David Lipscomb – “The Gospel Advocate”

We certainly need to mention The Gospel Advocate and David Lipscomb. While Benjamin Franklin’s journal, The Review, was the most widely-read and powerful publication in the North, The Gospel Advocate was the most powerful and influential in the South. They had to suspend publication during the Civil War, but they would begin publication again in 1866 with Tolbert Fanning and David Lipscomb as editors. Fanning was occupied with other pursuits, other activities, other commitments, and so, he would sort of fade from view as a co-editor very shortly after publication resumed in 1866; and in 1868, David Lipscomb became the sole editor.

By the way, I know some of you subscribe to The Gospel Advocate. I just got the January, 2005, edition in the mail yesterday. Curiously enough, the cover says “The Greatness of the Church: A 2005 Perspective on Tolbert Fanning’s 1836 Discourse.” I haven’t read that yet, but I’m looking forward to it. In fact, we may assign this to somebody and make them give a book report next week about it. [Laughter] I think it’s just about a year ago that The Gospel Advocate did a complete issue about Tolbert Fanning. I recall that his picture was on the front cover.

Well, Lipscomb continued to edit The Gospel Advocate for more than 45 years. Through those years, he exerted a great influence upon the churches of Christ, primarily in the South, more so, many historians say, than any other man. He was thoroughly conservative in spirit. He attended Franklin College, and that was where he received his higher education. He was assisted by such co-authors as E. G. Sewell and F. D. Srygley. He made his greatest contribution to the church in the South through The Advocate, but he was also a very highly-respected and a very much sought after preacher. He was noted for his simple, expository sermons, and they were quite different from much of the preaching that was done in that day.

He also had—and you native Texans will appreciate this—he had ties with Texas churches and even had a Texas department that was part of The Advocate. He had someone who actually reported and wrote specifically about things of interest in Texas in the journal. He wrote extensively about the Missionary Society. This was of particular interest to those in Texas in the 1880’s because that controversy finally got to Texas in the 1880’s. It would be through the influence of The Gospel Advocate that this controversy would be put to rest.

David Lipscomb founded Nashville Bible School in1891. It is now David Lipscomb University. The faculty originally was himself, his brother, William, and James A. Harding. He would later write these words; he said, “I found no greater satisfaction in teaching the Bible to young men and women at school than any other work in my life.” He took a great deal of pride and received a great deal of benefit in teaching.

I wanted to mention just a couple of other things about David Lipscomb and his influence. As I mentioned, there was sort of a bantering back and forth between he and Errett and his publication about various political matters, and so on. But, David Lipscomb had an unwavering, and I’m quoting here, “an unwavering child-like faith in the Bible.” They said, “If there was a man who bowed in resolute faith before the written Word of God, it must have been Lipscomb.”

On the fortieth anniversary of The Gospel Advocate, Lipscomb wrote this: “The cardinal thought in my religion has ever been to follow the Will of God as expressed in precept, or by approved example; to stand on safe ground; to be sure of the approval and blessing of God.” Many years earlier, in 1867, David Lipscomb had engaged in a written debate with one named Thomas Munnell of the American Christian Missionary Society. Lipscomb made this statement; he said that “ten thousand churches could Scripturally cooperate.” And Munnell asked him to describe how that many churches could cooperate in a “businesslike way” without some kind of organization. You see the nature of the debate. The Missionary Society, of course, was organized as a businesslike organization with a hierarchy in order to carry out the work of missions, and they looked at that, again, as a businesslike venture. Well, here is what David Lipscomb said, and I was very impressed with this. I think you will be, too. He says, “We do not know that God proposed to convert the world in a ‘businesslike way.’ Wise men, intent on the accomplishment of great object, would scarcely choose a babe born out of wedlock, cradled in a manger, as the efficient superintendent in the accomplishment of that work. Businessmen would hardly have sought out unlearned, simple-hearted fishermen as their agents; would not have chosen the infamy of the cross and the degradation of the grave. This is so un-businesslike that businessmen entering in strive to change it to become more ‘businesslike’ in its manner.” And then, David Lipscomb concluded, and he said, “God’s ways are not man’s ways. The foolishness of God is wiser than man.” Well, I thought that was a pretty wise approach, a pretty wise statement.

J. W. McGarvey and Moses E. Lard

Well, very quickly, let me just mention two others, and you’ll recognize both of these names, the first one being J. W. McGarvey; the second being Moses Easterly Lard. They were both well-known preachers, but they were also influential editors. They lived in Kentucky after the war, and they worked together on two journals. One was called Lard’s Quarterly and the other was called The Apostolic Times. J. W. McGarvey is also known for his commentaries, and maybe some of you have some of his commentaries. He wrote an excellent commentary on the book of Acts and some other good works that are still available today.

But, both of these men and the publications that they worked together on received wide distribution, once again, primarily in the South. One of the things that they attempted to do was to try to stay away from the political issues, try to stay away from even the controversial issues, and try to write and edit a publication that was primarily steeped in Scripture to instruct those who read about the Bible. They were both very, very conservative in their approach to the Scriptures and made a wonderful contribution to the Restoration Movement in the latter part of the 19^th Century.

1866 – A Key Year

1866. I’ve mentioned that date several times as we’ve gone along this evening. It was a key year for several of the journals that we have mentioned. The Gospel Advocate resumed publication in 1866. The Christian Standard was launched in 1866, and The American Christian Review—Benjamin Franklin’s publication—reversed its editorial policy concerning the American Christian Missionary Society in 1866. That happened to also be the same year that Alexander Campbell died, and thus, the sort of unifying effect that Alexander Campbell had upon the Restoration Movement was lost.

We want to continue the next time and look at some of these activities over the next few decades. That will take us up to 1906. That date’s important because that is the date when it was “officially recognized” that there were two separate groups that had come from the Restoration Movement—the Christian Church and the Churches of Christ.