Born: County Down, near Newry, Ireland, February 1, 1763.
Died: 1854.
Was born in County Down, near Newry, Ireland, Feb. 1, 1763.
His father, Archibald Campbell, was a soldier in the British Army under General Wolfe and was at the capture of Quebec. He was a strict member of the Episcopal Church. But its rigid formalities repelled the son, Thomas, in his early life. He found more congenial associations among the warm-hearted and zealous Seceders--the body of the Presbyterians that had separated from the established church of Scotland in 1733.
He was educated in the University of Glasgow.
In 1787 he was married to Miss Jane Cooneigle, a descendant of the French Huguenots. She was a woman of fine mental and moral endowments. From his early manhood, Thomas Campbell was a reverent and earnest student of the Bible. Upon the completion of his theological course, he became a minister in the Scotch Seceder Church, with the full credentials of the Christian ministry. After one pastorate, he came to America in 1807 and settled in western Pennsylvania. There he found many of his friends who had preceded him to this country. At once he began to preach to them.
His charitable spirit and able expositions of Scripture drew around him the pious of different churches. There were no reasons for the separation of these sheep in that new country, but rather many for their union in public worship and Christian work on Bible principles. They agreed to form an association of Christians to meet statedly for personal advancement in knowledge and duty. Thus came into being the "Christian Association" of Washington, Pennsylvania. Under its auspices the "Declaration and Address," written by Thomas Campbell, was issued in 1809. For its catholicity, its exaltation of the word of God, its clear statement of the only ground of practical Christian union, its recognition of the sole and supreme authority of our Lord the Christ, it was a remarkable production. In significance it ranks with the ninety-five theses that Luther nailed upon the gate of the church at Wittenberg.
Thomas Campbell lived a full century in advance of his generation. He was a rare and beautiful soul. In him the vital elements of Christ's gospel united in charming fruition. At the age of ninety-one he passed on.