for other labor; and it seems they are predestined to live to-gether; they are legally married in the South, and South Carolina favors no sort of divorces, literal or figurative, except in the conjugal affinities of States.'' 52

In spite of these views, however, Campbell was attacked as a slave holder. Thus, on his European tour, while at Edinburgh, placards were posted, reading: "Citizens of Edinburgh-Beware! beware! The Rev. Alexander Campbell of Virginia, United States of America, has been a slave holder himself and is still a defender of manstealers.'' 5 The accused man explained and defended his position on the slavery question, but enemies made misrepresentations which finally resulted in his going to jail. This was not necessary, but Campbell, believing that he was persecuted, refused to let his Glasgow friends give bail for him. He was in jail about ten days before the warrant was declared illegal."

Various extracts from the Christian Messenger show Stone's attitude on slavery. This publication, Volume III., 1828, contained "An Humble Address to Christians on the Colonization of Free People of Color." Some of the extracts typical of his attitude follow:

"All who know me, well know that for more than thirty years, I have advocated the cause of liberty, and opposed ́unmerited hereditary slavery. My honesty has been tested.

Richardson, R. Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, II., 450.

58 Ibid., II., 558.

54 Ibid., II., 554-563.

For all in my possession, I emancipated; nor did I send them out empty. A few are yet with me, not under my control, but entailed a curse upon my children by a deceased relative. They who are unapprised of this circumstance, have branded me as a slave holder. I have named this circumstance to remove any impression which might prevent the good effect designed by this address.

"But every plan has been found defective but that which we now advocate, the plan of settling the free people of color in Africa. To free them and let them live among us is impolitic, as stubborn facts have proved. Were those now in slavery among us to be thus emancipated, I would instantly remove to a distant land beyond their reach. Yet had I a thousand slaves, I would gladly give them up to the Colonization Society to transport them to Liberia.

"The time has been when professed Christians were blind to the evils of slavery. I have known some who have professed to be humble disciples of Christ, buy and sell their fellow creatures for gain, as they would a herd of cattle! But the era of darkness is past; no man now bearing the sacred name of religion, is engaged in such a traffic. Am I correct in this statement? Or is there yet one, a professed Christian, so blinded by the god of this world, and so lost to the truth of heaven, and so destitute of human and divine. feeling, and so regardless of Christian character, and so callous to the sufferings of humanity, and so careless about his eternal destiny? Can a professed Christian yet be engaged in such a horrid traffic? If one, tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon, lest the wicked, scoffing world rejoice, and reproach the name of Christ: that one bearing his name and professing his religion, has done what their infidelity would blush to do. Let every Christian frown indignantly on such a practice. Let them show the world of their abhorrence of it by banishing it from among them. Let the practice be confined to those who fear not God, nor regard man. Once more I entreat all Christians--all the benevolent-all to aid the Colonization Society.

Let us associate in every church, in every town, and in every neighborhood, as auxiliaries to the mother Society in Washington. Your reward will be certain.'' 55

John Rogers declared that Stone, although a Marylander by birth, educated in Virginia and North Carolina, and an inhabitant of Virginia for nearly fifty years, was opposed to slavery, but that he was not an abolitionist. He wrote:

"He did not indiscriminately condemn slave holders, for he lived some forty years in churches in which slave holders were members. He did not therefore make it a test of Christian fellowship. Would to God that our brethren of the North, whom we want to love and fellowship, would imitate the example of the pious Stone in this particular.

...

9956

The next question, war, brought a severe testing time for the Disciples of Christ. When the Civil War broke out, they were almost equally divided in their membership between the two sections involved. From the beginning of their movement, they had objected strenuously to fighting." In an address on this subject, delivered at Wheeling, Vir

55 Reprinted in The Biography of Elder Barton Warren Stone, Written by Himself: with Additions and Reflections. By Elder John Rogers, 288-291.

56 Ibid., 287.

57 Since the Disciples recognize no creed but the Bible, or more specifically Matthew 16: 16, or according to their best writers, Christ himself, a person in preference to a set of beliefs, entire liberty of opinion is allowed on the war question. Other bodies, however, do not recognize this attitude. Thus, with regard to the questionaires now being filled out, no provision is made for individual opinion. According to the view of the writer and with equal right, one member of the church might claim that his creed forbade him to take part in the war, whereas another member of the same church might claim that it did not.

ginia, in 1848, Alexander Campbell had protested strongly against war." In these views he was very generally followed by the Disciples. In October, 1861, the following resolution was rejected by the General Missionary Society: "Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with the loyal and patriotic of our country in their present efforts to sustain the government of the United States, and we feel it our duty as Christians to ask our brethren everywhere to do all in their power to sustain the proper and constitutional authorities of the Union.' 5. As the war progressed, however, sentiment began to change, and two years later, with few dissenting votes, this resolution was passed: "Resolved, That we unqualifiedly declare our allegiance to said Government, and repudiate as false and slanderous any statements to the contrary.""

In spite of dissensions, the numerical increase of the Disciples has been rapid. Brush Run, the first church in the movement, was organized in 1811, with thirty members. Alexander Campbell was ordained January 1, 1812; his aims then were very limited. Both father and son were opposed to founding a new church. They simply wanted to worship as they pleased. In 1820, there were only three preachers and six churches, with an aggregate membership of less than two hundred. Soon,

61

58 Campbell, A. Popular Lectures and Addresses, 342-366. 59 Moore, W. T. Comprehensive History of Disciples, 492.

60 Ibid., 493.

61 McLean, A. Thomas and Alexander Campbell, 29.

nevertheless, the number of Reformers began to increase with marked rapidity, largely due to Campbell's ability as a debater and his editorship of the Christian Baptist. Many of the early additions came during the relation with the Baptists, but as previously pointed out, most of these took the side of the Reformers when the division came. Often, too, ministers from other churches joined the new organization. Thus, the Christian Baptist, July 7, 1828, told of one Methodist and two Universalist preachers of Ohio, who had renounced their favorite "isms" and had been immersed into the belief of the ancient Gospel. A. S. Hayden gave the story of John Schaeffer, a young Lutheran minister who was thrust out of his church in 1834, because he had repudiated infant baptism. He came to the Disciples." Reforming Baptist ministers obtained remarkable results in 1828. Jeremiah Vardeman of Kentucky baptized 550 persons in six months. John Smith of Montgomery County, Kentucky, baptized 339 persons from the first Lord's Day in February to April 20. Scott, Rigdon, and Bentley baptized about eight hundred people in Ohio during a period of six months. Lane of Washington County, Virginia, and Warder of Mayslick, Kentucky, also baptized numerous converts.

After the separation from the Baptists, the Disciples continued to increase rapidly. Their strength

62 History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, 824-881. 63 The Christian Baptist, June 1828.