Thomas Campbell

      When God's hour strikes, His prepared workmen rise to meet the occasion. It costs them much: but none who hears can afford to linger or neglect. At the opening of the nineteenth century, Thomas Campbell was a Presbyterian minister in Ireland. He had been brought up in a religious home. Then he graduated from Glasgow University and a theological College connected with it. As a minister in Ireland he was paid about £1 per week. Consequently he added farming and school-teaching to his duties in order to provide for his family. This load restricted his usefulness and injured his health. For the latter reason he eventually moved to the United States of America.

A Man Prepared

      Those who knew Thomas Campbell were impressed by his Christian manliness expressed in strong gentleness. He had an unusual piety combined with deep conviction. His passionate enthusiasm for all great Christian issues was linked with patient tolerance and sympathetic understanding. Such a nature was deeply pained by every evidence of sectarian bitterness, party jealousy and personal malice within the Churches.

The Need of the Time

      Unfortunately there was no lack of such evidence. Presbyterians were divided into numerous sections--Church of Scotland, Seceders, Burghers, Anti-Burghers, Old Light Burghers, New Light Burghers, Old Light Anti-Burghers, Lifters, Relief Church, etc. These declined to have anything to do with one another.

      Between them, and in the relations of the religious bodies generally. there reigned a bitter intolerance Campbell considered this completely un-Christian. It hindered the work of Christ and parodied a religion which was meant to have unity and communion in faith, hope and love for its grand objective. In Ireland he vainly worked for harmony. In the scattered districts of America he invited to the Lord's Supper Presbyterians other than Anti-Burghers, to whom he belonged. He was censured for this departure and such was the feeling aroused that he withdrew from the Presbyterian fellowship. He and his friends preached independently in houses and in the open air, pleading for tolerance and unity.

A New Movement

      Their numbers grew. Accordingly they formed the Christian Association of Washington for the promotion of Christian Unity. The aim was to work within the existing Churches for this ideal. There was a strong desire not to form a separate Church or denomination. Attempts were made to work with Presbyterians and later with Baptists. Sectarianism was strong, however, and eventually separate existence was forced upon these preachers of simple New Testament Christianity.

An Ecumenical Document

      Prior to this, on September 7. 1809, Campbell presented his famous "Declaration and Address" to the Association of Washington which enthusiastically endorsed it and ordered it to be printed. In view of the prevailing conditions.

we cannot but admire their daring, foresight. The statement was at least a century ahead of Christian opinion. It is one of the finest utterances in ecumenical literature. Its sentiments are constantly heard today. Its proposals will have to be given consideration (from whatever quarter they may be brought before the Churches) before reunion is consummated. It states the principles which have guided, for more than a century, a movement for Christian Unity now numbering millions. There follows a summary of the document in modern terms.

Foundation Principles

      Campbell makes four important basic assertions by way of introduction:

      1. Each person should think and act for himself in religious matters, guided by the Word of God.

      2. Every Christian question should be settled by appeal to the Scriptures. The Divine Word, not human interpretations of it, is binding equally upon all.

      3. Division and party spirit destroy the Church and hinder its mission. To restore the unity, peace and Purity of the Church is the greatest need of the age.

      4. The desired unity can be found nowhere but in Christ and His simple Word. "Our desires for ourselves and our brethren would be that, rejecting human opinions and the inventions of men as of any authority, we might forever cease from further contentions about such things . . . taking the Divine Word alone for our rule, the Holy Spirit for our teacher and guide and Christ alone for our salvation."

Unhappy Divisions

      It is urged that disunity is an offence against the love which is the foundation principle of the Christian religion. Schism makes unreal the Fatherhood of God. It breaks congregations into pieces, fosters a wrong spirit, and deprives Christians of ministry and ordinances if they happen to live at a distance from others of their own denomination. All who love the Lord Jesus should determine to conform to the model and adopt the practice of the primitive Church as described in the New Testament. This is the only way to regain the lost Christian unity, purity and prosperity.

Unity in Essentials

      Encouragement is found in the fact that it is only in non-essentials that Christians are divided. With regard to the essential things of Christ there is unity. "It is, to us, a pleasing consideration that all the Churches of Christ which mutually acknowledge each other as such, are not only one in the great doctrine of faith and holiness, but are also materially agreed as to the positive ordinances of the Gospel institution; so that our differences at most, are about the things in which the kingdom of God does not consist, that is, in matters of private opinion or human invention."

      Denominational rivalries must give way before the "desire to unite in the bonds of entire Christian unity. Christ alone being the Head, the centre, His word the rule, and implicit belief of and manifest conformity to it in all things, the terms."

Inspiring Active Fellowship

      "This effort toward a permanent Scriptural unity among the Churches upon the basis of universally acknowledged and self-evident truths

must have the happiest tendency to enlighten and conciliate." Such statements as these make it clear that Campbell's thinking was neither narrowly Protestant nor Roman Catholic, but truly catholic. He urged the ministry of his day to lead in this movement toward a united Church and to seek opportunities for fraternal association, united prayer, and mutual understanding.

      The "Declaration" next offers thirteen propositions which contain what has been called Campbell's platform for unity. He himself considered that he was merely opening up the matter for discussion. Here, reworded and abbreviated, are his proposals:

One Church

      1. "The Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one; consisting of all those in every place that profess their faith in Christ and obedience to Him in all things according to the Scriptures, and that manifest the same by their tempers and conduct, and of none else; as none else can be truly and properly called Christians."

Without Schism

      2. The One Body manifests its life in numerous separate congregations. These ought all to acknowledge one another in the spirit of Christ and, avoiding schism, show a united front to the world.

Truth Unites

      3. Nothing should be considered binding upon Christians or be made a condition of church membership that is not "expressly taught and enjoined in the Word of God." Nothing is essential to the life of the Church which has not the authority of Christ or His apostles in express terms or by approved precedent.

Dividing the Word

      4. Old and New Testament together make the perfect revelation of the Divine Will and in this respect cannot be separated. But it is the New Testament that indicates the worship, discipline and government of the Christian Church and the duties of its members.

In Opinions, Liberty

      5. Where the Scriptures give no clear guidance, no man should bind his views on others. "Nothing ought to be received into the faith or worship of the Church, or be made a term of communion among Christians, that is not as old as the New Testament."

      6. Similarly, deductions from and interpretations of Scripture, while helpful as such, must not be made essential or become tests of loyalty.

      7. Creeds are useful in summarising truth and excluding error, but should never be made terms of Christian communion.

Church Membership

      8. Complete knowledge of Christian truth is not required of those becoming Church members. What is needed is knowledge of our need, of the sufficiency of Christ, and a disposition to obey Him in all things as these become known to us through His Word.

Mutual Recognition

      9. All Christians should recognise one another as such and manifest love as brethren. All are equally "children of the same family and Father, temples of the same Spirit, members of the same body . . . objects of the same Divine love." "Whom God hath thus joined together no man should dare to put asunder."

Evils of Division

      10. Division among Christians is antiChristian. "It destroys the visible unity of the body of Christ, as if he were divided against himself, excluding and excommunicating a part of himself." It is antiscriptural, a direct violation of Christ's command. It is antinatural, engendering hate and opposition amongst those who should love one another as Christ has loved them.

Causes of Division

      11. Division is caused, in some instances, by partial neglect of the Will of God. In other cases it results from exalting human opinions into Christian essentials.

Achieving Unity

      12. All that is necessary to the perfection and purity of the. Church is that it be composed only of those who have professed faith in Christ and obedience to Him in all things according to the Scriptures and who express this allegiance by their lives; that ministers, duly and Scripturally qualified, teach only the articles of faith and holiness expressly revealed in the Word of God and in all their ministrations keep close to the Divine commands, without any additions of human opinions.

Human Expedients

      13. Where the Scriptures do not state the method of obeying Divine commands there should be freedom in introducing and changing the human expedients necessary for such obedience.

      This century-old plea and programme for Christian unity amazes us because of its comprehensiveness and its truly catholic spirit. When issued it was the statement of a group of reforming pioneers. Today its sentiments are echoed by many in all communions who are seeking to bring into being a wider Christian fellowship--a Church at once universal and united, greater than any existing section of Christendom and embodying the contribution which each section can make.

      Some of the suggestions which have an important bearing on the tasks of our own day may be mentioned.

      1. The approach to unity was practical and realistic, not by way of a revised credal declaration. No doctrine of catholic Christianity was set aside, but binding creeds were shown to be divisive. A pledge of personal loyalty to Christ is the way to discipleship and to the unity of the Church. This has been accepted in the basis of the World Council of Churches which describes itself simply as a fellowship of all who accept Jesus Christ as God and Saviour.

      2. There is insistence on the fact that the Church is one. God wills its unity, it is for us to manifest and maintain it. At the World Conference at Edinburgh in 1937, representatives of all sections of the Christian world (except the Church of Rome) stated the same truth in their influential affirmation of unity. "We are one in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ," the Conference declared, "we are one in allegiance to Him as Head of the Church . . . We humbly acknowledge that our divisions are contrary to the will of Christ. We are convinced that our unity of spirit and aim must be embodied in a way that will make it manifest to the world. We believe that the Church is the body of Christ, and is, therefore, in principle and ideal, one. Our goal is to realise the ideal of the Church as one living body, worshipping and serving God in Christ, as the

      fulfilment of our Lord's prayers and of our prayers."

      8. These pioneers expressed their desire to work unselfishly for the good of all the Churches and not to hinder the work or disturb the peace of any. They held that it was in accordance with the nature of the Church to seek the things that unite and to co-operate with all Christians. They said, "To love and, receive our brother as we believe and hope Christ has received both him and us and yet to refuse to hold communion with him, is we confess, a mystery too deep for us." The same thought is often uttered today by those who regret that Christians who are in communion with the same Lord are not in communion with one another.

      4. It was pointed out, as it has been in the recent ecumenical conferences, that Christians are one on matters of central importance and are divided "about the things in which the kingdom of God does not consist."

      5. They distinguished between unity and uniformity, holding that it was unChristian presumption for one to try to enforce his private opinions or theological interpretations on others. The Bible was to be accepted as guide in appropriating the grace of Christ, but liberty of interpretation was to be allowed. Christianity is founded upon facts--the acts of God in history. It is the acceptance of these facts, not our explanations of them or our methods of working in relation to them, that makes us Christians and should make us one in Christ.

      6. All Christians should think constantly of others, not as members of opposing denominations, but as members of the one body of Christ, brethren in the same family, and children of the same Father.

      A. L. HADDON--Graduated Glen Iris, M.A. Melbourne University, D.D. Butler University, Ministries: Wedderburn, Bambra Road, Ashfield, Enmore, City Temple, Youth Director N.S.W., 30 years principal Glen Leith College, 18 years editor "N. Z. Christian," 2 years President N. Z. National Council of Churches. Twice Conference President, twice preacher Conference sermon. Member N. Z. University Faculty of Theology and its examiner in Church History 10 years. Three visits to U. S. A. lecturing and preaching. First Vice-president Melbourne World Convention.