And so it was, then, that on June the 12^th, 1812, Alexander, his father, Thomas, along with both of their entire believing families, were immersed for the remission of their sins by a Baptist preacher named Mathias Luce. They were baptized in Buffalo Creek, which was near the home place. They didn’t necessarily understand the purpose of baptism. This would actually come at a later time, but they were convinced by their study of the Scripture that they needed to be immersed. [“On June 12, 1812, Alexander Campbell and his father, together with other members of his family, were immersed in Buffalo Creek by Mr. Mathias Luce of the Baptist Church. However, it was thoroughly understood and agreed by Mr. Luce and those who were to be baptized that they were not to be required to give a ‘religious experience’ as was practiced by the Baptists and that the only confession they were to make was the one made by Peter at Caesarea Philippi, that Jesus is ‘the Christ, the Son of the Living God.’” (John D. Cox, Church History, pg. 86.]

In 1816, Alexander and Thomas and their families would be taken in by the Redstone Baptist Association, and they would begin (Alexander particularly) preaching in Baptist churches. As a matter of fact, it was in 1816 that Alexander would preach one of his best-known sermons, “The Sermon on the Law.” In this sermon, he made differentiation between the Old and the New Testament. Heretofore, it had been preached and understood, then as well as now, by many denominations that both the Old and New Testaments had equal authority in terms of our Christian living and that kind of thing. But, Alexander made it clear that there was, indeed, a difference—that Moses’ Law had been done away with; that while the Old Testament, of course, should not be just cast off, should not be thrown away; that as Paul said in Romans 15, verse 4, that it was good for our understanding, for our learning, and as it says in 1 Corinthians, that it is there for our example [see 1 Corinthians 10:6-11], and so on. But, Alexander made it clear that there was a New Will, a New Testament, to be followed. And this sermon left the Baptists in something of a turmoil, causing them to realize that there was something different about the Campbells.

We will discuss more of this in the future, but, of course, Alexander would become more prominent than his father in these efforts. That was, in part, because he was, of course, a younger man, but he was also very much a scholar and writer. In documents that have been written about him and his practices, he would arise every morning at four o’clock, and he would work steadily until ten o’clock at night. He was a successful debater; he would engage in a number of different debates over the years. He was also an excellent writer and editor; he wrote a number of books which dealt with the principles of the Restoration Movement. He would also write religious papers. The first one was called The Christian Baptist, and he would write and publish that from about 1823 to 1829, but he wanted to not be associated with the Baptists, and so he would eventually change the name to Millennial Harbinger, and he would write and edit and publish that from 1830 to 1866. He also became the president of a college, Bethany College [still existing in the town of Bethany, West Virginia], and he would make that a well-established and well-known school. It is now operated by the Disciples of Christ.

Of course, this was well before the Internet, well before all of the modern things that we have today in the way of passing information. Travel was very difficult, and so on. But, it would be through three means that preaching would be done. Of course, there would be preaching that would be done in association with the worship on Sunday; there were, of course, meetings which were held (and, oh, by the way, they weren’t the four-day meetings, or the weekend sessions that we have; they were meetings that were weeks and weeks long); and there were also debates. We’re going to mention some of the debates that Alexander Campbell had. Those were taken very, very seriously, and attracted a great deal of attention. But, moreover, it was the written word which was a very powerful tool that was used in that day; this was recognized early on by Alexander Campbell. Of course, Barton W. Stone published a paper, as well. As we have stated before, he was in the northern Kentucky/southern Ohio area.

But, Alexander Campbell, in particular, recognized the value, the power, of the written page. So, in his publication, The Christian Baptist, he spent a great deal of time attacking the so-called “clergy” system and attacking some of the doctrines of not only the Baptist Church, but other denominational doctrines, as well. He wrote at length about establishing, or reestablishing New Testament principles. He used the paper to actually pass this word, and it would be very effective in leading many to this concept, to this idea, of the Restoration.

Interestingly enough, the Baptists also realized the power of the written word. In 1830, they began to publish a paper in that area called Anathamus. It was a paper primarily directed toward Alexander Campbell, warning the Baptists about the “Campbellites,” how to recognize a Campbellite; and about that “water salvation” should be avoided at all costs.

Well, Alexander had already severed his ties before this time with the Baptist Church, but it would be decided, though, that because of the association of the name “Baptist,” The Christian Baptist, many would continue to associate him with the Baptist Church, and he changed the name of his paper to The Millennial Harbinger. That took place in about 1830.

Well, I mentioned debates. I’m not really sure how many debates that Alexander Campbell undertook. I have mentioned just how capable he was, what a great scholar he was. He was capable not only with the pen, the written word, but he was also very capable in this area of debating. Over a period of about 12 or 15 years, he would conduct a number of debates; there are about five or six that are fairly well-known. In 1820, he debated with Mr. John Walker, who was a Seceeder Presbyterian, over the mode of baptism, namely infant baptism versus believers’ baptism, and sprinkling versus immersion. In 1823, he had a debate with another member of the Presbyterian clergy, W. L. McCalla. This, once again, was over the issue of immersion versus sprinkling. By the way, it was during this time, this debate in 1823, that Thomas Campbell, Alexander, as well as some others who were associated with the Restoration Movement, namely Walter Scott, agreed that they would begin to teach that baptism was for the remission of sins. And so, you see, there was a period of about ten years or so from the time that they became convinced that immersion of believers was the Biblical form of baptism before they would begin to preach that it was for the remission of sins.