The Church, the Falling Away, and the Restoration

by J. W. Shepherd

This meeting was attended by many from Ohio and other distant parts, who returned to their homes and spread the same spirit in their neighborhoods, and the same results followed, and it can not be denied that great good resulted. Nor were its effects by any means transient, but were felt for years in the rapid growth of the churches in general and in a great degree of religious fervor.

From the beginning of this great excitement Mr. Stone had been employed almost day and night in preaching, singing, visiting, and praying with and for the distressed, till his lungs failed and became inflamed, attended with a violent cough, and it was believed that he had tuberculosis. His strength failed and he believed that his end was near. Notwithstanding this he had an intense desire to attend a camp-meeting a few miles distant from Caneridge. His physician had strictly forbidden him to preach any more till his disease should be removed.

This meeting was held in a grove near Paris. Here for the first time a Presbyterian preacher opposed the work and the doctrine by which the zeal among them had its existence and life. He labored hard to bring the people under the yoke of Calvin and to regulate them according to his standard. He wished to leave the camp at night and repair to the town, nearly a mile away, and hold the meeting in a house that would not hold half the people. This could not be done without leaving their tent and other things exposed. The consequence was, the meeting was divided and the work greatly hindered. Infidels and formalists were greatly elated over this supposed victory and passed great encomiums on the preacher; but the hearts of the revivalists were filled with sorrow. Stone went to the meeting in town. A preacher was put forward who had always been hostile to the work and seldom mingled with the revivalists. He addressed the assembly in “iceberg style,” and its influence was very depressing. Stone had decided to lead the congregation in prayer just as soon as the preacher closed. When he finally closed, Stone arose and said, “Let us pray.” At that very moment another preacher of the same cast with the former rose in the pulpit to preach another sermon; but Stone proceeded to pray, feeling a tender concern for the people. While he was praying the people became much affected and the house was filled with distress. Some of the preachers jumped out of the window back of the pulpit and fled. Stone then pushed his way through the crowd to those in distress, pointed them to the way of salvation, and administered to them the comforts of the Gospel. The physician who was attending him being present, pressed his way through the crowd and found Stone wet with perspiration. He ordered him to his home, lecturing him severely for violating his orders. He put on dry clothes and retired at once, slept sounding, and arose next morning perfectly relieved from his affliction. He soon regained his strength and joyfully resumed his ministerial duties. This incident brought the campmeeting to a sudden close.

“A TIME OF DISTRESS”

There were at this time several other preachers in the Presbyterian Church who coincided in religious views with Stone. These were Richard McNemar, John Thompson, John Dunlavy, Robert Marshall and David Purviance. The three former lived in Ohio, and the three latter lived in Kentucky. They all boldly preached the sufficiency of the Gospel to save men, and that the testimony of God was designed and able to produce faith, and that sinners were capable of understanding and believing this testimony, and of acting upon it by coming to the Savior and from him obtaining salvation and the Holy Spirit. When they first began to preach these things, “the people appeared as just awakened from the sleep of ages. They seemed to see for the first time that they were responsible beings, and that a refusal to use the means appointed was a damning sin.”

This departure from the doctrine of the Westminster Confession of Faith soon occasioned a virulent opposition on the part of those who adhered to it. “At first they were pleased to see the Methodists and Baptists so cordially uniting with us in the worship; but as soon as they saw these sects drawing away disciples after them, they raised the tocsin of alarm—The Confession of Faith is in danger, ‘To your tents, O Israel!’”

These partisans began to preach boldly the doctrines of their Confession of Faith and used the most potent arguments in their defense. “A fire was now kindled that threatened to ruin the great fervor among the people. It revived the dying spirit of partyism and gave strength to trembling infidels and lifeless professors. The sects were aroused. The Methodists and Baptists, who had so long lived in peace and harmony with the Presbyterians and with one another, now girded on their armor and marched into the deathly field of controversy and war. These were times of distress. The spirit of partyism soon expelled the spirit of love and union—peace fled before discord and strife and religion was stifled and banished in the unhallowed struggle for pre-eminence. Who shall be the greatest seemed to be the spirit of the contest. The salvation of the world was no longer the burden, and the spirit of mourning in prayer took its flight from the breasts of many preachers and people. Yet there were some of all the sects who deplored this unhappy state of things; but their entreating voice was drowned in the din of battle.”

The Presbytery of Springfield, Ohio, arraigned McNemar on the charge of heresy, and the case came before the synod at Lexington, Ky. Foreseeing their fate before that body, Stone, McNemar, Thompson, Dunlavy and Marshall drew up a protest, declaring their independence and withdrawal from the jurisdiction of the synod. The synod then suspended them and declared their congregations vacant. This act produced great commotion and division among the churches and confirmed the seceding ministers in their opposition to creeds and authoritative ecclesiastical systems. But as yet they had no thought of ceasing to hold the Presbyterian faith, and that they might continue in the service of the Church organized themselves into an independent presbytery, called the “Springfield Presbytery,” but soon finding this position an impossible one and the whole system out of harmony with their views, they now took another step in their work of reform. Renouncing their allegiance to all authority but that of their divine Master, they resolved to be governed by the Bible as their only rule of faith and practice. This called for the tracts and sermons from the opposition, and the views thus canvassed became widely disseminated.

Soon after his separation, Stone called the churches at Caneridge and Concord together and informed them that he could no longer preach to support Presbyterianism, but that his labors should henceforth be directed to advance the kingdom of God, irrespective of party, releasing them from all pecuniary obligations to him. Thus for the cause of truth he sacrificed the friendship of two large churches and an abundant salary for his support. He preferred the truth to the friendship and kindness of his associates in the Presbyterian ministry, who were dear to him, and tenderly united in the bonds of love. Having now no support from the congregations, and having emancipated his slaves, he turned his attention cheerfully to labor on his farm. Though fatigued in body, his spirit was happy and calm. He did not relax his ministerial labors, preaching almost every night and often in the daytime to those who were anxious to hear the Word. He had no money to hire laborers, and often on his return home he had to labor at night while others were asleep to redeem his lost time.

Co-operating with his associates in the Springfield Presbytery in preaching and planting churches, a year had scarcely passed until such an organization was perceived to be unscriptural, and was by common consent renounced, all agreeing to take the name “Christian,” which they believed to be the only proper title for Christ’s followers, and believed it to have been given by divine appointment to the disciples at Antioch. Having divested themselves of all party creeds and party names, and trusting alone in God and the word of his grace, they became a byword and laughing stock to the whole family of the sects; all of whom prophesied their speedy annihilation. Through much tribulation and strenuous opposition they advanced, and churches and preachers were multiplied.