Disciples, THE or CHRISTIANS. Thomas Campbell (1763-1854), a devout and scholarly Seceder minister, was recognized in Ireland as a man of influence and liberality by his leadership in a movement before the Synods of Belfast and Glasgow, in the interests of Christian Union. Manifesting his liberal spirit in Pennsylvania in 1807, by inviting to the Communion table members of different religious bodies, he brought upon himself the censure of the Presbytery of Chartiers, and of the Synod to which he appealed his case, for not adhering to the "Secession Testimony." After submitting for a time, he withdrew, announcing to the Synod that he abandoned "all ministerial connection" with it, and intended to be "utterly unaffected by its decisions." Continuing to plead for Christian Union, he attracted much attention, and men and women of liberal minds gathered about him. When he announced on a special occasion to a general assembly of his friends, as a rule to be followed, "Where the Scriptures speak we speak, and where the Scriptures are silent we are silent," his words were received by his hearers with great enthusiasm, and their deliverance from human standards was accomplished. Under his leadership, a religious association was formed in the fall of 1809, bearing the name of the "Christian Association of Washington," declaring that it existed "for the sole purpose of promoting simple, evangelical Christianity, free from all mixture of human opinions and inventions of men." About this time, Thomas Campbell wrote and published a Declaration and Address, which was far in advance of the thought of his times. The present views and purposes of the people known as Disciples are nowhere else more strongly, or more comprehensively stated in such brief space. We will, therefore, make some extracts from this document. Addressing "all his brethren in all the churches," by which he meant all the evangelical bodies, he said: "Dearly beloved brethren, why should we deem it a thing incredible that the Church of Christ in this highly favored country, should resume that original unity, peace, and purity which belong to its constitution, and constitute its glory? Or, is there anything that can be justly deemed necessary for this desirable purpose, but to conform to the model, and adopt the practice of the primitive Church, expressly exhibited in the New Testament? Whatever alterations this might produce in any, or in all, of the churches, should, we think, be deemed neither inadmissible, nor ineligible. . . . . With you all, we desire to unite in the bonds of an entire Christian unity--Christ alone being the head, the centre; his word the rule, and explicit belief of and manifest conformity to it in all things the terms." It was proposed by him that all Christians of every name "come fairly to original ground upon clear and certain premises, and take up things just as the apostles left them, that thus disentangled from the [254] accruing embarrassments of intervening ages, we may stand with evidence upon the same ground on which the Church stood at the beginning." The Disciples continue to insist upon this as the immediate duty of believers.

      Alexander Campbell, the son of Thomas Campbell, who had been attending college in Glasgow, Scotland, joined his father in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in October, 1809, in time to read the Declaration and Address, as it was going through the press. The son approved of the document, and it was not many years before he was the leader in the movement which it inaugurated. In studying the Scriptures with open minds, both father and son, as well as others of their little body, soon became convinced that the ordinance of baptism involves the immersion of a believer in Christ, and, nothing doubting, they promptly carried out their convictions. This change of views occurred in 1812.

      They soon gave up the doctrine of regeneration by the Holy Spirit before faith to make faith possible, and preached the gospel as the power of God to renew the heart through faith. Regeneration by receiving the word of truth, not regeneration to make its reception possible, was their thought. This, together with their protest against sectarian divisions in the Church of Christ, led to antagonisms with other religious bodies. Notwithstanding this fact, Alexander Campbell's great ability being recognized, he was constantly urged to preach at different points for Baptist churches, which he frequently did. As a result, the church at Brush Run, Pa., of which he and his father were members, united with the Baptist Redstone Association in 1812. The preaching of Alexander Campbell being calm and argumentative, and directly opposed to everything in the way of miraculous and rhapsodical experiences, soon stirred up opposition in the minds of those who gloried in the experiences that characterized the revival meetings of that time.

      In 1823 Alexander Campbell started the Christian Baptist at Bethany, West Va., a monthly which he continued under this name for seven years. He then began the Millennial Harbinger, which he edited till within a few years of his death--in 1866. By his able editorials, his views spread rapidly in the Baptist body. The lines became closely drawn. There was much discussion. Then came a division. The Mahoning Association in Ohio gradually went over to the views of the Campbells. Formal divisions began in 1827, and continued in different States for several years, and so the people known as the Disciples of Christ became a separate religious body, and grew exceedingly.

      In common with other religious bodies regarded as evangelical, the Disciples find in the Bible a revelation from God. In it they discover that God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to reveal the Father, and, finally, to die for all men, and so make salvation possible to all. That he who thus came and died for sinners is "the Christ, the Son of the living God," they regard as the central truth of the New Testament--the foundation truth of the Church. They, therefore, teach the deity as well as the humanity of Christ. They also believe in the divinity and personality of the Holy Spirit, through whose inspiration the Word of God came to men, and who is promised as a perpetual Comforter to them that believe in Christ. They see in the New Testament the doctrine of election, but it is not the election of sinners to a life of faith; but the election of believers to life everlasting through a faithful endurance to the end. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is with them the doctrine of the perseverance of them that persevere. They see in the Bible the doctrine of divine sovereignty, but it is a sovereignty that leaves the sovereign free to determine to deal with men in view of their foreseen conduct--their acceptance or non-acceptance of the truth which they possess--not a sovereignty that necessitates unconditional election. But their plea is practical rather than doctrinal.

      "The original preaching of the gospel was not an exposition of a system of doctrines, but the presentation of a Divine Person as the object of faith and love. Who Jesus was, what he had done for man's salvation, why we should trust in and submit to him as our Lord and Saviour, the terms on which he would receive sinners, these formed the subject of apostolic preaching. When they had thus preached, they called on their hearers to submit to Jesus, and as many as voluntarily accepted him as the Christ, the Son of God, and were willing to renounce all other lordships and walk in his commandments, were at once admitted, through baptism, into Christian fellowship."

      These words, from the pen of Isaac Errett, LL. D., the late editor of the Christian Standard, of Cincinnati, O., well set forth the practical character of the best teaching among the Disciples.

      As a rule, their churches partake of the Lord's Supper every Lord's Day. While they do not receive into church fellowship any who are not immersed, they do not debar Christians of other religious bodies [255] from uniting with them in honoring the Lord in this institution--though there are not a few of their number that express doubts about the scripturalness of this liberality.

      While they apply to themselves the names, Disciples of Christ, and Christians, and speak of the whole people as the Church of Christ, they do not by any means claim that they are the only disciples of Christ, or Christians, in the world; or that they constitute the whole Church of Christ on the earth. They are to be distinguished from another people called "Christians," nicknamed "New Lights"--a people of Unitarian tendencies.

      As to church government, the Disciples are Congregational, each church settling its own affairs. The New Testament elders, deacons, ministers, and evangelists, find a place, but officers not known to the New Testament are not recognized.

      The Disciples number about 700,000. They have a Foreign Christian Missionary Society, with headquarters in Cincinnati, O. It has missionaries in India, Japan, China, Asia Minor, Denmark, and in other foreign countries. There are, also, a General Christian Missionary Convention, with headquarters in the same city, and a Christian Woman's Board of Missions, with headquarters in Indianapolis, Ind., besides State societies in most of the States of the Union. They have about forty institutions of learning--universities, colleges, and other schools. Their religious weeklies contain abundant evidence of their aggressive and progressive character, and of their rapid increase. Their chief thought is a return to the teaching of the New Testament in its letter and spirit, as a sufficient rule of faith and life, without the aid of human standards that too often misrepresent the Word of God. By the way of such a return they see the only open way to Christian Union.

      See Memoirs of A. Campbell, by Dr. Robert Richardson; Christian Baptism: Its Antecedents and Consequents, by A. Campbell; Declaration and Address, by Thomas Campbell; Evenings with the Bible: New Testament Studies, by Isaac Errett, LL. D. (Standard Publishing Co., Cincinnati, O).

H. MCDIARMID.      

[CCRK 254-256]

      The electronic version of Hugh McDiarmid's "The Disciples, or Christians" was first published in A Concise Cyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Biblical, Biographical, Geographical, Historical, Practical and Theological, ed. Elias Benjamin Sanford (Hartford, CT: S S. Scranton Company, 1902), pp. 254-256.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
373 Wilson Street
Derry, PA 15627-9770
724.694.8602
stefanik@westol.com

Created 31 December 1998.