HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
517 |
and retired. His heart was saddened by the fact that by
reason of unlooked-for financial embarrassment his, as he
supposed, munificent gift, proved rather a financial burden to the
society. To help him in his time of extreme need they paid him
$900 besides paying off a mortgage on his farm. But his intentions
were good and Dr. Armstrong is none the less noble and is to be
none the less honored because of these troubles.
It was thus this beneficent institution came
into be-
ing, for which the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Church becomes sponsor. While national in this regard, and in the scope of its operations, yet being located in the center of Nebraska's population, its beneficent results must accrue more largely to Nebraska than to any other State, and specially concerns Nebraska Methodism. Besides, the two to whose care it was intrusted, after Dr. Armstrong was compelled to retire, have been identified with Nebraska Methodism from its very beginning. Burwell Spurlock came to Ne-
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
braska in 1855, settling in Plattsmouth, and, as we have
seen, was among the members of the first class organized there. He
was one of the first Methodists the writer got acquainted with
when he landed in Nebraska in 1863, and he has known him well ever
since. He found him busy in Church work, and has never known him
to be otherwise. His pure life, good business qualifications, and
kind-hearted instincts, make him an ideal superintendent. Mrs.
Spurlock came to Nebraska still earlier than Burwell, coming with
her parents in 1854. She was among those who formed the class
organized in the Morris settlement, which we have seen was the
first ever formed in Nebraska. She, too, has the qualities of
refinement, culture, and motherly instincts that fit her for the
place of assistant superintendent. We may be sure that the
institution over which these two preside will be speedily
transformed into a real home to the little folks under their care,
and it is not surprising that the waifs soon trustfully and
affectionately call them "Uncle Burwell" and "Auntie
Spurlock."
Mrs. Spurlock, before entering upon her present
work was identified with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
work in the early seventies, and in 1875 was secretary of the
convention that effected the State organization of that society.
She was the first delegate elected to the National Woman's
Christian Temperance Union Convention at the time when Miss
Willard was the unchallenged leader of that organization, and was
destined to become recognized as the chief of womankind throughout
the world. The following letter in answer to one written by Mrs.
Spurlock, shows the high regard in which Sister Spurlock was held
by this queenly woman:
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
519 |
"Dearest Friend,--Your letter is the nicest one we have yet, and carries me back to the early days of the dear 'Old National,' when you and I worked together. I can not tell you how I have regretted that we have not done so from that day to this, and yet it was perhaps largely a regret of sentiment because of the congeniality I felt in you, for so far as accomplishing a blessed work in the world, you have certainly done so. Please thank your good husband for me that he chose the Signal, and may you both be blessed in your own precious work as you have helped ours by generous gift and glowing words. Believe me, always your sister in heart,
"FRANCES E. WILLARD."
While the Mothers' Jewels Home is thus
closely identified with Nebraska Methodism, it is yet national and
cosmopolitan in the range of its beneficence, admitting homeless
children of all races and nationalities. Some have come from many
of the States, and two from far-off Alaska, while there have been
two from India, and two Arabian children.
The work is carried along two lines: The finding
of Christian homes for as many as possible, and the making of a
home for such as can not be provided for in that way.
Those seeking children are particular that they
come of good stock, are strong and healthy, and the girls must be
handsome. Brother and Sister Spurlock are also very particular
about the homes they put their "children" in. It is not every
Christian home even that will do, so there are always quite a
number to be cared for and these are the ones less robust in
health and less promising mentally and morally.
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HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
There is a regular school imparting
instruction from the first to sixth grade, besides lessons in
sewing, house-work, farming, and other employments.
But we may be sure that the moral and spiritual
interests of these children are duly cared for. Family prayers,
services each Sabbath afternoon, and attendance at the Church
service in town, but chiefly through the influence of these pious,
tactful superintendents, are some of the ways by which the supreme
culture is imparted.
Besides the general officers of the society,
with Mrs. General Clinton B. Fisk at the head, the oversight of
this "Home" is committed to an Advisory Board of ten elect ladies,
including the following well-known names of those who represent
the Nebraska Conference: Mrs. M. E. Roberts, Mrs. John A. Van
Anda, and Mrs. Erastus Smith.
Perhaps the following letters, the first from a
foster mother who has adopted one of these waifs, and the second
an extract from one written by one of these waifs that has been
adopted, will show even more clearly what is being done than I can
in any words of mine:
"Dear Mrs. Spurlock,--Your letter received some time ago, and really, should have been answered sooner, for I know if you get time from so many other little ones to think of Helene you must feel uneasy at our long silence. I do not think she has seen a homesick day since she came, and she is altogether lovable and lovely. She goes to school every day and is perfectly happy. She says, 'Tell Auntie Spurlock that we love each other ten times better than we did at first.' What more can I say about her only that we all love her and she does us. And,
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
521 |
now, dear Mrs. Spurlock, I will close with best wishes for you and yours, I am yours sincerely,
"MRS. W. V. HADLEY."
From a little girl twelve years old:
"Dear Auntie Spurlock,--I have been thinking I
would write to you for a long time. I have been here over a year.
I like my home very, very, very much, they are all so good to me.
I go to school and read in the fifth reader. I like my teacher
very much, you saw her when you were here. Aunt Julia thinks
everything of the little girl you gave her, Ruby Viola. Ruby comes
and sees me and then I go and see her. I have such a pretty hat
for summer, it is white leghorn, and is trimmed with pink roses
and pink ribbon. Aunt Julia got Ruby a white leghorn hat, too.
Hers is trimmed with blue ribbon and blue flowers."
Many loving hearts and willing hands have
wrought in this blessed work. Among these it is fitting that a
daughter of the late Dr. W. B. Slaughter, who has been mentioned
frequently in these pages, Mrs. Hattie Hawver, is now rendering
valuable assistance in collecting funds for a new building.
YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETIES.
Up to 1880, little had been done for our young people aside from the Sunday-school and the Chautauqua Circles. The idea of the latter had some years before the beginning of this period been born in the heart and the brain of that Sunday-school genius, John H. Vincent, and in many of the Churches of our own and other denominations, Chautauqua Circles had been formed, and
522 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
Chautauqua Assemblies had sprung up everywhere. While the
religious element was present in this movement, its predominant
feature seemed to be more intellectual, and though of great value
was deemed inadequate to accomplish all that was needed to be done
for the young people of the Church. The recognition and feeling of
this need seemed to rise spontaneously in all the Churches, but
Rev. F. H. Clark, of the Congregational Church was the first to
give practical form to the wish by starting the Christian Endeavor
organization. It was intended at first that this should be a great
interdenominational affair, and there should be but one great
Young People's Society. This idea seemed to take well for awhile,
but it soon became apparent that it did not work well for our
young people, and in the early eighties, a number of Young
People's organizations sprung up in our Church. This did not work
well, either, and the clashing of conflicting claims soon gave
rise to a strong desire among the leaders to combine all in one,
and this was effected in May, 1887, at what is now called Epworth
Church, Cleveland, Ohio.
After this the development in Nebraska, as
elsewhere, was very rapid, and there is now scarcely a Methodist
Church in Nebraska without its Epworth League, with its inspiring
motto, "Look up, Lift up." Many of these are vigorous, and tend
greatly to promote intelligent piety among our young people.
While in 1880 there was not a single distinctive
religious Young People's organization, outside of its
Sunday-school, there are now in the State about sixteen thousand
members of the Epworth League. We have to say "about" for the West
and Northwest Nebraska Conferences do not report their Leagues.
There is not to
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
523 |
exceed
one in ten of the circuits and stations where there is
not a League organized. These Leagues, besides holding
their local devotional, social, and business meetings,
have held enthusiastic district, Conference, and State
conventions, at which topics relating to their work have
been discussed, and plans of work made. |
524 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
Many widely noted and world famous men
and women have been heard from time to time from the Assembly
platform, including such well-known names as Bishops Bowman,
McCabe, Ninde, Thoburn, Hamilton, Cranston, Joyce, and Galloway;
General Secretaries Schell and Berry; Reverends Sam Jones, Frank
Gunsaulus, Abram Palmer, Thirkield, McDowell, Eaton, Parkhurst,
Nicholson, Driver, McIntyre; Generals O. O. Howard and Fitzhugh
Lee; Colonel Bain, and Mrs. Ballington Booth, and many others.
This was the first of the summer Assemblies to
adopt and maintain a distinct and pronounced evangelistic feature
in the annual program.
The annual gross income of the Assembly has been
about $10,000, In addition to paying all expenses, about $800 has
been donated to worn-out preachers, and $1,000 to the Nebraska
Wesleyan, to aid in paying off the debt of that institution. With
the further accumulation of funds purchase was made of a beautiful
tract of nearly forty acres adjoining Lincoln on the southwest,
which was named Epworth Lake Park. Extensive improvements,
including the building of the largest park auditorium in the
State, were made, and in which the sessions of the 1903 Assembly
were held.
The present officers are L. O. Jones, president;
C. E. Sanderson, vice-president; Elmer E. Lesh, secretary; Rev. C.
M. Shepherd, D. D., auditor; R. W. Kelly, treasurer.
OMAHA CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.
Omaha, being 500 miles west of Chicago, where the Northwestern Christian Advocate was published, and over 400 miles from St. Louis, where the Central was then
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
525 |
published, was for many years regarded as the strategical
point where a branch of the Book Concern would be located, and
another member of the Advocate family established. The
writer attended a meeting in Council Bluffs in 1871, which had
that object in view. Nothing tangible came of it until the
Omaha Advocate entered the field.
The origin of this enterprise dates back,
according to Rev. W. G. Vessels, formerly of the West Nebraska
Conference, to a paper called The Vanguard, which he
published, and which was changed to the Nebraska Christian
Advocate, and after fifteen months was sold to Rev. Geo. S.
Davis and became the Nebraska Methodist, which was
published for one year at Hastings, Dr. George S. Davis being
editor, and Dr. L. F. Britt being associate editor.
It was then removed to University Place, where
Davis continued to edit and publish it for two years. In 1890, Dr.
J. W. Shenk bought an interest in it and the plant was removed to
Omaha, the first issue of the paper from Omaha bearing date of
August 9, 1890. On the first of the following January, Geo. S.
Davis sold his interest to Dr. Shenk and was soon after appointed
to the difficult and responsible position of superintendent of
missions in Bulgaria.
Dr. Shenk now became sole editor and soon after
sole owner of the paper. In 1892 the General Conference made the
paper an official organ of that body and appointed a publishing
commission consisting of Bishop J. P. Newman, Dr. J. B. Maxfield,
Dr. C. F. Creighton, Dr. J. W. Shenk, John Date, Dr. B. L. Paine,
and C. F. Welter. This body operated under the name of the
Methodist
34
526 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
Publishing Company, but the commission refusing to become
financially responsible for any obligations, the financial burden
fell upon the chief owner of the stock, Dr. J. W. Shenk, who was
thus made the real publisher as well as editor, to which position
he had been elected by the Commission. In 1896 the General
Conference accepted the paper as a donation to the Church, and
appropriated a subsidy of $3,000 a year to aid in its publication.
Under the impetus thus given, the subscription list, which in 1890
consisted of 800 subscribers, when it came to Omaha and had
increased to 4,000 in 1896, went up to 6,500, the largest
subscription list of any subsidized paper in the Church. Under the
arrangement Curts and Jennings were the nominal publishers, but
the editor, Rev. Dr. J. W. Shenk, who had been elected by the Book
Committee, was made solely responsible for the financial as well
as the editorial management.
In the fall of 1899 a movement toward
consolidation of our Advocates was inaugurated by the
Kansas Conference, and a memorial was sent up to the General
Conference to that end. It resulted in the consolidation of the
Omaha Christian Advocate, the Rocky Mountain Christian
Advocate, and the Central Christian Advocate, and the
place of publication was removed to Kansas City, Missouri,
together with the removal of the Methodist Book Depository from
St. Louis to that city. By this means a large list of subscribers
was transferred from the Omaha Christian Advocate to the
Central Christian Advocate. At the time of the
consolidation the subscription list of the Omaha Christian
Advocate was increasing rapidly.
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
527 |
The fourth period has witnessed a
marked development of the evangelistic form of Church-work, and
brought into the field a large number of professional evangelists,
or men and women who have felt themselves called to that work.
This has been attributed by some to the want of spirituality in
the pastorate, and lack of old-time spiritual power in the Church
generally. But this is an erroneous view and does injustice to a
noble class of men who are burdened with the care of increasingly
large Churches, with a complex machinery that calls for the same
degree of devotion and sometimes more of care than the fathers
knew. Their very success in building up strong Churches has
brought about these changed conditions to which Methodism is
adjusting herself. This readiness to adopt new methods in the
accomplishment of her soul-saving, soul-nurturing mission, has
been characteristic of our Church from the first, and one of the
sources of her power. To her it is not means and methods that are
sacred and fundamental, but the end, which is the salvation of men
and building them up into strong, clean characters. She is ready
to discard the old methods whenever new ones seem better adapted
to that great purpose.
In common with other Churches everywhere,
Nebraska Methodism has in the last twenty-five years introduced
into the local Church much additional machinery, which with what
we already had, makes the Church a much more complex organism than
our fathers served. It would be difficult to mention any feature
of that machinery that we would care to leave out. Certainly not
the Sunday-school nor Epworth League or Ladies' Aid
528 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
or the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, or Woman's
Home Missionary Society. But these impose a new and difficult task
on the modern pastor, and call for equipments other than those
which give a man success as a revivalist. He must also have
executive ability and these two are not always found in the same
man. While no Methodist preacher has a right to be satisfied with
himself if he has not the old-time passion for lost souls; or with
his work, unless blessed with some seals to his ministry, still he
may not have the natural qualification for revival work that the
Church needs. What then? As in the industrial world the more
complex conditions have made the principle of the division of
labor necessary, may not the more complex organization of the
Church operate the same way, and the pastor with these other cares
and responsibilities, call to his aid some man of God who has been
specially equipped for this work? Thus it seems to the writer.
But, however we may account for it or justify
it, there has been a great growth of this idea and method, and
there has spontaneously arisen a great army of evangelists. While
many of these have been God-called and very useful, others have
been self-constituted, fanatical, or worse, and very harmful. In
view of these things, our Church has wisely recognized the
evangelist class of workers and provided a place in our system for
the same. Any Conference may request the appointment of one or
more of its members to this special work, and under certain
restrictions, the local Churches may employ these and others to
assist their pastor.
Some of these evangelists whom God has honored
with His presence and power, and whose labors have been
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
529 |
a blessing to the Church, should be mentioned. We have
seen how good Robert Laing has given over forty years to that work
in Nebraska, and thousands of souls have been saved.
N. L. Hoopengarner, of the Nebraska Conference,
entered the field as an evangelist in the later eighties and was
eminently successful. He conducted a union revival at Neligh
during Dr. Wm. Gorst's pastorate, resulting in some sixty
accessions to the Methodist Church and many to others. The same
year he had charge of the evangelistic services of the Neligh
District Camp-meeting, at which about one hundred were
converted.
H. L. Powers, D. D., entered the North Nebraska
Conference in the early eighties, being transferred from the
Missouri Conference. After filling a number of important
pastorates, among them Tekamah, Columbus, and Trinity, Grand
Island, he felt called to the evangelistic field, in which he has
been very successful. His earnest, not to say vehement, style of
oratory, emphasizing the depth of his conviction that what he says
is truth of tremendous import, seems well suited to his chosen
work. His Bible readings are also very helpful. Brother Powers is
now Conference evangelist and resides in Lincoln.
D. W. McGregor is another one of our safe,
successful evangelists, who, up to last year, had been appointed
as North Nebraska Conference evangelist, and has been the means of
bringing many into the kingdom. He reentered the pastoral work at
the last Conference.
Miss Mae Phillips has been one of our most
successful evangelists, and on the Neligh District and in many
other places, many think of her as the chosen instrument by which
they have been led to the better life.
530 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
Others have entered the field later whose labors have been blessed of the Lord. Dr. B. L. Paine, of Lincoln, has been very successful. F. A. Campbell, W. H. Prescott, and L. F. Smith are now under appointment as Conference evangelists for the Nebraska Conference, and are vigorously pushing the battle along that line.
MORAL REFORMS.
In all moral reforms, Methodism has been at
the forefront. This is specially true of the temperance reform
that has been most prominent during the half century. At the first
Conference in 1861 the report on temperance has these ringing
words in the following resolution
"Resolved, First, That if it was ever necessary
to oppose an unbroken front to this evil, now is the time. Second,
that a prohibition law would give force and vigor, edge and point
to moral suasion. Third, that at each of our appointments during
the coming Conference year, we will preach at least once on this
subject."
Though substantially the same attitude has been
reaffirmed at every Conference since, no subsequent expression on
this subject has shown a more advanced position regarding the two
main phases of the reform, being total abstinence for the
individual and absolute prohibition of the traffic. Here is one
point where Nebraska Methodism will not be able to grow, but will
have many opportunities to show her colors in more tangible ways
than by resolutions. It may be safely affirmed that whenever the
lines have been clearly drawn, as they were in 1890, during the
amendment campaign, Methodism has borne the brunt of the battle.
No Church put in a larger percentage of votes for the amendment.
Indeed it may be said it was unani-
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
531 |
mous. And at the present time, what seems to be one of the most aggressive forms of the temperance reform, the Anti-Saloon League, very fittingly has at the head of it an able, aggressive Methodist preacher, in the person of Rev. J. B. Carns, D. D.
WOMEN IN THE GENERAL CONFERENCE.
It is greatly to the credit of the entire Methodism of Nebraska in general, and to the leaders of St. Paul's Church in Lincoln in particular, that in that Church, in the spring of 1887, the agitation which in twelve years issued in the admission of women into the General Conference, had its origin. The two women whose fertile brains first conceived the thought, and broached the subject to the other ladies of the Church on the occasion of the dedication of the dining-room of the Church, were Miss Phebe Elliott and Mrs. Franc R. Elliott. Both these elect ladies, as might be readily supposed, were of superior intelligence and force of character. The former is the daughter of that famous educator and champion of coeducation, Rev. Charles Elliott, D. D., president of Wesleyan University at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and editor of the Western Christian Advocate. In answer to a question as to how the thought took shape in her mind, she says that it must have risen spontaneously and naturally out of those lessons of her girlhood, that came from her father's teaching of the absolute equality of the sexes in all that relates to mind, morals, and religion, and the rights growing out of this. Miss Phebe made her home with her sister-in-law, and the subject was a matter of frequent discussion, Mr. Elliott being in hearty sympathy with the ladies.
532 |
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
About this time Bishop Bowman visited
Lincoln, and when asked as to the eligibility of women for
membership in the General Conference, seemed to be of the opinion,
that being eligible to a seat in Quarterly Conferences and Lay
Electoral Conferences, nothing could keep them out of the General
Conference, if they could get the votes to elect them. This seemed
so rational, that they were encouraged to go forward, and broach
the matter to the ladies of the Church on the occasion of the
dedication referred to. "That was an earnest meeting composed of
responsive, intelligent women - a more choice coterie it would be
hard to find in any community than were these women of St. Paul's
in the prosperous town of Lincoln in the eighties."
These two elect ladies who gave the initiative
to the movement were at once joined by such women as Mrs. M. E.
Roberts, Mrs. Angie F. Newman, and others, and the result of their
agitation was the election at the next session of the Nebraska
Conference of Mrs. Angie F. Newman, the first woman ever elected
to the General Conference.
But by extensive correspondence, these women
extended their propaganda to other Conferences, and the result was
the election by the great Rock River Conference of that greatest
woman of her age, Frances F. Willard, as one of the lay delegates;
then Mrs. Mary C. Nind, from the Minnesota Conference, and five
others from different sections.
We know the result. When the Methodist Church
saw eight such women, some of them the peers of any lay delegate
on the floor of the General Conference, and one at least the peer
of any bishop, representing two-thirds
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA METHODISM. |
533 |
of the membership of the Church, knocking at the door of
the General Conference, it was never possible afterward to
convince that Church that there was any sufficient reason for
shutting them out, and it was impossible to stop the movement till
the womanhood of the Church were conceded their rights and
triumphantly seated in the General Conference.
Mrs. M. E. Roberts, one of those who took part
in the original movement, and who at the Lay Electoral Conference
in 1887, nominated Mrs. Newman for the place, was herself elected
at the last Nebraska Conference. There is not only a sort of
poetic justice in this, but it is an honor well won and worthily
bestowed.