BETHANY, in the early months of 1858, held fewer charms for Robert Richardson than it had in all the twenty-two years of his residence there. He was living in the village under duress, away from Bethphage, in a house that had run him into debt and whose amortization stretched far into the future. His resignation from the editorial staff of the Millennial Harbinger virtually amounted to dismissal, as well as being a step which automatically reduced his annual income by $300;¹ in addition, with both the president and vice-president away, he was playing again his familiar role, without additional pay, bearing the burdens of both. Worst of all, Alexander Campbell, in whose very shadow he had lived and whose confidence he had shared for nearly a quarter of a century, was estranged from him.

      Toward the end of the year, he wrote his friend Philip Fall:

      With my income reduced, and involved in a debt for a house, a burden most ungenerously laid upon me through the overbearing disposition of one or two members of the board, and seeing my children ranging up and down the creek--coming into contact with injurious influences in the village, and without any prospect of my being able to send them abroad to school, I was in such a frame of mind that when, without any application, directly or indirectly on my part, Kentucky University offered me a place, it seemed that the Lord had designed me for another part. I felt it my duty to go.² [188]

      Bacon College, which had been founded at Georgetown, Kentucky, in 1836 as the first college of the Disciples and which later moved to Harrodsburg, had closed its doors on June 14, 1850.³ Dr. Samuel Hatch, a member of the old faculty, continued for the next five years to conduct a small high school in the college building. Meantime, the trustees were struggling unsuccessfully to reopen the institution. By October 22, 1855, John B. Bowman, an alumnus of Bacon College, had conceived the idea of raising a university on the ruins of the old college and had called a meeting of the trustees to approve the plan. They caught his enthusiasm and voted to begin raising funds at once. By November 7, 1856, an endowment of $100,000 had been subscribed. Mr. Bowman himself, as time ran on, raised an average of $1,000 per day for 150 days.

      A meeting of the donors was held the first Wednesday of May, 1857, to decide on future plans. John Allen Gano was the chairman of the meeting. As a result of their deliberations a committee of seven was appointed to present to the trustees of Bacon College suggested amendments to the charter and to secure the enactment of these by the legislature.

      It was decided to change the name to "Kentucky University." The legislature granted a new charter embodying the changes desired, and it "was approved by the trustees of Bacon College, February 2, 1858"; subsequently it was approved by the newly formed board of curators of Kentucky University.

      The Board of Curators of Kentucky University met in an official capacity on February 4, 1858, to constitute a [189] faculty.⁴ Meantime, preliminary discussions had been going on to feel out prospective faculty members, and Robert Richardson had received such a "feeler." There was general talk in Kentucky about the personnel of the university. Alexander Campbell and W. K. Pendleton ran into this rumor when they reached that state on their tour to finance the rebuilding of Bethany College, as is shown by a paragraph from a letter written by Pendleton to Richardson from Macedonia, Kentucky, on January 29, 1858:

      I am at Bro. Win. McKinney's. He is delicate. He says it is out of the question for Bacon College to open next fall. It is commonly said that Prof. Milligan has been elected President and R. Richardson and Prof. White, Profs.--and some say it is the determination of some of the Board to break down Bethany. This I hope is not so. But of this more when I see you.⁵

      The February 4, 1858, meeting of the Board of Curators elected Robert Milligan, of Bethany College, president and professor of biblical literature and ethics; Professor John H. Neville, of Christian University, to the chair of ancient languages; Charles L. Loos, president of Eureka College, to the chair of belles-lettres; and Robert Richardson was made professor of natural science and vice-president of the faculty, at a salary of $1,500 per year. However, the curators directed their Committee on Correspondence to inform Milligan and Richardson that, due to the financial condition of the new university, and in consideration of the calamity that had recently befallen Bethany College, their services would not be required before the 1859-60 sessions.⁶ [190]

      Shortly after this meeting, the Richardson mail contained the following letter:⁷

HARRODSBURG, KENTUCKY       FEBRUARY 8th, 1858

MY DEAR BRO. RICHARDSON,

      I take great pleasure in informing you that at the recent meeting of the Board of Curators of Kentucky University, you were unamiously elected to fill the Chair of Physical Science and appointed also Vice President of the Institution.

      A large majority of the Board were present, representing the interest of the friends and Donors of the Enterprise, and I would say, that we feel assured that your acceptance of the position will give great satisfaction, not only to the Board of Curators, but to the Kentucky brethren generally, and we do earnestly hope that you will find it consistent with your interests and sense of duty to give us an assurance of your acceptance at as early a date as possible. We do cordially believe that there is in the future of our Enterprise, more promise of unselfishness to the Cause of Education and Christianity than in that of any other in the Mississippi Valley, and that our brethren generally are turning their eyes to it, with more pride and hope than to any other among them. In view of the financial affairs of the Institution and of the calamity at Bethany and our sympathy with that College, the Board deemed it inexpedient to attempt a full organization of Ky. University before September 1859. The proposition to you is, that your appointment will take effect at that time, with a salary of $1500.00 till $100,000 of Endowment fund is invested. Hoping that this also will be acceptable to you,

	I remain your Bro. in Christ,
JNO. B. BOWMAN.

      To this Dr. Richardson made formal reply on February 15, 1858, the next day after receiving it! "Having [191] already maturely considered the questions involved in this contemplated movement, it only remains for me to say in reply that I feel grateful to the Board of Curators for this mark of their confidence and that I frankly accept the chair which they have tendered me according to the terms of your letter."

      In April, when Campbell and Pendleton came back from their long tour in the East and South, they undertook to convince him that Kentucky University could not live and that his and Milligan's going there would be a serious blow to Bethany, which, in its critical hour, it might not be able to survive. Richardson perceived that a remarkable change had taken place in the lately estranged Mr. Campbell. It was with joy that he noted: "Brother Campbell is very well since his return from his long tour, and speaks as well as I ever knew him to do."

      Richardson reminded Campbell of his recent antagonism toward him over the Fanning matter. To his amazement, Campbell seemed to have forgotten all about it, as though it had all happened in a dream. He promised that everything should be made right. His attitude became and continued to he as friendly as in the olden days.⁸

      Campbell was as good as his word. The Millennial Harbinger for May, 1858, carried a full apology. Regarding Richardson's views in the recent series on "Faith versus Philosophy," he said: "These are just the views which we have held and advocated, and I know not how the misstatement above referred to could have occurred, unless that writing the article away from home, I had not an opportunity of examining Bro. R's essays, and had [192] probably before my mind some of those misquotations and misrepresentations of which he has complained and which we have regretted to see in some of our western periodicals."

      In the next issue of his magazine Campbell administered a sound spanking to President Fanning:

      He persists in endeavoring to make the impression on the public mind, that Dr. Richardson and certain other brethren whom he names, are teaching, as he says "unmixed and unblushing infidelity." This charge he affects to sustain by a few brief extracts from their writings. These extracts do not at all sustain Pres't F.'s assertion, and we wish to say that we consider his attacks an outrage upon both editorial and Christian courtesy. . . .

      As to Bro. Richardson, I am perfectly familiar with his sentiments on all questions involved, and I can assure Pres't F. that he does him the grossest injustice . . . Others who can judge of the "meaning of words" as well as Pres't Fanning, do not find in Bro. Richardson's essays the slightest ground for Pres't F's charge, and invectives, nor will the intelligent brethren justify or sanction his reckless assertions.

      In a letter to Philip Fall on January 4, 1860, he confessed: "I have, . . . ever since my late tour to Mississippi, viewed Elder Fanning as intent on war with us under some pretense or other. And I still must regard him as hostile to Bethany, and, indeed, I know not why--or wherefore, unless an unsanctified ambition lurks within him."

      Alexander Campbell's forthright statement cleared the air. Furthermore, he immediately insisted that both Richardson and Milligan return to the staff of the Millennial Harbinger. This would be the surest way of [193] putting down the rumors which had grown out of the affair. Richardson recognized this and readily accepted.⁹

      Restored to grace, Richardson was now sorry that he had accepted the post at Kentucky University. At the same time, he was afraid that the happy sunlight of Campbell's returning clarity of mind might once more recede into the shadows. "If Brother Campbell were left to himself, I should have no fears," he wrote to Philip Fall. Limping indecisively between the two sides, he carried on his work for the remainder of the term without giving notice to the Board of Trustees that he intended to resign, although his acceptance at Kentucky University was an open secret.

      During the next few months, Professor Richardson helped Bowman with the formation of the new Kentucky institution. Charles Louis Loos, having declined his appointment in order, interestingly enough, to return to Bethany College as professor of modern languages, Richardson nominated another of his own students for the position. This was Robert Graham, who was then preaching in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Richardson wrote convincingly to him, and Graham consented to come.

      Meantime, the cornerstone had been ceremoniously laid for the new building at Bethany College on May 31, 1858.¹⁰ The building which emerged was a crown of collegiate Gothic architecture, along the lines of the University of Glasgow, set upon the brow of the hill. It was a two- and three-story structure, having 420 feet of continuous front, with a 320-foot open corridor running the entire length of the central section in the rear, lifting [194] at center a lofty tower clock and spire 122 feet into the air. The right wing, known as Society Hall, was completed first and was ready for occupancy in 1858. Work progressed toward Commencement Hall at the left wing, which was built in 1873. In 1862 construction was halted when the entire length of the building was enclosed and roofed, but the inside was not completely finished until the end of the decade. The entire project, up to 1868, had cost $80,000. Toward this amount the Campbell-Pendleton tours in 1857 and 1858 realized about $30,000.¹¹

      The mortgage on his Bethany house worried Richardson almost unendurably. This, together with his unannounced plans to go to Kentucky, moved him to petition the trustees, on July 1, 1858, that he be permitted to return to his farm.

      The board responded by a motion stating that "the permission desired is for the present granted," but, they said, "in view of the expected absence of the President and Vice-President during the coming year, the Trustees would be pleased if Professor Richardson could so arrange his private affairs, as to remain at the College and give it his undivided attention."

      When the Board of Trustees met on August 14, 1858, it demanded to know what Professors Richardson and Milligan were planning to do about their rumored appointment to Kentucky University, and legislated that "they be requested to notify said Committee by the first of December next, whether they accept or decline said appointments." [195]

      As the date of the Board's ultimatum approached, the doctor was tossed on a sea of uncertainty. Could he disappoint Bowman at Kentucky University? Should he put himself again in the power of those who had just exercised their authority over him so cruelly? Would his going actually injure Bethany? With Campbell in his declining years, he wished earnestly that the support going into Kentucky had been concentrated at Bethany to prevent the expectation of Campbell's enemies that the college would not survive him. His attachments in Bethany were like those of an old and well-rooted tree. He prayed for the right way.

      The two men resigned December 1, 1858, and the board received their letters with "cordial acknowledgements for the efficiency and ability with which for a series of years" they had "discharged the duties incumbent upon them" as members of the faculty.

      There were at that time about thirty students from Kentucky enrolled in Bethany College. As soon as the resignation became public, all of them made an evening pilgrimage to Bethphage and, through a selected spokesman, formally welcomed the doctor to Kentucky. Quelling the storm of conflicting emotions within his breast, he cleared his throat and made them a charming reply. Mrs. Richardson asked the young men into the house and, with characteristic grace and hospitality, served refreshments to the group.

      As associate editor of the Millennial Harbinger again, Richardson wrote numerous articles an series of articles for his beloved publication. None was closer to the central [196] issues of Protestantism than his series on "Christian Unity," which began in February, 1859. Discussing Jesus' great intercessory prayer in the seventeenth chapter of John, he said that its application had been "totally misunderstood; its fulfilment wholly overlooked," that it had "no direct reference, whatever, to the subject of an outward or visible union among Christians." He distinguished sharply between union and unity. "By Christian UNITY, we understand a spiritual Oneness with Christ; by Christian UNION, an avowed agreement and co-operation of Christians with each other." We must not mistake unity for union, and certainly there can be no genuine union without unity. This means that unity will come on the ground of Christian liberty, or that it will not come at all.

      This being the case, Richardson told his readers that the coming of Christian unity did not depend upon getting all Christians aligned to the mechanics of the Disciple pattern. "After all, it is not to be denied that there are 'Christians among the sects,' and that piety, philanthropy and lovely works--the precious buds and blossoms and fruits of true religion, are manifested, more or less, in almost all religious parties." In contrast to this, dissension is already beginning to appear among the Disciples, who, ironically, came into being to plead for Christian unity. The thoughtful Disciple "perceives, also, with surprise, that there are differences amongst his own followers, and that his serpent [referring to Aaron's rod before Pharaoh, Exod. 7:11-12], which he fondly hoped would have swallowed up the rest, is more likely to add to the number a brood of its own." [197]

      One reason for this internal division and for the increasingly sectarian character of the reformation--which arose to end all sects--was that too many of its adherents were crusading for an outward organizational and literal pattern of union instead of an inner, spiritual unity. Disunion, in itself, of course, may do much to destroy unity. Hence the divided condition of Protestantism is to be deplored; but external union, by its insistence upon legalistic uniformity, may become just as fatally divisive. The real test of the whole matter is whether there is peace; for the existence of peace "in a feeble or doubtful manner, indicates that the Spirit of Christ is present only in small and defective measure."

      The associate editor also, in January of the same year, paid his respects, in passing, to a new debate then raging over "soul sleeping." This was the belief that between mortal death and immortality there was an interim in which the soul slept until awakened on the judgment day. Sides lined up for and against this issue, and the argument was furious. Richardson said, sharply, that this was another instance of divisive speculations which were far wide of the mark. Essential Christianity was not interested in such issues. He added, somewhat humorously, that although there was "a superabundance of soul-sleeping' in this world, there are, it seems, some who are again advocating its existence in the next." Christians ought to be about the tasks of the living, and should awake the slumbering, rather than add to their numbers! "It is not a greater extent of revelation that we need, but a better acquaintance with what we have--a more earnest, sincere and heartfelt trust in the Author of this revelation . . . [198] Christian ignorance gives scope for Christian faith, but knowledge, whether real or pretended, puffs up, too often, the heart with vain self-confidence and conceit."

      At the 1859 commencement, Bethany College conferred the honorary degree of Master of Arts upon Robert Milligan and Robert Richardson for their long and faithful service.¹² Dr. Richardson had been similarly honored the same spring, much to his delight, by Jefferson College, at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania,¹³ a school which later joined with Washington College to form Washington and Jefferson College. Seven years earlier, the same college had conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity upon Alexander Campbell.

      Vice-President Pendleton, recouping losses and rebuilding confidence, announced: "The vacancies in the Faculty, created by the resignations of Professors Richardson and Milligan . . . have been filled. . . . It will be seen, therefore, that the Faculty of Bethany College is full and complete, composed of Seven Professors, besides an adjunct corps of Assistant Tutors in the various schools.¹⁴

      The Millennial Harbinger for October carried a simple and inconspicuous announcement about two of its associate editors: "All communications to R. Richardson and to R. Milligan, after the First of September, should be sent to Harrodsburg, Kentucky."¹⁵

      Robert Richardson's emotions, as he passed through these events uprooting him from the college and the community of which he was so much a part and which was so much a part of him, can best be stated in the words of the "Alma Mater": [199]

[HTB 188-200]