We have already mentioned Dr. Thomas’ first encounter with Joseph Marsh, in Rochester in 1847 (#17, April, 97). Benjamin Wilson is new to this series — but the two, Wilson and Marsh, are connected, because they are two of the most significant figures in the development of the group named by Wilson, “Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith” (COGAF). One small remnant of this community, separated from the main body of the “General Conference” since the 1920’s, has maintained some contact with the Christadelphians down to this day. However, I will only bring the account of the COGAF down to the 1890’s as the story of the last 100 years is not the present concern of this series.
Emergence of the Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith (COGAF)
Lacking a single founder, the Church of God (its original name) rather grew out of a common set of beliefs and associated writings. Two of the most prominent writers were Benjamin Wilson (1813- 1900), and Joseph Marsh (1802-1863), and it is with these two I am concerned.
Wilson and Marsh never met, as far as I know, but both contributed ideas and followers to what later emerged as the COGAF. Wilson originated the name, as we shall see, but Marsh’s magazines and ideas helped form the pool of periodicals and concepts from which the COGAF and The Restitution, the official organ of the movement, emerged. Indeed, Marsh’s printing press was the one used by the magazine until it was destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1871. As with all brief historical accounts, there is an enormous quantity of material that I cannot do more than sketchily summarize, but I might mention that Dr. Thomas had dealings with more than these two in the melting pot from which COGAF emerged.
There have been several recent “histories” of the COGAF written, but most make it seem Wilson was the only architect of the denomination. To ignore Marsh, and the influence Dr. Thomas had on Wilson, is selective history.
Dr. Thomas and Benjamin Wilson
Wilson was born in Halifax, England in 1813, one of four sons of a well-educated Baptist. In 1840, the family joined the emerging Campbellite movement. They must have become acquainted with the writings of Dr. Thomas soon afterward, for there is a letter in the Herald of the Future Age, Volume 1, written in August, 1843, referring to Wilson’s preaching in Halifax, England. About this same time, from personal Bible study, the Wilsons first recognized the prominence of the promises to Abraham for the True Hope, but they did not follow this up until years later, m America.
In 1844, the first wave of the Wilson family, Benjamin and his eldest brother, John, immigrated to America, joining their Yorkshire acquaintances m Geneva, Illinois This was just a few miles from St Charles, where Dr Thomas had resided until May, 1843 They initially formed a Campbellite Church m Geneva but gradually distanced themselves from that body, encouraged by correspondence with Dr Thomas For example, in 1846 Benjamin wrote his first letter to Dr Thomas, as recorded in The Herald, agreeing with his views on the nature of the soul.
There is much correspondence from various members of the Wilson family over the next few years In August, 1856, Wilson and the doctor finally met, as recorded in The Herald for that year, Benjamin recognizing the doctor from his picture in Elpis Israel Many years later, W H Wilson, nephew to Benjamin, wrote, “If I mistake not, he (Dr Thomas) baptized my father and Uncle Benjamin” However, Benjamin in 1868 said he and his brothers had been baptized 17 years earlier (i e m 1851) Whatever the truth of this, Benjamin and the doctor were friendly for several years afterwards, and it was during this period that Emphatic Diaglott was written This effort occupied Benjamin from 1856 to 1864, for he not only wrote this Greek-English interlinear translation but typeset it himself He acknowledged the help of Dr Thomas with this effort, in a letter asking for assistance with the publication in The Herald In a letter dated September, 1855 It credited him, along with others who aided in his translation efforts, in this way “and last though not least, our learned and esteemed brother, John Thomas“
The Emphatic Diaglott is one of the most useful aids ever written for the study of the New Testament, and is still m print The fact it is now published by the Jehovah’s Witnesses causes endless confusion Wilson, as far as I know, was never associated with Pastor Russell, founder of the Witnesses.
Also in 1855, Wilson had begun publishing a free religious paper, the Gospel Banner, which was reasonably successful and was soon converted to a paid monthly (It is not to be confused with an English Campbellite magazine of the same name, in which Dr Thomas wrote quite considerably) Dr Thomas advertised it in 1858, as he did Benjamin’s hymn book in 1860 The Gospel Banner carried on until 1869, but then was merged with various magazines and later became The Restitution as discussed below.
Thomas and Wilson estranged
Over this latter part of this period, Dr Thomas and Wilson became estranged The causes for this appears to have been only partially doctrinal, at least initially Wilson held some unconventional views, being, among other things, a rigid teetotaler Thus Dr Thomas began to attack Benjamin through the pages of The Ambassador (the early name for the Christadelphian), the first open break apparently occurring when Dr Thomas went to Chicago in 1864, to find the ecclesia divided into those who insisted on grape juice, as did the Wilsons, and those who were convinced true wine was the only apostolic way Dr Thomas came down strongly on the side of wine, and thus apparently commenced the division.
It was on this same journey that Dr Thomas coined the term “Christadelphian” in Ogle County, Illinois, when the brethren then were threatened with conscription At about the same time, and for similar reasons, Wilson came up with the term “Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith” to distinguish his group from other “Churches of God” in their own stance against military service Thus the two groups were named in the same state, separated by only 30 miles or so!
By 1866, the division had worsened, and Dr Thomas railed against The Banner in a long article attacking it as a “banner of crotchetarianism conmingled with a smattering of the truth” By the late 1860’s, the major differences were over emergence and judgment, as Dr Thomas held all those raised would appear before the judgment seat of Christ, there to receive the gift of immortality or punishment of condemnation Wilson, on the other hand, had come to hold the doctrine known as immortal emergence “We believe there will be a resurrection of both the just and unjust, and that the just or faithful will awake to everlasting life, and the unjust or unfaithful to shame and everlasting contempt,” wrote Wilson in 1868 There can be no doubt that Dr Thomas had not at first thought deeply about this doctrine, as he wrote in Anastasis, a book written in 1866 specifically on this subject “Seventeen years ago, I believed that the dead are raised incorruptible, and taught that truth in Elpis Israel. But when I wrote that work, my attention had not been drawn to the subject in its details”
From reading the magazines of the time, it would appear Wilson did not at first consider this a first-principle matter, but after being chastised for this by others such as Mark Allen, another early figure in what became the COGAF, his attitude became more intolerant And when Robert Roberts met the Wilsons in Chicago m 1871, Wilson continued the attitude of “no discussion” This was the same year Wilson removed to Sacramento, California with his wife and son He stayed there the rest of his life, dying on May 8, 1900, at the age of 87.
There are, however, other contacts between Wilson and “Christadelphians ” I use the quotation marks deliberately because the first group was the Dowieites (named after George Dowie), from whom Robert Roberts withdrew m 1863 This was mainly over fellowship practices, but also over beliefs such as the personal devil Wilson came to Edinburgh, Scotland in 1868, and addressed the group of the “Baptized Believers in the Kingdom of God,” as they termed themselves (They never acknowledged the term “Christadelphian” ) He returned again the next decade, but this latter group gradually disappeared, many later joining the “Fraternal Visitor” organization, another splinter group from the mainstream of Christadelphians This time the disagreement was over the nominal issue of partial inspiration of the scriptures, a rift not healed until the 1950’s There were ecclesias in this fellowship that Wilson visited late in his life, as can be found in intelligence in the Fraternal Visitor His death was mourned m this magazine as well as The Restitution, although the former acknowledged the differences in belief which separated Wilson from them
Joseph Marsh — one who made a full circle
Joseph was born in Vermont in 1802, but walked to Rochester, NY at age 16 to join his brother, James A few years later, at age 21, he was baptized into the “Christian Connection” This was a group founded by Elias Smith some years earlier, that held many of the beliefs on the nature of God, immortality, and the soon return of Christ that later were “rediscovered” by Dr Thomas In 1839, Marsh became the editor of the Christian Connection magazine, the Christian Palladium, which became the mouthpiece for his Millerite views from 1842 on.
Along with William Miller, he proclaimed Christ was to return in 1843, and also, with Miller, held that only the resurrected saints would inherit the Kingdom He taught there would be no mortals on earth in the millennium, nor would mortal Jews be restored to the land He maintained these views in his own paper, The Voice of Truth, started in 1844, and through the “Great Disappointment” of that year In 1847, he renamed his periodical The Advent Harbinger It was a copy of this he sent to Dr Thomas in July, 1847, requesting an exchange with The Herald of the Future Age.
A few weeks later, Dr Thomas met Marsh in Rochester, on his first preaching trip after his own re-baptism They disagreed over the doctrine of the “Age to Come” at the time, but when Dr Thomas returned from England in 1850, Marsh had changed his mind, the two now agreeing Undoubtedly the doctor had contributed to this change of belief, but other influences also combined if you read his magazine for this period.
Subsequently, Marsh changed the name of his periodical to Prophetic Expositor and even proposed merging it with Dr Thomas’ Herald of the Kingdom This was declined, because of their divergent views on what constituted a valid baptism, but Dr Thomas encouraged Marsh to continue reprinting articles from the Herald.
Dr Thomas was being patient with Marsh, believing that since he had revised his millennial position, he would also revise his views on baptism This was not to be, and Thomas grew impatient, in 1852 asking why Marsh had not been re-baptized Thomas held that a belief in the pre-millennial kingdom and the restoration of the Jews to Israel must precede baptism Marsh disagreed This argument simmered until around 1858, when a flood of articles both in Thomas’ Herald and Marsh’s Expositor began.
Over the next two years, the argument raged, with Dr Thomas gaming the upper hand Most of the little church m Rochester that Marsh was leading joined with Dr Thomas, following Augustus Sintzenick, who used to be Marsh’s printer By 1860, Marsh’s little church had ceased to exist, and he sold his Expositor to Thomas Newman in 1860 who changed the name from Expositor to Millennial Harbinger.
Marsh and his wife then removed to Oshawa, Canada, and he was welcomed back into the Christian Church there with open arms, being allowed to preach whenever he wanted. In 1863, Marsh attempted to get his old identity back, attending a “Church of God” conference in Indiana and being appointed state evangelist. Before he could begin this task, he visited his old friend, Dr. Nathaniel Field, another former friend and now enemy of Dr. Thomas. There he became ill with typhoid fever, which Dr. Field tried to treat. Marsh realized he was near death, so he insisted on going to Michigan to be near his daughter Mary. He died there, in Tecumseh, on September 13,1863. In his life, he seemed to make the full circle from the Christian Connection back to them, over a period of 40 years.
Continued influence of Marsh
The story of Marsh’s influence does not quite end there. Newman, having bought the Prophetic Expositor from Marsh and renaming it the Millennial Harbinger; later combined it with the Gospel Banner published by Wilson. He renamed the combined publication the Gospel Banner and Millennial Advocate. In early 1870, this was merged into another Wilson magazine, the Herald of the Kingdom, published by Thomas Wilson, one of Benjamin’s nephews. (I wonder about the coincidence of names with Dr. Thomas’ magazine!) The combined magazine was renamed by Thomas Wilson The Restitution on December 15, 1870. This was the official organ of the COGAF into the 1920’s, when a division occurred between what became known as the General Conference and the few churches that held to the original set of beliefs. Of course, Marsh was also influential through his other writings in forming the body of beliefs on which the COGAF is founded, but the history of the magazines is one of the main threads which links both Wilson and Marsh to the COGAF.
Conclusion
At this distance, it is difficult to assess the actual contribution Dr. Thomas made to the development of the views of Benjamin Wilson and Joseph Marsh, and vice versa. They certainly, during their antagonistic phases sharpened the doctrinal beliefs of Dr. Thomas in non-immortal emergence, and the importance of a true belief prior to baptism. I can find evidence Dr. Thomas strongly influenced the Wilsons, Benjamin among them, in their search for the truth, with their belief in the mortality of man in particular coming from Dr. Thomas. Dr. Thomas also certainly contributed to the change in mind of Marsh on the true nature of the future kingdom of God. It should be pointed out that Wilson agreed with Dr. Thomas on the significance of baptism, and his views came to prevail in the COGAF. And it is remarkable that the views of the Christadelphians and one small remnant of the COGAF have remained essentially constant, and very largely similar, down to these days as we share beliefs which separate us and them from the rest of Christianity around us.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One