MIDST his arduous labors during the winter of 1829, Mr. Campbell had but little time to prepare for the approaching debate with Mr. Owen. In addition to his editorial duties and his immense correspondence, as well as his ministerial and other engagements, he had on hand a new edition of the Testament in a more portable form, demanding great attention. Thrice-armed, nevertheless, in the justice of his cause, conscious of his ability to expose the false principles of the social system, and "relying," as he said, "upon the Author of the Christian religion" for aid and guidance, he experienced no fear as to the result. It was not, however, his chief or ulterior object merely to show the weakness of Mr. Owen's system. In view of the many different forms of skepticism prevailing, and of the false views entertained respecting Christianity itself, his purposes took a much wider range, and he resolved to demonstrate, from his own point of view, the divine origin of the Bible and the simplicity, truthfulness and saving power of the apostolic gospel.

      It cannot be denied that Mr. Owen was in many respects an extraordinary man, and that he performed at this time no unimportant part in the world's affairs. Born at Newtown, Wales, in 1769, he was so precocious [263] that, according to his own account, he was a teacher in a school at the age of seven and under-master at nine. He maintained himself as a shopman for some years, and seems to have had something so impressive about him that he was treated with uncommon consideration and liberality. At the age of eighteen he became a partner in a cotton-mill where forty hands were employed, Arkwright's machinery having been recently introduced. He was prosperous, and was raised from one lucrative position to another, so that, after David Dale of Glasgow established the New Lanark mills, Mr. Owen, who had now become his son-in-law, was placed finally at the head of the establishment, upon which some two thousand persons depended for support. Entering fully into all the benevolent projects of Mr. Dale for the happiness and improvement of the working classes, he displayed an uncommon skill in the economy of association and in systematizing the details of subsistence, clothing, education, leisure and amusements, and in the management of the mill, the farm, etc.; so that everything requiring the exercise of the administrative faculties was of a rare quality of excellence. In the course of ten years, while many expected his ruin from his novel schemes, he bought out his partners at New Lanark for $420,000. In four years from this time he and his new partners had gained $600,000, and he bought them out for $570,000--facts no less remarkable than conclusive as to his uncommon ability in the conduct of affairs.

      Such was the success of his industrial, social and educational plans that his fame was soon widely extended, and many intelligent theorists in political economy came to him to learn his method. Inspired with the belief that his plans would revolutionize human [264] society, he became a propagandist. He published various tracts and submitted his schemes to the governments of Europe and America. He visited foreign countries to communicate personally with leading men, and presented an explanatory memorial to the Congress of sovereigns at Aix la Chapelle in 1818. While in Austria, Prince Metternich invited him to a succession of interviews, and employed government clerks for many days in registering conversations and copying documents relating to the "Social System." The arbitrary governments of Europe found much in his schemes of organization to suit their purposes, and even the Prussian system of education is supposed to owe much of its discipline, as well as its rigid and sedulous application in practice, to the views of Robert Owen. As there could be no question in regard to the disinterestedness of his motives or the benevolence of his intentions, his zeal and activity gained many friends and extended his influence abroad. At home Southey eulogized him, and in America the government of Mexico offered him a district one hundred and fifty miles broad, including the then unknown gold region of California, in order that his experiments might be tried upon a grand scale. It was to see about this grant that he visited Mexico, under the auspices of the British Cabinet, about two months before the time appointed for his debate with Mr. Campbell.

      Mr. Owen is entitled to whatever credit belongs to the establishment of the infant-school system. Many had previously conceived the idea, but he was the first to carry it into practice at New Lanark, where he managed to surround the children with such "happy circumstances" that everything seemed to succeed to his wishes; and so great was the hope created of the [265] redemption of the infant population of the towns that, when Brougham reported to his parliamentary friends and others what he had seen at New Lanark, they conjointly set up an infant school in Westminster, Mr. Owen agreeing to send James Buchanan, the teacher of the school at New Lanark, to superintend it. These experiments showed that infantile education could go on well under the mild system adopted; but the fact was also in due time developed that mortality among the children was increased in proportion to their removal from the natural influences of the family and those healthful impressions produced upon each other by minds in different stages of development. Hence the fearful mortality from brain disease among the inmates of infant schools led to their abandonment after some years.

      As Mr. Owen's plans were designed exclusively for the promotion of man's material interests, and made no provision whatever for his spiritual wants, religion soon became a disturbing element in the practical working of his plans, and the diversity of men's beliefs a barrier in the way of his "Social System." He thought it, therefore, necessary to success to put religion wholly out of the way, so that men might be free to devote their entire time and faculties to the business and the enjoyments of the present life. Believing the United States, where no State religion existed, to be best suited to his experiments, he purchased, in 1824, the property belonging to the Rappites, in Indiana, consisting of the village of New Harmony and thirty thousand acres of land, where he soon collected a community of several thousand persons, and where, under the influence of zeal and talent, the co-operative system seemed for a time to realize the highest hopes of its advocates. Mr. Owen himself, [266] constitutionally sanguine, was so confident of the success of his principles as to assert that, in the course of three years, the city of Cincinnati would be depopulated by the migration of its citizens to New Harmony. A very short time, however, was sufficient to dispel this illusion, and before the period fixed in his prediction had expired this seemed more likely to be fulfilled in regard to New Harmony itself, through the discords and disappointments which were constantly occurring, and which drove off many to distant cities. These ominous occurrences failed, nevertheless, to disturb the equanimity or the confidence of Mr. Owen, and since the religions of the world, in his superficial view of human society, seemed to be the occasion of much of the discord and division that everywhere prevailed, and "to contain in them," as he said, "the seeds and the germs of every evil that the human mind can conceive," he became more and more averse to them. He was hence reduced, in his New Orleans challenge, to assail them publicly, having been specially moved thereto by certain articles which appeared in the newspapers proceeding from some of the clergy, and giving an erroneous view of his principles and plans. In consequence of the acceptance of his challenge by Mr. Campbell, he was now about to appear in Cincinnati (which, in utter disregard of his prediction, had persisted in increasing rather than diminishing its population), in order to prove that religion was the greatest bar to the supreme happiness of the world.

      The importance of the subject and the reputation of the disputants had created an intense and widespread interest in the discussion, so that when the time arrived many persons were in attendance, some of whom had come even from New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, [267] Tennessee and Mississippi. Application was made to Dr. Wilson for the use of his meeting-house, which was the largest in the city, but this having been refused, the Methodist society cheerfully granted their largest house for the purpose. Mr. Owen chose as moderators, Rev. Timothy Flint, Col. Francis Carr and Henry Starr, Esq. Mr. Campbell selected Judge Burnet, Col. Samuel W. Davis and Major Daniel Gano. These six chose Rev. Oliver M. Spencer, and Judge Burnet was appointed chairman. It was agreed that each disputant should speak alternately half an hour or less, but not more except by consent of the moderators. Charles H. Sims, stenographer, was appointed to take down the speeches in order to their publication for the benefit of the parties, and matters being thus adjusted the discussion began on Monday, April 13th, and continued, with the intermission of one Lord's day, until the twenty-first.

      This debate--if debate it may be called where the parties hardly ever came into logical conflict--was heard with great attention by a large and highly intelligent auditory. At the commencement, the press was so great that many were unable to obtain seats, and were forced after a day or two to return to their homes. It was computed that on each successive day to the close there were not less than twelve hundred persons present, and the good order and decorum which constantly prevailed in this large assembly, and the solicitude manifested to understand the subjects presented, were never, on any occasion, excelled. Mr. Owen began by explaining the cause of the meeting, and giving a brief account of his European experiments, in the course of which he professed to have discovered certain "laws of human nature," a knowledge of which would, he [268] thought, abolish religion, marriage and private property, the three "formidable prejudices which," as he stated, "ignorance of these laws had made almost universal," and to which he attributed the vice and misery of mankind.

      Mr. Campbell, in his opening speech, the only one he prepared beforehand, after apologizing for bringing the evidences of the Christian religion into debate, as though they were yet matters to be contested, which he could not admit, referred to the unkind and denunciatory style in which skeptics were generally treated by the advocates of Christianity, and to the rapid increase of infidelity in the land, owing, as he thought, to the lives of Christian professors, the sectarian spirit of the age and the absurd tenets and opinions taught as Christianity. He then stated that he had agreed to the discussion, not with the hope of convincing Mr. Owen, but for the sake of the doubting, wavering and unsettled public who were in danger of being carried off as with a flood by the infidel theories so diligently inculcated, and that he was prepared to show that there was all the reason which rational beings could demand for the sincere belief and cordial reception of the Christian religion. Passing thence to the early struggles of Christianity, he dwelt eloquently on its glorious triumphs over the nations by means of its evidences and its divine principles of self-denial, humility, patience and courage, and upon the love, purity and peace, the joys and hopes, which it imparted, and contrasted these with the rewards of disbelief, sensual indulgence and everlasting death. Glancing at some of the materialistic schemes and their degrading principles, he presented some general ideas of the plan he would pursue if he were at liberty to choose a method co-extensive [269] with the whole range of skepticism, and closed with an impressive admonition to the audience in regard to the ineffable importance of the great questions now pending:

      "It is not," said he, "the ordinary affairs of this life, the fleeting and transitory concerns of to-day or to-morrow; it is not whether we shall live all freemen or die all slaves; it is not the momentary affairs of empire or the evanescent charms of dominion--nay, indeed, all these are but the toys of childhood, the sportive excursions of youthful fancy, contrasted with the questions, What is man? Whence came he? Whither does he go? Is he a mortal or an immortal being? Is he doomed to spring up like grass, bloom like a flower, drop his seed into the earth and die for ever? Is there no object of future hope? No God--no heaven--no exalted society to be known or enjoyed? Are all the great and illustrious men and women who have lived before we were born wasted and gone for ever? After a few short days are fled, when the enjoyments and toils of life are over, when our relish for social enjoyment and our desires for returning to the fountain of life are most acute, must we bang our heads and close our eyes in the desolating and appalling prospect of never opening them again--of never tasting the sweets for which a state of discipline and trial has so well fitted us? These are the awful and sublime merits of the question at issue! It is not what we shall eat, nor what we shall drink, unless we shall be proved to be mere animals; but it is, Shall we live or die for ever? It is, as beautifully expressed by a Christian poet:

'Shall spring ever visit the mouldering urn? Shall day ever dawn on the night of the grave?'"

      This address made a very marked impression upon the audience, many of whom, from their exaggerated notion of Mr. Owen's abilities, had greatly feared for the fortunes of Christianity. The powerful grasp of the subject already indicated in Mr. Campbell's remarks [270] his manifest consciousness of power, and his eloquent and truthful words, thrilled every Christian heart; all fears were banished, and the unbidden tear was seen to trickle from many eyes.

      Mr. Owen in his next address commenced the reading of a manuscript of nearly two hundred pages foolscap folio, which he had prepared, and to which he continued to adhere throughout the discussion. In this he had laid down twelve positions, which he termed "facts," upon which he relied as the entire ground-work of that "Social System" by which he expected to renovate the world. Upon these "facts," chiefly mere commonplace truisms, affirming the power of "organization" and "circumstances" to mould and modify human character, and which left entirely out of view man's spiritual nature, and contemplated him as; a mere "effect of causes irresistible in their influence," and as consequently undeserving of praise or censure, he descanted during the entire time of the discussion. In vain did Mr. Campbell complain that his twelve "facts" had no logical application to the propositions which Mr. Owen was pledged to sustain. In vain did the moderators suggest and insist that he should confine himself to one of the five propositions contained in his challenge until that particular subject was exhausted. Nothing could divert him from his "twelve laws of human nature," and the exposition of the happy results which would necessarily follow their universal adoption. These "laws" he evidently conceived to be a complete demonstration of all the propositions in his challenge. He endeavored to show that man according to these "laws" is "a being entirely different from what he has been supposed to be by any religion ever invented, and that none of these [271] religions apply in any degree to a being formed as man is. "Taking it for granted that these "laws" were an exact summary of everything existing in human nature, a complete and exhaustive compend of all the principles of human action, he concluded that all religions were "founded in error, because their dogmas were in direct opposition to these self-evident truths and the deductions made from them."

      Mr. Campbell, in his endeavor to bring Mr. Owen to close quarters, expressed his willingness to admit the alleged "facts," with the exception of the assertion that "the will has no power over belief," and then went on to show that these "facts" had reference to the mere animal man, that his intellectual and moral endowments were not considered in them at all, and that, as they presented no proper analysis of the powers or capabilities of the human mind, they were incomplete, and formed a very false and unsafe basis for any system. He showed that the "twelve facts" were just as applicable to a goat as to a man, and that a theory based on only a part of man was defective and at variance with reason and human experience. Taking the position of Locke, Hume and Mirabeau, that all our original ideas are the results of sensation and reflection, he inquired how man could have any idea the archetype of which did not exist in nature? Yet man possessed the idea of a God producing something out of nothing, he had the conception of an immaterial spirit, a Great First Cause and many other supernatural ideas, such as that of a future state, and those connected with the words priest, altar, sacrifice, etc. He therefore called upon Mr. Owen to show how upon his principles man could have obtained these ideas, and presented to him the problem formerly addressed to the editors of the [272] "New Harmony Gazette," requesting to know "how the idea of an eternal First Cause, uncaused, came into the world." Mr. Owen replied. "By imagination." Mr. Campbell then affirmed that, upon all established principles of mental philosophy, imagination could originate nothing, but could merely combine or arrange in new forms the images already derived from the various sources of human knowledge, and called upon Mr. Owen to furnish a proof of the incorrectness of this position by imagining a sixth sense. "That all religions were founded in ignorance," as Mr. Owen asserted, was not, he urged, if admitted as true and regarded in a proper light, a disparagement of religion, since schools and colleges were based on the ignorance of society, as was also human testimony to unknown facts or books to instruct the uninformed. As to the power of the will over belief, he showed the fallacy of Mr. Owen's assertion that it had none, for, admitting that belief was often unavoidable from the nature of the testimony presented, yet the will had much, and often everything, to do with the obtaining and proper consideration of the evidence necessary to conviction. To Mr. Campbell's refutations, Mr. Owen, however, had nothing to oppose but his "twelve laws of human nature," the "gems," as he termed them, of his "casket," whose brilliancy he thought would easily excel and outshine that of all the lights of reason, logic and revelation. The parties seemed thus to be proceeding in two parallel lines which could never meet; and though Mr. Campbell took occasion to present views of human nature subversive of his opponent's system, and to point out the many inconsistencies in which it involved its author--as, for instance, in regard to his own attempt to control those "circumstances" which he alleged were [273] supreme in human affairs--the imperturbable philosopher continued to read and to expound his "divine laws," and to detail the admirable commercial, educational, governmental and economical arrangements which he had projected for his ideal communities. It soon became evident, indeed, that Mr. Owen could not reason, that he had no just perception of the relations between proposition and proof, and that it was vain to expect from him any logical discussion of the points at issue. As soon, therefore, as he had on Friday, 17th, completed the reading of his manuscript, and conceded to Mr. Campbell the privilege of speaking uninterruptedly, the latter went on to complete the course of argument he had already begun in defence of Christianity; and in a speech which, in all, occupied twelve hours, gave a view of its nature and evidences, which, for cogency of argument, comprehensive reach of thought and eloquence, has never been surpassed, if ever equaled. In this masterly effort he surprised Mr. Owen and the skeptics present by disengaging Christianity from the sectarian dogmas and doctrinal controversies and absurdities which had created so much infidelity, and to which Mr. Owen himself had attributed the origin of his own disbelief. Having already explored and exposed the false principles on which the various systems of infidelity were founded, and shown the impossibility of maintaining upon them any form of civilized society, he exhibited, in contrast, the grandeur, the power and the adaptability of the gospel to man as he is in all the relations of life and conditions of human society. He showed that Christianity was based upon the noblest and most philosophic views of human nature--not seeking to make men happy or reformed by legal enactments or vain theories, but by implanting in the [274] human heart, through the discovery of the divine philanthropy, that principle of love which fulfills every moral precept. Presenting the gospel as a series of connected facts, resting upon indubitable testimony of witnesses and of prophecy, he dwelt upon its simplicity, and took occasion to expose the folly of human authoritative creeds and the evils which had attended them, and to exhibit the distinctive views of the gospel which he taught, and its simple and expressive institutions, which gave to the penitent believer the assurance of pardon and admitted him to a holy and divine fellowship. He avowed his belief in the approach of a happy era for humanity, when more than all the peace, fraternity and prosperity anticipated in Mr. Owen's vision would be realized--not, however, by means of idle human schemes, but by the divine philosophy of making the tree good that its fruit might be good, and by the healing of all divisions through the universal spread of the primitive Christian faith. He exposed the inconsequence of Mr. Owen, who imagined that by asserting man's subjection to circumstances he had proved religion false, and reminded him that Calvinists supposed all things unchangeably decreed and fixed, yet found this no barrier to the belief of the Christian religion. Making his appeal to consciousness, however, he showed that man had the power to will, to examine into the matters that interested him, to decide in reference to them and to act upon his decisions; and illustrated this by Mr. Owen's proceedings in regard to the Mexican territory and other cases. Recurring to the partial view of human nature presented in his "twelve laws," he proved from the experience of mankind that the complete gratification of temporal wants fails to confer happiness; that man has higher aspirations, [275] which must be met, and which cannot be satisfied with sublunary pleasures. He dwelt upon the hope of immortality as that alone which could sustain man amidst the cares and disappointments of life, where pleasure was found to consist in the pursuit rather than in the attainment of the objects of desire, and justly urged that to place man in the position imagined by Mr. Owen, where he would have nothing to wish for or pursue, would be to cut him off from the most fruitful sources of happiness. He exposed also the futility of the idea that a society could permanently exist without the sense of obligation or responsibility, which on Mr. Owen's scheme must be totally banished, as the doctrine of "no praise, no blame," was to be taught in it from the cradle to the grave, and everything was made to rest upon the mere charm of social feeling. Such a society was perfectly utopian and unintelligible, since to form any community there must be stipulations, accountability, allegiance, protection; and hence an education which taught all from infancy that actions were equally right because equally the result of circumstances, and that men had no obligations to each other, was directly calculated to make men not only unfit for society, but dangerous to its peace and welfare.

      He finally went on to show that in all its benevolent features Mr. Owen's plan was a mere plagiarism from Christian enterprise. Mr. Dale had given him his first ideas of the co-operative system, with its various arrangements for the improvement of the working classes, and Moses and Solomon had dwelt upon the advantages of bringing up children "in the way they should go." It was, however, to the French Revolution he was indebted for his infidelity, and to the theories of Dr. Graham and others for his system of free love. In the [276] whole matter there was really nothing new. It was but a reproduction, with a change of form, of the views of others, and he denied that the scheme had ever been in operation at New Lanark, where the people in the aggregate were religious, and where there were Presbyterian and Independent churches well attended, Mr. Owen himself having contributed to build the latter. As to New Harmony, Mr. Owen, he thought, would hardly derive from the issue of his experiment there any argument for his scheme. After all his reading, studying, traveling and vast expenditures, nothing as yet had been produced but the "twelve fundamental laws of human nature." New Harmony, the land of promise to which multitudes flocked with eagerness, had witnessed the dissolving of the charm, and the social builders were disbanding under the influence of the awful realities of nature, reason and religion. This result he thought chiefly due to the abolition of the marriage contract and the appointment of nurses to take charge of the infants of the community. In this connection he referred touchingly to the joys of the mother in having the care of her own offspring. "The smiles of her infant," said he, "the opening dawn of reason, the indications of future greatness or goodness, as they exhibit themselves to her sanguine expectations, open to her sources of enjoyment incomparably overpaying the solicitudes and gentle toils of nursing." He showed that the system, instead of being accordant with human nature, was at war with it, and "aimed a mortal blow at all our ideas of social order and social happiness."

      Having thus dissected Mr. Owen's philosophy and exhibited the truth and excellence of Christianity, he concluded his long address with the following tribute to religion: [277]

      "Religion--the Bible! 'What treasures untold reside in that heavenly word!' Religion has given meaning, design to all that is past, and is as the moral to the fable, the good, the only good of the whole--the earnest now of an abundant harvest of future and eternal good. Now let me ask the living before me--for we cannot yet appeal to the dead--whence has been derived your most rapturous delights on earth? Have not the tears, the dew of religion in the soul, afforded you incomparably more joy than all the fleshly gayeties, than all the splendid vanities, than the loud laugh, the festive song of the sons and daughters of the flesh? Even the alternations of hope and fear, of joy and sorrow, of which the Christian may be conscious in his ardent race after a glorious immortality, afford more true bliss than ever did the sparkling gems, the radiant crown or the triumphal arch bestowed by the gratitude or admiration of a nation on some favorite child of fortune and of fame.

      "Whatever comes from religion comes from God. The greatest joys derivable to mortal man come from this source. I cannot speak of all who wear the Christian name, but for myself, I must say that worlds piled on worlds, to fill the universal scope of my imagination, would be a miserable per contra against the annihilation of the idea of God the Supreme. And the paradox of paradoxes, the miracle of miracles and the mystery of mysteries with me, was, is now, and evermore shall be, how any good man could wish there was no God! With the idea of God the Almighty departs from this earth not only the idea of virtue, of moral excellence, but of all rational enjoyment. What is height without top, depth without bottom, length and breadth without limitation--what is the sublimity of the universe without the idea of Him who created, balances, sustains and fills the world with goodness? The hope of one day seeing this Wonderful One, of beholding Him who made my body and is the Father of my spirit, the anticipation of being introduced into the palace of the universe, the sanctuary of the heavens, transcends all comparison with all sublunary things. Our powers of [278] conception, of imagination, and our powers of computation and expression, are alike baffled and prostrated in such an attempt.

      "Take away this hope from me, and teach me to think that I am the creature of mere chance, and to it alone indebted for all that I am, was, and ever shall he, and I see nothing in the universe but mortification and disappointment. Death is as desirable as life; and no one creature or thing is more deserving of my attention and consideration than another. But if so much pleasure is derived from surveying the face of nature, from contemplating the heavens and the systems of astronomy, if there be so much exquisite enjoyment from passing into the great laboratory of nature and in looking into the delicate touches, the great art, the wonderful design even in the smaller works in the kingdom which the microscope opens to our view, what will be the pleasure, the exquisite joy, in seeing and beholding Him who is the Fountain of Life, the Author and Artificer of the whole universe! But the natural and physical excellences and material glories of this great fabric are but, as it were, the substratum from which shine all the moral glories of the Author of eternal life and of the august scheme which gives immortality to man! No unrestrained freedom to explore the penetralia of voluptuousness, to revel in all the luxury of worms, to bask in the ephemeral glories of a sunbeam, can compensate for the immense robbery of the idea of God and the hope of eternal bliss. Dreadful adventure! hazardous experiment! most ruinous project--to blast the idea of God! The worst thing in such a scheme which could happen, or even appear to happen, would be success. But as well might Mr. Owen attempt to fetter the sea, to lock up the winds, to prevent the rising of the sun, as to exile this idea from the human race. For although man has not, circumstanced as he now is, unaided by revelation, the power to originate such an idea, yet when it is once suggested to a child it can never be forgotten. As soon could a child annihilate the earth as to annihilate the idea of God once suggested. The proofs of his existence become as numerous as [279] the drops of dew from the womb of the morning--as innumerable as the blades of grass produced by the renovating influences of spring. Everything within us and everything without, from the nails upon the ends of our fingers to the sun, moon and stars, confirm the idea of his existence and adorable excellences. To call upon a rational being to prove the being and perfections of God is like asking a man to prove that he exists himself. What! shall a man be called upon to prove a priori or a posteriori that there is one great Fountain of Life! a universal Creator! If the millions of millions of witnesses which speak for him in heaven, earth and sea will not be heard, the feeble voice of man will be heard in vain."

      Upon the Lord's day which intervened during the delivery of this address he preached by request to a very crowded audience in the house in which the debate was held, and on Monday evening, when he concluded his long speech, Mr. Owen rejoined, and while complimenting Mr. Campbell very highly for learning, industry and extraordinary talents, as well as for a manliness, honesty and fairness which he said he had heretofore sought in vain, he made no attempt to invalidate his arguments, but occupied himself in vague declamation against religion, renewed laudations of the twelve "jewels" of his "casket," and glowing pictures of the happy "circumstances" to be produced by their means. This speech he concluded on Tuesday in the forenoon. In the afternoon Mr. Campbell replied in a severe exposure of the inanity of Mr. Owen's effort to overthrow religion and establish his "Social System," by mere assertion without proof and by ridicule instead of argument. He admitted that sectarian divisions and discords furnished weapons to skepticism, but denied that Christianity, even in its most corrupt form, justly merited the imputations of, Mr. Owen. [280] To this speech Mr. Owen responded by bringing up again his "twelve laws" to the consideration of the audience and descanting upon them for an hour, after which Mr. Campbell in a very happy manner exposed "the twelve laws" to contempt, and showed their utter inadequacy as laws of human nature. Mr. Owen then continued in a final speech his disquisitions upon his favorite "gems," and after courteously thanking and complimenting the audience and moderators for their patience and attention, closed by taking his leave "with the best feelings toward all." Mr. Campbell, having now to terminate the discussion, gave a recapitulation of what had been accomplished, and after comparing the triumphs of skepticism with those of Christianity, before dismissing adopted an unexpected and ingenious method of eliciting the sentiments of the assembly.

      "I should be wanting to you, my friends," said he, "and to the cause which I plead, if I should dismiss you without making to you a very important proposition. You know that this discussion is matter for the press. You know that every encomium which has been pronounced upon your exemplary behavior will go with the report of this discussion. You will remember, too, that many indignities have been offered to your faith, to your religion, and that these reproaches and indignities have been only heard with pity, and not marked with the least resentment on your part. Now I must tell you that a problem will arise in the minds of those living five hundred or a thousand miles distant who may read this discussion, whether it was owing to a perfect apathy or indifference on your part as to any interest you felt in the Christian religion, that you bore all these insults without seeming to hear them. In fine, the question will be, whether it was owing to the stoical indifference of fatalism, to the prevalence of infidelity, or to the meekness and forbearance which Christianity teaches, that you [281] bore all these indignities without a single expression of disgust. Now, I desire no more than that this good and Christian-like deportment may be credited to the proper account. If it be owing to your concurrence in sentiment with Mr. Owen, let skepticism have the honor of it. But if owing to your belief in or regard for the Christian religion, let the Christian religion have the honor of it. These things premised, my proposition is, that all the persons in this assembly who believe in the Christian religion, or who feel so much interest in it as to wish to see it pervade the world, will please to signify it by rising up." [Here there was an almost universal rising up on the part of the audience.] "Now," continued Mr. Campbell, when all were again seated. "I would further propose that all persons doubtful of the truth of the Christian religion or who do not believe it, and who are not friendly to its spread and prevalence over the world, will please signify it by rising up." [Upon this, three persons only rose amidst the large assembly.]

      This appeal to the audience was, under the circumstances, one of those master-strokes which serve to reveal the penetration and sagacity of Mr. Campbell. He had perceived that Mr. Owen was of a temperament so sanguine as to regard every one who treated him with respect and interest as his disciple, and to be constantly under the wildest illusions of hope as to the prevalence of his views. He determined, therefore, for Mr. Owen's sake as well as that of the cause he pleaded, that he would deprive him of any false estimate he might have formed of the impression made upon the intelligent audience by his labored exposition of the "Social System" during the eight days' debate, and prevent him or his friends from building false judgments and false hopes upon ignorance of results. The prompt and public expression of sentiment given by the audience was a mortifying disappointment to Mr. [282] Owen, in spite of all his efforts to conceal it, while to the friends of religion it was a most acceptable testimony to the power of truth as well as to the ability of its defender.

      It need scarcely be said that this debate elevated Mr. Campbell to a very high position in the estimation of the entire religious community. For a time, party feeling seemed to be held in abeyance, and all were disposed to acknowledge their obligations to the defender of the common faith. The immediate effect of the discussion, too, was quite marked. Thomas Campbell, who had accompanied his son from Bethany and remained in the city for some time, and with whose urbanity, kindness and many excellences Mr. Owen was greatly impressed, baptized quite a number of converts, and subsequently many persons of intelligence, who had been skeptical in their views, acknowledged that all their doubts were removed by Mr. Campbell's arguments during the debate. Among these may be mentioned Dr. M. Winans of Jamestown, Ohio, a man of great acuteness of intellect and power of concentration, who became afterward one of the most able supporters of the Reformation, and whose short but pithy articles in Mr. Campbell's periodical gave great pleasure to its readers. The beneficial effects of the discussion were, however, incomparably extended by its publication, with interesting appendices and addenda. Mr. Owen, being about to return to Europe, sold his interest in the work to Mr. Campbell, who published a large edition of it, which was rapidly disposed of. An edition was some years afterward printed in London by Groombridge, in one octavo volume of five hundred and forty-five pages, which obtained an extensive circulation; so that wherever the English language was [283] spoken, Mr. Campbell's able defence of Christianity became known, and exercised its power of confuting and exposing the fallacies of the prevailing skeptical philosophies. Innumerable were the letters of gratitude and congratulation which he received from those who read the discussion and who were recovered from infidelity or confirmed in faith. The courtesy with which he had always treated the skeptical, and the manliness of his course in relation to Mr. Owen, gained for him the respect and confidence of all who labored under doubts and difficulties in regard to the truth of religion. They flocked everywhere to hear him; they often invited him to address them where they existed in organized societies; they heard his facts and reasonings with interest and attention; and it may be safely affirmed, that no individual was ever known to have been the instrument of converting so many skeptics to the truth of Christianity as Alexander Campbell.

      As to Mr. Owen himself, it cannot be said that any change was effected. He was observed, indeed, toward the close of the debate, to qualify his previous denunciations of Christianity by the phrase, "as at present taught;" for Mr. Campbell had presented such a view of it that he could not offer a single objection; and it was remarked also that after the debate he was willing to admit there were "difficulties on both sides." But he seems to have returned to England under the same hallucinations which had heretofore governed his life. He still hoped to banish evil from the world and to renovate society, imagining at every moment that his plans were going to be tried in some particular country, and that all other countries would immediately be brought over to his views.

      Shortly before the debate, Mr. Campbell had [284] concluded to discontinue the "Christian Baptist." He feared that the name Christian Baptists would be given to the advocates of the Reformation, and he wished to commence a new periodical of larger size and of somewhat different character. Desiring to begin this with January, 1830, and not having yet completed the outlines of his plan of the "Christian Baptist," he proposed to issue the seventh volume of the latter work concurrently with the sixth, so as to furnish both within the year. He was still engaged with his "Essays on the Ancient Gospel and Ancient Order of Things," and had in course of publication a very interesting series of articles on the primitive, the patriarchal, the Jewish and the Christian dispensations, which had a powerful effect in dissipating the confusion of thought which prevailed in reference to religion, and leading to clear and consistent views of the Bible. All these he desired to finish, so that a complete and connected view of the different subjects might be embraced in the "Christian Baptist" before its close. He felt at this time greatly encouraged by the success which had attended his editorial labors. For every day of the past six years he had received a new subscriber, and the principles he advocated were extending their influence in all directions.

      "I have devoted myself to this cause," said he on the fourth of July, 1829, "and will, God willing, prosecute it with perseverance. The prospect of emancipating myriads from the dominion of prejudice and tradition, of restoring a pure speech to the people of God, of expediting their progress from Babylon to Jerusalem, of contributing efficiently to the arrival of the millennium, have brightened with every volume of this work. To the King, eternal, immortal and invisible, the only wise God, our Saviour, we live and die. To him [285] we consecrate the talents, information, means and every influence he has given us, and we trust the day will come when all shall see, acknowledge and confess that our labors in the Lord are not in vain."

      This expectation he had abundant reason to cherish. In Kentucky his views had now been received by many of the Baptists, and had already awakened a bitter opposition on the part of those who were determined to maintain the usages of the party. This opposition, led by Dr. Noel, S. H. Clack. Edmund Waller and others, had already introduced proscription and division into some of the churches. Thus, when G. W. Elley, in 1828, convinced of existing errors, ventured, in Eighteen-Mile Church, near Westport, to depart from the consecrated method of textuary preaching, and to urge a return to the primitive practice of weekly communion, the usual devices were at once employed to excite prejudice against him and deprive him of influence as a public teacher. Finding the majority of the church averse to any reformation, and that they unjustly denied to him the rights accorded even by Baptist rules, he was induced, with others, to free himself from a thraldom to which he could not conscientiously submit, and continued from this time to advocate publicly, with zeal and efficiency, the restoration of the primitive faith and manners. In other parts of the State the reformatory principles seemed to be adopted with great readiness. Thus, in 1828, the Boon Creek Association went so far as to decide that the word of God did not authorize any form of constitution for an association, and that their constitution should be abolished. They then resolved the Association into a mere annual meeting for worship and hearing voluntary reports from the churches. In Christian county also several churches openly rejected [286] Baptist theories and usages. One of these, at Noah Spring, of thirty-three members, resolved to meet for weekly communion, appointing a worthy member, A. Linsey, as elder, and baptizing converts for the remission of sins. Throughout the State, indeed, the Baptist churches were gaining numerous accessions. Mr. Campbell's debates had brought the subject of believers' baptism prominently before the minds of the people, and the new interest lately thrown around the institution by the discovery of its immediate relation to the formal remission of sins had added immensely to the influence of immersionists, even where they did not fully embrace Mr. Campbell's teaching, but especially where they favored it. Thus, between November, 1827, and May, 1828, Jeremiah Vardeman immersed about five hundred and fifty persons in Kentucky, and during June and July, in Cincinnati, one hundred and eighteen more. John Smith, between February and the third Lord's day in July, 1828, immersed six hundred and three. Under the labors of Walter Warder about three hundred were added in the course of a few months to the church at Mayslick, and a very large number elsewhere under the preaching of William Morton, Jacob Creath and others. Jeremiah Vardeman, indeed, even from the time of the McCalla debate, had preached baptism for remission of sins with great zeal and effect. In November, 1826, he told Mr. Campbell that he had much more pleasure in immersing persons then than formerly, before he was aware of the meaning of the ordinance. He then went on to relate a rencontre he had had with the Catholics shortly before, on the question of remitting sins.

      "The Right Rev. Mr. ----, from Bardstown," said he, "had the audacity to come over into my bounds, and right in [287] the field of my labors began to hold forth the rank doctrine of Catholic absolution. He contended that he and his brethren had the power of forgiving sins, and attempted to prove it all by Scripture. Well, thought I, my good sir, I will return the compliment. A few weeks after, I sent an appointment to Bardstown, and had it publicly announced that I was going to prove that the Baptist ministry had as much power of remitting sins as the Catholic ministry." This he endeavored to do from the language addressed to Peter: "Whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted," and by showing that Peter fulfilled this in announcing to believers baptism for remission.

      Mr. Campbell greatly disapproved the practice of making such issues, and of using such strong and unguarded expressions as the "power of remitting sins" and "washing away sins in baptism." "These," said he, "have been most prejudicial to the cause of truth, and have given a pretext to the opposition for their hard speeches against the pleadings of Reformers." The habitual use of such expressions he thought also calculated to lead men to overlook or disparage that faith in the sacrifice of Christ from which alone baptism derived its efficacy. On this account, in baptizing persons, he used only the simple formula, "Into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, " and forebore adding to it, like Mr. Scott and others, the expression "for the remission of sins." "When any doctrine," said he (Mill. Harb. for 1832, p. 299), "is professed and taught by many, when any matter gets into many hands, some will misuse, abuse and pervert it. This is unavoidable. We have always feared abuses and extremes."

      In Nashville, Tennessee, the ancient order of things had been introduced without much difficulty, and the church was peacefully progressing. In the eastern part [288] of Virginia great interest had been excited by Mr. Campbell's discussions with Bishop Semple and Andrew Broaddus, and a number of intelligent Baptists had become fully convinced of the need of reform. Prominent among these was Thomas M. Henley, of Essex, one of the most earnest, candid and pious preachers of that portion of the State, and a warm personal friend of Mr. Campbell, on whose account and for his own fearless advocacy of the cause of Reformation he had had already much to endure from his former friends and associates. With him were associated also other preachers of considerable ability, as Dr. John Duval, of King-and-Queen, Peter Ainslie, M. W. Webber, John Richards and Dudley Atkinson, together with many private members of intelligence and influence. In the southern part of the State, also, a considerable impression had been made. Abner W. Clopton, who was one of the most popular Baptist preachers in that part of the country, had been at first pleased with Mr. Campbell's writings, but taking umbrage at his views of "experimental religion" and some other matters, became bitterly opposed, and endeavored by every means in his power to arrest the progress of the reformatory principles and to maintain the Baptist customs. Many, nevertheless, of his associates in the Meherrin Association took part with Mr. Campbell. Chief among these was Silas Shelburne, a preacher of very great influence and piety, born June 4, 1790, and son of James Shelburne, a Baptist minister of note, of whom a very interesting account is given in the life of Dr. Archibald Alexander of Princeton.

      After deep religious convictions, Silas Shelburne had been baptized in June, 1816, and immediately began to exhort in the Church. Soon after he was ordained by [289] Elders James Shelburne, William Richards and James Robertson, and continued to travel and preach with his father until the death of the latter, when he was called to the care of the churches to which his father had ministered. The membership of these churches greatly increased under his labors, but he felt their need of some better plan of religious edification, as he could visit them but once a month. Having read the "Christian Baptist" from its commencement, he was impressed with the importance of the ancient order of things there described, and began by urging the churches to meet to attend to the Lord's Supper at least once a month. This being agreed to, he after a time proposed that elders should be appointed in each of the churches, and that they should assemble every Lord's day for reading, exhortation, prayer and attendance on the table of the Lord. This was opposed, but he succeeded in getting six congregations organized with elders, and in gaining over to his assistance some other preachers, as P. Barnes, D. Pettey, James M. Jeter and Paschal Townes. These endeavored to introduce better views into the churches, continuing to preach, as usual, faith, repentance and baptism in order to the knowledge of salvation, but maintaining that the heart was changed by the Holy Spirit through the belief of the truth. A violent opposition soon arose against these efforts to change Baptist usages and theories, but the thirteen churches composing the Meherrin Association failed to press matters to any final decision, so that Silas Shelburne and his associates continued for some time to labor as usual.

      In the summer of 1826, a Baptist preacher, traveling as a missionary under the auspices of a female missionary society in Richmond, Virginia, when near the Natural Bridge happened to meet with a few numbers [290] of the "Christian Baptist" and the McCalla Debate, which he read with some surprise at the views presented. At first such was his dissatisfaction that he resolved to attempt their confutation, but upon more careful examination found himself unable to deny their scriptural correctness. This was Francis Whitefield Emmons, who was born at Clarendon, Vermont, February 24, 1802, and united with the Baptist church at Swanton, Vermont, April, 1816. After a good preparatory education, he was licensed to preach by the Second Baptist Church at Hamilton in 1821, and after completing the three years' course of study in the literary and theological seminary there in 1824, entered Columbian College, D. C. during the same year, and while there edited for a short period the "Columbian Star." After his missionary tour in Virginia he became, in 1827, a student of Brown University, where he graduated. After editing the "American Baptist Magazine" for a short time, at Salem, Massachusetts, he preached for the church at Eastport, Maine, over which he was ordained as pastor in 1829, at Providence, Rhode Island. While at Brown University he had become more and more impressed with the need of the reformation urged by Mr. Campbell, and hence ordered three complete sets of the "Christian Baptist" with the debates, New Testament, etc., which were received at Eastport in 1829. One set of each of these works was taken by Elder W. W. Ashley, of Eastport, who after reading them preached and taught as never before. Passing after a time into Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Mr. Ashley disseminated there the principles of the Reformation and baptized for the remission of sins. Several preachers were convinced through his instrumentality, and churches established according to the primitive [291] order. One of the remaining sets of the same publications was sent by Mr. Emmons to Jonathan Wade, missionary in Burmah, and was received and read by him and other missionaries there with profit, E. Kincaid, upon his return to the United States some years after, assuring Mr. Emmons "that he had been much interested in the reading, that the work had helped him much and by directing him to the living Word, had enabled him to preach to the Karens the ancient gospel better than he otherwise would have done."

      The influence of Mr. Campbell had been felt also among the independent churches in Europe. Of these there were a number in Ireland. One of them, as formerly stated, existed in Rich-Hill. Another, of considerable size, called the Tabernacle Church, had been formed in the city of Armagh. One of the members of this church, Robert Tener, becoming much interested in reading the accounts of the labors of foreign missionaries, was particularly struck with the fact that all the converts who professed faith were baptized. The idea at once occurred to him that he, as a believer, ought to be baptized. Knowing nothing whatever of the Baptists, he at once went to the minister of the Tabernacle, Mr. Hamilton, and told him he wished to be baptized. Mr. Hamilton asked why he desired this, as he had been already baptized in infancy. Mr. Tener replied that he had no knowledge of the fact, and that as he had only recently come to understand and believe the gospel, he could discern no difference between himself and the heathen in Otaheite, who were baptized after they believed. Mr. Hamilton then told him there was a sect called Baptists who thought so, and gave him some of their writings, together with some Pædobaptist works, to read. The reasonings of the [292] Pædobaptist writers, and particularly the plausible argumentation of William Ballantine, who had published a treatise defending infant baptism, had the effect of settling Mr. Tener down for a time in the conviction that they were right. Removing, however, soon after to Dungannon, ten miles distant, he resumed his investigations, and after a careful examination of the Scriptures, became fully satisfied that he ought to be immersed. About this time (1810) a Robert Smyth, who had just returned from one of Robert Haldane's seminaries, engaged in the inquiry with him and with one or two others, was likewise convinced. Smyth said he knew of no Baptist in the entire North of Ireland except one old Englishman near Keady. "Then," said Mr. Tener, "go to him and be baptized, and then baptize me, my wife and William Smyth." This having been done, the four at once began to meet regularly to keep the ordinances in a large room used by Mr. Tener as a storehouse for linens. Here, in spite of petty persecutions and the indignation of the clergy, they continued to meet and to receive additions, but their number, being constantly reduced by emigration, seldom exceeded forty. This was the first church formed in Ireland on the plan of requiring a simple faith in Jesus as the Son of God and immersion into his name.

      It happened that in 1825, Richard, a son of Robert Tener, was a clerk in the Bank of Ireland, at Newry, and Mr. Campbell having sent over during that year some copies of his debates and some numbers of the "Christian Baptist" to his relatives there, the latter, who were still Seceders, after reading some of them, told Richard Tener that these books would just suit his father, and that he had better send him some of them. Upon receiving them, Robert Tener and those with [293] him, though surprised and delighted to find that many of the views to which they themselves had been led by the Scripture had been advocated by Mr. Campbell in America, were yet at first quite dissatisfied with some of the things he taught. The clearer conceptions of the latter in regard to the different divine dispensations, the distinction between faith and opinion and the design of baptism, were, however, after some time perceived to be entirely just and scriptural, and the church at Dungannon came to be in general accord with Mr. Campbell.

      About the year 1827, a commercial traveler, Peter Woodnorth, of Liverpool, a zealous Christian, called on the brethren at Dungannon, who talked with him freely upon these religious matters, in which they took great interest, and gave him some of Mr. Campbell's works. On his return to England he delivered to the Independent churches in Liverpool, Nottingham and Manchester the things he had learned, which were thus for the first time introduced into England. In the year 1829, under date of November 5, William Tener, a son of Robert Tener, an intelligent and estimable youth, opened a correspondence with Mr. Campbell, and spoke in the beginning of his letter as follows as to the effect produced by his writings:

      "VERY DEAR BROTHER: Although personally a stranger to you, I have enjoyed an acquaintance with your writings for a length of time. From them I have received great advantages. Many opinions which I formerly held very strenuously I found upon examination were unfounded; and many truths of which I was ignorant have been brought before my mind through the instrumentality of that ably-edited periodical, the 'Christian Baptist.' Many of my friends in this your native land have reason to bless God that ever they saw it; and though their prejudices were great against you at first, they yielded to the [294] influence of all powerful truth. Many of us (for I class myself among them) were so prejudiced that when we read a few pages of the 'Christian Baptist,' we resolved on reading no more, conceiving your opinions to be heterodox, thus condemning you unheard. When we gave you a hearing, however, we found that your sentiments were in general accordance with the revelations of the King of kings and Lord of lords."

      Thus it was that through various instrumentalities the principles advocated were widely diffused abroad, everywhere more or less opposed, but everywhere developing the power of truth and modifying the state of religious society; and Mr. Campbell found himself to be the centre of a constantly widening circle of influence, and, under Divine Providence, an acknowledged guide to a large and intelligent community zealously engaged in the work of reformation.

      Before his return home from the Owen debate his family had been increased by the birth of a daughter, who was named Margaret Brown, after his first wife. He had had for some time, and continued to have, quite an extensive household, to take charge of which required no small degree of courage on the part of his second wife, who had not, like the first one, been brought up in the country and familiarized with the details of farm-life. All these she had to learn, and during Mr. Campbell's long absences to observe his directions for the cultivation of the fields and to engage laborers, which she did with so much judgment that Mr. Campbell always returned to find things in order, and never was known to utter a word of complaint or find the least fault with the arrangements made. In addition, she had to discharge the duties of a mother to her predecessor's little daughters, and to manage the affairs of the family, complicated [295] by the almost incessant visits of strangers, some of whom often remained for long periods. The presence of sickness, too, during the winter succeeding her marriage, when there were no less than thirteen cases of measles in the family, had greatly added to Mrs. Campbell's cares; but being an excellent nurse, and devoting herself assiduously to the duties she had undertaken, she succeeded in managing and arranging everything so happily as greatly to relieve Mr. Campbell and leave him free to pursue his accustomed labors.

      About this time Walter Scott, being on a short visit to Pittsburg, rode out to see his former pupil, young Mr. Richardson, who was now engaged in the practice of medicine, some thirteen miles from the city. During the interview he related many interesting incidents connected with his labors on the Reserve, which excited much surprise on the part of the doctor, who had as yet remained quite uninformed in respect to the character of the religious movement in which Mr. Scott was now engaged, and was still a member of the Episcopal Church, though at the time in communion with the Presbyterian Church in his immediate neighborhood.

      The statement that the Christian institution was quite distinct from the Jewish, and had a definite origin on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii.), and that penitent believers were then commanded to be baptized for the remission of sins, seemed to him as a new revelation, accustomed as he had been to the confused ideas of the different parties on these subjects. Upon searching out the import of the word baptism after Mr. Scott's departure, he soon found it to be immersion, and perceived that from trusting to human teachers he had been previously deceived in regard to it. Resolving, therefore, from thenceforth to be directed by the Bible alone, he [296] began a careful re-examination of it. Reflecting that whatever might he urged about "apostolic succession," there could be no flaw in the credentials of the apostles themselves, and that they at least knew how to preach the gospel, he was convinced that had he and the whole world been present when Peter said, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission of sins," all would have been equally bound to obey, and that the case was in nowise different now with those to whom this word of salvation came. There could be no danger of deception or mistake in trusting to the words of one who "spake as the Holy Spirit gave him utterance," and he therefore felt it to be his duty to submit to the divine requirements. Setting out accordingly, he, after a three days' journey, found Mr. Scott holding a meeting at a barn in Shalersville, on the Reserve, which he reached about two o'clock on the Lord's day, just after the audience had been dismissed. Six persons had come forward and were preparing for baptism at the farm-house, and the doctor, pressing through the crowd, greatly surprised and delighted Mr. Scott by informing him that he had come to be baptized. After the immersion the meeting was resumed, and William Hayden addressed the people, his discourse being the first the doctor heard from any preacher in the Reformation; nor had he, before going down that day to the banks of the softly-flowing Cuyahoga, ever witnessed an immersion, having been led by the word of God alone to take a solitary journey of one hundred and twenty miles in order to render the obedience which it demanded, and to find in that obedience the fulfillment of the Divine promises, and a happy relief from the illusive hopes and fears, based on frames and feelings, which for several years had constituted his religious experience. [297]

      Soon after his return he became instrumental in forming a church, which led to the organization of a second one in a short time in Washington county, where several of the old Brush Run members still resided, and where the children of Thomas Campbell's ancient friend, John McElroy, now used their influence to promote the cause. Prominent among these was James McElroy, who not only defended the cause with intelligence and zeal, but contributed liberally of his means to sustain Walter Scott in the evangelical field. In his efforts he was earnestly seconded by his devoted brother John, as well as by his intelligent Sister Susan, who as early as 1817 had, amidst the" peculiar trials of that period, led the way in obedience to the primitive gospel. Subsequently she had been for a considerable time an inmate of Mr. Campbell's family, and then the wife of Jacob Osborne, whose sudden and untimely death by hæmoptysis in the spring of this year (1829), in the midst of eminent usefulness on the Western Reserve, was much regretted. The advocacy of the reformatory principles by these intelligent disciples, characterized by an unyielding adherence to the simple teachings of the word of God, contributed much to promote the cause--James McElroy rendering efficient aid to Walter Scott in forming a church at Dutch Fork, and also to William Hayden in constituting another at Braddock's Field, where, at the meeting held, four entire households were baptized, without an infant in one of them. After a time, the church with which the McElroys were connected, near Hickory, was dispersed, many of the members removing to Knox county, Ohio, where they soon established two flourishing churches at Jelloway and Millwood.

      A few months after his union with the church, Dr. Richardson removed to Wellsburg, from which point he [298] had the opportunity of often visiting Bethany and enjoying the society of those who assembled around Mr. Campbell's hospitable board. Here he frequently met the revered Thomas Campbell and the beloved Walter Scott, with other pious laborers. Here the sincere Joseph Bryant, who lived on an adjacent farm which Alexander Campbell had lately purchased, together with other members of the old Brush Run Church, was often found. Here, too, Mrs. Bryant, with her fund of Scripture inquiry and original thought, as well as other pious females, added charms to the social circle and a lively interest to those religious conversations and biblical researches which formed the chief enjoyment of all.

      However eminent and admired in all his relations to the public, it was at home, amidst his family and friends, that Mr. Campbell always appeared in the most amiable and pleasing light. It was delightful to witness with what unstudied courtesy he welcomed his visitors, and with what genial pleasantry he placed every one at his ease, so that no one could long feel like a stranger. Without apparent effort he constantly kept up the charm of social converse, adapting the theme to the feelings and circumstances of the company, and always seeking, if possible, to impress some scriptural lesson by an apt and often witty application of a text, or to communicate some truth or information both interesting and useful.

      He seemed to be always at leisure to entertain his guests, and that, too, with a mind so full of gayety and free from preoccupation that no one could have suspected for a moment the immense business constantly resting upon him, and which he was regularly and daily dispatching with an energy and a facility peculiar to [299] himself. His habit of rising very early--usually at three o'clock--gave him much valuable time well suited for composition, and at the hour when the house-bell rung for morning worship he would come over from his study, having prepared, often, enough of manuscript to keep his printers busy during the day. When breakfast was over, after arranging the affairs of the morning and kindly seeing off any parting visitors, he would call for his horse or set off on foot, perhaps, accompanied by some of his friends, to view the progress of the printing or the farming operations, and give instructions to his workmen. Delighting greatly in agriculture and its collateral pursuits, he was familiar with all their details, and, while ever eager to gain new thoughts from others, the most skillful farmers and breeders of stock often found in his company that they had themselves something yet to learn. After dinner he usually spent a little time in correcting proof-sheets, which he often read aloud if persons were present, and then he would perhaps have a promised visit to pay to one of the neighboring families in company with his wife or some of the guests. Otherwise he would often spend some hours in his study if engaged upon any very important theme, or occupy himself in his portico or parlor in reading or conversation.

      It was the evening that was always specially devoted to social and religious improvement. At an early hour the entire household, domestics included, assembled in the spacious parlor, each one having hymns or some Scripture lessons to recite. After these were heard, often with pertinent and encouraging remarks from Mr. Campbell, the Scriptures were read in regular sequence, with questions to those present as to the previous connection or the scope of the chapter. These [300] being briefly considered, he would call upon Mrs. Campbell, who had a good voice, to lead in singing a psalm or spiritual song, in which he himself would heartily join, and then kneeling down would most reverently and earnestly present before the throne of grace their united thanksgivings and petitions for divine guardianship and guidance. Such was the customary order, but the details were often varied to suit the occasion. Family worship was not allowed to become a mere routine. He knew well how to maintain its interest, by making it a means of real instruction and enjoyment; and, by encouraging familiar inquiry on the part of the young, he managed to bring forward and to impress indelibly the most charming practical lessons from the sacred writings, having always something novel and agreeable to impart zest and interest to exercises which in many cases are apt to become monotonous by frequent repetition. In these praiseworthy endeavors to bring up children in the nurture of the Lord, much was due also to the judicious arrangements and hearty co-operation of Mrs. Campbell, who, like her predecessor, made all things subservient to the desired end, and in her husband's absence herself officiated at the family altar when there happened to be no brother present accustomed to the duty. To her, also, Mr. Campbell, as had been his custom with his former wife, was in the habit of reading his essays and other articles for publication, playfully reminding her of the preacher who was wont to read his sermons to his housekeeper before delivering them, in order to judge by their effect upon her what would likely be their reception by his congregation. Mrs. Campbell always took this smilingly, as a standing bit of pleasantry, well knowing the high respect her husband had [301] for her judgment. He was well aware of his own satirical vein, and wished to have pointed out anything which might possibly give unnecessary offence, listening attentively to any criticisms. Mrs. Campbell was encouraged to make, and not infrequently adopting her suggestions and softening what appeared to be too tart. He greatly respected those delicate sympathies which women possess, and Mrs. Campbell had an excellent taste, being a lady of considerable reading and culture, of a very serious and religious turn, fond of Young's "Night Thoughts," and the grave poetical and prose English authors; not at all addicted to gayety, but on the contrary, though cheerful under the surrounding happy circumstances, possessing a constitutional tendency to melancholy, which needed only the presence of calamity for its development.

      Mr. Campbell greatly desired that the work he was about to issue should exhibit a milder tone than the "Christian Baptist." He thought the religious world was now sufficiently aroused from its apathy, and that the spirit of inquiry already set on foot would ultimately effect the deliverance of the people from clerical domination. From the rapid spread of the reformatory principles, the union of so many of different parties in the primitive faith, and the evident check given to the progress of the infidel schemes of Mr. Owen and others, he was also much impressed by the conviction that the millennial period anticipated by the Church was nigh at hand. He felt assured that a reformation such as he advocated, which proposed to go back to the very beginning and restore the gospel in its original purity and fullness, could leave no room for any other religious reformation, and must of necessity be the very last effort possible to prepare the world for the [302] coming of Christ. He did not presume to fix upon any very definite period for this event, Scripture analogies inclining him to the opinion that it would occur at the commencement of the seventh Chiliad, answering to the seventh day or Sabbath when God rested from the work of creation. He did not deem it accordant with the principles of the Reformation to assume dogmatically any position in reference to this point or any other of the vexed questions of eschatology, dimly seen through the veil of prophetic imagery, but as this particular subject was then one of great interest with many, especially with Walter Scott and the other preachers on the Western Reserve, and he intended to discuss to some extent the Scriptures relating to it, he concluded to call his new periodical "THE MILLENNIAL HARBINGER." He intended to embrace in this work a wider range of subjects, and to show "the inadequacy of modern systems of education," and the injustice yet remaining, "under even the best political governments," in regard to various matters connected with the public welfare. [303]

[MAC2 263-303]