DR. JOHN THOMAS, MD
APOSTLE OF LEGALISM
Rhoderick D. Ice
"You are not a Christian unless I say you are a Christian." In a nutshell, this how Dr. Thomas seemed to think. He was "Unitarian" and "Adventist" in his thinking. Thomas' ideas culminated in the strange cult known as the Christadelphians (Christ's Brethren).
John Thomas came from England in 1844. He became part of the Stone-Campbell Movement. But later he was convinced that they were the apostate church predicted in the Scriptures. So he withdrew to form a group of local meetings who finally took the name, Christadelphians (Brethren of Christ). They were "mutual edification" in having no paid or ordained ministers. In 1967 there were some 600 "ecclesias" (congregations) in the USA, with larger numbers in Australia, Britain, Canada , and Germany.
Thomas taught that Jesus is "a son" of God, but not God the Son; and that Jesus had no existence before being born of Mary. He rejected the Trinity, and a personal devil.
B. L. Smith wrote in the "Millenial Harbinger Abridged": "He was a magnetic, attractive man, and became very popular with some people. Soon he began to teach a spirit of dogmatism and exalted his own opinions above other teachings. Among other teaching was that one coming into the church should be re-baptized; that immersion, as administered by Baptists or any other, was utterly invalid."
Dr. Thomas deserves further study for two reasons: he was perhaps Campbell's severest critic within the "movement;" his type of mind set and thinking introduced a "factor of distortion" which is still with us today.
We learn much about Dr. Thomas and about Alexander Campbell by the controversy recorded in the "Millenial Harbinger." Campbell accepted more as "Christians" than some in our movement would today. He stressed immersion into Christ, and was himself immersed. [Campbell accepted the King James translators as Christians.]
Campbell received a letter from Lunenburg County, VA, in which a woman who, influenced by Dr. Thomas, challenged Campbell's definition of a "Christian." Campbell wrote: "In reply to this conscientious sister, I observe, that if there be no Christians among the Protestant sects, there are certainly none among the Romanists, none among the Jews, Turks, Pagans; and therefore no Christians in the world except ourselves, or such of us as keep, or strive to keep, all the commandments of Jesus. Therefore, for many centuries there has been no church of Christ, no Christians in the world; and the promises concerning the everlasting kingdom of Messiah have failed, and the gates of hell have prevailed against His church! This cannot be; and therefore there are Christians among the sects."
Campbell wrote: "But who is a Christian? I answer, Every one that believes in his heart that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God; repents of his sins, and obeys Him in all things according to his measure of knowledge of His will.. .And hence it is possible for Christians to be imperfect in some respects without an absolute forfeiture of the Christian state and character."
According to J. W. Hunnicutt, Thomas taught the following [which things were contrary to what Campbell taught].
1. All infants, idiots [mental defectives], and heathens will sleep through endless duration - they can never rise.
2. Man has no soul nor existence separate, distinct, and independently of the body.
3. The Spirit of God does not operate on any person apart from the word written.
4. It is sinful for an unconverted person to pray to God.
5. Christ will reign upon the earth in person a thousand years, the seat of government being at Jerusalem.
The Christadelphians deny some essential doctrines of Christianity; namely, that Jesus is God (John 8:58)and that salvation is by grace. Like so many other cult groups that claim to be the Restored Truth, they have their own interpretations of the Bible that deviate greatly from orthodox Christianity.
Note: Some of these things have carried over into present day Churches of Christ without our being aware of it. "Old Uncle John" may have been very sincere in his ideas yet mistaken when compared to truth. We need the witness of the Four Gospels plus the rest of the New Testament plus the witness of the Old Testament to be on solid and safe ground. What God is, the Eternal Word (LOGOS) is also. John 1:1-4; Col. 1:15-17. The ETERNAL WORD came in a body of flesh and blood to be the Lamb who takes away sin. John 1:29; 1 John 3:23; 4:1-4; 5:5-13; Hebrews 1:3; 2:14-18; Romans 8:1-4
GOD is One Lord (Deut. 6:4). Campbell could speak of: Jehovah the Father, Jehovah the Son, Jehovah the Holy Spirit (in his book: The Christian System.).
Monday, December 6, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
FEEL GOD'S PRESENCE
FEEL GOD'S PRESENCE
A person prays: "May we feel Your presence in our worship assembly today?"
Is this possible? or scriptural? Do we "quench the Spirit" and so prevent God's presence happening? [at least quench our awareness of Him.]
Yet surely God is always present every time and everywhere. An English writer of the 19th Century wrote: "The whole world is a temple and man is everywhere a worshipper." And Jesus spoke of being present where "two or three are gathered in My name." We are aware of His presence by the knowledge of faith, yet perhaps we have mistakenly learned to turn a deaf ear to Him. (Or have not at all been taught to be aware of His presence.)
In the Churches of Christ we sometimes credit Alexander Campbell for (extreme) logical reasoning and lack (or rejection) of emotion and feelings. Was he too much influenced by the "common sense philosophy" of John Locke?
But perhaps Campbell was more capable of delicate and devotional feelings than we think. This from the Millenial Harbinger, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1839. [Thanks to http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/subs/texts.html and Google search.]
"But a devotional and sanctifying reading of that sacred Book, is essentially different from the readings of the theologian, the moralist, the sectary, and the virtuoso of every caste and school. The man of God reads the Book of God to commune with God, "to feel after him and find him," to feel his power and his divinity stirring within him; to have his soul fired, quickened, animated by the spirit of grace and truth. He reads the Bible to enjoy the God of the Bible; that the majesty, purity, excellency, and glory of its Author may overshadow him, inspire him, transform him, and new-create him in the image of God. Such a reader finds what he seeks in the Bible as every other person finds in it what he searches for. The words of Jesus to such a one are spirit and life; they are light and joy; they are truth and peace. Such a one converses with God as one who speaks by- signs. His readings are heavenly musings. God speaks: he listens. Occasionally, and almost unconsciously, at intervals he forgets that he reads, he speaks to God, and his reading thus often terminates in a devotional conversation with God. The Lord says, "Seek you my face;" he responds, "Thy face will I seek." The Spirit saith, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;" the Christian reader replies, "Open thou my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." The Spirit saith, "Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart;" and the devout reader answers. "With my whole heart have I sought thee. O let me not wander from thy commandments." The Bible reading of all enlightened Christians generally terminates in a sacred dialogue between the Author and the reader. There is a peculiarity attendant on this reading which I beg leave to remark with emphasis. The Author of the Bible is always present with his Book. This is not true of any other book in the world. Most authors are dead; and we sometimes regret that we cannot speak to them. But this Author for ever lives, and is for ever present; and, therefore, while we read his written word it is as natural as life sometimes to speak to him on certain subjects as they occur. "Truly, then, our communion is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
Robert Richardson wrote in Communings In The Sanctuary: "WHEN the Patriarch (Jacob) arose from his dreamy slumbers in the field of Luz, he exclaimed, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not!" How many thus enter into the sanctuary of God, without any realizing sense of the divine presence! How many, alas, from that sleep of error never waken! Yet the Lord is in his holy temple, and will there reveal himself to his people; even to the seed of Israel, his servant--the children of Jacob, his chosen. How fitting that we should enter into his gates [9] with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise! How proper that we should here repress each worldly thought, and yield our hearts up to those sacred communings in which Faith lifts a ladder to the skies, that angels may descend to earth, and God himself confirm his promises of grace!"
P.S.: In Bible times God often showed His presence in ways that could not be ignored. Jacob's ladder, Genesis 28. The "still, small voice" to Elijah. Shaking the house in Acts 4:31. The Gentile Pentecost in Acts 10&11. Answering prayer in Rev. 8:5. The Bible is full of references to God intruding Himself into human affairs.
A person prays: "May we feel Your presence in our worship assembly today?"
Is this possible? or scriptural? Do we "quench the Spirit" and so prevent God's presence happening? [at least quench our awareness of Him.]
Yet surely God is always present every time and everywhere. An English writer of the 19th Century wrote: "The whole world is a temple and man is everywhere a worshipper." And Jesus spoke of being present where "two or three are gathered in My name." We are aware of His presence by the knowledge of faith, yet perhaps we have mistakenly learned to turn a deaf ear to Him. (Or have not at all been taught to be aware of His presence.)
In the Churches of Christ we sometimes credit Alexander Campbell for (extreme) logical reasoning and lack (or rejection) of emotion and feelings. Was he too much influenced by the "common sense philosophy" of John Locke?
But perhaps Campbell was more capable of delicate and devotional feelings than we think. This from the Millenial Harbinger, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1839. [Thanks to http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/subs/texts.html and Google search.]
"But a devotional and sanctifying reading of that sacred Book, is essentially different from the readings of the theologian, the moralist, the sectary, and the virtuoso of every caste and school. The man of God reads the Book of God to commune with God, "to feel after him and find him," to feel his power and his divinity stirring within him; to have his soul fired, quickened, animated by the spirit of grace and truth. He reads the Bible to enjoy the God of the Bible; that the majesty, purity, excellency, and glory of its Author may overshadow him, inspire him, transform him, and new-create him in the image of God. Such a reader finds what he seeks in the Bible as every other person finds in it what he searches for. The words of Jesus to such a one are spirit and life; they are light and joy; they are truth and peace. Such a one converses with God as one who speaks by- signs. His readings are heavenly musings. God speaks: he listens. Occasionally, and almost unconsciously, at intervals he forgets that he reads, he speaks to God, and his reading thus often terminates in a devotional conversation with God. The Lord says, "Seek you my face;" he responds, "Thy face will I seek." The Spirit saith, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;" the Christian reader replies, "Open thou my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." The Spirit saith, "Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart;" and the devout reader answers. "With my whole heart have I sought thee. O let me not wander from thy commandments." The Bible reading of all enlightened Christians generally terminates in a sacred dialogue between the Author and the reader. There is a peculiarity attendant on this reading which I beg leave to remark with emphasis. The Author of the Bible is always present with his Book. This is not true of any other book in the world. Most authors are dead; and we sometimes regret that we cannot speak to them. But this Author for ever lives, and is for ever present; and, therefore, while we read his written word it is as natural as life sometimes to speak to him on certain subjects as they occur. "Truly, then, our communion is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
Robert Richardson wrote in Communings In The Sanctuary: "WHEN the Patriarch (Jacob) arose from his dreamy slumbers in the field of Luz, he exclaimed, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not!" How many thus enter into the sanctuary of God, without any realizing sense of the divine presence! How many, alas, from that sleep of error never waken! Yet the Lord is in his holy temple, and will there reveal himself to his people; even to the seed of Israel, his servant--the children of Jacob, his chosen. How fitting that we should enter into his gates [9] with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise! How proper that we should here repress each worldly thought, and yield our hearts up to those sacred communings in which Faith lifts a ladder to the skies, that angels may descend to earth, and God himself confirm his promises of grace!"
P.S.: In Bible times God often showed His presence in ways that could not be ignored. Jacob's ladder, Genesis 28. The "still, small voice" to Elijah. Shaking the house in Acts 4:31. The Gentile Pentecost in Acts 10&11. Answering prayer in Rev. 8:5. The Bible is full of references to God intruding Himself into human affairs.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
SPRINGFIELD PRESBYTERY
HERALD OF GOSPEL LIBERTY
Elias Smith
Springfield Presbytery,
June 28th, 1804.
Revival of Religion--and Reformation in Kentucky.
Within seven years past, there has been the greatest out-pouring of the Spirit of God, in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the adjacent parts, even known since the settlement of North-America. It has been extended not only to the conversion of Atheists, Deists, and men of wretched characters, of every rank, from the highest to the lowest: but it has produced a reformation in those who had formerly professed religion under the fashionable party names [denominational names] now contended for in the world.
It is our design in future numbers, to give the readers an account of the beginning and progress of the revival, and, the view those reformed ministers and churches have of the church of Christ, as described in the New Testament.
Those men have agreed to give up all the party names and rules made by men, and to name the name of Christ, and walk by his rule, which is the New Testament. The Presbyterians of Springfield have dissolved the Presbyterian body, and have given an account of it to the public in the following singular curious will; called, "The last will and testament of the SPRINGFIELD PRESBYTERY.
The PRESBYTERY OF SPRINGFIELD, sitting at Caneridge, in the county of Bourbon, being through a gracious Providence, in more than ordinary bodily health, growing in strength and size daily, and in perfect soundness and composure of mind; but knowing that it is appointed for all delegated bodies once to die and considering that the life of every such body is very uncertain, do make and ordain this our Last Will and Testament, in manner and form following, viz:
Imprimis. We will that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large: for there is but one body and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling.
Item. We will, that our name of distinction, with its Reverend title, be forgotten, that there be but one Lord over God's heritage, and his name one.
Item. We will, that our power of making laws for the government of the church, and executing them by delegated authority, forever cease; that, the people may have free course to the Bible, and adopt the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Item. We will, that candidates for the Gospel ministry henceforth study the holy scriptures with fervent prayer, and obtain license from God to preach the simple Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, without any mixture of philosophy, vain deceit, traditions of men, the rudiments of the world. And let none henceforth take this honor to himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.
Item. We will, that the church of Christ assume her native right of internal government--try her candidates for the ministry, as to their soundness in the faith, acquaintance with experimental religion, gravity and aptness to teach; and admit no other proof of their authority, but Christ speaking in them. We will that the church of Christ look up to the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into his harvest; and that she resume her primitive right of trying those who say they are Apostles, and are not.
Item. We will, that each particular church, as a body, actuated by the same spirit, choose her own preacher, and support him by a free will offering without written call or subscription--admit members--remove offences; and never henceforth delegate her right of government to any man or set of men whatever.
Item. We will, that the people henceforth take the Bible as the only sure guide to heaven; and as many as are offended with other books, which stand in competition with it, may cast them into the fire if they choose: for it is better to enter into life having one book, than having many to be cast into hell.
Item. We will, that preachers and people, cultivate a spirit of mutual forbearance, pray more and dispute less; and while they behold the signs of the times, look up and confidently expect that redemption draweth nigh.
Item. We will, that our weak brethren, who may have been wishing to make the Presbytery of Springfield their king, and wot not what is now become of it, betake themselves to the rock of ages, and follow Jesus for the future.
Item. We will, that the Synod of Kentucky examine every member, who may be suspected of having departed from the Confession of faith, and suspend every such suspected heretic immediately; in order that the oppressed may go free, and taste the sweets of Gospel liberty.
Item. We will, that Ja---------, the author of two letters lately published in Lexington, be encouraged in his zeal to destroy partyism. We will, moreover, that our past conduct be examined into by all who may have correct information; but let foreigners beware of speaking evil of things which they know not.
Item. Finally we will, that all our sister bodies, read their Bibles carefully, that they may see their fate there determined, and prepare for death before it is too late.
COMMENT
While their motives were pure, some thought they were too sudden in their action, and were "throwing the baby out with the bathwater." Some degree of cooperation is needed for the congregations to function. And it will not do for congregations in an area to fight each other rather than Satan.
When the Stone Christians and the Campbell Disciples recognized (merged?) each other in Lexington KY 1832, not all were happy. Some Stone Christians maintained their separate existence to eventually become part of the United Church of Christ.
But the church is what God says she is. "Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 2 Tim 2:19 (NKJV)
"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit." 1 Cor 12:13 (NKJV)
Elias Smith
Springfield Presbytery,
June 28th, 1804.
Revival of Religion--and Reformation in Kentucky.
Within seven years past, there has been the greatest out-pouring of the Spirit of God, in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the adjacent parts, even known since the settlement of North-America. It has been extended not only to the conversion of Atheists, Deists, and men of wretched characters, of every rank, from the highest to the lowest: but it has produced a reformation in those who had formerly professed religion under the fashionable party names [denominational names] now contended for in the world.
It is our design in future numbers, to give the readers an account of the beginning and progress of the revival, and, the view those reformed ministers and churches have of the church of Christ, as described in the New Testament.
Those men have agreed to give up all the party names and rules made by men, and to name the name of Christ, and walk by his rule, which is the New Testament. The Presbyterians of Springfield have dissolved the Presbyterian body, and have given an account of it to the public in the following singular curious will; called, "The last will and testament of the SPRINGFIELD PRESBYTERY.
The PRESBYTERY OF SPRINGFIELD, sitting at Caneridge, in the county of Bourbon, being through a gracious Providence, in more than ordinary bodily health, growing in strength and size daily, and in perfect soundness and composure of mind; but knowing that it is appointed for all delegated bodies once to die and considering that the life of every such body is very uncertain, do make and ordain this our Last Will and Testament, in manner and form following, viz:
Imprimis. We will that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large: for there is but one body and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling.
Item. We will, that our name of distinction, with its Reverend title, be forgotten, that there be but one Lord over God's heritage, and his name one.
Item. We will, that our power of making laws for the government of the church, and executing them by delegated authority, forever cease; that, the people may have free course to the Bible, and adopt the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Item. We will, that candidates for the Gospel ministry henceforth study the holy scriptures with fervent prayer, and obtain license from God to preach the simple Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, without any mixture of philosophy, vain deceit, traditions of men, the rudiments of the world. And let none henceforth take this honor to himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.
Item. We will, that the church of Christ assume her native right of internal government--try her candidates for the ministry, as to their soundness in the faith, acquaintance with experimental religion, gravity and aptness to teach; and admit no other proof of their authority, but Christ speaking in them. We will that the church of Christ look up to the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into his harvest; and that she resume her primitive right of trying those who say they are Apostles, and are not.
Item. We will, that each particular church, as a body, actuated by the same spirit, choose her own preacher, and support him by a free will offering without written call or subscription--admit members--remove offences; and never henceforth delegate her right of government to any man or set of men whatever.
Item. We will, that the people henceforth take the Bible as the only sure guide to heaven; and as many as are offended with other books, which stand in competition with it, may cast them into the fire if they choose: for it is better to enter into life having one book, than having many to be cast into hell.
Item. We will, that preachers and people, cultivate a spirit of mutual forbearance, pray more and dispute less; and while they behold the signs of the times, look up and confidently expect that redemption draweth nigh.
Item. We will, that our weak brethren, who may have been wishing to make the Presbytery of Springfield their king, and wot not what is now become of it, betake themselves to the rock of ages, and follow Jesus for the future.
Item. We will, that the Synod of Kentucky examine every member, who may be suspected of having departed from the Confession of faith, and suspend every such suspected heretic immediately; in order that the oppressed may go free, and taste the sweets of Gospel liberty.
Item. We will, that Ja---------, the author of two letters lately published in Lexington, be encouraged in his zeal to destroy partyism. We will, moreover, that our past conduct be examined into by all who may have correct information; but let foreigners beware of speaking evil of things which they know not.
Item. Finally we will, that all our sister bodies, read their Bibles carefully, that they may see their fate there determined, and prepare for death before it is too late.
COMMENT
While their motives were pure, some thought they were too sudden in their action, and were "throwing the baby out with the bathwater." Some degree of cooperation is needed for the congregations to function. And it will not do for congregations in an area to fight each other rather than Satan.
When the Stone Christians and the Campbell Disciples recognized (merged?) each other in Lexington KY 1832, not all were happy. Some Stone Christians maintained their separate existence to eventually become part of the United Church of Christ.
But the church is what God says she is. "Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 2 Tim 2:19 (NKJV)
"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit." 1 Cor 12:13 (NKJV)
Saturday, November 7, 2009
THE HOLY SPIRIT
CAMPBELL ON THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD
What does the Bible say? First we read all the references in the Bible and we learn from them. When we think of God, He is unknowable, yet He has revealed Himself to us as Father/Son/Holy Spirit. In our English language, God is "He" even though HE is not a human. But He - The Eternal Word - came as Jesus in flesh & blood, skin & bones. He also comes in The Holy Spirit Who will be with us forever. I have revised a few of Campell's words to make them more understandable today. R.D.Ice
THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM
ALEXANDER CAMPBELL
CHAPTER V.
THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
I. As there is man and the spirit of man, so there is God and the Spirit of God. They are capable of a separate and distinct existence. "What man knoweth the things of a man," says Paul, "but the spirit of man that is in him; even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God." There is in this case an image of God in man--not, indeed, an exact image, but an image; for as Paul says of the law, so say we of man; "For the law had a shadow, (a resemblance) of good things to come, and not the very (or exact) image of the things." So man was made an image of God, though not the exact image--the active power of man is in his spirit: so John the Baptist came in the power of Elijah, because he came in his spirit. The Spirit of God is therefore often used for his power; though it is not an impersonal power, but a living, energizing, active, personal existence. Hence, in all the works of God, the Spirit of God is the active, operating agent. Thus in the old creation, while ancient chaos yet remained--when "the earth was without form, and void, and darkness brooded on the bosom of the vast abyss," "the Spirit of God moved"--(incubated and energized)--"upon the face of the waters." "The hand of the Lord has made me, and the Spirit of the Almighty has given me life." "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee;" and thus was chaos subdued, man vitalized, "the heavens garnished," and the body of Jesus made by the Spirit of God.
II. The Spirit is said to do, and to have done all that God does and all that God has done. He has ascribed to Him all divine perfections and works; and in the New Testament He is designated as the immediate author and agent of the new creation, and of the holiness of Christians. He is therefore called THE HOLY SPIRIT. In the sublime and ineffable relation of the Deity, or Godhead, He stands next to the Incarnate Word. Anciently, or before time, He was GOD, the WORD of God, and the SPIRIT of God. But now, in the development of the Christian scheme, it is "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit"--one God, one Lord, one Spirit. To us Christians there is, then, but one God, even the Father; and one Lord Jesus Christ, even the Saviour; and one Spirit, even the Advocate, the Sanctifier, and the Comforter [Helper] of Christ's body, the church. Jesus is the HEAD, and the Spirit is the LIFE and animating principle of that body.
III. The whole systems of creation, providence, and redemption, are founded upon these relations within the Deity. Destroy these, blend and confound these, and nature, providence, and grace, are blended, confounded, and destroyed. The peerless and supreme excellency of the Christian system is, that it fully opens to the vision of mortals the Divinity--the whole Godhead employed in the work of man's regeneration and ultimate glorification. God is manifest in human flesh, and is justified and glorified by the Spirit, in accomplishing man's deliverance from ruin. Each name of the sacred three has His own distinctive work and glory in the three great works of Creation, Government, and Redemption. Hence, we are by divine authority, "immersed (baptized) into The Name of the FATHER, the SON, and the HOLY SPIRIT," in coming into the kingdom of grace; and while in that kingdom the supreme benediction is--"The GRACE of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and the LOVE of GOD, and the COMMUNION of the HOLY SPIRIT be with you!" Indeed in the old Jewish church that was in the wilderness, while matters were comparatively in the shadows of a moonlight age, the high priest of Israel was commanded to put "the NAME of God" upon the children of Israel--in the same relation of the sacred three. "The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be GRACIOUS unto thee. The Lord lift up his COUNTENANCE upon thee, and give thee peace." Jehovah bless thee--is equal to "the love of God." Jehovah be GRACIOUS unto thee, answers to "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ"--and Jehovah lift up his COUNTENANCE upon thee and give thee peace, corresponds to "the communion of the Spirit."
IV. God is a mystery, yet revealed to us in The Son, the Eternal Word of John 1:1. The GODHEAD is so inwrought and incorporated with all the parts of the sacred Books--so identified with all the dispensations of religion, and so essential to the mediatorship of Christ, that it is impossible to make any real and divine proficiency in the true knowledge of God--of man--of reconciliation--or remission of sins--of eternal life--or in the piety and divine life of Christ's religion--without a clear and distinct perception of Who God Is, as well as a firm and unshaken faith and confidence in Him, as we trust still to make more evident in the sequel.
What does the Bible say? First we read all the references in the Bible and we learn from them. When we think of God, He is unknowable, yet He has revealed Himself to us as Father/Son/Holy Spirit. In our English language, God is "He" even though HE is not a human. But He - The Eternal Word - came as Jesus in flesh & blood, skin & bones. He also comes in The Holy Spirit Who will be with us forever. I have revised a few of Campell's words to make them more understandable today. R.D.Ice
THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM
ALEXANDER CAMPBELL
CHAPTER V.
THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
I. As there is man and the spirit of man, so there is God and the Spirit of God. They are capable of a separate and distinct existence. "What man knoweth the things of a man," says Paul, "but the spirit of man that is in him; even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God." There is in this case an image of God in man--not, indeed, an exact image, but an image; for as Paul says of the law, so say we of man; "For the law had a shadow, (a resemblance) of good things to come, and not the very (or exact) image of the things." So man was made an image of God, though not the exact image--the active power of man is in his spirit: so John the Baptist came in the power of Elijah, because he came in his spirit. The Spirit of God is therefore often used for his power; though it is not an impersonal power, but a living, energizing, active, personal existence. Hence, in all the works of God, the Spirit of God is the active, operating agent. Thus in the old creation, while ancient chaos yet remained--when "the earth was without form, and void, and darkness brooded on the bosom of the vast abyss," "the Spirit of God moved"--(incubated and energized)--"upon the face of the waters." "The hand of the Lord has made me, and the Spirit of the Almighty has given me life." "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee;" and thus was chaos subdued, man vitalized, "the heavens garnished," and the body of Jesus made by the Spirit of God.
II. The Spirit is said to do, and to have done all that God does and all that God has done. He has ascribed to Him all divine perfections and works; and in the New Testament He is designated as the immediate author and agent of the new creation, and of the holiness of Christians. He is therefore called THE HOLY SPIRIT. In the sublime and ineffable relation of the Deity, or Godhead, He stands next to the Incarnate Word. Anciently, or before time, He was GOD, the WORD of God, and the SPIRIT of God. But now, in the development of the Christian scheme, it is "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit"--one God, one Lord, one Spirit. To us Christians there is, then, but one God, even the Father; and one Lord Jesus Christ, even the Saviour; and one Spirit, even the Advocate, the Sanctifier, and the Comforter [Helper] of Christ's body, the church. Jesus is the HEAD, and the Spirit is the LIFE and animating principle of that body.
III. The whole systems of creation, providence, and redemption, are founded upon these relations within the Deity. Destroy these, blend and confound these, and nature, providence, and grace, are blended, confounded, and destroyed. The peerless and supreme excellency of the Christian system is, that it fully opens to the vision of mortals the Divinity--the whole Godhead employed in the work of man's regeneration and ultimate glorification. God is manifest in human flesh, and is justified and glorified by the Spirit, in accomplishing man's deliverance from ruin. Each name of the sacred three has His own distinctive work and glory in the three great works of Creation, Government, and Redemption. Hence, we are by divine authority, "immersed (baptized) into The Name of the FATHER, the SON, and the HOLY SPIRIT," in coming into the kingdom of grace; and while in that kingdom the supreme benediction is--"The GRACE of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and the LOVE of GOD, and the COMMUNION of the HOLY SPIRIT be with you!" Indeed in the old Jewish church that was in the wilderness, while matters were comparatively in the shadows of a moonlight age, the high priest of Israel was commanded to put "the NAME of God" upon the children of Israel--in the same relation of the sacred three. "The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be GRACIOUS unto thee. The Lord lift up his COUNTENANCE upon thee, and give thee peace." Jehovah bless thee--is equal to "the love of God." Jehovah be GRACIOUS unto thee, answers to "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ"--and Jehovah lift up his COUNTENANCE upon thee and give thee peace, corresponds to "the communion of the Spirit."
IV. God is a mystery, yet revealed to us in The Son, the Eternal Word of John 1:1. The GODHEAD is so inwrought and incorporated with all the parts of the sacred Books--so identified with all the dispensations of religion, and so essential to the mediatorship of Christ, that it is impossible to make any real and divine proficiency in the true knowledge of God--of man--of reconciliation--or remission of sins--of eternal life--or in the piety and divine life of Christ's religion--without a clear and distinct perception of Who God Is, as well as a firm and unshaken faith and confidence in Him, as we trust still to make more evident in the sequel.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
THE GREAT COMMUNION AT PITTSBURGH
The Pittsburgh Centennial Oct. 11, 1909
I wrote about this in 1978 for the Firm Foundation church paper, Reuel Lemmons, Editor. History is about things which actually happened, and how we understand these things. Jack Hayford said: "Ministry is doing what you do with what you have been given - God's idea for you. Ministry is the way things work on God's terms. Grace & forgiveness toward others. Process life, not by reason, but by revelation. Reasonable, and reasoning, but guided by revelation. Satan wants to derail God's purpose for your life." We sometimes build with "gold, silver, precious stones," but at other times with "wood, hay, straw," and "the fire will test each one's work" 1 Cor. 3:10-17. We trust in the "righteousness which is by faith" Phil. 3:9-11. R.D.Ice
In 1809 Thomas Campbell (the father) published a paper on Unity called The Declaration And Address. 100 years later a celebration was planned to take place at Pittsburgh. 200 years later, October 4th 2009, some churches plan a Great Communion Celebration based on Christ's Prayer in John ch 17.
In June of 1907, Lipscomb wrote in reply to the Census Bureau and made it plain that the churches of Christ no longer had any connection with the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ. History shows both sides paid a high price for this division!
This is important to set the stage for the Centennial celebration of the Restoration Movement, which was planned for October 11, 1909. Even though this was entirely planned and carried out by the Disciples, some from the churches of Christ participated in this also: notably J. W. McGarvey (who was in his eightieth year), F. L Rowe of the Christian Leader paper, and my grandfather, Dr. Kromer C. Ice, MD. Some, like J. W. McGarvey, attempted to continue their connection with both the Disciples and the churches of Christ.
In preparation for the big day, some 208,000 letters were mailed, a million copies of 23 leaflets and tracts were distributed, and the secular press joined in the publicity for the event. Long before October 11, great crowds of people began arriving in Pittsburgh. Every hotel room and tourist home was used to house this mass meeting. The Kansas City delegation chartered a train for the trip and leased the entire Schenley Hotel as their headquarters. The auditorium of Carnegie Hall proved to be too small, and simultaneous programs were provided in nearby church-buildings and with outdoor meetings in Duquesne Garden, Luna Park, and Forbes Field.
Two hundred and fifty churches of all denominations opened their pulpits to leading Restoration preachers on the Lord's Day. An estimated thirty thousand met in Forbes Field to eat the Lord's Supper. Twenty thousand persons were in a three-tiered grandstand. Thousands more filled the bleachers and stood on the ball field to remember the death and suffering of their Savior. The total number who attended some part of the Centennial was thought to be around fifty thousand.
The Centennial at Pittsburgh proved to be the crest of the wave. It seemed at the moment that God was guaranteeing a major new awakening. The celebration had a dramatic effect on the religious community across the nation. Almost immediately all the major Protestant denominations seemed to catch the vision of unity in Christ. Committees were set up to study cooperation and union, by the Episcopalians, the Congregationalists, the Presbyterians, etc.
Yet this was not to be. When the conservatives left in the churches of Christ, they in effect gave the control of the Disciples to the extreme liberal element (and to some degree gave control of the churches of Christ to the extreme conservative element). Men like Peter Ainslee by their radical-liberalism wrecked the opportunities (this is not what they intended to do, though). Religious history might have been different if the conservatives had kept their influence in an undivided movement, and if a David Lipscomb or a J. W. McGarvey could have remained on the scene.
You can read about the Great Communion planned for 10/4/09.
http://www.greatcommunion.org/study/study.htm
I wrote about this in 1978 for the Firm Foundation church paper, Reuel Lemmons, Editor. History is about things which actually happened, and how we understand these things. Jack Hayford said: "Ministry is doing what you do with what you have been given - God's idea for you. Ministry is the way things work on God's terms. Grace & forgiveness toward others. Process life, not by reason, but by revelation. Reasonable, and reasoning, but guided by revelation. Satan wants to derail God's purpose for your life." We sometimes build with "gold, silver, precious stones," but at other times with "wood, hay, straw," and "the fire will test each one's work" 1 Cor. 3:10-17. We trust in the "righteousness which is by faith" Phil. 3:9-11. R.D.Ice
In 1809 Thomas Campbell (the father) published a paper on Unity called The Declaration And Address. 100 years later a celebration was planned to take place at Pittsburgh. 200 years later, October 4th 2009, some churches plan a Great Communion Celebration based on Christ's Prayer in John ch 17.
In June of 1907, Lipscomb wrote in reply to the Census Bureau and made it plain that the churches of Christ no longer had any connection with the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ. History shows both sides paid a high price for this division!
This is important to set the stage for the Centennial celebration of the Restoration Movement, which was planned for October 11, 1909. Even though this was entirely planned and carried out by the Disciples, some from the churches of Christ participated in this also: notably J. W. McGarvey (who was in his eightieth year), F. L Rowe of the Christian Leader paper, and my grandfather, Dr. Kromer C. Ice, MD. Some, like J. W. McGarvey, attempted to continue their connection with both the Disciples and the churches of Christ.
In preparation for the big day, some 208,000 letters were mailed, a million copies of 23 leaflets and tracts were distributed, and the secular press joined in the publicity for the event. Long before October 11, great crowds of people began arriving in Pittsburgh. Every hotel room and tourist home was used to house this mass meeting. The Kansas City delegation chartered a train for the trip and leased the entire Schenley Hotel as their headquarters. The auditorium of Carnegie Hall proved to be too small, and simultaneous programs were provided in nearby church-buildings and with outdoor meetings in Duquesne Garden, Luna Park, and Forbes Field.
Two hundred and fifty churches of all denominations opened their pulpits to leading Restoration preachers on the Lord's Day. An estimated thirty thousand met in Forbes Field to eat the Lord's Supper. Twenty thousand persons were in a three-tiered grandstand. Thousands more filled the bleachers and stood on the ball field to remember the death and suffering of their Savior. The total number who attended some part of the Centennial was thought to be around fifty thousand.
The Centennial at Pittsburgh proved to be the crest of the wave. It seemed at the moment that God was guaranteeing a major new awakening. The celebration had a dramatic effect on the religious community across the nation. Almost immediately all the major Protestant denominations seemed to catch the vision of unity in Christ. Committees were set up to study cooperation and union, by the Episcopalians, the Congregationalists, the Presbyterians, etc.
Yet this was not to be. When the conservatives left in the churches of Christ, they in effect gave the control of the Disciples to the extreme liberal element (and to some degree gave control of the churches of Christ to the extreme conservative element). Men like Peter Ainslee by their radical-liberalism wrecked the opportunities (this is not what they intended to do, though). Religious history might have been different if the conservatives had kept their influence in an undivided movement, and if a David Lipscomb or a J. W. McGarvey could have remained on the scene.
You can read about the Great Communion planned for 10/4/09.
http://www.greatcommunion.org/study/study.htm
Saturday, August 1, 2009
INTERVIEW WITH A. CAMPBELL 2
AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN ALEXANDER CAMPBELL AND THE CHRISTIAN LEDGER. R.D.Ice
[This is from my church bulletin. It is an addendum to the longer article.]
LEDGER: Elder Campbell, you speak of religion as a binding back of man to God. That is, that man has become estranged from God by sin, and that God Himself did something about this.
CAMPBELL: I wrote in the "Christian System" of man as he was, man as he is, and man as he ought to be. The Bible certainly develops this theme. Before Creation, God, who knows all things, had prepared a religion (re-ligio) to bind back broken man to his God. "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:" Ephesians 1:4
But the Accuser has tried to defeat this purpose. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." 2 Tim. 3:5 A religion without a Saviour whose pre-existence is beyond doubt, without a high priest, an altar, a victim, a sacrifice, an expiation, an atonement, is no religion for fallen, ruined, guilty man. A religion without a Holy Spirit, different [separate, distinct] from his gifts and graces; without an advocate, a counselor, and a comforter, is not suited to the genius [inspiration, motivation] of human nature, nor to the conditions of our present existence.
But a religion which demonstrates alike the justice, the mercy, and the grace of God in the gift of his only begotten and well beloved Son, and of his Holy Spirit, which reveals to us a glorious immortality, founded upon the resurrection of the Messiah, and his death as a sin offering, gives glory to God in the highest, establishes peace on earth, and prompts good will to every human being. May the Lord guide us into all truth!
LEDGER: Elder Campbell, you are noted for slogans.
CAMPBELL: Slogans can be useful as a logo to signify complex truths. Some we used are the following.
Let THE BIBLE be substituted for all human creeds;
FACTS, for definitions,
THINGS, for words;
FAITH, for speculation;
UNITY OF FAITH, for unity of opinion;
THE POSITIVE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, for human legislation and tradition;
PIETY [Christian living), for ceremony;
MORALITY, for partisan zeal;
THE PRACTICE OF RELIGION, for the mere profession of it;
--and the work [of reformation] is done.
LEDGER: Thank you for your response. We will consider these things and try to underestand your mind. May God bless you.
[This is from my church bulletin. It is an addendum to the longer article.]
LEDGER: Elder Campbell, you speak of religion as a binding back of man to God. That is, that man has become estranged from God by sin, and that God Himself did something about this.
CAMPBELL: I wrote in the "Christian System" of man as he was, man as he is, and man as he ought to be. The Bible certainly develops this theme. Before Creation, God, who knows all things, had prepared a religion (re-ligio) to bind back broken man to his God. "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:" Ephesians 1:4
But the Accuser has tried to defeat this purpose. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." 2 Tim. 3:5 A religion without a Saviour whose pre-existence is beyond doubt, without a high priest, an altar, a victim, a sacrifice, an expiation, an atonement, is no religion for fallen, ruined, guilty man. A religion without a Holy Spirit, different [separate, distinct] from his gifts and graces; without an advocate, a counselor, and a comforter, is not suited to the genius [inspiration, motivation] of human nature, nor to the conditions of our present existence.
But a religion which demonstrates alike the justice, the mercy, and the grace of God in the gift of his only begotten and well beloved Son, and of his Holy Spirit, which reveals to us a glorious immortality, founded upon the resurrection of the Messiah, and his death as a sin offering, gives glory to God in the highest, establishes peace on earth, and prompts good will to every human being. May the Lord guide us into all truth!
LEDGER: Elder Campbell, you are noted for slogans.
CAMPBELL: Slogans can be useful as a logo to signify complex truths. Some we used are the following.
Let THE BIBLE be substituted for all human creeds;
FACTS, for definitions,
THINGS, for words;
FAITH, for speculation;
UNITY OF FAITH, for unity of opinion;
THE POSITIVE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, for human legislation and tradition;
PIETY [Christian living), for ceremony;
MORALITY, for partisan zeal;
THE PRACTICE OF RELIGION, for the mere profession of it;
--and the work [of reformation] is done.
LEDGER: Thank you for your response. We will consider these things and try to underestand your mind. May God bless you.
Friday, July 17, 2009
INTERVIEW WITH CAMPBELL
AN INTERVIEW WITH ALEXANDER CAMPBELL.
Some of this is based on an article by Bobby Valentine in "Stoned-Campbell" blog.
"In the Twilight Years of Alexander Campbell he lectured and preached extensively to the Bethany College community. By this time Alexander Campbell was a saintly old gentleman and a seasoned reflective student of Scripture. For those who know only Campbell's "Sermon on the Law" might be surprised a large chunk of his hermeneutical enterprise was focused on the Pentateuch. In 1859 and 1860 his lectures were recorded and later published after the Civil War by W. T. Moore as Familiar Lectures on the Pentateuch. Also recorded in this same period were extensive extracts from his sermons. What follows is an imaginary interview with the old Reformer ... I will refer to quotations by Extract numbers as printed in Familiar Lectures." BV
“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." Then He said to them, "Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.” Mark 4:23-24
We carefully follow the Bible. Yet we read through the magnifying glass of Campbell’s thoughts in many instances. He was a revered teacher. We are in no way Campbellites - we are Christians only, following Jesus.
“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” James 3:1 Teachers are needed and many set up as teachers. But as ambassadors of God they will be held to a strict standard. God gives to some great ability, as He did to Timothy, Titus, and many others in the first century and in every century since then. A. Campbell was such a gifted one.
If time travel were an option, an interview with Campbell might sound something like the following imaginary interview.
AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN A. CAMPBELL AND THE CHRISTIAN LEDGER.
LEDGER: Elder Campbell, we have come back to this year of 1860 to learn firsthand of your thoughts of the reformation you have led. Others of course played important roles, including your father, Thomas Campbell, Barton W. Stone, Walter Scott, Raccoon John Smith. But you seem to have emerged as the spokesman early on. Your printing press turned out many volumes which survive to our day.
CAMPBELL: A man can only do what God gives him. God Himself works through people. I suppose zeal has burned within me as a fire. From my younger days I have tried to promote unity among those who consider themselves to be God's People. Surely God blessed me in this endeavor and provided means beyond my expectation. A 3,000 acre farm, a good wife, actually two good wives, since my first died. And I have had very good people working with me. God granted me great prosperity. I have used this prosperity to strive to promote the great cause of God. It has enabled me to do things which would otherwise have been impossible.
LEDGER: You speak of reformation, but some in our day say restoration.
CAMPBELL: In answering the lady from Lunenburg County, I noted that the promise that the gates of hades could not prevail against Christ’s church was immutable. And so I often spoke of the continuing reformation. It would be impossible to restore that which is in continuous existence.
LEDGER: Perhaps refurbish would be a good word. A line from the Last Will And Testament Of The Springfield Presbytery. Imprimis. We will that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large: for there is but one body and one spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling.
CAMPBELL As Elder Stone said: Let unity be our polar star. This was my intention also.
LEDGER: Elder Campbell the reformation you promoted has exalted the Bible. Can you share your mature thoughts on that old religious tome?
CAMPBELL "The Bible is a perfect chart for the entire voyage of life. Beyond that it has no value. It is not adapted to [a] man in Heaven or Hell." (# 21). But the "vast deal of Bible reading, in these latter days [is] for the purpose of enabling men to stand erect upon a particular point of faith, peculiar to themselves ... than with obtaining a clear and unbiased understanding and truthful appreciation of the intent and meaning of Holy Writ" (# 9).
LEDGER: You are saying that some use the Bible only for proving a point of their opinion. I remember you saying that you tried to read the Bible each morning as if you had never seen it before.
CAMPBELL I meant by that an unbiased mind. As you would read a newspaper, for example. You read to learn the news and you use the laws of language to understand what you read.
LEDGER: Elder Campbell what kind of book is the Bible?
CAMPBELL: "[T]he Holy Scriptures have every form of expression. We have not only poetry and prose, precepts, promises and threats; but all various forms and usages of human speech ... It is very proper that this should be so. For this book is addressed to man, by Him who alone comprehends him in his relations to his fellow man and to his Creator ... It is worthy of observation, that in the Bible as addressed to man, God does not deal in abstractions." (#11)
LEDGER: Abstractions as defined by Crabb’s English Synonyms. You said the Bible was a book of facts, and that facts are stubborn things. By abstractions you mean those who strive about words to no profit? Jesus said to beware the leaven of the Pharisees.
CAMPBELL: Yes. But the Bible is not a book of abstract ideas, but in a sense living and breathing, such as a letter from a dear friend. The Living Oracles Version words it this way. “...not to fight about words for nothing useful, but to the subverting of the hearers.” Nothing ought to be bound upon Christians as articles of faith, nor required as terms of communion and fellowship, except what is clearly taught and required in the Word of God. Human reasoning and opinion may be valid, but has no authority! But often what is only human reasoning is held to be the authentic word of faith.
LEDGER: Speaking of the Living Oracles, that was a new version which you published?
CAMPBELL: Yes. I wrote in 1826, The Sacred Writings. "But this constant mutation in a living language will probably render new translations, or corrections of old translations, necessary every two or three hundred years. For although the English tongue may have changed less during the last two hundred years than it ever did in the same lapse of time; yet the changes which have taken place since the reign of James I do now render a new translation necessary. For if the King's translators had given a translation every way faithful and correct, in the language then spoken in Britain, the changes in the English language which have since been introduced, would render that translation in many instances incorrect."
LEDGER: What was the basis for your new version?
CAMPBELL: I used a work done in England by George Campbell, James McKnight, Philip Doddridge. I made a few emendations. Immerse for baptism; reform for repent, congregation for church, etc. For example, Matt xvi:18. “I tell you, likewise, you are named Stone; and on this rock I will build my congregation, over which the gates of Hades shall not prevail.” I wrote in the preface to The Living Oracles: In the second Epistle to Corinth, (viii. 1. common version,) Paul says, "WE DO YOU TO WIT of the grace of God bestowed upon the churches of Macedonia". This was, no doubt, a correct and intelligible rendering of the Greek words, GNORIZOMEN DE UMIN, to the people of that day; but to us it is unintelligible as the Greek original. How few are there who can translate "WE DO YOU TO WIT," by WE CAUSE YOU TO KNOW? which is the modern English of the above sentence. The same may be observed of the term "WOT," in all places where it occurs.
LEDGER: The work of James McKnight has still been kept in print in our day. And some of your word choices sound like the Geneva Bible of 1560, which has also been reprinted in our day. Elder Campbell, you reportedly objected to the word Trinity.
CAMPBELL: The word trinity is not a Bible word and I try to speak of Bible things using Bible words. However the idea represented is true. I spoke in The Christian System, Chapter V. of: Jehovah the Father, Jehovah the Son and Jehovah the Holy Spirit. Certainly God is a trinity, even as we affirm in baptizing into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
LEDGER: But some things you said sounded like Unitarianism. And today there remains a strain of Unitarianism among the churches.
CAMPBELL: Due in part to Dr. John Thomas MD, one of my severest critics. He eventually left to found the Christadelphians. But though I had rejected the word Trinity, I certainly believe its truth. I wrote: “A religion without a Saviour whose pre-existence is beyond doubt, without a high priest, an altar, a victim, a sacrifice, an expiation, an atonement, is no religion for fallen, ruined, guilty man. A religion without a Holy Spirit, different from his gifts and graces; without an advocate, a counselor, and a comforter, is not suited to the genius of human nature, nor to the conditions of our present existence. But a religion which demonstrates alike the justice, the mercy, and the grace of God in gift of his only begotten and well beloved Son, and of his Holy Spirit, which reveals to us a glorious immortality, founded upon the resurrection of the Messiah, and his death as a sin offering, gives glory to God in the highest, establishes peace on earth, and prompts good will to every human being. May the Lord guide us into all truth!
CAMPBELL: Further I wrote in The Christian System: The Bible is a book of facts, not of opinions, theories, abstract generalities, nor of verbal definitions. It is a book of awful [awesome] facts, grand and sublime beyond description. These facts reveal God and man, and contain within them the reasons of all piety and righteousness; or what is commonly called religion and morality.
LEDGER: In our world on October 4th, 2009, we will celebrate the 200th anniversary of your father’s Declaration And Address. There will be a Great Communion among the spiritual heirs of the continuing reformation. This will be to show forth the death of Christ until He Comes, and to demonstrate our union in Him.
CAMPBELL: I wrote of that Declaration And Address in the Preface to The Christian System. “The first piece that was written on the subject of the great position, appeared from the pen of THOMAS CAMPBELL, Senior, in the year 1809. An association was formed that year for the dissemination of the principles of reformation; and the piece alluded to was styled "The Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington, Pennsylvania."
LEDGER: Knofel Staton has written a paraphrase of that document in our language of today. It was, as you said, a very radical document and one which challenged many opinions.
CAMPBELL: It was first tendered to the parties that confessed the Westminster creed; but equally submitted to the Protestants of every name, making faith in Christ and obedience to him the only test of Christian character, and the only bond of church union, communion, and co-operation. It was indeed approved by all; but adopted and practised by none, except the few, or part of the few, who made the overture. None of us who either got up or sustained that project, was then aware of what havoc that said principle, if faithfully applied, would have made of our views and practices on various favorite points.
LEDGER: Elder Campbell, you evidently try to speak to be understood by the common man. How do you phrase your sermons to do this?
CAMPBELL: I wrote in part: Are we to preach this law of nature, then, some will inquire; or Are we to show men that they possess this natural conscience, previous to a proclamation of the glad tidings? I would answer this question by proposing another. Am I to tell a man he has an ear, and explain to him the use of it, before I condescend to speak to him? One answer suits both inquiries. We should consider the circumstances of any people before we address them. Do we address Jews? Let us address them as the Apostles did. Persuade them out of their own law that Jesus is the Messiah. Do we address professed Christians? Let us imitate the apostolic addresses in the epistles. Do we preach to Barbarians? Let us address them as Paul preached to the Lycaonians. Speak to their consciences. Do we preach to polished infidels or idolaters? Let us speak to them as Paul spake to the Athenians. Speak to their consciences. [Lycaonians Acts 14:6-18]
LEDGER: Do you have a favorite part of Scripture or is there any "more important" than other parts?
CAMPBELL: "No man has ever suggested an improvement to the parables of the Saviour ... they are the wisest exhibitions of literature in the world." (# LXXX). However "among the most important ecclesiastical documents are the two oracles, which we sometimes denominate the kernel of Christianity - the Epistles of Paul to the Romans and to the Hebrews. They contain the most comprehensive and complete exposition of all that enters into Christian faith and worship, ever spoken or written." (# LXXXV)
LEDGER: Elder Campbell, in our day Christians have retreated from the physicality of the world. Do you have any mature thoughts on Creation and its destiny?
CAMPBELL: Absolutely! "The principles of creation are: First, goodness, the actuating: Second, wisdom, the directing: third, power, the executive principle" (# 8). The order here is important. "The universe itself is the offspring of God's love. It was not created simply because he had the wisdom and power to do it. The element of love entered into the intention, characterized the execution, and approved the completion of his labors." (# 18). It is all about God who is love!
LEDGER: I understand you have been looking forward to some sort of Golden Age here on earth? You named your paper: The Millennial Harbinger.
CAMPBELL: But perhaps the recent war between the states has dimmed that hope. For a time it seemed we would sweep sectarianism from the world.
LEDGER: Do you see the earth being destroyed at the end of the world?
CAMPBELL: Some have been influenced by the materialism of the Enlightenment and have abandoned biblical teaching. You see “the impression prevails in many minds that the earth is to be annihilated. Such is not our belief. There is a vast difference between annihilation and change ... This earth will unquestionably be burned, yet through the process of variation and reconstruction of its elements, God will fashion the earth and heavens anew, and fill them with tenants to glorify His name forever" (# 13; cf #LXVI).
LEDGER: The victory of the Messiah goes as far as the curse is found. Peter could speak of new heavens and a new earth. One final question Elder Campbell, what kind of God do you worship?
CAMPBELL: "I worship a great God and a little God...He is so large that he fills the universe with his presence, and so small that he dwells in my heart. [A]nd if the love of God fills the heart [of a] man, he must be happy." (# XCVII)
LEDGER: Thank you for the courtesy of the interview Elder Campbell. Your thoughts certainly exhibit years of study and worship. Thank you for sharing them with us ... we will have to reflect on them ourselves.
LEDGER: Campbell in his early years was radical, ready to burn the house down to get rid of the mice. It was Destroy And Be Free! This was reflected in his publication of The Christian Baptist paper. But you cannot build a house with a wrecking bar. Some things were done in haste that were later regretted. A maturing Campbell published the Millennial Harbinger for some years. Perhaps we do need controversy to cause us to rexamine the ground upon which we stand. Campbell spread his influence far and wide. Note Campbell died March 6, 1866. Again, we are not Campbellites, but rather Christians only, followers of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have been in the habit of reading Scripture through the magnifying glass of Campbell's thought. Campbell was an inspiration to us, but in some ways he was short sighted. He was rational to a fault in his thinking. Campbell could speak of the Continuing Reformation - in a sense of Reformed And Always Reforming. Each individual who has charisma influences a circle of followers. In the Stone-Campbell movement there was a lot of cross-fertilization, opposition, perhaps extremism and fanaticism in the sense of being overcome by excessive zeal. Yet certainly all the way back to Pentecost this has been the history of the Lord's people. We should look kindly on those of the past and carefully examine ourselves. Jesus said to love God and to love our neighbor.
Some of this is based on an article by Bobby Valentine in "Stoned-Campbell" blog.
"In the Twilight Years of Alexander Campbell he lectured and preached extensively to the Bethany College community. By this time Alexander Campbell was a saintly old gentleman and a seasoned reflective student of Scripture. For those who know only Campbell's "Sermon on the Law" might be surprised a large chunk of his hermeneutical enterprise was focused on the Pentateuch. In 1859 and 1860 his lectures were recorded and later published after the Civil War by W. T. Moore as Familiar Lectures on the Pentateuch. Also recorded in this same period were extensive extracts from his sermons. What follows is an imaginary interview with the old Reformer ... I will refer to quotations by Extract numbers as printed in Familiar Lectures." BV
“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." Then He said to them, "Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.” Mark 4:23-24
We carefully follow the Bible. Yet we read through the magnifying glass of Campbell’s thoughts in many instances. He was a revered teacher. We are in no way Campbellites - we are Christians only, following Jesus.
“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” James 3:1 Teachers are needed and many set up as teachers. But as ambassadors of God they will be held to a strict standard. God gives to some great ability, as He did to Timothy, Titus, and many others in the first century and in every century since then. A. Campbell was such a gifted one.
If time travel were an option, an interview with Campbell might sound something like the following imaginary interview.
AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN A. CAMPBELL AND THE CHRISTIAN LEDGER.
LEDGER: Elder Campbell, we have come back to this year of 1860 to learn firsthand of your thoughts of the reformation you have led. Others of course played important roles, including your father, Thomas Campbell, Barton W. Stone, Walter Scott, Raccoon John Smith. But you seem to have emerged as the spokesman early on. Your printing press turned out many volumes which survive to our day.
CAMPBELL: A man can only do what God gives him. God Himself works through people. I suppose zeal has burned within me as a fire. From my younger days I have tried to promote unity among those who consider themselves to be God's People. Surely God blessed me in this endeavor and provided means beyond my expectation. A 3,000 acre farm, a good wife, actually two good wives, since my first died. And I have had very good people working with me. God granted me great prosperity. I have used this prosperity to strive to promote the great cause of God. It has enabled me to do things which would otherwise have been impossible.
LEDGER: You speak of reformation, but some in our day say restoration.
CAMPBELL: In answering the lady from Lunenburg County, I noted that the promise that the gates of hades could not prevail against Christ’s church was immutable. And so I often spoke of the continuing reformation. It would be impossible to restore that which is in continuous existence.
LEDGER: Perhaps refurbish would be a good word. A line from the Last Will And Testament Of The Springfield Presbytery. Imprimis. We will that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large: for there is but one body and one spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling.
CAMPBELL As Elder Stone said: Let unity be our polar star. This was my intention also.
LEDGER: Elder Campbell the reformation you promoted has exalted the Bible. Can you share your mature thoughts on that old religious tome?
CAMPBELL "The Bible is a perfect chart for the entire voyage of life. Beyond that it has no value. It is not adapted to [a] man in Heaven or Hell." (# 21). But the "vast deal of Bible reading, in these latter days [is] for the purpose of enabling men to stand erect upon a particular point of faith, peculiar to themselves ... than with obtaining a clear and unbiased understanding and truthful appreciation of the intent and meaning of Holy Writ" (# 9).
LEDGER: You are saying that some use the Bible only for proving a point of their opinion. I remember you saying that you tried to read the Bible each morning as if you had never seen it before.
CAMPBELL I meant by that an unbiased mind. As you would read a newspaper, for example. You read to learn the news and you use the laws of language to understand what you read.
LEDGER: Elder Campbell what kind of book is the Bible?
CAMPBELL: "[T]he Holy Scriptures have every form of expression. We have not only poetry and prose, precepts, promises and threats; but all various forms and usages of human speech ... It is very proper that this should be so. For this book is addressed to man, by Him who alone comprehends him in his relations to his fellow man and to his Creator ... It is worthy of observation, that in the Bible as addressed to man, God does not deal in abstractions." (#11)
LEDGER: Abstractions as defined by Crabb’s English Synonyms. You said the Bible was a book of facts, and that facts are stubborn things. By abstractions you mean those who strive about words to no profit? Jesus said to beware the leaven of the Pharisees.
CAMPBELL: Yes. But the Bible is not a book of abstract ideas, but in a sense living and breathing, such as a letter from a dear friend. The Living Oracles Version words it this way. “...not to fight about words for nothing useful, but to the subverting of the hearers.” Nothing ought to be bound upon Christians as articles of faith, nor required as terms of communion and fellowship, except what is clearly taught and required in the Word of God. Human reasoning and opinion may be valid, but has no authority! But often what is only human reasoning is held to be the authentic word of faith.
LEDGER: Speaking of the Living Oracles, that was a new version which you published?
CAMPBELL: Yes. I wrote in 1826, The Sacred Writings. "But this constant mutation in a living language will probably render new translations, or corrections of old translations, necessary every two or three hundred years. For although the English tongue may have changed less during the last two hundred years than it ever did in the same lapse of time; yet the changes which have taken place since the reign of James I do now render a new translation necessary. For if the King's translators had given a translation every way faithful and correct, in the language then spoken in Britain, the changes in the English language which have since been introduced, would render that translation in many instances incorrect."
LEDGER: What was the basis for your new version?
CAMPBELL: I used a work done in England by George Campbell, James McKnight, Philip Doddridge. I made a few emendations. Immerse for baptism; reform for repent, congregation for church, etc. For example, Matt xvi:18. “I tell you, likewise, you are named Stone; and on this rock I will build my congregation, over which the gates of Hades shall not prevail.” I wrote in the preface to The Living Oracles: In the second Epistle to Corinth, (viii. 1. common version,) Paul says, "WE DO YOU TO WIT of the grace of God bestowed upon the churches of Macedonia". This was, no doubt, a correct and intelligible rendering of the Greek words, GNORIZOMEN DE UMIN, to the people of that day; but to us it is unintelligible as the Greek original. How few are there who can translate "WE DO YOU TO WIT," by WE CAUSE YOU TO KNOW? which is the modern English of the above sentence. The same may be observed of the term "WOT," in all places where it occurs.
LEDGER: The work of James McKnight has still been kept in print in our day. And some of your word choices sound like the Geneva Bible of 1560, which has also been reprinted in our day. Elder Campbell, you reportedly objected to the word Trinity.
CAMPBELL: The word trinity is not a Bible word and I try to speak of Bible things using Bible words. However the idea represented is true. I spoke in The Christian System, Chapter V. of: Jehovah the Father, Jehovah the Son and Jehovah the Holy Spirit. Certainly God is a trinity, even as we affirm in baptizing into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
LEDGER: But some things you said sounded like Unitarianism. And today there remains a strain of Unitarianism among the churches.
CAMPBELL: Due in part to Dr. John Thomas MD, one of my severest critics. He eventually left to found the Christadelphians. But though I had rejected the word Trinity, I certainly believe its truth. I wrote: “A religion without a Saviour whose pre-existence is beyond doubt, without a high priest, an altar, a victim, a sacrifice, an expiation, an atonement, is no religion for fallen, ruined, guilty man. A religion without a Holy Spirit, different from his gifts and graces; without an advocate, a counselor, and a comforter, is not suited to the genius of human nature, nor to the conditions of our present existence. But a religion which demonstrates alike the justice, the mercy, and the grace of God in gift of his only begotten and well beloved Son, and of his Holy Spirit, which reveals to us a glorious immortality, founded upon the resurrection of the Messiah, and his death as a sin offering, gives glory to God in the highest, establishes peace on earth, and prompts good will to every human being. May the Lord guide us into all truth!
CAMPBELL: Further I wrote in The Christian System: The Bible is a book of facts, not of opinions, theories, abstract generalities, nor of verbal definitions. It is a book of awful [awesome] facts, grand and sublime beyond description. These facts reveal God and man, and contain within them the reasons of all piety and righteousness; or what is commonly called religion and morality.
LEDGER: In our world on October 4th, 2009, we will celebrate the 200th anniversary of your father’s Declaration And Address. There will be a Great Communion among the spiritual heirs of the continuing reformation. This will be to show forth the death of Christ until He Comes, and to demonstrate our union in Him.
CAMPBELL: I wrote of that Declaration And Address in the Preface to The Christian System. “The first piece that was written on the subject of the great position, appeared from the pen of THOMAS CAMPBELL, Senior, in the year 1809. An association was formed that year for the dissemination of the principles of reformation; and the piece alluded to was styled "The Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington, Pennsylvania."
LEDGER: Knofel Staton has written a paraphrase of that document in our language of today. It was, as you said, a very radical document and one which challenged many opinions.
CAMPBELL: It was first tendered to the parties that confessed the Westminster creed; but equally submitted to the Protestants of every name, making faith in Christ and obedience to him the only test of Christian character, and the only bond of church union, communion, and co-operation. It was indeed approved by all; but adopted and practised by none, except the few, or part of the few, who made the overture. None of us who either got up or sustained that project, was then aware of what havoc that said principle, if faithfully applied, would have made of our views and practices on various favorite points.
LEDGER: Elder Campbell, you evidently try to speak to be understood by the common man. How do you phrase your sermons to do this?
CAMPBELL: I wrote in part: Are we to preach this law of nature, then, some will inquire; or Are we to show men that they possess this natural conscience, previous to a proclamation of the glad tidings? I would answer this question by proposing another. Am I to tell a man he has an ear, and explain to him the use of it, before I condescend to speak to him? One answer suits both inquiries. We should consider the circumstances of any people before we address them. Do we address Jews? Let us address them as the Apostles did. Persuade them out of their own law that Jesus is the Messiah. Do we address professed Christians? Let us imitate the apostolic addresses in the epistles. Do we preach to Barbarians? Let us address them as Paul preached to the Lycaonians. Speak to their consciences. Do we preach to polished infidels or idolaters? Let us speak to them as Paul spake to the Athenians. Speak to their consciences. [Lycaonians Acts 14:6-18]
LEDGER: Do you have a favorite part of Scripture or is there any "more important" than other parts?
CAMPBELL: "No man has ever suggested an improvement to the parables of the Saviour ... they are the wisest exhibitions of literature in the world." (# LXXX). However "among the most important ecclesiastical documents are the two oracles, which we sometimes denominate the kernel of Christianity - the Epistles of Paul to the Romans and to the Hebrews. They contain the most comprehensive and complete exposition of all that enters into Christian faith and worship, ever spoken or written." (# LXXXV)
LEDGER: Elder Campbell, in our day Christians have retreated from the physicality of the world. Do you have any mature thoughts on Creation and its destiny?
CAMPBELL: Absolutely! "The principles of creation are: First, goodness, the actuating: Second, wisdom, the directing: third, power, the executive principle" (# 8). The order here is important. "The universe itself is the offspring of God's love. It was not created simply because he had the wisdom and power to do it. The element of love entered into the intention, characterized the execution, and approved the completion of his labors." (# 18). It is all about God who is love!
LEDGER: I understand you have been looking forward to some sort of Golden Age here on earth? You named your paper: The Millennial Harbinger.
CAMPBELL: But perhaps the recent war between the states has dimmed that hope. For a time it seemed we would sweep sectarianism from the world.
LEDGER: Do you see the earth being destroyed at the end of the world?
CAMPBELL: Some have been influenced by the materialism of the Enlightenment and have abandoned biblical teaching. You see “the impression prevails in many minds that the earth is to be annihilated. Such is not our belief. There is a vast difference between annihilation and change ... This earth will unquestionably be burned, yet through the process of variation and reconstruction of its elements, God will fashion the earth and heavens anew, and fill them with tenants to glorify His name forever" (# 13; cf #LXVI).
LEDGER: The victory of the Messiah goes as far as the curse is found. Peter could speak of new heavens and a new earth. One final question Elder Campbell, what kind of God do you worship?
CAMPBELL: "I worship a great God and a little God...He is so large that he fills the universe with his presence, and so small that he dwells in my heart. [A]nd if the love of God fills the heart [of a] man, he must be happy." (# XCVII)
LEDGER: Thank you for the courtesy of the interview Elder Campbell. Your thoughts certainly exhibit years of study and worship. Thank you for sharing them with us ... we will have to reflect on them ourselves.
LEDGER: Campbell in his early years was radical, ready to burn the house down to get rid of the mice. It was Destroy And Be Free! This was reflected in his publication of The Christian Baptist paper. But you cannot build a house with a wrecking bar. Some things were done in haste that were later regretted. A maturing Campbell published the Millennial Harbinger for some years. Perhaps we do need controversy to cause us to rexamine the ground upon which we stand. Campbell spread his influence far and wide. Note Campbell died March 6, 1866. Again, we are not Campbellites, but rather Christians only, followers of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have been in the habit of reading Scripture through the magnifying glass of Campbell's thought. Campbell was an inspiration to us, but in some ways he was short sighted. He was rational to a fault in his thinking. Campbell could speak of the Continuing Reformation - in a sense of Reformed And Always Reforming. Each individual who has charisma influences a circle of followers. In the Stone-Campbell movement there was a lot of cross-fertilization, opposition, perhaps extremism and fanaticism in the sense of being overcome by excessive zeal. Yet certainly all the way back to Pentecost this has been the history of the Lord's people. We should look kindly on those of the past and carefully examine ourselves. Jesus said to love God and to love our neighbor.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
