The following is part of a Prospectus of Religion sent to us by our profoundly esteemed friend, Thomas Campbell, Senr. of Bethany, Brooke Co. Va. We give it a place in the Evangelist with great pleasure, knowing him by whom it was written, having had long and lasting convictions of the end of his conversation, namely, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."

W. S.      

      Christianity is a system of religion and morality instituted by Jesus Christ, primarily taught by his Apostles, and recorded in the New Testament. It has for its immediate object the amelioration of the character and condition of man, morally and religiously considered, as far as possible in this life, and ultimately his complete salvation from the guilt, the love, the practice and punishment of sin. It consists in the knowledge, belief, and obedience of the testimony and law of Jesus Christ, as taught by his Apostles, and recorded in the New Testament. It has many professional opposites, many rivals to contend with, all of which, however, may be reduced to three classes; viz. Infidels, heretics, and schismatics. The first of these reject, the second subvert, and the third corrupt [149] christianity and, of course, measurably destroy its benign and blissful effects.

      In order to defend the christian institution against the rival influence of these opponents, we must meet each of them respectively with the proper arguments. The infidels of every class, having no counter testimony to exhibit against the divine authority and authenticity of our sacred records, nor any thing comparable as a substitute to present to our reception, stand convicted of the most unreasonable obstinacy in rejecting a revelation, not only confirmed by every kind of accompanying evidence which the nature of the thing could justly require, but which also goes to confer upon the believing and obedient the greatest possible happiness, intellectual and moral, of which they are capable in existing circumstances, and of which our nature can be made capable in a blissful immortality.

      But as it is from the perversions and corruptions of christianity, and not from professional infidelity that the proposed reformation is intended, we would most respectfully submit the following queries to the consideration of all concerned, for the purpose of bringing the subject fairly before them.

      1. Is not the church of Christ upon earth essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one; consisting of all those, in every place, that profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him in all things according to the scriptures, and that manifest the same by their tempers and conduct, and of none else, as none else can be truly and properly called christians?

      2. Should not all that are enabled, through grace, to make such a profession, and to manifest the reality of it in their tempers and conduct, consider each other as the precious saints of God, love each other as brethren, children of the same family and father, temples of the same spirit, members of the same body, subjects of the same grace, objects of the same divine love, bought with the same price, and joint heirs of the same inheritance? Whom God hath thus joined together no man should dare to put asunder.

      3. Is not division among christians a pernicious evil?--anti-christian, as it destroys the visible unity of the body of Christ, as if he were divided against himself, excluding and excommunicating a part of himself?--anti-scriptural, as being strictly prohibited by his sovereign authority--a direct violation of his express command?--anti-natural, as it excites christians to contemn; to hate and oppose one another, who are bound by the highest and most endearing obligations to love each other as brethren, even as Christ has loved them? In a word, is it not productive of confusion, and of every evil work?

      4. Is not the christian community in a sectarian condition, existing in separate communities alienated from each other? [150]

      5. Is not such a condition the native and necessary result of corruption; that is, of the introduction of human opinions into the constitution, faith, or worship of christian societies?

      6. Is it not the common duty and interest of all concerned, especially of the teachers, to put an end to this destructive, anti-scriptural condition?

      7. Can this be accomplished by continuing to proceed as hitherto; that is, by maintaining and defending each his favorite system of opinion and practice?

      8. If not, how is it to be attempted and accomplished, but by returning to the original standard and platform of christianity, expressly exhibited on the sacred page of New Testament scripture?

      9. Would not a strict and faithful adherence to this, by preaching and teaching precisely what the Apostles taught and preached, for the faith and obedience of the primitive disciples, be absolutely, and to all intents and purposes, sufficient for producing all the benign and blissful intentions of the christian institution?

      10. Do not all these intentions terminate in producing the faith and obedience, that justify and sanctify the believing and obedient subject?

      11. Is not every thing necessary for the justification and sanctification of the believing and obedient, expressly taught and enjoined by the Apostles in the execution of their commission for the conversion and salvation of the nations; and fully recorded in the New Testament?

      12. If so, what more is necessary, but that we expressly teach, believe and obey, what we find expressly recorded for these purposes? And would not our so doing, happily terminate our unhappy, scandalous and destructive divisions?

      The two following queries are subjoined for the sake of a clear definition of the leading and comprehensive terms, viz. faith and obedience--which comprehend the whole of the christian religion.

      13. Are not law and obedience, testimony and faith, relative terms, so that neither of the latter can exist without the former? that is, where there is no law, there can be no obedience; where there is no testimony, there can be no faith.

      14. Again, is not testimony necessarily confined to facts, and law to authority, so that without the latter, the former cannot be? that is, where there are no facts, there can be no testimony--where no authority--no law. Wherefore, in every case, faith must necessarily consist in belief of facts; and obedience in a practical compliance with the express will or dictate of authority. By facts is here meant some things said or done. [151]

      Upon the whole, these things being so, it necessarily follows that christianity being a divine institution, there can be nothing human in it; consequently it has nothing to do with the doctrines and commandments of men; but simply and solely with the belief and obedience of the expressly recorded testimony and will of God, contained in the Holy Scriptures, and enjoined by the authority of the Saviour and his holy Apostles upon the christian community.

      The affirmative of each of the above propositions being, as we presume, evidently true, they most certainly demand the prompt and immediate attention of all the serious professors of christianity, of every name. The awful denunciations and providential indications of the divine displeasure against the present anti-christian state of christendom, loudly calls for reformation;--the personal and social happiness of all concerned, and the conversion of the unbelieving part of mankind equally demand it. Nevertheless, we are not authorised to expect, that any party, as such, will be induced by the above considerations, or by any other that can possibly be suggested, spontaneously and heartily to engage in the work of self-reformation. The sincere and upright in heart, however, ought not to be discouraged at the inattention and obstinacy of their brethren; for had this been the case in times past, no reformation had ever been effected. It becomes therefore the immediate duty and privilege of all that perceive and feel the necessity of the proposed reformation, to exert themselves by every scriptural means to promote it. Seeing the pernicious nature; and anti-scriptural effects of the present corruptions of christianity, both upon professors, and non-professors, in producing alienations amongst the former, in direct opposition to the law of Christ;--and in casting almost insuperable obstacles in the way of the conversion of the latter;--the serious and upright, of all parties, must feel conscientiously bound to endeavor, to the utmost of their power, to effect a genuine and radical reformation; which, we presume, can only be effected by a sincere conformity to the original exhibition of our holy religion, the divinely authorised rule and standard of faith and practice. To such, therefore, we appeal; and for the consideration of such alone, we have respectfully submitted the above queries.

      "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." Paul, 1 Cor. i. 10.

      "Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father--I [152] pray--for them who shall believe on me through the word of my Apostles, that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me: that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me." John, xvii.

      "In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Matt. xv.

      "From the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, saith the Lord of hosts."--Mal. iii. 7.

      "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."--Rev. xviii. 4.

      "He that testifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus."

      Now for the complete satisfaction of all present, or that may feel disposed to attend, it is further proposed to show in a series of discourses, that the New Testament does really contain--and actually exhibit--a divine system of religion and morality so complete, that the person who realizes it "will stand perfect and complete in all the will of God--be made wise unto salvation--thoroughly furnished to all good works." And all this, in the express terms of the divine testimony, without the intervention of one human opinion; only taking for granted that the sacred text means what it says when treated with that candid evident fairness, with which we treat any intelligible, interesting record: otherwise, it can have no certain meaning at all.

      Farther, for the assistance and satisfaction of our inquiring friends, who wish to avail themselves of the luminous fulness of the holy scriptures upon the great subject under consideration, we subjoin the following analysis of the Sacred Oracles, and the great salvation which they exhibit; by the due consideration of which, the scriptural evidence and certainty of what is intended, will, we hope, be apparently obvious.

[The Evangelist, July 1, 1839, pp. 149-153.]

      Thomas Campbell's "Prospectus of a Religious Reformation" was first issued as a pamphlet, probably in Cincinnati, 1829. (See editorial note on the Prospectus concerning the facts of publication.) Its publication in The Evangelist (Vol. VII, No. 7, July 1, 1839) represents the first serial publication of the first half of the pamphlet. The second half was not printed in The Evangelist. The electronic version of the essay has been produced from the College Press reprint of The Evangelist, ed. Walter Scott (Cincinnati, OH: 1839), pp. 149-153.

      Pagination in the electronic edition 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.

      The following apparatus details the variants in the in the text of the Prospectus of a Religious Reformation from its serial publication in the Evangelist in 1839 to its first publication as a pamphlet in 1829.

 PORR-TE / PORR   Appearance in The Evangelist [ First Edition
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 p. 149 / p. 3:   Christianity [ CHRISTIANITY
                  practice [ practice,

 p. 150: / p. 3:  possible happiness, [ possible happiness
                  professional infidelity [ professed infidelity
         / p. 4:  called christians? [ ca led Christians?
                  contemn; [ contemn,

 p. 151: / p. 5:  unhappy, scandalous [ unhappy, scandalous,
                  express will [ expressed will

 p. 152: / p. 5:  necessarily follows [ necessarily follows,
                  that christianity [ that christianity,
         / p. 6:  loudly calls [ loudly call
                  not authorised [ not authorized
                  pernicious nature; [ pernicious nature,
                  divinely authorised [ divinely authorized

 p. 153: / p. 6:  my Apostles, [ my Apostles;
                  sent me, [ sent me;
         / p. 7:  worship me, [ worship me
                  Matt. xv. [ --Matt. xv.
                  come quickly. [ come quickly;
                  is further [ is farther
                  contain-- [ contain,--
                  exhibit-- [ exhibit,--
                  realizes it [ realizes it,
                  unto salvation-- [ to salvation
                  and the great [ and, the great
 

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 3 January 1998.
Updated 8 July 2003.