Leroy Garrett Stone and Campbell Unite
OUR UNITY HERITAGE: STONE AND CAMPBELL UNITE
by Leroy Garrett:
Leroy Garrett: Since both the Stone and Campbell movements had as their aim to “unite the Christians in all the sects,”
and were in relative proximity to each other both in time and location,
it should be no surprise that they would unite and become one unity movement.
Campbell said just the opposite: if there were Christians meaning baptized believers in the sects theyshould "come out of Babylon." He saw Stone's urge to unity by having the Reformers join the Christians as a sect because it would defacto mean an organization larger than a local congregation. Sometimes people just say what they wished they had taught.
There is a difference between CALLING OUT baptized believers in the sects: Campbell never agreed that there was any "union" with the Christians. He said they only showed how people could be divided.
Leroy Garrett sees some grand defection by Churches of Christ in 1906. It was John Calvin perhaps who inspired those long before the Cane Ridge witchery by calling for a Restoration of the Church of Christ. This would be accomplished by removing organs from churches even though no one in history had engaged in "congregational singing with instrumental accompaniment." There is a long continuous string of churches calling themselves The Church of Christ who whatever their errors never used instrumental music because they knew that the Word forbade it and the meaning of ekklesia or synagogue would make imposing instruments insulting to the Master Teacher.
"in Maury County. J. K. Speer was born in 1794, in the month of May, and in early life he was a Baptist preacher. He probably began preaching "the faith" (called by others heresy), as early as early (sic) as 1825, and was independent of both Stone and Campbell. "John Smith denies that INCLUDING sects in unity was desirable.
1826 THE REFORMATION IN TENNESSEE. By Isaac N. Jones.
"In about 1826 my father and uncle William Jones moved to McMinn County and located a wool-carding machine on Spring Creek. Here they heard of a man, perhaps from Kentucky, preaching a strange doctrine in a county or two east of McMinn. My father, being the principal carder, requested Uncle William to go and learn what the new doctrine was. On his return he showed how the man had used Acts 2:38 to prove that baptism is for the remission of past sins. The reasoning was so clear, and in such harmony with what they had tried to teach, viz: "Salvation of some sort is connected in some way with baptism, or Christ would not have said (Mark 16:16) 'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,"' that they at once went to preaching it, strange as it sounded to others.
"Many were the hard-fought battles necessary to get the brethren to see the simple teachings of God's word,
and to break loose from the doctrine of abstract operations of the Spirit in converting the sinner;
and to see that shoutings, swoonings, laughing, barking like dogs, the jerks, etc., etc.,
were not miraculous influences of the Spirit, but the wonderful magnetic influences of some men,
aided by the surroundings... [These were the Stonites]
"And as he had joined "The Reformation" seven to ten years before he had ever even heard of A. Campbell, and at least seven years before A. Campbell himself, in 1827 or 1828, became a reformer holding the platform heretofore mentioned, it is evident that neither I nor those described in Middle and East Tennessee are entitled to the name Campbellite. In fact, this movement occurred while Bro. Campbell was yet with the Presbyterians and Baptists.Church of Christ had never UNIONED with the Stoneites and the Christians held nothing in common especially with Churches of Christ in Tennessee. Therefore, to use terms of violance against David Lipscomb betrays a failure to read history.But it was no holiday job to preach then. Besides going mainly at his own expense, the preacher suffered losses at home, persecution both at home and abroad, and was often traduced personally; besides having to bear the odium attached to the cause itself. "You are Schismatics"; "You deny the Divinity of Christ"; You deny the operations of the Holy Ghost"; "You deny heart-felt religion," etc. , etc. , were some of the charges hurled at them. But in process of time A. Campbell took the same ground that brethren of Middle and East Tennessee had held for some years before they ever heard of him, and now it is Campbellite, Campbellite, Campbellite!
John Smith 1832: "But an amalgamation of sects is not such a union as Christ prayed for and God enjoins. To agree to be one upon any system of human inventions would be contrary to his will, and could never be a blessing to the church or the world; therefore, the only union practicable or desirable must be based on the word of God as the only rule of faith and practice...That would certainly exclude the things Leroy Garrett would love to include because he denies that the epistles are truth as the gospels are truth.
The Lunenburg Correspondence Rejects Leroy Garrett's claim
Leroy Garrett: promotes UNITY by insisting that those who never in recorded history used instruments in 'the school of Christ' either confirm or conform with the Instrumentalists. There is never any hint that the HERETICS defined as those who used their assumed silence to IMPOSE instruments remove that which offends and Disciple of the Word of Christ.I. With all despatch, then, I hasten to show that I have neither conceded nor surrendered any thing for which I ever contended; but that on the contrary, the opinion now expressed, whether true or false, is one that I have always avowed.
1. Let me ask, in the first place, what could mean all that we have written upon the union of Christians on apostolic grounds,(Footnote in original reads: It is with us as old as baptism for the remission of sins, and this is at least as old as the "Christian Baptist." Read the first two numbers of that work.)
had we taught that all Christians in the world were already united in our own community?2. And in the second place, why should we so often have quoted and applied to apostate Christendom what the Spirit saith to saints in Babylon--"Come out of her, my people, that you partake not of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues"--had we imagined that the Lord had no people beyond the pale of our communion!
3. But let him that yet doubts, read the following passages from the Christian Baptist, April, 1825:--
"I have no idea of seeing, nor wish to see, the sects unite in one grand army.
This would be dangerous to our liberties and laws. For this the Saviour did not pray.
It is only the disciples dispersed among them that reason and benevolence would call out of them, "&c. &c. This looks very like our present opinion of Christians among the sects!!! 2d ed. Bethany, p. 85.
Leroy Garrett: But they first had to discover each other, which on a far-flung frontier, where even newspapers were rare, did not come easily. When the Campbells organized their first congregation at Brush Run, near Bethany, Virginia, in 1812, they knew nothing of similar efforts by Barton W. Stone and other “revival Cane Ridge preachers” down in Kentucky. And when the Campbell people, first called “Reformed Baptists,” were eventually on their own as “Disciples of Christ” by 1829 the Stone people had only begun to get acquainted with them.
Kentucky Revival Red River to Cane Ridge Part OneLeroy Garrett: Campbell and Stone had first met in Kentucky in 1824, when they began a close friendship that was to last until Stone’s death 20 years later. While they did not work together personally, they carried on a rather vigorous — if sometimes uneasy — correspondence,
Cane Ridge and Sectarianism Part Two
Cane Ridge and Babylonian Parallels Part Three
and not one that would itself encourage a merger of their churches.
According to Campbell, a "merger" implying a large groups of congregation banded together would constitute a SECT. It would have to be identified by Name and Creed and conditions of participation. There is no hint that Campbell endorsed any such bonding although the Missionary Society used his name to promote their division.
Leroy Garrett: There might not in fact have been a merger had it been up to Campbell, for he was concerned that his movement might have to bear the criticism of being tainted with Arianism, an opprobrium Stone bore early on in his role as an editor. Campbell was not even present at the merger, while Stone had a leading role.
Campbell also thought the merger might be premature, but he eventually gave his blessings to it.
It says something about the Movement’s breath of leadership
that it was able to effect a union without either Campbell’s presence or (immediate) blessing.
THERE WAS NEVER A MERGER: This has been one of the most destructive claims attempting psychological violence on those who BROKE the UNION.
Campbell was working to destroy sects and creeds: it seems that he saw no way that a UNION of independent churches could be possible without writing a creed and organizing. Of course the Stoneites jumped into organizations. If there is no organized body it cannot unite with another group which is not a body. Only those at the meeting thought of unity but the individual ministers never agreed and never became a part. If a group agreed to assemble together without discussing 'issues" that unity ceased when the instrumentalists imposed instruments. That splitting would have happened in churches never subscribing to the Campbells and not within churches of Christ.
Leroy Garrett: If there were substantive differences between Stone and Campbell while they yet appreciated and accepted each other in fellowship, there were likewise significant differences between their people when they formed their union. The Stone churches called themselves Christians in that Barton Stone saw it as the God-ordained name, while the Campbell people preferred Disciples of Christ.
In fact there was no creed or practice in common but the absolute demand that Scripture defines faith and practices. Scripture's silence claimed by the instrumentalists is that OPINIONISM which everyone at the time denied.
Leroy Garrett: Both used the names Christian Churches and Churches of Christ for their congregations. They differed in modes and intensity of evangelism. The Stone churches were more zealous and emotional in their preaching, still using the mourner’s bench, which was common in that day, and they had numerous evangelists The Disciples were more rational and less emotional, rejected the mourner’s bench, and had neglected evangelism, except for the phenomenal success of Walter Scott.
Stone denied that there was a "union"1825 A Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things--by Alexander Campbell
We are ready any moment to meet and unite with those brethren, or any others, who believe in, and obey the Saviour according to their best understanding of his will, on the Bible, but not on opinions of its truth.
We cannot with our present views unite on the opinion that unimmersed persons cannot receive the remission of sins,
and therefore should be excluded from our fellowship and communion on earth. We cannot conscientiously give up the name Christian, acknowledged by our brethren must appropriate, for any other (as Disciple) less appropriate, and received to avoid the disgrace of being suspected to be a Unitarian or Trinitarian. We cannot thus temporize with divine truth.
No. III I have no idea of seeing, nor one wish to see, the sects unite in one grand army.Campbell was discussing unbelievers being permitted to participate in a Church of Christ.
This would be dangerous to our liberties and laws.
For this the Saviour did not pray.
It is only the disciples of Christ dispersed among them,
that reason and benevolence would call out of them.
Let them unite who love the Lord, and
then we shall soon see the hireling priesthood
and their worldly establishments prostrate in the dust.
Leroy Garrett: While both were immersionists, the Christians did not emphasize it like the Disciples did, even though Stone insisted that “There is not one among us out of 500 that has not been immersed.” Stone did not see it as essential to remission of sins, or to church membership, as Campbell appeared to.No. XXI. Besides, where any number attend there generally are some disciples of Christ not connected with the church, and who consequently can, and do join in prayer and praise; and we know no reason why any man should forbid them. We know it has been said we might as well admit unbelievers to the Lord's supper as suffer them to stand up along with the church in prayer or praise.
But by receiving them to break bread, we acknowledge them to be disciples, members of the body of Christ; whereas their placing themselves in the same posture with the church, implies no acknowledgment of them, on our part, as believers.
On the whole, we think any attempt to prevent the hearers from assuming the same posture as the church, in any part of their worship, is unscriptural. It gives a false view of the encouragement given by Jesus to sinners, and while it has a show of faithfulness, it is calculated to foster a temper towards those who are without very different from what Christ has enjoined on his people. We do not know that your sentiments, beloved, differ from our own on this subject. If they do, we trust you will take our observations in good part, as we have known much evil result from the practice to which we have referred
It is a fact there there was NOTHING Stone held in common with others but the urge to UNIONIZE. Campbell got the impression that Stone was boasting that the Disciples "have come over to us." None of the Christians which remained were faithful to their 1832 pledge.
The Stone people had an ordained ministry and a higher concept of the ministerial office,
and that only the ordained should baptize and serve the Lord’s supper.
That proves the EXCLUSIVE nature of the Christians whereas the Campbell's repudiated any notion of a clerical office. It is a fact that any person who refused to be ORDAINED would be excluded from their priesthood.
The Disciples emphasized lay ministry and the priesthood of all believers, and were even anticlerical. In their churches any believer could preach, baptize, and serve communion. From the first Sunday at Brush Run the Disciples had broken bread together in every congregation every first day, while up to the time of the union the Christians had been irregular in their practice.
While both were unity-conscious, the Stone people were more ecumenical than the Disciples,
who were more concerned with the restoration of the ancient order of things,
at least at the time of the union.
The Campbells probably got their ideas in England and from John Calvin
The Necessity of Reforming the Church Presented to Imperial Diet at Spires, AD 1544,
For where can I exert myself to better purpose or more honestly, where, too, in a matter at this time more necessary, than in attempting, according to my ability,Leroy Garrett: This led Robert Richardson, the movement’s first historian, to see the Stone people as preachers and the Campbell folk as teachers. The two churches were about equal in size at the time of the union, around 12,000 - to 14,000 each.
to aid the Church of Christ, whose claims it is unlawful in any instance to deny, and which is now in grievous distress, and in extreme danger?
But there is no occasion for a long preface concerning myself. Receive what I say as you would do if it were pronounced by the united voice
of all those who either have already taken care to restore the Church,
or are desirous that it should be restored to true order.
I come now to ceremonies, which, while they ought to be grave attestations of divine worship, are rather a mere mockery of God. A new Judaism, as a substitute for that which God had distinctly abrogated, has again been reared up by means of numerous puerile extravagancies, collected from different quarters; and with these have been mixed up certain impious rites, partly borrowed from the heathen, and more adapted to some theatrical show than to the dignity of our religion.
The first evil here is, that an immense number of ceremonies, which God had by his authority abrogated, once for all have been again revived.
The next evil is, that while ceremonies ought to be living exercises of piety, men are vainly occupied with numbers of them that are both frivolous and useless.
But by far the most deadly evil of all is, that after men have thus mocked God with ceremonies of one kind or other, they think they have fulfilled their duty as admirably as if these ceremonies included in them the whole essence of piety and divine worship.
These differences were as formidable as any that were later seen as causes for the divisions that came.
The two churches were nevertheless able to effect a union
because they acted on the principles that had been set forth in their founding documents a generation earlier.
They united on the core gospel,
the essentials of the faith,
with Christ at the center,
allowing for liberty of opinion on marginal issues.
The CENTER of the church upon which it is edified or EDUCATED is the prophets and apostles. The spirit OF Christ defined the future rest of Messiah both includively and exclusively. Peter said that Jesus whom God made to be both Lord and Christ made the prophecies more perfect. The Apostles as eye and ear witnesses left us a MEMORY and marked as a false teacher anyone who further expounded the text.
Jesus didn't preach the gospel of Jesus but the Gospel of the Kingdom: the kingdom defines the king, high priests and rules of conduct.
To tell the story of just how the merger happened we add three more names to our list of heroes —
John T. Johnson,
Raccoon John Smith, and
John Rogers, all Kentuckians.
These three, along with Barton W. Stone,
prayed for it to happen,
planned it,
executed it, and even
confirmed it by two of them — Smith and Rogers —
traveling among the churches for three years, bearing glad tidings, We are now a united people, while a third one — Johnson — served as finance chairman to keep the two men going for the three years.
The result was that most of the Christian churches defected to the Campbell movement which denied any unity or denominational movement.
John T. Johnson, eventually known as “the evangelist of Kentucky,” was from a political family, with a brother who served as Vice-President under Martin Van Buren, while he himself was both a state legislator and a U.S congressman. He might have gone much further in politics had he not felt the call to the ministry.
Once a talented Baptist minister, he was soon a “Reformed Baptist,” as some of Alexander Campbell’s followers were called. Over period of two decades he baptized an average of 500 annually, giving impetus to the Campbell movement. It was said that it was difficult for one to remain in his seat when Johnson issued the call for repentance and baptism. Campbell, impressed by his power as preacher, attributed his success not only to the simplicity of his message, but to his captivating sincerity. He also referred to the elegance with which Johnson offered thanksgiving at the dining table.
Johnson came to know Stone while both resided in Georgetown, Ky. The two men from the two movements —
the “Christians” and the “Reformed Baptists” or Disciples of Christ —
prayed about, studied about, and talked bout Christian unity.
Joined by Smith and Rogers, and sometimes by still others, they weighed the prospects of a union of their two churches. The passion for union kept growing until there was a kind of pre-union gathering in Georgetown over the Christmas holidays, 1831. It was decided to send out a call for a union meeting the next weekend, New Year’s Day, 1832, a Saturday, at the Hill Street Christian Church in Lexington, Ky. It was estimated that some 300 were in attendance.
Stone Campbell Dialog MH September 1831
http://www.piney.com/Barton.W.Stone.Alexander.Campbell.Union.htmlThis is the "pre fabled union" in 1831: the denial of any kind of "union" in the Lunenburg quote was in 1837. Without passing judgment one way or another, the Reformers saw the Disciples as just another denomination, and saw Barton W. Stone bent on forming a NEW INCLUSIVE denomination. Garrison proposed to include ALL OF CHRISTENDOM. That is why the Disciples have reached a dead end.
Does he mean a formal confederation of all preachers and people called "Christians," with all those whom he calls Reformed Baptists? (rather reforming, than reformed;) or (as he represents them as prefering for a sectarianwhat shall be the articles of confederation, and in what form shall they be ministered or adopted? Shall it be in one general convention of messengers from all the societies of "christians" and "disciples," or one general assembly of the whole aggregate of both people? Shall the articles of agreement be drawn up in writing like the articles of the "General Union" amongst the different sects of Baptists in Kentucky? purpose the name) disciples. If so,
We discover, or think we discover, a squinting at some sort of precedency or priority in the claims of the writer of the above article, which are perhaps only in appearance, and not in reality;
but if in appearance only, he will prevent us or any reader from concluding unfavorably
by explaining himself more in detail than he has done.
He says, "The reformed Baptists have received the doctrine taught by us many years ago." "For nearly thirty years ago we taught," &c. &c. From what source or principle these sayings proceeded, we do not pronounce sentence; but if they are mere words of course, and he intended to plead nothing from them, we would suggest the propriety of qualifying them in such a way as to prevent mistake.
I am, as at present advised,
far from thinking that the present advocates of reformation are only pleading, or at all pleading,
for what was plead in Kentucky thirty years ago,
after the dissolution of the Springfield Presbytery.
If such be the conceptions of brother Stone, I am greatly mistaken.
That he, with others, did at that time oppose authoritative creeds,
and some articles in them as terms of communion, and some other abuses, we are not uninformed;
but so did some others who set out with him.And as he would not consider them as now pleading the cause which he now pleads, so we cannot think that the cause which we plead was plead either by him or any one else twenty years ago. Many persons both in Europe and America, have inveighed against sects, creeds, confessions, councils, and human dogmas, during the last two centuries, and some even before Luther's time;
but what have these to do with the present proposed reformation?
That is only the work of a pioneer: it is clearing the forests, girdling the trees, and burning the brush.It was decided that Barton Stone and Raccoon John Smith should be the speakers, Stone representing his own people and Raccoon the Campbell side. Stone insisted that Raccoon should speak first. While it would have been ideal for the key players to have been Stone and Campbell, it turned out, perhaps by Providence, that Raccoon was the right person at the right place at the right time. With a background of poverty, hardship and tragedy while a Baptist minister, and brought into the reformation by reading Campbell, he was uniquely prepared in heart and mind to be the catalyst and key-noter for such a gathering.
Leroy Garrett: Raccoon was well aware of the responsibility he bore in such a sensitive setting, that the least uncharitable gesture or the slightest sectarian remark could arouse suspicion and prejudice and blast the hope of union at the very hour it was budding into reality. He drew his remarks from Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17, that it is both desirable and practical, and that if our Lord prayed such a prayer it can be realized.
In distinguishing between faith and opinion,
which alluded to differences between them,
he said there are a thousand opinions but one faith,
and that we can never unite on opinions
but only upon the one faith which centers in Christ.
That forces John Smith to lie: he really said:
While there is but one faith, there may be ten thousand opinions;Faith comes by hearing. The gospel is the GOOD NEWS taught by Jesus Christ. Peter affirmed that the Spirit OF Christ spoke through the prophets to define His future REST. God made Jesus of Nazareth to be both Lord and Christ to make these prophecies more certain. (Click 2 Peter. 1)
and, hence, if Christians are ever to be one,
they must be one in faith, and not in opinion.
Leroy Garrett: He noted that when opinions and speculations are made tests of fellowship it always causes division. He said he personally avoided speculative theories by simply letting the Scriptures speak for themselves.2 Pet 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
The Prophets had been read in the synagogues each rest day. The Spirit of Christ preached the gospel both inclusively and exclusively in the prophets. Therefore, the gospel includes what Christ in the prophets and Jesus taught and the apostles left for our memory are the only basis upon which faith can rest.
Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time
hath in every city
them that preach him,
being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
The Latin Sermo B. A language, the speech of a nation. Sermonizing used a conversational style and not loquacious. Dialog
hê, discourse, conversation,
We unite upon one faith, not one opinion, he insisted.
That is true and none of what became the Church of Christ ever gave divine permission for people to deliberately sow discord by imposing musical instruments. The gospel gives us FREEDOM from the laded burden and burden laders. Jesus called the Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. In the Ezekiel 33 PATTERN the hypocrites were slick speakers, singers and instrument players. Musical instruments are always the Biblical mark of people who tell God that they will NOT honor His Word and His silence.
John Smith: When certain subjects arise, even in conversation or social discussion, about which there is a contrariety of opinion and sensitiveness of feeling,In fact, Paul outlawed private opinions in Romans 14 and defined the ekklesia or synagogue in Romans 15. The self pleasure points to all of the singing, speaking, playing instruments or acting. Actors always change historical facts. Then, the DIRECT COMMAND for speaking the same things cannot be misunderstood with strong delusions.
speak of them in the words of the Scripture,
and no offense will be given and no pride of doctrine will be encouraged.
We may even come, in the end, by thus speaking the same things, to think the same things.
Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning,Leroy Garrett: He at last made that great plea that is reflective of one of the Movement’s greatest hours, “Let us then, my brethren, be no longer Stoneites or Campbellites, or New Lights or Old Lights,
that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Romans 15:5 Now the God of patience and consolation
grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
Romans 15:6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
but let us all come to the Bible,
and to the Bible alone,
as the only book in the world
which can give us all the light we need.”
The Light of the Bible proves that musical instruments were played by the Jacob-Cursed and God-Abandoned Levites. They stood in ranks to EXECUTE any person who came near any holy thing or into any holy place. As prophesiers with instruments they were SOOTSAYERS and performed exorcism during the NOT-commanded animal sacrifices or burnt offerings. So says the Spirit OF Christ in Isaiah 1 and Jeremiah 7.
There is no command, example or remote inference of any congregational singing with or without instruments in the whole Bible.
There is no Biblical text which does not associate instruments with the enemies of God. Therefore, the marks in sight or sound of God driving His enemies into HELL are the wind string and percussion instruments which Lucifer the "singing and harp playing prostitute brought into the garden of Eden."
However, Leroy Garrett denies that the epistles are scripture and has to use SILENCE to permit either adding instruments or defending and supporting those who deliberately sow discord with instruments.
Leroy Garrett: Stone spoke next, and it was mostly a hearty endorsement of what Raccoon had just said. Referencing what had been said about speculation, he admitted he had sometime been speculative in his sermons, and he vowed to do better. He took Raccoon’s hand in his, endorsing the plea he had made, and called for the union of their people. It has been referred to in our history as “the handshake that shook the frontier,”
for the Movement, now united, was to grow and prosper. It would number 300,000 by the time of the Civil War, and reach to Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia. And while other major denominations divided during the Civil War, the Churches of Christ/Christian Churches remained one church, one people, which led some leaders to conclude that it woud never divide.That is probably because instruments had been used by either group until after the Civil War in most places. The fact that they assembled under different names proves that they were not united as a denomination: It would be possible to enter a Baptist church before about 1900 because there would be no organ or other musical instruments. Agreement with those who believe much the same does not constitute a UNIT.
Click H. Leo Boles: The Lord's people remained a united body from the meeting in Lexington, Ky., in 1832 to 1849 [denied by Campbell]. At that time in Lexington my grandfather presented the New Testament teaching for unity. He said, in part, the following:"God has but one people on the earth. He has given to them but one Book, and therein exhorts and commands them to be one family. A union such as we plead for--a union of God's people on that one Book--must, then, be practicable.Everyone present shook hands and agreed NEVER to unite with any person who made any opinion not contained in the Word of God. Leroy Garrett insists that this PLATFORM had no meaning..
"Every Christian desires to stand complete in the whole will of God. The prayer of the Savior, and the whole tenor of this teaching, clearly show that it is God's will that his children should be united. To the Christian, then, such a union must be desirable.
"But an amalgamation of sects is not such a union as Christ prayed for and God enjoins. To agree to be one upon any system of human inventions [societies, instruments] would be contrary to his will, and could never be a blessing to the church or the world; therefore, the only union practicable or desirable
must be based on the word of God as the only rule of faith and practice..."I have the more cheerfully resolved on this course,
No heaven is promised to those who hold them, and no hell is threatened to those who deny them. They do not constitute, singly or together, an item of the ancient and apostolic gospel.
because the gospel is a system of facts, commands, and promises,
and no deduction or inference from them, however logical or true,
forms any part of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
While there is but one faith, there may be ten thousand opinions;"For several years past I have stood pledged to meet the religious world, or any part of it, on the ancient gospel and order of things as presented in the words of the Book. This is the foundation on which Christians once stood, and on it they can, and ought to, stand again.
and, hence, if Christians are ever to be one,
they must be one in faith, and not in opinion.
When certain subjects arise, even in conversation or social discussion, about which there is a contrariety of opinion and sensitiveness of feeling,
speak of them in the words of the Scripture,
and no offense will be given and no pride of doctrine will be encouraged.
We may even come, in the end,
by thus speaking the same things,
to think the same things.
From this I cannot depart to meet any man, or set of men, in the wide world. While, for the sake of peace and Christian union, I have long since waived the public maintenance of any speculation I may hold, yet no one gospel fact, commandment, or promise will I surrender for the world" (Life of Elder John Smith, pages 452-454.)
Leroy Garrett: On that New Year’s Day, 1832, when their two leaders joined hands and declared the union of their two churches, the first such union in American history, the people rejoiced, praising God and embracing each other, and a hymn of praise broke out among them. What Stone would later describe as “the noblest act of my life” was now a reality. The next day was Lord’s day, and the united church assembled to break bread together. From that day to this — and even back to Brush Run in 1812 — our people have not missed a single Lord’s day in assembling to break bread together, even if not always as a united people.
It appears that Stone really believed that HIS ACT, his dream had really happened. Campbell and others knew that unity based on the Bible Only had always been a desired outcome. Campbell resented Stone's "squinting."
In The Christian Messenger for November, 1834, is quoted an article from the Millennial Harbinger (Campbell's paper) as follows:
Apparently Stone believed in the power of a church council to speak for everyone. That was based on his background while the Campbells knew that John Calvin denounced such councils. Even today, the Disciples of Christ use such agreements as PROOFS or AUTHORITY."Or does he (Stone) think that one or two individuals, of and for themselves, should propose and effect a formal union among the hundred of congregations scattered over this continent, called Christians or Disciples, without calling upon the different congregations to express an opinion or a wish upon the subject?
We discover, or think we discover, a squinting at [14] some sort of precedency or priority in the claims of the writer of the above article," etc.
Since Papists regard their Councils as expressing the sentiment and consent of the Church, particularly as regards the authority of declaring dogmas and the exposition of them, it was necessary to treat of Councils before proceeding to consider that part of ecclesiastical power which relates to doctrine.
And Stone agreed that the Reformers would have to change.
It is well known that Mr. Campbell insisted upon immersion before believers were received into fellowship, to which Stone answered:
"We cannot, with our present views, unite on the opinions that unimmersed persons cannot receive remission of sins."
And though later on he came to believe in immersion in water for the remission of sins, there is no evidence that he ever made it a test of fellowship, without which he could not have been a member of the Disciples of Christ.
HOW THE UNION REALLY TOOK PLACE
1837 Jenning, Walter W., Origin and Early History of the Disciples of Christ, p. 196, StandardH. Leo Boles says there was unity in 1832 to 1849. The Campbells understood the church in the wilderness:Although union was not so easily brought about elsewhere as in Kentucky, thousands of ''Christians" did join the Reformers. After referring to the union effected by Stone in Jacksonville, M. T. Morrill, the leading historian of the Christian Connection, made the following admission:
"Then followed a wave of ' Campbellism ' that swept the Christians off their feet, and aggregated about eight thousand accessions to the Disciples. No Christian churches long survived in Tennessee, their cause was ruined in Kentucky and never has regained its former strength or prestige. Of the Southern Ohio Christians a majority of the preachers embraced Campbeism prior to 1837, and only about one thousand church members remained. A man named C. A. Eastman, traveling through Indiana about 1846, reported that, 'In many places they [the Christians] have amalgamated with the Disciples, and are known only as the same people.' Several years later it was reported that on Stone's account conferences of the Christians had been dissolved and churches disbanded, and the people had become amalgamated with the Disciples."
Church was A School of Christ
Worship was Reading and Musing the Word of God.
The societies could meet in each locality and the pattern followed which was commanded for the synagogue:
Acts 15:21 For Moses of old timeAs long as this was the practice it would be possible for any disciple to drop in on any Sunday assembly and not be faced with insults such as choirs, organs, clergy and temple building.
hath in every city them that preach him,
being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
While there was no "organizing" until some Disciples fell for the Millerite claim that Jesus needed the Jews to be saved so that it would be POSSIBLE for Him to to return. That was the 1849 date when the society began to organize a separate denomination. They later imposed instruments.
When local congregations imposed instruments there was NO fellowship: Campbell would preach anywhere but not until they shut down the organ and the organist. Therefore, the claim that Church of Christ caused the GREAT DIVISION in 1906 is false.
And that will be our next, a sad and tragic story, A Unity Movement Divides.
Kenneth Sublett
12.28.12
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