T is during the years of 1811 and 1812 that the son began to evidence his abilities as preacher and pleader of causes, and as a consequence less was, said about his father. About this time also writers of the lives of the two men begin to pay less attention than deserved to the life of the father. Our endeavor is to atone for what may be termed a neglect. "The First Church of the Christian Association of Washington, meeting at Crossroads and Brush Run, Washington County, Pennsylvania" on January 1, 1812, chose and ordained Alexander Campbell as a minister thereof. But the fact was not documented until September 1, 1812, and was recorded legally in Brooke County, Virginia, at the December term of court. Thomas Campbell signed himself as "Senior minister"; the four deacons also affixed their signatures. What a mix-up that seems to be! One church with two meeting places. A champion of correct form and procedure would surely be astounded. Neither minister had been immersed at the time of the ordination; the church was not a Church of Christ nor a Christian Church. But it had not settled down with a creed that would bind its activities and hamper its thinking. It was as free as the Old and New Testament writings warranted [133] it in being. Therefore we see it growing into a church after the pattern that is read of in the New Testament.

      The Campbells father and son, during 1812 and 1813, are found traveling and setting forth their views in western Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, later named West Virginia. They made acquaintance with new people and churches. Especially were calls made for the son to address Baptists, and the fact that the Brush Run Church had become an immersionist group drew it closer to Baptist churches. No type of Presbyterianism promised a haven for these people who had become new by going back to the old. Dr. Errett Gates (Early Relation and Separation of Baptists and Disciples, p. 18ff.) writes "in many respects it [Brush Run Church] became a Baptist Church without the name during the year 1812." This the writer regards as unwarranted in an effort to show how close Baptists and those who later were called "Disciples" used to be. The records go to show that about the only respect in which Brush Run Church could qualify as a Baptist Church was in the act of baptism. It did not have the usual Baptist creed, the Philadelphia Confession of Faith; it had another church organization; it differed as to faith, regeneration, the place of the New Testament, the qualification for being baptized, the purpose of baptism, the frequency of communion, the relation of one church to another, and other matters that might be mentioned. Nevertheless, after much discussion on [134] both sides as to the wisdom of entering into a formal relationship, the Redstone Baptist Association agreed to admit the Brush Run congregation as a fellowshiping church. The latter very distinctly indicated, however, that it was not becoming a Baptist Church, and expected perfect freedom "to teach and preach what they learned from the Holy Scriptures." A minority in the Association doubted the wisdom of the admission of Brush Run Church. It did prove to be a double-pointed thorn that pierced the sides of both Baptists and the adherents of "the new order of things." The copy of the document that set forth the terms of the communion with Redstone Association was asked of the clerk of the Association, and he refused it to the askers. But the sequel shows that the members of Brush Run Church did not violate the conditions of their entering the Association. It was well that no creed was adopted at the time, for both Thomas and Alexander Campbell were learning, and were sharing with the people their discoveries and conclusions. They for some three years maintained a correspondence with each other under the names "Philologus" (the father) and "Philamathes" (the son), and canvassed numerous interpretations of Scripture and ancient and modern ideas of religion. The members of the Brush Run Church were Christians. They had not taken the name of "Disciples" or "Reformers," and the opprobrious name "Campbellites" was about a decade off. Union with the Baptists took place in the fall of 1813, but [135] rumblings among the Baptist preachers and churches indicated that it was not all the name implied.

      One wonders whether Dr. Gates is entirely justified in his statement, "From this time Mr. (Alexander) Campbell regarded himself as a member of that denomination (the Baptist)." It is true that he was in and among them, but all things point away from his being a Baptist. He was not "of" the Baptists. I have seen in my studies no consciousness of Baptistism in either the father or son. Their teachings, outside the act of baptism, were in nothing confirmatory of Baptist positions of the times. What they preached as to the law, the covenants, the action of the Holy Spirit, creeds, faith, ordination, the church, were very much subversive of Baptist conceptions. It seems fair to say that they were tolerated in the Redstone Association for the fact that they were able to present the subject of immersion more skillfully and convincingly than any of the thoroughgoing Baptists. In 1815, the son Alexander wrote a letter to an uncle who was living in Ireland. It contained these significant words:

"I am now an independent in church government; of that faith and view of the gospel exhibited in John Walker's Seven Letters to Alexander Knox, and a Baptist so far as regards baptism. Though my father and I accord in sentiment, neither of us are dictators or imitators. Neither of us lead; neither of us follow" (Richardson's Memoirs, Vol. I., p. 466ff.).

To a group of ministers in Kentucky, in 1823, when he saw that they were [136] receiving him to their hearts because of his success in the debate with Mr. McCalla on the subject and form of baptism, Mr. Alexander Campbell said:

"Brethren, I fear that if you knew me better you would esteem me less. For let me tell you that I have almost as much against you Baptists as I have against the Presbyterians" (Richardson's Memoirs, Vol. II., p. 88).

This seeming digression appears necessary to correct a rather current idea that the two Campbells had become quite Baptists. On the contrary, neither one ever felt under compulsion to hide from the Baptists, wherever they went preaching, any conviction as to truth, however contrary to the Baptist faith it might be. It is not to be wondered that some of the particular guardians of the Baptist ark felt that the Campbells were boring holes in their craft to its sinking. Some of the more narrow in the Redstone Association began to make efforts to oust those who had not come among them as Baptists. A quotation from an article in The Christian Baptist (Vol. 8, p. 160) indicates again Alexander Campbell's idea of himself (probably also, of his father) in the Baptist Church:

"Their (the Baptists) historian in the year 1900 may say, 'We are the only people who would tolerate, or who ever did tolerate, any person to continue as a reformer or as a restorer amongst us'."

      For some reason, in 1813, Thomas Campbell resolved to enter the field as an educator. His son Archibald, in the sketch of his father (Memoirs of Elder Thomas Campbell, p. 123), states that about this time his father determined to advocate his cause without money and without price. The gift of a large, productive farm, by his father-in-law, had brought independence financially to Alexander Campbell. Did that fact quicken his father's desire to be less dependent upon his brethren for a living? "In pursuance of this grand purpose he, in the autumn of 1813, removed to Guernsey County, Ohio, within two miles of Cambridge, the county seat, where in connection with his farming operations, he opened an English Mercantile Academy." The advocate of Christian union at the same time gave weekly addresses upon the Christian institution. Within two years he was in doubt about having found a proper location, although the school prospered. Towards the close of 1815 Mr. Campbell's old friend, General Acheson, of Washington, Pa., the same one who had signed the "Declaration and Address," and then had gone aside from its adherents, approached him in sore need. His brother, David Acheson, had become afflicted with a serious mental condition that rendered him difficult of restraint. For some reason the General believed that the presence and counsel of Thomas Campbell might have a salutary effect on his brother. There might have been some pique in the heart of Mr. Campbell over the defection of General Acheson, and he might have been minded to treat him as Paul did John Mark and Barnabas. However, he cherished no rancor nor bitterness. Sought for to perform an errand of mercy he turned the management of the school over to others, and [138] went to Washington. For several weeks he was at the bedside of the ailing Mr. Acheson, and aided in every way until death released him from such confining service. During those weeks in Washington, Thomas Campbell learned that there was an opening for a mercantile academy in Pittsburgh. Some of his friends urged him to supply that need. What possibly moved him, above all, was that he saw an opportunity for a larger and more effective religious service than was possible in his present home in Ohio. Therefore he closed the institution near Cambridge, and started another in Pennsylvania's western metropolis. His family was able to assist in the instruction, and the school began to be a financial success.

      We discover that in 1816 Mr. Campbell had constituted in Pittsburgh "a worshiping congregation upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets." At the meeting of the Redstone Baptist Association held at Cross Creek (Richardson's Memoirs, Vol. I., p. 480ff.), in 1816, during which A. Campbell preached the famous "Sermon on the Law," Thomas Campbell was present with a petition that is summed up under item 7 of the "Minutes of the Association":

"7. A letter was presented by brother Thomas Campbell from a number of baptized professors in the city of Pittsburgh, requesting union as a church to this Association."

Item 8 is of corresponding interest:

"Voted that as this letter is not presented according to the constitution of this Association, the request cannot be granted." [139]

      It appears that Thomas Campbell had been appointed the previous year to present a circular letter on "The Trinity." While his church was refused admission as had been requested, Thomas Campbell was invited "to take a seat in this Association." He presented on the occasion the circular letter as had been assigned him, on "The Trinity." If it had been hoped to trap him into presenting the matter so that he might be condemned, he was too wise. The method of treatment that he adopted was so simple and devoid of the accustomed terminology and philosophical phrases, that for some reason it was accepted without question, and was printed at the close of the minutes. In case one is curious to read that "circular letter" on "The Trinity," in which the word "trinity" never occurs, he is referred to the Appendix to Volume I. of Richardson's Memoirs.

      It must be noted that the Association appointed a committee to investigate the group that Mr. Campbell had gathered together in Pittsburgh, for there was already a group that consisted of eight persons in the same city that had standing as a church in the Association, a Baptist Church, for it had signed the usual covenant.

[TCSCUA 133-140]