Alex. Campbell

Saturday, Dec. 24th 1831, Loyds, Va.      

My Dear Son,

      I arrived here (Bro. Henley's) last night, accompanied by son Rob't Henley, who came on to meet me at the Bowling green last Thursday, where I preached said day & the two following. Our meetings here and at Spotsylvania Courthouse last week, where I preached six days, have been small, on acct. of the severity of the weather. There are several excellent disciples in both. These places, and also in Fredericksburg who have deeply drunk into the Spirit of the Reformation, in all which places it must, I think & hope, ultimately succeed. Bro. George Adams, a young man of good talents & classical education, also of a considerable share of mental independence, is pastor elect of the church in Fredericksburg. He is drinking fast into the reformation, and, I have no doubt will come out an able, a decided advocate in due time. Bro. A. Anderson, also a young man of classical education, who wrote you of his expulsion, is most zealous & decided for the Reformation. I had the pleasure of his company eight days; he heard me deliver eight or nine discourses, and as many evening conversations with decided and interesting attention and deep satisfaction. No man could express more humble self-denying devotion to the cause than he, nor exhibit a more plastic docility.

      Bro. Henley's family are all well. I have received your letter of the 6th inst. which affords me great satisfaction in hearing of the Lord's goodness to the various branches of my beloved family. My affectionate salutations to each & every one of them, and fervent prayers for their salvation and sanctified utility in the midst of this present evil world. I feel much gratified to learn that my beloved children are mindful of me in their prayers; this is a privilege of which no distance can deprive us while we continue in this life. [1] We can meet together in the great circle of worshippers before the Throne, and realize each other's presence and interests in the great Assembly; and there indulge our mutual sympathies & requests for each others' happiness and successful utility in the great cause of truth & holiness in our respective provinces, in which the Lord has placed us. And I can assure my beloved children, that I never felt more sensibly the indispensable necessity of supernal & supernatural aid in order to my doing any thing to purpose in the great cause of a reformation, purely, Scriptural and Divine, than I do at present. The attempt appears truly arduous and utterly impossible and impracticable upon any other consideration. When I consider the greatness & importance of the proposed object, the character & circumstances of the people, their ignorance, prejudices, and the artful & interested opposition universally exerted to prevent the progress & reception of the truth, I feel with Paul, in his attempt to evangelize the Corinthians, my littleness and entire incompetency for such a work; and sensibly approach it, under a deep & just sense of my weakness, "with fear & much trembling."

      I have also experienced unusual checks in this journey by the falling of my horse mentioned in my letter from Fredericksburg, and a species of fellon in the first joint of the middle finger of my left hand, which has rendered it nearly useless for about three weeks, as well as considerably painful at intervals, which still continues in some degree, so that I am not yet able to dress & undress without help, nor to use my fork at table, though it is sensibly better. These discouragements, together with the coldness of the weather, which latter I should not regard if my hand were well, being sufficiently prepared for the rigors of winter, were it not unfavorable for public meetings amongst a delicate people whose way of living disqualifies them [2] for enduring the unusual rigors of the season. Nevertheless I bless the Lord, that my personal afflictions with the other discouragements alluded to, have not prevailed so to disconcert and enfeeble my mind, as to render me unfit for action. They have rather been made subservient to my advantage, by leading me, with Paul, to a deep and realizing sense of my own nothingness & insufficiency, and of course to look to, and lean upon, the all-sufficiency which is of God, and which, thro' his grace, is made forthcoming to all, and which never fails to any, that put their trust in him, according to his word. So that I can say to the praise of his grace that I never felt more moral courage, more placid serenity, more self command, more presence of mind, or more liberty of speech either in public or private than I have done since I approached the field of action in this delicate, fastidious, pampered and self-indulgent State. I trust that the Lord in his great mercy will carry me thro', enabling me to maintain a course of faithfulness of prudence, and consistency. In the mean time I earnestly entreat the prayerful sympathies of you all who know my circumstances.

      I shall pay a punctilious regard to all your written requests & documents. I have not yet had time to make any prospective arrangements. I expect to preach tomorrow in Newtown, 6 miles west of this. I am happy to learn that you are proceeding in the arduous, and all important undertaking of a new & improved exhibition of the sacred text. I feel infinitely more concerned for your intended publication of the N. Testament than for any thing you have ever attempted to publish. I beg & beseech you to look to the Lord continually for the guidance & superintending aid of his Holy Spirit. Also to guard most rigidly against all philosophical, theoretical, and theological leanings. Let the translation be purely classical upon the established principles of philological, idiomatical, and grammatic criticism. [3]

      Further, that you will not only duly attend to the corrections that I have already put into your hand in the small manuscript that I left with you, as well as what yet remains to be presented as soon as I have finished my review of your last edition; but also that you will grant me the indulgence of revising with you all the improvements you may have made out and collected before you put them down in the improved & corrected copy to be stereotyped before it be delivered for that purpose to the engraver.

      This I esteem the greatest favor I shall ever have in my power, to neglect and which I hope you will by no means refuse to grant. I shall account no trouble on my part too great to submit to, that I may be present with you at the finishing revisions of your intended improvements; only give word in due time, & I will endeavor to attend. I shall expect your answer to this request in your next. You will also please to attend to my request about sending all my letters to your mother after you & those with or near you have read them. Farewell.

Thos. Campbell      

[Campbell Family Papers. Letter. Author: Thomas Campbell, Loyds, Virginia, December 24, 1831. Recipient: Alexander Campbell, Bethany, Brooke County, Virginia. ALS. Original. 1 letter page, 4 pp. 17 x 21 cm.]

      Thomas Campbell's letter to Alexander Campbell, was written at Loyds, Virginia, on December 24, 1831. The original copy of this letter is held by: Archives and Special Collections. Campbell Collection. Private Library of Alexander Campbell. Accession number AC.0276. No. 0606. Bethany College, Bethany, West Virginia.

      Grateful acknowledgment is made to R. Jeanne Cobbs, Archivist and Coordinator of Special Collections at T. W. Phillips Memorial Library, for providing a Xerox copy of this autographed letter and for granting permission to publish this transcription as an online document.

      An edited version of this letter was first published as "Letter X." in Alexander Campbell's Memoirs of Elder Thomas Campbell (Cincinnati, OH: H. S. Bosworth, 1861), pp. 167-171. The final paragraph of the autographed letter is not included in the published version.

      I have let stand variations and inconsistencies in the capitalization, punctuation, and spelling of the autographed letter.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 8 January 1998.
Updated 9 July 2003.