Our Restoration Heritage Volume 1
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OUR RESTORATION HERITAGE VOLUME 1 Alexander Campbell in his prime By Louis Rushmore This volume is not reproducible! Unauthorized reproduction of materials such as this to circumvent individual purchases hampers recovery of publication costs. Copyright © 1996, 2009 Louis Rushmore Louis Rushmore 705 Devine St. Winona, MS 38967 662.283.9946 [email protected] www.gospelgazette.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION .......................................................................................................................... 4 PREFACE ............................................................................................................................... 5 FOREWORD ............................................................................................................................ 6 SECTION ONE: RESTORATION HISTORY CHRONOLOGY ..................................................... 7 CHAPTER 1: NEW BEGINNINGS ............................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER 2: EUROPEAN RELIGION BLOSSOMS IN AMERICA .......................................... 10 CHAPTER 3: THE FIRST GREAT AWAKENING IN AMERICA ............................................ 17 CHAPTER 4: THE WAR YEARS (REVOLUTIONARY WAR) ................................................ 20 CHAPTER 5: THE SECOND GREAT AWAKENING .............................................................. 25 CHAPTER 6: THE LORD’S CHURCH IS RESTORED .............................................................. 31 CHAPTER 7: FROM RESTORATION TO APOSTASY ........................................................... 39 CHAPTER 8: THE WAR YEARS (CIVIL WAR) .................................................................... 46 CHAPTER 9: RELIGIOUS DIVISION CRYSTALLIZES .......................................................... 53 CHAPTER 10: PARALLEL DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................ 61 CHAPTER 11: MODERN HISTORY ....................................................................................... 68 SECTION TWO: THE AMERICAN RESTORATION MOVEMENT SUMMARIZED ................... 75 CHAPTER 12: THE AMERICAN RESTORATION MOVEMENT ILLUSTRATED .................... 76 CHAPTER 13: SUMMARY .................................................................................................... 82 RESTORATION HISTORY BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................... 85 INDEX ................................................................................................................................... 90 DEDICATION Our Restoration Heritage, Volume 1, is dedicated to West Virginia School of Preaching, P.O. Box 785, Moundsville, West Virginia 26041; (304) 845- 8001. By extension then, this dedication is equally to everyone involved with WVSOP: the Hillview Terrace congregation that enthusiastically hosts the school, the elders through whose foresight and oversight WVSOP was established, Emanuel Daugherty dedicated director and faculty member, an earnest faculty committed to enacting 2 Timothy 2:2, preacher families who often sacrifice to study at WVSOP, individuals and congregations that help underwrite this investment, and every soul who offers encouragement or prayer on behalf of West Virginia School of Preaching. At the time of this writing, WVSOP is nearing the completion of its second year. Yet, West Virginia School of Preaching has already demonstrated its worth. The school thoroughly instills a profound respect for God’s Word in its students. The students also receive comprehensive, biblically accurate instruction in the Scriptures; the faculty humbly presents Bible truths unapologetically and irrespective of what may happen to be the popular brotherhood stance at the moment. West Virginia School of Preaching promises to be a blessing to the cause of Christ in the Ohio Valley and throughout the world. It, therefore, deserves recognition along with other biblically sound schools of preaching and colleges that have undertaken the preparation of faithful Gospel preachers. Please pray for West Virginia School of Preaching and every good work of the Lord’s church. Louis Rushmore PREFACE If the true church of the Bible did continue to practice pure Christianity during the period of Catholicism and the Reformation, history fails to clearly record the existence and activity of the New Testament church. Doubtless Catholicism (with its inquisitions) and a no more tolerant Protestantism would overshadow a much smaller, less popular, New Testament church. Therefore, it is possible that the New Testament church, in its local sense, has always been present and visible on the earth (though perhaps, as we say, underground). Fortunately, apostolic succession is not essential to practice New Testament Christianity today. Happily, the Word of God (the Bible) is the seed of the kingdom (Luke 8:11), which when planted in honest hearts produces the church of the Bible. The Reformation Movement, however, did make significant contributions to the religious community. First, the possibility of change was firmly established. Of course, the changes from sound doctrine that transformed New Testament congregations into the Catholic Church are lamentable. Yet, defections from the Catholic Church and divisive change within Protestantism at least engendered the hope that some changes would be positive and good. Often, though, the changes were little better than that which was changed (e.g., Consubstantiation versus Transubstantiation). Although the changes themselves sometimes were meaningless, the ability to make changes in religion preserved the possibility of making the kind of changes that would result in the restoration of New Testament Christianity. Second, the reformers unshackled the Bible from the pulpit and gave it to the people. As long as the Bible remained in the custody of Catholic leaders, effective knowledge of God’s Word was concealed behind Catholic dogma. When the Bible, in the languages of the masses, was generally accessible, it was at least possible that human creeds could be exchanged for the doctrine of the New Testament. Religious division and intolerance, first in Europe (and in England) then later in the Americas, escalated. In time, a new wave of reformers (as some referred to themselves) sought a degree of ecumenism. Several were the attempts to reform existing religions, from which ultimately many of the reformers were thrust. New denominations and religious faiths continued to multiply. Eventually, some of these reformers decided to adopt the Bible as their creed. This was an effort to circumvent the religious division characteristic of Protestantism. The Bible was used as the rallying point. Little did many of these reformers realize the significance of adopting the Bible as their standard of authority in religion. As these reformers began to understand Bible truths pertaining to the New Testament church, they slowly moved away from ecumenism toward restoration of New Testament Christianity. The transition, though, was slow. Finally, the Lord’s church was restored in redemption, organization, worship and mission. The church of our Lord again became distinctive from and exclusive of all other religious groups. Yet, a general apostasy gradually enveloped the church again. Some departures were dramatic and divisive (e.g., missionary societies, instrumental music, premillennialism). Other practices have afflicted the church and continue to buffet it (e.g., anti-ism, divorce and re-marriage, Pentecostalism, ecumenism, evolution, apathy, materialism, hedonism and biblical ignorance). The church of our Lord in its local sense still perseveres. At least in its universal sense, we are confident that it shall ever prevail (Matthew 16:18). Among other passages, the Book of Revelation assures us that righteousness will triumph in the end. The following chapters portray the late religious history of the Lord’s people in America as it pertains to Restoration History. The first section is a date-driven chronology of religious history interspersed with secular, historical landmarks. Covering nearly 500 years, the chronology treats the background and the subsequent events of Restoration History, as well as the American Restoration Movement itself. The second section consists of charts depicting religious leaders who affected the Restoration Movement, a flow chart of the development of the American Restoration Movement, a thorough bibliography and an extensive index. This volume is presented to the student with the hope that it may contribute to his understanding of the famed Restoration Movement with its successes and failures. The Restoration leaders and we also must, in essence, concur with Joshua of old. “Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods; For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein