The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-08-01
Ihe L.ate AIeaander Camnhell-

aole preacher. Not an orator sncI1 a
whitehead, Summerfield. or he Irish
h1rHan. BE had not the voice, gesture
oE p9 1.I Of either Of them. he could
!! ttO.s nke tnem, raise storm and quell
~ AZ VIII; and yet he would draw as
large a congregation. hold them longer.
ana leave them furnished with much
more comprehensive views Of truth and
uuIy- He spoke more sensibly, more
Fhetorically and more scripturaily than
elmer OF them, and his work on earth
VIII abide longer. We can imagine
few more pleasurable sights than This
grand preacher, delivering an extem-
pore discourse, while supporting him
sell, enfeebled by dyspepsia, on his cane.
in the midst OF the largest and most
intellectual audiences our country
could afford. He stood like PanI
on Mars Hill, among the ora-
tors and statesmen OF Kentucky. at an
early day, in the largest hall Of Lex
Ington; thus he entranced the elite of
Richmond in 1850, and of Nashville
shortly amer; thus, shortly before that,
ne held speil-bOund for two hours, the
Legislature OF Ohio, before breakfast,
ready todepart; IL was thus, in 1893. he
addressed, with great power, the Skep-
tics OF SeVV York, Two successive even
lngss IN their own Tammany Hall, with
such suavity as to draw praise from
every lip, and secure a voteof thanks
AA0AA TUG AlAEu NLGA4E castle ne
demolished. These speeches flowed
/ from his lips like water from the rock
smitten by the prophet, and the people
Z felt like famished Israel as thew drank
the cooling draught, that n hand Of pow
( er had relieved their thirst. All were
charmed with the man, and impressed
with the majesty of the Scripture.
Mr.. Campbell's preaching did not
cease when he left the pulpit the
stream flowed on until every little COB
let and great vase around the hearth
was hlled, and nature demanded rest
As talker, he was immensely popu-
lar. 'tHis colloquial powers were OF an
unusually high order. In every circle.
! he seemed TO be the center Of attrac-
/ ton and radiance, his social dis
coursings reminding one of the
nine mile sweeps of the Mississippi.
I II compare him with Webster, ChaI-
I mers, Calhoun, or the elder Beecher, as
a conversationalist, he is their superior.
must look further for his peers, and
Z find them in Luther, johnson, Macau-
I lay and COleridge. In private. as in
/ public debate, he was more the sage
than the controversialist. The universe
was his library; his conversation a
living study
But these social (iiscoursings were
not on Metaphysics Having in his
early life read the senSuous philosophy
Of Locke, and having possibly been in
jured by il, he seemed disinclined 10
pursue the subject, which presume
did not come within his curriculum
IN Glasgow. He never became q meta
physician simply because his tastes
took another direction. Early in life,
the short logic of Locke cerfainly did
pervade his mind. Had Browne, or
Cousin, or Sir VIM. Hamilton then been
his teachers, quite a different turn
might have been given to his life by
the aliuring influence of their fertile /
pens 4 taste for such inquiries, with I
such leaders, might have diverted his
attention from that life-deYotion to /
biblical study, which has placed him in /
such a commanding position before the 4
world Instead of studying critically
the mental structure, he consecrated
the powers of that structure to the study j
of God in his word, founding there his I
moral system.
be was inwarm sympathy with Pro- /
testanIism, as his debate with a Roman |
Catholic Bishop atteSts, yet he MOURN
ed over its divisions ali his life
and ceased his healing labors lust as
Europe and America seemed to awake 4
70 the Importance of evangelical union.
HIS death occurred, also, on a wear and |
a day pregnant, to him, with culmina-
ting prophecy. The first yernaI Lords
day,-the astronomical opening of 1856,
the year of the greatest conjunction of
planets since the creation, the year to
which the expectant eye and ear of
have long been turned as
the probable dawning of a brighter
day for the church; this was the time,
the temple of Janus being shut, select
ed by the Lord for his servant to come
up higher. He had not been laggard.
but had hastened to the coming of
Jesus Christ, whose he was, and
whom he served. Since Paul called the
name OF his Master over ten times in
the first ten verses of Cor, doubt
whether any one on earth has given,
with the tongue and pen, especially the
former, richer offering Of intelligent
homage to the Savior, than was the
burden of Alexander Campbell's spir-
it: Christ was his ''joy and his song.,'
Though he repudiated the terminology
of the scholastic theology, no Trinitar-
ian more firmly believed, and L never
knew one as ably sustain, the separate
personal relations of Father, Son and
Holy Spirit-the society of what has
been called the Godhead-the divine
nature.
The closing scenes of his iife-the in
eidents OF his happy and triumphant
death-haye been so fully and SO re-
Gently published, that forbear to open
the wounds afresh.