The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-08-03

; dom of Christ. Having been a medi,
ator between parties in his own church
in the Emerald Isle, the fresh air and
magnificent proportions of the Western
Continent, and the liberal tone of its
institutions, furnished him the occasion
J of this spiritual expansion. The arriv-
J al of Alexander in Pennsylvania as the
Declaration and Address were pass
ing through the press, was most provi-
dental. Nothing could have SO i'm
pressed the mind of such a son with
the Importance of Christian union
upon Christian principles, as this ac-
tion OF such a father. There were
many and imposing involutions of
Providence before the father Jacob en-
braced his beloved Joseph, escaped
from great catastrophe, still true to
his early training, at the head of a
mighty empire. "a wise son makes a
glad father" said Solomon more than
once; and the eventful biographies OF
Joseph in Egypt and Alexander Camp
bell in America, fully illustrated it.
The closing scenes OF both the fathers
were gilded by the greater earthly
grandeur of their more highly favored
sons; and Thomas Campbell could
have Joined the happy patriarch in his
blessing the son on whom his mantle
fell: "He is fruitful bough by well
whose daughters run over the wall !;
I the archers have sorely grieved him
hhA SAOl at MN anu Haleu MIN; DuL
his bow abode in strength, and the
arms of his hand were made strong bv
! the hands OF the mighty God of Jacob. y
( But in both instances, as it regards in
I tellectual power and position, the
I greater is blessed by the less. The
I patriarChal Jacob and the patriarchal
| Campbell, both reioiced in the fact.
I Thomas Campbell, who launched the
I mind of his son in the right direction,
soon fell in his wake, and followed, the
{ remainder of his days. AS counter
part to these remarks, indicating the
I regard of the elder for the younger, L
am permitted 20 extract from a letter
addressed to citizen of Baltimore,
January "a, '54, paragraph revealing
/ the estimate which the son placed upon
the father, then recently deceased:
Yes, he has been introduced to Abra-
ham, Isaac and Jacob, and to all the
spirits of just men made perfect OF
which have no more reason to doubt,
I than I have that he has vacated the
/ family and the church at Bethany. 1
never knew man in all my acquain-
| tance with men, of whom it could have
I oeen said with more assurance that 'he
walked with Cod Such was the even
/ tenor of his path, not for few years,
/ but TO period as far back as my n em.
ory reaches; and that is on the other
side of half century -
! Prior to this change in the leadership,
Z sCAIe III pOIIduL events ndu taken place.
I Upon entering into his fathers views,
I Mr.. Campbell commenced a course OF
evangelical training for the ministry,
under his fathers supervision. He
told me that during pleasant weather,
he took his books under wide spread
ing tree-a Platonic dcddeHIid-and
wore well-detined path in the green
sward, by his peripatetic and healthful
method of study, much to the wonder
ment of the witnesses of this daily pro-
cedure. Two congregations having
been collected by the senior Campbell
on the western border of Pennsylvania,
the younger delivered his first discourse
to one OF them in the month of May,
lSlO. from Matt. vii. 1927: Therefore
whosoever heareth these sayings of
mine, and doeth them, 1 will liken him
to wise man which built his house
upon rock: and the rains descended,
ana the floods came, and the winds
blew and beat upon that house; and it
fell not: for it was founded upon rock.
And every one that heareth these say
inSs of mine, and doeth them not, shall
be liken unto a foolish man, which
built bis house upon the sand: and the
ram descended, and the floods came,
and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house; and it fell: and great was the
fall OF it,"
7 This sermon indicated. with great
distinctness, the mental direction and
purposes of the young speaker. 1t was
held in such high estimation by the
church, that he received a call to the
ministry from them on the spot. Bv
the course of 1.-THE wise man. of his
text, he marked out the programme of
his whole life. No man ever strove
more Persistently to found upon the
rock.
About year after the delivery of his
first discourse, March 18th, 1911, the
subject of this address was married to
Miss Margaret Brown, a true "help-
meetfor him." My memories of her are
pleasant and fresh. Her parting ad-
dress to her five daughters, preserved
in the Christian Baptist, is thought TO
fairly represent this model mother.
Alas, she lives now on earth only in
her grandchildren!
II turned out, as the younger Camp
bell had predicted when he corrected
the proOf-SheetS of his fathers declara-
ton of principles in 1909, that that Dec
laration contained the germs of
broader reformation than the writer
then contemplated. He could not
repress the conviction that the rejection
Oh every religious practice untaught
IN word or unsanCtiOned by approved
precedent, must exclude all the cere-
monials called baptism, but the INNER
sion of believers. His father was slow
''to unchurch himself" as he expressed
it The two congregations already es-
'"S4iSHSo, Adu at an early period,
passed the laver unconstitutionally,
and found, by the light of the Spirit
typlfElng golden lamps, the table fur
nlshed with the continual bread" and
the weekly communion had been
adopted. Every step taken, made the
necessity of contining church member
snip TO believers more apparent, and
the substitution of immersion for affu-
sion, followed in the wake. The young
er Campbell, now become popular
preacher and a more independent
thinker, less trammeled by precedents,
declared his intention to Immediately
sever his connection with the pedobap-
tist world, by being buried with Christ
in immersion. This quickened the dis
cussion of the family, and led to the
union of father, mother, wife and sister,
and other persons, with him, in this act
of fealty to Christ, on June I'd, 1872.
The indifference of a large humber of
gOdly people to positive institutions,
even after full conviction of their pro-
priety, was strikingly illustrated on
this occasion; but the Rubicon once
passed, no one was more decided than
Thomas Campbell; having founded
upon the rock, he was firm. Although
he bad not the poetical genius of his
classmate and namesake, he was DOS
sessed of a generous enthusiasm and
enlightened zeal. When with Walter
Scott in 1877, his soul drank in the joys
of the gospel practically exemplitied.
! In 1888 met him in Eastern Virginia, on
horseback. He informed me that he
had preached at IL a. ~, and after af-
fectionate greetings, hurriedIy OBJ
served, Though it is painful, we must
/ part, for must complete my forty miles
! to-day, and preach tonight" He must
have been at that time seventy years OF
aGei