Chapter III: Thomas Campbell

For the present I turn from the work of Stone to that of the Campbells. Chiefly because of failing health, Thomas Campbell, an humble, but intellectually and spiritually-gifted minister of the Seceder Presbyterian Church in the parish of Ahory, Armaugh County, Ireland, determined to seek for himself and for his family a home in this country. He came alone, intending to send for his family as soon as he had established himself. He arrived in Philadelphia May 27, 1807. The Seceder Synod of North America was in session in that city when he landed. He at once presented his credentials to that body, was cordially received, and at once assigned to the Presbytery of Chartiers, in Southwestern Pennsylvania. As soon as he became settled in his new home he began in a very earnest way to exercise his ministry as a member of the presbytery, which embraced a number of counties. He had come to this country as a zealous missionary of the cross, filled with the love of souls. Already in Ireland, through various influences, he had learned to cherish a liberal religious spirit, to esteem as of little value the barriers that separate into sects.

CONFLICT WITH THE SECEDERS

The Seceders constitute one of the "straitest sects" of the Calvinistic faith, and even to this day they will not affiliate in full fraternal fellowship with other Presbyterians. It was in the matter of the communion that the severe test of fellowship was applied. Thomas Campbell had come to this country with his heart filled with a burning zeal to labor in the Lord's vineyard, and in largest charity for all communions, while still maintaining sincerely and fully his relations to his particular communion. He believed that in this freest land men's hearts would necessarily 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 to the tyrannous dictates of human traditions or human policy. "This grave 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 law of the Lord, in the word and spirit of the Gospel, which is 'the law of liberty,' was Thomas Campbell's supreme rule of life."

It is interesting to unfold the events which led to the final crisis that inaugurated actually and in a formal manner the restoration movement. The Seceders were not very numerous within the limits of the Chartiers Presbytery; the power of expansion was not in them. Mr. Campbell 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; and his deep religious fervor and zeal and his rare courtesy of manner won the hearts of the people. He did not respect in his labors the narrow spirit and strict, illiberal rules and habits of the Seceder Church. Besides this, he had found near him a number of excellent people who had come over from Ireland, Presbyterians and Independents, some of whom had been his acquaintance and cherished friends in his native land. These gathered around him, and he promptly took them to his heart in his ministrations as brethren. This kind of freedom, however, was not in harmony with "the usages" of the Seceders. Later on he took a step which went even further than this, and thus in a very decided way transgressed the established custom of the Church.

He was sent on a missionary tour with a young preacher, a Mr. Wilson, up the Allegheny Valley, above Pittsburgh, "to hold a celebration of the sacrament among the scattered Seceders of that then sparsely-settled region. He found there many members 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." Campbell could have no fellowship with such bigotry. Mr. Wilson soon discovered that Campbell had no regard for sectarian differences and prejudices and that he was not sound in the Seceder faith. "His conduct of inviting those not of his Church to partake of the communion was an overt act of extreme transgression that could not be overlooked;" but he made no objection at the time this grave offense was committed. 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 "Campbell had expressed his disapprobation of things in the 'Standards' and of the practical application of them."

The presbytery, already much dissatisfied with his liberal course, readily took up Wilson's charges. But they had before them a man who, although ever remarkably inclined to peace and warmly attached to the Seceder Church, would, nevertheless, not yield to any human authority against his convictions in matters of serious import. The present was a decisive moment in his life, reaching in its effects far beyond what was then thought.

After an investigation, which called from him a most earnest plea in behalf of Christian liberty and fraternity, he was found deserving of censure. In vain did he protest the treatment he had received at the hands of his brethren. In vain did he appeal from the presbytery to the synod. Party spirit was unyielding. He had expressed sentiments, it insisted, which were "very different from sentiments held and professed by the Church." This, it held, was an altogether sufficient ground of censure. From that time many of his fellow ministers became inimical to him and were disposed to inflict on him at every opportunity their petty persecutions.

Unjust as he 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; 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 deference to the judgment of the court; that by so doing he might not give offense to his brethren by manifesting a refractory spirit." After this concession he hoped that he would be permitted to continue his labors in peace; but, much to his regret, the hostility of his opponents continued. Misrepresentations, calumny, anything that would detract from his influence, were employed against him. Spies were employed to attend his meetings, that, if possible, they might find fresh ground of accusation in his utterances. At last, worn out with these efforts, and having satisfied himself that corruption, bigotry and tyranny were inherent in existing clerical organizations, he decided to sever his connection with the religious body to which he had given life-long support, renouncing the authority of the presbytery and synod. That this final decisive step caused him much grief can not for a moment be doubted; 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 an impartation of a strength of soul he never knew before.

These painful experiences soon led to important consequences. By his forced withdrawal from the presbytery he found himself without church affiliations. But this only quickened his zeal in the efforts to extend Christ's kingdom. He had gained a wide and strong influence in the region in which he lived. No meeting houses were at his command; but he held his assemblies, after the pioneer fashion, in private dwellings, barns, schoolhouses and under green trees. In these labors it was no part of his plan to organize a separate religious party. Such parties were already too numerous. At first it seems that he had no definite plan of action. He had simply determined to use his strength in such ways as Providence should open to him, in putting an end to partyism, by inducing the different denominations to unite together on the Bible. In this purpose many of his neighbors heartily sympathized with him, though shrinking from the conclusions to which they were being irresistably driven.

At last the time seemed ripe for some forward movement. He therefore determined to adopt what he believed to be the best course to promote the interest 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 approbation. A day was named and at the appointed hour a large company assembled in an old farmhouse in the neighborhood. The company was composed of thoughtful men and women, deeply conscious of the importance of the occasion. They were plain, hard-working pioneers, but they were men and women of faith, whose hearts were pained at the division into warring sects and parties. Though belonging to different religious parties, they had met to seek a pathway of closer fellowship.

A feeling of deep solemnity pervaded the entire assembly, when at length Mr. Campbell arose to address them. The theme of the occasion had grown to be the burden of his heart. He gave a clear exposition of the situation and of the object of the assembly. The events that had led to the calling of this meeting, well understood by all, had made a deep impression upon them. The discourse was a strong argument against sectarian divisions and in behalf of Christian unity on the Bible as the only infallible standard of doctrine and practice, to the rejection of all human traditions. He concluded this remarkable discourse by urging with great earnestness the adoption of the following principles as the rule of their future action and life as Christians: "_Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent._" This bold maxim was so just that no one of the audience, prepared as they were by previous teaching, could for a moment hesitate to accept it as right. These people could not help seeing the effect of this law on some of the most familiar practices of the denominations to which most of them belonged.

THE DECLARATION AND ADDRESS

This discourse to which reference has been made, closed with: "Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent," and produced a profound impression on the audience. The majority of the audience were ready, unhesitatingly, to give a hearty assent to this great declaration. But the troublesome question arose, "Where will it lead us?"

When Mr. Campbell had concluded, opportunity was given for free expression of views, whereupon Andrew Munro, a shrewd Scotch Seceder, arose and said: "Mr. Campbell, if we adopt that as a basis, then there is an end of infant baptism." This remark and the manifest conviction that it carried with it, produced a great sensation, for the whole audience was composed of pedobaptists who cherish infant baptism as one of their cardinal doctrines. "Of course," said Mr. Campbell, in reply, "if infant baptism is not found in Scripture we can have nothing to do with it." This bold declaration came like a new revelation to the audience. Thomas Acheson, one of Mr. Campbell's closest friends, in a very excited manner arose and said: "I hope I may never see the day when my heart will renounce that blessed saying of the Scripture, 'Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven!'" Upon saying this he burst into tears, and was about to retire to the adjoining room when James Foster, well informed in the Scriptures, called out, "Mr. Acheson, I would remark that in the portion of Scripture you have quoted there is no reference to infant baptism." Without offering a reply Mr. Acheson passed into the adjoining room to weep alone.

This new turn of things, so unexpected to them, did not lessen their confidence in the position they had taken, or in the man who was leading them onward. At the end of the conference the great principle was adopted without any real opposition. It would have been difficult for them to object to a profession so manifestly loyal to God and so impregnably founded in the Holy Scriptures. The principle, so universal in its application, and its controlling authority in all things that concern the faith and practice of the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, became henceforth the watchword and directive law of action of those endeavoring to restore apostolic Christianity. Some of those who started out in this great movement, when they saw more clearly the inevitable, logical result of the great principle now adopted, one after another broke off all connection with this work.

They now began to feel that in order to carry out with successful effect this noble purpose they must organize themselves into a well-ordered, permanent association. At a meeting held August 17, 1809, it was decided that they would formally unite themselves into a regular body, under the name of "The Christian Association of Washington." They then appointed twenty-one of their number to meet and confer together, and, with the assistance of Thomas Campbell, to determine upon the proper means to carry into effect their purposes. As it was found to be very inconvenient to hold meetings in private houses, it was deemed advisable to provide some regular place of meeting. The neighbors, as was customary in those days, all moved by good will for the excellent man and his purposes, assembled and erected a log building three miles from Mount Pleasant, Washington County, Pa. This building was designed, also, for the purpose of a common school, which was much needed in that neighborhood. No ecclesiastical aspirations, no sectarian ambition, no party purpose or name, entered into the erection of this humble building. The name and cause of Christ alone prompted and sanctified the act of these honest souls.

Near by, in the house of Mr. Welch, a worthy farmer who was friendly to the association, Mr. Campbell had a home. A little chamber upstairs was assigned to him as his apartment. Here he spent his leisure time in quiet study, for 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. The writing with which he was at this time engaged was designed to set forth to the public at large, in a clear and definite manner, the character and purposes of the association. In the "prophet's chamber" Thomas Campbell wrote the "Declaration and Address" which became so famous in the early history of the effort to restore apostolic Christianity. When it was finished he called a special meeting of the chief members and read it to them for their approval and adoption. This meeting unanimously approved it and ordered its publication September 7, 1809.

This production is, in its substance and spirit, as well as in its vigorous and scholarly style, the most notable historical production of the initiatory period of the effort to restore the apostolic church in its doctrine and practice, and is worthy of diligent and thoughtful study at the present day. It is proper, therefore, that I should note the essential principles therein set forth. The admirable introduction setting forth and deploring the divided state among the professed followers of the Savior concluded as follows:

Our desire, therefore, for ourselves and our brethren would be that,
rejecting human opinions 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 our teacher and guide to lead
us into all truth, and Christ alone as exhibited in the Word for our
salvation; 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.

Then follows a statement of the purpose and program of the association: To form a religious association for promoting simple and evangelical Christianity, under the name of the "Christian Association of Washington"; to contribute a certain sum to support a pure Gospel ministry and supply the poor with the Scriptures; to encourage the formation of similar associations; to consider itself not a church, but as a church reformation society; to countenance only such ministers as adhere closely to the example and precept of Scripture in conduct and teaching; to entrust the management of the association to a standing committee of twenty-one; to hold two meetings a year; to open each meeting with a sermon; and to look to the friends of genuine Christianity for the support of their work.

This is followed by the address, with the following dedicatory heading: "To all that love our Lord Jesus Christ, in sincerity, throughout all the churches, the following address is most respectfully submitted." After an arraignment of the evils of divisions and an indictment of sectarianism, he pleads with his "dearly beloved brethren" of "all the churches" "to unite in the bonds of an entire Christian unity--Christ alone being the head, the center, his word the rule; and explicit belief of and manifest conformity to it in all things--the terms." Thus to "come firmly and fairly to original ground, and take up things just as the apostles left them." In this way they could become "disentangled from the accruing embarrassments of intervening ages," and stand "upon the same ground on which the church stood at the beginning." "Here, indeed, was the startling proposition to begin anew--to begin at the beginning; to ascend at once to the pure fountain of truth, and to neglect and disregard, as though they had never been, the decrees of popes, cardinals, synods and assemblies, and all the traditions and corruptions of an apostate church. Here was an effort not so much for the reformation of the church as was that of Luther and of Calvin and of Haldanes, but for its complete restoration at once to its pristine purity and perfection. By coming at once to the primitive model and rejecting all human imaginations; by submitting implicitly to the divine authority as plainly expressed in the Scriptures, and by disregarding all the assumptions and dictations of fallible men, it was proposed to form a union upon a basis to which no valid objection could possibly be offered. By this summary method the church was to be at once released from the controversies of eighteen centuries, and from conflicting claims of all pretenders to apostolic thrones, and the primitive Gospel of salvation was to be disentangled and disembarrassed from all those corruptions and perversions which had heretofore delayed or arrested its progress."

There were certain "fundamental truths" of the nature of "first principles," "truths demonstrably evident in the light of Scripture and right reason," which _underly_ the proposal for a union of the professed followers of Christ. These are so interesting and important that I deem it wise to give them, for they need to be diligently and profoundly studied by the present generation. They are summed up in the following propositions:

1. That the Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally
and constitutionally one; consisting of all those in every place that
profess their faith in Christ and obedience to him in all things
according to the Scriptures, and that manifest the same by their
tempers and conduct, and of none else; as none else can be truly and
properly called Christians.

2. That although the Church of Christ upon earth must necessarily
exist in particular and distinct societies, locally separate one from
another, yet there ought to be no schisms, no uncharitable divisions
among them. They ought to receive each other as Christ Jesus hath also
received them, to the glory of God. And for this purpose they ought
all to walk by the same rule, to mind and speak the same thing, and to
be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment.

3. That in order to this nothing ought to be inculcated upon
Christians as articles of faith, nor required of them as terms of
communion, but what is expressly taught and enjoined upon them in the
Word of God. Nor ought anything to be admitted as of divine
obligation, in their church constitution and management, but what is
expressly enjoined by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ and his
apostles upon the New Testament Church, either in express terms or by
approved precedent.

4. That although the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are
inseparably connected, making together but one perfect and entire
revelation of the divine will, for the edification and salvation of
the Church, and therefore in that respect can not be separated, yet as
to what directly and properly belongs to their immediate object, the
New Testament is as perfect a constitution for the worship, discipline
and government of the New Testament Church, and as perfect a rule for
the particular duties of its members, as the Old Testament was for the
worship, discipline and government of the Old Testament Church, and
the particular duties of its members.

5. That with respect to the commands and ordinances of our Lord Jesus
Christ, where the Scriptures are silent as to the express time or
manner of performance, if any such there be, no human authority has
power to interfere, in order to supply deficiency by making laws for
the Church; nor can anything more be required of Christians in such
cases, but only that they so observe these commands and ordinances as
will evidently answer the declared and obvious end of their
institution. Much less have any human authority power to impose new
commands or ordinances upon the Church, which our Lord Jesus Christ
has not enjoined. Nothing ought to be received into the faith or
worship of the Church, or be made a term of communion among
Christians, that is not as old as the New Testament.

6. That although inferences and deductions from Scripture premises,
when fairly inferred, may be truly called the doctrine of God's holy
Word, yet are they not formally binding upon the consciences of
Christians farther than they perceive the connection, and evidently
see that they are so; for their faith must not stand in the wisdom of
men, but in the power and veracity of God. Therefore no such
deductions can be made the terms of communion, but do properly belong
to the after and progressive edification of the Church. Hence, it is
evident that no such deductions or inferential truth ought to have any
place in the Church's confession.

7. That although doctrinal exhibitions of the great system of divine
truths and defensive testimonies in opposition to prevailing errors be
highly expedient, and the more full and explicit they be for those
purposes the better; yet, as these must be in a great measure the
effect of human reasoning, and of course must contain many inferential
truths, they ought not to be made terms of Christian communion, unless
we suppose, what is contrary to fact, that none have a right to the
communion of the Church, but such as possess a very clear and decisive
judgment, or are come to a very high degree of doctrinal information;
whereas the Church from the beginning did, and ever will, consist of
little children and young men, as well as fathers.

8. That as it is not necessary that persons should have a particular
knowledge or distinct apprehension of all divinely-revealed truths in
order to entitle them to a place in the Church, neither should they,
for this purpose, be required to make a profession more extensive than
their knowledge; but that, on the contrary, their having a due measure
of scriptural self-knowledge respecting their lost and perishing
condition by nature and practice, and of the way of salvation through
Jesus Christ, accompanied with a profession of their faith in the
obedience to him, in all things, according to his Word, is all that is
absolutely necessary to qualify them for admission into his Church.

9. That all who are able through grace to make such a profession, and
to manifest the reality of it in their tempers and conduct, should
consider each other as the precious saints of God, should love each
other as brethren, children of the same family and Father, temples of
the same Spirit, members of the same body, subjects of the same grace,
objects of the same divine love, bought with the same price, and
joint-heirs of the same inheritance. Whom God hath thus joined
together no man should dare put asunder.

10. That divisions among the Christians is a horrid evil, fraught with
many evils. It is anti-Christian, as it destroys the visible unity of
the body of Christ; as if he were divided against himself, excluding
and excommunicating a part of himself. It is anti-scriptural, as being
strictly prohibited by his sovereign authority, a direct violation of
his express command. It is anti-natural, as it excites Christians to
condemn, to hate and oppose one another, where bound by the highest
and most endearing obligation to love each other as brethren, even as
Christ has loved them. In a word, it is productive of confusion and of
every evil work.

11. That (in some instances) a partial neglect of the expressly
revealed will of God, and (in others) an assumed authority for making
the approbation of human opinions and of human inventions a term of
communion, by introducing them into the constitution, faith or worship
of the Church, are, and have been, the immediate, obvious and
universally acknowledged causes of all corruptions and divisions that
ever have taken place in the Church of God.

12. That all that is necessary to the highest state of perfection and
purity of the Church upon earth is, first, that none be received as
members, but such as, having that due measure of scriptural
self-knowledge described above, do profess their faith in Christ and
obedience to him in all things according to the Scriptures; nor,
secondly, that any be retained in her communion longer than they
continue to manifest the reality of their profession by their temper
and conduct. Thirdly, that her ministers, duly and scripturally
qualified, inculcate none other things than those very articles of
faith and holiness expressly revealed and enjoined in the Word of God.
Lastly, that in all their administrations they keep close by the
observance of all divine ordinances, after the example of the
primitive Church, exhibited in the New Testament, without any
additions whatever of human opinions or inventions of men.

13. Lastly, that if any circumstantials indispensably necessary to the
observance of divine ordinances be not found upon the pages of express
revelation, such, and such only, as are absolutely necessary for this
purpose should be adopted under the title of human expedients, without
any pretense to a more sacred origin, so that any subsequent
alteration or difference in the observance of these things might
produce no contention nor division in the Church. ("Memoirs of Thomas
Campbell," pages 48-52.)