Sentinel, Okla., April 24. Bro. Phillips: You wrote an article in the 0. P. A. concerning your trip to Bethany, W. Va.—Alexander Campbell’s old home. I was greatly interested in it. Do you know what issue it was in? Did Campbell and the church at that time use one cup and one loaf? Is there any member of his family or any old friend living there to give any information concerning him and the church?

Fraternally, Isaac Smith

I do not remember what issue of the 0. P. A. "My Trip to Bethany" was in. It appeared about two years ago. That trip was in 1931. Bros. King, Cope, my wife and I have recently visited Bethany. We learned a great deal of the history of Campbell and the village, not generally found in the histories.

In all of Bro. Campbell’s writings there is nothing to indicate that the cups were used. In the Christian Baptist there are several reports of the worship of various congregations in Europe and America and "the cup" is always spoken of in the singular number. There is one such report in the Christian System. Mention is made of thanks being offered for the cup and of its being "handed to the brother next to him" who "passed it" to the audience. Bro. Garfield Riggs, of Beaver, Pa., near Bethany, told me of an aged sister attending worship where one loaf and one cup were used and after dismissal she said, "I feel like shouting. The communion was observed just as it was in Alexander Campbell’s day—one loaf and one cup were used." In our recent "ramblings" through historic "Bethany Mansion" (the house in which Bro. Campbell lived and died) we were shown the "communion ware" of "Brush Run church"—the first congregation established by Thomas and Alexander Campbell, from which Bethany church descended. There were three cups, made of pewter, in goblet form. One was in bad condition, the brim if it being badly broken and otherwise damaged. It evidently was the first used in their communion service, it showing great age and much usage. The second one did not look so old and was in better condition in every way, but the brim of it was broken in places. The third one was in perfect condition. We discussed the matter with the caretaker and all came to the conclusion that one of these cups was used until it got into a bad state, from age and usage. The second one was (we think) then used until it, too, could not, with propriety, be used. The third one, evidently, was then used. The difference in age and usage certainly indicate that the three were not used at the same time.

Everything Campbell wrote on the loaf showed that he stood opposed to the use of a plurality of loaves on the Lord’s table. He contended for the rendering "loaf," rather than "bread," where the word artos is used of the bread of which Christ says "this is my body." Some of his writings seem to indicate that he favored breaking the loaf into sections, but it must be remembered that this question was not up in his day and that his time and attention were mostly engaged in restoring the New Testament teaching on Baptism, the Lord’s day, the all-sufficiency and alone sufficiency of the written word, etc. The great issues of the day had to be noticed and the errors concerning them exposed. It is evident that he did not give a great deal of study to the question of how the loaf should be broken. Had he done so, he would have seen that Jesus "broke off" (Green’s definition of klaoo) "a fragment" (so all lexicons, defining klasma) of the loaf and ate it (as he drank of the cup, before giving it to the disciples—Mt. 26:29; Mk. 14:25; Lk. 22:18, RV).

I do not know of any one who could give us any information concerning Campbell’s practice, and that of Bethany church, on these questions except what I have given above. Campbell was a great and good man, but he was human, like the rest of us; and while we all have great respect for him and his teaching, yet no one should accept any of his teaching unless it is found to be entirely in harmony with the Bible. I shall make inquiry and if I can learn anything more about the matters from Campbell’s relatives and friends who remember him (very few can now be found, he having died in 1866) I will give it to our readers. None of his relatives now live at Bethany. So we were told.