THERE is no such thing in this country as Campbellism, nor is there any such body of people as Campbellites. There is a people in this country that have gone back to our Lord to learn what he gave to the apostles and authorized them to preach, and to the apostles and learned what they preached to the world, and what they taught the church; who receive what the apostles preached and taught, and believe it in full; no more, no less. In this they claim to receive the religion of Christ itself, as he and his authorized ambassadors set it forth. They receive and believe it on the authority of its divine founder, the Lord, from heaven, and enforce it on all who hear them, as the only complete, perfect and divine system in the world; the only true religion; the religion of Christ itself. They claim to be Christians, followers of Christ, children of God. The body to which they belong is simply the body of Christ, the kingdom of God, the church. Christ is their head; their infallibility. They believe on him. They obey him. They hope for all he has promised, and fear all he has threatened. To be in him is to be in his body, in the kingdom, in the church, to be a Christian, a follower of Christ. They receive him and all he has said, but reject all that did not come from him. This is no Campbellism, nor Methodism; but the religion of Christ itself. That is what we are for, and we are for it because it is from God, and has the authority of God in it.
[CONVERTING THE CITIES.]
THEY must be brought to know that they must be revolutionized, created anew, conformed to Christ, and then taught to worship according to the Scriptures. The work is not to be done by wholesale, nor by the device of man. Nor need we think we can take the great cities by getting a few rich or popular men. We must preach the gospel to the people, the whole people, and turn them. The gospel invariably commences with the humbler classes, and works up through them till it reaches all grades. It did not commence by converting emperors, kings, or governors; nor did it reach these for a long time. It did not commence by converting rich men, but mainly with the poor; but in time reached the rich. It did not commence with converting priests, but after a time we read that a great number of priests became obedient to the faith.
In the main, this has been the case in our time. We commenced with the humbler people in the cities and have reached through to every class. We gained the attention of vast numbers of people in the country, and turned them to the Lord, when they were poor. They have been prospered, and gained wealth; gone to the cities, and thus augmented the churches there; but, in many instances, they are not the good people they were, nor loving and maintaining the truth as they once did.
[A HAPPY MEETING.]
