To Chas. Cassedy, Mr. Campbell writes, 1833, page 193, as follows:

      DEAR SIR:--You have as much at stake as any man living in deciding whether Jesus of Nazareth was an impostor, or the Son of God and the only Saviour of the world. One, or the other, he certainly was. And, methinks, you will say, it would be rather miraculous it the author of the purest and most sublime system of morality and virtue which the world ever saw, should have been the most infamous impostor that ever appeared in human form. And this he was, if it be not true that "whosoever believes in him and is baptized, shall be saved," and whosoever disbelieves and rejects his salvation will be condemned. This was his last testimony, and this his last charge to the apostles. For alleging this he suffered death. And if the apostles are not the most impudent liars, after his resurrection and before his ascension, he commanded it to be promulged to you, and me, and all mankind.

      Language has no meaning, and the apostles deserved to be put to death, and to be execrated by all the sons of men, if it be not true that whosoever despises and rejects the mediation of Jesus will be punished with an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. Now, Sir, this being the fair and unvarnished state of the question, I put it to your intelligence and your candor, whether or not, it be not most worthy of every rational man to decide by all the lights of the volumes of creation, providence, and redemption, whether a sinner--whether poor, weak, and short-sighted man, ought or ought not, to commit himself into the hands of Jesus of Nazareth: to submit himself to his philosophy, logic, morality, and religion, rather than to his own wayward fancy, or the imagination of any man that ever appeared on earth.

      This, my dear Sir, is the single question, on the decision of which, all depends. To decide this question in the affirmative makes the Christian: to decide it in the negative, leaves us in this world without God, and without hope. And is that man rational or philosophic who can devote all his powers to the questions, what shall I eat, and drink, and with what shall I be clothed; who can devote all his powers to the things of time and sense, while his future and eternal destiny is deferred to some more convenient season?

      We are so constituted and so circumstanced, that our individual and personal happiness must be the paramount consideration. Now, was it not kind in our Creator to place us under an insuperable necessity of willing and seeking our own happiness? We may err in imagining the ways and means, but we are infallible in the wish to be happy. A man must unmake himself before he can will his own ruin. But if man be a rational or a free agent, he must have it in his power to [352] ruin himself--or he could not have it in his power to be virtuous, pious, and happy. This, reason asserts; and we see it accords with our observation and experience, as well as with the oracles of the Great Teacher.

      Judge you then, is it wise, is it prudent to balance, or to outweigh the united testimony of apostles and prophets, of saints and martyrs, of the wisest and the best, for four thousand years, by our own artificial and imaginative difficulties? Shall we place in the one scale, the great luminaries of the world--the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles--the great moral revolutionists of our race--the splendid memorials of their genius, their inspiration, and their devotion to truth and humanity: I say, shall we place in the one scale the splendid monuments of the inspiration and philanthropy of all the independent authors of fifteen centuries, whose works are collected in the volumes called the Bible and Testament, and put in the opposite scale our own imaginations and fancies about how things might have been otherwise created or managed, and thus seek to counterpoise mountains with feathers? No, you reply, sooner will I reject the testimony of my own senses, that the sun is the fountain of light, because I can not explain the meaning of those black or dark specks on its surface, than renounce Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, etc., etc., of the Jewish school; and Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul and James, of the Christian school, as knaves and impostors, because they have not written upon geology, astronomy, chemistry, and the modern sciences;--or because they have not anticipated and answered every question which in six thousand years might be propounded by a thousand million of querists, speculating on what might have been done if the earth had been flat instead of round; or if man had had the wings of an eagle, and been sixty instead of six feet high, physically, mentally and morally!--Rather, you will say, let me stand in the ranks with prophets and apostles; with the saints and the martyrs; with the pure and holy men and women of all ages--with the Newtons, the Lockes, the Butlers, the Boyles, the Fergusons, the Bentleys, the Beaties, the Lardners, the Ushers, the Taylors, the Seldons, the Erskines, etc., etc., with those constellations of poets that have sung, those orators that have defended, those philosophers that have demonstrated the claims of revelation, and those poor and humble, but virtuous millions, who have proved its consolations, and triumphed in its hopes, amidst all the afflictions and trials, the sorrows and griefs, which have hitherto been the lot of the largest portion of our race. Yes, with these you will say, let me live and die, rather than with the Voltaires and the Volneys, the Mirabeaus and Altamonts, the Humes and the Paines, the Hobbes and the Chesterfields, the Dantons and the Robespierres, who boasted of reason and common sense, and [353] showed how little they had of either in renouncing the only light of the world and the only Saviour of men.

      My dear Sir, this question, Shall I or shall I not put myself under the guidance of Jesus the Messiah, is one of too much importance to be slighted by any man of good sense, of a sound and discriminating judgment. His promises and his threatenings are too momentous to be treated with indifference; his claims and his pretensions are too well supported, and too magnificent to be trifled with; and therefore, reason, if unbiassed and unbribed by the passions and the appetites, decides that this is the immediate duty which every man owes to himself and society. 'Tis to you and me, comparatively, of no consequence, who reigns on earth, if Jesus reigns in heaven; what policy is adopted by the state, if Jehovah has sworn by himself, that every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, to the honor of Jesus who was crucified. We may be happy under a despotism, and wretched in the best republic. Our allegiance to Jesus as the great King is our felicity; our allegiance to his rival, be he on a golden throne, or be he seated in our passions, is our disgrace and ruin. If on his side all is well; if opposed to him we are undone forever. But, Sir, his religion has been greatly corrupted, and many of his professed friends have been his real enemies. The gospel has been made an engine of power in the hands of kings and priests, converted into a matter of state policy, made subservient to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life. Several attempts at reformation, have within the last three centuries, introduced many important changes into society, but only since the beginning of the present century, has there been a vigorous effort made to reinstate the apostles and prophets on the seats assigned them by the author of the Christian religion. The inquiry now is, what was the primitive gospel--the original order of things in the kingdom of Jesus? To these questions, more attention has been paid within the last thirty years, than since the great apostacy. In divesting the gospel and its institutions of the meretricious attire in which the mother of harlots had arrayed them, in leaving off the ceremonies, the doctrines and commandments of men, with which the pimps and panders of this insatiate adulteress have ministered to her lewdness, we have found the simplicity, intelligibility and suitableness of the gospel, and its institutions, to be truly astonishing, and admirably worthy of God. The light of the sun is not more admirably adapted to our eyes, or the sensible properties of things to our external senses, than is this message of our heavenly Father, suited to our nature, condition and circumstances. Well attested facts--facts of immense moral power--sustained by testimony which no honest and rational man, can, after full examination, doubt, constitute the materials of Christian faith. This faith in testimony so supernatural and [354] divine, becomes the impulsive principle of action, leading men to reformation: and this belief in God's philanthropy leads us on to Jesus the Messiah as "the way, the truth, and the life"--and coming to him as our prophet, our only high priest, law-giver, and judge, we receive in the first act of submission to him, the remission of all past sins--an adoption into his family, and the promise of his Holy Spirit, with the hope of eternal life, to which we shall certainly attain, provided we hold fast our allegiance to him, unshaken to the end. Why then, my dear Sir, should you, or any sensible man, hesitate on the question, whether it is more worthy of us to serve God than the Devil, or obey the gospel rather than our corrupt lusts:--Whether we ought to join the congregation of Apostles, Saints and Martyrs; the pure, and holy, and renowned fathers of mankind, the excellent of the earth of all ages and nations, or remain under the dominion of that Spirit, which reigns in the hearts of the children of disobedience, in open communion with all the infidelity, scepticism and atheism of the Epicureans and Sadducees of this age. I know, indeed, that some are wont to look around and flatter themselves in their refusal to honor the Saviour, because of the respectability of many of their associates in rebellion against the Lord's anointed. But they forget that while here and there they can count up a few individuals of political integrity and honor, whose fraternity may do them some credit, still to the same communion belong all the irreligionists of every shade of infamy, from Nero and Caligula and Heliogabulus, down to the veriest sensualist and debauchee that dishonors human nature. If, then, some sceptics and non-professors boast of some honorable and distinguished brethren, they ought to look around at the immense brotherhood of all that's filthy and abominable in the same great community with themselves, which constitutes what some call the big church. From this association, my dear Sir, I ardently desire to see such men as you divorced. You countenance and encourage many to adhere to their delusions, who, by your example, might be rescued from the snare of the Devil. And will you suffer such difficulties and embarrassments as would equally be against everything rational and excellent in the election of man, to prevent you from honoring yourself, by honoring the Son of God, who has conferred such honors upon our race. For let me ask you--is there in the annals of the world, in all records and in all kingdoms, any system, or law, or tradition, which does such honor to our race, as does the Bible! Who assigns to man a more illustrious origin than Moses? Who proposes to him a sublimer destiny than Jesus? What system so rational, so pure, and so full of benevolence to man and adoration to God? At the head of what institution is there found one of such peerless excellency and glory, as he who redeemed the church, and governs it by the law of love? Who ought to feel [355] ashamed of Jesus Christ in his earthly race to glory? And who ought to be ashamed of him, now the head of this Universe? Kings would do themselves infinite honor, in giving him the allegiance of their hearts, and in casting their crowns at his feet. To learn that such is your veneration for him, I assure you, would afford me great satisfaction.

[A. C.]      

Source:

Alexander Campbell. Extract from "To Charles Cassedy, Esq.--No. IV." The Millennial Harbinger 4 (May 1833): 193-197.

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