While I am neither a pioneer evangelist nor pioneer preacher, yet my life laps back upon the lives of most of these holy men of God, who accomplished such a marvelous work in the early days of this great Restoration movement, whose Centennial we are celebrating.

      We esteem it one of the peculiar favors that God has bestowed upon us, that he permitted us, in our boyhood days, to sit at the feet of many of them, and listen to their earnest pleadings, as they told the story of redeeming love and pleaded with the people to give their hearts to Christ. No men of greater faith or more devoted lives, no men who were willing to make greater sacrifices, or do harder work for the Master, ever lived than were the pioneer evangelists of this great Restoration movement. They were willing to leave their homes and their families, and on horseback, or in any other possible way, travel far and near to preach the gospel of the grace of God to the people.

L. L. CARPENTER.

      Without any hope of earthly reward, they went everywhere pleading for a return to apostolic Christianity and the union of all of God's people upon the divine foundation. Their work was largely evangelistic. Everywhere they pleaded with men and women to give their hearts to Christ, and multitudes heard their plea and obeyed the gospel, and churches were organized in all the regions wherever they went. Out of sheer devotion to the truth, they denied the faith of their fathers, in which they might have enjoyed great popularity, and embraced a system "everywhere spoken against," as the advocates of which they became in the eyes of many almost heretics. Yet, loving the praise of God more than the praises of men, and in nothing terrified by their adversaries, they stood fast "in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel."

      It is not just that such men should be "thrust foully in the earth to be forgotten," nor is it meet that those upon [585] whom their mantles have fallen, or will soon fall, should be deprived of the bracing influence of their example.

      It is, therefore, a duty to perpetuate their memory by setting their portraits in the record of their noble deeds, "like apples of gold in a framework of silver."

      The Reformation inaugurated by Martin Luther and his colaborers had restored the Bible to the world. The Reformation of John Wesley and his colaborers was an earnest effort to restore spirituality to the church, while the plea of Thomas and Alexander Campbell was for a restoration of primitive Christianity, which, when fully attained, will surely result in a united church.

      The early education and teaching of the religious world must be overcome. The church must be made to see that the Bible, and the Bible alone, is an all-sufficient rule of faith and practice; that the gospel, as originally preached, must be repreached; that men must have the same faith, the same repentance, must make the same confession and be baptized with the same baptism, and taught to "continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."

      The religious world was very much prejudiced against them. They were compelled, first of all, to get the ears of the people. But when such men as Walter Scott, John T. Johnson, Raccoon John Smith, Isaac Errett, Benjamin Franklin, and scores of others equally good and true, went out in the name of the Master and preached the old gospel, as Peter, James, John and Paul had preached it eighteen hundred years before, the people came out to hear; and, hearing it, many believed and gladly accepted and obeyed the gospel. These pioneer evangelists attracted the attention of the people by boldly preaching the divinity of Jesus Christ. Thus they readily convinced the people that Jesus had all authority in heaven above and on the earth beneath, and that, if they would become Christians, they must bow at his feet and accept him on his own terms as their Saviour and Redeemer.

      They cast off the spirit of formalism, or, rather, that dead body of formalism that has no spirit. They forsook paths that had no better recommendation than that they were beaten and dusty. They set forth a doctrine at once transparent and fearless, unpretending and scholarly; despising all guilty servility to the overbearing few or the popular many.

      They were frank and independent on every matter that affects the hopes or integrity of mankind, without the boyish folly of perpetually running about to proclaim their independence, and saying bold things only to show that they dared to. They were as brave as prophets, devoted as apostles, tender as John, fearless as Paul, ardent as Peter, blameless as James; they were learners of the Christ, workmen whose errand is from heaven, to persuade and lead men's souls thither.

      Overmastering all their anxieties about their position, foreclosing the query, "What shall we preach about?" they went forth to preach Christ and his pure, simple gospel. They preached faith, piety and regeneration. They preached a full and complete and perfect gospel.

      Another problem that early confronted the pioneer evangelists was education. If this restoration is to succeed, we must have an educated, cultivated ministry. Our preachers must not only be men of God, living spiritual lives, but they must have the benefit of education, so that they may stand second to none in the ministry of the churches around them. So, in an early day, that great Christian man, Alexander Campbell, conceived the idea of establishing an institution of learning where our young men could receive a good education and at the same time be taught from the word of God--a college where the Bible was to be one of the text-books. And Bethany College, with Alexander Campbell as president, and the faculty made up of scholarly men and able teachers, was launched out into the educational world.

      We are all proud of dear old Bethany. Any religious people would be proud of a college with the splendid record of Bethany College. She is mother of such great institutions of learning as Hiram College, Kentucky University (now Transylvania), Drake University, Butler College, Eureka College, Columbia College, and others perhaps equally as [586] good. From an educational standpoint, our ministry and brotherhood compare favorably with those of other religious people.

      A third problem that the pioneer evangelists solved was that of organization, coupled with evangelism. More than half a century ago, under the leadership of Alexander Campbell, D. L. Burnett, Walter Scott and others, the American Christian Missionary Society was organized; and what a splendid record that society has. It has been instrumental, not only in organizing our forces to evangelize America, but in organizing our churches so that they could do efficient work in their respective communities. It is mother of our State Missionary Societies, of Church Extension, of Ministerial Relief, of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions, of the Temperance Board of the church of Christ, of the Men's Brotherhood movement, and many other good works. To-day it is stronger, and its work more efficient, than ever before. May it long live to carry on the work in the future that it has done so successfully in the past.

      A fourth problem that these men had to solve was how to carry the old gospel to the nations of the earth. Under the leadership of Isaac Errett, aided by the wisest and best of our ministry, the Foreign Christian Missionary Society was organized. And what a record of work, of sacrifice and of success! Never was a problem better solved than when the Foreign Christian Missionary Society was organized.

      And now, a word or two with regard to their message to the church of to-day.

      1. We must continue to be an evangelistic people. Churches that are doing but little to induce people to become Christians make no very great progress. Our preachers and evangelists must be true to the word of God. The church that is not succeeding in winning souls to Christ will soon begin to retrograde, and will eventually go out of existence.

      2. Our churches must be working churches. We are so constituted that we will be doing something even if that something is nothing but to backslide. We must work, in the morning, at noonday and at night.

      3. We must be true to all our organized missionary work. The cause of missions is the cause of God. But very few of us, as individuals, can support even one missionary in either the home or foreign fields. But few single churches could do so. Hence the necessity of our organizing societies. They must be sustained and their efficiency greatly increased.

      4. Our colleges and universities must be liberally supported. We are abundantly

PRINCESS LONG.

able to richly endow them, and thus greatly increase their usefulness. Our brethren must send their children to our own institutions of learning, where, while learning the sciences and arts, they can be taught the gospel of the grace of God. We can hardly overestimate what our colleges are doing for the cause of Christ. Let us liberally support them.

      And so these pioneer evangelists send these messages to the churches of to-day. Let us hear them, heed them, and with all diligence accept and practice them. The fathers taught us that the church is at once a divine institution, in that it is the perpetual body of Christ and witness of his redeeming powers, and it is also a practical manifestation of whatever spiritual life resides among us. It is the appointed means for unfolding and nourishing our capacities for morality and for piety.

      The pioneers taught us that it is an organization for giving practical efficiency and triumphant power to the deepest truth we know; namely, that life is more than meat, the soul too precious to be bartered for the world.

      All things are yours the moment you are Christ's. That will be the soul's coronation. For to be faithful unto the body's death is to put on the crown of undying life.

      What wonderful problems the pioneers solved! What a wonderful message they have left to the Christians of to-day!

      The Chairman introduced John L. Brandt. [587]

[CCR 585-587]