Brother Thomas left Cincinnati in April, 1833 and met for the first time with Alexander Campbell on his way back east at Wellsburg, West Virginia. Campbell lived in Bethany about 5 miles away and about 25 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. This place is where Mr. Campbell first persuaded Dr. Thomas to preach in public — a task at which he obviously excelled, despite his inexperience. After a brief stay in Baltimore, he went on to Philadelphia. Dr. Thomas proposed to establish his career there, leaving Cincinnati mainly because of the oversupply of physicians in that city.
New Catholic controversy
In Philadelphia, his reputation had preceded him. He was pressed into serving the group of Campbellites in that city and consequently occupied the pulpit. The impression given by Robert Roberts, based on Dr. Thomas’ later writings, is that Dr. Thomas found preaching “…exceedingly distasteful.” This internal turmoil is not reflected in his efforts, as contemporary records show.
In August, 1833, he produced a 22-page pamphlet against the local religious establishment. It has one of the longest titles I have ever seen: “New Catholic Controversy, a mirror for ismatic(?) religions, in a letter addressed to Messers Hughes and Breckenridge, showing that neither Romanism nor Protestantism is the religion of the Holy Catholic church of Christ, by a Royal Priest of God’s heritage.” I have not seen a copy of the whole tract, but the concluding sentence(!) of the opening address probably gives the correct flavor. “In conclusion, I have only to add, that the faith, order, and institutions of the Holy Catholic Congregation of Christ, as described in this letter, are proclaimed both in faith and practice, at the Bank Street Meeting, where all who feel themselves weary and heavy laden by the oppression and bondage of sin and pain, may be instructed in the way of truth more perfectly, and find an assurance for the remission of sins.”
There are many phrases in this article that will recur in later writings of the Doctor. For example, the first meeting in New York in 1852 was called the “Royal Association of Believers” based on “…ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood…” (I Peter 2:9).
An evening lecture
Around this time, Dr. Thomas wrote a letter to Daniel Gano (see part 2 of this series) which was published by Walter Scott in his Evangelist of November, 1833. It is the earliest summary of his message I have seen, for the whole letter is an account of a Sunday-evening address by Dr. Thomas. He exhorted the audience to search the scriptures and be baptized. To quote, “I urged upon them the fact that what was necessary to sinners in the Apostolic Age was imperative upon them now also” (Dr. Thomas’ italics). Being present in the audience, his father stood up and contradicted his son on the necessity of adult baptism. After much further discussion, Dr. Thomas dismissed the meeting.
We know Dr. Thomas was successful in his role as the acknowledged leader of the first congregation of the Campbellites in Philadelphia. In the same magazine, Scott comments on the above letter as follows. “It conveys the pleasing assurance that the contention that was lighted up a few years ago by the Apostolic enunciation of the Gospel, has reached that city (Philadelphia).” Alexander Campbell, on a visit to the city, records he met “on the Lord’s day morning, the 29th (of December, 1833), a few more disciples, who through the week had been immersed by our faithful fellow-soldier, Dr. John Thomas” in Callow Hill Street Church in Philadelphia.
Mrs. Thomas
About this time, Dr. Thomas married his wife, Ellen Hunt. We know little of her: she was sickly most of her life, and never accompanied her husband on his travels as far as I can tell. She survived her husband, however, to die nine years after Dr. Thomas on September 7, 1880.
One little-known sidelight is that she was baptized as an adult first by David Burnett, presumably in Cincinnati where he lived. (He was married to a sister of Daniel Gano!) It seems likely Dr. Thomas met her in Cincinnati, although they probably were married in Philadelphia. We know this from a little paragraph published April 1, 1836 in the “Religious Herald” of Virginia and republished in the “Millennial Harbinger.” It says, “We understand that Mrs. Dr. Thomas was recently re-baptized for the remission of sins. Mrs. T. had previously been baptized on a profession of her faith, as we understand by Mr. Burnett, the reformer. Recently her mind had become disquieted as to the validity of her baptism — being confined to her room and yet anxious to have the ordinance re-administered, a bath tub was procured, carried into her room, filled with warm water, and Mrs. T. immersed for the remission of her sins, by Mr. Joseph Woodson, one of the members of the Sycamore church. Mr. Campbell objects to this amendment of his new theory — but who shall decide when doctors disagree?” Note that the writer is clearly confusing Alexander Campbell’s DD (Doctor of Divinity) with John Thomas’ MD (Medical Doctor).
Origins of the Apostolic Advocate
While in Philadelphia, Dr. Thomas became part of a group that was to publish The Apostolic Advocate which partnership included William Ballentine, an elder in the church in Philadelphia, and Thomas Brindley, agent for the Millennial Harbinger, Alexander Campbell’s magazine. Ballentine dropped out from ill health and it was discovered that Brindley, an agent for Morrison’s pills, intended the paper to advertise both reformation and pills. So Dr. Thomas published the magazine prospectus, presumably around March, 1834, at his own cost.
The results were disappointing, with less than 100 subscribers, but Alexander Campbell came to his aid in the “Millennial Harbinger” of April, 1834, and the list increased to 1000. The address for subscriptions was given as c/o William Bootright, Richmond, Va.
The first number is dated May 1, 1834, the second June 2, 1834. As we have seen, it was not his first appearance in print, but the wide distribution of the magazine rapidly enhanced an already growing reputation as one of the principal presenters of the Campbellite message. We have read a listing of the first set of subscribers and were interested to note the presence of names which come up again in later years of the life of Dr. Thomas.
Robert Roberts states the first issue was published in Philadelphia and the second in Baltimore. This information is presumably directly from Dr. Thomas — the account in the Apostolic Advocate (Jan. ’35) does not mention Baltimore, only Philadelphia and Richmond. The masthead of all the copies I have seen say “Richmond, Virginia” and we know that Dr. Thomas was in Virginia late in May, 1834.
Summary of Philadelphia years
From many points of view, Dr. Thomas had a successful stay in Philadelphia. He was there with his father — who occupied the pulpit in a Baptist Church while Dr. Thomas occupied a Campbellite one. (His father had returned to England in the fall of ’32, only to return in ’33 and leave again in ’34!)
Dr. Thomas got married and started on his editorial career with the full support and best wishes of Alexander Campbell. He also carried on his work as a physician, supported by the members of his congregation.
The reasons for leaving Philadelphia appear to have been twofold: a certain coolness on the part of his congregation in Philadelphia and clear promises of better things in Virginia -both for his work as a physician and that of publishing the Advocate. According to his account in the Apostolic Advocate of 1838, it was some time before he made up his mind to settle in Richmond, but settle there he did for the next two years and three months.
What transpired there in terms of his controversy with Alexander Campbell is recounted by Robert Roberts, but Dr. Thomas spent much of his efforts in other endeavors. God willing, I hope to deal with Dr. Thomas’ time as the evangelist of the Sycamore church in Richmond next month
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One