Be not righteous overmuch, neither make thyself overwise. - Solomon
Letter 2, Sectarian Names Having shown in the foregoing letter, some reasons why you may justly be denominated a sect, I shall now, in further progress of the same subject, proceed to consider your sectarian name. This you disdain. But you must remember that you are the first that has plead "not guilty" to a charge that was susceptible of the clearest proof. Few indeed, if any, delight in those names, were they avoidable, which the reproach of the world has cast upon them. I, myself, would rejoice to see the time when all sectarian names would be unnecessary; but as things now are, I am content to be called a Baptist, esteeming it to be the reproach of Christ.
It matters not how sects obtain their names whether it be of their own selection, or imposed upon them by the malice of others; when common usage affixes it to them, there is no avoiding it. - There can be no little doubt but the primitive disciples were first called Christians by way of reproach; and we know that this is the way the name Baptist came into existence. Their name was forced upon them, until, at last, they were compelled to assume it, in order to keep up their characteristic distinction, little did poor old George Fox think, that when he said to his persecutors, quake in the presence of the Lord, that those who understood the scriptures as he did, would forever after be called Quakers. And who could have thought that the single expression of a young man at college, would affix the name of Methodists to a Christian body.
And why have you not a sectarian name? You delight in calling yourselves Reformers, and is not that a name - a distinctive appellation? How much better is Reformer than Baptist? Write them together, and Baptist is as fair a name, sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with them. Baptist will start a spirit as soon as Reformer! If, then, Baptist is a sectarian name, why is not Reformer? But most people prefer calling you Campbellites, and how much soever yon may writhe under the appellation, mark what I tell you, so you will be denominated, and by this name you will be known to posterity. Others have not the same exalted opinion of you, that you entertain of yourselves. They are not able to discover anything in your labors to entitle you to the same name of those who rescued religion from the grasp of papal supremacy. They choose not to call you by the name that you, out of your abundance of modesty, have kindly appropriated to yourselves. Sandeman and Glass went this way before you, and did not obtain the name of Reformers; and why should you reap all the glory for merely rearing a superstructure upon a foundation they laid?
But I will by an argumetium ad homi___, show you why you are justly called Campbellites. You call others Calvinists and Lutherans, and for what reason? Because, say you, they embrace the views set forth in the writings of Calvin and Luther. But, do you believe they embrace them merely because they are the views of those men, and not because they believe them to be taught in the scriptures? I know you do not. Luther and Calvin were reformers in the church of Rome, and in their opposition to the corruptions of the times, they necessarily had to write and preach much; and others, as they believed with them, united with them in their efforts to restore religion to its parity. Hence the names of Calvinists and Lutherans.
And how has it been in your reformation? It was the sagacious eyes of Mr. Alexander Campbell, that first discovered the deplorable state of the Church in the United States. Who can read his writings and have faith enough to believe them, that is, more faith than is requisite to remove mountains, that would not be shocked at the wretched condition of this country? Almost every minister of the gospel is a Pope, and every church an Inquisition. What are associations but assemblies of Cardinals? What corruptions! What delusions!
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* Did Brother Waller escape the venom of Mr. Campbell's tongue and pen? Did Mr. C. rave against him more severely than he now does against the editor of the Tennessee Baptist or Elder Jeter? - JRG.
________________________Italy and Spain in their worst days knew nothing to equal it. Mystical Babylon might have been burnt in Europe, but America, is enveloped in the smoke - smoke that hides all things in shades as dark and terrible as the night of Egypt was in the midst of this monstrous corruption, and tyranny, and darkness, that Mr. Campbell found you. You were lying supinely on your backs, entirely unconscious of the danger you were in. Surrounded by the darkness, and in the midst of all the tyrannies - nay, some of you Cardinals, Inquisitors and Popes, but, strange to say! you knew it not, until a warning voice, in trumpet tones, came from Mr. Campbell, and pierced your dull and stupid ears. You started in wonder, and gazed around, but saw nothing. - Again the same sound broke upon the stillness of the night, and behold! you began to conjecture, that perchance something was wrong; and you quaked with fear. A third time the voice come [sic] in yet louder tones, and the horrid spectre stood full before you, "and shook his gory locks!" You flew to a place of safety, and snugly perched under the spacious pinions of the wondrous Phoenix that had just arisen from the ashes of conflagrated Babylon.
Yes, taking you on your own assertions, you were unconscious in the midst of spiritual corruptions; many of you active and zealous propagators of the most delusive notions, and yet you were unconscious of what you did, until Mr. Campbell came. He made the salve that opened your eyes. He showed to you your situation, and raised his standard and marched forth. Few of you could, at first, perceive your danger, but, by degrees became convinced of it, and sallied out and joined him. I do think it sheer ingratitude for you to make wry faces for calling you Campbellites. Considering he has awaked you to a knowledge of the imminent peril to which you were unconsciously reposing, and has led you so triumphantly out, you ought rather to rejoice, or, at least, very patiently hear his name.
Mr. Campbell, having thus brought you out, does not leave you. He still leads you about and instructs you. True, you say that you take the New Testament for your guide, and so says Mr. Campbell, and you take care to understand it about as he does: and I say it, in no other than the spirit of admonition, that you seem to read more attentively, and certainly more often, his writings, than those of the apostles. With what eagerness do you inquire for them! What marks of disappointment are discoverable in your countenances when you ask at the office and they have failed to arrive! With what rapture do you open the locked-for treasure! How you devour the contents! How you applaud his views! He ridicules, and you smile. He denounces, and you feel anger stir within your bosoms. He advances a point of doctrine and how lucid in your estimation docs it appear; how cogent are his reasonings - palpable and as bright as the beams of the morning.
Why should you not then be called Campbellites? You were immersed in errors; you were in the midst of the greatest delusion. Who showed to you your situation, and pointed out to you the dangers that surrounded you? Mr. Campbell. Who led you through the devious intricaces of the labyrinth in which you were, and placed you on the modern "ancient order of things?" Mr. Campbell. Who is now the great light and ornament of your sect, and to whom do you look to defend you? Mr. Campbell. Who among you do not lean upon his strong arm for support! Which of you will oppose his views, or will not cower beneath his frown?
Tell me not that you take the scriptures for your guide. How common is it for your teachers to criticize the common translation of the Bible; to ridicule its old fashioned language; to talk of its incorrect translations; and to give a preference to Mr. Campbell's. And yet these same teachers probably could not, "to save them from the Spanish inquisition," tell the nominative case of a verb. I seldom hear one teach, but he takes exceptions to the King James' translation, and why? Because he knows it to be wrong ? Because he is able to compare it to the original scriptures, and prove it incorrect? Or, because he is blessed with superior mental powers, and is more competent to discern than his fellows' Oh, no! nothing like it. Mr. Campbell has said so. He has quoted Greek, or something that must be Greek, for like the gospel of the Greeks, it is foolishness unto him - he does not know the letters. He, therefore, relying on the chivalry of Mr. Campbell to defend him, boldly charges upon the common Bible, derides the ignorance of its translators, and sets forth in bold contrast his own superior endowments.
Am I exaggerating? or, am I overdrawing the picture? I put this question to your own observation and to your own experience. Why do all your teachers, learned and unlearned, say reform instead of repent? And who taught you to immerse into the name of the Lord? This is a new phrase in our language. Have you all become such skillful philologists, as to affix a meaning to what, in itself, is nonsense? How came you to find out that it was better to say congregation than church? and in some places of the New Testament, the reign of heaven, and in others, the kingdom of heaven, &c. &c. Where did you learn these things? Did each of you discover them of yourselves? Or, rather, whence came the light that displayed to you your former ignorance, and gave you such amazing knowledge! You cannot equivocate. You all have to turn your eyes to the same point. Candor compels you to say that your knowledge upon these subjects flowed from the same fountain. There it is you sip the draughts of profound erudition. From thence issue those pellucid streams that fertilize your sect, and give strength and vigor to those otherwise barren teachers that are now so plentiful and so luxuriantly flourish among you.
If, from all these things, you are not properly called Campbellites, then you should cease to say that others are the followers of men. If ever any sect was justly called by the name of its leader, surely yours is. But it matters not - you have his Name; and when one says of another, he is a Campbellite, he is as well understood as when he speaks of Methodist, or Baptist, or any other sect. This name is considered entirely appropriate, and is perfectly understood by every one. Then, after all your endeavors to avoid it, the community - common and approved usage, has said, that CAMPBELLITE is the name of your sect.
========= [From the Tennessee Baptist, June 9, 1855, p. 1. Transcribed and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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