and upsetting, and 
 even required renewed effort since it called for readjust- 
 ment. They said, "The old is good enough. If the 
 new had been true the fathers who were wiser than we 
 would long ago have discovered it." A sad and sorry 
 spectacle they presented. Having eyes, they saw not; 
 and having ears, they heard not. Still clutching the 
 old, though it had become threadbare and meaningless. 
 Fearing the new, they grew faint hearted and dejected 
 
 1 I,ect. on Pent., p. 145. 2 Add., p. 69. 8 Add., p. 54. 
 
 —47— 
 
'Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 in spirit; still they cherished the old and turned their 
 hearts as stone toward progress. The other class opened 
 their minds to the incoming tide, while their hearts grew 
 responsive. These recognized a changed world and the 
 necessary struggle for readjustment. But they did not 
 begrudge the toil. Even when compelled to yield up the 
 conceptions that had cost them so much and had grown 
 dear in association, they felt that truth brought its own 
 reward. 
 
 If compelled to surrender our old opinions about mat- 
 ters we have obtained in exchange a richer and truer 
 knowledge. It is but giving up a small perspective for 
 a large perspective. Into such relations to God's vast 
 universe are we brought, that face to face we may see 
 him marshaling his af¥airs ~ and seeing the Invisible, 
 we still live. We may be forced to give up our time 
 relations, but the larger, grander, and more glorious 
 eternal relations are ours. Yet how seldom do we open 
 our minds to these larger relations! It is true, 
 
 "That mind and soul according well 
 May make one music as before, 
 But— vaster." 
 
 These progressive spirits have ever been buoyant with 
 hope. They are the optimists of their age. They are 
 the men of faith who believe that 
 
 "God's in His Heaven, 
 All's right with the world." 
 
 They are the world's prophets pointing up to God. Every 
 
 —48— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 new condition is to such an inspiration to bestir them- 
 selves in the struggle of life and to gain victory. 
 
 ^Ir. Campbell became one of the most progressive 
 spirits of his day. To those who failed to feel the mag- 
 nitude of the day and turned their eyes only to the past, 
 finding there the consummation of all glory and perfec- 
 tion, he says, 
 
 "The world, many think, is too old, and men have reflected 
 so deeply on all subjects that there is nothing to be originated, 
 and little advance to be made in any department of thought. 
 This is a great mistake. The last four hundred years have 
 done more, by new discoveries and inventions, to improve human 
 circumstances, than the twelve hundred years before."^ 
 
 So great is this revolution that ^Ir. Campbell designates 
 it as the "March of Mind,'' "the age of reason," and 
 "brilliant advances into the mysteries of Nature." He 
 goes on to say, 
 
 "Certain it is, that we are not satisfied with ourselves, and 
 that a spirit of inquiry, revolution and change is now abroad in 
 the land, which no man can limit or restrain."^ 
 
 He was not alone in his outlook upon the changing 
 order of things. It is the dominant note of 19th Century 
 thinkers. W. T. Stead says : "Everywhere the old order 
 is changing and giving place to the new. The human 
 race is now at one of the crucial periods in its history 
 when the fountains of the great deep are broken up, 
 and the flood of change submerges all the old-established 
 
 IC. B.,p. 639. 2 Add., p. 311. 
 
"Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 institutions and conventions in the midst of which pre- 
 ceding generations have Uved and died." 
 
 All departments of science have been completely revo- 
 lutionized. Prof. Fisk, philosopher and historian, says: 
 "In their mental habits, in their methods of inquiry, 
 and in the data at tlieir command, the men of the pres- 
 ent day wJio have fully kept pace with the scientific move- 
 ment are separated from the men whose education ended 
 in 1830 by an unmeasurably wider gulf than has ever 
 before divided one progressive generation of men from 
 their predecessors."^ Prof. Alford Russel Wallace says: 
 *'To get any adequate comparison with the 19th Century 
 we must take, not any preceding century, or group of 
 centuries, but rather the whole preceding epoch of hu- 
 man history." 
 
 ]Many conspiring forces have brought the new-world 
 conditions. Josiah Strong declared : "We are entering 
 on a new era, of which the 2(}th Century will be the 
 beginning for which the 19th Century has been the prep- 
 aration." There have been great physical changes, in 
 which steam and electricity have figured prominently. 
 The ocean passage, which once required weeks, is now 
 a matter of but a few days. Inventions aftecting time 
 and space have brought nearer together all the nations 
 of the earth, which God has made of one blood. Much 
 of the progress has been since ]\Ir. CampbelFs day. 
 Though he saw it coming, felt its thrill and became its 
 prophet to his age. Wireless telegraphy is a thing of 
 
 1 The Idea of God, p. 56. 
 
 —50— 
 
Alexander CampheU and Christian Liberty. 
 
 yesterday. Today you may step into your telegraph 
 office and communicate with your friend in mid-Atlantic, 
 over one hundred ocean liners being equipped with wire- 
 less telegraphy. 
 
 The perfection of the microscope brings to our eye& 
 the myriads of life a thousand times too small to be 
 se6« by the naked eye. The Copernican Astronomy with 
 telescope and spectroscope brings the millions of other 
 worlds to our very doors. And we not only measure 
 their distances, but tell what they are made of. The 
 study of geology was first placed upon a scientific basis 
 in 1830; wonderful have been its triumphs since that 
 day ! We have also a nevv^ physics, a new biology, and 
 a new chemistry! 
 
 Balfour, in his Cambridge address, declared: "No 
 century has seen so great a change in our intellectual 
 apprehension of the world in which we live as the nine- 
 teenth !" A vast sky canopies today and he who thinks 
 he has an imagination that grasps it all has only ceased 
 to think! Skilled specialists fill every department of 
 thought and activity. History has been re-stated not 
 only in its facts, but principles. The archaeologist with 
 his spade has overturned our former theories and out- 
 ruled our chronology, giving us a high civilization long 
 before Adam, according to our accepted Bible chronol- 
 ogy. The study of comparative religions, which is very 
 recent, opens for us the religious books of humanity. 
 Theology is being re-stated and creeds revised or thrown 
 away. 
 
 —51— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 No more extensive or revolutionary has been man's 
 outward expansion than his inward scrutiny. Amid the 
 blaze of worlds he is made to cry out with the Psalmist, 
 ''What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" Not a 
 poor worm of the dust, as some have proclaimed. 
 
 The new psycholog}' comes forth in these days, con- 
 firming the revelation of the Hebrew poet, "Thou hast 
 made him a little lower than God, and crownest him 
 with glory and honor." In the words of a great thinker, 
 "IMan is neither the master nor the slave of nature ; he 
 is the interpreter. I\Ian consummates the universe and 
 gives a voice to the mute creation." Psychology and 
 pedagogy have turned our eyes within, and we behold 
 the image and likeness of God — and truth is there. We 
 are learning to approach man in the interests of heaven, 
 not with a feeling that he is z miserable creature to 
 whom we bring a God, but desiring to tear away the 
 barriers so that God and the Truth already there may 
 shine out. Browning puts it right in Paracelsus : 
 
 "Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise 
 From outward things, whate'er you may believe : 
 There is an inmost center in us all, 
 Where truth abides in fulness ; and around 
 Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in, 
 This perfect, clear perception — which is truth; 
 A baffling and perverting carnal mesh. 
 Blinds it, and makes all error; and 'to know' 
 Rather consists in opening out a way 
 Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape. 
 Than in effecting entry for a light 
 Supposed to be without." 
 
 A world-wide revival in child study is already In prog- 
 —52— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 ress. Past neglect and future possibilities are duly rec- 
 ognized, and public schools are equipping themselves with 
 modern appliances. We are living in a sublime age ! 
 The educational impulse is sweeping through the world ! 
 Schools, colleges and great universities feel the new 
 life thrill! These tendencies Mr. Campbell fully recog- 
 nized in his day, as in an address on education he says, 
 
 "This spirit of free inquiry first seized the church, then the 
 state, then the colleges, then the schools; and now, even now, in 
 the second quarter of the nineteenth century, it has invaded not 
 only the penetralia of every temple, but even the inmost recesses 
 of the nurser}', the infant head, the infant brain ; and, in full 
 harmony with the divining spirit of the age, are we now in 
 solemn conclave assembled to inquire if aught of error yet re- 
 mains unscathed, or of truth discovered, in the most useful 
 among sciences and arts — that of educating man."^ 
 
 In a general way Lotze characterizes the new age as 
 "that enlightenment, destroying in order to reconstruct, 
 which sought to break the dominion of all prejudice, and 
 to undermine every ill-founded belief.'" 
 
 It is in the religious sphere that Mr. Campbell finds 
 his task. In this realm the change to him is not only 
 widely evident, but most momentous. He says, 
 
 "Things ecclesiastic are moving forward to a new issue. The 
 Christian system is undergoing an examination in the present 
 day, both as to its evidence and signification, wholly unprece- 
 dented since the days of the grand defection."^ 
 
 Again he says, 
 
 "This is one of the most momentous and eventful periods 
 1 Add., p. 455. 2 Microcosmus, Vol. II, p. 286. 3 ch. Sys., p. 12. 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 of the history of Christianity since the commencement of our 
 recollection of the religious world, and, we think, from the 
 commencement of the present century. All religious denomi- 
 nations are shaking. Christians in all parties are looking with 
 inquisitive eyes into the sacred books, and examining the plat- 
 forms of their respective schismatical establishments. Many 
 run to and fro, and knowledge is on the increase * * the cry 
 of 'Reform!' is now the loudest and longest which falls upon 
 the ear from all the winds of heaven. Light mental, as light 
 natural, is one of the most insinuating powers, and the most ir- 
 resistible and rapid in its progress, we know anything of. Its 
 'swift-winged arrows pierce the deep recesses of human hearts, 
 and carry down the true images of things to the retina of the 
 human soul. The Bible, the foundation of religious light, is 
 more generally distributed and more generally read now than at 
 any former period. Even the measures often designed to up- 
 hold religious sects, are becoming battering rams to break 
 down the walls of separation. Every day's report brings to our 
 ears some new triumph of light over darkness — of truth over 
 error — and of liberal minds over the enslaved and enslaving 
 genius of sectarian despotism."^ 
 
 But is there not great danger in opening the mind 
 to new truth? Mr. Campbell believed that the greater 
 danger lay on the side of the closed mind. He says, 
 
 "We live in the midst of a great moral revolution. Opinions 
 held sacred by our fathers, usages consecrated by the devotion 
 of ages, institutions venerated by the most venerable of mankind 
 are now subjected to the same cold, rigid analysis, and made to 
 pass through the same unsparing ordeal, to which the most anti- 
 quated errors and the most baseless hypotheses of the most 
 reckless innovators are not so unmercifully doomed * * Times 
 of revolution are, however, more or less, dangerous times. * * 
 
 1 c. B.,p. 147. 
 
 —54— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Stimulated by former conquests over error, and the new discov- 
 eries since made, the human mind seems intent on carrying on 
 war against false assumptions and unwarranted conclusions — as 
 if determined to advance from victory to victory over every 
 species of error and delusion * * But there are many things 
 already established. The human mind is not wholly at sea 
 without pilot or compass. The mariner's compass has been 
 invented. And many truths are immovably fixed and certain 
 in every well-cultivated and intelligent mind."^ 
 
 There is, therefore, no reason for fear. One need not 
 be disconcerted or grow pessimistic. Mr. Campbell was 
 not afraid of the pain of a new idea. On the contrary 
 he is most optimistic as he goes on to point out the 
 vast possibilities open for research, 
 
 "Physical nature is, indeed, still open to investigation in 
 some of her most interesting and sublime departments. Astron- 
 omy is yet in process of development. Geology is a new science, 
 still incomplete and imperfect. The physical constitution of 
 man has yet numerous mysteries sealed from the most discrim- 
 inating eye."^ 
 
 One need not become alarmed in a time of change of 
 conception about material things as long as there is no 
 degradation of the personal, as long as there remains 
 within man a sure place — a world of abiding worth. 
 He goes on to say, 
 
 "There is an empire in the human heart over which no man 
 or angel can preside, and a throne in the midst of it on which 
 no Kingdom can sit but the King of Eternity."^ 
 
 He says, 
 
 1 Add., p. 311, 2 Add., 312. 3 Add., p. 313. 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty', 
 
 "Such an age is always an age of extremes; but things will 
 regulate themselves and settle down on the true foundation! 
 'Many are running to and fro' and certainly knowledge is on 
 the increase."^ 
 
 The gulf between Eastern Civilization and Western 
 Civilisation is the difference between customary civili- 
 zation and changeable civilization. A striking illustra- 
 tion of this is the passing of the savage from custom 
 to civilization. The government may grant them in- 
 numerable benefits in freedom, prosperity and peace, yet 
 it is true that they fail to understand the significance 
 of the change. They recognize no superiority of the 
 new over the customary. An Indian agent says, "They 
 can not make you out. What puzzles them is yout 
 constant disposition to change, or, as you call it, im- 
 provement. Their own Hfe in every detail being regu- 
 lated by ancient usage, they can not comprehefnd a 
 policy which is always bringing something new ; they 
 do not a bit believe that the desire to make them com- 
 fortable and happy is the root of it; they believe, on 
 the contrary, that you are aiming at something which 
 they do not understand — that you mean to 'take away 
 their religion'; in a word, that the end and object of 
 all these continued changes is to make Indians not what 
 they are and what they like to be, but something new 
 and different from what they are and what they would 
 like to be."2 
 
 This feeling still clings to man in various degrees as 
 
 1 Ch, Sys., p. 12. 2 Physics and Politics, p. 156. 
 
 —56— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 he rises from step to step in enlightenment and cul- 
 ture. 
 
 The objection raised to IMr. Campbell's acceptance of 
 the new was, 
 
 "This has been so long concealed from the people, and so 
 lately brought to our view, that we can not acquiesce in it." 
 (He answers) 
 
 "This objection would have made unavailing every attempt 
 at reformation, or illumination of the mind, or change in the 
 condition and enjoyments of society, ever attempted. Besides, 
 do not the experiences of all the religions — the observations of 
 the intelligent — the practical result of all creeds, reformations, 
 and improvements — and the expectations and longings of society 
 — warrant the conclusion that either some new revelation, or 
 some new development of the revelation of God must be made, 
 before the hopes and expectations of all true Christians can be 
 realized, or Christianity save and reform the nations of the 
 world 
 
 He deeply deplores the fact that men in the light of 
 the glorious, auspicious 19th Century will persist in 
 gauging their minds by the infallibility of the fathers. 
 He says 
 
 'The doctrines of our forefathers have been constituted, in 
 practical life, the rules of our faith. We must have their ideas, 
 their terms, their intellectual associations; everj-thing must be 
 consecrated by antiquity, or we are not orthodox. Once more 
 we ask, who would not labor to redeem society from such men- 
 tal servitude? Who can suppose that he has too much to sacri- 
 fice, to bring men back to God, and to induce them to think for 
 themselves, as if they had a mind and conscience of their own."* 
 
 1 Ch. Sys., p. 250. l C. B., p. 201. 
 
 —57— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 Stereotyped things found no place in his thought. As 
 he surveys the past he finds the cause of lack of prog- 
 ress just in this fact of fixedness. He says, 
 
 "In physics or in metaphysics, in philosophy or in science, there 
 was no progress — no perceptible or valuable progress — for many 
 centuries; during, indeed, the entire reign of the Aristotelian 
 philosophy and the tyranny of the mere logical and catechetical 
 learning. Answers printed or written, for stereotyped ques- 
 tions, propounded in seminaries of learning— I care not what 
 the subject or the science — never made a thinker, a scholar, a 
 philosopher, or a great man, much less a saint or an heir of im- 
 mortality."^ 
 
 This state of fixing to the past in v^hich there could 
 be no possible progress greatly affected men in Mr. 
 Campbeirs day. His new and strange ideas, and his 
 large faith in the progress of things resolved many of 
 the conservative into lifelong opponents. He says of 
 these never-learning, non-progressive opponents, 
 
 "Our opponents can not, or will not, understand how any 
 society can be in progress to a better order of things than that 
 under which they may have commenced their pilgrimage. [In 
 fact herein lay the real failure of the Protestant Reformation.] 
 Their sectarian policies were soon formed, and the limits of their 
 reformation were soon fixed; beyond which it soon became 
 heretical to move. The founders of all new schisms not only 
 saw, through a glass darkly, but their horizon was so circum- 
 scribed with human traditions, that they only aimed at moving 
 a few paces from the hive in which they were generated. A 
 new creed was soon adopted, and then their stature was com- 
 plete. They bounded from infancy to manhood in a few days> 
 
 1 Add., p. 308. 
 
 —58— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 and decided, if any presume further to advance, they should be 
 treated as those who had refused to move from the old hive. 
 Hence it became as censurable to grow beyond a certain stand- 
 ard, as not to grow at all."^ 
 
 He then goes on to show how, in coming to the word 
 of God as our norm we are not hopelessly fixed, but 
 moving onward. 
 
 "But in coming up to this standard of knowledge, faith and 
 behavior, we have something yet before us, to which we have 
 not attained."^ 
 
 Thus Mr. Campbell's character stands out in clear 
 outline upon the times. He would not bury himself in 
 antiquity. He is essentially modern in his spirit and 
 love for progress. 
 
 Ch. Sys., p.292. 2 ibid. 
 
 —59— 
 
CHAPTER m 
 The Limits of Knowledge and the Freedom 
 to Think. 
 
Whatever creed be taught, or land betrod, 
 Man's conscience is the oracle of God. — Byron. 
 
 He who abandons the personal search for truth, under what- 
 ever pretext, abandons truth. — Drummond. 
 
 Accept the intellect, and it will accept us. Be the lowly 
 ministers of that pure omniscience, and deny it not before men. 
 It will burn up all profane literature, all base current opinions, 
 all the false powers of the world, as in a moment of time. — 
 Emerson. 
 
 It is more necessary for us to be active than to be ortho- 
 dox. To be orthodox is what we wish to be, but we can only 
 truly reach it by being honest, by being original, by seeing with 
 our own eyes, by believing with our own heart. — Drummond. 
 
 Born with a love for truth and liberty, 
 
 And earnest for the public right, he stands 
 Like solitary pine in wasted lands, — 
 
 On some paladin of old legends, he 
 Would live that other souls like his be free, 
 
 Not caring for self or pelf or pandering power, 
 He thunders incessant, earnest, hour by hour, 
 
 Till some old despot shackle cease to be. 
 
 —Wilfred Campbell 
 
 !— 62— 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE 
 FREEDOM TO THINK. 
 
 There is a naive conception abroad that insight has 
 no Hmits, that the great mind knows it all. This is the 
 essence of dogma, bigotry and tyranny. If one lives in 
 a very small world this may be self-evident as regards 
 all within his narrow confines. The frog in the well 
 croaked loud and long as no other well he knew, and 
 this he knew and knew — through and through. Let no 
 one suppose that Mr. Campbell, in the full blaze of 19th 
 Century light and progress, felt that he had perfectly 
 read the world through. Within his broad, transcendent 
 mind there was a deep consciousness of limits. So with 
 all truly great minds ! 'Tis only the little, narrow minds 
 that pose as completeness, and brush upon life with bold, 
 assuming air of infallibility. Max Miiller was feeling 
 the truth of this when in his "Last Essays" he said: 
 "The lesson that there are limits to our knowledge is 
 an old lesson, but it has to be taught again and again. 
 It was taught by Buddha, it was taught by Socrates,, and 
 it was taught for the last time in most powerful manner 
 by Kant. 'Philosophy has been called the knowledge of 
 our knowledge ! it might be called more truly the knowl- 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 edge of our ignorance, or, to adopt the more moderate 
 language of Kant, the knowledge of the limits of our 
 knowledge."* 
 
 Mr. Campbell possessed this knowledge without lim- 
 its. No one better than he recognized both the limits 
 and relativity of all human knowledge. The very charm 
 of his life was his humility. His most constant desire 
 was to be a true disciple, a learner. In view of man's 
 meagerness of knowledge, he says, 
 
 "If Socrates, the great master of Grecian philosophy, could 
 boast that he had attained so much knowledge of the universe 
 as to be confident that he knew nothing about it — comprehend 
 no part of it, how much of that science of ignorance ought we 
 to possess; to whom so many fountains of intelligence have 
 been opened from which the Sage of Athens was debarred."* 
 
 One's consciousness of limits is commensurate with 
 the range of one's outlook. Recognizing the vastness, 
 complexity, and unity of the universe, he says, 
 
 "As, then, the systems of the universe, and the sciences which 
 treat of them, run into each other and mutually lend light, illus- 
 tration, and development, it is a mark of imbecility of mind rather 
 than of strength — of folly rather than of wisdom — for any one to 
 dogmatize with an air of infallibility, or to assume the attitude 
 of perfect intelligence on any one subject of human thought, 
 without an intimate knowledge of the whole universe. But as 
 such knowledge is not within the grasp of feeble, mortal man, 
 whose horizon is a point of creation, and whose days are but a 
 moment of time, it is superlatively incongruous for any son of 
 science, or of religion, to affirm that this or that issue is abso- 
 
 I Ufe aad Religion, p. 99. 2 Add., 98. 
 
Alexander Campbell mid Christian Liberty. 
 
 lutely irrational, unjust, or unfitting the schemes of eternal Provi- 
 dence or the purposes of the supreme wisdom and benevolence, 
 only as he is guided by the oracles of infallible wisdom or the 
 inspirations of the Almighty. 
 
 "Who could pronounce upon the wisdom and utility of a single 
 joint, without a knowledge of the limb to which it belongs; of 
 that limb, without an understanding of the body to which it 
 ministers; of that body without a clear perception of the world 
 in which it moves, and of the relations which it sustains; of that 
 world, without some acquaintance with the solar system of which 
 it is a small part; of that particular solar system, without a 
 general and even intimate knowledge of all the kindred systems ; 
 of all these kindred systems without a thorough comprehension 
 of the ultimate design, without a perfect intelligence of that in- 
 comprehensible Being by whom and for whom all things were 
 created and made? How gracefully, then, sits unassuming 
 modesty on all the reasonings of man! The true philosopher 
 and the true Christian, therefore, delight always to appear in 
 the unaffected custom of humility, candor, and docility. 
 
 'He through vast immensity can pierce, 
 See worlds on worlds compose one universe; 
 Observe how system into system runs, 
 What planets circle other suns ; 
 What varied beings people every star, 
 May tell how God has made us as we are.' 
 
 A little child came to Walt. Whitman with its arms 
 full of grass, asking the wise poet, ''What is this?" 
 With mind akin to Mr. Campbell's as he reasons above, 
 Mr. Whitman asks in his naive way — though blunt, 
 none the less true — ''How could I answer the child? 
 I do not know what it is, any more than he?" Both 
 
 1 Ch. Sys., p. 14. 
 
 (5) 
 
 —65— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Mr. Campbell and Mr. Whitman were only feeling that 
 sense of finiteness of which all the truly great are deeply 
 conscious as they try to think out life and its relations 
 in the presence of the Infinite. It is but the experience 
 of a Newton, after a lifetime of thought and reflection, 
 standing upon the shore with only a few small pebbles 
 in his hand. It is but a Tennyson, standing modestly 
 before a wall of stone, talking the inmost feeling of his 
 heart to the little flower: 
 
 "Flower in the crannied wall, 
 I pluck you out of the crannies; 
 Hold you here in my hand, root and all, 
 Little flower : but if I could understand 
 What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
 I should know what God and Man is." 
 
 As Mr. Campbell meditates upon the instinct of ani- 
 mals, which so wondrously and variously displays itself 
 in "kindness," ''good nature," and "affection," he ob- 
 serves that sometimes they are "moved by a divine influ- 
 ence." He is unable to reason it all out, but finds here 
 evidence of the limits of man's knowledge as he con- 
 cludes, 
 
 "There are many things which are evident, yet altogether 
 inexplicable, * * * Until we know more of God than can be 
 revealed or known in this mortal state, we must be content to 
 say of a thousand things a thousand times, we cannot under- 
 stand how, or why, or wherefore they are so."^ 
 
 Fully conscious of human limitations, he comes to his 
 general conviction about life in these words, 
 
 1 C. B.,p. 143. 
 
 —66— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 "At present, we know ourselves only in part, and only in 
 part can we interpret ourselves in our mysterious and Divine 
 mechanism."'^ 
 
 Again he says, 
 
 "We may thank God that we have minds so large, so com- 
 prehensive, that the earth and all its attributes, can not fill them, 
 and thank Him, too, because there is nothing finite, which can 
 satisfy the infinite ; yet as we are, we can only take a very limited 
 view of objects, and our powers of comprehension and appre- 
 ciation, are comparatively impotent."^ 
 
 Such an unassuming position he sustained through 
 life. Many times he was obliged, as a consequence of 
 this law of development, to change and correct his views. 
 He clearly states his attitude, 
 
 "I am, on all subjects, open to conviction, and even desirous 
 to receive larger measures of light; and more than once, when 
 in debate, I have been convicted of the truth and force of the 
 argument of an opponent."^ 
 
 Again he says, 
 
 "We have been taught that we are liable to err; we candidly 
 acknowledge that we have changed our views on many subjects, 
 and that our views have changed our practice. If it be a 
 crime to change our views and our practice in religious con- 
 cerns, we must certainly plead guilty. If it be a humiliating 
 thing to say we have been wrong in our belief and practice, we 
 must abase ourselves thus far. We were once trained and 
 disciplined in the popular religion, and were then steady and 
 uniform in one course for a time. But the foundations of our 
 assent to and accordance with the popular rehgion was de- 
 
 1 Mill. Har. 1860, p. 62. 2 Evidences, p. 105. 3 Evidences, p. 14. 
 —67— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 stroyed, and down came the edifice about our ears. We are 
 thankful that we were not buried in the ruins."^ 
 
 No one can question but that such an attitude is a 
 mark of strength of mind and loyalty of will. Mr. 
 Campbell, like Emerson, would preach today what he 
 believed to be truth, and if tomorrow he changed his 
 conception as to the truth of things, he would then let 
 go the old and preach the new. 
 
 At the commencement of his career he took this firm 
 stand. On the one hand, he was certain of the limits of 
 human knowledge, and conscious of its relativity; on 
 the other hand, he believed in truth and progress. Hence, 
 his never-ceasing demand was, "Let there be Light"; 
 his challenge to the age, "What is truth?" Clad in this 
 armor he unflinchingly met his age and grappled with it. 
 He shunned darkness. His constant cry was, **More 
 Light." He hated falsehood and sham with all the bit- 
 terness of a Carlyle. Hie must have truth. Nor will 
 the findings of others satisfy him as to the reality of 
 truth. He says, 
 
 "Truth (not who says so) is my sole object."^ 
 Again, 
 
 "The great question with every man's conscience is, or should 
 be, 'What is truth?' Not, have any of the scribes or rulers of 
 the people believed it? Every man's eternal all, as well as his 
 present comfort, depends upon what answer he is able to give 
 to the question Pilate of old (John 18:38) proposed to Christ, 
 without waiting for a reply ."^ 
 1 C. B., p. 3. 2 C. B., p. 228. 3 Lec. on Law, Hist. Doc., p. 223. 
 
 —68— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Some in his day believed that the Bible was the only 
 fount of truth. To them truth was truth because it was 
 found in the Bible. They failed to reach the fact that it 
 was in the Bible because it was true. He holding a dif- 
 ferent criterion for truth, i. e., truth is truth because of 
 its agreement with reality, looked everywhere in God's 
 whole universe for truth. So he says, 
 
 "Truth is truth, wherever found, in the street or in a temple- 
 in a cellar, or in a mountain."^ 
 
 Speaking of the temper of mind of himself and his 
 co-laborers, he says they 
 
 "Set out determined to sacrifice ever}thing to truth, and fol- 
 low her wherever she might lead the way."- 
 
 So intense is his regard for truth that he passionately 
 cries out: 
 
 "I desire not victory but truth. The triumph of truth is eter- 
 nal. The triumph of error is but for a moment.""" 
 
 Neither was he at all troubled over the outcome of 
 such an attitude of free, individual investigation. In fact, 
 in opposition to ignorance and superstition, this was the 
 only true stand to take. He says : 
 
 "The only safe course, in this perilous age, is, to take noth- 
 ing upon trust, but to examine for ourselves, and *to bring all 
 things to the test.' 'But if any man will be ignorant, let him be 
 ignorant.' 
 
 In the ultimate success of truth he was most optimistic. 
 
 He says: 
 
 1 Lcct. on Pent., p. 301. 2 ch. Sys., p. 83. 3 Mill. Har. 1858, p. 473" 
 4 Hi«t. Doc., p. 222. 
 —69— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 "Truth fairly presented, and enforced by the good example 
 of its advocates, has ever triumphed, and will continue to triumph 
 till the victory is complete."^ 
 
 So confidently does he believe in the power of truth to 
 win that he growls eloquent in its consideration. He says : 
 
 "While, in this age of invention, the winds and the waves, 
 the rivers and the deserts, the mountains and the valleys are 
 made to yield to scientific and mechanical skill ; while the human 
 mind is bursting through the shackles and restraints of a false phi- 
 losophy, and developing the marvelous extent of its powers, it 
 is not to be supposed strange and unaccountable that the moral 
 and religious systems of antiquity should be submitted to the 
 scrutiny of enlightened intellects, and that men of reflection and 
 independence would dare to explore the creeds and the rubrics 
 of ages of less light and more superstition. Truth has nothing 
 to fear from investigation. It dreads not the light of science, 
 nor shuns the scrutiny of the most prying inquiry. Like one 
 conscious of spotless innocence and uncontaminated purity, it 
 challenges the fullest, the ablest, and the boldest examination. 
 On the other hand, error, as if aware of its flimsy pretensions 
 and of the veil which conceals its deformity, flies from the torch 
 of reason, and dares not approach the tribunal of impartial in- 
 quiry. She hides herself in the fastnesses of remote antiquity, 
 and garrisons herself in the fortifications erected by those she 
 honors with the title of 'the Fathers.' When she dares to visit 
 the temples of human resort, she attires herself in the attractions 
 of popular applause, and piques herself upon the number, in- 
 fluence, and respectability of her admirers. But with all her 
 blandishments, she is an impudent imposter, and is doomed to 
 destruction with all her worshippers. But Truth, immortal 
 Truth! the first born of Heaven! by the indisputable rights of 
 primogeniture, shall inherit all things, and leave her antagonist, 
 
 IC. B.,p. 22S. 
 
 --70— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 Error, to languish forever in the everlasting shame and contempt 
 of perfect and universal exposure. To Truth eternal and immor- 
 tal, the wise and good will pay all homage and respect. Upon 
 no altar will they offer her as a victim; but at her shrine will 
 sacrifice everything."^ 
 
 In his day many were tr}'ing to stay the rising tide of 
 19th Century thought and investigation. They sought to 
 keep men within the old channels of thought and custom. 
 They feared the outcome of growing unse. As to this 
 tendency he says : 
 
 "But to set the mind abroach, to take off every restraint but 
 that of moral law, to encourage free inquiry, especially in an 
 age of comparative ignorance and superstition both in things 
 political, religious and literary, is always a hazardous experiment. 
 In such a revolution as must necessarily ensue, not only the in- 
 stitutions of false philosophy, unequal policy and arbitrary legis- 
 lation, but also the altars, the temples, and the ordinances of 
 reason and truth and justice, may be blended together in one 
 promiscuous ruin. Who can arrest the progress of free in- 
 quir>'? What human spirit can ride upon this whirlwind and 
 direct this storm? What philosopher or sage can, with effect, 
 say, 'Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther; and here shall 
 your investigation cease'? Experience says it is much easier 
 to communicate the spark than to arrest the flame. Still, how- 
 ever, we have this consolation that truth is in its own nature in- 
 destructible, and that however for a time it may be hid among 
 the rubbish of human tradition, or buried in the wreck of revo- 
 lutions and counter-revolutions in human affairs, it will ulti- 
 mately gain the ascendant and command not only the admiration 
 but the homage of all mankind. * * * Happy is it, then, 
 for the general interests of all science and of all society, that 
 
 1 C. B., 461. 
 
 —71— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 when men begin to think and reason and decide for themselves 
 on any one subject, unrestrained by the proscriptions and unawed 
 by the authority of past ages, it is not within their own power, 
 nor within the grasp of any extrinsic authority on earth, to re- 
 strain their speculations, or to confine them to that one subject, 
 whatever it may be, which happened first to arouse their minds 
 from repose of unthinking acquiescence and to break the spell of 
 implicit resignation to the supposed superior wisdom of the re- 
 puted sages of ancient times."^ 
 
 His contentions are not unlike those of Kant: "Our 
 age is, in every sense of the v^ord, the age of criticism, 
 and everything must submit to it. Religion on the strength 
 of its sanctity, and law, on the strength of its majesty, 
 try to withdraw themselves from it ; but by so doing they 
 arouse just suspicions, and cannot claim that sincere re- 
 spect which reason pays to those only who have been able 
 to stand its free, open examination." 
 
 Thus, in a day of deep-seated conservatism, in the 
 midst of a strong tendency to stationariness to the degree 
 of fossilization, Alexander Campbell turned his back upon 
 the -findings of the past and lined up alongside of liberty 
 and progress. The American atmosphere was most con- 
 genial to him. He found himself in unison with the 
 American ideals of liberty. Possessing the true Ameri- 
 can spirit, he became in the ecclesiastical world an urgent 
 spokesman and defender of the rights of men to think 
 for themselves. 
 
 He felt that he stood upon a broad and solid founda- 
 tion in his right to think, investigate, arrive at his own 
 
 1 Add., p. 454. 
 
 —12i— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 conclusions, and dissent from the past, if need be. In 
 the first place, this right belonged to him as an American 
 citizen. He says : 
 
 "Freedom of thought, of speech, and of action on all sub- 
 jects — connected with religion — morality and politics are the con- 
 stitutional rights and privileges of every citizen of these United 
 States. We thank God, from whom all blessings flow, for these 
 invaluable American birthrights, privileges, and honors."^ 
 
 "There is nothing more congenial to civil liberty than to en- 
 joy an unrestrained, unembargoed liberty of exercising the con- 
 science fully upon all subjects respecting religion."^ 
 
 In the second place, he bases his liberality in the pro- 
 gram of the Master of all true freedom. He does not 
 forget the words of Jesus: "If ye abide in my word, 
 then are ye truly my disciples ; and ye shall know the 
 truth, and the truth shall make you free. * * * if^ 
 therefore, the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free 
 indeed." He listens to the word of 'Paul : ''With free- 
 dom did Christ set us free. Stand fast, therefore, and 
 be not entagled again in a yoke of bondage." Speaking 
 of Jesus, he says : 
 
 "He establishes the doctrine of personal liberty, of freedom 
 of choice, and of personal responsibility, by commanding every 
 man to judge, reason, and act for himself."^ 
 
 In the Christocracy he finds "essentially the spirit of 
 liberty, justice and love," since Christ has absolute con- 
 trol of the affections of the human heart. So he is able 
 to conclude that 
 
 1 Mill. Har. 1860, p. 394. 2 Bapt., p. 409. 3 Bapt., p. 109. 
 
 —73— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 "In the Christocracy, therefore, we find the never-failing spring 
 of that aversion to ecclesiastical dogmatism which has given to 
 pure Protestantism its noble characteristics of mental independ- 
 ence, sense of equal rights, and love of perfect freedom. If 
 the Son of God emancipate a man, he is free indeed."^ 
 
 Finally, he finds his right for personal freedom bound 
 up in the proscriptions of the Christian Church, which in 
 its doctrine recognizes the fact of man's relation to God; 
 that man is God's child and is by nature accountable to 
 his Father. Therefore he is able to conclude as regards 
 the true church that, 
 
 "The Christian church is the only perfect cradle of human 
 liberty, as it is the only proper school of equal rights and im- 
 munities on earth. It commands every man to think, speak, 
 and act for himself. * * * f j^g great doctrine of a personal 
 accountability is made the foundation of personal liberty. It 
 teaches that every man shall give an account of himself to God. 
 And as there shall be no proxies in the future and eternal judg- 
 ment, so there must be none in Christ's Kingdom on earth. From 
 these sublime facts spring all rational liberty of thought and ac- 
 tion on the greatest choice which man can make; whom he shall 
 acknowledge, love, and serve God, and in what way and manner 
 he shall best serve him. * * * No religion preached on earth 
 is so favorable to human liberty as the Christian. Indeed, it 
 prescribes the only rational foundation of liberty ever submitted 
 to the human understanding. This it does by making every 
 man's destiny forever depend upon his own choice. If he must 
 be judged for himself, he must think and choose for himself— 
 is as sound logic, as sound theology, as was ever preached."^ 
 
 Mr. Campbell, in his demand for a right to free inves- 
 tigation, was feeling what Harold Hoffding felt when he 
 
 1 Add., p. 498. 2 Bapt. p. nOf. 
 
 —74— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 said "To make religion a problem may be offensive to 
 many. But thought, when it is once awakened, must have 
 the right to investigate everything, and only thought itself 
 can draw the bounds to thought. Who else should do 
 this? He who has espied no problem has naturally no 
 reason to think; but such a one has no reason to keep 
 others from thinking. Whoever fears the loss of his 
 spiritual house of refuge, let him keep away. No one 
 wishes to rob a poor man of his only lamb — then the poor 
 man may not needlessly drive it along the crowded thor- 
 oughfare, and demand that traffic shall stop on his ac- 
 count. Moreover, experience shows that it is the rams 
 rather than the lambs which loudly proclaim, in season, 
 and especially out of season, that they are offended and 
 scandalized. It is not so much the really spiritually poor 
 as it is the obstinate and blustering ecclesiasts who raise 
 such a clamor when free inquiry enters upon its rights 
 to bestir itself in the religions, as in every other region." 
 
 1 The Fidelity of the Christian Religion (Foster), p. IS. 
 
 —75— 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 Appreciation of Great Personalities. 
 
Beyond all wealth, honor or even health, is the attachment 
 we form to noble souls, because to become one with the good, 
 generous and true, is to become, in a measure, good, generous 
 and true ourselves. — Thomas Arnold. 
 
 They never know who only know alone. 
 Who deeply knows must also deeply feel. 
 
 —Wilfred Campbell. 
 
 Each man gets out of the world of men the rebound, the in- 
 crease and the development of what he brings there. — Phillips 
 Brooks. 
 
 Whence come our greatest convictions, our deepest faiths? 
 From personal associations. Personal contact and impression 
 of character count more here than all arguments. You find 
 yourself responding like a vibrating chord to the note of your 
 friend. His faith and life become the firmest ground for yours. 
 You catch his conviction, his spirit. It may well be a relief to 
 a conscientious but growing teacher, that it is not a man's indi- 
 vidual propositions, so much as the general trend of his thinking, 
 his spirit, his tone, his atmosphere, which remains with others. 
 This total result now becomes in them, too, a living germ, going 
 on to grow in them as in him. It is not propositions, not defini- 
 tions, not demonstrations, that give inspiration, but the touch of 
 life. — Henry Churchill King, Rational Living, p. 250. 
 
 -78- 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 APPRECIATION OF GREAT PERSONALITIES. 
 
 It would be doing Mr. Campbell a great injustice to 
 say that he made an entire break with the past. In the 
 incoming of the new many have committed the error of 
 so utterly breaking with the past as to have no secure 
 foundation for the new. Such an extreme found them 
 finally out on the rolling waves without chart or compass. 
 Mr. Campbell did not commit himself to any such ex- 
 treme. On the contrary, his fine culture of both mind and 
 heart granted him an appreciation of the great person- 
 alities of history. He never despised the heritage of the 
 past, nor did he feel, with all his love for progress, that 
 there were no constant elements coming down out of the 
 past. He rather sought to know the true significance of 
 these constants which had come through the great per- 
 sonalities of history. That which was so abhorrent to 
 him was the abuse and misuse of the past which rendered 
 men incapable of thinking for themselves. He would 
 have men everywhere and always stand out, upon their 
 own individuality, and in their own times, instead of 
 being appendages to others and to other ages. Freeing 
 himself from that narrowness which so often affects 
 small minds, that littleness which can see nothing good 
 and true in those who differ from them, he entered into 
 
 —79— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 sympathetic appreciation of the great thinkers, of not 
 only his own time, but all ages. 
 
 But, with him, the significance of these men was not 
 in their being masters whom he should slavishly follow, 
 but rather in their being personalities whose touch would 
 enable him to do his own thinking and acting; and all 
 the better could he do this since their genius had lifted 
 him to the heights. 
 
 Few theologians of Mr. Campbell's day would have 
 given such a liberal thinker as Mr. Coleridge such warm 
 w^ords of praise as he did when he said : 
 
 "Samuel Taylor Coleridge was not merely a poet and a phil- 
 osopher of the highest order, but, by concession, the most talented 
 theologian in the English Church, of his day. Some of the Lon- 
 don reviews have pronounced him the greatest theologian in the 
 world, of the first quarter of the present century. That he was a 
 man of the most philosophic and discriminating mind, as well as 
 of prodigious theological attainments, no one who has read his 
 various works, and especially his 'Aid to Reflection,' can reason- 
 ably doubt."^ 
 
 In speaking of a saying of Luther's, he says : 
 
 "We agree with him in this as well as in many other sentiments. 
 Emerging from the smoke of the great city of mystical Babylon, 
 he saw as clearly and as far into these matters as any other per- 
 son could in such a hazy atmosphere. Many of his views only 
 require to be carried out to their legitimate issue, and, we should 
 have the ancient gospel restored."* 
 
 Of the reformers in general he says : 
 
 1 Ch. Sys., p. 437. 2 Ch. Sys., p. 191. 
 
 —80— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 "Time, that great arbiter of human actions, that great revealer 
 of secrets, has long decided that all the reformers of the Papacy 
 have been public benefactors. And thus the Potestant Reforma- 
 tion is proved to have been one of the most splendid eras in the 
 history of the world, and must long be regarded by the philoso- 
 pher and the philanthropist as one of the most gracious interpo- 
 sitions in behalf of the whole human race. * * We Americans 
 owe our national privileges and our civil liberties to the Protestant 
 Reformation. They achieved not only an imperishable fame for 
 themselves, but a rich legacy for their posterity. When we con- 
 trast the present state of these United States with Spanish 
 America and the condition of the English nation with that of 
 Spain, Portugal and Italy, we begin to appreciate how much we 
 are indebted to the intelligence, faith and courage of Martin Lu- 
 ther, and his heroic associates in that glorious reformation. * * 
 Reformation, however, became the order of the day; and this 
 assuredly, was a great matter, however it may have been man- 
 aged. It was a revolution, and revolutions seldom move back- 
 ward. The example that Luther set was of more value than all 
 the achievements of Charles V., or the literary and moral labors 
 of his distinguished contemporary, the erudite Erasmus."^ 
 
 In a consideration of Bacon, Locke, Newton, Milton, 
 Young, Shakespeare, Wilberforce, and others who have 
 graced the world with word and deed, he declares: 
 
 "These great revealers and masters of nature have been found 
 in hosts among the Anglo-Saxon race, and almost exclusively 
 among them. These are the great benefactors of man — the great 
 reformers of the world. They have transformed the rugged hills 
 and mountains into Sharon and Carmel ; they have made 'the 
 wilderness and the solitary place glad,' and have compelled the 
 desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose.' 
 
 1 Ch. Sys., p. 3, 4. 
 
 (6) 
 
 2 Add., p. 41, 
 
 — 8i— 
 
^Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 In his estimate of the world's great benefactors, he 
 finds : 
 
 "Two illustrious categories — the great in reason, and the great 
 in fancy. Conception and comparison distinguish the former — im- 
 agination and invention the latter. These are the men of genius 
 — these the men of talent. Men of genius soar on eagles' pin- 
 ions to worlds of fancy; while men of talent, Atlas-like, stand 
 under the real world. The loftier regions of fiction and romance 
 delight the former, while the realties of earth and its mighty 
 destinies engross the attention and command the energies of the 
 latter. Men of genius create new worlds — men of talent carry 
 them. Strength (for so talentum, from talao, would seem to 
 indicate) characterizes the one; while activity and celerity of 
 movement distinguish the operations of the other. While, then, 
 invention is the boast of genius, execution is the glory of talent. 
 Combined, they make the earth's great ones; and, leagued with 
 virtue, constitute the real nobility of human nature. 
 
 "Example, however, is always more intelligible, and generally 
 more eloquent than definition. We shall then summon its aid. 
 Genius, we have said, is distinguished by invention, creation, 
 origination ; talent by effort, enterprise and great achievements. 
 Energy is prime minister to talent; the love of admiration, to 
 genius. 
 
 "Homer excelled in genius; Virgil in talent; Shakespeare and 
 Milton in both. In the fine arts of painting, sculpture and music, 
 as well as in poetry, oratory, and even in the useful arts, that hav^ 
 contributed to the progress of civilization and comfort, we have 
 numerous and happy illustrations of both genius and talent. 
 Raphael in his cartoons, Michael Angelo in his frescos, and our 
 own Benjamin West in his historical paintings, are par excel- 
 lence, models of genius in the department of painting. In sculp- 
 ture, Phidias, Praxiteles, and Polydore are as bright as constella- 
 tion of genius as Demosthenes, Cicero or Sheridan, in oratory; 
 
 -82- 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 or as Milton, Pope or Byron, in poetry. In the useful arts a Ful- 
 ton and an Arkwright afford as fine specimens of genius as a 
 Mozart in music, or a Scott in romance. On the other hand, we 
 discover in a Butler, a Luther, a Franklin, a Washington, the 
 mighty power of talent; and in a Locke, a Bacon, or a Newton, 
 the still superior force of genius and talent combined."^ 
 
 After considering earth's great men of genius and tal- 
 ent he speaks of their extensive influence in these words: 
 
 "Eternit}' alone will develop the wide-spreading and long-con- 
 tinued series of good and happy consequences, direct and indirect, 
 resulting from their schemes of benevolence and deeds of mercy. 
 Their noble influence may be compared in its beginnings to 
 the salient fountains of some of earth's grandest rivers, which, 
 though not ankle-deep, issuing from beneath a little rock on some 
 lofty mountain's brow, after wending its serpentine way for thou- 
 sands of miles through many a rich valley and fertile plain, and 
 receiving the contributions of numerous tributary' streams, finally 
 disembogues its deep, broad flood into the ocean, carrj'ing on its 
 majestic bosom the products of many climes and the wealth of 
 many nations. So in the course of the ages, the labors of the 
 more distinguished benefactors of mankind, at first humble and 
 circumscribed, yield largely accumulating revenues of glor>' and 
 felicity; and carry down, not only to the remotest times, and to 
 the most distant nations, manifold blessings; but occasionally, 
 transcending the boundaries of earth and time, they flow into 
 eternity itself, carrying home to God and the universe, untold 
 multitudes of pure and happy beings."* 
 
 So appreciative is he of the world's noble souls that 
 he ix'ould bow in reverence in remembrance of them-. He 
 says : 
 
 lAdd.,p. T8. « Add.. p. 89. 
 
 —83-- 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 "Could the sons of science, of poetry and philosophy find the 
 grave of Homer, of Socrates, of Plato or Archimedes, or stand 
 at the tomb of Bacon, of Locke, of Newton, of Shakespeare or 
 of Milton — those 'plenipotentiaries of intellect and giants of the 
 soul' — what awe and reverence for intellectual greatness would 
 possess their minds in the remembrance of the mighty triumphs 
 and splendid trophies of their illustrious and wonderful genius."^ 
 
 That God had made the world, set it going, and then 
 transcended it, dwelling in some remote region, was for- 
 eign to Mr. Campbell's idea of God. The fault he finds 
 with the Theists and Deists is that 
 
 "They humanize their God too much; give him too much the 
 character of a governor, and too many of the attributes which are 
 supposed essential to a good governor; whereas the pure Deists 
 make their God rather an indifferent spectator, an uninterested 
 observer of the affairs of this life." 
 
 He sees God constantly working in history. Some have 
 felt that God's working in the world was a thing of the 
 past. They have drawn a sharp line between what is in 
 the Bible and what is outside. After the old Jewish fash- 
 ion, they have called the one sacred, and the other secu- 
 lar. Not only the great characters of the Bible, but the 
 great characters of history were seen, by Mr. Campbell, 
 to be God's instruments in molding and perfecting the 
 world. Nor are they confined to the merely religious, but 
 in all the various activities of life men are divine instru- 
 ments of God's hand, prepared by him to further his pur- 
 pose and bring it to its great consummation. Relative 
 to this he says: 
 
 1 Add., p. 281. 2 Evidences, p. 64. 
 
 —84— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 "It is generally conceded that we have another illustration of 
 this feature of the divine government, in the mission of that illus- 
 trious champion of liberty — George Washington. He was raised 
 up as was Moses, though he did not have assigned to him the 
 destiny of a people so great in their relation to God and to the 
 universe. Still the influence of his achievements has been felt 
 throughout the realms of civilization, and the ultimate end of 
 his mission no one knows. The great problems in human gov- 
 ernment growing out of his career, are not yet solved — not yet 
 developed."^ 
 
 In like manner he speaks of the Puritans : 
 
 'The Mayflower ferried over the Atlantic the seeds gathered 
 from the early harvests, the choicest first fruits of European 
 Protestantism. Brought directly from Old England, they were 
 planted in New England. The soil and climate, however rugged 
 for the germs of earth, were most fertile and happy for the new 
 souls, and, consequently, rich harvests rewarded the labors of 
 the puritanic husbandmen. God sent them to a new world, that 
 they might institute, under the most favorable circumstances, new 
 political and ecclesiastic institutions. Such, most assuredly, was 
 their divine mission."^ 
 
 Although Mr. Campbell sacredly regarded the great 
 personalities of history as God's noblemen, and reserved 
 a large place in his heart for them, he did not allow him- 
 self to become their slave, in thinking their thoughts. 
 He tells us how much and in what way he is indebted 
 to various thinkers. He says : 
 
 "I was, some fourteen years ago, a great admirer of the works 
 of John Newton. I read them with great delight, and I still 
 love the author and admire many of his sentiments. He was 
 
 1 I^ect. on pent., p. 176. 2 Add., p. 169. 
 
 -55- 
 
'Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 not a staunch Episcopalian, though he died in that connection. 
 In an apology to a friend for his departure from the tenets of 
 that sect in some instances, he said, 'Whensoever he found a 
 pretty feather in any bird, he endeavored to attach it to his own 
 plumage, and, although he had become a very speckled bird, so 
 much so that no one of any one species would altogether own him 
 as belonging to them, he flattered himself that he was the pret- 
 tiest bird among them.' From that time to this I have been 
 looking for pretty feathers, and I have become more speckled 
 than Newton of Olney; but whether I have as good taste in the 
 selection, must be decided by connoisseurs in ornithology. * * * 
 "While I acknowledge myself a debtor to Glass, Sandeman, 
 Harvey, Cudworth, Fuller and McLean; as much as to Luther, 
 Calvin and John Wesley, I candidly and unequivocally avow that 
 I do not believe that any one of them had clear and consistent 
 views of the Christian religion as a whole. Some of them, no 
 doubt, had clear and correct views of some of its truths, nay, of 
 many of them, but they were impeded in their inquiries by a false 
 philosophy and metaphysics, which fettered their own under- 
 standing in some of the plainest things * * * While I thus 
 acknowledge myself a debtor to those persons, I must say that 
 the debt in most instances is a very small one. I am indebted, 
 upon the whole, as much to their errors as to their virtues, for 
 these have been to me as beacons to the mariner, who might 
 otherwise have run upon the rocks and shoals, * * * though 
 in some instances, I have been edified and instructed by their 
 labors."^ 
 
 He further states that for tke past ten years he had not 
 
 looked into their books, but had confined himself to the 
 Bible, which had become to him "a book entirely new." 
 Nor had he imbibed the ideas of his father, whom he con- 
 sidered wise and capable. On the contrary, he had de- 
 
 r C. B., p. 229. 
 
 —86— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 bated and reasoned more with him than with any other 
 man. He then states his unique position in these words : 
 
 "I call no man ftiaster upon the earth. * * * I have been 
 so long disciplined in the school of free inquiry that, if I know my 
 own mind, there is not a man upon the earth whose authority 
 can influence me, any farther than he comes with the authority 
 of evidence, reason and truth. To arrive at this state of mind 
 is the result of many experiments and efforts; and to me has 
 been arduous beyond expression. I have endeavored to read the 
 Scriptures as though no one had read them before me ; and I am 
 as much on my guard against reading them today, through the 
 medium of my own views yesterday, or a week ago, as I an; 
 against being influenced by any foreign name, authority, or sys- 
 tem, whatever.'*^ 
 
 In this, three dominant characteristics of Mr, Camp- 
 bell's type of mind are evident. First, that authority, and 
 that only, which is able to submit itself to his own per- 
 sonal investigation, has right of way with him. Secondly, 
 this position cost him great mental struggle. Thirdly, he 
 recognizes the progressive nature of revelation. Although 
 the revelation of God may be fixed in type and ink, the 
 mind which comes to it, growing from day to day, is pro- 
 gressive and must understand it from the mind's ad- 
 vanced and perfect state, rather than from some unma- 
 tured state which it has left behind in its development. 
 For a complete revelation of God, there must be not only 
 the record of how God gradually unfolded himself in the 
 prophets to the fathers, culminating in the fullness of his 
 true character in his Son, but there must be the growing, 
 
 1 C.B.,p.229. 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 personal mind of man, to lay hold of this sublime revela- 
 tion of God, understand it, appreciate it, respond to it, 
 and enforce it in life. 
 
 We have been considering the man who came to Amer- 
 ica at the beginning of the 19th Century. We have heard 
 his voice. We have felt the touch of his spirit. His ideas 
 of liberty and progress are before us. Do v^e estimate 
 him to be a man needed by the times? Should the 19th 
 Century have made room for him and given him a can- 
 did hearing? Judging from the reception he met as he 
 commenced his life's task, we would answer in the nega- 
 tive. But later times often reverse the verdict of former 
 times. The centuries often correct the judgment of the 
 hours. Did a man of his spirit and attitude as he faced 
 the world fit into the times? He possessed in a large 
 degree a love for freedom and a spirit of liberty which 
 was intense. His faith in progress and his admiration 
 for truth towered into a splendid optimism. His exten- 
 sive view of things made him ever conscious of human 
 limits and instead of becoming a bigot he grew modestly 
 humble. In his love for the great personalities of his- 
 tory he never lost his balance so as to destroy his own 
 individuality or to become a leaner upon others. Did the 
 19th Century require such a man? We may be able to 
 pass a wiser judgment after a consideration of the times, 
 after we learn how he adjusted himself to the problem of 
 his day. It may be that General Robert E. Lee spoke a 
 noble truth when he said: 'If I were asked to select 
 a representative of the human race to the inhabitants of 
 
 —88— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 the other spheres in our universe, of all the men I have 
 ever known I would select Alexander Campbell; then I 
 know they would have a high impression of what our 
 humanity is like."^ 
 
 1 Cen. Camp Fire, p. SO. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 A New Voice in Protestantism. 
 
But while we thus ape our fathers, we forget that their great- 
 ness consisted in the fact that they aped no one. — Mazzini. 
 
 The old emphasis of man-made statements and creeds is gone. 
 John Huss and John Calvin, John Wesley and Jonathan Ed- 
 wards, those sons of thunder, like the first John in his first es- 
 tate, have been relegated to their place as great men, but have 
 ceased to eclipse the name of Jesus Christ. All these have be- 
 come mere candles while the teacher of Bethlehem and Calvary 
 stands forth, the one untroubled sun. — (The Fortune of the Re- 
 public)— Hillis, 1906. 
 
 And as thus age after age they wrangle, with their eyes turned 
 away from the light, the world goes on to larger and larger 
 knowledge in spite of them, and does not lose its faith, for all 
 these darkeners of counsel may say. As in the roaring loom of 
 Time the endless web of events is woven, each strand shall make 
 more and more clearly visible the living garment of God. — (The 
 Idea of God) — Fiske. 
 
 But that rare quality, that national dream, 
 That lies behind this genius at its core, 
 
 Which gave it vision, utterance; evermore. 
 It will be with us, as those stars that gleam. 
 
 Eternal, hid behind the lights of day, 
 A people's best, that may not pass away. 
 
 —Wilfred Campbell. 
 
 —92— 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 A NEW VOICE IN PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 The 19th Century was unique in religious tendencies. 
 The Revival of Learning and the Reformation which 
 followed, the two creators of the revolution, which ef- 
 fected a disturbance in every department and condition 
 of life, were in the past. Yet, they had generated a tem- 
 per of mind and a spirit of investigation which was still 
 going on. The tendency with which we have at present 
 to do is that in the Protestant Reformation which tended 
 to crystallisation. It was thought that the reformers had 
 completed their work, whereas they had only announced 
 principles for further development. This has ever been 
 the real danger in reform, this recognition of complete- 
 ness which arrests all further progress. 
 
 The religious world had become a world of sects ; each 
 rallying around its peculiar standard and making war- 
 fare upon all the rest who differed from its chosen tenets. 
 This was the condition that greeted ]\Ir. Campbell as he 
 found himself upon the field of action in the New World. 
 It is true that the "flowers of freedom" were blooming, 
 but too often they were blooming in the sky. Especially 
 was this true in the realm of religion. In the world of 
 ideas they were found in profusion, while they were rare 
 in the fields of practicality. 
 
 —93— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Mr. Campbell's progressive nature at once rebelled"" 
 he had not so learned Protestantism. He lost no time in 
 scenting the real difficulty and at once announced him- 
 self as the herald of a true Protestantism. Thus, at the 
 beginning of the 19th century in America A New Voice 
 Was Heard in Protestantism. His work began in a pro- 
 test. Not a protest against the mighty achievements of 
 the past reformers, but a protest against the church of 
 the day in not carrying out to their logical end the car- 
 dinal principles of the Protestant reformation. It was a 
 protest against narrowness, as it was a protest against 
 stationariness. It became a challenge for liberty, the 
 foundation plank in Protestantism. 
 
 Nor did he feel any disgrace in posing as a protester. 
 On the contrary, he felt the dignity of the situation. He 
 says : 
 
 "There is a nobility, a moral grandeur of soul, in saying, 7 
 protest against such a law or statute. To protest innocence is 
 sometimes just and necessary. To protest against political 
 tyranny, is often expedient; to protest against religious usurpa- 
 tion and ecclesiastic despotism, cap* the climax of human nobility 
 and grandeur. And none but Heaven's own noble men can, 
 ex animo, make such a sublime protestation, 
 
 He makes clear his conception of Protestantism in 
 these words, 
 
 "But in speaking of Protestantism we speak not of a pretend- 
 ed Protestantism, but of a true, real and unsophisticated Protest- 
 antism — and what is Protestantism but a solemn negation of all 
 
 1 Add., p. 171. 
 
 —94— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 human dictation and usurpation over men's understanding, con- 
 science and affections; over his personal Hberty of thought, of 
 speech and of action, in reference to each and every thing per- 
 taining to himself, his fellows, his God and his Redeemer? 
 Education, religion, morals and politics are, therefore, the field 
 and realms over which Protestantism, de jure divino, presides. 
 * * * It is not possible, or, in other words, it is not in human 
 nature, to love liberty, freedom of thought, of speech and of 
 action, in the state, and to hate it in the church ; or to love it 
 in the church and to hate it in the state. The love of liberty is 
 a law or principle as uniform and immutable as the law of 
 gravity, I mean liberty — rational, moral, social liberty; not 
 licentiousness, recklessness, lawlessness; I mean not lust nor pas- 
 sion, the love of plunder and robbery. It is a moral principle, 
 founded upon the perception and approbation of justice and 
 humanity."^ 
 
 So fundamental is this idea to him that he continues, 
 
 "The very word Protestant implies thought, examination, dis- 
 sent and self-reliance. Who protests without reflection, com- 
 parison, deduction, and some degree of mental independence, as 
 well as of self-reliance? These, too, are verily the elements of 
 all human greatness, of all comparative excellence. The 
 Protestant Reformation, notwithstanding all that can be said 
 against it, was the regeneration of literature, science, art, poli- 
 tics, trade, commerce, agriculture. Hence, the more Protestant a 
 people, the more elevated in all the elements of modern civiliza- 
 tion, self-thinking — pardon the anomalous expression, for there 
 are millions who possess not the art or mystery of self-thinking; 
 when they think, their minds are only listening to some other 
 thinking, speaking or moving within them — I say Self -Thinking 
 and Self-Reliance are the two main elements of personal, social, 
 national greatness and goodness. These are the pillars of true re- 
 
 1 Add., pp. 171,173. 
 
 —95— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 ligion, true learning, true science, true prosperity, true great- 
 ness. By self-thinking and self-reliance I do not mean con- 
 fidence in the flesh, pride, self-conceit; I mean the confident ap- 
 plication of our minds to the means of intellectual, moral, po- 
 litical and religions improvement, in the hope of improving our- 
 selves and our condition. * * * 
 
 "Freedom of thought, freedom of speech, mental independence, 
 self-thinking, self-relying, give to Protestant communities a 
 spirit, a character, and elevation, that deeply imprint themselves 
 on all the products of their mind, on all the labors of their 
 hands. * * * 
 
 "They imprison no one for affirming that stars do not fall; 
 that the earth moves. They exile no one for thinking that there 
 may yet be a new continent, that the number of worlds is in- 
 calculable, or that the Pope may err. They put no one to tor- 
 ture or to death for thinking for himself on religion, science or 
 the arts; therefore, they continually progress, and leave far in 
 the distance behind those who allow or license one man to think 
 for millions, and sternly command acquiescence in his dogmas."^ 
 
 This right to think for one's self is so revolutionary 
 in its effects that Mr. Campbell recognizes in it the germ 
 of the revolutionary changes which followed the Refor- 
 mation. He says, 
 
 "If, in accordance with the philosophy of things, we could trace 
 effects from their immediate to their remote causes, it is pre- 
 sumed that we would find the momentous changes already accom- 
 plished in English society, whether in the Old World or in the 
 New, to be the legitimate consequence of a single maxim, con- 
 secrated into a rule of action, both by the precept and the ex- 
 ample of the master-spirit of the Protestant Reformation. That 
 maxim is, 'Man by nature is, and of right ought to be, a think- 
 ing being.' Hence, it is decreed that, as a matter of policy, 
 
 1 Add., p. 33. 
 
 —96— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 of morality and of religion, he ought not only to think, but to 
 think for himself. * * * 'pQ ^j^^ inculcation of this obliga- 
 tion, more than to any other precept in the religious or moral 
 code, was Martin Luther indebted for that eminent success 
 which elevated him to the highest niche in the temple consecrated 
 to the memory of European and American benefactors. 
 
 "Nor is the day far distant, in our anticipation of the ap- 
 proaching future, when the philosophic historian, in his attempts 
 to trace to its proper cause the general superiority of that por- 
 tion of our race which speaks the English tongue, in whatever 
 land, under whatever sky it may happen to have its being, will 
 find it supremely, if not exclusively, in the single fact that the 
 English nation first adopted the Luthern creed of thinking, speak- 
 ing and writing without restraint on every subject of importance 
 to the individual and to society. * * * 
 
 "Hence, the impetus given to the mind by the Protestant 
 Reformation extends into every science, into every art, into all 
 the business of life, and continues, with increased and increasing 
 energy to consume and waste the influence of every existing in- 
 stitution, law and custom not founded upon eternal truth and 
 the immutable and invincible nature of things."^ 
 
 It was not, therefore, against the reformers that Mr. 
 Campbell protested. In them he finds the heralds of a 
 new era of liberty and freedom. His protest was directed 
 to the failure to carry out what they begun. With this 
 staying of the Protestant principles, in speaking of Lu- 
 ther, he says, 
 
 "But unfortunately, at his death, there was no Joshua to lead 
 the people, who rallied under the banners of the Bible, out of the 
 wilderness in which Luther died. His tenets were soon con- 
 verted into a new state religion; and the spirit of Reformation 
 
 1 Add., p. 453. 
 (7) 
 
 —97— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 which he excited and inspired was soon quenched by the broils 
 and feuds of the Protestant princes, and the collision of rival 
 political interests, both on the continent and in the islands of 
 Europe * * * A secret lust in the bosoms of Protestants for 
 ecclesiastical power and patronage worked in the members of 
 the Protestant Popes, who gradually assimilated the new church 
 to the old. Creeds and manuals, synods and councils, soon 
 shackled the minds of men, and the spirit of reformation grad- 
 ually forsook the Protestant church, or was supplanted by the 
 spirit of the world. * * * 
 
 "Calvin renewed the speculative theology of Saint Augustine, 
 and Geneva in a few years became the Alexandria of modern 
 Europe. The power of religion was soon merged in debates 
 about forms and ceremonies, in speculative strifes of opinion, 
 and in fierce debates about the political and religious right of 
 burning heretics. Still, however, in all these collisions much light 
 was elicited. * * * 
 
 "After the Protestants had debated their own principles with 
 one another, till they lost all brotherly affection, and would as 
 soon have 'communed in the sacrament' with the Catholics as 
 with one another; speculative abstracts of Christian Platonism, 
 the sublime mysteries of Egyptian theology, became alternately 
 the bond of union and the apple of discord, among the fathers and 
 friends of the reformation."^ 
 
 Not only does Mr. Campbell see in Protestantism 
 the unprogressive state of fixity to be its death warrant, 
 but he finds Protestantism fundamentally at faidt in its 
 point of departure. It began at the wrong place. He 
 says : 
 
 A reformation of Popery was attempted in Europe full three 
 centuries ago. It ended in a Protestant hierarchy, and swarms 
 of dissenters. * * * None of these has begun at the right 
 
 1 Ch. Sys., pp. 3,4. 
 
 —98— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 place. All of them retain in their bosom, in their ecclesiastic or- 
 ganization, worship, doctrines and observances, various relics of 
 Popery. They are, at best, but a reformation of Popery, and 
 only reformation in part * * * 
 
 "Living then, as we do, in the midst of such abortive efforts 
 art reformation, seeing the progress of error, and regretting the 
 feeble and slow advances of the gospel upon even the outposts of 
 error, infidelity, and abounding iniquity, we are constrained to 
 inquire, if anything can be done; and if anything, what it should 
 be, and how attempted?"^ 
 
 He then points out how little was accomplished under 
 these efforts, and feels that to rally under the old ban- 
 ners is but to fight the old battles over again. "These 
 have all been tried." The capital mistake in them all is 
 that they each emphasized and built around certain pe- 
 culiar truths to the neglect of catholic ones. He says, 
 
 "Protestant parties are all founded upon Protestant peculiar- 
 ities. Indeed, there is but one radical and distinctive idea in any 
 one of them. That is, their center of attraction and of radia- 
 tion. * * * They build on what is peculiar, and then, in 
 effect, undervalue that which is common to them all."" 
 
 He then stakes out such broad ground as this: 
 
 "Now, it appears to us, the things which are most commonly 
 believed are most valuable, certainly much more valuable than 
 any one of the partisan peculiarities. * * * We conclude, 
 then, that a party founded on all that is commonly received by 
 Romanists, Greeks and Protestants, and nothing more, would not 
 only be a new party, one entirely new, but incomparably more 
 rational, and certainly more scriptural than any of them."' 
 
 lBapt.,p. 15. 8Bapt.,p. 17. 3 Ibid., p. 17. 
 
 —99— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 In getting a comprehensive grasp of the cathoHc truths 
 thus held, he is directed back to Christ, for he finds them 
 centering about him and his salvation. Therefore he is 
 able to propose an "Evangelical Reformation" by a re- 
 turn, a restoration of Jesus Christ and his gospel. 
 
 Such did Mr. Campbell find the condition of his times 
 to be. Yet he was not dismayed. On the contrary, he 
 said, 
 
 "I stand here as a Protestant. * * * in advocating the 
 great cardinal principles of Protestantism I feel that I stand 
 upon a rock."^ 
 
 In such circumstances he found his ta^k. In the strict 
 sense of the word it was not as a reformer; for as he 
 suggests, how can one reform the reformation ? He does 
 not feel the need of going back to the fathers. Not the 
 speculations of the fathers but the religion of Jesus, he 
 observes, is the real need, so he says, 
 
 "Human systems, whether of philosophy or of religion, are 
 proper subjects of reformation; but Christianity cannot be re- 
 formed. Every attempt to reform Christianity is like an attempt 
 to create a new sun, or to change the revolution of the Heavenly 
 bodies — unprofitable and vain. In a word, we have had reforma- 
 tions enough." 
 
 Again, he comes to the gist of the whole question as 
 he says, 
 
 " 'To reform the Reformation' is, indeed, a hard matter — and 
 why? Because many think the Reformation was complete. 
 * * * The greatest moral calamity that has befallen the 
 
 1 D. on R. C. R., p. 49. 
 
 —100— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Protestants is this, that they imagined the Reformation was fin- 
 ished when Luther and Calvin died." 
 
 With Mr. Campbell a true Protestantism was a pro- 
 gressive affair, not going back to the fathers to reform 
 what had been formed by them. In this fact, that Protest- 
 antism had become fixed and stationary while it was by 
 right and nature progressive, Mr. Campbell found his 
 point of departure for his whole life's work. He was to 
 contend for a true Protestantism, and, as a free being, 
 he reserved for himself the right to return to the orig- 
 inal source. 
 
 Says Prof. Brown^: "Protestantism stands before all 
 things for a new spirit; a new conception of the entire 
 relation between God and man. It is a relation of free- 
 dom which gives each man a right to go back for him- 
 self to the source of divine revelation, and, in the light 
 of that which he there finds, to judge all later utterances 
 of the church." 
 
 Mr. Campbell availing himself of this privilege made 
 a return not to the fathers, but beyond the fathers * * * 
 "Back to Christ." Thus, then, there was in America, at 
 the beginning of the 19th Century, a young man * * 
 a new voice in Protestantism, calling for a return to the 
 Christ. 
 
 In speaking of the founder of the Christian religion, he 
 says, 
 
 "The lives or conduct of his disciples may be reformed, but his 
 religion can not. The religion of Rome, or England, or of Scot- 
 
 1 Christian Theol. in OuUine, p. 19. 
 
 —101— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 land, may be reformed, but the religion of Jesus never can. 
 When we have found ourselves out of the way, we may seek for 
 the ancient paths, but we are not at liberty to invent paths for our 
 own feet. We should return to the Lord." 
 
 Thenceforth this cry ''Return * * restore the ancient 
 order of things" rang down through the 19th century 
 with no uncertain note. He defines clearly what he 
 means by restoration in these words, 
 
 "To bring the societies of Christians up to the New Testa- 
 ment is just to bring the disciples individually and collectively to 
 walk in the faith, and in the commandments of the L,ord and 
 Savior, as presented in that blessed volume; and this is to re- 
 store the ancient order of things.^ 
 
 The old watch-word of the reformation, "The Bible, 
 and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestantism," was 
 renewed by Mr. Campbell in opposition to the opinions 
 and speculations of men. He pleaded for a restored Bible 
 that he might have a restored Christ. This became his 
 life labor in which he never faltered, grew weary, or 
 lost confidence in a victorious outcome. He went forth 
 in the spirit of Herrmann's word and fulfilled his idea 
 of the true theologian's task.^ "But if we gain a clear in- 
 sight into what the Bible ought to be for every Christian, 
 namely, the means by which with his own vision he lays 
 hold of the person of Jesus, then it is easy to see what 
 attitude towards the Christian community must be taken 
 up by the theologian called to her service. He must be 
 ready to impart to her, without any deduction, the scrip- 
 
 1 C. B., p. 128. 2 Communion with God, p. 10. 
 
 —102.— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 tural tradition, and must possess the faculty of showing 
 the people how they can use this means to reach that one 
 end. But, on the other hand, if the ecclesiastical author- 
 ities should be in the habit of demanding from such a 
 man that he shall 'believe' a sum of doctrines prescribed 
 by them, be it ever so small, then they would be guilty of 
 a tyranny which ultimately they themselves must feel to 
 be useless and barbarous." 
 
 A recent writer in an excellent article in Hasting's 
 Dictionary of Christ and His Gospels, p. 161 f, voices 
 the true feeling of Mr. Campbell in his longing to go 
 back to the fountain source. He says : "That the stream 
 of religion flows purer at its fountain-head than its low- 
 er reaches is a fact which the study of every historical 
 religion confirms. As a religion advances through his- 
 tory, it loses something of its idealism and becomes more 
 secular, takes up foreign elements, accumulates dog- 
 mas and ceremonies, parts with its simplicity and spon- 
 taneity, and becomes more and more a human construc- 
 tion. And every religious reform has signified a throw- 
 ing off of foreign accretions, and a return to the sim- 
 plicity and purity of the source. Did not Christ him- 
 self represent a reaction from the elaborate legal and cer- 
 emonial system of Judaism to the simpler and more eth- 
 ical faith of the prophets? The reformation was a re- 
 turn to primitive Christianity, but less to Christ than to 
 St. Paul and the early disciples." 
 
 So in Mr. Campbell in his demand for a return to the 
 ancient landmarks, we see a man going backward. 
 
 ^103— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Queer spectacle for such progressive spirit! But so 
 far does he go backwards, and no farther does he go, 
 than to the Chief Corner Stone of the Prophets and 
 Apostles, that we really find him to be a man going back- 
 ward that he may go forward. To those who designate 
 the cry "Back to Christ" a "Crab Cry", let it be said, 
 that with ]\Ir. Campbell it was not a going back to the 
 crabs but far beyond them to the very source of life it- 
 self. It becomes often necessary to go back that one may 
 go forward. 
 
 Principal Fairbairn expresses ]\Ir. Campbell's senti- 
 ments when he says' : "The fathers cannot explain 
 Christ, though he can explain the fathers. He is ultimate, 
 but they are derivative * * This return * * * 
 must proceed from the source downwards, and not simply 
 be contented to judge the source by what we find far 
 down the stream. Above in the fountain there is purity, 
 but below in the river impurities that gather as the 
 course lengthens and the fields tilled and reaped of men 
 are drained into its waters." 
 
 With such temper of mind did ]\Ir. Campbell plead 
 for the restoration of the gospel. He would go and find 
 it in its simplicity and purity in Jesus himself. As he 
 thought, and reasoned, and pleaded the inmost longing 
 of his heart ever was, as expressed in Whittier's lines, 
 
 "Our Friend, our Brother and our Lord, 
 What may thy service be? 
 Nor name, nor form, nor written word. 
 But simply following Thee." 
 
 I The Place of Christ in Modern Theology, p. 296. 
 
 —104— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Did Protestantism need such a Voice ? He was a man 
 whose deep insight pierced the static and stereotyped 
 condition of Protestantism. He was one who beheved a 
 true Protestantism to be progressive. He said in his 
 return, let us not go back to the creeds of the fathers 
 but to the Bible itself; let us not stop with the fathers 
 but return to the Christ. That he was a man deeply 
 possessed with the progressive spirit of his times none 
 can doubt. If in doubt about his being the one the world 
 needed to wrestle with the forces of the day and to con- 
 tend for a true Protestantism, put yourself in touch with 
 his methods and witness how he adjusted himself to the 
 task. Watch the man as he works. What will the New 
 Voice in Protestantism speak? We may yet be able to 
 say wnth Robert Owen, of England, Mr. Campbell's op- 
 ponent in the debate on infidelity : "The friends of truth, 
 on which ever side it may be found, are now more in- 
 debted to Mr. Campbell than any other Christian min- 
 ister of the present day."^ 
 
 2 Evidences, p. 405. 
 
 ^105— 
 
PART II. 
 Liberty and the Bible. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 The Bible Restored. 
 
It is amusing to observe that some of our brethren are 
 alarmed over this ringing call for a gospel which is informed 
 by knowledge of present-day conditions. We are told in cer- 
 tain quarters that men who call for such presentation of the 
 "present truth" are "attacking the plea." One is tempted to 
 wonder what sort of a delicate and sensitive thing this "plea" 
 is that it has to be guarded so carefully upon the approach of 
 a modern idea. One would imagine that these brethren were 
 in fear lest some rude hand might disfigure the "plea" beyond 
 recognition with a touch of up-to-dateness. Do they really 
 mean to say that they take in the "plea" every night to pro- 
 tect it from the frost, or hide it as one would an endangered 
 gate on Hallowe'en ? 
 
 We can fancy the smile of humor with which one of the 
 fathers of this reformation would have read such a lament 
 over the effort to present matters in a light adjusted to the 
 age. The attacking of traditional and archaic ideas and phrases 
 was their certain daily pastime. We can imagine that the 
 conservators of orthodoxy felt certain that every belief and 
 opinion which was left out over night was sure to be gone 
 before morning. The warriors of the first generation of this 
 movement delighted in nothing so much as the task of chal- 
 lenging and overthrowing a time-honored and cherished opinion 
 which was compelled to back into the shell of orthodoxy at 
 the approach of an idea. He has studied the lives of the 
 fathers to little purpose who has not discerned their insist- 
 ence upon facing facts as they are, and not as they were at 
 some previous time. He alone can be true either to the New 
 Testament or to the spirit of this reformation who constantly 
 studies to show himself approved unto God, rightly interpret- 
 ing the Word of Truth. 
 
 If the plea of the Disciples for the union of the people of 
 God in accordance with the apostolic program is endangered 
 by the appeal for freshness of light and leading, for open- 
 mindedness and adjustment of things as they are, then it needs 
 restatement to bring it into conformity with the spirit of the 
 New Testament and the pioneers.— H. L. W., The Christian 
 Centur>', Nov. 15, '06. 
 
 —110— 
 
CHAPTER 1. 
 
 THE BIBLE RESTORED. 
 
 The Renaissance was an intellectual revolt from the 
 tyranny of forms which shackled the mind, keeping it 
 bound to the past, thus hindering all originality, spon- 
 taneity and progress. This breaking away issued in a 
 beautiful life of the spirit which has permeated all the 
 literature of the world. The Reformation which grew 
 out of it was not so much a revolt of mind as a religious 
 rebellion. It sprang from the heart of Luther which in 
 its experience felt the awful bondage of works and their 
 impotence to grant peace to the soul. The righteousness 
 gained through works was mechanical and barren. The 
 holiest efforts became stifled. There was no creative 
 impulse. There was no rise of the soul to God. Luther's 
 experience of the great truth "that the just shall live 
 by faith" gave him the key to a world of peace into 
 which the succeeding generations have entered and found 
 soul satisfaction. 
 
 Both the Revival of Learning and the Revival of Re- 
 ligion, which in development largely coalesced, were in 
 their most characteristic phases, but attempts to burst 
 the bars of prison doors that the mind and the spirit 
 might enter into their true heritage in a world of free- 
 will— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 dom. They were risings out of the grave of the past 
 to the hfe, light, and beauty of the present. Yet, how 
 few out of the mass of humanity by the time of the 
 Nineteenth Century had entered into these new-brought 
 blessings! These hard-earned treasures were prized 
 only by the privileged few. They were worn only by 
 those who constituted themselves the chosen ones by 
 struggle and experience akin to the reformers. So 
 ever comes life's heritage! We cannot take it over 
 without price or pains. There is no magical inheritance. 
 
 If it would do us any real service, if it would mean 
 anything to us, if it would lift us to its own level and be- 
 yond it, we must each share the toil, we must each out 
 of our own experience gain it anew. 
 
 Because tliis is true, because the world was still in 
 ignorance, superstition, and in bondage to form, Mr. 
 Campbell had a large field for action. He, too, came to 
 his task out of a deep and grozcing experience. It was 
 an experience which reached the whole man, and sounded 
 the depths of his being. Feeling, intellect and will at 
 once rebelled Out of this experience both the spirit 
 of the Renaissance and the spirit of the Reformation 
 were born anew, and came to life as one strong over- 
 mastering passion for personal liberty to find God, to 
 know Him, and to serve Him. It was to him a time 
 such as Prof. Swing notes of Ritschl *'It was to him 
 the beginning of a time of transition from his inherited 
 
 1 The Theology of Albrecht Ritschl, p. 11. 
 
 —112— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 faith to a faith of his own." Of this experience Mr. 
 Campbell says: 
 
 "But my own mind labored under the perniciou3 influence 
 of scholastic divinity, and the Calvinian metaphysics; and al- 
 though I greatly desired to stand perfect and complete in the 
 knowledge of the will of God, and my conscience could bow 
 to nothing but the authority of the King Eternal, yet a full 
 emancipation from the tradition of the elders I had not expe- 
 rienced. This was gradual as the approaches of spring!"^ 
 
 His soul was yearning for God. He was struggling 
 for the personal Christ who^ Mr. Campbell believed, 
 fully revealed the Father. But the Christ was lost. He 
 was hidden beneath the impersonal accumulation of the 
 ages. Instead of the personal Jesus, there stood bar- 
 riers. He was confronted by tradition, dogma, creed, 
 ritual, form. These were hiding the Christ. 
 
 With his experience came vision. He saw the barriers 
 fall away. The children of the Father, in the liberty of 
 the gospel, were laboring together in the harmony of 
 the Master's ideal. His soul is enraptured by this splen- 
 did vision of liberty and union. Under such inspiration 
 he longs and hopes. Faith lives strong in his breast. 
 Faith, which ever takes our visions from the air of our 
 fancy and in due time transforms them into blessed 
 realities. Faith, which is not blind to the difficulties, but 
 strong in victory. So out of the silence of this over- 
 mastering vision comes speech. What will accomplish 
 this? It can be done, but how? What will bring it 
 
 1 C. B.,p.661. 
 
 (8) 
 
 —113— 
 
"Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 about? Not the Roman idea of Unity, that had already 
 been tried, and had failed. While it preserved unity 
 it lost liberty. Nor would the escape-from-Rome do, the 
 opinions and speculations of men, no matter how well 
 formulated or beautifully clasped together in creed or 
 statement. There must be something more vital than 
 mere thought. It must come with an appeal to the soul. 
 It must come with an authority from above. What 
 would do this? The religion of Jesus. So God gives 
 Mr. Campbell his life-message. His task is programmed. 
 It is to return to the fountain-head. It is to restore to 
 the world the Christ and his personal gospel of life in 
 all its true simplicity and pristine purity. 
 This becomes the germ of his plea while year by year 
 it unfolds in various ways to meet the exigencies of the 
 times. 
 
 This was not the first return to the Christ, nor the 
 last. There are many returns. Each man, out of his 
 own experience in longing for the Christ and in feeling 
 the separating barriers, may rise up, and, tearing them 
 away the best he can, go back to Christ. The uniqueness 
 of Mr. Campbell's return, in the midst of a peculiar 
 set of circumstances, gave the idea clearer expression 
 and made it more possible for each to return. 
 
 Perhaps the most evident feature in his return, aside 
 from sincerity, is his undaunted moral heroism. He 
 was unlike the religious teachers in England today as 
 depicted by J. Allanson Picton:^ "The real reason for 
 
 1 The Finality of the Christian Religion (Foster), p. 14. 
 
 —114— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 moral failures in education is that we have ceased to 
 believe in the old creeds, and have not the moral courage 
 to acknowledge it to ourselves. Or, if we acknowledge 
 it to ourselves, our case is still worse, for we maintain 
 a lying pretense before others." Mr. Campbell first 
 made his acknowledgment to himself, then, facing the 
 word, without let or hindrance, strenuously sought to 
 tear away every barrier that hid from view the Christ 
 and His gospel. 
 
 How could he do otherwise since he had adopted 
 the new method of investigation? He had yielded the 
 popular superstitious method for the scientific. Nor did 
 he consider this a machine for collecting facts, even if 
 they were true, but rather a distinctive attitude of mind 
 toward truth. We have found him to be one with open- 
 ness of mind, accepting facts as they really exist, dis- 
 satisfied with any half-way solution, and having found 
 truth determined to follow it whithersoever it might lead. 
 ^Therefore he is prepared to take this bold stand : 
 
 "The consciousness of truth will, without a challenge, court 
 investigation, and defy contradiction."^ 
 
 One prominent and commendable feature in Mr. 
 Campbell is his touch with his age. In every sphere of 
 thought and activity he was alive to the spirit of his 
 times. So much is this true that Prof. Hiram Van Kirk, 
 in his able work on "The Rise of the Current Reforma- 
 tion," p. 50, can say of him: ''He also represented the 
 time-spirit (Zeitgeist) of the American Republic He 
 
 ic. f. What is Truth (Pritchett), p. 8. 2 Evidences, p. 284. 
 
 —115— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 came in line with the great social and political move- 
 ments of his day. He was the voice of democracy, of 
 individualism in the religious sphere. This was the se- 
 cret of his power." 
 
 This characterization is in perfect accord with Mr. 
 Campbeirs own feeling and desire. He says : 
 
 "The motto of the spirit of this age seems to be taken from 
 the gigantic Young 'Flaws in the best — full man\' flaws all 
 o'er.' * * * This is a time of religious and political earth- 
 quakes. The religious communities of the new world and the 
 political states of the old world are in circumstances essen- 
 tially the same. A great political earthquake threatens to bury 
 in its ruins tyrants and their systems of oppression. The 
 ecclesiastical systems of the clergy appear destined to a simi- 
 lar fate. It is to be hoped then, as the New World took the 
 lead in, and first experienced the blessings of, a political re- 
 generation, so they will be foremost in the work, and first 
 in participating in the fruits of, an ecclesiastical renovation. 
 
 * * * [And he is encouraged to see signs of this.] All 
 sects, new and old, seem like a reed shaken by the wind. 
 
 * * * Their 'Religious Almanacs' portend comets, falling 
 stars, and strange signs in the heavens, accompanied with 
 eclipses of the greater and lesser lights that rule the night. 
 Their constitution is moth-eaten, and the tinsel upon their 
 frame of discipline has become dim."* 
 
 Here were the barriers confronting him in his pur- 
 pose to return to the purity of Christ and His gospel. 
 On the one hand, creeds and confessions magnifying the 
 abstract and transcendent elements in the gospel and 
 confusing and dividing the people of God. On the 
 
 1 C. B., p. 213. 
 
 —116— 
 
'Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 other hand, the Bible translated by a superstitious and 
 sectional age, breathing the very spirit of their times 
 into the translation; moreover, this same Bible receiving 
 a traditional interpretation brought over from these same 
 unscientific times. Set in such conditions what would 
 he do? Would he dare to brush aside as worthless the 
 impersonal stamp of the creeds, statements, dogmas, in 
 his quest for the personal gospel truths? This he did, 
 bravely and unflinchingly. This was part of his de- 
 structive work. But how about the confronting Bible 
 in which was enwrapped the Christ? Unscientific as it 
 was in both its translation and its interpretation it was 
 honored as "the Book of the Ages." The devout rested 
 their all in this, infallible in every particular, errorless, 
 and hence authoritative book. To question it in the 
 least as it lay before them was either to wholly destroy 
 their hope in it or to call down the wrath of heaven 
 upon the daring critic. The book just as it was had 
 grown precious. They had learned to worship its very 
 form and prize it as a fetish. So much was it a charm 
 that one who would take an oath must kiss, germs and 
 all, even though he might swear to a lie. Before this 
 long-honored volume how was Mr. Campbell to stand? 
 Would he dare to encroach upon its sacredness? 
 
 It is necessary, in order to understand him as he 
 enters upon his radical work of restoration, to keep in 
 mind the general enlightenment of his day. It is only 
 one hundred years ago, it is true. Yet it was, after all 
 the enlightenment, still an uncritical and superstitious age 
 —117— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 as regards the masses. It required a long time for the 
 enlightenment, the true meaning, and the real significance 
 of the Renaissance and the Reformation to become the 
 property of the mass. Even now, after so long a time, 
 after so many centuries of culture, and blood-bought 
 culture at that, we find large sections in our own pro- 
 gressive America almost untouched with the world of 
 nobler ideas. They are out of touch with the present 
 order and living only in the superstitious ages of the past, 
 notwithstanding the fact that the last century was unique 
 in dispensing light and knowledge. How often it is we 
 see men in their devotions hugging the dry, barren ma- 
 teriality of things and drawing their inspiration from 
 rocks and stones ! There may be some excuse for some. 
 There might be excuse for many had not the Son of God 
 laid bare the heart of things. But 'hen even his disciplts 
 failed to grasp and comprehend his master-thought. They 
 were thinking low when they might have been thinking 
 high. They were the losers. He withheld many fine 
 revelations from them simply because they were too dull 
 to receive them. It is the old story, "^^ly people perish 
 for lack of knowledge." Such become the losers, yes, 
 both sad and true, but just as true and sadder still, is the 
 fact that every soul touches the great universe of other 
 souls and the failure of one is shared by all. And such 
 consideration were pessimistic as well as sad were it not 
 the truth that among men the heart is leader above the 
 head. Thus even amid the materialistic grasp of things 
 there is something in the heart of hearts that is directive. 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Though men think low among the forms, never getting 
 at the heart of things, yet their lives do blossom into love 
 and duty. We may thank God that life is greater than 
 thought. Yet thinking is not to be dispensed v^ith in 
 God's order. Learning of the right kind is invaluable 
 to culture. 
 
 It is amazing hov^ little had been done in behalf of 
 general education when Mr. Campbell began his work. 
 The year 1809, when he came to America, Pestalozzi 
 was just at the zenith of his educational fame. Froebel 
 was then studying under him as a pupil. In Germany 
 the great universities were not yet established. Not until 
 1810 was Berlin; Breslau in 1811; Bonn in 1818; and 
 Strasburg not till 1872 ! Mr. Campbell was seven years 
 old before France awakened to an interest in popular 
 education. The English government did not concern 
 itself in education till 1818. Until 1805 there were no 
 public free schools in New York City, and it was not until 
 1853 that a free public school system was established. 
 
 The new impulse in education was the work of the 
 nineteenth century. From Rousseau came the idea that 
 education is life ; that it must center in the child ; and must 
 find its end in the individual and in each particular stage of 
 his life. From Pestalozzi came that conception that effi- 
 cient educational work depends upon an actual knowl- 
 edge of the child and a genuine sympathy for him, that 
 education is a growth from within, not a series of accre- 
 tions from without, that this is the result of the experi- 
 ences or activities of the child, and that sense percep- 
 —119— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 tion, not processes of memory, form the basis of early 
 training. 
 
 From Herbart came the contribution of a scientific 
 process of instruction, and character as the aim of in- 
 struction — to be reached scientifically through the use of 
 method and curriculum as defined. 
 
 From Froebel came the true conception of the child's 
 nature, the correct adjustment of the curriculum to this 
 nature, and the application of the theory of evolution to 
 the problem of education. 
 
 From the scientific tendency came the insistence upon 
 a revision of the idea of a liberal education, a nev^ defini- 
 tion of culture demanded by the present life, and that 
 all education be directed to the development of the free 
 man — the fully developed citizen. From the Sociolog- 
 ical tendency came the idea that education is to produce 
 good society, good citizens ; that it is to do this through 
 the fullest development of personality in the individual; 
 that this development of personal ability and character 
 must fit the individual for citizenship, life in institutions, 
 social activities — in a word, that one must learn to serve 
 himself by serving others.^ 
 
 It will be remembered that the new education did not 
 find entrance into our American colleges till it came in 
 with the rise of Charles William Eliot to the presidency 
 of Harvard in 1869, three years after Mr. Campbell's 
 death. Nor did Eliot's mighty personality bring it in in 
 a moment of time. Like all good things it came "as the 
 
 1 Text-Book in the History of Education (Monroe), p. 748f. 
 
 —120— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 approaches of spring." And some will never forget those 
 days ! They can still hear the crackling ice ! They can 
 still feel the alternate changes of heat and cold, of cold 
 and heat, as the sun shone sometimes in clear sky, and 
 sometimes behind darksome clouds! With the stalwart 
 Eliot in the midst, the spring-time full of life and beauty, 
 came at last! Then reigned perpetual summer! 
 
 One might expect Mr. Campbell to meet opposition. 
 From the state of general enlightenment his advanced 
 ideas would seem over-critical and unsafe. How would 
 Mr. Campbell adjust himself to the situation? He con- 
 templated a restoration of the lost Christ and His gospel 
 in the face of barriers of long-honored establishment, 
 and which had grown dear to adherents. What attitude 
 would he take toward the Bible, before a people who, 
 like Cowper's pious peasant woman, 
 
 "Just know and know no more, their Bible true, 
 A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew" ? 
 
 There were at least three courses open to him. The 
 first was just to throw the whole Bible overboard. Give 
 it no recognition in his life and thought; turn skeptic 
 and allow those longings and dreamings of the soul to 
 be finally crushed out by a crass materialism. Some so 
 did when they turned from their inherited faith in the 
 Bible to a faith of their own. Or secondly, he might 
 turn rationalist and accept that part of the Bible that he 
 could consistently think true and toss the rest overboard 
 as myth, having no place in a record of revelation. Or 
 
'Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 thirdly, he might take the attitude of narrow-timid faith 
 which out of reverence for the whole dares not question 
 a part, but clings to it as it is, fearingly, but reverently, 
 yet without question. He took none of these positions. 
 Yet he did take a most positive stand. He revolted 
 against the Bible as it was, in favor of the Bible as it 
 might and should be. He would destroy the Bible as it 
 was, in order to restore it as it should be. He w^ould 
 give to the world not a rationalistic Bible shredded so 
 utterly of the Divine as to be no more than a code of 
 beautiful ethics, but a rational Bible for rational men, 
 containing both its needed human element and its es- 
 sential Divine revelation. This is the Bible to which he 
 would make his return for the Christ and his gospel. 
 So as a basis for all true and solid building, he proposes 
 a restoration of the Bible. He would brush away the 
 superstitious accumulation of the ignorance of the past 
 which had heaped itself upon this volume and get back 
 to the original Jesus and his personal word. To many 
 he seemed only a destructive critic. Hovrever, he was 
 not destructive. Unless one calls the day destructive 
 because it vanishes the night ; or calls the sun destructive 
 because it melts the ice and gives us spring-time with 
 its glad promise, and summer w'ith its flower and fruit- 
 age; or calls the seed destructive because it bursts the 
 shell to germinate in life and beauty; or calls youth de- 
 structive because it leaves its infancy; or calls maturity 
 destructive because it yields up its former stages for a 
 good old age ; or calls heaven destructive because the 
 
 —122— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 earth becomes swallowed up in the kingdom of God. 
 No, he was not destructive only. Pure destruction par- 
 alyzes. It is death. Mr. Campbell was pleading for 
 life, more life, better life, life abundant. He was con- 
 structive and inspirational. Destroying only the base 
 and worthless that the true and permanent might have 
 existence. So he pleads for a better Bible and welcomes 
 anything that would help to give this. He says: 
 
 "Anything and everything which tend to break the spell 
 which an ignorant and bewildered priesthood have thrown over 
 this volume, everything which can contribute to a more clear 
 and comprehensive understanding of the volume, is, with us, 
 of great moment."^ 
 
 He would come to this book not as a storehouse of 
 dbctrines, but as a "book of life." To tear away the 
 husk that the essential life might be manifest and pre- 
 served for humanity, he felt to be his paramount duty. 
 In such an endeavor he felt himself to be in swing with 
 the spirit of the times. Relative to this he says: 
 
 "To this end, it is also essential that we appreciate and 
 comprehend the character and spirit of our own age, and the 
 actual condition of the Christian profession in our country, 
 and, indeed, in our own language, wherever spoken, at home 
 or abroad. It is almost as difficult to appreciate our own 
 times — the spirit and progress of our own age — as it is to 
 see ourselves, either as others see us, or as we really are."^ 
 
 This is in agreement with what Dr. Herbert L. Willett 
 says: ^"The unwise teacher is the one who refuses to 
 
 1 C. B., p. 483. 2 Add., p. 57O. 3 ch. Cent., Nov. 22, 1906. 
 
 —123— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 accept the spirit of the age as in any sense significant, 
 and throws himself into the useless and futile task of 
 re-emphasizing the features whose very over-emphasis 
 has resulted in the reaction." 
 
 ]\Ir. Campbell, feeling the touch of his age, is able to 
 champion a new emphasis. He contends for a Bible 
 Vvhich is practically a new Bible — a Bible so translated 
 and interpreted as to be freed from the superstitious 
 encumbrances, disclosing the original Christ and his mes- 
 sage. He says: 
 
 "Whatever, then, tends to the true interpretation or trans- 
 lation of the living oracles into the language of our Christen- 
 dom is an object of transcendent, nay, of paramount, import- 
 ance to the answer and accomplishment of our Redeemer's 
 prayer — to the health, peace, prosperity and ultim.ate triumph 
 of our most holy faith over all the superstitions and idolatries 
 of earth."* 
 
 As he views things progressing, and witnesses criti- 
 cism undermining human authority, he breaks forth in 
 an eloquent and optimistic outlook, — 
 
 "The progress in Bible-translating, in Biblical criticism, in 
 liberal principles, in the free discussion of all questions con- 
 cerning state and church polity, has, more or less, broken the 
 spell of human authority, roused the long-latent energies of 
 the human mind, and begotten and cherished a spirit of in- 
 quiry before which truth and virtue alone can stand erect, 
 with a portly mien, an unblenching eye and an unfaltering 
 tongue. Errors long consecrated in hallowed fanes, backed 
 by monarchial and papal authority, lauded by lordly bishops, 
 canonized by hoary rabbis in solemn conclaves, and confirmed 
 
 1 Add., p. 596. 
 
 —124— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 by the decrees of oecumenical councils, are being disrobed of 
 all their factitious ornaments and exposed in their naked de- 
 formity to the wondering gaze of a long insulted and degraded 
 people. The inquiry of the people is beginning to be, What 
 is truth f — not, Who says so? What say the oracles of God? — 
 not. What council has so decided? We must be judged every 
 man for himself. We shall, therefore, judge for ourselves. 
 
 "The Christian mind, since the era of Protestantism, has 
 been advancing with a slow but steady pace, an onward and 
 an upward progress. Its noble and splendid victories in phys- 
 ical science, in useful and ornamental arts, in free govern- 
 ment and in social institutions, have increased its courage, 
 animated its hopes and emboldened its efforts to find its proper 
 eminence. It has not yet fixed its own destiny, limited its 
 own aspirations, nor stipulated its subordination to any human 
 arbitrament. 
 
 "In the department of religion and divine obligation it has 
 tried every form of ecclesiastical polity, every human consti- 
 tution and variety of partisan and schismatic theology, and 
 every scheme of propagating its own peculiar tenets. Nor has 
 it yet found a safe and sure haven in which to anchor, in 
 hope of coming safely to land. It will not surrender nor 
 capitulate on any terms dishonorable to its own dignity, nor 
 compromise its convictions for the sake of popular applause. 
 
 "The questions of the present day are more grave and 
 momentous, in their bearings on church and state, than any 
 questions propounded and discussed in former times. Even 
 the very text of the Holy Bible has been submitted to a more 
 severe ordeal and test than at any former time. And that 
 the holy oracles of salvation shall go forth in their primitive 
 purity into all lands and languages is now firmly decided by 
 the purest, most enlightened, most generous and noble-hearted 
 men in the world."^ 
 
 1 Add., p. 625. 
 
 — 125— • 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 Truth was what Mr. Campbell was wanting. And in 
 its quest he feared not light. He was unlike the man 
 to whom a microscope was brought which revealed to 
 him the living germs in the water he drank; he there- 
 upon smashed the microscope. Upon the entrance of 
 light too many scatter as the insects when an old board 
 is lifted from their cozy retreat, exposing them to the 
 light and radiance of God's sunshine. Mr. Campbell's 
 demand for light was co-existent with his call for truth. 
 He says : 
 
 "That all men who love truth, and especially Bible truth, 
 desire to come to the light, or to have light brought to them, 
 is as clearly an historical as it is a philosophical fact. It is 
 well established in the history of translations. Were I to 
 assert dogmatically that truth and light are cognate, I would 
 stake my reputation on the fact that every lover of truth loves 
 light. The Savior, himself, suggests to us the idea, in say- 
 ing, 'He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds 
 may be made manifest that they are wrought ot God.' Error 
 or falsehood, and darkness, are also akin. They are of cognate 
 pedigree. Hence said the Great Teacher, 'He that does evil 
 hates light;' and men 'come not to the light, lest their deeds 
 should be reproved' or made manifest."^ 
 
 Again he says: 
 
 "Christianity, like its founder, never loved darkness. It never 
 shunned light."^ 
 
 "Light thou our candle while \ve read, 
 And keep our hearts from going blind."' 
 
 In proof of this historical facf mentioned, :\Ir. Camp- 
 bell says: 
 
 1 Add., p. 571. 2 Evid., p. 433. 3 Henry Van Dyke. 
 
 —126— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 "From the era of Protestantism till now, Protestants, in 
 the ratio of their Protestant sincerity, or true Protestantism, 
 have been active, zealous and forward in the great work of 
 translating the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures into the vulgar 
 tongues. The Roman Catholic has been equally distinguished 
 for her opposition to popular versions, or to translations made 
 in the language of the common people. So have those Prot- 
 estants that have borrowed freely from Papal Rome."^ 
 
 As he was agitating a new translation of the Bible a 
 brother Baptist handed him a tract stating ten reasons 
 why the authorized version should not be revised. Of 
 this he comments as follows : 
 
 "I opened it with much interest. To its title page my 
 attention was instantly turned, and fixed upon its remark- 
 able motto — 'The Old- Fashioned Bible.' While ponder- 
 ing upon the author's design in this strange motto, I 
 hastily turned to its last page, and again read, — 
 
 "'The old-fashioned Bible, the dear, blessed Bible, 
 The family Bible, that lay on the stand.' 
 
 " 'Is this,' said I to myself, 'an ad captandum vulgus, a lure 
 for the unwary reader, or the great argument for the inviola- 
 bility and immortality of King James' version?' I dared not, 
 till I had read it through, answer the first inquiry. I had no 
 sooner glanced through the ten arguments than my eyes were 
 opened. The spirit of the motto is the soul of its ten argu- 
 ments. Its body or substance is, 'The purpose' to have and to 
 introduce a new version 'is fraught with injury' and ruin to 
 the Baptists. Alas, for the feeble Baptists if a new version 
 *is fraught with injury' and ruin to the denomination! But, 
 combining his logic and rhetoric in two lines, he finds their 
 salvation in 
 1 Add., p. 571. 
 
 —127— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 '"The old-fashioned Bible, the dear blessed Bible, 
 The family Bible, that lay on the stand.' 
 
 "After a moment's reflection, it occurred to me that not only 
 the motto, but the whole ten arguments, in their soul, body and 
 spirit, were as good against a new version in the days of Tindal 
 as now, and will be as good, as sound, as conclusive, against 
 a new version, against every change which has been, is now 
 or will hereafter be proposed, through all coming time. 
 
 "From the printing of Tindal's version till that of James' 
 version, there was a copy of the Bible in many Christian fami- 
 lies, and some of them lay on the stand. Now, on the first 
 motion in the fatherland, to have an improved version, had 
 the author of the 'Ten Reasons' have been living and con- 
 sulted, he would have raised the tune of the 'old-fashioned 
 Bible that lay on the stand,' and for this good and sound rea- 
 son — that good sense and good logic are immutably the same, 
 yesterday, today and tomorrow. Ii an old-fashioned Bible lying 
 one year, or one century, on a stand, be a sound and satis- 
 factory argument against a new version of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, it will forever be an invincible argument against any 
 correction, emendation or change whatever. 
 
 ''The ten reasons given in this pamphlet of six-and-thirty 
 pages, arithmetically enumerated and logically arranged, are a 
 mere dilution or expansion of this one popular ana prolific 
 syllogism. 
 
 "It is again presented in the following words: 
 "The mere purpose to have a new version is 'fraught with 
 injury to the denomination,' 'destructive of brotherly love and 
 harmony,' 'suicidal to the American and Foreign Bible Society,' 
 'and utterly uncalled for by any consideration of principles or 
 of duty.' These are the four cardinal points to which are 
 respectively directed the ten reasons. 
 
 "The ten reasons are, indeed, essentially^ one and all, polit- 
 ical or denominational. The glory, honor, and integrity of the 
 
 —123— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Baptist denomination, it would appear, are much more, in the 
 eye and heart of their author, than the importance or value 
 of a pure and faithful, a clear and intelligible, translation of 
 the oracles of God. This I hope is not so. But he writes 
 and reasons in such a way as to make it appear so, and thus 
 injures his own reputation much more than he can impede the 
 glorious enterprise. For this cannot fail, Heaven being as- 
 suredly on its side."^ 
 
 This is a very interesting piece of history. It gives 
 us some valuable logic. Mr. Campbell's own progressive 
 spirit stands revealed upon the background of his times. 
 It becomes wonderfully revealing since we stand on the 
 other side of its fulfillment. 
 
 Here we find him again turning his back upon the 
 findings of the authoritative past and linking himself 
 to this "glorious enterprise" of giving to the world a 
 new translation of the Scriptures. For some years this 
 becomes the burden of his thought and receives his never- 
 ceasing agitation. In this effort he stands foremost 
 among the Biblical critics, who, unwilling to take the 
 Bible as it was laying on the stand, would question its 
 authority, take it from the stand, give it a free, unbiased 
 self-examination, take oflf the old dress of translation, 
 and give it to the world in a new dress. In this task 
 there is the recognition of the abiding over the occa- 
 sional. It would destroy the old form which was time- 
 worn and had fulfilled its mission and reconstruct a new 
 form that one might have better access to the old, that 
 was constant and assuring. 
 
 1 Add., p. 631f. 
 
 (9) —129— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 No one has given this controlling idea of Mr. Camp- 
 bell's clearer expression in a few words than Prof. 
 Charles Foster Kent: ^"The student of history at once 
 recognizes in the modern movement, of which the watch- 
 word is, 'Back to the testimony of the Bible/ the direct 
 sequel to the Protestant Reformation. The early reform- 
 ers took the chains off the Bible and put it into the hands 
 of men, with full permission to study and search. Vested 
 interests and dogmatism soon began to dictate how it 
 should be studied and interpreted, and thus it was again 
 placed practically under lock and key. It is an interest- 
 ing fact that a young Zulu chief, a pupil of Bishop Co- 
 lenso of South Africa, first aroused the Anglo-Saxon 
 world to the careful, fearless, and therefore truly rever- 
 ential study of its Old Testament. With this new im- 
 petus, the task of the Reformers was again taken up, 
 and in the same open, earnest spirit. For two genera- 
 tions it has commanded the consecrated energies of the 
 most thorough scholars of Christendom. Those of Eng- 
 land, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Swit- 
 zerland, Norway, Sweden, America and Canada have 
 worked shoulder to shoulder dividing the work, carefully 
 collecting and classifying the minutest data, comparing 
 results, and, on the basis of all this work, formulating 
 conclusions, some assured and some hypothetical, which 
 best explain the facts. The church is undoubtedly 
 passing quietly through a revolution in its conception 
 and attitude toward the Bible more fundamental and 
 
 1 The Origin and Value of the Old Testament, p. 15f . 
 
 —130— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 far-reaching than that represented by its precursor, the 
 Protestant Reformation; but its real significance is daily 
 becoming more apparent. Not a grain of truth which 
 the Bible contains has been destroyed or permanently 
 obscured. Instead, the debris of time-honored traditions 
 and dogmas have been cleared away, and the true Scrip- 
 tures at last stand forth again in their pristine splendor." 
 
 This was written in 1906. Mr. Campbell's prophetic 
 spirit, almost one hundred years ago, believed that heaven 
 was on the side of liberty and progress, and threw him* 
 self into this movement of scholarly criticism which has 
 made possible our present condition of faith and knowl- 
 edge. Not destroying the Bible, but saving the Bible by 
 destroying the false traditions gathering about it. There 
 is so much that is common to Alexander Campbell and 
 the great German iVlbrecht Ritschl that one feels like 
 constantly noting parallels. What Prof. Swing says of 
 Ritschl's methods is so obvious of Islv. Campbell's. He 
 is contrasting the purely sentimental method of treating 
 truth which is so extensive in many quarters with 
 Ritschl's scientific method. He says : ^ "He does not de- 
 nounce; by a scientific method he analyzes, and truth 
 and error appear. If he would advance a truth he does 
 not ransack the literary scrap book for fine phrases; but 
 by his scientific principle he is able to discover and point 
 out true values. Even if this scientific principle should 
 not prove to be the ultimate one, it is still his great ex- 
 cellence that he at least had such a principle which he 
 
 1 The Theology of Albrecht Ritschl, p. 33. 
 
 —131— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 continually used to build up as well as pull down." 
 
 In Mr. Campbell's plea for a restored Bible he occu- 
 pied a foremost place among the great leaders of Bib- 
 lical criticism. Dr. Errett Gates, of Chicago University, 
 says:^ "The modern science of 'Biblical theology,' 
 of which Alexander Campbell was, in some respects, a 
 forerunner, and of which Weiss, Beyschlag and Stevens 
 are the great representatives, avows its one purpose to 
 be the discovery of the original meaning of biblical writ- 
 ings." 
 
 In the next chapter we will learn from his own words 
 his attitude toward Biblical criticism. This shall prepare 
 us for an understanding of how he would give to the 
 world a restored Bible. 
 
 1 Ch. Cent., Dec. 13,1906. 
 
 —132— 
 
CHAPTER n. 
 Criticism. 
 
Afraid of the higher criticism? Is the slave afraid of Lin- 
 coln who comes to set him free? Afraid of investigation? Is 
 David afraid of Samuel when he comes to anoint him King? 
 Afraid of more light? Is the plant, half out of the seed, afraid 
 of the sun that comes to free it from its cerements of clay, 
 and lift it up, singing, into blossom and into a full-grown tree? 
 Afraid of the scholar? Is the maiden afraid of her beloved 
 when he comes with ring and orange-blossoms to claim his 
 bride? Afraid of the fires of testing? Is the silver afraid of 
 the smelter? Is the diamond afraid of the lapidary who comes 
 to find it with gold on the hand of love? * * * "Truth, 
 like diamonds, is brighter for polishing." Bread is better for 
 kneading. Jesus on the cross was exalted. The Bible is en- 
 throned by criticism. Already dawns the time of its new cor- 
 onation. * * * No man can be a scholar unless he knows it. 
 The poets tip their fancies with its beauty, and orators crown 
 their oration with its golden words. The people have never 
 ceased to love it, and now they are going to know it. The 
 solace of the aged, the hope of the disconsolate, the inspira- 
 tion of the living, the comfort of the dying, it has been and 
 inceasingly will be for the children of men 'The Word of God.' 
 And our children's children, loving it as much as their fathers, 
 but knowing it better, will say when they are old, out of a long 
 and sweet experience, like one of old : 
 
 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, 
 And a light unto my path." 
 
 — N. McGeq Waters, in "A Young Mail's Religion and His 
 Father's Faith." 
 
 —134— 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 CRITICISM. 
 
 It is as scholar and critic that IMr. Campbell was most 
 bitterly opposed by his own times. And as such he is 
 most venerated to-day. In his environment he was far 
 beyond his age. ''^Ir. Campbell was the vender of the 
 world's best learning. Herein lies another secret of the 
 conflict. Mr. Campbell brought the best Old World 
 scholarship into the backwoods of America. He easily 
 outstripped all his competitors in his facility in mar- 
 shaling on his side the great authorities of the world's 
 history. He had no equal in debate or popular expo- 
 sition. This brilliancy brought him an ardent personal 
 following. It also won him bitter enemies. There was 
 between him and his opponents the chasm of two worlds' 
 cultures. It was inevitable that strife and division should 
 ensue."^ 
 
 'Mr. Campbell himself, in the preface of his new trans- 
 lation of the Testament, says : 
 
 "We have followed to the utmost of our ability and candor 
 the rules of criticism and interpretation laid down by the mas- 
 ters of criticism and the most distinguished translators. * * * 
 "Our qualifications for such a work are, that we have their 
 labors before us — an acquaintance and correspondence with men 
 1 The Rise of the Current Reformation (Van Kirk) , p. 129. 
 
 —135— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 of reputation — a small degree of mental independence — a little 
 :ommon sense — and some veneration for the oracles of God. 
 We stand on the shoulders of giants, and, though of less stat- 
 ure, we can see as far as they; or, like the wren on the back 
 of the eagle, we have as large a horizon as the eagle which 
 has carried us above the clouds."^ 
 
 Again he says : 
 
 "In the department of notes critical and explanatory, we 
 have not, in any instance known to us, departed from the can- 
 ons of criticism. * * * If, in any point, we have given a 
 different result from some of them, we always wrought by their 
 own canons of criticism. We have neither made nor adopted 
 any by-laws, or rules of interpretation, unsanctioned and un- 
 approved by the constitution of the commonwealth of letters."' 
 
 Appeal to the ablest critical scholarship characterized 
 all his labors. He acquaints us with the sensible stand 
 which he took as a critic in these words : 
 
 ''We have learned one lesson of great importance in the 
 pursuit of truth; one that acts as a pioneer to prepare the way 
 of knowledge — one that cannot be adopted and acted upon but 
 the result must be salutary. It is this: Never to hold any sen- 
 timent or proposition as more certain than the evidence on 
 which it rests ; or, in other words, that our assent to any prop- 
 osition should be precisely proportioned to the evidence on 
 which it rests. All beyond this we esteem enthusiasm — all short 
 of it, incredulity." (He then quotes Dr. George Campbell as 
 perfectly expressing the sentiments of himself.) "If to make 
 proselytes by the sword is tyranny in rulers, to resign our 
 understanding to any man, and receive implicitly what wc ought 
 to be rationally convinced of, would be, on our part, the lowest 
 servility. Everj-thing, therefore, here is subjected to the test 
 
 1 Uv. Ora., p. 71. 2 Ibid., p. 7». 
 
 —136— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 of scripture and sound criticism. I am not very confident of 
 my own reasonings. I am sensible that, on many points, I have 
 changed my opinion, and found reason to correct what I had 
 judged formerly to be right. The consciousness of former mis- 
 takes proves a guard to preserve me from such a presumptuous 
 confidence in my present judgment, as would preclude my giv- 
 ing a patient hearing to whatever may be urged, from reason 
 or scripture, in opposition to it. Truth has been in all my 
 inquiries, and still is my great aim. To her I am ready to 
 sacrifice every personal consideration; but am determined not, 
 knowingly, to sacrifice her to anything."^ 
 
 It is with a feeling of genuine pride that the disciples 
 of Christ can say that the fathers of their movement were 
 not given to the emotion of the hour, or to extremes of 
 any sort, but always sought to arrive at their positions 
 rationally and reverently making appeal to the ablest and 
 sanest critical scholarship of their time. 
 
 Since Mr. Campbell was a critic, because so much mis- 
 understanding arose over his apparent destructive criti- 
 cisms upon the Bible, and in view of the fact that even 
 to-day not a few grow alarmed at the word critic, it seems 
 necessary to ask: What is Biblical Criticism f 
 
 Professor Marvin R. Vincent,^ in "That Monster, the 
 Higher Critic," illustrates the attitude of the unenlight- 
 ened and uninitiated toward Biblical criticism by the 
 "story of a wag who laid a wager that he would break 
 up a country menagerie and circus. Accordingly, when 
 the rustic crowd had duly inspected the elephant and the 
 
 1 C. B., p. 3. 2 The Front l,ine of the Sunda}' School Movement (Peloubet), 
 p. 200. 
 
 —137— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 hyenas, and were seated round the arena eagerly await- 
 ing the entrance of the clown and the bareback rider, 
 he rushed into the ring, waving his hat, and shouting: 
 Xadies and gentlemen, save yourselves. The Gyascutiis 
 has broke loose!' 
 
 "Dire was the panic that followed; numerous the 
 bruises and scratches ; appalling the damage to bonnets 
 and draperies ; but the tent was emptied at last, and the 
 farmers and their wives and daughters were jogging 
 homeward and congratulating each other on their escape, 
 when it occurred to some of them to ask, "What is a 
 g}-ascutus, anyway?" (A gyascutus is either a beetle 
 about an inch long, or an imaginary animal.) 
 
 "Upon the settled faith and tranquil content of a large 
 body of Christians breaks the cry, 'the higher criticism 
 has broken loose!' 
 
 "Meanwhile few stop to ask, 'What is higher criticism, 
 anyway?' The majority run; that is, they evade the 
 question with some such irrelevant platitude as 'The Old 
 Bible is good enough for me/ " 
 
 One might with equal propriety in the face of the 
 modern express raise the cry, "The old stage coach is 
 good enough for me. Likewise of all the modern inven- 
 tions which have come to further perfect life. It is but 
 the savage cry that would stay with the old and customary 
 rather than enter into a more perfect civilization. The 
 raisers of such cries always prate about the new coming 
 to take away their religion; whereas only the false con- 
 ceptions about their religion are being destroyed. 
 —138— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 "A worn-out Dogma died; around its bed 
 Its votaries wept as if all Truth were dead; 
 But heaven-born Truth is an immortal thing." 
 
 Such people find their prototype in those "Jerusalem 
 Wailers," who congregate at the city wall and frantically 
 beat the air, weeping and wailing for the lost glory of 
 their people. With their faces toward the departed past 
 and their hearts in it, they lose all the significance of the 
 present as well as defeat all future glory. 
 
 It is simply the old cry that ever comes upon the en- 
 trance of new light or discovery. It is Cremonini avow- 
 ing that he would never look through the telescope again 
 because it refuted Aristotle. It is Luther and Melanc- 
 thon crying out against the Copernican theory of the 
 mobility of the earth. With all their progressiveness in 
 things religious and moral they were still so unscientific 
 as to lose sight of the true world order upon which their 
 findings might stand secure. 
 
 Hear Luther upon astronomy : "People gave ear to an 
 upstart astrologer who strove to show that the earth re- 
 volved, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the 
 moon. This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of 
 astronomy, but sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua com- 
 manded the sun to stand still and not the earth."^ 
 
 Melancthon, who was even more scholarly than Luther, 
 said: "The eyes are the witnesses that the heavens re- 
 volve in the space of twenty-four hours. But certain 
 men, either from the love of novelty or to make a dis- 
 
 1 The Finality of the Christian Religion (Foster) , p= 162. 
 
 —139— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 play of ingenuity, have concluded that the earth moves; 
 and they maintain that neither the eighth sphere nor the 
 sun revolves. Now it is want of honesty and decency 
 to assert such notions publicly, and the example is per- 
 nicious. It is the part of a good mind to accept the truth 
 as revealed by God and to acquiesce in it. The earth 
 can be nowhere except in the center of the universe."^ 
 
 These reformers understood religion, but were un- 
 versed in science. One old gentleman said, within the 
 past year, that he knew the world was not round because 
 if so the township sections would not come out even. 
 Another said it was flat because the Bible spoke of the 
 four corners of the earth. Mr. Campbell speaks of *'The 
 old woman who would not believe in the revolutions of 
 our planet because she never yet saw her garden turn 
 around to the front of her house. 
 
 Nevertheless, the Copernican theory has become estab- 
 lished in the world's system of thinking; likewise geol- 
 ogy, evolution, and historical criticism. While we still 
 have the Bible, and a better Bible, upon a firmer basis for 
 intelligent thought than at any previous time. Higher 
 criticism (so called) has come in an opportune time not 
 to destroy the Bible, but to correct our false views and 
 notions about the Bible, that we may adjust its contents 
 to our knowledge of the universe, and learn to appreciate 
 more truly God's self-revelation. **The Bible is what the 
 Bible means, and not what inaccurate translations and 
 interpretations make it seem to mean. The Bible is what 
 
 1 The Finality of the Christian Religion, p. 163. 2 Evidences, p. 203. 
 —140— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 the Bible really is, and not what men pledged to a pre- 
 conception have tried to force it to be."^ 
 
 In the spirit of Mr. Campbell, who feared not that 
 truth would be lost in investigation, in imitation of him 
 we would consult the ablest scholars and know what crit- 
 icism is before we seek to condemn it. 
 
 Mathew Arnold gives this brief clear-cut general defini- 
 tion of criticism: "A disinterested endeavor to learn 
 and propagate the best that is known and thought in the 
 world."' 
 
 President King says : "Positively higher criticism may 
 be defined as a careful historical and literary study of a 
 book to determine its unity, age, authorship, literary 
 form, and reliability."^ 
 
 Again he says: "The only wise policy for the Chris- 
 tian church is the frankest and fullest facing of the facts, 
 without timidity and without prejudice. The great 
 body of the church are able to shut their eyes to these 
 difficulties, simply because they have always read their 
 Bibles so in bits that they really do not know the phe- 
 nomena which it contains. For the real student of the 
 Bible, criticism is a help, not a hindrance to his faith. 
 
 In an extended definition President Harper wrote : "Do 
 you ask what criticism is in its technical sense ? I answer 
 in a single word, 'inquiry'. The whole business of the 
 critic is to make inquiry. The literary critic inquires as 
 to the authorship, the authenticity, the style and the 
 
 1 The English Reformation and Puritanism (Hulbert), p. 444. ^ Essays in 
 Criticism, p. 29. 3 Reconstructions in Theology (King), p. 112. 4 Ibid., 
 p. 14f. 
 
 —141-^ 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 character of a particular writing. The historical critic 
 makes inquiry as to the date and details of an historical 
 event, and its relations to other events which occurred 
 before and after. It is difficult, however, to separate 
 literary and historical criticism. History and literature 
 have always been and are inseparable. Shall we then 
 find a single word to describe the process of inquiry 
 which includes both the literary and the historical ? It is 
 the word 'higher' as distinguished from 'lower,' the latter 
 being a word applicable to inquiry v/hich relates only 
 to the text.'" 
 
 Dr. Strong in his "New Era" wisely puts the situation 
 as follows: "The application of the scientific method to 
 history has dissipated into myth or legend much that 
 our fathers held as substantial reality. Furthermore, it 
 has been a mischievous mistake on the part of many 
 Christians to build their faith not solely on Christ, the 
 Rock of Ages, but partly and largely on the shifting 
 sands of human theories; and as the progress of knowl- 
 edge has destroyed these human foundation the faith of 
 many has perished wath them. Not a few are saying 
 to-day that if they are compelled to surrender their belief 
 in the inerrancy of Scripture, their faith in Christianity 
 will have to go with it. That would be a sacrifice as 
 gratuitous as sad. Nothing can shake my confidence in 
 Christianity which does not shake my confidence in the 
 genuineness of the life and character of Christ, for he is 
 the only true foundation of the Christian faith. It has 
 
 1 Higher Criticism (Garrison), p. 3. 
 
 —142— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 been said that Romanism is the religion of a church, and 
 that Protestatism is the rehgion of a book. Both church 
 and Bible are necessary, but all true Christianity, whether 
 Protestant or Roman Catholic, is the religion of a person, 
 centered in Christ, and drawing its life and power from 
 Him."^ 
 
 Dr. Frederic W. Farrar, of Trinity College, Cam- 
 bridge, makes some important and weighty remarks in 
 his History of Interpretation : "Something more is need- 
 ful than that we learn to despise the wrangling pettiness 
 of party spirit, the spurious and dishonest criticism of 
 party, journalism, and the idle reiteration of party shib- 
 boleths. We shall never rightly understand the Holy 
 Scriptures unless we keep alive among us the Spirit of 
 Freedom and the Spirit of Progress. It is necessary 
 that we read the handwriting of God written upon the 
 palace walls of all tyrannies, whether sacred or secular. 
 It is necessary to learn that 'there is nothing so danger- 
 ous, because there is nothing so revolutionary and con- 
 vulsive, as the strain to keep things fixed, when all the 
 world is by the very law of its creation in eternal prog- 
 ress.' It is necessary that we should read in God's book 
 of history that 'the cause of all the evil in the world may 
 be traced to that deadly error of human indolence and 
 corruption, that it is our duty to preserve, and not to 
 improve.' It is above all essential that we should see 
 the hand of God in current events, and understand the 
 thoughts which He is expressing by the movements in 
 
 1 Higher Criticism, p. 29f. 
 
 —143— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 the midst of which we Hve. Since the davs of the Fathers 
 arid the schoolmen every sphere of knowledge has been 
 almost immeasurably dilated, and many conceptions re- 
 garded as irrefragable have been utterly revolutionized. 
 Again and again have God's other revelations flashed 
 upon the sacred page a light which has convicted its most 
 positive interpreters of fundamental errors. Amid this 
 outburst of new and varied knowledge which has en- 
 larged in so many directions our comprehension of God's 
 dealing with our race, it would be disheartening, indeed, 
 and it would be a contradiction to the whole course of 
 history, if we had made no advance in our knowledge of 
 interpreting Scripture. It would have been shameful if 
 we had remained content with the exegesis of the Rabbis, 
 who were children of an imperfect and abrogated dispen- 
 sation, or the Fathers who 'lived among the fallen leaves 
 of the old world,' or the schoolmen in the ages of an 
 all but universal ignorance. It was inevitable, nay, it 
 was most necessary, nay, more, the sacredness of truth — 
 v^'hich 'is as impossible to be soiled by any outward touch 
 as the sunbeam' — made it imperative that new principles 
 of inquiry and modern methods of criticism should be 
 extended to those records of revelation in which it was 
 certain that nothing could suffer which was intrinsically 
 truthful or divine. The real question to ask about any 
 form of rehgious belief is: Does it kindle the fire of 
 love? Does it make the life stronger, sweeter, purer, 
 nobler? Does it run through the whole society like a 
 cleansing flame, burning up that which is mean and base 
 
 —144— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 and selfish and impure? If it stands that test it is no 
 heresy. Where the spirit of God is there is hberty. All 
 these questions have been under discussion for many 
 years; yet to multitudes of those who on these ques- 
 tions have come to decisions which are in opposition to 
 current opinions, the Bible is still the divinest of all books 
 and the Lord Jesus Christ is still the Son of God, the 
 Savior of the World." 
 
 Willard Chamberlain Selleck, D. D., gives an ex- 
 cellent treatment of the work of criticism. He calls at- 
 tention to the fact that the word criticism denotes to 
 pass judgment upon or to determine. It conveys the 
 idea, not of fault finding, but of fairly and justly esti- 
 mating both merits and defects. It is merely the science 
 and art of understanding the Scriptures. He notes the 
 fact that the New Testament appears in 3,829 manu- 
 scripts. The "variants" amount to more than 150,000. 
 These arose in various ways. Some from slip of pen in 
 copying ; some by mixing with marginal notes ; some by 
 dimming of words, etc. Now the 'Xower Criticism" 
 concerns itself in determining what the Biblical writers 
 really wrote. It consists of discovering, examining, and 
 appraising the various manuscripts, and results in a cor- 
 rected text. The "Higher Criticism" confines itself to 
 the inner substance of Scripture, dealing with the literary 
 features; judging character, origin, and the relation of 
 the books. It studies style, structure and thought. It 
 seeks to determine author and date. It aims to under- 
 
 1 The New Appreciation of the Bible, p. 70f. 
 (10) —145— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 stand time and circumstances. Says Mr. Selleck: "The 
 special reason why such a work is necessary lies in the 
 fact that the Scriptures, like other literary remains of 
 antiquity, were produced in an uncritical age, that is to 
 say, an unscientific age. Our age is not satisfied with 
 tradition, but wants verification ; in other words, it wants 
 knozi'ledge wherever possible, or adequate reasons for its 
 faith."^ 
 
 That distinguished scholar. Prof. W. Robertson Smith, 
 writes : *'The critical study of ancient documents means 
 nothing else than a careful sifting of their origin and 
 meaning in the light of history/'^ 
 
 Prof. George T. Ladd says : "By the Higher Criticism 
 is meant that study which tries to reproduce the influ- 
 ences and circumstances out of which the Biblical books 
 arose, and thus exhibit them as true children of their 
 own time.'" 
 
 Prof. B. A. Hinsdale upon the historical method utters 
 this significant remark:* "It has modified theories 
 of the origin of the Scriptures. It points out the un- 
 mistakable human elements in those books. It shades 
 down the difference between the Sacred literature and 
 other literatures. It points out parallelisms of theme, 
 style and subject-matter between the Hebrew and Greek 
 Scriptures and other writings. It makes Christianity a 
 part of the history of the world, and not something 
 wholly foreign and extra-human. Some Christians fear 
 
 1 The New Appreciation of the Bible, p. 87. 2 Ibid., 86, 3 ibid. 
 4 Ch. Quar. July, 1896, p. 269 
 —146— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 historical and critical inquiries will abolish the Divine 
 Word altogether. But others, with better reason, believe 
 that the change is from a narrow basis to a broad one." 
 
 In view of what criticism is upon these statements 
 from the best authorities, and in face of 'Mr. Campbell's 
 own utterance and labors, one can readily see that he is 
 both a 'Lower Critic and a Higher Critic.' Mr. Camp- 
 bell gives us his estimation of criticism in the words 
 of the critic, Du Pin, whom he so extensively uses in his 
 debate on the Roman Catholic religion. He says : 
 
 "Criticism is a kind of torch, that lights and conducts us, 
 in the obscure tracts of antiquity, by making us able to dis- 
 tinguish truth from falsehood, history from fable and antiquity 
 from novelty. 'Tis by this means that in our times we have 
 disengaged ourselves from an infinite number of very com- 
 mon errors into which the fathers fell for want of examining 
 things by the rules of true criticism. For 'tis a surprising thing 
 to consider how many spurious books we find in antiquity; nay, 
 even in the first ages of the church.'"- 
 
 Wit-i these ideas in mind we shall be better able to 
 appreciate I\Ir. Campbell's true place in Biblical Criticism. 
 Higher criticism, then, is not what some have ingeniously 
 surmised it to be, a Bible in the place of the Bible. It is 
 simply a method, a scientific way of historical investiga- 
 tion. It is going to the Bible in a proper scientific way 
 in contradistinction to going to it wdth no method — the 
 popular haphazard way. i\Ir. Campbell falls into line 
 with this scientific method of investigation and becomes 
 
 1 D.on R. C. R., p. 118. 
 
 —147— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 one of the most opposed American critics. We are now 
 prepared to follow him understandingly in his labors — 
 watch the critic as he works. How will he put into effect 
 liis progressive principles ? What will he propose as nec- 
 essary to give us a restored Bible? If we are apt in 
 learning we shall find that he practically gives us a new 
 Bible. Or, more properly, the old essential Bible, lifeless 
 under its weight of tradition, comes to life in a new 
 form. 
 
 —148— 
 
CHAPTER m. 
 New Versions, 
 
Slavery is that which cramps powers. The worst slavery is 
 that which cramps the noblest powers. Worse, therefore, than 
 he who manacles the hands and feet is he who puts fetters 
 on the mind, and pretends to demand that men shall think, 
 and believe, and feel thus and thus, because others so believed, 
 and thought, and felt before. 
 
 In Judea life had become a set of forms, and religion a 
 congeries of traditions. One living word from the lips of Christ, 
 and the mind of the world was free. 
 
 Later, a mountain mass of superstition has gathered round 
 the Church, atom by atom, and grain by grain. Men said that 
 the soul was saved only by doing and believing what the priest- 
 hood taught. Then the heroes of the Reformation spoke. 
 Once more the mind of the world was made free, and made 
 free by truth. 
 
 There is a tendency in the masses always to think — not what 
 is true, but — what is respectable, correct, orthodox : We ask, 
 is that authorized? It comes partly from the uncertainty and 
 darkness of all moral truths, and the dread of timid minds to 
 plunge into the investigation of them. Now, truth known and 
 believed respecting God and man frees from this, by warning 
 of individual responsibility. But responsibility is personal. It 
 cannot be delegated to another, and thrown off upon the church. 
 Before God, face to face, each soul must stand to give account. 
 — Frederick W. Robertson (Sermons, p. 213). 
 
 —150— 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 NEW VERSIONS. 
 
 When one considers Mr. Campbell as a preacher in 
 his relation to the common people he sees in him the pos- 
 itive rough-and-ready Luther taking things as they are 
 and making the best of them, earnestly pleading for the 
 Bible and the Bible alone, and vehemently calling all to 
 its sacred pages. In fact, Mr. Campbell says : 
 
 "We are truly thankful that there is no version so wholly 
 defective that an honest reader, learned or unlearned, may not 
 understand the great scheme of salvation, and believe and obey 
 it to the salvation of his soul."^ 
 
 But when we turn to him as a critic it seems that we 
 have stepped out of the Reformation and gone back 
 into the Renaissance. Here we find in him the temper of 
 the scholar and are reminded of Erasmus and his friend 
 Colet, who delivered their message more in the terms of 
 the school than in the language of the church. 
 
 When Luther came to the Bible he was too partial to 
 the old Catholic view. Says Prof. Swing : "But Luther 
 takes it for granted that the 'Holy Scriptures' and 
 Word of God are interchangeable.' And this view was 
 never attacked in this period — yet the interchangeable- 
 
 1 Add., p. 582. 
 
 ^151-^ 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 ness of the 'Word of God' and 'Holy Scripture' is a 
 remnant of the old Catholic views which are not in ac- 
 cord with Luther's fundamental ideas. 
 
 Says Dean Hulbert : ''Erasmus was pre-eminently a 
 man of letters, and not a reformer ; nevertheless, in spite 
 of himself, by his literary labors, he did more than any 
 living man to prepare the way for the Protestant Revo- 
 lution. Erasmus got into his head that to the learned 
 world ought to be given the Greek New Testament in 
 the book form. I think the spirit of God lodged that 
 thought in his mind. Certain it was no vain ambition 
 of the mere scholar. These are his words : *If the ship 
 of the church is to be saved from being swallowed up 
 by the tempest, there is only one anchor that can save it. 
 It is the heavenly word, which, issuing from the bosom 
 of the Father, lives, speaks and works still in the gospel. 
 It is not from human reservoirs, fetid with stagnant 
 waters, that we should draw the doctrine of salvation; 
 but from the pure and abundant streams that flow from 
 the heart of God. A spiritual temple must be raised 
 in desolated Christendom. The mighty of the world will 
 contribute toward it in their marble, their ivory, and 
 their gold; I, who am poor and humble, offer the foun- 
 dation stone.' This foundation stone was "to re- 
 store the pure text of the Word of God." This Erasmus 
 accomplished. *'Then," says Dean Hulbert, *'the oppo- 
 sition began. The priests declared : *If this book be 
 
 1 Out. of the Doct. Devl't of the West. Ch. (Based on the Dogmengeschicte 
 of Friedrich lyoofs— By Albert T. Swing), p. 66. 
 
 2 The English Reformation and Puritanism (Hulbert), p. 72f, 
 
 —152— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 tolerated it will be the death of the papacy/ They fully 
 understood that a Greek Testament to-day meant an Eng- 
 lish Testament to-morrow; for Erasmus himself had 
 said : 'Perhaps it may be necessary to conceal the secrets 
 of Kings, but we must publish the mysteries of Christ. 
 The Holy Scriptures, translated into all languages, should 
 be read not only by the Scotch and Irish, but even by 
 Turks and Saracens. The husbandman should sing them 
 as he holds the handle of his plow, the weaver repeat 
 them as he plies his shuttle, and the wearied traveler, 
 halting on his journey, refresh him under some shady 
 tree by these godly narratives.' The monks and bishops 
 scented the danger from afar, and they raised a howl. 
 This book must go or our race is run. Let the book live 
 and we must die 
 
 This is the atmosphere that surrounds Mr. Campbell 
 as he demands a restoration of the pure Word of God. 
 He recognizes the mighty influence of the Renaissance as 
 the cause of the Reformation in its effort for a better 
 Bible when he says: 
 
 "A remarkable revival of literature preceded the Protestant 
 Reformation. That revival is now regarded by every philosophic 
 historian and student — indeed, by every reader who thinks pro- 
 foundly upon principles and their tendencies, who weighs the 
 remote and proximate causes of things, or who fathoms their 
 legitimate tendencies — I say the revival of literature in Italy 
 and western Europe, which occurred in the fourteenth century, 
 is now regarded by every informed mind a« the harbinger, or 
 
 1 The English Reformation and Puritanism (Hulbert) , p. 74. 
 
 —153— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 cause, of the Protestant Reformation; and that reformation may 
 be regarded as the pioneer and patron of Bible-translations."^ 
 
 He took an urgent and positive position in behalf of 
 new Bible translations. 
 
 This responsibility was so considerable that its neglect 
 would be sin. He says : 
 
 "We must affirm the conviction that we are, as Christian 
 churches, bound, by the highest and holiest motives and obliga- 
 tions, to use our best endeavors to have the original Scriptures 
 exactly and faithfully, in every particular, to the best of our 
 knowledge and belief, translated at home and abroad, into the 
 vernacular, be it what it may, in which we desire to present 
 them to our fellow-men. Anything short of this is a sinful and 
 most condemnable negligence or indifference.'' ^ 
 
 This became with him a life-long effort in which he 
 met great opposition. Opposition arose because of the 
 different vieirpoints from n'hich he and his opponents 
 regarded the Bible. The latter regarded the Bible ex- 
 clusively divine. To them it was all Word of God. It 
 was perfect, errorless in every particular, and therefore 
 authoritative. Hence they would keep it as it is, suffer- 
 ing no change. It is a sacred deposit coming from God 
 as it were right down from heaven. Thus they clasped 
 it with a fearful reverence. As one man said, *'We must 
 read it in the good old English, the very language that 
 Jesus Christ and his apostles used." One reverent old 
 sister took the large family Bible out from under the 
 child at the table, and having nothing else near by that 
 could be put in the chair to raise the child up, allowed him 
 
 1 Add., p. 578. 2 Add., p. 613. 
 
 —154— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 to eat his meal reaching up the best he could. Not that 
 she feared the child would mar the book, but to sit on 
 God's Word was irreverent and simply awful. 
 
 This is a relic of Catholicism, or, rather, Judaism 
 conserved in Catholicism. The individual is lost sight 
 of in the institution. The letter is exalted above the 
 spirit. Attention riveted upon the channel of communica- 
 tion fails to hear the true voice of God. 
 
 Mr. Campbell, on the contrary, looked upon the Bible 
 as having a human side as well as a divine. To him 
 its perfection lay not in its verbal inerrancy and infalli- 
 bility, but in the glory of its religious character. To him 
 the Bible was not a book of laws to be literally and 
 slavishly followed, but rather a book of facts and princi- 
 ples to be understood and developed. It was a human 
 book coming out of the circumstances of the times, and 
 written by human beings. This human recognition of 
 the Bible enabled him when regarding the letters of the 
 New Testament, to say: 
 
 "These documents growing out of the actual conditions and 
 peculiarities of these communities were written for our instruc- 
 tion and direction in all the contingencies to which the churches 
 of the Lord Jesus may be subjected in all varieties of condition 
 and circumstances through which they must pass in this present 
 evil world. The things that happened to them were written for 
 our edification."^ 
 
 Again he says : 
 
 "There were, indeed, but a few facts, however diversified in 
 1 Mill. Har., 1858, p. 62. 
 
 —155— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 style and manner of exhibition, continually pressed upon the 
 attention and cordial reception of those to whom the glad tid- 
 ings were announced. These were propounded not in identical 
 terms and phrases, not in stereotyped formulas of speech, but in 
 all the varieties of terms and phrases best adopted to the diver- 
 sified education and training, to the peculiar modes of thinking 
 and speaking, of the persons addressed. Still the materials that 
 constitute the gospel, with their evidence and claims upon the 
 understanding, the conscience and the affections, were fully pre- 
 sented in such forms and imagery as were most appreciated by 
 the parties addressed.""^ 
 
 By way of illustration, it will be remembered how ]\Ir. 
 Campbell gave emphasis to the human side of conver- 
 sion. He held that in the soul's union with God there 
 was a human coming as well as a divine drawing. So 
 emphatically did he affirm this human side of salvation 
 that manv of his contemporaries misunderstood him and 
 most wilfully accused him of not believing in regenera- 
 lion, the divine side. He was only calling attention to 
 the much neglected fact of man's freedom, that man is 
 active, not passive in coming to God. The fact is that 
 there are two sides to the great fact of union with God, 
 the Divine drawing and the human coming. But to recog- 
 nize the human coming does not destroy the divine grace. 
 Xor does the recognition of the divine grace destroy the 
 human activity. 
 
 Xow it is the same in reference to the Bible There is 
 a human element as well as a divine. \V. Robertson 
 
 1 Add., p. 535f. 
 
 —156— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Smith bears Mr. Campbell out in his recognition of the 
 human element in the Bible. Efe says : "We hear many 
 speak of the human side of the Bible as if there was 
 something dangerous about it, as if it ought to be kept 
 out of sight lest it tempt us to forget that the Bible is 
 the Word of God. And there is a widespread feeling 
 that, though the Bible no doubt has a human side, a safe 
 and edifying exegesis must confine itself to the divine 
 side. This point of view is a survival of the mediaeval 
 exegesis which buried the true sense of Scripture. 
 The first condition of a sound understanding of Scrip- 
 ture is to give full recognition to the human side. Nay, 
 the whole business of scholarly exegesis lies with this 
 human side."^ 
 
 Bishop Ryle also finds this recognition most benefi- 
 cial : "The position of the Bible in the Church of Christ 
 is strengthened by every honest endeavor to set forth 
 the human elements in its growth and history. The more 
 closely we discern the human structure, the more readily 
 shall we recognize the presence and power of the Divine 
 Spirit, through whom alone it is that the Bible is the 
 Word of God to us."' 
 
 This recognition of the human element in the Bible 
 made Mr. Campbell fearless in his demand for new ver- 
 sions. It freed him from, that false reverence which so 
 prizes the letter that it loses the spirit. The words and 
 language for him were but the medium through which 
 
 1 The Old Testament in the Jewish Church (Smith), p. 12f. 
 
 2 The Canon of the Old Testament (Ryle) , p. 14. 
 
 —157— 
 
Alexander Caiiiphcll and Christian Liberty. 
 
 one might have access to the reahty of the Divine Ufe. 
 
 This medium changed from age to age as enhghten- 
 ment and progress demanded. In all his contentions he 
 was well aware of the effect upon his sophisticated con- 
 temporaries. He says: 
 
 "Words and names long consecrated and sanctified by long 
 prescription have a very imposing influence upon the human 
 understanding."^ 
 
 "Our zeal burns brightest when contending for orthodox 
 tenets, and a sort of technical language rendered sacred, and 
 of imposing influence by long prescription.'"" 
 
 It is both interesting and instructive to see how he 
 was obliged to reason zi'itJi the timid non-progressive 
 minds in his efforts for a new^ translation. Besides, it 
 throws a vast light on conditions to-day. He makes this 
 significant remark : 
 
 "Some are so wedded to the common version, that the very 
 defects in it have become sacred; and an effort, however well 
 intended, to put them in possession of one incomparably supe- 
 rior in propriety, perspicuity, and elegance, is viewed very 
 much in the light of making 'a new Bible," or of 'altering and 
 amending the very word of God.' Nay, some are prepared to 
 doom every attempt of the kind to the anathema in the conclu- 
 sion of the Apocalypse upon those who add to the word of 
 God, or subtract from it."^ 
 
 But i\Ir. Campbell continues to reason with them in 
 the words of Dr. Campbell, whom he says expresses his 
 own ideas, and much more happily : 
 
 lC.B.,p.l59. 2 Ibid., p. 7. 3 U v. Or., p. 12. 
 
 —158— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 "Many timid, yet well disposed, persons have been appre- 
 hensive, that a new translation of the Holy Scriptures might 
 tend to diminish the veneration of mankind for those sacred 
 oracles, and thereby unsettle their faith in the Christian doc- 
 trine. * * * Need I, in so late and enlightened an age, sub- 
 join an apology for the design itself of giving a new transla- 
 tion of any part of Scripture? Yet there are some knowing 
 and ingenious men, who seem to be alarmed at the mention of 
 translation, as if such an attempt would sap the very foundation 
 of the Christian edifice, and put the faith of the people in the 
 most imminent danger of being buried in its ruins. This is 
 no new apprehension."^ 
 
 He then notes the apprehension felt over Jerome's 
 version, but, says he : 
 
 "The version was made and published; and those 'hideous 
 bugbears' of fatal consequences, which had been so much des- 
 canted on, were no more heard of."^ 
 
 We are reminded that each age has its "hideous bug- 
 bears." But, somehow, in God's good providence the 
 next age generally forgets them and the world moves on. 
 He then continues to note the alarm felt over the many 
 versions which followed the Reformation. He finds that 
 men's fears were not justified by the effect which these 
 versions produced. For, says he: 
 
 "Nothing will be found to have conduced more to subvert 
 the dominion of the metaphysical theolog>- of the schoolmen, 
 with all its interminable questions, cobweb distinctions, and 
 war of words, than the critical study of the sacred scriptures, 
 to which the modern translations have not a little contributed."^ 
 
 Then he pays attention to the objection raised against 
 
 1 Uv. Dr., p. 13. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 
 
 —159— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 the critical work of new translations that they tend to 
 unsettle men in their principles especially as to the Bible's 
 sacred authority. But he finds it to act the reverse, for, 
 
 "They rather confirm men's faith in scripture, as they show 
 in the strongest light that all the various ways which men 
 of discordant sentiments have devised of rendering its words, 
 have made no material alteration, either on the narrative 
 itself or on the divine instructions contained in it."^ 
 
 Those who demand one text only may find their grat- 
 ification in the Koran, which has the peculiar merit over 
 the Bible of having one stereotyped text inspired and 
 fixed for all time ! No wonder Carlyle said, upon a dip 
 into its rich contents: "A wearisome, confused jumble, 
 crude, incondite; endless iterations; long-windedness, 
 entanglement; most crude incondite; unsupportable stu- 
 pidity, in short ! Nothing but a sense of duty could carry 
 any European through the Koran.'"^ 
 
 Mr. Campbell found these objections were raised sim- 
 ply because men were trusting in the merits of the Bible 
 form of language rather than in the personal content. 
 The voice of God was speaking in the prophets, and 
 especially in God's Son. So he concludes his remarks 
 \o the "feeble-minded" in these words: 
 
 "We oppose them most who most oppose and depart from 
 the simplicity of Christ."^ 
 
 He saw that these new translations were only the lan- 
 guage expression of the essential content of truth which 
 God would speak to His people. This reality would stand 
 
 1 Liv. Or., p. 14. 2 Religions of the World (Grant), 32. 3 ibid., p. 15. 
 —160— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 a better chance of being arrived at through several trans- 
 lations than one, and especially since that one was very 
 imperfect. So he says: 
 
 "The weak-minded only are afraid of new translatiotxS, 
 or, at most, those who have not touched upon the subject. I 
 think the illiterate have stronger faith who read many trans- 
 lations than the same class have who read but one. * * * 
 Improved translations do not introduce any new articles of 
 belief; but they have their value and importance from the 
 plainness, force, beauty, and simplicity in which they present 
 the testimony of God to the reader."^ 
 
 He is not blind to the effect of such translations upon 
 the world of literature. Nor is he one v^ho would allow 
 the "Book of Books" to become antiquated or not keep 
 pace with a growing literature. He would not have re- 
 ligion in its conception and expression fall behind litera- 
 ture, science, or the arts. He says : 
 
 "On comparing the literature and science of the current age 
 with those of former times, we readily discover how much 
 more we owe to a more rigid analysis and a more scrupulous 
 adoption of the technical terms and phrases of the old schools, 
 to which the whole world at one time looked up as the only 
 fountains of wisdom and learning. When submitted to the test 
 of a more enlightened criticism, many of their most popular 
 and somewhat cabalistic terms and phrases have been demon- 
 strated to be words without just or appropriate ideas, and have 
 been 'nailed to the counter' as spurious coin ; others, however, 
 like pure metal in antique forms, have been sent to the mint, 
 recast and made to receive the impress of a more enlightened 
 and accomplished age. 
 
 1 c. B., p. 326. 
 
 (11) —161— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 *'The rapid progress and advancement of modern science is, 
 I presume, owing to a more rational and philosophical nomen- 
 clature and to the more general use of the inductive system of 
 reasoning, rather than to any superior talent or more aspiring 
 genius possessed either by our contemporaries or our imme- 
 diate predecessors. 
 
 "Politics, morals and religion — the most deservedly engross- 
 ing themes of every age — are, in this respect, unfortunately 
 behind the other sciences and arts cultivated at the present day. 
 We are, however, pleased to see a growing conviction of the 
 necessity of a more opposite, perspicuous and philosophical ver- 
 bal apparatus in several departments of science, and especially 
 to witness some recent efforts to introduce a more improved 
 terminology in the sciences of government, morality and re- 
 ligion."^ 
 
 The new translations, with their new terms and phrases 
 agreeing with the new conception of things, would exert 
 a great influence in every realm. Ought the book of God 
 to be led by literature into the new style or ought it to 
 rise up as a leader? says Mr. Campbell, 
 
 "The sacred Scriptures are more generally read than any 
 other writings, and exert a greater influence on the diction and 
 style of the community and they ought, therefore, to be a model. 
 As the original was at least at par, if not something in advance, 
 of the age and population in which it appeared, a translation 
 of it ought, we think, always to be in the plainest and best 
 st>'le of the community for which it is intended. 
 
 "A good style is always a plain and intelligent style. What 
 IS sometimes called a learned is rather an unlearned style; 
 because true learning is the art of communicating, as well as 
 of receiving, instruction — and he that speaks or writes not to 
 edification is unlearned in the greatest of all arts, the art of 
 
 1 Add., p. 343f. 
 
 —162— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 imparting instruction. It has often been observed, that it re- 
 quires more real learning to make a plain and intelligible dis- 
 course, than to make one vulgarly called learned. Indeed, there 
 are not wanting some persons, in every community, who appre- 
 ciate a discourse because it transcends their comprehension, and 
 regard him as the greatest scholar who uses the most learned 
 and rare terms and phrases.''^ 
 
 This need for a new version became with him a grow- 
 ing conviction. With the new conception of things on 
 the one hand, and the antiquated expressions in the au- 
 thorized version, on the other hand, he was feeling what 
 President King notes:" "If the man of to-day, there- 
 fore, is really alive to the movements of his own time, it 
 is simply impossible that he should use most naturally 
 and easily the language of the older generations in ex- 
 pressing his deepest convictions on any theme." 
 
 One of his objections to the authorized version was 
 that it had outlived its usefulness. It was not in fashion, 
 Mr. Campbell was one who wanted even his truth rigged 
 out in the best possible style. Yet, after a half century 
 and more of such profound agitation and after the new 
 has come, we print the old King James version in our 
 Sunday School quarterlies, and the superintendent leads 
 the school in reading it (because the word "authorized'' 
 printed above it gives it sanction and sacredness) ; we 
 hug it reverently to our hearts in devotions; and in 
 some localities we demand of the minister his reading 
 from the pulpit out of the big Bible that lays on the 
 sacred desk! Mr. Campbell goes on in his objectiom, 
 
 1 Liv. Or., p. 75. 2 Reconstruction in Theology, p. 41. 
 
 —163— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 "Our whole phraseolog}- on religious topics is affected by 
 the antiquated style of the common version. Hence we have 
 been constrained to adopt a name for this style, to distinguish 
 it from the good style of persons well educated in our mother 
 tongue. This old-fashioned style we call the sacred style; yet 
 this sacred style was the common style in the reign of James."* 
 
 How grotesque this is appears in the fact which he 
 cites : 
 
 "The old Gothic buildings in North and South Britain aie 
 generally places of worship; hence, although this style of archi- 
 tecture was once as common in England and Scotland as any 
 of the present models, yet this style being preserved only, or 
 almost exclusively, in the places of worship which the venera- 
 tion of our ancestors preserved from dilapidation, has given a 
 sacred aspect to places of worship, and has rendered the Gothic 
 style of architecture as sacred as the obsolete style of King 
 Henry or King James. Had it not been for the veneration 
 shown to places of worship, not a specimen of the Gothic style 
 would at this day have stood upon the British Isles; and had 
 it not been the same species of veneration, we should not have 
 had at this time any book, sacred or profane, written or pub- 
 lished in the style of the sixteenth centu^^^ * * * They 
 (antiquated terms and phrases) have yielded their places to 
 another race in our writing and speeches, except in the pulpit 
 or s>Tiagogue — why not also in the sacred writings? We might 
 as reasonably contend that men should appear in the public 
 assemblies for worship with long beards, in Jewish or Roman 
 garments, as that the Scripture should be handed to us in a 
 st3-le perfectly antiquated, and consequently less intelligible. 
 * * * For is the Kingdom of God become words or sylla- 
 bles? Why should we be in bondage to them if we may be 
 free?"2 
 
 1 Reconstruction in Theolog^^, p. 76. 2 Liv. Or., p. 78f. 
 
 —164— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 Again he says: 
 
 "A living language is continually changing. Like the fash- 
 ions and customs in apparel, words and phrases at one time 
 current and fashionable, in the lapse of time become awkward 
 and obsolete. But this is not all. Many of them, in a century 
 or two, come to have a signification very different from that 
 which was once attached to them. Nay, some are known to 
 convey ideas not only different from, but contrary to their first 
 signification."^ 
 
 So Mr. Campbell is able to say of his own efforts in 
 translating that he had produced one "in a style so mod- 
 ernized, and yet so simple, exact, and faithful to the 
 original" that it commends itself to the intelligence of 
 the people. He fears opposition and lack of response only 
 from the "weak-minded," for says he, 
 
 "From persons of sound biblical learning and candor, we 
 have nothing to fear; but from all bigots and illiberal critics 
 we expect the same coarse treatment which has fallen to the 
 lot of every translation from Jerome's time till the present 
 day.'" 
 
 And were the translators of the Twentieth Century 
 New Testament to join Mr. Campbell in this sentiment 
 they would extend the date to 1904! And were one to 
 make a missionary tour among the churches he might 
 in many unmodernized communities put the date 1909 as 
 to all versions except the authorized ! 
 
 Mr. Campbell was not merely defending his own at- 
 tempt, for he says : 
 
 1 Liv. Or.,p. 3. 2 Ibid., 326. 
 
 —165— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 "I am always prepared to defend not only the New Version 
 which I have published, but the necessity of new versions for 
 the confirmation of the faith and the enlargement of the views 
 of Christians."^ 
 
 New translations are needed from time to time as the 
 progressive development and growing conceptions of the 
 age require. He therefore enlarges upon his reasons for 
 new versions. He says : 
 
 "The living tongues of earth, like living men, are continually 
 changing. Dictionaries, like historians, transmit the past to the 
 future. Hence both the necessity and the means of substitut- 
 ing correct words and phrases for those that have, from the 
 attrition and waste of time, lost their original value, become 
 uncurrent, and passed out of use. Even Shakespeare and his 
 contemporary poets, orators and authors now require glossaries, 
 or the substitution of modern terms for those which they have 
 used that are now become obsolete and unintelligible. The 
 common version of Scriptures was made and completed six 
 years before the death of the great English poet. It, there- 
 fore, has also acquired the rust of the Elizabethan age, al- 
 though occasionally since polished by hands we know not of."^ 
 
 This same recognition of change which Mr. Campbell 
 is emphasizing is the burden of that timely article on 
 ''The Apostolic Service" by Dr. Willett, where he says: 
 "Truth never changes, but its forms and appearances are 
 ever varying. Like Proteus, the old man of the sea, it 
 never appears twice in the same guise. Each generation 
 goes to school to new teachers, as if all the world were 
 in its morning-time.^ But Mr. Campbell continues : 
 
 1 C. B., p. 660. 2 Add., 677. 3 Christian Cent., Nov. 22, 1906. 
 —166— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 "Passages of Scripture will, translated into any one language 
 in one age, cease to be a correct and intelligible translation to 
 the people of another age. * * * The common version was 
 gotten up some two and a half centuries since, under prelat- 
 ical, hierarchical and royal patronage and restrictions. The ver- 
 nacular of that day, spoken and written, was, in orthography, 
 punctuation, and in much of its common wording, quite differ- 
 ent from that of the present day. The knowledge of the orig- 
 inal tongues then possessed was proportionally more than two 
 centuries behind that of the present day, and their general lit- 
 erature and science were still more deficient. * * * g^t 
 why argue this case further? The many marginal readings of 
 recondite terms in our numerous and various commentaries, 
 and in our family Bibles and Testaments, the labors of in- 
 numerable pulpit orators and lecturers, expended every Lord's 
 day in correcting and explaining the text in all the synagogues 
 in our land; alike demonstrate the need of a new version, and 
 our ability to furnish it, — first by selecting a well authenticated 
 original text, and then by giving an exact, perspicuous and 
 faithful translation of it, and that, too, in a pure, chaste and 
 elegant Anglo-Saxon style. That our age and contemporaries 
 are equal to this is quite as evident as that the Greek and 
 Roman classics have been and can again be so translated by 
 competent scholars."^ 
 
 It is well to be reminded that words and language 
 do not fall ready-made, like snow-flakes from the heavens 
 upon the heads of individuals. They are wrought out in 
 the experience of personal souls who feel, and then create 
 language to express to others what is felt. And since 
 this experience is growing experience — personal progres- 
 sive souls feeling, there is constant need of new language 
 
 1 Add., p. 613f. 
 
 —167— 
 
Alexander CamphcU and Christian Liberty. 
 
 or thought-forfns to convey the newly felt, because the 
 old thought-forms do not grow. The old conceptions 
 will not only cease to convey the fresh experience but 
 will burst, like the old wine skins filled with new wine, 
 under the pressure of the test and fall away from sheei 
 inability. While the soul expression with renewed beauty 
 and power stands forth dressed in new language. But 
 %t, too, must soon pass away, for the soul is ever becom- 
 ing. Therefore, language, which is but a fixed thought- 
 scheme for conveying thoughts and feelings, must ever 
 be changing to answer the demands of the growing soul 
 struggling for expression. This is why the old trans- 
 lations fail to satisfy. The new translation, with its 
 new conceptions, is inevitable, because God's self-revela- 
 tion is progressive. The completely personal God is 
 revealing himself to the partially personal creature who 
 is becoming like him. Hence the Bible is never a dead 
 letter, but always a living spirit. 
 
 So interpretation not only borders on, but enters into 
 translation. Therefore, Mr. Campbell can say: 
 
 "The great science of interpretation, strange to tell, like good 
 wine, improves from age to age. Not, indeed, the scriptural 
 gift of interpretation; but the literary and acquired gift of 
 exposition and elucidation is matured and perfected from better 
 means and better learning now possessed — the product and 
 growth of a revived and reviving literature."^ 
 
 He is thus enabled to establish his plea for new trans- 
 lations upon even better grounds than that of style, 
 
 1 Add., p. 577. 
 
 —168— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 structure and composition. The authorized version he 
 finds to be deeply penetrated with the interpretation of 
 biased translators. He says: 
 
 "They have come to us in a translation, and in an imper- 
 fect translation, by no means equal, in clearness and force, to 
 the original. * * * They read the originals through the 
 spectacles of their vernacular versions, and, superadded to this, 
 through a ready-made theology, imparted to them by early edu- 
 cation and high authority — parental or ministerial, or both. It 
 has become part and parcel of their individuality. Few can 
 divest themselves of it. It is harder, far, to unlearn than to 
 learn — to divest ourselves of old errors than to acquire new 
 truths. Still, it is our duty, as it is our safety and our honor, 
 to take the living oracles (Hebrew and Greek originals), and, 
 with an unveiled face, an unblenching eye and an honest heart, 
 to learn and study what God has spoken to us."^ 
 
 This is the same feeling that spurred on Erasmus in 
 his labors. No v^^onder some thought Mr. Campbell was 
 doing the work of a destructive critic. Just look at the 
 situation. The people had only one Bible. This was 
 the "old family Bible that lay on the stand." This they 
 implicitly believed to be the word of God from lid to lid. 
 And here in their midst was the daring critic, Alexander 
 Cambpell, telling them that this only cherished Bible 
 of theirs was not what they thought it to be. It is a 
 wonder that Mr. Campbell had not become strangely 
 silent for fear he might overthrow the faith of some. 
 But his interests were lined up with truth and he feared 
 not the outcome of truth. Those who turned a deaf ear 
 
 1 Add., p. 569. 
 
 —169— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 to what !Mr. Campbell was pointing out kept on in the 
 old, narrow orthodox way. Those who walked in the 
 wake of his new-shed light were termed Campbellites. 
 Campbell-lights, I imagine, because of the light shed 
 about them by Campbell! 
 
 But he does not stop with insinuations or mild attacks 
 upon their decayed orthodox ideas. He simply pours it 
 on. He says: 
 
 "The common version was made at a time when religious 
 controversy was at its zenith ; and that the tenets of the trans- 
 lators, whether designedly or undesignedly, did, on many occa- 
 sions, give a wrong turn to words and sentences bearing upon 
 their favorite dogma."^ 
 
 ]Moreover, 
 
 "King James' version is, at most, but a correction, not, in- 
 deed, always an amended correction, of the version of Wm. 
 Tindal.'" 
 
 And again, 
 
 "The King's translators have frequently erred in attempting 
 to be, what some would call, literally correct. They have not 
 given the meaning in some passages where they have given a 
 literal translation.'" 
 
 He sums up his objections in the critical findings of 
 Dr. Macknight. They are (1) often differing from the 
 Hebrew to follow the seventy, or German, translations; 
 (2) following the Vulgate Latin and adopting many of 
 the original words without translation — hence unintelli- 
 
 1 Liv. Or., p. 7. 2 Add . p. 584. 3 Uv. Or., p. 10. 
 
 —170— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 gible; (3) keeping too close to Hebrew and Greek idioms 
 — hence obscure ; (4) a little too complaisant to the king 
 — favoring his dogma; (5) partial, speaking the language 
 of, and giving authority to one sect ; (6) where the orig- 
 inal admits of different translations, the worse incor- 
 porated in the text and the better often thrown into the 
 margin; (7) many passages mistranslated. 
 
 "Besides this" [adds Mr. Campell], "the divisions of the 
 scriptures of the New Testament into chapters and verses by 
 Romanists of small learning, and less intelligence in the mean- 
 ing of the inspired writings, in imitation of the Jewish rabbin's 
 division of the Old Testament, has been long complained of 
 by all the judicious and intelligent scripturians of the last cen- 
 tury."^ 
 
 Mr. Campbell, under the theme, "The Word of God," 
 
 expresses himself so freely, considering his ag^, that not 
 to give it entire would ruin its exquisite sensibleness and 
 mar its classic beauty. He says : 
 
 "So badly taught are many Christians that they cannot think 
 that any translation of the scriptures deserves the title of the 
 Word of God except that of King James. The translators of 
 the King's version did not themselves think so, as we have 
 shown most conclusively by publishing their own preface — on 
 which preface we have some remarks to make, at a more con- 
 venient time. But to the intelligent reader no remarks are 
 necessary to show that they had very different ideas of their 
 version, from those which this generation have formed. Have 
 the French, the Spanish, the German, and all the nations of 
 Europe, save the English, no Word of God? If King James' 
 
 1 c. B., p. 161. 
 
 —171— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 version is the only Word of God on earth, then all the nations 
 who speak any other language than the English have no Rev- 
 elation. 
 
 "Much of the reasoning of both priests and people, on this 
 subject, is as silly as that of an old lady who, for many years, 
 has beea deprived of her reason, from whom we heard the 
 other day. She once had a sound judgment, and still has a 
 retentive memory, though she has not been compos mentis one 
 day in twenty years. Her husband was reading in the new 
 version the cure of the blind man (Mark viii :24). He came 
 to these words : *I see men whom I can distinguish from trees 
 only by their walking.' In the King's version, 1 see men as 
 trees, walking.' After reading these words he paused, and 
 observed to the old lady, to elicit a reply, 'How much better 
 this, than the old version.' 'That is a good explanation,' said 
 she, 'but it is not the scriptures, not the Word of God ' So 
 our good logicians reason. 
 
 "I would thank some of those ignorant declaimers to tell us 
 where the Word of God was before the reign of King James ! 
 Had they no divine book before this good King, in consequence 
 of the Hampton Conference, summoned his wise men? Yes; 
 they had version after version, each of which, in its turn, ceased 
 to be 'Word of God' when a new one was given. This I say 
 after the manner of these declaimers. Our good forefathers, 
 two hundred and fifty years ago, read and preached from a 
 different version, which they venerated in their day, as our 
 compeers venerate James' Bible. The English language has 
 changed, and the original tongues are better understood now 
 than then. The common version is, as many good and learned 
 men have said, quite obsolete in its language, and in many 
 places very defective in giving the ideas found in the original 
 scriptures. Taken as a whole, it has outlived its day at least 
 one century, and, like a superannuated man, has failed to be as 
 lucid and as communicative as in its prime. 
 
 —172— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 "There is no version in any language that does not clearly 
 communicate the same great facts, and make the path of bliss 
 a plain and easy found one; but there is an immense differ- 
 ence in the force, beauty, clearness, and intelligibility of the 
 different versions now in use. And that King James' version 
 needs a revision is just as plain to the learned and biblical 
 student as that the Scotch and English used in the sixteenth 
 century is not the language now spoken in these United States. 
 And this may be made as plain to the common mind as it is 
 that the coat which suited the boy of twelve will not suit the 
 same person when forty years old. As the boy grows from his 
 coat, so do we from the language of our ancestors."^ 
 
 Mr. Campbell received the following letter: 
 
 "Dear sir: 
 
 "One of our teachers in this county has refused to 
 have the new translation read in public meeting because 
 it is not the word of God, alleging that the common ver- 
 sion is received as the word of God, but that the new 
 translation is not considered such. Pray, whose word 
 shall we call it? Answer this, please, for some of us are 
 in doubt upon this subject. Yours truly, 
 
 "Candidus/' 
 
 In his reply, which we give in part, Mr. Campbell in- 
 dulges in the following irony : 
 
 "Your teacher was certainly right, and you should all pas- 
 sively submit to his determination. For the common version 
 is the Word of God, but the new translation is not. The rea- 
 son I will now tell you. The common version was made by 
 forty-nine persons authorized by a King, paid for their trouble 
 by the King, and when their work was published, the King 
 4 C. B., o. 540. 
 
 —173— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 ordered it to be read as the Word of God in public assemblies 
 and in families, to the exclusion of every other version. Now 
 all the versions that were read before this King's reign ceased 
 to be the Word of God when the King signed the decree ; and 
 from that moment the King's version became the word of God. 
 You will see, then, that there are two things necessary to con- 
 ititute any translation the Word of God: first, that it be 
 authorized by a King and his court; and, again, that it be fin- 
 ished by forty-nine persons. Every translation becomes the 
 word of God, according to the number of persons that make it. 
 Thus, if one hundred persons made a trar>slation it would be 
 doubly more the word of God than that made by the forty- 
 nine, and four times more than that made by twenty-five, and 
 +hirty-three times and one-third more than the new version, 
 provided it was so decreed by a King. For you must remember 
 that both are necessary, and that if a thousand men should 
 agree to make a version, it would not when made be the word 
 of God, because it wanted the royal approbation. You will 
 naturally conclude, from these plain facts, that if one man or 
 three men should most exactly and perfectly translate the orig- 
 inal Greek and correct many errors and inaccuracies in the 
 King's translation, it would nevertheless still be the word of 
 man; for all the errors, inaccuracies and imperfections in the 
 common version are the word of God, and the correction of 
 them all, or any number of them, by only one man or three 
 men, would be no more than the word of man. This, sir, is 
 not only sound, but most orthodox logic. It would, therefore, 
 be a profanation of the pulpit, and the holy place, to read 
 within thirty yards of it, the new version. If it be read at all, 
 it ought to be at least beyond the graveyard, or outside of all 
 the consecrated ground. It may be read in famihes, just hke 
 'Robinson Crusoe' or any other romance; but never with the 
 veneration of a sermon-book, and infinitely less of the word of 
 God.'"^ 
 
 1 C. B.,p.345f. 
 
 —174— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Yet, after more than half a century of such pleading, 
 a dear sister, a contender for the faith once for all de- 
 livered to the saints,, greeted the minister as he stepped 
 from the pulpit one beautiful Lord's day morning, with 
 the warm, heart-felt demand that he read no more the 
 new version of the Bible because those higher critics 
 who had gotten it up so shocked her nerves ! But said 
 she, "Read that pulpit Bible ; that's what it is there for ; 
 read that good old King James authorized version which 
 we knozi,' to be the word of God!" Let me add, this 
 sister is a great stickler for the fathers, enthusiastic in 
 following in their footsteps, and an ardent lover of Alex- 
 ander Campbell ! 
 
 Such a large place has been given to this part of 
 Mr. Campbell's labors for the comfort of the brothers in 
 the ministry. Not because the King James version is 
 now in the air as it was in Mr. Campbell's day. Yet in 
 many congregations of Disciples the air is thick with 
 this authorized version. So much so that the revised and 
 the Standard versions are looked at askance. Even if 
 the question of the authorized version be not under con- 
 sideration in the reader's locality, Mr. CampheU's com- 
 mon seme and keen logic, which he here so dexterously 
 displays, are fidly as applicable to other problems that 
 are up for cotmderation. 
 
 One is impressed upon studying the tremendous efforts 
 Mr. Campbell put forth in this department of work, of 
 the long time required for the truth to become the prop- 
 erty of all. This is partly to be accounted for in that 
 —175— 
 
Alexander Camphcll and Christian Liberty. 
 
 the first approach of truth is new and strange. As Dr. 
 Selleck says:' "A new idea is liable to shock, disturb, 
 and perhaps alarm us, if not indeed to arouse our angry 
 opposition ; but later, when we become acquainted with it 
 and find it a friend instead of an enemy, we assent to its 
 claims, embrace it, and let it enrich our lives." While it 
 is true that some close their eyes to the light of glorious 
 day and retire into the dark regions of willful ignorance 
 and superstition, yet this is not true of the mass of men 
 and women. The common people are in the main open 
 to the truth and are demanding reality. Honesty char- 
 acterizes the mass. There is a cause for the unreceptivity 
 of the people. The real cause is found in the fact that 
 each age has its bigots, religious bosses, who along with 
 their inordinate ambition to lord it over God's flock have 
 such a smattering of merely intellectual knowledge as 
 to w^in the hearts of the people through a showy brilliancy 
 and keep their prejudices whetted and ready always for 
 defense and offense. Such was the age and fate of 
 Jesus. Such was Mr. Campbell's day. Such, in part, 
 is ours. 
 
 Another excellent thing about Mr. Cambpell is that 
 he did not depreciate the better spirit of his times. That 
 there w^ere eminent critics in his day, who in character 
 and ability w^ere far superior to any previous, he never 
 doubted. This confidence gave him a most optimistic 
 outlook on the future of the Bible, and consequently the 
 welfare of the church. 
 
 1 The New Appreciation of the Bible, p. 227. 
 
 —176— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 ^lany were willing to rest in the wisdom of the past; 
 nay, more, even felt it to be impious and sacrilegious 
 even to raise the question that their age had grown wiser 
 or was more competent to give the world a better word 
 of God. To such the Bible was a closed book. What 
 had served their fathers was good enough for them ; 
 just as it was, with all its inelegancies, inaccuracies, and 
 sectarian phraseologies. One fellow said that it didn't 
 make any difference to him how inaccurate it was in 
 style, etc., since he never got time to notice those things. 
 This reminds one of the old farmer over in Canada 
 to whom the newspaper agent from Toronto tried, but 
 failed, to sell a weekly paper for one dollar a year. In 
 talking with him the agent learned that he knew noth- 
 ing about Queen Victoria's death or King Edward's 
 coronation. "But," said the old farmer, "these things 
 don't make any difference to me; I'm always too busy, 
 making a living, to read them." 
 
 Xot so with Mr. Campbell. He not only wanted his 
 religious ideas serv^ed up in the most elegant fashion and 
 according to the most modern and approved methods, 
 but he lived in the conviction that the 19th century had 
 the critical ability to grant this. He says : 
 
 "We are now in possession of much better means of making 
 an exact translation than they were at the time when the com- 
 mon version appeared. The original is now much better under- 
 stood than it was then. The conflicts of so manv critics have 
 (12) -177- 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 elicited a great deal of sound critical knowledge which was 
 not in the possession of any translators before the last cen 
 tury."' 
 
 In an address before the American Bible Union, held 
 in New York in 1850, in a plea- for a new version of the 
 Bible, he said: 
 
 "The word of God was not, a century or two since, as well 
 understood as it is now, by the most enlightened and reformed 
 portions of Protestant Christendom. Biblical literature, criti- 
 cism and science, since the times of Wickliffe, Tindal, Luther, 
 Calvin, Zuinglius, Beza, Cranmer, Coverdale, Archbishop Par- 
 ker, Edward VI. or James I., have greatly advanced. The 
 last seventy-five years have contributed more to real Biblical 
 learning — have given to the Christian Church larger and better 
 means of translating the original Scriptures — than had accu- 
 mulated from the days of Tindal to the era of the American 
 revolution. 
 
 "We are, therefore, better prepared to give a correct and 
 faithful version of the Sacred Scriptures, at this day, than at 
 any former period since the revival of literature. We have 
 also a more correct original from which to translate than they 
 had at any former period since the art of printing was invented. 
 The Greek text of the New Testament has been subjected to 
 the most laborious investigation; and, after the most rigid scru- 
 tiny and comparison, a much more accurate original has oeen 
 obtained. With these advantages in our favor, we are better 
 furnished than at any former period to enter upon a work of 
 such awful and momentous magnitude and responsibility."^ 
 
 In an address before the Bible Union conventioii, at 
 Memphis, Tenn., 1852, he said : 
 
 "The labors bestowed upon the original text, ascertaining the 
 
 lUv.Or.,p. 9. 2 Add., p. 615. 
 
 —178— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 genuine readings of passages of doubtful interpretation, and 
 the great advances made in the whole science of hermeneutics 
 — the established laws of translation — since the commencement 
 of the present century, fully justify the conclusion that we are, 
 or may be, much better furnished for the work of interpreta- 
 tion than any one, however gifted by nature and by education, 
 could have been, not merely fifty, but almost two hundred and 
 fifty, years ago. The living critics and translators of the pres- 
 ent day, in Europe and America, are like Saul amongst the 
 people — head and shoulders above those of the early part of the 
 seventeenth century. 
 
 "As for honesty, we ought not, perhaps, to say anything. 
 But we may presume to say, without the charge of arrogance 
 or invidious comparison, that we are not greatly inferior to 
 them. And if in talent and education, compared with the mod- 
 erns, they were giants, still, as pigmies standing upon the shoul- 
 ders of giants, we ought to see farther than those upon whose 
 shoulders we place ourselves. Biblical criticism is now much 
 more a science than it was in A. D. 1600, so soon after the 
 revival of literature. A far greater number of Biblical critics 
 has succeeded than preceded the Protestant Reformation, and 
 of a much higher order. Before that era there was not one 
 good Greek or Hebrew critic for one hundred at the present 
 day. The Papal Romans were merely Roman scholars, and 
 yet inferior to the Pagan Romans. These are facts so gen- 
 erally known and conceded that it is not necessary to dwell 
 upon them. The art of printing, with the increased number 
 of theological seminaries, and the competition between Roman- 
 ists and Protestants, and between the leading Protestant par- 
 ties them.selves, with the facilities of a more enlarged inter- 
 course am.ongst learned men, could not otherwise than elevate 
 the standard of Biblical scholarship and afford greater facili- 
 ties for acquiring Biblical learning. 
 
 "Corresponding with this, the vigorous impulse given to the 
 —179— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 human mind by the rapid progress in the sciences and in the 
 arts merely physical and intellectual, the great increase of new 
 discoveries and general improvement in the social system, sus- 
 tained by the facilities of the press, have all contributed to a 
 higher intellectual development and a more thorough scholar- 
 ship than were ever attained by the Greek or Roman schisms, 
 or by any Protestant denomination anterior to the era of the 
 common version. Indeed, one may affirm, without the fear of 
 successful contradiction, that during the last hundred years, 
 on the Continent of Europe, in Great Britain, and in the United 
 States of America, Biblical criticism. Biblical learning and Bib- 
 lical translation have advanced, in every essential characteris- 
 tic and accompaniment, much more, in what is usually called 
 Christendom, than was practicable or possible anterior to that 
 date. 
 
 "A more suitable time, therefore, has never been, since the 
 era of the Anglo-Saxon language, since the rise of the Papal 
 defection, than the present, for a corrected and improved ver- 
 sion of the Jewish and Christian oracles, in the living Anglo- 
 Saxon language of the present day."^ 
 
 One thing is certain, Alexander Campbell, in his 
 never-flinching agitation for a better Bible during the 
 19th Century, helped, in no small degree, to beat down 
 the prejudice in the v^ay, and giz:e to the zvorld the revised 
 Bible which we now enjoy. He believed it would come 
 because it was needed, and because it had the sanction 
 of Heaven! To its aid he lent prophetic voice! With 
 voice and pen he pleaded the enterprise! And it came! 
 And thus coming, it came from God ! Not falling down 
 from the skies, but rising up out of personal souls made 
 in the image of God and touched and inspired by His 
 
 1 Add., p. 583f. 
 
 —180— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 presence ! So do, and so will, all good things come from 
 God, if they be in line with His progressive order. 
 
 The Christian Century of March 19, 1903, sounds a 
 timely Campbellian note: "The failure on the part of 
 some of the professed followers of Campbell to appre- 
 ciate the literary and historical method of Bible study 
 shows how far in advance this great thinker was of his 
 time. The Disciples of Christ as a body will not give 
 up the vantage ground which was gained by this great 
 
 leader To make the Bible vital in this age 
 
 of scientific investigation and literary criticism, it is ab- 
 solutely necessary to follow the leadership of such great 
 thinkers as Mr. Campbell and to advocate the historical 
 and literary study of the Bible in all our churches. . . . 
 A clearer vision of Christ and Christianity cannot be ob- 
 tained by dogmatic discussions or personal criticisms. 
 It can only be obtained by reverent literary and historical 
 study of the Bible and of Christian history. Let the 
 Disciples of Christ lead out in this great work and pre- 
 pare our young men thoroughly in the knowledge of the 
 word of God and of Christian history, as thoroughly as 
 Mr. Campbell and some of his noble coadjutors were 
 prepared, and we will do more to hasten the day of unity 
 of the spirit and the knowledge of the Son of God among 
 all Christians than in any other way." 
 
 —181— 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Comingf to the Bible 
 
What to us are the petty questions we have been dealing 
 with, if God is our Father indeed? Will he be less our Father 
 because certain records of the past have been composed or mis- 
 understood in the process of compilation? Is his love lessened 
 because what we imagined to be literal fact turns out to be 
 pregnant and splendid parable? Does his character change 
 because our interpretations of past facts or the interpretations 
 of those who went before us have been mistaken? These ques- 
 tions answer themselves. Indeed, if we are wise and willing 
 to be led onwards by the teaching of God's providence, shall 
 we not see that the whole drift and tendency of criticism is 
 to help us upward as well as forward? The effect of the criti- 
 cism which has undermined previously accepted views has been 
 to correct a great deal of once common literalism of interpre- 
 tation: the knowledge which comes to us comes to deliver us 
 from notions which were in danger of becoming too mechan- 
 ical : the interpretations put into our hands are wider in range 
 and more ethical in scope : everything is preaching to us that 
 we need to become more Fpiritually minded if we are to under- 
 stand the ways and teachings of God. In times like our own, 
 when men afraid of trusting the living God are seeking to 
 base their faith upon gross materialistic notions, is it not well 
 that the disintegration of crude ideas which criticism brings 
 should bring us back to those words of our Lord, which, though 
 constantly ignored, are yet as constantly needed by the 
 Church? "The hour cometh when neither in this mountain nor 
 in Jerusalem shall ye worship the Father. The hour cometh, 
 and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father 
 in spirit and in truth. God is a spirit, and they that worship 
 him must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:21-24.) 
 — W. Boyd Carpenter, Bishop of Ripon (An Intro, to the Study 
 of the Scriptures, p. 151). 
 
 —184— 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 COMING TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 The 20th Century feels that it is not quite enough to 
 sit before the great masterpieces of antiquity and enjoy 
 them. The studio must be resurrected with its crude 
 forms, tools, and whole atmosphere, that the ardent be- 
 holder may enter with sympathetic appreciation into the 
 very innermost thoughts and feelings of the artist. The 
 artist is not only known by his finished production, but 
 this is understood to a considerable degree in the way 
 in which he performed his work. In order to form a 
 correct estimation of Mr. Campbell or enjoy the product 
 of his brain, it is necessary to watch the critic as he 
 works. 
 
 We have seen him turning his back upon the old Cath- 
 olic conservative tendency, which, in Prof. Brown's put- 
 ting,^ is "reverent of the past, tenacious of its traditions, 
 distrustful of the individual ;" and turning to the Protest- 
 ant position, which is "the liberal tendency, living in the 
 present, intent upon progress, full of faith in the indi- 
 vidual man." 
 
 After Mr. Campbell has once restored the Bible, 
 translated as perfectly as human, fallible men may be 
 
 1 Christian Theology in Outline, p. 70. 
 
 —185— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 able to render it, he recognizes the fact that this is still 
 but a small part of the immense process of knowing the 
 will of God, or hearing his voice. The Bible must be 
 understood. It must be interpreted. He proceeds to 
 this task upon the principle granted him by a true 
 Protestantism, i. e., the liberty of the individual to go back 
 to the source and penetrate it with his own vision, instead 
 of taking his interpretation over bodily from the fathers. 
 Relative to this, he says : 
 
 "But 'the fathers' are often urged as decisive evidence, super- 
 seding the necessity of farther inquiry. All sects have their 
 fathers, to whom they are not wont to appeal."^ 
 
 He notes the decree of the Council of Trent, which 
 declares that : 
 
 "It belongs to the church to judge of the true sense 
 and interpretation of scripture; and that no person shall 
 dare to interpret it in matters relating to faith and man- 
 ners to any sense contrary to that which the church has 
 held, or contrary to the unanimous consent of the fath- 
 ers. 
 
 Mr. Campbell replies as follows : 
 
 "Here, then, we have the essential elements of mental slavery 
 and degradation; for, if no person dare to interpret the Scrip- 
 tures contrary to what the church has already held, or to the 
 unanimous consent of the Fathers ; where is that liberty of 
 thought and speech and action, on the most important of all sub- 
 jects, our moral and religious relations, without which, liberty is 
 without meaning, and mental independence but a name j * * * 
 
 1 c. B., p. 462. 
 
 — 186— 
 
'Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 "The fact of putting the Bible under a bushel, of forbidding 
 the reading of it, of swearing forever to interpret it as it has been 
 interpreted, of not permitting men to think or speak for them- 
 selves on religion * * * is the paragon of supreme tyranny, 
 never surpassed, never equaled on earth."^ 
 
 "The plea of ancient tradition is the strength of Popery and the 
 weakness of Protestantism. We advocate not ancient, but origi- 
 nal Christianity. The plea of high antiquity or tradition has long 
 been the bulwark of errors. It cleaves to its beloved mother, 
 TRADITION , hoary Tradition, with an affection that increases 
 as she becomes old and feeble. Errorists of all schools are ex- 
 ceedingly devout and dutiful so far as the precept, 'Honor thy 
 father and thy mother,' is concerned."^ 
 
 One reformation begets another reformation. Just as 
 soon as a pure word of God is translated there must be 
 the further effort of understanding it aright. So Mr. 
 Campbell, in- the face of traditional methods, felt that : 
 
 "A reformation in the manner of handling the living oracles 
 is much wanted; and the sooner and more generally it is at- 
 tempted, the greater will be the regenerating influence of the 
 brotherhood on the world." ^ 
 
 Speaking of the lost gospel, he finds it largely due to 
 a false, yea, blind, interpretation. He says : 
 
 "The meaning of this institution (Gospel) has been buried un- 
 der the rubbish of human traditions for hundreds of years. It 
 was lost in the dark ages, and has never been, till recently, dis- 
 interred. Various efforts have been made, and considerable 
 progress attended them; but since the Grand Apostasy was com- 
 pleted, till the present generation, the gospel of Jesus Christ has 
 not been laid open to mankind in its original plainness, sim- 
 plicity and majesty. A veil in reading the New Institution has 
 
 1 D. on R. C. R., p. 2T9f. 2 Bapt., p. 233. 3 ch. Sj's., 306. 
 
 —187— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 been on the hearts of Christians, as Paul declares it was upon the 
 hearts of the Jews in reading the Old Institution toward the close 
 of that economy."^ 
 
 ''But what kind of a reformation is requisite to this end? It is 
 not the erection of a new sect, the invention of new shibboleths, 
 or the setting up of a new creed, nor the adopting of any in ex- 
 istence save the New Testament, in the form in which it pleased 
 the spirit of God to give it. It is to receive it as it stands, and to 
 make it its own interpretation, according to the ordinary rules of 
 interpreting all books. * * * Recollect, we say the Scriptures 
 are to be their own interpreter, according to the common rules 
 of interpreting other writings."^ 
 
 Hence he would not come to the Bible as many were 
 coming, theologically prepossessed; with minds already 
 confirmed as to what the Bible is and what it means. On 
 the contrary, he zvould come to it as to any other hook 
 and let it speak for itself. Upon this common, practical, 
 individual principle, he proceeds, as he finds illustration 
 in the personal. He says: 
 
 "When one person addresses another, he supposes the person 
 addresses competent to interpret his words. * * * (So God) 
 proceeded upon the principle that they were, by this native art, 
 competent interpreters of his expressions. * * * The fact 
 that God has clothed his communications in human language, and 
 that he has spoken by men, to men, in their own language, is de- 
 cisive evidence that he is to be understood as one man con- 
 versing with another."^ 
 
 This method of approach to the Bible became a deter- 
 minative and formulative factor in Mr. Campbell's un- 
 derstanding of the scriptures, destructive of all those 
 
 I Ch. Sys.,p. 192. 2C.B.,p. 41£. 3 Bapt., p. 50f. 
 
 —188— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 mystical attempts to make the Bible out entirely super- 
 human, and hence totally unlike other literature. In 
 fact, this recognition of the human element in the Bible, 
 cataloging it among the world's noble literature, placed 
 him in line with the world's best scholars and Biblical 
 critics, and gave him the use of the historical method 
 that the Bible might speak for and interpret itself. 
 Windelband, in tracing the development of historical 
 Biblical criticism, which was begun by Semler, says: 
 "This began to carry out the thought formulated by 
 Spinoza, that the Biblical books must be treated just as 
 other writings, as regards their theoretical contents, their 
 origin, and their history; that they must be understood 
 from the point of view of their time arkd the character 
 of their authors."^ 
 
 Mr. Campbell comes to the Bible to know its contents 
 not only with the freedom of the individual understand- 
 ing, but that understanding must be an intelligent under- 
 standing, furnished with the best possible equipment. In 
 other words, he must be free to avail himself of the 
 ablest scholarship of the day in directing his interpreta- 
 tion of the Bible. He would turn upon its pages all pos- 
 sible light from every quarter. This enabled him, instead 
 of coming to the Bible traditionally prepossessed, or in 
 a haphazard way, with no method, to come to it as a 
 Biblical critic and put to use the scientific method of un- 
 derstanding the scriptures historically. 
 
 The first application of this rule discloses that the Bible 
 
 1 A Hist, of Philosophy, p. 498. 
 
 —189— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 is a human book. To understand it one must come, then, 
 with the same rules used in interpreting other litera- 
 ture. So he says: 
 
 "God has spoken by men, for men. The language of the Bible 
 is, then, human language. It is, therefore, to be examined by 
 the same rules which are applicable to the language of any other 
 book, and to be understood according to the true and proper 
 meaning of the words, in their current acceptation, at the times 
 and in the places in which they were originally written and 
 translated. * * * adopt any other course, or to apply any 
 other rules, would necessarily divest the sacred writings of every 
 attribute that belongs to the idea of revelation. It must never 
 be forgotten in perusing the Bible that in the structure of sen- 
 tences, in figures of speech, in the arrangement and use of words, 
 it differs not at all from other writings; and must therefore be 
 understood and interpreted as they are."^ 
 
 "There is no opinion or notion which is more prejudicial to an 
 intimate acquaintance with these writings than that of the 
 Egyptian priests, introduced into the first theological school at 
 Alexandria, and carried throughout Christendom, viz., 'that 
 the words of Scripture have a mystical, spiritual, theological, or 
 some other than a literal meaning; and that the same rules of 
 interpretation are not to be applied to the inspired writings, which 
 are applied to human composition ;' than which no opinion is 
 more absurd and pernicious. If this notion were correct, all ef- 
 forts to understand the book must be in vain, until God sends us 
 an interpreter who can resolve these enigmas and mystic words 
 of theological import, and give us the plain meaning of what the 
 Apostles and Evangelists wrote. The reader will consider that, 
 when God spoke to man, he adopted the language of man."- 
 
 "We will take the book (Biblos) and examine what is written 
 there, by the same criteria which we would apply in analysis of 
 
 1 Bapt., p. 54f. 2 Uv. Dr., p. 16f. 
 
 —190— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 the writings of Cicero, of Demosthenes, of Salkist, or of Xeno- 
 phon."^ 
 
 "When we enter into an examination of the testimony on 
 which rehgion is founded, we have no other scientific rules to 
 resort to, than those which regulate and govern us in ascertain- 
 ing the weight of all historic evidence. * * * But men ap- 
 proach the examination of this question, not as they approach the 
 examination of any other. The believer and the unbeliever ap- 
 proach it under great disadvantages. Religious men are afraid 
 to call its truth in question. This religious awe acts as a sort of 
 illusion on their minds. The skeptics are prejudiced against it. 
 This prejudice disqualifies them to judge fairly and impartially 
 upon the merits of the evidence. The religious awe of the Chris- 
 tian and the prejudices of the skeptic are real obstacles in the 
 way of both, in judging impartially of the weight of evidence in 
 favor of this or any other position, at the bottom of Christian 
 faith. * * * It is hard for any man to inspect this oracle 
 with that degree of impartiality and mental independence neces- 
 sary to demonstrate, or discriminate, in its truth. * * * Mak- 
 ing all due allowance for these odds and disadvantages against 
 us, and acknowledging that we claim no exemption from the in- 
 fluence of these courses, we are disposed to approach this volume, 
 as far as in us lies, without being influenced by that awe, or 
 those prejudices, of which we have been speaking. Divesting 
 ourselves, therefore, of all partialities, pro or con, let us, my 
 friends, approach this position. * * * They [writers of the 
 New Testament] subject themselves not only to cross-examina- 
 tion among themselves, but to be compared and tried by con- 
 temporary historians, geographers, politicians, statesmen and 
 orators; in fact, they bring themselves in contact with all public 
 documents of the age in which they lived and wrote. * * * 
 IVe claim no favors. We ask for no peculiar process, no new or 
 untried form of examination. We will constitute no new court 
 
 1 Evi., p. 190. 
 
 —191— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 of inquiry. We will submit the question of authorship to be tried 
 by all the canons, or regulations, or rules, which the literary 
 world, which the most rigid critics have instituted or appealed to, 
 in settling any literary question of this sort."^ 
 
 "That the words of the sacred writings are taken both literally 
 and figuratively, as the words of all other books, is now almost 
 universally conceded; and that the true sense of the words is the 
 true doctrine of the Bible, is daily gaining ground among the 
 most learned and skillful interpreters; in one word, that the 
 Bible is not to be interpreted arbitrarily, is the most valuable 
 discovery or concession of this generation. This, indeed, was 
 confessed by our most distinguished reformers. IMelancthon 
 said: 'The Scripture cannot be understood theologically until it 
 is understood grammatically,' and Luther affirmed that a certain 
 knowledge of Scripture depends upon a knowledge of its words."* 
 
 The popular method, aside from no method at all, of 
 interpreting the Bible in Mr. Campbell's day, was the 
 scrap, or text, method. "More and more, as the first 
 generation of Protestant leaders recedes into the past, 
 the theology of those who come after passes into the 
 scholastic stage. . . . The Bible was looked upon as 
 an authoritative text-book, from which doctrines and 
 proofs of doctrines were to be drawn with little or no 
 discrimination as to the use to be made of the different 
 books. Such were the ramifications of the system that 
 little if any space was left for varieties of opinion, and 
 dissent upon any point was treated as heresy.'"^ Mr. Camp- 
 bell had no sympathy whatever with such a scrappy way 
 of gathering divine knowledge. This is one of the anti- 
 
 1 Evi., p. 263f. (Italics Author's.) 2 Bapt., p. 59. 
 3 History of Christian Doctrine (Fisher), p. 347. 
 
 —192— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 quated customs which he found conserved in the Roman 
 CathoHc Church, He affirms that in this way she had 
 taken away the key of knowledge and lost to the people 
 the key of interpretation, thus rendering the oracles of 
 God of none effect. He would choose the up-to-date, 
 scientific method and come to the oracle intelligently 
 furnished with the best outfit that Biblical criticism af- 
 forded. His greatest objection urged against using the 
 Bible as an arsenal of texts is that it harks against a 
 correct interpretation. Speaking at some length of the 
 evils arising from this mincing of the scriptures into 
 texts in preaching, he says : 
 
 "But this is not the worst evil resulting from this art. It 
 gives birth to arbitrary and unreasonable rules of interpreta- 
 tion which, so far as they obtain, perfectly disqualify the 
 auditors from understanding anything they read in the sacred 
 volume."^ 
 
 He assures us that he selects only such rules of interpre- 
 tation as are in use among the most eminent critics.^ He 
 is not blind to the difficulties which beset the historian 
 who would give us the true interpretation of the New 
 Testament. A clear idea of the magnitude of such a task 
 is given by Prof. James Vernon Bartlet :^ "The historian 
 has to mediate between the mind of his own age and 
 the facts of past ages. This task is the harder, yet the 
 more needful, in proportion as the facts are themselves 
 of the mental order. For such must be seen first and 
 foremost through the souls of men and women in whom 
 
 1 C. B., p. 443. 2 ch. Sys., p. 16. 3 The Apostolic Age, p. 8. 
 (13) —193— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 they once lived, if they are to be other than the mirage of 
 our own latter-day consciousness. The historian of the 
 Apostolic Age, then, has to make live again to the read- 
 er's imagination the complex world of thought and action 
 to which primitive Christian experience — even where 
 most under the renovating sway of the New Message — 
 was largely relative. As surely as the men of that age 
 looked on the universe in the light of Ptolemaic 
 or geocentric system, so surely did they view life all 
 around by the aid of intellectual forms, often correspond- 
 ingly diverse from ours. Here lies the main difficulty 
 for the reader of the New Testament. He is ever com- 
 ing upon phrases that do not really appeal to him, ideas 
 that he cannot personally assimilate, however deeply 
 in sympathy he may be with the general spirit of the 
 whole or even of the special passage in question. His 
 embarrassment is just the same as an early Christian 
 would experience if confronted with a mediaeval or mod- 
 ern book on religion. The background taken for granted, 
 because part of the culture of the age, is in each case 
 unrealized; the larger context is lacking. It is this 
 which the historian has to supply. He had, in a word, 
 to make himself and fellows the intellectual contem- 
 poraries of the men of the story. In the end, nothing 
 shall seem strange or pointless." 
 
 Mr. Campbell had in mind the importance of this task 
 when he said : 
 
 "The first and all-important inquiry with me, in reading the 
 oracles of God, has long been, is now, and, I presume, while I 
 —194— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 live will be, what were the exact ideas that the writers of the 
 New Testament associated with the terms which they used.'"^ 
 
 Some of the most important of the critical rules which 
 would guide him in this quest are, he tells us : 
 
 "A regard to the grand design of the whole, and to the par- 
 ticular design of each item in the narrative;" attendance upon 
 "the circumstances;" "character of the writer;" "circumstances 
 of the people addressed;" "their peculiar prejudices, views and 
 feelings;" the writer's "motives and intentions" in writing, etc. 
 Moreover, the interpreter must "apply the same rules of in- 
 terpretation to these compositions which he would apply to any 
 other writings of the same antiquity." * * * Furthermore, 
 he says: "These writers do not always aim at giving the pre- 
 cise words of those they quote, not even of the Savior himself, 
 but only the full and precise sense of what was uttered or writ- 
 ten. * * * And, the order of narration in these histories is 
 similar to the Jewish and other ancient histories, and is not con- 
 ducted according to the modern plan of historic writings; con- 
 sequently not so lucid to us, who are accustomed to a greater 
 degree of precision in affixing dates to events and transactions, 
 as also in describing the theaters on which they happen, as his- 
 tories conducted on our plan. We are liable to err in supposing 
 that events following each other in close succession in the thread 
 of narration, as immediately following each other in time and 
 place, in actual occurrence." He then finds that "the golden key 
 of interpretation is that we must place ourselves in their circum- 
 stances."^ 
 
 In harmony with Prof. Bartlet's idea of the historian's 
 task, he finds this no sniall iindertaking, for, says Mr. 
 Campbell : 
 
 "We must place ourselves in Judea, in Rome, or in Corinth. 
 
 1 Early Relation and Separation of the Baptists and Disciples (Gates) 
 p. lis. 2 Liv. Or,, p. 221. 
 
 —195— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 * * * We must mingle with the Jews in their temple and 
 synagogues. We must visit the temples and altars of the Pagan 
 Gentiles. We must converse with Epicurean and Stoic phi- 
 losophers; with Pharisees and Sadducees, with priests and people 
 who died centuries before we were born. We must place before 
 us manuscript copies, written without a break, a chapter or a 
 verse. We must remember what the writers spoke to the people 
 before they wrote to them. We must not only attend to what 
 they said and wrote, but to what they did."^ 
 
 It is like reading a letter from a friend, he goes on to 
 point out. We regard the date, place, occasion, and de- 
 sign of the writer. And then, instead of coming to the 
 writer's meaning from the detached sentence, we try to 
 feel the atmosphere of the whole. We view all with 
 reference to the main design. So he concludes that the 
 same common sense is required to understand scripture 
 as we use in understanding all our epistolary communi- 
 cations. 
 
 Herein is the immense value of Biblical criticism. It 
 is the handmaid that enters into all departments of knowl- 
 edge and comes back to scripture ladened with every pos- 
 sible fact that will make the writer's true meaning stand 
 out. 
 
 Nor was Mr. Campbell unaware of the spurious read- 
 ings and interpolations which have crept into the text of 
 Scripture. Following the critic Micliaelis, he points 
 out the causes of these errors to be from (IJ 
 "Carelessness of the transcribers;" (2) "mistakes of 
 transcribers;" (3) ''errors or imperfections in the ancient 
 
 1 Uv. Or., p. 42. 
 
 —196— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 manuscript from which the transcriber copied;"* (4) 
 "critical conjectures, or intended improvements of the 
 original text;" (5) 'Villful corruptions to serve the pur- 
 poses of a party, whether orthodox or heterodox^" 
 
 Yet, after considering all these errors, he is amazed 
 that they are so few, in view of the long time and the 
 many hands being engaged in their transmission. He is 
 further able to make this candid estimate: 
 
 "No fact, no cardinal truth of Christianity, is in the least af- 
 fected, admitting every word found in the following table to be 
 rejected with the unanimous concurrence of Christendom."^ 
 
 This is in substantial agreement with the distinguished 
 critic, Prof. Charles A. Briggs, who, like Mr. Campbell, 
 having sifted the whole matter, can say :^ "The Bible has 
 maintained its authority with the best scholars of our 
 time, who, with open minds, have been willing to recog- 
 nize any error that might be pointed out by historical 
 criticism; for these errors are all in circumstantials and 
 not in essentials; they are in the human setting and not 
 in the precious jewel itself; they are found in that sec- 
 tion of the Bible that theologians commonly account for 
 from the providential superintendence of the mind of the 
 author as distinguished from divine revelation."'' 
 
 Why should we allow the human imperfections of the 
 Bible to alarm us? Do we not expect to find always our 
 diamonds in the rough? And is not a jewel found in the 
 mud a jewel still? All perfection comes from imperfec- 
 
 1 Uv. Or., p. 326. 2 History of Christian Doctrine (Fisher), p. 549. 
 3 c. f. Also Reconstruction in Theol. (King), p. 128. 
 
 —197— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 tions. The sculptor catches mistakes, striking out here 
 and rounding out there, until the perfect statue stands 
 before him. This, too, is God's method. All creation 
 witnesses to the fact. Not in a minute did he create the 
 world, or make man. They are still in the making. Man 
 is becoming, and not perfect yet! Look at that rose 
 hanging there so red and fragrant! For ages God has 
 been bringing it to its present perfection. And it still 
 has much more of loveliness to disclose which as yet we 
 know not of. Some far-off future generations shall see 
 it richer still. Man, too, is still in the making. We know 
 what he was and what he is, but it does not yet appear 
 what he shall be. Do we forget that God's revelation 
 is progressive? From stage to stage does he become 
 known, and always through things humble and crude 
 in men's eyes. What, shall we let the formal errors in 
 the Bible awe us ? What good is there that comes not so 
 to man? The food we thrive on comes packed in husks. 
 The pure air we breathe, the glorious sunshine we ab- 
 sorb, the reviving water we drink, and what not — all 
 come enveloped in imperfection. And love and truth and 
 beauty, the abiding realities of life, have their human set- 
 ting. Are they any less true? Should they seem less 
 real? Because the voice of God speaks to us in human 
 events and human lives, shall we turn from the record? 
 Because the gem comes to us in its natural imperfect 
 human setting, shall we close our eyes to its luster ? The 
 Bible's human imperfection in reality bespeaks its divin- 
 ity. God is always revealing himself through imperfect 
 
 _198_ 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 things. The richest disclosure of His character which 
 reveals his justice, mercy, love, and righteousness comes 
 through the human. It is His method. Earthen vessels 
 become His chosen instruments of self-revelation. Ever 
 was He speaking in the imperfect prophets. Yet His voice 
 was heard. And there was no alloy in the divine mes- 
 sage. When he would make the fullest and highest reve- 
 lation of himself to man he does not disassociate it from 
 the human. On the contrary, he chooses, for his Son, 
 a human embodiment. Born of a human mother, he took 
 the "form of a servant, being made in the likeness of 
 men." And when his Son would hand on to the world 
 the wonderful story of divine love, he writes no word, 
 but commits the sacred deposit to earthen vessels. How 
 should we expect to find the revealed God unlikened to 
 anything of the earth? Such a scheme would be unnat- 
 ural, unreal, impossible of understanding, unlike divine 
 procedure. There is no divine way, or, more properly, 
 the divine way is the human way. There is no divine 
 language. The human language is the divine language. 
 And with equal truth and propriety we may say, there is 
 no divine man. The divine men are the human men. 
 Even when God would show the world the perfection 
 of his character and set in the midst a model for all 
 time, he sent not to earth a purely divine angel, but chose 
 his own Son, who became flesh in the likeness of men. 
 Born of a human mother, he linked himself to earth. And 
 here among men, in fashion as a man, he came into life, 
 grew up, lived, and completed his task under the category 
 
 —199— 
 
Alexand&r Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 of a human. Jesus was not exclusively divine. He was 
 not only Son of God, but son of man. 
 
 We haze queer ideas of what is divine and what is 
 human, of what is sacred and what is secular, and of 
 what is perfect and what is imperfect. The old meta- 
 physical distinctions still rule our brains. But the atmos- 
 phere is clearing and the day of more wholesome concep- 
 tions is gradually dawning. The reformation is in splendid 
 progress. When it shall have fully come all shall 
 see God everywhere, from the least to the greatest, 
 from the most materialistic to the most idealistic. Then 
 God and the Bible will not seem so unreal. The complete- 
 ly personal God and the partially personal man will meet 
 together and commune at the human shrine in the Bible. 
 
 Dr. King gives utterance to this much overlooked fact •} 
 "The Bible itself warrants no view which ignores the 
 human and progressive element in the Bible, or looks on 
 all its parts as of equal divinity and value. Dr. George 
 Adam Smith probably does not overstate the truth when 
 he says that if one person is likely to suffer shipwreck 
 through the employment of the higher criticism, the faith 
 of ten will break down — is breaking down — for lack of 
 the very help it would bring." 
 
 Dr. Marcus Dods quotes Dr. Small as saying:^ 
 
 "The man who binds up the cause of Christianity with 
 the literal accuracy of the Bible is no friend of Christian- 
 ity, for with the rejection of that theory too often comes 
 
 1 Reconstruction in Theology., p. 116. 
 
 2 The Bible: Its Origin and Nature, p. 141. 
 
 —200— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 the rejection of the Bible itself, and faith is shattered." 
 Dr. Dods then says '} "In Renan's case this was the 
 result. He tells us in his 'Recollections' that he had been 
 brought up in the belief that it was essential to the ortho- 
 dox doctrine of scripture to accept it as inerrant in every 
 line. When he entered upon the study of the history of 
 Israel, he soon discovered that such a claim was unten- 
 able, and, accordingly, parted company with the Chuich. 
 So, too, Charles Bradlaugh, from an ingenious and in- 
 quiring youth was turned into a bitter opponent of the 
 faith because a kind of faith in Scripture was demanded 
 of him which he could not honestly give. The whole 
 force of Ingersoll's arguments, by means of which he 
 turned hundreds from Christianity, depends on the ac- 
 ceptance of the literal and total infallibility of scripture. 
 Given a true view of scripture, his whole contention falls 
 to the ground." 
 
 This is just what gave Mr. Campbell such power and 
 victory in debate ivith infidels. They met him with the 
 impression that he would be loaded from the old orthodox 
 standpoint, while he came into the arena with the Bible 
 understood and interpreted by the best methods afforded 
 by the world of critical scholarship. He tells us that at 
 the age of twenty-one, as he became identified with the 
 ministry, he 
 
 "discovered that the religion of the New Testament was one 
 thing, and that of any sect which I knew was another." 
 
 "But I go upon this principle, that the heart is not cured by a 
 charm, nor to be purified by false notions."- 
 
 1 The Bible: Its Origin and Nature, p. 141. 2 C. B., p. 660f. 
 
 —201— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 '■'I am under no necessity to pilot through the storm, the opin- 
 ions, fancies, or by-laws of any sect. It is the religion of the 
 Bible, and that alone, I am concerned to prove to be divine."^ 
 
 "If our most pure, holy and heavenly religion can be defended, 
 supported, inculcated and diffused by no other weapons than in 
 locks, swords and faggots, I wish not to be in the rear or van of 
 its advocates. No, on our banners is inscribed, reason, argument, 
 persuasion."^ 
 
 In declining the challenge to debate J. S. Sweeny, Rob- 
 ert Ingersoll said: will not take 'Mr. Sweeny as a 
 representative of the clerg)-, because he does not repre- 
 sent them. He is a 'Campbellite/ and these people propa- 
 gate nothing but Jesus Christ as their guide. I have no 
 particular objection to Jesus Christ. If you want me to 
 debate with a representative of the clergy, procure a man 
 that has a creed, and I will answer him.''* 
 
 In coming to the Bible as ^Ir. Campbell did, critically, 
 L e., intelligently, purposing to take it for what it is and 
 what it purports to be, and not what reverent ignorance 
 and unlearned mysticism imagine it to be, he had no fear 
 that anything of truth would be lost or anything of the 
 divine would fail of being disclosed. On the contrary, 
 this acceptance of the Bible as literature, with its hu- 
 man elements laid bare, was seen to be God's objective 
 method of meeting man subjectively. The Bible was but 
 a means to an end — through the medium of language God 
 and man coming together. And this language is human 
 language, even as he says : 
 
 "The inspired men dehvered supernatural communications in 
 
 1 C. B., p. 552. 2 Ibid., p. 344. 3 The Centennial Camp. Fire, p. 57. 
 
 — 202 — 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 their own peculiar modes of expressing themselves. * * * jj^ 
 other words, their own judgment or taste in the selection of 
 terms was not suspended by the new language. * * * (They) 
 chose such as, in their judgment, would most clearly and forcibly 
 reveal the mind of the spirit to their hearers. * * * From 
 what they have spoken and written we are authorized to think 
 that they were as free in the selection of words and phrases as I 
 am in endeavoring to communicate my views of their inspira- 
 tion."^ 
 
 Instead of disparaging the Bible in his eyes, it rather 
 enhanced it, as he suggests : 
 
 "One of the internal evidences of the truth of the Apostolic 
 writings is, that each has something peculiar to himself. So has 
 every speaker and teacher that has appeared among men. 
 Jesus Christ himself had his peculiar characteristics."^ 
 
 This recognition of the personal equation in Biblical 
 writers was one of the mighty triumphs of the critical 
 method over the mystical. Men are active, not passive. 
 Their eyes are opened, not shut. They are strong per- 
 sonalities, not weak imbeciles. 
 
 Principal Fairbairn utters a strong word on this 
 point :^ 
 
 "The new historical and literary spirit has produced a 
 more detailed and skillful handling of the thought or 
 intellectual content of the literature. The sacred writ- 
 ers are not nov/ dealt with as if their personalities had 
 been merged into one colossal individuality, and as if 
 the very composite material they had created were a 
 
 1 Bapt.,p. 52. 2 D. onR. C, p. 83 (c. f. also Alexander Campbell and 
 Christian Liberty) , p. 106. 3 The place of Christ in Modern Theology, p. 292f. 
 
 —203— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 single work, which could be interpreted and quoted as 
 a homogeneous whole. The new insight into the char- 
 acters, histories, circumstances, succession of the writers, 
 has necessitated a distinct and special treatment of their 
 minds and words, which has, as notably in the case of 
 Paul, enabled us to measure and register the change and 
 expansion of their thought. 'Biblical Theology' means 
 now the theology of the Bible, not of the creeds and 
 
 schools Hebrews and John, Peter and James, 
 
 have been similarly treated and explained, and we can 
 now look at the thought of the New Testament in its 
 constituent parts, in its historical succession, and as a 
 complete, if not organic, whole." 
 
 There has been much progress in Biblical investiga- 
 tion since ]\Ir. Campbell's day. This is just what he fore- 
 saw, expected, and desired. When speaking about get- 
 ting away from his past moorings to scholastic and Cal- 
 vinistic influences, and he felt that the passing of the old 
 and the incoming of the new "was as gradual as the ap- 
 proaches of spring," he said: 
 
 "Little is done, it is true, compared with what is yet to be done; 
 but that little is a great deal compared with the opposition made, 
 and the shortness of the time in which it has been done. He 
 that sails against both wind and tide sails slowly, and if he ad- 
 vances at all it must be by great exertion of the mariners. The 
 storm now rages more than at any former period; but the cur- 
 rent is more favorable. The winds of doctrine are raging upon 
 the great sea; but they are continually shifting, and, though we 
 mav be tossed and driven sometimes out of our course, the vessel 
 
 —204— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 is good, the Pilot the most skillful, so we cannot fear to reach 
 the desired haven. 
 
 Mr. Campbell's optimism was sublime. He never 
 feared the candid examination of truth. In such a task 
 he finds noble companionship. He says: 
 
 "This fearlessness of consequences, this eager desire of ex- 
 amination, this courting of contradiction, is the most prominent 
 feature in the character of all the original witnesses who attest 
 the evangelical story."^ 
 
 "The truth of God and the religion of the Bible never yet 
 gained advantage, but on all occasions, sustained injury, from 
 falsehood and lies employed in its defense."' 
 
 The sectarians to him were those who turned from the 
 truth of things and shut themselves up in the darkness 
 of their own narrow minds. He says : 
 
 "The world — I mean the Christian communities — are tired of 
 sectarianism; light is rapidly progressing; the true nature of the 
 Christian institution is beginning to be understood, and all the 
 signs of the times indicate the approach, the near approach, of 
 this happy era."^ 
 
 The critical problems gave him no undue alarm. About 
 certain problems in which no satisfactory conclusions had 
 been reached, he says : 
 
 "It is not necessary that we should be able to prove the author- 
 ship of every particular piece composing the Old and New Testa- 
 ments to prove their authenticity."^ 
 
 He then quotes Bishop Watson, who shows the idea "anony- 
 mous, and therefore without authority," to be unreasonable and 
 untrue. Mr. Campbell, then, for an example, cites the Book of 
 
 1 C. B., p. 661. 2 Evi„ p. 284, 3 ibid. 4 Elvi., p. 351. 5 Ibid,, p. 353f. 
 —205— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 Job as having no author's name attached, yet this does invalidate 
 its contents. He also alludes to "the burial of Moses, and other 
 such additions made to some books in the Old Testament." 
 But, says he : 
 
 "When I hear of interpolations and contradictions, I think of 
 the Honorable Soame Jenyus, once a skeptic. He had concluded 
 to publish a work against the Christian religion; but, thinking 
 that he ought to be well acquainted with its fables and ab- 
 surdities before he ventured to appear before the public, he de- 
 termined to make himself well acquainted with the contents of 
 the book. But he soon found good reasons to reform his plan; 
 and, instead of furnishing a work against the Christian religion, 
 he gave to the world a short and unanswerable treatise upon the 
 truth and authenticity of it. This treatise on the 'Internal Evi- 
 dence' is written in a masterly style, and with a boldness which 
 nothing but the assurance of faith could inspire. He makes the 
 following bold assertion, which many would think is going too 
 far : 'For I will venture to affirm that if any one could prove, 
 what is possible to be proved, because it is not true, that there 
 are errors in geography, chronology, and philosophy, in every 
 page of the Bible ; that the prophesies therein delivered are all 
 but fortunate guesses, or artful applications, and the miracles 
 there recorded no better than legendary tales; if any one could 
 show these books were never written by their pretended authors, 
 but were posterior impositions on illiterate and credulous ages, 
 all these wonderful discoveries would prove no more than this : 
 that God, for reasons to us unknown, had thought proper to per- 
 mit a revelation by him communicated to mankind, to be mixed 
 with their ignorance and corrupted by their frauds from its 
 earliest infancy, in the same manner in which he has visibly per- 
 mitted it to be mixed and corrupted from that period to the 
 present hour. If, in these books, a religion, superior to all 
 human imagination, actually exists, it is of no consequence to 
 the proof of its divine origin, by what means it was there in- 
 
 —206— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 i^oduced, or n'ith what human errors and imperfections it is 
 blended. A diamond, though found in a bed of mud, is still a 
 diamond, nor can the dirt, which surrounds it, depreciate its 
 value or destroy its lustre."^ 
 
 In thus coming to the Bible as it really is, criticism has 
 
 made a decided' gain over the old orthodox idea. Its 
 divine authority rests not upon its being a book free from 
 error, but rather on its being a human composition whose 
 writers were impelled by God's spirit, the very method 
 God has chosen to disclose himself to men. 
 
 In fact, the Bible was never intended by God to make 
 man wise unto all wisdom, but only unto God's true na- 
 ture and the salvation of man's soul. Failure to observe 
 this fact has resulted most disastrously. While it has 
 made, on the one hand, "men of one Book," on the other 
 hand, it has made wholesale, woeful ignorance. Says Mr. 
 Campbell : 
 
 This whole book was gotten up for the express purpose of 
 
 impressing upon man a true appreciation of his moral relation."^ 
 "The great God has condescended to teach but one science, and 
 that is the science of religion, or the knowledge of himself and 
 of man, in all his relations, as his creature. He has taught but 
 one art, and that is the art of living well in relation to all the 
 high ends and destinies of man. Now the Bible contains this 
 science and teaches this art in the same perfection which its 
 author exhibits in all his works."^ 
 
 The trouble with men has been that when they wanted 
 to see the stars, they have looked into their Bible instead 
 of in the heavens, where the stars are. For their ge- 
 
 1 Evi., p. 355f. (Italics author's.) 2 i,ect. on Pent., p. 202. 3 c. B., p. 2S9. 
 —207— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Chnsfiav. Liberty. 
 
 ology they have gone to their Bible instead of to the rocks 
 with their fossils. 
 
 Mr. Campbell feels the force of this fact when he 
 says : 
 
 ' The Bible offers no theories of astronomy, geology, chemistry 
 or mental philosophy. It fears nothing, however, from the de- 
 velopments of the sciences of matter or of mind. Ignorance of 
 nature, of the Bible and of true science led the Pope and his 
 ecclesiastics to denounce all the leading scientific innovations 
 upon ancient opinions, on the ground that they were unfriendly 
 to religion and would finally destroy the credibility of the Bible. 
 But a better knowledge of nature and of the Bible has shown 
 that there is no discord or contradiction in their testimonies."^ 
 
 Dr. Fisher quotes this important declaration from the 
 address (1891 j of Lewis F. Stearns:^ "We are coming 
 more clearly to understand the great purpose of the 
 Bible ; namely, to bring the church and the individual, 
 of all ages, into vital contact with the historic facts, the 
 divine truth, and the spiritual power of Christiantiy ; and 
 so to discern what is essential and non-essential for the 
 attainment of that purpose. We are most of us ready 
 to admit that false standards have been set up, that an 
 infallibility in non-essentials has been demanded, which 
 the Bible never claims, and which, if it existed, would 
 render it less fitted for its end. We are beginning to 
 see that we may grant that the sacred writers were not 
 scientific historians, not philosophers or men of science, 
 not experts in the methods of scientific exegesis or of 
 
 1 Ad(i.. p. 477. 2 History of Christian Doctrine, p. 548. 
 
 —208— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 literary criticism, and yet rest firm in our conviction that 
 they were so directed by the supernatural influence of 
 God's Spirit as to give us the perfect rule of faith and 
 life." 
 
 This is the same sentiment that Mr. Campbell is strug- 
 gling to express in the light afforded by the half century 
 previous. He says : 
 
 "When we take into view the object proposed, in giving to 
 the world the Bible, we have got into the possession of more than 
 half the secret. And what was this? It will be said, the il- 
 lumination of the world. But in reference to some end? As- 
 suredly in reference to some end; for, without this end in view, 
 there could be no selection of items or topics on which to ad- 
 dress men. God has not disclosed the principles of astronomy or 
 navigation in any part of his revelation; yet if the object of his 
 revelation had been the mere illumination of the mind on sub- 
 jects hitherto unknown, the systems and laws of astronomy or 
 chemistry would have been in times past a proper subject of 
 revelation. But it is not the mere illumination of the mind 
 which constituted a primary object in any communication from 
 God to man."^ 
 
 "It is not, then, a treatise on man as he was, nor on man as he 
 will be; but on man as he is and as he ought to be; not as he 
 is physically, astronomically, geologically, politically or meta- 
 physically ; but as he is and ought to be, morally and religiously."^ 
 
 "It instructs us in all our natural, moral, political and re- 
 ligious relations. Though it teaches us not astronomy, medi- 
 cine, chemistry, mathematics, architecture, it gives us all the 
 knowledge which adorns and dignifies our moral nature and fits 
 us for happiness."^ 
 
 The shipwrecks of faith that occur do not happen any 
 
 1 C. B., p. 246. 2 Ch Sys., p. 15. 3 ibid., p. 303. 
 (14) —209— 
 
'Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 more from the fact that criticism has turned the Hght o£ 
 truth upon the Bible than because men's previous ideas 
 about the Bible were false. The real blame falls not 
 upon the truth-bringers, the candles of the Lord, but 
 rather upon those who put the false ideas into the minds 
 of men; ideas which they come to see as false and 
 which must of necessity be unlearned. Mr. Campbell 
 tests the rationality of this system of giving up the Bible 
 because of former errors. He answers the "Inquirer," 
 saying : 
 
 "The sum of his first number is, that he was once a true be- 
 liever in revelation, and that he is now a true unbeliever; and 
 the reason he gives for being an unbeliever is that he 'could not 
 help finding traces of ignorance in the Scriptures.' * * * At 
 this discovery his faith exploded. But what was the ignorance 
 he could not help finding? This is the question. Would yoM 
 laugh if I told you it was this? He discovered that Moses was 
 ignorant of the art of steamboat building!! * * * His start- 
 ing point is this : 'The ancients had no correct knowledge either 
 of astronomy or natural history, and the writers of the Scrip- 
 tures, if they he not inspired, may be expected to exhibit such 
 misconceptions on those subjects as we know to have char- 
 acterized the age in which they lived.' * * * i^^^ now state 
 the counterpart of his position in his own style : The ancients 
 had no correct knowledge either of astronomy or of natural his- 
 tory; and the writers of the Bible, if they be inspired, must be 
 expected to exhibit such conceptions on these subjects as we 
 know not to have characterized the age in which they lived — 
 and thus have rendered themselves incredible, I say. For, should 
 a man pretend to wr4te the history of the first settlement of 
 Virginia, and tell us about their navigating the James River in 
 steamboats, two centuries ago, and pretend that he lived at that 
 
 —210— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 time, he would destroy the credibility- of his own work. And so 
 *Mr. Inquirer would have had Moses to have exhibited, 'if in- 
 spired,' conceptions of astronomy and natural history as we 
 know did not characterize the age in which he lived. This is 
 the honest frontispiece of 'all that ignorance he could not help 
 finding in the Bible.' 
 
 "In the first step the 'Inquirer' made the following errors are 
 adopted as axioms of undoubted truth : 
 
 1. That men inspired to teach religion should be inspired 
 with the knowledge of all natural science. 
 
 2. That to render a witness credible on one subject, it is 
 necessary that he should speak our views on every conceivable 
 topic. 
 
 3. That a writer who wrote three thousand years ago should 
 adopt a style of writing and exhibit views of things not known 
 or entertained by any people on earth for a thousand years 
 after he died, in order to make his narrative credible, * * 
 No wonder this gentleman ceased to be a true believer in the 
 Bible. * * * J would not give a pin for an arithmetical de- 
 fense of the size or of the contents of Noah's ark, nor for an 
 astronomical explanation of the Mosaic account of the creation, 
 to confute or refute the puerile cavils of any conceited skeptic; 
 while I can, by a single impulse of my great toe, kick from 
 under him the stool on which he sits, astride the mighty gulf, 
 the fathomless abyss, whence he cannot rise by all the imple- 
 ments and tacklings in the great magazine of skeptical re- 
 sources."^ 
 
 In taking such a position, that the divinity of the Bible 
 is not vested in its human structure, and that its authority 
 and appeal are not incident upon its being a text-book on 
 science, Mr. Campbell was not only able triumph- 
 antly to meet all the skeptics of his day, but he found 
 
 1 C. B.,p. 3S7f. 
 
 —211— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 himself in the right attitude for God's self-disclosure 
 through the medium of the Bible. 
 
 That he was far beyond his times is evident. An idea 
 of the background of his labors may be gained when one 
 takes into consideration that during his agitation for bet- 
 ter things, such men as Prof. Leonard Woods of the The- 
 ological Seminary at Andover were teaching an "Inspira- 
 tion so operated as to make the Bible a book free from 
 all error." Thus his doctrine of inspiration is plenary. 
 The argument is wholly from the claims of the Bible 
 itself, and this never seems to Woods to be, what it is, 
 a begging of the whole question.^ 
 
 Or, let Dr. Tholuck, of the German Lutheran Church, 
 state the popular esteem in which the Bible is held: "In 
 this manner arose, amongst both Lutheran and Reformed 
 divines, not earlier, strictly speaking, than the seventeenth 
 century, those sentiments concerning Holy Scripture 
 which regarded it as the infallible production of the Di- 
 vine Spirit, not merely in its religions, but in its entire 
 contents; and not merely in its contents, but also in its 
 very form .... it was taught that the writers of 
 the Bible were to be regarded as writing-pens wielded 
 by the hand of God, and amanuenses of the Holy Spirit, 
 who dictated, whom God used as the flute-player does 
 his instrument; not only the sense, but also the words, 
 and not these merely, but even the letters, and zozvel- 
 points, which in Hebrew are written under the conso- 
 nants — according to some, the very punctuation — pro- 
 
 1 A History of New England Theology' (Frank Hugh Foster), p. 358. 
 — 212 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 ceeded from God."^ Clovius taught: "It is impious and 
 profane to change a single point in the word of God, and 
 to substitute a smooth breathing for a rough one, or a 
 rough for a sm,ooth."^ Mr. Campbell, in speaking of 
 the original non-division of the Bible into chapters, verses, 
 etc., says : 
 
 "There is no more divinity in the chapters, verses, commas, 
 semicolons and periods of the inspired writings than there is 
 in the paper on which they are inscribed, or in the ink by which 
 they are depicted to our view."' 
 
 "As the human body to the soul, so is the word of God to his 
 volition. His word is but the vehicle through which his creative 
 power manifests itself. It is the mere form or embodiment of 
 his volition — the annunciation of his purpose. God always works 
 by means, never without them. The means, indeed, are but the 
 envelope of his will."* 
 
 This human envelope is a necessary means for com- 
 munication between souls. In fact, one has not really 
 expressed himself until he avails himself of tlws means. 
 "As a work of art cannot be a full, harmonious truth 
 until it has been completed in marble or bronze, and as a 
 conception in the artist's imagination is but a disjointed 
 and fragmentary beauty, so for mankind language is the 
 universal plastic material in which alone they elaborate 
 their surging ideas into thought."^ 
 
 But we must not lose sight of the soul behind the ex- 
 pression. The Divine Being must not be confounded 
 with the language that seeks to express him. May we 
 
 1 The New Appreciation of the Bible (Selleck), p. 160. 2 ibid., p. S5. 
 3 Bapt., p. 60. 4 Ibid., p. 90. 5 Lotze, Microscomus, Vol. I, p, 638, 
 —213— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 not forget that he is much more than all terms used in 
 revealing him. God and Christ are more than the Bible, 
 in so far as the content is greater than the term ; the 
 personal greater than the impersonal. 
 
 What is the term? And what is the content of a 
 term? Take the term "law." What is law? Did you 
 ever see a law? What are its features? How does it 
 look? What is it essentially? You mention that law 
 which the city council made last week. 'Tis posted 
 everywhere about the city that the citizens may read and 
 obey. But where is that law? WTiere does it exist? 
 Not on the posters reading, 'Thou shalt not.' Not in the 
 word spelt L-A-W. This term is only the thought con- 
 veyance. The law itself, its essential reality, is, no more 
 nor less, than the will of the community. They take hold 
 of a common term, mutually understood, in order to com- 
 municate the feeling of their wills to every other person 
 in the community. It is soul communicating with soul 
 by the use of a word between them. We may learn the 
 law and even obey it to the very letter, yet be ignorant 
 of the soul that willed it. 
 
 So it is when we come to the Bible. It is not altogether 
 a matter of words and terms and phrases, this Kingdom 
 of God. These are there, it is true, not to be worshipped, 
 but to be understood. That law of God exists not in the 
 paper and ink, nor in the word. It is but the sign. The 
 sign of an idea? Yes, but more. That law is the per- 
 sonal will of God. So of love, and holiness, and mercy, 
 and righteousness, and all the rest. The reality exists 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 in personal souls. These words, all of them, are mere in- 
 struments ; call them carts if you like, to convey the feel- 
 ing of the great soul of God to the souls of his children. 
 Do not, then, try to find the spirit in the impersonal let- 
 ters. These, understand, have such a firm grasp of their 
 conceptions that they may lead you into the great, loving 
 Father-HiCart, that you may find communion with him 
 and share with him his thoughts, his love, and his pur- 
 poses. We need not, then, reverence as sacred the let- 
 ters, be they perfect or imperfect, in such a way as to 
 allow them to hide from us the loving Father. But, rather, 
 use them, study them, know them, till we hear his voice, 
 feel his personality, and till our own souls answer back. 
 Then we shall become aware that God and Christ are 
 greater than any word of them. 
 
 This is why Amory H. Bradford can say :^ "Our com- 
 mon words tell no more of what is behind them than ocean 
 waves tell of the deeps of the sea. Beneath the word 
 'power' throb the ceaseless forces that palpitate through 
 the universe. Beneath the word 'love' thrill the hallowed 
 anticipations of youth, the deep devotion of mothers' 
 hearts, and the fathomless af¥ection of the Father Al- 
 mighty. Our words, like our music, our architecture, 
 and our paintings, are symbols of thoughts, visions and 
 harmonies which flow out into our souls from unseen 
 spheres." 
 
 The recognition of this fact enable Lotze to posit the 
 essential reality, the thing-in-itself in the personal:" 
 
 1 Messages of the Masters, p. 122. 2 Microcosmus, Vol. II, p. 721. 
 —215— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 "Good and good things do not exist as such independent 
 of the feeHng, wilHng, and knowing mind ; they have real- 
 ity only as living movements of such a mind. What is 
 good in itself is some felt bliss ; what we call good things 
 are means to this good, but are not themselves this good 
 until they have been transformed into enjoyment; the 
 only thing that is really good is that living love that wills 
 the blessedness of others." 
 
 Air. Campbell again seeks to elucidate this relation 
 between the word and its content, between literature and 
 its essential reality. He says : 
 
 "Language is, therefore, the spiritual or intellectual and moral 
 currency between man and man, between nation and nation, be- 
 tween ancestors and their descendants; by which, though dead, 
 they commune with us and we with them. This is the whole 
 circuit of language that decorates, enriches and beautifies the 
 halls of literature, science and religion." * * * 
 
 "Religion and morals come to us objectively, through litera- 
 ture. Yet literature is no more religion or morals than lead is 
 water because the water passes through it. Still it happens, if 
 you have not the leaden pipe you can have no water in the cup. 
 Now, as religion comes to us through the Bible, or through 
 literature, if you have not some Divine literature in your heads 
 or ears, you will never have Divine love in your hearts. Litera- 
 ture is not paper or parchment. It is that which is inscribed 
 upon it. The envelope of a letter, anymore than the paper on 
 which it is written, is not the letter. The letter is the written 
 word. A)id yet the u'riften word is itself but an envelope. The 
 power that smites the conscience, that melts the heart, that 
 cheers the broken spirit, is not the paper, the ink, the written 
 symbol, but something that underlies the whole. It is the mind, 
 the idea, the spirit, the conception, clothed, embodied, uttered, 
 
 —216— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 perceived, received, accredited, that agonizes or consoles, that 
 softens and subdues, that purifies and ennobles the heart, that 
 transforms the man and adorns him with the beauty of purity, 
 the true graces of religion and morality."^ 
 
 What then is this true reality, this Good-in-itself, that 
 the words, symbols, and, indeed, all things envelope? 
 This is what we are all seeking, by the use of these 
 means. What is "that something that underlies the 
 whole," that "something God put there Lotze an- 
 swers:'' "The true reality that is and ought to be, is not 
 matter, and is still less Idea, but is the hving personal 
 Spirit of God and the world of personal spirits which He 
 has created. They only are the place in which Good and 
 good things exist." 
 
 So we may come to the Bible as to an earthen vessel 
 not to be hindered by its human workmanship but to be 
 partakers of its rich contents. Ever remembering that 
 God is greater than any term used to express him, or 
 even any thought of him. For life is more than things, 
 and the soul is more than thinking. The soul's life is 
 thinking, feeling, willing. 
 
 Mr. Campbell's coming to the Bible as a book of liter- 
 ature is not unlike both in spirit and utterance, the Ger- 
 man, Herder, poet and theologian. Herder died when 
 Mr. Campbell was a boy of fifteen years. But Coleridge 
 over in England was thinking Herder's thoughts after 
 him when Mr. Camobell came to America. And Camp- 
 
 1 Add., p. 182f. (Italics author's.) 2 The Collected Poems of Wilfred 
 Campbell, p. 204. 3 Microcosmus, Vol. II, p. 728. 
 
 —217— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 bell was a reader and admirer of Coleridge. Indeed in 
 many features Mr. Campbell's labors both in the nature 
 of his task and in the way he met it, run parallel to Cole- 
 ridge's. Coleridge was working out in England what 
 Herder, and others, were working out in Germany, and 
 what Campbell was emphasizing in America. 
 
 Let us for a moment consider Coleridge^s efforts as 
 noted by Dr. John Tulloch. Here is his background. 
 On the one side was Evangelicalism, the only aggressive 
 religion at the time of 1800, but intellectually impotent 
 and indifferent to the rising waves of religious thought. 
 They felt ''secure within their well worn armor of tra- 
 ditionary prejudgment." A subjective standard of judg- 
 ment was ignored. Authorized dogmas, creeds, and the 
 Bible being settled long ago and fixed for all time were 
 the center of appeal to settle everything. The individual 
 judgment was ignored. Reason was set aside. The ap- 
 peal was to tradition, what is written. On the other side 
 were those who were pillowed upon the new thought 
 waves, being "carried away altogether, and loosing their 
 old moorings." This was the opposite extreme, an over- 
 intellectualism. Reason was everything. It was sub- 
 jectivism gone wild. 
 
 Coleridge faced the problem in England as Campbell 
 faced it in America. He renovated current Christian 
 ideas and urged a true study and investigation of the 
 Bible. Both Coleridge and Campbell were mediators, 
 
 1 Movements of Religious Thought in Britian During the 19th Century 
 (1901), Scribner. 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 and restorationists. While Coleridge was pleading for 
 the restoration of the broken harmony between reason 
 and religion by enlarging the conceptions of both, Camp- 
 bell was pleading this same lost unity by the restoration 
 of the original conceptions of the mind of Christ. But 
 both were emphasizing the inner light, the right and 
 duty of the individual judgment to act. Both were con- 
 tending for the freedom of the subject to pass judgment 
 upon all the objective data. Both were calling men from 
 the passive submission to tradition, to think, to reason, to 
 investigate, to decide, and to act for themselves. Both 
 were crying for rational men and a rational Bible. 
 
 And there was Herder over in Germany during the later 
 half of the 18th century, like Mr. Campbell in the 19th 
 century in America, humanizing the Bible and Chris- 
 tianity. But not in a manner which characterized many 
 of their contemporaries who lost sight of the Divinity. 
 Hagenbach, speaking of Herder, says : ''The very Bible 
 that so many had striven to set aside as an antiquated and 
 obscure book, and as a museum of old prejudices, he 
 would hold aloft as the light in the candlestick of the 
 sanctuary, just as Luther had done in the days of the 
 Reformation."^ 
 
 He took the Bible from the hands of those who were 
 giving it an artificial and strained interpretation, those 
 who were so zealous for the letter (both pro and con) 
 to the utter neglect of the spirit, and sought to place its 
 
 1 Hagenbach's History of the Church in the 18th and I9th Centuries, Vol. 
 II, p. 39. 
 
 —219— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 divinity where it is to be found, in the spirit and not in 
 the letter. He held that the individual himself must come 
 to the Bible, and instead of understanding from the tra- 
 ditional notions and conceptions, penetrate it with his 
 ov/n vision. It was thus brought to the touchstone of 
 the personal soul with whatever capacity it might possess, 
 having the aid of that same Spirit of the living God who 
 had spoken in these writers. Herder says: "My dear 
 friend, the best study of divinity is the study of the Bible, 
 and the best reading of the divine book is human. The 
 Bible must be read in a human way, for it was written 
 by men for men. The more humanly we read God's 
 Word, the nearer do we approach to the purpose of its 
 author, who created man in his own image, and deals 
 toward us humanly in all these works and blessings 
 
 where he manifests himself to us as God As 
 
 a child listens to its father's voice, and as a man to that 
 of his betrothed, so do we hear God's voice in the Scrip- 
 tures, and thereby learn the music of eternity which 
 sounds through them If God's Word is pre- 
 sented to me in the hand of criticism as a squeezed lemon, 
 God be praised that it becomes once more a fruit to me, 
 growing as it does upon the tree of life."^ 
 
 ^Moreover in his subjective enthusiasm Herder does not 
 lose sight of the great subjective fact. And in this, too, 
 ]\Ir. Campbell is at one with him. In coming to this rev- 
 elation of God with the personal soul, this touchstone 
 
 1 Hagenbach's History of the Church in the 18th and 19th Centuries, Vol. 
 II, p. 40. 
 
 —220— 
 
Alexander Cajiipbeil and Christian Liberty. 
 
 must be brought into conjunction with its true center — 
 Jesus Christ. Says Herder : "But in order to be assisted 
 the revelation of God as found in the Bible, and even in 
 the entire history of the human race, must be believed, 
 and thus ever return to the great center about which 
 everything revolves and clusters, Jesus Christ, the corner 
 stone and inheritance, the greatest messenger, teacher 
 and person of the Archetype. From his very nature he 
 is the corner-stone of salvation, in whom we would in- 
 clude everything that can save the world. 
 
 In coming to the Bible as literature of both human and 
 divine elements, and whose true meaning disclosed itself 
 only to those who penetrated it with their own under- 
 standing, Mr. Campbell was saved not only from a forced 
 mystical interpretation but a cheap and easy literalism. 
 He was no mystic. Neither was he a literalist. This dis- 
 tinction of the Hgiirative and literal meaning of words zi'as 
 of fundamental importance in his view of understanding 
 Scripture. He asks : 
 
 "Now, as it frequently happens that words have different 
 signification, as literal and figurative, and are consequently used 
 in diverse acceptations, sometimes meaning this and sometimes 
 that, the first and most necessary inquiry must always be, Hoic 
 shall we, in any particular case, ascertain whether the literal 
 or the figurative use of any given term shall be regarded as its 
 proper signification f To which important inquiry we give this 
 answer : The particular writer or speaker, or the particular 
 subject on which he writes or speaks, or the particular context 
 
 1 Hageiibach's History of the Church iu the 18th and 19th Centuries, Vol* 
 II, p. SO. 
 
 —221— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 or the particular adjuncts or words in construction with it, will 
 generalh-,, if not universally, ascertain and limit the meaning 
 beyond any reasonable doubt."^ 
 
 In other words, all these things must be shot through 
 with the interpreter's vision, then he may come to a judg- 
 ment upon the matter. 'Mr. Campbell furnishes us with 
 some excellent examples of his reasoning upon this im- 
 portant consideration. He gives point to the matter when 
 he says : 
 
 once knew a crazy literalist who affirmed that wind and 
 spirit were the same — that a man's breath was his soul, because 
 both were represented by the same word. Xor did he stop at 
 these absurdities, but persisted in the maintenance of a literal 
 river of life, jasper walls, pearly gates and golden streets in the 
 heavenly Jerusalem. 
 
 "That a lake of fire and brimstone, the flames of Tophet, and 
 the perpetual burnings of the Vale of Hinnom, should become 
 emblems and representations of the fearful doom of wicked and 
 ungodly men, is certainly as rational and consistent as that a 
 garden of delights, a golden city, spacious and splendid man- 
 sions, crowns of glory, and kingly thrones, should constitute the 
 imagery of the eternal honors and blessedness of the children of 
 God. No man of good sense and scriptural information under- 
 stands these representations to be exact literal delineations of 
 the future condition of saints and sinners. Pleasure or pain 
 corresponding with these figurative representations is all that 
 persons of sound sense and accurate discrimination understand 
 by them.'"2 
 
 Mr. Campbell arrives at these rational critical conclu- 
 sions by use of the same method which Bible scholars 
 
 1 Add., p. 405, 2 Add,, p. 448. 
 
 —222— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 are applying in the same way to certain portions of the 
 Old Testament.^ Here is a fine illustration of his rea- 
 soning upon the distinction between the literal and figur- 
 ative use of wbrds. About the idea of God's repenting, 
 he says: 
 
 "It is a meton^TTiic figure. A figurative expression is never 
 to be subjected to a literal interpretation. [Now, how does Mr. 
 Campbell know this to be a figure? What better right has he 
 for this result than some other critic has for the conclusion 
 that it is literal? Just this, he penetrates the idea with his own 
 vision, reason, understanding, sense. He tells us how he deter- 
 mines this judgment] Now that God could repent at all, in 
 the ordinary acceptation of the term, is out of the question alto- 
 gether, if for us no other reason, because he could not do wrong. 
 Hence we reject entirely the literal import of the word. The 
 expression is a figurative one. This is the very language of 
 poetry, occurring, too, in the best style of history. * * * 
 
 "There is a vast deal of this kind of writing in the Bible — I 
 mean figurative writing; and this expression, *It repented, the 
 Lord that he had made men on the earth?' may be called a 
 figurative exaggeration. [Undoubtedly the people in Mr. Camp- 
 bell's day thought him to be playing fast and loose with Moses.] 
 In our daily parlance we frequently observe the literal and 
 figurative use of the same word. We use words in their true im- 
 port, as far as we can, and it is a law that when matters of fact 
 are presented we should, as far as possible, use words in their 
 common acceptation. * * * But in poetry and prophecy we 
 have what we call rhetorical license. * * * 
 
 "The idea that God could be sorry and repent, as men repent 
 for having done wrong, is simply preposterous. It could not be. 
 
 1 c. f . Driver : The Lit. of the Old. Test. Kent ; A Hist, of the Hebrew People. 
 Lyman Abbot: The Evolution of Christianity, In fact all modern scholars, 
 c. f. Especially Clark Braden in Christian Cent., Dec. 6, '08. 
 
 —223— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 It is therefore a figurative expression — an appearance for a 
 reality."^ 
 
 He puts into the interpreter's hands the golden key of 
 understanding the Scriptures rationally in these words : 
 
 "We have in the Holy Scriptures every form of expression. 
 We have not only poetry and prose, precepts, promises and 
 threats ; but all the various forms and usages of human speech 
 seem to be employed in some part of the sacred volume."'^ 
 
 Lotze utters a significant remark here:" "The sacred 
 writings will always captivate men's minds by their 
 majesty of content and their grand beauty of expression, 
 the simplicity of which is more effective than any con- 
 scious art. But that which primarily hinders us from 
 taking them quite literally it not the incredibility of that 
 which thev report, but the figurative form of their teach- 
 ing, which must be interpreted in order to be under- 
 stood." 
 
 After such a consideration from ]\Ir. Campbell we feel 
 the peculiar force of the words of Dr. W. T. Moore :^ 
 ''The religious movement of the Disciples has given a 
 7ieiv vueaning to the Bible through a scientific interpreta- 
 tion of that book. Nothing distinguished Alexander 
 Campbell's advocacy more than his earnest plea for a ra- 
 tional interpretation of the Bible. Xo one has ever op- 
 posed more vehemently than he did the dogmatic and 
 mystic methods of treating the Word of God. His whole 
 system of hermeneutics is based upon the dictum that 
 
 1 Lect. on Pent., p. 156f, 2 ibid., p. 309. 3 Microcosmus, Vol. II, p. 4\. 
 4 The Plea of the Disciples of Christ, p. 5f. 
 
 004 
 
^Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 the Bible is an intelligent revelation of God, and can 
 therefore be understood when properly treated by a legit- 
 imate method of interpretation It must be evi- 
 
 den that the Disciple movement has done much for the 
 religion of Christ by giving a rational interpretation of 
 the Bible. While their contention for the Bible and the 
 Bible alone as a sufficient rule of faith and practice is 
 all right as far as it goes, their greater and more dis- 
 tinctive contention from the beginning has been that the 
 Bible can be understood only by the wise and honest use 
 of the scientific method of interpretation. This I regard 
 as one of the most distinguished features of their plea, 
 without which everything else would have been a fail- 
 ure." 
 
 (15) 
 
 —225— 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 Hearing the Voice of God 
 
The object of the Bible is primarily not a revelation of law. 
 either ecclesiastical, political, or moral, but a revelation of God. 
 This revelation is both imperfect and progressive. It is im- 
 perfect, because it is the revelation of the infinite to the finite, 
 and the finite cannot perfectly comprehend the infinite; it is 
 progressive because as man grows in spiritual and intellectual 
 capacity, his apprehension of the infinite grows also. This prop- 
 osition is as familiar to the student of theolog}- as it is axiom- 
 atic. "If." says Professor Harris. "God reveals himself, it must 
 be through the medium of the finite, and to finite beings. The 
 revelation must be commensurate with the medium through 
 which it is made and with the development of the minds to 
 whom it is made. Hence, both the revelation itself, and man's 
 apprehension of the God revealed, must be progressive, and at 
 any point of time incomplete. Hence, while it is the true God 
 who reveals himself, man's apprehension of God at different 
 stages of his own development may be not only incomplete, but 
 marred by gross misconception." * * * The Bible illustrates 
 this truth. The revelation of God grows both in clearness and 
 in spiritual grandeur as man grows in capacity to receive and 
 to communicate it.— (Lyman Abott), The Evolution of Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 ^228-- 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD. 
 
 Men were coming to the Bible theologically prepos- 
 sessed. Their understanding of it was predetermined by 
 their views of inspiration and revelation, which they had 
 inherited from the past. Some, therefore, had no diffi- 
 culty in hearing the voice of God which spoke to them 
 from the sacred volume. God was in the book, just as 
 the fathers had declared. While others, contrarily 
 taught, failed to hear any voice of God in the Bible call- 
 ing to their souls. Thereupon they turned from its 
 sacred pages with distrust. The uniqueness of Mr. 
 Campbell's attitude was, as we have already seen, to di- 
 vest himself of both the religious awe and the incredulous 
 prejudices as he stood before the Bible, allowing it to 
 speak for itself. 
 
 What were his findings as lie stood before the Book? 
 What did his own individual reason, understanding, com- 
 mon sense, find the Bible to be? We have already con- 
 sidered his estimate of its mechanical make-up — that it is, 
 as regards its form and structure, language, words, etc., 
 intensely human ; that it is a book of literature to be un- 
 derstood according to the same critical rules applied to 
 other literature. But is it no more than a human book 
 
 —229— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 of literature? Is it not unlike all other books that it 
 should receive his life-long endeavor? Did he find no 
 change of atmosphere when he stepped from even the 
 world's noblest literature into this? Yes, he did. He 
 found this Bible to be dizine as well as human. He 
 found Divinity breathing everywhere from its pages. 
 He found himself in a new, a different, a heavenly atmos- 
 phere. It was like stepping out of night into day. It was 
 like stepping out of the fogs into sunshine. It was like 
 getting a view of the universe from the mountain tops 
 above the clouds after having been in the valley beneath 
 the clouds. The change was as from the cold white 
 silence of winter to the warmth, beauty and music of the 
 springtime. It was a change from Alpine snows to 
 Southland's sunny tropics. Not the intellect alone be- 
 comes captivated and held under the spell of wonderful 
 ideas. But this Book enraptures the soul. It fires the 
 will. It touches the whole man. His vague longings 
 and dreams, his aspirations and ideals, his present need, 
 comfort and joy, are all met and satisfied in this blessed 
 volume. There is a response of life to life, of soul an- 
 swering to soul. Yea, this book so human is found 
 throbbing with Divine Life. 
 
 This is what Dr. William R. Harper was feeling when 
 he stepped out of the Assyrian and Babylonian writings 
 into the Hebrew Scriptures:' "We ^ * * find in 
 the one a something which seizes hold of us, moves us 
 powerfully, elevates us, inspires us. We look for the 
 
 1 Bible Criticism and the Average "Slan (Johnston), p. 71. 
 
 —230— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 same element in the other, but it is wholly lacking. In- 
 stead, there is a dullness, a flatness, an insipidity, which 
 disappoints, and at times almost disgusts. Why this dif- 
 ference? There is but one possible answer. This writ- 
 ing, or series of writings, is human, only human. The 
 other is human, to be sure, but also divine. The evidence 
 is direct; it is absolutely conclusive and must be con- 
 vincing." 
 
 So this becomes the ultimate purpose of the Bible and 
 the true end of all interpretation ; to bring the person face 
 to face with the Infinite Father, under the spell of his in- 
 spiration, his love, and his purpose. 
 
 Therefore to Mr. Campbell the Bible is not only "the 
 book of humanity," but "the book of Divinity. ' He says : 
 
 "The divine mind, the eternal spirit, breathes through the 
 signs of that book — through its words, its types, its figures, 
 its principles, its precepts, its examples — upon our moral nature. 
 It quickens, animates, purifies, enlarges, and dignifies it by an 
 assimilation of it to an incarnation of the Divinity itself; and 
 capacitates man and woman for higher joys, purer delights, 
 and a more efficient agency in imparting bliss to others, than all 
 the documents, volumes, facts and events in all the other rec- 
 ords of man, or developments of God visible to mortal eye."^ 
 
 To his thought the Bible contained no more a revela- 
 tion of God than of man. Side by side runs the process, 
 God gradually and progressively disclosing himself to 
 man, and man slowly comprehending himself and his 
 significance in the light of the revealed God. Such a 
 progressive insight is absolutely necessary for any true 
 
 1 Add , p. 68. 
 
 =-231— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 life, for, as Lotze says, '*any one who could see quite 
 through himself would seem to us to have come to an 
 end of himself ; he alone who is gradually discovering 
 himself is entitled to take an interest in his own exist- 
 ence." This "dark core of our being" then has its real 
 value, even with all its seeming unreality. We are con- 
 stantly driven to God to know ourselves. If the Bible 
 would meet us here we must see the revealed man, as well 
 the revealed God. Says ]\Ir. Campbell : 
 
 "It is such a revelation of God and of man, such a record 
 of the past, and such anticipation of the future, as meets all 
 the intellectual wants and moral exigencies of the human race.'*^ 
 
 Again, in speaking upon "the necessity of a divine revela- 
 tion of the moral nature of man," he says : 
 
 "We need as much revelation in respect to the latter as to 
 the former; and we are glad to know that these views are 
 not peculiar to us, but that in the march of Science, and the 
 growth of human understanding, their correctness is being more 
 and more realized."^ 
 
 How these recorded experiences of men speak to us of 
 man as well as of God, he shows when he says : 
 
 "It is the book of the Divine nature; it is, indeed, the book 
 of God — and the book of man. Other books have nations or 
 individual men, specific sciences or arts, for their subject; this 
 is the book of man. Human nature is here as fully revealed 
 as the Divine. They are revealed in comparison, in contrast, 
 in things similar, in things dissimilar. The fountains of the 
 great deep of human thought, of human motives, of human 
 action, are broken up : and man, inward and outward, is con- 
 
 1 Bapt., p. 89. - Lect. on Pent., p. 66. 
 
 —232— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 templated not in the dim taper of time, but in the strong, 
 bright light of eternity; not merely as respects his position on 
 the terraqueous globe, nor in human societ}^ but as respects all 
 his positions and attributes in a whole universe, a boundless 
 future, a vast eternity."^ 
 
 Again, 
 
 "No man ever saw himself, ever knew himself, who has not 
 stood before this mirror (Bible). It is as much a revelation 
 of man to himself as of God to man."^ 
 
 How progressive, expansive and fresh he understood 
 these self-disclosures to be appears when he says : 
 
 "The two cardinal elements of the whole Book of Books 
 are Divinity and humanity. * * * They are (the contents 
 of the Bible) subjects that will always grow in interest and 
 importance, as we grow in knowledge, and intellectual and spir- 
 itual power; and, we presume to say, that their expansion will 
 be eternal as mind itself. * * * Thus, as we advance in 
 wisdom and happiness, in the order of the wondrous and sub- 
 lime revelation of God, to the growing comprehension and 
 capacity of man, our growth, after all, will only prove that the 
 finite can never reach the infinite — the creature never rival the 
 Creator."^ 
 
 Or, as Dr. King puts it : "^''Moreover, when one thinks 
 what a real moral and spiritual revelation to a man means, 
 he must see that there can be a growing revelation only 
 as the man grozvs, as he comes little by little into that ex- 
 perience of life out of which he can interpret the revela- 
 tion." 
 
 Therefore, Mr. Campbell can say of the Bible that 
 
 1 Add., p. 68. 2 Add., p. 3 Lect. on Pent., p. 362. ■* Reconstruc- 
 
 tion in Theology, p. 159. 
 
 — 233— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 "It is not a theodicy, a theogony, a theocracy, or a theology. 
 It is an encyclopedia of Divinity and humanity. It is a reve- 
 lation of God in man, and of man in God. It is a revelation 
 of the mysteries of the universe so far as relates to the mys- 
 tery of godliness and of the past, present and future of man. 
 It is to us, the library of God, and the library of man as he 
 was, as he is, and as he will hereafter be."^ 
 
 This is the same practical conclusion that Dr. Dods 
 came to when he said : ^''In the Bible we have the writ- 
 ten history of this approach of C-od to man, the record of 
 His revelation of His gracious and saving purpose and 
 work. To think of it as a convenient collection or sum- 
 mary of doctrines, a text-book in theological knowledge, 
 is entirely to misconceive it." Its positive side is clearly 
 expressed by Dr. King when he says : ^''The Bible as- 
 sumption everywhere is that the living God comes into 
 touch with living men. The Bible, indeed, may perhaps 
 be best conceived as the record of the pre-eminent meet- 
 ings of God with men. * * * ^j^^ revelation is of 
 God, and inspiration is the meeting of God with men — 
 the Bible of the race must be the record of the pre- 
 eminent meetings of God with men." 
 
 Whatever may have been Mr. Campbell's views of 
 Revelation and Inspiration, it is certain that he trans- 
 cended the popular idea that the whole Bible was a revela- 
 tion of God and that the words of the Bible were in- 
 spired. If he had not come into the clear light of the 
 modern view, it was because of the vagueness and dark- 
 
 1 Mil. Har. 1860, p. 249. 2 The Bible : Its Origin and Nature, p. 96. 
 
 3 Reconstruction in Theology, p. 156f. 
 
 —234— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 ness of his times. The modern view was not yet clear, 
 either in its conception or expression, even among the 
 ablest scholars, as it was almost unknown, much less 
 comprehended, by the average mind. This latter fact 
 seems to have considerable weight in the expression of 
 ^Ir. Campbell upon this theme. For we find him, after 
 making his statements as regards revelation, from the 
 point of view of the scholar, appending a remark for the 
 people that they might not think of him as one gone 
 astray on the matter. This is evident when he says : 
 
 "I do not believe, then, that the book commonly called the 
 Bible is properly denominated a Divine Revelation, or a com- 
 munication from the Deity to the human race. At the same 
 time, I am convinced that in this volume there are revelations 
 or communications from the Deity to man. * * --^ The his- 
 tory of the bondage in Egypt, of their pilgrimage through the 
 wilderness, of their possession of the land of Canaan, of their 
 judges and kings, is no more than true and faithful history, 
 from the perusal of which the divine character and human char- 
 acter is developed to the mind of the reader. 
 
 ''This is as true of the Apostolic writings as of the ancient 
 Jewish prophets. In the five historical books of the New Cov- 
 enant or Testament, many thousand items are written which 
 are no divine revelation ; such as the reasonings, objections and 
 discourses of the Jewish priests, scribes, Pharisees, and Sad- 
 due ees. Many historical facts, such as the decapitation of John, 
 the calling of Peter, the enrollment of Augustus Caesar, the 
 death of Herod, the mart}Tdom and burial of Stephen, the pere- 
 grinations of the Savior and the Apostles, etc., etc. These and 
 a thousand other items cannot be called, in our sense of the 
 terms, a divine revelation. Many things in the prophetic books 
 of the Jewish Scriptures, and many things in the epistles of the 
 
 —235— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Christian Scriptures, are of the same kind. It is not the patri- 
 archal, nor the Jewish, nor the Christian Revelation in piece- 
 meal, that I am about to defend against the querulous, captious 
 skeptic — it is the consummation of all the ancient revelations 
 in the mission of the Son of God. In reference to this I view 
 the whole volume ; for this is the Alpha and the Omega of 
 the whole. The Christian religion is the corn in the ear. It 
 germinated in the patriarchal, it shot forth in the Jewish, and 
 ripened at the Christian era. It is not the bud nor the stalk, 
 nor the leaves, nor the blossoms, but the ripe ear which we 
 are to eat. And it is this about which we are concerned.'^ 
 
 But, after this evolutionary consideration, he sa3's this, 
 which plainly reveals his pedagogical method in adapt- 
 ing truth to the capacity of the hearer: 
 
 ''To obviate the unfounded fears of some weak minds, aris- 
 ing from m3- remark on Revelation, I will state distinctly, 
 though it is fairly implied in my remarks, that, as historians, 
 the sacred writers are infallible. * * * It matters not 
 whether these historians wrote in part or in whole from tra- 
 dition, from their own observations, or from immediate sug- 
 gestions, their historical accounts are to us infallible, because 
 sanctioned, approved, and quoted by those under the fullest in- 
 fluence of the Holy Spirit."^ 
 
 It seems certain that Mr. Campbell n^as earning into the 
 fidl light of modern Bible knozi'ledge as rapidly as the 
 age-circumstances allowed him. 
 
 This fact is again witnessed in his Owen debate, where 
 he says: 
 
 "For now it is usual to call the whole Bible a revelation 
 from God. I must explain myself here. There are a thousand 
 
 1 C. B.. p. 344f. - Ibid. 
 
 —236— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 historic facts narrated in the Bible which it would be absurd 
 to regard as immediate and direct revelation from the Almighty. 
 * * * Revelation, from the import of the term, must be su- 
 pernatural. But the historic parts of both Testaments present 
 a great variety of topographical and historic facts and inci- 
 dents ; colloquies between friends and enemies, of apostle, proph- 
 ets, and patriarchs, and of distinguished persons, good and evil; 
 wars, intrigues, amours, and crimes of every dye. Now it 
 would be neither philosophical nor rational to dignify and des- 
 ignate these colloquies, narratives, geographical and biograph- 
 ical notices, etc., by the term revelation. The term revelation, 
 in its strict acceptation among intelligent Christians, means 
 nothing more or less than a Divine communication concerning 
 spiritual and eternal things, a knowledge of which man could 
 never have obtained by the exercise of his reason upon mate- 
 rial and sensible objects; for, as Paul says, 'Things which the 
 eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither has it entered into 
 the heart of man to conceive, has God revealed to us apostles, 
 and we declare them to you.' * * * (Bible) teaches us 
 man, it develops human nature, it reveals to us the character 
 and purpose of the Maker of the Universe. * * * f^g ridi- 
 cule which some ignorant skeptics have uttered against the 
 contents of this book, under the general title of a revelation 
 from God, as if it were all properly so called, is, if it have 
 any point, only directed against their own obtusity of intellect, 
 and negligence in making themselves acquainted with the most 
 important of all books in the world."^ 
 
 Progressive revelation is from the known to the un- 
 known ; God meeting man in his very crudeness and lift- 
 ing him little by little to fuller knowledge. Therefore 
 Mr. Campbell can say: 
 
 "Things entirely unknown can only be communicated to the 
 1 Kvi., p. 146f. 
 
 —237— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 mind by things already known. This axiom is at the basis of 
 all revelations, and explains many otherwise inexplicable inci- 
 dents in the divine communications to man. The natural sym- 
 bols and the artificial names of things became, from a neces- 
 sity of nature, the only means through which God could make 
 himself known to man. This, too, has been the invariable rule 
 and measure of all the discoveries which God has made of 
 himself, his purpose and will. Hence, the spangled heavens, 
 all the elements of nature, the earth and the sea, with all their 
 inhabitants; the relations, customs and usages existing among 
 men, have all been so many types or letters in the great al- 
 phabet which constitutes the vocabulary of divine revelation to 
 men. He has even personated himself by his own creatures, 
 and spoken to man through human institutions. Hence he has 
 been called a Sun, Light, Father, Husband, Man of War, Gen- 
 eral of Hosts, a Lord of Battles, King, Prince, Master, etc. 
 He has been represented as sitting, standing, walking, hasting, 
 awaking. He has been compared to a unicorn, lion, rock, moun- 
 tain, etc. He has made himself known in his character, per- 
 fections, purposes and will by things already known to man. 
 This is the grand secret which, when disclosed, removes many 
 difficulties and objections, and sets in a clear light the genius 
 of the Jewish age of the religious world. 
 
 "Now when God became the King of one nation it was only 
 doing what, on a more extensive scale, and with more various 
 and powerful efifects, he had done in calling himself a Father. 
 Both were designed to make himself known through human 
 relations and institutions. One type, symbol, or name, is alto- 
 gether incompetent to develop the wonderful and incompre- 
 hensible God. But his wisdom and goodness are most appar- 
 ent in making himself known in those relations and to those 
 extents which are best adopted to human wants and imper- 
 fections. And the perfection in these discoveries consists in 
 their being exactly suited to the different ages of the world 
 
 —238— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 and stages of human improvement. At the time when he 
 chose one nation and made himself known to all the earth as 
 its King and God, no other name, type or symbol was so well 
 adapted to the benevolent purpose as those selected. For 
 when Israel was brought out of Egypt all the nations had their 
 gods; and these gods were esteemed and admired according to 
 the strength, skill, prowess and prosperity of the nation over 
 which they were supposed to preside. Hence that god was the 
 most adorable in human eyes whose people were most con- 
 spicuous. 
 
 "Wars and battles were the offspring of the spirit of those 
 ages cotemporaneous with the first five hundred years of the 
 Jewish history, and with the ages immediately preceding. 
 Hence the idea was that the nation most powerful in war had 
 the greatest and most adorable god. Now as the Most High 
 (a name borrowed from the very age) always took the world 
 as it was in every period in which he chose to develop him- 
 self anew, or his purposes, he chose to appear as the Lord of 
 Hosts, or God of Armies. And to make his name known 
 through all the earth, he took one nation under his auspices, 
 and appeared as their Sovereign and the Commander-in-Chief 
 of all armies."^ 
 
 The above sentiments are very illuminating and sig- 
 nificant, if not bold and advanced, when v^e take into con- 
 sideration the general state of development of Biblical 
 criticism at the time of utterance. We must remember 
 they were uttered in popular assembly in the city of Cin- 
 cinnati in 1829! If they lack the modemness and clear- 
 ness in expression of W. Robertson Smith's Edinburgh 
 and Glasgow lectures on "The Old Testament in the 
 Jewish Church/' let us remember these were delivered 
 
 1 Kvi., p. 360. 
 
 —239-. 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 fifty-two years after Mr. Campbell expressed these ideas. 
 According to his own principle, many changes in the con- 
 ceptions of truth occur in the course of a half century. 
 Or if one does not find in Mr. Campbell's utterance the 
 clearness, force and reality that he finds in Lyman Abbott's 
 address on this same theme in "The Evolution of Chris- 
 tianity," let him keep in mind the fact that these were 
 not published till after Mr. Campbell had been dead 
 twenty-six years. 
 
 But he continues in his remarks on progressive revela- 
 tion, showing how such an evolutionary method is really 
 God's way of accomplishment, both in the natural and 
 spiritual realms. In this he is not unlike the great Drum- 
 mond, who developed this idea and forced it so markedly 
 upon the attention of men. Mr. Campbell continues : 
 
 "But we must not think that only one purpose was gained, 
 or one object was exclusively in view in any of those great 
 movements of the Governor of the World. This is contrary to 
 the general analogy of the material and spiritual systems. By 
 the annual and diurnal revolutions of the earth, although by 
 the former the seasons of the year, and by the latter, day and 
 night seem to be chief objects, there are a thousand ends 
 gained in conjunction with the one principal one. So in this 
 grand economy, many, very many, illustrious ends were gained 
 beside the capital one just mentioned. For, as in the vegetable 
 kingdom, we have a succession of stages in the growth of 
 plants; as in the animal kingdom, we have a succession of 
 stages in the growth of animals; so in the Kingdom of God, 
 there is a similar progression of light, knowledge, life and 
 bliss. * * * Why did not the Universal Benevolence in- 
 troduce the best possible order of things first? Such cavaliers 
 
 —240— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 remind me of the child who asks, whether from curiosity or 
 petulance : Why does not the ripe ear of corn come up from 
 the seed deposited in the earth? Why does not the full ripe 
 ear first present itself to our eye? Would not a kind and 
 benevolent being have done this rather than have kept man 
 waiting for many months for the tedious progress of ger- 
 minating, growing, shooting, blossoming etc.? Could not an 
 almighty and benevolent being have produced the ripe ear 
 without waiting for a sprout, stalk, leaves, blossoms, and all 
 the other preparations of nature to form an ear of corn? We 
 are, even in the common concerns of life, but poor judges of 
 propriety; and it is extreme arrogance for us to arraign 
 Omniscience at the tribunal of our reason where we cannot 
 tell the reason why the blossoms precede the fruit. Do we 
 not see that it is the order of the universe, natural as well as 
 moral, that there should be a gradual development?"^ 
 
 If one fails in finding the real Darwinian ideas ex- 
 pressed here let him remember that Darwin did not 
 speak his word till thirty years after this was said. There 
 is always more light to break in upon the word of God ! 
 Again !^Ir. Campbell says: 
 
 "Moreover, the recent calling of the Gentiles astonished all 
 the apostles, as an event they had not been looking for. It 
 was the last evolution and development of the manifold wis- 
 dom and goodness of God to their minds; it was the discovery 
 of the last secret in the admirably gracious plan of God, with 
 respect to the whole human race."* 
 
 He gives the subject of revelation a further emphasis 
 as he shows how progressive and evolutionar\- it is : 
 "Revelation opens a new world, a new order of relations. 
 
 1 Evi., p. 361f. 2C. B.,p. 26. 
 
 (16) —241— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 and gives birth to new ideas, which, as the great apostle to the 
 nations says, 'The eye of man never saw, the ear of man 
 never heard, nor the heart of man never conceived.' ♦ * ♦ 
 But the development of the divine character, and of all our re- 
 lations to God and each other has been progressive, and not 
 consummated at once. Like the path of the just that shines 
 more and more into the perfect day, has been the development 
 of the character of God and the extent of human relations and 
 obligations. * * * jf ^ny object to this gradual and pro- 
 gressive exhibition of spiritual light, and impertinently ask 
 why these things should so be, let him ask the heavens and 
 the earth why at one time the stars only are visible, at an- 
 other the moon, and at another the sun. Let him ask the 
 earth why there is first the tender germ; next the vigorous 
 shoot; next the opening blossom, and, by and by, the mature 
 fruit. * * * 
 
 "The patriarchal age is distinguished by those institutions 
 adapted to mankind in the infancy of the world. The religious 
 institutions of this period found on record are in exact con- 
 formity to the condition of society in its incipient stages, and 
 confirm the pretensions of the volume which details them, to 
 the antiquity and authenticity which it claims."' 
 
 Therefore, since God gradually and progressively re- 
 veals himself to man as the growing consciousness of 
 man becomes capacitated to grasp him, Mr. Campbell is 
 enabled, with the other prophets of his day, to get a large 
 and gratifying outlook. The new era will be inaugurated 
 by the dawn of more light upon the sacred oracles. He 
 says : 
 
 "All wise and good men expect a millennium, or a period 
 of great happiness, upon the earth. They all argue that greater 
 
 1 C.B.,p. 495. 
 
 —242— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 light than that hitherto possessed will be universally enjoyed. 
 They do not merely expect a universal subjugation of all na- 
 tions, kindreds and tongues, to the Lord Jesus; they do not 
 merely expect a state of harmony, peace and union among all 
 citizens of heaven; but they look for a vast accumulation of 
 light and knowledge, religious, moral, political. They do not, 
 however, expect a new Bible or any new revelation of the 
 Spirit, but only a more clear and comprehensive knowledge of 
 the sacred writings which we now enjoy. This belief and ex- 
 pectation of all wise and good men is unequivocally declara- 
 tive of the conviction that the Scriptures are not now generally 
 understood, and that there are new discoveries of the true and 
 genuine meaning of these sacred records yet to be made."^ 
 
 This growing consciousness of man gradually laying 
 hold of the partially revealed God puts the idea of abso- 
 lutely perfect rez'elation, not only into the far-off future, 
 but among the impossibles. He says : 
 
 "So long, then, as I believe the Bible to be from God, so 
 long I must believe it to be a perfect revelation — not perfect in 
 the absolute sense of the word, for this would not suit us any 
 more than Paul's communicating revelations which he had in 
 the third heavens; but it is perfect as adapted to man in his 
 present circumstances. Many things are only hinted at, not 
 fully revealed; and while here we must see as through a glass 
 darkly, but in another state we shall have a revelation of his 
 glory which will be perfectly adapted to us in those circum- 
 stances; but even then that revelation will not be absolutely 
 perfect, for a revelation absolutely perfect would make God as 
 well known to his creatures as he is to himself, which I would 
 humbly say appears to me impossible."^ 
 
 In his debate on the Roman Catholic religion, he takes 
 
 IC.B.,426. 2 C.B.,p.l97. 
 
 —243— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 up the question of infallibility. We have space here to 
 take this up only briefly, and will confine the discussion 
 to where he seems to come to the gist of the whole mat- 
 ter. He says : 
 
 "The question between Protestants and Roman Catholics on 
 the subject of infallibility as respects the faith, is usually pro- 
 pounded in the following form : 'Is there an infallible rtde 
 of faith?' Both parties answer in the affirmative. Then 
 'zvhcre shall it be found?' Each party then sets about defining 
 and wrestling about this said infallible rule. The Protestant 
 says the Bible alone is the infallible rule ; and the Romanist 
 says the church, or the Bible explained by the church, is his 
 infallible rule. Thus the Protestant rests upon the Bible and 
 the Romanist upon the church — neither of which make men 
 infallible. * * * There is, in strict propriet}-, no infallible 
 rule -A faith. Nor is it possible there can be ; for men and 
 angels have erred under all rules. I wish to be understood. 
 The terms fallible and infallible do not at all apply to things; 
 they only apply to persons. We may have a perfect and com- 
 plete, or a sufficient rule ; but we cannot have an infallible one. 
 The fallibility or the infallibility is in the application of the 
 rule — not in the rule itself. The mechanician may have a per- 
 fect rule, and yet err in measuring any superficies. It is not 
 possible in mechanics, nor in morals, nor in religion, to have a 
 rule which will prevent error so long as those who use it are 
 free and fallible agents. * * * I own, it may be said, that 
 in common parlance we figuratively talk of an infallible rule. 
 I admit that we do, and that is the reason, when we come to 
 debate the matter, the parties are confounded; for the Bible 
 alone, or the Bible on the table; and the church alone, or the 
 church and the Bible together, have made no one free from 
 error. Therefore, there is no infallible rule in truth ; but we 
 
 —244— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 have a perfect rule, and if we apply it perfectly, it will make us 
 perfect."' 
 
 Thus the Protestant and the Catholic are at one as 
 they face the dilemma. Both the Protestant rule and the 
 Catholic rule must be interpreted. They must be brought 
 for interpretation to the touchstone of the hitman soul. 
 The human reason must pass upon the meaning and ar- 
 rive at a judgment upon the truth. If one does this un- 
 aided, he becomes a rationalist; if superstitiously and 
 emotionally, he becomes a mystic. But let us remind our- 
 selves that this is the age of personality, and that in- 
 fallibility belongs to personality, not to things. Then 
 says the Catholic: I will rest in the infallibility of the 
 Pope. But why do this? Why not among the great 
 personalities select the greatest, the perfect Son of God? 
 About him cluster and revolve all of truth, life and 
 reality. Let us come, then, with Herder and with Camp- 
 bell, and bring the soul into union with this greatest of 
 the sons of men who is also Son of God — then we may 
 divinely penetrate both the message in the Bible and the 
 message in the church with our own clarified visions. 
 This will be getting Christ's viewpoint of God's moral 
 world-order; Christ, who is Light of the World. Then 
 we shall be, not Catholics, nor Protestants, nor Rational- 
 ists, nor Mystics, but Christians ; those who have found 
 satisfaction to their soul's deep craving for something in- 
 fallible in the personal, in the union of their own indi- 
 vidual souls with Jesus Christ. Says Dr. W. T. Moore 
 
 1 D.dnR. C.,p. 167f. 
 
 —245— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 much to the point: ^"This desire for infaUibiUty is par- 
 tially satisfied in the Word of God. The Divine Word is 
 a sure testimony. It is an unerring guide in all that per- 
 tains to our religious life. But this infallibility must have 
 personality. It is not enough to believe something that is 
 certain. Abstractions do not bring rest. Theories are 
 lifeless things. Philosophy is cold and heartless. Even 
 governments or laws do not meet our case. The Bible 
 itself, as an end, would not be sufficient. So far as in- 
 fallibility goes, it is all assuring. It is everything we 
 claim for it in that respect. Still, if it failed to bring us 
 into contact with a personal Savior, all its infallibility 
 would be insufficient to meet our case. Our faith must 
 be personal, not doctrinal, if we would find perfect se- 
 curity and peace. Hence the Bible introduces us to an 
 infallible Person, and asks us to trust in him." And 
 Hermann also shows how we can each, through his own 
 moral experience, enter into this sphere of reality, this 
 certain infallibility : ^''If we have experienced His power 
 over us, we need no longer look for the testimony of 
 others to enable us to hold fast to His life as a real 
 thing. We start, indeed, from the records, but we do 
 not grasp the fact they bring us until the enrichment of 
 our own inner life makes us aware that we have touched 
 the Living One. This is true of every personality ; the 
 inner content of any such personality is laid open only to 
 those who become personally alive to it, and feel them- 
 
 1 The Plea of the Disciples of Christ, p. 115. 2 Communion with God p. 74. 
 —246— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 selves aroused by contact with it and see their horizon 
 widened." Hence we have not only a communicated 
 Jesus handed over to us by others on printed page, but 
 arising within our lives a ''revelation of the living to the 
 living." 
 
 If we come to the Record in this way there is no dan- 
 ger that we shall fail in hearing the voice of God speak- 
 ing to our souls, be the Bible's structure ever so human 
 or faulty. Out of the lives and experiences of those 
 prophets of the olden time in whom God spoke in such 
 fragmentary ways and in such various manners his voice 
 comes floating over all the crudeness of those early ages, 
 and, above all the dimness of time. Yea, more, in these 
 later days we hear God's voice calling in his Son. Jesus 
 Christ — the greatest, in the realm of personality; the di- 
 vinest, among the sons of men ; in the sphere of morality, 
 the sinless One; the highest conception of what God is; 
 the noblest conception of manhood ; the grandest and most 
 compelling ideal; the great all in all, fulfilling every 
 dream, desire, aspiration and longing of the soul of man 
 — there he stands, the Rock of Ages, the great Gibraltar, 
 unmoved before every assault of destructive criticism.' 
 Thus from the Record upon the parchment of paper and 
 ink stands forth this matchless Character, the embodi- 
 ment of God himself, the very image of his substance, the 
 effulgence of his glory ; while we behold his glory, glory 
 as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and 
 truth. And not once, but twice, yea, more, many times, 
 
 1 c. f. Theol. and the Social Consciousness (King), p. 188{. 
 
 —247— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 daily is the living voice of the Father heard, as we, each in 
 his own moral warfare and experience, rise up into the 
 life of the Christ. Hence in our fight for character it 
 becomes not so much the question of a book as the prob- 
 lem of a life. 
 
 So in Mr. Campbell's time the naive consciousness of 
 men zi'as listening for the sound of God's voice in a me- 
 chanically inspired, unhuman, inerrant Bible. One in 
 w^hich every word from cover to cover was the inspired 
 infallible word of God. If it had been dropped down 
 through the clouds from heaven to earth it would have 
 been no more divine or absolutely perfect. For, in the 
 view of literalism, its writers were passive instruments in 
 God's hands, even to the destruction of their own per- 
 sonalities. Like dead men, their eyes were closed to the 
 light all about them. They were insensible and irre- 
 sponsive to God in the world. They were mere senseless 
 machines being propelled by a God above the world. 
 This record which God had mechanically transmitted 
 through their inactive powers was a stereotyped thing, 
 a letter to be literally understood and slavishly followed. 
 And men, in coming to it to hear God's voice, must free 
 themselves of knowledge, culture and personality as 
 much as possible, -else the din of the world's voices would 
 drown out the voice divine. The God became disclosed 
 not in proportion to men's understanding, but propor- 
 tionate to their ignorance. The Bible thus became a 
 fixed, soulless letter. 
 
 Mr. Campbell, on the contrary, came to the Bible as a 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 book of literature. Its uniqueness and glory lay not in 
 the idea that it was unlike anything of earth. To him it 
 was a human book in composition, structure and style ; 
 like other books. It was to be understood like other 
 books with the application of the same critical rules. The 
 whole Bible was not the word of God, but the word of 
 God was contained in the Bible. It contained a revela- 
 tion of God, but was not all revelation of God. It was not 
 verbally inspired, but verbally human. Yet both the men 
 who wrote it and the individual who seeks to interpret it 
 are active, and have the help and inspiration of the Sp'rit 
 of God. In other words, the men are inspired, not the 
 letters or the mechanical make-up of the book. This 
 book is not a fixed parchment, but a living, growing 
 word of God. It is a divine, progressive revelation of 
 C^o& to man, and of man to himself. To growing:, de- 
 veloping man it becomes a constantly fresh revelation as 
 he rises in capacity to lay hold on God. Man may, there- 
 fore, be on the lookout and ever expectant tor new light 
 to flash from the sacred pages. Hence it is never the 
 dead letter, but always, to ]\Ir. Campbell, ''the living 
 oracles." 
 
 We are now able to appreciate Mr. Campbell's insist* 
 ence on coming to the Bible in the right attitude that we 
 may hear God speak. As Principal Fairbairn puts it: 
 "Unless God be heard in the soul he will not be found in 
 the word. In revelation the living God speaks, not sim- 
 ply has spoken, to living man."^ This spirit of response 
 
 1 Reconstruction? in Theology (King), p. 161. 
 
 —249— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 and capacity for vision Mr. Campbell puts in the follow- 
 ing form: 
 
 "We must come within the understanding distance. * * * 
 All beyond that distance cannot understand God; all within 
 :t can easily understand him in all matters of piety and moral- 
 ity. God himself is the center of that circle, and humility is its 
 circumference. The wisdom of God is as evident in adapting 
 the light of the Sun of Righteousness to our spiritu'il vision as 
 in adjusting the light of day to our eyes. The light reaches 
 us without an effort of our own ; but we must open our eyes ; 
 and if our eyes be sound, we enjoy the natural light of heaven. 
 There is a sound eye in reference to spiritual, as well as in 
 reference to natural light. Now, while the philological prin- 
 ciples and rules of interpretation enable many men to be skillfu: 
 in Biblical criticism, and in the interpretation of words and 
 sentences, who neither perceive nor admire the things repre- 
 sented by these words, the sound eye contemplates the things 
 themselves, and is ravished with the spiritual and divine scenes 
 which the Bible unfolds. 
 
 "The moral soundness of vision consists in having the eyes 
 of the understanding fixed solely on God himself, his approba- 
 tion and complacent affection for us. It is sometimes called 
 the single eye, because it looks for one thing supremely. Every 
 one, then, who opens the Book of God with one aim, with one 
 ardent desire, intent only to know the will of God — to such 
 a person the knowledge of God is easy; for the Bible is framed 
 to illuminate such, and only such, with the salutary knowledge 
 of things spiritual and divine. 
 
 "Humility of mind, or what is in effect the same, contempt 
 for all earth-born pre-eminence, prepares the mind for the re- 
 ception of this light, or, what is virtually the same, opens the 
 ears to hear the voice of God. Amidst the din of all the argu- 
 ments of the flesh, the world, and Satan, a person is so deaf 
 
 —250— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 that he^ cannot hear the still small voice of God's philanthropy. 
 But receding from pride, covetousness and false ambition — 
 from the love of the world — and coming within that circle, the 
 circumference of which is unfeigned humility, and the center 
 of which is God himself, the voice of God is distinctly heard 
 and clearly understood. All within this circle are taught by 
 God. * * * 
 
 "He then, that would interpret the oracles of God to the 
 salvation of his soul, must approach this volume with the 
 humility and docility of a child, and meditate upon it day and 
 night. Like Mary, he must sit at the Master's feet and listen 
 to the words which fall from his lips. To such a one there is 
 an assurance of understanding, a certainty of knowledge, to 
 which the man of letters alone never attained, and which the 
 mere critic never felt."^ 
 
 So Harnack says : ^"Humility is not a virtue by itself, 
 but it is pure receptivity, the expression of inner need, 
 the prayer of God's grace and forgiveness ; in a word, 
 the opening up of the heart to God." 
 
 From the partisan spirit in coming to the Bible Mr. 
 Campbell would turn away. This was seen to be one of 
 the regretted evils of his day. He says : 
 
 "There is a vast deal more of Bible reading, in these latter 
 days, for the purpose of enabling men to stand erect upon a 
 particular point of faith, peculiar to themselves or their creed, 
 than with a view of obtaining a clear and unbiased under- 
 standing and truthful appreciation of the intent and meaning 
 of Holy Writ."3 
 
 Again, he puts one in way of the true method of hear- 
 ing the voice of God. He says : 
 
 "Among the myriads who religiously read the Bible, why 
 1 Bapt.,p. 61f. 2 What is Christianity? p. 79. 3 Lect. on Pent., p. 308. 
 —251— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 is it that so little of the spirit of it seems to be caught, pos- 
 sessed and exhibited? * * * :Many read the Bible to have 
 a general idea of what it contains, as a necessarj- part of a 
 polite education ; man}- read it to attain the means of proving 
 the dogmas which they already profess; many read it with the 
 design of being extremely wise in its contents ; many read it 
 that they may be able to explain it to others; and alas! but few 
 appear to read it supremely and exclusively that they may 
 practice it, not only in their outward deportment but in the 
 spirit and temper of their minds. This is the only reading of 
 it which is really profitable to men, which rewards us for our 
 pains, which consoles us now, and which will be remembered 
 for ages to come with inexpressible delight. In this way and 
 in this way only, the spirit of it is caught, retained and ex- 
 hibited. Some such readers seem to be enrapt or inspired with 
 its contents. Every sentiment and feeling which it imparts 
 seems to be the sentiment and feeling of their hearts; and the 
 Bible is to their religion what the spirit is to their body — the 
 life and activity thereof. The Bible to such a person is the 
 medium of conversation with the Lord of Life. He speaks to 
 heaven in the language of heaven, when he prays, in the be- 
 lief of its truth, and the Great God speaks to him in the same 
 language; and thus the true and intelligent Christian walks 
 with God and converses with him every day."^ 
 
 In harmony with these same contentions is the idea 
 expressed by Dr. Dods : '"Roughly, therefore, the Bible 
 is called the revelation of God because it brings before 
 us in a written record what God has done to make Him- 
 self known, and what God-inspired men have seen in 
 that revelation and have thought of God. Obviously, 
 this involves that in order to appreciate and use the Bible 
 
 1 C. B . p. 22S. 2 The Bibk: Its Origin and Nature, p. 102. 
 
 —252— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 the reader of it must himself have the same spirit which 
 enabled its writers to understand the revelation of God 
 and to record it. The Bible is a record, but it is not a 
 dead record of dead persons and events, but a record ni- 
 spired by a living Spirit who uses it to speak to men now. 
 It is more than a phonograph which has mechanically 
 stored up for ages the words and tones of the original 
 speaker. It is the medium through which the living God 
 now makes Himself heard and known. But to find in it 
 the Spirit of God the reader must himself have the 
 Spirit." 
 
 We are now ready to learn from Mr. Campbell how he 
 would have the comer to the Bible know of a certainty 
 that its voice is the divine voice. What are its marks? 
 Has it the proper credentials? Does it speak with an 
 evidence that arrests, appeals to and satisfies the intel- 
 lectual, moral and spiritual nature of man? 
 
 —253— 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 Certainty of the Divine Voice. 
 
Let us rather measure it (Bible) by the divine unity of 
 ethical purpose which runs through it from the first to last, 
 which never fails through age after age, and which proves 
 itself to be the work of God, the Father of our Lord and 
 Savior Jesus Christ. * * * It is the Word, and its power 
 to give life to the soul, that is the miracle. * * * The di- 
 vine essence of the Bible consists in this — the marvelous story, 
 how it tells us that that moral warfare of ours is shared by 
 God him.self, that the divine nature descended into that war- 
 fare, that it bears the agony of strife — nay, the shame and the 
 curse of it! — all for man's salvation. * * * 
 
 Not that it fits the older theories of inspiration, but that, 
 independently of all human theories of inspiration, it carries 
 home to the hearts and consciences and the souls of sinful 
 men, that otherwise would remain in sin but for this strange 
 and almost incredible story of God's love, God's sacrifice and 
 agony for them. It therefore carries that story home to their 
 hearts and souls, needing no proof for itself, appealing only 
 in its own strength. That is why the Bible shall always be the 
 indispensable force to man's salvation, the one so unique and 
 conspicuous, the divine power for man's salvation in the min- 
 istry of the Holy Spirit. Study your Bibles for this alone, and 
 believe in it because it gives to you this naked truth of God's 
 love. — George Adam Smith (Bible Criticism and the Average 
 Man. — Johnson, p. 48f). 
 
 —256^ 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CERTAINTY OF THE DIVINE VOICE. 
 
 Mr. Campbell was not obliged to waste energy in prov- 
 ing to the satisfaction of his own soul the existence of 
 God. As for Kant, the starry heavens above and the 
 moral law within spoke for him. Mr. Campbell says : 
 
 "To call upon a rational being to prove the being and per- 
 fections of God is like asking a man to prove that he exists 
 himself. * * * The proofs of his existence become as nu- 
 merous as the drops of dew from the womb of the morning — 
 as innumerable as the blades of grass produced by the renovat- 
 ing influences of spring; ever}-thing within us and everything 
 without, from the nails upon the ends of our fingers to the sun, 
 moon and stars, confirm the idea of his existence and adorable 
 excellencies."^ 
 
 Coming to the Bible dispossessed of opinions pro and 
 con he allows it to speak its oz^m zi'ortJi. After a con- 
 sideration of its sublime ethical nature, he says : 
 
 "Books, written with such a design, with a design to purify, 
 elevate and glorify the debased and degraded children of men 
 * * * most assuredly come with a divine character to man. 
 Their claims on the attention and examination of those to whom 
 they are presented most certainly are paramount to all others."- 
 
 "From the object and character of the book of revelation, 
 its divine authority can be most triumphantly argued."^ 
 
 1 Evi., p. 402. 2 Uv. Or., p. 25. 3 Bapt., p. 30. 
 (17) —257— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 In this most congenial atmosphere of the Bible the 
 true objects of its inherent worth stand out prominently. 
 Aside from the ethical considerations which are so inter- 
 woven in its very texture and pervade the whole atmos- 
 phere of the book, he mentions "a peculiar originality of 
 character;" "sl simple, artless and sublime" style; "a 
 most striking unity of design," etc. Thus he is won 
 to the Bible as friend is won to friend, and as lover to 
 lover. The Bible out of its own deep riches makes its 
 lasting and effective appeal. This is the fact that Dr. 
 Selleck so beautifully illustrates : ^'*The diamond does 
 not command our aesthetic love by saying anything, but 
 by simply being a diamond and lying still before us in 
 all its purity and perfection." So with the lily, the great 
 literary production, the noble deed, and the lovable char- 
 acter, he points out. *'Its own intrinsic excellence has 
 power to win us to itself, to awaken within us and draw 
 out from us the best thought and feeling of which we are 
 capable. Such is always the power of real excellence in 
 any form — real worth, real beauty, real goodness, real 
 love ; it makes its own impression upon the human soul ; 
 and in contrast with it how poor and hollow are all coun- 
 terfeits, all falsehoods, all shams, all affectations, by what- 
 ever artifices they may be foisted upon us !" 
 
 Mr. Campbell thinks it both possible and probable that 
 God has spoken to man. In various ways he argues 
 this out. Moreover, he appeals to the claim of rational- 
 ity, that if there were no God or voice of God to man 
 
 1 The New Appreciation of the Bible, p. 209. 
 
 —258— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 this world would not be as it is, either a rational world 
 in thinking, or a rational world in living. So the nega- 
 tive picture presents itself to his mind as he says : 
 
 ''Among earth's inhabitants there is one class of beings for 
 whose creation and comfort all others do exist. Man is the 
 name of that class of beings. He is the end of this terrestial 
 creation. If he be lost — forever lost — all is lost. Crops of 
 vegetables annually spring out of the earth, and return to it 
 again. Races of animals feed upon them and die. They, like 
 their food, but enrich the earth. Day and night succeed each 
 other. Years revolve. The earth turns upon its axis, wheels 
 around its orbit, feeds and buries all its tenantry. Man him- 
 self and his food alike perish forever. * * * jf i^^^n lives 
 not again — if the Bible be not true — nature labors in vain; and 
 if there be no Creator, he works without a plan, and toils for 
 no purpose. Nature is an abortion, and the whole machinery of 
 the universe a splendid failure."^ 
 
 "Is he doomed to spring up like the grass, bloom like a 
 flower, drop his seed into the earth, and die forever? Is there 
 no object of future hope? No God, no heaven, no exalted 
 society to be known or enjoyed? Are all the great and illus- 
 trious men and women who have lived before we were born 
 wasted and gone forever? After a few short days are fled, 
 when the enjoyments and toils of life are over; when our 
 relish for social enjoyment, and toils of life are over; when our 
 the fountain of life are most acute ; must we hang our heads 
 and close our eyes in the desolating and appalling prospect of 
 never opening them again, of never tasting the sweets for 
 which a state of discipline and trial has so well fitted us? 
 These are the awful and sublime merits of the question at 
 issue. It is not what we shall eat, nor what we shall drink, 
 unless we shall be proved to be mere animals ; but it is, shall 
 
 1 Bapt., p, 33f. 
 
 — 25&— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 we live or die forever? It is as beautifully expressed by a 
 Christian poet: 
 
 "Shall spring ever visit the mouldering urn? 
 Shall day ever dawn on the night of the grave ?"^ 
 
 After a thorough consideration, he comes to this firm 
 conclusion : 
 
 "That the Bible contains a revelation from God is susceptible 
 of every variety and degree of evidence which guides men in 
 the affairs of this life. We have no species of moral evidence 
 that affords to mankind a higher degree of assurance than that 
 on which the Prophets and Apostles demand our unwavering 
 confidence. If we admit that there is truth in history, sin- 
 cerity in martyrdom, value in learning, advantage in talent, 
 excellency in truth, reason in the universe, or a Creator in the 
 heavens ; then must we admit the Bible is inspired by infinite 
 wisdom, and presented to man by his Almighty Father and 
 Benefactor."^ 
 
 Under the power of God's Love-Volume, he is made 
 to cry out: 
 
 "The word of God. It will stand forever. Till the heavens 
 pass away, not one word shall fail. Mountains, by the wasting 
 hand of time, may crumble down to dust; oceans may recede 
 from their ancient limits ; the heavens and the earth may pass 
 away, but God's word shall never, never pass away. It is 
 God's might}^ moral lever, by which he raises man from earth 
 to heaven. It is his almighty, awful, sublime and gracious will, 
 imbodied in such a medium as can enter the secret chambers of 
 the human heart and conscience, and there stand up for God, 
 and confound the sinner in his presence. The love of God is 
 all enveloped in it. and that is the great secret of its charm— 
 
 lEvi.,p, 20. 2Bapt.,p.36. 
 
 —260— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 the mystery of its power to save. It is love, and love alone, 
 that can reconcile the heart of man to God."^ 
 
 Among the world's best literature this book is supreme 
 in evoking the noblest from man. He says : 
 
 "For who knows not that the chief of our gratifications con- 
 sist in the exercise of our minds upon the most lovely and in- 
 teresting objects? And what can equal for grandeur, for 
 beauty, for variety, for interest, for permanency, the glorious, 
 the wonderful and lovely objects presented to our minds in the 
 Holy Scripture, to allure our souls to the love of piety and 
 benevolence — of all manner of virtue and goodness?"^ 
 
 Also in inspiring the highest motives it is a book un- 
 surpassed. He says: 
 
 "We have, in the document before us, young gentlemen, a 
 development of the power of motives, of more value in the 
 education of the hearts and consciences of men — revealing more 
 and better knowledge of both God and man — than all the 
 studied, logical and rhetorical lectures upon the beauty of vir- 
 tue, and everything else in the way of spruce and tinseled 
 oratory, even addressed to man."^ 
 
 He is able, after a discussion of forty-eight pages, to 
 come to this conclusion on the Gospel about which the 
 whole Bible clusters and revolves : 
 
 "Our faith in the gospel, we now conclude from these mere 
 specimens of evidence, rests upon the clearest and most solid 
 basis. It rests upon miracles well attesled by others, and on 
 miracles seen by ourselves. It rests upon the purity of its 
 doctrine, the majesty and the excellency of its precepts, the 
 riches and fullness, and the glory of its promises. It rests upon 
 the perfect originality, the unity, the grandeur, and the divine 
 
 iBapt.p.310. 2Evi.,p.245. 3 Lect. on Pent., p. 114. 
 
 —261— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 sublimit}' of its adorable Author. It was promulgated by the 
 purest, the noblest and the most disinterested heralds that ever 
 announced a new doctrine to men. It was sustained by their 
 godly sincerity, their toils, their privations, their endurance of 
 evil, and their glorious martyrdom for its sake. It enrolls 
 among its bclie-v ers and defenders the greatest, the wisest, the 
 best and the most gifted of mankind. All that we love, ad- 
 mire and venerate in human character, appears in the boldest 
 relief in the piety, humanity and universal excellence of its 
 friends and admirers. It confers upon all its fully initiated 
 disciples the whole circle of graces that adorn human nature 
 and fills their lives with the largest and richest clusters of the 
 delicious fruits of benevolence and mercy. It is just such a 
 message from the throne of heaven, had we been duly en- 
 lightened, we might have expected ; such a glorious display of 
 divinity and humanity as fully and eternally glorifies God, and 
 bestows infinite honor and happiness on man."^ 
 
 Although Mr. Campbell was living at a time just prior 
 to the widespread recognition of the worth of the ethical 
 in the appeal of truth, yet his discussions give a large 
 place to the ethical trend in the Bible as witnessing to 
 its divinity. 
 
 No one more than he felt the ijn possibility of proving 
 the diznneness of the Bible to all. He says: 
 
 "Some persons object to the Bible — because, as they say, 
 its divine inspiration is yet a subject of debate. Such thinkeis 
 and reasoners are grossly defective in reason and education. 
 Did ever any one hear of anything that has been proved to all 
 the world? * * * But shall we say that no proposition is 
 proved because it is not proved to the whole world? The 
 gospel will never be out of debate while there is one infidel or 
 
 1 Bapt., p. 48. 
 
 —262— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 skeptic in the world. This is, however, no more a disparage- 
 ment of its truth, or its claims upon all mankind, than it is an 
 argument against any proposition, fact or testimony, that all the 
 world has not yet acquiesced in its truth. 
 
 "We cannot believe by proxy, as nations, as empires, or as 
 worlds. We must each one believe for himself. Hence the 
 evidence must be considered, understood and appreciated by 
 even,' individual for himself."^ 
 
 So he says he will argue not the Bible's truth with 
 such opponents. He turns rather to the ethical fruits 
 which its truths have borne in an uncongenial and world- 
 opposing atmosphere. Here he finds it standing "like 
 the pillars of Hercules, the Rock of Gibraltar, or the ever- 
 lasting mountains," bidding "defiance to all the billows 
 of the ocean, and to all the tempests of Satan, to shake it 
 from its immovable basis." "We are willing to test the 
 tree by its fruits."'^ 
 
 He felt the inability of all compelling proof which was 
 merely external when he said : 
 
 "No man can love by the mere force of precept. No man 
 can love merely because he is commanded to love. It must 
 come, if at all, spontaneously, upon the presentation of beauty.'" 
 
 There must be the evoking of the soul's credence upon 
 the real worth, the inherent excellence which the object 
 presents. The response must be natural, true and im- 
 pelling. Merely abstract, mathematical, logical reason- 
 ing will not accomplish this. The real claims of God 
 and the Bible must be confined within the personal — 
 hence the evidential value of the ethical and the truly 
 
 1 Bapt., p. 35. 2 Bapt., p. 36 (c, f, also Evi., p. iii). 3 i.ect. on Pent., p. 373. 
 — 2«3— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 religious. The metaphysical and impersonal receded into 
 the background, ix'ith Mr. Campbell, while the personal, 
 with its ethical and its religious practicality, stepped in 
 before. Therefore he can say : 
 
 "Man has a mind to appreciate the goodness of God. He has 
 the Bible — the throne of grace — ever accessible, and a glorious 
 Mediator! And what more than these can he ask or need? 
 If he will permit the evidence of God's love to permeate his 
 heart, he will reciprocate that love, and if he have that love, 
 he will manifest it to his brother man, as well as to the Lord 
 Jesus, for, like the sun, it is a glorious center of radiation — 
 an ever-active principle, diffusing light and heat throughout the 
 sphere of its influence.'"^ 
 
 Again, as he turns from the unconvincing outward and 
 sensuous beauty, he exclaims : 
 
 ■'There is a beauty of holiness which eclipses the sensuous 
 as the bright rays of the noonday sun eclipse the glimmering 
 light of the twinkling star."" 
 
 Love, he finds, is the basis of Divine action ; Love and 
 sacrifice together, hand in hand, run through all God's 
 universe, both in its natural and spiritual aspects. Love 
 therefore becomes the keynote of Mr. Campbell's song 
 of God and of life, with its undertone of sacrifice. He 
 says : 
 
 "God so loved the world as to give his own Son — the be- 
 loved — to save it. The love of God is the parent of the uni- 
 verse. It passes all understanding. We may apprehend it. 
 
 1 Lect. on Pent., p. 361. - Lect. Pent., p, 354. 
 
 —264— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 No man has scaled its heights, nor fathomed its depths. No 
 language can express it."^ 
 
 "I never see the tear, trembling upon the eyelid of the 
 grief-stricken mother, without thinking of the love of God."^ 
 
 "The brightness of the sun at noonday dazzles the eye of 
 man; yet what is it but the shadow of the glory of God?"^ 
 
 "The blue vault of heaven, without a single star, declares 
 the glory of God's throne, while the systems of planets, in the 
 order and perfection of their being, are 
 
 " 'Forever singing, as they shine. 
 The hand that made us is divine.* "* 
 
 So he can say: 
 
 "We can reason to a certain point, and there we stop for- 
 ever. * * * It is faith, I repeat, it is faith that saves, and 
 anchors the soul of man in the heaven of eternal bliss."^ 
 
 He can say of the Bible : 
 
 "If there be anything in its matter which may seem at first 
 view to be rather abstract in its nature, the illusion disappears 
 in the light which follows the concentrated study — the intelli- 
 gent investigation of the beautiful truths and practical realities 
 found throughout the living oracles of truth."^ 
 
 He is able to conclude: 
 
 "But, study Him as we will, in nature or revelation, 
 providence or redemption, we can find no point of observation 
 from which a shadow rests upon his benevolence."^ 
 
 Therefore, he re -emphasizes the fact that, 
 
 "The universe itself is but the offspring of God's love. It 
 was not created simply because he had the wisdom and the 
 power to do it. The element of love entered into the inten- 
 
 iLect. on Pent., p. 315. 2 ibid., p. 316. 3 ibid., p. 309. 4 ibid., p. 313. 
 6 Ibid., p. 315. 6 Ibid., p. 309. ^ Ibid., p. 310. 
 
 —265— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 tion, characterized the execution and approved the completion 
 of his labors."^ 
 
 Thus we find Lotze turning from the speculative idea : 
 ^ "We must rather adopt the old religious view, which 
 finds in the loving will of God both the ground and rea- 
 son of a creation of a world of spirits within whom the 
 true glor}- of God can be an infinitely diversified enjoy- 
 ment, and of an order of phenomena helping as means to 
 bring this about." 
 
 So Robert Browning can look out upon God's world 
 and say: 
 
 "O world, as God has made it! 
 
 All is beauty; 
 And knowing this is love, 
 And love is duty." 
 
 And again : 
 
 "He who in all His works below 
 Adapted to the needs of man, 
 Made love the basis of the plan." 
 
 Still again: 
 
 "I have faith such end shall be; 
 From the first. Power was — I knew. 
 Life has made clear to me 
 
 That, strive but for closer view, 
 Love were as plain to see." 
 
 The question of a loving God in nature and in the 
 Bible was once a matter of logical proof. It is now a 
 
 1 Lect.on Pent.,p. 312. 2 The Phil, of Religion (Lotze-Conybeare) , p. 124. 
 —266— 
 
Alexander Cani^bell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 matter of seeing God, rather than of trying to demon- 
 strate him in formal logical terms. Mr. Campbell had 
 not much patience with those who, standing within the 
 full blaze of God's presence, failed to see him. To him 
 God was everywhere visible in love. 
 
 What, do you fail to see God as you look out amid 
 the warring elements of time? And as you go to his 
 Word is he, indeed, nowhere to be seen or heard? In 
 his book and without his book is his love any less made 
 manifest than his power? 
 
 Right here is the world's admiration for Robert Brown- 
 ing. Herein lies his peculiar force and merit as a re- 
 ligious teacher. He has that rare capacity of being able 
 to find Love, the great reality, ezerywhere. And this 
 Love is God. This was no Godless world to Browning, 
 and simply because he savv^ it to be no loveless world. 
 To him all else of the universe is mere framework; but 
 God and the soul stand sure, back of all the mechanism, 
 and were ever looking out in love. In his poem "Want- 
 ing Is — What?" he imagines such a loveless. Godless 
 world, and calls upon Love to come and supply the want : 
 
 "Wanting is — what? 
 
 Summer redundant, 
 
 Blueness abundant, 
 
 — Where is the blot? 
 Beamy the world, yet a blank all the same, 
 Framework which waits for a picture to frame. 
 What of the leafage, what of the flower? 
 Roses embowering with naught they embower ! 
 Come then, complete incompletion, O comer, 
 —267— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Pant through the blueness, perfect the summer! 
 Breathe but one breath 
 Rose-beauty above, 
 And all that was death 
 Grows life, grows love, 
 Grows love." 
 
 A world without love, a Godless world, would be only 
 structure, mere machinery, an awful blot. What would 
 be the highest delights of Nature with its beauty, color 
 and fragrance, with no soul to love and to be loved by? 
 What would be the harmonies of the universe without 
 the melody of mutually listening souls ? Simply a blank ! 
 Without God and the personal souls of his creatures, 
 without love, the universe would be without meaning, 
 without purpose, unsatisfying, irrational. Since the ar- 
 rival of Love all else has its place, meaning, significance 
 and value. And this is just the kind of world we know. 
 One in which ''grows life, grows love, grows love." 
 
 So everywhere Browning finds love peeping out from 
 behind the scenery of the universe. There may be mo- 
 ments when one is sunk, but the times are rare when 
 "the spirit's true endowments" stand not out ''plainly 
 from its false ones." For him "God is in all, and through 
 all, and over all." All, of good or ill, of joy or pain, of 
 love or hate, yea, everything was leading him into the 
 mansion of God's love. Every pathway of life led home 
 to God when the soul stood sure. One might strew 
 earth's pathway with roses, unobserved by human eye ; 
 he might sing melodies, unlistened to by mortal man — 
 
 —268— 
 
Alexander Caiupbeil and Christian Liberty. 
 
 but in the very effort of this love-task his soul was grow- 
 ing into the great Father's love. Others may have 
 turned from him and lost the love-gift, but love itself 
 was not lost; in the very bringing he had gained the 
 prize ; God and heaven were won. His soul had come up 
 through love into Love. Everything human was talk- 
 ing to Browning of God and Divine love. Every human 
 love led him into the Love Chamber of God's presence, 
 The leaf, the star, the moulted feather, the chord of 
 music, the face sweet and sad, the misplaced love, the ill 
 of life, the world's noisome roar, the silence — all were 
 ever leading him into the world of infinite love. From 
 the things of earth his soul was always leaping up to God. 
 Whenever and wherever he could find love, he was never 
 at loss to find God. 
 
 Who is there, then, able to stand in the presence of 
 such love made manifest and yet ask for proof of a lov- 
 ing God ? Both outside the Book and within the Book he 
 "Stands revealed in sacrificial love. Were I to dip my pen 
 into the sunlight, and write in shining letters of gold, 
 upon the petals of all the flowers of earth, so that all the 
 world might read, this sentence, "God is love were I to 
 turn from creation to the book which holds the sweetest 
 story ever told, and dip my pen into the flow of Calvary, 
 and then turn to the great blue sky above and write in 
 large crimson letters, so that all the world might read, 
 this sentence, "God is love" — it would be no plainer writ- 
 ten than it is to-day. The way of the Book is but the 
 way of the world; it is the only love-way; love coming 
 
 —269— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 by the way of the cross; through sacrifice and pain; 
 through suffering and tears; through the yielding up of 
 the best; reserving nothing, but giving all — this is life, 
 this is love, while the Great Heart of Love stands re- 
 vealed. "Herein was the love of God manifested in our 
 case, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the 
 world that we might live through him." (I John, 4:9.) 
 
 The day of the divine demonstration is past, i. e., try- 
 ing to prove God and the Bible in terms of formal 
 thought and logic. Dr. King gives us his mature thought 
 upon the theistic arguments. After thinking the whole 
 matter through from all that has been said upon both 
 the arguments — that the world is a sphere of rational 
 thinking; "the real is rational" (its Hegalian form), and 
 the arguments — that the world is a sphere of rational 
 living; "that which is most worthy must exist" (its 
 Lotzian form) — Dr. King in his latest word says: ^"To 
 see, now, the fundamental nature of these two great as- 
 sumptions that underlie all our thinking and living, is 
 really to see that the existence of a God of reason and 
 love is so certain and fundamental a fact that it really 
 has to be assumed in all thinking and living — a fact that 
 cannot be proved just because it is the basis of all proof. 
 ^ >k ^ He cannot be proved, because his existence is 
 necessarily assumed in all proof. * * The re- 
 ligious postulate, thus is necessary to all the rest of 
 life." 
 
 Professor James says of the words, God, free-will, de- 
 
 1 The Seeming Unreality of the Spiritual lyife (King, 1908) , p. 205f . 
 —270— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 sign, etc. : ^'Yet dark though they be in themselves, or 
 intellectuaHstically taken, when we bear them into life's 
 thicket with us the darkness there grows light about us. 
 * * * Pragmatism alone can read a positive mean- 
 ing into it, and for that she turns her back upon the in- 
 tellectualist point of view altogether. 'God's in his 
 heaven ; all's right with the world !' That's the real heart 
 of your theology, and for that you need no rationalist 
 definitions." 
 
 This has been the real difficulty in men's approach to 
 God and the characters of the Bible. They have come to 
 them as words, the content of which is to be explained 
 in terms of thought, demonstrated in logical proposi- 
 tions, and believed with an assent of mind, instead of 
 treating them as friends to be seen, associated with self, 
 and carried into the thick of life. This approach to the 
 Bible has been with the preconceived idea that it is so 
 unlike nature and life, God's other creations. On the 
 other hand, men have misunderstood the Bible and God 
 simply because they were holding false scientific notions. 
 They have thought that in nature is seen only the strug- 
 gle for life. While the real truth is that, after all, this is 
 in its nature an ethical law; it is only an election for 
 service ; and is supplemented by that higher law that runs 
 through the universal order, the struggle for the life of 
 others. Sacrifice is everywhere without the book and 
 within the book. And sacrifice is love. The world, per- 
 haps, is not now better able to reason in a logical, syllogis- 
 
 1 Pragmatism (James), p. 121f. 
 
 —271— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 tic way than in the days of Aristotle. But it has its eyes 
 open to facts as they are. It can see more. It can see 
 God, and everywhere hear his voice. God and the Bible 
 are now seen to be love, because they are sacrificial. 
 This great fact of sacifice is not so appalling as it once 
 was. Since its immensity has been grasped, and its 
 ethical nature understood, it is found to be love that we 
 are beholding. In the very light of Biblical criticism 
 and of science, God stands both without and within the 
 book as the creating, sacrificing and loving Father. And, 
 while the material world gives us only glimpses, the 
 spiritual world gives us whole and perfect views of God's 
 goodness and love. Outside the personal the story of 
 his wondrous love has never half been told. The love- 
 burst of the natural world (the cosmos), the sun giving 
 forth its light and power, the trees sending out their 
 buds, the plants putting forth their flowers, all existence 
 yielding up energy for other and better existence — is as 
 nothing in comparison with the love-expression of the 
 spiritual world; self-conscious love, voluntarily being 
 spent and losing itself for others, the very incarnation of 
 the Divine life given for men, the great God himself 
 agonizing and suffering with and for his creatures. Why, 
 "the glories of creation are lost amid the splendors of re- 
 demption !" In the cosmic sphere it is existence for ex- 
 istence. In the realm of the personal it is life for life, 
 not unlike except in degree, not unlike except in worth. 
 
 Therefore Drummond can sound the depths of the 
 sacrifice in creation and then tell us about the 'Xove- 
 
Alexander CaniphcII and Christian Liberty. 
 
 beauty," the "Love-music" and the *'Love-foods" every- 
 where found. Sacrifice is not death, but Hfe. Its ab- 
 sence is death. Science is reaffirming the Master's own 
 thought and principle. "The first chapter or two of the 
 story of Evolution may be headed the struggle for life, 
 but take the book as a whole and it is not a tale of battle. 
 It is a love story."^ Says Drummond: ""The divinity 
 of Christianity, it might be added, is not to be as unlike 
 Nature as possible ; but to be its coronation ; the fulfillment 
 of its promise ; the rallying point of its forces ; the 
 beginning not of a new end, but of an infinite accelera- 
 tion of the processes by which the end, eternal from the 
 beginning, was henceforth to be realized. A religion 
 which is Love and a Nature which is Love can never be 
 but one." 
 
 So Dr. Campbell can say: '"The sacrifice of Christ 
 is not to be looked upon as a strange incident in the life 
 of humanity, but as in perfect harmony with the vicarious 
 principle which is everywhere in operation. * * in 
 all true love, whatever be its stage of development, there 
 is a vicarious element." So does Robertson recognize 
 "the eternal fact that sacrifice is the law of life ;" and 
 Drummond shows the altruistic principle running 
 through nature like a scarlet thread. 
 
 And John Fisk: *"I think it can be shown that the 
 principles of morality have their roots in the deepest 
 foundations of the universe, that the cosmic process is 
 
 1 Ascent of Man (Drummond), p. 218. 2 ibid. 3 The Heart of the 
 Gospel, p. 127. 4 Through Nature of God, p. 79. 
 (18) —273— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 ethical in the profoundest sense, that in that far-off morn- 
 ing of the world when the stars sang together and the 
 sons of God shouted for joy, the beauty of self-sacrifice 
 and disinterested love formed the chief burden of the 
 mighty theme." 
 
 Again, as Fisk contrasts a narrow or partial time sur- 
 vey of the world-order where Nature may appear to be 
 divine irony with the eternal view, he finds the problem 
 disentangled in ''the omnipresent ethical trend" : ^"Below 
 the surface din and clashing of the struggle for life we 
 hear the undertone of the deep ethical purpose, as it 
 rolls in solemn music through the ages, its volume 
 swelled by every victory, great or small, of right over 
 wrong, till, in the fullness of time, in God's own time, it 
 shall burst forth in the triumphant chorus of Humanity, 
 purified and redeemed." 
 
 This is the reason ^Ir. Campbell turned to the ethical 
 for exhibitions of the Divine loze. He tells us that the 
 atonement is the central idea of Christianity, and that 
 ''the idea of a living sacrifice giving itself for others is 
 the grandest idea in the universe."^ This is why Mr. 
 Campbell turns to the personal realm to know the cer- 
 tainty of the Divine voice. Says Dr. Schultz : '"The 
 fact that in a world of causal law personal beings sub- 
 ject their lives to the good, and sacrifice themselves to it, 
 is the best proof for the existence of God. * ^ 
 God is not more certain to us than is the unique nature 
 
 1 Through Nature of God, p. 130. 2 i^ect. on Pent., pp. 233, 238. 3 Out- 
 lines of Christian Apologetics, p, 116f . 
 
 —274— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 of our own thought, feeling and wilHng, that is. than our 
 personal self-consciousness ; but he is just as certain. He 
 who denies him must also renounce true rationality, hap- 
 piness and morality. Hence at bottom God himself bears 
 witness to his existence in the spiritual life of m.an {Testi- 
 monium Spiritiis Sancti internum). The devout man, 
 the sage and the moral man are the living proofs of the 
 existence of God." 
 
 Differing minds vary in their susceptibility to various 
 kinds of evidence. To some, physical or material power 
 bulk large in evidential value. To others, more cultured 
 and refined, things of character and spiritual values have 
 the greater weight. That evidence seems most powerful 
 to arrest the attention of men to-day which has the ethical 
 appeal. [Mr. Campbell in speaking of what he desig- 
 nates the "moral internal"' evidence of the Bible, says : 
 
 'This is the evidence which ever has made the deepest im- 
 pression upon the mind of the honest inquirer; and affords a 
 much greater assurance to the believer of the certaint}- of the 
 foundation of his faith than all the external proofs which have 
 ever been adduced. The moral internal evidence of Chris- 
 tianity- is that which takes hold of the great mass of mankind, 
 because it seizes the soul of man; it adapts itself to the whole 
 man. It speaks to the understanding, to the conscience, to the 
 affections, to the passions, to the circumstances, of man, in a 
 way which needs no translation, no comment. It pierces the 
 soul of man, dividing even the animal life from our intel- 
 lectual nature and developing the thoughts and intents of the 
 heart. There is an internal sense to which it addresses itself, 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 which can feel, examine, weigh and decide upon its pretensions 
 without pronouncing a word."^ 
 
 Mr. Campbell proceeds to illuminate this fact from the 
 words of Soame Jenyns, of whom he says : 
 
 "This erudite and acute statesman triumphantly proves the 
 Divine authority of this religion, from the religion itself, or 
 what is not unfrequently termed the internal evidence. * * * 
 When speaking of the personal character of this religion, Mr. 
 Jenyns very forcibly remarks : 'And here I cannot omit ob- 
 serving that the personal character of the author of this re- 
 ligion is no less new, and extraordinary, than the religion itself, 
 who "spoke as never man spoke," and lived as man never 
 lived. In proof of this I do not mean to allege that he fasted 
 forty days, that he performed a variety of miracles, and, after 
 being buried three days, that he arose from the dead; because 
 these accounts will have but little effect on the minds of unbe- 
 lievers, who, if they believe not the religion, will give no credit 
 to the relation of these facts; but I will prove it from facts 
 which can not be disputed. For instance, he is the only 
 founder of a religion in the history of mankind which is totally 
 unconnected with all human policy and government, and there- 
 fore totally unconducive to any worldly purpose whatever. All 
 others, Mahomet, Numa, and even Moses himself, blended their 
 religious institutions with their civil, and by them obtained 
 dominion over their respective people; but Christ neither 
 aimed at nor would accept of any such power; he rejected 
 every object which all other men pursue, and made choice of 
 all those which others fly from, and are afraid of. He re- 
 fused power, riches, honors and pleasure; and courted pov- 
 erty, ignominy, tortures and death. Many have been the en- 
 thusiasts, and imposters, who have endeavored to impose on 
 the world pretended revelations, and some of them, from pride, 
 
 1 Eri., p. 283. 
 
 —276— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 obstinacy or principle, have gone so far as to lay down their 
 lives, rather than retract. But I defy history to show one zvho 
 ever made his own suiferings and death a necessary part of 
 his original plan, and essential to his mission; this Christ 
 actually did; he foresaw, foretold, declared their necessity, 
 and voluntarily endured them. If we seriously contemplate 
 the divine lessons, the perfect precepts, the beautiful discourses, 
 and the consistent conduct of this wonderful person, we can- 
 not possibly imagine that he could have been either an idiot 
 or a mad man; and 3'et, if he was not what he pretended to be. 
 he can be considered in no other light. And even under this 
 character he would deserve some attention, because of so 
 sublime and rational an insanity there is no other instance in 
 the history of mankind.' 
 
 After a long quotation of the above nature, Mr. Camp- 
 bell turns to his opponent in debate, Robert Owen, say- 
 ing: 
 
 "One miracle there is, which Mr. Owen must believe at all 
 events, on the whole premises before us. He must believe that 
 a set of vile impostors, deceivers of the basest stamp, the 
 greatest cheats and liars that ever lived, did give birth to the 
 purest system of morality the world ever saw — did recommend 
 the practice of every virtue which human reason in the most 
 cultivated state of society can admire and approve. * * * 
 This miracle Mr. Owen must believe, which is a miracle of a 
 more incredible character than any one in the volume, espe- 
 cially when we take into view the circumstances attendant on 
 the progress and sufferings of these wicked impostors."- 
 
 "Never was there such a moral phenomenon exhibited upon 
 this earth as the first establishment and progress of Chris- 
 tianity. The instruments by which it was established, the op- 
 position with which it was met, and the success which at- 
 
 1 Evi., p. 374f (Italics Author's) . 2 Ibid., p. 383. 
 
 —277— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 tended its career, were all of the most extraordinary character. 
 The era of Christianity itself presents a very sublime spec- 
 tacle : the whole world reposing in security under the pro- 
 tecting wings of the most august of all the Caesars; peace, uni- 
 versal peace, with her healthful arms encircling all the na- 
 tions composing the great empire which was itself the com- 
 summation of all the empires of the ancient world. Polythe- 
 ism, with her myriads of temples and her myriads of priests, 
 triumphantly seated in the affections of a superstitious people, 
 and swaying a magic scepter from the Tiber to the ends of 
 the earth. Legislators, magistrates, philosophers, orators and 
 poets, all combined to plead her cause, and to protect her from 
 insult and injun,'. Rivers of sacrificial blood crimsoned all the 
 rites of pagan worship; and clouds of incense arose from every 
 city, town and hamlet in honor of the gods of Roman super- 
 stition. Just in this singular and unrivaled crisis, when the 
 Jew's religion, though corrupted by tradition and distracted by 
 faction, was venerated for its antiquity and admired for its 
 divinity; when idolatry was at its zenith in the pagan world, 
 the Star of Bethlehem appears. The marvelous scene opens 
 in a stable. What a fearful odds! What a strange contrast! 
 Idolatry on the throne, and the founder of a new religion and a 
 new empire lying in a manger! 
 
 "Unattended in his birth, and unseconded in his outset, he 
 begins his career. Prodigies of extraordinary^ sublimity an- 
 nounce that the desire of all nations is born. But the love of 
 empire and the jealousy of a rival stimulate the bloody Herod 
 to unsheath his sword. Many innocents were slaughtered, but 
 heaven shielded the new-born King of the world. For the 
 present we pass over this wonderful history. After thirty years 
 of obscurity we find him surrounded with what the wise, the 
 wealthy and the proud would call a contemptible group; tell- 
 ing them that one of them, an uncouth and untutored fisher- 
 man, too, had discovered a truth which would new-modify 
 the whole world. In the midst of them he uttered the most 
 
 —278— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 incredible oracle ever heard. I am about, says he, to found a 
 new empire on the acknowledgment of a smgle truth, a truth, 
 too, which one of you has discovered, and all the powers and 
 malice of worlds seen and unseen shall never prevail against 
 it. What a scene presents itself here! A pusillanimous, wav- 
 ering, ignorant and timid dozen of individuals, without a penny 
 apiece, assured that to them it pleased the Ruler of the Uni- 
 verse to give the empire of the world; that to each of them 
 would be given a throne from which would be promulgated 
 laws never to be repealed while the sun and moon endure. 
 
 "Such were the army of the faith. They begin their career. 
 Under the jealous and invidious eyes of a haughty sanhedrim 
 at home, and under the strict cognizance of a Roman emperor 
 abroad, with a watchful procurator stationed over them, they 
 commenced their operations. One while charged with idolatry; 
 another with treason. Reviled and persecuted until their chief 
 is rewarded with a cross, and themselves with threats and im- 
 prisonment. A throne in a future world animated him, and a 
 crown of glory after martyrdom stimulated them. On they 
 march from conquest to conquest, till not only a multitude of the 
 Jewish priests and people, but Caesar's household in imperial 
 Rome became obedient to the faith. Such was the commence- 
 ment. 
 
 "The land of Judea is smitten with the sword of the Spirit. 
 Jerusalem falls, and Samaria is taken. The coasts of Asia, 
 maritime cities, islands and provinces vow allegiance to a 
 crucified King. Mighty Rome is roused, and shaken, and af- 
 frighted. Sacrifices are unbought, altars moulder and temples 
 decay. Her pontiffs, her Senate and her emperor stand 
 aghast. Persecution, the adjunct of a weak and wicked cause, 
 unsheathes her sword and kindles her fires. A Nero and a 
 Caligula prepare the fagots and illuminate Rome with burn- 
 ing Christians. But the scheme soon defeats itself ; for anon 
 'tis found that the blood and ashes of martyrs are the seed of 
 the church. So the battle is fought till every town of note, 
 
 —279— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 from the Tiber to the Thames, from the Euphrates to the 
 Ganges, bows to the cross. On the one side superstition and 
 the sword, the mitred head and the sceptered arm combine; on 
 the other, almighty truth alone pushes on the combat. Under 
 these fearful odds the truth triumphs, and shall the advocates 
 of such a cause fear the contest now? 
 
 "Yes, my fellow citizens, not a king nor a priest smiled 
 upon our faith until it won the day. It offered no lure to the 
 ambitious; no reward to the avaricious. It offered no alliance 
 with the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, nor the pride of 
 life. It disdained such auxiliaries. It aimed not so low. It 
 called for self-denial, humility, patience and courage on the 
 part of all its advocates; and promised spiritual joys as an 
 earnest of eternal bliss. By the excellency of its doctrine, the 
 purity of its morals, the rationality of its arguments, the 
 demonstration of the Holy Spirit, and the good example of its 
 subjects, it triumphed on the ruins of Judaism and Idolatry. 
 The Christian volunteers found the yoke of Christ was easy 
 and his burden light. Peace of mind, a heaven-born equanim- 
 ity, a good conscience, a pure heart, universal love, a tri- 
 umphant jo}', and a glorious hope of immortal bliss, were its 
 reward in hand."^ 
 
 "No philosopher or poet, known to the living world, ever 
 drew a perfect character. * * * But the miracle of 
 miracles is, that plain unlettered fishermen drew the only per- 
 fect character inscribed in the memoirs of humanity. * * * 
 None of the rabbis of Israel, not one of the philosophers of the 
 Greeks or Romans, of the Medes, or the Persians, could 
 imagine a perfect man. But in the four gospels stands a 
 monument of humanity, in the personal history of Jesus Christ, 
 in which no man living or dead can find one shadow of im- 
 perfection in word or deed.'" 
 
 "The simple character of Jesus weighs more in the eye of 
 cultivated reason than all the miracles he ever wrought. No 
 
 1 Evi., p. 15f. 2 Mil. Har. 1858, p. 243. 
 
 —280— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 greater truth was ever uttered than these words: 'He that 
 has seen me has seen the Father also'"^ 
 
 Here we come to what Dr. Dods calls the ''true touch- 
 stone of Scripture:^ "The only possible ultimate ground 
 for believing Scripture to be the word of God is that 
 there is that in the truth delivered which convinces me 
 that God is its author/^ 
 
 ]\Ir. Campbell in allowing the inherent worth of the 
 several parts of Scripture to make their own appeal to 
 his ever-open and responsive soul was able to distinguish 
 the true from the false, and the best from the better. 
 He says : 
 
 "What is the Word of God? 'i^ * * In the Bible, we 
 have seen, are the revelations of God; but, beside these, much 
 of the history of the world. * * * That which is em- 
 phatically called the Word of God, the Word of the Lord, or 
 the Word, in the New Testament, is generally, if not ex- 
 clusively, the Gospel, or Good News, concerning Jesus 
 Christ. * * * Peter * * * defined the Word of God, or 
 the Word. * * * He defined the message, or proclamation, 
 in this way: 'That word, or message, which God sent by 
 Jesus Christ, you have, no doubt, heard the report of ; how it 
 was proclaimed by John concerning the mission of Jesus, who 
 did so and so. To him,' said he, 'did all the prophets testify 
 that whosoever believeth in him might obtain remission of 
 sins.' * * * Thus Peter defined the Word of God. And 
 this is and emphatically the Word of the Lord or the Word of 
 God, to which, my friends, we ought, one and all, to pay su- 
 preme regard.''^ 
 
 Therefore, Mr. Campbell is enabled to come to the 
 
 1 Evi., p. IV (Italics Author's). 2 The Bible: Its Origin and Nature, p. 
 156. 3 Evi., p. 402f. 
 
 —281— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 subjective certainty of the objective fact of Christ, and in- 
 form us how we may be certain that the voice n'hich we 
 hear is the Diz ine z oice. He says : 
 
 "The evidence which supports the claim of this volume is not 
 confined to any one species, but embraces the whole. Its truth 
 becomes the subject of experience, properh' so called. Jesus 
 the Messiah puts it in the power of every person whom he ad- 
 dresses experimentally to prove the truth of his pretensions. 
 He says: 'Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy 
 laden, and I will give you rest. If any man put himself under 
 my guidance he shall know the truth, and the truth shall make 
 him free.' Thus we have the means of deciding experi- 
 mentally on the reality of his pretensions. Whether he were 
 an impostor or the Messenger of the Great God is submitted 
 thus to be tested by our experience. Where is the man who 
 has proved these promises false? Myriads have experienced 
 their truth. Thus you see it is doing injustice to the wisdom 
 of the author of this volume to say that he has made it a 
 matter of testimony only, properly so called. For its claims are 
 supported by intuitive evidence, experience and testimony."^ 
 
 Because this is true the greatest infidels are not those 
 who mentally disbelieve, but those who by their ungodly 
 lives of infidelity give the lie to God's truth and thus 
 ever keep rolling back his coming Kingdom of Love and 
 his reign of truth and righteousness. This Mr. Camp- 
 bell most ungently feels, for he says: 
 
 "Nothing has ever given so much weight to the Christian 
 arguments as the congenial lives of those who profess them. 
 On the other hand, nothing has defeated the all-subduing plea 
 of speculative Christianity (as it may be called) so much as the 
 
 1 c. B., p. 374. 
 
 —282— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 discordant lives of those who profess to believe it. Had it not 
 been for that one drawback, Christianity tnis day had known 
 no limits on this side of the most distant home of man."^ 
 
 "Let industry, frugality, temperance, honesty, justice, truth, 
 fidelity, humility, mercy, sympathy, appear conspicuous in the 
 lives of the disciples, and the contrast between them and other 
 professors will plead their cause more successfully than a hun- 
 dred preachers. * * * There is wanting a more elevated 
 piety to bring up the Christian character to the standard of 
 primitive times. * * * If an)^ one would enjoy the power 
 of godliness he must give up his soul to it. * * is the 
 whole bent of the soul — it is the beginning, middle and end of 
 every day."^ 
 
 "There is a charm, there is an indescribable influence in the 
 genuine fruits of Christianity, which, when exhibited in liv- 
 ing Christians, the most abandoned are constrained to respect."^ 
 
 Speaking about the necessity of a personal reformation, 
 he says : 
 
 "The form of godliness in individuals and in societies may 
 exist without the power; and a congregation may, like a well- 
 disciplined army, be clothed with all the regimentals and per- 
 form all the involutions to an iota, and yet not a soldier 
 among them — not a Christian in spirit and temper — in life and 
 deportment."* 
 
 Dr. Brown, in the summary of grounds for believing 
 in the Christian God, concludes v^ith this same thought, 
 which brings criticism into the sphere of the personal: 
 ^"But there is a better apologetic than that of the schools, 
 and that is to live before men a life so Christ-like that 
 those who see it shall be moved to desire a like life for 
 
 IC.B., p. 509. 2 ch. Sys., p. 297. 3 d, on R. C. R., p. 439. 4 G. B.,p. 185. 
 5 Christian Theology in Outline, p. 138. 
 
 —283'— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 themselves, and so be introduced into that experience 
 out of which alone a sincere faith in the Christian God 
 can grow." 
 
 This is Tennyson's thought : 
 
 "And so the Word had breath, and wrought 
 With human hands the creed of creeds 
 In loveliness of perfect deeds, 
 
 ^lore strong than all the poetic thought; 
 Which he may read that binds the sheaf, 
 Or builds the house, or digs the grave." 
 
 And Whittier joins him : 
 
 "The dear Lord's best interpreters 
 Are humble human souls; 
 The gospel of a life like theirs 
 Is more than books or scrolls. 
 From scheme and creed the light goes out, 
 
 The saintly fact survives ; 
 The blessed Master none can doubt, 
 Revealed in holy lives." 
 
 Hen:e Dr. Whewell asks the momentous question: 
 
 "Ought we not to act with the large views, the lofty pur- 
 poses, the deep self-consciousness of immortal beings, if we 
 are immortal beings?"^ 
 
 Herein Mr. Campbell is able to transcend even criti- 
 cism itself. When Bishop Purcell asks him in debate, h^ 
 replies : 
 
 "But the gentlemen asked a question which has puzzled 
 wise men to answer. A child, however, of four years old could 
 have asked Newton a question that he could not have an- 
 swered in a thousand years. 'How can you prove the Bible?' 
 
 I Cambridge Theol. Assays, p. 5%. 
 
 —284— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 says the Bishop. Does it prove itself? I will imitate him 
 this once, and ask: Does nature prove itself? Does God 
 prove his own existence without his works or by his works? 
 Must there be another universe created to prove this? * * * 
 So the Bible proves itself to be the word of God, as nature 
 proves itself to be the work of God. Thus has the supreme 
 intelligence stamped the impress of himself both on nature and 
 revelation. David says : 'Lord, thou hast magnified thy word 
 above all thy name.' * * * p^ul and Peter wrote, and 
 said much more by divine inspiration than is preserved or 
 recorded. So did the ancient prophets. We need not to prove, 
 in order to our faith, who collected the writings into one 
 volume, any more than who collected the words of Christ 
 that are reported. * * * L^et a man sit down as Mary sat, 
 at the feet of Christ, and humble himself as a pupil ought; he 
 will then hear the voice of God, and understand it, too. He 
 will then discern how it is that all God's children are taught 
 by God, and that there is none that teacheth like him."^ 
 
 This intrinsic character of the religion of Jesus and 
 not external proofs is what led Coleridge to such a 
 sublime faith in Gk)d. Coleridge cries out ^'Evidences 
 of Christianity ! I am weary of the word. Make a 
 man feel the want of it; rouse him, if 3^ou can, to the 
 self-knowledge of his need of it; and you may safely 
 trust it to its own evidence. * * * From the very 
 nature of those principles, as taught in the Bible, they 
 are understood in exact proportion as they are believed 
 and felt. The regulator is never separated from the 
 mainspring." 
 
 So Mr. Campbell, in his quest for something authorita- 
 
 1 D. ou R. C, p. 266 (Italics Author's). 2 Faith and Rationalism (Fisher), 
 p. 96. 
 
 —285— 
 
Alexander CainpbcU and Christian Liberty. 
 
 tive, goes back beyond the church and the fathers to the 
 Bible. But even here we found him making a distinc- 
 tion between what is narrative and what is word of God ; 
 what is record and what is revelation ; what is letter and 
 what is spirit; what is human and what is divine; what 
 is prose and what is poetry; what is the occasional lan- 
 guage conveyance and what is the essential divine truth 
 conveyed. His "Sermon on the Law" is a single ex- 
 ample of how he in the Bible chose between the letter 
 and the spirit, law and grace, ]\Ioses and Christ. His 
 critical result was that, though God had in the past 
 spoken in the prophets partially, he now had completely 
 revealed himself in Christ — whom we should hear. 
 Hence he not only finds in the Bible the authoritative 
 voice, but he finds that voice to be the voice of the Father 
 speaking in his Son. Therefore, the Bible is the au- 
 thoritative book, not because it is an infallible rule, but 
 it contains an infallible person. \Mth Dr. King in quot- 
 ing Principal Fairbairn: ^"We come back, then, to the 
 position that authority belongs to the Bible, not as a book, 
 but as a revelation : and it is a revelation, not because it 
 has been canonized, but because it contains the history 
 of the Redeemer and our redemption." Says Mr. Camp- 
 bell : 
 
 "Jesus Christ is the center of the whole evangelical system. 
 He is 'the root and the offspring of David,' 'the Sun of 
 Righteousness,' 'the bright and the Morning Star,' 'the Alpha 
 and the Omega' of the volume. 'The testimony of Jesus is the 
 
 ^ Reconstructions m Theologj-, p. 161. 
 
 —286— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 spirit' of all sacred histor>^ and of all divine prophecy. Now 
 the history- of the Bible is very rationally or philosophically 
 arranged, both in its prospective and retrospective character, 
 with a single and sublime reference to Jesus Christ"^ 
 
 Again he shows how fitting this is in view of the cry- 
 ing needs of men. He says : 
 
 "He has been made Lord for us. * * * To make him 
 Lord for us was to invest him with universal authority. 
 * * * That he might be able to do all for us that our con- 
 dition needs. * * * He is Lord of life, Lord of the Spirit, 
 Lord of all. * * * We need a Leader, a Luminan.^ a Sun 
 of Righteousness ; and we want one who can always help us 
 in the time of need, when we wrestle not with flesh and blood, 
 but with the rulers of the darkness of this world ; with wicked 
 spirits living in the air."^ 
 
 And most optimistic is he of future Christian progress 
 as he says : 
 
 "Jesus will be universally acknowledged by all the race of 
 living men, and all nations shall do him homage. This state of 
 society will be the consummation of the Christian religion, in 
 all its moral influences and tendencies upon mankind."' 
 
 This idea of the authority of Jesus was the keynote of 
 the Declaration and x\ddress : 
 
 "Resume that precious, that dear-bought liberty, wherewith 
 Christ has made his people free; a liberty- from subjection to 
 any authority but his own in matters of religion."* 
 
 These contentions of Mr. Campbell are in harmony 
 with those expressed by Dr. Dods : "''The value of the 
 
 1 Bapt., p. 26. 2 Ch. Sys., p. 54. 3 Hjid., p. 311. ■* Historical Docu- 
 ments, p. 104. 5 The Bible: Its Nature and Origin, p. 25f. 
 
 —287— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Bible results from its connection with Christ. He is the 
 supreme, ultimate revelation of God, and the Bible, being 
 the amber in which He is preserved for man, is as in- 
 violable and unique as He. * * Its unity is to be 
 found in the unity of God's purpose. Or it may be said 
 that its unity is to be found in its center, Jesus Christ." 
 
 Dr. Wendt says: ^"I am firmly persuaded that a reso- 
 lute return to the teaching of Jesus himself will be the 
 most powerful and efficient means of promoting and 
 strengthening the Christian religion in our time, and mak- 
 ing it clear and intelligible." 
 
 This return to the Christ as authority explains the 
 fact of Mr. Campbell's greater emphasis upon the New 
 Testament over the old. Dr. Van Kirk, speaking of the 
 constant appeal to the New Testament which our fathers 
 made, says : "To appeal to the New Testament is to 
 appeal to Christ. Jesus is the alpha and omega, the center 
 and circumference, the spring and the stay of the whole 
 volume. I am suspicious of any cry 'Back to Christ,' 
 which is not a cry 'back to the literature which God in 
 His providence has given us about Christ.' As I would 
 not take the long journey of the traditions of the church, 
 I would not take the short cut of rationalistic criticism. 
 The Christ outside of or apart from the Book, if such 
 were possible, is not the Christ for me."^ 
 
 This is the merit of Ritschl's view of the Bible. Says 
 Dr. Swing: ^"We shall find that for him the source- 
 
 1 The Teaching: of Jesus, Vol. I, p. 2. 2 The Rise of the Current Reforma- 
 tion, p. 123. 3 The Theology of Albrecht Ritschl, p. 86, 
 
 —288— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 point in history from which the study of Christianity 
 must be directed is the New Testament. He says quite 
 conclusively here that 'the theology which is to set forth 
 the authentic content of the Christian religion in a posi- 
 tive form has to be obtained from the books of the New 
 Testament and from no other source.' " 
 
 J. J. Haley says : ^*'The most characteristic and funda- 
 mental feature in the movement with which Mr. Camp- 
 bell was identified was insistence on the restoration of 
 Apostolic emphasis on the Lordship of Jesus the Savior. 
 His absolute sovereignty of religious and moral au- 
 thority. Absolute surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord of 
 all is Christianity was the trumpet call that sounded in 
 every sermon." This Mr. Campbell confirms, as we have 
 seen from his own words. The personal Jesus was the 
 controlling idea in his religion. As he says : 
 
 "Jesus Christ was, and is, a person; not a thing, not a doc- 
 trine, not a theor}^ * * * Jesus Christ was a real person, 
 and had personal, positive attributes. He had a real and posi- 
 tive character, unique, original, transcendent. It was as fixed, 
 as positive and as radiating as the sun in heaven. The origi- 
 nality and unity of his character is all-sufficient, in the eye of 
 cultivated reason, to claim for him a cordial welcome into our 
 world, and to hail him as the supreme benefactor of our race. "2 
 
 "Our little systems have their day, 
 They have their day and cease to be; 
 But they are broken lights of thee. 
 And thou, O Lord, art more than they." 
 
 1 The Christian Century, Feb. 8, '06. i Evi., p. IV. 
 (19) —289— 
 
CHAPTER VII, 
 The Heretic. 
 
upon a day in the sixteenth century, at Rome, some men, 
 bearing the title of Inquisitors, who assumed to derive wisdom 
 and authority from God himself, were assembled to decree 
 the immobility of the earth. A prisoner stood before them. 
 His brow was illumined by genius. He had outstripped time 
 and mankind, and revealed the secret of a world. It was 
 Galileo. 
 
 The old man shook his bold and venerable head. His soul 
 revolted against the absurd violence of those who sought to 
 force him to deny the truths revealed to him by God. But 
 his pristine energy was worn down by long suffering sorrow; 
 the monkish menace crushed him. He strove to submit. He 
 raised his hand, he, too, to declare the immobility of the earth. 
 But as he raised his hand he raised his weary eyes to that 
 heaven they had searched throughout long nights to read there- 
 on one line of the universal law; they encountered a ray of that 
 sun which he so well knew motionless amid the moving 
 spheres. Remorse entered his heart ; an involuntary cry burst 
 from the believer's soul: Eppur si muove! — and yet it moves. 
 
 Three centuries have passed away. Inquisitors, inquisition, 
 absurd theses imposed by force — all these have disappeared. 
 Naught remains but the well-established movement of the 
 earth, and the sublime cry of Galileo floating above the ages. 
 
 Child of Humanity, raise thy brow to the Sun of God, and 
 read upon the heavens: If moves! Faith and action! The 
 future is ours. — Mazzini. 
 
 —292— 
 
CHIAPTER VII. 
 
 THE HERETIC. 
 
 Alexander Campbell was not only a critic, ''a higher 
 critic," so called. This is putting it altogether too mildly. 
 From the witness of both his work and times it might 
 not be speaking against fact to say that he was pre- 
 eminently the American critic of the nineteenth century. 
 This would be, however, a matter of opinion. But vvC 
 may say with the utmost propriety and candor, that he 
 was a bold and fearless Biblical critic, who was fearfully 
 hated and whose critical results called forth the com- 
 bined antagonism of priest and people. 
 
 One who would know the genius of that thought- 
 movement, which broke loose in the Renaissance, in the 
 fourteenth century, filtered down through the religious 
 consciousness of the Reformation, in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, and which force still unspent is working in every 
 department of thought and life, must, first of all, think 
 of it as a critical movement. The movement of which 
 Biblical criticism is only one of the mighty and significant 
 tendencies. 
 
 Says Draper: ^"The Reformation had been, to no 
 small extent, due to the rise of criticism, which still con- 
 tinued its development, and was still fruitful of results. 
 
 1 The Intellectual Development of Europe, Vol. II, p. 224. 
 
 —293— 
 
Alexander Campbell a;:d Christian Liberty. 
 
 * * * The doctrine successfully established by Luther 
 and his colleagues — the right of private interpretation and 
 judgment — was the practical carrying out of the organic 
 law of criticism to the highest affairs with which man 
 can be concerned — affairs of religion. The Reformation 
 itself, philosophically considered, really meant the cast- 
 ing off of authority, the installation of individual inquiry 
 and personal opinion."^ 
 
 He who would understand Alexander Campbell, the 
 man himself, his work and his writings, must come to 
 him in this setting which gave him birth, fired his being 
 and received his life-long endeavors. It is in the sphere 
 of criticism that we see him doing work in his life's task ; 
 both destructive and constructive, but destroying only 
 that he may construct. Both by nature and by choice 
 he belonged to this great modern movement which has 
 so upset the world in its thought-realm. But it upsets 
 only the false that it may set up the true. 
 
 First of all, he distinguished himself as a true Protest- 
 ant. He was part and parcel of this unique tendency. 
 And what fundamentally do we find this to be ? Simply 
 a protest against a united church. As a Protestant, 
 therefore, he would tear the united church to shreds. 
 He would strip apart every fiber of its fellowship. It 
 was a protest destructive of church unity. In brief, it 
 was a revolt against the Roman idea of church union. 
 
 1 Note— Dr. A. T. Swing suggests here, "The reformation by Luther was 
 not quite that of 'liberty' of conscience, as is sometimes falsely said, but 
 'conscience bound ihe IVord of God' which is a very different world!" 
 
 294— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 It was a reaction against the long-honored united institu- 
 tion which crushed out individual freedom ; in favor 
 of the individual, that he might, turning from the united 
 mass, think, speak and act for himself. Herein is unity 
 sacrificed to liberty. It is the same warfare being fought 
 out in the ecclesiastical world that was fought in the 
 civil world when the Roman idea of government gave 
 way to the Teutonic idea. 
 
 The fundamental consideration with Mr. Campbell 
 was not the institution, but the individual ; not the union 
 of the whole, but the liberty of the many. He was not, 
 as has formally been maintained, first of all a pleader 
 for union. But, first of all, he was a pleader for Hberty^ 
 as already has been seen. How in the true American 
 spirit he joined these two ideas of union and liberty is 
 foreign to our present discussion.^ First of all in his 
 thought was the liberty of the individual. Thus he 
 identified himself with the Protestant tendency which 
 gave the blow to the Roman hierarchy, the united Catho- 
 lic Church. In this mighty effort union was offered upon 
 the altar of individual liberty. Fellowship was claven. 
 Though the individual gained his liberty, he lost his fel- 
 lowship. The desire for fellowship is as strong, in the 
 breasts of men, as the longing to be free. Hence the 
 rise of sectarianism after the blow to Papal Rome. 
 
 Upon this circumstance Draper makes a significant re- 
 mark: ^"Yet what do we, who are living nearly a cen- 
 
 1 For a full discussion of this subject, c. f . Christian Union, by J. H. Garrison. 
 
 2 The Intellectual Development of Europe, Vol. II, p. 227. 
 
 —295— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 tury after that time, find the event to be ? Sectarian de- 
 composition, passing forward to its last extreme, is the 
 process by which individual mental liberty is engendered 
 and maintained. A grand and imposing religious unity 
 implies tyranny to the individual : the increasing emer- 
 gence of sects gives him increasing latitude of thought — 
 with their utmost multiplication he gains his utmost lib- 
 erty. In this respect, unity and liberty are in opposi- 
 tion ; as the one diminishes, the other increases. The 
 Reformation broke down the unity; it gave liberty to 
 masses of men grouped together in sufficient numbers to 
 insure their position ; it is now invisibly, but irresistibly 
 making steps, never to be stayed until there is an abso- 
 lute mental emancipation for men." 
 
 In such an attitude pleading for peace, harmony and 
 fellowship, and }et trying to overthrow the already es- 
 tablished institution which granted this, Air. Campbell 
 presented a strange anomaly. His attack was not only 
 directed against the one hierarchal institution, which 
 failed in granting liberty to man to think, but against 
 every such institution. To him the evils of sectarianism 
 lay in that same conservative tendency, forbidding man 
 to think beyond the creeds. His battle was for a protest- 
 antism of personal liberty whose limits were bounded 
 only by the mind of the blaster of freedom. No union, 
 therefore, was able to stand under his critical inspection 
 that did not grant this freedom to the individual. 
 
 This is one reason zi'hy many thought him a destruc- 
 tionist. "He was assailed as a disorganizer, but it was 
 
 —296— 
 
Alexander- Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 not his aim merely to overthrow the existing order of re- 
 ligious society. * * * desired simply to dethrone 
 the false that he might re-establish the true, to replace 
 the traditions of men by the teachings of Christ and the 
 Apostles ; to substitute the New Testament for creeds and 
 human formularies. His work was positive, not nega- 
 tive."^ 
 
 Nevertheless, the heresy-hunters were out looking for 
 the susceptible, and he was soon, after a short candi- 
 dacy, initiated into the order, and branded as The Heretic. 
 For here was a man overthrowing the time-honored in- 
 stitutions which held the mind and the soul of man as in 
 an iron vise. Here was one protesting in the interests 
 of the individual, that he might have liberty to think and 
 act. Here was another appearing in the line of those 
 truth-finders who dared to bare his own soul and think; 
 and then lift to the world the song of truth. 
 
 History is always repeating itself. Not once did a 
 Luther arise within the Catholic church to destroy its 
 false unity, and to gain liberty. The most significant sign 
 in the ecclesiastical world to-day is Father Tyrrell, Don 
 Romolo Murri, Abbe Loisy, and others arising within the 
 Holy Church to measure its authority with the rules of 
 Modern Criticism. ''A bald contention," says Father 
 Tyrrell, in his reply to the Pope's Encyclical, "that all 
 ecclesiastical development is a mechanical unpacking of 
 what was given in a tight parcel 2,000 years ago.'"^ And 
 
 1 The New Schaff-HerzogEuc3'clopedia of Religious Knowledge (Funk and 
 Wagnalls Co., Dec. 1908), Vol. II, p. 371. 2 Passing protestantism and Coming 
 Catholicism (Newman Smyth), p. 75. 
 
 —297— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Murri declares: "We desire a Christianity more pure, 
 more intense, more practical, more Christian, more con- 
 formed to its original, more conformed to the Gospel."i 
 
 Not only is modern learning and criticism doing its 
 noble work on the dark mission fields in dethroning the 
 false and preparing for the event of the crowning of the 
 Christ, but in the lands of light and liberty the dark 
 places are being searched out and put under its wonder- 
 fully revealing power. 
 
 These men are scholarly Catholics. Newman Smyth 
 designates this New Movement as Madernism. Yet it is 
 but the old tendency of revolt come to life in a new and 
 unlooked-for quarter. He defines the movement thus: 
 ^"Modernism is a certain attitude of mind corresponding 
 to our times ; it is a tendency of thought rather than a 
 body of doctrine ; it is an intellectual method rather than 
 a creed ; it is a vitalizing spirit, making all things new, 
 rather than a full-grown and complete theology." In 
 fact, it is but the old spirit of freedom which we have 
 been considering in connection with Mr. Campbell rising 
 up within the holy church. Although she has existed 
 in the midst of our modern institutions of learning, she 
 has had her eyes closed to their facts. She has existed, 
 but not lived among them. 
 
 She has struggled hard to keep back the entrance of 
 fight, knowing that the institution could not longer stand 
 upon the application of modern learning and criticism. 
 
 1 Passing Protestantism and Coming Catholicism (Newman Smyth), p. 64. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 68. 
 
 —298— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 She has been, therefore, the foe to progress, modern 
 learning and BibHcal criticism. 
 
 Of course, these critics are doing a heap of upsetting 
 and consequently receiving in exchange the old-honored 
 brand of ''heretic." Mr. Smyth, as truly as prophetic, 
 says : ^''Those who realize the tremendous power of 
 Rome will say modernism will be crushed, as Jansenism 
 in France has been; as history shows that the Romair 
 Inquisition has put out, time and again, individual con- 
 sciences. To such persons the powers of darkness seem 
 to be greater than the all-surrounding light. It does not 
 seem so to the modernists who have caught its beams 
 upon their thoughts. They believe in the penetrating 
 and pervasive energy of the light of the history, science 
 and personal faith, which has already shone fully upon 
 themselves. They may be cast down, but not destroyed. 
 Loisy relinquishes his professorship and continues think- 
 ing and writing. Fogazzaro consents to have his Saint 
 put under the ban, and he lectures upon the views of 
 Giovanni Selva. // Rinnozainento changes an editor, 
 bows to the authority, and announces that it will con- 
 tinue to be published. The priests who told the Pope 
 'what we want' — the same or another similar group of 
 them — receive his condemnation, and immediately review 
 it in another book. That is put upon the Index, but not 
 until after its translation into French and English. Thus 
 the mirrors which reflect the light may be shifted, but the 
 light of modern learning is ceaselessly reflected within 
 
 1 Passing Protestantism and Comiug Catholicism (Newman Smyth), p, 99f. 
 —299— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 the Roman church. ^Moreover, the repressive policy of 
 the Holy Father opens more windows than it closes." 
 
 The Outlook, commenting upon Paul Sabatier's recent 
 book on "^lodernism," says •} 
 
 "His definition of modernism is admirable : 'Modern- 
 ism is a spiritual spring which penetrates, vivifies and 
 rejuvenates all things. * The movement in the 
 
 Roman Catholic Church is toward individual liberty of 
 conscience and thought, and is in so far Protestant. The 
 movement in the Protestant churches is toward the 
 demolition of the sectarian fences and the unity of the 
 faith, and is in so far a movement toward Catholicity. 
 It is this which makes it a world movement and equally 
 regenerating in both communions." 
 
 We have in these men but a fresh illustration of Mr. 
 Campbell flashing the light upon the conservatism of 
 his day. It is peculiarly noticeable with what zeal many 
 joined him. They were willing, even eager, to hear his 
 invectives against the sects, especially if not their own, 
 and would even join in the fray. It was all right for him 
 to assail the authority of the church. But when he came 
 to apply these same principles of criticism to the Bible, 
 "the dear family Bible, that lay on the stand" — why, then 
 it was a different thing. This Bible they felt must be 
 taken upon the authority of the past. It must be just 
 what the fathers had said it to be, without question. 
 What consistency ! — the good old orthodox 'Protestants 
 refusing to grant the Catholics recognition because they 
 
 1 Outlook, Jan. 30, 1909. 
 
 — 30Q— 
 
'Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 were conserving the tradition of the fathers in church 
 authority yet cherishing that same traditional authority 
 in their understanding of the Bible It seems in view of 
 this that .t is only a step from the Protestant to the 
 Cathouc. 
 
 Regardless of the traditions, in face of bitter opposition, 
 Mr. Campbell labored for a Bible, newly clothed and in- 
 dividually interpreted. He seems in his tremendous ef- 
 forts like a man trying to tear the Holy Bible to pieces. 
 To many he was only a destructio^ist. Reports spread. 
 Suspicion filled the air. Alarm sounded far and near. 
 He was assailed. He was accuised of being a "Uni- 
 tarian," of ''making a New Testament," and what not. 
 Every bold epithet was applied to him. The term, 
 ''Higher Critic," was not then at hand. Those were 
 days of contentment with small things, so they thrived 
 richly on just "Celtic." The word "Infidel" was ex- 
 clusively and rigidly set apart for those outside the fold. 
 So they gathered up all their hate, spite, scorn and venom, 
 and, bundling all together, wrapped it neatly up in the 
 small parcel — "The Heretic." That was a bad name in 
 those days. And woe be unto the one who might re- 
 ceive its application. Now, this is just what these good 
 old narrow orthodox brethren did to their brother, Alex- 
 ander Campbell, who had the misfortune to possess a 
 brain that would really think and often think out loud; 
 who believed in the progress of things, that they were 
 going upward to God and not downward to destruction ; 
 who sought to know the truth of things for himself, in- 
 
 —301— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 stead of taking it over from the past, all wrapped up and 
 labeled. This they were doing because of such devotion 
 to the Master! Because their lives were so filled with 
 his Spirit! Hence the cry that rang down through the 
 nineteenth century following him everywhere he went, 
 ''He is not orthodox," "Unsound," "Beware," "The 
 Heretic." 
 
 But Mr. Campbell was only passing through an ex- 
 perience which has been the rich or unrich (according as 
 one looks at it) heritage of many of the true and loyal 
 sons of God. Yet an experience which, above all the 
 pain of it, granted a large return in character. What is 
 life for, anyhow? 
 
 "Life is not an idle ore, 
 But iron dug from central gloom, 
 And heated hot with burning fears, 
 
 And dipt in baths of hissing tears, 
 And batter'd with the shocks of doom 
 To shape and use." 
 
 ^Moreover, an experience, radiant in the light cast 
 about him. He grants us a peep into this revealing at- 
 mosphere as he says : 
 
 "Who that has his eyes open has not seen that men of the 
 lowest moral endowments are the most zealous in the cause of 
 orthodoxy? and that the reason is they are conscious that un- 
 less they can raise a clamor about orthodoxy they are likely 
 to pass off the stage as they ought? I have always found 
 those of the most orthodox scent the slowest in the race, and 
 the loudest in the sound."^ 
 
 1 c. B., p. 275. 
 
 —302— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 In the presence of such inspiration he becomes a true 
 prophet. He says: 
 
 "My own individual orthodoxy is too orthodox for the 
 orthodox prelates of a sectarian world. I thank God, as Paul 
 once said of himself, in his own way of boasting, I am more 
 orthodox than any of them. I have all their orthodoxy, and a 
 little more besides. And I know the next generation — or, at 
 farthest, the one after that — will acknowledge it."^ 
 
 The light about him grows so bright that he is able to 
 distinguish between a true and a false orthodoxy. He 
 says : 
 
 "I opine there is as much orthodoxy in hell as there is in 
 heaven, man for man, angel for angel. Satan himself is, in 
 the proper significance of the term orthodoxy, quite as ortho- 
 dox as the angel Gabriel. 
 
 "Does not Satan believe, or assent to, the whole Bible doc- 
 trine — facts and documents — not merely the theory, but the 
 facts therein written? Does he not show a more intimate 
 acquaintance with the contents of the Bible, in his tempta- 
 tions addressed to the Lord Jesus, than do half the ancient 
 or modern rabbis of the tribes of Israel? In a debate with 
 nine-tenths of the patented orthodoxies of these United States 
 would he not most probably bear away the palm of victory? 
 The only true orthodoxy in any community is * * * ^ 
 cordial reception of Jesus of Nazareth."^ * * * 
 
 He finds among those praying for light an example of 
 history repeating itself. He says : 
 
 "We are very certain that to such as are praying for il- 
 lumination and instruction in righteousness, and not availing 
 themselves of the means afforded in the Divine Word to ob- 
 tain an answer to their prayers, our remarks on many topics 
 
 1 Add,, p. 287. 2 Mill. Har., 1858, p. 492, (Italics Author's;. 
 
 —303— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 will appear unjust, illiberal, and even heretical; and, as there 
 are so many praying for light, and inattentive to what God 
 has manifested in his word, there must be a multitude to op- 
 pose the way of truth and righteousness. This was the case 
 when God's Messiah, the mighty Redeemer of Israel, ap- 
 peared. Ten thousand prayers were daily offered for his ap- 
 pearance, ten thousand orations pronounced respecting the 
 glory of his character and reign ; and, strange to tell ! when he 
 appeared the same ten thousand tongues were employed in his 
 defamation! Yea, they were praying for his coming when he 
 stood in the midst of them, as many now are praying for 
 light when it is in their hands, and yet they will not look 
 at it."^ 
 
 This parallel becomes more striking as he gets him- 
 self adjusted more fully to the surroundings. He says: 
 
 "The Pharisees, contemporary with Jesus Christ and the 
 Apostles, were a sort of ultra religionists. Their leaven was 
 hypocrisy. It wrought in them a sort of supercilious disdain 
 and contempt for all other professions or sectarisms outside 
 their own denomination. They thanked God for their own 
 assumptions and presumptions! 
 
 "Their characteristics were hypocrisy, cupidity and proselyt- 
 ism, with a very fair and plausible appearance of exterior 
 sanctity. These were their four cardinal points. False pre- 
 tences in the form of exuberant zeal for hoary tradition. 
 
 * * * 'They builded the tombs of the prophets; they 
 adorned the sepulchres of the righteous, 'while in character 
 the sons of those who killed the prophets,' and did themselves, 
 when opportunity served, persecute Apostles from city to city. 
 
 * * * Such were the assumed orthodox scribes; and such 
 were their orthodox converts, characterized by the Lord him- 
 
 1 C.B..P. 2. 
 
 —304— 
 
Ale.vandcr Campbell am! Christian Liberty. 
 
 self iiypocrites,' 'compassing sea and land to make proselj'tes* 
 to their peculiar orthodoxies. 
 
 Orthodoxy, too, chameleon like,- of one color at Rome, an- 
 other at Constantinople, of one color at Dort, another in Nor- 
 mandy, was a passport to the conscience of uneducated and un- 
 sanctified myriads. Orthodoxy, at best, was never more nor 
 less than right thinking in all its latitudes and longitudes. It 
 was neither right believing nor right feeling, neither adoring 
 God nor beautifying man."^ 
 
 As ^Ir. Campbell makes a tour he sees strange and re- 
 pelling sights. Of certain of his observations he says: 
 
 ''There is a great difference between reading geography and 
 traveling over the surface of a country; between hearing of 
 and seeing the religious world ; between viewing men and 
 things with our own eyes, and looking at them through the 
 media of books and newspapers; between contemplating so- 
 ciety in the closet, and mingling with it in actual operation. 
 We have been long convinced that to live to purpose in any 
 society, it is necessary to be well acquainted with the state of 
 that society ; it is necessary, in a certain sense, 'to catch the 
 living manners as they rise.' Man is a creature incessantly 
 developing himself — perpetually exhibiting new and strange 
 appearances. And, while it is true that 'as in water, face an- 
 swers to face, so does the heart of man to man,' it is equally 
 certain that the varied year and every-shifting scener\' of the 
 heavens and the earth are but emblems of the changes con- 
 tinually exhibiting in human society. * * * 
 
 "Regardless of the spirit and character of this age and of 
 this great community, many are for holding the people down 
 to the standards of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
 Hence we find the creeds and forms that suited the age and 
 circumstances of our ancestors, contemporary with Charles I., 
 
 1 Mill. Har. 1858. p. 333. 
 
 (20) 
 
 —305- 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 bound with new rivets on the necks of our countrj-men. This 
 is not more absurd than to oblige men to wear the apparel 
 which suited them when boys, and to compel men when they 
 have no taste for the pranks and amusements of children to 
 go through all the forms. 
 
 **'We are happy to find that, in spite of the reigning doctors 
 of traditions, the people are gradually awaking to a sense of 
 their religious rights and privileges. * * * Many who 
 thought their church almost infallible now readily admit that 
 she not only may, but that she actually does, frequently err. 
 And there is a spirit of inquiry marching forth, before which, 
 most assuredh-, the rotten systems of tradition and error must 
 and will fall. * * * 
 
 "When a tyrant is dethroned, and his vassals liberated, he 
 finds his quietus in a guillotine, and they convert his palaces 
 into towers and strongholds for each other in rotation. So 
 in the church. They who call the Pope antichrist, and renounce 
 any successor of St. Peter, set themselves up as Popes, and 
 thus a whole congregation of protesters become a college of car- 
 dinals, and they will have no Pope because each one wishes to 
 be Pope himself. 
 
 "The people ever3'where have an insatiable appetite for 
 sound doctrine, and eat whole sermons after sermons, and run 
 after this and that preacher for sound doctrine, and are as 
 hungry as before. Is he sound — is he sound in faith? This is 
 the all-important question, on the solution of which depends the 
 character of the preacher for orthodoxy or heterodoxy — and 
 his reputation is all in all to him. The preachers, too, generally 
 labor all their lives to die with the reputation of having been 
 great and orthodox preachers; and the people follow them up 
 to hear sound doctrine, to sit as jurors upon their views and 
 abilities, and to bring in a verdict, which, if true, makes them 
 good Christians, and the preacher, either great or little, sound 
 or unsound in the faith. Errors of opinion become, in many 
 
 —306— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 places, the cause of ecclesiastical degradation and of exclusion 
 from the church, while immoralities are overlooked and 
 ascribed to the 'remaining corruptions' of human nature. Er- 
 rors in opinion are treated as felons, while immoralities are 
 indulged as a wayward child, the darling of his mother. This 
 is not so much a sectarian peculiarity as it is the characteristic 
 of the times. It would be of infinite importance to the re- 
 ligious community and to the rising generation, if, from the 
 teacher's chair, in the church, and in every Christian family, 
 less was said about this sound doctrine, and the time occupied 
 therein devoted to recommending, enforcing and practicing 
 that 'holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.' 
 
 But he -finds consolation in the two never-failing facts, 
 the reversed judgment of the centuries over the hours 
 and the Divine approval. He says: 
 
 "One age burns heretics; the next makes them saints and 
 martyrs, and erects monuments to their memory. No wise 
 man, well read in civil or ecclesiastical history, can expect a 
 different state of things. The censure of one age is all praise 
 in the judgment of the next; as the praise of one generation is 
 often the shame and the reproach of the following. Christians 
 live for immortality, for eternity, and, therefore, to them it is 
 a matter of little or no account how their contemporaries may 
 think or speak of them. The only happy man is he whom 
 the Lord approveth."^ 
 
 Mr, Campbell became, on account of his new, strange 
 and disturbing ideas, the Arch-Heretic of his time. 
 Many were the fine spreads that the "weak-minded" en- 
 joyed at his expense at church, in the parlors, and even 
 in the press. Henry Van Dyke gives us a suggestion 
 
 1 C B.. p. 198f. 2 Add.. 588. 
 
 —307— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 here : '"Cannibalism is dying out among the barbarous 
 tribes: the Fiji islanders have given it up; but it still 
 survives among the most highly civilized peoples. You 
 might find yourself in some difficulty if you invited a 
 company of friends to a feast in which the principal dish 
 was to be a well-roasted neighbor. Everybody would 
 refuse with horror, and you would probably be es- 
 corted to the nearest lunatic asylum. But if you wish to 
 serve up somebody's character at a social entertainment, 
 or pick the bones of somebody's reputation in a quiet little 
 corner, you will find ready guests and almost incredible 
 appetites. How cruel are the tender mercies of the 
 wicked ! How eager and indiscriminate is the hunger of 
 gossip ! How quick some men are to take up an evil re- 
 port, and roll it as a sweet morsel under their tongues, 
 and devour their neighbors, yes, even their friends !" 
 
 Such conceit and bigotry, which is refined selfishness, 
 yea, more, which is no less than murder under the guise 
 of loyalty, is depicted by ]\Ir. Campbell in the word of a 
 friend, as follows : 
 
 "By bigotry, is meant a man's obstinate attachment to an 
 opmion, or set of opinions, which indisposes him to give a candid 
 hearing to anything else, and makes him unwilling that his 
 brother should have the same liberty of judgment which he 
 claims for himself. =^ * * it not only makes null and void 
 the arguments of an opponent, but, alas! it boldly impeaches 
 his motives, and assails his moral character. Not only are his 
 talents to go for nothing, not only are his labors to be despised; 
 but his virtue and piety, his zeal and heavenly-mindedness, 
 
 1 The story of the Psalms, p. 48. 
 
 —308— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 though supported by an unblamable life — all, all must be dis- 
 posed of with indifference or contempt, by the high, and bit- 
 ter, and sovereign dictates of bigotry! And yet this dark and 
 dreadful evil is not only winked at, but nourished in the hearts 
 of all the churches in Christendom! * * * 
 
 "They say to the soul of every member, so far shall you go 
 in your meditations, and no farther; your business is not to in- 
 quire what is true, but merely to inquire what are the senti- 
 ments of our church, that you may defend them to the end of 
 the world. You are not only to avoid contradicting them, 
 but you are to make no addition to them; because our lovely 
 plan is not only free from errors, but also contains the whole 
 body of truth completely. You must silence every heretical 
 thought of improvement, and merely walk in the good old 
 way, as we have pointed it out to you. Thus, whatever error 
 may be in the church, it seems it must be held fast to eternity. 
 The intellectual faculties of the members must be hampered, 
 and their hearts corrupted by doing violence to honest con- 
 viction, and by warping both reason and revelation into the 
 pale of their sectarian boundaries. And even the truth itself 
 is hindered by these evils from producing its native and salu- 
 tary effects; for truth, when believed merely with the faith of 
 bigotry, is little better than error. Its evidence is not ex- 
 amined, and its value, as truth, is not apprehended; but merely 
 its subserviency to the support of our beloved cause. For if 
 we made our cause subservient to the truth, instead of making 
 the truth subservient to it, we should- be willing for our 
 churches to follow the truth wheresoever it might lead the 
 way. * * * Thus the inquiry, What is truth? is neglected 
 and laid aside."^ 
 
 7' his was the peculiar merit of Mr, Campbell, and it 
 was this attitude which brought out such opposition ; 
 making truth the ideal aim and seeking to bring the 
 
 1 C. B., p. 2l3f. 
 
 —309— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 cause up to the measurement of the standard of truth, 
 instead of making truth conform to the holdings of the 
 cause. This position was destructive to the narrowness 
 of the cause, but constructive to the broadness of truth. 
 What was lost in the merely churchly was gained in 
 truth. What was overthrown in churchanity was gained 
 in Christianity, the pure religion of Jesus. This, too, 
 was his stand upon the Bible. He said let us look at the 
 Bible through the eye of truth. Let the Bible as it really 
 is speak to us. Let us not, through our distorted vision 
 of what we would like to have it be, try to make it appear 
 something it is not. Even though we feel that our vision 
 of what it ought to be is the ideal, still, in the interests 
 of truth, let us cast aside our ideal vision and penetrate 
 the Bible with unveiled soul, allowing it to stand out 
 in its true colors. 
 
 In the year 1859 the London Dispatch characterized 
 Mr. Campbell as : ''One who resolved to discard all 
 human creeds and confessions, >f= h= contended that 
 the impartial and enlightened interpretation of the Bible 
 would infallibly lead mankind to a knowledge of its 
 truth, proceeded in a free examination of tlie 
 
 Bible. ''^ * Even among these people, however, 
 ^Ir. Campbell's views were singular and extreme in con- 
 sequence of their liberality ; his talents were so com- 
 manding, and his influence soon became so great that 
 the utmost jealousy was excited."^ 
 
 Mr. Campbell himself gives us touches of his treatment 
 
 1 Mill. Har. 18S9, p. 486f. 
 
 —310— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 as a heretic, how he was misrepresented, misinterpreted 
 and defamed. Of this he says : 
 
 "Good has been often called evil, and evil good. Truth has 
 been piously called error, and error truth. Pure religion has 
 been frequently called heres3% and heresy pure religion. Paul 
 had to confess that he worshipped God in the way which the 
 populace called heretical and blasphemous. Because we have 
 said that we Christians are not under Moses, but under Christ; 
 not under the law as a rule of life, but under the gospel, we 
 are said to have spoken 'blasphemous words against ]\Ioses and 
 the law.' Because we have said that the Jewish Sabbath is no 
 more, we are represented as without religion, profane and im- 
 pious; and, because we have called much of what is called 
 warm preaching, and warm feelings, and great revivals, en- 
 thusiasm, we are said to deny 'experimental religion' or the 
 influence of the Holy Spirit, by the word, upon the minds of 
 believers. 'Yes,' say our enemies, 'you deny the moral law, the 
 Christian Sabbath and experimental religion.' 
 
 A friend writes to inform him of a conspiracy formed 
 "to put a stop to the alarming spread of those principles" 
 of his. These they have honored with the title of 
 "damnable heresies." Furthermore, the body ''Resolved, 
 That we will not fellowship the doctrines propagated by 
 Alexander Campbell." He responds as follows: 
 
 "What means this intolerant spirit? I ask again, What is 
 the meaning of it? Is every man who acknowledges in word 
 and deed the supreme authority of Jesus of Nazareth as Lord 
 Messiah; who has vowed allegiance to him. who is of good 
 report as respects good works, to be sacrificed upon the altar 
 of opinion, because his opinion upon some speculation, fact or 
 doctrine, differs from mine? Because, while he admits that 
 
 1 c. B.,p.S9, 
 
 —811— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 Jesus died for our sins, he will not dogmatize upon the nature, 
 extent and every attribute of 'the atonement/ is he to be 
 deemed unfit for the kingdom of heaven? Admitting 'an elec- 
 tion of favor,' is he to be given over to Satan because of some 
 opinion about the conditionality or unconditionality of that 
 election. In one word, are we to understand that an exact 
 agreement in opinion, a perfect uniformity is contended for 
 as a bond of union? If so, let our Baptist brethren say so, 
 Let them declare to the world that 
 
 "'Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.' 
 
 "That a disagreement in the tenth opinion, or in the ten 
 thousandth opinion, breaks the bond of union. If this be the 
 decree, let it be published and translated into all languages — 
 let it be known and read by all men. If, again, a perfect uni- 
 formity be not decreed, but a partial uniformity, let it be pro- 
 claimed in how many opinions an agreement must be ob- 
 tained; then we shall know who are, and who are not, to be 
 treated as heathen men and publicans. 
 
 "What makes divisions now? The man who sets up his 
 private judgments as the standard of truth, and compels sub- 
 mission to them, or the man who will bear with a brother who 
 thinks in some things differently from him? No man can, with 
 either reason or fact on his side, accuse me of making di- 
 visions among Christians. I declare non-fellowship with no 
 man who owns the Lord in word and deed. Such is a Chris- 
 tian. He that denies the Lord in word or deed is not a Chris- 
 tian. A Jew or a Gentile he may be, a Pharisee or a Sad- 
 ducee he may be, but a Christian he cannot bel If a man con- 
 fess the Lord Jesus, or acknowledge him as the only Savior 
 sent by God ; if he vow allegiance to him, and submit to his 
 government, I will recognize him as a Christian and treat 
 him as such. If a man cause divisions and offenses by setting 
 up his own decisions, his private judgment, we must consider 
 him as a factionist, and as such he must be excluded — ^not for 
 
 —512— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 his difference in opinions, but because he makes his opinion an 
 iciol, and demands homage to it. 
 
 "There are some preachers in the East and in the West — 
 some self-conceited, opinionated dogmatizers — who are deter- 
 mined to rend the Baptist communities into fractions by their 
 intolerance. They wish, moreover, to blame it upon us. As 
 well might they blame the sun for its light and heat as blame 
 us for creating divisions. When we shall have cut off from the 
 church any person or persons because of a difference of opin- 
 ion, then they may say, with reason, we cause divisions. Till 
 then it is gratuitous. They are the heretics, not we. Yes, 
 they are the heresiarchs, and will be so regarded by all the 
 intelligent on earth, and by all in heaven."^ 
 
 In his sermon on **The Law" he says: 
 
 "But as this discourse was, because of its alleged heterodoxy 
 by the regular Baptist Association, made the ground of my 
 impeachment and trial for heresy at its next annual meeting, it 
 is as an item of ecclesiastic history interesting. It was by a 
 great effort on my part that this self-same Sermon on the Law 
 has not proved my public excommunication from the de- 
 nomination under the foul brand of 'damnable heresy.' But 
 by a great stretch of charity on the part of two or three old 
 men, I was saved by a decided majority. 
 
 "This unfortunate sermon afterwards involved me in a 
 seven years' war with some members of said association, and 
 became a matter of much debate. I found at last, however, 
 that there was a principle at work in the plotters of said 
 crusade, which Stephen assigns as the cause of the misfortunes 
 of Joseph. 
 
 "It is, therefore, highly probable to my mind that but for 
 the persecution begun on the alleged heresy of this sermon, 
 whether the present reformation had ever been advocated by 
 
 1 c. B.,p 651. 
 
 —313— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 me. I have a curious history of many links in this chain of 
 providential events, yet unwritten and unknown to almost any 
 one living — certainly but to a very few persons — which, as the 
 waves of time roll on may yet be interesting to many. It may 
 be gratifying to some, however, at present to be informed that 
 but one of the prime movers of this presumptive movement yet 
 lives; and, alas! he has long since survived his usefulness. I 
 may farther say at present that I do not think there is a 
 Baptist association on the continent that would now treat me 
 as did the Redstone Association of that daj-, which is some 
 evidence, to my mind, that the Baptists are not so stationary 
 as a few of them would have the world to believe."^ 
 
 ]\Ir. Campbell was experiencing in his heresy trial what 
 J. J. Haley was feeling when he said: **Are not some 
 of us trying to circumscribe the boundaries of hberty 
 with as much zeal and persistence as our fathers did to 
 enlarge them ? Are we really afraid for educated men to 
 utter themselves honestly and freely? Is the truth en- 
 dangered by such freedom ? Am I bound to agree with a 
 leading preacher, or a theological professor, or editor of 
 a prominent paper on pain of being hounded as a heretic 
 and put out of the synagogue as a dangerous man ? Does 
 not the liberty of a free man in Christ come a little high 
 at this price? The last conversation the writer had with 
 ^Alexander Procter, the great man said : 'The most pa- 
 thetic, the most tragic thing I know is the fact that the 
 moment a man comes to a view of God, and the uni- 
 verse, Christ and the Bible, that he can hold and respect 
 himself, that moment he becomes a marked man, to be 
 
 1 Historical Doc., p. 218f, 
 
 —314— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 branded by preachers and religious newspapers as a 
 heretic and an infidel.' The week before in the city 
 where this remark was made an ultra orthodox religious 
 paper spoke of this great and Christ-like man as 'that 
 infidel 'Procter.' Is this not an instance of overcharge 
 for freedom among the free?"^ 
 Says the Hebrew poet: 
 
 "O, sing unto the Lord a new song; 
 Sing unto the Lord, all the earth. 
 Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice." 
 
 The fact remains, and increasingly brightening by the 
 passing years, that Alexander Campbell zvas not counted 
 a heretic because he was such, but because he lifted to 
 the world a new song. "An old song," says Prof. Mc- 
 Fadyen, "can always count upon a welcome, formal if 
 not hearty. But a new song! Few have the courage 
 to raise it, and many and loud and discordant are the 
 voices that strive to drown it out."^ 
 
 A common fate has hovered over not a few of these 
 singers of new songs. There came once to earth the 
 sweetest singer the world ever heard. His song breathed 
 the melody of the Infinite Father in his wonderful love 
 and compassion for men. But it was a new song ! And 
 men turned back to their cold, heartless, rigid, mechanical 
 law, saying, 'Xet us have no more of this love-song— 
 crucify him ! crucify him !" So they crucified the Son 
 of God ! But the song died not ! 
 
 Stephen to his age raised anew the song. But the cry 
 
 1 The Christian Century, Nov. 29, '06. 2 The Divine Pursuit, p. 99. 
 —315— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 rang high, "Away with him !" As they stoned away his 
 hfe, his face shone with the radiance of an angel's — ^ 
 prophetic of the fact that truth never dies. 
 
 Paul, too, was torn from the cherished scenes of his 
 labors, by these destroyers of new songs, and thrust 
 within the Roman prison, dying a martyr to the song of 
 truth. But the song lived on ! These are but gleams 
 from the crowded pages of history. These are but a few 
 of the love-chapters of sacrifice. Rivers of blood have 
 flowed from these singers of new songs. History gives 
 us not one Calvary, but many Calvaries. Look to the 
 record. By the Inquisition alone, from 1481 to 1808, 
 340,000 persons were punished, and out of these 32,000 
 burnt ! 
 
 Still such sacrifice is not without its value to truth. 
 Says Draper: ^*'The death of Servetus was not without 
 advantage to the world. * * * Men asked, with 
 amazement and indignation, if the atrocities of the In- 
 quisition were again to be revived. On all sides they 
 began to inquire how far it is lawful to inflict punish- 
 ment of death for difference of opinion. It opened their 
 eyes to the fact that, after all they had done, the state of 
 civilization in which they were living was still char- 
 acterized by its intolerance. * 
 
 "het it also be remembered that, considering that 
 worthlessness of the body of man, and that, at the best, 
 it is at last food for the worm, considering the infinite 
 value of his immortal soul, for the redemption of which 
 
 1 The Intellectual Development of Europe, Vol. II, pp. 189, 226. 
 —316— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 the agony and death of the Son of God were not too 
 great a price to pay — indignities offered to the body are 
 less wicked than indignities offered to the soul. It would 
 be well for him who comes forward as an accuser of 
 Mexico and Peru in their sin to dispose of the fact that 
 at that period the entire authority of Europe was di- 
 rected to the perversion, and even total repression of 
 thought — to an enslaving of the mind, and making that 
 noblest creation of heaven a worthless machine. To 
 taste of human flesh is less criminal, in the eye of God, 
 than to stifle human thought." 
 
 What a record ! Who shall say that the suffering God 
 is not still upon the earth ! Who shall declare that his 
 love is not made manifest ! What a host of noble com- 
 rades, fellowshiping in the Divine agonies, have gone to 
 the Inquisition, to the stake, or to the loss of their good 
 name, because they claimed the right to think and pos- 
 sessed that rare faculty of making their ideas walk out 
 alive among the children of men ! Luther, Cranmer, 
 Cromwell, Galileo, Bruno, Darwin, Spencer, Campbell, 
 and thousands of others, no less earnest if not so re- 
 nowned. These, the singers of new songs ! These, 
 damned by their own generation! 
 
 Yet the sacrifice has its compensation. Who, in the 
 face of Truth, glorious, blood-bought Truth, would 
 raise a hand to stay the tide, would environ themselves 
 in error rather than to see Truth come even at such 
 precious cost? There is a pain that is divine. There is 
 a death that is immortal. These truth-bringers have im- 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 mortalized themselves. The}^ have garnered truth divine. 
 They have incarnated divine love. By their cowardice 
 the scarlet-thread which runs through all creative-love 
 has not been broken. They have been true to the uni- 
 versal law. They have fulfilled their task by serving God 
 and truth. They can say, "It is finished," though com- 
 pelled to say it from the cross. Their effort the next 
 generation will acknowledge. For it will, by these light- 
 bearers, have been lifted up above the mists into the 
 regions of clearer sight. The world grows on apace. 
 While the Kingdom of God rolls into it. The great uni- 
 versal law stands anew revealed by each life yielded in 
 the fight for truth. And again the world learns the 
 blood-taught lesson that all of truth, and love, and beauty, 
 comes not by each remaining silent and inert in the 
 mighty struggle of life, but by the way of the cross, by 
 each strewing his pathway with the sacrifice of self. 
 Then let the singers sing their songs till they have sung 
 into this songless world the harmonies of the skies ! 
 
 "There came a singer through the world, 
 
 The world of grim to-day, 
 The fire of life was on his lips 
 And in his heart the May. 
 
 He sang a golden song of love, 
 
 Of truth and truth's desire, 
 And flung a majesty of might 
 
 From his alluring lyre. 
 
 He came to where the cliques of song, 
 
 Life's grim Sanhedrim dwelt ; 
 They hated him because of all 
 
 The truth he sang and felt. 
 
 —318— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 They hated him and cried him down, 
 
 Because they saw in him 
 The lark in heaven, sweet and clear. 
 
 That made their singing dim. 
 
 They slew him with their evil tongues. 
 
 Their artful, false disdain, 
 And life lost all that joy and hope 
 
 That should have been its gain. 
 
 They drove him from the doors of hope, 
 
 The gates of human fame. 
 Until in dusk of evil spite 
 
 He died without a name. 
 
 His melody went fading out, 
 
 Till under heaven's bars 
 His mighty music sobbed and sank, 
 
 And melted to the stars. 
 
 Then in his place they set them up 
 
 False gods of tinsel show, 
 Poor helot, soulless, mumming mock, 
 
 Of mighty long ago. 
 
 And built them temples born of art, 
 
 Upon an evil time. 
 When gold and power and pelf were prized, 
 And rhyme was only rhyme. 
 
 And starved the yearning sons of God 
 
 Of beauty, love and truth. 
 And gave them stones who asked for bread. 
 
 In dread and shameless ruth. 
 
 How long, O Life, this mighty ill. 
 
 This reign of hate? How long 
 Permit to dree their evil weird. 
 
 Earth's murderers of song?" 
 — (The Collected Poems of Wilfred Campbell.) 
 
 —319— 
 
CHAPTER Vm. 
 The Outlook— "What of the Night?" 
 
There is not one dark cloud, not one dark speck, in all the 
 heavens of Christian hope. Everything seen in its wide 
 dominions, in the unbounded prospect yet before us, is bright, 
 cheering, animating, transporting. — Alexander Campbell. 
 
 Not unto endless dark do we go down. 
 
 Though all the wisdom of wide earth said, "Yea," 
 Yet my fond heart would throb eternal "Nay;" 
 
 Night, prophet of morning, wears her starry crown. 
 
 And jewels with hope her murkiest shades that frown. 
 Death's doubt is kerneled in each prayer we pray; 
 Eternity but night in some vast day 
 
 Of God's far-off red flame of love's renown. 
 
 Not unto endless dark. We may not know 
 The distant deeps to which our hoping go. 
 
 The tidal shores where ebbs our fleeting breath; 
 But over ill and dread and doubt's fell dart, 
 Sweet hope, eternal, holds the human heart. 
 
 And love laughs down the desolate dusks of death. 
 
 — (The Collected Poems of Wilfred Campbell.) 
 
 If I can put one touch of a rosy sunset into the life of any 
 man or woman of my cure, I shall feel that I have worked with 
 God. He is in no haste; and if I do what I may in earnest, I 
 need not mourn if I work no great work on the earth. Let 
 God make His sunsets; I will mottle my little fading cloud. To 
 help the growth of a thought that struggles towards the light; 
 to brush with gentle hand the earth-stain from the white of one 
 snowdrop — such be my ambition. So shall I scale the rocks in 
 front, not leave my name carved upon those behind me. — 
 George MacDonald. 
 
 —322— 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE OUTLOOK— "WHAT OF THE NIGHT?" 
 
 We have been surveying a man whose greatest original 
 contribution to the world is undoubtedly himself. We 
 have listened to his controlling ideas which he, with 
 strong voice, lifted to his age. If at times we found him 
 holding to the old terms in his age contact, we found him 
 constantly putting the new meaning into these terms. 
 We m.ay justly think of him as Herrmann thinks of 
 Luther : ^"It was one of the marks of his significance as 
 a reformer that he clothed the new thought in the forms 
 of the old, and so bequeathed it as a hidden germ to 
 those generations which should only wean themselves by 
 long mental exercise from the forms of thought employed 
 by the ancient church." We have found him with a 
 message both for his own age and a message for all 
 time. He was intensely modern. 
 
 . The present is born out of the past. That does not 
 mean that the present shall live in the past. The future 
 grows out of the present, not the past. The uniqueness 
 of the movement inaugurated by Alexander Campbell 
 and his coagitators is that their followers do not follow 
 them. Mr. Campbell was no dogmatist. He announced 
 principles to be developed. He would have no one 
 
 1 Communion with God, p. 150. 
 
 —323— 
 
'Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 slavishly follow him. If he felt himself to be striking 
 out new paths in his return to the Christ he did not de- 
 sire that his successors should keep to his beaten paths ; 
 but should anew go back to the Christ, each individual 
 for himself, and there learn the way of truth and duty 
 from the Great Teacher. One of his frequent recogni- 
 tions is not only that the change of time outwears all ver- 
 bal expression, but that that same time would overtake 
 his own theological exposition, rendering it old, so that 
 it, too, would pass away to give place to the new. There- 
 fore he would not have his admirers literally follow or 
 think his thoughts after him. Rather would he have them 
 comprehend the significance of his life and work, catch 
 his spirit, and turn to the fulfillment of their task, in 
 the age, and under the conditions of the times, and with 
 the means of the day in which they live. We cannot 
 think, then, of the movement pleaded by him, as a stereo- 
 typed affair debarring further change and progress, nor 
 as a closed shell into which no more light might enter. 
 We are forced to think of it as a movement. Some- 
 thing moving onward and upward. 'Progress, develop- 
 ment, perfection — these are the ideas that characterized 
 the movement? 
 
 What is the outlook f Where one stands, the point of 
 observation will determine one's view of the situation. 
 The child of time, with eyes closed to progress, with 
 mind incredulous of the power of truth to win, and heart 
 unresponsive to the vast significance of the movements 
 of the universe, will cry 'tis dark, 'tis night ! It will be 
 
 —324— 
 
Alexander Cainphell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 such a view of the world as the man got behind the 
 stump. If one is viewing things from the standpoint of 
 the eternal order a different view will obtain. 
 
 Some have felt that the outlook for the brotherhood of 
 Disciples is dark. Shall we allow this to prove true? 
 Shall we prove to the world through our failure that 
 liberty of thought must be clasped in creed? Or shall 
 we not rather be an example to the world that the right 
 to think grows strong and mighty in freedom? This is 
 the question. Charles Alexander Young presents an im- 
 portant consideration which is in perfect harmony with 
 Mr. Campbell's own thought and spirit '} 
 
 "The next great step in the progress of the church 
 toward religious liberty is marked — and this is the con- 
 tribution of Thomas Campbell — by the distinction be- 
 tween the personal faith of the believer and the theological 
 faith of the creeds. With the breaking of the Papal 
 tyranny there ensued a theological tyranny, which has 
 ruled in the Protestant church through its creeds to the 
 twentieth century. Every new assertion of Christian 
 liberty has resulted in a new tyranny. Luther exercised 
 the greatest liberty of thought personally, but it was lost 
 to his followers. Calvin exercised freedom in the pur- 
 suit and acceptance of new truth, but it departed from 
 those who followed him. Thomas Campbell exercised 
 the greatest possible liberty, and would be bound only 
 where the Scriptures bound him : but is it any surprise 
 that there has been less liberty among his followers? 
 
 1 Hist. Doc., p. 42f. 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 Where Luther stopped growing, there Christian thought 
 and life hardened into a fixed form. That which Luther 
 was free to think in his lifetime, the next generation was 
 obliged to think, as a condition of fellowship in the 
 Lutheran Church. There is danger that where Thomas 
 and Alexander Campbell arrived in their movement to 
 restore primitive Christianity, there those who gather 
 around them shall stop. The principle of liberty, the 
 right to grow with the growth of truth, needs perpetual 
 emphasis and incessant utterance. Back to this principle 
 has gone every great soul for fresh inspiration and a new 
 starting point in the ascent toward perfect truth as it is in 
 Jesus Christ. Liberty of thought, liberty of opinion, is 
 utterly opposed to authority in opinion. To grant liberty 
 of opinion, liberty in the pursuit of truth, yet to fix be- 
 forehand the opinion at which one must arrive, is a de- 
 nial of liberty. 
 
 "This principle seems most impossible of application 
 in great transition periods, such as the present. The 
 opinions of the last generation of teachers, to which the 
 Campbells belonged, were fixed and definite. They set- 
 tled the question as to what were mere opinions and 
 what essentials of the faith. To-day there is another set 
 of opinions which has taken their place. The task is 
 laid upon this generation anew to settle the relationship 
 of these opinions to the old, and to the essentials of the 
 faith. The inevitable condition has arrived in which some 
 opinions are pronounced true, others erroneous. It seems 
 the most difficult thing imaginable for those who think 
 
'Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 the new opinions erroneous, not to go on to judge those 
 opinions dangerous to the faith. Yes, they say, we 
 acknowledge that they are mere opinions, but they are 
 dangerous and ought not to be tolerated. This is an 
 abridgment of liberty in non-essentials. 
 
 "The conclusion of the whole matter is that there is - 
 just as much need of liberty in new opinion as in old 
 opinion with which adjustment has been reached. In 
 other words, openness to new truth, new ideas, new opin- 
 ions, is just as essential to the unity of the church as 
 liberty in old opinion. The refusal of the teachers of the 
 church to be hospitable toward new truth has driven 
 some of her best spirits from her, and obliged them to 
 form new organizations for fellowship. The church of 
 the very next generation has frequently welcomed truth 
 that was rejected by the preceding. There are new 
 truths being uttered to-day, which, though denied a place 
 in the body of Christian truth by the church of to-day, 
 will become a part of it to-morrow. There are new 
 sects arising every year and building upon rejected truth 
 — truth for which the existing churches have found no 
 place." 
 
 This crystallization is just what we found Mr. Camp- 
 bell protesting against. It is true, from the very nature 
 of things, it has ever been so, that there is always a fol- 
 lowing of any good which fails to come up to its best 
 measurements. It is true, it is lamentable that it is true, 
 that there are within all brotherhoods of men some who 
 fail in coming up to its sublimest heights. Selfishness, 
 
 —327— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 jealousy, superstition, ignorance, willfulness, bigotry — 
 these go not out but by prayer and fasting . Yet who 
 shall say that it is dark — hopelessly dark? Many who 
 have used Mr. Campbell's name as authority, quoted his 
 word, and sworn by him, do not yet know him. What is 
 needed to-day is a good, wholesome acquaintance with 
 the genius of the man who became the life and inspira- 
 tion of this movement. When men once get under the 
 sarching light of his acquaintance the darkness will be- 
 gin to flee away and they shall behold the shining hills 
 of day. No, 'tis not night! 'Tis morning!! 'Tis 
 gloria lis day!!! 
 
 This may not seem true from the reader's point of view. 
 As the darkey said : "It all 'pends on which side yer on." 
 But when I turn to the great men of our movement I 
 find the day growing wonderfully light about me. Here 
 is where the little insignificant thoughts and gossips fall 
 away to make room for strong, tall, sun-crowned per- 
 sonalities. The significance and promise of our move- 
 ment to-day lies in these men — thinking, feeling, willing, 
 living men. Men who have in their association with Mr. 
 Campbell not tried to copy him nor to stop the develop- 
 ment of his splendid work by fixing it, but have, with 
 open minds and responding hearts, caught his vision, 
 and are saying to this generation, **Come up higher." 
 No, it is not night when there is such a host of fine 
 spirits who, unwilling for the movement to crystallize 
 about our leaders, are standing out boldly for truth, lib- 
 erty and progress. 
 
 —328— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 It is not night when our institutions of learning are, 
 as they are, opening up the treasures of wisdom to the 
 thousands of bright, capable young men and women of 
 our land, and training them not only to express them- 
 selyes in harmony with the noblest that there is in God 
 and man, but fitting them to face unflinchingly the prob- 
 lems of their time, and heroically grapple with them. 
 
 Of course, all this effort toward progress and perfec- 
 tion does not come silently, sweetly and serenely. This 
 is not always the way of such. Often times it seems as 
 if hell were let loose on earth. But this is not the case. 
 This is only the way the Kingdom of God has of com- 
 ing to earth. It was the same in Jesus' day. We have 
 found Islv. Campbell wrestling with the same law of de- 
 velopment. One should not grow restless and disheart- 
 ened if progress often seems harsh and runs not by 
 straight paths. Such is but the method of God. This 
 fluttering we often hear making the air grow dizzy about 
 one is only the action of the wings getting adjusted for 
 higher flights. That life may enjoy new and larger 
 worlds there must be the breaking and snapping of cere- 
 ments. These are but the birth-pangs — the tearing away 
 from the narrow confines of the old existence with the 
 consequent new adjustment to the larger life. This is 
 as true of conscious man as of God's world of insects and 
 flowers. So never mind the throes. Let the good work 
 go on. 'Tis the sign of life, not death. 'Tis day! 'Tis 
 day!! The old earth groans, but the Kingdom of God 
 rolls into it ! ! ! 
 
 —329— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 The disciples, aboze all people, shoidd be unwilling 
 that any chasm should yawn between the church and the 
 school. From the beginning they have stood, and will 
 stand to the end, for the highest and best education and 
 scholarship. Never willing that our plea should make its 
 appeal solely to the emotions, profound thought has ever 
 characterized it, and ever will. 
 
 The past teaches us that success has attended the mes- 
 sage of God's chosen ones in every age proportionate to 
 their ability to adjust the truth to the age conditions. 
 It is important, then, that in the grasp of our message we 
 recognize that there is a "to-day." We cannot afford to 
 close our eyes in the full-orbed light of the present and 
 go about saying, "All things are as they were from the 
 beginning." Peter exhorted the people to be "estab- 
 lished in the present truth." The confronting task of to- 
 day is not getting a message, that we have — but finding 
 points of contact for the application of truth which we 
 already possess. Whether we believe in the present-day 
 methods and ideas or not, we must know them. We 
 must know that there is a "to-day." Not to feel its at- 
 mosphere would be like a man who would make no pro- 
 vision for the changing seasons. Every age has its time- 
 spirit, which Hegel defined as "the Spirit of God realizing 
 itself in the history of man." It might be thought of as 
 the general atmosphere of the age. And whether we 
 feel it or not, others do. 
 
 As long as we look askance at the schools and col- 
 leges, close our minds to development, and refuse to our 
 
 —330— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 thought science, Hterature and art, we need not expect 
 the intellectual world to give our plea any enthusiastic 
 reception. 
 
 If our message is the Christ, education needs Christ. 
 The facts that education brings must be interpreted in 
 the light of their eternal meaning. j\Iay it not be said 
 of us, as was said of God's chosen ones of old, "My 
 people perish for lack of knowledge." The dominant 
 thought in philosophy to-day is the unification of all 
 knowledge. Perhaps God has raised us up for this very 
 purpose. 
 
 He who fails to feel the magnitude of to-day must lag 
 behind. Anna Robertson Brown Lindsay's ''Warriors" 
 came from the press in 1903. She tells us in the preface 
 that she had begun to write the book five years before, 
 and much of what she wrote which she had uttered as 
 prophecy had been fulfilled when the book went to press. 
 It is useless for us to talk about the "average man." 
 Books of every description are flooding the land. The 
 "average man" finds the newest in his fictions, magazines 
 and papers. In fact, the "average man" is the "modern 
 man." This age demands the truth of God stated in 
 terms of to-day. Pentecost was unique in that every 
 man heard the gospel in his own tongue. This age has 
 a right to hear the gospel in the current language of the 
 day. 
 
 Some have imagined that the new conceptions of 
 things required a new message — a new revelation from 
 God. Xo new message is needed. Fundamentally the 
 
 —331— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 message is as ever — the love, justice, mercy and good- 
 ness of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. It strikes us at 
 a new angle. Our experience illuminates it. In the light 
 of hitherto undreamed of conditions the fresh vision of 
 the Christ seems to the impassioned soul like a new 
 message. This is the nature of progressive revelation. 
 We see only the part that our circumstance draws forth. 
 God and Christ fathom it all. Jesus said : "I have many 
 things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." 
 God brings to his chosen ones the present century. It is 
 his preparation. The opportunity is ours. His message 
 of salvation must be laid upon the heart of to-day's 
 needs. It is a problem of adaptation that confronts us. 
 Forward to Christ is our rally cry. Christ is not in 
 Jerusalem more than he is in our midst. The call to-day 
 is for a people who can bring to the world's need the 
 message from God. Mr. Lecky, the historian, says : "It 
 was reserved for Christianity to present to the world an 
 ideal character, which, through all the changes of eighteen 
 centuries, has filled the hearts of men with an impas- 
 sioned love, and has shown itself capable of acting on 
 all ages, nations, temperaments and conditions; has not 
 only been the highest pattern of virtue, but the highest 
 incentive to its practice." Said Gladstone : ''The longer 
 I live the more I feel that Christianity does not consist in 
 any particular system of church government, or in any 
 creedal statement, but that Christianity is Christ." In 
 ''The Death of the Desert," Browning declares : 
 
 "I say, the acknowledgment of God in Christ 
 Accepted by the reason solves for thee 
 All questions in the world and out of it." 
 —332— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty, 
 
 Our message in its appeal is manifold. Social condi- 
 tions need Jesus Christ. We can gain nothing and may 
 lose all by feeling bitter toward the world because it 
 seems often to rival the church, has a social conscience, 
 a Bible — in its code of ethics, an enthusiasm for human- 
 ity, and a feeling for brotherhood. These things are indic- 
 ative of enlightenment, progress and human need. Upon 
 this common ground we find our approach in bringing to 
 society the love which Jesus taught the world, the only 
 force which will cement and regenerate humanity. In its 
 desire for brotherhood we may enjoin its natural coun- 
 terpart and foundation — God's Fatherhood. The one is 
 unpractical and impossible without the other. We need 
 feel no alarm to learn that the Buddhists, Hindoos, Brah- 
 mins and ]Mohaminedans have their sacred books with 
 beautiful and moral sentiments, but take courage and 
 thank God that our message has expanded from a plea 
 to the denominations to a message to nations. We have 
 a Christ of whom we need have no fear that he will suf- 
 fer in comparison. As we would have them do by us, we 
 should recognize all the good in their religions with a 
 feeling of certainty that since they have good they will 
 learn to know the highest good. This is our point of con- 
 tact. The ethnic religions have much that is true and 
 pure, but they lack Christ. It requires but a people fully 
 possessed by the spirit of Christ to make the Orient re- 
 flect the 'Xight of the World." 
 
 Commensurate with the world's great physical changes 
 have been the mighty changes in the political and indus- 
 —333— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 trial world which have brought to the surface feelings of 
 discontent among workingmen. These cries of anguish 
 from the burden bearers are prefaced with aspirations, 
 longings and hopes for future betterment which are pow- 
 erful in determination. There has been a turning from 
 the individual to the society. The individual is almost 
 in the mass. The solidarity of the human race is painted 
 in most glowing colors, and the idea of brotherhood is 
 given a new setting. Even Buddhists, Confucianists, Brah- 
 mins and Hindoos urge the doctrine of brotherhood. 
 This is the foundation stone of the democratic and social- 
 istic movements of the day. 
 
 The glory of our movement is the success with which 
 our fathers brought the truth of God to bear upon the 
 conditions of their day. The efficiency with which we 
 bring divine truth to today's needs will determine our 
 future glory. The fathers never purposed that we should 
 be imitators of them nor interpret the mind of Christ 
 through them. "Back to Christ" means beyond the fath- 
 ers, and even beyond the apostles, to Christ himself. We 
 must read them through Christ, not him through them. 
 
 To be loyal to the fathers, as well as to Christ, is to 
 imitate their heroic spirit in wrestling with the problems 
 of our own day, to emulate their loyal feeling for the 
 Master, to share their sacrifice and toil, and to realize in 
 our own lives the mighty love that stirred within their 
 souls; rather than to think what they thought and say 
 what they said in the face of their conditions. 
 
 Great and glorious are the tasks that confront the 
 —334— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 church today. \\^e may go forth sounding an evangel- 
 istic note which will bring into harmony every discordant 
 element. But to make this possible the church needs 
 preparation from her own message. The church needs 
 Christ. His love must animate and his Spirit possess her. 
 'Tis not enough to accept Christ in doctrine. He is life. 
 Submission is only passive. He must be employed and 
 expressed. In this very world he brings us into life 
 "more abundant." His Kingdom unfolding itself in a 
 thousand ways in the life all about us, must impassion, 
 inspire and thrill the whole church of God. Xot the in- 
 fidels without the Church are impeding her progress and 
 delaying the coming Kingdom, but those within who fail 
 to lay hold — in thought, imagination and faith — of God 
 in his eternal purpose — those who fail to go forth with 
 her message of the Christ with an awakened conscious- 
 ness of all things both in heaven and earth. The "Chris- 
 tian Evangelist" places the situation before us thus : 
 
 "Never was the church, in any age, confronted with 
 greater tasks than the Church of today. These tasks may 
 be broadly stated as the evangelization of the heathen 
 world and the Christianization of the civilization of pro- 
 fessedly Christian lands. This involves the Christianiza- 
 tion of our business, of our politics, of our laws and insti- 
 tutions, of our educational processes, of our system of 
 preventing crime and of punishing the criminals, and all 
 that goes to make up the private and public life of a 
 people. These tasks, in which the Church must at least 
 lead if they are ever to be accomplished, require at least 
 
 __33o— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 two things on the part of the Church, namely, a deeper 
 spiritual life which shall bring it into closer fellowship 
 with God. and the healing of its divisions, so as to pre- 
 sent a united front against the forces of evil. The first 
 of these is essential to the realization of the other. We 
 can never have the unification of a divided Church until 
 it gets a clear vision and a stronger grasp of spiritual 
 realities, and rises out of the region of the carnal into a 
 higher faith and a purer worship. And never can the 
 Church achieve the victory over the w^orld and accom- 
 plish its sublime mission until it closes up its divided 
 ranks." 
 
 Dr. Willett truly says : "The progress made during the 
 life of Mr. Campbell did not cease at his death, and that 
 the highest loyalty to him and the truths he proclaimed 
 does not consist in camping on the spot where he fell, but 
 in pursuing the path of progress he followed through life. 
 If this Reformation would escape the fate of preceding 
 movements, it must avoid their mistake of crystallizing 
 about the positions which their leaders last occupied and 
 failing to advance as those leaders had done through life 
 and would still have continued to do if ahve. If this 
 mistake should be committed by the Disciples nothing 
 could save them from the fate that has overtaken sev- 
 eral previous reformations.'" 
 
 Dr. Garrison puts the matter forcibly "We must go 
 forw-ard. We have not yet apprehended that for which 
 
 1 The New Christian Quarterly, Jan., 1896, p. 96. 2 a Modern Plea for 
 Ancient Truths, p. 15f. 
 
 —336— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christian Liberty. 
 
 we were apprehended by Christ Jesus. Our reUgious 
 movement has not attained its ideal — much less God's 
 ideal. He has greater work for us to do than we have 
 ever dreamed of, if we will only follow where Christ 
 would lead us. He wants a continuous and progressive 
 reformation that shall address itself to the condition and 
 needs of each passing age. He wants no crystallization, 
 but perpetual gro^^•th. All previous reformations have 
 crystallized. Shall ours? Not if we are willing to be 
 led of Christ." 
 
 Coming to Mr. Campbell is like drawing near to any 
 great personality. It is not so much his word that builds 
 us up as what his word suggests to and evokes from us. 
 That which really helps us is the great thinking, feeling, 
 willing soul which the words seek, though always inade- 
 quately, to interpret and express. It is the touch of soul 
 with soul that enlarges us. It is the fellowship of life 
 with life that cheers us. So it is not only in what ^Ir. 
 Campbell said so clearly, systematically, and beautifully 
 that comforts us. but, in what sometimes he left unsaid, 
 in what he would say, in what he aspired and yearned, 
 in "instincts immature,'' in "purposes unsure," in thoughts 
 hardly expressed, in fancies not escaped. It is his great 
 progressive soul, struggling within its narrow confines 
 of flesh and environment, ever reaching out unto the In- 
 finite, that impresses us. The inspiration that he grants 
 us is not confined to terms, propositions, nor even ideas. 
 We feel the atmosphere of the man. We even forget the 
 man as we are caught up into his glorious task of life. 
 (22) —337— 
 
Alexander Campbell and Christim Liberty. 
 
 \\'e, too, become absorbed as we share with him the suf- 
 ferings and joys incident upon such strenuous pressing 
 toward the Goal. We even feel that this splendid task 
 has become our task. Life becomes sweeter and more 
 meaningful, with such a friend, and as the noblest in us 
 longs for expression, we feel ourselves rising to the 
 heights with him. Yes, the real incentive of such asso- 
 ciation is that the outward man falls into the background 
 — his form, his manners, his word — and we find ourselves 
 face to face with God. 
 
 Alexander Campbell passed through life earnestly, sin- 
 cerely, gracefully. His passing to God was beautiful and 
 victorious, while the immortal truths of his religion live 
 and stir today in thousands of hearts from whom they 
 evoke the best and noblest expression. 
 
 Therefore, he, having passed into Immortalityy is still 
 speaking upon the eai-th. So 'tis not night, but glorious 
 day ! In such souls, touched and transformed by the Di- 
 vine passion, "mercy and truth are met together, right- 
 eousness and peace have kissed each other." As we pen 
 these closing words, nestled here among the rugged Rock- 
 ies, fit emblem of Truth, those giant forms lift themselves 
 from earth to heaven; snow-crowned as they are, seem- 
 ing cold in their awful grandeur, yet withal sun-kissed 
 and overarched with sky of blue. We are impressed that 
 God and man are in league: that heaven and earth are 
 in union ; that "Truth springeth out of the earth and 
 righteousness hath looked down from heaven." 
 
 —338— 
 
Bibliography. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The Works of Alexander Campbell (Christian Publishing Co.) 
 
 Abbreviations. 
 
 Popular Lectures and Addresses Add. 
 
 Campbell on Baptism Bapt. 
 
 The Christian Baptist C. B. 
 
 The Christian System Ch. Sys. 
 
 Debate on the Roman Catholic Religion D. on R. C. R. 
 
 Lectures on the Pentateuch Lect. on Pent. 
 
 Evidences of Christianity Evi. 
 
 Living Oracles Liv. Or. 
 
 Millennial Harbinger Mil Har. 
 
 Other Works Referred To. 
 
 Historical Documents Advocating Christian Union — Young. 
 {Christian Century Company.) 
 
 The Early Relation and Separation of Baptists and Disciples — 
 Gates. {Christian Century Company.) 
 
 A Modern Plea for Ancient Truths — Garrison. {Christian Pub- 
 lishing Company.) 
 
 Alexander Campbell's Theolog}- — W. E. Garrison. {Christian 
 Publishing Company.) 
 
 The Plea of the Disciples of Christ — Moore. {Christian Cen- 
 tury Co.) 
 
 The Rise of the Current Reformation — Van Kirk. {Christian 
 
 Publishing Company.) 
 Higher Criticism (Tract) — Garrison. {Christian Publishing 
 
 Company.) 
 
 The Christian-Evangelist. {Christian Publishing Company, St. 
 Louis, Mo.) 
 
 —341— 
 
Bibliography. 
 
 The Christian Century. {Chicago, III.) 
 
 The Centennial Campfire— Laura Gerould Craig. (C W. B. M., 
 
 Indianapolis, Ind.) 
 Faith and Rationalism — Fisher. (Scribners.) 
 Ten Epochs of Church History— (The Apostolic Age— Bartlet). 
 
 (Scribners.) 
 
 Life and Religion — Muller. {Doubleday, Page & Co.) 
 Reconstructions in Theology — King. {The Macmillan Co.) 
 The Seeming Unreality of the Spiritual Life — King. {Mac- 
 millan Co.) 
 
 Theology and the Social Consciousness — King. {The Macmil- 
 lan Co.) 
 
 Personal and Ideal Elements in Education — King. {The Mac- 
 millan Co.) 
 
 The Theology of Albrecht Ritschl — Swing. {Longmans.) 
 
 Communion with God — Herrmann. {Putnam.) 
 
 Christian Theology in Outline — Brown. {Scribners.) 
 
 The Finality of the Christian Religion — Foster. {University of 
 Chicago Press.) 
 
 What Is Christianity? — Harnack. {Putnam.) 
 
 A History of New England Theology — Foster. {University of 
 Chicago Press.) 
 
 Cambridge Theological Essays. {Macmillan Co.) 
 
 The English Reformation and Puritanism — Hulbert. {Uni- 
 versity of Chicago Press.) 
 
 Hagenbach's History of the Church in the Eighteenth and Nine- 
 teenth Centuries — Vol. II — Hurst. {Scribners.) 
 
 The Philosophy of Religion — Lotze. {Macmillan Co.) 
 
 Microcosmus — Lotze. {Scribners.) 
 
 A History of Philosophy — Windelband. {The Macmillan Co.) 
 The Place of Christ in Modern Theology — Fairbairn. {Scrib- 
 ners.) 
 
 The Canon of the Old Testament— Ryle. {Macmillan Co.) 
 
 342 
 
Bibliography. 
 
 The Old Testament in the Jewish Church — W. Robertson Smith. 
 
 {Macmillan Co.) 
 The Origin and Permanent Value of the Old Testament — Kent. 
 
 {Scrihncrs.) 
 
 The New Appreciation of the Bible — Selleck. {University of 
 Chicago Press.) 
 
 A Young Man's Religion and His Father's Faith — Waters. 
 
 {Thomas Y. Crozvell & Co.) 
 The Fortune of the Republic— Hillis. {Revell.) 
 The Heart of the Gospel— Campbell. {Revell.) 
 Pragmatism — William James. {Longmans, Green & Co.) 
 Messages of the Masters — Amory H. Bradford. (T. Y. Crowell 
 
 & Co.) 
 
 The Evolution of Christianity — Lyman Abbott. {Houghton, 
 
 Mifflin & Co.) 
 Religions of the World — Grant. {Randolph & Co.) 
 The Intellectual Development of Europe — Vol. HI — Draper, 
 
 {Harpers.) 
 
 The Front Line of the Sunday School Movement — Peloubet. 
 
 {W. A. Wilde Co.) 
 The Bible: Its Origin and Nature — Marcus Dods. {Scribners.) 
 History of Interpretation — Farrar. 
 
 Bible Criticism and the Average Man — Johnston. {Revell.) 
 Passing Protestantism and Coming Catholicism — Smyth. {Scrib- 
 ners.) 
 
 The Idea of God— Fiske. {Houghton, Mifflin & Co.) 
 The Divine Pursuit — McFadyen. {Revell.) 
 The Story of the Psalms — Van Dyke. {Scribners.) 
 The Collected Poems of Wilfred Campbell. {William Briggs, 
 Toronto.) 
 
 Essays — Mazzini. {Walter Scott, London.) 
 
 Democratic Vistas and Other Papers — Whitman. {Walter Scott, 
 London.) 
 
 The Teaching of Jesus — Vol. I — Wendt. {Scribners.) 
 
 —343— 
 
Bibliography. 
 
 Text-Book in the History of Education — Monroe. {Macmill- 
 lan Co.) 
 
 History of Christian Doctrine — Fisher. (Scribners.) 
 
 The Ascent of Man — Drummond. (James Pott & Co.) 
 
 The New Era — Strong. (Baker & Taylor Co.) 
 
 Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels — Hastings. (Scribners.) 
 
 The Lew Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. 
 
 The JNew SSehali-Herzog Encyclopedia of Eeligious Knowiedgc. 
 
 (Funk & Wagnalls Co.) 
 What Is Religion ?—Pritchett. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.) 
 Temple Bible — An Introduction to the Study of the Scripture — 
 
 Boyd Carpenter. (/. B. Lippincott Co.) 
 Browning's Complete Poetical Works. (Houghton, Mifflin & 
 
 Co.) 
 
 Outline of the Doctrinal Development of the Western Church 
 (Based on the Dogmengeschichte of Friedrich Loofs) — Al- 
 bert Temple Swing. (Oberlin, Ohio.) 
 
 Movements of Religious Thought in Britain During the Nine- 
 teenth Century — Tulloch. (Scribners.) 
 
 Robertson's Sermons. (Harpers & Bros.) 
 
 —344^ 
 
Date Due