The Campbells. Thomas Campbell 1763-1854 Thomas Campbell “Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; and where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.”

The Campbells

Thomas Campbell1763-1854

Thomas Campbell • “Where the Scriptures speak, we speak;

and where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.”– Words of Thomas Campbell, 1809.– Before “Christian Association of

Washington.”– 2 years before had come from Ireland.– Didn’t know would break with Pres.

and play formative role in Restoration Movement.

Thomas Campbell

• 1763-1854, Seceder Pres. Church minister in Ireland, to U.S. in 1807.– Scotch-Irish & reared in Church of

England.– Later to Seceder Pres.– U. of Glasgow (1783-1786).– 1791-1807 served Seceder chs &

operated private academies (last Rich Hill, 30 mi SW of Belfast).

Thomas Campbell• Anti-burgher Seceder Presbyterian• Anti-burgher—a member of the group in the

Secession Church in Scotland which separated in 1747 from the “Burgher” group because it refused to admit that an adherent of that church could take the civil “Burgess Oath.”

• Burgher—member of the group in the Scottish Secession Church which defended in 1747 the lawfulness of the religious clause in the civil Burgess Oath and thus separated from the Anti-burghers.

Thomas Campbell• Original Secession Church—more

properly “The Synod of United Original Seceders,” constituted in Scotland in 1842.

• Was the union of various groups which were heirs of the Secession of 1733 from the Church of Scotland.

• Word “church” was not used, as they considered themselves in secession from the national church and not a separate church.

Thomas Campbell• They rejoined the C. of Scotland in 1956.

• Original secession because Ebenezer Erskine and others felt inhibited from protesting effectively against abuses in the C. of S., especially patronage.

• This meant that ministers were presented to parishes by patrons instead of being elected by the congregations as Seceders demanded.

Thomas Campbell• Later the Seceders divided into “Burghers”

and “Anti-burghers” over the rightfulness of taking the Burgess Oath professing the “true religion,” and then into “Auld Lichts” and “New Lichts” over the interpretation of the clauses in the Westminster Confession regarding the civil magistrate.

Thomas Campbell 2• Even in Ireland, influences which would

prepare him for later role.– John Locke’s Letters Concerning

Toleration & The Reasonableness of Christianity.

– Independent (or Congregational) churches in Scotland & Ireland--John Glas, Robert Sandeman, the Haldane brothers.

• Seceder P. were narrow & dogmatic.• Independent ch. at Rich Hill different.

Thomas Campbell 3

• Arrived Philadelphia on May 13, 1807.– Synod (SPC) meeting at the time.– Assigned to Chartiers Pres. (sw Penn.).– Preached at Washington, PA.– Within 6 months charges brought.

• Series of ch. trials dragged on a year.• Renounced the Seceders.

Thomas Campbell 4• What caused break?

– He invited non-Seceder P. to communion.

– That he believed there was no divine authority for confessions of faith.

– Nature of faith.– Right of layman to exhort when clergy

absent.– Right of Seceders to hear ministers of

other denominations.

Thomas Campbell 5• Chartiers Pres. suspended Campbell.

• Appealed to Synod.– Synod considered charges for week.– “Rebuked and admonished.”– Allowed to preach in Philadelphia 2

months.

• But back in Washington, PA, C. was no longer welcome.

• 9-13-1808 C. “declined the authority” of Presbytery.

Christian Association of Washington

• Didn’t quit preaching; didn’t organize new church.

• Continued to preach to sympathizers as had opportunity.

• Stressed themes imp. to him--– Sinfulness of sectarian divisions.– Need for wider Christian fellowship.– Imp. of following scripture, not creeds.


• At such a meeting of sympathizers (in house of Abraham Altars between Mt. Pleasant and Washington, PA) T. C. spoke and closed his speech with the motto: “Where the Bible speaks; we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent.”

• A solemn hush fell across the group assembled as C. sat down.


• A Scottish bookseller, Andrew Munro, was first to break the silence.

• “Mr. Campbell, if we adopt that as a basis, then there is an end of infant baptism.”

• C. replied: “Of course, if infant baptism be not found in the scriptures, we can have nothing to do with it.”


• Thomas Acheson arose and said: “I hope I may never see the day when my heart will renounce that blessed saying of the Scripture, ‘Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’”

• Then he burst into tears.


• James Foster (who even in Ireland had been opposed to infant baptism) arose and said: “Mr. Acheson, I would remark that in the portion of Scripture you have quoted, there is no reference whatever to infant baptism.”

• Robert Richardson, Memoirs of Alexander Campbell (Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Co., Vol. I, 1897), p. 238.

CAW 2• 8-17-1809, the group formed itself into the

“Christian Association of Washington.”– Not intended to be a church.– Met semi-annually.

• Purpose?– Group of “voluntary advocates for church

reformation...formed for the sole purpose of promoting simple evangelical Christianity.”

– Planned to support ministers.

CAW 3

• C. authorized to prepare formal statement--result was Declaration and Address.

• Assoc. met 9-7-1809 to consider D&A.– C. addressed the group.– There the plea, “We speak where the

Bible speaks, and we are silent where the Bible is silent.”

• CAW adopted D&A & authorized pub.

Title page withediting marks from a later time

Alexander Campbell

• Few weeks after D&A T. Campbell welcomed family to America.

• 30 months of separation had been eventful for family too.– 1808 shipwrecked off Scotland.– Night of shipwreck, 20 yr. old Alexander

made decision to devote life to ministry.– Family in Glasgow 10 mo. waiting.

Alexander 2

• Shipwreck allowed Alexander (1788-1866) to attend U. of Glasgow one term.

• Year at Glasgow destined to bring changes.– A. got to broaden education.– Brought him in contact with the plea to

return to primitive Christianity.

• Scottish restoration movement--Robert and James Alexander Haldane.

James Haldane(1768-1851)

GlasTombstone

Robert Sandeman(1718-1771)

Son-in-law of John Glas

Followers calledSandemanians

John Glas

• Believed that since Christ was king of the church, power cannot be exercised over it by the state or magistrates.

• For these views was deposed by the Church of Scotland in 1730.

• Locked out of his church, he continued to preach in nearby fields and most of his congregation remained loyal to him.

John Glas

• Took the Bible more literally than most of his day—– Xtians forbidden to eat blood or to store

wealth.– Should practice foot-washing and the holy

kiss.– Creeds and catechisms useless—it was

easier to learn from the Bible itself.

John Glas

• Glas taught that there were two classes of officers in the church: the “extraordinary” consisting of Apostles, Prophets and Evangelists; and the “Ordinary” consisting of elders and deacons.

• Robert Sandeman, who became his son-in-law, became the leader of the movement.

Robert Sandeman

• Sandeman came to the fore after 1755.• S. left for the USA in 1764 to found churches,

where the group survived until 1890.• Sandemanians—

– Practiced infant baptism and foot-washing– Organized their churches with several coequal

presbyters (elders)– Deemed agreement (not a majority vote) essential– Held to strict conditions of membership—the church

could control the use of member’s private money

Alexander 3• Haldanes began movement in 1790s for

evang. revival & greater missionary zeal in Church of Scotland.– Discouraged, withdrew & began est.

“independent” churches in 1799.– Practiced weekly LS and cong. independence.– James Haldane (1805) “All Christians are

bound to observe the universal and approved practices of the first churches recorded in Scripture.”

Alexander 4

• 1807 Haldanes gave up sprinkling infants and began practicing immersion.

• H. est. many churches in Scotland, England and Ireland.

• In America “churches of Christ” were begun with roots in the Haldane movement.

Alexander 5

• A. intro. to Haldane movement by Greville Ewing.– Ewing operating seminary for Haldanes in G.– Befriended the family after the shipwreck.

• Months of assoc. weakened A’s ties with Seceders.

• Near end of stay in Glasgow, A. refused to participate in Seceder communion service.

Montgomery Advertiser7-4-04

Alexander 6

• Later A. recalled year in Glasgow:– “My faith in creeds and confessions of

human device was considerably shaken while in Scotland, and I commenced my career in this country under the conviction that nothing that was not as old as the New Testament should be made an article of faith . . . or a term of communion amongst Christians.”

Alexander 7• 9-29-1809, arriving in US, A. was man

without a church, but with a mission.– Must have had mixed emotions as

moved across Pennsylvania.– Thomas must have had similar

apprehensions.• Separated by an ocean, father & son had

begun same search for primitive Xtianity.• D&A in saddlebags when met family?

Brush Run Church

• A. preached 1st sermon after months of study.– Without license from a church

preached more than 100 sermons in a year.

• Thomas C. applied to main Pres. Church.– Rebuffed.– Saw only alternative to transform CAW

into a church.

Brush Run Church 2

• Organized 5-4-1811--3 years after T.C.’s break with Pres.

• 30 members, one elder (T.C.), 4 deacons.• Underlying principle--

– Autonomy of each local community.– Right to organize without appeal to

ecclesiastical structure.– Right to subscribe to no creed other

than the Bible.

Brush Run Church 3• Two distinctive practices from beginning--

– Weekly Lord’s Supper.– Immersion.

• 3 wanted to be members who had not been baptized--sprinkling or immersion.– Asked T.C. to immerse them.– He consented, though didn’t think it

necessary to “rebaptize” someone sprinkled in infancy.

Brush Run 4• Campbells had crossed their Rubicon in

organizing Brush Run.– Instead of working as an “association”--– They now constituted a separate church.

• Yet their mission remained same.– Expressed in D&A.– Return to “simple original form of

Christianity”– Reject anything without a “Thus saith the

Lord.”

The Restoration Principle

• D&A=one of greatest religious documents ever produced in America.– Imp. lies in formulation of restoration

principle.– No other statement as thorough or

detailed in treatment of the restoration principle.

– 56 page pamphlet when published 1809.

Declaration and Address

p. 6

Unity Through Restoration

• T. Campbell long distressed with division within Christendom.

• No surprise was one of recurring themes in D&A.

• “The Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one.”


• “Essentially”--in its very essence or nature the true church possesses unity.

• “Intentionally”--this oneness or unity is according to divine origin.

• “Constitutionally”--church’s constitution, the NT, makes this unity possible.

• Above statement one of 13 propositions by which C. summarized major ideas of D&A.


• Division among the Christians is a horrid evil, fraught with many evils. It is antichristian, as it destroys the visible unity of the body of Christ; as if he were divided against himself, excluding and excommunicating a part of himself. It is anti-scriptural, as being strictly prohibited by his sovereign authority; a direct violation


• of his express command. It is antinatural, as it excites Christians to condemn, to hate, and oppose one another. . . . In a word, it is productive of confusion and of every evil work.


• Easy to denounce division; not so easy to propose a means of achieving unity.

• For T.C. road to religious unity lay in return to the patterns of NT Christianity.

• Like John Locke, he believed that essentials of Christianity were so clearly revealed in NT that everyone ought to be willing to accept them.


• To achieve unity, “nothing ought to be inculcated upon Christians as articles of faith; nor required of them as terms of communion . . . but what is expressly enjoined by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles upon the New Testament Church; either in express terms or by approved precedent.”


• “Express term”=direct command.

• “Approved precedent”=NT examples.

• C. also believed NT taught by inference, but did not believe truths known only by inference should be bound on consciences of others.


• Key concept--whatever is not expressly authorized in NT either by command or example cannot be a test of fellowship.

• “Nothing ought to be received into the faith or worship of the Church, or be made a term of communion among Christians, that is not as old as the New Testament.”


• Believed the NT was a divine pattern for what God expected the church to be in every age.

• NT “a perfect constitution for the worship, discipline, and government of the New Testament church.”– And a perfect rule of faith & practice,– Just as OT had been for OT

community.


• Distinction between OT & NT was a novel idea in C’s day; later A.C. made it the theme of “Sermon on the Law.”

• T.C. often used expressions like “perfect constitution,” “perfect model” and “original standard” to describe the NT’s authority over the church.

"Sermon on the Law." The Millennial Harbinger

(September 1846): 493-521

http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/

http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/acampbell/mh1846/SOTL.HTM


• Unity & restoration complementary in thought of Thomas Campbell.– If all denominations would accept NT as

divine constitution & abandon any practice not expressly authorized,

– Denominational lines would disappear and unity would be achieved.

– NT the “perfect model” for the church.


• “Let us do as we are there expressly told they did, say as they said; that is, profess and practice as therein expressly enjoined by precept and precedent, in every possible instance, after their approved example; and in so doing we shall realize and exhibit all that unity and uniformity that the primitive Church possessed.”


• Two basic ideas in C’s restoration plea.– NT a divine constitution for the church,

& the church has no right to practice anything that is not expressly authorized in it.

– A return to the faith and practice of the NT would end the differences between denominations and restore the essential oneness of Christ’s church.

Unity Through Restoration• D&A a bold & visionary principle.

– But didn’t attempt to apply principle to immediate problems.

– Nor did it attempt to specify what would be practiced or abandoned as a practice.

– For e.g., what about baptism?– Baptism not mentioned in D&A.– Was soon asked, “how can we continue

to sprinkle infants?”

Rest. Principle in Practice • Task of applying principle to problems of

church life the work of A. C.– Esp. during Christian Baptist (1823-1830)

period he measured contemporary religious practices by NT pattern.

– “I contend that the constitution of the church and its laws are found explicitly declared in the New Testament.”

– 1825--series of 30 articles “A Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things.”

Rest. Principle in Practice• Began series by distinguishing between

“reformation” and “restoration.”– Reformations had been benefactors

of mankind.– But while human systems could be

reformed, not proper to speak of reforming Christianity.

• Was perfect when it began.– What was needed was “a restoration

of the ancient order of things.”

Rest. Principle in Practice

• Needed--a “restoration of the ancient order of things.”– Would be achieved by bringing

church “up to the standard of the New Testament.”

– If this done, would result in a golden age for Christianity--the millennium.

Application/Church Membership• “How does one become a citizen in

Christ’s kingdom?”– Faith and immersion.– D&A--faith and obedience to Christ, but

didn’t spell out what was included in obedience.

– A. soon saw that infant sprinkling was not “expressly enjoined” in NT.

– After extensive study, accepted immersion.

Application/Church Membership• How does one become a citizen?

– Thereafter insisted immersion essential to a restored church.

– Often used the naturalization analogy.• How did apostles receive citizens into

kingdom?• Apostles demanded that men

acknowledge King’s supremacy by confessing him and expressing allegiance in “an act of naturalization”--baptism.

• Restored church would do same.

Application/Church Membership• After accepting immersion, first goal of D&A--

unity--receded into background.– Unity did not work out in practice.– Most churches did not accept immersion.– Here was a biblical truth that Bap., Meth.,

Pres., etc. must accept before oneness achieved.

– They refused.– So, unity & restoration, complementary in

theory, proved antagonistic in practice.

Application: Worship

• C. insisted there were certain divinely authorized acts of public worship that must be practiced in the Christian assembly.– Simple argument: either is or is not a

divinely authorized pattern of worship.– If there is not, then there are no

limitations whatever on worship.


• “Those, then who contend that there is no divinely authorized order of christian worship in christian assemblies, do at the same time, and must inevitably maintain that there is no disorder, no error, no innovation, no transgression in the worship of the christian church--no, nor ever can be.”


• After establishing this principle, Campbell devoted many articles to discussing the proper acts in public worship--– weekly observance of the Lord’s

Supper.– singing.– prayer.– teaching.

Application/Church Organization

• Concluded that NT did not authorize any organization but the local church.– So denounced Baptist associations,

Pres. presbyteries & synods, all episcopal systems.

– NT pattern required local church to be independent under oversight of elders (bishops) and served by deacons.

Application/Church Organization

• Common distinction between clergy & laity had no basis in scripture.– Caustic in his attacks on the clergy.– Called them a “Protestant priesthood.”– Charged that their creeds and

theological jargon stood between the people and the simple faith of the first disciples.

Application Problems

• Easy to state the restoration principle.

• Not so easy to determine what the NT requires in each situation.– Must ask, “What is universally obligatory in

the NT pattern?– “What may be dismissed as part of the

culture of the ancient world?”

• This a hermeneutical problem and answers are not always easy.


• C. was often asked why certain NT practices were no longer required.– The holy kiss.– Observing the Lord’s Supper at night.– Foot washing.– Why were these not required in a

restored church?


• C’s rationale for dealing with NT examples was to study each in its context.– Attempt to determine if it was a

common practice required of all the church--

– Or, whether was a “circumstantial” that was not part of God’s pattern.

Application Problems• C’s treatment of community of goods in

Jerusalem illustrates his method.

• Compared J. with other NT churches and concluded all churches were not required to have all things common.– Sidney Rigdon believed Jerusalem

was pattern.– When C. opposed, Rigdon defected

to the Mormons.

Sidney Rigdon(1793-1876)

Sidney Rigdon

• A Baptist, R. worked with A.C. through the 1820s.

• In 1830 he was one of the earliest converts to Mormonism, soon becoming a spokesman for Joseph Smith and an ardent Mormon evangelist.

• Upon Smith’s death in 1844, R. considered himself a serious claimant to the leadership of the Mormons.


• Another problem--silence of scripture.

• D&A said nothing should be admitted into faith or practice unless was expressly taught in NT.– Did this mean that whatever was not

mentioned in the NT was forbidden?– 1830 C. and Stone disagreed about

communing with the unimmersed.


• Stone argued was nothing in scripture “to forbid me to commune with unbaptized persons.”– S. used silence to allow a practice.– C. answered: “It is not enough to say

there is no command against it. Because whatever is not commanded by the Lord is human.”


• C. saw silence as saying, “No, you have no authority to do it.”

• Later, C. admitted that expedients like church buildings were necessary.

• But when instrumental music began to be introduced, the silence of the Scripture became a serious problem in the movement.

Reformers Among the Baptists

• Question of immersion.– Quickly arose.– When T.C. presented D&A (1809),

Andrew Munro said if they practiced only what was “expressly enjoined” in NT, they could not sprinkle infants.

– T.C. brushed the question aside, but it continued to be raised.

The Question of Immersion• When A.C. was discussing the

restoration principle with Pres., was told however plausible it sounded, it would lead him to become a Baptist.– C. “mortified” that he could not produce a NT

command or example for infant baptism.– Spent year reading treatises favoring

practice.– Reported “indignation at their assumptions

and fallacious reasonings” & turned to Greek NT.

Question of Immersion• Questioned by A., T.C. admitted was

“neither express terms nor express precedent” in NT for sprinkling infants.– But opposed “rebaptism”--unnecesary

to “unchurch” oneself in order to make new profession.

– For time A. yielded to father’s views.– But with birth of child in 1812, A.

studied anew.

Question of Immersion• A. concluded sprinkling not NT baptism &

that he “was then, in point of fact, an unbaptized person.”

• June 12, 1812, A. and 7 others, including T.C., immersed by Matthias Luse, a Baptist.– A. refused to submit to usual Baptist

examination.– Insisted that baptism follow a simple

confession of faith in Christ.

Question of Immersion• After this decision, leadership fell

increasingly to A.• Immersion moved Campbells further from

Presbyterians, but closer to Baptists.– A. attended Redstone Baptist Association

1812.– Bap. preachers “little men in a big office.”– But joined in fall of 1813.– Insisted on right to teach what they “learned

from the Holy Scriptures regardless of any human creed.”

Non-Baptist Leaven• Campbells spent 17 years (1813-1830)

among the Baptists.– Union always uneasy; some Baptist

leaders sensed from beginning that Campbells were spreading non-Baptist leaven through Baptist lump.

– 3 major avenues that A.C. used in pleading for reformation among the Baptists: sermons, debates, and a monthly journal.

Non-Baptist Leaven--Sermons

• Soon a popular preacher, but his sermons often reflected important differences with Baptists.

• “Sermon on the Law” delivered at the annual meeting of Redstone Assoc. 8/30/1816.– Distinguished between law of Moses and

gospel of Christ.– So non-Baptist in 1816 that aroused bitter

opposition.

Non-Baptist Leaven--Debates

• Twice C. defended Baptist views in debates with Presbyterians.

• First vs. John Walker in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio in 1820.– Influenced by father, at first reluctant to

engage.– Once underway realized unique powers as a

debater.

Non-Baptist Leaven--Debates

• Public interest made debates an excellent means of spreading the plea.

• Subject in Walker debate--baptism.– By making law-gospel distinction of

“Sermon on the Law” C. won an easy victory.

– But since it was a Baptist victory won with non-Baptist arguments, the Baptists didn’t know whether to applaud C. or be apprehensive.

Non-Baptist Leaven--Debates• 2nd debate Washington, KY, with W. L.

Maccalla.– Argued against infant sprinkling by stressing

difference between old and new covenants.– After discussing design of baptism, argued

for first time that baptism brings promise of forgiveness of sins.

– Despite obvious differences with Bap. doctrine, they were pleased and followers increased.

Non-B. Leaven--Christian Baptist

• Only months before Maccalla debate C. began monthly journal--Christian Baptist.

• Theme: “restoration of the ancient order of things.”

• Attempted to judge Protestantism by principles formulated in D&A.

• Unity, but real emphasis was measuring everything by NT & rejecting what not authorized.


• CB strongly iconoclastic in spirit.

• Sought to overthrow 3 “idols” of Protestantism--creeds, clergy and organizations.– Clergy--“an avaricious priesthood.”– Creeds--shackled minds and came

between people and scripture.– Associations, synods, missionary societies

unscriptural and “robbed the church of its glory.”


• Robert Semple, prominent Virginia Baptist, likely reflected opinion of many when he denounced Christian Baptist as “more mischievous” than any other journal he had ever read.

• The CB, more than any other medium, spread Campbell’s non-Baptist leaven.

Documents

The Campbells. Thomas Campbell 1763-1854 Thomas Campbell “Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; and where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.”