At Paris, Mr. Allen also effected a union of the two churches and the union at Georgetown, Lexington, and Paris soon led to union throughout the state. This desire for unity was greatly furthered by the efforts of John Smith and John Rogers, who had been appointed at the Lexington meeting to visit all the churches and hold meetings in conjunction with each other. Their work was wonderfully successful throughout Kentucky in uniting the two bodies. The effect of this union was very great on those who had never made any profession of religion. Multitudes became obedient to the faith throughout Kentucky, and an impetus was given to the cause by the union of the two peoples, which served to illustrate the overwhelming power which the gospel would exert upon the world if all the sad divisions among those who claim to follow Christ were healed. The sectarians of Kentucky, who had foretold a speedy disruption of the union, were surprised to find their prophecies unfulfilled, and not less grieved at the inroads continually made upon their own power, which, from this period steadily and rapidly declined. It is worthy of mention that at the time these events were happening in Kentucky, the spirit of union was prevailing over sectarianism in a number of other states also. Every preacher among them was a missionary and traveling evangelist. “This union of the Christians and Reformers was not a surrender of one party to the other; it was an agreement of such as already recognized and loved each other as brethren to work and worship together. It was the union of those who held alike the necessity of implicit faith and of unreserved obedience; who accepted the facts, commands, and promises as set forth in the Bible; who conceded the right of private judgment to all; who taught that opinions were no part of the faith delivered to the saints; and who were now pledged that no speculative matters should ever be debated to the disturbance of the peace and harmony of the church, but when compelled to speak on controverted subjects, they would adopt the style and language of the Holy Spirit.” It was an equal and mutual resolution to meet on the Bible as on common ground and to preach the gospel rather than to propagate opinions. Transcriber’s Notes --Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication. --Added some entries to the Table of Contents to correspond to section headings. --Silently corrected a few palpable typos. --In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Church, the Falling Away, and the Restoration, by James Walter Shepherd