Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 10
September 18, 1958
NUMBER 20, PAGE 3

"The Fool Of God"

Arthur W. Atkinson, Jr., Columbus, Ohio

The title of this article is that given a new book by Louis Cochran and published by Duell, Sloan and Pearch of New York. The title was taken from Paul's first epistle to the church in Corinth, chapter four, verse ten, which reads: "We are fools for Christ's sake."

This book is fiction but is different from most of the fiction now found on the market in that it is biographical with a religious theme. It portrays the life of Alexander Campbell.

This is the first book I have ever read written by Mr. Cochran so I am not qualified to speak concerning his other works such as Hallelujah, Mississippi, Boss Man, Son of Haman, et al, but I can say that this book is well written, extremely interesting and very informative. The author suggests this concerning the book:

The life of Alexander Campbell is told here as a work of fiction, but in its essentials this is a factual book. Every event actually occurred, or had its basis in solid fact; each person lived, and played his role much as is related here.

The story does not presume to be a study of Campbell's religious thinking, or an account of the movement to re-establish Christian unity by the elimination of human creeds and the restoration of New Testament Christianity. It is, rather, the portrait of a man whose heart embraced all Christians as brothers; whose mind was open to all truth; whose eyes had seen the vision of the coming of one church.

Mr. Cochran left no stone unturned to get material for his novel. He spent 12 years gathering resource material and 3 years writing the book. The author visited every principal locality visited or frequented by Campbell. He was helped by people in this country and abroad. It is a marvel just to read where the author traveled to get his material and to see the list of publications he read to gain information.

Mr. Cochran takes his readers through what he believes were four stages in the life of Campbell. He calls them, "From these Roots," "First the Blade," "Then the Ear", and "Then the Full Grain in the Ear."

I only wish I could take you through the book page by page and step by step as the author so ably presents the early life of Campbell. He ably traces his early life and shows the roots which produced the man that slew the Goliath's of the denominational world. It seems that Mr. Cochran captures the very thoughts and emotions of this great man and his early life. However, it is my judgment that while Mr. Cochran does an equally good job presenting Campbell's later life, he misses the point as to Campbell's changes in his later life. Mr. Cochran seems to attribute these changes to a mellowing and maturing which were to be desired and which worked for his good and the good of the movement which he espoused. He fails to see that the change which came over Campbell helped to instigate trends which brought radical changes in the movement back to primitive Christianity. Mr. Cochran does show some of the things which he feels helped to bring about these changes in Campbell.

One of the most interesting characters, outside of Campbell himself, that Mr. Cochran portrayed so well was Campbell's second wife, Selina, who became a great influence in the Campbell household. Her devotion to Campbell and his love for her are shown in this excerpt:

"I love you, Selina. You are the wife of my mature years, sharing my tragedies and little triumphs. I wouldn't have gone on without you."

"I don't intend for you ever to do without me, Mr. Campbell . . . . That's the reason I keep fourteen years younger. You'll have no third wife if I can help it!"

This book has its place as a biography as it gives an intimate portrayal of the life of the main character as well as those with whom he comes in contact. The usual memoirs or biographies have a tendency to be the recital of cold facts with seemingly little actual feeling as far as the characters are concerned. This book has the facts but weaves them into a warm personal story that makes the reader almost live in the time in which Campbell lived.

Until I read this book I did not know that Campbell was a friend of John Brown, the extreme abolitionist. Mr. Cochran suggests through the wording of the book that Campbell felt a certain amount of personal responsibility at the death of John Brown. Campbell felt that he should have talked more to the man about the Lord and less about trading sheep. This, Campbell felt, might have deferred Brown in his radical attempt to end slavery. Cochran reports Campbell as saying:

"I knew John Brown was a man of iron conviction from the time he first came here fourteen years ago on a sheep-buying trip . . . . but he was a man of peace then; he believed in persuasion instead of force. Something happened to him; I knew when we met last August he was not the same. There were demons in his face.

Perhaps I might have said something; perhaps I might have done something — "

"He's a symbol now, a bloody, insane symbol of the future. I have known intimately two John Browns. Father Brown of Wellsburg (the father of Campbell's first wife) after many years of a good life entered upon his eternal reward only last June. And John Brown of Osawatomie, claiming to be the instrument of our Heavenly Father, becomes a mass murderer a few months later. They symbolize the choice our nation faces. We must choose a gradual, peaceful Christian settlement of our problems, or violence and destruction and sudden death will be our lot."

I recommend this book to your reading. Every student of Restoration History will want it in his library. I feel certain that the Gospel Guardian Co. will be glad to supply it at the present price.

Note: The quotations in this article were taken directly from the book itself. No permission was granted for them as none is needed; the author allows quotations, not to exceed 500 words, to be taken from the book.