Introduction
1. IT BEGAN IN SCOTLAND
   
2. THOMAS CAMPBELL WRITES HIS DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
   
3. THE SPIRIT OF THE "DECLARATION AND ADDRESS"
   
4. PRINCIPLES OF THE DOCUMENT
   
5. HISTORIC NOTES ON OUR FIRST CHURCH
   
6. "LET CHRISTIAN UNITY BE OUR POLAR STAR"
   
7. THE NOBLEST ACT IN BARTON STONE'S LIFE
   
8. LEARNING FROM A BACKWOODS PREACHER
   
9. CHRISTIANS IN BABYLON
   
10. WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?
    
11. THE ESSENCE OF THE CAMPBELL PLEA
    
12. THE DEATH OF A DREAM
    
13. THE SAND CREEK ADDRESS
    
14. A MUDDLED MOVEMENT
    
15. THE AUTHORITY TOTEM
    
16. THE PARTY SPIRIT
    
17. THE BED OF PROCRUSTES
    
18. OUR COSTLIEST SIN: EXCLUSIVISM
    
19. RESTORATION OR REFORMATION
    
20. A BOY LEARNS THE MEANING OF BROTHERHOOD
    
21. THE BUTTING BRETHREN
    
22. ANALYSIS OF LEGALISM
    
23. THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
    
24. THOUGHTS ON FELLOWSHIP
    
25. ON THE ROCKS
    
26. WITHDRAWING FROM THE DISORDERLY
    
27. CAUSING DIVISIONS
    
28. TWO GREAT ERRORS
    
29. UNION IN TRUTH
    
30. ONE BODY IN CHRIST
    
31. UNITY AND IDENTITY
    
32. UNITY IN DIVERSITY
    
33. IS DOCTRINE IMPORTANT?
    
34. THE WEIGHTIER MATTERS
    
35. MUST WE GIVE UP OUR OPINIONS?
    
36. WHAT DIFFERENCES DO DIFFERENCES MAKE?
    
37. THE "ONE BAPTISM" AND FELLOWSHIP
    
38. ARE WE TO FELLOWSHIP THE UNIMMERSED?
    
39. OUR FATHERS ON "WHO IS A CHRISTIAN?"
    
40. "OUR BROTHERS IN THE DENOMINATIONS"
    
41. WHAT IS "OUR FELLOWSHIP"?
    
42. ARE WE TO FELLOWSHIP THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH?
    
43. I WOULD ABDICATE
    
44. A BASIC FALLACY TO OVERCOME
    
45. CAN WE BE UNITED AND NOT KNOW IT?
    
46. SEPARATED BUT NOT DIVIDED
    
47. THE ONE CHURCH INDIVISIBLE
    
48. UNITY WILL COME, BUT
    
49. IF NOT BROTHERHOOD, THEN CO-EXISTENCE
    
50. THIS IS OUR GLORY!
    
51. THE UNIFYING POWER OF THE CROSS
    

I WOULD ABDICATE

The story is told about Ludwig von Mises, the great economist, when he was asked what he would do about the economy, conditions being as unfavorable as they were, if he by some fate were made dictator of the United States. His immediate reply: I would abdicate!

I want to ride the coattail of that idea in reference to my own role in the current efforts to restore unity, brotherhood and love to our divided ranks in Churches of Christ and Christian Churches. I am part of the fellowship of the concerned ones in that I want something done about our lack of oneness. I am editing this journal and travelling over the country because I care and because I believe that Jesus' prayer for the unity of his people is glorious to anticipate. I have hope and so I am at work. The church can be one, and the place for us to start in realizing that unity is in our own ranks and among our own people. Once this is realized, we will have an important witness to make to the world. Jesus' words should sober us: "Hereby shall men know that you are my disciples because you love one another."

It is only in this sense that I think of myself as a reformer. I am not out to save the brotherhood, nor to conform anyone else to my way of thinking. I do not presume to know all the answers. I only want to help our people to become freer and more responsible in their relationship to the religious world. It is not important that they think like me, but it is important that they think. Change is in order, though I don't presume to dictate those changes. We must become more responsible, but I would not be so irresponsible as to lay down all the rules. I only want to be part of the answer, and I hope that this journal may be a channel through which possible answers will be explored. Our brotherhood needs to become a vast open forum, and I wish to contribute what I can to that end.

The best way for any of us to help solve the problems we face is to be busy improving ourselves. Reformation begins within each of us, with each one making those changes that the light of his own conscience dictates. God forbid that we keep on sitting in judgment on one another. If each of us will make of himself, by God's help, part of that light that shines in the world, then our ministry will be to those who love light more than darkness, people who are drawn to us because of the light we have.

One cultivated in Christian graces will not impose himself on others. He will not be so rude nor presumptuous as to try to remake people into his own image. He will not be out to judge them nor to show them how wrong they are. He will not even be aggressive in presenting his own viewpoint. Rather he will be busy attending to his own affairs, setting his own house in order, and holding a candle in his own little corner of our darkened world. Those who seek light will find their way to him. This was the way Jesus did, you know. He was always a gentleman, never imposing himself nor his views on anyone. He did things like going into the hills and praying all night, keeping his relationship with God in good repair. And yet people flocked to him for wisdom, for light, for healing. Jesus must have been something like Ludwig von Mises in that even if they had made him the dictator over their lives, so that every annoying detail would have been settled by a nod of his head, he would have abdicated.

Here I take my stand. If by some fate I were made dictator over the Churches of Christ, so that every change I long for would readily come to pass at my command, I would abdicate. I do not want to win by enslaving men, but by freeing them. Real victory is not mastery over men's minds, but the defeat of those things that tyrannize men's minds.

Our differences will not be settled by any one party among us arrogating to itself the power of judging all others. We are each prone to say of the other, when he dares to see things different from ourselves, that he doesn't know as we know or that he doesn't love as we love. Editorials in some of our journals charge that those who see the Bible, or the Bible's silence as the case may be, different from the editor do not really respect the authority of the Bible. To respect the authority of the scriptures is to interpret as I interpret, is what that says. We even impugn people's motives if they see other than we see. If they are knowledgeable, then they must be insincere, if they differ from us. It is, after all, merely a matter of taking the Bible for what it says or for what it doesn't say! We little realize that "what the Bible says" is what we, in our sectarian littleness make say.

The issue really is not who knows more or who loves more or who respects the Bible more. The issue is whether I am to sit in judgment of you or you of me. It is a question of which of our parties will presume to serve as the supreme court for all the rest of us. Suppose we establish a judgment seat somewhere in the brotherhood-at Abilene or Nashville or Louisville or Lufkin-so that all our differences will be resolved and unity realized. Which of our parties will assume to serve as the supreme court? If such were proffered, the wisdom of von Mises would be in order, abdication.

When the apostle Paul deals with the problem of difference between Christians in Romans 14 this is really what he calls for, abdication of judgment. Several times he says such as "Who are you to pass judgment on someone else's servant?" and "Let us therefore cease judging one another." He is saying that we are to dethrone ourselves as judge and enthrone God, for it is God who is Master over men's souls and not ourselves. Paul's answer is a "To each his own" approach, for in this way one is responsible in his own conscience to God and no one else. This is the freedom we all should seek, to be responsible for our beliefs, whether to their sincerity or their soundness, only to God and ourselves.

This is the wisdom of Paul's words: "It is before his own master that he stands or falls." Maybe he is not sincere. Maybe he does have ulterior motives. But it is not for us to judge for the simple reason that we are not his master. His own conscience is his supreme court and God is his only judge.

Even if a brother should make us the master of his thought and the judge of his life, we should abdicate.

(Restoration Review: Vol. 13, No. 9; Nov. 1971)