Foreseeing the storm that was gathering, and learning, just a few weeks before the time for the association to convene, the plans that were being so industriously laid to exclude him from the association, he determined to defeat the project in a way which his enemies little expected, but which was in strict accordance with Baptist usage. As he had been frequently solicited by Adomson Bently to leave the Redstone Association and unite with the Mahoning, and as a number of the members of the Brush Run Church lived in Wellsburg and vicinity, he decided this was an opportune time to form a separate congregation in which he would have his membership, and which might afterward unite with the Mahoning Association. He announced, therefore, to the church at Brush Run that he desired from them letters of dismission for himself and some thirty other members in order to constitute a church at Wellsburg. This request was granted and a congregation was at once formed in the town of Wellsburg, and continued to assemble regularly ever afterward in the house which had been previously erected for that purpose. Thus were the unrighteous attempts of wicked men defeated. A WIDER FIELD Shortly before the events already mentioned, Mr. Campbell was very unexpectedly drawn into a discussion with John Walker, a minister of the Seceder Presbyterian Church. It came about in this way: The jealousy of rival religious parties at Mount Pleasant, Ohio, led to a controversy between Mr. Walker and Mr. Birch, a Baptist preacher, which ended in a challenge by Mr. Walker to meet any Baptist preacher of good standing in the public discussion of the question of baptism. The high opinion entertained throughout that region for Mr. Campbell’s ability led to his selection as the most suitable champion of the Baptist cause. Owing to the circumstances under which he was placed, he did not give an immediate answer. In the meantime Mr. Birch renewed the appeal, and finally made it more urgent by stating that it was the unanimous wish of all the Baptist churches throughout that region that he should be their representative in the discussion. Being thus called upon by the church, and urged by personal friends, he could no longer refuse to yield to his own convictions of public duty. His hesitancy was not due to his own disinclination, but in deference to his father, who did not regard “public debates the proper method of proceeding in contending for the faith once delivered to the saints.” He, however, finally succeeded in convincing his father that, however much the usual unprofitable debates upon human theories were to be deplored and avoided, no objection could lie against a public defense of revealed truth, for which the Scriptures afforded abundant precedent. Having gained this point with his father, he finally informed Mr. Birch of his willingness to enter the discussion.