Excerpt from Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, Vol. 2: Embracing a View of the Origin, Progress and Principles of the Religious Reformation Which He Advocated Scripture proof that candid and dispassionate consider ation which they deserved. Hence it was that, when Alexander Campbell was urged in the spring of 1820, to engage in a public oral debate with Mr. Walker, on the question of Baptism, he at first declined to consent, not regarding, as he said, public debates to be the proper method of proceeding in contending for the faith once delivered to the saints. He had adopted this conclusion, however, more from deference to his father's feelings on the sub ject, than from his own matured convictions of expe disney or from his natural temperament. Conscious of dialectic power, and possessed of unfaltering courage, he had been characterized even in his boyhood, by his readiness to maintain the right, and to enter the lists in debate with any worthy champion among his school mates. His quick perception of logical relations; his wide range of thought; his great fluency of speech and the keenness of his wit, peculiarly adapted him to pub lic discussion; and the struggle was by no means slight when, from respect to existing circumstances, he felt obliged to repress his native ardor, and to keep within the lines which his father's caution had prescribed. His peculiar abilities as a public disputant were not, however, destined to remain inactive in the field of the Reformation. Already had the aggressive course of the Synod of Pittsburg led him, while yet a mere youth, to appear in public vindication of the Christian Association, and the time had now arrived when a fresh challenge from Presbyterianism was to call him out fairly and fully into that field of polemical discussion in which he was to find a proper scope for his abilities. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.