From the above tables, it will be noticed that the Christian church registered the largest gain in every state save one, Illinois, where the Methodists led by about three per cent. The increase 1860. This table was compiled from the Census Reports for 1850 and When divisions had occurred within the churches, the totals were taken in order to get a comparison. among the Disciples in Virginia and Pennsylvania was largely in the western parts, or the less densely settled regions. The Baptists apparently suffered most from the Disciple gains. Thus they ran lowest in increase of churches in Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee, while in Kentucky they suffered an actual loss. The Presbyterians gained in every state, but they showed the smallest increase in Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Earlier tables point out that the average value of the church buildings of the Disciples of Christ was less than that of any other of the leading churches, another proof that the Disciple strength was in the newer communities. The increase in church accommodations and the value of church property furnishes still another proof. Gains like those of Virginia and Ohio,-854 per cent and 666 per cent in the value of property,-more than double the increase in number of churches and seating accommodations, however, show the rise in price of property caused by continued growth in population. The origin and growth of this church, commonly called "Christian' but more correctly "Disciples of Christ," a product of the American frontier and an organization which registered a larger growth than any other church in the United States during the decade 1850-1860, will be the subject of the following pages. THE II PRELIMINARY MOVEMENTS 'HE origin of the Disciples of Christ was more or less closely connected with that of a body of believers commonly known as the Christian Connection, but owning only the simple designation of "The Christians"; hence it will be necessary to consider briefly this body. The Christian Connection had its beginning in the early part of the nineteenth century through the union of three distinct movements: (1) one in which James O'Kelly, a prominent Methodist minister of Virginia was the leader; (2) another in which Abner Jones, an influential Baptist preacher of Vermont, was conspicuous; and (3) a movement growing out of the Great Revival in Kentucky in which Barton W. Stone and other Presbyterian clergy played a leading role. These three movements, in widely separated parts of the country, each independent and unknown to leaders of the others until 1806, were alike in taking the Bible as the only rule of faith and in rejecting Calvinism." The first of these currents, in point of time, was that of O'Kelly in Virginia and North Carolina. 'Carroll, H. K. The Religious Forces of the United States, 91, 92. |