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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 281 DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. ship with these brethren, and they were forced to form themselves into distinct eonimunities. Barton V. Stone, a I'resbyterian minister in Kentuekv, began a similar movement to that of the Campbells in 1804. A Church w;(s organized at Cane Kidjre, Bourbon County, accepting the Bible alone as possessing authority in the relig- ious life, and the name '(Miristian' as a sufTicicnt designation of all who believe on Christ. Corre- spondence between Stone and Campbell led finally to the union of the two movements in 1831." In .January, ISoO. Mr. Campbell began the publication of the Millennial Uarhingcr, which he edited until his death in IStiG. Tn his periodi- cals, by his preaching, and debates, his views were widely circulated. Since his death the Disciples of Christ have made great advance in ! numbers and along all lines of religious activity, 1 until their statistics for 1001 show 10,689 I churches with 1,177,541 communicants. They I report also 8002 Sunday schools with an enroll- ment of 774.450 children, and 5277 Christian Endeavor societies. They raised during the year (611,220 for missions, home and foreign. Their strength lies chiefly in the West and Southwest, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Ohio having the largest bodies. In agreement with what are termed Evangel- ical Christians, the Disciples accept the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures ; the revela- tion of God in the tri-personality of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit : the all-sufficiency and alone- sufficiency of the Bible as a revelation of God's will, and a rule of faith and practice to His creatures; the divine excellency of .Jesus Christ as the Son of God, His incarnation, doctrine, miracles, death as a sin ofl^ering, resurrection, ascension, and investment with supreme author- itr: the personal mission of the Holy Spirit to convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to comfort and sanctify Chris- tians: the alienation of man from God and his dependence upon the divine mercy in Christ : the necessity of faith and repentance to salvation; the importance of baptism and the Lord's Supper as divine ordinances; the duty of obsen'ing the Lord's Day in memory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ; the necessity of righteousness, holi- ness, and benevolence in Christians: the divine appointment of the Church of Christ, composed of all who by faith and obedience confess His name, with its ministries and services for the edification of Christians and conversion of the world : the fullness of the Gospel to all who will accept it on the Xew Testament conditions; the final judgment with the reward of the righteous and punishment of the wicked. In disagreement with other Christians, the Disciples hold: That while both Old and Xe^v Tcst.iments are equally inspired, both are not equally binding upon Christians; the Old was God's will with reference to the Jews, the New is TIi< will with reference to us (Heb. i. 1). Ac- cepting fully the Scripture statements concerning the Godhead, they repudiate the philosophical speculations both of Trinitarians and Unitarians and do not use the theological terms common to the schools, but insist upon 'the form of sound words' given in Scripture concerning Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Accepting the Bible a-s an allsufTicient revelation of the divine will, they repudiate all authoritative creeds and human grounds of fellowship. Receiving Jesus in all His divinity and Christhood, they accept the truth that .Icsus is the Christ, the son of the liv- ing God, as the one article of faith, as the creed of the Church, the fundamental fact of Chris- tianity, and belief with all the heart in Jesus as the Christ is all the confession of faith they ask prcj)aratory to baptism and Church membership. Kceognizing the agency of the Holy Spirit in con- version, they repudiate all theories of special spiritual operations outside of the Word, de- manding of the sinner that he shall hear, believe, repent, and obey the Gospel in order to secure the remission of his sins. Admitting the necessity of faith and reiientanee, they submit no other tests, no human formula of belief, but on a confession of Christ and heartfelt desire to give up sin and work righteousness men are baptized and re- ceived into the Church. Accepting baptism as a divine ordinance, they insist that "He that believ- eth and is baptized shall be saved"; they com- mand men: "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remis- sion of sins"; and claim that evidence of pardon and of the gift of the Holy Spirit is not in dreams and visions, but in the sinner's knowledge of his Scriptural faith, repentance, and obedience to the Gospel. Claiming the Lord's Supper to be a divine ordinance, they consider it not as a sacrament, but a memorial fea-st, and keep it on every first day of the week, meeting as the Lord's people and recognizing neither open nor close communion, since neither of these is known in the Scriptures of divine truth. Regarding the Lord's Day. they hold it not as the Sabbath, but as a Xew Testament appointment in memory of the resurrection, to be observed as a day of rest and worship for the assembly and communion of saints, preaching of the Gospel, administration of the ordinances, and training of families in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Cherishing the Church of Christ, they regard it not as a sect, but a divine institution. They submit that sects are not branches of the Church of Christ, but are unscriptural. The body of Christ is one, of which Christ alone is the head. The Disciples in regard to the action of bap- tism are in accord with the Baptists. Immersion is with them the only baptism that is scriptural and that could be universally accepted. As to the subjects of baptism, they baptize only believers in Christ. With respect to the design of baptism, they accord more with Pcdobaptists. They bap- tize for 'the remission of sins': and claim that the sinner in obeying this ordinance appropriates God's promise of pardim, reiving on the divine testimony CMark xvi. IC: Acts ii. 38). They date the beginning of the Christian institution on Pentecost, and the Xew Testament with them contains the history, constitution, and laws of the Cluirch of Christ, In Church government they are Congregational, and have no distinction of clergj' and laity and recognize the local church with its elders and deacons as the highest eccle- siastical authority. They are organized, how- ever, with district. State, and national organiza- tions for missionary and benevolent work. Binr.iOf;i!.vi'iiY. Diirlrinnl. — A. Campbell, Christian ftiifitcm (Cincinnati, 1853) ; I. Errett, Our Ponilion (Cincinnati, 1885) ; J. H. Ed- wards, Orthodox;/ in thr Civil Courlx (ib., 1887) ; J. S. Lamar, First Principles and Perfection (Xew York, 1895) ; B, B. 'Tj-ler, Peculiarities of