N the year and several months of this interim, Thomas Campbell had not been idle. He had made a clean break with the Presbyterians.

      In a previous chapter, the minutes of Chartiers Presbytery have been cited to show that on Sept. 13, 1808, he renounced the authority of both the lower and higher court of the Associate Churches. That lower court retorted by suspending him, on September 14, from all ministerial functions. It therefore seems proper to use the date, September 13, as that which marked Mr. Campbell's actual separation from Secederism.

      "In bidding adieu to Secederism, he made on that occasion, the following address:^{6}

      "Taking into my most serious consideration, the Present state of matters between this reverend Synod and myself, upon a review of the whole process and issue as commenced and conducted, first by the Presbytery of Chartiers, and as now issued by this reverend court, I can not help thinking myself greatly aggrieved. For, although this Synod in part redressed the grievance I labored under by the hasty, unprecedented, and unjustifiable proceedings of said Presbytery, in holding [106] me to the issue of a trial contrary to their manifest agreement, under the preliminary that no witnesses should be cited on either side, yet, in the issue, that Presbytery is dismissed from the bar of this Synod without the slightest notice of the sin and scandal of this breach of faith, and avowed dissimulation; for Mr. Ramsey declared, at the bar of this Synod, that it was the intention of the Presbytery to hold me to the issue of the trial, at all events. And also, without any inquiry into the other grounds and reasons (though professedly wishing for an accommodation by explications) of my avowed declinature of any further ministerial connection with, or subjection to, that Presbytery in its present corrupt state (as specified in my reasons of protest and declinature given into this Synod), yet this Synod, after examining my written declarations to said Presbytery upon the articles of libel, and after a long and close examination of my principles relative to said articles; and not being able to point out a single error in the former, and declaring themselves satisfied with the latter (the article upon occasional hearing excepted), yet proceeded to find me guilty of evasion and equivocation, in my written declarations, upon great and important articles of revealed religion; and thence infer that I had expressed sentiments upon these articles very different from sentiments held and professed by this Church, and upon these presumptions proceed to judge me worthy of a solemn rebuke; while as I have observed above, no notice is taken of the Presbytery's breach of [107] faith and avowed dissimulation and flagrant injustice toward me, while acting as a court of Jesus Christ, nor of any act of their mal-administration toward others, which I alleged against them, and referred to, as just grounds for my said declinature, as contained in my reasons of protest, and in other documents read and laid upon the table for the inspection of the Synod. Surely, if presumptive evasion and equivocation justly infer a censure of rebuke on my part, their manifest breach of faith and avowed dissimulation (I might add treachery), can not be innocent and unrebukable conduct. Of the justness and propriety of this, let the world judge.

      "It is with sincere reluctance, and, at the same time, with all due respect and esteem for the brethren of this reverend Synod who have presided in the trial of my case, that I find myself in duty bound to refuse submission to their decision as unjust and partial; and finally to decline their authority, while they continue thus to overlook the grievous and flagrant mal-administration of the Presbytery of Chartiers. And I hereby do decline all ministerial connection with, or subjection to, the Associate Synod of North America, on account of the aforesaid corruptions and grievances; and do henceforth hold myself altogether unaffected by their decisions. And that I may be properly understood, I will distinctly state that while especial reference is had to the corruptions of the Presbytery of Chartiers, which constitute only a part of this Synod, the corruptions of that [108] Presbytery now become also the corruptions of the whole Synod; because when laid open to this Synod, and unprotested against, the Synod pass them over without due inquiry and without animadversion.

"THOMAS CAMPBELL."      

      The writer is almost, if not quite, persuaded that the above document was not the final one which its writer presented. If one reads carefully the events and record of the trial as it is found in Chapter IV., and then turns to the above letter, it seems that he will conclude that this is the letter which Thomas Campbell sent to the Synod when it met at six o'clock in the morning of Friday, May 27, which letter he withdrew after the Synod had summoned him into its presence. It will be seen that Mr. Ramsey is the particular brother who is mentioned in the above letter, and the chapter referred to shows the activities of Mr. Ramsey against Mr. Campbell. Moreover, the letter above contains the obnoxious phrase "guilty of evasion and equivocation." As was pointed out before, the findings of the committee were amended so as to strike out the word "evasive," leaving only "unsatisfactory and highly equivocal" against him. Would he not have been too careful to have included the word "evasion" in his farewell address, knowing that it had not been left as a part of the report of the committee to investigate his case? The letter that has been spread in detail in this chapter seems to have done another duty. In Chapter V., Mr. Campbell hands in a written "declinature," and when interrogated about it, informs [109] the Presbytery that it was the same that he had handed in at the meeting of the last Synod, had withdrawn and now had seen reason for holding to its contentions. As additional evidence, that the letter which Alexander Campbell considered as his father's last message to the Associate Synod was not the last, but must have been another that has been entirely lost, we ask that the reader turn again to Chapter V and read of the actions of the Synod in the year 1809. Mr. Campbell gave in a paper entitled "Declaration and Address to the Ass. Synod," and the same was referred to a committee. On May 19 the report of that committee was made. The last part of the report runs, "and contains proposals inconsistent with our received principles." Now the "adieu letter" under consideration lacks entirely any proposals that have to do with the received principles of Secederism. It is denunciatory of both presbytery and Synod, involves both in the same guilt and dismisses the writer from further fellowship and association with them. It contains no proposals for anything. How we long for some of those remonstrances and letters that Thomas Campbell sent to the table from time to time!^{7} They would help to throw more light on the trial and its sequel. [110]

      When we recall that the last letter which Mr. Campbell handed to Synod bore the title "Declaration and Address," and remember that it was the year 1809, and the month of May, is it hard to believe that something of the great and well-known "Declaration and Address" had been passed in for the Synod's attention; that there were contained some of the proposals with which we have become familiar? Of course, not in the complete style that was wrought out after months of thinking and preaching upon the subjects involved. [111]

      ^{6} A. Campbell, Memoirs of Elder Thomas Campbell," pp. 17, 18. [106]
      ^{7} It is reported that several decades ago, two young men, connected with the Campbell family fed a bonfire with letters, essays, pamphlets and such things that they had found in the old Campbell homestead at Bethany, W. Va.--possibly some of the very things which historical students would love to peruse and use as they write about the elder and younger Campbell. If the report is true, "the aspiring youth that fired the Ephesian dome" has modern rivals. [110]

[TCSCUA 106-111]