In 1852 Dr. Richardson wrote a series of articles on

BETHANY, VA., September, 1852.      

      MY DEAR E.--I proceed, according to promise, to lay before you the general principles and objects of the Reformation which has been, for some time, urged upon the religious communities, both of this country and the British Isles. And this I do with the more pleasure, as I know you have not given heed to those misrepresentations by which its enemies have endeavored to impede its progress, and that you are, yourself, sensible of the many evils induced by that sectarism from which it is the great purpose of the present Reformation to relieve society.

      Let me observe, then, in the first place, that this religious movement is wholly based upon the two great fundamental principles of Protestantism, viz:

      1. The Bible is the Book of God.

      2. Private judgment is the right and duty of man.

      All Protestants assert the truth of these propositions, and cling to them as the theory of the original reformers, who protested against the authority claimed by priests and popes to dictate articles of belief. But it is unhappily true, that the party dissensions of Protestants have insensibly led them to depart, in practice, from both these cardinal principles. In violation of the first, they have exalted human systems of theology to an authority equal, if not paramount, to that of the Bible. At the same time, in violation of the second of these principles, they deny to the people the privilege of interpreting the Bible otherwise than in accordance with these systems. A human standard of orthodoxy is thus, in fact, substituted for the Bible; and, by a natural and inevitable consequence, the Bible has become a sealed book to the masses, who do not, because they dare not, understand it for themselves.

      To believe the whole Bible, is a faith quite too large to obtain for any one, admission into a party. He must believe so much of it as is not adverse to the peculiar tenets of the denomination; and especially such peculiar passages as are supposed to favor or sustain them. As for the rest of the volume, it is as the thorn to the rose, in the estimation of sectarian zealots; and is so far from being believed by them, that they would rejoice to see it blotted out forever, in order to be relieved from the trouble of explaining it away. [324] To be a Christian, is quite too much to entitle any one to fellowship with a sect. His faith, his philanthropy, his piety, must be restricted to party limits. His religion must be a minus quantity, from which his partyism is, in all cases, to be subtracted. The integer must be converted into a fraction, that a denominator may be seen and read. The fair proportions of Primitive Christianity must be reduced and altered, in order to enclose it within the narrow precincts of a human creed, and adapt it to a capricious and perverted taste; just as, amongst our Aborigines, to be a man, is too much for admission into a tribe, and the human form must be variously mutilated, painted or tattooed, according to the whim or custom of each particular race.

      Such being, in few words, the actual state of the religious community, the present Reformation proposes an immediate return to the broad and original platform of Christianity, as well as of true Protestantism; and urges, accordingly, the claims of the Bible alone, as the source of Divine truth for all mankind; and pleads for the exercise of man's inalienable right to read and interpret the Sacred Volume. It seeks to establish a unity of faith, instead of that diversity of opinion which has distracted religious society; and to restore the gospel and its institutions, in all their original simplicity, to the world. In brief, its great purpose is to establish CHRISTIAN UNION upon the basis of a SIMPLE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY.

      Having thus given you a general statement of the purpose of this religious movement--a purpose which cannot fail to be approved by the truly pious of all parties, I now proceed to lay before you the important distinctions and truths which have been developed during its progress. And in this place I would remark, that as the character of prevailing errors always determines, in advance, the issues which are to be made by the advocates of truth, so, certain fundamental points of great importance have been thus forced upon the attention of the friends of the Reformation, as matters requiring, in the very first instance, to be elucidated and determined. Among these I would mention--1st. The distinction between FAITH and OPINION. 2d. The distinction between what may be emphatically termed THE CHRISTIAN FAITH and doctrinal KNOWLEDGE. 3d. The true BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNION. Amongst the important subjects which have been brought into view during the progress of the Reformation, I would invite your attention, in continuation, to the following: 4th. The distinction between the Patriarchal, the Jewish, and the Christian dispensations. 5th. The commencement of the Christian Church. 6th. The action and the design of baptism. 7th. The agency of the Holy Spirit in conversion and sanctification. 8th. Weekly communion, and 9th. [325] Church government. Upon each of the above topics, I desire now to give you, as briefly as possible, the views of the Reformers.

[ROBERT RICHARDSON.]      

Source:

Robert Richardson. "Principles and Purposes of the Reformation: A Brief Account of the Principles and Purposes of the Religious Reformation Urged by A. Campbell, and Others." The Millennial Harbinger 23 (October 1852): 577-579.

NOTE: Included in Robert Richardson's The Principles and Objects of the Religious Reformation, Urged by A. Campbell and Others, Briefly Stated and Explained. 2d ed. rev. and enl. Bethany, VA: A. Campbell, 1853, pp. 5-8.

[MHA2 324-326]