LI b RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UN1VLR51TY 
 
 or ILLINOIS 
 
 B 
 P366ci 
 
 iRTflWCAl SflRYEY
 
 JOHN MASON PECK 
 
 AND 
 
 One Hundred Years of 
 Home Missions 
 
 1817—1917 
 
 BY 
 
 AUSTEN KENNEDY DE BLOIS, D.D., LL. D. 
 
 AND 
 
 LEMUEL CALL BARNES, D.D. 
 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST HOME MISSION SOCIETY 
 New Yobk 
 
 1917
 
 GENERAL CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Prophet of the Prairies 5 
 
 Harvests of a Hundred Years 113 
 
 Centennial Data • • • • ^^^ 
 
 Illustrations 
 
 John M. Peck Frontispiece 
 
 Peck's Home, Rock Spring, 111 32
 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 ^ - ~ 
 
 ^ r 1 1 HE earliest Home Missions in this country were conducted 
 "X^ _|_ ^y individuals, churches and associations. 
 
 '^ The undertaking by the denomination in a larger 
 
 way is marked by three events, ( 1 ) the organization of the Mas- 
 sachusetts Baptist Missionary Society in 1802, which carried on 
 work in sixteen States, three Canadian provinces and among 
 various Indian tribes, (2) the sending of John M. Peck and 
 James E. "Welch to the West by the Triennial Convention of the 
 whole denomiuation in 1817, and (3) the organization of the 
 American Baptist Home Mission Society in 1832. 
 
 These were not disconnected events, but outstanding fea- 
 tures of one vital, intimate, genetic development during thirty 
 years. Not only in time but also in significance the commis- 
 sioning of Peck stood at the center in the period of the genesis 
 of Home Missions. Hence the centennial of this event deserves 
 careful attention by every one who cares about the coming of 
 ; the kingdom of God on our continent. 
 
 V We are particularly happy in having as the new biographer 
 
 -^ of Peck Dr. de Blois, not only because of his power to make 
 ' ^ accurate history live and throb like romance, but also because 
 ^. for years he has been in close touch with the life and work of 
 J.< Peck, since while President of Shurtleff College he wrote the 
 ;;; story of "The Pioneer School." 
 
 In the Appendix of "Centennial Data" wiU be found a mine 
 
 of wealth never before worked. Many weeks of toil by a spe- 
 
 ^- cialist, Arthur Warren Smith, put into the hands of the student 
 
 ^ great nuggets of fresh fact which may be wrought into the coin 
 
 •^ of the realm America for Christ. 
 
 L. C. Barnes.
 
 The Prophet of the Prairies 
 
 A SKETCH 
 
 OF THE LIFE AND WORK 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN MASON PECK 
 
 BY 
 
 AUSTEN KENNEDY de BLOIS
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 (See Topical Index on Pages 111 and 112) 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Early Days 9 
 
 II. Student Life and Appointment to the West 17 
 
 III. Laying Foundations 24 
 
 IV. Pioneering 33 
 
 V. Trials of Faith 43 
 
 VI. Methods and Policies 53 
 
 VII. Awakening the East 59 
 
 VIII. Creating New Agencies of Power 64 
 
 IX. The Birth of the Home Mission Society 71 
 
 X. A Strenuous Career at Full Tide 77 
 
 XL 111 Health and an Expanding Field 86 
 
 XII. Serving the Publication Society 93 
 
 XIII. Quiet Years— And the End 101 
 
 XIV. The Man and His Work 108
 
 NOTE 
 
 THIS is the Centennial year of our American Baptist home 
 missionary enterprise. In May, 1817, the "Domestic 
 Mission" was inaugurated, under the supervision of the 
 old Triennial Convention. It seemed appropriate, therefore, to 
 present to the denomination at tliis time an account of the many 
 and varied labors of one of our great missionary pioneers, in their 
 impact upon the expanding life of a new civilization. 
 
 In accepting the invitation of the Home Mission Society 
 to prepare such a memorial sketch I have been somewhat embar- 
 rassed by the plenitude of the material at my command. A 
 volume might be written upon almost any one of a dozen dif- 
 ferent phases of constructive activity which grew under the 
 guiding hand and governing mind of that stalwart apostle of 
 righteousness, John Mason Peck. 
 
 Besides unpublished manuscripts to which I have had 
 access, I have drawn upon the early files of such denominational 
 journals as "The Baptist Missionary Magazine" and "The Lat- 
 ter Day Luminary." I am chiefly indebted to the Biography, 
 written by Dr. Bufus Babcock, more than fifty years ago. 
 Although quite unattractive in style and singularly inaccurate 
 at times in matters of fact and date, it contains a large body 
 of information, and its extracts from the letters and diaries of 
 Dr. Peck are very interesting. Several of the latter I have intro- 
 duced into these pages. 
 
 Austen Kennedy de Blois. 
 
 The First Church, Boston 
 May 25, 1917.
 
 CHAPTER I 
 Early Days 
 
 A REPRESENTATIVE gathering of American Baptists 
 assembled at Boston in November, 1845. It was 
 notable for several reasons. It was the last meet- 
 ing of the Triennial Convention, which for twent}'-eight years 
 had conducted the missionary work of the denomination, at 
 home and abroad. It witnessed the founding of the Missionary 
 Union as an independent body. It marked the beginning of the 
 custom of annual sessions of the great national Societies. It 
 was especially noteworthy, however, on account of the presence 
 of two famous men, who represented vast spiritual enterprises. 
 Their vigorous personalities imparted intense interest to the 
 deliberations of the body. The spirit of their labors was familiar 
 to the Baptist churches and people. Their names were honored 
 then, as they are to-day, amongst all Baptists the world over. 
 One had wrought in the Far East, one in the Xew West, and 
 each with equal effectiveness. One was the foreign missionary 
 pioneer, Adoniram Judson, the other the home missionary 
 pioneer, John Mason Peck. The denomination in all its history 
 has had no more valiant standard bearers than these two men. 
 The man from the "West took his natural place of leader- 
 ship in the varied business of the occasion. He was a member 
 of the committee which framed the constitution of the Mis- 
 sionary Union. He took active part in the debate on the ques- 
 tion of its adoption. He was the chairman of the committee 
 on Missions in India. His personal pledge of one hundred 
 dollars was the first to be made in the long list of subscriptions 
 which resulted in the cancellation of the debt of $40,000, which 
 had crippled the energies of the foreign mission board. At 
 the period in question Mr. Peck was the Secretary of the Publica- 
 
 Page 9
 
 tion Society, but the greater part of his active life was spent in 
 missionary work in Illinois and adjacent states. There, for 
 nearly forty years, he wrought in the cause of religious, educa- 
 tional, social and civic progress. 
 
 John ]\Iason Peck was a son of the soil. He was bom at 
 Litchfield, Conn., on the 21st of October, 1789. He be- 
 longed to a sturdy farmer-race of plain New England stock. 
 He was the son and only child of Asa Peck, and a member of 
 the sixth generation in lineal descent from Paul Peck, who came 
 to America in 1634 with Martha, his wife. On his father's 
 small farm John M. Peck spent his early years, bearing the 
 brunt of the labor in everyday duties, and enjoying the limited 
 opportunities of a common school of inferior grade during a 
 portion of the winter months. At the age of eighteeen, when 
 he himself began teaching, he was a youth of positive personality, 
 clear mind, high purpose and excellent commonsense, but rather 
 startlingly deficient in writing, spelling and the mastery of 
 grammatical forms. 
 
 He turned at this time to things of the higher life; and, 
 like so many men whose religious experience has been definite 
 and profound, he could point to the exact time when he became 
 a Christian. It was on the evening of the 15th of December, 
 1807, that he was impressed by the exhortations at a revival 
 service. He saw himself as "a guilty sinner, deserving God's 
 ■RTath." After a short period of suffering and distress, he tells 
 us, "my burden became heavier, until the end of the week, when 
 I was delivered, and found a peace of mind and a joy in God 
 which I had never felt before." From that hour until the day 
 of his death he rested his faith in Jesus Christ. Even where 
 diflficulties abounded he was seldom vexed by doubts or dis- 
 couraged by lapses into sin or spiritual apathy. 
 
 This vivid experience of conversion opened a new world to 
 his view. He began at once to seek opportunities for Christian 
 service. Holding a lofty ideal of the dignity of the ministerial 
 office and regarding a full and thorough training as a prerequisite 
 to efficiency in that office, he believed at first that his place should 
 Page 10
 
 be that of a humble lay helper in the cause of the kingdom. So 
 he continued his tasks as farmer and teacher for several years; 
 and devoted his spare hours to devotional exercises and religious 
 duties. On May 8, 1809, he was married to Miss Sally Paine. 
 His bride was boru in 1789 in Greene County, X. Y., but for 
 several 3'ears she had been living with her grandparents on their 
 farm in Litchfield. She had recently been converted and both 
 husband and wife became members of the Congregational church. 
 With the birth of their first child the matter of infant baptism 
 was brought home to them in a practical fashion. Should they 
 oblige this unconscious babe to submit to the rite? Was such a 
 procedure justified by Scripture? These and similar serious 
 questions agitated this conscientious young couple considerably. 
 They talked and prayed together concerning the matter. Then 
 they consulted Dr. Lyman Beecher, who sought faithfully to 
 convince their awakened minds, but unavailingly, so the child 
 was never carried to the font. 
 
 In the Spring of 1811, Mr. Peck, with his wife and child, 
 removed his residence to Greene County, N. Y., near his wife's 
 early home. He located at Big Hollow Settlement, near the 
 village of Windham. The surroundings were quite primitive. 
 There were fifteen or twenty small clearings on the mountain 
 side and along the valley ; but otherwise the country was a dense 
 wilderness of gigantic trees. Big Hollow consisted of eight 
 families, which were scattered over a territory covering a radius 
 of three miles. 
 
 The nearest Baptist church worshiped in a schoolhouse at 
 New Durham, on the Batavia Turnpike, seven miles from Mr. 
 Peck's new home. Services were held once a month. Thither 
 he and his wife wended their way, carrying the baby with them, 
 on a beautiful Sabbath in August, 1811. Their journey led 
 them by a winding path over the mountain. They received a 
 hearty welcome. At the next meeting of the church, one month 
 later, they offered themselves for church membership, and, after 
 submitting to quite a rigid examination on points of doctrine, 
 were baptized and received into church-fellowship. 
 
 Page 11
 
 The young farmer was making rapid progress in the matter 
 of religious decisions, for at the very next meeting of the church, 
 in October, he made public statement of the fact that after four 
 years of inner controversy and careful self-examination he was 
 ready to preach the Gospel; and asked the opinion of his new- 
 found friends with reference to the matter. This was given in a 
 vote to permit him to "improve his gift" within the limits of the 
 local church, until the members should be convinced of his call 
 to the ministry, and his qualifications for pastoral service. At 
 their request he preached on the following day, Oct. 13th, his 
 first sermon, from the text: "And he said unto them, go ye 
 into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
 So at twenty-two years of age he began that active public min- 
 istry which continued for more than forty-six years. 
 
 It was always the habit of this man -to act energetically. 
 Soon after he had obtained the approval of his church to exercise 
 his gifts, he applied for a regular license to preach, which was 
 granted. Then he accepted a call to the pastorate at Catskill, 
 N. Y., and removed his residence to that place. From the first 
 he combined with his religious activities the care of a school, 
 which he opened and conducted. The school was greatly needed 
 in the community and it also provided him with a means of 
 livelihood. His salary as pastor was an uncertain quantity. It 
 consisted of the collections at the regular services. Mr. Peck 
 preached three times each week, and the sum of the three collec- 
 tions averaged about one dollar. To be exact, at the close of 
 his first year of pastoral work he had received as compensation 
 for his services $61.95, which included $18.92 in gifts and 
 special contributions. 
 
 It was early in the Spring of 1812 that he began his min- 
 istry at Catskill. Before entering upon the full duties of his 
 new and twofold office he had made a walking tour to Litchfield, 
 the home of his boyhood. The distance was 182 miles and he 
 covered the ground in a little more than two weeks, preaching 
 fifteen times en route. It was the first of those itinerant jour- 
 Page 12
 
 neys which in future years would carry liim far and wide to 
 many humble settlements, across the prairies of the West. 
 
 His year at Catskill was full of abounding Joy. During 
 its course he preached 174 times, and ministered in multiplied 
 ways to the needs of the community. The ordinances of baptism 
 and the Lord's Supper were to him then, as always throughout 
 his life, seasons of peculiar solemnity and inspiration. On 
 June 9, 1813, he was ordained. Six months thereafter he ac- 
 cepted a call to the church in Amenia, and so entered upon a 
 sphere of larger influence. He undertook the new and more 
 exacting labors with characteristic enthusiasm. 
 
 The young preacher was as greedy for knowledge as for 
 work. During the early months of his new pastorate he gave 
 four hours each day to diligent study under the direction of 
 Principal Barnes of the Dutchess Academy in Poughkeepsie. 
 Here also, as at Catskill, he established and conducted a school. 
 Then a chance meeting changed the current of his life. 
 
 Luther Eice was a flame of fire. A man of intense con- 
 victions and fervent missionary spirit, he possessed the power 
 of arousing other men to thought and action in the interests of 
 the Kingdom of Christ. He was alive to denominational oppor- 
 tunity in world-wide service. Wherever he went he awakened 
 zeal. He appeared at the Warwick Association in June, 1815, 
 soon after his return from India. Here the young pastor at 
 Amenia heard him speak and was captivated by the spell of his 
 glowing spirit. The two were kindred souls. Peck took him 
 to his own home and their conferences resulted in a decision 
 which affected his whole future career. By this decision Peck 
 was authorized to visit certain associations in central New York 
 to plead the cause of foreign missions. 
 
 ■ Apart from the intrinsic importance of the new enterprise, 
 the advocacy of the larger issues of the kingdom was far more 
 congenial to his nature than the narrower duties of the local 
 church. Some men are born to be pastors, some to be teachers, 
 some to be founders and leaders of great undertakings. Mr. 
 Peck had been pastor and teacher; he now sought eagerly the 
 
 Page 13
 
 paths of wide and productive missionary endeavor. He set 
 forth almost immediately on his campaign. During the first 
 journey of three weeks he rode on horseback 440 miles and 
 preached nineteen times, organized several auxiliary missionary 
 societies and talked with everyone he met concerning the big 
 affairs of the kingdom. At the end of the year he resigned his 
 pastorate, and three months later he closed his school. 
 
 Plans involving his entire future and vitally affecting the 
 development of our whole Baptist work in America had been 
 maturing in his mind. At first, through his direct association 
 with foreign missions, he dreamed of service in the far East. 
 But his inclusive soul saw readily, and finnly grasped, the con- 
 ception of the unity of the missionary enterprise at home and 
 abroad, while his conviction of the urgent need of Christianizing 
 the semi-primitive settlements of the new West led him to look 
 longingly in that direction. Indeed, when the first glow of 
 missionary purpose burned in his bosom, he thought of the 
 American West rather than of Oriental lands, although here 
 also it was news from the foreign field which stirred his sym- 
 pathies for the destitute sections of his own country. 
 
 This earliest evidence of strong desire for strictly mis- 
 sionary activity appears in an entry in his diary on June 25, 
 1813, the very month of his ordination. He says: "Eeceived 
 the last number of the Baptist Missionary Magazine. The 
 missionary accounts from India are very interesting. How 
 many thousands of the poor benighted heathen there are who 
 worship the idol of Juggernaut and adore the river Ganges, but 
 are ignorant of the way of salvation through Jesus Christ! 
 How can Christians in this land of high privileges sit easy and 
 unconcerned, without contributing out of their abundance to 
 spread the gospel in distant pagan lands! My soul is grieved 
 for them in their ignorance. Oh, how I wish I was so circum- 
 stanced in life as that I might be able to bear the gospel into 
 some distant pagan lands ! where it never yet has shone. A 
 large part of the American continent is also involved in darkness. 
 Yes, under the immediate Government of the United States, 
 Page 14
 
 there is an abundant field for missionary labor. How I should 
 rejoice if Providence would open a door for my usefulness and 
 labors in this way !" 
 
 Two years and a half later, at the time of his resignation 
 of the church at Amenia, he wrote a letter to Mr. Rice, in which 
 he asked the following crucial questions : "Is it contemplated to 
 form a permanent mission Station in the West? Would it be 
 best to have schools connected with the mission? Is there any 
 place in view for the seat of the mission ? What literary attain- 
 ments would be indispensable for a missionary? Would it be 
 thought necessary for some person to accompany you on your 
 prospective Western tour?" The replies were as clear-cut as 
 the questions. They were in effect as follows: To the first, 
 an emphatic "Yes." To the second, "Yes." To the third, 
 "St. Louis, probably." To the fourth, "A good English educa- 
 tion and as much more as possible." To the fifth, "Yes, if the 
 person in question is ready to offer himself as a missionary, and 
 go West for life." 
 
 Then this good man, Luther Rice, went on to say : "I thank 
 you for the freedom with which you have described your views 
 and impressions relative to personally engaging in the missionary 
 service. It gives me great satisfaction, too, that your views are 
 so much incUned to the West. Not only do I conceive it to be 
 proper that a mission should be established in the West on ac- 
 count of the importance of this region in itself, but indispen- 
 sably necessary to satisfy the wishes and expectations of pious 
 people in all parts of the United States. So that by no means 
 could I think it best for you to abstain from these reflections; 
 much less that you ought to give them up as vain and hopeless. 
 You have at least shown yourself faithful over a few things, and 
 I cannot but cherish the hope that the Head of the Church 
 designs in his providence and grace to make you ruler over 
 many things." 
 
 His ambitions now shaped themselves toward two definite 
 ends; to give his life to missionary work in the West, and to 
 spend a period of time in special preparation for the same. So 
 
 Page 15
 
 toward the end of April, having made provision for the care of 
 his wife and three children during his absence, he journeyed 
 
 to New York, where he preached in several Baptist pulpits and 
 enjoyed the company and counsel of the pastors, and then on to 
 Philadelphia, to begin his studies. He was at this time twenty- 
 six years of age. He was stalwart of body, vigorous and re- 
 sourceful of mind, keenly interested in men and things. He 
 liad had five year's experience in preaching, and his evangelizing 
 labors had brought him in contact with many of the problems 
 and difficulties of rural church business. Of cities and city life 
 he knew next to nothing. He was a stranger to tlie refinements 
 of culture. He had no scholastic privileges. But he was a 
 chosen vessel unto the Lord. He had communed with God in 
 quiet places. He was prepared to give his life in full measure 
 for Christ's sake to a needy world. 
 
 Page 16
 
 CHAPTER II 
 Student Life and Appointment to the West 
 
 DE. W7LLIAM STAUGHTOX was a noteworthy figiire in 
 the religious life of his time. He was pastor of the famous 
 Sanson! Street Church in Philadelphia, where he preached 
 to several thousand people every Sunday. He was a man of 
 importance in the affairs and activities of the city. He held a 
 foremost place in the councils of the denomination. It was this 
 gifted man who opened a theological seminary in his own house, 
 and became himself its entire faculty of instruction. Latin, 
 Greek, and Hebrew, homiletics and pastoral theology and various 
 other subjects, including even some of the sciences, were care- 
 fully studied under his guidance by young men who were look- 
 ing forward to the ministry, 
 
 Mr. Peck had had some correspondence with Dr. Staughton. 
 He had told him the story of his life. He had expressed to him 
 his desire for missionary service in the West. He had stated 
 frankly his lack of the training and attainments which he deemed 
 essential for competent leadership in a large enterprise. He 
 found in the eminent Philadelphia minister a warm-hearted and 
 interested friend. As a result of this correspondence he was now 
 enrolled as a member of Dr. Staughton's school. Five young 
 men including Peck constituted the student group, and all of 
 them boarded in their preceptor's family. One of these, James 
 E. Welch, was destined to be a dear friend and co-laborer during 
 future fruitful years. 
 
 A new world had dawned upon the vision of the young man 
 from the mountain settlements. He girded himself for the 
 opportunity. Eye and brain and heart were open and responsive. 
 His education proceeded apace. He remained in Philadelphia 
 for one year ; it was a year crowded with impressions, reflections. 
 
 Page 11
 
 disciplines, energies and activities of every helpful sort. Though 
 he studied earnestly he took time to respond to calls from all 
 directions. He preached almost every Sunday, and on some week- 
 evenings as well. During the short summer vacation he made a 
 successful evangelistic tour through parts of New Jersey. He 
 gave missionary addresses also before churches, associations and 
 missionary societies, and aided Mr. Eice in his work as Secretary 
 of the Foreign Mission Board, whose headquarters at that time 
 were in Philadelphia. At the home of Dr. Staughton he met 
 many of the most prominent men of the denomination. He 
 visited the Sunday schools of the city, then in the course of 
 their early development, and considered Avith thoughtful thor- 
 oughness their methods and aims. He talked with prisoners in 
 jails and with poor people in the slums. All of these experi- 
 ences were vitally valuable in the years that followed. 
 
 Mr. Peck was never a popular pulpit orator in the usual 
 sense of that phrase. But he had strong and clear-cut convic- 
 tions, a direct and vigorous manner of speech, and a natural 
 enthusiasm which carried his audience along the current of his 
 thought. There was a ruggedness and virility in his preaching 
 which compelled attention; so incessant calls were made for his 
 services. A soul less staunchly built would have been caught 
 and influenced by these flattering invitations, but he seems never 
 to have felt any temptation to change his plans and settle down 
 as a pastor in the East. His work lay definitely in the regions 
 beyond and his steady eye looked ever toward that goal. 
 
 In financial matters he was considerably straitened. After 
 a few months of study his own expenses and the needs of his 
 family pressed hard, so that he feared he would be obliged to 
 take a church for a year or so, or open a school in order to secure 
 the necessary funds. Hearing of his embarrassments some 
 friends who had become interested in his welfare, in New York 
 and Philadelphia, raised in a quiet way a sum of money sufficient 
 for the support of his family until the following summer. Re- 
 lieved of his worries by this unexpected generosity, he continued 
 his studies with renewed zeal. 
 Page 18
 
 He was methodical in his habits, and singularly careful in 
 his use of odd moments for secondary tasks. This economy of 
 time, dominated by his purpose to make all things contribute to 
 one great end, enabled him to do, as through life he always did, 
 the work of several ordinary men. He took short periods of 
 sleep, used moderation in his diet, wasted no precious hours on 
 small talk or profitless discussion, gave no room or place to the 
 spirit of idleness. Many people work out elaborate programmes 
 and time-tables for the regulation of their duties ; but few follow 
 them consistently. It is noteworthy that Mr. Peck conscien- 
 tiously followed the scheme of work which he had outlined for 
 his own guidance. 
 
 He thus describes it: "Rise in the morning at 6 o'clock. 
 Engage in private prayer, which I can well do, as my fellow- 
 students will not have risen at that hour. Then spend one hour 
 in studying the Sacred Scriptures, with the assistance of Henry, 
 Gill, Scott, or some other Judicious expositor. Commence and 
 continue regular study till breakfast, reviewing the Greek gram- 
 mar first. After breakfast pursue regular studies of the day, 
 except the hours given to medical lectures. After dinner come 
 the recitations, after which miscellaneous reading and writing 
 till tea-time. 
 
 "The evenings — except two each week given to lectures on 
 osteolog}^ — to be devoted to studying the classics, to writing, 
 copying, etc., except some times an hour or two given to attend- 
 ing public worship. Then give the closing hour, till half-past 
 ten, to such study of the Scriptures, as occupies the first hour 
 of the morning. Regular daily studies were: Monday and 
 Wednesday. Hebrew and Latin; Tuesday and Thursday, Greek; 
 Friday, natural philosophy, use of the globes, astronomy, etc.; 
 Saturday, composition of sermons, lectures on theology, and 
 systematic reading." 
 
 The medical lectures, which Peck and his friend Welch 
 attended, were arranged for through the thoughtfulness of Dr. 
 Staughton, who judged rightly that the knowledge thus gained 
 would be useful to them in their pioneer work. As the year of 
 
 Page 19
 
 study drew toward its close these two young men looked eagerly 
 forward to the meeting of the Triennial Convention, which was 
 to consider the momentous question of the establishment of a 
 Western Mission. 
 
 This Convention assembled in Philadelphia in May, 1817. 
 It is known historically as the "First Triennial Meeting of the 
 General Missionarj' Convention of the Baptist Denomination in 
 the United States." It proved to be one of the most notable 
 gatherings in the entire history of the Baptists in this country. 
 Twelve states were directly represented by delegates; others by 
 proxies. The early sessions were occupied with the report of the 
 Foreign Mission Board. Letters from the British mission at 
 Serampore, and from Judson and Hough in Burma, created 
 much interest. Mr. Peck speaks in his diary of the deep im- 
 pression made upon his mind by these letters, and goes on to 
 say: "Were it not for some particular circumstances I should 
 think it my duty to devote my life to that region." Then he 
 adds : "The Board made a report in part in which they express 
 the desire that the Western mission be entered upon." 
 
 On Saturday, the fourth day of the meeting, the Conven- 
 tion went into committee of the whole to consider the question 
 of altering the constitution of the Board in order to make room 
 for the estabb'shment of a Mission in Western America. The 
 discussion issued in two important conclusions. It was deter- 
 mined first, to incorporate with the foreign field certain portions 
 of the American continent under the name of the "Domestic 
 Mission." It was decided in the second place to direct the Board 
 to raise a fund for the establishment of one or more classical 
 and theological Seminaries to educate missionaries and others. 
 On Monday both of these decisions were confirmed by the Con- 
 vention in regular session. On Wednesday the body adjourned 
 for three years. 
 
 A fine spirit of harmony had prevailed, and the warmth of 
 an enthusiastic devotion had imparted inspiration, yet all things 
 had been done "decently and in order." The conclusions reached 
 were not hastily formed, on the crest of a wave of pious emo- 
 Page 20
 
 tionalism. They were the natural outcome, the carefully matured 
 result, of years of thoughtful consideration on the part of a few 
 wise leaders. 
 
 The Foreign Mission Board at once began its efforts to carry 
 out in detail the general directions which it had received. Its 
 sessions began immediately after the adjournment of the Con- 
 vention. For two days the discussion centred about the question : 
 What should be the character and scope of the new Domestic 
 Mission? Conservative counsels for a time prevailed. It was 
 thought better to limit the work to an itinerant mission amongst 
 destitute churches. After two days of debate Peck grew some- 
 what discouraged. He felt that if such a narrow path were 
 followed it would postpone indefinitely the broad and construc- 
 tive plan which he had in mind. The next day, however, the de- 
 cision, was made in favor of the more statesmanlike policy. 
 Early on the morning of the third day Peck wrote in his diary : 
 "How solemn the thought that a few hours must decide not only 
 with respect to what I have been pursuing for two years past, 
 but what relates to my whole life in the future." 
 
 At ten o'clock, with his friend Welch, he went before the 
 Board. At ten the same evening he writes : "The long agony is 
 over. The Board have accepted Mr. Welch and myself as mis- 
 sionaries of the New Missouri Territory during our and their 
 pleasure; and have appropriated one thousand dollars to defray 
 our expenses in getting to St. Louis and for the support of the 
 Mission. In this I think I see the hand of God most visibly. 
 From this moment I consider myself most sacredly devoted to 
 the Mission. Lord, may I live and die in the cause !" 
 
 On the day following, which was Sunday, May 18, 1817, 
 Peck and Welch were publicly set apart for the work of the 
 Western Mission. The exercises were held in the spacious San- 
 som Street Church. Dr. Furman preached the sermon of dedi- 
 cation from the suggestive Scripture, "Separate me Saul and 
 Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them." Then 
 the two young men spoke briefly, telling the story of their call 
 
 Page 21
 
 to missiouary service, and their burning desire to be used in all 
 tilings for tlie glory of God. 
 
 Dr. Baldwin of Boston offered prayer and Dr. Staughton 
 very appropriately extended the hand of Christian fellowship, 
 speaking with tenderness and affection of his interest in his for- 
 mer students and his confidence in the spirit of their consecra- 
 tion. At the close of Dr. Staughton's address all the ministers 
 present went forward and shook hands with the candidates, wish- 
 ing them God-speed. Then Eev. Jesse Mercer of Georgia ad- 
 dressed them, urging them to "make full proof of their ministry" 
 in abundant service and sacrifice. 
 
 This memorable meeting may well be regarded as the formal 
 initiation of Baptist Home Missionary enterprise in America. 
 The splendid work of the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary So- 
 ciety had been confined almost entirely to certain sections of 
 New England and New York. The decision to undertake the 
 evangelization of a vast extent of country 1000 miles west of 
 the Atlantic seaboard was certainly no less important than the 
 sending of men to India and Burma. The future of the Mis- 
 sissippi Valley, the character of its civilization, the quality of its 
 culture and the nature and tone of its entire moral development 
 depended upon the industry and devotion of such men as Peck 
 and Welch, They were destined to become empire builders. 
 
 From Philadelphia, Mr. Peck went immediately to New 
 York, and thence to Litchfield, Conn., the home of his father 
 where his family had been residing. The next two months were 
 spent in the midst of a multitude of duties. In the interest of 
 the new Mission he visited Associations, churches and indi- 
 viduals, wrote many letters besides several articles for the Baptist 
 papers, formed auxiliary societies, and sought in every way to 
 spread the holy contagion which had seized his own soul. All 
 the anxious task of direct preparation for the removal of his 
 family to their new and distant home had also to be carried to 
 completion. 
 
 Finally all things were ready. On the 28th of July a solemn 
 Page 22
 
 service was held in the home of his parents. The last part of 
 the twentieth chapter of Acts was read by their sons, after which 
 the members of this little family circle so soon to be widely 
 separated, knelt together in prayer. Tender farewells were 
 spoken. The mother and father were left once more alone, 
 while the son, with his wife and three little children, turned 
 their faces toward the Far West. 
 
 Page 2S
 
 CHAPTER III 
 Laying Foundations 
 
 ONE may travel to-day from Connecticut to St. Louis in a 
 little more than twenty-four hours, and the journey is 
 made in comfort. A hundred years ago it took Mr. 
 Peck and his family 129 days to make the trip. They left Litch- 
 field in a one-horse wagon on the 26th of July, and after a. ten 
 days' drive reached Philadelphia. Here they were hospitably en- 
 tertained for a week or so, and Mrs. Peck was introduced to 
 many of her husband's friends. They then turned toward the 
 West. 
 
 The journey through the State of Pennsylvania and across 
 the Alleghanies occupied nearly a month, and three weeks more 
 were sjjcnt in Ohio. On the 23rd of October they re-crossed the 
 Ohio Eiver into Kentucky, where Mr, and Mrs. Welch joined 
 them. Still pushing westward, they crossed the Ohio a third 
 time on the 6th of November and landed on the soil of the 
 Territory of Illinois at Shawneetown. It was late in the evening 
 when the weary little company arrived at "this wretchedly-ap- 
 pearing village," but Mr. Peck took time to write in his journal 
 the same night: "We are now properly on missionary ground, 
 which from its location and destitute state must surely be our 
 field." 
 
 Delayed in their onward course by heavy rains and im- 
 passable roads the missionaries invited the people of the prairie- 
 settlement to a religious service in the house where they lodged. 
 Mr. Peck preached to the company which assembled, from Acts, 
 13 :26. It was the beginning of his life-long labors for Illinoio. 
 There were then only a few Baptists scattered here and there in 
 the sparsely-settled country. After 100 years there are 140,000 
 Baptist church members within the boundaries of the State. 
 Page 2^
 
 On account of the serious storms it was decided that Mr. 
 Peck aud his family should take passage on a small steamer 
 down the Ohio, and that their friends should pursue their jour- 
 ney by land when weather permitted. Mr. Paine, the brother-in- 
 law of Mr. Peck, who had come to Shawneetown to meet him, 
 and had been waiting for him there for three weeks, agreed to 
 drive his horse and wagon to St. Louis. 
 
 The trip from Shawneetown to the Mississippi and then up 
 that river to St. Louis occupied twenty-two days, and cost the 
 family $25.00 for food and transportation. Slowness of move- 
 ment was due to wind and rain, the many calls by the way, and 
 the need of caution in navigating the Mississippi, for this was 
 only the third time that a steamer had made its way as far north 
 as St. Louis. During the previous four months two other 
 steamers had succeeded in the perilous enterprise. This seems 
 almost incredible in view of the immense traffic of the later years. 
 While the steamer was moored at Girardeau, ]\Ir. Peck took a 
 long walk on shore and through fatigue and exposure caught a 
 serious cold, which threatened pulmonary trouble. He was 
 brought ashore at St. Louis on the first day of December in a 
 dangerous physical condition. Fortunately Mr. and Mrs. Welch 
 had arrived one week earlier and were on hand to welcome and 
 assist them. 
 
 St. Louis was a small river town over-crowded with people. 
 There was no hotel or boarding-house. The only accommodation 
 that could be procured for the sick man was a single room, which 
 had until then been used as an accountant's office. It was narrow 
 quarters. Here he lay seriously ill for two months. With him 
 in the same room, which served for bedroom, kitchen, dining- 
 room and parlor, were his wife and his three small children. 
 For the rental of this miserable place the charge was twelve 
 dollars a month, yet for nine months the family were obliged 
 to live in the midst of this discomfort. The prices for food and 
 clothing were outrageously high, a fact which Mr. Peck records 
 with conscientious regret, since he felt that his responsibility as 
 
 Page 25
 
 a missionary placed him "under sacred obligations to use an 
 economy bordering on parsimony." 
 
 The population of St. Louis was composed of three races 
 and two classes. The races were Anglo-American, French and 
 African. The classes cross-sectioned this racial division. One 
 class comprised the professional men, government officials, store- 
 keepers and Indian traders. They were honest and respectable 
 citizens but usually with convivial inclinations, many of them 
 spending their spare time in drinking and gambling. The other 
 class was composed of low and worthless fellows, with no regard 
 for God or man, whose nightly orgies were scenes of drunkenness 
 and indecent revelry. They were blasphemous infidels, one of 
 their favorite occupations being the mockery of Christian institu- 
 tions by the profane celebration of the Lord's Supper, and the 
 burning of Bibles, accompanied by the shouting of prayers and 
 hymns. Their frequent boast was that "the Sabbath shall never 
 cross the Mississippi," so tliey made that holy day the occasion 
 of roistering profligacy, and treated with insult and ridicule those 
 who sought quiet or worship. 
 
 A part of the French population, chiefly through custom 
 or a lingering respect for tradition, attended morning mass at 
 a Catholic chapel, but these also gave the rest of the Sabbath 
 to merry-making. Dr. Blackburn of Tennessee visited St. Louis 
 in the summer of 1814, and preached the first gospel sermon ever 
 heard in that village. Less than a month before Mr. Peck's 
 arrival the First Presbyterian Church — Avhich was also the first 
 Protestant church — was founded with ten members. 
 
 In the midst of an environment of squalor, confusion, vice 
 and infidelity, with here and there a ray of light imparted by a 
 noble Christian life, to illuminate the dense darkness, the mis- 
 sionaries began their labors for Jesus Christ. As soon as his 
 health began to improve Mr. Peck and his co-laborer went to 
 work with a will. The intensity of their zeal burned away many 
 barriers. 
 
 At the cost of fourteen dollars a month they rented a room, 
 fourteen by sixteen feet, in the rear of a store, and established 
 
 Page 26
 
 there a school and preaching station. This was the real begin- 
 ning of definite Baptist enterprise beyond the Mississippi. In 
 February a small church was organized. Their chief lay-helper 
 was a harness-maker, John Jacoby, a man of unwavering integrity 
 and staunch character. Two months later, on the fifth day of 
 April at nine in the morning, two converts were baptized. 
 
 An immense crowd gathered on the banks of the majestic 
 Mississippi to witness the administration of the ordinance. It 
 was the first baptism ever seen in St. Louis or its vicinity, Mr. 
 Peck preached from the deck of a vessel to the multitudes on 
 the shore from the text : "When they believed Philip preaching 
 the things concerning the Kingdom of God, and the name of 
 Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women." Two 
 Presbyterian ministers and two Catholic priests were present 
 in the crowd. After the service came the baptism. One of the 
 converts was a colored man who became at once the assistant 
 in the Sunday School and an active worker in the church. 
 
 Plans for the erection of a church building were already 
 under way, and soon a sum of nearly $3,000 had been secured 
 from the more public-spirited men of the community. In June 
 the work of building commenced. Meanwhile the day-school 
 was prospering. Mr. Peck was giving a course of popular lec- 
 tures, and a Sunday School for the colored people had grown to 
 a membership of about 100. As the months went on, the com- 
 bined schools were given the dignified title of "Western Mission 
 Academy." It had three departments. The first of these was 
 for paying pupils and comprised in June an enrollment of forty. 
 The second was a free school, limited to ten scholars, most of 
 whom were French Catholics. The tliird department was the 
 African Sunday School. 
 
 Not content with these many and promising activities in 
 the to^vn itself the missionaries pushed out here and there, 
 preaching on Sundays and week days in various destitute settle- 
 ments. It was on the 20th of June, 1818, that Mr. Peck made 
 his first visit to Illinois, tlie scene of so many of his future cam- 
 paigns. He preached on that occasion in the church at Ogle's 
 
 Page 21
 
 Creek in the Badgely Settlement. His next visit took him to 
 various places in Southern Illinois, amongst them Kaskaskia, 
 where a State Government was then being organized. A charter 
 had recently been obtained ; since, by hook and crook and devious 
 diplomatic manipulations of facts and figures, the territory had 
 been found to contain 40,000 people. The northern portion of 
 the new State was very sparsely settled ; it was considered desert 
 land and uninhabitable. 
 
 On his trips to Illinois and Southern Missouri Mr. Peck 
 rode always on horseback. He soon learned to transform his 
 saddle into a study. Travelling for many miles day after day 
 he found that much precious time was wasted; so he conceived 
 the idea of carrying a portion of his library with him. Holding 
 a book open before him he would read voraciously as he made 
 his way onward; and in consequence frequently missed his path 
 while absorbed in his book, and was obliged to retrace his steps. 
 
 He entered into informal and hearty fellowship with people 
 of all classes whom he met on the roads, at the inns and every- 
 where. He himself always talked rapidly and with great anima- 
 tion and emphasis, while he possessed also the gift of extracting 
 all sorts of information from casual acquaintances. He was 
 vibrant with vital energy, and his whole soul was quick with 
 interest in the possibilities and opportunities of the country into 
 which he had come. 
 
 Although entirely unpracticed in the higher learning he 
 was from the first a powerful advocate of intellectual training. 
 Wherever he went he made careful enquiry concerning the means 
 which were being adopted to secure educational training for the 
 rising generation. He realized vividly — the vision was ever be- 
 fore him — that the character of the future civilization in this 
 vast region would be determined not so much by the older settlers 
 who should move into it, as by the youth who were then growing 
 up within its borders. 
 
 "One object," he says himself, "never lost sight of in my 
 travels, was to examine into the condition of schools; and I 
 found at least three quarters of all the masters and schools were 
 Page 28
 
 public nuisances, and ought to have been indicted by the Grand 
 Jury." At all times Mr. Peck used his influence and urged his 
 wise counsel, in order to substitute well-trained young men from 
 New England for the "whiskey-drinking Irishmen," with a small 
 smattering of ill-digested knowledge, who at that time had 
 almost a monopoly of the school-teaching privileges. It is a 
 noble tribute to his unselfish spirit, and his entire lack of jealous 
 feelings, that he thus constantly advocated the employment of 
 these educated young men, who had had in most cases the ad- 
 vantages of a training greatly superior to his own. 
 
 During his first year in the West Mr. Peck made long trips 
 through the frontier settlements. He delighted to come upon the 
 squatters and bear-hunters in their primitive dwellings, and to 
 talk with them about the country, their own experiences, and 
 religion. He associated with Indians, hunters, woodsmen, shop- 
 keepers, surveyors, farmers, and adventurers, listening eagerly 
 to their life stories, and then in his turn telling them in simple 
 and homely words, the great life story of the Gospel. He soon 
 grew familiar with hunger and cold and every discomfort, but 
 he welcomed these necessary conditions of pioneer life. "Eating," 
 he says very cheerfully, "was not so very important ; for any man 
 in the vigor of life in those days in this frontier country, who 
 could not go without food for twenty-four hours, and more 
 especially a preacher of the gospel, ought to be sent back where 
 he came from, to the kind care of his friends." 
 
 His directions for spending a comfortable night in the open 
 are interesting. He says : "The first thing is to select the right 
 place in some hollow or ravine protected from the wind, and if 
 possible behind some old forest giant which the storms of winter 
 have prostrated. And then, reader, don't build your fire against 
 the tree, for this is the place for your head and shoulders to lie, 
 and around which the smoke and heated air may curl. Then 
 don't be so childish as to lie on the wet or cold frozen earth, 
 without a bed. Gather a quantity of grass, leaves, and small 
 brush, and after you have cleared away the snow, and provided 
 for protection from the wet or cold earth, you may sleep com- 
 
 Page 29
 
 f ortably. If you have a piece of Jerked venison, and a bit of pone 
 with a cup of water, 3^ou may make out a splendid supper, pro- 
 vided you think so, *for as a man thinketh, so is he.' " 
 
 Mr. Peck believed thoroughly in the system of itinerant 
 missionaries or "circuit preaching," as the most direct and prac- 
 tical method of supplying destitute sections with the word of life 
 and strengthening feeble churches. By various means he 
 sought out capable men and had them employed as missionary 
 evangelists. 
 
 The preachers and missionaries already in the field were 
 doing excellent work for the most part, though of course in a 
 rather small and limited fashion. They were noble and un- 
 daunted, and received voluntary contributions from the people 
 amongst whom they journeyed, for their support. Some of 
 them, not a large group but at times an uncomfortably pug- 
 nacious one, were utterly opposed to the introduction of schools 
 and colleges. They were conscious of their own deficiencies, 
 and in presence of trained men of wider view and deeper culture, 
 they felt keenly their own inferiority. Mr. Peck relates the case 
 of one of these ignorant and very narrow-minded ministers in 
 Sagamore County, Illinois, who voted against a resolution to 
 allow any "foreign" missionary to preach in the churches of the 
 association. When requested by a special vote of the body to 
 state the reason for his objection, he replied, in naive though 
 honest words : "Well, if you must know. Brother Moderator, you 
 know the big trees in the woods overshadow the little ones; and 
 these missionaries will be all great learned men, and the people 
 will go where they preach, and we shall all be put down. That's 
 the objection." 
 
 These rather obtuse and obstinate men had a quartette of 
 special hatreds concerning which they raged without ceasing. 
 They were strongly opposed to education, missions, a salaried 
 ministry and Sunday Schools. They preached a crude and cruel 
 theology. The churches which they organized and fostered have 
 dwindled and died. They belonged to the age of religious in- 
 tolerance. They had no sympathy with the broad-visioned and 
 
 Page SO
 
 progressive movements of nineteenth century evangelism and 
 spiritual world-conquest, which Mr. Peck and other big-hearted 
 missionaries represented, so their numbers and influence steadily 
 declined, and their activities bore no fruitage. 
 
 One hunderd years is not a lengthy period, when compared 
 with the innumerable centuries of the world's lifetime; yet the 
 last hundred years have seen miraculous changes in the condi- 
 tions of life in the ]\Iiddle West of America. The account given 
 by Mr. Peek of his entertainment in the liome of a squatter family 
 illustrates this development. The section of country of which 
 he speaks is occupied to-day by refined and progressive people. 
 The town, then a sparsely settled community, has a railroad, 
 daily papers from metropolitan centres, paved streets, electric 
 lights and all tlie conveniences and luxuries of our brilliant and 
 strenuous latter-day culture. Mr. Peck, on his itinerant mission, 
 rode for many miles through a road of timber over which a 
 tornado had lately passed, crushing all the trees and throwing 
 them in every direction. He slept at night in the open air, on 
 a bed of branches cut from the trees. The next day before sun- 
 rise, he mounted his horse, and followed a devious trail over logs 
 and through dense brush-wood. 
 
 Bye and bye he found the family he was seeking. They 
 lived in a primitive log-cabin. There was an old man and his 
 wife, two married daughters and their husbands, three or four 
 children and an older son and daughter — a dozen or so, alto- 
 gether, living by themselves in "the wilderness." The members 
 of this family circle were quite oblivious to the duties and de- 
 mands of civilization. None of them could read; they had no 
 use for books or "any such trash." The young folks looked with 
 undisguised curiosity upon "the preacher." The entire group 
 were coarse, free and unkempt. Their heads, faces, hands and 
 clothing indicated slothfulness and habitual neglect. 
 
 It was about 11 o'clock when breakfast was served. There 
 was no table, chair or any article of furniture in the establish- 
 ment. A box covered with a cloth which was stained with the 
 marks of much usage in many capacities, served for a table. 
 
 Page 31
 
 Two or three hunting knives lay on the box. The plates 
 were broken or notched. The viands consisted of rancid bacon, 
 half-boiled beans and some buttermilk. According to universal 
 custom the men ate first, the women followed and the youngsters 
 and children made up the rearguard. This was the life and these 
 the habits of hundreds of families that were visited by the pioneer 
 missionary John M. Peck in the year 1818. For many years 
 thereafter similar conditions continued to prevail. Mr. Peck 
 was frequently spoken of by the frontier people as the "foreign 
 missionary." The country was certainly remote enough to be 
 styled foreign, and many of the people were more heathenish 
 than those who dwelt amongst Greenland's icy mountains or on 
 India's coral strand. 
 
 Page 32
 
 House near Rock Springs, Illinois, built by Peck: First Location of 
 Shurtleff College.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Pioneering 
 
 DURING the month of September, 1818, Mr. Peck travelled 
 400 miles on horseback. In Southeastern Missouri and 
 the adjoining territory of Arkansas there were five 
 scattered, struggling little Baptist churches. They had had the 
 hardihood to come together and form an association. Their an- 
 nual meeting was held in September, and when that month 
 arrived, in 1818, Mr. Peck set forth to visit them. Through a 
 misunderstanding in regard to the time and place of meeting, 
 he was obliged to make two trips instead of one. The first of 
 these he took early in the month, and it carried him along the 
 Mississippi southerly to Herculaneum, then up the Plattin River 
 to Hazel Run, to Big River Settlement, to Murphy's and Cook's 
 Settlements, to Main La Motte, St. Michaels, the settlements on 
 St. Francois and finally to McCormick's Settlement. He found 
 in Mr. McCormick a congenial spirit. He was an Irishman but 
 also a Methodist, an old settler on the range, and a man of im- 
 portance in that region of country. He found also a school, and 
 a teacher who delighted his heart. 
 
 Mr. McCormick had a large family, and an ambition to give 
 them a good education. He determined to have a "rale teacher," 
 and warned those to whom he applied to send him "none of 
 those whiskey-drinking Irishmen, such as got into our settle- 
 ment last year, or as sure as I'm a Methodist we'll lynch him." 
 So Mr. Bellknapp, just from Connecticut, was sent, and Mr. Peck 
 expresses the satisfaction he had in visiting this excellent school, 
 and noting what progress the pupils were making. He visited 
 various other schools during the journey, held a conference with 
 a band of Creek Indians, and preached many times in cabins and 
 log school houses. 
 
 Page 33
 
 On his second trip, the latter part of the month, he suc- 
 ceeded in reaching the Bethel Association, and though he arrived 
 on Saturday evening after sunset, and was an entire stranger to 
 the delegates, and excessively fatigued from his long ride, he 
 was prevailed upon to enter the pulpit and preach. "Preach 
 we did," he says, "a missionary discourse, off hand, from Is. 
 49, 20." 
 
 The man from St. Louis had come to the Association with a 
 plan in his head which he and ]\Ir. "Welch had concocted, and the 
 following day he proceeded to unfold it. When he was called 
 on to speak upon the subject of missions he presented a copy of 
 the annual report of the Board, and then enlarged at length on 
 the value of missionary work, and the opportunities which were 
 opening for large and successful undertakings by the denomina- 
 tion. He also suggested that the Association through its corre- 
 sponding secretary enter into correspondence with the Board of 
 Foreign Missions. Then he outlined the plan of a proposed 
 Society to embrace all Baptist churches in Missouri and Illinois 
 which should desire to affiliate with it. He submitted for dis- 
 cussion a carefully prepared Constitution. According to its 
 provisions the objects of the new society were to be twofold, 
 to aid the Western Mission in spreading the gospel and in pro- 
 viding common schools in the western part of America, both 
 amongst the whites and Indians. Any person of good moral 
 character could become a member on payment of an annual fee 
 of five dollars. Each Baptist Association contributing to tlie 
 work could send two missionaries to the annual meeting. 
 
 One of the matters particularly emphasized was the con- 
 sideration of means whereby prospective school teachers and 
 ministers could be aided in obtaining an education. It was not 
 the purpose of the founders to use any of the funds of the society 
 to pay the salaries of the teachers amongst the white settlers. 
 This would be done by the local communities. But the society 
 was to aid worthy young people to prepare for the ministry or 
 for a profession ; and it was also to be on the lookout constantly 
 for good teachers, to import them from the East, if deemed 
 Page SJf
 
 advisable, and to introduce them to the schools. In other words, 
 it was to combine, in this department of its activity, the func- 
 tions of a Teachers' Recruiting Station, a Board of Education 
 and a Teachers' Agency. 
 
 In spite of the opposition of two visiting preachers from 
 the Boone's Lick Country, who were anti-mission and anti-every- 
 thing, the Bethel Association voted heartily to endorse the plan 
 embodied in the Constitution which had been submitted. It 
 was formally adopted by the Illionis Association on October 10th, 
 and by the Missouri Association on October 34th. Following its 
 adoption by the latter body the organization of the society was 
 completed; and, under the vigorous leadership of Mr. Peck, it 
 began operation almost immediately. It was the first society of 
 any denomination to be organized west of the Mississippi for 
 philanthropic or missionary purposes. 
 
 It is natural for ardent natures to dream dreams. It is 
 easy and fascinating to form plans and to translate them into 
 constitutions and by-laws. This new society was a vision and an 
 ambition. Was it anything more? The provisions already out- 
 lined, for instance, with regard to the oversight of teachers and 
 the improvement of educational facilities sound impressive, and 
 rather statesmanlike, but were they workable? Distances were 
 great; facilities for travel were at a minimum; the churches 
 Avere poor and widely scattered; the preachers were ignorant; 
 the sentiment against schools and education was strong; the 
 people were occupied with the immediate tasks of clearing the 
 land and making a livelihood; all the conditions of life were 
 primitive; immorality was prevalent and religious indifference 
 was almost universal. How was the strong and positive influence 
 of a new educational system to be made effective ? It is difficult 
 to say just how it was done ; but that it was really accomplished 
 is shown by the facts. Within three years after the formation 
 of the new society more than fifty good schools were established 
 in Missouri and Illinois, where common nuisances, with drunken, 
 illiterate Irish Catholics at their head, had before existed. This 
 seems startling, almost inconceivable, yet the fact stands. 
 
 Page 35
 
 Wlio can estimate the value to the growing settlements, and 
 to the enlarging life of this great section of our western country, 
 of the change thus wrought in the conduct of the common 
 schools. It was chiefly due to the tireless zeal of the master 
 mind. Mr. Peck had gone to his new field with a single great 
 ideal in his soul : to lay the foundation of a Christian civilization 
 in the midst of rude and unpromising conditions. He brought 
 to his task no subtle charm of person or of manners, no brilliancy 
 of intellect, little tact and no diplomacy, but an indomitable will 
 and a heart wholly consecrated to the Lord Jesus Christ and the 
 welfare of his fellow men. 
 
 The diaries of this good man, if set in printed form, would 
 seem very monotonous and wearisome to the ordinary reader. 
 They record long horseback tours amongst the churches, in- 
 numerable visits and religious conversations, sermons, addresses, 
 the formation of local "auxiliaries" to the new United Society 
 and of "Female Missionary Societies," the strengthening of 
 churches through wise counsel and a contagious vigor of spirit, 
 the settling of ministers, the resolution of church quarrels and 
 difficulties, the investigation of conditions in schools and the 
 urging of better teachers, besides the conduct of an endless 
 correspondence. 
 
 The very names "Adventurers" and "Pioneers" cause a thrill 
 of admiration to run through us. It has been popularly supposed 
 that the settlers of a new country are the big, virile, large- 
 visioned young men, who push out from the older communities, 
 and by virtue of their intense spirit and exceptional energy 
 capture new lands, conquer the forest and the wilderness, and 
 mould a nation's destiny. All of this sounds well in poem or 
 romance, but it is not altogether true to fact. Some such strong 
 and victorious personalities play a leading part in the govern- 
 ment of every new land ; but many of those who emigrate from 
 the old centres of life, and make the beginnings of a new civiliza- 
 tion, are the listless ones, the failures, the lawless and degenerate, 
 and the dull plodders whose sole ambition is to get food for the 
 body and shelter from the storm. 
 
 Page S6
 
 It is a hard thing to admit the fact, but it is nevertheless 
 true that great numbers of our "heroic pioneers" and "fearless, 
 big-bodied, big-brained adventurers," were in reality below the 
 normal both in mentality and morality. 
 
 The following extract from Mr. Peck^s "Journal" brings to 
 our view a discouraging picture, but it indicates the extreme 
 difficulty he had ever before him, in seeking to animate with a 
 lordly and victorious purpose these children of the New West. 
 He is speaking of a tour made in 1818. "On Saturday, November 
 •21st, the St. Frangois church held the monthly meeting in a 
 rough log cabin in the woods. The plan of the 'United Society 
 for the Spread of the Gospel,' was laid before the church. Elder 
 Street had the intelligence, kindness of heart- and Christian 
 spirit, to comprehend the plan, and engage heartily in the work. 
 Not another male member of this body of Christian professors 
 understood or cared about the object. They were stupid, listless, 
 and apparently indifferent to everything. 
 
 "The people throughout these extreme frontier settlements 
 were quite ignorant; few could read, and fewer families had 
 Bibles. They knew not the name of a single missionary on 
 earth, and could not comprehend the reasons why money should 
 be raised for the expenses, or why ministers should leave their 
 own neighborhood to preach the gospel to the destitute. They 
 manifested the same apathy in their worldly business. A small 
 corn field and a truck patch was the height of their ambition. 
 Venison, bear meat and hog meat dressed and cooked in the 
 most slovenly and filthy manner, with corn bread baked in form 
 of a pone, and when cold as hard as a bricket, constituted their 
 provisions. Coffee and tea were prohibited articles amongst this 
 class; for had they possessed the articles, not one woman in ten 
 knew how to cook them. Not a school had existed. A kind of 
 half-savage life appeared to be their choice. Doubtless, in a 
 few years, when the land came into market, this class of 'squat- 
 ters' cleared out for the frontier range in Arkansas." 
 
 In the course of his journeys amongst the people of all 
 classes, ]\Ir. Peck had been constantly impressed by the absence 
 
 Page 37
 
 of Bibles and religious literature. To remedy this serious lack 
 
 he entered into correspondence with the American Bible Society, 
 wliich resulted in a determination to establish a branch of that 
 organization in St. Louis. This plan had been attempted four 
 years before, but had failed. The effort now was successful. 
 At a public meeting held in the schoolroom on December 9, 1818, 
 Mr, Peek preached from the text : "0, how I love thy law, it is 
 my meditation all the day." At the close of the service the 
 Missouri Bible Society was duly organized. Thus a channel was 
 established by means of which a never ceasing stream of Bibles 
 and Testaments flowed out into the great West. Through effi- 
 cient oversight the new society soon became a source of definite 
 spiritual strength, and its beneficent activities continued with 
 increasing and broadening influence year by year. 
 
 Thus far Mr. Peck's tours had taken him to the south and 
 southeast of St. Louis, and across the Great River into southern 
 Illinois. He now explored to the northward. On December 12, 
 1818, he set out from home, and was gone two months. He first 
 passed up through the river settlements, preaching as he went, 
 in accordance with the schedule of appointments which he had 
 drawn up before leaving St. Louis, and notice of which he had 
 sent ahead. The great event of this pilgrimage was his 
 meeting with old Colonel Daniel Boone, in the "Boone's Lick 
 Country." The Kentucky pioneer and hunter had a room in 
 one of a range of log cabins where his needs were carefully pro- 
 vided for by some relatives. He was ruddy and fair, and ex- 
 hibited all the simplicity of a child. Mr. Peck had several long 
 interviews with the patriarch, who was enjoying a comfortable 
 and haj)py old age. He was then more than 80 years old. He 
 spoke feelingly and solemnly of being a creature of Providence, 
 ordained by heaven as a pioneer in the wilderness, a planter of 
 the seed-corn of civilization. 
 
 From the Boone settlement Mr. Peck pushed on for fifteen 
 miles along a bridle-path, over hills and through ravines, to 
 his next appointment. The following day he rose before dawn, 
 to meet a preaching engagement twenty miles farther on at 12 
 Page 38
 
 o'clock. There was not a single house on the way, and very 
 poor trails, so tliat he lost his bearings and was obliged to retrace 
 his steps several times. He reached his destination at sunset. To 
 his surprise and great joy he found gathered a little company who 
 had been patiently waiting since noon for his coming. So he 
 preached to them then and there, and afterwards had supper, 
 the first food that he had tasted for more than twenty-four hours. 
 
 The next morning he rode fifteen miles to the cabin of Mr. 
 William Coats, after whom Coats' prairie was named. Here a 
 small Baptist church had been formed by Mr. Welch the pre- 
 ceding summer. Prayer-meetings had been kept up regularly 
 during the interim. Mr. Coats had been a Baptist for twenty 
 years in Tennessee. He had moved to Illinois less than two 
 years before, being at that time the only settler in the entire 
 district; but many others had since arrived. Finding in this 
 man a sincere devotion to the cause of Christ, and ability to 
 conduct worship and to speak in public, Mr. Peck talked with 
 him long and earnestly concerning his duty, with the result that 
 he became a preacher of the Gospel. 
 
 Continuing his journey to the north and west, after visiting 
 various settlements and preaching whenever and wherever there 
 was a chance, he came into a region where the Indians had been 
 a source of constant trouble. Their onslaughts and depredations 
 had resulted in the murder of many of the settlers, and the 
 country was full of stories of suffering, peril and fighting. In 
 1814 several companies of rangers had been sent by Congress to 
 protect the people. Quite a number of these moiinted rangers 
 were killed in engagements with the Indians, but they had at 
 last obtained the supremacy and brought to pass a condition 
 of peace. 
 
 It was here that Mr. Peck first met Lewis Williams. The 
 name of this humble missionary is quite unfamiliar to the Bap- 
 tists of to-day. It conveys no thought of brilliant deeds or great 
 material success. Yet this man was a man of unusual power. 
 His biography, if it were ever written, would be very brief. It 
 would tell of a young man who went into the wilderness of 
 
 Page 39
 
 Missouri one hundred years ago. According to the account of 
 Mr. Peck he settled on a quarter section of public land. He 
 could hold this for only a limited period unless he should leave 
 the ministry and devote his entire time to the cultivation of his 
 "claim." This he refused to do. He was wholly consecrated to 
 the service of the Master. His faithfulness to Jesus Christ 
 prompted him to go on long and solitary journeys. He preached 
 through all the western settlements, to the extreme and barren 
 frontiers. He had one message, one moving passion; it was 
 Christ himself. 
 
 For many years no missionary society aided him. He lived 
 "on the ragged edge" all his life. He was a man of fine and noble 
 nature and he never appealed for help to the people to whom 
 he preached, and for whom he was ready to sacrifice everything, 
 even life itself. N^o church ever gave him a dollar. Calls came 
 to him, urgent, insistent, from every direction; and he spent 
 himself, imstintingly, in Christ-like fashion, for these destitute 
 people. 
 
 In commenting upon the life of this man of God, Mr. Peck 
 says that the early settlers "made the egi'egious blunder that, be- 
 cause the gospel was 'without money and without price' they 
 might take the times and talents of a minister of Christ for their 
 own use, and rob him of the means of support due to his own 
 family." Lewis Williams was a man of heavenly spirit. It was 
 said of him that God was with him, and scores of sinners were 
 converted under his ministry. He died after a short but severe 
 illness, in 1834. 
 
 Mr, Peck was more than a preacher and missionary. He 
 was a wise and capable administrator, and he possessed also a 
 shrewd knowledge of human nature. On his various tours he 
 sought to leave, in every village or settlement where there was 
 interest manifested or any promise of future growth, an organ- 
 ization of some kind, to continue the work, and act as a medium 
 of communication with the outside religious world. In the larger 
 places he formed branch Bible societies affiliated with the parent 
 body. In other localities he established Sunday Schools, linking 
 Page 40
 
 these up with the "Philadelphia Sunday and Adult School 
 Union," the progenitor of the American Sunday School Union. 
 The first of these was at Chariton on the Missouri River. It was 
 the first Sunday school in the vast territory west of St. Louis. 
 When it is remembered that the American Sunday school was 
 still in its infancy, the vision and understanding of the pioneer 
 missionary seem all the more remarkable. 
 
 He also organized "Female Mite Societies" in many of the 
 small Baptist churches which he visited. Their principal object 
 was to raise money for the United Society which he had formed 
 the year before. All the "mites" were to go toward the payment 
 of the missionaries who travelled and preached in the more 
 destitute regions. These local societies were established with a 
 full set of officers, and held regular meetings. They not only 
 talked about missions and prayed for missionaries, but in the 
 course of time they took up various forms of activity, so that the 
 "Female Mite Society" came to be the most vigorous organization 
 in many a church and many a village. Mr. Peck defines them 
 as "Social organizations for missionary purposes." The first 
 three to be established in Illinois bore the suggestive titles of 
 "The Ogle's Creek Female Mite Society," "Looking-Glass Prairie 
 Female Mite Society" and "Cantine Creek Female Mite Society." 
 It was certainly far-sighted policy thus definitely to enlist the 
 services of the women in the isolated pioneer churches, and or- 
 ganize them for practical effort. 
 
 Page }i
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Trials of Faith 
 
 THE spring of 1819 found Mr. Peck engaged in the busy- 
 task of removing his residence and his family to St. Charles, 
 a village situated some twenty miles northeast of St. Louis. 
 From the moment of his appointment to the western field he had 
 cherished the conviction that the establishment of a school of 
 high grade was a necessity for the successful prosecution of the 
 missionary undertaking. The "Academy" which had been started 
 in St. Louis more than a year before did not meet the need. 
 The exorbitant rentals, the high cost of food, the pressure of 
 alien influences and the evil and depressing character of the 
 environment rendered the plan for a permanent school in St. 
 Louis impracticable. So the choice was made in favor of 
 St. Charles, which was near enough to the larger town to enjoy 
 its advantages, and far enough away to escape its drawbacks. 
 The school at St. Louis was also continued but it furnished only 
 an elementary training in the common English branches. 
 
 Eev. James Craig had moved from Ohio to St. Charles a 
 year or two before and had opened an institution of somewhat 
 higher grade than the ordinary district school. This he was 
 willing to hand over to the company of men who should con- 
 stitute the governing body of the new Seminary and boarding- 
 school which it was proposed to establish. On the 8th of April 
 Mr. Peck took up the work at his new location, while his 
 former colleague continued the various activities which had been 
 set in motion in St. Louis. The new school was named "St. 
 Charles Academy" and was conducted jointly by Peck and Craig. 
 The number of pupils soon increased to forty. 
 
 Mr. Peck was a preacher, a traveller, a missionary, an 
 executive; but he disliked the confinement and routine of the 
 Page 42
 
 classroom. In speaking of tliis period in his life, he says: 
 "Attendance in school, domestic affairs, and cultivating a gar- 
 den kept me busily employed, and in a state of mind that was a 
 poor qualification for a preacher of Christ." And again : 
 "Teaching school is no more a Gospel service than plowing corn." 
 
 After a few months the fact became evident that Mr. Craig 
 was a failure, both as a teacher and as a man. He was inter- 
 esting and affable, so that he won his way with many people ; but 
 it was found that he had been guilty of shady transactions in 
 other parts of the country and was thoroughly unreliable. This 
 fact, together with the expense of sustaining the scliool, and the 
 very limited income from student-fees, wrought havoc with the 
 plans of the principal. His own dislike of classroom routine 
 may also have had a part in the result. The determining factor, 
 however, wliich led to the closing of the institution, was the 
 radical action of the Missionary Board at Philadelphia. This 
 action involved drastic measures, and put an end to the Western 
 Mission as an organization. 
 
 At the meeting of the Triennial Convention in 1820, its first 
 session since the appointment of the two missionaries, their work 
 was abruptly terminated by official decree. The reasons given 
 were three in number ; the lack of ample funds for the prosecu- 
 tion of the work, the expectation that the whole of the Mississippi 
 Valley would soon be supplied with plenty of religion by the im- 
 migration of preachers from the Middle and Eastern States, 
 and the opposition in the "West to the method followed by the 
 missionaries. These reasons, or excuses, were all superficial and 
 unreasonable. 
 
 The pages of the "Baptist Missionary Magazine," and other 
 records and reports, show that the Board in Philadelphia was 
 intensely interested in the development of the foreign missionary 
 work in Burma and in the founding of Columbian College in 
 Washington, D. C. Between these two fascinating interests the 
 Western Mission fell to the ground. In the Magazine, during 
 1819 and 1820 there appear 97 articles concerning foreign mis- 
 sions and letters from foreign missionaries. Ardent appeals are 
 
 Page J,S
 
 made for work in Russia, Jerusalem and the Sandwich Islands. 
 This was all very romantic and certainly very creditable. But, 
 although the Magazine claimed to be equally interested in mis- 
 sions everywhere, the limit of vision for this continent seems to 
 have been the Ohio River. Four articles concerning the Western 
 Indians appear, also three letters from Mr. Peck and two from 
 Mr. Welch, and that is all. 
 
 The statement that funds were lacking was no doubt true. 
 No active and vigorous campaign for funds had been carried on 
 or even commenced. The assertion that ministers were moving 
 into the West was startlingly false. Only one Baptist preacher 
 had emigrated to Missouri, within one hundred miles from St. 
 Louis, in two years ; and not more than two or three into Illinois. 
 Great multitudes of people were turning toward that new land, 
 alarmingly destitute of every vestige of religious life or char- 
 acter, but the preachers were not among them. The third reason 
 given, that there was "opposition" to the missionaries, sprang 
 from the fact that they had settled in St. Louis and established 
 a church and a school there, instead of plunging into the wilder- 
 ness and converting the Indians. 
 
 Again and again the two principal leaders of the work had 
 sought to show the Board that however important the task of 
 teaching the Indians might be, the necessity of establishing a 
 strong religious purpose amongst the white settlers, the makers 
 and moulders of the life of the future, was infinitely more urgent. 
 It was all of no avail. St. Louis was not far enough away from 
 Philadelphia to appeal to the imagination, as India and Burma 
 did. It was not near enough to be made the subject of personal 
 investigation on the part of members of the Board, as was done 
 in the case of destitute sections in Maine and Virginia. 
 
 The Board failed utterly to visualize the deplorable need 
 and the limitless opportunity in the rapidly growing sections of 
 the New West. 
 
 That the missionaries were to be censured for settling in 
 St. Louis seems ridiculously unfair, when we consider the in- 
 cessant efforts made by them through the use of every possible 
 Page U
 
 agency of helpfulness, to reach the vast region lying within a 
 radius of one hundred miles of St. Louis in every direction. 
 Their long missionary tours, their exhausting labors, their or- 
 ganization of churches and Sunday Schools, their cheerful 
 endurance of all the hardships of frontier life, constitute a tre- 
 mendous answer to the implication that they were living an 
 easy pastoral life in the towu. It is a curious fact that while 
 some critics were complaining because they stayed in St. Louis 
 when they should have gone out amongst the Indians, others 
 complained that they neglected the vital needs at the centre and 
 spent all their time in pioneering through the settlements. 
 
 When news of the action of the Board reached Mr. Peck he 
 was lying at the point of death, ill with billions fever in almost a 
 malignant form. He recovered slowly, but it was long before 
 full health returned. The death of his brother-in-law, Mr. 
 Paine, to whom he was deeply attached, occurred at this time. 
 His two young children were seriously ill; and, the greatest 
 affliction of all, his eldest son, in whom were centered many fond 
 hopes, was smitten with sickness and died. Thus, with no money, 
 ^nth heavy financial burdens, weak and ailing, stricken and in 
 great sorrow of heart, his position taken from him with cruel 
 suddenness, his school a failure and the mission which he loved 
 better than his life closed and abandoned, his situation was des- 
 perate in the extreme. 
 
 The Board had desired him to proceed to Fort Wayne, 
 about 350 miles northeastward, and to cooperate with Rev. 
 William McCoy in his labors amongst the Indians. Mr. Welch 
 was asked to continue his ministry in St. Louis and without aid 
 of any sort from the Board. This he could not do. He had 
 already given to the work all that he possessed, including a 
 small personal patrimony. He was called away by urgent family 
 duties, although he always retained a deep interest in the church 
 at St. Louis, and rendered it substantial assistance in the years 
 that followed. For Mr. Peck to undertake the journey to Fort 
 Wayne without means of any kind and with no promise of aid 
 from the Board in the long journey, was as impossible as a trip 
 
 Page 45
 
 to the moon. Besides his whole soul was enlisted in the progress 
 of the Kingdom of Christ in the frontier field. As we consider 
 today the methods used at that time by the Philadelphia Board, 
 it seems strange that Christian men could have been guilty of 
 such cold-blooded and short-sighted policies. Our unbusinesslike 
 Baptist methods are very often bungling, but they are seldom so 
 bi-utal. 
 
 The letter of Mr. Peck, replying to the terse order of the 
 Board, though written in the midst of soul-scorching trial and 
 affliction, is a model of Christian courtesy and great-souled de- 
 votion to the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. He pictures in a 
 few simple words the extreme need in the western field, indicates 
 the inflexibility of his purpose to remain there at his own 
 charges, and affirms his conviction that Providence commands 
 him to "Stay where you are !" It is characteristic of this good 
 man that he should have no anger, no resentment, at the treat- 
 ment which he had received, but should continue in cordial and 
 sympathetic relations with the cause of world-wide missions and 
 with the stupid eastern Board. 
 
 A crucial period in his life had now arrived. It is impos- 
 sible for us to realize how serious was the problem that he faced. 
 The closing of the schools in St. Louis and St. Charles, from 
 which he had hoped so much ; the departure of his beloved col- 
 league, Mr. Welch ; the breaking of all official ties with the East ; 
 the burden of illness and affliction; and the acute financial sit- 
 uation in which he was placed, made a complexus of difficulties 
 which seemed insurmountable. Perhaps few men, so great and 
 good as this man, have ever been so enmeshed with troubles and 
 entangling devices of every sort. Yet he fought his way 
 bravely on. 
 
 It must not for one moment be supposed that the Board in 
 Philadelphia had been large-hearted or liberal in their support 
 of the Western Mission. They never were. Their communica- 
 tions had been brief and far between. Their remittances of 
 salary had been painfully irregular. Sometimes the hard-work- 
 ing missionaries had gone on with their labors for many months 
 Page 46
 
 without answers to their letters or supplies for their wants. 
 Methods that among men of the world would be impossible, and 
 are to us today incredible, were practiced. It is a blot u[)on the 
 splendid record of our Baptist missionary enterprise. Never- 
 theless, grudging doles of money had been received from time to 
 time, and had been used with infinite care and economy. Now 
 even these ceased. 
 
 Through the agency of persistent anti-mission preachers 
 some of the churches in the Missouri and Illinois regions had 
 been influenced to withdraw their gifts from the Mission. Mr. 
 Peck had prevailed upon a large number of the small and scat- 
 tered churches to donate a percentage of their contributions to 
 the support of the pioneer travelling preachers who were quite 
 numerous in that section of the country. Although this policy 
 had greatly assisted these men, they were animated in many 
 cases by the spirit of jealousy, and turned against the hand that 
 had helped them. 
 
 For a year or so Mr. Peck struggled and sacrificed and 
 prayed. He continued his journeys amongst the feeble churches 
 of the region, supported by faith and the voluntary offerings of 
 the people amongst whom he labored. Then, early in 1822, he 
 was formally appointed a missionary of the Massachusetts Bap- 
 tist Missionary Society. The remuneration was pitifully small ; 
 he was guaranteed the amount of five dollars per week for the 
 time actually spent in the field, and he was expected to raise his 
 own salary, if possible. His journal indicates that he was 
 greatly cheered by this new arrangement. It linked his labors 
 very definitely with an organization which had conducted mis- 
 sionary operations with success for more than twenty years. It 
 gave the lonely man new courage for his work. 
 
 In April, 1822, he took up his residence at Eock Spring, 
 Illinois, and this remained for the balance of his life the head- 
 quarters of his missionary operations. From a secular point of 
 view the outlook was not encouraging. He obtained only a half 
 section of land, and that was chiefly forest and stubble. There 
 were no buildings, so with the aid of kindly folk in the vicinity, 
 
 Page 47
 
 he erected a house and outbuildings. This toil and care occupied 
 several months, which he begrudged, because of his desire to be 
 engaged in large and spiritual enterprises. 
 
 Yet he was not by any means idle in the affairs of the king- 
 dom. A company of people, the most of whom were Baptists, 
 had recently come from Georgia to Illinois. They had taken 
 up their residence on farms in the vicinity of Eock Spring. 
 They missed the religious experiences of their former life. In 
 their far away Georgia home they had been parishioners of the 
 Eev. Jesse Mercer, saint and educator, the founder of Mercer 
 University. They expressed a strong desire to be organized 
 into a church. So tlirough the leadership of Mr. Peck they were 
 thus constituted, the service being held in his own house. It 
 gave him great encouragement to be brought thus early in the 
 history of his new relations into fellowship with this body of 
 earnest Christian people. 
 
 The aspirations of his heart, however, were always in the 
 wider field. No sooner had he settled his family comfortably in 
 their new abode, and provided for them through the cultivation 
 of the land, than he mounted his horse and started forth on one 
 of his long and productive journeys. This took him to the east- 
 ward. He visited various churches and associations, and met 
 the famous (or infamous) Daniel Parker, politician, theologian, 
 reactionary and propagandist. This shrewd and able man em- 
 bodied the whole devilish spirit of the anti-mission crusade. He 
 had a smooth tongue, considerable eloquence, and a genius for 
 persistent proselytism. 
 
 In the light of present-day world-wide ideas it is hardly 
 possible to understand the bitter opposition to all the higher 
 forms of Christian service which characterized the people of the 
 smaller churches in the New West one hundred years ago. At 
 the Association in New Princeton, Indiana, Mr. Peck was re- 
 fused a seat in the body and treated as an outcast, because of his 
 zeal in missionary enterprises. Mr. Parker, on the other hand, 
 was welcomed joyously, and applauded in his rabid opposition 
 to every form of missionary activity. Mr. Peck, great- 
 
 Page 48
 
 hearted and noble, says in his diary: "In my inten'iew with 
 Brother Parker I alluded to his address about missions, and 
 told liim I could cheerfully give him my hand, as a conscientious 
 and well-meaning though greatly mistaken brother." 
 
 Describing the later sessions of the Association he says: 
 "The subject of missions came up. This was occasioned by one 
 church having charged another with having supported missions." 
 This constituted a serious grievance. Mr. Parker arose and 
 delivered a fiery address, denouncing all missionary effort in 
 lurid and forceful terms. Mr. Peck obtained leave to speak and 
 defended the missionary enterprises of the denomination with 
 great fervor. It was a memorable occasion. Two of the most 
 noteworthy leaders of religious thought and feeling that the 19th 
 century produced were present, face to face, at the meeting of a 
 few humble and insignificant churches. They spoke mightily, 
 the discussion lasting for five hours. Mr. Peck must have ap- 
 preciated the vigor of his antagonist, for he says : "I have never 
 before met with so determined an opposer to missions in every 
 aspect." But the virile and eloquent Parker, State Senator, 
 splendid man of affairs, religious leader, founder of a sect and 
 stalwart reactionary in all that concerned the kingdom of Christ, 
 received a startling rebuff; for the very Association which had 
 declined to recognize the missionary and had refused him a seat 
 in its assembly three days before, voted heartily to sustain the 
 cause of missions, and resolved, by formal vote, to support the 
 church which had raised a contribution for the great cause. 
 
 In connection with this short trip which was one of very 
 many, the dauntless Pioneer notices these facts: "I have been 
 absent from home twenty days; have rode 456 miles, have 
 preached twenty-five times, visited many families and settle- 
 ments, and gained much information in regard to the destitu- 
 tion of this part of our country, the great need of missionaries 
 and the promising fields which are ripening." After a brief 
 stay with his family at Eock Spring, he started forth on a tour 
 through Missouri from which he returned to find his wife and 
 two of his children dangerously ill. It was the greatest cross 
 
 Page 49
 
 that he had to bear, and he deplores the fact again and again 
 in his journals, that the character of his far-flung labors took 
 him away from his family so frequently and sometimes for 
 periods of two or three months together. 
 
 As soon as the sick ones had recovered he set out once more 
 on his pioneering journeys, attending the annual meeting of the 
 Illinois Association, visiting the St. Louis church and then pro- 
 ceeding into the interior of Missouri. The record of the next 
 few years is one of constant and indefatigable labors. He was 
 laying foundations of righteousness for future generations. He 
 was seeking to mould the heart and conscience of a new nation. 
 His salary was a wretched pittance. No man was sent to aid 
 him. His whole being was thrilled with a conviction of the 
 supreme importance of the work in which he was engaged. So, 
 sparing himself in nothing, he wrought by day and by night in 
 the Master's service. Since Mr. Welch's departure he had been 
 entirely alone in the leadership of Baptist missionary under- 
 takings; and in addition to the immense field which he sought 
 to cover and cultivate, the care of the church in St. Louis, and 
 of that which had recently been organized at Rock Spring, de- 
 volved upon him. 
 
 The spirit which animated the man is reflected in an inci- 
 dent related by Dr. Euf us Babcock in his account of the life of 
 Dr. Peck. He lost his horse, with clothes, valuable papers and 
 journals and never recovered them ; but he did not lose his tem- 
 per. "He was passing through a comparatively unsettled portion 
 of the country, and had occasion to dismount, when his horse 
 took sudden fright at himself or at some other object, and 
 ran very rapidly away through the bushes and woods out of reach 
 and out of sight directly. He followed in pursuit all that after- 
 noon, and at night came to a log-cabin upon the spot where the 
 town of Manchester now is, in Morgan county. He was there 
 made welcome and entertained for the night. The friend in 
 whose cabin he took refuge was afterwards Hon. Judge Marks, 
 of uncommon powers of discernment, who became much inter- 
 Page 50
 
 ested in his guest from the first, and regarded him with life- 
 lasting affection. 
 
 "In the morning the horse-hunt was renewed with all the 
 help which could be mustered, but it was unsuccessful. Then as 
 jovially as though this had been the very object of his visit, he 
 joined the boys in picking up some fine large nuts, as they re- 
 turned ; and in the evening he was found seated flat on the broad 
 hearth-stones of the cabin, as one with the boys, cracking and 
 eating nuts, and entertaining the wondering family with lively 
 anecdotes one after another, of which he seemed to them to have 
 a marvelous supply. This kind of buoyancy of spirit and versa- 
 tility of powers gave him immense influence among the people 
 wherever his lot was cast." 
 
 His ability easily to adapt himself to people of all condi- 
 tions and all ages was one of the secrets of the great influence 
 which he soon came to possess throughout the entire western 
 country. 
 
 Page 51 
 
 UBRAKf 
 «N/VERSnY0F(UJIIOIS
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 Methods and Policies 
 
 IN all his efforts to evangelize the communities which he vis- 
 ited "The Pioneer," as he came to be called, used four chief 
 agencies; these were sermons, Bibles, Sunday-schools and 
 personal conversations. The fact that he founded the Missouri 
 Bible Society in 1818 has already been noted. In April 1824 
 he founded in Illinois the Green County Sunday School Associa- 
 tion. The significance of this action is seen when we remember 
 that the American Sunday School Union was not organized until 
 1825, and that few if any groups of schools had been brought 
 together in associations prior to that time. His genius for 
 organization and his statesmanlike view of things led him thus 
 to anticipate the needs of the future. Speaking of this new 
 Society in Green Co. he says in his journal : "It is my intention 
 to form a number of county societies and then concentrate their 
 efforts in a general union of Sabbath-schools." 
 
 It was his habit to take with him on his journeys as many 
 Bibles, Testaments, tracts and pamphlets as his horse could 
 carry comfortably. The Bibles he sold, the tracts he distributed 
 without charge. In every favorable location he organized a 
 Bible society, left a number of Bibles and other literature at the 
 home of the newly-elected secretar}^, and explained how more 
 could be obtained as needed from the depository in St. Louis. 
 When a Sunday-school was formed in a place he introduced the 
 Bible as the text-book for the classes, and linked up its work with 
 that of the local Bible society. There was nothing slip-shod about 
 his methods. In organizing a new society or Sunday-school he gave 
 to the occasion due impressiveness, believing that a good start 
 was half the battle. He would announce the proposed plan 
 and the date of organization well in advance, and give wide 
 
 Page 52
 
 circulation to this announcement. Frequently he wrote personal 
 letters to men prominent in the community and the country 
 surrounding it, inviting their presence. By such measures he 
 stimulated interest beforehand and secured the success of the 
 movement. As he correlated his Sunday-school and Bible agency 
 activities, so he supplemented his preaching with personal evan- 
 gelism. 
 
 In writing to the Massachusetts Society, before the end of 
 his first year's work under its direction, he closes his report 
 with the words : "I have endeavored to seize every favorable 
 opportunity of introducing reKgious instruction into the family 
 circle, a course which if judiciously pursued, may be rendered of 
 incalculable benefit and sometimes prove eflBcacious when public 
 preaching would produce little effect." 
 
 The more carefully Mr. Peck's methods and policies are 
 studied the more they reveal their thoroughly modern and 
 practical character. For instance, he heartily discountenanced 
 the emphasis of evangelistic work to the neglect of teaching and 
 training agencies. Simply to make fervid appeals, win converts, 
 gather them into the churches and hurry on to execute a similar 
 programme at the next stopping-place, was wholly alien to his 
 scheme of things. He states his views succinctly in one of his 
 letters, dated Xov. 1, 1824, to the Massachusetts Board, thus: 
 "1 am deeply impressed with the idea that every mission, whether 
 foreign or domestic, should be pursued upon the principle of 
 making every part of the world Christianize itself. On this 
 principle it has been my object to call into action and improve 
 all the gifts and talents around me, some in the Bible cause, 
 some in Sabbath school instruction and others as itinerant 
 preachers." 
 
 Had all our missionaries at home and abroad seen clearly 
 the common-sense wisdom of the theory thus advocated, the 
 outposts of the Kingdom would be far more vigorous and their 
 influence vastly greater than they are today. Multitudes of 
 mission churches and interests, in all parts of the world, have 
 been dragged unsteadily along, clinging to the skirts of the 
 
 Page 53
 
 parent Boards, when they should long before have been indepen- 
 dent and self-sustaining, planning and pushing their own ac- 
 tivities, and living their own strong life. 
 
 Too man}' solicitous and kindly mission bodies, especially 
 under our loose Baptist system of government, have only recently 
 awakened to the necessities of the case. They have found 
 themselves lacking in real effectiveness on many a far-oS field. 
 They can count hosts of feeble and dependent converts; but 
 they fail to breed productiveness and power. Wliile they were 
 following the easier paths, other Societies were acting upon the 
 l^riuciple so clearly stated and so indefatigably practiced by the 
 Pioneer of the prairies one hundred years ago. Their mistake 
 has been that they failed, in the earlier years, to teach and to 
 train, to compel the elements that foster strength, to shape the 
 human material toward firmness of character, self-reliance and 
 self-support. The permanent quality which inhered in almost 
 all of Mr. Peck's work was due to his keen sense of values, his 
 attention to the fundamentals and his prophetic vision. It was 
 as though he had read the record of the unborn years, and 
 knew the need the future would create. 
 
 It must not be imagined, however, that he was an organizer 
 and educator rather than an evangelist. He was certainly no 
 revivalist, as that term is commonly understood ; yet the burning 
 desire of his heart and the constant endeavor of his preaching 
 and conversation, were to bring men and women into vital fel- 
 lowship with Jesus Christ. The type of evangelism of which 
 he was suspicious was that common enough in some of the fron- 
 tier communities, which is described in the following account 
 of a camp-meeting which he visited in Missouri : 
 
 "At evening of the last day I heard a young Cumberland 
 Presbyterian attempt to preach from I Peter i, 8. He was a 
 young hand and made out but poorly. A Mr. Chamberlain, a 
 Methodist, gave an exhortation, in which he began by lamenting 
 the want of effort on the part of the people declaring that he had 
 no faith to exhort ; he reproved the people for sloth and neglect, 
 but soon fell into a strain of the most passionate, powerful 
 Page 54
 
 appeals to the hopes and fears of all around him. The Meth- 
 odists were alternately assailed and encouraged, till he wound 
 up by proposing to all who ever did pray, or ever would pray, 
 to engage ten minutes by the watch as the last alternative. 
 Upon this the members and others rushed forward to the stand, 
 and all commenced as if with one voice. Soon a black woman 
 and others commenced shouting. Two or three appeared in 
 agony for mercy. The preachers would exhort them to have a 
 little more faith, "to struggle a few minutes longer, and God, 
 Christ and heaven are yours !" They would constantly make 
 appeals to those engaged to prevent the fervor and zeal from 
 expiring. I left them about nine o'clock still engaged and I 
 could hear them shouting at a great distance." 
 
 He adds in his memoranda various notes and comments, 
 amongst them these : 
 
 "All this excitement and effect, so far as visible, might 
 have been produced without the agency of God, and might be and 
 seemed to be only the effect of human causes. While from the 
 fruits occasionally manifested, I have no doubt that genuine 
 convictions and saving conversions do sometimes follow such 
 confused and disorderly meetings, yet it must be confessed that 
 most of these cases prove false — worse than worthless. 
 
 "The method of talking to and exhorting the persons 
 apparently under conviction is highly improper and injudicious. 
 The whole object of the preachers and leaders appears to be to 
 get them relieved from distress, quite irrespective of the char- 
 acter of the relief. Hence, were it not for the apparent necessity 
 for such meetings, in a thinly populated country, and the fact 
 that sometimes God blesses very imperfect means, I would 
 disapprove of them wholly. As they are congenial to the habits 
 of the people, and may do some good, reaching those not other- 
 wise accessible, they may be tolerated, and as far as practicable 
 regulated." 
 
 These comments indicate the writer's largeness of view. 
 His analysis of the revival phenomena, judged by the tests 
 
 Page 55
 
 which are made in our days by students of the psychology of 
 religion, is accurate and illuminating. Further than this, the 
 occasion which prompted these entries in his journal reveals 
 their author's catholicity of spirit. He was attending a camp- 
 meeting conducted by Methodists and Cumberland Presbyter- 
 ians. He was himself a staunch Baptist, yet throughout his long 
 period of active service there is never a trace of narrowness or 
 bigotry in his attitude toward other denominations. He visited 
 Methodist Camp-Meetings, Presbyterian Conferences, and all 
 other religious gatherings of any creed or persuasion that came 
 in his way, and praises with hearty enthusiasm an Episcopalian 
 clergyman to whom he listened on a certain occasion: "For 
 sound reasoning, solid eloquence and brillianc}'^ of thought, I 
 have never heard his address surpassed." He organized the 
 Missouri Bible Society as an interdenominational body and the 
 many local branches were all of the same character. There 
 was nothing small or sectarian in his attitude. He wrought 
 primarily for the progress of the Kingdom, the Faith and the 
 spread of the Truth. 
 
 He organized Sunday schools rather than churches. Noth- 
 ing could have been more far-sighted. The directions given 
 him from the East had bidden him gather together into churches 
 any scattered Baptist members Mhom he might find, but had said 
 not a word about Sunday schools. He obeyed the directions ; he 
 organized many churches; but looking forward he realized the 
 crucial importance of reaching the children and youth, of guid- 
 ing their minds in the way of Christ and of shaping their char- 
 acters according to the teaching of Holy Writ. 
 
 As one reads the account of the manifold labors and con- 
 stant journeying of this pioneer missionary, the predominant 
 impression is never that of routine business faithfully per- 
 formed but always that of growing knowledge and an ever 
 firmer grasp of elemental motives and constructive principles 
 of action. One of the ablest of our missionary statesmen in 
 China recently expressed the secret of his quenchless enthusiasm 
 in these words: "We are helping to build a new and mighty 
 Page 56
 
 nation; China is one of the great world-nations of to-morrow." 
 This same prophetic inspiration, for it can be accurately de- 
 scribed in such terms, was the mighty force in the ceaseless 
 activities of our Baptist Pioneer. 
 
 As the boundaries of civilization were extended, as the im- 
 migrant pushed up into Central Illinois and the frontier moved 
 westward in Missouri, this far-seeing man enlarged the field of 
 his efforts, and the scope of his ministry. On the 28th day of 
 September, 1824, he reached the outposts of civilization, on the 
 borders of what is now the State of Kansas. He writes in his 
 journal : 
 
 "I am now at Liberty, Clay county, on the extreme western 
 side of Missouri river. Southeast lies the missionary station 
 of Harmony, among the Osages, one hundred miles distant. 
 Northwest are the Council Bluffs, and before me the interminable 
 wilderness, over which the savage Indians roam after the buffalo. 
 Could I but succeed in planting the Bible here, it would greatly 
 rejoice my heart, but prospects at present are not very favorable. 
 The settlement of tin's remote country in the extremity of the 
 State Avas begun but four years since, and it now contains about 
 two thousand inhabitants. 
 
 "The people who have settled this district are chiefly from 
 Kentucky and Tennessee, sadly destitute of public spirit, and 
 manifest a great degree of apathy towards benevolent institu- 
 tions, even when they are obviously intended for their own 
 benefit. More than one hundred of these families are believed 
 to be entirely destitute of the Scriptures, yet when I explained — 
 after preaching — the design of an auxiliary Bible society, the 
 need and the benefits of it, and then urged its formation, no 
 one stepped forward and offered to engage in it." 
 
 That this tour was not lacking in definite results, however, 
 is manifested from his statement at its close, that he "rode on 
 horseback 830 miles, preached 27 times, regular discources, 
 founded five branch Bible Societies, attended four Baptist 
 Associations, two Methodist Camp-meetings, besides making a 
 
 Page 57
 
 number of addresses and preparing the way for other Bible 
 societies hereafter. This has occupied 45 days." This was 
 one of his less successful trips, yet what a record for a month 
 and a half! And much of the time was consumed in slow 
 riding over rough forest roads, a fearful waste of energy and 
 hours according to our modern railway and automabile standards. 
 
 Page 58
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 Awakening the East 
 
 IMPORTANT political and social questions were now begin- 
 ning to agitate the minds of the people. Ptiblic-welfare 
 
 movements were being inaugurated. Into the discussion of 
 all these Mr. Peck entered with vital vigor. He became an agent 
 of the Colonization Society, a mighty advocate of temperance, a 
 student of the intricate problems of immigration, a stout op- 
 ponent of the effort to make Illinois a slave state. There was 
 one subject, however, which underlay all others, and which 
 tended to shape and determine their character. It was that of 
 education, better education, higher education. During his years 
 in the West he had used his influence unceasingly in establishing 
 local schools and importing competent teachers. Much more 
 needed to be done. 
 
 In 1826 there was not a single institution west of the Ohio 
 River, with a standard in advance of that of the ordinary dis- 
 trict school. His own schools at St. Louis and St. Charles 
 might have been made abundantly successful had the men in 
 the East shown any practical sympathy for these enterprises. 
 He now determined to visit the Eastern States. He had two 
 motives in view, to impart to others his own zeal for the evan- 
 gelization of the western country, and to explain and enforce the 
 necessity for a trained ministry and an educated citizenship. 
 
 He undertook the long journey in the winter season, leav- 
 ing Rock Spring on Feb. 22nd and travelling on horse-back 
 through mud and rain to Cincinnati, which he reached at the 
 end of three weeks. It was a joy to the pioneer preacher, after 
 enduring the strugles and trials of the wilderness for so many 
 years, to get back to normal conditions of living. He was wel- 
 comed in hospitable Christian homes. He felt the thrill of 
 
 Page 59
 
 Christian fellowship. He preached to a congregation larger than 
 any he had spoken to, or even seen, for nearly three years. He 
 arrived in Washington about the first of April. There he spent 
 two busy and delightful weeks, attending the sessions of Con- 
 gress, meeting President John Quincy Adams, studying the 
 affairs of the newly-founded Columbian College, preaching in 
 the college chapel as well as in tlie city. He met two dear 
 friends of former years, Dr. Staughton, his teacher and coun- 
 sellor, who had become a pastor in Washington, and Luther 
 Eice, whose zeal for missions had first kindled the flame in hia 
 own heart. 
 
 In Philadelphia he was royally entertained by many old 
 friends, and by some whom he met now for the first time, 
 amongst them Alexander Henry, president of the American 
 Sunday School Union, whose agent he had been for some years. 
 In New York he attended the Triennial Convention, speaking 
 on several occasions and preacliing on both Sundays during the 
 session. He was present also at the annual meetings of the 
 American Bible Society, the Tract Society, the Home Mission 
 Society, and the Colonization Society. These May annivers- 
 eries represented large interdenominational interests; and they 
 called forth his intense interest and admiration. The Bible 
 Societ}', in view of his valuable services to that organization, 
 made him an honorary life-member. 
 
 From New York he drove to Litchfield. "I drew near to 
 the hills and prospects upon which a thousand times I had gazed 
 in childhood — my native town. How many pleasing and painful 
 associations rush into the mind on returning to one's native 
 home after an absence of years ! Changes have occured, a new 
 generation has started up, the old people have mostly vanished 
 from the earth; but the hills and valleys, the rocks and rills 
 remain unchanged." His father was long since dead ; his mother 
 had married again and again been widowed. He writes that 
 though age had silvered her locks her heart remained unchilled. 
 He spent a few days with her, and amongst old neighbors and 
 friends, and then continued his journey. 
 Page 60
 
 He reached Boston in time to attend the annual gathering of 
 the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society, whose represent- 
 ative he had been for four years. He spoke with tremendous 
 earnestness at one of the public meetings, and at a session of the 
 Trustees laid before them a plan of operations for future work 
 in the West. This was adopted and he was authorized to 
 secure funds for its administration, and then to put it in force. 
 It involved a system of circuit-preaching, by which preachers 
 were to tour the western states, one hundred dollars per annum 
 to be paid them by the Board, and the remainder of their salary 
 to be raised by them on the field. The plan included also the 
 appointment of an efficient man to take the pastorate of the 
 church in St. Louis, and to develop a school, the income from 
 which would be expected to cover half of his salary. 
 
 The third item in the plan proposed the establishment of a 
 theological School, to be located in Illinois, where young men 
 might be trained and equipped for the work of the Gospel 
 ministry. "Such a school," he says, "has been an object in my 
 mind for years, as a very necessary part of the system of meas- 
 ures which I have attempted to carry forward ; but I have never 
 seen the time to accomplish it until now ... I cannot bear 
 that our preachers in Illinois and Missouri should continue as 
 ignorant as some of them now are. In the three states are not 
 less than 250 Baptist preachers. A majority of them have been 
 raised on the frontiers, with scarcely the advantages of a common 
 school education, and not even habituated to read the word of 
 God in early life. Every year is adding to the number of this 
 class of preachers. . . . What should be done? Is not the path 
 of duty plain as the noon-day sun ? Furnish these men with the 
 means of such education as circumstances admit. Establish a 
 theological school." 
 
 Having obtained the hearty endorsement of the Board and 
 Society in Boston he began at once to sound his message in the 
 ears of the churches of New England and New York. June, 
 July, August and a part of September were spent in this effort 
 to explain his plan and urge its claims. His labors during that 
 
 Page 61
 
 time were prodigious. This was really the first vacation he had 
 ever had, and he spent it, as he spent his whole life, in ceaseless 
 activity. 
 
 In July he reports $150 received for the School besides $140 
 for mission purposes; on the 15th day of September the amount 
 for the School had grown to $658.52, besides books and other 
 articles valued at $314.50. He expresses his gratitude for these 
 gifts, although there is an undercurrent of regret in his journal 
 that indicates a feeling of some disappointment that the enthus- 
 iasm for the great cause was not more full and spontaneous. Dr. 
 Babcock, in his biography of the Pioneer, calls attention to his 
 analysis of some of the qualities of New England folks, as 
 follows : 
 
 "We are to remember that he went everywhere with his 
 eyes and ears, and heart, open, to learn and appreciate whatever 
 was excellent and worthy of imitation. Occasional glintings of 
 his convictions — as now a travelled Yankee he returned to invest- 
 igate more broadly and compare more justly his native New 
 England with fairer and more fertile regions elsewhere — will 
 peep out in his journals and letters of this period. He particu- 
 larly remarked with some astonishment the littleness and nar- 
 ro'^vness of views, the hidebound prejudices which here so 
 generally prevailed, as they were now magnified by contrast. 
 But he did full justice, at the same time, to the taste, the moral 
 integrity, the industry and sobriety, as well as the provident 
 carefulness (not to say parsimony), which he here witnessed. 
 
 "Their neat and inviting villages, with the church-edifice 
 and the school-house in central prominence, indicated unmis- 
 takably the elements of New England's welfare and happiness. 
 These, too, by a species of social transmission, she was sending 
 abroad and planting and nurturing all over the fertile West. 
 Here was the hedged-up nursery, where the seedlings were de- 
 fended while taking root, and, if need be, receiving the budding 
 or inoculation which insured the excellence of their fruits. 
 'But then,' said he, 'they need to be transplanted to a broader 
 and more fertile field, where they will have ample space and 
 Page 62
 
 verge enough to be rooted in our broad, rich prairies, and bring 
 forward under more genial skies their abundant products.' " 
 
 The journey homeward occupied a little more than two 
 months. The aged mother was alone and in poor financial 
 circumstances so her son decided that she must return with him. 
 It was a serious undertaking for one so frail. Accordingly he 
 had an easy two-horse carriage built under his personal direction, 
 for his mothei-'s comfort on the trip, and purchased an additional 
 horse. On the 23rd of November, the last stage on the long trip, 
 he drove forty-four miles, and reached Eock Spring in the 
 evening. He had been absent nine months and one day. He 
 had carried the ambitious spirit of the New West into the eastern 
 states. He had aroused and quickened with missionary impulses 
 many an easy-going soul and many a somnolent and self-satis- 
 fied church. He had compelled the members of half a dozen 
 great boards and societies to turn their eyes toward the promis- 
 ing young empire that was building in the Mississippi Valley. 
 He had revealed to multitudes the spiritual task and opportunity. 
 To effect all this he had travelled 4,400 miles, chiefly by the 
 slow method of wagon-conveyance. 
 
 Page 63
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 Creating New Agencies of Power 
 
 WHEN the yoimg missionary John Mason Peck went first 
 to the West he was a stranger and foreigner. The 
 land was to him a terra incognita. He was sick in 
 body and anxious in mind. His instructions from the Board 
 were so vague that he did not know whether he was to labor 
 amongst Indians or white men, whether his home was to be 
 in town or country. He was "a raw liand." His experience 
 in the ministry had been limited to two or three little country 
 churches. His "regular" education had been confined to one 
 year of study in the residence of a Philadelphia pastor. With 
 nothing of example or precedent to guide him, and with charm- 
 ingly indefinite promises of financial and other assistance, he 
 was attacking the entire western wilderness in the name of the 
 Almighty. 
 
 The Board that sent him knew less than he did about the 
 country and its needs; besides this they were more interested in 
 Burma than they were in Missouri. They had implored him 
 to work amongst the Indians, as their need was so great — the 
 analogy of Burma was in their minds. They seem to have 
 regarded the white settlers as sturdy Christian gentlemen, the 
 children of the churches of New England and the Middle States. 
 Mr. Peck's situation had not been an enviable one, judged by the 
 world's standards. 
 
 Now, in 1826, he arrives again in the West. All things 
 have changed. In nine years he has gained a unique point of 
 vantage. He knows the West better than any other living man. 
 He knows its rivers and prairies, its jungles and clearings, its 
 towns and settlements, from Shawneetown to Liberty and from 
 Sangamon to the Ozarks, as the pilot knows the channel, as the 
 
 Page 64
 
 old trapper knows the haunts of game. More than this, he 
 understands the people. They are all in his mind and in his 
 heart. He understands them individually and as community- 
 groups. He can classify and tabulate them, socially, racially, 
 intellectually, ethically and with reference to their respective 
 economic values. ]\Iore than this, again, he has a quite definite 
 plan for their redemption, their educational and social as well 
 as their spiritual redemption. Nine years ago this man was a 
 learner, a beginner, quite untried in pioneer work. Now he 
 is a man of measures and resources, an experienced leader, a 
 seasoned veteran. 
 
 His purity of spirit and singleness of aim were indicated 
 in his attitude toward his work. Innumerable duties, the 
 accumulation of nine months of absence, crowded upon him; 
 while the broad plans to which his mission eastward had brought 
 endorsement and support, urged their claims for speedy execu- 
 tion. He spent six hours each night in sleep and the rest of 
 his time in toil. At this time he writes in his journal : "I burn 
 with zeal to be laborious and do good. I never felt so far re- 
 moved from selfishness or any personal desires and aims. I am 
 somehow pressed forv/ard in a great work. Vast and important 
 benefits for future generations seem to hang on my personal 
 efforts. Had I the means I could cheerfully sacrifice thousands 
 for the good of the cause; and such as I have of time, talents, 
 efforts, endurance, I cheerfully offer." 
 
 As a result of the successful journey which he had made 
 Mr. Peck was able to inaugurate three new lines of activity. 
 To his complex and splendidly organized system of itinerant 
 evangelism, Bible work and Sundaj^-school enterprise he now 
 added within three years a central Seminary for academic in- 
 struction, a weekly religious journal and circuit-preaching by a 
 group of men carefully chosen for the task. He intended that 
 these agencies should be definitely articulated with the earlier 
 enterprises, and should promote their progress. 
 
 It was not his fault if this ideal was not perfectly realized 
 in every particular. The opposition of the anti-mission Baptists 
 
 Page 65
 
 had now expressed itself in the formation of a separate body, 
 which by its bitter spirit and its unfair propaganda, rent 
 churches and associations asunder. When application was made 
 for a charter for the new Seminary an anti-mission preacher 
 who was a member of the State senate succeeded by his crafty 
 methods in defeating the plan. Jealousy and intrigue captured 
 also some of the men whom Mr. Peck sought to enlist in his 
 circuit plan. 
 
 Many of them, however, had antagonized him from the 
 beginning. His success and growing power had only inflamed 
 their passion. What at first had been a sulky indifference or a 
 gruff denial had now become a rancorous hatred. They sought 
 to destroy the influence of the "boss," the "dictator." They 
 did not hesitate to write letters again and again to the various 
 Societies in the East with which he was connected, accusing him 
 of incompetence and failure. 
 
 It is necessary to realize the fact and fury of this long- 
 continued persecution in order to estimate at their true value 
 his achievements. Staggering beneath the Aveight of many 
 important undertakings this venomous hostility on the part of 
 so-called Christian ministers and churches tested his faith to the 
 utmost. Yet those who knew him well at that period of his life 
 bear testimony to the charity of his spirit and his steady refusal 
 to deal harshly or vindictively with his foes. 
 
 The amount which Mr. Peck had secured to help in the 
 founding of a Seminary was small, but he possessed a heart of 
 hope. Contributions, he believed, would continue to come in 
 and the expense of the school would not be large. On the first 
 of January, 1827, a number of his staunch friends and suppor- 
 ters from different parts of the state met at his house in Eock 
 Spring, in answer to his personal invitation. They decided by 
 a unanimous vote to establish a Literary and Theological Serai- 
 nary. They elected a Board of Trustees, consisting of five min- 
 isters and four laymen, under the chairmanship of Rev. James 
 Lemen, a warm friend of the Pioneer and regarded by him as 
 the ablest Baptist leader in the Illinois country. They then 
 Page 66
 
 chose a site for the school, or rather it was chosen for them by 
 an offer of Mr. Peck to donate land on his own farm for the pur- 
 pose. They decided that building operations should begin at 
 once. 
 
 In considering the matter of financial management it was 
 deemed wise to organize a Joint-stock company, each subscriber 
 to stock, in the amount of ten dollars or more, being entitled to 
 one vote in the election of trustees, and to free room rental and 
 free use of the library for his children in case they should 
 enter the school. This was certainly a generous provision. 
 Having reached these excellent conclusions the company de- 
 parted, leaving their host, as usual, to carry the load of care and 
 responsibility in the execution of the plans they had made. 
 Although he was already doing the work of a dozen men he agreed 
 to act as superintendent of construction, solicitor of funds, can- 
 vasser for pupils and organizer of the school. He knew that 
 he could depend on Mr. Lemen, Mr. PuUiam and a few other 
 "stalwarts" for vigorous cooperation. 
 
 In September three buildings were completed and ready for 
 occupancy. The seminary proper was a substantial two-story 
 wooden structure, the lower floor being designed for assembly 
 purposes and the floor above for a dormitory. The older boys 
 had rude bedsteads provided for them, while the small boys were 
 to sleep on straw beds on the floor. On each side of the main 
 building was a one-story wing. One of these was set apart for 
 the library and the teachers' living-rooms, the other for class- 
 rooms. Near by a log-cabin was erected, to serve as a boarding- 
 hall. A carpenter shop was also built. It is probable that the 
 "Eock Spring Theological and High School" was one of the 
 first institutions in the United States to adopt the plan of 
 manual training, for provision was made from the first for 
 informal instruction and quite an amount of active practice in 
 carpentry and agriculture. 
 
 Before the first of October two teachers had been secured. 
 One was to serve as principal and teach Christian theology, 
 this term covering the whole range of special studies in which 
 
 Page 67
 
 a theological seminary indulges ; the other, as professor of math- 
 ematics and natural philosophy, Avas to take charge of everything 
 left over from the other department, including English, the 
 classics and history. Mr. Peck assisted in the teaching when 
 he was at home. 
 
 On the first of Novemher the Seminary opened its doors. 
 Rev. Joshua Bradley, a graduate of Brown University and a 
 teacher of experience, had been selected as Principal, and Mr. 
 John Eussell as head of the high school department. Twenty 
 boarding pupils and several day scholars were enrolled during 
 the first week of the term. For four years the institution 
 carried forward its work, at times under great financial stress, 
 and often in face of personal misunderstandings. The number 
 of students at one time reached a total of 130. The teachers 
 were strong and resourceful men ; and the school, in spite of its 
 drawbacks, rendered splendid and efficient service. 
 
 The second enterprise to be launched at this period was a 
 religious newspaper. Perhaps none of the Pioneer's plans 
 was more stoutly opposed. Not only his old-time opponents, 
 but many of his friends, both west and east, thought the venture 
 unwise. He was rather heavily involved at this time, on ac- 
 count of disastrous conditions in the "white" church at St. Louis. 
 Debts had multiplied. Generous supporters of the church had 
 died. Mr, Welch had gone. The Philadelphia Board in "re- 
 leasing" Mr. Peck years before, had blandly evaded all responsi- 
 bilities for the work it had authorized. Mr. Peck had signed 
 promissory notes to save the honor of the cause. These were 
 now maturing, and his struggles to meet them, and to support 
 his family also, were a fearful strain upon his courage and 
 resourcefulness. He was ever the soul of nobility. In all 
 his long life his honor was absolutely unquestioned, his char- 
 acter stainless. He could not involve others in these anxieties 
 and obligations wliich had come upon him through his own big- 
 heartedness and self-sacrifice. So he agonized in secret, carried 
 forward his multifarious enterprises, and little by little met all 
 of his indebtedness in full. 
 Page 68
 
 Those of his friends who knew the facts in this case, and 
 who realized also the uncertainties of the school at Rock Spring, 
 besought him to stay his course. Even in Boston it was difficult 
 for a religious paper to support itself, with all of old Xew 
 England and adjoining states for a constituency. To attempt 
 such a scheme in the west, where the people were poor, the con- 
 ditions crude, few journals of any kind circulated and the few 
 little read, seemed a mad venture. Besides it would take too 
 much of the Pioneer's time, which was already more than 
 occupied witli more important duties. However, Mr. Peck had 
 a conviction in the matter, and he had a way of following his 
 convictions with a persistency that thrust aside all warnings. 
 Consequently, the paper was started. 
 
 The prospectus announcing the purpose of the new enter- 
 prise, and calling for cooperation financial and otherwise, was 
 issued on December 2nd, 1828. It was widely circulated and 
 elicited a great deal of curiosity but very few subscriptions. 
 The first number of "The Pioneer of the Valley of the Miss- 
 issippi" appeared on April 2.5th, 1829. The name of Eev. 
 John M. Peck appears as editor, that of Eev. T. P. Greene as 
 publisher. Mr. Greene was the occasion if not the cause for the 
 establishment of the paper. Mr. Peck had made his acquaintance 
 some time before. He had found him to be a practical and 
 energetic man who combined the offices of preacher, farmer and 
 printer, and conducted a small newspaper near St. Charles, with 
 the help of his two sons. 
 
 It was natural that Mr. Peck, pondering upon the im- 
 portance of a religious paper, should ask liimself the question, 
 "Why might not this man, with his family and printing-plant, 
 remove to Eock Spring, send his young children to the Seminary, 
 and convert his local newspaper into an important religious 
 journal? It would be an advantage to Mr. Greene, to his 
 children, to the mission work in general, and to the Baptist 
 community in three States." This pondering issued in consul- 
 tation and then in action. The Greene family moved to Eock 
 Spring. The carpenter-shop was transformed into a printing- 
 Pope G9
 
 office, and the history of Baptist journalism in the West began. 
 This new venture constituted the first religious periodical in 
 Illinois, and the first Baptist weekly paper west of Ohio. 
 
 It was never a financial success. How often in the annals 
 of recorded time has a Baptist journal been a financial success ? 
 Even with the aid of the job-printing department, there was an 
 annual deficit for each of the twelve years until the paper was 
 merged with another, and ceased its independent existence. This 
 deficit averaged about $200, and was usually met without com- 
 plaint by Mr. Peck and a few of his friends. They had 
 the large vision, and they were right. The influence of this 
 paper, making its way week by week into the homes of hundreds 
 of scattered families, bearing its message of cheer and fellow- 
 ship, was an agency that was greatly needed. It was a source of 
 instruction also in many families where reading-matter was 
 scanty and means of education slight. It was a factor of real 
 value in uniting a wide-spread Baptist constituency, and in shap- 
 ing the course of our denominational life throughout the whole 
 region of the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 Page 10
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 The Birth of the Home Mission Society 
 
 THE section of country between the western boundary of 
 Indiana and Kansas City is today one of the wealthiest 
 and most fertile districts in the world. It abounds in 
 cities and towns of the most prosperous character. Its prairies 
 yield immeasurable plenitude of corn and grain. Its churches 
 and schools and colleges; its charities and abundant philan- 
 thropies; its stable institutions and resourceful citizenship com- 
 bine to make it one of the finest products of our modern 
 civilization. It is almost impossible to imagine that this fine 
 and most attractive country has been developed to its present 
 status within a period of eighty years — yet such is the case. 
 Within the life-time of men still with us this miracle has taken 
 place. 
 
 The change seems at first to have been wrought by purely 
 material agencies. Steam and electricity have certainly done 
 marvellous things. Chicago with its two million people and its 
 opulent magnificence is the most stupendous creation of the mod- 
 ern superman. It owes its grandeur, we say, to the age of science. 
 Yet this is not by any means the fact. The real greatness of 
 the Middle West lies in its ethical and spiritual attainments. 
 It would have been a queer and crazy country, big and brutal 
 and abominable, had it not been for the self-sacrificing labors 
 of the missionaries of the cross. 
 
 ISTone amongst them all was more completely devoted, or 
 more actively alive to the responsibilities of the Christian church 
 in moulding the character of the new age than the subject of 
 this sketch. He saw the opportunities. He forecast the future. 
 He realized the need for preachers and teachers possessed of the 
 spirit of Christ. 
 
 Page 71
 
 His plan for extended circuit-preaching, though appealing 
 less strongly to the imagination than the building of a Seminary 
 or the founding of a newspaper, contained within it rich pos- 
 sibilities of far-reaching spiritual influence. He did not hasten 
 unduly in putting it into execution. He knew by bitter exper- 
 ience that pledges were not cash, and might never be transformed 
 into dollars. He knew that Boards were not infallible. So he 
 chose his men carefully, and satisfied himself beforehand that 
 there was a reasonable certainty of their being paid promptly and 
 in full for their hard labor. 
 
 The Pioneer missionary had now for a dozen years been "spy- 
 ing out the land." His papers and manuscripts, as well as the 
 books which he afterwards published, indicate his encyclopedic 
 knowledge of the country and its needs. He knew that the 
 scheme of circuit-preaching could be made a source of power, 
 for he had followed this method with tremendous success in hio 
 own missionary labors. Also, he realized that it could then be 
 put into effect with less friction and loss of energy than under 
 other circumstances would have been possible, because he was so 
 intimately familiar with the comparative needs of the various 
 sections that he could place the preachers in the localities where 
 the conditions were most favorable for constructive and pro- 
 ductive effort. 
 
 For a long time he had been preparing the way for the 
 enterprise. His journal contains such records as the following: 
 "On this route I have rode 302 miles. This is a circuit suitable 
 for an active missionary in this country to ride over in one 
 month, and preach thirty times, besides attending to keeping alive 
 Bible societies, Sunday-schools and looking well to the discipline 
 of the churches." So now, holding the Board in Boston quietly 
 but firmly true to their promise to contribute $100 per year to 
 each circuit-preacher, with the understanding that he was to 
 secure the balance of his support from the field on which he 
 labored, he began, about the year 1827, the selection of his men. 
 The first of these itinerant missionaries whom he chose 
 was that man of Christly spirit, Lewis Williams, to whom 
 
 Page 12
 
 reference has already been made. No sooner had he gone forth 
 on his errand of mercy than the wilderness began to rejoice and 
 blossom as the rose. lie remained in the employ of the Society, 
 and under Mr. Peck's direction, until his death. It was only a 
 few years, but spiritual blessings and gracious revivals were un- 
 ceasing attendants of his journeyings here and there. He was 
 an elect soul. 
 
 The "circuits" to which these men were assigned were not 
 unduly cramped or limited. There was lots of elbow-room, 
 especially in the inception of the undertaking. To one man was 
 given a district "about as large as the State of Massachusetts," 
 to another "a tract of country, thinly populated, but equal in 
 extent to the State of Connecticut." The elder missionary 
 found peculiar delight in the successes which from the first 
 accompanied the work of his young brethren, in the herculean 
 task of winning the West for God. During the years that fol- 
 lowed the launching of the fine system of circuit administration 
 multitudes of people in almost every section of the wide field 
 were converted. Feeble interests grew into strong centers of 
 Christian activity; out of Sunday-schools churches were born; 
 the flames of pure evangelism spread from one community to 
 another; the harvests of toilsome years of broad scattering of 
 seed were being garnered. 
 
 Not only the West but the East felt the vital throb of this 
 enthusiasm. At Hamilton, New York, a number of young men, 
 hearing the story of the growing Baptist interest and opportunity 
 in "the Golden West" dedicated their lives to service in that 
 country. In every direction the Divine Spirit was gathering 
 His trophies. 
 
 The year 1831 will be ever memorable in the annals of our 
 Baptist faith for in that year Dr. Jonathan Going, a wise and 
 trusted leader, was sent on a tour of investigation. It is no cause 
 for wonder that the prodigious personal achievements of Mr. 
 Peck in his wide field, the founding by him of an Academy of 
 high grade, the establishment by him of a religious journal, the 
 
 Page 13
 
 successful prosecution by him of a system of missionary evan- 
 gelism which had already attracted the interest of Christian 
 people in all parts of the land, should have startled the slow- 
 moving people of New England, and stirred their curiosity. 
 Such a many-sided and productive enterprise as the Christian 
 church has seldom seen was going forward in the new states of 
 the west; and it was energized by the brain and heart of a 
 humble Baptist missionary. It had growTi during the years 
 between 1824 and 1831 to a magnitude quite out of proportion 
 to the size of the constituency which was supposed to control it. 
 
 It is forever to the honor of the Massachusetts Baptist Mis- 
 sionary Society that they "caught the vision" and adopted Mr. 
 Peck as their representative; after the Triennial Convention, 
 in inconceivable obtuseness and spiritual stupidity, had dis- 
 missed him and closed his mission in 1820. It is a tribute 
 forever to the wisdom of the same Society that when they wit- 
 nessed the marvellous expansion of all the interests committed 
 to his care, they should have realized that the great work de- 
 manded a larger body of control. They said, in effect: "The 
 labors of this man are amazing. They can no longer be gov- 
 erned by a State; they must belong to a nation. There should 
 be organized a great national society to direct the home mission- 
 ary enterprises of the denomination. At least this is what we 
 think and believe. We will send a trusted messenger to find out 
 about it." So they dispatched Dr. Going with full instructions, 
 and eagerly awaited his report. 
 
 Five years before, on his visit to the Atlantic States, Mr. 
 Peck had broken his Journey between Litchfield and Boston, in 
 order to visit this man. He had poured into his heart the story 
 of the West. He had touched vibrant chords and awakened 
 pure and sympathetic emotions. So as Mr. Peck had captured 
 Dr. Going, he in his turn had captured the consecrated energies 
 of the Boston Board. Hence this visit. Dr. Going was no 
 shallow man of the moment, so, through the years that followed, 
 he and Mr. Peck had conducted an animated correspondence, 
 Page 74
 
 until he had become convinced through the letters of the Pioneer 
 of the supreme importance of his work. 
 
 On June 20, 1831, Mr. Peck, before retiring for the night, 
 made entry in his journal of the day's events, as his custom 
 was for many years. This is the record : "Today Elder J. Going, 
 of Massachusetts, sent out to explore the condition of the Bap- 
 tists in the West, arrived at my house." Our brother refers 
 here to his humble private dwelling at Rock Spring. But he 
 had a house of larger dimensions. Its roof was the blue sky 
 and its chambers and apartments were to be found in forest, 
 town and prairie, throughout the broad expanse of two imperial 
 States. This larger house was his dwelling; he had lived in it 
 day and night; and, during the whole period of Dr. Going's 
 stay, he "kept him going" in royal and strenuous fashion. 
 
 To quote the words of Dr. Ruf us Babcock : "Very earnestly 
 did these men of kindred spirit, worthy to be reckoned 'true 
 yoke-fellows' devote themselves for the next three months to 
 canvassing the mighty problem: 'How can the great work of 
 home evangelization be most efficiently promoted?' They trav- 
 elled together by day and night, in sunshine and in storm, 
 through large portions of Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Ken- 
 tucky. They conferred with all the more intelligent and pious 
 ministers and laymen; attended associations, churches, camp- 
 meetings, and all other gatherings of Baptists, as far as prac- 
 ticable; enquired and consulted, wept and prayed and rejoiced 
 together, and finally, just before they parted in September fol- 
 lowing, at Shelbyville, Ky., there occurs the following in Mr. 
 Peck's journal: 'Here we agreed on a plan of the American 
 Baptist Home Missionary Society.' The next meeting records. 
 'I parted with Elder Going to proceed homeward.' " 
 
 Thus was born in the spirit of humble faith and earnest 
 prayer, the great organization, whose influence has penetrated 
 eveiy nook and corner of our land, and which holds today a 
 position of unrivalled power amongst the missionary agenciee 
 of America. 
 
 Page 75
 
 John Mason Peck, discoverer of the spiritual values of 
 the New West, pioneer explorer and planter of churches, leader 
 of leaders, inspirer of men, prophet of spiritual progress, was 
 the founder of that organization which has been seeking for 
 more than eighty years to achieve the evangelization of a con- 
 tinent. 
 
 rage 76
 
 CHAPTER X 
 A Strenuous Career at Full Tide 
 
 IT is impossible to describe in detail the many activities vnih 
 which Mr. Peck was associated between the years 1830 and 
 1835. In some ways it was the "maximum period" in his 
 strenuous life. He worked literally night and day. His efforts 
 in behalf of all good things were ceaseless and always productive. 
 There were ten or twelve departments of work with which he 
 was intimately associated. All of them he carried forward with 
 a buoyant and impetuous energy. He neglected none of them. 
 The habit of neglect was foreign to his nature. 
 
 The more prominent interests were the Bible Society for 
 which he wrought untiringly, believing that the Bible in the 
 home was the primary source of power and spiritual energy; 
 the Sunday School Union, in behalf of which he was constantly 
 organizing new centres of interest; the Temperance Society, in 
 whose interest he delivered many addresses; the Colonization 
 Society, which owed more to his advocacy in the States of Illi- 
 nois and Missouri than to that of any other man; the system 
 of personal investigation and evangelization, which he still con- 
 tinued with unabated zeal in the newly-opened sections of the 
 country; the Seminary, of which he was the agent, treasurer, 
 and administrator; the common-schools and general education, 
 to which he had given constant and solicitious attention from 
 the time of his first arrival in the West; the plan of circuit- 
 preaching conducted entirely under his supervision; the weekly 
 religious paper "The Pioneer," of which he was the editor; the 
 social and political problems connected with the rapid settlement 
 of the new country, in the consideration of which he was con- 
 stantly consulted and for which he was called upon to write 
 thousands of communications; and, lastly, his own individual 
 
 Page 77
 
 interest, the farm at Eock Spring, which with his large family 
 and the heavy demand upon his private purse, he was obliged 
 to cultivate in order to ''make both ends meet." 
 
 Some extracts from his diary, covering a few days in 
 December, 1833, will indicate the varied character of his em- 
 ployments. The entries, omitting details and comments, are as 
 follows: "Monday, December 2nd, I started for Vandalia, on 
 the 3rd reached Vandalia, and at night attended the annual meet- 
 ing of the Illinois State Bible Society. 4th: Most of the day 
 was employed in finishing my report of the Illinois Sunday 
 School Union. In the evening an anniversary was held in the 
 State House. A large assembly was present and much interest 
 excited. With prudent and energetic management it must suc- 
 ceed. 5th: Very busy through the day in settling and arrang- 
 ing business with the Sunday-school agents present and attend- 
 ing meetings of the Board, committees, etc. In the evening the 
 anniversary of the Illinois State Temperance Society was held. 
 Several addresses were delivered, and an impulse given to the 
 cause. 
 
 "6th: Still very closely engaged in the objects of the vari- 
 ous benevolent institutions. The annual meeting of the Illinois 
 Institute of Education was held today, and a committee ap- 
 pointed to examine the various documents in my possession, 
 digest and prepare a summary publication, and then try to 
 arouse the people to the subject, get up public meetings, have 
 addresses made, and thus produce general action throughout the 
 State. In the evening the Colonization Society held a meeting 
 and adjourned. 7th : Saturday. Busily engaged thro the day in 
 writing. The Colonization Society again met, chose officers, and 
 entered upon his business. 8th : Lord's Day. In the morning at- 
 tended Sunday School and addressed it on the subject of Tem- 
 perance; placed in the library a copy of the 'Temperance Ee- 
 corder.' Then I preached to a large and attentive congregation 
 from 1 Thess., i, 5. In the evening I gave a lecture on the 
 Burma Mission, which was heard with great interest, and the 
 Page 78
 
 next day $6.50 was handed me by Presbyterians for that Mis- 
 sion. 
 
 "9th : Monday. I was induced to stay on account of the 
 adjourned Colonization meeting to be held tonight. The day 
 was occupied in writing many letters. Evening, the Coloniza- 
 tion Society met and discussed the resolutions, in which I took 
 part, proposing several amendments, which were adopted. A 
 committee was appointed to digest a document of facts to be 
 laid before the public. Of this Committee I am one. Thus I 
 have an amount of business of various descriptions thrown upon 
 my shoulders, which will, with my Sunday school concerns, 
 occupy me very closely the whole winter. 10th and 11th: Jour- 
 neyed home and found all well." 
 
 He makes the following notes toward the end of the month: 
 "2 2d. Preached the funeral discourse for the late Governor 
 Edwards in the court-house, Edwardsville. Not only was the 
 house crowded, but a multitude were out of doors, the weather 
 being pleasant. I took a passage from Ezekiel xi, 12, for a text : 
 'Her strong rods were broken and withered,' in which I por- 
 trayed the qualities of an eminent statesman. A call was made 
 next day for the publication of the discourse with a short memoir 
 of his life and character, which will be complied with. 23d and 
 24th : Spent in Belleville, conversing widely as possible on com- 
 mon-school education, and trying to enlist leading persons in this 
 subject. 
 
 "28th : Saturday. For three days I have been closely occu- 
 pied in arranging my correspondence and other papers, and in 
 preparing articles for the Pioneer on education, temperance, and 
 colonization. I have divers important letters to answer and 
 much other business which will require my utmost efforts to 
 perform. Lord's day, 29th : Preached at Lebanon from the 
 eighth chapter of Romans. Church business followed, and sev- 
 eral cases of difficulty occurred. This church has lost consider- 
 able in order and piety within a few months. In the afternoon 
 it rained severely, and I rode home in the storm." 
 
 These succinct memoranada, covering a period of only a few 
 
 Page 79
 
 days, form a typical account of the labors that ran through all 
 the years. Yet, though the tasks are multiplied and seem 
 exceedingly varied, they bore toward one end, the achievement 
 of a single purpose, the Eedemption of the West. 
 
 He never made the mistake into which so many ministers 
 and missionaries have fallen, of differentiating sharply between 
 public and philanthropic interests on the one hand, and dis- 
 tinctly spiritual activities on the other; and attending only to 
 the latter. To him all life was sacred, and to all life, in its 
 diversified relations, he gave his sympathies and his efforts. A 
 brief glance at some of his operations during this period will 
 indicate this. 
 
 All things about him were in a state of flux, changing and 
 expanding. Multitudes of people, year by year, were thronging 
 into this great region. Problems were becoming more intricate 
 and perplexing. From the very beginning he had realized the 
 historic importance of this development. He had talked with 
 numbers of the keener and more intelligent of the old settlers, 
 and had made extensive notes on these conversations. He had 
 availed himself of every opportunity to observe and record the 
 progress of events, in the unfolding life of the country. He had 
 collected manuscripts and pamphlets of every sort, bearing upon 
 the subject. 
 
 The best known of the books which he wrote, his "Life of 
 Daniel Boone," was a product of his later years. In this vivid 
 sketch he recounts the struggles of the famous pioneer to sub- 
 due the wilderness. But he had done much literary work before 
 that. In 1831 he issued the first edition of his "Guide to Emi- 
 grants," which by reason of its fulness and accuracy became a 
 text-book for prospective settlers. It is a mine of information. 
 In the introduction the author tells us that no portion of the 
 Mississippi Valley "is so much the subject of enquiry, and ex- 
 cites so particularly the attention of the emigrant, as the states 
 of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and the parts adjacent. Although 
 these new states have come into existence within the past 15 
 years, they have been unparalleled in their growth, both in the 
 
 Page 80
 
 increase of population and the increase of property; but none 
 have equalled in progress that of Illinois within the past five 
 years. In 1825 Illinois contained less than 75,000 inhabitants. 
 In September, 1830, they exceeded 161,000. In 1824 Missouri 
 numbered a fraction over 80,000; in 1828, 112,000; and in June, 
 1830, 140,000.'' 
 
 The author states that he had recently received more than 
 a hundred letters, asking all kinds of questions "on subjects 
 about which a man is anxious to inform himself before deciding 
 upon a removal, which may aid him on his journey, and which 
 may enable him successfully to surmount the difficulties of an 
 untried land." To answer these in detail was impossible. The 
 only feasible method of meeting this ever-increasing body of 
 requests and questions was to write a book. So he wrote it; and 
 its popularity was immediate. Edition after edition was pub- 
 lished and sold. It is a small volume, but its 330 pages are 
 crowded with facts. 
 
 The land and the people, the flora and fauna, the manners 
 and customs of the different localities, the climate and soil in 
 the several counties and sections are carefully described. The 
 author tells how farming is conducted ; how buildings are erected ; 
 what diseases are prevalent; what industries may be made most 
 profitable ; what prices are asked for land, for articles of food and 
 for clothing. He indicates also the educational and religious con- 
 ditions in different parts, and, in an Appendix, sketehes the route 
 of a proposed "Great Railway," the "Atlantic and Michigan," by 
 the building of which the sea-coast cities and states would be con- 
 nected with Illinois, Missouri, Michigan and the Northwest Ter- 
 ritory. He says in closing that if this dream could be realized, 
 the rich products of the wide-spread Mississippi Valley "would 
 be driven to the shores of the Atlantic with far greater speed 
 than if wafted by the wings of the wind; and the rapid return 
 of commercial equivalents would spread life and prosperity over 
 the face of the finest and fairest portion of the habitable world." 
 
 This book became what its title indicates as its purpose. It 
 was an illuminating and most instructive guide to intending 
 
 Page 81
 
 emigrants amongst the older states of the East and South, and 
 as well in England, Scotland and Ireland. But, while he never 
 derived large pecuniary returns from the wide circulation which 
 the "Guide" attained, he had the satisfaction of knowing as time 
 went on that it was instrumental in bringing hosts of intelligent 
 settlers into the great Western country. As the author was 
 usually in need of ready money and disliked financial "dicker- 
 ing," he sold the copyright of this as soon as it was ready for 
 publication. He did the same in the case of his other books. 
 
 Mr. Peck's advocacy of temperance principles was definite 
 and radical. In those days multitudes of church members and 
 many preachers were accustomed to indulge more or less in 
 intoxicants "for the stomach's sake" or for other reasons. Mr. 
 Peck early became a total abstainer and a preacher of prohibi- 
 tion. In addressing new converts he was accustomed to exhort 
 them especially to three things : 1, to abstain entirely from all 
 ardent spirits ; 2, to perform family prayer daily and to instruct 
 their children; 3, to make it a conscientious business to support 
 tlie Gospel. 
 
 In writing to the "Baptist Missionary Magazine" he says, 
 under date of April 25, 1832 : "I have this day addressed be- 
 tween 2,000 and 3,000 people standing near the gallows in 
 Green county — my whole discourse being directed against the 
 practice of drinking ardent spirits; this being prominently the 
 vice of the unhappy culprit who was about to be launched into 
 eternity! This he confessed was the cause of all the wretched- 
 ness. My practice in such addresses is to attack the popular 
 habit of drinking ardent spirits, wines, etc., as laying the foun- 
 dation for intemperate habits. In the evening I again addressed 
 the people on the same subject in the Court House." 
 
 The following extract from his journal, written at about 
 the same time as the above, shows how vigorously he condemns 
 the use of strong drink by church-members. Speaking of a church 
 which he visited in the course of his journeys, he says : "A case 
 of discipline came before the church, which it was supposed 
 would result in the exclusion of the offender. He is a physician. 
 
 Page 82
 
 and a man of talents, but has for many years been addicted to 
 intemperance. Two years since he professed religion and united 
 with this church, and tliis is the third time he has been subject 
 to church censure, and now under aggravated circumstances. 
 
 "The brethren present desired me to labor with him. I first 
 conversed with him in the presence of two or three brethren, till 
 he appeared somewhat humble — ^then I had him make a confes- 
 sion before the whole congregation and pledge himself to total 
 abstinence in future. I then gave him a solemn admonition, 
 telling him that if he again indulged in the use of ardent spirits 
 he was ruined. Then the church first, and afterwards the whole 
 assembly were addressed — the 51st Psalm L. M. Avas then sung — 
 the hand of fellowship given by all the church as a token of his 
 restoration, at the close of which he knelt, and for him prayer 
 was offered. 
 
 "Nearly every person present (and the house was crowded; 
 among the rest were the Governor and the ex-Governor of the 
 State) was in tears. I mention these particulars as a specimen 
 of the course I am resolved to pursue with intemperate profes- 
 sors. Drunkenness has been a crying sin in the Baptist churches 
 of the West. In this region we are resolved to have but one time 
 of labor with a drunkard, and that shall be thorough." 
 
 Mr. Peck's attention to other matters of economic and public 
 welfare did not for one moment divert his mind from the work 
 of the Seminary, and of education in general. He had been con- 
 vinced for some time past that the school was not in the right 
 locality for a broad and productive work. Yet the attempt to 
 make a change without able financial backing seemed a formid- 
 able task. 
 
 When Dr. Going made hib tour of exploration, and Mr. 
 Peck took him on that strenuous three-months' horse-back ride, 
 the two men talked frequently concerning the matter. They 
 visited various sites, deemed eligilile for the planting of a school, 
 including that at Upper Alton, which was finally selected. They 
 came to quite emphatic agreements upon four points: that the 
 Seminary must be located at a central and strategic place; that 
 
 Page 83
 
 Eock Spring was not such a place ; that Alton was such a place, 
 and that an Education Society should be formed in the east, to 
 aid financially the work of this school and any others which 
 might be established. 
 
 So, as a result of many months of careful deliberation and 
 personal conferences with men of influence, it was decided that 
 the Eock Spring school should be closed, with a view to its re- 
 opening at Upper Alton. A sightly location was chosen and a 
 tract of land purchased. Alton was thought at that time to possess 
 advantages for general intercourse superior to those of any spot 
 in the State. It was on the Mississippi, one mile from its junc- 
 tion with the Missouri, where the commerce of the widespread 
 regions of the north-east, north and north-west must arrive. 
 The main artery of traffic from all the northern portions of 
 Illinois passed through this place. It was expected that the great 
 National Eoad then building in Ohio and Indiana, toward 
 the capital of Missouri, would pass at or near Alton. It had the 
 best landing for steamboats on the east bank of the Mississippi, 
 and plans were in progTess to make it the seat of government 
 for the state. 
 
 Alton Seminary, which was soon renamed Alton College 
 and afterwards Shurtleff College, was opened to students in 
 September, 1832. Pending the erection of a suitable building, 
 the town-house was occupied by the new school. Eev. Hubbel 
 Loomis, a scholarly man and a teacher of long experience, was 
 elected Principal. Mr. Peck Avas a member of the Board of 
 Trustees and as usual the leading spirit in the enterprise. Finan- 
 cial problems were the gi*eatest drawback, as is always the case 
 with denominational schools in their infancy — and subsequently. 
 An Academic Hall was built and used chiefly for classroom pur- 
 poses. Mr. Loomis was commissioned to search the eastern 
 states for funds. He spent six months in arduous canvassing 
 and returned with $490, net. This was at once used to liquidate 
 in part the debts already contracted. Things went on in strug- 
 gling fashion for two or three years. Grand work was done by 
 Page 84
 
 devoted teachers in the school, but the trustees were feeble and 
 inefficient. 
 
 The outlook was disheartening. After serious deliberation, 
 the trustees turned to Mr. Peck and urged him to canvass the 
 east again in the hope that he might succeed where Mr. Loomis 
 had failed. So in April, 1835, he left home. His mission was 
 of critical importance, for the destinies of Baptist education in 
 Illinois hung in the balance. His trip took seven months. It 
 was similar to the one he had made nine years before. By ser- 
 mons, addresses, the circulation of printed literature and num- 
 bers of private conferences he sought to arouse the people. 
 
 Dr. Going had not forgotten his obligations in relation to 
 the matter. Through his influence there had been organized in 
 Boston two years before, the "Western Baptist Educational 
 Association," for the purpose of "helping to preserve the West 
 by educating its inhabitants and teaching them the fear of the 
 Lord." Mr. Peck was able to make use of this body in connec- 
 tion with his campaign. Shortly before his return he secured 
 from Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff a subscription of $10,000, con- 
 ditional on securing a charter provision changing the name of 
 the institution. The financial results of the expedition were 
 eminently satisfactory. In cash and good subscriptions about 
 $20,000 were obtained. 
 
 During the absence of the special agent the trustees had 
 held only a single meeting. They had not even replied to his 
 letters. They had not troubled themselves with doubts or 
 anxieties, they had trusted their leader fully, and in his absence 
 had dropped the agency work in Illinois, the building operations 
 and all other responsibilities, and had dwelt serenely in the tents 
 of ease. His return, however, galvanized them into awakened 
 activity. His hands were full of money, and his brain full of 
 plans. The college had been saved, and its history of faithful 
 and aggressive work now commenced. 
 
 Page 85
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 III Health and an Expanding Field 
 
 IMMEDIATELY after his return from the Atlantic States, 
 Mr. Peck settled down at Upper Alton for a period of two 
 months. He was sadly needed. He occupied a room in 
 the newly-built dormitory, and began straightening out the tan- 
 gles, inspiring the teachers with confidence, shaking up the 
 trustees and making all things move with vigorous efficiency. 
 During the early months of the following year, 1836, in addition 
 to his ordinary duties, his editorial work and the demands of the 
 College, he completed and published a new map of Illinois, a 
 revision and enlargement of one he had formerly made and re- 
 made, and issued a new edition of his "Guide for Emigrants." 
 
 In the spring he was busy removing his newspaper, with 
 the printing plant, from Rock Spring to Lower Alton. About 
 the end of May he was stricken with billions fever. After a 
 very critical illness he slowly regained his strength. From 
 this time onward, however, his health was never robust, and at 
 times he was laid aside for long periods. This, to a man of his 
 tremendous energy, was a severe affliction. In the service of 
 God and man he had made heavy demands upon his life-force, 
 and the inevitable effects he was now beginning to feel. 
 
 On the last day of June the first number of "The Western 
 Pioneer" appeared. This was simply a continuation of the 
 paper he had edited for some years, but its new location rendered 
 advisable a change of name, especially in view of new features 
 to be henceforth embodied in its columns. In August there was 
 organized at Springfield through his efforts, the "Illinois Bap- 
 tist Education Society," the object of which was to aid finan- 
 cially and otherwise, such students for the ministry as should 
 Page '86
 
 be deemed worthy of assistance. This society, after eighty years 
 of history, continues to-day its beneficent activities. 
 
 In Sejitember he was prostrated by iUness during a tour in 
 Missouri. For two weeks he was confined to his bed. When 
 he had only partially recovered he started toward home but was 
 again attacked, and lay sick for ten days at the house of a friend. 
 The rest of the year was spent in preaching, editorial work, the 
 administration of the College, and general missionary oversight. 
 Early in 1837 he prepared two lectures, afterwards published, 
 on the "Early History of Illinois." These he delivered at 
 Vandalia, then the capital, before the members of the legislature. 
 
 That a certain ancient irritation persisted, in connection 
 with his itinerant labors, is evident from the following note in 
 his diary during a tour through portions of Missouri : "Called 
 on a Baptist preacher by the name of Stevens, a determined 
 anti-missionary. "Was treated kindly by him, but he said very 
 decidedly that he would have done the same for old friends if 
 we had been gamblers. Such were his notions of all mission- 
 aries and he preaches this boldly. He is a man of talents and 
 a good speaker." The "antis" were evidently just as bitter in 
 1837 as in 1817, but their influence had greatly diminished. 
 After this they remained at a standstill, both in numbers and 
 in power; while the growth of the "regular" Baptists was steady 
 and swift. 
 
 During this year, a period of financial peril and panic 
 throughout America, the Home Mission Board threatened to 
 discontinue the amounts they had hitherto contributed toward 
 the support of the missionaries or circuit-preachers in the West. 
 To Peck this drastic action, due to the acute pecuniary distress 
 of the Board, meant the breaking of faith on their part, and 
 suffering or perhaps starvation to the faithful missionaries. 
 So, laying aside all his large and important tasks, he devoted 
 his time to a personal canvass of the churches of Illinois and 
 Missouri ; and thus succeeded in securing enough money to make 
 up the deficiency caused by the temporary withdrawal of the 
 remittances hitherto supplied by the Society. 
 
 Page 87
 
 His own circumstances were embarrassing and caused him 
 great anxiety. He had difficulty in obtaining money enough to 
 keep his family from feeling the pinch of hunger, while the 
 deficits on the paper were heavy. So *'betweentimes" he labored 
 on his farm, procuring by this means a satisfactory harvest. 
 The Bible and Sunday-school agencies he had resigned some 
 time before, since the State Societies which he had organized 
 were carrying forward his activities through local officers. He 
 had rendered invaluable service through his years of toil in secur- 
 ing this effective and permanent result. His time was still more 
 than occupied, however, with the other vital interests which he 
 had planted, and which were developing under his care. 
 
 Central in all his efforts, as of old, Avas his preaching. As 
 the years went on he became less doctrinal and more evangelistic. 
 Although conversions had always attended and followed his 
 ministry he now saw more abundant and gracious ingatherings. 
 During the autumn of 1837 he was engaged in fruitful revival 
 meetings in Rock Spring, Edwardsville, and the Bethel church. 
 His experiences seem to have quickened his love for work in the 
 local parish. Frequently he had been urged to accept pastorates 
 but had always promptly declined. Now, however, he agreed 
 to take the pastorate of the church at Rock Spring, with the 
 stipulation that he was to devote only a quarter of his time to the 
 field. 
 
 The terms of this agreement were indicated with his usual 
 care of details. He agreed to visit each family of the church at 
 least once a quarter, and to preach three or four times each 
 month. This did not mean once every Sunday, but three or 
 four preaching services on two successive days of one week in 
 the month. This method was customary in those days. It is 
 still followed in country districts where a minister will often 
 hold the pastorate of four scattered churches, preaching at each 
 place on one Saturday and Sunday, and visiting the parishioners 
 during the week preceding or following such appointment. 
 
 At the meeting of the State Convention he was appointed 
 the General Agent of that body. He combined with this office 
 Page 88
 
 the supervision of the missionaries of the Home Mission Society 
 in the Western field. This had been an unofficial part of his 
 work for some years; but he now resumed his former duty of 
 direct and immediate supervision. A few months before this 
 he had refused the general agency of the American and Foreign 
 Bible Society for all the iSTorthwestern States. 
 
 A new country, very fertile and promising, was being rap- 
 idly settled in Northeastern Missouri and Iowa. With his 
 perennial zest for pioneering he made two long tours through 
 this section in the year 1838, each occupying about six weeks. 
 He set down in his journal elaborate memoranda, and made a 
 full report of bis ministration to the Home Mission Society. 
 He found that the character of the immigration was above the 
 average, consisting for the most part of a substantial, thrifty, 
 Protestant class of people. Many of them were Baptists, already 
 gathering into small groups as churches. They were busy erect- 
 ing buildings for worship in various localities. In this work, 
 and in awakening and stimulating religious activity of every 
 sort, he imparted freely and enthusiastically his counsel and help. 
 Toward the end of the year he was very ill for two months, and 
 lay for some time between life and death, suffering greatly. 
 
 Increased facilities for travel, together with a completer 
 organization of churches and associations in Illinois and Mis- 
 souri, caused a gradual change in Mr. Peck's methods of mission- 
 ary work. They became less intensive though even more 
 widespread than before. His interest in Northern Illinois and 
 Iowa extended his labors in one direction. The removal of his 
 paper, the "Western Pioneer," to Kentucky, and its union with 
 the "Baptist Banner," in 1839, elicited his sympathies for the 
 people of that state, so he was frequently called southward. 
 He was invited to give practical advice in church matters and 
 to adjust difficulties. He made several tours in Kentucky, 
 preaching where opportunity offered and delivering lectures on 
 the subjects of temperance and colonization. He was also in 
 close fellowship with the new editor of the "Banner and Pio- 
 
 rage SO
 
 neer," giving him the advantage of his wisdom in hearty and 
 generous fashion. 
 
 He made four long journe3^s among the churches in the year 
 1839, one in Kentucky, two in Missouri and one in Central and 
 Northern Illinois. In the course of this last trip he made his 
 first visit to Chicago. He was the guest of Rev. I. T. Hinton, 
 pastor of the First Church, and preached several times in the 
 growing young town. He also visited the Fox River Association, 
 in session at Elgin, speaking there out of his rich experience on 
 the "Origin, Rise and Progress of the Baptists of Illinois." 
 
 From two of these four expeditions he returned home utterly 
 exhausted and suffering keenly. On October 29, 1839, he writes 
 in his journal : "After much serious reflection I have come to 
 the conclusion that I must give up all travelling and all mission- 
 ary agency. I have now made trials for four seasons, and 
 cannot sustain the fatigue, labor and exhaustion. My liver is 
 permanently affected, my constitution seriously impaired, and 
 I must retire to a more quiet and sedentary life." 
 
 Two days later he makes the following entry: "This day I 
 am fifty years old — turned half a century. When I look back, 
 how short and frail a thing is life ! Not only my years are gone, 
 but my physical powers have failed greatly within a few years 
 past. I am now an old man, and ought to regard myself as 
 such, and be looking every day for my great change. Lord, 
 help me to consecrate myself to Thy work and cause. Help me 
 to live the rest of my feeble life to Thy glory." These words 
 sound strangely pessimistic; but they are like the roaring of a 
 lion who finds himself wounded. More eager than ever for the 
 service of his Master, he chafed at the limitations of ill-health, 
 and the constantly recurring attacks which spoiled his energy. 
 
 That he fought like a hero in the midst of these handicaps 
 is shown by his annual Report to the Home Mission Society, 
 compiled at the close of this year 1839. He had written during 
 the year 294 letters on missionary business, visited and labored 
 continuously in seventeen different churches, attended four 
 associations, preached on the mission field sixty-four sermons, 
 Page 90
 
 delivered thirty-eight lectures and addresses and travelled 3526 
 miles, 1116 by steamboat and stage and 21:10 on horsbaek or 
 in his carriage. 
 
 This is strictly and solely a report of his distinctly mission- 
 ary labors. For instance, the number of letters written, though 
 it seems large, was only a tithe of his entire correspondence. 
 In the first two months of this same year he wrote 225 letters, 
 every one with his own hand, and many of them voluminous. 
 He always made a written digest of all his letters. These man- 
 uscript digests contained the substance of the communications 
 and he kept them for reference purposes. They were written 
 on foolscap, and bound together at intervals; the whole con- 
 stituting after a time a bulky pile of volumes. 
 
 Acting upon the advice which he gave to himself on his 
 fiftieth birthday, he accepted a call to the pastorate of the church 
 at Belleville, Illinois, for "quarter time." Thus haK his time 
 was to be devoted to local church work. Some months before 
 this he had declined a call from the flourishing church at Lex- 
 ington, Ky., to succeed the well-known and popular Dr. Noel, 
 who had just died. He entered upon his duties at Belleville 
 with characteristic earnestness, visiting all the families of his 
 flock and crowding the church with people who came to hear 
 his course of lectures on Sacred History. 
 
 In June 1840 he attended the Convention of "Western Bap- 
 tists in Louisville. He was appointed chairman of a committee 
 to draw up a constitution for that body. This was done, and 
 the Convention ordered it printed, and referred it to the con- 
 vention and general associations of the western states, final 
 action to be taken the following year. At a later meeting of 
 the convention he was asked to revise the "Social Hymn Book," 
 then in use amongst the churches of the West and South, "by 
 removing the doggerel and inserting good hymns in their places." 
 It is a testimony to the "infinite variety" of this versatile man 
 that he accepted the appointment and carried the task through 
 successfully. 
 
 In the autumn of 1840 he found time, in addition to his 
 
 Page 91
 
 other manifold duties, to take the United States Census in St. 
 Clair County. Some weeks later he accepted the oversight of 
 the St. Louis church for "part time ;" the late pastor, Eev. R. E. 
 Pattison, D.D., afterward president of Colby University, having 
 resigned. In June he again attended the Convention of West- 
 ern Baptists at Louisville. It was a stormy session. Some of 
 the delegates were determined to severe connection with the 
 Eastern Societies and establish independent missionary organ- 
 izations. Mr. Peck opposed this policy; but finally succeeded in 
 effecting a compromise. By his personal influence he secured 
 the establishment of a "Western Baptist Publication and Sun- 
 day-school Societ}^," which was pledged to conduct its enter- 
 prises in strict cooperation with that in Philadelphia. In 
 the matter of home and foreign missions the West remained in 
 the same relations as before with the East. 
 
 When the question of the appointment of an executive 
 agent for the new society was broached the thoughts of the 
 leaders naturally turned toward the man who had effected the 
 adjustment of this vital matter. He realized the importance 
 of the situation, but the precarious condition of his health and 
 the fact that all of his active life had been spent in another 
 field, bade him refuse. For three months he considered the 
 question with profound attention, consulting with the strong 
 men of the denomination regarding it. Finally, toward the end 
 of September, he accepted the position, being persuaded that the 
 work required him rather than any other man at that critical 
 juncture. 
 
 He resigned liis various pastorates. In October he attended 
 the Illinois Convention, and was elected President, besides being 
 given abundant assurance of the love and esteem in which he 
 was held by the Baptist people of the state. In November he 
 arrived in Louisville to take up his new work. Within a month, 
 he was deeply immersed in plans and labors. He had forgotten 
 his weakness of body. He was as a young man, just entering 
 upon his first campaign for God. 
 
 Page 92
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 Serving the Publication Society 
 
 ME. PECK is regarded by students of Baptist history as 
 the real founder of two of our three great missionary 
 organizations, the Home Mission Society and the 
 Publication Society. To him even more than to Dr. Jonathan 
 Going is due the honor of setting in motion the forces which 
 created the former, for he inspired Dr. Going, as he did many 
 other men of vision, with a noble ambition to meet the needs of 
 the Western country; and as a direct result of his serious per- 
 sonal conferences and fiery public appeals, the Home Mission 
 Society was created. 
 
 It was also his task and privilege to establish the faltering 
 and incompetent Publication Society in Philadelphia upon a 
 solid basis and to give it a permanent place in the thoughts and 
 affections of the Baptist people throughout the land. The 
 four and a half years which he spent in advocacy of publication 
 and Sunday-school work in the North and South vrere noteworthy 
 in the history of our denomination. He began his service for 
 the Western Publication Society by a swift and awakening cam- 
 paign amongst the Southern States, which were really its chief 
 constituency. He swept through State after State, spending 
 more than three months on this tour. 
 
 Keturning from New Orleans by easy st-ages to St. Louis, 
 and visiting many churches l)y the way, he took time to see his 
 family at Rock Spring and the College at Alton. Then in 
 obedience to the demands of the situation, and in view of the 
 strained relations between the East and West in publication and 
 Sunday-school policies, he decided to undertake a journey to the 
 Atlantic Coast. It was his third pilgrimage eastward in twenty- 
 five years. Travelling by way of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, 
 
 Page 93
 
 he arrived in New York early in May, 1842, in time to attend the 
 national anniversaries, and to make an impassioned appeal before 
 the Publication Society, urging the vigorous support of minis- 
 ters, Sunday-schools and churches in the south and west. 
 
 He then returned to Philadelphia and met the members of 
 the Board. To these men, rather feeble and indolent in the 
 larger matters of the kingdom, he laid down the law in splendid 
 fashion. He told them that they had been inharmonious and 
 cantankerous. Petty jealousies and rivalries about offices and 
 minor matters had baulked their efficiency. He urged them to 
 exert their powers for the accomplishment of bigger things. 
 They applauded his sentiments and went about their narrow 
 tasks on the morrow, as though they had not heard him. Never- 
 theless he had hopes that they might still be roused to action, 
 for he writes : "Yet, with sufficient effort and patient perserver- 
 ance, the Society can be made to live." 
 
 He went to New York and Boston, preaching many times 
 in those cities and on the way. He spoke at the annual meetings 
 of the Northern Baptist Education Society, and the New Eng- 
 land Sunday-school Union. He gave also a powerful address 
 before the Massachusetts Baptist Convention on "The Effect of 
 Missionary Operations in the Western Valley," and attended a 
 dozen other associations and conventions, speaking at all of them. 
 
 His whole object was to enlist the sympathies and efforts of 
 the well-placed and highly-favored people of the East in the 
 magnificent opportunities which the South and West presented. 
 Philadelphia, New York and Boston had been singularly apathet- 
 ic with regard to the needs of the newer cities of Louisville, 
 New Orleans, St. Louis and Chicago, and all the territory that 
 lay about them. In consequence of this attitude the great and 
 growing cities of these "regions beyond" desired to do their own 
 work, and to separate themselves completely from the unproduc- 
 tive efforts of eastern men. It was the whole-souled jiurpose of 
 the Pioneer missionary to bring together the two elements and 
 to effect the organization of a national Society that should 
 diffuse a knowledge of the Bible and of religious literature, and 
 Page 94
 
 thus make the Baptist hody more intelligently harmonious in 
 matters of faith and practice. 
 
 To this object he devoted himself for six months. He was 
 still the general agent of the Western Society, but by the terms 
 of the contract, he was under the direction of the Philadelphia 
 Society. It was an embarrassing situation. He Avas harshly 
 criticized in the paper on whicli his own name appeared as one 
 of the editors, the "Banner and Pioneer," because he had, accord- 
 ing to it's view, abandoned the Western agency, in which he 
 was employed, for labor in behalf of the Society in Philadelphia. 
 
 Thoroughly convinced in his own mind that a creditable 
 publication society, for the issuance of Bibles, tracts, pamphlets 
 and religious literature of every kind, was a necessity, Mr. Peck 
 kept steadily on his way. He had a diflBcult piece of work to 
 do. The other two great missionary organizations filled the 
 thoughts of the people. They could not see the need for a third 
 society of large dimensions; the little establishment at Phila- 
 delphia was to their way of thinking quite sufficient, and if the 
 West and South now had another society of their own so much 
 the better. By his ceaseless effort, in associations, churches and 
 personal interviews, Mr. Peck did much to change their point 
 of view. 
 
 After a second conference with the Board in Philadelphia, 
 in which he again urged the adoption of a broad and inclusive 
 programme, he turned his face homeward. After his arrival, 
 early in November, he attended to many matters which had 
 accumulated during his absence; consulted with the college 
 authorities at Alton; preached and lectured in all directions; 
 made a voluminous written report to the Philadelphia Board, 
 embodying his plan for the establishment of the Publication 
 Soeiet}' on a permanent basis ; and wrote hundreds of letters to 
 leading men of the denomination on the subject of Bible and 
 publication work. He also brought together at this time a 
 large number of pamphlets and manuscript records, containing 
 sketches of Baptist churches, ministers and prominent men. 
 
 Page 95
 
 He did this with an eye to the possibility of future publication 
 of the history of the denomination in the West and South. 
 
 Fortunately or unfortunately — probably the latter — ^he had 
 become enamored of the spirit of prophecy sometime before 
 this. A sermon which his friend Mr. Hinton preached at the 
 Convention in Louisville in 1840 on "Signs of the Second 
 Coming" aroused his interest in the subject. He made a care- 
 ful study of figures and types and prophecies, and prepared a 
 series of lectures on the subject, which he delivered in various 
 places. The time was not wholly wasted, however, for his mind 
 was relieved by those speculations from the heavier and more 
 exacting duties of his daily life. His curiosity in these matters 
 seems to have lasted for three or four years. The range and 
 versatility of his powers is illustrated by the fact that he wrote, 
 at about this period in his life, an elaborate drama, entitled 
 "Tecumthe" and had it staged by the students at Alton, and 
 acted at one of the public exhibitions of Commencement week. 
 
 In February, 1843, Mr. Peck was elected to the office of 
 Secretary of the American Baptist Publication Society. He had 
 been asked beforehand whether he would accept the position 
 and on what terms. In answer, he had set forth the conditions 
 of his acceptance in a blunt and business-like way. The denom- 
 ination, he had said, must be inspired with confidence in the 
 management and efficiency of the Society. Economy in inciden- 
 tals must be rigorously practiced. A searching investigation into 
 every department of the organization must at once be carried 
 out, with a view to reconstructive policies. The members of 
 the Board must pledge themselves to cooperate actively with the 
 Secretary. The duties of the Secretary, as he saw them, he care- 
 fully set forth, and in describing them he pictured no idler's 
 paradise. 
 
 The new Secretary arrived in Philadelphia on the 17th of 
 April and began the next day an intimate inspection of the 
 affairs of the Society. His first public appearance was a week 
 or so later at the Baptist Anniversaries at Albany, where he 
 presented the annual report of the Society, prepared by his 
 Page 96
 
 predecessor, Keturning to his work lie gave himself heart aud 
 soul for five weeks to the lahor of mastering the tasks and prob- 
 lems of his office. His family had remained in the West, his 
 sons conducting the farm, as they had been doing for several 
 years. He decided to begin with himself in saving expenses 
 for the Society, so he took up his lodgings in the Depository 
 Building. Thus he was close to his work day and night. 
 
 The history of the toils, the personal sacrifices, tlie resolute 
 grappling with perplexing problems and the constant journey- 
 ings amongst the churches cannot be related in detail. They can 
 be summarized, and their object indicated in a single phrase: 
 He sought to create a strong public sentiment in favor of the 
 Society. He used two methods; he described the great need, 
 and he appealed to Baptist loyalty to meet the situation in a 
 noble and effective way. 
 
 He was greatly hampered in his efforts by the fact that the 
 Foreign Mission Society was forty thousand dollars in debt, a 
 large amount for those days, and was canvassing every part of 
 the eastern country for funds to relieve their extreme embarrass- 
 ment. At every convention, in almost every church, his appeal 
 was met by the cry : "What we can give to benevolence must go 
 to the Society that needs it most." Had the Publication Society 
 been long established or everywhere favorably regarded much 
 more could have been done. Besides this, the anti-slavery 
 movement was forging forward apace, and the strife and con- 
 tention were proving a heavy handicap to all missionary organ- 
 izations. 
 
 In spite of these difficulties Mr. Peck accomplished splendid 
 results in the way of general promotion. He visited nearly all 
 the Eastern, Middle and Southern states again and again. He 
 planned the system of branch depositories. He enlarged the 
 staff of agents and colporteurs. The contributions also increased 
 year by year. By virtue of the eirenic and thoroughly Christian 
 spirit which he manifested he was able to keep the northern 
 and southern churches together in the joint support of the 
 Publication Society, during his term of office, in spite of the fact 
 
 Page 91
 
 that secession had already invaded successfully the ranks of the 
 older Societies. 
 
 In May, 1846, he resigned his office. After twenty-five 
 years of missionary labor in the West he had found it difficult to 
 adjust himself to an entirely new environment. Besides this, 
 it was not his habit to work under masters or to modify his 
 policies to suit the desires of a Board of Trustees. In other 
 words he pined for the free life of the prairies and he fretted 
 under limitations. He returned with great joy to his home and 
 dear ones; and was received with enthusiasm by his friends. 
 
 He had visited Eock Spring once each year during his term 
 as Secretary, and on one of these visits had had a thrilling 
 experience, which nearly cost him his life. He was on his way 
 from Cincinnati to St. Louis by boat. On the last Sunday of 
 the year he had preached to the Captain, crew and passengers 
 from the text: "The end of all things is at hand." The words 
 were strangely prophetic. On Jan. 3rd the steamer entered 
 the Mississippi Eiver from the Ohio and turned northward. 
 The following account of the accident which ensued is written 
 in Mr. Peck's own graphic style : 
 
 "Jan. 3d. Our boat lay by for some hours this morning 
 before light, as the navigation was deemed dangerous. At sun- 
 set we were a few miles above Herculaneum. At nine o'clock 
 the cabin passengers signed a testimonial of thankfulness to the 
 captain for his carefulness and prudence in navigating the boat 
 amid the dangers of the Mississippi at this low stage of water, 
 as snags abound in the channel. Retired to my berth at about 
 half past nine, with my clothes on except my coat, the night 
 being very cold. After considerable time I fell asleep. 
 
 "Near eleven o'clock I was awakened by a dreadful crash: 
 the boat struck a large snag, scarcely above the surface of the 
 water. I heard nearly at the same instant screams of distress 
 and sprang from my berth, put on my coat, seized one boot, but 
 before I could put it on the water was rushing into my state- 
 room. Without boots or hat I rushed on to the guard, seized 
 
 Page 98
 
 the projecting portion of the hurricane (or upper) deck, where, 
 after considerable difficult}^, I succeeded in getting on to that 
 deck. A number of persons were already there and many more 
 got on from the stern afterward. The bow was so far under 
 water as to cover the guards, but the stern held up some time 
 longer. 
 
 "Hearing cries from the ladies' cabin I got the pole of a 
 wagon on the deck, and, thrusting it in at the slcy-light, tried 
 to pry off the roof, but found it impossible. The ladies, how- 
 ever, succeeded in getting on the hurricane deck, as did most of 
 the steerage passengers. The boat was then floating sideways 
 during the current and soon ran on another snag and careened 
 partly over. The hull of the boat then separated and floated 
 alongside the cabin and upper works. Next the smoke-stacks 
 (or chimneys) fell, which tore off the end of the hurricane 
 deck. Captain Howell, with several other persons, was killed 
 or knocked overboard by the fall of the chimneys. The wheel- 
 houses were soon separated from the deck and floated off or 
 sunk. 
 
 "Finding myself exposed to the piercing atmosphere I got 
 down on the guards. But before this I had prayed repeatedly 
 with the people around me. At first there was much confusion, 
 and many screams and howlings to God for mercy. Some pro- 
 fessors of religion prayed consistently. Soon the hull struck a 
 bluff-bar and turned nearly over. Persons now gathered planks, 
 doors and pieces of the wreck to swim on. I looked about for 
 something of the kind, but finally concluded to stick by the 
 wreck while it floated. 
 
 "The hurricane deck fell after awhile. We were now on a 
 sort of raft, formed by the cabin-floor and guards. The current 
 bore us, first on one side, then in the middle, then on the other 
 side of the river. Some were entirely wet, with very little cloth- 
 ing on. They suffered intensely. A steamer lay at the shot- 
 tower, and as we passed near we aroused the men on board, 
 who came off in their yawl. As it neared the wreck, I directed 
 
 Page 99
 
 them to first relieve the women and children who were perish- 
 ing. They put most of them on shore. The next time the yawl 
 came near the stern on my side. Seeing a little girl quite help- 
 less I caught her up and leaped into the boat. 
 
 "By this time we had floated a long distance down the cur- 
 rent, and were landed a full mile below Videpoche. I had to 
 walk without boots or shoes. My stockings were soon worn 
 through. The ground was frozen hard, and its sharpness hurt 
 me at every step. One foot was frozen al)out the ball and very 
 much cut. I carried, too, one of the babes of ]\Irs. Snell, a pas- 
 senger. On reaching the first house they would not let us in. 
 At the next we obtained shelter and refreshment. 
 
 "Soon after a little girl was brought in by some men, 
 entirely cold, speechless, senseless. I got a blanket, removed 
 her wet and frozen garments and rubbed her with flannels and 
 vinegar. It was about an hour before she began to moan, and 
 more than four hours before any Avarmth appeared, except 
 about the heart. She so far recovered before I left the place 
 as to speak. Another girl was brought in dead. The yawl went 
 four times to the wreck, and the ferry-boat 'Icelander' helped to 
 complete the work. Soon as daylight dawned I went to the 
 store and bought a cap and shoes. At an early period, and when 
 the boat was breaking up, I fully expected death, as I could not 
 swim, but felt calm and resigned, no ecstacy and no fear, but 
 perfect self-possession with ability to think of and care and pray 
 for others. Eternity will never seem nearer till I enter it. 
 
 "Blessed be God for his goodness to me. I consider my- 
 self under additional obligation, anew to devote myself unre- 
 servedly to his service." 
 
 Page 100
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 Quiet Years — And the End 
 
 THE last few years in the life of "the old Pioneer" were 
 spent in comparative quiet. The period of his great 
 adventuring was over. The wilderness had become a 
 garden. Railways were being built and many steamboats were 
 on the rivers. Settlements had grown into towns and towns 
 into cities. Colleges were springing up in all directions. Civil- 
 ization was marching merrily forAvard, carrying its comforts and 
 cultures into every part of the broad valley. In the thirty 
 years since Mr. Peck first landed in St. Louis such a transfor- 
 mation had been wrought as was never known in any section 
 of the globe since the morning stars sang together. 
 
 It had been this man's privilege to see with his own eyes 
 these startling changes and this amazing growth. But more 
 than this was true, much more than this. He knew little about 
 shops and banks and business; he had a wholesome dread of 
 politics and he cared less than nothing for social prestige; yet 
 he had done far more than any other man, more than any group 
 of men, to promote the moral and religious welfare of the 
 people of two sovereign States. He had been in a real sense 
 the maker and moulder of better things in the life of the New 
 West, the apostle of spiritual realities, the stalwart prophet of 
 the wilderness, a revealer of the hidden mysteries of God to 
 innumerable souls. 
 
 He had now closed his career of public leadership. He had 
 not, however, terminated his period of usefulness. By no 
 means ! He carried forward with undiminished zeal four lines 
 of consecrated eifort. His preaching and evangelistic work 
 were a source of inspiration to the churches which he visited. 
 His multifarious correspondence kept him in intimate connec- 
 
 Page 101
 
 tion with a vast variety of interests. His literary work enabled 
 him to utilize the stores of information which he had accumu- 
 lated. His lectures and addresses, for which there was constant 
 call, gave him an educational opportunity. 
 
 His preaching was confined chiefly to the churches which he 
 had known and nurtured in former days, at Rock Spring, Ed- 
 wardsville, Belleville, Bethel and St. Louis. For the African 
 Baptist Church in St. Louis, which had grown out of his very 
 earliest labors in the western field, he always entertained the 
 deepest solicitude, and in the last years of his life he gave 
 special attention to the needs of this humble company of Christ- 
 ians, and to the other colored church which had been formed as 
 an off-shoot of the parent body. While supplying for a period 
 of nine months the white Baptist Church in St. Louis, which 
 had also grown out of the original church of his planting, he 
 succeeded in clearing off a debt of $12,000, the last of a heavy 
 mortgage which had lain upon it for many years. 
 
 Through his ministry in St. Louis a large number of 
 German and Dutch people were converted to Baptist views, and 
 as a direct result a German church was founded, and also the 
 German Baptist Mission of the West. In 1851 he accepted a call 
 to the pastorate of the Bethel Church, in Southern Illinois, and 
 continued his ministry there until October, 1853, when he be- 
 came pastor of the church in Covington, Kentucky, across the 
 Ohio River from Cincinnati. Here he remained less than four 
 months. His health broke down almost completely, and so, 
 in a precarious state, he returned to his home at Rock Spring. 
 The last four 3'^ears of his life following his resignation at 
 Covington, were attended by constant distress of body, and he 
 did little preaching. 
 
 His correspondence was always a matter of marvel to his 
 friends. It was a common habit of his to write fifteen or 
 twenty letters a day, some of them covering three or four big 
 sheets of foolscap. He was for many years the "Bishop" and 
 spiritual adviser of the Mississippi Valley, so multitudes of 
 letters, of every sort and description, found their way into his 
 
 Page 102
 
 study. He was extremely conscientious in his treatment of 
 these communications. He employed no Secretary ; he answered 
 each letter personally; he filed a digest of their replies. Re- 
 sponding to numberless questions and requests he gave forth 
 abundantly his counsel, help, money, inspiration and his opinions 
 on theological themes. 
 
 At times the burden became almost overwhelming. In the 
 last years of his life, however, when his long journeys had been 
 discontinued, and it was possible for him to keep easily abreast 
 of his letter-writing duties, he greatly relished this part of his 
 work, and was able to exercise a beneficent ministry, alike of 
 helpfulness and instruction, through this agency. 
 
 His literary work was now carried forward with few in- 
 terruptions. He completed and published his authoritative 
 "Life of Daniel Boone." He edited and published the "Annals 
 of the West," an octave volume of more than 600 pages. He 
 wrote a series of papers for the St. Louis "Eepublic" on the 
 "Pioneers of the West." He wrote and published the "Life of 
 Father Clark." He superintended the publication of "The 
 Mississippi River Illustrated," an ambitious work, adorned with 
 splendid engravings; but the unreliability of the man who was 
 securing the plates and writing the descriptive articles caused 
 the suspension of the undertaking. He contributed to the 
 "National Era" a series of articles on "Illinois" and to the 
 "Illinois Journal" at Springfield a series on "Incidents of 
 Illinois." He also published several pamphlets, and contributed 
 constantly to the columns of the "Western Watchman," the 
 "Christian Review," the "Christian Repository" and other papers. 
 
 On Nov. 18, 1853, the old Rock Spring Seminary was 
 burned, and with it a large part of Mr. Peck's librar}^ It was 
 a serious calamity. Some valuable books were saved, but, as he 
 says in his journal, "an important branch of my labor for more 
 than thirty years is wholly lost. My collection of files of papers, 
 periodicals and other pamphlets, amounting to several thousand 
 volumes, mostly unbound but carefully filed, together with 
 much other matter which I had intended for some public in- 
 
 Page 10 S
 
 stitution to be preserved for generations to come — ^these can 
 never be replaced ... I can only say, the will of the Lord be 
 done." The loss was irreparable, yet it is characteristic of the 
 man that he gave no time to repining but sought in every way 
 to replace the books and even the manuscript records which he 
 valued above silver or gold. This in many cases was impossible, 
 for the writers of these histories and reminiscences of early 
 Illinois and Missouri, prepared at his urgent request, and consti- 
 tuting a large part of his collection, had passed away. 
 
 In addition to his preaching and evangelistic efforts, his 
 correspondence, and his literary work, he was frequently invited 
 to deliver addresses, and he seldom refused until the bondage 
 of severe illness prevented. He spoke frequently on home and 
 foreign missions; prepared a course of sermons or addressess on 
 revivals; gave a series of lectures on "Aboriginal Missions," 
 delivered an oration at the Shurtleff College Commencement on 
 the "Life and Character of Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff;" and at 
 the Commencement of Georgetown College on "Elements of 
 Western Character," and spoke at Forefather's Day in St. Louis 
 on "The North, the South and the West." These are only a 
 few of the many engagements which he filled. Not many of 
 them took him far from Eock Spring, and it is noticeable that 
 in these later years he became very easily wearied and seldom 
 journeyed far from his home. 
 
 There was one exception to this new habit of his life, 
 however, and that was his last visit to the Eastern States. He 
 set forth in April, 1852, and was absent nearly four months. 
 He attended the annual meeting of the Publication Society in 
 Philadelphia; and, there, with his ancient zeal for bringing to 
 jiass new organizations, he submitted a plan for the constitution 
 of a Baptist Historical Society, which was adopted and its 
 provisions put into effect. He was present at tlie Baptist 
 Anniversaries in Albany and the interdenominational May Meet- 
 ings in Boston. He was the guest of President Sparks of 
 Harvard University at the Commencement of that institution. 
 Tarious publication societies, book publishers and individuals, 
 
 Page lO-i
 
 having heard of the burning of his library, made generous 
 donations of historical and other material, to supply in part his 
 great loss. His interviews with old and cherished friends in 
 the cities through which he passed, were a source of delight 
 to him. 
 
 In liis latter years, being at home the most of the time, he 
 who had gone forth so often and so gallantly to bear blessings to 
 others, loved to summon other men to his own hearth-stone. 
 Many of the eminent ministers and denominational leaders of 
 the day were guests at Rock Spring. During his whole career 
 he had been an ardent friend and helper of young pastors. His 
 words of advice were very frank and sometimes brusque and 
 blunt, but they were always suggestive and stimulating. 
 
 The following quaint narrative of a meeting at his residence, 
 written by one of the ministers who was present, affords a 
 pleasant picture of the patriarch in the midst of his friends: 
 "Eock Spring is the home, and for many years has been the 
 center of influence of the venerable author of the Emigrant's 
 Guide and Gazetter of Illinois; the man whose publications and 
 correspondence have led more settlers into tliis State than any 
 other ten men. Who need to be told that this is the Eev. J. M. 
 Peck ! We should love to draw aside the veil, just a little, from 
 this domestic scene. It proves that he who has shared the 
 hospitality of so many families in all parts of our country, is as 
 willing to exercise as to accept it. 
 
 "See his cheerful helpmate, contenting herself as best she 
 may to abide at home and assiduously care for the welfare of 
 the family and guests, having never revisited her native New 
 England since her first departure in 1817. Nor can you fail 
 to notice that daughter Mary, with the father's energy, and 
 the mother's quietness: how steady, noiseless, and efficient are 
 all her movements! and to her, in no small degree, are owing 
 the comfort and happiness which always smile around that 
 dwelling. Ijarger in its capacity to furnish good accommoda- 
 tions for the family and numerous guests, by day and by night, 
 than any of its size we ever saw. is the home of this brother. 
 
 Page 105
 
 He had expected our coming, and knowing how very limited 
 our stay must be, had arranged everything in the best order 
 possible to fill up the day. Most of the morning was spent with 
 him alone in his study. What accumulations of laborious care- 
 fulness and orderly accretions, during a long lifetime, here 
 surround you! Near noon the neighboring ministers, for a 
 dozen or twenty miles around, begin to arrive. After some time 
 spent in introductions and mutual greetings, dinner being over, 
 a goodly-sized congregation met in the Eock Spring Seminary 
 Building of former years, now only used as a chapel. After 
 praise and prayer and preaching, some of us strolled over the 
 more interesting localities, bathed in the effluents of the spring, 
 and drank of its pure waters. 
 
 "After tea, all assembled in the largest room, our host act- 
 ing as moderator of the meeting; and from each in turn, be- 
 ginning with the eldest, some recital was given of the way in 
 which the Lord had led them in the wilderness, lo, these many 
 years ! Thus we heard in succession from Darrow and Eoss 
 and the Lemens (who witnessed the first baptism in this terri- 
 tory in 1794, and the first Baptist Association formed in 1807), 
 from Pulliam and Taylor, from Eogers and Dawson and the 
 younger Eoss, and some others. Most of these were inade- 
 quately-sustained ministers, but loved the cause apparently in 
 proportion to the sacrifices they had made for it. 
 
 "In private, and in various incidental ways, it was gratify- 
 ing to see the high regard which they all felt for Brother Peck. 
 *He has been faithful to us in helping to correct our faults, and 
 to improve our minds and hearts and we thank him for it,' was 
 the common sentiment. At a late hour that evening we prayed 
 and sang and wept and rejoiced together; near midnight re- 
 tired to rest, and when all were comfortably sleeping around, 
 we long lay in wakeful musings, thinking over the scene which 
 we shall never witness again." 
 
 Toward the close of the year 1856 he met with a most 
 severe bereavement in the death of his wife. In a noble tribute 
 to her memory he says that had she not possessed the principles 
 Page 106
 
 which controlled her life, and been the wise, prudent, self-deny- 
 ing head and governor of the family that she was, he "could not 
 have made half the sacrifices and performed half the services 
 kind friends have attributed to me." 
 
 In June, 1857, the old man, worn and feeble, summoned 
 strength sufficient to attend the Commencement at Shurtleff 
 College, and to take part in the sessions of the Board of Trus- 
 tees. In July ho went by steamer from St. Louis to Galena, 
 and visited his children in Iowa, returning by way of Chicago, 
 whence he was a guest of Mayor Boone and met many friends. 
 On October 31st he writes in his journal: "This is my birth- 
 day, and I am 68 years old. It is hardly possible for me to live 
 to see another anniversary. My sole dependence is on the mercy 
 and grace of God. Lord, unto thy hands I commit my 
 spirit." 
 
 His last days were filled with suffering. On Febuary 16th, 
 1858, he writes that President Read of Shurtleff College and 
 Hon. Cyrus Edwards visited him in his home. He adds : "Dis- 
 cussed college matters very fully. The conversation was cheerful 
 and exhilerating, and we enjoyed ourselves greatly." On the 
 28th of February he dressed himself and conducted family wor- 
 ship, reading three verses from the Bible and offering a short 
 prayer. After this he was unable to leave his bed. 
 
 On Sunday, March 14, his old friend Rev. W. F. Boyakin, 
 who was destined to survive him for more than thirty years, 
 talked with him for some time. To him he said : "Only Christ 
 is my Saviour, my whole dependence." This phrase expressed 
 the secret of his entire life. The same evening, at a quarter 
 before nine, he died. His last words were a benediction upon 
 each member of his family, who stood about his bed. Two days 
 later he was buried. The funeral sermon was preached by his 
 friend of forty years. Rev. James Lemen, from the text: "I 
 have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept 
 the faith." So ended the glorious life of "The Old Pioneer." 
 
 Page 101
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 The Man and His Work 
 
 THE career of John Mason Peck was well ordered, con- 
 trolled in all things by elevating principles of righteous- 
 ness, fruitful beyond measure in its issues. 
 
 To trust with simple heart in the Eternal Goodness; to 
 walk in fellowship with Jesus Christ and see with His eyes the 
 world-need; to interpret truth in terms of life under the guid- 
 ance of the Holy Spirit; to eliminate the note of self; to go 
 forth eagerly to serve and rescue men ; to form deep convictions 
 in the quiet haunts of prayer and utter them boldly in the temple 
 and in the market-place; to plan widely and wisely in the estab- 
 lishment of the kingdom of the Son of God ; to accept rebuffs with 
 equanimity and welcome opposition as a challenge to strength; 
 to pour forth ceaselessly the treasures of brain and heart that 
 the common life may be enriched: to do this is to become a 
 higher person, a man after God's own heart. The character of 
 the man whose story has been told in these pages may be truth- 
 fully described by such words. 
 
 Often the larger virtues which a soul possesses are more 
 or less obscured by superficial flaws or roughnesses. Mr, Peck 
 was always hearty and friendly but he was singularly direct 
 and even abrupt in his manner, and his frankness of speech was 
 sometimes more disconcerting than charming. Although born 
 in the East he was a typical Son of the West. His breeziness 
 and vigor, his absence of dignified reserve, his abounding joy in 
 life, his intensity of faith and virility in action, were akin to 
 the spirit of the rolling prairies and the mighty rivers of the 
 New West, where his powers grew to their maturity. 
 
 He believed in organization as the key to efficiency. He 
 organized individual Bible societies, temperance societies, Sun- 
 Page 108
 
 day schools, churches. He brought these together, forming 
 larger groups that were county-wide and state-wide. His influ- 
 ence was chiefly instrumental in the formation of three great 
 national bodies, the American Baptist Home Mission Society, 
 the American Baptist Publication Society and the Baptist His- 
 torical Society. He superintended, during many years, the 
 ministry and work of a large company of missionary-pastors and 
 evangelists. 
 
 The extent of his correspondence, his literary labors, his 
 service to the interests of public welfare, and his effective pro- 
 motion of the cause of common-school education have already 
 been indicated. He not only founded the College at Alton, but, 
 by his resolute action in a moment of peril, he redeemed its 
 fortunes, while by his "discovery" of Dr. Shurtleff he secured 
 its future. 
 
 He knew little about technical scholarship, but he had a 
 mind greedy for knowledge. He taught men to think, and he 
 advocated, from one end of his broad field of action to the other, 
 the necessity for training, education, a thorough mental dis- 
 cipline and equipment for the tasks of life. His own attain- 
 ments, in spite of the handicap of a meagre school-experience, 
 were recognized by the oldest and mostt famous of American 
 colleges, when Harvard University conferred upon him the 
 degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1851. 
 
 He was profoundly attached to his friends, and especially 
 to the dear ones in his own home. The constant references in 
 his journal attest the truth of this statement. They portray 
 his ceaseless solicitude for the members of the family-circle, 
 from whom the demands of his calling forced him to be absent 
 so much of his time. They chronicle his joy and gratitude 
 when, from time to time, his children were led to confess their 
 faith in Christ. In his journeys abroad he went out of his way, 
 times without number, to visit old friends and spend an hour 
 or a day in happy converse ^vith them. This was really the only 
 recreation that he ever allowed himself, and this mode of recrea- 
 
 Page 109
 
 tion was always a source of inspiration and bulwarked his heart 
 with new courage for his exhausting tasks. 
 
 The secret of his abundantly successful life, his prolific 
 labors, his subordination of all personal interests to the needs of 
 others, was to be found in the fact that the spirit of Christ dwelt 
 in him. The Saviour of men had conquered the citadel of his 
 soul. His consuming passion was to do Christ's will in the 
 world, to establish His Kingdom in the midst of the growing 
 life of the West. 
 
 He was a builder of men and of institutions. He set the 
 corner stones of truth and righteousness in the fabric of a new 
 civilization. He toiled in the service of the Master-builder. So 
 he built for eternity; and his work abides. 
 
 Page 110
 
 INDEX 
 
 African Church, St. Louis.... 102 
 
 Alton Seminary 84 
 
 Amenia, Church in 13 
 
 Amer. Baptist Historical So- 
 ciety 104, 109 
 
 Amer. Baptist Home Mission 
 
 Society 75, 87, 89, 90, 107 
 
 American Baptist Missionary 
 
 Union 9, 97 
 
 Amer. Bapt. Publication So- 
 ciety 93, 96, 104, 109 
 
 Amer. Bible Society 38, 60, 77 
 
 Amer. Sunday School Union 
 
 41, 52, 60, 77 
 
 "Annals of the West" 103 
 
 Anniversaries, Baptist.. 9, 96,104 
 Anti-Mission Influences, 30, 
 
 48, 66, 87 
 
 Babcock, Dr. R 50, 75 
 
 "Banner and Pioneer" 89, 95 
 
 Baptism, First, in St. Louis. . 27 
 "Bapt. Missionary Magazine" 43, 82 
 
 Belleville, Church at 91, 102 
 
 Bethel Association 34 
 
 Bethel Church 102 
 
 Bible Distribution 52 
 
 Boone, Daniel 38, 80, 103 
 
 Boone, Mayor 105 
 
 Boone's Lick 35, 38 
 
 Boyakin, W. F 107 
 
 Bradley, Joshua 68 
 
 Chicago 71, 90, 107 
 
 Cincinnati 59, 98 
 
 Circuit Preaching 30, 61, 72 
 
 Coats, William 39 
 
 Colonization Society 59, 77 
 
 Columbian College 43, CO 
 
 Covington, Ky 102 
 
 Craig, James 42 
 
 Eastern States, Visits to. .59, 
 
 85, 93. 104 
 
 Edwards, Gov 79 
 
 Edwards, Hon, C 107 
 
 Female Mite Societies 41 
 
 Fox River Association 90 
 
 Furman, Dr 21 
 
 German Baptist Mission 102 
 
 Gonig, Dr. J 73, 83, 85 
 
 Greene, T. P 69 
 
 "Guide to Emigrants" . 80, 86, 105 
 
 Hamilton, Students at 73 
 
 Harvard University 104, 109 
 
 Hinton, I. T 90, 96 
 
 Illinois 27, 81, 103 
 
 Illinois Association 35, 50, 92 
 
 Illionis Bapt. Education So- 
 ciety 86 
 
 Illinois Sunday School Union 78 
 India, Missions in 14, 20, 43 
 
 Journeys, Missionary, 27 fF., 
 
 33 ff., 57, 72, 75, 78, 89 
 Judson, Adonivam 9, 20 
 
 Kentucky, Tours in 89 
 
 Lemen, James 66, 106, 107 
 
 Lexington, Ky., Church in. . . . 91 
 
 Liberty, Mo 57 
 
 Library, Burned 103 
 
 Litchfield, Conn 10, 12, 22, 60 
 
 Loomis, Hubbel 84 
 
 Louisville, Ky 89, 91, 94 
 
 Marks, Judge 50 
 
 Mass. Bapt. Convention 94 
 
 Mass. Baptist Missionary So- 
 ciety 47, 53, 61, 74 
 
 McCoy, William 45 
 
 Mercer, Jesse 22, 48 
 
 Mission Policies 44, 53 
 
 Mississippi River. . . .25, 27, 84, 98 
 Missouri Bible Society 38 
 
 New Durham Churcli 11 
 
 New England Traits 62 
 
 Page 111
 
 Northern Bapt. Education So- 
 ciety 94 
 
 Parker, Daniel 48 
 
 Pattison, R. E 92 
 
 Peck, J. M.: Birth, 10; Con- 
 version, 10; Marriage, 11; 
 Eemovel to N. Y. State, 11; 
 Baptism, 11; Pastor at 
 Catskill, 12; Ordination, 13; 
 at Amenia, 13; Student 
 Days, 17 ff.; Appointment to 
 West, 21; Arrival in St. 
 Louis, 25; First Visit to 
 Illinois, 27; Pioneer Jour- 
 neys, 28 If. ; Removal to St. 
 Charles, 42 ; to Rock Spring, 
 47;' Visits Eastern States, 
 59 ; Establishes Seminary, 
 66; Newspaper, 68; Varied 
 Labors, 77; Literary Work, 
 80, 103; Pastor at Rock 
 Spring, 88; at Belleville, 
 91; at St. Louis, 91; at 
 Covington, 102; Removal to 
 Louisville, 92; Secretary of 
 Publication Society, 96 ; 
 Later Years, lOlff.f Death, 
 107; Character 108 
 
 Peck, Mrs. J. M. . . .11, 24, 49, 
 
 105, 106 
 
 Pioneer Conditions 26, 29, 
 
 31, 36, 57 
 
 Pioneer of the Valley of the 
 Mississippi 69, 77 86 
 
 PuUiam, James 66, 106 
 
 Religious Journalism 68, 86 
 
 Revivalism 54 
 
 Rice, Luther 13, 18, 60 
 
 Rock Spring, 47, 59, 69, 86, 
 
 98, 102, 105 
 
 Rock Spring Church. . . .48, 50, 88 
 Rock Spring Seminary, 66, 103, 106 
 Russell, John 68 
 
 Schools, in West. . . .28, 33, 35, 59 
 
 Shawneetown 24, 64 
 
 Shurtleff College 84, 104, 107 
 
 Shurtleff, Dr. B 85, 104 
 
 "Squatters" 31, 36 
 
 Staughton, William. . 17, 19, 22, 60 
 
 St. Charles Academy 42, 46 
 
 Steamer, Wreck of 98 
 
 St. Louis, in 1817 25 
 
 St. Louis Church.. 27, 45, 50, 
 
 68, 102 
 Sunday Schools. .. 18, 27, 40, 
 
 52, 56 
 
 Temperance: Illinois Society, 
 
 78 ; Advocacy of 82 
 
 Theological In.struction ....19, 61 
 Triennial Convention .. 9, 20, 
 
 43, 60 74 
 
 United Sosiety 34, 37 
 
 Upper Alton 84, 86 
 
 Welch, J. E....17, 21, 24, 34, 
 
 39, 44, 50 
 West, Growth of the.. 71, 80, 
 
 89, 101 
 Western Baptist Educational 
 
 Association 85 
 
 Western Baptist Publication 
 
 Society 92 
 
 Western" Baptists, Convention 
 
 of 91, 92 
 
 Western Mission : Proposed, 
 
 15; Established, 20; Closed. 43 
 Western Mission Academy, 27, 
 
 42, 46 
 
 "Western Pioneer" 86 
 
 Williams, Lewis 39, 72 
 
 Page 112
 
 Home Mission Harvests 
 
 of a 
 
 Hundred Years 
 
 BY 
 
 LEMUEL CALL BARNES, D.D.
 
 HOME MISSION HARVESTS OF A HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 Address hy L. C. Barnes at Cleveland, Ohio, May 17, 1917, the 
 exact centennial anniversary of the appointment of John 
 M.Pech as Westerii Missionary hy the Triennial Con- 
 vention. — These remarks tvere preceded hy an 
 address of Dr. A. K. de Blois concerning 
 Peck, the Pioneer. 
 
 "He that goe th forth and weepeth, bearing seed for sowing, shall 
 doubtless come again with joy, bringing his sheaves with him." 
 
 Psalm 126, 6. 
 
 WHEN the one-horse wagon of John Mason Peck crept 
 westward thru the forest trails of Ohio, there were 
 but two Baptists, Moses White and his wife, living in 
 the raw hamlet of Cleveland. Today there are twelve thousand 
 members in the 27 Baptist churches of this noble city. 
 
 That multiplication is typical of the Home Mission Har- 
 vests of a Hundred Years in the whole country from the Ohio 
 River to the Pacific Ocean. That was the West of Peck's day. 
 So it must be the West of our thought tonight. 
 
 The harvests have been manifold. They cannot be pic- 
 tured or even tabulated in twenty minutes. 
 
 Whole fields of golden grain must be merely mentioned — 
 for example, educational institutions created, scores of them 
 — ^meeting-houses built, thousands of them — Sunday-schools or- 
 ganized, tens of thousands of them — Christian literature dis- 
 tributed, countless millions of pages. 
 
 We must concentrate attention on only three or four .sheaves 
 out of a vast harvest — a sheaf of Americanism, a sheaf of 
 enlistment, a sheaf of munitions and a sheaf of personnel. 
 
 Page 115
 
 I. A Sheaf of Sure Americanism. 
 
 The hundred years of Home Missions have yielded a hun- 
 dredfold harvest of assured Americanism. They have carried 
 the democracy of Rhode Island clear across the continent. That 
 is the democracy which today is in process of transforming the 
 whole world. 
 
 Home missions have done more than anything else, unless 
 it be the public schools, to eliminate from American life the 
 hyphen-peril. To start with, Celt and Anglo-Saxon, Welsh 
 and English Baptists ran together in the foundations of our 
 denomination. During the century people of more than thirty 
 European tongues have been assimiliated by Baptist home mis- 
 sions. Seventy-eight thousand of them are now in our foreign- 
 speaking churches — probably as many more in the English- 
 speaking churches. 
 
 The hyphen, as a source of anxiety, has been dissolved in 
 the baptistry. In many cases of bleeding sensibilities the cost 
 of American loyalty makes it a sacrificial, a holy thing. Peck 
 organized a German Baptist church in St. Louis. Thirty-one 
 thousand German Baptists, thru their representatives assembled 
 four weeks ago, said this — and it will go down the centuries as 
 one of the memorable declarations of history: 
 
 "Whereas, the exigencies of the present war- 
 situation seem to make a statement on our part desir- 
 able, and 
 
 "Whereas, such an expression on our part — not- 
 withstanding the often tested loyalty of the German- 
 Americans in the past history of our country — does 
 not seem to be superfluous or out of place; therefore 
 be it 
 
 "Eesolved, that we, the General Mission Board of 
 
 the German Baptist Churches in the United States, 
 
 assembled in executive session in Chicago, Illinois, 
 
 speaking as representatives of our churches, hereby re- 
 
 Page 116
 
 affirm our unswerving loyalty to our Government, and 
 be it further 
 
 "Resolved, that we declare ourselves ready to open 
 our churches for any work which may be asked of us in 
 the interest of our country and which conforms to the 
 spirit and ideals of the Christian religion." 
 
 Home missions have been creating international ties with 
 men of Asiatic as well as European blood. 
 
 Millions, too, of African ancestry have been lifted into 
 light by home missions. Ten million dollars of Northern Bap- 
 tist money and hundreds of far more precious lives have had 
 much to do in lifting the level of literacy from ten per cent, to 
 over seventy per cent, of the entire Negro population. 
 
 Not only people of European, Asiatic and African extrac- 
 tion but also more than a dozen tribes of aboriginal Americans 
 are being Americanized in the highest sense by our Home Mis- 
 sions. 
 
 Eighty-five years ago, when the American Baptist Home 
 Mission Society was organized, its charter required it "to pro- 
 mote the preaching of the Gospel in North America" — ^the 
 whole continent. Twenty-five million inhabitants of North 
 America live south of the Rio Grande. Among these Latin 
 Americans only a beginning has been made — a sufficient begin- 
 ning to show that we can meet their greatest need. Our demo- 
 cratic gospel message and tuition can help them as nothing else 
 can do, to be splendid neighbors in Americanism. 
 
 II. A Sheaf of Voluntai-y Enlistment 
 
 The hundred years of Home Missions have yielded more 
 than a hundredfold harvest of voluntary enlistment in the army 
 of the Lord. 
 
 In 1817 there were only 6,383 Baptist church members 
 
 west of the Ohio River; there are now 763,467, one hundred 
 
 . and twenty times the number that we had then. More than 
 
 Page 117
 
 one-half of the entire membership of our Convention is now 
 west of the Ohio River. 
 
 One hundred years ago there were only 77,406 members in 
 all our churches in what is now the territory of the whole North- 
 ern Baptist Convention. Now there are many more than that 
 number in each one of the four States which were on the frontier 
 when home missions began — Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Mis- 
 souri. There are nearly three times that number now in Mis- 
 souri alone, the State where Peck's undertaking started. 
 
 B APT IS T^GENTEf^ 
 
 17 
 
 W a MQOlVrtVsK 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 A hint of the progress of the harvesting can be gained by 
 a study of the advancing center of activity. One hundred years 
 ago the geographical center of the entire Northern Baptist 
 church membership was a hundred miles north of New York 
 City. By a curious coincidence, the exact center then fell at 
 the village of Catskill, N. Y., and it was in the Baptist church 
 of Catskill that John M. Peck had just been ordained. Today 
 the center is west of where you now are sitting. To be exact, 
 Page 118
 
 it is 34 miles northwest of Lima, Ohio. It has moved 560 miles. 
 At the same rate of progress, in another hundred years it will 
 be near Omaha, Nebraska. 
 
 If all denominational headquarters were to be centered at 
 the center of our membership today and tomorrow, it would be 
 somewhere between Cleveland and Chicago. The seaboard Bap- 
 tists — both Atlantic and Pacific — what a time they would have 
 holding an even scale between the towns clamoring for head- 
 quarters. 
 
 In 1817 there was no Baptist college or seminary west of 
 the Ohio Eiver. There are almost twice as many students in 
 the eighteen Baptist colleges west of the Ohio now as there 
 were church members in that area then. We now have in theo- 
 logical seminaries west of the Ohio 470 students, four times as 
 many as the entire number of Baptist ministers in the West at 
 that time. 
 
 The full record of the Harvest of souls enlisted exists only 
 in heaven. But careful computation shows that on earth about 
 three million names have been on our western church rolls. 
 They were all volunteers. There was not a conscript among 
 them. If we counted as some do, we could claim millions more. 
 But every one of these three millions was enrolled by his own 
 volition. They stand to the credit of one hundred years of M'ork 
 in the West. Much of the seed for this vast harvest was sown 
 by the West itself, and much of it by the East to be garnered 
 in the West. We are all bound together in one bundle of divine 
 life. 
 
 From the first day until now, the keynote of home mis- 
 sions has been evangelism. It was the chief work of the first 
 missionary. Now that one has become a thousand it is still the 
 central business of every missionary. With all the century's 
 changes in the outward equipment of human life and with all 
 the century's changes in the intellectual vocabulary of human 
 thought, there is no cliange in the vital center of endeavor — ■ 
 the winning of individual souls into warm, life-commanding 
 allegiance to Jesus Christ. The pivotal work of home mis- 
 
 Page 119
 
 sions is the same all the way from Peck the Pioneer to Stilwell 
 the Superintendent of Evangelism. 
 
 In the eighty-five years since the Home Mission Society 
 was organized, its missionaries alone have baptized more than 
 300,000 people, i. e., one-fifth of all who have been baptized in 
 all our churches during the whole century in the entire country 
 west of the Ohio. In that country one million seven hundred 
 thousand people (1,774,287) have been lifted in the resurrec- 
 tion emblem of enlistment under the banner of our Lord. 
 
 III. A Sheaf of Consecrated Resources 
 
 The hundred years of Home Missions has yielded vastly 
 more than hundredfold harvest of consecrated Eesources. 
 
 Eecords such as exist indicate that in the West which 
 Peck opened up denominationally and in the newer West be- 
 yond his farthest West, our churches have contributed to church 
 support and benevolent objects not less than seventy-five mil- 
 lion dollars. 
 
 A significant feature of the benevolence generated by home 
 missions is the fact that tlie Baptist churches on the western 
 slope of the continent give to missions at home and abroad more 
 than tAvice as much per member as the eastern churches. This 
 is done, too, at a time when they have to be creating roads, 
 schools, and every facility of modem life, and while they are 
 paying large interest to eastern capital. Those churches were 
 created by Home Missions and they are true to the holy spirit 
 of their creator. 
 
 In the midland region between the Mississippi and the 
 Rockies, the actual giving per member is about the same as east 
 of the Mississippi. Omitting a few very large personal gifts in 
 the East, however, the midland record would stand relatively 
 considerably higher than the eastern per member. 
 
 Only a fraction of what is given by church people appears 
 on the treasurer's books. Unmeasured streams of benevolence 
 have been refreshing the earth. Our churches have been irriga- 
 Page 120
 
 tion channels transforming deserts into gardens of God, not only 
 in the homeland but around the whole globe. The records of 
 our Foreign Mission Societies show $6,861,174.36 from churches 
 and individuals west of the Ohio River. Apparent omissions 
 in the records and well-known items which did not pass thru 
 the societies' treasuries make it clear that our western Baptist 
 
 churches have contributed more than seven million dollars to 
 foreign missions. 
 
 The geographical center of foreign mission giving at the 
 present time is a little west of the geographical center of mcni- 
 
 Page 121
 
 bership. The latter, as we saw, is in western Ohio, while the 
 former is at Fort Wayne, Indiana. The geographical center of 
 home mission giving and the geographical center of all benevo- 
 lences combined are both near Defiance, Ohio. 
 
 But the harvest of Eesources is not mechanical, it is vitaliz- 
 ing. It is the seed-corn of the kingdom. 
 
 In order to express the spirit of benevolence and make it 
 effective, our home mission churches have organized themselves 
 by States and districts so that we now have in the West 328 
 Associations and 24 State Conventions. Few of the Associa- 
 tions, not one of the Conventions, existed when Peck began his 
 work. These organisms of good-will stand for the kingdom of 
 heaven on earth. They powerfully tend to make it a reality. 
 They are incarnations of the prayer, "Thy kingdom come, Thy 
 will be done" — not Thy will ,be endured, but Thy will be 
 achieved. 
 
 Still larger incarnations of that prayer are the American 
 Baptist Home Mission Society and the women's home and for- 
 eign mission societies of the West. Peck was diligent in organiz- 
 ing "female mite societies." These mite societies became 
 mighty societies. He organized also Bible societies far and 
 wide. Put that with his publishing of books and of the first 
 Baptist periodical in a region where there are now twenty-one — 
 no wonder that late in life he became for three years the Gen- 
 eral Secretary of the iVmerican Baptist Publication Society. 
 But his chief contribution to the organic life of the denomina- 
 tion was by inspiring the plan and in cooperation with Jonathan 
 Going of Worcester, Mass., actually drawing up the plan which 
 created the American Baptist Home Mission Society. That in 
 turn has been the fostering mother of the organic life of the 
 denomination in the West. 
 
 Greater than all the millions of dollars — more than twenty 
 millions — which the Home Mission Society has poured into the 
 church life of the West, has been its service in mobilizing and 
 marchalling the forces of the kingdom of heaven in the immense 
 country from the Ohio to the Golden Gate. 
 Page 122
 
 IV. A Sheaf of Ministry to Humanity 
 
 The hundred years of Home Missions have yielded a hun- 
 dredfold harvest of personal ministration to human welfare. 
 
 Infinitely more vital than the numbers enlisted and the 
 benevolence recorded has been the personality devoted. One of 
 the most impressive utterances in our history was made years 
 ago by the distinguished Cleveland layman, Mr. John D. Eocke- 
 feller, at the dedication of a building which he had contributed 
 to one of the ministerial training schools of the denomination. 
 He said that his part in giving money was as nothing compared 
 with the lives which were being laid on that altar. 
 
 I have tried to get together a list of the members of our 
 churches in the West who have rendered eminent service in 
 making the nation what it is, our ministers to humanity — not 
 only the preaching ministers, but equally the ministers in other 
 lines of great constructive service — judges in the courts of jus- 
 tice, legislators in the States and in the nation, administrators 
 in cities, commanders of armies, educators in schools and col- 
 leges, writers of books and editors of periodicals, captains in 
 industrial development and organization, including the organiza- 
 tion of labor, leaders in the fundamental business of agricul- 
 ture, great railroad men and tradesmen, distributors of the 
 necessaries of life and the necessities of modern life. It has 
 been impossible to get sufficient returns to tabulate. But the 
 statements, only fragmentary, which have come in from the 
 22 States west of the Ohio River show an array of names to 
 make every Baptist heart throb with gratitude to God for what 
 he has called and empowered our fathers and brethren to do in 
 building commonwealths, the nation and the whole republic of 
 God. A Baptist minister was the pastor of the first church of 
 any kind northwest of the Ohio River. He bore the common- 
 folks name John Smith. But his services in the common weal 
 were so distinctive that his fellow-pioneers made him a member 
 of the convention to draft a constitution for the State of Ohio. 
 
 Page 123
 
 The new commonwealth sent him as one of its first senators to 
 the Congress of the United States. 
 
 Dr. A. L. Vail has lately unearthed for us the fact, making 
 it incontestable on the highest type of evidence, that John M. 
 Peck did more than any other one man in preventing Illinois 
 from becoming a slave State and so in turning the whole tide of 
 American history. What would God have to say in the Day of 
 Judgment if that Baptist missionary had neglected to form the 
 political leagues thru Illinois which eliminated the slavery 
 plank from that State — the State which was afterward to fur- 
 nish Abraham Lincoln, a Baptist mother's son, to complete the 
 work for the whole nation? 
 
 If it were possible to make a list of eminent public servants 
 of all kinds and to print it in letters dusted with gold, everyone 
 knows that still other and immeasurably larger lists of the 
 obscure members of our churches who have spent their lives in 
 personal devotion to the highest ideals ought to be made and 
 printed with dust of diamonds. 
 
 In one of the many lines of large ministry it is possible to 
 make a fairly complete list, that of the men and women who 
 have been raised up and sent abroad in the last hundred years 
 by the churches west of the Ohio Eiver — the missionaries to 
 foreign lands. The records at the Missionary Rooms in Boston 
 show 400 of them — "the four hundred." That is, about one- 
 fourth of all who have been sent during the century. The ratio 
 of course is increasing. In the last 25 years more than one- 
 third of all who have gone have gone from the West. Four hun- 
 dred foreign missionaries out of our churches in the West, 
 backed up by seven million dollars for foreign missions out of 
 the same churches, make one thing certain : Wlien the Triennial 
 Convention one hundred years ago today sent John M. Peck to 
 be the pioneer home missionary, it did the most essential thing 
 that it could do toward the redemption of other continents as 
 well as of our own. It was the home mission experience of his 
 father which fired the young heart of Adoniram Judson. It 
 was the Massachusetts Baptist home missionary society which 
 
 Page 124
 
 prepared the way for the American Baptist foreign mission 
 society. It is in the western churches which have been them- 
 selves created by the home mission spirit, that the missionary 
 spirit ought to abound. For eighty-five of the hundred years we 
 have had the American Baptist Home Mission Society, and it 
 has explicitly required the churches which it fosters to give 
 themselves to foreign missions. 
 
 Such has been the ministry of the West to the Far East. 
 There are no available records of its ministry to the near East, 
 That also has been very great. Ten years ago in a Massachusetts 
 city of over one hundred thousand population, having many 
 strong evangelical churches, most of the pastors were from the 
 West. The like is true in many an eastern city and in not a few 
 country places, to say nothing of eastern college and seminary 
 faculties. As to ministerial students, Newton, Crozer, Colgate 
 and Eoehester in the last ten years have drawn nearly four hun- 
 dred (396) of their students from the West, in some cases more 
 than half of their total enrollment. In some of the eastern 
 theological seminaries the chief source of students has been the 
 West. 
 
 The first full centur}' of Home Missions conducted by our 
 whole denomination will ever be memorable because of the 
 splendid personalities developed and devoted. To the end of 
 time no century of endeavor can be forgotten which has been 
 initiated and climaxed by the holy ministry of two such men as 
 John M. Peck and Henry L. Morehouse. 
 
 In the direct service of Home Missions seventy-eight of 
 the one hundred years have been filled with the ministry of 
 these two transcendent personalities. 
 
 Eaces benefited, souls enlisted, means consecrated, social 
 service rendered — let these four sheaves, tho so inadequately 
 bound and shocked, stand as emblems of the immeasurable Har- 
 vests of a Hundred Years. 
 
 We have taken a few minutes to glance at the past, not for 
 the pleasure of the vision of glorious deeds nor even mainly out 
 of loving gratitude for our inheritance, but chiefly that we 
 
 Page 125
 
 might plunge into the future with reinforced courage and rein- 
 vigorated wills. Three things are vital if we are to build 
 worthily on the foundations which have been laid — Intensive 
 Cultivation, Eager Cooperation and Divine Thrust. 
 
 1. Intensive Cultivation 
 
 The State Administrators in ten of the western States have 
 recently written me concerning 277 fields in which there is no 
 other church but ours. Let the Home Mission forces select some 
 fields in each State to serve like model farms in government 
 agriculture. Let us pour into these places skill — the highest, 
 divinest skill available — and give them the equipment, every- 
 thing essential to the best spiritual tillage. Let us make these 
 chosen spots so fertile, blooming and fragrant that they will 
 attract imitators over a wide area. If we could make one little 
 town or countryside all that it ought to be, it would do more 
 for the kingdom of heaven on earth at large than could be done 
 by no end of scattered, feeble, semi-futile undertakings. When 
 the Indian natives of this country wanted better crops they 
 moved to a new spot. Former generations of white men have 
 done much the same, running ever to new fields. That is the 
 savage and the semi-civilized way of doing. But the hour has 
 come for culture, the increase of productiveness, not by racing 
 for fresh fields, but by intensive cultivation of the fields of our 
 fathers. This is true in city as well as country. At the 
 metropolis of the nation, for example, in a single group of 
 contiguous blocks there are 60,000 people without a single 
 evangelical church; in another destitute area more than 100,000 
 people live. Let strategic points in all the States of the Union, 
 both city and country, be selected and all the force of the de- 
 nomination brought to bear in making them radiating centers 
 of divine community life and of wide spiritual contagion. 
 
 2. Eager Cooperation 
 
 Closer cooperation with ourselves is the brilliant develop- 
 ment of the hour — the American Baptist Home Mission Society 
 Page 126
 
 with tlie Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society, 
 the Home Mission Society with the Publication Society, the 
 Home Mission Society with State Conventions, all moving as 
 one force, and having, if not complete organic union, at least 
 firmly interlocking directorates. There is no brighter page in 
 American church history than the page which records the com- 
 ing of Baptists and Free Baptists into intimately close coopera- 
 tive union. 
 
 Cooperation with all evangelical forces is the habit of the 
 denomination. The destitution is too great and the future 
 developments are too immense to permit the waste of a single 
 ounce of energy in competition with any people of God who 
 proclaim the gospel with unmistakable clearness. 
 
 We may well imbibe the spirit of John M. Peck, the rug- 
 gedest of Baptists, when he formed the first religious and phil- 
 .anthropic organization west of the Mississippi River, making it 
 an interdenominational society "to aid in spreading the gospel 
 and in promoting common schools in the western part of 
 America." 
 
 The immense tasks of Home Missions are in the future. 
 Competent students of population possibilities and tendencies 
 figure that, when all the available soil and water for irrigation 
 are in use, eight times the present population can be sustained 
 by the country east of the Missouri River, and twenty times the 
 present population in the first tier of States west of that river, 
 while twenty-eight times the present population can be sus- 
 tained by the real West which lies beyond that. Methods of 
 agriculture now known, therefore, would sustain one billion 
 people in continental United States. There are good reasons 
 for expecting that this one thousand million population will 
 occupy our country no further in the future from this hour 
 than we are tonight past the landing of the Pilgrims on Ply- 
 mouth Rock. The Home Mission enterprise has barely begun; 
 its great undertakings lie before us. The issue can be glorious 
 and adequate only if the forces are all mobilized. Whatever the 
 allies may have done in the past, in the future the wickedest 
 
 Page 127
 
 thing in God's world would be for the allies to contend against 
 each other. 
 
 The alliance of our country with many other nations to- 
 day does not diminish our Americanism. It is rather intensified 
 as it never was before. The same is true of Baptist cooperation 
 with other denominations. There never was a time when we 
 felt called upon so imperatively as now to insist that religion is 
 a matter of personal loyalty to God. No phase of it can be per- 
 formed by proxy. Eeligion is altogether an affair of personality 
 and not of ceremony. It is an affair only of God-begotten per- 
 sonality and not of man-made formularies of any kind, ritual, 
 intellectual or ecclesiastical. 
 
 Our brethren of other names need the contribution which 
 alliance with us brings to the common cause. Some of them 
 need it desperately. 
 
 3. Divine Thrust 
 
 When our Lord commissioned the twelve, and a year later 
 the seventy, he taught them to plead for divine thrust in the 
 work — ^Tray the Lord that he send forth" Adequate inten- 
 siveness in cultivation and eagerness in cooperation are possible 
 only if there be superhuman spirit in the undertaking. Work- 
 ers with all there is in them must be at work, not for their own 
 sakes but for Christ's sake and the sake of humanity. 
 
 Too many men have crawled into place on their own 
 stomachs, instead of being thrust into work by the omnipotent 
 Spirit. We must pray that men be thrust into work instead of 
 seeking situations. At the anniversaries years ago, a leader 
 said that too many men in his part of the country were looking 
 for situations with emphasis on the sit. In a Southwestern 
 political convention a great banner was stretched across the front 
 of the hall having on one end a picture of a jack rabbit sitting 
 on his haunches, with his eyes closed, fore-paws drooping, in 
 obvious sleep. At the other end was the picture of a jack rabbit 
 stretching over the sod, evidently going at 30 or 40 miles an 
 Page 128
 
 hour. Between the two pictures was the legend, 'T^t is better 
 to git up and git than to sit up and sit." The vernacular phras- 
 ing may be pardoned, because it pithily embodies one of the 
 sublime ideals of Christianity. The little word which points 
 the climax of the gospel story is the word "go." The ideal of 
 the world's most popular religions next to Christianity is qui- 
 escence. That is the climax of the religions of India. The final 
 command of the holy religion of Jesus Christ is "go." A keen 
 feeling of commission, being divinely sent, omnipotently thrust 
 into the field, is indispensable in winning North America for 
 Christ. 
 
 The "go" of the gospel has behind it the awful thrust of 
 Gethsemane and Calvary. Never before since that day has the 
 commission to Christianize the nations been underscored with 
 such terrifice emphasis as at the present hour. We know not, 
 we care not, in what kind of ink the first recorder of "the great 
 commission" dipped his pen. He had a Christ-inspired largeness 
 of vision. His words today stand lurid along the whole horizon, 
 stretching up out of blood-red trenches till they reach flaming 
 aeroplanes in the sky. It is nations, whole nations, which must 
 be discipled. For nearly nineteen hundred years it has been 
 assumed sufficient to get souls separately right. We now see 
 that \he\ must be made right in their relationship — in all their 
 wide relationships, national and international. We see. too, 
 that essential to all the other relationships are economic rela- 
 tionships. Farms and factories are as \'ital as armies and par- 
 liaments. The whole fabric and every fiber of the nation must 
 be brought under the spell of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The hour in the world's history when the chief contention 
 of Baptists thru the ages, the contention for liberty and de- 
 mocracy, is coming to its own thruout the whole world, is the 
 hour for us to rise as never before on the wings of faith and 
 determination. "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that 
 He thrust forth laborers into His harvest." 
 
 Humanity is in the very presence of eternity. No serious- 
 minded man doubts that today. Our Home Mission Cause, our 
 
 Page 129
 
 whole denomination, is under the hush of a great bereavement. 
 Seldom have such great power of thought and such great 
 power of feeling been so intimately united as the}' were in 
 Henry L. Morehouse — a great head and a great heart yoked to- 
 gether in mighty, life-long work. The embodiment of divine 
 energy in consecrated personality has been suddenly translated. 
 
 From every worker's heart leaps the cry: "My father, my 
 father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!" 
 
 To him more than to any other man — more than to any 
 other ten men — have been due harvests which have been gar- 
 nered from the sowing of the pioneers. Let me close the record 
 by quoting what were probably the last words which he ever 
 wrote on the theme which had enthralled his young manhood 
 and had absorbed all his ripening years to the end. The precious 
 words are from a long personal letter received from him only a 
 few days before his death : 
 
 "Impress upon our people the importance of mak- 
 ing this nation more thoroly Christian. As we are 
 striving to produce larger crops this year for the 
 hungry millions of the world, so our energies should 
 be directed to greater activity in Christian undertak- 
 ings to make America the most potent power possible 
 for the evangelization of the world." 
 
 This is our challenge for a hundred years to come — 
 "MAKE AMERICA THE MOST POTENT POWER POS- 
 SIBLE FOR THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD." 
 
 Page ISO
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 CENTENNIAL DATA 
 
 1817-1917 
 
 ABcertalned for L. C. Barnes by Arthur Warren Smith, "SpeclalUt In 
 Statistics and Research." 
 
 (Small numerals refer to Notes beijinning on page ISSJ 
 
 I. — ENTIRE FIELD 
 For the whole territory now comprised in the Northern Baptist Convention i: 
 
 Membership 1817 77,406 
 
 1917 1,437,735 
 
 Baptisms 1817 6,229 
 
 1917 82,794 
 
 1817 to 1917 3,251.844* 
 
 Meeting-houses 1817 500 
 
 1917 9,781 
 
 Value of Meeting-houses 1817 $450,000 
 
 1917 101,648,937 
 
 Total Beneficence — 
 
 (a) 1870 to 1916 $125,539,024 
 
 (b) 1816 to 1869 7,817,890 
 
 $133,356,914 » 
 
 II.— WESTERN FIELD 
 
 For Northern Baptist Convention Territory west of the Ohio River, 1. e., west 
 of Atlantic States : 
 
 Baptist Colleges, 1917 18 
 
 Students in Baptist Colleges, 1917 12,593 
 
 Academies, 1917 8 
 
 Students in Baptist Academies, 1917 1.032 
 
 Baptist Theological Seminaries. 1917 5 
 
 Students in our western Theological Seminaries. 1917 470 
 
 Students from the West in eastern Seminaries, 1906 to 1916.... 396* 
 
 Number in faculties of Colleges, 1917 732 
 
 Number in faculties of Academies, 1917 108 
 
 Number in faculties of Seminaries, 1917 49 
 
 Baptist Journals, 1917 21 
 
 Foreign Missionaries 423 ' 
 
 Contributions for Foreign Missions. 1816 to 1916 16,861,174.26" 
 
 Baptisms, 1816 to 1916 1.774.287 
 
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 NOTES 
 
 1.— The Northern Baptist Convention includes the following States : Maine, 
 New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, 
 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, 
 Illinois, Wisconsin. Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota. South Dakota, Nebraska, 
 Kansas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Washing- 
 ton. Oregon, California, and one half of Missouri and of the District of Columbia. 
 
 2.— Baptist statistics in all the years even up to the present, exhibit two 
 features to be taken into account: (a) Because some churches and whole asso- 
 ciations In reports present only blanks, we know that there have been bap- 
 tisms where no numbers are given. (b) Because for other churches "last 
 year's report" Is recorded in place of new data, we know that sometimes 
 more baptisms have occurred than the number given. Our figures, built up 
 very carefully on a scientific basis, are conservative and indicate the lowest 
 possible number rather than the highest. While our church clerks fail to 
 give complete data at the present day, in the early decades the numbers given 
 represented a still smaller part of the results obtained. For example, a state- 
 ment was made by Peck that he knew in a certain region a full thousand 
 baptisms occurred. Reference to the statistics for that region and period 
 do not give a quarter of that number. It is probable that in the hundred 
 years the actual number of baptisms was not less than four million. The 
 first ten years saw 76,299 as against the last ten just closing 690,905. The 
 second decade had 109.227 against 514,646 for the ninth decade. It took 
 twelve years to carry the yearly number above 10,000. The third carried It 
 as high as 45,000. But a reaction held the figures between 15,000 and 30,000 
 until after the Civil War. Since then it has steadily risen until the past two 
 years present 98,158 and 83,033. A few high spots are suggestive. In 1842-3, 
 85,495 baptisms occurred, reflecting the revivals under Knapp and Finney, 
 which made a deep impression on Baptist churches. Then the revival of 
 1858 again lifted the average which had been running between 15,000 and 
 20,000 to 45,380, followed by the inertia created by Civil War conditions. 
 But 1866 saw a rise to 42.397. After this they steadily rose by annual In- 
 creases with a high point in 1894 to 73,204. 
 
 3.— This was calculated by overcoming peculiar statistical difficulties. Year 
 books gave money items in different forms relatively reliable back to 1870. 
 The period, 1816 to 1869, the following objects were figured from reports and 
 (rther sources by careful comparisons and in the light of experience with such 
 matters : American Baptist Missionary Union, 1816 to 1869 ; Home Mission 
 Society, 1832 to 1869 ; Publication Society, 1826 to 1869 ; State Conventions 
 (mostly since 1824), 1816 to 1869; Miscellaneous (mainly education), 1816 
 to 1869. Care was taken to make the figures producing (b) conservative, and 
 they are perhaps a half million to a million too low. 
 
 4.— Students from the West attendant at four Eastern Seminaries, 1906 
 to 1916: Crozer, 31; Newton. 49; Colgate, 25; Rochester, 161; Rochester Ger- 
 man Department, 130 ; Rochester total, 291 ; total, 396. In some cases this 
 was more than 50 per cent, of the entire enrollment. 
 
 6.— Foreign missionaries from the West came from the following States : 
 Ohio, 71 ; Indiana, 37 ; Illinois, 86 ; Michigan, 55 ; Wisconsin, 31 ; Minnesota, 
 30 ; Iowa, 39 ; Missouri, 12 ; Kansas, 23 ; Nebraska, 12 ; South Dakota, 4 ; 
 North Dakota, 1 ; Colorado, 4 ; Nevada, 1 ; Washington, 4 ; Oregon, 5 ; Cali- 
 fornia, 8. 
 
 6.— All money given for foreign missions, i. e., through the A. B. F. M. S. 
 for entire period and through the women's societies since 1872, including 
 donations, legacies, etc. In several years the reports show probable omissions 
 under certain items and estimates in others. Therefore the aggregate for the 
 100 years could be safely stated as a round seven million dollars. 
 
 7.— The geographical centers were computed for the last available full 
 year of the churches and their contributions as reported to the Associations and 
 to the Sfate Conventions, as given in the annuals of the Conventions for 1916. 
 Of course, the amounts reported through associations represented a slightly 
 different fiscal year from those of the general societies. But they give us more 
 geographical detail which was absolutely requisite to the computation. 
 
 8.— This attests the dominant strength of New England Baptists. They 
 were not only numerous, but their home mission activity had then planted the 
 
 Page ISS
 
 churches along the Mohawk Valley which pulled the center up the Hudson 
 and away from the strong Baptist center of Philadelphia. Peck had come out 
 of New England and had been stimulated Into missionary zeal by forces which 
 emanated from the Massachusetts missionary activity. 
 
 9. — The items included under "total beneficence" are gifts to all benevolent 
 objects, 1. e., everything except church support. So far as financial center In 
 the all-inclusive sense (both church support and beneficence) is concerned, a 
 computation would probably find it in the same region as the other centers. 
 Careful study shows that both in 1817 and 1917 the Baptist focus is generally 
 normal ; that of any category lying not very far from the membership center, 
 as appears by references to the maps. 
 
 10. — This geographical center of giving to the Foreign Mission Society 
 west of all other centers and so far west of the church-membership center, 
 shows the tremendous success of the Home Mission Society in generating the 
 spirit of unselfish service in the fields which it has developed. 
 
 11.— Sources of information available were: (a) Massachusetts Baptist 
 Missionary Society and (b) such other societies (which were many) as were 
 dispensing funds in home missionary activity. Gifts for one year running 
 from early 1816 into 1817 were included. All evidences of money given for 
 home missions, directly and indirectly, were gathered, reported gifts carefully 
 analyzed, and consistent estimates made so as to allow for all that wan given 
 for the home missionary cause as it was in 1817. 
 
 12. — The items included under "Home Beneficence" are : 
 
 (a) Gifts to the American Baptist Home Mission Society. 
 
 (b) Gifts to the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society. 
 
 (c) Gifts to the American Baptist Publication Society. 
 
 (d) Gifts to the State Missions (inclusive of City Missions). 
 
 (e) Gifts to the City Missions where not included In (d) above. 
 
 THE FUTURE OF HOME MISSIONS 
 
 THE FIELD AND THE FORCES 
 BY STATES 
 
 PROTESTANT CHURCH MEMBERS 
 ALL OTHERS 
 
 * IS THIS COUNTRY CHRISTIANIZED?' 
 
 fagt IS4