The Life and Ministry of Alexander Campbell in Historic Bethany

Early Life

• Alexander was born Sept. 12, 1788, in a location about 25 miles northwest of Belfast, Ireland.

• In 1798, Thomas Campbell (1763-1854) moved to Ahorey, Ireland.

• In 1807, Thomas immigrated to Washington, Pennsylvania

Early Life

• In 1808, Thomas Campbell renounced the Presbyterian Church.

• The family was shipwrecked on the coast of Scotland.

• Alexander then entered the University of Glasgow, where he came under the influence of Greville Ewing, John Glas, and the Haldanes.

Early Life

• 1809: Christian Association of Washington

• Declaration and Address– Unity document

– Only what is expressly commanded

– Each judges for oneself

• Alexander and the family travel from Greenock, Scotland to America.

Brush Run Years• “Where the scriptures speak, we speak; and

where the scriptures are silent, we are silent.”

• In the spring of 1811, Thomas Campbell began to believe the Association must become a church.

• May 4, 1811 --– Thomas Campbell appointed Elder

– Alexander Campbell licensed to preach

• Sunday, May 5, 1811: first worship service

Brush Run Years• Problem of the form of baptism

– Three people requested baptism: Margaret Fullerton, Abraham Altars, Joseph Bryant.

– Bryant thought immersion was the only proper form.

• Thus baptism became an issue

• Thomas Campbell was accused of being…– Inconsistent – immersing others, though he still

believing in sprinkling

– Unqualified to immerse others – since he himself was not immersed.

Brush Run Years• Alexander and baptism---

– At first, issue of no great importance

– Three sermons to defend INFANT baptism

– Birth of first child: began serious study

– Concluded…• infant baptism was not present in the NT

• immersion was the form of baptism in the NT

– Asked Matthias Luce to baptize him.

Brush Run Years• Thomas Campbell was still reluctant, he was

in heart still Presbyterian

• June 12, 1812 was the date set for baptisms

• Thomas and wife and daughter Margaret arrived prepared to be immersed.

• Thomas Campbell asked to be allowed to make a statement on his reasons for being immersed

Brush Run Years• Alexander’s words: this is the NT way

– Immersion

– on confession, not of a human creed, but of Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

• Two others in the crowd then requested baptism

• The meeting continued 7 hours

• Next Sunday, 13 requested immersion, among them James Foster.

Brush Run Years

• Redstone Baptist Association--Brush Run Church was received in 1813

• Immediate problems: Brush Run is too independent, and is non-Calvinistic

• In his Sermon on the Law, Alexander claimed the OT is no longer applicable

• Departure from Redstone was in September, 1823

Brush Run Years• After departure from Redstone

Association in September, 1823, the Brush Run church joined the Mahoning Baptist Association

• A sequel to the “Sermon on the Law” preached there (in Canfield, 1826)

• The text of sermon was Malachi 4:2: “The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in its wings.”

• Theme: “The progress of revealed light”

The Christian Baptist • “The Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things”

– the nature and work of the church of the NT based on the “pattern” of the apostolic church as recorded in the NT.

– Revised, it was published in book form later: first edition, Christianity Restored; later editions, The Christian System

• Alexander Campbell was in this time period a champion of the Baptists

• [Insert information about Alexander Campbell and the Baptists]

Later Years• Publication of Millennial Harbinger

beginning in 1830 (which continued after his death)

• Bethany College was established (1841)• The Lunenburg Letter• American Christian Bible Society (1845)• General Convention of Disciples or

Campbellite churches– Immediate opposition: no NT authority for such

a meeting or proposal

Missionary Society Question

• Raised the issue: what is a “matter of faith,” and what is a “matter of opinion”?

• Raised the issue of “expedients”• Orphans’ Homes• Herald of Truth• Giving to colleges• Any “Para-church” organization

Close of an Era

• Deaths of leaders– Barton W. Stone, Nov. 9, 1844.– Thomas Campbell, January 4, 1854.– Walter Scott, April 23, 1861.– Alexander Campbell, March 4, 1866.

Historic Bethany

• Historic Bethany is just north of Bethany, WV. This is a picture of the visitor center.

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

• This a group of Sojourners whom I was privileged to lead on a tour of Bethany while they were on a “sojourn” at OVU.

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

• The well house on the north side of the “mansion” served as cold storage. The buildings have been preserved beautifully.

Historic Bethany

• The path to the schoolhouse also leads by an outer door to the basement--the only access now.

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

• The grounds at Bethany are well-kept and park-like. Here is an alternate view of the study as it appears from the house.

Historic Bethany

• The mantle in the original house and an early recliner, used by Thomas Campbell in his declining years.

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

• Kneeling benches used by Alexander and Margaret when they were married in this house.

Historic Bethany

• Early baby bed.

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

• A single bed/cot in the original bedroom. Note the pitcher and bowl.

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

• A very narrow double bed in the Campbell bedroom.

Historic Bethany

• The “death mask” for Alexander Campbell, indicative of what he looked like at his death.

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

• The infamous long table in the dining room.

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

• The living area of “stranger’s hall.”

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

• Campbell’s desk where he wrote when he was in the house. This was also used by students in the Buffalo Seminary.

Historic Bethany

• Campbell family wall.

Historic Bethany

• The second floor “history room.”

Historic Bethany

• An indication of the construction technique used in adding to the house.

Historic Bethany

• A game of “matching.”

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

• The view of the rear grounds from the pantry window (off the dining room).

Historic Bethany

• The herb garden and rear grounds from the room above the dining hall.

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

Historic Bethany

• On the campus of Bethany College

Campbell’s Baconianism

• Debate with Robert Owen– Employed Bacon’s method and joined it to

Locke’s philosophy of human knowledge– Explicitly calls upon “Lord Bacon” for the

foundation of the argument– enumerates Bacon’s principles of

investigation

Campbell and Locke

• Locke on “faith”… • “the assent to any proposition, not thus

made out by the deductions of reason, but upon the credit of the proposer as coming from God, in some extraordinary way of communication. This way of discovering truths to men we call revelation.” (Essay, IV.18.2)

Campbell and Locke

• Locke: faith is not as certain as knowledge, but religious faith is on the highest level of probability– “Whatever God hath revealed is certainly

true: no doubt can be made of it. This is the proper object of faith.”

Campbell and Locke

• Locke: “Whatsoever is divine revelation,

ought to overrule all our opinions,

prejudices, and interests, and hath a right to

be received with full assent.” (Essay,

IV.18.10)

Campbell and Locke• Campbell:

– “Faith is the simple belief of testimony, or confidence in the word of another.”

– “Knowledge is the experience we have of things within us; or the information we acquire by the exercise of our senses and judgment on the things without us.”

– “Opinion is no more than a probable evidence, the view or conclusion which the mind forms by its reasonings and reflections on those things of which there is no certain evidence within one’s reach.”

Campbell and Locke

• Locke on Scripture: “If he had required more of us in those points, he would have declared his will plainer to us. . . .” (Reasonableness of Christianity, VI.58)

Campbell and Locke

• Locke: to be a Christian one must have “an

explicit belief of all the propositions, which

he, according to the best of his

understanding, really apprehends to be

contained and meant in the Scripture. . . .”

Campbell and Locke

• Locke on worship: “Now nothing in worship or discipline can be necessary to the Christian communion, but what Christ our legislator, or the Apostles, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, have commanded in express words.” (Toleration, VI.58)

Campbell on the Bible

• “The doctrine of the Bible, on any particular subject of inquiry, can be clearly and satisfactorily ascertained only by a full induction of all that is found in it upon that subject. When the induction is perfect and complete and fully comprehended on any one point, we can never have any more divine light upon that subject. This is our method of learning and of teaching what the Holy Spirit has taught on any given subject.” (Christian Baptism, 184-185)

Conclusions

• Campbell borrowed heavily from the Glasite, Sandemanian and Haldanian movements.

• Campbell borrowed concepts from philosophers who had currency during his era (Lord Bacon, John Locke, Thomas Reid, Dugald Stewart, etc.)

• The concept of “objectivity,” i.e., complete independence of external influences, does not hold.