His drooping spirit was cheered by his return to Pittsburgh, after a journey on foot of three hundred miles. He received a warm welcome from those who had learned his true worth, and, as a suitable successor in the school room had not been found, a handsome salary was pledged to secure his services once more. Broken in spirit and purse, he accepted the position and continued in the management of the school for several years with remarkable success. But his chief delight now was to minister to the little church, which, deprived of its leader by the sudden death of Mr. Forrester, looked to him for leadership. This period marks his growth in spiritual things. His reverence for Christ and his Word led to the constant study of the Bible. His chief delight was in the Holy Scriptures. It was in these hours with the Spirit of truth that he made the final dedication of himself to God, promising “that if he, for Christ’s sake, would grant him just and comprehensive views of his religion he would subordinate all his present and future attainments to the glory of his Son and his religion.”
TURNING POINT IN HIS LIFE
It was while thus engaged singlehanded in working out the problem of human redemption as revealed in the Word of God that he first met Alexander Campbell, with whom his own history and efforts in the future were to be so intimately blended. They possessed many elements in common, had been reared in the same school of religious thought, had been driven by the same burning thirst for truth to the Bible, and through its message were led to pursue a similar path in their search for acceptance with God. The following, from the pen of Dr. Richardson, beautifully presents the predominating characteristics in contrast at the time of their first meeting:
The different hues in the characters of these two eminent men were such as to be, so to speak, complimentary to each other, and to form, by their harmonious blending, a completeness and a brilliancy which rendered their society, peculiarly delightful to each other. Thus, while Mr. Campbell was fearless, self-reliant and firm, Mr. Scott was naturally timid, diffident and yielding; and, while the former was calm, steady and prudent, the latter was excitable, variable and precipitate. The one, like the north star, was ever in position, unaffected by terrestrial influences; the other, like the magnetic needle, was often disturbed and trembling on its center, yet ever returning or seeking to return to its true direction. Both were nobly endowed with the powers of higher reason—a delicate self-consciousness, a decided will and a clear conception of truth. But, as it regards the other departments of the inner nature, in Mr. Campbell the understanding predominated, in Mr. Scott the feelings; and, if the former excelled in imagination, the latter was superior in brilliancy of fancy. If the tendency of one was to generalize, to take wide and extended views and to group a multitude of particulars under a single head or principle, that of the other was to analyze, to divide subjects into their particulars and consider their details.... In a word, in almost all those qualities of mind and character, which might be regarded differential or distinctive, they were singularly fitted to supply each other’s wants and to form a rare and delightful companionship. (Memoirs of A. Campbell, Vol. 1, p. 510.)
They at once recognized in each other kindred spirits and joined hands, and, with Thomas Campbell, formed a trio of unsurpassed genius, eloquence and devotion to truth.
WALTER SCOTT
The turning point in the life of Walter Scott came in 1827, when Alexander Campbell, on the way to the annual meeting of the Mahoning Association, visited him at his home in Steubensville, Ohio, and prevailed upon him to attend the meeting at New Lisbon. Scott, though not a member of the Association, was chosen evangelist.
The Association was organized in 1820 and was composed of ten Baptist churches. The number was doubled later, seventeen of whom were represented at the New Lisbon meeting. These churches in the main were in eastern Ohio, near the Pennsylvania line, and between the Ohio River and Lake Erie, and were known as the Western Reserve. One of the churches—Wellsburg—was in Virginia. Spiritually they were almost dead. This, perhaps, was the result of extreme Calvinistic teachings and their elaborate man-made creeds. At this association fifteen churches reported only thirty-four baptisms, and eleven of these were at Wellsburg, the church home of Alexander Campbell.
The new evangelist threw the full force of his ardent nature into the work. He had long been an earnest, faithful, and prayerful student of the Word of God. He had drunk deep into its spirit, and became fully convinced of the weakness and inefficiency of modern systems, in all of which “there seemed to be a link wanting to connect an avowed faith in Christ with an immediate realization of the promises of the gospel. These seemed placed at an almost infinite distance from the penitent, bowed down under a sense of guilt, and longing for some certain evidence of acceptance, which he often vainly sought in the special spiritual illuminations upon which men were taught to rely.”
The Association had imposed upon him no particular course whatever, and it was his duty, therefore, to consider how the proclamation of the gospel could be rendered most effective for the conversion of sinners.