A Weary but triumphant Dr Thomas returned from England in November 1850, to resume the way of life he had left some two and a half years earlier He was almost immediately prostrated by “a sickness of severer character than we have been subject to for seven years.” Bed-fast for six weeks, it was January, 1851 before he was well enough to resume his former way of life This consisted of residing with his invalid wife and daughter Eusebia, at the home of Richard Malone in Richmond, Virginia, publishing his magazine, (renamed the Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come,) and spending the summers traveling in the work of the Lord. This pattern continued for ten years, (although he removed to the New York area in 1852) and the details of his travels illuminate Dr Thomas’ determination, fortitude, and conviction of the truth of his message. Those who would like to read more of this can find it in his re-published “Herald,” copies of which are often available. I will only touch on the most significant incidents, which will help give us a picture of how the Truth spread in America in this crucial decade, the sort of audiences he attracted and the appeal he had.
The impact of Dr. Thomas’ efforts
Between 1850 and 1860, when the Civil War intervened, Dr Thomas traveled the length of this continent He visited wherever he could get an audience, and where those who invited him would pay for his costs of coming Hence, pockets of believers were slowly established in various areas of this continent I will later detail the more significant groups, their origin, and short-term growth, but will not cover the Virginia area, where he was well established Nor will I cover Illinois and upstate New York, where, in his activities, he became involved with groups that later emerged as the COGAF (Church of God of Abrahamic Faith ) God willing, we will cover the latter story next month.
Dr Thomas was largely ignored by the mainstream Campbellite magazines from 1848 on, there being only scattered references to the appeal of his message (He was attacked by some small magazines, as detailed in the Herald, but The Millennial Harbinger, the magazine of Alexander Campbell, almost ignores him ) It is clear that the bulk of the new converts, however, still came from two groups, some of whom overlapped Campbellites with interests in Bible prophecy, and former followers of William Miller Once these little groups established themselves, they appealed to wider audiences, but initially the people who invited Dr Thomas (and, as far as I can tell, he never went without an invitation) were readers of his periodical and/or Elpis Israel From what I can determine, almost all of these were members of one of these two groups.
It is very difficult to accurately assess the impact of Dr Thomas’ work in America in this period of time — and indeed the rest of the century Unlike the situation in Britain, there were no regular gatherings, no regular pattern of reporting of ecclesial affairs, and, most important, no contemporary recorder of the history of the emerging denomination Few records exist of early groups of American followers — nor did they all continue in the way of the Truth The best one can do is collect scattered comments and surmises, and some isolated histories of individual ecclesias From all this information, my best guess is that Dr Thomas expanded his small band of followers from a base of 100 or so left m Virginia when he returned in 1850 There, his message had been kept alive by two devoted followers, school teacher Albert Anderson and attorney Allan Magruder, who published the Herald of the Future Age for Dr Thomas while he was in England from 1848 to 1850 They also visited the scattered groups Dr Thomas left By 1860, this number had grown to perhaps 800, made up of 400 in Virginia and 400 outside There were significant numbers in New York City, Rochester, NY, Baltimore, MD, Worcester, MA, Henderson, KY, Paris, ONT, Halifax, NS and Jefferson, MS as well as a number of followers around Geneva, IL
Dr. Thomas casts his bread upon the waters
I can only hope to summarize his many visits, the telling of which occupies over 100 pages of close type m his Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come In addition, I must ignore those areas, like Texas and Detroit, that had members but were not visited by Dr Thomas in this period
- New York City, New York Dr Thomas removed there m November, 1852, and found a small group of believers, an offshoot of his work there among the Campbellites in 1846-8 His change of residence was “due to circumstances beyond my control,” and I would believe he chose the area because of this nucleus of converts (ex-Campbellites), and its proximity to his ill wife’s parents in New Jersey He soon greatly increased the numbers, lecturing in the Cooper Institute, and developed the constitution of the “Royal Association of Believers,” as he termed them Many other names were then current among the followers of Dr Thomas both then and later, as we shall see The ecclesia soon grew to 55, from its original eight there have been ecclesias in the New York City area ever since, but almost as many divisions as members, at times!
- Halifax, Nova Scotia. One of the more surprising trips Dr Thomas made was m the fall of 1851, when he made the thousand mile journey via New York, Boston, and Maine to the military and provincial community of Halifax, Nova Scotia, still strongly under British rule The fact the Church of England (Episcopalians) was legally established seemed to increase the interest of his audiences He was invited by ‘The Christian Association” (presumably Campbellites,) interested to hear the message of one who had made such an impact in Britain Out of a seven-week trip, Dr Thomas spent three there, and delivered 18 lectures attended by large audiences, with 1,000 hearing him on the Sundays The numbers are startling, for the time and place Because of this success, he visited there again in 1852, and although he did not quite repeat his earlier exceptional success, he baptized 16, including a medical doctor who had traveled 200 miles to hear the author of “Elpis Israel” With 4p (perhaps $1 present day) admission charged to his lectures, the doctor managed to just about break even on the journey He must have been pleased with the results, for this remote lightstand turned into a vibrant, although small ecclesia in Dr Thomas’ lifetime Brother J L Lithgow was a frequent contributor to The Herald, and it was his question “Is it lawful for Christians to bear arms?” written m December, 1859, that first caused Dr Thomas to use the term “Brethren in Christ,” in early 1860 Small ecclesias still exist m this most North-East corner of Canada I also wonder if Dr Thomas ever realized how close he was to Sable Island, the probable site where his ship almost foundered on its way to America m 1832, an event that caused him to decide to search out the truth m the scriptures for himself.
- Baltimore, Maryland. Dr Thomas often called into this city on his travels m the 1850’s, primarily to see his old friends Richard and William Lemmon, and to preach to the little group of ex-Campbellites they had gathered Dr Thomas baptized these two brothers in the flesh, in 1853, and the origin of the present-day ecclesia m the city can be said to be that occasion Dr Thomas gamed much support, both practical and spiritual, in this city, for he received considerable financial aid from the Lemmons Dr Thomas was long acquainted with Richard Lemmon, for we find a record of his baptism into the Campbellite faith in the Apostolic Advocate for 1835 He was obviously strongly influenced by Dr Thomas’ views on baptism, for he wrote a book on the subject in 1841, entitled “Faith and Baptism illustrated from the Bible”
Dr Thomas complains of the limited response to newspaper advertising in Baltimore only seven “strangers” showed up to meet with the seven members in a hall that could seat a thousand Placarding the area produced a much greater response later, but clearly the times of people turning out in droves to hear Bible lectures was gone, at least m large cities Although four of William Lemmon’s daughters, and as many nieces, became members, all but one fell away after William’s death, hay-mg become rich by legacies, a sad commentary of the contrasting uses of the wealth of these generous and wealthy Lemmon brothers.
4 Washington, D.C. Dr Thomas appears to have first preached there m 1856, when he obtained the use of a Methodist Chapel, and shared it with its preacher With his long white beard, it must have been a striking picture, and a member of the audience remarked “a stranger might have supposed that one of the old patriarchs had arisen to rebuke Methodism for its beardless degeneracy” Washington soon became a small ecclesia, its leader for some time being strangely enough named Alexander Campbell, no relation to Dr Thomas’ nemesis as far as I know.
Much of Dr Thomas’ remaining family lived in Washington — his father, sister, and brother Alfred, at least — and his visits were fairly frequent, although not primarily to see his family It also seems probable that his daughter, Eusebia, spent her short married life there, until Brother “B” Lasius died.
I cannot leave the city without mentioning that one architect of the Capitol, just possibly the same Campbell above, is reputed to have been a brother m the ecclesia there Also, there is an old story that Abraham Lincoln came incognito to hear Dr Thomas preach This account, unverified in the voluminous Lincoln literature, comes to us via an old brother named Nelson, who later moved to New York City and help found a meeting there Certainly Lincoln’s religious beliefs were unconventional, and it would be an interesting study to trace any possible Christadelphian beliefs in them!
- Henderson, Kentucky. Dr Thomas first visited this area in 1854, or so the Herald says I will quote from an old (1887) history of the area, which says “This church was first organized in 1856, but prior to its organization Dr Thomas, the venerable and learned head of the Christadelphians, visited Henderson County and preached for his people. This was in 1853. The followers of this particular church are few in number, yet firm in the faith as taught… The congregation own a church building in the county…lt is only occasionally they have preaching, and that when some minister of the church happens along or by invitation. Every member of the denomination is a close reader of the scripture, and finds it his or her duty to be thoroughly posted in the teachings thereof” (Robert Roberts also commented on the reluctance of the brethren m the area to hold meetings when he visited in 1871 ) Dr Thomas visited this area annually from 1853 on, when practical It is interesting that m 1854 Dr Thomas paid a call, then decided to go on to Dubuque, Iowa, presumably to see his father — neglecting to look at a map So he committed himself to an 800-mile journey thinking he was close
- Toronto, Ontario and Vicinity There were adherents in this area from 1852, when Bro David Wright of Cobourg, about 50 miles east of Toronto, corresponded with Dr Thomas There was no visit until 1856, when a few members in Toronto formed the first group m the area In 1857, a man calling himself John Williams arrived in the area from England, and commenced widespread lecturing In a strange turn of events, this person, whose real name was Shillibeer, as Dr Thomas recorded the event, “proved himself to be a wolf m sheep’s clothing He stands convicted of having two wives, both living, and by his various misdemeanors both m England and Canada has shown himself unworthy of the confidence of the friends of the truth”
The message was then spread locally, mainly by Bro John Coombe, an earlier follower, who also had to cope with much regional opposition from followers of an anti-Christadelphian magazine called The Marturion Originating in Listowel, Ontario, it opposed Dr Thomas’ teachings on God manifestation, and caused much trouble in Ontario and Michigan m the 1860’s and 70’s. Dr Thomas made several lecturing visits to small towns in Ontario as well, of which Paris, very close to the present Brantford, was the most frequently visited The ecclesia in Hamilton also dates back to this era.
- Worcester; Massachusetts. This was undoubtedly the first ecclesia established in New England, and its history can be dated back to a visit Dr Thomas paid in September, 1853 He spent a week lecturing to the small group of local Adventists m Warren Hall, with slim results at the time There are letters from Worcester in the Herald from 1855 on, and the Truth gradually took hold until by 1868 there was an ecclesia of about 30 members in the city Both the Chelsea (Boston, now Stoughton) and Springfield, Massachusetts meetings owe their origin to ex-members of the Worcester ecclesia All was not harmonious, however, as Robert Roberts had to defer his visit there in 1871 until local difficulties could be resolved There has been a lightstand in Worcester ever since — in fact one can say “lightstands,” as there are now more groups calling themselves “Christadelphian” but not in fellowship with each other, than in any other city m the U S A.
- Mississippi. Dr Thomas’ first visit to this state was to Marshall County, about 30 miles South of Memphis, TN Visiting there in August,1857, Dr Thomas baptized a few following the groundwork laid by a Bro Webber, a former Campbellite preacher from Memphis Dr Thomas second visit to this deep-south state was in the summer of 1860, when he answered what he termed a “Macedonian cry” from a Dr White, who had written to him much earlier (1852) asking questions about salvation by faith which grew out of reading Elpis Israel Now he invited Dr Thomas to visit the Jefferson and Franklin counties in that state, much further south near Natchez At first reluctant because of the heat (and any who have spent time there without air conditioning can sympathize with him), he finally agreed, and made the long journey from New Jersey to Brookhaven, Mississippi Dr Thomas had considerable success preaching to the local Campbellite congregations, and an ecclesia of 20 was quickly established, including, it is recorded, a slave owner Sister Maghee and her slave
Conclusion
In the period up until the Civil War, Dr Thomas spread his message outside of Virginia essentially alone Except perhaps in Halifax, NS, he never preached to the sorts of crowds he had in Britain, nor were the size of the ecclesias he helped establish as large But slowly his message spread over most of the eastern half of the North American Continent We look back from 150 years later with great thanksgiving for the work of the Lord, done under difficult circumstances with little appreciation and much criticism And so reading and pondering on his life and work, we should want to emulate his drive to proclaim the Truth in our days, heeding his Jehu-like call “Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One