CHANGE in the plans of Mr. Forrester made it necessary for him to give up his school, and as Mr. Scott had proved himself to be admirably qualified for the position, the entire management of it fell into his hands. The superior advantages in point of education which he had enjoyed, and a natural aptitude for imparting instruction, made up for his lack of experience; and in addition to these he possessed the rare faculty of so attaching his pupils to himself that he soon was regarded by them as a warm, personal friend; and the result was that the prosperity of the school was increased by the change. His method of teaching was original, his manners pleasing; politeness and morality were marked features in his school, and as the necessary result he became daily better known and appreciated; his labors were well remunerated, and had success in his career as a teacher been his great object he might have been satisfied.

      But few things, however, were less in his esteem than worldly prosperity; the more he studied his Bible the greater became his concern for the spiritual welfare of his fellow-men; and as he himself obtained broader and clearer views of the plan of redemption, his desire for wider usefulness increased. The admirable powers of analysis and classification which he had hitherto applied to the sciences and languages, he now began to apply to the Holy Scriptures, and with such happy results that at times he felt a joy akin to that of the ancient philosopher, who, when a great scientific discovery flashed upon his mind, cried out [23] in his ecstasy, "Eureka! Eureka! I have found it! I have found it!"^a

      It is not intended by this to claim that Mr. Scott discovered any new truths; that in the nature of the case was impossible; but he discovered relations which the truths of revelation bore to each other that had for a long time, in a great measure, been lost sight of, and in consequence of which, confusion and darkness had usurped the place of order and light. He observed that the advocates of religious systems, as opposite as Calvinism and Arminianism, claimed that their respective views were taught in the word of God--both claiming to be right and each asserting that the other was wrong; but to his mind the thought that the inspired volume taught views so contradictory was most abhorrent. In nature he saw order and harmony and an invariable relation between cause and effect, and he concluded it could not be otherwise in the plan for the recovery of our lost race. In the word of God he found precepts, duties, ordinances, promises, blessings, and between these a proper relation and dependence; that the duties, in the nature of things, could not precede the precept, or the blessing the promise, or the ordinance the commandment by which it was enjoined. Nothing, to his mind, seemed more reasonable than that precepts should set forth what duties must be performed, what ordinances obeyed; that promises should serve as a motive to obedience; that blessings should follow the doing of that which precept made known as duty, to which promise was the encouragement and blessing the reward.

      The conversion of a sinner to God had long been a subject that perplexed him, on account of the [24] mystery thrown around it by theological writers; but when he read the accounts given in the Acts of the course pursued by the apostles in turning men to God, he found that all mystery fled; that those who heard, believed, and obeyed the glad message, which it was their mission to make known, were filled with joy and peace in believing. His noble and candid nature, and his profound regard for the truth, led him to examine carefully all the common or orthodox views in which he had been brought up, and which he had long entertained without a doubt as to their correctness; from these he eliminated to be held sacred all that was clearly taught in the unerring word, and rejected all he had heretofore cherished for which he could find no divine warrant.

      In the meantime, his intimacy with Mr. Forrester, his religious friend and guide, continued to be of the most pleasant and endearing nature; and the little congregation under his care, which met in the court-house, were his most valued associates. With the former he was accustomed to walk to the place of worship in company, and then to sit meekly at his feet as he expounded the word of God; and with the latter to engage in the service of God as brethren beloved. But a sad and unexpected change came. Mr. Forrester was drowned while bathing in the Allegheny river, and Mr. Scott was deprived of his dearest friend and the little flock of its beloved and faithful shepherd. This calamity brought upon him new duties and responsibilities: to comfort and assist the widow and orphans of his lost friend, and to care as best he could for the spiritual welfare of the stricken and bereaved church. To these duties he addressed himself manfully; the boy who sung at midnight in [25] the streets of Edinburgh to help an unknown blind beggar, now that he was a man, could not be wanting in sympathy and helpfulness to the widow and orphans of one that he had, while living, so esteemed and revered; and the wants of the church soon called into activity those gifts for teaching and preaching for which he afterwards became so distinguished.

      He now began to feel more deeply than ever that there were thousands as sincere and earnest as himself who were yet under the bondage of the system from which he had been emancipated, and he desired that they should, like him, enjoy the freedom those enjoy whom the truth makes free. Under the pressure of such thoughts the duties of the school-room became burdensome. What was the enlightening of the minds of a few youth, and leading them up the difficult yet pleasant steeps of literature and science, compared with the work of rescuing humble, earnest souls from the spiritual darkness in which they were groping, and of turning sinners from Satan to God.

      At this juncture a pamphlet fell into his hands, which had been put into circulation by a small congregation in the city of New York, and which had much to do with deciding the course he should pursue. The church alluded to was composed mainly of Scotch Baptists, and held many of the views taught by the Haldanes, and were, in many respects, far in advance of the other religious bodies. The pamphlet mentioned was published by this congregation in 1820, and was intended to set forth the views which they entertained. The publication was quite a remarkable one for the times, as it set forth, with admirable simplicity and clearness, the teaching of the Scripture with regard to the design of baptism, which had been [26] almost entirely lost sight of, and the practical value of which even its authors did not seem to realize. In it were to be found the germs of what was years afterwards insisted upon by Scott in his plea for baptism for the remission of sins, and also by Alexander Campbell in his celebrated Extra on Remission.

      The reading of this tract had much to do with the subsequent course of Mr. Scott; he thought that a visit to the people holding the views which it set forth would add greatly to his Christian knowledge, and at the same time give him a favorable opportunity for making known the views which he had adopted, and for the spread of which he had such an anxious desire. Dismissing, therefore, all thoughts of personal interest, and considerations of gain, he abruptly brought his school to a close, and set out for New York, to engage in labors and studies which he deemed more important, and, therefore, more congenial. The result of his visit, however, was a sad disappointment; he found the practice of the church far in the rear of what he had been led to expect from the publication which had led him to seek a more intimate acquaintance; nor did there seem to be any disposition on their part to fall in with his views, which began to look in the direction of a radical reform.

      He remained there but three months, long enough, however, to discover that the simple and self-evident truths of Christianity, which he fondly hoped would be accepted as soon as made known, were not to achieve the triumph he had anticipated. His hopes had seemed reasonable; he had only the word of God in all its primitive simplicity to present; he had invented no new creed, advocated nothing that the Bible did not sanction; he had sacrificed as much in his [27] abandonment of sectarianism as he asked at the hands of others; he felt that the happiness of all professors of religion would be enhanced by laying aside every thing that savored of party; that the cause of Christ would be immensely benefited by the healing of all unseemly divisions; and to find such an unwillingness to enter on a course that promised so much happiness to man and glory to God filled him with sorrow and despondency.

      In the meantime, his loss was deeply felt in Pittsburg; the patrons of his school found that his place as a teacher could not be filled, and a vigorous effort was made to induce him to return. Mr. Richardson, whose son Robert had been one of Mr. Scott's most promising and affectionate pupils, proposed the engagement of Mr. Scott as a private tutor for his own and a few other families. This plan met with warm approval, and a handsome salary was pledged. Mr. Richardson made the proposal to Mr. Scott, who was still in New York, and earnestly urged his acceptance. The interest manifested in him at a time when suffering under keen disappointment caused him to regard the offer favorably, although he did not positively accept it. He left New York, however, and visited Paterson, New Jersey, and found there a few professors of religion in a disorganized condition, but nothing to encourage him to labor among them. From thence he proceeded to Baltimore, and found a small church in a very low condition, but kept alive by brethren Carman and Ferguson. Then learning that there was a small body of worshipers in Washington City, to whom he might possibly be of some advantage, he [28] says: "I went thither, and having searched them up I discovered them to be so sunken in the mire of Calvinism, that they refused to reform; and so finding no pleasure in them I left them. I then went to the Capitol, and, climbing up to the top of its lofty dome, I sat myself down, filled with sorrow at the miserable desolation of the Church of God." [29]

[LWSA 23-29]