USA > Ohio > History of Ohio Methodism : a study in social science > Part 12
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One of the great benevolent organizations that seeks the social, moral, and spiritual elevation of the people is the Woman's Home Missionary Society. It was formally organized in Cincinnati, July 10, 1880.
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ORGANIZATIONS OF METHODISM.
Mrs. Elizabeth L. Rust was the pioneer of the enter- prise. The first Auxiliary was organized at St. Paul's Church, Delaware, Ohio, on July 27, 1880. This Society has gone on expanding with remarkable power, and is recognized by all the Church authorities as one of the aggressive movements of Methodism. It maintains Industrial Schools and model Homes for the neglected and needy in the South and West, and "provides a Christian welcome and a safe protection for the immigrant girl as she arrives upon our shores from her European home."
The Society has a constituency of about fifty thou- sand women of the Church, and had gathered and dis- tributed, down to 1897, the sum of $2,175,793.23. The Society had, in 1897, eighty-five missionaries in the field, and one hundred and eighty-five deaconesses in the Homes, thirteen schools for academic work, four Homes for the reception of immigrants, and twenty- four Homes for deaconesses, besides other charitable work. Two thousand young girls have been in train- ing in the Southern Homes, and eight thousand pupils have been taught in the schools. These external signs of prosperity give no adequate conception of the great labor in character-building among the large class of needy people. Mrs. R. B. Hayes was chosen the first president, and for nearly ten years she honored the position.
One of the noble Christian organizations of Ohio Methodism is the Glenn Industrial Home and Train- ing-school, of Cincinnati, under the direction of the Woman's Home Missionary Society. The Home has a handsome four-story, brown-stone residence, con-
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OHIO METHODISM.
taining fifteen rooms. It was bought in April, and opened in May, 1891.
"Its object is to promote Christian instruction and charity, employing all agencies that may be found practicable to that end.
"I. It aims to furnish instruction in domestic in- dustries and kindergarten and kitchengarden work.
"2. To provide for Mothers' Meetings and Read- ing Circles for youth, and employment for those need- ing assistance.
"3. To furnish missionary candidates with efficient training in the best methods of reaching and winning the confidence of the people who need help, whether in our own city or in more distant fields. These candi- dates study methods under the guidance of experi- enced workers and teachers, the city furnishing the object-lesson and practice. .
"4. To provide a home for missionary workers of the Woman's Home Missionary Society while labor- ing in Cincinnati or its suburbs.
"5. To furnish a depository for clothing, delicacies for the sick, and such other supplies as may be needed for the successful conduct of the work of the Home, and of the branch missions that may be sustained in other parts of the city, under the care of the workers residing in the Home."
Several missionary workers are employed, and sev- eral hundred of the young are being taught a variety of practical industries. The School of Domestic Sci- ence, inaugurated by this Society, gives instruction in "the chemistry of food, the laws of health in its prepa- ration, and the most economical and wholesome arti-
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cles of diet to provide for a family." Good cooking is regarded not only as a fine art, but as a moral obliga- tion. This society has been instrumental in a few cases in placing cooking in the course of study in our public schools. This deserves praise and practical co-operation.
The deaconess movement has found a hearty re- sponse in the Methodist Churches of Ohio. The Cleveland Deaconess Home had, in 1897, property val- ued at $10,000, and, with twelve deaconesses, was doing an excellent work. The Elizabeth Gamble Dea- coness Home Association, located in Cincinnati, had, in 1897, property valued at $150,000, and at least fifty deaconesses and probationers. H. C. Weakley, of the Cincinnati Conference, is the Corresponding Secretary. These Homes are for the weary deaconess, who, "often overstrained by visiting scenes of degradation, want, and woe, relax their nervous tension in its sweet, spir- itual atmosphere, and to the superintendent of the Home she takes her cares and difficulties, receiving sympathy, encouragement, and wise counsel.
"As night settles down, a feeling of peace and hope- fulness again fills her heart. She looks forward with pleasure to the morrow, when she will go again to the whitened fields-to reap in joy.
"The visiting deaconess, as a Church worker, is without a peer. She goes from palace to hovel in parish visitation; encourages weak Christians, gathers the little ones into the Sunday-school; visits homes where sickness and death have entered; and becomes a tender, helpful friend whenever earthly burdens gall or hearts grow faint.
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OHIO METHODISM.
"Christ's Hospital, under the management of the Elizabeth Gamble Deaconess Home Association, has become a powerful preacher of the gospel of humanity.
"The nurse deaconess, rich in her dower of youth, trained skill, and consecration to the Master's service, comes into the hospital ward a ministering angel, although in human form.
"Striving ever to make her life a living beatitude, and keeping fresh and pure the white flower of her soul, she brings into the room of pain the patience, the tenderness and pitying love of Christ. With trained skill she ministers to the pain-worn bodies, yet keeping ever in mind that hers is the privilege to lay at the feet of the Great Physican those suffering from that graver malady-the sin-sick soul.
"With the gathering of the evening shadows, words of prayer and songs of praise are heard in the hos- pital. The patients learn to look forward to this hour with pleasure, saying that they 'sleep better' because of the words of consolation and trust, and many souls have gone out from Christ's Hospital into a life of higher aims, of purer living, and holier being.
"' What healing touch He gives to them Who use it in His name ! The power that filled His garments' hem, Is evermore the same.'"'
This movement is likewise appealing to the masses through its industrial schools and the kindergarten, where the children crowded together in the large cities are taught in useful arts and given instruction in all that goes to develop Christian citizenship.
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OHIO METHODISM.
Ohio has the honor of being the birthplace of the Epworth League. It was organized in Cleveland, May 5, 1889, and received the formal indorsement of the General Conference in 1892. The Epworth League was formed by the union of five societies. This uniform organization of young people of the Methodist Episcopal Church aims to combine the in- tellectual, social, and religious elements in their de- velopment. The beautiful Epworth Memorial Church of Cleveland now commemorates the birthplace of this powerful organization.
The growth of the Epworth League has been re- markable. There were, in 1897, eighteen thousand regular and nearly six thousand Junior Chapters, and more than 1,650,000 members. Ohio alone had for the same year 1,808 regular Chapters and 583 Junior Chapters. Ohio has the largest number of Leagues of any State in the Union. This is about one-tenth of the whole number of Leagues formed, and, allowing the Ohio Leagues one-tenth of the membership, would give 165,000 members.
The pivotal question before the Christian Churches is the evangelization of the cities. In 1891 a long step in advance was taken for Methodism, when Horace Benton, of Cleveland, a zealous Methodist layman, conceived the idea of bringing the Methodist Evangelical Unions in the large cities into fraternal relations, and forming what is now known as the National City Evangelical Union. The grave prob- lems discussed, and the important questions consid- ered in the annual meetings of the Union have led to the strengthening and helping of the several local
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OHIO METHODISM.
organizations. It likewise places the city mission de- partments of Church work under wise and competent supervision.
The amount of money raised in twenty-seven cities of this Union for 1897 was $201,840.14. Three Ohio cities reported as follows:
Cincinnati, . $11,764 00
Cleveland, 5,292 26
Columbus, 1,100 00
Making a total of $18,156 26
This organization is awakening a deeper interest in the evangelization of cities, and is uniting the Churches for more aggressive work.
The Chautauqua movement found its original im- petus on Ohio soil. In 1874, Hon. Lewis Miller, a prominent Methodist of Akron, was the first to sug- gest and to help with time and money the enterprise that has grown and developed under the magnetic per- sonality of Bishop Vincent to be the greatest educa- tional movement of the century.
The Lakeside General Assembly, located on the shores of Lake Erie, twelve miles from Sandusky, began as a camp-meeting, in August, 1873. A. C. Payne, B. H. Jacobs, S. R. Gill, Rev. R. P. Duval, Alexander Clemons, and E. Johnson were the original purchasers of the central part of the grounds. Rev. R. P. Duval "formulated the plan, and kindled the fires of enthusiasm that never have gone out, and that have proven contagious." In September, 1873, the Central Ohio Conference accepted the thirty acres of grounds tendered the Church for camp-meeting
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ORGANIZATIONS OF METHODISM.
purposes, and appointed six ministers and six laymen as a Board of Trustees, to carry out the conditions im- posed. The idea of having a place for a summer home and for Christian culture took with the people. In 1874 the North Ohio Conference joined the Central Ohio in possession and management of the grounds. The Central German Conference followed in 1875, and the East Ohio Conference in 1889. The first Sunday- school Encampment was held in 1877. The original auditorium was erected in 1878, and enlarged to its present size in 1887. The Lakeside Hotel was built in 1874, and enlarged in 1890. The beautiful lake, picturesque grounds, excellent accommodations, and fine summer homes make this a desirable summer re- treat, and a place for the highest grade of entertain- ment and intellectual development.
The Assembly grounds located at Lancaster, Mt. Vernon, Epworth Heights, and other places in Ohio for camp-meeting purposes and religious culture, in- dicate that the Church seeks to influence for good the people who might otherwise seek questionable worldly summer resorts.
Great institutions and great men are closely related. The Church that had been so active in evangelical work would naturally bring to the front some strong, notable men. Ohio has given to the Church a great number of bishops. Since the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, there have been forty-nine bishops. Of this number, seventeen came from Ohio. Bishops Hamline, Morris, Clark, Thomson, Kingsley, Wiley, and Hartzell were elected to the episcopal office while their homes were in Ohio,
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and Bishops Simpson, Ames, Harris, Foster, Merrill, Walden, Joyce, Thoburn, McCabe, and Cranston were born in Ohio. Of the twenty-one bishops now living, eight are from this State.
The influence of prominent Ohio Methodists in national affairs is worthy of note. John McLean, justice of the United States Supreme Court, was an active, earnest Methodist. During the war, Secretary Stanton exerted a great influence. He was converted at a Methodist altar in Steubenville. Lincoln found Bishop Simpson, of Cadiz, Ohio, one of his wisest and most intimate counselors. The following incident will illustrate this bishop's influence. He said: "One day, in the darkest time of the war, I called to see Mr. Lincoln. We talked long and earnestly about the situation. When I rose to go, Mr. Lincoln stepped to the door and turned the key, and said: 'Bishop, I feel the need of prayer as never before. Please pray for me!' And so we knelt down in that room together, and all through the prayer the President responded most fervently."
The parents of General Grant were active members of the Methodist Church at the time of his birth at Point Pleasant. He lived and died a Methodist. President Hayes was not a member of the Church, but was connected with it as a trustee for the greater share of his life. He actively engaged in Church work in Gambier while a student. President Mckinley, the wise and prudent statesman, is a Methodist of great influence in the Church.
It is a source of gratification and thankfulness that the Methodist Episcopal Church of Ohio has had
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the honor of inaugurating some of the greatest Chris- tian and benevolent organizations of the world. This is largely due to the Christian zeal and devotion of noble antecedents. It is a joy to plan great things for God and humanity, but it is a greater glory for the Christians of this generation to receive the noble heritage, and work earnestly to fulfill the original conception of the founders.
Chapter VIII. Bigher Gouration in Methodism. 221
F we work upon marble, it will perish; but if we work upon immortal minds, if we imbue them with principles, with the fear of God, and love of our fellow-men-we engrave on these tab- lets something which will brighten for all eternity."-Daniel Web- ster.
COLLEGE must be either avowedly and openly Christian, or by the very absence of avowed Christian influence it will be strongly and decidedly unchristian in its effects upon students." -President Gates.
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CHAPTER VIII.
T T HE uniform policy of the Christian Church is to educate. Prior to the eighteenth century not one university was established but "for the glory of God and the Church." Methodism has always been in the front rank of the educational forces of the age. It was born in a university, and its leaders were trained in the oldest English universities. John and Charles Wesley and Thomas Coke were from Oxford University.
The general acceptance of Christ is largely the re- sult of the influence of men who combine piety with trained ability. Paul, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Cranmer, Wesley, and other great leaders, were men whose minds were cultivated and stored with knowledge, while their hearts were imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit. The revival of religion tends to quicken the intellectual faculties, and promotes the extension of knowledge.
The enduring foundations of Methodism were laid by men of intellectual ability and scholarship. "The mental vigor, great scholarship, and executive force of John Wesley, the poetic fervor and culture of Charles Wesley, the great theological attainments of Fletcher, the chaste though popular and dramatic elo- quence of Whitefield," were among the human forces in the leaders who could so direct the extraordinary revival movement as to prevent its becoming marred and defeated by the fanatical excesses of the unedu- cated masses. Their education commanded respect,
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and their deep and fervent piety inspired such confi- dence that the spiritual reformation augmented with each succeeding age. The Methodist Church has al- ways deemed education necessary for the highest in- terests of the home, the Church, and the welfare of the Nation. She has proved a great intellectual stimulant in this country. The increase in population in the United States from 1880 to 1890 was 26.7 per cent; for the same period the increase of students in college classes in all Methodist schools in the United States was 52.3 per cent. This is certainly a hopeful indica- tion of the ambition and lofty purpose of Methodist youth.
Wherever Methodism is introduced, education quickly follows. Her ministers are leaders in the new education. Ohio has been no exception to this rule. Higher education is her most noteworthy honor. The declaration of the ordinance of 1787 says that "relig- ion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of instruction shall forever be encour- aged in this Territory." This State policy gave en- couragement to the cause of higher education. The pioneers of Ohio projected a large number of secon- dary schools and colleges. Instead of one absorbing center of learning, the colleges were planted through- out the State, so that the youth of even limited means could secure a good education with a moderate ex- penditure of money and effort. The thirty-seven col- leges in Ohio are largely denominational, but not sec- tarian; the majority of them are vigorous and growing, and maintain the highest standards of education. The
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glorious heritage for Ohio's sons and daughters is found in the fact that they enjoy the highest oppor- tunities for intellectual training and preparation for service in the world's moral and spiritual interests. "Through her colleges," says President Scovel, "Ohio is expressing her devotion to the great industry of making men, the most men and the best men. That is the meaning of everything that has any meaning. The sciences are to enlarge man's nature and his grasp upon nature at the same time; the philosophies, to lead him into reverence for his own inner being and for the great Upper Being whence and in whose image he came. The governments are to make man-making influences supreme, and man-destroying influences are to be minimized or extirpated. Literature breathes warm desire for refinement and the illumination of men. Religion renovates man, and secures his con- duct here as a working-bee in a social beehive."
The Methodist Church recognizes that it is her duty and privilege to educate the youth for the Church and for good citizenship. When, in 1784, the Church was organized, Cokesbury College, near Baltimore, was founded. The fact that the required studies em- braced the English, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, and French languages shows the high standard of the early education set up. The same spirit actuates the Church of to-day. Though among the youngest of Christian bodies of this country, the magnitude and extent of educational work is second to none. The Methodist Episcopal Church comprises less than one- half of the Methodists in the United States; yet in 1892 she had forty-nine institutions of collegiate grade,
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with property and endowment of over seventeen mill- ions. Of the six thousand students attending these institutions, there are sent out annually fifteen hun- dred graduates with Bachelor's degrees. In 1892 she had one hundred and ninety-five institutions of learn- ing of every grade, with property and endowment valued at twenty-six million dollars, with two thousand four hundred and forty-three professors and teachers, and forty thousand and twenty-six students. A Church with such a record will certainly not lose her hold upon the intellect and scholarship of the age.
"The Methodist Church," says William T. Harris, Commissioner of Education, "is sending out philos- ophers of a high order, and attacking the evils of skepticism as intrenched in such system. I have noticed, too, that in matters of highest scholarship the Methodist Church is sending forward young men into the first rank. And yet this remarkable Church does not lose the ground which it has always held in the enlightenment of the masses of the people."
The Methodist Church likewise believes it to be both politic and expedient to raise up an educated ministry. Wesley required all his preachers to study at least five hours a day. To one who neglected his duty, Wesley wrote: "Hence your talent in preaching does not increase; it is just the same as it was seven years ago. It is lively, but not deep; there is little variety, there is no compass of thought. Reading only can supply this, with daily meditation and daily prayer. You wrong yourself greatly by omitting this; you can never be a deep preacher without it, any more
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than a thorough Christian. O begin! fix some part of every day for private exercise. You may acquire the taste which you have not; what is tedious at first will afterwards be pleasant. Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily. It is for your life! There is no other way; else you will be a trifler and a superficial preacher all your days. Do justice to your own soul: give it time and means to grow; do not starve yourself any longer." These words show how urgent Mr. Wesley was, both in example and precept, to have an educated ministry. Methodism has made ample pro- vision for education. Her young men are urged to attend college. Each applicant for the ministry must undergo a four years' course of reading and study, with examinations at the close of each year. The brightest minds that occupy her pulpits have been trained within the scholarly precincts of her own col- leges. Her theologians and ministers, as a class, do not suffer by comparison with the best produced by any other denomination in Christendom. The min- isters are thus qualified to meet the different phases of human activity, and speak effectively on civil, re- ligious, and economic questions.
Besides the thousands attending the literary insti- tutions of the Church, it is estimated that there are not less than thirty-five hundred young ministers annually pursuing a four years' Conference Course of Study, which is intended to be post-graduate, and supplement- I ary to a scholastic and theological training. In some of the Conferences a course in one of our theological schools takes the place of these Conference studies.
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OHIO METHODISM.
Thousands of young people in the Sunday-school and Epworth League are likewise successfully pursu- ing some course of study. The facts show how effect- ually the Church is providing for the religious influence and moral teachings of her youth.
The first literary institution of Methodism in the West was that of Bethel Academy, located in Jessa- mine County, Kentucky. The enterprise was pro- jected in 1789, but was not incorporated until 1802. A building, eighty by forty feet and three stories high, was erected, on one hundred acres of land as a site for the academy. This was subsequently abandoned by the Church. Later, in 1822, Augusta College, located at Augusta, Kentucky, on the Ohio River, was organized by the joint action of the Ohio and Kentucky Conferences. In 1823, a three-story build- ing, forty-two by eighty, was completed, and conveyed to the trustees. The college was transferred to Lex- ington in 1844, but the new enterprise proved unsuc- cessful. This college gave impulse to the cause of education, and led to founding of other prosperous schools under more favorable conditions.
As Ohio Methodism grew in numbers and financial strength, a number of small academies were estab- lished in different sections of the State, with a view to meeting somewhat the needs of the people, and improving the standard of scholarship. Many of these schools were under the control of the Conferences within whose boundaries they were located, while others were conducted in the interest of the Church under private ownership.
The following is a list of these literary institutions,
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owned and controlled by the Methodist Episcopal Church prior to 1884:
NAME OF INSTITUTION. LOCATION.
PERIOD.
Norwalk Seminary,
. Norwalk, .
1833-1848.
Worthington Female College, .
Worthington, .
1839-1874.
Berea Seminary, . Greenfield Seminary, .
. Berea, .
. 1840-1846.
Greenfield, 1851.
Ohio Conference High School,
. Springfield, .
1852.
Baldwin Institute, .
Berea, 1852-1856.
Poland Female College,
Poland,
1858-1860.
Wilberforce University,
Xenia, . 1858-1863.
Willoughby Collegiate Institute,
. Willoughby, . 1859-1883.
Central Ohio Conference Seminary, . Maumee City,
. 1861-1872.
Cincinnati Wesleyan College, .
. Cincinnati, . . . 1842-1894.
Schools conducted in the interest of the Methodist Episcopal Church under private ownership:
NAME OF INSTITUTION. LOCATION.
PERIOD.
Springfield Female College, .
. Springfield, . . . 1842-1866.
Oakland Female College, .
Hillsboro,
. 1839-1853.
Asbury Seminary, .
. Chagrin Falls, .
. 1851-1862.
Spring Mountain Academy,
Spring Mount, . . 1855-1866.
Linden Hill Academy, .
. New Carlisle, .
. 1856.
Mansfield Female College,
Mansfield,
1858.
Coveville Seminary, .
. Coveville,
1861-1866.
Richmond College,
Richmond,
1862.
Xenia Seminary, .
. Xenia, .
1850.
The small academies and colleges were, for the most part, without endowment, and depended upon the tuition and boarding fees of students for their support. Owing to the improved conditions and the excellent work done in the public high schools, the popularity of these academies declined, and the small patronage did not prove adequate to their support, and nearly all of them have been closed. The attempt to found these literary institutions has not been with- out good fruits. Considering the time and circum- stances of these educational efforts, they were efficient
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