FROM
THE CHRISTIAN RECORD.

YE ARE MY FRIENDS, IF YE DO WHATSOEVER I COMMAND YOU.--Messiah.
VOL. II. SERIES II.	INDIANAPOLIS, IN., APRIL, 1852.	NO. 10.

BOONSBORO', Md., August 20, 1851.      

      BROTHER CAMPBELL:--Believing that the contents of this letter of Father Campbell will be equally acceptable to your readers as the one published, I cheerfully furnish a copy, which you will please to publish, with a request that all our papers copy it. I make this request because I wish all to read this inestimable letter; and not only to read, but to reduce to practice its contents. No one enjoyed social religious conversation as did Father Campbell; and no one regarded conversation on secular and comparatively unimportant topics, especially on the Lord's day, with more abhorrence than he. He often said to me, that Satan cheated thousands out of their spiritual enjoyment.

      Bro. C., would not this letter make a good introduction to a few essays on Religious Conversation? Will you not give us a few? Ungodly, unprofitable, and speculative conversation about religion, instead of pious, profitable, and spiritual conversation, is the crying sin of the professors of religion. When will there be a reformation on this subject? May God speed the day!

            In the Christian hope,

J. R. F.      

BETHANY, Va., November 15, 1843.      

      DEAR BROTHER FRAME:--Your kind letter of September 27th, arrived at Bethany in good time. I was absent, visiting some of the neighboring churches; but, without farther apology, I sit down, most cheerfully, to answer your very acceptable letter.

      In the first place, present my kind love and respect to your mother and sister, and next to all inquiring friends, with my most sincere thanks for their kind concern for my welfare. I should be very happy to pay them another visit, if I were as able as I am willing. But time will soon divest us all of our natural ability, either through old age or infirmity; therefore, we should make the best or most we can of it, while we have it in our power, "redeeming the time, because the days are evil." O what a waste of our precious time in this carnal, ungodly age! If the time that is spent in mere trifling--in talking and thinking about things of no value, or to no real purpose, was spent in reading, memorizing, studying, meditating upon, and conversing about the contents of the Holy Scriptures, and in praying to, and praising God about them, O what hundreds--yea, thousands--of the pages of the Good Book would be read, understood, possessed, and enjoyed, for one there is at present! O how spiritually, how heavenly-minded, holy and happy, would thousands be, for one that is so at present!

      But the important question is, How is this awful evil to be remedied? Talking about it will not effect a cure. Seven years' experience has convinced me that it will not.--What, then, is to be done? Why, if we be convinced of the awful evil of this impious [308] neglect, let us have done with it, and take up our Bibles, and read and study them, &c., as above proposed. If we don't make a beginning, we shall never accomplish any thing; and every one must act for himself, and do what he can to encourage others to do so, too.

      And thus, in proportion as we memorize, and so become intimately acquainted with the contents of the Bible, we will be able to think and converse about them to our own, and each others edification. But what is not in the memory, can neither be in the heart nor in the mouth. Therefore, the Divine command given by Moses, with the first volume of the book, (see Deut. xi. 18-21,) is, "Thou shalt lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; teach them to your children, speaking of them when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up; that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, as the days of heaven upon earth." Hence they were required to get them by heart, that so they might think and talk of them--that they might enjoy them. "For out of the contents of the heart the mouth speaketh." Therefore, the Apostle commands Christians "to let the word of Christ dwell in them richly," for the blissful purposes of edification, (Col. iii. 16.) The word of the Lord is the food of the soul. David says that he loved it more than his natural food. And Jeremiah exclaims, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy words were to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart," (Jer. xvi. 16.)

      This, indeed, must necessarily be the case with the spiritually-minded; for they hunger and thirst after righteousness.--Whereas, the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to his law, neither, indeed, can be. So, then, such characters can take no delight in it. But if we would get rid of this horrible distemper, we must have recourse to the word of God. It is the only medicine in the hand of the Spirit, divinely intended for the cure of our deadly carnality; for it is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus--that is, the blessed gospel--the provisions of which alone can make us free from the law of sin and death. See Romans viii. 1-4, &c.

      He sent his word, and healed, and delivered them from their destruction, (Psalm cvii. 20.) Faith cometh by hearing the word of God, (Rom. x. 17.) And it is by grace, through faith, that we are saved, (Eph. ii. 8, 9.) There is no way, then, of getting out of this deadly calamity, but by believing the gospel; for "He that believeth not shall be damned," (Mark xvi. 16.)--Therefore, if we would be saved, we must make the divinely prescribed use of the word that we may truly understand, believe, and obey the gospel and law of Christ. (See Mat. xxviii. 19-20.) There it is evident, that those who obey the gospel are also divinely bound to observe all the teachings of the Apostles. But they have taught us to search the Scriptures--to lay them up in our hearts. "That all holy Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished for all good works." (2 Tim. iii. 16-17.)

      The Bible is the only book under heaven that has God for its author, and the science of salvation for its subject matter. Therefore, if we wish to be made wise unto salvation, and to enjoy the fellowship of heaven upon earth, it will be the subject of our conversation, meditation and study, night and day. We will maintain a Christian sociality with others, for this blissful purpose. As civil society brings together friends and neighbors for social purposes, surely much more should religious society bring together Christian neighbors, for religious purposes. And when they thus associate and converse together, let them bring their Bibles with them, and so furnish a Bible table, and every one help himself and his neighbor to [309] what he likes best, and thus feast together until they are satisfied for that time; and so, before they dismiss, appoint, by special invitation, another meeting for the same happy purpose.

      Thus might Christians not unfrequently edify one another; always remembering, that in so doing they have the promise of the presence of the Great Teacher; that he himself will make one of the party. For he has given the invitation, saying, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in, and will sup with him and he with me." (Rev. iii. 20.)

      We should remember, in the meantime, that this gracious invitation was first given to the lukewarm Laodiceans, whom Christ had threatened to eject with abhorrence, on account of their loathsomeness. Also, that if those epistles are to be understood prophetically of seven periods in the progress of Christianity till the commencement of the millennium, as some think they do, then this last one is descriptive of the present state of the church. And, indeed, it would be hard to imagine a more lukewarm state of Christian society than the present. But, in the meantime, be this as it may, it is evident that this blessed and gracious invitation was given to a people in the loathsome condition of lukewarmness; and this being evidently our condition, it is, therefore, the more encouraging to us. Let us, therefore, in our social capacity, both as families and neighbors, put ourselves as frequently as possible into a situation to enjoy this blissful invitation.

      Please present my Christian respects, with these documents, to the brethren. May the Lord bless your labors, is the prayer of your fellow-laborer,

THOMAS CAMPBELL.      

[The Christian Record 2 (April 1852): 308-310.]

      Thomas Campbell's "Letter to an Evangelist, by Father Campbell" was first published in The Millennial Harbinger, Fourth Series, Vol. 2, No. 2, February 1852, pp. 94-97, and reprinted in The Christian Record, Vol. 2, No. 10, April 1852, pp. 308-310. The electronic version of the reprinted essay has been produced from an electrostatic copy of the article provided by Elaine Philpott, from the collection of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. I have let stand variations and inconsistencies in the author's (or editor's) use of italics, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling in the essay.

      Variants in the text from its first publication in The Millennial Harbinger to its reprinting in The Christian Records are as follows:

      MH / CR        Millennial Harbinger [ Christian Record
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 p. 94: / p. 308:    Brother Campbell: [ BROTHER CAMPBELL:--
                     professors of religion. [ professors of religion.--
                     When will there [ When will there
                     Dear Brother Frame: [ DEAR BROTHER FRAME:--
 p. 95: /            praying to and [ praying to, and
                     possessed and [ possessed, and
                     that it will not. [ that it will not.--
          p. 309:    when thou sittest in thy house, when thou walkest [
                        when thou walkest
                     after righteousness. [ after righteousness.--
 p. 96: /            Romans viii. 1-4, &c. [ Romans viii. 1-3, &c.
                     (Mark xvi. 16.) [ (Mark xvi. 16.)--
                     use of the word, [ use of the word
                     for all good works. [ for all good works."
          p. 310:    millenium, [ millennium,
 

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 13 June 1998.
Updated 8 July 2003.