ATURAL history teaches that there are certain species of polyps which reproduce themselves by a gradual division of their bodies into parts, and that these parts speedily acquire all the deficient organs and become distinct and perfect individuals. There are others among these singular creatures propagating their race by buds, which appear upon the body of the parent, and, after a sufficient degree of development, become separate and complete animals. Speaking analogically, it would appear that religious sects combine both these methods of increase, for not only do they divide themselves frequently into new parties, but likewise produce, occasionally, offsets, which, after adhering to the parent for a time, become so far developed as to be capable of assuming an independent life. Of the first method examples have already been given. Of the second mode, the Puritans or Independents and the Methodists are exemplifications, both having been off-shoots from the Church of England, with which they remained connected long after they were distinctly recognized as new productions of denominational fecundity.

      Of the above-named parties, the Independents had a most important influence upon the religious views of both Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander. There [59] was at this time in Rich-Hill a congregation of Independents, with whose pastor, Mr. Gibson, and many of the members, they were on terms of friendly acquaintance. It was not unusual for Thomas Campbell, after his return from the Lord's-day services at the country church of Ahorey, to go to the meeting of the Independents at night. Among the Seceders it was not allowable for any one to neglect his own meetings to attend those of others, but when there was no Seceder meeting within reach at the same hour, it was not particularly objected to that members should go to other meetings. This was called the privilege of "occasional hearing," which was conceded, but by no means encouraged, by the clergy. The members of the Independent Church were always much pleased to see Mr. Campbell come to their meetings, as they had a very high esteem for him as one of the most learned and pious of the Seceder ministers, but as he came only after dark, they were wont to compare him facetiously with Nicodemus, "who came to Jesus by night."

      The Independents being more liberal than others in granting the use of their meeting-house to preachers of various kinds, an opportunity was thus also afforded of hearing occasionally persons who were distinguished in the religious world. On one occasion the celebrated Rowland Hill preached with great acceptance. James Alexander Haldane also visited Rich-Hill, and preached during Mr. Campbell's residence there. Alexander Carson, too, who left the Presbyterians and joined the Independents in 1803, preached about this time at Rich-Hill. Another individual who visited and preached at Rich-Hill was John Walker, whose abilities and learning made quite a strong impression on the mind of young Alexander. He had been a fellow and a teacher [60] in Trinity College, and minister at Bethesda Chapel, Dublin; but becoming grieved with the prevailing religious declension and the worldly conformity of most of the parties of the day, he resigned his fellowship in 1804, threw aside the clerical garb, and formed a separate society in Dublin. He taught that there should be no stated minister, but that all members should exercise their gifts indiscriminately. Baptism he regarded as superfluous, except to those who never before professed Christianity. He was Calvinistic in doctrine, but carried separatism so far that it was a special point with him strictly to prohibit the performance of any religious act without removing to a distance (if in the same room) from every person who refused to obey a precept that could be generally applied; insisting that true worship could be rendered only by those who receive and obey the same truths in common. It may be remarked that views not very dissimilar were held at various times by others. Roger Williams, for instance, the founder of the Baptists in America, held that it was wrong for professors of religion to hold worship with the unconverted, or to sit at the communion table with those who did not perfectly agree with them in religious sentiments. Mr. Walker was accustomed, at his meetings, to give a cordial invitation to all inquirers to call upon him next day at his room for religious conversation, and, as he was extremely affable and communicative, these interviews were usually very agreeable. Thomas Campbell, in company with one of his elders, called upon him, and Alexander also came in during their conversation, in which he became much interested. This singular man sold his carriage and traveled on foot through Ireland, and also through England, and gained here and there a few proselytes to his views, [61] especially in Plymouth, from whence they have become known as the Plymouth Brethren.¹ The origin of the Independents as a religious body may be dated at least as far back as the reign of Elizabeth, when a number of intelligent English, exiled during the preceding reign of Mary, returned from Geneva, imbued with Calvinistic and republican sentiments. In 1566, a number of clergymen and others, who had adopted these principles, repudiated the Book of Common Prayer, and substituted the Geneva Service-Book. It was not, however, until about 1580 that a real separation occurred from the Church of England, under the leadership of Robert Brown, who, with a number of his followers, was compelled to leave England. Being subjected to various disabilities and persecutions, others, at different periods, fled to foreign parts, especially to Amsterdam and Leyden. These, again, under the reign of James the First, were followed by a considerable number, under the guidance of their pastor, Mr. Robinson. A portion of these exiles, under Brewster, Bradford and others, emigrated in 1617 to America, and landing at Plymouth, became the founders of the colony of Massachusetts, and the pioneers to others by whom the chief New England colonies were established. It is a singular fact that these exiles had no sooner obtained possession of power than they began to exercise the very same system of persecution of which they themselves had been victims. [62] They whipped, branded, banished or executed Quakers and others who refused to conform to their views, thus affording another proof that a state or national religion is necessarily Popish in its spirit, for at that time, in these Puritan colonies, the Church was essentially the State.² [63]

      Whatever philosophical explanation may be made of the conduct of the Puritans, on the ground that self-preservation, in their then feeble condition, overrode all other considerations, since to oppose the Church was, in their case, tantamount to sedition against the State, one thing is certain, that the course they pursued was wholly inconsistent with the fundamental principle of Independency, and with not only the practice of their party in England, but with their own course subsequently, so soon as the Church was relieved from its false political position, and human rights became somewhat better understood.

      It was this fundamental principle of Independency, the right of private judgment, that seems at this time to have particularly engaged the attention of Alexander Campbell. It was the natural tendency of his mind to seize upon principles, and this doctrine, so consonant with his own native independence of thought, was particularly agreeable to him. He does not appear, however, to have fully or practically adopted this principle, so entirely at variance with that of the denomination to which he belonged, and with the religious authority he had been taught to revere. Before taking this step, it was necessary that he should have a little longer time to observe the working of the religious systems of the time.

      All these may be classed as Episcopal, Presbyterian and Congregational--to the last of which belong the Baptists and all others holding that each congregation is independent. In the Episcopal (including the Romish) and the Presbyterian systems no liberty whatever is granted to the people to interpret the Scriptures, this being entirely confined to the clergy. Hence, among Presbyterians, though the Scripture is [64] recommended to be read, the reader is carefully informed, as in the Acts of Assembly, "that the charge and office of interpreting the Holy Scriptures is a part of the ministerial calling, which none, howsoever otherwise qualified, should take upon him in any place, but he that is duly called thereunto by God and his kirk." No such thing, in fact, as liberty of private judgment is allowed in the Church of England or in Presbyterianism, any more than in the Church of Rome.

      With the Independents, however, the right of every member to judge for himself as to the meaning of Scripture is the great distinguishing feature, and the basis not only of their congregational form of government, and their entire repudiation of the authority claimed by Presbyteries, Synods, Assemblies, Conventions or other church-courts, but also the reason of that tolerant spirit they so strikingly manifested when they attained to political power in England. In the Long Parliament, headed by Sir Henry Vane, they pleaded with the Presbyterian majority for such a degree of toleration as would at least include all holding Protestant doctrines. This, however, was abhorrent to the Presbyterians. "Toleration," cried one of them, "will make the kingdom a chaos, a Babel, another Amsterdam, a Sodom, an Egypt, a Babylon: toleration is the grand work of the devil, his masterpiece and chief engine to uphold his tottering kingdom; it is the most compendious, sure way to destroy all religion, lay all waste, and bring in all evil. As original sin is the fundamental sin, having the seed and spawn of all sin in it, so toleration hath all errors in it and all evils."³ The Independents, however, having got the control of the [65] army, and, finally, of the government under Cromwell, were enabled to put, to a considerable extent, their views into practice, so that during the Protectorate, for eleven years, a degree of peace, toleration and prosperity was enjoyed by all parties which had before been unknown. Although the toleration then granted was neither complete nor firmly founded, it greatly redounded to the credit of the Independents, and had an important influence upon the world at large. These singular but stern and religious men were, to use the language of Macaulay, "engaged in the great conflict of liberty and despotism, reason and prejudice. That great battle was fought for no single generation, for no single land. The destinies of the human race were staked on the same cast with the freedom of the English people." Opposed as well to Presbytery as to Prelacy and Popery, and regarding each congregation as independent and supreme in its jurisdiction, their views naturally made them republican in civil affairs, while their principle that every one should enjoy the right of private judgment in religion, released them from that spiritual despotism which all the other systems labored to establish.

      For, to take the Presbyterian system as an example, their idea of a complete church is not by any means that of a single congregation, but of a number of congregations, with Sessions, Presbyteries and Synods sufficient to constitute a General Assembly. Each member of the congregation is subject, in conversation and doctrine, to the Session; the decisions of the Session to the Presbytery; those of the Presbytery to the Synod, and those of the Synod to the General Assembly. Thus, with them, the Church consists of congregations, with all the required church-courts, [66] comprising a complete system of absolute clerical domination.

      Among these courts, it is the General Assembly which is the true exponent of the nature and animus of the entire system. This supreme court is the eye and ear and efficient head of the whole body. For, to use the vision of Assyria's king, if the Session be the legs of iron, emblem of popular strength, mixed at the feet with the miry clay of the unofficial laity, if the Presbytery be the belly and thighs of brass, and the Synod the breast and arms of silver, it is the General Assembly that constitutes the golden head, which is the crowning glory of the Presbyterian image.

      No despotism, indeed, could be more complete than that sought to be established by the Church of Scotland, which exercised, by means of its clerical machinery, a real inquisitorial authority over men's minds and consciences, and, when called into question by the government for usurpations, or for preaching up sedition and rebellion instead of the gospel, would plead the divine commission of its ministry as the proof of its superiority to the civil power, and claim to be exempt from the jurisdiction of the courts in regard to everything said or done by its ministry in discharging their spiritual functions, whose extent, meanwhile, they asserted the right of determining for themselves.⁴ When to these assumptions, we add the control of the [67] sword of the magistrate which they constantly sought indirectly to acquire, and often really exercised, we have a dynasty quite as imperious as any ever [68] maintained by Papal Rome. Happily, the example of the United States, the progress of liberal ideas and the great increase of dissenters had gradually checked the arrogance of the National Churches of Great Britain, and compelled them to hold in abeyance claims which, from their very constitution, it is impossible they should ever relinquish.

      Although the spirit of these parties was thus, at this period greatly subdued, and no very arbitrary acts on the part of the Irish Synod had occurred to awaken discontent, the observant mind of Alexander Campbell perceived so much of a grasping spirit and of clerical assumption in the ministry, and such tendencies to a rigid exercise of power, as led him to reflect more seriously upon his future course. He had been repeatedly grieved to find that the occasional earnest overtures of his pious father in regard to various reforms, and especially in relation to a more frequent celebration of the Lord's Supper, then attended to only semi-annually, were treated with indifference, and rejected by the Presbytery and the Synod; and that there seemed no disposition whatever, on the part of those in authority, to admit of any changes or reforms. When he contrasted these things with the freedom of opinion and of [69] government enjoyed by the Independents, he was led to examine more carefully into the principles upon which the system of Independency was based. He found that the English Congregationalists differed somewhat from those called Scotch Independents, whose principal champion then was Robert Sandeman. Their rise is attributable to John Glas, an eloquent and able minister of the Church of Scotland, in the parish of Tealing, near Dundee, who abandoned the Establishment about the year 1728, and adopted Independent views, which he derived mainly from the works of John Owen. He formed churches in most of the large towns in Scotland, where his followers were called Glasites. About the year 1755, Robert Sandeman developed and sustained their views, and engaged in a spirited controversy with Hervey in regard to the leading doctrine in his "Theron and Aspasio," the appropriating nature of faith--a controversy which not only greatly promoted the circulation of Hervey's work, but gave celebrity to Sandeman, from whom this particular branch of Independents have, in England, been usually called Sandemanians. He afterwards came to America and founded societies in New England and Nova Scotia.

      His doctrines were--that faith is merely a simple assent to the testimony concerning Christ; that the word faith means nothing more than it does in common discourse--a persuasion of the truth of any proposition: and that there is no difference between believing any common testimony and believing the apostolic testimony. He advocated the weekly observance of the Lord's Supper; love-feasts; weekly contributions for the poor; mutual exhortation of members; plurality of elders in a church; conditional community of goods, [70] etc. He also approved of theatres and public and private diversions, when not connected with circumstances really sinful.

      The Independents at Rich-Hill, though in connection with those of Scotland, were Haldanean in sentiment, and did not adopt all the views of Glas or Sandeman. They attended weekly to the Lord's Supper, contributions, etc., but were opposed to going to theatres or such places of public amusements; to the doctrine of community of goods; feet-washing, etc., as advocated by Sandeman. They were also, in a good measure, free from the dogmatic and bitter controversial spirit so characteristic of Sandeman and his followers. It does not appear that Alexander acquired at this time anything more than a general knowledge of the history of these parties. If he became at all acquainted with the peculiar views of Sandeman in regard to faith, it is certain that he was far from adopting them; and that, even after his emigration to the United States, he continued to hold essentially the views of this subject entertained by Presbyterians. He seems, in addition, about this time to have read and to have been much pleased with the works of Archibald McLean, especially his work on "The Commission," of which he was wont ever after to speak in the highest terms.

      In order to complete this brief account of the religious influences surrounding Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander at this period, it is necessary to notice a movement then in progress for the promotion of a simpler and, as it was termed, a more "evangelical" style of preaching, with the view of creating a greater general interest in the subject of religion. The reader is doubtless familiar with the history of the great excitement produced in England by the preaching of [71] Whitefield and Wesley about the same time at which the Seceders left the Kirk of Scotland, some sixty years previous. By their earnestness and zeal, by the introduction of the custom of field-preaching (unused since the time of the monastic orders, if we except the case of the persecuted Covenanters), as well as by the Wesleyan system of lay-preaching and itinerancy, the existing ecclesiastical establishments were roused from their state of frigid formality and apathy, and an unwonted religious fervor was diffused throughout all classes of the community. The same excitement was introduced also into Scotland, to which Mr. White field was invited by the Seceders through the agency of the Erskines. As he was a Calvinist, they entertained hopes of winning him to their party, or at least of attaining to such doctrinal agreement with him as would justify them in availing themselves of his extraordinary powers. Immediately upon his arrival, therefore, at Dunfermline, they called a Presbytery, and proposed to set him right upon the matter of Church government and of the Solemn League and Covenant. He very properly declining to enter upon any disputes about what he regarded as trivial matters, and determining to adhere to his course of preaching Christ, free from the shackles of any party, the Seceders immediately became hostile and refused to hear him, denouncing him as "an enthusiast who was engaged in doing the work of Satan," while he, on the other hand, charged them with "building a Babel which would soon come down about their ears." Upon this, a number of the ministers of the Church of Scotland espoused Mr. Whitefield's cause and admitted him into their pulpits. Great excitement and extraordinary manifestations of swoonings, convulsions and cataleptic seizures attended Mr. [72] Whitefield's labors, especially at Cambuslang, near Glasgow, where at one time the assemblage was estimated to consist of at least thirty thousand persons. These singular cases had previously occurred under Mr. Wesley's preaching; and have several times since been noted, as in the revivals under the preachings of Jonathan Edwards in New England, and of James McGready, B. W. Stone and some other Presbyterian preachers in Kentucky, in 1801.

      The intense religious interest awakened in Great Britain and Ireland by Wesley, Whitefield and their coadjutors, had, toward the close of the century, given place to a great degree of indifference and worldly conformity. The diffusion of infidel principles from France, political commotions and a variety of circumstances connected with the American and French wars, seem to have been chiefly instrumental in inducing a change which was deeply lamented by pious and earnest men in the different religious communities. It was resolved, accordingly, to make a united effort to arouse the people to greater religious activity, and, for this purpose, to employ those agencies of open-air preaching and itinerancy formerly so successful.

      Among those conspicuously engaged in this work were the Haldanes of Scotland. A considerable missionary society, called the Evangelical Society, was formed for the above purpose, consisting in part of members of the Episcopal Church in England. As Thomas Campbell warmly sympathized in the proposed object, he became a member of this Society, and took great pleasure in aiding its operations. Many liberal and earnest preachers were sent out by its means through the country, who were accustomed to convene the people in the most public places in towns, or [73] wherever they could obtain an audience, and to address them with great earnestness upon the subject of religion.

      In this species of mission there was something very pleasing, and certainly the position of such laborers was highly favorable to a fair and effective presentation of the general truths of the gospel. Like missionaries in heathen lands, they felt themselves freed, in a good measure, from the sectarian necessities and constraints of party-preachers. They were left, as it were, alone with the Word of God and the souls of men: and as far as it related to the general truths of the scheme of redemption, their addresses were most profitable in rousing the careless and thoughtless to inquiry, and in removing doubts and difficulties from the minds of the ignorant and the skeptical. "The more pure and free," as Neander well observes, "and unmixed with human schemes Christianity is, the more easily it makes its way into the hearts of men, and the more easily can it preserve in undiminished vigor its divine attractive power over human nature." It was, however, impossible for them, consistently with the nature of their mission and their views of religion, to recommend any very definite or particular course to anxious inquirers. The nature of faith; how Christ could be put on by faith; how the sinner could obtain an assurance of justification,--these were questions of the highest practical importance, to which different parties gave conflicting answers, and which, with matters of ecclesiastical organization, constituted the burden of polemical discussions and the ground of party differences. Their work was, however, a favorable omen of the approach of a better era, and served practically to break down the prejudices of religious society and to depreciate the value of those speculative theological dogmas and of [74] those sectarian distinctions by which pious believers were separated and alienated from each other.

      Such, then, during the years of youth and of formative research and observation, were the religious influences which surrounded Alexander Campbell, and such the lessons of instruction which history afforded him. The effect of the whole was to increase his reverence for the Scriptures as the only infallible guide in religion, to weaken the force of educational prejudices, and to deepen his conviction that the existence of sects and parties was one of the greatest hindrances to the success of the gospel. [75]

[MAC1 59-75]