CHAPTER XXI.--Controversies and Peace.
Calvin Campbell, ordained in 1790, slowly rose to first place among allthe preachers of Kentucky. His popularity was deserved. He was not onlya great preacher, but a scholar, a patriot, and a modest, winsome andmost unselfish Christian worker. His zeal was not smothered by a clammyconservatism and his work was of the highest order; though his hearersoccasionally gave sensational physical manifestations of theirconversion, there was nothing sensational about his preaching.
For the decade beginning with the Great Awakening in 1800, religiousgrowth of all denominations in Kentucky had been phenomenal, exceeding athousand per cent.
Churches having large congregations were organized and no ministers wereavailable to preach to them. This was especially true of thePresbyterian Church, grown strong in a land suffering from a dearth ofschools and colleges--a church which under its rules of government couldonly license and ordain for service candidates having classical andtheological training. In Kentucky, as elsewhere, the growth of thekingdom does not wait for a preacher to be educated to grammaticallyenunciate the gospel of Christ.
The greatest growth from these revivals had been in the Cumberlandcountry--a section taking this name because it embraced the CumberlandRiver valley in Kentucky and Tennessee, and which subsequently gave nameto the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The cause of its severance fromthe Presbyterian Church is not without interest.
Father Rice, the patriarch of Presbyterianism in Kentucky, visiting theGreen River and Cumberland country, saw the need of preachers and,knowing of no other way to meet it, suggested to the Cumberland andGreen River Presbyteries that they select pious and promising young menfrom their churches and prepare them for the ministry, saying: "Youunderstand they should be trained to meet the requirements of the churchrules, but the harvest is going to waste; there is no other way to saveit, and such training is beyond our reach."
This suggestion was adopted, and several young men, after a primitivetheological course, were advanced to the ministry.
This was the beginning of a great controversy between the liberalpreachers and those ministers who were sticklers for the oldecclesiastical order. The sticklers not only found fault with thismethod of supplying the demand, but criticised the revivals and theirattendant demonstrations. There was also between the liberals and theconservatives some divergences in doctrinal belief centered upon thatportion of the confession of faith and the catechism which it wasclaimed taught the doctrine of fatalism.
These divergences, protracted through several years, grew with time,until finally they became so serious that the Synod of Kentuckyappointed a commission to meet at Gasper River Meeting House andendeavor to adjust them. The attempt failed, the controversy seemedunending. To end it, these two presbyteries were dissolved by order ofthe Synod, but they still continued to advance to the ministry men notup to the educational standard of the church, nor in accord with thedoctrine of predestination. This was very offensive to the conservativemembership and ministry of the church, while the liberal or revivalparty, deeming themselves oppressed and wronged argued: "There is noother way to supply our churches with preachers. Your doctrine ofpredestination is the fatalism of the ancients."
The final result was a revolutionary measure headed by Samuel McAdoo,Finis Ewing and Samuel King, men taken into the ministry and ordainedunder the expedience policy. They met and formed their own presbytery,calling it the Cumberland Presbytery after the one recently dissolved bythe Kentucky Synod.
A short while after this schism, the Synod of Kentucky met to deviseways and means of adjusting the differences pending between the churchorganization and the churches of the Cumberland country.
Every Presbyterian church of the state was represented by either apresiding or ruling elder. The feeling from the first was intense. Threedistinct groups of partisans were in attendance.
The conservatives, led by the Reverend Thomas Small, were in themajority. They insisted that all ministers who did not believe inpredestination and who had been ordained without possessing theeducational qualifications set forth under the rules of the churchshould be suspended, and that all physical manifestations or exhibitionsof an exuberant Christian spirit by the congregation should beforbidden.
The radicals, led by Samuel McAdoo, who, though he admitted he was notup to the Presbyterian educational standard, insisted he was called,possibly predestined to preach, and declared that the Synod to close thebreach, must take the Cumberland Presbytery with its uneducatedpreachers and its schism denying predestination into the organizationelse they would be forced to establish a distinct organization.
A third party, not exceeding a half dozen, led by Rev. Calvin Campbell,looked upon their differences as not so divergent as to justify a splitin the church, rather demanding the exercise of a Christian spirit, asall yet believed in the Trinity and in the Bible.
After the organization of the Synod, Rev. Calvin Campbell rose andoffered a resolution that: "No stationed or local preacher shall retailspirituous or malt liquors without forfeiting his ministerial characteramong us."
Speaking upon the resolution he told of the good work Dr. Benjamin Rushhad been doing in Kentucky by his prohibition movement; what a curseBourbon whiskey had proved to be since its manufacture began in 1789;and deeply regretted that so many preachers in Kentucky found an easyway of supplementing their meager salary by vending it almost under theshadow of their churches. He said: "I call your attention to thisresolution because no preacher should profit by the weakness of hisbrother, and as indicating how dense is the wilderness in which Dr. Rushhas raised his voice, crying for prohibition. I admit that a preachermust engage in some other business to live, but like Paul we may maketents, or shoes or grow corn; follow any occupation which does not tendto bring misfortune to a weak brother."
Upon a vote by secret ballot, the resolution was lost. (In 1813, thisidentical resolution was offered at a Methodist Conference in Kentuckyand voted down.)
Rev. Small, though Rev. Campbell did not know it, was a part owner in adistillery and looked upon the resolution as directed at him. Therefore,when he rose as the advocate of conservatism, the champion ofpredestination, and of an educated ministry fully alive and thoroughlygrounded in all doctrinal tenets of the church, he was in no mood forcompromises.
He dwelt at length upon the ludicrousness of the "jerks" or physicalmanifestations, and called attention to the fact, which many hadforgotten, that they were first indulged in at the Gasper River Meeting,conducted by the Rev. Calvin Campbell in 1799, and therefore should becalled the "Campbell Jerks."
He then spoke upon the theme of the necessity for a thorough theologicaleducation, else a man could never be an able polemic, a well readtheologian, capable at all times and with all comers of holding his ownin a denominational controversy between learned men, so essential forthe spread of Presbyterianism; nor could he by logic convince allhearers that all were predestined from the beginning of eternity, whichin itself established the creation of all souls when the soul of thefirst man was created; nor that a man once converted could never fallfrom grace--beliefs essential to a Christ-like faith.
He closed by saying: "My mind is set like flint upon the propositionthat when a man doubts either doctrine there is no room for him as amember, much less a minister, in the Presbyterian church. I shalltherefore vote to suspend all newly ordained ministers until they areproperly qualified to preach this doctrinal gospel and can use 1Corinthians 9:27, or the book of the prophet Jonah, as their text toestablish the doctrine of predestination. I shall therefore vote toexpel all who do not believe in every declaration in the confession offaith and particularly in predestination."
When he had finished, the Reverend Samuel McAdoo presented the cause ofthe Cumberland Presbytery. He expressed regret that the "split" hadoccurred and willingness on the part of the churches of their presbyteryto continue in the Kentucky Synod, if permitted to retain the preachersalready ordained and serving them, all of whom were hol
y men selectedfrom their congregations to meet urgent needs, when highly educated andregularly trained ministers were not available, stating: "It seems thisis not a great or unreasonable concession, nor the further request thatwe be given a greater liberty of interpretation of the Holy Scripturesand more freedom in preaching the gospel and supplying our churches withministers, provided that what they teach is in accord with the teachingsof Christ."
When McAdoo sat down, the assemblage, feeling that only one man hadsufficient influence to close the breach, expectantly turned towardsCalvin Campbell. He rose and spoke from beside his chair, until many ofthe assemblage insisted that he occupy the pulpit.
"Twenty years ago, when I was ordained, this state had a population ofless than 74,000 and this denomination but five preachers and less thana dozen churches. The state has grown rapidly, now it is seventh inimportance, with a population of 406,000, and our organization hasmaintained a proportionate growth, doing its part ably and faithfully tospread the gospel of Christ and make of this a Christian Commonwealth.It is a record of which this Synod, representing several hundredchurches, is justly proud.
"Occasionally doctrinal controversies have arisen, but they have alwaysbeen taken up and considered in a spirit of love and prayer, andadjusted by following the precepts of and in the footsteps of theMaster.
"We are met today by questions not more difficult of solution, but weseem in their consideration to be guided by a different spirit. There ismore of contention and feeling and less of the old spirit of love andprayer. May God soften our hearts and so solve the trouble. I ask thatthe words I speak may picture the thoughts of a purged soul, and thatwhat I say shall be acceptable to and in the service of God.
"I must confess that within my heart there is no disapproval of physicalmanifestations on the part of any one feeling himself emancipated fromthe shackles of sin. Let him, like David, sing his songs of thanksgivingor dance before the altar of God. God's grace to some of you is not anew thing; may it never become trite to our souls. How can you judge ofyour neighbor's spirit of praise for his salvation? He may have aclearer perception than you or be lifted from a deeper darkness into abrighter light. Do you think that the meeting on the great day ofPentecost was without shouts of praise and physical manifestations? Doyou think that Christ's entry into Jerusalem when the multitude sang'Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is He that cometh in the name ofthe Lord! Hosanna in the highest!' was devoid of physical manifestation,or the less pleasing because it was not? We are told that when the chiefpriests and scribes saw these things 'they were sore afraid' andquestioned Jesus, saying: 'Hearest thou what they say?' and He answered:'* * * have ye never read, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thouhast perfected praise?' I beseech, you, that you do not as high priests,as clammy conventionalists, criticise the gambols of a new born lambinto the shelter of the fold.
"Again I must confess that to me there is nothing inconsistent with trueChristianity, if one of the brethren asks a freer interpretation of andmore liberty in preaching the Bible. The essentials of trueChristianity, taught by the Bible, are so simple that a child mayunderstand, and so complex as to be beyond the grasp of a mind lost in awilderness of doctrinal phrase worship, or of conventionality or in theregulation of the width of their phylacteries.
"A preacher whose soul is filled with the power and the zeal of the HolyGhost, though he is a mender and caster of nets, has a greater messageand is better fitted to interpret the Bible than the scribe lost in atheological hair-splitting discussion upon some phase of non-essentialdoctrine. A man's own conscience is the best interpreter of histheology, especially if quickened by prayer, when he talks with God, andby the Scriptures, when God talks with him. Thus there becomes fixed inhis soul the essential doctrine which nothing can shake.
"Again I have never been thoroughly convinced that predestination astaught in our creed is not tinctured with fatalism. To acceptpredestination, without a belief in fatalism, is to believe that man isa free moral agent; and this, as the years go by, I am inclined less andless to believe. I have a friend, a physician, full of theories, whocontends that a child born with a misshapen head or diseased brain cellsis frequently a born criminal; and that a surgeon's knife may in rareinstances transform such a criminal into a saint.
"Nor do I believe that a man once truly converted cannot fall fromgrace. While Calvin insists this is true, it is denied by Luther andAugustine. Man can only remain within the grace of God by constantstruggle and endeavor and by insistent and persistent prayer. Hisspiritual life like his temporal has its days of sunshine and of shadow.The doctrine that once converted, you can never fall from grace, tendsto a careless spiritual life and leads to discarding the teaching thatall are sinners and life a succession of falls, a never ending struggleand prayer to live like the Master. Many a sinner has been saved whonever had one thought about predestination. Belief in it is unessentialfor salvation. No soul who does not believe in it will be damned, ifthat soul believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, loves the Lord his God withall his heart and his neighbor as himself.
"The danger of educated religious organizations is that thesenon-essential doctrines are apt to suppress the growth of the realfaith. There is a tendency to formalism, to doctrinal subtleties, tomeasuring the relative importance of each commandment, to spending timein fixing the character and location of hell, rather than striving toavoid it, to fixing the form of baptism, to word weaving,hair-splitting, letter worship; thus becoming blind leaders of theblind; eyes set upon unessential and exaggerated regalia, while thespirit loses sight of the light of the world.
"Think you a penitent sinner cannot be baptized, because there is notwater at hand? Baptize him with sand. Think you that the ordinance ofthe Lord's supper cannot be observed because the wine is spilled? Fillthe vessel with water and the spirit of observance will symbolicallytransform water into wine, as the wine stands for the blood of Christ.Must the gospel of Christ remain unpreached because there are notheologically educated ministers to expound it? Do you propose to createa sort of purgatory in which these immature preachers may have anopportunity to ripen until you say they are fit harvesters for thegrain, over-ripe and wasting?
"A seminary education is a good, but not the great thing. Shall you orthe Master say who is fit to serve as his messenger? Would you havepicked his twelve? Would you have chosen from the fishing village orfrom the school of Gamaliel or the Sanhedrin? Any of you would haveconsidered himself more fitted to preach the Pentecostal sermon thanPeter. Had you done so, it is probable there would have been no physicaldemonstrations and at most half a dozen conversions. Yet Peter was but afisherman, filled with the power of the Holy Ghost and telling in hisown heart to heart way what the Master had taught him in that itinerantseminary of one teacher and twelve students on the shores of Galilee.Who among you would have chosen Saul as disciple for the Gentiles, as hetraveled the road to Damascus, anxious to continue his persecutions.
"I cannot claim because I am the graduate of a seminary and a classicalcollege that God has given to me a greater perception and measure of thepower of the Holy Ghost to lead sinners to repentance than to SamuelMcAdoo; nor for the same reason that I and not he, am God's minister. Apreacher not fired with the Holy Ghost soon delivers his message.
"Brother Small, what has the Master taught these preachers of theCumberland Presbytery that you and I may not know?
"So often when I look back over the days that are gone, recalling myfollies, my mistakes, my presumptions and my prayer, my way, Lord, notyours--I drop upon my knees and pray--God be merciful to me a fool.
"Do not think that I condemn the faith of our fathers, or advocate anuneducated ministry. God can use the deformed, the broken vessel; He canmake the crooked straight and the blind to see; His the greater glory,the more feeble the minister. God, Gideon, the three hundred, defeatedthe host of Midian. When it comes to the sacrifice, God will providehimself a lamb, but we should give as best we may for his service.
"And the Presbyterian C
hurch, praise God for its glorious history. Ithas always waged a never ending, uncompromising war against wrong andoppression. The organization is a body of conservatives until aroused,which must be by a cataclysm. Then we never sleep until right prevails,though the road we travel grows wet with blood and tears. Presbyterianscame to America for conscience's sake. They claimed the right to worshipGod as their conscience dictated. The first settlement was at NewAmsterdam in 1628. The church grows as the community is raised to ahigher educational standard. With them, religion and education go handin hand and the catechism used to be found in their school primers. Thehistory of the Presbyterian Church is interwoven with America's strugglefor freedom. In England the revolution was attributed to thePresbyterians. Walpole addressing Parliament said, 'Cousin America hasrun away with a Presbyterian parson'."
After a discussion by others, lasting for hours, a vote was had upon aresolution, the adoption of which would recognize the CumberlandPresbytery, license their lapses and confirm the ordination of SamuelMcAdoo and others advanced to the ministry by that Presbytery. Theresolution was lost.
Whereupon all the representatives from their churches withdrew from thesynod and on February 4th perfected a tentative organization, members ofwhich took to themselves the name of Cumberland Presbyterians. Itsgrowth was rapid. In three years there were three presbyteries and sixtychurches. They held their first synod on October 5, 1813, when theyproclaimed and published a summary of their faith. As this church cameinto birth with a great revival movement, so always it has advocatedrevivals.
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On the night of Wednesday, November 10, 1813, several Shauanese Indianscame to the home of Rev. Calvin Campbell. They were runners who had beensent by the nation to notify him that he had been made their chief inplace of Tecumseh, who had been killed in the battle of the Thames onOctober 5th.
The next morning before day he left with them and was gone from homenearly three months. Upon his return he had little to say about histrip, never mentioning its purpose except to his wife.
He told her that a great remnant of the Mingo confederacy including manyShauanese had moved several hundred miles west of the Mississippi, twohundred miles from the nearest white settlement, and had there built newvillages upon the banks of the great river, near which were plains onwhich grazed vast herds of buffalo. That John Mason, who was still amissionary, had gone with them and he had assisted him in reorganizingthe nation and in building a church, much like the old Jackson RiverMeeting House, except it was of logs instead of stone.
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In the early days of Kentucky, when churches were few and far between,the people found it impossible to follow the custom of their ancestors,of burying their dead in the kirkyard. This resulted in each family ofprominence having its own burial plot about sixty feet square hedgedabout by a wall of cut stone and overgrown with ivy or Virginia creeper.Several cedar trees planted within the inclosure kept pace of growthwith the family death rate and their branches sheltered the slowlywidening circle of graves. The family graveyard was hallowed orconsecrated ground which could not be bought. Plantations changedowners, but all conveyances exempted this plot, which descended fromfather to son, from generation to generation. Laws were made to protectit from incursion or desecration; it was a misdemeanor to tear down thewall or a tombstone, or to plow over the grave of a white person. Astatute gave to relatives the right of ingress to such a place, "situatewithin the lands of another--to visit and to repair the graves orinclosure protecting same."
These desolate and usually neglected grave yards of half forgottenstranger dead became to the superstitious, "hanted places" to be shunnedby night, and the favorite site of many a ghost story told by the "blackmammy" to the children of her master.
There is reserved to the memory of Rev. Calvin Campbell but small spacein the history of his state. He was buried at Campbell Station in thefamily grave yard, beside his father and mother, as later was his wifeand years after her death their son.
Campbell Station is now the site of a thriving mining and manufacturingtown, Middlesboro, which, financed by English capital, sprang over-nightinto being and prosperity. As a boom town, its founders claimed it wouldrival Birmingham, possibly Pittsburgh, saying: "Just across the mountainfrom us, easily reached through the Gap, are inexhaustible beds of ironore, and on this side, less than a dozen miles from the ore are greatveins of the finest coking and smelting coal, and our city liesbetween."
In building Middlesboro, Yellow Creek was made straight. The redeemedcurves, filled by moving a mountain, were laid off into building lots,which sold for a price that paid expenses and rewarded the promoter.Streets were laid off and graded through the old family grave yard. Thetombstone which marked the grave of Colonel Archibald Campbell andbriefly reviewed his record as a colonel in the Continental Army, wasplaced on exhibition in the city hall. The markers of the other graves,as the earth that held the remains of the dead, was carted and dumpedinto the old creek bed, to redeem and transform a bend into a buildinglot.
The Town Company was a progressive corporation, and corporations aresoulless institutions, yet the recitation upon the tombstone of CalvinCampbell might have saved for it a place of honor in the city hall. Butwhat matter, he is risen, he is present with his Lord who gives everyman according as his work shall be.
The inscription, after giving his name, date of birth and death read:
"This monument is erected to the father of this Presbytery by shillingcontributions from those persons who were brought to Christ by him.After 1,800 had contributed, the fund being sufficient, furthercontributions were refused."