“We have no system of our own, nor of others to substitute in lieu of the reigning systems. We only aim at substituting the New Testament in lieu of every creed in existence; whether Mohammedan, Pagan, Jewish or Presbyterian. We wish to call Christians to consider that Jesus Christ has made them kings and priests to God. We neither advocate Calvinism, Arminianism, Arianism, Trinitarianism, Unitarianism, Deism or Sectarianism, but New Testamentism. We wish, we cordially wish, to take the New Testament out of the abuses of the clergy, and put it into the hands of the people.” –Alexander Campbell
In the late summer of 1801, on a small ridge outside of Paris, Kentucky, a revival was beginning to burn. Barton W. Stone, then a pastor of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, had invited other local ministers, namely Presbyterian and Methodist and Baptist, to their annual communion service.
Taking its roots in the Scottish Sacrament Season, the nascent revival began as a days-long festival leading up to the celebration of Holy Communion. However, this meeting evolved into something much more unique. As the attendants gathered, word began to spread, and soon more wagons arrived. Tables were set up, preachers of various creeds would proclaim sermons, and soon the crowd swelled to nearly 20,000.
The faithful were greeted by orators trained in the then new evangelical methods. As the spectators listened with rapt attention, some would faint, others would growl, and others would wail. Reports of tongue speaking and writhing on the ground emerged. The local public was certainly curious. While many would stand by the sides and jeer, still others took these signs as evidence that the Holy Spirit had manifested. Soon many of those attending went into other churches and meetings with the proclamation “make it like Cane Ridge!” Thus the template for revivals of the Second Great Awakening was cast. Perhaps no other event has had such an impact on the American “camp meeting” as has Cane Ridge.
A short time earlier Barton W. Stone had been exposed to fiery preaching from Methodists and other Presbyterians. He was strangely kindled by what he saw. At a time where American Christianity was on the wane, these men seemed to be stirring the fires of the faith once more. While Barton was enraptured with such powerful preaching, the kind that could bring even grown men to weep, he began to experience angst against what he saw as a stifling influence on true Christianity. His main concern was the shackles of creeds. In particular, Stone doubted the Westminster Confession of Faith. This was the binding symbol upon which all Presbyterian members swore.
Only a couple of years after the Cane Ridge Revival, Stone would leave the established Presbyterian Church to found the Springfield Presbytery. It only lasted for a brief time before it too was dissolved over fear of Sectarianism. The idea that creeds divide rather than unite took root quickly in the new American revival movements. The new events happening around the country were seen as something of a new Pentecost wherein all of the fetters of old Christianity would be unbound and usher in a new age of ecumenism founded only upon the New Testament.
Perhaps no character better exemplifies this spirit than Alexander Campbell. He was a Scots-Irish immigrant and the son of a Presbyterian pastor. As he grew and began to study, he applied the reason he was trained in toward the Scriptures. Soon he would disavow the Baptism of infants. His father had instilled in him an emphasis on Christian unity. This would further develop as Campbell studied. Soon he moved from a couple of Baptist associations until, eventually, he founded a group known simply as the Disciples. They were known by a few names and offshoots like Churches of Christ and Christian Churches, but some similar hallmarks ran throughout; a denial of baptism to infants, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, congregational polity, and an insistence on being Christian only. There would be no room for creeds in this movement. They believed they were restoring the practices of the ancient Christian Church. While there are certainly many other beliefs held by this group (e.g. every Sunday communion), it is Baptism that would cause the greatest controversy in American Christianity. They were beset by groups espousing the historic practice of infant baptism while also contending against Baptists who could not abide the idea that Baptism remits sins. They would gain new adherents from every side.
From his base in Bethany, WV, Campbell soon emerged as a major figure in American Christianity. He was a vigorous debater and publisher. He would often write only under the skylight in his study so that he might be “illumined by the light of heaven.” His papers, “The Christian Baptist” and “The Millennial Harbinger,” received a relatively broad circulation for their day. Note the latter name which highlights the Postmillennial eschatology so prevalent at the time. The title itself implies that a new era of Christianity had begun, one that was so successful it would herald the earthly reign of Jesus Christ.
Soon the Disciples began to draw away large numbers from established denominations. Indeed, entire congregations were won over to Campbell’s restorationist perspective. This caused many Baptists and other ministers to write vigorously in defense of their creeds and practices. Even noted Presbyterian theologian R.L. Dabney would take up the pen against Campbell and “Campbellism.” Of particular interest was the concern of the noted Baptist theologian J.P. Boyce, first president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who wrote, “playing upon the prejudices of the weak and ignorant among our people, decrying creeds and an infringement upon the rights of conscience, making a deep impression by his extensive learning and great abilities, Alexander Campbell threatened at one time the total destruction of our faith.” So mighty was the Restoration movement that it threatened to topple even the Baptists in America.
In 1832 Barton W. Stone himself joined Campbell’s movement. The union was ratified in Lexington, KY by handshake between Stone and “Raccoon” John Smith. While this was seen publicly as a tremendous leap in Christian unity, the movement would soon divide into smaller factions over particular points of doctrine. Thus today we have many varieties of Restoration-minded Christians of various doctrines and opinions.
We cannot underestimate just how fundamentally radical this movement was even from its inception. These were not the perennial Protestant debates on the subjects of Baptism or the nature and frequency of Holy Communion. Now groups were beginning to question topics even as fundamental as the Trinity or the divinity of Jesus. Thus an era of anti-creedalism was about to become the mainstream in American Christianity. Alexander Cambpell himself seemed to favor an understanding of the Godhead that sounds rather modalist. Barton W. Stone went even further and outright denied the Trinity, affirmed a subordinate view of Christ, and denied the substitutionary atonement. When one is “unburdened” by the historic creeds, then one is free to explore old heresies.
While the Stone-Campbell Restoration movement would grow, it soon factionalized and thus lost much of its momentum. Yet, the spirit of this movement continues to linger in many American congregations of any denominational or non-denominational stripe. The rallying-cry “no Creed but Christ, no book but the Bible,” so widely adopted by many Evangelical churches today, finds its origin here. Ironically, that statement itself functions as a creed.
In the few short days of the Cane Ridge Revival, we see not only the rumblings of a reductionist ecumenical movement but also the birth pangs of later Pentecostalism. In the later union of Stone and Campbell, we see just how profound such a gesture can be on an American Christianity suffering under perhaps well-intentioned but ultimately destructive guides. Their newspapers, articles, and debates served to galvanize their opinions in the minds of many readers. And so the tyranny of the publishers would continue well into our current day.
The scope of this article cannot possibly detail the entire saga of either Stone or Campbell, but I hope it illustrates just how quickly a seemingly small undertaking like the Cane Ridge Revival, or an Ulster-Scot theologian drafting from his study in West Virginia, can have a dramatic impact on the broader American landscape. In future articles, we take a closer look at these and other figures and learn just how the creedal Christians of the era responded to them.
