BETHANY C. E. 
 
 REAQINQ COURSES 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Conceraing 
 
 the Disciples 
 
 
 
 
 TYLER 
 

 
 ^-^^ yCX^-ex.^ 

 
 Che Bethany C. e. Band-DooR Series: 
 
 (J. Z. TVLKK, General Editor.) 
 
 CONSISTING OF A SERIES OF SMAI,I. 
 BOOKS AI,ONG THE LINES OF BIBI,E 
 STUDY, THE STUDY OF MISSIONS, AND 
 THE STUDY OF THE HISTORY AND 
 PURPOSES OF THE DISCIPI.ES OF CHRIST; 
 DESIGNED ESPECIAI,I,Y FOR THEIR 
 CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR SOCIETIES, AND 
 PREPARED UNDER THE APPROVAI. OF 
 THE GENERAI, CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY 
 CONVENTION. .*. .'. .-. .'. .-. /.
 
 FIRST SERIES : 
 
 I. 1)ana-book for Bible Study 
 
 J. W. McGARVEY, 
 
 President of the College of the Bible in 
 Kentucky University. 
 
 II. l)and-book Concerning tbe Disciples 
 
 B. B. TYLER. 
 
 Author of the History of the Disciples of 
 
 Christ in the American Church 
 
 History Series. 
 
 III. i)and-bool{ of missions 
 
 A. McLEAN, 
 
 Corresponding Secretary of the Foreign 
 
 Christian Missionary Society.
 
 'f3ant>abooit Series for tbe 
 
 >^ 
 
 Concerning tbe Disciples of €bri$t. 
 
 BY 
 
 B. B. TYLER, 
 
 Author of the History of the Disciples of Christ in the 
 American Church History Series. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 F. D. POWER 
 
 LEADER OF THE STUDY OF HISTORY OF THE 
 
 DISCIPLES IN THE BETHANY C. E. 
 
 READING COURSES. 
 
 m 
 
 f^ubIi0bc^ b^ 
 
 Ube 1ftea^in9 Course Committee 
 
 798 "IRcpublic Street 
 
 Cleveland, ®bio
 
 Copyright, 1897, 
 By J. Z. TYLER, Chairman. 
 
 Printed by the 
 Julia A. Andrews Fund.
 
 The National Convention of the Disciples 
 of Christ, held in Springfield, Illinois, 
 October 16-23, 1896, adopted the following 
 recommendations : 
 
 " I. That this convention approve the idea of 
 adding, within certain limits, the educational 
 feature to the Christian Endeavor Societies among 
 us. This added educational feature shall include 
 helps for the systematic reading of the Bible, a 
 selected course of reading concerning missions in 
 general, and our own missions in particular, and 
 thorough instruction as to the origin, the prin- 
 ciples, and the histor>' of our own movement for 
 the restoration of New Testament Christianity. 
 
 2. That this convention approve of the pur- 
 pose to provide a series of hand-books for our 
 young people covering the field not already satis- 
 factorily covered."
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 No chapter in American church history, none, 
 •we may truly say, in universal church history is more 
 fascinating than that of the work inaugurated by the 
 Campbells and their co-laborers. No religious move- 
 ment of the century has been more important and 
 wide-reaching in its purpose, none has had in its 
 early struggles and progress more of the heroic 
 element, none has been more effective if we view 
 its results. Its origin, genius and growth are 
 more and more attracting the attention and even the 
 wonder of thoughtful people. This study must be 
 useful to every one who would be properly informed 
 on the live issues of the day, and eminently so to 
 the'hundreds of thousands of young men and women 
 who now constitute this marvelously growing body 
 of believers. To one who has all his life been asso- 
 ciated with this religious movement and whose 
 service has been conspicuously faithful and sue-
 
 8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cessful, was assigned the work of preparing these 
 pages. The task has been well performed. 
 
 It will be noted that this claims simply to be a 
 hand-book. It contains the seeds of things. It could 
 not be expected that the writer would choose a wider 
 scope or give more elaborate details than will be 
 found in this small volume. It is intended to be a 
 guide to the reader, a manual setting forth in brief 
 outline the 'matters with which it deals, and leaving 
 the student to take up any line of thought suggested 
 by its chapters and indulge in the largest liberty of 
 investigation. 
 
 Very profitably and judiciously the author dis- 
 cusses his subject under twenty-two divisions. In 
 the use of this volume by the individual reader or by 
 the circle there is suggestion here of wide fields of 
 
 research In connection with the 
 
 first five chapters very profitable study can be made 
 of the Renaissance and the Lutheran Reformation, 
 and of the great characters to whom the world is 
 specially indebted for its escape from the dark ages 
 and its advance to the present high state of civiliza- 
 tion and religious liberty In the 
 
 development of the line of thought from chapters six 
 to twelve a series of studies of the Acts of the Apostles, 
 of the cases of conversion reported there, of apostolic 
 church organization and church life could be pursued 
 to great advantage.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 In taking up chapters thirteen to twenty-two, 
 ■which deal with present conditions among the Dis- 
 ciples, the whole field of modern religious thought 
 and action, literature, education, missionary effort, 
 charity and temperance work, is opened before us. 
 Throughout the course of study such books as the 
 lives of Alexander Campbell, Scott, Smith, Errett, 
 and others should be read, sketches of these leaders 
 prepared and read before the circles, and their works 
 reviewed. 
 
 We commend this little work and this line of 
 collateral study to young and old as of profound 
 interest, of untold value, and of present pressing 
 need. 
 
 F. D. Power.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I'AGE 
 
 I. A Glimpse of Religrioiis Conditions 11 
 
 II. Reaching out after Better Things 16 
 
 III. The Purpose of the Pioneers 23 
 
 I\'. The Declaration and Address 28 
 
 \'. Reformations and Restoration 34 
 
 VI, The Process of Discovery 39 
 
 \'II. The Unity of the Church 45 
 
 N'lII. The Gospel Conditions of Pardon 50 
 
 IX. The Evils of Human Creeds 55 
 
 X. The Exaltation of the Christ 61 
 
 XI. The Place of the Ordinances 67 
 
 XII. Misunderstanding and Opposition 73 
 
 XIII. Rapid Increase in Numbers 78 
 
 XI\'. Deepening Spiritual Life 83 
 
 X\'. Evangelistic Spirit Among the Disciples 89 
 
 XVI.* The Literature of the Disciples 94 
 
 XVII. Education Among the Disciples 99 
 
 XVIII. Christian Endeavor Among the Disciples 103 
 
 XIX. Mission Work of the Disciples 108 
 
 XX. The Present State of the Union Question 114 
 
 XXI. Points to be Guarded 120 
 
 XXII. The World's Indebtedness to the Disciples 12.5 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Annals of the Disciples of Christ 132 
 
 Offering of the Churches of Christ 138
 
 Concerning the Disciples of Christ: 
 
 » A HAND-BOOK. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS. 
 
 As we begin the study of the people known 
 as the Disciples of Christ let us spend a few 
 moments in looking at the moral and spiritual 
 condition of the people of the United States in 
 the early part of the nineteenth century. 
 
 A picture of this period fuU}^ and accurately 
 drawn would be dark in the extreme. It was 
 a time of prevalent unbelief. The uneducated 
 and the cultured were alike, to an alarming 
 extent, under the dark pall of infidelity. It 
 was thought by some that the Christian re- 
 ligion was destined ere long to pass away. A 
 better system, it was thought, would take its
 
 12 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 place. Religion was blamed for most of the 
 evils from which men suffered. If every relig- 
 ion could be removed man would at once enter 
 upon such a career of prosperity, in almost 
 every respect, as he had never experienced. 
 
 Among those who believed in God, in Jesus, 
 and in the Bible, the prevalent thought was Cal- 
 vinistic. They held that a definite number of 
 men were foreordained to everlasting life, irre- 
 spective of belief or conduct. Those who were 
 not thus elected to life in Christ were children 
 of wrath. It was thought that there is nothing 
 for a man to do in order to secure salvation. 
 Every case of regeneration was as much a mira- 
 cle, as the restoration of I^azarus to life. Pious 
 men objected to the minister speaking to their 
 sons and daughters on the subject of personal 
 religion. They said: "If they are the elect of 
 God, he will in his own time and way regener- 
 ate them. To talk to them, urging them to 
 become Christians, may make them hypo- 
 crites." The Rev. Dr. Dorchester tells us in 
 his book entitled " Christianity in the United 
 States ' ' that ' * the most pious people in the 
 beginning of the present century, in the United 
 States, entertained a faith so unlike the present 
 belief of evangelical Christians as to almost 
 create the impression, on our minds, that their
 
 RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS. 13 
 
 religion was not the same religion which we 
 now have, and in which we believe." 
 
 The word of God, in the Bible, was regarded 
 as a dead letter. There was no power in the 
 Gospel to produce faith. The faith by which 
 men are saved, it was understood, was a direct 
 gift from God. Faith did not come as a result 
 of testimon3\ The Sunday School met with 
 serious opposition. Bible, missionary, and tract 
 societies were supposed to exist contrary to 
 the will of God. The names of congregations 
 co-operating in mission and Sunday School 
 work, and in the distribution of the Word of 
 God through the agency of Bible societies 
 were, at least by one association of Baptist 
 churches, erased from its minutes. Persons 
 who engaged in such enterprises were con- 
 demned as heretics! 
 
 The moral life of the people was on a very 
 low plane. Human slavery existed without 
 rebuke. Men and women w^ere bought and 
 sold at public auction, like cattle and mules. 
 Difficulties between " gentlemen " were settled 
 by fighting duels. Reputable "gentlemen" 
 drank to intoxication. There was no total 
 abstinence sentiment in those daj^s. Alcoholic 
 drink was believed to be a good creature of God. 
 Members of churches drank to intoxication.
 
 14 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 Ministers of the Gospel sometimes indulged to 
 excess in the use of alcoholic liquors. The 
 I^ord's day was habitually desecrated. 
 
 Imagine the condition in which society 
 would be, at the present time, if Sunday Schools, 
 Bible and missionary societies, Societies of 
 Christian Endeavor, temperance societies, etc., 
 etc., were blotted out. In the days now under 
 review there were no union meetings. The 
 prevalent sectarian spirit rendered such evan- 
 gelistic efforts in behalf of lost men impossi- 
 ble. The churches instead of co-operating in 
 eflforts to spread abroad among men the light 
 of the Gospel of the Prince of Peace, were 
 engaged in fighting against each other. 
 
 What were some of the causes producing 
 this sad condition of faith and life ? 
 
 Before the War of Independence, Great 
 Britain would not permit the publication of 
 the Bible within the limits of her dependencies 
 on this side of the Atlantic. There came to 
 be, therefore, a famine of the Word of God. 
 
 The aid rendered by France to the colonies 
 in their struggle for liberty was unfortunate 
 for the morals of the people. The soldiers, 
 many of them, were unbelievers. French infi- 
 delity was, by them, sown broadcast. 
 
 The tendency of war is to lower the moral
 
 REUQIOUS CONDITIONS. 15 
 
 toue of the people engaging in it. The War 
 of the Revolution was no exception to this 
 tendency. 
 
 The people were exceedingly poor. They 
 lived remote from each other. Because of their 
 poverty, and the manner in which their homes 
 were distributed, it was impossible for the peo- 
 ple to possess and use the means of grace 
 necessary to a healthy moral and spiritual tone. 
 
 At the close of the Revolutionary War, so 
 much had been spoken and written on the sub- 
 ject of liberty that multitudes of the people 
 were practical anarchists. They did not be- 
 lieve in any kind of government. Mr. John 
 Fiske, the historian, characterizes this as "The 
 critical period in American history." 
 
 The people having freed themselves from 
 the government of Great Britain, were now 
 compelled to give attention to the formation of 
 a suitable government for themselves and for 
 their posterity. This matter must receive at- 
 tention. But little time or thought could be 
 given to religion. 
 
 Almost immediately after independence had 
 been secured, difiSculties with the mother coun- 
 try arose which culminated in the War of 1812. 
 
 The foregoing are some of the reasons for 
 the deplorable condition of affairs described in
 
 16 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 the beginning of this chapter. And besides 
 all, and worst of all, is a tendency belonging to 
 man to turn from God. There was, however, 
 a remnant in this dark period earnestly deter- 
 mined to serve God. Here and there a man, in 
 the ministry, as a true prophet, spoke for God. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 What is the subject of this chapter? 
 
 Religious condition ? When? Where? 
 
 What was the moral and spiritual condition of the 
 people ? 
 
 What of infidelity ? 
 
 What was the prevalent theological belief? 
 
 What does Dr. Dorchester say on this point? 
 
 Give reasons for the prevalent unbelief and immor- 
 ality. 
 
 What is said of Sunday Schools, Bible societies, 
 Missionar}' societies, etc.? 
 
 What of the sectarian spirit among Christians ? 
 
 Was the condition altogether bad ? 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 REACHING OUT AFTER BETTER THINGS. 
 
 To realize one's lost estate is to begin to be 
 saved. The man, or the community, is in a 
 bad condition that says: "I have need of 
 nothing."
 
 REACHING OUT AFTER BETTER THINGS. 17 
 
 The General Assembly of the Presbyteriau 
 Church in 1798 issued a general letter in which 
 it said : ' ' Formidable innovations and convul- 
 sions in Europe threaten destruction to morals 
 and religion. Scenes of devastation and blood- 
 shed unexampled in the history of modern na- 
 tions have convulsed the world, and our coun- 
 try is threatened with similar concomitants. 
 We perceive with pain and fearful apprehen- 
 sion a general dereliction of religious principles 
 and practice among our fellow-citizens; a visi- 
 ble and prevailing impiety and contempt for 
 the laws and institutions of religion, and an 
 abounding infidelity, which in many instances 
 tend to atheism itself. The profligacy and 
 corruption of the public morals have advanced 
 with a progress proportionate to the declension 
 in religion. Profaneness, pride, luxury, in- 
 justice, intemperance, lewdness, and every 
 species of debauchery and loose indulgence 
 greatly abound." 
 
 The Methodist Church, at a later period, ex- 
 pressed itself in a similar tone. These lamen- 
 tations were favorable symptoms. There were, 
 it is true, occasional revivals of religion in dif- 
 ferent portions of the country in the last years 
 of the eighteenth century. They were, how- 
 ever, but local and temporary in their extent 
 
 2
 
 18 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 and influence. On the frontier, where the 
 greatest deprivations were endured, and where 
 also the people of God realized most fully their 
 spiritual desolation, men began to call on God 
 with intense faith and fervor. 
 
 The prayer of the Hebrew prophet (Hab- 
 akkuk iii: 2) was the burden of their cry: " O 
 Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, 
 in the midst of the years make known; in 
 wrath remember mercy." Christians entered 
 into covenants with one another to spend 
 specified portions of time in prayer for a spir- 
 itual awakening. After a time there began to 
 be preaching, the specific aim of which was to 
 turn men from sin to holiness. Two brothers 
 named McGee — brothers in the flesh and in 
 the Lord — in the last months of 1799 began to 
 conduct meetings, in some communities with 
 very encouraging results. The fire which they 
 kindled spread rapidly to remote parts of the 
 country. The greatest of these revival meet- 
 ings was held in August, 1 801 , at Cane Ridge in 
 Bourbon County, Kentucky, in which B. W. 
 Stone, a minister in the Presbyterian Church, 
 was the most conspicuous figure. This meet- 
 ing continued six or seven days and nights, 
 and would have continued longer, but food for 
 so great a multitude could not be found. It
 
 HFACinNr} OUT AFTER BETTER THINGS. 19 
 
 was estimated that from twenty to thirty thou- 
 sand persons attended. 
 
 The Rev. E. B. Crisman, in his "History 
 of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church," says 
 that, as to the character of the preaching, ** the 
 ministers dwelt, with great power, continually 
 on the necessity of repentance and faith, the 
 fulness of the gospel for all, and the necessity 
 of the new birth. They eloquently and ear- 
 nestly presented the purity and justice of God's 
 law, the odious and destructive consequences 
 of sin, and the freeness and sufficiency of par- 
 don for all." 
 
 Some good men thought that this kind of 
 preaching was calculated to injure the church. 
 Charges of heresy were therefore preferred 
 against the following named ministers in the 
 Presbyterian Church: Richard McNemar, John 
 Thompson, John Dunlavy, Robert Marshall, 
 and Barton Warren Stone. The result was 
 that they withdrew from the Synod by which 
 they were being tried. They had no thought 
 of leaving the Presbyterian denomination. For 
 the sake of peace they left the Synod. Instead, 
 however, of peace they found themselves in the 
 midst of such a war as they had not known 
 before. They blamed their creed, the West- 
 minster Confession of Faith, for the trouble in
 
 20 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 which they were involved. They turned, 
 therefore, against all human authoritative 
 creeds. They received the Bible, and nothing 
 else, as the rule of their faith. Churches began 
 to be organized called simply "Christian," 
 with the Holy Scriptures alone as a sufficient 
 statement of their belief and an unfallible guide 
 in the way of righteousness. 
 
 There was dissatisfaction also in the Metho- 
 dist Church and a desire for larger liberty. 
 The Rev. James O'Kelly, of Virginia, was a 
 member of the General Conference in 1792. 
 He made an ineffectual effort to secure a modi- 
 fication of the power of the bishops in the 
 appointment of preachers. He and his friends 
 left the body. At first they were called "Repub- 
 lican Methodists;" but later the name "Chris- 
 tian " was taken and the Bible alone was 
 received as a book of authority. 
 
 A man named Jones — Abner Jones— mem- 
 ber of a regular Baptist Church, in Vermont, 
 "had a peculiar travail of mind in regard to 
 sectarian names and human creeds." In the 
 year 1800 he gathered a small church in the 
 town of I^yndon, Vermont, on the general prin- 
 ciples named above. In 1802 a congregation 
 was organized in Bradford, Vermont, on the 
 Bible alone. In 1803 a similar organization
 
 REACHING OUT AFTER BETTER THINGS. 21 
 
 came into existence in Piermont, New Hamp- 
 shire. A Baptist Church in Portsmouth, same 
 state, adopted similar views on the subject of 
 creeds and names. In many parts of New 
 England, New York, New Jersey, and Penn- 
 sylvania, human names and creeds were aban- 
 doned for the name "Christian" and the word 
 of the Lord alone. 
 
 Influences were meantime at work on the 
 other side of the Atlantic destined to be power- 
 ful in the New World in aiding to secure a bet- 
 ter faith and a more Christ-like life. Thomas 
 Campbell was a minister in the Presbyterian 
 Church in Ireland. He was grieved b}^ the 
 divisit)ns in the church of his choice in Ireland 
 and Scotland. He made earnest, but ineffec- 
 tual, efforts to bring about union. His health 
 failed and in 1807 he came to the United States. 
 Here he found the sectarian spirit against which 
 he had contended in Europe. Desiring to bring 
 about co-operation in caring for the people in 
 their spiritual destitution he organized "The 
 Christian Association, of Washington, Pa." It 
 failed to accomplish the purpose of its organiza- 
 tion. Alexander Campbell, a son of Thomas 
 Campbell, came to America in 1809. He knew 
 something of the grief of his father because of 
 the divisions of the Presbyterian Church in Ire-
 
 22 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OP CHRIST. 
 
 land and Scotland. For a year before lie came to 
 the United States, he had been in contact with, 
 and under the influence of the Haldanes, and 
 others, in Scotland, who were dissatisfied with 
 the sectarian divisions in the church and were 
 earnestly seeking for "a more excellent way." 
 He was, therefore, prepared to sympathize with 
 and enter into co-operation with his father in an 
 effort to find a basis of peace and union for the 
 children of God. 
 
 This restlessness, and these desires for some- 
 thing better in places so remote from each other 
 were born of the Spirit of God. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 The subject of this chapter? 
 
 What favorable condition is mentioned ? 
 
 What did the General Assembly say in 1798? 
 
 What prayer began now to be offered? 
 
 With whom did the revival begin ? 
 
 When and where reach its climax ? 
 
 Who was the central figure ? 
 
 What was the character of the preaching? 
 
 Who were charged with heresy ? 
 
 Mention other movements looking to better things. 
 
 Who was prepared, and how, in a distant land for a 
 
 great work in this ? 
 The desire for something better originated with whom?
 
 THE PURPOSE OF THE PIONEERS. 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PURPOSE OF THE PIONEERS. 
 
 The church was divided. The spirit of 
 sectarianism was rampant. Among the people 
 of God there was no co-operation in evangel- 
 istic work. Party was superior to Christ in 
 the thoughts and eiTorts of multitudes who 
 bore his name. The mission of the church, as 
 a result, was not fulfilled. Men were passing 
 into eternity without the good hope of everlast- 
 ing life through Jesus Christ our lyord. The 
 hearts of the men named in the last chapter 
 were grieved. They were good men. Their 
 bodies were temples of the Holy Spirit. They 
 loved God. They loved men. For the salva- 
 tion of the lost they had an earnest desire. 
 They had learned from the Son of God that 
 the union of believers must precede the con- 
 version of the world. They learned this from 
 his prayer in the seventeenth chapter of John. 
 In this pra^-er Jesus said: " Neither pray I 
 for these alone, but for them also which shall 
 believe on me through their word; that they 
 all may be one ; even as thou. Father, art in 
 me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us; 
 that the world may believe that thou didst 
 send me."
 
 24 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 It was for peace that Stone, McNemar, 
 Dunlavy, Marshall, and Thompson, withdrew 
 from the Synod. They were ablaze with evan- 
 gelistic fervor. They were prominent and en- 
 thusiastic in the work of the revival, recently 
 inaugurated. They rejoiced to have the co- 
 operation of their brethren in other churches. 
 They were determined that this good work 
 should continue. But this could not be if there 
 was strife. To avoid this was their purpose in 
 declining to remain under the jurisdiction of 
 the court by which they were being tried on a 
 charge of neglecting, in their public ministry, 
 the doctrines of the Standards — the Confession 
 of Faith and the Catechisms. Peace, not war, 
 was their purpose. Their desire was that 
 peace might prevail, for the sake of him who 
 died for them, and for the sake of souls in sin. 
 
 There was no thought of originating a 
 denomination. From their point of view the 
 number of denominations was already too great. 
 The thought of another denomination did not 
 enter their minds. The thought that they 
 should in any way, or to any extent, be the 
 agents in bringing into existence a religious 
 party, would have caused them to experience 
 a shudder of horror. The sectarian spirit they 
 hated with a holy hatred. The spirit of party
 
 THE PURPOSE OF THE PIONEERS. 25 
 
 they condemned. The Church of Christ at the 
 first was one. This was according to the mind 
 of our Lord. The church ought now to be 
 one. Why could not its members be joined 
 together in the same mind and in the same judg- 
 ment ? Their purpose was union not division 
 — harmony not discord. 
 
 As we have seen, Mr. Jones, in Vermont, "had 
 a peculiar travail of mind in regard to secta- 
 rian names and human creed." These names 
 and creeds, he thought, divided the people of 
 God. They, therefore, were in the wa}' of the 
 success of the gospel. It could not do its work 
 in bringing men out of death into life. Sec- 
 tarian names must then be repudiated by Chris- 
 tians. These names must be displace^ by the 
 names used in the New Testament to designate 
 the disciples of Jesus. Human creeds, as terms 
 of communion, must be discarded, that the 
 divine creed — the creed of the church in the 
 beginning, might occupy its legitimate place. 
 This would certainly please Christ — the Head 
 of the Body. The repudiation of human names 
 and creeds, and the adoption of New Testament 
 names, and the primitive creed, would promote 
 union and so hasten the conversion of the world. 
 
 ' * The O' Kelly secession," as it is known in 
 Methodist church history, was, at the first, only
 
 26 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 a protest against the authority of the bishops 
 in the location of preachers. There was on the 
 part of Mr. O' Kelly and his friends, a desire 
 for greater liberty — a liberty to which they 
 believed they were entitled according to the 
 teaching of the New Testament. The Metho- 
 dist name and the Methodist "Articles of Reli- 
 gion," were therefore discarded for the name 
 ''Christian," and for the New Testament as 
 the only book possessing authority in religious 
 faith and life. The faces of all the men here 
 named, and others, associated with them, were 
 turned in the same direction — toward the Christ 
 and his word — and this in the interest of peace 
 and union. 
 
 Thomas Campbell possessed the same pacific 
 spirit and earnest desire. He wrought in the 
 interest of peace and union in his own unfor- 
 tunate denomination before he left Ireland. In 
 the United States he manifested the same spirit. 
 His standing in the Presbytery of Chartiers, of 
 which he was a member, was seriously imper- 
 illed by an invitation which he extended to pious 
 men and women of other denominations to par- 
 ticipate in the celebration of the lyOrd's Supper. 
 He organized ' ' The Christian Association ot 
 Washington, Pa," to secure the co-operation 
 of Christians regardless of denominational con-
 
 THE PURPOSE OF THE PIONEERS. 27 
 
 nection, in ministering to the spiritually desti- 
 tute. 
 
 His address to the Associated Synod of 
 North America when he was on trial for ex- 
 tending an invitation to Christ-like men and 
 women to participate in our I^ord's memorial 
 feast of love contains the following language: 
 " How great the injustice, to thrust out from 
 communion a Christian brother, a fellow-min- 
 ister, for saying and doing none other things 
 than those which our divine Lord and his holy 
 apostles have taught, and enjoined to be spoken 
 and done by his ministering servants, and to 
 be received and observed by his people!" 
 >}c :{c ^ :!; ^ "Saying and doing the very 
 same things that are said and done before our 
 eyes on the sacred page is infallibly right, as 
 well as all-sufficient for the edification of the 
 church." He declared that the course pur- 
 sued by him appeared " indispensably neces- 
 sary to promote and secure the unity, peace, 
 and purity of the church." " Say, brethren," 
 he exclaimed, " what is my offence, that I 
 should be thrust out from the heritage of the 
 Lord, or from serving him in that good work 
 to which he has been graciously pleased to call 
 me?"
 
 28 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 What was the purpose of the pioneers ? 
 
 Why did Stone and others withdraw from the Synod ? 
 
 Why give up denominational names and creeds ? 
 
 For what was Thomas Campbell tried ? 
 
 His address exhibits what kind of a spirit ? 
 
 What was the general spirit of Thomas Campbell ? 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DECLARATION AND ADDRESS- 
 
 Soon after the organization of '' The Chris- 
 tian Association of Washington," in 1809, 
 to which reference has been made, a committee 
 was appointed to prepare a statement for the 
 public. Thomas Campbell was a member of this 
 committee, and wrote the address. This was 
 designed to set forth to the pubhc in a clear 
 and definite manner, the object of the move- 
 ment in which he and those associated with 
 him were engaged. This document proved to 
 be a declaration of independence and possesses, 
 in the history of Christianit}^ in the United 
 States, especially in the history of the Disci- 
 ples of Christ, great value. Alexander Camp- 
 bell said, in 1861, that " it contains what may
 
 THE DECLARATION AND ADDRESS. 29 
 
 be called the embryo, or the rudiments, of a 
 great and rapidly increasing community ; * '-^ 
 
 * * -^ the elements of a great movement of 
 vital interest to every citizen of Christ's king- 
 dom. ' ' It was given to the world under the 
 title of " A Declaration and Address." It con- 
 tained " a preamble and resolutions." The pre- 
 amble declared that *' it is high time for us not 
 only to think, but also to act for ourselves ; * 
 
 * * and to take all our measures directly and 
 immediately from the Divine Standard. " "The 
 sole purpose " of the Association was declared 
 to be " to promote simple evangelical Chris- 
 tianity. ' ' Each member was to pay a specified 
 sum of money " to support a pure gospel min- 
 istry, that shall reduce to practice that whole 
 form of doctrine, worship, discipline and gov- 
 ernment, expressly revealed and enjoined in 
 the Word of God ; and also for supplying the 
 poor with the Holy Scriptures." Article IV 
 declared that " this society by no means con- 
 siders itself a church, nor does, at all, assume 
 to itself the powers peculiar to such a society 
 
 * * * but merely as voluntary advocates of 
 church reformation." The members of the 
 society agree to " support such ministers * * 
 as exhibit a manifest conformity to the original 
 standard, in conversation and doctrine, in zeal
 
 30 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 and diligence ; only such as reduce to practice 
 that simple, original form of Christianity 
 expressly exhibited upon the sacred page, with- 
 out attempting to inculcate anything of human 
 authority, of private opinion, or inventions of 
 men, as having any place in the constitution, 
 faith or worship of the Christian Church, or 
 anything as matter of Christian faith or duty, 
 for which there cannot be produced a * Thus 
 saith the Lord, ' either in express terms or by 
 approved precedent." Thomas Campbell was 
 wont to say : " We make our appeal to the law 
 and to the testimony. Whatever is not found 
 therein we must of course abandon . ' ' This was 
 his reply to his son Alexander when he sug- 
 gested that the principles of " The Declaration 
 and Address" required them to give up the 
 practice of infant baptism, since for it there 
 was neither precept nor example in the Scrip- 
 tures, rt was in a discussion of the principles 
 of "The Declaration and Address" that 
 Thomas Campbell uttered the words which have 
 the force of an axiom among the Disciples : 
 ''WHERE THE SCRIPTURES SPEAK, 
 WE SPEAK ; AND WHERE THE SCRIP- 
 TURES ARE SILENT, WE ARE SILENT." 
 It is said that " a solemn silence pervaded the 
 assembly " when Thomas Campbell uttered
 
 THE DECLARATION AND ADDRESS. 31 
 
 these words. Dr. Richardson, the biographer 
 of Alexander Campbell, says that "never be- 
 fore had religious duty been presented to them 
 in so simple a form. Never before had the 
 great principles on which this religious enter- 
 prise rested been so clearly presented to their 
 minds." It was believed by Mr. Campbell and 
 his friends, that this pregnant saying was 
 " decivSive of all religious strifes and of all dis- 
 tressing doubts." Dr. Richardson says that 
 " it was from the moment when these signifi- 
 cant words were uttered and accepted that the 
 more intelligent ever afterward dated the formal 
 and actual commencement of the Reformation." 
 The principles involved in this simple rule 
 were far reaching and revolutionary. Some 
 had not the courage to apply them and so 
 ceased to walk with those who sought a better 
 foundation for their religious life and work, 
 than that on which they stood. Instead of 
 Reformation the principle meant Restoration — 
 a return to the Christianity of Christ as it was 
 at the first, and as it is described in the New 
 Testament. Thomas Campbell, himself, did 
 not understand the radical character of his 
 proposition, but he was a man of courage and 
 faithfully applied it in the determination of all 
 questions of faith and duty. Its faithful appli-
 
 32 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 cation led him to abandon the baptism of in- 
 fants and the practice of affusion as a form of 
 baptism. The Scriptures do not speak of 
 these customs. For them there is neither pre- 
 cept nor example in the Bible. 
 
 In the "Address" accompanying the "Dec- 
 laration" the evils of division are lamented. 
 The hope is expressed that the brethren in 
 all the churches would co-operate in an efiort 
 to "resume that original unity, peace and 
 purity " which belonged to the church in the 
 days of the apostles. To do this it is only 
 necessary " to conform to the model and adopt 
 the practice of the primitive church, expressly 
 exhibited in the New Testament." Attention 
 was called to the fact that the churches already 
 ' ' agreed in the great doctrines of faith and 
 holiness, ' ' and also "as to the positive or- 
 dinances of gospel institution, so that," the 
 disagreements were "about the things in 
 which the kingdom of God does not consist; 
 that is about matters of private opinion." 
 The members of the various denominations 
 are addressed as " dear brethren " and are as- 
 sured "of our esteem and love." Nothing 
 was further from the purpose of the ' * Chris- 
 tian Association " than to make " a new creed 
 or standard for the church." The propositions
 
 THE DECLARATION AND ADDRESS. 33 
 
 submitted, it was expressly declared, were not 
 " to be made a term of communion." " Noth- 
 ing," said their authors, "can be further 
 from our intention." "Creeds and confes- 
 sions," they said, are opposed "only in so far 
 as they oppose the unity of the church." "It 
 is the ABOSE and not the lawful use of such 
 compilations that we oppose," is language 
 found in the appendix to "The Declaration 
 and Address." And the following words de- 
 serve to be written in letters of gold: "Our 
 intention, therefore, with respect to all the 
 churches of Christ is perfectly amicable. We 
 heartily wish their reformation, but by no 
 means their hurt or confusion." 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 When ? Where ? By whom ? was the Christian Asso- 
 ciation organized? 
 
 Who prepared the Declaration and Address ? 
 
 What did Alexander Campbell say about it ? 
 
 W^as the Christian Association a church ? 
 
 What was its aim ? 
 
 What axiom is here quoted ? 
 
 What was lamented in the Declaration and Address? 
 
 How far were creeds opposed ? 
 
 Could the address, or any part of it, be made a test of 
 fellowship ? 
 
 What was the attitude of the Association toward the 
 churches ?
 
 34 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 RBFORMATIONS AND RESTORATION. 
 
 "The heart is deceitful above all things 
 an d desperately wicked . ' ' Men are ' * by nature 
 children of wrath." (Eph. ii: 3.) Even Paul 
 found that to live the life of a Christian re- 
 quired a constant effort. He said: " To me 
 who would do good, evil is present." (Rom. 
 vii : 21 .) He expressed a fear that after having 
 preached the gospel to others, he himself 
 would be rejected. (I Cor. ix: 27.) Concern- 
 ing the church he predicted a '' falling away." 
 (II Thess. ii: 3.) He spoke of one who would 
 sit in the temple of God claiming to be God. 
 (II Thess. ii: 4.) He said that the time would 
 come when men would " not endure sound 
 teaching," but would heap to themselves 
 "teachers after their own lusts," that they 
 would " turn away their ears from the truth, 
 and turn aside unto fables." (II Tim. iv: 3-4.) 
 When he wrote his second Epistle to the 
 church in Thessalonica he said, (ii: 7) : " The 
 mystery of lawlessness doth already work." 
 John said that in his day " many false proph- 
 ets " had "gone out into the world." (I 
 John iv: I.)
 
 REFORMATIONS AND RESTORATION. 35 
 
 In the Jewish Church, described in the Old 
 Testament, there were apostasies and reforma- 
 tions. Great reformations originated and were 
 carried forward under Josiah, Hezekiah, and 
 Ezra. In the experience of the Church of 
 Christ the predictions of Paul have been ful- 
 filled. There have been apostasies. Great 
 corruptions in faith and life have, at different 
 times, characterized the Christian Church. 
 These have made reformations necessary. 
 From the sixth to the sixteenth centuries the 
 teaching of our Lord was greatly perverted, and 
 the life of the church was very unlike the life 
 that the Christ desires. 
 
 This made necessary the reformation of the 
 sixteenth century under Martin lyUther. At 
 three points there was reformation under the 
 leadership of this great man. (i.) Men were 
 taught that there is " one mediator also be- 
 tween God and men, himself man, Christ 
 Jesus." (I Tim. ii: 5.) The priest then is 
 not necessary in order to an acceptable ap- 
 proach unto God. Jesus is the " High Priest 
 of our profession." (Heb. iii: i.) He him- 
 self said: " No one cometh unto the Father, 
 but by me." (John xiv: 6.) " He is able to 
 save to the uttermost them that draw near 
 unto God through him." (Heb. vii: 25.)
 
 36 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 Men do not, therefore, need the mediation of 
 Mary, the mother of Jesus, nor of saints, nor 
 of angels. (2.) The Word of God was given 
 to the people in their own tongue, and they 
 were encouraged to read it. The Word pre- 
 vious to this Reformation was in a language 
 with which the people were not acquainted. 
 Its entrance into the minds of the people illu- 
 minated their understandings and brought 
 them into a new life. (3.) Men were taught 
 by the reformer that they are justified by 
 faith in Jesus Christ and not by works of merit. 
 The apostate church had taught that in works 
 there is merit and that by them men are justi- 
 fied. 
 
 John Calvin, in Switzerland, at the same 
 time, affirmed with great power that God alone 
 is Sovereign. Men are dependent on and ac- 
 countable to him, and to no other. The re- 
 formers of the sixteenth century affirmed with 
 * ' Peter and the Apostles ' ' that " we must obey 
 God rather than men." (Acts v: 30.) 
 
 There were reformers before the Reforma- 
 tion; protestants before the day of Protestant- 
 ism. Their protests, however, were apparently 
 in vain. Their attempted reformations were 
 futile. Wyckliffe, in England, was one of the 
 most important of these men and represented
 
 REFORMATIONS AND RESTORATION. 37 
 
 one of the most important of these efforts to 
 bring the church to a better faith and purer 
 Hfe. Those who were in sympathy with him 
 were called " Lollards." They were diligent 
 in going about teaching the people. The ambi- 
 tion of Wyckliffe, who has been called the 
 "Morning Star of the Reformation," was to 
 give the Bible to the people of Great Britain 
 in their own language. The work of Wyck- 
 liffe and " the Lollards " prepared the way for a 
 more Scriptural belief and holier life, when the 
 time came. The Reformation in England was 
 not so violent, nor revolutionary in character, 
 as on the continent of Europe. The work of 
 John Knox, in Scotland, was in harmony with 
 the reformation inaugurated by Luther. 
 
 In the early part of the eighteenth century 
 the church in England had become cold and 
 formal. The forms of godliness were ob- 
 served, but there was a lack of power. The 
 Wesleys — John and Charles — therefore, in- 
 augurated a reformation the key note of which 
 was "Personal holiness." Their effort was 
 to bring the church back to the Christly life. 
 Each attempt to purge the Body of Christ of 
 doctrinal and practical errors and to bring in 
 an era of purer faith and more consecrated liv- 
 ing was an improvement on its predecessors.
 
 38 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 The faces of the reformers were turned in the 
 right direction. They looked toward the 
 Christ. Each was a step out of darkness into 
 light. They made possible the work in which 
 the Disciples are engaged. 
 
 There is a marked difference in the charac- 
 ter of the movement inaugurated by B. W. 
 Stone, Thomas Campbell, Alexander Campbell, 
 Walter Scott, and other holy men who wrought 
 with them, and the reformations preceding. 
 The work of the men here named and the 
 work of the Disciples of Christ is Restoration, 
 rather than Reformation. Their position was, 
 and ours is, to go back to the Christ and his 
 apostles that we may learn from him and them 
 what to believe and do, in order to please God 
 and secure eternal life. Nothing of this kind 
 had ever been attempted. The real remedy for 
 existing evils in the church is to go back to the 
 beginning and build anew on the one Divine 
 foundation. They would build "upon the 
 foundation of apostles and prophets, Christ 
 Jesus himself being the Chief Corner Stone." 
 (Kph. ii: 20.) " Other foundation can no man 
 lay," with the Divine approval, for the church, 
 " than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 
 (ICor. iii: 11.) Restoration, therefore, rather 
 than Reformation is the work of the Disciples
 
 THE PROCESS OF DISCOVERY. 39 
 
 of Christ. To believe and do no other things 
 than those enjoined by the Christ and his 
 ambassadors cannot be wrong — must be infalli- 
 bly right and altogether safe. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 What is the subject of this chapter ? 
 What was predicted concerning the Church ? 
 What was the experience of the Jewish Church ? 
 What made necessary the reformation of the Church 
 
 of Christ ? 
 By whom and when inaugurated ? 
 Mention the three points gained by Luther. 
 Name other reformers. 
 What was proposed by Stone and the Campbells ? 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PROCESS OF DISCOVERY. 
 
 The aim was the restoration of the faith, 
 ordinances and life of the church as they were 
 before the falling away predicted by Paul. 
 The constant appeal was to the word of the 
 Lord in the New Testament. "Nothing," it 
 was said, " ought to be received into the faith 
 * * * or be made a term of communion
 
 40 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 among Christians, tliat is not as old as the 
 New Testament." "Inferences and deduc- 
 tions from Scripture premises were not to be 
 considered as binding" upon the consciences 
 of Christians further than they perceive the 
 connection. "No such deductions can be 
 made terms of communion," they said "but 
 do properly belong to the after and progres- 
 sive edification of the church." In cases 
 where means are necessary to the observance 
 of ordinances not expressly revealed in Scrip- 
 ture, they may be adopted and used as 
 " human expedients, without any pretense to 
 a more sacred origin, so that any subsequent 
 alteration or difference in the observance of 
 these things might produce no contention or 
 division in the church." 
 
 There was no serious dissatisfaction on the 
 part of the promoters of this movement with 
 the orthodox conception of the Christian re- 
 ligion. Their purpose was practical rather 
 than doctrinal. But the fundamental principle 
 adopted in the beginning and clearly stated in 
 " The Declaration and Address," with its ac- 
 companying ''Appendix," steadfastly ad- 
 hered to, led necessarily to important diver- 
 gences. 
 
 The New Testament makes the fact clear
 
 THE PROCESS OF DISCOVERY. 41 
 
 that divisions among Christians are sinful. (Gal. 
 v: 19-21.) There is no authority for denomina- 
 tional names. Their tendency is to foster the 
 party spirit and perpetuate the sin of schism. 
 The people of God ought to be known only by the 
 names applied to them in the New Testament. 
 Jesus taught that all are brethren. There is no 
 warrant, therefore, for dividing the disciples 
 into clergy and laity. A study of the Christian 
 Scriptures led to the conviction that only those 
 who believe in Jesus and confess him before 
 men are entitled to baptism. The good men, 
 called of God to inaugurate this movement for 
 a return in faith and in life to the Christianity 
 of Christ, soon saw that in New Testament 
 times, baptism was administered where there 
 was much water, (John iii: 23) that the per- 
 sons baptized went into the water, (Mar. 
 i: 5, 10; Acts viii: 38) and that in baptism 
 there was a burial, and a resurrection, (Rom. 
 vi: 4. Col. ii: 12.) Having only had water 
 sprinkled on their foreheads, in infancy, 
 they discovered that they had not been bap- 
 tized. They therefore were immersed. They 
 discovered, also, that baptism is much more 
 than a mere form; a ceremony to be observed in 
 order to become a member of the church. It 
 was seen to be an act of self-surrender to the
 
 42 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 lyord Jesus. It is an act in which the baptized 
 enters into a covenant with the Son of God, 
 to be and to do whatever he would like him to 
 be and to do. It, therefore, occupies a promi- 
 nent and important place in the way of salva- 
 tion. Even before this discovery it was seen 
 that the disciples, under the ministry of the 
 Apostles, and with their approval, came to- 
 gether on the first day of the week to break 
 bread (Acts xx: 7) in memory of the Son of 
 God. The principle to which they had bound 
 themselves enabled them to see that the central 
 truth of the New Testament, the central truth 
 of the Bible, the truth of the Christian system, 
 in an important sense the creed of Christianity, 
 is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Soon 
 a practical use of this truth was made in evan- 
 gelistic work. All who declared that they 
 believed this in the heart were, without delay, 
 admitted to baptism . They also discovered that 
 faith is produced by hearing the Word of Christ, 
 (Rom. x: 17) and that the steps to be taken 
 in order to an assurance of forgiveness are (i) 
 hearing, (2) believing, (3) repenting, (4) con- 
 fessing Christ, (5) and baptism, in the name 
 of the Lord Jesus, and into the name of 
 the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Spirit. Their determination was to "keep
 
 THE PROCESS OF DISCOVERY. 43 
 
 close by the observance of all Divine ordi- 
 nances, after the example of the primitive 
 church, exhibited in the New Testament." 
 
 For a short time some practiced the wash- 
 ing of feet as a religious ordinance. Jesus made 
 stronger statements about washing "one an- 
 other's feet" than he made concerning baptism. 
 He said : " If I wash thee not, thou hast no 
 part with me." (John xiii: 8.) "If I then your 
 Lord and Master, have washed your feet ; ye 
 also ought to wash one another's feet " " I 
 have given you an example, that ye should do 
 as I have done unto you." (John xiii: 14-15). 
 Why then do not Uie Disciples do this as a re- 
 ligious rite ? They attempt to follow ' * the ex- 
 ample of the primitive church, exhibited in the 
 New Testament," and there is no "example" 
 of washing "one another's feet" as a religious 
 ordinance. Did Jesus intend to establish an 
 ordinance by the language above quoted ? The 
 Apostles and early Christians did not think so. 
 Their conduct is of great value to us in our 
 effort to understand ' ' the mind of the Master. ' ' 
 The Apostles understood that Jesus intended 
 to establish religious ordinances in what he 
 said concerning baptism and the supper of the 
 Lord. 
 
 The church in the Apostolic age ministered
 
 44 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 to the necessities of the saints. (Acts ii: 44-45; 
 iv: 32, 34-37; v: i-ii; xi: 27-30; I Cor. xvi: 1-2.) 
 This custom made it necessary to appoint men 
 to "serve tables." (Acts vi: 1-7.) Suchmenare 
 called "deacons." The great work committed 
 to the church by its Head, Jesus Christ our 
 lyord, is the preaching of the gospel. Evan- 
 gelists were, therefore, in the primitive church 
 — men who went from place to place publish- 
 ing the good news. (Acts xxi: 8; viii: 5-26; 
 II Tim. iv: 5.) It is necessary that the Spirit- 
 ual life should be tenderly cared for. There 
 must, to this end, be bishops, pastors, teachers. 
 These were in the primitive church (Acts xx: 
 28; I Tim. iii: 1-7; Titus i: 5-9; I Peter v: 
 1-4) and they ought to be in the church at 
 the present time. 
 
 Thus we see the value of the principle, the 
 manner of its application, and how in the 
 process of discovery it led and restrained the 
 men who committed themselves to it. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 This chapter describes what? 
 
 What was the aim of Stone, the Campbells, and their 
 
 associates ? 
 Was their purpose doctrinal or practical ? 
 What led to important doctrinal divergences?
 
 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 45 
 
 Name the things discovered by a study of the New 
 
 Testament. 
 Why practice baptism and not the washing of feet as 
 
 a religious ordinance? 
 Name the church officers and why they exist. 
 By this study what do we see ? 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 ' ' The Declaration and Address ' ' afiBrmed 
 that "the Church of Christ upon earth is 
 essentially, intentionally and constitutionally 
 one ; consisting of all those in every place that 
 profess their faith in Christ and obedience to 
 him in all things according to the Scriptures, 
 and that manifest the same by their tempers 
 and conduct ; and of none else, as none else can 
 be truly and properly called Christians." 
 
 Paul also affirms that the body of Christ, 
 the church, " is one, and hath many mem- 
 bers." (I Cor. xii: 12.) He Hkens the church 
 to the human body in which the feet, ears, 
 e3^es, hands, head, etc., are integral parts. 
 These members are so closely united that 
 " whether one member suffereth, all the mem-
 
 46 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OP CHRIST. 
 
 bers suffer with it ; or one member is honoured, 
 all the members rejoice with it." So also is the 
 body of Christ, "intentionally and constitu 
 tionally." (I Cor. xii: 12-27.) 
 
 To cause a schism in the church is a great 
 sin. "Heresies," or parties, are placed by 
 Paul among "the works of the flesh." The 
 sin of schism stands with fornication, unclean- 
 nesSjlasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, 
 strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, envyings, 
 drunkenness, revellings, and such like." (Gal. 
 v: 19-21.) "Divisions and heresies" are also 
 words found in this enumeration of "the works 
 of the flesh" So great a sin is it to cause 
 " factions, divisions, heresies" that Paul says: 
 " They which practice such things shall not 
 inherit the kingdom of God." (Gal. v: 21.) 
 In his Epistle to the Romans he says : "Mark 
 them which are causing the divisions and 
 occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine 
 which ye learned ; and turn away from them. 
 For " he continues, " they that are such serve 
 not our lyord Christ, but their own belly ; and 
 by their smooth and fair speech they beguile 
 the hearts of the innocent." (xvi: 17, 18.) 
 
 Word came to Paul that there were ' * con- 
 tentions " and "divisions " in the Church in 
 Corinth. (I Cor. i: lo-ii.) The members of
 
 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 47 
 
 the church were saying : " I am of Paul; and 
 lof Apollos; andl of Cephas." (I Cor. i: 12.) 
 He tells them that their "contentions" and 
 "divisions" are evidences of carnality. (I 
 Cor. iii: 1-3.) These are of "the works of the 
 flesh;" no part of "the fruit of the spirit." 
 (Gal. v: 22-23.) 
 
 The late John A. Broadus, D. D., of the 
 Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, char- 
 acterized the Epistle to the Ephesians as " An 
 Essay on Christian Union." The heart of the 
 "Essay," he said is the fourth chapter. In 
 that place the Apostle beseeches "the Saints 
 which are at Ephesus," " to walk worthily of 
 the calling wherewith ye were called, with all 
 lowliness and meekness, with longsuflfering, 
 forbearing one another in love; giving dili- 
 gence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the 
 bond of peace." (Eph. iv: 1-3.) He then gives 
 seven reasons why they should live together in 
 this manner. "You are," he seems to say, (i) 
 "members of one body, the church (Col. i: 
 18); (2) animated by one Spirit, the Holy 
 Spirit (Rom. viii: 9-11); (3) sustained by one 
 hope, the hope of eternal life through Jesus 
 Christ (I Peter i: 3-5); (4) hold fast to the one 
 faith, the faith of the Son of God (Gal. ii: 20); 
 (5) have passed through the one baptism, an
 
 48 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 immersion in water in the name of the I^ord 
 Jesus and into the name of the Father, and of 
 the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Acts viii: 38- 
 39; Acts x: 47-48; Rom. vi: 4; Col. ii: 12; 
 Matt, xxviii: 19-20); (6) you are obedient to 
 the one Ivord, even Jesus Christ (Acts x: 36), 
 and (7) recognize 'one God and Father of all, 
 who is over all, and through all and in all.' " 
 "Because of these things that you experience 
 and hold in common 'I -^ * * beseech 
 you to walk worthy,' " etc. (Eph. iv: 1-13-) 
 
 Jesus spoke of his church as a unit. He 
 said: " I will build my church," (Matt, xvi: 
 18,) not churches. Paul says that ''Christ loved 
 the church," (Eph. v: 25,) not churches, **and 
 gave himself for it," not them. To the Jews 
 the Son of Man said: ''And other sheep I have, 
 which are not of this fold; them also I must 
 bring, and they shall hear my voice; and they 
 shall become one flock, one Shepherd. ' ' (John 
 x: 16. ) The Christ, by his death on the cross, 
 took away ' ' the law of commandments con- 
 tamed in ordinances;" the law of Moses, '* that 
 he might create in himself of the twain," Jews 
 and Gentiles, "one new man," or church, and 
 that he "might reconcile them both," Gentiles 
 and Jews, " in one body." (Eph. ii: 13-18.) 
 
 Jesus prayed for the unity of his people.
 
 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 49 
 
 " Holy Father," he said, "keep them in thy 
 name which thou hast given me, that they may 
 be one, even as we are." (John xvii: ii.) And 
 this prayer was answered. *' The multitude of 
 them that believed were of one heart and soul." 
 (Acts iv: 32.) He prayed also " for them that 
 believe on me through their word;" the word 
 of the Apostles, "that they may all be one; 
 even as thou Father, art in me, and I in thee, 
 that they also may be in us." Why ? *' That 
 the world may believe that thou didst send 
 me." (John xvii: 20-21.) And this prayer 
 will be answered. Jesus said at the grave of 
 Lazarus: " Thou hearest me always." (John 
 xi: 42.) Our divisions must disappear. They 
 are displeasing to the Head of the body. The 
 church ought to be, must be, will be, one as 
 it was in the beginning. 
 
 Paul gives the basis of unity and union. In 
 his first Epistle to the Corinthians he discusses 
 this problem and says: " Other foundation " 
 for the church, "can no man la}' than that is 
 laid, which is Jesus Christ." (I Cor. iii: 11.) 
 As a building, the church rests on the Christ. 
 He is also the magnet by which men are drawn 
 together. "And I, if I be Hfted up from the 
 earth, will draw all men unto myself." (John 
 xii: 32.) As men are drawn toward the Son
 
 50 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 of God, they are drawn toward one another. 
 And herein is the solution of the current prob- 
 lem concerning the unity of the church. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 This chapter treats of what subject? 
 
 Quote the Declaration and Address on the oneness of 
 
 the church. 
 What does Paul say on this subject, and where? 
 What does he say about divisions among Christians ? 
 What part of the New Testament treats especially of 
 
 union ? 
 Outline the argument in Ephesians iv: i-6. 
 How did Jesus speak of his church ? For what pray ? 
 Who, in the New Testament, gives the basis of union, 
 
 and what is it ? 
 What solution of the union problem is last mentioned 
 
 in this chapter? 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THK GOSPKI. CONDITIONS OF PARDON. 
 
 Walter Scott was one of the most interest- 
 ing men engaged in the effort to restore primi- 
 tive Christianity. He was a Scotchman, and 
 well educated. In faith, when he came to the 
 United States, he was a Presbyterian. He
 
 THE GOSPEL CONDITIONS OF PARDON. 51 
 
 had been in this country but a short time be- 
 fore he became acquainted with the Campbells 
 and their friends. He at once became inter- 
 ested in their movement. He was in a short 
 time enlisted in the cause. As a student and 
 preacher he was warm, enthusiastic, and bold. 
 He dared to think, and thinking dared to 
 speak. He soon discovered and exhibited the 
 central truth of the Christian system — the 
 truth that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the 
 living God. His investigations led him in 
 1827 in New Lisbon, Ohio, to present, for the 
 first time, the conditions of pardon as they are 
 now preached by the Disciples of Christ. They 
 were gathered from the great commission 
 which is recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke 
 and John as follows : 
 
 "All authority hath been given unto me in 
 heaven and on earth. Go ye, therefore, and 
 make di.sciples of all the nations, baptizing 
 them into the name of the Father acd of the 
 Son and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to 
 observe all things whatsoever I commanded 
 you ; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
 the end of the world." (Matt, xxviii : 18-20 ) 
 
 "Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
 gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth 
 and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that
 
 52 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 disbelieveth shall be condemned." (Mark 
 xvi: 15-16.) 
 
 " And he said unto them, thus it is written, 
 that the Christ should suffer, and rise again 
 from the dead the third day; and that repent- 
 ance and remission of sins should be preached 
 in his name unto all the nations beginning at 
 Jerusalem." (Luke xxiv: 46-47 ) 
 
 " As the Father hath sent me, even so send 
 I you. And when he had said this, he breathed 
 on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the 
 Holy Ghost : whosesoever sins ye forgive they 
 are forgiven unto them; whosesoever sins ye 
 retain, they are retained." (John xx: 21-23.) 
 
 Mr. Scott quickly saw that the following 
 items are in these last words of the Master to 
 his disciples: (i) Go, (2) preach, (3) belief, (4) 
 repentance, (5) baptism, (6) salvation, (7) the 
 Holy Spirit, (8) condemnation. The procla- 
 mation that the Christ commanded his friends 
 to make "to the whole creation" seemed to 
 teach that in order to an assurance of salvation 
 men must hear, believe, repent, and be bap- 
 tized. This proclamation also teaches that 
 those w^ho hearing refuse to believe and to 
 become submissive to the authority of the 
 Christ shall be condemned. This seems to be 
 the natural arrangement of the various items
 
 THE GOSPEL CONDITIONS OF PARDON. 53 
 
 contained in the great commission. Mr. Scott 
 began to preach ** the way of salvation " as 
 he believed his Lord would have him present 
 it. Intense interest and great excitement re- 
 sulted. The exposition of this royal procla- 
 mation was novel. The people had never 
 heard anything like it. All ministers of the 
 word claim this commission as the war- 
 rant for their w^ork. But the Pedo- Baptists 
 arrange the items in the following order: (i) 
 Go, (2) baptize, (3) preach, (4) repent, (5) 
 believe, (6) salvation, (7) the Holy Spirit. 
 Baptism was, and is, administered by Pedo- 
 Baptists to those who can not believe and 
 repent. The Baptists, in practice, arrange the 
 items of the commission in the following order : 
 (i) Go, (2) preach, (3) repent, (4) belief, (5) 
 salvation, (6) the Holy Spirit, (7) baptism. 
 
 Mr. Scott saw that the book of Acts of 
 Apostles is, in an important sense, a commen- 
 tary, or exposition of the last words of Jesus. 
 The book of Acts shows in what way the 
 friends of the Teacher understood him when 
 he commanded them to "go " and " make dis- 
 ciples of all the nations." He, therefore, 
 studied carefully this portion of the New Testa- 
 ment in order to rightly understand the procla-
 
 54 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 mation of salvation that Jesus commanded his 
 followers to make. 
 
 It was not at all difficult to see that the 
 men who received the command went out and 
 preached. They proclaimed the gospel, and 
 nothing else. Men heard, and as a result 
 believed — believed that the message was from 
 God and was true. Having received the mes- 
 sage as true, the hearers were commanded to 
 repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. 
 (Acts ii: 1-38.) In all the cases of conversion 
 described in the book of Acts this order is 
 observed. There is not a single exception. In 
 not a single case were persons baptized who 
 were not believers, nor was one assured of 
 pardon before baptism. 
 
 The above was seen to be the law of pardon 
 for those who were led to accept the Son of 
 God as their Savior. Having obtained an 
 assurance of forgiveness, in the way above 
 indicated, if we sin against God the conditions 
 of pardon are repentance and prayer. (Acts, 
 viii: 22.) When his children sin against one 
 another they are required, in order to pardon, 
 to confess their faults, and ask the one against 
 whom they have sinned for forgiveness. (James 
 v: 16. I^uke xvii: 3-4.) 
 
 We are all guilty before God. (Rom. iii:
 
 THE EVILS OF HUMAN CREEDS. 55 
 
 9-20.) Because of his love for us forgiveness 
 is tendered on these easy and reasonable con- 
 ditions. To refuse to submit to these simple 
 terms graciously tendered by our Father, in 
 infinite love, and thus spurn the oflfer of for- 
 giveness, is madness. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 Who first in modern times preached the conditions 
 
 of salvation as tliey are now presented by the 
 
 Disciples of Christ? 
 When ? Where ? 
 Quote the commission of Christ as given in the four 
 
 Gospels. 
 What items are in it ? 
 
 Name them as arranged by Pedo-Baptists. 
 In what way do the Baptists arrange them? 
 What is the New Testament arrangement as seen in 
 
 the book of Acts ? 
 This is the law of pardon for whom ? 
 What is the law of forgiveness for Christians when 
 
 they sin ? 
 From whom and why this offer of pardon ? 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE EVILS OF HUMAN CREEDS. 
 
 Disciples have always opposed human au- 
 thoritative creeds as tests of fellowship. The
 
 56 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 word " authoritative " is an important word in 
 this connection. Alexander Campbell said: 
 * * By an authoritative human creed is meant an 
 abstract of human opinions concerning the sup- 
 posed cardinal articles of Christian faith, which 
 summary is made a bond of union or term of 
 communion." (Millennial Harbinger, 1832, 
 
 P- 344-) 
 
 They do not object to publishing what they 
 understand to be the teaching of Holy Scrip- 
 ture on any subject of faith or duty as a matter 
 of information. Their protest is against using 
 such statements as a condition of fellowship. 
 Mr. Campbell made such a statement in the 
 *' Millennial Harbinger " in 1846. Isaac Krrett 
 made such a statement concerning the teach- 
 ing of the Disciples in the *' Christian Stand- 
 ard. ' ' This is now published as a tract with 
 the title : " Our Position." It is wddely cir- 
 culated and generally endorsed by the Disci- 
 ples. But these statements, nor any others of 
 human origin, can properly be used as tests of 
 fellowship. The test propounded by Jesus is 
 this: "What think ye of Christ? Whose 
 Son is he?" (Matt, xxii : 32.) 
 
 Human creeds are destitute of Divine 
 authority. There is no command in Scripture
 
 THE EVILS OF HUMAN CREEDS. 57 
 
 to make them. There is no permission, even, 
 in the Living Oracles to have or to use them. 
 
 Their tendency has been to cast men who 
 were earnest, and of an inquiring habit of 
 mind, out of the church. The reformers who 
 were men of mental independence and honesty 
 were condemned as heretics and cast out of the 
 fellowship of the church by the influence of 
 creeds. 
 
 Their tendency is to displace Christ and his 
 Word. Men are commanded to hear him. 
 (Matt, xvii: 5.) He, and he alone, is the Head 
 of the body, the church. (Col. i: 18.) He 
 possessesall authority. (Matt.xxviii:i8.) He is 
 the Author and Finisher of the faith. (Heb. 
 xii: 2.) To substitute any other person or thing 
 for him and his teaching, even by implication, 
 is wrong. Anything, the tendency of which 
 looks in that direction, is worthj^ of condemna- 
 tion. The Son of God ought at all times, in 
 all places, and in all things, to have the pre- 
 eminence. (Col. i: 18.) 
 
 Human authoritative creeds are not in har- 
 mony with such language as the following : 
 " Hold the pattern of sound words w^hich thou 
 hast heard from me, in faith and love which is 
 in Christ Jesus." (II Tim. i: 13.) " Contend 
 earnestly for the faith which was once for all
 
 58 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 delivered unto the saints." (Jude i: 3.) 
 " Stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye 
 were taught, whether by word, or by epistle of 
 ours." (IlThess. ii: 15.) "This is my beloved 
 Son ; hear ye him." (Matt, xvii: 5.) - These, 
 and other similar passages, clearly inhibit all 
 rivals to the sacred writings ; all substitutes, 
 even by implication, for the New Testament 
 teaching; all authoritative summaries of Chri-s- 
 tian doctrine. If men are commanded to hear 
 the Christ, as the ultimate authority, it is cer- 
 tain that a rival will not be tolerated. 
 
 From the beginning of the church on Pente- 
 cost in Jerusalem, for at least two hundred 
 years, there were no uninspired statements of 
 belief possessing authority. And this was the 
 most harmonious, united, prosperous, and happy 
 period of the church. When men began to 
 construct doctrinal statements to be used as 
 tests of fellowship, the period of controversy 
 and division was inaugurated . The purest state 
 and the most practical and useful, was when the 
 church had **The One Book," and only the 
 teaching of the Apostles, as authoritative. 
 
 Human creeds are unfavorable to the de- 
 velopment of spirituality. No one was ever 
 turned to God by a theological statement. 
 Such statements not only fail to make Chris-
 
 THE EVILS OF HUMAN CREEDS. 59 
 
 tians, but they do not promote sanctification. 
 Compared with the life inspiring statements of 
 the Bible, they are but mummies. Admitting 
 that they contain truth they are, at best, but 
 skeletons of the truth contained in the Word of 
 the Lord, and no one ever fell in love with a 
 skeleton. 
 
 They detract from the honor that belongs 
 to the Holy Spirit, by assuming to be plainer 
 and more intelligible than the Bible. The 
 Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible state- 
 ments of saving and sanctifying truth. Paul 
 says that an angel is not to be believed if he 
 presumes to present something better than the 
 Gospel of Christ. (Gal. i: 6-9.) 
 
 It has been said in their behalf that they 
 are needed to keep heretics and other evil 
 people out of the church. But there were 
 heretics and wicked men in the church in the 
 days of the Apostles — men who spoke and 
 wrote under the special influence of the Holy 
 Spirit. They apparently never thought of any 
 other rule than the Gospel. Jude complained 
 that ungodly men; men who denied the one 
 God and our Lord Jesus Christ, had crept into 
 the church. (Jude i: 4.) Paul speaks of " false 
 brethren * * * who came in privily to 
 spy out our liberty which we have in Christ
 
 60 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage." 
 (Gal. ii: 4.) There were those who " went out 
 from us because they were not of us," (I John 
 ii: 19,) and there was Demas, who "forsook " 
 Paul in the hour of danger, ' ' having loved 
 this present world." (II Tim. iv: 10 ) Then 
 there was Simon, the sorcerer (Acts viii: 9-24); 
 Alexander, the coppersmith, who did Paul 
 "much* evil " (II Tim. iv: 14); Phygellus and 
 Hermogenes, who "turned away from" Paul 
 (II Tim. i: 15); Hymeneus and Alexander, 
 (I Tim. i: 20,) whom Paul delivered over to 
 Satan. Judaizing teachers disturbed the peace 
 of the church. (Acts xv: 1-5.) Some denied 
 the resurrection. (I Cor. xv: 12.) Others 
 said that the resurrection was past. (II Tim. ii: 
 18.) Teachers denied that Jesus had come in 
 the flesh. (I John iv :i-3.) 
 
 Inspired men in the midst of these corrup- 
 tions of ' Christianity did not draw up skill- 
 fully arranged articles of belief to preserve 
 the purity of the church. Why should we ? 
 They adhered to the gospel and a simple con- 
 fession of faith in Jesus as the Son of God. 
 Why should not we be content with these ?
 
 THE EXALTATION OF THE CHRIST. 61 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 What is an important word in our discussion ol 
 human creeds ? 
 
 Give Alexander Campbell's definition. 
 
 What points are made against creeds as here defined? 
 
 When (lid the Church possess greatest unity and 
 power ? 
 
 Name some of the evils in the Apostolic Church. 
 
 What was the conduct of inspired men in their pres- 
 ence ? 
 
 To what alone did they adhere ? 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE EXALTATION OF THE CHRIST. 
 
 Alexander Proctor said : " Put Christ in 
 your temple, and whatever ought not to be 
 there will depart at his bidding. Is your con- 
 gregation disturbed by the presence of birds 
 and beasts that defile it ? Open the door to him 
 and give him full possession, for he alone has 
 power to drive them out. Is the temple of your 
 heart infested with the beasts of selfishness, 
 which show their presence in the works of the 
 flesh ? You cannot expel them by your will 
 alone. Put Christ in your temple.
 
 62 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 * ' There are yet those who are vainly trying 
 to cleanse the temple of its falsehood by a 
 scourge of small cords of doctrine spun out of 
 their own brain. >H >i< * There are not 
 wanting those who are seeking to cleanse 
 their own lives by their low keeping in their 
 own strength. Put Christ in your temples, 
 and whatever ought not to be there he will 
 drive out." 
 
 This language well expresses our thought 
 as to the pl^ce and power properly belonging 
 to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is * * the Alpha 
 and the Omega, the first and the last, the be- 
 ginning and the end." (Rev. xxii: 13.) " He 
 is the image of the invisible God." " In him 
 were all things created, in the heavens and 
 upon the earth, things visible and things in- 
 visible, whether thrones or dominions or 
 principalities or powers; all things have been 
 created through him, and unto him; and he is 
 before all things, and in him all things con- 
 sist," or hold together. Possessing this peer- 
 less character he ought "in all things" to 
 "have the pre-eminence." (Col. i: 14-18.) 
 When the Christ is given, in our thoughts and 
 teaching, the place to which he is entitled, 
 the schisms, contentions, strifes, and aliena- 
 tions, which among professed Christians hin-
 
 . THE EXALTATION OF THE CHRIST. 63 
 
 der the Gospel in its regenerating work, will 
 disappear. 
 
 With the Disciples of Christ his divinity is 
 more than a mere item of doctrine — it is the 
 central truth of the gospel. It is the funda- 
 mental truth ol the Christian religion. The 
 one great purpose of gospel preaching is to 
 persuade men to believe in, to love, and to 
 obey Jesus. If men can be persuaded to en- 
 throne Christ in their affections, to make him 
 the Lord of their consciences, he will bring 
 them to entertain right thoughts and to stand 
 in right relations with everything else. The 
 great need in the church and in the world is the 
 exaltation of the Son of God. 
 
 He is called, in the New Testament, "the 
 Son of God." He is so called because he was 
 begotten of the Holy Spirit and born of the 
 Virgin Mary. Hear these words: " And the 
 angel answered and said unto her. The Holy 
 Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power 
 of the Most High shall overshadow thee: 
 WHEREFORE also that which is to be born 
 shall be called holy, the Son of God. ' ' (Luke 
 i: 35.) The angel Gabriel used this language 
 to '* Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is 
 called Christ." (Matt, i: i6.) 
 
 Jesus " was born of the seed of David ac-
 
 64 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 cording to the flesh," and ''was declared to 
 be the Son of God with power, according to 
 the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of 
 the dead." (Rom. i: 4.) When he was among 
 men he raised the dead. (Luke vii: 11- 16; 
 Markv: 22-24; 35-42; Johnxi: 1-44.) He said: 
 " The works that I do in my Father's name 
 these bear witness of me." (John x: 25.) "If 
 I do not the works of my Father, believe me 
 not." (John x: 37.) "The Father is in me 
 and I in the Father." (John x: 38.) He 
 claimed that he and God were one. (John x: 
 30.) He alone knows and reveals God. (Matt, 
 xi: 27.) 
 
 " All authority " belongs to him. (Matt, 
 xxviii: 18.) (i.) He possesses all legislative 
 authority. He alone has the right to make 
 laws for the government of his people. ' ' He 
 is the Head of the body, the church." (Col. 
 i: 18.) An oracle from heaven vSaid, "Hear 
 ye him." (Matt, xvii: 5.) (2.) He possesses 
 all judicial authority. * ' The Father hath 
 given all judgment unto the Son." (John 
 v: 22.) "He gave him authority to execute 
 judgment." (John v: 27.) (3.) He possesses 
 all executive authority. "He is the King of 
 kings, and Lord of lords." "He is the only 
 Potentate." (I Tim. vi: 15.) " He must reign,
 
 THE EXALTATION OF THE CHRIST. 65 
 
 till he hath put all his enemies under his feet." 
 (I Cor. xv: 25.) " He shall " at '* the end" 
 "deliver up the kingdom to God." (T Cor. 
 xv: 24.) He is now a reigning Prince in 
 heaven. (Acts v: 31.) Stephen saw him 
 " standing on the right hand of God." (Acts 
 vii: 36.) 
 
 Apart from Christ, ordinances have no value. 
 Peter "commanded" Cornelius and his friends 
 " to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." 
 (Acts X : 48.) Under the instruction of Paul, 
 the twelve men whom he found in Ephesus, 
 and who had not heard of the gift of the Holy- 
 Spirit, **were baptized into the name of the 
 Lord Jesus." (Acts xix: 1-5.) In the com- 
 munion the bread represents the body of Christ, 
 and the fruit of the vine represents his blood. 
 (Matt, xxvi: 26-28; Mark xiv : 22-24; Luke 
 xxii : 14-20; I Cor. xi: 17-34.) 'The Lord's 
 Supper is to be observed because the Christ 
 said: "This do in remembrance of me." (I 
 Cor. xi : 24. ) In this service disciples of Christ 
 look back to his life on earth, and forward to 
 his return from heaven. Baptism and the 
 Supper of the Lord possess value because of 
 their relation to, and their connection with, 
 the Son of God. 
 
 All worship must be through the Lord
 
 66 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 Jesus. We are to " give thanks always for all 
 things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to 
 God;" and we are exhorted to subject our- 
 selves to " one another in the fear of Christ." 
 (Eph. v: 20-21 ) "And whatsoever ye do, in 
 in word or in deed, do all in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus," (Col. iii: 17,) says Paul. 
 
 The Christ is ' ' in the heavenly places, far 
 above all rule, and authority, and power, and 
 dominion, and every name that is named, not 
 only in this world, but also in that which is to 
 come; and " God " put all things in subjection 
 under his feet, and gave him to be Head over 
 all things." (Eph. i : 21-22.) 
 
 Exalting Christ thus in our thoughts, teach- 
 ing, and lives, the people of Christ will be 
 united, the Church will be made pure, and 
 multitudes will turn to him, and share with us 
 the joys of the great salvation. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 Quote Alexander Proctor on Christ supreme. 
 
 The divinity of Christ occupies what place in the 
 
 teaching of the Disciples ? 
 Why is Jesus called *' the Son of God ?" 
 To what did he appeal as evidence in support of his 
 
 claims? 
 What three things are implied in the "All authority" 
 
 attributed to Christ?
 
 THE PLACE OF THE ORDINANCES. 67 
 
 What value have the ordinances apart from him ? 
 
 Through whom alone can acceptable worship be of- 
 fered to God ? 
 
 Where is the Christ now ? 
 
 What will follow when we give Christ pre-eminence 
 in all things? 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE PLACE OF THE ORDINANCES. 
 
 All evangelical Christians agree that the 
 ordinances appointed by the Christ are two — 
 baptism and the stipper of the Lord. 
 
 The Disciples teach that baptism is an im- 
 mersion of penitent believers in water, in the 
 name of the Christ, and into the name of the 
 Father, and of the Sou, and of the Holy Spirit. 
 No one denies that this is Christian baptism. 
 This teaching and practice is therefore out of 
 the region of controversy. Affusion — sprink- 
 ling and pouring — are in dispute. Many intel- 
 ligent believers deny that affusion is baptism. 
 The baptism of unbelievers — that is of infants 
 — is in controversy. The baptism of such as 
 believe on Christ and repent of their sins is not 
 in debate. All agree that penitent believers
 
 68 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OP CHRIST. 
 
 are proper subjects for baptism. The teach- 
 ing and practice of the Disciples on the subject 
 of baptism — persons to be baptized and action 
 — is out of the region of debate. They stand 
 on unquestionably safe ground. 
 
 The Lord's supper is a feast of love to be 
 observed by those who have openly identified 
 themselves with the Christ. The disciples of 
 Christ alone were present when this ordinance 
 was instituted. (Matt, xxvi: 26-28.) Mem- 
 bers of the Church of God under the ministry 
 of Apostles enjoyed the Lord's supper. (I Cor. 
 xi: 20-34; I Cor. i: 2.) The first Christians 
 assembled on the first day of the week to 
 break bread. (Acts xx: 7.) This ordinance 
 is "a sweet and precious feast of holy memo- 
 ries, designed to quicken our love of Christ and 
 cement the ties of our common brotherhood." 
 "We, therefore, observe it as a part of our 
 regular worship, every Lord's day, and hold it 
 a solemn, but joyful and refreshing feast of 
 love, in which all disciples of our Lord should 
 feel it to be a great privilege to unite." It is 
 a "simple and solemn family feast in the 
 Lord's house." 
 
 The place of baptism is after an experience 
 of belief and penitence, and subsequent to a 
 public confession of faith in the Son of God.
 
 THE PLACE OF THE ORDINANCES. 69 
 
 The place of the supper is in the church and 
 was designed by the Head of the body for such 
 as, by faith and baptism, are members The 
 ordinances are, therefore, means of grace. 
 Baptism is more than a mere form. It is an 
 expression of faith and penitence. In this or- 
 dinance there is a public and formal recognition 
 of the authority possessed by our Lord Jesus, 
 and a surrender to him. The language of the 
 heart, in baptism, is: " Here, Lord, I give 
 myself to thee." It is, therefore, more than a 
 door into the church. Baptism brings the 
 baptized "into Christ" and into a participa- 
 tion of the benefits purchased for us by the 
 death of Christ. Heyce we are said to be 
 " baptized into his death." (Rom. vi: 3.) 
 Coming to baptism, with the spiritual prepara- 
 tion above indicated, one finds an assurance of 
 acceptance with God — an assurance of salva- 
 tion — which previously he did not possess. 
 (Mark xvi: 16.) What Mark in this place calls 
 salvation, Luke and Peter call "remission of 
 sins." (Luke xxiv: 47; Acts ii: 38.) 
 
 The Disciples * 'therefore teach the believing 
 penitent to seek, through baptism, the divine 
 assurance of the forgiveness of sins, and that 
 gift of the Holy Spirit," (Acts ii: 38,) " which 
 the Lord has promised to them that obey him."
 
 70 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 (Actsv: 32.) ''Thus, in a hearty and scrip- 
 tural surrender to the authority of the Lord 
 Jesus, and not in dreams, visions, or revela- 
 tions, are we to seek for that assurance of par- 
 don and that evidence of sonship to which the 
 gospel points us. ' ' 
 
 Baptism is said to " save us." (I Peter iii: 
 21.) But it cannot save without faith, since 
 ' * without faith it is impossible to be well- 
 pleasing" unto God. (Heb. xi: 6.) It does 
 not save without penitence, since our Lord 
 declared that the penitent must perish. (Luke 
 xiii : 3, 5.) Nor does baptism save without 
 the confession, since " with the mouth con- 
 fession is made unto salvation." (Rom. x: 10.) 
 To be of any value the person baptized must 
 call on the name of the Lord. So Ananias in- 
 structed Saul of Tarsus. (Actsxxii: 16.) When 
 Jesus "was baptized of John in the Jordan," 
 (Mark i: 9,) he prayed. (Luke iii* 21-22 ) It 
 is impossible for baptism, or any other act of 
 man, to merit salvation since according to the 
 Divine mercy men are saved. (Titus iii: 5.) 
 Salvation is of grace. (Eph. ii: 8.) There is 
 no power in water to cleanse from sin. Sin is a 
 disease of the heart. Naaman was captain of 
 the host of the King of Syria, and he was a 
 great man, but he was a leper. The prophet
 
 THE PLACE OF' THE ORDINANCES. 7l 
 
 Elisha told him to " go and wash in the Jordan 
 seven times " and he would be made whole. He 
 dipped seven times, *' according to the saying 
 of the man of God," and was cured of his dis- 
 ease. (II Kings v: i, lo, 14.) God cured him 
 when he obeyed. There was no virtue in the 
 Jordan water to remove leprosy. Jesus told the 
 man who " was born blind " to '* wash in the 
 pool of Siloam." " He went away, therefore, 
 and washed, and came seeing." (John ix: i 7.) 
 Neither the clay, with which Jesus "anointed 
 his eyes," nor the water in which he washed, 
 gave sight to the blind man. The power of God 
 did that; but this power was exercised when the 
 man did what he was told to do. So there is 
 nothing in baptism to merit salvation, nor to 
 take away sin, but God forgives, and gives an 
 assurance of the fact when the sinner, in this 
 ordinance, recognizes the authority of his Son 
 and surrenders to him. 
 
 In the ordinances there is a symbolic set- 
 ting forth of the great facts in the gospel. The 
 Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose 
 again. (I Cor. xv: 3-4.) We die to sin, are 
 buried in baptism, and rise to walk in newness 
 of life. (Rom.vi: 1-4.) In the Lord's supper 
 there is a remembrance of the fact that we are 
 sinners and that the Son of God died for us.
 
 72 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 "This do in remembrance of me," said the 
 Christ, at the institution of the supper. (Luke 
 xxii: 19.) Paul saj^s that " as often as ye eat 
 this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the 
 Lord's death till he come." (I Cor. xi: 26 ) 
 
 It is the peculiar glory of our religion that 
 it is spiritual — spiritual in its origin, aim, 
 methods, and results. The ordinances of Jesus 
 Christ are to be used for our spiritual comfort, 
 and advancement. This is their place and use 
 in the Christian system. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 The number and names of the ordinances. 
 
 In baptism, what practices are not in dispute? 
 
 What practices are in debate ? 
 
 Describe the Lord's supper. 
 
 The place of baptism. 
 
 What is given to the penitent believer in baptism? 
 
 What text affirms that baptism saves ? 
 
 What other things are essential to salvation ? 
 
 How is the fact illustrated that there is no virtue in 
 
 baptism? 
 What are set forth in the ordinances?
 
 MISUNDERSTANDING AND OPPOSITION. 73 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MISUNDERSTANDING AND OPPOSITION. 
 
 Jesus told his disciples that they would be 
 hated of all men, and that the time would come 
 when men would feel that they were rendering 
 service to God by putting them to death. Saul 
 of Tarsus had a conscience void of offense to- 
 ward God when he bound and cast into prison 
 men and women for no other reason than that 
 they loved and obe3'ed Jesus. He thought 
 that in this he did right. The explanation, in 
 part, is found in the fact that he did not under- 
 stand Jesus nor his people. He said : "I did 
 it ignorantly." (I Tim. i:i2.) Many of the 
 bitter contentions in the church have orig- 
 inated in ignorance. The ecclesiastical and 
 theological warriors did not understand each 
 other. This was true of much of the oppo- 
 sition encountered by Stone and the Campbells. 
 Their aim was something of which the popu- 
 lar religious teachers had never heard. It 
 seemed to them impossible to go back to the 
 Christ and from him alone receive instruction 
 as to what to believe and do in order to be 
 saved. The plan was impractical. How one 
 could be a Christian only, was apparently be-
 
 74 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 yond their comprehension. The simple prin- 
 ciple which was at the foundation of all that 
 the reformers were attempting caused them to 
 use language that their opponents did not un- 
 derstand. They had determined to reject the 
 terminology of the schools — to speak of Bible 
 things in Bible language. What does God 
 say ? In what language does he say it ? That 
 is what I will say; and the manner in which I 
 will say it. This thought was fundamental in 
 all that was undertaken by the great men who 
 under God inaugurated the movement to re- 
 turn to the Christianity of the New Testament 
 in doctrine, ordinance, and life. Those who 
 were not in sympathy and co-operation with 
 them were apparently unable to comprehend a 
 principle which to us, of the present day, is 
 so exceedingly simple and obviously correct. 
 They knew the language of the various schools 
 of theology. They knew especially Calvinism 
 and its language, but with the unadulterated 
 Christianity of the Christ they were not ac- 
 quainted, nor were they able to express their 
 belief in the words of the Holy Spirit, in the 
 New Testament. An honest, misunderstand- 
 ing led to bitter opposition. A movement in- 
 augurated to bring about peace precipitated a 
 season of violent contention.
 
 MISUNDERSTANDING AND OPPOSITION. 75 
 
 But in attempting to understand this oppo- 
 sition to the efforts of holy men to improve the 
 condition of a dismembered and comparatively 
 impotent church, some account must be taken 
 of the fact that the heart is deceitful and cor- 
 rupt. There can be no reasonable doubt that 
 some bad men — sectarian rather than Christian 
 — were in the opposition. Their craft was in 
 danger. If this movement succeeds our 
 stipends will be taken from us. There were 
 no doubt such men, but their number was 
 comparatively small. 
 
 To illustrate the opposition of men whose 
 intentions were good, but who did not under- 
 stand the principle on which the new move- 
 ment was based take the following: 
 
 I . The advocates of a return to primitive 
 Christianity said not a word in their discourses 
 about the doctrine of the Trinity. Why? 
 There is nothing in the New Testament on 
 the subject. It was, therefore, understood that 
 the divine nature of Jesus was denied. But 
 instead of denying that the Son of Mary was 
 God in human form, they affirmed it in the 
 strongest possible language. Instead of dero- 
 gating from the dignity and worth of our Savior 
 they made a belief that he is THE Son of God
 
 76 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 an indispensable condition of baptism and 
 church membership. 
 
 2. They did not employ language that was 
 current in orthodox circles in speaking of the 
 Holy Spirit and his work in regeneration and 
 sanctification; nor did they pray that the 
 Spirit might come in convicting and convert- 
 ing power; nor that men might receive the 
 baptism of the Holy Ghost. It was thence in- 
 ferred that the personality and work of the 
 Holy Spirit in regeneration and sanctification 
 were denied. The advocates of a purer teach- 
 ing and practice believed that the Holy Spirit 
 is a person, and that in regeneration and sanc- 
 tification he employs the truth as his instru- 
 ment. (John xvii: 17; I Cor. xii: 3; James i: 
 18.) They taught that the baptism of the 
 Holy Spirit was administered on Pentecost, in 
 Jerusalem and at the house of Cornelius, in 
 Csesarea, and is not for us. 
 
 3. And since persons who desired to be 
 baptized were not asked to relate an experi- 
 ence, telling of wonderful things seen and 
 heard, thought and felt, as was then the cus- 
 tom, the reformers were accused of denying 
 * 'experimental religion." They did not, how- 
 ever, deny the existence, or importance, of 
 what their opponents called "experimental re-
 
 MISUNDERSTANDING AND OPPOSITION. 77 
 
 ligion." They could not approve of the lan- 
 guage employed when speaking of experiences 
 through which men pass in turning to God, 
 nor could they endorse the use that was made 
 of these experiences. Love, repentance, or 
 such a sorrow for sin as issues in reformation, 
 the faith that saves, ceasing to do evil, learn- 
 ing to do well are experiences. Religion is an 
 intelligent conviction resulting in a return to 
 the fellowship of God. 
 
 4. Because the advocates of the restora- 
 tion of a pure faith and a pure speech spoke of 
 baptism in the language of the New Testa- 
 ment, they were charged with believing in 
 baptismal regeneration. (Mark xvi: i6; Acts 
 ii: 38; xxii: i6; I Peter iii: 21; John ill: 5.) 
 Their opponents, in their creeds and confes- 
 sions of faith, were, however, more nearly 
 committed to that doctrine. The reformers 
 taught that "regeneration must be so far ac- 
 complished before baptism that the subject is 
 changed in heart * * * ^ >!< otherwise 
 baptism is nothing but an empty form." 
 
 These days of misunderstanding and oppo- 
 sition are past. More and more men of intel- 
 ligence are coming to understand the princi- 
 ples, aims, and methods, of the Disciples of 
 Christ and to enter into sympathy with them.
 
 78 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 Was the effort to unite Christians at first popular ? 
 How do you account for the opposition ? 
 What illustrations are given to explain the misunder- 
 standing and opposition ? 
 What is now coming to pass ? 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 RAPID INCREASE IN NUMBERS. 
 
 Notwithstanding the gross misunderstand- 
 ing, consequent misrepresentation, and deter- 
 mined opposition, the growth, in numbers, of 
 the Disciples of Christ is one of the most 
 wonderful facts in the history of American 
 Christianity. From the first their progress 
 was rapid, but their increase in numbers was 
 never so great as at the present time. The 
 statistical secretary reported to the conven- 
 tion in Springfield, 111., in October, 1896, that 
 there are 9,607 churches, 1,003,672 members, 
 6,657 Sunday schools, 699,531 pupils and 
 teachers, and 5,360 preachers. The church 
 property is valued at $15,805,447. It is con- 
 ceded by all persons who are in a position to 
 know whereof they speak, that our numerical
 
 RAPID INCREASE IN NUMBERS, 79 
 
 increase, by conversion, far exceeds that of any 
 other people in the United States. How is this 
 to be accounted for ? What is the secret of this 
 wonderful growth ? 
 
 It is evident that in whatever way the fact 
 here stated may be explained the Disciples have 
 a message for the people. That they enlist the 
 sympathy and co-operation of the people to so 
 great an extent is a demonstration of this fact. 
 The following are some of the reasons that may 
 be assigned for our success in enlisting men in 
 the service of Christ: 
 
 I. In the beginning of the movement the 
 prevalent conception of Christianity was the 
 Calvinistic. Calvinism contains five points as 
 follows: (i.) Men are inherently and totally 
 depraved. (2.) A definite number from all eter- 
 nity were chosen of God unto eternal life with- 
 out faith or works or any other thing on the 
 part of man as a condition. (3.) Jesus 
 died for the elect only. His atonement was 
 limited. The benefits of his death were 
 not for all men. (4.) Those who 'were 
 elected and for whom Christ died are effectu- 
 ally called by the gospel. (5.) Such per- 
 sons cannot fall away and be lost. 
 
 The preaching of the facts, truths, prin- 
 ciples, precepts, promises, and warnings, of
 
 80 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 the gospel as contained in the New Testament, 
 came to the people as a revelation from heaven. 
 It antagonized Calvinism at every point. Many- 
 good people were on the verge of despair. They 
 could not find an assurance of their election. 
 They were not certain that Christ died for them. 
 The new teaching assured them that Jesus 
 tasted death for every man, (Heb. ii: 9,) that the 
 good news was to be preached to all, (Matt, 
 xxviii: 18-20; Mark xvi: 15-16,) and that the 
 invitation "to accept the purchased redemption 
 was extended to all. " He that will, let him 
 take the water of life freely . " ( Rev. xxii : 17.) 
 This statement sufficiently accounts for the 
 rapid growth in numbers at the first. 
 
 2. The plea for union is so reasonable, so 
 scriptural, and so full of the spirit of the Prince 
 of Peace, that it has from the beginning taken 
 a strong hold on large numbers. It presented 
 a marked contrast to the bitter strifes and sec- 
 tarian contentions with which the church was 
 cursed. Into the midst of this tumult the Dis- 
 ciples threw themselves saying: '' Let us have 
 peace." How? " By a return to the religion 
 of Jesus as it is described in the New Testa- 
 ment — its faith, its ordinances, its life." The 
 protest against the sin of division commended 
 itself to good men, intelligent and fair minded.
 
 KAPll) INCREASE IN NUMBERS. 81 
 
 as warranted by the word and spirit of Holy 
 Scripture. The pra^-er of the Savior is a suffi- 
 cient warrant for the plea in behalf of unity 
 and peace among those who believe. 
 
 3. The clear and Scriptural teaching as to 
 the steps that men must take, according to the 
 New Testament, to enjoy an assurance of sal- 
 vation. They said: "He that hath ears, let 
 him hear." (Matt, xiii: 43.) '* Belief fo?fie^/i 
 of hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ." 
 (Rom. x: 17.) " He that disbelieveth shall 
 be condemned." (Mark xvi : 16.) " Without 
 faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing " unto 
 God. (Heb. xi : 6.) "Believe on the I^ord 
 Jesus and thou shalt be saved. ' ' (Acts xvi : 3 1 .) 
 God " commandeth men that they should all 
 everywhere repent." (Acts xvii: 30.) "Ex- 
 cept ye repent, ye shall * * perish." (Luke 
 xiii : 3.) " With the mouth confession is made 
 unto salvation." (Rom. x: 10.) " Who shall 
 confess me before men, him will I also confess 
 before my Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 
 x: 32.) "Be baptized every one of you," 
 who having heard now believe, repent and con- 
 fess Christ, " unto the remission of j^our sins; 
 and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." 
 (Acts ii : 38.) Baptism brings penitent be- 
 lievers into Christ. (Rom. vi : 3.) Hence it
 
 82 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 is said to save. (I Peter iii : 21.) This Scrip- 
 tural, reasonable, logical, and positive presen- 
 tation of " the way of salvation," constantly 
 supported by quotations and illustrations from 
 the written Word, accounts in part for the suc- 
 cess of the Disciples in gaining adherents. 
 
 4. The encouragement that was, and is, 
 given to all good men who have a sufficient 
 knowledge of Scripture, without regard to the 
 learning of the schools to " preach the Word " 
 is an important item in the conditions leading 
 to this success. There are no "clergymen" 
 among the Disciples. " All ye are brethren," 
 said the Master. (Matt, xxiii: 8.) Some de- 
 vote themselves entirely to teaching and preach- 
 ing Christ, but they are still simply brethren 
 — they are not "clergymen." All are en- 
 couraged to tell the good news publicly or 
 privately. All are encouraged to do the work 
 of missionaries. " He that heareth, let him 
 say, Come." (Rev. xxii : 17.) 
 
 These are some of the reasons why the 
 Disciples have increased in numbers so rapidly. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 How many churches ? 
 How many members ? 
 How many Sunday Schools ?
 
 DEEPENING SPIRITUAL LIFE. 83 
 
 How many teachers and pupils ? 
 How many preachers? 
 Value of church property ? 
 What is evident from these facts ? 
 What reasons are given for the rapid gro\Nth of the 
 Disciples ? 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 DEEPENING SPIRITUAL LIFE- 
 
 This movement for a return to New Testa- 
 ment Christianity is thoroughly spiritual. 
 The period of " misunderstanding and opposi- 
 tion " obscured, in a measure, this fact, but 
 now that we are better understood and there is 
 less opposition and contention the fact should 
 be recalled. Among other things our fathers 
 realized the inability of the popular concep- 
 tions of Christianity to produce the change of 
 heart and life which the Scriptures make so 
 essential to an entrance into the kingdom of 
 glory. Mr. Campbell said in his debate wMth 
 N. L. Rice, in Lexington, Kentuck}', in 1843, 
 that * * our reformation began in the conviction 
 of the inadequacy of the corrupted forms of 
 religion in popular use to effect that thorough 
 change of heart and life which the gospel con-
 
 84 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 templates as so essential to admission into 
 heaven." (Campbell and Rice Debate, p. 678.) 
 
 They saw that the matter of supreme im- 
 portance is character. What a man is — not 
 what he owns, or says, or does — is of tran- 
 scendent importance. God looks upon the 
 heart. He knows men as they are. We know 
 them as they seem to be. The purpose of the 
 gospel is spirituality of character. The Holy 
 Spirit working in the word and ordinances, 
 under favorable circumstances produces one, 
 whose distinguishing peculiarities are "love 
 joy, peace, longsufFering, kindness, goodness, 
 faithfulness, meekness, temperance " or self- 
 control. (Gal. v: 22.) This character is 
 called "the fruit of the Spirit" and "against 
 such there is no law." 
 
 The mission of the Disciples is therefore 
 largely to their brethren in the Protestant de- 
 nominations. The members of these churches 
 are openly on the side of Christ. They believe 
 in and confess him. Their faces are turned 
 toward " the Sun of righteousness." (Mai iv: 
 2.) Their feet are in the way of righteous- 
 ness. The Bible the}^ receive as the Word of 
 God. To them it is a precious word. These 
 things they show to be true in many ways. 
 Their lives as well as their words testify to
 
 DEEPENING SPIRITUAL lAhK. 85 
 
 them. But there are some things in the way 
 of the largest attainments in the spiritual life. 
 There are errors in doctrines. Some dogmas 
 are believed for which there is no warrant in 
 Scripture. For some of their practices there 
 can not be produced a " thus saith the Lord " 
 either ' ' in express terms or approved prece- 
 dent." Human creeds, and names never ap- 
 plied by the Holy Spirit to the children of God 
 in the New Testament, encourage a party 
 spirit. Such a spirit is diametrically opposed 
 to the Spirit of the Christ. The ordinances 
 are frequently misplaced. The spiritual profit 
 that ought, therefore, to be derived from 
 them is not realized. The Bible can be more 
 intelligently used. When more rationally 
 read there will be realized a greater helpful- 
 ness and joy. It is the work of the Disciples 
 of Christ to cultivate, in their associations, 
 with these people a fraternal spirit, and to 
 help them into lives more like the simple, 
 sweet, spiritual life of the Son of Man. 
 
 But to do this they must nurture in them- 
 selves, and seek to deepen and broaden, the 
 life that "is hid with Christ in God." (Col. 
 iii:3.) Example is more potent than speech. 
 What we are is more eloquent than what we 
 say. When words and deeds are alike spir-
 
 86 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 itual there is great power over men for good. 
 There are three conditions for health. These 
 conditions are as essential to spiritual as to 
 bodily health. 
 
 1. Pure Air. Good health can not be en- 
 joyed in a vitiated atmosphere. This is true 
 of the body. It is equally true of the spirit. 
 There is a spiritual atmosphere as there is a 
 material. The one no less certainly than 
 the other may be foul. Disciples, there- 
 fore, if they would experience a deep, pure, 
 vigorous, spiritual life must be careful to 
 abide, as far as possible, in a wholesome 
 spiritual atmosphere. This is found in the 
 Christian home, in the assembled church, in 
 the Sunday school, Society of Christian En- 
 deavor, and in missionary, and other similar 
 conventions. Men and women who w^alk with 
 Christ are spiritually helpful. Seek their 
 companionship. Be much in the company with 
 those who are much in company with the 
 Christ. "Evil company doth corrupt good 
 manners." (I Col. xv: 33.) Good company 
 has a tendency to purify bad manners. We 
 breathe a pure atmosphere when in the society 
 of good men and women. 
 
 2. Wholesome Food. The Word of God is 
 soul food. Simon Peter said : "As newborn
 
 DEEPENING SPIRITUAL LIFE. 87 
 
 babes, long for the spiritual milk which is 
 without guile, that 3'e may grow thereby unto 
 salvation; if ye have tasted that the Lord is 
 gracious." (I Peter ii : 2.) " All wickedness, 
 and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and 
 all evil speakings ' ' are to be put away. Those 
 who feed regularly on the Word will grow 
 strong. Faith is produced and nourished by 
 the Word. (Rom. x: 17; John xx : 30-31.) 
 The goodness of God leads to repentance 
 (Rom. ii : 4), but this is revealed to men in 
 the Word that he inspired. " We love, because 
 he first loved us," (I John iv: 19,) but the fact 
 that God commendeth his love toward us in 
 that while we were yet sinners Christ died for 
 us, (Rom. v: 8,) is recorded in Holy Scripture. 
 Reading, therefore, these sacred writings and 
 giving heed to their exposition, meantime 
 meditating thereupon, will deepen and broaden 
 the current of the spiritual life. This food 
 ought to be taken regularly. The Bereans 
 searched the Scriptures daily. (Acts xvii : 11.) 
 To the souls of saints the Word of the Lord is 
 very precious. Read Psalm cxix. 
 
 3. Exercise. One may have pure air and 
 wholesome food, but without exercise there 
 will not be vigorous health. Christians ought 
 to exercise themselves in the observance of the
 
 88 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF'CHRIST. 
 
 ordinances, the regular acts of devotion, in 
 private and in the assembly of God's people, 
 and in doing good. Our eternal destiny de- 
 pends on this. (Matt, xxv: 31-46.) Our 
 present spiritual health depends on the service 
 that we render to God and to men for his sake. 
 From first to last the plea of the Disciples 
 is for a deeper spiritual life. The unity of 
 God's people for which they plead is thor- 
 oughly spiritual. As the Father and Son are 
 one, so ought believers to be one. (John 
 xvii : 20-21.) But this is intensely spiritual. 
 The same statement may be made, with equal 
 truth, concerning every item in their teaching 
 and practice. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 What is the marked peculiarity of the plea of the 
 Disciples ? 
 
 Their mission is therefore to whom ? 
 
 What then should be our bearing toward other Chris- 
 tians? 
 
 What kind of culture is now especially needed ? 
 
 What are the three conditions of health? 
 
 Where is a wholesome spiritual atmosphere ? 
 
 What is the soul's food ? 
 
 What character of exercise will promote spiritual 
 health? 
 
 What is the nature of the union for which the Dis- 
 ciples plead ?
 
 EVANGELISTIC SPIRIT AMONG THE DISCIPLES. 89 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 EVANGELISTIC SPIRIT AMONG THE DISCIPLES. 
 
 The Disciples are both evangelical and evan- 
 gelistic. Their teaching and practice are in 
 harmony with the gospel. This makes them 
 evangelical. They present the good news for 
 the purpose of winning men to Christ and in 
 such a manner as to enlist men in his service. 
 This makes them evangelistic. Their evangel- 
 ism is one of the marked features of their 
 history. The fundamental position which they 
 assumed at the first, and to which they now 
 steadfastly adhere, compels them to be evan- 
 gelical and evangelistic. This position is that 
 every item of faith and conduct must have a 
 warrant in the Word of God. This word is the 
 supreme and sole authority in the religious 
 belief and life. " Where the Scriptures speak 
 we will speak, and where the Scriptures are 
 silent we will be silent." 
 
 Man is a sinner. He is dead in sins. 
 His iniquities separate him from God. The 
 depravity of man is universal. All sin and fall 
 short of the glory of God. His ruin is com- 
 plete. W'ithout Divine interposition deliver- 
 ance is impossible. Man cannot save himself.
 
 90 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 Law cannot save him. Salvation is of grace. 
 The problem of the ages is as to how man can 
 be justified in the sight of God. Apart from 
 the revelalion of God in Christ the problem is 
 insoluble. The grace of God made known in 
 Christ contains the solution. These things 
 concerning the lost and helpless estate of man 
 are taught in both Testaments. And this teach- 
 ing is at the foundation of all evangelistic and 
 missionary effort. If man is not lost why did 
 Christ die ? The agony of the Son of Man in 
 the garden and on the cross testifies as nothing 
 else can to the utter ruin of man. 
 
 But the creature has power to choose and to 
 refuse his Creator. It is a terrible power, but 
 it belongs to man. He can believe, he can 
 love, he can obey. He also has power to dis- 
 believe, to hate, to disobey. Hence the invita- 
 tions, arguments, appeals, of the gospel. "Come 
 and let us reason together saith the Lord." 
 (Isa.i:i8.) " Come unto me -^ * * and I will 
 give you rest." (Matt, xi: 28.) "Though 
 your sins be as scarlet, thej^ shall be as white 
 as snow; though they be red like crimson, they 
 shall be as wool," etc. (Isa. i: 18-20.) " Ye 
 will not come to me, that ye may have life." 
 (John v: 40.) "He that will, let him take the 
 water of life freely." (Rev. xxii: 17.) There
 
 EVANGELISTIC SPIRIT AMOXG THE DISCIPLES. 91 
 
 is no fatalism in the Bible. There is no 
 unconditional election and reprobation in the 
 joyful message. People entertaining these 
 thoughts must be evangelistic. Such beliefs 
 gender and nurture the spirit of evangelism. 
 
 The Scriptures clearly teach that the gos- 
 pel of the Christ, is the power of God to save 
 all who believe. (Rom. i: i6; I Cor. xv: 1-2.) 
 Hence the gospel was preached, and only this, 
 by the Apostles of Christ. Paul was deter- 
 mined to know only the crucified Christ in his 
 sacred ministry. (I Cor. ii: 2.) He regarded 
 the Christ suffering for our sins as the power 
 and wisdom of God. (I Cor. i : 24.) To phil- 
 osophers this message seemed foolishness; to 
 self-reliant and self-satisfied men it seemed to 
 be only weakness, but " the foolishness of God 
 is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is 
 stronger than men." (I Cor. i : 25.) By the 
 faithful preaching of Christ crucified foul men 
 were made clean and bad men good, in Corinth, 
 (I Cor. vi : 9-1 1,) and the same message 
 preached with a similar zeal and in the same 
 spirit at the present time will produce equally 
 encouraging results. This is the belief of the 
 Disciples of Christ : hence their evangelistic 
 spirit. 
 
 Man is intelligent and free. He can both
 
 92 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 reason and choose. The Scriptures assume 
 that conviction and choice result from intelli- 
 gence. Hence the holy men sent by the Christ 
 to evangelize the people, in their preaching, 
 reasoned with those whom they met. Wicked 
 men " were not able to withstand the wisdom 
 and the spirit by which " Stephen "spake." 
 (Acts vi : lo.) Philip, the evangelist, so rea- 
 soned with the treasurer of Queen Candace, 
 out of the Scriptures, that he became a Chris- 
 tian. (Actsviii: 26-40.) Three weeks were 
 spent by Paul reasoning with the Jews in their 
 synagogue in Thessalonica. (Acts xvii : 2.) 
 '* Some of them were persuaded, and consorted 
 with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks 
 a great multitude, and of the chief women not 
 a few." (Acts xvii : 4.) Paul and Barnabas 
 * * so spake " in " the synagogue of the Jews " 
 " in Iconium " " that a great multitude both 
 of the Jews andof the Greeks believed." (Acts 
 xiv: I.) Belief in Jesus as the Son of God 
 and our Savior comes as a result of hearing 
 the word of Christ. The preached word pro- 
 duces faith. (Rom. x: 13-17.) Upon this 
 fact the Disciples place much emphasis. Hence 
 their evangelistic spirit. 
 
 In all times, places, and things, the Christ 
 must have the pre-eminence. He is I^ord.
 
 EVANGKLISTIC SI>IHIT AM()N(i THE DISCIPLES. 93 
 
 (Acts ii: 36; x: 36.) He alone is to be heard. 
 (Matt, xvii: 5.) He has superseded Moses and 
 the prophets. All authority now belongs to 
 him. (Matt, xxviii: 18.) To disobey him is 
 to fail of salvation. (Heb. v: 9.) But his com- 
 mand is to " make disciples of all the nations." 
 (Matt, xxviii: 19.) He requires his disciples 
 to " preach the gospel to the whole creation." 
 (Mark xvi: 15.) To neglect, or to refuse, to 
 preach the gospel in obedience to our Lord's 
 command is to be guilty of disobedience. This 
 we believe and teach. Hence the evangelistic 
 spirit among the Disciples of Christ. 
 
 But this work they can not do in their own 
 strength. This our Lord knew. He there- 
 fore said : "I am with you alway." (Matt. 
 xxviii: 20) In this fact there is encourage- 
 ment to undertake the work. The presence 
 and approval of the Christ accounts for their 
 success in turning men from Satan to God. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 What is here claimed for the Disciples ? 
 
 What is it to be evangelical ? 
 
 What to be evangelistic? 
 
 How account for the evangeUstic spirit among Dis- 
 ciples? 
 
 In whose strength caii we succeed in evangelizing the 
 world ?
 
 94 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE I.ITERATURK OF THE DISCIPLES. 
 
 The first literature of the Disciples was 
 polemic in character. This was occasioned by 
 circumstances. They were misunderstood. 
 False accusations were made concerning their 
 teaching. Their pacific desires were misrep- 
 resented because they were not understood. 
 Controversy became, in this way, for a time, a 
 feature of their life. Thus it came to pass 
 that their early literature was in this tone. 
 
 The first periodical published in the inter- 
 est of union, by a restoration of the doctrine, 
 ordinances, and life, of the Apostolic age was 
 called the "Christian Baptist." Alexander 
 Campbell was both editor and proprietor. 
 The place of publication was Bethany, Brooke 
 Co., Virginia — now West Virginia. The pa- 
 per was issued once a month. The first num- 
 ber was dated August i, 1823. Its general 
 character and object were stated in the follow- 
 ing words: 
 
 ' ' The Christian Baptist shall espouse the 
 cause of no religious sect, excepting that an- 
 cient sect ' called Christians first at Antioch.' 
 Its sole object shall be the eviction of truth
 
 TlIK LirKKATl'HK OF i'llK DlSCll'LKS. i<5 
 
 and the exposing of error in doctrine and 
 practice. The editor, acknowledging no 
 standard of religious faith or works other than 
 the Old and New Testaments, and the latter as 
 the only standard of the religion of Jesus 
 Christ, will, intentionally at least, oppose 
 nothing which it contains and recommend noth- 
 ing which it does not enjoin^ Having no 
 worldly interest at stake from the adoption or 
 reprobation of any articles of faith or religious 
 practice, having no gift nor religious emolu- 
 ment to blind his eyes or to pervert his judg- 
 ment, he hopes to manifest that he is an im- 
 partial advocate of truth." 
 
 The " Christian Baptist " continued seven 
 years. Its style was caustic, cutting, severe. 
 The editor adopted this manner to gain the at- 
 tention of the people, to awaken them to a sense 
 of the condition of the church, and to excite 
 in their minds a desire for something better. 
 "The Millennial Harbinger" followed the 
 " Christian Baptist." Its tone was milder — 
 more pacific. The purpose of the "Christian 
 Baptist " had been attained. 
 
 The Disciples have published two transla- 
 tions of the New Testament, The first was the 
 work of Alexander Campbell in 1826, and the 
 second was by H. T. Anderson in 1864. The
 
 96 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 title of Mr. Campbell's work was, "^helyiving 
 Oracles." " The Christian System " is a non- 
 controversial book, written by Alexander Camp- 
 bell, which very fully sets forth his understand- 
 ing of the faith and practice authorized by the 
 New Testament. J. T. Barclay spent some 
 years, as a missionary, in Jerusalem, and as a 
 result wrote a book of unusual merit entitled 
 "The City of the Great King." Subsequent 
 writers on the Holy Land have drawn freely 
 upon Dr. Barclay's work. Two volumes by 
 Robert Milligan, entitled " Reason and Revela- 
 tion," and "The Scheme of Redemption," are 
 intended to exhibit, in a formal and somewhat 
 elaborate way, reasons for believing in the 
 Bible as a supernatural book, and in Jesus as 
 the Son of God; and to place before the mind 
 of the reader the divine plan of redemption as 
 outlined in the Word of God. "The Divine 
 Demonstration," is a book on the truth of the 
 Christian religion, by H. W. Everest. J. S. 
 Lamar is the author of a book entitled " First 
 Principles and Perfection." In this work he 
 shows how persons become Christians and how 
 they can grow in grace. "McGarvey's Commen- 
 tary on Acts," is a good book on conversion, 
 or how men became Christians under the minis- 
 try of specially inspired men. He is also the
 
 THK LITKKATUKK < >F THK I>IS(iPLES. "J/ 
 
 author of " The Text and the Canon;" a work 
 to be read by those who desire to have clear 
 views as to the origin, and structure of the 
 New Testament; and reasons for believing that 
 its writings are inspired. President McGar- 
 vey's, " The Land and the Book," is an excel- 
 lent work on Palestine. The Holy Land and 
 the Holy Book are shown to sustain such rela- 
 tions to each other that the reading of the 
 volume, here named, will strengthen one's faith 
 in the " Old Book." In " Jesus as a Teacher," 
 by B. A. Hinsdale, the second part, the origin 
 and growth of the New Testament is shown. 
 " The Old Faith Re-stated," is a volume written 
 by a number of Disciples, and edited by J. H. 
 Garrison. As the name suggests it contains a 
 statement of the teaching of reason and revela- 
 tion on a variety of topics of current interest 
 connected with the faith once for all delivered 
 to the saints. F. M. Green's "History of 
 Missions Among the Disciples " is the only book 
 of its kind in existence. It was written a 
 number of years ago and is chiefly valuable as 
 containing an account of the origin of organ- 
 ized mission work among the Disciples. A. 
 McLean's " Missionary Addresses " is a book 
 worthy of a place in any library. The author's 
 intense, and intelligent enthusiasm for missions,
 
 98 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 is realized on every page. For an intelligent 
 understanding of the origin and history of the 
 Disciples there are two books that must be 
 read: " Memoirs of A. Campbell," by Robert 
 Richardson; and "Thelyifeof Isaac Errett," 
 by J. S. lyamar. There is space to mention the 
 following books, devotional in character: " The 
 Heavenly Way," and "Alone with God," by 
 J. H. Garrison; "Walks About Jerusalem," 
 "Letters to a Young Christian," and "Evenings 
 With the Bible." by Isaac Errett. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 Character of the first literature and reasons for ? 
 
 The first periodical? When? Where? By whom 
 edited ? 
 
 Its characteristics and reasons for ? 
 
 New Testament translations ? By whom ? When pub- 
 lished ? 
 
 Name books setting forth the teaching of the New 
 Testament. 
 
 Books on conversion or how to become Christians. 
 
 Works on missions. 
 
 Books on the truth of the Christian religion. 
 
 Books on the origin and structure of the New Testa- 
 ment. 
 
 Essential books to know the history of the Disciples ? 
 
 Name devotional books. 
 
 Name the writers of all the books mentioned in this 
 chapter.
 
 EDUCATION AMONG THE DISCIPLES. *J9 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 EDUCATION AMONG THE DISCIPLES. 
 
 The prime movers in the current effort to 
 unite the people of God for world-wide evan- 
 gelistic effort by a restoration of simple New 
 Testament Christianity were educated men. 
 As a result they had proceeded but a short dis- 
 tance in their attempt to return to primitive 
 Christianity when the subject of education en- 
 listed their attention and interest. 
 
 The first institution of higher education 
 established by the Disciples was Bacon College, 
 which was founded in Georgetown, Ky., in 
 1836. After a varied history it became Ken- 
 tucky University in Lexington, Ky., in 1858. 
 
 Alexander Campbell, in 1838, published the 
 plan of an institution of learning differing in 
 important features from any college in exist- 
 ence. The teaching was to be essentially and 
 permanently Biblical. All science, literature 
 and art, were to be made tributary to the Bible. 
 Moral character was to be an essential part of 
 education. Mr. Campbell was especially im- 
 pressed with the great need of an educated 
 and efiicient ministry to co-operate in the great 
 work of restoring to the world the Christianity
 
 100 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 of Christ in its doctrine and life. As a result 
 of his efforts Bethany College was granted a 
 charter by the legislature of Virginia in 1 840. 
 This work Mr. Campbell regarded as the con- 
 summation and crown of all his earthly pro- 
 jects. The Bible is a text book in this insti- 
 tution. The religious life of the college has 
 been conspicuous from the first. No person 
 received a diploma during Alexander Camp- 
 bell's presidency, which was from the founding 
 of the school until his death in 1866, who had 
 not stood an examination in the Bible. In 
 1891 ninety-four percent, of the students were 
 Christians. 
 
 Eureka College, located in the town of 
 Eureka, 111., was chartered in 1855. The 
 distinguishing feature of Bethany, as to the 
 Bible, was reproduced in Eureka College. But 
 from the first both sexes were admitted to 
 Eureka College classes on terms of perfect 
 equality. In the beginning this was not a 
 custom in Bethany College, althoughfor a num- 
 ber of years ladies have been admitted to its 
 class rooms on the same terms as young men. 
 
 Eureka, probably, was the first College in 
 the world to disregard sex distinctions. This 
 honor lies between the Eureka College and the 
 North Western Christian University, now
 
 EDUCATION AMONG THE DISCIPLES. 101 
 
 Butler, established at about the same time, in 
 Indianapolis, Ind. 
 
 Hiram College, in a village of this name, 
 twenty miles from Cleveland, Ohio, began in 
 1850 as the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute. 
 It became Hiram College in 1867. The aims 
 of the Eclectic Institute were : 
 
 " I. To provide a sound scientific and 
 literary education. 
 
 "2. To temper and sweeten such educa- 
 tion with moral and scriptural knowledge. 
 
 "3. To educate young men for the minis- 
 try." 
 
 James A. Garfield, twentieth President of 
 the United States, was educated at the Western 
 Reserve Eclectic Institute, and was a Professor 
 in Hiram College. 
 
 Eminence College, located at Eminence, 
 Henry County, Ky., established in 1857. It is 
 a personal enterprise inaugurated and carried 
 forward by W. S- Giltner, but in the interests 
 of the Disciples of Christ. 
 
 The Legislature of Iowa granted a charter to 
 Oskaloosa College in 1857. This institution is 
 the result of an organized effort on the part of 
 the Disciples of Christ in Iowa, and is located 
 in the town of Oskaloosa. In 1855 the Dis-
 
 102 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 ciples in convention, in that State, resolved to 
 establish a college. - 
 
 Drake University, located at Des Moines, 
 Iowa, was founded in 1881 by General F. M. 
 Drake, the present (1897) Governor of Iowa. 
 
 There is not space to give a list of all the 
 colleges founded and conducted by the Disci- 
 ples of Christ, nor is it necessary to do so. 
 The institutions here named are the most 
 prominent and serve to show the interest which 
 the Disciples feel in the cause of education. 
 By their principles and aims the Disciples must 
 be keenly alive to the cause of education. 
 
 The General Convention has a Board of 
 Education, the purpose of which will be found 
 in the nineteenth chapter of this book. It has 
 in hand a movement to employ a competent 
 person to visit our colleges and deliver lectures 
 on missions and mission work. 
 
 The Christian Woman's Board of Missions 
 three or four years ago established two chairs 
 in connection with the University of Michigan, 
 the purpose of which is to give instructions in 
 the English Bible. The work is so practical 
 and popular that the Disciples are doing a 
 similar work in connection with five other 
 State Universities.
 
 CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR AMONG THE DISCIPLES, 103 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 What kind of men, as to learning, were the prime 
 
 movers in the attempt to restore New Testament 
 
 Christianity ? 
 When and where was the first college organized ? 
 At what time did Alexander Campbell publish the 
 
 plan of an institution of learning? 
 What was to be its peculiarity? 
 Result? 
 
 What other colleges are named ? 
 Date and beginning of each ? Where located ? 
 Name the first college in the world to admit women 
 
 to its classes. 
 The Board of Education, its purpose, and the special 
 
 work now in hand ? 
 Work of Bible instruction in connection with State 
 
 Universities ? 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR AMONG THE DISCIPLES. 
 
 With the spirit and aim of the Disciples 
 before us it ought to occasion no surprise that 
 when the Christian Endeavor movement came 
 into existence they gave to it a cordial welcome. 
 "The Active Member's Pledge" is a good 
 statement of what the Disciples aim to be and 
 to do. ' ' Trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ
 
 104 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 for Strength, I promise him that I will strive 
 to do whatever he would like to have me do; 
 that 1 will make it the rule of my life to pray 
 and to read the Bible every day, and to sup- 
 port my own church in every way, especially 
 by attending all her regular Sunday and mid- 
 week services, unless prevented by some rea- 
 son which I can conscientiously give to my 
 Savior; and that, just so far as I know how, 
 throughout my whole life, I will endeavor to 
 lead a Christian life." 
 
 The Christ is given the pre-eminence. He 
 is recognized as the Lord. The covenant is 
 made with him. The promise is to read the 
 Word of which he is the Alpha and Omega. 
 The pledge is to strive to please him. His 
 church is to be supported. The only reason 
 for absence from a regular meeting of the 
 church must be such as one can render to him. 
 The life that is to be led is a simple Christian 
 life. The Christ is to be in all things the 
 model. What would he do if he were in my 
 place ? The reply to this question is the solu- 
 tion of all practical questions. The Endeav- 
 orer says, in a word, that '* trusting in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ for strength," he will en- 
 deavor to be and to do all that the Lord Jesus 
 would like to have hiip to be and to do. All
 
 CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR AMONG THE DISOIPLES. 105 
 
 of this, essential to the Christian Endeavor 
 movement, is in perfect accord with the funda- 
 mental principles and aims of the Disciples of 
 Christ. 
 
 The annual report of the National Super- 
 intendent of Christian Endeavor, made to the 
 General Convention of Disciples of Christ, in 
 Springfield, 111., in October, 1896, contained 
 the following: 
 
 "The religious training of our young peo- 
 ple stands second to no interest among us. 
 If the churches of to-morrow are to be intelli- 
 gently aggressive and thoroughly loyal to our 
 Lord; if they are to be well equipped for 
 effective service at home and abroad, we must 
 thoroughly instruct and wisely train the young 
 people of to-day." 
 
 "The Christian Endeavor Societies offer to 
 us the means through which these ends may be 
 attained. These societies are simply groups 
 of young Christians banded together by a defi- 
 nite pledge of loyalty to our Lord, for their 
 training in his service. These societies are 
 subordinate to the local churches in which 
 .they exist, and the normal development of their 
 activities is through the channels of the 
 churches. The permanent motto of the
 
 106 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OP CHRIST. 
 
 Christian Endeavor movement is ' For Christ 
 and the Church.' It is not for itself." 
 
 In this report he also said: "Two years 
 ago, at Richmond, I reported 2,446 societies; 
 one year ago, at Dallas, I reported 3,085; to-day 
 I report 3,654. Showing a net gain during the 
 past year, of 569 societies; an average increase 
 of nearly 11 societies a week." 
 
 At the International Christian Endeavor 
 Convention in Washington City, July, 1896, 
 the Disciples in their rally appointed a com- 
 mittee on '* I^iterature Among Our Young Peo- 
 ple." This committee reported to the Spring- 
 field Convention recommending "a selected 
 course of reading concerning missions in gen- 
 eral, and our own mission in particular, and 
 thorough instruction as to the origin, the prin- 
 ciples, and the history of our own movement 
 for the restoration of New Testament Chris- 
 tianity." This report was unanimously adopted 
 by the convention and was afterward approved 
 by the acting board. 
 
 The first Lord's day in February is observed 
 as Christian Endeavor Day, and the object is to 
 foster an interest in Foreign Missions. This 
 convention also recommended *' in addition, the 
 establishment of Forefather's Day on the Lord's 
 day nearest the 1 2th of October, that being the
 
 CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR AMONG THE DISCIPLES. 107 
 
 anniversary of the birth of Alexander Camp- 
 bell." It was farther " recommended that the 
 purpose of this day be the fostering of interest^ 
 in the study of the history and purpose of our 
 people and, therefore, in our Home Mission- 
 ary Work." Offerings may be made on these 
 da5's, of money, to aid the interests to which 
 especial attention is called by their observ- 
 ance. 
 
 The Disciples of Christ extend a welcome 
 to Christian Endeavor beyond that of any other 
 people. Their organization in the interest of 
 this uprising of the young people " For Christ 
 and the Church ' ' consists of local societies, 
 local unions, state superintendents, a national 
 superintendent, and a representative on the 
 Board of Trustees of the United Society. The 
 pastors and elders in our churches are ex-officio 
 members of the local societies and of the execu- 
 tive committee in each society. 
 
 The Christian Endeavorers among us have 
 erected a chapel at Salt Lake City, in Utah. 
 They assist our mission work in Boston and 
 Chicago, and contribute to the treasuries of all 
 the missionary organizations of the Disciples 
 of Christ. Their work steadily increases in 
 efficiency. There is in it the promise that the 
 Church of the future will be better, more
 
 108 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OP CHRIST. 
 
 intelligent and consecrated to the Christ and 
 his service than is the Church of to-day. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 Explain why Disciples cordially favor Christian En- 
 deavor. 
 
 Give Endeavor statistics among Disciples of Christ. 
 
 What suggestion was made by the National Superin- 
 tendent to the General Convention of Disciples 
 in 1896? 
 
 What action was taken in Washington City, July, 
 1896? 
 
 Christian Endeavor Day and its object? 
 
 Forefather's Day and its purpose ? 
 
 What is our general organization of Christian En- 
 deavor ? 
 
 What have Endeavorers done, among Disciples, in 
 mission work ? 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 MISSION WORK OF THE DISCIPLES. 
 
 It was inevitable that with their conception 
 of man in his fallen estate, of sin and its dire 
 results, and of the Gospel as the divinely or- 
 dained remedy, the Disciples should, at an 
 early period in their history, organize for mis- 
 sion work. The following is a condensed
 
 MISSION WORK OF THE DISflPLES. 109 
 
 Statement of facts concerning their organized 
 efforts to preach the Gospel to all men: 
 
 The American Christian Missionary Society 
 was organized in Cincinnati in 1849. The 
 pnrpose of this Society was to give the Word 
 of life to the people of our own and other lands. 
 At present it is the National Home Mission 
 Society of the Disciples of Christ. At the time 
 of its organization Alexander Campbell was 
 elected president, in which office he remained 
 until his death in 1866. 
 
 Since 1849 the American Christian Mis- 
 sionary Society has received $718,137.26; and 
 31 ,204 persons have been added to the churches 
 by confession and baptism, under the labors of 
 its evangelists. Forty-six persons were in its 
 service during the whole or a portion of the 
 year ending October ist, 1896. The number 
 of baptisms was 1,316. The amount of money 
 collected was $33,733.94- Each dollar collected 
 for missions secures the collection and expend- 
 iture of three dollars more, so that this so- 
 ciety has been the means of securing more than 
 two millions of dollars for Christian work, 
 besides the money that has passed through 
 its treasury. The work of this organization 
 is chiefly in the states and territories of the 
 West, and in the Atlantic and Gulf states. It
 
 110 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 is composed of life directors, life members, 
 annual members, and delegates of churches. 
 The ofiSce of the American Christian Mission- 
 ary Society is in Cincinnati. Benj. ly. Smith 
 is the corresponding secretary. 
 
 In connection with this society are the 
 Board of Church Extension, the Board of Ne- 
 gro Education and Evangelization, the Board 
 of Education and the Board of Ministerial 
 Relief. 
 
 The Board of Church Extension was or- 
 ganized in Cincinnati in 1883. In 1888 its 
 ofifice was removed to Kansas City, Mo. The 
 object of this board is to aid homeless bands 
 of Disciples to obtain houses of worship, by 
 loaning them money at the low rate of four 
 per cent, interest per annum for five years. 
 This fund has been handled with such wisdom 
 that not a dollar has been lost. Since its be- 
 ginning this board has collected $160,000. It 
 has pledges falling due year by year, amount- 
 ing to $115,000. Three hundred and ten 
 churches in thirt)^-six states and territories 
 have been aided. G. W. Muckley, Kansas 
 City, Mo., is the corresponding secretary. 
 
 The Board of Negro Education and Evan- 
 gelization was reorganized in Allegheny, Pa., 
 in 1891. C. C. Smith, Akron, Ohio, is the
 
 MISSION WORK OF THE DISCIPLES. Ill 
 
 corresponding secretary. The home of this 
 board is Louisville, Ky. The Southern Chris- 
 tian Institute, near Edwards, Miss., the 
 Christian Bible School, Louisville, Ky., and a 
 school at Mount Willing, Alabama, are sus- 
 tained by this board. J. B. Lehman is presi- 
 dent of the Southern Christian Insitute. About 
 one hundred pupils are enrolled annually. A. 
 J. Thompson is president of the Louisville 
 Bible School. The average annual attendance 
 is twenty-four. Young men of color are here 
 trained to be preachers of the gospel among 
 their own people. Robert Brooks, the princi- 
 pal of the Mount Willing School, was educated 
 in the Southern Christian Institute. Eighty- 
 five pupils were enrolled during the last school 
 year. The work of evangelization among the 
 people of color in Missouri, Mississippi and 
 Florida, has also received assistance during this 
 time. The receipts of this board for the year 
 ending October i, 1896, were $7,413.69. A 
 plantation of 800 acres belongs to the South- 
 ern Christian Institute. 
 
 Collections for the above named organiza- 
 tions, except the Boards of Ministerial Relief 
 and Education, are taken as follows: By the 
 churches, for general evangelization, the first 
 Lord's day in May; and by the Sunday Schools,
 
 112 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 for the same purpose, the first Lord's day in 
 December. For the Church Extension Fund 
 the first lyord's day in September. For the 
 Board of Negro Education the first Eord' s day 
 in November. 
 
 The Board of Education was organized in 
 1894 in Richmond, Va. Its aim is to collect 
 and publish statistics of education among the 
 Disciples of Christ and foster their educational 
 interests. Mrs. Albertina Allen Forrest, Chi- 
 cago University, Chicago, 111., is the secretary. 
 
 The Board of Ministerial Relief was organ- 
 ized in Dallas, Texas, in 1895. A. M. Atkin- 
 son, Wabash, Ind., is the corresponding sec- 
 retary. This board cares for aged and dis- 
 abled ministers and their families. No one 
 day in the year has been set apart for a col- 
 lection in support of this ministry of love. 
 Every I^ord's day is sacred to it. "Ye have 
 the poor always with you." 
 
 The Christian Woman's Board of Missions 
 was organized in Cincinnati in 1874. This so- 
 ciety has the honor of being the first organiza- 
 tion in the world for mission work in which 
 the entire management is in the hands of 
 women. The aggregate amount of money re- 
 ceived is $542 ,221.59. It publishes two papers 
 monthly: The Missionary Tidings, and The
 
 MISSION WORK OF THE DISCIPLES. 113 
 
 Junior Builders. I,eaflets containing mission- 
 ary intelligence, and appeals, are also pub- 
 lished. Societies auxiliary to The Christian 
 Woman's Board of Missions exist in forty 
 states and territories with a membership of 
 30,000. Among the young people there are 
 Mission Bands and Circles, and Junior En- 
 deavor Societies, in thirty-five states, with a 
 membership of 16,938. Two persons are at 
 work, under the auspices of this society, in 
 Mexico; five in Jamaica, seventeen in India; 
 and twenty-four in the United States. Miss 
 lyois A. White, Indianapolis, Ind,, is the cor- 
 responding secretary. Collections, in the 
 churches, the first Lord's day in July. 
 
 The Foreign Christian Missionary Society 
 was organized in Louisville, Ky,, 1875. The 
 aim of this society is to "make disciples of all 
 the nations." One hundred and fortj^-four 
 persons are in its employ, working in England, 
 Scandinavia, Turkey, India, China, and Japan. 
 The total receipts from its organization to Oc- 
 tober I, 1896, were ^902,71 1.73. The receipts 
 from October i, 1895, to the corresponding 
 date in 1896, were 1^93,867.71. This amount 
 was contributed by 2,459 churches, 2,605 Sun- 
 day Schools, 265 Societies of Christian En- 
 deavor, and 743 individuals. A. McLean,
 
 114 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, is the corresponding sec- 
 retary. 
 
 There are also organizations, in the states 
 and territories, in which there are Disciples, 
 and in the District of Columbia, for home mis- 
 sion work. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 What are the names of the various missionary organ- 
 izations ? 
 
 Mention the field occupied by each. 
 
 Name the Secretaries and give their addresses. 
 
 Give the dates of organization of each of the Societies 
 and Boards. 
 
 On what days are collections taken ? 
 
 Name the Boards for which no days are specified. 
 
 Give the amount of money collected by each Society 
 and Board. 
 
 Besides the Societies and Boards named in this chap- 
 ter, what other missionary organizations are 
 there ? 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THK PRESENT STATE OF THE UNION QUESTION. 
 
 Since the publication of Thomas Camp- 
 bell's "Declaration and Address " in 1809 a 
 great change has taken place on the subject of
 
 THE UNION QUESTION. 115 
 
 union among those who believe in Jesus to the 
 saving of the soul. It was necessary at that 
 time to show by the Scriptures that such 
 divisions as existed among Christians, and 
 now exist, are sinful. The present divided 
 condition of the church is not well-pleasing to 
 the head of the body. This proposition was 
 stoutly and generally denied then; not so at 
 the present time Divisions among the dis- 
 ciples of thepeerless teacher are now lamented. 
 Sectarianism is now condemned. The best 
 men in the ministry now confess that sects are 
 sinful. They are products of the flesh, not of 
 the Holy Spirit. Good men pray and plead 
 for Christian unity and union. Temporary 
 unions are formed for evangelistic and other 
 Christian purposes. There is a general agree- 
 ment that there must be, for the children of 
 God, a more excellent way than that in which 
 we are walking at the present time. The one 
 great point that has been gained since the agi- 
 tation of this subject began in the early part of 
 the present century is this: Schisms are sin- 
 ful. The problem now is as to the character, 
 the extent, and Scriptural basis of union. The 
 union for which Jesus prayed and which alone 
 will be acceptable to him is spiritual in its 
 character. It must be a union similar to that
 
 116 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 which exists between the Father and the Son. 
 (John xvii: 20-21.) This was the kind of 
 unity which existed at the first among beUevers. 
 (Acts iv: 32-35.) Paul says that believers 
 ought to be perfectly joined together in the 
 same mind and in the same judgment, and 
 that they ought to speak the same things. (I 
 Cor. i: 10 ) A number of bases for the union 
 of Christians are now before the world. 
 
 I. There is the plan that may be fittingly 
 characterized by the word Siib7)iissio7i. The 
 Pope laments the divided state of Christendom. 
 He earnestly desires union. His plan is ex- 
 ceedingly simple. Let the heretical Protestant 
 sects return to " the holy mother church," the 
 Roman Catholic; let them acknowledge the 
 Pope as the vicegerent of the crowned Christ, 
 and humbly submit to him, (the Pope,) as to 
 God. This is the plan of "his holiness," 
 Leo XIII. 
 
 II. The word Co7isolidation describes an- 
 other plan. It is that of the House of Bishops 
 of the Protestant Episcopal Church This 
 plan proposes the reunion of the church on 
 the following basis: 
 
 " (i.) The Holy Scriptures of the Old and 
 New Testaments as * containing all things
 
 THE UNION QUESTION. 117 
 
 necessary to salvation,' and as being the rule 
 and ultimate standard of faith. 
 
 " (2.) The Apostles' Creed as being the 
 baptismal symbol, and the Nicene Creed as 
 the sufficient statement of tlie Christian faith. 
 
 "(3.) The two Sacraments ordained by 
 Christ himself — baptism and the supper of the 
 Lord — ministered with unfailing use of Christ's 
 words of institution, and of the elements 
 ordained by him. 
 
 " (4.) The Historic Episcopate, locally 
 adapted in the methods of its administration to 
 the varying needs of the nations and peoples 
 called of God into the unity of his Church." 
 
 This proposition, since its publication in 1886, 
 has been widely discussed. "The Historic 
 Episcopate locally adapted," etc , has excited 
 the greatest interest. But the above plan con- 
 templates Cliurch union rather than Christian 
 union. 
 
 in. Confederation, or federation, is the 
 word to u.se in describing another basis of 
 union. This plan meets with most favor 
 among Presbyterians. The late James McCosh, 
 of Princeton University, was an earnest and 
 able advocate of this scheme. Some of the 
 smaller Presbyterian bodies have entered into 
 a federation for Christian effort. In some of the
 
 118 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 cities this plan is being tried. Congregations 
 of different denominations have gone into it. 
 It proposes to leave denominational organiza- 
 tions and institutions as they are. Work com- 
 mon to all will be done by united effort. The 
 relation of the several denominations to the 
 federation, if the plan should be carried out, 
 will be similar to that of the states of our 
 Republic to the general government. 
 
 IV. A basis of union submitted by the 
 Congregationalists may be described by the 
 word Cofnpromise. The Scriptures of the Old 
 and New Testament are to be recognized as 
 containing God's word to man. As to the 
 organization and order of the church and con- 
 cerning the use, or non-use of baptism and the 
 Lord's Supper, this plan says, in effect: '' Let 
 every man be persuaded in his own mind. If 
 he desires to be immersed, or to immerse, so 
 be it. If he prefers sprinkling or pouring let 
 no one say nay. Or if, like the Quaker, he 
 rejects both baptism and the Supper of the 
 Lord, let him still be received and treated as a 
 brother beloved." 
 
 V. Restoration is the word that describes 
 the way to union advocated by the Disciples of 
 Christ. "Back to Christ." is their watch- 
 word. **Hear ye him," is the Oracle from
 
 THE UNION QUESTION. 119 
 
 heaven. (Matt, xvii: 5.) Paul affirms that 
 the Christ is the only foundation for the church. 
 (I Cor. iii: 11.) When he said this he was 
 discussing the question of union among Chris- 
 tians. To believe in Christ and obey him is 
 the way to union. This plan has been pre- 
 sented at sufficient length in the preceding 
 chapters. There is no better summary state- 
 ment of this plan for our day than this: (i) 
 The Primitive Creed, (2) The Primitive Ordi- 
 nances, (3) The Primitive Life. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 What change has taken place since 1809? 
 What are now the questions concerning union ? 
 What, at present, is the chief question ? 
 How many bases of union are now before the pubHc ? 
 Name and explain each ? 
 Which one do you prefer? 
 Why? 
 
 Will there ever be a more perfect union among be- 
 lievers than at present exists ? 
 Why do you so think ?
 
 120 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 POINTS TO BK GUARDED. 
 
 Dr. Arthur T. Pierson says: "It is re- 
 markable, as an historic fact, that, just so soon 
 as any movement, though beginning with a 
 spiritual impulse and even in the spirit of pro- 
 test and reform, gets to be popular and numer- 
 ically strong, its point of peril is reached, if, 
 indeed, it be not already disastrously passed; 
 and the way that was once costly to enter and 
 hard to follow, now becomes easy to enter and 
 correspondingly pleasant to pursue. It is one 
 of the paradoxes of history that the church, 
 born in persecution and baptized in blood, no 
 sooner grows to be numerous and strong than 
 it begins to broaden out its doctrinal beliefs and 
 to compromise with the secular spirit of the 
 age; and there is more than one case in history 
 where the same body of believers that once led 
 the way in protest against heresy, afterward led 
 the way in countenancing heresy; so that those 
 who once separated from others for the sake of 
 holy living, need to be separated from, by 
 those who would live holy." (The Acts of 
 the Holy Spirit, pp. 39-40.) 
 
 The events that have taken place in the
 
 POINTS TO BE GUARDED. 121 
 
 world, more especially in the church, ought 
 to warn us against the perils to which we are 
 exposed. Every great movement, every good 
 thing, has its dangers. To this statement of 
 fact the Disciples of Christ are not an exception. 
 They are exposed to perils. What are some 
 of the danger points in their experience. 
 
 Attention has been called to their rapid 
 numerical increase. They are now, compara- 
 tively, popular. With their increase in num- 
 bers there has come, as is but natural, an 
 increase of wealth. The possession of wealth 
 is perilous. A church possessing much of this 
 world's goods is in danger of saying, as did the 
 church in I^aodicea: **I am rich, and have 
 gotten riches, and have need of nothing." 
 Wealth is good if it is sanctified. But there is 
 danger that with larger possessions there will 
 come to be luxurious habits of life. Effemi- 
 nacy belongs to this manner of living. There 
 is danger also of selfishness. These things 
 are contrary to the Christ spirit. Especially 
 guard the points here indicated. They are 
 real perils to the work to which the Disci- 
 ples of Christ have been called. 
 
 The inauguration of the movement, of which 
 a brief account is given in these pages, was 
 of God. He has cared for it from the first. It
 
 122 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 is manifestly a child of Divine Providence. To 
 him we are indebted for whatever of success has 
 attended our efforts. ' ' Not by might nor by 
 power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of 
 Hosts." (Zechariah iv: 6.) Paul may plant, 
 Apollos may water, but God gives the increase. 
 (I Cor. iii: 6.) Of this fact we need to be fre- 
 quently reminded. There is danger of Phari- 
 seeism. The spirit of self-suflSciency must be 
 guarded against. Nebuchednezzar "was walk- 
 ing in the royal palace of Babylon " and thus 
 "the king spake and said:" "Is not this 
 great Babylon, which I have built for the royal 
 dwelling place, by the might of my power and 
 for the glory of my majesty?" And the 
 historian says that " while the word was in the 
 king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven 
 saying, * The kingdom is departed from thee. 
 Thou shalt be driven from men, and thy 
 dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field'." 
 And so it came to pass. (Daniel iv: 30-32.) 
 Beware of boasting of what we have done, are 
 doing, and can do. A sense of human weak- 
 ness and dependence on God ought to be culti- 
 vated. Paul said: "When I am weak then I 
 am strong." (II Cor. xii: 10.) 
 
 Rationalism is a danger point. Much at- 
 tention, and with great propriety, has been
 
 POINTS TO BE GUARDED. 123 
 
 given to the logic of the discourses and epistles 
 of the holy men to whom we are indebted for 
 the New Testament. In our study of the 
 Word, God has enabled us to arrange in a 
 logical and simple manner the steps leading 
 to an assurance of salvation One may mis- 
 take a reception of this arrangement for the 
 faith by which the passage is made out of the 
 kingdom of Satan into that of God's dear Son. 
 Such an error is so serious as to be fatal. The 
 faith by which one is saved is a personal trust 
 in the Son of God. It is possible to hold to an 
 illogical arrangement of the steps leading up to 
 a knowledge of salvation with the possession of 
 the liberty that belongs to a child of God, 
 while there may be a clear understanding of 
 the plan of salvation, without the freedom 
 from sin graciously offered to man in Christ 
 Jesus the Lord. Belief in Christ, not logic; 
 faith in the Son of God, not philosophy; is the 
 way of deliverance from sin. All is of God as 
 he reveals himself in Christ. Guard this point. 
 Beware of shallow views of sin and salva- 
 tion. No one can tell what sin is as God sees 
 it. But God sees and knows sin as it is. 
 Study sin, standing near the cross. Look into 
 the face of the Son of God as he suffers for 
 sin and then attempt to tell what sin is. Linger
 
 124 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 in the midst of the crucifixion scenes as they 
 are placed before our minds in the New Testa- 
 ment in order to understand, as far as finite 
 minds can understand, the nature of sin. Our 
 redemption from sin is through the sacrifice of 
 the Just One. Nothing that we can think, or 
 say, or do, apart from the atoning death of 
 the Son of God can bring freedom from sin. 
 Deliverance from sin is through the favor of 
 God. "By grace have ye been saved." 
 (Eph. ii: 8.) " According to his mercy he 
 saved us." (Titus iii: 5.) The word ''great" 
 is used to characterize this salvation. (Heb. 
 ii: 3.) How "great?" No man can answer. 
 Our salvation is yet incomplete. We are in 
 process of salvation. Read the following: 
 " And the I^ord added to them day by day 
 those that were being saved." (Acts ii: 47.) 
 "The word of the cross is to them that are 
 perishing foolishness; but unto us which are 
 being saved it is the power of God." (I Cor. 
 i: 18.) "We are a sweet savor of Christ unto 
 God, in them that are being saved, and in 
 them that are perishing." (II Cor. ii: 15.) 
 " Now is our salvation nearer than when we 
 believed." (Rom. xiii: 11.) "It is not yet 
 made manifest what we shall be;" but "we 
 shall be like him." (I John iii: 2.) If we do
 
 INDEBTEDNESS TO THE DISCIPLES. 125 
 
 not fully understand sin no more do we com- 
 prehend salvation. Avoid shallow views of 
 sin and salvation. 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 What is the subject of this chapter ? 
 
 Recite the language of Dr. Pierson. 
 
 Do these words suggest danger points to which the 
 
 Disciples are exposed ? 
 Mention some of our perils named in this chapter. 
 Do you think of other dangers ? 
 What are they ? 
 Against what are Disciples especially warned ? 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE world's indebtedness TO THE DIS- 
 CIPLES. 
 
 It must be evident to all who have care- 
 fully considered the facts contained in the pre- 
 ceding chapters that the Disciples of Christ 
 came into existence without the determination 
 of any man, or company of men. The move- 
 ment described on the foregoing pages is clearly 
 of God.
 
 126 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 The world is indebted to the Disciples for : 
 I. A more rational, and satisfactory, man- 
 ner of studying the Bible than had previously 
 been employed. They were the first to call 
 attention to a proper division of the Word 
 The Old Testament and the New Testament 
 are the two great divisions of the Scripture. 
 The Old Testament contains an account of the 
 religion of the Patriarchs and Jews, and pre- 
 dictions concerning the Messiah. It is divided 
 into the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. 
 (Luke xxiv: 44.) The book of Genesis is, as 
 its name signifies, " The Book of Beginnings." 
 Exodus, as its name implies, contains an ac- 
 count of the release of the people of Israel from 
 their bondage in Egypt. The Book of Leviti- 
 cus gives an account of the tribe of Levi, the 
 Levitical Priesthood, and the ancient religious 
 ritual of the Hebrew people. In Numbers we 
 read of the census of the people who, under 
 Moses, came out of bondage into liberty. Deu- 
 teronomy is a repetition of the laws by which 
 the Hebrew Commonwealth and Church were 
 to be governed. The book of Judges contains 
 a history of the people after their settlement in 
 Canaan, and before a king reigned over them. 
 Men, and women, from time to time, were 
 raised up, called judges, to deliver the people
 
 INDEBTEDNESS To THE DISCIPLES. 127 
 
 from their oppressors. The book of Ruth is a 
 Hterary gem in which is placed before the mind 
 a beautiful picture of life among the people of 
 Israel in the days of the judges. The 
 books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Nehe- 
 miah, Ezra, and Esther, are historic in 
 their character. The Hebrew prophets were 
 preachers of righteousness, and seers, and ought 
 to be read in connection with the history to 
 which they belong. The book of Psalms is the 
 ancient Hebrew hymn book, etc. 
 
 The New Testament contains an account 
 of the belief and conduct of the early Chris- 
 tians, and records the fulfillment of the Mes- 
 sianic prophecies. The four Gospels answer 
 the question: '* Who is Jesus ? " The book of 
 Acts contains an answer to the question : ' ' How 
 can the sinner come to an assurance of salva- 
 tion?" It is the revival book of the Bible. 
 From it we learn what the gospel is, as 
 preached by men under the immediate inspira- 
 tion of the Holy Spirit, and how sinners be- 
 came Christians under their ministr3\ The ex- 
 amples of conversion given in this portion of the 
 New Testament have the divine approval and 
 are for our instruction. The Epistles show the 
 application of gospel principles to daily life. 
 The Revelation shows that out of the conflict
 
 128 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 between truth and error, light and darkness, 
 righteousness and sin, God and Satan; truth, 
 light, righteousness, and God,will be victorious. 
 
 The Old Testament is not complete without 
 the New; the New Testament is not complete 
 without the Old. 
 
 II. The discovery, exposition, and prac- 
 tical application of the creed of Christianity. 
 What is this creed ? Nathaniel said to Jesus : 
 " Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the 
 King of Israel." (John i : 49.) Martha said: 
 " I have believed that thou art the Christ, 
 the Son of God, eve7i he that cometh into 
 the world." (John xi: 27.) After the dis- 
 course in the Capernaum synagogue Simon 
 Peter said: " We believe and know that thou 
 art the Holy One of God." (John vi: 69.) In 
 Csesarea Philippi he said: '^ Thou art the 
 Christ, the Son of the Living God." (Matt, 
 xvi: 16.) The verbal creed of Christianity is a 
 proposition setting forth the nature and official 
 dignity of Jesus. He is the Christ the Son of 
 the Living God and, consequently, the author 
 of eternal salvation to all who believe in and 
 obey him. (Acts xvi: 31; Heb. v: 9.) It is 
 belief in the Christ, not faith in doctrines, by 
 which sinners are saved. Personal faith in a 
 personal Savior saves.
 
 INDEBTEDNESS TO THE DISCIPLES. 129 
 
 Faith and opinion are not the same. Faith 
 rests on express declarations of Scripture; 
 an opinion is a conclusion, or inference, not 
 necessarily involved in Scripture premises. 
 Unity of faith, not unity of opinion, is required 
 by New Testament teaching. There are, 
 therefore, numerous exhortations to exercise 
 mutual forbearance. (Rom. xiv: 1-23.) Paul 
 was anxious to discriminate between his own 
 opinions and a clear "thus saith the Lord." 
 (I Cor. vii: 25-26, 40; xi: 1-16.) 
 
 When one applies for baptism and mem- 
 bership in a congregation of Disciples no ques- 
 tions are asked about opinions such as: " Are 
 you aCalvinist?" ** Are you an Arminian?" 
 " Are you a Universalist ?" but, *' Do you be- 
 lieve in your heart that Jesus is the Christ the 
 Son of the living God ?' ' The assumption is 
 that if one thinks right and feels right about 
 the Christ, he will guide him in the way of 
 righteousness. 
 
 III. The world is also indebted to the 
 Disciples for their clear, constant, emphatic, 
 testimony concerning the sin of schism; and 
 for the earnest and Scriptural plea they make, 
 and have made from the first, in favor of unity 
 by a return, in faith and life, to New Testa- 
 ment Christianity. They protested against
 
 130 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 the sin of division when others apologized for 
 and excused it. The present wide-spread in- 
 terest in the cause of unity and union among 
 believers is a result, in large degree, of their 
 Scriptural teaching on this subject. From the 
 beginning of their history they have said, in 
 effect : ' ' I^et us return to Christ as he is re- 
 vealed to us in the Bible and strive to be and 
 to do all that he desires us to be and do." 
 Hence their formal proposition to Christendom 
 is that believers shall come together and be 
 one on, i, The Primitive Creed; 2, The Primi- 
 tive Ordinances; and 3, The Primitive Life. 
 
 IV. Their fundamental principle has led 
 them to indicate the steps to be taken in turn- 
 ing to God as (i) Faith in Christ, (2) repent- 
 ance toward God, (3) confession of Jesus as 
 the Son of God and a personal Savior, (4) 
 baptism in his name. The person who takes 
 these steps can say: ** I know that I am a 
 Christian." Such confidence is begotten by 
 the Word of God. 
 
 For the things here mentioned the world 
 owes the Disciples of Christ a debt of gratitude.
 
 . INDEBTEDNESS TO THE DISCIPLES. 131 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 With whom did this movement for the reunion of the 
 church originate ? With man or God ? 
 
 For what is the world indebted to the Disciples of 
 Christ ? 
 
 Do you think of any other items ? 
 
 What is their method of Bible study ? 
 
 What do they say about the Old Testament ? About 
 the New ? 
 
 What is the creed of Christianity ? 
 
 What is the difference between faith and opinion ? 
 
 What questions are asked of one who desires to be- 
 come a member of the church ? 
 
 What are the three items in the basis of union pro- 
 posed by the Disciples ? 
 
 Explain each of these items.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The matter following is selected from the Year 
 Book for 1897, prepared by G. A. Hoffman. The 
 book-list is intended for the convenience of readers 
 who desire such additional helps in the study of the 
 Disciples of Christ.— F. D. P. 
 
 The Annals of the Disciples of Christ. 
 
 1763 Thomas Campbell born in Ireland. 
 
 1772 Barton W. Stone born in Ireland. 
 
 1788 Alexander Campbell born in Ireland. 
 
 1792 James O'Kelly and followers secede from the 
 Methodist Church and take the Bible as their 
 only rule of faith. 
 
 1796 Walter Scott born in Ireland. 
 
 1800 Abner Jones, a Baptist minister, organized a 
 church on the Bible alone. 
 John Rogers born in Kentucky. 
 
 i8oi The great revival at Cane Ridge conducted by 
 B. W. Stone. 
 Robert Marshall, John Dunlavey, Barton W. 
 Stone, Richard McNemar and John Thomp- 
 son withdraw from the Lexington Synod.
 
 APPENDIX. 133 
 
 1804 Cane Ridge Church, the oldest in the brother- 
 hood, organized at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, 
 taking the Bible as its only rule of faith and 
 practice. 
 
 1807 Thomas Campbell emigrates to America. 
 
 1808 A. Campbell and his father's family ship- 
 
 wrecked. 
 
 1809 A. Campbell severs his connection with the 
 
 Seceder Church in Glasgow, Scotland. 
 
 The famous declaration accepted — " Where the 
 Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scrip- 
 tures are silent, we are silent." 
 
 The Christian Association of Washington 
 formed, composed of Brush Run and Cross 
 Roads churches. 
 
 1810 A. Campbell preaches his first sermon near 
 
 Washington, Pa. 
 Church in New York City organized with the 
 Bible as their only rule of faith. 
 1S13 The Campbells and Brush Run Church unite 
 with the Redstone Baptist Association. 
 W. K. Pendleton born in Virginia. 
 1816 A. Campbell delivers his sermon on the Law 
 
 before the Baptist Association. 
 18 iS A. Campbell founds Buffalo Seminar)-. 
 
 Walter Scott arrives in America. 
 1820 Isaac Errett born in New York. 
 
 Campbell and Walker Debate on Baptism. 
 The Mahoning Baptist Association organized. 
 
 1823 The Christian Baptist founded by A. Camp- 
 
 bell. 
 Campbell and McCalla Debate. 
 
 1824 The Wellsburg congregation unites with the 
 
 Western Reserve Baptist Association.
 
 134 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 A. Campbell meets Barton W. Stone at George- 
 town, Ky. 
 
 P. S. Fall and congregation, Lexington, Ky., 
 accept the Bible as their only rule of faith 
 and practice. 
 
 1826 A. Campbell publishes a new translation of the 
 
 New Testament based on the translation of 
 George Campbell, McKnight and Doddridge, 
 known as the " Living Oracles." 
 
 The church at Nashville, Tenn., under the la- 
 bors of P. S. Fall, accept the Bible as their 
 only rule of faith and practice. 
 
 Barton W. Stone founds the Christian Messen- 
 ger. 
 
 1827 The Mahoning Association sends out Walter 
 
 Scott as an Evangelist. 
 Walter Scott baptizes a penitent believer on 
 the confession of his faith for the "remission 
 of sins," at New Lisbon, Ohio. 
 
 1828 Boone Creek Baptist Association disbands to 
 
 become an annual meeting. 
 John Smith and many others in Kentucky re- 
 ject the Calvinistic Confession of Faith and 
 leave the Baptist Church. 
 
 1829 The Disciples greatly increase and multiply in 
 
 Ohio, under the labors of Walter Scott, A. 
 Bently, W. S. Hayden, Marcus Wills, Bos- 
 worth and others 
 Campbell and Owen Debate in Cincinnati., Ohio. 
 
 1830 The Baptists withdraw from the " Reformers" 
 
 and the latter become a distinct people. 
 A. Campbell founds the Millennial Harbinger. 
 Mahoning and Still Water Associations become 
 
 annual meetings. 
 Campbell and Jennings Debate at Nashville.
 
 APPENDIX. 135 
 
 1831 New Lisbon, Ohio, Co-operation organized. 
 John T. Johnson leaves the Baptist Church. 
 Union between Christians and Reformers in 
 
 Kentucky. 
 
 1832 John Smith and John Rogers sent out as Evan- 
 
 gelists in Kentucky and supported by Co- 
 operation, 
 Reformers withdraw from Baptists, in Rich- 
 mond, Va, 
 
 1835 A. Campbell compiles Christian Hymn Book. 
 A, Campbell publishes "Christian System." 
 
 1836 Bacon College founded at Georgetown, Ky. 
 
 1837 Campbell and Purcell Debate at Cincinnati, 
 
 Ohio. 
 First Missionary meetings in Missouri and the 
 West. 
 
 1838 Campbell and Skinner Debate. 
 
 1840 Bethany College founded. 
 
 184 1 Bethany College opened with A. Campbell, 
 
 President, four professors and one hundred 
 
 students. 
 Benj. Franklin founds the Reformer at Center- 
 
 ville, Ind. 
 1843 Campbell and Rice Debate at Lexington, Ky. 
 1845 A. Campbell, as Chairman of a Committee of 
 
 Five, presents report for co-operation of 
 
 churches in Mission work. 
 The American Christian Bible Society organized 
 
 at Cincinnati. 
 
 1847 A. Campbell visits Great Britain and is im- 
 
 prisoned in Scotland. 
 
 1848 Walnut Grove Academy, afterwards Eureka 
 
 College, founded. 
 
 1849 The American Christian Missionary Society or- 
 
 ganized, with A. Campbell, President.
 
 136 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 1S50 Butler University founded, Irvington, Ind. 
 
 South Kentucky College founded, Hopkins- 
 ville, Ky. 
 
 Dr. Barclay sent to Jerusalem as missionary. 
 
 Hiram Eclectic Institute founded. 
 
 Benj. Franklin and D. S. Burnett become asso- 
 ciated in the publication of the two papers, the 
 Reformtr and the Chi istian Age. 
 
 1552 A. Campbell advocates missionary Conventions 
 
 to send men to preach the Gospel. 
 
 1553 Christian University founded at Canton, Mo. 
 
 1554 Death of Thomas Campbell. 
 
 Dr. Barclay recalled as Missionary to Jerusalem. 
 
 1555 A. Campbell revises the Book of Acts for the 
 
 Bible Union. 
 1856 Eureka College founded. 
 
 Benj. Franklin founds the American Christiati 
 
 ReviezL'. 
 Daughters' College, Harrodsburg, Ky., founded. 
 1S57 Bethany College burned and rebuilt. 
 
 Bacon College becomes Kentucky University. 
 Eminence College founded. Eminence, Ky. 
 185S J. O. Beardsley sent as missionary to Jamaica. 
 1863 Oskaloosa College founded, Oskaloosa. Iowa. 
 1S65 Kentucky University moved from Harrodsburg 
 to Lexington. 
 Christian Standard founded by Isaac Errett. 
 Bible College founded at Lexington, Ky. 
 1866 A. Campbell died. 
 
 W. K. Pendleton is elected President of Beth- 
 any College. 
 1S67 Hiram Eclectic Institute becomes Hiram Col- 
 lege. 
 1869 Hamilton College, Lexington, Ky,, founded. 
 Louisville plan of Mission Work adopted.
 
 APPENDIX. 137 
 
 1873 Add-Raii Christian University, Thorp Springs, 
 
 Texas, founded. 
 
 1874 Christian Woman's Board of Missions organ- 
 
 ized. 
 
 1875 Foreign Christian Missionary Society organ- 
 
 ized. 
 
 Isaac Errett becomes President of Foreign 
 Christian Missionary Society. 
 
 Southern Christian Institute founded at Ed- 
 wards, Miss. 
 
 1876 Christian Woman's Board of Missions begins 
 
 work in Jamaica. 
 H. S. BOarl first missionary sent to England. 
 
 1877 Dr. Hoick sent as missionary to Denmark. 
 1879 G. N. Shishmanian sent as Missionary to Tur- 
 key. 
 
 1881 Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, founded. 
 President James A. Garfield died. 
 
 A. Norton and G. L. Wharton sent to India: 
 first missionaries to heathen lands. 
 
 1882 Christian and Evangelist unite and become 
 
 the Christian Evangt'list. 
 
 1882 Christian Woman's Board of Missions sends 
 
 four young ladies to India. 
 A. McLean elected Corresponding Secretary 
 Foreign Christian Missionary Society. 
 
 1883 Milligan College founded. 
 
 G. T. Smith and C. E. Garst first missionaries 
 sent to Japan. 
 
 1887 E. T. Williams and F. E. Meigs sent as mis- 
 
 sionaries to China. 
 
 1888 Isaac Errett died. 
 
 1890 Cotner University founded at Lincoln, Neb. 
 1892 Ann Arbor Bible Chair founded.
 
 138 CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 
 
 1895 Divinity House founded in Chicago with H. L. 
 Willett, Dean. 
 
 J. W. McGarvey becomes President Bible Col- 
 lege, Lexington, Ky. 
 
 A. McLean makes missionary tour around the 
 world. 
 
 Benjamin L. Smith becomes Corresponding 
 Secretary of the American Christian Mission- 
 ary Society. 
 
 J. A. Lord becomes editor Christian Standard. 
 
 OFFERING OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST. 
 
 FOR SELF-SUPPORT, MISSIONS, EDUCATION AND OTHER BENEVO- 
 LENCES FOR 1896. 
 
 CHURCHES FOR SELF-SUPPORT. 
 
 For Church Building $ 750,000 
 
 For Ministerial Support __ 2,600,000 
 
 For Incidental Expenses 634,000 
 
 For Church and Bible School Literature .- 300,000 
 
 Total Expenditure for Local Work..- 154,284,000 
 
 GENERAL BENEVOLENCE. 
 
 For Orphan Homes and Orphan Schools.- $ 45,000 
 For Education and Endowing Colleges — 125,000 
 
 Total -_ __ I 170000
 
 APPENDIX. i;^9 
 
 OFFERTNGS FOR AflSSIONS. 
 
 FOREIGN. 
 
 Foreign Christian Missionary Society $ 93,867 
 
 Christian Woman's Board of Missions 26,250 
 
 Independent and Miscellaneous 5,000 
 
 Total to Foreign Missions $ 125,117 
 
 HOME. 
 
 American Christian Missionary Society — $ 27,943 
 
 Church Extension 24,062 
 
 Negro Education and Evangelization ii,445 
 
 Christian Woman's Board of Missions 34,872 
 
 Ministerial Relief 5,840 
 
 State and District Organizations 196,644 
 
 Total for Home Missions $ 300,846 
 
 Total for all Missions J 425,963 
 
 Total Money Raised for all Purposes $4,879,963 
 
 Note. —Taking the membership at the begin- 
 ning of the year these offerings indicate an average 
 of 15-15 per member. For Missions, 45 cents per 
 member.
 
 Short List of Books and Tracts 
 
 ON THE 
 
 History and Doctrine of the Disciples. 
 
 Christian Baptism ; A. Campbell, Cinn., $1.00; St. L $1 25 
 
 Christian System; ^. CrtWio^^//, St. L, & Cinn 1 50 
 
 On the Rock; Z>. R. Diuigan, St. L 90c and 1 50 
 
 Orthodoxy in the Civil Courts, J. H. Edzvards, Cinn I 00 
 
 Fifty-nine Years of History (Tract) ; /. Errett, Cinn 10 
 
 Our Position (Tract) ; /. Errett, Cinn 03 
 
 Talks to Bereans; /. ^rr^'/'/', St. L 1 00 
 
 Walks About Jerusalem ; /. Errett, St. L 1 00 
 
 Old Faith Restated; J. H. Garrison, St, L 2 00 
 
 Disciples of Christ (Tract) ; J. H. Garrison, St. L 10 
 
 Memoir of Isaac Errett; J. S. Lamar, 2v., Cinn 3 00 
 
 First Principles and Perfection ; J. S. Lamar, Cinn 1 50 
 
 What is the Christian Church ? (Tract,) J. S. Lamar, Cinn. ... 05 
 
 Memoirs of Alexander Campbell; R. Richardson, Iv., Cinn. . 3 50 
 
 Autobiography of Samuel Rogers ; ed. by J". A. Rogers, Cinn. 1 00 
 
 Peculiarities of the Disciples; B. B, Tyler, Cinn., paper 25 
 
 History of the Disciples of Christ; B. B. Tyler, (Am. Church 
 
 Hist. Ser.. v. 12), New York 2 50 
 
 Why Am I a Disciple ? (Tract,) B. B. Tyler, Cinn 10 
 
 Life of John Smith; J. A. Williams, St. L 2 00 
 
 The Great Salvation ; E. V. Zollars, Cinn 1 50 
 
 The above books and others of a similar nature may be obtained 
 of the Christian Publishing Co., St. Louis, Mo., and the Standard 
 Publishing Co., Cincinnati, O.