This is the second of three Historical Reflections on Stone-Campbell spirituality in recognition of the 200th anniversary of the publication of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address. This slender volume was a call for Christian unity that the world might believe that Jesus is the Christ. While it attracted little attention, it had quite an impact on Thomas Campbell’s son, Alexander Campbell. In 1832, the followers of Thomas and Alexander Campbell, known as Disciples of Christ, united with another Christian unity movement, the Christians, led by Barton W. Stone, to form what historians now call the Stone-Campbell Movement. How could it happen that by the dawning of the twentieth century this Stone-Campbell Movement, born of a shared commitment to Christian unity, would divide into two streams, one known as Christian Churches or Disciples of Christ, and the other as Churches of Christ? And, how could it happen that before the end of the twentieth century the Christian Churches /Disciples of Christ stream would divide into two streams, known today as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)? Though other factors were involved, it had a lot to do with spirituality.

Yesterday, I defined spirituality as our understanding and practice of relationship with God. I described the founding spirituality of the Stone-Campbell Movement as theistic, as it focuses on knowing and loving God. This morning I want to describe two distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality that emerged before the end of the nineteenth century and have played a major role in dividing the Movement. I categorize the first of these distortions of Stone-Campbell Spirituality as legalistic, as it focuses on knowing and obeying God’s law. I describe the second as moralistic, as it focuses on knowing and promoting the social good.

So, to begin with the legalistic distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality: What is sin? Sin was not the failure to be in love with God, as in the founding spirituality of the Stone-Campbell Movement, but the failure to obey God’s law. God had revealed God’s law through prophets and apostles whose testimony was recorded in the Bible. Preachers argued on rationalist grounds that this testimony was reliable. Hence, ignorance or uncertainty regarding God’s law was no defense.

What are the consequences of sin? One consequence of the failure to obey God’s law was anxiety regarding one’s situation in life. In a sermon titled, “The Safety and Security of the Christian,” Robert Milligan, prominent second-generation Stone-Campbell Christian, noted that sinners trust in riches, honors, and pleasures as the source of all good, rather than obedience to the eternal God. Since even sinners know that riches, honors, and pleasure can be taken away, they can never be fully confident of their situation in life. (Please note: This view of the transience of earthy goods is significantly different from the founding Stone-Campbell spirituality view which declares that earthly goods are incapable of satisfying the deepest human needs.)

Another consequence of failure to obey God’s law was moral confusion and error. Benjamin Franklin, another prominent second-generation Stone-Campbell preacher, described the human situation as follows. “[Humans are] poor, imperfect, fallible, and erring creature[s]. [They need] infallibility somewhere to which [they] can come and receive instruction implicitly.” Sinners who reject the infallible instruction found in the Bible can hardly be expected to do the good. On the contrary, they can be expected to do evil. Pointing to revolutionary France, which rejected Christianity and promptly decapitated a fair number of its population, Franklin warned that society can “have no security for anything better without the Bible.”

A third consequence of failure to obey God’s law was eternal punishment, or hell. Advocates of this understanding and practice of relationship with God asserted that persons who refuse to obey God’s law will suffer eternal torment.

What is salvation? Salvation for this legalistic distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality was the reward one received for obeying God’s law. Salvation was not viewed as a relationship with God, which is reward in itself, as in the founding spirituality of the Movement, but as the pay-off for obeying God’s law.

What are the consequences of salvation? The principle consequence of salvation was that upon death one would enter the eternal bliss of heaven. And, this heaven has more of a material aspect than the heaven of the founding spirituality of the Stone-Campbell Movement which focuses on the joy of experiencing God’s presence. Franklin exhorted, “Let us hear [Jesus’] sayings and do them, that he may… lead us safely into the everlasting city, and to the fountains of living water, where there are riches, and treasures, and splendors, and sublimities, transcending all human imagination….”

A consequence of compliance with the terms of salvation was confidence and assurance concerning the present and the future, even in the midst of suffering and misfortune. No matter what might be happening in the believer’s life, one who had obeyed God’s law in all things could be confident that the major matter of life was secure. Milligan promised that “As long as we love God with all our hearts, and souls, and minds, and do [God’s] commandments, so long God is faithful and will not allow any absolute evil to befall any one of us.”

Another consequence of compliance with the terms of salvation was the moral and social good. Advocates of this understanding and practice of relationship with God were convinced that Christianity was necessary to maintain a humane society. Franklin appealed to sinners to become Christians, not only for the sake of their eternal good, but out of a concern for the moral and religious welfare of their communities.

How does one get from sin to salvation? Not by grace, as in the founding spirituality of the Stone-Campbell Movement, but by searching the Scriptures to find God’s law and by obeying it in full. As preachers searched the Scriptures, the list of duties could become rather long. Robert Milligan promised heaven to his hearers on the following terms: “Do you believe, with all your heart, that Jesus is the Messiah—the Son of the living God? Have you repented of all your sins? Have you openly and publicly confessed the name of Jesus as your only and all-sufficient Savior? Have you, by His authority, been baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit? Are you now giving all diligence to adding to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience and to patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love to all? If so, all is well. For just as sure as the Lord God omnipotent reigns, if you continue in these things, and abound in them, you will at last receive an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

The Stone-Campbell Movement’s distinctive practice of baptism was maintained in this spirituality, but it took on a significantly different character. Baptism for Alexander Campbell was the gracious means by which a gracious God communicated to penitent believers assurance of the forgiveness of their sins and the Holy Spirit. In the context of this distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality, baptism became one of many duties, albeit an important duty, that one must perform to obtain heaven. “Baptism,” Franklin wrote, “is the test of [the sinner’s] belief in Christ—the trial of the [sinner’s] loyalty to the King. There, at the entrance of the Kingdom, the question comes before the sinner of obedience in a matter of the most trying nature—obedience to a commandment, where the sinner can see no reason for obedience only that the King requires it. If the sinner stops at this first formal act required, and refuses to obey, what may we expect of [this person] at any subsequent time?” I refer to this interpretation as the hazing view of baptism.

Is there a side effect to this method of salvation? Yes, a certain smugness, or pride; confidence born of the conviction that one has obeyed God’s law and, therefore, all is well, with my soul. This contrasts sharply with the humility of the founding spirituality of the Movement that was rooted in the believer’s conviction of sin and experience of God as the giver of every aspect of our salvation. John W. McGarvey, pioneer theological educator of the Stone-Campbell Movement, defended the practice of immersing new converts in cold, wintry streams, not in terms of the believer’s joy in the assurance of sin forgiven and the promise of the Holy Spirit, but by stating that “the consciousness of a solemn duty performed sends a glow of gratitude and peace through the inner man which contributes largely to the comfort of the body.”

This practice of baptizing people in frigid waters could, it should be noted, produce some pretty radical characters. There was a Stone-Campbell woman by the name of Carry who married the Disciples minister, David Nation, and became famous for what she called “hatchetation”—the practice of entering illegal saloons with her hatchet and proceeding to chop up everything, the bar, the bottles, and the portrait of a half-naked woman behind the bar. Asked by a reporter why she was not content to advocate temperance in the manner of other women, she answered: “I was baptized on the coldest day of the year. They cut a hole in the ice and dropped me in, and I came out a bearcat for the Lord!”

The legalistic distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality, both its demands and its promises, is nicely expressed in a nineteenth-century hymn which remains popular, at least among some Disciples, to this day.

When we walk with the Lord
In the light of his word,
What a glory he shows on our Way!
While we do his good will
He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey,
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise,
Not a cloud in the skies,
But his smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt nor a fear,
Not a sigh nor a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

Trust and obey,
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet
We will sit at his feet,
Or we’ll walk by his side in the way;
What he says we will do,
Where he sends we will go—
Never fear, only trust and obey.

And, now, for the moralistic distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality: What is sin? Sin was the failure to promote the social good; the failure to help America achieve its destiny as a land of liberty and justice. And the consequences: that America would not fulfill its destiny or, at the very least, that the sinner would not have a part in accomplishing God’s good purposes for the human family.

What is salvation? Salvation was the fulfillment of God’s purposes for America, the establishment of a land of liberty and justice. And the consequences: that Americans would enjoy the blessing of freedom, but more than that, that the example of America carried to other nations through the expanding influence of the American Republic would liberate all peoples.

Alexander Campbell contributed to this distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality by a series of popular lectures that, according to Mark Toulouse, were not meant to replace Campbell’s writings on the role of a gospel proclaiming and united church in ushering in a this-worldly reign of peace and justice. Be that as it may, in 1849 Campbell prophesied that “The Lord Almighty, who has now girdled the earth from East to West with the Anglo-Saxon people, the Anglo-Saxon tongue, sciences, learning and civilization, by giving a colossal power and grandeur to Great Britain and the United States over the continents and oceans of the earth, will continue to extend their power and magnificence until they spread from north to south, as they have already from east to west…. Then will ‘They hang their trumpet in the hall, and study war no more.’ Peace and universal amity will reign triumphant. For over all the earth there will be but one Lord, one faith, one hope and one language.” In 1852, Campbell stated that God had granted such stupendous power and might to England and America and would continue to favor them in order that they might shine the light of liberty and justice into all the world. Campbell called upon his listeners to fulfill the duties they owed to themselves, their country, and the human race.

This idolaterization of Anglo-Saxon culture, it must be noted, while helping to fuel the nineteenth century overseas missionary movement, impeded and, dare I say, impedes Disciples of Christ evangelization of non-English speaking populations in the United States. This same idolaterization of Anglo-Saxon culture, with its blatant message of Anglo-Saxon superiority, also made it necessary for African-American Disciples to form organizations related to, but separate from, white Disciples.

How does one get from sin to salvation? One got from sin to salvation by identifying and promoting the social good. And the side effects: A deep sense of satisfaction rooted in the conviction that one was helping to advance God’s purposes and to improve the lives of all human beings. As with the legalistic distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality, there is not much room here for humility. Rather than seeing themselves as the recipients of God’s grace, exponents of this spirituality tended to view themselves as partners with God in saving the world. And the result, as with the legalistic distortion, was a sort of smugness or pride. Having informed his audience in 1852 of their role as Americans in shaping the future of humanity, Campbell wrote, “We have, then, a fearful and glorious responsibility. Let us cherish in our individual bosoms this feeling of personal as well as national responsibility….”

There is not much place in this scheme for the distinctive Stone-Campbell teaching on baptism. If one can get from sin to salvation by identifying and promoting the social good, why would one make a big deal out of baptism?

My hymn for this understanding and practice of relationship with God was written in the North just before the Civil War. It arose out of a men’s movement led by Dudley Tyng, who remarked in a sermon that he delivered to 5000 men, “I would rather that this right arm were amputated at the trunk than that I should come short of my duty.” The next week, while watching the operation of a corn thrasher, his arm got caught in the machine, was severely lacerated, and a week later he died. But not before uttering his last words which were the inspiration for the hymn: “Let us all stand up for Jesus.” Southerners learned this hymn from Union armies invading the South. There is a monument to those troops not far from here. And, the woman on the top is facing the South as if to say: Never again! Using a military theme, this hymn—still sung by Disciples—calls Christians to join Jesus’ army. Though it speaks of opposition, it promises victory and an exalted place in eternity for persons who join Jesus in the battle.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
Ye soldiers of the Cross;
Lift high his royal banner,
It must not suffer loss:
From victory unto victory
His army shall he lead,
‘Til every foe is vanquished,
And Christ is Lord, indeed.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
The trumpet call obey;
Forth to the mighty conflict,
In this his glorious day:
“Ye that are men now serve him”
Against unnumbered foes;
Let courage rise with danger,
And strength to strength oppose.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
Stand in His strength alone:
The arm of flesh will fail you;
Ye dare not trust your own:
Put on the gospel armor,
And, watching unto prayer,
Where duty calls, or danger,
Be never wanting there.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
The strife will not be long;
This day the noise of battle,
The next the victor’s song:
To him that overcometh,
A crown of life shall be;
He with the king of Glory
Shall reign eternally.

Before the end of the nineteenth century, there were two distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality bumping around in the Movement along with the spirituality of the founders. What would happen when the Movement would encounter social and cultural change? Division.

Following the Civil War the South was impoverished. Life was hard. Moreover many white Southerners struggled to understand why the Yankees had won. Surely, many thought, God must have been punishing them. But punishing them for what? Not for slavery. They were sure that slavery was in the Bible. It must have been for something else. As a result, many white Southerners vowed to never again disobey God.

In the North, life was good, especially for the middle and upper classes. The economy, with a few hiccups along the way, was booming. Clearly, many thought, God had been on the side of the Union in its efforts to extend liberty and justice.

In this social and cultural moment, where do you suppose the legalistic distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality would have been most attractive? In the South. And, where do you suppose the moralistic distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality would have been most attractive. In the North.

In the last decades of the nineteenth century, the Stone-Campbell Movement divided over whether the scriptures would allow the use of instrumental music in worship and the [slide 14] funding and oversight of missionaries by missionary societies. Three-fourths of the [slide 15] Churches of Christ, which opposed instrumental music in worship and missionary societies as not included in the New Testament order of the church and, therefore, forbidden, were located [slide 16] in the South.

But, that’s not the end of the story of Stone-Campbell divisions. By the turn of the twentieth century urban Americans had been exposed to social problems that accompanied industrialization. Disciples were sending ministerial candidates to Yale and the University of Chicago, where they were taught historical approaches to the Bible which discredited the idea that the New Testament contains a blueprint for the organization of the church. In response to urban social issues and historical approaches to study of the New Testament, some Disciples [slide 17] began to call for recognition of other denominations as churches, regardless of their views and practices of baptism, in order to partner with them in addressing contemporary social issues. In this social and cultural moment, where do you suppose the moralistic distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality was most attractive? In the cities. And, where do you suppose the legalistic distortion of Stone-Campbell spirituality could be most easily maintained? In small towns and rural areas. In 1971, when the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, which had opposed partnering with other denominations, asked to be listed separately in the Yearbook of American Churches from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which had partnered with other denominations, the two groups did not differ significantly in number, on the average, in either rural or suburban counties; however, the Disciples’ total membership in [slide 18] urban counties exceeded that of the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ by fifty percent.

Legalistic and moralistic distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality have helped to divide a movement that began with a commitment to Christian Unity. But not just because they were different: each of these distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality produces a pride or smugness which makes it difficult for persons to tolerate, much less, to welcome diversity. Tomorrow we will look some more at distortions of Stone-Campbell spirituality and consider what kind of spirituality is needed to live up to our 21st century slogan:

We are Disciples of Christ,
a movement for wholeness
in a fragmented world.
As part of the one body of Christ,
we welcome all to the Lord's Table
as God has welcomed us.