1804 - Barton Stone
Got a minute for a Woodland Memory?
At the time of the Cane Ridge Revival, Barton Stone was a Presbyterian minister and Cane Ridge was a Presbyterian congregation. But even at his ordination when asked if he would take his oath of allegiance to the Westminster Confession of Faith, he said he would – but only as far as it was in keeping with the Bible.
In 1803 Stone and four of his colleagues (Richard McNemar, John Thompson, John Dunlevy and Robert Marshall) founded the Springfield Presbytery. By the next year they were ready to leave Presbyterianism altogether. As Stone looked more deeply into the beliefs of the Presbyterians, he doubted that some of the church beliefs were truly Bible-based. In particular, he found the Calvinistic insistence on man's total depravity to be inconsistent with the Scriptures, and he rejected the Trinity and the doctrine of predestination.
Stone and the others described their reasoning in the Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery. In this document, the ministers announced their intention to withdraw from the Presbyterian denomination in order to be solely part of the body of Christ. He believed that a person’s confession of faith was the only prerequisite for salvation.
In the Last Will and Testament the ministers outlined what would become vital points in the subsequent development of Stone-Campbell theology:
From 1826 to 1845 Stone published the Christian Messenger to disseminate his liberal views.
Barton Stone met Alexander Campbell for the first time at Georgetown, Ky., in 1824. They became fast friends, and they would remain so until Stone’s death twenty years later.
Let’s keep the memory and Woodland’s memory alive.
https://www.discipleshistory.org/history/people/barton-stone
https://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/kentucky/stone.htm
At the time of the Cane Ridge Revival, Barton Stone was a Presbyterian minister and Cane Ridge was a Presbyterian congregation. But even at his ordination when asked if he would take his oath of allegiance to the Westminster Confession of Faith, he said he would – but only as far as it was in keeping with the Bible.
In 1803 Stone and four of his colleagues (Richard McNemar, John Thompson, John Dunlevy and Robert Marshall) founded the Springfield Presbytery. By the next year they were ready to leave Presbyterianism altogether. As Stone looked more deeply into the beliefs of the Presbyterians, he doubted that some of the church beliefs were truly Bible-based. In particular, he found the Calvinistic insistence on man's total depravity to be inconsistent with the Scriptures, and he rejected the Trinity and the doctrine of predestination.
Stone and the others described their reasoning in the Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery. In this document, the ministers announced their intention to withdraw from the Presbyterian denomination in order to be solely part of the body of Christ. He believed that a person’s confession of faith was the only prerequisite for salvation.
In the Last Will and Testament the ministers outlined what would become vital points in the subsequent development of Stone-Campbell theology:
- the importance of the unity of all believers,
- the value of congregational self-governance,
- the use of the Bible as the source for understanding the will of God,
- and rejection of man-made creeds and confessions.
From 1826 to 1845 Stone published the Christian Messenger to disseminate his liberal views.
Barton Stone met Alexander Campbell for the first time at Georgetown, Ky., in 1824. They became fast friends, and they would remain so until Stone’s death twenty years later.
Let’s keep the memory and Woodland’s memory alive.
https://www.discipleshistory.org/history/people/barton-stone
https://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/kentucky/stone.htm