Campbell

Campbell, ALEXANDER, founder of the sect known as the 'Disciples of Christ,' or more commonly the 'Campbellites,' was born near Ballymena, in County Antrim, in 1788, but emigrated to the United States in 1807. He early adopted the opinions of his father in protesting against all human creeds, and asserting that the sole authority in religious things was the Bible alone. Though at first a Presbyterian, in 1812 he formed a connection with the Baptists, and for some time he laboured as an itinerant preacher principally in Western Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio. In 1826 he published a translation of the New Testament, in which the words 'baptism' and 'baptist' gave place to immersion and immerser. Some loosely defined expressions in his writings have been interpreted as implying a belief in baptismal regeneration, a doctrine which the Disciples repudiate. By his discussions on public platforms, and his serial publications, the Christian and Baptist and the Millennial Harbinger, as well as by his assiduity in preaching tours and in training young men for the ministry, Campbell gradually formed a large party of followers, who began about 1827 to form themselves into a sect under the designation of 'The Disciples of Christ,' which in 1890 had, in the United States, as many as 5500 churches and 641,051 members. In 1841 Campbell founded Bethany College in West Virginia, and here he died, 4th March 1866. His writings were numerous. See his Life by Richardson (1868).