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 HARDING
LECTURES (Earl West) 1950
“The
American Christian Missionary Society was established in
October, 1849), in the city of Cincinnati, at a Meeting of
various brethren at the old church building, corner of’ Walnut
and English Streets....
Alexander
Campbell’s influence in the movement is not to be
underestimated. I know there is a tendency among us today to
think of Campbell as a man who was influenced in his dotage to
favor the missionary society, when he was actually against it,
but the facts do not substantiate the idea. If you were to take
the time, you could go back into the files of’ the Millenial
Harbinger and find the very principle of the missionary society
is one that Alexander Campbell advocated very thoroughly.
As
far back as 1831, for example, Campbell began to plead with the
brethren to establish an organization through which all of the
churches might concentrate their efforts in getting evangelistic
work done. Campbell was interested in it. He presented his
missionary ideas through the Harbinger, but met with a great
deal of opposition. Brethren objected on every hand, so Campbell
was quiet for a while, thinking that later on the time would
come when brethren would be more lenient and accept it. He
waited for about 10 years, then decided that the time was right
to go into the subject again. He wrote a series of articles in
the Millenial Harbinger on the subject of church organization.
He wasn’t writing of the local congregation, but rather of’
an agency through which all of the churches might
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concentrate their evangelistic efforts.
Now it ought to be remembered that this particular agency that
Campbell had in mind was not just a missionary society. Rather,
he planned an agency that would regulate and control all the
various activities of the brotherhood —. This organization
would be one large agency through which all the churches would
work, and it would be dedicated to religious education, the
distribution of Bibles, mission work, and other religious
activities.
Campbell
finally got his way, in part, but the brethren did not go all
the way with him, because they concentrated upon a society that
would attend to missionary activities solely.” (pp. 58—59)
“Here
are some of Campbell’s arguments for the society. His
reasoning began with the conception of the church in the
universal aspect. (And unless you follow along that line you
cannot begin to understand how he could favor a missionary
society.) Campbell said that the Bible refers to the church in a
local sense and also in the universal sense. He said the
responsibility of doing mission work was committed to the
church, but not to the local church. the universal church. Then,
he reasoned, it is the duty of the church in its universal
aspect to do mission work, but what is to be the method? God has
not stipulated. Therefore, Campbell argued, it is a matter of
expedience, and a missionary society is expedient. To him, any
method that would do the job was all right.” (pp. 60)
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