URING a visit to Bethany, J. R. Frame, an evangelist, of Ohio, proposed to Thomas Campbell a period of joint service among the churches in Ohio. He took the same under advisement and replied under date May 16, 1843. Consider a few sentences:

"I should be very glad to co-operate with you in this good work, for all the purposes you mentioned when you were here; but my son, Alexander, is quite opposed to my proceeding any farther in itinerant labors at my advanced age of eighty years. He rather urges the application of my time to writing, and to local labors in the vicinity of Bethany. However, what I shall do I have not yet finally determined. But if I conclude to co-operate with you a part of this summer, I shall endeavor to be with you at the time and place above mentioned."

His love for preaching and the fellowship of brethren and churches that he had been instrumental in establishing in the gospel way led him to disregard his son's objections, and he met Mr. Frame at the appointed time and place. The two directed their way through Guernsey, Muskingum and Washington Counties of Ohio. Father Campbell at times preached sermons of two hours' duration. Baptists, Disciples, Cumberlands and others received [190] them gladly. Many were strengthened in the faith, and not a few converts were made. During this period the aged pilgrim received what is termed "second sight," and was able to discard his spectacles. At one place he was delayed by a sudden illness, but after a few days he was able to resume his schedule of travel and preaching.

"The good and pious example of Father Campbell did much to promote the cause of reformation on this tour of two months. Also much prejudice was removed from the mind of many who had misunderstood and misrepresented the reformation" (Memoirs of Elder Thomas Campbell, pp. 290-3).

      From a private letter of Mr. Campbell that was written on Jan. 17, 1844, and which was so well thought of that it was given place in the Harbinger of May, 1844, we quote:

"Dear Brother: I am much gratified with the account of your labors and of their success, especially among our Baptist brethren, between whom and us there never should have been any difference; nor indeed, would there, had it not been for a few proud partizans in the Redstone Association, of which once we were all members. The reformation which we propose as defined in the fourth page of our Declaration and Address, published at Washington, Pa., November, 1809, expressly excludes the teaching of anything as matter of the Christian faith or duty for which there can not be expressly produced a 'thus saith the Lord,' either in express terms or by approved precedent. Upon these propositions the Baptists at first cordially received us; and some years [191] afterwards were excited to reject us, not for any alleged departure from the said propositions, but because we would not adopt the Philadelphia Confession of Faith as our standard, which we could not consistently do, being expressly contrary to our avowed principles, which we had conscientiously adopted, as the only scriptural ground of union; nevertheless, we have always considered and treated them as brethren as far as they would permit us; and as far as I am concerned, always intend to do so. And in the meantime we would humbly advise you so to treat them. And, of course, to do anything in your power to, build up and pacify their societies. The church of Christ upon earth is constitutionally and essentially one; therefore the first relative duty of every member of it is to preserve this unity, by loving each other as Christ has loved them; for this is the divinely appointed badge of genuine discipleship (John 13:34). Dear Brother: Christian union upon Christian principles is our motto, our object. Now to perfect this union in faith and holiness ought to be our grand concern. For what is profession without possession?"

This letter is valuable as a testimony that Thomas Campbell was as sure then as at the beginning that he had discovered the way out of division.

      "An address to all our Christian brethren upon the necessity and importance of the actual enjoyment of our holy religion" indicates that Thomas Campbell was no stranger to "heartfelt religion," nor was he adverse to its possession by all. The [191] production entitled as above was written in 1844. See him defining the word "all" in the title--"all, however diversified by professional epithets, those accidental distinctions which have unhappily and unscripturally diversified the believing world." And whom does he reckon as "our Christian brethren"? Quotation:

"By our Christian brethren, then, we mean the very same description of character addressed in our Declaration, published at Washington, Pa., in the year 1809; namely, all that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity throughout the churches! If there were none at that time throughout the churches, then Christianity was dead and gone. And if there be none such at present within the same limits, it still continues extinct."

In all his long life of advocating Christian union, Thomas Campbell had no feeling that he was inconsistent in granting to individuals and churches the use of the name "Christian," while at the same time he sought to make them more Christian by having them fill up that which was lacking in their fulfillment of scriptural requirements and dismiss from both individual and church life all that exceeded "what was written." Love of the brethren did not blind the advocate of Christian union to loyalty to the Lord and sponsor of brotherliness.

      In the now oft-quoted Millennial Harbinger (1845, p. 231) stands a letter from Thomas Campbell to N. H. Finney, that deserves to be well known. Mr. Finney was a converted infidel, and he and some others had conceived the idea of going [193] into New England to evangelize, and Father Campbell essayed :some advice as to their procedure. This quotation is possibly the last treatment by Thomas Campbell of the subject of baptism:

"What a pity that Christians should be divided by a difference about baptism, which is the very door of the church, by which we enter into the one family, under the one Father! A difference which lies at the very commencement, yea, at the very foundation of our Christian profession! For no person was considered a Christian in the apostolic churches who had not confessed Christ as his Lord and Saviour in baptism. See Rom. 6:3-7, with Gal. 3:26, 27, etc. And this difference not only about the action to be performed, but also about the proper subject of it! Alas! alas! this radical evil. But we can not help it. All that we can do is to show from the good Book that neither the action nor the subject is left indefinite, but the former^{9} is always a believer; and the latter^{9} such a use of water as represents a burial; namely, an immersion. But this radical evil is not the only thing that affects Christian unity. There are many other unscriptural notions and opinions, which have unhappily destroyed Christian unity, which must be obviated; either by showing that they are not divinely inculcated either as a matter of Christian faith or duty; or by showing that if what is expressly inculcated for these purposes were truly realized, these notions and opinions could be of no service; for that everything which they are supposed to effect would be perfect without them; so [194] that they could be of no use, there would be no room for them. The former method I should prefer for public popular teaching; though the latter^{9} might be useful in private conversation; or in cases of argumentation; but the less of this the better, if we call consistently avoid it."

      Thomas M. Henley, who had labored and suffered much for the cause of reformation in Virginia, died in 1846. Shortly before his death he had sent the following message to Alexander Campbell:

"After a correspondence of nearly twenty-one years, I am the more persuaded of the great work you are engaged in, and that no man or set of men can ever publish a more solid basis of union than you and your venerable father have published to the world some thirty-five years ago."

Not all at that time were remembering the part that the father had in projecting the new-old cause of Christian union. And so with some even today.

      It is recorded that in the spring of 1846, Thomas Campbell felt moved to set forth on an itinerary of the churches. All went well for a time, but he had overestimated his strength, and in the summer he made his way home greatly exhausted and affected by the heat. Then his friends insisted that he suspend all further excursions distant [195] from home. He yielded to their importunities, and settled down among his relatives, manuscripts and books. From a letter to a daughter, dated July 6, 1847, we cull the following:

"My sight is so dim that I must quit writing. . . . In looking over my old religious manuscripts, I have selected a few of them for publication in The Millennial Harbinger. . . . I shall take the liberty of directing your attention to a few hymns in our common hymn book, which, I humbly think, claim our practical attention as so many gospel feasts."

Such was the beautiful, gentle nature of their grandfather that the children of Alexander Campbell vied with each other in rendering service to him and making his last days as happy as possible.

      There was a general feeling that the old man's life might be crowned with a farewell appearance in the church house at Bethany and an opportunity to speak. So it was arranged that on Jan. 1, 1851, Thomas Campbell should go to church and speak. A very large audience was present, among whom were found thirty young ladies from the near-by Pleasant Hill Seminary, conducted by the McKeevers, at Independence, Pa. Afraid of that which was high, Mr. Campbell was conducted to the church on a horse-drawn sled. He was enfeebled in body and impaired somewhat in memory, but he delivered a very creditable message, which was reproduced by Professor Pendleton, and is to be found in "Memoirs of Thomas Campbell." Total blindness set in about this same time, but even that did not mar the sweetness of the man who was soon to be ninety years of age. Friends delighted to come and converse with him. His mind was able to the end to reproduce favorite passages of Scripture and stanzas of hymns. He cheered himself and others with that Word which he had found light and food and drink to his soul in the memorable decades of his life.

      It was on Jan. 4, 1854, in the Campbell home, that Thomas Campbell yielded up his soul unto its faithful Creator and Saviour. Out of the imperfect, struggling, divided church he moved into the perfected, resting and united church of the first-born on high. "Gone, but not forgotten" can well belong to him as an epitaph. For who could forget the man who raised the slogan, "Let us unite as Christians" when it was the height of heresy to think of any such thing, and kept crying aloud until others caught the echo and whose slogan has become church-wide and world-wide? His earthly remains were placed in the Campbell Cemetery near to Bethany, beside those of his wife. Goodly numbers go annually to that sacred spot guarded by waving evergreens to look upon Thomas Campbell's earthly resting place. But they will have to travel the world around and make incursions to all types of Christian faith to see measurably the living influence of the American advocate of Christian union. [197]

      ^{9} There is in this sentence a peculiar use of "former" and "latter"--just the reverse from present day common use. Alexander Campbell makes a similar use of the two words in "Christian System" (fourth edition: 1867). The double use in this same letter which we are quoting shows that it was not the lapse of an aged mind. [195]

[TCSCUA 190-197]