Unfencing the Table

In the early 1800's a young man by the name of Alexander Campbell was studying at the school of religion at the University of Glasgow. Although he was a Scottish Presbyterian, he came to believe the Lord's Supper was a meal that should be shared with all believers. You see, at that time ministers gave person's tokens that verified they were worthy to take communion. That worthiness came by way of having made the right confession, the one that the church claimed was orthodox. When they prepared to have communion, which was only once every three months, the minister asked the elders to fence the table. They checked to make sure every person had
a token who came down front to sit at a long table to take communion. At one such service Campbell walked down the aisle, threw his token on the table and walked out. As you know he would go on to America where he would become the mouthpiece for the movement his father Thomas was beginning, a movement that placed the table at the heart of worship, removed the fence, and invited all to share the Lord's Supper. Discipes of Christ were given life through his work.
I went looking for that chapel where Campbell had his cleansing of the temple experience. I discovered the school of religion at the beginning of the 1800's wasn't located where the University of Glasgow is today, but was closer toward the town center. The chapel had been torn down, but the tower to the chapel was left standing and is now connected to an apartment building. That would be the picture on the bottom. The other picture is where Campbell would have attended classes.