HE power of great men to control public sentiment and to direct human progress is immense, and imposes on them peculiar responsibilities. Such of them as are good as well as great will hence be careful that their influence is not employed for purposes of selfish aggrandizement, and that they seek neither to float idly upon the favoring current of popular opinion nor to direct it into improper channels. Amidst the conflicting movements of human affairs it is also most important that they should make their real position clearly understood, so that in matters affecting human welfare their authority may not be unjustly claimed for false principles or injurious measures. From the beginning, Mr. Campbell had fully shown his sense of duty in these respects, and was far from disregarding it now when his reputation and influence were so widely extended. No personal aims or sectional prejudices could narrow the largeness of his mind, or induce him to swerve in any degree from the interests of truth and right for which he was ever ready to sacrifice human applause and suffer unjust reproach.

      Of this he gave fresh evidence about this period in relation to several important questions, and particularly [530] to that of slavery, which now engrossed a very large share of public attention, and was producing important revolutions both in political and in religious society. It had already divided the Methodists into two parties, and was now threatening to produce a similar result in the case of the Reformers, many of whom, carried away by the excitement of the period, had come to regard slaveholding in itself as a sin, and were disposed to refuse religious fellowship to those who in any wise sanctioned it. Mr. Campbell had, indeed, on various occasions condemned the institution of slavery as existing in the United States, and had used his influence on all proper occasions in favor of emancipation. But when extremists under the pretended sanction of the Bible began to deny the lawfulness of the relation of master and servant, and to pervert the Scriptures in order to support their assumptions, he felt it his duty to oppose their errors and to withhold his sanction from their proceedings. He accordingly at this period thought it necessary to define, in a series of articles in the "Harbinger," his position in relation to the institution.

      At the close of these articles he expressed his views summarily as follows:

      "1. That the relation of master and servant is not in itself sinful or immoral. 2. That, nevertheless, slavery as practiced in any part of the civilized world is inexpedient; because not in harmony with the spirit of the age nor the moral advancement of society; because in itself, as fully demonstrated, not favorable to individual and national prosperity; and because it imposes on Christian masters and their families burdens and responsibilities not easily discharged in existing circumstances; and which, when not discharged, prevent that refined and elevated personal and domestic happiness so desirable to any Christian household. 3. That no Christian community governed by the Bible, Old Testament and New, [531] can constitutionally and rightfully make the simple relation of master and slave a term of Christian fellowship or a subject of discipline, while in duty bound in this case, as in all others, to take cognizance of any neglect or violation of the relative duties obligatory on the parties."--"Mill. Harb." for 1845, p. 263.

      In maintaining the above positions, Mr. Campbell looked at the subject entirely from a scriptural point of view:

      "Our position," said he, "is not that of a politician, an economist, a mere moralist, but that of a Christian. . . . I stand or fall by supernatural religion or revelation. Hence, my position, and the reasons of it, can be clearly stated and satisfactorily sustained by the New Testament, and to those who admit its divine authority. I know some men, and have heard of others, who candidly aver the resolution to abandon the Bible as soon as it is made evident that it sanctions the relation of master and slave. Such is their faith in their own reason, and such their preference for natural law, conscience and religion, that, if any sacrifice is to be made, they will sacrifice the Bible to their theory rather than their theory to the Bible. I have nothing to say at this time to such Christians as these.

      "When I affirm that the New Testament without censure recognizes the relation of master and servant, I do not say that it sanctions the legalized treatment of either master or slave, according to the American or any other code. I do not say that the New Testament authorizes a man to treat his servants as he treats his mules or his oxen; that if he feed, clothe and house them well, find them abundance of wholesome food in health, medicine and medical attendance in sickness, that he has 'rendered unto them that which is just and equal.' They have souls as well as bodies; they have powers of reason; they have consciences, moral feelings, moral instincts, and are susceptible of spiritual enjoyments, of immortality and eternal life. They have the rights of husbands and of wives, of parents and of children; and any [532] code which takes these away from them is not of God, but of man. Moral training, religious and moral instruction, they must have among their inalienable rights and privileges. These cannot be withheld by Christian masters without the forfeiture of Christian character and Christian privilege, no matter under what code of laws such injustice be perpetuated.

      "When, then, I strongly affirm my long-cherished and deeply-impressed conviction that the New Testament sanctions the relation of master and slave, when such relation is providentially existing in any community, I do not maintain that it sanctions any man in 'man-stealing' in taking away the liberty of any man born free, or in withholding from those 'born in his house or bought with his money' any of these specified rights, immunities and privileges above enumerated."--Mil. Harb. for 1845, p. 236.

      Defining an abolitionist as one who denied the lawfulness of the relation of master and servant and insisted on its immediate abrogation, he says elsewhere (Id. p. 358):

      "I have always been anti-slavery, but never an abolitionist, if I may illustrate a definition in my own case. There are many men owning slaves quite anti-slavery in all their views and feelings, while yet reprobating the doctrines and movements of abolitionists. All men of humanity and good sense contemplate an end of slavery in all its obnoxious attributes, but no one anticipates a sudden or immediate termination of it, except at the point of the bayonet. Christians can never be reformers in any system which uses violence, or recommends or expects it. I have already suggested political, economical and moral reasons why this institution should ultimately yield to the genius of the age and the spirit of our institutions. But as members of Christ's Church, our duties have already and repeatedly been pointed out; and to these now must all conform if we expect or desire the plaudits of the great Master and Judge of all.

      "My object in writing on this subject is already in a great [533] measure gained. I have from all parties--abolition and anti-abolition--such approval of the grounds proposed as to believe that on calm and deliberate reflection they will command the acquiescence of all whose approbation and co-operation are desirable in the great work of reformation. The true partisan, the political aspirant, with all those desirous of political revolution for the sake of a new order of things, will never approve my views. I do not expect such a thing. I neither desire nor covet their approbation. I have the exquisite satisfaction to know that I am countenanced and encouraged in this course by the unanimous voices of patriarchs, prophets and apostles--by the whole genius and spirit of the Christian institution--by the doctrine and example of the Author and Founder of the Christian faith. This is enough for me."

      Mr. Campbell's conservative course in regard to this disturbing question, while it preserved the reforming churches from division, excited against him the animosity of many individuals who had hoped that he would declare himself in favor of their particular views, and who now refused to take his periodical any longer. Such tokens of displeasure, however, did not deter him from hazarding similar consequences in speaking out boldly against Christians becoming members of secret societies, and thereby compromising, as he thought, the character and influence of the Church of Christ. Nor did he hesitate to denounce also war as utterly abhorrent to the gospel and incompatible with the Christian character. He occupied also a considerable space in a special exposure of the evils and errors of Methodism, which excited no little commotion in certain quarters, and in which he endeavored to fulfill a duty which he conceived himself to owe to that large and highly respectable community.

      At this period the affairs of Bethany College [534] demanded unusual attention. The difficulties and disappointments incident to the establishment of such institutions had not been wanting, but these were met with wisdom and firmness, and a respectable number of students were constantly in attendance, while there were the most favorable indications of the accomplishment of great good. The want of adequate support, however, compelled the faculty of the institution to make great sacrifices, and Mr. Campbell, earnestly desiring to procure a sufficient endowment, found it necessary to exert his personal influence to the utmost, and to make frequent and extensive tours for this purpose. He wished also to put into operation as soon as practicable the primary department, in which he had great hopes of being able to secure that early moral training and instruction in which he was most deeply interested, and upon which in his general plan he had placed great reliance as the most important preparation for the college course. He had already erected at his own expense a large building for the purpose at some distance from the college, and fought diligently to obtain persons fitted to carry out his designs. Failing in this, however, and finding after some time that this department was not sufficiently patronized to justify the continuance of the experiment, it was reluctantly abandoned. It was seen indeed in its progress that young boys away from the influence of home and watchful parental guardianship were peculiarly exposed, and especially as brought more or less into necessary communication with the older college students. Mr. Campbell, however, still cherished the belief that could he have obtained a patron and a matron with teachers possessed of the peculiar qualifications necessary for such a charge, his highest hopes would have been attained. The labors [535] of all concerned were accordingly now concentrated upon the college and the church, from which there soon began to be developed beneficial results to the cause of the Reformation, which fully equaled Mr. Campbell's highest expectations. Many talented and well-educated young men were annually sent forth, who at once began to distinguish themselves by their enlarged views, their knowledge of the Bible, and the practical skill and energy which they displayed on their various fields of operation. The churches, which in many places had long suffered for want of an efficient ministry and competent teachers, began to be supplied, and a new impulse was given to the cause of the primitive gospel.

      In March, 1845, Mr. Campbell, in company with R. L. Coleman, made another tour to the South, speaking at various points in Virginia and visiting many old friends, and among others the excellent T. M. Henley, who was gradually failing in health, but whose spiritual enjoyment and religious fervor seemed to be renewed day by day. At Richmond, where he met with Brethren Bullard and Shelburne, he found the church still prospering under the labors of James Henshall. Passing from thence to Wilmington, North Carolina, and thence to Charleston, he proceeded to Augusta, Georgia, still accompanied by Mr. Coleman, where they delivered addresses to increasing congregations, and succeeded in removing much of the religious prejudice which existed. Here they were kindly entertained by a wealthy and pious sister, Mrs. Tubman, who sent at her own expense a number of students to Bethany College, and contributed largely of her means to its endowment. Here they met also the excellent Dr. Hooke, who had been mayor of the city, and who distinguished himself for many years by his faithful advocacy of the [536] Reformation in Georgia and South Carolina. Here, also, he formed a pleasant acquaintance with many distinguished persons, as ex-Governor Schley, of Georgia, and Mr. Hammond, of South Carolina.

      Upon visiting Governor Hammond by special invitation at his residence, sixteen miles from Augusta, he found him to be a gentleman of superior taste in literature and the fine arts, which he had improved by a long residence in Europe, and while with him held various interesting conversations upon the evidences and great themes of the gospel. Upon his return he spoke in Charleston, and passing from thence to Petersburg, he held profitable meetings in Lunenburg, Amelia, and various other points south of James River, and after visiting Louisa county, delivered some discourses at Charlottesville, from whence, on the 5th of May, he returned home, having traveled twenty-five hundred miles in two months, during which he delivered more than fifty addresses, and was almost incessantly occupied with company and conversation.

      On the last day of September of this year he again set out from home upon a trip to the "Far West." Unable in consequence to attend the meeting of the College of Teachers in Cincinnati, to which he was especially invited, he prepared while passing down the Ohio an interesting address upon education, to be read at their meeting. Visiting St. Louis, where Jacob Creath, Jr., was then laboring, he set out in company with him by stage for Columbia, one hundred and forty miles distant, where the annual State meeting was to be held, at which about one hundred and fifty churches were heard from, the membership in this State being estimated as considerably upward of fifteen thousand. While here, Mr. Campbell enjoyed the kind [537] hospitalities of Mr. Barr in Columbia, and of Thomas M. Allen at his pleasant residence eight miles from the city. Passing thence to various other parts of the State, as Lexington, Bonneville, Liberty, etc., the distances being great and his appointments numerous, he was compelled to travel post-haste from point to point; and after these fatiguing journeys and labors by day and night, finally on his return reached Fayette, forty miles from Columbia, where he again met with T. M. Allen, who accompanied him to Paris. Parting at this place, Mr. Campbell went on to Palmyra, and thence to Hannibal.

      Here he visited Mr. Bowen, son-in-law of B. W. Stone, and entered with deep feeling the apartment in which a few months before (November, 1844) the latter had closed his useful life. He was at the time on a visit to Missouri, and after holding several meetings was taken ill upon his way back to Illinois. His faith and hope and patience never shone more brightly than amidst the sufferings of his last hours. Calling his friends and such of his children as were present around him, he admonished and exhorted them to live to the glory of God, giving to each one individually the most affectionate counsels. When asked by his physician, Dr. D. Morton, what he now thought of the doctrine he had preached, he promptly replied that he believed it to be true. "I may indeed," said he, "have held some erroneous opinions on minor points, but in the main I conscientiously believe I have taught the truth, and have tried to live what I have preached to others. But it is not by works of righteousness that I have done, but according to his mercy, He saved me by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed on me abundantly through Jesus Christ. [538] It is of grace--it is all of grace." When asked by Jacob Creath if he had any fear at the approach of death, he said: "Oh no, Brother Creath; I know in whom I have believed and in whom I have trusted, and I am persuaded he is able to keep what I have committed to him. I know that my Redeemer lives. All my dependence is on God and in his Son Jesus Christ." Quoting and commenting on some passages of Scripture, he said: "My strength fails, but God is my strength and my portion for ever." Then requesting to be placed in an arm-chair, and conversing on the love of God, he reclined his head on the shoulder of his son Barton, and fell asleep in the Lord. Mr. Campbell, with his strong personal attachments, greatly regretted the death of one who had been, as he said, "the honored instrument of bringing many out of the ranks of human traditions, and putting into their hands the Book of books as their only confession of faith and rule of life;" and was happy in being able to procure an oil portrait of him, which he conveyed to Bethany; and in after years often gazed with emotions of affectionate remembrance upon the benignant features of his departed fellow-laborer as portrayed in this excellent likeness, which he placed, with those of his own venerated father and his children, upon the wall of the apartment in which he was wont to assemble his family for morning and evening worship.

      From Hannibal he passed into Illinois, where, at Winchester, he met with J. T. Jones, who accompanied him to Jacksonville and various other points in the State--as Springfield, Bloomington, etc. Again reaching St. Louis, he took passage on a boat for Wheeling; but the navigation being closed by ice in the Upper Ohio, he was compelled to make his way to [539] Bethany in sleighs over the rough roads and mountains of Western Virginia. In less than nine months of this year, Mr. Campbell passed over at least seven thousand miles, speaking in villages and hamlets scattered from Georgia to the Far West of Missouri.

      With the beginning of the year 1846 he enlarged the "Harbinger" to sixty pages per month, and took as co-editor Professor W. K. Pendleton, who had already efficiently aided in the work and signalized his ability as a writer. In March of this year, Mr. Campbell published his address, delivered before the Washington Literary Institute, upon "Capital Punishment," in reference to which, with his accustomed fealty to Bible teaching, he showed that it is alike an oracle of reason, of justice and of mercy that "whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," and that, therefore, no substitute should be taken for the life of the murderer, inasmuch as by the eternal and immutable law of God "the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it." The above address he published as one of his tracts for the people. Of these he had already published several, of twelve pages each, upon important religious subjects, and continued them occasionally for several years. The above tract on capital punishment was widely circulated in America and republished in England, copies being sent to Lord John Russell and other eminent statesmen. On the eleventh of March of this year the devoted Thomas M. Henley, who had suffered so much for the cause of the Reformation in Virginia, died in the triumphs of faith, in his sixty-fourth year. Shortly before, he wrote his last communication to Mr. Campbell, in which he remarked: "After a correspondence of nearly twenty-one years, I am the more [540] persuaded of the great work you are engaged in, and that no man or set of men can ever publish a more solid basis of union than that you and your venerable father have published to the world some thirty-five years ago." On the 29th of May of the same year, Mr. Campbell's daughter Lavinia, wife of Professor W. K. Pendleton, died of pulmonary disease, having, with great patience and resignation, waited for the hour of her release, and leaving behind her an only daughter, named Campbellina.

      About this period the "Evangelical Alliance," designed to promote the union of Christians, attracted much of Mr. Campbell's attention, and was hailed by him with great satisfaction as an indication of the approach of a better era. As to the basis of union which it proposed, he expressed a substantial agreement, though objecting to some of the expressions employed as unscriptural. He pointed out the resemblance of the movement to that of the "Christian Association" in Washington in 1809, which, like the Evangelical Alliance, assumed not the character of a church, but of a society to promote union among Christians, and remarked, at the close of his article:

      "I said at the beginning, I say at the close, of my notice of the Evangelical Alliance, that I thank God and take courage at every effort, however imperfect it may be, to open the eyes of the community to the impotency and wickedness of schism, and to impress upon the conscientious and benevolent portion of the Christian profession the excellency, the beauty and the necessity of co-operation in the cause of Christ as prerequisite to the diffusion of Christianity throughout the nations of the earth.

      "The Reformation for which we plead grew out of a conviction of the enormous evils of schism and partyism, and the first article ever printed by any of the co-operants in the [541] present effort was upon the subject of the necessity, practicability and excellency of Christian union and communion, in order to the purification and extension of the Christian profession. The abjuration of human creeds as roots of bitterness and apples of discord, as the permanent causes of all sectarianism, was set forth as a preliminary step to the purification of the Church and the conversion of the world. The restoration of a pure speech, or the giving of Bible names to Bible ideas, followed in its train, and from these standing-points we have been led step by step to our present position, each one of the prime movers adding to the common stock something of importance, until matters have issued in one of the most extensive moral and ecclesiastical movements and revolutions of the present age."

      As an evidence of the extent to which the reformatory principles had been circulated, it may be here added that he had just before received a letter from New Zealand, dated March 21, 1845, informing him of the organization of a church there in the town of Nelson, and desiring an additional supply of his writings to be forwarded. This letter, in its transit by way of New South Wales and the Cape of Good Hope to Great Britain and thence to America, had been carried about twenty thousand miles, and was one year and six weeks in reaching its destination at Bethany.

      Mr. Campbell, who had been long desirous of revisiting his native land, was about this time induced by pressing invitations from the churches in Great Britain and Ireland to undertake the journey. Arranging the time of his departure so as to include the college vacation of two and a half months in his period of absence, he set out on the 2d of April, 1847, Professor Pendleton supplying his place meanwhile by virtue of his appointment as vice-president. At Baltimore he met with James Henshall, who had agreed to accompany him, [542] and received there certain donations for the poor in Ireland. After speaking several times in Baltimore, he passed through Philadelphia to New York, where in company with D. S. Burnet, he sojourned at the hospitable abode of E. Parmley. While here he had several pleasant interviews with Dr. Giustiniani, an eminent Roman Catholic clergyman, who with a number of adherents had lately seceded from Rome. He enjoyed also much of the society of James Buchannan, late British Consul, who happened to be in the city, and whom he highly esteemed for his piety and devotion to the cause of religious reformation. He was especially gratified, too, by a call from Robert Owen, who with the most perfect courtesy and kind feeling inquired after Mr. Campbell's family, and particularly after his father, for whom he had a peculiar regard. In speaking of the interview, Mr. Campbell remarked, as he had been wont to do on many occasions, that "of all his opponents in debate the infidel Robert Owen was the most candid, fair and gentlemanly disputant he had ever met." As this was the last time he ever saw Mr. Owen, it may be here stated that the latter afterward finally returned to England, and, as related in a biographical sketch published after his death, continued to be noted for his amiability, being still

      "The same placid, happy being in his old age, believing and expecting whatever he wished; always gentlemanly and courteous in his manners; always on the most endearing terms with his children, who loved to make him, as they said, 'the very happiest old man in the world;' always a gentle bore in regard to his dogmas and his expectations; always palpably right in his descriptions of human misery; always thinking he had proved a thing when he had asserted it in the force of his own conviction; and always meaning [543] something more rational than he had actually expressed. It was said by way of mockery, that 'he might live in parallelograms, but he argued in circles,' but this is too favorable a description of one who did not argue at all, nor know what argument meant. His mind never fairly met any other, though at the close of his life he had a strange idea that it did by means of spirit-rapping. He published sundry conversations held in that way with Benjamin Franklin and other people, and in the very same breath in which he insisted on the reality of these conversations he insisted that the new-found power was 'all electricity.' He lived until his eighty-ninth year, and died in November, 1857, at Newtown, in Wales, the place of his birth, to which he had gone on a visit."

      Mr. Campbell, after spending some days in New York, set out with his companion, James Henshall, on the 4th of May on board the Siddons, Captain Cobb, a sailing vessel, which he preferred to a steamer, in order that he might enjoy a longer sea voyage. He found on board a pleasant company of some twelve cabin passengers, with kind attentions on the part of the captain and very agreeable quarters, where, with his fellow-voyager, he maintained regularly his morning and evening devotions with special reference to the success of the present mission in which they were engaged.

      "After an exchange of views on the plan of operations!" remarks Mr. Henshall in his notes of the tour, "we agreed to make it a constant subject of prayer, and that we commend ourselves daily to the Lord, praying him to impress our own hearts with the importance of the work to be done; calling on him for his guidance and protection, so that in all our labors God may be glorified and the saints comforted and edified and poor sinners turned from the error of their ways. Brother Campbell then laid the whole before the throne of grace in a very impressive manner, and we felt the good influence of the sweet Spirit of God. Oh that the traducers of [544] this Reformation and the revilers of this good man could have felt what we enjoyed upon the broad face of the mighty waters!"

      Mr. Campbell, having been invited by the captain to preach on every Lord's day, was heard with great attention. He had also pleasant conversations on religious topics with many of the passengers, especially with a young Englishman, a Mr. Thornhill, who had been a great traveler and belonged to the school of Robert Owen, whose views he often attempted to sustain, but was soon confounded by Mr. Campbell's arguments. These discussions and conversations, often renewed, and conducted always with the utmost good feeling, were very agreeable to all, and tended to diminish the tiresomeness of the voyage, which extended to twenty-five days, and was much of the time rough and unpleasant. Upon landing at Liverpool, Mr. Campbell was met at the docks by Mr. J. Davies of Mollington, a worthy and zealous member of the Church, with whom he had had a correspondence, and who had been largely instrumental in introducing Mr. Campbell's writings into England. At the custom-house he met with Brethren Woodnorth and Tickle of Liverpool, and was then conveyed by Brother Davies to his delightful residence in the valley of the Dee, seventeen miles from the city, while Mr. Henshall set out to visit his parents and other relatives living not far from Stockport. Notice of Mr. Campbell's arrival being given, he spoke several times in a public hall in the neighboring city of Chester to large audiences, and delivered two discourses in the church building formerly occupied by Matthew Henry the commentator, now in possession of the Unitarians, who, although they were aware that Mr. Campbell was opposed to their views, [545] kindly tendered him the use of their house. Rejoined by Brother Henshall, he went down with him and Brother Davies to Wrexham in Wales, fourteen miles distant, where several meetings were held, and where he was received with the utmost kindness by the Baptists and Disciples. On the 7th and 8th of June they visited Liverpool, and delivered addresses in Concert Hall, which had been erected by the Owenites for the promotion of infidelity, but was now used for various public purposes and for the defence and advancement of that Christianity which it had been built to overthrow. Leaving Mr. Henshall to continue meetings in Liverpool and Chester, he visited Shrewsbury, an ancient walled town beautifully located on the delightful banks of the Severn, and the birth-place of Mrs. Bakewell, where he sojourned with Mrs. Cooke, an amiable Baptist lady, sister of Mr. Hawley of Detroit. Here he spoke three times, and formed an agreeable acquaintance with some of the Plymouth brethren, of whom he formed a high opinion as a spiritually-minded and intelligent people. From thence he went to Nottingham, where he sojourned with the devoted James Wallis, and spoke to crowded audiences in the Mechanics' Institute, the largest hall in the sty. Here he was again succeeded by Mr. Henshall, and some twenty persons in all were added to the church.

      Having visited Eaton Hall, the magnificent palace of the Marquis of Westminster, four miles from Chester, he concluded, before leaving Nottingham, to see Newstead Abbey, to which, with a pleasant company of Disciples, he drove through Sherwood Forest, the scene of many of the famed exploits of Robin Hood. On the following day, 22d of June, he went to Leicester, accompanied by his wife's cousin, Henrietta Bakewell, [546] of Stafford. Here he spoke twice to large audiences, and visited the famous ancient abbey to which Wolsey retired to die in 1530. Here he was particularly interested in the fact that Leicester was the city of the illustrious missionary Carey, and of Robert Hall, who after Dr. Carey's departure occupied his pulpit for eighteen years. Here also he was shown the guard-house, yet standing on the wall, where John Bunyan kept guard while a soldier in the wars of Cromwell. From thence he passed to London, a hundred miles distant, and was met at the depôt by Brethren Wallis and Davies, who had preceded him, and by a zealous and intelligent Disciple, a Sister Whalley, who in London had charge of the household of the Duke of Norfolk, and by whom he was conveyed to Surrey street, on the Strand, to a suite of rooms prepared for him. In London he delivered addresses at the Disciples' meeting-house in Elstree street, also in the Alvetian Rooms near the University, and in the Mechanics' Institute, as well as in a meeting-house tendered by the Unitarians, and in another portion of the city in a house of the General Baptists. He also delivered a discourse in the pulpit of the eminent Dr. Cox, who gave Mr. Campbell a very kind invitation to preach for him, and was much pleased with his discourse upon the mystery of godliness (1 Tim. iii. 16), seeming to be entirely disabused of some unfavorable impressions he had received from his Baptist friends on a former tour in the United States with Dr. Hobey. On Friday evening, 9th of July, he addressed the skeptics in their hall of debate on the question, "Has God ever spoken to man?" for which he afterward received a vote of thanks. On Lord's day, the 11th, the church met in the Alvetian Rooms, when both he and Mr. Henshall addressed highly-interested audiences, Mr. [547] Campbell delivering his last discourse in London in the evening. In this vast city of three millions there was but a small, inefficient church of about seventy members, and as little effort had been made to direct public attention to Mr. Campbell's brief visit, the attendance at his meetings had not at any time been very large.

      Having received highly commendatory letters of introduction from Henry Clay¹ and others, and being highly favored by the American Minister, Mr. Bancroft, and other persons of influence, he enjoyed unusual facilities, and everything he wished to see was opened to him in the city and in the country. He accordingly attended the meetings of Parliament, where he had the pleasure of hearing Lord Brougham and the Duke of [548] Wellington deliver speeches. He saw, also, the principal public buildings and places of celebrity in and about London, as he did also in other parts of the kingdom, and gave particular accounts of them and of his entire tour in his "Letters from Europe," published in the "Harbinger" and addressed to his daughter Clarinda, the only one remaining of his first family, and who had herself, the preceding year, visited England in company with Prof. W. K. Pendleton. It would be unnecessary, therefore, if space even permitted, to repeat familiar descriptions of things which were not particularly related to his mission, and of which he himself became weary, since at the close of his visit to London he says to his daughter,

      "Meantime I sigh for repose, and often think of the hills around Bethany and of the enviable lot of those I left behind me, compared to that of the millions through which I am passing in this Old World of palaces and hovels, of princes and beggars, of exuberant wealth and cheerless poverty. May the Lord in his mercy watch over your native country, and long preserve it from the vices and follies which have entailed on France, on England and on Europe an inheritance of miseries and misfortunes from which the wisdom of politicians and the benevolence of Christians cannot rescue them for generations to come!"

      By way of a little recreation after his labors in London, he resolved on a flying trip to the metropolis of France. During his hasty visit, he was impressed with the inferiority of the agriculture and domestic animals of France compared with those of England. He was astonished, however, with the magnificence of Paris and with the superiority of its public gardens and walks to those of London. He visited the Louvre, the Tuileries and other places of interest, and was amazed at the taste and beauty everywhere displayed. He rode [549] along the Seine and admired its twenty-one elegant bridges. He also visited some of the churches, among which he noted particularly the splendid architecture and internal decorations of La Madeleine, which he briefly describes, and remarks, in passing to matters more consonant with his trains of thought:

      "While gazing on all the grandeur above and around me, I saw the priest standing before the altar with his back to half a dozen devotees kneeling in different parts of the church, performing various genuflections and grimaces. A large cross was inwrought on his coat, after the manner of Indian beads, of various colors, so that while his back was to the people, a gorgeous cross from head to heel was visible. What a splendid device! How easy to carry such a rich and beautiful cross, kneeling on a velvet cushion under a golden canopy, with a few august worshipers in his rear! What an ingenious commentary upon the words, 'Take up your cross and follow me!' I turned away from this disgusting mummery and left the cathedral."

      While in France he was greatly annoyed by the passport system, which marked so striking a contrast between the freedom enjoyed by strangers there, compared with what he had found in England and enjoyed in the United States, which, he remarks, had risen a hundred per cent. in his estimation above any country he had seen. Upon his return to England he visited Banbury, where he delivered three discourses, and made a brief call at Cambridge and Oxford, where it was now the period of vacation. He also spoke twice in Manchester and thence repaired to Wigan, where he delivered one discourse and enjoyed the hospitalities of the zealous and intelligent Brother Coop. He visited also Huddersfield and the old city of York, passing on to Sunderland, where he was kindly received, sojourning with a Brother Douglass, a ship-owner, who had [550] given the name of "Alexander Campbell" to one of his vessels, and was then building another to be called "Clarinda." Here he spoke three times, and Mr. Henshall twice, having a very fine hearing and producing a very favorable impression. From thence he went to Newcastle, where he spoke thrice to immense audiences, and then proceeded to Berwick-upon-Tweed on his way to Scotland, which he greatly desired to revisit, as well from the ties of ancient lineage as from his cherished remembrance of his former checkered experience in that portion of the island, which, by a singular coincidence, he entered on the fifth day of August, the very same day on which, thirty-eight years before, he had embarked from it for the United States. Upon his arrival at Edinburgh he was kindly received by the brethren, many of whom had come to meet him from various parts of Scotland, and among whom he found also John Tener, of Ireland. Next day being Lord's day, he spoke to the church in Nickleson street, and in the evening at the Waterloo Rooms. He had declined making any appointment for the afternoon, in order to visit James Haldane's church, having promised himself, as he said, much pleasure from seeing and hearing this distinguished and excellent man. He found, however, that the churches established by the Haldanes were greatly reduced, and upon entering what was formerly the "Great Tabernacle," found it also so contracted in its dimensions as to seat only some seven or eight hundred, and only partially filled with an audience of some two hundred persons. Disappointed in not seeing James Haldane, who was absent some twenty miles in the country, he listened to a discourse by a Mr. McKenzie, a missionary from the Highlands, which, as he remarked, seemed to him [551] quaint, formal and familiar as the doctrinal disquisitions to which he had been accustomed to listen forty years before. Next morning he and Mr. Henshall breakfasted, by invitation, with John Tener, at the Nelson Monument on Calton Hill, and enjoyed a magnificent view of Arthur's Seat and of the New City, which George IV., from the same spot, called the "City of Palaces." Subsequently, he visited the Castle and some other places as time permitted, being considerably interested in seeing the house of the celebrated John Knox and the room in which Spurzheim had taught phrenology.

      Appointments having been made at the Waterloo Rooms for lectures during the week, a considerable interest was beginning to be created when unlooked-for occurrences gave a new turn to affairs. It appears that prior to Mr. Campbell's arrival considerable excitement existed amongst some of the Congregational churches in Edinburgh and its vicinity in reference to his religious views. Two influential male members had recently left the Morrisonian church at Leith, near Edinburgh, under the care of the Rev. S. M. Kennedy, and united with the Disciples in the city. Another church in the city, under the Rev. Mr. Kirk, as well as some of the preachers of the denomination, were at this time disturbed upon the subject of Reformation. As few acquainted with Mr. Campbell's previous history and ability as a disputant cared to engage with him in an open discussion of his religious views, it seems to have been thought advisable by his prejudiced opponents to find some ground upon which public odium could be excited against him and the people be kept from hearing him. As Mr. Campbell was known to be from Virginia, and the anti-slavery excitement at this time ran high in [552] Scotland, nothing seemed to be so well suited to the purpose as the slavery question, of which the managers in the affair at once availed themselves, and the Rev. Mr. Kennedy, with a Rev. James Robertson and a Mr. Hunter, were soon deputed by the "Scotch Anti-slavery Society" to ascertain Mr. Campbell's opinions upon the subject. This committee accordingly visited Mr. Campbell, and, without informing him of their character or their errand, sought, as it were, to take him off his guard and to obtain from him some expression of sentiment which they could employ against him. Regarding them merely as friendly visitors, Mr. Campbell made no concealment of his disapproval of the course pursued by the abolitionists in Britain and America as not tending to the removal of the institution, adding that the people in Britain did not understand the subject as well as the Americans, and that their interference could be attended by no beneficial results. The gentlemen then, after bidding him an apparently friendly adieu, departed, and in a few hours had posted, in the public places of Edinburgh, placards having printed upon them, in immense capitals, "Citizens of Edinburgh Beware! beware! The Rev. Alexander Campbell of Virginia, United States of America, has been a slaveholder himself and is still a defender of man-stealers!" At his next meeting, as there was a considerable excitement and a large audience in attendance, Mr. Campbell, before proceeding with his address, adverted to the placard, informing the people that it was grossly false and calumnious, and that he would presume so far upon their candor as to proceed with his lecture for the evening, promising to give, on Friday evening, a full view of his position on the subject of American slavery. This he accordingly did at [553] considerable length and amidst much noise and tumult, promoted by Mr. Robertson, Kennedy and others who were present. He also read a letter which he had received from Mr. Robertson, challenging him to debate his position in regard to slavery, and his reply, informing Mr. Robertson that his published appointments left him little or no time for an oral debate, but that he would engage, if desired, in a written discussion in defence of his position.

      Leaving Edinburgh next morning, Saturday, 14th of August, for the city of Aberdeen by steamer, he enjoyed a pleasant voyage along the northern coast of Scotland, and was kindly received upon his arrival by Brother Dunn, of the Baptist church. Being comfortably lodged in this kind and hospitable family, he was much refreshed, and spoke thrice on the following day, and after visiting and preaching at Banff, and taking several baths in the Northern Sea, returned to Aberdeen much invigorated. Here he visited the university premises, and the churchyard where the remains of Professor George Campbell and Doctor Beattie repose, for whose memory he entertained the highest regard. Leaving Aberdeen on the 19th, he visited Montrose, where he held one meeting, and departed next morning for Dundee. Finding himself pursued or anticipated at all his appointments by the placards forwarded from Edinburgh, and having heard something unfavorable to the character of Mr. Robertson, he addressed from Dundee a letter to the editor of the "Edinburgh Journal," in which he said that he would consent to devote the time from the 24th to the 27th of September to an oral discussion on his position in regard to American slavery with any one whom the Anti-slavery Society might appoint, or engage in a written discussion for which any time or [554] place could be made acceptable. "I will in either way," said he, "meet any gentleman whom you may select--even Mr. Robertson himself--provided only that he be not that Reverend James Robertson who was publicly censured and excluded from the Baptist Church for violating the fifth commandment in reference to his mother, of which I have heard something in Dundee." After leaving Dundee he spoke at Cupar, and passed thence to the village of Auchtermuchty, where at "Bethany Cottage," the residence of an amiable Christian family by the name of Dron, he was received with great kindness, and delivered one discourse. From thence, passing by Loch Leven, he had a pleasant meeting at Dumfermline, and on the following day at Falchor, from whence he went on to Glasgow, and found himself quite at home in the pleasant abode of Brother Alexander Paton.

      Here he commenced his course of lectures in a capacious Presbyterian meeting-house on the 27th of August, and had a large audience, which was at first somewhat tumultuous, but soon became quiet and attentive. Next day he visited Paisley, where he had a very agreeable meeting with the brethren, and where he was introduced to a wealthy disciple, Ivie Campbell, of Dalzig, in Ayrshire, who had been educated in the University of Glasgow for a Presbyterian minister, and had been classmate, friend and companion of Pollock, author of "The Course of Time." Though wholly Presbyterian in education and feeling, he possessed so much independence of mind and candor that upon reading the Rice Debate he became fully satisfied of the truth of Mr. Campbell's positions, renounced Presbyterianism and was immersed into the primitive faith. After preaching at Kilmarnock, Mr. Campbell went to [555] the town of Ayr, where he contemplated the memorials of Burns, and then visited Irvine where he dined with a zealous Brother Rollo, uncle of Lord Rollo, by whom he was conducted to the apartment in which the poet Montgomery was born. Returning thence to Glasgow, he continued his lectures.

      On the night of Saturday, 4th of September, he was affected with a peculiar sadness for which he was unable to account, and which was so entirely foreign to his nature that he could not avoid mentioning it next morning at breakfast. He felt as if some great calamity was impending, and he found it impossible to divert his mind from thoughts of home, which seemed to press upon him as never before. By the next morning, however, he had entirely regained his usual serenity and cheerfulness. It is a singular circumstance that just about the time he experienced this unaccountable depression a sad affair was indeed occurring at his home across the Atlantic. On that very Saturday, his second and most beloved son Wickliffe, then in his eleventh year, was drowned. He had, in company with two other little boys, repaired to the creek to bathe, in a deep pool below the apron of a mill-dam, above which there was but little water, as the creek was low. After bathing, the boys were amusing themselves by diving under a small boat and coming up on the other side of it. This they had frequently done with safety on former occasions, but at this time Wickliffe failed to appear after his companions had come up safely on the other side. The alarm was immediately given, but more than half an hour elapsed before he was discovered in the water under the apron of the mill-dam. The most earnest and persevering efforts at resuscitation proved under the circumstances entirely fruitless. [556]

      This event plunged the household into the deepest affliction, for he was a boy of great promise and much beloved. Especially did it fall with peculiar force in Mr. Campbell's absence upon the afflicted mother, who now experienced her first great sorrow, under which her constitutional tendency to melancholy was at once developed in all its force, so that neither the hopes and consolations of religion nor the Christian sympathies of Thomas Campbell and other cherished friends could soothe her grief.

      On the morning of Monday, the 6th of September, Mr. Campbell, accompanied by a few friends, directed his steps to the cemetery at Glasgow, and, as he says, spent one of the most beautiful and happy forenoons he had enjoyed in Scotland, "in conversing with the living and yet communing with the dead." Passing over the "Bridge of Sighs" beyond the old cathedral, where the waters of Molindinar Burn dash violently over an artificial cascade into a deep ravine, he reached the city of the dead, where amidst elegant monuments and beautiful shrubbery lay the crumbling memorials of five-and-twenty generations, and where, nearly forty years before, he had occasionally rambled and spent many a moonlight hour in solitary musings. In the afternoon of this day, while he was expecting to continue his lectures in the evening and to complete his course in time to meet his appointments in Ireland, he was presented with a warrant from the sheriff of Lanark to prevent him from leaving Scotland.

      This was done at the instance of Rev. James Robertson, who had received the thanks of the "Anti-slavery Society" for placarding and opposing Mr. Campbell, and who, having found his previous measures unavailing to prevent the people from hearing him, and having [557] become still further exasperated by Mr. Campbell's allusion to him in his letter from Dundee, had based upon the latter a suit for damages, the amount of which he placed at five thousand pounds. Representing that Mr. Campbell was about to leave the country, he had now succeeded in obtaining a warrant in meditatione fugæ, rarely used and designed to prevent the escape of debtors. Mr. Campbell's counsel demurred to the warrant, and the case was heard before one of the sheriffs, who with some distrust decided that it was legal. The case was then appealed to the high sheriff, who was no other than Archibald Alison the historian, who adjudged the warrant legal, but reduced the amount specified in it of five thousand pounds to the comparatively paltry sum of two hundred pounds. Mr. Campbell's counsel then appealed to the Superior Court of Scotland, to the lord ordinary, who happened then to be Lord Murray.

      "Meantime," says Mr. Campbell in his account of the matter, "there must intervene no less than ten days before the case can be tried before Lord Murray. And now the question with me was, Shall I give security or go to prison? Security was kindly offered me, but that relieved me not as respects my duty to the Lord, his cause and people. I felt myself persecuted for righteousness' sake, and I could not find in my heart to buy myself off from imprisonment by tendering the required security. I thought it might be of great value to the cause of my Master if I should give myself into the hands of my persecutors, and thus give them an opportunity of showing their love of liberty, of truth and righteousness by the treatment of myself in the relations I sustain to mankind as a Christian and a Christian teacher--an advocate of the apostles' doctrine in Scotland--in her capital cities; I therefore placed myself in the hands of these superlative philanthropists, the Anti-slavery Society of the whole [558] kingdom. I felt the idea of imprisonment in all its horrors--of being immured in a cell or cold dark dungeon for an indefinite period; I thought of my appointments in Ireland, and of all that might be lost by not fulfilling them; I thought too of the dangers to my health, greatly impaired by one hundred days' incessant talking. But casting myself on the Lord, I said, to the astonishment of the friends around me, 'I believe that in all this I am persecuted for the truth's sake. I stand for the Bible doctrine in faith, in piety and morality, and I am resolved to give no security. I will rather go to prison.'

      "Mr. Robertson's counsel, fearing the consequences, said if I would pledge my word that I would be back from Ireland within the time, he would take my word for it. Thanking the gentleman for his kindness, I said, 'Sir, I shall still be a prisoner and obliged to return; I cannot consent to return on the warrant issued. I will go to Ireland, sir, with your permission and without promise to return.' He said he could not grant that. 'Then,' said I, 'your pleasure be done.' He walked into another room. Mr. Robertson and the sheriff followed him. The sheriff asked Mr. Robertson what he should do. Mr. Robertson told him to inquire of Mr. Jameson, his counsel. Mr. Jameson sent the sheriff to Mr. Robertson for his mandate, refusing to give any. Mr. Robertson said, 'Take him to jail'--and to jail I went."

      Messrs. Henshall, Paton and Stalker accompanied Mr. Campbell to the prison, which they found to be built of stone. He was confined in a small room, where there was little light and no comforts save a stool and a small table, with a piece of carpet, two feet by four, on the cold stone floor.

      The brethren in Glasgow strongly disapproved of Mr. Campbell's course in positively refusing their offers of security, and subjecting himself, as they thought, unnecessarily to confinement. They urged him to accept their offers of bail, arguing that the object of the law was merely to secure the presence of the [559] defendant. He was a foreigner and about to leave the country, and the object of the court was to secure his presence to answer to the decision of the suit. This would have been equally well attained by giving bail for his appearance, as the law provided. They furthermore urged that they did not think it was the wish of the prosecutor to imprison, but if it was, it was wrong to afford him that gratification when it could have been avoided. Nor did they fail to suggest that much good might be lost by his failure to fill the appointments falling due. Disposed as Mr. Campbell was ordinarily to weigh with care the counsels of his friends, and often to modify by them his own conclusions, on the present occasion their arguments and entreaties produced no effect. Knowing that he had done nothing to merit such treatment, that he had never been an apologist for American slavery or a defender of man-stealers, as falsely and calumniously represented in the placards, but that on the contrary he had used all his influence and opportunities for the emancipation of slaves, he felt that he was persecuted, if not for his religious views in general, at least certainly because, in opposition to the Scotch Anti-slavery Society, he maintained that the mere relation of master and servant was not in itself sinful, but was sanctioned by the Bible. Looking back over the whole series of indignities to which he had been subjected, he could not but regard the whole as simply a persecution for the truth's sake. Such, indeed, had been the character of Mr. Robertson's proceedings that the more intelligent of his own party denounced the whole affair as a matter of persecution. Thus the editor of the "Christian Record," published in Jersey, said in regard to it:

      "We regret exceedingly the issue of this matter. [560] Whatever be Mr. Campbell's opinions in regard to slavery--and if he entertains the views attributed to him, we hold them in abhorrence--we cannot but regard him as a persecuted man. We know not the nature of the libel with which he is charged, but this we know--that his opponents have been unscrupulous in their language and most unrelenting in their persecution. Following Mr. Campbell from city to city, from town to town, they have hunted him more like a wild beast than a human being, much less a gentleman of education and a minister of the gospel. While we yield to no man in the intensity of our hatred to slavery in all its forms, we question very much if the procedure of the secretary of the 'Anti-slavery Society' in Edinburgh will raise his character in the estimation of the thinking portion of mankind, or at all promote the object of the excellent society with which be is identified. We would strongly recommend him to withdraw his action and throw himself upon the moral sense of the community. It is possible by our imprudence or the exhibition of a persecuting or vindictive spirit to 'build again the things we are endeavoring to destroy.' Let us not fail to remember that the 'wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.'"

      Feeling accordingly that he was persecuted for righteousness' sake, Mr. Campbell could not for a moment think of evading in any respect the sufferings which his enemies sought to inflict. In the days of his youth, when consecrating himself to the service of God, it had been to him one of the strongest evidences of a divine call that there had been given to him a desire "to suffer hardships and reproach" for the sake of the truth. Of misrepresentations and slanders, indeed, he had already had a full share, and, like Whitefield, he seems to have thought that it was to be his lot to suffer still severer trials.

      "My work," said Whitefield to one of his American coadjutors, "is scarce begun. My trials are yet to come. What [561] is a little scourge of the tongue? What is a thrusting out of the synagogues? The time of temptation will be when we are thrust into an inner prison and feel the iron entering even into our souls. Then, perhaps, even God's people will be permitted to forsake us for a while, and none but the Lord Jesus to stand by us."

      Mr. Campbell, however, was not destined to realize the latter part of Whitefield's exultant anticipation. Far from forsaking him in the hour of suffering, the Disciples in Scotland vied with each other in their unceasing efforts to minister to his comfort. The Sisters Paton, Gilmour, Dron and others in Glasgow waited on him daily with everything needful. A Sister Davis, who had heard him preach at Paisley, and had then resolved to emigrate to America and cast in her lot with the Disciples, upon hearing of his imprisonment came at once to Glasgow and was assiduous in her attentions. From various parts of Scotland, indeed, his many friends flocked in to visit him, so that all day long they were coming and going, and he had sometimes as many as eleven in his cell at one time, through the kind indulgence of the jailer, for the law strictly allowed but two persons at a time to visit a prisoner, and that only during two hours of the day. Multitudes of letters likewise poured in upon him from all parts of England expressing the kindliest sympathy. His situation was thus rendered comparatively comfortable, and his chief regret was, that he had caused so much pain and grief to many of his brethren and sisters. Maintaining his accustomed serenity and cheerfulness, he conversed as usual upon the interesting themes of the gospel with his friendly visitors, or occupied his quiet hours in writing. Being without fire, however, and deprived of his usual exercise, he felt a severe cold constantly [562] accumulating in his system, notwithstanding all his prudence and care, so that when, after ten days, Lord Murray heard the case, declared the warrant illegal and ordered his discharge, he found himself quite unwell.

      He preached his first sermon in Paisley after his liberation, and it proved to be the last he ever preached in Scotland. The house was crowded in every part, and as he prefaced his address with a brief statement of the causes of his imprisonment, the audience was most deeply affected and listened in breathless silence to his discourse, which he delivered with difficulty, on account of his hoarseness and indisposition. He was driven in a private carriage back to Glasgow, followed by a large number, as he was to speak that evening in the largest hall in the city, where an immense concourse was assembled. Upon rising, however, to make the effort, he found himself unable, having wholly lost his voice. Dr. Watson, who had been a fellow-student with him in the University, and had kindly called upon him while in prison to renew his acquaintance, was called from the body of the hall and discovered him to be laboring under a high degree of fever and quite unfit for mental or bodily exertion. He therefore, turning to the people, informed them of Mr. Campbell's condition and dismissed the assembly, which dispersed in silence and in sadness. Resigning himself calmly into the hands of his friends, he was in a few days so much restored that he concluded to set out for Ireland, where some appointments yet remained, James Henshall having already filled some of them, as at Belfast and elsewhere, very acceptably.

      Neither during nor after these proceedings was Mr. Campbell known to utter a word of complaint or censure against the law enforced in his case, nor did he [563] manifest the slightest disposition to inveigh against Mr. Robertson, his prosecutor. Believing it to be strictly a persecution for the truth's sake, he, on the contrary, rejoiced that he was counted worthy to suffer it, and in the same spirit he would have gone joyfully to the stake for the truths he taught. It is a curious fact that John Wesley experienced nearly the same fortune in Scotland. One day, at Edinburgh, a man by the name of G. Sutherland trumped up certain charges against him, demanding damages to the amount of £500. He deposed also, like Mr. Robertson, that the said John Wesley, to evade his pursuit, was preparing to fly the country, and upon these grounds obtained a similar warrant to search for him and incarcerate him in the Tolbooth till he should find security for his appearance. Although the sheriff had been so indiscreet as to grant this writ, when the case was tried before the magistrate the latter had sufficient wisdom to perceive that the accusation was false and calumnious; so that, instead of committing Wesley to prison, he fined the prosecutor £1000 Scotch, i. e., a thousand shillings. Thus, as before Pilate, the Jews sought to veil their religious animosity to Jesus of Nazareth under the pretence of fealty to Cæsar, so modern religious persecutors seek to hide, under the mantle of civil suits and legal processes, the sectarian malignity which they wish to gratify.

      "I was incarcerated," said Mr. Campbell, "because of mere speculative and doctrinal dissent from the opinion of a certain class of anti-slavery men. My liberty was taken away by 'liberty men.' . . . I am aware it will be said I was imprisoned for a libel. But who libeled me from Edinburgh to Banff? I libeled no man--I spoke the truth. There were three Rev. James Robertsons in Edinburgh, and one was accused of insulting and abusing his mother. His [564] exclusion from a church for that offence is matter of record in Dundee.

      "I did not specify any one of the three Rev. James Robertsons. Why did only one of them accuse himself by professing to be the man? Why did not the other two find cause for a libel? The truth is no libel in Scotland."

      As to this "Rev. James Robertson," it may be stated that when judgment was given against him, as above mentioned, by Lord Murray, at the called court, he immediately appealed to all the lords in the "court of sessions," at the November term. In this court the decision of Lord Murray was confirmed, and the prosecutor, Mr. Robertson, was condemned to pay the costs on troth sides, which by this time amounted to a large sum. Besides the lord justice-general, Lord Fullerton, Lord McKenzie, and the celebrated Lord Jeffreys, delivered concurring opinions. Mr. Robertson then offered to withdraw his suit for damages if Mr. Campbell or his friends would pay one-half the costs which had accrued. This was at once refused, as it was evident Mr. Robertson would be unable to prove his charges of libel.

      Before leaving Scotland, Mr. Campbell rode with A. Paton, seven miles out of the city, to visit Dr. Wardlaw, with whom he had had a pleasant acquaintance while a student, but failed to see him, as he and his family were absent at a watering-place fifty miles distant. On 14th September he set out for Ireland, and after some delay at Fort Patrick, on account of rough weather, arrived safely at Belfast, on the 17th. From letters afterward received he learned that his visit to Scotland had been productive of benefit.

      "The good arising from your labors here," said Alexander Paton, writing from Glasgow, "is daily being made known [565] to us. The people are surprised to find how ignorant and prejudiced they have been, and how gratified they were with your addresses, placing the word of God in such a clear and powerful manner before them. That was totally different from what they were accustomed to. There have been nine individuals united to us since you were here, and we have a greater number of hearers who pay us a visit than formerly. The congregation, I should also state, was greatly benefited by your teaching--much more so than appearances when you were here might have indicated. This is manifested by greater attention and zeal for the truth and behavior in accordance with it. Your alms-offerings, also, left with me came very opportunely. Poverty, distress and death have been the visitants of several of the brethren's families, and it has been administered to alleviate their wants and sorrows. I may perhaps after this particularize the expenditure of it when it is all exhausted, that it may afford consolation to the givers that it had not been sent in vain."

      Upon receiving similar letters touching his labors and trials in Scotland. Mr. Campbell thus closed his notice of them: "May the lord make all these trials redound to his own glory, to the consolation of his own children and to the enlightenment and salvation of many. The great cause of original Christianity and of the general reformation in the land of our fathers is, we confidently expect, to be furthered and advanced by the singular providences through which we have been made to pass." [566]

[MAC2 530-566]