The Reformation of the Nineteenth Century A SERIES OF HISTORICAI. SKETCHES Dealing witb tbe Vi6c nnt> iprogress of tbe VcliQious /R>ov>cment ITnauaurateD t>B ITbomae anO HlexanDer Campbell from its Origin to tbe Cloee of tbe "Winetcentb Century EDITED BY J. H. ' GARRISON ST. LOUIS CHRISTIAN PUBLISHLNG COMPANY Copyrighted, 1901, by CHRISTIAN PUBI^ISHING COMPANY CONTENTS. PAGK INTRODUCTION . 7 INTRODUCTORY PERIOD. I. The Beginning 17 II. The Appeal to the Synod 25 III. An Important Rule Adopted .... 33 rV, Declaration and Address .... 41 V. Campbell's Connection with the Baptists . 50 VI. Alexander Campbell and His Co-laborers . 63 VII. Alexander Campbell and His Co-laborers — Concluded 71 VIII. The Union Principle Applied — Union with the "Christian" Reformers .... 83 IX. The First National Convention Held in Cincin- nati, October, 1849— the Call ... 101 X. Meeting and Organization of the Convention — It Begins Its Work .... 107 XI. The Formation of the Missionary Society . 114 PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION. I. The First Mission Field . . . . . 127 II. The First Foreign Missionary .... 134 III. Our First Missionary and His Work . . 140 IV. Education in the Decade Beginning with 1850 153 (3) 4 Contents PACK THE TURBULENT PERIOD. I. Civil War and the Christian Churches . . 161 II. Controversial Questions Ab Intra . . . 187 III. The Birth of Heresy-Hunting — New Questions 196 IV. An Important Crisis Reached . . . . 209 V. The Dawn of Literature Among the Disciples 217 VI. Necrology 228 VII. Recapitulatory Survey 263 THE TRANSITION PERIOD. I. A General View of the Situation . . . 271 II. The Music Controversy 279 III. The Society Controversy 288 IV. "The Louisville Plan" 296 V. The Growth of a Progressive Spirit . . 306 PERIOD OF REVIVAL OF HOME MISSIONS. I. Introduction 317 II. The Expansion of Our Missionary Work . 332 III. The Results of the Years .... 347 IV. Christian Union in Our National Conventions 357 THE PERIOD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. I. The Organization of the Foreign Christian Mis- sionary Society 377 II. The First Missions 388 III. India 402 IV. Japan 415 Contents 5 PAGE V. China and Africa . . ' , » . . 425 VI. Conclusion .... o 440 PERIOD OF WOMAN'S WORK. The Christian Woman's Board of Missions . 455 LESSONS FROM OUR PAST 491 INTRODUCTION. The religious reformation inaugurated by Thomas and Alexander Campbell in western Pennsylvania in 1809, and which subsequently received as a tribu- tary part of the movement begun by Barton W. Stone of Kentucky about the year 1801, has now attained dimensions and standing which make it certain that it is to rank high among the religious forces of this country. Conscious of a high mission, inspired by dauntless hope, and increasing in num- bers at a ratio far in excess of older religious bodies, it is destined, during the century upon which we have entered, to become one of the chief factors in molding the religious thought and life of the people of this and other countries. In proportion as any religious movement becomes a potent force in af- fecting the welfare of mankind, its early history becomes interesting and important. This is espe- cially true of the very beginnings of its history where those influences which have molded its char- acter are most clearly seen. It is due to the world no less than to the heroic men who were chief actors in such a movement, that the motives which in- spired them, the principles which guided them, and the forces which opposed them, together with the results of this conflict, should be set down accu- (7) 8 Introduction rately for the information and benefit of those who are to come after us. If the writer did not most profoundly believe that this effort to restore the essential features of the New Testament Church, and the Christianity of Christ was one of those providential movements designed by God to correct existing evils in the church, and to purify religion from its corruptions that the Gospel may run and be glorified in the earth, then he would feel but slight interest compar- atively in its history and achievements. But recog- nizing, as we do, the hand of God in the origin and development of this remarkable movement of the nineteenth century, we feel that we are rendering an important service to the present and to the future, in putting on record the causes which gave birth to it, and the influences which by action and reaction have made it what it is. If God be immanent in human affairs, teaching his lessons to men by means of history, then the faithful historian fulfills an im- portant function in the education of mankind. This is pre-eminently true of that kind of history which deals with the highest and most enduring interests of men — the struggles of the human mind and heart to know God, and to understand his will concerning us. Considerations like these have influenced the editor of this work in planning this series of histor- ical sketches covering the ninety years of our history as a religious movement. It was felt to be import- hitrodiiction 9 ant that such a history should be written while many of the men are yet living whose lives span the larger part of this history, and whose memories reach back to the men who were the chief actors in the early scenes of the Reformation, and who did most to give to the movement its direction and char- acter. It is a matter for congratulation that the earliest chapters of this volume have been written by one who was personally and intimately ac- quainted with the fathers of this movement, and who was ao associated with them in their work as to have an accurate knowledge of those motives and aims which inspired them, and of those principles which guided them in all their religious work. The same may be said of some of the other writers of these earlier chapters. It may be said of them what another historian has said of himself, that they have written history, all of which they knew and part of which they were. It is safe to say that no volume of history in ex- istence contains so much information concerning the rise and progress of the Reformation of the nine- teenth century as this volume which is now offered to the public. No history of this Reformation which may be written in later years will contain so much direct information by men who were them- selves participants in the scenes which they describe, as is presented in this volume. For this reason this work must always hold a unique place in the histor- ical records of this Reformation. The fact here lO Introdtiction mentioned will be appreciated far more by those who live at the end of the twentieth century than by those who are living now. These early memo- rials by men who were eye and ear witnesses of the stirring scenes in the formative period of this move- ment, will become very precious to the students and historians of this Reformation of the Nineteenth Century, in that distant future. For their benefit, no less than for the benefit of those now living, has this volume been prepared. One thing more we may be permitted to say by way of introduction. It is of the very greatest im- portance to the successful ongoing of this remark- able movement in religious history that the younger generation, now coming upon the stage of action, should become thoroughly acquainted with the spirit which animated, and the principles which controlled the men who, under God, gave the primary impulse to this restoration movement. They should become familiar with the conflicts of those early days and with the sacrifices made by those heroic men and women who loved truth more than popularity, more than ease, more than w^ealth, more even than friends and family ties. It is only as we shall be able to perpetuate this love of truth, this freedom from the bondage of tradition and inherited opinions, that we shall be able to carry forward, successfully, the movement which they inaugurated. No doubt we shall have new issues to meet, new problems to solve and new battles to fight; but we shall need the Introduction II same dauntless heroism, the same faith in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, the same zeal for truth and the same great underlying principles which characterized those who wrought in the begin- ning of the movement and who have transmitted to us the responsibility of carrying forward the work which they only began. If this volume which is now sent forth, shall serve to inspire the younger generation of workers who are to succeed us with the same passion for the pure Christianity of Christ, with the same zeal for a united church, with the same spirit of loyalty to Christ and of freedom in Christ, which marked the beginnings of this reform- ation, and it shall serve the further purpose of con- veying to generations yet unborn the testimony of men who were themselves actors in many of the thrilling events and triumphs of those early days, and if thus the kingdom of God may be advanced and the unity of his people promoted, the purpose alike of the editor, the writers and the publishers shall have been fulfilled. J. H. Garrison. Rose Hill, St. Louis, January, 1901. Reformation of the Nineteenth Century Introductory Period CHAS. lyOriS LOOS INTRODUCTORY PERIOD I. THE BEGINNING. The beginning of this American reformation, wHcli finally developed into a clearly determined enterprise for the complete repristination of the Church, in doctrine, institutions and life, is in many respects so extraordinary that it impresses on us throughout its entire progress, with singular force, the conviction that the hand of God in a very notable manner directed it. Its entire history con- stitutes, in fact, the most remarkable chapter in the religious annals of this country. In studying the events and the incidents of these introductory years, and the persons who prominently figured in them, a strong temptation comes upon us to pause at every step and enlarge thoughtfully on the particular facts tliat constitute, in an essential manner, the beginning of this extraordinary reform- atory movement. THOMAS CAMPBELL. An humble, but intellectually and spiritually rarely gifted minister of the rural Seceder parish of Ahorey, in the county of Armagh, Ireland, chiefly 2 (17) 1 8 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century because of failing health, determined to seek for himself and his family a home in the United States. Doubtless other motives also entered strongly into this purpose. He came alone, intending to send for his family as soon as he had established himself in the New World. He arrived in Philadelphia, May the 27th, 1807, being then in the forty-fourth year of his age. The Seceder Synod of North America was in session in this city when he landed. He at once presented his credentials to this body. He was cordially received, and at once assigned to the Pres- bytery of Chartiers in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The territory then embraced by this Presbytery is one of the most attractive, and for this man of God most fortunately chosen sections of our country. "His lines had fallen to him in pleasant places,'' and he found for himself and his family "a goodly heritage." The magnificent region of which Pitts- burgh is the great center, and of which Washington county constitutes one of the finest parts, was in that day, and yet is, a stronghold of Presbyterianism, in its various forms, in the United States. As a true servant of God, this remarkable man, as soon as he had become fixed in his new home, began in a very earnest way to exercise his ministry as a member of the Presbytery of Chartiers, which embraced a number of counties. He had come to America as a zealous missionary of the Cross, filled with the love of souls — all souls, wherever he could find them. Already in Ireland, through various influences, he had learned to cherish a liberal relig- ious spirit, to esteem as of little value the barriers of Introductory Period 19 denominationalism that separate Christians; and his own natural generosity and kindliness of heart, as well as his clear intelligence and large and profound knowledge of the Bible, powerfully sustained this tendency in him. He brought this inestimable treasure with him to the New World. "STRAITNESS" OF THE SECEDER CHURCH. It is well known that the Seceders constitute one of the "straitest sects" of the Calvinistic faith. To this hour, in the very corner of Pennsylvania to which Thomas Campbell had come, as well as else- where, they will not affiliate in full fraternal fellow- ship with other Presbyterians. I well remember that in 1840 a Scotch Seceder minister, in eastern Ohio, would prepare his flock for the worthy partici- pation of the "Sacrament" with such words as these: "My brethren, I exhort you to abhor all other denominations, especially the Catholics." It was in the matter of the communion that the severe test of fellowship was applied. We can well imagine what would be the experi- ence of such a man as Thomas Campbell amid such surroundings. He had come to America with his heart filled with a burning zeal to labor in the Lord's vineyard, and in largest charity for all God's people, while still maintaining sincerely and fully his relations to his particular communion. He believed — we know this of him — that in this freest land men's hearts — those of all enlightened Chris- tians, and above all of the ministry — would neces- Refor77iation of the Nineteenth Century sarily be emancipated from the unyielding sectarian prejudices and animosities of the Old World. While eminently prudent and peace-loving, he was a man of heroic temper. He would not temporize nor bow his neck to the tyrannous dictates of human tradi- tions or human policy. This brave spirit he had already shown in his early youth, when he decided from conviction not to follow the religion of his father, who was attached to the Church of England, and preferred, as he used to say, '*to worship God according to Act of Parliament.'' "The lyaw of the IvOrd," in the word and spirit of the Gospel, which is "the Law of Liberty," was Thomas Campbell's supreme rule of life. CONFLICT WITH THE TRADITIONS OF THE CHURCH. It is proper now to unfold the historical develop- ment of the events which led to the final crisis that inaugurated actually and in a formal manner the reformatory movement of the Campbells. Thomas Campbell, as already stated, began his ministerial activity as a member of the Seceder body and among the Seceder congregations. These were not very numerous nor very large within the limits of the Chartiers Presbytery; the power of expansive growth was not in them, as their history in America demonstrates. The new Irish minister at once gained a wide and strong influence. His natural ability, his scholarship and literary culture, made him much superior to the preachers in that region in those days; and his deep religious fervor and zeal, and his rare courtesy of manners, won the hearts of Introductory Period 21 the people. With his large intelligence and broad Christian charity he could not and did not respect, in his labors as a servant of the Lord, the narrow spirit and strict, illiberal rules and habits of the Seceder Church. Besides, as a special motive for the enlargement of his ministerial sympathies, he had providentially found near him in his new home a number of excellent Christian people who had come over from Ireland, Presbyterians and Inde- pendents, some of whom had been his acquaintances and cherished friends in his native land. These at once gathered around him, and he promptly took them to his heart in his ministrations as Christian brethren. This sort of freedom, however, was not in consonance with "the usages" of the Seceders. But he took a step which went even farther than this, and thus in a very decided manner transgressed the established custom of his Church. He was sent on a missionary tour with a young colleague, a Mr. Wilson, beyond Pittsburgh, up the Allegheny valley, to hold a celebration, of the Sacra- ment among the scattered Seceders of that then sparsely settled region. He found there many mem- bers of other Presbyterian bodies who had not for a long time enjoyed the privilege of these by them so highly cherished occasions. His heart urged him to deplore in his introductory sermon the existing divisions among Christians, and to invite all the pious among his hearers, who were prepared for it, to unite in the participation of this sacred feast of God's people; and many accepted the invitation. This was a bold infraction of Seceder custom. The 22 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century great body of American Presbyterians are free from sucb illiberality. Nothing, perhaps, sets forth in such a repulsive form the odiousness of sectarianism as this uncharitable exclusiveness of the Seceders even towards their fellow Presbyterians. The mind of Thomas Campbell, in its large intelligence, as well as his heart in its generous Christian charity, could have no fellowship with such intolerable bigotry. Mr. Wilson, during this journey with Thomas Campbell, soon discovered in his conversations with him that he had but little regard for sectarian differ- ences and prejudices. At that time, as is well known, denominational distinctions were much more tenaciously insisted on, and the prejudices engen- dered by them more intense, than to-day. Mr. Wilson became convinced that his senior brother was not "sound" in the Seceder faith. His conduct in inviting those not of this Church to partake of the communion was an overt act of extreme trans- gression that could not be overlooked. He made no objection at the time this grave offense was com- mitted- He felt it his duty, however, to bring the matter before the Presbytery at its next meeting. The charge contained several complaints; but the principal one was this public act in regard to the communion. It recited, moreover, that Thomas Campbell had expressed his disapprobation of things in the "Standards," and of the practical application of them. The Presbytery, already much dissatisfied with Thomas Campbell's liberal course, readily took up Introductory Period 23 the complaints in Mr. Wilson's charge. But they had before them a man who, although ever remark- ably inclined to peace and warmly attached to his Church, would nevertheless not yield to any human authority against his convictions in matters of seri- ous importance. The present was a decisive moment in his life, reaching in its effects far beyond what either he or his judges could dream of. Such crises make history. Thomas Campbell was a man of noble presence, revealing at once in all his bearing the man of God who would stand firm as a rock for truth and right, looking to God alone as his sovereign judge; to this many events in his life bear record. Such was the man with whom this Seceder tribunal, with its illiberal disposition and its traditional narrow, proscriptive standards, had now to deal. At the trial many searching questions were put to him, in order to bring out fully his attitude in his views to the Church. He answered these, as was natural to him, in a candid, but prudent and even conciliatory spirit and language, being desirous to avoid disturbing his friendly relations with his brethren, above all a rupture with the Church, a thing never contemplated by him and that would have been most revolting to his mind. He bravely maintained, however, that he had in no respect • transgressed the Word of God; this was the supreme question with him. But the Presbytery could not appreciate this, the highest law of the human soul; they decided that he deserved censure for not respecting the "Seceder Testimony." 24 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century Thomas Campbell was not the man to submit passively to what he regarded a great wrong, espe- cially as it affected the liberty of the Gospel in his ministerial usefulness, and the privileges of the saints in the house of God; these were points of vital importance with him. He therefore appealed to the highest tribunal of the Church, the Synod of North America, hoping that there greater wisdom and intelligence, and a higher regard for the law of the Word of God would be found, and consequently larger liberty and justice prevail. He had yet to learn how far in this free Christian land the Church stood from the primitive order in its doctrine, habits and life; how extreme yet was, as in the days of Jesus in Palestine, the tyrannous dominion of human traditions over the souls of men, and how com- pletely these had made void the law of God. The scene of this trial in the humble Seceder meeting-house in Western Pennsylvania is worthy of immortality. This man of God, though a stranger and alone in a foreign land, removed more than a thousand leagues from home and family, did ' not look to the future; he knew not "what awaited him.'' He could not then understand how far- reaching and mighty, in God's purpose, would be the consequences of his action that day. The only question with him was. What is right? the results he left to God. But this is the sort of men that, in • the divine judgment, like the Hebrew prophets of ancient times, are worthy in these later days to lead the people of God back to the old apostolic paths. II. THE APPEAL TO THE SYNOD. As ALREADY Stated, Thomas Campbell appealed from the decision of the Chartiers Presbytery to the Seceder Synod of North America, the highest court of the Church. Like all men of large minds and generous hearts^ he had confidence in the enlight- ened and God-fearing of his brethren; he judged others by himself, as is natural for men. He was yet to learn the most painful lesson of his life. But this experience was necessary to open his eyes; by it the hand of God was to lead him, step by step, into the path destined for him — that of the reformer who should strive to free the people of God from the bondage of human traditions, and lead them back into the full light and liberty of the apostolic faith and life. But while not without hopes of a just action on the part of the Synod, he had already come to know that the sectarian prejudices and passions of many of his ministerial brethren, mingled also, as he could not have failed to see, with feelings of jealousy, were arrayed against him; so that he had much reason to believe that their influence would be used against him in the Synod. He therefore addressed an appeal to this body, in which he set forth in clear, earnest and strong words his position involved in the charges on which the Presbytery had decided (25) 26 Reformation of the Nijteteeitth Century against him. He knew that an unfavorable judg- ment of this supreme ecclesiastical court would end in his separation from the Seceder Church; for he was resolved not to yield to what he believed to be, in matters of the highest moment, contrary to the Word of God. This appeal is of great historical value to us, and deserves attentive study.* "How great the injustice," he exclaims in this appeal, "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 all his people! Or have I, in any instance, proposed to say or do otherwise?" "I hope it is no presumption to believe that saying and doing the very same things that are said and done before our eyes on the sacred page, is infallibly right, as well as all-sufficient for the edifi- cation of the Church, whose duty and perfection is in all things to be conformed to the original stand- ard. It is, therefore, because I have no confidence in my own infallibility or in that of others, that I absolutely refuse, as inadmissible and schismatic, the introduction of human opinions and human inventions into the faith and worship of the Church. It is, 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 corrupted and divided it, that the *We can cite only a part of this admirable document, which is given in full in Dr. Richardson's Life of A. Campbell. Introductory Period 27 brethren of the Union should feel it difficult to admit me as their fellow-laborer in that blessed work? I sincerely rejoice with them in what they have done; and surely they have no just objection to go farther. Nor do I presume to dictate to them or to others 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 that sure and peaceable ground, that I may have nothing to do with human controversy about the right or wrong side of any opinion what- soever, by simply acquiescing in what is written, as quite sufficient for every purpose of faith and duty, and thereby to influence as many as possible to depart from human controversy, to betake them- selves to the Scriptures, and, in so doing, to the study and practice of faith, holiness and love." From the passages here quoted, the reader will see that the argument to the Synod was calm and even conciliatory in temper and language, but was made with eloquent earnestness and power. In this Appeal are contained, in full expression, the princi- ples that have become the motive and foundation of our reformatory plea. It brings us, with the judg- ment of the Synod, and Thomas CampbelPs action in consequence of it, to the decisive moment in his life that led to the reformation which has developed into so great a history. Let us study briefly this memorable document. First of all, and chief, it is notable how Thomas Campbell asserts, with striking clearness and force, the great principle which became the battle-cry of 28 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century our plea for reform, viz., that only what is certainly of divine authority is to control the faith and con- duct of the Church; that "saying and doing the same things that are said and done before our eyes on the sacred page" — i. e., evidently^ on its very surface — "is infallibly right, as well as all-sufficient for the edification of the Church;" that "nothing is obligatory upon us," nor have we a right "to impose anything upon others, but that for which we can produce a 'Thus saith the Lord.' " That, in conse- quence, we should hold "as absolutely inadmissible and schismatic the introduction of human opinions and inventions into the faith and worship of the Church." Furthermore, note how decidedly the Appeal declares that the apostolic Church should be the model for the Church to-day. In prominence, also, it sets forth the great thought that we must strive to rescue the Church from "the sinful and destructive" reign of schism, and re-establish its unity. With great intelligence Thomas Campbell insists upon this — that we should recognize the fact that "all is not yet done;" that the cause of God demands progress in reform and regeneration — the very thing which creeds, in their purpose, doctrine and spirit deny. Finally, let it not be overlooked, for it is a matter of the utmost moment, that this brave man — a reformer unconsciously — claims for himself and demands for others the right to recog- nize those differing from him as Christians, and to cultivate, as far as possible, fellowship and union with them. This, in fact, was a capital matter with him in all his conduct; it was really the cause and Introductory Period 29 ground of his contention with the Presbytery and Synod, hence of his becoming an apostolic reformer. How great a principle this has become with us, all who really understand our magnificent plea of reform and its history well know; it has always been fundamental with the intelligent of our leaders. It is most refreshing to see how this brave man of God, standing alone as he did, expresses himself in words that bring back to us the mighty voices of the great Protestant Reformers. ' ' Your standard in- forms me of your views of truth and duty, and my declarations give you precisely the same advantage. You are willing to be tried in all matters by your standard, according to your printed declarations; / am willing to be tried on all matters by my stand- ard, according to my written declarations." A man, a stranger, a foreigner, alone in his position, so to address a National Synod, reveals a spirit of intelligence, courage and loyalty to God and his Word of the highest order; it makes clearly known to us the man who was to be a protagonist, a leader in a great religious reformation. What, moreover, places the crown of excellence on this eminent char- acter is the sincere, manly humility that throws its radiance over all his words and all his conduct. This so strongly marked trait in Thomas Campbell should be especially noted, since it is a quality essential to a true Christian reformer. Haughty self-sufficiency, obstinate self-assertion, wholly unfit a man for this great office; these vices are never found in God's chosen men — prophets, apostles and reformers; they are always adorned with humility. 30 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century THE ACTION OF THE SYNOD. Thomas Campbell, we think, felt that his appeal, resting so clearly and so firmly on absolute loyalty to the Word of God, and uttering principles so eminently noble and just, would call forth in that body a response worthy of it. In this he was mis- taken, and we cannot be surprised at this; for the appeal from first to last was wholly inconsonant with the entire structure and life of the Seceder Church. The Synod must at once have been con- vinced that Thomas Campbell could never find a permanent home in its communion. His judges were of an altogether different mold of thought from himself. They had been reared in and were fettered by the narrow traditions of their denomination, and, therefore, could neither understand nor sympathize with the mind that lived and moved in this grand Scotch-Irishman. As Luther, before the august imperial assembly at Worms, reverently and fer- vently appealed to the Word of God, but was con- demned by the ^'law of the Church,'^ so Thomas Campbell, with a holy zeal, invoked in his defense the Holy Scriptures; but his tribunal, repelling this argument, decided the case according to the tradi- tions of their Church. The proceedings of the Chartiers Presbytery in Mr. Campbell's case was in due form brought before the Synod, and then the Appeal was also read. The Synod decided relative to the former that "there were such informalities in the proceedings of the Presbytery in the trial in the case as to afford suffi- Introductory Period 31 cient reason to the Synod to set aside their judgment and decision, and to release the protestor from the censure inflicted by the Presbytery.** This reproof from the Synod sufficiently shows not only the * 'informality" of the action of the Presbytery, but also the insufficiency of the grounds urged by them for the condemnation of Mr. Camp- bell. Even the Synod could not justify their con- duct. This, however, did not end the matter. The whole case, with all the documents relating to the trial, were then referred to a special committee, which made the followiug report: ''Upon the whole, the committee are of the opinion that Mr. Campbell's answers to the two first articles of the charge are so evasive and unsatisfac- tory, and highly equivocal upon great and important articles of revealed religion, as to give ground to conclude that he has expressed sentiments very different upon these articles, and from the sentiments held and professed by this Church, and are sufficient grounds to infer censure." This report was approved; and, as is evident, the Synod, while it could not justify the method of the Presbytery, was determined to pass censure on Thomas Campbell's course, and so virtually sustain the spirit and purpose of the charges brought against him by his Presbytery. The hour had not yet come, nor is it yet to-day prevalent throughout Protestant Christendom, when all things in the Church are judged only and directly by the Word of God pure and simple, as the supreme 32 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century arbiter. But to this end the Church must at last come. When it will reach this goal we cannot say. The times, however, give conspicuous tokens that the mind and heart of Evangelical Christendom are turning more and more in this direction; and the current will become stronger and stronger and more manifest as time advances. Even the Church of Rome is not altogether dead to this mighty influence. III. AN IMPORTANT RULE ADOPTED. Unjust as Thomas Campbell felt the censure of the Synod to be, yet so strong was his love of peace and his desire to continue to live and labor with his brethren, that he submitted to it; on the condition, however, expressed in a written form to this tribunal, "that his submission should be understood to mean no more, on his part, than an act of defer- ence to the judgment of the court; that by so doing he might not give offense to his brethren by mani- festing a refractory spirit." This act on the part of Thomas Campbell should be well noted, as revealing the temper of the man which so well fitted him to be a true reformer, i. e., one not hasty, as an eager iconoclast, to overthrow the old and set up the new — a bad quality in religious, or any sort of reform — but wise, prudent, long-suffering, acting only on necessity and after maturest deliberation. Such men all great reformers have been. He now thought that he would be allowed to con- tinue his labors undisturbed among his ministerial brethren and in good-fellowship with the Church. This excellent man, as all his life revealed, was of an unsuspecting, generous disposition; this, as his- tory proves, is generally the quality of great souls. To his deep sorrow he soon learned that the secta- rian bitterness of the men who had arraigned him 3 (33) 34 Reformatioji of the Nineteenth Century before the courts of the Church had not only not ceased, but was becoming intenser. Ere long he was forced to the conclusion that he could no longer continue a minister of the Gospel in the Seceder Church. It was a very sore trial to him. But the hand of the Lord was "leading him in a way he knew not." As a heroic man of God, he resolved no longer to remain with a people who held their "Testimony" in higher esteem than the Word of God. He, therefore, presented to the Synod a formal renunciation of their control, and informed them that he now gave up "all ministerial connec- tion" with it, and held himself henceforth "utterly unaffected by its authority." That this final deci- sive step caused him much grief, we cannot for a moment doubt; but it is certain, also, that the freedom which it gave him, as a servant of God, must have been to him a genuine joy and the impartation of a strength of soul he never knew before. His ministerial labors suffered no relaxation. He had gained a wide and strong influence in the region of his home in Washington county. No meeting- house was at his command; but he held his assem- blies, after the pioneer fashion, in private dwellings, barns, schoolhouses, and under the green trees. Large numbers waited on his ministry. But he was a man of wisdom and order, and desired to labor for permanent results. He soon began to feel that the present form of his ministry, however blessed, could not bring forth the enduring results needed to build up the Church of God which the preacher of the Introductory Period 35 Gospel should strive for. He therefore determined to adopt what he believed to be the best course to promote the interests of his Master's cause. He saw that many of his hearers sincerely, some ardently, had accepted the principles he was advocating, and were constant in attendance on his ministry. He consequently proposed to them that they meet together and consult on the best method to give more order, definiteness and permanency to their efforts. This met with ready and general approba- tion. There were among his hearers a number of strong-minded and pious men and women, admirable material for action in such a crisis; most of these I came to know well in after years. The meeting was a very solemn occasion for all interested in the movement. Mr. Campbell, after the opening exercises, which with him were always peculiarly impressive, gave a clear exposition of the situation and of the objects of the present assem- bling. The events that had led to the calling of this meeting, well understood by all, had made a deep impression upon them. They sympathized thoroughly with the man who stood before them and who was leading them. While one spirit moved all present — the desire to see a good work inaugurated in behalf of Christian union, of freedom from human traditions, and of the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice in the Church — all had not yet arrived at equally clear views and fixed convictions on these great points. Thomas Campbell made a strong argument against sectarian divisions and in behalf of Christian union 36 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century on the Bible as the only infallible standard of doctrine and practice, to the rejection of all human traditions. He concluded by urging with great earnestness the adoption of these principles as the rule of their future action and life as a Christian association. *'That rule, my highly respected hearers," he said, ''is this: Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent." This declaration must have struck those present as novel and as n\omentous in its sweeping effect on the customs of the Church; it was brief and clear as an aphorism, in thought and form a bold maxim, suited to become the watchcry of religious reform; it has been so to us. It was so just that no one of the audience, prepared as they w^ere by previous teaching, could for a moment hesitate to accept it as right. These people could not fail at once to see the effect of this law on some of the most familiar and cherished practices of the Church, especially of the denominations to which most of them belonged — Presbyterians, Seceders and Independents. The great majority of the audience were ready, unhesitatingly, to give a hearty assent to this great declaration. But where will it lead us? was the troublous question with some. When the speaker had concluded, opportunity • was given for a free expression of views. There were a number of Scotchmen and Irishmen in the assembly, shrewd men who could readily see the beariug of the rule Mr. Campbell had proposed. The company were almost all, if not all, pedo- Introductory Period 37 baptists. Andrew Munro, a Scotch Seceder, and a man of intelligence, arose and said: ''Mr. Camp- bell, if we adopt that as a basis, then there is an end of infant baptism." It can easily be imagined what an effect this remark had upon the audience; for pedo-baptism is the most cherished institution of the old Protestant churches. ''Of course," answered Thomas Campbell, "if infant baptism be not found in the Scriptures, we can have nothing to do with it." This bold declaration, revealing the spirit of this brave man, and foreshadowing already the ground in regard to the institution which was in such a distinguished way to characterize the reform- ation Thomas Campbell was now unconsciously inaugurating, came like a new revelation to the minds of the audience. Thomas Acheson, one of the preacher's warmest friends, in an excited man- ner arose and said, "I hope I may never see the day when my heart will renounce the blessed saying of the Scripture, 'Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God.' " He burst into tears and was about to leave the room, when James Foster, a bold Irish Independent, well- versed in the Scriptures, and whom in later years I learned to know very well, called out, "Mr. Acheson, I would remark that in the Scripture you have quoted there is no reference whatever to baptism." This new turn of things, so unexpected to these pedo-baptists — we do not know that a single Baptist was present; there were but few in that region — did not lessen their confidence in the position they had 38 Reformation of the Nmeteeitth Century taken, or in the man who was leading them onward. At the end of the conference, the great principle Mr. Campbell had announced was adopted without any real opposition. It would have been difficult for these Protestants to object to a profession so loyal to God and so impregnably founded in the Holy Scripture. The principle, so universal in its application, and its controlling authority in all things that concern the faith and practice of the Christian Church, that "Where the Scriptures speak we speak, where it is silent we are silent," became henceforth the watch- word and directive law of action in the reformation these people were inaugurating. Some of those who first stood by Thomas Campbell, when they saw more clearly the inevitable logical result of the great principle now adopted, one after another broke off all connection with these reformers. The primary object proclaimed by Thomas Camp- bell, viz., the promotion of Christian union on the Bible alone, was the guiding star of this new move- ment. The company of people who had now heartily entered into it soon began to feel that, in order to carry out with successful effect their pur- pose, they must organize themselves into a well- ordered permanent association. At a meeting held on the headwaters of Buffalo Creek, on the 17th of August, 1809, it was decided that they would formally unite themselves into a regular body, under the name of "The Christian Association of Wash- ington"— the place being in Washington county. This act and this date may be regarded as the actual hitroditctory Period 39 beginning of our reformation in an organized form. It was now thought proper to erect a meeting- house for the regular assembling of the association. The neighbors, as was customary in those times, all moved by good will for the excellent man and his purposes, as well as for his associates, assembled and erected a log building, about three miles from Mount Pleasant, in Washington county, that could serve for a meeting-house and also for a schoolhouse. So fittingly simple was the first church-building reared in the interest of the reformatory effort in behalf of the restoration of apostolic Christianity, by the voluntary co-operation of a rural people. No ecclesiastical aspirations, no sectarian ambition, no party purposes or name, entered into the erection of this humble edifice. The name and cause of Christ alone prompted and sanctified the act of these honest souls. May it ever be so with every house erected for the worship and preaching of the people who strive to restore among men the ancient gospel and order of things! Near by, in the house of Mr. Welch, a worthy farm- er who was a friend of the association, Mr. Campbell had his hospitable home. Here he had a little room upstairs, where he spent his leisure time in quiet study, for he was a scholarly, studious man; and in the extraordinary circumstances in which he now found himself, he felt that he needed these days of undisturbed retirement, to prepare himself to meet, in wisdom and the fear of God, the crisis through which he and those united with him were passing. It had been decided that a declaration should be 40 ' Reformation of the Nmeteeitth Century made to the public, setting forth clearly and fully the character and purposes of the association. In the ''prophet's chamber," at Mr. Welch's house, Thomas Campbell now wrote the Declaration and Address^ which became so famous in the early his- tory of our reformation. When he had finished it he laid it before a special meeting of the association, by which it was unanimously approved and ordered to be published, September 7, 1809. It is impossible, with the limited space necessarily allowed to these chapters, to give more than the briefest outline of this remarkable document. This will be done in the next chapter. IV. DECI.ARATION AND ADDRESS. The Declaration and Address is, in its substance and spirit, as well as in its vigorous and scholarly style, the most notable historical document of the initiatory period of our reformatory movement. It is worthy of the perpetual remembrance and diligent study of our people. It, and the Appeal to the Synod, prove to us that this great enterprise to restore in spirit and form, in doctrine and life, apos- tolic Christianity, was conceived and projected in its principles by Thomas Campbell, in remarkable com- pleteness and clearness, before his son Alexander had yet reached the shores of this Western world. It is proper, therefore, that the essential principles set forth in the Declaration and Address should be here noted. The admirable introduction setting forth and de- ploring the existing distracted state of the Church, concludes with these words: ^'Our desire, therefore, for ourselves and our brethren would be, that, rejecting human opin- ions and the inventions of men as of any authority, or as having any place in the Church of God, we might forever cease from further contentions about such things, returning to and holding fast by the original standard, taking the Divine Word alone for our rule, the Holy Spirit for (40 42 ■ Reformatio}! of the Nineteenth Centtcry our teacher and guide to lead us into all truth, and Christ alone, as exhibited in the Word, for our sal- vation; and 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. Impressed with these sentiments we have resolved as follows: * * * . . . That we form ourselves into a religious association under the denomination of The Christian Association of Washington^ for the sole purpose of promoting simple evangelical Christianity, free from all mixture of human opinions and inventions of men. . . . That this Society by no means consid- ers itself a Church, nor does it at all assume to itself the powers peculiar to such a society." But we unite merely as voluntary advocates of Church reforma- tion, and as possessing the powers common to all in- dividuals who may please to associate, in a peaceful and orderly manner, for any lawful purpose — namely the disposal of their time, counsel and property as they may see cause. It is evident from these resolutions that this peo- ple did not propose to organize a new ecclesiastical body; their effort was altogether tentative; they did not foresee the end to which their action would finally lead. Thus far this movement had progressed when Alexander Campbell arrived with the family from Ireland, September 29, 1809. * Our limits allow us to cite only the leading parts of these resolutions. Introductory Period 43 ALEXANDER CAMPBELL JOINS HIS FATHER IN HIS REFORMATORY EFFORT. Thomas Campbell, after the reunion of the family in the New World, at once, as a matter of the first concern with him, gave a full detail of the events already related to his son Alexander, and desired especially that he should read and consider the Dec- laration and Address which was now in the hands of the printer. This Alexander did; and he at once heartily approved of his father's course, and of the principles advocated by him. A new world of thought and life was opened to him. His experi- ence in Ireland and Scotland had well prepared him for this; the spirit of the reformer was already in him. The mighty purpose of a thorough religious reformation, such as was outlined in his father's de- fense before the Synod and in the Address, now took complete possession of his soul. From that day forth the son and the father — these two remarkable men — were one in the work to which God had so sig- nally called them. The Son was needed to execute, with his extraordinary power of mind and spirit, the enterprise inaugurated in great wisdom by the father. No one could have been more competent to under- stand his father and so prompt to sympathize and co-operate with him. Alexander Campbell at once, although in a very unpretending way, began by voice and pen to advo- cate the proposed religious reform. He felt, and so declared, that this was to be the mission of his life. A lawyer of Pittsburgh, Mr. Mountain, who had 44 Reformation of tJie Nineteenth Century become acquainted with him, recognizing his un- usual ability, proposed to him to take charge of an academy in that city with a salary of $i,ooo — a large sum for that day. He declined the offer, stat- ing that he felt it his duty from henceforth to give his entire life, under God, to the furtherance of the reformation his father had begun. This act becomes the more significant with this young man, when it is understood that the family w^as poor, and that he as the oldest son was now, as he had been in Ireland, next to the father its mainstay. Thomas Campbell, delighted with his son's noble determination, now urged him, in order that he might prepare himself well for the great work before him, "to free himself from all secular concern; to retire to his chamber, to take up the Divine Book and make it the subject of his study for at least six months.'' Such facts as these in the lives of these two men, must not be forgotten. They show the spirit of wisdom, of piety and devotion to divine truth that impelled and directed the originators of our reformation. From this time forth father and son gave them- selves with great zeal to the cause which they had espoused. They preached in private houses, in schoolhouses, in barns, under the green trees — wher- ever a door was opened to them — and with power. The youthful Alexander soon attracted public attention by his unusual ability as a speaker. The first year he preached one hundred and six sermons. His first discourse was delivered July 15, 1810. The field of the ministry of the Campbells was at Introductory Period 45 this time still chiefly Washington county, Pennsyl- vania; but it extended also to the neighboring regions of Pennsylvania, to Western Virginia and Ohio. BRUSH RUN MEETING HOUSE BUILT. Ere long the Christian Association began to feel the need of a regular place of meeting of their own. They selected a site on Brush Run near its junction with Buffalo Creek. Before the house was erected a meeting was held near the ground, September i6, 1810, and from a stand under a wide-spreading tree, Alexander, at the request of the Association, deliv- ered a discourse. The text, chosen with reference to the occasion, was the seventh verse of the eighth chapter of Job, "Though thy beginning was small, thy latter end should greatly increase." This be- ginning was indeed small; the Brush Run congre- gation numbered only about thirty members. The text and the sermon, however, revealed the strong faith of these heroic men in their enterprise, which they believed was of God; they were a prophecy that has been wonderfully fulfilled. The little val- iant company under the green tree on the banks of Brush Run has now become a mighty host of more than a million, still holding fast to the same great purposes and the same convictions which were pro- claimed on that day by the ardent young reformer. Alexander Campbell's influence as a preacher and also as a writer was increasing every day, even with those who did not sympathize with the cause he was 46 Reformatio?! of the Nineteenth Century pleading. Men could not but lend a willing and gratified ear to a preacher of such power. They were forced to honor his bold plea for Christian union, for the Bible alone as against human creeds, and for the liberation of the souls of men from the bondage of "the traditions of men." And his pow- erful method of argument, his wonderful familiarity with the Scriptures, the freedom of his style from theological jargon, his superior erudition, together with his masterly use of the English tongue, gave him such dominion as a preacher over the minds of men as no other man in the pulpit could share with him in that region and at that day. Thomas Campbell also was a preacher of more than ordinary power. His high intellectual endow- ments, well cultivated by a liberal, ripe scholarship and extensive readings; above all his large knowl- edge of the Holy Scriptures, together with the Scotch-Irish spirit which, especially when he was wrought up by his theme, inspired him with great force of thought and speech — gave him a mastery in the pulpit very rare among the preachers in the western part of our country in the early years of this century. From what has just been stated it might be sup- posed that many adherents were won in that day by the Campbells to their cause. But such was not the case. The region in which they began their work was but little responsive to their reformatory plea. Nowhere west of the Alleghenies, perhaps, could a more religiously conservative population be found than that in the extreme southwestern corner of Introductory Period 47 Pennsylvania; and the adjoining regions of Virginia and Ohio were settled by the same class of people. It was a thoroughly Presbyterian population, firmly fixed in its religious convictions and habits. Their opposition to this community of reformers became still more intensified when these had abandoned infant baptism. It was not in that part of our country that our reformatory plea received its first strong impulse of success. To this day our cause is not very popular there. The same is true of the Baptists; they were very weak in that region then, and are not strong there now. The first wide *door was opened to this reformatory effort when the Campbells, with the small body of their adherents, united with the Bap- tists. This will be related in the succeeding chapter. Yet the good cause gradually won converts, and these were men and women — not a few of the lat- ter— of intelligence, of serious religious temper and well versed in the Word of God, who were gained by the force of the plea. Neither of the Campbells was ever a " proselyter,'' as is well known. Their strength lay in the ^'strong reasons'* which they offered to the understanding and the conscience. Another important fact deserves to be stated here. Although the Campbells were now acting under the powerful inspiration of the extraordinary religious reform to which they had so wholly given them- selves, and which brought them into an even more intensified conflict with the religious world around them, yet they did not, as would have been very 48 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century natural, devote themselves in their preaching entirely to the questions of controversy which this contest for truth involved. Certainly they grew daily stronger in this inevitable good warfare. But their fitness for the great mission of reformers was signally revealed by the constant attention which they gave in their teaching to the practical side of Christian doctrine and life. They could not be men of one idea, even so great a one as that of the mighty reform which they were pleading. With them piety towards God and holiness of life were always the chief matters of moment in the pulpit and in their writings. OVERTURE FOR UNION WITH THE PRESBYTERIANS. Thomas Campbell could not brook the thought of forming another religious party; and yet the Chris- tian Association fast was tending in that direction. He was, therefore, readily inclined to accept the suggestion of some liberal-minded Presbyterian min- isters, v/ho highly esteemed him, to make a proposal to the Pittsburgh Synod to be received by them, with his brethren, ^'into ministerial and Christian fellowship." Alexander did not agree with his father in the wisdom of this step, and looked for no good results from it. The Synod, meeting at Washington, in October, 1810, heard the application from Thomas Campbell personally; they unanimously rejected it. At Mr. Campbell's request the Synod gave as its reasons, among other minor things, "i. That he had ex- Introductory Period 49 pressed his belief that there are some opinions in the Confession of Faith not founded in the Bible, but had avoided designating them; 2. That he had declared infant baptism unauthorized by the Scrip- ture; that it was a matter of indifference, while he still was practicing it; 3. Because he opposed creeds and confessions as injurious to the interests of religion, and countenanced his son in preaching without any regular authority." The vSynod at the same time expressed the highest regard for the character of the applicant. This decision was a wise one. The Synod could not grant the liberty these reformers demanded. Indeed, Thomas Campbell did not offer to unite with the Synod as a Presbyterian; he could not do this. The final separation of the Christian Association from all pedobaptist denominational alliance was inevitable, a logical necessity. From this hour forth the tendency of these reformers was in a straight line, unobstructed and rapid, towards apos- tolic Christianity. 4 V. CAMPBELI^'S CONNECTION WITH THE BAPTISTS. The story of the early years of our effort to restore apostolic Christianity — the years which constituted its formative period — deserves for many reasons to be studied anew, and diligently and profoundly, by the present generation of our people, in order that those into whose hands, under God, the destiny for the present and the future of this great cause is commit- ted, may well understand what were its motives and character; and that so they may keep it true to its exalted aim. They will thus gather renewed, strong and steadfast confidence in it, and be filled with the lofty inspiration which its purpose, its character and splendid achievements should awaken in the hearts of the true men and women who to-day are its legitimate inheritors and representatives. I have been asked to set forth, within the limits of a single paper, the history, in its salient points, of the early relations of the Campbells to the Baptists. The connection of the Campbells, father and son, especially that of the latter, with the Baptists, in the beginning of their activity as reformers, had a very important influence on the tendency and the devel- opment of the reformation which they advocated. This chapter of our history furnishes lessons of great Introductory Period 51 value to us as standard-bearers of the cause to whicli they devoted their lives. QUESTION OF BAPTISM. Neither Thomas Campbell nor his son Alexander, when they first conceived the idea of the union of all Christians on the foundation of the New Testa- ment alone, regarded the question of baptism as of any special moment in this great controversy. As many do to-day, they believed that such a union could be accomplished and could exist without dis- turbing the differences of belief and practice relative to this ordinance. The religious agitators, such as Walker and others, with whom Alexander Campbell in his youth had come in contact in Ireland and Scotland, and who exercised no little influence on his mind, had never touched in any reformatory way the baptismal controversy. Indeed, he had had, thus far, but a very limited personal acquaint- ance with the Baptists. In a sermon on the com- mission, delivered by him in February, 18 10, and repeated in May and June, 1811, he said: "As I am sure it is unscriptural to make this matter a term of communion, I let it slip. I wish to think and let think on these matters." His father was in entire accord with him in this respect. But when these earnest reformers — the son always in the lead — proceeded to a strict application of the rule already adopted by them, viz., that everything in the doctrine and practice of the church should be tested by the Holy Scriptures as the supreme and Reforinatioii of the Nineteenth Century final tribunal of decision, they soon found that bap- tism was, especially now, a question of great mo- ment, and had to be regarded in a real effort to re- store primitive Christianity. We need not go into the detailed history of how the Campbells came to this conclusion. Suffice it to say that they soon came to see that infant baptism and sprinkling and pouring were wholly unknown to the New Testament; that only believing penitents were proper scriptural subjects, and that immersion was the one true meaning of baptism and the only practice of the primitive church. This decided the matter with these men of supreme loyalty to the Bible. The discovery of true apostolic baptism, as to its form and subject, at ouce led the reformers to the further question of its scriptural object. This, too, had been greatly darkened by the traditions of the churches, in practice and preaching, even more than in the creeds. As soon as the Campbells and their associates had reached a correct conclusion on baptism, in prompt obedience to the divine law they were baptized in the primitive, scriptural way, and on a simple pro- fession of their faith in Christ. Elder Mathias Luce, the Baptist preacher to whom application was made to administer the ordinance, at first hesitated bccattse it was not accordi^ig to Baptist usage to baptize can- didates without a previous satisfactory '^experi- ence;'^ but finally he yielded, believing that the proper conditions were present. The Campbells, and others with them, were immersed by Elder Introductory Period 53 Luce in June, 1812. These reformers, under such brave leaders, from the very first were boldly deter- mined on a return in all things to the apostolic order, to the rejection of all unscriptural traditions, however reasonable and cherished. God be thanked for this! THE FIRST CHURCH. The little Brush Run Church now in a manner stood alone. The Campbells felt that this was not in harmony with their aims. They did not wish to appear as establishing a new religious party. For this reason, and because of strong solicitations from Baptists, they were received into the association nearest them; not, however, without objections on the part of a few preachers, because this little con- gregation insisted on being received on the simplest scriptural conditions, without consenting to any creed beyond the Bible. The Philadelphia Confes- sion of Faith was then the standard among the Baptists. This connection with the Baptists became eventful with these reformers. It continued some fifteen years or more, a good part of the time more formal than real. No little opposition was manifested from the very first against A. Campbell by some Baptist preachers, doubtless to a good degree from jealousy of his superior talents and influence, but mainly, we must believe, because of wide doctrinal differences, to be stated hereafter in this paper. It remains to consider, as briefly as possible, the effect on the history of the Reformation of this 54 Reformation of the Ninetee^ith Century association of the reformers with the Baptists. Up to the time when this union took place the range of the influence* of the Campbells and their associates was limited. The alliance with the Bap- tists at once gave to them an open door to large communities of churches and people. It was among the Baptists that the first strong gains of adherents were made, and a broad and firm foundation was laid for the cause which A. Campbell was pleading with such wonderful power and devotion. The Baptists were naturally more ready to listen to the argument for a return to the New Testament order of things than any other Protestants, because they had for centuries been the very people who had bravely borne aloft the banner of apostolic Chris- tianity against the corruptions of the church in doctrine and life. It was they who had come back to the great doctrine of a converted chnrch by means of the baptism of penitent believers only, against pedobaptist Christendom — which meant the whole Christian world. And it was they who had restored immersion as the true scriptural form of the ordi- nance. We know what a heroic history this had been for centuries, glorious with martyrdom in every Christian land w^here these apostles of primitive Christianity appeared. It cannot pass our observa- tion and appreciation that it is the union of our fathers with these people — providential and inevita- ble, a logical fact, we may say — that gave the first strong impulse to our cause, and to which, beyond all question, so much of its wonderful success must be attributed. Introductory Period 55 A WIDER FIELD. As soon as A. Campbell espoused the great argu- ment of believers^ immersion as the only true bap- tism, and with the learning and the wonderful power of mind and spirit he revealed, so unusual then in the field of his activity, thousands of Baptists were won by him to the cause to the advocacy of which he had devoted his life. Very soon the baptismal question came to the front as a logical necessity; and it must stand there as long as pedobaptism dominates in Christendom. Mr. Campbell, in the beginning of his debate with McCalla in 1823, called baptism "the most impor- tant institution of the Lord of Glory;" to this view he had come. The Baptists, especially in the West, had now found in this ardent reformer an advocate of their cause against prevailing pedobaptism such as they had never had before. His debates with Mr. Walker in Eastern Ohio, in 1820, and with McCalla in Ken- tucky, in 1823, served to increase their admiration of his power as their great champion. The sphere of this new and really novel campaign for a strict return to New Testament Christianity, with apostolic baptism as one of its most attractive features, extended at once, by reason of this alliance with the Baptists, over the populous region of Eastern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and North- western Virginia along the Ohio River, constituting together an extensive territory, inhabited by a deeply religious and wide-awake people. lu the 56 Reformation of the Nineteenth Ce7itury West, in an extraordinary manner, the power of this great plea was felt in parts of central and the extreme southwestern portion of Ohio, especially in Cincinnati. Thence it crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky, and found ready acceptance and develop- ment in that splendid territory of which Lexington is the center, in Louisville, in Mason county, and in other parts of the state. In the regions and localities which have been named the strong foundations of the success and growth of the cause of our Reformation were laid; here it won its first great victories. What we have since witnessed elsewhere of progress and triumphs has been largely the further expansion out from these original centers of our power. We must not fail to add here, also. Eastern Virginia, where, at an early date, in a very direct manner through the Campbells personally, the new and welcome message of a restoration of primitive Christianity was preached, and with much success. In all these fruitful fields the presence of the Bap- tists was the occasion and opportunity for the reformer; to them he came, with them was the sphere of his efforts and his influence. It is a most interesting study to trace the development of this reform through the lines of Baptist churches and people. Lack of space forbids our undertaking this inviting task here. In Ohio the entire Mahoning Association passed over bodily into the reformatory current, and with extraordinary enthusiasm. This Association ex- tended from the Ohio River, taking Wellsburg and Introductory Period 57 Steubenville as a point of departure, to the extreme northern part of the state. The Stillwater Associa- tion, also in Ohio, embracing Harrison, Belmont and Guernsey counties as its chief territory, followed in the wake of Mahoning. Large numbers of the Baptists in this broad and important region were won to the new cause. In many instances they took with them the meeting-houses. While the congregations abandoned the denominational name, they were still known in popular speech as Baptist churches. As examples may be mentioned the church at Wellsburg, Va., which in 1850, when I preached there, was often yet called "the Baptist Church." So the congregation in Cincinnati, then meeting at the corner of Walnut and Eighth Streets, our oldest church in that city, was in 1856, when I ser\^ed it, still known in the court records as a Bap- tist Church. The congregations at Somerset, Pa., at New Lisbon, Warren, Wilmington, Dayton, Ohio, were organized originally as Baptists. REASON FOR BAPTIST OPPOSITION. With this movement among the Baptists towards the reformers came a large number of their preachers; indeed, these were as a rule the leaders. The first strong body of preachers that gathered around A. Campbell was largely composed of these "Reformed Baptists," as they were called. Many names familiar to the older men yet living among us were of this early pioneer class of warriors, such as Walter Scott, Adamsou Bentley, the Nestor of 58 Reformation of the Nineteenth Cejtttcry Eastern Ohio; D. S. Burnet and James Challen, of Southwestern Ohio; T. M. Henley, R. L. Coleman, James Goss, of Virginia, and a * 'glorious company'' of imperial men like John Smith, J. T. Johnson and P. S. Fall, of Kentucky. It was my good fortune to be well acquainted with almost all of these admir- able men and the churches they brought with them. The entire field of Eastern Ohio, Western Pennsyl- vania and Northwestern Virginia is familiar to me. Looking at our past history, it is difficult to say what would have been the fortunes of A. Campbell's reformatory enterprise during its first two or three decades if it had not found an admirably propitious field among the Baptists. It certainly would not have made the remarkable progress which signalized its early history. This is a fact we must not forget. The influence of our connection with the Baptists on the entire history of the Reformation, is a subject worthy of our most appreciative study. In this respect we owe very much to the Baptists, in spite of the sad fact that they often became our most determined opponents. Let us not be surprised that the chiefs of this great people for many years did not cherish a very fraternal affection for us. These men remained sincere Baptists. Those of their number who lived in the East and who were least acquainted with us were, more than their brethren in the West, harsh in their judgment of us. They had a reason for this quite sufficient for them. Men like Conant, of New York, and Bowling, of Phila- delphia, used to say, "We cannot forget how these 'reformers' captured our churches in the West, Iittrociitctory Period 59 meeting-houses and all, and numbers of our preachers.'^ Looking at the matter through their eyes we will not wonder at this feeling on their part nor pass a harsh judgment against them. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CAMPBELL AND BAPTISTS. The connection between the reformers and the Baptists could not continue. A. Campbell never was a Calvinist, and the Baptists were strong Cal- vinists. His views on the relation of the two covenants they regarded as most unsound. In the matter of spiritual influence, in conversion espec- ially, the two parties were far apart. In the ques- tions of the prerequisites to baptism and of its object, the reformers passed away from Baptist ground.. The Baptists were strict Trinitarians; and because A. Campbell rejected the theological and scholastic terminology on this important point of Christian doctrine, and furthermore, because men had come among us who held to a sort of semi- Unitarian principles, the Baptists, especially those in the East, where the reformers were but little known, and whose close proximity to Eastern Unitarianisni brought them to understand well its true character and its evil influence, looked for these reasons with suspicion upon us as favoring this * 'heresy." And yet, none were more decided in their rejection of Unitarianism than the Campbells, Walter Scott, and their associates generally in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the majority, I think, of them also in Kentucky. The Godhood of 6o Rcfonnation of the Nineteenth Ce?iticry Jesus was with these men a matter of supreme importance in the doctrine of Christ. Finally, the reformers all very soon rejected the Philadelphia Confession of Faith, primarily because they refused consent to any human formula of doctrine, and also because some of this confession they did not believe. For all these reasons, therefore, it is evident that a real and lasting union between the Baptists and the reformers was impossible. A. Campbell, as already stated in the beginning of this article, had at first no very exalted opinion of the Baptists of that day, because of the amount of bigotry and narrowness he witnessed among them. They were also, as he saw them, generally very illiterate, the preachers as well as the people. It is not impossible, too, that he may have brought with him from Ireland and Scotland some of the pre- judice against the Baptists prevailing in the British Islands. But it is perfectly evident, that on a better acquaintance with this people he learned to have a high regard for them. Dr. Richardson in his Life of A. Campbell (Vol. II., page 103), says: "During his tour [in Kentucky in September, 1824], which occupied nearly three months, he visited a large portion of the state, addressing everywhere large audiences, and greatly extending his influence and acquaintance with the Baptists. The notions he had entertained concerning them as a people in the early part of his ministry had been greatly changed by his intercourse with them, so that he learned to esteem them very highly and to regard them as Introductory Period 6i much nearer the primitive pattern than other relig- ious denominations. He regarded their conceptions of the Church of Christ as essentially correct, and thought it would not be difficult to eliminate from the Baptist churches such erroneous theories and usages as had gained admission." Every one inti- mately familiar with Mr. Campbell knows this to be true. To confirm the above statement of Dr. Richard- son, I add here an expression from A. Campbell's lips, but a few days before he died. CAMPBELL'S OPINION OF BAPTISTS. In the last week of February, 1866, a meeting was arranged at Pittsburgh between prominent members of a Baptist church, the preacher included, and a number of our people, to consider our relation doctrinally to each other. It fell to me to draw up the points to be considered and to lead in the dis- cussion. This paper, with the minutes of this meeting, is yet in my possession. I held that it was wisest first chiefly to note the points in which we agreed. It was a very delightful and profitable conference. As soon as I returned to Bethany I went to Mr. Campliell. He was alone in his bedroom, taking his frugal evening meal; he was too unwell to meet the family at the table. When he had heard the good report I brought of the Pittsburgh Conference, he was deeply moved; tears were in his eyes. He then said: "I have always regretted that the Bap- 62 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century lists and we had to part ; it ought not to have been so. I had hoped that we and that great people could have stood together for the advocacy of apos- tolic Christianity. They are worthy of such a mission.'^ This was on Friday evening. On Sunday the fatal attack fell upon him, and in a few days he died. I value this almost dying testimony of the illustrious reformer to his high esteem of the Bap- tists. It came from the depth of his heart, as the mature fruit of a long and rich experience, and is worthy of record, and of appreciation by us. VI. ALEXANDER CAMPBELIv AND HIS CO-LABORERS — THE TWO CAMPBELLS. For a number of years after the Campbells had entered upon their advocacy of a restoration of primitive Christianity, no man of note had been publicly won to their cause. Their associates were humble, private men — some of them, however, of a high order of mind. I knew them well in their advanced years. Others, preachers, who looked with attention and favor on their novel but attract- ive plea, went as yet no further. The first man of real power who united fully with the Campbells, and who was worthy to rank with them, was Walter Scott. For years these three valiant heroes led the cause. Such was the judgment of A. Campbell himself. Nearly twenty years after he had first met Scott, he thus writes to him: "We were associated in the days of weakness, infancy and imbecility, and tried in the vale of adversity, while as yet there was but a handful. My father, yourself and myself were the only three spirits that could (and providentially we were the only persons thrown together that were capable of forming any general or comprehensive views of things spiritual or ecclesiastic) co-operate in a great work or enterprise. The Lord greatly blessed our very imperfect and feeble beginnings." (63) Reformation of the Nineteenth Century There is something singularly striking in the order in which these three men appear in the his- torical development of the reform in which they were united; it is natural, logical, providential. Let us study this remarkable fact in the character and role of each one of them, and in the order in which they appear on the stage of the historical progress of their enterprise. The present paper will be devoted to Thomas and Alexander Campbell; the succeeding one to Walter Scott and Dr. R. Richardson. The latter, the youngest of the four, a convert of Walter Scott, was from an early date and in a very intimate way for many years a colaborer of A. Campbell. These four historic characters belong together in our history. They constitute distinctively the group of ''A. Campbell and his Colaborers." THOMAS CAMPBELL. The inceptive thought and first purpose of this extraordinary movement had their origin with Thomas Campbell, the oldest, maturest and alto- gether best prepared of the first three to take the initiative. Wherein lies the value of this fact? He was a man of large brains, of superior natural endowments. And what was notable in him in this respect was the well-balanced adjustment of these gifts. The form of the head at once indicated this (he was no roundhead), and familiar acquaintance with the man confirmed it. He had also received a liberal education and a rich literary culture. These natural and acquired abilities had been expanded Introductory Period 65 and ripened by years of teaching. His religions heritage through family training, his preparation for the ministry in the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian Church, years of activity in this sacred calling, as well as his inclination of mind and heart, all made him most reverent of the Holy Scriptures and widely and deeply versed in them. As with Luther and Calvin, ''the Word of God" was to him the sovereign law of decision in religion and in the conduct of life. Thomas Campbell, to the end of his life, held the profoundest evangelical convictions concerning the Bible and Christian doctrine. A valuable character- istic of this Christian hero was his firmness of con- viction. He was not, as might be supposed from his marked courtesy and gentleness of disposition, ready to yield like Melanchthon under hard pressure, on the contrary, as all who well knew him testify; he had all the courage of the Scotch Covenanter. He never yielded when conscious of right in any important matter, especially when the Word of God was at stake. When excited in discussion, even in his old age, he revealed a spark of the temper of John Knox. I have seen him maintain his ground persistently in private argument for an hour against his son Alexander. Thomas Campbell's character was adorned with the charm of genuine courtesy and refinement of manners; he was a true gentleman, and these quali- ties were worth much to him as a Christian reformer, and to us also. The crowning grace of the life of this eminent 5 66 ' Reformation of the Nineteenth Ceritury servant of God was his deep, unaffected piety. It was a piety that was true "godliness," and was like that of his great son, healthy and manly, free from every taint of pietism. Let the reader study well the character-sketch here given, which can be relied on as accurately drawn, and then judge whether this man, so admir- ably endowed, was not worthy to be a chosen instru- ment in the hand of God to inaugurate with wisdom and effect an effort to heal the wounds of a broken church, to bring back the spouse of Jesus to the unity in spirit, doctrine and life of its earliest days. This was the father's task — to project the great reform. But to bring it to full development of purpose and constitution of life and then execute it with success, demanded qualities Thomas Campbell did not possess in the fullness of their required strength. This office fell providentially to his son. Let us consider the situation. First, inevitably the reformation proposed would necessarily extend in its historic development far into the coming years. Thomas Campbell was born in 1763, and was not far from fifty years of age when he wrote A Declara- tion in 1809, which was a prospectus of the reformat tion; and he had come to America in quest of health. The movements he initiated called for one of younger years and of more than ordinary enduring vigor of body and mind. Introductory Period 67 ALEXANDER CAMPBELL. Alexander Campbell was born in 1787, and was therefore in 1809 in the full strength of youthful manhood, stalwart in body and mind, capable of enduring the strain on both of these that through years of extraordinary labor awaited him. He pos- sessed the indispensable energy, necessarily wanting in the father, to push forward the great undertaking in the face of great obstacles and opposition. He was, moreover, a powerful preacher, which his father was not, an advocate bold and puissant before the people, mighty in public discourse, in argument and discussion — just the man needed with effect to expound and vindicate in sermon and debate, by mouth and by pen, the new and extraordinary plea for a reform so broad and so thorough. His was, moreover, by reason of his age and con- sequent vigorous mental action, a spirit less con- servative, in which this cause would, as it demanded, receive fuller and rapider development to the fulfill- ment of its great purpose than it had yet attained or could possibly attain in the mind and in the hands of its original projector. A. Campbell was qualified also by the strong tendencies of his nature, being an ardent republican, passionately appreciative of the freedom of thought and life and of all the grand opportunities of this new world, to adjust himself in all his efforts as a reformer to the favorable conditions of the land and the people to which God had brought him, much beyond what could have been expected of his father, 68 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century who had grown up to advanced life amid the con- servative old world of Ireland. The son was fitted in every respect and in fullest measure to be the man of strong action, who was to take up and carry- forward to large and successful development the glorious enterprise so nobly and so wisely conceived by the father. A warrior, a general for great and enduring campaigns, was needed, and A. Campbell was this man. The father in council, the son in the field as well as in council. These were the points of distinction between these two men of providence, but they were distinctions, not opposing differences; had these existed their hearty co-operation, so needful, so complete and so marked in their entire history, could not have been maintained. In all matters of essential importance to the cause to which they gave their lives they were one; they stood together. During the entire period of the Christian Baptist, that valiant pioneer, and through the first decade of the Millennial Harbinger, Thomas Campbell was at his son's right hand as writer and counselor; nothing important came from the latter' s pen that had not first passed the judgment of the former. The immense moment for good to our cause of this co-operation cannot be measured. Wherein consisted the important elements of unity of these two men? A. Campbell was endowed, as already stated, with extraordinary mental power. He had also received a superior education and literary culture. He stood forth in this respect much above the men among Introductory Period 69 whom he came forth as a reformer. He had been and ever continued to be a man of diligent study. He revered the Bible and was widely and deeply versed in it; he was profoundly pious, as his father. His religious and theological views, while he early learned to reject the unscriptural language of the schools, were thoroughly evangelical. No *4iberal" neologism, destructive of the Bible and of its faith, ever found acceptance with him. God be thanked for this! I can affirm this with perfect confidence, that if any changes in this respect occurred in him through his riper years, they were always in the direction of great conservatism on all points of Christian doctrine. This might naturally be expected of a man of such a faith and such relig- ious training. He never would for a moment tolerate tendencies that weakened our faith in the deity of Jesus Christ. "The three persons in the Godhead" was with him a constant theme of dis- course. Unitarianism, any form of Arianism, was always an object of extreme aversion to him. As a man of large intellectual power, of rich knowledge, of learning and culture, of broad views that saved him from narrowness and fanaticism and gave him a generous appreciation of all that was true, good and great in the religious and secular world, as a man of high and noble aims, Alexander Campbell could "stand before kings," before the kingliest of audiences, and win — force if need be — respect for his cause. This is a most extraordinary fact, that these two men of God so admirably adapted, the one to inau- 70 Refonnation of the Nineteenth Century gurate, the other to "execute the great reformatory movement, should be father and son, both inspired by the same spirit, urged on by the same holy motives, sustained by the same strong faith, united in the same fervent piety towards God and his Word; sharing in profoundest conviction the same perfect acceptance of all the great, fundamental, eternal truths of the doctrine of Christ; and laboring side by side in their exalted mission in closest fellowship of mind and heart, and in reverent, loving respect for each other to the end of their days; for this perfect concord of these great spirits continued with the son even when the father had passed on to the highei life. VII. ALEXANDER CAMPBELL AND HIS COLABORERS — CONCLUDED. But while the Campbells were so admirably qualified to fill the measure of what was wanted in the men who were to begin and lead forward the work providentially committed to them, there were yet other men, and other talents not possessed by them in the required measure, needed to effect its success. It has ever been so in all moral and relig- ious movements. No one man, and no two men, meet all the demands of God's ministry in the execution of any important purpose of his among men. It was so with the prophets, and so with the apostles and the great reformers. God will always provide the men he needs. WALTER SCOTT. Walter Scott came early within the sphere of the influence of the reformation, then just in the first stage of its development. What kind of a man was he? Walter Scott was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, October 31st, 1796. He was remarkably well pre- pared for the career into which the hand of God led him. No one could see him without being impressed by his striking appearance; a large, well-developed head, betokening unusual intellectual power; bright, (71) Re/ormatioit of the Nineteenth Century keen, searching eyes, revealing intelligence; an enthusiastic spirit, earnestness of character and kindliness of heart. His finely-formed Scotch nose denoted vigor of purpose. His large mouth was that of an orator. I have often heard him say, **The mouth has much to do in making a preacher.'' He received a fine classical education at the University of Edinburgh; was a man of a rich literary culture; his reading had been extensive and in the best literature. His gifts as a preacher were of a high order; his language was always the purest and choicest English, chaste, elegant, and at times he rose to the sublime. The crown of all that was excellent in this remarkable man, was his exalted religious and spir- itual inner and outer life. An all-pervading devout- ness of spirit marked all his thoughts, words and actions. An unaffected piety and a reverence for God and his Word gave grace to his character. He had been reared in the strict life of the Scotch Presbyterian Church and was intended for the min- istry. The Bible had, from his childhood, been with him the chief object of devout study. I have never come in contact with a man more largely and deeply versed in the Holy Scriptures than Walter Scott. With his poetic, imaginative spirit, the Hebrew poetry of the Old Testament had for him a special charm. He had early in life committed the finest of them to memory. His recitation of them — gifted elocutionist as he was — charmed his listeners. These psalms and other poetical passages of the Bible ran like ''golden threads" through his sermons. Introductory Period 73 Ivike the Campbells, Scott was. thoroughly, intensely evangelical; not a trace of "liberal'* thought was ever discernible in his conception of the Bible or its doctrine. The divinity of Jesus Christ was ever the center of his theology; this he continually proclaimed. This was the man destined in God's purpose to complete the ministry that was to give the first effective impulse to the cause of the "restoration" of the apostolic gospel, to use Scott's own favorite term. WALTER SCOTT AS THE PIONEER EVANGELIST. A. Campbell took Scott, then living at Steuben- ville, teaching and preaching, with him to the meeting of the Mahoning Association at New Lisbon, in August, 1827. When this body had gone over into the reformatory cause, it was decided that an evangelist should be sent forth among the churches it represented. At the motion of A. Campbell, Walter Scott was unanimously appointed to this office. This was the beginning of his extra- ordinary career as a preacher. Scott was the man needed just at this crisis to carry forward unto victory among the people the great cause of the inaugurated reform. As soon as he had come to a clear understanding of "the gospel of Christ," it set his whole soul aflame. He was filled with an all-consuming passion to preach it to men. It was to him the restored light of heaven that now shone forth in full radiance after aees of obscuration. His speech was like fire; his setting 74 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century forth of the newly-found truth was wondrously complete, exact and clear. The people saiv the scriptural doctrine — such was the logical accuracy and symmetry of his arguments, so vivid was his presentation of it. It broke upon the people like a new revelation from heaven. The New Testament — the whole Bible — now became clearly intelligible to them. And there was such a marvelous simplicity in the preaching of this man; all, of every order of intelli- gence, could understand !iim. His language was of the highest order of classic excellence, that solicited the intelligence and captivated the best minds. The spirit of a loving heart breathed through his discourses and banished opposition where this was possible. He transmitted his own enthusiastic, pas- sionate joy at the newly discovered apostolic faith to the hearts of his hearers. Finally, he could awaken in the souls of men an intense sense of the need and the joy of salvation, of the forgiveness of sins, and the wonderful assurance of it the gospel gives, as few preachers among us have ever been able to do. His preaching carried the fire of heaven into the dormant churches of the Association; its effect was as if an earthquake had shaken them. I did not hear Scott in these earliest days of his ministry; afterwards I knew him well for years. But I have traversed, not many years after his first appearance, as familiar haunts, all these fields of his great triumphs. I have lived among and conversed with the men and women who witnessed his won- derful power, hundreds of them his converts. Introductory Period 75 Walter Scott's victorious progress among the churches of the Mahoning Association, as their evangelist, was a moral phenomenon. This was precisely what was wanted to plant firmly among the people the cause of the reformation. For this important work Scott was needed as the man who complemented the Campbells; each one of these men . * had his own part to perform in the mighty enterprise that needed them all. Eastern Ohio, together with the neighboring regions of Pennsylvania and West- ern Virginia, has ever since been a stronghold of the reformation; and from it the movement has spread far and wide over our land, to the remotest limits of New England and to the shores of the Pacific. It may also be added that some of the most valu- able thoughts that have given form, clearness and force to our plea, and have become current among us, had their origin with Walter Scott. DR. ROBERT RICHARDSON. Dr. Richardson, the fourth and youngest in the group of*' 'A. Campbell and his colaborers," was brought up an Episcopalian in the city of Pitts- burgh. His father was one of the first friends of Walter Scott when he came to that city from Scot- land and established himself there as a teacher. Robert was one of his students, aud became greatly attached to this remarkable teacher; for Scott was not only a scholar of high order, but also an instruct- or whose large heart embraced with affection his 76 Rejormation of the Nineteenth Century students, especially those who, like young Richard- son, were of superior mind. His intense devotion to the Bible led him to make this supreme classic the object of daily instruction in his school. The Greek New Testament was the favorite classbook in the Greek classes. Many ingenuous young men were thus led by "the beloved teacher" to Christ. When Scott was brought to see the religion of the New Testament in its truth and simplicity, his ardent spirit burned to communicate the glad tidings to all around him. Young Richardson was one of those among his students who were won by him to the newly found truth. Walter Scott was on the Western Reserve, Ohio, on his grand campaign of preaching "the ancient gospel," when young Dr. Richardson came to him, after traveling for this purpose 120 miles, to tell him that after diligent study he had found the light, and had now come to be baptized by him. Scott's joy can be imagined when he found that this favorite "son" of his — for so he called his students — had been "brought to the knowledge of the truth." This young man, then a practicing physician near Pittsburgh, from that hour to the end of a long life gave himself with all the ardor of his soul to the cause he had espoused. Robert Richardson was endowed with much more than ordinary intellectual gifts; and these he culti- vated with great industry from early youth to his mature years. He was always in the truest sense of the word a man of intellectual and literary habits. He had reached good attainments in the classical Introditctory Period 11 tongues and was well versed in French. His calling and mental inclinations led him to the study of the natural sciences; he was professor of chemistry and kindred sciences in Bethany College for nineteen years. Nature w^as a field he explored with passion- ate delight. He had a special predilection for the higher walks of literature; I question whether any man among us ever reached higher excellency in literary taste and culture than Dr. Richardson; his writings testify to this. But the chief devotion of this remarkable man's mind and heart was given to the Word of God; with unwearied diligence he gave himself to the study of the Bible as one who seeks after ''the goodly pearls" of the most precious light and truth. The powerful impulse to this he received, like so many others, from his espousing the cause of New Testament Christianity. The great question with these reform- ers was, What does the Bible teach? And the entire field of investigation and discussion lay within the limits of the Holy Scriptures. Of Dr. Richard- son, however, it must be said that he did not confine his study of the Bible, as so many have done, to the special subjects of controversy only; that is always a very defective use of the Holy Scripture, indeed, a most perveiLed and perverting abuse of it. He sought to explore all its treasures of wisdom and knowledge, that "as a man of God he might be per- fected, thoroughly furnished to every good work." As an expounder of the Scripture Dr. Richardson was very highly esteemed. His knowledge of the Word of God was wide, thorough and critical. 78 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century From no oiie could the inquiring student secure more prompt attention to any questions relative to the Bible or more satisfactory answers. With reference to the great cause of our reforma- tion, it can be said of Dr. Richardson that no one among its earlier advocates had a fuller, clearer and more critically defined conception of its grounds and aims, and of the principles of its plea than he; and no one could set these forth more accurately and intelligibly to the understanding of men. His admirable tract ou the Principles of the Reformation, and his Memoirs of A. Campbell are witnesses to this fact. Few men had made the entire subject, on all sides of it, the object of more thorough study than he. Moreover — and this I can say with the confidence of intimate, certain knowledge — no one of "the glo- rious company of witnesses,'^ whose names brighten this cause in the heroic days of its history, remained truer to its high purposes, its character, its worth and its sure hopes of triumphant success, to the last days of his life than the Sage of Bethphage. It was a delight to hear him discourse on "The Great Reformation" in his latest years. This eminent teacher of Israel understood this cause better and esteemed it higher, than not a few young men whose scanty knowledge and experience alone justify their slight appreciation of the noblest religious reform in these latest centuries. What I have said of the Campbells and of Walter Scott is true also of Dr. Richardson: he was thor- oughly evangelical in his conceptions of the Bible Introductory Period 79 and of Christian doctrine; no one could be more so, as his writings testify. He stood firm as a rock against all forms of rationalistic and Unitarian ten- dencies. Thank God for this! One striking quality of his character was his firmness; he never yielded to what he regarded wrong. For years he practiced medicine; but during all this time he was active as preacher and writer in advancing the cause of the reformation. In 1835 A. Campbell brought him to Bethany as his co- laborer in the Millennial Harbinger. The Christian Baptist was the pioneer; the Millennial Harbinger covers the much longer and more important forma- tive stage, the period of .development, great con- quest, organization and permanent life. These were the years of the activity of Dr. Richardson alongside of x\. Campbell, a co-operation which continued for two decades. The Harbinger is full of his writings. During the frequent absence of the chief editor from home, "his right hand," the Doctor of Bethphage, which overlooks Bethany, was at the helm of this powerful advocate of the reformation. The influence of Dr. Richardson on the history of our cause was most salutary, broad, strong and enduring. Like Scott, he added many important .directive thoughts to our plea, which threw new light upon it and have become the heritage of our ministry. Such were the distinguishing characteristics, thus briefly sketched, of these four men who, above all others, were the providential instruments in inau- gurating and in giving character, direction and per- 8o Reformation of the Nmeteenth Century manent life to our reformatory movement, which has had such wonderful expansion in this great land. What lasting impress did they leave upon it? It is of high interest to us, and to others, well to under- stand this. THE PERMANENT INFLUENCE OF A. CAMPBELL AND HIS COLABORERS, THOMAS CAMPBELL, WALTER SCOTT AND DR. R. RICHARDSON, UPON OUR REFOR- MATION. 1. The fact that they were men of superior mental endowment; that they were men of liberal education and large literary culture — well versed in the fields of the best knowledge that liberalizes the mind and the heart, gave to their conceptions of a religious reform wisdom, clearness, breadth, depth, generosity, liberality, dignity and power. It is an unquestionable historical fact that reforms — any moral and religious movement — conceived and con- ducted by inferior, ignorant, illiterate men, however well intended, are always characterized in concep- tion and execution by crudeness, shallowness, nar- rowness and weakness. 2. Their supreme reverence for the Bible, their profound study and knowledge of it, made them lay the foundations of their reform deep in the spirit and letter of the Word of God. 3. Their enlightened, thoroughly evangelical conceptions of the doctrine of Christ, in all its fundamental elements, led them to give this charac- ter, of priceless value, also to the faith, the doctrine Introductory Period 8i and preaching of the reformation. May these ever so remain! 4. The exaltation given by these men to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and obedience to God, as the one chief moment of Christian faith and duty, sub- jugating to it all human opinions; and their making the Holy Scripture the only rule of belief, faith, practice and life, to the rejection of human creeds, is an inheritance they have left us that has been deeply implanted into the very heart and life of this reformation, and has given to it such extraordinary power among the people. 5. Finally — and let me call special attention to this — the sincere piety that adorned and glorified the lives of these men, and so powerfully pervaded their teaching and preaching, must be preserved as a sacred legacy to us and our cause. For nothing is more utterly false than that our fathers were mainly concerned to lead men to correct views and to external obedience. The reverse of this is true. They were eminently pious men themselves, and in all their teaching strove to call men to godliness and holiness of life. All these blessed influences that have come to our cause from these men of God; that have sanctified it and given it power and the favor from on high, have been perpetuated by the host of men of like mind, of like faith and heart who labored with them and after them. Herein lies the secret of our confident hope that our work shall endure with a permanent God-blessed life, to fulfill its divine appointed mission on the earth. 6 82 Reformation of the Niiieteenth Century Thomas Campbell, Alexander Campbell, Walter Scott and R. Richardson — what illustrious names! How lofty they rise before us in the history of our past, of the heroic days of the mighty battle for the faith, the doctrine and life of the Primitive Church! Kow worthy their lives of our reverence and love, and of our study and imitation! VIII. thk union princrpi^k appued — union with thk "christian" reformers. The gradual development of the thought of our reformation in the minds of its originators, is a historical fact of deepest interest and most instruc- tive. The people who have accepted this religious regeneration should well understand this fact, and the lesson it bears should be taught with all dili- gence and clearness to the religious world here and elsewhere, especially to that part of it that has wit- nessed the rise and wonderful growth of this reform. Nothing is more common than that the intimate genetic history of the beginnings of great religious revolutions, in time becomes misunderstood or is wholly forgotten even by those most concerned to understand it. It was the unhappy divisions in the Christian world that first arrested the attention of Thomas Campbell; it was not this or that particular error in doctrine or practice. Let this be well noted. He saw that this fearful Babel of discord in faith and life in Christendom, was a vast apostasy from the original state of the Church and wholly opposed to the doctrine and spirit of the New Testament, as well as most disastrous to all the purposes and inter- ests of the cause of God on the earth. Herein lay the motive, the root and beginning of this reforma- CS3) 84 Reformation of the Nineteeiith Century tion. Tlie primary cause of it, therefore, was quite different from those that moved lyUther, Calvin and Wesley in their efforts to regenerate the Church. Then, when. Thomas Campbell and his son Alex- ander began to study thoughtfully the question, How can a union of God's people be brought about? there gradually came to them, one after the other, the great ideas that have become the cardinal prin- ciples of the plea that has become so potent in our land. WHAT ARK THESE? I. These wise men soon saw and said that the party creeds were the immediate product, and then also the perpetuating cause and condition of the disunion that disfigures, distracts and weakens the Church. While these maintain their dominion, it was easy to see that union was impossible. Creeds — so these men declared — express the faith of a people at the particular period of their forma- tion; they do not represent this same people's belief one and two hundred years later. This is confess- edly so, not only with Protestants, but even with Catholics. They fix and perpetuate religious and theological ideas and institutions; they are, therefore, perma- nent barriers to union. It is well known that the doctrines of creeds are very often not shared by many of those ostensibly acknowledging them, often of very large numbers; they are, therefore, false standards of the confessions of these religious bodies, and keep apart many who Introductory Period 85 might without these separating barriers be mingled into one." Human creeds, these brave reformers therefore decided, must be removed out of the way that God's people may be united. But certain other principles, following logically from this chief one just stated, were soon developed in the minds of these men, as they reasoned farther in the direction in which they were moving. 2. As men of God, wise in the experience of the Church and in the knowledge of the Divine Word, they determined that a union of Christians, to be approved and blessed of God and enduring, must be based on the eternal rock of the fundamental truths of the divine teaching. It must not be a union " devised by men and resting on a humanly ordained foundation. 3. Another important principle must be accepted as a corollary from the above. It is this: that con- formity can be demanded only in matters of faith that are clearly and expressly taught as such in the New Testament; and that teaching and preaching in matters of doctrine and practice must be strictly confined to what is thus taught. Furthermore, that a clear distinction must be made between what is faith and what is opinion; liberty to be allowed in the domain of the latter; but opinions to be kept private and not taught nor insisted upon. Finally, that all untaught questions and doctrinal specula- tions must be avoided, as wholly unauthorized by the Word of God, and as leading to discord and strife. 86 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century This distinction between faith and opinion was one of the most important principles of judgment and action developed by this reformation, making the former imperative, the latter a matter of private liberty. How salutary this distinction has been in the progress of our plea must be evident to every enlightened man who knows well its history. There could be no difficulty in inducing men to accept the Bible as the basis of union; but what after that? To allow unlimited liberty of interpre- tation and preaching, would be to introduce a universal dissolvent that would make unity impossi- ble. These wise men whom God in his providence, as we cannot but believe, sent forth to lead this ♦ great effort to bring back the Church to its original life of unity in faith and practice, steered their ship safe between the Scylla of latitudinarianism and the Charybdis of creed dominion. It was assuredly a very bold venture, never before attempted by even the bravest reformers, to propose to bring back into permanent and prosperous unity great multitudes of Christians on evangelical. New Testament grounds, by the application of the princi- ple of liberty in opinions and oneness only in the fundamental essentials offered to our belief and faith in the Word of God. The insistence on both sides of this law of union was an act of the wisest judg- ment and of the highest moment. And does it not reveal, also, a most extraordinary strength of faith in God's Word and providence in the hearts of the men who so confidently and hopefully offered this rule of action to the church? Introductory Period 87 There is something sublimely attractive in such heroic, intrepid confidence in a great principle of truth. These grand men seemed ever to say, It is right; it will triumph! and that, too, against the belief, the practice and traditions of ages, and of the whole Christian world. When, near the beginning of this century, they first proclaimed to the world the principles above stated, they could look into the unknown future only with the eyes of faith. These reformatory ideas had as yet no history; they had no past since the first age of the church. But now we can look back over more than fourscore years of actual experience on a large scale, of a severe test in a field of life where perhaps, as nowhere else on earth, principles are subjected to the keenest scrutiny, pass through the severest trial at the hands of the freest and most active judgment of men — in our America! And these principles had no support but their own intrinsic strength. What is the historic result of this trial of almost a century? Is not this a subject of inquiry of immense interest to us? To-day almost a million of men and women within the limits of the most enlightened population of this continent, indeed of this earth — this million them- selves fair representatives of this enlightenment — stand with victorious confidence, with power and prosperity, united on these principles. Let us study a special page of our history, in illustration of the working of the laws of action laid down by our fathers. 88 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century UNION WITH THE "CHRISTIANS.'' The first period of favorable opportunity and expansion for this reformation was that of its history among the Baptists. This fact, I am strong and happy in believing, was itself a great providence for our cause; for this people were men of sound faith in the Bible itself and the fundamental elements of its doctrine; in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, in his divinity, his deity. Note this well, O reader! here among this people our movement received its first strong impulse of development for life and power. The notable second occasion for the enlargement of our cause was when it met the "Bible Christian" reformatory movement. It is beyond all doubt that these two opportunities were the great "open doors" for the successful extension of our reformation. The Campbells and their coadjutors, together with the Baptists who united with them, were what the Christian world would call Trinitarians^ men who hold strictly to the doctrine of the divinity, i. e.^ the deity of Jesus Christ; of three persons in the Godhead, and regard this as a capital element of fundamental Christian truth. Efforts to reform the church had been started in the South and East of this country early in this cen- tury, and in many respects, so far as causes and motives were concerned, much like that of the Camp- bells. The Southern movement was represented by B. W. Stone, those of the East originated with such men as Abner Jones and Elias Smith, who were Introductory Period 89 Baptists. Strange enough, as a sort of reaction from the strict Calvinism and speculative Trinitari- anism prevalent in that day, these two currents of religious reform were both marked by certain anti- Trinitarian tendencies, more or less pronounced. It is well known that the old ironclad Calvinism of the New England of former days, by a natural and inevitable rebound, produced the Unitarianism that has ravaged that land of bold, liberty-aspiring thought. One extreme begets another, and when, as Schiller sings, "the slave breaks his chain," he seldom stops at the limits of right; he becomes an iconoclast. These reformatory efforts coincided with that of the Campbells in that they rejected creeds, took the Bible alone as their rule of faith and practice, and had also come to accept the immersion of penitent believers as the only New Testament baptism; cer- tainly a remarkable concurrence in these three separate currents of reform — two of them starting out from the bosom of Presbyterianism. One other important characteristic strongly marked the meu that led them — they were all ready, unfettered by creeds, to learn further; to give up what they might find to be wrong and accept any new light from the Word of God. The Campbells and their colaborers met these other currents of reform, the one represented by Stone, in Kentucky, the other, from the East, in Eastern Ohio and the adjacent regions. These two independent movements had already become strong forces, especially that led by Stone, which bv 1830 90 Reformation of the Nineteejith Centitry was supposed to number about 10,000 adherents. It bad extended by that time over Tennessee, Ken- tucky— where it had the largest following — and to certain parts of Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. The wave from the Bast had spread widely over New England and the Middle States. Jn Ohio it had gained many converts, in the eastern and central parts of the state. As a notable fact it may be stated that a number of "Christian" preachers had come from Kentucky into Southeastern Ohio, into Meigs, Guernsey, Belmont, and even as far as Carroll, Stark and Columbiana counties, meeting there the Eastern "Christians" and the preachers and churches of the Stillwater and Mahoning Baptist Associations, now in the full tide of New Testament Reformation. The beginning of my religious life among the Disciples was in this interesting region of Eastern Ohio. The church at Minerva, where I was bap- tized, situated on the line of Stark and Carroll counties, was at that time a notable religious center where the three reformatory waves met, mingled and became one; the union was early and perfect. The "Christian" preachers, representing the Eastern reform and that in Kentucky, proclaimed the gospel in full harmony, and A. Campbell and the heroes of the "Reformed Baptist Associations" were constant visitors at Minerva. I heard all these advocates of primitive Christianity preach, and they were one in the closest fraternal fellowship. Wherever in our earlier da^^s the "Christians" came into close acquaintance with the "Disciples," Introductory Period 91 the name by which those in sympathy with the Bethany movement were generally called, for rea- sons already stated a sympathy at once grew np between them. The effect was that in Eastern Ohio and in Pennsylvania,, without any formal action, many of the former, not only individuals, but entire congregations, led by the preachers, coalesced with the latter, and the two became permanently one. I am familiar with this territory and its religious history, and can speak advisedly; hardly a "Chris- tian" congregation was left out of the union in Eastern Ohio. In Central Ohio it was otherwise. The Bethany reformers had not yet reached this region, except in a sporadic way, as in Clinton county; indeed, our cause has never been strong as elsewhere in that territory. The consequence was that the "Bible Christians" maintained there their original distinct identity. In the state generally, however, this people were greatly weakened by the extensive absorption by our reformation of their membership, the preachers often included, in the eastern portion and in some other localities. UNION WITH THE CHRISTIANS IN KENTUCKY. In Kentucky, in the Bluegrass region, where the two reformatory currents, the one led by B. W. Stone, the other by A. Campbell, had already gained considerable force, a strong fellowship had grown up between their public advocates and their private adherents. An earnest disposition to unite was 92 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century mauifested. Finally, formal conferences were held at Georgetown for four days, and afterwards at Lexington, in which the ablest men in that region on both sides were active; and after full and friendly discussion of the points of agreement and difference, it was decided to enter into full fraternization. The two streams henceforth flowed on in one channel. THE BASIS OF UNION. The two sides did not come to an entire agreement on certain points that had hitherto divided them. A. Campbell and those with him who had come from the Baptists were very decided in their views on the divinity of Christ, the three persons in the Godhead, and the atonement. B. W. Stone had held a position on these important subjects that in the judgment of the religious community savored of Unitarianism. It was found, however, on a full exchange of views, that the Stone men had a much sounder conception of the divinity of Christ and the atonement than had been attributed to them. They had been, as was quite natural, the object of intense prejudice and consequent misrepresentation by the denominations, especially the one from which they had gone forth. They had experienced the common lot of reformers. It is not unlikely that A. Camp- bell himself had been influenced to some extent by this general tide of hostile sentiment that assailed these reformers. At a later day he freely expressed his better appreciation of them and their doctrinal position. Introdicctojy Period 93 ''In Kentucky and the Southwest generally," he wrote, "this [z*. e.^ speculating about the modus of the divine existence,] is getting out of fashion, and many of the congregations called 'Christians' are just as sound in the faith of Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, in the plain import of these words, as any congregations with which I am acquainted." It was agreed, indeed earnestly insisted on by all at the conferences held, that all speculations on the great subjects above named — as in all other matters of Christian doctrine — should be discouraged, and that only the evident, positive teaching of the Holy Scriptures should be taught in all fidelity, and "not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but in the words which the Holy Spirit teacheth." It was urged that this method would more and more bring about correct conceptions and a correct teaching of the doctrine of Christ in all things, and complete harmony. Misconceptions on these vital subjects, it was justly argued, were largely the fruit of the passion of theological speculation that had so long and so injuriously prevailed in Christendom. While A. Campbell and others on his side were not altogether satisfied with the explanations given by Stone and his brethren, yet they wisely yielded and accepted the full fellowship and co-operation of these brethren. Some twenty-five years after this act of union I receiv^ed the account of it aud of its result from the mouth of A. Campbell himself. It was not an easy matter for hiui to consent to any fellowship with even the mildest form of Arianism, 94 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century but he had the wisdom and the charity to allow the judgment of such men as J. T. Johnson to prevail. He had J moreover, a strong confidence in the salu- tary operation of the great principles of union which he had himself so strongly advocated, and therefore in the fraternal alliance here consummated with such men as Stone and the noble men associated with him. In this confidence he was not deceived. What decided the reformers who stood with A. Campbell to enter into this union with the "Chris- tians?" This is certainly a question of deep interest to us. Let me give the answer briefly, based on a careful study of the case. 1. As already stated, these "Christians" were earnest biblical reformers, resolved to stand on the Bible alone. They had "rejected all creeds; had adopted the immersion of penitent believers as the only scriptural baptism. They were most reverent of Jesus Christ as the Lord of life and glory and as the Savior and Redeemer of men by his death on the cross. 2. They were ready and zealous to learn the way of life more perfectly; there was with them no "hitherto and no farther" in Bible knowledge, as with men bound by creeds. 3. Like the brethren of the other side, the}^ were resolved to keep aloof from all speculations on matters of faith and duty, and to teach only the Word, in the thoughts and language of Christ and the apostles. 4. Finally — and this was a capital matter — Stone Introductory Period 95 and his brethren were noted for their noble manli- ness of character, their piety and religious zeal. They were men worthy of the highest confidence. A. Campbell repeatedly bore strong witness to this. On these grounds this union was effected. Of course, these intelligent men on both sides knew very well that it was altogether possible, and no uncommon thing, to use scriptural speech and give it a meaning quite foreign to that intended by the sacred writers. This objection was indeed urged. The confidence in this union, however, was strong because of the eminent character for intelligence, sincerity, piety and supreme devotion to the Word of God of B. W. Stone and the men who were with him. It is also well known that these ''Christian" reformers for years did not occupy precisely the same ground with A. Campbell and his brethren on the subject of the operation of the Spirit and the object of baptism. Unity on these points, however, was soon reached. And now as to the result of this union. This is a very instructive history and of the greatest moment to the proper appreciation of the principles of Christian union proposed by this reformation. First of all and most evident, is the fact that by means of this alliance an immense force, in the numbers and the character of the people brought into the union, was added to the army of New Testament reformers. It is not easy to calculate with any sort of accuracy the additional strength Reformation of the Nmeteenth Ce^itury thus acquired. There must be taken into the account not only the "Christian" Churches, but eminently also the not inconsiderable company of preachers, not a few of them strong men, that was united with the other body of able ministers of the Word advocating a return to primitive Christianity, together now constituting a mighty host of valiant reformers. This new increase of strength extended especially over the important territory of Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and later of Missouri, a vast field especially favorable to religious reform. That this accession gave our reformation a mighty impulse is beyond all question. Who acquainted with our history does not know what was gained by winning to our cause such men as Samuel and John Rogers, J. A. Gano, T. M. Allen, Henry D. and Francis R. Palmer, and others that might be named, besides B. W. Stone himself. A long list of younger men, who became great preachers, might be named, who were brought to us by this union. Much of the marvelous advance our plea has made in the states above named and in the great West generally, is beyond doubt largely owing to the union of the "Christians" with the "Disciples." But that which is most instructive to us in this important page of our history, is the demonstration it affords of the justness and safety of the principle of union advocated by us, and vindicated in this instance. Let the reader bear carefully in mind the basis of the union effected, and also — and this is very essen- tial to a proper judgment in this case — what the real Introdiiclory Period 97 doctrinal position of this body of "Christians" was, and the character of their preachers, all of which has been stated above. K\\ these conditions made the proposal of union wise and safe. For, let me repeat it, the principle of union the Campbells advocated did not justify a coalescence of elements that have doctrinally no affinity with each other. No fraternal incorporation with us of a people fun- damentally at variance with us in the essential elements of the doctrine of Christ, could have been proposed or accepted. But the condition of things being as above described, what was the result? It was this: In the churches of Eastern Ohio where an alliance was effected, the supreme power of A. Campbell and of the doctrinal position he occupied relative to the points of divergence between the Disciples arid the "Christians," soon revealed itself. The penumbra of Unitarianistic ideas gradually passed away before the powerful arguments of the Campbells, Scott, and their compeers, and gave place to the full light of truth on the most momentous facts revealed in the New Testament, the divinity of Jesus Christ, and the atonement based upon it. Those only who have lived in the very heart of this remarkable transformation can have a just notion of what it was. I believe I am justified in saying that, as a general - fact, so far as the case demanded it, the same result followed relative to the "Christians" in Kentucky and in the South and West, and for the same reasons. 7 98 Reformation of the Nineteenth Centtcry These excellent Christian people on both sides, by this union became truly brethren; they were no longer two parties, but had now become one. They "loved one another;'' were not only willing, but desirous to "see eye to eye.'' This is a capital point in the matter. They were ready and eager to learn, and they knew and felt that tliere was no hindrance to this. What more natural, then, than that the truth, wherever it was among them, and which is always the stronger, especially in very strong hands, should prevail. This trace of Arianism, faint and evanescent as it certainly was, had been begotten by the scholastic speculations of an extreme orthodoxy, in fellowship with a rigid Calvinism that shocked men, and is now happily passing away. When these godly, sincere seekers after truth were in fraternal associa- tion with men who, by the blessing of God, were utterly free from these mischievous and repulsive ideas and habits, the truth concerning Jesus Christ and the mystery of his death on the cross appeared to them in a new and better light. The causes that had led them to the position to which they had been driven, were taken away. But there was a particular, powerful force that operated in behalf of a correct acceptation of Christ's nature and office. It was this: In our preaching of the gospel we put in the front and lifted up to the loftiest eminence, as the one supreme object of faith, fesus Christy the Son of the living God. What other effect could follow with a people who so preached, than that all attention should be fixed upon the Intro dtict or y Period 99 exaltation of Jesus Christ, that he might be preached as really worthy of this highest place in the faith, confidence and hope of men. And this all preached, and the inevitable effect irresistibly followed. To- day we are everywhere one in our faith and preach- ing in this regard. Now and then, as might be expected, sporadic instances have occurred of prurient, aberrant spirits attempting to raise their voices in our churches to speculate on these awful, divine mysteries, to essay to utter Unitarian ideas. But such men with us would stand apart as Ishmaelites, and their history among us as preachers was always very brief. Another very instructive fact may be noted here. While this process to a unity in the true faith as it is in Christ Jesus was going on among us, the very opposite was the history largely of the "Chris- tians" in the East. They have been gradually following Unitarianism in its tendency downwards to a balder and emptier Arianism* Some of their churches have had Unitarian Pedobaptist pastors. It will be remembered by the readers of the Harbinger that a proposition was made to us for a union with the "Old Christians" in New England and Eastern Pennsylvania, through Elder J. J. Harvey, one of their preachers, in April, 1845. Mr. Harvey, whom I knew personally, was a most estimable man, all whose family, father, mother, brothers and sisters, were Disciples. A. Campbell, to whom this proposal was sent, repudiated it with great earnestness and force, because these "Old lOO Reformatio7t of the Nineteenth Century Christians" were Unitarian, and sought a union also with the Unitarians of New England. One fact further deserves notice here: In our history thus far it has been demonstrated that, while private liberty of opinion is tolerated, there is a strong, vital energy in the faith, the intelligence and spiritual life of our churches, capable and prompt to repel any serious errors and errorists that seek to fix themselves among us. Our principles of union in faith and action have been victoriously vindicated. What trials the future may have in store for us in this regard, no one can venture to predict. IX. THE FIRST NATIONAL CONVENTION, HELD IN CINCINNATI, OCTOBER, 1 849. THE CALL. The fact which was noted with emphasis in the chapter on "A. Campbell and His Colaborers," that the men who inaugurated our reformation were en- dowed with large intellectual power, with wisdom, learning, piety and strong moral courage, and were widely and deeply versed in the Word of God — a providential fact, certainly — has marked with its salutary influence our entire history. In the divine hand it has given us power and large development; has brought us to understand God's purposes in his Church, and to adopt the efficient means of execut- ing these purposes. Early in our history, during the fourth decade of this century, the thoughts of our prominent men were turned to the important question of the neces- sary condition for the permanent and prosperous life of the church. This meant its proper organization, in the widest sense of this word, as revealed in the word and spirit of the New Testament; for on this depended its efficiency — the wise development and exercise of its power as God's agency to execute his work in Christ on the earth. The revolutionary period of initiatory conflicts was passing away; the time for the established, reg- ular, enduring life of the Church had come. (101) 102 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century Those still among us, old enough, may remember that by 1840 there was already a general awakening in the churches, the result of the teaching of our strong men, notably in the Millennial Harbinger, on the questions of "Organization, Co-operation and Edification;'^ the closer alliance of the churches for efficient co-operation in general evangelization, Sunday-schools, proper pastoral work and discipline in the churches, the creation of a larger efficient ministry of the Word, and the control of the free itinerant preachers. These and kindred questions were at that time ex- citing with much force general attention. This was most creditable to the intelligence of our preachers and our people, and was full of promise for the future. It is well for the present generation, now so far removed from those days, to know this impor- tant fact in our history. Those who will take the pains to read the Millennial Harbinger of those years will find this statement confirmed. The in- quiries and discussions these important topics aroused throughout our churches and our press, had much to do in bringing about the great convention of 1849 and in inaugurating among us the era of missionary enterprises which has given us the remarkable period % of expansion and progress we are witnefsing to-day. The Millennial Harbinger was always with its great power leading in the ways of true progress and development; its watchword was ever, Forward! It was the Pharos that guided the people and illumin- ated their path. in all important movements. Our first general convention was held in Cincin- Introductory Period nati in 1849, beginning October 24; it continued, with the preliminary meeting, five days. What were the motives that summoned this- national assembly? First of all, it was urged on all sides, and by our wisest men, that it was of great importance that a closer acquaintance and fellowship of mind, heart and hand should now be established among us, be- cause of the increasing number and the widespread extent of our people. But, furthermore, also be- cause we were beginning to awaken to the duty of executing the command of our King to carry the gos- pel to all parts of the world. These were the two leading motives that called this memorable conven- tion. A. Campbell, in an article strongly advocating this step, said: "The purposes of such a primary convention are already indicated by the general de- mand for a more efficient and scriptural organization — for a more general and efficient co-operation in the Bible cause, in the missionary cause, in the education cause." Everywhere the words were heard: "We have gone through the war period, battling for life and existence; now we must turn our attention to the more difficult but most vital question of permanent organization for lasting existence and strong action in our life and mission as representatives of apostolic Christianity." During the spring and summer of 1849 the calls for a general convention became more numerous and stronger. A. Campbell early in that year advocated such a meeting to devise methods "for the setting in order the things \yanting among us to perfect the Church and convert the world." The Christian Age I04 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century and Unionist, of Cincinnati, edited by W. Scott and T. J, Melish, responding to the suggestion of A. Campbell, said: ''We all seem to see the necessity of such a meeting, and doubtless a great majority of the brotherhood are anxious to have it." The Chris- tian Intelligencer, the organ' of the brethren in Vir- ginia, under date of June 23, gave hearty approval. "We are very anxious," it declared, "that there shall be a general meeting of the Disciples. Let the brethren from the different parts of the United States come together, cultivate each other's ac- quaintance, and in the fear of the Lord consider the welfare of Zion and the means to be employed in ex- tending tl^e boundaries of 'the Messiah's kingdom.' We insist that all the churches shall take the matter into consideration at an early day and appoint per- sons to represent them." John Young, of Mason County, Kentucky, an Irishman of liberal education and once a professor in Bethany College, and afterwards president of But- ler University, wrote to the Millennial Harbinger: ^''Brother Campbell: I am truly glad to see among our editorial brethren a general desire for a meeting of delegates from the churches to decide upon our course in reference to Bible circulation and mission- ary operations The delegates from the churches should proceed to lay a basis for missionary operations and form a society for sending evangelists to the heathen The great command of our Lord is, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.' But we are not fulfilling it. Others with less knowledge of the divine Word Inlroductory Period 105 than we possess have gone abroad and are winning thousands from paganism to the service of the living God, and earning for themselves imperishable crowns, while we stand gazing on, priding ourselves on being the Reformation of the nineteenth century, but not doing the works which might honor and jus- tify this high claim." A. Campbell, during the spring and summer of that year, was with great power and clearness urg- ing ±he claims of the convention and of its objects, especially that of the missionary cause. To certain objections to a missionary society he answered in his usual forcible manner. He said: "To ask for a posi- tive precept for everything in the details of duties growing out of the various exigencies of the Chris- tian Church and the world, would be quite as irra- tional and unscriptural as to ask for an immutable wardrobe or a uniform standard of apparel for all persons and ages in the Christian Church In all things pertaining to public interest, not of Chris- tian faith, piety or morality, the church of Jesus Christ in its aggregate character is left free and un- shackled by any apostolic authority. Thi^ is the great point which I assert as of capital importance in any great conventional movement or co-operation in advancing the public interests of a common sal- vation." To the end of his life this illustrious man continued with unabated confidence and earnestness to advocate the missionary cause and the work of the convention in 1849. In answer to the ev^en more general and louder call for the convention, it was final Iv decided that it io6 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century should meet at Cincinnati, then yet the geograph- ical center of our reformation, on the 2 2d of Oc- tober. X. MEETING AND ORGANIZATION OF THE CONVENTION — IT BEGINS ITS WORK. The convention assembled in the church at the corner of Eighth and Walnut Streets, Tuesday, October 23, "for the purpose of temporarily organ- izing the General Coiiventio7i of the Christian Churches of the United States of America; this was the title given to this convention. Dr. ly. L. Pink- erton, of Kentucky, was called to the chair, and John M. Bramwell, of Indiana, was appointed secre- tary. The following brethren were then unani- mously elected permanent officers of the convention, to-wit: President, A. Campbell, of Virginia; vice- presidents, D. S. Burnet, of Ohio; John O'Kane, of Indiana; John T. Johnson, of Kentucky, and Walter Scott, of Pennsylvania." The committee on order of business was composed of Elijah Goodwin, of Indiana; Henry D. Palmer, of Illinois; William Morton, of Kentucky; John T. Powell, of Ohio; Samuel S. Church, of Missouri; Newton Short, of Virginia; Walter Scott, of Penn- sylvania; L. L. Pinkerton, of Kentucky, and Rich- ard Hawley, of Michigan. These names are given here that the reader may know what sort of men constituted this convention. This great assembly represented our apostolic host of preachers and private Christians of that day. Among them were the "prophets of Israel," the "fathers" of our reformation. Note this well. (107) io8 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century The convention met for regular business Wednes- day, 9 o'clock A. M. A. Campbell being absent because of sickness, the first vice-president, D. S. Burnet, took the chair. He presided during the entire convention, and with admirable skill and judgment. In after years he usually filled this office in A. Campbell's absence. After some discussion it was decided to enroll all the delegates present. Many congregations had sent regularly appointed messengers. Some brethren represented districts and co-operations of churches; others were delegates in a less formal way. The names enrolled showed, however, that these men were in the best sense the worthy representatives, not only of the brotherhood of the particular region whence they had come, but of our cause and people generally. There were enrolled 156 delegates, only 18 of whom were from Cincinnati and vicinity. The churches represented were 100, from 11 States. The minutes, however, showed many names not in the enrollment. One State meeting sent messen- gers, that of Indiana, held at Indianapolis shortly before the convention. The representation of our people was large con- sidering our numbers at that time, and that the day of railroads west of the Alleghenies, where the great body of our brotherhood lived, was not yet. Many of the brethren came from long distances — from the Atlantic States, and from as far as New Orleans. Entire delegations made their journeys in the old- fashioned way, on horseback. Introductory Period 109 It will be of interest to record here the names of the most prominent men who constituted this mem- orable assembly, that the present generation may know who gave the first strong impulse to our organized missionary enterprises. The messengers from the Indiana State meeting were John O'Kane, Elijah Goodwin, George Camp- bell, J. B. New, L. H. Jameson, S. W. Leonard, J. M. Mathes. There were besides from that State S. K. Hoshour, Milton B. Hopkins, Benjamin Frank- lin, John M. Bramwell. From the long list of churches I can note only a few representatives: James Challen, D. S. Burnet, B. U. Watkins, James S. Mitchell, William Hayes, John T. Po^^ell, J. J. Moss, James M. Henry, Jonas Hartzell, T. J. Mur- dock, William Pinkerton, from Ohio; Dr. John Shackleford, John Young, W. B. Mooklar, C. J. Smith, Dr. L. L. Pinkerton, William Morton, J. T. Johnson, R. C. Ricketts, H. T, Anderson, Carroll Kendrick, Waller Small, S. B. Bell, from Ken- tucky; Newton Short, Dr. J. T. Barclay, Prof. W. K. Pendleton, from Virginia; Robert B. Fife, W. H. Hopson, from Missouri; H. D. Palmer, from Illi- nois; Walter Scott, from Pennsylvania, and Richard Hawley, from Michigan. Of such splendid material the convention of 1849 was composed. These names should not be forgot- ten. Brethren of the reformation, does our relig- ious history know nobler men than this glorious company who came to represent you in this first national convention? Did these men understand the great cause for which we have now battled no Reformation of the Nineteenth Century almost a century? Could any have had it at heart more than they? An indication of the spirit of piety and of a deep earnestness of purpose that pervaded the convention is seen in the following resolution offered by the venerable William Morton, and passed with hearty unanimity, before any business was transacted: Resolved imanimoiisly ^ That it is the duty of every member of this convention, in entering on the duties devolving upon him, to do so with the love of God in his heart, the fear of God before his mind, and with an eye single to his glory and the good of man; and that every personal and party feeling of pride, selfishness and worldly ambition be wholly laid aside.'* THE WORK OF THE CONVENTION. On Wednesday forenoon, October 24, the first report on the order of business was presented by Walter Scott. It was divided into three parts: I. Evangelical matters; 2. Ecclesiastical matters; 3. Miscellaneous matters. Under the first head the committee introduced three resolutions; the first recommended the Ameri- can Christian Bible Society^ now in the fourth year of its existence; it was organized in 1845. The second, Resolved^ That in the opinion of this con- vention the American Christian Bible Society should so change or arrange its constitution as to add a missionary department, to be under the direction of its board, for the purpose of sustaining the procla- Introductory Period III mation of the Gospel among the destitute in the United States and its territories first, and then in foreign lands where its means will enable it to act officially in that department." The third resolution was, "That this convention recommend to our churches not to countenance as a preacher any man who is not sustained or acknowl- edged by two or more churches." There had been much difference of opinion about the propriety of a separate Bible Society. In the judgment of many of our wisest men, among them A. Campbell, the American and Foreign Bible Society offered to us all we desired. A. Campbell was always on the liberal side of great questions like this one. The Bible, he held, was too universally the property of Christendom to justify a society for its safe-guarding and distribution in our own hands. Yet such an institution had a strong support at that time among our brethren. The resolution was finally passed in the following form: Resolved^ That the Bible Society, known by the name of the American Christian Bible Society^ be and hereby is recommended by this convention to the cordial support of the brethren." In a few years, when the Bible Union entered upon its work, it was abolished, and we united heartily with the Baptists in this new enterprise. The Publication Society^ likewise located at Cincinnati, met the same fate at last. The third resolution, relative to unworthy preachers, expressed a widely prevailing concern among us at the time, and had been much discussed 112 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century in our journals. Walter Scott said on this occasion: "I never feel so mucli like being angry, as when I am compelled to sit in the pulpit with men of doubtful character. I feel degraded by the con- tact." George Campbell, one of the delegates of the Indiana State meeting, said he had been espe- cially instructed to try to secure the churches against such impostors and traveling vagrants. Carroll Kendrick finally offered this resolution: Resolved^ That this convention recommends to the congregations to countenance no evangelist who is not well reported of for piety and proper evangel- ical qualification, and that they be rigid and critical in the exainination of such reports." The convention, in discussing such questions and in passing resolutions on them, was extremely care- ful to assume no authority over the churches; this was constantly expressed. Nothing sets forth in clearer light the character of the men who consti- tuted this assembly than their earnestness relative to the purity of the ministry. After much discus- sion the following preamble and resolution were agreed on and passed: "Whereas, It appears that the cause of Chris- tianity has suffered from the imposition of false brethren upon the churches; therefore — Resolved^ That we recommend to the churches the importance of great care and rigid examination before they ordain men to the office of the evangel- ist." Immediately after this vote Carroll Kendrick's resolution was also passed. As the question of unworthy preachers, from Introductory Period whom in our early years we liad suffered much, was a matter not of local but of general concern, the con- vention from all quarters had been asked to consider it and offer its advice to the churches. Beyond all doubt the action of the convention had a very salu- tary effect on the churches. An important fact should be noted here, as an instructive part of the history of this first national convention. As stated in the introduction of this chapter, for a number of years the subject of organization, co-oper- ation and edification had occupied with constantly increasing interest and urgency the minds of the thoughtful of our brotherhood. Many special ques- tions, of more or less practical moment, had come to the front during this period of inquiry and dis- cussion. Most, if not all of them, have long since been set at rest with the intelligent of our people. When the subject of a general convention came to^ be discussed, many thought that such a convocation would be the opportune place to settle such matters, a capital occasion for a sort of morally authoritative deliverance on all subjects of dispute among us. And this effort was made at Cincinnati, but without any success. It is gratifying to me to be able to state here that the admirable wisdom of the convention refused to entertain such questions, and confined the meeting strictly to the subjects legitimately before it — an admirable example to our national conventions to-day. Dr. Wayland bitterly complained in his day that the Baptist missionary assemblies were annoyed in the same way. 8 XI. THK FORMATION OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY. It was manifest on the first assembling of the con- vention that the chief burden on the hearts of the brethren was the organizing of a General Missionary Society. As soon as the matters of secondary importance, already noticed in this chapter, were disposed of, the real question that had called together this national assembly at once with power asserted its supremacy. The extended letter addressed to the convention by the State meeting of Indiana among other things declared: *'We feel deeply interested, brethren, in the sub- ject of evangelical operations, and are fully satisfied that we ought to form a regularly organized mission- ary society, for the purpose of sending the gospel in the hands of a living ministry to all the destitute, uncultivated portions of the Lord's great field — which he declares is *the world.' It is our hope — entertained with the strongest desire of being real- ized— that this subject may receive a due amount of attention during the sessions of your meeting, and that such a society will be formed ere you adjourn." This letter was brought by a committee composed of L. H. Jameson, JohnO'Kane and S. W. Leonard. It was read to the convention by John O'Kane, who in earnest words explained the position of the Indi- ana brethren on the general resolutions communi- cated in the letter. (114) Introductory Period J. T. Johnson, on the afternoon of Wednesday, arose and said: *'I wish to know if the object of this convention is not to inquire into the expediency of forming a missionary society. Have we not all the right of ex- pression on this subject? I^et us give full opportu- nity for discussion." On Wednesday afternoon he offered these resolu- tions: ''''Resolved^ That a missionary society, as a means to concentrate and dispense the w^ealth and benevo- lence of the brethren of the reformation in an effort to convert the world, is both scriptural and expe- dient. ''''Resolved^ That a committee of seven be appoint- ed to prepare a constitution for said society." While the question of a separate Bible Society was under discussion C. Kendrick declared that he "thought the missionary society might supersede the necessity of a Bible society." While the constitution of the new enterprise was under discussion, Prof. Pendleton offered this resolu- tion: Resolved^ That the missionary society contem- plated by this action be presented to the brethren as the chief object of importance among our benevo- lent enterprises." On all sides utterances of the same tenor were heard expressing the feeling that pervaded the as- sembly and of the people they represented. J. T. Johnson's resolutions were adopted with spirit and without debate; so, also, that of Prof. Pendleton. Ii6 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century The convention was prepared for the chief work that had brought it together. The committee called for by J. T. Johnson's sec- ond resolution was announced by the chairman, D. S. Burnet. It consisted of John O'Kane, J. T. John- son, H. D. Palmer, Walter Scott, John T. Powell and Dr. L<. L<. Pinkerton. These were the men who reported the constitution of the first General Mission- ary Society; it was adopted without material change, and the constitution in its essential features has re- mained the same to the present day. The commit- tee was composed of the best intelligence and piety of the convention. When the session opened on Thursday morning the missionary cause took full possession of the con- Tention. The second resolution, calling for a gen- eral missionary department in the Bible society, came up in the regular order of business. As soon as it was read it was instantly, by a motion, laid on the table; and J. B. New, of Indiana, moved that the report of the committee appointed to prepare a con- stitution for a missionary society be now heard. John O'Kane read the report, which consisted of twelve articles, and then moved its adoption, and ^'that this convention recommend the immediate formation of such a society as contemplated in the report; and that for this purpose the convention adjourn for one hour" — all of which was agreed to at once and with great animation. When the assembly reconvened the constitution was discussed, article by article, and with immate- rial changes adopted with remarkable unanimity at Introductory Period 117 the evening session. The name of the society, as first reported, was The Christian Home and Foreig7i Missionary Society. For the sake of simplicity and because the missionary field was held to be one — the whole world — the name was changed to The Ameri- can Christian Missionary Society. Some discussion was occasioned by the eleventh article, which fixed the annual meeting of the society at Cincinnati. This article was finally passed in the following form: *'The annual meeting shall be held in Cincinnati, on the Wednesday after the third Lord's day in Oc- tober, or at such time and place as shall have been designated by a previous annual meeting. On Thursday evening, after the society had thus been fully organized, the enthusiasm of the conven- tion in its behalf became intense. The scenes ex- pressive of joyful satisfaction that characterized that evening's session could never be forgotten by those who witnessed them. Congratulations were offered on all sides. It was already late when a motion was made '*that now an opportunity be offered to become life mem- bers and life directors." The consummation of the enterprise that had been the supreme thought of the convention, and the earnest desire of a great people that had now awakened to the greatest duty of the Church, made men and women forget the three long sessions of the day, and that the hour for adjourn- ment was at hand. Well do I remember, even after fifty years, the promptness and ardor of the response to this "op- ii8 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century portunity.'' From all quarters of the house names of life members and directors were crowded in, so that the secretaries repeatedly begged the brethren to "hold on" and give them time to record these names. In the list of these first life members were such names as H. D. Palmer, A. D. Fillmore, W. H. Hopson, George Campbell, L. Iv. Pinkerton, Car- roll Kendrick, R. C. Rice, Dr. John Shackleford, Elijah Goodwin, John O'Kane, J. B. New, Dr. J. T. Barclay (himself, wife and three children), to whom this was a day of supreme exultation, for he was a missionary Christian par excellence. Several churches constituted their preachers and others life members. Prominent brethren whose names had long been cherished by the brotherhood received on this occasion an evidence of their esteem and affec- tion. In a few moments D. S. Burnet, S. K. Hosh- our, J. T. Johnson, James Challen, Walter Scott, J. J. Moss, ly. H. Jameson and A. Campbell were made life directors by the joyful suffrages of the men and women in the convention. There was great enthu- siasm among the women. Several brethren became life directors by their own contributions; these led the way. It is a great delight, after half a century, *to look over the names of the men and women who at the hour of its birth gave their adhesion and strong pecu- niary support to our first general missionary society. I knew them all, and rejoice to testify also that they remained the friends of this glorious cause to the end of their days. I thank God that I yet live to tell the story of that great day . Introductory Period *'In a few minutes," as reported in the Millennial Harbinger, "two thousand five hundred and fifty dol- lars were subscribed by the members of the conven- tion alone to this most benevolent and laudable enterprise;" including the contributions to the Bible and tract societies, in all about five thousand dollars. When we remember that this was our first effort of this kind, and that our number at that time was per- haps less than one-fourth of what we are to-day, such an offering as this gave token of the generous inspir- ation of the convention. The States of Ohio, Ken- tucky and Indiana were the strongest then in the number of our brotherhood, and the largest also in representation in the convention and in contributions to the several enterprises it advocated. I am sorely tempted to describe some of the strik- ing scenes that characterized this remarkable session, but lack of space forbids it. I have yet before me the remarkable form of "the old man eloquent," Henry D. Palmer, whose features strikingly recalled those of Henry Clay, as he stood forth in the midst of us and poured out over the audience his earnest, apostolic appeal, in words of deepest pathos, in be- half of the universal mission of the doctrine of the cross. He had made the great apostolic plea on the banks of the Tennessee and the Mississippi years be- fore the Campbells came to America. Blessed be his memory! THE LAST ACTS OF THK CONVENTION. As stated in the beginning of this chapter, while the formation of a missionary society was chief in I20 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century tlie intention of the convention, its purpose em- braced still other interests vital to the welfare of the churches. As A. Campbell had expressed it, ''The attention of such assemblies is to be devoted to gen- eral objects, such as cannot be so well dispensed or attended to by particular congregations." Such was the feeling of this convention. A select committee, therefore, composed of D. S. Burnet, John Young, S. Ayers, H. D. Palmer, J. T. Johnson, C. Kendrick, W. K. Pendleton, Walter Scott, J. T. Barclay and John O'Kane, was ap- pointed to report resolutions — advisory and com- mendatory— that would express the mind of the convention on matters of serious importance to the church general. The report of the" committee, as finally adopted, will show what were some of the grave questions that were at that day before the churches; it was as follows: Resolved^ That in all our deliberations, in all our efforts to organize God's kingdom, the moral rather than the material purposes of our organization be kept steadily before us; that we have the conversion of the world and the perfection of the brotherhood in holiness always- before us. "Whereas, It is essential to a general union in the furtherance of the cause of our blessed Re- deemer, that the brethren should confer with each other after truth; and "Whereas, The cultivation of the social and re- ligious sympathies is necessary to bring into zealous and efficient action the energies of the brethren; therefore l7itrodiictory Period 121 Resolved^ That we respectfully recommend to the churches the propriety of forming among themselves State and district meetings, to be held annually and quarterly, in such way as may seem expedient; and that the churches in their primary assemblies be requested to send to their annual meetings, by their messengers, the number of members in their respec- tive congregations, with the names of their post- offices. Resolved^ That we strongly recommend to the churches the duty and importance of organizing and establishing Sunday-schools in every congregation. Resolved^ That a committee of five be appointed to make out and publish a catalogue of such books as would be suitable for present use." The committee on Sunday-school books was D. S. Burnet, J. J. Moss, C. Kendrick, W. Scott and W. K. Pendleton. An advisory committee was ap- pointed consisting of I. Errett, A. S. Hayden, A. Campbell, S. S. Church, L. H. Jameson, S. G. Pinkerton, J. B. Ferguson, J. T. Jones and A. Graham. Other resolutions urged on the brethren were the strict observation of the Lord's day "in conversation and behavior; especially that they may refrain from starting, and, if possible, from prosecuting any jour- ney on this holy day," impressing "the need of increase of personal piety and devotion, especially in reading the Scriptures, secret prayer and family instruction and worship." A committee of three was appointed "to prepare a concise and appropriate address to our Cin infirm 122 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century churclies and brethren generally, embodying and recommending the sentiments, principles and meas- ures agreed upon in this convention, to be published together with the report of the proceedings of the convention." This body of resolutions, which so fittingly closed the work of this memorable assembly, sets forth in a clear light the spirit and aims that filled the hearts of all present. The welfare of Zion, the universal triumph of the kingdom of God over the earth, were in every word and every act. None better than the men here assembled understood the character, the value and the objects of the great cause we plead; they were its pioneers. None, too, ever compre- hended better its power and destiny as a reforma- tion leading to a restoration of apostolic Christian- ity, in doctrine, form, discipline, spirit and life, and to a mighty missionary activity that should seek the uttermost limits or the earth. None ever could and did understand better the wisdom, the duty and necessity of our establishing large and strong and well organized enterprises to carry into execution the great commission of our King to conquer the world for him. It is because these "men of God" felt deeply our shortcomings and our wants that hin- dered the realization of all these ardent desires and hopes, that they thus met together, spoke and acted in this memorable convention. And their work was not in vain; their hopes have been realized, their prayers answered; their faith in God, in his truth, in his church, has been gloriously Introductory Period 123 vindicated, and will be still more wondrously vindi- cated as the years shall pass along. Study the resolutions and acts of this convention, embodying its convictions and aims, and you will see that they have all been justified and realized by succeeding history among us. The States have long since organized from ocean to ocean domestic mis- sionary enterprises, many of them remarkably suc- cessful. The great Sunday-school activity in the churches has become a mighty power among us. And so of ministerial education, and the other noble am- bitions for the cause of God that burned in the hearts of the "glorious apostolic company" of our First National Convention. I^et the memory of these men of God and of their work be ever precious to us ' Period of Organization B, B. TYIvER PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION I. THE FIRST MISSION FIKI.D. We are now entering upon a new period of our religious development. The forty years preceding the first general Christian Missionary Convention, counting from the Declaration and Address in 1809, may properly be regarded as an introductory or pre- paratory period. The leaders of the movement within that period were engaged with problems of doctrine and local church organization growing out of the application of the rule of religious reforma- tion which had been adopted to existing conditions and needs. They had little time to consider the claims which the heathen world, or the unevangel- ized regions of our own land, made upon them, and to work out the problem of general co-operation as an essential condition of carrying on successfully such work. The time had now come, however, when these questions could no longer be postponed. This new religious force which had arisen must bear its share of the burden of the world's evangelization. It must organize its local congregations for co-opera- tion, and it must establish schools and religious journals to meet the growing demands upon it as an independent religious movement. Hence the period (127) 128 Reformation of the Ninetee7tth Century from 1849 to i860 may be described as a period of greater activity along missionary and educational lines. Not that doctrinal discussions had lost their interest, as yet, but that newer and more practical problems thrust themselves upon the reformers. The story of the organization of the American Christian Missionary Society is fresh in our minds as told by an eye-witness of and participant in the proceedings of the convention in which this mother missionary association was born. The first question of importance to be decided was in regard to the definite field to be cultivated. This was a grave question. The selection was made with deliberation. ''The field is the world;" but what portion of this wide field ought we now to enter? This was the question. It was put in this sensible way: "What part of this extended field is now most important, and in the end will yield the largest and most satis- factory results?" It was said that if immediate results are consid- ered, the Karens are those to whom we should go with the good news. If the largest single field is to be taken, and because it is the largest, then we ought to go to China. If ignorance and wretched- ness are to decide this question, then we ought to go alone to those who are in idolatry. If contiguity is to be the controlling thought, the people with whom to begin our work are the North American Indians. "But the dictates of a discriminating judgment and sound policy plainly indicate," said a writer in the Christian Age, understood at the time to be Dr. Period of Organization 129 James T. Barclay, "that our first efforts should be expended more in reference to permanent effect and extended influence in order to ultimate success than to immediate results, and hence our labors should be devoted to that nation which, when evangelized, will exert the most powerful and widespread influ- ence." This principle guided those in authority in the newly-organized society in the selection of our first foreign mission field. This rule of action caused them to decide against going with the life-imparting message to the Chinese, the Karens, the North American Indians, the idolaters of Africa and Poly- nesia. It also prevented the inauguration of an effort in behalf of what were called "the semi-Chris- tianized nations of Europe," and the "isolated Japanese, although they never yet have heard the glad tidings of salvation." This was in 1849, ten years before the first Protestant missionaries reached that most interesting people. ^ "Permanent effect and extended influence" could not be seen in any of the directions here indicated. With their honest, earnest eyes fixed on what seemed, and seems, to be "a sound rule of action," the good men who had been elected to guide the infant society in its initial efforts said, after due con- sideration and with one voice: "The first offer oi 'the ancient gospel' should be made to the ancient people of God — the sons and daughters of Abra- ham." Their evangelization, it was believed, prom- ised "permanent effect and extended influence" be- yond that of any other people. 9 130 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century It was also said that there has been a general neg- lect of the Jews on the part of the friends of mis- sions. Notwithstanding this indifference on the part of Christians to the spiritual welfare of the chil- dren of Abraham, and their apparent abandonment ,of God, it was believed that they are even now beloved for their father's sake," and it was said that *'no nation on earth presents so strong a claim on our consideration as this noble race — none for whose conversion such strong inducements are pre- sented— none of whose recovery such glorious conse- quences are predicted." It was also said that "to no people on earth are we so indebted as to the Jews, and nothing less than a great missionary effort in their behalf can cancel the obligation rest- ing upon us that 'through our mercy they may obtain mercy.' " "The evangelization of no people will promote the interests of Christianity to such a degree as will the evangelization of the Jews." "Were they once converted to Christianity, what a noble army of missionaries would their circum- stances and natural endowments constitute them ! Judah and Benjamin to the lapsed churches of Greece and Rome, within whose territories they are principally dispersed, and the other ten tribes to the Mohammedans and pagans among whom they are scattered." "They are an energetic people." "They hate idolatry." "They dwell in every nation under heaven." "There is no language nor speech where their voice is not heard." "In all that pertains to missionary qualifications no peo- ple in the world can compare with the children of Period of Organization Abraham." The signs of the times also seemed to be auspicious for a successful presentation of the gospel to this historic people. In the beginning of Christianity the missionaries of the Christ preached exclusively to this people for years. They con- tinued, in fact, to do so until "they were at last specially summoned by the Holy Spirit to the work of foreign missions among the heathen." Even after this, wherever they went it was their custom to offer salvation first through the Christ to the Jews. Paul felt such an interest in the people of Israel that he expressed a willingness to be anath- ema from Christ for their sake. Can we, who plead for the restoration of Christianity, remain indiffer- ent to the spiritual welfare of these people and be innocent before God? Moved by such considerations they decided to send "the ancient gospel" to the people of Israel. The next question was as to the place in which to begin work. It was known that multitudes of Jews resided in Salonica — the ancient Thessalonica. They were also numerous in Constantinople, in Smyrna and in other cities on the shores of the Mediterranean. After considering the claims of various places in which the people whose evangelization had been determined upon lived in large numbers, it was decided that "the Holy Land is the place where we should first establish a mission." It was regarded and spoken of as "the great center of sympathies" where "a ])lo\v struck" "would be felt much more sensibly than anywhere else." The land of Pales- 132 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century tine seemed to be the strategic point in the evangel- ization of the Jews throughout the world. The ultimate restoration of the Jews to this their ancient home was generally accepted as the teaching of the Bible. How appropriate, how wise, how truly Christian, previous to this event, to bring the Jews residing in the Holy I^and into the fellowship of the Christ and into the enjoyment of ''the great salvation ! ' ' At that time the Turkish government, in control of Palestine, was believed to be favorable, to the Christian religion. An enthusiastic advocate of the Holy lyand as the place in which to begin work said that "twelve moons ago apostasy from Islamism to Christianity was punished with death and confisca- tion; now," said he, '.'such encouragement is offered to Franks" — a term for Protestant Christians — "as almost to constitute a premium for Christianity." "The Crescent," he said, "truly is rapidly waning, and the Euphrates fast drying up." It was thought that from Palestine as a base, an effectual assault could be made on the religion of the Arabian Prophet. "The last sands of the prophetic period assigned to the Moslem Desolator are now running out." "The I^ittle Horn of the East shall gore no more, and no more shall the desolating abomination practice and prosper!" It must in candor be confessed that in connection with the foregoing apparently practical views, there was a bit of sentiment. Much was thought and spoken about what was Period of Organization 133 called the "ancient gospel," and the place in which it was first preached. "Is it nothing to us," they exclaimed, "is it nothing to ns that the fairest portion of the earth — the garden of the I^ord, in whose fertile soil and genial clime grew the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley — whose pure apostolic Christianity once flourished in all its glory, is now in possession of the 'worst of the heathen?' Has not Jerusalem long enough been 'trodden down of the Gentiles?' Are the mercies of the Lord toward his once favored land and people clean gone forever? No, he is waiting to be gracious. How long shall it be, then, before the fountain again be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness? Are the pools of Jerusalem and the waters of Jordan no more to be the emblematic grace of the penitent believer?" II. OUR FIRST FOREIGN MISSIONARY. After the selection of the people and the field, with whom and in which to begin work, there was no difficulty in securing the services of a man emi- nently qualified by nature, education and grace to work among the Jews in Jerusalem. This man was James Turner Barclay. Dr. Barclay was born in Hanover County, Va., May 22, 1807. He was of Scotch-Irish descent on his father's and English on his mother's side. His father was Robert Barclay. Miss Sarah Coleman Turner became the wife of Mr. Robert Barclay, January i, 1800. The father of our Dr. J. T. Barclay died when the future missionary, preacher and author was but a small boy. The lad received no special religious training, although his mother was a Baptist and an excellent woman. In the course of time the widow of Robert Barclay be- came the wife of Captain Harris, a wealthy tobacco planter of Albemarle County, Va. Captain Harris was very kind to Mrs. Barclay's sons — Thomas and James. He caused them to be educated in the Uni- versity of Virginia. Thomas studied law, and James, after graduating from the University of Vir- ginia, graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania. He was, however, never deeply in- terested in his profession. He was by nature relig- ious. He appears to have been a born missionary. His passion was to be good and to do good. (134) Period of Organisation 135 When James T. Barclay was twenty-three years old he married Miss Julia Ann Sowers. She was at the time of her marriage less than seventeen years old. Her father was an elder in the Presbyterian Church and a gentleman of property. Miss Sowers' education and social manners were those of a high- bred Virginia lady. She was a fit companion of the noble man whose wife she became. At the time of their marriage neither Dr. Barclay nor his wife was professed Christian, but by and by they confessed Christ, and united with the" Pres- byterian Church in Charlottesville, Va. Mrs. Barclay was a missionary enthusiast. When she was yet a young woman she sent her jewels, among which were her diamond engagement ring, her set of pearls, a set of cut coral and a handsome diamond pin, to Dr. Converse, of Richmond, Va., to be sold for the benefit of the missionary cause. While they were members of the Presbyterian Church Dr. and Mrs. Barclay offered themselves to the Presbyterian Mission Board to serve as missiona- ries in China. Thomas Barclay, a short time before this, was drowned in the James River while bathing. James was, therefore, the only son of his mother. Against his departure to a foreign mission field she, therefore, protested with great earnestness. Her tears and entreaties prevailed. James decided, at least for the present, to remain at home. Dr. Barclay after this heard R. L. Coleman, a prominent preacher in those days among the Disci- ples in Virginia, preach the "ancient gospel," as it was called. Under the preaching of Mr. Coleman 136 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century he became convinced that infant baptism had no foundation in the New Testament, and that the bap- tism of believers was required by the teaching of Jesus and his apostles. He also learned that baptism — Christian baptism — is the immersion in water of a penitent believer in the name of the I^ord Jesus, and into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. He and his wife were, therefore, baptized in the James River, and identified them- selves with the Disciples of Christ. This w^as an occasion of great grief to their par- ents. His mother said that though she had lost two husbands and a son, the fact that James had become a "Campbellite" was the occasion of the greatest grief she had ever experienced. In the selection of Dr. James T. Barclay to go as a missionary to Jerusalem there was the choice and devotion to a most holy service of the best of the flock. His paternal pedigree ran back to Robert Barclay, the Quaker of the seventeenth century known as the author of the "Apology," or defense of the per- secuted Friends. His grandfather was a personal friend of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. When the former was President, and the latter was Secretary of State, Mr. Barclay was appointed Con- sul General to France. He was also sent to Mo- rocco, and later was sent to Tangier as Consul General. Dr. and Mrs. Barclay, six years after the death of Thomas Jefferson, purchased Monticello, where they resided three years. Period of Organization Dr. Barclay was an enthusiast in science as well as in religion. He devoted much time to a study of chemistry and metallurgy, with especial reference to the prevention of counterfeiting and loss by abra- sion in handling of our hard money. The value of his services was recognized by those who were in a position to understand them. In 1857 he was ap- pointed by the President of the United States in spe- cial charge of the Philadelphia Mint. The results of his experiments were indorsed by Professors Rog- ers and Vatheck, eminent scientists of Philadelphia, who were appointed by the President to co-operate with him. So far was the value of his work in this .department recognized that a bill was introduced in Congress to pay him $100,000, but failed by one vote to pass — that of Senator Mason, of Virginia. It is said that this was on account of a grudge that Mr. Mason entertained against Dr. Barclay — a feeling which had its origin during their student days in the University of Virginia. But the failure to secure this snug sum of money was chiefly on account of the Doctor's enthusiasm for the Jerusalem mission. Had he remained at home and looked after the busi- ness, as a shrewd man of the world would have done, the bill doubtless would have passed both houses of Congress and received the signature of the President. He seems, however, to have been utterly indifferent, personally, to the value of money. Dr. Barclay was liberal almost to a fault. He gave himself very lit- erally, with all that he possessed, to the work of the Master. When he tendered his services to the American 138 Reformatio7i of the Nineteenth Centtuy Christian Missionary Society the offer included his family — Mrs. Barclay, his sons, Robert Gutzlaff, aged eighteen, John Judson, aged sixteen, and his daughter Sarah, aged thirteen, who became the wife of the Hon. Augustus Johnson, United States Con- sul at the Island of Cyprus. At the time of the organization of the society he and his family became life members by the payment of the stipulated fee. He also assisted by money contributions to make others members of the society. The abiding mis- sionary interest of Dr. and Mrs. Barclay is seen in the names of their sons — Gutzlaff and Judson. On the fifth day of October, 1848 — more than a year before the organization of the American Chris- tian Missionary Society — Dr. James T. Barclay ad- dressed a letter to the corresponding secretary of the Christian Bible Society, organized in 1845 Cincin- nati, in which he said: "Should your deliberations result in the establishment of a Foreign Missionary Society or department, or should it be deemed expe- dient to engage seriously in the cause of foreign mis- sions, on any scriptural plan — which the good Lord grant — in my estimation, the time has come when we not only may^ but should and miist^ attempt im- mediately to disseminate the truth as it is in Jesus among the benighted pagans, both by colporteur operations and regular foreign missions. Would that I had the wealth of a Crcesus to contribute to this all-important enterprise! But of silver and gold I have little — very little — yet have I a heart to at- tempt whatever such feeble instrumentality can be expected to accomplish; and should we organize a Period of Orgaiiizatio^i 139 missionary body, as I trust we will, and some be found in our ranks willing to 'hazard their lives' for the purpose of declaring the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to them that 'sit in the darkness and in the shadow of death,' cheerfully will I say, ^ Here am I; send me.'' " III. OUR FIRST MISSIONARY AND HIS WORK. The American Christian Missionary Society was, organized October 26, 1849. a meeting of the board November 12, of the same year, a letter was read from Dr. Barclay, in which he expressed his willingness to go to Jerusalem, or such other field as the board may direct. With this communication he inclosed a certificate from the church in Scotts- ville, Va., the place of his residence at the time, in reference to his Christian character and qualifications for the work. This was characteristic of the man. Dr. W. H. Hopson said of Dr. Barclay that he was "criminally modest." His modesty would not permit him to assume that the members of the board knew his Christian character and eminent qualifications for the work to which he proposed to devote his life. After the reading of the letter and certificate it was resolved by the board "that we most cordially enter- tain the proposition of our beloved brother, and that the corresponding secretary be requested to inform him immediately of this expression of the board." At a meeting eight days later James Challen, from the "Committee on Fields of Labor," reported in fa vol ot "one mission on the foreign field, and to us, at present, Jerusalem would be the most desirable point." This action was, however, but a formal recognition and indorsement of what had been de- termined. The reasons for the selection of the peo- (140) Period of Organization 141 pie of Israel and the Holy City have been, in epit- ome, placed before the reader. iVt a meeting of the board held January 15, 1850, another letter from Dr. Barclay was read which, according to the minutes, was "favorable to the Jerusalem mission, and ex- pressive of a desire to engage in the benevolent and self-denying enterprise." The corresponding secre- tary was "instructed to write to Brother Barclay to ascertain what would be the expense of outfit and salary; and whether he could go by the first of next September, provided funds could be obtained." It was on the eleventh day of June, 1850, that James T. Barclay, M. D., was employed as an agent of the American Christian Missionary Society to engage in teaching, preaching and the practice of medicine among the Jews in Jerusalem. Our first foreign mis- sionary was a medical missionary. The following from a letter addressed to "the Board of the American Christian Missionary Soci- ety," under date of October 30, 1849, ^^^^^ days after the organization of the association, reveals so much of the man in whom we are now especially inter- ested that it is inserted at this point: "I have been a member of the Church of Christ about ten years, and during the greater part of that time an elder; l:)ut have ouly been engaged in the public proclamation of the Word during the past year. To be able to 'endure hardness as a good sol- dier of Jesus Christ' is deemed an indispensable requisite on the part of him who would lead the self- denying life of a missionary of the cross, and I bless my Creator and Preserver that, though I am now in 142 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century the forty-third year of my age, my health is uni- formly and unusually good, being blessed with an ex- cellent constitution and great powers of endurance. I have some acquaintance with the lyatin, Greek and French languages, and such an aptitude for the acquisition of foreign tongues that no insuperable obstacle exists on this score. I am a regular gradu- ate of the medical profession, and although I have not been engaged in practice for some years, yet but little application would suffice to qualify me as a practitioner again. My acquaintance with the arts and sciences is quite extensive, and with some of them intimate — both theoretically and practically — possessing great artistic and mechanical tact. I mention this because such attainments on the part of the missionary are esteemed very desirable, inasmuch as they tend to procure a favorable access to the heathen. "My wife, whose mind has long been exercised on this subject, cordially dedicates herself to the cause of missions, so far as her influence can be appropri- ately exerted. "The children whom God hath graciously given us — consisting of two sons, the one aged eighteen, the other fifteen, and a daughter only thirteen years of age — desire also to go unto the heathen with us, and thus be fellow-helpers to the truth in their re- spective spheres. Having long since made our God their God, and our people their people, it is nat- ural that they should desire to go where we go, lodge where we lodge, and die where we die; but so far as* can be ascertained, they seem to be actuated in mak- Period of Organization 143 ing such a choice by higher motives than those that spring from mere filial affection. Their education, having been early commenced, is now nearly com- pleted on a somewhat liberal scale; and I am happy in the assurance that they possess more than an or- dinary share of piety and zeal, and are perfectly willing to do whatever they can, either now or here- after, in behalf of the perishing heathen. "Such a statement I deem due alike to you, to the cause and to ourselves." Much enthusiasm was excited among the brethren by the thought of beginning the work of missions in the city in which the gospel of the Son of God in its fullness was first preached. This finds echo in Presi- dent Campbell's annual address in 1853. '^^^ vciixs- sion has been inaugurated. The news from Dr. Bar- clay is full of encouragement. Some in the Holy City under his instruction have turned to the lyord. Others seriously contemplate this step. Under these circumstances the convention assembled in Cincin- nati. Mr. Campbell said: "We have but one foreign mission station — a sta- tion, indeed, of all others the most appropriate to our profession — the ancient city of the great King, the city of David, on whose loftiest summit Zion, the ark of God, rested — the 'holy hill,' once the royal residence of Melchisedec, priest of the Most High God — the sacred Solyma, the abode of peace. There stood the tabernacle when its peregrinations ended. There stood the temple, the golden palace wliicli Solomon built. It rested upon an hallowed foundation — Mount Moriah, a little hill of Zion. To 144 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century that place the tribes of God went up to worship. There was the Ark of the Covenant, with its table engraven by the hand of God. The Shekinah was there; Calvary was there, and there our Lord was crucified, buried and rose again. There clusters every hal- lowed association that binds the heart of man to man. There Christ died, and there he revived. There the Holy Spirit, as the messenger of Christ, first appeared. There the gospel was first preached. There the first Christian baptism was administered. There the first Christian temple was reared, and thence the gospel was borne through Judea, Samaria, and to all the nations that ever heard it. Jerusalem, the city of the Great King, in the center of all di- vine radiations, the center of all spiritual attractions, and in its ruins it is an eternal monument of the justice, faithfulness and truth of God. * * * "One of the capital points of this Reformation is the location, in time and place, of the commence- ment of the reign of grace, or the kingdom of heav- en. The Christian era and the commencement of Christ^ s Church have long been confounded by every sect in Christendom. The materials of Solomon's Temple and of Christ's Church were mainly provided one generation before either of these was erected. The grand materials of Christianity, or the kingdom of Jesus Christ, are his life, death, burial, resurrec- tion, ascension and glorification in heaven. This last event occurred more than thirty-three years after his nativity. So that the Christian era and the commencement of Christ's reign or kingdom are one generation — thirty-four years — apart. The Holy Period of Organization Spirit, who is the life, the bliss and the glory of Christianity, was not given till -Jesus Christ was glorified. Hence, John the Harbinger and Jesus the Messiah both lived and died under the Jewish theoc- racy, a fact that has much moral and evangelical bearing on the Christian profession, as exhibited by both Baptists and Pedobaptists. This alone should give direction to all our efforts in all missions, do- mestic or foreign. It is the only legitimate stand- point at which to place our Jacob staff when we com- mence a survey of the kingdom of heaven, or propose to build a tent for the God of Jacob— the Holy One of Israel, our King. Had we no other object than to ^ give publicity and emphasis to this capital point, it is worthy the cause we plead, what- ever the success may be, to erect and establish our first foreign mission in the identical city where ourl^ordwas crucified; where the Holy Spirit first descended as the Missionary of the Father and the Son; where the Christian gospel was first preached and the first Christian Church erected. As a simple monument of our regard and reverence for this soul- emancipating position, it is worthy of all that it has cost us, and more than it will ever cost us, to have made our first foreign mission station near the cross, the mount of ascension of the Savior, and the thea- ter of the descension of the Holy Spirit as the sacred guest of the house which Jesus built." These words were spoken when news of an encour- aging character was by every mail coming to the board of managers from tlie Jerusalem Missron. The Christian Bible Society appropriated money 146 Reformation of the Nineteenth Centiuy to be used by the missionary in the distribution of the sacred -writings. This he did in the Arabic, Syriac, Syro-Chaldaic, Judeo- Arabic, Armenian, Turkish, modern Greek, German, Spanish and Ital- ian languages. The sum of $1,200.00 was appropriated by the board to convey Dr. Barclay and his family — wife and three children — to Jerusalem. In a meeting held October 14, 1850, after the departure of the mission- ary family, it was * 'Resolved, that the board place at the disposal of Brother Barclay $500.00, in addi- tion to the $1,200.00 already appropriated for his passage to Jerusalem and the support of the mission for one year." Surely, this accomplished gentle- man did not engage in this work from mercenary considerations! D. S. Burnet, who was present at and active in the organization of the American Christian Missionary Society, who was elected first vice-president, and who served the society as corresponding secretary in the years 1852-56, and 1862-63, said of Dr. Barclay: "His heart is in the work. He is also as much distinguished by an enlightened frugality as by the ardor of his zeal. He supremely believes that he is a trustee of the funds placed at his disposal, and he most obviously keeps a conscience void of offense in their management. Under such auspices the mis- sion, with the blessing of God, may be expected to do much good." In a letter dated ''London, October 28, 1850," addressed to James Challen, at the time correspond- ing secretary, the missionary gives an account of his Period of Organization 147 efforts to secure the least expensive passage to Alex- andria. He "applied at the office of the Oriental and Peninsular Steamship Company," but says he "found the rates of charge so exorbitantly high" that he "was compelled to decline taking passage in that line." He "succeeded," at last, "in engaging . . . passage in the Hebe, of Glasgow, a little brig of only one hundred and eighty-four tons burthen." To still further reduce expenses it was decided to "do our own victualing," etc., the captain of "the Scotch brig" agreeing to "supply fuel and water." And so our first foreign missionary went out in lux- ury (?) to preach, and teach, and practice medicine among the unfortunate descendants of Abraham in the "City of the Great King." He left the United States about the middle of September, 1850, expect- ing to arrive at his destination by the close of the year. The voyage was unusually and unexpectedly tempestuous. January, 185 1, found him on the an- cient island of Melita. At one time, as a result of the storms through which "the little brig" passed, he says: "We were reduced almost entirely to a diet of crackers and cheese." He purchased some Arabic books in London. A good deal of time was given on the way to a study of that language. Some time was also given t® Greek, Latin, Italian and French. He preached on shipboard, both publicly and pri- vately. He was "instant in season and out of season." The first letter from Jerusalem was dated "Febru- ary 28, 1851." While he was at Valetta, Island of Melita, he says: "vSeeing, unexpectedly, that we 148 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century could reach our destination more expeditiously and cheaply by a steamer which touched at Valetta while we were there, awaiting the sailing of the Hebe, than by pursuing our intended route via Alex- andria, we took passage in her, and in six or seven days had the pleasure of landing at Beyroot." Just as he was leaving the Hebe he learned that "the captain and second mate had decided to be baptized." He says that he was ignorant of this until "the very moment of our embarkation arrived, when it was certainly too late to administer the ordi- nance." He adds: "One of the sailors had previ- ously requested me to baptize him, but such was his ignorance of 'the truth as it is in Jesus' (Episcopa- lian though he was) that I had come to the conclu- sion not to administer the ordinance until we should reach Alexandria, by which time he would have been sufficiently well 'instructed in the way of the Lord' to obey intelligently and satisfactorily." Dr. Bar- clay felt also that "the sailor would have been accompanied by others." The following words, taken from this letter, are worthy of especial atten- tion at the present time, as indicating the care with which "the fathers" received persons to the ordi- nance of baptism: "I have seen so much evil, both, to the cause and to the preacher, result from hastily thrusting into 'God's building' improper materials of 'wood, hay, stubble,' that I am, perhaps, too much afraid of pre- cipitancy, and acted with too much caution in this instance. But still, whether or not we should 'bap- tize the same hour' that application is made, must. Period of Organization 149 in my opinion, depend somewhat on circumstances.'' The missionaries were detained five days in Bey- root before arrangements could be matured for prose- cuting the journey to Jerusalem. In order to avoid * 'heavy expenses" they determined to go by land. Moreover, time would be saved by going on horse- back. They traveled along the sea coast via Sidon, Tyre, Ptolemais and Joppa, and through Lydda to the Holy City. Nine days were spent in making the journey, exclusive of the Lord's day, which was spent in Sidon. x^ll were in good health and fine spirits when Jerusalem was reached. But Dr. Bar- clay says: "If I may credit what I am told on all hands, there is no w^orse missionary ground on all the earth than this same city." He said in this same letter: "I yearn over this benighted people; ardently long for the time when I can proclaim to them, in their own language, the truth as it is in Je- sus." "There is no place on earth," he continues, "where the diffusion of the truth is more needed than this very spot." He found the most deter- mined opposition to his efforts on behalf of the peo- ple of Israel, from the beginning to the close of his work, on the part of men who called themselves Christians. He says that he was seriously advised by a clerical friend "to join the Anglican Church if I would escape persecution." He did not join the Anglican Church; he did suffer persecution. It would seem from Dr. Barclay's letters that he found hardly anything in Palestine as he expected when he left America for the Holy Land. He found missions and missionaries. He found that money 150 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century was expended freely in Christianizing (?) the sons of Abraham. There was even extravagance in the use of money contributed in large sums by European Christians. He found that the Episcopalians, be- sides "several ordained missionaries, who speak the language fluently, have also here and in other parts of Palestine some half dozen native colporteurs, whom they give from 150 to 200 pounds sterling per annum simply to distribute tracts and the Script- ures." The amount that Dr. Barclay and his family were to receive being indicated by the action of the board, above quoted, no one ought to.be surprised that in his account of this matter he added: "a sum, however, entirely too high." It was an occa- sion of surprise also to find "the bitter hatred of everything called Christian on the part of the Jews." He was amazed "to find such wide departure from the simplicity and purity of the faith once delivered to the saints on the part of those not only styling themselves Protestants, but claiming succession from the apostles!" Dr. J. T. Barclay and family left New York at noon, September 11, 1850, and arrived in Jerusalem at sunset, February 7, 1851. Upon his return to the United States, in 1854, he noted carefully that he had had an official connection with the Board of the American Christian Missionary Society just "four years, four months and four days." After a varied experience, in which there were signs of success which often did not realize their promise, and in which there was much opposition, not only from the Moslems, but from those who Period of Organization claimed to be Christians, it was decided to discon- tinue the mission. One thing, however, was devel- oped, and that was that in Dr. Barclay we had the spirit of true missionary heroism. It was no fault of his that the mission did not yield larger results. In addition to the few converts made, Dr. Barclay, at the suggestion of Drs. Robinson, Hacket, and oth- ers, gave attention to archaeological investigations with such diligence that, after his return to the United States, in 1854, he published a book of more than six hundred octavo pages, entitled "The City of the Great King; or, Jerusalem as it Was, as it Is, and as it Is to Be." This book was an honor to the Disciples of Christ. It did more to gain the favor- able attention of learned men than any book which, up to that time, had been written by one of our men. It is a monument of painstaking industry and ripe scholarship. Isaac Errett said of "The City of the Great King," by Dr. Barclay, and "Hadji in Syria," by Sarah Barclay, that "these are some of the first fruits of the Jerusalem Mission, which have given it character before the country, and are indirectly aid- ing to give //J character as a people." The iV<9r//j American Review^ the Christian Examiner (at the time the leading religious critical review of New England), the Presbyterian Quarterly^ with more than one hundred of the best literary and theolog- ical authorities in this country and in Europe, ably reviewed "The City of the Great King." Some of the reviewers declared that the book had "no rival on the subject in the English language." "Hadji in Syria" was sold in luirope as well as in America. 152 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century The Presbyterian Board of Publication in Philadel- phia ordered 500 copies for their Sunday-schools. The North British Review noticed Dr. Barclay's book in a highly appreciative tone, at the same time making grateful mention of the Christian zeal and intelligent devotion in the support of the Jerusalem mission. Seven thousand copies of the work were sold in a short time. "The amount of new detail with regard to Jerusalem and its vicinity is greater than that of any volume that has ever been pub- lished on the topography of that city," is a single sentence taken from the North British Reviezv. The brethren did not waste the Lord's money — not one dollar of it — in sustaining the Jerusalem Mission. The work in Jerusalem, upon the return of Dr. Barclay and his family to the United States, was left in the hands of M. J. Dennis, a gentleman whom he had taught the way of the Lord more perfectly. For a time the American Christian Missionary So- ciety had no work in a foreign land. Alexander Cross, a negro siave in Kentucky, had been pur- chased by Christian men, given fr-eedom, educated, and sent to Africa as a missionary. Before he did any work he fell a victim to a fever. Thus ended the first effort to evangelize Africa — the first effort made by the Disciples of Christ. This is a good place in which to give some account of certain educational enterprises inaugurated and carried forward by those whose great aim is to call the Church and the world back to a belief in and to the practice of simple New Testament Christianity. IV. EDUCATION IN THE DECADE BEGINNING WITH 1850. Education and evangelization go hand in hand. With the organization of the American Christian Missionary Society a new era in the history of the Disciples began. Every part of the body was revi- talized. The purpose of the society was the system- atic evangelization of men in our own and in other lands; but the cause of education received an impetus that is felt to this day. The prime movers in the nineteenth century effort in behalf of .Christian unity and union, by a return to the Christianity of the Christ as it is described in the New Testament, were educated men. They were Presbyterian clergymen — trained as such men usually were and are. Their desire for a visible union of God's people was in order that men might be led to faith in the Christ; 'hence their evangelistic and evangelical zeal. They would naturally connect with this zeal an abiding interest in education — in college education — as a means of preparing men for the gospel ministry. Bacon College was established in Georgetown, Ky., in 1838. Bethany College was founded in 184 1 — the charter was granted by the Virginia Legisla- ture in 1840 — at the village of Bethany, Brooke County, Va. Alexander Campbell, its founder and first president, said: "Bethany College is the only 153 154 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century college known to us in the civilized world founded upon the Bible. It is not a theological school, founded upon human theology, nor a school of divin- ity, founded upon the Bible; but a literary and sci- entific institution, founded upon the Bible as the basis of all true science and true learning We are indeed the only denomination, or people, that could introduce the Bible into a college and daily teach it, inasmuch as we care for nothing that is not recognized by every party in Christendom.'' As to the relation of Bethany to Bacon College, Mr. Campbell said: ''Well knowing that Bacon College could not answer the purposes I designed, I obtained a liberal charter for Bethany College, and founded it at once upon the Bible, as the only foundation of real learning, human philosophy and moral science." In November, 1849, delegates from thirty-one churches in Ohio met and agreed to establish an in- stitution of learning such as might meet, in the character and scope of its instructions, especially its moral and religious instructions, the wants of the brotherhood in that part of the world. This was the beginning of the Western Reserve Eclectic Insti- tute, now Hiram College, located at the village of Hiram, in Portage County, Ohio. The Western Reserve Eclectic Institute was a school of academic grade. A. S. Hayden was the first president; James A. Garfield was the second. The institution became a college in 1867. Its founders thought that the Bible ought to hold a prominent place in the educa- tional system, that it was the only proper foundation for moral and ethical culture, and consequently that Period of Organization 155 it ought to enter into the education of our young people — substantially the views which controlled Al- exander Campbell in the founding of Bethany Col- lege. Definite action was taken by the Disciples of Christ in Indiana in their State meeting, October, 1849, to found, in Indianapolis, the Northwestern Christian University, now Butler College, the college of literature and arts of the University of Indianap- olis. The charter of the Northwestern Christian University was granted by the legislature of Indiana, January 15, 1850. The first session of the institu- tion began in November, 1855. The inspiration of the founders was a belief, on conviction, that the prosperity of New Testament Christianity, in our age and country, is intimately connected with the cause of education. The two were believed to go hand in hand. The Bible was, almost as a matter of course, adopted as a text-book, and so continues to this day. The charter of this institution required that both sexes should be taught in the same classes and grad- uated with the same honors. Bacon College, after a varied history, in 1858 be- came Kentucky University — located first in Harrods- burg, and later in Lexington, its present abiding- place. The Kentucky Christian Education Society de- serves to be mentioned in this connection as indicat- ing the growth of interest in education among the Disciples of Christ. This society was organized in 1856. Such men as William Morton, John T. Johnson and Philip S. 156 Refonnation of the Nineteenth Ce^itury Fall were leading spirits in its organization. It fur- nishes only such financial assistance as is necessary to enable a student to obtain a college education at the cheapest rate of living. This noble society has assisted in the education of five hundred young men, at a total expenditure of $100,000. Until recently the money was a gift; now it is a loan without inter- est. Many of our most efficient preachers, college professors and writers were assisted in obtaining an education by the Kentucky Christian Education Society. The Kentucky Female Orphan vSchool was founded at Midway, Woodford County, Ky., in 1849. was at first a home rather than a school. Fifteen girls were admitted when its doors were first opened. John T. Johnson, 1^. L. Pinkerton and J. W. Parish were the principal men in the inauguration of this good work. The expens of the buildings and fur- nishing the same was borne, principally,, by the Dis- ciples residing in Woodford County. The women were foremost in this enterprise, aiding it with brain, heart, tongue, hand and purse. Into the Kentucky Female Orphan vSchool a good moral character and the abil- ity to receive an education are the essential condi- tions of admission. The aim is to make of the orphan girls self-supporting women. Only orphans are admitted; and these must be so situated that without the assistance of this school they would probably not receive an education. The graduates are so wisely and thoroughly trained as to be in special demand in the State as teachers. The prop- erty is valued at $50,000. There is an endowment, Period of Organization 157 well invested, of $150,000. The expense per annum is $15,000. The patronage is so large that addi- tional buildings are needed in order to properly ac- commodate the pupils. The legislature of Illinois, in 1855, granted a charter to Eureka College to be located at Walnut Grove, in Woodford County, 111. The town of Eureka grew up about the college. This institution was the outgrowth of the Walnut Grove Academy, founded and conducted by Prof. A. S. Fisher. The spirit out of which Eureka College grew is shown in the language used by J. T. Jones, president of the board of trustees of Walnut Grove Academy: "We propose to educate gratis all indigent young men who will pledge themselves to preach the gospel. And we hope to be able, at some future period, to train up, free of charge, indigent orphans.^ One of our cardinal points will ever be to induce more of our young brethren to embark in the proclamation of the ancient gospel, and to render it possible for them to be qualified with the necessary education." Abingdon College, in Illinois, was founded in 1855. It was preceded by Abingdon Academy. P. H. iMurphy was the first president of this college. In the course of time Abingdon College was incor- porated with Eureka College. Christian College, an institution for young women, located at Columbia, Mo., was founded in 1852. John Augustus Williams was the first president of this still flourishing institution. The same year the legislature of Arkansas granted a charter to Arkan- sas College. Robert Ciraliani, "a graduate of Beth- 158 Reformation of ihe Nineteenth Century any College," was ''for some years before this the principal of an academy in that State, and it was through his energy, talents and learning," to use the words of Alexander Campbell, "that this insti- tution has been incorporated as a college, and him- self created president." About the same time the Disciples in Missouri established Christian Univer- sity at Canton. To this decade also belongs the founding and failure of Berea College, at Jackson- ville, 111., through the heretical teaching of Walter S. Russell, its president. Oskaloosa College re- ceived its charter from the Iowa lyCgislature in 1857. This institution came as a result of organized effort on the part of the Disciples of Christ in the State of Iowa. They resolved in their State meeting in 1855 to establish an educational institution of college grade. Turbulent Period W. T. MOORE THE TURBULENT PERIOD I. CIVIL WAR AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. April the 12th, 1861, was a sad day for the Ameri- can people. The storm of civil strife had been gath- ering some time, but there were not many that believed this storm would ultimately burst in all the fury of internecine war. When, however, the first gun was fired upon Ft. Sumter, the die was cast. That gun reverberated the doleful message through- out the world, that a great conflict had begun be- tween the North and the South. The echoes of the cannonade which followed produced the most intense excitement throughout the whole country. The Northern people had hoped, almost against hope, that there would be no overt act of war, while those in the South had deluded themselves with the notion that if the war was once begun, that is, as soon as it became apparent that the South was in earnest, the right of secession would be conceded without a strug- gle. Both parties wholly miscalculated. On the Sunday after the bombardment of Ft. Sumler began, the fort was surrendered, and the next day after this, viz., April 15th, President Lin- coln issued a proclamation, declaring that the laws 11 (101) 1 62 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century of the republic had been for some time and were then opposed in the states of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, "by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicious proceedings or by the powers vested in the marshals by law." The President accordingly called forth the militia of the other states of the Union to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand men. He appealed to all loyal citizens to assist in the perpetuity of the national Union, at the same time commanding the persons composing the combinations referred to, to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days of the date of the proc- lamation. The response from the South to this proclamation was that of defiance. Two days after Mr. Lincoln^s proclamation was issued, Jefferson Davis replied with a proclamation which authorized the fitting out of privateers to attack the merchant shipping of the United States. Again, two days after this. President Lincoln rejoined by declaring a blockade of the whole southern coast from South Carolina to Texas inclusive, and declaring that Confederate privateers would be treated as pirates. Thus war in earnest was begun. The whole country was stirred from center to circumference. The capture of Ft. Sumter had aroused the North in a most remarkable manner, while the South, though somewhat divided in council (some of the states hesitating to take the decisive step of secession) was, nevertheless, fully committed to the Southern The Turbulent Period 163 side of the issue which had been formed; conse- quently, it was no longer doubtful that the long irritating questions between the two sections of the country could be settled only by the arbitrament of the sword. It was at this time that Christians almost held their breath. War is always bad, even at its best; but civil war has some repulsive features which are all its own. Usually it precipiates a conflict in which brothers are ranged upon different sides, and con- sequently these often meet upon the battlefield in deadly strife with one another. This is precisely what took place during the great conflict between the North and the vSouth. THREE GREAT QUESTIONS. There were three great questions which began to assume prominence in thoughtful minds just as soon as hostilities began. These questions were as fol- lows: (1) What would be the destiny of the republic? The European Governments had always regarded the American Republic as an experiment. With them it was by no means certain that it would stand any heavy strain. Its staying qualities were now to be tested. The outlook at the beginning was not very hopeful, and even some of the stoutest lost heart. But the final issue proved that the people of Europe knew really little of the intelligence, courage and resources generally of the American people. (2) A second question was: What would become of slavery? At first there was probably no thought 164 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century by President Ivincoln or any of his Cabinet that slav- ery would be abolished. Indeed, special pains were taken to convince the South that the war was waged only for the preservation of the Union, and not for the extinction of slavery. But in this, as in many other things, was illustrated the saying, *'Man pro- poses, but God disposes." The abolition of slavery was a logical consequence of the success of the Union arms. (3) A third, and perhaps the most important question was: What would become of the bond of union among Christians? Religious progress in the United States had been almost phenomenal. This progress had been made under somewhat new condi- tions. The constitution of the United States pro- vided for a great experiment in religious develop- ment. It guaranteed the utmost freedom to the re- ligious conscience, allowing every man to "worship God under his own vine or figtree, with none to molest or make him afraid." This was the new soil in which the religious seed of the future was to ger- minate and grow. It had already yielded abundant fruit, but the internecine strife was likely to put this new experiment to a very severe test. THE PLEA FOR UNION TESTED. While all the religious denominations were more or less influenced by the Civil War (most of them ultimately dividing on the question), the Disciples of Christ or Christians were exposed to a very special danger. One of the most fundamental features of The Turbulent Period 165 their religious movement was their plea for Christian union. This, more than anything else, engaged the attention of their earlier preachers. Indeed, it may be said with emphasis that much of their success, in the earlier days of their movement, was owing to their strong advocacy of Christian union. The old pioneers believed that the world could never be con- verted to Christ until Christians are one, as Christ and the Father are one; and believing, furthermore, that a return to primitive Christianity in its faith, doctrine and life Vv^as all that was necessary in order to secure the union of God's people, the Disciples, both by tongue and pen, made a vigorous onslaught upon the divisions of Christendom, while at the same time, with equal earnestness, they urged the union of all the followers of Christ. It is easy to see how their plea would be subjected to a very severe test by the civil strife which had been inaugurated. The bulk of their membership was located on both sides, close along Mason and Dixon's line. Most of their members were in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas and Iowa, on the side of the North; and in Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia, on the side of the South. Perhaps, at the time referred to, the whole membership was about equally divided between the two sections. Of course, I am not aiming to be exact in this estimate, but it is doubtless not far from the truth. Another fact needs to be stated just here. The Disciples were witliout any form of government, such as characterized many of the ecclesiastical organiza- 1 66 Reformatio7i of the Nineteenth Centtcry tioiis of the day. Their teachers had always main- tained that love was the only bond of a real fellow- ship, and consequently they had rejected everything like a government which would bring them into a consolidated organization. They depended wholly upon the unity of the faith and the unity of the Spirit for whatever unity of action there might be among them. As a religious body they were strongly and unalterably opposed to ecclesiasticisms of every kind, no matter by what name they might be called. This position was not regarded with much favor by their religious neighbors. Indeed, many proph- ecies had been' made that, as soon as an important crisis should arise among the Disciples, they would split up into a number of factions, and thereby illus- trate another failure in efforts to restore the lost unity of Christendom. A test had now come which would try the strength of this position to its utmost. If their own unity should be broken, this would at once block the way against their plea for Christian union. They could with little grace ask others to accept the position which they themselves could not maintain under the stress of divisive influences. There can be no doubt about the fact that Disciples differed very radically with regard to the issues at stake. It is probably true that most of them de- plored the appeal to the arbitrament of the sword. They had learned to love one another fervently, and their very plea for individual freedom, which had always characterized their advocacy, made it more difficult for them to regard those who differed from The Turbulent Period 167 them on political questions as necessarily enemies. However, it is probably true that most of the Dis- ciples north of Mason and Dixon's line heartily and fully sustained President Lincoln in his efforts to put down the rebellion; while it is no doubt equally true that most of those south of this line conscien- tiously sympathized with the Confederacy. Never- theless, it is well known by those who are acquainted with the sentiment which prevailed at the time on both sides that there was a very general feeling of antipathy to that spirit which, in some quarters, sought to make political issues override and destroy the fellowship of those who acknowledged the same Lord, contended for the same faith, and had sub- mitted to the same baptism. In short, the differ- ences between these brethren did not amount to a schism, though it cannot be denied that the pressure in this direction was very great, and had it not been for the cooler heads on both sides it is probable that the Disciples would have been practically divided before the war came to a close. In some Southern pulpits (notably Nashville) Federal preachers were invited to occupy the pulpits of Christian Churches. A PERSONAL REMINISCENCE. As an illustration of the conscientious way in which many at least discharged their duty during the awful crisis in those days, it may be interesting, as well as instructive, to relate an incident in my own history; an incident which some of my friends think strongly suggests the probability that, under God, I 1 68 Reformation of the Nineteertth Century was instrumental in saving Kentucky to the Union. The facts are as follows: I was then pastor of the Christian Church at Frankfort, Ky., the capital of the state. The Hon. Bariah Magoffin was at that time the governor of the state, and the legislature was very evenly divided between those who favored what was termed "armed neutrality," and either simple neutrality, or a loyal support of the Federal government. The governor was strongly in favor of "armed neutrality," and this, should it be officially proclaimed, practically meant secession. Personally I felt sure that nothing would keep the state from ultimately joining the Confederacy if the "armed neutrality" resolution should pass the legislature and be proclaimed by the governor. I was a Kentuckian, and I loved my state very ardently. Nearly all my personal associations were with the Southern people, and consequently I could not help sympathizing with them in much for which they contended. Still, I believed the doctrine of secession was wrong, but I am bound to confess that this conviction was forced upon me mainly from . religious considerations, for I had never studied the question very carefully from a political point of view. x\nyway, I felt that I must be a Christian first, no matter what became of my politics. I was loyal to the Federal Government, but it cannot be doubted, as I think over the matter at this distant day, that my loyalty was chiefly owing to my religious convic- tions, rather than to any political bias which at that time influenced me. I could not be a party to any- thing that would tend to embroil brethren against The Turbulent Period 169 one another. Hence, when the matter had to be decided by the Kentucky Legislature, as to what position the state would take, I very strongly opposed ''armed neutrality," and mainly because I felt sure that this meant nothing less than secession in the end. At this juncture it came to my knowledge that a careful canvass had been made with the result that the legislature was about equally divided for and against "armed neutrality," with five or six mem- bers classed among the doubtful. Now it happened that all but one, I believe, of these doubtful legisla- tors were members of the Christian Church. I immediately announce'd that I would preach, the next Sunday morning, on the "Duty of Christians in the Present Crisis." Some forty or fifty members of the legisature heard the sermon, and among them those who had been reckoned as doubtful with re- spect to the vote which would be taken the early part of the week. The vote was taken, and "armed neutrality" was defeated ; and this defeat was secured, in the opinion of some of those who are acquainted with the facts, by the influence of the sermon which I preached. It was an appeal to the Christian conscience against embarking in an enter- prise which meant only evil for that fellowship which had been so strong between the Christians residing in the respective hostile sections. It was known, before the sermon, that the doubtful voters leaned toward the "armed neutrality" measure, but when the time of final decision came they voted against that measure, and thereby secured its defeat. lyo Reformation of the Nineteenth Century and at the same time saved Kentucky to the Federal Union. This case furnishes another illustration of how a great issue is sometimes decided by a very small matter. I had not the slightest idea of the ultimate and far-reaching consequences when I preached that sermon. THE INFLUENCE OF LEADING MEN. It has already been intimated that many of the leading men on both sides of the contest acted with much discretion with respect to the matters at issue. Mr. Campbell himself took no active part in the war. Though living in a Southern State, his sympathies were undoubtedly with the Union. Nevertheless, he acted with great prudence in all that he said or did during the progress of the war. At the' time he was regarded by some of his Noithern brethren as entirely too reticent in expressing his sympathies with the Union cause; but when it is remembered that many of his most intimate friends, as well as several of his own household, were outspoken in favor of secession, no one need wonder that Mr. Campbell did not feel called upon to become over- zealous in his support of the Union. It should be remembered, also, that at this time his health began to fail. Indeed, from the year 1861 until his death he practically lived in the past. He certainly did not take cognizance of many things around him, and consequently the war, with all its ravages, had little place in his thoughts. Perhaps this was prov- idential. Had he been in his usual health, he would no doubt have given earnest advocacy to The Ttirbtclent Period 171 one side or the other; and had he done so, it might have produced a division among the Disciples. As it was, his failing health excited the sympathy of his brethren on both sides of the struggle, and con- sequently his great personality came to be a sort of common center, where antagonistic views could meet and become reconciled. There were other men besides Mr. Campbell who helped to stay the tide of sectional feeling. Some of the strongest Union men of the North and some of the most pronounced secessionists of the South were equally opposed to making their political differences a cause of religious disunion. Both sides held firmly that even a complete severance of the National Union ought not to compel division among the people of God. This was the view taken by probably nine hundred and ninety-nine in every thousand of the Disciples, no matter on which side of Mason and Dixon's line they resided. It is not affirmed that no imprudent things were said or done. Doubtless there were some heated controversies, some foolish speeches, and occasional- ly there may have been things done in the churches or in the representative bodies that might as well have been left undone. But all this and more might have been reasonably expected. As we look back over those terrible days it is difficult to believe that anything but the grace of God in the hearts of the brethren could have kept them in practical fellowship with one another; and I think it is fitting that some of the names that were prominent in restraining passion and guiding to wise conclusions 172 Reformation of the Nineteenth Centnry during those trying days should have special meu- tion in any history of the period which is now under consideration. Some, perhaps, carried their peculiar views a little too far; but no one is a competent judge of what was done at that time unless he is capable of impartially treating all the facts of the case. THE QUESTION OF CHRISTIANS GOING TO WAR. There were those who strongly held to the notion that Christians ought not to go to war at all, and this view was doubtless emphasized by the certainty that such a war as was then being waged would bring some of the best men in the churches face to face with one another in mortal combat. Christians in what were known as the border states had their fellowship more severely tried than in any other part of the country. In these states a man's foes were truly of his own household. Perhaps there was no state in the Union where brotherhood was more severely tried than in Missouri. Hence it may be interesting as v>^ell as instructive to reproduce a "Circular from the Preachers in Missouri with Respect to the Duty of Christians in this Crisis.'* It is as follows: "7(7 all the holy brethren in every state ^ grace and peace from God^ onr Father, cntd the Lord Jesus Christ : ''The undersigned, your brethren in the Lord, residing in the State of Missouri, in view of the present distress, which is wringing all our hearts, and the danger which threatens the churches of The Turbulent Period 173 Christ, would submit to your prayerful consideration the following suggestions: "(i) Whatever we may think of the propriety of bearing arms in extreme emergencies, we cannot by the New Testament, which is our only rule of discipline, justify ourselves in engaging in the frater- nal strife now raging in our beloved country. To do so, therefore, would be to incur the displeasure of our blessed Lord and Savior. "(2) It is our duty in obedience to many in- junctions of Christ and the apostles, and in com- pliance with the last prayer of our Savior, to re- main as we have thus far so happily continued, a united body. But this cannot be if, in accordance with our prejudices and political opinions, we join in this deadly strife. Is not the 'unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace' more to be desired than all that could possibly be gained by such, a strife, at- tended as it must be by the loss of this unity and the reign of passion in our hearts? "(3) Knowing, as all history teaches and as the experience of many of us can testify, that active militarv service almost invariablv destrovs the relie- ious character of Christians who are drawn into it, we cannot discharge our duty to Christ, if we see our young brethren rushing into this vortex of almost certain ruin without an earnest and affec- tionate remonstrance. "(4) If we remain true to this line of duty, not allowing the temptations of the time, however en- ticing or however threatening they may be, to turn us aside, we shall be able greatly to glorify the name of our Lord, who is the Prince of Peace. F'or we may present to our countrymen, when restored to their right mind by the return of peace, a body of disciples so closely bound by the Word of God alone that not even the shock of Civil War nor the alarm produced by religious systems crumbling 174 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century around could divide us. How rapid and glorious in that event would be the subsequent triumph of truth throughout the whole land! This heavenly triumph is clearly within our reach. If we fail to grasp it, how unworthy we shall prove of the holy cause we plead! ''(5) We are striving to restore to an unhappy and sectarianized world the primitive doctrine and discipline. Then let us pursue that peaceful course to which we know that Jesus and the apos- tles would advise us if they were living once more and here among us. L^et us for Jesus' sake endeav- or in this appropriate hour to restore the love of peace which he inculcated; which was practiced by the great body of the church for the first three hun- dred years, in an utter refusal to do military service; which continued to be thus practiced by the true church throughout the dark ages, and which has been so strongly plead by many of the purest men of modern times, our own Bro. A. Campbell among the number. *'(6) We conclude by entreating the brethren everywhere to study conclusively 'the things which make for peace, and those by which one may edify another.' And 'the very God of peace sanctify you wholly,' and 'the peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your minds and hearts through Jesus Christ.' It will be readily conceded that the names signed to this paper must have given its utterances great "B. H. Smith, Sami.. Johnson, E. V. Rice, J. D. Dawson, J. W. McGarvey, T. M. Allen, J. K. Rogers, J. J. Errett, H. H. Haley, T. P. Haley, J. Atkinson, R. C. Morton, lyEvi Van Camp." J. W. Cox, The TiLrbident Period 175 weight. They were among the most influential preachers of the State, and it is safe to say that this declaration of Christian feeling, whether wisely conceived or not from a political point of view, had a salutary effect upon the brethren of the State in restraining them from following the rebellion; and in any case it did much to call attention to the religious side of the issues and thereby saved many, no doubt, from extreme conduct. At the time this circular was issued, it was be- lieved by many Unionists that it favored secession, but time has shown that its influence was wholly in the opposite direction; so that even if its original intention was to promote the secession cause, it evidently failed to produce the desired effect. But there is no reason to believe that the signers of this circular had any other end in view than that of re- straining passion and promoting brotherly love. THE WAR QUESTION IN THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY. There were, however, some restless spirits on both sides who believed that war was a perfectly legit- imate way in which to settle such a question as was then before the country. Naturally enough, those on the Union side felt that it was no time to hide loyalty under a bushel, and consequently they were anxious to have the whole of their brotherhood, as far as possible, thoroughly committed in support of the Federal Government. The General Missionary Convention, which at that time met annually in Cincinnati, was the only really representative body among the Disciples. At its meeting, Oct. 24, 176 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century 1861, Dr. J. P. Robinson, of Ohio, offered the fol- lowing resolutions: Resolved^ That we deeply sympathize with the loyal and patriotic in our country in the present efforts to sustain the government of the United States, and we feel it our duty as Christians to ask our brethren everywhere to do all in their power to sustain the proper and constitutional authorities of the Union." This resolution was seconded by Dr. L. L. Pinkerton, of Kentucky, and was then laid over until the afternoon session, in the afternoon. Dr. Robinson having called up his resolution, D. S. Burnet raised the question whether, in view of the second article of the constitution, it was in order to entertain such a resolution in that body. The acting chairman, Isaac Errett, of Michigan, decided that the resolution was in order; whereupon John Smith, of Kentucky, moved an appeal from the decision of the chair to the house. However, this appeal was withdrawn, but was afterwards renewed by R. M. Bishop, of Ohio, when the appeal was sustained, and, consequently, the resolu- tion was declared out of order. Dr. Pinkerton then moved that the society take a recess for ten min- utes. This was agreed to. During this recess an informal meeting was called, with D. S. Burnet in the chair, Avhen, after a few remarks from Col. J. A. Garfield, Dr. Robin- son's resolution was passed with but one negative vote. It should also be stated that all the speakers upon The Turbulent Period 177 the point of order and npon the appeal from the decision of the chair had, before the adjournment, avowed that the resohition expressed their senti- ments. They opposed its introduction in the convention wholly on the ground that it was uncon- stitutional and ought not, therefore, to be enter- tained. Doubtless some may have been influenced, par- tially at least, by the notion that the passage of such a resolution by the convention at that time might have a tendency to alienate brethren whose relations were already under a very heavy strain. FINAL ACTION OF THE CONVENTION. These considerations, however, did not hold for any length of time. Two years after this, at the annual meeting of the society, Oct. 22nd, the follow- ing preamble and resolutions, offered by R. Faurot, were adopted with very few dissenting votes: "Whereas, 'There is no power but of God,' and 'the powers that be are ordained of God;' and wdiere- as, we are commanded in the Holy Scriptures to be subject to the powers that be,, and 'obey magistrates;' and whereas, an armed rebellion exists in our' coun- try, subversive of these divine injunctions; and whereas, reports have gone abroad that we, as a religious body, and particularly as a missionary society, are to a certain degree disloyal to the gov- ernment of the United States: therefore — Resolved^ That we unqualifiedly declare our alle- giance to said government, and repudiate as false and slanderous any statements to the contrary. Resolved^ That we tender our sympathies to our 12 178 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century brave and noble soldiers in the field who are defend- ing us from the attempts of armed traitors to over- throw our government, and also to those bereaved and rendered desolate by the ravages of war. Resolved, T^L^'i^^ will earnestly and constantly pray to God to give to our legislators and rulers wisdom to enact and power to execute such laws as will speedily bring to us the enjoyment of a peace that God will deign to bless." A motion was made to adjourn and lost. The question was then raised by a member, J. W. McGar- vey, of Kentucky, whether the resolutions were in order or not. The chair, Isaac Errett again presid- ing, decided that, according to a vote of the house two years ago, the resolutions were not in order and he should, therefore, so hold, although contrary to his own clear convictions. An appeal to the house was taken from this decision, which appeal, being discussed, was sustained. It was then moved that the society adjourn. The motion was lost. It was then moved that the resolutions be laid on the table. This motion was also lost. The previous question was then called for, and the vote of the house sustained the call. The preamble and resolutions were finally adopted, with very few dissenting. It ought to be stated, however, in justice to those who urged the necessity of taking this action, that they did so wholly on the ground of loyalty to the government, but they distinctly disavowed any senti- ment that could be legitimately construed to mean alienation from or disfellowship with their Southern The Tiirbiilcnt Period 179 brethren. Indeed, they held that their views with respect to their maintenance of the Federal Union only emphasized their desire to perpetuate their spiritual union with those of their brethren who were in the Southern Confederacy. At this same meeting of the society the report of the board of managers contained a very graphic reference to the fratricidal war which was then at its height. The report was written by D. S. Burnet, who was at that time corresponding secretary of the society. A paragraph is worth reproducing. It is as follows: "The disaster of the nineteenth century has come, which white-haired sire and fair-browed son prayed never to see. But it has come, like some splendid and blighting comet, driving commerce and trade from their channels and the blood out of our hearts. The world gazes on the scene aghast, and the relig- ion of Christ, made for man, not knowing his distinc- tions of tribe and nation nor his ocean and mountain boundaries, visits alike the field golden with harvest or incarnadine with human gore, and still brings her pardon-bearing mercy to all. Our work, then, is unchanged except by the difficulties which it is the victory of faith to overcome. Many of our churches have been represented on the great battlefields in the struggle for the integrity of the Union, and several of our preachers have followed their flock through the dangers which environed them on the field of slaughter, ministering caution to the living and com- fort to the dying, while we all have prayed that God would hide us from the evil till the storm be passed, and tliat he would so guide that storm that when the cloud of war lifted, the temple of free constitutional government would stand unscathed, rev^ealing its i8o Reformation of tJie Nineteenth Century beauty and strength and proportions unshorn for our posterity, as we received it from our fathers. Recog- nizing our religious obligations in its maintanence, let us address ourselves to the duty of lifting higher the banner of the cross and carrying it farther than ever before." This extract shows the spirit of the men who were at that time most actively engaged in maintaining the cause. All letters from evangelists in the field, as well as reports from the state societies, during these days, have in them a sad note, if not something very discouraging. The general society was itself prac- tically bankrupt. It had assumed obligations when it relied upon support from the South, and now that this support was entirely cut off, it was with difficulty that these obligations could be met. Nevertheless, the good work did not stop. Many new men came to the rescue, while most of the old contributors, who were within reach of the society, gave liberally to its support. Nevertheless, these were trying years for the mis- sionary cause. Apart from the difficulty of securing financial aid there was a general depression of spirit- ual interest throughout the whole country. The war fever had seriously affected the whole body spiritual, and consequently it is not at all strange that mission- ary enthusiasm was not at a very high tide. THE DISCIPLES FIRMLY UNITED. But be it said to the credit of those who were not swept entirely away from their moorings by the war spirit, that they not only heartily supported the mis- sionary work committed to their hands, but they also The Tiu'biilent Period i8i maintainea with honest integrity their plea for union among the Disciples of Christ. I desire to emphasize this point very strongly, because recently it has been intimated that the Disciples were practically divided during the war, although no formal division actually took place. This view of the matter is entirely erroneous. Doubtless there were alienations, cer- tainly sometimes bitter feelings, but in no case can it truthfully be said that anything like a division was ever seriously contemplated by brethren on either side of the conflict. There was never at any time the slightest possibility of a real division among the Disciples, no matter how the war might have ter- minated. Indeed, most of the Disciples, both North and South, bitterly lamented the fratricidal strife. Many of them were opposed to war in any of its forms, and this view had received special emphasis in the teaching of Mr. Campbell. One of his great deliverances was published in 1843, the close of the Mexican war, and was a ringing protest against war as a means of settling national or international difficulties. Hence it may be stated truthfully that the Disciples, as a religious body, had been educated to look upon war as an untold evil; and, consequently, while most of them were loyal to the Federal Union, there were not a few who preferred even secession rather than an appeal to the arbitrament of the sword. This states the exact facts of the case, and it is due to the truth of history that no concealment should be made at this point. * *I have received numerous testimonies from eminent men, con- firming this view of the matter. 1 82 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century Of course, it is freely admitted that some of the noblest and truest men in the ranks of the Disciples held to a different view. These believed it to be their religious duty to take up arms to defend the government against what was believed to be an un- reasonable rebellion. Nevertheless, these never lost sight of the fact that they were fighting against an illegal combination of men that managed to draw within their plans many thousands, and among these many i)rethren who had really no heart in the dis- union movement. Whether or not this view of the matter was entirely justified by the facts of the case need not be discussed here. It is undoubtedly true that it was from this standpoint that those Disciples who became defenders of the national flag justified their conduct. . Furthermore, it can not be denied that, when the conflict was over, the Southern brethren were imme- diately received into the fellowship of the loyal churches without any reference to the question of the war. EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES. The war in itself was not the only thing that strained the relations between the Christians of the North and South. At the beginning of the war there was perhaps little or no thought, upon the part of the Unionists, that slavery would be disturbed. The Republican party had disavowed the intention of interfering with slavery where it already existed; their contention being that they proposed to keep it out of the territories, so that no more slave states could be admitted to the Union. The Turbulent Period 183 Many of the Southern people accepted this declared policy in good faith, and during the first year of the war, Mr. Lincoln seemed strongly inclined to carry out this policy according to the strictest letter of the law. However, it became increasingly evident, as months went on, that slavery was doomed. The Northern people were quite willing to let slavery alone where it existed while there was no war, but after the war had been inaugurated, public sentiment in the North began to change, until it became over- whelmingly in favor of freeing the negroes as a war measure, if for no other reason. For a time Mr. Lincoln seemed to hesitate; but at last, on the 22nd of September, 1862, only a few days after the battle of Antietam, he issued his famous proclamation, declaring that on the following New Year's day, in all the states that had not returned to their allegiance, the slaves should be thenceforth and forever free. This did not at once affect the loyal border slave states; but every one could see that the proclamation was really equivalent to the ultimate extinction of slavery throughout the whole South, if the Union cause should ultimately prevail. This proclamation had the effect of practically uniting the South; so after this the people of the South claimed that they were fighting for their property as well as their political rights. RANKS OF THE DISCIPLES STILL UNBROKEN. But even this additional strain did not break the fellowship between the Disciples of the two sections. 184 Refor'inatioii of the Nhieteenth Century Doubtless the extremists 041 both sides were driven farther apart by this act of President Lincoln, but it is equally certain that the thoughtful Christians of both parties did not fail to see in the proclamation the hand of Providence, and consequently it had a softening influence upon many rather than the opposite effect. Many years before the war Mr. Campbell had pre- dicted the very state of things which had now come to pass; consequently, while he counseled moderation on the part of all, he was thoroughly convinced that the two sections of the country could not live in peace together with slavery between them as a con- stantly disturbing cause. This view was shared by many of the most eminent Disciples of that day, and doubtless this earnest conviction had its due weight in determining the final course of the churches with respect to the preservation of the Union among themselves. While, therefore, the anti-slavery proclamation did much to unite the South in support of what had come to be regarded as a common cause, there was, nevertheless, a deep-seated feeling among the Chris- tians of the South that no war in defense of slavery could ever be permanently successful. This element in the conviction of Southern Christians evidently had much to do in helping them to bear what would otherwise have been an intolerable load. It was this that enabled them to forgive and forget, when the war clouds had passed, for it is well known that those who fought with the greatest bravery and those who suffered most have been, since the war, The Turbulent Period 185 the most thoroughly reconciled to what was the final issue. Only those who stopped at home have kept up the spirit of the rebellion since the war came to an end. But, however this may have been, there was no division. This statement can be sustained by the most overwhelming testimony. The following ex-, tract is from an article in Izard's Quarterly in 1866, written by the editor on the question, "Can We Divide?" After referring to several local efforts by certain men to cause division, Mr. lyard says: "Not only have these men been able to pfoduce no division among us, nor in any other way hurtfully to affect us, save by ruining themselves and a few other individuals; but causes far more powerful than they have been successfully withstood. From the moment of our denominational origin in this country up to the very present, we have had the exciting and dangerous question of slavery to encounter. Our brethren South stood strongly for, our brethren North strongly against, the institution. Never for a moment did it cease to chafe and fret. At times it certainly became threatening and wore an ugly look. Brethren on both sides would occasionaly flame high and talk loud. Still, all through the strife it excited, all through the passion it aroused, we lived without even the semblance of a breach. Other bodies it divided; ours it could not. And if slavery proved inadequate, we may with much composure question the adequacy of other causes. And now the angry topic is laid aside forever. Brethren who opposed it courteously decline to exult; brethren who favored it 1 86 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century, magnanimously decline to complain. It is settled forever. It has spent its force, and still the children of God are one. As a nation we can never be re- proached with it more: as Christians it can never again make us fear. For these results let us be thankful. "But, further, we as a nation and as Christians have just passed the fierce ordeal of a terrible war, a war in which passion ran to its height and feelings became as ferocious as feelings ever get. We had many brethren on both the opposing sides. Many of our churches stood precisely where the carnival raged most. Yet not a rent in our ranks did the war produce. True, for the time being it cooled many an ardent feeling, and caused old friends to regard one another a little shyly. Still, it effected no division. And now even those kindly feelings are obviously beginning to flow back, and brethren from the two hostile sides are meeting as brethren should ever meet. They even seem to vie with each other in acts of magnanimity and high Christian bearing. The war is never mentioned but in accents of sorrow; crimination and recrimination are never heard; the cause of Christ is the constant topic of conversation; while all noble hearts are beating high with joy that our unity is left to us perfect. If, now, we have triumphantly come through this storm, and still gloriously stand an undivided people, have we not reason to count with confidence on the future? May we not boldly say, trusting in God to help us. We can never divideV II. CONTROVERSIAIv QUESTIONS AB INTRA. It has been truly said that misfortunes never come singly; and it is equally true that great tests do not usually stand alone. When Satan made his assault upon our divine Lord, he did not retreat until he had been repulsed three times. Each one of the temptations was very severe, but when the final vic- tory was achieved, then angels came and ministered to the weary Christ. In like manner Job was tried by at least two very severe tests. So it has ever been, and so it will probably ever be. The period we have under consideration was full of danger to the Disciples' movement. It was a time of great testing. We have already seen how the war, with the many trying things associated with it, put to the severest strain the loving fellow- ship which had, from the beginning of their move- ment, distinguished the Disciples of Christ. We have seen also how they came out of that movement without any actual division having taken place in the body. But all the strain was not wholly on account of the war; nor was it simply between the Disciples North and South. The whole body, North and South, was more or less tested by THE COMMUNION QUESTION. It would be misleading to say that this question ever reached such an acute state as to seriously (187) 1 88 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century threaten a rupture between those who respectively- held adverse views. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that it was the entering wedge of what might have been a serious schism if the Disciple position had not been so strong, and if prudent counsels had not prevailed. In pleading for a return to apostolic faith' and practice, the Disciples had very properly empha- sized the importance of giving baptism its legitimate place in the plan of salvation. They saw that it was impossible to make much headway with their plea for immersion and believer's baptism while the design of baptism was practically ignored. There were those who made too much of baptism — at- tached to it what was called "sacramental grace," and consequently, these did not regard the salvation of any one as secure who, on any account, failed to receive the blessing of baptism. There were others who made too little of baptism. They regarded it as practically nothing more than a bodily act by which the believer gave evidence to the world of his willingness to become a Christian, or as proof that he had already become a Christian. At most it was simply an "outward sign of an in- ward grace." But some of those who held to infant baptism did not attach even this much importance to the ordinance. It is difficult to state in language just what the position was that was held by this class. Indeed, the only thing necessary to state here is the fact that, no matter what the position was, it practically left the ordinance without any- special significance. The Turbiilciif Period The Disciples refused to accept either one of these views. They believed that there was a middle ground which was the safe ground. While they would not make too much of baptism, that is, would not give to it any "sacramental grace," or allow that by itself, ex opere opei^ato^ a change of heart was effected, they, nevertheless, held strongly to the notion that baptism, in New Testament teach- ing, is in some way unmistakably connected with the remission of sins; and, consequently, they pro- claimed everywhere the importance of returning to scriptural teaching on the subject. While the Disciples were generally agreed among themselves as to what the Scriptures really taught concerning the design of baptism, there was, during the period now under consideration, considerable diversity of views as to the practical consequences of their teaching on the subject. There were not a few who held strongly to the notion that restricted communion was the logical sequence of scriptural views as to the place which baptism should occupy in the return of the sinner to God. However, there were others, equally anxious to stick rigidly to the Scriptures, who did not believe that any such conse- quences followed the Disciple view of the design of baptism, as was supposed by those brethren who leaned toward restricted communion. LOGIC OF THK HEAD AND HEART. Mr. Campbell's views had always been pronounced in favor of those who believed that the divided state of Christendom could not be successfully dealt with 190 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century by insisting upon the rigid application of pure logic, even if it were possible to show that those who favored a strict construction could sustain their posi- tion by the Scriptures. He did not make mistakes of the head equal to those of the heart. This view of the matter is strikingly set forth in an article by Mr. Campbell, published in Millennial Harbinger in 1837. The following extract will be sufficient for my present purpose. After defining who it is that is a Christian, and what is meant by a perfect man in Christ Jesus, he says: "But every one is wont to condemn others in that in which he is more intelligent than they; while, on the other hand, he is condemned for his Phariseeism, or his immodesty and rash judgment of others, by those that excel in the things in which he is de- ficient. , I cannot, therefore, make any one duty the standard of Christian state or character, not even immersion into the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and in my heart regard all that have been sprinkled in infancy, without their knowledge or consent, as aliens from Christ and the well-grounded hope of heaven. 'Salvation was of the Jews,' acknowledged the Messiah; and yet he said of a foreigner — an alien from the common- wealth of JLsrael, a Syro-Phenician — 'I have not found so great faith; no, not in Israel.' "Should I find a Pedobaptist more intelligent in the Scriptures, more spiritually minded and more devoted to the I^ord than a Baptist, or one immersed on profession of the ancient faith, I could not hesi- tate a moment in giving the preference of my heart to him that loveth most. Did I act otherwise, I would be a pure sectarian, a Pharisee among Chris- tians. Still, I will be asked. How do I know that TJlc Turbulent Period 191 any one loveth my Master but by his obedience to his commandments? I answer, In no other way. But mark, I do not substitute obedience to one com- mandment for universal or even for general obedi- ence. And should I see a sectarian Baptist or Pedo- baptist more spiritually minded, more generally con- formed to the requisitions of the Messiah than one who precisely acquiesces with me in the theory or practice of immersion, as L teach, doubtless the former rather than the latter would have my cordial approbation and love as a Christian. So I judge, and so I feel. It is the image of Christ the Chris- tian looks for and loves; and this does not consist in being exact in a few items, but in general devo- tion to the whole truth as far as known." * THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT CONSIDERED. In presenting this view, Mr. Campbell was careful to guard against the slightest suspicion that he would be disposed to compromise any teaching of the Word of God. He could not help recognizing the state of things around him. He knew that the religious movement, of which he was perhaps the most distinguished leader, really had its origin among the Pedobaptists, and not Bap- tists. It was the outgrowth of an earnest and intel*- ligent study of the Word of God with respect to the great fundamentals of Christianity. Mr. Campbell ^ was himself at first a Presbyterian, and nearly all the eminent men associated with him hac{ been Pedo- baptists. It is not strange, therefore, that he was utterly opposed to surrounding the communion * The whole of this article is worth a careful reading. IQ2 Reformation of tlic Nineteenth Century table with, a sort of police arrangement by wliicli all Pedobaptists should be excluded from participation in the Lord's Supper. In this view of the matter Mr. Campbell was strongly supported by his co-editors of the Millennial Harbinger, W. K. Pendleton and Isaac Errett. During the year 1862 Mr. Errett wrote several arti- cles on this question that may be justly ranked among the ablest he ever contributed to our litera- ture. A somewhat stricter view was advocated by Ben- jamin Franklin, then editor of the American Christian Review, George W. Elley, of Lexington, Ky., and others of note. However, the final conclusion reached, and which has been the theoretical position of the Disciples ever since, was that so far as Pedo- baptists are concerned, we should "neither invite nor exclude them from the communion table." Mr. Franklin stated his own position in the following language: There are individuals among the sects who are not sectarians or who are more than sectar- ians— they are Christians or persons who have believed the gospel, submitted to it, and in spite of the leaders been constituted Christians according to the Scriptures. That these individuals have a right to commune there can be no doubt. But this is not communion with the "sects." Where is the use of parleying over the question of communion with uninimersed persons? Did the first Christians commune with unimmersed persons? It is admitted that they did not. Shall we then delib- erately do what we admit they did not do? The Turbulent Period 193 When an unimmersed person communes without any inviting or excluding^ that is his own act, not ours, and we are not responsible for it. We do not see that any harm is done to him or us, and we need make no exchisive remarks to keep him away, and we certainly have no authority for inviting him to come. If it is to be maintained that "except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God;" that "as many of us as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ," as we have it in the Scriptures, and that none were in the church or recognized as Christians in apostolic times who were not immersed, it is useless for us to be talking about iuiimmersed Christians^ and thus weakening the hands of those who are laboring to induce all to enter the kingdom of God according to the Scrip- tures. We have nothing to do with any open communion or close communion. The communion is for the lyord's people, and nobody else. But if some imagine themselves to have become Christians according to the Scriptures when they have not, and commune, as we have said before, that is their act and not ours. We commune with the Lord and his people, and certainly not in spirit with any who are not his people, whether immersed or unim- mersed. We take no responsibility in the matter, for we neither invite nor exclude. The position as stated in the concluding para- graph, with slight modifications as to the phraseol- ogy, was finally accepted by the Disciples generally, and has ever since been regarded as a fair statement of their views on the subject. It is probabTe, how- ever, that they have not always been as careful in practice as this theory clearly suggests. Indeed, 1:^ 194 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century there has generally been very little need for care on the subject. For the most part there has been quite as little desire expressed by Pedobaptists to fellow- ship at the Lord's table with the Disciples as there has been with Disciples not to invite them. So far as practice is concerned, therefore, the whole dis- cussion of the communion question was of little actual use, for it really seldom happens that Disciple congregations have any occasion for meeting the supposed emergency in a practical way. As a matter of fact the whole subject was doubtless an importation. The Disciples' movement in Eng- land had early received large accessions from the Scotch Baptists; and these Baptists, being strongly wedded to restricted communion, brought with them their narrow views into the Disciple churches. These Scotch Baptists soon became the ruling spirits in most of the churches throughout the United King- dom, and the consequence w^as the whole movement, on the other side of the Atlantic, took on the severest type with regard to the communion question. In the earlier days of the movement there was little or no friction among the churches on the question under consideration. But about the year 1862 some of the leading brethren in Great Britain began to grow restless as to the attitude of the American churches with respect to their fellowshiping Pedo- baptists. Inquiries were accordingly made concern- ing the practice of the churches in America, and this led to the discussion to which I have referred. It is sufficient to say that there is now a practical unanimity on this question among the Disciples The Turbulent Period throughout the United States. Their view is to teach no hard and fast lines on the subject. They hold that it is the duty of all public teachers to de- clare faithfully the whole counsel of God, but having done this, it is not their duty to organize either a police force to protect the Lord's Supper from Pedo- baptists or to insult them by practically telling them that their room would be more acceptable than their company. In short, Disciples teach that it is wholly inconsistent to sing with, as well as engage in any other acts of worship with Pedobaptists, and then refuse to allow them, on their own option, to take of the Lord's Supper at Disciple meetings. Disciples are wholly unable to see how the one act of partak- ing of the Lord's Supper should become a test of Christian fellowship, while all other acts, wherein there is co-operation, should count for so little. Anyway, the communion question, so far as the Disciples themselves are concerned, was probably forever settled by the great discussion to which ref- erence has already been made; and not the least happy reflection in connection with this matter is the complete failure of the Evil One to precipitate a division among the Disciples on this question. III. THE BIRTH OF HERESY HUNTING— NEW QUESTIONS. The Disciple movement, up to the period now under consideration, had been mainly free from internal dissensions. There had been too much to do outside for troubles to incubate within. The whole movement had been in sharp conflict with almost the entire religious world. It meant prac- tically the overthrow of denominationalism, and that evident purpose was apparent at once to the leaders of the sectarian hosts. It is not strange, therefore, that the Disciples had to fight for every inch of ground they gained in the earlier days of their his- tory. It could not have been otherwise. The very attitude they occupied toward the religious world compelled the state of things which was precipi- tated. It is, however, a curious fact in human experience, that some time or other every movement in society has to pass under review of its own promoters, and often these are less charitable to one another than they are to those regarded as enemies. Perhaps this tendency is akin to what has often been noticed when those who are closely related by blood or other- wise become estranged. The bitterest enemies are always those who have been the* best of friends. Nowhere is the saying that extremes beget extremes (190) The Turbulent Period 197 more forcibly illustrated than in the fact I have stated. WHEN PERSECUTION IS BITTEREST. But, however this may be, it cannot be denied that heresy hunting is usually conducted with a zeal in the exact ratio that it comes nearer and nearer to one's own associations. There is never much danger of one's being severely persecuted except by members of his own household. The fires of bigotry will not burn except in cases where those who use the torch are in some way closely related to the victim. . The communion discussion ended without produc- ing the slightest division in the Disciples' ranks, but there w^as no longer that ease within their Zion which had characterized the early days of the move- ment. The old questious between them aud the denominations, which had absorbed the attention of the pioneers, had become somewhat stale, and were, therefore, no longer so absorbing in interest as they had been. Mauy eyes had been turned inward, and some of these had fallen upon what appeared as a dangerous heresy. Some one gave Isaac Errett a doorplate, and on this appeared the cabalistic sign, '*Rev." But this was not all. Mr. Errett was then pastor of a church in Detroit, Mich., and had the good sense to issue a brief statement in pamphlet form, enumerating some of the principles held by the church for which he was preaching, and some of the things for which he was contending. This was at once stigmatized as a creed, although in the docu- ment itself it was distinctly stated that it made no such claim. 198 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century But the movement had fairly reached the period when heresy hunting was born, and consequently there were those quite ready to denounce the Detroit pas- tor as one who could no longer be trusted to "con- tend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints." ILLUSTRATING A GENERAL TENDENCY. This case was simply symptomatic. It illustrated a general tendency. It marked the beginning of an attempted supervision of freedom of action by a few self-constituted "keepers of the faith." No doubt these men felt they were doing God's service. For the most part they were men of excellent character, and were withal devoted advocates of the Disciples' plea. The two most representative publications of that time on the heresy hunting side were the A. C. Review, edited by Benj. Franklin, and Izard's Quar- terly, edited by Moses K. I^ard. These publications were outspoken in their condemnation of the Detroit heresy, and, catching the flavor of the thing, they seemed to ever afterward delight in pursuing that which savored of unsoundness. There is no ques- tion about the sincerity of the writers in these pub- lications. They were men who loved the cause ardently, and who would perhaps have sacrificed even life itself for their convictions. It was this very fact that made them so watchful and that gave such a zeal to their heresy hunting proclivities, lyike vSaul of Tarsus, in his opposition to the Chris- tians, they were "exceedingly mad" against every The Turbulent Period 199 one who refused to walk in the beaten paths of what was understood to be the traditional views of the Disciples, and they even persecuted those of this sort unto strange cities. It is not remarkable, therefore, that Detroit was invaded. Lest any one should imagine that I am overstating the bitterness of the opposition, it may be well to quote the follow- ing paragraph from Lard's Quarterly: "There is not a sound man in our ranks, who has seen the 'Synopsis,' that has not felt scandalized by it. I wish we possessed even one decent apology for its appearance. It is a deep offense against the brotherhood — an offense tossed into the teeth of the people who for forty years have been working against the devisive and evil tendency of creeds. That it was meant as an offense by the brethren who have issued it, I cannot think. Still their work has a merit of its own, a merit which no lack of bad intention on their part can affect. Our brethren will accept this 'Synopsis' for what it is, not for what it may possibly not have been designed to be. We are told that this 'Declaration' is not to be taken as a creed. But will this caveat prevent its being so taken? Never. When Aaron's calf came out, had he called it a bird, still all Israel, seeing it stand on four legs, with horus and parted hoofs, would have shouted, A calf, a calf, a calf. The brethren 'meet- ing at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Beaubien vStreet, Detroit,' may call their work in classic phrase a 'Synopsis,' or gently, a 'Declaration;' but we still cry, A creed, a creed. It is not the mere title of the work that Cf)nstitutes it a creed, but its matter and form, together with the manner in which it is issued and the sanctions by which it is accom- panied. This Synopsis is a creed without the 200 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century appropriate label — a genuine snake in the grass, wearing a honeyed name. ^'On its appearance in the American Christian Review, Bro. Franklin expressed his strong disappro- bation of this 'Synopsis,' while 'John,' an anony- mous writer, in his burlesque of it, has left us in no doubt as to the estimate in which he holds it. With these sound men I fully agree, except in so far as they seem inclined to treat the 'Synopsis' as a small matter. With the writer of this it has a painful significance — painful, because symptomatic of the following items: "(i) That some of our brethren have lost their former well-grounded opposition to creeds, and now are ready to traffic in these unholy things. This indicates a diseased state of the body. How far this disease extends will be seen by the extent to which the 'Synopsis' is endorsed. '"(2) That these brethren are no longer willing to be styled heretics for the truth's sake, but now wish to avoid that odium by adopting the customs and views of the sects of the day and thus to become themselves a sect. "(3) That what the world needs in order to learn the faith of these brethren is not the Bible alone, but the Bible and a 'Synopsis of their faith and practice.' With them, then, the Bible is an insufficient enlightener of the human family. "At these symptoms of degeneracy our brother- hood will feel something more than mere regret. They will feel profoundly ashamed." THE ORGAN QUESTION. But this was not all. The organ question had begun to come to the front. Both the Review and the Quarterly were bitter in their opposition to the The Ttirbitlent Period 20I use of the organ iu any of our churches, and the spirit of this opposition may be fairly measured when it is stated that only a few years after this period, of which I am writing, the editor of the Quarterly gave all supposed heretics the broad hint that he "had his eye on them," and that they would all be brought to a closer reckoning at the proper time. It is well to look back to these days in order to understand what must have been the inherent strength of the plea which the Disciples advocated, in order that it might stand the shocks which were frequently given it. From our present point of view it is easy to see the Disciples have done some clever steering between Scylla and Charybdis. THE ONE-MAN SYSTEM. There was one sin which specially came under the condemnation of the heresy hunters. It was the priestly assumption that any one could be the pastor of a church. The tendency among our preachers to call themselves pastors was declared to be the rising of "the one-man power." The New Testament model was a bishopric containing a plurality of elders in every church, and consequently there must be a plurality noiv in every church, whether there are men in the church who possess the scriptural qualifications or not. This logic constantly defeated itself. It insisted upon following the scriptural model, but the only thing in which this model was followed, in most cases, was in reference to the plurality of the elders; 202 Reformation of the Ni7ieieenth Century for in almost every other particular the men chosen to serve were practically without scriptural qualifica- tions. It seems almost incredible that, notwith- standing the fact stated, some of the ablest men in the Disciples' ranks not only defended the plurality notion, but they roundly denounced all who did not accept their interpretations as infallibly correct. The result of this teaching was that young men of little or no experience were often called "elders," simply because they occupied the pulpit of a church at the stated meetings. The term "Reverend,'' when applied to one of these preachers, had the very mark of the beast upon.it, but this same stripling could be called an "elder" without shocking the sensibilities of heresy hunters in any degree what- ever. Of course, we now smile at these ridiculous things. They appear to be "mole-hills" to us, but we must remember that they were "mountains" to many in the sixth decade of the present century. HOW LIBERTY GROWS. Iviberty is a curious growth. It feeds on the very things which are intended to kill it. But this, after all, illustrates a law of life. Real development is from the inner to the outer — from the heart to the physical and intellectual life. Bigotry moves in the very opposite direction, and when it reaches the heart it often corrupts it, or else changes it to a heart of stone. It follows the way of death, while liberty follows the way of life; one is ab extra and The Turbulent Period 203 the other ab intra. If the hand is bitten by a ven- omous serpent the course of death immediately sets in from the outer to the inner, from the circumfer- ence to the center; but all the forces of life run the other way. Bigotry is always at first an outside deformity, often a mere poisonous speck. But it is precisely at that time that it is most easily seen; for after a while it becomes assimilated to all that makes up the man, and though it is now a more powerful force than it was in the beginning, it does not appear so much a deformity as it did in the first place. We may get used to even a wart on the nose by constant association with it. There are still men among the Disciples who are fond of heresy hunting, but these, for the most part, belong to the age of which I am w^riting, or else they have inherited the peculiar theology which, when measured mathematically, makes five equal to ten. This class of men, no matter when or where they live, are always practically condemning themselves in the very thing wherein they accuse others. They fight human creeds with all the powers they possess, as long as creeds are the product of other people; but these same heresy hunters do not hesitate to make a creed whenever they wish to try the faith or practice of their fellowmen. In short, they will not allow any one to make a creed for them, but they are more than willing to make a creed for all the rest of the world. This was exactly the spirit man- ifested by the creed-makers in the days when bigotry had its birth among the Disciples. 204 Rcfo7')}iation of the Nineteenth Centitry MR. CAMPBEI^L'S POSITION. Surely, Mr. Campbell was in no way responsible for the birth of heresy hunting among his brethren. From the very beginning he had recognized the peculiar state of religious society with which he had to deal. He saw plainly that the church, when con- sidered from the New Testament point of view, had gradually gone into an apostasy, and that the move- ment in which he was engaged had for its object the restoration of the primitive gospel and order of things. But he did not expect complete success in this restor- ation until there was ample time for thought, in- vestigation and action. Meanwhile, he was always willing to deal charitably with honest, religious peo- ple, no matter how far wrong they might have been when tried by his understanding of New Testament teaching. In short, he was thoroughly convinced that there were Christians among the sects, notwith- standing these sects themselves occupied a false position when compared with what Christ and his apostles had taught upon the true attitude that Christians should occupy. It was from this point of view that he plead for Christian union. There would have been no sense in talking about Christian union if he had not recognized Christians outside of the churches with which he was specially identified. As evidence of Mr. Campbell's liberal spirit, I will make two extracts from his debate with Mr. Rice: "No good, no religious, moral or virtuous man, can perish through our views or principles. Our theory thunders terrors to none but the self-con- The Turbulent Period 205 demned. .Human responsibility, in my views and doctrines, always depends upon, and is measured by human ability. It is so, certainly, under the gospel. The man born blind will not be condemned for not seeing, nor the deaf for not hearing. The man who never heard the gospel cannot disobey it; and he who, through any physical impossibility is prevented from any ordinance, is no transgressor. It is only he who knows and has power to do his Master's will, that shall be punished for disobedience. None suffer, in our views, but those who are willfully ignorant or negligent of their duty. Natural ability, time, place and circumstances are all to be taken into ac- count; and none but those who sin against these are, on our theory, to perish with an everlasting destruc- tion 'from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. ' " "I circumscribe not the divine philanthropy — the divine grace. I dare not say that there is no salva- tion in the Church of Rome or in that of Constanti- nople; though certainly Protestants do not regard them as churches builded upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone. In all the Protestant parties there are many excellent spirits that mourn over the desola- tion of Zion — that love the gospel and its Author most sincerely. My soul rejoices in the assurance that there are very many excellent spirits groaning under the weight of human tradition and error, who are looking for redemption from these misfortunes before a long time." Now if it be true that Mr. Campbell was liberal toward those outside of his own communion, it is equally true that he had the most supreme contempt for heresy hunting among his own brethren. The principles of the Reformation for which he con- 2o6 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century tended guaranteed the fullest liberty of thought and the most untrammeled right of individual interpreta- tion which any one could possibly claim legitimately for himself. THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THE REFORMATION. Mr. Campbell never stated his doctrine of freedom in any special formula, so far as I have noticed, but I think his teaching may be fairly summarized to mean that he claimed (i) the right to think, speak and act for himself, without recognizing the right of any obtrusive interference from any source what- ever; and (2) what he claimed for himself, he was perfectly willing to grant to every other person. This was the spirit of the Disciples, in the main, up to the period when heresy hunting was born. Since then they have been trammeled, not only by influences from without, but also by influences from within. Very small questions, in some cases, have been magnified into undue importance, while some of the larger questions have been discussed by a few with a narrowness of spirit quite unworthy of any great cause. Nevertheless, be it said to the credit of the Disci- ples that these heresy hunters have, for the most part, received scanty approbation, and upon the whole it cannot be denied that the spirit of the churches has always been in harmony with the great principles upon which the Reformation was founded. It is also true that most of the men in this move- ment who have made much impression upon their contemporaries, have been men who have always The Turbulent Period 207 advocated a liberal policy, both within and without the communion. Before the sixth decade of the present century had ended, the battle for liberty had been practically won, and consequently since that time the flowing tide has always been with those who believe in freedom of thought, freedom of speech and the right of individual interpretation. I am not, I think, overestimating the tendency of the period under consideration. In proof of this I have only to refer to an article in the April number of LarcTs Quarterly for 1865. After stating and discussing several things which were regarded as departures from the faith of the Disciples, the edi- tor says: "The spirit of innovation is a peculiar spirit. ^ While coming in it is the meekest and gentlest of spirits; only it is marvelously firm and persistent. But when going out, no term but fiendish will de- scribe it. It comes in humming the sweetest notes of Zion; it goes out amid the ruin it works, howling like an exorcised demon. At first it is supple as a willow twig; you can bend it, mold it, shape it to anything; only it will have its way. But when once it has fully got its way, then mark how it keeps its footing. It now calls for reason, for argument, for Scripture, but no more has it an ear for reason, argu- ment or Scripture than has the image of Baal. Argue with the spirit of innovation, indeed! I would as soon be caught cracking syllogisms over the head of the Man of Sin. Never. Rebuke it in the name of the Lord; if it go not out — expel it. This only will cure it. . . . . . . . . "He is a poor observer of men and things who does not see slowly growing up among us a class of 2o8 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century men who can no longer be satisfied with the ancient gospel and the ancient order of things. These men must have changes; and silently they are preparing the mind of the brotherhood to receive changes. Be not deceived, brethren, the devil is not sleeping. If you refuse to see the danger till ruin is upon you, then it will be too late. The wise seaman catches the first whiff of the distant storm and adjusts his ship at once. Let us profit by his example." This is very strong language, but it is fairly rep- resentative of the language used by certain scribes and speakers contemporaneous with the editor of the Quarterly. That it did not produce mischief in the end cannot surely be ascribed to what the language clearly implies, but to the inherent strength of a cause which was meant to battle against just such influences as are indicated in the heresy hunting pro- clivities of those self-constituted keepers of the faith represented by the language we have quoted from one of their leading periodicals of that period. IV. AN IMPORTANT CRISIS REACHED. WHAT THE PLEA INVOLVED. This brings us to an important turning-point in the history of the movement. As has already been intimated, up to this period the Disciples were chief- ly engaged in aggressive work with respect to the unconverted and the numerous religious denomina- tions around them. Their plea involved at least three things: (1) The proclamation of the pure, simple gospel for the conversion of sinners. (2) The uniop of these converts (as well as all who acknowledge the one faith and the one baptism) upon the one foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. (3) The scriptural organization, edification and development of the churches of Christ. During the earlier days of the movement attention was given mainly to the first two of these divisions, and consequently organic and spiritual growth was somewhat neglected. But the Disciples had now reached a period when this crowning part of their work must receive the most serious consideration. They had evidently come to the parting of the ways. They had advanced a little beyond the first two divisions, and now they must either go backward or forward. To stand still was impossible. 14 (209) 2IO Reformation of the Nineteenth Century The war had not been an unmixed evil. It had made new conditions for nearly everything. The whole country had entered upon practically a new career. The old methods in either politics or reli- gion would no longer work, and consequently it was a time of readjustment; a time when success could be assured only by recognizing the conditions of society and meeting courageously the obligations which these conditions imposed. THE LAW OF PROGRESS. It is not too much to say that a crisis had been reached in the movement. It was impossible to make progress by many of the old methods, and yet some held on to the old with a tenacity worthy of a better cause. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that these men were necessarily fighting a losing battle. The Disciples were simply following the course of all other movements of their kind, and these are more or less subject to certain laws which may be enumer- ated as follows: (i) As soon as a movement becomes strong as an aggressive force, it at once begins to spend part of its strength upon itself rather than upon the world about it. Its aggressive power becomes sensibly weaker in the exact ratio of the intensity of its self-examination. Much of its force is turned in- ward, and introspection takes the place of the pros- elyting tendency which is always characteristic of a new movement. All religious movements have had to pass through this period, and that of the Disciples cannot claim to The Turbulent Period 211 be an exception to what is really a general rule. Before the war the whole strength of the movement was largely expended in evangelistic efforts, and in making known the principles for which the Disciples contended. But when they came to the period of readjustment and progress, on the lines of the new society which the war had produced, they found that they could not any longer work wholly upon the old lines with any hope of permanent success; and yet, there was great apparent danger that in their anxiety to set their house in order they would lose much of the evangelistic fervor which distin- guished them during the earlier period of their move- ment. That there was danger at this point is abun- dantly proved by subsequent events. (2) While authoritative definition always has its evils, it is equally true that no definition at all is sometimes not entirely free from difficulty. The anti-creed doctrine of the Disciples was, in some respects, a boomerang. Having no authoritative interpretation of the Scriptures, every man became his own interpreter, and consequently there were times when it was eminently true that in the move- ment there were "all kinds of doctrine, preached by all kinds of men." This state of things would necessarily lead to con- siderable conflict within the body; but a conflict at this point would not likely be precipitated during a period of intensely aggressive work by the Dis- ciples, upon the world outside of their own churches. Nor was there much conflict with respect to matters of expediency, wherein definitions had to be con- 212 Reformation of the Nhteteenth Century sidered, during the earlier days of the movement. But when the period of introspection dawned, and the Disciples became deeply interested in their own organization and development, then it was that some of the straitest among them began to feel the reflex, force of the anti-creed doctrine which they had so earnestly preached. When brethren began to think for themselves, with respect to church organization, the public worship and missionary societies, then it was that the most intense preachers of the anti-creed crusade began to feel the need of some interpretation of the Bible that would help them to scotch the forward movement which had broken with the obsolete methods of the past. There was really nothing new in the course pur- sued by the men to whom I have referred. They were only repeating history. Nearly every man has at least three Bibles in his house. One is the printed Bible; another is the man's interpretation of this printed Bible for the regulation of his own con- duct, and there is still another interpretation of the first Bible, which is for the regulation of his neigh- bor's conduct. It is all very well to say that we take the Bible and the Bible alone as our rule of faith and practice; but in most cases it would help to a clearer under- standing of our position if, when we say this, we would at the same time state which Bible it is to which we refer. (3) Usually the period of a movement which brings with it introspection brings with it also the beginning of intellectual growth. It is the time The Turbulent Period 213 which marks the dawn of culture and real, substan- tial progress, and at such a time there is sure to be considerable conflict between the past and the pres- ent. Ignorance is always the implacable enemy of legitimate progress. Hence there can be no real for- ward movement in any religious work without reaching a period where conflict will be surely developed between the two opposing forces to which I have called attention. As has already been intimated, the war settled several things. It at any rate stimulated activity. It also tended to turn the eyes of the Disciples from their religious neighbors to a careful consideration of their own faith and practice. This introspection, as I have called it, led to an earnest desire on the part of many to make progress somewhat commen- surate with the demands of the new conditions of society which had been evolved out of the war. These are called the "progressives." There were others, however, who refused to accept the changed conditions; or, if they were compelled to accept them, they utterly refused to adapt themselves to these conditions. These men were called the "anti-progressives." Thus, two opposing forces were definitely formed; still, not- withstanding that the opposition between them has sometimes been even bitter, like the centripetal and centrifugal forces of nature, these parties have, after all, contributed to the vigor, growth and harmony of the movement. It is a great mistake to suppose that opposite forces necessarily bring disaster. In commercial 214 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century life we do not hesitate to say that competition is the life of trade. It is really the life of everything. Nature teaches us a great lesson on this subject. Where on the globe is it that we find the best developed men and women, both intellectually and physically? Do we look for them at the extreme north or the extreme south? Certainly not. They are found on a narrow belt of the earth, all the way around, just where the seasons are in eternal conflict, just where all the opposing forces of life are most active. The same is true with respect to the moral or religious world. Hence opposition, when legiti- mately met, is a means of progress. MORE CASUISTICAL CONTROVERSY. It is not strange, therefore, that the Disciple movement had to pass through the experiences I have indicated; nor is it strange that the conflict precipitated became a formative force in developing the churches in the direction of legitimate growth. It is true that for a time there was a certain amount of danger that the controversies of the period would lead to division. There is always danger in every- thing that makes for life. Death is the end of all danger. The war itself, as we have already seen, put a heavy strain upon the fellowship of the Dis- ciples North and South, while the communion ques- tion affected for a while the convictions of the whole body. Meantime the organ question was beginning to occupy considerable attention. It was discussed in the A. C. Revieiv^ the Millennial Harbinger^ LarcT s Quarterly and other periodicals of less influ- The Turbulent Period 215 ence. Such men as Moses E. Lard, A. S. Hayden, Benj. Franklin, John W. McGarvey and Isaac Errett participated more or less in the organ discus- sion during the period under consideration. These men for the most part wrote temperately, but there were evidently underneath what they said very posi- tive convictions and deep feeling. Those who opposed the organ discussion, during this period, did so on the ground that it was unscrip- tural, and that consequently they could not worship where it was used. They held that those who advo- cated its use could have no conscience in the matter, and consequently by the law of love they ought to refuse to do that which wounded their brethren. But the advocates of the organ contended that their plea was contrary to Scripture, even if there was no precept or example for the use of the organ in worship. There were some, however, who con- tended that a legitimate interpretation of the Scrip- tures readily yields a support to the use of the organ. They also contended that they had a conscience in the matter just as much as their anti-organ brethren; and consequently they felt it to be their duty to contend for the use of it. The question of the scripturalness of mission- ary societies had its origin about the same time. It cannot be denied that at the very beginning of the movement Mr. Campbell in his Chris- tian Baptist had laid the foundation for much of the opposition which was now experienced with respect to organized missionary work. But 2i6 Reformation of the N'ineteenth Century Mr. Campbell's writings in the Christian Baptist must be interpreted in the light of the times in which he wrote and the conditions of his environ- ment. When this precaution is taken, Mr. Camp- bell never wrote anything in opposition to such missionary societies as were proposed by the Dis- ciples. But, however this may have been, it is certain that some excellent and earnest men were bitterly opposed to any such societies as then existed among us and as still exist. While it is not my purpose, nor does it come within the scope of my part of the work, to follow these discussions through the subsequent periods of the movement, nevertheless I feel that it would be out of place to close this chapter without remarking that there never has been the slightest chance for anything like a real schism in the body. Of course, there have been individual alienations on account of several differences, but it is certainly a magnificent testimony to the plea for which the Disciples con- tend that through all the controversies of the past their churches have uniformly maintained their fel- lowship for one another, and this result is un- doubtedly a great victory for intellectual freedom, as well as for freedom of action within that whole ter- ritory of conduct bounded by what is called expe- diency. V. THE DAWN OF UTKRATURE AMONG THE DISCIPIvES. THE OLD AND THE NEW. Before the close of the war the Disciples made little or no progress in producing a literature commen- surate with the needs of a great and growing re- ligious body. The prolific pen of Mr. Campbell had been busy all the while, but most of his writ- ings were controversial, and therefore, not suitable to meet the wants of the period of development, wherein spiritual growth was the great need. While the Disciples were conducting their work ob- jectively, so to speak, the polemics of Mr. Campbell and others were incomparably valuable; but when the work which had to be done was largely subject- ive, as was the case at the close of the war, then there was at once a felt demand for a different class of books and periodicals from those which had char- acterized the movement in its earlier days. It is not here affirmed that the war produced the conditions which required this change. All that is claimed is that the war period saw the beginning of the end of th^ old state of things. Doubtless there had been a growing sentiment for some time in favor of a forward movement in the character of the liter- ature produced, and this feeling began to find ex- pression during the war, and immediately after its (217) 2i8 Reformation of the Nineteenth Centnry close. The Milleiiiiial Harbinger was still in the field, though Mr. Campbell had ceased to be its re- sponsible editor. He still wrote for it occasionally, but during those days he contributed very little that may be regarded as of any very special value. The size of the Harbinger was reduced in 1862, and Isaac Brrett was added to its co-editors. He, and those associated with him, began to give the pages of the Harbinger a little different type. This type indicated the dawn of a somewhat new litera- ture among the Disciples. At this time the American Christian Review^ edited by Benjamin Franklin, was the only influen- tial religious weekly published in the interest of the movement. This paper, like nearly all the period- icals of the Disciples, had been chiefly occupied with what were called "first principles;" that i^, those primary matters which relate to the preaching of the gospel and the simplest conditions of organic life. The paper was ably conducted from the point of view indicated, and for the uneducated masses it became a powerful influence for good. However, the conflict between the old and the new, to which attention has been called, made it impossible to perpetuate the type of advocacy to which the Review had committed itself, and from which it refused to depart in the slightest particular whatever. This stubbornness or ^steadfastness, whichever word may be used, compelled a movement whose aim was the establishment of another weekly paper, which would more nearly meet the require- ments of life among the Disciples. This feeling The Turbulent Period 219 took definite form toward the close ot the year 1865, and consequently the prospectus of the Christian Standard was issued early in Februar\^ of the follow- ing year, with Isaac Errett as its editor-in-chief. The first number of the paper did not appear until the following x\pril, but all the arrangements were made for its publication before the death of Mr. Campbell, and consequently I am justified in reckon- ing it among the signs of the rise of a new litera- ture, following near upon the close of the war. NEW BOOKS DEMANDED. The books which had been published were prac- tically of the same type as the periodicals. They were excellent in view of the purpose for w^hich they were written, but they certainly had very little in them to meet the conditions of the progressive spirit which was rapidly taking possession of the brother- hood. Perhaps the only books that had been pro- duced up to this time of any real value, as a special contribution to spiritual development, were "The Messiahship, or Great Demonstration," by Walter Scott, and "Communings in the Sanctuary," by Doctor R. Richardson. The former was a sino^u- larly strong argument in favor of the Messiahship of Jesus, and was well calculated to address powerfully the spiritual nature of Christians, as well as produce conviction in the minds of sinners. With some re- visions it could still be made one of the most useful books ever published by the Disciples for both evan- gelistic work and spiritual development. 220 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century From the beginning of their movement the Disci- ples had always taken a deep interest in translations of the New Testament. This feeling was strictly logical in view of their religious position. They magnified the Word of God as no other people did. It was, therefore, all-important that they should possess, as far as possible, the exact mind of the Holy Spirit in any translation that might be used. They felt that the authorized version, though incom'- parable in many respects, was, nevertheless, in some important particulars, far from what it ought to be. Mr. Campbell had himself taught them to discredit King James' version, as he had published a version made by George Campbell, Philip Doddridge and others. Consequently, when it was proposed by the American Bible Union to publish a revised edition of the New Testament, the Disciples at once threw themselves into the proposal with a heartiness which did much to assure success; and as Mr. Campbell had been selected to translate the Acts of the Apos- tles, this fact gave additional interest to what they already felt in the forthcoming work. The first edition of this translation was published in 1864. Upon the whole it was not very favorably received by scholars, and especially by those of the brotherhood. Its merits were many, and these were at once distinctly recognized. But it was a disap- pointment with respect to some important points where better things had been expected. However, the work was accepted as an important step in the right direction, and as such it was hailed with f)leas- ure by the whole body of Disciples. Tlie Turbulent Period 221 About the same time a new translation, by H. T. Anderson, appeared. This was a scholarly and valuable contribution to a faithful rendering of the Greek of the New Testament into modern English. It was at once compared by the critics with the work of the Bible Union, and the result reached was gen- erally to the disadvantage of the latter. At the same time it was almost universally conceded that even Anderson's translation did not meet the requirements of the whole case. While it claimed to be a new translation, it was after all little more than a re- vision, and even this revision was not ahvays strictly in harmony with the original. Nevertheless, both of these translations were very important, as they stimulated interest in the study of God's Word, while at the same time they emphasized the literary tendency, already referred to, as a char- acteristic of the period under consideration. About this time there was a strongly expressed feeling that the hymn book which had been so long in use needed a thorough revision, so that the liymnody of the churches could be brought up to the higher literary level which marked the period. The sentiment behind this expression had been growing for some years, but it did not take definite form until the annual meeting of the General Missionary Society in October, 1864. Prior to that time sev- eral brethren had been gathering material for a new hymn book. It was apparent that there was a chance for several rival hymn books to appear. This was thought by the wiser brethren very unde- sirable, and consequently an effort was made to ^22 Reformation of the Nineteenth Cent^iry induce Mr. Campbell, who owned the copyright of the old hymn book, to turn his book over to the General Missionary Society, so that this society could provide for a thorough revision, and thus secure what was needed, while at the same time the churches would be supplied with one hymn book, instead of a number that might be regarded as rivals* This was believed to be an important step in order to preserve that harmony which had always char- acterized the brotherhood. The writer, perhaps, had as much to do with securing the transfer as any other man, though the task was not difficult for any one, as Mr. Campbell gave his consent readily, as soon as he was approached upon the subject with a clear statement of the whole case. However, it required some correspondence and personal conver- sation between parties mutually interested; and in all this I had the fullest participation, and conse- quently speak from personal experience as to the generous manner with which Mr. Campbell treated the request of his brethren. THE TRUE HISTORY OE THE NEW HYMN BOOK. The trust was accepted by the General Convention in 1864, and a committe accordingly appointed, con- sisting of Isaac Errett, W. K. Pendleton, W. T. Moore, A. S. Hayden and T. M. Allen, to make the necessary revision of the old hymn book, as the changed condition of the churches seemed to de- mand; and, as there has been some misstatement The Turbulent Period 223 of the facts as regards the compilation of the book afterward published, it may be well, for the sake of historical accuracy, that I should give a somew^hat detailed account of the whole matter, as I certainly have had a perfect understanding of all that took place from the beginning. At the commencement of the year 1865, I began my ministry with the Jefferson Avenue Church, Detroit, Mich., the church which had been so ably served by Isaac Hrrett prior to my accepting the pastorate. In my room, during the early part of that year, the new hymn book was practically made. William Baxter and myself had been for some time gathering material for a new book, but when the committee was appointed by the General Convention to revise the old book, Mr. Baxter generously allowed me the use of his contributions to the mate- rial which we had mutually brought together. My wife and myself took all this material, and after reading 20,000 hymns, besides those already col- lected, arranged the principal matter of the new hymn book. In this arrangement we intentionally put in about 300 hymns more than was thought necessary in order that there might be plenty of room for a wise selection among hymns that were almost equally good. After this first selection had been made, Mr. Errett and Mr. Hayden came to Detroit and remained several days working with myself and wife in going over everything we had done, reducing the hymns to about the rio^ht number, after adding selections 224 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century of their own. Our united work was then taken by Mr. Errett to Bethany, where he and Mr. Pendleton went over the whole, making such revisions and suggestions as were thought proper. This work was then brought back to Detroit and finally revised by Mr. Errett, Hayden and myself. Mr. Allen never had anything to do with making the book. I have stated these particulars mainly for the pur- pose of doing justice to Mr. Hayden. In some of the accounts I have seen of the matter, scarcely any of the facts are stated correctly, while practically no credit is given to Mr. Hayden at all in the compilation of the book; whereas, his musical and poetic feelings were of great value in producing what has been de- clared to be the best book of psalmody in the English language. Several other books, papers and periodicals, be- sides those already mentioned, might be referred to as the product of the period under review, but as my purpose is not to present an exhaustive treatment, but rather to notice tendencies, I do not deem it necessary to enumerate any further than I have already done. NEED FOR SPIRITUAL LITERATURE. Undoubtedly a new literature had dawned, though the full development of it has not even yet been reached. The hymn book itself was no small con- tribution to devotional literature, and this was pre- cisely one of the things that was needed among the Disciples of Christ. They had been engaged so much in polemics that there had been little time for The Turbulent Period 225 the cultiv^.^ion of the finer graces of the Christian life. Nevertheless, there was a strong feeling already developed, and also a continual growth of this feel- ing, that something different from the old contro- versial books and papers was absolutely necessary in order to a higher spiritual development; and, as proof that I do not overstate the case, I may say that G. W. Rice, the publisher of the A. C. Review, told me during the days of which I am writing, that of all the books he sold to the readers of his paper (and he sent by post a great many every week) Hannah More's Prayers equaled perhaps all the other books put together. This certainly shows that our brethren were longing for real spiritual food, for when the readers of the Review, which was intensely combative in its spirit, called for such a book as I have indicated, surely it cannot be doubted that the Disciples of Christ generally were in a mood for a little different kind of literature from what they had been accustomed to during their past his- tory. I^et no one suppose from what has been stated that there is now no special need for the old litera- ture which was the product of the earlier writers of this movement. This literature ought never to become obsolete. In some respects even the Chris- tian Baptist is needed just as much to-day as it was in the days when it was first published. Its able discussions of fundamental principles have never been surpassed in anything that has been written since. Nor is it possible to supersede such works as 226 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century the "Christian System," "Baptism: Its Antecedents and Consequents," by any modern books. These works have no equals in the matters they are intended to represent. They are simply without rivals. Nor is it possible for young men who are prepar- ing for the ministry to neglect these books without an irreparable loss in equipment for the great work which is yet to be accomplished. Indeed, it would add much to the strength of the present ministry of the Christian Churches if these great works of Mr. Campbell should be much more carefully and prayerfully studied than I fear is the case with many who imagine they have found all they need in some of the popular authors of the present day. I certainly do not mean that preachers should not have access to the best religious literature of the living age, but all the same, I would have them first become thoroughly grounded in the teachings of such men as Campbell, Scott, Richardson, Pendleton, Krrett, etc., before drinking too profusely from the foun- tains of Dr. Fairburn, Ian Maclaren, and Dr. G. A. Gordon. However, when the well- balanced preacher has made himself familiar with the pioneer writers of our movement, he can then afford to read such books as "The Christ in Modern Theology," "The Mind of the Master" and "The Christ of To-day." These last mentioned are magnificent works, if we have once gained the proper critical point of view from which they may be considered; but whoever rushes into their pages without the necessary antecedent preparation may The Turbulent Period 227 find out, when it is too late, that he has been build- ing without a scriptural foundation, and consequently has been building in vain. While, therefore, the movement in favor of a new literature was in the right direction, it would have been fatal to the best interests of the churches, if this new literature had practically set aside the old. But this was not the intention of those who plead for progress. The whole object was to make the new supplement the old, and thus meet a rising need which the old could not supply. The goal has not yet been satisfactorily reached, but there is undoubtedly a rising tide, and the prospect is at least encouraging that a literature not altogether unworthy of the Disciples of Christ is actually in sight. As proof of this rising tide, it is sufficient to state that of the devotional volume entitled, "Alone With God," by J. H. Garrison, more than twenty thousand copies have been sold, and that the sales are increasing rather than diminishing. VI. NECROLOGY. THE DEATH OF THREE GREAT MEN. Not very many eminent men among the Disciples of Christ went to their rest during the period of which I am writing; but those who did go were perhaps the most eminent and influential of all con- nected with the movement. I cannot now mention more than three, but the death of these three would have amounted to almost a calamity had it not been for the inherent strength of the movement with which they were associated. WALTER SCOTT. The first of these heroes, in the order of time, to fall on the battlefield was Walter Scott, whose death occurred April 23, 1861. He had just returned from a preaching tour and was greatly disturbed on ac- count of the political troubles of the country. At first he seemed to be suffering with nothing more than a severe cold, but soon this developed into in- flammation of the lungs, which finally proved fatal, after only a few days of severe illness. He bore his suffering with heroic resignation, and died in the hope of that gospel which he had so often and so eloquently preached to others. I knew him personally for many years, and to (228) The Turbulent Period 229 know him was to love him. That which was per- haps most attractive about him was his childlike simplicity. Though endowed wnth a most superior intellect, which had been enriched by much reading and study, he was, nevertheless, unassuming as a little child. He was probably the most eloquent preacher, in some respects, that the Reformation has produced. I have heard him when he seemed almost inspired. At such times he was indeed a master of assemblies. He was almost equally effective with the pen. Some of his works, though not entirely free from literary faults, are, nevertheless, among the best that have been produced by the movement with which he was identified. His power of generalization was re- markable, and his works entitled "The Gospel Re- stored" and "The Great Demonstration" made a profound impression upon all who read them care- fully at the time of their publication. They ought yet to be text-books with all young men wdio are preparing for the ministry of the Christian churches. The correct place of Walter Scott in the history of the Reformation has not yet been fully recog- nized. It is probably true that to him, more than to any other man, should be ascribed the rescue of the scriptural foundation of the church from the rub- bish which had covered it during the ages of the apostasy. He it was that declared that Christ him- self, and not doctrines concerning him, was the true foundation on which to l)uild the church. Doubtless others insisted upon the same thing about the same time, certainly Mr. Campbell did, but no one made 230 Refonnation of the Ninetee^ith Century this such a distinct fact and emphasized it with so much persistency and power as did Walter Scott; and it is a proof of his ahnost prophetic foresight that this great fundamental truth of Christianity has become practically the common ground of fel- lowship among all well-informed Christians, and the inspiration of all evangelistic work. If Walter Scott had never done anvthingr more than call atten- tion to the true foundation of the church and em- phasize the proper place of baptism as he did, he surely would not have lived in vain. But in addi- tion to this, his life was full of active service in building up the churches and in proclaiming the gospel to the unsaved. To sum up his work in a sentence: he was one of the most efficient evangel- ists, in the best sense, of modern times. WILLIAM HAYDEN. On the seventh of April, 1863, the beloved Will- iam Hayden fell asleep. He was a special friend and associate laborer of Walter Scott, though he was well acquainted with and much beloved by Alexander Campbell. In his early life Mr. Hayden was skeptical; and after his surrender of skepticism, he was still per- plexed by the confusions in the Christian world. He was particularly troubled about the matter of con- version, and through the preaching of Walter Scott and others, and his reading of the Millennial Har-^ dinger^ he finally saw his way to identify himself The Turbulent Period 231 with the religious movement of which he afterwards became a distinguished light. He was a sweet singer as well as an earnest pro- claimer of the gospel. He was greatly beloved, especially by the brotherhood of Ohio. It was in this state that most of his labors were performed, and it is probable that he contributed more to the success of the cause in that state than did any other man. But as others have made reference to his life and character, it is only needful to say these few words while recordins: the fact of his death. AI.EXAXDER CAMPBELL. March 4th, 1866, will always be a memorable day in the annals of the movement of the Disciples of Christ. This was the day on which Alexander Campbell fell asleep in Jesus. He had been in fail- ing health for some time, but no one was quite pre- pared for the end when it came. His family and friends were so warmly attached to him that it was difficult to believe that he could be snatched away from them by even the ruthless hand of death. Nevertheless, he, as well as others, had to pass through the valley and shadow of death, though certainly he feared no evil, for he realized up to the last moment that the rod and staff of his divine Lord would be with him and comfort him. Few men have lived more consistent lives, and equally few have given stronger evidence of perfect resignation in death than did Alexander Campbell. 232 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century SOME GENERAI. CHARACTERISTICS. Has Alexander Campbell ever been understood? Has his character been properly estimated? Has his influence upon the religious world received the attention which it deserves? These questions probe to the center of an inquiry which needs to be earn- estly and honestly made and answered. He has cer- tainly been misunderstood by many of those who opposed his religious teaching. It is impossible to believe that intelligent and candid men would inten- tionally continue to misrepresent any fellow-laborer in the great work of saving souls; and the notion, therefore, is at once rejected that his religious con- temporaries designedly meant to place him in a false light before the world.. This conviction is deepened and strengthened by the fact that some of his own brethren were not able to clearly apprehend his re- ligious position, and consequently in not a few things they have misstated his teaching at several vital points. Even at the present time there are those, both out of and in the communion with which he was identified, who seem to wholly misunderstand the real signifi- cance of much for which he contended. Was his teaching, therefore, obscure? Certainly not. In the main it was as clear as a sunbeam. His literary style was somewhat Johnsonian, but his thoughts were never obscure. What, then, was the difficulty? Evidently this: he spoke to the prejudices of the age in which he lived. His teaching frequently slapped the convic- The TurbiUent Period 233 tions of men right in the face. His work was emi- nently aggressive from start to finish, and it is not surprising, therefore; that he was not understood by his contemporaries, for there is perhaps nothing so blinding as religious prejudice; and this is precisely what he had to meet at every point of the compass toward which he turned. It seems to me that three great general character- istics may be safely affirmed of Mr. Campbell: (i) His sublime faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. No one who was not intimately acquainted with him could form a just conception of how sublime this faith was. His whole religious system was Christo- centric. Christ was with him truly the "All in All." While his intellect swept the whole circle of theological investigation, his heart always rested upon the personal Christ. This fact gave a peculiar charm to his own personality. It lent a childlike simplicity to all his conduct. He seemed to live with one hand in the active duties which pressed upon him from every side, while the other securely grasped the hand of the personal Savior. As already intimated, you had to be with him day by day to understand how completely he was domin- ated by his faith in the personal Christ. During the months of August and September, 1862, I spent considerable time at Bethany. I had been in ill-health and had visited Bedford Springs, Pa., with the hope of recruiting my health. On my way home I made it convenient to visit the scenes of my college days and renew my personal fellow- ship with my revered president. He had changed 234 Reformation of tJie Nineteenth Century considerably since I saw him. In some respects he was no longer the same man I had known; never- theless, in the matter of his faith, that seemed to have grown rather than to have decreased. I had many long and intimate conversations with him about almost every current topic of the time. We took frequent horseback rides together along the roads leading out of Bethany, and all who are ac- quainted with the scenery which meets the eye at every angle around that sacred spot will agree with me that many views are simply enchanting. In our conversation I frequently tried to see how long I could keep him from the great object of his thoughts, viz., the Ivord Jesus Christ, and in every instance I found that all roads soon led up to Him who is "the chief among ten thousand, the one altogether lovely." On one occasion I remember that I felt sure I would succeed in diverting his at- tention for at least a little while. We were riding together and had reached a prominent elevation in the road where a most beautiful landscape was sud- denly unfolded to view. The picture was really en- trancing. I called him to halt and began to descant upon the lovely scene before us. He at once deliv- ered one of the most eloquent tributes to the great Creator that I ever heard. I listened with almost amazement at his marvelous diction. But before giving me even an opportunity to say a word in re- sponse, he began to quote from the first chapter of Hebrews where it is declared that "God hath spoken to us in these last days by his Son," and that now "all things are upheld by the Word of his power." The Turbulent Period 235 Then for at least ten minutes he held me perfectly spellbound as he went on to describe the matchless characteristics of the world's Redeemer. This instance furnishes only a sample of what I heard during my brief but long-to-be-remembered visit. He seemed to know very little about the things that were passing around him. The Civil War was then at its very height, and yet Mr. Camp- bell apparently thought little or perhaps nothing about it. He seemed to live entirely in the past and in the future — the present occupied practically none of his thoughts. With a great history behind him that enabled him to say, with the Apostle Paul, he had "fought a good fight, finished his course and kept the faith," he could and did say with the same apostle, that "henceforth there was laid up for him a crown of righteousness." It was this "hence- forth" that gave a peculiar sweetness to all of his thoughts. He simply lived in anticipation of the future life, and the special charm of that life to him consisted in the assurance that he should see Christ as he is and enjoy him forever. This sublime faith enabled Mr. Campbell to look with almost contempt upon the ordinary things around him. It has been said that his mind at that time was somewhat shaken, and that he was prac- tically a mental imbecile. As to whether this was true or not, much will depend upon the" point of view from which we look at the matter. The links of his mind which bound it tocarlh were undoubtedly broken, but this docs not prove that the real mind was in any respect shattered. The mental grasp 236 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century of heaven was stronger than it had ever been, and may it not have been the intention of Providence to get him ready for the sublime glories of the future by weaning him away gradually from the present life? Possibly what we call a mental break-down may, after all, sometimes mean only a firmer grasp of spiritual things. There is a vast difference be- tween mental imbecility and the cutting loose from those things which hinder our constant communion with the spiritual world. ( 2 ) His profound reverence for the Word of God may be distinctly emphasized as another ruling char- acteristic. He was not a book worshiper. He valued the Bible for what it contained. It was not the book itself, but the revelation in it, which com- manded his supreme loyalty. It was the Word of God that revealed to him the adorable character whom he worshiped. As proof that Mr. Campbell did not render any / slavish service to a mere word-theory of inspiration, it is only necessary to state that he was among the first American biblical scholars to agitate the neces- sity for a revised version of our English Bible, and when there seemed nothing else practical he pub- lished with emendations and alterations the version of George Campbell, Philip Doddridge and Jas. McKnight. This version was a rather free trans- lation of many important passages, and was an attempt to give us our English Bible in our modern vernacular. While, therefore, Mr. Campbell was no slavish literalist, this fact did not in any way weaken his The Turbulent Period 237 great reverence for the Word of God. He believed with all his heart that the Bible contained God's spoken revelation to the world. This fact made his faith in the Christian religion a living reality. He felt that his faith was supported by a firm foundation, and consequently he had no fears that any assault of infidelity could possibly finally succeed. I have never known a man whose confidence in the Bible was more supreme. It was this confidence which led him to make it the source of final appeal in all matters of religious con- troversy. With him a "thus saith the Lord," with respect to any important religious question, was the end of all discussion. This fact gave the reformatory movement with which he was identified a distinct character, and differentiated it at once from all other religious movements. Luther's reformation was mainly a plea for liberty of conscience. It was a protest against the obtrusive interference of officialism in controlling the individual soul. Calvin's great work was a plea for the sovereignty of God in opposition to works of supererogation, and Wesley contended for the responsibility of man for all the powers and opportunities that God has given him. While Mr. Campbell accepted all the good for which these three great men contended, he at the same time insisted upon the supreme authority of the Word of God relative to all matters of faith and prac- tice. . Hence Luther's reformation finally gave the Word of God to the people; Calvin's inspired it with rev- Reformation of the Nineteenth Century erence, and Wesley's earnestly impressed upon the world the responsibility which that Word enjoins; but Campbell really taught the world how to read the Bible and what its authority is i7t reference to all religious 7natters. From this standpoint it is easy to see how this profound reverence for the Word of God came to be such a vital force in his life. At any rate it is unquestionably true that his confidence in the teach- ing of the Bible had much to do in building up and sustaining the splendid character which he mani- fested to the world. (3) His consecrated life is another great factor to be considered while looking at his general char- acteristics. There is only one word, after all, which, in the final analysis, expresses what will stand the severest test. That word is character, and character is practically the sum of our living. It is what we are, not what we appear to be. Rep- utation is what men see, but character is what God sees. A consecrated life, therefore, is fundamental in the building up of any really noble character. Con- sequently all Mr. Campbell's great gifts would have counted for very little if his life had not been right in the sight of God. But no one who knew him intimately could for a moment doubt that all his great powers were thoroughly consecrated to the service of the I^ord Jesus Christ. He gave a reasonable amount of attention to secular affairs, but this was because sec- ular success, to a certain extent, is necessary in The Turbulent Period 239 order to the highest spiritual good. No man can be an efficient preacher of the gospel, as he ought to be, if he is crushed by a load of temporal disasters. He never can preach his best when he knows his family is half starving at home. Business tact and good management are not, therefore, to be despised in either character-building or in the carrying on of any great enterprise for the best interests of the world. Mr. Campbell made ample provision for home comforts, but he did not lay up treasures on earth for the sake of these treasures. He kept a ^ , certain amount of capital invested on which he did business for the Lord; but he never attempted to make a fortune either for himself or for any one else. Everything he possessed was constantly in- vested in work for the Master, though to the world generally this fact may not have been wholly apparent. Sometimes fairly well-to-do men are not understood by their neighbors, simply because these neighbors do not understand that no man can suc- ceed, as even a generous giver for benevolent pur- poses, unless he has something to give. I happen to know that Mr. Campbell was most generous in his benefactions, and that his hearty willingness to help those in need was one of the proofs of his consecrated life; but at the same time ii^ is perfectly true that he could not have been the friend in need that he always was had he not exer- cised good business sense in the management of sec- ular affairs. Anyway it cannot be doubted that the last char- acteristic I have mentioned as belonging to Mr. Reformation of the Nineteenth Century Campbell was so pre-eminently true of him that no sort of estimate of him would be correct without giving this the most prominent place. In whatever place else he may have failed he certainly did not fail in the matter of a consecrated life. SOME SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS. Mr. Campbell's character was made up of so many elements, and some of these were so subtle that it is very difficult, by any known laws of analysis, to tell exactly how these different elements were blended together. Nevertheless, it is possible to trace with considerable accuracy the lines which mark the influence of a few of the elements that entered into the compound. The following, I think, will be at once recognized by all who knew him intimately: (i) He had a sound mind in a sound body. He was physically one of the finest specimens of a man I have ever known. Every part of his body was well proportioned, and when he stood before you, you could not help feeling that you w^ere in the presence of no ordinary personage. He possessed in a high degree that indescribable something which the French call tout ensemble ^'d.w.di^'WxQh. is so import- ant in making a general impression. It is very seldom that we carefully analyze anything when we are first introduced to it, and even if we do, it is not often that we are conscious of the mental pro- cess; and yet a first impression is nearly always the most lasting. It is precisely this fact which gives some people their greatest advantage. They prac- tically disarm criticism before the time for criticism The Tiirbtilent Peidod 241 arrives. Mr. Campbell had this power beyond any one I have ever known, and much of it was doubt- less owing to his splendid physical development. The following extract from a sketch of him in the volume entitled, "Ivcctures on the Pentateuch," presents this feature of his character in a striking manner: "In person God set the stamp of a man of power upon Alexander Campbell. In height he was five fleet, eleven inches; and when in health and in his prime, muscular without fleshiness; his brain vig- orous rather than massive, but well-balanced; his nose aquiline, and his very dark blue eyes had an eagle's fire. He was well formed and in every way well proportioned. Up to within four years of his death he sustained a healthful and spirited tempera- ment, combined with remarkable vigor of mind and physical energy, but during the last two or three years of his life the manifest power in his face, the kindly humor which was wont to twinkle under his eyebrows, as well as his genial and animated expres- sion of countenance, gradually diminished." However, it was his great mind which gave his body its impressive meaning. In short, the phys- ical and intellectual were harmoniously united in him, and this fact gave a symmetrical and unique development to all that made up his whole manhood. (2) He possessed marvelous powers of generali- zation. Very few speakers or writers have excelled him in this respect. His mind was pitched on a lofty plane, and this fact made him somewhat impa- tient with small men or small things. Whoever 242 Reformation of ike Nineteenth Century will read his debate with Mr. Rice will not fail to notice the difference between the two men as regards the point now under consideration. Mr. Campbell's patience was often severely tried by the somewhat pettifogging tactics of his opponent. Dr. R. Richardson fitly describes the two men as fol- lows: *'The disputants, indeed, throughout, presented quite a contrast as to their weight of metal and modes of warfare. The one was the light-armed Saracen circling round and round his opponent upon his fleet courser and stealthily endeavoring to wound him with his arrows. The other was the mailed Crusader upon his powerful charger, calmly receiv- ing the missiles upon his shield or seeking to pros- trate his enemy with a blow of his battle-axe." Equally suggestive is the figure used by the Protestant Churchman, an Episcopal paper, which says : "Mr. Campbell was like a heavy Dutch-built man-of-war, carrying many guns of a very large calibre, whilst Mr. Rice resembled a daring and active Yankee privateer, who contrived by the live- liness of his movements and the ease with which he could take up his position for a raking fire, to leave his more cumbrous adversary in a very crippled con- dition at the close of the fight." Mr. Campbell was a comprehensive general, marshaling his forces in regular military order, and conducting the battle according to the most approved rules of tactics; while Mr. Rice was practically a guerrilla captain, always on the lookout for a special The Turbulent Period 243 opportunity to strike a blow at some unexpected point, and whose victories were always won, if won at all, by suddenly surprising small and unguarded companies. He never gave battle where the terms were equal, nor were his tactics generally in har- mony w4th the accepted rules of honorable discus- sion. I do not say that this was intentional on his part. I prefer to regard it as constitutional. Mr. Rice was a born special pleader. On the other hand, Mr. Campbell had a contempt for any small trick by wdiich he might gain an advantage over his oppo- nent. He would never have owned a victory if it had been won at the expense of principle. His powers of generalization were such that he depended mainly upon great, comprehensive arguments rather than upon mere verbal criticisms or the inconclusive re- sults of isolated syllogisms. His reasoning was sys- tematic. His theology was constructed upon broad lines and his arguments moved in large and compact battalions. Indeed, his fondness for generalization frequently exposed him to apparently successful attacks by some of his comparatively insignificant antagonists. By making a big dust in a small place they created the impression that they had achieved a real suc- cess, when as a matter of fact they had only obscured the vision a little by the dust which they created. Nevertheless, this class of men seemed to take special delight in following the great champion of the new religious movement and watching for every 244 Re/oruiation of the Nineteenth Century opportunity where they could in any way impede his progress or strike a blow at some unprotected place in his armor. Really, in estimating the character of many of those who opposed him, it is impossible to come to any other conclusion than that he was practically cursed with the smallness of the men who hounded his pathway. Among his bitter opponents there can scarcely be found a man who was really a foeman worthy of his steel. Of the truly great men who differed from him, there was not one who treated him unfairly. It was the little men who always manifested an ugly spirit. It was a case of the gnat on the ox's horn. This fact of itself is suf- ficient to illustrate the difference between greatness and mediocrity. (3) He was also characterized by great independ- ence of thought and action. It was impossible for him to be a bigot. His reverence for the Word of God, to which reference has already been made, was such that he could not help contending earnestly for what he honestly believed that Word teaches, but he was always willing to hear what the humblest had to say, no matter how much the saying might be contrary to his own conviction. Believing in freedom of thought and action for himself, he was altogether too generous to deny this great boon to others. It was doubtless owing to his great independence that he was enabled to practically strike down the religious tenets which he had held in his youth. We all walk almost exclusively by faith until we reach the age of retrospection. We receive from The Tiirbident Period 245 our parents and instructors whatever they say with unquestioning trust. This Mr. Campbell did during the days when his character was in process of form- ation. But when he arrived at the period when every young man begins to look back upon his life and re-adjust himself for the conflicts of the future, ]\Ir. Campbell did what comparatively few young men ever do. He had the independence to recon- struct his religious thinking, and to start out on practically new lines with respect to many matters that had swayed him in his youth. This absolute freedom of thought followed Mr. Campbell to the end of his life. His mind was always open to any new truth or any new phase of truth. He knew well enough that no one, during the short pilgrimage of the present life, can possibly com- pass the whole area of facts and principles; conse- quently he did not really hope to learn all there was to be learned, though he never ceased to be a most diligent student, even after he had practically -re- tired from active life. The peculiarity now under consideration greatly contributed to Mr. Campbell's work as a reformer. Indeed, it was absolutely essen- tial in order to succeed in his great undertaking. His reformatory movement was, in many respects, a sort of religious eclecticism. He had to choose the truth wherever he found it; but if he had been swayed by prejudices, it is impossible to believe that he could or would have been thoroughly loyal to the voice of truth whenever it came to him. Yet no one will accuse him of any failure to follow 246 Reformation of the AHneteenth Century his honest convictions, no matter where these might lead him. In the early days of the church it was Athanasius against the world, but in the first half of the nine- teenth century it was practically Alexander Camp- bell against the world. Nevertheless, he did not flinch in this unequal contest. Standing practically alone, he utterly refused to surrender to, or com- promise with, those who opposed his great work in the interests of a return to the faith and practice of the apostles. (4) He was the personification of justice, gen- erosity and courtesy. Something has already been said concerning his methods in controversy. It may be well to illustrate his character a little further from the same point of view. It must be remem- bered that he lived in the controversial period of his religious movement, and consequently it is probable that the religious controversies in which he engaged were really unavoidable. Anyway he felt that it was his duty to "contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints," as he understood it, no matter who might oppose him. His sense of jus- tice compelled him to take ttiis course. Still, it must be said to his credit that in all of his religious debates he was the very soul of generosity and cour- tesy toward his opponents. A recent writer in the Christian- Evangelist^ in an article entitled, "x\rchbishop Purcell on Alexander Campbell and his Work," affirms that the arch- bishop, in a conversation with him, praised Mr. Campbell's great fairness as a disputant in the high- The Turbulent Period 247 est terms. I can fully confirm this statement by what Archbishop Purcell told me. In 1868 I was preparing to go to Europe, and thinking that I might have need for some introduction to church dignitaries while in Italy, I called on Archbishop Purcell and asked him to give me a letter to his Roman Catholic friends. This he very cordially did, and the letter was of considerable service to me while I was in Rome. During my visit to the archbishop we spent more than an hour together, mainly in religious conversa- tion. It was not long until Mr. Campbell's name was mentioned. This furnished him an occasion to say several things, all of which were highly compli- mentary to Mr. Campbell. On another occasion I had a long talk with him, and his same high opin- ion of Mr. Campbell, especially as a controversialist, was very distinctly emphasized. He made this opinion impressive to me by contrasting Mr. Camp- bell with another disputant with whom he had just had a written controversy. His comparison between Mr. Campbell and his later opponent was by no means flattering to the latter, but his estimate of the latter added a spice and vigor to all the praise which he was pleased to bestow upon Mr. Campbell. It is well known that Mr. Owen was equally lav- ish in his statements concerning Mr. CampbelPs courtesy in debate, and it is probably true that all the great men with whom he had controversy would have borne willing testimony to this characteristic trait, if they had been interrogated upon the subject. To sum up under this head, it is only necessary 248 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century to say that Mr. Campbell was a tboroiigh gentleman; and the gentlemanly character never shows itself more readily or more prominently than when it is strongly tested by opposing forces. Almost any one can be courteous when everybody is obliging and where all influences tend to good humor; but the case is very different when everything is pulling the other way. To be courteous, then, is to be virtuous. (5) Mr. Campbell possessed, in the highest de- gree, that most remarkable yet indefinable power which enabled him to perceive the truth wherever found, and to place every truth perceived by him in its proper logical relation to e\'ery other truth. His most intimate friends attributed this to an extraor- dinary intuitive faculty. But it is difficult to say with certainty just what such a power should be called. That it should be ascribed to intuition may be seriously doubted. His whole type of mind was cast in a different mold from that which suggests a predominating intuitive faculty. I, therefore, prefer to regard this great characteristic from another point of view entirely. His mind was eminently logical; consequently, when he once became stationed at the proper standpoint, he was enabled to follow truth along all of its legitimate lines. He could antici- pate results, because he knew just what results would follow, in order to meet the logical conditions of the case. As an instance of this it is only neces- sary to refer to his remarkable prediction in his de- bate with Mr. Rice, concerning Rev. 19: 13. He declared that the phrase, "dipped in blood," ought to be "sprinkled with blood," and that probably a TJie Turbulent Period 249 manuscript would yet be found which would give the Greek verb rantidzo^ rather than bapto^ as it was in the received Greek text. It is needless to say that when the Codex Sinaiticus v/as found, his pre- diction was in every way verified; and now the Re- vised Version has "sprinkled with blood' ^ instead of "dipped in blood." Surely, no more striking illustration of the peculiar gift which I am consid- ering could possibly be given. His logical cast of mind enabled him to see all truth in association. This is why his work was eminently constructive as well as destructive. He opposed the evils which he found in Christendom, not so much because he delighted in opposition as because these evils stood directly in the path of the constructive system which he was trying to build up. They fell straight across the electric lines, so to speak, so that the current of truth could not pro- ceed unobstructedly on its way. But when these evils were removed and the breaks mended, he was enabled to see the end from the beginning with respect to all great religious truth. What we call telepathy is probably only another name for suggestion in the world of mind; and if this be true it is not difficult to understand how it is that a thoroughly logical mind will often have one truth suggested by another. Contact with the first at once brings into view the second, while this second truth immediately suggests another, and so on to the end of the line of communication. Now if this view of the matter be philosophically correct, it is easy to see how such a man as ]\Ir. 250 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century Campbell, when once properly located with respect to religious questions (as he was by the celebrated "Declaration and Address"), would necessarily con- struct a religious system that would be harmonious in all its parts and would also be consistent with the point of view occupied by the author. This is precisely what may be said of Mr. Camp- bell's constructive theology. Whether one agrees with him or not, it is impossible to find fault with the consistency of the system. It certainly holds together, and is in perfect harmony with the point of view from which it was constructed. It contains no contradictions. Neither did Mr. Campbell make any mistakes in matters of fact or interpretation while advocating it. I doubt if there is another instance in history where this consistency is more distinctly marked than in the case of Mr. Campbell's teaching. Of course, I do not mean that none of his positions or interpretations may not be ques- tioned. We have more light now than he had. We have all the advantage of what he wrote with many other advantages he did not possess. Nevertheless, it is by no means certain that even with our supe- rior opportunities we are able to show a more excel- lent way in many of the things for which he con- tended. Taking him all in all, as a bibfical expos- itor, we doubt if his main positions will ever be successfully controverted; and it may be truthfully affirmed, I think, that much of the great strength of the plea for which he contended lies in its philo- sophical harmony. The Turbnloit Period SOME SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS. Some have found fault with Mr. Campbell's phi- losophy. He was a disciple of Locke. But the Lockian system did not bind him at points where that system is faulty. He did not tie himself to any school or schools. His remarkable independence, which has already been referred to, practically eman- cipated him from any kind of bondage whatever, except service to Christ. He recognized only one Supreme Master, and he was a bond-slave to' him. This very fact helped him to be free with respect to all other teachers. He could not serve two masters, and consequently he acknowledged no allegiance to any other teacher. He was supreme in his own manhood, because in him dominated the imperial Christ. (6) He was a great orator, if not one of the greatest the nineteenth century has produced. This statement will doubtless be questioned bv some who have heard him speak; but before fault is found with my statement, it may be well to first determine who is the true orator. The popular understanding of this matter is probably incorrect. Archbishop Whately says the orator is one who by honorable means carries his point. If this definition be true, then unquestionably Mr. Campbell was a great ora- tor. No man was ever more successful before an audience in carrying his point. He certainly did not possess the peculiar magnetism of some of the great speakers who liavc been known to sway assem- blies, and to hold -listening senates breathless on 252 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century their eloquence," but all the same, he was a true orator within the scope of Archbishop Whately's definition. His honorable methods in pleading a cause have already been referred to, and it is, therefore, only necessary to know that wherever he went large mul- titudes flocked to hear him, and these seldom went away from under the spell of his discourse without carrying with them the conviction that what he said was eminently true. In this connection I am glad to quote as authority the statement of such a distinguished man as Jere- miah S. Black, who was Attorney-general of the United States under President Buchanan's adminis- tration. Judge Black, in a speech delivered at the time of the presentation of Mr. Hart's bust of Mr. Campbell to Bethany College, says: "As a preacher he will be remembered with un- qualified admiration by all who had the good fortune to hear him in the prime of his life. The interest which he excited in a large congregation can hardly .be explained. The first sentence of his discourse 'drew audience still as death,' and every word was heard with rapt attention to the close. It did not appear to be eloquence; it was not the enticing words of man's wisdom; the arts of the orator seemed to be inconsistent with the grand simplicity of his character. It was logic, explanation and argument so clear that everybody followed it without an effort, and all felt that it was raising them to the level of a superior mind. Persuasion sat upon his lips. Pre- judice melted away under the easy flow of his elo- cution. The clinching fact was always in its proper place, and the fine, poetic illustration was ever at The Turbulent Period- 253 hand to shed its light over the theme. But all this does not account for the impressiveness of his speeches, and no analysis of them can give any idea of their power." I well remember how the students of Bethany College regarded Mr. Campbell as preacher during the time of my collegiate days. As we heard him every week-day we sometimes imagined that it would be a relief if some other preacher would occupy the pulpit on Sun- day. Occasionally we had an opportunity to have our desires gratified. But I do not remember a single instance where there was not an immediate cry for the "old man eloquent" in his proper place. Generally one experiment of this sort was sufficient for an entire semester, even though the substitute was a man of eminent ability. Every other speaker in the Bethany pulpit, who attempted to occupy it when Mr. Campbell could be at his post, did so at the great risk of his popularity, for the students as a rule could not tolerate any one else in that pul- pit for any length of time. It is well known that Mr. Campbell's morning lectures formed an important feature of his teaching. But I think it may be safely affirmed that the value of these lectures has not 'been generally understood. Doubtless they conveyed considerable useful infor- mation to the students, but I am thoroughly con- vinced that we must not look here for their chief value. The lectures were inspiring. They carried with them Mr. Campbell's great personality. As delivered from the chair in whicli he sat they pos- 254 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century sessed an indescribable charm. As I think of the impression they made upon me, I cannot now remember many of their statements as to facts, either of history or religion, that have been of special value to me in my life work; but I very distinctly remember that I never heard one of these lectures during the whole of my collegiate course without feeling that it had imparted to me strength and in- spiration for the great struggle of character-building, while even to the present time I feel the throbbing impulses of his marvelous talks ringing through my whole system whenever my mind turns back to my college days. After all, it is not so much information that we need as inspiration. I^ife is not made up of angles and triangles, of crucibles and retorts. Truly has it been said: "We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on the dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." MR. CAMPBELL AND HENRY CLAY. Mr. Campbell was not only a great orator himself, but he also had the very finest conception of what true oratory really was. He once told me of his experience in hearing Henry Clay. Mr. Campbell was in Lexington and, learning that Mr. Clay was to make a speech in a celebrated slander case, he (Mr. C.) determined that he would hear the cele- brated Kentucky orator, if it were possible to do so. Through friends he secured a commanding seat. TJie Ttirbiileiit Period 255 Mr. Clay was defertding a woman who had been slandered. The court room was crowded to suffo- cation. Mr. Clay was sitting at his desk, whit- tling with his penknife, while he occasionally spoke to some of the lawyers who were sitting around him, though in the main he seemed utterly indifferent to the fact that he was the center of attraction for all the eyes in that great throng. At last he began to address the jury. Mr. Camp- bell had placed himself in the attitude of a cold critic. He determined to fathom, if possible, the secret of Mr. Clay's power. In any case, he was not going to be carried away by any emotional appeal. He was there for the purpose of investigat- ing a great point, and he meant to do it with as much composure as if he had been in a chemical laboratory, working with one of nature's simple problems. At first Mr. Clay said nothing that was above the ordinary. He analyzed the testimony of the wit- nesses, and stated his conclusions with clearness and precision; but beyond this there was nothing specially to notice. When, however, his main arguments were completed, he began his peroration. This was a marvelous piece of workmanship. He pictured the sorrow of the poor woman he was defending. He portrayed in a most vivid manner the reckless conduct of the scoundrel who had sought her ruin. Gradually he began to approach a climax. This last feat was performed in a manner which surpassed even the masterly. All at once Mr. Campbell awoke as from a dream. He looked over the audieuce and 256 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century found that everybody was weeping, while he himself felt the tears streaming down his face. In ascending to the climax the speaker had enum- erated many things that proclaimed the woman's innocence; and when Mr. Campbell noticed how the people were wrought up, he wondered how it was possible for Mr. Clay ever to bring them all back to earth again; or, in other words, how he would let them down from their dizzy height so as not to injure bis cause. Just then he turned to the judge, who was also weeping, and' capped his climax by sayino-, <'And the very tears that are now stream- ing down your honor's face attest her inno- cence!" Immediately all eyes left Mr. Clay and were cen- tered on the judge. This was precisely what the former desired, and the moment he saw he had effected his purpose he took his seat, practically . unobserved by the weeping multitude, who were now gazing on the deeply affected judge. Mr. Campbell always regarded this as the finest example of the orator's power he ever witnessed, and his own graphic description of the occasion was terminated by the statement that after that experience he was never so certain of maintaining a critical attitude while under the spell of some great orator. MR. CAMPBELL'S COLLOQUIAL POWERS. Closely allied to Mr. Campbell's great qualities as a public speaker were his wonderful colloquial powers. I have never known a man who, without The Turbident Period 257 the slightest appearance of egotism or disposition to monopolize the whole time of a company, could so completely absorb the attention of all who met him in the social circle. He was a humorist, but never trivial. He was sometimes witty, though he rarely indulged in the making of puns. When I first vis- ited him with a mutual friend he w^as in his study, but there was no chair for his two visitors. He arose and offered one of us his own seat, and then pointing to a pile of large volumes close by suggested that the other might occupy a literary seat. Of course his own chair was declined and we both shared the books together. His conversations were often inimitable. He talked upon the most recondite subjects with a fluency and ease which were really marvelous. He could also use the most trivial things to the very best advantage in illustrating and enforcing truth, for he never seemed to speak at all without attempt- ing to teach some great lesson. His wife, in her "Reminiscences of Home Life," thus refers to his conversational powers: *'Mr. Campbell's table talk was always edifying and engaging. It was natural and always timely. He would descant upon the eye, the eyelash, the value of the eye, how to protect the eye; the human hand, its form and value; the pro- portion of the fingers, their shape to enable the clasping with ease, the bones of the hand — and all attentive listeners could not fail to be interested in his remarks; and if in the days of tallow candles the light would accidentally be snuffed out, no com- plaining, but a dissertation upon the value of light 1 7 258 Reformatio7t of the Nineteenth Century and of the adaptation of the eye to the light and of the light to the eye. It was never wearisome or monotonous, all felt a kind of inspiration or fascina- tion indescribable. It must have exceeded Cole- ridge's table talk. For my own part, even with weighty cares pressing upon me, I never found in my heart a disposition to interrupt, though the dis- courser amidst it all did not lose his consideration, and would most timely observe, 'We will turn down the leaf and give place to the next genera- tion.' " (7) Notwithstanding all the great qualities to which I have referred, he never could have achieved the success he did if he had not possessed indomi- table courage and industry. He knew no such word as fail. Neither did he know what it was to be idle. If he read his Greek New Testament at the end of the corn rows when he was plowing, while his horse was resting, it was that he might meditate on what he read while he was plowing from one end of the row to the other. Throughout his life he was a hard and conscientious worker. He had talent of the very highest order, but he constantly acted upon the principle that this talent must be improved; if he had five talents given him, it was his duty to make five talents more. This was the true secret of his eminent success. He was not a genius in the popular understanding of that term. It was generally possible to trace the lines which led up to his success, and when we measure the prodigious amount of literary work he performed, as well as his labors in other directions, The Turbulent Period 259 it is impossible not to take into consideration his in- comparable industry. HIS PLACE IN HISTORY. In closing this imperfect character sketch of one of the greatest men of modern times it may be well to notice briefly what is likely to be the place assigned to him in history. It may be too early to determine yet with definite certainty just what this place will be. Perhaps we are not yet sufficiently removed from the controversies involved in the religious movement in which he was engaged to enable us impaitially to consider his whole influence upon the religious world. However, I think the fol- lowing points may be mentioned, even if it is not safe to emphasize them: (i) He was the apostle of true religious liberty. I emphasize the word which qualifies * 'religious liberty,'' and I do this for the reason that this phrase has been very much abused. Luther struck for religious liberty, but he afterwards tied the very hands he had set free. He broke the power of the Pope, but in doing this, like Sam- son in the temple of Dagon, he himself fell while he destroyed his enemies. As a matter of fact, the Vatican was exchanged for Augsburg. While he proclaimed liberty of conscience to the people, he at the same time allowed himself to 'be bound hand and foot by the Augsburg Confession of Faith. Mr. Campbell's plea was for complete liberty. Hence he not only persistently opposed human creeds and confessions of faith, on the ground that they 26o Reformation of the Nineteenth Century had produced divisions and disaster in the Christian world, but he also opposed any attempt at making a creed for his own people, however imperative at times the need may have seemed to be. Having become free himself, he utterly refused to again be bound, nor was he willing to bind any one else with the chain which he himself had cast off. His was a plea for true liberty, and we do not doubt that his- tory will ultimately recognize the fact. (2) He was a great discoverer of truth. He was not a creator. He was not what most critics would call a philosopher. He was certainly not specially gifted for what is generally understood as originality of thought. Probably he was not original at all. But who is? Sometimes what is called originality is nothing more than obscurity of thought, or else it is only a new way of stating what is not true. Mr. Campbell had one source from which he started with everything. The Bible was the fountain whence all living streams emanated that ran through his mind. He did not try to be original. He was too humble for that. He did not try to create; there was too much already created which needed only orderly arrangement. He was satisfied to uncover the hidden treasures which he found on nearly every page of the book of revelation. Hence what New- ton, Davy, Galvani and others were to nature, Alexander Campbell was to the Bible. He came to it reverently, asking simply to know what the Bible taught. He did iiot ask the Bible to say what he said, but to tell its own story in its own The Turbulent Period 261 words, and he was perfectly willing to listen and follow its teaching without any questioning what- ever. In short, Mr. Campbell was a man of faith, and in everything he sought to be governed simply by a "thus saith the I^ord." This disposition made it impossible for him to deal in philosophical speculations, and confined his sphere of activity chiefly to the domain of discovery rather than to any attempt to originate and found either a philosophy or a religion. (3) In my judgment history will finally affirm that Mr. Campbell anticipated the present-day cry of "Back to Christ." However, this phrase must be understood in the sense in which he contended for what is in it. Perhaps he did not use the phrase exactly in the words that have become so popular, but he evidently made the real truth in this phrase the rallying cry of his great religious movement. His whole contention involved: (a) Back to the personal Christ, not the theologi- cal Christ. This would give us the true faith. (b) Back to the inspired apostles, not to unin- spired men. This would give us the true gospel in its facts, commands and promises. (c) Back to the New Testament church, not the church of ecclesiastical history. This would give us the true society in which to prepare for the heav- enly mansions. Such in brief is an outline of Mr. Campbell's character and work. The former was incomparable in almost every respect, the latter is still on trial, but so far it has stood some of the severest tests, and 262 Reformation of the Nmeteenth Century at present it is believed to contain little that may be regarded as wood, bay and stubble, and much that is gold, silver and precious stones. In the fiery trials to which every man's work must be subjected, that which is true will endure, while that which is false will perish. In my judgment the future record of the historian will emphasize the fact that Alexander Campbell did a work which will endure for all genera- tions. VII. RECAPITUI.ATORY SURVEY. LAW OF DEVELOPMENT. All normal development is marked by certain well-defined successive steps. There is * 'first the blade, then the ear; after that the full corn in the ear." This is the course of all nature, whether in matter or mind, in politics or religion. The Disciple movement has already passed at least two of these periods. The "blade" period em- braced the whole time from the beginning of the movement, in 1809, to the breaking out of the Civil War in 186 1. As has already been stated, the war changed nearly everything. It was a great iconoclastic invasion for the American people. It was especially so for the Disciples of Christ. They had been intensely aggressive in their evangelistic and proselyting efforts, though their methods had in them very little of regularity and their organiza- tion no compactness or consistency. Their move- ment seemed to have little or no direction for the first fifty years. Their success seems to have de- pended upon the potency of the principles they ad- vocated rather than upon any wisdom of management or co-operation. It was a huge locomotive, under full steam, let loose upon the track, without engi- neer or conductor. It was a great power, but it was largely a power without direction, or any competent (2G3) 264 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century generalship to guide it to definite and permanent re- sults. . r 1 The first year of the sixth decade of the present century was the beginning of the new era for the Disciples of Christ. Extraordinary ends require ex- traordinary means. The change for which their movement was ready, and which was absolutely es- sential in order to its full development, required a great- social, political and religious upheaval, like that which was produced by the Civil War. The war was, therefore, a sort of forerunner, proclaiming the new and better days for the movement. These new days were not fully inaugurated until after the death of Mr. Cam^pbell, but the first half of the decade under consideration was full of the seeds of things for later growth. These were the days of sowing for the missionary and literary harvest of the present time. Or, to keep up the figure with which we began this chapter, these were the days of corn formation, while now we have the full corn in the ear. In looking back over these prolific five years, it is impossible to measure their influence upon subse- quent events. It is safe, however, to say that they distinctly mark a turning-point in the history of the Disciples. When the war spirit had somewhat died- away, the Disciples were no longer belligerent as in ante-bellum times. They had ceased to be insular in their conception of duty, while they immediately began to have cosmopolitan ideas.. Out of this broader and more comprehensive spirit the Foreign Missionary Society was born, ten years later. The Turbulent Pei^iod 265 THE EFFECT OF MR. CAMPBELL'S DEATH. It is- worthy of remark that the death of Mr. Campbell had exactly the opposite effect of what had been predicted by the enemies of the movement. These were constantly saying that the movement was held together mainly by Mr. Campbell's strong personality and that when he was gone, rival leaders would arise and the churches would rapidly degener- ate into contending factions, and thus the whole movement would soon fall to pieces. But these critics all proved to be false prophets. Nothing that they predicted has happened. Much of a very different kind began to be manifested almost immediately after the Sage of Bethany went to his rest. Indeed, the preparation for this change had been going on through the five years prior to his death. As soon as Mr. Campbell's health gave way, it was recognized everywhere that the move- ment had no earthly leader. It was impossible for any one to take Mr. Campbell's place. Indeed, there was none able to do it; but even if there had been, no one would have followed the new leader. As a matter of fact the movement never had a leader after 1866. Some have supposed that Isaac Errett did, in a certain sense, become the leader of the movement, under the new conditions. But this is not true. The new conditions made a leader unnec-v essary. It was precisely this fact that wrought dis- appointment to the false prophets who had predicted so much evil for the movement when Mr. Campbell was to be no longer a part of it. 266' Reformation of the Nineteenth Century It is interesting to notice what this state of things was and how it was brought about. There has been perhaps nothing more important in the history of the Disciples than the conjunction of forces which operated at this particular point. A brief statement will be suflElcient to explain everything. It must not be forgotten that the eyes of the Dis- ciples were already turned toward a more compact organization and a wider field of operations. This all came with the close of the -v/ar. Up to the be- ginning of the war, they had looked mainly to Mr. Campbell for all the leadership which they desired. But their experience demonstrated that even under his leadership they were not as strong as they ought to be for the great work of saving the world. But when at last they lost their leader, they began at once to realize that what they needed was not a new leadership, but a more definite co-operation and a more consecrated life. Hence, instead of dividing, as the false prophets had predicted, they were prac- tically driven closer together by the death of Mr. Campbell. They sought in organization and com- prehensive work to find compensation for the loss of the great man upon whom they had so long relied for direction. Hov/ever, it ought to be stated with considerable emphasis that Mr. Campbell himself had always re- pudiated any distinct leadership for himself of the movement; and this view, in theory at least, was strongly held by most of the Disciples. Conse- quently, on this account, if for no other reason, it was easy for them generally to accept the new sitti- The Turbulent Period 267 ation, especially in view of the fact that organiza- tion and more comprehensive educational, literary and missionary enterprises were what vv^as needed rather than the leadership of men. It is perfectly true that a number of men contrib- uted to the new order of things, and did much to emphasize its importance; and it would perhaps be difficult to determine exactly which one of these men did most to help on the new movement. Isaac Errett, as editor of the Christian Standard, had a distinct advantage over others, and no one admires the work he did more than myself; and yet it would be difficult to trace any of the new enterprises which followed the year 1861 back to Isaac Errett's initiative. Like as when a planet has been discov- ered, or some great scientific problem has been solved, the candid historian will find that a number of men were almost equally responsible for the new order of things among the Disciples of Christ; at least they all had their telescopes pointed in the same direction, or were all working at the same problem; nevertheless these men were themselves, in their thought of progress, largely the creation of the war period. So that, after all, the final result came from a conjunction of planets rather than from any single cause or single man. This, I am per- suaded, will be the verdict of history, when the facts are impartially examined. The Transition Period T. W. GRAFTON THE TRANSITION PERIOD I. A GENERAL VIEW OF THE SITUATION. The year 1866 was a crucial year in the history of the Disciples. The death of Alexander Campbell in the early spring of that year removed a figure the charm and magnetism of whose personality had given strength and unity to the cause of restored primitive Christianity. As the unconsecrated bishop of the church all his brethren looked to him with an admiration akin to reverence; and if his views on questions of doctrine and administration were not accepted as final, they at least had great weight, and while he lived no serious disagreements disturbed the counsels of the brotherhood. . With the passing of the great leader a situation threatening the gravest consequences confronted those upon whom his mantle fell. It had been con- fidently predicted by the enemies of the movement that the religious institution built up under the leadership of Mr. Campbell was only held together by the "force of his great name and his powerful personality; so with his death it would speedily dis- integrate and come to naught." The fierce con- troversy inaugurated by ultra-conservative leaders, about this time, did what it could to make such a (271) 272 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century fate possible; and without doubt the strife and bit- terness, which continued through the next decade, greatly hindered the progress of truth, and checked the advancement of the Disciples toward their true place among the forces which are to evangelize the world. In the early sixties, partly as the legitimate off- spring of our early failures at religious co-operation and partly as our heritage from the civil war, two questions were beginning to vex the churches. These were regarding plans of missionary co-opera- tion and the use of instrumental music in the churches. In 1866 the discussion of these questions took precedence over everything else, filling the columns of our journals, and in many cases engen- dering such bitterness that had there been any eccle- siastical machinery the church would have been dis- rupted. As it was the forces of the Disciples were, in reality, two camps — the progressives and the con- servatives— the one urging that we go on to perfec- tion, the other that we hold unswervingly to the traditions of the fathers. The opposition to church co-operation for mission- ary purposes and to the use of modern expedients in religious worship, had its origin much further back than the date with which we begin. To appreciate the situation that confronted those upon whom the mantle of Alexander Campbell had fallen, we need to keep in mind the intense hostility to everything pertaining to the popular religious systems which had characterized the early stages of the move- ment. The Transition Period 2 J 2, ^ In 1830, when Walter Scott and his co-laborers dissolved the Mahoning Association, in opposition to the more practical judgment of Alexander Campbell and men like William Hayden, they gave a blow to organized religious co-operation from which we have been slow to rally. ^'It was at a juncture," wrote Isaac Errett almost fifty years later, ''when the condition of numerous infant churches and the widening fields for mission- ary work required more than ever the combined wis- dom and resources of the churches. But in a moment of rashness this system of co-operation was dissolved. The infant churches were left to struggle through the perils of infancy or to die. The invit- ing fields of labor that opened on every hand were neglected, or irregularly occupied by any preacher that could spare the time and labor, and the work that had gone so gloriously forward under the asso- ciation suffered seriously. We have been trying now for over thirty years to recover lost ground; and to this day we reap the unhappy consequences of what I cannot help regarding as the folly of that hour." The organization of the Auierican Christian Mis- sionary Society in 1849 was the first tardy attempt to undo the mistakes of these early disorganizers, and to put the churches once more into touch with each other in their missionary efforts. While its work was carried on under the leadership of Mr. Campbell tliere had been but little outspoken opposi- tion. The watch-cry against ''man-made plans" had not yet been taken up; but the latent hostility 274 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century was apparent in the widespread indifference which interfered very much from the beginning of our mis- sionary history with all co-operative effort. In 1851, with Isaac Krrett as corresponding secretary, Benj. Franklin, the later champion of anti-missionary forces, urged the claims of the society in the columns of the American Christian Review against the opposers of missionary effort, in his characteristic appeal: ' 'Cannot any man, with the least discrimination, see as clear as sunbeams that on the part of all that class of men who build up nothing, do nothing in any way, have no success in anything, but are sim- ply, as far as they think prudent to risk it, eking out their inharmonious feelings, it is mere cant? Who are the men that encourage the people of God? Who are they that strengthen and inspire the , churches with love, zeal and harmony? Who are they that restore peace, order and good will among the saved and increase their numbers? Who are they now that 'are gathering men into the fold of Christ? I^ook over the land, brethren, and you can see who they are. They are the men who are doing the work in the churches at home and all around on every side. They are the men who are pushing our state missions, the foreign missions, Bible revis- ions and every other good work. These are the men to whom we must look for the promotion of the cause." Such was the attitude of most of the men whose views were worth considering prior to the outbreak of the Rebellion. But a series of circumstances now gave strength to the opposition and led to its open and unrelenting warfare against all forms of religious The Transition Period 275 co-operation. These were the final abandonment of the mission in Jerusalem, after an expenditure of thousands of dollars, the passage of resolutions of loyalty by members of the convention during the Civil War, and lastly, as we have observed, the removal of its venerable president by the hand of death. Parallel with the controversy about plans which now centered in an attack upon all forms of mission- ary co-operation, though not always dividing on the same lines, was the discussion over the use of expe- dients in worship, which was ultimately narrowed down to opposition to instrumental music in the churches. With many, whatever had prevailed among the practices of the fathers during the fifty years prev- ious, had all the weight of divine authority. Every change in method or expediency was denounced as apostasy. Instead of going back to Jerusalem men stopped at Bethany, and that v/hich Mr. Campbell had taught in bringing order out of the chaos of 1830, was regarded as equally essential in adjusting the church to its environment at the close of the war. The question of the use of expedients in worship had occupied no place in the plans of the Disciples during their earlier history. They had learned to be content with the barest necessities, both in their homes and in their churches. I^ife had been too hard a struggle with most people to allow them to give attention to the cultivation and gratification of re- fined tastes. Having never enjoyed in their homes. 276 Reformation of the Ninetec7ith Century they did not miss in the house of worship, that which contributed to their comfort and pleasure. But a new spirit of progress and new conditions had followed the war. The old, cheerless cabin gave place to the home of comfort. The bare floors were hidden by cheerful carpets. The hard-bottom chair was cast aside and rich upholstery installed in its place. The children w^ere sent to the seminary and college, and came back with awakened minds 'and cultivated tastes. Instruments of music added to the cheer of the home. Everything had suddenly changed — everything but the old, square, unpainted meeting house, with its cheerless walls, uncomforta- ble seats and uninviting service. An unprogressive, unobserving leadership had accepted these as essen- tial and regarded them as almost as indispensable to soundness of faith as belief in the Son of God, or obedience to his expressed commands. In 1864 we find the first serious note of alarm over threatened innovation along this line, though the organ had made its appearance in a few wealthy churches at an earlier date. '*In the early years of the present reformation," writes a contributor to the Harbinger of that year, "there was entire unanimity in the rejection of in- strumental m;isic from our public worship. It was declared unscriptural, inharmonious with Christian institutions and a source of corruption. More recently congregations have been found who are almost, if not altogether, in favor of instruments, and upon the principle of church independence they The Transition Period 277 have assumed the right to make use of them without regard to the wishes of others." It thus happened that the beginning of the period with which we are dealing witnessed an outburst of the pent-up spirit of opposition, both as regards our missionary movements and the progressive spirit which characterized many of our growing churches. There is no better index of the restive spirit of the times than the number of periodicals Which sudden- ly sprang into existence, each to supply a long-felt need and to unerringly solve the problems which were perplexing the churches. During the year 1866 we have at least nine new journals, monthly, semi-monthly and weekly, stepping into existence and asking the support of the brotherhood. As given in the Millennial Harbinger^ there were the Messianic Baipner^ published in Baltimore; the Northwestern Christia7t Proclamation^ from Waupun, Wis.; the Bible Class Visitor^ from Wabash, Ind.; the Young Ladies^ Friend^ from Buffalo, N. Y.; the Evangelist^ from Oskaloosa, la.; the Christia7t Standard^ from Cleveland, O.; the Herald of Truths from De Soto, 111., and the Little Sower ^ from In- dianapolis, Ind. To adequately appreciate the volume of our periodical literature there must be added the titles of those already established: The Millennial Harbinger^ of Bethany; the Christian Herald^ of Eureka, 111.; the American Christian Review^ of Cincinnati, and the Gospel Advocate^ of Nashville, Tenn. Above the smoke of the conflict in which they were then engaged rise the colossal figures of Isaac 278 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century Errett and Ben]. Franklin; the champions respect- ively of the progressive and the conservative senti- ments in the church; the one, through the Christian Standard^ seeking to rescue the church from the bondage to the unwritten traditions of the elders, the other, through the American Christian Review^ seeking to restrain the churches from what he regarded as ruinous innovations. II. THE MUSIC CONTROVERSY. There are some chapters in our history that might well be forgotten, were it not for their whole- some, constraining influence upon our growing self- esteem, and their timely warning against being wise above that which is written. Among these is the chapter which records the controversy over the use of expedients in worship. The discussion of this issue filled the columns of our papers and dis- turbed the counsels of our churches for a decade or more, crippling the progress of a great cause at a critical period, when its strength should have been centered upon our rapidly growing cities and the newly settled territory of the West, and in heeding the Master's command to *'go into all the world." Thomas Campbell had unwittingly planted the seeds of this controversy in giving utterance to the now famous declaration: * 'Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent." When applied to the essentials of revealed religion it was a splendid maxim. As a confession of the authority of the Word of God it has never been surpassed. As a guide in the search for the old paths, it was indispensable. But it was capable of being wrested from its intended meaning in such a way as to stifle all growth and progress. In the organization and development of a religious society after the New Testament model the question (279) 28o Reformalion of the Nineteenth Centtiry was asked, What shall be our attitude toward mod- ern expedients about which the Scriptures are silent? Shall the past customs of the church govern us in these untaught questions, or shall we make wise use of means which, in the very nature of the case, were unknown and unused by former generations? This was not a new situation. The old Puritans, a generation before, had argued against the intro- duction of the newly invented stove into meeting- houses as an unscriptural and unrighteous innova- tion. In some quarters the early followers of Mr. Campbell had objected to the building of houses for worship as without apostolic example, and hence unscriptural, since the early disciples met from house to house. The singing of more than one part to a hymn was declared by others contrary to apostolic practice, since "the Scriptures expressly state that the house of God is a house of order; con- fusion must not reign there; two parts are two tunes — you must sing the same tune the rest are sing- ing." On the same ground, good brethren now wrote volumes to prove the use of instruments of music in churches to be a violation of the gospel, or at least of the respect we should have for the silence of the gospel. V/e must not conclude that the question was con- fined to the followers of Alexander Campbell in the Current Reformation. The whole Puritan senti- ment of Christendom had at one time or another opposed the use of the organ, regarding it as an adjunct of popery, to be classed along with images and crucifixes and relics and other inventions of the The Transition Period 281 Mother of Harlots. But the older denominations had, for the most part, adjusted themselves to the new conditions before the question of instrumental music entered as a disturbing element among the churches of the Disciples. A contributor to the New York Herald of 1868, in summing up the situation from a Baptist point of view, writes: *'It will be impossible to expunge the excess of music from religious worship at present. Presby- terians, doctrinally orthodox, have fallen into it; Methodists exhort in musical notes and semibreves; Episcopalians cantillate ever^lhing, even prayers and responses, and Catholics, always grand and copious in this respect, are becoming more and more so, in consonance with the general spirit of religious worship in the metropolis. The Baptists only, as a great body, have held aloof and kept to the letter of their orginal simplicity, and these will no doubt gradually soften and mingle with the general pulp." The question became a real issue among the Dis- ciples with the introduction of a melodeon at Mid- way, Kentucky, in i860. In reply to strictures in the American Christian Reviezv in the spring of that year. Dr. I^. L. Pinkerton, the pastor, wrote: *'So far as known to me I am the only preacher in Kentucky, of our brotherhood, who has publicly advocated the propriety of employing instrumental music in some churches, and the Church of God in Midway is the only church that has yet made a decided effort to introduce it." If we may judge from the result, the experiment was entirely satis- factory. For other churches of progressive spirit • 282 Reformation of the Nineiee^ith Ce?ztury soon followed the example. The new era of pros- perity and progress that followed the war contrib- uted to the rapid spread of this spirit. Our editors and leaders took alarm. Such innovations were, they urged, opposed to the genius of our move- ment. We were in danger of surrendering our plea for the restoration of primitive Christianity. It is in no spirit of criticism that we here record the protest of leading brethren. Strong, able, fair- minded men became fearful of the effect of departure from early simplicity and counseled the churches against being carried away by the spirit of the times. ''We cannot by any possibility,'' wrote one of our leading bretliren in the //iT/'i^^V/^^r of 1865, "know that a certain element of worship is acceptable to God in the Christian dispensation, when the Scrip- tures are silent in reference to it. To introduce any such element is unscriptural and presumptuous. It is will-worship, if any such thing as will-worship can exist." To this, in the columns of the same journal, the sweet singer, A. S. Hayden, replied, "Whether it would be wise to use the instrument in any case may be safely left to the brethren locally interested in the question. The assumption of the right to decide for them, to dictate to them, in questions clearly relating to their own peace, harmony and edification, and to visit upon them the penalty of the greater or lesser excommunication, is to re-enact the persecutions of the Star Chamber of the reign of Charles the First, or to employ the ex cathedra tyranny of the papacy." The Transition Period 283 In the next few years the question had taken a broad range, and the conflict between the progressive and the conservative elements of the church, in many places, became bitter and unchristian. The great truths of the gospel, which it had been the mission of the Disciples to proclaim, were consigned to the rear, while brethren quarreled and sometimes divided over the means to be employed as aids to the worship of God. It was urged by the enemies of the organ that it was neutralizing," ' 'formalizing," ^'secularizing" and "carnalizing" our worship; that those who countenanced its introduction had become the cham- pions of that which actually "superseded an ordin- ance of God;" that its use was as bad as the Romish invention of affusion. It was insisted that God would not accept it as worship at all, because he had not commanded it to be done. It was held that as a matter of conscience God's elect must refuse to 9 worship where a musical instrument was used. Scripture or the silence of Scripture w^as used in defense of the methods of obstruction employed. Logic, or what passed for logic, was brought into play in defense of their position by these champions of "soundness." The follov/ing is an example of the reasoning of the times: "Whatever destroys the ordinance of God is sin- ful and belongs consequently to the catagory of prin- ciple and not of expediency. "Instrumental music destroys congregational sing- ing; which is an ordinance of God. "Therefore, instrumental music is SINFUL and 284 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century belongs to the category of principle and not of expediency." From its first appearance, in 1866, the Christian Standard became the champion of a broad and liberal policy, and gathered around it a group of men who shared, with its editor, the conviction that the new era upon which we had entered demanded the em- ployment of new methods, if the churches were to keep pace with the progress of the times. Mr. Krrett urged the wisdom of using expedients which had already proved helpful to the work of the church where employed. Arrayed against all pro- gressive measures were the Gospel Advocate and the American Christian Review \ but they had now taken such a decided stand against all co-operative mis- sionary effort as to alienate many who shared their opposition to innovations in worship. The tide was certainly setting toward a more liberal policy. Something must be done. The Apostolic Times was consequently founded in 1869. It was issued under the joint editorship of five of our strongest men: Moses B. I^ard, Robert Graham, Winthrop H. Hopson, I^anceford B. Wilkes and John W. McGarvey. ^*To the primitive faith and the primi- tive practice," the prospectus states, without en- largement or diminution, without innovation or mod- ification, the editors here and now commit their paper and themselves with a will and purpose inflexible as the cause in whose interest they pro- pose to write." It at once opened a broadside upon the growing sentiment favorable to the organ. In The Transition Period reply to its attack upon the use of modern expedients, as innovations, Mr. Errett wrote: "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, and it would be great injustice to indulge a contrary supposition, they are doing what they well know has neither a divine command' nor an ^ap- proved precedent' to support it. When they preach they go into a meeting house, which is an innova- tion, and take up a hymn book, which is an innova- tion, and give out. a hymn, which is an innovation, and this hymn is sung to a tune, which is an inno- vation, by a choir, which is an innovation, by the aid of a tune-book and tuning-fork, which are inno- vations. They also read from a printed Bible, which is an innovation. Yet who dreams, in all this, of any innovation on the law of God or the authority of the lyord Jesus Christ?" Where the sentiment was unariimous, either in favor of, or in opposition to, the organ, peace and harmony, of course, prevailed in the local congrega- tions. But where sentiment was divided, the influ- ence of the church was often neutralized and its life even imperiled. In many places the public wit- nessed the spectacle of a church, whose leading tenet was the union of all Christians, going to pieces over the use of a mere expedient. The situation was critical. The anti-organ ele- ment, though usually in the minority, were for refusing all fellowship with their more progressive brethren. Mr. Franklin's advice, while leading to mutual division in many places, was somewhat tem- 286 Reformatio7i of the Nineteenth Century perate. "Declare non-fellowship with no one," he wrote; "say nothing about refusing fellowship, or leaving the church, or withdrawing from it. But deliberately and quietly meet in another place of worship regularly according to the Scriptures. At- tend to the breaking of the loaf, the apostles' teach- ing, prayers, praise and contribution. Worship in spirit and in truth. Talk of no new church, second church, nor anything of the kind." Mr. Errett, while claiming for himself and those who saw with him the broadest liberty, now coun- seled the use of charity. "Our own course," he wrote in the Standard o{ 1870, "is clear. We shall advise our brethren everywhere, for the sake of peace and from a reverential regard to one of the noblest lessons of Christian brotherhood, to. discard the use of instruments in the churches. At the same time we set ourselves most decidedly against all attempts to create divisions in churches on the ground of differences in regard to an expedient. The law which binds it on us to please our neighbor for his good is not more imperative than that which forbids us to judge our brother in regard to such matters. lyCt a sacred regard to the rights of others, and an equally sacred regard to the conscience of others, possess us, and we shall master the difficul- ties of this question." The controversy was never settled by the scribes. A long-suffering public at last grew weary of a dis- cussion that was fruitless of spiritual results and it was dropped. But by the exercise of charity and wisdom the problem has solved itself, and with few The Transition Period 287 exceptions the churches have become progressive and aggressive, ready to employ any expedient that will contribute to one sublime purpose— the conquest of the world to the cross of Christ, holding that the silence of the Scriptures gives us liberty in the use of means that are not out of harmony with its spirit. III. THE SOCIETY CONTROVERSY. For seventeen years Alexander Campbell stood at the head of the marching column of our missionary host. He had helped by voice and pen to foster a missionary spirit among the churches as indispensa- ble to the ultimate triumph of New Testament Chris- tianity. During all these years he had served as president of the Missionary Society and contributed of his means to its support. But his voice was scarcely hushed in death before the enemies of mis- sionary co-operation in general, and of the American Christian Missionary Society in particular, made use of his great name in defense of their methods of obstruction. They quoted the early numbers of the Christian Baptist \\\ justification of their claim, and, as the true followers of Mr. Campbell in the restora- tion of primitive ideals, raised their cry against * 'man-made plans." It has already been shown by the writers who have preceded me that "the great Christian life of Alexander Campbell presents no such monstrous con- tradiction as a lifelong consecration of his own powers and labors to the proclamation of the gospel on the one hand, and opposition to a similar work through the co-operation and means of brethren at large on the other." But I venture to add the testi- mony of W. K. Pendleton on the true position of Mr. Campbell, ^iven in an address at the eighteenth (288) The Transition Period 289 anniversary of the American Christian Missionary Society in the autumn of 1866: ''We feel that it is due to the great name of Alex- ander Campbell to vindicate his memory from the charge that he was ever opposed to true missionary work, or true and scripturally conducted missions. It must be remembered that in his early writino-s he was engaged almost incessantly in the fiercest" and closest conflicts with the various forms of sectarian- ism which surrounded him, and which, as organiza- tions both in their theory and their practice, he was deeply convinced were injurious to the highest inter- ests ot the church, and incumbrances upon the primitive power of the gospel. As such he attacked tnem. Their missionary plan was but one feature of many, and this as a not as a legitimate pose, he criticised, with a moderation and caution however, which showed that he desired to touch it but gently. His arrows were directed against the scheme. 'pur objections to the missionary plan ' says he, 'originated from the conviction that it is unauthorized in the New Testament; and that in many instances it is a system of iniquitous peculation and speculation, I feel perfectly able to maintain. • . . f here is another difficulty of which we are aware, that, as some objects are manifestly good ml;l H'"^^'M ^^"^ ^^^""^ accomplishment manifestly evil, speaking against the means em- ployed, vve may be sometimes understood as oppos- ing the objects abstractly, especially by those who do not wish to understand, but rather to misrepre- sent For instance, that the conversion of the hea hen to the Christian religion is an object mani- festly good, all Christians will acknowledge- vet every one acquainted with the means einplovcd, and with the success attendant on the means, must know 290 Reformatio7t of the Nineteenth Century that the means have not been blessed; and every intelligent Christian must know that many of the means employed have been manifestly evil. Be- sides,' he says, and this I take to be the key of all his opposition to these sectarian missions, 'to con- vert the heathen to the popular Christianity of these times would be an object of no great consequence, as the popular Christians themselves, for the most part, require to be converted to the Christianity of the New Testament.' "This is the author's own explanation of the motives of his opposition as expressed on the earliest pages of the Christian Baptist itself, and I need not pause to show how utterly irrelevant it is to the uses for which it is now sought to be employed. The fact is, his heart was too full of the benevolent and saving power of the gospel to allow him to im- pose any trammels upon any legitimate means which the liberality and the v/isdom of the church might devise for its universal proclamation. When this society was first formed he was made its president, and in this relation he continued, by the partiality of its members and with his own consent, till he was called to join the congregation of the first born in heaven. From the first he threw his mighty influ- ence in its favor." — Millennial Harbinger^ 1866 ^ page 4()7. Notwithstanding this able defense of the mission- ary spirit of the Sage of Bethany by one who had stood nearest to him, the closing months of the year 1866 witnessed widespread disaffection. Men who during Mr. Campbell's life had manifested their dis- approval in quietly holding aloof, now became out- spoken in their denunciation of the methods of co- operation employed. The missionary societies were The Transition Period 291 branded as disguised ecclesiastical machines. "If these societies are right, then," they urged, "so are the papacy and sects." They were to be classed with "dancing," "gaming," "horse racing" and other similar works of the flesh. It was, indeed, a critical point in our missionary history. In September the California Missionary Society adjourned sine die because of the conviction of many members that there was a "want of Script- ure precedent for holding delegate conventions." This step was hailed with joy by anti-society men and claimed as an indication of the "decided ten- dency of things," and the early death of all such "unauthorized efforts" among us was confidently predicted. At about this time occurred the defection of Ben- jamin Franklin from the missionary ranks, which gave further comfort to the opposition. He had been reckoned one of the supporters of missionary effort from the beginning. He had at one time served as corresponding secretary, and was then one of the vice-presidents of the organization. But, near the close of 1866, he changed front and from that time on the weight of his influence was against it, and no reasonable compromises were able to win him back from his new position. The conversion of Benjamin Franklin was the oc- casion of great rejoicing among those bent on tlie destruction of our struggling missionary society. Talbot Fanning, in the Gospel Advocate^ hastened to extend the hand of fellowship to this new acces- sion to the anti-mission ranks: 2<)2 Reforynation of the Nineteenth Ce?ttnry "Wliile we are rejoiced to know that Bro. B. Franklin is now, for the first time since the year of grace 1853, making war upon all human organiza- tions as substitutes for the Church of Christ, it strikes us that he has made so many side cuts at good brethren who have stood the heat of battle, which is now almost over, that he might afford to confess before God and his brethren that in his bush- whacking experiment he has neither done justice to himself or the cause of his Master. We thank God, however, that our brother is now ably, and no doubt successfully, defending the Church of Christ against missionary organizations and all other human in- ventions for the service of the church." While the cause of world-wide missions had suf- fered loss through the sudden crystallization of a distinctly anti-missionary party, the battle was not so nearly over as the enemies of co-operation imag- ined. The loss of Bro. Franklin was deeply felt, and the transfer of the American Christian Review to the side of the opposition added, at the time, to its strength, and increased the difficulties in the way of missionary success. But the friends of missions were by no means disheartened. The growth of the cause, its very life, they felt depended upon their hearty co-operation, and obedience to the letter and spirit of the great commission. The Christian Standard^ with Isaac Errett at the helm, had already proved a valuable help to the cause of missions, and its editor now threw his great strength into the con- flict over plans and was soon to witness the turn in the tide which was to make us a missionary people. The Transition Period 293 But in 1867 Mr. Errett, in a somewhat pessimistic spirit, was compelled to write: "The Standard is the only weekly paper among us now that advocates missionary societies, and we want the brethren to know this fact. When there is a great end to be accomplished, a scriptural end, and the Word of God does not shut us up to any special routine of operations, we go for the best expedient that the united wisdom of the brethren in a given district, state or nation, may suggest. But we have no idolatrous attachments to the Gen- eral Missionary Society. If it can do the work pro- posed, we will encourage it. If it fails to command sufficient confidence and sympathy to enable it to do its work wisely and w^ell, we shall go in for whatever form of associated effort the general wisdom of the brotherhood may approve. But we record our delib- erate conviction here, that if the attacks on our General Missionary Society prevail to its destruction and we are left to rely simply on what individu.al churches may see fit to do, we will throw back our cause at least half a century, and devolve on a com- ing generation at least tenfold labor to recover lost ground." The next three years of our missionary effort were spent in fruitless attempts to devise some plan that would harmonize all factions and secure the co-opera- tion of the entire brotherhood. The friends of the society kindly invited suggestions with a view to finding a true and scriptural basis for missionary enterprise that would be acceptable to all. To some of these overtures, Mr. Franklin replied in the col- umns of the Review^ from which we quote: 294 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century ^'Our 'unreasonable change' is not from a mission- ary to an anti-missionary man, but from a society to an anti-society man; not from a co-operation to an anti-co-operation man, but from a society scheme^ formed after a sectarian model, which we have tried twenty years and completely demonstrated to be a failure, having no effective co-operation in it, for evangelizing, to the simplest method of co-operation ever practiced as well as the most effective, the method practiced by the first Christians and prac- ticed again in our own time, by which we have pushed the gospel half round the world in fifty years." In suggesting a safe ground, he said, let it be "understood that all constitutions, laws, member- ships, life memberships, life directorships, presi- dents and vice-presidents will be wiped out. There will be no society. The reports will not show what the society has done, but what the churches of the Lord and individual Christians have done in a certain work, or through a certain channel. When the meeting is convened it can select some one to preside for the occasion and another to serve as clerk. The churches then can give to their co- operation, the state meeting or the general meeting what they think proper, or as they dispose in their hearts. Something of this kind would harmonize the brethren generally and open the way for all to go to work." At the anniversary meeting of the American Christian Missionary Society, in 1867, a committee was appointed to so change the constitution of the society as to remove some of the most serious objec- tions, and if possible conciliate the brethren of the opposition. The following year several changes were made on the recommendation of the The Transition Period 295 committee, the most radical of which was the aban- donment of life memberships, life directorships, etc. It was then resolved "that in view of the abandon- ment of life memberships and life directorships, from which the principal income of the society has . been derived, the board of managers be and they are hereby requested to devise and carry out a plan of annual and life subscriptions, whereby a constant income may be secured and a permanent basis pro- vided for the operations of the society. ' ' A committee, composed of W. K. Pendleton, Isaac Errett, W. J. Pettigrew and Geo. W. EHey, was appointed to advise the opposing brethren of the change and solicit their co-operation, which they did in a note declaring that "these changes had ' been made on the motion and by the advice of many of the oldest friends of the society, who have been influenced mainly by a desire to harmonize with others who thought them necessary, and it is hoped that the generous spirit of fraternity which they have thus manifested will be met by an equally gen- erous advance on the part of those to whom this offering of Christian fellowship is extended. If we cannot all agree as to the details of a plan, we can at least consent to work together under that which has secured the unanimous approval of so large a body of our best minds, and be content to hold our private opinions subject to the voice of the major- ity." IV. ''THE LOUISVILLE PLAN." It was earnestly hoped that the recent changes made in the constitution of the American Christian Missionary Society, by removing some objectionable features, would secure the hearty co-operation of all the friends of primitive Christianity. In this the promoters of our missionary cause were mis- taken. It was the Society itself, as a human institution, that had given offense to the brethren who would have the Lord's plan or none at all; and no amount of changing or patching, of adding to or taking from, its constitution would satisfy its enemies, so long as it was still a society. But aside from its failure to please the brethren whom it had been devised to please, a very few months proved the weakness of the new plan as a financial measure. In dispensing with life memberships and life directorships no adequate substitute had been provided for replenishing the missionary treasury, and it was running dry. The work of the society was being crippled for lack of funds, and all mis- sionary effort was at a standstill. To untie the missionary knot was now the problem that baffled the wisest of our leaders. In 1868 Thomas Munnell was elected correspond- ing secretary, and at once threw his energy into the cause of Christian missions. As a remedy for the (296) The Transitio7t Period 297 existing disorder over plans he suggested the follow- ing: "i. lyet every Disciple, in his own mind, pass an act of oblivion upon all past indiscretions as to missionary work. In this act, include everything done wrong in general or state societies, everything written unadvisedly, resolutions in convention, op- positions to societies, and such like causes of differ- ence, without now caring to decide who was right or who wrong. Let none but the small folks 'think on these things. ' "2. These old roots being taken out, let every state be districted into large divisions, so that it would require all the time of a district evangelist to keep up the missionary financial system, find out the weak places, urge the Sunday-school cause and stir everything into activity within those limits, a dozen ways that cannot here be described. Five or ten of these secretaries coiild keep all the active parts alive and at work. "3.. Each of these districts regularly pouring their contributions into the state treasury, the state would always have something to give to missions abroad — to the territories, to the South or East. Each state would then send through her own treas- ury all the funds she designs for missions outside her own boundaries, to the Board of Missions at Cincinnati. This board, having had years of ex- perience in the foreign field, can manage all the funds of the brotherhood intended for that use in the most satisfactory manner possible." It is not difficult to discover in these suggestions the germ of what afterward came to be known as the Louisville Plan," a plan which for a decade harassed our missionary movements and crippled 298 Refor7nation of the Nineteenth Century our missionary progress, v/itliout securing to any extent the co-operation of the anti-society men, which it was devised to effect. A resohition had been passed at the annual con- vention of 1868, calling for a semi-annual meeting of the society in the following May, at St. Louis. At this meeting, which was largely attended, our missionary problem received serious attention. -In spite of wasted energy and the illiberal policy of many churches the movement had made remarkable progress, and it was felt by our progressive leaders that the time had come for us to do something along missionary lines commensurate with our numerical strength. The failure of the plan adopted at the last general convention brought from the correspond- ing secretary an appeal for a more efhcient financial policy. As a result of the deliberation of the con- vention the following resolution, offered by W. T. Moore, was adopted: Resolved^ That a committee of twenty be ap- pointed to take into consideration the whole ques- tion of evangelization and report, if possible, a scriptural and practical plan for raising money and spreading the gospel, said committee to report at the Louisville meeting in October next.'' The committee appointed was a strong one. It represented not only the staunch friends of the Mis- sionary vSociety, but also men like Benjamin Frank- lin, who had refused to co-operate on any plan that had hitherto been proposed, on the ground that the methods employed were unscriptural. The com- The Transition Period 299 mittee consisted of W. T. Moore, W. K. Pendleton, Alexander Procter, Enos Campbell, B. Franklin, Isaac Errett, M. E. Eard, Joseph King, W. A. Beld- ing, G. W. Eongan, R. Graham, R. R. Sloan, O. A. Burgess, K. I. Hobbs, C. E. Eoos, Jno. S. Sweeney, T. W. Caskey, J. S. Eamar, W. D. Carnes and J. C. Reynolds — men of strength and wisdom, every one of them. To these a representative from each co- operative state was afterward added. The convention which assembled at Eouisville in October, 1869, has become a landmark in our mis- sionary history. It was looked forward to as the end of all our unhappy differences over plans, and the beginning of a new era of world-wide evangelization. More than six hundred delegates assembled with this prospect in view. The committee of twenty met in Ecfuisville a few days before the time appointed for the sitting of the convention, that they might prepare their report with prayerful deliberation. They felt deeply the importance of the tasks in hand, and never did men wrestle more earnestly for wisdom and guidance than they. I will allow W. K. Pendleton, a mem- ber of the committee, to describe the struggles of this brave body: ''They were a body of the ablest men among us. I felt strong in the struggle of our chiefs, when I stood among them in council. I think we realized the situation and felt both its responsibility and its difficulty. But we went at the work prayerfully, hopefully and courageously. The whole theory of the plan was clearly grasped, and every detail was 300 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century analyzed, criticised and adjusted, till the whole stood before us clear, consistent, scriptural and satis- factory. It was an earnest and a careful work. I shall never forget the labors of the night which Bros. Errett and Moore and Munnell and myself spent on it. We had talked it all over and agreed about the substance of it in committee of the whole, when it was referred to us to put into proper shape and order and expression. We had only a night in which to do it. We met in an upper room of the hospitable home of Winthrop H. Hopson, and there wrestled all night for the inspiration and the wisdom and the wit which we needed. Morning came and with its light the end of our toil and counsel. We were satisfied and bore oiir work back to the committee, and so it weut to that convention, the grandest we have ever heard."* The committee presented in their report a plan of co-operation which, from the place of meeting, has passed into our history as the "lyouisville Plan.'* Since it marks an epoch in the cause of missions among the Disciples, I will give in full that part of the report which related to the plan of missionary co- operation: ^'i. That there be one uniform financial system to secure the means for missions both at home and abroad. "2. That to render this efficient there be: (a) A General Board and corresponding secretary, (b) A Board and corresponding secretary for each state to co-operate with the General Board, (c) District Boards in each state and a secretary in each district, whose duty shall be to visit all the churches in his *Historical Address Twenty-fifth Anniversary A. C. IVI. S. The Transition Period district and induce them to accept the missionary work as a. part of their religious duty. ^'3. There shall be an annual convention in each district, the business of which shall be transacted by messengers appointed by the churches; an An- nual convention in each state, the business of which shall be conducted by messengers sent by the churches of the state, it being understood, however, that two or more churches, or all the churches of a district, may be represented by messengers mutually agreed upon; and an annual General Convention, the business of which shall be conducted by messengers from the state conventions. "4. The General Convention shall annually ap- point nine brethren who, together with the corre- sponding secretaries of the states and the presidents of the state boards, shall constitute a General Board, who shall meet annually to transact the general missionary business and appoint a committee of five to superintend the work in the intervals between their annual meeting. ^'5. It shall be the duty of the General Board and corresponding secretary to provide for and superin- tend missionary operations in destitute places not actually in state and district organizations, and to promote the harmonious co-operation of all the state and district boards and conventions. "6. There shall be also a State Board and cor- responding secretary in each of the states, elected annually by the me'ssengers sent to the State Con- vention, and that it shall be the duty of said boards and secretaries to manage the missionary interests in their respective states in harmony with the system of general co-operation. ''7. Each state shall be divided into districts of suitable limits by the State Board; the messengers from the churches of each district shall elect, at their annual conventions, a board and a secretary; 302 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century and the business of each secretary shall be to visit all the churches in his district, and in co-£)peration with their own officers induce them to contribute and send to the district treasury money for the support of missions. "8. As our whole financial system is based upon a general co-operation of the churches, we recom- mend that each church, over and above the sums it may contribute for missionary work under its imme- diate control, give a pledge to pay annually to its district treasurer a definite sum for other missionary work, and that one-half of such contributions may be under the control of the district boards for missionary work in the districts, the other half to be sent to the state boards, to be divided equally between it and the General Board for their respective works; but this recommendation is not to be con- sidered as precluding a different disposition of funds v/hen the church contributing shall so de- cide. ^'9. The churches shall send reports to the Dis- trict Boards in time for the District Conventions; the districts shall send reports .to the State Boards in time for the State Conventions; and the State Boards shall send up reports to the General Board in time for the general convention, so that a report of all our missionary operations may appear in the Minutes of the General Convention. "10. Each State Convention shall be entitled to two delegates in the General Convention, and to one additional delegate for every five thousand Disciples in the state." This general financial scheme, since characterized by one of our scribes as "no stronger than a rope of sand," seemed to exactly meet the situation that confronted the Disciples at that time, and after due The Transition Period 303 deliberation it was passed without a dissenting vote. By this act the American Christian Missionary So- ciety ceased to be, and, in its stead, sprang np the General Christian Missionary Convention, gathering about it the hopes of a great brotherhood. The new plan had some things to commend it. It was a heroic effort to harmonize the diverging sentiments of a growing people. It recognized the supremacy of the church and provided for church co-operation — a principle for which the opposition had long con- tended. It was so comprehensive as to exclude none from "participation in the divine duty of preaching the gospel." It was felt, upon its adoption, that we would witness the awakening of "new interest among our people in missionary work. " "I trust that the current year," hopefully wrote the editor of the Harbinger^ "may prove to be one of unparalleled activity in this great cause, and that this system which rests upon the basis of the churches, and makes its appeal primarily and directly to their free and independent co-operation, will become at once uniformly adopted and thoroughly carried out." The enthusiasm at first manifested gave promise of its triumph over the old spirit of opposition. Benj. Franklin, though not present at the mceting of the committee of twenty, gave his endorsement to the report and spoke his approval of the plan adopted in the columns of the American Christian Review. He said: - "In our estimation it is the most simple, natural and wise arrangement ever made, and that it will 304 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century commend itself to all who desire to do anything beyond their own immediate vicinities for the spread of the gospel. We have never seen anything pro- posed that came near meeting with the same appro- bation in a convention. Nor have we seen anything that we could give such an unequivocal approval. We hope now that ever}^ friend of evangelizing will put his hand to the work and push the work, and let us hear no more 2i\^o\\.\. plans and societies^ but work. We can work and live, or refuse to work and die. . We need nothing now but work, true and honest work, with determination, faith and love. The Ivord put it into the heart of the brethren to work while it is called to-day; and may his richest blessings attend all our efforts!" But whatever the merits of the "lyouisville Plan," it soon proved a failure in one thing which, above all others, was in the hearts of its projectors, it failed to secure the co-operation of those who had opposed all our missionary . efforts in the past. "They opposed the old plan because it was not a co-operation of churches, and they opposed the new plan because it was a co-operation of churches." Notwithstanding his hearty endorsement in the be- ginning, Mr. Franklin, in a short time, took up his pen against it, declaring: "We do not now go against it merely because it is not a good human scheme, or because it did not succeed; but because it is a human scheme^ with the intention to go against all schemes of the kind. We put it and all the con- ventions and human creeds on the same footing, and go against them because they are human; orig- inated in human wisdom and not in the wisdom of God." The Transition Period It was now clearly seen that further attempt to secure the co-operation of these brethren would be useless. "They had set themselves," to use the language of W. K. Pendleton, "in opposition to all forms of representative gatherings — opposition to conventions, opposition to presidents, opposition to treasuries, but especially and above all, opposition to corresponding secretaries. There was nothing, it was contended, higher, bigger, or more to be re- spected than- a church, qm ecclesia^ a congregation. " A decade of discussion over plans and compromises for the sake of harmony had failed of results. In 1869 we were as far from our rightful position among the missionary forces of the world as in 1849. 20 V. THE GROWTH OF A PROGRESSIVE SPIRIT. The ^'Ivouisville plan" not only failed to con- ciliate the anti-society brethren, but what was more disastrous to the cause of missions, it failed to bring financial relief to the embarrassed treasury of the Mis^onary Society. The plan was faultless as a theory. As a literary production it reflected credit upon those who drafted it. But when applied to existing conditions it would not work. Churches which had been indifferent under the old plan re- mained indifferent. Individuals who had been deaf to the appeals of an unsaved world were afflicted with deafness still. The opposition held aloof from it until it failed, and then excused themselves for refusing to co-operate on the ground that it was a failure. The receipts of the society which, under the old constitution, had averaged about $10,000 a year during the previous decade, did not average $4,000 during the next ten years. The first year under the "I^ouisville Plan" the receipts, which had been $10,910 before they began meddling with the con- stitution, fell to $4,529, and the board was ultimately compelled to draw upon the resources from the hymn bocfk fund to pay the salary of the correspond- ing secretary. It was no fault of the management of our missionary interests that failure confronted the new plan. If any man in the brotherhood could (806) The Transition Period 307 have worked it, Thomas Munnell, the corresponding secretary from 1868 to 1877, was that man. His talent and consecration, his phick and energy, his wide experience and administrative ability, fitted him for the position, but could not wring success from an impracticable system. Before the end of the first year it began to look like the days of our missionary activity were numbered. Good brethren became justly alarmed at the situation. In June, 1870, the editor of the Millennial Harbinger wrote: "There is now a crisis before us in the General Missionary Society, and it is with no ordinary in- terest we await the issue. Whatever that will be it will, at least for many years to come, so far as we can see, be decisive Now the real test is to come, whether we are in heart and soul a mis- sionary people, and can work together as one or not. If after a sufficient trial we now fail, then truly we have no further hope in that direction. The sad truth, sad beyond expression, will then break with all the force of unquestionable reality upon us, that either we are not in convictions and feeling a mis- sionary people, or that with all our grand plea for Christian unity and union we are altogether unable, as a body, to join our bands actually in an organ- ized, permanent work. Every true friend of the mission cause and every one who has the interests and character of our brotherhood and cause deeply at heart should feel the full importance of this crisis and do his utmost with himself and others to bring about a good result.'' In spite of the failures, for which the "Louisville Plan" and the anti-society leaders were responsible. 3o8 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century the interest in the cause of missions among the Dis- ciples survived and was soon to manifest itself in new forms of co-operation and over new fields of missionary activity. During this period of mis- sionary doubt and despair the undercurrent of thought and feeling was setting strongly toward the adoption of more liberal and aggressive measures for the evangelization of the world. The year 1870, the most hopeless in our mission- ary history, was also the seed-time of influences which were shortly to awaken us to a sense of our responsibility. Through the dreary years of hope- less discussion over plans the conviction was deepen- ing and spreading that, whatever the modus oper- andi\ we must be a missionary people or die, that a poor plan was better than no plan at all, that work done after a faulty model was preferable to noth- ing done on the most approved apostolic basis. This sentiment now began to find men bold enough to become its champions in the face of the brand of unsoundness which was sure to be inflicted upon them. We have seen how Isaac Krrett, dur- ing the early portion of this period, contended almost alone in the columns of the Christian Stand- ard for a more liberal and liberalizing policy. From 1869 on he found himself in company with a group of editors not less devoted than he to the cause of Christian missions. The Apostolic Times appeared early in the year, and though conservative in many respects it recognized the importance of aggressive missionary measures to the life and growth of the Current Reformation. About the same time ap- The Transition Period 309 peared the Gospel Echo^ with its young editoi;, J. H. Garrison, full of missionary enthusiasm, and the Christian^ under the management of T. P. Haley, G. W. Ivongan, A. Procter, A. B. Jones, B. H. Smith and George Plattenburg — the two papers soon to be merged into one and from St. I^ouis to sound forth a call to missionary co-operation. In Iowa, t'ho: Eva Jt- gelist^ an obscure little monthly, about this time became a weekly and soon made strides toward metropolitan journalism, progressive and aggressive in its spirit at every step of the way. The influence of these papers is not to be overestimated in the work that was now being accomplished under the flag of truce and failure that floated above the "lyouisville Plan." Another factor not to be overlooked was the influ- ence of our feeble but heroic young institutions of learning, which were springing up in various quar- ters, each one to become a liberalizing center. Too much cannot be said for the work done by these struggling, unendowed colleges in revealing to the Disciples their rightful attitude toward measures and expedients which were to insure enlargement, nor for the self-sacrificing men who filled their chairs without adequate support, that they might point a younger generation toward a surer path of conquest. Realizing the danger to com^e from this source the conservative forces now attacked an educated minis- try, and the institutions that were sending them out, as they had previously attacked missionary or- ganizations and modern expedients. As liberal views began to influence the professors of our col- 3IO Reformation of the Nineteenth Century leg£s they came in for their share of conservative criticism. Even the sacred memory of Alexander Campbell and the hallowed associations of Bethany were no barriers to the iconoclasm of Mr. Franklin, who had become exceedingly mad at whatever fos- tered a progressive spirit. "We do not disgnise the fact," he wrote in the Review of 1873, "that we are not working for Beth- any College. We are taking no interest in it. We worked for it all the time till Bro. Campbell died. But things have been occurring all along since to cut our affections off from it till we have no sympathy with it. We do not believe it is doing the cause any good. We are now measuring every word we write and know the meaning of every word. We can give reasons for what we are saying to any extent the reader may desire. We shall put down a very few things briefly here: i. We have become perfectly satisfied that education in the pop- ular sense is purely secular and is not a church mat- ter. The church ought to be connected with no educational enterprise. We are in favor of no church college. This Ms a matter that may be dis- cussed at length, but we Cuter into no discussion of it now. Still, this would not utterly cut off our sympathy with Bethany, other matters being equal. 2. One of the main pleas Alexander Campbell made for a college under the control of Christians was in view of the moral training; that no man was edu- cated in the true sense who was not cultivated in heart. This we hold to be as true as any principle yet uttered. To this end there should be sound pro- fessors to train students and there should be a soimd chu7xh in the vicinity of the college maintaining the highest order of morality, order and discipline." The Transition Period In spite of the failures that had attended our missionary movements, in spite of the protests of ultra-conservative leaders and editors, a liberal, pro- gressive spirit now spread rapidly among the churches. The voice of the Master saying, *'Go," was heard above the noise of unseemly strife about plans in the execution of the divine command. As our progressive leadership began to see more clearly and to feel more deeply the needs of the brotherhood they began to realize the inadequacy of efforts then being made and set about at once to devise more lib- eral things. For lack of funds the earlier attempts of the American Christian Missionary Society to carry the gospel into all lands had been given up. Dr. Bar- clay who, for several years, hampered by inadequate support, had struggled to plant a mission in Jerusa- lem, was recalled at the beginning of the war by an empty treasury. J. O. Beardslee, who had been sent to establish a mission in Jamaica in 1858, after an encouraging success of several years on that island, was compelled at last to abandon the enter- prise for want of means upon the part of the society to sustain it further. All the energies of a people now numbering nearly a half million were being ex- pended upon the home field. Nowhere outside our own land was there a voice raised in defense of the primitive Christian faith. While other religious bodies were putting treasure and brain and blood into the work of carrying the gospel to pagan lands we, who were loudest in our professions of loyalty to 312 Reformation of the Nijieteeiith Century the great commission, bad utterly failed to respond to its marching orders. The importance of a distinctively foreign mission work now began to be felt among our representative preachers. In the lead stood Isaac Krrett. As he now studied the needs of the movement he began to feel that not only the salvation of the pagan, but the salvation of the church itself, demanded that we who claimed to be guided by the will of the Master, ex- pressed in his written Word, should get in line with God in his revealed design of world-wide evangeliza- tion. He was sure that we would never take our rightful place among the religious forces of the age until we enlarged our plans of conquest, so as to embrace all the nations of the earth. As early as 1873 Mr. Errett, in the columns of the Christian Standard^ advocated the organization of a society that should turn its attention exclusively to the for- eign field. At the General Christian Missionary Convention, which met in Indianapolis that year, the importance of this step was urged, but no action was then taken. In the meanwhile, as men were meditating over this advanced step, and hesitating and wondering how it could be done, a few Christian women, at a meeting in Indianapolis in the summer of 1874, pro- posed the organization of a society among the sister- hood of the church, that should take up the neg- lected work of missions. Quickly responding, the Christian Woman's Board of Missions was organized, and at the General Convention, which met in Cin- The Transition Period cinnati in October, received the following recogni- tion at the hands of the brethren: Resolved^ That this convention extend to the Christian Woman's Board of Missions recognition and hearty approval, assured that it opens a legiti- mate field of activity and usefulness in which Chris- tian women may be active and successful co- operants of ours in the great work of sending the gospel into all the world. We pledge ourselves to *'help these women" who propose to "labor with us in the Lord." The climax of our missionary movement was reached the following year when the organization of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society was effected. The General Convention met at Louis- ville. Mr. Errett, as president for that year, in his annual address again called the attention of his brethren to the subject that was on his heart, remind- ing them that "no people had ever been blessed in their home enterprises without a foreign missionary spirit and work." Others joined in urging forward the movement. An earnest brotherhood represented in the convention heartily responded, and the For- eign Christian Missionary Society was born. It was the beginning of a new era for the Disciples. No sooner did they enter the field of world-wide evan- gelism than phenomenal success attended their efforts at home and their growth in numbers had become the wonder of the religious world. Taken as a whole, the period with which we have been dealing, though comparatively fruitless in itself, was a most important one in the development 314 Refor^nation of the Nineteenth Century of the plea for the restoration of primitive Chris- tianity. At its beginning the Disciples of Christ were in danger of becoming the most narrow and bigoted of sects, hedged and harassed by the tradi- tions of the fathers. At its close they were back again upon the foundation that had given them their early victories, that of 'Hhe apostles and prophet.s, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone." Within the brief period embraced by the yfears 1866 and 1875, t^^sy ^lad traveled all the way from ^'the bitterness and darkness and bondage of a nar- row, opinionated legalism, to the sweetness and light of the liberty where v/ith Christ hath made us free," and in their new-found liberty were enabled to so crystallize the energies of the church as to launch it upon an era of unprecedented prosperity, and give to a people, who had hitherto urged their plea in comparative obscurity, a recognized place among the religious forces of the century. Period of Revival of Home Missions BBNJ. L. SMITH PERIOD OF REVIVAL OF HOME MISSIONS I. INTRODUCTION. Our missionary work in 1875 ^^^^ reached its low- est ebb; the panic of 1873 ^^^^ affected all benevo- lent enterprises; the Louisville Plan was breaking of its own weight; the total receipts for that year amounted to only $4,671.10. In that darkest hour our day was born; the Chris- tian Woman's Board of Missions had just been or- ganized and was entering upon its work; in 1875 the Foreign Christian Missionary Society was organ- ized , and entered upon that glorious career which means so much for our saving and the salvation of the souls that are afar off. The twenty-five years that have passed have been the years of expansion and closer organization. The history of the Period shows the following organizations having formed: Christian Woman's Board of Missions, organized 1874. Presidents — Mrs. Maria Jameson, Mrs. O. A. Burgess. Corresponding Secretaries — Mrs. C. N. Pearre, Sarah Wallace, Maria Jameson, Sarah (317) 3i8 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century Shortridge, Lois White, Helen E. Moses. Amount raised, Foreign Christian Missionary Society, organized 1875. Presidents — Isaac Errett, Charles Louis Loos. Corresponding Secretaries — Robert Moffett, W. T. Moore, W. B. Ebbert, A. McLean. Amount raised, $1,292,587. Board of Church Extension, organized 1888. President — D. O. Smart. Corresponding Secreta- ries— F. M. Rains, G. W. Muckley. Amount raised, $214,000. Board of Negro Education and Evangelization, organized 1890. President — E. L. Powell. Cor- responding Secretary — C. C. Smith. Amount raised, $69,000. Board of Education, organized 1894. Presidents — W. D. McClintock, J. H. Hardin. Corresponding Secretaries — A. A. Allen, Hiram Van Kirk. Board of Ministerial Relief, organized 1895. President — Howard Cale. Corresponding Secretary — A. M. Atkinson. Amount raised, $25,000. The story of these years is one full of encourage- ment, confirming the promise of the Word of God, ''In due season ye shall reap if ye faint not,^' and showing that while "Paul may plant and Apollos may water," yet it is God that gives the increase. The brief story of our organized work is as follows: THOMAS MUNNEI.I.'S ADMINISTRATION. Thomas Munnell was corresponding secretary of the Kentucky State Board of Missions when he was The Revival Period called to the secretaryship of the American Chris- tian Missionary Society. He was born in Ohio county, West Virgina, Feb. 8th, 1823. He graduated with honor from Bethany College in 1850. He served as professor of Ancient Languages at the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College). He taught in other schools and served as pastor of the Eighth and Walnut Street Church, Cincinnati, and as corresponding secretary of Kentucky. He was the author of the Ivouisville Plan, and on its adoption by the conven- tion at Louisville, Ky., in 1868, he was elected cor- responding secretary of the A. C. M. S., to carry that plan into effect. All that any man could do to make that famous plan a success Thomas Miinnell did, but it had to faiU The income of the society in those years was as follows: 18G6 111,902.86 1867 10,910.74 1868 7,569.00* I860 7,525.50 1870 4,529.91 1871 4,808.15 1872 2,801.04 1873 4,158.89 1874 5,172.25 1875 ^ 4,671.10 1876 5,961.81 1877 3,327.03 In 1874 the Silver Jubilee Convention of the A. C. M. S. was held at Cincinnati; 208 delegates were enrolled. R. M. Bishop was president. The cor- The year of the adoption of the L,ouisville Plau. 320 Reformation of the Nijieteenth Century responding secretary, Thomas Munnell, reported an income of $5,172.28 for the year. President W. K. Pendleton delivered the historical address, reviewing the work of the quarter century. This admirable address was published in the minutes of the conven- tion and Green's History of Missions. The country was in the midst of the financial panic beginning in 1873. '^^^ General Board pre- sented a report, embracing the work done by the various state- boards of missions, and some work done by the General Board among the freedmen of the South. The failure of the Louisville Plan, which was Newton's law of gravitation applied to missions — one-half of all missionary money raised to be used in the district, and the remaining half to be sent to the state boards and again divided, one- half of the one-half to be sent to the General Board — may be attributed to the proviso: "But this recommendation is not to be considered as pre- cluding a different disposition of funds when the church contributing so decided." The churches generally "so decided," and the district and state boards "so decided," and the General Board got none. In 1874 the state boards of Ohio, Indiana and Missouri were the only ones which remitted to the National Treasury, and the Ivoui^ville Plan fell of its own weight. The work of Thomas Munnell was identified with the Louisville Plan — he was its author and its en- thusiastic advocate. It was a labored effort to unify the brotherhood in support of a plan for mis- sion work, and Thomas Munnell was faithful in his The Revival Period 321 day; with tireless energy, witli faith unfeigned and with a zeal that was admirable he toiled to make the lyouisville Plan a success. One great trouble was that they depended upon the plan to do the work^ but perpetual motion is a dream not yet realized in spiritual dynamics. Yet he was brave. In 1875, with an income of only $5,961,81 for general home missions, he wrote: ''The financial condition of the ' country has checked the flow of benevolence for mis- sions in all denominations and has certainly reduced our resources one-half, yet we see no cause for dis- couragement.In 1877 he received only $3,327.03 in the general treasury. He laid the burden upon the preachers: "Our ministry as a class do not feel their personal responsibility in raising money for missionary work. It may seem very strange and anomalous if some of our best ministers who mourn over our deficiencies are here to-day without having done anything during the past year for missions, and will go home from this convention and repeat their past inefficiency and then attend the next conven- tion and 'regret our small results.' " Thomas Munnell brought order out of chaos; he demonstrated the need of organization in our co- operative mission work and showed the failure of all plans that look well on paper and begin with — "If everybody would." It was during the administration of Thomas Mun- nell that the Christian Woman's Board of Missions was organized, October, 1874, and the Foreign Christian Missionary vSociety in October, 1875. His farewell report is well worth quoting: 322 Reformatio7i of the Nineteenth Century "Finally, we would suggest a bare possibility as to the cause of not doing more missionary work. Per- haps we are not worthy to do missionary work; per- haps we are not, as ministers, fully consecrated to God; we may be depending too much on ourselves; we are not strong because we are not weak. If we have not been really crucified with Christ it is im- possible to reach the ground he stands on. lyCt us go forth, therefore, unto him without the camp. Let us make our missionary work a great success in the name of him who 'counted us worthy, putting us into the ministry.' Unless there is some chance in the future to do the proper work of an evangelist in helping to get things into better order, I can spend my life more profitably as pastor of some congrega- tion and immeasurably more to the satisfaction of my half-forsaken family. If the convention should release me it would relieve me of a heavy load which I have carried without faltering or com- plaint. I commend these interests to the care of God in the hope that what little I have done in my present position will be found unto praise and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ." The Acting Board elected F. M. Green to succeed Thomas Munnell, and Munnell retired to the Ken- tucky Board of Missions, to the pastorate and to teaching, serving God faithfully, growing old grace- fully and, on account of his intimate relations with our co-operative work, writing a large name for him- self in our history. He entered into rest Sept. lo, 1898. F. M. green's administration. Francis M. Green was corresponding secretary of the American Christian Missionary Society from The Revival Period 323 Jan. I, 1878, until October, 1882. He was born in Summit county, Ohio, Sept. 28, 1836. His father, Philander Green, was one of the pioneer preachers of the Western Reserve. F. M. Green confessed his faith in Christ when he was sixteen years old, and was baptized by Dr. W. A. Belding. He entered Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (Hiram College) in 1856, and was taught by James A. Garfield. He gave himself to the ministry of the Word, was interested especially in Sunday-school work, and became editor of the Sunday-school Stand- ard and the Teacher'' s Mentor^ and later correspond- ing editor of the Christiait Standard. The administration of F. M. Green as correspond- ing secretary began in 1878. It was the lowest ebb of the affairs of the Missionary Society. The income for the first year after he became secretary was $1,945.69. A part of this was from the sale of the hymn book. It was a day of small things in our mission work. The society had a desk in the office of the Standard Publishing Company. Green served as editor of the Standard Company's Sunday-school publications, as corresponding editor of the Christian Standard^ and as corresponding secretary of the missionary so- ciety. His annual report to the National Convention of 1882, at Lexington, Ky., was written after he reached I^exington. His first report embraced the recommendation that "special attention be given this great 'home field,' whose harvest is so richly ripe and whose calls are so imperative." He also said, ''This year 324 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century is to prove us; it will be decisive of our character and our destiny; our pride has been often wounded by the smallness of the results which have followed our efforts; we have boasted of our strength and numbers, our wealth and power, but it is possible we have forgotten th-e great lesson of- God's Word, 'ex- cept a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.' " Bro. Green writes of his work as corresponding secretary: "I finally convinced the brethren that an angel of paradise could not make the lyouisville Plan a success and succeeded in getting the constitution changed to provide for a more businesslike method of conducting our work." These years witnessed the practical closing of the battle for the liberty of co-operation in mission work. During his incumbency of the secretaryship F. M. Green published four books, viz., "Green's Sun- day-school Manual," ''Green's Minister's Man- ual," "History of Christian Missions" and "lyife of James A. Garfield." He writes: "I did my best for the society while I was secretary, and whether I received benedictions or otherwise I am tranquil." Since his resignation in 1882 he has been living on his farm, has represented his district in the Ohio State Senate, has served as pastor of the churches at Wilmington and Stow, Ohio, and recently has pub- lished his latest book, "The L,ife and Writings of John F. Rowe." The Revival Period 325 THE ADMINISTRATION OF ROBERT MOFFETT. Robert Moffett was born in LaPorte County, Ind., Nov. 9, 1835. Six months later his parents moved to Carroll County, 111., locating fourteen miles from the Mississippi River. Here he received a common- school education. His father, Garner Moffett, was a pioneer preacher, supporting his family from the farm. He was enthusiastic for the ancient gospel. He believed in education, and when the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (Hiram College) was opened he sent three of his children. Here Robert Moffett began his collegiate course that ended with graduation at Bethany in the class of 1859. Soon after graduation he married Miss lyucy A. Green, only daughter of A. B. Green, one of the ablest preachers of the West Reserve, Ohio. Three of their nine children are still living. Soon after his marriage he served as county evan- gelist of Carroll and Ogle Counties in Illinois, then pastor of the churches at Wooster and Mt. Vernon, Ohio; and in 1869 he became corresponding secre- tary of the Ohio Christian Missionary Society, serv- ing continuously for fifteen years, carrying, during the last eighteen months, the added work of corre- sponding secretary of the American Christian Mis- sionary Society. The General Board was served by him as corresponding secretary from Oct. i, 1882, until Jan. i, 1893, then one year as evangelist of the Ontario co-operation, then again corresponding sec- retary of the Ohio Society, continuing until July i, 1899. 326 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century In 1875 moved to 715 IvOgan Avenue, Cleve- land. Here for nearly a quarter century in a small room have been worked out the plans in the interest of our missions, and from that little room have gone out the most earnest appeals for their advancement. Robert Moffett owns a comfortable, modest home in Cleveland. He pays taxes on some other unre- munerative property. So meager has been his sal- ary and so many the calls of the brotherhood upon him to help in all benevolent work in all parts of the country, that he has nothing to show in this world's goods as coming from remuneration for his services. I^ike many another preacher, he has spent himself for others. Robert Moffett was a great secretary. As a preacher he was the peer of the strong men whom we call the fathers. There does not live among us to-day a man who can preach stronger or better ser- mons on the distinctive teaching of the Disciples of Christ than Robert Moffett. His administration as corresponding secretary of the American Christian Missionary Society began Oct. I, 1882. The previous year there had been raised about $4,000 cash. There was a balance in the treasury of $284.81, and indebtedness amounting to $400. The members of the Lexington Conven- tion (1882) had pledged about $1,400 a year for five years; the other source of income was dividends from the various State treasuries. The I^exington Convention had authorized a call for a general col- lection from the churches in December, 1882. Six churches responded, three of them as a result of a The Revival Period 327 personal visit from the secretary. The people were indifferent to the claims of general Home Missions; the secretary felt that he was asked to "make brick without straw." The ten years of Robert Moffett's secretaryship were years of growth. The receipts were $4,161.73 in 1883, and $21,591.38 in 1893, the total $142,385.05. The offerings increased in other directions from $1,882.53 1S83 to $17,298.53 in 1893. New mis- sions were established annually. Special funds were raised for buildings in Washington, D. C, Boston, Chattanooga, Tenn., and Pomona, Cal. A large part of Moffett's service was in canvassing the stronger churches in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa and Missouri; visiting churches whose pastors were molders of public opinion, and so effective were his visits that the treasury has sel- dom failed to receive offerings from that day to this. During his term the Board of Church Extension was organized, first as a standing committee (1883), then as a board (1888). In 1890 "Children's Day for Home Missions" was inaugurated, yielding $350 in 1889 and $2,213 in 1892. It was dropped in 1894 and revived in 1898. In 1890 the Board of Negro Education and Evan- gelization was organized, and the Southern Chris- tian Institute was enlarged and put under the care of this board during Moffett's administration. The board planted or helped many of what are now prosperous churches during the decade that Moffett superintended the work; 196 churches were 328 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century organized and many others were helped in the time of weakness to self-support. The sorest trial was the constantly empty treas- ury. Hundreds of appeals had to go unanswered, and there were those at every annual convention who demanded that the board *'make more brick without straw." The board was economical, and over his work the church is already pronouncing the plaudit: "Well done, good and faithful servant." JOHN H. HARDIN'S ADMINISTRATION. John Huffman Hardin was born Nov. 21, 1848, in Trimble County, Ky. Like most good preachers he was the child of parents poor in this world's goods but rich in Christian character. He had but slight school advantages in youth, but in after years at- tended Kentucky University, and later the Missouri State University. He has been a constant reader and has attained a very respectable scholarship. He was baptized in 1864 ^"^^ began to preach be-, fore he was twenty years old. He wasvordained in 1 87 1, served as pastor of the churches at Columbia, Ky., Madison, Ind. (where he baptized the writer), at Mexico, Mo., and at Hannibal, Mo. He served six years as State Sunday-school evangelist of Mis- souri and then as corresponding secretary of the Missouri State Board of Missions. In 1892 he was elected associate secretary of the General Society, and in 1893 was promoted to be corresponding secretary. His administration fell upon the years of the panic, 1893, 94 and 95, and yet he held heroically The Revival Period 329 on with his work and brought it through. He, as associate secretary, took especial charge of the offer- ing of the Sunday-schools, and secured, in 1893, largest offering that ever came to the General Board from that source. He planned the Divinity House at Chicago Uni- versity and secured its inauguration. He recommended the unification of all our home missionary work, which is being done as rapidly as possible, following the lines marked by the Spring- field Convention. J. H. Hardin revived the work of city evangeliza- tion; the conference on city evangelization; located E. W. Darst in Chicago, and gave an impetus to the whole scheme of city evangelization. In 1895 J- Hardin was called to the presidency of Eureka College and resigned the secretaryship of the society. Here he has done some of the best work of his life. THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION. The history of the last three years, covering the administration of the present secretary, Benjamin L. Smith, is too new to be written. Its heart-cry is, "Home Missions to the Front," and its record will be the story of the effort to redeem our general home missionary work from its position of neglect and place it at the forefront of all the aggressive work of the Church of Christ. Benjamin L. Smith was elected corresponding sec- retary of the American Christian Missionary Society 330 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century at the Dallas Convention, October, 1895. He as- sumed charge of the work December i, 1895, having W. H. Cannon as assistant secretary for one month. At the convention held at Springfield, 111., in October, 1896, the society was reported out of debt, the first time in years. The Springfield Convention recommended the uni- fication of all Home Mission work by making all State and district societies auxiliary to the American Christian Mi.^ionary Society and asking all these societies to report their work to the National Society that it might be incorporated in the general report. This unification is gradually taking place. The Indianapolis Convention unified the work still more by uniting the collection for the Board of Negro Education and Evangelization with that for general Home Missions. Both secretaries were to represent both works. In carrying out this plan, C. C. Smith was elected associate secretary of the American Christian Mis- sionary Society and does splendid service in bring- ing Home Missions to the front. During the last year the results have been most gratifying. The board reported last year 109 mis- sionaries at work the whole or a part of the time; aggregate amount of missionary work done, loi years; visited and helped 820 places; organized 63 churches; baptized 6,046 persons; had 3,950 acces- sions otherwise; total additions last year, 9,996; have planned and assisted in building 14 houses of wor- ship. *'By their fruits ye shall know them." Grand total, including work done by all State The Revival Period 331 Boards, we have: Years' work, 181; number of workers, 299; number of places where work has beeu done, 1,260; number of churches organized, 234; number of Bible schools organized, 203; grand total of additions, 19,617; of which 11,780 are by baptism. The board is now helping the State Boards of New England, New York, Eastern and Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, North Caro- lina, South Carolina, Maryland and District of Columbia, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Indiana, Indian Territory, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Southern Califor- nia, Northern California, Oregon, Washington, North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Wis- consin, Michigan, Ontario, thirty-two contracts in all, by which we quicken the local workers to larger efforts; no missionary money expended has been more fruitful in results than the help given our weaker State Boards. II. THE EXPANSION OF OUR MISSIONARY WORK. THE SUBORDINATE BOARDS OK THE AMERICAN CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY. The first subordinate Board organized under the charter of the American Christian Missionary So- ciety was the Board of Church Extension. CHURCH EXTENSION. Francis M. Rains was the first secretary of Church Extension, beginning in November, 1888, and con- tinuing until January, 1891. His work gave the Church Extension Fund an impetus and an influence that continues until the present. He increased the offering every year that • he served as secre- tary. He was followed by Geo. W. Muckley, beginning January i, 1891, and continuing until the pres- ent. He has been indefatigable in his service of this fund. The Board of Church Extension of the American Christian Missionary Society was created at the Na- tional Christian Missionary Convention which met in Springfield, 111., in October, 1888. This provided for a board to be located in Kansas City, Mo. , charged with the duty of raising and administering a loan (332) The Revival Period 333 fund for the aid and relief of our churcjies in the United States and Canada unable to provide them- selves with houses of worship without assistance; also to prepare for making the w^ork of the evan- gelist permanent, by assuring the newly organized congregation of a home at once, when proper investigation proved that the mission was worthy of aid and could not build alone. Five years previous to the organization of the present board in Kansas City, Robert Moffett, cor- responding secretary, at the National Convention, Cincinnati, October, 1883, recommended: ^ 'Many calls have come to us for aid to build houses of worship. To all these we have given but one answer, viz., that we cannot use regular missionary funds to build houses of worship. Wichita, Lawrence, To- peka and Atchison, Kansas; Richland Center, Wis- consin; Pueblo, Colorado; Jackson, Mississippi; Chattanooga, Tennessee, are prominent among the many places where efforts are being made to buy or build church edifices, and where foreign aid will be necessary. Indeed, in many important places the want of a suitable place of worship is the chief hin- drance to success. "In view of this fact, your board has thought it advisable to begin the creation of a fund to be known as the Church Extension Fund, the principal of which shall be loaned upon easy terms to such weak churches and mission stations as may stand in need of such aid. A note has been prepared for general circulation, payable when $5,000 shall have been subscribed, and should be circulated for signatures during the ensuing year." A committee on Church Extension was appointed. 334 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century composed of the following brethren: D. R. Van Bus- kirk, of Indiana, president; F. M. Drake, of Iowa; John N. Dalby, of Missouri; A. I. Hobbs, of Ken- tucky, and Timoth}^ Coop, of England. Later on in the convention the following report was made by the committee: "Your committee to whom was referred the ques- tion of a Church Extension Fund considered the same and beg leave to report: "i. We are impressed with a conviction of the pressing need of such a fund as an aid to weak and struggling churches striving in the face of discour- agements to erect houses of worship. In many cases a little timely aid would enable such churches not only to become self-sustaining, but in time to become helpful to others. "2. We recommend that such fund be used only as loans to churches needing such aid, at a reason- able rate of interest, and only in such amounts as may be amply secured by the church prop- erty. "3. That this fund be designated the Church Ex- tension Fund, and that donations and bequests be solicited for the creation of this fund. "4. That a committee of five members be elected, two of them for five years and three of them for three years, who shall have in charge the loans from said fund, and the securing and collection thereof. They shall report from time to time to the acting board of managers, and shall pay over all money collected, and place all securities in the hands of the treasurer of this convention, and the acting board shall pay out money upon the recommendation of said com- mittee." This report having been concurred in by the con- The Revival Period 335 vention, A. I. Hobbs, on behalf of the committee on Church Extension Fund, reported the following as the committee of five authorized by its first report: C. H. Gould, of Cincinnati, O.; S. G. Boyd, of Cov- ington, Ky.; Henry Ranshaw, of Covington, Ky.; Paris C. Brown, of Newport, Ky., and A. S. lyudlow, of Cincinnati, O. The first subscriptions made to this fund were then given as follows: Joseph Smith, Jr., of Cincin- nati, O., $i,ooo; Timothy Coop, of England, $i,ooo; F. M. Drake, of Iowa, $i,ooo, andW. S. Dickinson, of Cincinnati, Ohio, $500. WORK DONE. The first report of the committee on Church Ex- tension Fund was made the following year, which showed that $2,105 had been received arid three loans made. Under the management of this com- mittee in three years $4,711.83 was collected and ten loans were made in eight different states. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PRESENT BOARD. The National Convention which was held in Springfield, 111., in October; 1888, recommended the creation of a separate Board of Church Extension. Accordingly, article VII of the constitution of the American Christian Missionary Society was en- acted, which read as follows: *'The society shall annually elect seven breth- ren to serve as a Board of Church Exten- sion, five of whom shall reside in or near Kansas 336 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century City. They shall have control of all funds raised to be loaned to the churches needing assistance in building houses of worship. They shall have power to raise and collect funds for this purpose, and for necessary expenses incurred in the manage- ment of the fund. They shall* appoint their own meetings, make rules for their government, elect their own officers, including a treasurer, w^ho shall give bond and report annually to the auditor and treasurer of the society. The Church Extension Board shall report at the annual meeting of the so- ciety. All expenses of the board shall be met from the Church Extension Fund, but no part of the principal shall be used for this purpose." A board of seven men was elected at this conven- tion, whose names are as follows: T. P. Haley, David O. Smart, T..R. Bryan, Ivangston Bacon, E. P. Graves, W. O. Thomas, all of Kansas City, Mo., and G. A. Hoffmann, of St. Louis, Mo. D. O. Smart was elected the first president of the board and has served in that capacity ever since. T. R. Bryan has also served as treasurer since the begin- ning. W. O. Thomas was the first attorney of th? board and served until May i, 1889, at which tim? he resigned, and in June Langston Bacon was elected and has been the attorney of the board since that time. The amount in the Extension fund which, at this time, was turned over to the board at Kansas City, was $10,662.80. The amount in the fund to- day is, in round numbers, $158,000. At the time the board was elected there had been 22 loans made in 12 states and territories. Since that time over 400 loans have been made, 125 of The Revival Period 337 which have been paid off, and over $100,000 has been returned from loans and interest and has gone out on its second and some on its third round of service. In 1890 the rate of interest was changed from six per cent, to four per cent., and the limit of the largest loan was placed at $1,000 instead of $500. THE PLAX AND MAXAGEMEXT. The Church Extension Fund is loaned for five years, to be returned in equal annual installments within five years or sooner if the mission church so desires. The board requires first mortgage security with an absolutely clear title, and the house must be insured against fire and tornadoes. While the board takes the first mortgage, it is not with the object of foreclosing the mortgage at the end of the five years if the mission church is doing its best to return the money. The fund is made helpful in every way to get the mission church on its feet. On December i, 1894, the work having so grown in importance, the board found it absolutely neces- sary to employ T. R. Bryan for all of his time as treasurer, office secretary and bookkeeper, and to ex- amine every title, deed and article of incorporation, insurance policy, etc. He has entire charge of the administration of the fund in the way of loaning it and collecting it in a proper and businesslike ^^^ay. When a difficult point arises in llie examination of any legal document Mr. Bacon, the attorney, passes upon it. 22 338 Reformation of tJie^ Nineteenth Century By recommendation of the National Convention at Indianapolis, and by fnrther recommendation of the Convention at Chattanooga, Tenn., it was urged upon our board and brotherhood to co-operate dili- gently in lifting the fund to $250,000 by the close of 1900, because of the fact that we have over 2,500 unhoused missions in the United States. THE BOARD OF NEGRO EVANGELIZATION AND EDUCATION. The Board of Negro Evangelization and Educa- tion was organized in 1890, and was without a sec- retary during its first year. The first year showed the receipts to be $35.00; after the expenses had been paid $6.10 was left. January i, 1892, C. C. Smith became the representa- tive of this work. C. C. Smith is the son of John T. Smith, an effec- tive preacher of the. primitive gospel. C. C. Smith was trained at Hiram College, Ohio, in the days when Garfield and Almeda Booth were teachers and enjoyed the Hiram fellowship in its brightest days. He began his ministry in 1866, preaching three years for country churches. In 1869 he was called to the church at Youngstown, Ohio, where he re- mained seven years and built during that time their new church house, costing twenty-nine thousand dollars. In 1876 he was called to Akron, Ohio, where his pastorate continued eight years and where he led the church to larger work on missionary lines, The Revival Period 339 culminating in an offering in 1883 of fifteen hundred dollars for missionary work. In 1884 ^^^^ acting board of the American Christian Missionary Society sent him to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to organize a church. The result of his two years' work there was the splendid little church at Milwaukee, which is a star in the crown of the society. Reserved as evan- gelist of Southern California for one year. In 1887 he became the minister of the church at Massillon, Ohio, where he built a church house and remained until 1892, v/hen he was called by the Board of Negro Evangelization and Education to become its secretary, and in which work he has continued until now. Bro. Smith's work as secretary of negro mis- sion work is conspicuous for its wisdom and pru- dence. He has dignified and exalted that w^ork until to-day it has the sympathy of large numbers of our people. In 1896 the collection for negro work was united with the general offering for Home Mis- sions, the Board of Negro Evangelization and Edu- cation to receive twenty per cent, of the offerings for Home Mission work, and C. C. Smith became asso- ciate secretary of Home Missions. The board of negro work has its headquarters at Louisville, Ky., and is as follows: President, E. L. Powell; secretary, W. J. Loos; treasurer, H. L. vStone; J. P. Torbitt, J. C. Slierley, (zco. Darsie, W. vS. Giltner; corresponding secretary, Clayton C. Smith. The work of the board is largely educational. It maintains the Bible School at Louisville, Ky. , for training young colored men for the ministry. Of 340 Refonnation of the Nineteeiith Century this school A. J. Thompson, A. M., is the efficient president, he is assisted by Octavius Singleton. This school has a record of which it may well be proud. The second great school is the Southern Christian Institute at Edwards, Miss., under the presidency of J. B. lychman, with six assistant teachers, with an industrial department where training is given in the different trades, and a large plantation on which needy students can earn their way to an educa- tion. This school is a great light shining in the dark- ness of that Southland, leading many colored men and women through industrial education toward per- sonal safety. The third great school maintained by this board is the Lum Graded School at Lum, Ala- bama, under the care of Robert Brooks, a graduate of the Southern Christian Institute. It is doing a splendid work in a needy field in the black belt of Alabama. A great test of the work is its reception by the white people of the South. Those who opposed this work in the beginning are its best friends now. They say our schools have changed the social and moral life of the negroes coming under their influ- ence. The Southern people speak of it as a social revolution. The board maintains from five to eight evangelists in the Southern fields. They have done fairly well, but the great need is trained evangelists, and it is necessary to raise up a body of stronger men among these people. There are at least thirty colored men The Revival Period 341 who were trained in our schools, who are now preaching the primitive gospel. It will delight our brethren to know that the simple primitive gospel is proving itself adapted to the colored people. Other forms of faith appeal to their feelings; they are impulsive. The Calvinistic faith is too cold, but the New Testament faith, not a religion of mere feeling, but warmed with divine love, can be easily under- stood, and can and does enter into* and control the daily lives of their "brethren in ebony." In 1896 the offering for Negro Evangelization and Education was merged into the May offering for general Home Missions. Special gifts afe always in order for this great and needed work. BOARD OF EDUCATION. The next great forward movement among our people will be the proper endowment of some of our educa- tional institutions. The weakest point in our whole line to-day is that presented by our colleges. This subject is pressing upon our people for consideration. The Board of Education is the co-operation of lead- ing colleges among us for the advocacy of the cause of education and for the aid of our col- leges. At present the board consists of the follow- ing: MEMBERS OF BOARD OF EDUCATION. J. H. Hardin, president. Eureka College; Hiram Van Kirk, secretary. Divinity House, Chicago Uni- versity; IVIrs. A. A. Forrest, Butler College; E. V. Zollars, Hiram College, B. C. Deweese, Kentucky 342 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century University; O. T. Morgan, University of Chicago; J. B. Sweeney, Add-Ran University. Its work is to create interest in the work of edu- cation, to aid our colleges in securing endowment. It hopes for a general secretary to push forward these interests before the brotherhood. Our educational board would claim that the rela- tion of our people to the cause of education is log- ically one of hearty support. Our religious position commits us in the strongest possible way to the cause of education. To go *'back to Christ" means to magnify the importance of education. Salvation begins in in- struction. The Disciples have opposed the doctrine of conversion by abstract operation of the Spirit. Men must hear, understand, believe and obey. All this involves education. We hold that Christian faith is personal, both in object and subject. It is progressive and should be constantly enlarging. Our view makes the continuous development of faith dependent upon education. The church is a school for the development of character; thus the church is an educational institu- tion. Our view of the Bible compels us to champion the cause of education. The Bible is not a fetish, not an object of idolatrous worship, not a mystery to be cherished with superstition. It is the revelation of God to man, a revelation addressed to man's un- derstanding, to be read and understood like any other book addressed to the understanding. It has its divisions, and is related to the languages, cus- The Revival Period 343 toms and history of the times in which it appeared. A knowledge of all these things becomes immensely important. This means education. The Disciples of Christ have been from the be- ginning of their religious movement, both theoret- ically and practically, an educational people. The first clear lines of the movement were formed around that splendid institution — Bethany College. The first in the world to make the Bible the basis of its educational scheme, this college is now being uncon- sciously followed in this feature by many who have never heard even the name of the historic temple on the banks of the Buffalo. It is safe to say that without Bethany College and the other institutions which soon grew up in different parts of the coun- try after her image and likeness, the restoration movement of the nineteenth century would have been a failure. BOARD OF MINISTERIAL RELIEF. The Board of Ministerial Relief was organ- ized at the National Convention at Dallas, Texas, in 1895. J. H. Hardin presented the following to the Gen- eral Board: Whereas, There is a necessity for some more adequate provision for our own disabled preachers, and the relief of the destitute widows and children of deceased preachers; and. Whereas, The Lord has put it into the heart of Bro. A. M. Atkinson to take steps to greatly 344 Reformation of the Ninetee^ith Century enlarge our Ministerial Relief Fund; therefore, be it Resolved^ That a committee of five be appointed to submit an amendment to our constitution as the basis for such curatorship, or board of control, as may be deemed necessary to the effectiveness of this important feature of our work. The committee appointed by the General Board presented the following report to the con- vention: 1. That we recommend the organization of the Ministerial Relief Fund of the Christian Church as one of the departments of work of the General Christian Missionary Convention. 2. That we recommend the following change in the constitution of the convention: "Article IX. The convention shall elect annually nine brethren to serve as a Board of Ministe- rial Relief of the Christian Church, five of whom shall reside in or near Indianapolis, In- diana. "This board shall have authority to raise and col- lect funds for the relief of destitute ministers and the dependent families of deceased ministers. They shall appoint their own meetings, make rules for their own government, elect their own officers, in- cluding a treasurer, who shall give bond and report annually to the auditor and treasurer of this con- vention. "The Board of Ministerial Relief shall make a full report at each annual meeting of this conven- tion." 3. The number of the remaining articles of the constitution shall be changed to provide room for this Article IX. The Revival Period 345 4. The committee on nominations is hereby in- structed to present to this convention the names of nine brethren to serve as a Board of Ministerial Relief. Respectfully submitted. Benj. ly. Smith, A. P. Cobb, A. J. Bush, G. L. Brokaw, P\ D. Power, Committee. The Board of Ministerial Relief has been incor- porated under the laws of Indiana and has its headquarters at Indianapolis. A. M. Atkinson writes: "Its Object. — The object of the board is to help make suitable provision for the better care of our old and disabled preachers and those dependent upon them; the widows and orphans of deceased minis- ters, our missionaries in this and foreign lands who through misfortune may need a helping hand. "Its Spirit. — It asks that it be not considered a charity. It is not a question of grace but of debt — a 'debt on account of the tenderest, holiest service possible among men. Those whose care is sought are not beggars; they are the King's messengers, who have brought us the glad tidings of great joy. "The Plan OF Relief. — To secure a fuller un- derstanding of that item in the financial statement which refers to loans, attention is called to the plan of relief adopted by the board of trustees. After careful consideration of the plans suggested, includ- ing state and national ministerial homes, the trus- 346 Reformation of the Nineteenth Ce?itnry tees decided that it was best for all parties interested to extend aid to all persons in their own homes, where they could have the care and companionship of relatives and friends. '^The trustees also decided to build up a perma- nent endowment fund. This plan has long been in force in other churches, and has in all cases given satisfaction. "The Offering. — The third Lord's day in De- cember has been named as a day for offerings to Ministerial Relief. If that day is not suitable the ministers and churches are urged to select a day that will be acceptable — the board covets the gifts that love inspires. " A. M. Atkinson gave himself to the work of Min- isterial Relief without any charges from its inception until his health failed. The work and worry was too much for him, and he has been compelled to let it pass to the care of others. Howard C. Cale^ of Indianapolis, Ind., is th^ present executive officer. III. THE RESULTS OF THE YEARS. In this practical way the x\merican Christian Mis- sionary Society has tried to accomplish the pur- poses of her existence. Fifty years ago our organized mission work had its inception. The American Christian Missionary Society is the mother of our co-operative mission work. Alexander Campbell was its first president and remained until his death. During the fifty years the American Christian Missionary Society has received and disbursed $860,500. The supple- mental funds swell the amount to $2,400,000. Had it not been for the existence and leadership of the society, the greater part of these funds would not have been raised. The figures given do not include $264,000 raised for Church Extension, $69,000 raised for Negro Education and Evangelization, and $25,000 for Ministerial Relief. Other results are more significant than the amount of money raised. The agents of the society have baptized nearly, if not quite, 100,000 souls, and have organized 2,379 churches. The different State Societies which are theoret- ically auxiliary to the A. C. M. S., report 193,371 baptisms and 101,787 other additions, and incomes aggregating over three million and a half dollars. So far as can be discovered, the whole number of bap- tisms reported by the A. C. M. S. and State So- (347) 348 Reformation of the Nineteenth CeniiLry cieties is 283,805, and the other additions 127,066; and the whole amount raised is not far from five millions. If to this we add $764,000, the amount raised by the Christian Woman's Board of Missions, and $1,293,000, the amount raised by the Foreign Society, we shall have some conception of what has been done since the organization of our first Mission- ary Society. It is safe to say that nearly one-half of our pres- ent churches have been organized by the Missionary Societies. Hundreds of other churches have been fostered and have been saved from discouragement and from dissolution. It times of trouble they have been aided in settling their difficulties. In their weakness they have been helped to secure buildings and to pay their debts. Preachers have been put to work. Evangelists have been guided and sustained in destitute fields. A missionary atmosphere has been created. The cause of God has been furthered and his name honored. Our missionary work has been of untold value to us. We have been saved from bickerings and from contentions over trifles by the magnitude and moral grandeur of the task in hand. We have been saved from dogmatism and from conceit and from divisions and from heart failure by the efforts we have put forth to plant new churches in the regions beyond, and by our effort to strengthen those who are weak and ready to die. We have been driven to our knees, and to our God for wisdom and pa- tience and for energy sufficient for the need. Our missionary conventions have been worth many times The Revival Peinod 349 what they have cost. They have made for peace and good will. They have served to dissipate suspicion and to generate confidence and affec- tion. As men of different types of thought met and be- came acquainted they came to esteem each other more highly. They saw that the points in which they agreed were more numerous and more impor- tant than those about which they differed. Our conventions have made us conscious of our strength. Since we have been meeting in large numbers we are ready to tackle the cities and the ends of the earth and the devil and all his angels. The fears of ecclesiasticism v/hicli were entertained at the first have vanished. The missionary organizations have steadfastly adhered to their own business — that of extending the gospel everywhere. In no case have they sought to have dominion over the faith or dis- cipline of the churches, but to be helpers of their work and joy. They have been most signally owned and blessed of God. The society enters upon the second fifty years with high hopes of being used by the Head of the Church and by the brotherhood for great purposes. It has heard the glad word, "Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by my name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior; I gave Egypt for thy 350 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee; therefore will I give men for thee; and people for thy life. Fear not, for I am with thee, I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, give up; and to the south, keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth." (Isa. 43: 1-6). To-day the American Christian Missionary Society has a great vision of her high calling. If we preach the gospel far and wide over America this society must be our messenger angel. By her help, her missionaries, must this great work be done. The Oriental world is immobile; our country is just forming. A forceful, spiritual, scriptural Chris- tianity can direct our national life. We are placed in the midst of this land as leaven in the meal. Eight hundred thousand of our million members are in seven contiguous states in the Mississippi Valley. The Home Society has a vision of the remaining three-fourths of the great country needing help to plant the simple gospel of the New Testament. There is another vision, of the foreign population in this land, as yet practically untouched by the gospel — fifteen millions. God said, *'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel," and then, weary- ing with our halting, he has brought all the world to us, and we have the vision of Foreign Missions at home. ''Whom shall I send?" "Send me," is the pleading answer of the Home Missionary So- ciety. The Revival Period 351 There is another vision: Our cities need Christ's full, true, simple gospel. Denominationalism has not succeeded; what can the strong arm of the Lion of Judah do? The only statesman that can solve the problem of our modern cities is Jesus the Christ. We need cities as bases of supply, as sources of power, to plan large things and do large things for the advancement of the gospel. We should hold before our eyes the heavenly vision of our cities being won to Christ and then be obedient to the heavenly vision. Here is the largest, the most costly, but the most productive field for Home Missions. The city makes the town, the town makes the village, the village makes the country. The city is headquar- ters, the state is the battlefield. If the I^ord keeps not the city, the land is doomed. The society sees the cities and weeps over their sin and sorrow and pleads to be sent by the churches to their rescue. The Home Society has a vision of our negro popu- lation wading in the deep waters of our civilization, thrust in, unprepared; wading beyond their depth, yet unable to swim, they must have help or sink. The society has helped in the past, it covets the means of helping far more. There is the vision of the mountain whites of Ken- tucky and Tennessee. These people are poor and without much incentive to self-development; with- out railroads, without markets, without ambition; frequently without almost everything save an 352 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century all-pervading want; yet God raised from them the typical American of the century, Abraham Ivin- coln. Thousands of these young people are sitting on fences gazing blankly into a hazy future because they have nothing practical to do, because they do not know how to do anything practical. Fifty years will not be enough to lift these to the standard of intelligent Christian citizenship. The Home Society has a vision of their needs and pleads for power to help them. Then follows the vision of the Mormons, the dark- est blot on the land to-day; covenant-breaking, dis- obeying the law in public, reaching out to grasp the political control of eight states of the Union, and blighting the lives of thousands. Nothing but the power of the simple gospel can break it to pieces. The society has a vision of the day when twenty to forty missionaries will be at work preaching the sim- ple gospel all over that inter-mountain land and win- ning victories for Christ. Then comes the vision of greater America. To the north lies Canada, Manitoba, British America and Alaska; to the east the Maritime Provinces and our own New England, pleading with tears in their eyes to send them more preachers of the simple New Testament faith; to the south, Porto Rico, a gem of the sea, waiting to be transformed into a diadem for his crown; Cuba, quivering in the death-throes of superstition; Mexico wanting, yet not understanding her own wants — all this comes into the vision of the American Christian Missionary Society. And then The Revival Period 353 far away she sees her fair daughter, the Foreign Christian Missionary Society, going into the ut- most parts of the earth to tell the glad story, and her eyes see the glory of the coming I^ord. To go, like the Harbinger of old, to proclaim His advent and to prepare a way for the coming of His feet, and in country and hamlet, mountain and city, in the cold north and the sunny south, to fit the hearts of his people for the indwelling of God through his Holy Spirit — this is the mission of the American Christian Missionary Society. HOME MISSIONS IN FOUR WORDS. The plea for Home Missions can be made in four words : 1. For the sake of, souls. Nowhere can we win souls with so little effort and so little cost. The harvest is ripe, the laborers are few. Pray ye the I^ord of the harvest that he may send forth laborers into the harvest. 2. For the sake of our plea for Christian union. Nowhere can our plea receive so respectful a hearing as in America. This is the seat of the disease of denominationalism; here is where we are to carry the cure; our distinctive plea is essentially adapted to American Christianity. God in his providence sent it to America by our fathers and every motive that sent our fathers with this great plea im- pels us to-day to send it all over the goodly land. 3. For the sake of our country. America needs the gospel of our Lord. Jesus Christ is the only statesman who can properly solve the problems that 354 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century are before our people to-day. Every high motive of patriotism appeals to us to make this land Imman- uel's land. 4. For the sake of our Lord fesus Christ. Jesus needs America just as much as America needs Jesus. God has ordained that nations should be his wit- nesses as much as individuals. It is ordained that America shall stand before the nations and bear witness. God wants that testimony to be for righteousness and for the gospel of the Son of God. The Anglo-Saxon blood is the conquering blood; God wants that blood to be pure and healthful. By these four words Home Missions lays claim to our love, our help and our prayers. The society stands to-day in the presence of the greatest opportunities that have come to her. Pos- sessing the grandest plea under heaven before men — the plea for the union of all God's people on the Word of God alone as the only rule of faith and practice — like Paul of old, she has visions of her high calling in Christ Jesus, Macedonian cries, "Come and help us," and comforting assurances, "Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this land," and she will not be disobedient to the heavenly visions. It would be a difficult task to prophesy as to the physical and material development of the country during the next fifty years. We will have one hun- dred and twenty-five or one hundred and fifty mil- The Revival Period 355 lions of people; the great valley of the Mississippi will have a population of fifty millions; the Pacific coast will have twenty millions; the Atlantic coast, where there are now twenty millions, will reach at least thirty-five millions of people, all these with immortal spirits — many destitute of the gospel; to provide these w^ith spiritual food is the task laid upon the Church of God. The society wall become a rallying-point in which the great body of our brethren may meet in fraternal affection and united efforts for the upbuilding of the kingdom of our Lord; there wnll be far more concen- tration of effort of those w^ho hold to one Lord, one faith and one baptism. Home Missions and Foreign Missions will be rec- ognized as the two wings of our growth, and as the years come and go they will be equally cherished and supported. To make large the base of supplies for our Foreign work we must support Home Missions. Hear our Father saying, "Enlarge the place of thy tent . . . spare not. Lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on thy right hand and on thy left hand." In every mark of divine approval, in the fact that our plea never received so responsive a hearing as now, in the rapid growth God has given us as a people, our God is saying to us: "Behold this goodly land; it is yours and you are able to possess it for the religion of Jesus Christ." We should keep step with the march of God's providence and get out with him beyond the camp of indifference 356 Reformatio7i of the Nineteenth Century for the possession of America for Christ. "Home Missions to the front" should be the cry of every minister, every elder and member of the body of Christ, and it should never cease until we have won the victory. IV. CHRISTIAN UNION IN OUR NATIONAL CONVENTIONS. The supreme purpose of our religious movement was the plea for Christian union; the method was by the restoration of the primitive gospel, and call- ing all men to forsake all humanisms in religion and receive the Word of God alone as the only rule of faith and practice. In 1871 the Free Baptist Church made overtures for union, and committees were appointed on both sides, but nothing practical came of it. THE EPISCOPAL OVERTURE FOR CHRISTIAN UNION. In 1887 the convention of the Episcopal Church, through its secretary, Herman C. Duncan, trans- mitted the declaration of the House of Bishops on the subject of Christian union, pleading for Christian union and saying: 1. Our earnest desire is that the Savior's prayer, "that we may be one," may, in its deepest and truest sense, be speedily fulfilled. 2. That we believe that all who have been bap- tized with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, are members of the holy catholic church. 3. That in all things of human ordering or hu- man choice, relating to modes of worship and dis- cipline, or to traditional customs, this church is (357) 358 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century ready in the spirit of love and humility to forego all preference of her own. 4. That this church does not seek to absorb other communions, but rather, co-operating with them on the basis of a common faith and order, to discounte- nance schism, to heal the wounds of the body of Christ, and to promote the charity which is the chief of Christian graces and the visible manifesta- tion of Christ to the world. But furthermore^ we do hereby affirm the Chris- tian unity, now so earnestly desired by the memorial- ists, can be restored only by the return of all Chris- tian communions to the principles of unity exempli- fied by the undivided catholic church during the first ages of its existence; which principles we be- lieve to be the substantial deposit of Christian faith and order committed by Christ and his apostles to the church unto the end of the world, and therefore incapable of compromise and surrender by those w^ho have been ordained to be stewards and trustees for the common and equal benefit of all men. As inherent parts of this sacred deposit, and there- fore as essential to the restoration of unity among the divided branches of Christendom, we account the following to wit: 1. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Tes- tament as the revealed word of God. 2. The Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith. 3. The two sacraments — Baptism and the Supper of the lyord, ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution and of the elements or- dained by him. 4. The Historic Episcopate locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God unto the unity of his church. The Revival Period 359 Furthermore^ deeply grieved by the sad divisions which afflict the Christian Church in our land, we hereby declare our desire and readiness, as 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 of the organic unity of the church with a view to the earnest study of the conditions under which so priceless a blessing might happily be brought to pass. REPLY TO THE EPISCOPAL OVERTURE. On motion this communication was referred to a special committee, as follows: Isaac Errett, D. R. Dungan, J. W. McGarvey, A. R. Benton, B. J. Radford, J. H. Garrison. The reply, written by Isaac Errett and by him read to the convention, was a masterly document, as follows: Dear Sir: — Your communication, addressed to the General Christian Missionary Convention, through R. Moffett, its corresponding secretary, was by him laid before our convention at its annual meeting in Indianapolis, October the 20th, 1897. After due consideration the following response was unanimously agreed to, which you will please pre- sent to your honorable commission, with assurances of our cordial approval of their noble aim. Having carefully and with deep interest consid- ered the declaration of the House of Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church, adopted October 20, 1886, we respectfully and affectionately submit the result of our deliberations. In doing this, it is proper to say that the General Christian Missionary Convention is possessed of no ecclesiastical author- ity. It is made up partly of delegates from our 360 Reformation of the Nijieteeiith Century state and territorial missionary conventions and partly of annual members, life members and life directors, and its objects are purely benevolent and philanthropic. It has no control over the faith and discipline of our churches. While there is a broad Christian fellowship of faith and love among all these churches in districts, states and nation, for missionary, educational and other benevolent and charitable purposes there is no central ecclesiastical organization, having control of questions of doctrine and discipline, and no possibility, therefore, of an authoritative response to your declaration. But as this convention is composed of members from all the states and territories in which we have churches and of members of these churches embracing a fair share of the intelligence, experience and wisdom of their membership, this unanimous expression of sentiment on the part of this convention may be safely regarded as the most trustworthy utterance obtainable of the convictions of the entire brotherhood in the United States known as Christians or Disciples of Christ. We have the fullest confidence that it will be gen- erally approved. Allow us therefore to say: I. You iliay infer with what lively interest and admiration we regard the declaration of your House of Bishops, when we state that in so far as our relig- ious movement is distinctive, its original differentia- tion from all other religious movements of the time was the condemnation of the sect spirit and of sec- tarian organizations as unscriptural, sinful and fruit- ful of mischief, and the advocacy of the return to the unity, catholicity and spirituality of the faith and practice of the churches of apostolic times; a return, in other words, to New Testament teaching. This movement, which took on, in 1809, the public form of a voluntary Christian association, finally developed into the organization of churches to re- The Revival Period 361 store, as it was then expressed, "in letter and in spirit, in principle and in practice," the faith and discipline of apostolic times. They were known simply as "churches of Christ." These organizations were formed, not because those entering into them desired a separation from the ecclesiastical communions with which they had been associated, but because the narrow and bitter sec- tarian spirit then prevailing forbade all utterance of such anti-sectarian sentiments and all promotion of such anti-sectarian aims within their respective pales. These churches have increased until now they number, in the United States, about 800,000 communicants, and to-day there sounds out from them all, with no diminution of earnestness or em- phasis, the same condemnation of sectarian parties, sectarian creeds, sectarian names, sectarian aims, and the same entreaty for the unity of faith and catholicity of spirit taught, fostered' and defended by the apostles of Jesus Christ. We cannot, there- fore, do otherwise than hail with gladness the dec- laration of your desire and readiness, so soon as there shall be any authorized response to this dec- laration, to enter into brotherly conference with all or any Christian bodies seeking the restoration of organic unity of the church with a view to the earnest study of the conditions under which so price- less a blessing might be happily brought to pass. We are especially glad that this overture comes from the Protestant Episcopal Church. Eminently con- servative as that church is known to be, its leader- ship in such a movement is evidence that the reUgious sentiment in this country in behalf of Christian unity is deep and strong, while the cau- tious proceedings of thirty-three years, ripening into the declaration and the appointment of this com- mission, give us unmistakably the results of mature deliberation and ripe conviction. While we do not 362 Reformation of the Nmeteenth Century accord with everything suggested in the declaration as to what *'is essential to the restoration of unity among the divided branches of Christendom," we do most heartily approve the proposal for * 'brotherly conference" with a view to the earnest study of the conditions under which the desired unity may be brought to pass. 2. The frankness and candor with which you express your understanding of "the principles of unity" is, in our view, as admirable as the kind spirit in which you invite us to brotherly conference. While it would be manifestly premature to enter at present on a discussion of any- of these principles, we deem it altogether proper to imitate your frank- ness in simply stating^ in the light of the inves- tigations and experience of three-quarters of a century, what we deem essential to Christian unity. I. We heartily concur in your statement of the first essential to the- restoration of unity: the recog- nition of "the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the revealed Word of God." In the language of the Westminster Confession of Faith, "The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down iii the Scrip- ture, or by good and necessary sequence may be deduced from the Scriptures, "unto which nothing is at any time to be added, whether by new revela- tions of the Spirit or the traditions of men." "And, though all things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, not alike clear unto all, yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed and ob- served for salvation are so clearly compounded ^nd open in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them." The Holy Scriptures are the only catholic rule of The Revival Period 363 faith and discipline. On no other platform can the scattered hosts of spiritual Israel be restored to unity. The Historic Episcopate, "or the principles of unity exemplified by the undivided catholic church, ^duriftg the first stages of its existence^ " will not be accepted by the various ''divided branch- es of Christendom" as ^^essentiaP'' to Christian unity, or as binding on the conscience. Nothing less au- thoritative than a thus saith the Lord will be univer- sally recognized as essential to Christian unity, or as binding on the conscience. The history of the early Christian centuries may have a universally admitted value as illustrating or confirming Scripture; but as essential to union in Christ no historical teaching outside of the inspired books will ever be universally or even generally accepted by the divided branches of Christendom. For instance: If parochial or dio- cesan episcopacy or an order of priesthood in the church other than the "royal priesthood" which be- longs to all believers is set forth in the New Testa- ment Scriptures as of divine authority, then col- lateral evidence of such forms of episcopal govern- ment and such order of priesthood may be brought from the history of the undivided catholic church during the first ages of its existence, and such tes- timony of a "Historic Episcopate" would doubtless be allowed to have its just weight. But a basis of union involving anything as essential other than what is contained in the revealed Word of God, we regard as utterly impracticable. What we have said of the testimony of the early Christian centuries may also be said of what is styled the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and all human creeds. Nothing less authoritative than God's Word should be regarded as beyond the reach of "compromise and surrender." "Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me," said the inspired Paul to Timothy. No form of un- 364 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century inspired words, however admirable in the estimate of the multitudes, can be insisted on as beyond "compromise or surrender" without placing an in- superable obstacle in the way of "the restoration of unity among the undivided branches of Christen- dom." "If any statement of the Christian faith" should at any time be deemed necessary, not as a bond of fellowship, but for public information, or to condemn prevalent errors, we respectfully submit that Christians of to-day can put such a statement in form much better suited to the people of this gen- eration than the Nicene formula, which had its birth out of the controversies of that time, and came into being under conditions which not only do not exist, but which are not so much as known to the great majority of professed Christians of the present time. The restoration of unity demands a return to New Testament teaching. We may not -presume to im- prove on the ideas of unity and catholicity taught by inspiration. We ought to improve on the practice of the apostolic churches, being made wiser by their errors and by the apostolic rebukes which those errors called forth; but in our conceptions of spirit- ual unity and ecclesiastical union, of catholicity, and of all that is to be insisted on as essential to Christian fellowship and "incapable of compromise and surrender," we must be guided solely by the teaching of Jesus, the Christ, and his apostles. Coming then to the New Testament, to the "pure river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" before it was contaminated by the muddy stream of human doctrine and tradition, what do we find? I. That the original inspired creed — that, and that alone which was required to be believed and confessed by all who sought membership in the church of God — had but one article, viz., "Jesus is The Revival Period 365 the Christ, the Son of the living God.'' That which justified and saved and held all the saved in one blessed fellowship was not assent to a system of doctrines, a formulation of speculative opinions and theories, or a form of church government, but faith in Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. Faith in a divine person, love of a divine person, absolute and entire personal surrender and committal in con- science, heart and life to a divine person — this was the requirement, the only requirement, laid on those who sought salvation and entrance into the fellow- ship of Christians. This is a divijie creed, which can neither be ''compromised nor surrendered." Everything that is not legitimately involved in this one article of faith concerning the Christhood and divinity of Jesus as a test of fitness on the score of faith for admission to membership in the church, not only may be but ought to be surrendered. 2. That all who confessed this faith in the Lord Jesus were admitted to Christian fellowship by im- mersion in water into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And only such were admitted. We should say, therefore, that only those who thus accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior and were thus immersed were, in the apos- tolic age, members of the chuich of God; or, to use the language of the declaration, "members of the holy catholic church." The churches of the apos- tolic times acknowledged "one Lord, one faith, one baptism," and these were among the essentials of Christian unity. 3. That those who were thus added to the church were continued in fellowship so long as they ivalked in the commandments of Jesus. Obedience to the Lord Jesus — in other words. Christian character — was the test of fellowship in the church. If any one denied the Lord that bought him or refused to honor him by obedience to his commandments, he Reformation of the Nineteenth Century was to be condemned as unworthy of Christian fel- lowship. But so long as one cherished faith in the Son of God and kept his commandments, he was entitled to a place among the children of God. If he was right concerni7ig Christy though he might be wrong about many things, it was presumed that Christ would bring him right about everything es- sential to spiritual life and enjoyment. And if he was not right as to his faith in and obedience to Christ, however free from error in other respects, his unbelief and disobedience formed an insurmountable barrier to the fellowship of Christians. It will be seen that this is catholic ground. "The Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testa- ments, the revealed Word of God," is catholic. This cannot be said of any creed of human com- pilation. Faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, is catholic. It is the faith of all who accept the Old and New Testaments as the revealed Word of God. The immersion of believers into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is catholic. No one disputes that the believer is the proper subject of baptism, while there is a serious and widespread controversy over the admission of infants to that ordinance. All admit that the im- mersion of a proper subject is valid baptism, while there is endless controversy over sprinkling and pouring. Disciples of Christ, Christians, Church of God, Churches of Christ — these are catholic. All the evangelical parties claim these designations and complain of any exclusive appropriation of them; while Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Baptist, Method- ist, etc., are party names, which can never be uni- versally approved. The Revival Period 367 Here, then, we stand on unsectarian ground, where it seems to us, if anywhere, we find the essential principles of Christian unity, which cannot be com- promised or surrendered. 4. Outside of that which is essential to Christian unity there are many things pertaining to growth in knowledge, to methods of working, etc., in reference to which, for the sake of peace and for the presenila- tion of unity, there should be a common agreement. There should, we think, be the largest liberty of opinion, of investigation and of utterance on all questions arising out of the study of the Scriptures, and no one who holds to Jesus "as God manifest to the flesh," and who keeps his commandments, should be disturbed in his church relations on ac- count of his opinions, provided he does not attempt to force his opinions on others or to make an accep- tance of them a test of fellowship. Should he attempt this he becomes a factionist, to be rejected after the first and second admonition. Many questions unprofitable for discussion in the pulpit may be profitably, or at least harmlessly, dis- cussed in the schools, to which all speculative ques- tions should be remanded. There are practical questions — questions of method in carrying out the work of the church — which, being left to the discretion of Christians, to be an- swered according to times and circumstances, should never be made tests of fellowship or occasions of strife. In questions of this class — as to what is ex- pedient and not as to what is of divine authority and obligation — Christians should learn to please each other and study the things that make for peace and edification. We are pleased, therefore, to read in the declaration, "That in all things of human ordering or human choice, relating to modes of wor- ship and discipline, or to traditional customs, this church is ready, in the spirit of love and humility, 368 Reformatio7t of the Nineteenth Century to forego all preferences of her own." To refuse to forego preferences in all things of human ordering or human choice, or in things resting on mere tra- ditional authority, and to allow such preferences to stand in the way of Christian union, would be to assume the tremendous responsibility of exalting the human to an equality wnth the divine. May we not say that it would be to make the Word of God of none effect by human traditions and usages? If "the spirit of love and humility" prevail, .this Dec- laration of the Protestant Episcopal Church will receive unstinted approval from all who aim to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Yet it is just here that we fear. It is so easy to mistake attachment to mere usages for a conscientious adher- ence to God's will, that there is more danger of dis- agreement in things not taught in the Scriptures than in things that are taught therein. 5. There remains one item in the Declaration too important to be passed wdthout notice: "That this church does not seek to absorb other communions, but rather, co-operating with them on a basis of common faith and order, to discountenance schism, to heal the w^ounds of the body of Christ and to pro- mote the charity which is the chief of the Christian graces and the visible manifestation of Christ to the world." As we understand it, this is a gratifying declaration. We do not regard it as looking toward a theological and ecclesiastical electicism or syncre- tism by which the various denominational systems and doctrines and church governments shall be per- petuated, in whole or in part, under some nebulous scheme or vague profession of Christian unity, but simply as a frank disavowal of selfish aims. This is alike manly and just. It exhibits the only spirit in which it is possible to "discountenance schism and heal the wounds of the body of Christ." Not "what will promote the interests of any denomination, The Revival Period 369 but what will serve the purposes and promote the welfare of the "one bod}'" of Christ, is to be sought. All other communions should adopt this sentiment as their own, as a necessary preliminary to all suc- cessful efforts to heal divisions and make manifest that unity which is so prominent a characteristic of the Church of God. In conclusion, permit us to say that we very cor- dially approve the gentle and loving spirit that breathes in your Declaration, and heartily coincide with your proposal to "enter into brotherly confer- ence with all or any Christian bodies seeking the restoration of the organic unity of the church with a view to the earnest study of the conditions under which so priceless a blessing might happily be brought to pass." We respectfully submit this answer to your Declaration with humble reliance on the Head of the Church that we may be delivered from pride and prejudice, and be led into all the truth, so that all may seek the same thing, and that there may be no division among us, but that we may be perfected together in the same mind and the same judgment — thus realizing and fulfilling the prayer of our blessed Lord and Savior in behalf of all who believe in him: "That they may all be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us, and that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." Isaac Errett, J. W. McGarvey, D. R. DUXGAN, J. H. Garrison, B. J. Radford, C. Iv. Loos, A. R. Benton, Committee. 24 370 Reformation of the Nineteenth Ce^ttury The Convention of 1890 appointed a standing committee on Christian union as follows: B. B. Tyler, F. D. Power, C. L. Loos, T. P. Haley, R. Moffett. B. B. Tyler, as chairman, made annual reports on Christian union, of which the following is a summary: There are five definite plans of union before the people: 1. The first to be named in this report is the last that has been presented: it is the scheme of the Pope, and so the Catholic Church. ' 'Submission" is the • only word which exactly characterizes this plan. The way to the reunion of all Christendom is for all men, churches and institutions to acknowledge the Pope as the vicegerent of God, and humbly submit to his authority. Submission to "His Holiness" on the part of all who believe will solve the problem of union among Christians. 2. The word "consolidation" describes the plan of union proposed some years ago by the House of Bishops of the Prctestant Episcopal Church in the United States and the Lambeth Confer- ence. So prominent has this scheme been for a number of years that we are generally familiar with its terms. Innumerable articles have been published in newspapers, religious and secular, in dignified re- views and stately quarterlies, as well as stereotyped books. The four articles as proposed by the House of Bishops, and amended by the Lambeth Conference, are as follows: First. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, as containing all things necessary to The Revival Period salvation, and as a rule and ultimate standard of faith. Second. The Apostles' Creed as the Baptismal Symbol, and the Nicene Creed as the sufficient state- ment of the Christian faith. Third. The two sacraments ordained by Christ himself — Baptism and the Supper of the Lord — ministered with the unfailing use of Christ's words of institution, and of the elements ordained by him. Fourth. The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God unto the unity of his church. An important contribution to the current discus- sion of the problem of union was the publication of a symposium in the Iiidependent newspaper, March 8, 1894, on "Ministerial Reciprocity," to which only Bishops in the Protestant Episcopal Church contributed. There were thirty or more contribu- tors, who with one voice declared that they were willing to recognize as ministers of the gospel only those who have been set apart to this sacred service by Episcopal ordination. This was an important contribution as tending to show how little, after all that has been said, the Episcopal Church is willing to promote unity and union. 3. A plan of denominational confederation has found much favor among Presbyterians. A meeting was held in Philadelphia last April in which repre- sentatives of eight Presbyterian and Reformed de- nominations in the United States considered and agreed on a plan of federal union, which was ordered to be forwarded to the vSynods and General Assem- blies of the churches represented. The churches officially represented were the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, the Reformed . Church in the United States, the United Pres- 372 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century byterian Church, the Reformed Presbyterian Church (General Synod), the Reformed Church, (Synod), the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Associate Reformed Synod of the South. 4. The fourth plan of union is well described by the word "compromise." The Congregational State Association of New Jersey, at its meeting in East Orange last April said: We propose to the various Protestant Churches of the United States a union, or an alliance, based on — (1) The Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments, inspired by the Holy Spirit as contain- ing all things necessary to salvation and as being the rule and ultimate standard of Christian faith. (2) Disci pleship to Jesus Christ, the Divine Savior and Teacher of the world. (3) The Church of Christ ordained by him to preach his gospel to the world. (4) Liberty of conscience in the interpretation of the Scriptures and in the administration of the church. Such an alliance, the report continues, should have for its object, among others: (1) Mutual acquaintance andfellowship. (2) Co-operation in Foreign and Domestic Mis- sions. (3) The prevention of rivalries between compet- ing churches in the same field. (4) The ultimate organic union ofthe whole visi- ble body of Christ. This action will become the proposition of ten Congregational denominations in the United States. (5) The plan of union proposes to go back to the apostolic age and restore the unity which existed among the believers in the beginning. The Revival Period 373 In that one catholic, apostolic church we have an example and model of church unity. This model shows that the believers in Jesus in the apostolic age were: (1) United in their creed. They believed in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. This was and is the creed of Christianity. The church needs no other. (2) Their ordinances were two — baptism and the Lord's Supper, ordained by Christ, the Head of the body. (3) Those early disciples endeavored to be Christ- like, and to do whatever the Master would like to have them do. If in the apostolic church, as described in the New Testament, we have an example and model of unity, then this must be the basis and nature of the unity which we would seek in our day. The Christ said (John 12:32), ''And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto my- self." This would be unity in Christ. When Paul discussed this very subject in its rela- tion to the Church of God in Corinth (i Cor. 3: 11) he said: "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus the Christ." Believers need more of the Christ in them in order to the unity desired by our Lord. More of the mind of Christ, more of the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts by faith, will promote the cause of unity far more satisfactorily than any of our addresses or resolu- tions. "Heaven is the abode of unity, and when the spirit of unity comes into a soul or into a church, it 374 Reformation of the Nmeteenth Century Cometh from above." "Discord is of the earth, or from beneath." The divisions of Christians show that there is still much carnality amongst them. The more carnal a Christian is, the more sectarian will he be; and the more spiritual he is, the more loving and forbearing and self-renouncing are you sure to find him. And it is with Christian communi- ties as wath individual Christians. Happy church, where sectarianism shall first be swept away in an inundation of love and joy, whose communion shall first break forth into the purest and holiest, and yet most comprehensive, of all com- munions— the communion of the Holy Ghost! Would to God that church were ours. The Period of Foreign Missions A. McLEAN THE PERIOD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FOREIGN CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY. Two main reasons led to the organization of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society. The first was a desire to be loyal to Christ. He charged his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. Those who have the truth are required to carry it far and near. As we took the Bible to be our only rule of faith and prac- tice we could not fail to be a missionary people. As we drank more deeply into the Spirit of Christ we felt irresistibly impelled to help him bear the gospel of his grace to every kindred and tribe and tongue and people on the globe. The founders of the society felt as did Peter and John when they said, "We cannot but speak what we saw and heard." It is well known that this was not the first attempt of our people to carry on Foreign Missions. More than a quarter of a century before, the American Christian Missionary Society was organized to pro- mote the preaching of the gospel in this and other {'Ml) 378 Reformation of the Nineteenth Ce7itiiry lands. The world was its field. While looking after the work at home, missions were opened in Asia, Africa and the West Indies. These were sus- tained for a time and then abandoned. At the twenty-fifth anniversary of that society the historian said, with a feeling of sadness, that in all the wide foreign field, destitute of the gospel, we do not have a single herald of the cross. Jerusalem and Jamaica were deserted; Liberia was forgotten. The abandonment of the work in the foreign field was the result of a marked decline of the mission- ary spirit, and. not of impaired ability. About the time the American Society was organized, Mr. Campbell said: "We have abundant means if we had willing minds and liberal hearts. " A little later Isaac Errett spoke of our people as being "alarming- ly rich." The Civil War reduced some of the friends of the society to poverty, but there were many thousands whose wealth was greatly increased by the war. From the very first there were those who opposed the society. They assailed it in season and out of season. They opposed one plan because it was not a co-operation of the churches, and an- other plan because it was. They refused to be con- ciliated by any concessions. Because opposition abounded the love of many grew cold. Benjamin Franklin, while serving as secretary, tried hard to abate prejudice and opposition, and thought he had succeeded. He gave it as his conviction that we were destined to become a great missionary people at no distant period. His views were far too optim- istic. The opposition was much stronger than he The Period of Foi'eign Missions 379 thought. President Pendleton told the convention in 1866 that, "instead of a steadily swelling treasury, our contributions have been less and less liberal; in- stead of establishing new missions, we have allowed some that were started with enthusiastic zeal to perish in our hands; instead of anticipating the new and expanding fields that have been opening upon us, and providing the means properly to enter them, we have slept upon our post till the opportunity has offered, and we are not ready to improve the provi- dence that calls us to rise up and possess the land. Advocates that were once eloquent have withdrawn their plea, friends that were liberal have ceased to contribute, members that came up to counsel have stayed away to chide, enthusiasm has been chilled, generosity has been discouraged and wisdom made despondent of her hopes." Ten years later the case was no better. The same careful writer used the following words: "A large number of people utter- ly ignore the idea of propagating the gospel. It is scarcely correct to say that they do not believe in the conversion of the world, for they have no thought or concern about it of any kind. Among the elders are many Gallios, who care for none of these things. The world may, for them, take care of itself. They are not its keeper. The congrega- tion is a close corporation, if not offensive, practi- cally defensive, with prohibitive tariffs upon all foreign agencies of the kingdom, that they may keep the gospel at home and save the expense of a preacher." David S. Burnet was one of the most active of the managers and knew the facts as well 380 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century as any one else. He said that there was much dif- ference of sentiment in regard to the foreign mis- sionary enterprise. Some seemed to forget the aggressive character of our holy religion. They forget the word^6> in the commission; their mind is riveted upon tarry ye. The year the Foreign Society was organized, the Christian Standard said that many regarded the American Society as dead, and were eagerly and re- joicingly anticipating the funeral services. Their hopes were doomed to remain unrealized. There were those who did not cease to plead with all earn- estness for a great enlargement of the work at home and for a renewal of the efforts in foreign lands. They felt that the work in the regions beyond had been only temporarily suspended and not closed for- ever. Among the men of this class was the saintly Joseph King. At the convention of 1874 he re- ferred in an address to the humiliating fact that we were the only people who were not obeying the com- mission, and not even trying to obey it. His words provoked some angry discussion, but they were not spoken in vain. Another man to whom all our organized missionary work owes very much was Thomas Munnell. By tongue and pen he sought to prevail upon the brethren to do something to send the gospel to all the ends of the earth. The two men who were most influential at that juncture were Isaac Errett and W. T. Moore. Through the Chris- tian Standard and the Christian Quarterly they pressed the claims of Foreign Missions home to the The Period of Foreign Missions 381 hearts and consciences of multitudes. Their advo- cacy led to decisive action. The second reason for the organization of the Foreign Society was a desire to help the work at home. The annual report of the American Society for 1875 specially recommended to the brethren the work of Foreign Missions in some way, as a means of awakening the missionary spirit for the home as well as for the foreign field. "Our efforts at Home ]\Iissions, spending so large a percentage of all our money on the fields near where it was raised, has tended to contract the views of the churches as to the world-wide commission given to us by Jesus Christ himself. We are satisfied that a thriving foreign work will prove the best practical educator of our people in the missionary spirit, both at home and abroad. Let our hearts leap over barriers of district and neighborhood selfishness; let us put our hearts and our treasures in other lands, from which we may often hear of the horrors and hardships of heathen life, and of their great need of salvation through Christ, and we will more fully realize the spirit of the great Missionary, sent out from heaven to earth." The next report has the same sentiment: "Our past history, as well as the history of other religious bodies, proves that home work alone fails and is likely to fail in developing the true mission- ary spirit. One reason is that the spirit of the great commission is against it. The flow of true religious life is outward bound into all the world and to every creature. The report tells of a demand that our means be spent in our own country, in our 382 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century own respective states, then the counties, until not a few are unwilling to let a dollar go out of their own vicinities — scarcely out of their sight. In the deep and well grounded conviction that Foreign Missions will not only meet this last will and testa- ment in Jesus Christ in other lands, but will be the directest route also to success in our home w^ork, we suggest that this convention urge the brethren gen- erally to do, not less for home, but more abroad." After thirty years of study, Isaac Errett said that he had a profound and unfaltering conviction that we, as a people, will never reach the culture in faith, in self-denial and in godliness that we need and are capable of, and will never occupy the posi- tion before the religious world which, so far as our principles are concerned, we are entitled to occupy, until we give ourselves heartily and permanently to missionary work in the broadest sense of that phrase, until our hearts and homes and pulpits and presses are all aflame with zeal for the spread of the gospel in*^all the earth, until the ancient order of things is reproduced in that supreme consecration to God which not only spends money freely, but offers life freely and welcomes toil, privations, perse- cutions, imprisonment, aye and martyrdom, if only Christ be preached and the gates of salvation be thrown open to all the world. ''We never did so much to plant the gospel in destitute home regions as during the years that we sustained those Foreign Missions. The records show that these years were years of unparalleled success in raising money and of unparalleled prosperity in Home Mission work. The Period of Foreign Missions 383 In an evil hour, under the pressure of adversities to which our faith was not equal^ we abandoned our Foreign Missions, and from that day to this we have been smitten with confusion and cursed with barren- ness in our home work. All our painstaking, laborious efforts to unite our brethren in any scheme for the evangelization of our home fields have been confounded." Restates that some of the strongest states that complained most loudly over the folly of wasting money in Foreign Missions that is so much needed at home, reported less than one thousand dol- lars for missionary work within their own borders. He had no reason to believe that God would ever lift the curse away from us that has brought blight and desolation everywhere to our missionary enter- prises until we repented of our folly and began anew to act a part worthy of us under the great commis- sion. He maintained that it was not true that if we do nothing abroad we shall do more at home; for, in refusing to do anything abroad we paralyze our faith, we dwarf our sympathies, we blunt our con- sciences, we enervate our impulses, we gratify our selfishness and we have - less faith, less sympathy, less conscience, less heroism, less benevofence to draw upon for the home w^ork. We bring to it a weakened moral nature and a strengthened selfish- ness, and the work in the home field is lessened. Forever and forever is it true that there is that scat- tereth and yet increaseth, and there is that with- holdeth more than is meet and it tendeth to poverty. Mr. Errett was a friend of Foreign Missions because he was a friend of Home Missions. Among the 384 Reformation of the N'ineteenth Century friends of missions it seemed as self-evident as a primary truth, that no people have ever been blessed in their home enterprises without a foreign mission- ary spirit and work. A minor consideration, but one that was not with- out weight, "was that of self-respect. When relig- ious friends asked where our foreign missionaries were located, it was not easy to give a satisfactory answer. When they inquired what we did more than others since we claimed to have the truth and to be guided solely by it, we could make no effective reply. Our self-respect compelled us to do some- thing worthy of the great plea which we make towards the evangelization of the whole wide world. The birth of the. Foreign Society was on this wise: During the convention of 1874 several meetings were held in the interest of Foreign Missions. Owing to the lack of time the discussions did not reach any satisfactory conclusion. A special com- mittee was appointed to take the whole matter into consideration. Of that committee W. T. Moore was chairman. At a meeting of that committee the following summer in Indianapolis, the subject was further canvassed and a constitution was drafted. The committee reported at the Louisville conven- tion in October, 1875. The friends of the enterprise met in the basement of the First Church. There were present on that occasion: - Isaac Errett, B. B. Tyler, Thomas Munnell, W. T. Moore, F. M. Green, J. B. Bowman, J. C. Reynolds, Robert Moffett, A. I. Hobbs, J. S. Lamar^ R. M. Bishop, W. The Period of Fo7 eign Missions 385 S. Dickinson, C. S. Blackwell, Leander Lane, John Shackleford, J. H. Garrison, J. T. Toof, W. F. Black and David Walk. W. T. Moore presided and B. B. Tyler acted as clerk. Isaac Errett stated the object of the meeting and gave some reasons why an earn- est and persistent effort should be made in behalf of Foreign Missions. He said it was a time for prayer rather than for talk. If the undertaking was to suc- ceed it must be born in the spirit of prayer and con- secration to God. J. H. Garrison relates that as he talked in his own tender way about the dying love of Jesus, his heart became too full for articulation and many eyes swam in tears. There was a con- sciousness of God's presence, a conviction that what was being done was in line with the divine purpose. It was decided with unanimity that a society be organized to preach the gospel in foreign lands. The constitution Vv'hich had been prepared in In- dianapolis was adopted. At an adjourned meeting officers were elected as follows: President, Isaac Errett; vice-presidents, W. T. Moore, Jacob Burnet, J. S. Lamar; corresponding secretary, Robert Moffett; recording secretary, B. B. Tyler; treasurer, W. S. Dickinson. The first address was delivered the same evening by W. T. Moore. In it he re- ferred to what had been attempted in earlier years: "You say we have tried Foreign IMissions and failed. I beg pardon, but I really do not think we tried very much. True, we sent a faithful missionary to Jeru- salem and also one to Jamaica, but did we sustain them there? While we were discussing the pro- priety of having a missionarv society with a mon- 20 386 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century , eyed basis, our missionaries were starved out and had to leave their work, which had only been fairly started, and come home. This is precisely the way we have tried the foreign missionary work." In this noble and inspiring address the speaker outlined what he conceived to be the work of the society and the principles by which it should be characterized. The Foreign Society was organized because the i\merican Society could not do foreign missionary work. From the first the two societies have worked together in perfect harmony. The new society was on a somewhat different basis from the old. In the new the people who furnished the money directed how the money should be used. The managers were de- termined not to waste any time or strength in con- troversy as to plans and methods. They were not wedded to any special plan, nor had they any quar- rel with those who preferred some other way of working. What they wanted was work done, and they were not disposed to stand on the order of doing it, provided the order was not incompatible with the will of God. If better plans should be proposed, they held themselves in readiness to adopt them promptly and gratefully. But they and the brethren generally were thoroughly weary of vain jangling about plans, while nothing was being done and while no better plans were even proposed. There is no use in arguing against success. To all objections urged the Foreign Society has pointed to its work, and then without argument has endeav- ored to do the next thing that needed doing. The society began its work in a modest way. It The Period of Foreign Missions 387 was born, as has been shown,' in a basement. Other great movements began in an upper room, or in a stable, or behind a haystack. The managers did not expect to appeal to any large constituency. The society \vas ten years old before it had a secretary giving his whole time to its interests. W. T. Moore served for two years without any compensation. A nominal sum was paid a competent bookkeeper. W. B. Ebbert served for four years as corresponding secretary. He had other sources of income and re- ceived pay only for the portion of time given to the society. When he resigned, the first act of the ex- ecutive committee was to resolve that his successor be paid only five hundred dollars a year. It was not till 1885 that the society had an office of its own. Up to that time the committee met in the store- room of the Standard Publishing Company. Boxes and windows served as chairs. The recording sec- retary used his knee as a desk. The corresponding secretary did his work at his own home. No rent was paid. Circulars VN^ere printed on a hectograph. The policy was conservative. The connnittee did not eare to venture beyond "the cash on hand and in the bank." The income for the first year was 11,706.35. It was according to the faith and enter- prise of the managers of the society. II. THE FIRST MISSIONS. The Foreign Society was organized to preach the gospel where Christ was not already named, that it might not build upon other men's foundations. Nevertheless, the first work was done in Europe. For seven years no worker was sent to any heathen field. This was owing, in part, to the fact that there were no volunteers for service in the regions beyond. Within a month after the society was or- ganized, Enos Campbell was asked to go to Japan. Calvin S. Blackwell, who had offered himself for any field where his services might be needed, was told to hold himself in readiness to accompany Mr. Campbell to Japan. When the time came, neither was willing to go. J. H. Hardin offered to go to India. His family physician informed him that the health of his children required him to remain in America. At that time there was little zeal for mis- sions in the churches, and none at all in the colleges. The Student Volunteer Movement had not been born. Young men of culture and ability gave their lives to work in other fields. Good men offered to labor in Europe; the society had to accept their services or none. It was owing, also, in part, to the fact that Timothy Coop, a wealthy and philanthropic Englishman, appeared on the scene and promised to contribute handsomely to the support of work in his own country. He offered to give $10,000 provided (388) The Period of Foreign Missions 389 the churches in the United States gave an equal amount. A little later he promised $5,000 if three new men were sent to England. It was felt at the time that his offer contemplated a departure or a deflection from the original purj^ose of the society. It was no part of the plan of the society to do mis- sionary work in England. Still, as the greater portion of the expense was borne by jNIr. Coop, it was decided to accept his offer. The first work done by a representative of the so- ciety was done in Southampton, England. Henry S. Earl was going to that city at his own charges in any event. It was thought by him and by others that it would be well for him to go in connection with the society. He was promised no definite sup- port. For a time he received only a nominal sum. The society gradually increased its grant to him till it paid him a full salary. In three years he spent $5,000 of his own funds in establishing a church in Southampton. His preaching captured the city. He reported that many captains, ship officers and crews of ships from India, China, Japan, Africa, the West Indies, France, Italy, Spain, Norway and America, when in port, attended the services, and thus the truth was spread abroad and, no doubt, in many cases bore fruit after many days. Mr. Earl's services began in February, 1876. M. D. Todd be- gan a work in Chester in 1878. The same year W. T. Moore went to Southport. Henry Exley went to Tranmere in 1879. ^^'^ expenses were born by a brother living in Mollington. The annual report for 1879 stated that the English mission had been 390 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century planted to focalize, not to monopolize our energies. It was believed that, having been sustained by the society from one to four years, that mission should and soon would be self-sustaining. * 'While we appreciate highly the advantages of the fields now occupied and favor a most tenacious hold on them, we deem it just and proper to urge upon our evan- gelists in England to give attention, as they have not yet done, to providing a support for their labors at home, so that being rapidly relieved of our obliga- tions toward them, we may the more promptly and extensively devote our means, according to our orig- inal purpose, to the needy fields of Africa and Asia." The officers of the society felt that the time had come when we ought to have missionaries along the course of the Nile and in the crowded cities and vil- lages of China and Japan. While this was the feeling of the society the force in England was steadily increased. Thus, when W. T. Moore left Southport for Liverpool, J. L. Rich- ardson was sent to fill the vacancy. M. D. Todd took the work in Liverpool, W. T. Moore having gone to London. J. M. Van Horn was sent to Chester to take the place made vacant by the trans- fer of Mr. Todd to Liverpool. The following have been employed since: iV. Martin, to work in Birken- head; W. H. C. Newington, to labor in Liverpool; B. H. Hayden, for Ingleton and Bishopsfield; A. J. L. Glidden, for Cheltenham; W. Durban, for Fulham; George Brooks, for Brixton; Samuel McBride, as general evangelist; T. R. Hodkihson, for Rother- hithe; J. E. Powell, for Southampton, H. S. Earl The Period of Foreign Missions 391 having gone from that point first to Cheltenham and afterward to Liverpool; F. W. Troy, first for Chel- tenham and then Gloucester, and last for Liverpool, H'. S. Earl having returned home; J. J. Haley, for Birkenhead, J. M. Van Horn having resigned to come to America; T. S. Buckingham for Chelten- ham. On the resignation of Mr. Buckingham, E. H. Spring and W. E. Hogg were employed to take the work at Cheltenham and Gloucester. In the year 1892 George T. Walden, of Melbourne, Austra- lia, succeeded W. T. Moore at the West London Tab- ernacle, Mr. Moore having resigned to give his entire time to the Christian Commonwealth. The next year J. E. Powell left Southampton for Amer- ica. Later on, EH Brearley succeeded W. E. Hogg at Cheltenham, and afterwards took charge at Birken- head when J. J. Haley resigned. The increase in the force in England was owing chiefly to the ap- peals and to the generosity of Timothy Coop and his two sons. They contributed largely to the so- ciety directly, and still more largely indirectly. It was their desire that the society should select the men and direct their labors. In a conference with Mr. Coop in 1884 stated that the property owned by the society in England was worth $83,000, and that that was more than the society had spent in Eng- land up to that time. The work having been begun it could not be abandoned. It had to be vigorously prosecuted. At the p resent time work is carried on at fifteen different points. The workers are now as follows: W. Durban, Hornsey; Eli Brearley, Tasso; E. M. Todd, West London Tabernacle; George 392 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century Rapkin, Birkenhead; M. A. Collins, Chester; J. H. Bicknell, Liverpool; x\lfred Johnson, Southport; T. H. Bates, Cheltenham; Daniel Scott, Ingleton; ly. W. Morgan, Southampton; E. H. Spring, Gloucester; J. H. Versey, Lancaster, andj. W. Travis, Margate. The membership is 2,412. The men sent to England and the men employed there have labored faithfully. They did what they could. The expectation that the churches planted would be self-supporting in four years has not been realized. Of those sent to Eng- land, J. L. Richardson and M. D. Todd and Mary Bishop Moore have gone to their long home. Since 1893 the work in England has been managed by an English committee. The society makes an annual grant and the English committee distrib- utes it. The Danish Mission was opened in June, 1876. Dr. Hoick, the pioneer, was born and educated in Jutland. He came to America and practiced medi- cine in Cincinnati. After uniting with the Central Christian Church, he asked to be sent to Denmark as a missionary. The committee recognized in him a man of great faith, earnest piety and one endowed with superior intellectual attainments, and appointed him. He "gave up a growing and lucrative practice and went. He found many difficulties in the way. The chief among these was the want of faith on the part of the people in the Word of God. He found that the plea for "the Bible and the Bible alone" was about the most difficult that could be made, since the people seemed to be willing to accept almost any other kind of religion rather than that taught The Period of Foreign Missions 393 in the Scriptures. Dr. Hoick has done a good work in Copenhagen. The congregation numbers nearly two hundred. The building there cost $22,000, and is worth more than it cost. It is the best Dissenting house of worship in the city. It is well located and arranged. Dr. Hoick has also done a fine work in Norway. There are in Norway twenty congrega- tions. Ten of these have their own houses. These are neither large nor splendid, but they are comforta- ble and convenient. Julius Cramer preaches in Frederickshald. He was born in Schleswig. He took the English Bible course in Drake University and returned to preach the gospel to his kindred and countrymen. E. W. Pease has recently gone to Norway to assist in the work. He lives in Chris- tiania. A little over a year ago a church was organized at Malmo, Sweden. Later on a second church was organized in Ramlosa, I. P. Lillien- stein preaches for both. In 1885 O. C. Mikkelsen was sent from this country to aid in the mission. Mr. Mikkelsen is a Dane. He attended Oskaloosa College for two terms, and the College of the Bible for two years. He has charge of the Second Church in Copenhagen. For two years R. P. Anderson has been the minister in charge of the First Church in Copenhagen. In Scandinavia there are about 1,200 church members in all. Their great need is competent men to preach to them. They have five evangelists; they need men of culture and consecration, who can serve them acceptably as settled ministers. For ten years Dr. Hoick has re- ceived no salary. Not only so, but he gives no less 394 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century than $i,ooo a year to assist the mission. He is of the opinion that with $10,000 a year he could take all Scandinavia for New Testament Chris- tianity. A mission was opened in Paris, France, in Feb- ruary, 1878. Jules Delaunay and wife were the founders. Monsieur Delaunay was a Parisian by birth. He was educated for the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church. He spent several years in study in Rome, giving particular attention to the catacombs. Renouncing Catholicism, he came to America. He was baptized by a Baptist minister near Providence, R. I. Subsequently he moved to Cincinnati. While there he united with the Central Christian Church. Madame Delaunay was an Eng- lish woman and belonged at one time to the Church of England. She united with the Central Christian Church at the same time as her husband. They volunteered for a mission to France. The society did not ask them to go. They said, "Send us, and by the grace of God we will carry the primitive gospel to the perishing millions of France." The committee becaptne deeply interested in the proposed mission; they thought they saw in their offer a provi- dential opening for a grand work. They knew that France was just then passing through a transition state, both politically and religiously, and they knew, furthermore, that such a time was highly pro- pitious for the introduction of our plea. Monsieur and Madame Delaunay made a tour through several states in the interests of the new mission. In some churches they were received with enthusiasm, in The Period of Foreign Missions 395 others with indifference, and in others still with ex- treme coldness. The most the society could promise them was $300 in cash and whatever might be sent to the treasury especiall}^ for the French mission. It was not believed that these terms would be ac- cepted. They were promptly and gladly accepted, and the missionaries were soon on their way to Paris. A hall was rented and public preaching be- gan. In 1880 Miss Annie C. Crease was engaged to teach a school. The Christian Woman's Board of Missions paid her salary. E. Roque was employed for a season, but his services not being satisfactory he was dismissed. In 1886 the society resolved to discontinue the French mission on the ground that it could not be made a success, because of existing obstacles, without incurring more expense than the society could meet. Jules Delaunay was a good man, but a poor financier. No matter how much was paid him he was always in debt. The commit- tee searched for years for a suitable man to be associated with him; the search was in vain. The society decided to abandon the field. In November, 1878, J. W. McOarvey called attention to the Turkish field and to a man who would faithfully and willingly occupy it. In com- pany with several leading men in Kentucky Pro- fessor McGarvey issued a call to those who desired the promotion of the gospel, and who honored the name of the I^ord Jesus Christ, especially those of his own state, to send money and pledges to the treasurer of the Foreign Society to insure the support of G. N. Shishmanian for a term of five years. 396 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century Subsequently Mr. Shishmanian made a brief tour through portions of Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, and spoke of the providential openings in Constantinople, and excited deep interest in his struggling, worthy and beloved kinsmen. Mr. Shishmanian was born in Asia Minor of Armenian parents. He took a course of study in Dr. Hamlin's Academy on the Bosporus. After spending some time in Egypt as an interpreter he came to, America. He united with the Disciples of Christ in Dallas, Texas. Soon after he entered the College of the Bible to prepare for the ministry. Mrs. Shishmanian was born in I^exington, Ken- tucky. Because of the growing interest in the pro- posed Turkish mission and because of the funds that reached the treasury in answer to the appeal made on its behalf, Mr. and Mrs. Shishmanian were ap- pointed missionaries to Constantinople. They reached that city in the year 1879. The gospel was preached publicly and from house to house. Schools were opened and children taught. Tracts were written and carried far and near. The converts are scattered throughout the empire. Work is carried on in connection with Constantinople at the following places: Bardezag, Giol Dahl, Sevas, Zara, Antioch, Biridjek and Aleppo. Four un- ordained men are engaged as evangelists. There are two male and three female teachers. In the seventeen organized churches there are 434 mem- bers. In the day schools there are 567 boys and 79 girls. Mr. Shishmanian has evangelized as far east The Period of Foreign Missions 397 as Bitlis on the Lake of Van. He has traveled ex- tensively throughout the empire. In the year 1884 G-arabed Kevorkian was sent to Tocat. In addition to his work at that point he superintends the stations at Haji Keni, Capou Kara, Marsivan, Checharshambeh and Aza Bajhee. In his evangelistic tours he has been in perils from robbers more than once. His labors have been seriously hindered by the civil authorities. One governor has been his steadfast friend from the first, and has done much to encourage and assist him. Later on Hohannes Karagiozian was sent to Marash, in Cili- cia. He labored at that and some other points in that part of Turkey in Asia. He has not been con- nected with the society for several years. The Isaac Errett Memorial Chapel was erected in Smyrna. Mr. and Mrs. John Johnson have been at work there for two years. Two years agoMr. and Mrs. A. L. Chapman were sent to Constantinople to be asso- ciated with Mr. and Mrs. Shishmanian. Thus far they have been giving most of their time to the study of the language. Mr. Chapman has conducted one service in English each week. He has preached and taught a Bible class through an interpreter. He is now able to speak to the people in their own language. Since Mr. Shishmauian's removal to Sevas, Mr. Chapman has charge of the work in Contantinople. Mrs. Chapman teaches the school. She is preparing to start a kindergarten. The con- versions in Turkey from the beginning number over 1,000. Of the missionaries in this field General Wallace said, "Thev are men who live and die in their 398 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century work; it is a work of the kind that is productive of the greatest good." The year the society was organized J. S. lyamar was invited to go to Italy, but declined. An un- known friend offered five thousand dollars for a Ger- man mission in case the society would raise four thousand. Charles Louis Loos was invited to go to Germany; for sufficient reasons he could not accept the invitation. Urgent calls came from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The following were urged to go to England: B. B. Tyler, Alanson Wil- cox, O. A. Burgess, Thomas Munnell and Enos Campbell. W. H. Hopson was invited to go to Scotland. Francisco de Capdevilla was appointed to labor in Mexico. All he asked was for sufficient funds to pay his passage to the city of Acapulco, on the Pacific Coast. He believed that he could by teaching not only lay a broad and firm foundation for his future progress, but also immediately provide for himself the necessaries of life and sustain the preaching of the gospel. Unfortunately, it soon appeared that he had not adequately measured the extent and violence of the opposition to the preach- ing of the gospel in Acapulco, or the difficulty of a stranger to obtain a self-supporting school there. Notwithstanding, seven baptisms soon followed and he obtained for awhile a tolerant attitude by teach- ing the English language and some other branches not elsewhere taught there, but being greatly dis- appointed in his purpose, and assured of the society's inability to furnish him even a ^"partial support, he resigned his labors. The Period of Foreign Missions 399 Through these years there was much dissatisfac- tion that no work was begun on heathen soil. It was felt by many that Timothy Coop and W. T. Moore had side-tracked the society, so to speak. Their appeals for the work in England were numer- ous and importunate. On this account the commit- tee on new missions, in the convention of 1881, thought it necessary to set forth the true aim and work of the society. The substance of their report is as follows: We think it very important that correct and right ideas as to the true nature, character and limitations of foreign missionary work be stated, entertained and adhered to in the prosecution of the work. What is that idea? With what end in view, and for what purpose, should foreign missionary so- cieties be established and sustained? Not to change one believer from one Protestant faith to another, but to Christianize the heathen; to make known the Christ in his saving power to those who have never heard of him, and to whom he has not been preached. It is to plant congregations of Christian believers in lands distinctively and admittedly pagan, idolatrous and heathen, and our work is foreign in the true sense only in so far as we keep this promise in view and labor for its realization. Our great King says, "Go ye and disciple all nations." The "nations" meant then, as the word means now, the great unevangelized heathen world; the pagan races, one and all. The church's mission is the proclama- tion of the gospel "to every creature," preach the gospel in the regions beyond; make known the Son of Ood as tlie only Redeemer of the world, and 400 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century in the greatness of his salvation to those who sit in darkness and in the region and shadow of death. It is something, indeed, and it is well, to lead to a clearer knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, those already instructed to some extent, and evan- gelized and committed to the Christ; but it is not strictly foreign missionary work, and should not be so termed. The committee continued: "The work we are doing, most of it, at least, is not strictly foreign missionary work; it is not done for the Christianiza- tion of the heathen; its end is not the salvation of men and women from idolatry with all its abomina- tions. It is largely changing people from one Protestant faith to another; not attacking the strong- holds of Satan in heathen and idolatrous countries, which is the one object for which foreign missionary societies exist. We seem not to have had hitherto the true idea of foreign work, or, if we had, to have departed from it largely in practice. England gives more money every year for the support of Foreign Missions than any other country on the globe. Millions of money go out of the pockets of wealthy Englishmen annually into the treasuries for the pro- pagation of the gospel in foreign lands. To her credit be this spoken. Yet we, with but a few thousand dollars for the maintenance each year of foreign missionary work, give the greater part of that to support men in England. How absurd! Sending men to England to preach the gospel is no more foreign missionary work than would be the The Period of Foreign Missions 401 sending of men to Boston, or Providence, or San Francisco." The day so long and so eagerly looked for was at hand. 26 III. INDIA. The year 1882 marked an epoch in the history of the Foreign Society. That year work was begun on heathen soil. For some years money kept coming into the treasury for this s pecial purpose. Much of it came from the children. As J, H. Garrison, the editor of the Christian-Evangelist . was preparing to leave for the convention held in Louisville, in 1880, his little boys told him they wanted to send some money with him for missions. They handed him the savings of many weeks and said, "We want this to go to send the gospel to children who have never heard the name of Jesus." On hearing this inci- dent the convention decided to ask the Sunday- schools for one offering each year for heathen mis- sions. That was the origin of Children's Day. As we had then no one at work in any part of the heathen world, the offerings of the children were invested for some time. When the problem of money was soivea, the next thing was to find men to go. The society did not have long to seek. Albert Norton had spent some years in India as a missionary. After uniting with our people, he wrote to the society with reference to his possible return to that field under the direction of the executive committee. He was highly rec- ommended by those who knew him. In order to test his ability and to become better acquainted with (402) The Period of Fo7^eign Missions 403 him, he was engaged for two months to solicit funds. The time was subsequently extended. He visited many churches and spoke with great fervor and power on the theme so near his heart. He secured considerable in cash and pledges. On the 4th of February, 1882, the committee decided to send Mr. and Mrs. Albert Norton and Mr. and Mrs. G. L. Wharton to India as missionaries. Mr. Wharton was well known as a rising young preacher. He was a graduate of Bethany College and, at the time of his appointment, was in charge of the Richmond Avenue Church in Buffalo. Mrs. Wharton was a daughter of the sainted Robert Richardson, the friend and biographer of Alexander Campbell. These men and women were believed to be full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. They were ready and eager to go. They asked no stipulated salary. They were willing to go trusting in God and in their brethren. The Christian Woman's Board of Mis- sions sent four ladies with them to serve as teachers and Bible women. On the i6th of September, 1882, this little band, eight in all, sailed from New York for Bombay. They reached their destination in October. At once they began the study of the lan- guage and the people. Mr. Norton did not continue long with the society. He resigned because of some scruples of conscience over receiving any stated amount for his support. His resignation caused some disappointment. At the same time it should be borne in mind that his services had been exceedi ug- ly valuable. He did what few other men could have done. He aroused thousands who were asleep. He 404 Re/ormatiojt of the AHneteenth Century convinced the committee and many churcnes and individuals that a mission could be planted in India. He started the work. The convention of that year stated that the action of the executive committee deserved the fullest ap- proval of the society and its grateful thanks. The convention recognized in the starting of this mis- sion the evident guidance of Providence and the in- dication of the divine purpose that called for grate- ful acknowledgment and prompt and generous sup- port. It seemed plain that the Holy Spirit was opening up to us access to all nations and inviting us to enter. The convention rejoiced that the com- mittee was so prompt to venture upon this great field, and that their faith in the support of the Ivord's people in this work had not faltered. It was recommended that other fields be entered, princi- pally Japan and China. The hope was expressed that the next convention would be greeted with the report that both these fields had been occupied, and that the eyes of all might be turned hopefully upon still wider prospects of gospel victories in the Orient. The enthusiasm and joy of that convention were unprecedented. The reproach of having no mis- sionaries in any part of the heathen world was rolled away. The treasurer's report showed that the receipts for the year were double that of any pre- vious year. The marked increase in the receipts was significant. It indicated that the people were ready to enter the regions beyond and to support the workers that might be sent there. The work began in the Central Provinces. These The Period of Foreign Missio7is 405 provinces have an area of 116,000 square miles, and a population numbering 15,000,000. The field chosen was both large and needy. The first station was opened in Harda. This town is 417 miles east from Bombay, and is a large wheat market. The society owns in Harda three bungalows, a building that is used for a school for boys and a chapel, an- other building for a school for girls, a hospital and dispensary, and a leper asylum. The seven build- ings that constitute the leper asylum were built in the time of famine and did not cost the society any- thing. The present staff consists of Dr. and Mrs. Drummond, Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Coffman, Miss Mary Thompson, Miss Mildred Franklin, Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Brown, and the native assistants. Mr. Wharton has charge of the church. Dr. Drummond has charge of the medical department. Dr. Drum- mond is a graduate of Cotner University. He took some special courses in the Postgraduate Medical College in New York to better qualify him for service in India. Last year the patients in Harda numbered 12,216. Mr. Coffman teaches the boys' school and preaches for the church. He is a graduate of Drake University. Miss Franklin teaches the girls. In India boys and girls are not permitted to recite in the same classes or to attend school in the same building. This will account for these separate establishments. Miss Mary Thompson gives her time and strength to the women in their homes. She reads and explains the Scriptures and teaches them Christian hymns and urges them to accept Jesus the Christ as their Saviour and Lord. In 4o6 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century the cold season she goes twice a week to the villages near Harda. On these trips she is accompanied by a Bible woman. On Sundays she has a school for boys. She has another class on that day for the beggars. Every day she has religious exercises with the servants and helpers. She is constantly called upon by the women among whom she labors for simple remedies for diseases. The women of India are timid and prefer, in time of trouble, to appeal for aid to one of their own sex rather than to a male physician, no matter how ac- complished and gentle he may be. Miss Thompson was sent to India by the churches in Melbourne, Australia. They have supported her for six years. Mr. and Mrs. Brown went out last September. While studying the language Mr. Brown preaches for the English-speaking church and assists in the schools. There are six hundred towns and vil- lages tributary to Harda. The missionaries evan- gelize these as they are able. One winter two ladies took a bullock cart and tent and some helpers and went out to do village work. In two months they visited and spoke in ninety different places. They addressed about five thousand people. The most of these had never heard the name of Jesus before. In Charwa and Rahatgaon and Timarni work is carried on regularly. These are out-stations, and are ministered to by trained helpers. Nathoo Lai preaches in Charwa and forty-two other villages. The church in Charwa has twenty-seven members. The members live in four villages. A Sunday-school The Period of Foreign Missions 407 is taught and the gospel is preached there every week. In Rahatgaon there is a house for the evan- gelist and a school building. Timarni has a dwell- ing and a hospital. Dr. John Panna has charge of the medical work at both points. His patients num- ber over two thousand in a year. M. J. Shah is the • evangelist in charge. In the two Sunday-schools there are about seventy pupils enrolled. The out- look is bright and full of promise. Sampson Powar is a valuable assistant in the work in HardS. He treats both the in-patients and the out-patients daily. He teaches them the Scriptures and has them com- mit portions to memory. Gopal gives the lepers in- struction daily in the Bible. They seem happy and contented. A Sunday-school is taught among the sweepers, one of the lowest castes in all India. Dr. and Mrs. C. S. Durand spent seven years in Harda. They went from the region about Sedalia, Mo. Before sailing for India both spent a full year in the medical colleges and hospitals of New York. The hospital was built by Dr. Durand. The land on which it stands was given to the mission by an influential Hindu as a token of his appreciation of the work done there. Mrs. Ellen L. Jackson has been connected with the work in Harda for the years. She went out from the West London Taber- nacle and from the training class taught by W. T. Moore. She had charge of the work among the boys till her health failed. She lives in Harda and gives her influence and her assistance to the church and to the temperance society and to other good causes. Miss Sue A. Robinson and Miss Hattie L. 4o8 Reformation of the Nineteeiith Centnry Judson died and are buried in Harda. Miss Robin- son went out from St. lyouis. She served for five years. She spent most of the summers on the plains. Had she been less heroic she might be liv- ing now. She sleeps in the little cemetery at the edge of the town. She is waiting for the day to dawn and for the shadows to flee away. The women of lyouisville raised six hundred dollars to build a Memorial School to perpetuate the name and worth of this noble worker. She had lived and labored for some years in lyouisville before going to St. Ivouis. The city fathers gave the ground on which the school has been built. Miss Judson went out from Danbury, Conn. She was a most earnest and efficient worker in that church. In the famine she went to Mahoba to nurse the sick and to feed the starving. While there she took typhoid fever, from which she died. She fell as a martyr to her devotion. When the last annual report was written there were 89 members in the church at Harda, 433 pupils enrolled in the fourteen Sunday-schools, 163 in the day schools, 4 native evangelists and 17 native help- ers and teachers. The next year Mr. and Mrs. Adams were sent out to take the place that had been left vacant by the Nortons. Mr. Adams was born and educated in Vincennes, Ind. At the time of his appointment he was serving the church in Steubenville, Ohio. It was thought advisable for them to settle in Bilaspur, a town 503 miles east from Calcutta. There are 1,500,000 souls in the Bilaspur district. Mr. Adams The Period of Foreign Missions 409 has the oversight of all the work at that station. He gives his strength to the work of preaching in the church and in the villages. He is assisted by three evangelists. He superintends the boys' Sun- day-schools. The average attendance in the day school is 86; the total enrollment in the Sunday- school is 232. The boys in the day school are Hin- dus, Mohammedans and Christians. Mrs. Adams keeps house, has charge of the bookshop, visits the women in their quarters and renders efficient aid in day and Sunday-schools. Like the other married women Mrs. Adams has made a home. This is one of the best of all evangelizing agencies. Outside of Christendom there is no such institution as a home. There are harems and seraglios; there are buildings where men, women and children live; but these places are not homes. Only where the gospel has gone is a home possible. Mrs. Adams teaches the boys to sing. She conducts a Bible class for Chris- tian men and teaches in the Sunday-school. The Christian Woman's Board of Missions is carrying oa educational and medical work in Bilaspur. On this account the Foreign Society has no work among the girls and has no hospital or dispensary there. S. McMullen teaches some in the school; his main work is that of preaching. In some of the villages the people have told him that their deities are only stones. The people who listen to the message are beginning to learn and to appreciate the great truth of God's love. Ernest Gordon gives most of his time to the children. In the school there are relig- ious exercises every day. A half hour each morning 4IO Reformation of the Nineteenth Centiciy is devoted to the study of the Scriptures. The pres- ent membership in Bilaspur is sixty-nine; there are seven teachers and helpers. Mungeli is thirty-one miles from Bilaspur. The work there began in 1887. G. W. Jackson was the founder. The society now has a bungalow, a school, a hospital, a leper asylum and a dispensary at that station. There are two other dispensaries ten and twelve miles distant. Mr. Jackson's health having failed, he left for home. E. M. Gordon was engaged to take his place. W. H. Cooper and A. W. Hitt each spent some time at Mungeli. AX the present time E. M. Gordon and Dr. Anna M. Gordon are in charge. Mr. and Mrs. Gordon were born and partly educated in India. Mr. Gordon spent one year in Chicago University. Dr. Gordon received one medi- cal degree in Bombay and another in Brussels. She has two large gold medals which were awarded her for proficiency in her chosen profession. Eike other missionaries Mr. Gordon uses the magic lantern to attract the people and to illustrate and impress the truth. He preaches in Mungeli and in one hundred and fifty villages within a circuit of a few miles. Two schools are conducted. One is a night school and is for such boys as cannot attend during the day. Dr. Gordon gives all her time to the medical work. Last year she saw 9,705 patients. She has given considerable attention to the lepers. They have been greatly benefited by regular diet and by her simple treatment. The work among the women has proven successful far beyond her expectations. Six can read their Hindi New Testaments. About The Period of Foreig7i Missions 411 thirty attend her Bible class on Sunday. Five of these have been baptized. The children in the Sun- day-school go out in twos every Sunday and hold village Sunday-schools. There are six schools con- ducted by the children. Hera Lai, the medical assistant, has proven himself invaluable in the medi- cal department. One of the most promising con- verts was a blind boy by the name of Gulali. He spent three years in the Bible and training school in Harda. Just as he was preparing for his best work he died. According to the latest statistics there are 100 members in the church at Mungeli, and 1000 pupils in the Sunday-school. There are 25 lepers receiving treatment. The helpers number six. Damoh is sixty-six miles from Jabbalpur. The work at that point began in 1895. first workers were Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Rambo and John G. McGavran. Miss Josepha and Miss Stella Frank- lin, Mrs. John G. McGavran and Dr. Mary T. McGavran, F. E. Stubbin and David and Dr. Minnie Rioch joined the mission later. Mr. Rambo was born in Missouri and educated in Kentucky University. Mrs. Rambo was born and educated in Vermont. Mr. McGavran is from Ohio. He is a graduate of Bethany College. Mrs. McGav- ran was born in Bengal and was educated in Eng- land. Her parents spent their lives in India as missionaries. Miss Josepha Franklin is a daughter of Joseph Franklin, of Bedford, Ind. She taught for some years in the school of Anderson, Ind., be- fore her appointment. Ramabai spoke of Miss Franklin as one of the most heroic women in India. 412 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century Miss Stella is her sister. Her work in the church and in a printing office before she asked to be sent to India, qualified her for service in the field. Dr. McGavran is a graduate of the Woman's College of Philadelphia. She spent one whole year in post- graduate work. She is supported by the women in the churches in Eugland. Mr. Stubbin came from Australia. He is supported by the churches under the Southern Cross. He expects to give his life to the training of the orphans connected with the mission. David Rioch is a graduate of Butler College. Dr. Rioch is a graduate of one of the medical colleges of Indianapolis. He from Canada. He is for Ivondon. Damoh was selected on account of its healthful- ness and on account of its central location. Damoh is the site of the orphanage for boys. There are now 305 under the control of the missionaries. Most of them are famine orphans. Miss Josepha Franklin teaches the boys in the day school. She aims to do the same grade of work that is done at home. She has the general oversight of the girls' school also. A half hour of every day is devoted to the study of the Bible. The L^ife of Christ is taught in chronological order. Miss Franklin not only teaches the children, but the teachers as well. She gives them lessons in principles and methods of teaching. Gymnastics and military drill are also taught. Mr. Rambo gives much of his time to the boys. He is teaching them trades and is seeking to prepare them to live lives of usefulness and noble- ness. Some of the boys are learning dairying, oth- The Period of Foreign Missions 413 ers poultry culture, others gardening, and a few- tailoring. Other trades will follow in due time. The boys are now planting all kinds of seeds and watching their growth. They take readily to im- proved tools, such as hoes, shovels, picks, spades, rakes, forks and saws. A boy will do more work in half a day with an American tool than he can do in a week with Hindu tools. David Rioch gives most of his time to the orphanage. Mr. McGavran has equipped himself for evangelistic v/ork. He prefers this to any other. He goes out into the villages and gives much of his time and energy to the in- struction of those who have never heard the gospel of salvation. He has had much to do with the buildings that have been erected there. Two bung- alows, an orphanage and an industrial school have already been provided. Other buildings are needed and will be supplied as soon as possible. Mr. Stub- bin proposes to take charge of the workshops as soon as he has sufficient knowledge of the language to do so. Mrs. Rambo has charge of her own home. She aids in the mission in many ways. She makes gar- ments for the boys with her own hands. She visits the orphanage almost every morning and teaches the little ones Bible verses and simple songs. Mrs. McGavran assists her husband and the other work- ers and looks after her children. Miss Stella Frank- lin gives herself to the work in the zenanas and to the villages. The people who know her say, *'Come and see us;" or, "Come and teach us your Bible." She is also teaching a class of educated young men. Dr. McGavran looks after the health of all in the 414 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century mission and as many of the people as need and seek her assistance. She needs and must have a hospital very soon. In the famine tens of thousands of meals were given out to the starving. Money for relief came from England, Scotland, America, Australia, New- Zealand and from wealthy people in India. The missionaries were asked to serve as agents in the distribution of money and other supplies. They gave out grain for food and for seed, thread, bam- boo, leather, wood, clothing and other necessaries. Widows, orphans, blind, aged, crippled, lepers and hungry and helpless poor, were relieved and saved alive. More than sixty villages were visited and helped by our workers in Damoh. In that time 730 children were cared for in the orphanage. More than one thousand other persons were supplied in the daily ministrations. Those who have been helped are the readiest to hear and to believe the gospel. It need surprise no one if thousands of Hindus and Mohammedans should turn to the I^ord because of the self-sacrifice and the heroic devotion of the mis- sionaries in those two years when the heavens above them were as brass and the earth beneath them as iron. IV. JAPAN. The convention held in Indianapolis in 1881 urged that Japan be occupied at the earliest mo- ment possible. The first missionaries sent to that country were Mr. and Mrs. Geo. T. Smith and Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Garst. Mr. Smith was a graduate of Bethany College and a minister of rec- ognized ability. He was serving the historic church in Warren, O., at the time of his call to that field. He had served the churches in Bucyrus and Swamp- scott. Mrs. Josephine W. Smith was born in Corn- wallis, N. S. She was married to Mr. Smith soon after he left college. Mr. Garst was born near Day- ton, O. He received his education in the Iowa Agricultural College, in the West Point Military Academy and in Butler University. He received his commission from the hand of General Grant. For several years he was in the regular army on the frontier. Mrs. I^aura Delaney Garst was born in Hopedale, Ohio. She received her education at Union Springs and Rochester, N. Y. After their marriage lyieutenant and Mrs. Garst thought much of mission work, and contributed liberally to its support. At one time they had it in their hearts to go to Africa as missionaries, at their own charges. These four workers sailed from San Francisco for Japan on the 27th of September, 1883. On their (415) 41 6 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century arrival they engaged rooms in the Temperance Hotel in Yokohama, and began immediately the study of the language. They remained in that city until they were able to take care of themselves in the interior. They found the treaty ports well sup- plied with workers. Mr. Smith said in his humor- ous way that there were more missionaries in the foreign concessions of Japan to the square inch than there were in any other part of the world. After looking over the whole land they decided to begin work in Akita. This place is on the Northwest Coast, and is about four hundred miles from Tokio. Akita has a population of 40,000; the province of which Akita is the capital has a population of 600,000. There were then no missionaries in that province. Most of the people had not heard the name of Jesus. For some months the two families lived in a Japanese house as one family. They had all things in common. The Japanese were greatly amused when they saw these men and their wives walking arm-in-arm on the streets. They had never seen it on that fashion. Four months after the mission was opened there were two baptisms. Before the missionaries could intelligently answer the question. What must I do to be saved? it was asked by penitent believers. Two months later there were four more baptisms. These baptisms created no small stir. A church was organized and the ordinances were observed. The following spring Mrs. Smith died. She and her infant child were buried in the Buddhist cemetery at the edge of the town. Her saintly and gentle life had not been The Period of Foreign Missions 417 lived in vain. Her death caused some who had been hesitating to decide for Christ. The Christian Woman's Board of Missions asked the Mission Bands and the Rope-holders for funds to erect a memorial chapel in Akita. That property was deeded to the Foreign Society. The next year Miss Calla Har- rison and Miss Kate V. Johnson joined the mission. They had been successful teachers in the public schools of Madison, Ind. They volunteered to serve the lyord Christ in Japan. While carrying on work in Akita the missionaries did not neglect the surrounding country and towns. They made long preaching tours from time to time. They diligently sought to evangelize all that part of the empire. The first out-station was established in Honjo, a town twelve miles distant containing 30 5 000 without any gospel privileges. There a number were added to the Lord. About the same time some work was done in Tsuchizaki, the port of Akita. A convert who had served Mr. Smith as cook removed to Arakawa, a silver-mining town. There he preached the gospel and won some of his associates to the faith. The believers built a small chapel and paid for it out of their own scanty earnings. They continue to meet to break bread and to exhort one another to hold fast the begfinninof of their confideuce firm unto the end. Other churches were organized in Innai and Slionai. Meanwhile^ preaching services were held every week in Akita. Sunday-schools and other services were held in different sections of the city. Women were gathered in Bi1)le classes and taught. The 27 '4 1 8 Re/ormaiion of the Nineteenth Century labors of the missionaries were not in vain in the Lord. In 1888 Mr. Smith returned from a visit to America. In the year that he had been absent from the field he married Miss Candace Lhamon. She accompanied him to Akita. Miss Lhamon had served the Woman's Board in Ohio as its organ- izer. She visited the churches to form auxiliaries and to generate and foster missionary interest and zeal. She was known far and wide as a most effective worker and speaker. Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Snodgrass and P. B. Hall went to Japan in the same boat. Mr. Snodgrass was a graduate of Kentucky University and of the College of the Bible. At the time of his appointment to Japan he was serving the church in Ashland, Ky. Mr. Hall was educated in Milligan College and spent some time as a city evan- gelist in Washington and Maryland. After these arrivals it was deemed expedient to scatter the forces. Mr. and Mrs. Garst and Mr. and Mrs. Snodgrass and Miss Kate Johnson moved to Shonai, a place of 25,000 people, and the center of a vast and neglected district. There a chapel was built to accommodate the worshipers. The other mission- aries made Akita their home and the base of their operations. Two years later it was decided to make Tokio the central station. Tokio is the capital; it has a pop- ulation of 1,500,000. It is one of the great cities of the world. It was a good thing in many ways that the workers went first to Akita. Their action was one of the causes that led to a more general Tlie Period of Foreign Missio7is 419 dispersion of the missionaries over the empire that took place at that time. Prior to their settling in Akita, most of the missionaries in Japan continued to live in the treaty ports. Now all parts are occu- pied. It was a good thing, too, for the workers themselves. They were able to preach sooner than if they had remained in a large city where they would have been more independent and where the audiences are more critical. Nevertheless, Tokio became the center of all the work in Japan. From Tokio the workers can easily go out in all direc- tions. The fact that they live in the capital gives them a standing in the smaller towns that they could not otherwise have. They have evangelized hundreds of towns. They have sold and given away much literature. They have opened charity and Sunday- schools. They have held meetings for women, and Bible-classes for all who can be persuaded to attend. They have prepared tracts for general distribution, and have done whatever they could to advance the interests of the kingdom. About the same time Miss Loduska Wirick joined the mission. She graduated from Drake Universi- ty. The Belle Bennett Fund supports her. For the first term of service she preferred to be independent. Since her return she works in connection with the other missionaries and is paid through the Foreign Society. Miss Wirick built a chapel in Tokio out of her savings. One interested traveler said he was more impressed by the sight of that simple house of worship than he had been by any of the cathedrals of Europe. A Japanese evangelist does 420 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century most of the preaching in this chapel. Miss Wirick conducts a charity and a Sunday-school. In 1892, E. S. Stevens, Dr. Nina Stevens, Miss lyavenia Old- ham, and Miss Mary Rioch entered Japan. Mr. Stevens was educated at Ada, Ohio, and in Ken- tucky University. Dr. Stevens was born in Augusta, Ky., and took her medical degree in Cleveland, Ohio. Miss Oldham came from Mt. Sterling, Ky. She was an experienced school-teacher and an active worker in the church. Miss Rioch came from Ham- ilton, Ont. Before her appointment she demon- strated her fitness for missionary service. Since the autumn of 1895 ^"^^ Stevens have been sta- tioned in Akita. There are several churches in that district in charge of Japanese evangelists. He visits these churches from time to time and sets in order the things that are wanting and exhorts the believ- ers to cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart. He goes with his helpers into sections that have not been visited by any worker and preaches the glad tidings to as many as will listen. Dr. Stevens is doing the work of a medical missionary. She gath- ers the women together and teaches them how to care for their own health, and how to care for thif health of their children, and how to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Miss Oldham and Miss Rioch have their home in Tokio. Miss Oldham conducts three Sunday-schools, two charity schools, two Bible classes for women and one English Bible class. Miss Rioch has charge of the Girls' Home and Training School, conducts a char- ity school and a Bible meeting for women. Outside The Period of Foreign Missions 421 of the government offices Sunday is not observed in Japan. Most of the people are extremely poor. They believe they would starve if they rested one day in seven. Many will not attend services in the chapels until they are somewhat interested. The women in the mission visit the people in their homes and invite them. They explain their object in living in Japan. Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Guy went out in the autumn of 1893. They are both graduates of Drake Uni- versity. Mr. Guy has charge of one chapel, teaches a Bible class, teaches a class in English in the Young Men's Christian Association and does many other things to win the people and to aid the cause of missions. From time to time he goes on long tours throughout the country. He spends as much as six weeks on some of these tours. He holds series of meetings where there are churches and evangelizes where there are none. He also edits the Missionary Magazine. Mrs. Guy has charge of her home, conducts a charity school and a Bible meet- ing for women. In Japan as in other fields much time and attention must be given to inquirers. They may call before day or late at night. They may call when one has very important work on hand. He must stop and hear their troubles and perplexities and help solve them. If he shows any irritation he will lose his influence with them and with all their friends and acquaintances. Many hours out of every week are spent in this way. Two years later Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Madden were sent to Japan. They both came from Kansas. 422 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century Both were students in Bethany; he graduated. On Field Day he took most of the prizes. Mr. and Mrs. Madden live in Sendai, the largest city in the northern part of the empire. They have built a home of their own. The money was furnished by a good woman in West Plains, Mo. Besides the work in Sendai Mr. Madden has the oversight of the work in Fukushima. This place is twenty-five miles away. Hasegawa San teaches and preaches in Fukushima. Akozu is a country district not far from Sendai. There are six or eight groups of be- lievers in that district. Kawamura San works in this field. Mr. Madden visits both places as he can fi.nd time and preaches for days at a time at each. In August, 1900, Miss Carme Hostetter joined the mission in Sendai. She had spent five years in Japan, and understands the language and delights in the work. She gives most of her time to evangel- izing. The same year that Mr. Madden went out Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Pruett were engaged by the society on the recommendation of the missionaries in Japan. They went out as independent missionaries. On reaching the field they discovered that no provision had been made for their support. It was necessary for them to teach English in Japanese schools to earn enough to live. They had little time for real missionary work. They asked the society to as- sume their support and to put them to work. This was done. They are now in Osaka. This is the second city in the empire in respect to population, and the first in respect to business. There are a The Period of Foreign Missions 423 million souls within the limits of Osaka. There are 25,000,000 within the radius of one day's journey from the center of that city. Most of these people do not know their right hand from their left in religious matters. Mr. Pruett works Shizuoka as an out-station. A good work has been begun at that point. Two years ago Mr. and Mrs. Frank H. Mar- shall, of Minnesota, left their home and friends and kindred to give their lives for the redemption of the Japanese. Mr. Marshall was born in Nineveh, Ind., and was educated in Butler University. He taught in Excelsior College and preached for some of the churches in that part of the State. He made rapid progress in the study of the language. He was a valuable addition to the force. He taught and preached through interpreters. In April, 1898, Miss Bertha Clawson left Angola, Ind., for Akita. Most of the time since has been devoted to the acquisition of the language. The Angola church regards her as their missionary. They furnish the money needed for her maintenance. The other churches in Steu- ben County paid her passage and gave her an outfit. Last September Teizo Kawai went from Des Moines to serve as an evangelist in Akita. He took a thor- ough course in Drake University. He is doing good service. The Japan mission has suffered from the loss of several of its workers. Mr. and Mrs. Smith returned home in 1892 and did not again enter Japan. In December, 1899, Mr. Garst died. He had been in the field for sixteen years. He mastered the lan- guage as few other missionaries have done. He 424 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century loved the Japanese and delighted in preaching to them. He had influence with the leaders of thought and with the statesmen of the country. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall found it necessary to come home because she could not stand the climate. Others will take the places of those who left and those who died. P. A. Davey went out in Septem- ber, 1899, to do evangelistic work. Others will be sent to occupy the stations that have been opened and to open new stations. Now that the. new treaties have gone into effect the Japanese are more disposed to listen to the gospel than they have been since the Chinese war. In forty-one places the gospel is preached regu- larly. It is preached irregularly in many more. There are eight organized churches; in these there are 706 members. The missionaries number twenty, and the assistants of all kinds twenty-four. In the twenty-three Sunday-schools there are 738 pupils enrolled. There are fifteen day schools and 150 chil- dren in attendance. The students for the ministry number six, and those receiving special biblical training, fifteen. The society owns eight church buildings, two schools and eight homes. V. CHINA AND AFRICA. The first representative of the Foreign Society entered China January 29, 1886. Dr. W. E. Mack- lin was sent out to Japan as a medical missionary. On reaching the field he discovered that medical missionaries were not needed in that countr}^ After some correspondence with the executive committee, and conference with his associates in Japan, he de- cided to open a mission in China. He spent six months in Shanghai studying the language, and then moved -to Nankin and called for reinforcements. Dr. Macklin is a Canadian by birth. He took his medical degiee in Toronto. After spending some time in practice he offered himself for the foreign field. Before his departure he spent six months in New York City taking special courses to qualify himself more thoroughly for the service. When he left, his teachers' pronounced him the best all-around man they had ever sent out. A. F. H. Saw and E. P. Hearnden joined him that year. They went out from the West London Tabernacle. They had been indoctrinated and trained by W. T. Moore. The next year E. T. Williams and F. E. Meigs and their families sailed from San Francisco for China. Mr. Williams resigned one of the best pulpits among us to become a missionary. At the time of his appoint- ment Mr. Meigs was one of the Sunday-school evan- gelists of Missouri. Both were widely and favorably (425) 426 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century known. Their going made a profound impression on the minds and hearts of many thousands. On arriving at their destination they rented and re- paired some rooms in an old Buddhist temple and began the study of Chinese. Additional men and women have been sent out since from England and America. Several experienced and efficient workers already on the field joined the mission. These were as follows: James Ware and family, Charles K. Holland and family, Mrs. E. P. Hearnden and Mrs. Ella C. F. Saw. There are ten men and thirteen women and sixty-nine native helpers connected with the mission. Work is carried on at five sta- tions and seven out-stations. Nine churches have been established; these have a combined member- ship of 565. The additions for the past y-ear number 183. The children in the mission schools num- ber 284. Nankin is the center of the work in China. Nan- kin is situated on the Yangtsze River and is about two hundred miles from its mouth. It is a walled city, with a population numbering half a million or more. Nankin was once and for centuries the capital of the empire; it may be the capital again. There are thousands of towns and villages that can be reached by the workers in Nankin. The society has now in that city a hospital, two dispensaries, a college for boys, a school for girls, a chapel and a number of other places where the gospel is preached regularly. At the present time the workers are as follows: Dr. W. E. and Mrs. Macklin, F. E. and Mattie Meigs, Frank and Ethel B. Garrett, Mrs. The Period of Foreign Missions 427 Ella C. F. Saw, Miss Emma Lyon, Miss Mary Kelly and Dr. Daisy Macklin. Dr. W. E. Macklin has charge of the medical work. Each year he sees about 20,000 patients. Only the worst cases go to the hospital. The Chinese have physicians of their own and go to them first; they spend their substance on them. If they get no relief they go to the foreigner as a last resort. People suffering from cholera, sniallpox, scrofula, rheumatism, blindness, syphilis and other forms of disease throng the hospital for treatment. Some have traveled hundreds of miles seeking health and cure. Every in-patient is in- structed in things pertaining to God. Bible classes are taught in the hospital. Out-patients hear the Word preached daily; each one receives a Gospel and some tracts. The medical work is designed to open the hearts of the people to the message of sal- vation. Everything that is done is intended to con- tribute to the furtherance of the gospel. Dr. Mack- lin is a fluent and effective speaker. He delights in preaching. He has several circuits and goes out and speaks good words for the Lord Jesus. In his spare minutes he writes tracts and articles for the papers. Mrs. Macklin is a sister of Mrs. Garst and is a granddaughter of Jonas Hartzell. She has four children to train up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. She assists in the mission as she is able. Mr. Meigs is president of the college. The students number fifty. The great majority of them are Christians. There is in the college a Christian Endeavor vSociety and a Young ]\Ien's Christian Association. Twelve of the boys keep the '428 Reformatiojt of the Nineteenth Century morning watch. The students are being prepared for useful and noble lives. Most of them are taught trades. In the industrial department they are given to understand that manual labor and scholarship are not incompatible. Some of these boys will become teachers; others, it is hoped, will become evangel- ists and colporteurs. Thus one of the most pressing needs of the mission will be supplied. Mr. Meigs goes out in different directions to preach; in tea houses, in temples, in the market-place, along the roadside, he finds opportunities for making known to the Chinese the unsearchable riches of Christ. Mrs. Meigs has two children and her household duties to look after. She gives as much of time and thought and strength to the work as she can. Frank Gar- rett is a graduate of Drake University. He has recently taken charge of the church at Nankin. The membership numbers 172; the pupils in the day school, 35. He visits Pukeo, a large town across the river, three times a month, and preaches there. Mrs. Garrett is a graduate of Oskaloosa. She has a child to rear and teach. She gives two hours a day to the college, and spends some time in teaching the women the first principles of the gos- pel. Mrs. Saw is busily engaged in the work among the women and children. She goes out from time to time on evangelistic tours. She encourages the other missionaries and proclaims the gospel to those who have never heard the joyful sound. Miss Lyon is a graduate of Bethany College; she entered the field in 1892. Miss Lyon has charge of the girls' school. She has two Sunday-schools, and The Period of Foreign Missions 429 visits and receives visits from the women of the city. Miss Mary Kelly is a graduate of Hiram; she does evangelistic work in Nankin and in other parts of the empire. She has visited Chu Cheo and I^u Cheo fu, and has spoken the Word of life to the peo- ple of those places and in the towns through which, she has passed. Dr. Daisy Macklin assists in the hospital and in the dispensaries. Early in the history of the mission the workers felt that it would not do to confine their labors to Nankin; they must reach other towns and cities with the truth. The second place entered was Shanghai. It was necessary to have a station there, as that is the gate to the empire. Shanghai is by far the most influential commercial center in the Far East. The population numbers about 450,000. Shanghai is not so large as Canton, Hankow or Pekin, but it is very much more important than any of these. It is a great literary center. The Mis- sionary Recorder^ the Review of the Times^ the Mis- sionary Revieiv^ the Daily Herald and other papers are published there. Shanghai is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. The Lord sent a man to begin work in that city. James Ware had been in China for more than ten years; he had been an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society. He knew the language and the people and the cus- toms of the country. On making the acquaintance of Mr. Williams and Mr. Meigs he found that his convictions respecting questions of doctrine and the ordinances accorded with theirs. He threw in his lot with our people in China. Ever since he has 430 Reformation of the Ninetee7tth Century been working in Shanghai under the auspices of the society. W. P. Bentley went out in 1890. Soon after reaching the field he was assigned to Shanghai. Mr. Bentley is a graduate of the Ohio State Univer- sity and of Bethany College. Mrs. Bentley came from Braddock, Pa. There are now two churches in Shanghai; the combined membership is 87. The pupils in the day school number 93^ those in the Sunday-school, 108. In one church the member- ship has doubled in two years. Recently Mr. Ware has opened a new work in a new section of the city. It is in the neighborhood of the great cotton factor- ies. A mandarin has given him the use of a large room for a girls' school. There is a school for boys in the same vicinity under his supervision. Mr. Ware is one of the busiest men in China. He is one of the committee to revise the present Chinese ver- sion of the Scriptures; he reads the proof-sheets as the work passes through the press. He superintends the stations in Tsungming, a large island in the river with a population of a million souls, and in Tung Chow, a city with a population of 80,000, and in Tseu-Saw, a city with a population of 30,000, and in Yung Shing Saw and in Yang King. There are many other places that he visits and in which he preaches while going to and from these out-stations. His aim is to diffuse a knowledge of the gospel as widely as possible. Mr. Bentley has oversight of the Christian Institute. That is a hive of busy workers. In that building day schools and night schools are carried on; Bible women and evangelists and colporteurs are trained; the gospel is preached The Period of Foreign Missions 431 every day in the year, and literature is sold and given away to those who will read it. Mr. Bentley edits and publishes a monthly paper entitled the Eastern Star. The next station was opened in Chu Cheo. That place is north of the river and forty miles distant from Nankin. It is on the main road between Nan- kin and Pekin. Imperial couriers and merchants and travelers and pilgrims and coolies pass through daily. Chu Cheo is a place of considerable political importance. The society has there now W. R. Hunt and family and Dr. E. I. Osgood and family. Two homes and a chapel have been built. The present number in the church is 99. Last year 2,482 patients were seen. Schools have been opened for boys and girls. Before the advent of Dr. Osgood Mr. Hunt did the medical work. He took some lessons in medicine from Dr. Macklin and was able to cure simple forms of disease. The serious cases were sent to Nankin for treatment. Dr. Osgood is a classical graduate of Hiram; he received his medical degree from one of the Cleveland schools. Mrs. Os- good is a daughter of O. G. Hertzog, and is also a graduate of Hiram. Much work has been done around Chu Cheo. In that district there are not less than five millions of people in need of the gospel. A building has been rented and an evangelist employed in Luhoh, a town of 40,000, and some forty miles away. The membership there numbers ten. Yu- Ho Tsz is fifteen miles from Chu Cheo. There Evangelist vShi and his devoted wife live. It was through her instrumentality that the church was Reformation of the Nmeteenth Century planted. She is known as a hot-hearted Christian. It was her purpose to erect a house of worship; she proposed to bear the expense herself. Her neigh- bors said, "We will help you;" they have done so most gladly. A neat chapel is the result. Every night the bell rings and the people gather to hear the Word of life. The fame of that church has been carried as far north as Pekin. Four miles be- yond Yu Ho Tsz is the out-station of Kwan wu wei. There, too, the gospel is preached and the youth of the place are taught. The missionaries in Chu Cheo have made evangelistic tours all through the district. Wuhu is fifty miles up the river from Nankin. Chas. E. Holland and family and Miss Effie D. Kel- lar are located there. Wuhu has a population of 100,000. It is an open port. From Wuhu caravans start in several directions into the interior. In Wu- hu the society owns a good home and a chapel, but no other buildings. Mr. Molland and his helpers preach every day and night in the chapel and in the inns and on the streets. Work is also carried on at Wuwei Cho. The society own a chapel there. The believers in Wuhu number 90; the children in the Sunday-school, 36. For several years Miss Rose Sickler taught the women and chil- dren in Wuhu; that school is still taught and has 30 pupils. Miss Kellar has gone to this field; she is supported by the churches in Kansas City, Mo. . Lu Cheo fu is about 150 miles due west from Wu- hu. It is an inland city with a population of about 100,000. In the vicinity there are a million people or The Period of Foreign Missions ' 433 more that can be evangelized from that center. lyU Cheo fu was opened by T. J. Arnold. It took him three years to rent the first house; the citizens did not want their soil defiled by the presence of outside barbarians. The man that did rent them a house was for that act incarcerated for several months. Dr. James Butcliart was the first missionary to live in IvU Cheo fu. On his arrival the people wanted to drive him away; he would not oblige them by going. Before many weeks a prominent merchant was dy- ing of hernia. When the Chinese physicians con- fessed that they could do no more, Dr. Butchart was called in for consultation. He proposed a surgical operation as the only possible method of saving the man; his proposal was accepted by all concerned. The operation was performed without delay. With the blessing of God the patient recovered. Then a feast was made for the great Western doctor, scrolls were hung on ,the walls of the hospital and congrat- ulatory speeches were made. Since that time there has been no talk of chasing the foreigner out of town. Dr. Butchart was born in Canada. He received his medical training in Cincinnati and in New York. In his courses he took every gold medal and every prize that was offered. C. B. Titus and wife are now in I^u Cheo fu. Mr. Titus is a graduate of Hi- ram. Thus far he and Mrs. Titus have been giving most of their time to the language. As they have found opportunity they have spoken to the people of the love of God as revealed in the person of his Son. By their lives and by their numerous acts of kind- ness they have done what they could to commend 28 434 Reformation of the Nineteenth Cejttury the gospel to the favorable consideration of all with whom they have had to do. Dr. H. G. Welpton has had charge of the medical work in lyii Cheo fu in the absence of Dr. Butchart on furlough. Mr. Arnold, who first entered that city, will return after a little; it is his purpose to make lyU Cheo fu his home and to spend his life in work in that city and district. Already a church has been organized; the present membership is 19. Pupils in the Sunday-school number 14. Dr. Welpton treated 700 patients last year. His purpose was not to treat any, but to give himself exclusively to the study of Chinese. It was impossible for him to do this; the'suffering came to him and sought relief; he could not turn them away. From the first the believers in Ln Cheo fu have been taught self-sup- port. The first year they gave about one dollar each for the support of the gospel; they also made a contribution to the treasury of the Foreign Society. They are collecting funds now for a chapel. When their poverty is remembered it will be seen that their gifts are on a generous scale. Since the work began in China several of the workers have died. The following laid down their lives: Mrs. Carrie lyoos Williams, A. F. H. Saw, Mr. and Mrs. E. P. Hearnden. Mrs. Williams gave six years of devoted service to China; her beautiful char- acter and good deeds will be long and lovingly cherished by that people. She came home for sur- gical treatment, fully expecting to return in a few months. Contrary to the predictions of all the phy- sicians, she died within a few hours of the operation. The Period of Foreign Missions 435 She is buried in Columbus, O. Mr. Saw, while caring for the starving fugitives, took typhus fever and died from it. He was a giant in body and able to endure hardness as a good soldier. He was never so happy as when talking to the people about the gospel of God's grace. He loved the Chinese and sought to guide their feet into the way of peace. Mr. Hearnden was drowned. He had been out visit- ing some of the converts. Before the time of his return there was a heavy fall of rain and one of the streams that he had to ford was much swollen. In swimming across it his horse kicked him and he sank to rise no more in this life. Mrs. Hearnden died of a broken heart. They were loving and pleasant in their lives and in their death they were not divided. Among those who died should be mentioned little Marion Macklin. Though her name is not found among the missionaries, she did much to win the Chinese to the glad tidings. In her case the Scrip- ture was fulfilled, "A little child shall lead them." She was a source of joy in her home, and not only so, but in the whole mission. Other changes besides those made by death have been made. Mr. Williams resigned in 1896. For a time he was one of the editors of the Shanghai daily papers. Subsequently he was interpreter to the consul-general and for a time vice-consul. It was his desire for a long time to give his life to literary work; he believed that in that capacity he could serve the Chinese more effect- ively than in any other way. Before his resignation he became the editor of the Missionary Review of China; he still holds that position. At the present 436 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century time he is in the employment of the Chinese Govern- ment. He is preparing text books for the Chinese schools. Mrs. Rose Sickler Williams is engaged in the same kind of work. Soon after the death of her husband Mrs. Saw, with the consent of the society, removed to Nankin. China is one of the great mission fields of the world. The population is estimated at about 400,- 000,000. Of these 100,000 are enrolled as believers. There are missionaries in each of the provinces and in Mongolia, Manchuria, Tibet and Korea. When it is remembered that the country has been opened for a few years only, that the difhculties to be en- countered and overcome were numerous and most serious, and that the force even now is comparatively small, the success that has rewarded the efforts that have been put forth and the sacrifices made is ex- tremely gratifying. But what has been done thus far compared with what remains to be done is only as a drop in the ocean. Much is said about the con- servatism of the Chinese. What is said is all true. But the Chinese do move, nevertheless. Railroads are being built, factories are being opened, the min- eral resources of the empire are being developed. Recently a steam launch has been put on the route between Wuhu and Lu Cheo fu. The distance that a year ago took two weeks to cover can now be cov- ered in twenty-four hours. A new day is dawning on that great land. Now is the nick of time for en- larging the work. The first missionaries of the Foreign Society to Africa were sent out in 1897. E. E. Paris was The Period of Fot eign Missions 437 under appointment for more than a year before an associate was found. Mr. Paris is a son of one of our well known Texas preachers. He was educated in Add Ran University. After much searching Dr. Henry N. Biddle, of Cincinnati, vol- unteered and was accepted. He received his educa- tion in the common and high schools of the city in which he was born. Here he took his medical degree. They were a pair of noble brothers. On the fourth day of March, 1897, they sailed out of Boston for the Dark Continent. They went by Liv- erpool and London and Paris and Antwerp. They were six months reaching their field. They went far up the Congo and along seveial of its large afflu- ents seeking a suitable place for their first station. They found a number of such places but the author- ities were not willing for them to occupy them. All sorts of excuses were made. They were told that it would not be safe for them to live among the savage natives. The .fact is they did not wish any Protestants in Catholic territory. The natives begged them to remain among them; they said, ''White men of God, do live and work in our midst." For many months they had no certain dwelling- place. They lived in tents or in the open air. They were down with fever many times. Living thus Dr. Riddle's health failed. His physician told him that his only hope of recovery lay in his immediate return home. He left on a ship bound for Antwerp. The ship touched at the Canaries. He was so low that he was carried to the English hospital. In the course of two days he died. Di. Biddle was cast 438 Reformation of the Nmeteenth Century in heroic mold. There was something in him akin to Livingstone. He gave his life for Africa. As soon as his death was reported the society began to look for some one to take his place. Dr. Royal J. and Mrs. Eva N. Dye volunteered and were sent. They are both from Ionia, Mich. Dr. Dye took his medical course in New York. Mrs. Dye spent two years in Brooklyn in special preparation. The Baptists kindly turned over one of their stations on the Upper Congo to the Foreign Society. They did this because their missions covered more ground than they could cultivate. The property at Bolengi cost over live thousand dollars; it was sold to the society for half that sum. Dr. Dye has two clinics daily. All the diseases that flesh is heir to are found in that region. He has treated the old chief of the village and cured him. Traders resort to the station for medicine. Mrs. Dye is clothing and teaching the children. Mr. Faris is repairing the property, studying the language and preparing to preach the gospel far and near. Frank T. Lea and wife have been added to the force since. This work is a contin- uation of the work done in Africa a generation ago. In January, 1854, Alexander Cross, a freedman, and his family, reached Monrovia. He spent two months pioneering, and preparing for his life work. He overtaxed his strength and exposed himself to the burning tropical sun. As a consequence he took the African fever and died. The Disciples of Christ never gave up the thought of resuming work in Africa. But forty-three years came and went before any man was willing to go out to that field. That The Period of Foreign Missions 439 reproach has now been rolled away. We are doing something to win the people from savagery and superstition and to civilization and Christianity. What we have done is only a beginning. Reinforce- ments must be sent out and the necessary facilities supplied that the laborers may prosecute the work most effectively. VL CONCLUSION. In this concluding chapter it is proposed to give some facts that are deemed to be of general interest. They are as fojlows: I. The Officers. The Foreign Society has had only three presidents. Isaac Krrett served in that capacity for fourteen years. At his death Charles Louis Loos succeeded him; he filled the office till October, 1900, when he declined a re-election. A. McLean was chosen to succeed him. Among the vice-presidents have been Jacob Burnet, James Challen, A. I. Hobbs, O. A. Bartholomew, J. B. Briney, Dr. K. Williams, Robert T. Mathews, B. C. Deweese, E. T. Williams, T. M. Worcester, S. M. Jefferson, B. J. Radford, Dr. A. B. Thrasher, C. J. Tanner, H. McDiarmid, J. Z. Tyler, J. A. Lord, L. E. Brown, G. A. Miller, Geo. B. Ranshaw, A. B. Philputt. Three men have served as treas- urer, namely, W. S. Dickinson, F. M. Rains and S. M. Cooper. The recording secretaries are as fol- lows: B. B. Tyler, James Leslie, S. M. Jefferson, A. P. Cobb, C. W. Talbott, J. H. Hardin, P. T. Kil- gour, I. J. Spencer and S. M. Cooper. The society has had five corresponding secretaries as follows: Robert Moffett, W. T. Moore, W. B. Ebbert, A. McLean and F. M. Rains. J. F. Wright has served as auditor and Dr. P. T. Kilgour as medical examiner. One man, and one only, has been a (440) The Period of Foreign Missions 441 member of the executive committee from the beginning. W. S. Dickinson was treasurer for twenty-one years; since then he has been one of the vice-presidents. F. M. Rains was elected financial secretary in 1893. When Mr. Dickinson resigned, three years ago, Mr. Rains was elected treasurer, later on he was elected corresponding secretary. His duties are substantially the same as they were from the first. His main work is to raise money for the society. Since his election, six years ago, the receipts have increased nearly threefold. 2. Some Early Friends of the Society. In the early years of the society several men assisted the secretaries most cordially. Some of these were state secretaries: those deserving of special mention are Robert Moffett, of Ohio; B. F. Clay, of Kentucky; N. S. Haynes, of Illinois; L. L. Carpenter, of Indi- ana, and J. H. Hardin, of Missouri. They were careful to see that on all state and district programs the work of Foreign Missions was well repre- sented. They invited the secretaries to visit their conventions and made out trips for them among the churches. Robert Moffett took up the collection on Children's Day and forwarded the proceeds in bulk to the society. Prof. J. W. ]\IcGarvey was un- wearied in his advocacy of world-wide missions; with tongue and pen he did what he could to enlist churches and individuals. Mrs. A. A. Johnston, of Dallas, Texas, was one of the warmest and wisest friends the society has ever had. She did not stop with that field; her sympathies embraced the whole world. Timothy Coop and his sons contributed on a gener- 442 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century ous scale. On looking over the books of the earlier years one finds that almost every large gift came from England. In later years A. M. Atkinson, F. M. Drake, J. F. Davis, T. W. Phillips and others contributed largely and regularly. One man to whom the society owes as much as to any other is one who has never had a prominent place in any of our conventions. He has been a steadfast and gen- erous friend of the society since its organization. He has planned and wrought unseen for the enlarge- ment of the work. Comparatively few know his face and fewer still the value of his services. Not more than a score are aware of what he has done for this cause. Russell Errett has been in a position where he could help; he has quietly and persistently and joyfully done what he could to send the gospel to those who are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. In recent years the helpers are so numerous that no attempt can be made to enumerate them and to set forth their labors and sacrifices. 3. The Press and the Colleges. Our religious papers have aided the work most effectively. They abound in missionary information. There is not an issue in the year which does not contain some matter relating to world-wide missions. They have" line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a great deal. The editors give much of their space to articles from the secretaries and from the missionaries, and write stirring articles of their own in the interest of every missionary appeal. Without their co-operation the society could do little. The colleges have made their contribution. In 1875 our The Period of Foreign Missions 443 schools knew nothing at all about missions. The students were not taught anything on the subject and had no interest whatever in it. Now in every school there is a band of missionary volunteers. Some of the schools support their own missionaries on the field. Every student is informed to some ex- tent, and he is more or less interested in this divine enterprise. 4. Finances. The income for the first year amounted to $1,706. In the sixth year the income was $13,178.46. The next year, that is, the year it began work in the non-Christian world, it was $25,- 063.94. The receipts constantly advanced until they amounted to $50,000. Some predicted that was the extreme limit. Notwithstanding this prediction the receipts continued to increase year by year. For several years the society aimed to raise $100,000. Three years ago this limit was reached and passed. Some thought the next year would see a decided falling off, but this was not the case. The next year the receipts amounted to $130,925.70. Last year they amounted to $180,016.16. There has not only been an increase in the contributions, but there has been an increase from year to year in the number of contributors. In the first year of the society's work twenty churches contributed; in the sixth year the number increased to 217. Seven years later the number was 1,038; last year it was 3,069. In the second year of the society's history two Sunday- schools contributed. The Sunday-schools began to make offerings before they were asked. Children's Day was first observed in 18S1; that year 260 schools 444 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century responded. Six years later the number of contrib- uting schools was 1,064, while last year 3,187 made offerings for the support of the work of the society. Even in hard times there was an advance in the re- ceipts from year to year. No year closed without a small balance in the treasury. Every year it is necessary for the society to borrow money to pay the missionaries ai^d helpers. From the time of the annual convention in October to the March offering the receipts do not amount to as much as one-third of the expenditures. From the time of the March offering until the convention the receipts exceed the outlay. The policy of the society 'has always been conservative. The executive committee has been in favor of going as far and as fast as it could induce the brethern to go with it, but no faster. Debt has been studiously and religiously avoided. The Eord has put it into the hearts of the people to give more liberally as the work expanded and its wants multiplied* At each convention there has been a determination to go forward and to enter new fields. There has been no thought of calling a halt or beat- ing a retreat. The war cry for this year is, "Two hundred thousand dollars for Foreign Missions in this the first year of the new century. 5. Bequests and Annuities. The society has re- ceived from bequests from the first $96,351.91. The largest bequests were from the following: Mrs. Emily Tubman, of Georgia; Albert Allen, of Ohio; Abram Farewell, of Ontario; John Stark, of Illinois; Timothy Coop, of England; J. D. Metcalf, of Illinois; Mary O'Hara, of Pennsylvania, and Asa Shuler, of Ohio. The Period of Foreign Missions 445 The first large bequest came from Mrs. Tubman; it was for $30,000. It was received in the nick of time; it enabled the society to erect buildings and to enlarge its work. The other bequests have been used in the same way. The society has received on the annuity plan $61,815. Most of this has been in- vested in buildings on the mission fields. It has been found expedient to house the missionaries and to provide schools, chapels, orphanages and asylums. The missionaries will live longer and do better work because of these conveniences. Besides it is much cheaper to pay interest on this money than it is to rent buildings in the non-Christian world. At the death of those giving the' money on this plan their gifts will belong to the society. 6. Snmmary of the Work. The gospel is preached in nine different countries. The forces in the field number 257. Of these, 11 1 are missionaries; the remainder are evangelists, teachers and helpers. These work at 113 stations and out-stations. Sev- enty-nine churches have been organized. The whole number of members is 5,742. Some have died, some have removed to other places. These are living and under the care of the missionaries. Great numbers of the Gospels and other por- tions of Scripture and tracts have been sold and distributed. The good seed has been sown beside all waters. Schools have been opened in India, Japan, China, Africa and Turkey. The number of children under instruction is 1,406. Some of these are being taught and trained to assist in the work. In four fields there are medical missionaries; they 44^ Reformation of the Niiteteenth Century treat over 40,000 patients annually. The whole amount received by the society from the first is $1,472,608.85. Of this amount $236,000 has been invested in mission property. I^ast year the gain in regular receipts was $27,288.78; this is the largest gain that has ever been made in any single year. This gain shows that the cause of world-wide missions is finding a large place in the thoughts and affections of the people constantly. The outlook is bright and full of promise. There are those now living who will see the Foreign Society receiving and disbursing a million dollars annually. 7. The Co-operation of Other Lands. From the very first England contributed handsomely to the treasury of the society. The women of England now support Dr. Mary T. McGavran and Miss M. L. Clark in Damoh, India. Dr. McGavran has charge of the dispensary at that station. The churches in Australia support three native helpers. They support also Miss Mary Thompson, Miss Pfrunder in Harda, India, and F. E. Stubbin in Damoh. Miss Thompson works among the women of Harda and in the villages round about; Mr. Stub- bin gives most of his time to the industrial school. The women of Ontario and of the Maritime Prov- inces support Miss Mary Rioch in Japan. This is a small part of what is done by the friends of the work in Canada. The Foreign Society is an international organization; its supporters are not confined to the United States. 8. New Work. On the 24th day of October, 1899, four missionaries left for Cuba. Their names The Period of Foreign Missions 447 are Lowell C. McPhersoii and wife, formerly of Buffalo, N. Y., and Melvin Menges and wife, for- merly of Stanford, 111. . They go to Cuba to preach primitive Christianity. While mastering the lan- guage they will preach to the people in English. After they have gained sufficient knowledge to preach in Spanish they will attempt to reach the Cuban population. It is believed that Cuba is a most promising field. The priest-ridden people are ready to welcome those who come to them in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Lathrop Cooley has given the society $5,000 to help establish a mission in the Hawaiian Islands; there are over 30,000 Japanese on these islands. They are at work on the sugar and coffee plantations. Abram E. Cory, and wife, of Oskaloosa, Iowa, have been appointed to labor in that field. 9. Literature. Quite a literature has grown up since the society was organized. Tracts and leaflets have been published and scattered by the million. In the Bethany C. E. Reading Courses there are three books on missions. One is entitled *'A Hand- book of Missions;" this was prepared by the presi- dent. The other two are, * 'Mission Fields and Forces" and * 'Missionary Heroes;" both of these have been prepared by W. J. Lhamon, of Allegheny, Pa. A vohime of missionary addresses from the pen of the president has been published by the Christian Publishing Company, of St. Louis, Mo. A booklet on China has been written by W. R. Hunt; this gives some account of the people, their religions, their customs, their needs, and the missionary work 448 Reformation of the Nineteenth Centtiry that has been done in China. The same writer has given the world a little work on "Evangelist Shi." James Ware, of Shanghai, has published a little book entitled, ''A Peep into a Chinese lyibrary." Other books are in preparation and will appear in time. 10. Tzvo Foreign Tours. One of the most dra- matic and memorable events connected with the work of the society was the sending of Isaac Errett, the then president, to the Holy Land for a season of rest and to gratify a long cherished desire on his part. Fifteen hundred dollars was contributed by his friends to defray expenses. The purse was pre- sented to him at the Kansas City Convention in a most felicitous and touching address by Prof. Rad- ford. The president was taken completely by sur- prise, his tears and broken utterances were more eloquent and more effective than any elaborated speech. Some months after, in company with Z. T. Sweeney, J. T. Toof, W. T. Moore, G. T. Smith and some other friends, he visited Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor and the most interesting places in Europe. The trip was a great joy to Mr. Errett and his family and friends. It is probable that his strength was overtaxed and his life shortened by what his admirers intended for its enrichment and prolonga- tion. Another event similar in character was the sending of the corresponding secretary around the world to see the workers and their work. This action was taken at the convention in Richmond in 1894. Almost enough money was raised at the convention to pay the expenses of the tour. The next July he started; he was gone a year and a The Period of Foreigii Missions 449 month. On his tour he visited the Hawaiian Islands, Japan, China, Hong Kong, ^Malaysia, Bur- mah, India, Ceylon, Australasia, Aden in Arabia, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Cyprus, Asia Minor, Tur- key in Europe, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Ger- many, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, France and Great Britain. He wTote a series of letters de- scribing his experiences and the lands through which he passed. These letters were revised and published in a book entitled, Circuit of the Globe." II. The Chief Need of the Society. The most serious problem before the society is that of getting men to serve as evangelists. There is no lack of qualified and consecrated women; ten apply where one can be sent. There is no lack of medical mis- sionaries; the society can get twice as many as it needs. The most pressing need is that of men to preach the gospel. It took eight years to find a suitable man for Turkey. In the last year the secreta- ries searched the continent in vain for two or three evangelists. Men are needed in Japan and in India. They are needed for the new fields now open. It is difficult to obtain them. There is no lack of men for the army and for the civil service. For every vacancy there are fifty applicants. It is not so in the case of the Foreign Society. When young men who are qualified volunteer, parents and friends oppose. There is no objection when young men offer to go to the Klondike or South Africa to dig for gold. When young men leave home to serve in the army or navy they are congratulated; their departure cause s rejoicing on all sides. It is 29 450 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century hard enough to get money for the work; it is far harder to get men. The church needs to pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 12. The Effect of the Foreigji Society upon Our Other Work. The confident expectation that the work at home would be blessed and prospered be- cause of the efforts put forth to preach Christ where he had not been named has been abundantly justified. For twenty-five years we sought to carry on home work without any foreign work. Our efforts ended in a dismal failure. For twenty-one years out of that time the churches gave less than $10,000 annually. For thirteen years out of the twenty-five they gave less than $5,000. For four years out of the twenty-five they gave less than $3,000. For two years they gave less than $2,000. Only once did they mount up to over $15,000; the next year they fell off almost one-half. As the work abroad has been prosecuted the work at home has flourished. It is not too much to claim that what has been done at home in the last two or three years has been made possible, in part at least, by what has been done to carry the gospel to all the ends of the earth. Twenty years after the Foreign Society was founded Robert Moffett said that the zeal for Foreign Mis- sions had multiplied the zeal for Home Missions everywhere. He saw the hand of God in the or- ganization of the Foreign Society. He saw how this created and fostered a spirit which is indeed the spirit of Christ, and which has been a spirit of life to preachers, Sunday-school workers and church The Period of Foreign Missiofts 451 workers generally. ' 'Wherever this broad missionary spirit has gone, and in the ratio in which it has been dominant, it has united discordant churches, it has lifted mind and heart above contention about small things, it has given new tone to the preaching, it has filled the church with a new and lasting fra- grance, it has organized workers and filled them with hope, it has helped in the education of the Disciples of Christ into Christlikeness. ^ The Lord has been with the society, and the Foreign Society has been a benediction to all those who have prayed for and worked for its success." The Lord has dealt graciously and bountifully with the society. He has raised up men to go out and has sent to the treasury the funds requisite to their support. He has strengthened our faith when it was weak and faint and ready to perish. By the success which has rewarded our feeble and faltering efforts he is calling us to go forward and to do far beyond anything which we have ever dared to imagine. We should respond eagerly and joyfully to his call. As has been said we should push our prows into all ports, and wherever there is a people sitting in dark- ness and the shadow of death, let the shout go up bursting through the valleys and sounding over the hills, ''Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price!" Period of Woman's Work LOIS A. WHITE 4 PERIOD OF WOMAN'S WORK. THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN'S BOARD OF MISSIONS. Then they that feared the Lord spake one with another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. (Mai. 3:16, R. V.) Not until "we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is," will it be possible to read and comprehend the only complete, accurate history — the lyord's "book of remembrance" — of the speak- ing "one with another" of his people that he has used, not only to bring about the organization of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions, but to cher- ish and to advance its potency as a factor in the Lord's plan for the evangelization of the world. Woman's much- maligned wordiness, consecrated and trained for Christ, is used of the Lord in his service to the blessing of both the message giver and receiver. It is possible, however, from our imper- fectly written and read human records to gather some helpful lessons — some apples of gold for the "pictures of silver" in this Silver Anniversary Year of the association. THE CONSTRAINING POWER. Whether we were beside ourselves, it is unto God; or whether we are of sober mind, it is unto you. For the love of Christ con- (455) 456 Reformation of the Nineteenth Ce^itiiry straijieth us; because we thus judge, that One died for all, there- fore all died; and he died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again. (2 Cor. 5: 13-15.) Decades of history may be marked off distinctly by dates on a calendar. In every phase of that which occupies them they will blend. It was in the hither half of the second decade before the Christian Woman's Board of Missions had generally taken as its motto: "The love of Christ constraineth us." Now it will ever abide and lead because of its adop- tion being so well founded on truth, as shown by the history of the association. Many months if not years before its organization the twofold cord of the constraining love of Christ was drawing from far and near those who were to be its members and intelligent advocates. Formally speaking, the Christian Woman's Board of Missions is an association having for its object the maintaining of preachers and teachers for relig- ious instruction, the encouraging and cultivating a missionary spirit and missionary efforts in the churches, the disseminating of missionary intelli- gence and the securing ol systematic contributions for missionary purposes; and also the establishing and maintaining of educational institutions. Organ- ized, however, as it was, in faith in our Heavenly Father, it is a tree of his planting. lyike all things planted under divine guidance and blessing, it pos- sesses those elements of growth which carry results far beyond anything that could have been even dimly outlined in the vision of the servants directed to plant and water. Period of ]Vomaii^ s Work 457 Viewing the Christian Woman's Board of ^Missions in the light of a superstructure, erected on divine foundation, we can well say that the seventy-five women who organized it in Cincinnati, Ohio, in October, 1874, "builded better than they knew." The matchless love of Christ that, along with the mercy of God, led to repentance all who have entered his kingdom, constrained his handmaidens to con- template and draw near to this Savior, who even counted not his life dear that he might redeem unto himself "a peculiar people, zealous of good works." In the passing years of service the divine relation- ship has been strengthened until Christ's followers, in responding to his love for us, have a warm enough love for him to be a constraining influence upon us to no longer live unto ourselves, but unto Him who for our sakes died and rose again. In the variety of statistics that may be considered as tabulating the make-up of this board and the record of the labors progressing under its auspices, never forget that the vivifying power is expressed in the bit of God's Word which is our motto: "The love of Christ constraineth us." Up to a quarter of a century ago perhaps no relig- ious body held more conservative views than ours in regard to the participation of women in the work or services of the church, nor more fully conformed its practice to those ideas. Without any creed-article on the subject, there was a universal custom of pro- hibition. Here and there a woman ripe in years and godliness and wisdom offered a prayer in devotional meetings; here and there, among the churches, was '45^ Reformation of the Nmeteejtth Century a woman's prayer-meeting; but further than this nothing was expected of women, nothing desired by them. But women's missionary societies had ap- peared among our religious neighbors and were being observed with interest by some among us. That may, in some measure, account for the women taking up the work. The cause for divine enterprise of this kind appealing to them is not difficult to trace. The first General Missionary Convention of the Disciples had for its recorded purpose, "A more general and efficient co-operation in the Bible cause, in the mis- sionary cause, in the education cause." The call said: "I^et the brethren from different parts of the United States come together, cultivate each oth- er's acquaintance, and in fear of the Lord consider the welfare of Zion and the means to be employed in extending the boundaries of the Messiah's king- dom." Those responding assembled in the Chris- tian church at the corner of Eighth and Walnut Streets. That was the home of one of the oldest, strongest and most historic congregations in the Reformation, and the mother church in Cincinnati. The city itself was then, geographically and in other respects, the center of our brotherhood. It is said the sort of men who, with intelligence and zeal and full of the best aims and hopes, inaugurated this great assembly, who executed so well its high task and gave by their action enduring form and life to our great, world-wide enterprises in the Gospel, were the most perfect embodiments, in every sense, of our great plea. Is it strange that the more than Period of IVoman^ s Work 459 one hundred and fifty men of that class, from eleven States, representing considerably over one hundred churches, should become in their families, congrega- tions and wide circles of influence, the zealous sow- ers of the seed that in twenty-five years was to bring the organization of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions? C. Iv. Loos wrote of one 1849 attendant: ''What a man was Henry D. Palmer, whose advo- cacy in Tennessee of Apostolic Christianity ante- dates the Campbells, endowed with a bravery and a spirit of sacrifice that rank him among the noblest of men. He was a man of God, whose like we sel- dom see; great in wisdom, eminent in piety, won- drously consecrated in all his being by a life-long study, fully conversant with .the doctrine of Christ, mighty, singularly eloquent, often, as a preacher." A granddaughter of the man thus endowed and con- secrated, Mrs. O. A. Burgess, was the first treasurer of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions, and is now its president. In Louisville, twenty years after that wonderful convention, whose chief object was the organization of a general, world-embracing missionary enterprise, was urged the incorporation in the new "plan" of a provision for such a system of auxiliaries for women as existed in the denominations. But thousfh it was done, the object passed out of sight and mind, I opine, because it was not the fullness of time for the Lord's plan, the Christian Woman's Board of Mis- sions, formed with distinctly separate lines of organ- ization, while gratefully acknowledging the strongest ' 460 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century of Christian family ties and the source of impelling influence to world-wide evangelism. ORIGIN OF THE ORGANIZATION. None but the recording angel can reveal the names of all who were thinking and praying about this matter. Human registration can only select one here and there. In writing the historical sketch of this board, Miss Elmira J. Dickinson, Eureka, 111., who was so interested in the work and conver- sant therewith as to have organized in her own town a local missionary society before there was a national association to which it could be auxiliary, states: *'The inaugurator of organized missionary work among the women of the Church of Christ is Mrs. Caroline N. Pearre." Of the beginnings of this matter Sister Pearre herself testifies: "On the loth of April, 1874, about ten o'clock in the morning, at the close of my private devotions, the thought came to me. I promptly conferred with Bro. Munnell, corresponding secretary of the Geheral Missionary Convention. He responded at once: 'This is a flame of the Lord^s kindling, and no man can extinguish it.' I then began to write letters to our ladies, from whom I received favorable answers." Near the middle of ]\Iay Mrs. Pearre organized a society in her home church in Iowa City, Iowa. About that time a letter that she had written con- cerning it to Mrs. J. K. Rogers was sent to J. H. Garrison, who published it in his paper, The Chris- tian^ with an editorial fervently commending it to his readers. Period of Woman' s Work 461 In a visit that Isaac Errett made to Iowa City in June, he talked the matter all over with Mrs. Pearre and was so thoroughly interested as to write a vigor- ous leader entitled, "Help Those Women," and sent it for the next issue of his paper, the Christian Stan- dard. It was his proposition that the sisters hold a convention on the following October (at the same time with the General Convention at Cincinnati) to organize a Woman's Missionary Board. Through the columns of the Standard and the Christian this was kept before the people and the arrangements made. The response to this call brought together about seventy-five sisters, at whose meeting Mrs. R. R. Sloan, of Ohio, presided. After a full explanation of the purpose of this meeting, by Mrs. Pearre, and the presentation of plans for future work, the matter was very prayerfully and fervently considered. The following day the constitution was adopted, and thus on October 22, 1874, was organized the Chris- tian Woman's Board of Missions, with headquarters located in Indianapolis, and national officers chosen from that locality. A few years later the associa- tion was incorporated under the laws of the State of Indiana. AIM AND SPIRIT OF THE ORGANIZATION. The national officers elected were, president, Mrs. Maria Jameson; recording secretary, Mrs. Sarah Wallace; corresponding secretary, Mrs. C. N. Pearre; treasurer, Mrs. O. A. Burgess. The constitution adopted, besides providing for a ' 462 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century national executive committee and its guidance, stated: "Any number of women contributing annu- ally may form a society auxiliary to the Christian Woman's Board of Missions." Thus at the very beginning of the association provision was made for that dual work which is of God — development of Christian character in its members and sustaining workers in mission fields. The following, from the message of the first president to her first executive committee meeting sets this forth: "As little, insignificant rivulets from unnoticed, hidden springs, running together make the constant larger stream, which hurrying on with swollen wa- ters bears its steady contribution to the great river, so will the mites of the poor widow and the pennies of the children and the dollars of the salaried women and the larger sums of those of independent incomes, flowing together make one great stream pouring forth to water and refresh the fields of missionary labor. "To find and set in motion the smaller sources of means is a special object with us; partly because in a country like ours where few are very rich and as few are abjectly poor, it is the most natural and efficient way to raise money, and partly, that all may share in the reactive benefit that comes to those who con- tribute to a good cause. By a most admirable and beneficent arrangement of Providence the poor can have equal experience with the rich of that remark- able saying of the Master: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive,' for in his service, unlike that oi man's, we receive immediate reward, not accord- ing to the amount of labor expended nor in propor- tionate per cent, upon money invested, but according to the spirit of self-sacrifice and devotion that Period of Woman'' s Work 463 prompts the offering. He who alone knows the hearts of the children of men will give each one a just reward. This also suggests the answer to a common question: 'How much is it my duty to do for this great work?' Christ alone can answer. It is his own work. He calls to us individually, teaching us in this as he does in almost everything, by parable and example rather than by direct pre- cept. Pointing to his own life of toil and deprivation he says in tones of strangely mingled entreaty and command: 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me;' and again: 'He that loveth father or mother, son or daughter, more than me is not worthy of me.' Our neighbor cannot judge for us. We have only to account to and satisfy Him who knows perfectly our circumstances, ability and hindrances." Before leaving Cincinnati in October, 1874, it was reported the treasury contained $430. A resolution was passed to invest all money received until enough accumulated to send a missionary to Jamaica. The acquirement of informed minds and grateful en- listed hearts was earnestly sought in the full confidence that such would delight themselves in the law of the Lord and so discharge their stewardship as to place in this treasury the portion of his money he wished thus used. The last recommendation in a commit- tee report, presented in the convention of 1875, clearly bespeaks the purpose and controlling spirit in the work: "It is recommended that we ourselves as individ- uals give more attention to reading whatever will elevate and encourage a missionary spirit in our o\^n hearts and that we gather all the information possible ' 4^4 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century upon the subject, so as to make ourselves magazines of intelligence; that we consecrate ourselves more entirely to God and to his service; that we practice more self-denial, spend less upon our tastes and appetites (for dress and for luxuries) and devote the money thus saved to the missionary fund, over and above what we as members of the society have pledged ourselves to contribute annually.'' By the adoption of the report these sentiments were made the voice of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions. Is it not well to recall this now, if at all inclined to think that the payment of lo cents per month fulfills all obligations? A committee upon ''Best Methods of Raising Money" reported in the same convention: ''While this committee advises the adoption of all legitimate means for raising money and realizes this matter must be left to the discretion of each congre- gation, we recommend above all, the regular monthly contribution as best calculated to perpetuate our interests and inspire our zeal." JAMAICA, FIRST MISSION FIELD. The Christian Woman's Board of Missions is neither a home nor foreign society alone. As far as practicable those terms are absent from its nomen- clature. It tries to stand close enough to the side of our Savior to obtain his view of the value of a soul as such, regardless of nationality and the clime in which it dwells. "The field is the world," and the reaching of all parts of it with the gospel is limited only by lack of men and women and funds for the prosecution of the work. For convenience in desig- Period of IVouiaji^s Work 465 nation each section of the world-field, taken up for cultivation, is called a field. The first one of these to be entered was the island of Jamaica, upon which decision was made at the time of the organization of the association. The treasurer's report in October, 1875, showed $1,439.23 in bank. This sum seem- ing to justify the employment of a missionary, W. H. Williams, of Platte City, Mo., was chosen, and on the 29th day of January, 1S76, sailed from New York with his wife and child. lie went to tlie field that had been chosen because the Christian Woman's Board of Missions felt called to send a shepherd to those small congregations organized in Jamaica by J. O. Beardslee that had been without a pastor ever since the American Christian Missionary Society had been unable to continue his support. Reaching Kingston February 5,"Bro. Williams received a cor- dial welcome. He preached next day to about thirty in the old, dark, leaky, unpainted chapel on Church street. About three years later he wrote concerning A. S. Darby, employed as teacher in the school at Oberlin: "Bro. Darby is doing exactly the work required, and it is at once a culmination of our plan and prophecy, and pledge of success. Competent na- tives, doing the work among their own people, is what w^e hope one day to see everywhere, and now realize in his case. He and another black boy obeyed the gospel upon hearing the first sermon I preached in Jamaica." At the beginning of his ministry there Bro. Will- iams found in Kingston about fifty Disciples still 466 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century faithful, all colored or black, poor, and most of them very poor. Most of the congregations in the country had ceased meeting, but a good many individ- ual members remained faithful. The period from this time to the close of the first decade of the Chris- tian Woman's Board of Missions in 1884, saw, not rapid but steady, substantial growth. Only a part of the elements and workers therein can be noted. The teaching set forth that hand in hand with con- version and church membership must be taken up the duty and habit of systematic giving to the Lord's cause. Almost without exception the mem- bers pledged the payment of a specified sum weekly toward the current expenses and the repairs on the property that were needed immediately. Some young men sought Bro. Williams' directing and rendered him regular assistance in the prayer-meet- ings, teachers' meetings, Sunday-schools, preaching in various parts of the city and in visiting from house to house, in which he was constantly engaged. One of these was James Tilley, a young English merchant who had been raised in lyondon and con- verted by C. H. Spurgeon, under whom he became an active worker. Within a few months after hear- ing Bro. Williams preach Bro. Tilley, who had been living in Jamaica about two years, united with us and went vigorously to work in schools and cottage prayer-meetings, and also in studying the Word with a view to preaching. He gave up his business and offered himself for mountain work. In March, 1878, he was located at Oberlin to labor under the direction of the board, which agreed to pay him Period of Womaii" s Work 467 $250 per year for a term of three years. In the spring of 1879, on account of the failing health of his wife, Bro. Williams returned to the states. Bro. Tilley then took charge in Kingston, receiving $250 addition to his former salary, Isaac Tomlinson hav- ing been sent from the states in 1880 to follow W. H. Williams in the Kingston work, Bro. Tilley re- turned toOberlin. The record shows him, in 188 1, in charge of Bitoe and Mt. Zion, where he had organized Sunday-schools. He made occasional visits to Ober- lin, where Bro. Tomlinson had rebuilt the chapel. Bro. Tilley was in the employ of the Christian Wo- man's Board of Missions till 1884, when he came to America to take a course of Bible study and in a few years died here. A young woman from Indianapolis, Ind., was presented to the National Christian Woman's Board of Missions, in Cincinnati, in October, 1878. The president said concerning her: "Jennie G. I^augh- lin goes to open a school in Kingston. * * * * She goes also as a missionary to the women of that island, who are sorely needing such teaching, advice and companionship as she is able to give them." Her school opened with 125 pupils of all ^ ages, grades and colors. Patiently and faithfully did Miss Laughlin conduct the school, relying on divine strength in the difficulties of the pioneer period of an enterprise; but in 1880 wrote her decis- ion to return home on account of failing health. Her death occurred Sept. 27, 1881. Upon hearing Miss lyaughlin must leave Jamaica the board employed Marian Perkins to go to King- 468 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century ston as teacher in the training school, to sail Sept. 28. The committee on Jamaica work presented in the 1 88 1 National Christian Woman's Board of Mis- sions Convention: *'Miss Perkins' school has lately passed examination on a very good grade, receiving $123 grant from the government." Her resignation, which was presented to the board in December, 1881, was accepted with a request that it should not go into effect until the beginning of the coming year, that we might not forfeit the government grant by dropping the school before that time. Bro. Tomlinson, who had resigned his Jamaica work for Nov. i, 1881, was requested to extend the time to Jan. i, 1882. December 10, 1881, W. K. Azbill, Louisville, Ky., accepted the call to take the Kingston work and sailed Feb. 3, 1882. At that time we had in Jamaica, besides the Kingston Church, four country churches and four out-stations, with about 700 mem- bers; also several Sunday-schools and day schools. Not far from this time the Kingston congregation removed from the old Church Street chapel to its present home, 70 Duke Street. OTHER FIELDS. In 1880 this board appropriated $750 salary for Miss Crease, assistant to Mrs. Delaunay, of the French mission, in charge of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society. In 1881 it appropriated $500 for this assistant, and $500 also for an assistant for Prof. Delaunay. In April, 1881, it employed Elder Period of Woinaii^ s Work 469 and Mrs. Faurot to labor among the freemen at Jackson, Miss. The corresponding secretary in the annual report presented in October, 1878, stated: "A feeling of almost restless anxiety to undertake more than we are doing at present is manifested. With the growth of our society and the increasing zeal of those most actively engaged, we feel sure, with added diligence, of being able in a few months to extend our labors in some other direction, besides carrying on the Jamaica work." In October, 1881, the Christian Woman's Board of Missions and the Foreign Christian Missionary Soci- ety decided to co-operate in establishing a mission in India. In September, 1882, the company sailed. We sent four young w^omen, Ada Boyd, Mary Kings- bury, Mary Graybiel and Laura V. Kinsey. G. L. Wharton and L. Norton and their wives were sent by the Foreign Board. They located at Hurda, Central Provinces. What is now well known as ''the Western work" of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions had at the convention of 188 1, possibly its first impetus in an address upon "Mission Fields in the West," written by Isaac Errett (in his enforced absence de- livered by A. I. Hobbs), followed by the president's most earnest appeal for such work, and recommend- ation that it soon be opened. The first permanent work undertaken by our board in the homeland was in Montana. In 1882 our only two churches in that territory, at Helena and Deer Lodge, under the leadership of Wm. L. 470 Reformation of the Nineteenth Centtiry Irvine and Massena Bullard, proposed to the board that they would raise $i,ooo provided we would furnish an additional $i,ooo, to put an evangelist in the field. J. Z. Taylor went for six months, beginning June I, 1883. He recommended that the work be divided between two men, giving Helena to one and Deer Lodge and Butte City to the other, as these two dis- tricts lay upon different sides of a mountain range. In October, 1883, M. L. Streator and Galen Wood, both of Ohio, took charge of the Helena and Deer Lodge churches respectively. Neither had a church building, but each congregation met in a court- house. Helena had thirty-eight members, Deer Lodge forty-three. Bach congregation proceeded to build a house of w^orship the next year. Also, in 1884 congregations were organized and church houses were begun in Corvallis and Anaconda, with W. D. Lear minister at the former and J. L. Phoe- nix at the latter place, and preaching was begun at several other points. In May, 1877, the board decided to preserve all life-membership payments as a permanent fund, the interest on which should not be used for five years. The following month John S. Duncan, Indianapolis, was elected trustee for this fund. The first life membership certificates were issued to Mrs. H. Goe and Miss Rosa Goe in April, 1878. In October, 1879, the endowment fund from life-memberships was reported $1,020.50 loaned out. Two years later the interest upon the eudowment fund was dedicated permanently to the support of heathen missions. Period of IVoman^s Work 471 MISSIONARY TIDINGS BEGUN. Until 1883 we had no literature of our own, either permanent or current. True, the editors of our church papers from the first gave us freest use of their columns for the promotion of our work, and these favors were gratefully accepted, but a paper wholly devoted to our mission interests had been greatly needed all the time. Lack of means pre- vented our startiuj^r it until in May of this year, when the first number of the Missionary Tidings was issued, edited by Mrs. M. M. B. Goodwin. It was a small, four-page monthly paper. Mrs. Goodwin's health so failed during the summer that she resigned in Sep- tember following, and a publication committee, Mrs. L. A. Moore and Mrs. S. E. Shortridge, were placed in charge of it. ENLISTING THE YOUNG. This board, divinely designed to inaugurate in the Christian brotherhood teaching missions and train- ing in missionary effort on behalf of our boys and girls, early felt the guiding of the Spirit. At our National Convention in lyouisville, Ky., October, 1875, a committee on "Best Methods of Cultivating a Missionary Spirit and Disseminating Missionary Intelligence" reported: ''In order to cultivate a missionary spirit, we regard it of prime importance that we begin with the young. We, therefore, rec- ommend the adoption of a system of regular contri- butions for missionary purposes in all our vSunday- schools, either by missionary boxes or by setting apart one contribution every mouth. . . . This 472 Reformat ion of the Nineteenth Century plan is recom mended here upon the ground of the influence of systematic^ self-denying benevolence upon mind and heart, The first national superintendent of children's work of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions, Mrs. Joseph King, Allegheny, Pa., says: "Very soon after the organization of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions many of its members, seeing the great blessing it was proving to be in cultivating the spiritual and intellectual life of our sisters, felt that we must add to the first object of its organization the duty of educating the young people of our churches in mission work — not only for the sake of perpetuating and extending the in- flijence of this society, but for the more important one of developing the religious nature of the children and giving them an intelligent interest in the great work that has been opened up to the church in this last quarter of the nineteenth century. Circles and bands were organized as opportunity offered, but it was not until ten years had passed that it was taken up as a special work." At the Missouri State Convention in 1884, Mrs. Eastin, Mrs. King and M. Lucilla Payne had several conferences on the subject and, after earnest prayer, decided to lay the matter before the National Con-" vention, to meet in St. Louis the following week. This was done by Miss Payne. The convention elected Mrs. King for national superintendent and directed the work begun; but it was February, 1885, before the constitution was ready for distribution, and in the Missionary Tidings of that month ap- peared the first letter of the national superintendent. Period of Woniaii^ s lVo7^k 473 The response was immediate and enthusiastic. Of the twenty-eight mission bands organized before October i, the one at Morris X Roads, Pa., reported first. Contributions from bands amounted, to that date, to $147.03. The report for i889-'90 stated the bands numbered 447, and the contributions in that year were $4,927.76; i894-'95, bauds, circles and contributing Junior Christian Endeavor Societies together numbered 670, and contributions amounted to $5,548.61 in the Builders' Fund; i898-'99 bands and Intermediate and Junior Christian Endeavor So- cieties together numbered 999 organizations contri- buting to the Christian Woman's Board of Missions, and receipts to the Builders' Fund totaled $9,157.54. Besides the words of the first national superintend- ent, already quoted, showing her estimate, and that of the board, of "the weightier matters of the law" — the cultivation of the child in those thoughts and deeds that obey the command to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" — the second national superintendent, Mrs. J. C. Black, testified to the same truth. By funds raised through our Young People's Department, buildings have been erected in Japan, the United States, India and Jamaica to the num- ber of twenty-five, comprising chapels, bungalows, school-houses and hospital and orphanage buildings. When a portion of these had been put up Mrs. Black wrote in 1895: "Valuable to our blaster's service as are these buildings, resulting from the financial consecration of our young people, fully as precious in liis sight must be the reflex benefits 474 Refor7fiation of the Nineteenth Century upon the soul development of those called the 'Little Builders' of the Christian Woman's Board of Mis- sions. The superstructure of their Christian char- acters, builded upon the Rock, contains the possi- bilities of personal salvation and of the perpetuation and development of all the varied church activities in the homeland. The scope of the women's work as a developing power is manifested in the indi- vidual lives of the members of our earlier organiza- tions, w^ho are efficient Junior Christian Endeavor and mission band superintendents. Endeavor offi- cials, Sunday-school teachers and practical w^orkers in all lines of local church work. . . This de- partment includes the child in the homeland from the time of its first knowledge of a needy world and a bountiful God to the time when that same indi- vidual becomes a dispenser of God's bounty to the physically, mentally and spiritually needy ones who may be reached by individual or organized work throughout the whole wide world which must be redeemed for, Christ. In foreign lands it includes the helpless children until the time when they can carry the light into the dark homes." The third national superintendent, Mattie Pounds, who has served in that office since 1896, wrote in her last annual report: "The psalmist admonished Israel that they 'shew to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his w^onder- ful works that he hath done. . . . That the generation to come might know these things, that they 7night set their hope in God and not forget the work of God, but keep his conzmandmejtts; and Period of Womeii's IVoj^k 475 might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebel- lious generation.' The desire to further so all-im- portant a purpose actuated some of our sisters to undertake this work, so greatly blessed from the beginning by our God and Father. . . . The superintendents of bands and societies, those who have met with the children week by week duiing month after month, and have patiently trained them for efficient service^ have been the chief est work- ers. . . . The boys and girls have willingly and gladly given part and sometimes all of their lit- tle store that the children in benighted lands might be blessed. Into their giving have often entered a devotion and self-denial of which their elders, in their larger offerings, have known nothing. And the work will surely have the approval and the blessing of Him who still observes what is cast into the treasury." Two years ago the motto, "We for Christ: Christ for all," was adopted for the Young People's Department of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions. From the publishing of the national superintendent's first letter in February, 1885, already mentioned, the Missionary Tidings contained a department that subserved the interests of our children's work as best it could. JUNIOR BUILDERS STARTED. To meet the needs of this growing child the Christian Woman's Board of Missions began with the issue for May, 1890, the publication of the Utile Builders at Work^ an eight-page monthly paper, devoted to our Young People's Department. From 476 Refonnation of the Nineteenth Century the first it lias been an illustrated magazine contain- ing letters from our missionaries and the bands, arti- cles about the places where work was being done with the money from the children, and meeting pro- grams, with helps for the same. With May, 1896, the name became the Junior Builders, The num- ber of pages has been several times increased. In her last annual report Miss Pounds wrote: "The Junior Builders^ the official organ of the department, with the October issue (our convention number), came out in a new dress, and now hopes to be considered a thing of beauty. It has been in- creased from sixteen to twenty-four pages, without increasing the subscription price. The four pages additional to those ordered by the last convention were a necessity, if little stories on the topics for the meetings and short exercises were to be published, for both of which there was great demand. Though the paper is far from self-supporting, yet through its influence is secured the larger part of the offerings for the missionary work in which the young people are engaged." MISSIONARY UTERATURE. Our first president wrote: "There are clearly enunciated three prominent objects existing in the minds of the founders of the society. First. The habit of systematic giving, which was to be not only of practical benefit to all church enterprises, but also a spiritual benefit to individuals. Second. The training of the young in order that the next genera- tion may devise infinitely greater things, and bring to God an infinitely richer, fuller, more joyful serv- ice than this has attained to. Third. The dissemi- Period of IVomaii^ s Work Ml nation of missionary literature — the light to dispel in minds of Christians ignorance and doubts and objections as to God's will and our duty toward the world." She discerned an effort in the last-named object and the germ of our lycaflet Department in the following portion of a committee report read in the 1875 annual convention: ''To endeavor to bring missionary intelligence into the hands of every woman and child in all of our churches, of such a nature and in such a form that they will be induced to read it, we recommend that circular letters or tracts be prepared and addressed to women in all our churches to create a spirit of inquiry as to what w^e are doing; , and that we take measures to have in- teresting missionary matter in all our periodicals — such as incidents in heathen lands calculated to awaken interest in and sympathy for people without the Bible, and items of intelligence with regard to the successful missionary labors of other churches." Of the one hundred or more varieties of leaflet liter- ature that the Board has issued, numbering from 50 to 25,000 copies of a variety, some of the very earliest were written by Joseph King. Mrs. King, Mrs. Atkinson and Mrs. Shortridge were especially active in starting that branch of work which was conducted from the King home in Allegheny City from 1885 until 1889, after the Board was settled in its ofiiice at 160 North Delaware Street, Indian- apolis, and I had gone there to assist Mrs. Short- ridge. Now stockroom and cabinet shelves are crowded with this blessed seed-sowing material, of which thnim nids of packages are being mailed encdi 478 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century year to local society, district and State workers. How many a ''Bishop's Conversion" - has been effected through this means is known only to the ''bishops" themselves and the one who is our Mas- ter. Some of the publications, like Miss Pavne's Historical Sketch," Mrs. Christian's "Christian Woman's Board of Missions Manual," C. C. Smith's "Jamaica Mission," and Miss Dickinson's '^His- torical Sketch," attained almost to the rank of booklets. There is no question about that name being applied to the Junior Christian Endeavor Manual and the Junior Song Book, prepared by Miss Pounds and Mrs. Jessie Brown Pounds. HOUR OF PRAYER. The service of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions, divinely committed to His handmaidens while at the throne of mercy their hearts pleaded, ''Lord, what wilt Thou have me do?" has ever been bound to the throne by chains of prayer. In the May, 1875, board meeting Mrs. Pearre called atten- tion to the fact that the close of the second quarter of that first missionary year had been reached. Summing up what had been accomplished, as a cause for en- couragement, she urged a more prayerful consecration of ourselves; suggesting that all members of the society, far and near, be requested to spend the hour of the regular monthly meeting in prayer. While that was not nationally appointed, its thought aided in preparing the way for the adoption of our "Hour of Prayer" from 5 to 6 p. m. every I^ord's day, the Period of Womaii^ s Work 479 call to wliicli has graced the. editorial column of the Missionary Tidings about ten years. Mrs. Burgess, at Allegheny City, in 1891, in her first national con- vention as president, gave in her address the account of our ^'Hour of Prayer:" "None knew better than the sainted Joseph King the blessing that comes to the Christian through communion with God. He was truly a man of faith. He walked and talked with God. * * * * In the Tidings of July, 1887, under the head, 'A Timely Suggestion,' are these words from his pen: 4n order to succeed in missionary work it is necessary that we read, think and pray. By reading we become intelligent; by thinking we digest what we read and make it a part of our mental and moral constitution; by prayer we set forces in operation and bring about results, without which all else is vain. Would it not be well for the executive committee to fix upon and name a day and hour each week for prayer, when all whose hearts move them to pray may retire to their closets and make united supplication for the cause of missions, for missionaries and their work, and the churches? The improvement of such an hour as suggested would be a means of incalculable good. What an inspiration to our missionaries to know that on a certain hour in every week thousands pray for them. And above all, it would make glad the heart of Christ.' At our national convention the following October, 5 o'clock Sunday evening of each week was set apart as the hour. * * * Do we ever think how Jesus spent whole nights in commun- ion with his Father and our Father? Do we call to ■480 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century iniud Gethsemane, in which Jesus, with his great heart crushed under the load of our guilt, uttered his thrice repeated prayer, closing with, 'Not my will but thme be done'? If there was comfort for the Son of God in such an hour may not we, his followers, hope for coinfort and blessings from the same eternal source? * * * * As one by one our missionaries have gone out, so far as I remember in every instance the last request as they looked into our faces was, Pray for us.' We know that means a great deal, and let us take our vow this day that we will observe that hour in our closets and on our knees if so cir- cumstanced that we can, but under all circumstan- ces that we will bear the missionaries and their work up before God. And do not forget your executive committee, that they may have wisdom from above m the duties that come to them." Small wonder under such teaching and practice, that the ChrisHan Woman's Board of Missions was led, three years ago to adopt an annual Easter week of prayer and thank- offerings, and was ready to heartily join,i„ 1898, with the other mssionary boards in a call to the churches for a monthly concert of prayer for missions. ANN ARBOR BIBLE CHAIR. An issue of the Ann Arbor (Mich.) Evening Times, early in 1898, stated: "In the south side room of the brick house, just dismantled, on the cor- ner of State St. and N. University Ave., then occu- pied by Dr. Arndt, at that time dean of the Homeo- pathic Medical College, there gathered, on a Sundav Period of Woman s Work afternoon in the winter of 1887, a little company of less than a dozen to hold a simple service and make arrangements for regular meetings. None of them were rich; most of them were students, except the Doctor and two mothers of students, but all were enthusiastic Disciples and several were old teachers, accustomed to religious work at home. I.ater they occupied the Congregational parlors, with meetings at 4:30 Sunday afternoons, throughout the college year. Vacations found those students in their vari- ous home churches stirring up an interest for their Ann Arbor mission, till in October, 1891, lo! the dedication of the commodious chapel, so much ad- mired, on the south side of the campus, and a regular pastor. All this had been secured through the aid of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions of that church at large." A tablet in that chapel, inscribed: *'In memory of Sarah Hawley Scott, departed Feb- ruary, 1887," indicates the source of the major part of the money used in its erection. The bequests from Mrs. Scott to the American Christian Missionary Society, the Michigan State Missionary Society and the Detroit Auxiliary were paid to the Christian Woman's Board of Missions to unite with its own and put up this building. These bequests realized a total of $10,719.95. The remainder of the $17,000 expended for the entire property was made up by special contributions almost equally divided between the Michigan Disciples and the members of aux- iliaries in other states. The board also made a direct appropriation of $692, covering insurance and entire furnishing, including heating apparatus. This :5l 482 Reformation of the Nineteenth Centnry house with a seating capacity of 600 stands on S. University Ave., overlooking the university campus and facing the Museum of Natural History. It is thus on a thoroughfare constantly traversed by crowds of students and visitors. It is proving a high- way for the gospel to the nations. Although the "dozen" mentioned in that first group now count a church membership of 208, the last three years re- ceiving 75 by baptism — a far larger per cent, of gain by conversions than has been made by the larger and older churches of the city — the make-up de- scribed in '87 is true to-day — not rich, but enthusi- astic Disciples. It is a mission church, only the last year paying an installment on preacher's salary, but they are faithful and generous to meet heavy current expenses and have share in missionary enter- prises. Besides, in an especial sense its own local church life is not the end of its existence. As the forerunner and coadjutor of our Bible Chair work it will have its chief place and joy. Its first pastor, Chas. A. Young, said: "The heart of the Reforma- tion is the Disciples, the heart of the Disciples is the Christian Woman's Board of Missions and the heart of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions is the Bible Chair work." Bro. Young could have done little or nothing without the intelligent sympathy and royal support of Mrs. Burgess, Mrs. Christian, Mrs. Black, Miss Dickinson, Mrs. Atkinson, Mrs. Miles, Mrs. Ford, Mrs. Thomson, H. Iv. Willett, J. W. McGarvey, J. H. Garrison, and later, Col. Cary, Prof. Kent, Miss Cary, Miss Kent, Mrs. Moses, G. P. Coler and W. M. Forrest. Yet it has ever been Period of Womaji^ s Work 483 lie who at the cost of self-denials known only to the Man of Galilee has made a place for the work at the universities, and in the approval of national edu- cators, and led in informing and rallying supporters. He had been the pastor at Ann Arbor one year when those whom he had interested gave this matter its first publicity, August, 1892, in a Michigan state convention. The committee there appointed to en- courage the endowment of an English Bible Chair in connection with the work already inaugurated in Ann Arbor, reported by Miss Abby Field at the next national convention, Nashville, October 15, 1892, bespeaking its endorsement by the Christian Wo- man's Board of Missions, to secure for the undertak- ing the recognition due from the university officials and the community at large and to make it possible to raise and receive the necessary funds for the endowment of one or more chairs. Mrs. Burgess had bravely prepared the way by saying in her president's address the same day: *'We can see that it is the place and the time for sowing the seed of the kingdom and instilling into the lives of young men and women the teaching of Jesus. This faith- fully done will bear much fruit, even to the ends of the earth. To say that here is the most promising opening for taking hold of the young and preparing them for usefulness in the mission field, of any in our own land, is no reflection upon our own schools. The way is open, if we have the courage to under- take it, for the establishment of an English Bible Chair. * * * * f 1^^ great university is already established there and the courtesies of the institution 484 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century are offered us. The demand for Bible study can oe met by endowing a chair and putting a competent teacher in charge. Wherever our young people gather we should be ready to fit them for usefulness in the work of their choice, w^hether it be the profes- sions of the ministry. Many graduates of our own colleges, going there for special work, are anxious at the same time to pursue their Bible studies. Would it not be wise to take advantage of such an oppor- tunity for good? A work of that kind ought to be done without in any way affecting our general work. Just how, I do not know, but if it is duty the way will be made plain." Sweetly has this prediction been verified as the angels have rolled away the sealed" stones of difficulties and sat upon them, em- blazoning the march of our risen lyord to world-wide conquest. Classes were organized and the teaching began at Ann Arbor in October, 1893. The first instructors were Herbert Willett and Clinton I^ock- hart. They have been followed by Chas. A. Young, G. P. Coler and W. M. Forrest. The report, dated Sept. 8, 1899, contained the following from Prof. Coler: *'The year just closed has been one of the most encouraging years in the history of our work. It used to be a question whether university students would take time for Bible study for which they would receive no credit in the university. This question has been satisfactorily answered in the affirmative. I think you will readily recognize the significance of the following figures, which give the enrollment in the Ann Arbor Bible Chair classes Period of Womaii^ s Work 485 from the time the work was begun to the present date: ^'Nearly all of these were university students. A few were citizens of Ann Arbor or wives of students. Many other students have attended Bible Institutes or lecture courses given under the auspices of the Bible Chairs. Most of those who enrolled in our classes are already Christians. A few have become Christians as the direct result of our instruction and personal influence. One of these, a law student who graduated this year, and who is a young man of fine ability and character, wrote to me this summer as follows: 'I feel like expressing to you at this time my gratitude for your kindness to me. You have made my life richer and better. ^lay God help you to do for others what you have done for me.' How many have been indirectly influenced by this work to become Christians we cannot tell; nor can we tell how many who were already Christians have been influenced by us, directly or indirectly, to hold fast to their faith and to live more earnest Christian lives. But it is interesting to think of the more than six hundred students who have been in our classes as they go forth to all parts of the world to take prominent positions in life. We know that many of them — lawyers, doctors and teachers — are carrying into their professional life a better under- standing of the Bible and a greater enthusiasm for Christian work than they would liave done had they not been in our classes. Not a few have become 1893- 4. 1894- 5. 1895- 6. 1896- 7. 1897- 8. 1898- 9. 56 54 95 130 136 183 Total 657 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century Sunday-school teachers, and thus our Bible teaching is to be multiplied many fold. Some are mission- aries in foreign fields, and several others will soon go to foreign lands to devote their lives to mission- ary work. Nearly all are advocates of better Bible teaching, and some are warm friends of our Ann Arbor Bible Chairs." The Christian Woman's Board of Missions enters the twentieth century with twenty-one stations and out-stations, nine schools, twenty Sunday-schools, thirteen Christian Endeavor Societies and seventeen missionaries in Jamaica; with six stations, six schools, one hospital, two dispensaries, three orphan- ages (containing nearly five hundred children), one Bible lectureship, one leper mission and twenty- seven missionaries besides native evangelists, teach- ers and helpers in India; with one station, two schools and four missionaries in Mexico, and with one orphanage and one missionary in Porto Rico. In the United States University Bible work is conducted at Ann Arbor by Prof. G. P. Coler, assisted by Ernest Wiles; at the University of Vir- ginia by Prof. C. A. Young, and a teacher will soon be located at Lawrence, seat of the University of Kansas. The Chinese mission in Portland, Ore., is in charge of Mr. and Mrs. Eouie Hugh, who are doing good work among their people. Our Moun- tain Mission schools are located at Hazel Green and Morehead, Ky. The former is in charge of Prof, and Mrs. W. H. Cord, assisted by S. H. Nickell, C. C. Smith and Miss Mabel Grey Crosse; the latter is cared for by Prof, and Mrs. F. C. Button, assisted by E. Period of Woman's Work 487 W. McDiarmid, Miss L. E. Rannells and Miss Cora Hook. The Louisville Bible School is in charge of Prof. A. J. Thomson. The Southern Christian In- stitute, located at Edwards, Miss., has quite a corps of teachers. Prof. J. B. Eehman and wife are at the head of the work. The industrial features of this school make many assistants necessary. Associated with Mr. and Mrs. Lehman are A. T. Ross and wife, J. S. Compton, Jennie E. Britton, Effie Haines, Carrie Taylor, J. O. Baker, Mr. and Mrs. Geo. W. Everett. The Lum school, located at Lum, x\la., is in charge of Robert Brooks. The last three schools named are for negroes. In addition to these educational enterprises the Christian Woman's Board of Missions has work in twenty-six States and Territories of the home land, and co-operates wdth the American Christian Mis- sionary Society and the Board of Church Extension in work to wnn America for Christ. The board has State organizations in thirty-six States. In many of these there are women whose time and talent are devoted to fostering the mission- ary spirit in the churches they serve as missionary evangelists or organizers. These are home mission- aries, indeed, and their work has made possible the many enterprises of our missionary sisterhood. There are now 1,732 Auxiliaries, 38 Young Ladies' Mission Circles, 1,711 Junior Christian Endeavor Societies and 177 Intermediate Societies of Christian Endeavor connected with the work. For the twentieth century we plan to enlarge our efforts for missionary education in the church, in '488 Refonnatioii of the Nineteenth Century order that world-wide evangelization may become its rallying cry; to increase our numbers until we have twenty hundred auxiliaries and to make an advance of twenty thousand -dollars. Those who have had a glimpse of God's purpose for his daughters hope by prayerful w^aiting upon him, by simplicity of life and by the power of his love to serve him, through service to his poor, his ignorant, his outcast, his forsaken and his little ones. They are looking for his appearing and would make the twentieth century one of special prepara- tion for the joy of his presence and peace. Lessons from Our Past J. H. GARRISON. LESSONS FROM OUR PAST Thus has been completed, in very bold outline, the history of the Religious Reformation of the nineteenth century, from its inception up to the close of the century in which it had its origin. What has been written is of course but an infinitesi- mal part of what has transpired in these ninety years of struggle with opposing forces, but it will serve the purpose of acquainting the younger gener- ations, as they come upon the stage of action, with the chief events and some of the chief actors in that thrilling drama of religious reformation which con- stitutes a notable feature of the nineteenth century. It will perhaps be a fitting close to this volume to ^append to the history preceding some of the most obvious lessons which that history teaches us. Tt is always profitable to sit as pupils at the feet of the Past to inquire what lessons it has for us that will aid us in making a better use of the future. Surely we who are permitted to look back over the strug- gles, the mistakes and the achievements of our p'ast history ought to be able to gather from it wisdom, inspiration and courage for the unfinished tasks which lie before us. IMMANENCE OF CHRIST IN HIS CHURCH. The first great lesson which finds emphasis in the origin and history of this reformatory movement of (491) 492 Reformation of the Ninetee^ith Century the nineteenth century is the immanence of God in human history, and especially in the history of the church. Stated in terms of Christian faith, this divine immanence is but the fulfillment of Christ's promise to his disciples: ^'I^o, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." In no other way can we account, intelligently, for those great relig- ious movements in the history of the church which have resulted in its purification, in a measure at least, from existing corruptions, and have set it for- ward into new eras of conquest. On what other ground, save that of the presence of Jesus Christ in his church, can we account for those providential men who have been raised up in the great crises of history to deliver a fresh message of truth to the world and to make all the succeeding ages their debtors? In what other way can we justify the claim that ours is a great providential movement, bearing the divine sanction and being the very off-* spring of the Spirit of God, moving on the minds and hearts of men, impelling them to noble thoughts and heroic deeds? On the hypothesis of an '^ab- sentee God," who does not concern himself directly with the ongoing of his church and kingdom, there is no basis, either in faith or philosophy, for such a claim, and consequently no stimulus for the sacrifices involved in inaugurating and carrying forward the work of religious reform. Jesus Christ is the Builder of his own church, and through the centuries the great spiritual edifice is going up under his supervision. He it is who, through successive reformations, corrects those departures Lessons from Our Past 493 from his infinitely wise and perfect plans which have marred the unity and harmony of his spiritual building. In this truth alone have we a rational explanation of the marvelous growth in numbers and in power of those who have committed themselves to the advocacy of this reformation, and of the no less marvelous extension and influence of those truths and principles to which this movement has given emphasis. And this lesson of the personal Presence of the living Christ in his church furnishes, not only an explanation of the origin and progress of our re- ligious movement in the past, but inspiration and hope as well, for its future growth and development. We are not left to the arm of flesh to protect us from defeat, nor to mere human wisdom to guide us safely through th^ perils that may beset us in the future. The same Lord over all, who inspired and guided our fathers in the beginning of this work and wdiose hand has been manifest in the various crises of our history, will still be with us in the years to come, as long as we stand for the defense and propagation of those truths which make for the unity, the purity and the triumph of his church. CHRIST'S PRE-EMINENCE. Closely associated with the lesson of Christ's im- manence in history is that of his transcendence or pre-eminence in the church. The emphasis given by this reformation to the sole Lordship and supreme Leadership of Jesus Christ has been one of its most prophetic notes and has demonstrated once again the 494 Reformation of the Nineteenth Ce^itury sufficiency of that truly apostolic creed which, when confessed by Simon Peter, was declared to be the foundation truth of the church by the Master Him- self. No more important lesson, perhaps, has been taught in our religious history than the unifying and vitalizing power of this confession of faith. It is significant that no teacher or preacher in our ranks who has ever uttered a compromising word about Christ, who has failed to recognize in Him the full- ness of the Godhead, who would pluck one star from his diadem of honor and authority, has ever come into prominence or maintained* an abiding influence among us. Just in proportion as we have exalted Christ, not in word alone, but in actual practice, has the divine blessing rested upon us. "The men who have been in the fullest measure and the nob- lest manner under the prophetic mind of the I^ord, the masters who have been conscious of their Master in heaven, and who have held the task at which they toiled to the judgment seat of Christ,'' says George A. Gordon, "have been the great leaders in Christian history. In so far as they have been sub- ject to this supernal prophetic mind, they have been able to avert the possible disaster; they have been strong enough to realize the possible benefits to the new age of the new development of the eternal truth. . We may assume it as an axiom, that every new movement in human thinking and in human affairs that escapes from the leadership of the Lord, will go to waste. It will prove a sort of Alcibiades. The vaster it is in ^^romise the greater will be the Lessons from Our Past 495 wreck, if the control of the Supreme Mind in history is despised and rejected." There is not on the earth to-day a single religious body which has proven unfaithful to this fundamen- tal truth of the gospel and of history, that is grap- pling successfully with the proldems of our time, and laboring effectively in the divine enterprise of lifting up degraded peoples and civilizations by the dynamic truths of the gospel. It only needs a truer and larger vision of Christ by the church, and obe- dience to such a vision, to heal its broken columns, reunite its alienated fragments, revitalize its luke- warm and lagging hosts, and send it forward on a splendid career of victory. Christ immanent in the church and transcendent over the church is the hope of a reunited and triumphant Christendom. *'THE PRESENT TRUTH." The careful student of the history of this Refor- mation can hardly fail to learn an important lesson concerning the secret of success in any great relig- ious movement. It is the adaptation of the ever- living truth to the current needs of the time. It is to recognize what is "the present truth" for the age and give that its due emphasis. To ascertain what any age needs, as determined by the mind of Christ, and to minister to that need, is to work with God and along the line of his infinite purpose. There is no success, true and abiding, that does not come from co-operation with God. Statisticians and stu- dents of current movements have raised the question '49^ Reformation of the Nineteenth Century without seeming to find a satisfactory answer as to what is the secret of the almost unparalleled growth of this religious movement of the present century. This secret is already manifest in the light of what has just been said. The men who, under God, molded the character of this reformatory movement, saw in the divided condition of the church, and in the prevalence of party spirit over the spirit of unity and brotherly love, a manifest departure from the mind of Christ and voiced His plea for unity among His followers. They saw certain hindrances in the form of creeds and practices which stood in the way of the realization of this unity, and they forthwith sought to move them out of the way. As faithful students of the Nev/ Testament,, they recognized grave departures from the teaching of Christ and His apostles, and sought straightway to restore the simplicity of the gospel, so that men could under- stand it, receive it, obey it and rejoice in its bless- ings. In sounding the note of unity, in exalting Christ above the creeds and making Him the object of faith, and obedience to Him the test of fellowship, in discarding the ecclesiastical and theological jargon of confusing terms and returning to the simpler and purer speech of the New Testament, in emphasizing the sufficiency of the Word of God and the right and duty of every man to understand it and obey it, they were but answering the needs of the age; they were but voicing God's will to the people. This was *'the present truth" which the times demanded. It was God's answer to the cry of the best minds and purest hearts of Christendom for a worthier concep- Lessons from Our Past 497 tion of the gospel and a truer embodiment of the divine ideal of the churGh. No wonder it met with an answering response from the hearts of the people. A movement born thus in the fullness of time and adapting itself to the needs of the age, might be reasonably expected to succeed. The only marvel, as we stop to think of it, is that it has not succeeded more universally than it has. But the lesson to be drawn from the facts just stated is too obvious to escape attention, and is too important to be passed by without a word of emphasis. We are to keep in touch with the times in which we liv£. Our relig- ious work must have reference to the religious needs of the men and women of our time. Our battles must be fought with the enemy which confronts us to-day. Our fathers served their generation, and we must serve ours. We are, of course, to hold on to all the vital truths to which they held, but must give them such proportion and emphasis as will adapt them to existing needs, and must add to them such other truths as may come into prominence by the changing circumstances and the ever-enlarging -revelation of God. To fail at this point would not only be disloyalty to the fathers, but disloyalty to the leadership of Christ, who leads his true followers forward into new situations, new aspects of truth and new triumphs over the powers of darkness. Those who count it heresy to go beyond the limits of the territory explored by the fathers have lost the spirit of reformation and have become such as need to be themselves reformed. 32 49^ Refonnation of the Nineteenth Century OUR ESCAPE FROM BONDAGE. We were not long in learning that, though reform- ers, we must bear our part in the great enterprise of the world's evangelization. No religious body can long escape the blight of sectarian narrowness and Pharisaic legalism that contents itself with propagat- ing its own peculiarities, while giving no emphasis to the common faith, and bearing no part in winning men from the power of Satan unto God. It was forty years from the Declaration and Address to the or- ganization of^ the American Christian Missionary Society — the exact period of the time the Israelites wandered in the wilderness before entering upon the conquest of Canaan. This is not a long period in the history of a religious movement. We, too, had to escape from the bondage of our taskmasters — the creeds and traditions of the past — cross the Red Sea of persecution and opposition, tarry at Sinai awhile for the law — a "thus saith the Lord" for methods and plans, as well as for faith and duty — engage in several theological conflicts with the Amalekites, the Amorites, the Midianites and other hostile tribes, before we were at last prepared to assert our freedom, cross the Jordan of missionary plans and enter into co-operative, organized effort for the conquest of the land which the Lord our God had given us. From thenceforward the current of our religious life flowed on in an ever-deepening and ever-widening channel. Lessons from Oin^ Past 499 LESSONS FROM OUR MISSIONARY WORK. What lessons have our fifty years' experience in co-operative missionary work taught us? 1. It has taught us the value of organization. Individual zeal and devotion to the cause of Christ will not alone suffice for effective work in advancing the kingdom of God. In proportion as we have organized our forces, our work has grown more effective. Organization, however, must ever be regarded as means to the end, and not an end in itself, and should be in the simplest possible form to accomplish the purpose in view. What w^as known in our history as the Louisville Plan" was admir- able, no doubt, as a piece of missionary machinery, but it was entirely too complicated for the people for whom it was intended. For this reason it proved a failiTre. Simpler methods have proved far more successful, and it is probable that the process of sim- plification and unification needs to be carried forward to still greater perfection. 2. Fifty years of experience has taught us the inutility of wasting time in the discussion of script- ural plans for carrying on missionary work. This is bondage to the letter. Vastly more might have been accomplished than has been achieved during this half century if the time, talent, energy, and space in our religious journals, which were devoted to the defense of this or that plan^ had been used for the education of the churches as to the needs of the world and the obligation resting upon Christians to carry out Christ's last and greatest commission. 500 Refor^nation of the Nineteenth Century 3. Our experience has taught us the vital con- nection between the spiritual life of the churches and the growth in mission work. Just as our churches have increased in faith, in piety and in Christian knowledge, they have increased their mis- sionary offerings. The missionary spirit is only an- other name for the spirit of Christ. Artificial meth- ods of securing missionary contributions must prove a failure. Nothing short of the building up of the churches in spirituality, and the development of a Christian conscience, can afford an adequate and permanent basis for missionary operations. 4. We have learned that the distinction between Home Missions and Foreign Missions is arbitrary and without any basis in the New Testament. The work is one; the gospel has no geographical limita- tions. As a mere iriatter of convenience of desig- nation we may refer to the different departments of the work by the terms ^ 'home" and "foreign," but any arrangement or method that treats them or causes them to be regarded as rival interests should be discouraged. Our field is the world. Our neigh- bor is the man whom Sin has wounded and robbed of his true m.anhood, whether he be in our own fav- ored country or in lands beyond the seas. With the Stars and Stripes waving on the opposite side of the globe, and with the whole world bound closer to- gether by rapid communication, there is no foreign country in the old sense of the term, and there can be no foreign missions in the ancient meaning of the phrase. 5. We have learned, during these fifty years of Lessons from Our Past co-operative missionary effort, that nothing tends more to the preservation of unity among the churches and the brethren in different parts of the country than active participation in missionary work. There is something so unselfish, so Christlike, so noble in conception about the enterprise of disseminating the truth of the gospel in our own and other lands, and in lifting up degraded peoples to a higher civiliza- tion, as to broaden the minds of all who are en- gaged in it. It diverts attention from those smaller questions about which controversies and divisions have arisen, and directs the thoug^ht and enero-ies of the people into broader and more useful channels. Just in proportion as the missionary spirit has grown among us has the spirit of controversy over unprofitable questions diminished. The great con- vocations held in the interest of missions, in which the representative men and women from various sec- tions of the country meet and mingle together in fraternal counsel, and in which the bonds of per- sonal friendship and Christian brotherhood are strengthened, have tended mightily toward keeping "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Nor is unity the only benefit derived from the re- flex influence of our mission work. Just as we have come face to face with the problem of saving men from the dominion of sin, whether in our own or in other lands, and have witnessed the transforming and elevating power of the gospel, our confidence in it as "the power of God unto salvation" has been quickened, and we have been saved from any de- parture from the evangelical faith. We have learned 502 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century that no church can be evangelistic that is not first evangelical. There is no test of the religious faith of any people so severe as its capacity for dealing with the great problem of the world's redemption and its actual success in the work of saving men. Our experience in mission work has taught us the supreme value of prayer and the need of the Holy Spirit. There are difficulties of such magnitude to overcome in the prosecution of the stupendous en- terprise of the world's evangelization, that those who are enlisted in it are driven to God for wisdom and strength to carry it forward, and to form an al- liance with heaven in order to overcome the oppos- ing forces. In a word, we have learned that there is no other way of developing a robust Christian faith and life in our churches than by enlisting them fully in the work of saving others. TWO IMPORTANT AGENCIES. 6. One of the great lessons emphasized in the history of our past, and especially in connection with our missionary work, is the very important part which has been accomplished by two important agencies, viz., our colleges and religious journals. From the very beginning of our history our move- ment has felt the mighty impulse and has been guided by .the wisdom of educated men, who re- ceived their training in Christian colleges and uni- versities. It would have been utterly impossible for the Reformation to have attracted the wide atten- tion, and to have commanded the respect which it Lessons from Our Past did in the beginning, without the advocacy of the scholarly men who consecrated their lives to it. This has been true of every subsequent period of its history. Our institutions of learning, from old Bethany to the youngest of our colleges, have con- tributed mightily toward making this movement what it has been and is. They have rendered us a service out of all proportion to the recognition they have received from us, especially in the way of finan- cial support. We shall prove false to one of the plainest and most important lessons taught by our past history and by the growth and demands of our missionary work if we do not endow far more liber- ally than we have yet done those institutions of learning among us whose usefulness has been tested through long years of faithful service. Than this no greater nor more urgent duty rests upon this brotherhood to-day. This is said on the assumption that we believe in the very highest consecrated learning; that we are not afraid of the light, through whatever medium it may shine; and that there is room among us for the broadest and profoundest scholarship, pro- vided only it be sanctified by Christian faith. Other- wise, let us burn our colleges, and thereby save our- selves the trouble of burning (metaphorically) our heretics, who may dare to bring the light of modern research to the solution of old-time problems. But if we are not prepared for this heroic measure — as I am sure we are not — then let us burn our criminal indifference to the claims of Christian learning and anr short-sighted illiberality toward our own schools, 504 Refo7nnation of the Nineteenth Century in the flames of an all-devouring passion for truth, and in the light of this glorious bonfire our colleges and universities will bound forward upon a new and broader career of power and usefulness. Along with our colleges our religious journals have played an important part in our history. Let us admit that it has not always been a wise part. No one who knows all the facts can deny that many evils among us, and many hindrances to our work, can be traced to our religious journalism. But when this has been frankly confessed, it remains true that we have been largely dependent upon our religious journals for the education of the people in the truths and principles which we hold dear, for the dissemin- ation of religious news, for the development of the missionary spirit among our churches, and for car- rying forward all the lines of our general work. They are the medium, very largely, through which others gain a knowledge of these principles for which we contend. They have had their limitations, as have the colleges, through lack of proper support, but such as they have been and are they have filled and are filling a most important and responsible function in the furtherance of the cause we plead. They need no other endowment than the confidence, good will, patronage and interest of the people, with a good deal of patience, no doubt, for the short- comings and mistakes of their editors, who, in spite of the attribute of omniscience popularly ascribed to them, do occasionally manifest human limitations! There is, perhaps, no one feature by which any re- ligious body is more surely rated, or sized up, than Lessons from Our Past 505 the character of its journalism, for that will be about what the people it represents demand that it shall be, and what they demand their religious papers to be is a sure index of what they are themselves. Is there any agency among us half so potent for good or for evil over which the brotherhood has so little direct control? Is it too much to hope that relig- ious statesmanship among us may be able to find some way by which our papers may receive from the brotherhood both the support and guidance they need without interference with that liberty of the press which is a bulwark of religious as well as of civil liberty? No careful student of the past fifty years of our history — a period marked by intense evangelistic zeal in the home field — can fail to be impressed with the lesson that we must give much greater attention in the future to providing for the spiritual needs of the unshepherded flocks among us than we have hitherto done, if we would avoid the reproach of neglecting our own offspring, or present to the world, in our local churches, our conception of the New Testament church. \ In throwing off the chains ^ of a former ecclesiasticism, which neither we nor our fathers were able to wear, we have run into an extreme individualism, or congregational indepen- dency, which has proved fatal to the spiritual life of many weak churches, and which has been the chief barrier in effective co-operation in missionary, edu- cational and benevolent work. One of the chief tasks set before the leaders among us of the present generation is to devise some system bv which the 5o6 Reformation of the Nineteenth Century weaker churches may be provided with pastoral care, and unemployed ministers of approved character and ability be utilized in the accomplishment of this end. We ought certainly, by this time, to have reached a stage in our spiritual development when our sense of moral obligation to churches that are languishing and dying for lack of proper care should overcome all scruples concerning mere methods which do not interfere with the liberty of the churches nor the rights of the individual conscience. Jesus Christ has given to his church all necessary authority for doing whatever is essential to its well- being, and the great Shepherd will hold us respon- sible for the just exercise of this authority in caring for the weak and perishing flocks of his one spirit- ual fold. Not until this task is accomplished in some good degree can we carry out what we all feel to be a supreme duty of the hour, namely, the train- ing of our churches and membership in a more thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, deepening their spiritual life and in securing their hearty co- operation in the work of 'extending the kingdom of God among men. SECRET OF UNITY. Before closing this brief glance backward along the shining track of the past for lessons to guide us in the work of the future, I wish to call attention to one or two other points which seem to me to be of supreme value in their bearing on our future welfare. It is a matter of profound congratulation and of gratitude to God, as we study the history of these Lessons from Oicr Past 507 fifty or ninety years that lie behind us, that we have been able to maintain, throughout all the discussions and differences of opinion which have arisen, not only the essential unity of faith, but also an e'ssen- tial unity of the body. Divisive spirits have arisen, here and there, along our history, speaking perverse things and seeking to draw away followers after themselves, but their efforts have uniformly come to naught. The great body of disciples who have gath- ered under the banner of this Reformation have stood loyal to its f'-ndamental principles and are to- day, without the aid of authoritative human creed or confession of faith, as united a body of believers as can be found in all Christendom. In looking for the secret of this unity which has existed in spite of that individualism and independency so characteris- tic of our movement,- we find it readily in that fun- damental principle to which our fathers gave em- phasis, which makes Jesus Christ the supreme object of faith and loyalty to him the supreme test of fellowship. Taking up the old cry of Rupertus Meldenius, which comes down to us from the days of fierce dogmatic controversy following the Luth- eran Reformation, and which translated in modern form is, "In faith, unity; in opinions and methods, liberty; in all things, charity,'' we have sought to make it a vital principle, and the working basis of a practical Christian unity. Not our own history alone, but the history of the church universal, teaches that it is the violation of this principle that has brought about division in the body of Christ and filled the pages of ecclesiastical history with the 5o8 Reformaiion of the Ni7teteenth Century notes of controversy and strife among brethren. Whatever discord has marred our awn history, and detracted from the influence of our plea for unity, has arisen largely from unfaithfulness, on the part of some, to this cardinal feature of our Reformation. It is important, at this threshold of the new century, that we revive our fealty to this principle, which is, after all, but the exaltation of the Lord- ship of Jesus Christ above human opinions as the very Magna Charta of our religious liberty. It is a foregone conclusion that there must be differences of opinion and of judgment among free and indepen- dent people, who have been trained to think for themselves on every great question which concerns their present and eternal well-being. It can not be otherwise. I do not know that it is desirable that it should be otherwise, for out of this very conflict of opinion has come most of the progress in our re- ligious thinking. If, therefore, our bond of unity in Christ is not sufficiently strong to hold us togeth- er in spite of differing views concerning questions of interpretation and criticism, then our plea for unity is vain, and our Lord's prayer for unity is destined never to be realized. In an address delivered by President Angell, of the University of Michigan, be- fore the recent International Council of Congrega- tionalists, in Boston, he said concerning that body of believers what is equally true concerning our own brotherhood: "We must have large liberty of thought and ex- pression in our fold. We have always emphasized Lessons from Our Past 509 the importance of high scholarship and intellectual activity, especially in our teachers and preachers. We must not cripple their usefulness on the plea of preserving orthodoxy by binding them in the meta- physical or exegetical fetters which men no more enlightened nor devout than they have forged in the past. We best honor the fathers by renouncing their errors. Sincere and earnest disciples of our day must be permitted and encouraged to pursue with courage their studies in the fuller light which scientific, archaeological and critical research has shed upon their path." Equally true and significant are the words spoken by Dr. J. Marshall Lang, of Glasgow, Scotland, be- fore the late Pan-Presbyterian Council in Washing- ton: "The churches which this council represents will command the attention of the age only in the meas- ure in v/hich, without lowering either their testi- mony or their ideals, they recognize and make room for its trends and nabits of thought and its expan- sions and complexities of life. We are not worship- ers of the past. But if it is a false liberalism which ruthlessly tears the present from the past, it is an equally false conservatism which insists that the molds into which the conclusions of a bygone period were cast shall remain fixed and rigid for all further periods." It would be strange, if we, who claim to have come into an inheritance of a larger measure of re- ligious liberty than our religious neighbors, should claim for ourselves less intellectual and spiritual freedom than these denominational leaders demand 5IO Reformation of the Ninetee^tth Century for the churches which they represent. We can not do it and be loyal to the plea of our fathers. If we have in any degree contributed to that progress in religious liberty which finds expression in such sentiments as we have quoted, we would prove re- creant to a great mission if we did not illustrate in our history that broad spirit of fraternity and unity in Christ which we have urged upon others as an essential condition of bringing about that unity for which our I^ord prayed. LOYALTY AND LIBERTY. lyct US, indeed, be loyal to the Scriptures, as our fathers were; but let us manifest that loyalty by our willingness to accept whatever light helps us to a better understanding of their history and sacred con- tents. lyCt us, indeed, "contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints;" but let us not contend with each other over differences of opin- ion to the overthrow of faith and the confusion of saints. I^et us, with Paul, pronounce an anathema upon all who would preach "any other gospel than that which has been preached;" but let us pronounce a blessing upon every son of light who can give us a clearer insight into that gospel, a better interpre- tation of its meaning and a truer and wider applica- tion of its principles to the condition and needs of our time. Let us, indeed, "walk in the old paths;" but see to it that our faces are turned in the right direction, and that we place no barbed- wire fence across those paths which would prevent inquiring souls from going out in quest of higher truths and Lessons fj^om Our Past nobler attainments in Christian life. Let us, indeed, be zealous for the truth delivered unto us by our spiritual fathers; but let us never doubt that God has other truths for other ages and generations to emphasize, and that if we have the spirit of reform- ers which they possessed, God will have a message for us to deliver to our age, as he had for them to deliver to their age. Let us, indeed, stand unflinch- ingly for the doctrine taught by Christ and his apos- tles; but let us not neglect that divine charity or love, without which all our knowledge and all our faith are but as "a sounding brass and a clanging cymbal." We have, indeed, been dull students of history, and of the New Testament as well, if we have not learned the supreme excellence of love as an essen- tial condition of unity and of progress. In our zeal for restoring the "ancient order of things" let us, above all things, restore that love which "bears all things," "is not easily provoked," "rejoiceth in the truth," cares for the widow and the orphan, com- forts and ministers to aged and destitute preachers of the gospel, reaches down helpful hands to lift up the fallen and the oppressed, and stands For the right against the wrong, For the weak against the strong, For the poor who've waited long For the brighter age to be. CHRISTIAN UNION IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. Standing on the heights of the twentieth century, it is not difficult to forecast the working out of some 512 Reformatio)! of the Nineteenth Ce^tttiry of those vast problems which the past century has lelt unsolved. Among these great problems is that of the unity of Christ's followers, the advocacy of which has been so prominent a part of our own re- ligious movement. I make no pretensions to be able to forecast the future except along the broad lines of God's infinite purposes. I believe Christian unity is to come, but the how and the when of its coming I am willing to leave to God. If it be ac- cording to God's will that it shall come differently from w^hat we formerly supposed it would come, this fact would render none the less important the service we have rendered in our plea for unity. If it be according to God's plan to break down the bar- riers of denominational prejudice, and bring these several bodies of believers into such conformity to his will in things essential, and to so abate party spirit and soften denominational lines as that we may all co-operate together under the leadership of a common Lord, until, gradually, denominational names and party shibboleths shall be outgrown, rather than the sudden breaking up of these denom- inational organizations, who are we that we should withstand God? If we may judge from his dealings with us and with the religious world about us, this is, in all probability, God's method of bringing about the unity of his people. But whatever may be the plan, and whatever the process, the essential unity of believers under the common Headship of Christ, and their co-operation in united efforts for the overthrow of Satan and the extension of the king- dom of God on earth must come, and their coming Lessons from Our Past 5^3 must antedate the millennium and be the means of ushering it in. CONCLUSION. All hail, then, the growing consciousness of unity among the severed children of God! All hail the free intermingling, in interdenominational organiz- ations and conventions, of evangelical believers of every name and creed — a prophecy of that time foretold by the Master, when his scattered sheep shall be gathered, and there shall be "one fold and one Shepherd." All hail the advancing banners of our own great missionary organizations, whose pur- pose it is to carry this gospel of unity and lib- erty, love and brotherhood, unto the ends of the world! All hail the signs to be seen on every sky and in every land, which indicate that the despised Prophet of Nazareth, who was slain by his genera- tion, is marching on triumphantly to the conquest of the world! All hail to the veterans of the Reform- ation, who have come down to us from the heroic past, and whom God has spared to see this day of glory and triumph! All hail to the younger genera- tion of reformers — a vast throng — who have come into this inheritance of religious truth and liberty, and who, guided and instructed by the lessons of the past, are to go forth under the leadership of Christ to fight other battles and win other victories for God and the right. May the spirit that was in the fath- ers— the spirit of unconquerable devotion to truth and of unswerving loyalty to Christ — be also in them, and may their eyes witness triumphs of truth 33 ^ 514 Refoj-mation of the Nineteenth Century and righteousness in the earth, which it was not given our fathers nor us to see. So shall the sowers and reapers rejoice together in that greater Jubilee of a united and glorified church and of a redeemed world. Date Due J/130'53 ^^^^^^^^^^ MLllililML