APPENDIX

While he claimed that the Scriptures were his prime epistemological base, Alexander Campbell, coaxed into definitive statement by the need to present and defend the specifics of the restoration ideal, was forced into revealing more clearly than his father ancillary presuppositions informing his case.

While Alexander quoted Luther, and claimed the support of such commentators as Campbell and McKnight, he was most influenced by Locke, Reid, and the democratic spirit of the frontier.

Locke's influence was evident in a number of areas. First, the philosopher had argued that knowledge of the material world derived from the five senses. Claiming that nature and religion are twin sisters of the same divine parentage", Campbell argued that as all natural and spiritual phenomena were part of an integrated whole, one was justified in giving great weight in theological debate to supportive arguments drawn from analogous situations in the world of nature.¹

Campbell himself frequently used analogies drawn from the world of nature to buttress his case.² An illustration of this can be observed in a passage in which he sought to scotch the idea that a special enabling grace was needed to facilitate saving faith. He pointed out that in the world of nature knowledge of phenomena came through the senses, which, as witnesses, presented testimony to the individual observing or witnessing the scene or event. Working from this basis, he argued that it was reasonable to deduce that knowledge of spiritual reality ³ should also be able to be traced back to the testimony of [255] witnesses, which testimony ought to be sufficient to convince and evoke faith. Second, in placing emphasis on the role of experience as an educator, he was seen to be influenced by the Lockean idea that knowledge, though primarily dependent upon sense experience, was derived additionally from reflection on what had been perceived by the senses, and on the act of reflection itself.⁴ Third, the argument he advanced in support of the authority and inspiration of the Scriptures can also be traced to Locke, who had argued that supernatural knowledge required supernatural attestation. Campbell argued that this had been the charismata, which, given to the first Christians to assist in the establishment of the Church, had disappeared with the death of those on whom the Apostles had laid hands.⁵

Campbell's indebtedness to Reid was evident in his appeal to reason, or commonsense, which he considered had universal appeal. His use of the expressions "reason" and "commonsense", however, was not always consistent. In arguing that something was good common-sense, he variously meant that it made good sense to act in such and such a way, that a line of reasoning was logically consistent, that the scriptural record was internally consistent, or that words and expressions were intended to be understood in the sense in which they were commonly used.⁶

The extent to which Campbell's assessment of what constituted New Testament polity was influenced by the emerging pattern of American frontier democracy may not be at first apparent. This is because it was held in tension with, and ultimately subsumed under, a broader monarchist pattern deriving from his belief that the New Testament Scriptures furnished a divinely patterned ecclesiology. [256]

Alexander argued that monarchy was the only form of government that nature recognized. Furthermore, it was the first, and it would be the last. In the interim, however, because of man's sinful condition, a style of constitutional monarchy supervened. This structure, nevertheless, differed from the usual style of constitutional monarchy in two ways. First, the king was not elected to his position on the basis of a constitution that delegated to him the surrendered rights of his subjects. Second, while local congregations of Christians, through their representatives, participated in the administration of the Kingdom of God on earth, they only had power to determine and alter the circumstantials of the faith. Furthermore, constitutional legislation, decided upon by local congregations, could not tamper with divinely-given essentials, nor be imposed upon other churches.⁷

The democratic strain was most evident in the concept of local autonomy, and in the election to office by the church of her principal officers. In the social contract, or covenant, the members surrendered certain powers to those ordained to office, which could be recalled should the church act to relieve incompetent or disgraced functionaries of their responsibilities.⁸

[OLFB 255-257]