Barton W. Stone
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Barton Warren Stone was born on December 24, 1772 to John and Mary Stone in Port Tobacco, Maryland. During his childhood he was exposed to the Church of England, Baptist, Methodist and Episcopalian churches.
After going to Guilford Academy in North Carolina, founded by David Caldwell[1], Stone heard James McGready (a Presbyterian minister) speak and eventually became a Presbyterian minister himself. But, as Stone looked more deeply into the beliefs of the Presbyterians, especially the Westminster Confession of Faith, he became skeptical of the convergence of church and Biblical beliefs. At odds was the Calvinistic belief in total depravity which Stone found inconsistent with the scriptures.
At the Cane Ridge (Kentucky) revival of 1801, Barton W. Stone revealed his new found conviction of faith as prerequisite for salvation to the chagrin of the Presbyterian Church. He was quickly accused of Arminianism after which his association with the Presbyterian Church was severed by Kentucky Synod. At about the same time, Kentucky Synod also ejected the ministers who would found the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1810.
In 1803 the Springfield Presbytery was formed by Stone and others with the same theology. After reexamination, Barton and others in the presbytery were compelled by the scriptures to dissolve the organization for fear of Romanization. This led to the famous, "Last Will and Testament of The Springfield Presbytery."
In 1824 Barton W. Stone met with Alexander Campbell which would eventually lead to the partial unification of the "Christian" (Stone) movement and the "Reformed Baptist" (Campbell) movement into what is commonly called the Restoration Movement. The congregations that were part of Stone's original movement, which chose not to join with Campbell and his followers, merged with similar Christian Churches in other parts of the country to form the Christian Connection.
Barton W. Stone died on November 9, 1844 in Hannibal, Missouri. Barton College (formerly Atlantic Christian College) in Wilson, North Carolina was named for Barton Stone.
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[edit] References
- West, Earl Irvin (2002). The Search for the Ancient Order Vol. 1. Gospel Light Publishing Company. ISBN 0-89225-154-9
- Foster, Douglas A.(Editor), Blowers, Paul M.(Editor), Dunnavant, Anthony L.(Editor), Williams, D. Newell(Editor). The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan. ISBN 0-8028-3898-7
- John Rogers, THE BIOGRAPHY OF ELD. BARTON W. STONE, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF: WITH ADDITIONS AND REFLECTIONS (Cincinnati: J.A. & U.P. James, 1847), 120-29.
