We move on, then, and want to talk about the Campbells. Thomas Campbell was born on February 1, 1763, in County Downs, Ireland. He is described as a severe critic, a kind disciplinarian, and a devoted scholar. These attributes that he had would contribute, of course, to his own efforts, which we will discuss briefly, but would also contribute to the upbringing of his son, Alexander.

Thomas was a school teacher, but, of course, he was best-known, even as he continued to live in Ireland, as a preacher in the Anti-Burgher Seceeder Presbyterian Church. That bears a little bit of explanation, and the reason for that is two-fold, none the least of which is, “What in the world is an Anti-Burgher Seceeder Presbyterian Church??” The second reason is that he was associated with church division, and what divisiveness did to a “church,” and of course, we’re speaking here of a denominational group.

First, the Seceeder was brought about because of some liberal direction of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in the latter part of the 18^th Century. There would be a group that would secede, would remove themselves from the main body of Presbyterians, becoming the Seceeder Presbyterian Church. Well, then, there was an issue that arose about “oath taking.” It was necessary, it was part of the legal and social structure there, that one was required to take an oath occasionally. It was in the Burg where this took place, and so there was a further division among the Seceeder Presbyterian Church about “oath taking,” and they split into the Anti-Burghers and the Burghers. Well, Thomas Campbell was an Anti-Burgher; he did not agree with “oath taking.” This doesn’t come into the actual title, but there was a further division even beyond that. There was a division of the Seceeder group into the New Lights and the Old Lights. Well, as you can see, they had split apart, divided, changed names, added names, etc. Thomas was very familiar with all of that. He was an Old Light Anti-Burgher in the Seceeder Presbyterian Church.

Well, due to his poor health, Thomas Campbell’s doctors advised him to travel to the New World. He was reluctant to do that, of course. He couldn’t afford to take his family, but at the insistence of his doctors and of his son, Alexander, he did come to America with the understanding that the family would later follow him.

He arrived in America in the early spring of 1807, and he would apply for a preaching license with the Presbyterian Synod of North America. He received his license and was assigned to the Chartiers Presbyterian Synod in the area of western Pennsylvania.

The same thing was going on in Thomas Campbell’s mind that was going on in Barton Stone’s mind. This came about because of his study of the Bible. He studied the Bible a great deal, and he began to have problems reconciling the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church with the doctrines of the Bible. And so, he began to preach more and more Bible, which conflicted with Presbyterian doctrine, and in less than a year, on September 13, 1808, he was discharged from the Presbytery that he was working for.

At this time, he would send for his family to come to America. Well, there is a very interesting story associated with their attempts to come to America. The first attempt that they made, they would actually end up shipwrecked, and all of them would survive, but they would be sort of stranded in Scotland. And it was during this period of time, while they were trying to rearrange their affairs to be able to once again attempt this trip to America, that Alexander would attend the University there in Glasgow—Glasgow University—and he would undertake studies in Greek and Logic and other liberal arts disciplines. His days while a student at Glasgow University would very much influence his thinking and development, not only in the near term, but in the long term, as well.

Finally, on July the 31^st, 1809, Alexander and his mother and the remaining part of their family left Glasgow. Four months later, they would arrive in America, arriving in New York in November of 1809. By the time they arrived in America, Thomas had formulated a document, which is called the Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington, issued September 7, 1809. Proof copies had just come off the press when he showed them to his son, Alexander. Again, one of the little side stories here is that both Thomas, the father, and Alexander, the son, were concerned about sharing their present thinking with the other. Alexander, having a great deal of respect for his father, knowing that he was a preacher in the Presbyterian Church, was reluctant to share his thinking, which was moving away from denominationalism, with his father, whom he was thinking was still very steeped in it. Likewise, Thomas, the father, was reluctant to share his thinking with his son, because it was during the time that his son had spent at the University of Glasgow that Alexander had made up his mind that he was going to preach. So, Thomas was concerned about what his son, Alexander, would think about the direction that he, Thomas, was now going. One account that I read talked about how that after this sort of gut-wrenching anticipation and worry that both of them went through about what the other would think, they were just overwhelmed and overjoyed when they finally had that conversation to find out that they were both thinking the same thing and going in the same direction. Well, after reading the Declaration and Address, Alexander told his father of his intentions to spend his life not just preaching as a Presbyterian preacher, but in also seeking the Truth. The Declaration and Address also addressed the issue of the unity of believers on the basis of Biblical authority, and not upon some creedal system.

It was during this time that, not being licensed, not being allowed to preach in established congregations of the Presbyterian Church or any other denomination, Thomas was preaching in homes. He was sharing his way of thinking, and he was sharing the Scriptures with others, and there were some who were agreeing with him and were interested to hear more of what he had to say. It would be at the home of Abraham Alters near Washington, Pennsylvania, that Thomas would meet together with a group of some who were like-minded, and at the end of the speech that he made on this occasion he would coin the now famous phrase, “Where the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent.” And it would be, then, this statement which would become the marching orders of those who would follow in this Restoration Movement.