* JAN 24 1906 * 
 
 Division B X 73 IS 
 Sectioa .^253 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/disciplesofchrisOOgate_0 
 
THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST 
 
The Story of the Churches 
 
 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 /By 
 
 ERRETT GATES, Ph. D. 
 Associate in Church History^ University of Chicago 
 
 Author of** The Early Relation and Separation 
 of Baptists and Disciples " 
 
 NEW YORK: THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO. 
 33-37 East Seventeenth St., Union Sq. North 
 
Copyright, 1905, 
 
 By 
 
 The Baker & Taylor Co. 
 Published, September, igoj 
 
Publishers' Note 
 
 The aim of this series is to furnish a uniform 
 set of church histories, brief but complete, 
 and designed to instruct the average church 
 member in the origin, development, and his- 
 tory of the various denominations. Many 
 church histories have been issued for all de- 
 nominations, but they have usually been 
 volumes of such size as to discourage any 
 but students of church history. Each vol- 
 ume of this series, all of which will be 
 written by leading historians of the various 
 denominations, will not only interest the 
 members of the denomination about which 
 it is written, but will prove interesting to 
 members of other denominations as well 
 who wish to learn something of their fellow 
 workers. The volumes will be bound uni- 
 formly, and when the series is complete will 
 make a most valuable history of the Chris- 
 tian church. 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. The Campbells .... 7 
 II. Religious Conditions in Scotland 
 
 AND Ireland . . . .17 
 
 III. The Christian Association of 
 
 Washington . . . • 33 
 
 IV. Barton W. Stone and the Spring- 
 
 field Presbytery ... 64 
 
 V. The Union with the Baptists . 80 
 
 VI. Alexander Campbell as a Baptist, 100 
 VII. The Reformers Among the Bap- 
 tists . . . . .127 
 VIII. The Separation of the Reformers 
 
 from the Baptists . . .154 
 IX. The Union of the Reformers as 
 
 Disciples of Christ . . 177 
 
 X. Early Growth and Organization 212 
 
 XI. The Rise OF Internal Controversy, 235 
 
 XII. Missionary Organization . . 259 
 
 XIII. Evangelism, Journalism, Educa- 
 
 tion AND Church Growth . 277 
 
 XIV. Recent Tendencies and Problems, 304 
 Bibliography . . . '335 
 Index 339 
 
 5 
 
The Disciples of Christ 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE CAMPBELLS 
 
 The Disciples of Christ will complete the 
 first hundred years of their history as a dis- 
 tinct religious movement in 1909. Their 
 rise in 1809 is marked by the withdrawal 
 of Thomas Campbell from the Seceder 
 Presbyterian church in Western Pennsyl- 
 vania and the publication of the so-called 
 Declaration and Address. 
 
 Thomas Campbell was born in County 
 Down, Ireland, February i, 1763. His 
 ancestors were the Campbells of Argyle- 
 shire, Scotland, a clan famous in the polit- 
 ical and military history of the country. 
 He was the eldest of a family of four sons, 
 all of whom showed marked religious dis— 
 7 
 
8 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 positions and took leading parts later in 
 life in local religious affairs. The father 
 belonged to the Church of England, and 
 always preferred to worship after the Epis- 
 copal ritual, but his sons turned with greater 
 sympathy and pleasure to the simpler wor- 
 ship of the Covenanters and Seceder Pres- 
 byterians. Very early in life Thomas passed 
 through a deep religious experience, which 
 set at rest his fears of the divine displeasure 
 and gave him assurance of salvation and 
 acceptance with God. His religious experi- 
 ence conformed to the theological teach- 
 ing which he met and accepted in attend- 
 ance at Presbyterian churches. It was of 
 r that serious Calvinistic sort which laid par- 
 ticular emphasis upon the divine activity in 
 conversion. The spiritual monitions at- 
 tending his conversion were such as not 
 only to give him assurances of salvation, 
 but to lay upon him the duty of consecrat- 
 ing himself to the ministry of the gospel. 
 The moment of his conversion was also the 
 
The Campbells 9 
 
 moment of his dedication to the min- 
 istry. 
 
 He naturally turned to the Seceder church 
 as a sphere for the exercise of his ministry, 
 but the proposal met with the disfavor of 
 his father; and being under age he yielded 
 for the time to the wishes of his father and 
 continued his work as a teacher in an Eng- 
 lish academy which he had established in 
 the less enlightened regions of Ireland. 
 Hitherto his education had not passed be- 
 yond a good English schooling, at a mili- 
 tary regimental school near Newry, County 
 Down, and what by his native genius and 
 aptitude for study, he had acquired by self- 
 education and in the practice of teaching; 
 but upon his return from teaching in the 
 central parts of Ireland, he was taken under 
 the patronage of a Mr. Kinley, who en- 
 couraged him in his desire to enter the 
 ministry and gave him financial assistance 
 to continue his education in the University 
 of Glasgow. After completing his literary 
 
10 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 studies in the University, he entered the 
 theological school of the Seceders at Whith- 
 burn, then in charge of Dr. Archibald Bruce. 
 He completed his theological studies in five 
 sessions of eight weeks each and was 
 licensed to preach among the Anti-Burgher 
 Seceders, as a probationer, under the super- 
 vision of the Synod. 
 
 Very little is recorded of his early life as 
 a preacher. He was always obliged to carry 
 on his teaching to eke out his meagre salary 
 as a preacher and provide for an increasing 
 family. He was married to Jane Corneigle, 
 of French Huguenot descent, in County An- 
 trim, Ireland, in 1787. Their first child, born 
 in 1788, was a son, whom they named Alex- 
 ander. The two men, father and son, were 
 destined to be, the one the inaugurator, 
 the other the promoter of the religious 
 movement whose history is the theme of 
 this work. As the son of Thomas Camp- 
 bell and Jane Corneigle, Alexander Camp- 
 bell had the best blood of Scotland and of 
 
The Campbells 11 
 
 France flowing in his veins. He is said to 
 have had a striking resemblance to his 
 mother, both in character and physical 
 appearance, while she possessed all that 
 we have come to associate as best with the 
 French Huguenot character. 
 
 The father accepted the pastorate of the 
 Seceder church at Ahorey, County Armagh, 
 and moved his family to a place called Rich 
 Hill. The son was about ten years of age 
 when this took place, and so far had given 
 no evidence of anything unusual in his in- 
 tellectual powers. He had received the 
 rudiments of his early education under his 
 father and in the academy of his uncles, 
 but no scholastic regimen could subdue the 
 native physical strength and buoyant spirits 
 of the boy. He was well on towards six- 
 teen years of age before he was distin- 
 guished by anything but his irrepressible 
 love of sport and out-of-doors exercise. 
 He was simply a normal, healthy boy, with 
 a good mind and a well disposed moral 
 
12 Ihe Disciples of Christ 
 
 nature. Of early piety and precocious re- 
 ligious experience we hear nothing. His 
 restless physical spirit must have fretted 
 more than once under the long religious ex- 
 ercises of his Seceder home and church, for 
 it was the rule of the church prescribed by 
 the synod that "the minister should wor- 
 ship God in his family by singing, reading 
 and prayer, morning and evening; that he 
 should catechise and instruct them at least 
 once a week in religion; endeavoring to 
 cause every member to pray in secret morn- 
 ing and evening." Besides this it was the 
 rule in the home that "every member 
 should memorize, during each day, some 
 portion of the Bible, to be recited at even- 
 ing worship, and each again rehearsed on 
 the evening of the Lord's day; that every 
 one should go to meeting, and on returning 
 home give an account of the text and of the 
 discourse preached." 
 
 Such discipline had its effect upon the 
 boy. His intellectual and religious awaken- 
 
The Campbells 13 
 
 ing finally came when he was about eight- 
 een years of age. They seem to have been 
 coincident. He entered with zeal and effi- 
 ciency into the work of assisting his father 
 in the academy. He began to experience 
 "great concern in regard to his own salva- 
 tion." In a later account of this period he 
 says: " From the time that 1 could read the 
 Scriptures, I became convinced that Jesus 
 was the Son of God. I was also fully per- 
 suaded that I was a sinner, and must obtain 
 pardon through the merits of Christ or be 
 lost forever. This caused me great distress 
 of soul and I had much exercise of mind 
 under the awakenings of a guilty conscience. 
 Finally, after many strugglings, I was enabled 
 to put my trust in the Saviour, and to feel my 
 reliance on him as the only Saviour of sinners. 
 From the moment I was able to feel this re- 
 liance on the Lord Jesus Christ, I obtained 
 and enjoyed peace of mind." He was re- 
 ceived as a member of his father's church at 
 Ahorey and under the solicitation of his 
 
14 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 father began to devote time to theological 
 studies. It was not until later, however, 
 that the son dedicated himself to the ministry 
 of the gospel, though it was the father's 
 wish that he do so from the beginning of 
 his life. 
 
 The labors of the father were divided be- 
 tween his duties as pastor of the church at 
 Ahorey and superintendent of his academy 
 at Rich Hill, where he lived. His first inter- 
 est was always the religious interest. He 
 was a careful observer of and interested 
 actor in all the religious affairs of his 
 country and time. He was possessed by 
 nature of a broad Christian spirit which 
 transcended the sectarian boundaries of his 
 own denomination. The " occasional hear- 
 ing " of ministers of other religious bodies, 
 reluctantly granted by his own denomina- 
 tion, and then only when there was no 
 meeting at the same hour and in the same 
 place in one of their own churches, was 
 eagerly seized upon by Thomas Campbell 
 
The Campbells \^ 
 
 and improved. He was a frequent attendant 
 at the evening meetings of the congrega- 
 tion of Independents at Rich Hill, and was 
 on the most cordial terms with them as 
 neighbors. He was found entering into co- 
 operation with all religious movements 
 whenever opportunity was offered. He 
 became a member of the " Society for Prop- 
 agating the Gospel at Home," organized 
 by the Haldanes and composed for the most 
 part of members of the Church of England, 
 whose object was the arousing of a deeper 
 religious spirit throughout the British Isles 
 to counteract the deadening influence of 
 French infidelity and liberalism. 
 
 He felt that the religious need of the times 
 was a union of all the people of God. It 
 must have pained his soul to witness the 
 divisions going on in the two branches of 
 the Seceder church of which he was a mem- 
 ber. The story of the division and subdi- 
 vision of this church, the resulting nar- 
 rowness and bitterness of spirit mani- 
 
l6 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 fested towards each other, is a fitting 
 background against which to understand 
 the spirit and motives of Thomas Camp- 
 bell. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN SCOTLAND AND IRE- 
 LAND 
 
 In Thomas Campbell's time sectarianism 
 and religious bigotry had gone to seed in 
 the Seceder church. It was conceived in 
 pride and bitterness, born in narrowness, 
 and grew up in exclusiveness. Its sources 
 lie far back in the history of the Scottish 
 church. 
 
 When the Reformation suddenly invaded 
 Scotland in the year 1560, it found the 
 Scottish people and the ruling nobility ready 
 for it. "The Estates convened in August, 
 the Calvinistic confession of faith was ap- 
 proved, the Roman Catholic religion was 
 abolished, and the administering of the 
 mass, or attendance upon it, was forbid- 
 den — the penalty for the third offense being 
 death." "On the morning of the 25th of 
 17 
 
i8 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 August, 1560, the Romish hierarchy was su- 
 preme; in the evening of the same day, Cal- 
 vinistic Protestantism was established in its 
 stead." The nobility and the common 
 people joined in their desire to see the over- 
 throw of Roman Catholicism, and made 
 common cause against the king and church. 
 The nobility feared the power and craved 
 the vast wealth of the Roman church, while 
 the people longed for a purer ministry, a 
 worship in their own language and a voice 
 in the affairs of their parish churches. It 
 was an expression of the democratic spirit 
 in religion. 
 
 No form of Protestantism so completely 
 satisfied this spirit as the Presbyterian. 
 John Knox had gone to Geneva and sat at 
 the feet of John Calvin. He brought back 
 to his native Scotland and recommended to 
 his people both the doctrine and the order 
 of Calvinistic Presbyterianism. They found 
 these to their liking. Presbyterianism was 
 essentially democratic, and gave to the peo- 
 
Conditions in Scotland and Ireland 19 
 
 pie the right to choose their own pastors 
 and a representation in the government of 
 the church. It was impossible that the old 
 order could be completely wiped out and 
 destroyed in root and branch. Some roots 
 remained. One of the strongest to remain 
 was the institution of patronage which the 
 nobility was interested to maintain. When 
 the property and revenues of the old church 
 fell at one stroke into the hands of the re- 
 forming party, the nobles laid claim to it as 
 a part of their estates which had been 
 alienated by pious ancestors through dona- 
 tion and bequest to the church. It properly 
 escheated to the owners of the estates from 
 which it was originally set aside to main- 
 tain parish churches. The nobles had their 
 way in spite of the protest of the religious 
 leaders. Parish livings for the support of 
 the pastors now fell into the hands of 
 nobles and landowners who exercised the 
 right of patronage or presentation to living. 
 It was impossible that a pure Presbytery 
 
20 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 could be grafted upon this old stump of pat- 
 ronage. The people might choose a man 
 to be their pastor, but if he did not suit the 
 patron, the holder of living, who might be 
 a Romanist, an Episcopalian, or a Presby- 
 terian, the chosen pastor could not settle 
 with his parish. 
 
 After more than a century of struggle on 
 the part of the Scottish people to keep their 
 Presbyterianism against the encroachments 
 of English Episcopacy, they were finally 
 victorious at the time of the Revolution 
 Settlement of 1690. By this settlement 
 Presbyterianism was constituted by act of 
 Parliament the established religion of Scot- 
 land, and with the overthrow of Episcopacy 
 went patronage. But only for a time. It 
 came back by act of the English Parliament, 
 which now included the Scottish Parlia- 
 ment, in the year 1712, and was destined to 
 remain, the principal cause of all the troub- 
 les of the Scottish church, until finally 
 •abolished in 1874. 
 
Conditions in Scotland and Ireland 21 
 
 It was incident to the troubles growing 
 out of restored patronage that the Seceder 
 church arose in Scotland. The system of 
 patronage completely nullified the free 
 choice of the pastor by the people. The 
 patron took the initiative and presented as a 
 pastor for the church a man to his own 
 liking, and was not necessarily governed by 
 the desires of the people or the needs of the 
 place. Private and pecuniary consider- 
 ations very often operated in the presenta- 
 tion. The people were obliged to acquiesce 
 in the appointment or go without a pastor. 
 
 It was the conflicting interests and wishes 
 of patrons and people that often came be- 
 fore the presbyteries or assemblies for set- 
 tlement. An attempt on the part of the 
 Assembly to remedy the evil of vacant 
 parishes by obliging presbyteries to induct 
 pastors on call of heritors, if Protestant, and 
 elders, (in cases where patrons refused to 
 make a presentation within six months 
 after a vacancy that they might obtain the 
 
22 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 income for themselves,) called forth a bitter 
 protest against the action of the Assembly 
 by Ebenezer Erskine, in a sermon delivered 
 as retiring moderator of the Synod of Perth 
 and Stirling. He was rebuked by the Synod 
 for offensive utterances in the sermon. He 
 appealed to the Assembly of 1733 against 
 the rebuke of the Synod and was joined by 
 three other ministers. The Assembly ap- 
 proved the action of the Synod and ordered 
 that Erskine be rebuked before the bar of 
 the Assembly. He refused to submit in 
 silence to the action, and was called on to 
 retract, failing which in a year he was sus- 
 pended from the ministry of the church. 
 The protesters seceded from the established 
 church and constituted themselves into a 
 Presbytery. When the Assembly relented 
 a year later and opened the door for their 
 return by removing all censure and restor- 
 ing their names to the ministerial roll, they 
 stubbornly refused to return. They went 
 on organizing churches and constituting 
 
Conditions in Scotland and Ireland 23 
 
 presbyteries, and by 1742 constituted the 
 first synod out of three presbyteries and 
 thirty congregations. The ranks of the Se- 
 ceders were from time to time increased by 
 withdrawals from the establishment of 
 churches and members who had been out- 
 raged by the violent intrusion of obnoxious 
 pastors upon them. Rather than submit, 
 they seceded. The secession profited for a 
 long time by the workings of the law of 
 patronage. 
 
 These Seceders, as they were called, be- 
 gan to regard themselves as the true church 
 of God in Scotland and identified themselves 
 with the church of the first and second 
 reformations. When George Whitfield 
 came to Scotland they demanded that he 
 confine his ministrations to their churches; 
 and when asked " why," they said, ''be- 
 cause we are the Lord's people." "Are 
 there no other Lord's people but you.^" he 
 inquired. " And supposing all others are the 
 devil's people; certainly, they have the more 
 
24 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 need to be preached to." August 4, 1741, 
 was proclaimed throughout their body as a 
 day of fasting and humiliation for the 
 countenance given to Whittleld. 
 
 It was not long before strife broke out in 
 their own ranks over the lawfulness of the 
 oath administered to burgesses of towns. 
 Some held that a Seceder who happened to 
 be a burgess could not consistently swear 
 "to profess and allow with his heart the 
 true religion presently professed within the 
 realm and authorized by the laws thereof," 
 without promising to support the church 
 from which they had seceded, and now re- 
 garded as "a household of Satan." Con- 
 sequently they divided in 1747 into Burghers 
 and Anti-Burghers. Each proclaimed itself 
 to be the true church and anathematized the 
 other. 
 
 The Burgher branch of the Seceders was 
 for a long time stirred with dissension as to 
 the power of the civil magistrate in relig- 
 ious matters. They divided on the question 
 
Conditions in Scotland and Ireland 25 
 
 in 1796 into Old Lights and New Lights. 
 A similar division took place in the Anti- 
 Burgher branch in 1806. There were now 
 four distinct parties of Seceders. The 
 divisions of the parent body in Scotland 
 were transferred to its new home in Ireland. 
 Thomas Campbell became a member of the 
 Old Light, Anti-Burgher branch of the 
 Seceders. 
 
 All branches grew in narrowness and bit- 
 terness of spirit, as their ranks diminished 
 in numbers through division. In 1798 the 
 Anti-Burgher Synod forbade the people to 
 attend or give countenance to public preach- 
 ing by any who were not of their commun- 
 ion; and a year afterwards actually deposed 
 and excommunicated one of its ministers 
 for having heard Rowland Hill and James 
 Haldane preach." A case is on record 
 where the Burgher Synod cited one of its 
 members before it, for working as a mason 
 on an Episcopal chapel in Glasgow, and de- 
 creed that he was highly censurable and 
 
26 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 "ought not to be admitted to any of the 
 seals of the covenant till he profess his sor- 
 row for the offense and scandal that he had 
 given and been guilty of." 
 
 The spirit of bigotry and sectarian ani- 
 mosity was not confined to the Seceders. 
 The established church herself and all dis- 
 senting bodies, including the Presbytery of 
 Relief, finally narrowed the grace of God 
 and his covenanted mercies to their own 
 bodies. To the genial Christian spirit of 
 such a man as Thomas Campbell, the 
 spectacle of these divisions and animosities 
 between Christians seemed more than child- 
 ish; they were sinful. As he reflected upon 
 them he must have inquired the reason for 
 them and sought a remedy. His own 
 church was rent asunder before his eyes 
 and he was forced to take sides on a ques- 
 tion which had no meaning in Ireland 
 where the burgess oath never had been in 
 use. So needless seemed the perpetuation 
 of the division between Burghers and Anti- 
 
Conditions in Scotland and Ireland 27 
 
 Burghers on Irish soil, that he led in an 
 effort to unite the two bodies in 1805, but 
 failed through the unwillingness of the 
 Scottish General Synod to free the Irish 
 Synod from its jurisdiction. The union 
 was finally accomplished in 1818. 
 
 Other influences were at work upon both 
 of the Campbells beside the hard and bitter 
 sectarianism of the times. The church of 
 Independents at Rich Hill, which they fre- 
 quently attended, held to doctrines and 
 practices which subsequently became char- 
 acteristic of the churches founded by them 
 in America. Independency in Scotland 
 originated with John Glas, a minister of the 
 established church, who was deposed in 
 1730 for teaching that "there is no warrant 
 in the New Testament for a national church; 
 that the magistrate, as such, has no place in 
 the church, and has no right to punish for 
 heresy; that both the National Covenant 
 and the Solemn League and Covenant are 
 without scriptural grounds; and that the 
 
28 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 true reformation is one that can be carried 
 out, not by political and secular weapons 
 but by the word and spirit of Christ only." 
 He gathered around him a group of people 
 who shared his views, and adopted in all 
 his teaching the principle that the Scripture 
 is the only standard of both doctrine and 
 practice. He accordingly adopted the ob- 
 servance of the Lord's supper every Sunday, 
 the practice of feet washing, the holy kiss, 
 mutual exhortation in public worship, 
 plurality of elders, community of goods, 
 and other customs which he derived from 
 the primitive church. His son-in-law, 
 Robert Sandeman, took up his views and 
 established churches. They were called 
 Glassites or Sandemanians. They de- 
 veloped into a narrow, exclusive sect, and 
 divided into no less than three parties, each 
 disavowing all fellowship with the others. 
 
 The last decade of the eighteenth century 
 was characterized by unusual ferment in re- 
 ligious circles in Scotland and Ireland. The 
 
Conditions in Scotland and Ireland 29 
 
 older Presbyterian bodies threw off, by 
 reason of the tyrannical power of the 
 church courts, a variety of persons and 
 groups of persons, all of whom took the 
 direction of independency. In 1768 arose 
 the "Old Scotch Independents"; in 1769, 
 the "Old Scotch Baptists"; in 1780, the 
 "Bereans"; in 1798, the "Modern Congre- 
 gationalists "; and between 1 790-1 800, the 
 evangelistic activity of Rowland Hill, the 
 Haldanes and their associates, gave rise to 
 many "Tabernacle Churches" throughout 
 the British Isles, notably in Scotland and 
 Ireland, which swelled the ranks of inde- 
 pendency. Many of these new sects on ac- 
 quaintance found themselves in agreement 
 with each other and came together. The 
 features which they shared in common 
 were, independency in church government 
 and a more strict adherence to the Scrip- 
 tures in faith and practice. This appeal to 
 the precedent of the primitive churches in 
 its application to their doctrines and prac- 
 
30 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 tices occasioned many internal contro- 
 versies. The question of baptism inevitably 
 came up for discussion, and finally de- 
 termined the arrangement of independent 
 bodies into two groups : those who ad- 
 hered strictly to immersion, and those who 
 treated the form of baptism as a matter of 
 indifference. This question of baptism di- 
 vided the Haldanean societies, both of the 
 Haldanes adopting Baptist views. "The 
 new notions spread over most of the 
 churches of the connection, and contention, 
 strife of words, jealousies, and divisions 
 followed, of which none but such as passed 
 through the painful scenes of those days 
 can have any adequate idea." "The oc- 
 currences in question, while they embar- 
 rassed and weakened the churches, exposed 
 them also to the triumph and sneers of 
 adversaries, while at the same time much 
 odium was brought on every attempt to 
 follow out scriptural fellowship." Through 
 the influence of Greville Ewing, one of the 
 
Conditions in Scotland and Ireland 31 
 
 associates of the Haldanes, their societies 
 quite generally adopted the weekly com- 
 munion of the Lord's supper. 
 
 The congregation of Independents fre- 
 quently attended by the Campbells at Rich 
 Hill seems to have been of the Haldanean 
 order, for the Haldanes were occasionally 
 heard in the church. It was in this church 
 that the Campbells heard such men as J. A. 
 Haldane, Rowland Hill, Alexander Carson, 
 and John Walker, concerning the latter of 
 whom Alexander Campbell wrote in 181 5: 
 "I am now an Independent in church gov- 
 ernment; of that faith and view of the 
 gospel exhibited in John Walker's Seven 
 Letters to Alexander Knox, and a Baptist so 
 far as regards baptism." 
 
 Such were the religious conditions and 
 influences surrounding the Campbells in 
 Scotland and Ireland during the closing 
 years of the eighteenth century and the 
 opening years of the nineteenth. They 
 were both negative and positive: negative. 
 
32 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 in disgusting tliem with the petty differ- 
 ences and bitter animosities of sectarianism; 
 and positive, in acquainting them with and 
 disposing them towards the teachings of 
 the Independents. This is shown in one 
 matter — the weekly observance of the 
 Lord's supper. "From the first all the 
 Congregational churches, with the excep- 
 tion of a few in Aberdeen and the north, 
 observed the Lord's supper every first day 
 of the week, as a part of the usual morn- 
 ing service." Thomas Campbell introduced 
 the weekly observance of the Lord's supper 
 into the first church he established in 
 America. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON 
 
 The health of Thomas Campbell began to 
 suffer some impairment from his excessive 
 labors as preacher and teacher, and his 
 physician recommended a sea voyage as a 
 remedy. 
 
 Many of his neighbors had gone, and more 
 were going, to America, to seek homes. 
 Some of his Seceder friends had emigrated 
 to the New World. To take a journey to 
 America, whether to see the country as a 
 visitor or remain as an inhabitant, would 
 not be going alone or entirely among 
 strangers. He bade farewell to his Seceder 
 congregation at Ahorey, and took letters 
 of dismissal and testimonials from the church 
 and the Presbytery of Market Hill. Leaving 
 his family behind and the academy in charge 
 of his son Alexander, he set sail April 8, 
 33 
 
34 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 1807, and arrived in Philadelphia thirty-five 
 days later, where he found the Seceder synod 
 in session. He presented his credentials, 
 and was assigned to the Presbytery of 
 Chartiers, in Western Pennsylvania. 
 
 The Seceders lost none of their peculiari- 
 ties by being transplanted to the New World. 
 They brought their Old World "testimo- 
 nies " with them and perpetuated their di- 
 visions in America as they had in Scotland 
 and Ireland against the better feeling and 
 judgment of many of their members. The 
 Anti-Burghers were the first to establish 
 churches in America, and when the Burghers 
 arrived on the ground there was a disposi- 
 tion to go into the Anti-Burgher fellowship. 
 There was even less reason for the division 
 of Seceders into Burghers and Anti-Burghers 
 or into New Lights and Old Lights, in 
 America than in Ireland, for the divisions 
 grew out of political conditions which were 
 completely changed in this country. Penn- 
 sylvania became the stronghold of Seceder- 
 
The Christian Asscx:iation 35 
 
 ism. Tiie Anti-Burgher branch, being the 
 stronger, absorbed the Burgher element in 
 the stream of emigration from the Old 
 World, and put itself under the oversight of 
 the Associate (Anti-Burgher) Synod of Scot- 
 land. This body in America became more 
 exclusive and conservative than the body 
 in Scotland, and in 1796 passed "an act 
 against occasional communion, which ever 
 afterward remained the law of the 
 church." 
 
 Thomas Campbell had not been long at 
 work among his New World Seceder 
 brethren before he broke over the narrow 
 boundaries of his denomination and violated 
 one of its most cherished usages. It had 
 decreed to have no fellowship with brethren 
 of other Presbyterian parties, much less 
 other denominations. But when Thomas 
 Campbell went into the religiously desolate 
 parts of his field, he invited his brethren of 
 all Presbyterian parties who were without 
 pastoral care and the sacraments of the 
 
36 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 church, to join his Anti-Burgher members 
 in communion service. Whether it was due 
 more to the zeal of his ministerial brethren 
 for the correct usages of Secederism or 
 to their jealousy of his growing power 
 and popularity, that they assumed a hos- 
 tile attitude towards Mr. Campbell, is not 
 clear; but it was not long before sufficient 
 offense had been given to warrant them in 
 openly proceeding against him before the 
 Presbytery. He was charged with depar- 
 ture from the standard of Seceder faith and 
 with violation of the rules and usages of the 
 church. There is no record of the trial be- 
 fore the Presbytery, but judging from the 
 contents of a letter written immediately 
 after to the Synod, we may infer that he 
 pleaded for larger liberty and fraternity than 
 were allowed by the "testimony" of the 
 church, and took his stand upon the au- 
 thority and teachings of the Scriptures over 
 against the authority of the "testimony." 
 The Presbytery voted him deserving of cen- 
 
The Christian Association 37 
 
 sure. He protested and appealed to the 
 Synod. 
 
 Mr. Campbell was desirous of continuing 
 in fellowship with the Seceders and working 
 harmoniously with them, but he was not 
 willing to do so at the sacrifice of his Chris- 
 tian liberty and fraternity, or the primacy 
 of the Scriptures as the law of his Christian 
 conscience, and the rule of his faith and 
 practice. By this time he had clearly grasped 
 the principles by which he was to govern 
 his own conduct in religious matters, and 
 by which alone he believed the church of 
 God could be brought to unity and purity. 
 How long before this he had arrived at his 
 position cannot be said. It first appeared in 
 the letter to the Synod. The letter is too 
 long to quote in full, but it is so important 
 a piece of evidence in the development of 
 Thomas Campbell's religious position, that 
 it cannot be entirely omitted. He said : / 
 "Honored Brethren : Before you come to 
 a final issue in the present business, let me 
 
38 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 entreat you to pause a moment and seriously 
 consider the following things : To refuse 
 any one his just privilege, is it not to op- 
 press and injure? In proportion to the 
 magnitude and importance of the privilege 
 withheld, is not the injustice in withholding 
 it to be estimated ? If so, how great the 
 injustice, how highly aggravated the injury 
 will appear, to thrust out from communion 
 a Christian brother, a fellow-minister for 
 saying and doing none other things than 
 those which our Divine Lord and his Holy 
 Apostles have taught and enjoined to be 
 spoken and done by his ministering serv- 
 ants, and to be received and observed by 
 all his people! Or have I, in any instance, 
 proposed to say or do otherwise ? If I 
 have, I shall be heartily thankful to any 
 brother that shall point it out, and upon his 
 so doing, shall as heartily and thankfully 
 relinquish it. Let none think that, by so 
 saying, I entertain the vain presumption of 
 being infallible. So far am I from this, 
 
The Christian Association 39 
 
 that I dare not venture to trust my own 
 understanding so far as to take upon me to 
 teach anything as a matter of faith or duty 
 but what is already expressly taught, and 
 enjoined by divine authority." It is, 
 therefore, because I have no confidence, 
 either in my own infallibility or in that of 
 others, that I absolutely refuse, as inadmis- 
 sible and schismatic the introduction of 
 human opinions and human inventions into 
 the faith and worship of the church. Is it, 
 therefore, because I plead the cause of the 
 scriptural and Apostolic worship of the 
 church, in opposition to the various errors 
 and schisms which have so awfully cor- 
 rupted and divided it, that the brethren 
 of the Union should feel it difficult to ad- 
 mit me as their fellow laborer in that blessed 
 work ? I sincerely rejoice with them in 
 what they have done in that way; but still, 
 all is not yet done; and surely they can 
 have no just objections to going farther. 
 Nor do I presume to dictate to them or to 
 
40 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 others as to how they should proceed for 
 the glorious purpose of promoting the unity 
 and purity of the church; but only beg 
 leave, for my own part, to walk upon 
 such sure and peaceable ground that I maj 
 have nothing to do with human controversy 
 about the right or wrong side of any opinion 
 whatsoever. By simply acquiescing in what 
 is written, as quite sufficient for every pur- 
 pose of faith and duty ; and thereby to in- 
 fluence as many as possible to depart from 
 human controversy, to betake themselves to 
 the Scriptures, and in so doing, to the study 
 and practice of faith, holiness and love." 
 
 This extract shows sufficiently the sin- 
 cerity of the purpose and spirit of Campbell 
 in his conflict with his brethren. It also 
 contains echoes and reminiscences of the sec- 
 tarian conflicts surrounding him in Ireland, 
 and reflects the teachings of such men as 
 John Glas, the Haldanes, John Walker and 
 Archibald McLean. There is nothing new 
 in his appeal to the authority of Scripture, 
 
The Christian Association 41 
 
 except the emphasis upon it and use made of 
 it. Reforming spirits in all ages of the 
 church have made their appeal back to 
 Scripture, from Vigilantius and Jovinian in 
 the early church through Arnold of Brescia, 
 William of Occam, John Wiclif and John 
 Huss, to Martin Luther and John Calvin in 
 the modern church. The authority of primi- 
 tive Christianity appeared in the church 
 first as a principle of purity; Luther ap- 
 plied it as a principle of liberty, as well as 
 purity; Campbell conceived of it as a prin- 
 ciple of unity, as well as liberty and purity. 
 He believed that a return to primitive Chris- 
 tianity would make a united, as well as a 
 pure and a free church. The crying need of 
 the Protestant church was unity; but the 
 p^th to that unity lay through her deliver- 
 ance from a new bondage into which she 
 had fallen, a bondage to creeds and theo- 
 logical formularies of the faith as conditions 
 of union and communion among Christians. 
 Here appears for the first time in the history 
 
42 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 of the church the annunciation of the au- 
 I thority of Scripture as a principle of Chris- 
 1 tian unity. Here lay the remedy for the 
 church's divisions and strifes in his time 
 and all time. He announces it with all con- 
 fidence and sincerity, as a principle which 
 his own brethren who were trying him for 
 heresy already accepted, and upon which the 
 entire Protestant church was built. He was 
 conscious only of recalling an old faith. It 
 is self-evident, axiomatic, consentient with 
 the mind of all Protestant Christendom. 
 > With him the appeal to Scripture was 
 the end of controversy between him and 
 his Seceder brethren. It was equivalent 
 to an argumentum ad hominem, and against 
 the more open and flagrant departures from 
 plain Scripture precept and example would 
 be successful. 
 
 The result of the appeal to the Synod was 
 to set aside the judgment of the Presbytery 
 on the ground of the informalities of its 
 procedure, and to release the protester from 
 
The Christian Association 43 
 
 the censure inflicted by tiie Presbytery; but 
 it decided that there were sufficient grounds 
 in his evasive and unsatisfactory answers 
 to the charges to "infer censure." He sub- 
 mitted to the decision *'as an act of defer- 
 ence to the judgment of the court," and 
 that "he might not give offense to his 
 brethren by manifesting a refractory spirit." 
 He supposed this would settle the matter, 
 and he would be enabled to go on in peace 
 with his ministerial labors; but he was dis- 
 appointed, for his enemies were all the 
 more bitter in their hostility to him. Rather 
 than try to continue his work in the at- 
 mosphere of suspicion and criticism, he 
 deemed it his duty to sever his relations 
 with the Seceders. He presented to the 
 Synod a formial renunciation of its authority, 
 and committed himself to the sympathy of 
 the religious world. 
 
 Many persons not only among the Se- 
 ceders but members of other religious bodies 
 who had heard him sympathized with him 
 
44 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 and shared his views. He began to hold 
 meetings whenever there were opportu- 
 nities, in barns, groves, schoolhouses, and 
 the houses of his Irish friends who had 
 settled in Washington County, and soon a 
 clearly defined group of persons acknowl- 
 edged his leadership. They agreed to meet 
 at the home of Abraham Altars, to consum- 
 mate plans for the future, and agree upon a 
 basis of cooperation. In an address on 
 this occasion he gave utterance to a sentence 
 which was destined to become a kind of 
 watchword among those who came under 
 » his leadership: "Where the Scriptures 
 speak, we speak; where they are silent, we 
 are silent." He had scarcely finished speak- 
 ing when one person present made the ap- 
 plication of the principle to infant baptism, 
 and concluded that the Scriptures nowhere 
 speak of it. They, therefore, ought not to 
 have anything to do with it. Mr. Campbell 
 was not so easily convinced of this, and 
 thought it ought to be treated as a matter 
 
The Christian Association 45 
 
 of forbearance. At a meeting held August 
 17, 1809, a committee of twenty-one was 
 appointed, headed by Thomas Campbell, 
 to draw up a program of action. They 
 agreed to call themselves "The Christian • 
 Association of Washington." The results 
 of the deliberation of this committee were 
 the writing by Mr. Campbell and the adop- 
 tion by the Association of what was called 
 a Declaration and Address. It is the most * 
 important document in the entire history of 
 the Disciples. It was forged out of the ex- 
 periences and charged with the spirit of 
 Thomas Campbell. It is free from bitterness 
 or vindictiveness, but is passionate with the 
 eloquence of one who had felt all the misery 
 and meanness of sectarianism. Love and 
 sorrow have conquered pride and revenge 
 in his soul, and he pleads as a brother with 
 his brethren. 
 
 The Christian Association thought of , 
 itself, not as a church or as a new religious 
 denomination, but as a society for the pro- 
 
46 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 motion of Christian union among all the 
 denominations. Its members still held mem- 
 bership in the various churches of the region. 
 They had no thought of being otherwise 
 received by the various denominations than 
 as kindly helpers in restoring their faith and 
 order to the New Testament model. We 
 cannot understand how they so mistook 
 the disposition of the various denomina- 
 tions towards change and reconstruction as 
 to suppose they would cordially or even 
 quietly permit alterations in their faith and 
 usages, except that the members of the 
 Association had an unusually profound, if 
 not naive, confidence in the magic of their 
 principles. The Declaration sets forth the 
 motives and purposes of the Association as 
 follows: "Moreover, being well aware, 
 from sad experience, of the heinous nature 
 and pernicious tendency of religious contro- 
 versy among Christians, tired and sick of 
 the bitter jarrings and janglings of a party 
 spirit, we would desire to be at rest; and, 
 
The Christian Association 47 
 
 were it possible, we would also desire to 
 adopt and recommend such measures as 
 would give rest to our brethren throughout 
 all the churches: as would restore unity, 
 peace and purity to the whole church of 
 God." "Our desire, therefore, for our- 
 selves and our brethren would be that 
 rejecting human opinions and the inven- 
 tions of men, as of any authority, or as 
 having any place in the church of God, we 
 might forever cease from further conten- 
 tions about such things; returning to and 
 holding fast by the original standard; tak- 
 ing the divine word alone for our guide; 
 the Holy Spirit for our teacher and guide, 
 to lead us into all truth; and Christ alone, 
 as exhibited in the word, for our salvation: 
 that by so doing we may be at peace among 
 ourselves, follow peace with all men, and 
 holiness, without which no man shall see 
 the Lord." Then follows a statement of 
 the purpose and program of the Associa- 
 tion: To form a religious association for 
 
48 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 promoting simple and evangelical Chris- 
 tianity, under the name of the Christian 
 Association of Washington; to contribute a 
 certain sum to support a pure gospel min- 
 istry and supply the poor with the Scrip- 
 tures; to encourage the formation of simi- 
 lar associations; to consider itself not a 
 church, but as a church reformation society; 
 to countenance only such ministers as adhere 
 closely to the example and precept of 
 Scripture in conduct and teaching; to entrust 
 the management of the Association to a 
 standing committee of twenty-one; to hold 
 two meetings a year; to open each meeting 
 with a sermon; and to look to the friends 
 of genuine Christianity for the support of 
 their work. 
 
 This is followed by the Address with the 
 following dedicatory heading: "To all 
 that love our Lord Jesus Christ, in sincerity, 
 throughout all the churches, the following 
 Address is most respectfully submitted." 
 After an arraignment of the evils of division 
 
The Christian Association 49 
 
 in Christendom and an indictment of 
 sectarianism, he goes on to plead with his 
 "dearly beloved brethren," of "all the 
 churches of Christ," "to unite in the bonds 
 of an entire Christian unity — Christ alone » 
 being the hmd, the centre, his word the 
 rule; and explicit belief of, and manifest 
 conformity to it in all things — the terms.'' 
 
 There were certain "fundamental truths" 
 of the nature of "first principles" — "truths 
 demonstrably evident in the light of Scrip- 
 ture and right reason " which underlay the 
 proposal for a union of Protestant Chris- 
 tians. These self-evident presuppositions 
 he puts in the form of propositions as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 "I. That the Church of Christ upon 
 earth is essentially, intentionally, and con- 
 stitutionally one; consisting of all those in 
 every place that profess their faith in Christ 
 and obedience to him in all things according 
 to the Scriptures, and that manifest the 
 same by their tempers and conduct, and of 
 
50 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 none else; as none else can be truly and 
 properly called Christians. 
 
 "2. That although the Church of Christ 
 upon earth must necessarily exist in particu- 
 lar and distinct societies, locally separate 
 one from another, yet there ought to be no 
 schisms, no uncharitable divisions among 
 them. They ought to receive each other as 
 Christ Jesus hath also received them, to the 
 glory of God. And for this purpose they 
 ought all to walk by the same rule, to mind 
 and speak the same thing; and to be per- 
 fectly joined together in the same mind, 
 and in the same judgment. 
 
 "3. That in order to do this, nothing 
 ought to be inculcated upon Christians as 
 articles of faith; nor required of them as 
 terms of communion, but what is expressly 
 taught and enjoined upon them in the word 
 of God. Nor ought anything to be ad- 
 mitted, as of Divine obligation, in their 
 Church constitution and management, but 
 what is expressly enjoined by the authority 
 
The Christian Association 51 
 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles 
 upon the New Testament Church, either in 
 express terms or by approved precedent. 
 
 "4. That although the Scriptures of the 
 Old and New Testaments are inseparably 
 connected, making together but one perfect 
 and entire revelation of the Divine will, for 
 the edification and salvation of the Church, 
 and therefore in that respect cannot be 
 separated; yet as to what directly and 
 properly belongs to their immediate object, 
 the New Testament is as perfect a constitu- 
 tion for the worship, discipline, and govern- 
 ment of the New Testament Church, and 
 as perfect a rule for the particular duties of 
 its members, as the Old Testament was for 
 the worship, discipline, and government of 
 the Old Testament Church, and the particu- 
 lar duties of its members. 
 
 " 5. That with respect to the commands 
 and ordinances of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 where the Scriptures are silent as to the ex- 
 press time or manner of performance, if any 
 
52 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 such there be, no human authority has 
 power to interfere, in order to supply the 
 supposed deficiency by making laws for the 
 Church; nor can anything more be required 
 of Christians in such cases, but only that 
 they so observe these commands and ordi- 
 nances as will evidently answer the declared 
 and obvious end of their institution. Much 
 less has any human authority power to im- 
 pose new commands or ordinances upon 
 the Church, which our Lord Jesus Christ 
 has not enjoined. Nothing ought to be re- 
 ceived into the faith or worship of the 
 Church, or be made a term of communion 
 among Christians, that is not as old as the 
 New Testament. 
 
 "6. That although inferences and de- 
 ductions from Scripture premises, when 
 fairly inferred, may be truly called the 
 doctrine of God's holy word, yet are they 
 not formally binding upon the consciences 
 of Christians farther than they perceive the 
 connection, and evidently see that they are 
 
The Christian Association 53 
 
 so; for their faith must not stand in the 
 wisdom of men, but in the power and 
 veracity of God. Therefore, no such de- 
 ductions can be made terms of communion, 
 but do properly belong to the after and pro- 
 gressive edification of the Church. Hence, 
 it is evident that no such deductions or in- 
 ferential truths ought to have any place in 
 the Church's confession. 
 
 "7. That although doctrinal exhibitions 
 of the great system of Divine truths, and 
 defensive testimonies in opposition to pre- 
 vailing errors, be highly expedient, and the 
 more full and explicit for those purposes 
 they be, the better; yet, as these must be in 
 a great measure the effect of human reason- 
 ing, and of course must contain many in- 
 ferential truths, they ought not to be made 
 terms of communion; unless we suppose, 
 what is contrary to fact, that none have a 
 right to the communion of the Church, but 
 such as possess a very clear and decisive 
 judgment, or are come to a very high de- 
 
54 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 gree of doctrinal information; whereas the 
 Church from the beginning did, and ever 
 will, consist of little children and young 
 men, as well as fathers. 
 
 "8. That as it is not necessary that per- 
 sons should have a particular knowledge or 
 distinct apprehension of all Divinely re- 
 vealed truths in order to entitle them to a 
 place in the Church; neither should they, 
 for this purpose, be required to make a 
 profession more extensive than their knowl- 
 edge; but that, on the contrary, their hav- 
 ing a due measure of Scriptural self-knowl- 
 edge respecting their lost and perishing 
 condition by nature and practice, and of 
 the way of salvation through Jesus Christ, 
 accompanied with a profession of their 
 faith in and obedience to him, in all things, 
 according to his word, is all that is abso- 
 lutely necessary to qualify them for admis- 
 sion into his church. 
 
 *'9. That all are enabled through grace 
 to make such a profession, and to manifest 
 
The Christian Association 55 
 
 the reality of it in their tempers and con- 
 duct, should consider each other as the 
 precious saints of God, should love each 
 other as brethren, children of the same fam- 
 ily and father, temples of the same Spirit, 
 members of the same body, subjects of the 
 same grace, objects of the same love, 
 bought with the same price, and joint-heirs 
 of the same inheritance. Whom God hath 
 thus joined together no man should dare to 
 put asunder. 
 
 10. That division among the Christians 
 is a horrid evil, fraught with many evils. 
 It is antichristian, as it destroys the visible 
 unity of the body of Christ; as if he were 
 divided against himself, excluding and ex- 
 communicating a part of himself. It is 
 antiscriptural, as being strictly prohibited 
 by his sovereign authority; a direct violation 
 of his express command. It is antinatural, 
 as it excites Christians to contemn, to hate, 
 and oppose one another, who are bound by 
 the highest and most endearing obligations 
 
56 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 to love each other as hrethren, even as 
 Christ has loved them. In a word, it is 
 productive of confusion and of very evil 
 work. 
 
 " II. That (in some instances) a partial 
 neglect of the expressly revealed will of 
 God, and (in others) an assumed authority 
 for making the approbation of human opin- 
 ions and human inventions a term of com- 
 munion, by introducing them into the con- 
 stitution, faith, or worship of the Church, 
 are, and have been, the immediate, obvious, 
 and universally acknowledged causes, of all 
 the corruptions and divisions that ever have 
 taken place in the Church of God. 
 
 "12. That all that is necessary to the 
 highest state of perfection and purity of the 
 Church upon earth is, first, that none be 
 received as members but such as having 
 that due measure of self-knowledge des- 
 cribed above, do profess their faith in 
 Christ and obedience to him in all things 
 according to the Scriptures; nor, secondly, 
 
The Christian Association 57 
 
 that any be retained in her communion 
 longer than they continue to manifest the 
 reality of their profession by their temper 
 and conduct. Thirdly, that her ministers, 
 duly and Scripturally qualified, inculcate 
 none other things than those very articles 
 of faith and holiness expressly revealed and 
 enjoined in the word of God. Lastly, that 
 in all their administrations tney keep close 
 by the observance of all Divine ordinances, 
 after the example of the primitive Church, 
 exhibited in the New Testament; without 
 any additions whatsoever of human opin- 
 ions or inventions of men. 
 
 "13. Lastly. That if any circumstan- 
 tials indispensably necessary to the ob- 
 servance of Divine ordinances be not found 
 upon the page of express revelation, such, 
 and such only, as are absolutely necessary 
 for this purpose should be adopted under 
 the title of human expedients, without any 
 pretense to a more sacred origin, so that 
 any subsequent alteration or difference in 
 
58 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 the observance of these things might pro- 
 duce no contention nor division in the 
 Church." 
 
 The starting point in his plan of Christian 
 union was the sufficiency of the New Testa- 
 ment as a rule of faith and practice for the 
 Christian church. Acknowledging this, as 
 all Protestants were supposed to do, the 
 next step was to distinguish in the teach- 
 ing of the New Testament between matters 
 of faith and matters of opinion. The 
 former belonged to the essential condi- 
 tions of Christian union and communion, 
 were few, easily understood by all, whether 
 learned or unlearned, and were not subject 
 to interpretation; the latter belonged to the 
 realm of non-essentials, were many, were 
 subject to interpretation and speculation, 
 and should not be made terms of union and 
 communion among Christians. The Scrip- 
 tures were to be the guide in distinguish- 
 ing matters of faith from matters of 
 opinion; what they made a matter of faith, 
 
The Christian Association 59 
 
 and required for salvation, should be essen- 
 tial to communion; what they left as mat- 
 ter of opinion, could be safely left to the 
 exercise of liberty. The realm of liberty 
 was to be made larger — as large as the realm 
 of opinions. Christians were not to be per- 
 secuted or denied fellowship on account of 
 their opinions. They were to be bound • 
 only where the Scriptures bound them. 
 There never could be unity in opinions, for 
 they were many; there can be unity only in 
 faith, for it is one. The Scriptures leave no 
 doubt as to what is of faith. He felt 
 that this was a sure path to agreement in 
 faith and practice among Christians, that it 
 would put an end to theological strifes and 
 divisions, and that all agreeing, would finally 
 unite in one organic body. In the Declara- 
 tion and Address, he does not go beyond 
 this formal program of action. At this time 
 he has not settled, is indeed uncertain of the 
 practical determination of, what things are 
 matters of faith and what of opinion, and 
 
6o The Disciples of Christ 
 
 does not settle the final form of the united 
 church. It is yet an untried principle, but 
 of its efficacy and ultimate success he 
 has no doubt. The task of definition, ap- 
 plication, and experiment lay before him, 
 and was to raise many questions he had not 
 thought of. Not until the organization of 
 the first church, when they were called 
 upon to fix the terms of Christian fellow- 
 ship for those seeking entrance, did they be- 
 gin to define what they understood as prim- 
 itive Christianity and to distinguish between 
 matters of faith and matters of opinion. 
 Nothing but matters of faith, things essen- 
 tial to salvation, were to be made tests of 
 fellowship. 
 
 Here emerge two principles which Camp- 
 bell designed should be cooperative and 
 mutually corrective, the authority of primi- 
 tive Christianity, and the obligation of 
 Christian unity. The one was means, the 
 other end, while both were equally bind- 
 ing. He did not anticipate that there would 
 
The Christian Association 61 
 
 be conditions where the principles would be 
 mutually exclusive, and that a difference of 
 emphasis would make them mutually de- 
 structive. Here lie the seeds of disagree- 
 ment and controversy within the movement 
 itself. 
 
 Alexander Campbell, the son, arrived in 
 America just as the Declaration and Ad- 
 dress was coming from the press. There 
 had been no communication as to what was 
 transpiring in the religious convictions of 
 each, but when they met and discussed the 
 events and changes that had taken place in 
 the two years of separation, they found 
 that they had come to practically the same 
 position. The father in America, the son in 
 Scotland, each unknown to the other, h^id 
 broken with Secederism. The son fell in 
 heartily with the action of his father and the 
 principles of the Declaration and Address. 
 He had spent one of the two years of sepa- 
 ration in study at the University of Glas- 
 gow, where his father had formerly studied, 
 
62 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 and while there came more intimately under 
 the influence of the new ideas and move- 
 ments of the country. Here he met Gre- 
 ville Ewing, the Haldanes, and other religious 
 leaders of the time who were pressing for 
 larger liberty of Christian service under the 
 rule of a stricter conformity to the Scriptures. 
 The son had not been long in the Christian 
 Association of Washington before his gifts 
 of leadership were recognized and acknowl- 
 edged, and he was called upon to make 
 public defense of the Declaration and Ad- 
 dress against the criticisms and objections 
 of the various religious parties of the com- 
 munity. He had dedicated himself to the 
 ministry at the time of the shipwreck of the 
 family when they first attempted to cross 
 the Atlantic to join the father in the fall of 
 1808, and were forced to postpone the voy- 
 age until the next season. In the meantime 
 the family, for the benefit of the son had 
 decided to spend the winter at the Uni- 
 versity of Glasgow. This resolution on 
 
The Christian Association 63 
 
 shipboard to give himself to the ministry 
 came providentially to make him the de- 
 fender and promoter of the new reforma- 
 tion. He quickly stepped before his father 
 as the destined leader of the movement. 
 From the moment of his first effort at pub- 
 lic discourse he showed those marked pow- 
 ers of eloquence and argumentation which 
 lifted him subsequently to the front rank of 
 pulpit orators. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 BARTON \V. STONE AND THE SPRINGFIELD PRES- 
 BYTERY 
 
 The main stream in the historic develop- 
 ment of the Disciples of Christ took its rise 
 in the Christian Association of Washington, 
 led by Thomas Campbell and his son Alex- 
 ander. As a consequence the influence of 
 the Campbells has been dominant through- 
 out their history. Later in its course the 
 main stream was joined by another current, 
 of independent origin and decided influ- 
 ence, which arose in "The Springfield 
 Presbytery," led by Barton W. Stone. 
 
 Stone was born in the state of Maryland, 
 December 24, 1772. His father died when 
 he was still young and soon after his 
 mother removed with a large family of 
 children and servants to Pittsylvania 
 County, Virginia. It was during the Revo- 
 64 
 
The Springfield Presbytery 65 
 
 lutionary War when the entire country was 
 aflame with hatred of the English. The 
 political events and conditions of the time 
 made a lasting impression upon the mind 
 of the boy. He was particularly impressed 
 by the novel religious conditions which sur- ♦ 
 rounded him in Virginia. The coming of 
 Baptist preachers into the neighborhood of * 
 his home after the close of the wan with 
 their peculiar manner of preaching and 
 form of baptism, excited his interest and 
 attention. The experiences narrated by the * 
 converts of their conviction of sin in dreams 
 and visions, especially interested him. On 
 the heels of the Baptists appeared Meth- • 
 odist preachers, of a prepossessing appear- 
 ance — grave, holy, meek, plain and humble, 
 who were bitterly opposed by the Episco- 
 palians and Baptists. These religious ex- 
 citements took hold of young Stone and 
 created in him an earnest desire for religion, 
 but not knowing how to get it, he turned 
 his thoughts in other directions. 
 
66 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 His first plan with reference to a career 
 in the world was to become a barrister. 
 With this in mind, he took the patrimony 
 which had recently fallen to him, and went 
 to an academy in North Carolina in 1790. 
 He entered the academy in the midst of a 
 great religious excitement under the leader- 
 # ship of James McGready in which thirty or 
 more of the students were converted and 
 began to hold prayer meetings every morn- 
 ing before recitations. The devout atmos- 
 phere of the school troubled him with 
 thoughts of his own lost condition. He 
 tried to find peace in associating with the 
 worldly students, and joined them in 
 making jests at religion. To get away 
 from the annoyance of religious associa- 
 tions he even planned to go to another 
 school. Under a sermon preached by 
 McGready he was so profoundly moved 
 that, "had he been standing, he would 
 probably have sunk to the floor under the 
 impression." Under the awful alarm of 
 
The Springfield Presbytery 67 
 
 being forever damned if he was not con- 
 verted, he resolved "to seek religion at the 
 sacrifice of every earthly good." He says: 
 "According to the preaching and the ex- 
 perience of the pious in those days, I antic- 
 ipated a long and painful struggle before I 
 should be prepared to come to Christ, or, 
 in the language then used, before 1 should 
 get religion. This anticipation was com- 
 pletely realized by me. For one year I was 
 tossed on the waves of uncertainty — labor- 
 ing, praying and striving to obtain saving 
 faith — sometimes desponding, and almost 
 despairing of ever getting it." The doc- 
 trines then publicly taught were, that 
 " mankind were so totally depraved, that 
 they could not believe, repent, nor obey 
 the gospel — that regeneration was an im- 
 mediate work of the Spirit, whereby faith 
 and repentance were wrought in the heart." 
 Under continued preaching and the deep- 
 ening of his despair and sense of helpless- 
 ness, he sank into a state of apathy, in 
 
68 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 which he remained for many weeks. He 
 was again awakened by a sermon on " God 
 is love." He says: The discourse being 
 ended, I immediately retired to the woods 
 alone with my Bible. Here 1 read and 
 prayed with various feelings between hope 
 and fear. But the truth I had just learned, 
 'God is love,' prevailed." "I yielded and 
 sunk at his feet a willing subject." 
 
 At the end of his course of study he de- 
 sired to give himself to the ministry of the 
 gospel, but "had no assurance of being di- 
 vinely called and sent." He disclosed his 
 state of mind to a Dr. Caldwell of the Pres- 
 byterian Church, who removed his difficulty 
 by telling him that he had no right to expect 
 a miracle to convince him of a call. He be- 
 came a candidate for the ministry, and was 
 assigned certain studies and reading in 
 preparation for examination. His reading 
 on the doctrine of the trinity seemed only 
 to confuse him. He resolved to give up 
 his study and go into other business, but 
 
The Springfield Presbytery 69 
 
 was relieved of his difficulties on the trinity 
 by reading Watts. He was examined be- 
 fore the Presbytery of Orange County, 
 North Carolina, and was accepted; but be- 
 fore being licensed, took a trip to Georgia 
 and engaged in school teaching. Returning 
 to North Carolina in 1796 he was licensed to 
 preach, and was assigned a preaching cir- 
 cuit in the lower part of the state. He was 
 still troubled with doubts of his fitness for 
 the ministry. To get out of the reach of all 
 friends and acquaintances, he resolved to go 
 to the Cumberland country, with the stream 
 of emigration setting in that direction. He 
 was prevailed upon to preach everywhere 
 along the way through Tennessee; and by 
 the time he reached Kentucky, he was quite 
 restored to his desire to preach. He was 
 induced to settle as permanent pastor of the 
 Presbyterian churches of Cane Ridge and 
 Concord. 
 
 When the time for his ordination at 
 the hands of the Transylvania Presbytery, as 
 
yo The Disciples of Christ 
 
 pastor of these congregations, came in 1798, 
 it found his mind in a state of doubt and 
 perplexity over the doctrines of the trinity, 
 election, and reprobation, as taught in the 
 Confession of Faith. When the Presbytery 
 met he went to two of the leaders and told 
 them of his difficulties. He says: "They 
 asked me how far I was willing to receive 
 the confession ? I told them, as far as I 
 saw it consistent with the Word of God. 
 They concluded that was sufficient." " No 
 objection being made, I was ordained." 
 
 The thing which disturbed his faith more 
 than anything else was the doctrine of pre- 
 destination and election taught in the Con- 
 fession which he was supposed to accept. 
 He says: "Often when I was addressing 
 the listening muhitudes on the doctrine of 
 total depravity, their inability to believe — 
 and of the necessity of the physical power 
 of God to produce faith; and then persuad- 
 ing the helpless to repent and believe the 
 gospel, my zeal in a moment would be 
 
The Springfield Presbytery 71 
 
 chilled at the contradiction. How can they 
 believe ? How can they repent ? How can 
 they do impossibilities ? How can they be 
 guilty in not doing them ? " Under an ex- 
 perience of ardent love and tenderness for 
 all mankind, as he was praying and reading 
 his Bible one evening, he said to a person 
 present that if he had power he would save 
 them all. It came to him with startling 
 power that if God loved all men, as he was 
 taught to believe, why then, did not God 
 save them ? He has the power to save, and 
 if he does not, is not that a contradiction of 
 his love ? He became " convinced that God 
 did love the whole world, but that the rea- 
 son why he did not save all, was because of 
 their unbelief : and that the reason why they 
 believed not, was not because God did not 
 exert his physical, almighty power in them 
 to make them believe, but because they neg- 
 lected and received not his testimony given 
 in the word concerning his son." 
 In the spring of 1801 occurred the strange 
 
72 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 religious excitement in the south of Ken- 
 tucky and in Tennessee, under the preach- 
 ing of James McGready, who had created 
 the awakening in the academy where Stone 
 went as a student. Stone went down to 
 witness the marvellous effects of the meet- 
 ings and the "exercises" which seized the 
 converts. He went in a skeptical and crit- 
 ical frame of mind, but returned to his con- 
 gregations fully convinced of the genuine- 
 ness of the conversions. His people came 
 together to hear his account of the excite- 
 ment. His own spirit seems to have caught 
 the power of McGready, and the same 
 scenes and exercises were reproduced under 
 his own preaching. At a meeting which he 
 opened in August, 1801, at Cane Ridge, 
 there were as many as twenty or thirty 
 thousand people, of all denominations, 
 gathered together. Many persons came 
 from Ohio and more distant parts to attend 
 the meeting. 
 Stone was not the only preacher in the 
 
The Springfield Presbytery 73 
 
 Presbyterian church of the region who de- 
 murred to the Calvinistic doctrines of the 
 Confession. There were four others, Rich- 
 ard McNemar, John Thompson, John Dun- 
 lavy, and Robert Marshall. Stone says: 
 *' The distinguishing doctrine preached by 
 us was, that God loved the world — the 
 whole world, and sent his Son to save them, 
 on condition that they believed in him — 
 that the gospel was the means of salvation 
 — but that this means would never be ef- 
 fectual to this end, until believed and obeyed 
 by us — that God requires us to believe in 
 his Son, and had given us sufficient evi- 
 dence in his word to produce faith in us, if 
 attended to by us — that sinners were capa- 
 ble of understanding and believing this 
 testimony, and of acting upon it by coming 
 to the Saviour, and obeying him, and from 
 him obtaining salvation and the Holy Spirit." 
 These preachers were known and singled 
 out by their orthodox brethren for warning 
 and reproof. The first one to be proceeded 
 
74 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 against by the Springfield Presbytery of 
 Ohio, for departure from the Confession 
 was McNemar. His case was appealed to 
 the Synod of Lexington, Kentucky. When 
 it appeared in the course of the investigation 
 that the decision would go against him, the 
 five preachers held a conference and resolved 
 to protest against the action of the Synod 
 and withdraw from its jurisdiction, though 
 not from the Presbyterian fellowship. Fail- 
 ing in an attempt to reclaim them, the Synod 
 passed a decree of suspension, and pub- 
 lished it in their respective churches. The 
 five preachers, joined by several others, 
 constituted themselves into a presbytery 
 which they called "The Springfield Pres- 
 bytery." Within a year they dissolved the 
 Presbytery under the conviction that they 
 were forming a new sect and thus adding 
 to the divisions of the one Body of Christ; 
 that there was no authority in the Scriptures 
 for the name they bore, or the creed they 
 confessed, or the Presbyterian organization 
 
The Springfield Presbytery 75 
 
 they adopted. In a semi-humorous vein 
 they wrote what they called The Last Will 
 and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery, 
 in which they willed that the body sink 
 into union with the Body of Christ at large; 
 that their name of distinction be forgotten 
 and that the name Christian be adopted; 
 that each congregation govern itself by the 
 precepts and rules of the New Testament, 
 without delegating any authority to higher 
 bodies; that ministers take the Scriptures 
 for their study in preparation for the min- 
 istry, and obtain license from God to preach 
 the gospel; that each church choose its 
 own pastor; and that the people take the 
 Bible as their only rule of faith and practice. 
 The document was signed by six preachers 
 who had led in the revolt against Calvinism 
 and the authority of the Synod, and was 
 dated June 28, 1804. 
 
 The ideas and motives at work in the 
 Springfield Presbytery were strikingly like 
 those at work in the Christian Association 
 
76 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 of Washington. They were both guided 
 by the desire for the unity of the people of 
 God; both saw the way to that unity in the 
 rejection of human creeds and authority, 
 and in the adoption of the New Testament 
 as the only rule of faith and practice; both 
 originated in Presbyterianism and were pre- 
 cipitated in their course by the oppressive 
 » authority exercised by a presbytery and 
 synod over the faith of a minister; but both 
 acted independently and in ignorance of 
 each other in the beginning— the Springfield 
 Presbytery in Kentucky in 1804, the Chris- 
 tian Association in Pennsylvania in 1809. 
 The development of the two bodies imme- 
 diately after their inception took the same di- 
 rection — towards the Baptist position. The 
 first one of the ministers to adopt immer- 
 sion, and this before leaving the Presby- 
 terian church, was Robert Marshall. Stone 
 heard of it and wrote trying to dissuade 
 him from it. Marshall's reply in defense of 
 immersion was so convincing that Stone 
 
The Springfield Presbytery 77 
 
 was shaken in his mind concerning infant 
 sprinkling. He called a meeting of his 
 congregations for the discussion of the 
 subject, with the result that both preacher 
 and people submitted to the rite of immer- 
 sion. 
 
 The influence of the teaching of Stone 
 extended widely through Kentucky and 
 Ohio. Through the defection of Richard 
 McNemar and John Dunlavy to the Shakers, 
 and the return of John Thompson and Rob- 
 ert Marshall to the fellowship of the Presby- 
 terian church, Stone was the only one of the 
 original five preachers left. He went on 
 preaching, making converts, and organizing 
 churches as an itinerant until he was called as 
 settled pastor of a church he founded in 
 Georgetown. On a journey which he made 
 into Ohio to baptize a Presbyterian preacher 
 who had adopted his views, he went into the 
 meetings of a Baptist association. He says: 
 "I exerted myself with meekness against 
 sectarianism, formularies, and creeds, and 
 
/S The Disciples of Christ 
 
 labored to establish the scriptural union of 
 Christians, and their scriptural name." "The 
 result was that they agreed to cast away 
 their formularies and creeds, and take the 
 Bible alone for their rule of faith and prac- 
 tice, and to bury their association, and to 
 become one with us in the great work of 
 Christian union." This union included 
 about twelve Baptist preachers. He traveled 
 extensively through Ohio preaching and 
 baptizing people, his meetings attended by 
 great crowds, and frequently marked by 
 strange physical exercises and commotions 
 on the part of converts. 
 
 Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone 
 had heard of each other during several years, 
 but they did not meet until 1824. They 
 found themselves in mutual agreement on 
 the fundamental principles of their work. 
 Their disciples spread over the same regions 
 of country, and established churches side by 
 side. Two bodies of people so closely re- 
 lated in ideas and principles could not per- 
 
The Springfield Presbytery 79 
 
 manently remain apart. The story of their 
 union, which took place in Kentucky in 
 1832, will be told in a subsequent chap- 
 ter. 
 
 / 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE UNION WITH THE BAPTISTS 
 
 The friendly overtures of the Christian 
 Association to the various denominations to 
 confer with them on a plan for the union of 
 religious parties was not cordially received. 
 The plan of union which was so captivating 
 to the mind of Thomas Campbell and seemed 
 to many others who joined with him a pan- 
 acea for many religious ills, was bitterly op- 
 posed by all Christian bodies. They pre- 
 sumed too much upon the openness of the 
 denominational mind to new teachings, and 
 too little upon the devotion of religious 
 parties to their customs and traditions. 
 The denominations were not ready then 
 for a union which contemplated any 
 change in their usages or loss of their 
 identity, and a hundred years of growth 
 since then has not sufficed to dispose 
 So 
 
The Union With the Baptists 81 
 
 them any more kindly towards the de- 
 struction of their systems as a condition 
 of union. The instinct of self-preservation 
 is about as strong in religious bodies as in 
 living creatures. As a program of union it 
 seemed to be born out of due time. No 
 body was fond of it or saw anything in it 
 to admire, but its progenitors. 
 
 The members of the Christian Associa- 
 tion fell at once under the odium and 
 ostracism of a new sect. It was the one 
 thing they desired to prevent and regarded 
 with the bitterest regret. That a society 
 set for the termination of sectarianism 
 should itself become another sect in the 
 eyes of the world, was a position they 
 could not tolerate. Their aim and char- 
 acter as a Christian union society must 
 be maintained. Nothing would satisfy 
 their expectations but a reduction of 
 the number of religious parties, while 
 they were in danger of increasing the 
 number by one. To permit themselves 
 
82 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 unwittingly to assume a denominational 
 form of existence would be a travesty upon 
 their principles. The unity of the people 
 of God had become the highest obligation 
 in their ideal of Christian duty. They 
 made haste to get under cover of some 
 existing denominational roof, rather than 
 suffer the charge of building another. 
 
 In this state of mind proposals came to 
 the Association asking them to unite with 
 the Presbyterian church. They had come 
 out of one kind of Presbyterianism and 
 still shared the fundamental beliefs of the 
 Presbyterians. They were urged in private 
 by members of the Presbyterian church to 
 cast in their lot with them and were led to 
 believe that they would be a welcome ac- 
 cession to the ranks of that church. Thomas 
 Campbell, against the advice of Alexander, 
 made application to the Synod of Pittsburg, 
 October 4, 1810, "to be taken into Chris- 
 tian and ministerial communion." He went 
 before the Synod and made a full statement 
 
The Union With the Baptists 83 
 
 of the plans and purposes of the Christian 
 Association and of his own views on re- 
 ligious subjects. After questioning him 
 carefully, and deliberating on the advisa- 
 bility of receiving him, the Synod decided 
 that his views and the purposes of the 
 Association were so baleful in their tend- 
 ency and so destructive of the interests of 
 religion, that they could not receive him 
 into their fellowship. He made the ap- 
 plication as a representative of the Associa- 
 tion, so that his reception to fellowship 
 would have included the entire Association. 
 They did not propose to abandon the As- 
 sociation with its plans and purposes, but 
 to bring it over and carry on their work of 
 reformation under shelter of the Presby- 
 terian church. 
 
 This rebuff received at the hands of the 
 Presbyterian Synod was a serious blov/ to 
 the hope and zeal of the Association in the 
 cause of Christian union. They discovered 
 that Christian union was not so simple a 
 
84 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 matter as to be accomplished by offering 
 to submit to the Scriptures alone. It com- 
 pletely changed the course of the Associa- 
 tion. From being a society for the promo- 
 tion of union and reformation among the 
 churches, they saw that they would be ob- 
 liged to form themselves into a church or 
 be deprived of the benefits and offices of 
 church fellowship. The hostile attitude of 
 the Presbyterian Synod, their criticisms 
 upon the position and principles of the 
 Association, taught them to look no further 
 for sympathy among the denominations. 
 A public controversy arose between the 
 Presbyterians and the members of the As- 
 sociation, in which Alexander Campbell 
 took the leading part. 
 
 Both of the Campbells continued to preach 
 regularly at various places in and around 
 Washington, to members of the Associa- 
 tion and their friends who began to take 
 interest in the new religious teachings. 
 Criticised by other parties, they felt called 
 
The Union With the Baptists 85 
 
 upon to reply, and the replies were not con- 
 ducive to harmony or mutual understand- 
 ing between them. The leaders of the As- 
 sociation now took an aggressive attitude 
 of criticism and arraignment of the secta- 
 rianism and errors of the denominations, and 
 challenged them to test their forms and 
 terms of communion by the express pre- 
 cepts and examples of the New Testament. 
 A war upon the unscriptural faiths and 
 practices of the churches from the stand- 
 point of a severe conformity to the teach- 
 ings of Scripture, began, which grew in ex- 
 tent and influence until it separated them 
 completely as a new party from all other 
 parties. 
 
 The time had now come for the Associa- 
 tion to constitute itself into a church for 
 " the enjoyment of those privileges and the 
 performance of those duties which belong 
 to the church relation." A church was or- 
 ganized out of the members of the Associa- 
 tion, May 4, 181 1, at Brush Run, Pa. Thomas 
 
86 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Campbell was appointed elder and Alexan- 
 der Campbell was licensed to preach the 
 gospel. Four deacons were chosen, con- 
 sisting of John Dawson, George Sharpe, 
 William Gilchrist, and John Foster; "and 
 amidst the prayers and solemn services of the 
 day, they united in singing Psalm ii8, from 
 the thirteenth to the twenty-ninth verses, in 
 the old metrical version, which as Seceders, 
 they had been in the habit of using." The 
 following day being Sunday, they celebrated 
 their first communion service and both Alex- 
 anderCampbell and his fatherpreached. The 
 Lord's supper from the first was celebrated 
 every first day of the week, as had been 
 done in the Independent churches in Scot- 
 land. One or two persons were observed 
 not to partake of the supper, and when 
 asked, said they had never been immersed 
 and did not consider themselves authorized 
 to partake without a proper form of bap- 
 tism. 
 
 The question of baptism now came up 
 
The Union With the Baptists 87 
 
 for discussion in the new church. It is not 
 the first time the question has been raised 
 among them for it was pointed out to them 
 by James Foster, and to Alexander Camp- 
 bell by a Presbyterian minister, that upon 
 the principles of the Declaration and Ad- 
 dress, there was no place for infant baptism 
 in their practice. Joseph Bryant, one of 
 those who refused to commune, insisted on 
 being immersed, which was done by Thomas 
 Campbell in a creek near Brush Run, July 
 4, 1811. 
 
 Alexander Campbell was engaged in 
 making preaching tours, with ever widen- 
 ing circuits, into the neighboring parts of 
 Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. 
 He was developing a body of Christian 
 doctrines and practices under the principle, 
 "Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; 
 where they are silent, we are silent." He 
 was ordained to the office of the ministry 
 January i, 181 2, by the elders and deacons 
 of the Brush Run church. He was married 
 
88 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 to the daughter of a Mr. John Brown, a 
 Presbyterian, by the Rev. Mr. Hughes, a 
 Presbyterian minister, March 13, 181 1. Their 
 first child was born March 13, 1812. The 
 duty of the parents towards the child with 
 respect to baptism, which was recognized 
 by every Presbyterian, must have been 
 raised in the home of Alexander Campbell. 
 Whether this precipitated the inquiry or 
 not, it is certain that immediately after the 
 birth of the child, he instituted a careful 
 inquiry into the scripturalness of both in- 
 fant baptism and sprinkling, which up to 
 this time had been treated as matters of 
 forbearance. He came to the conclusion 
 that the immersion of a believer was the 
 only proper scriptural mode of baptism, and 
 that consequently, he himself had never 
 been properly baptized. He applied to a 
 Baptist preacher by the name of Matthias 
 Luce to perform the rite of baptism for him- 
 self and wife; and when his father learned 
 of his determination he also concluded to be 
 
The Union With the Baptists 89 
 
 immersed, and with him his wife and 
 daughter, and James Hanen and wife. At 
 the place of baptism the greater part of the 
 Brush Run church had assembled and 
 Thomas Campbell delivered a discourse 
 upon the principles of the new reformation. 
 In arranging with Mr. Luce to perform the 
 rite, Alexander had stipulated that no other 
 condition should be required of them than 
 a simple confession of their faith that Jesus 
 is the Son of God. 
 
 From the time that the group of friends 
 and sympathizers of Thomas Campbell 
 adopted the principle, "Where the Scrip- 
 tures speak, we speak; and where they are 
 silent, we are silent," the direction of the 
 movement seemed to be towards the Inde- 
 pendent and the Baptist position. This 
 fact is singularly like the tendency of the 
 new parties that arose in Scotland in the 
 last years of the eighteenth century; they 
 gravitated towards the position of the Inde- 
 pendents and the Baptists. Within a week 
 
90 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 of the immersion of the Campbells and 
 their group, thirteen other members of the 
 Brush Run church asked to be immersed, 
 and it was done by Thomas Campbell, upon 
 a simple confession of their faith in Jesus as 
 the Christ, the Son of God. It was not 
 long before the entire church of thirty or 
 more members were immersed, for those 
 who did not accept immersion withdrew 
 from the church. The organization of the 
 first church thus forced upon them a settle- 
 ment of the terms of Christian fellowship. 
 Immersion became a condition of union and 
 communion with the Brush Run church. 
 Its conversion into a society of immersed 
 believers did not bring them any favor 
 from the Pedobaptist churches of the 
 region, but it did bring them into recogni- 
 tion and sympathy with the Baptist 
 churches. 
 
 The Brush Run church had come to their 
 position under the guidance of primitive 
 Christian example and its application to 
 
The Union With the Baptists 9I 
 
 every item of religious faith and practice 
 which they adopted in their order. They 
 were not seeking agreement with any body 
 of Christians. They were "a party of 
 progress," bound, they knew not where, 
 but ready to go where their principles led 
 them; whether into agreement with Meth- 
 odists, Baptists, or Quakers of modern 
 parties, they could not tell, but they felt 
 into agreement with a very ancient party 
 of believers, "first called Christians at 
 Antioch." They were seeking "the old 
 paths," agreement with the " original stand- 
 ard," "that they might come fairly and 
 firmly to original ground upon clear and 
 certain premises, and take up things just as 
 the Apostles left them." They were feeling 
 their way and making sure of their ground 
 as they went. They knew of no religious 
 party that stood upon original ground; 
 none that dared return to the original stand- 
 ard. The sense of freedom which they 
 enjoyed in being bound only by the New 
 
92 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Testament with respect to all doctrines and 
 usages, was equalled only by the sense of 
 certainty they enjoyed in being infallibly 
 guided by the New Testament to the true 
 conditions of Christian union and com- 
 munion. So keen was their sense of de- 
 liverance from the narrowness of sectarian 
 testimonies and the tyranny of sectarian 
 courts, that they would never again permit 
 themselves to be bound by any party or 
 creed. They now breathed the free air of 
 liberty. They felt the call of destiny to the 
 religious world. 
 
 When the Baptists of the region heard of 
 the action of the Brush Run church in sub- 
 mitting to immersion and adopting it in 
 their practice, they were highly elated and 
 began to urge the church to join the Baptist 
 association of churches. Alexander Camp- 
 bell had not been favorably impressed with 
 the Baptists, either as ministers or people, 
 and had no idea of uniting with them. He, 
 however, liked the people better, and the 
 
The Union With the Baptists 93 
 
 ministers less, the more he got acquainted 
 with them. He did not press himself upon 
 their attention, but they knew his power as 
 a speaker and often sent for him to preach 
 for them. He visited their association at 
 Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in the autumn 
 of 18 1 2, and being less pleased than ever 
 with the Baptists, resolved never to go 
 again. The question of a union with the 
 Baptists was laid before the Brush Run 
 church in the fall of 1813. " We discussed 
 the propriety of the measure/' says Alex- 
 ander Campbell. "After much discussion 
 and earnest desire to be directed by the 
 wisdom which cometh from above, we 
 finally concluded to make an overture to 
 that effect, and to write out a full view of 
 our sentiments, wishes and determinations 
 on the subject. We did so in some eight 
 or ten pages of large dimensions, exhibiting 
 our remonstrance against all human creeds 
 as bonds of communion or union among 
 Christian churches, and expressing a will- 
 
94 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 ingness, upon certain conditions, to cooper- 
 ate or to unite with that association, pro- 
 vided always that we should be allowed to 
 teach and preach whatever we learned from 
 the Holy Scriptures, regardless of any 
 human creed or formula in Christendom." 
 
 The significant thing to observe in the 
 terms of this union is the attitude of the 
 Campbells towards their own liberty of 
 teaching under the guidance of the Scrip- 
 tures. They had really begun to shift the 
 emphasis from the obligation of Christian 
 union to the authority of primitive Chris- 
 tianity. This was due to a certain loss of 
 confidence in the practicability of Christian 
 union under existing religious conditions, 
 but more to the growing influence and lead- 
 ership of Alexander Campbell, who never 
 was so much of a Christian unionist as his 
 father. Leadership was then passing from 
 father to son, and emphasis from the princi- 
 ple of unity to the principle of apostolicity. 
 They were not now ready for union at the 
 
The Union With the Baptists 95 
 
 cost of their liberty or any conviction. 
 Truth as they were led to see it in the light of 
 the Scriptures was better than any union. 
 Yet union was still desirable, though not im- 
 mediately practicable, and sectarianism and 
 division were still sinful. They had come, 
 however, to justify their separation as a dis- 
 tinct party and were reconciled to it, if it 
 must be. Under these circumstances and 
 upon these conditions they were received 
 into the Redstone Association of Baptist 
 churches. But not without objection on 
 the part of a few Baptist preachers who 
 were either jealous or suspicious of Mr. 
 Campbell. 
 
 The Campbells were conscious that they 
 were not in full agreement with the Baptists 
 at the time of the union, and gave them 
 full warning as to the policy and principles 
 of the Brush Run church. Not even on the 
 subject of baptism, which was the most ap- 
 parent point of resemblance, was there en- 
 tire agreement. Alexander Campbell had 
 
96 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 developed a doctrine of the design of bap- 
 tism by 1812 which was opposed to the 
 Baptist doctrine. He had already declared 
 baptism to be "the first formal and compre- 
 hensive act of the obedience of faith." A 
 very sacred custom in Baptist usage was the 
 requirement of an examination and the rela- 
 tion of an experience previous to baptism; 
 but Campbell declined to accept any other 
 requirement as a condition of baptism at the 
 hands of Mr. Luce than a simple confession 
 of faith in Christ, as he thought was done 
 in apostolic times. 
 
 The Brush Run church differed from 
 Baptist churches in its practice with respect 
 to the Lord's supper. It had become an 
 essential part of the worship of the Brush 
 Run church every first day of the week, 
 while among Baptist churches it was cele- 
 brated once a quarter. So essential to the 
 Lord's day worship seemed the Supper that 
 Thomas Campbell declared as early as 1812 
 that "instituted worship can be nowhere 
 
The Union With the Baptists 97 
 
 performed upon the Lord's day, where the 
 Lord's supper is not administered. Wher- 
 ever this is neglected, there New Testament 
 worship ceases." The Brush Run church 
 inchned at first to adopt the custom of close 
 communion, and admit only immersed be- 
 lievers, but did not settle into the practice. 
 
 The Campbells held another doctrine 
 which was soon to become the cause of the 
 first and of a continuous controversy be- 
 tween them and the Baptists. They taught 
 that there was a difference in the authority 
 of the Old and New Testaments for the 
 Christian. Thomas Campbell had drawn 
 the distinction in 1809 in the Declaration 
 and Address by declaring that "the New 
 Testament is as perfect a constitution for 
 the worship, discipline and government of 
 the New Testament church," "as the Old 
 Testament was for the worship, discipline 
 and government of the Old Testament 
 church"; and again in 1812: " How many 
 disciples of Moses are to be found in the 
 
gS The Disciples of Christ 
 
 professed school of Jesus Christ! and how 
 few among the teachers of the New Testa- 
 ment seem to know that Christ's ministers 
 are not able ministers of the Old Testament 
 but of the New." To a Baptist of that time 
 every part of the Scriptures was equally 
 authoritative. 
 
 Their view of the meaning and value of 
 ordination differed. While Alexander 
 Campbell submitted to the ceremony, it was 
 not regarded as indispensable to the minis- 
 terial character and office. It was pointed 
 out that many in the New Testament were 
 said to have preached and baptized, yet 
 there is no record of their ordination. The 
 Baptists insisted on it as essential to the ex- 
 ercise of the ministerial function. 
 
 The most serious departure of the Camp- 
 bells from a Baptist point of view was in 
 their conception of faith. They held to the 
 orthodox, Calvinistic conception of faith, as 
 "of the operation of God and effect of al- 
 mighty power and regenerating grace," as 
 
The Union With the Baptists 99 
 
 late as 1812; but in the same year their con- 
 ception underwent a change and they de- 
 clared that " the word of God is a means of 
 regeneration " and that faith is " the full and 
 firm persuasion, or hearty belief of the 
 divine testimony concerning Jesus." 
 
 It is not probable that all these views held 
 by the Campbells at the time of the union 
 were known to the Baptists of the Redstone 
 Association. They were glad to have their 
 forces strengthened and their ranks filled 
 by the accession of the Campbells and the 
 Brush Run church, and were not disposed 
 to lay down rigid conditions of fellowship. 
 Accepted as a member of the Redstone 
 Association, the Brush Run church was 
 entitled to send messengers to the annual 
 meetings and have a voice in all of its 
 affairs. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 ALEXANDER CAMPBELL AS A BAPTIST 
 
 The union of the Campbells with the 
 Baptists conditioned the course of their 
 movement for the next twenty years. It 
 opened a sphere of influence and activity 
 to Alexander Campbell, now the acknowl- 
 edged leader, which made possible the 
 wider and more rapid dissemination of 
 his views. It drew the attention and 
 opened the ears of the entire Baptist 
 brotherhood, then the numerically strongest 
 denomination in America, to the new teach- 
 ings. Without this affiliation with the 
 Baptists all church doors would have been 
 closed to him, and the progress of "the 
 reformation " would have been in the teeth 
 of the bitterest opposition and sectarian 
 hatred. At one stroke he secured a great 
 audience of friendly listeners. 
 
 100 
 
Alexander Campbell as a Baptist loi 
 
 To all intents and purposes Campbell be- 
 came a Baptist and deliberately and frankly 
 accepted the denominational status which 
 it gave him. The Brush Run church was 
 lost in the larger fellowship of Baptist 
 churches, and assumed with all others its 
 part in the extension of Baptist views and 
 influence. Campbell's first active interest 
 in the Baptist cause was to offer his services 
 for the purpose of raising money among 
 the Baptist churches of the East to build a 
 meeting house at Charlestown, Virginia. 
 It was to provide a church home for his 
 father-in-law's family, who had taken 
 membership in the Brush Run church 
 and was contemplating removal to Charles- 
 town, where he had already established 
 himself in business. He visited such cities 
 as Philadelphia, New York, and Washing- 
 ton, preaching and raising money in Bap- 
 tist churches, and returned with a thousand 
 dollars with which a church was built. 
 
 At the meeting of the Redstone Associa- 
 
102 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 tion, August 30, 1816, Alexander Campbell 
 was present as one of the three messengers 
 from the Brush Run church, in spite of 
 opposition on the part of a few preachers, 
 the demand of the people to hear him was 
 so strong that they were obliged to give 
 him a place on the program. He preached 
 a sermon which afterwards became famous 
 as the Sermon on the Law, and was the 
 beginning of open opposition to him in the 
 Redstone Association, and the cause of 
 frequent charges of heresy against him 
 in other Baptist associations. The subject 
 of the discourse was the view adopted by 
 him in 1812 that the law of Moses is not . 
 binding upon the Christian church, and 
 that the preaching of the gospel is the all- 
 sulficient means of conversion. The prin- 
 ciple that the Old Testament with its au- 
 thority, laws, and ordinances had been ab- 
 rogated in Christ, was not with him a mere 
 theological speculation, but of practical 
 utility, it was this practical, far-reaching 
 
Alexander Campbell as a Baptist 103 
 
 scope of the doctrine, as intimated in a 
 closing section of the sermon, which 
 alarmed the Baptists. He said: " A fourth 
 conclusion which is deducible from the 
 above premises is, that all arguments or 
 motives drawn from the law, or Old Testa- 
 ment, to urge the disciples of Christ to bap- 
 tize their infants; to pay tithes to their 
 teachers; to observe holy days or religious 
 fasts, as preparatory to the observance of 
 the Lord's supper; to sanctify the seventh 
 day; to enter into national covenants; to 
 establish any form of religion by civil law— 
 and all reasons or motives borrowed from 
 the Jewish law, to excite the disciples of 
 Christ to a compliance with or imitation of 
 Jewish customs, are inconclusive, repugnant 
 to Christianity, and fall ineffectual to the 
 ground; not being enjoined or counte- 
 nanced by Jesus Christ." 
 
 This was novel doctrine, not only to the 
 audience before him, but to most Christian 
 communities of the time. It was not new, 
 
104 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 however, to theologians, for it had appeared 
 in the writings of the "Federal School" of 
 theology, of which the Dutchman, Cocceius, 
 was the reputed founder. The mind of 
 Campbell seems to have been thoroughly 
 saturated with the covenant ideas of this 
 school. Some of the preachers present at 
 the delivery of the discourse took alarm be- 
 fore it was finished and held a hurried con- 
 sultation as to the best means of protest 
 against it. It was finally decided that it 
 was " better to let it pass and let the people 
 judge for themselves." Opposition, how- 
 ever, did not rest here. A movement was 
 quietly set on foot at this meeting with the 
 avowed purpose of counteracting the influ- 
 ence of the Campbells and ridding the 
 Association of them. At this same meet- 
 ing Thomas Campbell, who lived in Pitts- 
 burg, brought a letter from a small church, 
 which he had gathered together there, ask- 
 ing union as a church with the Association. 
 It was voted, "that as this letter is not 
 
Alexander Campbell as a Baptist 105 
 
 presented according to the constitution of 
 this Association, the request cannot be 
 granted." A "Circular Letter," or essay 
 upon the "Trinity," presented by Thomas 
 Campbell, met with a better reception, 
 having been "accepted without amend- 
 ment." 
 
 Alexander Campbell was engaged for the 
 most part during the years from 1813 to 
 1820 in managing his farm, given to him by 
 his father-in-law; conducting a seminary 
 chiefly for young men at his home, called 
 "Buffalo Seminary," at Bethany, West 
 Virginia; and making preaching tours 
 among Baptist churches in the neigh- 
 boring regions. After the preaching of 
 the Sermon on the Law, and on account 
 of the suspicion and enmity arising out of 
 it, his preaching among Baptist churches 
 was somewhat restricted. He says: " Till 
 this time we had labored much among the 
 Baptists with good effect." "I itinerated 
 less than before in my labors in the gospel 
 
lo6 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 and confined my attention to three or four 
 little communities constituted on the Bible, 
 one in Ohio, one in Virginia, and two in 
 Pennsylvania. Once or twice a year 1 made 
 excursions amongst the regular Baptists, 
 but with little hope of being useful to the 
 Redstone Association." 
 
 While Alexander Campbell was a Baptist 
 in all essential respects, as he viewed it, yet 
 he was not so thoroughly denomination- 
 alized that he could not be free in his atti- 
 tude towards their beliefs and practices. 
 The attitude of the Baptists towards him 
 varied; some received him, others rejected 
 him. But there was no doubt among Bap- 
 tists that upon the mode of baptism, he stood 
 upon their ground. He was chosen out of all 
 defenders of the Baptist faith in that region 
 to represent and champion the Baptist cause 
 in a debate with a Presbyterian minister by 
 the name of John Walker, of Mount Pleasant, 
 Ohio. Mr. Walker challenged Mr. Birch, or 
 any other Baptist, to debate the question of 
 
Alexander Campbell as a Baptist 107 
 
 baptism, and engaged to prove, '* That 
 baptism came in the room of circumcision; 
 that the covenant on which the Jewish 
 church was built, and to which circumcision 
 was a seal, is the same with the covenant 
 on which the Christian church is built, and 
 to which baptism is the seal; that the Jews 
 and Christians are the same body politic 
 under the same lawgiver and husband, 
 consequently the infants of believers have a 
 right to baptism." Mr. Birch had some 
 difficulty in persuading Campbell to enter 
 the debate, on account of his doubt of the 
 utility of it in promoting the truth or the 
 unity of Christians. He finally consented, 
 and the debate was held June 19-20, 1820, 
 at Mount Pleasant, Ohio, twenty-three miles 
 from Mr. Campbell's home. Mr. Walker 
 based his argument for infant baptism upon 
 the identity of the Jewish and Christian 
 covenants, and upon the equal authority of 
 the Old and New Testaments. Mr. Camp- 
 bell entertained the contrary view which 
 
lo8 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 appeared in his Sermon on the Laic. In the 
 baptismal controversy of the times as usually 
 carried on between Baptists and Pedobap- 
 tists, they stood on the same ground in a 
 common recognition of the authority of the 
 Old Covenant. It was something new and 
 startling to Mr. Walker, when Campbell 
 cut the Gordian knot at a stroke by assum- 
 ing the complete annulment of the Old 
 Covenant in the death of Christ. The de- 
 bate reduced itself to a discussion of the 
 authority or validity of the Jewish Cove- 
 nant in the Christian church. 
 
 Another novelty in the way of an argu- 
 ment against infant baptism introduced by 
 Mr. Campbell in the debate was his view of 
 the design of baptism. The argument is 
 scarcely more than suggested in the follow- 
 ing words : " Baptism is connected with the 
 promise of the remission of sins and the 
 gift of the Holy Spirit." The doctrine was 
 subsequently to play a large part in the de- 
 bates of Campbell, in the controversy with 
 
Alexander Campbell as a Baptist 109 
 
 the Baptists, and in the evangelistic preach- 
 ing of the Disciples. 
 
 The opportunities and issues of the debate 
 were such as to convince Campbell that "a 
 week's debating is worth a year's preach- 
 ing," and to dispose him so favorably to the 
 debate as a means of disseminating truth, 
 that he issued a challenge at the close "to 
 meet any Pedobaptist minister of any de- 
 nomination and prove that Infant Sprinkling 
 is a human tradition and injurious to the 
 well-being of society, religious and polit- 
 ical." The debate was printed and circu- 
 lated very widely among the Baptists, who 
 felt that they had the best of the argument, 
 and extended the influence and fame of 
 Campbell beyond the reach of his living 
 voice. While some Baptists "remained 
 extremely dubious in regard to the ortho- 
 doxy of their champion," others took grate- 
 ful pride in him, and felt as one Baptist de- 
 clared, that "he had done more for the 
 Baptists than any man in the West." 
 
110 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 In the printing and circulation of the de- 
 bate, which was frequently heard from at a 
 distance, Campbell discovered the power 
 and usefulness of the press. He determined 
 to make larger use of it as a means of get- 
 ting his teachings before the Baptist world 
 especially. He felt that the Baptists offered 
 the best opportunity for reformatory work 
 upon biblical principles because ''they read 
 the Bible and seemed to care for little else in 
 religion than 'conversion' and 'Bible doc- 
 trine.'" He wrote in 1824 as follows: 
 "There is one vast difference, one essential 
 and all-important difference betwixt the 
 Baptist and Pedobaptist views and societies. 
 The Baptist views of the Church of Jesus 
 Christ are constitutionally correct; the Pedo- 
 baptist views are unconstitutional." "The 
 Baptist system is capable of being reformed 
 or brought back again to the constitution of 
 the kingdom of heaven; the Pedobaptist 
 cannot." 
 
 While he believed that "the Baptist 
 
Alexander Campbell as a Baptist 1 1 1 
 
 society had as much liberality in their views, 
 as much of the ancient simplicity of the 
 Christian religion, as much of the spirit of 
 Christianity among them, as was to be 
 found amongst other people"; yet he also 
 believed that "there was in the views and 
 practices of this large and widely extended 
 community, as great need of reformation, 
 and of a restoration of the ancient order of 
 things," "as of any sect in Christendom." 
 To extend more widely and promote more 
 rapidly among the Baptists and all Protestant 
 denominations his reformatory teachings, he 
 established in 1823 a monthly periodical 
 which he called the Christian Baptist. He 
 announced in the prospectus that its sole 
 object should be "the eviction of truth, and 
 the exposure of error in doctrine and prac- 
 tice. The editor, acknowledging no stand- 
 ard of religious faith or works other than 
 the Old and New Testaments, and the latter 
 as the only standard of the religion of Jesus 
 Christ, will, intentionally at least, oppose 
 
1 1 2 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 nothing which it contains, and recommend 
 nothing which it does not enjoin." He 
 dedicated the work "to all those without 
 distinction, who acknowledge the Scriptures 
 of the Old and New Testaments to be a true 
 revelation from God, and the New Testa- 
 ment as containing the religion of Jesus 
 Christ; who, willing to have all religious 
 tenets and practices tried by the Divine 
 Word; and who, feeling themselves in 
 duty bound to search the Scriptures for 
 themselves in all matters of religion — are 
 disposed to reject all doctrine and com- 
 mandments of men, and to obey the truth, 
 holding fast the faith once delivered to the 
 saints.' 
 
 The notable thing to be observed in this 
 program of action is the absence of all 
 reference to Christian union. The em- 
 phasis now rests upon the principle of 
 scriptural authority and primitive precept 
 and example. The watchword is now ref- 
 ormation not union. The principle of unity 
 
Alexander Campbell as a Baptist 1 13 
 
 has been subordinated to the principle of 
 apostolicity. Even the union of the Brush 
 Run church with the Baptist association 
 was quite as much an expression of devo- 
 tion to apostolicity as of desire for unity. 
 They made no concession for the sake of 
 the union. The union of the people of 
 God had become a hopeless task and must 
 be postponed until their faith and practice 
 had been squared with the Divine Stand- 
 ard. He did not doubt the validity or 
 the correctness of his method of procedure 
 or his principle of adjustment. Primitive 
 Christianity which was put forth in the 
 Declaration and Address as a principle 
 of unity, but left undefined and uncertain, 
 had been undergoing a progressive defini- 
 tion in the terms of a local Christian fellow- 
 ship in the Brush Run church, and was 
 now to be given still more careful definition 
 and settlement in application to Baptist faith 
 and practice. The results of that definition 
 were the gradual separation and alienation 
 
114 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 of the Christian Association, first from 
 Pedobaptist churches and finally from 
 Baptist churches. The more they learned 
 from the Scriptures as to the terms of Chris- 
 tian union and communion, the more diffi- 
 cult it was to enter into union or to main- 
 tain union with existing religious bodies. 
 They defined the essential elements of 
 primitive Christianity in the direction of a 
 growing separatism. It proved to be a 
 principle of exclusion and division, rather 
 than a principle of comprehension and 
 union. The series of articles in the pages 
 of the Christian Baptist on "The Ancient 
 Order of Things," completed and fixed the 
 definition of Christianity for those who at- 
 tached themselves to ''the new reforma- 
 tion." The essential elements of primitive 
 Christianity were made to consist in "an 
 order of things." They were very careful 
 of the way they did things in the public 
 worship, in the celebration and administra- 
 tion of the ordinances, in the organization 
 
/ 
 
 Alexander Campbell as a Baptist 1 1 5 
 
 of local churches, and in the propaga- 
 tion of the gospel. In many instances it 
 came very near being a tithing of mint, 
 anise, and cummin, and a neglecting of the 
 weightier matters of the law. Christianity 
 was defined, the terms of Christian com- 
 munion were fixed, according to the letter 
 of Scripture, and the result was a legalistic 
 formalism. The extreme literalism of the 
 teaching of this first period was sure to 
 produce a reaction and to create two parties 
 within the movement, the literal and the 
 spiritual. Campbell himself and the larger 
 part of the body recoiled from this early 
 position in the direction of a more spiritual 
 interpretation of Christianity. The two 
 parties have survived to the present time in 
 the body, with varying degrees of coopera- 
 tion or strife. 
 
 Scarcely three numbers of the Christian 
 Baptist had appeared from the press before 
 Alexander Campbell was called upon to 
 engage in a debate with a Presbyterian 
 
The Disciples of Christ 
 
 preacher of Kentucky. It grew out of the 
 previous debate with Mr. Walker. Camp- 
 bell's challenge at the close of that debate 
 was accepted by the Rev. W. L. Maccalla, 
 of Washington, Kentucky. He felt that 
 the strongest word for infant baptism on 
 the ground of the identity of the Jewish 
 and Christian covenants, had not been 
 spoken by Mr. Walker. The debate cov- 
 ered the same ground and dealt with the 
 same arguments and counter-arguments as 
 in the previous debate. It was an arrayal 
 of the Baptist against the Pedobaptist po- 
 sition. On this occasion, as on the former, 
 Campbell went as the representative and 
 champion of the Baptist cause, and was re- 
 ceived into Baptist churches and homes 
 everywhere throughout Kentucky. He 
 brought with him copies of the Christian 
 Baptist which he gave to the Baptist 
 preachers present, warning them in the 
 meantime that he had quite as much 
 against the Baptists as against the Presby- 
 
Alexander Campbell as a Baptist 1 17 
 
 terians. In this debate he developed at 
 greater length his doctrine of the design of 
 baptism as an argument against infant bap- 
 tism and said: **The water of baptism, 
 then, formally washes away our sins. The 
 blood of Christ really washes away our 
 sins. Paul's sins were really pardoned 
 when he believed. Yet he had no solemn 
 pledge of the fact, no formal acquittal, no 
 formal purgation of his sins until he washed 
 them away in the water of baptism." 
 "One argument from this topic is that bap- 
 tism being ordained to be to a believer, a 
 formal and personal remission of all his 
 sins, cannot be administered to an infant 
 without the greatest perversion and abuse 
 of the nature and import of this ordinance. 
 Indeed, why should an infant that never 
 sinned ... be baptized for the remission 
 of sins.?" Feeling that this doctrine was 
 new to both Baptists and Presbyterians, he 
 said: " My Baptist brethren, as well as the 
 Pedobaptist's brotherhood, I humbly con- 
 
ii8 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 ceive, require to be admonished on this 
 point. You have been, some of you no 
 doubt, too diffident in asserting this grand 
 import of baptism." 
 
 True to his promise made in the prospec- 
 tus of the Christian Baptist, in the very first 
 numbers he began a crusade against the 
 errors in doctrine and practice of all the de- 
 nominations, the Baptists in particular. His 
 program was, first, the destruction of false 
 doctrines and erroneous practices in the de- 
 nominations that acknowledged allegiance 
 to the Scriptures, and the reduction of their 
 systems to a common agreement, and then 
 would inevitably follow a union of Chris- 
 tians. As expressed by a writer in the 
 Christian Baptist: "To attempt union 
 among jarring sects which are established 
 upon different foundations, without the ex- 
 plosion of their foundations, is altogether 
 fruitless." The work of undermining and 
 blowing up the foundations of other people's 
 houses is not a very cordial way of ap- 
 
Alexander Campbell as a Baptist 1 19 
 
 preaching them, nor likely to be a very suc- 
 cessful way of winning their sympathy. 
 There was not a custom, or doctrine, or 
 ceremony maintained by any denomination, 
 which was not tried and tested, squared and 
 measured, by a severely literal application of 
 the text of Scripture. As a consequence 
 there were very few denominational prac- 
 tices for which Campbell found any scriptural 
 authority. The Scriptures nowhere spoke 
 of " missionary societies," " Bible societies," 
 "associations," ''synods," "presbyteries," 
 "creeds," "confessions of faith," " clergy- 
 men," " bishops," "reverends," "doctors of 
 divinity," and a multitude of other innova- 
 tions in use in modern Christian society, con- 
 sequently they should have no place in the 
 church of to-day. He cast them all out 
 upon the ecclesiastical scrap pile. No mat- 
 ter if in the general renovation and house- 
 cleaning some useful and valuable things 
 were thrown out — the work must be 
 thoroughly and finally done. He was 
 
120 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 cautioned by Robert Semple, the most emi- 
 nent Baptist of the time, that there was 
 danger of "running past Jerusalem as one 
 hastens out of Babylon"; but he replied: 
 " We are convinced, that the whole head is 
 sick, and the whole heart faint of modern 
 fashionable Christianity — that many of the 
 schemes of the populars resemble the de- 
 lirium, the wild fancies of a subject of fever, 
 in its highest paroxysms — and that these 
 most fashionable projects deserve no more 
 regard from sober Christians, Christians in- 
 telligent in the New Testament, than the 
 vagaries, the febrile flights, of patients in an 
 inflammatory fever." He spoke this of 
 Bible societies, but he included all other 
 agencies for the spread of the gospel which 
 were without the sanction of apostolic ex- 
 ample. 
 
 He was moved with the spirit of the most 
 furious iconoclasm. Nothing escaped his 
 sarcasm and invective, in the use of which 
 he was an adept. He cared little whether 
 
Alexander Campbell as a Baptist 121 
 
 his remedy hurt or not; the disease was 
 malignant, the remedy must be severe. As 
 a consequence, Campbell did not get him- 
 self well liked by everybody. One man 
 wrote in 1823: ** I request you to send me 
 the Christian Baptist no more, my con- 
 science is wounded that I should have sub- 
 scribed for such a work. It is a religious 
 incendiary and will do a world of mischief." 
 Another wrote: ''Your paper is a disor- 
 ganizer and I doubt not will prove deistical 
 in the end." After sending the paper for 
 some time to the reading rooms of a society 
 at Hamilton Seminary at the request of the 
 students, they wrote saying: "For reasons 
 which we are willing frankly to avow, our 
 society has recently come to the resolution 
 to ask you to discontinue your publication." 
 Spencer Clack, a Baptist minister, wrote to 
 Campbell from Kentucky saying: "Some 
 are for you, others against you; some ap- 
 prove, others censure and condemn; such 
 is the state of affairs; such the effect pro- 
 
122 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 duced by your writing. But let me ask, 
 what is the great good which such division 
 will achieve?" Campbell was denounced 
 in public and in private by the Baptists as a 
 "Unitarian," "a Socinian," an'^Antino- 
 mian," "a Pelagian," and "a Deist"; and 
 where that did not succeed in stirring up 
 prejudice, they said, "he stole a horse," 
 "was excommunicated for drunkenness," 
 and "married his first wife's sister." He 
 had put out in 1826 a revised edition of the 
 New Testament, translated by Campbell, 
 Doddridge and McKnight, and so bitter was 
 the prejudice awakened against it that one 
 man solemnly consigned a copy of it to the 
 flames. 
 
 It was a serious question in the minds of 
 many Baptists whether they could consci- 
 entiously include Campbell in their fellow- 
 ship, or whether he could consistently and 
 honestly call himself a Baptist. Concern- 
 ing this he wrote in the Christian Baptist in 
 1826 as follows: "I and the church with 
 
Alexander Campbell as a Baptist 123 
 
 which I am connected are in * full com- 
 munion ' with the Mahoning Baptist As- 
 sociation of Ohio; and through them with 
 the whole Baptist society in the United 
 States; and I do intend to continue in con- 
 nection with this people so long as they 
 will permit me to say what I believe, to 
 teach what I am assured of, and to censure 
 what is amiss in their views and practices." 
 When charged with inconsistency in claim- 
 ing ''full fellowship with the whole Baptist 
 society " and yet censuring many of their 
 views and practices, he said: "But what 
 constitutes consistency ? In acting con- 
 formably to our own professed senti- 
 ments and principles; or in acting con- 
 formably to the professed sentiments and 
 principles of others?" He was ready to 
 hold Christian communion with any per- 
 son or group of persons who confessed 
 that Jesus was the Christ, and was bap- 
 tized as a testimony to it, and lived a blame- 
 less Christian life. Nothing more and noth- 
 
124 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 ing less than this should constitute the con- 
 ditions of Christian fellowship. On these 
 terms he received all Baptists into fellow- 
 ship. The difficulty was not on his side 
 but on their side. They fulfilled all his re- 
 quirements for communion, but he did not 
 fulfill all their requirements. It was just 
 this more-than-enough for simple Christian 
 fellowship in Baptist requirements, such as 
 the relation of an experience and subscrip- 
 tion to a creed, with which he quarrelled. 
 He refused to regard communion with a 
 religious body as implying "an entire ap- 
 probation of all their views, doctrines and 
 practice, as a society or individuals." His 
 principle was that unity of opinion is not 
 essential to Christian union." 
 
 It was still an unsettled question with 
 him in 1825 whether immersion should be 
 made a test of fellowship among Christians. 
 He said : "I frankly own that my full con- 
 viction is that there are many Pedobaptist 
 congregations, of whose Christianity I think 
 
Alexander Campbell as a Baptist I25 
 
 as highly as of most Baptist congregations, 
 and with whom 1 could wish to be on the 
 very same terms of Christian communion 
 on which 1 stand with the whole Baptist 
 society." He thought that there were as 
 good scriptural grounds for Baptists and 
 Pedobaptists to eat the Lord's supper to- 
 gether as to have fellowship in other acts 
 of social worship. He was not ready, 
 however, to go the full length of receiv- 
 ing the unimmersed into fellowship. Per- 
 sonally he would receive them, but he 
 could not make his own personal disposi- 
 tion a law for the entire Christian brother- 
 hood. He finally settled into the practice 
 of making immersion a test of fellowship 
 in the local congregation, but not a prereq- 
 uisite to partaking of the Lord's supper. 
 In this he broke with the Baptist custom of 
 close communion, and settled the practice 
 for all reforming Baptist churches. 
 
 The Christian Baptist grew rapidly in 
 circulation, especially among Baptists, and 
 
126 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 contributed in no small measure, together 
 with his published debates and preaching 
 tours through all parts of the country, in 
 creating a rapidly increasing party in the 
 Baptist denomination which was called 
 "Reformers" or "reforming Baptists," 
 and otherwise stigmatized as "Camp- 
 beIliles"or " Restorationers." 
 
 ^ 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE REFORMERS AMONG THE BAPTISTS 
 
 There can be no doubt that Campbell had 
 designs with reference to the Baptist de- 
 nomination, and that he had reasons for 
 gratification at the increasing success of his 
 propaganda. There appeared from time to 
 time in the columns of the Christian Baptist 
 reports of the progress of "the reforma- 
 tion " that were characterized by a note of 
 calm assurance and certainty of triumph. 
 He felt that the Baptists were not living up 
 to their principles and that he was confer- 
 ring a favor upon them by calling their at- 
 tention to primitive Christian customs in 
 which they were lacking or from which 
 they were going astray. He felt himself to 
 be their best friend, and that "every well- 
 meant effort to bring them up to the primi- 
 tive state of the church, as far as Scripture 
 127 
 
128 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 and reason approbate, ought to be counte- 
 nanced, aided and abetted by every one that 
 loves the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." 
 Just here was his advantage and the secret 
 of his success among them, that he stood on 
 their ground and was in agreement with 
 them on essential and distinctive Baptist 
 principles. Spencer Clack wrote to him in 
 1827, saying: "Observe, between you and 
 your Baptist brethren, there is no difference 
 of opinion as to rule of faith and practice. 
 On this subject we all speak the same 
 language; we all acknowledge the same 
 authority; all profess to be governed by it. 
 What then, is the difference between us ? 
 Simply this: we cannot agree as to what 
 the Bible teaches. The Baptists think the 
 Bible teaches the doctrine contained in their 
 creeds; you think it teaches what you have 
 written and published, and what you will 
 hereafter write and publish." Campbell 
 was holding up Baptist faith and practice to 
 a strict conformity to apostolic example. 
 
Reformers Among the Baptists 129 
 
 and assumed as an underlying presupposi- 
 tion that the New Testament contained a 
 perfect and complete model of the Christian 
 institution, in faith, life, ordinances, or- 
 ganization and discipline. 
 
 He easily persuaded many ministers and 
 laymen among them that his view of the 
 matter was correct. His reformatory teach- 
 ing first found acceptance in the minds of a 
 few ministers who became centres of agita- 
 tion in Baptist churches and associations. 
 One of the earliest, and typical of all the 
 rest, was P. S. Fall, the young pastor of the 
 church at Louisville, Kentucky, who first 
 made the acquaintance of Campbell's views 
 by reading the Christian Baptist and the 
 Sermon on the Law. He began to preach 
 the new doctrines in his Louisville church. 
 Alexander Campbell came to Louisville in 
 1824 and under the direction of Mr. Fall, 
 made several addresses in the Baptist and 
 Presbyterian churches. So completely was 
 the Baptist church imbued with his ideas 
 
130 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 that they repudiated their constitution and 
 creed and adopted the Bible as their only 
 rule of faith and practice and introduced the 
 " ancient order of things " into the organiza- 
 tion and worship of the church. At the 
 meeting of the Long Run Association, of 
 which the church was a member, Septem- 
 ber, 1825, Mr. Fall read the "circular letter" 
 in which he maintained that "the word of 
 God was the only sufficient and perfect rule 
 of faith and practice," against the use of 
 creeds, as was then customary in Baptist 
 churches. The church sent the following 
 queries to the Association for answer: 
 "I. Is there any authority in the New 
 Testament for religious bodies to make hu- 
 man creeds and confessions of faith the 
 constitutions or directories of such bodies in 
 matters of faith and practice?" "2. Is 
 there any authority in the New Testament 
 for associations ? If so, what is it ? If not, 
 why are they held?" Similar queries, 
 showing the leavening influence of Camp- 
 
Reformers Among the Baptists 131 
 
 bell's ideas, were sent by the churches at 
 Elk Creek and Shelbyville. By such queries 
 the ideas of Campbell were forced upon the 
 attention of entire associations representing 
 many ministers and churches. The letter 
 read by Fall was rejected by the casting 
 vote of the moderator, Geo. Waller, so 
 evenly was the Association divided. A 
 strict Baptist element in the church at 
 Louisville resisted the introduction of the 
 "ancient order," and in 1829, at a 
 stormy meeting, the leader seized the 
 books of the church and cried out, 
 "All who are for the old constitution 
 follow me." About thirty persons with- 
 drew and formed a new church. Two 
 Baptist congregations were thus formed, 
 the one called " Campbellites," the other 
 " Wallerites." A lawsuit over the posses- 
 sion of the property took place in which the 
 Reformers were victorious, though both 
 parties continued to meet in the church at 
 different hours. They retained the name of 
 
132 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 " First Baptist Church of Jesus Christ" and 
 membership in the Long Run Association 
 until 1833, when they assumed the name 
 "Church of Christ." After leaving Louis- 
 ville, Mr. Fall preached for a time for the 
 Baptist church at Frankfort, where he laid 
 the foundation of a "Reformed Baptist" 
 church, and later became pastor of the 
 Baptist church of Nashville, Tennessee. It 
 was not long before this church introduced 
 the "ancient order," and refused to become 
 a member of the Concord Association of 
 Baptist churches, unless given perfect free- 
 dom with respect to the doctrine and 
 government of the church. When the 
 separation of the Reformers from the Bap- 
 tists took place, this church stood solidly 
 with the new reformation. Campbell came 
 to Nashville in 1826 for the benefit of his 
 wife's health and spent several weeks, dur- 
 ing which he delivered many sermons and 
 addresses. 
 
 John Smith was another Baptist minister 
 
Reformers Among the Baptists 133 
 
 of Kentucky who accepted the teachings 
 of Campbell and was instrumental in in- 
 doctrinating many Baptist churches and 
 forming new ones upon "the New Testa- 
 ment basis." Though he had heard much 
 of Alexander Campbell, both for and against 
 him, and had read the Christian Baptist and 
 his debates, he first met him in 1824. By 
 private conversation and public discourses 
 Campbell removed many religious difficult- 
 ies from his mind, and after a year of care- 
 ful study of the Bible he "commenced the 
 advocacy of the Bible as a sufficient rule of 
 faith and practice." In his preaching he 
 was distinguished by the keenness of his 
 logic, the quaintness of his wit and humor, 
 and the earnestness and fervor of his spirit. 
 He was by all odds the most popular and 
 successful of Baptist preachers with the 
 common people. He had little or no school 
 training, but was gifted by nature with 
 mother wit and human sympathy as few 
 men are. He worked his way up from 
 
134 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 youth through the bitterest hardships, gave 
 himself to the ministry in the Baptist church, 
 and had thought his way out of the contra- 
 dictions and blighting spiritual influences of 
 hyper-Calvinism, when he began to read the 
 writings of Campbell. He had felt the prac- 
 tical dilficulty of preaching to sinners the 
 doctrine of their utter depravity and moral 
 helplessness without the aid of the Spirit, 
 and then calling upon them to repent and 
 believe the gospel on pain of eternal dam- 
 nation. It was a moment of deliverance 
 from bondage when his mind swung free 
 from Calvinistic fatalism under the teaching 
 of the New Testament as unfolded by 
 Campbell in the Christian Baptist. The 
 doctrine that it was in the power of every 
 sinner to believe that Jesus was the Christ, 
 the Son of God, upon the testimony given 
 in the Scriptures concerning him, and that 
 this was saving faith, became the founda- 
 tion of a new career of evangelism which 
 he inaugurated in 1823. He went every- 
 
Reformers Among the Baptists 135 
 
 where among Baptist churches in Kentucky 
 calling on sinners to repent at once and be- 
 lieve in Jesus Christ, and be immersed for 
 the remission of sins. The regions of his 
 evangelistic activity were for the most part 
 the boundaries of two or three Baptist as- 
 sociations — the North District, Bracken, and 
 Boone's Creek. The greater part of his 
 preaching had been done in four churches of 
 the North District Association. One of these 
 was the church at Lulbegrud, which at the 
 meeting of the Association in 1827 presented 
 charges against certain preachers who had de- 
 parted from Paptist usage. They were aimed 
 at Smith, who had been unwearied in preach- 
 ing and baptizing people after "the ancient 
 order of things." Crowds of people came to 
 hear him and he baptized them by the score, 
 sometimes constituting new churches out 
 of the number, which took their places as 
 members of some Baptist association. He 
 was quite as zealous, however, against the 
 old order as he was in favor of the new 
 
136 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 order. He said to his wife, as he was 
 summing up the results of a few months' 
 work in 1828: "Nancy, I have baptised 
 seven hundred sinners and capsized fifteen 
 hundred Baptists." He was so successful 
 in the latter activity among the Baptists of 
 the North District Association that out of 
 twenty-six churches composing it, eighteen 
 stood on the side of the reformation when 
 the division came. As an illustration of his 
 dramatic and convincing methods, the fol- 
 lowing incident is related concerning him: 
 A methodist minister had been seen to bap- 
 tize a struggling, crying infant in the place 
 where he was holding a meeting. The 
 next day when Smith was baptizing some 
 persons in a stream, he saw the minister in 
 the crowd. He walked up and seized him 
 by the arm and drew him towards the water 
 — " What are you going to do, Mr. Smith ? " 
 said the preacher. am going to baptize 
 you, sir." " But I do not wish to be bap- 
 tized." * ' Do you not believe ? " said Smith. 
 
Reformers Among the Baptists 137 
 
 ** Certainly I do." "Then come along, sir, 
 believers ' must be baptized." "But I am 
 not willing to go," said the Methodist. " It 
 certainly would do me no good to be bap- 
 tized against my will." " Did you not, but 
 yesterday, baptize a helpless babe against 
 its will?" Turning to the audience Smith 
 said: " But friends, let me know if he ever 
 again baptizes others without their full con- 
 sent; for you yourselves have heard him de- 
 clare that such a baptism cannot possibly 
 do any good." 
 
 In the districts covered by his preaching 
 were many churches of the "New Lights" 
 or "Stoneites," the followers of Barton W. 
 Stone, whose acquaintance and friendship 
 he was zealous in cultivating, much to the 
 scandal of his Baptist brethren. He was 
 later to be one of the most diligent and 
 successful promoters of . the union be- 
 tween the "Disciples" and "Christians" 
 or "Stoneites" in Kentucky. 
 
 There were many other able and influ- 
 
138 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 ential Baptist preachers in Kentucky who 
 gave themselves to the dissemination of 
 Campbell s views, such as Jeremiah Varde- 
 man, who was said to have baptized more 
 persons than any other preacher in Ken- 
 tucky; Jacob Creath, Sr., who was pro- 
 nounced by Henry Clay to be ''the finest 
 natural orator" he had ever heard; J. T. 
 Johnson, who was educated for a lawyer, 
 but became a preacher, converted hundreds 
 of persons in protracted meetings, in many 
 of the central and southern states, and was 
 active in promoting the union between the 
 followers of Stone and Campbell. 
 
 The most rapid and sweeping success of 
 the new reformation took place in the Bap- 
 tist churches of the Mahoning Association 
 in eastern Ohio, near Mr. Campbell's home. 
 From the time of the preaching of the Ser- 
 mon on the Lazvm 18 16 before the Redstone 
 Association, the enemies of Campbell were 
 industriously working against him and 
 planning to oust him as soon as they could 
 
Reformers Among the Baptists 139 
 
 command a majority of the messengers of 
 the Association. This did not seem immi- 
 nent until 1823; and to defeat their plans, 
 Campbell asked for letters for himself and 
 wife and thirty others from the Brush Run 
 church to form a new church in Charles- 
 town or Wellsburg, as it began to be called. 
 He had made the acquaintance of several 
 preachers of the Mahoning Association, 
 who had frequently urged him to be pres- 
 ent at its meetings. The members of this 
 Association were more favorably disposed 
 towards him, were less rigidly bound by 
 creeds and Baptist usages, and gladly wel- 
 comed the new church at Wellsburg into 
 its fellowship. The preachers of the Asso- 
 ciation who came under the influence of 
 Campbell, were Adamson Bentley, Sidney 
 Rigdon, Jacob Osborne, Joseph Freeman, 
 Marcus Bosworth, and others. They had 
 carried on the work of reformation among 
 the churches before Alexander Campbell 
 appeared among them as a delegate from 
 
140 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 the Wellsburg church in 1825. At the 
 meeting of the Association in 1824 the fol- 
 lowing questions were presented from the 
 church at Nelson: " i. Will this Associa- 
 tion hold in its connection a church which 
 acknowledges no other rule of faith and 
 practice than the Scriptures?" "2. In 
 what manner were members received into 
 the churches that were set in order by the 
 apostles?" "3. How were members ex- 
 cluded from those churches ? " These ques- 
 tions indicate that the Christian Baptist 
 had been circulating among the churches. 
 Questions presented from other churches 
 bore the same import. The church at Nel- 
 son passed a resolution in 1824, "to remove 
 the Philadelphia Confession of Faith and 
 the church articles, and to take the word of 
 God for their rule of faith and practice." 
 A minority objected and organized another 
 church, and both churches sent messengers 
 to the Association the next year. 
 At the meeting of the Association in 
 
Reformers Among the Baptists 141 
 
 August, 1827, at New Lisbon, Ohio, the fol- 
 lowing petition was presented from the 
 Braceville church: "We wish that this 
 Association may take into serious consider- 
 ation the peculiar situation of the churches 
 of the Association, and if it would be a pos- 
 sible thing for an evangelical preacher to be 
 employed to travel and teach among the 
 churches, we think that a blessing would 
 follow." The suggestion met with the ap- 
 proval of the members and Walter Scott of 
 Steubenville, Ohio, was appointed as evan- 
 gelist. Alexander Campbell had gone by 
 way of Scott's home and had brought him 
 to the meeting. The importance of the 
 career and influence of this man upon the 
 character of the movement is second only 
 to that of Campbell himself. The creators 
 and leaders of the movement are usually 
 listed as follows: Thomas Campbell, Alex- 
 ander Campbell, Barton W. Stone, and 
 Walter Scott. The latter was born in Scot- 
 land in 1796; was educated at the University 
 
142 The Disciples ot Christ 
 
 of Edinburgh; came to America in 1818, and 
 settled in Pittsburg. Through the influence 
 of a Mr. Forrester, a teacher and preacher, 
 who took the Bible as his only authority 
 and guide in matters of faith and practice, 
 Mr. Scott was led to study the Scriptures 
 with reference to the subject of infant bap- 
 tism. He came to the conclusion that it 
 had no sanction in the word of God, and 
 that the immersion of a believer was the 
 true scriptural practice. He was immersed 
 and became associated with Mr. Forrester 
 in the work of teaching, and in charge of 
 the small company of immersed believers 
 gathered together by Mr. Forrester. Upon 
 the sudden death of Mr. Forrester, he as- 
 sumed oversight of the church. His study 
 of the New Testament and his reading of 
 the works of John Locke, brought him to 
 the conviction that the central truth of 
 Christianity was the messiahship of Jesus, 
 and that the confession, "Jesus is the 
 Christ," was the sole article of faith in the 
 
Reformers Among the Baptists 143 
 
 creed of the primitive church. He had 
 come to his religious position before he met 
 Alexander Campbell, who came to Pittsburg 
 in 1821 on a visit to his father. This led to 
 a mutual acquaintance and a subsequent 
 cooperation between the three men in the 
 work of "reforming the Christian profes- 
 sion." Scott and Campbell were in perfect 
 accord in their religious principles, and 
 formed a personal and intimate friendship 
 which lasted through life. They consulted 
 together in the establishment of the Chris- 
 tian Baptist and in the first number ap- 
 peared an article by Scott, **0n Teaching 
 Christianity," in which he said: "Times 
 out of number we are told in Scripture that 
 the grand saving truth is that Jesus is the 
 Christ. This is the bond of union among 
 Christians— the essence— the spirit of all 
 revelation." This was Scott's contribution, 
 par excellence, to the principles of the new 
 reformation. The two men influenced each 
 other in the clearer grasp of New Testa- 
 
144 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 ment teaching, each contributing to the 
 other his body of newly discovered truth. 
 
 It was this man who was chosen in 1827 
 to go among the Baptist churches of the 
 Mahoning Association to preach " the an- 
 cient gospel "and to restore "the ancient 
 order of things." By this time he had fully 
 settled in his mind the " authorized plan of 
 teaching the Christian religion," and of 
 bringing men into the church. This may 
 be said to have been a specialty with him, 
 and now he was to have his first great op- 
 portunity of putting it into practice. His 
 first step was (i) faith. The sole aim of 
 the preacher should be to awaken faith in 
 the unbeliever towards Jesus as the Son of 
 God. Faith being the result of testimony, 
 the preacher must proclaim the evidences 
 of the messiahship as recorded in the four 
 Gospels. This gave him an opportunity to 
 contrast the prevailing Calvinistic doctrine 
 of saving faith with the new doctrine. In- 
 stead of pleading with God to be merciful 
 
Reformers Among the Baptists I45; 
 
 to the sinner and grant him saving faith, 
 the preacher pleaded with the sinner to ac- 
 cept the testimony God had given of his 
 Son in the Scriptures. In this connection 
 the metaphysical creeds of the churches 
 which were imposed on the faith of men as 
 a condition of peace with God and fellow- 
 ship with his Son, were held up for ridicule 
 and dissection, and were denounced as 
 causes of division and strife among Chris- 
 tians. This gave him a chance to preach 
 his doctrine of Christian union upon the 
 basis of primitive Christianity. The next 
 step was to call upon sinners to (2) repent. 
 The emphasis was upon immediate and 
 voluntary repentance, in contrast with the 
 repentance of Calvinism which depended 
 upon the disposition and choice of God. 
 The sinner could not repent until God chose 
 to grant it, or to intimate the sinner's elec- 
 tion by some sign. The next step was to 
 call upon the sinner to make a (3) confes- 
 sion. That confession was submitted in the 
 
146 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 words of Peter's confession: Do you be- 
 lieve that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the 
 living God ? " No other test or requirement 
 was exacted. They were then told to sub- 
 mit to the ordinance of (4) baptism. He 
 appealed to the example and precept of 
 apostolic conversions. This gave him an 
 opportunity to set forth the New Testa- 
 ment form and doctrine of baptism as he 
 understood it. The form was immersion, 
 the doctrine was, "for the remission of 
 sins." The great text was the instruction 
 of Peter to the multitude on the day of Pen- 
 tecost. They were then taught to expect 
 (5) S^fl of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit 
 did his work upon the sinner through the 
 revealed and accredited testimony, but after 
 baptism he was the personal guest and com- 
 forter of the believer. This was the " an- 
 cient gospel," the discovery and first preach- 
 ing of which are accredited to Walter Scott. 
 
 This was the substance of the sermons 
 Walter Scott preached among the Baptists. 
 
Reformers Among the Baptists 147 
 
 To say that it thrilled some and shocked 
 others, would be putting it mildly. It had 
 never been heard on that wise before. To 
 the sinner, troubled with fears and doubts 
 of his election, denied all supernatural 
 tokens of his acceptance with God, agoniz- 
 ing in prayer for saving faith and the guid- 
 ing power of the Holy Spirit, it came as a 
 welcome and peace-bringing evangel. To 
 staid Calvinistic Baptists who had found 
 peace and acceptance with God in the old 
 way, it was shocking. It was only after a 
 great struggle that Scott got himself to the 
 point of putting it in practice. He believed 
 it was done that way in apostolic times, 
 why would it not work to-day ? The first 
 place he tried it was in the Baptist church 
 at New Lisbon, Ohio. It worked, for the 
 first person to respond to the appeal was 
 the most eminent and influential member of 
 the Presbyterian church. This man had 
 once said to his wife: "When I find any 
 person preaching as did the apostle Peter in 
 
148 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 the second chapter of Acts, I shall offer my- 
 self for obedience and go with him." He 
 found that person in Walter Scott. Within 
 a few days seventeen persons "believed 
 and were baptized." The church and en- 
 tire community were aroused. He went 
 from one town to another repeating the 
 same message and meeting with the same 
 results. At the close of the first year of 
 work the Association met at Warren, Ohio. 
 The result of his work was the conversion 
 of nearly one thousand persons. The total 
 membership of the sixteen churches com- 
 prising the Association the year before was 
 scarcely five hundred. The success of the 
 " ancient gospel " this first year under Scott 
 completely transformed the Association, 
 and in 1830, at the meeting at Austintown, 
 it was voluntarily dissolved in its Baptist 
 form and met ever after as a "yearly meet- 
 ing" for fellowship and acquaintance. 
 
 Commingled in the message of these Re- 
 formers were a proselytism and an evangel- 
 
Reformers Among the Baptists 149 
 
 ism. To many members of Baptist, Pres- 
 byterian and Methodist churches it came as 
 a new gospel, and they were unable to tell 
 whether it was the correction and enlighten- 
 ment of their views of religion, or the 
 stirring of their moral natures, which won 
 them. In the stream which flowed into 
 the rapidly filling ranks of "reforming 
 churches " were both sinners and church 
 members. The success was unprecedented. 
 Through Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and 
 Kentucky the movement spread with rapid- 
 ity among Baptist churches; while there are 
 not wanting records of the capture of entire 
 Methodist or other Protestant churches, as 
 in the case of the Methodist church at Deer- 
 field, Ohio. 
 
 The secret of such success lay first of all 
 in their appeal to the simple teaching of 
 Scripture. Every one was able to open his 
 Bible and apply the motto, "Where the 
 Scriptures speak, we speak; where they are 
 silent, we are silent." It was a democratic 
 
150 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 movement, founded upon the right and the 
 ability of every person to interpret the 
 Scriptures for himself, and upon the desire 
 of every person to have a voice in the man- 
 agement of his religious heritage. It may 
 be said that the movement gave to the peo- 
 ple in religion v/hat they had obtained in 
 the state, " a government of the people, for 
 the people, and by the people." They took 
 the government of the church and the inter- 
 pretation of the Scriptures out of the hands 
 of the clergy and councils, and put them 
 into the hands of the people. The destruc- 
 tion of " the rule of the clergy " was an oft 
 repeated phrase and a fixed ideal of the Re- 
 formers. The people were pleased and 
 followed them. 
 
 The message met the religious needs of 
 the time, just as the message of Lyman 
 Beecher and Charles G. Finney, and on the 
 same ground. They all preached the doc- 
 trine of "free agency and the sinner's im- 
 mediate duty to repent." The background 
 
Reformers Among the Baptists 151 
 
 of the movement was the dark, benumbing 
 fatalism of Calvinistic theology. But neither 
 Beecher nor Finney had grasped the clear 
 and simple " plan of salvation" as set forth 
 in the sermons of such men as Barton W. 
 Stone, Walter Scott and John Smith. Over 
 against the perplexing supernaturalism and 
 mysticism of the theological preaching of 
 the time, was set the plain instruction of 
 those Pentecostal preachers — repent and 
 be baptized every one of you in the name 
 of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of your 
 sins ; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
 Spirit." As illustrating the practical work- 
 ing of their method, the following incident 
 is told of John Whitacre: On one occasion 
 in a meeting, among several at the altar 
 praying for divine power to come down, 
 was a lady of intelligence. "When she 
 ceased, Whitacre spoke to her: 'Madam,' 
 said he, 'what would you give for faith in 
 Mahomet ? ' ' Nothing,' was her somewhat 
 indignant reply. ' Why not ? ' he continued. 
 
152 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 'Because I believe him to be an impostor.' 
 ' But why are you so anxious for faith in 
 Jesus Christ?' 'Because I believe he is my 
 only Saviour.' ' Well,' said Whitacre, ' why 
 are you praying for that which you say you 
 have ? Why not go forward and obey the 
 gospel and be made free from sin?'" 
 Such intelligible instructions to sinners, 
 perplexed and mystified by Calvinistic teach- 
 ing, came as lights in the deepest darkness. 
 It is notable that the great leaders and 
 preachers of the movement came up under 
 Presbyterianism and broke with it either on 
 account of its government or its theology. 
 
 Not less appealing was their message of 
 unity and fraternity among warring, com- 
 peting sects. Their vision of a united 
 church upon the foundation of the apostles 
 and prophets, with Christ himself as the 
 chief corner stone, may have been Utopian, 
 but it was beautiful and alluring, and gave 
 to the people, sickened with the pettiness 
 of sectarian differences, a noble ideal to 
 
Reformers Among the Baptists 153 
 
 work for. In spite of the incongruity of its 
 setting many times, and the inconsistency 
 of its advocates, the doctrine of Christian 
 union was felt to be providential. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE SEPARATION OF THE REFORMERS FROM 
 THE BAPTISTS 
 
 The Baptists had many reasons for hold- 
 ing the new reformation in doubt. Its 
 advocates were often intemperate in their 
 use of language and inconsiderate in their 
 use of means against what they believed 
 were erroneous beliefs and customs in Bap- 
 tist churches. They were indifferent to the 
 consequences of changes they were seeking 
 to bring about in the Baptist order. It was 
 the privilege of every person to apply the 
 principle, "Where the Scriptures speak, we 
 speak; where they are silent, we are 
 silent," and many of the Reformers seemed 
 to vie with each other in the number of 
 novel and absurd changes they could intro- 
 duce. 
 
 The principle had both a positive and a 
 154 
 
The Separation of the Reformers 155 
 
 negative application. It was with respect 
 to the "order of things" in the primitive 
 church that they were chiefly concerned. 
 It was a simpler task to put into practice the 
 ritual precepts and examples of the New 
 Testament than its ethical and spiritual pre- 
 cepts and examples. They were not obliv- 
 ious of the fact that the New Testament 
 taught a "spirit of things" as well as an 
 "order of things" but they joined issue 
 upon the order. They found that the 
 Scriptures not only spoke of the Lord's sup- 
 per as being celebrated on the first day of 
 the week, and of baptism as an immersion 
 or burial in water, and of deacons and elders 
 as constituting the official organization of 
 the local church, and of reception of persons 
 into the church upon a confession of their 
 faith and baptism — all of which they put into 
 practice; but they also found that the Scrip- 
 tures spoke of the holy kiss, of feet wash- 
 ing, of mutual exhortation in public meet- 
 ings, of the "amen " at the close of prayer, 
 
156 The Disciples ot Christ 
 
 of eating the Lord's supper in the evening, 
 of baptism in streams of water, of kneehng 
 in prayer, of a community of goods, of the 
 silence of women in churches — all of which 
 were tried in various churches in the begin- 
 ning, but never with the approval of the 
 leaders. These things were regarded as 
 "the circumstantials of Christian worship," 
 which should be treated with freedom and 
 forbearance. The Baptists, however, could 
 not tell where the principle would lead 
 them, for it was capable of endless applica- 
 tion and experiment. The churches had 
 not found a common level of belief and 
 practice. They were passing through the 
 experimental stage. While each church 
 was perfectly free and independent, yet 
 there was one master mind, one control- 
 ling genius, who was leading them. He 
 spoke through the pages of the Christian 
 Baptist. The mind and personality of Alex- 
 ander Campbell dominated the entire move- 
 ment. After he had spoken there was no 
 
The Separation of the Reformers 157 
 
 use for any one else to speak. Through his 
 writings and suggestions in the Christian 
 Baptist he regulated and controlled the con- 
 duct of all the preachers and churches. He 
 introduced the widely separated congrega- 
 tions of Reformers to each other, and was the 
 connecting link that bound them together. 
 
 But these Reformers respected the "si- 
 lence of Scripture " quite as much as the 
 " speech of Scripture." This plunged them 
 into extravagances and extremes in the 
 other direction, much to the annoyance and 
 alarm of the Baptists. Where there was 
 not a "Thus saith the Lord" for a Baptist 
 belief or usage, there was ready a Thus 
 saith the Reformer" against it, and the 
 Scriptures were made to speak quite as 
 loudly against some things as for other 
 things. One after another the cherished 
 customs and institutions of the Baptist order 
 were swept away, as having no sanction in 
 the word of God, and there was no telling 
 what would go next. There was no pre- 
 
158 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 cept or example in the New Testament for 
 the use of creeds as bonds of fellowship, or 
 for the examination of converts as to their 
 Christian experience, or for ministerial calls, 
 clerical authority, associations of churches, 
 missionary societies, Bible societies, tract 
 societies or Sunday-schools. Wherever the 
 new reformation prevailed all these things 
 were done away. No wonder it looked 
 like disorganization and anarchy to a Baptist 
 who was not captivated by it. What re- 
 sponse but opposition could be expected on 
 the part of a strong, established, and re- 
 spectable body, such as the Baptist denomi- 
 nation, to the inroads of such lawlessness? 
 Whether in the majority or the minority the 
 faithful among the Baptists stood up in de- 
 fense of their system. The leading Baptist 
 papers of the country, such as the Western 
 Luminary, the Western Recorder, the 
 Pittsburg Recorder, Columbian Star, and 
 the New York Baptist Register, entered the 
 controversy against Campbell. 
 
The Separation of the Reformers 1 59 
 
 The appearance of his teachings in local 
 churches was the signal for opposition and 
 strife which usually ended in division. 
 Such inquiries as the following began to 
 come from the churches to the associations: 
 ** What must a church do with her preacher 
 who has embraced Campbellism ? " The as- 
 sociation replied: "As we know not what 
 Campbellism is, we cannot tell her what to 
 do." There were many divisions in 
 churches between the Reformers and Bap- 
 tists from 1824 to 1828; as at Nelson, Ohio, 
 in 1824, and at Salem, Ohio, in 1828; but 
 these resulted in merely local estrangement 
 between two parties, each of which estab- 
 lished a church of its own. Such divisions 
 were not long in finding their way into 
 associations. Both parties usually claimed 
 to be the original Baptist church of the 
 place, and sent messengers to the associa- 
 tion. The recognition of one party or the 
 other was sure to divide the association. It 
 was the beginning of the end of relation- 
 
i6o The Disciples of Christ 
 
 ship between Baptists and Reformers when 
 associations began to divide, and pass reso- 
 lutions against Campbellism." 
 
 The first association to take definite action 
 against the Reformers was the Redstone of 
 Pennsylvania. A rule had been passed by 
 the Association requiring the churches to 
 mention the Philadelphia Confession in their 
 letters, as a condition of representation in 
 its meetings. In 1825 several churches 
 failed to mention the Confession and their 
 messengers were denied a seat. In 1826, by 
 a reduction of representation in the Associa- 
 tion, the opponents of the Reformers or- 
 ganized it out of ten churches and cut off 
 thirteen other churches. These churches cut 
 off from the Association met in November 
 the same year and organized a new associa- 
 tion under the name, "The Washington 
 Association." This action was followed by 
 the Beaver Association of Pennsylvania in 
 1829, and in a series of resolutions it disfel- 
 lowshipped the Mahoning Association of 
 
The Separation of the Reformers i6i 
 
 Ohio, for "disbelieving and denying many 
 of the doctrines of the Holy Scriptures." 
 This Association had come completely under 
 the influence of Mr. Campbell and was go- 
 ing on under the leadership of Walter Scott, 
 triumphantly "restoring the ancient order 
 of things." The Beaver resolutions were as 
 follows: 
 
 " I. They, the Reformers, maintain that 
 there is no promise of salvation without 
 baptism. 
 
 "2. That baptism should be adminis- 
 tered to all who say they believe that Jesus 
 Christ is the Son of God, without examina- 
 tion on any other point. 
 
 "3. That there is no direct operation of 
 the Holy Spirit on the mind prior to baptism. 
 
 "4. That baptism procures the remis- 
 sion of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 "5. That the Scriptures are the only 
 evidence of interest in Christ. 
 
 "6. That obedience places it in God's 
 power to elect to salvation. 
 
l62 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 "7. That no creed is necessary for the 
 church but the Scriptures as they stand. 
 And 
 
 "8. That all baptized persons have the 
 right to administer the ordinance of bap- 
 tism." 
 
 These resolutions were scattered widely 
 among other Baptist associations, and their 
 boldness gave courage to many who had 
 been waiting for the signal of attack. The 
 Franklin Association of Kentucky passed 
 them without change and warned all the 
 churches against the errors of the Mahon- 
 ing Association. In June, 1830. Tate's 
 Creek Association excluded the Reformers, 
 passed the Beaver resolutions, and added 
 four more as follows: ' 
 
 "(). That there is no special call to the 
 ministry. 
 
 " 10. That the law given by God to 
 Moses is abolished. 
 
 "II. That experimental religion is en- 
 thusiasm. And 
 
The Separation of the Reformers 163 
 
 " 12. That there is no mystery in the 
 Scriptures." 
 
 They named six preachers in the Associa- 
 tion who were accused of these heresies, by 
 which, they said, "We have seen associa- 
 tions thrown into commotion, churches 
 divided, neighbor made to speak evil of 
 neighbor, brother arrayed against brother, 
 the father against the son, and the daughter 
 against the mother." This action was taken 
 by ten out of the twenty-six churches com- 
 posing the Association, the other sixteen 
 having introduced the reformation. Nearly 
 all the associations of Kentucky took some 
 action with reference to Campbellism " 
 before the close of 1830, so that the line 
 was pretty sharply drawn between Bap- 
 tists and Reformers. This was true of 
 Elkhorn, Bracken, Boone's Creek, North 
 District, Union, Campbell County, Russell 
 Creek, South Concord, and others. 
 
 The action against the Reformers spread 
 to Virginia and was led there by two of the 
 
164 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 most eminent Baptists of the time, Robert 
 Semple and Andrew Broaddus. After 
 passing the resolutions of the Beaver Asso- 
 ciation, the Appomattox Association at its 
 meeting in 1830, passed the following 
 recommendations: 
 
 " I. Resolved, that it be recommended 
 to all the churches composing this Associa- 
 tion, to discountenance the writings of 
 Alexander Campbell. 
 
 "2. Resolved, etc., not to countenance 
 the new translation of the New Testament. 
 
 "3. Resolved, etc., not to invite into 
 their pulpit any minister who holds the 
 sentiments in the Beaver anathema." 
 
 The most significant and influential action 
 was taken by the Dover Association which 
 included in its membership the churches of 
 Richmond and vicinity, and such men as 
 Semple and Broaddus. A very long list of 
 the errors and heresies of Campbell was 
 drawn up and passed by the Association in 
 December, 1830. It was called out of the 
 
The Separation of the Reformers 165 
 
 regular time, the Reformers being omitted, 
 for the purpose of initiating some action 
 against persons in the Association who 
 were preaching " Campbellism." After 
 passing the Association the resolutions were 
 referred to the churches. When they came 
 before Semple's church they were defeated, 
 though both Semple and Broaddus were 
 present. In 1832 the Association withdrew 
 fellowship from six ministers who had 
 •'adopted the name of Reformers." 
 
 The darkness of the time for Baptist 
 churches in the regions touched by the 
 propaganda was voiced in many sets of 
 resolutions and gloomy reports. The 
 Dover Association at the close of its resolu- 
 tions recommended to the churches "the 
 observation of a day of solemn humiliation, 
 with fasting and prayer, with reference to 
 the state of religion, and the distress which 
 had given rise to the meeting." The circu- 
 lar letter of the Bracken Association in Ken- 
 tucky in 1830, begins as follows: "Dear 
 
l66 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Brethren: — In addressing you at this time, 
 we lament to have to say that a dark and 
 gloomy cloud overspreads our horizon un- 
 equalled since the establishment of the Bap- 
 tist society in Kentucky. Associations and 
 churches are dividing and of course peace 
 and harmony have departed." A very 
 comprehensive account of the state of af- 
 fairs in Tennessee, from the pen of Mr. 
 McConnico, appeared in 1830. It reads as 
 follows: "My beloved brethren: — Camp- 
 bellism has carried away many whom I 
 thought firm. These wandering stars and 
 clouds without water ever learning and 
 never able to come to the knowledge of the 
 truth, make proselytes much more the chil- 
 dren of the devil than they were before. 
 O Lord! hear the cries and see the tears of 
 the Baptists; for Alexander hath done them 
 much harm. The Lord reward him ac- 
 cording to his works. Look at the Creaths 
 of Kentucky. Look at Anderson, Craig, 
 and Hopwood, of Tennessee. See them 
 
The Separation of the Reformers 167 
 
 dividing churches and spreading discord, 
 and constituting churches out of excom- 
 municated members. Such shuffling — such 
 lying — such slandering — such evil speaking 
 — such dissembling — such downright hy- 
 pocrisy — and all under the false name of 
 reformation." " They have made divisions 
 in Cool Spring church." **The Association 
 pronounced the old party the church, and 
 excluded Anderson, Craig, and all who had 
 gone off with them." "These were a 
 large minority — they say the majority." 
 " At Lepres Fork church a small party have 
 gone over to Campbellism." **At Big 
 Harpeth church, where I lived and served 
 thirty-two years, ten or twelve members 
 have left us." "At Nashville, P. S. Fall, 
 native of England, and Campbell's best 
 friend, has led off most of that church 
 which was a member of Cumberland Asso- 
 ciation." "On Saturday before the first 
 Lord's day in September, Willis Hopwood, 
 as is expected, will be excluded and per- 
 
l68 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 haps most of Liberty church will follow 
 him." "Robertson's Fork church, Giles 
 county, will divide, and probably a number 
 will follow Hopwood." " Zion church, 
 Bedford County, I fear, will suffer much 
 from the same new ancient gospel." 
 "Other churches may have some partial 
 sifting." "The calf, too, is set up in Ala- 
 bama." 
 
 A similar account could be written of the 
 majority of Baptist churches in Western 
 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and Vir- 
 ginia. Very few escaped the influences of 
 the reformation in these districts. As soon 
 as the Baptists had made up their minds that 
 no good would come to their order from 
 the toleration of this new system, that it 
 meant the overturning of customs and be- 
 liefs which had made them what they were, 
 a definite policy of resistance towards the 
 Reformers was adopted. They were given 
 no choice between rejection of " Campbell- 
 ism " and separation from their Baptist 
 
The Separation of the Reformers 169 
 
 brethren. The reformation took them by 
 surprise at first. There were many unmis- 
 takably true things in it, and if it could only 
 be restrained within proper bounds, the 
 Baptists thought they could tolerate it. But 
 under success the Reformers grew bold and 
 confident, and under restraint they grew 
 defiant. They felt that they had the truth 
 and that the Baptists needed it; and like a 
 child refusing bitter medicine for its malady, 
 so the Baptists were resisting the truth of 
 the Reformers — the less they liked it, the 
 more they needed it. 
 
 At the bottom of the conflict lay two 
 classes of differences, doctrinal and prac- 
 tical. The doctrinal differences consisted of 
 disagreement as to (i) the relative authority 
 of the Old Covenant and the New. Camp- 
 bell denied that the Old had any binding 
 obligation on the Christian. Its abroga- 
 tion seemed to the Baptist a form of anti- 
 nomianism, if not irreverence. They dif- 
 fered in their (2) doctrine of baptism. 
 
lyo The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Campbell taught that baptism was in some 
 way connected with the remission of sins; 
 and that as far as he could understand New 
 Testament teaching and apostolic practice, 
 baptism should precede entrance into the 
 church or the fellowship of Christian peo- 
 ple. He did not give baptism alone regen- 
 erating efficacy, but in connection with 
 faith and repentance, it constituted the proc- 
 ess of regeneration or conversion. To the 
 Baptists this view made too much of bap- 
 tism and constituted it a direct means of 
 salvation. In practice both Baptists and Re- 
 formers insisted upon it, but in theory they 
 held it differently. They also differed in 
 their view of (3) the operation of the Holy 
 Spirit in conversion. Campbell taught that 
 he operated on the sinner indirectly through 
 the Word of God, the testimony of the 
 Spirit; the Baptists believed that he operated 
 directly upon the sinner, through a direct, 
 physical impact upon his heart and con- 
 science while he was still dead in trespasses 
 
The Separation of the Reformers 171 
 
 and in sins. Both held that the Spirit dwelt 
 in the heart of the believer as his personal 
 guide and comforter. They differed as to 
 his method in constituting one a believer. 
 The Baptists taught that the sinner had need 
 of the Spirit in producing faith and quicken- 
 ing the spiritual life, while the Reformers 
 taught that faith was a faculty already 
 possessed by the human mind, and was 
 awakened towards Jesus Christ by the sub- 
 mission of testimony to his messiahship out 
 of the Scriptures. 
 
 They differed also in many practices. As 
 to the (i) value and use of creeds. The 
 Reformers believed that they were both un- 
 necessary and unscriptural, and the cause 
 of strife and division among Christians. 
 The Baptists used them and believed that 
 they were necessary to keep error out of 
 the church and as convenient summaries of 
 the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. 
 They differed in the (2) method of receiving 
 persons into the church. The Reformers 
 
172 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 baptized a person upon the confession of 
 his faith in the messiahship of Jesus, and 
 received him without further test into the 
 church. The Baptists required an examina- 
 tion of the person before the officers or the 
 entire church, the relation of an experience 
 which should be acceptible as evidence of a 
 change of heart, and by vote of the congre- 
 gation admitted him to baptism. The Re- 
 former's haste seemed loose and dangerous 
 to the Baptists, who by inheritance from 
 the past were careful to guard the church 
 from unregenerate persons. They differed 
 in the (3) administration of baptism. The 
 Reformers held that baptism could be 
 validly administered by any believing Chris- 
 tian; the Baptists required the offices of an 
 ordained minister. In (4) the observance of 
 the Lord's supper, the Reformers celebrated 
 it every Sunday, the Baptists only monthly 
 or quarterly. The Reformers held that, in 
 (5) the call to the ministry, the fitness of the 
 person, both morally and intellectually, con- 
 
The Separation of the Reformers 173 
 
 stituted the call; while the Baptists insisted 
 upon a supernatural summons attested by 
 some spiritual or physical sign. Other dif- 
 ferences existed, but these are the ones that 
 were the chief causes of conflict, and made 
 their appearance the most frequently. 
 
 In spite of the differences with the Bap- 
 tists the Reformers were determined to stay 
 with them, partly because of old associa- 
 tions, and partly because they were con- 
 scientiously opposed to divisions. Alexan- 
 der Campbell had said in 1826: I and the 
 church with which I am connected are in 
 full communion with the Mahoning Baptist 
 Association of Ohio; and through them 
 with the whole Baptist society in the United 
 States; and I do intend to continue in con- 
 nection with this people so long as they 
 will permit me to say what I believe, to 
 teach what 1 am assured of, and to censure 
 what is amiss in their views and practices. 
 I have no idea of adding to the catalogue of 
 new sects. This game has been played too 
 
174 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 long." He looked upon separation from 
 the Baptists as equivalent to the formation 
 of a new sect. A Baptist said to John 
 Smith: "Why is it that you Reformers do 
 not leave us ? Go off quietly now and let 
 us alone." "We love you too well for 
 that, " replied Smith. * ' My brother Jonathan 
 once tried to swap horses with an Irishman, 
 but put, perhaps, too great a price on his 
 horse. The Irishman declined to trade, and 
 by way of apology said: 'It would be a 
 great pity, Mr. Smith, to part you and your 
 horse, for you do seem to think so very 
 much of him.' So we feel towards you 
 Baptist brethren." Each party accused the 
 other of being the cause of the divisions 
 and distresses, but each felt justified in 
 maintaining its position against the other 
 unchanged. The Baptists were sure that 
 so old, well tried, and successful a system 
 as theirs, could not be far wrong; while 
 the Reformers were sure that their system 
 was just a little older, for it went back to 
 
The Separation of the Reformers 175 
 
 the very beginning, and " started where the 
 apostles left off." To the degree that the 
 Reformers urged the Baptists to give up 
 their creeds, their doctrines, and human in- 
 ventions, to that degree they held on to 
 them and discovered new reasons for hold- 
 ing on. In this controversy as in most 
 controversies, where there is truth and 
 honesty on both sides, and error and preju- 
 dice on both sides, it is difficult, if not im- 
 possible, to say which side should surrender. 
 In this, as always, it was fought out to the 
 bitter end. Since that time the Baptists 
 have given up their creeds, have modified 
 their Calvinism, their requirements of an 
 examination and experience for member- 
 ship in the church, and have reduced the 
 authority of associations; while the Re- 
 formers as "Disciples of Christ" have given 
 up their opposition to missionary, Bible, 
 and tract societies, salaried clergy, associa- 
 tion of churches, have recoiled from the 
 literalism of the authority of primitive pre- 
 
176 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 cept and example, and above all have 
 sweetened in spirit towards those that differ 
 from them. Such modifications and mod- 
 erations did not seem possible to the parties 
 in the midst of the conflict. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE UNION OF REFORMERS AS DISCIPLES OF CHRIST 
 
 It is apparent by the year 1830 that a new 
 period has dawned in the movement for 
 the union of all Christians by the restora- 
 tion of primitive Christianity. The Baptists 
 have declined to lend their organization to 
 the purposes of the ** Restorationers " and 
 have thrust them out into a separate 
 existence. There are scattered through 
 Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Virginia, 
 larger or smaller groups of persons called 
 "Reformers" or nicknamed "Campbell- 
 ites," composing a religious community of 
 twenty or thirty thousand. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that the move- 
 ment was for the most part a propaganda 
 among Baptist churches from 1 813 to 1830. 
 We shall look in vain for any wide diffu- 
 sion of the "ancient order of things," out- 
 177 
 
ijS The Disciples of Christ 
 
 side of Baptist churches or in regions not 
 covered by them. The movement travelled 
 most rapidly over the way prepared for it 
 by the diffusion of Baptist principles and 
 societies. The people who became Re- 
 formers were first of all Baptists. The 
 separation was against their choice and 
 seemed without reason when they agreed 
 with their Baptist brethren in the majority 
 of fundamental Christian doctrines, such as 
 the authority of Scripture, the divinity of 
 Christ, justification by faith, the atonement, 
 and the forgiveness of sins. It was impos- 
 sible for them entirely to shake off their 
 Baptist proclivities and inheritances, or to 
 cut all the ligaments which bound the new 
 body to its mother. The mother could 
 not disown the child, and the child could 
 not deny the mother, so striking were 
 the resemblances between them. Many 
 churches of Reformers were separated 
 with the expectation of continuing as 
 Baptist churches. They could scarcely be- 
 
The Union of Reformers 179 
 
 lieve that it was the end of fellowship with 
 the Baptists until the crisis came in a 
 general separation in 1829-30. Cut off in 
 one place, they entered into fellowship 
 with Baptists in another and felt them- 
 selves in the larger fellowship of the en- 
 tire body. It was some time before and 
 only by degrees that the Baptists convinced 
 the Reformers that they would have to go 
 alone. In some places Baptist churches 
 admitted Reforming preachers to their pul- 
 pits, while in other places they were de- 
 barred. By 1832 the Reforming element 
 was practically eliminated from the Baptist 
 churches, and wherever their preachers 
 went they were obliged to seek a new 
 opening and to establish a new society, 
 if their converts desired Christian fellow- 
 ship. Hitherto the Baptist churches had 
 profited by the recruits of Reforming 
 preachers. 
 
 That the process of separation was not a 
 painless one is evidenced by the violent 
 
l8o The Disciples of Christ 
 
 closing of church doors against Reforming 
 preachers, the many estrangements between 
 lifelong friends, and the many legal con- 
 tests over the ownership of church prop- 
 erty. Very often the property of a Bap- 
 tist church passed over to the Reformers 
 without contest, as at Warren and Hub- 
 bard, Ohio. But besides these various 
 material inheritances, the Reformers took 
 with them the remnants and forms of Bap- 
 tist organization. In this way they got 
 their start in the new world into which 
 they were thrust. Fragments of local 
 churches that were cut off, simply changed 
 their places of meeting and went on. The 
 same was true of associations. When the 
 Mahoning Association of Ohio was dis- 
 solved in 1830, though Alexander Camp- 
 bell was present and used his influence 
 against the action, yet he could not stem 
 the tide that was setting against all forms 
 of institutional authority or control in re- 
 ligious matters, and he reluctantly consented 
 
The Union of Reformers 181 
 
 to its transformation into a "Yearly Meet- 
 ing " for edification and mutual acquaint- 
 ance. When the Reforming churches of 
 North District were disfellowshipped in 
 1829, they met under their Baptist constitu- 
 tion in 1830, and again in 1831 ; but at the 
 last meeting the Association was dissolved 
 to meet at Sharpsburg the following year, 
 "and there communicate with one another, 
 either by letter or otherwise, information 
 respecting the progress and affairs of each 
 church." 
 
 The Reformers of different neighboring 
 Baptist associations, conscious of their sym- 
 pathy with each other, began to hold sepa- 
 rate meetings, from which were omitted 
 those known to be out of sympathy 
 with them. Such a meeting was held at 
 Mount Zion, Clark County, Kentucky, in 
 October, 1829. In 1830 a notice was sent 
 out calling a meeting of those friendly to 
 the reformation, under the name of "Bap- 
 tist Reformers," to be held at Mayslick, 
 
i82 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Kentucky. This meeting was attended by 
 Campbell. Such meetings grew more com- 
 mon after 1830, and were the earliest form 
 of association of Reformers. Every ele- 
 ment of authority or control over either 
 persons or churches was eliminated from 
 them, and they amounted to little more 
 than meetings for worship, instruction, and 
 acquaintance. Since nothing was under- 
 taken by them in the way of missionary 
 or evangelistic work, it was inevitable 
 that people would lose interest in them, 
 until they passed away, to be succeeded 
 later, in the period of organized missionary 
 effort, by the " convention " system. Camp- 
 bell deprecated the loss of cooperation and 
 urged some form of organization to take 
 the place of the old Baptist associations. 
 The Reformers were indifferent to it, or 
 were occupied in the work of propa- 
 gandism, to the exclusion of every other 
 interest. The thing that bound them to- 
 gether was the common devotion to the 
 
The Union ot Reformers 183 
 
 restoration of the "ancient order" and the 
 proclamation of the "ancient gospel." 
 Every preacher was a missionary of this 
 new crusade. 
 
 The Reformers were now confronted by 
 all the difficulties and problems that lay be- 
 fore the setting up of independent eccle- 
 siastical housekeeping. They had nobody 
 to please but themselves, and they alone 
 were responsible for failures or successes. 
 That a new era had dawned was apparent 
 to Alexander Campbell. He recognized 
 that his teaching had created a party, which 
 had begun to be designated by various dis- 
 tinguishing names, as " Reformers," " Res- 
 torationers," " Campbellites," and "Chris- 
 tian Baptists"; and for fear that the last 
 name might cling to them, he decided to 
 terminate the publication of the Christian 
 Baptist in 1830. It was to be succeeded by 
 a publication with a broader scope and a 
 different spirit, and was to be called the 
 Millennial Harbinger. He felt that the 
 
184 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Christian Baptist had served the purpose 
 for which it was established, but that new 
 conditions had arisen which called for an- 
 other method. He regretted many things 
 that had appeared in the Baptist, on account 
 of their harshness and severity, but he felt 
 that "desperate diseases require desperate 
 remedies." He began to caution writers 
 for the Harbinger to preserve a spirit of 
 mildness and meekness and went so far as 
 to decline to publish some articles sent in 
 by Reformers because "they were at least 
 seven years after date," and admonished 
 them "to reform as the reformation pro- 
 gresses; and if there be any flagellating or 
 scalping to do, let it be reserved for capital 
 offenses." There was present in the first 
 articles of the new periodical the conscious- 
 ness of a new task with new duties and re- 
 sponsibilities. It was no longer the task of 
 destroying the old and uprooting the false, 
 but of establishing the new, of guiding and 
 developing an unorganized community into 
 
The Union of Reformers 185 
 
 cooperation for service. The Harbinger 
 became the agency for its welding together. 
 
 One of the first problems to concern them 
 was the name they should wear. The 
 question had been discussed from the early 
 days of the Christian Baptist. The choice 
 lay between two New Testament designa- 
 tions for the people of God, "Christians" 
 and "Disciples of Christ." The former 
 name had been taken by the followers of 
 Stone, and was thought by Campbell to 
 have become a sectarian badge because of 
 the heretical teachings attributed to them. 
 For this reason he preferred the name Dis- 
 ciples of Christ, as one that could be worn 
 by all Christians, without carrying with it 
 any sectarian distinction or assumption of 
 superiority. Both names came into use by 
 the Reformers, the name Christian prefer- 
 ably by those who came under the influence 
 of Stone, and the name Disciple of Christ 
 by Alexander Campbell and those who came 
 under his influence. As a matter of course 
 
i86 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 they came to repudiate the name Reforming 
 Baptists, or Campbellites, or Restorationers, 
 and every other name without New Testa- 
 ment sanction. A part of their testimony 
 against other religious bodies was their use 
 of names to distinguish them as followers 
 of great theological teachers or party lead- 
 ers, such as Lutheran or Wesleyan; or to 
 call attention to some peculiarity of faith or 
 practice, such as Methodist, Presbyterian, 
 or Baptist. They opposed them on the 
 ground that they were both unscriptural, 
 unnecessary, and divisive in their tenden- 
 cies. 
 
 The question of supply of ministers for 
 the new churches created by the separation 
 from the Baptists, seems to have solved 
 itself, as no measure was adopted to enlist 
 men in the service of the Reformers. 
 Enough preachers from the Baptists and 
 other religious bodies joined the Reformers 
 to provide for the pastoral needs of the new 
 congregations. Very few of them had set- 
 
The Union of Reformers 187 
 
 tied pastors. The missionary spirit of the 
 preachers and the evangelistic cast of their 
 preaching, as well as the smallness of the 
 congiegations, made them by choice and 
 necessity itinerant preachers. With such 
 low requirements for entrance upon the 
 ministry, and with such a simple, clear-cut 
 message to proclaim, it was not difficult to 
 enlist or find men of sufficient preparation 
 to go out and win converts. Learning was 
 held in low esteem and was not considered 
 necessary for the exposition of the Bible, 
 the preacher's text-book, which was 
 capable of neither a double nor a doubtful 
 meaning in its vital parts. Most of the 
 communities into which the preachers went 
 did not require a high degree of learning. 
 Piety, mother-wit, and a ready tongue were 
 far more important than the contributions 
 of the schools. The first school that was 
 established to supply a ministry for the 
 Disciples was not opened until 1840. It 
 was founded by Alexander Campbell and 
 
i88 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 called "Bethany College." Without prep- 
 aration of any sort, from the farm and the 
 shop, scores of young men went out to 
 preach the "ancient gospel." Among such 
 were John Henry, who was born in 1797, 
 and died in 1844. He learned to play on 
 nine kinds of instruments in his youth, was 
 brought into the church by Adamson Bent- 
 ley at thirty years of age, started out to 
 preach from the farm where he had spent 
 most of his life, and became one of the 
 most powerful and eloquent masters of re- 
 ligious assemblies among the Disciples. He 
 and Alexander Campbell were to speak at 
 the same meeting. He spoke first and 
 many who did not know either of the 
 speakers supposed it was Campbell. After 
 Campbell had spoken some time at the close 
 of Henry's sermon many of the hearers 
 said: "We wish that man would sit down 
 and let Campbell get up, for he knows how 
 to preach." His ministry was spent chiefly 
 in Ohio. Another Ohio man was William 
 
The Union of Reformers 189 
 
 Hayden, who was born in 1799 and died in 
 1863. He was without education, became 
 a Baptist, passed from the farm to the pul- 
 pit, and of him Walter Scott said to the 
 Mahoning Association in 1828: "Brethren, 
 give me my Bible, my head and William 
 Hayden, and we will go out and convert 
 the world." He became singing evangelist 
 to Scott "and during a ministry of thirty- 
 five years he travelled ninety thousand 
 miles, fully sixty thousand of which he 
 made on horseback. . . . The baptisms 
 by his own hands were twelve hundred and 
 seven. He preached over nine thousand 
 sermons." There were many other preach- 
 ers of lesser talent and influence whose edu- 
 cational opportunities were as limited as 
 those of Henry and Hayden. 
 
 Of a somewhat different type was David 
 S. Burnet, who was born at Dayton, Ohio, 
 in 1808, and died in Baltimore, Maryland, in 
 1867. His father was a lawyer and for 
 twelve years mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 
190 The Disciples ot Christ 
 
 He was brought up as a Presbyterian, but at 
 sixteen years of age, after careful study of 
 the New Testament, was baptized into the 
 Baptist church. He began preaching at 
 once, and at twenty years of age became 
 pastor of the Baptist church at Dayton, Ohio. 
 He began to read the writings of Campbell 
 and at the time of the separation of Baptists 
 and Reformers he went with the latter. 
 His activities were various. He was 
 preacher, pastor and college president, 
 editor and author, and in every capacity he 
 excelled. If in any particular he excelled 
 more than another it was as a speaker. He 
 was a pulpit orator of no mean ability and 
 occupied the most responsible positions and 
 was held in the highest esteem among the 
 Disciples. 
 
 The most significant event in the develop- 
 ment of the body of Reformers, following 
 close upon the heels of their separation 
 from the Baptists, was the union of the Re- 
 formers and the Christians, the followers of 
 
The Union of Reformers 191 
 
 B. W. Stone. We have traced the process 
 by which Stone broke with the Presbyte- 
 rians in 1803, followed by the organization, 
 and within a year, the dissolution of the 
 Springfield Presbytery, with the abandon- 
 ment of creeds, human organizations and 
 names; by which he made converts to his 
 plan of Christian union upon the Bible alone, 
 and organized churches in Ohio and Ken- 
 tucky under the name Christians. The Re- 
 formers among the Baptists and these Chris- 
 tians were continually meeting upon the 
 same field of labor from 1826, and upon 
 discovery of agreement in many principles 
 and practices, began to fraternize. 
 
 There were present at the meeting of the 
 Mahoning Association at New Lisbon, Ohio, 
 in 1827, three Christian preachers, J. Merrill, 
 John Secrest, and Joseph Gaston, who were 
 invited to have a seat in the Association. 
 They had come up from Kentucky and 
 were preaching the doctrines of Stone 
 everywhere through Ohio. Secrest, the 
 
192 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 most able and influential of the Christian 
 preachers in Ohio, after visiting Alexander 
 Campbell at his home, came away convinced 
 that "he was a man of great talent, a 
 scholar, and forty years ahead of this gener- 
 ation; and that if he carries the thing 
 through as he has commenced, he will 
 revolutionize the whole Protestant world, 
 for his foundation can never be shaken." 
 
 There was one difference in teaching and 
 practice between the Reformers and these 
 "New Lights" and that was as to the re- 
 quirement of baptism. The Christians did 
 not make it a condition of fellowship in 
 their churches. They received persons into 
 their churches by giving " the right hand of 
 fellowship" and left it to each one as to 
 whether he should be baptized afterwards. 
 When Secrest learned the design and place 
 of baptism as taught by Campbell, he went 
 back to the churches he had established, 
 calling upon the people to be "immersed 
 for the remission of sins." 
 
The Union of Reformers 193 
 
 John Gaston was led into the fellowship 
 of the Christians by Secrest and became a 
 close personal friend and preaching compan- 
 ion of Walter Scott, by whom he was brought 
 over to the views of the Reformers. They 
 went together among Baptist and New 
 Light churches, bringing them together, 
 where they existed side by side, as in Salem, 
 New Lisbon, East Fairfield, Green, New 
 Garden, Hanover and Minerva, all in Ohio. 
 Among the preachers of the school of B. W. 
 Stone in Ohio who fell in with the teachings 
 of Campbell and Scott, were Joseph Pan- 
 coast, James Hughes, Lewis Hamrick, Lewis 
 Comer, William Schooley, John Flick and 
 John Whitacre. 
 
 It was in Kentucky, however, the home 
 of the movement, where the formal union 
 took place between the Reformers and the 
 Christians. They were stigmatized as 
 "Arians" and "Unitarians," on account 
 of the opposition of Stone to the metaphys- 
 ical doctrines of the trinity, the divinity of 
 
194 ^ Disciples of Christ 
 
 Christ, and the atonement. He was dis- 
 posed to bring forward these doctrines in 
 his preaching and writing, not to make them 
 tests of Christian fellowship but to criticise 
 and speculate upon them, to the neglect of 
 the simple and essential doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity. His opposition to Calvinism be- 
 gan as a revolt against these orthodox doc- 
 trines, and without pausing to understand 
 his own view of them, his enemies drew 
 the conclusion that he passed over to the 
 extreme Unitarian position. As a matter of 
 fact he taught an evangelical and biblical 
 doctrine upon these subjects which would 
 be regarded as orthodox to-day. But ene- 
 mies of the movement were glad to believe 
 and circulate the worst constructions of 
 their teaching, so that prejudice against 
 them was bitter in orthodox circles. They 
 had no stronger haters than the Baptists, 
 and when some of the Reforming Baptists 
 were found to be mixing with them in 
 purely religious intercourse, the orthodox 
 
The Union of Reformers 195 
 
 were outraged. In 1828 the North District 
 Association, notwithstanding the presence 
 of a strong Reforming party, resolved not 
 to have correspondence with any association 
 that would retain in its connection a church 
 that communed with Pedobaptists or with 
 Arians. The Baptists of the Mayslick church 
 were grieved that some of their brethren 
 were opening the meeting houses to the 
 Arians. Bracken association voiced her 
 grievances against the Reformers as those 
 who were not satisfied until they had 
 brought into the churches and to the com- 
 munion table every one that professed 
 faith in Christ, regardless of whether they 
 were Arians or anything else. Presbyte- 
 rians and Methodists held the Christians in 
 the same light. 
 
 It was under reproaches such as these that 
 the Reformers began to associate with the 
 Christians. The latter seems to have been 
 the party principally influenced by this as- 
 sociation. Stone always acknowledged his 
 
196 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 debt to Campbell for many important truths 
 and wrote to him in 1827 as follows: 
 " Brother Campbell, your talents and learn- 
 ing we have highly respected; your cause 
 we have generally approved; your religious 
 views, in many points, accord with our 
 own; and to one point we have hoped we 
 both were directing our efforts, which point 
 is to unite the flock of Christ, scattered in 
 the dark and cloudy day." " From you we 
 have learned more fully the evil of speculat- 
 ing on religion, and have made considerable 
 proficiency in correcting ourselves." But 
 he goes on to lament the tendency in some 
 of Campbell's writings to speculate upon re- 
 ligious questions in a metaphysical way. 
 Campbell replied: "Some weak heads 
 amongst my Baptist brethren have been 
 scandalized at me because I called you 
 brother Stone. What ! say they, call an 
 Arian heretic a brother} I know nothing 
 of his Arianism, said I, nor of his Calvin- 
 ism." " 1 am truly sorry to find that certain 
 
The Union of Reformers 197 
 
 opinions called Arian or Unitarian, or some- 
 thing else, are about becoming the sectarian 
 badge of a people who have assumed the 
 sacred name Christians; and that some 
 peculiar views of atonement or reconcilia- 
 tion, are likely to become characteristic of a 
 people who have claimed the high character 
 and dignified relation of "the Church of 
 Christ." I do not say that such is yet the 
 fact; but things are, in my opinion, looking 
 that way; and if not suppressed in the bud, 
 the name Christian will be as much a sec- 
 tarian name as Lutheran, Methodist, or 
 Presbyterian." 
 
 From time to time friendly communica- 
 tions passed between the two great leaders 
 of the movements, calling out the position 
 and attitude of each as to the practicability 
 of the union of their respective followers. 
 What seemed to be serious obstacles to the 
 union in the way of differences in practice 
 were discussed. In 1831 Stone wrote as 
 follows: "The question is going the round 
 
198 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 of society, and is often proposed to us, 
 Why are not you and the Reformed Bap- 
 tists one people ? Or, why are you not 
 united? We have uniformly answered: In 
 spirit we are united, and that no reason ex- 
 ists on our side to prevent the union in 
 form." But there were certain differences 
 which kept them apart, and these Stone 
 states as follows: "1. That we have fel- 
 lowship and communion with unimmersed 
 persons. They contend — so we understand 
 them — that, according to the New Institu- 
 tion, none but the immersed have their sins 
 remitted, and therefore they cannot com- 
 mune with the unimmersed. . . . We be- 
 lieve and acknowledge that baptism is or- 
 dained by the King a means for the remis- 
 sion of sins to penitent believers, but we 
 cannot say that immersion is the sine qua 
 non, without maintaining the awful conse- 
 quences above, and without contradicting 
 our own experience. We therefore teach 
 the doctrine ' Believe, repent, and be im~ 
 
The Union of Reformers 199 
 
 mersed for the remission of sins,' and we 
 endeavor to convince our hearers of its 
 truth, but we exercise patience and for- 
 bearance towards such pious persons as 
 cannot be convinced. 
 
 "2. Another cause or reason why they 
 and we are not united as one people is, that 
 we have taken different names. They ac- 
 knowledge the name Christian as most ap- 
 propriate; but because they think this name 
 is disgraced by us who wear it, and that to 
 it may be attached the idea of Unitarian or 
 Trinitarian, they reject it, and have taken 
 the older name Disciple. This they have 
 done in order to be distinguished from us. 
 . . . We are ready any moment to meet 
 and unite with those brethren, or any 
 others who believe in and obey the Saviour, 
 according to their best understanding of his 
 will, on the Bible but not on opinions of its 
 truth." 
 
 While the great leaders were discussing 
 their differences and the obstacles to union, 
 
200 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 the preachers and the people were consum- 
 mating union between Reformers and 
 Christians wherever it was possible to do 
 so in local communities. John T. Johnson, 
 as soon as he made the acquaintance of the 
 views of both Campbell and Stone, con- 
 cluded that there was not sufficient differ- 
 ence to keep their followers apart and began 
 at once to urge a union. Stone lived near 
 to him at Georgetown, Kentucky, and 
 an intimate intercourse sprang up between 
 them which resulted in Johnson's joining 
 Stone as one of the editors of the Christian 
 Messenger — a periodical established by Stone 
 in 1826. To promote a closer relationship 
 and acquaintance between the Disciples and 
 Christians Johnson invited John Smith, who 
 was known to be friendly with the Chris- 
 tians, to come to Georgetown in November, 
 1831, to hold a meeting with him, and con- 
 fer upon the practicability and conditions of 
 union between the two bodies. Several 
 conferences were held and they arranged to 
 
The Union of Reformers 201 
 
 have a general conference at Lexington, 
 January i, 1832. Representatives of the 
 two movements were invited, and Smith 
 and Stone, the one for the Disciples and the 
 other for the Christians, were appointed to 
 speak. They agreed in their proposals to 
 make the Scriptures the basis of their union, 
 and began the consummation of it by ex- 
 tending the hand of fellowship before the 
 company then and there present. The 
 members of the two bodies followed the 
 example of the two speakers and gave to 
 each other the hand of fellowship amidst 
 universal thanksgiving and rejoicing. Some 
 persons asked the Christians after the union, 
 ** Are there no differences of opinion be- 
 tween you and the Reformers ? " To which 
 they replied, "We are not concerned to 
 know; we have never asked them what 
 their opinions were, nor have they asked 
 us. If they have opinions different from 
 ours, they are welcome to have them, pro- 
 vided they do not endeavor to impose them 
 
202 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 on us as articles of faith, and they say the 
 same of us." 
 
 This act of union could not bind any one 
 but those present and parties to it. To ex- 
 tend it among the two bodies throughout 
 Kentucky and other regions, two evangelists 
 were chosen, John Smith for the Disciples 
 and John Rogers for the Christians, to go 
 together among the churches consummating 
 the union. The event was felt to be a 
 signal victory for the cause of Christian 
 union as advocated by both parties. Similar 
 coalitions between Disciples and Christians 
 took place at the same time in Indiana, 
 Illinois, and Tennessee. There was an ele- 
 ment, however, among the Christians that 
 looked with no favor upon union with the 
 Disciples because of their teaching concern- 
 ing baptism and the Holy Spirit, and who 
 refused to go into it. They have survived, 
 after union with the followers of James 
 O'Kelley and Abner Jones, as the ''Christian 
 Connection Church." There were prejudices 
 
The Union of Reformers 
 
 against the union on the part of many Re- 
 forming Baptists because of the reputation 
 of the Christians for Arianism, and loose 
 teaching on baptism. John Smith had no 
 little difficulty in convincing his friends in 
 the churches about Mt. Sterling that the 
 union was wise and scriptural, and he felt 
 it needful to put out an "Address" to his 
 Reforming brethren defining his action and 
 correcting false impressions concerning the 
 teaching and practices of the Christians. 
 They had never heard any of the preachers 
 of the Christians and knew of them only by 
 hearsay. Wherever the two evangelists 
 went they met with objections and preju- 
 dices against the union on the part of mem- 
 bers of one body or the other. The con- 
 gregations of the two bodies in Lexington 
 came together at first, but later separated 
 on account of differences and did not finally 
 unite until 1835. 
 
 The contributions of the Christians to the 
 joint movement were by no means unim- 
 
204 Disciples of Christ 
 
 portant. The biographer of John Smith 
 estimates the number of Christians who 
 came into the union in Kentucky alone at 
 8,000. The number must have reached a 
 third or a half more in other states. They 
 contributed to the movement, besides Stone, 
 several other preachers of superior talent 
 and character. Samuel Rogers was born in 
 Virginia in 1789; came to Kentucky in 1793 
 with his parents, and finally settled there in 
 1812. He was converted under the preach- 
 ing of B. W. Stone, and after serving as a 
 volunteer soldier in the war of 1812, began 
 to preach the gospel as he had learned it 
 from the Christians. He travelled exten- 
 sively as a preacher through Kentucky, 
 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, and 
 everywhere met with success. His early 
 life, as narrated by himself, was full of the 
 labors and privations of an itinerant preacher 
 in the wilds of backwoods settlements, for 
 which he received in payment scarcely 
 enough to support himself. On many long 
 
The Union of Reformers 205 
 
 journeys by boat and on horseback, he re- 
 ceived less than he had expended along the 
 way. From reading the writings of Alex- 
 ander Campbell and after meeting and 
 hearing him at Wilmington, Ohio, in 1825, 
 "cloud after cloud rolled away from his 
 mind, letting in upon his soul light and joy 
 and hope that no tongue can express." The 
 members of the church at Antioch, where 
 he lived and preached, began to study the 
 Bible in the new light, and within a year 
 unanimously introduced "the ancient order 
 of things" into their government and wor- 
 ship. He was thus prepared for the coales- 
 cence of the Disciples and Christians which 
 began in Ohio in 1827 and was consum- 
 mated in Kentucky in 1832. During a min- 
 istry which continued past the eighty-fourth 
 year of his age he baptized more than seven 
 thousand persons. Associated with him in 
 the work of the ministry and as a com- 
 panion on many of his travels, was his 
 younger brother, John Rogers, whom he 
 
2o6 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 introduced to the ministry in 1819. He was 
 baptized by Stone in 1818 and studied under 
 him at Georgetown, Kentucky, and was 
 ordained to the ministry by him in 1820. 
 He met and heard Alexander Campbell at 
 Carlisle, Kentucky, in 1824, from whom he 
 "learned the true design of baptism — the 
 necessity for weekly communion — the dis- 
 tinction between faith and opinion — and the 
 true basis of union upon the great and all- 
 comprehensive proposition that Jesus is the 
 Christ the Son of God." He "cordially 
 embraced the views of the Reformation 
 about the year 1831," and was one of the 
 most active promoters of the union between 
 the followers of Campbell and Stone in 
 1832. He was chosen by the Christians to 
 travel with John Smith, the representative 
 of the Disciples, to unite the two bodies in 
 Kentucky. 
 
 Thomas M. Allen was born in Virginia 
 in 1797. He was brought up under Pres- 
 byterian influences, studied and practiced 
 
The Union of Reformers 207 
 
 law until he was converted by Stone in 
 1823. He was one of the six original 
 charter members of the "Old Union" 
 church, Fayette County, Kentucky. He 
 began to preach and was ordained by Stone 
 in 1825. He established churches at Paris, 
 Antioch, Clintonville, and Cynthiana, Ken- 
 tucky. After the union of the Christians 
 and Disciples, in which he took a leading 
 part, he moved to Missouri, and was one 
 of the earliest as well as the most influen- 
 tial preachers of the Disciples in that state. 
 
 John Allen Gano was another preacher 
 who came under the influence of Stone, 
 first as a student in his school at George- 
 town, and later as an attendant upon his 
 ministrations in the pulpit. He was con- 
 verted and baptized in 1827 by T. M. Allen, 
 and began at once to preach as he had 
 opportunity. He had prepared himself for 
 the practice of law, but his fervent religious 
 nature and his readiness of expression so 
 admirably qualified him for the preaching 
 
2o8 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 of the gospel, that he found no difficulty 
 in turning away from his long-cherished 
 purpose to practice law. He was the 
 grandson of the eminent Baptist preacher 
 of New York City, Rev. John Gano, who 
 came to Kentucky and died there in 1804. 
 He met Alexander Campbell in 1827 and 
 came at once under his influence. 
 
 Among other preachers who came by 
 way of the Stone movement into the ranks 
 of the united body must be mentioned the 
 two brothers, F. R. Palmer and H. D. Pal- 
 mer, B. F. Hall, Tolbert Fanning and Elijah 
 Goodwin. The readiness with which the 
 leading preachers espoused the cause of 
 Campbell justified the observation of 
 Samuel Rogers when he declared: "Stone, 
 and those laboring with him, had consti- 
 tuted churches throughout central and 
 northern Kentucky upon the Bible and 
 the Bible alone, and all these without 
 exception came early into the reforma- 
 tion. Stone's reformation was the seed 
 
The Union of Reformers 209 
 
 bed of the reformation produced by Alex- 
 ander Campbell." These preachers and 
 many others of lesser note had prepared 
 the way for the teaching of Alexander 
 Campbell not only in Kentucky, but through 
 Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, 
 and Missouri. 
 
 Stone and his followers were primarily 
 Christian unionists, as had been Thomas 
 Campbell and the Christian Association of 
 Washington. There was emphasis upon 
 reformation of faith and practice in their 
 advocacy, as a preparation for union, but 
 the union of the children of God was ever 
 the end before them. As a consequence, 
 their basis of fellowship was broader, and 
 larger liberty was allowed to the individual 
 conscience. They did not insist upon bap- 
 tism as a condition of fellowship in their 
 churches. Stone's conception of union was 
 more spiritual than that of Campbell. He 
 looked to a diffusion of the spirit of holi- 
 ness and love among Christians to unite 
 
210 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 them, while Campbell rested his hope of 
 union upon an agreement in New Testa- 
 ment faith and practice. Campbell and 
 many of his followers held aloof from the 
 Christians at first on account of their sup- 
 posed departure from sound doctrine, and 
 it was not until the Christians had practic- 
 ally signified their acceptance of the teach- 
 ing of the Reformers upon the subject of 
 baptism and the Lord's supper, that union 
 with them was deemed advisable. Union 
 came because the two parties found them- 
 selves upon the same ground of faith and 
 practice. The Stone movement was born 
 out of a religious revival and the preachers 
 of that connection were primarily winners 
 of souls. They were all evangelists; and 
 it was due to this fact that the movement 
 spread so rapidly and widely. Alexander 
 Campbell was not an evangelist. He was 
 essentially a teacher and set for his aim the 
 transformation of the minds of Christian 
 people with respect to the doctrines of Chris- 
 
The Union of Reformers 2 1 i 
 
 tianity. The Campbell movement started 
 as a propaganda among the churches and 
 would have resulted in a proselytism when 
 separated from the Baptists had it not been 
 leavened by the evangelism of Walter Scott 
 and the Stone movement. These two ele- 
 ments, a proselytism and an evangelism, 
 have survived side by side throughout the 
 history of the Disciples, and have con- 
 tributed more than all other elements to 
 their growth. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 EARLY GROWTH AND ORGANIZATION 
 
 With the separation of the Reformers 
 from the Baptists, and their coalescence with 
 the followers of Barton W. Stone, a new 
 religious party assumed form among Ameri- 
 can denominations under the name, Disciples 
 of Christ or Christians. They were charged 
 with a message of reformation to their re- 
 ligious neighbors and a gospel of imme- 
 diate repentance to the unconverted. Every 
 preacher of the new communion was a prop- 
 agandist and travelling evangelist. Their 
 one purpose now was to plant churches of 
 the primitive order wherever they could get 
 a large enough company together. 
 
 The movement spread principally from 
 two centres, Ohio and Kentucky. From 
 Ohio it was carried eastward into New York 
 and Pennsylvania ; and westward into Michi- 
 
 212 
 
Early Growth and Organization 213 
 
 gan, northern Ohio and Indiana, and Wis- 
 consin. From Kentucky it was carried 
 eastward and southward into Virginia, 
 Maryland, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and 
 Alabama; and westward into Indiana, Illi- 
 nois, and Missouri. The movement spread 
 chiefly in a westward direction from Ken- 
 tucky along the lines of emigration. Very 
 often a sufficient number of emigrants to 
 establish the nucleus of a society found 
 themselves settled together in the same 
 neighborhood and sent for a preacher to 
 hold meetings and constitute them into a 
 church. The movement was essentially a 
 westward movement. It never made any 
 notable progress east of the place of its 
 origin, and remains comparatively weak 
 and unknown to the present time east of 
 the Alleghanies. Churches sprang up in 
 this ^^rly period in all of the principal 
 cities of the East, as Philadelphia, Buffalo, 
 New York and Baltimore, by a sifting proc- 
 ess from the Baptists and other churches, 
 
214 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 and by the occasional removal of members 
 from the West; but they have remained 
 small and have survived only through a 
 critical struggle for existence. The read- 
 ing of the Christian Baptist and the Mil- 
 lennial Harbinger and numerous tracts and 
 books did much to propagate the move- 
 ment beyond the circuit of the travelling 
 evangelist, so that before 1850 there were 
 churches in the British Provinces and in all 
 of the British Isles, as well as in most of 
 the states of the Union. 
 
 The movement spread westward by leaps 
 and bounds, first among Baptist churches 
 and in regions touched by the Stone move- 
 ment, and then independently through emi- 
 gration and evangelization. The begin- 
 nings of the movement in Ohio were 
 among the Baptists of the Mahoning and 
 Stillwater associations. Both associations, 
 with few exceptions among either preachers 
 or churches, were brought over to the 
 views of Campbell and composed the first 
 
Early Growth and Organization 2 1 5 
 
 churches of the Disciples. In these churches 
 was also a large ingredient of the followers 
 of Stone. The churches multiplied rapidly 
 under the labors of such men as Walter 
 Scott, William Hayden, J. H. Jones, Isaac 
 Errett, Jonas Hartzel, J. J. Moss, A. B. Green, 
 W. A. Belding and others. The early his- 
 tory of the Disciples in eastern Ohio is in- 
 cidentally connected with the rise of Mor- 
 monism, on account of the conversion to 
 that faith of Sidney Rigdon, the early as- 
 sociate of Alexander Campbell and Walter 
 Scott. His conversion occurred in 1830, 
 through the influence of two missionaries 
 who came to his home at Mentor, Ohio. 
 He is said to have obtained more influence 
 over Joseph Smith, the founder of Mor- 
 monism, than any other living man; and 
 to him was due the transfer of the seat of 
 Mormonism from New York to Kirtland, 
 Ohio, and its transformation into a commu- 
 nistic society. Alexander Campbell was one 
 of the earliest antagonists of the system. 
 
2i6 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 The Disciples were greatly disturbed by its 
 progress and suffered the loss of several 
 churches. There were very few churches 
 in the northwestern and central sections of 
 the state in this early period. There were a 
 few churches in the southwestern section 
 in and around Cincinnati. The first church 
 in Cincinnati was an offshoot from the 
 Enon Baptist Church, under the leadership 
 of James Challen, its pastor, who adopted 
 the teachings of Campbell, and became the 
 pastor of the first church of Reformers. 
 This city received frequent visits from 
 Campbell, and was the scene of two of 
 his debates, one with the skeptic Robert 
 Owen, in 1829, on the " Evidences of Chris- 
 tianity," and the other with Bishop J. B. 
 Purcell of the Roman Catholic Church, 
 in 1837, on the "Roman Catholic Religion." 
 Both debates widened the fame and influence 
 of Campbell, while the one with Owen put 
 the entire Christian world under obligation 
 to him. The movement in this region 
 
Early Growth and Organization 2 1 7 
 
 of the state was principally promoted by 
 Walter Scott, James Challen, D. S. Burnet, 
 L. L. Pinkerton, L. H.Jameson, Dr. R. Rich- 
 ardson and J. J. Moss. The first form of 
 association among the Disciples in Ohio 
 was the "yearly meeting"; but this was 
 felt to be useless for missionary purposes, 
 and in 1852 they organized a state mis- 
 sionary society for "the proclamation of 
 the original gospel within the bounds of 
 the state of Ohio." At this time there were 
 about 300 churches and 18,000 members in 
 the state. With the multiplication and 
 growth of the churches arose the need 
 of an educational institution to provide 
 a properly equipped ministry. To meet 
 this need and to provide a school for the 
 sons and daughters of Disciples in the 
 state, the Western Eclectic Institute was 
 established in 1850 at Hiram, Ohio, about 
 thirty miles from Cleveland. The name 
 was later changed to Hiram College. 
 The beginnings of the movement in 
 
2i8 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Kentucky, as in Ohio, were among Bap- 
 tist churches. The writings of Campbell 
 preceded his visit to Kentucky in 1823, on 
 the occasion of his debate with Maccalla. 
 This visit greatly extended his influence, 
 and, through the publication of the Chris- 
 tian Baptist, he became a regular monthly 
 visitor to an ever increasing number of sub- 
 scribers in Baptist churches. One Baptist 
 preacher after another adopted his views 
 and taught them to the churches. In this 
 state the movement made more extensive 
 conquests in the early period than in any 
 other state. The city of Lexington became 
 the centre from which it radiated in every 
 direction. It was propagated under the 
 preaching of P. S. Fall, John Smith, 
 j. T. Johnson, John Rogers, B. W. Stone, 
 Alexander Campbell, Aylett Raines, and 
 many other great preachers under their 
 leadership. As soon as the Reformers 
 were separated from the Baptists they 
 began to hold "yearly meetings" for edi- 
 
Early Growth and Organization 219 
 
 fication and mutual acquaintance. It was 
 not long before a more profitable form 
 of association for missionary work was 
 adopted. The effective work done by 
 John Smith and John Rogers, in estab- 
 lishing new churches and uniting the Chris- 
 tians and Disciples after the formal union 
 at Lexington in 1832, demonstrated the 
 value of supporting evangelists by co- 
 operation. The two men were kept in 
 the field in 1833 and 1834, and in 1835 
 four evangelists with limited fields were 
 appointed. These evangelists were sent 
 out and supported by groups of neigh- 
 boring churches, by special voluntary 
 agreement to provide their salary for a 
 year; and such arrangements were re- 
 newed from year to year. This was the 
 customary form of cooperation in the 
 early period, and was characteristic of 
 Kentucky; but we meet it in Ohio, Indi- 
 ana and Missouri. State meetings began 
 to be held as early as 1844, and mission- 
 
220 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 ary work by the state as a whole began 
 in 1850. A school under the management 
 of Disciples was established at George- 
 town in 1836, through the initiative of 
 T. F. Johnson and J. T. Johnson. It was 
 called Bacon College, after the philos- 
 opher, Sir Francis Bacon. It was removed 
 to Harrodsburg in 1839, where its work 
 was suspended in 1850. Through the 
 efforts of J. B. Bowman, a graduate of the 
 college, its charter was renewed and en- 
 larged and became the basis of a new 
 institution in 1858 called Kentucky Uni- 
 versity. It was moved to Lexington in 
 1865. A Bible College was established in 
 connection with it, which has probably 
 educated more men for the ministry than 
 any other single school among the Dis- 
 ciples. 
 
 The movement in Indiana had its sources 
 chiefly among the Christians and Baptists, 
 though the Dunkards contributed somewhat 
 to the early period. The pioneers in the 
 
Early Growth and Organization 221 
 
 work were Beverly Vawter, J. P. Thompson, 
 John Wright, John O'Kane, Elijah Goodwin, 
 J. M. Mathes, L. H. Jameson, S. R. Hoshour, 
 B. K. Smith, and Benjamin Franklin. Co- 
 operative missionary work was begun in 
 1833 by the churches of Rush and Fayette 
 Counties in uniting to send out and support 
 John O'Kane as a missionary through the 
 state. In 1839 ^ state meeting was held 
 at Indianapolis, and in 1844 at a similar 
 meeting at Connersville the state was di- 
 vided into four districts and an evangelist 
 put in each. The scheme fell through be- 
 fore the end of the first year, and no further 
 cooperative work was done until 1849. 
 Under the leadership of Ovid Butler, 
 Northwestern Christian University was 
 established in 1850 at Indianapolis. The 
 name was later changed to Butler Col- 
 lege. 
 
 Illinois received the reformation from 
 Kentucky in the early period through the 
 evangelistic labors of Christian preachers. 
 
222 The Disciples of* Christ 
 
 When B. W. Stone removed from Kentucky 
 to Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1834, he found in 
 the place a church of Christians and one of 
 Disciples that had not united as they had in 
 other places. He refused to become a mem- 
 ber of either church until they united. The 
 preachers under whom the body was ex- 
 tended and organized throughout the cen- 
 tral and southern parts were B. W. Stone, 
 D. P. Henderson, W. W. Happy, Josephus 
 Hewet, and John T. Jones. The Disciples 
 began to hold annual state meetings in 1832 
 but there was no organization for missionary 
 work until 1856 when the Illinois Christian 
 Missionary Society was organized. At the 
 annual state meeting at Abingdon in 1852 a 
 resolution was brought before the conven- 
 tion by an educational committee appointed 
 the previous year, recommending to the 
 churches the recognition of Walnut Grove 
 Academy as the institution of learning of 
 the Disciples in the state of Illinois. The 
 Disciples were urged to foster it by sending 
 
Early Growth and Organization 223 
 
 to it their sons and daughters, and donating 
 to its library and apparatus, and raising such 
 means as would enable the trustees to place 
 it upon a sure and permanent basis. This 
 school was started as a private enterprise 
 by A. S. Fisher, a student from Bethany 
 College, in 1848, under the patronage of 
 several members of the Church of the Dis- 
 ciples in the community. It was chosen as 
 the school of the church because it was the 
 only institution of learning in the state con- 
 trolled by Disciples, and because it proposed 
 to educate men for the ministry without 
 charging them tuition. The churches or- 
 ganized a board of education in 1852 to 
 promote primitive Christianity by establish- 
 ing schools exclusively under church con- 
 trol. Walnut Grove Academy was chartered 
 as Eureka College in 1855. Abingdon Col- 
 lege, organized and conducted by Disciples 
 in the interest of religious education since 
 1853, was consolidated with Eureka College 
 in 1884. From the beginning the college 
 
224 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 has been an important factor in supplying 
 men for the ministry and developing the 
 work of the body in the state. 
 
 The state of Missouri lay in the path of 
 emigration to the west and was among the 
 first to receive visits from Christian preach- 
 ers from Kentucky. Thomas McBride came 
 under the teaching of B. W. Stone in Ken- 
 tucky, moved to Missouri in 1816, and was 
 the first Christian preacher who crossed the 
 Mississippi River to preach the Bible alone 
 as the basis of Christian union. He preached 
 and established churches in Howard, Boone, 
 Franklin and other adjacent counties lying 
 along the Missouri River. Samuel Rogers 
 was the second Christian preacher to go to 
 Missouri. He made his first journey in 1819 
 and found many churches already established 
 by McBride. These early Christian churches, 
 together with many Baptist churches, pro- 
 vided congenial soil for the teachings of 
 Alexander Campbell and out of them came 
 the first churches of the Disciples in the 
 
Early Growth and Organization 225 
 
 state. The reformation was developed in 
 the early period under the preaching of such 
 men as J. H. Haden, T. M. Allen, M. P. 
 Wills, F. R. Palmer, Absalom Rice, James 
 Love, Jacob Creath, Allen Wright, Jacob 
 and Joseph Coons, Henry Thomas, and 
 Duke Young. The churches began to hold 
 state meetings very early and by 1837 had 
 begun to cooperate in missionary work. 
 By 1850 there were estimated to be 16,000 
 members in the state. 
 
 The first church of the Disciples in Iowa 
 was organized by David R. Chance in 1836 
 at Lost Creek, and the first regular ministers 
 to devote all their time to preaching were 
 Aaron Chatterton and Nelson A. McConnell. 
 In addition to the preaching by these two 
 men the cause was represented in the pio- 
 neer period by John Rigdon, S. H. Bonham, 
 Jonas Hartzel, John Martindale, Pardee But- 
 ler, David Bates, D. P. Henderson, Allen 
 Hickey, S. B. Downing and J. K. Cornell. 
 The first cooperative missionary work was 
 
226 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 done in 1845, and the first state meeting was 
 held at Marion in 1850. At that time there 
 were thirty-nine churches and 2,000 mem- 
 bers. The state missionary society was or- 
 ganized in 1855, and N. A. McConnell was 
 the first evangelist sent out. The churches 
 took steps in 1856 to establish a college at 
 Oskaloosa. The establishment of Drake 
 University in 1881 by Gen. F. M. Drake, at 
 Des Moines, came to overshadow Oskaloosa 
 College, and withdrew the support and 
 patronage of the churches from it to such a 
 degree that it was obliged finally to abandon 
 its work. 
 
 The first converts to the teaching of 
 Alexander Campbell in England were 
 from among the Scotch Baptist churches 
 founded by Archibald McLean. In 1833 
 P. C. Wyeth, of Virginia, a disciple of 
 Campbell, went to Europe to study art, and 
 while in London wandered into a Scotch 
 Baptist church presided over by Wm. Jones. 
 He found himself among Christians of like 
 
Early Growth and Organization 227 
 
 faith and order and told Mr. Jones of the 
 "restoration movement" in America. 
 Correspondence arose between Mr. Jones 
 and Mr. Campbell upon the teachings of 
 the Disciples and by 1835 the writings of 
 Campbell began to be published in England 
 under the title, British Millennial Har- 
 binger. To James Wallace, who started a 
 periodical called the Christian Messenger, 
 belongs the principal credit for the early 
 development of the movement in England. 
 By 1842 the churches of the Disciples in the 
 United Kingdom numbered forty-two, with 
 a membership of 1,300. 
 
 The first centre of the movement was 
 Bethany, West Virginia, the home of Alex- 
 ander Campbell, from which issued the 
 Christian Baptist and Millennial Har- 
 binger. While it was not long before each 
 state had its own centre and leaders, its 
 own religious papers and schools, yet 
 Campbell continued to be the most authori- 
 tative person and his paper the most repre- 
 
228 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 sentative and influential, and his college the 
 most popular among the Disciples to the 
 time of his death in 1866. His writings 
 were read in every state in the Union, and 
 before 1840 nearly every state had churches 
 established upon the principles he advo- 
 cated. 
 
 The rapid growth of the body as an inde- 
 pendent movement and its continued suc- 
 cesses after separation from the Baptists, 
 confirmed the belief of its leaders in the 
 correctness of their principles and teach- 
 ings. They approached other religious 
 bodies, confident of their advantage over 
 them, and accepted the frequent secessions 
 of members from them to their own ranks 
 as evidence of it. As a consequence they 
 became and were reputed to be inveterate 
 proselytizers. With such an attitude, all 
 cordiality departed from their relationships 
 with other denominations, and the frequent 
 public debates engaged in did not promote 
 fraternity, much less unity, between them. 
 
Early Growth and Organization 229 
 
 Scores of debates were held between rep- 
 resentatives of the Disciples and Baptists 
 and other bodies upon the subject of bap- 
 tism and other differences. The most 
 notable of these discussions was that be- 
 tween Alexander Campbell and Rev. N. L. 
 Rice, a Presbyterian minister, at Lexington, 
 Kentucky, in 1842, upon the subjects of 
 baptism, the Holy Spirit, and creeds. The 
 presence of Henry Clay as president of the 
 board of five moderators, contributed much 
 to the dignity and notoriety of the occasion. 
 After the example of Campbell it was con- 
 sidered good form and a valiant enterprise 
 to get into a debate, and there were very 
 few of the leading preachers who did not 
 bring about such an engagement on some 
 subject. While it was not always possible 
 to avoid a public debate, yet it is highly 
 probable that many preachers coveted the 
 fame and courted occasion of debate. They 
 justified the custom on the ground that it 
 was a condition of self-preservation as well 
 
230 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 as a means of publishing the truth to the 
 world. In the midst of such religious war- 
 fare one is surprised on the one hand at the 
 proposals for union, but on the other hand 
 not surprised at the poor success of such 
 proposals. 
 
 A meeting between the Disciples and all 
 other religious bodies for the discussion of 
 a basis of union was suggested and ar- 
 ranged by J. T. Johnson, to be held at Lex- 
 ington, Kentucky, in 1841. All religious 
 parties were invited and were promised 
 "equal privileges." Alexander Campbell 
 and the Disciples were present in full force, 
 but only one representative of other relig- 
 ious bodies came in the person of Dr. 
 Fishback, and he was a Baptist in partial 
 sympathy. After a three days' discussion of 
 the practicability of union on the basis of 
 the things held in common by the denomi- 
 nations, the following resolution was 
 adopted: "That the Bible, and the Bible 
 alone, is a sufficient foundation on which 
 
Early Growth and Organization 231 
 
 all Christians may unite and build to- 
 gether." To the surprise of the promoters 
 of it, the meeting was not merely ignored 
 but bitterly opposed by other bodies, the 
 Baptists in particular. The reason for this 
 is not far to seek. The Disciples proposed 
 the meeting and went to it with a ready- 
 made plan of union to submit and defend. 
 They themselves were already building ac- 
 cording to the plan, and to other bodies it 
 was equivalent to an invitation to discuss 
 the position of the Disciples. Their plan 
 had failed to work in the case of the Bap- 
 tists, with whom they were in closest 
 agreement on most doctrinal points, and 
 there was less likelihood that it would suc- 
 ceed in the case of Presbyterians or Meth- 
 odists. They were simply inviting other 
 parties to come to them, and union was 
 equivalent to absorption. In the discussion 
 of the question of union they were con- 
 scious of having everything to teach and 
 nothing to learn. There could be but one 
 
232 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 plan of union, that of the New Testament, 
 and it was one they had received and were 
 not at liberty to change. The problem of 
 union was not an open one to them. Nat- 
 urally, other denominationalists were not 
 willing to put themselves in the attitude of 
 learners, and not having plans of their own 
 to submit, the meeting would be reduced 
 to a discussion on the Disciples' own 
 ground. 
 
 The body very early developed a con- 
 sciousness of scriptural correctness and in- 
 fallibility which placed them in the light of 
 a very narrow and exclusive sect. There 
 was an element among them that con- 
 tracted the spirit of a sect, though all the 
 time professing hatred of sectarianism. 
 They reprobated the state of other Chris- 
 tians and declined to acknowledge the 
 Christian status of those not in fellowship 
 with them. This element was aroused by 
 the admission of Alexander Campbell in an 
 article in the Millennial Harbinger of 1837 
 
Early Growth and Organization 233 
 
 that there were Christians among all Prot- 
 estant sects. He had always held that 
 view, but had not so plainly expressed it as 
 in reply to a letter asking his view of the 
 matter. His definition of a Christian as 
 " one that believes in his heart that Jesus of 
 Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God; 
 repents of his sins, and obeys him in all 
 things according to his measure of knowl- 
 edge of his will," aroused the bitter criticism 
 of many who held, that, since baptism is 
 for the remission of sins, and only immer- 
 sion is baptism, those who have not been 
 immersed are still in their sins and unsaved. 
 Campbell repudiated this view with indig- 
 nation. This discussion developed the 
 presence among the Disciples of two di- 
 vergent parties, a narrow, literal party, and 
 a broad, spiritual party. The former party 
 went on to identify the true church of 
 Christ by certain external marks — its creed, 
 worship, organization, and discipline — and 
 identified the true Christian as one in fel- 
 
234 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 lowship with this order of things. They 
 practically went so far as to affirm that no 
 one could be saved outside of a church of 
 the Disciples, or a church organized accord- 
 ing to the primitive model in its external 
 features. Campbell and other leaders never 
 gave this conception any sympathy, and 
 arrayed themselves on the side of a broader, 
 more spiritual conception. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE RISE OF INTERNAL CONTROVERSY 
 
 The plan of Christian union founded upon 
 a uniform interpretation of the Scriptures, 
 as set forth in the Declaration and Address 
 and as held and taught by the Reformers, 
 did not insure or effect unity among those 
 who held it. The possibilities of disagree- 
 ment lay in the great watchword of the 
 movement: " Where the Scriptures speak, 
 we speak; where they are silent, we are 
 silent." Between the authority of Scripture 
 and the Scriptures themselves, always lies 
 the interpretation of them. In the last 
 analysis, the authority of Scripture is the 
 authority of the interpretation. There being 
 no authoritative interpretation of Scripture 
 among Protestants who accept the princi- 
 ple of private or free interpretation, there 
 are bound to be differences of interpretation 
 235 
 
236 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 upon many fundamental teachings of Scrip- 
 ture. Freedom of interpretation was car- 
 ried to its fullest extent among the followers 
 of the Campbells, and each person was 
 encouraged and trusted to make application 
 of the rule, a "Thus saith the Lord" for 
 every item of religious faith and practice. 
 This very freedom developed differences all 
 through the early period between the ex- 
 tremely literal interpreters and the more 
 spiritual. We found that in the earliest in- 
 terpretation or definition of primitive Chris- 
 tianity among the Reformers the literal 
 method prevailed and resulted in an em- 
 phasis upon the "order of things" in the 
 primitive church. "The restoration of the 
 ancient order of things " became the formula 
 of development. But while Alexander 
 Campbell was writing that famous series 
 of articles in the Christian Baptist under 
 the above title, he turned aside in a separate 
 article on " The Spirit of the Ancient Chris- 
 tians " to say: "To have an ancient order 
 
The Rise of Internal Controversy 237 
 
 of things restored in due form without the 
 spirit or power of that order, would be 
 mere mimicry, which we would rather, and 
 we are assured the primitive saints would 
 rather, never see." "If the spirit of the 
 ancient Christians and of their individual 
 and social conduct was more inquired after, 
 and more cultivated, we would find but 
 little trouble in understanding and display- 
 ing the ancient order of things." He found 
 this spirit in the words: " Lord, what wilt 
 thou have me to do ?" 
 
 It began to be evident to the Disciples that 
 primitive Christianity was something more 
 than an order of things in public worship 
 and church organization. The zeal which 
 consumed the primitive Christians was not 
 directed to forms of public worship. The 
 form and order which their new life as- 
 sumed were taken up unconsciously from 
 the customs with which they were most 
 familiar as Jews. Their Master's consuming 
 interest had been in the saving of lost men 
 
238 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 and women, and he communicated his 
 passion to his followers. The principal 
 business of the primitive church was the 
 missionary enterprise. Campbell said in 
 an address in 1851 that "the spirit of 
 Christianity is essentially a missionary 
 spirit." It began to be felt by the Dis- 
 ciples that as a people claiming the dis- 
 tinction of restoring primitive Christianity 
 they could not consistently neglect that 
 which was the essential spirit and dis- 
 tinguishing mark of the primitive Chris- 
 tians — the seeking and the saving of the lost 
 in all lands and among all peoples. The 
 conversion of the heathen world had already 
 become an enthusiasm in several denomina- 
 tions. Before 1840 the Congregationalists, 
 Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, and 
 Presbyterians had organized societies for 
 the proclamation of the gospel in foreign 
 lands. 
 
 Stimulated by the example of other de- 
 nominations, as well as by the precept of 
 
The Rise of Internal Controversy 239 
 
 Christ and the example of the primitive 
 church, the Disciples began to see that they 
 were in need of a more effective form of 
 cooperation, if they were to develop and 
 properly use the spiritual and material 
 forces represented in the rapidly increasing 
 numbers of members in their churches. It 
 was this sense of an increasing responsibil- 
 ity growing out of an increasing member- 
 ship which led to the formation of the 
 American Christian Missionary Society in 
 1849. Since 1844 Alexander Campbell had 
 been urging his brethren to unite in some 
 more effective form of cooperation. There 
 had been for many years local and limited 
 forms of cooperation between churches in 
 the same states for purposes of denomina- 
 tional evangelization and education. The 
 example of a wider cooperation for un- 
 sectarian purposes had been set in the 
 organization of the "American Christian 
 Bible Society" in 1845 at Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 under the leadership of D. S. Burnet, for 
 
240 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 the publication and distribution of Bibles. 
 The organization of this society stirred the 
 Disciples to action. Cooperation of the 
 entire body in the great enterprises of 
 Christian education, Christian missions, and 
 Bible circulation, began to be urged in 
 every quarter. But cooperation meant 
 organization, and organization meant a 
 society. 
 
 The first serious internal controversy 
 arose on account of the organization of this 
 first missionary society. The society was 
 opposed on the ground that there was 
 neither precept nor example in the New 
 Testament for the organization of societies 
 for the spread of the gospel. Some of the 
 bitterest satire in the columns of the Chris- 
 tian Baptist had been directed against the 
 "mercenary schemes" of the missionary, 
 tract and Bible societies of the various de- 
 nominations. Campbell's approval of the 
 organization of the new society did not 
 save it from the assaults of many of his 
 
The Rise of Internal Controversy 24 1 
 
 brethren. The enemies of the society went 
 back to the Christian Baptist for their most 
 effective epithets against the new scheme, 
 and Alexander Campbell of 1823 was ar- 
 rayed against Alexander Campbell of 1849. 
 While he distinguished between the mis- 
 sionary purpose and the missionary plan 
 in his early diatribes, and aimed them at the 
 latter, the enemies of all missionary work 
 applied them to both alike. His support of 
 the new society was frank, open, and posi- 
 tive, and he did not hesitate to accept the 
 office and honor of first president imposed 
 upon him in his absence by his brethren 
 in the convention at Cincinnati which 
 created it. 
 
 The struggle for organized missionary 
 work among the Disciples was begun, and 
 progress was contested at every step by a 
 bitter and relentless opposition, which be- 
 came a party within the ranks with its 
 leaders and newspapers. The first leader 
 of the anti-missionary element was Jacob 
 
242 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Creath, Jr. Scattered throughout the ranks 
 of the denomination were many individuals 
 and churches which joined in the cry against 
 " human innovations." The society with 
 its "money basis" and delegated member- 
 ship was feared as the beginning of apos- 
 tasy from a pure New Testament congrega- 
 tionaHsm. The convention which met to 
 create the society was taxed to the utmost 
 in its ingenuity to avoid the various rocks 
 of offense in the course before it. It found 
 it impossible to please everybody, no mat- 
 ter how hard it might try. Even the friends 
 of organized cooperation were not pleased 
 with some articles in the constitution, 
 though they offered no objection to the so- 
 ciety as such. The one article which gave 
 more offense than any other, and continued 
 to give trouble down to 1881, was "Article 
 111," which read as follows: "The society 
 shall be composed of annual delegates, life 
 members and life directors. Any church 
 may appoint a delegate for an annual con- 
 
The Rise of Internal Controversy 243 
 
 tribution of ten dollars. Twenty dollars 
 paid at one time shall be requisite to consti- 
 tute a member for life; and one hundred 
 dollars paid at one time, or a sum which in 
 addition to any previous contributions shall 
 amount to one hundred dollars, shall be re- 
 quired to constitute a director for life." 
 This was the "money basis" of the so- 
 ciety and created the moneyed aristocracy " 
 so much feared in the missionary work of the 
 church. Each church was invited to become 
 an auxiliary to the society by making a con- 
 tribution and sending a delegate to the an- 
 nual convention. When this invitation 
 came to the church in Connellsville, Penn- 
 sylvania, it drew up a series of resolutions 
 against the society, embodying its objec- 
 tions. While favoring the purpose of the 
 society to carry the gospel to all men, it 
 was opposed to the society and its plan. 
 The second resolution stated its position as 
 follows: "That we consider the church of 
 Jesus Christ, in virtue of the commission 
 
244 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 given her by our blessed Lord, the only 
 scriptural organization on earth for the con- 
 version of sinners and the sanctification of 
 believers." These resolutions became the 
 model and voiced the sentiments of all 
 other churches opposed to the society. 
 
 All the officers of the society served 
 without salary until 1857, when Benjamin 
 Franklin, as secretary, was the first to be 
 paid a salary. In his report to the board he 
 said: "There has been strong prejudice 
 against the missionary society. This we 
 have labored to counteract, and 1 think, to a 
 considerable extent it has abated." After 
 holding the office one year he was succeeded 
 by Isaac Errett. From the time he severed 
 his relation with the society he began to op- 
 pose it, and opposition in one point broad- 
 ened to include every point, until he stood 
 opposed to the very idea of organized mis- 
 sionary work. He became the leader of the 
 anti-missionary forces, and by voice and 
 pen, as editor of the American Christian 
 
The Rise of Internal Controversy 245 
 
 Review, he menaced and cramped the work 
 of the society until 1870. His paper be- 
 came the most influential next to the Mil- 
 lemiial Harbinger. He succeeded in creat- 
 ing a party among the Disciples which con- 
 sistently opposed every agency and expedi- 
 ency in the church, from the missionary 
 society to organs and tuning forks, for 
 which there was not express scriptural pre- 
 cept or example. This party was the log- 
 ical outgrowth of the literal principle of in- 
 terpretation and dated back to the first defi- 
 nition of primitive Christianity as an order 
 of things. The opponents of the society 
 forced it to change its constitution from 
 time to time until 1869, when it was forced 
 to adopt " The Louisville Plan " to conciliate 
 the opposition. Instead of bringing "har- 
 mony and peace to the brotherhood" it 
 brought poverty and helplessness to the 
 society, and in 1881, it was superseded by 
 the present plan which was a return to the 
 original money basis of control. It was 
 
246 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 felt that there was no longer use of trying 
 to harmonize the elements, as had been 
 done at the expense of the missionary cause 
 for thirty years, since the anti-missionary 
 party had taken up a position of irreconci- 
 lable opposition and was practically out of 
 fellowship with the larger missionary party. 
 It could now afford to ignore it, which it 
 has steadily done to the present time, with 
 an ever increasing fund in the treasury. 
 
 In the midst of the missionary contro- 
 versy, the slavery question loomed large 
 upon the horizon and disturbed the councils 
 of the Disciples. The body was distributed 
 over both the North and the South, prob- 
 ably with a larger element in those states 
 committed to slaveholding or which were 
 divided over the question. Few of the de- 
 nominations escaped the influence of the 
 question; several suffered division on ac- 
 count of it. There had been unity and co- 
 operation between the churches of both 
 North and South so long as the slavery 
 
The Rise of Internal Controversy 247 
 
 question was not forced upon them for de- 
 cisive action. When the Civil War broke 
 out, all eyes turned towards Bethany, Vir- 
 ginia, to know which side Alexander Camp- 
 bell would take in the struggle. He had 
 defined his position on the slavery question 
 as early as 1846, and held that the relation 
 of master and slave w^as sanctioned by the 
 New Testament, but not the institution as 
 existing in America or any other country. 
 He said: "I have always been anti-slavery, 
 but never an abolitionist "—a position which 
 many persons in the South held, but which 
 was felt to be inconsistent by the extreme 
 anti-slavery men of the North. He was 
 opposed to the Civil War and all war as 
 unchristian, and thought the question at 
 issue ought to be settled by arbitration. 
 The attitude of neutrality which he assumed 
 towards the conflict between North and 
 South did much to moderate the spirit 
 among the Disciples and save them from 
 the division which was threatening. 
 
248 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 The preachers among the Disciples in 
 Missouri took formal action with respect to 
 the conflict by issuing a circular, "Concern- 
 ing the Duties of Christians in this Conflict," 
 in which they declared that Christians ought 
 not to go to war. Among those who signed 
 the document were B. H. Smith, J. W. 
 McGarvey, T. M. Allen and T. P. Haley. 
 There were three questions under discussion 
 in religious circles at the time: first, as to 
 whether a Christian should go to war; 
 second, as to whether the southern states 
 had a right to secede; and third, as to 
 whether slavery should be abolished. It 
 was possible for many Christian people to 
 take refuge behind the first, and remain 
 non-committal with respect to the others. 
 The question found its way into the con- 
 vention of the missionary society in 1861, 
 at Cincinnati, Ohio, in a resolution by J. P. 
 Robinson of Ohio, calling upon " the breth- 
 ren everywhere to do all in their power to 
 sustain the proper and constitutional au- 
 
The Rise of Internal Controversy 249 
 
 thority of the Union." The resolution was 
 lost. Reports began to be circulated that 
 the Disciples and the missionary society in 
 particular were "to a certain degree disloyal 
 to the government of the United States." 
 At the meeting of the society in 1863 reso- 
 lutions were adopted declaring allegiance to 
 the government and tendering sympathies 
 to the soldiers in the field who were de- 
 fending the country from the attempt of 
 armed traitors to overthrow the govern- 
 ment. This action cut off from the society 
 the support of the southern churches, and 
 rendered it comparatively bankrupt. When 
 President Lincoln proclaimed the emanci- 
 pation of the slaves in 1862 the bond which 
 bound the northern and southern churches 
 together was strained almost to the break- 
 ing point. But it did not break, and the 
 war closed with the denomination in the 
 North and South united in the bonds of 
 Christian love and service. It was cause 
 for unfeigned rejoicing, and was due in 
 
250 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 large measure to the Christian wisdom of 
 the members in the two sections, the moder- 
 ation of the leaders, but more to the con- 
 gregational form of government which 
 prevented any action in the body as a 
 whole. 
 
 The organ controversy was the missionary 
 controversy in a new form, for both grew 
 out of the opposition to human innovations 
 in the work and worship of the church. 
 Most churches were without musical instru- 
 ments in their public worship down to the 
 middle of the century. The controversy 
 broke out in i860 through the introduction 
 of a melodeon into the services of the church 
 at Midway, Kentucky, then in charge of 
 Dr. L. L. Pinkerton. Benjamin Franklin as 
 editor of the American Christian Review, 
 led in the attack upon the innovation. He 
 was opposed to it as ministering to the 
 pride and worldliness of the churches, as 
 without the sanction of New Testament 
 precept or example, and consequently as 
 
The Rise of Internal Controversy 25 1 
 
 unscriptural and sinful. Franklin and those 
 who shared his view refused to worship or 
 hold membership in a church that used an 
 organ. Through his influence the old ene- 
 mies of the missionary society were lined 
 up against the organ. The thing that in- 
 tensified the warfare was the element of 
 conscience which entered into it. The 
 organ party treated it as a question of ex- 
 pediency on which there should be forbear- 
 ance and liberty. The anti-party treated it 
 as a matter of principle. With the gradual 
 improvement in the music of the churches 
 through the use of an organ in leading, and 
 the introduction of choirs, the older con- 
 gregational method began to appear rude 
 and old-fashioned, and offended the culti- 
 vated and modern tastes of the younger 
 members. As the churches introduced the 
 organ more widely, the greater need there 
 seemed to be for it, and the progressive, 
 modern elements grew impatient of the ob- 
 jections of the more conservative and forced 
 
252 The Disciples o{ Christ 
 
 it into the worship against their consent. 
 There were many divisions in churches, and 
 it was not uncommon to see two churches 
 in a community — the one using the organ, 
 the other without it — but alike in all other 
 respects. 
 
 Isaac Errett became the leader of the pro- 
 gressive party, and through the pages of 
 the Christian Standard, after its establish- 
 ment in 1866, favored and promoted every 
 helpful expedient in the work of the church. 
 It was he who fought the battle of the mis- 
 sionary society, and reminded his brethren 
 in 1867 that the Standard was the only 
 weekly paper advocating missionary so- 
 cieties. Against him were the Gospel Ad- 
 vocate and the American Christian Review, 
 and to them was added in 1869 the Apostolic 
 Times under the editorship of Moses E. Lard, 
 L. B. Wilkes, Robert Graham, W. H. Hop- 
 son, and J. W. McGarvey, established with 
 the avowed purpose of resisting the tide set- 
 ting in favor of modern methods and or- 
 
The Rise of Internal Controversy 253 
 
 ganizations in church work. The new paper 
 opened its batteries at once upon the Chris- 
 tian Standard to which Errett replied : 
 "Our editorial brethren of the Times are, 
 with us, guilty of a great innovation in 
 publishing a weekly religious newspaper; 
 and if they do this as children of God, they 
 are doing what they well know has neither 
 a divine command nor an approved prece- 
 dent to support it. When they preach they 
 go into a meeting house, which is an inno- 
 vation, and give out a hymn, which is an 
 innovation, and this hymn is sung to a 
 tune, which is an innovation, by the aid of 
 a tune-book and a tune-fork, which are 
 innovations." 
 
 As a result of these differences, divisions 
 and separations took place in churches be- 
 tween i860 and 1880 which formed a sepa- 
 rate party, that has gone on establishing 
 papers and schools and churches. They 
 regard the Disciples as corrupt and apostate 
 and will have no fellowship with them. 
 
254 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 They insist upon the abandonment of all 
 missionary organizations and expedients in 
 church work, as a condition of fellowship 
 and cooperation with them. They sub- 
 mitted a "Memorial" to the Convention of 
 the Disciples which met in Nashville in 
 1892, calling upon them to "abandon their 
 organizations that found no necessity or 
 recognition in apostolic times, for the sake 
 of union and cooperation." Their strength 
 lies principally in Indiana, Kentucky, Ten- 
 nessee, Arkansas, and Texas. They have 
 planted missions among the Indians, and in 
 Turkey and Japan, which they support by 
 voluntary contributions without the media- 
 tion of a "human society." 
 
 In these controversies the scheme of Chris- 
 tian union as advocated by the Disciples 
 received its second critical test, and met 
 with its second failure. Unity was wrecked 
 in both cases upon the same rock — a literal 
 application of the principle, "Where the 
 Scriptures speak, we speak; where they are 
 
The Rise of Internal Controversy 255 
 
 silent, we are silent," to the interpretation 
 of primitive Christianity. The failure to 
 preserve unity within their own ranks was 
 a serious blow to the Disciples, but it did 
 not shake their confidence in the principle 
 of Christian union. They went on preach- 
 ing union upon the Bible alone while their 
 churches were dividing over the interpreta- 
 tion of the Bible. They still believed that 
 the separation of matters of faith from mat- 
 ters of opinion was a true principle of unity, 
 although they were unable to make a sepa- 
 ration satisfactory to both parties. The 
 anti-organ party said the use of an organ in 
 public worship was a matter of faith, the 
 organ party said it was a matter of opinion 
 and expediency. They could not agree and 
 separated. 
 
 At this juncture Isaac Errett appeared 
 upon the stage of action, full of wisdom 
 and experience, with a timely message to 
 the confused and distracted body. He had 
 been for several years one of the trusted 
 
256 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 and honored leaders among his brethren; 
 and as preacher, writer and thinker, as sec- 
 retary of the missionary society in its most 
 critical period, as teacher in Hiram College, 
 as co-editor of the Harbinger, he had demon- 
 strated that he possessed the essential ele- 
 ments of leadership. He had already held 
 every position of trust and honor among the 
 Disciples, before he was made first editor of 
 the Christian Standard in 1866. The year 
 that the Standard was established was the 
 year in which the great leader, Alexander 
 Campbell, died; and by common consent 
 of his brethren, after they had recovered 
 from the first shock of the loss, Isaac 
 Errett took his place of leadership. He 
 sounded a new note when he announced 
 his purposes as editor to be: "(i) the 
 turning of the world to Christ; (2) the 
 union of believers in the fellowship of the 
 gospel; (3) the education of Christians into 
 a nobler spiritual life." 
 The Disciples had been progressively re- 
 
The Rise of Internal Controversy 257 
 
 storing primitive Christianity as they pro- 
 gressively grasped it as a7i order of things, 
 then as a missionary enterprise ; but it was 
 left for Isaac Errett to propose to restore 
 primitive Christianity as a spirit of things. 
 He began to emphasize the spirit over 
 against the letter. Unity based on the letter 
 of the New Testament had failed; he saw 
 new hope for a unity based on the spirit of 
 the New Testament. He saw that the 
 Disciples could go no further in their em- 
 phasis upon the letter of Christianity than 
 the anti-organ party had gone. As literal- 
 ists they were more consistent, but not per- 
 fectly consistent, for they also used many 
 innovations in public worship. The ex- 
 travagances of this party produced a reac- 
 tion in the direction of a more spiritual 
 definition of Christianity, and gave the 
 principle of union a new meaning. He 
 signalized the change of emphasis that was 
 called for by the experiences of the past by 
 
258 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 saying in 1868: "Let the bond of union 
 among the baptized be Christian character 
 in place of orthodoxy — right doing in place 
 of exact thinking,'* 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 MISSIONARY ORGANIZATION 
 
 By 1850 the Disciples of Christ had grown 
 to be a body numbering nearly 200,000, and 
 were distributed widely throughout the 
 states. On account of the strict independ- 
 ency of church government among them, 
 cooperative work was very slowly devel- 
 oped, and often under severe opposition, 
 from fear of creating ecclesiastical organiza- 
 tions likely to become a menace to freedom. 
 The various missionary, Bible, and educa- 
 tional enterprises that had sprung up among 
 them grew out of individual or local initia- 
 tive. They would countenance nothing but 
 the freest and loosest kind of cooperation. 
 The widest cooperations thus far were those 
 of state churches for work in their own bor- 
 ders. But there was work to be done be- 
 yond the borders of states for which there 
 259 
 
26o The Disciples of Christ 
 
 was no provision. Some enterprises, such 
 as the educational and foreign missionary, 
 which were general, could only be carried 
 on by general support. The advisability of 
 providing an agency for doing something for 
 the general causes of education, missions, 
 and Bible circulation, was discussed for 
 many months in the papers and finally is- 
 sued in a call for a general convention, to 
 be held at Cincinnati, Ohio, in October, 
 1849. 
 
 Of the one hundred and fifty-five dele- 
 gates which composed the convention, 
 some were appointed at state meetings of 
 churches to represent the various states, 
 some were appointed by local churches, 
 and others came on their own motion. No 
 one had any authority to do anything that 
 would bind the churches sending them. 
 They were simply sent as representatives to 
 confer and suggest, but if they organized 
 no one could be a member of the organiza- 
 tion but those who voluntarily joined. 
 
Missionary Organization 261 
 
 After wrestling with the problem of the 
 scope of their business as a convention, 
 they finally settled to the serious task of 
 missionary organization. They started in 
 to settle a variety of questions troubling the 
 churches, such as the ordination of minis- 
 ters, the discipline of unworthy ministers, 
 the organization of Sunday-schools, and the 
 publication of a Sunday-school library. 
 During the five days of the convention they 
 discussed fifty-eight different resolutions 
 upon a wide range of subjects and interests, 
 many of which they concluded did not be- 
 long to their business. The one thing which 
 came out of their deliberations was the or- 
 ganization of the American Christian Mis- 
 sionary Society. They drafted a constitution 
 providing for a board of managers for the 
 foreign field and a board for the home field; 
 for annual delegates, life-members and life- 
 directors, according to the amount of money 
 paid into the treasury. The following lead- 
 ing men were present in the convention: 
 
262 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 D. S. Burnet (chairman of convention), 
 W. K. Pendleton, John O'Kane, Ehjah Good- 
 win, James Challen, John T. Johnson, L. L. 
 Pinkerton, Benjamin Franklin, J. J. Moss, 
 T. J. Melish, Walter Scott, B. U. Watkins, 
 and James Mathes. The society was regu- 
 larly incorporated in the state of Ohio in 
 1850. 
 
 The first work which the society under- 
 took was the sending of Dr. J. T. Barclay 
 as a missionary to Jerusalem. This field 
 was selected for reasons that were largely 
 sentimental. The mission was interrupted 
 in 1854, and finally abandoned during the 
 Civil War, on the ground that, "The field 
 was as sterile as the rock on which Jerusalem 
 is built." The only other foreign mission 
 undertaken by the society was in Jamaica 
 in 1858: and after the organization of the 
 Foreign Christian Missionary Society in 
 1875 it confined its operations exclusively 
 to the home field. The offering for the first 
 year, under James Challen as secretary, was 
 
Missionary Organization 263 
 
 12,496.79; the largest offering between 1850 
 and 1884, was in the year i860, under Isaac 
 Errett as secretary, when $15,831.25 were 
 contributed; the largest offering in the his- 
 tory of the society was in 1899, under Ben- 
 jamin L. Smith as secretary, when $115,- 
 004.00 were contributed. The total amount 
 of money raised to 1903 was $1,383,61 1. 1 1. 
 It has organized through its missionaries 
 2,848 churches, and has brought 138,960 
 persons into the churches by baptism. 
 During 1904, $85,755.96 were contributed, 
 225 churches were organized, and 16,861 
 persons were baptized by its missionaries. 
 Its work lies principally in the states where 
 the Disciples have few churches, and in the 
 larger cities. In 1903 the convention created 
 a Bureau of Evangelization under the man- 
 agement of the society, to devote its atten- 
 tion to evangelism in the cities, to reenforce 
 the general evangelism of the body by pro- 
 ducing a literature and holding assemblies 
 on modern evangelistic methods. Besides 
 
264 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 the general society, each state has its own 
 local missionary society for work within 
 the state, which should be included in home 
 missionary work. The amount of money 
 raised by these state societies for 1904 was 
 $226,633.67. 
 
 The American Christian Missionary So- 
 ciety was the pioneer in the struggle for or- 
 ganized missionary work among the Disci- 
 ples, and consequently bore all the blows 
 and suffered all the experiments incident to 
 pioneer work. By 1874, when the next 
 general society was organized, the idea of 
 missionary work through organized societies 
 had won a place in the program of the Dis- 
 ciples. When the severest of its battles 
 were over, the era of specialization in mis- 
 sionary work began in the organization of 
 the Christian Woman's Board of Missions. 
 This society was organized at the General 
 Convention of the Disciples in Cincinnati, 
 in 1874, to utilize the consecration and 
 services of the women of the churches in 
 
Missionary Organization 
 
 cultivating a missionary spirit, encouraging 
 missionary efforts, disseminating missionary 
 intelligence, and securing systematic con- 
 tributions for missionary purposes. With 
 Mrs. C. N. Pearre originated the sugges- 
 tion of an organization among the women 
 of the Disciples for missionary purposes. 
 To Isaac Errett and his interest and ad- 
 vocacy, belongs the credit for its actual 
 organization. The plan was to band to- 
 gether the women of the churches in 
 •* auxiliary societies " which should become 
 feeders of the society's treasury. It has 
 demonstrated the value of systematic giv- 
 ing, for it has taken the "monthly dues" 
 of ten cents from each of the members of 
 its auxiliaries and has swelled them from a 
 total contribution of $1,200.35 the first year, 
 to $167,084.72 in 1904. The total receipts 
 for thirty years amount to $1,468,721.73. 
 It supported two missionaries the first year 
 and 287 missionaries in 1904. It had a total 
 membership of 41,211 women in its aux- 
 
266 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 iliaries in 1904, through which it reached 
 600,000 women in the churches. Its field 
 of work covers all forms of missionary 
 service — educational, medical, and evan- 
 gelistic — both home and foreign — among 
 women and children. It is doing work in 
 thirty states of the Union, in Mexico, Porto 
 Rico, Jamaica, and India. It has 500 chil- 
 dren in its orphanages, 3,000 pupils in its 
 schools, and treats thousands of sick in its 
 hospitals. The Society has developed a 
 new form of missionary service, and was 
 the first to introduce Bible instruction into 
 state universities. The inauguration and 
 development of this work in its first stages 
 were due to the leadership of C. A. Young 
 and H. L. Willett. The later development 
 has been carried on under the leadership of 
 Geo. P. Coler, W. M. Forrest, and W. C. 
 Payne. The first Bible Chair was estab- 
 lished in 1893 at the University of Michigan 
 (Ann Arbor); the second Chair, in 1899 at 
 the University of Virginia (Charlottsville); 
 
Missionary Organization 267 
 
 the third Chair, in 1900 at the University of 
 Calcutta, India; the fourth Chair, in 1901 at 
 the University of Kansas (Lawrence). The 
 Chairs at Ann Arbor and Charlottsville have 
 been endowed with permanent funds of 
 $25,000 each. These Bible Chairs provide 
 instruction in the English Bible for students 
 in the state universities, and have not only 
 served the purpose of placing the lit- 
 erature and history of the Bible alongside 
 of the Greek and Latin literatures for the 
 intellectual and moral benefit of the students, 
 but they have served to foster the re- 
 ligious life in many young persons and 
 to turn some to ministerial and mission- 
 ary service. The multitudes of young 
 men and young women in the state 
 institutions without religious instruction 
 in their courses of study, proved to be a 
 ripened field for the society which it 
 has been quick to appreciate. As rapidly 
 as possible it is projecting the work 
 into all of the larger state universities. 
 
268 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Other denominations are following the ex- 
 ample. 
 
 In the further development of specialized 
 missionary activity the Foreign Christian 
 Missionary Society was organized in 1875, 
 to do work solely in heathen lands. 
 Opposition to societies had prevented the 
 American Society from doing anything 
 either at home or abroad, but the wisdom 
 of specialization and division of the field 
 to utilize the effectiveness of the foreign 
 appeal was recognized, and resulted in the 
 creation of the Foreign Society at the Con- 
 vention of the Disciples at Louisville, in 
 1875. The leading spirits in this new enter- 
 prise were Isaac Errett, W. T. Moore, B. B. 
 Tyler, Thomas Munnell, Robert Moffett, 
 A. I. Hobbs, F. M. Green, J. S. Lamar, and 
 W. S. Dickinson. Its first president was 
 Isaac Errett; its second C. L. Loos, and its 
 third A. McLean. Its official management 
 and financial basis are similar to the Ameri- 
 can Society. It is an independent, volun- 
 
Missionary Organization 269 
 
 tary society, and looks for support to the 
 friends of foreign missions among the 
 churches. So indifferent were the Disciples 
 to the foreign missionary interests at first 
 that the society was unable to find men to 
 go to the foreign field. Its first work was 
 done in England; its second field was Den- 
 mark and the Scandinavian countries; its 
 third field was Paris, France; while the first 
 work among distinctly non-Christian peo- 
 ples was begun in Turkey in 1879. India 
 was entered in 1882. In 1904 the society 
 was doing work in India, Japan, China, 
 Turkey, Africa, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, 
 England, Cuba, Hawaiian Islands, Philip- 
 pine Islands, and Thibet. The income of 
 the society the first year was $1,706.35; in 
 1904 the income was $211, 318. The total 
 amount received by the society since its or- 
 ganization is $2,244,151. The whole num- 
 ber of missionaries in the service of the 
 society at the present time is 143, and of 
 native helpers 295, making a total mission- 
 
lyo The Disciples of Christ 
 
 ary force of 438. The annual income of 
 the Foreign Society exceeds that of any 
 other missionary society among the Dis- 
 ciples. Within three years it had out- 
 stripped the pioneer American Society and 
 has gone on steadily increasing its receipts, 
 taking the lead of all others as the favored 
 missionary activity of the denomination. 
 It has set the mark to which all others have 
 aimed, and it has helped others up as it has 
 gone up the ascending scale. This is prob- 
 ably due in large measure to the advantage 
 of an ideal and persuasive appeal, of which 
 it has had the exclusive use; but in some 
 measure to the time of the year at which it 
 makes its appeal to the churches. It reaps 
 the benefit of the year's first missionary 
 offering, the first Sunday in March. But 
 no account of the society's success would 
 be complete which did not take into ac- 
 count the wisdom and consecrated leader- 
 ship of A. McLean, its secretary for eighteen 
 years and its president since 1900. 
 
Missionary Organization 271 
 
 In the course of its work the American 
 Society encountered one serious need of the 
 churches with which it dealt — the need of 
 houses of worship as a condition of their 
 permanence and highest efficiency. Ap- 
 peals for loans of money to help them build 
 frequently came to the secretary from 
 churches too weak to undertake it alone. 
 This led to a recommendation by Robert 
 Moffett, the secretary, to the convention of 
 1883, that a Church Extension Fund be cre- 
 ated by the Board to be loaned to churches 
 needing help to build. A special committee 
 under the Board was created to have this 
 work in charge. The receipts the first year 
 amounted to $2,105, and by 1887, when a 
 secretary was appointed to devote all of his 
 time to the work, the fund amounted to 
 $5,648.83. A regular Board of Church Ex- 
 tension was created in 1888, and was 
 located at Kansas City, Mo. The receipts 
 of the Board the first year of its history 
 were $2,105; in 1904, under George W. 
 
272 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Muckley, as secretary, they were $58,- 
 988.30. The total amount in the fund at 
 the last report (1904) was $435,183.70. It 
 has assisted in building 821 churches during 
 its existence. With this fund many 
 struggling churches have been helped to 
 larger life and not a few actually saved 
 from death. It has stepped in many times 
 to save a valuable property to a church that 
 has met with temporary reverses while 
 carrying a building debt. In 1892 it in- 
 augurated the policy of going into places of 
 strategic importance and buying ground in 
 growing centres to be held for future church 
 building purposes. In 1904 the Board was 
 holding lots in commanding locations in 
 fifty-six cities of the Union. During its en- 
 tire history it has lost on uncollectable debts 
 but I563, and has handled in its operations 
 $828,454.29. 
 
 The more benevolent side of Christian 
 work was not begun by the Disciples as an 
 organized national movement until 1895, in 
 
Missionary Organization 273 
 
 the organization of the Board of Ministerial 
 ReHef. This work owes its inauguration 
 to A. M. Atkinson, a Christian business 
 man, who was its first secretary and gave 
 himself to its promotion until his death in 
 1899. It has for its field of service the care 
 of disabled and aged ministers, their widows 
 and orphans. While the ministry among 
 the Disciples has never received generous 
 or even ample support, yet there has not 
 been any unusual distress among them. 
 The compensation of the early preach- 
 ers was notoriously, if not infamously, 
 small, and the majority were obliged to en- 
 gage in business to eke out a living. Alex- 
 ander Campbell had decried the salaried 
 clergy "as a part of the corruption of the 
 popular systems of religion until the accept- 
 ance of compensation for services on the 
 part of ministers was looked upon as a deg- 
 radation of the calling. As a result of the 
 early tendency to lower the ministerial quali- 
 fication, and admit men to the ministry 
 
2/4 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 without education or training, and the early 
 practice of allowing the minister to look out 
 for himself in some business calling along 
 with his preaching, the ministry among the 
 Disciples has been the most poorly paid of 
 any of the denominations. Yet the denomi- 
 nation did nothing to provide for the period 
 of disability in the lives of its ministers until 
 1895, and has not yet provided for honora- 
 ble retirement under sickness or advanced 
 age, such as other denominations have 
 done. The Board of Ministerial Relief is 
 poorly supported and does not have more 
 than $10,000 a year to devote to its work. 
 In 1904 its income amounted to $1 1,562. 
 
 The National Benevolent Association was 
 organized in 1886, and did work principally 
 in St. Louis, Mo.; it did not become 
 national in its activities until about 1901 
 when it appointed a general secretary to 
 urge its cause on behalf of the orphaned 
 young and the aged upon the entire de- 
 nomination. Since then it has rapidly con- 
 
Missionary Organization 275 
 
 solidated the local state benevolent enter- 
 prises of the Disciples under its auspices, 
 and has increased its income from $85 the 
 first year, to $77,040.28 in 1904. The as- 
 sociation supports two old peoples' homes, 
 one at Jacksonville, Illinois, and one at East 
 Aurora, New York; a babes' home and 
 free hospital, at St. Louis, Mo. ; and orphan- 
 ages at St. Louis, Mo., Cleveland, Ohio, 
 Dallas, Texas, and Loveland, Colorado. 
 The association is entirely under the man- 
 agement of Christian women. 
 
 The Disciples have from time to time un- 
 dertaken the work of education among the 
 negroes of the South. A beginning was 
 made in a mission to the Freedmen at the 
 close of the Civil War. The Southern Chris- 
 tian Institute was organized in 1875 and 
 finally established near Edwards, Miss., in 
 1882. The Board of Negro Evangelization 
 and Education was organized in 1890; C. C. 
 Smith was appointed secretary in 1891; 
 the Board was merged with the American 
 
276 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Society in 1898; and in 1900 it was taken 
 under the care of the Ctiristian Woman's 
 Board of Missions, as part of the work of 
 that society. It supports four schools in 
 the South for the education of negroes, and 
 for the training of negro ministers. 
 
 A Board of Education was organized in 
 1894 and has struggled for ten years to 
 make a place for itself in the sympathies of 
 the people and in the missionary calendar 
 of the churches, with some success. The 
 cause of education has not kept pace with 
 the development of the missionary enter- 
 prises of the Disciples. 
 
 The missionary development of the Dis- 
 ciples becomes really impressive when it is 
 remembered that in 1873 there was but one 
 society with an income of $4,159, contrib- 
 uted by a body numbering 450,000 communi- 
 cants; while in 1904 there were seven or 
 eight societies — missionary, benevolent, and 
 educational — with an income of $661,737, 
 contributed by a body numbering 1,200,000. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 EVANGELISM, JOURNALISM, EDUCATION, AND 
 CHURCH GROWTH 
 
 We have seen how one current of the 
 movement arose out of an evangelism in 
 1803, and how the main current issued in 
 an evangelism about 1827. From 1809 to 
 1827 the Campbells had established but two 
 or three churches through their own efforts, 
 and these out of persons already members 
 of churches; but as soon as Walter Scott 
 made the discovery of the ancient gos- 
 pel " and threw himself into its proclama- 
 tion in 1827, new churches sprang up as if 
 by magic. Stone and his fellow preachers 
 were evangelists to begin with and swept 
 rapidly through the states converting per- 
 sons and constituting churches. By 1832 
 the Disciples were confirmed in their evan- 
 gelistic habits through coalition with the 
 277 
 
278 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Stone movement. Every preacher was an 
 evangelist. The aim of every sermon was 
 to produce immediate conviction in the un- 
 converted among the hearers, and no meet- 
 ing closed without giving convicted and 
 penitent persons an opportunity to make a 
 public confession of their faith in Christ. 
 The process of conversion was completed 
 by an immersion of the person, after which 
 he was received to membership in the 
 church, by the " right hand of fellowship." 
 
 This simple and clearly defined evangel- 
 istic program, obtained from the practice of 
 the apostles as recorded in the Acts of 
 Apostles, was learned and followed by 
 every preacher from that day to this. It 
 made every preacher and church an enlist- 
 ment agency. They perfected in their 
 method and manner of preaching, as well 
 as in their treatment of inquirers and peni- 
 tents, an evangelism which was both in- 
 stantaneous and effective. The point at 
 which many evangelisms break down is in 
 
Evangelism, Journalism, Education 279 
 
 producing assurance in the penitent. A 
 doctrine of definite, immediate, and acces- 
 sible assurance of salvation underlay their 
 "plan of salvation," and brought imme- 
 diate relief to burdened souls. They taught 
 inquiring sinners that forgiveness was to 
 be obtained by obedience to certain com- 
 mands. The commands of the gospel were: 
 believe, repent and be baptized; and the 
 promises were: the remission of sins, the 
 gift of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life. 
 The efficiency of this plan as an evangelism 
 was that the person could put himself 
 through the process of obedience, and need 
 not wait for the Spirit to move him or God 
 to elect him. He moved himself, he elected 
 himself to eternal life through faith. The 
 blessings promised would as surely follow 
 obedience, as effect follows cause. If an 
 inquirer asked, "What must I do to be 
 saved.?" the answer was ready: Believe, 
 repent and be baptized. It was thus that 
 the apostles preached and dealt with peni- 
 
28o The Disciples ot' Christ 
 
 tent souls, as in the case of Peter on the 
 day of Pentecost, and of Philip with the 
 eunuch. These are the so-called "first 
 principles" which have played so large a 
 part in the preaching and writing of the 
 Disciples ; they are simply the primitive, 
 apostolic evangelism reproduced in the 
 preaching of to-day. The one book with 
 which their preachers have been more fa- 
 miliar than any other is the Acts of Apostles 
 — a book illustrating the methods of the 
 primitive evangelists. 
 
 With this evangelistic method in mind 
 one does not have far to seek for an expla- 
 nation of the rapid growth of the Disciples 
 through all of their history. Minister and 
 evangelist were for several decades almost 
 synonymous terms. The Disciples have 
 always regarded themselves as specialists 
 in the doctrine and machinery of conver- 
 sion. Their ministry has always been an 
 evangelistic, recruiting ministry, whether 
 itinerant or settled. They have always 
 
Evangelism, Journalism, Education 281 
 
 vied with one another in their efforts to 
 excel as winners of converts; and the de- 
 nomination has stimulated this talent in its 
 ministers by bestowing special honor upon 
 its successful achievement. The conse- 
 quence is that the denomination has grown 
 rapidly from the first, and continues to 
 grow. 
 
 With the increase of the churches in 
 members and wealth, the pastoral side of 
 the ministry was developed to meet the 
 needs of Christian nurture, local church 
 development, and social service. The fol- 
 lowing men distinguished themselves as 
 pastors in the early period of the pastoral 
 ministry : D. S. Burnet, James Challen, 
 W. H. Hopson, L. L. Pinkerton, D. P. Hen- 
 derson, L. B. Wilkes, A. S. Hayden, Wm. 
 Baxter, Isaac Errett, Thomas Munnell, 
 O. A. Burgess, Alexander Proctor, J. A. 
 Brooks, J. S. Lamar, Joseph King, David 
 Walk, W. T. Moore, J. S. Sweeney, and 
 T. P. Haley. To these men and many 
 
282 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 others like them, the churches owed theii 
 deeper and broader development in Chris- 
 tian faith and beneficence, as well as their 
 gradual increase in membership and in- 
 fluence in the community. They were 
 succeeded by a younger generation of 
 pastors, equally worthy and successful, 
 such as B. B. Tyler, J. Z. Tyler, R. T. 
 Matthews, F. D. Power, J. M. Trible, 
 A. 1. Hobbs, George Darsie, A. N. Gilbert, 
 Jabez Hall, J. J. Haley, I. J. Spencer, and 
 D. R. Lucas. Connected with the transi- 
 tion from the earlier evangelistic to the 
 later pastoral ministry, was a form of 
 specialization or division of labor between 
 the pastor and evangelist. It was recog- 
 nized that the two kinds of service — the 
 enlisting of converts, and the training of 
 converts — called for two kinds of talent, 
 not often joined in a high degree in the 
 same person. Hence arose the "profes- 
 sional evangelist,'" who was especially 
 qualified to hold "protracted meetings," 
 
Evangelism, Journalism, Education 283 
 
 and did little else. One of the earliest, 
 greatest and most honored of this type 
 of evangelist was Knowles Shaw. He 
 was born in Ohio in 1834, and was killed 
 in a railroad wreck in Texas, in 1878. He 
 was gifted with rare musical talent, which 
 in youth he used to enliven social gather- 
 ings in the neighborhood of his home, but 
 in later life used with marvellous power 
 in revival meetings. He was preacher and 
 singing evangelist in one. In his most 
 successful meetings he had as many as 
 two hundred and fifty conversions in the 
 course of four or five weeks. More recent 
 evangelists of the type of Knowles Shaw, 
 such as J. V. Updike, H. A. Northcutt, 
 J. H. O. Smith, J. V. Coombs, Chas. Reign 
 Scoville, Allen Wilson, and W. E. Harlow, 
 have been even more successful — the num- 
 ber of converts in a single meeting some- 
 times surpassing four or five hundred. 
 
 While the evangelism of the Disciples 
 has had its most direct bearings upon their 
 
284 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 growth, yet it has influenced to a remark- 
 able degree the character of their literature. 
 The bulk of their literature consists of books 
 of sermons and tracts. The Disciples have 
 never forgotten that they were propagand- 
 ists of ''peculiar views," which have al- 
 ways furnished them with texts for preach- 
 ing and writing. The printed sermons are, 
 as a rule, little more than tracts upon the 
 various phases of denominational doctrine or 
 practice. A few sermonizers have attempted 
 excursions into the field of general Chris- 
 tian culture with some success. Aside 
 from Alexander Campbell's writings, the 
 books which have been most read are 
 the sermons of Benjamin Franklin; while 
 more recently the writings of Isaac Errett, 
 Robert Richardson, J. S. Lamar, Robert 
 Milligan, J. W. McGarvey, B. B. Tyler, 
 A. McLean, J. H. Garrison, W. T. Moore, 
 and F. D. Power, have been widely read 
 and have exerted a notable influence 
 upon the movement. Isaac Errett's tract, 
 
fivangelism, Journalism, Education 285 
 
 Our Position, has been read by the thou- 
 sands and remains unequalled as a state- 
 ment of the position of the Disciples in 
 relation to other religious bodies. 
 
 Evangelism has also deeply influenced 
 the doctrine and life of the Disciples. The 
 doctrine of assurance through obedience 
 propagated in all their evangelistic preach- 
 ing, was easily understood and readily 
 seized upon as a balm for a distressed 
 conscience. The satisfaction which was 
 found in baptism, and in the scriptural 
 guarantee of correctness, loosed many per- 
 sons from the inner pain of spiritual imper- 
 fection and gave them security in external 
 obedience to commands. It was this legal- 
 istic conception of Christian duty and serv- 
 ice which partly accounts for the slow re- 
 ception of the missionary enterprise, and 
 for the tardy acceptance of the duty of 
 social service. 
 
 Reference has been made from time to 
 time in these pages to various periodicals. 
 
286 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 monthly and weekly, which have played so 
 large a part in the history. As promoters 
 of the cause without and as moulders of 
 thought and leaders of action within, the 
 editors and newspapers have stood second 
 only to the ministry. Alexander Campbell 
 was the first editor and set the example of 
 an efficient journalism in the Christiaii Bap- 
 tist and Millennial Harbinger. They had 
 their imitators in a score of similar period- 
 icals before 1830, and from that time to 
 this, scores have been established, and have 
 gone their way after a brief career. They 
 have not always reproduced the best side of 
 their prototypes, but they have not failed to 
 do valiant, and often militant, service on 
 behalf of the cause they espoused. Every 
 leader, and every one who aspired to lead- 
 ership, has in some way and at some time 
 been connected with a newspaper. While 
 at various times they have been the instru- 
 ments through which internal feuds and 
 parties have been created, yet no great mis- 
 
Evangelism, Journalism, Education 287 
 
 sionary, benevolent, or educational cause 
 has arisen and succeeded without the help 
 of a journal. 
 
 When a journal has grown to a position 
 of universal influence, its power for good 
 or evil has been greater than that of any 
 man or group of men. They have conse- 
 quently made and unmade many indi- 
 viduals and causes. In a pure Congrega- 
 tionalism, such as exists among the Dis- 
 ciples, the newspapers came nearer being 
 authoritative oracles and tribunals than any 
 other organized institution. Two papers in 
 the recent period have succeeded to the 
 wide influence of the Baptist and Harbinger 
 in the early period — the Christian Standard, 
 under the editorship of Isaac Errett, and the 
 Christian Evangelist, under the editorship 
 of J. H. Garrison. The Standard was the 
 sole product of the spirit and genius of 
 Isaac Errett, and was the exponent of a more 
 liberal and spiritual order of things until the 
 death of the editor in 1888. As the friend 
 
288 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 and advocate of missionary societies, instru- 
 ments of music in public worship, and a 
 more cordial relation with other religious 
 bodies, he fell under the suspicion of being 
 too liberal. He drew around him men of 
 the broadest spirit and some of the best 
 writers of the church, and set an example 
 of the highest and best religious journalism. 
 The simplicity, modesty, and dignity of his 
 character, the catholicity and unselfishness 
 of his spirit, constituted him the greatest 
 leader since Alexander Campbell. After his 
 death his paper fell into the hands of men 
 of a different spirit. Men who had op- 
 posed Isaac Errett in his day became influ- 
 ential in the direction of its policy and spoke 
 behind his authority in the columns of his 
 paper upon the new questions and problems 
 that had arisen. Upon some of the old 
 questions the paper continued to speak as 
 Isaac Errett had spoken, and when it spoke 
 upon the new questions many people 
 thought it was Isaac Errett still speaking. 
 
Evangelism, Journalism, Education 289 
 
 Upon all new questions of biblical criticism 
 and denominational policy and mission, it 
 has tai<en a conservative, reactionary posi- 
 tion. 
 
 The Christian Evangelist has had a com- 
 plicated ancestral history. After the con- 
 solidation of many papers in many states 
 covering a period of many years, it took 
 form in 1882 under the editorship of 
 B. W. Johnson and J. H. Garrison and 
 was published at St. Louis, Missouri. 
 In 1894, upon the death of B. W. John- 
 son, J. H. Garrison became sole editor. 
 The editor was a man of spiritual vision, 
 and desired for the Disciples a larger 
 spiritual life and a larger place in the 
 world's religious work. He joined hands 
 with Isaac Errett in the task of delivering 
 the body from legalism and a narrow sec- 
 tarianism, and of promoting every mission- 
 ary and educational cause which foretokened 
 spiritual emancipation. He has consistently 
 stood for larger liberty, for hospitality to- 
 
290 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 wards new truth, and for the practice of 
 Christian union in every form of coopera- 
 tion with other denominations. J. H. Gar- 
 rison succeeded to the religious leadership 
 laid down by Isaac Errett at his death. 
 
 These journals, with a multitude of others, 
 have taught the position of the Disciples 
 week by week in their columns, and have 
 defended it against criticism and objection; 
 have opened their columns to the advocacy 
 of the various missionary societies, educa- 
 tional institutions, and benevolent enter- 
 prises, and have thus unified the sentiment 
 and concerted the action of ministers and 
 churches with reference to them; have 
 chosen and guided the denominational atti- 
 tude towards many questions and its policy 
 with reference to many enterprises; and 
 have been indispensable agencies in the in- 
 terrelation and effective workings of the 
 various organizations, interests, and forces 
 of the body. The influential editor occupies 
 a place of generalship and superintendence 
 
Evangelism, Journalism, Education 291 
 
 over the widely separated parts of the de- 
 nominational army. With few exceptions 
 journalism among the Disciples has been 
 wise, conscientious, and progressive, and 
 the present state of unity and efficiency 
 among them is due in no small degree to in- 
 telHgent and responsible editorship. In 
 1904 the Disciples were publishing twenty- 
 seven general newspapers, the most widely 
 circulating of which were: the Christian 
 Standard, of Cincinnati; the Christian 
 Evangelist, of St. Louis; the Christian Cen- 
 tury, of Chicago; the Christian Compan- 
 ion, of Louisville; the Christian Courier, of 
 Dallas; the Christian Union, of Des Moines, 
 and the Pacific Christian of San Francisco, 
 all of which are weekly papers. 
 
 Education among the Disciples began as 
 an effort to supply the churches with an 
 educated ministry. The early leaders, 
 Campbell, Scott and Stone, were educated 
 men and recognized the value of education 
 for the ministry. The emphasis was laid 
 
292 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 upon the minister's training in the knowl- 
 edge and use of the English Bible. The 
 study of theology, as usually carried on in 
 theological seminaries, was held in small 
 favor. When Alexander Campbell under- 
 took the task of establishing a school for 
 the training of ministers, he founded a col- 
 lege and made the Bible a text-book along 
 with text-books in the sciences and arts. 
 At the close of his college course a young 
 man was ready to begin to preach without 
 any further preparation. No provision was 
 made, and none thought necessary, for 
 special, professional training beyond the 
 college course. Theological seminary and 
 college were merged in one. Such a school 
 served the ends not only of ministerial train- 
 ing but of general Christian education for 
 the sons and daughters in the families of 
 Disciples, and thus made a double appeal to 
 the churches. To serve this twofold pur- 
 pose, Bethany College was founded by 
 Alexander Campbell, at Bethany, West 
 
Evangelism, Journalism, Education 293 
 
 Virginia, in 1840. With similar purposes in 
 view Hiram College was founded at Hiram, 
 Ohio, in 1830; Butler College, at Indianapo- 
 lis, Indiana, in 1830; Eureka College, at 
 Eureka, Illinois, in 1833; Christian Univer- 
 sity, at Canton, Missouri, in 1833 (the first 
 college in the United States to grant women 
 equal privileges with men) ; Oskaloosa Col- 
 lege, at Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1836; Kentucky 
 University, at . Harrodsburg, Kentucky, in 
 i8s8. With the removal of Kentucky 
 University to Lexington in 1863, specialized 
 ministerial educ 'tion was begun among the 
 Disciples in the organization of the Bibic 
 College as a separate college of the Univer- 
 sity. Other colleges began to separate min- 
 isterial studies from the college course and 
 to offer specialized elective courses which 
 could be pursued as post-graduate work. 
 When Drake University was opened at Des 
 Moines, Iowa, in 1881, the Bible Depart- 
 ment was separated from the other depart- 
 ments. More recently the Disciples have 
 
294 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 established other colleges, such as, Texas 
 Christian University (originally Add Ran 
 College, located at Thorpe's Springs, but in 
 1890 changed to Add Ran Christian Univer- 
 sity, and in 1895 moved to Waco, where it 
 became Texas Christian University); and 
 Cotner University established at Lincoln, 
 Nebraska in 1889. Besides these leading 
 institutions there were in 1905, thirty-five 
 different educational institutions of ^Jl 
 grades, controlled by the Disciples or 
 conducted in their interest or under their 
 u^me. in the United States. The aggregate 
 value oi their property was $2,439,000 ; 
 the value of their endowment, $1,968,000; 
 the total number of students in attendance, 
 ^,819. 868 of whom were preparing for the 
 ministry. 
 
 In spite of the meagre support and inade- 
 quate equipment of these colleges, they 
 have been one of the most important fac- 
 tors in the growth and development of the 
 Disciples. They have stood close to the 
 
Evangelism, Journalism, Education 295 
 
 churches, and have met their first and most 
 pressing need, in giving them educated 
 ministers. They have demonstrated their 
 value and necessity to the churches by 
 numbering among their graduates the lead- 
 ing workers in every department of work 
 — evangelists, pastors, teachers, editors, and 
 missionaries. The leaders of thought and 
 action since the first college was founded 
 have come from the colleges. Many fields 
 of work are always waiting for the coming 
 of the properly equipped man. This is true 
 preeminently of missionary and educational 
 work, and pastoral work in the larger cities. 
 The quiet, accumulative influence of the 
 great teachers of the colleges has never 
 been sufficiently recognized or honored. 
 To the first generation of teachers who 
 have had an incalculable influence upon the 
 movement, belong W. K. Pendleton, who 
 was professor in Bethany College from 
 1841 to 1887, and president from 1866 to 
 1887; Robert Richardson who was pro- 
 
296 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 fessor in Bethany College from 1841 to 
 1859, the biographer of Campbell, co-editor 
 of the Harbinger, and author of Office of 
 the Holy Spirit, and other works; Silas E. 
 Shepard, who was president of Hiram Col- 
 lege from 1867 to 1870; and S. K. Hoshour, 
 who was president of Butler College from 
 1858 to 1861, and afterwards professor of 
 modern languages in the same institution. 
 
 The first generation was succeeded by a 
 second generation of educators, composed 
 of a large and brilliant company of men of 
 the deepest piety and consecration, many 
 of whom distinguished themselves first as 
 preachers and never lost touch with the 
 pulpit. A few are still living, and are the 
 last connecting links with the pioneer 
 days of education. Robert Milligan was 
 professor in Bethany College, 1854-59; 
 president of Kentucky University, 1859-66; 
 the first president of the College of the 
 Bible, 1866-75 (the year of his death); 
 co-editor of the Harbinger and author 
 
Evangelism, Journalism, Education 297 
 
 of the Scheme of Redemption, Reason 
 and Revelation, and other works. Robert 
 Graham was president of Kentucky Uni- 
 versity, 1866-69; president of Hamilton 
 College, 1869-75; president of the College 
 of the Bible, 1875-95, and professor of 
 philosophy in the College of Arts until 
 1898. He died in 1901. James A. Garfield 
 was a teacher in Hiram College with brief 
 intermissions, 1852-66. He died as presi- 
 dent of the United States in i88r. B. A. 
 Hinsdale was president of Hiram College, 
 1870-82; superintendent of schools in 
 Cleveland, 1882-86; professor in the Uni- 
 versity of Michigan, 1888 to the time of his 
 death in 1900. George T. Carpenter was 
 president of Oskaloosa College, 1861-81; 
 organizer and chancellor of Drake Univer- 
 sity, 1881-93. J. M. Atwaterwas president 
 of Hiram College, 1868-70, and served as 
 professor for longer or shorter periods in 
 Eureka College and other institutions and 
 died in 1900. H. W. Everest was a 
 
298 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 teacher in Hiram College, 1835-62; presi- 
 dent of Eureka College, 1864-72, and 
 1877-81; president of Butler College, 
 1881-86; dean of the College of the Bible, 
 Drake University, from 1897 to his death in 
 1900. He was the author of a book on the 
 evidences of Christianity called The Di- 
 vine Demonstration. D. R. Dungan was 
 professor in the Bible Department, Drake 
 University, 1883-90; president of Cotner 
 University, 1890-96. He is still living and 
 is dean of the Bible Department of Drake 
 University. He is the author of several 
 books, the best known of which is, On the 
 Rock. J. W. McGarvey is still living and 
 has been connected with the Bible College, 
 as professor from 1865 to 1895, and as pres- 
 ident from 1895 to the present time. He is 
 the author of Commentary on the Acts, and 
 other works on biblical criticism. B. J. 
 Radford was professor in Eureka College 
 and part of the time president, 1870-81; 
 president of Drake University, 1882-83; ard 
 
Evangelism, Journalism, Education 299 
 
 professor in Eureka College from 1892 lo 
 the present time. C. L. Loos was presi- 
 dent of Eureka College, 1857-58; professor 
 in Bethany College, 1858-80; president of 
 Kentucky University, 1880-97; ^"d pro- 
 fessor in the same institution from 1897 to 
 the present time. 
 
 Evangelism, journalism, and education 
 have had principally to do with the growth, 
 the present state and character, of the Dis- 
 ciples of Christ. The growth of the body 
 was assured from the beginning of its 
 separate existence. In 1850 the number of 
 communicants, as given by unfriendly 
 calculators, was 118,000, while the Congre- 
 gationalists numbered 197,000; in 1870 the 
 Disciples numbered 450,000, the Congrega- 
 tionalists, 306,000; in 1880, the Disciples 
 591,000, the Congregationalists, 384,000; 
 in 1890, the Disciples, 641,000, the Congre- 
 gationalists, 512,000; in 1900, the Disciples, 
 1,118,000, the Congregationalists, 628,234. 
 In 1850 the Congregationalists numbered 
 
300 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 about twice as many communicants as the 
 Disciples; in 1900 the position of the two 
 bodies was exactly reversed. The Congre- 
 gationalists are chosen for comparison with 
 the Disciples because the two bodies have 
 many resemblances, both in doctrine and 
 organization, and have occupied the same 
 territory. 
 
 The Disciples have churches in every 
 state of the Union but one (1904)— New 
 Hampshire, with the possible addition of 
 Nevada. They are most numerous in Mis- 
 souri (1,710 churches, 180,000 members); 
 Indiana (956 churches, 130,000 members); 
 Kentucky (910 churches, 120,500 members); 
 Illinois (815 churches, 120,000 members); 
 Texas (780 churches, 93,000 members); 
 Tennessee (562 churches, 52,300 members); 
 Ohio (558 churches, 85,500 members) ; Iowa 
 (501 churches, 57,000 members). They are 
 weakest in the New England and eastern 
 states, and in the extreme northern and 
 southern states. Their strength lies in the 
 
Evangelism, Journalism, Education 30 1 
 
 central western states, where they first took 
 root in the early days. 
 
 Outside of the United States, the growth 
 of the Disciples has not been so marked. 
 In the Canadian Provinces there are only 
 158 churches, with a membership of 12,150; 
 in Great Britain, 155 churches, with a mem- 
 bership of 14,000; in Australia, 235 churches, 
 with a membership of 17,298; and on the 
 foreign missionary field, 148 churches, with 
 a membership of 9,773. 
 
 The Disciples began as a movement in the 
 country and smaller towns and villages and 
 have not made notable progress in the 
 larger cities until the last fifteen years. 
 The most striking gains in the last decade 
 have been made in Washington, D. C, 
 where the churches have increased from one 
 to four, and the membership from 600 to 
 2,030; in St. Louis, where the churches 
 have increased from four to eleven and the 
 membership from 1,129 to 3,784; in Pitts- 
 burg, where the churches have increased 
 
302 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 from eight to eighteen, and the membership 
 from 1,494 to 4,345; in Kansas City, w here 
 the churches have increased from six to 
 fourteen, and the membership from 2, 199 to 
 4,600; in Des Moines, where the churches 
 have increased from three to eight, and the 
 membership from 1,500 to 4,420; in Chi- 
 cago, where the churches have increased 
 from six to eighteen, and the membership 
 from 1,060 to 4,945; and in Buffalo, where 
 the churches have increased from one to 
 four, and the membership from 300 to i, 107. 
 The American Society has devoted special at- 
 tention to the development of churches in 
 the cities during the last ten years, under the 
 conviction that the cities are the key to the 
 evangelization of America. This remarka- 
 ble advancement could not have been ac- 
 complished without the leadership of an 
 able company of younger pastors who have 
 rendered or are rendering distinguished 
 service in the following cities: W. F. 
 Richardson, in Grand Rapids and Kansas 
 
Evangelism, Journalism, Education 303 
 
 Cily; A. B. Philputt, in Philadelphia and 
 Indianapolis; H. O. Breeden, in Des Moines; 
 E. L. Powell, in Louisville; F. G. Tyrrell, 
 in St. Louis; J. M. Philputt, in New York 
 City; G. H. Combs, in Kansas City; A. M. 
 Harvuot, in Cincinnati; G. A. Miller, in 
 Covington; T. E. Cramblett, in Pittsburg; 
 E. B. Bagby, in Washington City; Carey E. 
 Morgan, in Richmond; L N. McCash, in 
 Des Moines; W. B. Craig, in Denver; F. P. 
 Arthur, in Rochester and Grand Rapids; 
 E. W. Darst, in Chicago; Mark Collis and 
 \. J. Spencer, in Lexington; B. B. Tyler, in 
 New York City and Denver; J. Z. Tyler, in 
 Richmond and Cleveland; A. C. Smithers, 
 in Los Angeles. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 RECENT TENDENCIES AND PROBLEMS 
 
 One of the serious problems which has 
 exercised the minds of preachers, editors, 
 and leaders, during the last quarter of a 
 century, has been, how to develop, train, 
 and utilize the rapidly increasing strength 
 of the churches. The churches were grow- 
 ing faster than the agencies for their proper 
 care and training. The tendency in this 
 period has been to emphasize Christian cul- 
 ture, moral and spiritual growth, alongside 
 of evangelism. It was felt that evangelism 
 had overshadowed nurture and education — 
 that quantity had taken the place of quality as 
 a test of religious progress. The churches 
 were growing more rapidly in size and 
 wealth than in knowledge and beneficence. 
 
 The value of great meetings in which 
 there were large numbers of additions was 
 304 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 305 
 
 sometimes held in doubt, when the churches 
 receiving such increases, did not show a 
 corresponding increase in missionary con- 
 tributions. It sometimes happened that 
 after a year such churches did not con- 
 tain a very large proportion of the con- 
 verts in their active membership, and were 
 even weakened in their hold upon the com- 
 munity. The tide was rising in favor of a 
 new evangelism, which should depend 
 more upon instruction than upon emo- 
 tional excitement to produce results. Pas- 
 tors began to fear the large ingatherings 
 into their churches as laying upon the 
 church a burden of training and assimila- 
 tion too great to bear. They came to 
 prefer meetings which edified the saints 
 as well as converted the sinners; and for 
 this purpose the safest man was felt to be 
 the preacher who was under the responsi- 
 bilities and understood the problems of the 
 settled pastor's office. Professional evan- 
 gelism was discredited in favour of 
 
306 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 pastoral evangelism. It became a veiy 
 common practice for pastors to exchange 
 meetings from year to year; while the 
 professional evangelist assumed more fre- 
 quently the pastoral relation. More re- 
 cently pastors and evangelists have come to 
 agree to eliminate the more objectionable 
 features of professional evangelism, and to 
 give it a new, but somewhat restricted, 
 place in the church. 
 
 The Disciples have eagerly adopted many 
 modern agencies of an instructional char- 
 acter for the development of Christian life 
 in the churches, such as Christian Endeavor 
 societies, Reading Circles, Bible lectures, and 
 in some few instances, Institutional Church 
 work. More and more they are beginning 
 to share the common life and enterprises of 
 the churches around them, and to be will- 
 ing to adopt any method or society which 
 has been found helpful to the larger social 
 usefulness of the church. They are sharing 
 with others the awakening to the duty of 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 307 
 
 making the church a factor in social im- 
 provement and regeneration. They have 
 ceased to raise the cry of "innovation" 
 against modern methods and devices in 
 church work. One of the most recent 
 developments is the employment of women 
 as pastoral helpers in the larger churches. 
 A school for the training of such helpers 
 was organized in 1900, by A. M. Harvuot, 
 at Cincinnati. After three years it was 
 transferred to Drake University. 
 
 The rapid development of educational 
 institutions, with the rise of the educa- 
 tional ideal in the last twenty-five years, 
 has forced education as a problem upon 
 the Disciples. They have never competed 
 with the older denominations in educational 
 equipment, nor have they kept pace with 
 their advancement. The state institutions, 
 with their inexhaustible resources, have 
 made the problem all the more serious. 
 The colleges of the Disciples, after apply- 
 ing all their resources to the first require- 
 
3o8 The Disciples ot Christ 
 
 ments of the literary courses, have had 
 nothing left to devote to the enlargement 
 and specialization of their Bible depart- 
 ments. Liberal conditions of entrance to 
 the larger institutions of the East, and their 
 immense opportunities, began to attract the 
 young men of the church, and before 1890 
 a few had crossed the Alleghanies in quest 
 of the larger educational advantages. Just 
 before and after 1890 there were to be 
 found in Harvard, Yale, and Union Semi- 
 nary, larger or smaller groups of Disciples 
 from the various colleges of the West, 
 among whom were Levi Marshall, John 
 McKee, W. C. Payne, Clinton Lockhart, 
 H. L. Willett, E. S. Ames, Hiram VanKirk, 
 L. W. Morgan, B. A. Jenkins, W. E. Gar- 
 rison, Baxter Waters, C. B. Coleman, — at 
 Yale; C. C. Rowlison, Silas Jones — at Har- 
 vard; J. M. Philputt, S. T. Willis, C. A. 
 Young, A. B. Phillips, Errett Gates, and 
 L. S. Batman — at Union. The contrast 
 between the meagre equipment of the 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 309 
 
 colleges they had left and the vast equip- 
 ment of the richly endowed institutions 
 to which they had gone filled them with 
 pain and surprise. It made every man of 
 them a missionary of the cause of educa- 
 tion to his own people. Many of these 
 young men gave themselves to the neg- 
 lected cause of education and a few have 
 been called to the presidencies of the col- 
 leges— H. L. Willett, as dean of the Di- 
 vinity House, in 1894; B. A. Jenkins, as 
 president of Kentucky University, in 1901 ; 
 Hiram VanKirk, as dean of Berkeley Bible 
 Seminary, in 1900; W. E. Garrison, as presi- 
 dent of Butler College, in 1904; C. C. Row- 
 lison, as president of Hiram College, in 1905. 
 
 The task of immediately bringing the 
 educational standards and equipment of the 
 Disciples up to those of other religious 
 bodies seemed an impossible task. Yet the 
 demand of the times was for a thoroughly 
 trained and educated ministry. To meet 
 the needs of the immediate present for the 
 
310 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 ministry of the Disciples, the plan of co- 
 operation with the larger institutions was 
 adopted. The Disciples in California were 
 the first to take advantage of this plan 
 by cooperating with the state institution 
 already established and equipped beyond 
 their ability to equal. The funds obtained 
 from the property of a college which was 
 obliged to close its doors were devoted to 
 the establishment of a Bible Seminary at 
 Berkeley, in proximity to the State Univer- 
 sity. The University was glad to have 
 biblical and theological instruction put in 
 reach of its students, and the Seminary was 
 glad to be given the privileges of the Uni- 
 versity. 
 
 A similar yet a wider purpose was served 
 in the establishment of the Disciples' Di- 
 vinity House at the University of Chicago. 
 In this instance the relation of the House to 
 the University was organic, as it could not 
 be in the case of a state institution; and be- 
 sides taking advantage of an academic 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 311 
 
 foundation, took advantage of the Divinity 
 School as well. It was an effort to provide 
 for the Disciples professional ministerial 
 training under the broadest and amplest 
 provisions which Christian munificence and 
 scholarship could create. The movement to 
 establish the Divinity House originated with 
 H. L. Willett and was carried out in coop- 
 eration with the Acting Board of the Ameri- 
 can Christian Missionary Society in 1894. 
 
 Eugene Divinity School was founded 
 in 1895 by E. C. Sanderson, at Eugene, 
 Oregon, to take advantage of the State 
 University located at that place. The school 
 is under the management of the Disciples 
 and was organized primarily for the train- 
 ing of men for the ministry. 
 
 The Disciples of Missouri established a 
 Bible College in connection with the Uni- 
 versity of Missouri to provide biblical in- 
 struction for the University students; but it 
 has gradually grown into a college for the 
 training of men for the ministry. 
 
312 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Thus by a succession of annexations with 
 the larger, older, and better equipped insti- 
 tutions, the Disciples have sought to meet 
 the educational situation which confronted 
 them. There are evidences of a rising tide 
 of interest and devotion to the cause of edu- 
 cation in the denomination at large, which 
 is destined to make the next twenty-five 
 years preeminently an era of educational 
 enlargement, as the last twenty-five years 
 has been an era of missionary organiza- 
 tion. 
 
 Modern biblical criticism, which had ob- 
 tained a foothold in the higher institutions 
 of learning and theological seminaries of the 
 east, and was disturbing the theological 
 position and dividing the ecclesiastical 
 councils of the various religious bodies in 
 America, began to receive some considera- 
 tion from the Disciples before 1890. Not 
 until the Christian Standard opened a de- 
 partment of " Biblical Criticism " under the 
 editorship of J. W. McGarvey in 1890, were 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 313 
 
 the problems of the higher criticism brought 
 to the general attention of the Disciples. 
 Professor McGarvey had made for himself a 
 foremost place as preacher and author be- 
 fore 1870. He was one of the group of in- 
 fluential men who established the Apostolic 
 Times in opposition to the Christian 
 Standard, and has consistently stood in op- 
 position to modern innovations to the pres- 
 ent time. He fought the introduction of 
 the organ into the churches, including the 
 one in which he held membership; and 
 when it introduced the organ in 1901 he 
 withdrew his membership from it. When 
 the new problems of the higher criticism 
 appeared he entered the field against it and 
 fought its progress at every step with every 
 weapon of argument, ridicule, and innuendo. 
 He has been the centre and brain of the op- 
 position to higher criticism among the Dis- 
 ciples. 
 
 The questions raised by the new criticism 
 were entirely strange to the rank and file of 
 
314 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 the ministry. The Standard committed its 
 influence and authority against tfie newer 
 critical methods from the beginning, and 
 identified the higher criticism, in use in all 
 European universities and most American, 
 with the infidelity of Celsus, Voltaire, 
 Renan, Strauss, and Robert Ingersoll. 
 There were some students among the Dis- 
 ciples who did not look upon the higher 
 criticism in that light, but insisted upon dis- 
 tinguishing its principles and methods from 
 its conclusions. 
 
 The first voices raised in favor of clear- 
 ness of distinction and calmness in the dis- 
 cussion were those of J. J. Haley and J. H. 
 Garrison. Many articles were written in 
 explanation of the principles, purposes, and 
 workings of the higher criticism to moder- 
 ate the hatred and fear of it, but very few 
 were written in espousal of any of its con-^ 
 elusions. Those who did venture to accept 
 any of its conclusions which contradicted 
 the traditional opinion, were denounced 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 31 5 
 
 and defamed as unsafe and unsound. It 
 became nearly fatal to usefulness for a 
 teacher, preacher, or newspaper to give oc- 
 casion for being read out as a higher critic. 
 In the case of a teacher, colleges either 
 cautioned him or dismissed him; in the 
 case of a preacher, churches and his minis- 
 terial brethren avoided him; in the case of 
 a newspaper, subscribers stopped it and 
 Sunday-schools refused to buy its supplies 
 and helps. Many teachers, preachers, 
 newspapers, and even colleges hastened to 
 put themselves on record against the higher 
 criticism, for silence was construed as con- 
 fession of guilt. There can be no doubt 
 that several publishing companies were 
 materially benefited by assuming a judi- 
 cious attitude against it; while one com- 
 pany was actually threatened with disaster 
 for refusing to join in the undiscriminating 
 cry against it and for employing men sus- 
 pected of leanings towards it as writers in 
 its columns and of its Sunday-school sup- 
 
316 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 plies. Higher criticism was the question 
 which formed parties in conventions, in- 
 fluenced the action of missionary societies, 
 drew the line between teachers and preach- 
 ers, and divided the denomination into two 
 more or less clearly defined camps. Out 
 of this question have grown the new con- 
 troversies within the body which have dis- 
 turbed its peace and harmony during the 
 last fifteen years. 
 
 The first controversy which drew upon 
 itself general attention and was warmly 
 discussed in the newspapers was the case 
 of H. C. Garvin, which occurred in 1895 
 while he was professor in Butler College. 
 He had been greatly influenced by the 
 new ideas in his views and methods, 
 and began to question the correctness 
 of some of the doctrinal positions of 
 the Disciples. The question which came 
 to the front in the controversy was as 
 to the priority of faith or repentance 
 in conversion. He expressed the opinion 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 317 
 
 that repentance preceded faith both in 
 the teaching of Scripture and in experi- 
 ence, contrary to the usual teaching of the 
 Disciples. Other opinions of a heretical 
 nature from the orthodox denominational 
 point of view were drawn from him, which 
 aroused the opposition of the authorities of 
 the college and forced him to resign. A 
 group of his students who thought him un- 
 fairly treated, and could see no serious de- 
 parture in his teachings, left the denomina- 
 tion with him. 
 
 A continuous controversy has centred in 
 the person of Herbert L. Willett since 1894. 
 He sprang into prominence as pastor of the 
 church at Dayton, Ohio, and as a Bible 
 lecturer of exceptional attractiveness and 
 power about 1894. He had been a student 
 at Bethany College and Yale University, 
 and came to the University of Chicago as a 
 student and instructor at its opening in 
 1893. As Dean of the Divinity House he 
 £ame in for a share of the criticism aroused 
 
3i8 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 over its establishment. He was known to 
 be in sympathy with the new learning, and 
 his influence over a large group of younger 
 men was ^'eared. An unbroken opposition 
 to him and the work of the Divinity House 
 has been waged by a conservative element 
 and has involved everything with which he 
 has been connected. His connection with 
 the Christian Evangelisi drew that paper 
 under fire, and his later connection with 
 the Christian Century has involved that 
 paper in all the suspicion and opposition 
 attaching to his name. An attack calling 
 in question his loyalty to the teaching of 
 the denomination, was made upon him by 
 the editors of the Standard in 1901. Cer- 
 tain passages in his book on Our Plea for 
 Union and the Present Crisis, in w^hich he 
 set forth his position with reference to the 
 place and mission of the Disciples, were 
 made to bear a meaning not intended by 
 him, and awakened widespread discussion 
 and bitter criticism. The opposition to 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 319 
 
 Professor Willett which was intended to 
 destroy his influence in the denomination, 
 has only partly succeeded, for in spite of it 
 he has steadily grown in favor and influ- 
 ence and in demand as a lecturer upon Bible 
 themes. 
 
 When S. M. Jefferson resigned as Dean 
 of the Berkeley Bible Seminary in 1900, 
 Hiram VanKirk, then instructor in the Dis- 
 ciples' Divinity House, was selected to suc- 
 ceed him. Suspicion rested upon him from 
 the first, coming as he did from a suspected 
 institution. He was growing rapidly in 
 favor with the Disciples in California when 
 a group of men opposing him entered into 
 a conspiracy in 1903 to drive him from his 
 position. Their charges of heresy were 
 sent to the Standard, as having the widest 
 influence in California and reputed for its 
 zeal against the new learning, and without 
 investigating them published them and sent 
 hundreds of extra copies into the state to 
 make sure of a general uprising against the 
 
320 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 Dean. The charges were denied by him 
 and laid before his board of directors for 
 investigation. He was cleared of the 
 charges and retained in his position. After 
 investigation the Standard discovered the 
 groundlessness of the charges and ac- 
 knowledged that the persecution against 
 Professor VanKirk was unjust. 
 
 Another Butler College professor fell 
 under criticism in 1898, in the person of 
 E. S. Ames, professor of philosophy, on 
 account of certain utterances made in an 
 article in the Nezv Chrisiian Quarterly. He 
 became pastor of the Hyde Park Church, 
 Chicago, in 1900, and shortly after published 
 a sermon entitled, A Personal Confession of 
 Faith. No notice was taken of the sermon 
 until two years after its publication, when, 
 in connection with a sermon advocating 
 "Associate Church Membership," he was 
 denounced by the editors of the Standard 
 as a Unitarian and apostate from the ac- 
 cepted teachings of the Disciples, and pro- 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 321 
 
 nounced unworthy of fellowship among 
 them. The church of which he was pastor 
 was called upon to dismiss him or acknowl- 
 edge its agreement with his opinions. The 
 church took action in a series of resolutions 
 declaring its loyalty to the doctrinal position 
 of the denomination, and affirming its right 
 to liberty in local church government, as 
 well as in doctrinal matters not involving 
 the essential teachings of Christianity. 
 
 The missionary societies did not entirely 
 escape the influence of these controversies. 
 Moved by the conviction that the persons 
 who were known to be friendly to the new 
 learning were dangerous to the well-being 
 of the churches, the editors of the Christian 
 Standard sought to commit the American 
 Society against them by calling upon its 
 secretary, B. L. Smith, to sign a statement 
 disavowing all sympathy with the higher 
 critics or disposition towards the employ- 
 ment of such persons in its service. In- 
 spired by their success with the secretary 
 
322 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 of the American Society they turned their 
 attention to the Board of Church Ex- 
 tension and asked its secretary, George 
 W. Muckley, to assure the churches 
 by a public statement that he would 
 have no fellowship with men suspected 
 of sympathy with the higher criticism. 
 By this time many men of influence 
 thought they saw danger in making the 
 missionary societies parties to theological 
 controversies, and protested against the 
 action of the editors of the Standard. The 
 Extension Board and other societies con- 
 cluded that it was not in their province to 
 pass judgment upon the orthodoxy of their 
 servants, and that it was not in the province 
 of a newspaper to require it of them. 
 
 These controversies have been the nearest 
 approach to " heresy trials " among the Dis- 
 ciples in recent years. There being no court 
 of inquiry outside of the local churches, a 
 heresy trial in the usual sense and form as 
 carried on in some other bodies, has never 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 323 
 
 been known among them. The newspapers 
 have usually assumed the functions of pros- 
 ecutor of errorists and defender of the faith. 
 Since it is not always possible in such trials, 
 where there is no authority over the accused 
 to secure his appearance in his own defense 
 or carry out any decision with reference to 
 him, heretics prosecuted by newspapers 
 have usually gone unpunished except in the 
 suspicion and prejudice awakened against 
 them in the churches. 
 
 Involved in all of these controversies was 
 the appeal to the principle of Christian 
 liberty or freedom of opinion, which had 
 always been the boasted and peculiar pos- 
 session of the Disciples. A larger liberty of 
 thought and opinion was one of the first 
 principles laid down in the Declaration and 
 Address. Liberty to think and differ with 
 one another upon many truths of Christian- 
 ity was a sacred privilege demanded and 
 accorded by all the great leaders. It was 
 felt to have a place in the discussion and 
 
324 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 settlement of the new questions concerning 
 biblical criticism. 
 
 The discussion of all the learned prob- 
 lems connected with these controversies 
 was carried on in the weekly news- 
 papers, and laid before all the people of 
 the churches for their perusal. It was felt 
 by many persons to be unwise if not in- 
 jurious to introduce the technicalities of these 
 discussions to the unlearned. As an out- 
 let for the discussion of all modern biblical, 
 theological, and philosophical questions, the 
 Congress of the Disciples was organized 
 and met for the first time in St. Louis in 
 1899. It has served as a clearing-house for 
 many of these controverted questions, and 
 has been the means of a better understand- 
 ing among the conservative and progressive 
 elements. 
 
 The Disciples have never forgotten that 
 their special mission among the various Prot- 
 estant denominations was to teach them the 
 desirability, and if possible, show them the 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 325 
 
 way to Christian unity. Their own anoma- 
 lous position as a separate communion, 
 looked upon as a sect among the sects, they 
 have never accepted as justifiable or final. 
 Their separation from the Baptists they laid 
 at the door of the Baptists, and would not 
 be held responsible for it, because it was a 
 recourse which they did not choose and never 
 willingly consented to. Since the separa- 
 tion they have constantly proclaimed Chris- 
 tian union as a duty and as the goal of their 
 mission in Christendom. Many conferences 
 have been held between the Disciples and 
 Baptists, and the Disciples and Congrega- 
 tionalists, to discuss the differences which 
 separated them, and the principles and terms 
 on which union could be consummated. 
 
 A conference to consider the union of 
 Baptists and Disciples was held at Rich- 
 mond, Virginia, in April, 1866, attended by 
 J. B. Jeter, A. M. Poindexter, VV. F. Broad- 
 dus, and others on the part of the Baptists; 
 and W. K. Pendleton, J. W. Goss, J. Duval, 
 
326 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 W. H. Hopson, and others on the part of 
 the Disciples. Party spirit between the two 
 bodies ran high in Virginia from the days of 
 the separation, and was intensified by the 
 publication in 1854 of an attack upon the 
 position of the Disciples by J. B. Jeter, in 
 a book entitled, Campbellism Examined. 
 Numerous replies were made, the most 
 elaborate of which was by Moses E. Lard 
 in a book published in 1857, called, A Re- 
 view of Campbellism Examined. The books 
 were not designed to moderate the spirit of 
 opposition between the two bodies. The 
 proposal which led to the conference at 
 Richmond originated with W. F. Broaddus 
 and was quickly endorsed by J. W. Goss 
 on the part of the Disciples. The conclu- 
 sion deliberately yet reluctantly reached by 
 the conference and published to the two 
 bodies in the state of Virginia was: "That 
 the time has not yet come when the Bap- 
 tists and Disciples are, on both sides, pre- 
 pared, with a prospect of perfect harmony, 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 327 
 
 to commit themselves with any degree of 
 cooperation beyond such courtesies and 
 personal Christian kindnesses as members 
 of churches of different denominations may 
 individually choose to engage in." Similar 
 conferences were held in different states, as 
 in North Carolina, in December, 1868, be- 
 tween the Disciples, Free Baptists, and 
 Union Baptists. 
 
 The second half of the nineteenth century 
 witnessed the rise of a notable interest in 
 the question of Christian union among all 
 the larger Protestant denominations. In 
 1853 arose the Memorial Movement in the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church which was de- 
 signed as an important step "towards the 
 effecting of a church unity in the Protestant 
 Christendom of our land." In 1863 the 
 "Christian Union Association" was organ- 
 ized in New York as an effort on the part 
 of sympathetic spirits of the leading Protes- 
 tant denominations "to diffuse the great 
 principles of Christian union." In 1864 the 
 
328 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 "Christian Unity Society" was organized 
 within the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
 By 1880 the Disciples were not alone in 
 their prayer for Christian union. The appeal 
 began to be heard in all the denominations. 
 The Disciples are to be credited with some 
 influence in the revival of this new enthusi- 
 asm, but to the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 belongs the larger credit for the considera- 
 tion Christian union has received in Ameri- 
 can religious thought during the last twenty- 
 five years. The Memorial Movement bore 
 fruit in a Declaration Concerning Unity, 
 promulgated by the House of Bishops at 
 Chicago, in 1886. After submitting the so- 
 called "Quadrilateral Basis" of union as 
 the essential foundation of a true, catholic, 
 apostolic church, they closed by announ- 
 cing: "We hereby declare our desire and 
 readiness, so soon as there shall be any 
 authorized response to this declaration, to 
 enter into brotherly conference with all or 
 any Christian bodies seeking the restoration 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 329 
 
 of the organic unity of tlie church, with a 
 view to the earnest study of the conditions 
 under which so priceless a blessing might 
 happily be brought to pass." 
 
 This Declaration was transmitted to the 
 General Convention of the Disciples which 
 met at Indianapolis in 1887. A committee 
 consisting of Isaac Errett, J. W. McGarvey, 
 D. R. Dungan, J. H. Garrison, B. J. Rad- 
 ford, C. L. Loos, and A. R. Benton, was 
 appointed to draw up a reply. The reply 
 consisted in a statement of the princi- 
 ples and basis of union advocated by the 
 Disciples. The Episcopalians submitted a 
 description of themselves as a basis of 
 union, and the Disciples responded with a 
 description of themselves. Both bodies 
 submitted bases which they regarded as 
 "incapable of compromise or surrender." 
 It is not surprising that nothing further 
 came of this correspondence in the way of 
 "brotherly conferences." It was a fore- 
 gone conclusion that each would be content 
 
330 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 with nothing but the absorption of the 
 other, or a remodelling of the other, after 
 its own pattern as the final goal of a 
 union. 
 
 As ended this correspondence, so has 
 ended every correspondence and conference 
 between the Disciples and other denomina- 
 tions looking to a union, except the con- 
 ference which issued in the union of the 
 Christians and Disciples in 1832. That was 
 a union by agreement in doctrine and prac- 
 tice. Yet a union between the Disciples 
 and Baptists or Free Will Baptists, has 
 never been possible, notwithstanding their 
 essential agreement in doctrine and practice. 
 The poor success attending the union ef- 
 forts of the Disciples, and the slow accept- 
 ance of their principles by other denomina- 
 tions, during the last hundred years, has 
 led a large and influential group among 
 them to the conclusion that something 
 more immediate and practicable than a pro- 
 gram of union by doctrinal and formal 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 33 1 
 
 agreement should be attempted by the 
 present generation. It has resulted in a 
 more cordial and appreciative attitude of 
 the Disciples towards other bodies, and in 
 the conviction that the closely related de- 
 nominations could and should enter into 
 cooperation with each other in many social 
 and civic, missionary and evangelistic 
 movements, which would not interfere 
 with the freedom or integrity of each 
 other's denominational life and activity. 
 They have rejoiced in the growing spirit of 
 fraternity among the churches in recent 
 years manifested in the various union 
 movements, such as the Young Men's 
 Christian Association, Young People's So- 
 ciety of Christian Endeavor, Sunday-school 
 Associations, League of Church Federation, 
 and Union Evangelistic Meetings, and have 
 freely participated in all of them. Many 
 are feeling that since the Disciples have 
 been preaching Christian union for nearly a 
 hundred years without tangible results, it 
 
332 The Disciples of Christ 
 
 is time now to practice it as a method of 
 promotion. 
 
 There has come to some of the best 
 spirits of the denomination a new and in- 
 tense appreciation of its mission as a Chris- 
 tian union movement. They feel that its 
 chief justification for existence as a separate 
 body Hes in what it can contribute towards 
 the union of Christians in this generation. 
 They are not content to wait for the con- 
 summation of a far-off, ideal union in some 
 future generation, but desire to prepare the 
 way for it by a larger cooperation and 
 freedom of relationship with other bodies 
 in the present generation. The leaders in 
 this reviving sense of obligation to the 
 principle and practice of Christian union are 
 J. H. Garrison and Herbert L. Willett, who 
 are doing all they can as editors of the 
 Christian Evangelist and Christian Cen- 
 tury, respectively, to inspire the denomina- 
 tion with this new eagerness for a united 
 church. There is no disposition on their 
 
Recent Tendencies and Problems 333 
 
 part to abate the insistence upon a return 
 to primitive Christianity as the principle of 
 a true consensus, but primitive Christianity 
 is receiving a larger meaning and a new 
 emphasis. It is no longer held to be in its 
 essence a form of public worship or a 
 method of church organization, but an atti- 
 tude of the human spirit in all of its social 
 relationships, as child of God and brother 
 of man. 
 
 There is new hope for union in the in- 
 creasing agreement among all Christians to 
 regard Christianity as something essentially 
 spiritual and ethical, and therefore universal 
 and practical. The hope of a universal 
 unity lies in the spiritual. The one lesson 
 of this history is, that the letter destroys 
 unity while the spirit makes it alive. 
 
Bibliography 
 
 Baxter, William, Life of Walter Scott. 1874. 
 Baxter, William. Life of Knowles Shaw. 1879. 
 Brown, J. T., Edited by. Churches of Christ. 1904. 
 Butler, Pardee. Personal Recollections. 
 Campbell, Alexander. Debate with John Walker. 
 1820. 
 
 Campbell, Alexander. Debate with W. L. Maccalla. 
 1823. 
 
 Campbell, Alexander, Edited by. Christian Baptist. 
 
 7 vols. 1 823- 1 830. 
 Campbell, Alexander, Edited by. Millennial Har. 
 
 dinger. 36 vols. 1 830- 1866. 
 Campbell, Alexander. Debate with Robert Owen. 
 
 1829. 
 
 Campbell, Alexander. Debate with J. B. Purcell. 
 1837. 
 
 Campbell, Alexander. Debate with N. L. Rice. 
 1843- 
 
 Campbell, Alexander 
 1861. 
 
 Donan, p. Memoir of Jacob Breath, Jr. 
 Errett, Isaac Edited by. Christian 
 
 1866-1888. 
 Eureka College, History of. 1894. 
 Evans, Madison. Pioneer Preachers of the Christian 
 
 Church, in Indiana. 1 862. 
 Franklin, Joseph, and J. A. Headington. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin. 1879. 
 
 335 
 
 Life of Thomas Campbell. 
 
 877. 
 
 Standard. 
 
 Life of 
 
33^ Bibliography 
 
 Garrison, J. H., Edited by. The Reformation of the 
 Nineteenth Century. 1 90 1. 
 
 Garrison, W. E. The Theology of Alexander Camp- 
 bell. 
 
 Gates, Erkett. The Early Relation and Separation 
 
 of Baptists and Disciples. 1 904. 
 Green, F. M. Christian Missions. 1884. 
 Green, F. M. History of Hiram College. 1901. 
 Grafton, T. W. Life of Alexander Campbell. 1897. 
 Grafton, T. W. Men of Yesterday. 
 Haley, T. P. Dawn of the Reformation in Missouri. 
 
 1888. 
 
 Hayden, a. S. History of the Disciples in the Western 
 Reserve. 1875. 
 
 HopsoN, Ella L., Edited by. Memoirs of Dr. W. H. 
 Hops on. 
 
 HOSHOUR, S. K. Autobiography. 1884. 
 
 Johnson, B. W. and J. H. Garrison, Edited by. 
 
 Christian Evangelist. 1 88 2- 1905. 
 Lamar, J. S. Memoirs of Isaac Err ett. 2 vols. 1893. 
 LONGAN, G. W. Origin of the Disciples of Christ. 
 
 1889. 
 
 Mathes, J. M. Life of Elijah Goodwin. 
 Mitchell, N. J. Pioneer Preacher. 1877. 
 Moore, W. T. Living Pulpit of the Christian Church. 
 1868. 
 
 Moore, W, T. Life of Timothy Coop. 
 
 Power, F. D. Sketches of Our Pioneers. 1898. 
 
 Richardson, Robert. Memoirs of Alexander Camp- 
 bell. 2 vols. 1868. 
 
 Rogers, John. Biography of J. T. Johnson. 1861. 
 
 Rogers, J. I., Edited by. Autobiography of Samuel 
 Rogers. 1 88 1. 
 
Bibliography 337 
 
 Rogers, W. C. Recollections of Men of Faith. 1889. 
 Shackleford, John, Edited by. Life and Letters of 
 
 L. L. Pinkerton. 1 876. 
 Stone, E. \V., Edited by. Christian Messenger. 1826- 
 
 1844. 
 
 Stone, B. W. Autobiography. 1847. 
 
 Tyler, B. B. History of the Disciples. Vol. XII. 
 
 Amer. Ch. His. Series. 1894. 
 Williams, J. A. Life of John Smith. 1870. 
 Young, C. A., Edited by. Historic Documents. 1904. 
 
Index 
 
 Abingdon College, 223. 
 Allen, T. M., 206, 207, 248. 
 
 American Christian ^Iissionary Society, The, controversy 
 over, 239 ; organization of, 259-262 ; work of, 262- 
 264. 
 
 Ames, E. S., 308 ; controversy concerning, 320. 
 Appomattox Association, action of, against Reformers, 
 164. 
 
 Arthur, F. P., 303. 
 Atkinson, A. M., 273. 
 Atwater, J. M., 297. 
 
 Bacon College, 220. 
 
 Bagby, E. E., 303. 
 
 Baptism, design of, 108, 1 17, 170. 
 
 Barclay, Dr. J. T., 262. 
 
 Baxter, William, 281. 
 
 Beaver Association, resolutions of, against Reformers, 
 160-162. 
 
 Benevolent Association, The National, 274. 
 
 Belding, W. A., 215. 
 
 Benton, A. R., 329. 
 
 Berkeley Bible Seminary, 310. 
 
 Bethany College, 292. 
 
 Bible chairs, 266. 
 
 Biblical criticism, as a recent problem, 312-322. 
 
 Bowman, J. B,, 220, 
 
 Breeden, H. O., 303. 
 
 British Millennial Harbinger, 227. 
 
 339 
 
340 
 
 Index 
 
 Brush Run Church, organization of, 85 ; immersion of, 
 
 90 ; union with the Baptists, 93, 94, 100. 
 Burgess, O. A., 281. 
 
 Burnet, D. S., 181, 189, 217, 239, 262, 281. 
 Butler College, 221, 293. 
 
 Campbell, Alexander, birth, 10; education, 11, 12; 
 religious discipline in home of, 12, 13; conversion, 
 13 ; at the University of Glasgow, 61, 62; arrival in 
 America, 61 ; licensed to preach, 86; ordained to 
 ministry, 87 ; marriage of, 88 ; immersion of, 88, 
 89 ; disagreement with Baptist doctrines, 95-99 ; 
 debate with John Walker, 106- 109 ; attitude to- 
 wards Baptists, 100, no, 112, 124, 127, 128; de- 
 bate with W. L. Maccalla, 116; attitude of Baptists 
 towards, 120-124; success among Baptists, 127- 
 129 ; withdraws from Redstone and joins Mahoning 
 Association, 139 ; influence over Reformers, 156, 
 157; influence over B. W, Stone, 195, 196; corre- 
 spondence and discussions with Stone, 196-199 ; 
 contrasted with Stone, 209, 210 ; debate with 
 Robert Owen, 216; debate with J. B. Purcell, 2i6; 
 debate with N. L. Rice, 229 ; defines a Christian, 
 233 ; position on missionary question, 240, 241 ; on 
 slavery question, 247 ; death of, 256, 
 
 Campbell, Thomas, ancestors, birth, 7 ; conversion, 8 ; 
 preparation for the ministry, 9, 10 ; marriage of, 
 10; the spirit of, 14, 15, 26; influence of Inde- 
 pendents upon, 27-32 ; union efforts of, in Ireland, 
 27 ; removal to America, 33, 34 ; trial of, by Pres- 
 bytery of Chartiers, 36, 37 ; letter of, to Synod, 37- 
 40 ; withdrawal from Seceder church, 43 ; plan of 
 Christian union, 58-61 ; a Christian unionist, 94, 209. 
 
 Carpenter, George T., 297. 
 
 Challen, James, 216, 217, 262, 281. 
 
 Christians, The, the name, 185 ; union with Reformers, 
 190-203; difference between Disciples and, 192; 
 opposed by other bodies, 194-197; number of, 204; 
 characteristics of, 209. 
 
Index 
 
 341 
 
 Christian Association of Washington, The, origin of, 44, 
 45 ; plan and purpose of, 46-58 ; 81, 82, 
 
 Christiajt Baptist, The, 1 1 1 ; circulation and influence 
 of, 121-126, 140; publication ceases, 183. 
 
 Christian Century, The, 291, 318, 332. 
 
 Christian Evangelist, The, 287, 289, 290, 291, 318,332. 
 
 Christian Standard, The, 252, 256, 287, 288, 312, 313, 
 318, 319, 321. 
 
 Christian union, conference on, at Lexington, 230 ; as a 
 recent problem, 324-337 ; Richmond conference on, 
 .325. 326; 
 Christian University, 293. 
 
 Christian Women's Board of Missions, 264-267. 
 
 Church Extension, Board of, 271, 372. 
 
 College of the Bible, 293. 
 
 Collis, Mark, 303. 
 
 Columbia Bible College, 311. 
 
 Combs, G. H., 303. 
 
 Congress of the Disciples, 324. 
 
 Controversy, missionary society, 240-246 ; slavery, 246- 
 
 350 ; organ, 250-253. 
 Coombs, J. v., 283. 
 Cotner University, 294. 
 Craig, W. B., 303. 
 Cramblett, T. E., 303. 
 Creath, Jacob, Sr., 138. 
 
 Darsie, George, 282. 
 Darst, E. W., 303. 
 
 Declaration and Address, 45, 46, 49-58. 
 
 Disciples, growth of the, 299, 300 ; in the United States, 
 
 299-301 ; in foreign countries, 301 ; in the cities, 
 
 301, 302. 
 Disciples' Divinity House, 310, 
 
 Disciples of Christ, The, the name, 185 ; origin as a 
 separate party, 212; parties among, 233, 253. 
 
 Dover Association, resolutions of, against Reformers, 
 164. 
 
 Drake, General F. M., 226. 
 
342 
 
 Index 
 
 Drake University, 226, 293. 
 Duiigan, D. R., 298, 329. 
 
 Education, Board of, 276. 
 
 Education, 291-299; as a recent problem, 307-312. 
 
 England, beginnings of the reformation in, 226. 
 
 Errett, Isaac, 215, 252, 255-258, 265, 268, 281, 284, 
 
 287, 329. 
 Erskine, Ebenezer, 22. 
 Eugene Divinity School, 311. 
 Eureka College, 223, 293. 
 Evangelization, Bureau of, 263. 
 
 Evangelism, method of, 279 ; success of, 280 ; influence 
 of, upon the literature of the Disciples, 284 ; influ- 
 ence upon doctrine and life, 285 ; a new, 305, 306. 
 
 Everest, H, W., 297. 
 
 Ewing, Greville, 30, 62. 
 
 Fall, P. S., 129, 218. 
 
 Foreign Christian Missionary Society, 268-270. 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 221 ; opposes missionary society, 
 244, 245, 250, 251, 262. 
 
 Gano, J. A., 207, 208. 
 Garfield, James A., 297. 
 
 Garrison, J, H., 284, 287, 289, 290, 314, 329, 332. 
 
 Garrison, W. E., 308, 309. 
 
 Garvin, H. C, controversy concerning, 316. 
 
 Gilbert, A. N., 282. 
 
 Glas, John, 27. 
 
 Goodwin, Elijah, 221, 262. 
 
 Graham, Robert, 252, 297. 
 
 Green, A. B., 215. 
 
 Green, F. M., 268. 
 
 Haldane, James A., and Robert, 29-31. 
 Haley, J. J., 282, 314. 
 Haley, T. P., 248, 281. 
 Hall, Jabez, 282. 
 
Index 
 
 343 
 
 Harlow, W. E., 283. 
 
 Hartzel, Jonas, 215. 
 Harvuot, A. M., 303, 307. 
 Hayden, A. S., 281. 
 Hayden, William, 189, 215. 
 Henderson, D. P., 222, 281. 
 Henry, John, 188. 
 Heresy Trials, 322. 
 Hinsdale, B. A., 297. 
 Hiram College, 217, 293. 
 Hobbs, A. I., 268, 282. 
 Hopson, W, H., 252, 281. 
 Hoshour, S. K., 221, 296. 
 
 Illinois, beginnings of the reformation in, 221, 222. 
 Immersion, as a test of fellowship, 90, 124. 
 Iowa, beginnings of the reformation in, 225. * 
 
 Jameson, L. H., 221. 
 Jenkins, B. A., 308, 309. 
 
 Jeter, J. B., 325 ; his work on Canipbellism Examined^ 
 326. 
 
 Johnson, B. W,, 289. 
 
 Johnson, J. T., 138, 200, 218, 220, 230, 262. 
 Jones, J, H., 215. 
 Journalism, 285-291. 
 
 Kentucky, beginnings of the reformation in, 217-220. 
 Kentucky University, 220, 293. 
 King, Joseph, 281. 
 Knox, John, 18. 
 
 Lamar, J. S., 268, 281, 284. 
 
 Lard, Moses E., 252; his book on A Review of Camp- 
 
 bellism Exammed, 326. 
 Loos, C. L., 268, 299, 329. 
 Louisville church, 131, 132, 
 Lucas, D. R., 282. 
 
344 
 
 Index 
 
 Maccalla, W. L, ii6. 
 
 Mahoning Association, The, 123, 138, 173, 191. 
 Mathes, J. M., 221, 262. 
 Matthews, R. T., 282. 
 McBride, Thomas, 224. 
 McCash, I. X., 303. 
 
 McGarvey, J. \V., 248, 252, 284, 298, 312, 313, 329. 
 
 McGready, James, 66, 72. 
 
 McLean, A., 268, 270. 
 
 Millennial Harbinger, origin of, 183-185. 
 
 Milligan, Robert, 284, 296. 
 
 Ministerial Relief, Board of, 273, 274. 
 
 Missouri, beginnings of the reformation in, 224. 
 
 Moftett, Robert, 268, 271. 
 
 Moore, W. T., 268, 281, 284. 
 
 Morgan, Carey E., 303. 
 
 Mormonism, connection with the Disciples, 215, 2l6. 
 Moss, J. J., 215, 217. 
 Muckley, G. W., 271, 321. 
 
 Negro Evangelization and Education, Board of, 275. 
 Northcutt, H. A., 283. 
 
 Ohio, beginnings of the reformation in, 214. 
 O'Kane, John, 221, 262. 
 Oskaloosa College, 226, 293. 
 
 Pendleton, W. K., 262, 295, 325. 
 Philputt, A. B., 303. 
 Philputt, J, M., 303. 
 Pinkerton, L. L., 250, 362, 281. 
 Powell, E. L., 303. 
 Powers, F. D., 282, 284. 
 
 Primitive Christianity, the authority of, 41 ; as a prin- 
 ciple of Christian unity, 41, 60; missions, an essen- 
 tial element of, 236-238. 
 
 Proctor, Alexander, 281. 
 
 Protestant Episcopal Church, the Memorial Movement 
 327 ; Quadrilateral Basis of union of, 328. 
 
Index 
 
 345 
 
 Radford, B. J., 298, 329. 
 Raines, Aylett, 218. 
 
 Redstone Association, 10 1 ; opposition in, to Campbell, 
 
 104, 105, 138; action of, against Reformers, 160. 
 Reformers and Baptists, differences between, 169-173. 
 Richardson, Robert, 217, 284, 295, 
 Richardson, W. F., 302. 
 Rogers, John, 202, 205, 206, 218, 219. 
 Rogers, Samuel, 204, 205, 224. 
 Rowlison, C. C, 308, 309. 
 
 Sandeman, Robert, 28. 
 
 Scott, Walter, evangelist of Mahoning Association, 141- 
 144; the preaching of, 144-149, 193, 211, 215,217, 
 262, 277. 
 
 Scotland, the Reformation in, 17 ; patronage in the 
 
 church of, 19-21. 
 Scoville, Charles Reign, 283. 
 
 Scriptures, the authority of, 40-58 ; the interpretation 
 
 of, 235, 236, 255. 
 Seceder church, origin of, 17-23 ; narrowness of, 23-26 ; 
 
 division of, into Burghers and Anti-Burghers, 24 ; 
 
 Old Lights and New Lights, 25 ; in America, 34, 35. 
 Semple, Robert, 120, 164, 165. 
 Sermon on the Law, lo2. 
 Shaw, Knowles, 283. 
 Shepherd, Silas E., 296. 
 Smith, B. L,, 263, 321. 
 Smith, C. C, 275. 
 Smith, J. H. O., 283. 
 
 Smith, John, 132-137, 200, 202, 2l8, 219. 
 
 Smithers, A. C, 303. 
 Spencer, L J,, 282, 303. 
 
 Springfield Presbytery, 74; Last Will and Testament 
 of. 75- 
 
 Stone, Barton W., birth, 64 ; education, 66 ; conversion, 
 66-68 ; theological difficulties, 70, 7 1 ; doctrinal 
 beliefs, 73-76; withdrawal from Presbyterian 
 Church, 74; immersion, 77, 191, 222. 
 
346 
 
 Index 
 
 Sweeney, J. S., 281. 
 
 Tate's Creek Association, action of, against Reform- 
 ers, 162, 163, 
 Texas Christian University, 294. 
 Trible, J. M., 282. 
 Tyler, B. B., 268, 282, 284, 303. 
 Tyler, J. Z., 282, 303. 
 Tyrrell, F. G., 303. 
 
 Updike, J. V., 283. 
 
 Van Kirk, Hiram, 308, 309 ; controversy concerning, 
 319, 320. 
 
 Walk, David, 281. 
 Walker, John, 31. 
 Walker, John, debate with, 106. 
 Wilkes, L. B., 281. 
 
 Willett, H. L., 266, 308, 309,311; controversy concern- 
 ing, 317, 332, 
 Wilson, Allen, 283. 
 
 Yearly Meetings, origin of, 181, 182, 217, 218. 
 Young, C. A., 266, 308. 
 
THE STORY OF THE CHURCHES 
 
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 Dr. Vedder is an authority on American Church 
 History and a specialist in the history of 
 the Baptists. He has a sprightly but vig- 
 orous style, and a manner of expressing his 
 ideas which is pleasing in its clearness and 
 brevity. 
 
 The Baker & Taylor Co., Publishers 
 
 33-37 East 17th St., Union Sq. North, New York 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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