Alexander
Campbell on Restoration
Note: Campbell quotes taken from Ilusions
of Innocence: Protestant Primitivism in America, 1630 - 1875, by
Richard T. Hughes and C. Leonard Allen, U of Chicago Pr, 1988.
"Fancy
to yourselves, my friends, a society in which such (good) characters
shall have the rule, and then you want no poet to describe the
millennium to you. Peace, harmony, love and universal goodwill, must
be the order of the day. There wants nothing - believe me, my
friends, there wants nothing - but a restoration of ancient
christianity, and a cordial reception of it, to fill the world with
all the happiness, physical intellectual, and moral, which beings
like us in this state of trial could endure - shall I say? - yes,
endure and enjoy." (1825)...
"this work shall be devoted to the
destruction of Sectarianism, Infidelity and Anti-christian doctrine
and practice. It shall have for its object the development, and
introduction of that political and religious order of society call
THE MILLENNIUM, which shall by the consummation of that ultimate
amelioration of society proposed in the Christian Scriptures."
(1830) - (Hughes, p. 173)
"...
then shall they literally 'beat their swords into ploughshares and
their spears into pruning-hooks, and learn war no more.'
Christianity, rightly understood, cordially embraced, and fully
carried out in practice, will ... certainly subvert all political
government, the very best as well as the very worst. ... The
American Revolution is but a precursor of a revolution of infinitely
more importance to mankind ... - the emancipation of the human mind
from the shackles of superstition, and the introduction of human
beings into the full fruition of the reign of heaven." (1830)
"To
introduce the last and most beneficial change in society, it is only
necessary to let the gospel, in its plainness, simplicity and force,
speak to men. Divest it of all the appendages of human philosophy,
falsely so called, and of all the traditions and dogmas of men, and
in its power it will pass from heart to heart, from house to house,
from city to city, until it bless the whole earth."
(1830)
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