Three Sources, Two Streams
Looking back from a later time to describe the reformatory movement as it had been in the 1820’s, Walter Scott wrote that there were then “three parties struggling to restore original Christianity.”
The first of these was the independent “Churches of Christ,” which stemmed from the work of Glas, Sandeman, the Haldane brothers, and similar eighteenth century British restorers of primitive Christianity. Scott himself for a time belonged to one of these churches in Pittsburgh. They were few in number, had little relation to each other, little concern for union, and no evangelistic drive. This party is important for our purpose because it is one of the sources from which the Campbells derived suggestions for a rational conception of faith and the idea of “restoration” in its more legalistic and literalistic aspects. It will be described more particularly in the latter part of Chapter II.
The second was the “Christian” churches, existing in three independent groups in Virginia and North Carolina, in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, and in Kentucky and adjacent states. The last of these divisions is doubtless the one Scott had chiefly in mind, and it is the one most closely related to our theme. Some account of these three bodies of “Christians” will be given in Chapter IV.
The third, said Scott, “originating with the writings and labors of Bro. A. Campbell,” was at that time “chiefly in the bosom of the Regular Baptist churches.” Chapters V and VI will tell the story of these “Reformers” down to the time of their separation from the Baptists.
The first of these is significant as an influence and as part of the historical background. It contributed to the united movement few churches, few men, and no literature; but two of the men who came to the Disciples through this channel were invaluable—Walter Scott and Isaac Errett. The other two parties became substantial bodies, and they are the two main streams whose confluence produced the Disciples of Christ.
CHAPTER II
IDEAS WITH A HISTORY: UNION AND RESTORATION
The union of all Christians and the restoration of primitive Christianity were the two main ideas announced by Thomas Campbell in his Declaration and Address in 1809 and championed by Alexander Campbell for fifty years thereafter. With some differences of emphasis and phrasing, they were the ruling ideas of Stone and the other reformers whose work preceded, paralleled, and reinforced his. To this day, these are the two foci of interest among Disciples, and every difference of opinion which threatens to create parties among them revolves about answers to the questions: “Restoration of what?” and “What price union?”
Each of these ideas, union and restoration, has a long history, only a small part of which can be told here, but part of which must be told.