Sunday Sermons
Restoration History - Part 2
Thomas Campbell
Thomas Campbell was born February 1, 1763 in County Down Ireland. His father had first been a Catholic and then had become a member of the Church of England. Thomas was a member of the Seceder branch of the Presbyterian Church. In the years previous, the Presbyterian Church had become the major Church in Scotland, yet secularism in Scotland came into the Church and as the leadership was going with the spirit of the times, Thomas sided with those who wanted to remain on a biblical basis. The Governor General of Ireland offered him a position as private tutor with a large salary and a luxurious home, but he refused, thinking that such would place his family in an environment of worldiness. Due to illness, Thomas was advised to take a trip abroad, and in 1807 after thirty-five days at sea came to Philadelphia and started preaching under the Chartiers Presbytery in western Pennsylvania. "A man who reads the Bible with an open and intelligent mind will sooner or later absorb much to make him dissatisfied with the human elements of religion. That man, if he has faith and courage, will dare to speak out sooner or later against what is wrong. As Campbell filled his appointments, he found himself teaching things contrary to the creed of the church, but things he felt were in harmony with the Scriptures" (The Search for the Ancient Order, Earl Irvin West, pp. 44-45). Soon Campbell was in trouble with the Presbyterian leadership. He was accused of teaching false doctrine for saying that there was nothing but human authority for creeds and confessions of faith. On September 13, 1808, Campbell formally made his separation from Secederism. With the help from friends, Campbell continued to preach, "His voice was heard in Maple Groves where open air services were held. In due time it became evident that many of these hearers were in sympathy with Campbell's views" (West p. 47).
"Where the Bible Speaks" (1 Peter 4:11)
It was in the house of Abraham Altars, between Mt. Pleasant and Washington, Pennsylvania that one of the most famous meetings of the restoration was held. Campbell's speech closed with the famous motto: "Where the Bible speaks; we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent". "The idea which Campbell embodied in this motto was not new. Many years before in 1659, Edward Stillingfleet, who later became Bishop of Worchester, had said: 'For the church to require more than Christ himself did, or make the condition of her communion more than our Saviour did for discipleship, is wholly unwarranted'. His conclusion, 'The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants' purported to be the claim of all Protestant bodies. Yet notwithstanding the idea Campbell presented in his motto was not new, it nevertheless was revolutionary in one phase: a few people now applied it to Protestant creeds and confessions of faith whereas, the Protestant bodies had almost exclusively applied it to Roman Catholic traditions. For the first time there were some who realized that the motto struck with equal force against human creeds as it did against Catholic traditions" (West p. 47).
The Response
There was a solemn hush in the assembly after Campbell had made this statement. Andrew Munro, was the first to respond, he said, "Mr. Campbell, if we adopt that as a basis, then there is an end of infant baptism". Thomas replied, "Of course, if infant baptism be not found in the Scriptures, we can have nothing to do with it". Thomas Acheson then arose and said, "I hope I may never see the day when my heart will renounce that blessed saying of the Scripture, 'Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven'. Then he burst into tears. James Foster then cried out, "Mr. Acheson, I would remark that in the portion of Scripture you have quoted, there is no reference whatever to infant baptism". (See: Robertson Richardson, Memoirs of Alexander Campbell (Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Co., Vol. 1, 1897), p. 238).
Declaration and Address
On September 7, 1809, Campbell's famous Declaration and Address was printed. "Campbell's plan for unity was, in brief, a re-statement in different words of Rupertus Meldinius famous maxim: 'In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things charity'. Campbell uses the terms faith and opinion. The former is based upon the expressed declarations of the Bible and the latter, upon things about which the Bible is silent. Unity, Campbell believed, could be realized upon the express teachings of the Bible, and in opinions, there should be liberty" (West p. 49).
Alexander Campbell
Alexander, the son of Thomas Campbell had been in Ireland while his father was in America. In March, 1808, a letter arrived urging Alexander to come to America. While overseas, Alexander studied at Glasgow University and came into contact with "the Common Sense" school of Scottish philosophy. Thomas Reid, the founder of this School had died in 1796, yet he had influenced many. Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison and many other leading figures in colonial America were philosophical disciples of Reid. This point of view was in contrast to the skepticism taught by David Hume. Reid taught that God did exist and man did have a soul, "His was not the skepticism common in philosophical circles of that day" (West p. 51).Campbell also came into contact with various independent religious movements. Some of these movements taught that creeds and confessions of faith were worthless. Men like Robert Sandeman were teaching a weekly observance of the Lord's Supper (Acts 20:7), and a plurality of elders in one local congregation (Acts 14:23; 20:17; Philippians 1:1; 1 Peter 5:2). When Alexander came to America he met his father and read the Declaration and Address and decided to dedicate his life to preaching God's word.
The Quest for Truth
"Buy truth, and do not sell it" (Proverbs 23:23)
More than anything else, Campbell wanted the truth. He himself writes, "Often have I said, and often have I written, that truth, truth eternal and divine, is now, and long has been with me the pearl of great price. To her I will, with the blessing of God, sacrifice everything. But on no altar will I offer her a victim" (Alexander Campbell, "A Demand for Justice from Editors in General, and Mr. Brantley in Particular", Millennial Harbinger, Vol. 1, No. 3 (March 1, 1830), p. 97).
He also wrote, "Numbers with me count nothing. Let God be true and every man a liar. Let truth stand, though the heavens fall. When contending with thirty millions of Lutherans, I feel myself contending with but one man. In opposing seventy millions of Greek and Eastern Professors, I am in conflict with but one leader. When one hundred millions of Baptists assail me, I feel myself in a struggle with but one mind. In all the Methodists I see but John Wesley; in all the Calvinists, John Calvin; and in all the Episcopalians, one Cranmer. Names, numbers, circumstances weigh nothing in the scales of justice, truth and holiness" (Alexander Campbell, "The Christian Organization — No. XXV," Millennial Harbinger, New Series, Vol. VII, No. 7 (July 1843), p. 307).
Infant Baptism
After the birth of his first child, Campbell wanted to investigate a subject that had bothered him for some time, infant baptism. Campbell studied the word "baptize" in the Greek and found that it meant immersion. He came to the conclusion that nothing in the Scriptures authorized infant baptism. As a result, he started think about his own need to be scripturally baptized. He found a preacher by the name of Matthias Luse who agreed to immerse him, but by now others wanted to be immersed as well. On June 12, 1812, Alexander, his sister Dorthea, Thomas Campbell and his wife, James and Sarah Henon, and James Foster were baptized. Soon, the entire Brush Run congregation was immersed as well.
The Two Covenants
In 1816, Alexander gave a sermon entitled, "Sermon On The Law". "For some time Campbell had been thinking upon the relation of the two covenants (Old and New) in the Bible. Baptists were accustomed to disregard the covenants, and to quote one as freely as the other to a sinner. Campbell had come to the conviction that much of the error in religious practice was due to the lack of understanding of the relation of the covenants. In (the sermon) Campbell showed that the Law of Moses as abrogated (Colossians 2:14-17; Ephesians 2:15-16; Hebrews 8:6-13), and therefore, not binding upon Christians. The effect of the sermon was like a bombshell in the Baptist camps" (West pp. 62,63). In writing to his father, he said, "How many disciples of Moses are to be found in the professed school of Jesus Christ! And how few among the teachers of the New Testament seem to know that Christ's ministers are not able ministers of the Old Testament, but of the New! Do they not, like scholars to their teacher, run to Moses to prove forms of worship, ordinances, discipline, and government in the Christian Church, when asked to account for their practices?" (Richardson, Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, p. 448)