Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1940-08-15
A BIT OF CHURCH HISTORY
"A Few Notes Relative to Religious
Activities In Southeastern Ohio
Long, Long, Ago

In the early part of the preceding
century there arose spontaneously
and independently Of each other sew
eral religious movements aimed at
a return to the faith and practice Of
the earliest Christians. For the ben
eft of some readers, it may be we'll
to state that it is pretty generally
understood that the church of the
Lord, undenominational and non
Sectarial, the spiritual body of
which the New Testament speaks,
was formed by the apostles under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit in
the city Of Jerusalem on the first
Pentecost after the Lords ascension
in the year "a. As to organization
it was a simple thing; but as a soul
saving institution. the world has
never seen anything its equal.
So great was the zeal of the mem
bers at the beginning and so com
plete their obedience to what is ia
miliarly known as the Great Com
mission with the simple require
ment to take the gospel everywhere
and preach it tC everybody that
within 80 years from its founding
the primitive church had "preack-
ed (the gospel) in ali creation un-
der heaven, and potent, going, Wig
orous churches from one end Of the
Roman Empire to another lighted
the world like flaming torches in
the blackness of heather night
But evil influences were not long
in arriving. One step and then an
other; changes We're coming about
in what was Enthusiastically 'the
true church. for it was the only
church on earth With the conyer~
sion of Constantine, if conversion it
were, some came to believe the mill
1ennium had arrived Further
changes came until what passed for
the church was very much different
from what existed in New Testa-
ment times and has been described
in that book, in the church 'Fath-
ers' and in standard histories The
manner in which Luther and Wick
life, and Melancthon, and Zwingli,
and Calvin and the Wesleys strove
for better things is something for
the admiration of those who love
truth and admire the heroic, but We
can not linger here Their efforts.
regardless Of their good intentions
he protested against the use Of his
name for a party designation declar-
ing he wrote to bring men TO Christ
not TO himself) gave rise to the
great denominations which came to
think pretty Well Of themselves and
SO to be rather exclusive and sec
tartan. 1t was this state Of affairs
which led some in the nineteenth
century to try to unite all believers
on an assured foundation, viz. the
Bible alone. In this period numer-
Gus leaders arose with a 'Back to
the Bible" slogan-some in Maine,
others down the eastern seaboard at
least as far as to Herman Dashler
in Georgia.
One OF these, very remarkable
man. was Barton w. stone. a Pres
byterian minister from North Car
DINA who settled in Kentucky in
1895 and who was present through
the famous Cane Ridge revival with
an estimated attendance of 10000
TO 10000 in days when the pOpula-
ti0n was less dense than now and
roads were by no means what they
are today. One peculiar manffesta-
tiOn here was the Jerks in which
people leaned forward and back
ward with heads almost touching
the ground and moving so rapidly
that wOmcns hair snapped like
whip crackers, Mr.. Stone worked
out of denominational re-
1ioion 10 be an undenominatiOnal
Christian guide only by the Bible
as q church standard and multi
tudes believed and practiced SINH
larly. /
Another man Of eminence. whose .
name is more widely known. but
who came into the ''restoration of +
the ancient order Of things" sew
eral years later than Mr.. Stone. was
Ale lander Campbell. of Virginia,
whose interesting old home at Beth
any out from Wheeling | visited
last summer. Regardless of his
faith. it is discovered that he was
very much greater man than even
most of those, perhaps, who hold
the same general views he did are
aware, but there is not time here
for that either. Both the Campbell
and stone movements for return
in religion to the Bible doctrine
and practice grew rapidly. The men
became acquainted in day when
communications We're not developed
as now. They found themselves in
accord, standing for the same
things, and at Lexington, Kentucky,
in 1881 there was a union Of Chris
tians' as those led by Stone We're
called, and "Disciples' as those in
fuenced by Mr.. Campbell were
known, and this-of course -accel-
Grated a movement which long ago
was felt around the world and
which. but for unfortunate occur
rences within, would probably have
been much more extensively recog-
nized. However there was no in
tention of writing this Introduction
when some incidents were noted for
Morgan county readers, but we
trust they will make what follows Of
more consequence.