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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

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CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
OF THE

Founding of the First Methodist Episcopal
Church in Illinois, at Shiloh

AUGUST 14th, 1907

m
ADDRESS
BY

M. H. CHAMBERLIN, LL. D.
President of McKendree College

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST

Q IQ~K

Three generations have passed away since the event which
we have met this day to commemorate.

A full century has

registered its course since, on this spot, the Methodist pioneers erected an edifice dedicated to divine worship. It was the
first structure of its kind reared by Protestantism in the territory embraced within the present boundaries of Illinois.
The Baptists organized the first Protestant society in 1787,
at New Design, within the present limits of Monroe Couny,
while the Methodists formed a "Class" in the "American Bottom," in 1793, under the ministrations of Rev. Joseph Lillard,
who placed at its head Capt. Joseph Ogle, converted under
the preaching of Rev. James Smith, a Baptist clergyman from
Kentucky.

Subsequently, Mr. Ogle changed his location to
Ridge Prairie, fixed his residence but a short distance from
this place, where his class-which had been disbanded-was
re-organized, with nineteen members, from which sprang the
movement giving rise to this occasion.
The above events transpired within the boundaries of St.
Clair County, which, at that time, included the whole of
Southern Illinois, with its northern boundary reaching toward
Peoria, beyond' which latter point white settlements were
practically unknown; so that, to be at the head of the first

society of Methodism in this county gave to Peter Cartwright
the fullest warrant in styling Joseph Ogle "The real pioneer
and leader of Episcopal Methodism in the State of Illinois,"
and fixes this place as the one where it had its permanent
organized beginnings.
Joseph Ogle was a native Virginian.

He was a soldier ir

the Revolution, serving as captain of a company under commission of Patrick Henry, and, after his removal to the West
was made, by the Illinois pioneers, the leader of an organization formed for their protection against Indian incursions
He was a man of devout Christian character, strong intellectual force and intrepid courage, mingled with gentleness of,
disposition; in short, one worthy the distinction accorded him
by the late Dr. Cartwright.

The commission given him by

Rev. Joseph Lillard, the first Methodist preacher in Illinois
was not a whit less important than that which was bestowed
upon him by Patrick Henry.
While to the Baptists is due the historic credit of having
introduced the Protestant religion in this state, it is not to
be forgotten that, more than a century before their advent to
what is now known as Illinois, the Catholic Church, under
the leadership of the gentle, yet courageous, Marquette, had
raised the standard of the cross among the aborigines of this
territory.

This was incidental to the exploring expeditions

of the French, and the work of that great missionary has, in'
some form, held a continuous footing, in this region, from the
date of its inauguration to the present moment.
Thus much of a general setting for the necessarily brief,
and therefore imperfect, recital which is to follow.
The comely edifice now gracing these grounds-one unusually imposing for a rural neighborhood-is the successor
Four

to a one-story brick building erected in 1843 by William
Moore, who settled at Shiloh, in 1811, where he maintained his
residence to the date of his death, in 1849. Mr. Moore was
one of the most useful men in his church, and an effective
local preacher. The fact of the building of this church is
mentioned on authority of his son Amos, now living in Lebanon, for the reason that, in all the statements we have read
concerning the various houses of worship credited to this
place, the one built by Mr. Moore is omitted. The Moore
church was preceded by one built in 1819, which latter structure supplanted the original log meeting-house erected one
hundred years ago. The logs for the structure having been
properly prepared by notching and dressing-the seats and
floor split and axe-hewn from the same material-were
brought to the ground ready to be put in place, after the
manner qf the day, by the gratuitously contributed labors of
an assembled community. About this time a camp-meeting
was appointed for this place, and the materials prepared for
the church building were used for seating and other purposes
on that occasion. The camp-meeting was one of great power,
resulting in many conversions, and numbers of those who had
come into the new-found life remained over to the "raising,"
and quick work was made, by freshly consecrated hands, of
bringing into being the first temple for Protestant worship
erected in this great commonwealth, where stated public religious services have been maintained from the date of its
founding to the present period. This locality was then known
as "Three Springs," so designated from the triple source from
which both neighbor and traveler secured their water supply
at the foot of this overseeing hilltop, but in pursuance of the
great religious awakening that occurred at the remarkable
Fve

camp-meeting held on these grounds at the time the church
was erected, the name was most fittingly changed to "Shiloh,"
the death-bed utterance of the patriarch Jacob.

This camp-

meeting was the second held in the state, the first occurring
at Goshen, near Edwardsville, in April, only four months
prior-both being under the supervision of the Reverend (subsequently Bishop) McKendree, who was the chief early benefactor of the first-founded college in Illinois, and for whom
the institution is named.

Dr. McClintock, one of the master-

ful scholars and writers of Methodism, says of McKendree
that he was "one of the greatest preachers of any church or
any age."

At the camp-meeting it is said that, under his

preaching and that of Jesse Walker, men fell as if dead, while
others were subjected to strange physical contortions-a phenomenon in that day, designated as the "jerks," and of frequent occurrence at great religious gatherings.

The, stronger

the opposition of those subject to these visitations, the more
severe the affliction, and those attending such meetings in the
spirit of defiance were the greater sufferers from the maladyone case being reported of actual death from a broken neck,
induced by violent resistance.

No satisfactory explanation has

ever been given for these strange physical manifestations
under religious excitement; while it is true that the nonresistant subject-no matter how great may have been his
moral obloquy-on his deliverance, could be aptly described
as one having been "jerked" into the kingdom.

These phe-

nomena soon passed out of the category of camp-meeting
experiences, and other forms of excitement, less violent, took
their place, until the old-fashioned camp-meeting has practically evoluted into the modern Chautauqua-whether for the
better or the worse is, by some, made a debatable question.
Six

The annual camp-meetings of the olden time, where the atti:ndants were called from their beds, to breakfast, prayer and
public worship, at stated hours, by blasts from a conch shell
of the sea, or by the trumpeting of a tin horn, were occasions
of great solemnity, as well as social converse, for the pioneer
settlers who, annually, gathered

from their homes widely

dispersed over many miles of territory.

The quickly pitched

tents-and hastily built cabins-mostly the former-were generous hostelries for stranger and acquaintance alike, and the
Christian fellowship there enjoyed, in the meeting with old
and the making of new friends, proved a profound comfort
to the lonely settlers, in their frontier cabins, during the intervals between these annual convocations.

The old-time camp-

meetings which were held here for many years-certainly
twenty-five in annual succession-together with those conducted at Union Grove, Edwardsville and many other places,
have gone to a grave that no shell of the sea or tin horn blast
will ever call to resurrection.
But let us linger on this camp ground of 1807 a few moments longer, and listen to the words of Bishop McKendree
as he addresses the Ogle class of nineteen members, much as
a bishop would, or should, talk to a body of young men having
been recommended at annual conference for licentiate orders.
We will not anticipate, for his address will be read to you
by the one who is to succeed me on this platform.

It practi-

cally sums up the whole of Christian duty, broadly defines
the uses of the organized church, urges the class "not to forget
their anti-slavery pledges," and bids them, "whei a brother,
or another, offends, or makes a mistake, to be as ready to
forgive him as you are to forgive yourself when you err." A
quaint and rational method of enforcing the doctrine of forSeven

giveness.

When he said, "Perhaps we are building for cei-

turies, and that this church, constituted as it is at this early
day, may exert a marked and helpful influence in shaping the
destiny of the great state which this country will some day
become," he made a prophetic utterance. One century of the
plural number of which he spoke has passed, and we are here
to celebrate the event.
Three remarkable occurrences transpired at that August
camp-meeting in 1807:

The erection of the first Protestant
house of worship in Illinois; the speech of Bishop McKendree
to Captain Ogle's class, and its report by Rev. James Lemen,
a Baptist preacher-probably the first reportorial service ever
rendered in this state for the preservation of an extemporaneous address.
Methodism owes much to the Baptists; it being the instrument, through one of its preachers, in the conversion of its
first class-leader in Illinois, and the preservation of the address
made by Bishop McKendree to the class over which Captain
Ogle presided.
During the period between 1807 and 1819 this charge, as
others on the circuit, was served by eighteen preachers in the
following order: John Clingan, Jesse Walker, Abram Amos,
Daniel Fraley, Jesse Walker for a second term, James Dixon,
Ivy Walke, James Nolan, John Scripps, Jesse Haile, Joseph
Pownell and S. H. Thompson-the last-named succeeding
himself for a second term of service.
All of the above-named preachers in the old log church,
built an hundred years ago, were abundant in labors, cheerfully accepting the hardships ahd privations incident to their
self-chosen missions.
To the unique autobiography of Dr. Peter Cartwright and
Eight

the "History of Methodism in Illinois," by Dr. James Leaton,
a former professor in McKendree College, we are indebted for
much valuable information touching the lives of these early
religious pioneers and their compeers, while certain unpublished records, together with personal interviews with living
representatives of some of the subjects herein mentioned, have
added to the entirely too meager sources of information concerning this heroic period of western evangelism.
Rev. Jesse Walker, who served this circuit in 1806, the year
previous to building the church, was returned in 1808, and
again in 1811, and served as presiding elder for four years1812-1816--on the Illinois District, of which this circuit was a
part. His was a wonderful record, embracing a period of more
than thirty years, during which time his travels covered an
area of territory not surpassed by any itinerant of his generation. As circuit rider, presiding elder and missionary to the
Indians, there were but few settlements in Illinois, Missouri,
Indiana or Tennessee into which he had not entered before the
advent of any of his contemporaries. It is thought that he was
the first preacher that ever proclaimed the gospel in Chicago,
while to him is accredited the establishment of the first Methodist Society in St. Louis, in 1820, though it is certain that the
Rev. John Scripps had this point as one of his regular preaching places as early as 1816.
Jesse Walker was a man of great courage, profound convictions, deep piety, indefatigable industry, and, with all, a
good judge of human nature. His preaching consisted in
telling the simple story of the cross and the efficiency of
divine grace to save to the uttermost, with the result of many
converts from all classes of people. He organized the first
camp-meeting in Illinois, near Edwardsville, in April, 1807,
Nine

following it by a like convocation at Shiloh the succeeding
August, the remarkable results of which have already been
mentioned.
In the writings of both Governor John Reynolds and Rev.
John M. Peck, the Baptist pioneer, the influence of this most
remarkable man and preacher has appreciative mention.
The Rev. John Scripps, who preached, in 1815, to our early
church fathers from the pulpit of this century-old church, was
also an extraordinary character.

Small of stature and never

robust in health, he, nevertheless, responded to the "Go ye
out into the world and preach the gospel," enduring the hardships of the pioneer itinerant with a degree of fortitude and
cheerfulness not surpassed by any man of his times.

He was

a fine preacher, excelling in Scriptural exegesis; and, though
his ministerial career covered a period of but ten years, his
commanding influence in the church is attested by the fact that
he was, from 1817 to 1824-the latter date being that of his
superannuation-the secretary of the Missouri Annual Conference, from which he was twice elected to quadrennial sessions
of the General Conference, where he received votes for the
office of Bishop.

He was English-born. He came, with his
father, to this country when but six years of age, settling in
Virginia, from which place he moved, in 1809, to Cape Girardeau, Mo., where he established a tannery.

In 1814, having

been soundly converted, he gave up this business to do supply
work on the Shiloh circuit, to which he was regularly assigned
the succeeding year.

The next year he had his appointment

in Missouri, statedly preaching at St. Louis in a log cabin
which served as a court room, legislative hall and theater.
It is not unlikely he organized a society here at that time,

Ten

though that credit is accorded to the apostolic Jesse Walker,
who preached in St. Louis four years later.
Mr. Scripps, in addition to having given eminent service
here at Shiloh and in St. Louis, also, in 1819-20, preached at
Kaskaskia, the first capitol of this state.

After serving other

fields in Kentucky, Arkansas and Indiana-in which latternamed state he organized the Evansville Church-on account
of failing health, he assumed a superannuate relation to the
Missouri Conference in 1824, and the succeeding year located
in Cape Girardeau, Mo., where he opened a successful mercantile business which, in 1830, he transplanted to Illinois,
for the reason that he felt he owed his young family better
surroundings than those incident to a slave community.

He

settled in Rushville, re-engaged in the mercantile business
soon thereafter, issuing a newspaper under the name of the
"Illinois Telegraph," the publication of which is still maintained, though under another name.

He was a trenchant and

accurate writer, and so thoroughly devoted to the cause of
freedom that, when his conference-the

Missouri-in 1845,

withdrew from the mother church, in adherence to the cause
of slavery, he dissolved his connection with the same, and
united with the Illinois Conference, in a superannuate relation, remaining therein, as a local preacher, until the date of
his death in 1865.
Few man have wielded, and continue to wield, a greater
influence on public sentiment than Mr. Scripps.

It may be

said of him, in a pre-eminent sense, that "being dead, he yet
speaketh."

He raised a large family.

Three of his daughters,

though of advanced years, are yet living-Mrs. C. H. Sweeny,*
of Chicago; Mrs. Joshua Speed, of Rushville, Ill., and Mrs.
* Since died, September 22.
E!even

Edmund Chase, of Des Moines, Ia.-all, as might be expected,
ladies of refinement, culture and Christian excellence, and, as
such, have been, and are still, recognized as important factors
in the social and religious life of their respective communities.
Following Mr. Scripps, his brother, George, came from England to America, first settling in Missouri, and subsequently,
in 1836, in Rushville, Ill., while, in like manner, a nephew,
James Scripps, immigrated to this country, locating at the
same place, in 1844.

There were several members in each of

these families, and the name of Scripps, in early times, was
among the most influential in Illinois.
"The Illinois Telegraph," under the staid hand, well-poised
brain and godly life of its editor, proved to be a veritable
school of journalism, and, in some form, it seemed as if the
whole Scripps generation were well-nigh a part of its identity;
at all events, quite a number of them became eminent in the
world of letters and as publishers.
John L. Scripps, a nephew of Rev. John Scripps, in pursuance of the latter's advice, took a classical course in McKendree College, graduating in 1844, after which he went to
Chicago and founded the "Chicago Tribune." He was the
intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln, wrote the first, or campaign, life of that great man, and served four years as postmaster at Chicago, by appointment of the martyred President.
The late James Edmund Scripps, a cousin of John L.
Scripps, grew up in Rushville, following the latter into the
"Tribune," and, in 1859, established the "Detroit News," one
of the strong papers of the Northwest, beside having taken
part in the founding of daily papers in St. Louis, Cincinnati
and Cleveland.
Others of the relationship-notably, Edward Willis Scripps
Twelve

-have

been, and are still, conspicuous in the newspaper pro-

fession, one or more of whom is part owner in the greatest
single combination of influential newspapers in this country,
as represented in the Scripps-McRae League.
The original paper, edited by your Shiloh pioneer preacher, was, after his death, maintained by his son, John Corrie
Scripps, until his demise, when it passed out of the hands of
the Scripps family, and is now published under the name of
"The Times."
The far-reaching influence of Rev. John Scripps' life can
never be estimated. It was said of him, but for a profound
sense of duty, he would never have preached, and, at the
camp-meeting held here an hundred years ago, he expressed
to Bishop McKendree his fear that "he may not have been
called to preach," to be assured by the Bishop, "If John
Scripps was not called to preach, neither was William McKendree." In like manner, in view of the significant results
which have, directly and indirectly, grown out of that pioneer
paper published by him, may it not be said, if John Scripps
was not called to establish that paper, neither has any one
ever been summoned to a like duty?
Rev. Samuel H. Thompson was one of the most urbane men
of his day, everywhere noted for his polished manners, deep
religious character and able sermons. He served in the office
of presiding elder several terms, and represented his church
five times in the General Conference. Peter Cartwright said
of him, "He was, undoubtedly, the most popular preacher in
the state." He was an ardent friend of higher education, and
the first President of the Board of Trustees of McKendree
College, and also served as its first financial agent. He was
nominated for lieutenant-governor

by one of the political
Thirteen

parties, but failed of an election because he would not subject
himself to the humiliating service of personal electioneering.
Gov. Reynolds is authority for the statement that, "He possessed an irreproachable character, and would not tarnish it
by an electioneering act."

He was presiding elder of this

district in 1816, when the first session of the Missouri Conference was held in the pioneer Shiloh Church.

He was a

Pennsylvanian by birth, and raised in the Presbyterian faith.
He held the first camp-meeting in Indiana in 1810, the year
succeeding his entrance into the itineracy.

He had a marvel-

ous power over his congregations, and, as a solicitor for money
in public congregations, surpassed all men of his time.

He

was himself a generous giver, always the leading subscriber
when asking help for any object where Christian benevolence
was the subject of his solicitations, and he has been known,
on such occasions, to give his last dollar, thereby making it
necessary to borrow money to meet his own immediate needs.
In the absence of the Bishop, at the annual session of the
Illinois Conference in 1830, he was unanimously chosen to
preside over its deliberations. On account of failing health
he was twice superannuated, in 1824, and again in 1841, after
which he was appointed Commissioner of the United States
Land Office at Edwardsville, Ill., by President Van Buren, at
which post he died the succeeding year.
While it would be interesting to follow up the names of
those who have served this charge in regular succession during the existence of the old log church, supplanted in 1819,
the time allotted will not admit of the undertaking.
Three characters who were well known in this immediate
neighborhood, two of whom are still remembered by some
of our older inhabitants, should not go unnoticed-Rev. WilFourteen

liam L. Deneen, Rev. John Dew and the Rev. A. W. Casad.
The last-named was well fitted for pioneer life, for the reason
that he had the genius of adaptability, which enabled him to
adjust himself to the requirements of a new country. "He
was preacher, physician, surveyor and tailor."

He was of a
philosophical turn of mind, as was manifested in the speculative character of his sermons; a successful physician, a good
surveyor, and, presumably, a fair tailor.

He drew up the

original Articles of Organization of McKendree College, and
was the grandfather of Dr. E. J. James, President of the University of Illinois.
Rev. John Dew was connected with the itineracy from 1812
to 1840, during which time he proved one of the most effective
preachers of Illinois Methodism. While he belongs to the list
of itinerants that served this charge subsequent to 1819, the
log cabin dispensation, his coming to this appointment in 1823,
was within the date when this locality-the place of the origin
of Illinois Methodism-was entitled to be regarded its chief
center for the state.

He was made the presiding elder of

the Missouri District in 1825, followed by his appointment to
St. Louis, and, in 1828, to Galena, in which part of the state
immigration was beginning to be felt as an important factor
in the building up of this new commonwealth.

Returning to

this locality after a year of eminent service to the northwestern part of the state, he was appointed, in 1829, to the locality
then known as "Lebanon Circuit," and the year succeedingwith Edward R. Ames as his assistant-he was assigned to
the Shoal Creek Circuit.

In the appointment of Mr. Ames,
subsequently Bishop, as his assistant, will be found a bit of
history of far more than ordinary interest. Mr. Ames had, in
1828, been appointed as the first Principal of the Lebanon
Fteen

Seminary, the name of which, in 1830, was changed to McKendree College. Mr. Ames, while Principal of Lebanon
Seminary, applied for license to preach, but failed to secure
favorable action by the Quarterly Conference until a tie vote,
preceding an adjourned session, was effected. Taking advantage of this opportunity, two of the friends of Mr. Ames, at
the noon adjournment, searched out a colored local preacher
-a manumitted slave, not present at the first session of the
Quarterly Conference-and, by his vote at the subsequent or
adjourned session, secured the coveted license by one majority. To have been so nearly defeated in securing authority
to preach the gospel had its origin in the fact that Mr. Ames'
almost uniform habit of quitting the regular prayer-meetings
before the services were concluded was held as being incompatible with the degree of piety which should characterize
the conduct of a preacher of the gospel. The truth was, he
always attended those services with the most sincere intent
of taking part, but, if not called upon at an early stage of the
meetings, the suspense became so intolerable that only through
escape could he get relief from the impending burden. This
statement was made only a few years ago to me by Rev. Win.
Hadley, then aged ninety, the only remaining member of that
Quarterly Conference. This embryo bishop owed much to
Rev. John Dew, his associate, for the kind, gentle and encourgaing methods used in building up his godly assurance, thereby
giving to the church one of the greatest preachers and administrators of his age.
Mr. Dew was a preacher of inspiring eloquence and unusual
power. He was a delegate to the General Conference, and,
as successor to Dr. Peter Akers, was the second president of
McKendree College, having been elected to that post in 1836.
Sixteen

A son, General Jerre T. Dew, who served through the War
of the Rebellion, survives him and is a practitioner of law in
Kansas City, Mo.
Rev. Wm. L. Deneen, who served this charge at one time,
was a native of Pennsylvania.

He was converted in 1827, and

came to the Illinois Conference in 1828, and served in sixteen
appointments, covering a period of twenty-two years, at the
end of which time he assumed a superannuate relation as a
member of the Southern Illinois Conference, making his home
at Lebanon, where he died in 1879, in his eighty-first year.
"As a preacher he was able, searching and very instructive."
He graduated at McKendree College in 1847, taking the degree
of Bachelor of Science after passing a most successful examination on the entire course of study.

He was one of the best

surveyors in the Western country, and devoted his time,
during superannuate years, to this profession.

His son, Sam-

uel H., graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts at the
same institution in 1854; received the degree of Master of Arts
in 1857; became one of the most scholarly men of his day,
and for thirty years taught Latin in his alma mater, while,
in succession, the grandson; Hon. Chas. S. Deneen, graduated
in the classical course at MeKendree in 1882, and is now the
honored and most worthy governor of Illinois.
As a further evidence of the historic significance of this
spot, it has been the preaching place of bishops and men of
clerical distinction from every quarter of the country.

Here

Peter Cartwright, the ubiquitous apostle of the Nazarene Master, talked to admiring listeners, and the learned Dr. Peter
Akers, first President of McKendree College, often ministered.
His characteristic sermons, of two and three hours' duration,
seldom seemed to tire his congregation, and, when speaking
Seventeen

from Revelation, the visions portrayed by him seemed to be
Apocalypse upon Apocalypse.

Mr. Lincoln said of him, "He

was the greatest preacher he ever heard."

Then, in 1837, Dr.

John W. Merrill, the accomplished theologian from the East,
who came to succeed President Akers, spoke with edifying
power, and Dr. Erastus Wentworth, who succeeded Dr. Merrill at McKendree, preached with an eloquence seldom surpassed in the pulpit.

Here, too, a great gathering of people

assembled to hear the eccentric Lorenzo Dow, whose parish,
in Wesleyan parlance, was "the world," and whose itinerary
covered preaching places on both sides of the sea, never missing an appointment, to the day and hour, though made a year
in advance of their fulfillment.
In the original log church, in 1816, the first session of the
Missouri

Conference-now embracing the territory of four

states-was held by Bishop McKendree,

who, at its close,

crossed the state on a four days' journey under escort of a
body of men, led by Rev. John Scripps, for protection against
the hostile Indians.
Two, if not three, annual conferences were subsequently
held on the spot where we are now assembled.
What we have been saying relates almost wholly to the
clergy, the earlier part compassing a period of hardship not
surpassed in the history of modern evangelism.

It may be

said that some of our foreign fields call for equal moral heroism, as well as physical courage; but it must be remembered
that, whatever these godly men may be called on to endure,
they are supported by a great home organization, which furnishes the support for their temporal needs-an experience not
enjoyed by our early fathers in the western wilderness.
I have had occasion, in a number of instances, to allude to
Eighteen

the interest of these early pioneers in higher education as
represented in McKendree College.

To pass over this subject

without further comment would be an unwarranted omission.
The Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians, having made
their advent into the state in the order named, at about the
same time, commenced the agitation of this subject among
their respective constituencies.

In 1827, at the sitting of the

amnual session of the Illinois Conference-then embracing a
territory which has since been divided into a score of like
organizations-a committee was raised, in pursuance of a resolution offered by Rev. Peter Cartwright, with instruction to its
members to report back, at a subsequent session, a suitable
place for the location of a seminary of learning.
time, the

citizens of

Lebanon,

irrespective

In the meanof denomina-

tional affiliations, having secured subscriptions amounting to
$1,385.00 for the erection of a building for Seminary purposes,
effected an organization, through a board of managers, and
on the 24th of November, 1828, opened a school, in rented
rooms, with an outlined college course of study, placing Mr.
E. R. Ames at its head, with a Miss McMurphy as his assistant.

At the same time the erection of a building was com-

menced and made ready for occupancy the succeeding year,
1829. Mr. Ames, having subsequently entered the ministry,
was made a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In 1827, the date when action was taken by the Mt. Carmel
Conference, the Rev. John M. Peck, the noted Baptist clergyman, conspicuous for his piety and learning, opened a school,
as a private enterprise, at Rock Springs, about two miles west
of Lebanon, designating it as the "Rock Springs Seminary,"
having as its principal object the theological training of
students.
Nineteen

In 1830, a Baptist Commission, from Boston, came into this
-state to determine on a location for an institution of learning
in the interest of that denomination, and visited Dr. Peck,
who tried to induce its members to accept his location and
beginnings as the foundation for the proposed undertaking.
This overture on the part of Dr. Peck was rejected, and Alton
chosen .by the commission as the place where the institution
was established, June 4, 1832, as "Alton Seminary." Dr. Peck,
failing to enlist the Boston people in his enterprise, suspended
his school in 1831, the year preceding the founding of the
"Alton Seminary," without taking any part in the latter organization until 1835, and then only as a member of its board
of trustees.
These are substantially the facts, as I understand them,
touching the "Rock Springs" and "Alton" Seminaries, while
"The Jacksonville Seminary" was organized by the Presbyterians in 1830.
For the founding of each of these institutions, Alton, Jacksonville and Lebanon, respectively, priority has been claimed,
and, since they are so nearly contemporaneous in their beginnings, it is a matter of no special mot ent as to which one is
assigned that credit; but, as a matter of fact, there can be no
doubt that, whatever of value there may be to the claim, it
belongs to McKendree, giving it not only the place of the
oldest existing institution in the state dedicated to higher
learning, but the oldest in the United States, with college espousals, having its origin under Methodist auspices. All three
of these institutions were chartered in 1835, in a single Act of
the General Assembly of Illinois, under the respective names
of "Illinois College," "McKendreean College" and "Shurtleff
College," though the second above named is now acting under
Twenty

a charter-"The McKendree College"-granting university
privileges, secured in 1839 through the active co-operation of
Abraham Lincoln, who, at that time, was a member of the
Illinois General Assembly.
That pioneer times had not wholly passed, as late as 1833,
is evidenced by the proceedings of the quarterly conference
held that year in this church, whereat the estimating cormitee, on support of the pastor and his wife, reported the following items as the measure of their annual
20 lbs. coffee at 20c......................$
4.00
20 lbs. of sugar at lOc.....................2.00
400 lbs. beef and pork.....................10.00
10 bu. cornmeal at 50c.....................5.00
300 lbs. of flour at $2.50.....................7.50
House rent, $1.50 per month................18.00
Corn to feed horse........................7.50
Fodder, 200 bundles........................2.00
Fuel, six cords............................
6.00
Vegetables...............................3.00
Salt, 50c. ; pepper, 25c. ; spice, 25c.............1.00
Butter ....................................
2.50

allowance:

Total .............................
$68.50
This report was amended by striking from the schedule two
items aggregating $9.50, as. will hereafter appear, and raising
the sugar from 20 to 40
house rent

from $1.50

spice from $1.00 to

lbs.:

the flour from 300 to 400

per month to

$2.00;

$2.00;

lbs.;

the salt, pepper and

and one and one-half pounds of tea

added, at $1.50, increasing the schedule, to the credit of the
preacher and his wife, $4.50 thereby making the net to aggregate

$73.00.
Twenty-one

In the revised schedule, "corn and fodder"-in the language
of the report-"were stricken out, and nothing inserted in lieu
thereof for want of disciplinary provision."

This last item

was discussed with some fervor, the question in dispute being,
"Can horse feed be construed as a table expense?" the chair
ruling "that the provision for table expense didn't embrace
horse feed, but that the rule which says that a preacher shall
be allowed traveling expenses embraces feed for his horse
while he is at home in the circuit."

On appeal from the chair,

his decision was overruled, and horse feed stricken from the
schedule.

Nothing is said as to how the horse subsisted in

the meantime-possibly on acorns, as was sometimes the case
with his rider in the earlier history of the itineracy.
Imagine such a schedule for the pastors of our modern
churches, who, when asked what sort of charges they are
serving, almost uniformly return for an answer: "They are
good or bad," giving the amount of salary paid as the standard
by which their merit is measured.
Likewise, the records of a quarterly conference held at this
place in 1824, contain two resolutions which indicate the profound solicitude felt by the Methodists in the contest waged
between slavery and freedom in the state; the one approbating
the action of the Kaskaskia Circuit in calling for a day of
"Thanksgiving to Almighty God for His goodness in averting
the evils of slavery that lately threatened our state," and the
other asking the co-operation of other religious denominations
in this proposed act of grateful recognition.

When it is re-

membered that most of these men came from the Southern
States, where slavery existed,

it makes their aversion to

human bondage the more remarkable.
In their quarterly conference deliberations 'one of the quesTwenty-two

tions asked was, "Are there any complaints for non-performance of contracts ?" That one of its members, an executor
of an estate, should have made a mistake in settlement of
$200.00 in his favor, for which he held a clearance receipt from
the Probate Court, should have been tried by a committee of
that body and admonished to return the amount (which he
did), or be expelled; that another should have been threatened
with a like penalty if he persisted in the ill treatment of his
wife, are evidences of the exalted estimate in which they held
the Golden Rule as a practical guide for human conduct.

If,

among the churches, the same methods obtained today for the
settlement of difficulties, the larger proportion of the legal profession would have to resort to some other vocation for a
subsistence.
As showing the scrupulous obedience given by these men to
the public statutes, or civil law, in the quarterly conference
minutes of this circuit, in 1821, its members, by resolution,
pledged themselves

to "discourage

the practice of cutting

timber off the public land by both precept and example."
That quarterly conference anticipated, by more than a half
century, the efforts on the part of the Government to bring to
punishment those who were plundering the public forests for
commercial purposes, from which colossal fortunes have been
made.
Another resolution of the same conference illustrates the
tenacity with which these pioneers held to the "simple life,"
in that they resolved, "by both precept and example, to discourage the wearing of double-breasted coats."
The pioneer preachers of early times endured hardships,
which, if told in detail, would furnish a record hard to believe
in this day of luxurious living. Traveling circuits which
Twenty-three

measured themselves by hundreds of miles, over a country
where roads had not yet made their appearance, oftener over
long reaches where not even a trail had been established,
through lowlands reeking with malarial exhalations, crossing
bridgeless rivers, under blazing suns, and in the pitiless storms
of the severest winters, thinly clad, beset with the gnawings
of hunger, sleeping under the sky, with no intervening shelter,
and through a territory where life was insecure because of the
lurking presence of the murderous Indian, were common experiences.
This represents the character of the men who built this
But what of the settlers? They

church a hundred years ago.

had their trials in like manner, exempt, however, from the hardships of battling with the elements on a horseback itinerary.
They had their shelters, humble though they were; they had
the hallowed associations which are found with loved ones
about the hearth-stone, even though the cracking of a stick
on the outside by some passing domestic animal, or even the
approach of a friend, struck terror to the hearts of the listening
inmates, lest the noise might prove the signal of an ignominious death by the Indian's tomahawk. What stories the early
Thomases, the Scotts, the Moores, the Ogles, the Kingstons,
the early Penns, and numbers of others, could tell if they
could come up from their graves and face this gathering of
appreciative people! The ashes of some of that number are
resting almost under the shadow of this steeple; on this hilltop, which to them was a veritable Pisgah and from which, in
moments of spiritual exaltation, they had visions of the
promised land into which they have since entered.
To revert to the preachers. For what cause did they endure
all these sufferings-some of them men of signal ability, and
Twenty-four

of the first order of capability for material conquest? To
carry to axmen and trapper, and the miniature agriculturist,
the tidings of a better country than that which they had come
to conquer. Look at the table expense schedule I have furnished from the records made on this very spot, as late as
1833-luxurious living compared to the support accorded at
a date still earlier. Such devotion can be inspired by none
other than the king of kings, and should put to flight the last
vestige of infidelity. Think to what an old age these consecrated men lived. In violation of every law of hygiene as
now scientifically expounded; they passed the chloroform
bottle not knowing of its existence-some of them doing
better work after the event than before; traversed malarial
swamps without even a hint of microbes, bacilli or bacteria.
If they had known of these fearful scientific discoveries, it is
not unlikely that the last one of them, in succession with his
predecessors, would have died on the first round of his circuit.
The severe sufferings and protracted privations endured on
the early Illinois circuits may not inaptly be placed in juxtaposition with those of Valley Forge; the one was endured
single-handed, in consequence of which its itemized severities
are not made a part of history; the other by an organized force
more pretentious in numbers; and, properly, has taken a conspicuous place in the world's annals.
But, standing here in this deserted village, more lonesome
than the one Goldsmith has immortalized, let us ask, "What
is all this worth ?" The same year that this church was
founded Fulton, in the midst of a gainsaying people, launched
on the Hudson River, at New York City, his boat in a successful voyage to Albany. The power which propelled his
vessel has done more to promote the development of the
Twenty-five

material world than all the other discovered forces of nature
since the world began.

But who is entitled to say that the

1807 movement at .Shiloh is inferior to that inaugurated the
same year by Fulton on the Hudson?

The one had to do with

material progress, the other with spiritual advancement; the
one with things seen which are temporal, and the other with
things unseen, which are eternal.

The temporal will pass

away, while the spiritual will endure-live when this earth
shall melt with fervent heat and the crimping heavens shall
roll together as a scroll.
Thousands who have visited this place at camp-meetings
and revivals and other churchly appointments have passed
on beyond, and their descendants are living and doing good
work under almost every sun that shines.

This has been a

veritable Bethel to multiplied hundreds who have passed
behind the veil, and to their descendants who hold in memory
the history of its consecrated past.

Its manifest glory may

be said to have gone, but the significant events which have
here occurred made it, at one time, a spiritual Mecca, where
our fathers reaped harvests that are now garnered in the
graneries of God. The Ogle Class of nineteen and its associate organization-in the same circuit, which embraced the
whole of Illinois-numbering 220 in 1807, has expanded until
its numerical strength is measured by 230,000 souls.
Shiloh-"Thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah, art not the
least among" the cities of this great commonwealth!

Twenty-six

This book is a preservation facsimile produced for
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