Restoration Studies:

RESTORATION PREACHING: THEN AND NOW

There is a shortage of gospel preachers to meet the needs of our day.  There are not enough "live bodies" to serve our existing congregations and evangelize the mission fields.  Beyond that, not enough men of the right quality are available to serve our congregations. Not only do we need more preachers, we need better preachers.  "Better" does not not necessarily equate with the accumulation of advanced educational degrees in secular fields or the sterile lands of modern theology.

In the first half of the nineteenth century, the Lord's church enjoyed tremendous growth, spreading from a scattered handful of disciples to upwards of a quarter of a million adherents.  Much of the growth can be attributed to the work and message of the gospel preachers of that generation. In this lesson we will examine their preaching with the hope that it will help our contemporary preachers do a more effective job of building up God's cause. It is true that we must not idolize the pioneer preachers. They were flesh and blood like us and often erred in thought and in deed.  But their failures were no more than ours.  Some of them held some erroneous view which we rightly reject.

Some Background Observations

Many of our pioneer preachers served a frontier generation of rough-hewn, uncultured people. We should not seek to imitate the crudeness of that distant day. The general level of education was much lower than today, both for preachers and their hearers.

The first half of the nineteenth century was the time of the second great revival, a wonderful spiritual awakening which made multitudes of that generation receptive to the gospel message.

Our early preachers were itinerant evangelists rather than located ministers.  On foot, on horseback, or in buggies, they roamed the hills and valleys of a rural land and preached the Word.  This laid great hardships on both them and their families. While multitudes were converted, local churches did not grow to maturity as soon then as now.

Not all of our early preachers were equal in their education and training. Walter Scott and Thomas Campbell had advanced training superior to most denominational preachers in the nation.  Racoon John Smith had only a few months of formal schooling. He was not, however, an uneducated man, for by his own study he became a master teacher and a  polished  speaker. He baptized far more souls than did Thomas or Alexander Campbell.  Multitudes of our early preachers were self-made men like Smith, yet they did their work effectively and cleared the path which we now travel.

Their Attitudes Towards God's Word

Our pioneer preachers had a vision of a great work for God.  They were dedicated to restoring "The Ancient Order of Things" (Jer. 6:16). Their goal was the unity of all believers on Christ and his Word (John 17:20-21).  They truly believed that they could change the complexion of the religious world by a bold proclamation of the Word (Rom. 1:16). They were willing to pay the price, bear the burden and endure the elements to win the victory. Their biographies abound with stories of long journeys, nights spent sleeping in vermin-infested beds, barns, or on the ground; of swimming across swollen or even icy rivers; of riding horseback in the freezing rain until frozen to their saddles; of unpaid pledges of support; of threats of violence; of their being locked out of public houses of bitter and slanderous attacks made against their good names.  Paul's suffering did not far exceed theirs ( II Cor. 11:23-29))

Those brethren most often preached without pray. B. F. Hall received 75 cents his first year of work. S. H. Millard received one dollar and a pair of jeans for his first year of labor.  They spent weeks and even months away from home and family. Samuel Rogers walked from Kentucky to Missouri, preaching the Word. They preached two and three times per day in homes, barns, public buildings or groves.  There was no cooling for the heat of the summer and often no heat for winter's cold blast. Most of them had to provide for their families by farming or teaching in addition to their preaching.  This they gladly did, willing to spend and be spent for the gospel's sake (II Cor. 12:15).

The pioneer brethren fought the good fight of faith (I Tim. 6:12) and endured the hardships of opposition and persecution as good soldiers of Jesus (II Tim. 2:3).  All the sects united in opposing those rugged warriors. They were challenged to defend their faith in the public arena by bold champions of error.  This they did with courage and skill that won their Lord a thousand victories and drove the enemy from the field.  Although they are the best known, Alexanders Campbell's five published debates are but a sampling of thousands of similar polemic duels engaged in by our brethren. When all else failed, their enemies threatened them with violence.   Space does not allow the list of men threatened if they baptized some man's wife or child.  But they were not intimidated. A sign was posted on a roadside tree in McMinn County, Tennessee that read "$20 to any man or group of men who will whip Reese Jones and old John Mulkey." Such tactics did not deter them.

Those great men believed in the power of preaching to rout error, teach the lost, win converts and edify the church. They preached the Word, night and day to few or many. We read of them arriving to find only one or two souls present.  They taught and won them. They converted thousands to their Bible-centered plea.  Walter Scott baptized a thousand souls three years in succession in the Western Reserve.  Entire congregations of denominational people renounced their error and embraced the Savior's way. The Mahoning Baptist Association was won over by Walter Scott's preaching.

They saw a world of souls lost in sin, ignorance and error and truly believed the gospel they possessed could save them (Rom. 1:16). They had no message to deliver but the gospel..

Those brethren loved their fellow workers in the kingdom and rejoiced in their success (John 14:34-35).  Their love for Christ and his church generally raised and kept them above petty envy and jealousy. A kind and Christian spirit was exhibited even towards their enemies.

Generally in preaching, these brethren concentrated on the great universal themes of the faith and avoided speculation and side issues that tend toward division. They stressed the need for unity among brethren and worked tirelessly to that end (Eph. 4:3).

The Gospel They Peached

The pioneers believed the Bible to be the Word of God; that it was inspired and inerrant.  When a later generation of preachers dared to question the authenticity and reliability of the Biblical text they were bombarded by great men like J. W. McGarvey who loved the precious word. Such men as L. L. Pinkerton, H. L. Willet and R. C. Cave were liberals who learned their lessons from the different school than did those early pioneers.

Those early preachers saw the Bible to be all sufficient for faith and practice. It to them was the final and complete authority for Christians.

Contrary to their denomination counterparts, the Bible was the basis for all the sermons of our brethren.  They preached Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God (Matt. 16:18). To Walter Scott this was "The Golden Oracle."  They taught that Christ died for all and wants all men to be saved (I Tim. 2:4).  They believed that all sinners are able to believe and obey God and thus were responsible to do so (Acts 16:30-31; Heb. 5:8-9).  They affirmed that faith comes from hearing God's word (Rom. 10:17) and not by a direct operation of the Holy Spirit at the mourners' bench. In this they challenged the system of Calvinism that dominted the religious scene.  They argued that worship, doctrine and polity should conform to God's word in all matters (Col. 3:17)  They struck at the heart of all denominational systems but appealed to every good and honest heart that loved the Bible. They preached faith, repentance and baptism as the divine plan for saving lost souls (Acts. 2:36-38).  This made sense to their hearers who eagerly responded to their message.

Restoration Preaching Today

To preserve and maintain the restoration movement in this and future generations, we must plant the same love for and commitment to the Restoration Plea in our preacher students as dwelt in the hearts of the pioneers.  A course of study in Restoration History should be an integral part of every student's preparation.  They should be encouraged to read the biographies of the great soldiers of the faith. In homiletics, students should be required to study and outline selected sermons of great Restoration preachers of the past.  Every school that trains preachers should build a major collection of Restoration materials in their library.  Teachers should encourage their students to make use of these valuable tools. Students should be encouraged to purchase for their own collections a wide selection of Restoration volumes. Where possible, teachers should utilize textbooks written by our brethren. At the very least, a brotherhood volume should be used as supplemental reading for courses.  This will give students a proper doctrinal emphasis in their training. Sound doctrine must be consciously and deliberately passed on to the next generation if the church is to survive.

Schools should had an annual, one-day workshop on Restoration history with a visiting authority speaking on the subject. It would be most helpful to take all preaching student on a field trip to the historic sites of our past. They will be inspired by visiting Cane Ridge Meeting House, Old Mulkey Meeting House, and Alexander Campbell's home in Bethany, West Virginia.

We need teachers who see the need of helping their students learn their links to the past, i.e., their spiritual roots.  They must be taught to be grateful for those who blazed the trail before them and established the churches in which they will serve. We must encourage them to be loyal to the commitment to go back to the Bible and  restore the original Christianity of the first century. We must help them to see and know those wonderful brethren, who laid the foundation on which we now stand, as they actually were.  They were very human and very fallible. They were struggling to learn God's will and live up to it.  They sometimes failed, but they were always committed to pleasing Christ in all things.

It is our responsibility to commit to faithful men the truths that were passed to us (II Tim. 2:2). Only then will the Lord's church be vouched safe to the next generation. "A people not conscious of it own past is adrift without purpose" May God help us to maintain the Restoration Plea.