<2TA 1908 a ibhahy OF THE UNIVERSITY Of ILLI NOIS 285. \ &57b imps msTomcAi Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/presbyteriansynoOOblai THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS BY Wm. Irvine Blair Published by MATTOON PRESBYTERY UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE SYNOD OF ILLINOIS 1952 PREFACE To Adina Malmsten Blair and John F. Lyons streams of enthusiasm for the task of assembling the vast amount of material that had to be scrutinized and evaluated. Dr. Lyons was ever ready with helpful sug- gestions, and Mrs. Blair worked over and typed the entire manuscript. Their labor of love is the only outstanding thing in the entire project. Much material of histrionic interest and value was discarded because of relevancy to Presbyterial rather than to Synodical history. To Alvyn Ross Hickman and Ralph Cummins who, together with Dr. Lyons, checked the manuscript is due profound gratitude for many helpful suggestions and criticisms. The Synod of Illinois at its annual gatherings exceeded the encouragement that is represented in the phrase, "at least moral," and by its generosity from year to year made the venture less of a financial disaster than it might otherwise have been. To Mattoon Presbytery and its helpful fellowship belongs whatever credit is due in the field of publication. In this connection, to the Rev. Roscoe C. Coen and Elder LeGrand Flack belong a special debt of gratitude for the sympathetic fidelity tendered by them in the efforts to complete the task assigned within the prescribed limits of the Sesqui- centennial Observance of the Board of National Missions of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. To Frances M. Caudill who gave unlimited patience and devotion to the task of preparing the manuscript for the printers, such gratitude as is possible of expression in words is tendered, but words will never cover the complete story of her fidelity and tireless devotion. The Su- preme Arbitrer in such matters knows her quality and will undoubtedly tender to her in that shadowland that lies beyond His, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Mr. Otto M. Schultz of the Effingham County Printing Company and Mr. Percy Raymer of the Raymer Engraving Company gave in- valuable courtesy and advice in the preparing of cuts and format which is here gratefully acknowledged. Pre-eminently, to the Rev. John F. Lyons and his understanding sym- pathy throughout the ordeal of collecting, editing, and writing the manu- script and his unflagging determination to see it through to a conclusion is due the word of gratitude and praise. I tender it with profound re- spect that has only increased as the wear and tear of the years have worked upon it. My affectionate regard is tendered to those readers who in patience devour the pages that are printed for their consideration. Cordially yours, Wm, Irvine Blair DEDICATION To the honored memory of those resolute pioneer souls who braved The Wilderness and who count- ed not their lives a possession to be greedily grasped at, but laid them upon the altars of God in order that He might find praise in Illinois, this book is affectionately dedicated. ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The Log Cabin Church xiv The Rev. John McDonald xiv The Routes that were followed in entering Illinois 4 The Historical Bell at Vandalia 1 1 Center Presbytery 16 Synods of Illinois— 1838 22 The Log Cabin College of John McDonald 33 The Rev. Salmon Giddings 34 John M. Ellis 55 John G. Bergen 55 Synod of Illinois— 1838 56 New School Synod of Illinois — 1849 58 Old School Synod of Illinois — 1848 59 Robert M. Patterson 83 Blackburn College 95 The Second Building of Paris Presbyterian Church 100 Benjamin F. Spilman 126 The Lincoln Pew at Springfield 131 Rev. James Smith, D.D. 132 The Old School Synod— 1860 137 The New School Synod— 1 860 139 Aratus Kent and The Galena First Presbyterian Church 149 Old School Synod— 1869 161 New School Synod— 1869 162 The Reunion Synod — 1870 165 The Golconda Church 169 The Church at Shawneetown 180 The Consolidated Synod— 1882 212 Columbian Exposition Admission Ticket 237 The First Presbyterian Church at Monmouth 254 PAGE Gideon Blackburn 256 McCormick Seminary 260 Lake Forest University 262 Cyrus Hall McCormick 269 The Presbyterian Church at Carbondale 278 Synod of Illinois — 1897 280 D. S. Johnson and C. Harmon Johnson (Stated Clerks for forty years) 282 W. S. P. Bryan 286 The McKinley Foundation 287 The Seal of Synod 293 Milikin University 296 The Present Synod of Illinois 299 The Virginia Library at McCor- mick Theological Seminary 303 John Timothy Stone 305 Fourth Presbyterian Church, at Chicago 307 Presbyterian Hospital at Chicago 308 The Nurses' Home at Presbyterian Hospital 309 Kemmerer Orphan's Home 310 The Second Presbyterian Church at Bloomington 316 Rock Island Broadway Church 316 The Churches at Centralia and Mt. Vernon 317 The First, Second and Third Presbyterian Churches of Chicago 322 The present First Presbyterian Church of Chicago 323 A Primitive Heater used in Log Cabin Churches 336 PRINTED BY THE EFFINGHAM COUNTY PRINTING COMPANY EFFINGHAM, ILLINOIS TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY PAGE 1 TO PAGE 20 Backgrounds of history — General Assembly's Standing Committee on Missions — Plan on Union — The religious revival of the year 1800 — The roads of entrance into the wilderness — Expansion and the missionary problem — The policies of the Church as she entered frontiers — United effort with like-minded churches — Rev. William Wick, first Protestant minister to enter Ohio — John F. Schermerhorn — Samuel J. Mills — The first Presbyterian church in Illinois founded in the year 1816 — The Golconda Church — Rev. Salmon Giddings — The churches founded be- tween 1816 and 1828 — The readjustments that pioneers have to make — Aratus Kent — The testing of the pioneers — Their life tenure — Center Presbytery organized — Frances Brard Ellis — Founding of Illinois Col- lege — The Yale Band — The aggressive denominational temper — The dur- ation of Center Presbytery. Chapter I THE FORMATIVE PERIOD PAGE 21 TO PAGE 34 The reorganization that created the Synod of Illinois — Jacksonville, the storm center — John Brich, organizer of the First Presbyterian Church of Jacksonville — The prophetic signs of division — The Rev. William J. Fraser — Judge Hall, spokesman for the West — The New England colony method — The indigenous nature of the processes at work — Con- gregational attitudes on the American Negro — Abolitionist dogmas — Di- versity in commitments on slavery — New England Provincialism — The undermining of the Plan of Union — The growth of Congregationalism in Illinois — Transiency in Congregational efforts — Augustus T. Norton's appraisal of the currents that flowed — Educational efforts — The Illinois Legislature non-partisan in its attitude — Rev. Henry I. Venable founded Edgar Academy at Paris — Rev. John McDonald superintends a log-cabin college at Pleasant Prairie — Rev. Gideon Blackburn founds Blackburn University — Deliverances by the Synod. Chapter II DIVISION PAGE 35 TO PAGE 56 Abolitionism in Illinois — Whites or Yankees — Elijah P. Lovejoy — David Nelson — Dr. Zenos on the standing of the Financial Committee — The basis of Presbyterian-Congregational fellowship — How much inde- vii Vlll CONTENTS pendency in education? — Presbyterian backgrounds in education — Yale Band aggressiveness — Illinois College as an educational venture — William J. Fraser files heresy charges against the faculty of Illinois College — The difficulties in securing charters for the colleges — The social nature of the decisions made on the frontier — Peter Cartwright testifies — The con- troversial nature of public discussion — Abolitionism — The temperance theme — The Indiana Theological Seminary has the wrong attitude on Abolitionism — English Presbyterians at Friendsville — Rev. Henry I. Ven- able at Paris — James Butler Hickok — Founding of the College Avenue Presbyterian Church at Alton — The Plan of Union under fire — Conflict implicit rather than explicit — Doctrinal difficulties as a contribution — Dual church loyalties — The difficulty that was the Amerian Home Mis- sionary Society — The Old School-New School parties — The New Haven Divinity School — The difficulties as to polity — Trends toward division — The abrogation of the Plan of Union — The ruling of the civil courts on property rights — Errors charged to the New School party — The division issue at Peoria Illinois — The division of the church in Illinois. Chapter III THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD PAGE 57 TO PAGE 96 Development to the North and West — Financial panic — Multiplica- tion of sects — Depleted forces — Dr. George W. Gale — Death of Gideon Blackburn — Stagnation in land values — Beginnings in Chicago — Galena, a boomtown — Interlocking relations of Congregationalists and New School Presbyterians — Rev. James McGeoch, founder of the First Presbyterian Church in Bloomington — John G. Bergen at Springfield — Advances made by both New School and Old School Presbyteries — The frontier condi- tions — Expulsion of the Indian, intimidation at auction sales, and the agitation of division — Rev. N. C. Clark, an apostle of division — Rev. S. G. Wright in the Spoon River country — Isaac W. Ruggles corres- ponds with the American Home Missionary Society — Scattering methods that prevailed in Illinois — The Abolitionist gospel — The founding of the Congregational Union of Fox River — Rock River Presbytery plants a church in the bounds of Chicago — Divisions in the Hadley church — Per- fectionism as an issue in Galena Presbytery — The unfrocking of Rev. George F. Magown — The disposition of the lower Rock Island church — Galena Presbytery offers an overture on the elders' tenure of office — Division in the Jacksonville Presbyterian Church — Abolitionist activi- ties at Jacksonville — The influence of Augustus T. Norton at Jackson- ville — Rev. Edward Beecher talks on Christian union — The Presbytery of Ottowa finds Abolitionism and division — The call of the Wilming- ton Presbyterian Church to the Rev. J. G. Porter — The New School Synod action on the division of Ottowa Presbytery — Flavel Bascom as CONTENTS IX a promoter of division — Nahum Gould as the conservator of Presby- terian interests — Rev. R. W. Patterson writes Gould a letter — The Old School Synod confronts the Abolitionist issues — Rev. Henry I. Venable joins Palestine Presbytery May 8, 1840 — Alton Presbytery secures an evangelist — Schools planted under the Plan of Union — The Presbyterian Church backs public school education — Danville Academy — Monticello Seminary — Captain Godfrey — The Monticello Church — DuQuoin Female Seminary — Blackburn University. Chapter IV INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS PAGE 97 TO PAGE 152 Immigration and financial panic — The Mexican War — Lincoln's denunciation of the war — The New School Synod's Resolution on the war — The Portugese colony at Jacksonville — The Gold Rush of 1849 — Galena Presbytery endorses the Maine law — The issues of slavery and the administration of Benevolent Funds — The disparity in procedures of Old School and New School approaches to Benevolent Committees — Alton Presbytery drafts a plan for seating corresponding members — Rev. Hubbell Loomis is received into Alton Presbytery — Lucian Farnam resigns as Stated Clerk of Bloomington Presbytery — Lycurgus P. Kimball replaces him — Division of Presbyterian territories — Pronouncement on a day of thanksgiving — The use of Presbyterial missionaries was com- mended — Comparison tables of Old School and New School Presbyteries — Presbyteries erected by the Old School Synod — Synods erected by the Old School General Assembly — The New School Synod re-arranges its boundaries — The Synod of Peoria is erected — The Synod of Iowa is erected — Educational discussions ferment — The Synods demand a Presbyterian- trained ministry — The Sunday School missionary — Religious literature — Old School Christian education — The Seminary of the Northwest — The question of slavery — The Pisgah Church — Illinois Presbytery's Committee on the Fugitive Slave Law — Ottawa Presbytery's Abolitionists — The Duf- field Resolution — Ottawa Presbytery votes to rid the Presbyterian Church of slavery — The New School Synod of Peoria takes action on double ecclesiastical connections — Congregational actions were terminating the Plan of Union — The investigation of Illinois College at Jacksonville — Alton Presbytery's controversy with the A. H. M. S. — The Plan of Union in Wisconsin Territory — The Wisconsin pattern of union — The Iowa Territory — New School disillusionment — The New School General Assembly of 1846 — The decade from 1850 to I860 — Lincoln-Douglas debate — Old School independence of the A. H. M. S. — The New School Illinois Presbytery pronounces against dual ecclesiastical relations — They X CONTENTS initiate action for denominational support of missionary activities — The New School General Assembly fund, $100,000 — Direct conflict with the A. H. M. S. — The plan of Illinois Presbytery for the handling of vacant churches — The quest for the Mind of God — Rev. Robert W. Patterson — Southern Illinois and Benjamin F. Spilman — Rev. James Mc- Gready — Benjamin F. Spilman — The French-Canadian settlement and Father Chiniquy — Cyrus H. McCormick, the Old School peacemaker — Abraham Lincoln sits under the preaching of James M. Smith — The Old School Church at Springfield — Educational difficulties — The Blackburn legacy — Professor Jonathan B. Turner, an advocate of the land-grant colleges — The colleges compete for a share in the State's earnings — The administrative problem in the late 50's and early 60's — The French Ro- man Catholic work of Chicago Presbytery — The reception of John Inger- soll in Alton Presbytery — The erection of the Old School Synod of Chicago in 1856 — Alton Presbytery asserts itself — The New School Synod of Illinois appoints a Synodical Church Extension Committee — Kaskaskia Old School Presbytery receives a German Presbyterian Church — The New School Synod of Illinois appoints Augustus T. Norton Synod's Church Extension Secretary — Two Presbyteries, Hillsboro and Saline, are erected by the Old School Synod of Illinois — Alton and Chicago Presbyteries join in urging their New School General Assembly to take over entire oversight of Home Missionary endeavors — Wabash Presbytery protests — The Civil War attitudes of Synod and Presbyteries — The minority pro- test — The New School and Old School attitudes on the Civil War — General Grant's country — The draining of numbers and resources — Resolutions on the assassination of Lincoln. Chapter V REUNION PAGE 153 TO PAGE 250 The inception of the reunion movement — Resolutions on reunion — Committees appointed to follow through the resolutions — The terms of reunion — Table of Benevolent Contributions — The public press and its attitudes on reunion — The question of the standards — National conven- tions — Prayer meetings surrounding the respective general assemblies — An overture on reunion sent out by respective general assemblies — The pageantry of reunion — Consolidation in Illinois — Changes in the historic patterns — The Memorial Fund — The Chicago fire — The Memorial Fund competes with the Chicago fire — The question of church erection and of manses — The question of a district secretary becomes a controversial question — Publications* — The shadow of the Chicago fire resting on all promotional ventures — Vigorous resolutions that combined sympathy and opinion — Practical help for devastated Chicago — The narratives of the era — Reports on ministerial relief — The appeal for larger funds for the CONTENTS XI building of manses and churches — The report of the general secretary, Rev. A. T. Norton — The multiplication of financial appeals — The Home Missions dilemma in the Synod of Illinois North — The financial panic of 1873 — Re-assessment of the churches' resources — A General Commit- tee on Benevolence in line with the General Asseembly's pattern — Synod visits the Illinois Industrial University — The Synod of Illinois South is relieved that centralization is not the order of the day — Methodical giv- ing — The enlistment of women — Sabbath School work and women's work — The heresy case of Rev. David Swing — The financial drives of the 1870's — Foreign missions in the Synod of Illinois South — Synod of Il- linois South recognizes Sabbath School achievements — The Synod of Illinois North recognizes the delegates of the Women's Board of Missions for the Northwest — The Women's Christian Temperance Union addresses the Synods — The Rev. W. S. Wilson protests the right of women to use the platform — Consolidation of Synods proposed in 1881 — Resolu- tions on the passing of the Rev. Farel Hart — The Southern Congregation- al Association communicate with the Synod of Illinois South on the subject of competition — Chicago Presbytery appoints a Church Erection Committee — The Presbyterian Hospital of Chicago promoted by Pres- byterians — Politics get into the Theological Seminary of the Northwest — The three Synods, North, Central, and South, are consolidated as of January, 1882 — The Rev. Dr. C. S. Armstrong, Synodical Missionary, con- fronts the difficulties in reorganization — Synod becomes a delegated body — Cyrus H. McCormick has labor troubles — The dogmas of anarchy — The Haymarket Riot — The Church becomes aware of the industrial era — New approaches are instituted — Lake Forest University promotes mis- sionary fervor — The Elijah P. Lovejoy memorial question — Sabbath dese- cration — The science and religion controversy in the public schools — Dis- cussions on the use of the Bible in the public schools — The report of the committee to study public school textbooks — Elder Clinton L. Conk- ling enters his dissent from the opinions of the committee — The women appear in Synod's discussions — The largest advances in the centers of industrialization — Synod launches a program of evangelism (1888) — In 1891 Illinois ranks with the top Synods — The special work in Chicago Presbytery — Home evangelism is advocated — The protest on the arrange- ments for the World's Columbian Exposition — The World's Parliament of Religion — Financial panic stagnates financial returns — James G. K. McClure in a dual role — The women cultivate the Christian Endeavorers — Synod investigates the relations of young people's finance — Rev. W. S. Marquis confers with the women — Resolutions offered to cover the sub- ject — Synod pledges itself to support statutory prohibition — Memorial on the passing of Rev. Robert W. Patterson, D.D. — The Rev. Andrew C Zenos, Professor of Biblical Theology at McCormick Seminary (1895) — Endorsement of the Barbars' Protective Association of Illinois — A Board of Deaconesses (1897) — The 250th anniversary of the adoption of the standards — Memorial on the passing of Newton Bateman — The Narrative Xll CONTENTS of 1899 — Resolution to the General Assembly on its seating of dele- gates — Synod plans for a deepening of the spiritual emphasis in the cen- tury that lies ahead. Chapter VI THE SYNOD OF ILLINOIS HAS AN EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION PAGE 251 TO PAGE 278 Readjustments in education — Parochial schools — The death of Dr. George W. Gale — Resolutions on the same — The attitudes as to the or- dained minister — Reorganization of dependent colleges — The case of Monmouth College — Blackburn University — Knox College — The Synod of Illinois South silent on education — The Committee to visit Blackburn University reports — Stiffer requirements in college aid — Theological seminaries approved — The kind of education needed by the church of the Northwest — Synod of Illinois South pledges its aid to the Board of Education — Thanks to Captain Thomas W. Holliday, Treasurer of the Ferry Company on the shores of Missouri and Kentucky — The passing of Henry I. Venable — Blackburn University is commended — Ministerial candidates are scrutinized — The determination to educate the whole man — Students for the ministry to be supervised — Sabbath School teaching to be of a better quality — Oversight at Lake Forest University and Blackburn University — Synod is gratified by the prosperity of the Semi- nary of Che Northwest — A terse resolution on Dubuque Seminary — Re- port of the Permanent Committee on the Board of Aid for Colleges — A wistful church views its education, past and future. Chapter VII THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY PAGE 279 TO PAGE 336 Rev. Joseph M. Ross preaches the Moderator's sermon — The at- tempt to dispense with routine business — The program that was adopted — The passing of D. S. Johnson and S. H. Hyde — New patterns in church reports. — Education becomes an issue — Consolidation of the colleges at Jacksonville — A special committee of five to visit the colleges — The ques- tion of endowed academies — Presbyterian work at the State University — The training of workers groups advocated — Employment of a student pastor at the State University — The academies are retained, but no others are to be established — Union with the Cumberland Church presented by overture — The protest of Springfield Presbytery — October 15, 1907, re- union is accomplished — The Enabling Act of the Reunion — Cumberland Church attitudes — The peacemakers walk softly in Illinois — The question CONTENTS Xlll of a superintendent of home missions — Property difficulties in establish- ing the pattern of reunion — A seal for the corporation — The difficulties in diversity of pattern — The early Cumberland churches — Ebenezer Camp Ground, 1817— Elm Point, 1819— The third camp meeting, 1820— The first Cumberland church Hopewell or Enfield, June 18, 1819 — The start of Bear Creek Church — Rev. James McGready (the revival movement) — McGee Presbytery, 1820 — Illinois Presbytery, May, 1823 — Articles of Constitution — Sangamon Presbytery of the Cumberland Church, April 29, 1829 — Vandalia Presbytery, April, 1832 — The organization of the later Cumberland Presbyteries — The educational ventures of the Cumberland Church — The reunion lands in the civil courts — Four cases headed for the Supreme Court — The title of the Presbyterian Church is approved by court — The statistics of reunion — The historical address on the Synod of Illinois — Difficulties at Urbana — Synod approves the ten-hour day — Reso- lution on the expenses of administration — The resolution on Home Mis- sion Funds — The Presbyterian training school opens, 1910 — The founda- tion fund at the State University completed — A committee appointed to study secular education — The First Presbyterian Church at Springfield — The death of James A. Rose of Golconda — William Chalmers Covert re- ports on personal evangelism — The war crisis — A Synod goes to work — 1918, Synod meeting omitted (influenza) — The boom years, 1923-1929 — The Central Receiving Agency at Decatur — 1942, a Synodical Repre- sentative employed titled as the General Presbytery — Duality in the plan of operation — The independent attitudes in Chicago Presbytery — The Women's Board of the Interior — The Presbyterian Society — Room 48 — Chicago's Board of Church Extension — Dr. Edgar P. Hill as superinten- dent — Dr. Henry Seymour Brown — Dr. Paul S. Johnson — Presbyterian headquarters in Chicago — Chicago's Christian Industrial League — The Presbyterian College in Chicago — General Assembly Moderators — John Timothy Stone at the Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago — Olivet In- stitute — Sabbath School work — The immensity of Chicago Presbytery — Names of the great in Chicago Presbytery — Downstate administrative questions — The office of the General Presbyter — The case of the Rev. William Henry Myers — The War Service Commission of World War I — The War Service Budget — Illinois Chaplains in World War II — The Post- War Reconstruction Fund— The gift of Mr. E. B. Starrett, Jr.— The Rev. John H. Garner presents issues before the church today — The sisters of Lazarus have competed — The overture to merge the Synods in larger groupings. appendix A 337 appendix B 338 BIBLIOGRAPHY 364 INDEX 366 XIV THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS The Log Cabin Church built by the Rev. John McDonald at Charleston, Illinois — 1835 m *ni Rev. John McDonald Builder of Churches and of a Log Cabin College INTRODUCTORY The story of Illinois Presbyterianism has for its introduction the backgrounds of history. The Reformation antedated Illinois by nearly two centuries, but the issues which it raised came with the Presbyterians to Illinois. The American Revolution and the War of 1812 had both passed into history but they still animated the minds of Presbyterian settlers entering Illinois. The wilder- ness, which had been the territory of the French voyageur and the trapper, a place in which to secure furs and peltries, became a battleground for the souls of men and the barbarities that lurked in frontier modes of living were attacked by a militant church that through the vicissitudes of the Reformation, the American Revo- lution, and the War of 1812 had come to its appreciations of higher standards of life. The Presbyterians did not come to Illinois as opportunists who seek a one-night stand for a meeting. It has been their policy since 1802 when they founded their com- mittee known as the Standing Committee of Missions to reach out toward the frontiers and there organize churches. From the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church had come a dual approach to the question of growth. Presbyteries were exhorted to augment the work done within their bounds, but the General Assembly through its Standing Committee on Missions was promoting work beyond the boundaries of the Pres- byteries. In 1803 five missionaries were appointed: then at a later meeting, twelve; in 1807, fifteen; in 1811, forty; and by 1814, more than fifty. Some of the work done was with the American Indians in such states as New York, Ohio, Tennessee, and Georgia. Explanations of the entrance of Presbyterianism are gratuit- ous. From its founding and throughout its history the Church has been militant and missionary. Believing that her Master's com- mand was imperative, she obediently entered Illinois. The con- victions that brought her there were deep-seated and constitu- tional, but they were never narrow and sectarian. For this reason she came there under a plan of union whereby Congregationalists, 1 2 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS the Reformed Church, and the Presbyterian Church were to work together for the salvation of the wilderness. The arrangements were loosely entered into, at times were confusing and later his- tory indicated had pitfalls and difficulties inherent in them, but each of the denominations walked by faith and trustfully joined forces with the others in order that Christ might be glorified on the outskirts of civilization. "The plan consisted of four parts: the first enjoined all mis- sionaries to the new settlements 'to promote mutual forbearance, and a spirit of accommodation' between the adherents of both churches ; the second directed that if a Congregational church shall settle a Presbyterian minister, they shall conduct their internal af- fairs, if they so desire, according to Congregational usage, but if trouble arises between the minister and the church it can either be referred to the presbytery to which the minister belongs or to a council made up of equal numbers from each group. The third provision laid down rules for the regulation of a situation where a Presbyterian church called a Congregational minister, in which case Presbyterian regulations were to prevail but in case of internal disagreement between pastor and people it was to be referred to the association to which the minister belonged or might be settled by a council. The fourth provision suggested certain regulations for the direction of churches made up of both Congregationalists and Presbyterians. In this case a church was to choose a standing committee which should have oversight of all members. In case of a Presbyterian member he was to have the right of appeal to the Presbyterian judicatories; if a Con- gregationalist he should have the right to appeal to all the male members of the church. While the Plan said nothing as to the formation of presbyteries and associations in the territory where it was to function yet the inference would seem to be that it contemplated that both associations and presbyteries would be formed." 1 Illinois, was "The Wilderness", the country of the fur-trade, the Indians, and the French Voyageurs from 1673 until it was ceded in the year 1763 to the British who retained possession un- til 1778; at which time George Rogers Clark seized the territory i Sweet, pp. 41-42. INTRODUCTORY 3 and closed the back door entrance to the field of combat occupied by the American Revolution. To this territory in 1797 came Rev. John Evans Finley to labor in the Spanish colonies on the Mississippi. He preached and catechised, and baptized several Indians presumably located in that section of the Mississippi considered as being under Span- ish influence, for he deemed it imperatve that he should leave the territory and re-enter the American territory lest he be con- scripted to bear arms against his own countrymen. About this time the Presbyterian Church was being swayed by religious revival. In Central and Western New York, as well as Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee the year 1800 saw a remarkable revival accompanied by what were known as "bodily exercises." Converts would fall to the ground in a coma and on regaining consciousness, claim conversion. The mind of the church was much agitated by the occurrences at these revival meetings. The General Assembly, however, refused to make a deliverance on the validity of the experience and expressed only its pleasure that the Kingdom of Christ was being extended. Revival and missionary extension walked hand in hand and it is uncertain as to whether the revival begat missionary fervor or missionary fervor begat the revival. "Of large importance on the development of American Pres- byterianism was the fact that immediately following the achieve- ment of American Independence steps were taken to organize the church nationally. This meant that the church conceived of its task as one of national scope." 2 George Washington, replying to a committee sent to him by that first General Assembly over which Dr. John Witherspoon presided as Moderator, thanked the Assembly for their favorable opinion and their approbation of his conduct and desired that they accept his gratitude for their endeavors to render men sober, honest, and good citizens and the obedient subjects of lawful governemnt as well as for their prayers for their country and him- self. The extent of Christian endeavor with its challenge was developing at such a rate as to make increasingly difficult those 2 Sweet — Religion on American Frontier — Presbyterians, p. 9. 4 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS needed services which the frontier required from the church. Set- tlers from Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Kentucky were forging westward. The migration of necessity, followed the natural water routes, of which there were five — St. Louis The routes followed in entering Illinois 1st. Up the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, through Green Bay, the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. By this route there were only two short portages — that around Niagara Falls, and from the Fox to the Wisconsin. This was the route pursued by the Jesuit missionaries and other French emigrants from Canada. INTRODUCTORY > By this route they first reached the Illinois country and established themselves at Kaskaskia and Cahokia about 1680. 2nd. The same route as far as Maumee Bay, in the south- west corner of Lake Erie; then up the Miami of the Lakes and down the Wabash and Ohio. By this route there was only one short portage besides that at Niagara Falls — from the Miami to the Wabash. On this route was the old French post of Vincennes — settled 1710 or 1711 — on the Wabash, and Fort Massac, on the Ohio, established in 1711. 3rd. The same route as far as the present location of the city of Erie on the south shore of Lake Erie, thence across to the head-waters of the French, and then down that river, the Alle- gheny and Ohio. 4th. Up the Potomac, then down the Cheat River and the Monongahela to the Ohio. 5th. By the rivers of North Carolina, then down the Cum- berland and Tennessee to the Ohio. The three first of these routes were first laid open and used by for enterprising French Jesuit missionaries. Their knowledge of them was obtained from the Red man. The fourth and fifth of these routes began to be used by the colonists of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas about 1750. Through these routes the Scotch and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians entered the Mississippi Valley. Before the open- ing of the Erie Canal — 'Clinton's Big Ditch' — the emigration from New England to the Valley was mainly by the Pittsburgh route. But the great wave of New England emigration was de- tained in Eastern, Central, and Western New York and did not reach northern Ohio until after Kentucky had become a state, which was in 1792. Tennessee became a state in 1796. " 3 Expansion, with its rush for new lands and more advantage- ous economic circumstances, posed for the church its missionary problem. The ministers of New York reached beyond the points where they were settled but not sufficiently far to overtake the vast expansion in colonization. Then again, the expansion com- prised heterogeneous elements that made church establishment a difficulty. Such slender ministrations as the frontiers received 3 Norton — History of the Presbyterian Church in the State of Illinois, pp. 8-9. 6 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS were too often competitive and destructive. The Presbyterian Church advancing to the frontier took with it the policy of permanency in its work. This meant an educated ministry, an organized church, the administration of the sacraments and a fellowship that aimed at self support. "If one is to judge from the records of the early preaching tours extant, it would seem that it was understood that the first task of the frontier Presbyterian minister was to find those lo- calities where Presbyterians had settled, and with them as a nucleus to begin regular preaching, and when enough members had been gathered, to form a church. There were few instances where frontier Presbyterian churches were formed entirely of the raw material on the frontier. In other words the Presbyterian missionary went out looking for Presbyterians, and Presbyterian- ism prospered best where there was to be found the largest num- bers of Presbyterian settlers, as was the case in western Pennsyl- vania. On the other hand, to the Methodist circuit rider, all communities were alike. He did not expect to find Methodists in the early settlements, but he was sent out to make Methodists of the raw materials which the frontier presented. This differ- ence in approach is doubtless partially responsible for the rela- tively slow progress of frontier Presbyterianism, in comparison to the more rapid growth of the Methodists and Baptists." 4 Of a piece with this policy was the policy of united effort with churches that were like-minded, and out of this grew the Plan of Union under which Presbyterian and Congregational ministers entered the frontier as men of one purpose who could fellowship together. This Plan of Union entered into in the year 1801 operated in Western Reserve, Illinois, Wisconsin, and other points in the line of march of the advancing frontier. Illustrative of its operation is the case of the Rev. William Wick, the first Protestant minister to enter Ohio, a Presbyterian, who organized and served the churches of Youngstown and Hopewell but received part of his financial support from the Connecticut Missionary Society. 5 A paper left by Mr. Wick is rather typical as a description of the pattern of organization of 4 Sweet — Religion on American Frontier — Presbyterians, p. 60. 5 The Plan of Union, Wm. Sloan Kennedy, pp. 14 and 15. INTRODUCTORY 7 churches under the Plan of Union and is as follows: "This church adopts the regulations proposed by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in American, and approved by the General Association of the state of Connecticut, June 16, 1801, for the promotion of union and harmony among the people of the new settlements." 6 In 1812 the Massachusetts and Connecticut Missionary So- cieties, together with other local Bible Societies, sent two minis- terial licentiates — John F. Schermerhorn and Samuel J. Mills to the great Southwest. These passed through Pennsylvania, West- ern Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Their role appears to have been that of census-takers and their reports to their patrons concerning religion conditions in the countries they trav- ersed are packed with interesting detail. Of Illinois, they say, "In the Illinois territory, containing more than twelve thousand people, there is no Presbyterian or Congregational minister. There are a number of good people in the territory who are anxious to have such ministers amongst them. They likewise wish to be remembered by Bible and Religious Tract Societies." 7 Another tour of exploration was undertaken in 1814 by Samuel J. Mills. On this occasion his associate was Daniel Smith, their expense was estimated at $2,000 and was borne by the Massachusetts Missionary Society, the Bible Society of Philadel- phia, and the Assembly's Committee on Missions. In their re- ports of their itinerary they stressed the need of Bibles and minis- ters. They recommended that fifty Bibles be sent to Shawnee- town and fifty to St. Loius, and they urged that at least one mis- sionary for Indiana, one for Illinois, and one for Missouri should be sent. Their correspondence had all the charm of a travelogue yet carried with it a contagious missionary enthusiasm. Readers in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts be- came the bearers of the burden of the frontiers in developing American life. One phase of their methodology may indicate the diverse character of the groups that were banded together in the at- tempt to capture the frontier for Christ, and that is the reliance 6 The Plan of Union, Sloan Kennedy, p. 17. 7 Norton's Presbyterianism in Illinois, p. 12. 8 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS upon the Scriptures to do their work unaided. Thus we read of Mills and Smith: "In the summer of 1814, these pathfinders rode from Philadelphia to Vincennes, in the territory of Indiana, carrying hundreds of Bibles (some French) and thousands of tracts for distribution, and quickly followed this up with ef- fective visits at Shawneetown, Kaskaskia, Prairie du Roeher, and St. Louis. At Kaskaskia, the territorial capitol of Illinois, where (as at other points) they formed a Bible reading society, Gover- nor Edwards co-operated ; at Prairie du Roeher a supply of French Testaments were distributed with the approval of the Roman Catholic bishop. (Those were later burned under the same auspices)." 8 Such procedure finds its rootage in the dissenting tradition and is reminiscent of Wycliff and his Lollard Preachers. The frontiers that bordered on the rivers were scenes of lawlessness and were the fastnesses to which robber bands and piratical groups retired and from which they made their forays for purposes of plunder, rapine, and murder. Into these fast- nesses came the Presbyterian missionaries. The reception they received was in the form of the unwelcome sign. As a whole, the pioneer women seemed to have been of a better grade than were the rank and file of the men who came to Illinois. Many churches failed to organize for this reason, and all that the mis- sionary could report in the way of success was that he had gathered together a few families, but that no men could be in- terested and for that reason no church session could be organized. The bandits who made their forays from the rocky heights that dominated the river frontage attended religious meetings in order to break them up and to obstruct them from achievement. Very few ministers were quite prepared for the conditions of frontier life in Illinois, and it speaks well for the men who settled in Illinois' work that they had in them the qualities that made en- durance possible. The establishment of the first Presbyterian church in Illinois came in the year 1816, when the Rev. James McGready located at Henderson, Kentucky, entered White County, Illinois, and 8 History of the Congregational and Christian Churches, Spinka, p. 2. INTRODUCTORY 9 organized the Sharon Church. Its ruling elders were Peter Miller, James Mayes, and James Rutledge, settlers who had come from Henderson, Kentucky. The members of the church were from the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. In 1819 the Golconda Church in Polk County was organized by the Rev. Nathan B. Derrow, a missionary from Connecticut, who did not visit the church after its organization. The first man to give the church any service was Robert Armstrong Laps- ley, a native of Kentucky, and a graduate of Princeton Theologic- al Seminary ordained by the Muhlenburg Presbytery. The Rev. B. F. Spilman succeeded him. Two other churches were organized in 1819 — the Shoal Creek Church and the Edwardsville Church — both of them by Rev. Salmon Giddings. Not until 1829 did a strictly Illinois presbytery govern the field of labor. Prior to that date the ap- proach was missionary and the men making the approach were attached, if at all, to three presbyteries lying outside the bounds of Illinois — Wabash of Indiana, Muhlenburg of Kentucky, and Missouri of the State of Missouri. The work done by the men so situated was of the pioneer order. They preached in the open air, in camp meetings, in the homes of individuals, in school- houses and county buildings. The churches which they erected were of logs or of rough frame structure. The following catalogue of the churches will give some conception of the conditions in this pioneer period of church Expansion: 1816 Sharon Church. White Co., log church- es up to 1864. Norton, p. 18 1817 Hopewell. Membership of this church in the large was located in Illinois, building in Indiana. Norton, pp. 46-47 1819 Golconda. Two places of worship — town and country. No building until 1840. Norton, p. 43 1819 Shoal Creek. No building — merged with Greenville church iln 1932. Norton, p. 34 10 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 1819 Edwardsville First. No building — died. Norton, p. 39 1820 Turkey Hill Church. No building. Regular preaching. Norton, p. 49 1821 Kaskaskia and Chester. Kaskaskia nev- er had a building. Congregation later merged with Chester. Norton, p. 58 1821 Alton First. Never had a church build- ing. Disbanded 1826. Norton, p. 74 1823 Collinsville. Worshipped in private home. Norton, p. 83 1823 Apple Creek. First church in Green County. Name changed to Whitehall in 1840. It died that year. Never had a building. Norton, p. 85 1824 Paris. Had no building until 1834. Then a brick. Norton, p. 92 1825 Bethel in Bond County. Log-cabin. Norton, pp. 99-100 1825 Greenville. No house of worship until 1832. Later moved and used a stable. Norton, p. 104 1826 Shawneetown. Church of hewn logs erected in 1832. Norton, p. 109 1827 Jacksonville First. First building in 1831. Norton, p. 112 1827 Carmi. Worshipped in Courthouse. Norton, p. 116 1828 Sangamon. (Springfield, First). Has the distinction of erecting the first brick church in Illinois in 1831. Norton, p. 117 1828 Hillsboro. First house of worship erect- ed during ministry of Rev. Thomas A. Spilman, 1830-1841. Norton, p. 129 1828 Vandalia. This church erected a frame house of worship in 1830 and has the distinction of having had the first Pro- testant bell in Illinois. Norton, p. 136 INTRODUCTORY 11 1828 Fulton. No record of church building at this time. Norton, p. 139 These details give concreteness to the description that char- acterizes the period as that of missionary pioneering. Here in the main is a ministry that labors without the fellowship that is constituted by presbytery or conference except as its connection The historic bell of Vandalia Is outside the bounds of the field of its labor. "Before January 9, 1829, there was no presbytery lying wholly in Illinois. The churches on the west side of the state belonged to the Missouri Presbytery. Wabash, Paris, Hopewell or New Hope, Carmi, and Shawneetown to Wabash Presbytery, whose churches were mainly on the east side of the Wabash River. Sharon and Golconda belonged to the Muhlenburg, Presbytery previous to 1826, then to Wabash. If Bethel, Wayne County, Fairfield or Franklin had any presbyterial connection, it was with Wabash. Probably they belonged nowhere, nor for long, even to themselves. The Bethel in Wayne County is sometimes called New Bethel. The ministers 12 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS were divided in a similar manner: John Mathews, John Brich y John M. Ellis, and Solomon Hardy were connected with Mis- souri Presbytery; Stephen Bliss and Thomas A. Spilman, with Wabash Presbytery; B. F. Spilman, up to 1826, with Muhlenburg, then with Wabash. The two licentiates — Thomas Lippincott and Cyrus L. Watson were under the care of Missouri Presbytery; Jesse Townsend and Edward Hollister had been connected with Missouri Presbytery, but had gone back — Mr. Townsend to New York, and Mr. Hollister to Vermont. Salmon Giddings and David Tenney, two other members of that Presbytery, were dead. None of the other ministers, who had made their flying visits or served out their three or six months' commissions in the state, had made any presbyterial connection in the West. They were like Noah's dove. They found here no rest for the sole of their feet. John Young, indeed rested in his early grave at Vin- cennes." 9 The circumstances under which the missionaries labored were, for the most of the workers, a challenge to re-adjust their outlook on life. Some succeeded in making the adjustment; others miserably failed. No matter what the place of their origin, practically all of them left a superior standard of living and of culture in order to enter as a saving influence the life of the frontier. Many of them constructed their log-cabin homes with their own hands. Quite a large proportion of them tilled their own soil, and to all of them came the menace of hostile Indians,, unhealthful swamps and prairies, with resulting premature death. Those of them who left quickly, left safely. The remainder haz- arded their lives in order to present the gospel. "The histories of the State of Illinois contains little ac- curate information as to the early days in the northern tier of counties, all the pioneers from the East choosing the central and southern portions of the state for their setlements. From the community formed around Ft. Dearborn to the town of Galena the country remained in its primitive condition, no attempt being made to cross directly from one point to the other until after the Black Hawk War had freed the region from hostile Indians." 10 9 Norton, p. 140. 10 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, by Mrs. D. A. Knowlton, Vol. II, p. 193. INTRODUCTORY 13 An incident in one of the early tours of Aratus Kent ex- hibits the spirit of the pioneer preacher. With the Black Hawk tribes possessing the prairies and closing all trails, he stood on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and with uncovered head proclaimed aloud, "I take possession of this land for Christ." The first church that he organized had a membership of six. For these he had labored three years. Two of them lived in Galena; the rest were scattered over the area, distances of forty to fifty miles from Galena. He and his colleagues who entered the wilderness entered it with little but hard work as their reward. Thus Aratus Kent could truthfully say, "I have covered twenty thousand miles, have entered four hundred seventy-nine different points where I might preach, and have preached three thousand sermons. I have been in perils of waters six times, perils in the wilderness three nights, several times lost, but out of them all the Lord has delivered me." 11 The testing quality of pioneering conditions is well illus- trated by the work of Salmon Giddings, the first Protestant mis- sionary to labor in Missouri. He arrived in St. Louis in 1815; he gave of his labors to the Mississippi Valley; planted thirteen churches — six in Missouri and seven in Illinois. Within twelve years of his arrival he was dead, at the age of forty-five years. Of Benjamin F. Spilman who entered Illinois in December, 1823, it is said, "His saddle was in an important sense his study." He is credited with establishing twenty churches and for a time was the only Presbyterian minister connected with the Assembly, residing and statedly laboring in Illinois. One of his quarterly reports is as follows: "Churches and stations supplied nine — Hillsboro, Waveland, Edwardsville, Chester, Liberty, Sparta, Dry Point, Bethany, and Belleville — all in the Presbytery of Kaskas- kia. Number of families, 235. Total in communion, 241; num- ber of baptisms, 6; number of Sabbath Schools, 4; teachers in Sabbath Schools, 38; number in Sabbath Schools, 195; Bible So- cieties, 5; Missionary Societies, 8; raised for Foreign Missions, $25.00; sermons preached, 81; monthly concerts attended, 4; prayer meetings established, 4; families visited, 96; support 11 Illinois Historical Society Journal, by J. G. K. McClure, Vol. 13, p. 9. 14 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS pledged, $150.00; observance of Sabbath, indiffirent; Population increasing." From this we gain an idea of his labors from No- vember, 1845-1851. He was much of the time on horseback; preaching on Sabbaths and week-days ; supplying vacant churches ; attending prayer-meetings ; visiting families ; establishing new con- gregations; and, in general, doing the work of an evangelist. 12 The available data relating to the length of life of these early missionaries reveals the following: John F. Schermerhorn lived to be seventy, but had little residence work in Illinois; Sam- uel J. Mills lived to be thirty-five, and was never a resident; Dan- iel Smith lived to be thirty-four, and itinerated in Illinois; James McGready lived to be sixty, and was three years in Illinois; Bacchus Wilber lived to be thirty and labored five years in Il- linois; Andrew O. Patterson lived to be sixty-nine and was only for a brief period missionary agent in Illinois; Benj. F. Spil- man lived to be sixty-two, and labored in Illinois thirty-five years; Salmon Giddings lived to be forty-five, and planted churches in Illinois during a twelve year period; Oren Catlin lived to be fifty-five, but only itinerated Illinois; Daniel Green Sprague lived to be sixty and was another itinerant; David Tenney lived to be thirty-four, and died with two years of service to his credit; Ed- ward Hollister lived to be seventy-four, but due to fluctuating health labored but intermittently during his fifty-years in the ministry; Daniel Gould died at forty-four years of age, labored in Illinois only a few months; Abraham Williamson lived to be seventy-nine years of age, only one year of his forty-nine year ministry was spent in Illinois; William R. Sim lived to be thirty- three years of age and gave six years of his life to Illinois; John Brich lived to be sixty years of age and gave twelve years of his life to Illinois — he lost his way in attempting to cross a great prairie and died there in March, 1837. He was found dead sit- ting at the root of the tree; Isaac Bennett died at fifty- three years of age, and gave to Illinois eighteen and a half years of his life. These lives average fifty-four and a half years — that average largely secured by virtue of men who left the territory and length- ened their lives. Of the eighteen tabulated seven died at forty- five years of age or less; twelve died at sixty or less. Some con- 12 Norton, p. 29. INTRODUCTORY 1 5 ception of the rigorous circumstances of labor can be gleaned from these statistics. Over a large portion of the country, malaria was a constant hazard; Asiatic Cholera wiped out large groups, and tuberculosis or consumption exacted its toll. Take from the state of Illinois its highways, cities, and sanitary provisions, and replace these with log-cabin homes, malaria-infested swamps and forests, strip from it its churches and replace them with the dis- couraging few who will turn aside from coarse recreations that profane the Lord's Day, and you will discover a small group of heroic missionaries who counted not their own lives dear if only Illinois might be saved. In this setting Center Presbytery was organized. The first presbytery within the bounds of Ilinois comprised as its terrain all of the territory lying within the bounds of the State of Illinois. Its authorization was an act of the Synod of Indiana at its session in Vincennes October 16, 1828, and is worded as follows: "That a new Presbytery be formed to be called The Center Presbytery of Illinois, the bounds of which shall be the lines of the State; and said presbytery is directed to hold its first meeting at Kaskaskia, on the second Friday in January, 1829. The meeting shall be opened with a sermon by Rev. John Mathews, who shall preside until another Moderator is chosen, or, in case of his absence, the oldest minister present." 13 Seven ministers and twenty-one living churches was the strength of Center Presbytery as it commenced its career. Of the ministers five were Presbyterian — John Mathews, John Brich, Stephen Bliss, Thomas A. Spilman, and B. F. Spilman. Two had Congregational backgrounds — John M. Ellis and Solomon Hardy — both of whom were working as Presbyterians. John M. Ellis and his wife, Frances Brard Ellis, were devoted educators. The husband made repeated trips up and down through the state and back East to interest patrons in the founding of a school at Jacksonville. Mrs. Ellis offered educational advantages to those of her neighbors who would congregate at her home. Her pupils came from the village of Jacksonville, St. Louis, Kaskas- kia, Prairie du Chien as well as from the surrounding country. "While her husband was soliciting funds and awakening an 13 Norton, p. 141. 16 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 1 1 \ J \ J f • ^ !* \ fc \ . 1 ^ 1 ^ f Vr» \ • ? \ VT> J % U: •: \ ,* ^. ? *• J ^ / • f ^ "^ / •/ ^ x> / • • j *0 ^ ( ^r kp V -<. V • ^r -* ^ V* v%^ ^ I Center Presbytery INTRODUCTORY 17 interest among Eastern Christians for the establishment of a Fe- male Academy in Jacksonville, she was training pupils to fill it." 14 Ellis's speeches delivered to eastern audiences were published in eastern publications and later were read by his neighbors in Illinois. His references to low morals and ignorance were good solicitation speeches but were unappreciated in Jacksonville and in 1831 his pastorate at Jacksonville ended. The project that he established became Illinois College, at varying periods Presbyterian, Presbyterian-Congregational, and later Congregational. It became the center of the Yale Band — a group of Yale students who came to Illinois with the avowed intention of capturing the educational approach. Their casuistic approach to all questions was implicit but not always explicit. Congregational writers, such as Frederick Kuhns, consider the Yale Band as a pivotal point in the forming of the Congregational Association in Illinois. "A most significant event was the formation of the Illinois Association whose members came to be known as the Yale Band. On February 21, 1829, seven Yale Divinity students signed a compact to promote Christian Education in Illinois, and all but one of this group — Mason Grosvenor — arrived between 1829 and 1831. Seven other theological students, who had become members of the 'Illinois Association' arrived between 1830 and 1833. These thirteen came to the state in the following order: Theron Baldwin and Julian M. Sturtevant, in 1829; Lucien Far- nam, Benoni Y. Messenger, Henry Herrick, and Asa Turner, in 1830; John F. Brooks, Albert Hale, Elisha Jenney, William Kir- by, and Romulus Barnes, in 1831; Flavel Bascom and William Carter, in 1833. Of the original Yale Band, therefore, six reached Illinois between 1829 and 1831; the second contingent, consist- ing of seven men, arrived between 1830 and 1833. The fact that arrival was spread over a period of years testified to the steadfastness of their purpose." 15 Prior to the arrival of this Yale Band, later enlarged and known as the Illinois Band, Congregationalists and Presbyterians had worked side by side in the associations of Presbytery. John M. 14 Norton, p. 67. 15 History of Illinois, Congregational and Christian Churches, edit- ed by Spinka, p. 16. 18 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Ellis and Solomon Hardy had been associated with Missouri Pres- bytery and were the only remaining Congregationalists at the time of Center Presbytery organization in 1829. The record of their collaboration is continuous, but the correspondence relating to it is scarce. A sample of a letter from William Carter to Ab- solom Peters will indicate a little of the temper involved: "You have probably heard that a new Congregational church has been formed in Jacksonville. You may remember the views I once expressed to you on the general subject of forming Congregation- al churches in this state at present. I remain essentially of the same opinion still. This opinion I have expressed here repeat- edly and endeavor to maintain. "I thought it premature, at least, and better on the whole, that they should remain contented and united as they were. I had conversation with leading men among the Congregationalists soon after my arrival and expressed my views more strongly than I have ever before. But it was too late. It was not for me to have influence in quelling or agitating the discussion of this ques- tion. Actum Est. It was discussed and decided before I set foot in Illinois." 16 The rather cynical statement of Kennedy in his book "Plan of Union", p. 91, gives a parallel to the situation as it existed in the Western Reserve. Speaking of Congregational efforts to break the plan of union, he exposes their strategy. "A new im- portation of denominationalists was needed to revive the agita- tion; and in due time they appeared." In Wisconsin where the population fails to explain any Con- gregational enthusiasm, "An aggressive temper exhibited itself." 17 "Due notice must also be taken of the fact that Congregational- ism was marching into the Wisconsin Territory." 18 The Plan of Union is conceded by Congregationalists and Presbyterians alike to have been defective and inadequate to ac- complish any organic union of the co-operating bodies. But what- ever its defects, it had never presupposed aggressive denomination- alism. But to Center Presbytery and its successors it brought the is Ibid., p. 54. 17 Spinka, p. 72. 18 Spinka, p. 89. INTRODUCTORY 19 difficult situations that are entailed when two denominational groups confront their responsibilities and the relations of those re- sponsibilities to their chosen affiliations and loyalties. Long be- fore Adolf Hitler had planted his fifth column in the outposts of France and Belgium, the strategists of ecclessiasticism were plant- ing their fifth column in Western Reserve, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. The business that Center Presbytery had to transact was the business of receiving and dismissing ministers, organizing and regulating churches and trying such judicial cases as came to it in an orderly manner. But from this point onward, its very right to existence was questioned. Its proceedings are listed as follows: "The Center Presbytery of Illinois held five regular meet- ings, and one by adjournment. The first meeting at Kaskaskia, January 9, 1829; the second meeting at Jacksonville, March 19, 1829; the third meeting at Vandalia, October 10, 1829; the fourth meeting at Springfield on March 25, 1830; the fifth meeting at Wabash, October 10, 1830; the adjournment meeting at Shoal Creek, October 19, 1829. "It commenced with seven ministers, two licentiates, and twenty-one churches. Another church, that of New Providence, Edgar County, was in its bounds but not included in its lists and continued its connection with Wabash Presbytery. "The period of the existence of Center Presbytery — dating from the ordinance of Synod establishing it — was just two years." 19 Center Presbytery which had its opening session in 1829 with six Presbyterians and two Congregationalists present, namely, John Mathews, John Brich, Stephen Bliss, Thomas A. Spilman, B. F. Spilman, and John G. Bergen — Presbyterians; John M. Ellis and Solomon Hardy — Congregationalists, had in the brief period of two years not merely changed from eight ministers to sixteen but had also changed the denominational proportions existing in their number. For in October, 1830, at their final session as a pres- bytery the Presbyterians had gained by ordination Thomas Lip- pincott and Thomas L. Watson, and by letters of dismission John McDonald and Horace Smith. Meanwhile, the Congregational- ists had added to their number Theron Baldwin, Julian M. Sturte- 19 Norton, p. 166. 20 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS vant, B. Y. Messenger, and Henry Herrick by letter. From a proportion of two to six the Congregationalists had now advanced to the proportion of six to ten. John M. Ellis was largely respon- sible for the recruiting of the Yale Band, or Illinois Band as it became known in its enlarged membership, but no one seems to hold him responsible for their integrated purposes, with their multiplication of conferences which in the short period of eight years split the Presbyterian church. The Illinois Band deserves to be viewed in the perspective of the operations of the Plan of Union in Western Reserve, In- diana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. These six- teen ministers met for their final meeting as Center Presbytery, never again to meet as men with a common purpose. Their minds were not clear for they decided that they would constitute them- selves a Synod and divide into four presbyteries. They could not create a synod, neither could the Synod of Indiana, but in May, 1831, the General Assembly constituted the Synod of Illinois. "It should have held a spring meeting in 1831 as Center Presbytery. But disregarding the fact that the initiation of a scheme is not its accomplishment, it provided for a spring meet- ing, in 1831, of each of the proposed new presbyteries, before the action of the Assembly which alone could give them existence as the component parts of a new synod. Had no new synod been contemplated by the division of Center Presbytery, then the action of Indiana Synod in October, 1830, authorizing that division would have been decisive, sufficient, and final, but, as matters stood, the combined action, or an agreeing action, of Indiana Synod and the General Assembly, was necessary to give the three presbyteries a constitutional existence." 20 20 Norton, p. 167. CHAPTER I THE FORMATIVE PERIOD The Synod of Illinois thus constituted, met at the time and place designated. 1 Four presbyteries combined to form this first synod, namely, Missouri, Illinois, Kaskaskia, and Sangamon. Mis- souri almost immediately was divided into three presbyteries, name- ly, St. Louis, St. Charles, and Missouri, to constitute the Synod of Missouri. The presbyteries within the bounds of Illinois were Kaskaskia, Illinois, and Sangamon, whose terrain was defined as follows: "The new presbyteries were to be Kaskaskia, with seven min- isters and seventeen churches: Sangamon, with four ministers and six churches; and Center Presbytery, with its name changed to Illinois, with the rest of the ministers and churches. As our State is now, the dividing lines of the new presbyteries are a little curious. Kaskaskia included that part of the State lying south of the northern line of Madison, Bond, Fayette, and Crawford. This northern line ran nearly east and west, and the lines of this presbytery were clearly defined. Sangamon Presbytery included all that part of the State east of the west line of Montgomery, Sangamon, Fulton, Knox, Henry, and Jo Davies counties; i. e., the west line crossed the Illinois River somewhere near Beards- town, then ran directly north on the fourth principal meridian to Rock River, thence up that stream some forty miles, and then north to the north State line. The six churches were Hillsboro, with six members; Springfield, or Sangamon, with sixty-seven; Fulton, in Fulton County, with fifteen members; Union Grove, in Tazewell County, with twenty-one; and Pleasant Prairie, in Coles County, with twenty members, and Paris Church, in Edgar County, with about thirty members — one hundred fifty-nine in all. Thomas A. Spilman, at Hillsboro, had as his co-presbyter J. G. Bergen at Springfield; his next nearest, John McDonald at 1 Synod met in the brick house of John Tillson, Hillsboro. (See Illinois State Historical Journal, Vol. 17, p. 719.) 21 22 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Synods of Illinois— 1831 THE FORMATIVE PERIOD 23 Union Grove, Tazewell County; and the farthest from him, Hor- ace Smith at Fulton. Chicago, then a mere military post, was in its limits. "The eastern boundary of Center or Illinois Presbytery was the western boundary of Sangamon. It included the now import- ant places of Carrollton, Jacksonville, Quincy, Rushville, Rock Island, and Galena, where Aratus Kent was then laboring, for his arrival at Galena was April 19, 1829. " 2 The most important city in the whole area was Jacksonville. Material gathered on this subject is from Frank J. Heinl. 3 The charge account books of the postmaster at Jacksonville discloses that two hundred seventy-one residents of Morgan Coun- ty received one hundred thirty-three publications during the years 1831 and 1832. Abraham Lincoln resided at New Salem, twenty- seven miles from Jacksonville; Stephen A. Douglas later lived there and celebrities too numerous to mention visited the city. Morgan County, where Jacksonville is located, had its historical antecedents in the South. But about 1830 there began an influx of New England Congregationalists who made Jacksonville the storm center of the conflict between the cotton growers and the Puritan Abolitionists. Lincoln and Douglas observed the animosi- ties engendered there and carried them clear across Illinois in their historic debates. "The population near the present Jacksonville jumped from about a hundred in 1820 to a thousand in 1823, and on January 31, 1823, Morgan County was erected and included the territory of the present counties of Cass, Morgan, and Scott. Jacksonville was laid out as the county seat of the county by authority of the legislature on April 26, 1825. Immigrants were rushing into the Prairie State. The population of the county was about 4,000 in 1826 and 6,000 in 1828, and was 12,714 in 1830, it being the second county in population in the State. In 1840, with its 19,547 people, it was the most populous county in Illinois. Jack- sonville had 446 people in 1830 and by the close of 1833 had 2,500 or 3,000." 4 2 Norton, p. 162. 3 The Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 23, p. 371. 4 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 23, pp. 273-4. 24 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS To Jacksonville came Jack Brich in 1824 and organized the first Presbyterian Church in 1827. John Millot Ellis became its pastor in 1828 and continued with it until 1831. During his pastorate Illinois College took shape and the Yale Band began to arrive in Illinois. "In the early thirties, the schism in the Presbyterian Church which materialized in 1837 was casting its shadow before. While the split in the Methodist Church was a full decade in the fu- ture, currents of disruption were already flowing in it. The Bap- tists were divided into several sects among which were many and bitter contentions. Denominational lines in Illinois in 1831 and 1832 were as loose and badly crossed as were political lines." 5 "It is impossible at this time to realize the animosity shown by the pioneer settlers towards immigrants from the East who were indiscriminately called 'Yankees'. In Jacksonville, as else- where, settlers were divided into two classes, those from the Cot- ton States, called 'Whites,' and those from the East called 'Yank- ees.' The better class of the Southerners felt themselves to be ladies and gentlemen; they were proud of their ancestry and aristocracy and felt that there were none like themselves among the 'Yankees.' The 'Yankees' were almost to a man anti-slavery and did not hide their sentiments. A considerable part of the Southern stock was opposed to 'book-larnin', 'pay preachers,' 'Bible Schools,' written 'sarmints,' and so forth. The 'Yankees' favored education for the masses, and 'Yankee' preachers advo- cated colleges where preaching might be taught, and worse than all else, many of them were regarded as unsound in their theo- logical views." 6 For several years, from 1833 until the time of the division of the church, the Rev. William J. Fraser became a sort of scape- goat to bear the sins residing in Presbyterian fellowship. He preferred charges of unsound teachings against his fellow towns- men — Edward Beech er, J. M. Sturtevant, and William Kirby. On the contrary, charges of slander were preferred against him for publishing in the Illinois Herald of March 9, 1833, an article that was said to injure the characters of the three men complained 5 Illinois State Historical Journal, Vol. 23, p. 380. 6 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 23, pp. 381-2. THE FORMATIVE PERIOD 25 against. William J. Fraser was deposed from the ministry and the three Congregational clergymen were exonerated. Mr. Fraser appealed against both verdicts. The Synod of Illinois, meeting on September 19, 1833, removed the sentence imposed on Mr. Fraser, and his appeal against exonerating the three brethren was withdrawn. From this time forward we hear no more of the) charges against Beecher, Sturtevant, and Kirby, but Mr. Fraser, with Congregationalists and their sympathizers banded as his judiciary, was disciplined. The Presbytery of Illinois, March 30, 1834, refused his request to be dismissed to the Presbytery of Schuyler and referred it and a long list of Papers to the Synod for its advice and decision. At the meeting of Synod October 16, 1834, William J. Fraser presented and read a communication from himself renouncing the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church. The Synod gave their approval and announced them- selves no longer responsible for his personal or official acts. In 1836 William Fraser was received by Kaskaskia Pres- bytery. At the meeting of Synod October 20, 1836, the fact of re- ception of William J. Fraser by Kaskaskia Presbytery came up for Synod's consideration and the following resolution was passed: "That the Presbytery of Kaskaskia be, and they are, hereby re- quired, at the next meeting of Synod, to produce their records in the case; and that until then, the Synod do not recognize William J. Fraser as a Presbyterian minister; nor at all, until they shall have good reasons to withdraw their disapprobation of the man- ner of his renouncing our connection, and his positive withdraw- al from the Presbyterian Church." 7 Notice of complaint against the resolution was given by John Brich, B. F. Spilman, John Mathews, Alexander Ewing, John N. Moore, William White, Hervey McClung, William K. Stewart, and James Stafford and forwarded to the General Assembly. Mr. Fraser was restored by the (OS) Assembly after the division of 1838. At the undivided Synod of 1838 the majority group com- prising Congregationalists and New School Presbyterians refused to accept the decision of the Old School General Assembly and refused to admit the name of William J. Fraser on its roll. "These acts of the Synod in refusing to declare its adhesion 7 Norton, p. 242. 26 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS to either Assembly, and refusing to acknowledge Mr. Fraser as a member after his restoration by the O. S. Assembly, were re- garded by the minority as sufficient evidence that the majority had seceded from the Presbyterian Church, or from the true As- sembly. This minority accordingly withdrew from the major- ity and met in the First Church of Peoria, declaring themselves the Synod of Illinois, and electing as their moderator, the Rev. John Mathews. The Rev. John G. Bergen was chosen stated clerk." 8 This long, drawn-out litigation subsequently resulting in the division of the Synod into the O.S. and N.S. bodies becomes intelligible only in terms of deep-seated prejudices that tend to become mutually exclusive. The storm-center at Jacksonville was a storm-center because these convictions were rarely separ- ated from aggressive promotion. The one influence that tended to keep convictions within bounds was the Presbyterian church. In that body the Abolitionist could present his paper and secure an audience so long as he remembered the body's rules and order. For many of the*Congregational pattern this was not satisfactory. Disparity in taste received no respect. The pattern must be from New England and Abolitionist or contrary to what they called the dictates of conscience. "Judge Hall of Vandalia, the editor of the Illinois Monthly Magazine, and an able and influential spokesman for the West, was a severe critic of the colonization method of western migration. About a year after the launching of the Mississippi Valley Enterprise an article of his was re- printed in the Journal attacking emigration by colonies since it tended to keep the newcomers in their own little group, and meant they never really became part of western society. He fer- vently supported migration and longed for the time when 'the fertile plains of Illinois (are) covered with an industrious, and enterprising, and intelligent population'; but not little cliques of transplanted New Englanders. The next issue carried more on the same subject in which Judge Hall reasoned, 'If a colony of backwoodsmen should settle in Massachusetts and determine to raise nothing but corn and tobacco, to wear blanket coats and leggins, and to make stump speeches, there would be a mad 8 Outline History of Synods of Illinois, by Patterson Com. THE FORMATIVE PERIOD 27 out-cry about it; yet they would do no greater violence to the feelings of that people than a colony coming from the East, who should pertinaciously resolve upon planting all their own cus- toms among us, would do to ours'." 9 He was answered a few months later by a correspondent who claimed that the colony method was the way New England had originally been settled and with great success, that it insured a church and school to the emigrant from the beginning and was a highly valuable and desirable way to develop a new land. Judge Hall's reply was a vigorous defense of his adopted West against New England's condescension. With fervor he stated, 'The whole project is preposterous, because it is founded upon wrong premises. It is based upon the absurd idea of a super- iority on the part of one class of our citizens over another; a proposition which is as untrue as it is anti-republican and un- christian." The Synod was not an instrument forged in New England. Just as in the Western Reserve, Michigan, and Wisconsin the message had to be sent East, so in Illinois Mr. Fraser and others were telling the Eastern sea-board that the West could prosper only when its manners and customs were not imported but in- digenous. Illinois, in its constitution adopted, was a free state, but this did not imply that the citizens of Illinois had to regu- late the thinking of the citizens of the other sovereign states of the Union. Citizens of all the original thirteen states had been slave owners and in many cases had voluntarily released their slaves. Should Illinois become a gang of slave-snatchers that did violence to the constitutional rights of other states to de^ termine their own policies and this in contravention of the Fu- gitive Slave Law? These were questions that appealed to the Presbyterian mind as being questions of law and order. In the Plan of Union the Congregationalists irked under the orderly deliverances of the presbyteries and the Synod. Many of them were outright Abolitionists and advocated that the sacraments be denied those who held slaves or were in any way associated with slavery as an institution. It needs to be remembered that in 9 Miss Ellen Harriet Thompson quoting S. S. Journal, Vol. 1, Aug-. 24, 1831, in the Presbyterian Historical Society Journal of March, 1948, pp. 56-57. 28 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Illinois many slaves were owned even after it was declared a free state. 10 The following quotation from Spinka accuses the Congre- gationalists of starting a line of action that inevitably led to the Civil War. "Congregationalists have always been proud of their particularly important role in the emancipation of the American Negro. It may be added just as truthfully that Congregational- ists must also bear much of the blame for making the conflict over Abolition of Slavery 'irrepressible'. They contributed to the anti-slavery movement elements which aggravated a tendency toward sectionalism which could be overcome only by a Civil War." 11 It was precisely at the point where agitation and incitement became a form of religion that many Congregationalists and most Presbyterians refused to be counted. No less a celebrity than Elijah P. Lovejoy refused to be catalogued as an Abolitionist. The great majority of the citizens of Illinois were anti-slavery, but the more conservative element could not become accustomed to the lawless methods invoked in slave-stealing, under-ground railroads, shooting, and murder, and that in the name of the Master who said, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caes- ar's." It should be noted that Abraham Lincoln was not an Abolitionist. An anecdote from the Illinois State Historical Society Jour- nal 12 illustrates the guns and the strife: "One of the early experi- ences of the Blazers, told to me by my father, occurred in the early forties. One evening there was a party of several men gathered across the ravine back of my grandmother Blazer's house, better known in late years as the Butcher Place. They all carried guns and the Blazer men went into the house to get their weapons, but my grandmother said, 'No, do not take any guns, we will just go over and see what they want.' On their way back the boys discovered that their mother carried a meat ax under her apron." Quoting from Spinka, 13 "One of the clearest statements in regard to the matter was made by Professor Samuel C. Bartlett 10 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 23, p. 396, Heinl. 11 Congregational & Christian Churches in Illinois, p. 139. 12 Vol. 15, pp. 584-585. 13 Spinka, p. 133. THE FORMATIVE PERIOD 29 of the Chicago Theological Seminary in an answer to a charge of doctrinal laxity made against Chicago Congregationalism. Bart- lett bluntly repudiated the accusation, and insisted that the ground of difference — which he admitted as existing — was not in doc- trine, but in the issue of slavery. 'So far as I have power of judging the separation between Presbyterianism and Congrega- tionalism in Chicago has not arisen from nor been grounded upon a difference of theological views. The anti-slavery question originally had no little influence in the formation of -some (though not all) of our churches. But this ground of difference operates but partially now. ...'". Again and again Synods and presbyteries pronounced against Southern slavery but invariably left questions of procedure to the discretion of the local churches. A typical case is that of the Pleasant Prairie Church which submitted to the Presbytery of Palestine, April 24, 1835, the following questions: "Should we admit to the communion of the church an individual who holds his fellow being in perpetual bondage, or one who has sold his fellow being for gain as a bond-slave, or one who rejects some of the essential doctrines of the Presbyterian Church?" Presby- tery answered, "We do not deem it within our province to give an efficient reply; but that it is expedient to enter into a free discussion of them." 14 The question of slavery was integrated with the question of New England advancement into the middle West. The Yale Band who constituted the core in the Abolitionst organization car- ried on an endless correspondence in which they advocated that Illinois could never expect to be healthy unless it received a copious donation of New England blood. Lyman Beecher writ- ing to Theron Baldwin says, "It is of vast importance to settle a minister in each county as soon as possible. Let us drive to this point. This is the object: to place one missionary in every county, and six or eight pious families without any loss to New England. Show them what a field there is to grow in grace by doing good. I mean to bring on a colony with me." 15 Such advocacy through correspondence and conversation 14 Norton, p. 223. 15 George F. Magown, Asa Turner, A Home Mission Patriarch and His Times. Boston, 1869, p. 171. 30 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS could only result in one issue — a Plan of Union that had failed. From 1833 to 1844 Congregationalism with independency was on the march. Vituperation was common, and too often it almost appeared that Abolitionism was but a pretext whereby to split the Presbyterian Church. Some conception of the growth in this direction can be gleaned from Spinka (91). "Beginning with the organization of the Congregational Church in February, 1833, the growth of the Congregational churches in Illinois was fairly rapid. By 1844 there were between eighty and eighty-five Con- gregational churches in the state (additional four which joined later were then Presbyterian) organized into three local asso- ciations — the Illinois (later renamed Quincy) Association, the Fox River Union, and the Rock River Association. It was then thought opportune to take steps toward the organization of a general association which would provide a bond of union for the local associations. It is interesting to note that originally the promoters of the project intended to organize a general Confer- ence which would comprise two states — Illinois and Iowa." Augustus T. Norton, author of History of the Presbyterian Church of Illinois, both by ancestry and nurture was predestined to be a Congregationalist. Baptized by the Rev. Lyman Beecher, reared in the family of Deacon William Collins of Litchfield, Connecticut, cousin of Theron Baldwin, graduate of Yale col- lege, but ordained a Presbyterian minister, he can scarcely be accused or being a bigoted Presbyterian. His sympathies were invariably liberal, but again and again he refers to Congregational aggressiveness with disapprobation. Of Salmon Giddings he says the following: "The process by which Mr. Giddings, an ordained Congregational minister, became a Presbyterian minis- ter is worth noticing. It consisted of traveling from New Eng- land to Missouri; at least, if that was not the process, there was no other. 16 In his description of the founding of the First Presbyterian Church of Edwardsville, there is an under-current of censure of the Eastern point of view. "The fashion was in those days for missionaries to come out from the East and itinerate through Missouri and Illinois wherever they could find or gather Pres- 16 Norton, p. 36. THE FORMATIVE PERIOD 31 byterian churches, spending only a few weeks or perhaps only a few days with each." 17 He names Benjamin Lowe, Samuel Graham, Edward Hollister, Daniel Gould, Oren Catlin, and Daniel G. Sprague as itinerants who labored and left; and com- ments on the church, (( It died, and from starvation." He notes that the Hillsboro church in 1859 dismissed twenty-one persons to form the Hillsboro Congregational church. Writing as of January 1, 1829, he says, "From this time on- ward I shall be obliged to abandon the chronological nexus con- sisting in following the dates of the organization of individual churches. So large became their number, so many of them died, and so greatly were they confused by the division of O.S. and N.S. that to attempt to speak of them in strict chronological or- der would involve inextricable confusion, as well as be in itself well nigh impossible." 18 Describing the New Hope Church, he writes this significant paragraph: 19 "This church ultimately fell a prey to sectarian zeal. Revs. Merrick A. Jewett of Terre Haute, and Dean Andrews of Marshall, Illinois, Congregational ministers, organized two little Congregational churches, one at each extremity of the New Hope Church. Between the two the Presbyterian church was swallowed up. But no good has followed. Of the devourers, one is articulo mortis and the other has long been in statu quo." Of a somewhat different temper was the unorganized pro- gram of individual ministers who made it their business to im- part education to such as cared to put themselves under their in- fluence. The educational movement in the State of Illinois de- rived its inspiration and its power from the Protestant ministers and missionaries. Thus the Cumberland Presbyterians as early as 1821 had established a school in White County which the Legislature of the State recognized by passing an act to encourage learning in White County, making the township trustees and the church trustees coordinate bodies in conducting a school for the township. A decided diffidence to legislate charters for the founding of sectarian schools and colleges was exhibited by the legislature. 17 Norton, p. 39. 18 Norton, p. 140. 19 Norton, p. 47. 32 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS "No college or other institution of learning in which any one religious sect is known to have a predominent influence has ever yet received a charter in this state nor will any such institution ever be incorporated there unless public sentiment shall undergo radical change." 20 Sheridan P. Reed 21 tells of the work of the Rev. Henry I. Venable who founded in 1841 Edgar Academy at Paris. "This school was opened on the first of December, 1841, by Rev. and Mrs. Venable as a private enterprise. It was intended this should be a school for girls, but during the first year several boys made application for instruction in the language and mathematics; it was then decided to change the plan and take both males and females. Rev. Venable was assisted in his efforts to meet the wants of the country for educational facilities by funds furnished to him without the payment of interest in most cases. The erec- tion of the buildings and the employment of an adequate supply of assistants involved a heavy expenditure. In the spring of 1848 a subscription was made to make the school a Presbyterian institution, and the property was passed to the control of a Board of Trustees. This school was continued until 1868. The young men and women who received their academic education at the school numbered more than one thousand, some students coming from Indiana. John C. Means, John W. Blackburn, Miss Nancy Stout, and Miss Jane Dayton were teachers. Mr. Nelson succeeded Rev. Venable as principal. Most of the students came on horseback. Those living some distance would spend the week-end, when the weather was inclement, with those living nearer the school. In those days if you wished to go for a visit you went, and when you arrived, it was not necessary to present your card. Soon after the Edgar Academy was placed under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church of Paris by Mr. Venable in 1848, the Metho- dists of Paris instituted the Methodist Seminary under the aus- pices of the Methodist Church." The Rev. John McDonald instituted a log-cabin college in 20 Hall, Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. II, p. 311. 21 Illinois State Historical Journal, Vol., 14, pp. 388-9. THE FORMATIVE PERIOD 33 34 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS his home at the Pleasant Prairie Church near Charleston and sent forth from that institution three of the early Presbyterian ministers who labored in southern Illinois. The Rev. Gideon Blackburn entered Illinois in 1835 as a new member of the Presbytery of Illinois. His purpose — to found at Carlinville an institution for the special object of preparing young men for the Christian ministry. The full reali- zation of his plan was not for him to see for he died in 1838, but his work was not in vain — Blackburn-University was founded. Sunday Schools were established and synod again and again passed deliverances upon the education of the young. Temper- ance as a topic received prominent treatment. "On some occasions the discipline of slaveholders was de- clared an imperative duty of the church, but it was not affirmed at any time that it was incumbent upon Northern Christians to separate themselves from their Southern brethren if they declined to regard the admonition administered to them. No threat of division on this account was ever indulged in by the Synod, at least up to the time of the general catastrophe in the church which occurred in 1839-" 22 22 Synods of Illinois, 1831-1887. Patterson Com., p. 8. The Rev. Salmon Giddings First Protestant Missionary to Cross the Mississippi CHAPTER II DIVISION From 1830 on Illinois was confronted by the multiple prob- lems that accrue with national development. Churchmen rarely go to the polls to deliver a solid vote, and many of the questions that came before the presbyteries and the Synod were given mere- ly the courtesy of a reading. Abolitionism was one of these questions and involved the national relationships of the Pres- byterian church. Slaveholders, former slaveholders, and emanci- pators met in the bonds of fellowship. The mind of the nation was preoccupied with the inter-related questions that involved a larger plan of union — the union of the sovereign states that were banded together. Some men faced these inter-related questions from the intimate vantage point of ties of blood; others from the point of view of such national commitments as the Missouri Compromise, the Fugitive Slave Law, The Dred Scott Decision, or for a Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Some were decidedly tender- minded and others decidedly tough-minded. In the frontier state of Illinois, such fundamental questions as the use of liquor, the education of children, freedom for slaves, freedom of the press and the under-girding question of the manner of men's walk when they disagree were being poured into the crucible of experience. In the councils of the Synod of Illinois, the New Englander and the Southerner met. Several of the Illinois governors had owned slaves before coming to Illinois; the New Englanders had not. Whatever their back- grounds, in Illinois they were catalogued as "Whites" or "Yank- ees." Prejudice abounded and opinionated men were prominent in public discussions. A sample of this controversy is found in the tragic story of Elijah P. Lovejoy. The son of a Congre 1 - gational minister, he combined journalism and preaching as personal abilities. In the journalistic capacity he became, in turn, editor of the St. Louis Times and later the St. Louis Observer. In the latter capacity he entered into a controversy with the Roman Catholic Church because of its use of U. S. soldiers and the Amer- 35 36 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS ican flag at the dedication of the St. Louis Roman Catholic Cathedral. The Roman Catholic authorities spread the libel that Lovejoy was an Abolitionist, which, though far from the truth, was true enough for their purposes for they temporarily succeeded in closing his office. About that time, a negro by name of Mcintosh, a deck hand on a steamer at the wharves, murdered his white overseer, to avenge himself for intolerable abuses. A city mob chained him to a tree and burned him to death. The city judge, by name of Lawless, justified the mob action. Lovejoy spared no terms in denouncing such civic conduct, and as a con- sequence, had to flee the city, and relocated at Alton, Illinois. The Committe of citizens who welcomed him there made it very clear to him that the temper of their city was not Abolitionist, to which Mr. Lovejoy replied: "I do not know that I shall feel it my duty to discuss it here as fully as I did in St. Louis; there, where its enormities were constantly before me, I felt bound to lift up my voice against it, as in the murder of Mcintosh. This I claim as my constitutional right, a right which I shall never relinquish to any man or body of men. But to discuss the subject of slavery is not the object of my paper, except as a great moral subject in connection with others. My object is to publish a re- ligious journal which shall be instructive and profitable to my fellow-citizens. As to the subjects I shall discuss, and the manner of doing it, I shall ever claim the right of determining for myself, always accepting counsel from others with thankfulness." 1 Mr. Lovejoy, forthwith, with the consent of the citizens made arrangements to publish his paper — the name of it to be "The Alton Observer." But the night the new press arrived, a mob took over and deposited it in the Mississippi River. A second press was secured, but Mr. Lovejoy's anti-slavery attitudes were so pronounced that he again drew the fire of the opponents of Abolitionism who, on the night of August 22, 1837, destroyed the second press. This episode thrust Mr. Lovejoy to the front as an avowed Abolitionist and he issued a call for the formation of a state anti-slavery society to organize October 26, 1837, at Upper Alton. The meeting was tempestuous and a harborer of obstruc- tionists. Conspicuous among these were Usher F. Linder, Attorney l Norton, p. 249. DIVISION 37 General of the State, and John Hogan, a Methodist minister. In spite of obstruction sixty names were recorded October 27 as the organizers with officers elected on the State Anti-Slavery Society of Illinois. Conspicuous in this group were David Nelson, Gid- eon Blackburn, and Rev. Edward Beecher, President of Illinois College at Jacksonville. 2 Again Lovejoy and his backers endeavored to establish the Alton Observer. A press was secured and housed under the watch ful eyes of armed defenders. A mob, fully armed, attacked and Lovejoy was killed. At Alton is the monument that commemorates the martyrdom of the Rev. Elijah Parish Lovejoy, defender of the freedom of the press. Another ex-Missourian was Dr. David Nelson (1793-1844). "Born in Tennessee; graduated at Washington College, Tennes- see; studied medicine in Danville, Kentucky, and in the Phila- delphia Medical School; returned to Kentucky at age of nineteen, intending to practice his profession, but the War of 1812 having commenced, he joined a Kentucky regiment as a surgeon and went to Canada. He resumed his medical practice at Jonesboro, Ten- nesee, his native town. Religiously educated, he had early made a profession of religion, but while in the army he became an infidel. He soon, however, became convinced of the truth of the Bible, and determined to enter the ministry. He was licensed to preach in April, 1825. He preached three years in Tennessee and pub- lished also, at Rogersville, the "Calvinistic Magazine." In 1828 he succeeded his brother Samuel as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Danville, Kentucky. In 1830 he removed to Missouri and established Marion College, near Palmyra, of which he was the first President. Earnestly advocating the cause of Emanci- pation he found it expedient to leave Missouri, and in 1836 he removed to Illinois, where he established at Oakland, near Quincy, a school for the education of young men for the ministry. He exhausted his pecuniary means and the institution failed." 3 To attribute David Nelson to New England Abolitionism is ridiculous. His spiritual experiences are a composite of environ- ment and inheritance. His inheritance was a southern Presby- 2 Anti-Slavery Origins of the Civil War, Dumond, p. 55. 3 The Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 13, pp. 433-434. 38 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS terian home and the institutions of Southern slavery. The environ- mental circumstances of life were training in medicine, indoc- trination by the Rev. Samuel Doak who imparted to his students the cordial hatred of slavery, and finally, the associations with atheistic soldiers in the War of 1812. He became an open advo- cate of atheism until a casual reading of Doddridge's "Rise and Progress, revolutionized his thinking and motivated his study- ing in Divinity. He was ordained at Abington Presbytery in Virginia. He preached in Tennessee and Kentucky but moved to Marion County, Missouri, in 1830, where he established Marion College. "Perhaps the College would have flourished for an indefi- nite period but for the opinions of Dr. Nelson and others on the subject of slavery. . . . The Anti-Abolition Crusade of 1835-6 brought matters to a crisis." 4 The student of the life of Nelson notes that in his various moves from Tennessee to Kentucky and from Kentucky to Mis- souri he took with him his slaves. A leaven was at work. Trans- portation facilities were joining neighborhood to neighborhood; the telegraph had come into being and postal service was being established. Lecture tours were being undertaken and ideas that had been in ferment were leavening the whole lump. In Illinois, Polk was supported for the Presidency and defeated Clay. Birney ran as an Abolitionist. Nelson liberated his slaves under the im- pact of the dynamic beliefs of Theodore Weld whom he met at a public gathering, and became an avowed Abolitionist. Anti- Abolitionists drove him out of Missouri and into Illinois. Dr. William Nelson, a son of David Nelson, tells of the oppo- sition to his father: "Not long after the mob visited our house, father had an appointment to preach on the camp-ground of his church, a few miles from the college. It was Sunday and a large crowd was there to hear him. After the sermon William Mul- drow presented him a colonization paper to be read. Father ob- jected. He said he feared it would stir up the mob again. But Muldrow reassured him, so father read it. Then a Dr. Bosely rushed up to the pulpit with his cane raised to strike father, but Muldrow rushed up to Bosely and told him that he had had the pa- 4 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 13, p. 438. DIVISION 39 per read. Then Bosely struck at Muldrow, but the cane was knocked to the side by Mr. Ringer. Muldrow taunted Bosely with some of his Kentucky history. Bosely drew a spear from his cane and tried to run it through Muldrow, but Muldrow grabbed and broke it. Then Bosely drew a pistol, pointed it at Muldrow and snapped it twice. Then Muldrow drew a knife and stabbed Bosely. A general fight followed. Several men tied red handkerchiefs around their waists, got on their horses and started to raise a mob. Father started for home, but mother, who was frantic, persuaded him to start for Quincy." 5 For three days Dr. Nelson hid in the brush and traveled by night, frequently seeing some of these red-handkerchiefed regu- lators pass along the road, from his concealment. At length he came to the river bank and by some means, got a message to friends in Quincy. Mr. Magoun says that during his flight "he com- menced his famous book 'Cause and Cure of Infedelity'." "Hiding in the bushes," he says, "with the Mississippi at the foot of the bluff, 'gliding swiftly by,' and 'friends passing over' to and from a Free State, a safe landing in which he could 'almost discover' he also wrote, on the back of letters, the Christian psalm, 'My days are gliding swiftly by.' " He goes on: "Two Quincy church-mem- bers ... at dusk paddled a 'dug-out' across the river and fished in the slough. Learning by signs just where Dr. Nelson was, they let their boat float down toward the Missouri 'strand.' With hugh strides down came the fugitive evangelist and college founder from his concealment. The slaveholder scouts were foiled. Well out in the river, Dr. Nelson asked if they had brought him any- thing to eat. His days of tramping, hiding, hymn-making, pray- ing, reflecting, when it was unsafe to resort to a house, had well- nigh starved him. 'Something in the bag,' replied one of the brethren, rowing with all his might. Diving into the bag, the brave but famished Tennessean brought up some dried codfish and crackers. Laughing heartily, he said: 'Well, I'm dependent on Yankees, and shall have to be a Yankee after this, and I may as well begin on crackers and codfish'." The personnel of the faculty at Marion College places the ca- reer of David Nelson and his colleagues squarely on the lap of 5 The Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 13, pp. 443-4. 40 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Presbyterianism. "Connected with Marion College from its birth to its death as members of the faculty were Dr. Ezra Stiles Ely, Dr. William S. Potts, Dr. Hiram P. Goodrich, Prof. Marks, Prof. McKee, Prof. Hayes, Prof. Beach, Prof. Blatchford, and Prof. Thompson. All these men were Presbyterians at a time when Pres- byterianism and Abolitionism were synonymous in Marion County." 6 David Nelson believed in direct action and Quincy was made a starting point in the underground railway lines which ran from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan. The points of entrance were Chester, Alton, and Quincy. Dr. Nelson vigorously enticed slaves from Missouri, and Missourians retaliated by burning his Mission Institute. He was among the first Abolitionists in Illinois and antedates the Lovejoys. Abolitionism in Illinois goes back partially through Quincy to Missouri; to Kentucky and finally to Tennessee. Among David Nelson's writings, the one that comes nearest to enshrining the Illinois side of the Mississippi River is his poem "Shining Shore." 1. My days are gliding swiftly by And I a Pilgrim Stranger Would not detain them as they fly Those hours of toil and danger. For, oh, we stand on Jordan's strand Our friends are passing over. And just before, the shining shore We may almost discover. 2. We'll gird our loins, my brethren dear, Our distant home discerning: Our absent Lord has left us word Let every lamp be burning. For, oh, we stand on Jordan's strand Our friends are passing over. And just before, the shining shore We may almost discover. 6 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 13, p. 445. DIVISION 41 3. Should coming days be cold and dark We need not cease our singing: That perfect rest naught can molest Where golden harps are ringing. For, oh, we stand on Jordan's strand Our friends are passing over. And just before, the shining shore We may almost discover. 4. Let sorrow's rudest tempest blow Each cord on earth to sever; Our King says "Come" and there's our home Forever, oh, forever! For, oh, we stand on Jordan's strand Our friends are passing over. And just before, the shining shore We may almost discover. The late Andrew C. Zenos, in his volume "Presbyterianism in America," observes that one of the contributing difficulties in the operation of the Plan of Union was the latent question of the standing of a financial committee. Did it exercise authority over the body or bodies that created it? Was it a committee or a Board of Control? 7 Joined to this question were at least three other questions that plagued the deliberative sessions of the Synod of Illinois, namely: (l) Were Congregationalists to be received into Pres- byterian fellowship without having to submit to the same regula- tions as were required of Presbyterians ? For example, the records of the Presbytery of Illinois were disapproved by the Synod of Illinois in 1831 with respect to the admission of Rev. Edward Beecher by letter when he was not present, and of Rev. Asa Turner without his assent to the Confession of Faith. The Synod in 1835 recommended to the churches under their care as far as practicable to make our regular calls to the ministers of their choice and secure their installation, and that no stated supplies be reported to the General Assembly that have not been approved 7 Zenos, p. 80. 42 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS by the presbyteries. 8 (2) Was Presbyterian Education to be allowed an independency in action that was not permitted in Presbyterian pulpits? (3) Were presbyteries and synods to take over the morals and consciences of local communions and of individuals ? I. On question of Boards and Missions, the Synod of Illinois, 1831, adopted the following resolutions: "That the As- sembly's Board of Missions and the Board of the Home Mis- sionary Society be respectfully requested to communicate freely with our Presbyterial and Synodical Committees on all important subjects connected with missionary operations in our bounds; and without the mediation of any other Board whatever." II. The second question, that of education with independ- ency in action, continued with the successive presbyteries and synods through the decades that followed. Confusing the educational issue was a dualism in approach. The educational interests in the Presbyterian church antedate the Plan of Union. During the 18th century Princeton, Hampden- Sydney, Dickenson, and Greenville, collegiate enterprises, were definitely Presbyterian. Academies flourished everywhere. Ten- nent had his log-college in "Neshaminy"; Finley was at Notting- ham; Evans at Pencader; and Andrews was at Philadelphia. These academies were scattered across Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North and South Carolina. McMillan's Log Academy in western Pennsylvania is typical and is the forerunner of Wash- ington-Jefferson College; Tennent's log college constitutes the beginnings of Princeton College; Washington and Lee University in Virginia traces back to the Academy at the Timber Ridge Meet- ing House, and literacy had been an issue in Presbyterian policy which had divided the church and had severed the Cumberland group from the denomination. In Illinois there was added to the traditional emphasis of the church the aggressiveness of the Yale Band which became a stormcenter and made Jacksonville and its educational interests almost synonymous with Presbyterian troubles with the Plan of Union. 8 Outline History of Synod of Illinois, pp. 4-5. DIVISION 43 "Illinois College, the greatest educational venture of the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists in Illinois was the fruit, but a partial fruit, indeed, of the imperial dream of a group of young students, the famous 'Yale Band'." 9 This group injected into the Presbyterian pattern their dream that Jacksonville should become in the West "what New Haven was to New England." New Haven Divinity with Dr. Samuel Hopkins and Dr. N. W. Taylor as its representatives was under fire with the Presbyterian General Assembly which was in process of trying Dr. Albert Barnes on a charge of heresy, first, on the basis of a sermon on "The Way of Salvation," and secondly, on Dr. Barnes "Notes on Romans." The Synod of Pennsylvania had deposed Dr. Barnes from the ministry; Dr. Barnes had appealed to the General Assembly which had sustained his appeal by a vote of 134 to 96 and had reversed the action of the Synod by a vote of 145 to 78. This trial, read and discussed across the Presbyterian church, provided a rather unfortunate background for aggressiveness at Jacksonville, and in the Presbytery of Illinois, April 23, 1833, William J. Fraser filed charges of heresy against Edward Beecher, J. M. Sturtevant, and William Kirby who were at that time involved in the struggles of planting the new insti- tution at Jacksonville. The accused and the accuser were fellow townsmen. The accused countered against the charge of heresy with a charge that William J. Fraser had slandered them in an article in the Illinois Herald of March 9, 1833. The accused were sustained against the charges made, and the accuser was deposed from the ministry. Mr. Frazer again entered the field of publication and issued a pamphlet entitled "Facts in Reference to the Suspension of Rev. William J. Fraser from the office of the gospel Ministry." The Presbytery deemed the pamphlet of sufficient importance to require an answer. At the meeting of the Synod of Illinois, September 19, 1833, at Jacksonville, Mr. Fraser secured favorable action upon the appeal against the presbytery and was re-instated in the gospel ministry. All other complaints were withdrawn. Co-incident with these events was the struggle to secure a charter for the newly-established college. Edward Beecher and 9 Centennial History of Illinois, Vol. 2, pp. 437. 44 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Theron Baldwin made an unsuccessful attempt to secure from the legislature, meeting at Vandalia in 1830, a charter. The Baptists led by John M. Peck had also failed but later were given a charter (1833) with such stringent restrictions against theo- logical teaching as to make it useless. By 1835 Governor Dun- can, a devout Presbyterian and a friend of education, took up the cudgels on behalf of Illinois College. The act providing for incorporation granted charters to three other colleges at the same time, namely: Alton College, later called Shurtleff, McKendree College, and Jonesboro College. The act incorporating these colleges was approved February 19, 1835. The objects of these institutions were declared to be "The promotion of the general interests of education, and to qualify young men to engage in the several employments and professions of society and to discharge honorably and usefully the various duties of life." 10 The difficulties encountered in incorporating the institu- tion are yet another indication of the social nature of the decisions made upon the frontier. Secularization of public education was a national issue. Horace Mann, as Secretary of the State Board of Education of Massachusetts, 1837, was carrying out laws that had been made in 1826 and had banned school books that had favored any religious sect. In New York Catholics, Protestants, and Jews were debating the use of state funds that subsidized sectarian teaching until finally the State suppressed such use. Dr. Charles Hodge, of Princeton Seminary, described this act as "an abyss of degradation". In New Jersey in 1845, the Synod expressed its great concern in the following: "A race of irre- ligious and infidel youth, such as may be expected to' issue from our public schools, deteriorating more and more with revolving years will not be fit to sustain our free institutions. In such hands they will first be thrown by anarchy into wild confusion; and then engulfed in one or more military despotisms." 11 The issue of Church and State and the prerogatives of each were as confused in 1835-6 as at any subsequent time, and the desperate expedient of making Illinois College an oasis of inde- pendency in the midst of the Presbyterian desert needs some 10 Illinois College Centennial History, Rammelkamp, p. 67. 11 The Presbyterians Hanzsche, pp. 158-9. DIVISION 45 other explanation than that of clearheaded thinking. Its history throughout the years is one of rushing back and forth from Presbyterian to Congregational donors in the desperate effort to maintain survival. A non-Presbyterian critic, Peter Cartw right, the Methodist pioneer preacher, testifying on behalf of his Meth- odist preachers who had borne the heat and burden of the days, said of the "non-sectarian" societies on the ground, that they were controlled by "New School" presbyteries and that they paid money to agents who really worked for their own denominations and against the Methodists, breaking up Methodist Sunday Schools and establishing their own. Had not an agent lately sent East to procure some thousands for Illinois College, said "Give me this sum and the Mississippi Valley is ours"? 12 An ironic reference to the condition of things is contained in the Alton Spectator of 1833 in which is printed a retaliatory passage designed to meet New England's belittling of frontier culture. The citizens are called to meet in the "splendid Con- gregational church soon to be built" to consider means of saving the East from its moral degradation. On every hand were the ingredients that tended to make public discussion controversial and the presbyteries of Illinois were confronted with the dilemma that is constituted by the hu- man aspect in elemental justice. In her courts walked the elders and the presbyters who desired that the presbytery should take sides with them in ordering drastic action against slaveholders. The government in Washington had not taken action. The Pres- byterian Church combining slaveholders and Abolitionists had discovered no basis for collective action on the question of slavery. But in the presbytery meetings of Illinois, zealots like Beecher, Lovejoy, and Nelson were demanding action. The pro- cedure of the presbyteries varied. In some cases questions that dealt with slavery were tabled, because that peace and order were considered a more important question. In other cases, as in that of Alton Presbytery where Elijah Lovejoy presented a paper on the subject, the paper was received and the writer commended. In other cases, such as that of the Pleasant Prairie Church where the elders of the church asked for a presbyterial ruling on their 12 Centennial History of Illinois, Pease, p. 417, Vol. 2. 46 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS right to receive as member a man who had owned slaves, or was currently owning them, the question was remanded to the session with the answer that it was within the discretion of the session to receive whom they would into the membership of the church. The educational questions that came before the church were similarly devisive. Control and independency are strange bed- fellows, but each, by the very nature of the case, must find its rest, if possible, under the roof of education. From the earliest years there was a zeal for temperance. "Mr. Timothy Turner, a forcible lecturer on the subject, was twice requested to address the Synod in the line of his public labors, and did so with excellent impression. Sermons were de- livered by special appointment of the Synod on this subject, and in 1836 a resolution was adopted, apparently without dissent, by which the members pledged themselves to abstain entirely from the use of all intoxicating liquors as a beverage, coupled with another resolution by which the Synod promised 'to make the cause of temperance a subject of their public and private prayers . id Of a piece with the Congregational story is the story of the development of the Theological Seminary located in Chicago. This institution had its inception in 1829 as the Indiana Theo- logical Seminary. The Synod of Indiana met that year in Bond County, Illinois, and voted to append to the Hanover Academy a Theological Seminary. Dr. John Mathews of Shepherdstown, Virginia, was elected Professor in Theology. By December of that year he was on the ground and at work. Mr. Crowe, President of the institution, illustrates the social atmosphere of the day, and the hour, in his financial appeals in Boston, Massachusetts. "At Boston his story was given a good hearing. There was in Boston a committee of strong, thoughtful men appointed by the churches to examine and pronounce upon all claims upon public beneficence coming from the West. Already the West was making so many appeals to the East for help that a special committee existed for the sole purpose of considering these ap- peals. This committee listened to all Mr. Crowe desired to say 13 Outline History of the Synods of Illinois, p. 7. DIVISION 47 and retired for deliberation. After deliberation, they summoned Mr. Crowe and began to put some questions to him. The ques- tions were entirely upon the theological position the Seminary held. It will be recalled that the air at that time was full of theological controversy everywhere. In the next year, 1837, the division was to take place in the Presbyterian church whereby there became the New School branch and the Old School branch. Boston was more in sympathy with the New School statement of belief than the Old School statement. It was in a certain sense perfectly natural for the Boston Committee to inquire what Mr. Crowe's attitude toward these disputed theological matters was. Did he and the institution he represented favor the Old, or did they favor the New method of doctrinal formulas? Mr. Crowe replied that he was not authorized to answer for anyone but himself, but candor compelled him to say that he stood with the Old School views rather than the New. Whereupon he was told that the committee was not prepared to recommend his cause to the patronage of the churches. "So the interview ended and the visitation in the East for solicitation likewise ended. He had secured in all less than one hundred dollars. A new feature in the life of the Seminary had appeared — the doctrinal feature. Mr. Crowe realized more fully than ever before that while a theological seminary might have students and professors, and might have heroic souls endeavoring to sustain and develop it, still it could not be a theological seminary in any church, certainly in the thoughtful Presbyterian church, and be entirely free from its own doctrinal standing". 14 A group of English Presbyterians were at Friendsville (the old Fort Barney location) exerting their cultural and educational influence in the affairs of Wabash County. By 1848 they had erected a brick house of worship and had sponsored the estab- lishment of Friendsville Seminary, both church and school re- ceiving their leadership from the Rev. C. S. Baldridge. At Paris, in Edgar County, the Rev. Henry I. Venable had secured a tract of land, six acres of it, and by December, 1841, was running a co-educational institution; by 1848 a Board of 14 Presbyterian Theological Seminary of Chicago, J.G.K. Mc- Clure, pp. 18, 19. 48 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Trustees had been elected and the Presbyterian institution was established. In May, 1837, James Butler Hickok was born at Troy Grove, Illinois, of Presbyterian parentage and constituted one of the threads in the pattern running through Presbyterian development in Illionis. His services to the country as scout, Union spy, stage-coach driver, and peace officer are too well-known to need recounting. 15 The College Avenue Presbyterian Church of Alton was founded in 1837. Elijah P. Lovejoy was its first pastor. The General Assembly of Illinois in 1837 selected Spring- field as the future capitol of the State and that same year Abra- ham Lincoln took up residence in Springfield. Both in the state and the nation, the Plan of Union was under fire and neither Congregationalists nor Presbyterians were satisfied with its results. The Congregationalists were not at all modest in their claims of contributing to the success of the joint venture and seemed to be impervious to the attacks made upon their New England provincialism. They had an easy way of passing over references to Presbyterian contributions and services. Lippincott and Ellis pioneered education together, but the importance of education begins in New Haven, Connecticut. One writer claims that David Nelson was more Congregational- ist than Presbyterian because of his associations. 16 Conflict was in the making, although it should be noted that it was implicit rather than explicit. Apart from Abolition- ism as a divisive issue, should be noted three other issues that were irritating — the issue of responsibility for educational proc- esses; the issue of subsidies and their administration; and lastly, the issue of Congregationalism on the march under the Plan of Union. Charges and countercharges emanated from Jacksonville. A Congregational church was established there and most of the professors at the college, though nominally Presbyterian, pro- moted the new Congregational enterprise. 17 15 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 23, pp. 522-536. 16 Herman R. Meulder, History of Congregationalism, p. 142. 17 Centennial History of Illinois, Pease, Vol. 2, pp. 419-420. DIVISION 49 Doctrinal difficulties contributed their part to the general catastrophe. "Hopkinsianism" identified by the rank and file as "Pelagianism" had its seat of authority in the New Haven Divinity School. What was known as the New Haven Divinity originated with Dr. N. W. Taylor. "New Measures" were in- troduced by Charles G. Finney and Perfectionism had its seat in the Oberlin School of Theology. Each contributed its part to the general catastrophe of 1837. Then, too, Illinois had its lesser voices, notably such voices as Asa Turner, the apostle of Congregationalism, and Julian M. Sturtevant, instructor and Presi- dent of Illinois College and a pronounced Congregationalist. "He remains nominally in connection with the Presbyterian Church until 1855, though at that time, for years before, and ever since, he has been a most pronounced and radical Congre- gationalist. Under his lead that institution, meant at first to be Presbyterian, then Presbyterian and Congregational, was carried over wholly to the Congregational side. He has been the leader of that ism in this State from its very beginning, in about 1833. All concede to his remarkable ability; but Presbyterians in this State owe him no thanks." 18 The American Home Missionary Society was not at this time helping the Plan of Union. To the contrary, its practices seemed to underwrite division. Newly-formed churches with Congregational affiliation found no barriers in the way of their securing support from the Society, while newly-formed Presby- terian churches had their pleas denied. The Society seems to have formulated a policy of arguing with presbyteries through its dealings with individual Presbyterian churches. Wherever a presbytery was promoting work of its own, the Society would refuse aid excepting as the presbytery disbursed its full benevo- lent money to them. The cry of partisanship was being raised against its administration. Added to the foregoing consideration was the tumult that was being aroused across the nation. The Presbyterian Church in 1815 had forty-one presbyteries, but in the year 1834 there were one hundred and eighteen presbyteries. In 1815 the total membership of the Presbyterian Church was 39,685, but in 1834 18 Norton, p. 158. 50 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS the membership was 247,964. Revivals and missionary successes had brought an increased urgency for ministers, and six theo- logical seminaries had been established: Auburn in 1819; Union in 1824; Western in 1827; Lane in 1829; McCormick in 1829; and Columbia in 1831. With growth came the problem of absorbing and utilizing what had been gathered. The consideration of this problem had developed within the church partisan attitudes which crystallized in the division into two schools of thought which were known as the Old School and New School parties. "The 'Plan of Union' adopted in 1802 was an earnest effort to make out some workable scheme whereby two denominations agreeing in doctrine, but differing fundamentally as to church management, could work together without friction. In practice it was found that the independency of the Congregational side secured irresponsibility for what was done, while the organized solidity of the Presbyterians made every part responsible for every course adopted by any section of the entire body." 19 Controversy centered in theology and polity. In theology the representatives of the New Haven Divinity School were suspect- ed of being Arminian and charges flew thick and fast. In polity the mixture of elders who represented presbyteries, with com- mitteemen who represented local churches, was considered by many an extension of privilege that was unwarranted. In 1826 a delegate was present who was not even a committeeman in his own church. He was seated as a commissioner, but forty- two signers protested the seating. A more pronounced protest had occurred in 1831 with sixty-eight members signing the protest. In 1832 committeemen' were among the delegates, but after submitting their commissions, they finally withdrew them, and the Assembly passed a resolution that the 'Plan of Union' rightly construed, does not authorize any committeeman to sit and act in any case in Synod or in the General Assembly." 20 "Divisive issues were leading toward division. At the Gen- eral Assembly of 1835 which was dominantly Old School in !9 Presbyterians, Hays, p. 172. 20 Presbyterians, Hays, p. 174. DIVISION 51 its attitudes, a committee was appointed to consider the propriety of adopting the Synod of Pittsburgh's Western Foreign Mission- ary Society as a General Assembly organ and voted favorably for the adoption, but the General Assembly of 1836 was domi- nantly New School and found the action of the Committee not acceptable, thus retaining the American Home Missionary Society and hindering any move in the direction of independency in Presbyterian missionary endeavor. This action of the General Assembly seemed to the mind of Presbyterian church leaders an impediment in the way of the exercise of the Presbyterian prerogative and spirit. Before the meeting of 1837 a large representation of the church had gathered for the purpose of dis- cussing the action and of formulating remedies. By the time of their adjournment they had found agreement on precedure. Their only uncertainty was as to the personnel and loyalties of the Assembly of 1837. In that Assembly the roll call revealed a preponderant Old School majority. They elected their candidate for Moderator with a majority vote of 137 to 106. The test of the solidarity of the vote came when the Assembly proposed to abrogate the 'Plan of Union' as being from the outset uncon- stitutional and in its practical working injurious." 21 "The 'Plan of Union' abrogated, the Assembly proceeded to follow through to a successful conclusion the work under- taken and proposed to exscind from the church at large the churches, presbyteries, and synods organized in accordance with the 'Plan of Union.' The Synod of Western Reserve where Oberlinism had some vogue and Congregationalism was promi- nently to the front, was made a test case. The resolution offered was — "That by the operation of the abrogation of the Plan of Union of 1801 the Synod of Western Reserve is, and is hereby declared to be, no longer a part of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America'." 22 "The minority group protested against the resolution on two counts: (l) That it was unbrotherly. (2) That it was un-Presby- terian in that all Presbyterian bodies and individuals are entitled 21 Presbyterians, Hays, p. 179. 22 Presbyterians, Hays, p. 179. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS' LIBRARY 52 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS to a defense of their case, and an opportunity to answer such charges as are brought against them. The advocates of the reso- lution held 'that the obligation of maintaining the purity of the church finally rested upon the General Assembly; that, however good the intentions might have been when the Plan of Union was first adopted, its practical workings had been to import in- to the church persons who were not in sympathy with the Pres- byterian system of government; and that the only possible course which could be effective was to exclude from the judicatories of the church those who were not in sympathy with a vigorous administration of the denominational policy.' When after the debate the Assembly finally came to vote, the resolution cutting off the Western Reserve Synod was passed by 132 ayes to 105 nays. Zd A subsequent resolution proposed that the same action should be taken against the Synods of Utica, Geneva, and Geneseo on the ground that the abrogation of the Plan of Union was retro- active and affected the Presbyterian standing of all ministers and churches whose origins were associated with it. The vote on this question was 115 to 88. The minority group had no alterna- tive than to organize themselves into a separate church. They numbered 533 churches and over one thousand members. When the issue of division was taken to the courts, the courts ruled that the Old School group had the authority to act in a national emergency. "It is interesting now to look back and analyze the sixteen 'gross errors' with which the New School churches and members had been charged. Six of the sixteen were: Error 1. That election to eternal life is founded on fore- sight and faith. Error 2. That we have no more to do with the first sin of Adam than with the sin of any other parent. Error 4. That infants come into the world as free from moral defilement as Adam when he was created. 23 Presbyterians, Hays, pp. 179-180. DIVISION 53 Error 5. That infants sustain the same relation to moral gov- ernment as brutes and that their sufferings and death are to be similarly accounted for and are not penal. Error 6. That there is no other original sin than the fact that all the posterity of Adam will always begin to sin when they begin to exercise moral agency. Error 13. That God has done all that he can do for the sal- vation of man and man must do the rest. 'Against all such gross errors' the General Assembly acted." 24 When these matters reached the Synod of Illinois, convened at Peoria, September 26, 1838, they came in their proper sequence, as for several years the division theme had been stridently present. In the Synod meeting of October 16, 1834, held in Springfield, "the throes of division earthquake were beginning to be felt" (Norton, p. 215). The Synod meeting of October 19, 1837, at Spring- field "was largely attended. The papers presented with regard to the then-threatened division of the church and upon the sub- ject of slavery were of great interest and ability." 25 Mr. William J. Fraser, the man who had presented the charges against Beecher, Sturtevant, and Kirby at Illinois College, was by this Synod denied a seat in the Presbyterian Church de- liberations. The case had been appealed to the Assembly, and the Old School group in that Assembly had sustained Mr. Fraser' s appeal. When the Synod of September 26, 1838, met at Peoria, the Old School-New School lines were forming. The first test of strength was the election of a moderator. Two candidates were placed in nomination — John Blatchford, New School, and John Mathews, Old School. Mr. Blatchford was chosen by a vote of forty-seven to twenty-three. The minority group withdrew un- der circumstances that expressed their profound convictions. They had vigorously protested against the procedure leading up to the actions of the General Assembly of 1837 and had deplored in a resolution to the Assembly all conduct pointing toward di- 24 Hanzsche, pp. 102-103. 2 5 Norton, p. 262. 54 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS vision. At Peoria they were the exponents of regularity and the opponents of such commitments as made for irregularity. Be- cause of this they voted for that General Assembly of which the Rev. W. S. Plumer, D.D. (Old School) was moderator. They were a pathetic minority. The majority group voted to associate with the excluded brethren under the moderatorship of the Rev. Samuel Fisher, D.D. The withdrawal of the minority was tragic. The grand old men who had pioneered the work of the Synod constituted the roll of the Old School Synod — John Mathews, Benjamin F. Spilman, Thomas A. Spilman, James Stafford, John G. Bergen, Thomas Gait, John W. Little, Robert B. Dobbins, William K. Stewart, I. G. Bell, John Montgomery, Darius C. Allen, George G. Sill, and James McClean. The spirit of 1829 walked the floor of the Synod of Illinois. The Congregationalists of that era were gone. Both John M. Ellis and Solomon Hardy had left the bounds of Synod. Of the re- maining members of Center Presbytery, John Brich had died of exposure and the rest — John Mathews, Stephen Bliss, Thomas A. Spilman, B. F. Spilman, and John G. Bergen were grand old men in the body that walked out. It was a triumphal march irrespective of the manner of evaluating it, and in no sense of the word a mere controversy between youth and age, for young men walked by their side. The ten years of indignities were ended. No longer were they to be taunted by a group that claimed to be superior to them. The long rides that they had made were henceforth to be the beginning of the story of the Presbyterian Church. The Church toward which they were walking was to be THE historic Presbyterian and not another. They paused and organized their group. John Mathews for Moderator, who with Salmon Giddings in 1817 had planted the church in Missouri and had then crossed into Illinois in 1818; John G. Bergen for Stated Clerk, minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Spring- field, a pioneer preacher and a Presbyterian. The underlying philosophy of their action is that of loyalty to constituted authority. Perhaps the best expression of their attitude is found in the pronouncement made by the Presbytery of Kaskaskia in their meeting of April 13, 1838. 'This Pres- DIVISION 55 bytery resolves that the Assembly of 1838, which met and or- ganized and continued to hold its sessions in the Seventh Presby- terian Church in Philadelphia is the true General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church; and that any minister or church that ad- heres to any other body as the General Assembly does virtually secede from the Presbyterian Church." 26 26 Norton, p. 265. John M. Ellis Founder of Illinois College Rev. John G. Bergen Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield 56 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS The Synod of Illinois— 1838 CHAPTER III THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD The years preceding and following 1838 were kaleidoscopic. Almost all issues found a divided public mind. Illinois, which had developed from those points of entrance which constituted the approach to the southern part of the state, was now confronted by developments in new and totally unexpected quarters. The legislature had adopted an act known as the Internal Improve- ment System whereby transportation systems were to cover the state, Almost simultaneously the north part of the state began to develop; likewise the northwestern part. The question of finance and banking had divided the state into political parties that followed national leadership. The panic of 1837 had brought bankruptcy to many financial institutions, and the same spirit that divided men when the price of land was falling, animated their religious preferences and pronouncements. The Mormons had settled at Nauvoo; the Stonites or Disciples of Christ had estab- lished themselves at Jacksonville and other points ; theologies were contested as were also methods of promoting the cause of Christ. The administrative question that had heretofore appeared to be that of reconciling diverse theologies and polities now became a question of geography and distances. The terrain had not changed, but the personnel had been divided into two schools of thought and each had to cover a total terrain that had seemed too vast when both had covered it as one body. Whereas in 1838 the undivided Synod had eight presbyteries, i.e., Ottawa, Peoria, Schuyler, Illinois, Sangamon, Palestine Alton, and Kaskaskia, the divided Synod within ten years af that date had sixteen presby- teries, ten New School and six Old School working competitively in the same area. The Old School presbyteries in 1848 were Rock River, Schuyler, Peoria, Sangamon, Palestine, and Kaskaskia. The ten New School presbyteries existing in 1849 were Chicago, Belvi- dere, Galena, Knox, Peoria, Ottawa, Schuyler, Illinois, Pales- tine, and Alton. 57 58 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS New School Synod of Illinois— 1849 THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 59 Old School Synod of Illinois— 1848 60 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Changes were occurring in the personnel. John Millot Ellis, the founder of Jacksonville College had left the state. George W. Gale had entered Illinois. He had founded Oneida Institute in Oneida County, New York, from which afterward came the men who planted Oberlin College and Lane Theological Semi- nary. He was one of the original purchasers of the township of Harmony Grove, Illinois, which included the site of Galesburg (named after him), and Knox College. Immediately after his removal from the East and settlement there in 1836, he secured the establishment of a preparatory school and thereafter the charter of "Knox Manual Labor Col- lege," so-called. In due time the manual labor feature was elimi- nated and the institution became a regularly equipped classical college. Dr. Gale was also among the foremost men of his day in the work of extending the cause of Christ throughout that part of the state, and was especially instrumental in saving to Presbyterian- ism its rightful inheritance of churches and ministers from the efforts of other denominations to win their allegiance." 1 Gideon Blackburn had died (1838). He had combined in his personality elements that made him catholic in spirit. He had owned slaves, freed them, and had joined the Abolitionist move- ment. Nurtured in the Revolution, born in Virginia, a pioneer in Tennessee, a leader of soldiers and a preacher of salvation, a friend of Andrew Jackson and a chaplain in the General's army, he had established missionary schools among the Cherokee Indians and had been president of a college, but had reached out to enter Illi- nois as a pioneer. Missionary in temper, he had planted numerous churches, but his largest interest was in education and his pur- pose in education was the founding of a school in theology whereby he might train ministers for the business of regenerating the fron- tier. He had a persuasive eloquence and a fine personality and was able to secure subscriptions for the purchase of sixty-four thousand acres of land at a cost of two dollars per acre. Of this amount secured, sixteen thousand acres was the property of the theological school; the rest the property of the donors. He died in 1838 while still moderator of the undivided Synod of Illinois. l Outline History of Synods of Illinois, p. 15. THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 6l The trustees of the estate offered it to Illinois College with the understanding that the will of the donors should be carried out. Illinois College failed in fulfilling the will of the donors and the matter finally ended in the courts which decided that Illinois College not being able to prove title, the lands must revert to the Blackburn estate and be used for the purpose for which they were intended. At the time of his death in the year of financial depression, he left an estate which had a value of forty-five thousand dollars. His personal library exceeded 600 volumes. His administrator collected two installments of the legacies from the estate of his uncle, General Samuel Blackburn, paid taxes on land in Ohio and collected over three thousand dollars as pro- ceeds of a sale of nearly four hundred acres of land in Kentucky ; and the records of our recorder's office show by two certificates executed by him that in October, 1833, in Kentucky, he had freed two slaves who had later accompanied him to Illinois as hired servants, one "Peggy," a woman of color, and the other "Basil Gamble" whom his granddaughter, Mrs. Ranney, writes me she remembers as living in little cabins near Dr. Blackburn's first Illi- nois home below Chesterfield. His grave is at Carlinville. 2 When the tidings of his death was conveyed to the Synod of Illinois meeting at Peoria, September 26, 1838, a committee was appointed to draft a minute on the subject, and the following reso- lution was adopted: "The Synod of Illinois, having been informed of the death of the Rev. Gideon Blackburn, D.D., at the time of his death a mem- ber of this Synod, would express their sorrow for the loss, and their sense of the magnitude of the bereavement which they and the cause of Christ have experinced. "As one of the earliest settlers of the Valley of the Missis- sippi ; as a pioneer in the cause of Missions among the Indians in our own country; as a zealous and efficient friend of education in all its departments; as a faithful, eloquent, and successful preacher of the gospel ; as a warm and devoted advocate and pro- moter of revivals and of all the great benevolent enterprises of the day; he will ever deserve the affection and remembrance of the 2 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 17, p. 406. 62 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS friends of the Redeemer ; and whilst we mourn his loss, we would leave on record this affectionate tribute to his memory and ex- pression of our sense of his worth." 3 A copy was sent to his family. A condition of stagnation directly attributable to the depres- sion then existing had blanketed the entire state. The land specu- lators who were endeavoring to open the northern and western sections of the state to settlement were increasingly embarrassed by stringency in currency. The Indians had been driven from the territory into Iowa and Wisconsin, but development awaited a more prosperous people. The New School Presbytery of Palestine had only three ministers and three churches in its area; the Presby- tery of Ottawa (New School) and the Presbytery of Peoria (Old School) occupied territories that were almost identical and con- tained vast territories in which there was no settler, no church. Chicago had scarcely begun to grow. In 1834 it had a popu- lation of 3279 which thirteen years later, 1847, had risen to 16,000 people and by 1850 was 29,963. Abraham Lincoln visited the city that year as Congressional delegate to the River and Harbor Convention. He observed roads that were blocked for four or five miles out from the city with immense wagons filled with wheat and drawn by two yokes of oxen. Within the city Cyrus H. McCormick had begun in 1847 the manufacture of his reaper. Across the state, Galena with its lead mines and its outlet through the Mississippi was a boom town. Belvidere, Rockford, and Freeport were being settled. Quincy and Galesburg were coming towns. The one-story log cabin was everywhere present. Malaria and Asiatic cholera were doing their deadly work. Into this primitive setting the church carried the rancorings of the "Division." Old School church men competed with New School men and the controversy between Congregationalism and Presby- terianism, heretofore implicit only, became explicit in the New School presbyteries and sponsored by the American Home Mis- sionary Society. Whereas, in the six-year period from 1831 to 1837 Congregationalism had established 36 churches, they now established between 1838 and 1844, 77 churches — a rate of ac- celeration that is better than double. 4 3 From Minutes of Synod of Illinois. 4 Congregationalism in Illinois, Frederick Kuhns, pp. 350-352. THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 63 In the New School presbyteries, Congregationalists were gen- erally to be found seated as corresponding members and in Con- gregational associations Presbyterian ministers were seated as dele- gates and took part in examining candidates for ordination, in delivering charges to churches and similar functions. Congrega- tionalism was using Jacksonville and Quincy as pivotpoints, in the New School presbyteries of Illinois, Schuyler, Knox, and Peoria. To the north, they were concentrating on Belvidere and Chicago Presbyteries. The ordeal of the frontier was a common experience impos- sible to avoid. The story of the Rev. James McGeoch who founded the First Presbyterian Church of Bloomington in 1833 was typical of the founder of many another church under frontier conditions. He was a graduate of Union College and the University of Edin- burgh, had studied under Dr. Chalmers and Prof. John Silson, as well as at Princeton. His father was a man of wealth which had been acquired through the fur trade and war contracts of the War of 1812. When James announced to his family his inten- tion to enter the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, they dis- owned him. In 1833 he entered Bloomington to found a church. The population of the neighborhood was 150 souls. From the community he succeeded in raising one hundred dollars. He de- voted himself to a strenuous missionary effort which assured the successful planting of the church. Exactly one year was required to evaluate the cost entailed in his effort. That cost was — life. He left to the frontier his legacy — five hundred and thirty vol- umes — the library of a gentleman and a scholar, appraised at four hundred and thirty-four dollars and nine and a half cents. It sold for nearly twice that amount; a wardrobe including broad- cloth suits, camlet cloak, velvet and bombazine vests, linen shirts, palmetto hat, neckcloths, dickeys, and a silver watch. Among house- hold furnishings are listed a mahogany bureau, silver-plated can- dlesticks, silver-plated looking glass, brass andirons, Liverpool plates, Dutch ovens, and brass-mounted shovel and tongs. 5 Surely an appraisal of such an estate is incongruous excepting as it reveals the merging of the old and the new through the bonds of common interest. 5 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 24, pp. 141-160. 64 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS The biography of the Rev. John G. Bergen tells of his locat- ing in Springfield, Illinois, in 1829- The town numbered about two hundred inhabitants, had thirty-five log houses and four or five frame dwellings. The schoolhouse was in a dilapidated condition, its doors and windows broken, as were also its benches. Its floor was as filthy as a pig-sty. It was elevated on blocks, which fact permitted the hogs to go under the building and root. Only nine- teen Presbyterians were known to live in the vicinity, and the large proportion of them was ladies. John Millot Ellis had organized them into a Presbyterian church in 1828. Mr. Bergen secured a frame house for his occupancy, and with the assistance of Dr. Jayne of Springfield, raised it from the ground on posts. It was two weeks before he could occupy the house. In December of that year, 1829, his cousin called upon him in Springfield and as he entered exclaimed, "Why, my cousin!" as he saw boxes, in the room where the family lived and slept and cooked, filled up with harness and two great dressed hogs which had been brought and given them lying on another box with their mouths wide open with cobs in them. Said Mr. Bergen in his cheerful way, "Come in, come in, cousin, never mind it!" 6 During 1829-30, Mr. Bergen burned brick and accumulated material for the erection of his church. The cornerstone was laid August 15, 1829. By November of 1830 it was dedicated. Dur- ing the winter months, Mr. Bergen delivered lectures on the His- tory of the Presbyterian Church which were aimed at the popular prejudice that was current and which contended that the Presby- terian Church aimed to unite church and state. This was the win- ter of the deep snow when snow lay on the ground to a depth of four and five feet. Other churches drained his membership until more than half of his members and elders had been taken from him and only two elders remained. A revival brought him thirty- new members, and a house-to-house visitation paid returns. On Sunday evenings during 1837-8 he delivered lectures on prophecy and exposed the fallacies in the teachings of a group who were contending that there was to be an instant bodily appearance of the Son of God to reign the earth. Some had prepared their ascension robes; others were excited to a point that bordered on insanity. 6 Norton, p. 124. THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 65 Mr. Bergen pointed out that many of the prophecies were as yet unfulfilled, therefore, the end was not yet. To the west of Springfield the New School Presbytery of Schuyler was pioneering. Churches were planted at Quincy, Co- lumbus, Warsaw, Powellton, West Point, Chatton, Chili, Augus- ta, Plymouth, Mounds, Mt. Sterling, and Rushville. In Knox Presbytery, five New School churches had been planted: Vermont, Galesburg, Knoxville, Toulon, and Farming- ton. In Galena Presbytery eleven New School churches had been planted: Galena First, Galena Junction, Guilford, Apple River, Elizabeth, Winslow, Haddam's Grove, Freeport First, Mt. Carroll, Albany, and Sharon. Presbytery of Belvidere, New School, had organized three churches: Belvidere, Chemung, and Dundee. The New School Presbytery of Chicago had organized five churches: First, Second, and Third of Chicago, the Hadley church, and the Central Church of Joliet. The Presbyteries of Peoria and Ottawa, New School, had established fifteen churches: Bloomington, Dillon, Peoria, Wash- ington, Lacon, Henry, Granville, Hennepin, LaSalle, Ottawa, South Ottawa, Millington, Bristol, Lisbon, and Wilmington. The Old School Synod was advancing to the north and west through the medium of the three presbyteries of Schuyler, Rock River, and Peoria. These occupied the territory covered by New School presbyteries and comprised almost one-half of the state of Illinois. In the Presbytery of Schuyler sixteen churches were es- tablished: Edwards, Sunbeam, Oquawka, Monmouth, Knoxville, Ellison, Fountain Green, New Philadelphia, Pennington Point, Bernadotte, Huntsville, Rushville, Mt. Sterling, and Pleasant Hill. In Rock River Presbytery ten churches were established: Ga- lena, Galena Junction, Roscoe, Sterling, Moline, Milan, Princeton, Osceola, Elmira, and Andover. In Peoria Presbytery seven churches were established by the Old School Synod: Oak Mound, Princeville, Canton, Smithville, Peoria, Lewistown, and Washington. The years of 1838-1852 were troublous years when the law of the frontier tended to subordinate the law of God. Not only 66 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS were the Indians driven from their fastnesses until the lands of Illinois were cleared of the Redmen, but the Mormons also were driven out and their leaders murdered in cold blood in prison. Vast groups of settlers would congregate at every auction and would intimidate any who attempted to acquire their lands. Churches were the scenes of riot and disorder as clergymen in- flamed the populace with incendiary utterances on all public ques- tions, and church leaders thought it perfectly legitimate to agitate division, change in polity, and change in the terms of admission of members to the churches. Many churches made the issue of slavery a shibboleth. In Jacksonville and in Chicago the First Presbyterian churches that were established disgorged portions of their members to form Abolitionist Congregationalist churches. The procedure became a pattern across the northern sections of Illinois. Thirty-four Congregational churches were organized in the Fox River territory by the Rev. N. C. Clark, minister of the DuPage Presbyterian Church. Desiring to change the polity of that church, Mr. Clark had a committee appointed to consult with the churches and Christians in this vicinity as to the form of church government. The committee reported that those who were al- deady organized preferred to remain Presbyterian, but that in all probability unorganized Christians would prefer the Congrega- tional form of government. One year later the subject of church government was introduced and discussed and the following reso- lutions were adopted: "Resolved, That we desire the name and form of government of our church to be changed from Presbyter- ian to Congregational. One member absent. All who were pres- ent, but one, voted in favor of the resolution. "Resolved, That a copy of the resolution be transmitted to the churches and Christians at Chicago, Hickory Creek, Meacham's Grove, Walker's Grove, and Ottawa, and that they be requested to send delegates to meet delegates from this church, at Walker's Grove, on the 2nd Tuesday of June next, 10 o'clock A.M., to take into consideration, the expediency and propriety of adopting the Congregational mode of church government. "Resolved, That we send four delegates to the contemplated convention. The following brethren were appointed, viz., John Dudley, Dr. C. Abbot, Henry Goodrich, Isaac Clark. After some THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 67 time spent in prayer, and religious conversation, closed with sing- ing and the benediction." 7 In the Spoon River country the Rev. S. G. Wright 8 was labor- ing as a Presbyterian minister. He supplied the Rochester church which was organized in 1841 as a Presbyterian church but changed its constitution January 28, 1847, to become Congregational. Sim- ilarly, the Presbyterian church at LaFayette, organized in 1841, voted to change its constitution and become Congregational, Feb- ruary, 1847. Both churches have long since ceased to exist. The diary of Mr. Wright gives objectivity to the processes which were at work. From it we learn that he was a graduate of Lane Theo- logical Seminary in 1840 and that the American Home Missionary Society commissioned him to labor in the vicinity of the Spoon River country. For several years he had regular appointments at Walnut Creek, Victoria, Henderson, Wethersfield, LaFayette, Wy- oming, Osceola, Wall's School House, Moulton, Toulon, and con- tinguous points. In 1842 he preached 170 sermons and traveled 2,166 miles. In 1843 he preached 200 sermons and rode 2,353 miles, administered the sacrament nine times, received seventeen in- to the fellowship of the church. In 1844 he preached 181 sermons and traveled 3,103 miles. Besides strictly ministerial services he gave numerous lectures on the Nebular Theory of Creation; his average salary during twelve years of his life were $300. His wife wrote, "We did not live, but only endured in those days." He gath- ered opposition to himself because of his devotion to anti-slavery principles and by his pronouncements on the subject of temperence. Again he denounced the common practice of stealing timber for the erection of log houses. None of these pronouncements added to his popularity. Under the date of February 7, 1842, we find this notation, "Came into collision with Mormons on Walnut Creek." Under date of April 18, 1842, "Went to Knoxville to attend the debate between Kinney and Fraser; also to obtain a teacher which I effected." Under date of May 23, "Preached at James McClennahan's in the heart of the Mormon settlement. Hope good was done." On August 1st we find Mr. Wright at- tending the association, whereas on November 30th he is attending 7 The Congregationalists, Sweet, p. 125. 8 Culled from the Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 13, pp. 504-521. 68 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS the presbytery meeting. On December 24 he has a prominent part in the first meeting of mutual improvement at Knoxville but has to tear himself away because his house and family need his atten- tion. It is very cold and the house has neither doors nor floors. He spent the week at hard work, fastened on the doors, laid the lower floor and battened some of the upper floor. On January 4, 1843, we find this interesting notation, "Early on Monday morning a daughter was born to us, and as it was the day for fasting and prayer for the conversion of the world, in the after- noon I preached a sermon." May 20, 1843. The grand jury found a bill against me and my elder, W. W. Webster, for harboring runaway slaves. Some excitement exists but hope that good will result. Many sym- pathize with us and with the oppressed who had seldom thought on the subject before; and these wicked laws 'to be hated need but to be seen.' Rev. Owen Lovejoy of Princeton is also indicted. We have not yet been taken by the sheriff, but probably will be soon. May 22, 1843. Last week was at home most of the time; planted potatoes, corn, etc., visited families; hope some good was done. Saturday went to Emery settlement but found so strong antipathy against Abolitionists that but few would hear me preach, so I went on and on Sabbath morn preached at Toulon to a large congregation — most of the seats filled. Report said that the Mor- mons meant to encounter me here and draw me into a debate, but all passed off quietly. Oct. 23, 1843. Sabbath at Toulon; many Mormons came expecting a champion to attack me; there were a number of their elders present; I fully expected an attack, but they did not see fit to make one; probably waiting to get a big gun for the assault. May 24, 1844. Last week court sat; no complaint on 'Nig- ger-steal ers' this time; court held but one day. Tuesday went to Mr. Rhodes' and to LaFayette to make arrangements for a con- vention and debate on Friday; Friday went to Toulon to attend the convention; W. J. Fraser and Esq. Kinney debated with H. K. Dickey and Owen P. Lovejoy upon the principles and practices of Liberty Party. The debate held from 2 to 5 P. M. and from THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 69 7 P. M. to 3 A. M. No decision was taken either by judges or vote, but we think the negative established nothing. June 24, 1844. Went to Knoxville as a witness for Rev. Mr. Cross, in the case of the People vs. Cross, for harboring slaves; at length a Nolle prosequi was entered and I returned home. On Friday went to Farmington to attend a convention for organizing a general association for the state. The constitu- tion was changed in divers places and the confession of faith slightly altered; strong resolutions passed on the subject of slavery. July 2, 1844. Last week went to LaFayette and Toulon to hear the candidate for Congress speak. After Mr. Cross, the Liberty candidate, had spoken, Col. W. H. Henderson delivered himself of a speech against Abolitionists in general and ministers in particular. At Toulon, also, he expressed the same sentiments only was made personal. He warned the people against all sorts of Abolitionists, said they would destroy the country; slavery was a great curse, but God would remove it without human instru- mentality; warned all not to hear Abolition preachers; he would not hear one preach, sing, or pray; neither should his children go to our Sunday School; warned the children not to believe what such preachers said; he would say to the gentleman whom he had in his eye, 'we don't want him, he can go back to the East where he came from; I never heard him and never will. If he comes here, let him talk to empty seats, etc." July 8, 1845. Monday. Attended a discussion of anti-slav- ery principles at Toulon. I regret to be obliged to enter this field; others ought to do it, but if they will not, shall I be silent? Would it please God? Would conscience leave me at ease? I pray God to guide me in this matter, and if I misapprehend my duty, may I know it. Feb. 9, 1846. Last week went to Galesburg to attend the installation of Bro. Kellogg; was unexpectedly called to give the charge to the people. After preaching we had a conference of brethren in reference to uniting our Presbytery and Central As- sociation in a sort of convention, so there would be one and not two bodies. June 26, 1846. Tuesday. Went to Galesburg to attend 70 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Commencement exercises of Knox College. They were quite flat- tering to the Institution. Mr. Blanchard, however, so far forgot the spirit of the age and of the West as to appear in a toga, and to wear his hat, etc., etc., while giving his inaugural address. Oct. 24, 1846. I have studied none and spent but little time in private devotion of late but trust I have been in the line of duty, nevertheless. Oct. 13, 1847. Last week attended the meeting of the Asso- ciation at Groveland; it was a pleasant and profitable time; we have now eleven ministers and eighteen churches — more than Knox Presbytery ever had. On January 21, 1854, the Toulon church, Congregational, and under the leadership of Mr. Wright, drafted the following reso- lutions: I. We will not knowingly allow any slaveholder, or apolo- gist for American Slavery, to occupy our pulpit or to dispense the sacrament. II. We will sustain no society or public print that we believe sanctions or apologizes for American slavery. On December 9 of this year, 1854, Rev. S. G. Wright asked the church to release him from his duties in order that he might become the representative of the American Home Missionary So- ciety of the Northwest. From the foregoing diary the issues and trends of the period covered become quite explicit. The men who had planted the early churches, whether by previous intention or because of the press of circumstances, had made them inclusive in their pattern, but a new day had come and others were reaping where they had planted. Divisive issues were injected into the life of the ongo- ing church. The drafting of a Constitution for an individual church brought to that church division. Abolitionism became a shibboleth and many who were unable to subscribe to its ruthless pronouncements were excluded from the privileges of the Holy Communion. Others were excluded as a direct effect of dog- matic pronouncements on Sabbath observance or temperance. THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 71 Isaac W. Ruggles, an employee of the American Home Mis- sionary Society in the state of Michigan, illustrates the trend in Congregational aggression. To Rev. Absalom Peters, A.H.M.S., Cor. Secy Orchard Lake April 16, 1833 (34) Rev. and Dear Sir: Religion is in a very low state; and I hardly know what means to use in order to a better state of things. The people are, for the most part, directly from Scotland, and have brought with them their peculiarities. They have Bibles and read them; and in this they do well. But they are extremely tenacious of their old modes of faith and practice. They are very apprehensive of new measures and are unwilling that any extraordinary means should be used lest it should appear Pharisaical. It seems, there- fore, almost impossible to produce an excitement among them "9 In a subsequent letter dated October 16, 1834, Ruggles com- plains, "Only one of the Scotchmen has been persuaded to sub- scribe the temperance pledge. They indeed, openly oppose tem- perance societies. I know not that any one of them has been found intoxicated; but they want the liberty to drink when they have a mind to do so." 10 A characteristic of Ruggles' work was independency, and on foot, in the planting of new churches. The American Home Missionary Society contended against this and was accused of be- ing Presbyterian in its sympathies. The issue seems to have been that the State of Michigan constituted too large an area to be designated as a definite field of labor. In Illinois broadcasting methods were not merely tolerated but were also endorsed by the American Home Missionary Society. Men like Wright and Clark itinerated the areas surrounding their field of labor and planted churches wherever they went. Dual connections were maintained by ministers laboring in the fields as in the case of Wright who was a member of Knox Presbytery and of the Congregational Association of Illinois. "The Con- 9 The Congregationalists. William Warren Sweet, pp. 326-327. io The Congregationalists. Sweet, p. 329. 72 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS gregational Association of Illinois also enjoyed cordial relation- ships with the Presbytery of Schuyler as several of its pastor adhered to both bodies." 11 Congregationalists not only preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, but they also gave to it their peculiar approach. They had had enough of Presbyterian limitations in the approach and in the most resolute fashion overrode the limitations that were constituted by agreements, historic procedures, and constitutional requirements. The Old School Presbyteries had washed their hands of the soiling that came from double-dealing at Jackson- ville, continuing persecution of William J. Fraser and disrespect for the constitutional decencies that inhered in regular approaches such as were customary in the Presbyterian Church. Under the cover that was provided in the mud-slinging involved in the con- tinuous discussions of such topics as Slavery and Temperance, Congregationalism advanced to the line of battle. Presbyterians had lost the controls in the American Home Missionary Society with the result that that Society sent the bulk of Presbyterian ministers to the older established communities and advanced their Congregational appointees to northern Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, giving to them such advantages as come to de- termined men who pioneer. The records of such presbyteries as Galena, Ottawa, Peoria, and Schuyler team with references to presbytery meetings that failed for want of a quorum while there were in attendance two or three ministers of Congregational affiliations. As early as 1839 the divisions occurring under the Plan of Union were embarrassing to Presbyterian leaders in the New School churches of northern Illinois. Ottawa Presbytery, meeting on January 22 of that year, adopted the following resolution: FOX RIVER UNION "Whereas, individuals of the Congregational Church resid- ing within the bounds of this Presbytery, have formed an ecclesias- tical body known as the Congregational Union of Fox River, and whereas, a division of Christian effort is much to be deprecated, 11 History of Congregational and Christian Churches. Fred Kuhns, p. 84. THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 73 and as it is the anxious desire of this Presbytery to unite, if pos- sible, the efforts of that body with the Presbyterian Church. Resolved, that a committee be appointed to attend the next meeting of said Congregational Union, and effect, if possible, a union between that body and this presbytery; and that said com- mittee be authorized to propose such a plan of union as shall not be inconsistent with the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church. Rev. Messrs. Blatchford, Kent, and Colton, and Elders Dewey and Beach were appointed said committee. This Committee never reported. It was difficult traveling — stormy." 12 Divisive issues were the order of the day. Thus Rock River Old School Presbytery, meeting October 2, 1848, ordered the fol- lowing minute: "As it appears that the church at Chicago has been organized by a minister from a distance, Presbytery deem it proper to state that in their judgment it is not orderly for a Presbyterian minister to organize a church within the geographical limits of a Presby- tery of which he is not a member. Yet, Presbytery do not con- sider the disorder such as to vitiate the organization, and there- fore, have cordially received said church under their care." The New School Presbytery of Chicago at its meeting of April 18, 1848, had as a part of its docket the consideration of the questions that were dividing the church at Hadley. Meeting in that very church, they took exception to the procedures whereby that church had renounced Presbyterianism and espoused Con- gregationalism. The fact that the membership had not been advised of the proposed measures was considered exceptionable. The added fact that those who had voted on the question at a Sunday afternoon service had done so with the assurance that a new church building would result, whereas no such result had transpired and the additional fact that the very meeting of Pres- bytery that was there convened had on its roll the name of an elder who represented that church, all conspired to indicate a large measure of confusion in the thinking of the Presbyterian people of Hadley. The Presbytery called for a congregational meeting that should result from the citation of the whole mem- bership to appear and intelligently discuss the questions involved. 12 History of Ottawa Presbytery. Nahum Gould, pp. 26-27. 74 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS All previous actions including the election of elders were ordered rescinded and this significant statement was appended to the minutes: "Resolved, that we regard it as manifestly beyond the province of an agent of the American Home Missionary Society to interfere in any manner with the polity of the churches which he may visit in the discharge of his official duties." 13 In Galena Presbytery numerous causes for division disturbed the minds that inclined toward Presbyterianism. At a meeting at Albany on April 17, 1844, (adjourned to meet at Geneseo April 19) the Presbytery through its committee on sessional records discovered Oberlin Perfectionism to be a disturbing cause in the life of the church and appointed a committee comprised of Messrs. Waterbury, Kent, and D. Mitchell who drafted the fol- lowing resolution: "Amid the excitement incidental to a dis- cussion so irritating and protracted we are happy to discover so much of mutual respect and forebearance and flatter ourselves that the brethren will carefully abstain from everything calculated to awaken anew the prejudices which time and the prevalence of brotherly love will remove. Presbytery with a desire to aid in removing the causes which tend so directly to destroy the peace and consequently the efficiency of the church and over which all so deeply lament feel called upon to give their opinion in rela- tion to the questions referred to them by the church through the session. "In regard to the first and second questions, Presbytery de- cides that the members of the Church, especially the pastor and ruling elders, in view of their ordination vows are bound to do nothing contrary to the doctrines or discipline taught in the Con- fession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church while they remain within her jurisdiction. "In relation to the third question, we decide that the pastor must direct as to what shall be taught in his pulpit as long as he sustains this relation." Presbyterian-Congregational relations constituted a disturb- ing factor from a far different cause — that of transfer, as illus- trated in the case of the Rev. George F. Magoun who asked to be installed as pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Ga- 13 From Records of Chicago New School Presbytery. April 18, 1848. THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 75 lena, without having a dismissal from the Mineral Point District Convention. This formality was finally disposed of, Mr. Magoun was installed and ultimately unfrocked for immoral conduct which it was felt was not unknown to the Mineral Point District Con- vention. At their meeting at Sharon October 6, 1845, Galena Pres- bytery took the following action on the application of the church at Lower Rock Island to be received into the Presbytery. "We do affectionately recommend that they apply to Knox Presbytery as being in our judgment the most convenient for them and in consideration of the facts that they fall more properly within the bounds of that Presbytery, that their church was organized by a member of that body, and that ours covers already so much terri- tory that our members cannot be conveniently assembled at any one time and place." At Mt. Carroll April 21, 1846, Galena Presbytery passed the following resolution: "Resolved that we through our Com- missioner overture the General Assembly on the subject of the eldership, requesting them to send down the following overture to the presbyteries for their decision; viz, Though the office of ruling elder is perpetual and can not be laid aside at pleasure, any congregation may elect persons to exercise this office among them for a definite period, whenever they shall deem such a course most for the edification of the body of Christ." At a subsequent meeting at Freeport April 20, 1847, Galena Presbytery gave the following answer to questions that occurred in the sessional records of the churches: 1. To the question presented for decision whether, "When the Lord's Supper is administered to a church by a regu- larly ordained minister, does the fact that the elders have not been ordained, though duly elected, vitiate the ordin- ance?" Presbytery gave negative answer. 2. Likewise, to the question whether discipline can be ex- ercised by elders duly elected, but not ordained, a nega- tive answer was returned. At this meeting they renewed their overture on the eldership and reported it back to General Assembly. 76 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS The Old School Presbytery of Sangamon inherited from the schism of 1837-1838 their part of the divisive center at Jackson- ville. There had been the entering wedge of Congregationalism — the Yale Band: the split in the church that had formed the first Congregational church in 1833; Sturtevant and Beecher who awaited that rightness in time that would give the opportunity to come out openly in their true colors; and the Abolitionist controversy. It was here that John F. Bergen and John Todd attended the New School Synod of Illinois September 19, 1839, and refused to accept the courtesy of being seated as corresponding members, giving as their reasons that they did not consider New School Presbyterians as being a true church of Jesus Christ. At the Old School Synod of that year, meeting at Springfield Octo- ber 17, 1839, three New School ministers were seated as cor- responding members and were described in the minutes as "min- isters of the church of Jesus Christ." The General Assembly of that year entered this exception against the minutes: "The lan- guage is not explicit — the bodies to which these ministers be- longed not being mentioned." It was in 1838 that the Jacksonville Presbyterian Church was sundered in twain, and a minority group of its members, together with one of its elders, William C. Posey, appeared before the Old School Synod stating their allegiance to the Old School and ask- ing for a ruling. The following resolution was taken: "Peoria, September 28, 1838. On motion resolved, (in accordance with Act No. 1 and its sections, of the late Assembly) that the minority of the session and church of Jacksonville be, and they are, hereby declared to be the session and church of Jacksonville. A true copy of the record of the Synod of Illinois, J. G. Bergen, Stated Clerk." The records and property were surrendered without litigation to the New School majority. By the year 1840 a church building was erected and occupied until thirty years later. During the thirty-eight years of its separate existence, the church which began with forty-two mem- bers added to its number six hundred eighty-eight persons of whom three hundred forty- two were upon confession of faith. Illinois College at Jacksonville was strongly Abolitionist, THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 77 and President Sturtevant had as great difficulty keeping his Abolitionism within bounds as he had with his Congregationalism. Both had a tendency to destroy public esteem and to undermine the strength of the College. A widowed lady, Mrs. Lisle from Louisiana, accompanied by her eighteen-year-old slave-maid be- came the focal point of public resentment against Abolitionism at Jacksonville. She had come to Jacksonville with her child and slave-maid to visit relatives. A college student, Samuel Willard, stole the slave-maid and secreted her in the home of a college mate, W. C. Carter, while arrangements were made by Willard's father to transport her by the underground railroad to a northern destination. The elder Willard was overtaken with the girl and returned from Greenfield to Jacksonville from whence the girl was sent to St. Louis to be restored to her mistress. The faculty of the college took no action but assembled, outraged citizens passed the following resolution: 14 "That the citizens of Jacksonville will at all times extend the hand of friendship and hospitality to their acquaintances in the South, and will be pleased to reciprocate the friendly relations of neighbors, ready at all times and on all occasions, promptly and efficiently to aid and protect them in the enjoyment of their property. And to that end, having reasons to believe that there are regular bands of Abolitionists, organized with depots and relays of horses to run negroes through our State to Canada, and that one of them is in this town, we will form an anti-negro stealing society, as we heretofore formed an anti-horse-stealing society, and that we will, in this neighborhood, break up the one as we broke up the other. "That although young Willard who stole the negro, and young Carter who assisted to conceal the negro, and Coleman who pursued Messrs. Branson and Neely, are all students of Illinois College, and as yet have not been dealt with by said College; yet it may be proper for this meeting to abstain from any action in relation to the case, leaving it to the College to defend her own reputation. "That these proceedings be signed by the President and Sec- 14 Illinois College Centennial History, Rammelkamp, pp. 114-115. 78 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS retary, and that they be published in the Illinoisan, Missouri Re- publican, and that the southern papers generally be requested to copy the same." "The sphere of influence" theory which had been dominant in the thinking of the Yale Band was encountering its difficulties and Illinois College was constantly presenting its pleas for finan- cial aid to many and varied quarters far remote from the East. Her agents appeared as being both Presbyterian and Congrega- tional, both Abolitionist and Non- Abolitionist, both from the East and from Illinois, and the duplicity entailed in such ap- proaches was a constant source of embarrassment. Founded as a school that would train young men for the Christian ministry, she became a secular school that left the training of young men for the ministry to other auspices. Founded as a Presbyterian College, she became a Congregational College to revert because of lack of financial support to being both Presbyterian and Con- gregational. Augustus T. Norton, a Presbyterian by conviction, but emi- nently addicted to fair play in ecclesiastical matters, could and did establish churches in either the Congregational or the Pres- byterian pattern, insisted as a Trustee of the College that an even balance should be established between Presbyterian and Con- gregational appointments to the Board of Trustees and that, in the event that the controls should ever revert to either one or the other denomination, the properties should be subject to equal division. Julius M. Sturtevant dubbed Mr. Norton "The oracle of Alton," and announced to his trustees that the price of yield- ing to such a requirement would be his resignation as President of the institution. The Trustees did not yield and the immense Presbyterian increment in the estates at Illinois College were wrested from the control of the Presbyterian Church. An in- dication of the fairness of Norton's suggestion can be gleaned from a paragraph covering the subject and written by Theron Baldwin to Julius M. Sturtevant: "If I were to view the matter in the mere light of a bargain as I understand the nature and tendency of things, it would be my opinion that Congregational- ists would be decidedly gainers by agreeing to accept one-half of THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 79 the power and influence provided these could be made sure to them." 15 As is usual in such controversial atmospheres much was said about Christian Union and numerous sermons were delivered to the New School Synod upon that subject. Notable among these was that delivered by the Rev. Edward Beecher when president of Illinois College at Jacksonville. Committees were appointed and authorized to make overtures toward union with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the numerous Congregational conven- tions that were being established; but without result. At one time the New School Synod passed a resolution declaring that "these overtures for union are not prompted by any dissatisfaction with Presbyterianism but for general reasons bearing upon the interests of the Redeemer's Kingdom." Very obviously competitive nastiness was irritating the jaded spirits of men, wearied by strife. The Presbytery of Ottawa caught the contagion that was latent in the general lack of spiritual health and presumed to take issue with the New School General Assembly on the subject of slavery. They had instructed their commissioner to the previous General Assembly to insist that the Church should purge itself of all responsibility for the sin of slavery. The General Assembly had not proven sufficiently ruthless to satisfy the Abolitionist zealots in the Presbytery of Ottawa and they proceeded in their meeting in Ottawa October 9, 1849, to draft the following reso- lutions: "1. Resolved, that Presbytery approve of the course of our Commissioner to the last General Assembly, especially in his efforts to procure action to rid the Presbyterian Church of all responsibility of the sin of slavery. "2. Resolved, that in the opinion of the Presbytery, the action of the last Assembly has not cleared the Presbyterian Church of all responsibility of the sin of slavery. "3. Resolved, that this Presbytery still approve of the ac- tion of the Synod of Peoria, closing the doors of its pulpits, and Communion table, against all such as are found guilty of this sin be treated as those who are guilty of other gross immoralities. !5 Illinois College Centennial History, Rammelkamp, p. 187. 80 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS "4. Resolved, that we no longer remain with that body, therefore we do formally withdraw our connection with it." "Six votes were cast for the resolution — two votes against. Nahum Gould who was both moderator and stated clerk, de- clared the vote unconstitutional, stating that a vote in presbytery, whatever the majority, could not carry the ministers nor churches to any other denomination, or to no denomination contrary to their wishes. If the absent ministers and churches, with the mi- nority present, wish to remain in the Presbytery of Ottawa, con- nected with the Presbyterian Church, in subordination to the Gen- eral Assembly, no vote can deprive them of that privilege, unless by a due course of discipline for misdemeanor. Such ministers and churches alone who choose to abide by this vote are affected by it — and as there is not a quorum of such members of the Pres- bytery present, he declared the Presbytery adjourned to such time as one could be had. He, then being also the stated clerk, took records and papers and left the house." 16 There ensued through the days that followed a series of conflicts in which majority and minority endeavored to prove their rectitude. The seceding majority initiated action to discipline Na- hum Gould for the sin of possessing the records that they desired to claim as their own. They elected as a moderator to replace him the Rev. C. Cook and followed up their action by proceeding to presbytery's next item on the docket, the installation two weeks later of the Rev. J. G. Porter at the Wilmington Church. At the hour of meeting Nahum Gould appeared and announced the na- ture of the business only to be greeted by a statement from the bogus moderator, elected by those who had seceded and yet de- sired to retain their place, that "the Presbytery of Ottawa is al- ready in session and has been transacting business." Each presbytery, the original and the seceding, had their quorum present. G. W. Bassett, one of the seceders, undertook to explain the awkward predicament constituted in two presby- teries being on the ground, both claiming to be the Presbytery of Ottawa. He explained the secession act taken at the Ottawa meeting from which they had adjourned to meet at this place. Pointing out Mr. Gould and his associates (the minority group) 16 History of Ottawa Presbytery, N. Gould, pp. 39-41. THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 81 "that is a pro-slavery body and its moderator has done more to injure the Abolition cause in the county of LaSalle than any other man; moreover, he has tarnished his character, and is under the censure of the Presbytery." These charges were fantastic and took their form from the exigencies that controlled the seceders' pattern of thinking. Mr. Gould, like many another clergyman of that era, was immersed in his committments toward liberating the slaves. His home had been one of the points on the under- ground railroad. Runaway slaves had been harbored there, and he had been exposed to the opprobrium of adverse public opin- ion that branded him as a slave stealer. Mr. Gould addressed the Church, declined to defend his character, and informed the congregation that if they desired to withdraw from the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, then that body which Brother Cook represents as moderator is the proper body to install your pastor. But if you wish to remain in its connection, this is the proper body. Mr. Cook then rose and stated that his group had come to install the pastor-elect and called for the call made out to Mr. Porter. Mr. Stewart put the paper into his hand, but the proceedings got no farther. Mr. Porter was not a member of the presbytery, and he stated from the floor that his letter of dis- missal from the Presbytery of Chicago was made out to the mi- nority or continuing presbytery. The hour being late, both bodies adjourned to meet at separate points. Attempts were made to compromise with a view to completing the installation, but the proceedings were finally halted by the receipt of a note from the church at Wilmington thanking presbytery for the interest taken for their welfare and saying it was not expedient for them to decide which body was constitutionally the Presbytery of Ottawa. The New School Synod later endorsed the action of the mi- nority group which at their April meeting of 1850 drafted the following resolution on slavery: "Resolved, that while this Pres- bytery maintained decidedly the constitutional order of the Pres- byterian Church, they are none the less opposed to the institu- tion of American slavery, and are prepared to second any wise and Scriptural effort to remove this evil from the Presbyterian Church and from our country; and could practically desire that an inquiry be made in regard to the extent which the churches, 82 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS connected with the General Assembly, are involved in slave- holding." Of the seceders, Alva Day desired re-instatement ; the others with the church at Ottawa were stricken from the roll. The following extract from a letter to Nahum Gould writ- ten by Flavel Bascom, then pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at Chicago, indicates the mental inhibitions that made the story of the Yale Band the story of a group that desired no constitu- tional limitations. The clamor of voices must settle all issues. "The vote of a majority of Presbyterians to withdraw from the General Assembly does not dissolve that Presbytery into its origin- al elements. It still retains its identity and all its legal rights." 17 "A dissenting or protesting minority has no more authority to adjourn a meeting or to resist the proper authority of the majority, than if that authority had passed any other resolution from which the minority strongly dissented. If at a subsequent meeting in consequence of larger attendance, the act of withdrawal can be reversed, this would be orderly and right; if not, the minority can take letters and unite with another presbytery; or if they can raise a quorum, they can get synod at its next meeting to con- stitute them a new presbytery — but neither of these two latter courses would entitle the minority to carry the records and papers with them — your withholding the records will only exasperate the majority, and if they proceed to discipline you for obstinacy, it will only exasperate your friends towards the seceding breth- ren. Will the churches flourish any better for retaining them? Will your future ecclesiastical relations be any happier for car- rying the records with you, at the expense of a quarrel? This withdrawal from the General Assembly is not the beginning of the end; it will go on till the New School ranks are thoroughly purged from all Congregational and anti-slavery elements, to be meet for absorption into the rank and file of the Old School Assembly." This letter and the attendant circumstances convinced Nahum Gould that there existed a conspiracy to destroy New School Pres- byterianism and instate Congregationalism in its stead. Almost lonehanded he wrestled to retrieve the losses entailed in the con- 17 The divine right of majorities to govern wrong. THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 83 flict, and due very largely to his efforts, the Presbytery was able to report, in the year 1851: fifteen ministers on the roll — two pastors, Mr. Gould and Dickinson — eight stated supplies, five without charge. Nine churches — two hundred forty members. A letter written by R. W. Patterson to Nahum Gould gath- ers some of the trends that were current and indicates how gen- Robert W. Patterson New School and Chicago Presbytery eral was the discussion that involved men like Aratus Kent, R. W. Patterson, and William Kirby. Because of its intrinsic interest, we append it: Chicago, Oct. 3, 1849 Dear Brother: I write to inquire respecting the question of your relation to the Home Missionary Society. I wish to know whether you have been finally refused aid, and if so, on what grounds. I have seen Bro. Kent lately, and we both think that there is a wrong in the matter, if we understand it rightly. The doings of the Home Missionary Society are not entirely satisfactory in some 84 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS cases where Presbyterian brethren are left without help. Dr. Badger is a zealous Congregationalist and Mr. Hale, tho' nomin- ally a Presbyterian, is, I am informed, a decided Congregational- ist in sympathy. I could give you a chapter in the history of Mr. Kirby's operations that might shed light on your matter. But I will not trouble you at present. I hope your Presbytery will adhere to the Synod and As- sembly without wavering. It is our only safety as Presbyterians in the Northwest to cling together and not allow ourselves to be broken up into little isolated fragments. There is, I am per- suaded, a determination on the part of some leading Congre- gationalists in Northern Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, to ex- terminate the New School Presbyterian Church in the North- west, if possible. And the first thing they hope for is that we shall become broken up into fragments, and then go into a Con- vention System like that in Wisconsin, to be gradually absorbed and lost. They are chuckling over their triumph in Wisconsin. The only possible reason for division among us is the slavery question. And I cannot see how Presbyteries are responsible for the little slavery that remains in our general connection at the South. So long as we solemnly protest against it and do all in our power to remove it. In my humble judgment we could not accom- plish half as much for the cause of Emancipation by seperating ourselves from the Assembly as we may by holding on, speaking out our sentiments from time to time through that body so that our voice may be heard. "Separation and schism are not the method which God approves for the reformation of his church." The parable of the tares and the wheat seems to be applicable to our own case as a Church. Let us exercise patience after the example of God in reference to the removal of evils which we cannot immediately correct. Had we not "Better bear the ills we have Than fly to others we know not of," at least so far as our church relations are concerned ? I trust in God that the Constitutional Presbyterian Church may before many years be freed from all connection with slavery, and that without destroying her unity and power as a vigorous and in- creasing body. Should we break up into fragments, multitudes of our ministers and churches throughout the North will feel constrained to take shelter among our Old School brethren, and will then be much more closely and hopelessly affianced to slavery than they now are. The slavery cause would thus be greatly strengthened. The Enemies of Emancipation at the South would greatly rejoice in the dissolution of our body. They fear it more than any other in the land ; for it makes itself felt in the THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 85 midst of them as no other does or is likely soon to do. But their wishes in this respect will not be gratified. A few Presbyterians may leave us, when Congregationalism makes slavery the pretext for separation. But the general body will stand firm and will become increasingly united and vigorous. We shall soon have a Presbytery to join our Synod in Minnesota. Two excellent Pres- byterian brethren have recently gone up there, and there are three Presbyterian missionaries there. Please let me hear from you very soon. Very truly and afffectionately yours, R. W. Patterson 1 * Contemporaneously with these events, the Old School Synod with its presbyteries was confronting the same issues as those that were proving disastrous in New School assemblages. Their de- liverances were more guarded by constitutional consideration than were those that emanated from the divided loyalties represented in New School proceedings. The following paragraph from the Out- line History of the Synods of Illinois, pp. 20-21, presents briefly and pointedly the contents of their actions: "The evils of human slavery were occasionally brought to the notice of the Synod. In 1838 a paper was presented which declared: 'that slavery as it existed in the United States was a sin against God and ought to be immediately abandoned.' The pa- per was laid on the table. In 1839 a similar paper was presented which was indefinitely postponed. Against this action Mr. Gait and others offered an earnest protest. To this protest an answer was placed on record which speaks of the disturbance caused by this subject in the Church, and the danger from the discussion to the peace of the country. In 1841 a memorial to the General Assembly in relation to slavery was introduced and finally laid on the table. In 1842 the session of a church in Peoria Presbytery expressed its high approval of the decision of the General As- sembly that 'the buying, selling, and holding of slaves for the sake of gain is a heinous sin and scandal,' and the session added the oponion, 'that it ought to be abandoned immediately.' The presbytery excepted to this expression of opinion by the session, 'that such buying, selling, and holding slaves should be aban- 18 History of Ottawa Presbytery, N. Gould, pp. 255-257. 86 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS doned immediately.' A complaint of this disapproval was made to the Synod. The Synod's decision was that 'in sustaining the complaint, Synod simply sustains the opinion, that for mere pur- poses of gain, slaves should not be bought, sold, or held.' In 1843 a complaint was brought against the Presbytery of Peoria because it had declared it highly improper for any minister to in- troduce the subject of abolitionism to a pulpit where the minister and people were opposed to it. The Synod sustained the pres- bytery. A memorial to the Assembly on slavery was presented to the Synod in an overture in 1844. The overture was called up at a late hour and was returned to its author on the ground that there was not time to discuss it. In 1845 Smiley Shepherd sent in an overture to the Synod on slavery. The Synod answered referring the memorialist 'to the action of the General Assembly, and of the A.B.C.F. Missions, as indicating the sentiment of the Synod and the correct course of conduct for the Church in the United States to pursue.' Against this action Rev. James H. Dickey protested. In 1847 'it was unanimously resolved that buying, selling, or holding slaves for the purpose of gain is an aggravated sin in the sight of heaven, and should be so regarded by the Church'." At the Old School meeting of Palestine Presbytery, May 8, 1840, at Palestine, the Rev. Henry I. Venable was received from the Presbytery of Transylvania. He later established an educa- tional work at Paris, Illinois, and later in 1864 at Olney, Illinois, was elected moderator of the Old School Synod. Alton New School Presbytery, April 11, 1840, appointed A. T. Norton and Theron Baldwin a committee to procure an evangelist to labor in their presbytery. October 8, 1840, the committee reported that they had employed the Rev. William Chamberlain at a salary of four hundred dollars which was to be raised either by collections or from the American Home Missionary Society, the latter hoping and expecting that the amount would be raised with- in the bounds of presbytery. Ninety-six dollars had already been raised and Mr. Chamberlain submitted a report to presbytery. The Old School Synod at Rushville October 17, 1840, passed the following resolution: "Whereas the Synod of Illinois some years since considered it best to dispense with agents for the be- THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 87 nevolent institutions of our Church, the same was re-considered and it was resolved as the result of our experience, that it is not expedient to deprive our churches of their services but to invite their aid and cooperation." Education was a Presbyterian venture long before either Presbyterians or Congregationalists had entered the State of Il- linois. The interests of Presbyterians were not circumscribed by youthful enthusiasm, loyalty to Alma Mater, or the quest for power as was the case with those who came West to enter a large sphere of influence. Under the Plan of Union Presbyterians and Congregationalists together planted Illinois College (1830) ; Knox College (1837); Beloit College in 1846; Rockford Col- lege in 1847; Grinnell College in 1847; Ripon in 1851; Pacific in 1854; and California in 1855. In northern Illinois education was a burning question that agitated the minds of Presbyterian ministers and elders. Belvi- dere (New School) Presbytery on the occasion of its first meet- ing at Dundee, October 12, 1847, passed the following resolu- tions: 1. Resolved, That it be recommended to the members of this Presbytery to devote special attention to the promotion of edu- cation, and particularly common school education within our bounds. 2. Resolved, That we will encourage the formation of county associations for the purpose of bringing the school law of Illinois more fully to the notice of the people with the view of promoting the organization of school districts under the law, where they are now unorganized, and for improving and giving effic- iency to the school system. 3. Resolved, That each minister belonging to this body re- port at the next stated meeting the state of common schools within the boundary of his field of labor. Subsequently the ministers of that body reported their find- ings in the field of education at numerous gatherings of the presbyters. 88 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Galena Presbytery (New School) very early in its existence took under its special care the Geneseo High School. Aratus Kent of Galena was a dynamic force in the founding of Beloit College, Rockford Female Seminary, and a theological seminary which for a number of years was known as the Galena Theologi- cal Seminary, and which had at least a nominal existence in that town. The Old School Presbytery of Rock River raised thirty thousand dollars to erect a college at Dixon, Illinois. Across the Mississippi at Dubuque was the German Presby- terian College and Seminary which received wide sympathy and support from the northwestern area of Illinois that was con- tiguous to it. The Jacksonville Academy founded by John Millot Ellis, December, 1830 ,and taught by Frances Brard Ellis, furnishes an illustration of published charter of the period. "The preamble of the Jacksonville Academy stated that the high intellectual and moral culture of women was its object: "Whereas, the vast importance and urgent necessity of extend- ing the blessings of education to all classes of American citizens are felt and acknowledged by all enlightened patriots and Chris- tians; and, whereas, the power of female influence over the in- tellectual and moral character of the community must ever be too great for any or all other causes entirely to counteract. Com- mencing as it does with the first dawn of infant intelligence and forming perhaps the most important, and certainly the most de- sirable, part of that character before any other cause can begin to act upon it, and accompanying it through all the subsequent stages of its development; considering, too, that in the present im- portant crisis of our beloved Republic, no one effort ought to be withheld which can tend to giwe permanency to its foundation, the intelligence and virtue of the people; therefore, Resolved, that an academy ought to be immediately established in this state, to be devoted exclusively to female education; and that Jacksonville, in Morgan County, is, in our opinion, a situation highly favorable for the successful operation of such an institution'." 19 "Danville Academy, a public joint stock company, appoint- ed twenty-seven commissioners from the five surrounding coun- 19 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Belting, Vol. II, p. 292. THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 89 ties to solicit and receive stock. When fifteen hundred dollars had been collected, the commissioners were to call an election in three weeks, notice of which was to be posted in six of the most public places in the county, of the time of holding the election for trustees. The election was held at the courthouse in Danville between the hours of twelve and six P. M. of the day determined upon. Moreover, the commissioners were appointed to act as judges of the election. Subsequent elections were to be held an- nually, the first Monday in October. Those who had the privilege of voting for trustees were stockholders who had paid on or before the said election day five dollars on each share subscribed and the remainder within six months." 20 "The church was represented on the board of trustees of many academies: 'The trustees of this institution shall consist of nine, who shall be elected as follows: one-third of the whole number by the Presbyterian Church (New School) of Rushville, one-third by the stockholders, and the remaining by the patrons of the school for the time being, and they shall hold their office for the time of three years." 21 "Town trustees, ministers of religion, county school com- missioners, and stockholders were members of the board of trus- tees; the term of office, manner of election, and number varied to suit the ideas of the incorporators rather than following or having a fixed policy of administrative organization. "The powers and duties of the trustees of the academies covered a wide range. They called special meetings to transact the business of the academy; made contracts for the repairing and erection of buildings; passed by-laws and ordinances for the con- duct and government of the school; filled vacancies in their own body; elected a principal and teachers; determined salaries; re- moved officers for misconduct; appointed committees of their own number; received money subscribed for the institution; and appointed their own treasurer, secretary, stewards, managers, and other necessary officers." 22 "A distinctly moral purpose was given as the reason for establishing some academies. Monticello Seminary was founded 20 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Paul Belting, p. 294. 21 Ibid., p. 295. 22 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 295. 90 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS on the principle that education should have reference to man's relation to God, Christ, and the future world, in accordance with the Christian religion." 23 It was founded by Capt. Benjamin Godfrey, a merchant who had become a member of the Alton Presbyterian Church, Novem- ber 3, 1833, on confession of faith. July 5th, 1840, he was elected an elder in the Alton Presbyterian Church but transferred to the Monticello church September 18, 1844, in which church he was an elder until the time of his death. Theron Baldwin of the Yale Band was the pastor of the church and principal of the Monticello Female Seminary to which Capt. Godfrey had do- nated $53,000. Augustus T. Norton makes this church an out- standing and glaring example of Congregationalism masking in Presbyterian dress and advancing its private interests. To quote Norton (pp. 452-457) : "Monticello Church, God- frey Post Office, Madison County, Illinois. For several reasons peculiar importance attaches to the history of this church. Hence I propose to give it fully enough for complete comprehension. In doing this I shall derive my materials from the 'church manual compiled and published by an order of Session in 1840,' from the church records, from the records of the Presbytery of Alton, and, in relation to the church edifice, from the records of Monticello Seminary. It was organized in the chapel of Monticello Female Seminary November 2, 1839, Rev. Theron Baldwin, who was then a member of Alton Presbytery, presiding. I undoubtedly state the exact truth when I say the peculiar shaping of the church's constitution was due alone to Mr. Baldwin. The original mem- bers were these: Jabez Turner, from the Reformed Dutch Church; Kinderhook, Presbyterian Church, New York; James Howell, Ann D'Hart Howell, Sarah Howell, from the Reformed Dutch Church, Beawenburg, New York; Rufus G. Turner, Mary Ann Turner, from the First Presbyterian Church, Matteawan, New York; Ed- win B. Turner, Congregational Church, Jacksonville, Illinois; Cath- erine Ingham, Rebecca Ingham, Elizabeth Wilkins, Mary E. Gil- man, Calvin Godfrey, from the Presbyterian Church, Alton, Il- linois; John Mason, Sr., from Congregational Church, Castleton, Vermont; Elizabeth Howell, from Presbyterian Church, New 23 Illinois Historical Society Journal, Vol. II, p. 292, Belting. THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 91 Brunswick, New Jersey. Eighteen persons, twelve of whom were from Presbyterian churches, four from the Dutch Reformed — which is Presbyterian under a different name, and two Congrega- tionalists. With a Presbyterian organizer, sixteen out of eighteen Presbyterian members, one would have expected a Presbyterian church. Martin Ash, Maria Ash, Susan W. Miles, Caroline W. Baldwin, Benjamin Ives Gilman, Philena Fobes, Huldah M. Sturte- vant, and Mary Marr, were received on examination. This con- stitution was adopted: 'Art. (1) This church shall be called The Church of Christ in Monticello. Art. (2) The business of the church shall be transacted by a session, consisting of the pastor (who shall be ex-officio, Moderator) and a certain number of elders chosen by nomina- tion. The elders hold their office no more than one year, at any one time, without a re-election. Art. (3) The nomination of elders shall be made by the pastor, with the consent of the session, not less than two weeks previous to the time of entering upon the duties of this office, and unless objections are publicly made by at least two members of the church in regular standing, they are to be considered as elected. Art. (4) In the reception of members, and all cases of dis- cipline, a vote of the church shall be necessary to ratify the de- cisions of the session. Art. (5) No alteration shall be made in this Constitution or in the Confession of Faith, except by a vote of two-thirds of the members present at a regularly notified meeting for this purpose.' Ecclesiastical history can scarcely furnish a match to this ! According to Art. 1 there was and could be in the village, or precinct, called Monticello no church but this one. According to Art. 2, when the church had no pastor, there could be no session, for he was an essential part of it. The elders were not to be chosen by vote of members, but by nomination of the pastor. Art. 3, hence necssarily, the elders were the creatures of the pastor. And when the church had no pastor, no elders could be appointed. By Art. 4 the session was deprived of all real authority. 92 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS The Confession of Faith adopted consisted of nine articles, and was thoroughly orthodox and Calvinistic. The first elders put in office under this unique constitution were Timothy Turner and Benjamin I. Gilman. Others, down to 1854, are as follows: Abijah W. Corey, 1841; Benjamin Godfrey, 1842; Nathan John- son, 1845; John Mason, Sr., 1846; George Smith, 1847. The ministers have been these: (l) Theron Baldwin, supply pastor from November 2, 1838, till November 22, 1840. October 4, 1840, the church invited Mr. Baldwin to become their pastor, and instructed B. I. Gilman and Timothy Turner to get the Presby- tery to have him installed. This was done November 22, 1840. A. T. Norton, of Alton Presbyterian Church, preached the sermon; T. B. Hurlbut, of Upper Alton, gave the charge to the pastor; and T. Lippincott, to the people. It was a semi-installation — presbyterian, in as much as presbytery was consulted about it, and agreed to Mr. Baldwin's wishes as to the individuals to offic- iate, all of whom were co-presbyters with himself — non-Presby- terian in that the constitutional questions were omitted. Noth- ing can be more farcical than Mr. Baldwin's attempts to wear, and not to wear, the Presbyterian harness. The records of the session during the whole of Mr. Bald- win's administration are very neatly kept in due Presbyterian form. From only a single entry would one suspect the church to be anything else than Presbyterian. 'J ui y 31, 1841, Timothy Turner was appointed (by the session) a delegate to the Alton Presbytery on the ground that such delegates were received on certain conditions, by said Presbytery as corresponding members.' The 'conditions' referred to are contained in a plan of correspond- ence drawn up by Mr. Baldwin and foolishly adopted by the Presbytery of Alton at its fall session in Upper Alton, 1840. That 'plan' is as follows: ' (l) That we adopt the practice of receiving delegates, as corresponding members, from such Congregational and other churches within our bounds as harmonize with us in belief of the essential doctrines of Christianity, provided they are willing regularly to report to this body. (2) That such dele- gates have the right not only to speak, but also to vote on all matters which come before this body, except such as are strictly Presbyterial. (3) That we consent to act as an advisory council THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 93 in all cases of reference which those associated churches may bring before us.' At the fall meeting in 1867 these resolutions were repealed. But from the fall of 1840 to the fall of 1867, they were theoretically in force, though practically disregarded. The fact is, the Presbyterian system is complete in itself. All foreign elements engrafted upon it are so many excrescences which have in the end to be cut off or out. Mr. Baldwin left in April, 1844. He was succeeded by Elisha Jenny until September of the same year. George Pyle followed and remained to his death, January 22, 1846; Joseph A. Ranney from March, 1846, to No- vember, 1847; William Homes from June, 1848, to June, 1850; George M. Tuthill from October, 1850, till May, 1852; Charles Temple from June, 1852, till June, 1854. All the above ministers were connected with the Presbyterian Church save Charles Tem- ple, and all with Alton Presbytery save Messrs. Temple and Homes. Monticello was received by Presbytery, according to the terms of correspondence, May 3, 1842, and thereafter represented in Presbytery and Synod with as much regularity as any other church down to 1854. "January 18, 1855, the Presbytery of Alton met with the Monticello church. That church presented a request to come fully into connection with presbytery. The request was granted. Subsequently, but on the same day, Wellington W. Wells was by the Presbytery ordained and installed pastor of that church according to Presbyterian usage. The church remained in this connection until October 2, I860, when the following minute ap- pears upon the records of Presbytery: The Alton Presbytery have received certain papers from the congregation at Monticello, in which they express their opinion that the relation existing be- tween said Presbytery and the congregation ought to be dissolved. The Presbytery express their regret that such a feeling should exist among the brethren with whom we have lived for years on terms of the greatest friendship. But as the papers inform the presbytery, the church has withdrawn from our body, we erase the name of the Monticello church from our roll.' The Manual of the Monti- cello church refers to this matter thus: 'In 1855, the church united with the Presbytery of Alton, and remained in that connection till June, I860, when the Presbytery, having ceased to co-operate 94 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS with American Home Missionary Society, (with which this church had co-operated since its first organization and still preferred to co-operate) it withdrew from Presbytery, and resumed its original independent condition/ While under the care of Pres- bytery, the church was prosperous and united. For the first year W. W. Wells was their pastor. He was duly released from that charge by Presbytery September 29, 1855. In October, Rev. Al- bert Smith became the supply pastor. He was called to the pas- torate and installed by the Presbytery of Alton, November 22, 1856, and remained in that relation until his death, April 24, 1863. Mr. Smith did not withdraw from the Presbytery with his church. Very singularly the records of the church during the period of its connection with the Presbytery cannot be found. That they were duly kept there is no doubt. Such pastors as Messrs. Wells and Smith would not have neglected so vital a matter. Besides, they were before Presbytery, in the spring of 1856, duly examined and approved. In 1855, the church reported eighty members. In 1856, ninety-one; in 1857, ninety-five; 1858, ninety-three; 1859, ninety-eight; I860, one hundred and eight. In 1857, Benjamin Webster was added to the session. Those six years nearly, of connection with the Presbytery, were years of union, peace and unmixed prosperity. In those years the church edifice was erected by the trustees of the Seminary, 'for the joint use of the Monticello Presbyterian congregation' and the Seminary, according to the plan dated August 10, 1857, and signed by B. Godfrey and P. Fobes, on the part of the Seminary, and B. I. Gilman and A. W. Corey, on the part of the congregation. The title to this property is with the trustees of the seminary. To trace the history of this church since its withdrawal from Presbytery does not comport with the design of this book. While Mr. Smith lived it prospered. His wise and steady course kept the elements in repose. December 16, 1867, the first constitution of the church was essentially changed. Since that time, or rather since its withdrawal from the Presbytery, it has not been Presbyterian, whatever else it may have been or is. Upon the whole, the his- tory of this church, since the death of Dr. Smith, has demonstrated the utter absurdity of attempting to build up an orthodox church which shall be un-denominational. Drs. Baldwin and Smith were THE PROBLEMS OF THE DIVIDED ROAD 95 able men. They could hold a church to orthodox moorings by their individual power and Presbyterian connections. Lesser men, with no such connections, will surely fail. No church can live and grow and be useful without some distinctive and acknowl- edged system of doctrine and polity." DuQuoin Female Seminary was chartered February 13, 1855, and became private property in 1872. Two ladies, Miss Eliza Paine and Miss E. Reynolds, were its founders. Their work ante- dated the founding of our State Normal Schools and was a genu- ine advancement against the illiteracy of Egypt. Similar projects had been launched at Salem, Sparta, Vergennes, and Jonesboro. The articles of incorporation of the DuQuoin school furnish light on the general tenor of its work. "It shall be a Christian school. The teachers shall be members of some evangelical church, and the Bible the cornerstone of all its moral instructions." The Rev. Josiah Wood collaborating with the lady teachers promoted and established the institution so that it became the center of in- fluence in southern Illinois educational matters. 96 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Blackburn University, conceived by Gideon Blackburn and secured by him by subscriptions, had come through legal processes into the possession of 16,000 acres that had been yielding revenue to Illinois College at Jacksonville and was officially opened un- der the charge of the Rev. John C. Downer September 20, 1858. Robert B. Minton, A.M., and Rev. John B. Soule were appointed professors. In 1865 Rev. John W. Bailey was appointed pro- fessor of Theology. Ex-governor John M. Palmer became the President of its Board of Trustees. The temper of the frontier had become a part of the Pres- byterian mind and educational institutions multiplied until they covered the entire state with their services. The centrality of Jack- sonville persisted no longer and education became a state-wide emphasis and an endeavor to minister to need wherever it could be found. CHAPTER IV INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS Immigration and panicky financial conditions introduced new elements into the work of the Presbyterian Church from 1846 on- ward. Banks were failing; large increments of racial groups were entering Illinois; and the social structure of the society that the church endeavored to serve was changing with such rapidity as tended to elude control. Great companies of Germans were leaving their fatherland and entering the state because of the failure of the Revolution of 1830. In 1850 there were 38,000 foreign-born Germans in Illinois. In that same year 28,000 Irish and 18,600 English settlers under the leadership of Morris Birkbeck and George and Richard Flowers had entered Illinois. 4,600 Scotchmen were counted in the tide of immigration. A persecuted group of Norwegian Quakers under the leadership of Kleng Peerson had formed the nucleus of a Norwegian settle- ment in LaSalle County. The towns of Mission, Miller, Rutland, Norway, Leland, Lisbon, Morris, and Ottawa rapidly expanded because of their entry. Swedish emigration under the leader- ship of Olaf and Jonas Hedstrom had been turned toward Illinois, and by 1850, 3,500 had entered the State. A persecuted group known as the Jansonists founded a communistic and religious colony of 400 settlers at Bishop Hill in Henry County. Five years later they had increased to 1,100 members which at that time represented almost one-third of the population of the county. It was to this newer Illinois that Gov. Ford brought the in- telligence of the Mexican War and issued his call for volunteers to flock to the colors. Abraham Lincoln had denounced the war from the floor of the House, January 12, 1848, and had told his listeners that Polk, the President of the United States, was as guilty of the blood of those Americans who had fallen in a battle that was not on American soil as was Cain of the blood of Abel. He had introduced into the House his so-called "spotty" resolu- 97 98 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS tions. He pointed out that the particular spot on which the first blood was shed was Mexican soil. His political foes caused the name of Spot-Lincoln to be broadcasted as widely as the name of Lincoln. The issue as to the guilt or innocence of the Unitdd States in the initiation of the War was hotly debated. Con- scientious men were touchy and in the heat of the discussion, the New School Synod of Illinois passed the following resolutions: "The spirit of War has poured its flood of moral pollution over the land, and the army has returned to the bosom of our communities, many of its numbers painfully infected with irre- ligion, and vice. But we are happy to learn that very few, if any, of the members of our churches have been induced to countenance, either by actual participation or public approval the scenes of bloody strife which have been acted and are acting by our ene- mies in the South. "We behold with sadness many interesting fields scattered up and down the highly favored portions of our State still lying unoccupied by laborers with whom we can altogether sympathize or even in whom we can have confidence as being competent to the work. But we have not the laborers to send into the harvest, and the people are living without God in the world, and without the institutions of the Gospel and without any well-grounded hope of a blissful immortality. "But when we turn our eyes toward the more Eastern and Southern portions of our State we look upon far more appalling desolation. In some districts consisting of several counties the voice of a well-qualified preacher of any name is seldom, if ever, heard, and as may always be expected under similar circumstances, the God of this world reigns with little opposition." 1 "Resolved that we deplore the spirit of War in our com- munity, and the present unholy contest in which our nation is engaged, the prevailing disposition to patronize the circus, and other fashionable and vitiating amusements, the indifference mani- fested on the subject of intemperance, Sabbath desecration and slavery, and recognize in these, formidable obstacles to the progress of religion, and the revival of God's work." 2 i Synod of Illinois, Old School, 1831-1837; New School, 1838-1855; 1847, p. 313. 2 Ibid., p. 318. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 99 A Portuguese colony from the island of Madeira, converts to Presbyterianism, under the leadership of ministers associated with the Free Church of Scotland, came as a persecuted group to America and formed a Presbyterian Church at Jacksonville, Il- linois, March 15, 1850. This church retained the jurisdiction of the Free Church of Scotland until the year 1856, at which time it made permanent connections with Presbyterianism in Illinois. It is said to have been the first Portuguese Presbyterian church in the world. 3 The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought its unrest to in- crease the instability produced by the Mexican War, land panics, money panics, and anti-slavery agitation, and by February, 1849, ten to fifteen thousand men had congregated at Quincy with covered wagons and elected leaders to make the trek to the coast. Independent groups were organizing at Alton, Springfield, and Jacksonville where parties of fifty to one hundred started for the coast. The drainage on Illinois life was discouraged by Il- linois newspaper editorials that presented the real situation in California, but not until 1852 did the gold fever die down. Pronouncements on the subjects of morals, temperance, Sabbath observance, and religious instruction from the family and the Sunday School were abundant and pointed. Galena (New School) Presbytery, after many pronouncements on slavery and temperance formulated a resolution in the year 1852, recommend- ing the Maine law as a pattern that might well be followed in Illinois. This same presbytery, at its first meeting as a presby- tery, in 1840, with only four members present, formulated a resolution directed to the Governor of Illinois requesting that he set aside a day of Thanksgiving to God. Such resolutions were usually ordered to be published and were spread as widely as the circulation of the printed page. Two themes were prominently in the forefront, whatever the nature of the variegated discussions of the period. First, slavery with its somewhat confusing terminologies and its dif- ficulties as to classification. New School Presbyterians were con- stantly discovering that New England ministers tended to make 3 Source Material — Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 18, pp. 101-135. 100 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS the question a religious rather than a political one and divided churches. The second was the question of administration of the benevolent funds, especially (in the case of New School Presby- The second building of Paris Presbyterian Church terianism) the administration of the funds handled by the Amer- ican Home Missionary Society. Benevolent receipts had a tendency to become a price paid for abject loyalty. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 101 "A side issue in the controversy, though assuming large propor- tions and affecting the final outcome, was the difference between the conservatives and progressives on the question of the admin- istrative agencies for carrying on benevolent and missionary work. The Old School party believed that such agencies should always have the standing of Committees of the General Assembly. The New Side had fallen into the habit of contributing to missionary and benevolent funds of Boards responsible to no esslesiastical jurisdiction. Of this type were the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the American Home Mis- sionary Society, and the American Education Society. This dif- ference was not radical. In the end it was settled by the adoption of a Board, which, though self-perpetuating, is responsible to the General Assembly and serves the church practically in the same manner as committees do." 4 Meantime the orderly procedures inherent in Presbyterian polity exercised a control against inroads made by aggressive Congregationalists. Presbyterianism in Illinois had, through de- ference to the contractual obligations inherent in the Plan of Union, dispensed with denominational agents and their solicita- tions for funds. But on October 8, 1840, the New School Presby- tery of Alton heard their committee composed of the Revs. A. T. Norton and Theron Baldwin report that they had employed the Rev. William Chamberlin at a salary of $400 per annum, the same to be paid by Presbytery, if possible. If not, by aid from the American Home Missionary Society. 5 On October 15, 1840, the Old School Synod of Illinois met at Rushville and passed the following resolution: "Whereas the Synod of Illinois some years since considered it best to dispense with agents for the benevolent institutions of the Church, the same was reconsidered, and it was resolved as the result of our experience that it is not expedient to deprive our churches of their services but to invite their aid and cooperation." 6 In Alton Presbytery (New School) a plan whereby corres- ponding members were seated was in the following terms: 4 Presbyterianism in America, Zenos, p. 80. 5 Norton, p. 295. 6 Norton, pp. 295-296. 102 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS "I. That we adopt the practice of receiving delegates as corresponding members from such Congregational and other churches within our bounds as harmonize with us in the belief of the essential doctrines of Christianity; provided that they are willing to report regularly to this body. "II. That such delegates have the right not only to speak, but also to vote on all matters which come before this body ex- cept such as are strictly Presbyterial. "III. That we will consent to act as an advisory counsel in all cases of reference which these associated churches may bring before us." 7 Not until 1867 were the resolutions repealed. It was under the operation of these resolutions that Tfieron Baldwin and the Monticello church found their place in Presbyterian polity. To Alton Presbytery came Rev. Hubbell Loomis requesting to be connected provided he could do so without renouncing his views on immersion. The following resolution was adopted: "Whereas, Rev. Hubbell Loomis, of Upper Alton, would feel it a privilege to become connected with this Presbytery, provided he can do so without yielding his views on immersion; and whereas, we have full confidence in his Christian and ministerial character, and he pledges himself while in connection with us to leave all others in the uninterrupted possession of their own opin- ions on the subject of baptism; Resolved, That he be now re- ceived as a member of this Presbytery." 8 The New School Synod of Illinois meeting at Bloomington October 20, 1842, had representatives from nine presbyteries. Lucian Farnam, a member of the Yale Band, resigned as stated clerk. He had been the pastor of the First Congregational Church at Princeton, a church that was founded by a colonizing group known as the Hampshire Colony. Farnam was a pronounced Abo- litionist and Congregationalist. Lycurgus P. Kimball was elected in his place. They directed a petition to the Governor of the State requesting him to set aside the last Thursday in Novem- ber as a day of Thanksgiving. Favorable notice was taken of the practices of five of the presbyteries who were using Presbyterian 7 Norton, pp. 310-311. 8 Norton, p. 311. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 103 missionaries within their bounds (five missionaries in all), with such marked success as to commend the practice for general con- sideration. The Old School Synod of Illinois, meeting on the same day but at Jacksonville, had representatives from five presbyteries at- tending and reported to its General Assembly forty-eight minis- ters and ninety churches. At the time of division in 1838, Old School and New School Presbyteries were: OLD SCHOOL NEW SCHOOL 1st meeting of Synod, Jacksonville, September 19, 1839 Presbytery of Illinois Presbytery of Kaskaskia Presbytery of Sangamon Presbytery of Sangamon Presbytery of Schuyler Presbytery of Schuyler Presbytery of Alton Presbytery of Peoria Presbytery of Peoria Presbytery of Illinois Presbytery of Knox Presbytery of Palestine Presbytery of Palestine (changed to name of Wabash Presbytery of Ottawa in 1849) The succeeding history of the two groups indicates the strains and stresses constituted by the Plan of Union. The Old School Synod having severed its connections with the American Home Missionary Society and its favored children stood its ground in the southern parts of the state but made relatively little progress in the frontier communities of the north and west. The New School Synod following the frontiers and operat- ing under the Plan of Union was constantly adding larger terri- tories only to discover that the title to the territories was con- tested by their fellow-laborers in the cause. Thus "the Synod (Old School) erected the following pres- byteries: In 1843, the Central Presbytery of Iowa; in 1846, the Presbytery of Rock River; in 1846, the Presbytery of Wisconsin (was recognized) ; in 1850, the Presbytery of Cedar (Iowa) ; in 1851, the Presbytery of Chicago; also the Presbytery of Des Moines in 1851; in 1858, the Presbyteries of Saline, Hillsborough, and Bloomington; also the Presbytery of Palestine was received from 104 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS the Synod of Indiana to which it had been previously transferred by the General Assembly in 1858; in 1862 Hillsboro and Kas- kaskia Presbyteries were united under the latter name. At various times presbytery lines were readjusted as will appear in the his- tories of the several presbyteries. "The following Synods were erected by the Old School Gen- eral Assembly on ground formerly covered by this Synod, viz: In 1850, the Synod of Wisconsin, which was done without consulting this body, and was therefore pronounced by the Synod, 'Irregu- lar and injurious;' in 1852, by request of this Synod, the Synod of Iowa was erected; in 1858, by request of this body, the Synod of Chicago was erected ; whose boundaries were as defined by the Assembly, and given in the records of that Synod." 9 "The New School Synod at Canton in 1840 erected the Pres- bytery of Galena to consist of all the ministers and churches for- merly of Ottawa Presbytery, north and west of Rock River, and appointed Rev. Aratus Kent to preside and preach the opening sermon. "The New School Presbyteries of Sangamon and Illinois were united by the Synod of 1842. The Presbytery of Des Moines, Iowa, was attached to the Synod by the General Assembly in 1846. In 1849, the Synod, by request, changed the name of its Palestine Presbytery to Wabash Presbytery. "In 1842 the New School Synod requested its General Assembly to erect the Synod of Peoria, to consist of the Presby- teries of Ottawa, Peoria, Knox, and Galena. The Synod of Peoria was accordingly erected by the Assembly in 1843, and di- rected to hold its first meeting at Galena in October, 1843, the Rev. George W. Gale to preside and preach at the organization. "In 1852, the New School Synod met at Keokuk, Iowa, in or- der to form a Synod of Iowa divided the Presbytery of Des Moines into three presbyteries to be called the Presbyteries of Keokuk, Des Moines, and Iowa City, and requested the General Assembly to erect the Synod of Iowa, embracing these Presbyteries. The General Assembly of 1853 complied with this request." 10 Across the Synods of Illinois discussion as to the church's ? Outline History of Synods of Illinois, p. 17. 10 Outline History of the Synods of Illinois, pp. 9-10. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 105 place in educational processes was becoming general. On this question, as on all questions, opinions sharply divided. In the vicinity of Illinois College the presbyters were recommending that their congregations contribute to the support of the school at Jacksonville. At Galena Aratus Kent was promoting Beloit Col- lege and Rockford Female Academy. In Belvidere Presbytery the presbyters were recommending an increased support of the public school system. In Chicago, Rev. Robert W. Patterson, surrounded by prominent citizens, was laying the groundwork for the establishment of Lake Forest University, and Cyrus H. McCormick, a dynamic Old School layman, was endeavoring to establish a school of divinity. At Danville, the Presbyterian forces were promoting an interest in Danville Seminary. Parochial schools and denominational academies and colleges had a mush- room growth as in the case of McDonough College at Macomb and Peoria University at Peoria, but quickly passed, not merely because of the difficulty of sustaining them, but also because of their failure to fit into the pattern of the developing religious convictions. The country was being flooded with the represen- tatives of the American Home Missionary Society and from Pres- byterian voices the cry was being raised, "Give us ministers that are Presbyterian trained and Presbyterian minded." The New School Presbytery of Chicago in 1850 adopted the following resolution: "That in view of the wants of the church in her operations at home and abroad, it is highly important that the attention of young men of piety and talent be, and if need be, aided in seeking preparation for the service of God in the ministry of reconciliation and that a committee be appointed to superintend this object and bring it before the churches in such ways as they may deem best." The committee appointed had Dr. Harvey Curtis, pastor of First Church, as its chairman. With- in two years (September, 1852) the committee was able to re- port, "Three young men of Second Church in a course of study with a view to the ministry; also two in First Church, Chicago; and one in the church of Joliet in the same course." The very next month, J. T. Wentworth, a graduate of Union College, and member of Second Church, presented himself as a candidate, and was duly examined and licensed. Somewhat later, 106 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 1855, came the examination, licensure, and ordination of J. Am- brose Wight. 11 The New School Presbytery of Illinois meeting at Spring- field April 10, 1845, continued their policy of having a Sunday School Missionary and made this significant statement, "We re- commend that Sabbath Schools and Bible Classes take the place of one of the ordinary Sabbath services when their object cannot be otherwise attained." The New School Synod actively promoted Sabbath Schools and repeatedly went on record in urging its minis- ters and elders to provide proper catechetical instruction for its children and youth. Young men and young women were direct- ed to attend either Illinois or Knox Colleges and a Committee of Synod for many years attended the Lane Theological Examin- ations. The Theological Seminary at Carlinville (Blackburn Uni- versity) received warm endorsement. Religious literature was not neglected. In 1855 this Synod recommended the New York Evangelist and the Presbyterian Quarterly Review, as well fitted for the use of our ministers and people. Dr. A. T. Norton's paper The Presbyterian Reporter, published at Alton, was warmly endorsed and its editor thanked for his indefatigable and unremunerated labor in producing this excellent periodical. Similarly, the Old School Synod with its presbyteries was tireless in advancing the cause of Christian Education. The Sun- day School, the Bible Class and catechetical instruction each had its place in the succeeding meetings of Synod and Presbytery. There was a constant outreach in the direction of young men who were deemed to be suitable candidates for the gospel ministry and equally constant consideration was bestowed upon methods and institutions that might be considered as proper methods and institutions for the training of such young men. Very naturally, the rivalries of institutions that desired first consideration en- tered into these discussions, and coordinate with the institutions were the rivalries of place and leadership. Back in the days when the State of Illinois was Center Pres- bytery and an appendage of the Synod of Indiana, that Synod, 11 History of the Presbytery of Chicago, J. F. Lyons, p. 15. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 107 meeting in Bond County, Illinois, had added to Hanover Academy, located in Hanover, Indiana, a Theological Seminary and had elected the Rev. Dr. John Matthews of Shepardtown, Virginia, as Professor of Theology. This Theological Seminary had come upon hard times. Other Seminaries — Western at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Lane at Cincinnati, Ohio; and Danville at Danville, Kentucky — had been exercising their appeals in the immediate territory surrounding the institution. No financial provision had been made for the Seminary and only a small endowment had been raised for the College. Larger endowment had brought about a move to New Albany, Indiana. But the directors of the Seminary had larger dreams for the future of the institution and were endeavoring to recreate it as the Seminary of the Northwest. By 1859 the Old School Synod had opened its heart to this child of the church which had been born in Illinois territory years before the disastrous division and adopted this resolution: "We recommend both the Seminary of the Northwest and the Danville Seminary." The resolution indicates the sectional compromises that were necessary in any action that should be taken. By the year 1859 vigorous purposes had formulated. Galena had come forward with an offer of $25,000 which it would donate in the event that the Seminary of the Northwest should be located at Galena. Mr. Cyrus H. McCormick, whose sympathies had been with the little school at New Albany, denounced by Abolitionists, yet unsupported by men of more moderate temper, came forward with an offer of $100,000 in the event that the Seminary should be located in Chicago and approved by the General Assembly of the Church. When the issue of the Seminary reached the floor of the General Assembly (Old School) not only were Galena and Chi- cago competing for recognition, but also New Albany was ur- gently protesting against removal from Indiana. The contest was sharp and spirited, but so impressed were the commissioners to the Assembly by Mr. McCormick's magnificent offer that they over-whelmingly gave their vote for the Chicago location and appointed four professors: Nathan L. Rice, D.D., Didactic and Polemic Theology; Willis Lord, D.D., Biblical and Ecclesiastical History; Leroy J. Halsey, D.D., Historical and Pastoral Theology 108 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS and Church Government; William F. Scott, D.D., Biblical Liter- ature and Exegesis. September, 1859, the Seminary opened in a building located on the southwest corner of Clark and Harrison Streets, Chicago, with fourteen students. The initial enthusiasm of opening was contagious, and agents soliciting money for scholarships were well received. Tremendous expansion in territories and population pro- voked both Old School and New School Presbyterians to larger undertakings by way of performing their reasonable duty. In the discussions entailed in collective action, divergent opinions made for sharp contrasts and occasional stridency. Congrega- tional writers have attempted to fix upon these vigorous dif- ferings in opinion as being the major cause in the failure of the Plan of Union and seem to be totally blind to the irritations that occurred when zealots stumped the country indicting Presbyter- ian ministers and churches, as being disloyal to a Jesus Christ whom they presumed to present as an Abolitionist. Questions of common honesty crept into the over-all procedures. Many of these zealots had no bounds placed around their thinking pro- cesses. If they had ever heard of a Constitution, the word had entered one ear and gone out of the other. They were not con- stitutionally minded. Their attitude toward the Fugitive Slave Law and the Underground Railroad was of a piece with their attitude toward Presbyteries, Synods, and General Assemblies. The greater Body of Christ was without compunction pronounced to be wrong, while the lesser body asked for public approval and the stamp of rectitude. To parody the words of Galatians, their Scripture was, "Let us do evil that good may abound." In most of the New School presbyteries, Abolitionism and the slavery question were almost synonomous. Belvidere Pres- bytery was an exception and for many years supported the scheme for colonization whereby the negroes would be repatriated in Africa. Ottawa Presbytery had its ranks decimated by the effects of the rebellion against the General Assembly's luke-warmness on the question. Alton Presbytery made vigorous pronouncements on the Slavery question but retained its ranks because of the dis- cerning and forthright leadership of A. T. Norton who sensed INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 109 the implicit Congregational strategy some decades before it be- came explicit and met it with an aggressive Presbyterian program. In western presbyteries like Knox and Schuyler, American Home Missionary Society appointments, Congregational aggressiveness and dogmatic utterance tended to counteract Presbyterian advance. In Illinois Presbytery April 13, 1849, a committee reported on the Pisgah 12 Church case as follows: "Whereas Synod at its sessions in October last had under consideration the case of Pisgah Church in passing by without discipline a flagrant case of breach of the law of common human- ity, on the part of some of its members in delivering up a family fleeing from oppression, and receiving a reward in money for the work; and whereas, the fact of such crime now widely known is bringing deep reproach on that church and on this Presbytery; and whereas, it has been intimated that there is reason to fear that the session of the church avoid action in the case; therefore, resolved that brethren Dixon and Blodgett, ministers, and D. B. Ayres, elder, be, and they are, hereby appointed a committee to ascertain the facts in the case, and to urge on the session of the Pisgah Church the necessity of speedy action in the premises that at the next stated meeting of Presbytery they may be able to report such proceedings as will free the church from this reproach and the Presbytery from any seeming connivance of the facts in ques- tion. Adopted." At the meeting of Illinois Presbytery at Jacksonville Septem- ber 5, 1849, the committee again reported on the Pisgah Church: "Whereas, it appears that in October, 1847, certain members of the Pisgah Church did aid in the apprehension and surrender of certain fugitives from slavery, receiving a reward for the same; and whereas, public fame charges that this act was consummated by gross and deliberate deception; and whereas, the session of said church has never instituted any formal process of investiga- tion in the premises, therefore, resolved: (l) That an act so flagrantly inhuman should have sub- jected the perpetrator to the discipline of the church, as traffickers in slaves for gain, and that no expression of penitence for such an 12 Located a little west of Springfield. 110 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS offense should have been deemed satisfactory so long as the price of the deed was retained. (2) That in relying on the statements of the individual most deeply implicated in the arrest of the fugitives to exonerate himself from the charge of falsehood, the session adopted a rule of testimony wholly inadmissible in ecclesiastical law. (3) That inasmuch as it appears that the course of the ses- sion was adopted from no disposition to sanction or connive at such unchristian conduct, but from mistaken views of expediency, Pres- bytery would not censure the session, but they enjoin it on this, and on every other church session under their jurisdiction promptly and thoroughly to enforce the discipline of the church in every case of this kind that may hereafter arise. (4) That a copy of this action be given to the session of Pisgah Church, and also to Mr. Ralph McCormick. Adopted." At their meeting on September 26, 1851,, the committee on the Fugitive Slave Law had its report re-committed to it and Rev. Alvin M. Dixon added to its membership and later in the day re- ported as follows: "That we feel it to be our humiliating and painful duty to declare our belief that the enactment called the Fugitive Slave Law is in direct violation of the law of God inasmuch as it vir- tually makes every office of mercy and love to the most helpless, distressed, and innocent sufferers a crime, and we cannot there- fore as Christian men recognize its authority, yet would counsel no active resistance, but submission to its penalties." Adopted. The situation in Ottawa (New School) Presbytery was more complicated than that in Illinois Presbytery, and akin to the con- ditions prevailing in Knox and Schuyler presbyteries. Nahum Gould who writes the history of the presbytery brands it as a conspiracy to take the New School Presbytery of Ottawa clear out of the Presbyterian Church. The Abolitionist question was the pretext. The majority vote upon a motion provoked by a discussion of the General Assembly's action upon the slavery question as voiced by Dr. Duffield of Detroit was adverse resulting in a motion that the Presbytery secede from the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Duf field's resolution was as follows: INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 111 DECLARATION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY "The Assembly, having duly considered the subject pre- sented to their attention in the various memorials forwarded from presbyteries, synods, etc., adopted the following as the expression of their judgments. (1) The system of slavery, as it exists in these United States, which sanction it, or in its actual operation and results in society, is intrinsically an unrighteous and oppressive system, and is opposed to the prescriptions of the law of God, to the spirit and precepts of the gospel, and to the best interests of humanity. (2) The testimony of the General Assembly from A.D. 1787, inclusive, has condemned it; and it remains still in the re- corded testimony of the Presbyterian Church of these United States against it ; from which we do not recede. (3) We cannot, therefore, withhold the expression of our deep regret that slavery should be continued and countenanced by any of the members of our churches; and we do earnestly ex- hort both them and the churches, among whom it exists, to use all means in their power to put it away from them. Its perpetu- ation among them cannot fail to be regarded by multitudes influ- enced by their example, as sanctioning the system portrayed in, and maintained by the statutes of the several slave-holding states wherein they dwell — nor can any mere agitation of its severity, prompted by the humanity and Christian feelings of any indi- viduals who continue to hold their fellow men in such bondage, be regarded either as a testimony against the system, or as in the last degree changing its essential character. (4) But while we believe that many evils, incident to the system, under it important and obligatory to bear testimony against it; yet would we not undertake to determine the degree of moral turpitude on the part of individuals involved by it. This will doubtless be found to vary, in the sight of God, according to the degree of light and other circumstances pertaining to each. In view of all the embarrassments and obstacles in the way of emancipation, interposed by the statutes of the slave-holding 112 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS states, and by the social influence affecting the views and con- duct of those involved in it, we cannot pronounce a judgment of general and promiscuous condemnation, implying that destitu- tion of Christian principle and feeling which should exclude from the table of the Lord all who stand in the legal relation of masters to slaves; or justify us in withholding our ecclesiastical and Christian fellowship from them. We rather sympathize with, and would seek to succor them in their embarrassments, be- lieving that separation and secession among the churches and their members are not the methods that God approves and sanc- tions for the reformation of His Church. (5) While, therefore, we feel bound to bear our testimony against slavery, and to exhort our beloved brethren to remove it from them, as speedily as possible, by all appropriate and avail- able means, we do at the same time condemn all divisive and schismatical measures, tending to destroy the unity and disturb the peace of our churches, and deprecate the spirit of denunci- ation, and that unfeeling severity, which would cast from the fold, those whom we are rather bound, by the spirit of the gospel and the obligation of our covenant, to instruct, to counsel, ex- hort, and try to lead in the ways of God, and towards whom, even though they may err, to exercise forbearance and brotherly love. (6) As a court of our Lord Jesus Christ we possess no legislative authority; and as the General Assembly of the Presby- terian Church we possess no judiciary authority. We have no right to institute and prescribe tests of Christian character and church membership, not recognized and sanctioned in the sacred Scriptures, and in our standards, by which we have agreed to walk. We must, therefore, leave this matter with the sessions, and pres- byteries, and synods, the judiciaries to whom pertains the right of judgment, to act in the administration of discipline as they may judge it to be their duty, constitutionally subject to the General Assembly only in the way of general review and control." 13 At the first meeting 14 subsequent to the division of Ottawa Presbytery into three presbyteries, viz: Belvidere, Chicago, and Ottawa, Rev. Alva Day, the moderator, asked leave of dismission 13 History of Ottawa Presbytery, Gould, pp. 122-125. 14 Ottawa, October 12, 1847. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 113 that he might affiliate with the Fox River Union of Congrega- tional churches; and the subject of slavery was committed to Alva Day and George W. Bassett who were instructed to draw up a resolution for the Presbytery. They reported and recommended that action be deferred until after the next meeting of Synod. April 24, 1849. The Presbytery of Ottawa took action in the following terms: "Resolved, that the Commissioners be in- structed to make effort to obtain some action in the Assembly to rid the Presbyterian Church of all responsibility for the existence of the aim of slavery; and if such action cannot be secured that he be and hereby is instructed to withdraw in the name of the Presbytery from the Assembly." And at the same meeting the following resolution was drawn with reference to the American Home Missionary Society: "Whereas, it appears to be a somewhat general fact, at least in this region of the country, that the patronage of the American Home Missionary Society has been injudiciously and unjustly be- stowed that while some churches, whose influence, or location, is of a doubtful character, or necessity have been constantly and liberally patronized and aided in their efforts to sustain the gos- pel, others, who occupy positions of great importance and are iden- tified with moral principles of vital importance and are now struggling with peculiar difficulties, have called in vain on the Society for aid ; and whereas, the Presbytery is impressed with the conviction that the committee are misinformed in reference to im- portant facts, in this region, having received, and we believe are acting on ex parte testimony, therefore, "Resolved, that our commissioners to the General Assembly be instructed to call on the secretaries at New York, and express to them the known conviction of this body." 15 In other presbyteries the American Home Missionary So- ciety was encountering resistance to their somewhat arbitrary policies in administration. Wherever Flavel Bascom went, the storms would begin to gather. Similarly, Nathaniel C. Clark stirred up Congregational disturbances in Presbyterian churches. The Yale Band in their entirety promoted Congregationalism. Dual allegiance became a controversial question. Illinois Presby- 15 History of Ottawa Presbytery, Gould, pp. 151-152. 114 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS tery instructed its Stated Clerk to correspond with the Rev. Ed- ward Beecher and to find out why he had been absent from their bounds for years without the formality of removing his member- ship. As early as 1844 the New School Synod of Peoria sustained the action of the Presbytery of Peoria in disapproving of a Presby- terian church inviting a Congregational minister to preside as moderator of its congregational meeting. A rider in the form of a second resolution was atached to this action — the Synod dis- approving of ministers belonging to more than one ecclesiastical body that laid claim to judicial powers. Congregational action was making dual connections unten- able. At Detroit, the Rev. L. Smith Hobart, a Congregational pastor at Union City, Michigan; the Rev. George Duf field, Pres- byterian pastor at Detroit; and the Rev. Parsons Cooke, editor of the New England Puritan published at Boston, were indulging in a free-for-all fight in which accusations and counter-accusations were exchanged as to denominational greed concealed under the Plan of Union. Ministers and laymen in both the Congrega- tional and Presbyterian Families became deeply estranged and permanantly embittered. The General Congregational Associ- ation of Michigan made overtures to the Presbyterian Synod of Michigan with a view to weakening the Plan of Union so far as the Presbyterians were concerned. The revisions were aimed at decreasing the functions and controls of presbytery. Presbyter- ians were to attend Congregational conferences and participate in them ; and the controls were to be vested in the popular voice. The Presbyterians voted against any such participation, and the Congregationalists, veering away from a representative govern- ment, sent out a call for a Western Congregational Convention and repudiated the Plan of Union for the western churches. Across Illinois the clarion calls of Congregational zealots stirred deep-seated animosities. It was not to be expected that a rallying cry which came precariously close to being, "Come ye out from among them and be ye separate" would prove to be a bid for popularity. There were many angles in the questions in- volved. The Plan of Union itself constituted an angle. The ferocity of Abolitionism in ecclesiastical connections was an angle. The policies of the American Home Missionary Society INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 115 were an angle, and the social philosophy of those who witnessed church stealing and parasitical loyalty was an angle; and finally, the considered judgment of reputable men to the effect that there had been a conspiracy and a plan that was pro-Congregational operating against Presbyterianism for a portion of two decades. All of these angles crop out in the discussions of the era. Con- gregationalism was on the march and organized four associations and one general association in Illinois. A Connecticut Congregationalist describing the Chicago of 1843 writes, "The Presbyterian church is the dominant one and the tendency in the church is to treat the Congregationalists as intruders or dissenting ultraists. The first people are members of the Presbyterian churchs and there is not the best feeling between the two denominations." 16 At Jacksonville, denominational rivalries centered at Illinois College where President Sturtevant and Professors Post and Adams were suspected of holding unsound doctrines and of im- parting the same to their students. Under investigation by Presby- terial committees and a committee sent from the East to investi- gate Western colleges, the charges were diluted and a plentiful coat of whitewash was made to cover the situation. Prof. Jona- than Turner fared rather badly in the investigation and there seemed to be some confusion as to the prerogatives of an edu- cational institution. To many contemporary thinkers it seemed crystal clear that an institution founded by Presbyterians for the purpose of raising up a ministry for the Presbyterian church should be governed by the constitutional requirements of the church that founded it. The thinking of the Congregationalists engaged in the process of separating the institution from its par- ent organization was diametrically opposed to that of constitu- tionally-minded men. They had an obsession — an obsession for the rather vague expression "Freedom to think." The committee sent from the East used the following interesting phraseology in their report: "We heard it whispered here and there that these gentlemen were unsafe men — men of latidudinarian sentiments, who indulged a loose way of thinking, especially in theology." Augustus T. Norton fought almost lone-handed the battle 16 A Christian Business Man, Caleb Frank Gates, p. 69. 116 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS to retain a Presbyterian inheritance but lost to the forces of inde- pendency which in sequel proved to be Congregationalists. In the Rock River sector independence was not deemed so vital, and Congregationalists and New School Presbyterians were vigorously persecuting Oberlin Perfectionists. Neither group wanted any part of them, and across the entire state Congrega- tional zealots were denouncing freedom of thought on the ques- tion of slavery, unless it was in the pattern of Abolitionism. For the Plan of Union the handwriting was on the wall, and New School Presbyterianism was confronting the necessity of re-build- ing its fences. Alton Presbytery gave voice to the experience that the church had had with duplicity and veiled disloyalty in a pronouncement on her unsatisfactory dealings with the American Home Missionary Society. She complained that the Society was arrogating to itself the prerogatives that resided in Presbytery alone. It was the case of a presbytery's having to deal with a committee that presumed to legislate for the presbytery. A lengthy correspondence passed between churches and the com- mittee, stated clerks and committee, and was finally gathered to- gether in one report and presented to the Presbytery. The Amer- ican Home Missionary Society complained that the Presbytery was not giving whole-hearted cooperation. The Presbytery com- plained that the Society's definition of whole-hearted cooper- ation put shackles upon the hands of Presbytery. They reserved the right to open up new fields and install pastors anywhere within their bounds. The Society refused to recognize their right to do so. It was very obvious that the real issues were veiled and hidden. The Society insisted in dealing with individual churches and refused to Presbytery the right to recommend such work as met with their approval. Alton Presbytery had since 1840 employed men whose duties were missionary and general, their only direction being from Presbytery's committee on church extension. The approval of the American Home Missionary So- ciety had been deemed unnecessary to the venture. The employ- ment of missionaries within the bounds of this Presbytery had been continuous since 1840, and its right was unquestioned by anyone until approximately 1854 or 1955, the time at which Con- gregationalist aggression had reached its peak. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 117 Augustus T. Norton summarizes the demands: "The co-operation! here set forth, is this: 1. The society proposes to direct and control every mis- sionary laboring within the bounds of the Presbytery. 2. They propose that the churches cordially contribute all their missionary funds to its treasury. 3. They propose to take entire charge of the pioneer, or church extension work, and, finally, 4. They propose, in a word, to carry forward every depart- ment of the Home Missionary work. "They do not intend our General Assembly's Church Exten- sion Committee shall have a dollar to expend, or a place on earth to set their foot." 17 Co-incident with these circumstances was the working of the Plan of Union in the Wisconsin Territory that Illinois had pio- neered. October 6, 1840, a call was set forth to the ministers and churches of the area to convene in convention in Troy, located in Wallworth County, Wisconsin, "to consider the Plan of Union pro- posed by the Presbytery of Milwaukee or to adopt such other form of organization as will best subserve the interests of religion in the territory and also to deliberate on whatever questions may in- cidentally arise affecting the cause of Christ." 18 The Plan of Union, supposed to be satisfactory to both de- nominations, was adopted. But the difficulties implicit in the in- dependency of the American Home Missionary Society worked here as elsewhere. Both Congregationalists and Presbyterians indulged the opinion that the Society favored their rivals. One correspond- ent, Stephen Peet, writes the American Home Missionary Society for information upon the subject of the Old School missionary subsidy: 1. "What course is generally pursued by the New School and Congregationalists in regard to fellowship with the Old Church ? Do they invite them to sit as corresponding members in their ecclesiastical meetings? Do they generally invite them into their pulpits, exchange, etc., or do they let them alone? What course do your missionaries generally pursue on this subject? 17 Augustus T. Norton, p. 535. 18 The Congregationalists, Sweet, p. 369. 118 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 2. "What is the true state of the case in respect to their church 'extension' scheme? Have they done much? Have they any funds ? Is the plan likely to succeed ? 3. "How are they doing in their home missionary oper- ations? Do they interfere with you or infringe upon your ground? Have they funds and are they liberal in their appro- priations?" 19 Peet very definitely states in his correspondence that he con- siders Wisconsin territory as a kind of promised land into which only New School Presbyterians and Congregationalists may enter. The Old School missionaries are described as encroaching on our territory and are to be met in battle. In the Iowa territory into which Illinois Presbyterian labors had been extended the Congregationalists were forming Congre- gational Associations and the pattern that prevailed in Wisconsin was out of the question. New School Presbyterians were as devoted a group of men as ever attempted union or interdenominational effort, but the experiences with unbridled competition could lead to but one conclusion — disillusionment. Only the blind could fail to see the direction of their travel and these men were not blind. Many of their members, feeling the impulse that was driving toward im- molation in Congregationalism, deserted their ranks and joined the Old School Presbyterians. Others, feeling the same impulse, deserted their ranks and joined the Congregationalists. It was such disastrous losses that revealed the weakness involved in in- frequent gatherings of the church as a whole and led to the rein- statement of annual general assemblies in place of the triennial assemblies that New School Presbyterians had been promoting. The New School General Assembly of 1846 met in Phila- delphia. The slavery issue distracted the commissioners and con- sumed the bulk of the Assembly's time. The Western delegates had other interests that were pressing and seemed to be para- mount, and the Assembly seemed to divide into two groups — a group representing Presbyterian churches that were well estab- lished in hospitable Eastern locations, and a second group repre- senting Presbyterian churches established in the West under ad- 19 The Congregationalists, Sweet, pp. 397-398. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 119 verse circumstances with a grudging support given by the Amer- ican Home Missionary Society. This second group finally secured a place upon the platform of the Assembly** and through forth- right speaking and concrete presentation of the facts that im- periled the very existance of New School Presbyterianism in the West succeeded in the drafting of a resolution that "we do our own business in our own way." This resolution led to the form- ing of a Church Extension Committee in each presbytery and synod and ultimately in 1855 to a General Assembly's Committee of Church Extension. "This step was denounced in many quarters in the Congre- gational ranks as an unfair and unfriendly attempt to gain de- nominational advantage. The Home Missionary Society took up the contest and asserted that the step was impairing confidence and diverting funds from its treasury. It was next to impossible that a society to establish churches and support pastors should not prefer doing this in such ways as would increase the number of its friends and secure the extension of its territory. Its ap- pointment of missionaries and its appropriations of aid, therefore, were liable to be partial to its own friends, and very certain to be looked upon with suspicion by others. Newspaper correspond- ents on both sides rather aggravated the difficulty. The General Assembly of 1857 appointed a commission to investigate all the facts, learn the principles and modes of administration of the American Home Missionary Society, and to furnish a well-authen- ticated report to the next General Assembly. That committee did not report until the meeting of he Assembly at Pittsburg in I860." 20 The decade from 1850-1860 was one of increasing tensions. On the political front sharp clashes between slaveholders and Abo- litionists were creating irreparable damage in the ties of good will that held together the United States of America. The rail- splitter, Abe Lincoln, was rising to national prominence and the issues that Lincoln and Douglas debated in the open air were carried by the winds of public discussion to every corner of the country. In the religious setting the same public that discussed the 20 Hays' Presbyterians, pp. 212, 214. 120 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Lincoln-Douglas debates deliberated on Oberlin Perfectionism, Congregational Independency, and Presbyterian principles. Many of the issues discusled were no longer issues because by fascist techniques they were already settled. Presbyterians and Congre- gationalists, except for a few perfunctory courtesies, were travel- ing their separate ways. It is true that financial settlements had not been completed and that the parties to the separation had not agreed upon the amount of alimony, but the breach between them was to all intents and purposes irreparable and the final settle- ments merely incidental. Old School presbyteries had been handling their Home Mis- sionary projects through benevolent contributions disbursed from their Board of Home Missions and so far as these presbyteries were concerned, there was no issue constituted by the somewhat strident independency of the American Home Missionary Society. But in the New School presbyteries the dictatorial policies of that independent board had become a spur that prodded them into Presbyterian action. The action of Illinois Presbytery, September 26, 1851, is typical: "Resolved, That the pastors and stated sup- plies be requested to take annual collections among their people for the suport of our Home Missionary operations; and transmit the proceeds of such collections to the hands of the treasurer." April 16, 1852, the treasurer reported that cooperation had not been unanimous and Presbytery moved "that the committee of Missions cooperate with Presbytery's missionaries to raise their support." It was also voted, "that it was inexpedient for General Assembly to make any change in the present mode of conducting missionary and other benevolent operations within our bounds." By August 27, 1852, the treasurer submitted his financial report: Spring Creek Church $ 2.50 Springfield Second 150.00 Carlinville 17.00 Winchester 46.75 Manchester 3.25 Carrollton 11.40 Jacksonville 200.00 Total $430.90 $350.00 paid to Rev. E. Jenney for his services. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 121 At the same presbytery meeting this rather terse deliverance was made on dual denominational connections: "In view of the fact that the Rev. Edward Beecher, D.D., and Rev. Whitney have been a long time absent without having taken letters of dis- mission from this body," it was resolved that the stated clerk be requested to write to the brethren on the subject of their ecclesi- astical relations. These actions were quickly followed, April 14, 1853, with a memorial to the General Assembly, "Resolved, That this Pres- bytery memorialize the General Assembly to take measures to se- cure a general fund for the purpose of assisting feeble churches in erecting houses of worship and that the Stated Clerk prepare this memorial." General Assembly at Buffalo, inspired by the objective speeches of western representatives, sent out to its churches an immediate and challenging appeal: "Raise $100,000 to aid fee- ble congregations." And at its meeting on September 8, 1853, Illinois Presbytery approved the action of the General Assembly. Contemporaneous with these events was a resolution in Illi- nois Presbytery in which it was advocated that collections be taken to establish pastor's libraries. The traditional procedures of the Presbyterian Church were frequently in direct conflict with those of the American Home Missionary Society which claimed a direct contact and oversight in the churches that received its aid. The presbyteries of Illinois meantime were shepherding the churches and communities within their bounds and many of their Home Missions agents were paid from Presbyterian funds. In Illinois Presbytery, February 25, 1850, a vigorous attempt was made to handle the situation that was engendered by diverse auspices. The committee on destitute churches submitted the following report: "Your Committee find themselves unable because of the pressure of other business to report fully in regard to the state of the destitute churches, or upon any plan of operaticn beyond the following: Our available supplies are the following brethren, viz: Barr, Barton, Dixon, Gallaher, Glover, Grout, Hale, Jenney, Pennoyer, Porter, and Pond. We, therefore, recommend the fol- lowing arrangement, viz: 122 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS "That Winchester be supplied by Bro. Glover 3 Sabbaths and by Bro. Pond 1 Sabbath; That Exeter be supplied by Bro. Grout 3 Sabbaths and by Bro. Pond 1 Sabbath; That Carlinville be supplied by Bro. Jenney 3 Sabbaths and by Bro. Gallaher 1 Sabbath; That Salem be supplied by Bro. Dixon 3 Sabbaths and by Bro. Gallaher 1 Sabbath; That Mechanicsburg be supplied by Bro. Hale 2 Sabbaths and also by Rev. Barton and Bro. Porter 1 Sabbath each; That Naples Congregation be supplied by Bro. Pennoyer 3 Sabbaths and by Rev. Gallaher 1 Sabbath." The report was adopted. There was very little of New York and a great deal of Illinois in such an action. This Presbyterian work in Illinois had a soul and a mind that was independent from dollar diplomacy and moneyed imperialism. Presbytery distinguished between the mind of God and the mind of a secretary. Increasingly, secretaries did not like such discrimination. Under God and a body that was knit together these men confronted the fields that were white al- ready unto the harvest and went forth as the owners of the fields to sow. Hirelings evaded the onerous duties and retreated East- ward. These men were not hirelings. They could not retreat. Whatever the chilling winds, the devastating climatic conditions that came from the East, they toiled and patiently waited for the fruits of their labor. In the course of their labors they found resolution shaping itself in many and varied forms. They had resolutions on good order, Christian union, attendance at presby- tery and synod, benevolence, evangelism, church erection, mis- sions to new settlements, Christian education, The American Home Missionary Society, publications, temperance, Sabbath observance, slavery, revivals, and the state of the country; and in all of these resolutions they were ever mindful that "God alone was the Lord of the Conscience." Their tolerance was unlimited and their for- bearance almost endless, but at this point they never faltered. God's mind must prevail. Again and again business was laid INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 123 aside while the synods and presbyteries sought the mind of God in devotion and in prayer. To some this appeared to be a mere form of business and the idea of God over all a fanciful one, but to Presbyterians entering Illinois and wrestling with it for God it was vital breath, even life itself. Great souls were laboring to interpret the mind of God. Aratus Kent thundered over the lead mines of Galena while he struggled to raise up a ministry for God. Under the impulse of his convictions, educational institutions multiplied but his con- temporaries were more impressed by his bended knees and the sacrificial living that he brought from the place of prayer than were they by the institutions that he founded. He may have heard of secretaries and of finances, but when he went out into northern Illinois, he went to capture that whole area for the Lord Jesus Christ. Another outstanding New School Presbyterian was Robert W. Patterson. As a licentiate of Ottawa Presbytery he had been exposed to the rancorings of the contending forces that deter- mined whether Ottawa Presbytery would remain Presbyterian. The majority of the Presbytery with Flavel Bascom as an irritat- ing cause had determined upon seceding from the denomination. The minority retained Presbytery's records and hewed to the line in regularity, maintaining that the Presbyterian Church was a greater issue than that of human slavery. No denominational wranglings found him unprepared, he was a veteran. The Rock River Congregational Association, endeavoring to absorb the Presbytery of Ottawa, found in him a sterling opponent to their scheme and every insidious attack upon Presbyterian morale found him alert. For twenty-three years he held the pastorate of the Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago. Under his leader- ship a group of laymen in that church rasied fifty thousand dol- lars and purchased twenty-three hundred acres of land and laid the foundations for Lake Forest University which opened twenty years later (1876) with Dr. Patterson as its first president. He became moderator of the New School General Assembly in 1859. He and Dr. H. Curtis, pastor of the First Church of Chicago, were on the Board of Directors of Dearborn Seminary, a female acad- emy located on Wabash Avenue, Chicago, on the present site of 124 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS the Marshall Field Building, and later moved to a location at 22nd Street and Wabash Avenue, Chicago. There a building costing twenty thousand dollars was erected. He gave of his time to religious journalism. In 1846 he helped start the West- ern Herald. On its title page it bore this statement: "Devoted to the promotion of practical religion, the maintenance of essential truth, and the advancement of the benevolent enterprises of the age." From 1853 to 1855 he and Dr. H. Curtis were editors of the Chicago Evangelist. Robert W. Patterson, Jr., caught some- thing of his father's enthusiasm for journalism, served an appren- ticeship with "The Interior," then transferred to the Chicago Tribune to which he rendered distinguished service as Editor-in- Chief. His death occurred in 1910. Robert W. Patterson, Moderator of New School General Assembly and member of the joint committee of Old School and New School Assemblies that planned the reunion of the two bodies, was Chairman of the Committee of Bills and Overtures and retiring Moderator of General Assembly when the Assembly "assumed" the responsibility of conducting the work of Home Missions within its own bounds; and appointed its permanent committee known as "THE PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTE OF HOME MISSIONS." In the reunion of the two churches Patter- son became the New School representative on the Old School theological faculty known as the Presbyterian Theological Semi- nary of the North West currently known as McCormick Theo- logical Seminary. Southern Illinois, the earliest development in the State, has its history enriched with the names of the pioneers. Almost every community in the vicinity of Golconda and Shawneetown knew something of the ministrations of Benjamin F. Spilman. The text of his first sermon preached in Illinois was, "Unto you therefore who believe, He is precious." Two churches had been organized before his arrival in December, 1823; Sharon in 1816 and Golconda in 1819. The Rev. James McGready was of Scotch-Irish extraction. When he was quite young his parents removed to Carolina and settled in Guilford county. In his youth he accompanied his uncle to Pennsylvania, and after pursuing his studies under Mr. Smith INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 125 and Dr. McMillan, was licensed by the Presbytery of Redstone, August 13th, 1788. He obtained leave to travel to Carolina dur- ing the ensuing winter, and on his way thither passed through the places in Virginia which had been visited by the great revival, and with his heart warmed by what he heard and saw when he reached Guilford, preached the truth with an earnestness and power which broke up the spiritual apathy of the people and led to an extensive and glorious revival. In 1796 he removed to Ken- tucky and settled in Logan County. He had three congregations, Muddy, Red, and Gasper rivers. In the latter began that mighty revival which spread so far and wide through all the West, from 1800 to 1804. Mr. McGready was one of the sons of Thunder, both in manner and matter, and an uncompromising reprover of sin in every shape. The effect of his impassioned preaching was visible for years in the religious interest which it awakened. This distinguished servant of God, with some irregularities which he lived to correct, pursued his bright and useful career for many years, and was instrumental, directly or indirectly, in the conver- sion of many souls. He died in 1817. 21 Benjamin F. Spilman was the fifth child in a family of thir- teen. Three of the thirteen entered the Presbyterian ministry; eight of the thirteen were daughters. Benjamin F. Spilman labored at Golconda between the years 1824 to 1832, then moved to Shawneetown where in 1826 he had planted a church with a membership of six — all of the members were women ; thus it was a church without a session or officers. By 1827, in the month of November, he had increased the membership to ten, two of the additional members being men. The first communion service was held November, 1827. During the years 1836 to 1838 he labored as agent of the Western Foreign Missionary Society of Pittsburgh. His salary was $300.00 per annum, traveling ex- penses were $45.18, travel was by horseback, and collections for the year were $401.18. In 1838 Spilman was a Commissioner to the General Assembly. In 1839 he was again a Commissioner and in that year as representative of the Assembly's Board of Domestic Missions he supplied seven congregations — Carmi, Sharon, New Haven, Morganfield, Union, Tillfords, and Douglas. Four of 21 Presbyterian Encyclopedia, p. 496. 126 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS these fields were on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. Only Carmi, Sharon, and New Haven were in Illinois. In that year, 1839-40, Mr. Spilman completed seventeen years of service in the Ohio River section of Eastern Illinois. In the seven churches in which he labored there was a membership of eighty-nine com- municants, thirty-five of whom had been added during that year. For the next five years he gave to Southern Illinois an itinerant ministry under a commission from the Board of Domestic Missions. Benjamin F. Spilman Nine churches were supplied — Hillsboro, Waveland, Edwardsville, Chester, Liberty, Sparta, Dry Point, Bethany, subsequently known as the Staunton church, and Belleville — all in the Presbytery of Kaskaskia. In one year alone beginning November 9, 1845, he traveled 3688 miles on horseback. At one period in his life he had the distinction of being the only Presbyterian minister con- nected with the General Assembly whose residence was in Illinois. Two sidelights on his character deserve a place in this narrative — INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 127 the one a reminiscence of Mrs. Theron Baldwin and the other culled from an article on Mr. Spilman by A. T. Norton. Here I will introduce a portion of a letter of Mrs. C. W. Baldwin, widow of the lamented Rev. Dr. Theron Baldwin, and addressed to the widow of B. F. Spilman. It is dated June 25, 1870: "I met your husband only once. That was on my first ar- rival in Illinois. There were few roads through the state at that time, 1831, and no stages. Trevelers from the East went down the Ohio to where Cairo now is, then up the Mississippi to St. Louis. On our way down the Ohio there was at the time of which I speak a sudden change of weather, which closed the Mississippi with ice, and there was no road from Cairo to any other place. It was, therefore, necessary for us to turn back, which we did, and succeeded in reaching Smithland, Kentucky. After two weeks delay we went up and crossed the river in a row boat opposite Gol- conda. The first person we saw on passing up into the town was Mr. Spilman, whom my husband recognized. He kindly invited us to his house. He was living there at that time and preaching to the feeble churches in that region. The house was a small frame building but very comfortable. The only bed in it was di- vided, and one part laid on the floor. We, being guests, occupied the part left on the bedstead, Mr. and Mrs. Spilman taking that on the floor. The arrangement well nigh deprived me of sleep, for I felt that such hospitality was a little beyond the Scripture requirement. "The evening was passed in discussing the missionary work. In devotion to the cause these two young missionaries were one. In doctrinal views and methods of presenting truth they differed. Mr. Spilman was a 'high Calvinist, and Old School' — my husband, 'New School'. Hence it was that they were thrown so little to- gether in subsequent labor. I remember hearing Mr. Spilman say that evening that when he 'commenced preaching, his library con- sisted of three volumes — a Confession of Faith, a Bible, and a Hymn Book.' "From Golconda we went to Shawneetown, a part of the way on a jumper, a part on a wood sled. At Shawneetown we pro- cured an emigrant wagon, in which we traveled as far as Vandalia, reaching that place December 24. The roads were little more than 128 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS trails. I remember only one bridge between Golconda and Van- dalia." 22 "To correctly delineate the character of Mr. Spilman is a task of no small difficulty to one who knew him only from the reports and writings of others. Most manifestly he was sound in the faith — a Calvinist, but not I think, as Mrs. Baldwin says in her letter quoted above, a 'high' Calvinist. Take the following from his own pen. The article is called, A KEY TO UNLOCK A DIF- FICULTY. Calvinistic Predestination is not fatality. (1) God from all eternity had his plan laid, by which he manages the universe. In other words, 'He fore-ordained what- soever comes to pass.' (2) It comes to pass that all mankind are free agents. Then, this was fore-ordained for 'whatsoever comes to pass' was fore- ordained. (3) It comes to pass that the gospel salvation is infinitely sufficient for all the human family, and is freely offered to all. This then was fore-ordained. (4) It comes to pass that all who reject offered mercy and life, and die in sin perish. This then must have been fore-ordained. (5) It comes to pass that God suffers people to sin i.e. does not prevent it, when we know that he could, by striking the sin- ner dead, if in no other way. Whatsoever sin therefore he does suffer to be committed was fore-ordained. (6) It comes to pass that none are excluded from salva- tion by any decree of God, as He only ordained to suffer those who are lost to take their own choice between life and death, which they do voluntarily and they reprobate themselves. (7) While, therefore, predestination does no one any harm, it makes salvation sure to all who obey the gospel — and God works as He pleases in accordance with the free agency of man. "This is Calvinism, but it is not HIGH Calvinism, or fatalism. When the great division of 1837 and 1838 took place, Mr. Spil- man had been fourteen years a minister in the Presbyterian Church. He held to the Confession of Faith; but the above article shows how he held it. It was not the ipsissima verba method. He 22 A. T. Norton, p. 26. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 129 claimed the right to put upon the language of the Confession his own construction, and to give it his own explanation. He sided strongly with the Old School, and was perhaps their leading man in the State of Illinois. He did not live to see the reunion of the two schools, and to share the conviction, now so general, that their differences were mainly referable to prejudice. His second wife was a New England Congregationalist. They ever lived in the most perfect harmony. It is not probable that either was conscious of yielding to the other one particle of religious belief." 23 His death from pneumonia occurred in Shawneetown May 3, 1859- He was but sixty-two years of age and had given thirty- six years of his life to the Presbyterian ministry — all of that minis- try given to Illinois. He had been a member of the Presbytery of Muhlenburg, the Presbytery of Wabash, Center Presbytery, Kas- kaskia Presbytery, and finally, of Saline Presbytery. In these five presbyteries he had been while laboring in Illinois under jurisdic- tion of three different Synods — Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. Southern Illinois owned Benjamin F. Spilman and the historian does not exaggerate as he tells of the exercises conducted by the elders of the Shawneetown Presbyterian Church to be followed one month later by the funeral oration which was delivered by the Rev. Charles A. Campbell of Morganfield, Kentucky. "The church was crowded by a grief-stricken audience. The entire community as well as the church seemed to feel that they had lost a valued friend and a spiritual guide in whom was no guile. Every eye overflowed and the suppressed sob plainly told how deeply they felt their loss." 24 In the Old School Presbytery of Chicago, the French Cana- dian settlement at St. Anne through Father Chiniquy, its Roman Catholic priest, was waging a controversy with the Catholic Bishop of the Chicago Diocese. On January 31, I860, Chiniquy, with one thousand of his members withdrew from the Roman Catholic Church and affiliated with the Old School Presbytery of Chicago. The bust of Father Chiniquy reposes in the Virginia Library of McCormick Theological Seminary. But the Father was as re- stive under Presbyterian authority as he had been under Roman 23 Norton, pp. 30-31. 24 Augustus T. Norton, p. 30. 130 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Episcopal authority, and became a stormy petrel to embarrass his presbytery during months and years. In keeping with the times he solicited all and sundry in the interest of raising funds to support a ministerial training school of which he was the head. In the civil courts he entered a suit to collect money from one of his members who in turn accused him of falsehood and the mis- appropriation of moneys that were raised, and demanded an ac- counting. The matter came to the Presbytery of Chicago. Father Chiniquy renounced its jurisdiction and fled to the French set- tlement at Quebec, Canada. Investigations prosecuted by the presbytery revealed that Chiniquy had received forty thousand dollars at least, but no one was able to answer as to how much in excess of forty thousand dollars had been taken nor as to the uses to which it had been put. The school was branded as a bogus institution and the students reported were found to be married men advanced in years and of indifferent educational backgrounds who were employed by Chiniquy as Bible colporteurs. The church of St. Anne remained Presbyterian, but Father Chiniquy was deposed from the ministry and passed on to other fields of labor. 25 Contemporaneous with these events were the campaigns of Abraham Lincoln and the revival which swept Illinois during the years of 1857 to I860, and the financial depression of that period. The Kansas-Nebraska Act stirred people deeply and Abraham Lincoln at Alton is a symbol of the social picture. "Hon. A. Lincoln, finding it necessary to return by the eve- ning train, spoke in the afternoon to a large audience in front of the Presbyterian Church. He made, as he always does, an earnest argumentative, patriotic and exceedingly able speech. The crowd continued to increase until the conclusion of his speech and the cheers that went up for free labor, free territories, and Fremont were an unequivocal certificate that the hearts of the masses are right." 26 Owen Lovejoy was thundering from the rostrum and always for Abolitionism. So, also, was a sprinkling of New School Presbyterians. But, in the main, both New School and Old School 25 From Minutes of the Old School Presbytery of Chicago, 1852-1864. 26 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 22, p. 589. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 131 Presbyterians were acutely aware of the constitutional difficul- ties that lay in the way of Abolitionism. Cyrus H. McCormick, the inventor of the reaper, was a devoted Old School abherent. His correspondence with southern friends exhibited a grasp of the principles at stake and a Christian conscience as tender and The Lincoln Pew in the First Presbyterian Church, Springfield solicitous as that of any Abolitionist. The church must retain unity; and division of the body of Christ was a greater sin than slavery. Abraham Lincoln was taking lessons in the same school and listening, Sunday by Sunday, to Dr. James M. Smith of the Old School First Presbyterian Church in Springfield. From this intimate background he went out to the state and the nation to proclaim, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." 132 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS In Old School and New School Presbyteries alike the edu- cational formulae were being tested in the crucible of experience. Thirty years previously a college at Jacksonville had seemed to be adequate to meet all the requirements of the Presbyterians in Illinois, but even as Jacksonville had failed in becoming the cen- ter of the political life of the state, in spite of strenuous endeavors in that direction, so also she had failed to become the educational center of the state. And in almost every presbytery education Rev. James Smith, D.D. was being discussed without reference to centrality, other than that centrality that describes moral illiteracy, broken homes, God- less people, and the spiritually ignorant. The Old School Pres- bytery of Chicago, with an academy at St. Anne and another at Marengo, is typical of the educational approach in the various presbyteries. From the Wisconsin line to Cairo, academies were springing up over night. The State Legislature was being pe- titioned for charters. When the presbyteries discussed education they were not discussing education in the abstract. This was evident in several important particulars. The first — the financing of education and its relations to the wills of deceased donors; thus, the Blackburn legacy could not be expropriated to finance Illinois College, because such expropriation violated the condi- INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 133 tions of a trust fund set up for the purpose of training men for the Christian ministry. Secondly, the principle of the separa- tion of Church and State was fast becoming an accepted dogma so that current procedures were in sharp contrast to those that prevailed while the state was still the "wilderness." Under the Presbyterian Governor, Joseph Duncan, the "public" school sys- tem was promoted throughout the length and breadth of the state and the motive of public welfare was very prominently in the discussions of the period. The state was suffering from grow- ing pains and was rapidly discarding the processes that permitted the charlatan to plant for personal profit an educational institu- tion that would be dignified with the term "Private Academy." Of a piece with this growing tendency were the difficulties that Senator Douglas encountered as he endeavored to find a sponsor who would found a university at Chicago. Very generously he offered (1854) to donate the land (ten acres) on which it should be erected, but the Presbyterians to whom the offer was made declined to accept the responsibilities incurred, and the Senator was compelled to make his gift to the Baptists. 27 At Jacksonville a somewhat different dilemma had developed. There, Sturtevant, the president, was laboring with the difficul- ties of inadequate finance. On his faculty was Prof. Jonathan B. Turner whose pragmatic approaches to education were in di- rect opposition to the cloistered approaches of the College Presi- dent Sturtevant. Turner was meeting the Illinois public with an insistent demand that education should be cast in the agricultural and industrial mode and should be subsidized by public money. One hundred thousand dollars had accrued from land-grant earn- ings since Illinois had acquired statehood. Sturtevant, together with the presidents of the several colleges established in the state, was exerting every kind of pressure to compel Governor Yates and the Illinois Legislature to release this fund to the several colleges. Turner, in an address delivered at the Granville Presby- terian Church initiated the idea of a State Industrial University to be subsidized by land-grant funds and to prepare our citizens for useful avocations. Granville Presbyterian Church, erected in 1845, was also the place of meeting of the second annual fair 27 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 16, pp. 652-653. 134 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS of the Buel Institute held in 1848, and of many subsequent meet- ings of that body. Several years ago it was purchased by A. W. Hopkins, moved to the west side of Granville, and donated to the First Congregational Church as a mission. It was razed in 1922 after having been in existence seventy-seven years. 28 Lincoln and Douglas joined the ranks. The private colleges were denied access to public funds and federal legislation made possible the realization of the dream that first excited men in the Presbyterian Church at Granville November 18, 1851. 29 Turner's occupancy at Jacksonville soon terminated. As always the sons of those who slew the prophets tended the tomb of the prophet, and a very fitting tablet honoring Turner is located in Illinois college, but the real work of Jonathan B. Turner is more fittingly remembered at the University of Illinois where a tablet tells the world the heroic part that he played 30 in drafting the educational issue that is involved in the separation of church and state. 31 The administration problem during the late fifties and early sixties was becoming increasingly difficult for both Old School and New School Presbyterians. All discussions were heated ones. The Abolitionists were stalemated by three decisions that loomed in the national perspective — the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Le- compton Constitution, and the Dred Scott Decision. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas were debating these issues at strategic points throughout the state. The race question and the slavery issue were variously interpreted in different sections of the state. Southern Illinois, with antecedents that reached into the South, tended to be Old School in its sympathies and did not look with any favor upon those schemes that tended to interfere with the property rights of Southern slaveholders. A scattering of German people located in the vicinity of Belleville were rather solidly aligned for an immediate freeing of the slaves. In the North the constitutional issues involving state's rights became a personal issue whereby Illinois men felt called upon to defend the right of Illinois to declare herself a free state. The man on the street found no satisfaction in the notion that the force of 28 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 147-148. 29 Ibid., pp. 144-150. 30 Ibid., Vol. 5, p. 513. 31 Ibid., Vol. 5, pp. 481-485. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 135 Southern arms or the arrogance of a federal decision could intro- duce slavery into Illinois. The same logic that condemned the arrogant aggression of the slavery forces condemned ecclesiastical pronouncements from the General Assemblies of the two bodies. Lincoln's "house divided" characterized the public mind and churchmen confronted the issues of the hour without any very clear-cut pattern for the separation of church issues and state issues. Prejudices had their day. A secret society catalogued as the "Know Nothing" party was a focal point for rallying true Americans. Foreign groups were disapproved and Roman Cath- olics, as in the case of the Chicago Presbytery, were described as unfortunate men and women. In that Presbytery meeting at Kan- kakee April 11, I860, the Rev. R. Baird, D. D., was requested to address the Presbytery at length and to present his views relative to the question of Presbytery's responsibility for the French Cana- dian Catholic congregations lately taken under the care of the Presbytery. The following excerpt taken from the minutes will indicate the temper. It is my "deliberate view formed after careful inspection for several days in regard to the condition of the French Canadian people, two associations of whom had lately come under our care; also of the nature and significance of the reformation which has commenced among them; and still further of the obligation which God has laid upon this Presbytery in re- gard to the wants, both temporal and spiritual, of this people, and upon the church at large in regard to their countrymen both in this land and in Canada, and in regard to missions among Ro- manists everywhere." The Presbytery, following this statement, appointed a Com- mittee comprised of Rev. M. W. Staples; N. L. Rice, D. D.; W. Lin, D.D.; and L. J. Halsey, D.D.; and C. A. Spring, Elder, who were charged to draw up a resolution that would embody the opinion expressed in the Presbytery. The following was their report: (l) In view of the vast fields now opening up among the Roman Catholic population at home and in foreign lands, calling for the active agencies of the church, the committee would rec- ommend the Presbyter) 7 to memorialize the next Assembly, to meet in May, to take such measures as in its wisdom appear nee- 136 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS essary to meet the exigencies of this new and complicated case, to enter and take possesion of this new and vast field of use- fulness. (2) With a view to bring the agencies of the church to bear more efficiently upon the French people within the bounds of this Presbytery, and to counsel with the Rev. C. Chin- iquy in the great work upon which the providence of God has permitted him to enter, with such bright prospects of success, the Presbytery appoint a missionary committee of five, who shall in conjunction with the Board of Domestic Missions have super- vision of the whole field. (3) With a view to relieve the Rev. C. Chiniquy from the great burden which is now crushing him to earth, and to a large extent preventing his useful labor, and to enable him to devote himself to the execution of the great work of reformation which God has imposed upon him, this Presbytery secure a judicious and efficient brother having the confidence of the church to assist in the distribution of charities, and the supervision of the erection of chapels, should money be raised for that purpose, and of the temporal interests in general. (4) With a view to the preparation of young Canadian Frenchmen for the work of the gospel ministry among their own countrymen, the Presbytery proceed to the organization of a Class- ical School at St. Anne; and that steps be taken to secure a proper charter at the next session of the Legislature." The public mind was in ferment. Issues were complex and the churchmen were badly divided on all public questions. New alignments were the order of the day. In this period the Repub- lican Party was born and Abraham Lincoln was catapulted into the presidency. Contemporaneously, Alton Presbytery, New School, received two ministers from the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 32 Whitehall Church, New School, withdrew from Illi- nois Presbytery and joined Sangamon Old School Presbytery. 33 An interesting reception (Alton Presbytery, September 19, 1851) was that of John Ingersoll. "I have not been able to learn anything about him. He came 32 Norton, p. 374. 33 Norton, p. 393. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 137 Old School— 1860 138 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS to Alton Presbytery as above, and was dismissed from them and given a general letter October 6, 1855. I don't know when or where he was born, or educated, or ordained. It is not to his credit that he was the father of the loudmouthed, blatant infidel, Bob Ingersoll, who strives to quiet a biting conscience by reviling God's Word. He resided a short time in Alton, and his wife died there. He has been dead for several years. It was a smart but queer family, and all their peculiar characteristics have cul- minated in the infidel, Bob." 34 The Synod of Chicago was erected by the Old School Assem- bly of May, 1856, and embraced the Presbyteries of Chicago, Rock River, and Schuyler. Its organization meeting was at Prince- ton, October 18, 1856. At their meeting of 1863, fraternal dele- gates, a minister and elder, were appointed to attend the next meeting of the New School Synod of Peoria and to assure that body of the fraternal regard and interest of this Synod. In 1861 much was said about Systematic Beneficence; the churches were exhorted to larger giving; Home and Foreign Missions engrossed the attention of the Synod and a Synodical Missionary was ap- pointed to labor under the direction of the Committee composed of members of the several presbyteries. In 1863 the attention of the churches was directed to Freedman's Aid urgently demanded in the South. In 1864 a readjustment of presbyteries erected the Presbyteries of Bureau and Warren. In 1866 the Presbytery of Chicago was urged to make energetic efforts to plant churches in neglected parts of the rapidly growing City of Chicago. A very early project of the Synod of Chicago was the Theological Semi- nary of Chicago, later transferred to the care of the General As- sembly but commended to the favor and patronage of the churches by this Synod. Cyrus H. McCormick, Old School churchman, who in 1847 had moved his reaper works to Chicago, ran as a Democratic candidate for Congress in 1864. A Chicago mass meeting had proposed an independent labor party, and Mr. McCormick used the columns of the Working Man's Advocate to advance his campaign. Alton Presbytery, New School, meeting at Mt. Vernon, April 3, 1856, faced a crucial issue in the report of its Missionary Com- 34 Norton, p. 417. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 139 New School— 1860 140 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS mittee. The American Home Missionary Society had taken ex- ception to the Presbytery's policy, which was of many year's standing, of commissioning missionaries to labor in a field desig- nated as "within the bounds" of Presbytery. A significant quo- tation from the report indicates the issue: "If we submit to this we come under the complete control of a Society outside our church — we deprive ourselves entirely of the power of extension as a denomination — we may not even nurse our feeble churches without that Society's permission." Two individuals, A. W. Blackburn and S. L. McGill, underwrote the Presbyterial effort in the sum of five hundred dollars each, and two Presbyterian missionaries whose only reports should be made to the Presbytery of Alton and spread in the columns of the Reporter quarterly were employed on a full time basis. The Synod of Illinois, New School, meeting at Alton, Oc- tober 1, 1857, appointed a Synodical Church Extension Commit- tee which was authorized to appoint a secretary who, under their direction, was to take charge of Church Extension. During this period is observable an action of the Presbytery of Kaskaskia (Old School) which, meeting at Jordan's Grove Church, April 9, 1858, "earnestly advised their churches to make liberal collec- tions for domestic missions and instead of remitting the funds to the Board, devote them to this work." This same Presbytery re- ceived at this meeting Zion (German) Presbyterian Church or- ganized at Fosterburg, Madison County, October 12, 1857, by Revs. J. G. Schaible and H. Blanke with twenty members. The Synod of Illinois, New School, met at Springfield, Oc- tober 7, 1858; indicative of the growing attitude within the bounds of the Synod is the report of the recently appointed Church Ex- tension Committee, to the effect that they had appointed the Rev. A. T. Norton as Synod's Church Extension Secretary. A descrip- tion of his labors was presented and the reassuring statement was made that his salary for the entire year had been paid by a few individuals. The report was approved and the appointment con- tinued. The Synod of Illinois (Old School), meeting at Peoria Sep- tember 13, 1858, rearranged the bounds of its presbyteries and erected two presbyteries — Hillsboro and Saline. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS l4l Alton and Chicago Presbyteries (New School) joined in a memorial to the New School General Assembly of May, 1859, requesting that the Assembly take entire oversight of its Home Mission Work, and the Assembly in 1861 answered the memorial by setting up its own Home Mission Board. In Alton Presbytery the missionary report was a one hundred per cent increase in contributions for Home Missions. In the Synod of Illinois, New School, Danville, October 7, 1859, the cause of Church Extension preoccupied the meeting. Forward movements in the several presbyteries of the Synod, and of the Assembly received unanimous and enthusiastic approval. One dissenting voice was that of the New School Presbytery of Wabash which took occasion to express their confidence in the general good management of the American Home Missionary Society and their dissent from the course of the Presbyterian Re- porter in calling in question that management. Norton cynically remarks "the price of this sycophancy" was the lifting from them of the Society's ban. The decision of the General Assembly to support the memorial of the Alton and Chicago Presbyteries cor- rected the situation. The slavery issue had nowhere been more zealously discussed than in Illinois and, when in 1861 the Civil War engulfed the nation, the Synods of Illinois were confronted with the sequel to the discussion of the preceding decades. The New School Synod, meeting at Jacksonville unanimously passed a resolution of sym- pathy with our Government and its armies in their efforts to put down conspiracy and rebellion in our land and recommended fer- vent prayer to God for his blessings upon the President and his advisors and for the officers and soldiers of our armies. The Old School Synod was equally forthright except for the fact of the "Spring Resolutions" which were made a tilting ground by all shades of political and religious convictions. The resolutions had been introduced into the Old School General As- sembly by Dr. Gardner Spring of New York's Brick Church and were the direct cause of dividing the Southern Church from the Northern in that they invaded the question of whether sover- eignty ultimately resided in the people en masse or in the people 142 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS as they were originally formed into colonies and afterwards into states. Against the action of the Old School Synod meeting at Springfield, October, 1861, ten of the members filed a complaint. They represented approximately twenty-five per cent of the voters on the resolution — thirty-seven being for it and ten opposed. "We, the undersigned, respectfully protest against the action of the Synod in adopting the resolution approving the action of the General Assembly on the state of our country as found in their minutes on pages 229 and 230. We make this protest, not be- cause we do not acknowledge loyalty to our country to be a moral and a religious duty according to the word of God which requires us to be subject to the powers that be, nor because we do not re- gard this rebellion as a wicked rebellion and one which we are all bound to aid the Government in its lawful effort to suppress, but because we deny the right of the General Assembly or any inferior court to decide the political question — 'to what govern- ment the allegiances of Presbyterians is due.' This question is decided by the Assembly in its action, and by this Synod in i£s approval of that action. Thus a great political question which agitated and divided the whole country has been decided by the Assembly and by this Synod. They have also decided between conflicting theories relating to the sovereignty of the government and determined a question of allegiance which is a political de- cision clear and simple, and in which your protestants believe the General Assembly and the Synod have transcended their sphere and power. "Political deliverances upon civil questions by ecclesiastical bodies are without warrant in Scripture and in the Constitution of the Church. The Church is a purely spiritual body, having for her special mission to bring men to Christ, and train them for the Eternal world. The State was ordained by God to control men in things secular. It may not interfere with the Church, nor the Church with the State. However unfaithful the State may be to the design of God in her institutions, God has not authorized the Church to arraign the State at the bar of her courts. The State must be left in the hands of God for rebuke and judgment. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 143 Christianity does not overturn nor interfere with civil institutions, but seeks to interpenetrate them with divine life. Nor is the church a power in the state to be used for the purpose of the state, but is wholly distinct and separate from the state, having uses and claims wholly different from those of the state and out of its sphere. It does not adjudicate upon questions of state, but conserves and proclaims the teachings of Christ for the sanctifi- cation of individual men and enjoins them with none other than spiritual sanctions. The church may not prescribe the policy of the State — she may neither bind whole communities to a given allegiance nor absolve from allegiance. Nor has she a right to decide between rival claimants. She may neither inflame bellig- erents against each other nor dictate peace. She should hold herself aloof from all political contests. She is independent of the revolutions and vicissitudes of states. Empires may rise and fall, but her work and faith and unity remain from age to age unchanging and unchangeable. Our Savior taught that 'his king- dom is not of this world.' He uttered no words that could be construed into an interference with Caesar, or a decision of the vexing questions between Judea and Rome. His apostles imi- tated his example by abstaining from all political teachings al- though they were in contact continually with the great state ques- tions of their day. They enjoined submission to "the powers that be' — and similar duties, and there rested. Their synods enter- tained no other questions than those which were strictly ec- clesiastical. The action of the Assembly and of the Synod is an ecclesiastical interference with the state and is contrary to the word of God and contravenes the fundamental Law of our Church on their very subject as laid down in the Confession of Faith — Chapter 31, Section 4. 'Synods and Councils are to handle noth- ing but that which is ecclesiastical, and are not to inter-meddle with civil affairs which concern the commonwealth.' "We further protest against the approval of the action of the General Assembly, because said action was not only unwar- ranted by the Word of God and our constitution, but, like all unlawful action, highly inexpedient. Recent events, both in the North and the South are sufficient to remove any doubts that 144 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS may have been entertained on this subject at the time the reso- lutions were passed by the Assembly. Signed John H. Brown George McKinley S. M. Wilson J. A. Cornelison John Todd Wm. Hamilton Samuel Lynn Wm. J. Calhoun J. A. Pinkerton S. H. Stevenson" Synod resolved, "That inasmuch as this protest embraces nothing in either principle or expression but such as had been re- cently and largely discussed in all our church and religious period- icals, the Synod therefore, deem it unnecessary to enter on the minutes any formal answer. 35 Except for the occasional differences in opinion as to the right of the Federal Government to interfere in the domestic arrange- ments of individual states, there was remarkable unanimity as to the duties of the Christian citizen. The New School Synod had no Southern entanglements and its New School Presbytery of Bloomington was not embarrassed by its General Assembly when it passed the following resolutions: "1. That this Presbytery heartily approve the action of the General Assembly at its session in May, 1861, in adopting reso- lution declaring the loyalty of the Presbyterian Church to the Government of the United States. "2. That those who have rebelled against the Government have thereby thrown off the protection of the Constitution, and the National Government is no longer under obligation to re- gard their claims to their slaves as valid, but may, and the interests of the country as well as the cause of humanity, require as it should by an act of confiscation declare the freedom of such slaves." This kind of language was not so easy or glib in the months of Old School Presbyterians and in the Old School Presbytery of Bloomington the Spring resolutions were endorsed by a vote of eighteen to four — the four filing a notice of protest. 35 Synod of Illinois, Old School, Minutes. 1856-1869. p. 209. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 145 The New School Presbytery of Chicago, meeting at Chicago April 9, 1861, adopted the following resolution: "Resolved that it be recommended to the churches and pastors to make the pres- ent state of the country a subject of special prayer on the ensu- ing Sabbath, that the Arbiter of Nations may be pleased to preside over the counsels of the nation, guiding its rulers by His Heavenly Spirit, and preserving from evils which are now so threatening to the peace, harmony, and integrity of our common and long- favored land." The New School Synod of Peoria, meeting in Chicago Octo- ber 14, 1861, adopted the report of its committee on the state of the country which was as follows: "The Synod of Peoria, while convened for the promotion of interests religious and ecclesiastical, cannot be unmindful of the extraordinary condition of the nation whose citizens we are. Tho' holding our sessions in undisturbed peace, we cannot forget that confederate and desperate rebellion has been made against the Government and that war is now desolating our land. We believe in the organic connection of all events under one Divine Providence which presides alike over the affairs of nations and the fall of the sparrow; in the connection peculiarly close under a popular government between the virtue and piety of the citizen and the welfare of the State. We remember the blessing of God upon the virtues and in answer to the prayers of the founders of this government. In the calamities of the present we recognize the judgment of Him who ruleth the world in righteousness, who will not long permit national corruption to go unrebuked, nor national sins to remain unpunished. Acknowledging that in the sins that have brought calamity, the whole nation has participated; we also see in the present rebellion the culmination of national sin; and believe that prompt and vigorous suppression of rebel- lion is the imperative duty of the Government — is the first step in the national reformation — the first proof of national re- pentance, therefore resolved. '1. That in the present contest between rebellion and legit- imate authority the Federal Government has our cordial sym- pathy and earnest prayers. '2. That in our judgment the Government should be hearti- 146 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS ly supported in whatever measures may be necessary for the speedy and effectual suppression of rebellion and the removal of its causes. '3. That in our judgment it is the duty of the Government in the prosecution of the existing war to adopt all practical meas- ures whether under the Constitution or under martial law, to crip- ple and destroy the institution of slavery which is the immediate and chief cause of our national troubles, especially so far as the slave property of citizens in rebellion against the Government is concerned'." The Synod of Illinois, New School, Minutes, 1856-1869, pp. 152-155: 'The Synod of Illinois cannot repress the expression of its deep sympathy with our Government in the fearful con- test in which it is engaged to put down conspiracy and rebellion and maintain in their integrity the Constitution and the union established by our fathers. "2. We acknowledge the hand of God in the scourge of civil war. We confess that our national forgetfulness of God, our pride, our worldliness, our lust of power, and above all, our complicity in the sin of slavery, and in all those iniquities by which it has been upheld — have merited this our national chastisement, and humiliation, and we affectionately enjoin upon all the mem- bers of our churches that they give themselves to such confession, repentance, and prayer as shall contribute to arrest the judgments of God. And especially do we enjoin the most thorough self- examination in reference to the sin of complicity with that gigantic wrong which is the chief occasion of the Divine chastisement; that if there be among us any, who, in their personal, social, or political relations have failed to clear themselves of all respon- sibility for this iniquity — they may hasten to repent, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance. "3. We deeply sympathize with the gallant men — our fel- low citizens and many of them our brethren in Christ, who have taken their lives in their hands and gone forth to do battle for the great principles of civil and religious liberty, of justice, and of humanity, which the conspirators are seeking to subvert. We commend them to the Lord of Hosts and pray that He will protect them in the camp and in the field and make them victorious. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 147 "4. We tender to the loyal men in the rebellious states, who still resist the terrorism of the conspirators, and to the kindred and friends of our soldiers who have laid down their lives in this sacred cause, our warmest sympathies, and assure them of an abiding interest in our prayers. "5. We recommend that unceasing prayer be made for our President and his advisers, for the Commander in Chief and for all the officers, and soldiers of our army and navy — that they may have wisdom and courage and strength so to plan, and so to fight that the Rebellion shall be speedily crushed. "6. We recommend that we forget not to pray for our ene- mies, that God will open their eyes to see their folly, and sin, and bring them to a better mind. Finally, "7. We urge all the members of our churches to sustain with a generous confidence the Government and all who do its bid- ding, and to cherish such a view of the momentous importance and sacredness of our cause, that they shall bear with cheerfulness all the sacrifices which the war imposes, and whether it be long or short, cheerfully pour out, if needs be, the last ounce of gold, and the last drop of blood to bring this contest to a righteous issue. Signed W. D. Sanders J. C. Campbell G. I. King Committee" Galena and Belvidere Presbyteries from whose terrain Gen- eral Grant had gone, adopted the following report of its Com- mittee on the State of the Country, April 4, 1865: "Whereas the wicked rebellion which has been distracting the country the last four years is still in existence and whereas, since our last meeting, great advances have been made towards its suppression and toward the removal of its wicked cause by proper legislation, therefore, resolved: "1. That this Presbytery express sincere thanks to Almighty God for these great advantages. "2. That we express hearty approbation of our Govern- ment in its vigorous efforts to put down the rebellion and its 148 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS determination to accept nothing less than the unconditional sub- mission of every man to its supreme authority." A touching indication of the ravages of the time is observed in a resolution of Galena Presbytery, meeting at Lena April 14, 1863. "Resolved that the General Assembly's permanent Com- mittee on Home Missions be requested to commission Rev. Aratus Kent as a Presbyterial Missionary to labor within the bounds of this Presbyetry at such places and for such times as may be judged wisest and best for himself with the counsel and consent of our Presbyterial Committee on Home Missions; our feeble churches greatly need the labors of such a missionary and Mr. Kent, in our judgment, is happily adapted to such a work; but the discretionary power asked for in respect to the places and times of his labors, we think to be vital to the success of the missions." On October 27, 1863, Belvidere Presbytery, meeting at Ga- lena, entertained a Committee from the Presbytery of Galena, Rev. Aratus Kent, Chairman, who reported the following resolution from his Presbytery: "Resolved, that acting by the authority of Synod, we are willing to unite with the Presbytery of Belvidere." In reply the Presbytery of Belvidere passed the following resolution: "Resolved that we are willing to unite with the Pres- bytery of Galena if, after mutual consultation it shall appear to be expedient; and that we will meet them immediately for con- sultation." An interlocutory meeting followed after which Bel- videre Presbytery drafted the following: "Resolved that we deem it expedient that we unite with the Presbytery of Galena." The ravages of the Civil War could not be excluded from the meetings of the presbyteries and the synods. The minutes of Chicago Presbytery, April 10, 1865, include this notation, "The Moderator being absent and the excitement in the community consequent upon the surrender of General Lee and his army to General Grant, it was found inexpedient to have the usual open- ing sermon." In the narrative of the Bloomington Presbytery (New School) April 28, 1864, is the following: "The war is still making heavy drafts upon our members, pecuniary resources and the sympathies of our congregations. Many of our most devoted and efficient INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 149 young men are called away and numbers are from time to time becoming the victims of the sword or disease. m i Aratus Kent Galena First Presbyterian Church, the oldest building in the Synod of Illinois— 1838-1952 With these heavy drafts upon our numbers and resources, ith the mind of the people absorbed in the great conflict going on in the land, we feel that not to retrograde is to advance, and wi 150 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS praise God that we are permitted to report a positive advance in numbers, in liberality, and in spirituality. All our churches report increased liberality in sustaining the gospel at home and in send- ing it to the destitute. Prayer meetings and Sabbath Schools are sustained with increasing numbers and interest. "On the subject of temperance alone we are compelled to report adversely. We greatly fear that intemperance is on the increase in most of our communities. In viewing the whole field around us we cannot but feel there is great reason to thank God and take courage. We fully believe that when the right shall have been vindicated and justice honored in the destruction of slavery and the crushing of rebellion, a glorious day of revivals will burst upon our Presbytery and our land. For this, trusting in God, we labor and wait." The Old School Presbytery of Hillsboro, April 11, 1862, passed the following resolution: "That we approve the preamble and resolutions adapted by General Assembly of 1861 on the state of the country and rejoice that the Assembly took ground so timely and so nobly in these resolutions — breathing, as we believe they do, a Christian and loyal spirit becoming the Pres- byterian Church in the United States of America." The vote was fifteen for and three against. The Synod of Illinois, Old School, meeting October 2, 1862, pledged itself "if it be needful, to spend the last ounce of gold and pour out the last drop of blood." At this meeting the Pres- byteries of Hillsboro and Kaskaskia were united under the name of Kaskaskia. The Presbytery of Palestine, Old School, April 9, 1863, in- structed its commissioners to the Assembly to take ground there in accord with the Spring Resolutions. A strong endorsement was given to the President's Proclamation that the thirteenth day of April should be observed as a day of fasting, and loyal pro- nouncements were made upon their relation to the Government. In Alton Presbytery, New School, W. R. Smith who had united with the Presbytery on a forged certificate, was deposed. In Saline Presbytery, Old School, April 2, 1863, the Rev. John B. Saye had been deposed from the ministry and had ap- pealed to the Synod. Synod had pronounced the sentence "too INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS 151 severe" and had urged "solemn admonition." Presbytery appealed to General Assembly and lost by one vote. Mr. Saye, cited to appear before Presbytery to receive its "solemn admonition", re- fused and loudly expressed his contempt for Presbytery and its proceedings. Thereupon, Presbytery deposed him for contumacy. The Synod of Illinois, Old School, meeting October 14, 1863, upheld the Presbytery and Mr. Saye was deposed from the ministry. At the New School Synod of Illinois, meeting October 1, 1863, strong deliverances were made on the rebellion raging against the Government and the Old School Synod of Illinois was equally forthright in denouncing the wickedness of the ex- isting rebellion against the Government. Norton (p. 585) makes this comment, "It is interesting to note as the years of the rebellion rolled on, the rising tone of patriotism and the utter disappearance of disloyal manifestations in all our ecclesias- tical bodies, except on the part of a very few individuals in the Presbytery of Sangamon. The assassination of Lincoln was nowhere more shocking than in the Presbyterian ranks of Illinois. Across the state churches expressed their horror. The Memorial of Bureau Presbytery (Records pp. 30-32) expresses the temper and is as follows: "Whereas God in his all-wise providence has been pleased to allow the bloody hand of the assassin to snatch away the life of our honored and beloved Chief Magistrate, Abraham Lincoln, who had so greatly endeared himself to the people of the loyal states by his pure and exemplary character, his wise and pru- dent administration of the Government in the midst of the most trying circumstances, during a war of unparalleled magnitude and atrocity, and by his unwavering determination to restore the union imperiled by designing men — Therefore, Resolved: "1. That the churches under this Presbytery will bow sub- missively to this dispensation believing it to be intended for our good. "2. That we will humbly confess our individual sins im- ploring mercy and grace lest heavier judgments come upon us. "3. That, though in this sudden and tragic death of our late Chief Magistrate and sanguine hopes of a speedy return of 152 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS peace to our afflicted country through his instrumentality are blasted, yet we will pledge our prayers, our sympathies, and our efforts to his successor, believing that God is able to make him equally efficient to every duty. "4. That it is recommended to all the churches under our care carefully to observe the first Tuesday of June as a day of humiliation and prayer as recommended by President Johnson." In the New School minutes of the Presbytery of Chicago October 20, 1864, is found this interesting notation, "Mr. Charles Rider, a converted Israelite, made application to be taken under the care of Presbytery with a view to the preparation for the ministry." CHAPTER V REUNION To Illinois belongs the inception of the Reunion movement. In 1863 the General Assembly of Old School Presbyterians met in Peoria, Illinois. It was a missionary Assembly, a convention of praying men, and presided over by Dr. J. H. Morrison of Indiana. A telegram from the New School Assembly then meet- ing in Philadelphia recognized a deliverance of the Old School Assembly of 1862 recommending Reunion. The expression "heartfelt pleasure in accepting the propositions" brought the Old School Assembly to its feet. Action was spontaneous and immediate. A special delegation was appointed to communicate the response of the Old School Assembly to the New School body. The Old School recommended a committee comprised of nine ministers and six elders from each body to be a joint Com- mittee on Reunion. Neither chairman of the respective Assem- bly's Committee ever attended the joint committee — Dr. Brainard died quite suddenly and Dr. Krebs had a lingering illness and death — but the committees, temporarily crippled, convened and proceeded to lay the groundwork for reunion. The Old School Synod, meeting at Olney October 12, 1864, passed the following resolution: "This Synod is highly pleased to receive and hear through Brother Thomas Lippincott from the Synod of the other branch of the Church, the action of that body and his remarks upon it. Resolved: "1. That this Synod reciprocates all the expressions of good will and brotherly love presented to us by that body. "2. That in our opinion the time is near when all obstacles to a reunion will be removed; that a union should be consum- mated; and that measures should be taken to secure that end. "3. That we urge it upon our members, churches, sessions, and ministers to cultivate a fraternal spirit, exchange of pulpits, and Christian fellowship as far as circumstances will admit. "4. That Synod has most cordially appointed Rev. Dr. Hines and D. C. Boynton, elder, as delegates to meet with the 153 154 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Synod of Illinois, New School, at its next annual meeting at Shel- byville, Illinois, in October, 1865. Also that Rev. Dr. Hamilton and Ruling Elder Shaffer be alternates." The New School Synod of Illinois, Centralia, October 7, 1864, passed similar resolutions, and in them the harrowing ex- periences subsequent to the disruption: "Whereas, the dispensations of Divine Providence in the present circumstances of our country have awakened and tend to promote a spirit of fraternal kindness and charity; and to draw the people of God into closer affinity — thus both by his providence and Spirit, drawing us almost unconsciously nearer to Himself and to each other, and preparing us for the exercise of greater forbearance towards those who differ from us on points of doc- trine, Therefore, resolved: "1. That we recognize the hand of God in the changes and tendencies of the present time. "2. That we deem it our imperative duty to heed this voice, and the impulses of His Spirit in reference to these things. "3. That we hail with heartfelt satisfaction the movements in different directions intended to bring about a reunion of the two branches of the Presbyterian Church, and that we cheerfully concur in these movements. "4. That in our opinion the time has come or is near at hand when such reunion may be consummated and that measures should be taken to secure that end. "5. That in accordance with the suggestions of the Con- vention lately held at Newark, New Jersey, committees or delega- tions be appointed by Synod to correspond with or attend the meetings of similar bodies connected with the other General Assembly. "6. In the language of that convention that we urge our ministers and church sessions as far as possible to cultivate a fraternal intercourse. "7. That we earnestly recommend to all to seek by prayer to the great Head of the Church that the Divine blessing may attend all efforts for the accomplishment of this most desirable object." REUNION 155 An excerpt from the narrative indicates the prevailing mood, "Our church is truly loyal. The sons of the churches, of our elders and our ministers are in the Army. Some of our ministers are chaplains. Our record as a church is above reproach. No disloyal stain is upon it, and we rejoice in the fact and regard it as a special favor of the great Head of the Church." To the North the Old School Synod of Chicago was send- ing its delegates to visit the New School Synod of Peoria then meeting, October 21, 1864, in Chicago. They carried with them the following: "Extracts from the minutes of the Synod of Chi- cago as its meeting at Macomb, Illinois, October 17, 1863. 'Re- solved that a minister and a ruling elder be appointed to visit the Synod of Peoria, New School, at its next meeting, assuring that body of our fraternal regards and proposing correspond- ence similar to that inaugurated between their General Assembly and ours.' "In view of the above resolution, Synod appointed Rev. L. H. Halsey, D.D., and Elder William G. Holmes, principals, and Rev. W. W. Honsha and S. Howe, alternates, to represent this body in the Synod of Peoria to meet in Chicago on the third Thursday of October, 1864. A true extract. Attest, I. U. Candee Clerk of Synod of Chicago 1 Galesburg, September 26, 1864 The committee on correspondence with the Synod of Chicago made the following report, which was accepted and adopted: "Whereas, Rev. L. J. Halsey, D.D, and Elder William G. Holmes have appeared in this Synod bearing credentials of ap- pointment as delegates from the Synod of Chicago, Old School, and proposing on behalf of that body the opening of a regular correspondence by delegates between the Synod which they repre- sent and this body, we hereby adopt the following resolutions: "1. That we reciprocate most cordially the feelings of Chris- tian regard that have been expressed to us by the delegates from the Synod of Chicago; and that we hail with high satisfaction 1 From New School Synod of Peoria meeting in Chicago, October 21, 1864, Minutes, pp. 131-133. 156 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS and devout gratitude to God the prospect of such kindly relations and intercourse between us and our brethren of the Old School branch of the Presbyterian Church as may be established and fos- tered by the fraternal correspondence now proposed. "2. That the affinities between us and our Old School brethren arising from identity of early and later history, of doc- trinal standards and of church polity, are such as to warrant and call for an outward expression of mutual sympathy and confidence that shall declare to the Christian world the essential unity of the two bodies in respect to Faith and Order, as well as to practical consecration to the service of our Common Master. "3. That we will now appoint a delegation consisting of one minister and elder to represent us in the Synod of Chicago at its present meeting in Rock Island with a view to the continu- ance of such correspondence so long as it shall be found mutually agreeable and profitable. "4. That the correspondence so happily begun by our Gen- eral Assembly and that of the Old School Presbyterian Church meets our hearty approval and affords promise of blessed results to both branches of the Church and to the Kingdom of Christ throughout the land and the world." "In accordance with the third resolution of this series Rev. J. H. Trowbridge and Elder B. Wheeler were appointed delegates to the Synod of Chicago now in session at Rock Island." The New School Presbytery of Bloomington meeting at Washington, Illinois, September 13, 1864, called attention of its members to the healthy financial condition prevailing at the mo- ment; by charts and reports it displayed to its members the achievements that were current. The chart is appended. The action of the New School General Assembly on the state of the country was ecrutinized, and the following resolutions referring to it here introduced: Resolved, "1. That we highly approve of the action of the General Assembly on the state of the country and we adopt it as a proper expression of the sentiments of this Presbytery. "2. That we rejoice at the indications of an earnest and increasing desire for the reunion of Presbyterian Churches which REUNION 157 Benevolent Contributions of the Churches of BLOOMINGTON PRESBYTERY from Official Reports to i TO c "3 §T3 S^bp g .2 to r* W .2 O T3 3 P s 8.2 bop oS S 5 ^ Comi Rela Stan Chur C TO C to '5 'to t-t TO 3 3 *-§ Ss -2 | h SS or; T3 3 c- 1 ^ .i-5 ?h OH Q^ o > V 7 1! Galloway 2 Farm Ridge 9.00 5.00 3.00 17.00 2.43 27 7.00 8.50 6.70 5.00 8.00 35.20 1.30 68 3|Towanda 10.00 20.00 10.25 12.00 12.00 5.00 69.25 1.02 55 4'Onarga 14.00 25.50 39.50 .72 26 5 Low Point 4.00 3.23 3.35 2.20 5.00 17.78 .68 80 6 Deer Creek 10.00 15.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 45.00 .56 40 7 Mackinaw 5.00 10.00 7.00 22.00 .55 75 8 West Urbana 23.00 7.00 6.00 36.00 .48 86 9 Clinton 20.00 13.00 7.75 40.75 .47 34 10 Metamora 2.60 2.77 3.90 2.30 2.25 13.82 .41 78 11 Heyworth 5.00 5.00 9.10 9.00 28.10 .36 20 12 Monticello 4.00 1.50 1.50 7.00 .35 61 13 Union Grove 10.00 9.00 19.00 .31 35 14 Dwight 2.00 2.65 2.00 2.00 2.00 10.65 .30 27 15 Harmony 4.00 1.50 1.50 1.50 7.00 .26 185116 Bloomington 27.00 21.00 48.00 .26 27 71 Atlanta 3.55 1.00 2.12 6.67 .25 130 18 Waynesville 19.69 6.55 6.21 32.45 .25 40 19 Lexington 1.50 3.60 2.25 2.00 9.35 .23 15 20 Reading 2.50 2.50 .17 55 21 Crow Meadow 2.25 5.00 7.25 .13 29 22 Chenoa 3.30 3.30 .11 5 23 Sulphur Springs 6 24 Paxton 7 25 Gilman 9 26 Ashkum 9 27 Cedar Point 14 28 Tolono 15 29 Cheneys Grove 26 30 El Paso 28 31 Brenton 54 32 Salem 1372 32 Total for 1863 146.65 179.69 58.50 59.27 63.46 10.00 517.57 .37% 1278 32 Total for 1862 142.00 95.71 29.97 34.26 15.50 2.00 319.44 .25 94| Increase 4.65 63.98j28.53 25.01 47.96 8.00 198.13 .12'% Increase in aggregate, 62 ( Increase per member, 50% 158 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS ought never to have been divided and we adopt as our own the fourth declaration of the General Assembly on this subject, which is as follows: That as the churches represented by this Assembly did not inaugurate separation, so too, they hold to no principles and views and would impose no terms inconsistent with a full and cordial reunion whenever and wherever the will of the great Head of the Church as indicated by Divine Providence may open the way for us all to meet together again on the same basis on which of old our fathers stood; and that we should rejoice in such reunion as a pledge of the future prosperity and an augury of the accelerated growth of the Kingdom of Christ through the length and breadth of our land and that it is our united and fer- vent prayer to our common Master that He would so remove all hindrances as to make a plain path for our feet where we may walk together being of one heart and mind in the ways of the Lord'." The New School Presbytery of Bloomington, meeting at Bloomington, April 28, 1865, ratified resolutions previously adopted by a union convention of the Presbyteries of Blooming- ton, Old School and New School, and which were as follows: "Resolved, "1. That all the ministers of our two presbyteries, here rep- resented, be recommended to cultivate the spirit of friendly in- tercourse by a mutual exchange of pulpits whenever Providence may open the way. "2. We recommend to the members of our respective churches when removing to places where there is a church of the other branch and none of their own to connect themselves with the church already established. "3. That we will discourage the organizing of new churches in places already occupied by either branch when there is not sufficient strength for two churches to become at once self-sus- taining. "4. That a copy of this action be forwarded to each of our respective General Assemblies, and that they hereby be respect- fully overtured to continue the friendly intercourse already es- tablished, and to take such further steps, as God in His providence may direct for the ultimate reunion of the two bodies." REUNION 159 The following day, April 29, 1865, the Old School Presbytery of Bloomington adopted the same resolutions unanimously. There was almost a total absence of stridency as Illinois dis- cussed reunion. But the public press and religious periodicals did have a tendency to resurrect the dead issues of 1837. A few of the principals in the disruption controversy were still living and their presence was felt as the reunion discussions were formulated. Both churches adhered to the same standards, but there was an undercurrent in the feelings of churchmen that there were dis- crepancies in the ways of interpreting the standards. The first report of the General Assembly's unified committee on reunion contained a bombshell. It used the expression "The Confession of Faith shall continue to be sincerely received and adopted as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures, and its fair historical sense as it is accepted by the two bodies in opposition to antinomianism and fatalism on the one hand, and to Arminianism and Pelagianism on the other shall be regarded as the sense in which it is received and adopted." Discussion raged around this debatable statement until it became increasingly clear that interpretation of the statement was much more of a divisive issue than was the interpretation of the standards. Two or three years were wasted in vain endeavors to define reunion, until finally someone, no one knows who, sug- gested, "let the standards pure and simple be the basis of reunion." The discussions were implemented with conventions upon a national scale. The Old School General Assembly of 1864, meet- ing at Newark, New Jersey, was surrounded by an informal con- vention that discussed reunion. Dr. J. G. Monfort prepared a paper which expressed the earnest desire to secure complete and perfect reunion between the two bodies. It was adopted and signed by seventy ministers and fifty- three elders. Again in 1867 the Presbyterian National Union Convention met in Phila- delphia and was presided over by George H. Stuart, an elder of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. This convention was more bold than previous conventions in that it aspired to a reunion of all the Presbyterian bodies. Its chief characteristic was the level- ing effect of intercessory prayer. Men who came to the conven- tion to oppose reunion discovered the exceeding difficulty in giv- 160 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS ing voice to prayer for division and as they adjourned went to their homes to tell of the leadings of God's spirit in the direction of union. In 1869 both General Assemblies met in New York City. It was not mere coincidence but a prearrangement that led to happy results. Pre-Assembly gatherings of the two bodies met in the Brick Church in New York. The general opinion seemed to be that discussions of union should not be indulged. Cautious souls were fearful that they might disrupt harmony. New School Pres- byteries were touchy and in their ranks was a considerable volume of opinion to the effect that Reunion had been killed by pro- tracted discussions. They had voted in favor of the report of the joint committee — that was five years ago — and discussion was still raging. But God is indelicate. The first prayer offered was for Reunion and the first speaker espoused and promoted the same theme. The very exercises of the union service seemed to con- spire to get out of hand and surrounding the meeting was a whole city that was surcharged with Reunion enthusiasm. Then came the Assemblies themselves. Elders gathered in joint prayer meet- ings; ministers exchanged pulpits and public demand brooked no negations. Men met for prayer in open mass meetings of the two Assemblies. They shared the same hotels, traveled in the same buses, and finally brought by way of their committees on Reun- ion the recommendation to unite on the basis of the standards, pure and simple. In the Old School Assembly the report of the committee was adopted by a vote of two hundred and eighty-five to nine. In the New School Assembly the report was adopted by a unanimous vote. Each Assembly drafted an overture on the reunion and sent it to the presbyteries for ratification. The Assemblies adjourned to meet at Pittsburgh, Wednesday, November 10, 1869, — the Old School body to meet in the First Presbyterian Church of Pitts- burgh and the New School body to meet in the Third Presby- terian Church of Pittsburgh. Wednesday afternoon and Thursday were utilized by both Assemblies for the disposal of routine matters of business, such as hearing the reports of their various committees and conclud- ing action upon them ; the reports on the overtures and the prepar- REUNION 161 \PPQ* CHlC/> Old School— 1869 162 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS New School— 1869 REUNION 163 ation for the formalities of the reunion. Each Assembly notified the other of its actions and each adjourned to meet in the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia upon the first Thursday of May, 1870. The formalities attended to, pageantry took over and the city of Pittsburgh celebrated the Reunion. "The New School Assembly promptly left the Third Church and marched, single file, down past the First Church where the Old School Assembly had gathered. Upon the appearance of Rev. P. H. Fowler, D.D., its Moderator, at the head of the New School line, the Old School Assembly, in single file, led by its Moderator, Rev. M. W. Jacobus, D.D., marched out of the church, and the two Assemblies then marched along opposite sides of the street until both bodies were paraded before the thousands who from the street windows and sidewalks watched the ceremony. They then halted, and facing each other, met in the middle of the street, shook hands, and in doublefile, led by their Moderators arm in arm, proceeded to the Third Church for a mass meeting cele- brating the event. The public enthusiasm, as well as that of the members of the Assemblies, seemed to know no bounds; and a continuous ovation of clapping hands, waving signals of joy, and cheers from the people greeted the body on their way to ratify, by public sentiment, what had already been accomplished by legal form." 2 Dr. David Elliott, Moderator at the time of the disruption in 1837, took the platform at a popular mass meeting and was addressed by Dr. M. W. Jacobus, Moderator of Old School As- sembly who asked the marriage question, "If there be any person present who knows of any reason, just and sufficient, why these parties may not be lawfully united, let him speak or ever after hold his peace." After a pause, Dr. Elliot said, "I know of none." George H. Stuart, a mere spectator in that he belonged to the Re- formed Presbyterian Church, said, "Whom God hath joined to- gether, let no man put asunder." Dr. Jacobus added, "In the name of God, Amen." When these actions, known as The Enabling Act of the re- united General Assembly, became effective in the Synod of Illinois, 2 Presbyterians, Hays, p. 230. 164 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS consolidation was the duty of the hour. It was exemplified in Chicago with the merging of such churches as Westminster (New School) and North Church (Old School) to form the Fourth Church. Across the Synod the Old School Synods of Chicago and Illinois were merged with the New School Synods of Peoria and Illinois and three Synods took the place that had been occu- pied by four. 1. The Synod of Illinois North comprising the Presbyterian and parts of Presbyteries included in that portion of the state bounded on the north by the Wisconsin line and on the south by the lines of Kankakee, Grundy, LaSalle, Putnam, Bureau, Henry, and Mercer Counties and declared to be the legal successor of former Synods of Chicago and Peoria. 2. The Synod of Illinois Central, consisting of the Presby- teries and parts of Presbyteries included within that part of the state north of the line of the counties of Edgar, Douglas, Moultrie, Shelby, Christian, Montgomery, Macoupin, Green, and Calhoun, and to the south line of Kankakee, Grundy, LaSalle, Putnam, Bureau, Henry, and Mercer Counties. 3. Synod of Illinois South, being the Presbyteries and parts of Presbyteries included within the state of Illinois south of the north line of the counties of Edgar, Douglas, Moultrie, Shelby, Christian, Montgomery, Macoupin, Green, and Calhoun. In realignment some historic names were lost. Galena and Belvidere had become the Presbytery of Freeport; and the Old School Presbytery of Rock River had replaced Bureau Presbytery, and a portion of the New School Presbytery of Knox; Sangamon, and Kaskaskia Presbyteries were gone, Alton Presbytery replacing Kaskaskia, and Springfield replacing the Old School Presbytery of Sangamon and the New School Presbytery of Illinois. Three other presbyteries dropped from the lists, the New School Pres- bytery of Wabash and the Old School Presbyteries of Palestine and Saline. These were replaced with two new names — the Pres- bytery of Cairo and the Presbytery of Mattoon. Like the prodigal who had spent his substance in riotous liv- ing and was ready to return to the ordinary routines of home, the reunited church turned from the excesses of disunion to the orderly processes that pertain to churches that have but one mind. REUNION 165 • FRtEP'QR.T. \*&c^ •sRvsra 9 •I " Reunion of Three Synods— 1870 166 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS In all three of the synods the first consideration was the raising of the portion of the five million dollars of the reunion fund sug- gested by the reunited General Assembly. This fund began as a suggestion from the floor of the General Assembly that "a me- morial fund of one million dollars" be raised as a special offering to the treasury of the Lord. The motion was immediately amend- ed to read five million dollars and was accepted. Thus Illinois confronted in its first reunion meetings a financial drive. In the Synod of Illinois North the process of giving was in reverse. The disastrous Chicago fire of 1871 destroyed Presbyterian homes, business places, and churches, and sadly crippled the benefactions of that Synod, and in place of benevolence going out to all the world, benevolence marched in from Illinois and from the world to succor the stricken city. The Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago, then located on the northeast corner of Wabash and Washington, across the street from the present site of the Marshall Field Store, was demolished. Destroyed with it were the First Presbyterian Church, the North and Westminster Churches, and the Erie Street Mission. The Theological Seminary was crippled. Churches became hospital centers; church members lost employment and the means of sub- sistence, and it was a very heroic reconstruction committee that reported as its finding that not one dollar less than ninety-five thousand dollars was needed to finance the emergency. A com- mittee, comprised of Abbott E. Kittredge, pastor of the Third Church, Arthur Mitchell of the First Church, and David Swing of the Fourth Church, were commissioned by their Presbytery to visit the churches of the East and solicit funds. The response to their appeals was spontaneous. "The sympathy expressed and the substantial aid freely bestowed, it was thought, were never equalled in any previous, similar calamity." 3 MEMORIAL FUND Prominently featured in the Reunion developments is the Memorial Fund that was launched by the Reunion General As- sembly. All these Synods endorsed the fund-raising campaign and urged their presbyteries and churches to contribute. But the 3 History of the Presbytery of Chicago, John Frederick Lyons, p. 22. REUNION 167 records clearly show that circumstances of time and place were embarrassing the synods in their attempt to define the Memorial Fund. Certainly the Chicago fire was not projected in the fund. Yet to many Presbyterians across Illinois the heart-rending ap- peal from Chicago was a first claim for benevolence. Comity arrangements permitted many diversified appeals that had no place in the Presbyterian pattern and generous Presbyterians were almost impotent to confront the accrued liabilities that religious tolerance presented to them. Thus at the organization meeting of the Synod of Illinois North it was resolved that the business of this meeting of the Synod be confined to the matters of re- construction. Yet into that meeting came a presentation of the story of the Kalapoor Mission and an endorsement of it by the Synod. Then in quick succession came a resolution that would permit the members to adjourn early enough to attend the Chi- cago Branch of the Evangelical Alliance the next evening and a resolution to transfer the documents relating to Monmouth Col- lege to the Synod of Illinois Central. The Rev. Dr. Eldridge, Secretary of the American Branch of the Evangelical Alliance ad- dressed the Synod after which a resolution was passed commend- ing the objects of the Alliance. Every good cause claimed the tolerant consideration of the synods and usually secured their approval and commendation. The Synod of Illinois South, possibly because of economic conditions, showed a little hesitancy in the matter of the Memorial Fund, us- ing the words, "Resolved, That a committee of three be appoint- ed to consider what actions, if any, should be taken by the Synod in reference to the Memorial Fund." The Committee, consisting of Rev. D. Dimond, Rev. E. Howell, and Elder W. B. Nevius were more positive than was the motion that appointed them, and their report, which was adopted, was, "The Committee reports that this Synod is heartily enlisted in the scheme of the Memorial Fund and recommends that a committee of one minister and one ruling elder from each presbytery be appointed to cooperate with the ministers and ses- sions to carry out the suggestions of the General Assembly to bring the subject fully before all our congregations." Consonant with this temper a resolution was adopted that "a 168 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS committee be appointed to arrange a program for considering and discussing the benevolent causes of the Church at the next meeting of Synod and to appoint persons to speak on each." The committee appointed were Rev. S. H. Hyde, Rev. R. C. Gal- braith, and Elder A. C. Ewing whose report was adopted and was as follows: "Resolved, "1. That the Moderator be requested to present the cause of Home Missions in his opening sermon. "2. That Foreign Missions be discussed Thursday P.M. at 3 o'clock, the discussion to be opened by Rev. E. Black. "3. That Church Erection be taken up at 4 P.M. — to be opened by Rev. B. C. Swan. "4. That the Memorial Fund be taken up at 7 P.M. — to be opened by Hon. Isaac Scarrit. "5. Publication, at 3 P.M. Friday — opened by Dr. I. N. Condee. "6. That Sabbath Schools be taken up at 4 P.M. Friday — opened by Elder Thomas Ridgway. "7. Education for the ministry at 7 P.M. Friday — opened by Rev. C. H. Foote. "8. Freedman's Cause at 8 P.M. Friday — opened by Rev. C. C. Hart. "9. Ministerial Relief and Sustentation, at 3 P.M. Saturday — opened by Rev. W. L. Tarbet. "That each appointee be allowed twenty (20) minutes — and be followed by volunteer addresses of five (5) minutes each. "And that the Stated Clerk be instructed to give each speak- er herein designated, due notice of his appointment, to the end that each may have time for suitable and thorough preparation." Integrated into the question of the Memorial Fund were ob- jective considerations in all three Synods. Some of the churches under their jurisdiction had come to the place of extinction. Many communities were without the ministry of the church and living conditions under the limitations of the meager salaries that were paid brought to the front the question of living quarters for the REUNION 169 clergy and resulted in a vigorous promotion of a fund for the se- curing of manses. Coincident with this discussion was the dis- cussion of a ministry on the Synodical level. This was introduced in the opening meeting of the Synod of Illinois North, June, 1870, and two resolutions on the subject were adopted, viz: The oldest continuing Church Organization meets in this Church at Golconda "Resolved, That this Synod recommend to the Board of Home Missions the appointment of a District Secretary, the extent of whose field shall be left to the decision of the Board. "2. That the Rev. J. H. Trowbridge be recommended to be appointed to such office at a salary of not less than three thousand dollars a year." 170 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS In the Synod of Illinois South, meeting at Olney, October, 1870, the following minute was adopted: "In view of the great and pressing necessity for greater watchfulness and more work in the Home Missionary cause within the bounds of the Synod of Southern Illinois, and having confidence in the experience and efficiency of the present District Secretary, the Synod hereby recom- mend the Home Mission Board of General Assembly to define and fix the territory of the Synod of Southern Illinois as the field of Rev. Dr. Norton. "And, since the work of Church Erection is so intimately connected with that of Home Missions as to be advantageously prosecuted by the same agency, we earnestly recommend the Church Erection Board to commit the supervision of its work within our bounds to Rev. Dr. Norton, under such conditions as may be mutually satisfactory to these two boards." This Synod telegraphed the Synod of Central Illinois regard- ing their action and asked for concurrent action in that body. Their communication was read to the Synod of Illinois Central by the Stated Clerk, the Rev. George C. Wood, acting as Mod- erator in the absence of the Moderator, Rev. John G. Bergen, and the following resolution was adopted: "Resolved, That in our judgment, the character and condition of the field in the bounds of this Synod does not require the services of a District Secre- tary, and therefore we decline to unite in the application for a commission for such a Secretary." In the Synod of Illinois North the recommendation to com- mission a District Secretary had run into adverse criticism. The Presbytery of Rock River had introduced an overture respecting the office of Secretary of Home Missions which is as follows: "To the Synod of Illinois North. The Synod of Illinois North at the June Meeting ordered by the General Assembly for no other business, as was generally supposed, than that of or- ganization, and hence not fully attended, having at this sparsely attended meeting and, it is thought, without mature deliberation, recommended to the Board of Home Missions the appointment of a District Secretary, at a salary of $3,000 for the field included within the bounds of this Synod; The Presbytery of Rock River, doubting the expediency of so large an expenditure of the churches' REUNION 171 funds in this way, a sum greater in the aggregate than the contri- butions to the Board of Home Missions for the past year, from all the churches of the Synod outside of the City of Chicago ; and believing that it will be found in practice seriously to interfere with the direct and responsible agency of the Presbytery in the doing of our own proper work that it will tend greatly to dimin- ish the contributions from the churches for this Board and know- ing that such dissatisfaction is felt among the people because of this action of the Synod: Would and hereby does overture the Synod to reconsider its former action, recall its recommendation to the Board, and lay the whole business of evangelization and missionary aggression within its bounds, upon the several presby- teries to which such work properly and rightly belongs. Done by the Presbytery of Rock River in Session at Rock Island, October 5, 1870 A. D. Attest, J. C Barr, Stated Clerk." The overture from Rick River Presbytery was made the second order of the day following the day of its presentation at which time it was committed to a special committee consisting of the Rev. W. S. Curtis, D.D.; Rev. J. E. Carey; Rev. R. W. Patterson, D.D.; the Rev. D. C. Marquis; and the Rev. L. J. Halsey, D.D., who submitted the following report which was accepted and adopted: "Resolved, 1. That to meet the wants of the newer portions of our country, where the population is yet sparse and the church- es are so widely separated that any effective presbyterial super- vision over them is impractible, we are in favor of the appoint- ment of district missionaries for the work of general exploration, for the organization and supply of churches, and for taking such oversight of them as may be necessary until they can be properly cared for by the presbyteries to which they belong. "2. That in view of the diversity of opinion on the nature and necessity of the office of district secretary, it is, in the judg- ment of this Synod undesirable that a district secretary be ap- pointed to labor in our bounds. "3. That Synod enjoin upon the presbyteries to pay special attention to the missionary work in their bounds, and to discharge faithfully the responsibility thus taken upon them by the use of such means as they may deem proper and necessary. 172 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS "4. That in pursuance of the above resolutions the Synod shall, at its stated meetings, require of each of its presbyteries, a written statement as to the manner in which the enjoined duty has been performed." 4 Apparently the Synods were too close to the issues that had been nurtured under the Plan of Union. It is a striking tribute to Augustus T. Norton that the Synod of Illinois South adopted its resolution without a protest but in the over-all picture the churches were too close to the manipulations of the American Home Missionary Society to enjoy the prospect of a district secre- tary who would infringe upon the prerogatives of presbytery. PUBLICATIONS Diversity of tastes and the tolerance of such diversity was never illustrated better than in the reading tastes of the Pres- byterians of Illinois. Each of the Synods had its committee on publications, and each committee brought its recommendations to its respective Synod. But it was well-nigh impossible to secure a universal agreement as to what should be the Synod's publica- tion. The Synod of Illinois North was zealously promoting "The Interior" as is indicated in the following resolution, "Resolved, That the Synod heartily commend the Interior to the patronage of the denomination regarding it as a religious journal every way worthy of confidence and support and having special claims upon the suffrages of our Church in the North-West." 5 Unanimity marked the passage of the foregoing resolution, but the same unanimity in the same meeting of the Synod marked the adoption of the following resolution, "Resolved, That we have heard with deep interest the statements of the Rev. W. H. McCarrer in regard to the American and Foreign Christian Union, and we earnestly recommend the publications and the work of that Society to our ministers and our churches and would urge upon all our brethren that they take immediate steps to inform themselves upon the encroachments of Romanism and to adopt the most active and efficient measures to defend ourselves against them." 6 4 Synod of Illinois North, pp. 39-40. 5 Synod of Illinois North, 1870, p. 46 6 Synod of Illinois North, 1870, p. 41. REUNION 173 In the Synod of Illinois Central the Committee on Publica- tion reported, "Your Committee after considerable effort has failed to find the date desirable from which to form a full and satisfactory estimate of the interests of the publication cause within the bounds of the presbyteries within the Synod during the past Synodical year. Enough, however, is known to render it evident that in some respects especially, the interest is not as great as could be desired." 7 The report continued by tabulating the work done by col- porteurs. The Presbytery of Bloomington reported thirteen of her forty-five churches as contributing to the cause in the sum of $125.59. The Presbytery of Peoria reported fifteen of her thirty-eight churches had contributed $243.94. The Presbytery of Schuyler reported seventeen of her fifty-one churches had con- tributed $170.75; and the Presbytery of Springfield reported a sum of $44.95 — two of her thirty-seven churches having contrib- uted. On the basis of this approach the Committee on Publi- cations recommended the following action which was adopted: "1. We earnestly commend to all our churches the health- ful literature of our Presbyterian Board and especially call the attention of pastors, sessions, and Sabbath School superintend- ents to the Board's increased facilities for furnishing Sabbath School libraries, the Visitor, and the Westminster Lesson papers for teachers and scholars. "2. We enjoin upon our Presbyteries to make more strenuous efforts for having each and every one of their churches contribute something to the colportage fund of this Board. "3. We urge the importance of each presbytery having at least one active and efficient colporteur constantly at work within her bounds and that he be required to show a copy of his quarterly reports to the Presbytery's committe on publication and Sabbath Schools. "4. We earnestly recommend that each presbytery at its fall meeting statedly set apart some portion of the time of its sessions to be devoted exclusively to a consideration of the Sab- bath School work. 8 7 Synod of Illinois Central, 1871, p. 67. 8 Synod of Illinois Central, 1871, pp. 67-69. 174 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS In the Synod of Illinois South the influence of Augustus T. Norton was of long standing, and his Presbyterial Reporter with its name changed to Synodical Reporter was adopted as the Synod's official publication. It was published quarterly and was to be financed by advertisements, sales, and subsidies from the Synod. Sections 8 and 9 in the report that led to its adop- tion indicate the atmospheric pressure in the field of publication. "8. It shall be understood that the Reporter thus continued is strictly the servant of the Synod, its presbyteries and institu- tions. It is to be an instrumentality for promoting the cause of Christ in our bounds, through the agency of our Presbyterian organization in its several parts. "9. It shall be further understood that the magazine thus sustained and circulated is to be an additional and needed agency of our own, and in no wise to contravene the circulation of the various religious periodicals published in the interest of our church." The Synod then went on to endorse the recommendations and directions of the General Assembly of 1870 as found in their minutes on page 155, wherein the Board of Literature for the Sunday School, the ministry and the home was to be distributed by colparteurs and urged its presbyteries and churches to give their support with their gifts. Finally they summed up the situ- ation in a resolution that endorsed the Interior and all publi- cations. "Resolved, That this Synod recognizes in the Interior a sound and able Presbyterian journal, and that we recommend it along with other journals of our denomination, to our churches as worthy of their patronage." 9 The Chicago fire aggressively pushed aside other types of Presbyterian business and became a prior business in the synods and presbyteries. In the Synod of Illinois North the Revs. Dr. W. S. Curtis, E. L. Hurd, and J. McClean and Elders Robert Hallaway and James Dixon were appointed the Committee on Resolutions relative to the disastrous fire in Chicago. The following reso- lution from the Synod of Illinois Central, meeting at Jackson- ville, October 14, 1871, was referred to that Committee: 9 Synod of Illinois South, 1870, p. 44. REUNION 175 "Whereas the city of Chicago has been visited by the most intensive and appalling conflagration recorded in history. "Resolved, That this Synod express its profound sense of the magnitude of this great catastrophe; and its unbounded sym- pathy with those who have been deprived by it of property and home, and above all of friends. "Resolved further, That it bows in unquestioning submis- sion to that God who embraces all things in His Providence, and who, it does not doubt, means to mingle mercy with judgment in this bitter chastisement. "Resolved further, That in the view of the Synod, it is at once a rebuke to our state pride in the great Metropolis of the North West, and far more to that prevalent intense worldli- ness in the absorbing pursuit of material wealth, and in the love of show which has invaded, to such an alarming extent, the Churches of Christ. "Resolved, moreover, that, in its view, it is God's great lesson, teaching all that the most solid things of earth are van- ity, that there are no durable riches but those of the soul, and Heaven. "Resolved, that, recognizing with devout gratitude, the prompt and almost universal outflow of benevolence, both on the part of our own people, and of the people of other lands, for the relief of the suffers, this Synod recommend to its vari- ous congregations, whether collectively or as individuals, large and continuous contributions to the same end, especially in an- ticipation of the winter near at hand, during which there must be great protracted want unless alleviated by the hand of Christ- ian charity; and that in view of the inevitable falling off in the beneficence of the heretofore great and rich churches of Chicago, they be stimulated to large gifts for the cause of Christ. "Resolved, That this action be transmitted to the Synod of Illinois North, about to sit at Rockford, with the expression of our tenderest fellow-feelings in what is their more immediate loss and sorrow, requesting that they cause it to be conveyed to our churches in Chicago, to the Faculty and Board of Directors of the Theological Seminary of the North West, and to the edi- 176 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS tors and proprietors of the 'Interior' newspaper, amongst the di- rect sufferings by the conflagration." The Committee to whom this resolution was entrusted was not merely a committee of devout men but was much more — a committee of thoughtful men whose master passion was for God. Within the bounds of their Synod were the ruins left by the fire; their thought did not linger on physical losses; their minds were burdened with a moral catastrophe that had antedated the fire. The newspapers of the period portrayed the inner confla- gration that was destroying the souls of men. "The world of morality has little to boast of. Crime has increased rapidly. Corruption has left its taint all over the land. Public and private trusts have been betrayed in a reckless man- ner. Defalcations, embezzlements, frauds, murders, swindles, violence, riots, and thefts are and have been the order of the day and the prospect does not brighten any with the advent of the New Year." 10 "The reign of terror that had seized portions of Illinois as for example, Springfield, where a gang of drunken vagabonds took possession of the city on Christmas Eve; a negro was beaten on the street; ladies were insulted; men assulted; a religious festival interrupted; and various other acts of ruffianism per- petrated." 11 "What was known as the Williamson County War became a 'reign of terror' and 'Carnival of Blood' which was finally checked, not by the forces of law and order, but by KuKluxism in the state." 12 "Cairo gained the reputation of killing one man a week while Chicago increased its notoriety for gambling, 'bunko ro- pers,' confidence men, and murderers." 13 General Grant, running for re-election as President, had the ill will of Governor Palmer of Illinois because he had sent Federal troops under General Sheridan to police the devastated city. 14 10 Centennial History of Illinois, Vol. 4, p. 28. 11 Centennial History of Illinois, Vol. 4, p. 29. 12 Ibid., p. 29. 13 Ibid., p. 28. 14 Ibid., p. 67. REUNION 177 Confronted by these facts the Committee appointed to draft a resolution on the Chicago conflagration presented the follow- ing as the conviction of the Synod of Illinois North: "That in this most appalling, disastrous, and afflictive event, by which a hundred thousand people were driven from their homes in a single night, the rich reduced to poverty, the poor to abject want, the feeble, the aged, the sick, and helpless infants exposed to the greatest privations; that in this event without a parallel in history, in its complicated, diversified, and distress- ing effect, we recognize the hand of God. "The question is forced upon us. In what light shall we view this great event? Atheism, which denies the existence of God; mere Naturalism which attributes all to physical laws, over which God has no intelligent control, will not account for it. We are clearly taught by observation and the Word of God that 'affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground.' Intelligent philosophy itself declares that 'God ruleth in the affairs of men.' "If God's Hand, then, be seen in the great fire, for what purpose was it there? If it be true that the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth; much more are the wicked and the sinner, then surely the displeasure of God against sin was mani- fested. And was not wickedness in the ill-fated city, entrenched under the forms of law, incorporated by municipal action, or rather want of action, tolerated by public opinion, and defiant of the just judgments of Heaven? "We look also upon the great calamity as a rebuke to the worldliness of the Church, the rod of chastisement in the hand of God to bring his dear children to repentance and to humble them before him. True, the most devoted suffer with the guilty, as the complications of society do not admit of the separation of individual interest from organic evils. With our Bibles in our hands we cannot err in the right interpretation of this great calamity. "But whatsoever be the views of God's purpose, the pecuniary and material losses, and the general distress are facts before us. We, as a denomination, have suffered in all our educational and religious interests. Three of our largest church edifices, with a 178 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS number of mission chapels, have gone down in the flames. The endowments of the Northwest Theological Seminary have been rendered for the time unavailable, if, in the end, there be not permanent loss. The Interior, the newspaper organ of our church in the Northwest, is so crippled as to require the most liberal aid for its revival. All our benevolent operations, in con- nection with the Boards in this western field have received a serious check. "Your Committee, therefore, in view of all the facts, would RECOMMEND the adoption of the following resolu- tions, viz: "1. Resolved, That we recognize with gratitude the prompt and generous aid for relief from different parts of our land, and remote lands, as a noble exhibition of human nature, and a tribute to the Christian religion. "2. Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with all classes, both in the city and the country, who have suffered serious and heavy losses by the fire. "3. Resolved, That in the spirit of the passage, 'As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith,' all our churches outside the city of Chicago, direct their means of relief to D. L. Moody, and drafts made payable to the order of John V. Farwell. "4. Resolved, That a special collection be made in all churches, one week from next Sabbath, or the nearest subsequent Sabbath as shall suit the convenience of individual brethren, for the personal benefit of the Professors in the Northwest Theo- logical Seminary." 15 The resolution was adopted. In the Synod of Illinois South no attempt was made at interpreting the Divine Providence and the resolution adopted by their Synod is a thorough-going, energetic approach to Chris- tian charity and is as follows: "In regard to a letter from Rev. Robert Patterson of Chi- cago, representing that many persons are suffering from want of clothing, consequent on the late fire in Chicago; the Synod ex- horts every congregation in our bounds to make a collection of clothing (second-hand or new), boots and shoes of all classes, 15 Synod of Illinois North, pp. 61-63. REUNION 179 and bed clothing for the benefits of the sufferers, and send the receipts to the care of D. L Moody, money orders to be drawn in favor of John V. Farwell; and correspondence on the subject to be directed to Robert Patterson, D.D. "The Synod enjoins on all ministers and sessions to bring this subject before their congregations at the very first oppor- tunity." 16 The outstanding event in each meeting of Synod was the report of its Committee on Narrative of Religion. This Com- mittee received the reports of the presbyteries and placed over against the achievements reported, the measurement that was constituted by the demand of the General Assembly, its Boards and its agencies; the Synod and its agreed-upon objectives; and the presbyteries with their massed strength of churches and min- isters. These Narratives varied greatly. In some cases they bor- dered on the aridity of pure statistical reports. In other cases they contained all the ingredients of inspired narrative. There were lean years and the narratives in those years were paeons of praise. In the Synod of Illinois South the narrative of 1871 con- tained such expressions as: "In the preparation of the narra- tive, your Committee have been obliged to recognize a sad de- linquency on the part of many churches in failing to make the required reports to their respective presbyteries. . . . We are compelled to acknowledge a lamentable dearth of revival work and spiritual fruits. . . . Our churches are prosperous in outward prosperity. . . . We have under our care a number of candidates for the ministry." In the same Synod the narrative of 1872 contained these ex- pressions: "The very limited narrative presented by the presby- teries of the State of Religion in the bounds of our Synod pre- sents the usual lights and shadows of such reports. On the one hand the prevalence of worldliness, intemperance, and Sabbath breaking call loudly for humiliation before God and increased efforts to spread abroad the knowledge of Jesus Christ as the only remedy for abounding iniquity; while the death of three 16 Synod of Illinois South, 1871, p. 52. 180 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS of our ministers and one licentiate warns us 'that the night cometh wherein no man can work.' On the other hand God has revived his work in a few of our churches. . . . We wish to call special attention to this principle — if we as Christ's servants will give ourselves to prayer — prayer in the closet, prayer in the family, prayer in social meetings, prayer in the sanctuary — and The present Church at Shawneetown will bring tithes into His storehouse, we know that He will pour out a blessing until there shall be no room to receive it." The narative of the year 1873 is typical and is quoted in its entirety: "The following narrative of- the state of religion was re- REUNION 181 ported by Rev. S. Cook of the Committee on that subject, and was adopted, and it was ordered that it be recorded and published. "Narrative of the State of Religion in the Synod of Illinois South, October 22, 1873: "The Synod of Illinois South would gratefully acknowledge the numberless blessings showered upon us during the past year by our Heavenly Father. His hand may be clearly traced, through all His providential and gracious dealings with us, in the shadows as well as in the lights. Even in our afflictions he has shown Himself especially near with comfort, embalming in our hearts the hallowed memories of our beloved brothers King and Gregg — gone to their rest. They, though dead, yet speak and point us to bliss and victory in the Kingdom of our Father. Their familiar voices we shall hear no more in our earthly assemblies, for they are tuned in celestial melodies. May their removal prompt us who remain to more faithful and earnest effort. "The reports from all parts of the Synod indicate encour- aging attendance upon the means of grace, especially in the way of Sabbath School effort. "The Special sessions of prayer recommended by the General Assembly appear to have been generally observed by the churches under our care; and, in many cases, especially in the Presbytery of Alton, the week of prayer was followed by many evidences of God's blessing, in the gracious outpouring of His Spirit and in the conversion of souls. The Presbytery of Mattoon also reports revival interest and quite a number of additions to the churches. "All report encouraging progress in the work of the Lord. Church edifices have been erected ; many vacancies have been sup- plied with the preaching of the Word; new fields have been oc- cupied; new churches organized and general advances made in occupying the territory committed to our charge. "Yet from some parts of our bounds come up the lamenta- tion over spiritual dearth and lack of revival influence — increase of wickedness without the church and coldness within. "By the experiences of the year that is past, by the provi- dence of God in our midst and throughout our land, we are ex- horted to more faithfulness to duty, more earnestness in prayer, and more entire trust in the promise of our Lord — casting all our 182 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS care on Him and looking to Him for the reward of all our labors ; knowing that 'Paul may plant and Apollos may water, but it is God that giveth the increase'." 17 The narrative of the Synod of Illinois Central, assembled at Monmouth October 14, 1872, will indicate the temper of that Synod. "Moderator and Brethren: Your Committee on the Narrative have had placed in their hands two full reports from the pres- byteries within our bounds, and two reports embracing but a partial exhibit of the state of religion in the bodies to which they relate. From these sources we have been enabled to gather much that is encouraging, and much also, that is calculated to humble the devout among us. We learn, "Judicial cases too, have been rare in our judicatories and in the few instances in which discipline has been demanded, it has been effected with results which promise permanent peace. How good, and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. What does this manifest increase of charity indicate? Is it not one token among others of the speedy coming of that day when the glory of God shall cover the hearth as the waters cover the sea? "4th. Decided progress is reported from most parts of our field in the cause of temperance, and in the matter of Sabbath sanctification and attendance upon God's worship of the Lord's Day and in the weekly prayer meetings. While in all these things much yet remains to be accomplished, an advance sufficiently marked has been made to encourage greatly the friends of good order and of a sound scriptural morality. In all these respects we believe our people have neither retrograded nor remained sta- tionary. 'No drunkard shall inherit eternal life' is a divine as- sentation which has lost with God's people none of its terrible import. 'Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy' is still recognized as a binding command, and 'Forget not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is' has lost not its authority with those who appreciate the Saviour's promise 'Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.' 17 Synod of Illinois South, 1873, pp. 128-129. REUNION 183 "1st. That while there has been, during the last Synodical year, no general outpouring of the Holy Spirit in marked measure upon our churches, there has been in nearly all of them a mani- festation of the Spirit's power in conversions, and in some, a de- cided and unusual turning unto the Lord. The accessories to our churches from the world, while by no means what we could have hoped, have been such as to encourage us in the exercise of new zeal. The good hand of our God has been upon us in mercy, and His power has been felt in our midst. We have great reason to say in review of the past, "Behold what the Lord hath wrought." "2nd. Our presbyteries report cheering and decided ad- vancement in the Sabbath School work amongst them. Our peo- ple seem to have a growing appreciation of the value of this agency when wisely conducted. In nearly all of our churches so far as we can judge from the reports, efforts were put forth to sustain and render more efficient this instrumentality so great- ly used of God in the conviction and conversion of precious souls. Mention is made of the organization of mission schools estab- lished and conducted in regions where no churches have as yet been planted, and much good is anticipated as the result of these schools, and of the Bible classes connected therewith. To quote the language of one of the reports in our hands, 'a deeper and more general interest in this department of church labor is mani- fest from year to year, and perhaps the last year indicates progress therein quite as much as any preceding one. Its value is certainly rising in the estimation of the most intelligent of the congrega- tions.' Your committee express the hope that this judgment is not unfounded, and that a wise and judicious use of this agency under the control of our church sessions, may render it more ef- ficient as the years roll away in training up the young in the fear and admonition of the Lord. "3rd. The peace, unity, and harmony existing in our churches is a matter especially emphasized in these presbyterial reports. Brotherly love, Christian charity, longsuffering forbearance, seem to be graces vouchsafed in large measure to the people within our bounds during the year past. Nothing, in the estimation of your committee, is more encouraging than this fact made so promi- nent by the presbyteries. 184 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS "5th. A growing desire for an outpouring of The Holy Spirit is reported as manifest in many of our churches. The hearts of God's people are yearning for a deeper work of grace. They see and lament their coldness. Their cry is that of the prophet, 'Lord, revive thy work.' Their aspirations are for a nearer ap- proach to God, and a sweeter fellowship with his Son. Their language is that of David, "Restore unto me the joys of thy sal- vation, and uphold me with thy free Spirit, then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.' How encouraging to all our hearts are these indications? Are they not omens of coming good? Is not this the little cloud, not larger than the hand of a man, which yet betokens the outpouring of refreshing showers of grace all over our land ? Is not this the moving in the tops of the mulberry trees which proclaims our God as nigh, and about to go forth leading the hosts of His Spiritual Israel to glorious victory? Shall we not arise in view of these indications, gird on our armor, and go forth in the name of the great Captain conquering and to conquer? "These, Moderator and Brethren, are some of the sources of our encouragement as presented in the view of our spiritual con- dition as a Synod. But there is much to humble us — covetousness to an alarming extent prevails. Conformity to the maxims and customs of the world characterize many of whom, by reason of their profession, were ever led to hope for better things. Neglect of religious services in the family, and a growing want of parental instruction, are calculated to alarm and distress us; a manifest increase of rationalism in some sections and of ritualism in others warn us that our work as conservators of God's truth is not yet accomplished. Fashions and folly yet count their votaries by the thousand; while intemperance and licentiousness lead captive the thoughtless and unsuspecting. "While there are encouragements in our work which forbid despondency, there are also features of danger which should stim- ulate us to the mightiest efforts. To the church is committed the only panacea for the myriad evils of earth. The gospel of God's grace embodied in that glorious assurance, 'God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son that whosoever be- lieveth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life!' has REUNION 185 been entrusted to us, and our work is not done until this gospel has been proclaimed in every ear and accepted by every heart. To maintain and propagate this gospel, to teach it — to illustrate it — to enforce it — to live it, is the duty of the Christian Church, and the Christian ministry — the duty of every soul that has experienced the love of Jesus. "Nor are we without the most cheering assurances of ulti- mate success if we go forth in the exercise of a humble depend- ence upon the arm of our omnipotent Redeemer. All the prom- ises are for us. The nations shall be given to Christ for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His posses- sion. To Him every knee shall bow, and every tongue swear. Christ shall see of the travail of his souls, and be satisfied. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. "When therefore, the church through her divinely appointed ordinances, and God's ordained ministry, these precious promises are fulfilled, then will the earth hold her grandest jubilee, and celebrate in fitting terms her most triumphant thanksgiving. Praises shall then ascend to the vaulted skies, the jubilant heavens shall be rent in very gladness, and not one discordant, nor hesitat- ing, nor reluctant not be heard from amid earth's teeming, joyous millions." Adopted October 14, 1872. George C. Wood, Stated Clerk 18 The report of the Committee on Narrative in the Synod of Illinois North is appended because of its contrasting statistical approach. "Only two of the presbyteries have sent reports and these deal largely only in generalities. The Committee submit a com- parison of the statistics presented to the General Assembly of 1872, with those of 1871. Thus showing In whole number of communicants a gain of 366. In contributions to Foreign Missions a decrease of $2,152. In contributions to Home Missions a gain this year of $3,663. In contributions to Education a decrease this year of $1,734. In contributions to Publication a decrease this year of $240. 18 Synod of Illinois Central, 1872, pp. 103-107. 186 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS In contributions to Church Erection a decrease of $3,046. In contributions to Relief Fund a decrease of $3. In contributions to Freedmen a gain this year of $275. Accounts contributed for Minister's Salaries, Congregational and Miscellaneous purposes, a decrease of $80,906. Whole amount of Contributions to Boards in 1871 — $29,292. Whole amount of Contributions to Boards in 1872 — $26,055. Decrease in Contributions to Boards in 1872 — $3,237. Average Contributions to Boards: Of this Synod in 1871 Of this Synod in 1872 Of Presbytery of Chicago, 1871 Of Presbytery of Chicago, 1872 Of Presbytery of Freeport, 1871 Of Presbytery of Freeport, 1872 Of Presbytery of Ottawa, 1871 Of Presbytery of Ottawa, 1872 Of Presbytery of Rock River, 1871 Of Presbytery of Rock River, 1872 Whole number of churches in 1871 Whole number of churches in 1872 Candidates for the Ministry, 1871 Candidates for the Ministry, 1872 Whole number of Ministers in 1871 Whole number of Ministers in 1872 Whole number of Licensures in 1871 Whole number of Licensures in 1872 Adults baptized in 1871, 206; in 1872, 188. Infants baptized in 1871, 572; in 1872, 413. Sabbath School scholars in 1871, 16,074; in 1872, 14,506. "From these statistics it appears that in the contributions to Freedmen and Home Missions there has been a gain in 1872; while in other contributions, and in the number of children in Sabbath Schools, there has been a loss. This may in part be ac- counted for by the facts of the 'Memorial Year' and the 'Chicago Fire.' But making all proper allowance for these causes, there $2.30 pe r member $2.06 ' $4.16 ' $3.80 ' $1.61 ' $1.29 ' $0.60 ' $1.16 ' $1.39 ' $1.27 ' 137 132 Decrease of 5 17 19 Gain of 2 160 162 Gain of 2 14 15 Gain of 1 REUNION 187 remains enough to lead ministers and churches to inquire serious- ly whether they have been entirely faithful. "Twenty-one of our 162 churches have, in 1872, received ten or more members on examination — the largest number re- ceived in one church being seventy-two. "We believe that now, as much as ever, we need to 'have faith in God' ; and that if, as ministers, we would spend less time in bewailing the evils of 'candidating' and more time in prayer and work — if we would spend less time in mourning over the flood of bad books, and more in the study of the good, which are many, the result would be most happy." 19 The financial aspects of church work were evident in each and every meeting of the synods. The inevitable conflict of Boards and Agencies competing for the dollar engendered many discussions and resulted in numerous resolutions. In this category is the report made by the Special Committee on Ministerial Re- lief to the Synod of Illinois South, October, 1873. "Resolved, "1. That we hail with unmingled pleasure the fact that the General Assembly has given special attention to the condi- tion and wants of old and disabled ministers and their families belonging to our Church. "2. That from legitimate reports on the subject, it is great- ly to be regretted that the treasury of the Relief Fund is kept very much below its wants. "3. That as a matter of humanity and Christian duty the obligation is imperative that the liberality of our churches should be large enough to meet the wants of the case. "4. That the pastors and elders of our churches be called upon without needless delay to see that suitable relief be given to this cause." Concurrently with this appeal was an appeal for larger funds with which to build manses and churches. The Civil War that had liberated the negro slave had lodged with the church a need that was handled by the Freedman's Board. Publication made a further demand for funds as did also Home Missions and Foreign Missions, not to mention the hundred and one good causes that secured the right of the floor in the various meetings of the synods. 19 Synod of Illinois North, 1872, pp. 101-102. 188 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS An interesting exhibit of a per capita assessment is that of the assessment of 1871 in the Synod of Illinois South (pp. 67-68) : The report of the Committee on Finance was taken up, amended, adopted and is as follows: "The Committee on the Finances of Synod report: They find the payment for the synodical expenses, for the past year, to amount to $90.11. Due Dr. Norton, on account of the Reporter $ 37.23 Due Stated Clerk, one year's salary $ 25.00 Due Permanent Clerk, one year's salary $ 15.00 To Rev. G. C. Wood, Stated Clerk of late Synod of Illinois (N. S.) $ 18.00 Total expenses and indebtedness $185.34 A payment of 2^ cents per capita by the membership in all the churches of the Synod would give two hundred and nine dol- lars and two cents ($209.02). Dividing this among the presbyteries on the basis of church membership gives for The Presbytery of Alton $ 84.90 The Presbytery of Cairo $ 57.55 The Presbytery of Mattoon $ 66.57 Total $209.02 The Presbyteries of Alton and Cairo have now paid up their full amounts of the above apportionments. The Presbytery of Mattoon has paid into the Treasury of Synod the sum of $29.60, leaving the amount due from that Presbytery, in order to equalize payments, $36.97. We recommend the following assessments on the Presbyteries, viz: On the Presbytery of Alton $ 34.00 On the Presbytery of Cairo $ 23.00 On the Presbytery of Mattoon $ 26.65 On the Presbytery of Mattoon (delinquency) 36.97 $ 63.62 Total $120.62 REUNION 189 At the meeting of that Synod, October, 1873, the Synodical Missionary, The Rev. A. T. Norton, D.D., reported his activities and the following resolutions were adopted: "Resolved, That Synod has heard the report of its Synodical Missionary, The Rev. A. T. Norton, D.D., with great satisfaction and hearty approval. "That the pastors and stated supplies should see to it that the churches under their care have stated opportunities of giving to their several causes of benevolence presented by the General Assembly, whether they are able to give little or much, and by no means to neglect to give to those causes from which we are receiving aid. "Resolved, That the particular methods of raising funds for these causes should be left to the judgment of the sessions of the churches, only urging that some system be prosecuted earnestly and perseveringly. "Resolved, That we highly appreciate the able services of our Synodical Missionary, Rev. A. T. Norton, D.D., and we here- by recommend that the Board of Home Missions renew his com- mission for the ensuing year." 20 In the Synod of Illinois Central the Rev. H. R. Wilson, D.D., presented the interests of the Board of Church Erection and the Rev. F. F. Ellinwood presented the cause of Foreign Missions and was reinforced by the Rev. Robert Lennington, missionary to Brazil. At the conclusion of this presentation the following resolution was adopted: "Synod has heard with great interest the Rev. Dr. Wilson in behalf of the Board of Church Erection and Rev. Dr. Ellinwood in behalf of the Board of Foreign Missions and Rev. Lennington, missionary of our Church in Brazil, South America, in regard to the condition and prospects of our missions in that country, and with renewed earnestness we recommend to all our churches, in conformity with Systematic Beneficence, to aid with enlarged lib- erality all our Boards so as to enable them to remove present in- debtedness and carry on their work with greater efficiency. "In God's providence the Church is beckoned in new and more inviting fields of evangelistic work, which she should, as promptly as possible enter and possess for Christ. Imperative 20 Synod of Illinois South, 1873, p. 121. 21 Synod of Illinois Central, 1873, pp. 118-119. 190 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS duty urges, and past success encourages to greater liberality on the part of all our churches, and every friend of the cause, in the good work. Let all aspire to the greater blessedness of giving for the glory of Him whose are the gold and the silver, and from whom we have received all we possess. "Synod would especially call the attention of those churches which have received aid through the Board of Church Erection on condition of annual contributions to that Board to their sacred obligations to fulfill that condition with exemplary fidelity. Let all our churches contribute annually to this as well as to the other Boards." 21 In the Synod of Illinois North an indication of the need for financial diplomacy was evidenced in the reception of the report of the permanent Committee on Home Missions. In that report the Committee tried to by-pass the action that had favored the appeal of the Rock River Presbytery against the employment of a synodical missionary. The action on their report, taken at Sterling, 1873, reads "It was adopted except the recommenda- tion 'to reconsider the question of employing a Synodical Mission- ary' which after full discussion was stricken out." The following is an abstract of the report: "The Board of Home Missions last May reported 993 mis- sionaries under commission and still fully 200 more with funds to sustain them were needed in order to occupy the destitute places. Of these missionaries one hundred eleven were employed in the State of Illinois — it having more missionaries than any state in the Union. "The number of missionaries employed on the first of April last, in this Synod was thirty- four, distributed as follows: In Pres- bytery of Chicago, 17; in Freeport, 8; in Ottawa, 1; in Rock River, 8. The contributions to the Board have been as follows, for the year ending April 1st, 1873; viz: Presbyteries — Chicago, $5,314; Freeport, $1,350; Ottawa, $182; Rock River, $702. "Added to these, we report approximately $600, making a total of $8,150. "Drafts upon the Board to same date: Chicago Presbytery, $5,931; Freeport, $1,062; Ottawa, $116; Rock River $1,081; Total, $8,190. REUNION 191 "These figures show that the Synod has been almost self- sustaining in its missionary work and yet has probably fallen short of raising the amount of $12,000, which it resolved to en- deavor to raise, by some $3,850. The effort has not been a fail- ure, the contributions having exceeded those of any previous year." The report also contained the following resolutions: "1. That the Synod earnestly endeavor to sustain the mis- sionary work within its own bounds, and pay into the treasury of the Board of Home Missions, during the current year, at least Ten Thousand Dollars; and that to accomplish this end the fol- lowing apportionment be made to Presbyteries, viz: Chicago, $6,500; Freeport, $1,500; Ottawa, $500; Rock River, $1,500. "2. That the Stated Clerk send a copy of the above resolu- tion, with statements of the number of missionaries under com- mission in our Synod, and the amount drawn from the Board to support them, to all the churches under its care. "3. That Synod enjoin upon all its Presbyteries to insist upon the formation of the pastoral relation in the (missionary) churches under their care, wherever it is practicable, or likely to be permanent." 22 "4. That the Synod's Committee on Home Missions be directed to lay, before the Women's Board of Missions for the Northwest, the claims of the Synod's Missionary work." 23 Contemporaneous with these appeals was the financial panic of 1873 which continued its efforts until 1879. Unemployment assumed startling proportions and wage scales for those employed fell lower and lower. In Chicago where working men were en- deavoring to rise from the ashes of the great fire, thirty-five per cent of their number were unemployed. "Wages fell steadily between 1873 and 1877; according to the reports made to congress average wages declined eight per cent during this period, and in many instances the decrease was more than fifty per cent. Thus shoemakers suffered a fifteen per cent reduction in 1874, a similar cut in 1875, and another in 1877. Silversmiths earned twenty-five dollars a week in 1872 and ten dollars in 1879; typesetters saw their pay fall from 22 Minutes of General Assembly, p. 556. 2 3 Synod of Illinois North, 1873, pp. 109-111. 192 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS fifty-five cents per thousand ems in 1876 to thirty-six cents in 1879; and the coal heavers suffered a reduction from twenty cents a ton in 1873 to eight cents in 1878. " 24 Effects such as these were compelling a reassessment of the Churches' resources. The General Assembly of 1874 recom- mended that the three synods should create a unified Committee on Benevolence. In the Synod of Illinois North meeting at Freeport October, 1875, the following resolution is self-explanatory. "Resolved, That the action of the Commissioners of the Presbytery of this Synod taken by order of General Assembly at Cleveland in May last, nominating V. A. Turpin as a member of the Assembly's Committee on the Benevolent work of the Church — said action being recorded on page 165 of this book — be and hereby is ap- proved and ratified." The Synod appointed a special commit- tee consisting of H. N. Hibberd and Rev. A. R. Davis to whom were entrusted certain documents from the General Assembly's Committee on the benevolent work of the Church. "Attention was called to the recommendations of the Gen- eral Assembly with reference to: "1. The need of cooperation between presbyteries and the Bureau for Vacant churches and unemployed ministers. "2. The effort to harmonize our work with that of our Congregational brethren according to the plan adopted by the Missionary Secretary of each, respectively. "A spirited discussion centered around the report of the Per- manent Committee on Home Missions which played up the sug- gestion that the Presbyterians should aim at and achieve self-sup- port. The statistics showed that the Presbytery of Chicago contributed $ 3,287.90 Received from the Board 7,337.91 Presbytery of Freeport contributed 764.58 Received from the Board 956.90 Presbyterian of Ottawa contributed 189.73 Received from the Board 695.83 Presbytery of Rock River contributed 480.62 Received from the Board 275.00 24 Centennial History of Illinois, Vol. 4, p. 442. REUNION 193 Total amount contributed by Synod to the Board $ 4,722.83 Total amount drawn by Synod from Board 9,265.64 Balance against the Synod $ 4,542.81 The contributing churches in the Presbytery are: Presbytery of Chicago 33 churches out of 45 Presbytery of Freeport 26 churches out of 33 Presbytery of Ottawa 15 churches out of 26 Presbtery of Rock River 23 churches out of 40 Total 97 churches out of 144 in the Synod have made contributions to the Board of Home Missions. This shows an increase of twelve contributing churches and $387 over last year, and a decrease in the demands upon the Board of $1,370.06." In the meeting of the Synod of Illinois North at Freeport, October, 1875, the special committee to whom had been en- trusted certain documents relating to the Benevolent Work of the Church, brought in its report. Nothing is said about benev- olences — only the technicality in the electing of the Synod's rep- resentative. The committee recommended that Elder V. A. Tur- pin whom the commissioners to the Cleveland General Assembly had nominated under orders from the General Assembly should be appointed by the Synod as its representative on the General Assembly's Committee in the Benevolent Work of the Church. The report was adopted. Meeting at Joliet in 1876, the committee presented a plan as being the plan of the Committee of the Synods. "The Special Committee on Benevolent Work, Rev. J. Giffen, Chairman, reported heartily recommending the adop- tion of the Plan, which is published by the 'Committee of the Synods' on the benevolent work of the Presbyterian church; and the appointment of Elder G. F. Bissell of the First Church, Chicago, as a member of said committee, that his expenses in- curred in the discharge of his duties be paid by the Treasurer of Synod; that the Stated Clerk of Synod be directed to co- 194 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS operate with him in his work, and that the presbyteries be urged to carry out, with all diligence, their part of the Plan. Also, "In view of the large number of churches which do not contribute to some of the Boards, and the belief of Synod that the fault lies largely with the pastors and sessions of those churches, in omitting properly to present to their congregations the objects and needs of our Church Boards, therefore Resolved, 1st. That the stated clerks of the presbyteries of this Synod are hereby instructed to have the roll of Presbytery called at each spring meeting and ask of each minister in charge of a church, an answer to these two questions: 'Has your church, during the past year, taken a collection for each of our Church Boards ? If not, why not?' 2nd. That at each meeting of Synod the stated clerk of each presbytery be called upon by the Moderator to answer these two questions: 'Was the roll of your Presbytery called at its last spring meeting, and was each minister in charge of a church within the bounds of your Presbytery asked if his church had contributed to each of our Church Boards during the pre- ceding year? If not, why not?' "3rd. The ministers in charge of churches within the bounds of the Synod, and sessions, are hereby urged to do their duty faithfully in presenting the claims of each of our Church Boards to their respective congregations." The report was adopted. 25 Meeting at Rochelle in 1877, the Committee on Benevo- lence, reported and action was taken in connection with action on the report of the Committee on the Minutes of General As- sembly, viz: "The Committe find only one subject calling for action and that is on pages 514-515 and 581-582, and as it ap- pears from these references that the General Assembly intended to discontinue the Committee of the Synods on Benevolence; and as many in the church doubt the expediency of having this Com- mittee, we recommend that this Synod do not appoint a member upon it." This report was adopted. In the Synod of Illinois Central meeting at Springfield, 1875, the action of General Assembly in appointing a member 25 Synod of Illinois North, 1876, pp. 208-209. REUNION 195 of the Committee of the Synods was noted and the Committee reporting recommended such action by the Synod as will comply with the action of General Assembly. Adopted. Meeting in Peoria in 1876, the Synod heard the Rev. H. V. D. Nevins, D. D., her representative on the Committee of Synods, on the Benevolent work of the Church. His report was accepted and accompanying papers were referred to the Com- mittee on the Benevolent work of the Church. When this com- mittee reported, the report was divided and a motion was made to adopt the first three items. The motion was lost and the re- mainder of the report was laid upon the table. At this same meeting the Committee on Minutes of Gen- eral Assembly introduced a radical change in the pattern of be- nevolences. "We recommend the appointment of a Committee on Benevolence as recommended by the General Assembly (Minutes, p. 582) consisting of "1st. A Synodical Superintendent of Benevolence. "2nd. A Committee of which the aforesaid Superintendent shall be ex-officio Chairman, consisting of one member from each presbytery who shall be the chairmen of the Presbytery's Committee on Benevolence when such committee exists and who shall supervise the whole work of benevolence in their respective presbyteries." In accordance with the above recommendations Synod ap- pointed the following brethren: 1st. Rev. R. Conover of Towanda, Illinois, Synodical Super- intendent. 2nd. Rev. A. L. Brooks, Danville, Superintendent for Bloom- ington Presbytery. 3rd. Rev. I. A. Cornelison, Washington, Superintendent for Peoria Presbytery. 4th. Rev. J. H. Marshall, Hamilton, Superintendent for Schuyler Presbytery. 5th. Rev. John Crozier, Athens, Superintendent for Spring- field Presbytery. During the progress of this session of the Synod of Illinois Central, the Moderator read a communication from Rev. J. M. Gregory, LL.D., Regent of the Illinois Industrial University, 196 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 3 r-j rH t> 00 00 Xi o I> ^ co" ^' CD CD -UJ bo "*. r> 00 c$ pQ fc- © CO CO d id tH u O ^ T-l ' iH 13 G t- Tf CD ^ tH ^* CO Jh © CO t> O (M t> UO pj 'o > suoi^nqia^uo^ Os" lO CO os o cm o CD 00 to lO os CM C5 C I^°X cm" &9- rf w" rf co" to T—I 60- tH "o 00 CD IC o CTi CO X* a t- suoT^^ua^sng -<* CO T-H CD OJ CD d rH d CM lO CO >—* 00 • • tH tH CO Cv] o ~ G ^5 o £ 69- se- 60- (S3 CM tH O 00 iH o i— H3 C 4-1 O 00 oc ^ lO CD r-± uo O 03 Ui 1 uauipaaj^ 00 CO CM 00 00 CD CO* iH tH OS cm" CM 5 -p M tH CD lO ~i c/s 00 CD c rf 00 lO t- CO Cd tH L-O CD OS CM lO OJ ted hi nd is cm* 00 CM OC OC rH o: 00 t^ L/0 2 1 uoicpaig; ipanq^ CM* CO CO CO 00 r-t os CM OS CD & s rH CM tH (M t- b- 69- m-_ _60- CO :ierk appr 00 U3 o CO CD OS U3 t> t- oa CM l> LC uoi^BDiiqnj OS OS CM c C7i cm' t—i d CO CO CO CO VJ r^ CD CD &9 CO t— 4J >-, ea- &9- 69- 03 rn CO C CO OS t* IC r^ © OC Tt r-j CO t>; CO r— CO t> IT. id rH CO* OJ 00 T— I SUOTSSIH 8UI0JJ CO Ol L0 00 o rH CM cm" lO T—I co" co t> G S^lTBDIUnUIUIOQ 69- 60- 69- G CO CO CM OS OS "Ct jo jaquin^i <** 1 — CO saTja^qsajj 00 f- ^5 o o the catholicity of Presbyterianism is of so genuine and earnest a type that through all disruptions and controversies its branches have never failed to accord one another, and to all other evangel- ical bodies, the fellowship due to believers in a common Lord and Saviour. And the student of history will be greatly surprised if Presbyterians are not found at the very forefront of the move- ment." 58 The Rev. H. D. Jenkins, D.D., contended that the missionary endeavor of the Presbyterian Church in America was thus toward the needs rather than toward the wealth of men. Its home was in the Pioneers' cabin, its house of worship in the first clearing " "A church which is not exalting 'mercy, judgment, and truth' will exalt 'mint, anise, and cummin.' The cure for more secta- rianism is evangelism. Breadth of labor begets breadth of view. I think we may justly claim that our missionary necessities enrich the church with a more practical theology. In any future modifi- cation of our confessional statements it is these, our vast Diaspora upon missionary grounds, rather than our metaphysicians in the study, who are to be consulted, and whose necessities will give to 58 The World's Parliament of Religions, Vol. 2, p. 1,498. REUNION 239 us not a new theology, but one whose every line is fitted for evangelism." 59 A financial panic protruded its ugly form into the affairs of the church, and some genuine heart-searchings were gripping the church organizers and financiers. The following paragraph cul- led from the reports of the Permanent Committee of Home Mis- sions indicates the condition: "Are the continued agitation of revision and the multipli- cation of heresy trials drying up the sources of our Home Mission income? Is it because this is a campaign year? Are the people already beginning to economize on their gifts to the Lord's work in order to have the money with which to attend the Columbian Exposition? Are the methods of the Board in this work leading the people to withhold their gifts? Are the (as we think) exag- gerated accounts of unholy, unwise, and extravagant sectarian rivalries in small frontier towns and other places, such as the widely published story of three struggling Protestant churches in a hamlet of fifty people, shutting the pockets of business men against the claims of this cause?" 60 Not all of the changes occuring could be catalogued as fi- nancial. At Lake Forest University James G. K. McClure, pastor of the Lake Forest Presbyterian Church, was performing double duty as pastor and acting president of the University, W. C. Roberts having resigned as president in order to accept the sec- retaryship of the Board of Home Missions. The Women's Synodical Society was cultivating the Christian Endeavorers in the churches and had succeeded in diverting their funds into the Woman's Synodical channels. Mission Bands were giving place to Christian Endeavor Societies, but the Synodical ladies were not accepting the transition with resignation. Mrs. Loughridge, synodical president, reports, 1893: "Our young people are be- coming more generally interested in the subject of Missions. In five presbyteries a secretary of the Y.P.S.C.E. has been elected. Nearly all of our C.E. societies are organized for missionary work." In the City of Chicago and its environs missionary rallies were staged with marked success. 59 ibid., p. 1,500. 60 Minutes of the Synod of Illinois, 1892, p. 11. 240 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS ' 'Mission bands and young people's circles continue to be merged into our Christian Endeavor societies. In one presbytery this made a serious difference, they having contributed last year one-fifth of the whole amount given — this year, one-seventh only ; nevertheless, the presbytery nobly holds its own. We have some Mission Bands whose praise is in the churches. For instance. Peoria Presbytery has fifty 'Little Owls' in Canton whose gifts this year amount to $113.00. As the Secretary writes, 'There must have been a fluttering in the home nest when this was dis- covered'." 61 ) Alice J. D. Robinson reporting in 1894 as president of Woman's Synodical Committee gives the story before the Synod: "And this leads up to a slight enigma that is set for us to solve. Reports come to our ears of young men in the Endeavor Societies, who, like the 'Silent William,' would undoubtedly 'die in the last ditch,' but, apparently with a fear of seeming to be 'tied to apron strings' prefer not to send their contributions through our Presbyterial treasuries; also echoes of dissent from pastors who wish to 'remit directly to the Board.' "Now, fathers and brethren, we would remind you that for five years your Committees of Home Board and General Assembly wrestled with this Home Mission School problem. Your mis- sionaries on the field and synodical superintendents insisted that nothing less would meet the difficulties of the situation. 62 "Finally, at a loss what else to do, you tossed it into our laps, appointed synodical committees for organization, gave your blessing, and bade us go ahead and do the best we could. You do not need to be told that success crowned our labors. But we have a human way of wearing out and dying off, and it was plain, to say nothing of the help the children could be to us even now, they should be in training to take our places. You see we were accustomed to the making over of our garments for them as occasion required and it did seem that these missionary mantles should not fail to be utilized. The little ones responded with ready interest, and were organized into mission bands, and you know how enthusiastically they were working. 61 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1893, pp. 39-40. 62 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1892, p. 11. REUNION 241 "Do you wonder that we are so loathe to give them up? You say that you want your Christian Endeavor societies to send their contributions 'to the board.' But the Home Mission money that goes to the board is for the support of ministers only. The schools for which you have made us responsible are carried by a separate fund in the hands of a treasurer appointed for that purpose, al- though the final disbursements are all made by the Home Board treasurer, Mr. Eaton, and nowhere is this Christian Endeavor or Sunday School money accredited to a woman's society. In our annual printed reports you may see that all Christian Endeavor and Sunday School contributions are distinctly as specified. And there are grand Christian men with no fears of apron strings before their eyes who are every year giving hundreds of dollars for these schools, because they have gone out and seen the need. But we are not going to be stubborn about it. If you can dis- cover a way that shall have less difficulty we will walk in it. You will readily acknowledge, I am sure, that if the young people are not working for the schools, they certainly are not likely to be interested about them so as to be prepared to take them from our hands." 63 At this same meeting of Synod, the Rev. W. S. Marquis, chairman of synod's committee to confer with the women in regard to the work among Christian Endeavor societies, brought in its report, a statesman-like document that displays with the utmost clarity the conditions prevailing: "Your Committee have held three conferences with a committee appointed by the Executive Committee of the Women's Societies for that purpose. The whole ground was thoroughly canvassed with the utmost frankness and kindliness of spirit on the part of both committees. We find the following to be the situation: "1. That the Women's Executive Committee of the Home and Foreign Mission Boards have for some time been pressing the appointment of presbyterial secretaries of Young People's Societies in each presbytery to work up the cause of Home and Foreign Missions among the young people. Every presbytery in this Synod but one, we are informed, has appointed such a sec- 63 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1894, pp. 29-30. 242 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS retary, and the women of the Synod have pledged themselves to raise the salary of Professor T. P. Shull of Alaska. In many of the presbyteries which have but- one organization for Home and Foreign Missions this presbyterial secretary will work among the young people for both causes. "2. We also learn that the Women's Societies have al- ready for some time been receiving aid for their work from the Endeavor Societies. During the past year they received for Home Missions, $486; Foreign Missions, $1,723; Freedman,. $1,209— $3,418. "3. The money raised by the Women's Executive Com- mittee of Home Missions goes to the educational work of the Home Board among the exceptional populations, and is the only agency in our church doing that work. Your Committee feels that nothing should be done to cripple the resources of the board for this all-important and growing work. "4. There is another fact that should be noted, viz: For some time a movement has been quietly going on disbanding mis- sionary bands of young people and merging them into the So- ciety of Christian Endeavor. This has been a voluntary move- ment, and prompted, naturally, by the desire for greater sim- plicity in church life and work. The practical result has been that the Women's Societies have been steadily losing funds, and this it was which led them to turn their attention to the Endeavor Societies, into which so many of their Mission Band members had gone. "5. We also find that several of the boards have appointed secretaries for the work among the Young People's Societies; that many of the presbyteries have appointed presbyterial com- mittees on Young People's Societies; that the Synods are doing the same; and that in answer to an overture from St. Paul Presbytery asking for the appointment of a Standing Committee on Young People's Societies, the Assembly replied. 'This matter may be safely left for the present to the care of the presbyteries and sessions' (p. 89). "6. Your Committee also calls attention to the great move- ment which has been begun under the banner of the Endeavor Societies in the interest of Christian giving, not only to Home REUNION 243 and Foreign, but to all the boards of the church aiming to de- velop the knowledge and interest of the young people in all the work of the church, that they may be fully prepared when they come to be the burden-bearers of the church. "Besides the calls of our own church, there have been a multiplicity of other calls from outside objects, worthy and un- worthy, which have often confused the young people and scattered their energies. "Such are the main facts which confront us and our sister workers. It is evident that there are two forces at work among the young people — the Women's Societies, through their Presby- terial Societies, on the one hand, and the special secretaries of the Boards and the Presbyterial and Synodical Committees on the other. It has created some confusion, and is in danger of creating friction, and so bringing damage to the work so near to the hearts of all. The question before us is, 'What measure will be best for the cause of benevolence in all its branches, the de- velopment of the young people, and the work in which the church is engaged? "Your committee feels that it would be disastrous to ask the ladies to recall their secretaries, or say to them, 'You must not look to the Endeavor and Young People's Societies for aid in doing your work.' Neither can we believe it wise to ask the presbyteries and synods to recall their Committees on Young People's Societies; but there must be some one who will stand between these agencies and adjust their claims. Our Presby- terian policy provides for just such a court in the pastor and session. To them it belongs to say in what direction their ener- gies shall be expended. "Therefore your committee recommends that our Endeavor Societies and Young People's Associations not auxiliary to the Women's Home or Foreign Missionary Societies submit all calls upon their benevolence to the pastor and session for their ad- vice, and that the presbyterial committees and secretaries notify them that they are so to do." 64 The Christian Temperance Alliance of Illinois, growing by leaps and bounds elicited from the Synod of 1894 the follow- 64 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1894, pp. 52-54. 244 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS ing resolutions: "That while we would not recommend the Church of Jesus Christ to enter the political arena in any partisan spirit, even to accomplish a needed reform, yet on this most im- portant of all reform questions now in politics before the American people, we recommend that all our ministers and laymen pronounce most emphatically against any party that does not promise definite legislation looking to the extirpation of the accursed traffic. "That we as a Synod pledge ourselves to the righteous principle of statutory prohibition." Tragedy marked the year 1894 in the passing of Robert W. Patterson, D.D. The report of the Committee appointed to prepare a memorial will indicate the extent of the tragedy. "The Synod of Illinois has heard with deep sorrow of the recent death of Rev. Robert W. Patterson, D.D., of the Presby- tery of Chicago. Full of years, yet strong in mind and heart, he entered into rest on the 28th day of February, 1894. His life- long service in the cause of Christ, as represented by the Presbyterian Church, and his close connection with all these sacred interests throughout the bounds of our state, and his distinguished ability, all call for suitable recognition from us. "He was educated at Illinois College, in Jacksonville, and Lane Theological Seminary. Almost all of his ministry was spent in Chicago as pastor of the Second Church, which he served for thirty-two years. For a few years he filled chairs in Lake Forest University, and Lane and McCormick Seminaries. An active participant in all the stirring religious movements of his time, he was called to give shape to many of them. He was honored with positions of great responsibility by the General Assembly — to preside over the New School branch as its Moder- ator, and to serve as a member of the Reunion Committee. "His familiarity with theology, his sound yet progressive views, his perfect acquaintanceship with our ecclesiastical polity, his candor in the treatment of all questions, and his great ability and prudence in advocating every good cause made him the Nestor of Presbyterianism in the Northwest. "When the present Synod was constituted by act of the General Assembly, Dr. Patterson was appointed as the man pre- REUNION 245 eminently qualified to preach its opening sermon and to preside over its deliberations. "We desire to put on record our gratitude to God for such a character and life, though it is beyond our power to pay a fitting tribute to his worth or to measure the extent of his influence and the far-reaching effects of his devoted service. In his death we lose the distinguished figure which connected us with the early work of our denomination in Illinois. "We extend to his family our sincere sympathy, and call upon each other to emulate his shining example. Amos H. Dean, E. C. Sickles, E. F. Bullard." 65 The year 1895 marked the inauguration of Rev. Andrew C. Zenos, D.D., as Professor of Biblical Theology at McCormick Seminary. The charge to the Professor was given by the Rev. W. W. Harsha, D.D., and Dr. Zenos gave an inaugural ad- dress titled "The History and Task of Biblical Theology." A quaint overture was presented to the Synod of 1895. "Resolved that the Synod deem it highly important to give its unqualified endorsement to the efforts of the Barbers' Protective Association of Illinois. The Synod takes this action because it believes in the divine right of all men to one day in seven as a day of rest, and also because it believes in the principle of obedience to law." The narrative of 1897 reports the organization of a Board of Deaconesses in one of the churches as a new departure that is worthy of close observation and friendly scrutiny. The Home Mission Committee complained of financial stringency that necessitated a curtailment in evangelistic effort; where three evangelists had formerly been employed they recommended because of the foregoing reason the employment of only one. The Synod laid aside all other activities and gave itself to a season of prayer for the outpouring of God's Spirit on the churches. Mormon missionaries had entered the state to propa- gandize the religious bodies, and the Synod, deliberating on the question, sent a word of caution to the stated clerks of the presbyteries. 1898 was to be a year of celebration on account of a different kind of doctrine — the observance of the 250th 65 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1894, pp. 72-73. 246 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS anniversary of the adoption of the Standards of the Church. The Committee to arrange for its observance consisted of a minister and an elder from each of the eleven presbyteries. The Rev. James Frothingham, of Chicago Presbytery, was directed to convene the Committee with the understanding that the Com- mittee would then name its own chairman and other officers. At the evening session of Synod's meeting the Moderator an- nounced the passing of Dr. Newton Bateman who had died early that evening. Synod by unanimous vote, passed the following resolution: "The Synod of Illinois, sitting in the city of Galesburg, hears with profound sorrow and surprise of the sudden death of the venerable and honored Newton Bateman. We desire to record our high estimate of his Christian character, of his eminent abil- ities and his wide influence as a teacher and promoter of high Christian learning, having served twelve years as Superintendent of Public Instructions in this State, and as President of Knox College during twenty- three years, up to 1894, when he felt the necessity of resigning his position. We also express our sympathy with the First Presbyterian Church of Galesburg and the members of the afflicted family in this sudden bereave- ment." 66 The 19th Century was drawing to a close, and the year 1899 found the various committees of the Synod tabulating their trends and their progress. The narrative of that year was presented by the Rev. W. O. Wallace with sections devoted to an appraisal of congregational services, Sabbath Schools, so- cieties, spiritual conditions, benevolence, family religion, mis- cellaneous, and finally, under these captions a kaleidoscopic view of the Synod of Illinois in action is presented. None of the brethren are described as entirely satisfied with the attendance at public worship. Chicago Presbytery has made advancement in promoting the evening service. Children and youth have been prominent in the advance. The report deplores the failure on the part of some parents to reinforce their children by their own personal presence at church. The Sabbath Schools of that year showed a net loss of 116 scholars. 1929 Sabbath School schol- 66 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1897, p. 69. REUNION 247 ars were received into church membership. This was 490 less than were received in the preceding year. Along with this falling off was a decline in the use of the Shorter Catechism. Of the 507 Sunday Schools reporting, 300 gave no instruction. 90% of the scholars brought their Bibles to Sunday School and studied their lessons at home. Organization was establishing new patterns. Men's societies were appearing in the majority of the presbyteries and were active in raising the funds for missions and church. Among their objects were listed social, educational and religious work among the members; discussion of vital problems in Sociology and Re- ligion; effort to secure the attendance of boys and men at the evening services; and regular study of the Bible in Sunday School classes. The Women's Societies were on the march, but the most noticeable trend was in the Young People's activities. The Synod reported: "Among Young People's Societies the Endeavor Society predominates in large measure. The latest statistics to hand give us 510 Young People's Societies, all told, 445 being Endeavor Societies, 6 independent Young People's Societies, and 59 ex- clusively Missionary Societies. We note with pleasure the great work being acomplished by these various Young People's Soci- eties of our church and give thanks to God for their earnest spirit and faithful labors, and bid them godspeed in their a- bundant labors." 67 Census-taking for the final year of the century revealed a net increase of 1,102 members for the year. The writer of the re- port urged that this figure was a cause of deep humiliation. Many of the presbyteries, namely, Alton, Bloomington, Mattoon, and Rock River, showed losses for the year, and Chicago Presby- tery was responsible for 794 of those gained. Contending with the churches were the saloon forces and the commercialized Sun- day amusements as well as psychological forces that the Synod catalogues as Universalism, skepticism, and infidelity. Benevo- lent budgets had shown an increase of $63,025, but family religion was being deplorably neglected by a majority of the families in 67 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1899, p. 48. 248 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS the church. It is very evident that the writers of the report did not complacently view the church as an end in itself but as an instrument in the hands of its Master. Quoting from the report: "Finally, after a careful and thoughtful perusal of the Presby- terial Narratives, we find many reasons why we, as Christians, ought to be deeply concerned in our spiritual Zion. Her very dust and stones are precious in our sight. "Our greatest need is the spirit of the early church. We have a superabundance of machinery, and plenty of earnest men and women. We need, in addition, the spirituality of the Apos- tolic Church, the spiritual sight and power. God's cause lan- guishes because of a death in these particulars. Our prayer should be, O Lord, send now prosperity, by a revival of apostolic fire and power.' "When we consider our faint endeavors and lack of spirit- ual unction, we are amazed at what 'God hath wrought.' 'The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.' He waiteth to do still greater things. His wisdom, His power, His grace are pledged to aid the church in the redemption of the world. "The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. W. O. Wallace, Chairman." 68 Almost the last act of the Synod before it adjourned in 1899 was the forwarding of a resolution to the General Assembly with reference to shaping the pattern of subsequent assemblies. "Whereas, one of the greatest pleasures of a Commissioner to the General Assembly is in meeting old friends and renewing old acquaintances: and "Whereas, it is often necessary for commissioners to see and confer with other commissioners on matters pertaining to business of the Assembly; and "Whereas, it is very desirable that the commissioners from a Synod and Presbytery should sit together in order to become better acquainted with each other and the better to confer con- cerning business before the Assembly: and "Whereas, when members have no regular seats this cannot 68 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1899, p. 52. REUNION 249 be done, commissioners cannot be found, and a commissioner during the whole Assembly will practically be alone in a crowd surrounded by strangers, nine-tenths of whom he does not know and has no means of knowing, thus lessening to a large degree the pleasure of the commissioner and the efficiency of the As- sembly; therefore "Resolved, That the Committee of Arrangements of the next General Assembly be, and it is, hereby requested to permanently assign seats at the opening of the Assembly to the members of each presbytery and synod, so that they may always sit conven- iently found." 69 ) In preparing for Synod's meeting of 1900 the assembled dele- gates indulged in reminiscence and a sense of incompleteness, if not futility. They had listened to reports and financial appeals to the exclusion of spiritual development and there was current a desire to mend these matters. The following excerpts from the minutes indicates the temper and action of the occasion: "The Rev. G. R. Pike, Edwin Beach, D. S. Johnson, S. H. Hyde, and Elders William Glendening, William H. Williams, and E. J. Holden were appointed a Committee to report to this meeting of the Synod such modification of the method of procedure in the conduct of the Synod's next annual meeting as shall change the weight of emphasis from routine business to the discussion of the more vital interests at issue in the Church." This committee subsequently submitted the following, which was adopted: "Whereas, it has been found impossible, as the business of the Synod is now organized, to a full presentation of great interests lying near the Church's heart; and "Whereas, through this defect there are wanting the intense conviction and enthusiastic zeal which alone can inspire the church- es of the Synod with the spirit of consecration needful to give efficacy to any resolution by it adopted; and "Whereas, there prevails, for this reason, a widespread dis- trust of the profitableness of continuing the present plan of procedure: 69 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1899, pp. 74-75. 250 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS "Therefore, Your committee recommend that the Synod min- imize its routine business and magnify its devotional features and the discussion of topics vital to the Church. In order that this may be practical, since it is not feasible either to lengthen the sessions or to increase their number, your committee recommend, second, that the Synod shorten its business (a) By more expeditious methods in making out its roll. (b) By printing its committees' reports, so far as practicable, and placing them in the hands of the commissioners before the meeting of the Synod. (c) By arranging to give precedence to different boards and causes in successive years that each in turn may be thoroughly dis- cussed. "Third, That the Synod rearrange its business by disposing of routine matters, so far as possible, in the less attended hours of the session. "Fourth, That the Synod emphasize the devotional element — (a) By appropriating the hour from 8:30 to 9:30 of the second day of its session to the celebration of the Lord's Supper. (b) By reserving the hour from 10:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. of each succeeding day of the session for devotional exercises. (c) By providing at each stated meeting for a consideration of evangelical work and agencies for the ensuing year. "Fifth, we further recommend that a committee be appointed to arrange a trial program, in keeping with the spirit of these recommendations, for next year, with permission to suspend such of the Synod's standing rules as may interfere with carrying out these instructions." 70 70 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1899, pp. 34-35. CHAPTER VI THE SYNOD OF ILLINOIS HAS AN EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION Reunion, as it was foreseen by its promoters, necessitated many readjustments. Outstanding among these readjustments was that in the field of aducation. Almost from the time of its entrance into Illinois the church had been vexed with the educa- tional question. John Millot Ellis and Thomas Lippincott, the pioneers, had planted Illinois College at Jacksonville; George W. Gale at Galesburg had laid the foundations of Knox College; and Gideon Blackburn had amassed the acreage and made the provisions that were to undergird Blackburn University. Sixteen different ventures had been made in the direction of parochial schools. The first of these was as Edwardsville, Kaskaskia Presbytery, in 1849. The same year an academy was opened at Grandview in Palestine Presbytery. Peoria Presbytery had two parochial schools opened in 1850 — that of the Chicago North Presbyterian Church, the old church home of Cyrus H. Mc- Cormick, and one of the ingredients that later constituted the Fourth Church; and a parochial school at Brunswick. In 1851 four parochial schools were planted — Springfield First and Wave- land of Sangamon Presbytery and Oquawka and Henderson, both in Schuyler Presbytery. In 1853 two more parochial schools were planted — Canton in Peoria Presbytery and Fountain Green in Schuyler Presbytery. In 1854 two schools were planted — Earl- ville in Chicago Presbytery and Highland Sugar Creek Church in Kaskaskia Presbyter} 7 . In I860 one school was planted at Friends- ville in Saline Presbytery. In 1863 one school was planted — St. John's German at Fosterburgh in Kaskaskia Presbytery; and in 1866 two schools were planted — Onarga in Bloomington Pres- bytery and St. Anne Second Presbyterian Church (French) in Chi- cago Presbytery. Three others had been proposed — Galena South Church in Galena Presbytery, 1854, and Rockford in Galena Pres- bytery in 1855; Chatsworth in Bloomington Presbytery in 1868. 251 252 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS None of the three got beyond the proposal stage and in the re- union only two of the parochial schools were still existent — that of Onargo and St. Anne, and the colleges at Jacksonville and Galesburg had passed from Presbyterian control. A striking sent- ence in the obituary notices of the New School Synod of Illinois, October, 1857, will indicate the strain and the stress in the edu- cational crisis. In the meeting of the Synod in October, 1857, resolutions were adopted in relation to the death of Dr. George W. Gale, a former member of this body in which "Cordial testimony" is borne "to his high worth as evinced in his Christian life, in his active spirit of benevolence, his devotion to the public welfare, especially to religious education and in his plans and efforts to advance the cause of Christ." "The Rev. Dr. Gale was both a patron and original pro- moter of higher Christian education. He founded the Oneida Institute in Oneida County, New York, from which afterward came the men who planted Oberlin College and Lane Theological Seminary. He was one of the three original purchasers of the township of Harmony Grove, Illinois, which included the site of Galesburg (named after him) and Knox College. "Immediately on his removal from the East and settlement there in 1836, he secured the establishment of a preparatory School and thereafter, the charter of "Knox Manual Labor College" so called. In due time the manual labor feature was eliminated and the institution became a regularly equipped classical college. "Dr. Gale was also among the foremost men of his day in the work of extending the cause of Christ throughout that part of the state and was especially instrumental in saving to Presby- terianism its rightful inheritance of churches and ministers from the efforts of other denominations to win their allegiance ! n The reasoning of the period immediately preceding the Re- union was not casuistic, but it was certainly pragmatic. The church was burdened by a great cause, "Fields are white already unto the harvest but the laborers are few." The question of the hour, as churchmen viewed it, was not the abstract question of labor, but the concrete question of laborers in God's harvest fields. 1 Outline History of the Synods of Illinois, p. 15. SYNOD OF ILLINOIS — EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION 253 The Presbyterian Church had confronted this question since the days of its entrance into the American pattern and had vigorously divided in 1741 into Old Side and New Side Presbyterians — the issue being Old World Education against New World Education for an American ministry. Prominent in this controversy were the Tennents and Samuel Davies, promoters of the College at Prince- ton. Hays in his "Presbyterians" gives an interesting treatment of the educational problem from the pragmatic approach: It may be somewhat difficult to prove from Scripture that there is an inspired requirement for an educated ministry. But experience confirms what is at least suggested by Scripture pas- sages and examples. The human founder of the Old Testament economy was an adopted child, providentially sent to the best universities of Egypt and supported, at public expense, by the Board of Education of the Egyptian government. Woman's co- operation in church enterprises is at least a fact in the assistance Pharaoh's daughter gave to the collegiate education of Moses. Solomon's wisdom is proverbial. Daniel was a graduate of the most learned institution of Babylon. Paul, after finishing the regular course at Tarsus, took a postgraduate course at Jerusa- lem, and his inspired instruction to his favorite pupil was directly in this line: 'The things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.' (II Tim. 2:2). Here is the requirement of natural talent, ability to teach, and doctrinal faith- fulness." 2 In line with this pragmatic temper are the deliverances of the presbyteries, synods, and general assemblies of the Church. The early ministers took promising young men into their homes and endeavored to prepare them for the work of the gospel ministry. Later ministers founded academies and colleges, but their aim was the inherited aim of preparing candidates for the gospel ministry. Thus the department of general Christian education which was organized as a part of the Board of Christian Education in 1848 was charged "to take action both in air of existing institutions and for the establishment of new ones," 3 and seventeen years later is charged "with the duty of looking over the claims of the edu- 2 Presbyterians, Hays, p. 254. 3 Report of Board of Education, 1848, p. 49. 254 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS cational institutions which may apply to the Church for aid, and recommend to Christian givers only those with promise of use- fulness and stability. 4 By 1871 the Board has secured $41,534 for the colleges as- sociated with the church. In 1883 the special committee on edu- cation made this significant pronouncement — "The province of the Board shall be to secure an annual offering from the churches for this cause: to cooperate with the local agencies in determining sites for new institutions; to decide what and how many institu- tions shall be aided; to assign to those institutions seeking an- First Presbyterian Church at Monmouth dowments special fields open to their appeals .... and to dis- courage all independent appeals to the church at large." 5 In the Synod of Illinois North holding its first meeting in the First Church of Chicago, June, 1870, certain documents from the Senate of the College of Monmouth were presented and the Stated Clerk was directed to transfer the same to the Synod of Illinois Central, accompanied with an explanatory statement, to-wit: "Whereas, the College of Monmouth and the churches in that vicinity are by the reconstruction of Synods located within the 4 Annual Report of Board of Education, 1865, p. 34. 5 Report of Special Committee on Education, Minutes of Presbyter- ian Church, U. S. A., 1883, p. 589. SYNOD OF ILLINOIS — EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION 255 bounds of the Synod of Illinois Central, and whereas, negotia- tions between former (Old School) Synod, Synod of Chicago and the Senate of said college for the endowment of an additional professorship were in progress and are unfinished and it is proper that these negotiations should be brought to some conclusion, therefore "Resolved, That the communication from the Senate of the College of Monmouth be transmitted and the subject be referred to the Synod of Illinois Central." In the standing rules of the Synod of Illinois North is the requirement "The Synod shall occupy at each annual meeting two evenings in the consideration of Missions, Church Extension and Education." Illustrative of the operation of this standing rule is the following: 'The Rev. Dr. Curtis presented the report of the Permanent Committee on Education, prepared by Rev. Dr. Halsey, in which attention was called to the following facts: "1. A steady increase of candidates for the gospel ministry, the number having risen in seven years from 353 to 722. "2. An alarming decrease in the incoming funds of the Board of Education, which reported last May to the General As- sembly a debt of nearly $19,000. "3. The last General Assembly ordered that the Board should neither borrow funds nor curtail the allowance to young men who depend upon its aid. "4. The Board, in its recent appeal, informs the Church that it will require to meet the demands upon it, $30,000 in Novem- ber, and as much in January, March, and May. "5. Twenty-seven of these 722 candidates for the ministry are under the care of the presbyteries of this Synod. The amount of appropriations to these twenty-seven young men by the Board is $4,280, while this Synod contributed last year to the Board only $1,996. "In view of these facts the Committee recommends, That the Synod cordially concur in the opinion, as expressed by the action of the General Assembly and the Board of Education, that the great work of sustaining all our young men who give them- selves to the gospel ministry, during their years of preparation, 256 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS must be carried forward by the Church without diminution or cessation; and that we pledge ourselves and our churches to con- tribute our full proportion, to the extent of our ability, in raising the funds for this purpose." 6 The report was accepted. In the Synod of Illinois Central, there appeared the Rev. J. W. Baily in behalf of Blackburn University and he was fol- lowed by the Rev. A. Hyde who spoke on behalf of Knox College. Gideon Blackburn They were followed by the report of a Committee who presented a certain communication from Monmouth College, namely, that inasmuch as the Synod of Chicago (late Old School) initiated the negotiations with the Synod of Illinois of the United Presby- terians and the authorities of Monmouth College which resulted in forming a connection between the Synod and the College by the provisions of which the Synod was to endow a professorship in said college and the Senate of the College were to fill such professorship from nominations made by the Synod and inasmuch 6 Synod of Illinois North, pp. 78-79. SYNOD OF ILLINOIS — EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION 257 as the interest involved being naturally by the location of the College connected with this Synod and the matter has been regu- larly referred to us by the Synod of Northern Illinois, the suc- cessor of the Synod of Chicago (late Old School) and therefore, Resolved, 1. That this Synod do ratify and adopt the agreement en- tered into between the Synod of Chicago and the Synod of Illinois United Presbyterian. 2 be and they are hereby appointed as mem- bers of the Senate of Monmouth College to the terms of said agreement. 3. That the directors or a majority of them being met to- gether are empowered to take such measures as they deem best to carry out the will of the Synod and shall proceed to raise an endowment fund of $ for the endowment of a professorship in Monmouth College. 4. That the churches under our care be earnestly requested to contribute to this endowment and to consider its claims in rais- ing money for the Memorial Fund. Signed, R. C. Mathews, Chairman The Committees on Blackburn University and Knox College gave their reports which are appended. 7 The Committee on Blackburn University reported the fol- lowing which was adopted, viz: Resolved, 1. That the Synod of Illinois Central have heard with great interest the statements of Rev. Dr. Baily in regard to the Black- burn University at Carlinville. 2. That Synod regard that University as affording much promise of future usefulness in raising up and qualifying many for the gospel ministry as well as for other positions of influence in Church and State. 3. That Synod regard Blackburn University as a suitable institution for the education of the young and we commend it to our ministers, and churches, as having a special claim upon us as Presbyterians. 7 Synod of Illinois, pp. 35-36. 258 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 4. That a Committee of one minister and one elder from each presbytery be appointed to attend the examination of the University at the time of its commencement. The following were appointed the said Committee: Of the Presbytery of Peoria, Rev. J. F. Magill and Elder L. L. Day. Of the Presbytery of Bloomington, Rev. D. R. Love and Elder W. H. Winegardner. Of the Presbytery of Springfield, Rev. J. A. Reed and Elder J. H. Fredenburg. Of the Presbytery of Schuyler, Rev. Dr. Jamieson and Elder W. C. Withrow. The Committee on Knox College made their report which was adopted and is as follows, viz: "Resolved, That Synod has listened with interest to the ad- dress of Rev. A. Hyde, Agent of Knox College, Illinois, and in order to give expression to our interest in the cause of liberal edu- cation, we will appoint a committee to attend the next annual examination of that college, which committee shall report at the next meeting of Synod. Rev. J. A. Priest, Rev. John Maclean, and A. S. Gardiner were appointed said Committee." The report of the Committee on Education crystallizes the opinions that were current. The synods and presbyteries had but little disposition to compromise their convictions as to the purposes of education. The endowments were for the purpose of placing men in the gospel ministry and the presbyteries were directed to husband their resources. Rev. D. R. Love made the following report on Education which was adopted: "Resolved, "1. That Synod declare all the candidates for the gospel ministry, and students on probation whose membership is within our bounds, to be under the care of the presbyteries within whose bounds these persons hold their church membership. "2. That each presbytery within our bounds be required to present to Synod annually a written report on ministerial educa- tion with special reference to the students under their care. "3. That each pastor and stated supply within our bounds be enjoined to present this fundamental cause annually from the SYNOD OF ILLINOIS — EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION 259 pulpits, accompanying it with such statements of facts, and earnest appeals as shall enlist the consecration of young men to the work of preaching the gospel and drawing forth liberal pecuniary con- tributions to aid them in fitting them for that end." 8 In the Synod of Illinois South no mention of Education oc- curs in the minutes of their first meeting at Vandalia save that in the docket under item 7 a discussion of "education for the ministry was to be led by the Rev. C. H. Foote at 7 P.M. on Friday." The meeting was devoted to laying out of the bounds of the presbyteries, electing officers, appointing committees, and adoption of standing rules and by-laws. At the second meeting of the Synod a letter from the Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Education calling attention to the interests of the Board was read, and later in the meeting Professor Baily of Blackburn University briefly addressed the Synod in regard to the condition, progress, and prospects of that institution. The following minute was adopted: "Inasmuch as the cause of Education has not been, through lack of time, brought properly before the Synod — rendering at- tention to this matter a more urgent necessity — and remembering that a number of young men within our bounds are receiving aid from the Board of Education; the Synod would urge, with unusual earnestness, all our churches, at an early day, to take a collection for that Board." 9 The Committee to visit Blackburn University reported and the report was adopted as follows: "They attended to the duty assigned, at the time of the annual examination and first commencement. The examinations were thorough, exact, and entirely satisfactory. We especially commend the excellence of the examination in Hebrew. It could hardly be surpassed. "The thorough examination in Theology satisfied your Com- mittee that the professor in this department can safely be trusted to instruct our young men in the doctrines of the Scriptures as believed and practiced by our church. "We may rightly have a degree of pride in having such an institution, so successful and efficient, within our bounds." 8 Synod of Illinois Central, p. 26. 9 Synod of Illinois South, p. 42. 260 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS The following minute was also adopted: "The synod, having listened with great satisfaction to the statements of Prof. Baily in regard to the condition and progress of Blackburn University, therefore, "Resolved, That we recognize in this rising institution the hand of God in providing for the young men and women of our Church in Southern Illinois, facilities for a liberal education, under the direction of this Synod, and we cordially recommend it to the prayers and confidence of the churches." McCormick Seminary Increasingly the lines were being drawn in the field of min- isterial education. The committee that reported to the various presbyteries and synods stressed the importance of moral and relig- ious training imparted in the schools they visited. Thus, through an entire decade, Blackburn University received commendations be- cause of their work in divinity; and other schools wilted while they waited for an approval that was unearned. The Theological Seminary of the Northwest had survived the vicissitudes of the Civil War, the Chicago fire, the depression of the Seventies and the Swing Trial with Dr. Patton of their faculty preferring charges in that trial, and was rising through sheer merit to a place of supremacy in the field of theological education. SYNOD OF ILLINOIS — EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION 26 1 The Committee on Education were constantly tightening up on the requirements in candidates applying for aid. Dr. Noyes, presenting the report on education to the Synod of Illinois North (Kankakee, 1880), proposed the following resolution which was adopted: "Resolved, That we heartily approve the rule which we understand the Board of Education has recently adopted, by the operation of which appropriations to candidates for the ministry under its care, whose scholarship does not grade 'Medium' are withheld; also "That the Stated Clerk of Synod be instructed to send a certified copy of this resolution to the Secretary of the Board of Education." This same Synod appointed Drs. Herrick Johnson and J. M. Worrall with Elders H. T. Helm a committee to report at the next meeting of Synod upon the relations that candidates for the min- istry sustained with their respective presbyteries. In the Synod of Illinois Central (Peoria, 1876) the special committee to visit the Theological Seminary of the Northwest presented the following report which was adopted: "Snyod has heard with gratitude of the prosperity of the Theological Seminary of Chicago. The harmony within its bor- ders, the interest of the professors in their work, the increase of students, the hopeful financial condition, and the growing in- interest of the whole country in its welfare, are occasions for devout rejoicing. We cheerfully commend the Seminary to the sympathy and prayers of the churches within our bounds. We particularly ask their substantial aid in the present pecuniary emergency until the endowments of the institution become fully available, and would suggest to individual Christians, that wills that have not yet been written, or finally sealed, might bring the blessings of heaven upon all their provisions, by a rememberance of this School of the Prophets." 10 The same Synod (Bloomington, 1878) passed the following resolution with reference to the German Theological Seminary at Dubuque: "Resolved. I. That it is the sense of this Synod that the German work in our land deserves our most hearty approbation. 10 Synod of Illinois Central, 1876, pp. 222, 223. 262 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS "Resolved, II. That feeling it among our highest privileges and most sacred duties to aid and support this work in our midst, and as a scheme of the highest economy, this Synod hereby recom- Lake Forest University, at Lake Forest, Illinois mends to the several sessions under its care that at an early date they give their people an opportunity to make a contribution to the running expenses of the German Theological Seminary at Dubuque and forward the same to the Rev. A. W. Rinland, the SYNOD OF ILLINOIS — EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION 263 financial agent and Secretary of the Board of Trustees at Bement, Illinois." 11 Meeting at Quincy, 1880, this Synod heard the Rev. J. F. Magill report his visit to Lake Forest University. The following is the minute on the subject: "Rev. J. F. Magill of the committee to attend the examina- tions of Lake Forest University reported that he had preformed that duty and that he was most favorably impressed by the ap- pointments and equipments of the university fitting it to furnish the kind of education needed by the church of the 'Northwest'." 12 Consolidation was in the air, but the practical details of con- solidation were manifold and unwieldy. This was particularly true in the field of education. No Presbyterian minister looked upon education as an end in itself. Education was a means to an end and was commended to the generous consideration of Presbyterian men and women in order that through education Christian men and women might be developed to become workers in God's vineyard. The following resolution from the records of the Synod of Illinois South illustrates the point of view as does the report of the Committee on Education which immediately follows it: Resolved, "That Synod desires to put on record its high appreciation of Blackburn University, and to recommend it to the sympathies, prayer, beneficence, and patronage of the Christian people within our bounds as a fountain of learning from which they and their children may draw rich supplies of knowledge and culture." 13 "The Permanent Committee on Education reports that the cause of Education, as related to the Board of Education in this Synod, stands as follows: Candidates for the Ministry: Alton Presbytery — four; of whom two are not receiving aid. Mattoon Presbytery — one. Cairo Presbytery — five; of whom two are not under the care of the Board. 11 Synod of Illinois Central, 1876, p. 276. 12 Synod of Illinois Central, 1880, pp. 329, 330. 13 Synod of Illinois South, 1875, p. 175. 264 the presbyterian synods of illinois Contributions: Alton Presbytery $138.76 Churches contributing 13 Non-contributing 38 Cairo Presbytery $ 48.64 Churches contributing 12 Non-contributing 45 Mattoon Presbytery $ 44.86 Churches contributing 8 Non-contributing 39 "Your committee would call the attention of Synod to the prevailing negligence of pastors, stated supplies, and sessions in regard to the duty of contributing to this vital cause. Out of 155 churches in the Synod, 33 only are credited with any gift to this cause. "The claims of the Board of Education upon our ministers in this Synod are very good. It is the mother that nurtured and brought on the vast majority of those now in the ministry, to their work. We owe her filial love and fidelity. "Nearly all of our candidates now and in past days have re- ceived vital aid from the Board of Education — aid without which they would now be compelled to withdraw from the struggle to prepare themselves for serving the churches in the Lord. Shall we receive and not give liberally to this fund! "The Committee further suggest the importance of Presbyter- ian academies to promote the increase of the number of candi- dates. In our field the number of worthy men looking to the ministry has increased as classical schools have been started. Our candidates have appeared in almost every case from the neighbor- hood of such schools. Let these links between the mass of our converted youth and the colleges have a large place in the atten- tion and prayers of our people. "We recommend the adoption of the following resolution: "1. That Synod returns its thanks to the Board of Educa- tion for the promptness and courtesy with which they have re- sponded to our calls for aid for our condidates. "2. That we solemnly pledge to use our diligence to secure contributions to the Board from all our churches." S. C. Baldridge, S. H. Hyde 14 !4 Synod of Illinois South, 1876, pp. 200-201. SYNOD OF ILLINOIS — EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION 265 The next resolution indicates that a new day in travel and transportation has visited the Synod of Illinois South. "It was resolved, "That the Synod of Illinois South return to Captain Thomas W. Holliday, Treasurer of the Ferry Company, and to Captain U. G. Sandusky, of the Three States', hearty and unanimous thanks for their courtesy and kindness in granting to this body a pleasant excursion on their commodious steamer to the far-found shores of Missouri and Kentucky. "It was further resolved: "That the thanks of Synod be returned to the officers of this church for the use of their house of worship. "To the members of the church and other citizens of Cairo, for their generous hospitality. "To the officers of the Illinois Central, Cairo and Vincennes, Cairo and St. Louis, and Cairo Short Line Railroads, and of the Memphis and St. Louis Line of tickets for their reduction of fare to members of Synod; also to the Moderator for his impartiality and patience in the perplexities of ruling." 15 The actions of the various synods border on competition and duplication. The various colleges, more or less nurtured in privacy, pushed their financial appeals before the larger public that lay outside the bounds of their respective synods. Two reso- lutions of the Synod of Illinois South will illustrate the condi- tion. The first is with reference to Blackburn University in- digenous in that territory and the second is with reference to the German Theological Seminary of Dubuque indigenous to Iowa and outside the bounds of the Synods of Illinois. "Whereas Synod has listened with great interest to the re- marks of brethren with regard to the condition and prosperity, present and prospective, of Blackburn University: Therefore, Resolved : "1. That we express our gratification at the tokens of in- terest and success so evidentally manifested. "2. That we as a Synod commend the claims of that insti- tution to all our churches and ministers, exhorting them to do all in their power to increase its influence and usefulness. 15 Synod of Illinois South, pp. 208-209, Cairo, 1876. 266 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS "3. That we suggest in this direction the procuring of do- nations to the library, apparatus, or scholarships, special endow- ments by way of legacy or otherwise. "4. That we suggest to ministers the propriety of commend- ing this institution to the young people under their care." 16 "Resolved, "1. That it is the sense of this body that the German work is one deserving of our most generous support. "2. That as a scheme of the highest economy this Synod would recommend the several pastors and sessions under our care to give their people an early opportunity to contribute to the work in the North West as represented by the German Theological Seminary of Dubuque, Iowa, and forward the same to Rev. A. W. Rinland, the financial agent of the Board of Trustees, at his address, Bement, Piatt County, Illinois." 17 Perhaps the day of the parochial school and of the churches' committments in the field of general education was passing if it had not already passed, for Synod, bereaved of a beloved brother, wrote his obituary tenderly but made no reference to the dynamic influence he had wielded in the days of his parochial school at Paris. "It is with feelings of profound sorrow that Synod records the death of Rev. Henry I. Venable who died at Paris, Illinois, May 22, 1878. He was a member of this Synod and a brother beloved. In the minds of some of our number the name of Brother Venable is associated with tender memories of earnest toil and fraternal support and cheer in the work of the Lord. "It is unspeakable consolation that after a long and painful struggle our brother rests in the arms of Him whom he served in life and whose cross he bore in Africa as well as at home. "To the widow of our brother who is left alone, we extend our sincere sympathy. And our prayer is that in her declining years God, who was the God of her youth, may abundantly sus- tain and comfort her." S. B. Taggart, Chairman. 18 Some concept of what the church was asking of its servant, education, will be gleaned from the report of the Committee of 16 Synod of Illinois South, 1877, p. 230. 17 Synod of Illinois South, 1878, p. 258. 18 Synod of Illinois South, 1878, pp. 273-274. SYNOD OF ILLINOIS — EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION 267 the Synod of Illinois South which visited Blackburn University in 1879. The Committee appointed by Synod to attend the last ex- amination and commencement exercises of Blackburn Univer- sity reported. Their diligence was approved and their report adopted as follows: "The undersigned members of the Committee appointed by Synod to attend the examinations and commencement exercises of Blackburn University respectfully report that we used our best diligence in the discharge of this duty. We were present at a considerable part of the examinations and at the commencement exercises. The impressions made on our minds were very favor- able. There seemed to have been real devotion to study on the part of the students and ability and faithfulness on the part of the instructors. "The examinations were conducted fairly and thoroughly, developing a high standard of scholarship and a worthy endeavor to attain it. The manifest order and discipline were also com- mendable. "Inquiry brought to light the further important fact that the moral and religious condition of the institution has been ex- ceedingly good during the past year as shown both in attendance generally upon the means of grace and in an earnest spirit of de- votion to duty. "The Commencement exercises included the baccalaureate sermon by Dr. E. L. Hurd, a sermon by Dr. J. G. Reaser, a lecture by Dr. W. M. Blackburn, the Junior Exhibition, Class Day exer- cises, Alumni Meeting, and the addresses of the graduating class, filling a week with great profit and delight. The graduating class numbered seven and in the matter and manner of their addresses evinced a high degree of culture and gave good promise of use- fulness in the various spheres of life before them. The whole number of students connected with the institution during the past year was 126. "On Commencement Day, after conferring the degrees, the President, Rev. E. L. Hurd, D.D., announced the gratifying fact that the Board of Trustees had received from Dr. Robertson the generous donation of $3,500 toward the erection of a suitable 268 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS building for a chemical laboratory, museum, and society halls, and that they had determined to go forward with the purpose to increase this sum to $5,000 and proceed at once to erect the building. "This indication of increased prosperity with other signs of a favoring Providence, the harmonious and earnest labor of the faculty, the moderate expense attending the prosecution of a course of study, board being furnished in the university building at $2.00 per week, students for the ministry, minister's and trustee's children received to all classes without charge for tuition, and the highest rate for any being but $25 per year and the range of the curriculum being adapted to the times and the needs of the students in whatever department of academic, collegiate, or theo- logical study he may wish to engage, present Blackburn to us in an encouraging and hopeful light. Though now comparatively in its youth it has in itself a power for present good and the promise of a large growth and wide usefulness in the not distant future. "Therefore be it resolved, That we heartly commend Black- burn University to the churches of this Synod as affording excel- lent facilities for the education and moral training, a culture of their sons and daughters, as in cordial sympathy with the spirit and order of our holy religion and as adopted to promote the best intellectual and spiritual culture. "We also commend it to the prayers of God's people as a literary foundation especially consecrated to his glory and ask for it such helpful consideration and generous support as it may be in their power to give. Committeemen J. L. McNair, T. E. Spilman, S. H. Hyde." 19 The statistics of the various presbyteries and synods indicate that the cost of raising up a ministry was out of all proportion to the amount of service rendered. The demand was more ministers and for a kind of training that would make them good ministers of Jesus Christ. The colleges were lagging behind in this respect and were finding it increasing difficult to convince the churches that donations to them would yield returns through an educated ministry. Blackburn University, Lake Forest University, and the 19 Synod of Illinois South, 1879, pp, 300-303. SYNOD OF ILLINOIS — EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION 269 Seminary of the Northwest approached more nearly to the Church's ideals in Christian Education but in the main it was self- evident that any ministry that was raised up would be as a result of efforts expended by presbyteries and church sessions. Reconstruction tended to become a political issue that was di- visive in its every connection. In the Seminary of the Northwest a decade of difficulty was initiated under its banners. Mr. Cyrus M. McCormick had been an Old School Presbyterian, and in the re- Cyrus H. McCormick union of Old School and New School no man exhibited more pa- tience or tolerance than he. But in spite of his best endeavors, the Board of Directors and the Faculty formed their ranks under the slogans of the rival Republican and Democratic parties; creating a breach so irreparable as to almost close down the activities of the in- stitution. Mr. McCormick was rebuffed and publicly slighted and insulted. His opponents titled themselves the "New Friends" of the institution and referred to its long-time promoters and supporters as the "Old Friends." Faculty, directors, and trustees were per- meated with division. Ruthless methods were resorted to in order 270 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS that trustees of the rival party might be deposed. Faculty appoint- ments were arrived at by methods that were questionable and pub- lic esteem was sacrificed in the interests of private partisanship. Debts accrued and revenues appeared unattainable. At this juncture Mr. McCormick came forward with an offer of renewed help. "I expect to make good any promises that I have made. The Seminary must be tided over. If others stand back and re- fuse to aid, I cannot afford to see all our past labor lost. The thing must be done, the thing can be done, soon, pleasantly, and to the joy of us all if we will now unite in a vigorous and a determined effort, going to work without objections and with a good will." 20 Mr. McCormick then offered to the Seminary the sum of $75,000 and offered to duplicate every $5,000 raised from other sources. The Directors of the Seminary, confronted by such gener- osity, took counsel and determined that for the good of the in- stitution all rivalries should be uprooted. They demanded that the Faculty as a body should resign and seek other fields of labor. April, 1881, found the Seminary cleansed of its personnel and a new faculty comprised of Dr. Herrick Johnson in Homiletics, Dr. Willis G. Craig in History, Dr. David C. Marquis in New Tes- tament, Dr. Thomas H. Skinner in Theology, Dr. Edward H. Curtis in Old Testament were conducting its classes and infusing a new vigor into every feature of the Seminary's life. 21 The ministerial candidates to whom the Board of Christian Education was tendering subsidy came under the scrutiny of the church and economy was preached on their account as is evidenced in Synod's action upon an overture upon the subject of "The Use of Tobacco." "The Committee on Education to whom was referred the overture from Bloomington Presbytery requesting the Synod to overture the next Assembly to make it a standing rule of The Board of Education that all students under its care end receiving its funds shall hereafter be prohibited from the use of tobacco as a condition of receiving any of its funds donated to the Board 20 Presbyterian Theological Seminary Chicago, James G. K. Mc- Clure, p. 69. 21 Ibid., p. 71. SYNOD OF ILLINOIS — EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION 271 for educational purposes, would report that they feel that, as a matter of delicacy and justice, every one receiving aid from the Board of Education should abstain from the use of tobacco, as a useless and expensive habit, not consistent with the fact of receiving aid from the church in the prosecution of his studies; but they also feel that nothing should be done, in disbursing this aid which shall make it appear a matter of charity, carrying with it an unpleasant sense of obligation, and calculated to impair the manhood and independence of our students. "We feel that the time for such action as an overture con- templates has not yet come. We reiterate the recommendation of the standing committee on Education of the last General Assem- bly, as sufficient for the present, viz, on page 624, on the undue waste of money by candidates. A. H. Dean, Chairman." 22 Of a piece with other measures that were born of a deter- mination to economize was the forthright presentation by the Rev. Herrick Johnson, D.D., of the subject of Aid to Colleges and Academies. The General Assembly, since 1877, had desperately sought a master pattern wherewith to handle all of the demands made upon it, including the distressing demands that were made upon it by colleges and academies. Its clarion call of 1877 had been, "some plan which should result in the better endowment of our institutions and some system for the aid of colleges." A com- mittee was appointed at that General Assembly, was enlarged in 1878, in 1879, and 1880 and had additional duties assigned to it. Education both in Europe and America was exhaustively studied and a voluminous correspondence was carried on by the com- mittee which finally came to the unanimous opinion that the church had a separate approach to the educational interest and needed "a separate and special agency for the direction and en- largement of this work." In their report to the General Assembly of 1883 they secured the unanimous approval of the General As- sembly. The temper of their report is transparently clear in these words culled from it, "To promote institutions that should have as their aim the education of the whole man by colleges pervaded by a positive Christian atmosphere, and that should make the Bible one of the textbooks with all the instruction in harmony with 22 Records of the Synod of Illinois, 1882-1883, pp. 146-148. 272 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS the Christian faith, and the influence on the students in favor of the ministry as a life work rather than away from it." 23 To implement the purposes outlined in this pattern of phil- anthropy, the General Assembly set up a new board known as the Board of Aid for Colleges and Academies. Not only did this Board owe its parentage to Illinois in the person of Herrick Johnson, but it was also located from the outset in Chicago. Within eight years of its inception it had dispensed to institutions under its care $582,597.35. Its services to approved institutions were far in excess of that staggering figure, and its reputation for reliable guidance in matters of generosity bordered on in- fallibility. It was quickly evident to students of current trends that the interest of the Presbyterian Church was not in education for education's sake but in education as a means to an end and that end the building of Christ's Church and Kingdom. The minute of the Consolidated Synod meeting at Alton, October 18, 1883, followed the recommendation of its Special Committee on Higher Education and ordered "That each Presby- tery be directed to appoint a permanent committee on the Board of Aid for Colleges and Academies and that the chairmen of our several presbyterial committees so appointed constitute the Synod's Permanent Committee on the said Board, the member from Chi- cago Presbytery to be chairman." In the discussions engendered by the recommendations of General Assembly's Committee on Education the economic factor is again evident. Quoting from the report of that Committee, "It may be of some interest to note that in only five synods has the average contribution per member been greater than in our own, viz: Baltimore gave at the rate of .11 2/3 New York gave at the rate of .11 2/3 New Jersey and Colorado each gave at the rate of .09 2/3 Pennsylvania gave at the rate of .09 1/2 Kentucky and Illinois gave at the rate of .08 1/2 Total given by our Synod during last year was $9,652 23 Hays' Presbyterians, pp. 32-33. SYNOD OF ILLINOIS — EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION 273 This gift was exceeded only by the following synods: New York $ 59,510 Pennsylvania $ 55,325 New Jersey $ 17,608 Ohio $ 16,759 "Discussion on the subject of ministerial supply uncovered some startling statistics relative to vacant churches and an inade- quate supply of ministers. Quoting from the report of Synod's Committee, "The condition of things does not seem so alarming when we consider that 2,503 of our churches have a member- ship of less than 50; 1,287 have less than 25; 987 have less than 20; while 93 have no more than 5." 24 The following were the recommendations of this Commit- tee which were submitted and adopted: "We recommend the following resolutions for adoption by the Synod: "1. In view of the decline in the number studying for the ministry, Resolved, 1st, That we will carry out the recommen- dation of the last General Assembly, viz, That all pastors and stated supplies be requested to study very carefully the fact and cause of the diminishing supply of ministers and to make the same the subject of special preaching and prayer on the last Sab- bath in January next.' Resolved, 2nd, That our presbyteries be enjoined to exercise such Presbyterial oversight and care of the churches under their jurisdiction as shall tend to do away with the objectionable features in the present system of candidating, a system which, while injurious to the churches, seems to bring the ministerial office into disrepute, and to deter young men from entering it. "II. In view of the earnest wish and endeavor of the Board to put its scholarships at the maximum allowed by the rules, viz: $150 for students in the theological and collegiate courses, and $100 for those in the preparatory department. Resolved, That we urge upon our presbyteries the constant endeavor to secure a contribution from all their churches, and to increase the amounts hitherto contributed, and that the Commit- 24 Synod of Illinois, 1882-1883, pp. 116-117. 274 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS tee on Education in each presbytery be requested to bring this action of the Synod to the notice of all the churches within its bounds, and to use any suitable means looking to its execution. "III. In view of the number of vacant churches in our Synod, the difficulty of securing supplies for them, and the fields opening in the vicinity of the distant seminaries in which our young men are studying. Resolved, That we suggest to each presbytery the importance of retaining under its care, and manifesting a friendly interest in all its students for the ministry, calling their attention to the work at home, introducing them to fields of labor so far as prac- ticable during vacation and upon graduation, and thus raising up our own men for our own fields. (Signed) A. H. Dean, Chair- man. zo In the educational field occupied by the Sabbath School, T. E. Spilman, (son of T. A. Spilman, one of the pioneer ministers of Illinois) was proposing an improvement in the standards of the Sunday school. "No special line of work having been indicated by the Synod, your committee felt at liberty to devise and seek to carry out what- ever plans might seem most likely to make our Sabbath School work more thorough and effective. "Believing that a great want of our schools was a higher standard of teaching, and that, in order to elevate this standard, aid must be given to the teacher, the following plan was pro- posed: "Let the Sabbath School Committee of each presbytery, when such committee exists, arrange the churches of its presby- tery into convenient groups of five or six churches, more or less, with a view to holding teachers' institutes. Let the Presbyterial committee suggest some pastor in this group, together with his Sabbath School superintendent as a committee to arrange for holding an institute in each church of the group; or, where sev- eral churches are so situated that its teachers can conveniently meet in one place, as in cities and large towns, let the teachers of these contiguous churches unite in one institute. "Let the pastors and most competent Sabbath School workers 25 Synod of Illinois, 1882-1883, pp. 119-122. SYNOD OF ILLINOIS EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION 275 in each particular group make at least one careful preparation each, which he could use in all the institutes of that group. "Circulars setting forth this plan of work have been printed and sent to the chairman of the several committees of presbyteries in the Synod. As yet, no great advance has been made in the line indicated, and only a few institutes have been held. "The Committee would recommend that the certificates pub- lished by the Board of Publication be awarded to Sabbath School Scholars who commit to memory, and satisfactorily the 'memory verses' of the lessons for the year, be secured by the presbyterial Sabbath School Committees, and awarded in accordance with the provisions of the Board. "The Committee would further recommend the careful con- sideration, and, so far as practicable, the adoption of the 'Plan of Study proposed by Rev. J. A. Worden, D.D., as set forth in a recent number of the 'Westminster Teacher', and entitled, 'The Bible Correspondence School.' "Comparing the report of the last General Assembly with the one previous, we find an increase in our Sunday School member- ship of about seventeen hundred during the year. "The Committee would offer the subjoined resolutions for adoption by the Synod: "I. Resolved, That the presbyteries be urged to provide for a Teachers' Institute annually in every church or, at least, every community within its bounds. "II. Resolved, That our pastors and sessions make kind and earnest endeavors to have our schools use the lesson helps of our own Board. "III. Resolved, That the Synod recommend and urge every school within its bounds to organize a class for Bible study in ac- cordance with the plans of the 'Bible Correspondence School.' "IV. Resolved, That energetic and patient effort be made to have the churches support the schools with their own funds, and educate them to contribute to all the Boards of the Church. T. E. Spilman, Chairman." 26 The annual reports of Lake Forest University and Black- burn University indicate the trend in educational oversight: 26 Synod of Illinois, 1882, 1883, pp. 174-178. 276 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS "The annual reports of the Board of Trustees of Lake Forest University laid before the Synod represented a constant growth in that institution. Although the faculties of the Academy, Ferry Hall, and the College experienced changes in their mem- bers, and the President, the Rev. D. S. Gregory, D.D., was compelled in 1885 to retire in consequence of sickness, there ap- pears, in the reports of the committees of visitation, uniform testimony to the efficiency of the professors and the proficiency of the students, and a most hopeful outlook for this institution. "The last report, in 1886, announces the election of Rev. William C. Roberts, D.D., Junior Secretary of the Board of Home Missions, to the Presidency, and further expresses the confident belief that, with his inauguration, 'the time has come for enlarg- ing the resources of the University, and preparing for greater work.' An appeal is also made to the members of the Synod to cooperate in this work, 'and especially to lend their influence send- ing their sons and daughters to the school, and by following them with their prayers for their spiritual welfare, and for the making of this University a greater source of consecrated power for the cause of Christ in this and other lands.' "Blackburn University has, in like manner, been presented to the Synod by committees of visitation who have made annual reports of its condition and prospects. "The importance of such an institution, situated in a part of the State where few schools of a high grade are to be found, and where so many young men and women of Presbyterian par- entage are desirous of securing education, is more manifest every year. But for Blackburn, as the visitors' report for 1883 well says, 'only a very few of all who,' in that locality, have 'enjoyed the advantages of a collegiate education could have secured such advantages.' "All the reports speak of the high standard of scholarship and morality, of the religious character of the faculty, and the ample facilities for a liberal education in this school; and 'cor- dially recommend it to the full approval of the Synod and to the confidence and patronage of all parents who may wish to se- cure for their sons and daughters, at little cost, high advantages in Christian education.' SYNOD OF ILLINOIS — EXPERIENCE WITH EDUCATION 277 "That such an education has been secured is evidenced by the fact that Blackburn has sent a goodly number of graduates to the Theological Seminaries, particularly to the McCormick Seminary within the past five years, and that, almost every year, revival influences prevail; and last year, a large proportion of the students had become Christians, or had been more positively com- mitted to Christ." 27 "In 1884 a minute was adopted expressing the Synod's gratification at the remarkable prosperity that during the past three years has attended the Seminary of the Northwest, the large increase of students, enlargement of resources, erection of new buildings, and other like evidences of the gracious favor of God and the liberality of friends and we do recommend the Seminary very heartily to the confidence, interest, and affection of all our congregation." 28 In sharp contrast to the detailed enthusiasm of the previous resolution is the rather terse resolution on Dubuque Seminary. "The Synod has heard with great interest and gratification of the origin, growth, and prosperous work of Dubuque Seminary and is glad to commend this institution most heartily to the sympathy, prayers, and cooperation of our people." Education was being subjected to scrutiny in order to tabu- late its returns for the gospel ministry. The Rev. W. S. Marquis, reporting for the permanent Committee on the Board of Aid for Colleges (1894) succinctly presents the point of view and approach. "It is to be remembered that this Board was established to plant and foster Christian colleges and academies. It is not an effort of the church to put higher education within reach of the youth of the land, but to install Christian influences into higher education. And it is succeeding. The secular institutions do not nourish Christian life, or draw men into Christian work. Our Secretary has examined the catalogues of nine theological sem- inaries and finds that of the 820 students they enrolled 6.8 per cent came from state institutions and 80.2 per cent from Christian colleges. 'All but about one-tenth of our theological students in the country at large,' says Dr. Fisher of Hanover College, 'come 27 Outline History of the Synods of Illinois, 1831-1887, pp. 61-62. 28 Synod of Illinois, 1884, p. 38. 278 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS from the distinctively Christian colleges.' Such facts and figures declare that the Christian college and academy, with their dis- tinctively Christian influence, are absolutely essential to the church. They are essential, also, if Christianity is to retain her dominant influence in public schools and state institutions in the future as in the past. •29 Presbyterian Church at Carbondale, Illinois The nineteenth century drawing to its close had all the evidences of things that were passing, but in none of its characteristics was transition and change more apparent than in education. As the Presbyterian Church looked backward there was a certain wistfulness in the glance, a sense of loss, but there was courage in the forward look and a determination to so shape education as to make it under God the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and His church. 29 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1894, p. 55. CHAPTER VII THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY The Synod of Illinois convened for its first meeting in the 20th Century October 16, 1900, at 7:30 P. M., in the First Presby- terian Church of Decatur. Rev. Joseph M. Ross, the retiring Moderator, preached the sermon of the evening from a text taken from Heb. 11:27, "For he endured as seeing Him Who is in- visible." An innovation was the prominence of the special com- mittee on program who guided the meeting and made their re- port the order of business. "Were this body composed of the same members as the Synod of last year, nothing more would be necessary than to present the program prepared, saying, This is our report.' For the better understanding of what has been attempted, however, it seems needful to recall the action of last Synod. "The fact, though sad, is indisputable, that there is a wide- spread conviction that our ecclesiastical gatherings fail of their object and fall far short of their opportunities. The belief is gen- eral that they have degenerated into mere machines for the reeling and unreeling of endless spools of red tape, without aim or sig- nificance. So reduced in current opinions, especially are the synods, which to most appear as a supernumerary wheel inserted to give symmetry to the system rather than intrinsically important for themselves, that it is difficult to find commissioners willing to attend or appointees willing to prepare for parts assigned them. With these facts in view, an endeavor to raise our own Synod, at least, something nearer the plane of its possibilities and to inject more vitality into its meeting appealed to all as reasonable and desireable. "A resolution was adopted recommending that the Synod minimize its routine business and magnify its devotional features, and the discussion of topics vital to the Church." 1 1 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1899, p. 34. 279 280 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Synod of Illinois— 1897 THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 281 A committee was appointed 'to arrange a trial program, in keeping with the spirit of these recommendations, for next year, with permission to suspend such of the Synod's standing rules as may interfere with carrying out these instructions.' "While your committee have been sympathetic and earnest in their attempt to carry out the instructions of Synod, they are un- willing that the results of their labor should be regarded as in any way, an ideal outline of what a session of Synod might, and ought, to be. The momentum of former ideas and methods is too great to be overcome in a single year. The old distrust will not so readily be replaced by confidence and cooperation. All we can claim is that we have made a beginning, and that we have set our faces in the right direction. Our report, which lies before you in the printed docket, can be regarded only as the result of the committee's desire to make our meeting inspirational and life-lifting and to overcome the accumulated vis inertiae which has blocked our way at many points." "All of which is respectfully submitted, G. R. Pike, for the Committee." 2 The program was then presented and adopted. The program as adopted was more of an appeasement than a victory. A few economies in time were achieved, but very few of the regular thieves of time were absent from the resultant pro- gram. More of devotional atmosphere was injected into the meeting and popular discussions were included in the docket. 1. The Minister and his Work as Seen from the Pew. Elder J. A. Zellar. 2. The Elder and his Work as Seen from the Pulpit. Rev. C. C. Reynolds. The chairman of the committee, the Rev. G. R. Pike, gave an address, "How to Increase the Spiritual Life of Ourselves and our Churches." This was preceded by a devotional hour led by the Rev. A. B. Morey. But the usual appeals couched in language that implied dereliction from duty were multitudinous. System- atic benevolence had no tolerance for preferences in giving. As 2 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1900, pp. 9-10. 282 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS the meeting drew to a conclusion, certain resolutions indicated limited achievement. The Stated Clerk was authorized to curtail the reports of Permanent Committees at his discretion. The dis- cussion which was to have been held between Prof. J. A. Zellar and the Rev. Clarence C. Reynolds was deferred to the meeting of Synod next year. The standing rules of Synod were suspended so far as needful to allow the Committee on Arrangements to carry C. Harmon Johnson out the plans adopted last year for the increase of practical spirit- ual interest in the next annual meeting. By the time that annual meeting had arrived, time had exacted its toll from the elect personnel of the Synod. Two co-workers, D. S. Johnson, the Stated Clerk, and S. H. Hyde, the Permanent Clerk, had completed twenty years of service and were seeking retirement. Regrets were expressed and their successors elected to office. The routine dockets of the past showed no evidence of THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 283 rigor mortis, and the suggested improvements failed to take their place in the perspectives of the Synod. Such fire as was evidenced occurred not in the devotional program but rather in a proposal to establish a new pattern in reporting on the Church and on the ministerial relationship. The abbreviations used in the General Assembly minutes were considered as beneath the dignity of the Presbyterian Church. S. S. or Stated Supply was a relationship that was contrary to our standards and an altogether too loose form of designation. In many cases students were supplying the pulpits and were being listed in the tabulations as stated supplies. Ev., the abbreviation for evangelist, was subject to the same type of looseness and rarely, if ever, described evangelistic services. W. C, the abbreviation for without charge, was considered an uncomplimentary designation, and it was suggested that it should be replaced with "other ministers on the roll of Presbytery." If there was any question as to the intent of Synod, the following quotation gave clarity to the issue: "And now, brethren, what is the office of the sacred minis- try? Is it a high calling of God, or is it with some only a pro- fession ? If the former, it certainly calls for consecration. In the Presbyterian polity, the pastoral relation is the stamp of faith on the part of both minister and people that God has called that minister to that church. Sometimes it will require a high type of consecration for a minister thus to testify of his faith; sometimes it will require a high type of faith on the part of the church. But that type is to be found in the Presbyterian Church. In the manifest increase of esprit de corps in the Presbyterian Church of today, let us rally around the old-fashioned and scrip- tural terms of minister and pastor, and abandon more and more, if not altogether, the modern professional terms of 'S.S.' and 'W.C.' 3 The good intension with which the Synod closed the old Century and entered the new was not dead. The Moderator an- nounced the following committee whereby less time of Synod may be occupied in hearing the reports and more time given to discussion of matters of chief importance to the Synod as recom- mended by the Stated Clerk and adopted: Revs. W. S. P. Bryan> 3 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1902, p. 79. 284 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS T. D. Logan, E. L. Lord, George J. E. Richards, and Elders G. W. Harwood and L. B. Parsons. Education had again become an issue in the Synod. The schools were suffering from financial stringency, and the Synod was experiencing a dearth in candidates for the ministry. A reso- lution had been introduced by President Richard Harlan of Lake Forest in conjunction with President Blackburn and Principal Gillett of Jacksonville Female Academy. "Resolved, That a special committee of five, of which the Moderator shall be the chairman, be appointed to consider the whole question of Christian education in the State of Illinois as carried on by the colleges and schools under Presbyterian auspices and to report to the next meeting of Synod. The work of this Committee shall be to visit the colleges and schools, to consult with the various institutions separately and collectively, to con- sider any plans that may be suggested in the direction of affilia- tion, and to endeavor to arouse the whole church in the State to the importance of the whole subject of Christian education, the committee to hold its first meeting not later than January 1st, 1903. " 4 Rev. Edwin L. Lord and Dr. Cleland B. McAfee performed the bulk of the labor committed to this committee. Dr. Brown was present at Jacksonville and Mr. Scott at Lake Forest. The schools visited were Blackburn University, Lake Forest College, Union Academy at Anna, Geneseo Collegiate Institute at Geneseo, Jacksonville Female Academy at Jacksonville. This last was to be merged with the Illinois College at Jacksonville and the two to become a Presbyterian College. A detailed analysis of the changes was presented in the report of the committee: "The College becomes co-educational, and the Academy is consolidated with the Whipple Academy on the College campus. The old building will be used for a young ladies' home and the Music Department. The College becomes Presbyterian; a fund of $50,000 being set apart to revert to the Academy trustees in case it ceases to be Presbyterian. A majority of the board must be Presbyterian. All these terms have been carried out in good faith, and President Barnes has himself become a member of 4 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1903, p. 158. THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 285 Springfield Presbytery. Dr. Jane Sherzer, formerly principal of the Academy, and for four years past engaged in postgraduate work in Berlin, has become 'Dean of the Women' in the College. She has for years been a Presbyterian. "As by these acts Illinois College has become a Presbyterian Institution, it was incumbent on the committee to visit this college also. We found a campus splendid in situation and ample in extent embracing twenty acres, in the beautiful city of Jackson- ville. Ten buildings are included in the college property. These we carefully inspected, and found in good condition. They form a magnificent plant for college and academy work, probably sur- passed by few in the State. There are fourteen members of the faculty; several of these besides the president and the dean of women are Presbyterians." 5 It was recommended that during the next five years a sum of $1,200,000 should be raised for the endowment and equipment of these Presbyterian institutions. At the next meeting of Synod the foregoing action was sub- ject to criticism and review as being diametrically opposed to the policies of the church at large. Two of the schools that were seek- ing aid were mere academies. Reorganization had been in process and General Assembly's Board of Aid of Colleges and Academies was now simply the College Board. Synod's Educational Com- mission recommended no action toward endowing Geneseo Insti- tute and Union Academy and a fact-finding inquiry in the pres- byteries as to whether this Synod desires to formulate a policy that is at variance with the policy of the denominations at large. Some of the questions asked were: "What is the function of the Church in education? Does it go beyond religious instruction? If so, does it embrace primary and secondary education as well as high- er education? If we yield primary and secondary education to the State, can we expect to retain much influence in the realm of higher education?" W. S. P. Bryan, Chairman of the Committee on Christian Edu- cation, challenged the Synod to the performing of its whole duty to Presbyterian students wherever found. The students at the University of Illinois were a neglected group. 550 of them were 5 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1903, pp. 161-162. 286 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Presbyterian students. Sister denominations were already estab- lishing foundations at the University. A Committee of five was appointed to work in conjunction with the Committee on Christian Education in canvassing the situation at Urbana-Champaign and with authority to take temporary measures that, with the churches located there, might alleviate the needs in religion. The activities of the young people of the church were a con- stant cause for heart-searchings. Synod's chairman of the youth W. S. P. Bryan of the church (1905), Rev. W. Francis Irwin, suggests the sus- picion that there has been misdirection of these activities and that this has combined with an inadequate methodology to make our Young People's Work impotent. He stresses to the assembled delegates the need for training and reminds them that the General Assembly of the Church has evaluated the problem and has recom- mended that Christian Endeavor Societies, Young Men's Leagues, Young Women's Missionary Societies, etc., should be unified in the interests of satisfying the need of the Church for lay workers, trained in Bible, Church History, Doctrines, Polity, Missions, and THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 287 Evangelism; a planned course in Teacher's Training was available at the General Assembly's office. "The first volume is of a general nature and deals with such subjects as 'The Bible', 'Bible History', 'Lands of the Bible', 'Bible Worship and Customs', 'The Sabbath School', 'The Teacher', 'The Pupil'. The second volume is intended more especially for Presbyterians, and treats of 'The New Testament', 'Church His- tory', 'Christian Doctrine', 'Winning Souls', 'The Church', 'Chris- tian Work'. The course of instruction covers two years and is contained in two volumes. 6 The McKinley Foundation at Urbana The special Committee in Educational Policy (Revs. Joseph A. Vance, Hugh Jack, John Allen Blair, with Elders H. P. Mer- riman and George H. How) had met at Urbana and had collabor- ated with a group comprised of President James and Dean Clark of the University, the Rev. E. W. Clippinger, Champaign, and S. W. Findley, Urbana. Out of this collaboration the conviction had grown that there was need for a liberalization of policy with reference to church and student relationships. More Presbyterian students were attending the State University than were attending the denominationally approved colleges. They were in need of counsel and supervision and the committee recommended the em- 6 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1905, p. 365. 288 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS ployment of a student pastor who was to work in conjunction with the ministers of the churches in Champaign and Urbana. A layman, who chose to remain anonymous, had promised to give $10,000 to initiate and promote the work. Prominent preachers were to be secured to appear on a weekly or bi-weekly basis at points contiguous to the University. While taking these measures the Synod refused to deviate from its historical policies as is in- dicated in resolution 2 of the report: "That the Synod, while cordially responsive to every de- mand to meet the new conditions made by modern education, reaffirms the historic policy of our Church in providing and main- taining colleges in which is afforded, in addition to the secular courses, that religious atmosphere and training which alone can qualify our youth for the service of God in the world, and in accordance with this policy: "1. That, in accordance with the presbyteries, the Synod will undertake, in connection with the presbyterial committees, to provide for the endowment of the two academies now within the bounds of the Synod but for no others." 7 The presbyteries had answered the overture on the question of academies. The majority of them, seven in all, had favored the retention of the two academies ; — Union Academy at Anna and Geneseo Collegiate Institute — and a policy of establishing no other academies. The Plan of Union with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church had been presented to the presbyteries by overture, and the old issues that had brought about the division were being raised in presbyterial discussions. These issues came to the Synod in 1905 by way of a complaint originating in the Presbytery of Springfield. "The undersigned, ministers and elders connected with the Presbytery of Springfield, submitting to the jurisdiction of the said Presbytery, and regularly enrolled at the session of the Presby- tery held in Woodson, Illinois, April 12, 1905, hereby complain to the Synod of Illinois against the action of debate on Overture No. 8 from the General Assembly, while the discussion was in progress. "The record of the Presbytery is as follows: "Presbytery then proceeded to consider Overture No. 8, in regard to union with 7 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1905, p. 385. THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 289 the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and after discussion, ans- wered it in the affirmative by a vote of 18 to 15, appeal having been taken from the ruling of the Moderator limiting discus- sion to the exact wording of the overture ruling out of order all reference to the doctrines of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church as set forth in their Confession of Faith, and the Presbytery hav- ing sustained the Moderator, Rev. T. D. Logan gave notice of complaint to Synod in regard to this action.' "Our reasons for complaint are as follows: (1) Overture No. 8 from the General Assembly on the subject of the union of the Presbyterian and Cumberland Pres- byterian Churches could be answered intelligently only after a discussion of the relative doctrinal positions of both churches. (2) In the discussion preceding the ruling of the Moder- ator, the main speaker in favor of an affirmative answer to the overture was permitted to canvass the doctrinal attitude of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church; and while the restriction of de- bate was not made until after the main speech on the negative, this speaker dwelt lightly on the doctrinal aspects, leaving this phase of the question to be more fully discussed by another. As soon as the second speaker on the negative mentioned the doctrinal aspects, he was ruled out of order. Our complaint is that the Presbytery, on a mere point of order, which was not debated, decided its attitude towards one of the most vital issues involved in the plan of union. (3) The Presbytery being nearly evenly divided, the re- stricting of the sphere of debate, after no restrictions had been placed on the affirmative, was unfair to the opposite side, and may have changed the result. (4) The vote of at least one member of the Presbytery was reversed from the negative to the affirmative by the decision of the Moderator, after being sustained by the Presbytery. Thomas D. Logan George White Roger F. Cressey James E. Rogers A. J. Veiva J. S. Lyman D. G. Carson J. Marshall Miller W. I. Kincaid David Gillespie James R. Kaye Paul Heiligman 8 8 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1905, pp. 367-368. 290 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS This complaint was answered by Synod's Commission and adopted. "The Judicial Commission sustains the complaint on the ground of undue limitation of debate, but inasmuch as no one was seriously aggrieved we recommend that no further action be taken." 9 On October 15, 1907, the Reunion was an accomplished fact. The two Synods of Illinois met at 7:30 P.M. in the Presbyterian Church of Clinton, Illinois, with their respective Moderators joint- ly presiding over the meeting. A study of the Enabling Act re- veals that their territories were not co-terminous. In four of the Presbyteries — Freeport, Ottawa, Peoria, and Rock River, no Cum- berland Churches had been located. For the rest the two churches had competed over the bulk of Illinois territory. In this compe- tition there were ten Cumberland Presbyteries aligned across the State of Illinois, namely: Chicago, 1882; Decatur, 1859; Ewing, 1845; Foster, 1838; Illinois, 1822; Lincoln, 1833; Mt. Vernon, Rushville, 1836; Sangamon, 1829 and Vandalia, 1832. The records of the Cumberland work were incomplete and sketchy, but enough of the record remains to indicate the con- stitutional attitudes of the Cumberland group. They had nothing but intolerance for those presbyterians who out-Calvined Calvin and in the plan of reunion an explanatory paragraph was insert- ed in the Creed lest people should deem God's ways with men to be "fatalistic." The Reunion was not without turmoil. Wil- liam Henry Roberts says: "This Union was accomplished on the basis of the Westminster Standards as revised in 1903, at the respective General Assemblies held at Des Moines, Iowa, and Decatur, Illinois, in 1906. There has been considerable litiga- tion in connection with this union, but in any event the additions through it to the Presbyterian Church in U. S. A. amounted to about 1,200, ministers, 1,800 churches, and 90,000 communi- cants." 10 In the Reunion as it affected Illinois, the peacemakers walked very softly and in most issues resorted to stalling tactics. Both synods had paid executives. The Cumberland Synod had the Rev. C. E. Hayes as Superintendent of Missions in their Synod, the Synod of Illinois (A) ; the Rev. E. L. Williams was Superintendent 9 Ibid., p. 399. 10 A Concise History of the Presbyterian Church in U. S. A., Roberts, p. 68. THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 291 of Missions in the Synod of Illinois. The Committee on Reor- ganization recommended that two superintendents should be ap- pointed, their salaries to be equal and each to have the whole state as his territory. Neither superintendent would accept ap- pointment under such conditions and criticism of the Committee's plan was general. One presbytery had adopted an overture on the question and directed it to Synod. The Committee on Reorganiza- tion had quoted its content and shaped its report accordingly. Unification of the work was deemed to be a necessity and in the interests of such unification the Committee agreed upon the ap- pointment of one superintendent of Home Missions and one assistant superintendent of Home Missions — The Rev. W. V. Jeffries to be the superintendent and the Rev. C. E. Hayes to be the assistant. The Synod of Illinois then proceeded to incorporate "The Board of Illinois Presbyterian Home Missions." The properties of the Cumberland Church were not to be transferred until in the opinion of competent legal advisers no vested interests would be imperiled. This aspect of the Reunion appeared in almost all of the details of the Reunion. The Committee on Incorporation recommended the incorporation of the Synod as a whole. "The Committee of Incorporation respectfully makes this supplementary report upon suggestions four and five of the re- ports of the Committee on Home Missions, referred yesterday to this committee. "It has conferred with the Committee on Home Missions, and, with its concurrence recommends that no separate corpor- ation be organized at the present time for the administration of the work of Home Missions, because, with the incorporation of Synod the legal requirements are satisfied and another legal cor- poration is deemed at present unnecessary. "It further recommends that the Illinois Church Extension Association of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church be directed to hold any properties entrusted to or held by it until further direction or action of Synod. "It further recommends the following action by Synod: 1. Adopt a form of seal and authorize the Stated Clerk to procure such seal. 292 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 2. Take action upon the proposed amendments to the Stand- ing Rules. 3. Adopt the Standing Rules and By-Laws, as amended, as the Standing Rules and By-Laws of Synod and of the corporation when completely organized. 4. Elect from its commissioners four trustees in addition to the Moderator, who shall also act as commissioners to incorporate. 5. Fix the location of the principal place of business. 6. Appoint a committee to complete the incorporation and committee to seek amendments to the Statute Law of Illinois as recommended by this committee. Respectfully submitted, Henry S. Osborne, Chairman" 11 Clinton, Illinois, Oct. 17, 1907 A seal for the Corporation was ordered to be prepared, the exact design and ornamentation were to be determined by the Trustees and the Stated Clerk. The emblem was to be an open Bible. On the left hand page was to be printed, "The Word of the Lord" and on the right hand page, "Endureth Forever." The whole, surrounded with the words, "Synod of Illinois of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A." The reunion of the two churches brought together diverse patterns and tastes as well as uniformity in pattern and taste. From the time of the division over the issue that arose in Cum- berland Presbytery on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee, there had been an almost continuous attitude of mutual criticism. The Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., had not been as stridently revival - istic as was the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and had looked askance on many of the methods prevailing in that church. The Cumberland group had, by the necessities engendered in its origins, been driven to the rural communities. Its membership gloried in the excitements of the camp meeting and the revival effort. Its earliest preachers were allocated fields of labor rather than churches in which to labor over a considerable period in the history 11 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1907, pp. 28-29. THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 293 of the movement into Illinois. Their first camp meeting in Illinois had been held in Madison County two miles south of Edwardsville at a location known to them as the Ebenezer Camp Ground in the year 1817. Two ministers were in attendance — the Reverends William Barnett and Green Prior Rice. Their second camp meet- ing was held in Bond County in the wooded country southwest of the location now called Elm Point. The time of the meeting was June, 1819. At this meeting were the Revs. Green Prior Rice, Robert Morrow, and John Carnahan. The third camp meeting was held in the fall of 1820 about one mile northeast of the lo- cation where the second camp meeting was held. The ministers present were the Revs. Green Prior Rice, Robert Morrow, and William Long. The first congregation organized in the state was that of Hopewell, now known as Enfield, in White County on June 18, 1819. The Rev. D. W. McLin was the minister and organizer of this congregation. The first church-house of the Cumberland people was built at this location under the leadership of Mr. Mc- Lin. It was a large log meeting-house with adequate roofing but without floor. The second church was organized by the Rev. Mr. Rice some three miles north of Greenville at the house of William Robinson at approximately 1818 or 1819. This organi- zation was the start of Bear Creek Church, later at Donnellson, 294 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Montgomery County, Illinois. The Rev. James McGready is con- sidered as the fountain-head from which the Cumberland enthu- siasm flowed. It was his revival emphasis that initiated the dif- ficulty in Cumberland Presbytery in Kentucky and Tennessee. Mc- Gready had gone through a considerable heart-searching with reference to the moral standings of men in the sight of God. This question seemed to him to be momentous. He made of it a matter of prayer, going into the woods alone and there crying out his agony to his God. Later in his relations with his church he had implored his membership to enter into a covenant of prayer with him. The entire membership were agitating the question of their lost conditions in daily devotions to God. This continued a year and more. It ultimately broke out in what was known as the revival measures. Hundreds of men would come to McGready's preaching and become convinced as to their lost condition. At times they would fall on their faces prostrate on the ground and remain in a coma for hours, only to come out of the condition with a total change in the pattern of their lives. Cumberland Presbytery was notable for its destitution and its neglected con- dition rather than for its wealth and for its great churches. Its constituency was the backwoodsmen and the cabin in the wilder- ness. It was difficult to secure a settled ministry for such un- pretentious neighborhoods as were in its bounds, and the early ministers of that era lowered the standards of ordination in order to supply the need. Considerable difficulty is encountered in any attempt to explain the division wherein the Cumberland Church was born. Almost every explanation encounters opposition and denial. Some explain the division in terms of the literary require- ments having been sacrificed, others maintain that the revival measures and excesses were the reason for the division, yet others claim that the arbitrariness with which the Synod of Kentucky handled the premises was the reason. All such suggestions meet with a categorical denial from some quarter, but gigantic in his stature McGready stands squarely at the source of the Cumber- land work. His booming voice called on sinners to repent, and in a wilderness where there were no cathedrals and no altars, where murder and robbery and drunkenness ran riotously and without hindrance, that voice was a challenge from God, and the THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 295 revival was born. The Cumberland Church entered Illinois as the church that called for the revival. Men were urged to repent of their sins and to get right with their God. Their first presbytery was Mc- Gee Presbytery which was organized in the spring of 1820. Its mem- bers were the Revs. Green Prior Rice of Illinois, R. D. Morrow and Daniel Buie of Missouri, and John Carnahan of Arkansas. This Presbytery in its entirety was west of the Mississippi River and in Missouri. The second presbytery, known as Illinois Presbytery, included the State of Illinois and parts of Missouri and Arkansas. Those present at its organization were the Revs. David M. McLin, John M. Berry, and Woods M. Hamilton, together with Elders John Hamilton, John Kirkpatrick, and John M. Cameron. This Presbytery was constituted on the first Tuesday in May, 1823, at the house of John Kirkpatrick, Montgomery County, Illinois. At this initial meeting it was ordered that each candidate and licentiate attend presbytery and submit to an examination in English Grammer and Divinity, and since the Cumberland Synod had so ordered, each preacher and licentiate was required to keep a journal and to make a report to his presbytery as to the religious conditions prevailing in the field where he labors. The organiza- tion of missionary societies, together with the support of mission- aries within the bounds of presbytery, was made mandatory. FORM OF THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION "Article 1. We, the undersigned, agree to form ourselves into a society, to be known as Missionary So- ciety. "Article 2. Each member shall contribute the sum annexed to his or her name, respectively, twice a year. "Article 3. This Society shall, at their first meeting, choose a Treasurer, whose duty it shall be to receive all moneys of the Society, and transmit the same to Presbytery at each session. "Article 4. The Illinois Presbytery is hereby constituted a Board of Missions, and shall distribute the moneys received from this Society to her missionaries at discretion. "Article 5. Any member may withdraw at pleasure, pay- ing arrearages." 12 12 History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Logan, pp. 30-31. 296 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Sangamon Presbytery was organized by the Cumberland Presbyterians at the house of Mr. William Drennon, Sugar Creek, Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois Sangamon County, April 20, 1829, with David Foster, John M. Berry, Thomas Campbell, Gilbert Dodds, and John Porter as the ministers present. It was the second presbytery within the THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 297 bounds of Illinois, and at the time of its organization it em- braced everything north of the southern third of the State. Vandalia was organized by order of Missouri Synod in April, 1832, and was comprised of a portion of Illinois Presbytery to the south and Sangamon Presbytery to the north. The organization meeting was held at the house of the Rev. Joel Knight in Mont- gomery. There were present the Revs. David Foster ; John Barber, Sr.; Joel Knight; and John Barber, Jr. Robert Paisley is described as a representative from old Bear Creek congregation. "The organization of the other presbyteries in their order were Rushville, in 1836; Mackinaw, in 1837; Foster, in 1838; Ewing and McLin, in 1845; Decatur, in 1859; and Chicago, in 1882. The names and territories of these original presbyteries were in some instances changed before the consummation of the union with the Presbyterian Church. At that time there were ten presby- teries of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in the state, name- ly: Chicago, Decatur, Ewing, Foster, Illinois, Lincoln, Mt. Vernon, Rushville, Sangamon, and Vandalia." 13 Contrary to prevailing opinions as to the literacy of the Cumberland Church, a virile educational leadership had developed within its ranks. Exceptional causes are recorded of men being ordained who lacked the full requirements of the ministry. But handicapped by the inertia that lurks in out of the way places and inhibited by economic stringency, the men of this loyalty had planted academies and colleges with consecrated determina- tion. Sout's Grove Seminary in 1849; Sullivan Academy in 1851; Union College at Virginia, Illinois, 1851; Mt. Zion Seminary and Cherry Grove Seminary, 1856; Enfield College at Enfield, Illinois, and Lincoln University in 1864. Prominently promoting these ventures were the Rev. M. C. McLin, the Rev. James Freeman, the Rev. Azel Freeman, the Rev. A. C. Bowden, the Rev. A. J. Mc- Glumphy, Prof. M. C. McGinnis, Prof. Archelaus Turner, and the Rev. J. L. Goodknight. Many of the ventures undertaken by them became casualties of the economic changes of the years, but their determination crystalized in the formation of Lincoln University with its sister school James Millikin University. Reuniting with the parent church the Cumberland group were able to report !3 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1907, p. 92. 298 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS that their educational endeavors had not been without fruit. Reporting on the work of Lincoln University, Rev. A. G. Bergen gave the following statistics: "Over three hundred young men and young women have graduated from her various courses. Among them forty-one min- isters, forty lawyers, sixteen college and high school professors, twenty-two teachers and superintendents of public schools, twelve physicians, ten merchants, seven authors and editors, four foreign missionaries, three college presidents, twelve farmers and stock- men, and eight in other occupations. Five have been members of the State Legislature, one Speaker of the House, and one candi- date for the Governor of the State." 14 The Reunion was attended with troubles in the civil courts and Synod found itself in the role of either renouncing its claims or of defending them. It appointed a Special Committee on Financing Litigations comprised of Elders A. R. Taylor and T. H. Perrin and the Rev. W. H. Penhallegon. At its meeting of 1908 two steps were taken — the first was that of constituting the fore- going committee as a committee of three to cooperate with a similar committee of the General Assembly and of our presby- teries for the purpose of financing litigation arising out of the recent union. The second was a reference of the question of financing litigation to Synod's Finance Committee. The committee reported in 1909 that there were four cases in the courts and headed for the Supreme Court. Two of them, namely, at Fancy Prairie and Lincoln, had been decided in Synod's favor. At Harrisburg the Circuit Court had decided against the Synod and at Petersburg, a temporary injunction had been granted forbidding the local Presbyterian organization the use of the church. The expense of these legal ventures was estimated at approximately $2,000. The Committee on Litigation was continued until the year 1911 when it was able to report that it had been successful in defending the interests of the united Synod and that all properties were awarded to the Synod of Illinois. The case at Petersburg had been settled out of court. Standing rules and by-laws were amended and were declared 14 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1907, p. 97. THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 299 The present Synod of Illinois— 1952 300 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS by the Moderator to be the standing rules of the re-united Synod when incorporated. The statistics presented indicated that the union had added to the Synod's 617 ministers, 636 churches, and 95,526 communicant members, 112 Cumberland Presbyterian min- isters, 175 churches, and 12,431 communicant members. An added responsibility was undertaken in the field of education. Lincoln College and James Millikin University were added to the load that the Synod of Illinois had assumed in the field of education. In the historical address on the Synod of Illinois, the Rev. Charles N. Wilder reported its activities in Foreign Missions dur- ing the twenty-five years that had preceded the Reunion. One hundred and four were named as Synod's Honor Roll appointed to Foreign Missionary Endeavor. Education ranked as a sacrificial work that reflected the vigor and the intelligence at work in Illinois when the Board of Aid for Colleges and Academies was organized by the General Assembly in 1883. It was through the strenuous labor of the Rev. Herrick Johnson of the Synod of Illinois that the result was accomplished. The Headquarters for the Board were at Chicago. Nine of the twenty-four members of the Board were from the Synod of Illinois. Dr. Herrick Johnson was chosen as President of the Board and the Rev. Edward C. Ray of the Synod of Illinois was made its Secretary. A list of twenty-three ministers who have remained at their posts through fair weather and foul is one of the heartening symptoms of our times. At Urbana the projected work among Presbyterian students was encountering difficulty. The churches at Champaign and Ur- bana had to be placated in order that independent work might be undertaken among Presbyterian students. A correspondence with the College Board had been undertaken with a view to clarifying its connection with the work at the State University. The Board of Education was memorialized to provide for a visitation of the State Universities with a view to formulating a policy for the management of religious work in State Universities. The dynamic figure in these discussions was the Rev. W. S. Plumer Bryan, Chairman of the Committee on Christian Education. At the meeting of 1909 organized labor had presented an appeal to the churches. The response of the Synod of Illinois to THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 301 that appeal will indicate the thinking of the church men of that period. "The working women of Illinois are fighting for a ten-hour day in the mills and factories of the State. They believe that they should be able to make a living wage in a ten-hour day. The Legislature of Illinois has passed such a law. The Supreme Court of the United States has declared constitutional a similar law passed in another state. An effort is now being made by certain factory owners in Chicago to have the Illinois law declared un- constitutional, so that they may work the women in their employ an unlimited number of hours. "At the last meeting of the Chicago Federation of Labor the delegates, for the first time in the history of that organization, made an appeal to the churches in behalf of these women. "Whereas, the contention of these working men and work- ing women is a laudable one, in that it has for its aim the pro- tection of womanhood, the safeguarding of working men's homes and the consequent building up of our common humanity, there- fore, be it "Resolved, That the Synod of Illinois in annual session as- sembled at Lake Forest heartily expresses its conviction that the fight now being made by the working women of our common- wealth is just and fair and that it is our earnest hope that they will be successful. "Resolved, That whenever and wherever possible the mem- bers of the Presbyterian Church in the Synod of Illinois be re- quested to exert their utmost influence in behalf of the women who have appealed to us, through the Chicago Federation of Labor, with respect to securing the ten-hour work day for women." "Done at Lake Forest, October 21, 1909." 15 An overture from the Synod pithily states the grass-roots needs of the Synod and the Presbyteries. In the minutes of 1908 this statement occurs: "Rev. T. D. Logan offered the following resolution which was adopted: "The Synod of Illinois respectfully overtures the General Assembly to reduce the expenses of administration so that with- 15 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1909, p. 347. 302 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS out increasing the assessment there may be sufficient funds for the administration of the Synods and Presbyteries." "After much correspondence, the consultation with members of the Presbytery of Chicago, which has had a similar arrange- ment with the Board, and with others who have been actively engaged in the work of home missions in other presbyteries, the following agreement, covering the entire Synod, was signed by the chairman of the Synodical Committee on Home Missions, for the Synod, and by Mr. J. C. McAfee for the Board: "It is agreed and recommended: "1. That the home mission funds of the different presby- teries, with the exception of those contributed to the Woman's Board, are to be sent to the appropriate presbyterial treasurers. "2. That at least ten per cent of all these funds shall be sent to the Board of Home Missions for its work outside the bounds of the Synod. "3. That so far as is consistent with the interests of the Synod, remittances should be sent to the Board at least semi- annually. "4. That the literature of the Board shall be prepared with a view, as far as practicable, to foster interest in both synodical and national aspects; that frequent mention shall be made in the Board's literature of the agreement above; that upon such publi- cations as it may be practicable, a formula substantially like the following shall be printed: 'Funds for the general work of home missions should be sent to the treasurer of the Presbyterial Home Mission Committee.' "5. That the pleasure of individuals in making special con- tributions for work in or out of the state be acceded to, and that such contributions shall not be included as affecting the division agreed upon. "6. That the utmost energies and resources of the Synod and the Board be pledged to pushing our one great enterprise unitedly in the churches in accordance with the agreements a- bove." 16 The year 1910 was an auspicious one in Christian Education. A new institution known as the Presbyterian Training School !6 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1908, p. 198. THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 303 was established by the Presbytery of Chicago. The courses it proposed to offer were Bible Study, Sabbath School work, Church work, Christian Doctrine, Church History and Polity, Sacred Music, Elementary Medicine, Hygienics and Nursing. At the State University the endowment fund of $60,000 was completed. $27,870 of this amount was contributed by interested members of the Second Presbyterian Church at Chicago. A tempest was brewing in the field of secular education and Synod had its Committee studying the storm. Very appropri- ately it was known as 'The Committee on the Bible in Public Schools'. In Scott County, Jeremiah Ring, John J. Doyle, Johanna Virginia Library at McCormick Theological Seminary Watt, Mary Murphy, and Bridget Markillie had filed suit against the Board of Education of School District No. 24, Township 14, Range 12, in Scott County for a peremptory writ of mandamus to require the said Board of Education to cause the teachers of said Public School District, during school hours, to discontinue the practice of reading passages from the King James version of the Bible; from causing the pupils of said schools to recite in concert the Lord's Prayer as it is found in the King James version of the Bible, and from singing sacred hymns. Synod appointed a Committee and gave it authority to col- laborate with interdenominational groups with a view to exerting pressure upon the State Committee that was re-writing the Illinois constitution. Nothing came of their five years of activity and they were finally discharged from their duties and the subject dropped. Concurrently, the Presbyterian church was serving its larger 304 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS public in those tragic services that are constituted by bereavement and death. At the First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, where the Lincoln pew is located, the Rev. John Thomas was remark- able for a catholicity of service. Celebrities flocked to Spring- field for burial, and the record of that era teems with references to memorial services that looked to the First Presbyterian Church and its ministry for inspiration and for comfort. At Golconda, Illinois, the Secretary of State, James A. Rose, lies in a casket, while his fellow members of the First Presbyterian Church of Golconda mourn. Rose was a people's man, born and raised in Illinois, a child of a Civil War family that gave of its blood for the cause of the Union. He was educated in the common schools and attended the Illinois State Normal School at Normal, taught school, was elected County Superintendent of Schools in Polk County in 1873, and in 1881 was elected State's At- torney for the County. In 1896 he was elected Secretary of State on the Republican ticket and was re-elected in 1900, 1904, and 1908. In the year of his death he had received an immense plurality at the primary election of April 9, 1912, for his fifth nomination for term of office as Secretary of State. His membership in the Golconda Church was a source of personal pride and was typical of the man's cherished associations and life. 17 The evangelistic emphasis made all other endeavors appear as secondary. William Chalmers Covert, reporting in 1907 on the Spiritual Life of the Synod of Illinois, used this pungent sen- tence to advance the cause: "We know the insignificance of statistics when arranged in columns of church reports. They con- ceal, minimize, exaggerate, and misrepresent. Spiritual Life and soul growth are not capable of being expressed in mathematical terms. The whole progress of the church dose not reveal itself in the columns of the Minutes of the General Assembly." The appeal for personal evangelism was being presented from the platform and through the printed page. The Synod was confronting World War I with organized committees that were at work in the army cantenments of Illinois. John Timothy Stone had written the book titled "Recruiting for Christ" and a !7 Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. 5, April 1912, to January, 1913, pp. 173-178. THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 305 companion volume "The Invitation Committee." The Rev. William A. Sunday, a convert of the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago, was promoting an evangelistic campaign that girdled the continent. The Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, to whom Billy Sunday had gone to school, conducted a course in evangelistic John Timothy Stone methods in the Synod in the crucial war years. The ministers as a group were not more honored than were the elders as a group. Each had their special session and their peculiar approach to the question of the responsibility for winning men to Christ. Men who had worn themselves out raising dollars for God were shocked to learn that God was more interested in men's souls than in their dollars. The routine appeals for dollars were as vigorous as usual. The 306 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Red Cross, the Liberty Loan, Coffee and Doughnuts, and a hun- bred other war-time appeals were competing for the dollar. But in the vicinity of the war and its armed camps the forces of evil and the Presbyterian Synod of Illinois were competing for men's souls. Other issues were secondary and many ministers whose minds had been engrossed in secondary things confronted as though it were something new — that first thing, that is a man's relation to his God. Men were going to war and they must not be permitted to go without God. In the multiple secondary appeals, budgets shrank and dollars were inadequate, but churches and homes were opened to the soldiery and the Presbyterian Church with God walked step by step, with armed hosts in Illinois. "No meeting of the Synod of Illinois was held in 1918 owing to the general epidemic of influenza throughout the state and country. The omission of our annual meeting and those of other Synods was approved by the General Assembly of 1919. See Minutes of General Assembly, 1919, page 294. See Minutes of Synod, 1919, page 145. C. Harmon Johnson, Stated Clerk." The Synod of 1921 meeting at Lincoln, Illinois, October 18-20, took cognizance of a forthright piece of work that had been done by the Rev. John Timothy Stone in his General Assembly's Com- mittee on Reorganization of the Boards and Agencies. The con- flicting rivalries of too many agencies that constituted a distinction without a difference, had, by the sheer logic of futility, compelled the church to work over the total structure of its administrative agencies. A vast amount of machinery was headed for the scrap heap. Non-essential privileges were branded as too costly, and four boards were deemed sufficient to transact the total business: A Board of National Missions, A Board of Foreign Missions, A Board of Christian Education, and A Board of Ministerial Relief and Sustentation. The following resolution was Synod's response to the sug- gestion: "Resolved: That we record our hearty approval of read- justment of the relationship of the Boards in accordance with the THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 307 principles tentatively suggested by the Assembly's Committee on Reorganization and Consolidation of Assembly's Agencies." 18 The following year at Streator, Illinois, the question of re- organization was again before the Synod, apparently with re- calcitrancy in the ascendancy. The Committee on Reorganization was not having unalloyed bliss as its portion. It refers to the mag- #»- The Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago nitude and complicated nature of the task assigned to it and asks to be continued with orders to make a careful study of the things to be achieved in reorganization, coordination, and promotion. The committee was continued. Reporting at Monmouth, Illinois, June 19-22, 1923, the com- mittee brought in detailed recommendations as to the formation of a General Council which was to function as an ad interim body between the Synod meetings. 18 Minutes of the Synod of Illinois, 1921, p. 411. 308 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS "Art. 7, Sec. 2 (a) Membership: The General Council shall consist of a chairman and nine members at large elected by Synod; a minister and a layman elected by each of the Presbyteries; a representative of each of the Women's Presbyterial Societies elect- ed by those societies; and the Moderator and Stated Clerk of the Synod, and the President and Secretary of the Women's Synodical Society, as ex-officio members. in Presbyterian Hospital of Chicago A financial depression in 1922-1923 stepped aside to intro- duce the boom years of 1923-1929. In these years Near East Relief and the New Era Movement introduced their presences and passed. Methods of church promotion that were unrealistic and based upon expectations of future prosperity flourished. Consolidation of Boards and Agencies became routine busi- ness, but consolidation was impotent when confronted by the un- 19 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1923, p. 23. THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 309 reasoning forces of expansion. A Synod Central Receiving Agency was established at Decatur. The churches throughout the Synod *r m® * ffc It The Nurses' Home at the Presbyterian Hospital, Chicago were instructed to forward their benevolence monies to that Agency. A staff comprised of three workers and a secretary was set up. A mission was established at the coal-mining town of 310 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Nason and work was begun among the Hungarian people in the neighborhood of East St. Louis. The depression of the thirties arrived and with it the startling discovery that Synod's promo- tional ventures had saddled the Synod with an indebtedness of $12,266.19. Retrenchment abolished the office at Decatur and discontinued the work at Nason and among the Hungarian people. 1942, approximately ten years after the events recorded, Synod amended its Standing Rules to permit the employment of a Synodical representative: Kemmerer Orphans Home at Assumption, Illinois "The work of the Field Representative has passed the ex- perimental stage. It has been established as an essential part of the Synod's program. We therefore propose that the office be given permanence by the following addition to the Standing Rules of the Synod of Illinois: "Article VII, add: "3. A representative, to be known as the General Presby- ter, shall be employed by the Synod in cooperation with the Gen- eral Council of the General Assembly upon nomination of the General Council of the Synod. "(A) It shall be the duty of the General Presbyter, sub- ject to the direction of the General Council of the Synod, to serve the interests of the churches of the Synod and to promote the pro- grams of the Boards and Agencies of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 311 "(B) Other representatives may be employed by the Synod, upon nomination of its General Council, upon such terms and for such duties as may be approved by the Synod. "(C) Such representatives shall serve under the direction of the General Presbyter, and with him shall be subject to the control of the General Council of the Synod. (C changed in later report.) "We recommend that the Field Representative be known hence forth as the General Presbyter, and that the Rev. Ralph Cummins be formally installed in the office at the point desig- nated in the Program of this Synod. Charles N. Sharpe, Chairman" 20 A dual policy of operation becomes apparent in the Synod of Illinois. Some of the presbyteries accept all patterns of opera- tion that come from the boards and agencies. Others are vigor- ously independent from outside suggestion. Freeport Presbytery through much of its existence has been of the independent type; also Rock River and Alton Presbyteries. Most outstanding in the independent group is the Presbytery of Chicago. Economic conditions seem to have played a part in these decisions. Not all of the presbyteries can afford independence, but in the Pres- bytery of Chicago independence is not only financed but is an ancient tradition. Following the Civil War the women of Chi- cago under the leadership of Mrs. R. W. Patterson of the Second Presbyterian Church organized as the Woman's Board of the Interior. The reunion of the Old School-New School group- ings in 1870 both Old School and New School women combined to form what was known as the Presbyterian Society, December 17, 1870. Its first president was Mrs. R. W. Patterson. Later presidents were Mrs. Herrick Johnson, Mrs. John Balcom Shaw, and Mrs. Oliver R. Williamson. In the fifty years of the Board's existence contributions of $4,532,768.48 were given. Their origin- al room in which they met was known as Room 48, a number which followed the group to different locations over a forty- year period. John F. Lyons refers to this, saying, "48 is no longer with us as a number or sign but a hallowed word." Friday 20 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1942, p. 410. 312 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS morning meetings were the prevailing custom and at these meet- ings were ironed out the details of their executive actions. A mili- tant missionary group, they reached their public through the me- dium of a weekly page in The Interior and its successor, The Con- tinent. December 31, 1920, the work of this group terminated and was merged with five other women's boards to form the Women's Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church with offices in New York. April 8, 1907, found the Presbytery of Chicago organizing a board for church extension purposes, later, in 1911, titled the Board of Church Extension. The first task of the newly constituted board was that of giving direction to the presbytery's efforts and healing the wounds that were inflicted by the scatterings of its efforts. Many of the churches had undertaken individual projects with but indifferent success. For example, First Church, Chicago, had its Railroad Chapel; Evanston First Church, its Christopher House; and the Lake Forest and Hyde Park Churches had jointly the Association House. The Rev. Dr. Edgar P. Hill, Professor of Homiletics in McCormick Theological Seminary, was elected as chairman of the extension committee. He had had a previous experience with the type of work as chairman of the Home Mis- sions Committee in Portland, Oregon, and gave to the work a large experience in the planting and caring for new churches. On his committee were the Revs. John Balcom Shaw, Second Church, as chairman of the committee, with Edward H. Curtis, First Church, vice chairman; W. Robson Notman, Fourth Church; W. H. Wray Boyle, Lake Forest; W. S. Plumer Bryan, Church of the Covenant; William P. Merrill, Sixth Church; George N. Luccock, First Church, Oak Park; and William C. Covert, 4lst Street Church. The laymen on the committee were: E. A. Halsey, Corydon A. Reed, Thomas A. Hall, Thomas G. McCulloch, Frank S. Shaw, Thomas Templeton,, James A. Janney, Charles S. Holt, and Thomas E. D. Bradley. 21 Their first official act was the electing of the Rev. Dr. Edgar P. Hill as superintendent of the Board of Church Extension. A debt of $7,500 was inherited by the Com- mittee. A mass meeting of Presbyterians was convened at Orches- tra Hall and as a result $2,500 was pledged. During the years 21 History of the Presbytery of Chicago by John Frederick Lyons, p. 27. THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 313 1908 to 1925, twenty- two new churches were added to the roll of the Presbytery. In situations caused by bad location the com- mittee acted as intermediary to arrange for mergers, of which a number were arranged. A few churches were dissolved. The foreign population demanded attention and work was begun among the Assyrians, the Italians, the Jews, and the Chinese. Dr. Hill's services to the Board terminated in 19 18 when he became Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Education with headquar- ters in Philadelphia. He was succeeded by Dr. Henry Seymour Brown who for nineteen years, 1918 to 1937, was eminently suc- cessful in promoting extension work of the Presbytery. He ul- timately resigned to become Vice President of Princeton Theolog- ical Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, and was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Paul S. Johnson. Some conception of the complexity of the work will be gathered from a description of Presbyterian headquarters: "One of the early actions of the Church Extension Commit- tee was in taking the leadership in establishing Presbyterian Head- quarters. This was accomplished in 1908 with the Ohio Building, 509 South Wabash, as the center. Here the Presbyterian Book Store, the Presbytery of Chicago, The Church Extension Commit- tee of Presbytery, the Field Secretary of the Presbytery Board of Foreign Missions, the Presbyterian Brotherhood of Chicago, the Women's Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions of the North- west, the Women's Presbyterian Society of Foreign Missions, the Westminster Guild and the Chinese Mission established their of- fices, within easy reach for conference with each other. Here, too, an assembly hall was for a time rented for us by any of them in their more largely attended public gatherings." 22 The down-and-outer was the special work of the Chicago Christian Industrial League under the leadership of the Board of Church Extension. Mr. George A. Kilbey, later ordained to the ministry, was for twenty-two years the contact of Chicago Pres- byterianism with the outcast and the unfortunate. Dr. Kilbey was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. William Seath. The Presbyterian College was promoted through the Church Extension Committee of the Presbytery, and Dr. Alexander Pat- 22 History of the Presbytery of Chicago, John Frederick Lyons, p. 28. 314 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS terson of the Morgan Park Presbyterian Church became its first president on October 14, 1908. Four years later he died, but in the interval he had filled the dual roll of teacher and president. He was succeeded by Mr. Howard B. McAfee, 1912 to 1918; Dr. Robert H. Beattie, 1918 to 1920; and Mrs. Harriet D. Kers- will, 1921 to 1926. Dr. Robert Lee Sawyier became president in 1926, and during his sixteen years of administration improved curriculum, faculty, and standards, until in 1930 it became the Presbyterian College of Christian Education with full approval and support from the Board of Christian Education of the Pres- byterian Church, U. S. A. Concurrently, the institution is located at 815 Belden Avenue, Chicago, just across the street from Mc- Cormick Theological Seminary, and secures the full advantage in attendance at the classes of that institution. No account of the work of Chicago Presbytery would be intelligible without reference to the dynamic souls that constituted that Presbytery. From that body were drafted for the moderator- ship of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church the fol- lowing-named persons: MODERATORS OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY FROM CHICAGO PRESBYTERY 1859, (New School) Robert W. Patterson 1878, Francis Landey Patton 1882, Herrick Johnson 1889, William Charles Roberts 1896, John Lindsay Wi throw 1913, John Timothy Stone 1929, Cleland Boyd McAfee 1934, William Chalmers Covert 1951, Harrison Ray Anderson Conspicuous in this group was John Timothy Stone who came in 1909 to the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. He never tired in working for his Master and Lord. He believed in the throne of grace and in the feasibility of approaching it. In the offices of the Loop and in the fashionable homes on the north side of Chicago he met all people with the invitation to join in prayer. Around him gathered the McCormicks, the For- THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 315 gans, Henry P. Crowell, and the influential mighty of the city. The construction of the Fourth Presbyterian Church was a colos- sal achievement, but those who have known the Fourth Church of that era stress rather the claim that John Timothy Stone was their spiritual father. He shaped men's lives. In 1928 he re- signed the pastorate of the church to succeed the Rev. James G. K. McClure as the President of McCormick Theological Seminary. Under his administration the faculty of the institution was en- larged, educational standards were raised, and the institution was merged with the Lane Theological Seminary of Cincinnati. Chicago Presbytery is outstanding in its work among aged people. This work, at one time undertaken by Olivet Institute, was sponsored by the Presbytery of Chicago November 13, 1913, with Dr. W. S. P. Bryan as President of the Board. This was incorporated January 12, 1914. After several moves, the home was located, December 20, 1915, in Highland Park in the building formerly occupied by the old Northwestern Military Academy. A campaign to raise $800,000 was instituted and the present building in the northwest section of Evanston was planned, completed, and dedicated December 22, 1922. The John G. Shedd Memorial Wing was opened April 1, 1930. The Institute is heavily en- dowed and cares for 125 aged persons. Sabbath School work, youth work, and the general field cov- ered by religious education had its recognition June 5, 1922, when Robert Lee Sawyier was released from the pastorate of the Avon- dale Church with a view to being employed by the Presbytery as its Director of Religious Education. He served but one year and was succeeded by the Rev. George H. Fickes who directed the work until 1926 and was succeeded by Dr. Ralph W. Owens who served until 1930. Dr. Robert H. Elliott has the distinction of serving this committee through nine continuous years, from 1930 to 1939. He was succeeded by Dr. Goodrich Gates who served from 1940 to 1944 when Mr. John W. McCracken took office. The immensity of the ventures that are handled by the Pres- bytery of Chicago is apparent from any kind of a scrutiny of the General Assembly Minutes. 128 churches are listed as within its bounds; 66,512 members are listed as communicants; $2,000,- 000 are listed as current expenses ; and well over a million dollars 316 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS The Second Presbyterian Church of Bloomington, Illinois The Broadway Presbyterian Church of Rock Island, Illinois (Destroyed by fire) THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 317 The First Presbyterian Church at Centralia, Illinois The First Presbyterian Church at Mt. Vernon, Illinois 318 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS are given to benevolent causes. There are nineteen churches that have over one thousand members, and outstanding in this list are The Chicago First Church where Howard L. Bowman preaches to 2,025 members; The Fourth Presbyterian Church with 3,013 mem- bers; The Buena Memorial Church with 2,057 members; and Drexel Park Church where Clinton C. Cox has been pastor for thirty-three years, a former Cumberland Presbyterian Church, that has 2,723 members. On the north side is the Evanston First Church with a membership of 2,471, and to the west is the Oak Park First Church with a membership of 1,888. The whole story of the Presbytery of Chicago cannot be told. Names crowd into memory as one thinks of James G. K. MeClure, William Chalmers Covert, Henry Seymour Brown, Clyde Smith, and a host of laymen like Cyrus H. McCormick, Philo Carpenter, Mrs. Nettie Fowler Mc- Cormick and her daughter-in-law Mrs. Cyrus McCormick, preach- ers like Charles F. Wishart and John Timothy Stone, and hundreds of others who are forgotten in the immensity of their surroundings but whose dynamic qualities made Presbyterianism forceful in that area. In the bounds of Chicago Presbytery issues that were state-wide in their implications were tackled with courage and determination. Agreement was not always possible, but Chicago Presbytery consistently planned and executed its own work, in- corporated its boards and agencies, and practiced self-determina- tion that had no bounds or limitations so long as courage abounded. Downstate administrative questions were a continuous cause for discussion. Repeatedly the committees of Synod urged that Synod should own its own camp ground for the handling of youth activities and convention gatherings. These activities and gath- erings have gone from place to place across the Synod since 1900 and on, but the Synod of Illinois owns no central camp ground where she may gather her forces. The Second Presbyterian Church of Bloomington has borne the burden repeatedly. Young peo- ple's activities have alternated between James Millikin University at Decatur and East Bay Camp at Bloomington. Men's work has used the city of Chicago as its gathering point, and nothing com- parable to the resoluteness of Chicago Presbytery exists in down- state Illinois. A few of the presbyteries, Alton in particular, and THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 319 Chicago, are handling their youth work as presbyteries, but most of the presbyteries leave the destinies of their work to the tender mercies of Synod committes. Centralization tends to focalize interests in Champaign at the office of the General Presbyter. The restoration fund drafted the Rev. Edward Williams of the Broadway Presbyterian Church of Rock Island to prosecute its work across the State of Illinois. Almost without announcement, the connection was broken and his work was continued from the General Presbyter's Office. Similar- ly the Rev. Harold Martin of the Second Presbyterian Church of Bloomington was given the task of inspiring and promoting the New Life Movement. Again the work was done from the General Presbyter's office and no explanations were given to ex- plain the change. In General Council meetings the assertion was made that what the Presbyterian Church needed was a bishop. To the credit of that organization, it should be stated that the remark, "God forbid," elicited a whole souled chorus of "Aniens." In New Life committee meetings of the Synod the grass-roots as- pects of the movement were discussed and the suspicion was ex- pressed that the movement might result in another board or agency. Dr. Richard P. Graebel of the First Presbyterian Church in Spring- field was quite outspoken in his opposition to centralization. His remark, freely quoted, was, "I am thoroughly angered when I see men leaving the active pastorate to accept jobs as college presi- dents and board secretaries. There are needy fields calling for an ordained ministry. None of our number should be permitted to occupy swivel chairs. That is work for laymen." And he pro- ceeded to enumerate outstanding laymen in the Synod of Illinois, Presbyterian-minded and spoiling for work that could be charac- terized as the Master's service. These discussions might be char- acterized as behind closed doors, but they are an indication of the mental attitudes of the Presbyterians of Illinois. Regimentation meets with calculating resistance, and it is ever increasingly evi- dent that Presbyterians will not be coerced. Such work as is done under our auspices must be voluntary or fail. The current half-century teems with illustrations of movements that failed be- cause of over-promotion — the every member canvass, with its brief run of success; the Laymen's Missionary Movement, with 320 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS its bankruptcy; the New Era Movement; and tragically enough, several Synod projects that deserved a better fate. A rather strident illustration occured in one of the rare mo- ments when the permanent Judicial Commission had business at Synod. At Champaign in the year 1938, nine members of the Presbytery of Peoria appeared to prosecute a complaint against the action of the Presbytery of Peoria in receiving the Rev. William Henry Meyers from the Reformed Episcopal Church without their having compelled a subscription to the polity of the Presby- terian Church. The Synod reversed the action of Peoria Presbytery and ordered that they reopen his case and follow to the letter the provisions of the form of government, Chapter 15, Section 16. There is no record that Rector Meyers ever subscribed to the Pres- byterian polity, but the record of the Presbyterian Church in its opposition to episocpacy is untarnished. The report of the War Service Commission at the conclusion of World War I is a gorgeous illustration of an integrated work involving the General Assembly, the Synod, the presbyteries, and even the local churches; enthusiastically undertaken and expertly concluded. You will be proud of the report. "The War Service Commission of the Synod submits its final report, asking the discharge of the Commission from further service. "The Commission was organized by order of the Synod of Peoria two years ago. It has endeavored to carry out the wishes of Synod as expressed at that time. "The work was undertaken at the urgent appeal of the First Church of Rockford, through the pastor, the Rev. W. H. Fulton. It was found that the church was confronted with a task too great to be accomplished without aid from the church in the Synod. While all military and naval centers were under the jurisdiction of this Commission, our work has centered in Camp Grant and Great Lakes. At Camp Grant we have been most fortunate in having Camp Pastors who were so highly successful that no word of any kind except the most complimentary has ever reached the Commission. It is not too late to say that Dr. Fulton deserves the most cordial thanks of the church within the Synod, and the church at large, for the unsparing devotion given THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 321 by him to the interests of the men coming and going at that great center. We were also singularly fortunate in having the help of the Rev. Ray W. Hamilton, the Rev. Robert McLean, and the Rev. Ward F. Boyd, each of them peculiarly suited to the work to which they were called. Through the unsparing labors of these four men, the Presbyterian Church gave a service to the country not only marked by self-sacrificing devotion, but re- warded by results beyond our ability to comprehend. "It was a scource of great comfort to the Synod's Commis- sion that the work at Great Lakes was taken over for the most part by the Commission of the Presbytery of Chicago. As at Camp Grant the work at Great Lakes has been done with distinct success and without the slighest criticism from those who were in general charge of the religious forces. On the other hand we have had the most satisfying statements of the satisfaction shared by those who were responsible for the proper co-ordinating of the many religious forces at the station. "Synod's Commission is grateful to the Commission of the Chicago Presbytery, especially to its untiring chairman, Dr. Bryan, for the notable way in which they cared for this work. "We have all along worked in proper and warm co-operation with the General Assembly's Commission, and we have found that Commission always responsive and kind in sharing the respon- sibility with us. "Now that the work is ended, we can recall with gratification the character of that work. It was wise, necessary, effective, and Synod may rejoice in the contribution it made to the success of the war in the proper care of the men at the stations within the bounds of our Synod. "We are under great obligations to pastors, elders and mem- bers of churches for the support given us in the work. As we recall the strain of those war days, we can see how heavy de- mands and a certain restlessness about the wisdom of our work- brought anxiety to many, and no doubt caused many to withhold their gifts. We did not at any time realize what we wished, but the Assembly's Commission always was behind us. We cordially thank those churches which promptly shared our perils. 322 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS The Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago, Illinois The Original First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, Illinois Third Presbyterian Church, Chicago, III THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 323 The Current First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, Illinois 324 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS "The report of the treasurer, Mr. Carroll H. Sudler, cover- ing the gifts received in the Synod from October, 1917, to the present time shows a total of $8,559.34. All not expended by us has been forwarded to the Assembly's Commission, which contin- ues to care for the work at Great Lakes Station. "The accounts of Mr. Sudler have been carefully audited by Mr. C. W. McGuire whose official report, finding them correct, is filed with the Commission. "It is but justice to record that at Great Lakes we have had the services of the Rev. Edward E. Hastings, of Central Church, Joliet, and our thanks are due that church for the time given by their pastor. Rev. M. E. Anderson succeeded Dr. Hastings, and the Rev. W. H. Gleiser came later, under call by the Commission of the Assembly. "It is for us, now that the war is over, to turn to the great problems of peace. Looking back upon the stirring days of the war, we realized the leadership and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit as we moved from day to day. Let us again place our- selves under the guidance of that Spirit for the great tasks that yet await us, assured that He who led us yesterday will not for- get us in our tomorrow. "We submit the following resolutions: "1. We convey to the church at Rockford, and to its Pastor, the Rev. W. H. Fulton, our most cordial thanks for their devotion to our men in the hour of our war crisis. Also to the churches at Joliet, Carthage and Rogers Park for the gift of their pastors for several months. And to those who have served us as Camp Pastors at both of these great centers within our Synod. "2. We accept the report of the treasurer, Mr. Sudler, with our most cordial thanks for his care, and for the efficient service rendered us. We ask that the thanks of Synod be especial- ly forwarded to Mr. Sudler, by the Clerk of Synod. "3. We ask that the Commission be now dissolved and dis- charged from service. S. M. Campbell, Chairman." 23 The war efforts were uniformly successful. The Synod of Illinois over-subscribed the budget which was in sharp contrast 23 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1919, pp. 185-186. THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 325 to the subscriptions for the campaign of Synod's debt for the defunct Decatur Central Receiving Agency. Thus the Rev. Henry Little reported to the Synod in 1940. "Your churches, Sunday Schools, the Youth Budget, women and young people, and in- dividual givers provided a total of $2,010,298.68 as against $1,963,365.28, or a net increase of $46,933.40, toward work in a world that is torn by war." The issues were clear-cut and devastation everywhere abounded, except in the spirits of these missionary-minded men and women of the world and of Illinois. The contributions to the War-Time Service Commission as of 1945 were $99,753. The goal sought was $89,211. The over- subscription of the fund was $10,542, or an excess of twelve per cent. Every presbytery in the Synod exceeded its goal, and six of them went twenty per cent or more above their goals. In five presbyteries every church made a contribution. Perhaps a larger contribution than Illinois's dollars was the contribution of Illinois's manpower and Illinois's chaplains. The list is a distinctive one: ARMY Aeschliman, Rev. Rene Loehr, Rev. Franklin D. Appelgren, Rev. Walter N. Logan, Rev. Robert Lee Armstrong, Rev. Ernest R. Luginbill, Rev. Dean O. Bost, Rev. Warren L. Lynn, Rev. E. Russell Breen, Rev. Frank W. Morrison, Rev. Donald C. Chandler, Rev. Chester E. Nims, Rev. Charles F. Ewert, Rev. Arthur F. Pritchard, Rev. Richard E. Floyd, Rev. Walter Ray Sandberg, Rev. Carl J. A. Hartness, Rev. Robert W. Urch, Rev. Cecil Carl Hutchison, Rev. Owen Wooding, Rev. Harry C. NAVY Burns, Rev. J. T. Humphrey, Rev. David M. Congdon, Rev. Howard S. Keesecker, Rev. William F. Evans, Rev. Bruce W. Kettlitz, Rev. William H. Faris, Rev. William W. Kinsman, Rev. Frank L. Franz, Rev. James G. Lampe, Rev. John Hayden Griffith, Rev. David M. Leach, Rev. Miles E. 326 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS NAVY LeCompte, Rev. Everett J. Schmeiser, Rev. Albert E. Martin, Rev. Ralph M. Sharpe, Rev. Charles N., Jr. McCabe, Rev. Ward D. Thomas, Rev. Robert Lee Means, Rev. Robert M. Waldrop, Rev. Robert S. Newburg, Rev. Carl S. Walker, Rev. James E. Peterson, Rev. Harry M. Zaun, Rev. Allen A. Radford, Rev. Stewart W. Zerwas, Rev. Jack L. Rankin, Rev. James William DISCHARGED OR RETIRED Barclay, Rev. David W. Grafton, Rev. F. Louis Prehn, Rev. Martin J. On the eve of this announcement there came the General Assembly announcement of the launching of the drive to raise a $27,000,000 Post- War Reconstruction Fund. Illinois's quota in that $27,000,000 was $1,900,000. At Synod's meeting at Lake Forest, 1947, the Rev. Clarence N. Wright reported a grand total already raised of $1,840,037. Ultimately the total was raised and over-subscribed. Other appeals had less success, perhaps were less appealing. At Dixon, Illinois, Mr. E. B. Starrett, Jr., had given an eighty- acre tract of land located near Dixon to be used as a Presbyterian Center. A Board of Directors was named to administer the project. War emergencies blocked its development. A railroad company would do nothing about making its tracks safe and insisted that access to the property over their tracks would be granted only on condition that the Presbyterian Center would accept full liability for accidents. Mr. Starrett offered to repurchase the property at a sum of $3,000 and the Synod accepted his offer and invested the money as a nest-egg for future development of the Presby- terian Center. Similarly, an old folk's home project at Assumption, where twenty acres of farm land had been designated for the cause, had to be renounced for want of public interest. In the Synod of 1932 the questions that were agitating the minds of Presbytetrian men and women were focalized by the THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 327 Rev. John H. Garner in a symposium of points of view represent- ing thirty of America's outstanding preachers. They are almost unanimous in expressing the spiritual weaknesses concealed in the body politic. Cumberland Presbyterian preachers would have rejoiced in the symposium, so also would the residents of neglected areas in Illinois from which the Presbyterian Church had retired in defeat while pentacostal groups took over. I append the symposium. ISSUES BEFORE THE CHURCH TODAY "This condensed statement represents the opinions of thirty well-known Pastors in all parts of the country and of several Protestant denominations. It is offered ministers of the Synod of Illinois in the hope that it will show where emphasis is being placed. Many of the issues stated in condensed form were men- tioned by many, or all, the replies. Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. Synod of Illinois Rock Island, Illinois June 14-15, 1932 Compiled by Rev. John H. Garner, Jr. THE PROBLEM OF THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE ' 'How to recover and maintain the reality and power of the Christian conviction and experience represented in the New Testa- ment. How to combine together in one the true calling of Christ as Lord, and the true doing of His will and the will of His Father.' ' 'I believe the major problem before the church is the reclaiming of its message as a gospel of salvation and placing that redemptive fact in right relation to ethical needs. The gospel first and its application afterward.' ' 'How far is the manifest tendency toward liberalism in the program of our church endangering fidelity to the old Gospel, assuming that the old Gospel has been proved through the cen- 328 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS turies to be that Gospel which is wisdom of God and the power of God unto salvation to every man that believeth.' "1. 'Preachers have lost the art of preaching. 2. Preachers are not preaching the Gospel, the Gospel as contained in the Infallible Word of God. . . . 3. They have lost the fervor and the power in preaching because they have been preaching a trashy social service Gospel. They do not expect a verdict every Sunday. They do not expect souls to be saved. Put the preachers in the pulpit with fervor and passion for souls. Eliminate the Godless, dead elders, and you will have a revival at once/ : The most important task of the church today is the task that Jesus assigned — the preaching and teaching of the Kingdom (i. e. Government) of God with the view of bringing individ- uals into that government and guiding them into the right liv- ing of its principles in all relationships of life.' ' To work with God for the creation of Christ-like char- acter in people . . . absolute integrity and purity, less individualism, more co-operative. Interpertation of the never changing gospel of Christ in terms of the rapidly changing scientific knowledge of our times.' rf r In Theology: The frank and unequivocal recognition of the shift in the seat of authority from the creeds and tradition of the past to the living present as revealed by scientific re- search, current human experience and the critical historical evalu- ation of all the past experience.' ' 'Calling the people to repentence from their sins.' ' 'As I see it the desperate need for our day is for the Church ot God to arrange its program of preaching and teaching so that men are brought face to face with Jesus Christ as their THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 329 personal Lord and as the Lord of their whole lives. We have been trying to build a redeemed order on unregenerated men and we are not getting very far. It seems to me that this is going to call for a simplification of much of our effort and a most positive preaching upon sin and repentence upon faith and the following of Jesus Christ.' ' 'A trained, disciplined, roused and definitely consecrated lay initiative; this rooted into a personal, practically mystical re- lation of the man or woman with Christ. This should be a funda- mental to and pervasive in all preaching and praying, (as, in- deed, it is in virtually all our hymnology) whether in public or in groups. This greatest revival of all time could — indeed, must take its impulse in this experience. It explained the early Christ- ians; it is the major characteristic of all good and great Christians.' PRACTICAL PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED BY PASTORS 1 'The emphasis of the work of the minister should be in the ministry of a prophet with compassion . . . We are losing the sense of values . . . Then, too, in a day of darkness men must see again that the haunt of God has not changed and that He still walks with men to build up a better world. The third em- phasis in the preaching ministry should be that of compassion. The minister who would help the world must come to it with love and understanding. This is not a day to preach caustic critic- isms. . . .' The major issues before the Church today are, in my judg- ment, in the realm of our developing a more stable Christian in- fluence, both in the public service of the Church, and the private life and character of church members. We shall have a more extensive work in the individual Christian's experience and in the Kingdom of God if we can bring about a more intensive work in the individual Christian's experience and in the local church. 330 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Acts 2:6,7. When something happened inside the Church life, the people outside came together, greatly wondering. Really we need a demonstration of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church.' ' 'How to lift the present level of average piety and faith and consecration to the level of the highest as we find that level today in so many individuals in our churches.' ' 'Stirring and equipping the church membership itself to higher living and especially for this particular task of preaching the unchurched.' ' 'A revolution in the teaching staff of our Sunday Schools. The diluted quality of Christianity within our churches finds its source there. More concentration on the pulpit deliverance of the large town and city churches. More careful and consistent plough- ing of his own field upon the part of every pastor. More dignity and living form in the mode of public worship.' ' 'An adequate consolidation of the Boards and Agencies of the Church. While this has taken place on paper, in actuality it is far from realized. A reorientation of the expenditures of the Boards, i.e. I know a Synod where one Board spends nearly $200,000-$l60,000 for schools and hospitals and $40,000 for preaching the gospel. ' 'A reconsideration of the investment policies of the Boards and Agencies of the Church ... I think we had better face the question of our evening service and of our Mid-week meeting.' : 'The ministry of our church no longer believes that adults can be won for Jesus Christ. Only 15% of the number received on confession are adults. 74% of all received are finally sus- pended.' 1 'The Sunday School has ceased to be a missionary enterprise. Once 112 members in the Sunday School to every 100 in the church membership; now it has dropped to 74 and the number is still THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 331 falling . . . Believing that God 'hath set some in the church to be evangelists as well as pastors and teachers' and that the great need of the hour is that the church now petition God to thrust out Spirit-filled and thoroughly trained evangelists. " '1. Let the National Mission Board create a fund where- by evangelists might be paid a living salary, and no appeal be made for the evangelist in any of the services he would conduct. ' '2. Let the Board establish at Winona Lake or some other center, a school for the training of evangelists; young men now in the ministry who have evangelistic gifts might hear the call and enter such a school to be equipped for a new day in evan- gelism.' 'Cultivating the spiritual life of our membership.' ' 'It means a new emphasis upon Bible Study and Prayer and Worship, and Christian Fellowship instead of pagan fellow- ship, and Sacrificial Giving instead of tipping the Lord.' ' 'How can we make clear to our people the paramount im- portance of religion and the Church? How can we combine our work so as to effect much needed economies ?' ' 'How can we relate the training of theological students more closely to life ? ' '(a) Why not make their tests for ordination, tests which relate to character and experience in Christ rather than to ac- ceptance of definitions?' ' 'One w r ell-known editor has said that the synoptic evange- lists were the greatest reporters of all time; that John was the greatest editor, and that Paul was the greatest master of publicity. The problem of advertising, of publicity! Our modern system, by daily newspapers is an attempted exploitation of the church, not of the Christian Religion. Modern newspaper advertisement puts good things in competition with other things, not good in con- flict with evil. 332 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS ' 'By spirit,, manner, and matter of public worship to demo- cratize the expressional ideals of Christianity. In a word, to realize upon the ancient ideal expressed in the Proverb: 'The rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.' ' 'A realization that the Church preaches seven days a week; that by the life it lives it confirms or annuls its professions and preachments on Sunday. Vica Versa, the Church assembled should confirm to people the best they have observed in the lives of Christians in public and private behavior. 'A roused sense of responsibility trusteeship within the in- dividual Christian — to live christianly, and recognize that living builds into Christ's Kingdom on earth only through his loyalty to and vital articulation of himself into Christ's Body, His Church. ' 'In the educational program to articulate, cumulate and climax the grades, so that at sixteen the School shall have as strong and gripping an appeal as at six. Then train teachers to effect this. ' 'In the preparation of courses for Church Schools a wider and deeper advice and counsel be taken with working Pastors and their choicely sucessful teachers. This, both as to the form and substance of the courses.' 1 'The most vital problem of the pastor today, is to convince people of the supreme value of the public worship of God. . . . ' . . . Constantly fresh application of the principles of Jesus Christ to modern life. Conventional ideas are frequently in- adequate.' THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO SOCIETY ' 'How far should the Presbyterian Church encourage the failure to be loyal to our Constitution — its demands for national defense.' . . . ' 'A Christ-like attitude of people toward other races. A new respect for law. . . . Translation of Christianity into business.' . . . ' 'I think the Church without any hysterics had better face the problem of marriage.' . . . THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 333 ft c. f ln Social Relations: The definite, vigorous and sacrific- ial proclamation and practice of the social ideals implicit in Jesus' teaching and attitude toward life, reinforced and verified by the best social science and human experience of today, to critical con- temporary problems such as race relationship, international peace, and the conservation of human values in civic and industrial life.' ' 'Preserving the Eighteenth Amendment.' ' 'How can we get employment for our members so as to relieve their anxiety ?' ' 'How can we change the fundamental motive of our so- ciety so that we shall not have a 'money culture' but a spiritual culture?' ' 'I doubt if these questions I have suggested will be dismissed on the floor of Synod, but if they are not some of the questions the Church is facing, it is because the Church is facing the wrong way'." 24 It was always this way in the Synod of Illinois. The sisters of Lazareth were ever competing for recognitions from their Lord. Martha was ever cumbered with much serving. Mary ever sat at the feet of her Lord drinking in the lessons that he poured forth, and as Martha complained, the Master ever answered, "Mary hath chosen the better part." "In 1944 a new approach was made to the problem of the vacant rural church. The pattern varied in different presbyteries, but the over-all pattern was that of grouping several churches with a view to constituting a parish organization. To Freeport and Mattoon Presbyteries belongs the distinction of originating the movement. In Freeport Presbytery the churches of Apple River, Elizabeth, Galena First, Galena Hill, Galena South, Hanover, Schapville, Scales Mound, and Warren were grouped to constitute what is known as the Joe Daviess Cooperative Parish. 24 Synod of Illinois Minutes, 1932, pp. 473-477. 334 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS In Mattoon Presbytery the churches of Ashmore, Kansas, Lerna, Loxa, Oakland, Grandview, New Providence, Rardin, and St. Omer were grouped together to form what became known as the Parish of the More Abundant Life. By April, 1945, another Larger Parish, this time in Rushville Presbytery and known as the Parish of the Larger Vision, was formed to include the churches of Augusta, Fairmont, Clayton, Hersman, Mt. Horeb, Mt. Sterling, Perry, and Lee. In November of 1945 Bloomington Presbytery grouped the churches of Allerton, Fairmount, Homer, Philo, Ridge Farm Fed- erated, Sidney, and Tolono to form the Prairieland Larger Parish. In December of 1945 Cairo Presbytery established the Egyptian Larger Parish and grouped the churches of Eldorado, New Prospect, Equality, New Haven, Union Ridge, Omaha, Ridgway, Saline Mines, Shawneetown, and Ringgold. Ewing Presbytery plotted the Parish of the Beckoning Light in April, 1946, to include the churches of Flora, Omega, New Bethel, and Zion. The Parish of the Open Door was established by Alton Pres- bytery in February, 1947, and includes the churches of Butler, Coffeen, Donnellson, Waveland, Nokomis, Raymond, Reno, So- rento, Staunton, and Witt. In April, 1947, Rock River Presbytery established the Rock River Co-operative Parish to include the churches of Millers- burg, Perryton, Alexis, Buffalo Prairie, Joy, Pleasant Ridge, Ham- let, Sherrard, and Edington. Springfield Presbytery formed the Lincoln Country Larger Parish in June, 1947, to include the churches of Indian Point, Fancy Prairie, Farmingdale, Petersburg, Tallula, and Rock Creek. And finally, a Larger Parish partly in Alton Presbytery and partly in Cairo Presbytery was formed under the name of Ava Larger Parish to include the churches of Chester, Rockwood, Ebenezer, Unity, Steelville, Ava, Campbell Hill, and Cora City. A dual pattern characterizes the Larger Parishes. Four of them share the over-all characteristics of all the parishes but have a distinct leaning toward training of student ministers. These are secured from Eden Seminary, MeCormick Theological Seminary,. THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY 335 and Dubuque Theological Seminary and work under a Parish Di- rector. The other six use ordained ministers to staff the work. All of the parishes are organized with a governing parish council which holds stated meetings on an average of one each quarter of the year. The practice is not uniform, some meeting three times per annum and others only twice per annum. Responsibilities are apportioned — one student or minister pro- motes Christian education work, another music activities, another men's work, and yet another youth activities. Staff gatherings are quite generally the rule and cover the questions of unified promotion. The integrating processes are sedulously studied and methods are devised for the unification of parish interests. Group spirit is at a premium and loyality to the entire project is resolute- ly inculcated. Not all of the churches adopt all of the program, but the slacker is never venerated. Some of the projects, such as the celebration of Rural Life Sunday and the Harvest Home Festival, receive unqualified approval. Other projects, such as training schools and choirs, are not so whole-souledly carried through. Financial methods show a general improvement of pattern, and the Larger Parish project has had enough of experimental years to indicate that it is here to stay. At least three overtures on the subject of the Larger Parish were passed by the 163rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the U. S. A. The first of these authorizes the integrating of units so as to form a Larger Parish. The second amends the form of govern- ment and requires that where two churches are banded together, each of them shall in the calling of a minister specify their share of his support. The third amends the forms of government to permit the installation of a minister at a joint service participated in by the churches that have called him. Illinois is justly proud of her place in the formative period. Since 1818 until now, the programs of the Church have tend- ed to hide the deeper meanings in Presbyterian effort. John Timothy Stone and his invitation committee have meant more in lives made right with God than have a hundred financial cam- paigns that went over the top. Harold Martin on his knees in Bloomington has inspired more men to service of the Master 336 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS than have a dozen financial drives that were challenging. As William Chalmers Covert said in another era, "Statistics too often tend to hide the facts." The Church needs a genuine religious experience. That was the theme in 1947 when Harold R. Mar- tin reported to the Synod the goals of the New Life Movement. Within three years the church was to gain 1,000,000 members, Illinois, 68,562. Results are not yet complete. FINIS In 1950 the Synod was incorporated by overture in a larger group or area. The details of this re-arrangement are not yet announced. Questions of titles and properties are undergoing thorough study before any re-grouping is finally decided upon. A primitive heater used in Log Cabin Churches THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 337 APPENDIX A Enduring Pastorates Years Charles S. Davies Fairbury Church 45 Norman B. Barr Olivet Church, Chicago 44 J. S. Braddock Middle Creek Church 42 (resigned his pastorate ? on his 90th birthday) I. A. Cornelison Washington 42 Hezekiah Hanson Oquawha 42 T. A. Johnson Edington 40 Frederick L. Seldon Ravenswood Church, Chicago 39 Ernest W. Symonds Millard Avenue Church, Chicago 38 Herman M. Hildebrand First Church, Springfield 37 Haidow Ablahat Carter Memorial Church, Chicago 33 Harry P. Armstrong Middle Creek Church 33 Clinton C. Cox Drexel Park Church, Chicago 33 Henry Hepburn Buena Memorial Church, Chicago 33 William Maxton DuQuoin Church 33 Douglas H. Cornell Glencoe Church 31 Edward E. Hastings Central Church, Joliet 31 William J. Ohan Bethany Church, Chicago 31 John Timothy Stone Fourth Church, Chicago 31 David Bronstein Peniel Mission and First Hebrew Christian Church 30 David L. McNary First Church, Freeport 30 George A. Wilson Rock Creek Church, Tallula 30 David Hugh Jones First Church, Evanston 29 Albert F. Waldo Riverside Church, Chicago 29 William H. Fulton First Church, Rockford 28 A. W. Hoffman First Church, Joliet 26 Chester M. Irwin Sterling Church 26 Robert C. Young Maywood Church 26 Horace Batchelor First Church, Mattoon 25 Thomas Gait Aurora Church 25 James A. Piper Charleston 25 A. B. Morey State Street Church of Jacksonville 25 John Weston Cavalry Church, Peoria 25 Alvyn Ross Hickman Third Presbyterian Church, Chicago 25 338 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS APPENDIX B Compiled by the Rev. Ra Ipn Cu m m in s Dates or Organisation — Presbyterian LL S. A. Cnurcnes in Illinois Synod — By Year or Organisation Date Organized Name of church Presbytery 1819 1819 1819 1819 1819 March 10 March 17 Fall October 24 June 8 Greenville (not continuous) Edwardsville (not continuous) Donnellson Golconda Enfield Alton Alton Alton Cairo Ewing 1821 1821 May 27 March 5 Chester Friendsville - (Mt. Carmel) Alton Ewing 1822 1822 1822 November 22 New Haven - (Union Ridge) Allendale, Wabash Rock Creek Cairo Ewing Springfield 1823 May 3 Collinsville Alton 1824 November 6 Paris Mattoon 1825 1825 September 15 April 15 Reno, Bethel Sugar Creek Alton Springfield 1826 May Shawneetown Cairo 1827 November 25 Carmi Ewing 1828 1828 1828 1828 1828 March 10 July 5 September 13 January 30 Sorento Hillsboro Vandalia Canton Springfield, First Alton Alton Mattoon Peoria Springfield 1829 May 16 Paris, RFD 2, , New Providence Mattoon 1830 1830 August 31 Ridgeway Lerna, Pleasant Pra irie Cairo Mattoon THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 339 Date Organized Name of church Presbytery 1830 November 4 Hopedale Peoria 1830 Rushville Rushville 1830 April 24 Mt. Zion, First Springfield 1830 Auburn, First Springfield 1831 June 19 Alton, First Alton 1831 July 23 Carrollton Alton 1831 October 23 Galena, First Freeport 1831 May 14 Palestine Mattoon 1831 July 17 Oakland Mattoon 1831 October 2 Woodson, Unity Springfield 1832 LeRoy, First Bloomington 1832 May 26 Equality Cairo 1832 October 23 Nashville Ewing 1832 June 10 Green Valley Peoria 1832 June 9 Macomb, First Rushville 1832 May 20 Athens, Indian Point Springfield 1833 January 9 Belleville Alton 1833 November 23 Bloomington, First Bloomington 1833 June 26 Chicago, First Chicago 1833 July 13 Chicago, DuPage Chicago 1833 Sometime before Shiloh Mattoon 1833 December 1 Marseilles, RFD, Brookfield Ottawa 1833 April 19 Orleans, Pisgah Springfield 1834 February 15 Jerseyville Alton 1834 June 21 Medora, RFD, Summerville Alton 1834 June 30 Carlinville Alton 1834 Pisgah, Bridgeport Ewing 1834 August 16 Princeville Peoria 1834 November 16 Washington Peoria 1834 December 22 Peoria, First Peoria 1834 January 19 Colchester, Argyle Rushville 1834 July 8 Augusta Rushville 1834 January 12 Farmingdale Springfield 1835 June 13 Charleston, First Mattoon 1835 July 4 Knoxville Peoria 1835 July 12 Mt. Sterling Rushville 1835 May 26 Springfield, Westminster Springfield 1835 June 21 Chatham Springfield 1835 Middletown, First Springfield 1836 January 16 Lewistown Peoria 1836 July 23 Farmington Peoria 340 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Date Organized Name of church Presbytery 1836 June 14 Ipava Peoria 1836 April 9 Clayton Rushville 1837 January 8 Alton, College Avenue Alton 1837 July 22 Wilmington Chicago 1837 February 15 Galesburg Peoria 1837 September Taylor Ridge, RFD, Edgington Rock River 1837 November 27 Rock Island, Central Rock River 1837 September 2 Monmouth Rushville 1838 July 27 Paris, RFD 5, Grandview Mattoon 1838 Pontoosuc Rushville 1839 November Mt. Pleasant Cairo 1839 May 5 Mt. Carmel Ewing 1839 February 6 Ridgefield Freeport 1839 March 17 Belvidere, First Freeport 1839 November 30 LaRose, Crow Meadow Peoria 1839 January 15 Macomb, Camp Creek Rushville 1839 December Quincy Rushville 1839 December 3 Petersburg, Central Springfield 1840 June i3 Oquawka Rushville 1840 November 29 Fountain Green Rushville 1841 June 19 Carlyle Alton 1841 June 19 Ashmore Mattoon 1841 Troy Grove Ottawa 1841 September 19 Prairie City Rushville 1842 October 2 Troy Alton 1842 October 27 Monticello, First Bloomington 1842 June 1 Chicago, Second Chicago 1842 Freeport, First Freeport 1842 May 30 St. Omer, Ashmore Mattoon 1842 Tallula Springfield 1843 March 9 Rockwood Alton 1843 July 28 Hillsboro, Waveland Alton 1843 July 29 Baldwin Alton 1843 November 18 Staunton Alton 1843 December 4 Chicago Heights, First Chicago 1843 May 23 Albion Ewing 1843 December 3 Warsaw Rushville 1844 March 9 Heyworth, First Bloomington 1844 Joliet, Central Chicago 1844 June 29 Galum, Pinckneyille Ewing THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 341 Date Organized Name of church Presbytery 1844 November 9 Iuka, Omega Ewing 1844 February 9 Elizabeth Freeport 1844 September 14 Zenda, Linn-Hebron Freeport 1844 December Caledonia, Willow Creek Freeport 1844 July 1 Lerna Mattoon 1844 July 6 Loxa Mattoon 1844 November 4 Sterling Rock River 1844 December 25 Princeton Rock River 1844 September 22 Perry Rushville 1845 January 21 Union, Grayville Ewing 1845 April 5 Milan Rock River 1845 March 29 Middletown, Irish Grove Springfield 1846 Salem Ewing 1846 January 5 Galena, South Freeport 1846 February 23 Woodstock Freeport 1847 January 3 Brighton Alton 1847 Julyl Chicago, Third, Dedicated July 4 Chicago 1847 October 30 Freeport, Second Freeport 1847 October Kings Ottawa 1847 January 17 West Point, Chili Rushville 1848 December Moro Alton 1848 April Lawrenceville Ewing 1848 May 5 Polo Freeport 1848 October 28 Robinson Mattoon 1848 November 21 Sullivan Mattoon 1848 February 26 Yorkville, RFD, Au Sable Grove Ottawa 1848 August Virginia, Sangamon Val., RFD 2 Springfield 1849 Eldorado, Douglas Memorial Cairo 1849 December 28 Utica, RFD, Walthan Ottawa 1849 November 19 Henry Peoria 1849 Springfield, Third Springfield 1850 September Champaign, First Bloomington 1850 October 12 Rossville, First Bloomington 1850 June 8 Metropolis Cairo 1850 Grayville Ewing 1850 October 19 Marengo Freeport 1850 November 1 Dakota, Community Freeport 1850 June Windsor Mattoon 1850 May 9 Hanna City Peoria 1850 June 8 Dunlap, Prospect Peoria 1850 March 23 Fulton, RFD, Garden Plain Rock River 1850 November 19 Decatur, Bethlehem Springfield 342 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Date Organized Name of church Presbytery 1851 June 30 Shelbyville Mattoon 1851 December 15 Sandwich, Fed. Ottawa 1851 Argenta Springfield 1852 December 25 Omaha, Palestine Cairo 1852 September 18 Newton Mattoon 1852 February 22 Earlville Ottawa 1852 June 26 Wenona Ottawa 1852 September 5 LaPrairie, Mt. Horeb Rushville 1852 October 29 Bardolph Rushville 1852 December 10 Adair, West Prairie Rushville 1852 May 1 Decatur, First Springfield 1853 July 23 Clinton, First Bloomington 1853 October 29 Watseka, First Bloomington 1853 April 7 Manteno Chicago 1853 March 13 Oswego Ottawa 1853 December 7 Peoria, First Federated Peoria 1853 January 30 Dixon Rock River 1853 January 1 Carthage Rushville 1854 June 3 Virden Alton 1854 February 12 Carbondale Cairo 1854 September 26 Kankakee Chicago 1854 February 2 1 Mt. Vernon Ewing 1854 July 8 Roekford, First Freeport 1854 June 18 Areola Mattoon 1854 September Rochelle Ottawa 1854 April 20 Millersburg, Aledo Rock River 1854 August 22 Coal Valley, RFD, Beulah Rock River 1855 Girard Alton 1855 August 25 Walshville Alton 1855 June 3 Bloomington, Second Bloomington 1855 June 24 Middle Creek Freeport 1855 August 25 Mendota Ottawa 1855 November Pontiac Ottawa 1855 June 19 Delavan Peoria 1855 March 28 Morrison Rock River 1855 July 7 Alexis, Norwood Rock River 1855 October 2 Milan, RFD, Pleasant Ridge Rock River 1855 February 24 Warsaw, Wythe Rushville 1855 March 5 Nauvoo Rushville 1855 April 14 Decatur, North Fork Springfield 1856 February 9 Litchfield Alton 1856 June 15 Alton, Twelfth Street Alton THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 343 Date Organized Name of church Presbytery 1856 October 21 Lexington Bloomington 1856 November 20 Towanda Bloomington 1856 December 21 Urbana, First Bloomington 1856 September 24 Arlington Heights Chicago 1856 September 3 DuQuoin Ewing 1856 September 21 Centralia Ewing 1856 January 3 Rockford, Westminster Freeport 1856 Bethany Mattoon 1856 May 21 Pana Mattoon 1856 June 17 Grand Ridge Ottawa 1856 November 7 Morris, First Ottawa 1856 May Fulton Rock River 1856 November 10 Aledo Rock River 1856 October Kirkwood Rushville 1856 Lincoln, Union Springfield 1857 February 28 Onargo Bloomington 1857 December 20 Cairo Cairo 1857 September 5 Gardner Chicago 1857 November 11 Waukegan Chicago 1857 May 3 Minonk Ottawa 1857 April 25 Altona Peoria 1857 November Woodhull Rock River 1857 July 26 Taylorville, First Springfield 1858 August 29 Butler Alton 1858 February 16 Tolono Bloomington 1858 May 9 Gilman, First Bloomington 1858 December 19 Homewood Chicago 1858 January 9 Olney Ewing 1858 April 20 Flora Ewing 1858 April 22 Hanover Freeport 1858 May 8 Tuscola Mattoon 1858 June 27 Mattoon Mattoon 1858 November 7 Kansas Mattoon 1858 June 13 Aurora, First Ottawa 1858 October 30 Streator, Park Ottawa 1858 November 10 Elvaston Rushville 1858 March Mason City, First Springfield 1858 Maroa, First Springfield 1859 Coffeen Alton 1859 January 22 Steeleville Alton 1859 May 15 Greenfield Alton 1859 February 24 Lake Forest Chicago 1859 May 7 Assumption, Ml. Mattoon 344 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Date Organized Name of church Presbytery 1859 April 30 Hanna City, Limestone Peoria 1859 December 20 Elmwood Peoria 1859 April 21 Arlington Rock River I860 June 19 Ridge Farm, First Fed. Bloomington I860 April 29 Hyde Park, First Chicago I860 Scales Mound Freeport 1860 April 29 Neoga Mattoon I860 October 20 Moweaqua, Prairie Home Mattoon I860 August 8 Morrison, RFD, Spring Valley Rock River I860 May 13 Jacksonville, Westminster Springfield 1861 March 21 St. Anne Chicago 1861 April Apple River Freeport 1861 January 1 Franklin Grove Rock River 1861 November 7 Macomb, Ebenezer Rushville 1862 June 21 Nokomis Alton 1862 March 6 Chenoa, First Bloomington 1862 September 19 Piper City, First Bloomington 1863 October 1 1 Xenia, Zion Ewing 1863 May 4 Oneida Peoria 1863 November 2 Geneseo Rock River 1863 July 4 Virginia, First Springfield 1864 February 11 Fullerton Covenant Chicago 1864 November 2 Wheeling Community Chicago 1864 December 20 Central Chicago 1864 May 7 Bridgeport Ewing 1864 August 8 Warren Freeport 1864 November 13 Effingham, First Mattoon 1864 May 1 Waterman Ottawa 1864 Ashton Rock River 1864 May Niota, Appanoose Rushville 1864 May Fancy Prairie Springfield 1865 September Stanford Bloomington 1865 June 12 Macon Springfield 1866 April 8 Lebanon, Marshall Ml. Alton 1866 April 23 Bethalto Alton 1866 April 29 Anna Cairo 1866 August 3 Joliet, First Chicago 1866 November 16 Yates City Peoria 1867 July 14 E. St. Louis, First Alton 1867 March 7 Homer, First Bloomington 1867 February 17 Tower Hill Mattoon THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 345 Date Organized Name of church Presbytery 1867 June 24 Peoria, Calvary Peoria 1867 May Coal Valley Rock River 1867 May 18 Moweaqua Springfield 1867 Fall Pleasant Plains, Federated Springfield 1868 July 12 Normal, First Bloomington 1868 July 12 Philo Bloomington 1868 August 29 Bement Bloomington 1868 September 5 Harrisburg Cairo 1868 November 12 New Haven Cairo 1868 July 27 Evanston, First Chicago 1868 February 16 Harvard, First Freeport 1868 August 23 Winnebago, First Freeport 1868 May 1 Peoria, Grace Peoria 1868 May 16 Eureka Peoria 1868 May 17 Alta Peoria 1869 June 6 Sparta Alton 1869 March 26 Fairmount, First Bloomington 1869 Spring Cobden Cairo 1869 December 27 Saline Mines Cairo 1869 September 7 Libertyville Chicago 1869 October 31 Englewood Chicago 1869 April 13 Ottawa, First Ottawa 1869 March 12 Seaton, Center Rock River 1869 April 25 Bushnell Rushville 1869 May 29 New Berlin Springfield 1870 September 11 White Hall Alton 1870 Fairbury, First Bloomington 1870 May 1 Grand Tower Cairo 1870 February 12 Sumner, Gilead Ewing 1870 March 4 McLeansboro Ewing 1870 May 28 Omaha, Mt. Olive Ewing 1870 January 1 Reynolds, RFD, Hamlet Rock River 1870 November 10 Arenzville Springfield 1870 December 31 Divernon, First Springfield 1871 March 9 Raymond Alton 1871 September 26 Gibson City Bloomington 1871 February 6 Chicago, Fourth Chicago 1871 May 6 Peotone Chicago 1871 June 2 Highland Park Chicago 1871 August 27 Austin, Westminster Chicago 1871 September 3 Greenup Mattoon 1871 October Burton Rushville 1871 January 15 Morrisonville, First Springfield 346 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Date Organized Name of church Presbytery 1872 May 3 Hoopeston, First Bloomington 1872 June 16 Braidwood Chicago 1872 October 15 May wood Chicago 1872 December 15 Riverside Chicago 1872 May 25 Dalton City Mattoon 1872 73 (during Winter) Newman, Shaw, Ml. Mattoon 1872 March 17 Kewanee Rock River 1872 April 22 Viola Rock River 1872 May 27 Aledo, RFD, Perryton Rock River 1872 November 1 Baylis, Fairmount Rushville 1873 April 19 Cooksville Bloomington 1873 April 12 Oregon Freeport 1873 August 23 Chrisman Mattoon 1873 May 26 Paw Paw Ottawa 1874 Champaign, Prairie View Bloomington 1875 March 20 Pr. du Rocher, RFD, Yankeetown Alton 1875 April (2nd Sabbath) Witt Alton 1875 April 29 Rock Island, Broadway Rock River 1875 October 17 Hersman Rushville 1876 Eldorado, New Prospect Cairo 1876 May 14 Deerfield Chicago 1876 November 29 Norris City Ewing 1876 October 25 Buffalo Prairie Rock River 1877 July 29 Timewell, Lee Rushville 1879 April 29 Elwood Chicago 1879 March 29 Sweetwater Springfield 1880 April 30 Campbell Park Chicago 1881 January 26 Murphysboro Cairo 1881 May 8 Neponset, RFD, Elmira Peoria 1882 Danville, Immanuel Bloomington 1882 March 19 Carterville Cairo 1882 August 13 Pullman Chicago 1882 October 23 United of South Chicago Chicago 1883 March 6 Edwardsville, RFD, Liberty Pr. Alton 1883 September 30 Seminary Ave. Federated Chicago 1883 September 30 Oak Park, First Chicago 1883 Fall Rardin Mattoon 1883 May 29 Alexis, First Rock River 1883 December 11 Greenview, First Springfield THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 347 Date Organized Name of church Presbytery 1884 March 4 Sidney, First Bloomington 1884 November 23 Lake View Chicago 1885 November 22 Ava Cairo 1885 June 2 Normal Park Chicago 1885 June 4 Evanston, Second Chicago 1885 June 4 Trinity Chicago 1885 October 25 Itasca Chicago 1885 November 15 New Hope Chicago 1885 December 12 Cabery Chicago 1885 April Jacksonville, State Street Springfield 1886 October 29 Shaldon, First Bloomington 1886 October 5 Lincoln, First Springfield 1887 May 15 Rockwood, RFD, Ebenezer Alton 1887 May 19 Brookline Chicago 1887 July 29 River Forest Chicago 1887 September 29 Peoria, Bethel Peoria 1888 June Ringgold Cairo 1888 April 29 Bethany Chicago 1888 July 19 Grace Chicago 1889 February 6 Roseland Chicago 1890 January 16 Emerald Avenue Chicago 1890 January 25 Morgan Park Chicago 1890 October 16 Olivet Memorial Chicago 1890 October 27 LaGrange Chicago 1890 July 10 Toledo Mattoon 1891 Madison, First Alton 1891 June 25 Allerton Bloomington 1891 Eldorado, First Cairo 1891 February 19 Endeavor Chicago 1891 April 26 Ridgeway Chicago 1891 October 8 Calvary Chicago 1891 October 2 New Bethel (Salem) Ewing 1891 April 5 Elgin, House of Hope Ottawa 1891 December 10 Ladd Rock River 1892 April 4 Chicago Seventh Chicago 1892 April 8 Avondale Chicago 1892 April 17 Waldensian Chicago 1893 April 16 Brighton Park Chicago 1893 June Marlboro Chicago 1893 June 30 North Chicago Chicago 348 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Date Organized 1894 1894 1894 1894 1894 1896 1896 1896 1896 1896 1896 1897 1897 1897 1897 1897 1898 1900 1900 1900 1901 1902 1902 1903 1904 1904 1905 1905 1905 1906 1906 1906 1907 1908 1908 1908 1908 1908 1908 18 April April 10 October 23 July 10 March 12 April 16 June 9 August October 13 February 7 October 6 April 18 April 18 March 9 June 1 November April February 8 May 2 October 21 February 15 May 4 June 8 March 30 December 19 December 19 October 24 January 6 April 9 February May 9 April 17 November 7 October 11 May 17 July 14 January 26 Name of church Presbytery Danville, Bethany Campbell Hill Berwyn Savanna Hamilton, Bethel Bloomington Cairo Chicago Freeport Rushville South Shore Chicago Edgewater Drexel Park Chicago Chicago Millard Avenue Peoria, RFD 2, Pottstown Chicago Peoria Peoria, Arcadia Avenue Peoria Kampsville, First Kampsville, RFD, Summit G Alton rove Alton Hebron Peoria, Westminster Freeport Peoria Pawnee Springfield Hope Chicago Christ Church Chicago Buffalo Hart Jacksonville, Northminster Springfield Springfield Joliet, Second Chicago Ravenswood Chicago Faith Chicago Kelvyn Park Chicago Herrin Cairo Joliet, Willow Avenue Chicago Danville, Olivet Buena Memorial Oak Park, Second Bloomington Chicago Chicago Granite City Alton E. St. Louis, Second Alton Joy Rock River Marion Cairo Cora City Cairo Chicago Lawn Altamont Chicago Mattoon Springfield, Fourth Springfield, Fifth Decatur, Westminster Springfield Springfield Springfield THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 349 Date Organized Name of church Presbytery 1909 1909 February 10 April 20 Erie Chapel Wheaton Chicago Chicago 1910 1910 1910 1910 1910 January 13 March 29 March 31 September 27 May 22 Rogers Park Bethlehem Granville Avenue Rockford, Third Holcomb Chicago Chicago Chicago Freeport Ottawa 1911 1911 October 22 April 9 Wilmette Pinckneyville Chicago Ewing 1912 1912 1912 October 27 October 1 October 23 Chicago Heights, Our Saviour Rock Island, South Park Aledo, RFD, Burgess Chicago Rock River Rock River 1913 1913 April 11 April 28 Forest Park Irving Park Chicago Chicago 1914 1914 October 18 April 21 Albany Park Pekin Chicago Peoria 1916 1916 April 23 October 4 Howell Memorial Norwood Park Chicago Chicago 1917 1917 May 6 Summer Berkeley Rockford, Bethany Chicago Freeport 1918 February 1 Aurora, Second Ottawa 1919 1919 1919 1919 November 16 November 2 November 19 June 5 Alton, Elm Street Cicero, Clement New Windsor Springfield, Clementine Mem. Alton Chicago Rock River Springfield 1920 1920 1920 April 4 May 16 June 3 Mitchell Carter Memorial Harvey, Federated Alton Chicago Chicago 1921 1921 1921 1921 May 12 February 27 May 1 November 11 Roxana Wood River Palos Park East Moline Alton Alton Chicago Rock River 1922 1922 1922 1922 March 16 April 16 September 24 December 31 Mayfair Archer Heights Northbrook St. John Chicago Chicago Chicago Chicago 1923 1923 1923 February 8 January 28 March 16 Champaign, McKinley Evanston, Northminster Marquette Park Bloomington Chicago Chicago 350 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Date Organized Name of church Presbytery 1924 1924 May 11 Oak Park, Fair Oaks Tamaroa, Fed. Chicago Ewing 1925 March 17 Downers Grove Chicago 1926 1926 1926 1926 January 10 April 1 1 May 16 July 25 Portage Park Willow Springs Glen Ellyn Garfield Ridge Chicago Chicago Chicago Chicago 1927 1927 June 26 September 18 Cicero, Warren Park St. Marks Chicago Chicago 1928 1928 June 24 December 2 Acacia Community Crerar Memorial Chicago Chicago 1929 1929 1929 March 31 November 3 June 27 Clarendon Hills St. James United Stillman Valley Kishwaukee Chicago Chicago Freeport 1930 June 8 Bellwood Chicago 1932 1932 1932 February 11 May 8 July 31 Bloomington, Western Ave. Chicago Ridge Rio Bloomington Chicago Peoria 1935 November 10 First Hebrew Christian Chicago 1943 1943 1943 June 27 November 7 September 26 Madison, Church of the Center Alton Elwood Park Chicago Yorkfield Chicago 1945 October 28 Hollywood Community Chicago 1947 1947 1947 1947 1947 January 5 January 5 January 5 April 20 July 27 Westminster, Skokie St. Andrew Church of Christ Evergreen Park Springfield, Knox Chicago Chicago Chicago Chicago Springfield 1948 1948 1948 October 10 November 28 March 21 Park Ridge Irvingwood Sherrard, Community Chicago Chicago Rock River 1949 1949 1949 May 15 February 1 April 1 Nameoki Columbus Manor Kirkwood Alton Chicago Rushville Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Rockwood, Unity Steeleville, RFD, Sugar Creek Hardin Quincy, Ellington Alton Alton Alton Rushville THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 351 ALTON PRESBYTERY Name of church Date Organized Greenville 1819 March 10 Edwardsville 1819 March 17 Donnellson 1819 Fall Chester 1821 May 27 Collinsville 1823 May 3 Reno, Bethel 1825 September 15 Sorento 1828 Hillsboro 1828 March 10 Alton, First 1831 June 19 Carrollton 1831 July 23 Belleville 1833 January 9 Jerseyville 1834 February 15 Medora, RFD, Summerville 1834 June 21 Carlinville 1834 June 30 Alton, College Avenue 1837 January 8 Carlyle 1841 June 19 Troy 1842 October 2 Rockwood 1843 March 9 Hillsboro, Waveland 1843 July 28 Baldwin 1843 July 29 Staunton 1843 November 18 Brighton 1847 January 3 Moro 1848 December 9 Virden 1854 June 3 Girard 1855 Walshville 1855 August 25 Litchfield 1856 February 9 Alton, Twelfth Street 1856 June 15 Butler 1858 August 29 Coffeen 1859 Steeleville 1859 January 22 Greenfield 1859 May 15 Nokomis 1862 June 21 Lebanon, Marshall Ml. 1866 April 8 Bethalto 1866 April 23 E. St. Louis, First 1867 July 14 Sparta 1869 June 6 White Hall 1870 September 11 Raymond 1871 March 9 Pr. du Rocher, RFD, Yankeetown 1875 March 20 Witt 1875 April (2nd Sabbath) Edwardsville, RFD, Liberty Prairie 1883 March 6 Rockwood, RFD, Ebenezer 1887 May 15 352 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Name of church Madison, First Kampsville Kampsville, RFD, Summit Grove Granite City E. St. Louis, Second Alton, Elm Street Mitchell Wood River Roxana Madison, Church of the Center Rockwood, Unity Steeleville, RFD, Sugar Creek Hardin Nameoki Date Organized 1891 1897 April 18 1897 April 18 1906 February 1906 May 9 1919 November 16 1920 April 4 1921 February 27 1921 May 12 1943 June 27 Unknown Unknown Unknown 1949 May 15 BLOOMINGTON PRESBYTERY Name of church Danville, First Danvers, First LeRoy, First Bloomington, First Monticello, First Heyworth, First Champaign, First Rossville, First Clinton, First Watseka, First Bloomington, Second Lexington Towanda Urbana, First Onarga Tolono Gilman, First Ridge Farm, First Fed. Chenoa, First Piper City, First Stanford Homer, First Normal, First Philo Bement Fairmount, First Fairbury, First Date Organized March 8 September 1829 1829 1832 1833 1842 1844 1850 1850 1853 1853 1855 1856 1856 1856 1857 1858 1858 I860 1862 1862 1865 1867 1868 1868 1868 1869 1870 November 23 October 27 March 9 September October 12 July 23 October 29 June 3 October 21 November 20 December 21 February 28 February 16 May 9 June 19 March 6 September 19 September March 7 July 12 July 12 August 29 March 26 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 353 Name of church Date Organized Gibson City, First 1871 September 26 Hoopeston, First 1872 May 3 Cooksville, Fed. 1873 April 19 Champaign, Prairie View 1874 Danville, Immanuel 1882 Sidney, First 1884 March 4 Sheldon, First 1886 October 29 Allerton 1891 June 25 Danville, Bethany 1894 April Danville, Olivet 1905 October 24 Champaign, McKinley 1923 February 8 Bloomington, Western Avenue 1932 February 1 1 CAIRO PRESBYTERY Name of church Date Organized Golconda 1819 October 24 New Haven, Union Ridge 1822 Shawneetown 1826 May Ridgway 1830 Equality 1832 May 26 Mt. Pleasant 1839 November Eldorado, Douglas Memorial 1849 Metropolis 1850 June 8 Omaha, Palestine 1852 December 25 Carbondale 1854 February 12 Cairo 1857 December 20 Anna 1866 April 29 Harrisburg 1868 September 5 New Haven 1868 November 12 Cobden 1869 Spring Saline Mines 1869 December 27 Grand Tower 1870 May 1 Eldorado, New Prospect 1876 Murphysboro 1881 January 26 Carterville 1882 March 19 Ava 1885 November 22 Ringgold 1888 June Eldorado, First 1891 Campbell Hill 1894 April 10 Herrin 1904 December 19 Marion 1907 November 7 Cora City 1908 October 11 354 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS CHICAGO PRESBYTERY Name of church Date Organized Chicago, First 1833 June 26 DuPage 1833 July 13 Wilmington 1837 July 22 Chicago, Second 1842 June 1 Chicago Heights, First 1843 December 4 Joliet, Central 1844 Chicago, Third 1847 July 16 Manteno 1853 April 7 Kankakee 1854 September 26 Arlington Heights 1856 September 24 Gardner 1857 September 5 Waukegan 1857 November 11 Homewood 1858 December 19 Lake Forest 1859 February 24 Hyde Park, First I860 April 29 St. Anne 1861 March 21 Fullerton Covenant 1864 February 11 Wheeling Community 1864 November 2 Central 1864 December 20 Joliet, First 1866 August 3 Evanston, First 1868 July 27 Libertyville 1869 September 7 Englewood 1869 October 31 Chicago, Fourth 1871 February 6 Peotone 1871 May 6 Highland Park 1871 June 2 Austin, Westminster 1871 August 27 Braidwood 1872 June 16 Maywood 1872 October 15 Riverside 1872 December 15 Deerfield 1876 May 14 Elwood 1879 April 29 Campbell Park 1880 April 30 Pullman 1882 August 13 United of South Chicago 1882 October 23 Seminary Avenue Federated 1883 September 30 Oak Park, First 1883 September 30 Lake View 1884 November 23 Normal Park 1885 June 2 Itasca 1885 October 25 Trinity 1885 June 4 Evanston, Second 1885 June 4 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 355 Name of church Date Organized New Hope 1885 November 15 Cabery 1885 December 12 Brookline 1887 May 19 River Forest 1887 July 29 Bethany 1888 April 29 Grace 1888 July 19 Roseland 1889 February 6 Emerald Avenue 1890 January 16 Morgan Park 1890 January 25 Olivet Memorial 1890 October 16 LaGrange 1890 October 27 Endeavor 1891 February 19 Ridgeway 1891 April 26 Calvary 1891 October 8 Chicago Seventh 1892 April 4 Avondale 1892 April 8 Waldensian 1892 April 17 Brighton Park 1893 April 16 Marlboro 1893 June North Chicago 1893 June 30 Berwyn 1894 October 23 South Shore 1896 April 16 Edgewater 1896 June 9 Drexel Park 1896 August Millard Avenue 1896 October 13 Hope 1898 April Christ Church 1900 February 8 Joliet Second 1901 February 15 Ravenswood 1902 May 4 Faith 1902 June 8 Kelvyn Park 1903 March 30 Joliet, Willow Avenue 1904 December 19 Buena Memorial 1905 January 6 Oak Park, Second 1905 April 9 Chicago Lawn 1908 May 17 Erie Chapel 1909 February 10 Wheaton 1909 April 20 Rogers Park 1910 January 13 Bethlehem 1910 March 29 Granville Avenue 1910 March 31 Wilmette 1911 October 22 Chicago Heights, Our Saviour 1912 October 27 Forest Park 1913 April 11 356 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Name of church Irving Park Albany Park Howell Memorial Norwood Park Berkeley Cicero, Clement Carter Memorial Harvey, Federated Palos Park Mayfair Archer Heights Northbrook St. John Evanston, Northminster Marquette Park Oak Park, Fair Oaks Downers Grove Portage Park Willow Springs Glen Ellyn Garfield Ridge Cicero, Warren Park St. Marks Acacia Community Crerar Memorial Clarendon Hills St. James United Bellwood Chicago Ridge First Hebrew Christian Elwood Park Yorkfield Hollywood Community Westminister, Skokie St. Andrew Church of Christ Evergreen Park Park Ridge Irvingwood Columbus Manor Date Organized 1913 April 28 1914 October 18 1916 April 23 1916 October 4 1917 May 6 1919 November 2 1920 May 16 1920 June 3 1921 May 1 1922 March 16 1922 April 16 1922 September 24 1922 December 31 1923 January 28 1923 March 16 1924 May 11 1925 March 17 1926 January 10 1926 April 11 1926 May 16 1926 July 25 1927 June 26 1927 September 18 1928 June 24 1928 December 2 1929 March 31 1929 November 3 1930 June 8 1932 May 8 1935 November 10 1943 November 7 1943 September 26 1945 October 28 1947 January 5 1947 January 5 1947 January 5 1947 April 20 1948 October 10 1948 November 28 1949 February 1 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 357 EWING PRESBYTERY Name of church Date Organized Enfield 1819 June 8 Friendsville (Mt. Carmel) 1821 March 5 Allendale, Wabash 1822 Carmi 1827 November 25 Nashville 1832 October 23 Pisgah (Bridgeport) 1834 Mt. Carmel 1839 May 5 Albion 1843 May 23 Galum (Pinckneyville) 1844 June 29 Iuka, Omega 1844 November 9 Union (Grayville) 1845 January 21 Salem 1846 Lawrenceville 1848 April Grayville 1850 Mt. Vernon 1854 February 21 DuQuoin 1856 September 3 Centralia 1856 September 21 Olney 1858 January 9 Flora 1858 April 20 Xenia, Zion 1863 October 11 Bridgeport 1864 May 7 Sumner, Gilead 1870 February 1 2 McLeansboro 1870 March 4 Omaha, Mt. Olive 1870 May 28 Norris City 1876 November 29 New Bethel (Salem) 1891 October 2 Pinckneyville 1911 April 9 Tamaroa, Fed. 1924 FREEPORT PRESBYTERY Name of church Date Organized Galena, First Ridgefield Belvidere, First Freeport, First Elizabeth Zenda, Linn-Hebron Caledonia, Willow Creek Galena, South Woodstock 1831 October 23 1839 1839 February 6 March 17 1842 1844 1844 1844 February 9 September 14 December 1846 1846 January 5 February 23 358 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Name of church Date Organized Freeport, Second 1847 October 30 Polo 1848 May 5 Marengo 1850 October 19 Dakota, Community 1850 November 1 Rockford, First 1854 July 8 Middle Creek 1855 June 24 Rockford, Westminster 1856 January 23 Hanover 1858 April 22 Scales Mound 1860 Apple River 1861 April Warren 1864 August 8 Harvard, First 1868 February 16 Winnebago, First 1868 August 23 Oregon 1873 April 12 Savanna 1894 July 10 Hebron 1897 March 9 Rockford, Third 1910 September 27 Rockford, Bethany 1917 Summer Stillman Valley, Kishwaukee 1929 June 27 MATTOON PRESBYTERY Name of church Date Organized Paris 1824 November 6 Vandalia 1828 July 5 Paris, RFD 2, New Providence 1829 May 16 Lerna, Pleasant Prairie 1830 August 31 Palestine 1831 May 14 Oakland 1831 July 17 Shiloh 1833 (Sometime before) Charleston, First 1835 June 13 Paris, RFD 5, Grandview 1838 July 27 Ashmore 1841 June 19 St. Omer, Ashmore 1842 May 30 Lerna 1844 July 1 Loxa 1844 July 6 Robinson 1848 October 28 Sullivan 1848 November 21 Windsor 1850 June Shelbyville 1851 June 30 Newton 1852 September 18 Areola 1854 June 18 Bethany 1856 Pana 1856 May 21 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 359 Name of church Date Organized Tuscola 1858 May 8 Mattoon 1858 June 27' Kansas 1858 November 7 Assumption, Ml. 1859 May 7 Neoga I860 April 29 Moweaqua, Prairie Home I860 October 20 Effingham, First 1864 November 13 Tower Hill 1867 February 17 Greenup 1871 September 3 Dalton City 1872 May 25 Newman, Shaw Ml. 1872-73 (Sometime during winter Chrisman 1873 August 23 Rardin 1883 Fall Toledo 1890 July 10 Altamont 1908 July 14 OTTAWA PRESBYTERY Name of church Date Organized Marseilles, RFD, Brookfield 1833 December 1 Troy Grove 1841 Kings 1847 October Yorkville, RFD, Au Sable Grove 1848 February 26 Utica, RFD, Waltham 1849 December 28 Sandwich, Fed. 1851 December 15 Earlville 1852 February 22 Wenona 1852 June 26 Oswego 1853 March 13 Rochelle 1854 September Mendota 1855 August 25 Pontiac 1855 November Grand Ridge 1856 June 17 Morris, First 1856 November 7 Minonk 1857 May 3 Aurora, First 1858 June 13 Streator, Park 1858 October 30 Waterman 1864 May 1 Ottawa, First 1869 April 13 Paw Paw 1873 May 26 Elgin, House of Hope 1891 April 5 Holcomb 1910 May 22 Aurora, Second 1918 February 1 360 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS PEORIA PRESBYTERY Name of church Date Organized Canton 1828 September 13 Hopedale 1830 November 4 Green Valley 1832 June 10 Princeville 1834 August 16 Washington 1834 November 16 Peoria, First 1834 December 22 Knoxville 1835 July 4 Lewistown 1836 January 16 Ipava 1836 June 14 Farmington 1836 July 23 Galesburg 1837 February 15 LaRose, Crow Meadow- 1839 November 30 Henry 1849 November 19 Hanna City 1850 May 9 Dunlap, Prospect 1850 June 8 Peoria, First Federated 1853 December 7 Delavan 1855 June 19 Altona 1857 April 25 Hanna City, Limestone 1859 April 30 Elmwood 1859 December 20 Oneida 1863 May 4 Yates City 1866 November 16 Peoria, Calvary 1867 June 24 Peoria, Grace 1868 May 1 Eureka 1868 May 16 Alta 1868 May 17 Neponset, RFD, Elmira 1881 May 8 Peoria, Bethel 1887 September 29 Peoria, RFD 2, Pottstown 1896 February 7 Peoria, Arcadia Avenue 1896 October 6 Peoria, Westminster 1897 June 1 Pekin 1914 April 21 Rio 1932 July 31 ROCK RIVER PRESBYTERY Name of church Date Organized Taylor Ridge, RFD, Edgington 1837 September Rock Island, Central 1837 November 27 Sterling 1844 November 4 Princeton 1844 December 25 Milan 1845 April 5 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 361 Name of church Date Organized Fulton, RFD, Garden Plain 1850 March 23 Dixon 1853 January 30 Millersburg, Aledo 1854 April 20 Coal Valley, RFD, Beulah 1854 August 22 Morrison 1855 March 28 Alexis, Norwood 1855 July 7 Milan, RFD, Pleasant Ridge 1855 October 2 Fulton 1856 May Aledo 1856 November 10 Woodhull 1857 November Arlington 1859 April 21 Morrison, RFD, Spring Valley 1860 August 8 Franklin Grove 1861 January 1 Geneseo 1863 November 2 Ashton 1864 ? Coal Valley 1867 May Seaton, Center 1869 March 12 Reynolds, RFD, Hamlet 1870 January 1 Kewanee 1872 March 17 Viola 1872 April 22 Aledo, RFD, Perryton 1872 May 27 Rock Island, Broadway 1875 April 29 Buffalo Prairie 1876 October 25 Alexis, First 1883 May 29 Ladd 1891 December 10 Joy 1906 April 17 Rock Island, South Park 1912 October 1 Aledo, RFD, Burgess 1912 October 23 New Windsor 1919 November 19 East Moline 1921 November 1 1 Sherrard, Community 1948 March 21 RUSHVILLE PRESBYTERY Name of church Date Organized Rushville 1830 Macomb, First 1832 June 9 Augusta 1834 July 8 Mt. Sterling 1835 July 12 Clayton 1836 April 9 Monmouth 1837 September 2 Pontoosuc 1838 362 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS Name of church Macomb, Camp Creek Quincy Opuawka Fountain Green Prairie City- Warsaw Perry Wetst Point, Chili LaPrairie, Mt. Horeb Bardolph Adair, West Prairie Carthage Warsaw, Wythe Nauvoo Kirkwood Elvaston Macomb, Ebenezer Niota, Appanoose Bushnell Burton Baylis, Fairmount Hersman Timewell, Lee Hamilton, Bethel Colchester, Argyle Ellington Rock Creek Date Organized 1839 1839 1840 1840 1841 1843 1844 1847 1852 1852 1852 1853 1855 1855 1856 1858 1861 1864 1869 1871 1872 1875 1877 1894 1834 January 15 December June 13 November 29 September 19 December 3 September 22 January 17 September 5 October 29 December 10 January 1 February 24 March 5 October November November 7 May April 25 October November 1 October 17 July 29 March 12 January 19 10 1822 November 22 SPRINGFIELD PRESBYTERY Name of church Sugar Creek Springfield, First Mt. Zion, First Auburn, First Woodson, Unity Athens, Indian Point Orleans, Pisgah Farmingdale Springfield, Westminster Date Organized 1825 April 15 1828 January 30 1830 April 24 1830 1831 October 2 1832 May 20 1833 April 19 1834 January 12 1835 May 26 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 363 Name of Church Date Organized Chatham 1835 June 21 Middletown, First 1835 Petersburg, Central 1839 December 3 Tallula 1842 Middletown, Irish Grove 1845 March 29 Virginia, Sangamon Valley, RFD 2 1848 August Springfield, Third 1849 Decatur, Bethlehem 1850 November 19 Argenta 1851 Decatur, First 1852 May 1 Decatur, North Fork 1855 April 14 Lincoln, Union 1856 Taylorville, First 1857 July 26 Mason City, First 1858 March Maroa, First 1858 Jacksonville, Westminster 1860 May 13 Virginia, First 1863 July 4 Fancy Prairie 1864 May Macon 1865 June 12 Moweaqua 1867 May 18 Pleasant Plains, Federated 1867 Fall New Berlin 1869 May 29 Arenzville 1870 November 10 Divernon, First 1870 December 31 Morrisonville, First 1871 January 15 Sweetwater 1879 March 29 Greenview, First 1883 December 11 Jacksonville, State Street 1885 April Lincoln, First 1886 October 5 Pawnee 1897 November 18 Buffalo Hart 1900 May 2 Jacksonville, Northminster 1900 October 21 Springfield, Fourth 1908 January 26 Springfield, Fifth 1908 Decatur, Westminster 1908 Springfield, Clementine Memorial 1919 June 5 Springfield, Knox 1947 July 27 364 THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS BIBLIOGRAPHY PRIMARY SOURCES Annual Reports of Boards and Agencies of The Presbyterian Church Centennial History of Illinois (6 Vols.) Illinois Blue Book Illinois State Historical Society Journal Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society, March, 1948 Records of the Synod of Illinois Bradfield, Irwin E.; Jones, E. Edwin; and Williams, Daniel Jenkins — Early Presbyterianism in Wisconsin Cremeans, Walter R. — Outline History of the Synod of Illinois Dumond — Anti-Slavery Origins of the Civil War Gould, Nahum — History of Ottawa Presbytery Hanzsche, William Thompson — The Presbyterians Hays, George P. — Presbyterians Kennedy, William Sloan — The Plan of Union Logan, J. B. — History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Illinois Lyons, John Frederick — History of the Presbytery of Chicago McClure, James G. K. — Presbyterian Theological Seminary of Chicago McCormick, Cyrus — The Century of the Reaper McDonnold, B. W. — History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church Magown, George F. — Asa Turner, A Home Mission Patriarch and His Times Norton, A. T. — History of the Presbyterian Church in the State of Illinois Patterson, Robert W. ; Johnson, David S. ; Conover, Rfbert ; and Pattersfn, Robert W. ; Johnson, David S.; Conover, Robert; and Spilman, Jonathan E. — Outline History of the Synod of Illinois Pease, Theodore Calvin — The Story of Illinois Rammelkamp, Charles Henry — Illinois College, A Centennial History Roberts, William Henry — A Concise History of the Presbyterian Church in the U.SA. THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNODS OF ILLINOIS 365 Spinka, Matthew, Editor; in collaboration with Frederick Kuhns, Mrs. Ozora S. Davis, Herman R. Muelder, Warben E. Mbs. Ozora S. Davis, Herman R. Muelder, Warren E. Thompson — A History of Illinois Congregational and Chris- tian Churches Sweet, William Warren — Religious on the American Frontiers Weber, H. C. — Evangelism Zenos, Andrew C. — Presbyterianism SECONDARY SOURCES Presbyterian Encyclopaedia ■k % % Barrows, John Henry, D.D., Editor — The World's Parliament of Religions Beard, Charles T. — Whither Mankind Bent, George P. — A Pioneer's Historical Sketches Burgess, John W. — The Middle Period Fish, Carl Russell — The Development of American Nationality Gates, Caleb Frank — A Christian Business Man Harlow, Ralph Volney — The Growth of the United States Huntington, Ellsworth — Mainsprings of Civilization Macdonald, William — Documentary Source Book of American History Nettels, Curtis P. — The Roots of American Civilization Parrish, Randall — Historic Illinois Walker, Francis A. — The Making of a Nation Wilson, Woodrow — Division and Reunion TOPICAL INDEX Abolitionism, 45 in Illinois, 35 Abolitionist, activities at Jackson- ville, 76 dogmas, 28 gospel, 71 Academies, question of endowed, 284 Administrative questions downstate, 318 Alton, College Avenue Presbyterian Church at, 48 Alton Presbytery, 101 asserts itself, 138 secures an evangelist, 86 receives Rev. Hubbell Loomis, 102 Alton Presbytery's controversy with A.H.M.S., 116 American Home Missionary Society, 49 Anarchy, dogmas of, 217 Armstrong, Dr. C. S., confronts dif- ficulties in reorganization, 214 B Barbers' Protective Association of Illinois, endorsement of, 245 Bascom, Flavel, promoter of divis- ion, 82 Bateman, Newton, memorial on pass- ing of, 246 Bear Creek Church, 293 Beecher, Rev. Edward, talks on Christian union, 79 Benevolent Committees, Old School and New School approaches to, 101 Benevolent Funds, administration of, 99 Bergen, John G., at Springfield, 64 Bible, discussions on use of, in public schools, 221 Blackburn legacy, 132 Blackburn, Rev Gideon death of, 60 founds Blackburn University, 34 Blackburn University, 34, 95, 256, 276 commended, 267 report of committee to visit, 259 Bloomington, First Presbyterian Church in, 63 Board of Deaconesses (1897), 245 Board of Education, aid pledged by Synod of Illinois South, 263 366 Boom years (1923-29), 308 Brich, John, organizer of First Pres- byterian Church of Jacksonville, 24 Brown, Dr. Henry Seymour, 313 Cartwright, Peter, testifies, 45 Center Presbytery duration of, 19 organized, 15 Central Receiving Agency, 309 Centralization not the order of the day, 197 Charters for colleges, difficulty in securing, 43 Chicago, beginnings in, 62 erection of OS Synod in, 138 Fourth Presbyterian Church of, 314 practical help for, 178 Presbyterian College in, 313 Presbyterian Headquarters in, 313 Chicago fire, 166 resolutions on, 175 Chicago Presbytery, 315 appoints a church erection com- mittee, 210 independent attitude in, 311 names of great in, 318 special work in, 233 Chicago's Board of Church Exten- sion, 312 Chicago's Christian Industrial League, 313 Chiniquy, Father, 129 Christian endeavorers, cultivated by women, 240 Church erection, question of, 170 Clark, Rev. N. C, an apostle of di- vision, Q6 College aid, stiffer requirements in, 260 Colony method, 27 Comparison tables, Old School-New School Presbyteries, 103 Congregational actions terminating Plan of Union, 114 Congregational Union of Fox River, founding of, 72 Conkling, Elder Clinton L., dissent of, 229 Consolidation of Synods proposed in 1881, 209 INDEX 367 Constitution, Articles of, 295 Corresponding members, Alton Pres- bytery drafts plan for seating, 101 Covert, William Chalmers, reports on personal evangelism, 304 Cumberland Church attitudes of, 290 educational ventures of, 297 first, Hopewell or Enfield, 293 overture for union with, 288 Cumberland churches, early 293 Cumberland Presbyteries, organiza- tion of, 297 D Danville Academy, 88 Deliverances by the Synod, 34 Denominational support of mission- ary activities, 121 Development in the north and west, 57 District Secretary, question of, be- comes controversial, 172 Diversity of pattern, difficulties in, 292 Division agitation of, 66 in Jacksonville Presbyterian Church, 76 of the church in Illinois, 55 prophetic signs of, 26 Division of Presbyterian territories, 103 Dual church loyalties, 49 Dubuque Seminary, 277 Duffield Resolution, 111 DuQuoin Female Seminary, 94 Ebenezer Camp Grounds, 293 Education becomes an issue, 284 independency in, 42 kind needed by church of the Northwest, 263 readjustments in, 251 study of secular, 303 Educational discussions ferment, 105 Educational efforts, 32 Ellis, Frances Brard, 15 Elm Point, 293 Enabling Act of the Reunion, 290 Evangelism, program launched by Synod (1888), 232 Expansion and the missionary prob- lem, 5 Expenses of Administration, resolu- tion on, 302 Farnum, Lucian, resigns as Stated Clerk of Bloomington Presbytery, 102 Financial panic, 97 of 1873, 191 Financial drives of the 1870's, 201 Foreign missions in Synod of Illinois South, 202 Fraser, Rev. William J., 25 files heresy charges against fac- ulty of Illinois College, 43 French Roman Catholic work of Chi- cago Presbytery, 135 Friendsville, English Presbyterians at, 47 Frontier policies, 6 G Gale, Dr. George W., 60 death of, 252 Galena, a boomtown, 62 Galena Presbytery, endorses Maine law, 99 Perfectionism an issue in, 74 Garner, Rev. John H., presents issues before church today, 327 General Assembly Moderators, 314 General Committee on Benevolence in line with General Assembly's Pattern, 192 General Presbyter office of, 319 Synodical Representative, 310 Giddings, Rev. Salmon, 9 Godfrey, Capt. Benjamin, 89 Golconda Church, 9 Gold Rush, 99 Gould, Nahum, conservator of Pres- byterian interests, 82 Hadley Church, divisions in, 73 Hall, Judge, spokesman for the West, 26 Hart, Rev. Farel, resolution on pass- ing of, 209 Maymarket Riot, 217 Haymarket Riot, 217 Hickok, James Butler, 48 Hill, Dr. Edgar P., 312 Hillsboro Presbytery erected by OS Synod of Illinois, 140 Historic patterns, changes in, 164 Holliday, Capt. Thomas W., 265 Home evangelism advocated, 233 368 INDEX Home Missions Fund, resolution on, 302 Hyde, S. H., passing of, 282 I Illinois, consolidation in, 164 Illinois College, 17 an educational venture, 43 investigation of, 115 Illinois Industrial University, visited by Synod, 197 Illinois Presbytery, 295 Committee on Fugitive Slave Law, 110 Illinois Presbytery, NS, pronounces against dual ecclesiastical rela- tions, 121 Indian, expulsion of the, 66 Indiana Theological Seminary, has wrong attitude on Abolitionism, 46 Industrial Era, church becomes aware of, 218 Ingersoll, John, receiption in Alton Presbytery, 136 Interlocking relations of Congrega- tionalists and New School Presby- terians, 63 Iowa, Synod of, is erected, 104 Iowa Territory, 118 Jacksonville abolitionist activities at, 76 consolidation of colleges at, 284 First Presbyterian Church of, 24 Portugese colony at, 99 storm center, 23 Jacksonville Presbyterian Church, di- vision in, 76 Johnson, D. C., passing of, 282 Johnson, Dr. Paul S., 313 K Kaskaskia OS Presbytery, 140 Kent, Aratus, 13 Kimball, Lycurgus P., replaces Lu- cian Farnum, 102 Knox College, 258 Lake Forest University promotes missionary fervor, 220 Land-grant colleges, Prof. Jonathan B. Turner an advocate of, 133 Lincoln, Abraham, sits under preach- ing of James M. Smith, 131 Lincoln, resolutions on the assassin- ation of, 151 Lincoln-Douglas debate, 119 Lincoln's denounciation of war, 98 Loomis, Rev. Hubbell, received into Alton Presbytery, 102 Lovejoy, Elijah P., 36 memorial question, 221 M Maine Law, Galena Presbytery en- dorses, 99 Manses and churches, appeal for larger building funds for, 187 Marquis, Rev. W. S., confers with the women, 241 Memorial Fund, 166, 167 Mexican War, 97 Mills, Samuel J., 7 Ministerial candidates scrutinized, 270 Ministerial relief, reports on, 187 Missions, 1 Monmouth College, 255 Monticello Church, 89 Monticello Seminary, 89 Myers, Rev. Wm. Henry, 320 Mc McClure, James G. K., in dual role, 239 McCormick, Cyrus H., has labor trouble, 216 the OS peacemaker, 131 McDonald, Rev. John, 32 McGee Presbytery, 295 McGeoch, Rev. James, 63 McGoun, Rev. George F., unfrocking of, 74 McGready, Rev. James, 124, 294 N Narrative of 1899, 246 National conventions, 159 Nelson, David, 37 New Haven Divinity School, 50 New patterns in church reports, 283 New School disillusionment, 118 New School party, errors charged to, 52 New School Synod re-arranges its boundaries, 104 Norton, Augustus T., 189 appointed Church Extension Sec- retary of NS Synod of Illinois, 140 appraisal of currents that flowed, 30 influence at Jacksonville, 78 INDEX 369 Old School Christian education, 106 Old School General Assembly, Syn- ods erected by, 104 Old School independence from AHMS, 120 Old School-New School parties, 50 Old School Synod confronts Abolitionist issues, 84 Presbyteries erected by, 103 Olivet Institute, 315 Ottawa Presbytery division of, 79, 81 votes to rid Presbyterian Church of slavery, 113 Ottawa Presbytery's Abolitionists, 110 Overture on elders' tenure of office, 75 Overture on seating of General As- sembly delegates, 248 Parochial Schools, 251 Patterson, Rev. Robert W., 123 memorial on passing of, 244 writes letter to Gould, 83 Peacemakers walk softly in Illinois, 290 Peoria, division issue at, 54 Peoria, NS Synod of, takes action on double ecclesiastical connections, 114 Peoria Synod is erected, 104 Perfectionism an issue in Galena Presbytery, 74 Pioneers, life tenure of, 14 Pisgah Church, 109 Plan of Union, 1 abrogation of, 51 schools planted under, 86 under fire, 48 undermining of, 29 Pleasant Prairie, 32 Porter, Rev. J. G., 80 Post-War Reconstruction Fund, 326 Presbyterial missionaries, use of commended, 103 Presbyterian Church, title of ap- proved by court, 278 Presbyterian Headquarters in Chica- go, 313 Presbyterian Hospital of Chicago promoted by Presbyterians, 211 Presbyterian Society, 311 Presbyterian training school opens (1910), 302 Prohibition, statutory, support of pledged by Synod, 243 Property difficulties in establishing pattern of reunion, 291 Property rights, ruling of civil courts on, 52 Public school education, Presbyterian Church backs, 87 Publications, 172 R Religious literature, 106 Reorganization of dependent col- leges, 254 Resolution on reunion, 153 Resolution on war, of NS Synod, 98 Resolutions on the assassination of Lincoln, 151 Reunion attitudes of public press on, 159 overture on, 160 pageantry of, 163 statistics of, 300 terms of, 155 Reunion accomplished, October 15, 1907, 290 Reunion lands in civil courts, 298 Reunion movement, inception of, 153 Revival, religious, of the year 1800, 3 Roads of entrance into the wilder- ness, 4 Rock River Presbytery, plants a church in the bounds of Chicago, 73 Room 48, 311 Rose, James A., death of, 304 Ross, Rev. Joseph M., preaches Mod- erator's sermon, 279 Routine business, attempt to dispense with, 279 Ruggles, Isaac W., corresponds with AHMS, 71 Sabbath desecration, 221 Sabbath School achievements recog- nized by Synod of Illinois South, 205 Sabbath School teaching to be of better quality, 274 Sabbath School work, 199, 315 Saline Presbytery erected by OS Synod of Illinois, 140 Sangamon Presbytery of the Cum- berland Church, 296 Scattering methods, 71 Schermerhorn, John F., 7 370 INDEX School textbooks, report of commit- tee to study, 222 Science and religion controversy in public schools, 221 Seal for the corporation, 292 Seminary of the Northwest, 107, 277 Slavery, question of, 108 Smith, James M., 131 Southern Congregational Assn. com- municates with Synod of Illinois South, 209 Spilman, Benjamin F., 125 and Southern Illinois, 124 Springfield, First Presbyterian Church at, 304 OS Church at, 131 Springfield Presbytery, protest of, 288 Standards question of, 159 250th anniversary on adoption of, 245 Starrett, E. B., Jr., gift of, 326 State University, employment of student pastor at, 287 foundation fund completed, 303 Presbyterian work in, 285 Stone, John Timothy, 314 Sunday School missionary, 106 Superintendent of home missions, question of, 291 Supervision of students of the min- istry, 272 Swing, Rev. David, heresy case of, 199 Synod of Illinois, creation, 21 historical address on, 300 Synod of Illinois, NS, 140 Synod of Illinois South silent on edu- cation, 259 Table of Benevolent Contributions, 157 Temperance theme, 46 Ten-hour day approved by Synod, 301 Thanksgiving, pronouncement on a day of, 102 Theological Seminary of the North- west, politics in, 269 Theological seminaries approved, 261 Third camp meeting, 293 Training of workers, 286 Turner, Prof. Jonathan B., advocate of land-grant colleges, 133 U United effort with like-minded churches, 6 Urbana, difficulties at, 300 Vacant churches, plan of Illinois Presbytery for handling of, 122 Vandalia Presbytery, 297 Venable, Rev. Henry I. at Paris, 47 founded Edgar Academy at Paris, 32 joins Palestine Presbytery, 86 passing of, 266 W Wabash Presbytery, 141 War crisis, 305 War Service Budget, 324 War Service Commission of World War I, 320 Wick, Rev. William, 6 Wilmington Presbyterian Church calls Rev. J. G. Porter, 80 Wilson, Rev. W. S., protests right of women to use platform, 208 Wisconsin pattern of union, 117 Wisconsin Territory, Plan of Union in, 116 Women, enlistment of, Women's Board of the Interior, 311 Women's Board of Missions for the Northwest, delegates re-organized by Synod of Illinois North, 206 Women's Christian Temperance Un- ion addresses the Synod, 207 World War II, Illinois chaplains in, 325 World's Columbian Exposition, pro- test on arrangements for, 236 World's Parliament of Religion, 236 Wright, Rev. S. G., in the Spoon Riv- er country, 67 Yale Band, 17 aggressiveness of, 42 Zenos, Rev. Andrew C. on standing of Financial Com- mittee, 41 Professor of Biblical Theology at McCormick Seminary (1895), 245