It was our desire that some of the older brethren should write a sketch of Alexander Campbell, but Bro. J. W. McGarvey suggested that we use the one written by Isaac Errett, and published in the first issue of the Christian Standard, just after the death of Mr. Campbell. He said: "No man living to-day could write as good a sketch as that," so we give the sketch just as it appeared in the Christian Standard, April 7, 1866.

MRS. ALEXANDER CAMPBELL.

ALEXANDER CAMPBELL Bethany, W. Va.

      "Before our first number reaches its readers, they will have learned that the beloved and revered Alexander Campbell has been gathered to his fathers. He fell asleep in Jesus, on the 4th of March, near to midnight, at his home in Bethany, West Virginia.

      "It was an event not unexpected. Coming in 'a good old age,' when his work was done, and his tired faculties craved rest from the incessant anxiety and toil, of half a century; coming slowly, attended with but little suffering, allowing his last years to be spent pleasantly in the scenes he loved best, and his last hours to be cheered and soothed by the fondest ministrations of conjugal and filial affection. Death has appeared in a milder form, and granted a gentler descent to the tomb, than is often permitted.

      "Alexander Campbell was born September 12, 1788, in the county of Antrim, Ireland. But though born in Ireland, his ancestors were, on one side, of Scotch origin, and on the other, descended from the Huguenots, in France. Inheriting a vigorous and well-balanced physical and mental constitution, and trained from his earliest years, by his learned and accomplished father, to habits of severe application, he grew up to manhood a constant and laborious student--completing his course of study in the University of Glasgow. Blessed with an exceedingly intellectual and pious parentage, and reared in one of the strictest schools of Presbyterianism, he early formed and cultivated habits of piety and a taste for theological studies, which gave shape to his entire life. A profound reverence for the Word of God, was a marked feature of the character alike of the boy and of the man.

      "Coming to this country in 1809, and settling in Western Pennsylvania--whither his father had preceded him--he closely scanned the condition of religious society. Both father and son became deeply impressed with a conviction of the evils and inherent sinfulness of sectarianism. Their first movement as Reformers, was the repudiation of human creeds as tests of fellowship, and a proposal to unite till the disciples of Jesus in one church, with the Bible as the only authoritative standard of faith and practice. Pursuing the study of the Scriptures, as free as possible from party bias, they, and those in association with them, were soon convinced that infant membership in the church, and sprinkling, were unauthorized of God. They were accordingly immersed, on a confession of faith in the Son of God, and united with the Regular Baptists--stipulating, however, that they should not be required to subscribe to any creed or articles of faith, other than the Bible. The prejudice and passion of some excitable and intolerant men who then held a leading influence in the Redstone Association, rendered it prudent for Mr. Campbell to withdraw, after a few years, from that connection. Against his own wishes, he was compelled, by the force of ecclesiastical opposition, to act separately from the Baptists, seeking fellowship only with those who were willing to be governed by the Bible alone. Thus cut loose from his former connections, and with a fierce opposition stirred up against him, he gave himself supremely to the advocacy and defense of his plea for a return to primitive Christianity. For half a century he gave his strength to this work, making tributary to it all his treasures of learning and eloquence. For forty years--from 1823 to 1863--he never failed to publish monthly, a [396] religious magazine, laden with varied information, rich thought, keen argument, and pious sentiment. This was published, the first seven years, under the name of The Christian Baptist. In 1830, it appeared in enlarged form, under the title of the Millennial Harbinger. These publications, although enriched with contributions from many gifted pens, were principally occupied with editorial essays; and on this mainly depended their popularity and power. The earlier years of his editorial career were distinguished by lively and earnest controversy--the arguments and criticisms of his opponents being given in full on his pages, and the replies exhibiting a completeness of information on the topics discussed, ripeness of judgment, strength of argument, keenness of retort and withering exposures of sophistry, that render them admirable models of polemical theology. Seldom is such playfulness of wit and keenness of satire joined with such gentlemanly dignity and logical power. We have always regarded the correspondence with Bishop Semple as one of the finest specimens of the epistolary style of discussion, anywhere to be found.

      "Afterwards, when the heat of controversy had somewhat abated, there is traceable in his journalism, a gentleness and mellowness which, while admitting of no compromise with error, dealt more forbearingly with opposition, and delighted more in the sweetness of piety, and in the practical aspects of Bible doctrine. Seldom, however, even in the hottest of the strife, were sentences written unworthy of the dignity and benevolence of the religion of Jesus. We doubt, in going over these forty volumes, and noting the wide range of subjects--doctrinal, critical, ethical, historical, and literary-whether the same amount and variety of writing can be found in any controversial author with less which, when dying, he would wish to erase.

      "In addition to these forty volumes, Mr. Campbell published several other works. A translation of the New Testament, by G. Campbell, Doddridge and McKnight, with Prefaces, Emendations, and Critical Notes of his own; the Christian System; Infidelity refuted by Infidels; Baptism: Its Antecedents and Consequents; a volume of Literary Addresses; a life of his father, Thomas Campbell, etc. He also held several public discussions, which were reported and published: A debate on baptism in 1820, with Rev. John Walker; one on the same subject in 1823, with Rev. W. M'Calla; one on the evidences of Christianity in 1829, with Robert Owen; one on Roman Catholicism in 1837, with Bishop (now Archbishop) Purcell; and one on the points in dispute between Presbyterians and Reformers in 1843, with Rev. N. L. Rice. This last discussion occupied eighteen days. He had also a written discussion with Dr. Skinnner, on Universalism. In all these he maintained a high reputation for learning, dignity, and logical and critical acumen.

      "He was not less laborious as a speaker than as a writer. During all these years, he traveled extensively, traversing most of the states of the Union, and visiting Great Britain and Ireland; discoursing everywhere to crowded audiences, on the great themes that occupied his heart, and coming into contact with many of the best minds of the age, from whom, whatever their difference of sentiment, he constantly challenged respect and admiration. His discourses were extemporaneous, often [397]

THOMAS CAMPBELL.

exceeding two hours in length, but were so clear in statement, cogent in argument, rich in diction, and forcible in illustration, as to hold his auditors in rapt attention to the close. His was not the highest style of oratory. Indeed, he rather despised oratory as an art, relying on the inherent attractiveness of the truths he uttered. We have known him, in his prime, stand for two hours, leaning on a cane, and talk in true conversational style, with scarce a gesture in the entire discourse. But to a fine personal appearance and dignity of manner he added a clearness of statement, a force of reasoning, a purity and sometimes a pomp of diction, a splendor of imagination, and an earnestness often rising into impassioned utterance, which clothed his pulpit efforts with a high degree of oratorical excellence. His habit of extemporaneous speaking never caused him to degenerate into slovenliness of style, but sometimes led to undue diffusiveness and discursiveness.

      "In conversation, he expended, perhaps, more time and strength than in pulpit discourse. Possessed of a strong social nature, and gifted with rare conversational powers, his delighted visitors hung for hours on the wisdom and eloquence of his lips. We do not compare him with Johnson and Coleridge, who, as conversationalists, won so great fame. Mr. Campbell conversed on different themes, and to a widely different circle of hearers. But we doubt if any of his age excelled him in capacity to charm and instruct in the social circle. Perhaps more prejudice was dissipated, and more adherents were gained, in these daily conversations, than in his best pulpit efforts.

      "It is not designed to enter here on a consideration of the peculiar features of Mr. Campbell's teaching. Briefly, they may be sketched thus:

      "Christ the only Master: involving a rejection of all human names and leaderships in religion. The Bible the only authoritative book: necessitating the denial of the authority of all human creeds. The Church of Christ, as founded by him, and built by the Apostles, for a habitation of the Spirit, the only divine institution for spiritual ends: logically leading to the repudiation of all sects in religion as unscriptural, and dishonoring to the Head of the church. Faith in Jesus, as the Christ, the Son of God, and repentance toward God, the only scriptural pre-requisite to baptism and consequent church membership: thus dismissing all doctrinal speculation and all theological dogmata, whether true or false, as unworthy to be urged as tests of fitness for membership in the Church of Christ. Obedience to the divine commandments, and not correctness of opinion, the test of Christian standing. The gospel the essential channel of spiritual influence in conversion: thus ignoring all reliance on abstract and immediate influence of the Holy Spirit, and calling the attention of inquirers away from dreams, visions and impressions, which are so liable to deceive, to the living and powerful truths of the Gospel, which are reliable, immutable and eternal. The truth of the Gospel to enlighten; the love of God in the Gospel to persuade; the ordinances of the Gospel, as tests of submission to the divine will; the promises of the Gospel, as the evidence of pardon and acceptance; and the Holy Spirit, in and through all these, accomplishing His work of enlightening, convincing of sin, guiding the penitent soul to pardon, and bearing witness to the obedient believer of his adoption into the family of God.

      "He was intensely Protestant, steadily cherishing throughout his life the cardinal principles of what is called evangelical faith and piety--the divinity of Christ, His sacrificial death, as a sin-offering, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers. A Trinitarian in sentiment, he repudiated the unscriptural technicalities of Trinitarian theology as involving a mischievous strife of words. A devout believer in the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of God, he would not teach, as Gospel, any theory of atonement. A stout advocate of spiritual influence and special providence, he was the enemy of all theories of abstract spiritual power, as tending to ignore the Word of God, and leading to a deceptive trust in psychological peculiarities as the voice of the Spirit of God. Sternly opposed to baptismal regeneration, he still insisted on the baptism of the believing penitent 'for the remission of sins.' Educated in Calvinism, and always inclining to that school, he was so fearful of the tendency of all speculative theology, that it is difficult to trace his own proclivities on these questions anywhere in his voluminous writings. Deeply sympathizing with evangelical Protestantism in its grand ideas and principles, he nevertheless looked on its present [398]

1. The Campbell Mansion. 2. A. Campbell's Study. 3. A. Campbell. 4. Interior of Study.     5. Where A. Campbell was baptized. 6. His monument. [399]

      "As an educator, he is entitled to the honor of successfully instituting a college course, with the Bible as a text-book, and as the basis of the entire curriculum of study. He gave the ripest years of his life to the erection and endowment of Bethany College, from which hundreds of young men have gone forth, bearing the impress of his spirit, and the moulding influence of his noble Christian life.

      "In estimating the character of this illustrious man, it ought not to be forgotten that he possessed eminently practical talents. He was no recluse, shut out from sympathy with the activities of life. He was diligent in business, as well as fervent in spirit, seeking to serve the Lord in the former as religiously as in the latter. He had splendid business capacity, and employed it to a great advantage; so that, while traveling and preaching at his own expense, entertaining generously the throngs that gathered at Bethany, and meeting the constant demands on his purse which every public man of generous nature is plied with, he was still enabled to accumulate considerable wealth. He once told us of his standing at an early day on the site of the present city of Cleveland, when engaged with his father-in-law in locating lands. His quick perception took in at a glance the advantages of this site, and he urged the propriety of purchasing in a locality which it was evident would one day be a great commercial center. His father-in-law did not readily accept the prophecy, and their lands were selected in Holmes county.

      "Once only did he venture on the stormy sea of politics. In 1829, at the earnest solicitation of the people of West Virginia, and with a special pledge from his friends that he should not be required to take the stump, he consented to be a candidate for a seat in the Virginia Constitutional Convention. He was elected. He bore a prominent part in the proceedings of that Convention, acting on the Judiciary committee with Chief Justice Marshall, on intimate terms with ex-President Madison, and coming into conflict with John Randolph and other leading minds of Eastern Virginia, in his advocacy of the interests of the Western portion of the state. In all this, he never for a moment forfeited the dignity of his character as a Christian minister.

      "His reputation was without spot. His bitterest enemies failed to find a flaw in his character for truth, integrity and goodness. But to those who knew him well, he was most cheerful, gentle, genial, just, and devout; and as dearly loved for his goodness as he was venerated for his greatness. It will ever be remembered to his honor, that with an almost unbounded personal influence over a religious community, numbering hundreds of thousands, he never sought the least ecclesiastical control. Although the telegram from Wheeling announcing his death spoke of him as "Bishop Campbell," it will surprise many to learn that he was merely one of the bishops of the congregation meeting in Bethany, and that outside of this, he never sought and never exercised, the least ecclesiastical authority.

      "He was a profound admirer of American institutions. His heart ever beat with the impulses of freedom. The communities of disciples grew to be large, both North and South of Mason and Dixon's line, and in earnest desire to preserve their unity unbroken, led him sometimes to lean over towards slavery in apology and defense, many of us thought, too far. Yet he was always in sympathy and practice, an anti-slavery man. The best proof of this is found in the emancipation of all the slaves who, by marriage came into his possession. His tract to the people of Kentucky, urging them to adopt a system of gradual emancipation, was an earnest and powerful appeal. Although it fell on ears that were dull of hearing, the people of that state, who rejected his counsels, will learn how true he was to their best interests, as well as to the noblest instincts of his own nature.

      "For many years he was possessed of the conviction that the year 1866 would exhaust many prophetic dates, and witness great changes in ecclesiastical and spiritual affairs.--It is not unpleasant to think that this has become to him the year of years, and to his ransomed spirit will unseal many of the mysteries of apocalyptic vision which, here, even his piercing intellect failed to penetrate.

      "He passed away on the Lord's day--the day in which he so much delighted--to the peace and bliss of an eternal Sabbath. We have not yet learned the particulars of his last hours, only that it was a kingly triumph. In his later years, the personal dignity and official relations of the Son of God was his constant theme of discourse. Who can imagine the reverence and rapture that shall fill his spirit when beholding the glory of Immanuel, whom, unseen, he loved so well, and at whose feet he laid, adoringly, the gifts of his nature, and the toils of his life.

      "He is gone. We pause and drop a tear of affection to his memory.--We knew and revered him from our boyhood up. In the earlier years of our ministry, we owed much to his counsel and encouragement. In riper years, it was a joy to co-operate with him in his labors in the kingdom of Christ. Sunny are all the memories of our intercourse.--We hope to greet him in a brighter world, and renew, on the heights of Zion, the recollections of many a happy scene in the path of our pilgrimage. He is gone; but the truth lives; and the God of truth lives and reigns. The principles for which Alexander Campbell so [400] nobly and steadfastly contended, will assert their living power more successfully, now that he is gone, than during the period of his personal advocacy. He has left no human leadership. His brethren will never wear his name. Nor will any other succeed to the same influence and power which he wielded. Those who have expected to see the cause he plead die with him will now learn how little trust in a human arm has belonged to it, and how firm is its grasp of the truth of the living God. Yet his name will be bright in history, after many of the leading men of his times shall have been forgotten; bright, too, we trust, among the immortals in the paradise of God."

[COC 396-401]