URING the lifetime of Mr. Forrester, the position of Mr. Scott in the church was that of a pupil; having been brought into it by the labors of his friend, he had ever looked up to him with an affection and respect that almost might be termed veneration, and, though having a wider range of thought and a much higher degree of cultivation, he felt all the meekness and humility of a child at the feet of its teacher. But when that teacher and guide was so unexpectedly removed, he was placed in a new relation to the little community for which his departed friend had labored so long and faithfully. He became now a teacher where he had lately been a pupil; but being thus thrown on his own resources his natural diffidence soon gave place to self-reliance, and his remarkable abilities developed rapidly. He not only strengthened the church by his admirable method of teaching the Scriptures, but he also increased its numbers by convincing and persuading others to obey the truth. Prominent among his early converts was Samuel Church, whose labors were afterwards made such a blessing to multitudes, and whose memory is so precious still. His early training was among the Covenanters, but he afterwards became a member of an [69] Independent church, of which Mr. John Tassey was the pastor. He was a close student, however, of the Bible, and its truths made a much deeper impression on his mind and heart than the peculiarities of his church; and at a very early age he was one of the most active workers in one of the first Sabbath-schools of the city. Having made the acquaintance of Mr. Scott, he soon became deeply interested in the then novel views which he advocated. These views, he was not slow to perceive, had a resemblance to his Bible readings, and a closer examination satisfied him that they were identical; for he found that Mr. Scott was able to do what he himself found impossible--namely, to express his views in the very language of the Holy Scriptures. The conflict was not as formerly between the views of the Covenanters and Independents, the comparative merits of differing creeds, but between a human theory supported by texts of Scripture often sadly misapplied, and the uniform and consistent teaching of the Word of the living God. He soon discovered that Infant Baptism was not only inferential, but that the inference was wholly unwarranted, and that the mode of baptism, as then practiced, was wholly unlike the teaching of the New Testament upon that subject. In a word, the whole gospel plan had now a plainness, beauty, and simplicity which the theology under which he had been brought up had, in a great measure, obscured, and he felt that the pearl of truth for which he had long been diligently seeking was found at last. He accordingly made a public profession of his faith in the Lord Jesus, and was immersed by Mr. Scott. He was at that time about twenty-three years of age, extremely [70] engaging in his appearance and pleasing in his manners. In his heart the good seed found a rich and genial soil, and brought forth in his subsequent life an abundant harvest. His education was limited, but his mind was enriched by various and careful reading, so that he was able to express his thoughts with great force and clearness; he was, moreover, endowed with rare wisdom and common sense, and a kinder heart never beat in human breast. His knowledge of the Bible, by long and close study, became remarkable, indeed wonderful; he was a diligent student of it from his early youth, and at the age of forty he had read the New Testament through one hundred and fifty times, and the Old Testament half that number. By this means he made the thoughts of the sacred writers his own, could quote accurately from any portion of the sacred record, and had such an admirable knowledge of its scope and the relation of its various parts that Alexander Campbell, in the height of his power and success as a defender of the Christian religion against attacks from all quarters, said that he would rather trust Samuel Church in the discussion of any subject that could be settled by the common version of the Bible than any other man within his knowledge. He always carried with him a small copy of the Bible, that he might read it whenever or wherever an opportunity occurred--in the intervals of business, on his travels, or, where he was often found, by the bedside of the sick and the dying.

      One or two instances of his love for the Bible may be mentioned. One evening he went to prayer-meeting, but in consequence of a severe storm no one but himself was there; but he spent more than the allotted [71] time in reading the entire gospel by Luke. Indeed, the writer has never known any one who devoted so much of his life to the reading and study of the Word of God as did this good man; it was near and dear to his heart all his life, and he asked, when dying, that it should be placed beneath his pillow.

      Another congregation was established in Allegheny City, over which Mr. Church presided for nearly thirty years, with such success that it soon outnumbered the church in Pittsburg, and became one of the most noted and influential churches in the movement called the Reformation. A very warm attachment sprung up between Mr. Scott and his amiable and earnest young convert, which grew and increased until death severed them for a season.

      On the 3d of January, 1823, Mr. Scott was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Whitsett, at that time a member of the religious body known as Covenanters; she afterwards united with the church then under the care of her husband, to whom she proved to be a faithful and affectionate helper, who shared without murmuring the toils and privations incident to such a life as his labors and sacrifices made it necessary to lead. "He was at this time about 26 years of age, about the medium height, slender and rather spare in person, and possessed of little muscular strength. His aspect was abstracted, meditative, and sometimes had even an air of sadness. His nose was straight, his lips rather full, but delicately chiseled; his eyes dark and lustrous; full of intelligence and tenderness; and his hair, clustering above his fine ample forehead, was black as the raven's wing."^a Such, doubtless, he appeared then to his favorite pupil, to whom we are [72] indebted for the above description. But it must be remembered that the teacher is often an object of reverence and awe to the pupil, and this may have rendered the picture less attractive than it would have been if drawn by another hand. The writer knew him well in after years, subject, at times, it is true, to hours of depression, but in the main, genial and even mirthful; abounding in anecdotes and brilliant flashes of wit and repartee, and especially delighting in, and delightful to, the young. His entrance into a room full of young people, instead of checking or clouding their mirth, served only to increase it; and was like the letting in of additional sunshine.

      It was in this year that his friend A. Campbell projected his first publication, which afterwards became so famous; but before issuing the work he consulted Mr. Scott in regard to it. He intended to name his paper "The Christian;" but Mr. Scott suggested that it might disarm prejudice and secure a wider circulation were he to call it "The Christian Baptist," especially as it was expected to circulate mainly among the Baptists, among whom the elements of reform had for some time been slowly and silently spreading. Mr. Scott's suggestion met his approval, and the periodical, which produced the greatest revolution in religious thought in this century, was issued in August, 1823, under the name of "The Christian Baptist."

      From the time of his first meeting with Mr. Scott, Mr. Campbell had felt that he had met with no ordinary man, and having discovered, he was not slow to acknowledge, his ability, and urged him to set forth his views through the medium of the new periodical to which he had given a name. In accordance with this [73] invitation he prepared an article for the first number, with the caption, "A Divinely Authorized Plan of Teaching the Christian Religion."^b Mr. Campbell himself had an article headed the "Christian Religion;"^c and his father contributed an essay on the "Primary Intention of the Gospel."^d

      The publication of this paper marked a new era in religious literature; the novelty of the views, the extraordinary ability with which they were set forth, the reforms for which they called, and, above all, their evident truth, created an interest and an inquiry such as has seldom been equaled.

      Mr. Scott continued his Essays on the theme above mentioned through four numbers of "The Christian Baptist,"^e and in them he says or suggests all that is needed on that subject. They are, in a word, exhaustive, embodying, as they do, the earnest and prayerful reflections of years; and in vigor of style and felicity of expression they will not suffer by comparison with the finest productions of the present day.

      A few extracts from these Essays will bring before the mind of the reader the needs of those times, and justify all we have said concerning them:

      "Were a vision vouchsafed us for the single purpose of revealing one uniform and universal plan of teaching the Christian religion, would not every Christian admire the goodness of God in determining a matter on which scarce two calling themselves Christian teachers now agree? Would not every teacher feel himself bound in duty to abandon his own plan and to adopt the plan of God; to study it, to teach it, and, in short, to maintain its superiority and authority against all other schemes, how plausible soever in their configuration, how apparently suitable [74] soever in their application? The writer has not been favored with any vision on this matter; moreover, as he deems it unnecessary, he of course does not expect any; and surely, if his plan be authorized by the example of God himself; by the Lord Jesus Christ; by the Holy Spirit, in his method of presenting the truth to all men in the Scriptures; if the apostles taught the truth on this plan; and if missionaries in teaching idolaters feel themselves forced to the adoption of it, then there is no need of angel or vision. Times out of number we are told in Scripture that the grand saving truth is, that 'Jesus is the Christ.' This is the bond of union among Christians--the essence--the spirit of all revelation. All the Scriptures testify and confirm this simple truth, that 'he that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God.' 1 John 5:2. For he who believeth it sets to his seal that God is true. Such a one, John says, loveth God, and Christ, and the brethren; keepeth his commands, and is purified from all his sins, and overcometh the world, and shall be saved. Christ declared, when departing into heaven, that he that believeth not shall be damned. The grand truth, then, being that 'Jesus is the Christ,' let us attend to those Scriptures which are written for the express purpose of establishing this proposition. These are the writings of the four evangelists, which at once show us in what manner God would have us to learn this truth; in what manner the Lord Jesus taught it; how the Holy Spirit has been pleased to present it to mankind; how the apostles wrote of it, and, of course, taught it to the world. This is the beginning of the plan authorized of heaven, and every teacher of the Christian religion should commence by unfolding to his hearers the matter of the four evangelists. 'These things,' says John, 'are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ; and that believing, ye might have life through his name.' [75]

      "Now, what definition soever the Holy Scripture has given of one evangelist, that is the definition of them all, for each of them contains a history of that marvelous evidence by which Jesus proved that he was the Christ: by which his pretensions to the Messiahship were so amply confirmed among the Jews. The perfection of Christian intelligence is a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and no Christian is intelligent but as he knows the Scriptures. The desideratum, then, is a plan for teaching them to the people. By commencing with the four evangelists, and abiding by them until they are relished and understood, we learn, chief of all things, that Jesus is the Christ; and while the number, magnitude, variety, sublimity, and benignity of his miracles delight, astonish, and instruct us, they, at the same time, carry irresistible conviction to the heart, purge it, elevate it, and fix our faith in the mighty power of God. By and by, as we become familiarized to the miraculous evidence, we become reconciled and even strongly attached to it, losing all suspicion of its reality, and, of course, of the reality of our holy religion; because we come to perceive that these things were not done in a corner, but in public, and under the inspection of men who were both able and forward to decide upon their truth and certainty; men who, in point of intellect, reason, and character, might have vied with the choicest of our modern skeptics; men, in short, whose abilities to detect were equaled only by their readiness to pervert.

      "In the writings of the evangelists we behold that power which created man and all things exerting itself with all possible unaffected pomp and majesty; tempering, untiring, and clothing itself with all goodness and philanthropy; and so entirely at the will of the Holy One, that it accompanies those who accompany him. It sparkles, it flashes, it shines, it heals, it renovates, it creates, it controls, it rests, it leaps, it flies, it kindly raises up the bowed [76] down, or hushes into silence the swelling and reluctant storm; it flies forth with the breath of his mouth; it operates at the tuft of his mantle, at the tip of his finger, or at the distance of a hundred leagues; now it is in the air with a voice like thunder; it shakes open the nodding tombs, or it rends the crashing mountains around Jerusalem; always marvelous, it is always harmless, and mostly benevolent. True, there is nothing conciliating; apart from goodness, we always choose to inspect it at a distance; but if joined with malevolence we fly from it with horror and affright. Power is formidable and even terrifying in the tiger, because in him it is a mere instrument of cruelty; but the same power becomes amiable in the horse, because all the thunder of his neck, all the glory of his nostrils, the strength of his limbs, and the fierceness of his attitude, are continually held in check by that beautiful docility which so eminently characterizes this noble animal, and by which his very will is identified with that of his rider. In the evangelists we behold the everlasting, the unexpended power itself, revealed in the form of a servant, and with more than a servant's humility, the strength of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and the harmlessness of the Lamb dwelling together in the same one."^f

      "The ultimate design of these papers on Christianity is to exhibit a plan of preaching Christ to mankind, having for its authority the example of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, together with that of the apostles and others, who in the beginning were commissioned to promulgate the new doctrine. The design, indeed, may at first sight seem as adventurous as it is novel; but what of that? Christian pastors are not to be startled at the apparent presumption or novelty of my attempt. Their principal concern must be about the reality of what I propose. Is there one way, and only one, of preaching Christ to sinners, [77] and is that one way supported by the above authorities? I answer in the affirmative, there is but one authorized way of making Christ known to men, in order that they may believe and be saved; and now it is my business to show, by Scripture, that this is the case. The reader will remember that it has been shown, in a former paper, that Jesus having died for sin and arisen again to introduce the hope of immortality, the great fact to be believed, in order to be saved, is that he is the Son of God; and this being a matter-of-fact question, the belief of it as necessarily depends upon the evidence by which it is accompanied as the belief of any other fact depends upon its particular evidence. No one thinks of accrediting a mere assertion. Our blessed Savior scrupled not to tell those among whom he alleged his divine authority, that if he alone said 'he was the Messiah,' his testimony was not to be regarded, and then reminded them of the testimony given by John the Baptist, whom they held to be a prophet; the testimony of the Father, too, and of the Holy Spirit, and of, the Scriptures; and we shall see by and by that to preach the gospel is just to propose this glorious truth to sinners, and support it by its proper evidence. We shall see that the heavens and the apostles proposed nothing more in order to convert men from the error of their ways and to reduce them to the love and obedience of Christ.

      "I am not ignorant that there are thousands who suppose that there is something else far more necessary than this. They are ready to say that everybody believes Jesus to be the Son of God, and to have been put to death for sin. To this it may be proper to reply, that not a single soul who attends the popular preachers has ever been convinced of this fact, that 'Jesus is the Savior,' by its proper evidence. Clergymen do not preach the gospel with its proper evidences. They proceed in their annual round of sermonizing on this capital mistake: that the audience have [78] believed Jesus to be the Savior; so that their very best harangues, generally denominated gospel sermons, seldom deserve a better name than rants about the everlasting fire that shall consume the despisers of the offered salvation. But every body who has read the New Testament must have observed that the Scriptures never propose the rewards and punishments which are appended to the belief and rejection of the gospel as a proof of its truth; and every one who knows how the apostles preached the gospel, must know also that they never did so; that they never produced the sanctions of everlasting burning in order to secure the faith and obedience of their hearers. If, indeed, their hearers were sometimes refractory, and would even dare to despise the gospel when set before them with its proper evidences, the gifts, the miracles, and the prophecies, then, indeed, the apostles made known the terrors of the Lord, not the terrors of the law. Then, indeed, they made it known that the Lord should be revealed from heaven to take vengeance by fire on them that obeyed not God--i. e., believed not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; but this way not to prove that Jesus had been put to death for sin, and was the Son of God, but only to warn those who might be disposed to despise or neglect that splendid evidence of gifts, miracles, etc., which proved their gospel to be true, which proved Jesus to have been crucified for sin, and to be the Son of God. In short, the apostles proceeded thus: they first proposed the truth to be believed; and, secondly, they produced the evidences necessary to warrant belief; and, thirdly, if any seemed to despise the gospel, or resist the Holy Spirit--i. e., the evidence afforded by the Holy Spirit in gifts, miracles, and prophecy--then they warned these despisers of the consequences, and thus freed themselves from the blood of all men."^g

      Such essays as these, from which we have quoted, and the powerful articles from the pen of the editor [79] in each number, soon created a profound sensation. In many of the communities in which "The Christian Baptist" circulated the foundations of religious belief were carefully and earnestly re-examined; and the result was that many of its readers, to whom religion, as popularly taught, was a mysterious and altogether unintelligible affair, now saw in it, as set forth in the Scriptures, a beautiful harmony and simplicity, and began to spread among their neighbors the light which they had received; and being of necessity placed on the defensive, they were obliged to maintain by an appeal to Scripture the views they had espoused. In some instances entire churches with their pastors were led to lay aside their creeds and much of their theology and to accept the Word of God as their only guide. The publication of this remarkable sheet continued for seven years with increased interest and a largely augmented list of subscribers, and only ceased to give place to a larger and more widely-circulated monthly called "The Millennial Harbinger." During the existence of "The Christian Baptist" Mr. Scott was a frequent contributor to its pages, and his numerous articles under the signature of "Philip" gained him a reputation scarcely inferior to that of the editor--A. Campbell himself.^h

      Up to this time nearly all the efforts made by these advocates of reform were confined to the correcting of evils and abuses in the church, and comparatively little was done for the conversion of sinners; and the result, of course, was, that while many were led to adopt the views set forth with zeal and vigor, there was but little growth in the churches as far as numbers were concerned. They had not, as yet, clearly [80] perceived the distinction between the original order of the church and the original gospel, and were so occupied with an attempt to reform the church and unite the various conflicting parties, that they did not at first perceive that there was an equal necessity for urging the original plea, as made by the apostles in their addresses to the world. The reformation thus far was ecclesiastical, but the aggressive element of the gospel was wanting; the few that united with them from the world had, as it were, to take the kingdom of heaven by violence; but the necessity of going before the world with the gospel message of entreaty and invitation soon became apparent to the mind of Scott, who, as we shortly shall see, soon began to realize what was needed in this respect, and began to invite and compel men to come to the gospel feast. [81]

[LEWS 69-81]