Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1898-03-21
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Rev r ~ 0arvin, pastor " the
Christian church. discoursed late
~ ON 1.-The Restoration Movement
u the Nineteenth Century" The
sermon was Of somevba, unusu
al character, IN that IL dealt large
IN In statistics which tended To
show that the dominant spirit In
the church today is Tor progress
toward the goal of unioh A. in
troductory Ia the di-course.
Christ's prayer - John l7;l5
10 "a ~ was read, special
reference being made 10 the
unity of His followers being
largely the burden Of the petition.
Also in connection with this, ]
Cor. l:l0-lS, and | Cor. 81 IL,
were read, which scriptures con
tanned the rebuke of the Apostle
Paul to the Corinthisu church for
their tendencies manifested in
their following of human leaders
and in the spirit OF division 10
which they had given Themselves.
After these aud kindred pre-
fGtory remarks, the speaker in
troduced the real subject of the
evening by mentioning by name
the most prominent movers in re-
cent times for the lost
unity and power of the
Apostolic Church and for the
restoration in it's primal purity
of the faith "once delivered unto
the saints" A FESTIVE spirit per
meated the different sections OF
the church a, aud near the begin
ming of the present century,
which sought earnestly to over
come the evils arising from the
divisions. This was evinced by
such men as John Nj. O'Kelly of
the Methodist church, who in 1893
with some d-vout followers broke
away from The creed of the church
and determined to know nothing
as authority in religious affairs
but the word of God. In the year
1900 Abner Jones inaugur-
ated a like work in the Baptist
church. In 1901 Barton w. Stone
of the Presbyterian church repu
dated the time honored standards
of his communion and With de
voted following started out to
preach, as best he could, the
simple gospel as it was done in
the primitive days of the church
by the apostles themselves.
What wonder then that the
paths chosen by these cody men
and their followers, with the ex-
allied aim they had in view, should
converge and the work each had
started within the pale of his own
communion, finally, in the year
1908, coalesce to form a living
example of what they were
solemnly assured could not exist,
viz, a church without human
creed, Or basis of fellowship.
About the year 1910 Thomas and
Alexander Campbell and Walter
Scott of the seceder branch of the
Presbyterian church began a
similar work in Ohio, Pennsylva-
mia and Virginia. The nucleus
of this movement consisted of
about twelve persons and the
doctrinal tenets to which they
adhered were of such a radical
character as to secure them the
sternest and most determined
opposition from all Protestant re
ligious bodies, as well as that of
the Catholics, but the motto adopt
ed by the leaders, "Where
the Scriptures speak we speak and
where the Scriptures are silent we
are SILENT" had in it the germ Of
life and the little and almost in.
significant body, that as late as
1880 was only beginning to as
sumo definite proportions, is said
on the authority of the New York
Independent in its statistical re-
port - issue of Jan. 6, 1898 - to
number l,05l,079 and to rank
fifth in numerical strength of the
Protestant bodies, being out-num
bered only by the Methodists, Bap-
lists, Lutherans and Presbyterians,
and the rate of increase exceeding
that of the next three in order
combined.
In commenting on the fact thu
such remarkable success 81 ould
have attended a movement begun
almost within the memory of liv-