The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-03-17
, Sketch of the Life aud Public Career Of
Alexander Campbell.

nished 10 the public a brief sketch of the life
and public career of the late ALEXANDER CAMP
Eyrr." from which most of the statement IS
which follow We're taken:
Alexander Campbell was born in the county
Of Antrim, Ireland in the year l7Sa, and was
educated as was his father before him, ut the
University of Glasgow, Scotiand-both OF
them as Presbyterian clergymen. Thomas
CgmubrlI the poet was 4 relative and class
mate of his father. On the one side his ances-
rry was Of Scotch origin, and on the other
Uugupno, French. He immigratcd to this
country in the year 1909, two years after his
r,tbsr bringing with him his mother and
Younger brothers and sisters and settled AT
Gr>f in Washington county, Pennsylvania,
near the spot Bethany in this State TO
which he soon afterward removed, and on
which hc lived continuously for more than
half a century. II was in this romantic and
remote spot in the new world TO which
he had come, amid peaceful agricultural
pursuits. and in the prosecution of those
studies befitting his calling as minister
Of the Gospel, that Alexander Campbell
long and rVcuiiul public career began
He began as Martin Luther and john Wesley
began not as Il would be rcvulutioniSt, but as
4 reformer Of his own Immediate " household
of faith" He looked forward to no new de-
nomination, but simply TO the correction of
what he regarded rs vital errors and innoya-
lions that had been fastened upon the print
tive gospel as preached III the pulpits of that
communion by the declaration that " Chris
tian Union can result from nothing short of
the destruction of creedS and confessions of
faith, inaSmuch as human creeds and confes
>ions have destroyed Christian Union That
whenever the setting aside of creeds and
confessions shall be attempted, Chris tianS VIII
give 10 the world, and TO angels, and to
themselves, proof that they do believe the
word of God" This was Mr.. Campbelrs first
great distinctive enunciation or dogma He
held also the following to be self-evident
truths, viz: THAT nothing ought to be re-
Ceiyed into the faith or worship OF the church,
or be made a term OF communion among
Christians, that is not rs old as the New Tesla
ment. Nor ought anything TO be admitted rs
of Divine obligation i'll the Church constitu-
ton or management save what Is en]olned by
the authority of our Lord Jesus CHRIST and
his APOSTLES upon the New Testament Church.
either in express terms or by approved prece-
dent
On the foregoing declarations, Mr.. Camp
bell took his stand, and the consequence was,
that after having been arragned rs the - set
ter forth of strange doctrines" he separated
from the Presbyterian communion, and began
10 appear i'll public i'll defence of his views
For some years, perhaps ten, he was then
nomnally Il Baptist; indeed, preached rs
Baptist, and was connected with the "Asso'
Citations" Is such. Rev. DIR. JETER, of this
city, who became acquainted with him at the
Dover Association, held in the county Of Is
sen Virginia, i'll the year ls2j, says rs TO his
standing in the Baptist Church
He then, for the first time, made his appear
ance in Eastern Virginia, his recently pup
lshed debate with Rev. William l.. McCalla
having prepared the minds of the brethren to
give him cordial greeting, and to rally around
him as able champion OF their peculiar
views He was then esteemed prodigy OF
learning"
As to the man, DR.. JErER says:
Both in the pulpit and in private inter,
course there was an attractive freshness ana
vivacity in his remarks. His intellect seemed
10 be remarkable for IT'S quickness, fertility,
and readiness TO adapt itself to changing cir
cumstances. On any subject that might he
bIoached, his resources In conversation seemed
10 be literally eXhaustless."
The debate alluded to by DR.. JErER was
the second public one in which Mr.. CAMPBELL
had engaged II vas had in 1928, in Mount
Washington, Ky. He and Mr.. McCALLA dis.
cussed the subject of .'Christian Baptism
Three years before, he had debated with the
Rev. JoHS WALKER, minister of the Seces-
sion Presbyterian Church of Ohio, At Mount
Pleasant and had been listened 10 by immense
crowds
Followed next his debate with Robert Owen
at Cincinnati in the gear 1928, on the truth OF
Christianity; next his debate in the same city
in the year 1886, with Archbishop Purcell, on
the lnfalhbility of the Church OF Rome; and,
finally, in the year 1913, his debate with the
Rev. DR.. N. l.. Rice, held in the city of Lex.
ington, Ky, the specific points OF which were
"the action, subject design, and administration
OF Christian baptism also, the " character
Of spiritual influence in conversion and sancti-
fcation," and the " expediency and tendency
OF ecclesiastical creeds rs terms of union and
communion" This debate with DIR. Rice en-
braced period of eighteen days, and was con-
Quoted before Il large and interesting assembly,
Henry Clay presiding AS moderator, assisted
by some Of the first men of Kentucky. A like
interest had been shown in the Owens and
Purcell debates at Cincinnati, which were
ihronged by eminent theologianS from all
parts of the country.
In the year 1923, Mr.. CANPBELL's career as a
Journalist began, at which period he estab-
l!shed, al his home in Bethany, the Christian
Baptist, which was, after many years, sue
ceeded by the Milteasial Harbinger, of which
journal Mr.. CAMPBELL was proprietor at the
time of his death
III 1929 80, Mr.. CAMPBELL was q member Of
The Virginia Convention to reform the Consti-
tuition; but his reputation was not increased
by his speeches or propositions in that body.
lie was out of his element. Indeed, in body
which numbered among its members JOHN
RANDOLPH, Chief Justice MARSHALL, BENJAMIN
WATKISs LEIGH, CHAPMAN JOHNSON, EXPIRE
sident MONROE, Z. J.. BARBOUR, PHILLIP DOB
pkIDGE, and other great constitutional law
yers, 1t was not strange that clergyman
should fail 10 distinguish himself
IL was about the year 1882. we think, when
ar' Campbell separated from the communion
VI the Baptist Church. He became the recog-
hlAed head Of new religious sect. as IL was
generally esteemed, called Familiarity the
SaHpoeliite Baptist mountaineering called
oy himself aud the membership Of the Church
tue disciples. This denomination took It's orr
I'm from the teachings of himself and his
lather more than half Il century ago, and now
naaihoers' II Is said, well-nigh half million OF
eaaperehts, who are especially numerous In Inc
2tates OF Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, missouri,
kentucky, and Tennessee. Their peculiarities
ne people are, that they discard all human
S c',s ana confessions of faith, and take the
bloie alone as a perfect and ail-sufiicient rule
VI iaith and practice, e. teemiIg all command
a msnts and traditions Of men ms necessarily
iaiibie, snpererogatory, and in derogation OF
tne all suffieiency, as well ag the express In
functions, Of the Word of God. Another pc
esiiarity Is. that they par take Of the Sacrament
oi the Lords Supper every Sunday, or First
LAY OF the Week. They believe, also, thai
nhristian Baptism can only be performed by
lmmersion-and that there In no warrant,
either In the example Of Christ himself. or In
the .sachings and practice ef Ais Apostles, for