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goodness in the glorious work he is carrying on in our western country, which we hope will terminate in the universal spread of the gospel and the unity of the church."

The Rev. John Allen Gano, one of the earliest disciples of B. W. Stone, and a lifelong personal friend, in a memorial discourse on the occasion of Mr. Stone's death, delivered in the Cane Ridge Meeting-house, June 22, 1845, said:

'The first churches planted and organized since the grand apostasy, with the Bible as the only creed, or church book, and the name 'Christian' as the only family name, were organized in Kentucky in the year 1804. Of these Cane Ridge was the first."

It was at this place that, on the twenty-eighth day of June, 1804, "The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery," as we have seen, was drawn up and signed by Marshall, Dunlavy, McNemar, Stone, Thompson, and Purviance, in which they declared to the church and the world that they were determined to take from that day forward the Bible as containing the standard of faith and rule of life to the exclusion of all human authoritative creeds, and the name "Christian," which they believed to have been given to the disciples of Christ by divine authority, to the exclusion of all sectarian and denominational designations. They sought peace with men, and union with all who believe in Jesus.

Other similar movements-similar in aim and methodarose at about the same time in remote parts of the United States.

The Rev. James O'Kelley was a member of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1792. He made an ineffectual effort to secure a modification of the power of the bishops in the appointment of preachers. The next morning after his failure he and a number who

were in sympathy with him addressed a letter to the conference announcing their withdrawal from that body. An effort was made to bring about a reconciliation, but in vain. The separation was final and irrevocable. This event is known in the history of the Methodist Church as "the O'Kelley Secession." The seceders at first took the name of "Republican Methodists"; but later this name was repudiated, and the name "Christian" was taken as a sufficient designation. At the same time it was declared that no other headship than that of the Christ would be recognized, and that no other book of authority than the Bible would be received.

Abner Jones was a member of the Regular Baptist Church in Hartland, Vt. "He had a peculiar travail of mind in regard to sectarian names and human creeds." In the year 1800 he gathered a church of twenty-five members in the town of Lyndon in the State of Vermont. In 1802 a church was organized in Bradford, same State, on the Bible alone, and in 1803 another came into existence in Piermont, N. H. Through the influence of the Rev. Elias Smith, a Baptist pastor in Portsmouth, N. H., his church adopted the views of Mr. Jones on the subject of creeds and denominational names. Several other ministers among the Regular Baptists, and also from the Free Baptists, soon rallied to this standard, and labored with great zeal and success, securing an acceptance of their views through many parts of New England and in the States of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Thus it will be seen that in distant parts of the country there were movements of similar aim, spirit, and methods to that inaugu:ated in Kentucky by the dissolution of the "Springfield Presbytery." Their authors in their inception were unknown to one another. After a few years they obtained some knowledge of each other, and were surprised

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and pleased to find that they had embraced and were advocating essentially the same principles. The result was a union on the agreement "that the name 'Christian' is the only name of distinction which we take, and by which we as a denomination desire to be known, and the Bible is our only rule of faith and practice."

This movement proved to be so popular that in 1844 there were said to be 1500 preachers, as many churches, and 325,000 communicants. About this time, however, their numbers were much reduced by the prevalence of Mr. Miller's views of the second coming of Christ, and the millennial reign.

Let us now return to Kentucky, and note particularly the progress of the work inaugurated by the members of the late "Springfield Presbytery."

There were stormy seas ahead. Their plan of peace was rather a tocsin of war. A resolution of those in authority in the Presbyterian denomination forbade the people of that communion to associate with the heretics in worship, on pain of censure, and, in certain cases, of exclusion from their fellowship.

But what became of the men whose names are attached to "The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery" as witnesses?

Marshall became so fully convinced of the correctness of the Baptist teaching on the subject of baptism that he gave up the practice of infant baptism, and it was thought by his friends that he would unite with the Baptist denomination. Mr. Stone wrote a letter to him on the subject of baptism in which he endeavored to convince him of the error into which he had fallen. Marshall replied with such force that Stone's mind was unsettled to such a degree that he gave up the baptism of infants, and began to immerse believers who desired to be baptized in that way. After

a season Marshall returned to the Presbyterians. He was required by his Presbytery to visit the churches where he had preached his errors, renounce publicly the false doctrines, and proclaim to the people pure doctrine as set forth in the Westminster Standards. And this he did.

McNemar and Dunlavy joined the Shakers. Dunlavy lived long enough to see and lament his folly, and McNemar was expelled from the society. It is said that he too was convinced of his error.

Stone and Purviance remained true to the cause of union on the Bible. Thompson returned to the Presbyterians.

Having mentioned the letters which passed between Messrs. Marshall and Stone on the subject of baptism, it may be well at this point to set forth the manner in which immersion gained acceptance and became the practice of those who had agreed to be guided in their Christian life by no other book than the Bible. The following is Mr. Stone's account of the matter:

"The brethren, elders, and deacons came together on the subject; for we had agreed previously with one another to act in concert, and not to adventure on anything new without advice from one another. At this meeting we took up the matter in a brotherly spirit, and concluded that every brother and sister should act freely and according to their conviction of right, and that we should cultivate the long-neglected grace of forbearance toward one another; they who should be immersed should not despise those who were not, and vice versa. Now the question arose, Who will baptize us? The Baptists would not except we united with them; and there were no elders among us who had been immersed. It was finally concluded among us that if we were authorized to preach we were also authorized to baptize. The work then commenced: the preachers baptized one another, and crowds

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came and were baptized. My congregations very generally submitted to it, and it soon obtained generally; and yet the pulpit was silent on the subject.'

In tracing the origin, aim, and progress of the Disciples, we must now cross the Atlantic and study the genesis and nature of an influence destined in time to affect very powerfully this movement in the United States in behalf of peace and unity among Christians, by a return in belief and in practice to the religion of Jesus as described in the New Testament.