USA > Indiana > A history of the North Indiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, from its organization in 1844 to the present > Part 5
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Northwest Indiana Conference. For, 87; opposed, 25
Southeast Indiana Conference For, 76; opposed, 47
Indiana Conference For, 54; opposed, 65
In 1857 the slavery issue, which had subsided somewhat since 1854, was again brought before the mind of the public by the famous Dred Scott decision. The resolutions of the North Indiana Conference for that year contain the following:
"We have seen, with deep sorrow, those in author- ity in our country, by the Fugitive Slave Law, repeal of sacred compacts and the recent decision of the Su- preme Court, strengthening their (the negroes') bonds."
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The other great moral issue which had always been the subject of so much discussion by the Conference, viz., temperance, appeared in 1855 to have been settled, at any rate as far as Indiana was concerned. The Legislature in the winter of 1854 had passed a law patterned after its predecessor in Maine, which virtually prohibited the manufacture and sale of in- toxicating liquors as a beverage. County commission- ers were to authorize two agents in each township to sell liquor for other purposes. The agents had to give a bond between one and six thousand dollars and to keep a record of all sales made by them. The right of search was also to be allowed.45 The passage of this law caused a great deal of rejoicing among the Meth- odists. When it went into effect, June 12, 1855, cele- brations were held all over the state.46 The law proved a success from the start. One man writes, in Decem- ber, 1855, "The few months that we have had the law has wrought wonders of temperance reform in our midst on persons who were beyond all other influ- ences."47
B. F. Crary, writing in August, the same year, says : "The effect of the Maine law much surpasses our hopes, and has produced a wonderful change on the face of society. Everywhere one can see the prev- alence of sobriety, order, temperance and peace. There are but few who venture to break the law, and there is but little chance of evasion. In Indianapolis the low doggeries are all closed, but it is thought that in the large and more respectable saloons things calling themselves gentlemen may get a little more of the ardent."48
45 Ibid., February 7, 1855. 46 Ibid., June 20, 1855. 47 Ibid., December 5, 1855. 48 Ibid., August 8, 1855.
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But the joy of the temperance forces was short- lived. In 1856 the Supreme Court of the state declared the law unconstitutional, and in 1857 the temperance resolutions of the Conference greatly deplored this "backward step."
In the fifties, as well as in the present day, the church was divided into two groups, the conservatives, who continually deplored the passing away of old cus- toms, and the radicals, or progressives, who welcomed enthusiastically new ideas and new ways of doing things. J. B. Finley, one of the older Methodist itin- erants, well expresses the conservative idea, when he writes as follows :
"Why has the manner of Methodist preaching so changed and why has the Methodist church become so formal and fashionable?
* * * Her members do not attend class meetings as formerly. The prayer meetings, which used to be crowded, are now nearly vacated. Their reading is of a different kind. Wesley's 'Ser- mons,' Law's 'Serious Call to a Holy Life,' Saints' 'Everlasting Rest,' Fletcher's 'Appeal,' etc .; these works, with others of this
kind, were experimental and practical. * * * If many of our Methodists read at all it is the light, if not the trashy kind.
* * * In many families the Bible is a strange book, not often read at family prayers.
"Our singing in our congregations is more scientific than in former years, but much less spiritual. In many churches a few sing for all the rest; and many of the singers make no profes- sion of religion, and look down from the gallery and seem to say to the people of God 'You poor, ignorant, worshippers, you can't sing like us! Stand still and listen, and we will sing praise to God for you! This part of worship is lost as far as a majority of the church is concerned.
"The Methodist singing of other times was made the power of God in bringing thousands of sinners to the foot of the cross.
"The manner of preaching, I know, has changed. It is thought to be more methodical and scientific but If we take Christ and his apostles for an example there is great reason to doubt."49
On the other hand, we may well imagine that the 49 Ibid., January 7, 1857.
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following rules for preachers were laid down by a minister of a more radical school:50
1. Resolve to be brief, as this is the age of telegraph and stenography.
2. Be pointed ! Never preach all around your text without hitting it.
"3. State your propositions plainly, but do not stop long to particularize.
"4. Avoid long introductions; but plunge into your serinon as a swimmer into cold water.
"5. Condense! make sure that you have an idea, and then speak it right out, in the plainest, shortest possible terms.
"6. Avoid all high-flown language! Quote no Hebrew and Greek, aim to be simply a preacher.
"7. Be honest enough to own that you do avail yourself of help from any source. But in using helps, be sure you never make stilts of them, when your own legs are far better.
"8. Expect the Father's blessing; you are his servants and can do nothing without it.
"9. Stop when you are done."
This progressive spirit was manifesting itself in Indiana in many ways, and, in the main, the Method- ist ministers were placing themselves in the vanguard of progress in spite of a few conservative protests against church organs, choir singing, etc. In 1855 the State Superintendent of Public Instruction proposed several changes in the educational system of Indiana, the most important of which was the establishment of circuit superintendents, a circuit consisting of nine counties, who could come more closely in touch with the teachers than it was possible for the state super- intendent to do. Copies of his recommendations were sent to all the Methodist ministers in the state, and this effort on the part of the state to secure their co- operation was met more than halfway by the preach- ers, who generally indorsed the measure and urged its support by the legislators.51 Another evidence of the
50 Ibid., July 1, 1857.
51 Ibid., February 21, 1855.
St. Joseph
Elkhart
La Grange
Stauben
.
Noble
De Kalb
Marshall
1
Kosiusko
Fort Wayne
Fulton
Whitley
A
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Wabash
Huntington
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Grant
Howard
Jay
Clinton
Tipton
Madison
Deleware
Hamilton
Boone
Henry
Hancock
Marken
NATIONAL
ROAD
NORTH INDIANA CONFERENCE
SINCE 1852
MAP OF THE NORTH INDIANA CONFERENCE SINCE 1852.
Wello
Adams
Randolph
Wayne
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awakening of the people along educational lines is the holding in December, 1854, of the first State Teachers' Association Convention in Indianapolis. H. B. Hib- ben, in writing of this event, says: "Education, both of hand and heart, is attracting more attention and has got a deeper hold upon the hearts of the people of Indiana than at any other period in the history of our state."52
Still another evidence of progress is found in the fact that some of the people were beginning to recog- nize that simply any old building was no longer suit- able for the worship of God and the education of youth, but that some attention should be paid to the architecture of buildings used for these purposes.
B. F. Crary, after stating that there was quite an agitation to move Indiana Asbury University to In- dianapolis, where he thinks it should originally have been located, writes in this fashion about buildings in Greencastle :
"It would also be a good notion to tear down or build up a certain church there, somewhat resembling a livery stable. The style of architecture of the churches and the university is modern and western. They began on the ground and built straight up in the air, to a certain height, and then run up a steeple or flattened out and quit, just as taste suggested or means per- mitted. The barn and double log cabin style are the types of our public buildings too often. I do hope that if ever we build another collegiate building in Indiana, we will get an architect to attend to it, and not make a huge pile with holes in it now and then."53
Due to the poor state of Bishop Scott's health, the date of meeting of the North Indiana Conference for 1855 was changed from September 19th to September 14th by Bishop Ames, in order that he might be pres- ent. On the 14th of September the Conference con-
52 Ibid., June 17, 1855.
53 Ibid., April 18, 1855.
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vened at Goshen. The first thing that came up before the Conference after the routine business of appoint- ing committees was an invitation from Northwestern University, which had just been founded, to accept a share in the management of the institution: This in- vitation was referred to the Committee on Education. They reported favorably, and four trustees were ap- pointed from the Conference.
The report of the Committee on Education also showed that the Ft. Wayne Female College was heav- ily in debt and that the buildings and grounds were exposed to public sale. To relieve this situation, the Conference passed a resolution urging each of its members to promise to pay $3.33 for three consecu- tive years.
A Committee on Parsonages was appointed at this session. This was an innovation, and shows the need of providing suitable dwelling places for the minis- ters.54
The year 1856 was a big year for Indiana Method- ism, due to the fact that the General Conference met in Indianapolis on May 1st of this year. The Con- ference met in the State House, the use of which the Indiana solons had been kind enough to grant. In return for this courtesy the Conference passed a reso- lution, inviting the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and Speaker of the House to take seats within the bar of the Conference.55
The North Indiana Conference for the year 1856 was held at Muncie, beginning September 24th. A new departure in education had occurred in this year in the establishment at Wilberforce, Ohio, of a college for the colored people. This institution the Confer- ence heartily indorsed, and a cash contribution of
54 All of these conference committee reports are published in connection with the conference minutes.
55 General Conference Minutes, 1856.
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$202.50 was taken up on the floor of the Conference to assist in this work. The Conference also resolved to present this claim to the people by preaching a spe- cial sermon about it some time before the 1st of April. At this session a resolution was passed asking the Bishops to change the North Indiana from a fall to a spring conference. This request was subsequently granted by the Board of Bishops. A proposal to cele- brate the semi-centenary of Indiana Methodism was received from the Southeastern Indiana Conference. This proposition was acquiesced in and a resolution adopted that suitable sermons be preached on the oc- casion.56
The most important matter that came up for con- sideration at this session of the Conference was in connection with the question of lay representation on the Committee of Finance. This question of allowing the lay members some share in the church government had come up in the General Conference of this year, where a great many petitions from laymen's organi- zations had been received asking for representation on the floor of conference.
The General Conference, however, deemed such a change inexpedient, and refused to adopt it.57 When a motion for a Committee on Finance was made in the North Indiana Conference, an amending motion was offered, providing for the addition to the commit- tee of one lay member from each district and stipu- lating that the committee as so constituted should not report until the next session of the Conference. This amendment was lost. However, in the report of the Committee on Finance, which was adopted by the Con- ference, was this important provision :
"There shall be appointed by the district stewards, one lay member from each district, to attend the annual conference, who
56 North Indiana Conference Minutes, 1856.
57 General Conference Minutes, 1856.
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shall, with an equal number of ministers, form a joint commit- tee to change or revise these regulations, or to present to the conference any other plan of finance which they may devise. These lay members shall have seats within the bar of the confer- ence, and shall have liberty to speak and vote on questions con- nected with their duties as a committee."58
This committee proved a success, and in the min- utes of the next year, 1857, we see this same provi- sion made.
The Conference Committee on Memoirs reported that S. C. Cooper had died during the year. S. C. Cooper was one of Indiana's oldest itinerants at the time of his death. He was born in Baltimore in 1799. He was converted in 1818, and shortly afterward re- ceived license to exhort. In 1827 he entered the min- istry. His first circuit was in Illinois, but after that he spent his entire ministry in Indiana. He was for several years the agent for Indiana Asbury Univer- sity, and twice elected delegate to the General Con- ference. Like a great many of the early Methodist itinerants, he was a shrewd business man, although his early educational opportunities were few. He was one of the most popular preachers in the Conference, as a result of which he held many places of trust and importance in it.59
The Conference of 1857 met at Marion on April 8th, due to the change from a fall to a spring confer- ence. Since the last conference had been held only six months before, very little business of importance was transacted. The preachers were very anxious to find out where they would work for the next year, especially those who had moved just a few months before, and they passed a resolution promising that if the Bishop should see fit to give out the appointments before the end of the conference that no one would
58 North Indiana Conference Minutes, 1856.
59 Holliday, "Indiana Methodism," 139.
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leave, and that, if any preacher did leave, the passage of his character might be objected to on this ground at the next conference.60 This the Bishop refused to do, however.
The death of S. R. Brenton was reported at this session. Like Samuel Cooper, Brenton had seen long and faithful service in the itineracy. Born in 1810, he had entered the ministry at the age of twenty. His health soon failed him, however. He then located and studied law, was admitted to the bar and became a prominent attorney. In 1844 he re-entered the minis- try and four years later represented the North Indiana Conference in the General Conference. During this year he had a stroke of paralysis and was compelled to retire from the ministry. In 1851 he was elected to congress from the tenth congressional district, and was re-elected twice, in 1854 and 1856, to this same office. In 1853 he served as president of Ft. Wayne College. The life of this remarkable man gives us an idea of the ability of the men which the church was calling into her service in the first half of the nine- teenth century.61
The decline in membership from 1855-57 which is mentioned elsewhere in this chapter did not dampen the spiritual ardor of the church. Reports of great revivals are frequent during these years. These re- vival meetings still had the power of attracting the people. A report of a two days' meeting at Xenia says :
"There was such a concourse of people for this country out that the church would not hold more than half of them; and there being no house to accommodate the congregation, they as- sembled in the street. There being a number of sleighs at hand, they were collected together and the people occupied them; others stood on the snow and, with great attention, listened to the preaching of the gospel."62
60 North Indiana Conference Minutes, 1857.
61 Holliday, "Indiana Methodism," 140.
62 Western Christian Advocate, April 4, 1855.
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At a place in the country near Peru, where there had been no preaching for years, S. C. Kinnan held a revival. The meeting was held in a grocery where liquor was sold and cards played. The grocery-keeper was converted, and then his wife, and a great revival followed. Strong men and women fell "as though shot by a dart."63
In the fifties, just as now, the people appreciated variety in their preaching, and it became the practice to call in a stranger to assist in conducting these meet- ings. In a revival on the Kokomo circuit in 1855, W. K. Hoback, of the Tipton circuit, preached, and "al- though he was in his former, or home, society, and in his last year's field, almost every heart was moved at his most melting appeals."64
The building of more modern churches was also going on all over the Conference as the old log churches became too dilapidated for further use. In Indian- apolis, Roberts Chapel began a new charge in the northeastern part of the city. A small church large enough to accommodate 200 people was built. The quarter of the city in which it was located was field and woods only a few years before, but was then being rapidly settled.65
On the Muncie circuit in 1857 three churches were dedicated, one at Jonesboro, one at New Mt. Pleasant, and a third at Shiloh, near Hartford City. The pas- tor on this circuit had this to say about church build- ing: "Our people are making rapid improvement in church building in this part of the country, especially with reference to proper proportions and internal ar- rangements." He then suggested 3x8 windows instead of the old 4x5 type, arranged so that they could be lowered at the top. He also advised against placing
63 Ibid., August 1, 1855.
64 Ibid., March 28, 1855.
65 Ibid., January 31, 1855.
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the stove so close to the pulpit that the preacher will be roasted, and advocated more windows, so that the meeting house would be better lighted.66 At Selma, a new church, 32x50, was erected at a cost of $1,500.00. This building had a 16 foot ceiling and a 325 pound bell. It was dedicated in the fall of 1856 and all its indebt- edness pledged on the day of dedication.67
The practice of giving preachers donations was in vogue in order to piece out the meager salaries of the itinerants. W. R. Kister reports in 1857 such a dona- tion from the people of the Warsaw circuit, of $76.06 in cash and $80.39 in groceries and dry goods. He concludes, "The Lord bless these kind friends and bring them all to heaven."68
While the people were generous in their donations, as the above example shows, on the other hand they expected a great deal from their minister and his family. The itinerants' wives were especially imposed upon. One writer, in speaking of the life of the aver- age preacher's wife, says :
"Like Martha, she should always be serving tables, a pattern of neat husbandry. Like Mary, she should always be sitting at the feet of Jesus. She should always be at home, and always abroad! Always at the bedside of the sick and the distressed, the poor and needy, always ready for the numerous pastoral and social calls required. She should have the care and supervision of the maternal meeting of the sewing circle, the female prayer meeting, and her place should never be vacant at the house of God, the weekly church meeting, etc.
"She should assist her husband as much as possible in all miscellaneous cares and duties, to leave his mind free for more important labors. She must be at all
66 Ibid., April 1, 1857.
67 Ibid., January 7, 1857. 68 Ibid., March 18, 1857.
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times ready to receive company, to notice particularly the aged, the mothers, the young ladies, and the chil- dren, as her influence will do much toward rendering her husband's greater. She must invite all to her house without distinction, that none may accuse her of partiality ; and she must be sure always to be ready to receive calls, that it may never be said, "I called to see you and you were not at home. If ever I knew when to find our minister's wife at home, I would go to see her."
"She must not keep help, because many of their peo- ple do not, and they would deem her 'too proud to work and extravagant.' She 'must keep abundant help or' she is altogether too worldly and laborious ; and her time belongs to the people."69
Her children must be an example to the children of the parish in propriety of behavior, for they are minister's children; in neatness, order, scholarship, dress, etc. They must not dress meanly, for "I am ashamed to let any one know that those are our min- ister's children, they look so out of date." They must not dress expensively, for "I do not wonder that our minister cannot live on his salary; I cannot afford to dress my children as Mrs. B- does hers."
The writer decides that if the minister's wife at- tempts half of these things she will die an early death -a conclusion with which most of us are forced to agree.
On the other hand, the church members were criti- cized more freely and with less tact by their pastors than would be possible in a modern congregation. The old Puritanical ideas of conduct, although revolted against by many good church members, were still the standard. One minister, in a bitter protest against talking on secular subjects before and after the church service, gives the following as a sample conversation :
69 Ibid., April 14, 1858.
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"What is wheat selling now at C -? "
"Only 50 cents !"
"Fifty cents! Well, I'll declare! I had thought of taking a load to sell this week, but I can't stand that."
"Well, I think it will come up as soon as money gets a little more plenty."
"I hope so, for it seems we will not get to sell any- thing we have this year for a reasonable price."
"Have you sold your hogs yet?"
"No! I had an offer of four a few days ago, but think I can get four and a half. Neighbor J- sold his for four and a half and got most of the money down," etc.
The writer urges the ministers to publicly reprove such unseemly public speech.70
Many other similar instances might be given. The Fowler quarterly conference of the Erie Conference in March, 1859, passed a resolution disapproving of church members engaging in "Trafficking and jockey- ing, believing it does not belong to Christianity."71 Another example is a lengthy protest in the Western Christian Advocate against an attempt to palm off on the reading public a novel in the guise of a Bible tale. The book referred to was "The Prince of the House of David," and except the fact that it was a "novel" the critic found nothing wrong with it.72
In the latter fifties a controversy arose in the church over the proposed abandonment of the old cus- tom of lining the hymns. The main arguments in favor of the continuance of the custom were: (1) Some of the older people could not read; (2) many churches were so poorly lighted that reading the hymns was an impossibility; (3) it tended to make people
70 Ibid., June 23, 1858.
71 Ibid., March 30, 1859.
72 Ibid., April 28, 1858.
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remember the hymns. The advocates of discontinuing the practice said that the singing was not as effective and powerful when only two lines were sung at a time and that only a few hymns were sung under this sys- tem and new ones rarely tried.
In 1858 an agitation was started to erect a monu- ment to Bishop Roberts on the college campus at Greencastle. Two members from each Methodist Con- ference in the state met at Indianapolis, January 27th, 1858, to devise ways and means. Augustus Eddy and N. H. Barnes were the representatives of the North Indiana Conference. It was decided to solicit a $1.00 subscription from each Methodist minister in Indiana. The money was quickly raised and the monument was built and dedicated on May 18th, 1859.73
The session of the North Indiana Conference for 1858 was held on April 7th, at Winchester. The editor of the Indiana American "covers" the conference ses- sion in the following fashion :
"Having obtained leave of absence last week, we left the local interests of the American with our faith- ful partner and the interests of the city in the hands of the city fathers, hoping the street commissioner would keep the cows and hogs out of the circle, and dropped up on Wednesday to Winchester to supervise the preachers who were there holding a conference. Getting there a few hours after the session had begun, we found them at work, notwithstanding our absence and the absence of Bishop Ames, who had been de- tained twelve hours by a failure of the cars to make connections at Cleveland."
The writer goes on to say that when Bishop Ames arrived he announced that he would have to be at the West Virginia Conference by the following Thursday, and he asked that the conference transact its business with all possible dispatch.
73 Ibid., February 24, 1858; June 1, 1859.
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