Many hours of work have gone into the production of the volume you now hold in your hands. Many people have been a part of this project, and each one did it as a labor of love in order to bring this often forgotten part of Restoration Movement history to light once more. All students of the movement are at least aware of Campbell's two periodicals, The Christian Baptist and The Millennial Harbinger. Some have heard of Walter Scott's The Evangelist and Barton Stone's Christian Messenger. Most know about The Gospel Advocate, but may not be aware of its pedigree and history. But ask most members of the church of Christ, the Christian Church, or the Disciples of Christ (those who trace their history back to the Restoration Movement, though some distance themselves from the principles their spiritual forefathers fought for) about the American Christian Review, and you'll most likely end up with blank stares.
Elder Benjamin Franklin was a fierce conservative voice, standing for Jesus Christ and His church against any attacks. He was related to the famous American Patriot, Benjamin Franklin, though there has been some disagreement as to the exact relationship (grandson or nephew). Either way, he was named for this famous relative; and while the Patriot Franklin is better known, the Preacher Franklin did more and better work that matters eternally.
As much as is possible, we have tried to keep the original setup from the 1857 edition of the American Christian Review. This has been done so that any writers who have, or who will in the future, quote from or reference the ACR will not have readers scratching their heads if they look for the quote in this volume or in the original.
The text has been cleaned up visually, but no changes have been made to the text itself, except for a few very rare cases where there was an obvious typo (like "teh" instead of "the").
We hope you enjoy this piece of Restoration Movement history.
-The Publisher