N this spirit of dejection he continued his travels on foot to Pittsburg, a distance of nearly three hundred miles, and reached there weary and travel-worn; but the warmth of his welcome on his arrival did much toward dispelling the gloom with which his late disappointments had filled his mind. He made his home in the family of Mr. Richardson, who was mainly instrumental in inducing him to return, who fitted up a room in his own house for the accommodation of the few pupils to which his school was restricted; and he devoted himself with such zeal and success to the advancement of his pupils that he gained a reputation such as no other teacher in that city had ever enjoyed. His pupils were regarded in the light of younger companions and friends, and while he led them in the various pathways of science and literature, he strove at the same time to mould their manners and improve their hearts. He possessed great tact and an almost intuitive perception of character, which enabled him to adapt himself to the different dispositions and capabilities of his pupils, and to make study more of a pleasure than a task. His roles were few and might be summed up in the words obedience, order, accuracy; and the [56] result in after years was, that some of his pupils ranked among the finest scholars and most useful men in the State. Among them were Chief Justice Lowrey and the eminent author and professor, Dr. Richardson, who, in his biography of Alexander Campbell, nearly a half a century after, thus writes of his beloved teacher and friend:

      "I would sometimes invite him to walk out of an evening to my father's garden in the vicinity of the city; but his mind could not be divorced, even amid such recreations, from the high theme which occupied it. Nature, in all its forms, seemed to speak to him only of its Creator; and although gentle and affectionate as he was, he sought ever to interest himself in the things that interested others. His mind would constantly revert to its ruling thought; and some incident in our ramble, some casual remark in our conversation, would at once open up the fountain of religious thought, which seemed to be ever seeking for an outlet. Thus, for instance, if I would present him with a rose, while he admired its tints and inhaled its fragrance, he would ask, in a tone of deep feeling, 'Do you know, my dear, why in the Scriptures Christ is called the Rose of Sharon?' If the answer was not ready, he would reply himself: 'It is because the rose of Sharon has no thorns;' and would then go on to make a few touching remarks on the beautiful traits in the character of the Savior. Then, in the exercise of his powers of accurate perception and his love of analysis and object-teaching, descanting on the special characteristics of the flower, and calling attention to the various elements which, by their assemblage, produced such a charming result--the graceful, curving lines that bounded the petals and the foliage, so much more beautiful than the straight and parallel edges of the blades of grass or maize; the winding veinlets, the delicate [57] shadings of carmine, and their contrast with the green foliage; the graceful attitude assumed by the flower, as, poising itself upon its stem, armed with thorns, it shone resplendent in queenly beauty; he would pass, by a natural and easy transition, to dwell yet again upon the infinite power and glorious perfections of the Creator--the Lord that 'was God,' that 'was in the beginning with God,' and without whom nothing was made that was made. Nor did he neglect, even amidst the daily duties of the school-room, to lead the minds of his pupils to similar contemplations, so that they might be induced to 'look through nature up to nature's God.' The revelations of God in the Bible, however, formed his chief delight, and, in accordance with his feelings, he took especial pains to familiarize the students of the ancient tongues with the Greek of the New Testament, for which purpose he caused them to commit it largely to memory, so that some of them could repeat, chapter by chapter, the whole of the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Greek language. It was also his invariable practice to require memorized recitations of portions of the ancient classic authors, as well as written translations of them. These tasks, irksome to those of feeble memory, and exacted, perhaps, in some cases, with too much rigor, tended, nevertheless, to improve the pupils in taste and accuracy, and to store their minds with charming passages for use in future life."^a

      His return to Pittsburg was highly gratifying to the little flock that had been gathered by the labors of the lamented Forrester, whose place, in a measure, they hoped this promising young convert would supply. The members of this church, in which he was afterwards to act so distinguished a part, were all diligent readers and students of the Holy Scriptures; [58] and in their desire to, conform to primitive usages in every respect pressed, perhaps, too far some matters which had their origin in the social life of apostolic times, the spirit of which can be manifested by different acts in our own day. They read, for instance, the apostolic injunction "salute one another with a holy kiss," and they carried it out in practice, and in consequence came to be known in the community as the "Kissing Baptists;" but while it was true that such was the practice of the primitive church, they did not take into account the fact that it was not enjoined on the church as a custom to be practiced for the first time, but that it was the usual mode of salutation among the orientals, and only gave a higher significance to an established custom, just as the shaking of hands now, our common mode of greeting, becomes more significant when Christians meet and clasp hands as members of the family of God. The washing of feet was also practiced by them, not, however, as a church ordinance, but an act of brotherly kindness and Christian hospitality. But this, as well as the former practice, soon fell into disuse, doubtless from the fact, that to have insisted upon it would have obliged them, in order to be consistent, to have revived the use of sandals and the style of dress prevalent in the primitive age, which Christianity did not originate and was not designed to perpetuate. But their regard for these unimportant matters by no means rendered them negligent concerning the weightier matters of the law: reading and committing to memory the holy oracles; bringing up their families in the fear of God; social and family worship; and all the sweet charities of a Christian life were cultivated in [59] that little church, and in its bosom were found men and women as pious, devoted, and useful for their means and opportunities as the world has ever seen. The Darsies, Erretts, McLarens, and many others, who have proved such blessings to the world, and promoters of the cause of Christ in the earth, were members of that little band, and where the influences that were set on foot there will end eternity alone will disclose.

      The following incident will show the spirit that prevailed among them--a spirit noble as it is rare. One of the members had in some way injured and deeply wounded the feelings of Mr. Scott and Mrs. Darsie; and as the aggressor showed no disposition to repair the wrong he had done, Bro. Scott went to Mrs. Darsie, and said: "We have now an opportunity of praying the Lord's prayer; let us go and forgive him who has trespassed against us;" and together they went, and assured him of their free and full forgiveness of the wrong he had done them, and in such a kindly spirit did they perform their mission that the offender burst into tears, confessed his fault, and a perfect reconciliation was effected.

      It was not long after Mr. Scott's return from New York, in 1821, that his mind became possessed by what proved to be the great thought of his life; namely, that the great central idea of the Christian religion is the Messiahship; that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God; a proposition around which, in his esteem, all other truths revolve as planets around the sun. To prove this he regarded as the great aim of the evangelists in the four Gospels, and which certainly was the avowed purpose of John, [60] for, near the close of his life of Jesus, he says, in reference to all he had put on record: "But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name." John xx: 31.

      In his biblical studies he received great aid from some valuable theological works, which he found in the library of his lamented friend Mr. Forrester. The most noteworthy among these were the following: Benson on the Epistles; Macknight's Harmony of the Gospels; Knatchbull's Notes; Haldane's works; Locke's Reasonableness of Christianity; Macknight on the Epistles; Carson's works, with those of Wardlaw, Glass, and Sandeman, with many other useful works on ecclesiastical history and prophecy. His chief delight, however, as he himself says, was in the Holy Scriptures, a portion of which he committed to memory daily, and after the labors of the day had closed in the school-room. Midnight often found him engaged in the study of the sacred volume; and he made a solemn vow to God, that if he, for Christ's sake, would grant him just and comprehensive views of his religion he would subordinate all his present and future attainments to the glory of his Son and his religion. Seldom was ever more solemn promise made; seldom was one ever better kept than this; for the theme which then took possession of his thoughts was ever uppermost, was ever after his chief delight; and no one certainly ever devoted a life so earnestly and persistently to the elaboration and illustration of a single truth as he did, to what he was wont in after years to call the "Golden Oracle"--that Jesus is the Christ. [61]

      The reader, however, must not infer from this that he paid little regard to other constituent elements of Christianity, such as faith, repentance, obedience, the ordinances, prayer, praise, good works, and all that pertains to a true and pure life. All these he regarded as growing out of the great central truth, and deriving all their importance from the fact of being enjoined by that most illustrious personage of whom the eternal Father said: "This is my beloved Son; hear ye him." He ever regarded the nature of Christ as above his work; not divine because he had power to work miracles; but he wrought those wonders because he was divine, and of that divinity they were but the proofs. Had he been but a man, a prophet--nay, the greatest of the prophets--his teachings would have been fallible, his example imperfect, his death but a martyrdom that would have no power to cleanse from sin; all his promises would, in that event, have been insecure, the final reward doubtful; but being divine, his teachings must be infallible, his example perfect, his death a sacrifice, his promises sure, the reward of the faithful certain; and he himself be an object that men might not only obey and love, but whom it would not be idolatry to adore.

      His mind had long been perplexed with the question, "Is there more than one way of preaching Christ?" The practice of the day and the different and even contradictory views set forth from the various pulpits favored the affirmative; but with the Bible as the standard, and the apostles as models, he soon settled down in the conviction that while there might be many false or imperfect ways, there: could be only one true way of preaching the way of life and salvation, [62] and that way, of necessity, must be that pursued by the apostles in making known to both Jew and Gentile the gospel offer.

      His reputation as a teacher, in the meantime, continued to increase; his school, as already intimated, was select, the number of pupils being restricted to fifteen; but when he gave public examinations the proficiency of his pupils and the superiority of his method of instruction was so apparent, that many of the principal citizens urged that his school should be thrown open, that a larger number might receive the benefit of his instructions; and as soon as this was done the number ran up to one hundred and forty. The only difference which took place between his patrons and himself was in regard to the nature and extent of religious instruction in his school, he being in favor of the New Testament being read daily, and they, who were mainly Presbyterians, preferring that the Westminster Catechism should be taught. Against this he took a decided stand, and gives as his reason, that even at that early date of his religious profession he was thoroughly convinced that in regard to Christianity it was his duty to teach it, not as found in creeds and party standards, but just as it was written. Being unable to agree upon the matter, a compromise was made; all catechisms were laid aside, and a chapter in the New Testament allowed to be read every Saturday. For the good of his pupils he determined to make the most of this, and having, as he says, had his whole soul aroused, and astonished by the views of Christ which were unfolded to him during his intense and prayerful study of the gospels, he determined that the lessons should be drawn from the four [63] evangelists; that Christ should be the theme of each Saturday's lesson; and that the great point might be kept before the minds of his pupils during the week he wrote with chalk, in large letters, over the door of his academy, in the inside, the words "Jesus is the Christ."

      It was in Pittsburg, while thus engaged, in the winter of 1821-22, that he first met Alexander Campbell, with whom his own history and efforts in the future were to be so intimately blended. Mr. Campbell, who was nearly ten years his senior, had been well educated, and, like himself, intended for the Presbyterian ministry; but being of an original turn of mind, a bold and independent thinker, he found, at an early age, that he could not be limited by the narrow bounds of a party creed, but desired to explore for himself the ocean of revealed truth. He did not commit the common yet fatal mistake of rejecting the Bible on account of the divisions and contradictions existing between the various religious sects and parties: these, he perceived, did not have their origin in the Word of God, but rather resulted from a neglect or departure from it; and though he had unconsciously imbibed many errors in early life, when too young to question and discriminate, he dismissed them one by one without a sigh and scarcely a struggle when he found them without foundation in the Word of God. For that Word he had always cherished the deepest reverence, and when in early manhood he was in imminent peril by shipwreck he made a solemn promise to God that if delivered from the threatened peril he would devote his life to the work of preaching the gospel. It was at once a [64] surprise and a pleasure to those two men, on meeting, to find that they occupied common ground, when each had heretofore regarded himself as almost alone in his views of the Christian religion and of the remedy for the divisions and party strifes by which the religious world was agitated. That remedy was the abandonment of all creeds, confessions of faith, and party standards, and a return to the Word of God as the only rule of faith and practice. Peace and unity, they knew, had prevailed as long as that Word was regarded as the only safe rule and guide; and though it had been widely departed from, still they did not doubt that a return to it would result in blessings untold to the church and the world.

      But the reader must here be reminded that though they had found the right path, they had by no means explored it; they had discovered what was a sure and safe test of religious truth, but, save in a few instances, they had not applied it; they were like mariners with perfect confidence in the chart on which their course was marked out, but as yet had not seen all the rich islands which gemmed the bosom of the deep, over which they must sail before the safe, quiet harbor of their hopes was gained. They were reformers, but reformers only in embryo or promise--reformers like Luther, when he first found, opened, and read the Bible; like Wesley, in his little prayer-meeting at Oxford--reformers with their work before them, with its extent and importance but imperfectly realized; but the work was still to be done.

      In regard to this meeting with Mr. Campbell, Mr. Scott says: "When my acquaintance with him began, our age and feelings alike rendered us susceptible of [65] a mutual attachment, and that was formed, I trust, on the best of principles. If the regard which we cherished for each other was exalted by any thing purely incidental, that thing was an ardent desire in the bosom of both to reform the Christian profession, which to each of us appeared in a state of the most miserable destitution." Both of them had at one time been highly Calvinistic in belief; and while they saw and deplored the distracted condition of religious affairs, it seemed as if all efforts toward an improvement would prove unavailing; but when they were freed from the incubus of a party theology, they felt that the Word of God, so far from producing the state of things which had caused them such sorrow, really condemned them and contained in itself all the elements necessary to a cure. Mr. Scott's meeting with Alexander Campbell naturally opened the way to an acquaintance with his father, Thomas Campbell, between whom and his gifted son there existed the most perfect sympathy of feeling in their religious views and efforts.

      At that time there were few, if any, better educated ministers in America than the elder Campbell; and he was not less remarkable for his perfect courtesy of manner and well developed Christian character, than for his natural ability and literary culture; and looking at the trio, Thomas Campbell, Alexander Campbell, and Walter Scott, as we now can in the light of their finished lives and work, it may be said truthfully that they were not surpassed in genius, eloquence, talent, learning, energy, devotion to the truth, and purity of life, by any three men of the age in which they lived. [66]

      The esteem which Mr. Scott and Thomas Campbell soon learned to entertain for each other was afterwards strengthened by much personal intercourse and united labor in presenting to the world the views which they held in common, and to the spread of which they contributed so much, so that their natural affection and regard seemed like that of father and son. In regard to this intimacy, the elder Campbell wrote thus to Scott many years after: "I think I should know you, and that you also should know me. We have participated in the most confidential intimacy, and I know of nothing that should abate it. Our mutual esteem and unfeigned attachment to each other have been to me precious items of comfort and satisfaction, the privation of which would inflict a serious wound, more especially because it is so intimately connected, I had almost said identified, with my feelings in relation to the promotion of the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom within the limits of our mutual co-operation."^b

      Alexander Campbell, nearly twenty years after they first met, thus writes to Scott: "We were associated in the days of weakness, infancy, and imbecility, and tried in the vale of adversity, while as yet there was but a handful. My father, yourself, and myself were the only three spirits that could (and providentially we were the only persons thrown together that were capable of forming any general or comprehensive views of things spiritual and ecclesiastical) co-operate in a great work or enterprise. The Lord greatly blessed our very imperfect and feeble beginnings; and this is one reason worth a million that we ought always to cherish the kindest feelings, esteem, [67] admiration, love."^c This feeling was fully reciprocated on the part of Scott.

      And now, having brought together these three men of such great and varied talents, animated by a purpose at once great and good, the reader can not fail to discern the hand of Providence in the matter; and now that the instrumentalities are prepared and brought together, it will not surprise us to see the work to which, in the providence of God, they were called, spread and prosper. [68]

[LEWS 56-68]