Alex. Campbell

Bethany, April 29th 1835, Wednesday      

My Dear Son,

      It becomes my painful duty to inform you of the decease of your worthy and beloved mother. She departed this life on Tuesday the 28th inst. about 5 o'clock afternoon, aged 71 years & eight months. She had been confined to her room tho' not to her bed, for nearly two weeks. Last Sunday we had meeting as usual, in Son McKeever's, and she still felt able to come down stairs, and recline on bed in the adjoining apartment, tho' not to be present with us. She spent a very restless night; had complained much of a pain and soreness in her stomach & left side, for some two or three weeks previous; but was still able to dress and undress, to lie down & get up, without much or any assistance; till about ten o'clock the next day (Monday) the day prior to her decease; at which time, she manifested a slight degree of mental confusion; but, by means of a gentle opiate, seemed so far relieved of her pain as to produce a disposition to repose, which she much needed; having slept but little the night preceding. She continued thus to doze and awake at short intervals, without manifesting any disposition to speak, except to ask occasionally for a drink of water. On Tuesday morning, between 5 & 6 o'clock, she seemed to awake as out of a troublesome sleep, and seeing your brother Arch & myself standing at the bedside, she asked us, with apparent difficulty, what we thought of her case, for hitherto we had said to her nothing decisive as to that matter. I answered, my dear, you are going to your gracious heavenly Father. She replied, yes, my Keeper, my Preserver. I want my Preserver, meaning, as we understood, her desire to be with him, for she spoke with labor & difficulty.--I said, you are going to the blessed Saviour. She reiterated, with a look & tone of expressive interest & resignation,--my Salvation--my Salvation--this great salvation. Thrice at least, she distinctly uttered these soul-cheering, heart-consoling words. Pausing a little, I said, My love, the Lord Jesus will shortly receive your spirit. These words, with a most expressive look of deep-felt complacency, she attempted to reiterate, but apparently unable to repeat them all distinctly she dwelt upon the last part of the sentence, which she repeated twice or thrice,--"receive my spirit.--my spirit--he will receive my spirit." I said, my dear, you can say them in your heart, and the Lord will hear you; He will shortly give you, a voice to praise him. Perceiving her unable to reply, we ceased to add. But O the meek composed serenity! the unanxious submissive resignation! which she manifested; not only at the trying moment of these communications, but, indeed, all along, from the commencement of her illness, patient, uncomplaining submission was the constant tenor of her deportment. She had labored less or more under the influence of a troublesome phlegmatic cough from the beginning of winter, as you know, but with frequent intervals of relief. Even four weeks before her decease, she appeared for some time to be getting much better; nor, indeed, did we apprehend any thing seriously dangerous in her condition, till part of the last two weeks; nor even at the last, was she unable to assist herself, as far as necessary, but for a part of two days. For the last twenty-four hours she manifested little or no symptom of pain, but only a laborious breathing, occasioned by a collection of phlegm in the region of the lungs, and, for about fifteen minutes before she expired, she lay as tranquil as if asleep;--her eyes were close shut, without moving hand or foot, without the least struggle, she thus breathed her last.

      But, O my Son, what a lesson has her decease taught me! I learned more of God, of Christ, and of myself, from the last twenty-four hours of her life, than I think I have done for the last twenty years--Yes, in some sort, than I had ever learned in all my past life. [1] I would not, for all the worldly enjoyments of twenty years of the most healthful activity, have been deprived of the benefit of having been present with your dying mother, the last week of her precious life. What an inestimable benefit the Lord conferred upon me, in the days of my thoughtless inexperienced levity, in putting such a jewel into my bosom! She had been trained up in the fear of the Lord from her early infancy, the only and dearly beloved daughter of a pious & early widowed mother, who brought her up with a tender and pious affection in the nurture & admonition of the Lord. Sincere, affectionate, unaffected and benevolent--and, I may truly add, beneficent to the utmost of her ability, she took more pleasure in giving than in receiving, in serving than in being served. Hers was truly, and without ostentation, what the ambitious aspiring heathen proudly assumed, as a just ground of enrolment, among the gods of his country--"Because he had endeavored to imitate them, in having as few wants as possible of his own; and in doing every thing in his power to supply the wants of others." Such, indeed, was her truly noble and independent spirit--her kind and generous disposition. Add to these obvious and predominant features of her character, the depth and sincerity of her conjugal and maternal affection--There could not be a more faithful, dutiful wife--a more tender and affectionate mother. Next to, and under Jesus Christ, I was the object of her constant & supreme attachment. We lived together upwards of half a century, and, I can truly say, she never once disappointed my confidence, in not carrying into effect, as far as possible, every injunction I laid upon her: and you well know, my dear son, that I frequently placed her in very difficult & trying circumstances--not unfrequently with the sole tuition & management of a large rising family; especially at my coming to this country, when, for two long years and a half, the vast Atlantic was between us--and, that even for the last eight years, she was more than the three-fourths of the time deprived of my company.--Yet (tho' with manifest reluctance) to these burdens and privations, for my sake, for her family's sake, and for the truth's sake, as the case might be, she meekly and resignedly submitted. But her hope and comfort was her Keeper, her Preserver. And, as having been long accustomed to this blessed hope it was the first thought,--the first word that occurred, upon the annunciation of her approaching dissolution. I shall never forget the meek, childlike, submissive look with which she uttered these soothing, consoling words--My Keeper--My Preserver.

      It appears we can never learn but by experience either to know God or ourselves. I mean affectingly, and effectually as we ought. When I said above, that in being present with your pious mother during the last week of her life, I learned more of God, of Christ, and of myself, than I had ever learned before, I did not mean that I had learned any new attribute divine or human, that I had not learned long ago; but only--that I had learned the real & blissful import of these divine attributes was more clearly and distinctly perceived & understood than those given before. I mean especially the goodness & love of God; and still more especially the latter,--that divine display of supreme complacency and delight which he has in the happiness of his rational creatures; manifested both in their constitution & locations--in their constitution both sensitive & intellectual--both of body & mind,--and in their location, or the circumstances in which he has placed them.--I speak of the human family, the only portion of the great family of God, with which we are acquainted. Now that the human family is a work of purest, reigning love, appears most evident, not only from our sensitive & intellectual powers of enjoyment, and the means of gratification with which we were surrounded; but, more especially, and supremely, from the principle of love-- [2] the endearments of conjugal affection, in which the human family was constituted, and out of which it was to grow.--

      In this Heaven born--Love born constitution, and law of our nature, has God laid, not only the strongest foundation of love amongst mankind, but also the strongest bond of love to draw & unite us to himself for such a gift. This is that anker of natural love and gratitude to God for his unspeakable gift of another self--a better Self, for whose sake a man will cheerfully forsake all things, even life itself, as we see from the beginning; for Adam was not deceived, but his wife, being deceived was the cause of his transgression in he rather choosing to lose his life than his wife--to die with her, than to live without her.

      The last night I sat with your dear mother, beholding the restless tossings of dissolving nature, and realizing our intimate connexion--the endearing, affectionate attachment of her soul to me, what were my feelings towards her, and what the grateful emotions of my heart towards God, the author of this attachment!--and towards our Lord Jesus Christ, by whose expiring agonies I realized her speedy, and ultimate triumphant deliverance from this last enemy, and our happy & eternal re-union in the divine presence. Then I saw her draw the last breath, I felt as if my bond of attachment to the world was cut off, having now no longer any interest in it.--And when I saw her laid in the grave, O how it reconciled me to that dreary mansion!--as to a peaceful home, a safe retreat, from a busy, bustling, weary world.--And now, henceforth realizing her intellectual existence in the unknown regions of the blessed, who, like her, departed this life in the blissful anticipation of a divine faith, I feel a drawing, reconciling interest in, and a consequent attachment to that better country, which I never felt before;--something like the sweet endearing thoughts of home. Something, I suppose, like what my beloved felt in relation to this country, during her detention in the land of her nativity after my departure thence and arrival here.--A feeling strong enough to subdue her female timidity to such a degree, as to induce her, after an an appalling shipwreck, to commit herself, & her dear children, a second time to the fearful hazzards of a tremendous ocean! Such, indeed, are my present feelings towards the strange unseen country, whither my beloved's gone. I now think of it in relation to her, as the only known object of an entire personal attachment there. When I think of her, I think of it, and of it, because she is there. There still remains, however, one spot upon earth, to which also, for her sake, I feel a strong and distinguishing attachment; namely, the precious spot, where her dear remains are deposited--a spot thus made precious both to you & me; to you, not only on her account, but also on account of a still nearer and more endeared relative, your beloved Margaret, alongside whom, at a convenient distance, my beloved now lies interred, in neighbor now, in the same blissful hope of a glorious resurrection. And now, my dear son, what remains for me, thus bereft of my endearing attached companion, from whose loving faithful heart, I am persuaded, I was not absent a single day of our fifty years connexion.--Yes, what now remains for me, without any worldly care, or particular object of worldly attachment, but with renewed energy, with redoubled diligence, as the Lord shall be pleased to enable, to sound abroad the word of life--the praises of him who has called us out of darkness, into his marvellous light, and has thus blessed us. And at last, if it be the will of God, to have my mortal remains deposited alongside of your beloved mother's. [3]

      O blessed word of life! Who, possessed of human sympathy, that has tasted of thy sweets, but would wish all to partake of thy blissful consolations, especially in the trying season of unavoidable calamity, seeing--"man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards."--But, alas for infidelity!--that woful, deadly, killing evil! which goes to rob us of thy benign heart cheering solace! O, my son, may it be your happy privilege & mine to live it, while able to speak & act, to diffuse among our highly favored cotemporaries the balmy influence of its soothing, life giving communications. And for us at last, filled with its blissful hopes, to depart in the lively exercise of a triumphant faith!

      I remain, my dear Son, your affectionate father,

Thomas Campbell      

[Campbell Family Papers. Letter. Author: Thomas Campbell, Bethany, Virginia, April 29, 1835. Recipient: Alexander Campbell. ALS. Original. 1 letter page, 4 pp. 20.5 x 25 cm.]

      Thomas Campbell's letter to Alexander Campbell, was written at Bethany, Virginia, on 29 April 1835. 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.

      Much of the content of the letter is the same as that published as "Obituary" of Jane Corneigle Campbell in The Millennial Harbinger, Vol. 6, No. 6, June 1835, pp. 284-287; this obituary is Thomas Campbell's letter to his daughter, Alicia Clapp, written at Bethany, VA, on May 1, 1835.

      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.