March 4, 1583: Bernard Gilpin, the English clergyman whose ministry in neglected sections of Northumberland and Yorkshire earned him the title “Apostle of the North,” dies at age 66.
March 4, 1866: Alexander Campbell, founder of the Disciples of Christ and the Church of Christ, dies. He sought desperately to get back to a “simple evangelical Christianity” founded on the Bible alone. Only this—not creeds or confessions or liturgy—could bring unity to Christians: “The testimony of the Apostles is the only and all-sufficient means of uniting Christians” (see issue 45: Camp Meetings and Circuit Riders).
