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section of this state {" Georgia ] , having solicited me to inform you of the present situation of the churches of Christ among us , 1 have , in compliance with their wishes , been induced to make the following statements :
* In the bounds of my circuit there are twenty-three churohes ^ ox ^ coiir gregatipns . These churches , it is thought , will , upon an average , number twenty-five members of good standing .
* If I am correct in these calculations , and I feel confident that in them I have fallen below the . real number of communicants , you will discover our number to be at least 57 5 church members . With us there are twenty elders , and six licensed preachers and exhorters . * We have an annual conference
of the elders and preachers . Deacons , delegates , and private or lay members present , have the right of participating in all matters which come before the conference . Our
conference assumes no authority to legislate ; nor does it carry into effect its own resolutions by penal enactments , but by simple recommendations . The powers of the conference are restricted to the bare
regulation of the temporal concerns of the church ; nor can it go one step beyond this , without manifest innovations * in which case the members are not bound by any natural or moral tie to submit : Our annual conference takes place , or rather commences , on Friday before the third Sabbath in December , annually .
* Our camp-meetings commence the last of July , or first of August , in every year , and are carried on till the first of the ensuing November , at various times and places . They are conducted in the main after the fashion of the Methodist campmeetingSr
' With regard to doctrine , perhaps I ought not to say any thing , for fear it might be said that I exhibit something too near a tie to a confession of faith . But an idea of this
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kind I as heartily discard as I do any and every confession of faith under the sun , the Bible excepted . ¦ ¦ ' This book , the Bible , we love , because we do believe it the truth from God . "We regard it as the
onlyrule of Christian faith , and consequently—we—defend-it—to—the- —last point . Our only source of sorrow is , that we have not sufficient strength , to proclaim it out to Christianized infidels and to heathen lands . Yes ,
my brother , I feel , as regards myself , willing to spend and be spent in the glorious work of bringing back a lost and ruined world to the purer fountain of life , whence flow the clear streams of eternal
salvation . But with regard to the doo trine , generally taught ^ 7 our preachers here , and which is , with some slight shades of difference , received by the churches , I can say , they are such as are taught in other states by the Christian preachers .
' -We believe , in the first place , that Jesus Christ is truly and properly the Son of God . Secondly , that he existed with the Father before the world was created . Thirdly , we believe that Jesus Christ , our Saviour , is the constituted Lord of
all things . We believe in atone-r ment . We believe in baptism by immersion , after conversion , &c Our cause in this state is advancing , in some neighbourhoods rapidly , and in others but slowly . '— Christian Messenger , vol . iv . 44—46 ,
The pFestern Reformers . —The Reformed Baptists , or Campbellites , as they are commonly designated by their opponents , are greatly indebted for the consequence into which they have grown ; , to the indefatigable labours of Alexander
Campbell , editor of the * Harbinger / and Walter Scott , editor of the * Evangelist ; ' both natives of Scotland . Mr . Campbell has acquired fame as a public disputant , particularly in some discussions on infant baptism , and more recently "With Kobetffc Owen ; pp . whicjn occ ^ sionj
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UNITARIAN CHRONICLE . 39
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 1, 1833, page 39, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2607/page/7/
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