"The Harbinger Proscribed"
The opposition Alexander Campbell incurred by his entrance into the field of religious journalism, in 1823, did not subside when he terminated the Christian Baptist to begin the Millennial Harbinger, in 1830. The new journal, as the prospectus stated, was "devoted to the destruction of sectarianism, infidelity, and anti-christian doctrines and practices," on the negative side, and to a proclamation of "the ancient Gospel and a Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things," on the positive side.
The Harbinger was barely out of its swaddling clothes when the editor gave this appraisal of the paper's reception among the general public:
Never was there a more vigilant, determined, and untiring opposition to any religious paper, published on this continent, as far as we are advised, than at this time to this paper. It has been denounced from the pulpit and the press — by associations, conferences, and councils — and it is now persecuted from house to house. Some persons are so beset by the teachers of their own vicinities that they are afraid to be known as subscribers. It is not uncommon for persons to be visited and to be besought and commanded not to take it, by those who are in authority with the people for orthodoxy and piety. (Millennial-Harbinger, Jan. 1832, p.32. )
Such violent opposition did not arise from any personal hatred of Campbell as a man. It came about because of the things he taught, because of the things he stood for and the things he stood against, with the latter being the more frequent offender. No man of ability and influence has ever set out to destroy religious error, and to plead for Bible authority as the standard in religion, without bringing down around his head the wrath of organized religion and its related institutions, as well as that of all those who obtained wealth and honor from feeding upon such error. Campbell knew this as well as any man, but he did not allow it to deter him from his course. As he said nearly a decade earlier, "I have counted the cost, and put my hand to the plough, and while God protects and enables me, I will not look back."
Those ecumenical wizards in the Christian Church and among Churches of Christ, who claim spiritual kinship with the Restoration movement of which Campbell was a leading light, try desperately to make it appear that Campbell was a somewhat premature advocate of the modern ecumenical movement. Nothing could be farther from the truth! The ecumenical movement is not interested in the slightest degree in a restoration of the ancient order of things, much less the destruction of religious error. Campbell has about as much kinship with the modern ecumenists as Elijah had with the prophets of Baal. Campbell was not perfect and he made some serious mistakes, but he was never guilty of pleading for the amalgamation of religious sects into a super-church of human origin and based upon the doctrines of men. Had that been his object, the Harbinger never would have received the violent opposition it did from the denominational world. This within itself belies the claims of the modern ecumenical advocates regarding the position of Campbell.