USA > Indiana > A history of the North Indiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, from its organization in 1844 to the present > Part 9
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The General Conference of 1868 made considerable change in the boundaries of the North Indiana Con- ference. All of Indianapolis and vicinity became a part of the Southeast Indiana Conference, and thus Roberts Chapel, East Indianapolis Mission, Trinity Church and Lawrence charge no longer appear among the North Indiana Conference appointments. This accounts for some of the decrease in almost all items of importance in the statistics for 1869. In membership the de- crease amounted to 214, though the loss by change of Conference lines was 1,398. There was a decrease of 2,897 in the probationers' column, and a loss of $68,980 in the valuation of parsonages, and there were also decreases in almost all the benevolent collections.32
There were no unusual happenings at the twenty- sixth session of the Conference, which met at the Pearl Street Church, Richmond, on April 15th, 1869. Bishop Simpson presided. On the first day of the session a committee was appointed to inquire into the reasons why the Conference lost that part of Indianapolis and
30 Western Christian Advocate, Jan. 6, 1868.
31 Ibid., March 11, 1868.
32 Minutes, 1869, 5, 22.
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Marion county which had formerly been within their bounds, and W. H. Goode, J. V. R. Miller and O. V. Lemon were appointed the committee. Another spe- cial committee report presented at this Conference session was one on Ministerial Education, prepared by Thomas Bowman, J. V. R. Miller and C. Martindale. The report states that there is an increasing demand for a higher grade of ministerial education, and that, as more than $80,000 was contributed during the cen- tennial year to aid ministerial students to gain an edu- cation, and as the last General Conference had appoint- ed a Board of Control to take charge of this fund, and that since the North Indiana Conference might receive the benefits from the fund by organizing an auxiliary to the Educational Society of the church, they, there- fore, resolve that such an organization be formed, and that a committee be appointed to draft a set of by- laws.33 The Educational Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as has been stated in the committee report above, grew out of the centennial observances in 1866. During this year two funds were created for educational purposes, the "Children's Fund" and the "General Education Fund," and as there seemed to be no organization within the church to look after these new funds, the General Conference of 1868 established the Board of Education. This new board was char- tered in 1869, and made its first report to the General Conference of 1872.34
The attitude toward an educated ministry had un- dergone a great change since the organization of In- diana Asbury University in 1837. At that time the Methodist preachers favored the establishment of col- leges, but not of theological seminaries. Even the editor of the Western Christian Advocate in 1837 op-
33 Minutes, 1869, 27-32.
34 Porter, "Compendium of Methodism" (1897), 184.
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posed theological seminaries, and he argued that their establishment would be dangerous to unanimity of opinion, and that they would tend to localize the itin- eracy. By 1870, however, the North Indiana Confer- ence, and the Methodist Episcopal Church generally, had become the staunch supporters of an educated and cultured ministry, and the growth and increasing in- fluence of the three great theological seminaries of the church stand as a living testimony to this change of opinion.
CHAPTER VI.
METHODISM IN THE NORTH INDIANA CONFERENCE FROM 1870-1876.
In looking over the available historical material of the North Indiana Conference from 1870-1876, one cannot help but be impressed with a number of things which stand out pre-eminently above the ordinary af- fairs of the church. In making a survey of the source material for this period, one can clearly see that (1) instrumental music in the church was a very impor- tant question, especially in the small towns and rural communities ; (2) the Presiding Elder's status was another much-discussed question, and we shall see as the chapter develops the diversity of opinion relative to this time-honored office; (3) the licensing and or- daining of women to preach was a very important matter, which was brought before the quarterly con- ferences, the district conferences and the annual con- ference, and there appealed to the General Conference ; (4) the Preachers' Aid Society held an important place during this period, though perhaps no more im- portant than in other periods of its history; (5) the boundary question, especially that portion of it relative to the loss of a portion of Marion county and a section of Indianapolis; (6) the missionary propaganda has always been a live department of Methodism in North Indiana Conference, and this period is no exception to this general rule; (7) the importance given to the revival effort, and the decline of the old-time camp- meeting. Of course, many minor movements were going on all the while. The regular routine of work, such as the fight against drink, the promotion of edu- cation, and the building of new churches and parson-
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ages, went on at a steady pace, not to mention an occasional trial of a preacher for improper conduct.
The twenty-seventh session of the North Indiana Annual Conference was held in the Methodist Episco- pal Church, Kokomo, Indiana, April 13-18, 1870, Bishop David W. Clark presiding. Bishop Clark gave a short, enthusiastic address in opening the confer- ence, commending the preachers for their businesslike methods in handling the affairs of the Conference. He commented upon the growth of Methodism within the bounds of the Conference, and closed his remarks by paying a touching tribute to the recently deceased Bishops Thomson and Kingsley.
The proceedings of the conference were normal, and nothing out of the ordinary took place until the eleventh question was asked: "Are all the preachers blameless in life and conversation?" A number of names were called and their characters vouched for. A. S. Kinnan was called, and M. Mahen, Presiding El- der of Richmond district, stated that A. S. Kinnan had surrendered his credentials of ordination, and Kinnan thus ceased to be a minister or a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church. Dr. Bowman, Kinnan's coun- sel, made a strong address in favor of retaining Kin- nan in the Conference, but lost by an overwhelming vote. Dr. Goode acted as counsel for the Con- ference. In justice to the Conference and to Methodism at large, it ought to be understood by every one that at every annual conference the character of each Method- ist preacher is passed upon. While the preachers of North Indiana Conference have always shown a fra- ternal spirit, yet they have never permitted this friend- ly fellowship to keep them from applying the knife when the best interest of Methodism, the Conference and Christianity were at stake. The pathway of Christianity is strewn with the wreckage of human lives. No considerable organization has been able to
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perpetuate itself without being compelled to eliminate from time to time certain of its members for not ob- serving the laws, rules and regulations. Another case of similar nature came up at this conference. W. K. Hoback had been expelled from an Annual Conference, and applied for license as a local preacher. The license was denied, whereupon Hoback appealed to the Annual Conference, but Bishop Clark decided that he could not be licensed.
It is not difficult to locate the leading members of a Conference. The Rev. Augustus Eddy, Presiding Elder of Anderson district, had for years been one of the conspicuous men. He was born in Massachu- setts, October 5th, 1798, and was converted at a very early age. Before he was twenty he was tak- in gan active part in song and prayer services. At the close of a sermon by B. G. Paddock, young Mr. Eddy rose up in the middle of the congregation and said, "Mr. Paddock, will you take me?" Mr. Paddock went back to him and invited him to come into the church. He was licensed as an exhorter in 1819. In 1820 he married Miss Martha Thomas. He was made Presiding Elder in 1831. He traveled a number of the large districts of the central West, such as the Indi- anapolis, Whitewater, Madison and Lawrenceburg dis- tricts. In 1855 he was transferred to the North Indi- ana Conference. He also served as post chaplain at Indianapolis for four years during the war. He served three times at General Conference. "He closed up a long life heroically devoted to life's noblest end," Febru- ary 9th, 1870.1
As has already been mentioned, the quetsion of in- troducing instrumental music into the church was fraught with many perils. In some localities it was called "The Organ War." Many of the people objected
1 Western Christian Advocate, February 23, 1870, for an ac- count of the Life of Augustus Eddy ; also Minutes, 1870, 40, 41.
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to the use of the organ in church worship and the ru- ral churches especially were a little slow to introduce it. So eminent a man as Peter Cartwright, a giant of the frontier, bitterly opposed what he termed "high- brow" music. Alluding to the time when he was in Boston, he said: "The salaries of their organists and choirs are expenses unjustified by the word of God. The choir practice destroys congregational singing almost entirely, and has introduced the awkward and irreverent practice among congregations of turning their backs on the sacred desk and facing about to the choir. This whole system has a tendency to destroy the humble practice of kneeling in time of prayer." While it is true that Peter Cartwright made this state- ment some twenty years earlier, it is equally true that Cartwright himself was twenty years ahead of the backwoods community. The following anonymous note sums up the argument, pro and con: "Shall we introduce an instrument of music into our churches to guide the songs? This is the question, and the contest is fervent in places. The progressive element say 'Yes.' The conservatives say, 'No.' The affirmative argues convenience; the negative, conscience. One anti-organ official member prayed that the church might be delivered from such idolatry. In another place several members went out of the church when the organ came in, and now battle their way without a church. The efforts to 'pitch the tune' upon some ancient air may not be very devotion inspiring to the organ lovers, but the mechanical grinding is no less obnoxious to the anti-organ party. David and Miriam are claimed by the former, while the Apostles, and especially Paul and Silas, are patrons of the latter. May God direct the right." Henry Ward Beecher, a contemporary of Bishop Simpson, after being absent from Indiana for a number of years, visited a Method- ist church on his return and made the remark that the
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coming of the organ and the organization of the choir doubtless helped to round out the worship. Yet, on the other hand, he said that it materially weakened the congregational singing, and that the old-time fire and Methodist enthusiasm were lacking. Dr. Thomas Bowman, later Bishop Bowman, while addressing a Sunday school convention in Indianapolis, pointed his finger at the organ and said: "People have let that thing drive them out of the church." Dr. Bowman lamented the fact that any one should be so short- sighted as to let the coming in of an organ make them lose their religion. He said, though, that he had known people to have disputes and hard feelings over the shape of the toe of the preacher's boot.
Soon after the new brick church was completed in Kokomo, which was begun in 1864, the more pro- gressive members decided to organize a choir and pur- chase an organ. This caused a very serious feud in the church, and so enraged were the anti-organites that some of them crawled into the church through a window, in the dead of night, and cut the bellows of the organ, and when, on the next Sunday, the choir attempted to start the tune with the use of the organ, not a sound came forth, and both choir and minister were greatly chagrined. Later, when the Conference session met at Kokomo in 1870, these same anti-organ agitators filled the organ with pepper, which set the choir and congregation to sneezing and coughing as soon as they commenced to use the organ. Finally, however, this organ war subsided, and the progressive element carried their point.
The twenty-eighth session of the North Indiana Annual Conference was held in the court house at Huntington, Indiana, April 12-17, 1871. Bishop E. R. Ames presided over the conference. Several things of minor importance which have no direct relationship to each other took place at this conference. Dr. Bowman
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got the conference to pass a resolution asking the next General Assembly of Indiana to pass a law on divorce conforming to the Bible regulations on that subject. Mrs. Margaret Givan, of Indianapolis, bequeathed five hundred dollars to the Missionary Society of the Con- ference. It was at this session of the conference that it was decided that memoirs of the preachers' wives should be printed in the minutes. Rev. Barnett sur- rendered his parchments and withdrew from the church. Durbin, son of Dr. Thomas Bowman, died while the conference was in session.
The North Indiana Conference at this time was made up of eight districts, the West Fort Wayne dis- trict having been added in 1870. Each district con- tained from fifteen to twenty pastoral charges. Some members of the Conference thought that fifteen pas- toral charges should be the maximum in a district, while there was a strong following in favor of reducing the number of districts to five. A small majority were satisfied with eight districts. Yet it will be noted that the advocates of fewer districts gradually gained the ascendency. This movement was nation-wide, for all Methodism was discussing the Presiding Elder, the size of his district, and his contribution to Methodism. Some of the extreme radicals even suggested the ad- visability of eliminating the office and in its stead elect or appoint some leading pastor in the district to over- see, in a meager way, the small appointments and form a cabinet to assist the Bishop in making appointments at conference.2 It was pointed out that, strictly speak- ing, according to Methodist law, the Presiding Elder had no more right to be a member of a private cabinet of the Bishop than any other member of the Confer-
2 For discussions of the Presiding Eldership. see The Western Christian Advocate, November 26, 1873; December 17, 1873; Jan- uary 21, 1874; November 3, 1845; February 10, 1875; February 23. 1876; September 13, 1876.
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ence. Truly, it was an institution that grew up by the nature of their positions, without the sanction of law. But the fact that the General Conference, the legisla- tive body of Methodism, has always been made up largely of Presiding Elders, there has never been any very radical legislation relative to that office. There was also a movement on foot to reduce the salary rate per cent. of the Presiding Elder from ten to seven or eight, and also to relieve the Book Concern of the burden of supporting the Bishops and place it upon the Conference on the same basis as the Presiding Elders.
The conference of 1871 established four missions. Anderson district supported Elwood mission, Fort Wayne district supported Waterloo mission, Logans- port district supported Logansport mission, and West Fort Wayne district supported Centenary mission.
The twenty-ninth session of the Conference was held at Muncie, Indiana, March 27-April 1, 1872. This was the year for the election of delegates to the Gen- eral Conference. William H. Goode, Thomas Bowman, William S. Birch, N. H. Phillips and O. V. Lemon were elected. M. H. Mendenhall and L. W. Monson were elected reserve delegates. The interest of North In- diana Conference in the General Conference centered about the boundary line between North Indiana Con- ference and the then Southeast Indiana Conference. The following is a portion of the memorial that was sent to the General Conference:
Dear Fathers and Brethren-Your memorialists, the members of the North Indiana Conference, in Con- ference session assembled, do hereby concur in the pre- sentment of the following facts to the consideration of your honorable body :
(1) They would represent that at the last session of the General Conference held in 1868, a change was made in the boundaries of the North Indiana Confer- ence and those of the Southeast Indiana Conference,
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by which an important and valuable portion of the territory heretofore held by the former Conference, to-wit, all the charges belonging to said Conference in the city of Indianapolis, and in the county of Marion, were taken from said Conference and attached to Southeast Indiana Conference.
(2) They would further represent, and expect to be able to show to the satisfaction of the General Con- ference, that said change was not required by any existing necessity; that it was not asked in the form in which it was effected, by the membership in Indian- apolis or elsewhere; and that it was highly unjust to the ministry and membership of North Indiana Con- ference and damaging to the general interests of the church; and that the facts affecting this transfer of territory never were properly before the said General Conference of 1868, and never considered by them.
(3) These facts are more fully set forth in a re- port and resolutions adopted by this Conference at its annual session in 1870, which report, with the facts and. arguments therein contained, is hereby incorpo- rated with this memorial and made a part of it to be presented to your honorable body.
(4) In view, therefore, of these facts, your me- moralists respectfully ask that the boundary line be- tween the North Indiana Conference and the South- east Indiana Conference be as it was prior to the action of the General Conference of 1868.
W. H. GOODE, O. V. LEMON, J. V. R. MILLER.3
Muncie, April 1, 1872.
3 For the entire report see Minutes, 1872, 44-52. For discus- sions of the boundary question, see Western Christian Advocate, August 16, 1871; August 30, 1871; August 23, 1871; September 6. 1871; May 29, 1872.
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To say the least, there must have been some schem- ing on the part of some delegates of Southeast Indiana Conference in the General Conference of 1868. While it may be possible that the interests of Methodism have been better cared for in the city of Indianapolis, by the North Indiana Conference losing its quarter sec- tion of the city, yet it caused more or less hard feel- ing in the North Indiana Conference. Nor could the members of the North Indiana Conference see how Methodism could be benefited by the change.
Bishop Scott presided over the conference, which was held in Simpson Chapel, Muncie, Indiana, in 1872, only a portion of the time. He was very feeble when he arrived at the seat of conference, and had a number of hemorrhages after arriving. The deacons and el- ders had to go to his room on Sunday to be ordained. William H. Goode usually filled the chair in the absence of the Bishop. This was the last conference over which Bishop Scott presided, for he died shortly after its adjournment.
The period from 1870 to the General Conference of 1872 was a time of very little episcopal supervision. Up to and including the General Conference of 1868, Methodism had been very conservative in the election of Bishops. The church was always fearful lest there might be too much supervision. From 1868 until 1872 illness and death reduced the effective Episcopal Board to five members. Several Conferences in Methodism were held without the presence of a Bishop. A number of our leading churchmen and periodicals advocated the calling of an extra session of the General Confer- ence. But the temporary weakness of the episcopacy did not materially affect the efficiency of the North Indiana Conference. The slavery question was no longer a live issue with the people. The reconstruc- tion period had lost its dazzling novelty. The church turned its attention to the erection of more comfort-
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able and adequate buildings. Many churches and par- sonages were built in all sections of the Conference. Prominent among the number was the Meridian Street Church at Anderson. It was constructed of brick, and the dimensions were 48x85 and thirty-four feet from floor to ceiling. The architecture was composite, with Gothic predominating. There were two towers; the main tower, a hundred and fifty feet high, and the lesser tower ninety feet high. The seating capacity was about eight hundred, and the approximate cost about $30,000.4 Also prominent among the many par- sonages erected during this period was the two-story brick building at Wabash. It contained eight rooms, pantry, cellar and two halls, each nine feet wide. The family bedroom and two upper rooms were provided with large wardrobes.
The thirtieth session of the North Indiana Confer- ence was held at Logansport, Indiana, April 17-22, 1873. The sessions were held in Broadway M. E. Church, and Bishop S. M. Merrill was the presiding officer. One hundred and forty effective members and twenty-two probationers were present. The confer- ence was rather a quiet and uneventful one. The pre- siding elders submitted a report asking for $1,200 for support of the bishops. For the support of the Freed- man's Aid Society they asked $1,700; for missions, $1,600, and for church extension, $2,100.
But while things were quiet at conference, in gen- eral there was a particular question that was being considerably talked-the licensing and ordaining of woinen to preach. The Richmond District had and still has (1916) a considerable sprinkling of Quakers. They mingle quite freely with the Methodists. And be- ing so closely associated each would naturally have some influence over the other. It has long been a cus-
4 Western Christian Advocate, January 17, 1872.
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tom with the Quakers to license women to preach. In fact they make very little if any distinction in the sexes when it comes to preaching; that is ecclesiastically they make no distinction. So common was the belief that women should be licensed to preach that it reached the halls of conference in 1875. Considerable attention had been paid to the licensing of a woman at Winchester. Bishop Bowman was called upon to decide the issue. He decided that the licensing or relicensing of a woman to preach was unauthorized by the Discipline and usage of the Methodist Episcopal Church; consequently the case could not come before the conference. Milton Mahin, presiding elder of Richmond District, took ap- peal to the general conference. Instead of settling the matter this incident rather had a tendency to agitate it. The people that opposed licensing of women placed special emphasis upon I Cor. 14:34, "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak: but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law." Also, I Tim. 2:12, "I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." And they further contended that there was nothing in the Bible to warrant the licensing or ordaining of women. Christ nor the apostles did anything of the kind, yet they were closely associated with many helpful women workers. But the fact that the officers of religious service from Adam to Moses were men and that the priesthood under the law was limited to men, the prophets were men, the twelve apostles and seventy evangelists sent forth by Christ were men. And in ac- cordance with all this are the facts recorded in the organization and economy of the apostolic churches. The facts are the laws of the church do not provide for the licensing of women, neither do they really for- bid their preaching. This is the exact stand the Meth- odist Church has taken on this question. It has de-
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clined to license and ordain them, yet it has permitted them to go on preaching and doing the work of an evangelist. The question for decision has usually been an ecclesiastical one, that is, when women applicants for license have been turned down it has been a matter of discipline and church policy and not a matter of unfitness or inability on the part of the applicant. The question was fully considered and prepared for such action by the Committee on the State of the Church, and stood next in order on the list of questions brought forward for action when the General Conference of 1876 adjourned. This committee was supposed to be composed of one member from each conference dele- gation, so the action of this Committee doubtless ex- pressed the will of the conference. The Committee was divided but the majority was very strong and firm in their opposition to both licensing and ordaining of women. And it is the general opinion that had the General Conference taken action it would have been equally firm and decisive as was the Committee on the State of the Church.5
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