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THE LIFE

OF

REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D

BY

HIS SON.

PHILADELPHIA:

LOUIS H. KVKRTS. 18 91.

Copyright, 1891, by Key. ^Y. W. Everts, D.D.

PEEFAOE.

Herder, in speaking of a national biography, remarks that " the names of those only should have a place in it who have contributed something to the well-being of mankind. The chief aim of biography is to show how the man became what he was, what obstacles he had to encounter, how far he went, what he left to be done by others, and how he himself regarded the work of his life."

The life of Dr. Everts, aside from the pastorate, was devoted to the establishment of educational institutions in Chicago, to the dedication of church buildings, chiefly in the West, and to the advocacy of pure translations of the Bible throughout the world. The obstacles he met with, especially in this public service, and the joy that came at last with the firm establishment of the institutions and ideas with which he had been identified, are fully stated in the following pages :

" It has seemed to me that my public life, in its enthusi- astic co-operation with the denomination and with public progress, might be a guide to some making the public service their aim, and give them hints of methods and warnings of trials incident to all honest and earnest workers. My indi- viduality seemed to me lost in devotion to the public good, in measures for social and Christian progress." These senti-

3

4 PREFACE.

meDts of the subject of this memoir have been the inspira- tion in the preparation of this volume. No one need turn these pages expecting to find profound speculations or poetical fancies, for the life of which they treat was devoted to other ends. But if any one is interested in the present rather than in the past, in the practical rather than in the ideal ; if any one is stirred by the contemplation of a leader " without fear and without reproach," of an orator who sways the multitude for noble ends, of a reformer of abuses, of an organizer with far-reaching plans, of a creator of permanent material enter- prises, such an one will be quickened by reading this brief

memoir of an active and effective life.

W. W. Everts. Haverhill, Mass., March 20, 1891.

COI^TENTS.

CHAPTER I. PAGE

The Years of Preparation 7

CHAPTER II. In the Flush of Manhood 14

CHAPTER III. Life in Kentucky 2G

CHAPTER IV. Growing up with Chicago 46

CHAPTER V.

Ix THE Service of the Denomination at Large . . 66

CHAPTER VI. Fiery Trials 87

CHAPTER VII. The old University of Chicago 94

CHAPTER VIII. The Theological Seminary at Chicago 109

CHAPTER IX.

Labors in behalf of Pure Versions of the Bible . 117

CHAPTER X.

The Journey's End 129

5

THE LIFE

OF

REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

CHAPTER I.

THE YEARS OF PREPARATION.

John Evarts, the ancestor of the Enghsh line of families in the United States bearing the name Evarts or Everts, was one of the freemen who founded the town of Guilford, Con- necticut. He settled there a little later than the rest, in 1652. There his descendants lived until the close of the war of the Kevolution, when some of them removed to Sun- derland, Vermont. Here Jeremiah, the father of the United States Senator William M. Evarts, and his cousin Samuel, the father of William Wallace Everts, were born. Samuel, whose father had been a sea-captain at Guilford, married Phebe Spicer, whose grandfather likewise had commanded at sea. Their son William was born April 14, 1814, in- herited his fearlessness, ready resource, and power to com- mand, from both his paternal and maternal ancestors. His father was a leader of the militia, raised a company for the war of 1812, and was appointed brigadier-general. He transmitted to his son an erect figure, a military bearing, and ability to endure hardness as a good soldier.

After the war, the brigadier became sheriff of the county,

7

8 THE LIFE or REV. ^Y. W. EVERTS, D.D.

and his little son learned to admire feats of agility and prowess exhibited in the chase and capture of daring law- breakers. On training days of the militia, the father looked on and inspired his son to excel in the exciting sports. He would take him when quite young to a deep place in the creek, and leap or dive into the water with the child upon his back. Such were the hardihood and courage thus developed, that this boy was put forward at wrestling matches as the village champion.

But his father was no less ambitious for the intellectual advancement of his family. As he had been a student at Middlebury College, Vermont, and his wife had been a school-teacher, the children received at home an intellectual stimulus that led six of them to choose a professional life. The spiritual, as well as the mental, needs of his children were objects of the father's care. While occupied in military duties, he would improve a pause in a parade to converse upon religious themes. In his frequent journeys on court business, such was his religious ardor, that he was known as " the minister." When he removed his family to a new region, two thoughts were in his mind, — viz., to establish a day-school and a Sunday-school.

When William was but twelve years old, his father died, and the further moulding of the boy's religious character de- volved on his mother. Phebe Spicer was a spirit well mated to her husband. There was a flavor of romance about the marriage, for the maiden had had two suitors for her hand. For some time she was at a loss how to decide between them. But one night she dreamed that the two young men were drowning, and that she, standing on the bank, could save but one. Quickly her choice was made, and the choice of her dream became that of her life. She had inherited from her mother and grandmother a strong religious nature, and, when

THE YEARS OF PREPARATION. 9

a little child, had learned to walk with God. She was well named Phebe, for, like her namesake, she was " a servant of the church and a succorer of many." No person, during her long life, ever came into her presence without receiving a Christian message. After her husband's death she conducted the family prayers, and if minister and deacon failed to ap- pear at a funeral, her voice gave Christian burial to the dead and comfort to the living. The death of her husband was the severest trial of her faith. They had just emigrated, by ox-teams and canal-boats, from the Green Mountain region to the territory beyond Lake Erie. It was in the fatal year 1826, when the dreaded fever ravaged the new settlements of Michigan. Her oldest daughter had just recovered from the disease, when the stay of the household was stricken down. Betaking herself to a retired spot to pray, she wrestles in mute agony for the life of her dear one. As she can find no words to utter, she becomes confident that his death is decreed, and, arising from her knees, she returns to her house and calmly awaits the flight of his spirit. Again, after prayer, she determines, against the entreaties and promises of kind neighbors, to return to the East; for a voice has been heard, saying, " Go back, and I will take care of thy children ; they shall be mine." Her composure does not forsake her when, in a terrible storm on Lake Erie, all the passengers expect that the steamboat on which she has embarked will sink. Almost penniless, the widow arrives with her large family among old neighbors at Clarkson, New York. Well might she have used the words of Naomi, under similar circumstances, " Call me not Naomi, call me Mara ; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me."

It was some comfort to twelve-year-old Willie that they did not have to beg, though he admitted that they had a good many presents. He was taken into a doctor's family, where

10 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

he had everything he wanted ; but he would not be petted and treated as a child, and ran away to his mother, saying to her, " I'll never amount to anything there, so I left." He was then sent to a farmer in the town of Sweden. Away from home at a formative period in life, he came into evil association with older boys. Information of this soon reached his watchful mother, who flew to his rescue. Without a word of reproach, she disclosed her tender love for him, and ex- pressed her confidence in his future. " My dear son will remember his father's honor and his mother's prayers, and avoid evil companions." " That tender and confiding appeal reached my conscience till I was converted. My mother, more than any other human being, determined my character and destiny," is the tribute of later years to her memory. When he was thirteen years old, there was a revival in the school he was attending in Clarkson, and he was one of the converts. One day, at the close of school, after the Bible was read, he was surprised at being called on to pray, and thus singled out for a public service. As there was no Bap- tist church in the place, he delayed making a public profession of his faith, and thereby lost his interest in religion. His brother Jeremiah, then a student for the ministry, visited him and warned him of the peril of a life not publicly com- mitted to God, and secured the promise of an immediate settlement of the question. To fulfil the promise and to end the controversy of life, a lonely spot was sought, and, like Jacob at Peniel, he spent hours in wrestling, agonizing prayer. Exhausted, faint, despairing of ever attaining positive as- surance of salvation, he at last resolved, whether knowing or not knowing, to follow Christ, to be with Christians, and to live as a Christian should. Accordingly, in the spring of 1829, he was baptized at Sweden by Elder Zenas Case. The next year, with his employer's consent, he went with his mother

THE YEARS OF PREPARATION.

11

to a protracted meeting at Holly. The Spirit of God was present to save, and inquirers in large numbers came forward to the anxious seats. Prayer was to be offered for them, when , strange to say, three persons who were called on to pray,— a Presbyterian minister, a Methodist minister, and a Baptist deacon,— each in turn declined, whereupon the leader said, <' William Everts, come up here and pray." The boy did as he was bidden, and such was the fervor of his prayer that, when he had finished, a woman turned to his mother and said, " Do you know who that boy is?" She replied, " It is a child the Lord gave me." Then came the impassioned out- burst of feeling, "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." The language of this woman expressed the general feeling. The moderator, Pvcv. Henry Davis, took the youth to his own house at Bockport, and next year, with the hearty endorsement of the church, sent him to Hamilton, New York, to study for the ministry.

In the fall of 1831 he arrived at school, with just three dollars in his pocket. There was no " Education Society" to look to for aid, and the friends at home were unable to render further assistance. But, if there was plain living, there was high thinking in the company of Comstock, How- ard, Vinton, Bead, Wheelock, Spear, Knapp, Freeman, and Baymond. The chapel bell rang at five o'clock in the morn- ing, but young Everts found time before chapel to earn his dally bread. Poverty was no disadvantage. Porridge proved good food for the brain. The youth rose to the head of his class and kept there. Yet now and then ambition succumbed to homesickness, as occurred one Saturday when he was walk- ing down the Chenango valley to spend a vacation with a hospitable family at North Norwich. He became weary and footsore before he was met by the promised conveyance, and, as he sat down by the wayside to rest, was suddenly over

12 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

whelmed by a sense of liis lonely condition and uncertain future, and for once in his life gave way to melancholy. In those early years of struggle, he often recalled his mother's injunction, " In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy steps." During the last years at Hamilton he was less cramped. As early as 1 834 he obtained the supply of a pulpit occasionally. Then his vacations were profitable, that of 1835 being spent with the Second Baptist Church, Roches- ter; that of 1836 at Bridgeport, Connecticut, resulting in an invitation to settle ; and that of 1838 with the First Baptist Church in Detroit, where lifelong friendships were formed. His eight years at Hamilton, in companionship with such students as E. E. L. Taylor, afterwards secretary of the Home Mission Society; the evangelists Jacob Knapp and Jabez Swan ; and the missionary Vinton, brought him into sympathy with all kinds of men and all departments of Christian enterprise. Home missions, foreign missions, and evangelism were equally dear to him ever afterward. His student note-books show a familiarity with Latin, Greek, and Hebrew ; but the pressing claims of pastoral work prevented the fulfilment of the bright promise of his earlier years in the field of ancient languages. He did not abandon literary studies, but they were chiefly concerned with modern reforms ; and the productions of his pen were devoted to practical rather than speculative theology. His ideal was found in Andrew Fuller and Spencer H. Cone, rather than in John Foster or William B. Williams. Contrasting these men, he said, " Some men of marked individuality work in compara- tive isolation from the pursuits of others. They are like a rivulet that, avoiding the broad river, seeks in its own new channel its way to the sea. But the lives of most men are blended, and almost lose their identity in the social achieve- ments, pursuits, and progress of an age. Foster's life was

THE YEARS OP PREPARATION. 13

more isolated and independent. Fuller's blended with the church activities, methods, and missionary enterprises of the denomination. His life thrilled and wrought in them all. There is no motive for extolling one at the expense of the other. They represent two different and complemental forms of power. So Dr. W. E. Williams has co-operated far less in the general activities of the Baptist denomination than Dr. S. H. Cone. It were needlessly invidious to assert that Dr. Williams has exerted more influence on the age than Dr. Cone. Dr. Cone's life still palpitates most vigorously in the heart of the denomination, through leading men, preachers, and churches, and by the spread of Baptist principles. The man who formulates theologies, and defends them with mas- terly logic, has his sphere in the ministry of the church ; but one apprehending the possibilities and needs of the churches in various activities, may contribute no less spiritual force to the progress of Christianity. His quicker sympathies, his wiser intuitions, his more self-sacrificing benevolence, his en- thusiastic enterprise, may contribute more to denominational growth than the special studies of the isolated worker."

14 THE LIFE OF REV. AV. W. EVERTS, D.D.

CHAPTER 11.

IN THE FLUSH OF MANHOOD.

While Mr. Everts was finishing bis course of study at the seminary, Baptist aiFairs in New York City were near- ing a crisis. The Mulberry Street Church bad lost, in 1836, its first and only pastor, Dr. Maclay, and was speedily reduced to the necessity of letting its great edifice go under the ham- mer. This was Deacon William Colgate's opportunity to establish a church in favor of three days' meetings, anxious seats, and other revival measures, — the new methods, — of which he had heard such glowing reports at his annual visits to Hamilton. The old Calvinism was so strongly entrenched in the New York City pulpits at that time, that it was neces- sary to establish a new church, if the new methods were to be tried. Deacon Colgate was followed by a score or more who sympathized with his views, from Oliver Street by a struggling band known as the West Church, of which Dr. Dowling had been pastor, and by the survivors of Dr. Maclay's charge ; and all together formed what became known as the Tabernacle Church.

The Mulberry Street property was bought. The seats were all made free. Then the question arose, What strong preacher, with no assured income from pew rentals, will accept a call. On Commencement Sunday of the year 1839, Mr. Colgate and Deacon Houghton made arrangements to hear Mr. Everts preach at Hamilton, and so well were they pleased with the matter and spirit of the discourse, that they urged

IN THE FLUSH OF MANHOOD. 15

him to visit New York City, and look over the new field, with a view to settlement. With great fear and misgiving, and with much pain at the thought at leaving his growing con- gregation at Earlville, the invitation was accepted. The visit led to an immediate call. " If I had any ambition, I think my prudence repressed it, and I was averse to so responsible a settlement." However, with tears in his eyes he yielded to their entreaties. The acceptance of the call led to several happy results. A debt of seven hundred dollars, which he had incurred at school, was assumed by the church. His marriage with Miss Maria Wyckofi", sister of W. H. WyckoflP, D.D., was celebrated.

He became, according to the testimony of Dr. W. H. Parmley, who was then just entering Columbia College, " decidedly the most popular young Baptist preacher of the time."

The union of pastor and people was sealed by the Holy Spirit. Elder Knapp was expected in February, and fre- quent baptisms indicated that the church was ready for his coming. The great meeting-house was filled for months before the Evangelist arrived, and the heterogeneous elements of which the church was composed had been fused by the baptism of fire into perfect harmony. The day he came nine persons were baptized in the morning, and twenty received the right hand of fellowship in the afternoon. Dr. Knapp's first sermon, which was on " Lukewarmness," led to still deeper heart-searching. Deacon Colgate left his great business to other men's care, and attended the services night and day for nine weeks. The church responded to the work as one man. The New York Herald widely advertised the re- vival by its sensational accounts of the services, and its wood-cuts caricaturing the baptisms at the river. The Mul- berry Street meetings became the talk of the day. It was

16 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

the news-boys' cry. People who never went to church became curious ; drunkards, gamblers, and harlots heard of it. The aisles, windows, and corridor of the church were packed with people. Never was Elder Knapp mightier in the pulpit. Night after night the church remained in ses- sion, to examine candidates for baptism as they were sent down from the inquiry room. The new-born souls gathered at the river like a flock of doves. One day ninety-six, and another one hundred and fifty, — altogether four hundred con- verts,— were baptized by the pastor and the Evangelist. Two hundred of them, standing down the aisles and around the walls of the church, received the right hand of fellowship at one time. It was estimated that two thousand persons were converted. " This introduced," says Dr. Parmley, " an era of prosperity unknown before."

As at the Exodus from Egypt, the redeemed people were a mixed multitude. Some were snatched as brands from the burning, recovered from depths of degradation ; others were leading merchants and lawyers. A company of twelve were sent to Hamilton to study, among them those bearing the familiar names of Professor Harvey of Hamilton, Rev. J. S. Dickerson, of Pittsburg, and Professor M. K. Forey, of Chi- cago. These students maintained for some time what was called a " Tabernacle" prayer-meeting among themselves. A series of class-meetings was established in different parts of New York City, to guard and instruct the new converts, who were so carefully nurtured that the fears that many would fall away proved groundless.

On the departure of the Evangelist, the church redoubled its efforts, and its numbers continued to multiply, so that, at the end of three years' service, the young pastor could re- port the almost unparalleled net gain of six hundred mem- bers. " It was no particular talent of mine, but the favor-

IN THE FLUSH OF MANHOOD. 17

able juncture and circumstances," he said, " that account for this great ingathering," In after-years, whenever he preached in a church in or near New York City he was sure to be greeted by some one from the Tabernacle. J. M. Davis, of Newark, who gave twenty-five thousand dollars to Rochester University, and Mrs. Bertine, the founder of the church at Babylon, L. I., and William Phelps, of New York, were fruits of the great revival.

The spirit, aim, and motive of the first pastor of the Tabernacle Church are reflected in a letter he wrote soon after reaching the city to his younger brother Samuel : " I always expect to be wholly occupied. It seems somehow inherent in my nature to be in a hurry. You should never aim lower than at the highest point of excellence in whatever you en- gage. There is no eminence to be gained without high aim, high resolve, and strong persevering effort. As you bear the given name of dear father, you should honor his memory. Consider nothing prosperity in which you cannot acknowl- edge the Lord, and which you will not be willing to meet in the judgment."

Though Mr. Everts was now twenty-five years old, he was known, on account of his flaxen hair, rosy cheeks, and youth- ful appearance, as " the boy-preacher." Free from the tram- mels of form or manuscript, he appeared before his hearers with a flaming desire to impart to them his convictions. In- tense enthusiasm characterized his delivery. He honored the humblest occasion by careful written preparation. Under the instruction of a famous elocutionist, named White, he acquired an impressive style of reading the Scriptures and hymns, and in gesture a self-command that seldom forsook him. No audience ever heard him without feeling that there was some- thing which he thought they ought to hear. He was never like Whately's preacher, who had to say something, but he

2

18 THE LIFE OP REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

always had something to say. Mr. J, M. Vanderlip, who became acquainted with him in New York, writes : " I was then impressed by his extraordinary mental force, combined with sweetness and simplicity. Indeed, I never met a man more rousing and compelling in his private preaching. He was preaching constantly, and his conversational was better than his pulpit oratory."

Such a preacher is always in demand, and the week-days were full of sermons to churches, and addresses ; as, at the anniversary of the City Tract Society, at the laying of the corner-stone of the Pierpont Street Church, Brooklyn, and that of the Home for the Friendless in New York. Every Christian enterprise in the city awakened his interest, but his special attention was given to church extension. He offered what afterwards became known as " the Everts' Resolutions," at a meeting of the Hudson Kiver Association, advocating the purchase of sites one mile apart, on the east and west sides of Manhattan Island, to be used in the future for church buildings. He observed the rapid movement of the population up-town, and when a fine church building in that direction on St. John's Park was for sale, he urged the Tabernacle Church to buy it. It was the Laight Street Pres- byterian Church, built for Dr. Samuel Hanson Cox, where the abolition riot occurred. There seemed to be a readiness to pur- chase, on condition that the Tabernacle Church would sur- render its pastor for the new enterprise. At this the church demurred, and offered considerable increase of salary to in- duce the pastor to remain. But the opening seemed provi- dential, and leaving a church with nine hundred members for one with seventy-four, Mr. Everts became the first pastor of the Laight Street Church, as he had been of the Tabernacle, and preached in a building obtained by contributions which he himself had solicited. This apparently hazardous change

IN THE PLUSH OF MANHOOD. 19

proved to be one of God's plans, for a continuous revival added to the church as many as seventy members a year, for the eight years of his pastorate. In 18-48 the church re- ported four hundred members. " It was, perhaps, among the most popular resorts for Baptist crowds of evening worship- pers in New York City," writes Dr. Parmley. During this pastorate Miss Margaret Keen Burtis was brought from Philadelphia to assume the responsibilities of the minister's wife.

Arduous as were his pastoral duties, his exuberant energies responded to his inventive mind ; and lo ! in quick succession appear " Tracts for Cities ," prepared with the co-operation of G. B. Cheever, Wm. Hague, G. W. Anderson, and J. W. Alexander ; the " Scripture School Reader," designed to meet the objections of Romanists to the use of the Bible in the public schools ; " Life and Thoughts of John Foster," fre- quently republished extracts from writings which had more influence upon him than any others ; and " The Pastor's Hand- Book," new editions of which are still in demand. Another scheme, interrupted by failing health, was the preparation of a people's plain commentary on the whole Bible.

Incessant labors gradually undermined his constitution.

"As the silk-worm spins from its own being the tissue that is interwoven in beautiful fabrics to shelter and adorn the life of other beings, so the minister of God exhausts his own being, and weaves the garments of salvation, for others, from the failing energies of his own nature." With such sentiments he toiled in the metropolis. When he first came there, he used to complain of himself because he could not imitate Dr. Wm. R. Williams, who frequently spent all night in study ; nevertheless his prodigal expenditure of nervous energy for ten years led to complete exhaustion. Buoyancy of spirit, interest in passing events, power of concentration,

20 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

ability to sleep were gone. After a year's rest, mental exer- tion was accompanied by the dreaded symptoms that had threatened to end his public career. Accordingly, he resigned his pastorate in the fall of 1850.

How warmly attached the Laight Street Church were to their founder, appeared in their generosity in sending him to Europe ; and, in after-years, they urged him to renew the old relation. " Your return would be a solution of the entire enigma, and a consummation which all desire. It is our first choice as well as, it appears to the minds of some, the last necessity of the Old Colony."

He accepted an urgent request to preach the " farewell " sermon in the old house on October 23, 1870. As he rode by the closed meeting-house he said to his old friend, Allen Freeman : " This house ougrht never to be sold. It ought to remain in the denomination. Do all you can as a member of the Board of City Missions to save it." Three years later, on October 9, 1873, Mr. Freeman writes : " I now have the pleasure of telling you that the Union have pur- chased the property for the use of the First Baptist Mission Church."

Meantime, on September 26, 1870, the Laight Street Church had bought the heavily mortgaged property of the Central Baptist Church on Forty-second Street, which had been occu- pied by the survivors of the old Bloomingdale Church after the secession of the short-lived Plymouth Church. The old Laight Street property has since been sold by the City Mission Board, and the proceeds, fifty thousand dollars, have been re- invested in an up-town enterprise. Thus the timely purchase made in 1842 has not only led to an honorable history on the spot, but has also furnished the means for the rescue or estab- lishment of two other church enterprises. It is a saying of Lord Bacon that the founders of institutions are the greatest

IN THE FLUSH OP MANHOOD. 21

of mankind. A founder of such an institution as Laiglit Street Church, Mr. Everts wrought himself into the fabric of Baptist history in New York City.

The conference of Baptist pastors admired his spirit and expressed the hope, when he left the city, " that his far- reaching plans for the welfare of the churches and the world may receive the divine blessing, and that he may be spared to see them accomplished." This refers not only to what he had accomplished in the city, but also to plans he had laid before the State Convention and the Board of the Home Mission Society. The former body was urged to appoint an agent for the city of New York, to have charge of " missionary explo- ration and enlargement." On the records of the executive committee of the Home Mission Society, of which Mr. Everts had been a member since 1840, is found, under date of Octo- ber 31, 1850, the following minute : " The subject of devising a plan for aiding feeble churches in building meeting-houses, either by the formation of a new society, or by some other means, was introduced by brother W. W. Everts, and referred to a committee of three, consisting of S. H. Cone, A. B. Cap- well and D. C. Eddy." Thus originated what became known as the church edifice department of that society.

Though urged to accept the pastorate of the First Baptist Church in Baltimore, and the First in Rochester, he had to content himself for the present with a smaller field of labor, and he settled at Wheatland, not far from Sweden, where he was converted. The church was well-to-do, a generous sup- porter of Rochester University, and drew its members from all the country around. Settling in December, 1850, he found that his duties in the extensive parish required con- stant sleigh-riding. In summer there was a garden to cul- tivate. As he was under no pressure for new preparations for the pulpit, and was free from calls to lecture, the naturally

22 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

strong constitution of Mr. Everts during this out-door life steadily recovered its tone. Sleep, appetite, vigor returned. Not satisfied with a growing congregation, so long as it con- sisted only of those who could afford to ride, the thoughtful pastor proposed to give one service a day to Clifton, Church- ville, or Mumford, villages lying from three to six miles away. As this proposition was not favorably received, a student from Rochester was secured to man the out-stations. In a short time Mr. Everts came to the conclusion that the future be- longed to these villages rather than to Wheatland, where there was no post-office, hotel, store, or street. Within two years, in the face of considerable opposition at Wheatland, three churches were organized and three neat meeting-houses built. More than two thousand dollars was required for each, and money was raised by the pastor himself, or in consequence of the incentives he urged. At Mumford, a revival prepared the way with forty converts, one of whom became a pastor in Michigan. All three churches are self-supporting to-day, with houses and parsonages free from debt. If the three vil- lages had not been occupied, the grand old mother-church might have disappeared without leaving a trace behind her. As it was, each of the three offshoots became almost equal in size to the parent stock.

July 1, 1852, when these three enterprises were just fairly under way, the clerk of the First Baptist Church in Chicago wrote to Mr. Everts, urging him to '' extend the blessed influences of the gospel over this great though wicked city. Eighty were added to the church under the labors of Elder Knapp the past winter, and we now number two hun- dred and fifty. We have been destitute of a pastor since the resignation of Rev. Elisha Tucker. We would like to have you visit us with a view to settlement. We will pay the expenses of your removal, and a salary of one thousand

IN THE FLUSH OF MANHOOD. 23

dollars, which will undoubtedly be increased early in the future. Our city numbers about forty-two thousand inhabitants, and is destined to take the front rank in the cities of the West. It is calculated we will number one hundred thousand within ten years. It seems to me that no place in the United States presents so important a field as this. From its geo- graphical position, it must soon become the heart of the West, the arterial passages being rapidly constructed east, west, north, and south, in the shape of railroads. It is a healthy place. We are about to light our house with gas, and about putting in furnaces to warm it with hot air."

The reply to this letter contained the remark, that " exist- ing engagements would prevent my leaving for several weeks." But the church replied, " Although we are in great need of a pastor, still we would wait your convenience, so that the embarrassment on that point may be considered settled." Another remark in the letter from Wheatland, " I feel a delicacy in taking any public step contemplating a new settle- ment in the pastorate, where there is not considerable ante- rior probability of consummating," was understood to be an objection to candidating, and, as such, was obviated by the ofi'er to rescind the church rule to hear before electing a pastor. But Mrs. Everts explained the remark to her brother in Chicago, as follows : " In looking over his present field, my husband feels that he could not leave for months to come, and how many Providence only can determine, without jeopardizing the cause in two villages where meeting-houses are at present in process of erection. This would prevent his changing for the present, however desirable the place might be. He could not consent to visit the Chicago church, unless his mind was pretty well made up to accept the call if given. He does not consider it fair dealing to act otherwise." Thus the Wheatland pulpit was retained for the sake of the

24 THE LIFE OP REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

two out-stations, though there was a growing jealousy of their prosperity.

The pastor's plan was to have one church, with three places of meeting, and three services each Sunday, — all candidates for baptism to be received at Wheatland ; but, as this plan was rejected, letters were asked, so that at Clifton and Mum- ford independent Baptist churches of fifty and thirty consti- tuent members were duly organized, and recognized by Council. The approval of the Council had been anticipated by the following vote of the Association, in February of the same year : " Resolved, That, in the opinion of the committee, the measures recently adopted by Brother W. W. Everts upon the field of his own pastoral labor are highly important in their bearing upon the general objects proposed in our present organization ; that we pledge to Brother Everts our cordial fellowship in the work, and assure him of our con- fidence in the wisdom of the steps so far taken." Contribu- tions for the two meeting-houses came in with surprising liberality. The opposition at the centre made the grateful appreciation of his labors on the new fields most welcome. They had been redeemed by him from Sabbath-breaking, tip- pling, and other vices. The new houses were filled with the divine spirit, and at Clifton eighty converts were added within a year. The parting with Mumford was most afi"ecting. This was the " little flock," and called out his tender affec- tion. Not satisfied with securing funds sufficient to pay for a church, he felt the importance of adding a lecture-room, and, when it was proposed to have a donation party, resolved to contribute to the building of the room all the cash he should receive. This awakened an interest in the project in the minds of some Episcopalian gentlemen, who, in recognition of the benefit he had conferred upon the neighborhood, made up a purse for him of one hundred dollars, — just the amount

IN THE FLUSH OF MANHOOD. 25

of his contribution . Meanwhile he had accepted a call to Louisville, Ky. The time of departure was postponed one day, that the ladies might give a " social," with a charge for admission. Thus sixty dollars more were added to the fund, and the srift was announced of sofa and chairs from William

O

Phelps, of New York. Such was the attachment of the churches at Clifton and Mumford to their benefactor, that it almost broke his heart to leave them. On the morning when he left them to visit Louisville, Deacon Hosmer came two miles before daylight to beg him to give up going, and, but for the definite promise he had made, he would have been deterred.

26 THE LIFE OP REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

CHAPTER III.

LIFE IN KENTUCKY.

The following letter from Dr. S. W. Lind, of Covington, Ky., was addressed to the church at Wheatland to induce them to let their pastor go : " Our condition in the West is peculiar. Our population is rapidly increasing every year, and the destitution of pastoral labor is very great. We are educating but few men for the ministry, compared with the number educated in the East. It is essential to the welfiire of our whole country, that the strongest moral influence should be exerted in the West. We must for a time look to the East for the requisite supply. The condition of the Baptists in Louisville is peculiar. This city has a population of fifty thousand souls, and not a single Baptist pastor. It is exceed- ingly difficult to obtain one of the right stamp, and the church has been praying and seeking a suitable pastor for about two years. They have heard Brother Everts, and have given him a unanimous call.

" The Baptist cause is greatly suffering there. The call, in my estimation, is one that will scarcely leave Brother Everts an opportunity to decline it ; and, should it be im- pressed upon his mind that it is his duty to accept, provided he can leave his present field satisfactorily, I hope you, my brethren, will kindly remember our necessities in this region, the peculiar circumstances of the church in' Louisville, and the large field of usefulness that it will open to him whom you love as your pastor. As I remarked before, this church

LIFE IN KENTUCKY. 27

has been without a pastor for about two years, and, should they fail in their efforts to secure the services of Brother Everts, may remain in this state for a long time to come. If I appear to be urgent in the case, I think it is to be ascribed to my deep interest in the cause of Christ in the great valley." About the same time, J. L. Waller urged the pastor-elect to accept the call. " In all candor, I give it as my emphatic opinion, after a long and careful examination of the whole field, that that is the most important point in the whole Mis- sissippi Valley. Louisville is the emporium of the greatest Baptist State in the world. Kentucky has a larger actual membership in the Baptist churches, according to population, than any other community on the globe. And then the wealth of the State is in the hands of the Baptists. Louisville has the Board of the Indian Mission Association, and of the Bible Kevision Association, and the leading weekly paper of the West, and the only monthly periodical. We need a point of central influence in the great valley. The valley States will soon control this country politically and religiously. We must concentrate our plan of action. Where can this be done so well as in Louisville ? Kentucky, religiously and politically, has the confidence of the North and South ; she is esteemed the most conservative State in the Union. Your position as pastor of the Walnut Street Church will be an important, laborious, and responsible one ; but, my dear brother, you will have the prayers of thousands of your brethren for your suc- cess. The ministers and churches throughout the State, I am sure, will greet you with a warmth of cordiality worthy of Kentucky. I assure you, no man could come among us with a better impression in his favor than yourself. I have written thus far simply as a friend of our common cause. I need scarcely add that, personally, I am anxious that you should accept the call. Your views and mine on all the lead-

28 THE LIFE OF REV- W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

ing denominational questions are alike. I like you as a man, and love you as a minister. You are the sort of person I feel sure I can work with and sympathize with. I pledge you my heart and hand. Yours fraternally and affectionately,

" John L. Waller."

On January 2, 1853, a leading member of the Walnut Street Church, Dr. William B. Caldwell, writes : " Yours received, and we feel to breathe easy now, for we not only have a pastor, but a day fixed when he will commence his labors with us. Suspense and uncertainty to a people already out of patience are insufferable ; hence the earnest appeal I made to have a definite time. But there are many urgent reasons why you should shorten the time as much as possible. It is unnecessary to enumerate reasons ; the general down- ward tendency of everything cries aloud for you to shorten that time as much as possible. It is impossible to express in a letter the many reasons why you should come here imme- diately ; but, when you have been here a month, you will feel perfectly astonished at yourself for not having seen it sooner. Our little girl often speaks of you. As we were going to supper to-night, she said, ' Ma, I haven't seen Mr. Everts for two or three days.' Say to Mrs. Everts, we have a healthy and pleasant city, and that many warm hearts are ready to re- ceive her into the fellowship of their homes and the church. We have no strangers here. Mrs. Caldwell joins me in most cordial Christian love and prayers for yourself and family. Write soon, and express freely any wish or feeling that may suggest itself touching our or your interest. Affectionately your brother in Christ." Louisville was so urgent in its call, that a deaf ear was turned to Baltimore, which sought cor- respondence almost simultaneously.

In February, 1853, Mr. Everts began his life at Louisville.

LIFE IN KENTUCKY. 29

In a book on Louisville, from the pen of Ben Cassedy, that appeared in 1852, a good impression is given of the commu- nity. A great business was being done, and yet a stranger would not have observed the signs of its great prosperity, so quietly was everything done. In twelve years the population had increased from twenty-one thousand two hundred and ten to fifty-one thousand seven hundred and twenty-six. " There are certain traits in the Kentucky character which are everywhere spoken of with approbation. A manly inde- pendence, a generous frankness, and a careless but attractive freedom of manner, united with unbounded hospitality and that true politeness and deference which proceed rather from a natural instinct than from a knowledge of the rules of eti- quette, constitute the Kentuckian's chivalry. It is equally far removed from the suspicious reserve of the Yankee and the foppish pretence of the Southerner. North, South, and East soon become integral parts ot one great circle in Kentucky." In 1852 the Baptist denomination in Kentucky was still profoundly agitated by the so-called " reformation" begun by Alexander Campbell, which drew most of its strength from Baptist ranks. Another question of the day concerned the revision of the English New Testament, as undertaken by the American Bible Union of New York. This question was in- volved with the preceding one, because the Beformers, or Campbellites as they were then called, were strong advocates of revision, and were members of the Board of the Revision As- sociation at Louisville. A third question was sectional. In the recent influx of residents, many settlers had come from the North, and the natives were somewhat suspicious of Northern and Eastern ideas. The agitation of these questions had dis- tracted the Baptist forces in the city. In 1831 those Baptists who had joined the Reformers were given by the courts half- ownership in the meeting-house. The half was of little

30 THE LIFE OF EEV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

value. There were no pews, but only wooden seats, some with and some without backs. Elder John L. Wilson suc- ceeded in purchasing the claim of the Reformers and re- modelling the edifice, but the first service in the newly-fur- nished structure was the funeral of the energetic pastor. Under the next pastor, who was a Virginian, the Northern element in the church became restive, and, aided by the Home Mission Society in New York, went off in 1839 and formed the Second Church. At length, in 1849, both church pulpits were vacant, and both sought as pastor the same young man. Rev. Thomas Smith, son of a wealthy Kentuckian, a graduate of Princeton. Love for him induced both churches to unite again and undertake the erection of a worthy build- ing on the finest corner in the city. The lecture-room was soon finished, but the first service held in the basement of the new building was the funeral of the dearly-loved pastor. " Like the rose plucked with the dew upon its petals, he withered and passed away." Now came a period of reaction and discouragement. For two years a vain search was made for a pastor, until, through Drs. Elisha Tucker and Thomas Armitage, their attention was directed to Wheatland. Not- withstanding Mr. Everts's predilections were all Northern, and his aversion to slavery was so strong, and though the ties of Clifton and Mumford were so many, yet his conscience was so pressed there was no happiness with any decision except to go.

When he arrived at Louisville, he found nothing encour- aging except the field. The building was standing half fin- ished. The meetings in the basement were reduced to an at- tendance of half a hundred. Passers by wagged their heads, as if to say, " They have built a tower and are not able to finish it." As Mr. Arthur Peter says, " The church was very low indeed, and seemingly retrograding, if that were possible.

LIFE IN KENTUCKY. 31

Strength seemed to have been exhausted and the end not accomplished. They were at the Red Sea, no retreat, and apparently no possibility of advancing. At this crisis Dr. Everts was sent by his Master, and threw himself into the work with all his great energy and hopefulness, and the Wal- nut Street Church became strong from that moment." Large subscriptions, amounting to fourteen thousand dollars, were secured. Those who had fainted were revived. The public were interested, especially at the suggestion of increasing the length of the structure eighteen feet, making the entire length one hundred and thirty-eight feet, so as to se- cure finer proportions, and also to make room for modern conveniences. Those who had predicted failure were now, on account of the leader's faith and energy, filled with confidence. The local Baptist paper remarked : " Brother Everts has no such words as ' stand still,' or ' it can't be done,' in his vocabu- lary. It seems to be a maxim with him, that what ought to be done can be done, and must be done." Within a year, on the third Sabbath of January, 1854, the dedication occurred. It was a trying hour. The architect had estimated the cost at thirty-five thousand dollars, but he died with nothing but the front elevation drawn. Other architects increased the figures to sixty thousand dollars ; and, after heroic efibrt had been made, one member giving a tenth of his property, a debt of twenty thousand dollars still remained. The brethren met for consultation. "What shall we do?" they asked, with anxious looks. " The debt, the whole debt, must be paid !" was the inspiring exhortation of the pastor. " Let each one be prepared prayerfully to do his duty, and it can be done." With no other preparation, the service of dedica- tion was held. The occasion awakened profound interest and enthusiasm. Great sacrifices were made ; twelve thousand dollars was pledged on the spot, and within ten days the total

32 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

debt was cancelled. A bell was presented by Mr. James E. Tyler, and soon a ten-tbousand-dollar organ completed the furnisliing of the finest cathedral in the Southwest.

Advantage was taken of the general rejoicing to project at once other enterprises. A Presbyterian meeting-house, on Jefferson street near Seventh, was purchased by one of the deacons, and occupied by a [colony of fifty persons from the Walnut Street Church, the latter pledging part of the pastor's salary. Their departure was celebrated by special services. " Dearly as I have loved you," said the magnanimous pastor, "I love you more since you have given such proof of your devotion to your Master." Thus were laid in love and self-denial the strong foundations of the present Chestnut Street Church.

Dr. Oncken's visit to Louisville, in 1S54, in behalf of the struggling Baptists in Germany, led to the erection and estab- lishment free of debt of a building costing nearly five thousand dollars, with accommodations for a church and pastor among the Germans of Louisville. In addition to this extension of the gospel to the east, a lot was secured at Portland, below the falls, three and a half miles to the west, and a building erected. As chairman of the Board of General Association, Mr. Everts secured the appointment of Elder Shirley to this field, and, as pastor of Walnut Street Church, he raised his salary and launched the new church practically out of debt. The Jefferson Street Church, under the care of Kev. J. V. Schofield, soon had the largest Sunday-school in the city. At the other points, the growth, though less marked, was steady.

The Walnut Street Church experienced the truth of the proverb, ''There is that scattereth and yet increaseth." Losses were more than made good by constant revivals. In one year one hundred and fifteen were added to the church, with a total of four hundred and eighty-five in six years' pas-

LIFE IN KENTUCKY. 33

torate. The congregation became the largest in the city. At the end of the first year, insurance for ten thousand dollars was taken out on the pastor's life. The Louisville triumph attracted the notice of the trustees of Franklin College, Indiana, who, by the hand of President Silas Bailey, conferred upon the pastor the honorary title of Doctor of Divinity. It commanded attention throughout the State, and several extensive preach- ing tours were undertaken, during which the church buildings at Lebanon, Taylorsville, and Campbellsburg were dedicated. His parish were liberal supporters of the cause of Bible re- vision, and the general societies contributed five thousand dollars to Georgetown College, and raised in all ten thousand dollars each year.

In the city of Louisville the popularity of the pastor of Walnut Street knew no bounds. A course of Sunday even- ing sermons was repeated during the week to the young people of the city. When a Young Men's Christian Association was formed, he was made president, and a constitution, which he had prepared, was adopted.

The effect produced by his sermons is thus described in a letter from Cincinnati, dated November 21, 1S5S : -' I never, till last evening at the hall, woke up to the excellence of our dear Brother Everts as a speaker. His theme was ' The Mission of the Church.' He was full of zeal and of the Holy Ghost. Judge Storer sat entranced with his effort, and all for a time appeared absorbed in the subject. One gentleman be- hind me wept freely, and said aloud, ' Amen.' "

The following appreciative criticism came from one of his regular hearers : " Your discourses produce, when delivered, an effect it is impossible to describe, — they often hold me spell-bound, so that I cannot move a muscle without a sense of actual suffering, from the first to the last of your longest sermons. The cause of this I apprehend to be in the hold

3

34 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

you gain upon the mind, that enables you to engross the thoughts of your hearers in the subject you present to them. I will venture to say that you have never spoken to an inat- tentive audience. Is this not true ? Now this is precisely the point I wish to call your attention to : how do you gain this undivided attention from a congregation composed of every grade and variety of mind ? By the internal force of your own mind, that turns with irresistible power to whatever channel you will the thought of your auditors. This power lies not in the thoughts themselves, neither in the language employed to convey them, but dwells within your- self. It is the assertion of conscious power in the tones of the voice and the glance of the eye."

Among; the most remarkable incidents of Mr. Everts's life at Louisville was the conversion, in 1856, of two actors, after- wards known as Rev. Drs. G. C. Lorimer and E. F. Strick- land. The story is told by the latter, as follows : " John Bates was an old American theatrical manager, who was catering histrionic attractions to the people of Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis. Not long before. Manager Bates had secured an engagement with a young English eccentric comedian, Edwin Strickland, with his wife. Later, a young stripling of promise, George Lorimer, was engaged, and sailed for America. He was half- ship wrecked, and was obliged to return, to attempt again the passage. In the course of time these two young actors found themselves in the same com- pany, and billed for an engagement at Louisville, where, in- stead of appearing for one month, they were to remain for two, inasmuch as the field of their expected engagement for the second month — Cincinnati — was occupied by Boucicault.

" Well, there they were in Louisville, where Dr. Everts, with others, was conducting a revival. On a Sunday morning George Lorimer and Edwin Strickland were passing the

LIFE IN KENTUCKY. dO

church into which the people of Louisville were pouring. One proposed to the other that they go in, and in they went. The Rev. Dr. Teasdale was speaking. Said Strickland to Lori- mer, referring to the long white locks, face, and bust of the venerable preacher, ' What a make-up for " Lear," that would be.' Lorimer agreed that it would. One day Strick- land was studying a Western cut-throat atrocity of a play written by some local aspirant. Strickland had his task, and in his own room, at his boarding-house, was studying his lines. There came a timid rap at the door. The occupant was in no mood to receive visitors ; his room was littered with theatrical paraphernalia, and he imaginged that the in- truder was a representative of the press. But he threw open the door and revealed two ladies. Said one, with a face as beau- tiful as her disposition and spirit were afterwards found to be by the converted actor, ' I must have come to the wrong place.' Strickland assured her that she had, but politely invited the ladies in. Shortly afterwards their host informed his visitors that he was an actor. Then said the sweet-faced, noble lady who had previously spoken, ' The soul of an actor is as dear to me as any others.' The lady was the wife of Dr. Everts. She had come to Strickland's apartments in her noble mission for the distribution of tracts. She and her companion departed, but they surely left a foretaste of a sweet balm in the heart of the actor, Edwin Strickland. Shortly Lorimer and Mrs. Strickland returned from rehearsal, and were told the story of the visitation. It seemed to go no further ; for a long time it went no further with Mrs. Strick- land, who afterwards became converted by the preaching of her own husband. But Strickland had entertained angels unawares, despite himself, and the fruitage came in good time. Again and again went Lorimer and Strickland to the church, and heard Dr. Everts preach. Once the latter came

36 THE LIFE OF REV. AV. W. EVERTS, D.D. .

to their rooms, where the two men were carousing a bit with others of the troupe. Even to this day Dr. Strickland re- members how he offered their visitor wine, and how he refused. ^ You have offended against the Lord your God, and your sins will find you out,' said the pastor, solemnly. ' Your sins will find you out' struck the elder actor with conviction, for some time before the same words had pierced his soul, as they came from the lips of the dying tragedian, who in the death-struggle seized him by the wrists and shouted them in his ears. Before their engagement was up, Lorimer and Strickland were baptized at the same time, in the same bap- tistry, by the hands of Dr. Everts. Then the ladies rallied around them in grand style ; and Lorimer, having been for a time under the tutelage of instructors at Georgetown College, in Kentucky, who did not understand him, instituted a school in elocution, and soon had some fifty scholars. Then each pursued his particular way, in time was duly ordained, and began a new career."

The phenomenal success of the Louisville pastorate was attained in spite of many difficulties. It would be preferable to make no reference to the envy that success always provokes, but envy may, as in this case, appeal to motives in others that are honorable. The first honorable opposition encountered was aroused by an article published by the new pastor in May, 1853, in the Western Recorder^ the chief Baptist paper in the Southwest, in justification of the union of Baptists and Reformers in the revision of the Bible. AVhen, two years later, duriug a revival in the Reformers' Church near his own, the Baptist pastor offered prayer, and went so far as to preach, envious men circulated the report that Elder Everts was secretly a " Campbellite." When it is remembered how the Reformers had divided, and distracted the Baptists in Kentucky, it is not surprising that such reports occasioned

LIFE IN KENTUCKY. 37

wide-spread alarm. This feeling was intensified when, upon the death of John L. Waller, the Long Run Association, on the motion of the pastor of Walnut Street, passed resolu- tions eulogizing his character, and vindicating his fame as a Baptist leader against those who had sought to disparage him because of his union with " Campbellites" in the Revision As'sociation. This called out a bitter editorial attack from a. Tennessee paper, which also began in 1855 to publish invidi- ous letters from Louisville, with flings at fine houses, organs, titled preachers, heresy and disloyalty to the denomination. Fuel was added to the flames by the publication of the " Bible Prayer-book," designed to assist and encourage private and family devotion, but regarded by those who had begun to be suspicious of the author's orthodoxy as a bold plan to intro- duce ritualism into the denomination. Soon the charge of " Universalism" was bandied about, because the preacher had expressed a preference of an upright man of the world to an immoral professor of religion.

Far from yielding the position he had taken, in the revi- sion movement, Dr. Everts made use of the columns of the Christian Repository^ a monthly that was under his control, to conduct a lengthy controversy with Dr. J. M. Pendleton, the author of "An Old Landmark Reset," and a leader in the so-called " Landmark" movement. Dr. Pendleton held that Pedobaptist bodies were not churches of Christ, and that Pedobaptist ministers could not administer valid baptism, or lawfully be allowed to preach in Baptist pulpits.

These three positions were stated and controverted at length in the magazine. " Pedobaptists are in the condition of a regiment or a company which has misapprehended an order or line of command, and not of one intentionally rebelling against military order. Many evil consequences may follow, but they may not be disowned for the misapprehension of one

38 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

order, while observing ten. Baptism is not the whole busi- ness of the minister, nor the whole duty of the believer. Surely, moral deficiency should go farther to invalidate the claim to be regarded as a regular church of Christ, than cere- monial deficiency. There are the fragrance and beauty and color of the rose, but the name ' dog's-tail,' or maybe ' night shade,' is given to it. There are the structure and flower of the nightshade or dog's-tail grass, but, upon some botanical authority, it is called a rose. Have not some Pedobaptist communions, at least, got a part way out of Babylon ? Have all Baptists, in their spiritual-mindedness and practical appli- cation of the truth, got clear out ?

" Our denominational controversies seem better maintained than our Christian controversies. Our churches seem some- times to wrestle more intensely against the principalities of Pedobaptism than against the principalities of spiritual wicked- ness rising over the world,' in the menacing forms of paganism, papacy, infidelity, and vice. Such has been the tendency of mankind in all ages, and in every part of the world, to exalt forms and parties above religion. As the marriage ceremony celebrates but does not constitute the marriage contract, so baptism distinguishes but does not make the church. If bap- tism constitutes the separation that distinguishes churches, it is a saving ordinance ; if essential to separation, it is essen- tial to salvation, and we should cease to denounce baptismal regeneration." The following paragraph expresses his senti- ments on the controversial spirit: " It may be fairly doubted whether advocacy of the truth, however learned, logical, or eloquent, proceeding from low, selfish, partisan motives, or con- ducted with denunciation, censoriousness, or uncharitableness, does any good, — whether it does not, on the whole, by awaken- ing disgust, arousing prejudice and partisan feeling, and organizing opposition, do more harm than good, and defer,

LIFE IN KENTUCKY. 39

instead of hasten, the millennial triumph of truth. The bad passions inflamed and perpetuated seem to prevent or counter- balance all the advantage of intellectual enlightenment. And those insulted, while convinced, will continue in the same course of action still. We can no more whip error out of the community by the scorpion-lash of controversy, than we can drive out of the community insults, violence, altercations, and murders by carrying bowie-knives and pistols. There is an order of religious controversy as effectually barring the progress of truth, as pistols and bowie-knives the prevention of frequent altercations and murders, and the triumph of peace principles."

Another complaint was not doctrinal, but sectional. Unfor- tunately for the pastor at that period of his life, he was not born at the South. It was natural for him to introduce James Edmands and Stephen Remington from the North, as secretaries at the Revision Rooms, and to bring Elder Jacob Knapp to conduct revival services, but it looked to some as though his purpose was to " Easternize" and " Yankeeize" Kentucky. The pastor had never made a hobby of anything, of anti-masonry or of abolition, but it was difficult for him to make Elder Knapp appreciate the delicacy of his position. The Evangelist could not endure the restraint, and would have made a public attack upon slavery if his services had not been summarily closed. As early as November, 1854, warning came of " a series of articles of a provoking and denunciatory nature" that was to appear in the Recorder to force on a controversy concerning North and South. Some of his friends urged him to strengthen his position by hiring, if not purchasing, a slave.

In the spring of that year, John L. Waller wrote a letter full of foreboding of trouble for the Baptist cause in Louis- ville.

40 THE LIFE OP REV* W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

"Salina, May 9, 1854. " Dear Brother Everts, — Come and spend several days with me this week. Do not fail, as I want to confer with you on matters of importance, and about which I can confer with no one else in Louisville. I believe, like myself, you wear but one face, and use but one tongue. In plain Eng- lish, I do not like certain things pertaining to our general affairs in your city. There are too many cliques and too much underground working to please me ; and I came home almost resolved to resign all connection with Revision, etc., and to wash my hands from every public concern. I hope, then, you will be sure to come, and do not come in a hurry, but stay some two days.

" In haste, yours, etc.,

" John L. Waller."

January 2, 1855, Dr. J. L. Burrows writes from Rich- mond, Va., that reports have reached there that Louisville cannot be relied on for the Southern Boards. On Novem- ber 29, 1857, S. S. Helma writes from Covington, Ky., " Local prejudices, North and South, are wrong, but they exist. Several preachers and a host of Baptists sympathize with me in my astonishment that an agent from the North should be appointed agent of the Revision Association. You will find out, if you have not already, that Kentuckians are apt to do much as they please, right or wrong. They may not contend much about what they shall do or shall not do, but, after all, take their own course." Sectional animosity was inflamed not so much by natives as by immigrants from the North. After hearing a fiery speech from an ex-New Englander at Nashville, John L. Waller turned to Stephen Remington and said, " You see who are ultraists ; they are

LIFE IN KENTUCKY. 41

not Southerners, but your Eastern people who have come to live among us."

The following letter illustrates the method resorted to, not by a native, but by a foreigner, to arouse prejudice against Dr. Everts :

" Wkst Chester, Pa., July 5, 1858.

" Dear Brother, — I take the liberty of giving you the following information, which may possibly materially concern you. Some weeks ago there appeared in the New York Tribune and, perhaps, in other papers, an advertisement calling for a file of the Tribune for 1850, and offering five dollars for it. A friend of mine in West Chester responded to the advertise- ment, received the five dollars, and sent the file. Some days afterwards he received a letter from LouisviUe, whither the papers were sent, stating that the article required could not be* found in the file for 1850, and requesting him to examine his file for the following year, and if he found a paper containing a 'protest or petition against the Fugitive Slave Law signed with the name of W. W. Everts and others, he should receive five dollars for that single paper. He re-exam- ined, and finding no such article, he wrote to that effect, and supposed the matter ended. Since then he has received another letter from Louisville^ suggesting if the article de- sired is not in the Tribune it may be in the New York Inde- pendent, or some paper of similar stamp, and offering ten dollars for any paper that contains ih^ protest ov petition with the name of W. W. Everts amons; the si^-ners. This last letter he has not answered, and I believe does not intend to answer. He believes that there is a conspiracy to injure you on the part of certain pro-slavery men, and, being a strong anti-slavery man himself, he does not feel like lending himself to such work. One of the letters is signed Frank Tryon, which, of course, is an assumed name, and directs the docu-

42 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

ment to be sent to that name in care of the Express Agent in Louisville. The initials ' S. H.' appear at the bottom of the letter, for what object I cannot conceive. These are the facts as they have come to my ears. It seemed to me that some personal enemies, for the accomplishment of hostile pur- poses against you, were striving in this manner to impair your reputation in your city, and detract from your popularity by appealing to popular prejudice. On the supposition that this might be so, I have hastened to drop you these few lines, putting you on your guard, if it be necessary, against the machinations of those of whom you may be ignorant. With the few data above, you may, possibly, trace the con- spirators, and break a covert attack. Trusting that such may be the issue,

" I am yours, fraternally, " Robert Lowry, Pastor Baptist Church, West Chester^

Mr. Arthur Peter writes : " Dr. Everts's ministry in Louis- ville was an undoubted and uninterrupted success from be- ginning to end. His rapid progress towards pre-eminence in the ministry of the State excited the envy of some ground- lings, and their jealousy soon found out the vulnerable place in Dr. Everts's character. He was without policy or guile, open and outspoken in everything, so much so that some of his friends said ' he thought aloud.' " In justification of fol- lowing one's impulses, Dr. Everts said : "In projecting great plans, wariness should always be associated with just purposes. Many disinterested and noble lives have been unsuccessful for want of practical wisdom. But in the minor affairs of life, minutiae of daily conduct pure motive and impulses may be almost exclusively trusted. In guidance for man they approxi- mate the infallibility of instinct. Pausing ever to consider expediencies of words or acts, one becomes timid and irreso-

LIFE IN KENTUCKY. 43

lute, if not sinister or selfish. One regulating his life only by expediencies is like one attemping to keep a clock regulated by external pressure upon the hands, forcing them to follow the figures on the dial-plate. One regulating his life by cultivating just and generous impulses is adjusting a latent force, an internal spirit that assures the steady movement of the clock and the infallible direction of the hands." The man who fomented the discord in Louisville took delight in the thought that the Louisville trouble would become histori- cal, and that his name in connection with it would descend to posterity.

"In reviewing the Louisville experiences," said Dr. Everts, " I see not how I could have been loyal to conscience and honor of the Baptist denomination, and of Christianity, and pursued a different course. I see no merit in getting along in the ministry or church with men of bad reputation. The public confidence is destroyed by the church which compro- mises with bad character and life. An ancient church was praised because it could not bear the deeds of the Nicolaitans. Christianity is more honored by failure in a struggle to purify the ministry or church than by the most successful compro- mise to conceal them." The conflict was annoying, and ren- dered his position somewhat uncomfortable, but it had no efiect upon the size of the congregations or the general pros- perity of the church. The extraordinary favor of God upon the work in Louisville led the pastor to turn a deaf ear to an invitation from High Street Church, Baltimore, dated March 1, 1855, and to another from Laight Street, New York City, sent April 28, 1856. In May, 1858, he was visited by a committee from Augusta, Georgia, with a request to succeed Dr. Brantly ; in June he is urged to go to St. Louis as pastor of a new church of two hundred members gathered by Elder Knapp, and in July he receives a letter from the chairman of a

44 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

committee of the North Church, Chicago, saying : " We are all exceedingly anxious to get you here, and, if you are willing to leave Louisville at all, I am very certain this is the place for you, and you are the man to occupy the field." The last request greatly moved him, and on two Monday mornings he was on the point of starting for Chicago, but each time he was providentially hindered from going. Undoubtedly a very few of the leading brethren were weary of the conflict forced upon their pastor, and saw no hope of peace unless he with- drew from the scene ; but the almost unanimous voice of the church prevailed upon him to abandon thought of leaving at that time lest a breach in the church should be the result. As a tangible evidence of affection, the sisters Mrs. Lucy G. Tucker, Jas. Edmunds, Charles Duffield, Jas. E. Tyler, V. C. Peter, Kate Halbert, I. D. Allen, Wm. Pratt, and N. C. Morse presented a blooded horse with carriage. At the same time, in May, 1858, a complete set of Olshausen's Commen- taries was received as an appreciation " both of your public services and private worth." The church passed unanimously the resolution, " That we cherish undiminished confidence in the purity of his character and his fidelity to the great principles to which we hold as a denomination."

In 1859 calls began to come again, — in March to visit Cin- cinnati, and in June to succeed Dr. Samson in the pastorate of the Calvary Church, Washington, while at the same time negotiations were pending with the First Church, Chicago. On June 8, a letter from Chicago says, " The sooner you are here the better for the interest of the church." On June 10, the Louisville church requests, " In view of your fiuth- ful labors and the success that has attended your ministry, that you reconsider your determination, and if it accord with your views of duty, to withdraw your resignation." Even then, though the call to Chicago had been accepted, he would

LIFE IN KENTUCKY. 45

have withdrawn his resignation, could he have been assured that this unanimous request pledged the co-operation of every member. For, as his wife wrote : " We shall never proba- bly find a church who will love Mr. Everts any better than this, but there are some spirits who make a Northern pastor's place very uncomfortable. Life is too short to waste in antag- onisms." When the final decision was announced to the church, " They mourned with a depth of sorrow seldom wit- nessed except where the bereavement has been occasioned by death."

With remarkable generosity, an extra quarter's salary was voted to the retiring pastor, but not a dollar of the five hun- dred was taken to Chicago. It was all distributed between two needy City Missions, for which one thousand dollars more was raised during the last week spent in Louisville. Thus the last days in Louisville were spent as the last in Wheatland had been, in firmly establishing new enterprises. Upon the occasion of a visit South, the following year, Dr. and Mrs. Everts were overwhelmed with attention. Many contended for the privilege of entertaining them. A solid silver service, inscribed " In memoria eterua," was presented. Mrs. Everts wrote, " I never felt so overwhelmed by demonstrations of affection in my life." On their way to the new pastorate, a stopping-place was offered at West Urbana, 111., in the home of Mr. A. E. Harmon, a former resident of W^heatland. " Chi- cago is the place," he writes : " there will be a first-class college there, and probably a theological seminary."

46 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

CHAPTER IV.

GROWING UP WITH CHICAGO.

The condition of the Baptist cause in Chicago in 1859 was not hopefuh Three of the churches were in debt for their buildings, and the other two for their land. The First Church was threatened with foreclosure. The mortgage upon its edifice amounted to twelve thousand dollars, and there was a floating debt of two thousand dollars to weigh down still lower the spirits of the people. The community had not recovered from the effects of the panic, and all religious enter- prises were suffering. The fine building occupied by the Universalists, rumor said, would be abandoned. It was evident to the new pastor that the financial burden upon the church must be lifted in order to free the spiritual energies of the people, and after beginning his labors the third Sunday of July, as early as the third week in September he impressed upon the church the imperative duty of raising the entire debt. A committee was appointed to consider the matter on Wednesday, their favorable report was adopted on Friday, and on Sunday morning, after a sermon from the text, " The love of Christ constraineth us," the appeal was made to the con- gregation. Viva voce responses were called for from the floor, and were given by men and women, two or three arising at a time, till the whole congregation was electrified. As it was announced that no subscription was binding unless every dollar was subscribed, the struggle became more and more exciting.

GROWING UP WITH CHICAGO. 47

The most hopeful had predicted that half of the amount might possibly be secured ; but when in forty minutes the whole mortgage had been cleared, many were eager now to sink the floating; debt. But this was reserved as a little mat- tcr for absent members and friends to care for, and in the assurance that they would do their share, service of thanks- giving and congratulation was announced for the next Tuesday evening. " Good grit," the daily paper said. " That is effec- tive preaching." The news spread throughout the city and encouraged the Universalists to save their property. It spread throughout the Northwest, where the whole denomination rejoiced at the triumph of its metropolitan church. It pro- duced more of a sensation, says Dr. Wm. Haigh, than the recent gift of one million dollars by Mr. Rockefeller.

That subscription made possible the subsequent and imme- diate growth of the Baptist cause in Chicago. It inaugurated the era of mission schools, established by the First Church. December 29, 1861, the North Star building was dedicated and the largest school in the city was gathered in it. About the same time a lot was given by a Philadelphia lady, a visitor at the parsonage, and the Shields mission became as well known on the South side as the other on the North. These two enterprises were hardly launched when a third was undertaken in the neighborhood of the University. Lots were given by property-owi^rs, and a first subscription of two thousand dollars was secured, enough to enclose the lecture-room. To prevent delay, if not the abandonment of the unfinished structure, the pastor became personally responsible to the con- tractor, and as the work advanced, week by week, he labori- ously raised the money to pay the bills. The deficiency of six hundred dollars was secured on the day of dedication, April 12, 1863, the church omitting its regular service to attend. He " builded better than he knew," for within ten

48 THE LIVE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

years this property and the Baptists gathered there constituted the balance of the power which determined the present admirable location and the grand career of the mother- church.

These enterprises having been firmly established, the atten- tion of the far-seeing pastor was now concentrated upon the needs of the home field. Business was moving towards, and families were moving away from, Washington Street, where the church building stood. Calmly, patiently, earnestly, he pressed upon the attention of the church the necessity of finding a better location. When, at length, the Board of Trade made an ofi"er of sixty-five thousand dollars for the land on which the church stood, by a two-thirds vote the offer was accepted, and to satisfy the minority it was also voted to give the meeting-house and furniture to the Second Church, and to distribute fifteen thousand dollars among the other churches in the city, according to their necessities. With the gift of six thousand five hundred dollars the North Church was able to purchase a lot and enlarge its building ; with the four thousand dollars given to it, the Fourth Church secured a desirable location ; and the Wabash Avenue (later Michigan Avenue) Church was helped sufficiently to cancel its debt. Reserving fifty thousand dollars from the sale of the property for its own use, the First Church added thirty thousand dollars to it by a subscription taken at the farewell service in the old house, held April 3, 1864, and dwelt in tabernacles until the first of January, when the lecture-room of the new structure on Wabash Avenue was dedicated. On this occasion thirty-three thousand dollars more were given, with an additional one thousand dollars, when the children's chapel, beautiful with organ, fountain, and flowers, was con- secrated. Great was the burden of anxiety on the pastor during these months, for it was a question with many

GROWING UP WITH CHICAGO. 49

whether the enterprise would be a magnificent success or a dismal failure. His old New York physician warned him against the recurrence of the prostration of the year 1849. " If you resume your habit of taking up responsi- bilities on every subject, you will break down completely, but if you abstain from responsibilities about the college and other outside matter, your health may be permanently re- stored."

Had it not been for the commensurate spiritual growth of the church, this large undertaking would have failed. But their prayers and their alms went up together for a me- morial before God. Fully three hundred members had been added to the church since the year 1859. Furthermore, the magnificent pile of stone captivated the eye of the citizens, and their help was secured so largely that on March 18, 1866, dedication day, a day never to be forgotten, the sum of fifty-three thousand dollars, the largest amount ever pledged in this country at that time on such an occasion, was freely given, and a property costing one hundred and seventy-two thousand dollars, declared by James Parton to have the finest appointments of any Protestant edifice in the United States, was ofi"ered to God free of debt. The national Baptist anni- versaries were invited to meet in the new building the fol- lowing year. " Come one, come all," was the invitation, and fully three thousand persons responded to the call.

The proud standing of church and pastor at that time is set forth in the enthusiastic language used by " January Searle" in his book on " Chicago Churches." " From 1859 the march of the church has been a regal progress through triumphant arches and over roads strewn with flowers and amid the glorification of redeemed souls and the acclamations of angels." The recent handbook of Chicago, prepared by Marquis, refers to the glorious administration of Dr. Everts,

4

50 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

when the church numbered " two thousand members." The large figures would be true if they referred to the attendance at that time upon the various Sunday-schools controlled by the church.

At this moment of his greatest power in Chicago, invita- tions came to him to assume the editorial charge of a news- paper about to be started in New York City, and to become pastor of the First Church in San Francisco. The latter call was strongly pressed upon his attention. The retiring pastor, Dr. D. B. Cheney, wrote: "There is no field to compare with it in our country. The esteem in which you are held alike among our ministers and laymen would cause them all to rally around you as their leader in all enterprises. I earnestly hope and pray that you may be led to regard this Macedonian cry with favor. You have built a monument which you can afford to leave in Chicago. Go and seek to build a similar one on the Pacific before you die, and be assured the prayers of many thousands will follow you." Dr. C. A. Buckbee writes from California : " All eyes turn to you. All friends of education are praying for Dr. Everts. The Bible Union wants you. The pastors all want you. The First Church needs you. Christ needs you. God has made you a power for church extension. That is now needed here. Do not, do not say no." From his old New York friend, Wil- liam Phelps, he hears: " Since you left, my mind has been a good deal exercised about your call. There are so few men fitted for that important position, so few that have formative and directing power much needed in that vast field. I do not believe we have a man in our denomination that would fill that place like yourself. There you would be perfect master of the situation. I do not write to advise, but to suggest that if God inclines your heart in that direction, do not pass it lightly by. When God opens those wide doors of useful-

GROWING UP WITH CHICAGO. 51

ness to his servants, it is right for them to consider well before they decide." In a like strain, Dr. J. B. Simmons writes from the Home Mission rooms : " Now, dear brother, while Chicago is of vast importance, and while the work you have done there has been, under God, superior to what almost any other man in our ranks could have achieved, and while we here, and the people of the Northwest, would dread to think of you as having left, yet — yet what of San Francisco, California, and the Pacific Coast ? You would be equal to one hundred common men to our cause on that coast. Please consult the Lord about it. The work, the field, and the man are his." But it was against the policy of his life to make a change unless the call to go was unmistakable. In this case the call to stay seemed the louder. Besides, he considered Chicago second to no field in the world ; his whole soul was engrossed in the establishment of Baptist institutions of learning there, and last, but not least, he had his family and kindred about him. His church had become the strongest and wealthiest in the city, and paid, as the internal revenue collector found, the handsome salary of five thousand dollars. He concluded to let well enough alone.

The new house of worship became known as the strong- hold of orthodoxy on account of a friendly controversy car- ried on in pulpit and press with Bev. Laird Collier, a neigh- borino- Unitarian minister. The sermons attracted crowded houses, and were the religious topic of the day. Though the owner of McYicker's theatre lived next door, his profession was made the subject of frequent philippics. Yet Mary, the manager's daughter, frequently found her way into the ser- vices, and not only brightened the social gatherings by her recitations, but also thrilled the prayer-meetings by her con- fession of sin and her need of the Saviour. Her later career as the wife of Edwin Booth is known to the public, but the

52 THE LIFE OF REV. W. AV. EVERTS, D.D.

true glory of her life was seen, not on the gaudy stage, but in the quiet chapel.

In view of Dr. Everts's repeated assaults on the theatre, the following letter of inquiry from Rev. De Loss Love, of Milwaukee, acquires a tinge of humor :

" Milwaukee, October 26, 1867. " Rev. Dr. Everts :

" Dear Sir, — While at an editor's office last evening, the agent of the ' Black Crook Spectacle' inquired of me for some benevolent society here for which he might give a benefit, saying that in Chicago he gave in that way eleven hundred dollars to the Home for the Friendless. He then said that Dr. Everts, who lives on Wabash Avenue, at first objected to the ' Black Crook,' but on his invitation went to see the per- formance, and took his wife alono;, he sending a carriage for them. And that when Dr. Hatfield preached against the ' Black Crook,' Dr. Everts came out and advocated it, affirming that there was nothiog harmful in it."

In all moral reforms the pastor of the First Baptist Church took such a leading position that it was seriously proposed by the better elements of the population to nominate him for mayor of Chicago, as the following editorial declares : " A sensation for politicians. — The latest local political sensation is to the efi"ect that the coming city campaign is to be made exciting by the appearance of one of our well-known divines on the stage as candidate for mayor, so that the contest will be ' Everts versus Schintz,' or ' Bible versus Beer.' In other words, a strong movement, it is said, is being made by religious people to bring out Rev. Dr. Everts, the live pastor of the First Baptist Church, as the champion of the anti-liquor, anti-Sabbath- breaking sentiment ; that the extended machinery of the churches, the Sunday- and mission-schools, and the Young

GROWING UP WITH CHICAGO. 53

Men's Christian Association is to be set at work to sweep the city with a genuine reform ticket whicli shall make ' rings' and ' barnacles' tremble. The idea is by no means a chimeri- cal one, and politicians had better prepare for a storm. Dr. Everts is said to be a natural politician and a stirring, shrewd business man, as well a@ a successful divine, and if he got his coat off in a battle for the saints, sinners would be very sure to hear from him. We shall watch the development of this movement with great interest."

The year 1868 was full of honors and of cares. One of the trustees of the church made his pastor a life-member of the Chicago Academy of Sciences ; the American Baptist Historical Society advanced him to the oflBce of vice-presi- dent, a position which he held for several years ; the Home Mission Society asked him to represent the West, as Dr. Broadus the South, at the anniversary in New York. Among the minor cares are letters to be answered inquiring concern- ing the Chicago plan of church extension and methods of benevolence and church discipline. The following letters illustrate the burdens he cheerfully lifted :

" Dr. Everts:

" Dear Sir, — I take the liberty of sending forty dollars to your care for safety. Please pay it to my son, not to bearer, and advise him in all things, and, above all, to come right on to Baltimore, where liome 2ind friends are waiting him, and, above all, to let no one tempt him to wander any more or to stay in Chicago. He has had great distress, not even bread to eat. He thought I had gone to Japan with his father. I am a Baptist. Protect my poor boy, sir, and may a mother's prayers be heard for you.

" Very respectfully,

" Mrs. Nichols."

54 THE LIFE OF REV. AV. W. EVERTS, D.D.

" Monday^ 16. — Yesterday a home of culture and refine- ment was threatened with ruin ; your sermon on charity has saved separation and domestic misery in that instance."

A series of sensational articles, entitled " Walks among the Churches," retailing gossip and scandal, appeared at this time, and called forth from him this remai^ : " The press, like a parrot, repeats all that is said in the great family. The family is more to blame for its loose tongue in speaking than the parrot for repeating what it hears."

His sunny disposition sent forth bright rays in every direc- tion. " I thank you," wrote Rev. I. E. Kenny, in the midst of a new enterprise at Hyde Park. " I thank you for the words of cheer and encouragement you gave me at the book- store the other day. I was in need of just that at that time. You very kindly asked me if I had found anything discourag- ing. No, but we need encouraging by our brethren, and this is to thank you especially for that word of brotherly kindness the other day. It did me good."

On February 11, Rev. Robt. Atkinson writes in behalf of Ottawa University : " The college can be saved to the denomi- nation if aid will be given now, otherwise it will undoubtedly go, as it has come to this with the Indians, either finish the building or give it up. I am willing to take hold and do my best if I am encouraged. Please write your feelings about the matter. I must decide my destiny very soon. If I do not re- turn to Kansas I must accept a call that has been pressing upon me from a church." On August 21, asking for help in secur- ing a railroad pass, he adds : " I am asking too much from you, I know, but I have no one else to look to aid me in these mat- ters. But they are for the Master's cause and for the good of the Baptist denomination, both of which I know you love." A year later he writes : " You have taken a deep interest in the Ottawa cause. It is a denominational matter, as you, more

GROWING UP WITH CHICAGO. 55

than most men, will understand. I came here at the earnest so- licitation of many, yours included. The Lord pity Chicago if you were gone. Our denomination, I fear, would not sustain the proud position it has at present."

While three of his children were in Europe, the hard-work- ing pastor planned a vacation of six months for himself. When this become known, farewell receptions were tendered, one on the west side of the Second Church, the other on the south, at the University. At the former. Dr. Reuben Jeffry presented a gold-headed cane with the names of the Baptist pastors and the enthusiastic motto " Faithful until Death " in- scribed upon it. At the latter the President of the University, after congratulating him upon his successful ministry, pre- sented him in the name of prominent citizens with a gold watch. The church prayed that he " might be safely kept by the good providence of God in all his journey, and returned in due time renewed in health and strength to this people, who will anxiously await his coming."

The commanding influence of the church at this time is well expressedin a sermon preached by Dr. Gr. W. Northrup, who supplied the pulpit during the pastor's absence. " Who can estimate the power exercised by this church? I believe there is no church in the United States that is not influenced somewhat by the example of this church. Look at the activity in building good houses of worship in this vicinity, nearly all of which is due to the spirit exhibited by this church. I am not a member of this church, — though I have sometimes, and especially of late, wished I was, — therefore I speak unpreju- dicedly when I say that I believe there is no more powerful church in the United States than this First Baptist Church of Chicago. And how have you got the power ? By giving — and that liberally."

While abroad, Dr. Everts, who had been left a widower in

56 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

1866, was married at Berlin to Miss Naomi Townsend, of Brewsters, New York. A hearty welcome awaited them in Chicago, and at the first public service an original hymn was sung, with the words :

To our homes, our hearts, our altars,

To the good we hope to see, To the faith that never falters,

Pastor, now we welcome thee.

His old friend, Dr. H. J. Eddy, sent from Belvidere, 111., these enthusiastic words : " You are welcome home again to the Prairie State. That public welcome your church gave you, and the addresses, are altogether the best of the kind I have ever seen in print. I am proud of your church. It cannot be equalled in this country. I must congratulate you on being the pastor of such a church ; on your wonderful success in b\iildiDg up the churches and institutions of Chicago, and of the Baptists in the great West ; on your safe return from the East; on the reception you met, and on your restoration to the marriage relation. Give my best respects to Mrs. Everts. Tell her that when she married you she wedded the whole State of Illinois and came into possession of all this Western country. Probably, when she consented to marry you, she knew that you belonged not ex- clusively to the First Church, or Chicago, or Illinois, but to the West.^^ Mrs. Everts was presented with a solid silver coffee urn, and her husband with several costly volumes, at a reception given soon after. His welcome home was so cordial that, though repeated invitations came from members of the Calvary Church, Washington, urging him to return to the East, no one in Chicago knew of the correspondence.

A singular episode occurred in the spring of 1870, when

GROWINa UP WITH CHICAGO. 57

the question of the Bible in the public schools was agitating the West. Dr. Everts was an ardent supporter of the affirmative of that question, so ardent that the Chicago Times expressed its regrets that Dr. Everts had " turned Roman Catholic" in maintaining that religion is the basis of education. So the report spread that the pastor of the First Baptist Church, Chicago, had " turned Roman Catholic." Dr. A. S. Patton wrote to inquire, " What is your purpose, to enter the priesthood, or devote yourself to building great churches?" The best reply to this story was the organization that year of another Baptist Church on Coventry Street, now the Ashland Avenue, out of a mission- school.

The following year the denomination met in Chicago again, and when, on October 11, the great fire occurred, and it was learned that the North, the North Star, and the Olivet Churches had been burned, great anxiety was felt everywhere lest the Metropolitan Church also was in ruins. Dr. Richard Fuller wrote from Baltimore on October 12, "I hope our noble house is safe, but I am still anxious. Assure all of my love and sympathy." Dr. W. C. Richards wrote from Pitts- field on October 16, "I rejoiced in heart when I could finally persuade myself that your beautiful temple was not de- stroyed." While the fire was still raging, brethren in New York City met, and after expressing sympathy and recom- mending " collections next Sunday at each service," con- cluded as follows : " The wish was expressed at this meeting that the relief you send shall not be restricted to any de- nomination or class. It was thought proper, however, that it should pass through the hands of those whom you hiow as Christian men in Chicago, rather than through the hands of strangers, especially if we can hope that by this way you may, in a douhh sense^ give ' the bread of life' to the perishing.

58 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

Packages of clothing sent to 76 Warren Street, or East Ninth Street, will be forwarded to Eev. Dr. Everts, of Chi- cago, free of charge." Dr. Armitage, the chairman of the committee, wrote a few days later, " The design was that all money, clothing, or other goods sent to you should be used as you thought most necessary. Please so use them." Like action was taken at Boston in response to an appeal sent out by Mr. B. F. Jacobs for " at least a part of your contribu- tions as a churcli or school to be sent to the Belief Committee of the First Baptist Church." The Boston committee. Dr. G. C. Lorimer, chairman, recommended that " collections of money and clothing be forwarded to Dr. Everts, of Chi- cago." Belief came to the First Church from nearly every State in the Union. Three hundred and seventy-two boxes were opened, and clothing was distributed from the church all winter. Twelve thousand meals were supplied to the hungry in the basen;,ent of the church. Fifteen thousand seven hundred and seventy dollars and seventy-nine cents was received by the committee appointed by the church to dis- tribute wisely the benefactions of the denomination.

The day after the fire, the pastor had written to the mayor of Chicago proposing to establish upon the site of the North Star Mission, in the heart of the burnt district, a base for the distribution of relief. The ofi"er was accepted im- mediately, the lumber was contributed by the city, and the large structure was erected, so as to furnish a home for the mission without interfering with the building of the per- manent church edifice. This was the first place of worship provided in the burnt district, and in a few years, by the con- tribution of a third of the Baptist Belief Fund, and of six thousand dollars raised largely in the East by Bevs. G. L. Wrenn and J. M. Whitehead, a property worth seventy-five thousand dollars was realized out of a piece of land with a

GROWING UP WITH CHICAGO. 59

mortgage of seven thousand dollars upon it. The property and history of the North Star Mission are perpetuated in the stately Lasalle Avenue Church. In a letter inviting Dr. Everts to be present at the laying of the corner-stone of this edifice, Mr. J. H. Smalley writes, " It has been your privilege to make much of the history of the North Star and the North Church in former years. You well know your labors of former years have resulted in the organization of a new church on the North side. What more proper than that you should give us your words of cheer."

A report of all the moneys received and disbursed by the committee of the First Church was read before a commission of the Chicago Association, and the distribution was com- mended by a unanimous vote as having been " carefully and wisely made." Nevertheless, the honor of being chosen as the almoner of the bounty of the denomination was the occa- sion of much local criticism. The declining fortunes of the North Church, which had received a large amount from the Relief Fund, seemed to justify a part of this criticism, but before that body disbanded the amount received from the Relief Fund was invested in another and more successful organization. Another ground of complaint was found in the unwillingness of the uon -English speaking Baptists to occupy the quarters that had been prepared for them in the new North Star building.

A less painful — an almost amusing — episode of the fire is pre- served in a letter bearing date of October 17, from a prominent but somewhat visionary member of the First Church : " Pew- renting is an evil in our churches which is grievous in the sight of God, is demoralizing the churches, and is depriv- ing the masses of the means of grace, and thus leaving them to irreligion, vice, and final perdition, and it is the great hinderance to works of grace throughout the land. It is an evil

60 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

that must and will be reformed, even though it require the de- struction of ten cities to bring the churches to a realizing sense of its necessity. I have prepared this resolution : Recogniz- ing in this fearful dispensation of Divine Providence a judg- ment against our churches in that they have adopted a system which excludes the common people from participation in the observances and blessings of God's house, therefore we declare the seats in our house of worship free to all."

In March, 1872, Dr. Everts received another urgent call from the First Baptist Church in San Francisco. " There is a field of usefulness open here for yourself such as has never been presented to you," wrote the deacons, and one of them added, in a private note, " Humanly speaking, I see nothing but disbandment before us unless you come to us." But no field in the world appeared so promising at that time as Chicago, and no- where, unless it be at Richmond, Va., was the Baptist denom- ination so clearly in the lead of all others. While Presbyterians and Congregationalists together counted but four thousand, and Methodists but three thousand six hundred and forty- eight, the Baptists reported in the year 1873 no less than five thousand four hundred and thirty-eight members. This showing was made possible by the immediate occupation of fields devastated by the fire which others had abandoned. That the First Baptist Church with its one thousand members was at the head of every good work, appears from a letter of the Telugu missionary, Rev. J. E. Clough, who writes, April 30, 1873, " I wish all the brethren in Chicago were awake, as the members of the First Church are. They then would not only take care of the Telugus, but turn Chicago as they pleased within five years."

Dr. Everts's views of foreign mission work were brought prominently before the denomination at this time in a report to the Missionary Union, which appeared as a pamphlet with

GROWING UP WITH CHICAGO. 61

the title, a " New Departure in Foreign Missions." In this he endeavored to revive the policy first advocated by Judson and Wayland. In his farewell address to American Baptists on his return to Burmah, the great missionary had urged that " the churches should assume more specific relation to missions and do some more specific work in missions.' ' The president of Brown University had proposed that " Churches or associ- ations should establish and support missions." These views Mr. Everts, as chairman of a committee of conference, sought to impress upon the executive committee at Boston. He said : " Secretaries and agents maybe men of profound piety and of unsparing industry, but if the method of work and appeal is defective, success will be limited. The only true principle of benevolence is to bring giver and receiver together. Executive officers should seek to increase the points of imme- diate contact between the churches at home and the mis- sion fields abroad. The question of opening new fields should be referred to churches, associations, or conventions for de- cision. Thus every new claim that a general Board might not dare to assume of itself, some responsible body might as- sume, and thus, by freedom and specific appeal, resources might be doubled. The original correspondence, now stunning the ear, and almost paralyzing the heart of a local Board, through magnitude, force, and intensity of claims, distributed to a score of cities, might become just the amount of stimulus needed to awaken enthusiasm and devotion in all parts of the land. Overruling this supernatural order by our commercial pru- dence, technical rules, traditional methods, and accepted or- ganizations, is like a navigator who insists on steering his vessel by buoys, light-houses, projecting head-lands, and form and course of the clouds, and refuses to follow the pointing of the stars and compass, across the trackless sea. He may be a safe coaster, and avoid uncertain perils of the

62 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

ocean, but he will never cross the mighty deep or enter in- viting ports of commerce beyond his narrow vision and timid enterprise. A missionary society, without adventurous faith, may honor its bank account, and make a good exhibit at the end of the year, but can never marshal the hosts of the churches for the conquest of the world."

About this time the Journal and Messenger made the fol- lowing comment upon an appeal of Dr. Everts for the Theo- logical Seminary : " Every sentence showed the secret of his great administrative power, to which, and the live, bold heart moving him, the prosperity of the Baptist cause in Chicago is largely to be attributed." In one of his letters he falls into an unusual mood, and soliloquizes, " I avail myself of the quiet enjoyed on my birthday to write to you. Yet my health is better than for several years past. But as to a rational and Christian enjoyment of life, I seem only to have been always in a hurry getting ready for it= So I fear it will be till feeble- ness and pain come upon me and the public service that ought to be a constant joy and triumph is ended. I am dis- satisfied that I could not more fully enjoy contentedly and happily the companionship of my children."

The following suggestions to his son may be of value to other young preachers : " Never enter the pulpit from any social circle or tea-table without an hour's seclusion before the service. Don't tax your nervous energy in private, or you may be less effective and magnetic in public. Warily re- press your enthusiasm in conversation before Sabbath or other services, and it may glow out in greater pathos and fervor in your public service. If you are too much in Moody's meetings or in visitation through the week, your sermons on the Sabbath will suffer for it. One's nervous state may make a difference of fifty per cent, in the effectiveness of a ser- vice. Study each sermon as you would an essay or an ora-

GROWING UP WITH CHICAGO. G3

tion. Let sermonizing be your chief study. Never fail in skilful application."

Soon after '•' the great j5re" an effort was made to induce the Indiana Avenue Church to abandon its field and unite with another church. Against this project Dr. Everts re- monstrated : " I trust it will not seem officious for one sharing so largely the cares, labors, and sacrifices of founding the Indiana Avenue Church to address you at this time. Churches are wisely located in a growing city, not so much with reference to present as prospective population, and in a few years the population around you will be quadrupled. In surrendering such a position, what Providences, prayers, sacrifices, and successes seem abandoned. Did God lead you ? All for naught ? How discouraging your surrender would be to all enterprise. Permanence encourages endeavor. If a church with a property worth thirty thousand dollars in the best field in the city is not an established church, there is no established church." It was not consolidation with another church so much as abandonment of territory that was objected to, for the mother-church soon offered to unite with this church and occupy the field as a branch for the present, with a view to ultimate removal of the main body in the same direction.

The wisdom of this plan and the necessity of removal were apparent in 187-4, when the second great fire occurred, and laid waste the beautiful edifice of the First Church. When the flames had kindled upon the hallowed structure, several brethren, who had exhausted every effort to save it, said one to the other, " Our house must go, but let us have one more prayer within its walls." And they bowed before God in face of the coming flames, while one who had been wont to lead in the fire and thunder of battle led the cry of these faithful heroes before the mercy-seat. Then rising to their feet, they sang as they retreated :

64 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

*' From every stormy wind that blows, From every swelling tide of woes, There is a calm, a sure retreat, — 'Tis found beneath the mercy- seat."

This holocaust caused wide-spread sorrow, for there was no church edifice so well known or so much admired in the denomination. The Chicago Standard contained the follow- ing editorial tribute to the pastor, members, and house of worship of the First Baptist Church : "It has been the scene of more than one memorable gathering, and to West- ern Baptists a rallying centre and a beacon. It is hard to pass, now, its charred and desolate walls without taking up in the very spirit of the old prophet his touching lament, ' Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burnt up with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste.' The part which the church and its present pastor have had in the denominational growth in this city during the last ten years is well known. Four additional churches may be traced, more or less, directly to this source. Since the pastorate of Dr. Everts began, the activity, zeal, and effective power of the church in works of Christian enterprise have probably been unexampled anywhere in this country. The First Church and its pastor have a title to recognition unsurpassed by any other. The names of both pastor and church have been synonymes of Christian enter- prise, while the direct instrumentality of the former has been the most potent influence felt among us anywhere in the West in the department of church growth. We think it mainly due to his influence that we now hear so seldom of church debts, — an evil which twenty years ago was sapping the very life of the denomination. If we have not always been prepared to follow his lead, we have never doubted of the large views that inspired him, or of the magnificent

GROWING UP WITH CHICAGO. 65

impulse which many a good work in the West has gained directly from him. To him and to his church in their present affliction we offer a right hand of denominational fellowship and sympathy, and the assurance that many are praying that this hour of calamity may be but the opening of a yet brighter career." The reference in the editorial to the payment of church debts calls attention to a part of his public life while in Chicago which is worthy of a special chapter.

(JG THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

CHAPTER V.

IN THE SERVICE OF THE DENOMINATION AT LARGE.

The National Baptist anniversaries, which were held in Chi- cago in 1867, drew the attention of the whole denomination to the magnificent cathedral on Wabash Avenue and to the pastor who had dedicated it free of debt. He was at once and con- tinuously during the remaining years of his pastorate besieged by churches both East and West to do for them what he had done for his own people. He had boundless sympathy with his brethren in the ministry, and fully appreciated the critical importance of dedication day, especially if, as generally oc- curred, a debt hung over the finished structure. His people were magnanimous, and frequently voted him a leave of absence over the Sabbath, but most commonly this kind of service was rendered during the week. Not more than half of these in- vitations were accepted, and these only after repeated and urgent entreaty had been made, for, unless the demand was imperative, unless the church as a body made the request, he declined to go. His earnestness, enthusiasm, hopefulness and good humor inspired the outside world on such occasions, but he was careful to meet the leading men of the church before the service, to impress them with the solemn responsibility of the hour and to arrange with them to be ready to pass up and down the aisles with pencil and paper during the appeal for subscriptions, to secure names and to announce the amounts thus secured. He seldom failed of success, and then only on account of division existing on the field. His appeals met

IN THE SERVICE OF THE DENOMINATION AT LARGE. 67

with a response sucli as only the most hopeful dreamed possi- ble. It was a labor of love with him. His receipts barely met his expenses. But no man ever enjoyed " bringing things to pass," to quote a phrase of Martin B. Anderson's which he often used, better than he. To raise a considerable sum of money from a community that has already given all it thinks it can afford, an orator, a general, a man of the people is needed, and such he was. The letters received before dedi- cation tremble between hope and fear, while those written after the struggle was over are exuberant with joy.

These excursions from Chicago were begun soon after his settlement in that city. On March 1, 1861, in a let- ter from Grass Lake, Mich., the writer exclaims, " Joyfully we hasten to inform you that your efforts in our behalf have been successful in ridding us of our entire indebtedness. Within a few minutes after you left our whole debt was pro- vided for by friends without distinction of class or sect. May God's distinguished goodness lead us to repentance and keep us humble." About the same time. Champaign, 111., was visited, and after a sermon in the Presbyterian church, resolutions were passed to the effect that " No large commu- nity can be considered complete in its ecclesiastical appoint- ments without a Baptist place of worship," and two thousand dollars was thereupon pledged towards the erection of an edifice of brick. In the years immediately following, Howard, Wis., and Galena and Elgin, 111., rejoiced in Dr. Everts's visit as Paul at the coming of Titus. In the fall of 1867 there were calls from many churches in the Northwest that were in the throes of building enterprises ; Macon, Mo., Sarnia, Mich. Marshall- town, Iowa, besides Kewanee, Bushnell, Orion, and Tuscola, 111., urgently press their claims. " We are extremely anxious that you should preach the sermon. Please do not dis- appoint us. The brethren and sisters here need the en-

68 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

couragement that your presence and good counsel would afford. Shall we stop with building unfinished with a debt of two thou.sand dollars, or finish with a debt of four thousand dollars, or will you come to dedicate if we finish ?'' These requests were all declined, because still more pressing letters were received from other places. On August 29, Rev. W. H. Card says. "I am very desirous that you should preach the dedication sermon at Gardner, from the fact of our former acquaintance, and because we shall have quite a debt to liquidate on that day." On October 2 the troublesome burden of two thousand dollars was removed from the property by grateful and jubilant hearts.

The property of the Second Church, Belvidere, 111., costing twenty thousand dollars, was encumbered with a debt of eight thousand dollars when dedication day came on September 8, 1867. However, before the day was over, five thousand dollars had been pledged. The following letter finishes the story :

" Belvidere, September 16, 1867. " Rev. Dr. Everts :

" Dear Sir, — Glory to God ! we had a glorious meeting last night, and good feeling prevailed ; the Members and Citizens Came up to the Help of the Church and subscribed bounti- fully, and at last there was a sound as the rushing of mighty waters, and Andrew arose and added to his subscription five hundred dollars. There was Tremendous Cheering, and when order was again restored, Elder Benedict made a proposition, that if all in the House would give one dollar each, he would assume the rest. Requesting all that would do that to arise, a large portion of the Congregation arose and pledges were made to Clear the amount on the House. A happier minister could not be found than was our pastor; he hardly knew what

IN THE SERVICE OF THE DENOMINATION AT LARGE. 69

to say, and after a few remarks by luiii, that good old tune Coronation was sung by the Congregation with a hearty good will, and then came the Benediction, and a happier People never walked the aisles of a church than went forth last night, and I say praise God for His Goodness to this people. " Yours in the Bonds of Love,

"Jno. Plane."

The church building at Wheaton, 111., was cleared of a debt of one thousand dollars, December 5, 1867, and on the 24th day of the same month two thousand dollars was raised in White Pigeoo, Michigan. The interesting feature at the latter place was the length of the service, which continued three hours and a half It might not have taken so long, had not the richest man in the church refused to give. The jubi- lation was all the greater when the victory was won. As the Board of the State Convention were present on this occasion, the calls for help from Michigan became numerous. On April 2, 1868, the dedication sermon was preached at Gales- burg, 111.

Bev. H. L. Morehouse writes from East Saginaw, Michi- gan, November 30, 1867 :

" I suppose you have many similar calls, but yet hope you will not pass over this. This city is in spirit the ' Chicago' of Michigan. The Methodists and Congregationalists are each building far more costly edifices, but though we were the last to begin we shall be the first to occupy, and it is the wonder of the people how we have got along so rapidly. Having worshipped for three years in a very small and poor building, people have in a measure judged us by our house ; but we wish on the day of dedication to call them out to the new building, and make an impression on their heads, hearts, and pockets, and I have felt you were just the one to do these

70 THE LIFE OF REV. W. ^Y. EVERTS, D.D.

three things. Should you wish to know anything about the writer of this, Dr. Northrup can give it, and I could heartily wish that he might accompany you here. The house has cost twenty thousand dollars, and there is a floating debt of three thousand dollars, besides mortgage of six thousand dollars."

March 25 he writes again :

" I wish to produce on the minds of the business men a stronger and better impression of the Baptists, in order that our influence may be greater over and through them. The Baptists have had and are having a hard time of it here, and I hope our dedication services may become a new starting- point in our career. I have labored for three years, and it will cost me for our building a very large proportion of my three years' services, far more than half of my total income. Eight thousand dollars must come some way on the day of dedication. I do not know how to get along without you, and I do hope the Lord will open the way and enable you to come and help us over this hard place. There is not a place in this State so important as this, where Baptists are struggling to get a sure foothold, and no Baptist church that so much needs aid. Besides, I want a little from your experience in managing such matters, for this is my first undertaking of this kind, and I hope, unless there is less care and labor connected with it, that it may be the last. I anxiously await your reply, hoping and praying that it may be favorable to us."

Then on April 8 :

"I know not what to do without your presence. The fact is, everything depends on that day for our prosperity finan- cially, for we have a debt of nine thousand dollars, in addition to a mortgage of six thousand dollars. The whole cost has been twenty-four thousand dollars. I have asked the church to make it a matter of prayer. What shall I do ? The church has less than one hundred thousand dollars capital all told."

IN THE SERVICE OF THE DENOMINATION AT LARGE. 71

The prayers were heard, for, as Dr. Morehouse writes, De- cember 4, 1890 :

" Your father was at his best, preached a splendid sermon, and rendered magnificent service every way. We secured that day in pledges ten thousand dollars, to the astonishment of everybody."

More invitations were declined than accepted in 1868 also. From Beaver Dam, Wis., came three letters.

" There is no money to raise. We will delay a week, if need be, to have you with us. Our persistence will certainly assure you that we are very anxious to have you with us."

From Fall River in the same State comes word : " The house has cost five thousand dollars. There will be some of the ' beggarly elements of the world' in connection with the dedication." The pastor at Wauseon, 0., boasts: "We have nearly completed a house of worship of which no village need be ashamed. I send you a photograph of it." One in Red Wing, Minn., entreats : " In the scriptures we read of one who was importunate in her request, and hence was successful." Other requests came from Eochelle and Twelve Mile Grove, 111., and from Keokuk, la. Whenever an invi- tation was accepted, as that to Woodstock, 111., the favor of God and man attended the service.

On August 23 at least fifteen hundred people thronged the new edifice at Janesville, Wis. Says the local paper : " It was pretty generally understood that an effort would be made to raise the debt, and consequently every one came prepared, and there seemed to be a generous rivalry as to who should do the most. Twelve thousand five hundred dollars was sub- scribed, and the finest edifice for religious worship in the State was dedicated free of debt." As at Janesville, so at Fort Wayne, Ind., where the next effort was made, instead of asking compensation for his toil, the preacher requested

72 THE LIFE OF REY. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

the people to give a thank-offering to the struggling Fifth Baptist Church in Chicago. " We are greatly indebted to you," writes Gr. L. Stevens, from Fort Wayne. " The dedi- cation left a good impression upon the public mind. All are encouraged."

On October 25 the house of the Ninth Street Church, Cincinnati, which had been rebuilt at an expense of ninety-four thousand dollars, was dedicated. The plan of pastor F. M. Ellis did not include the removal of the whole debt of thirty thousand dollars, but twelve thousand five hundred dollars was secured before the day was over. Rev. S. F. Holt, of State Street Church, Rockford, 111., writes, November 2, 1868, " The cost has considerably exceeded our estimates, and we are in debt now about fifteen hundred dollars. But the interest and spirit of the brethren have also increased, and the society has unanimously voted to try to clear off the entire indebtedness." On December 2, after the struggle was over, he adds, " Our new house is well filled morning and evening. Congregations have nearly doubled at once. We have just purchased a new organ. Your work on dedication day promises to be of lasting benefit."

Upon his return from Europe, in the summer of 1869, letters poured in upon him from Knobnoster, Mo., Peru and Evans- ville, Ind., and from Covington, Ky. " Having learned that Grod made you unusually successful in securing means for the cause of Christ," writes one, and, " as usual on such occasions, we will need a little begging, for which you have a good reputation," writes another. But all his strength was needed to attend to the cares which had accumulated during his long absence. However, in the year 1870 this form of ser- vice was renewed. From Mendota, 111., with a debt of seven thousand dollars, came the first call for aid. Pastor W. M. Haigh writes, February 16, " These are fearful times in which

IN TBE SERVICE OF THE DENOMINATION AT LARGE. 73

to face debts on churches. I am now at work to bring up the courage and consecration of the brethren to the rio-ht point. Ask your people to pray for us. Their interest in your labors here would reconcile them to your absence." The times were good when Dr. Everts arrived and the debt was lifted.

On September 19, Rev. J. T. Sunderland, of Omaha, writes, " Your father has been here and done us a grand service." This refers to the dedication of the Tabernacle Church, when the debt of five thousand dollars, to the sur- prise of every one, was cancelled. The same date is on a letter from Y. A. Elliott, of the First Church of the same city. " Our indebtedness is fifteen thousand dollars. Our members number about one hundred, are mostly poor and exhausted. Our creditors, who have been lenient, are now moving, and will be able to obtain an order of sale about the first of January. We are negotiating a loan of ten thousand dollars, which will pay liens, and then we rely on raising a subscription of from seven thousand to ten thousand dollars, to pay ofi" the floating debt, and finish the main audi- torium and dedicate. A sale of the property would com- pletely dishearten, if not disband, us as a church. We may be compelled to ask your further counsel and assistance." On October 13, W. H. Churchill writes, " The good done by your labor here is not lost, and a much better brotherly feel- ing exists. Great good will come out of it, I trust and pray. We want of you, my dear brother, three thousand five hun- dred dollars, and if you raise the amount for us our church property is saved. I saw and have since learned the deep interest you took in us. To save the church, I will give five hundred dollars more, besides the five hundred dollars already given. If the house can be saved, you are God's instrument to do it, I trust. My dear pastor, I can write no more." In response to these appeals, arrangements were

74 THE LIFE OF REV- W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

made with Rev. N. F. Ravlin, who often seconded such efforts, to go to Omaha and see what could be done. The happy results of this mission are recorded in the following letter :

''Omaha, November 28, 1870. " W. W. Everts, D.D. :

'■^Dear Brother^ — The work is done, and done nobly. I arranged union meetings for all day last Sabbath. I preached in the Tabernacle in the morning, made a brief appeal for all to come up to the work at the First Church in the evening, but took no subscription at the morning meeting. In the evening the lecture-room at the First Church was filled^ and after preaching, I began raising the subscription, determined to hold on till the whole amount was made up. God was manifest in the congregation. An excellent spirit prevailed. The first Sunday and diying the week we raised three thou- sand five hundred dollars. At this union meeting last Sunday evening five thousand one hundred and eighty dollars was secured, making a sum total of over eight thousand five hundred dollars. The thing looked fearfully blue at one time, and to save it from a hopeless failure I took the responsibility of pledging five hundred dollars from Chicago. The moral effect of this pledge was grand, and from that the work went on. This subscription of eight thousand five hundred dollars does not in- clude the fifteen hundred dollars pledged from Boston. You can scarcely imagine the change that has come over the spirits of the brethren of the First Church. Everybody is rejoicing and praising the Lord for what is done. " Affectionately, yours,

" N. F. Ravlin."

The Baptist Church in Winona, Minn, was delivered from the bondage of debt in the summer of 1870. Next

IN THE SERVICE OF THE DENOMINATION AT LARGE. 75

the pastor of the First Church in Detroit, wrote : " We have been waiting with anxiety to hear from you ; we cannot excuse you," and this persuasive appeal led to the extinction of a debt of three thousand dollars. In Cambridge, 111., there was a similar debt on a house costing nine thousand dollars. " Yet we trust in God," they wrote, November 22, and their trust was not put to shame, for all the money needed was subscribed amid a perfect jubilee.

Richmond, Ind., was then visited. In this chief city of east- ern Indiana, Rev. J. P. Agenbroad, under appointment by the Home Mission Society, had gathered in an engine-hall a congre- gation numbering at first a short score. The next move was into an academy building, then into still larger rooms. At this time the first small payment was made on a lot and a revival that added twenty-one members by baptism guaranteed the remain- ing payments. Special encouragement was next received from a legacy of four hundred dollars in the will of a sister in Yin- cennes. To secure this legacy a beginning must be made in building a house within a year after the will was probated. The church voted, " Trusting in God, we will now attempt to build a house of worship," and broke ground. Two days later the legacy would have been forfeited. The new building was entered January 3, 1869, and immediately a revival added fifty-seven members by baptism. When the main building was ready for dedication the church numbered one hundred and forty-five members. The total cost had been eleven thousand dollars, of which amount three thousand dollars re- mained unpaid. " If out of debt," wrote the pastor, Novem- ber 17, 1870, " we will be on the highway to success. Although we have already strained wellnigh to a break, we want to try our utmost."

After a perfectly successful eff'ort, he writes again : " The moral impression has been grand, glorious, sublime. It has

76 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

taken everybody by surprise and given us an immense advan- tage here.

The Baptist cause in Leavenworth, Kansas, Rev. Winfield Scott, pastor, passed through a long and painful struggle, a struggle that aroused the keenest interest of the denomination. The house was the most expensive in the city. Several times it had been advertised for sale, and it seemed as though it must be abandoned before it was finished. Finally, Deacon Chase of Boston came to the rescue with a generous pledge and the great building was completed. At the last moment, the task of raising the debt of five thousand dollars that still re- mained was undertaken, and Leavenworth was reached at midnight of a Saturday in February, 1871. Misunderstand- ings were found to exist that threatened to defeat any sub- scription. However, a fair beginning was made in the morn- ing, the difficulties were arranged in the afternoon, and in the evening, to the surprise of church, congregation, and com- munity, the whole debt was lifted and the long imperilled cause was saved.

The Euclid Avenue Church, of Cleveland, 0., started as a mission, but a mission of such wealth that one hundred and seven thousand nine hundred dollars had been expended on its property within a few years. " We are behind in our finances about twenty thousand dollars," wrote pastor S. W. Duncan, February 18, 1871. "We were sanguine that no special efi'ort would be required to raise the needed funds at the dedication. We hope to raise at least a part of it. I trust that no ordinary circumstances will deter you from being with us. You will confer a personal favor upon me by doing so. You have been interested in our enterprise from its be- ginning, and I want you to be identified with its consumma- tion. Our trustees cannot relinquish the idea of hearing you." After conference with the officers and friends of the

IN THE SERVICE OF THE DENOMINATION AT LARGE. 77

church on Saturday evening, it was agreed, though with hesi- tancy and fear, to attempt to raise the entire debt of twenty- six thousand eight hundred and eighty-one dollars. The preacher read the hymn beginning, " To Thee this temple we devote," and the pastor read the psalm beginning, " How amiable are Thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of Hosts." " I would rather have my name on the subscription paper about to be passed," was the appeal, " than to have it on a marble pillar." The reporter says, " the speaker kept walking from one side of the platform to the other, inciting the congregation in a cheerful and effective manner to give." In less than fifty minutes eighteen thousand dollars was pledged, and when this had been noised abroad, in the evening many others came in who joined in the final and successful effort to lift the remaining nine thousand dollars. The enthusiasm and joy rose higher than in the morning The people lingered to exchange congratulations, smiles alternating with tears as their thoughts reverted from their great deliverance to the diflaculties through which they had passed. The whole com- munity seemed to share in the surprise and triumph. Imme- diately several churches in the city, provoked by the example of so young a church, arranged to pay off their debts. " They have furnished the first instance, we believe, in our city," an editor said, " where a church has been entirely completed and paid for before being dedicated."

On the 8th of March, 1871, the church at Long Island City, N. Y., was dedicated. Within two years the organism had grown from nine to one hundred and ten members, and under stimulus from without, rather than of their own impulse, they erected a building far beyond their means. Pr. Everts was not surprised that the debt of ten thousand dollars could not be lifted under such circumstances. Whenever a com- munity plans a structure, he found that the community was

78 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

willing to pay for it, but when outside friends were allowed, as in this case, to expend the money, there was no assurance that the expenditures would be met by the community.

On June 3 an entreaty comes from Tuscola, 111. : " You are the representative of our denomination here ; we cannot command the same congregation here to hear any other minister. Dedication will make a critical point in our his- tory. Let me ask you, for Christ's dear sake, for our church's sake, which has struggled so long, and, last and least, for the sake of your unworthy brother who writes this." If circum- stances prevented attendance at Tuscola, arrangements could be made to go to Wyoming, in the same State. Here a little church of forty-five members had been encouraged by the gift of lots from citizens of the town to erect a house costing three thousand dollars. Although they had secured but one- third of that amount before the day of dedication, they were a happy band before they went home that night.

On the 14th of July the pastor of the new town of Greeley, Col., writes, at the suggestion of Dr. E. E. L. Taylor, " We are far away from anything and anywhere. There is a debt of two thousand five hundred dollars." The local paper, in its account of the afi'air, says, " Last Sunday was the most important day Greeley has seen. The people began to gather at an early hour. It was a cheerful scene, and it was difficult to imagine that only eighteen months before the ground where this church stands was a part of the Great American Desert, from which not a human being nor habitation could be seen. The prospects of raising so large a sum seemed to those best informed of the condition of our people exceedingly gloomy. We have not yet raised a full crop. New houses have been but recently built, and many are more or less in debt. Dr. Everts stands erect and firm, and his whole appearance is dignified. In form and feature he resembles General Sher-

IX THE SERVICE OF THE DENOMINATION AT LARGE. 79

man. Subscriptions were offered so liberally that everybody was encouraged. In the evening only five hundred dollars more were needed, and the Methodist and Presbyterian ministers contributed to place the first completed church in Greeley out of debt. No motives of a worldly nature could have prompted such unselfish contributions." The preacher wrote home : " We were full of fears. The pastor was sick, and leading members were away, but the people did nobly, and the entire debt was raised."

A new building had been talked of in Jackson, Mich., since 1864, when, in 1870, Mr. B. G. Mosher agreed to pay his subscription of three thousand dollars by putting in the foundation and the walls up to the roof, if the brick was furnished him. This cost him twice the amount of his sub- scription. In the spring of 1871 the building was enclosed and the floor laid, and sixteen thousand dollars were borrowed to finish and furnish. In December the money was gone, but the house was not complete. The most hopeful were dis- couraged. However, a few gentlemen were found who were willing to advance the money necessary to complete the struct- ure. The debt had now increased to twenty-six thousand dollars on a total cost of seventy-one thousand dollars. There were two high towers, and seats were provided for six- teen hundred persons. The dedication drew ministers and people from surrounding towns. The magnificent edifice was crowded with people. " I hope that the debt may be liqui- dated this day. You are not willing to let a half-dozen Bap- tists do it all. I know you are not, for I see it already. Now, will you not close up this little church debt ? This building is not for the church alone, but for your city." Thus ran the appeal. Some gave lots of land, one gave a horse valued at two hundred dollars, another a gold watch, some gave for their children, others pledged for their Sunday-school classes,

80 THE LIFE 03 REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.P.

until seventeen thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven dol- lars and twenty-three cents had been offered. In the evening the amount remaining was pledged, and a beginning was made in a subscription for a church-bell.

Another call came soon from New York State. " The church in Binghamton will hold fifteen hundred people. It has cost eighty thousand dollars, with a debt remaining of seventy thousand dollars. I have long noticed your great success all through the West in raising money on such occa- sions, and am exceedingly anxious to have you present." Then, later, " I am deeply anxious that you should preach. I shall continue to ask God to incline your heart to come. We are in the midst of a precious work of grace." At length, January 30, 1872, " I am, indeed, thankful that you have finally concluded to come." So pleaded Pastor Wright, and he came, too late to consult and form plans before ser- vice, but by a wonderful struggle forty thousand dollars were pledged on one day.

On February 18 his services were required at Salem, 0., a town of five thousand inhabitants. The Baptist church had once occupied a leading position, but became divided by the anti-slavery agitation. The house of worship was offered for sale and was bought in by infidels. At length the church revived sufficiently to begin another and better building. They succeeded in enclosing it, but then were unable to proceed further. However, a new pastor came at last, who succeeded in finishing the building. A debt of three thou- sand five hundred dollars, large for so small a church, hung over the completed structure. The dedication was a great surprise. Though the largest contribution was but two hun- dred and fifty dollars, and that by the pastor, the entire bur- den was removed. The struggle was greater because the wealthiest man, from whom much had been expected, stayed

IN THE SERVICE OF THE DENOMINATION AT LARGE. 81

away in the morning and refused to give in the evening, thus disheartening every one, until his wife, failing in her per- suasions, and rebuking the perilous delay, took off her gold watch and chain and sent it to the pulpit as her sacrifice. Fully two hundred persons contributed, giving and doublino- their gifts, until they had achieved a glorious triumph. There were tears and shouts of joy after the exciting effort was over. The church was at the head again. Its position in the community was established. All faces beamed the next day with victory and the air was full of congratulations.

Siege was laid on the 22d day of the same month, Wash- ington's Birthday, at Allen's Station, Mich. Here was a house costing nine thousand dollars, the finest in Hillsdale County. It was the pet project of the town and of the rich farming district surrounding it. The church-members were few and generally in humble circumstances. The building . committee were non-professors. Many were despondent at the large deficit of four thousand dollars, but every one came to the dedication services. By their education and in their habits of thinking the congregation had not been ac- customed to large giving. But they were patient during the appeal, and before adjournment one hundred and fifty persons had contributed three thousand dollars, and when the subscrip- tion was re-opened in the evening they added five thousand dollars more, and the building committee assumed the rest. The victory was due to numbers and to unity.

On the 4th of April, Dr. Everts returned to New York State, where the Central Church of Syracuse, H. J. Eddy, pastor, was overwhelmed with a debt of thirty-five thousand dollars. The pastor had written, " We want to raise twenty thousand dollars, and leave the rest on mortgage." Such was the interest in the dedication that more than fifty ministers were present, among them three ex-pastors of the church.

6

82 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

" After an hour of lively bidding, we found that sixteen thou- sand five hundred dollars had been pledged. The former pas- tors assisted in the call for pledges, and we found at the close that we had secured twenty-six thousand dollars. A great burden was lifted from my heart," wrote the pastor. " God bless the First Baptist Church of Chicago for consenting to the coming of their pastor to our assistance in this great emergency. He not only saved us from crippling embarrass- ment, but he made friends for the scorched interests of Chi- cago, one of whom sent by him one thousand dollars for the salvation of one of the churches and for the University. The following Sunday the subscription was increased seven thou- sand dollars, so that the debt is virtually extinguished. How we sang the doxology ! "

That summer a letter from Vernon, Ind., told of the " very heavy load for a few of us to get as near through as we have," and another from Adams, N. Y., told of being "behind about eight thousand dollars, but we have good purses on which to draw," but a third from Waukesha, Wis., secured the next effort, which was made July 24, 1872. The house had cost but twenty thousand dollars, although with its one-hundred- and-fifty-foot spire it was said by the townspeople to be the finest in the State. On the evening before the dedication there was a meeting for consultation, where all were encouraged to expect a favorable result on the morrow. The debt of sixty-five thousand dollars was largely reduced after the morning sermon. The afternoon was spent in rallying the forces, and in the evening, in answer to much prayer, the whole mountain was removed. The venerable Dr. Boyd's subscrip- tion of twenty-five dollars was at once courteously paid by Colonel Dunbar, who was not a member of the church. The large crowd seemed loath to disperse after the evening service, and spent much time in exchanging congratulations over the

IN THE SERVICE OF THE DENOMINATION AT LARGE. 83

victory. " The First Baptist Church, Chicago, deserve many thanks for loaning its pastor. Should it suffer temporarily through these frequent drafts on its generosity, or even should it with its pastor soon cease from its labors, they have both an enviable record in the work of church extension." Thus wrote Rev. J. W. Fish on this occasion.

The 14th day of September, 1873, was devoted to Anoka, Minn., where the lumbermen proved that the beautiful church was not too expensive for them to pay for, and the 21st at Green Bay, Wis. Here the church numbered but thirteen members, and seventeen thousand dollars was still due on the building. Tuesday evening was spent with the little church, and Wednesday and Thursday with the sister churches at Fort Howard and Lapeer. All promised to be present, although they had not been accustomed to help each other. At the dedication all classes of the community were present. " The speaker expressed his surprise," the paper said, " that in so large and thriving a city as Green Bay a church of this denomination had not before been established." He was sure that many families had been kept away by the fact that there was no Baptist church here. A denomination which is second only in numbers and second to none in power should have a church in every first-class town. Then Dr. Everts made some remarks touching the danger and annoyance of the incubus of a church debt. Even Roman Catholics responded ; men, women and children and strangers, whose home nobody seemed to know, vied with each other in giving. With such a spirit manifest in the community, and with the gift of memorial windows from Chicago Sunday- schools, it was not strange that the appeal was successful.

In the year 1874, two churches, costing twenty thousand dollars each, were dedicated, the one at Fair Haven, Vt., among the slate quarries, the other at Franklin, Pa., among

84 THE LIFE OP REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.l).

the oil wells. Times were hard, but the debts of thirty-two thousand dollars and seven thousand dollars respectively were quickly paid. About this time still another costly structure was dedicated at Kankakee, 111., where a Brother Gamble invested six thousand dollars in the enterprise, and thus made possible the liquidation of the large debt of thir- teen thousand dollars. At Bay City, Mich., the deficit was still larger, amounting to twenty-six thousand dollars on a property that had cost seventy-two thousand dollars. Of this amount sixteen thousand dollars had been contributed by Mrs. MacMaster, of Toronto, formerly Mrs. Fraser, and five thousand dollars each by two daughters of James Fraser. Inspired by such generosity, the congregation contributed on dedication day fully twenty thousand dollars.

There was scarcely a dedication in and about Chicago during these years when the services of Dr. Everts were not in de- mand. His presence was felt to be a power in all such enter- prises that was sure to arouse public spirit. He was always willing to sacrifice himself for such occasions that appeared to him second to none in importance. He thought of churches planted out of debt that would spread and spread like banyan trees until the earth should be full of churches of Christ. He saw the advantage of making an appeal at the crisis of the enterprise when every one's sympathy was aroused. He de- lighted in the intellectual and moral benefit conferred upon a community, and anticipated in each instance the out- break of a genuine revival of religion such as that which followed the dedication of Solomon's Temple.

He raised large sums of money in 1876 at Topeka, Kan., in 1877 at Grand Rapids, Mich., and in 1878 at Elgin, 111., and at Laporte, Ind. In 1879, the first year of his settlement at Jersey City, he brought joy to Nassau, N. Y., and to South Plainfield, N. J., and removed an old debt

IN THE SERVICE OP THE DENOMINATION AT LARGE. 85

of eight thousand dollars from the church in Providence, R.I., of which his son was pastor. A similar service for his son he performed in the year 1887 at Haverhill, Mass., where he secured pledges for thirteen thousand dollars.

In seeking for an explanation of the almost invariable success of Dr. Everts in raising money, notice must be taken not only of his warm sympathy, contagious enthusiasm, patient confidence, and eloquent speech, but also of certain practical measures which he always adopted. The pre- liminary services were shortened, so that the appeal could be made before the audience was weary. Large subscriptions were asked for first, and to insure success the first contribution was placed as high as one-tenth of the whole amount. A committee was kept busy in the aisles to gather and announce subscriptions, while expert secretaries frequently encouraged the audience by reporting the total amount reached. Appeals were made to different organizations in the church, and advan- tage was taken of any remarkable display of generosity to arouse the more conservative portion of the congregation. He was always ready with an expedient for any emergency, and if the morning service dragged he would predict victory for the evening, and as soldiers following a general who never lost a battle, the congregations usually proved worthy of the confi- dence of their leader.

Dr. Everts's work in dedicating churches, and in church extension generally, is thus referred to by Dr. G. C. Lorimer, in a letter dated November 13, 1890 : " Dr. Everts's career marked a change in the entire policy of the Baptists in America. I do not say that it was wholly due to him, for that would be unjust to others, — nor do I care to affirm that there may not have been times when he pushed it too far, — but I do aflfirm that it was more distinctly marked and formu- lated (so to speak) in him, and probably received from him

86 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

its earliest and most persistent expression and inspiration. The policy I refer to is that of church extension and denomi- national (not sectarian) aggressiveness. His first pastorate occurred at that period of transition in the history of the Baptists from a condition of comparative apathy and defen- siveness to a time, happily not yet ended, of extreme activity and advancement. Dr. Ijjverts, from the beginning to the end, was the incarnation of self-denying, intense, im- passioned, independent, irrepressible leadership."

FIERY TRIALS. 87

CHAPTER VI.

FIERY TRIALS.

While thus engaged in assisting other pastors, he was compelled, after the second Chicago fire, which occurred in the year 1874, the year after the panic, to lead his scat- tered and distressed people in another effort to build a meeting-house. The church had to begin Ufe over again. There was but little insurance money, and the congregation who had just contributed to the completion of the tower of the old structure were now compelled with crippled resources to face another large building operation on a different site. The settlement of the new location was rendered more diffi- cult, because some of the member were in favor of consoli- dation with a sister church. The rejection of this proposition involved the loss of valued members, but it enabled the great body of the church to move together to the territory held by the Indiana Avenue branch. On June 5, 1875, at the northwest corner of old Camp Douglas, where Dr. Everts had officiated in the year 1862 as chaplain of a regiment enlisted for three months to guard prisoners from the South, the corner-stone was laid. The rear building was finished in September and the main building in April, 1876.

Of the dedication, Dr. Arthur Edwards writes as follows in the Northwestern Christian Advocate :

"Visitors to Chicago before the fire well remember the costly, spacious, convenient, massive edifice belonging to the First Baptist Church, Rev. Dr. W. W. Everts, pastor. During

88 THE LIFE OF REV. "W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

its life it was, perhaps, the nonpareil temple for Protestant uses on the continent. Like so many of our churches, it went down into ashes, and, like so many other bands of worshippers, the people have wandered from place to place, comparatively poor, and without heart or adequate courage to hope for another permanent house of worship. Sweet, however, are the uses of adversity, since, when nothing else seemed potent to keep that society together, its common his- tory and fellowship in suffering made the people dear to each other. Dr. Everts, like General Taylor, never knows when he is whipped. In the face of desolation, crippled resources, prophecies of failure, reproaches hurled in the teeth of his faith, and with burdens sufficient to crush Atlas down to the earth, he began the work of rebuilding. Last Sunday revealed the completeness of his victory, and we again heard the invin- cible pastor present to his people a finished temple that excels even the one which before the fire called forth the admiration of all. In beauty, in varied modern appoint- ments, and for earnest working purposes, the church is a model. We have never seen a more chastened, united, self- sacrificing, and triumphant assembly than that which so gladly and humbly brought their offerings before the Lord last Sunday. Dr. Everts's sermon was a clear, forcible, elo- quent, effective presentation of the truth that all that is sacred, permanent, inspiring, and valuable to humanity is asso- ciated with the house of God. The discourse was worthy of print in gold. We most heartily congratulate all concerned, and every Christian in the Northwest is thus concerned."

The first year in the new house was a continual harvest- time, and more than one hundred members were added to the roll. The spiritual life of the church was broad and deep. But the miscalculation of the architect and the failure of the contractor left the people with a debt of eighty thousand

FIERY TRIALS. 89

dollars. A bright incident in those dark days is thus described in a letter written in the spring of 1878: " Sunday morning I presented the peril of the church as immediate. An inci- dent occurred in the evening that seemed so wonderful as to impress all, and may have almost turned our destiny by its influence on others. Remember, from Friday evening the church were waiting in intense suspense, — mauyin importu- nate prayer. Sunday morning Deacon Hammond's face shone, and he said ' The Lord will save us.' Yet the money subscription was moderate and left disappointment. Meantime my old friend Greenough, whom I baptized and married in New York, who has been in R,io de Janeiro for the last thirteen years, and has been locating an invalid son in Col- orado, arrived in Chicago late Saturday evening. Sunday evening he set out to find our church, and was directed to Plymouth Church, Pastor Everest, then to another church, and only at half-past eight, wearied, himself and wife reached our church. At the close of service they came forward and greeted us with the affection of brother and sister. After looking about a while and admiring the church and observing we had no organ, he remarked, quietly, ' When you get ready to put in your organ, let me contribute the first thousand dollars.' I was amazed, and inquired, Would you allow us to use it for present necessities ? and he consented. This event had a marked effect upon the church, and proved a point of my sermon that we cannot limit the assets of the kingdom. As long as Moses and the pillar of cloud are with us, there can be no danger."

But greater trials were before them. To be sure, prayer- meetings, Sunday-school, and preaching services were largely attended, but there was no strength to meet more than the interest of the debt, part of which soon became due, and the sale of the property was threatened. Extracts from letters

90 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

written during those most trying days in the history of the First Church and its pastor, show that though they were in the furnace, God was with them. " September 21, 1878, church affairs are at a great crisis. We may succeed. All is in suspense, but there is much prayer. I am preaching great foundation doctrines. September 23, we found we could, by great struggle and sacrifice, pay off thirty thousand dollars of the indebtedness, provided the remaining fifty thousand dol- lars can at once be placed at six per cent. We can take twenty-five thousand dollars. If we are helped to carry twenty-five thousand dollars more, the future may be brighter than the past If not — church dishonored, perhaps dissolved. Prayer-meetings over this crisis are deeply affecting. If we are saved, we shall be blessed by this trial."

On February 2 and 9, 1879, subscriptions were taken by this people trained to sacrifice, and the terrible load was re- duced to thirty thousand dollars. This was done without the encouragement of a pastor, for the service of Dr. Everts had closed with the previous year.

During this ministry he had received in the church eighteen hundred persons, and had raised among his own congregation an average of twenty- five thousand dollars a year. " It is not an overstatement," Mr. J. M. Vanderlip writes to the Western Recorder, " to say that no Baptist preacher of this generation has done more effective work for the denomination than what Dr. Everts did in the Northwest during his twenty years pastorate in Chicago." Dr. Henson published the following estimate of his predecessor : '' His pastorate covered a score of years, and those the most eventful and fruitful of all the church's history, — years in which the church won a national fame, and came to the very front as a leader in all great denom- inational enterprises. During his administration the church built what was the most massive, and possibly the most costly,

FIERY TRIALS. 91

Baptist house of worship in America, and paid for it, in addition to giving away tens of thousands of dollars to aid other struggling churches in Chicago and vicinity. Under the same adventurous and sagacious leadership, after the Wabash Avenue building had been destroyed by fire, the present noble structure was erected at Thirty-first Street and South Park Avenue, which is one of the most capacious, complete, and beautiful specimens of church architecture in the city of Chicago. The location at the time of its selection was ' away out on the prairie,' and so the project of building there was scouted as absurd by not a few short-sighted critics, and the panic of 1873, following closely on the disastrous fire of 1871, did seem for a time to put the church in mortal peril ; but now the location that was regarded as preposterous is in the very heart of the most magnificent residential quar- ter of the city, and the church, with its threatened perils safely passed, has entered upon its second half-century with prospects of usefulness and possibilities of power for which all Baptist hearts should be devoutly thankful. The man to whom, under God, more than any other man, the denomina- tion is indebted for all this, is Dr. W. W. Everts, who, for so long a stretch of years, presided over the church, and guided its aff'airs, and with his own irrepressible enthusiasm inspired it to undertake great enterprises, and to make heroic sacrifices. " He came here in 1859, at the age of forty-five, at the meridian of his fame. Nor did his fame decline during the long stretch of his twenty years' ministry in this Western metropolis. His stalwart faith, his leonine courage, and his boundless enthusiasm prominently fitted him for successful leadership. And he led superbly. No church ever had a more daring or devoted leader than the First Baptist Church of Chicago, in the person of Dr. Everts. And no pastor ever had a more loyal and loving following than Dr. Everts

92 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

found in the membership of that same First Baptist Church. And yet his heart was too large for its love to be bounded by the church he served.

" So far from seeking selfishly to centralize all available Baptist forces at the point where his own head-quarters were, as many a pastor is tempted to do, he was almost too ready to imperil his own position with the view of seizing and holding important strategic points in the regions round about him. He believed in planting new churches, even if he had to deploy the very flower and chivalry of his own ^church to do it ; the very crucial test of a pastor's devotion to the cause of Christ. He was a typical Chicagoan in his breadth of view, energy of action, and boundless ambition, — only his was a sanctified ambition, whose highest aim was God's glory in man's salva- tion. Here in Chicago he did, perhaps, the greatest work of his life. He was here in the prime of his powers, and in the very crisis of our denominational history, and what Sheridan was at Winchester, that Everts was in Chicago. He led the way and saved the day, and gave the Baptist forces a vantage- ground from which, please God, they shall never be dis- lodged."

Among the speakers at a farewell reception was Bev. Dr. Byder, who had labored by his side from the beginning of his ministry in Chicago. " Dr. Everts has a vigorous organiza- tion, and his whole being appears to be the incarnation of an earnest purpose. He seemed to me for several years to be almost ubiquitous. What his denomination asked of him he was ready to do, — East or West, North or South. It is not given to many men to have so wide an opportunity for good. And in how many hearts, over a large portion of our country, has this kindling enthusiasm found a response. Of churches built, of schools strengthened, of souls rescued from sin, the record is surely large and most worthy. See you not the

FIERY TRIALS. 93

goodly sheaves that he bears in his arms and in his heart ? Who of us has a better return for his labor ? Who of us more truly lives in organized institutions and in individual life, as the result of twenty years of labor ?" Before closing the record of his life in Chicago, reference should be made to Dr. Everts's labors in behalf of education, secular and religious, in that city.

94 THE LIFE OF REY. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

CHAPTER VII.

THE OLD UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.

•' A work of danger and distrust

You treat, as one on fire should tread, Scarce hid by treacherous ashen crust." Horace^s Odes (Covington's Translation), Book ii,, 1, 6-8.

The old University of Chicago originated in the brain of Stephen A. Douglas. One day in 1853 he was walking over his lake shore property in that city with his friend Dr. Eddy, a Presbyterian minister, when he broached to him the idea of founding a university. " If you will accept the presidency of that institution, I will give ten acres of land as a founda- tion for it." Dr. Eddy accepted the offer for himself, but found that the feeling against the senator for securing the passage of the Kansas and Nebraska Bill, which was enacted in May, 1854, was so intense among Presbyterians that their co-operation in the proposed enterprise could not be secured. While this offer was still pending. Judge Douglas mentioned it at a political gathering at the Tremont House to Charles Walker. During a pause in the conversation around the table, Douglas turned to Mr. Walker and said, " By the way, Mr. Walker, I have determined to have a college at Cottage Grove. I have made an offer of ten acres to the Presbyte- rians through Dr. Eddy, but they do not seem to be doing much about it, and will probably fail to meet the conditions. As I am half a Baptist, I will make the same offer to you for the Baptists, if Dr. Eddy fails." Mr. Walker arose, paced

THE OLD UNIVERSITY OP CHICAGO. 95

the room a few minutes in his nervous way, and finally said, " Mr. Douglas, I think we will take that offer. I will let you know this afternoon." Not long after, Mr. Walker's pas- tor was sent to Douglas with letters from Thomas Hoyne, J. W. Sheahan, and Daniel Cameron, commending him for not joining in the manifesto of Chicago ministers against the sen- ator. The visit was successful, and in July, 1856, the organiza- tion of the University was effected, the legal incorporation dating from January 30, 1857. On his return to Chicago, Douglas attended the First Baptist Church, whose pastor. Dr. Howard, was a warm friend of the new enterprise, and whose members had already shown their interest in higher education by subscribing seven thousand dollars to the college at Alton. The most prominent Baptist laymen in the inauguration of this movement were Charles Walker, Levi D. Boone, Samuel Hoard, and John K. Pollard, with whom were associated James H. Woodworth, William B. Ogden, and William Jones.

The first agent of the institution was Kev. J. B. Olcott, and the first president was Mr. Walker's former pastor. This arrangement, however, was understood to be temporary, to cease when the buHding operations were completed. With this understanding, Mr. Olcott succeeded in securing sub- scriptions amounting to sixty thousand dollars in the West, outside of Chicago. As these subscriptions were not payable at once, they were anticipated by placing a mortgage of twenty-five thousand dollars on the property for the purpose of completing the south wing of the proposed structure. This loan was a weak place in the foundation of the insti- tution.

When Dr. Everts arrived in Chicago, in the fall of 1859, he frequently heard on the street that the University would be sold out and fall into the hands of some other denomina-

96 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

tion, but he replied, " It will never be given up. The Bap- tists will retain it." The panic of the year 1857 had pre- vented the payment of subscriptions, but the chief obstacle in the path of the financial secretary was the condition of the large subscriptions obtained in Chicago by the presi- dent. These had been given with so many reservations that they were not considered binding, and Mr. Olcott was frequently bluffed and laughed at for attempting to collect them. Totally discouraged on account of the lack both of money in the treasury and of prestige in the presidency, Mr. Olcott became convinced that without a change of adminis- tration the University would be lost. The president said that he was willing to take the financial agency and leave his office for another, but his friends objected to any change in the administration, and jrhile they claimed for the president all the successes, they charged all the failures to the secretary, who soon after, in despair of the enterprise, ended his noble service. It was a dark hour in the history of the University. The most hopeful had become despondent. There was a debt of thirty thousand dollars, upon which the interest had not been paid. Subscriptions had ceased, and yet nothing was being done to avert destruction.

Thoroughly persuaded, by acquaintance with the professors and by the lamentable experience of Mr. Alcott, that the main difficulty in the way of success would be removed if the chief office were vacated. Dr. Everts invited the president to his home in the summer of 1863, and in a long conversation pleaded with him to resign his office and thus permit others to save the University. He was assured of the distinction of being one of the founders of the institution, and that it was no discredit to surrender a place that not six men in the denomination could fill. He was further promised a trip to Europe or any other honor he might wish. As he was un-

THE OLD UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. 97

successful in this personal interview, Dr. Everts began to urge upon members of the Board of Trustees that as the presi- dent had assumed so serious and important a trust he should faithfully discharge it or relinquish it. In full Board meeting he said he feared the result if prompt action was not taken to remove the debt. One of the trustees replied, " I should rather have reverses or destruction overtake the University than have the president suffer."

Thus the lines were drawn, when Rev. M. G. Clarke was induced, in the summer of the year 1863, to take charge of the finances of the imperilled institution. " No man," wrote Dr. Clarke, " so inspired and cheered on the work to push the great enterprise at least to safety as yourself. Such were your convictions of the great value of the institution to liberal learning and religion, to the Northwest and to our common country, and especially to our denomination, that you put its well-being above your own personal interest or the interests of any single individual." Dr. Clarke soon saw the need of doing something to awaken enthusiasm, and he proposed the erection of the main building. This proposition seemed like madness to some, but it was ardently supported by Dr. Everts, who finally secured the passage by the trustees of a motion instructing the financial secretary to put in the foundations of the main building, but holding him responsible for the collec- tion of money suflficient to pay for the work as it progressed. On these terms fifty-five thousand dollars were secured to erect the main building, twenty-two thousand dollars for a telescope, and thirty-five thousand dollars for an observatory, and a grand total of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, chiefly by the exertions of Prof. A. H. Mixer, was raised during the year. " My poor success," wrote Prof. Mixer, " was due largely, as I felt, to the constant encouragement as well as direct aid received through you."

98 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

The story of the telescope is worth telling in Prof. Mixer's own words : " Before beginning the work I went to Mr. J. Young Scammon, had several interviews with him, and finally secured from him a pledge to build a tower for the telescope, if I would secure the means to buy it. He afterwards gen- erously promised in addition to take care of the head astron- omer. These items together amounted to some fifty-five thousand or sixty thousand dollars. In the meantime I had got on the track of Mr. Clark's great telescope. Before say- ing anything about it to the committee, I went very quietly to Michigan University and saw Dr. Brlinnow, to get his en- dorsement of it. He ridiculed the idea of our getting it, but pronounced it the prize of the world. I returned to Chicago and to the committee quite crazy on the subject, and begged of them to send a committee at once to Boston, empowered to buy if we could get it. None sympathized with my zeal and haste or saw its importance. In this state of suspense and agony with me, nearly two weeks thus passed before I could get any one started. Mr. Hoyne was at last going to New York and Boston on business, and he did the work for us. You know how we barely escaped losing it by a single day, an hour almost. So impressed was I, and I alone, that I wrote a letter, which I put into the pocket of Mr. Hoyne just as he was leaving for the East, and begged him to read it on the way. It was to urge him not to stop in New York over Sunday, as I knew he intended to do. This letter, as he afterwards wrote me, decided him to go on and decide the fate of Chicago in regard to the great telescope."

The Board of Trustees, meantime, had unanimously passed an order to compromise with contributors of long standing who could not pay their subscriptions in full. This action offended one of the trnstees, Mr. Wm. Jones, who had

THE OLD UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. 99

advanced money on these old notes, and when he was asked to subscribe for the main building, he oflfered to give twelve thousand dollars, on condition that the mover of that resolution to compromise should resign his seat in the Board. To this Dr. Everts, the offender, cheerfully assented, but Prof Mixer, with Mr. Jones's consent, retained the res- ignation in his control until Mr. Jones pledged him it should not be called for ; he " would let it pass."

Dr. Everts let everything pass for the sake of the institu- tion, and obtained leave of absence from his church in the fall of the year 186 J: for the purpose of raising in New York City a fund of twenty-five thousand dollars for the endowment of the Greek Chair. After he had made a good beginning, he left the completion of the work in the hands of others, while he returned to attend to the building of a new church edifice in Chicago. But no one else was able to complete the task, as appears from the following letter which he received on November 18 :

" We are impressed with the great importance of your re- turn to New York with Professor Mixer, and completing the work began by you there on behalf of the University of Chi- cago. It seems to us you should not hesitate for one moment. It is important that you act now and energetically. We know not what changes may take place.

" We are respectfully, in behalf of the University, your friends and collaborateurs,

J. Young Scammon, E. B. McCagg, C. N. Holden,

J. H. WOODWORTH."

Among his old friends in New York he was received with much favor, and names that are as familiar as household words

100 THE LIFE OF REV. W. AV. EVERTS, D.D.

to those representing struggling Baptist interests — Wyckoff, Bishop, Pratt, Phelps, Gellatly, Davis and Stout — are found among the contributors to the Greek Chair. One or two sub- scriptions failed, so that the total amount received fell two thou- sand dollars short of the full endowment. The cash collected for the endowment reached Chicago as the main building was nearing completion. Winter was at hand, the roof must be added, and a loan must 'be made, or the structure would be seriously injured. Under these circumstances the Board of Trustees authorized, during the absence of Dr. Everts, a tem- porary loan of fourteen thousand dollars from the Greek Chair Fund. When the magnificent Douglas Hall, modelled after the Smithsonian Institution, was completed, the assets of the institution had increased one hundred thousand dollars, but the liabilities had also increased from thirty thousand dollars to fifty thousand dollars. But with the oflPer of Wm. B. Ogden to put up the north wing on condition that this debt should be lifted, Messrs. Clarke and Mixer devoted themselves to their task with redoubled energy, and had secured in good pledges all but ten thousand dollars of the amount required to make good the ofi'er of Mr. Ogden, when the Board of Trustees by a ma- jority of one dismissed Prof. Mixer and let Dr. Clarke go.

This action was a death-blow, and from that hour the Uni- versity began to sink. There were occasional movements afterwards, but they were only death-struggles. There was a frequent change of doctors, but the patient was none the bet- ter, but rather grew worse. By that small majority of one the University was doomed. It continued to exist, because the insurance company was willing to compound interest upon interest upon the valuable property. But confidence was gone. The friends of the president had removed the officers whose magnificent success they feared, and in fearing it they betrayed a spirit that often destroys but never saves great

THE OLD UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. 101

enterprises. In reviewing this catastrophe a few years later, one of its chief victims writes to Dr. Everts : " The firm mainte- nance of my conviction cost me my position with a family on my hands. What of the great enterprise ? Must it not be saved at any cost ? No, not at the cost of the sacrifice of moral prin- ciples. I have faith to believe that the whole will come to naught if the good people will only let it alone. You have been supporting your enemies while they have been fighting

you. You speak of the change of sentiment of Dr. .

Don't trust it for a moment. He is too weak to make the sacrifice which the cause of righteousness would have cost. Let the University die of starvation, as it will if all only let it alone. It may be that not a vestige of all our hard work will then remain, but as sure as God lives, honest hearts and helping hands will be left to then take up the work." Dr. Everts was not yet utterly discouraged, as a reflection jotted down at the time of this revolution indicates : " I do not see how I could have pursued a different course, and have been faithful to my convictions and to the University. I fear it will not rise as rapidly to intellectual greatness and power as we had hoped."

The reference to Dr. Everts " supporting his enemies" is explained by the effort he made to clear the University of debt by what became known as the " land scheme." In the year 1871, the University debt had increased to one hundred thousand dollars, and the outlook was so discour- aging that the trustees did not attend the annual meeting, and the president told his friends that he was willing to re- sign. At this moment of apparent dissolution, Mr. Jas. E. Burchelle and Mr. B. F. Jacobs, members of the First Bap- tist Church, proposed to their pastor that one hundred and sixty acres of land be purchased near the stock-yards, and platted and sold in lots at such an advance on the cost price

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that the profit should liquidate the entire debt upon the Uni- versity. These gentlemen, without any endorsement from the Board of Trustees, but with the promise of fifty thousand dollars from the president for the first payment, bought the property. Their pastor took five thousand dollars' worth of the land ; they invested ten thousand dollars in it at the advance price, and disposed of twenty-five thousand dollars' worth of the property besides among members of the First Church. The managers were ultimately compelled to advance themselves half of the amount which the president had promised to meet the first payment, and they still owed nearly two hundred thousand dollars on the property when the great Chicago fire came and put an end for the time being to business in outside real estate. What was to be done ? Was there a forlorn hope anywhere ? On January 5, 1S72, in reply to the ques- tion, Can the land be sold in the East ? Mr. Phelps answers, " It may be^ if you can spend two or three months in accom- plishing it. I do not believe that any other man can do it." Encouraged by this word. Dr. Everts yielded to the urgent petition, dated March 1-4, 1872, and signed by the professors of the University and Seminary, and went East.

The land was ofi'ered for sale, not so much as an invest- ment, as on moral considerations, to save the University. In Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany, New York, and Boston, the Baptist churches were visited, and in the latter city the noble Shawmut Avenue Church, under Dr. Lorimers in- spiration, subscribed twenty thousand dollars. In all, sixty thousand dollars was thus secured, and by this wearing, un- compensated, and thankless labor, the threatened defeat was averted, and fifty thousand dollars was put to the credit of the University of Chicago. But, as had been predicted, he was but " supporting his enemies." The president was not allowed to resign, but, on the other hand, was publicly credited

THE OLD UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. 103

by his adherents with the success that others had achieved for him. Xot satibfied with this injustice, they inserted bitter articles in the local papers, in which they attributed the long, arduous, and successful labors of the pastor of the First Baptist Church in behalf of the University to an insane ambition on his part to become its president.

Perceiving the impossibility of further effort for those who put an evil interpretation upon the most unselfish actions, and with the promise that his withdrawal from the Board of Trustees would be followed by the resignation of the presi- dent, Dr. Everts, early in October, 1872, wrote the following letter : " To hasten unity of counsel and facilitate a new de- parture in the progress of the University, I hereby tender my resignation as a member of the Board. But in the future, as in the past, I shall be happy to do all in my power, by word or deed, to assure the greatest prosperity of our noble insti- tution." A year later, on December 30, 1873, the promise was nominally fulfilled. The chair of president was resigned, but the office of chancellor was created at the request of the trustees, and filled by the ex-president.

The Cldcago Standard, in commenting on this action of the Board, expressed the hope " that so far as the Baptist denom- ination is concerned, as well as others, differences and debates will now cease." But the conduct of the Board called forth such " difference and debate ' in the Eastern papers that it was compelled to submit its affairs to the investigation of the American Baptist Educational Commission. It was said, '• As to the statement of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees as to the financial and other affairs of the Chicago University, they must not expect to be believed. When we have the report of the Investigation Committee of the Educational Commission, then we shall know where we are." Samuel Colgate, Gardner R. Colby, Dr. Edward Lathrop, Dr. S. S.

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Cutting, and Mr. J. F. Wyckoff accepted, in 1875, the ap- pointment of the commission to examine thoroughly into the affairs of the University, and to report whether it was worthy of a share of the gifts of the denomination in the Centennial movement of the year 1876 to endow institutions of learning throughout the country. No report or investigation was ever made, because a telegram was received from Chicago informing the committee that the books of the treasurer "would not be submitted to their inspection.

Dr. Everts had been chiefly instrumental in arousing the conscience of the denomination to a sense of its responsibility in saving the University, and in producing the conviction that wrongs must be righted and justice done, or the University could not be saved. " The stimulation of public conscience by exposure of wrong," he said, " is far more important than a concealment of wrong, thereby confusing public conscience and creating distrust. Ingenuous confession of wrong obtains the forgiveness of men as well as of God. Purity is to be sought before peace, and peace can be assured only by purity. But with just history of the past locating responsibility, at least approximately, upon wrong-doers, and approximately vindicating the innocent and true, may assure confidence and success of future administrations. If God graciously over- rules the wrath of men for good, they should not deny their sin ; especially they should not claim credit for their betrayal of trust, and boast of the honor God may bring out of their wrong-doing. Let history of public enterprises be fully and impartially written, for the truth and justice of history, whoever may suffer for it. The Scriptures impartially re- cord the rebellion against Moses, the vices of David and Solomon, and the dispute between Paul and Barnabas."

But the successful agitation of such sentiments did not pacify the administration of the University. A responsible

THE OLD UNIVERSITY OP CHICAGO. 105

and prominent citizen called attention in the Chicago Trib- une to certain shortcomings of the president and of the administration ; whereupon, on January 17, 1874, the Ex- ecutive Committee of the Board of Trustees addressed a note to the deacons of the First Baptist Church, announcing that their pastor was held personally responsible for these allegations, and they found it necessary to institute measures to vindicate both the Board of Trustees and the late presi- dent of the University from the aspersions cast upon them. In replying to this effort to sow discord among his own people, the pastor says : " What public-spirited man in Chicago could look on indifferently while our University remained at a stand-still, as largely in debt and with less endowment to- day than seven years ago ? What if I, a member of the Board, was a little restless under it,'and felt that the adminis- tration was to blame for its inefficiency ? The correction of false statements may seem, to those whose lives have not been devoted to public objects, of trifling importance, but to those concerned there is nothing more important. The greatest injustice is done me in the charge that I seek the presidency. Why have not witnesses been found to support the charge ? If true, some one must have been asked to promote that object. I despise those who sacrifice public trust either to personal friends or prejudice. If I have been beside myself in this matter, it has been for the sake of no office or emolu- ment. If the incompetency of the president has been jeopardizing the promise of the University, my opposition may have been but scant loyalty." Notwithstanding con- tinuous attacks upon himself, Dr. Everts wrote to William B. Ogden in the fall of the year 187-4, " We still believe Chi- cago University will yet take rank with the greatest institu- tions in the country. He also advocated, the next year, the Centennial movement and the dollar roll, and referred to the

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University as an institution whose field and promise, tliougli brought into great doubt and peril, are yet second to none on the continent."

A contemporary estimate of the relations of the pastor of the First Church to the University is found in the Examiner, of New York, from the pen of Dr. A. K. Potter, of Spring- field, Mass. " Men sometimes receive very hard pay for hard work in a good cause. So it seems to be with our friend Dr. Everts, of Chicago. An ill-natured paragraph is going the rounds of the press representing the University and Seminary at Chicago as heavily in debt, and giving Dr. Everts a thrust, for wishing to be ' bishop or pope,' and ' possibly president of the University.' We do not know why the doctor should wish to be a ' bishop,' for he is that already, and has been for many years. He could not wish to be a ' pope,' for he knows very well that popes are at an especially large discount just now. And as to his having aspirations for the presidency of Chicago University, we really do not believe that he has ever had the feeblest hankering for a position of the kind. That he has earnestly desired to see the University liberated from its embarrassments, and in a career of high prosperity, we have no doubt. That he has sought to do all within his power to give it such prosperity we have just as little doubt. It would be interesting to know precisely where the weak spot in the University administration is, if it has a special spot of this kind. But we apprehend that it will prove to be unproductive business to throw upon Dr. Everts the respon- sibility of any weakness it may have. It is not his way to make things weak."

Dr. Henson wrote, in March, 1885, soon after coming to Chicago : " There have been suspicions, at least in the East, and possibly nearer home, that there have been so many irregularities, to put it mildly, in the institution's life, that

THE OLD UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. 107

death is doom that is richly deserved. If there have been irregularities, let us not ignominiously cover them up in the grave, lest their ghosts arise to plague us, but let us heroically right them."

The closing years of the Chicago pastorate witnessed the call and violent removal of President Lemuel Moss, the des- perate attempt, in January, 1877, to wrest the institution from Baptist control, and then the mortifying effort to save the wreck by repudiating the debt due the insurance company. But nothing, however humiliating, could destroy his hope in the University. " I have great hope for the future of the University," he writes. " God will bless it. I have prayed and labored for it, and it will be blessed." While in the East, and after returning to Chicago, Dr. Everts sought to raise the drooping courage of old friends of the institution, and to secure new support for the lost cause. When the Inter-Ocean^ of Chicago, said, " Let it be buried forever out of sight, let it be forgotten," he replied, " But what should be forgotten and buried out of sight ? Surely not the cause of higher education in Chica2;o. Nor should we bury out of sight the honor of Douglas, Chicago's most eminent citizen. Nor yet should we bury out of sight the names of other public- spirited citizens, who gave two hundred thousand dollars to the University. If it is attempted to bury the cause, there will be a resurrection like that at the tomb of Joseph."

Hope did not expire until the work of destruction had actually begun. Then he wrote this lament : '' Day by day, from the window of my dwelling, I look out with tender feelings upon the demolition of the old University buildings now going on. Already windows have been removed, tur- rets toppled over, and sections of the walls thrown down. Passers-by behold the apparent vandalism with wondering inquiry. Old friends stop to gaze with painful regrets and

108 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

tearful eyes upon the broken monument of noble sacrifice. Alumni come to view the ruins, as Nehemiah to the desolation of Mount Zion." Then, as he writes, he hopes against hope. " As myriad husks, annually falling into the ground, perish, while the precious seed they cover germinate and grow into boundless harvests for the nourishment of the race, so the precious seed of believing prayers, of noble endeavor, conse- cration, and self-sacrifice, remaining after the destruction of official administrations, and external embodiments which ob- structed rather than guarded their normal growth, will spring up and flourish in varied and comprehensive Christian culture, diff"using that wisdom and knowledge which shaft be the sta- bility of our times and the strength of our free institutions. A new University shall emerge, Phoenix-like, from the ashes of the past, in grander proportions, more beautiful harmonies, and more glorious achievements than were anticipated by the most hopeful projectors and builders of the past." When the fond dream was so speedily realized by the offer by Mr. J. D. Rockefeller, first of six hundred thousand dollars, and then of one million dollars, to establish a new University of Chicago, the feelings of one who had been working and praying, hoping and weeping, over the University for thirty years can only be expressed in the language of Simeon : " Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT CHICAGO. 109

CHAPTER VIII.

THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT CHICAGO.

At the semi-centennial of the First Baptist Church, Chicago, observed in 1883, Dr. G. W. Northrup declared that " the most notable thing in the history of Baptists of Chicago during the past fifty years is the work done in estab- lishing here two first-class denominational institutions." Dr. Everts's part in the work of founding the Theological Semi- nary is of no slight importance. " He was a born strategist, and always believed in seizing the strong points and holding them with a strong hand. Very naturally, therefore, his whole soul was enlisted in the work of Christian education, especially as related to the evangelization of the great North- west. The Theological Seminary now located at Morgan Park was conceived in his brain and born in his study." Such are the words of Dr. P. S. Henson. When he arrived in Chicago, the question of establishing a Seminary in the West was being agitated in the press, and there was some thought of calling a convention to agree upon the best loca- tion. " It seemed to me there was no room for two opinions, and I was satisfied that waiting for a convention to discuss the location might only divide the denomination and delay the enterprise." Hence, at the commencement of the Uni- versity, in 1860, eight gentlemen, among them Revs. J. B. Olcott, A. J. Joslyn, and J. A. Smith, were called by the pastor into a small room of the First Baptist Church, and persuaded to begin the new enterprise then and there, upon

110 THE LIFE OF REV- W. W. EVERTS, D.D,

the basis of a constitution he laid before them. Imitating the example of the men who established the school at Ham- ilton, N. Y., each one present contributed one dollar, and thus planted a grain of corn for the coming harvest. Year by year they met in increasing numbers, awaiting the indi- cations of Providence. Rev. Messrs. Branch, Olcott, and Clarke were sent out in turn to kwaken an interest in the proposed Seminary among the churches.

During the winter of 1864-65, Dr. Everts found time, while he was in New York City, raising the endowment for the Greek Chair in the University, to make a beginning in the property foundation of the Seminary. He approached Mr. Samuel Colgate in behalf of the University, but found him unwilling to give for classical education so far away. " If you ever start a theological institution, we may give you an acre of land we own on the west side of Chicago." " Thank you, Mr. Colgate ; we must have such an institution, and then we will hold you to your offer." At a later visit, though with great reluctance, Mr. Colgate placed his name on the list of subscribers to the University, with the understand- ing that his donation should go to that object only on condi- tion that no effort was made to put up a building for the Seminary. His name was needed on the list, because no sub- scription to the Greek Chair fund was binding until twenty five thousand dollars were subscribed. The acre was valued at five thousand dollars, and increased the total amount secured to twenty-seven thousand dollars. The subscribers were in- formed of the condition attached to the Colgate subscription and were satisfied. " We have had but one opinion," writes Mr. Colgate ; " it is to aid in the education of the ministry. We want the Seminary to have it. We think well of the Univer- sity, but more of the Seminary." This acre of land was soon deeded to the Seminary, and in time doubled and trebled in

THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT CHICAGO. Ill

value. It became the subject of grave charges against Dr. Everts, who was arraigned by the Board of the University for " taking away their property."

Others besides Mr. Colgate preferred to give towards a the- ological institution, so that before Dr. Everts returned to Chi- cago he had secured for this purpose thirteen .hundred dollars in cash, besides property valued at five hundred dollars. With this capital to invest, the Board of Trustees, who had been regularly elected August 28, 1863, were encouraged to pur- chase two hundred and twelve feet of land on Rhodes Ave- nue, opposite the University. This property was purchased for twenty-five dollars per front foot, but it has since reached a valuation eight times as great, and is still in the possession of the Theological Seminary.

The first teachers employed were Dr. Nathaniel Colver and Rev. J. C. C. Clarke, and among the first students was D. L. Moody. This young clerk was encouraged to give up his business and engage wholly in religious work by the profiered hospitality of Mrs. Phillips, a member of the First Baptist Church, and in Miss Revell, another member of the same church, he was blessed in finding a worthy companion.

There had been some hope that the First Baptist Church of Cincinnati would support Dr. Colver, when he left their pulpit for the Seminary, from certain trust funds in their possession. This hope failing. Dr. Everts accepted the invitation of Mr. Kingsland, a Chicago friend who had returned to Vermont to live, to visit Burlington for the purpose of interesting Messrs. Lawrence Barnes and Mial Davis in the new undertaking, and he was much encouraged by their promise to consider the matter and to come to an early decision. Soon after Dr. Col- ver went to Boston, his old tramping-ground, to secure help for the Seminary, but he accomplished nothing until on his way home. He reached Burlington, where the way had been pre-

112 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

pared for hiro. There he secured the promise of fifteen hundred dollars a year for five years, a pledge that was after- wards changed into an endowment fund of seven thousand five hundred dollars. The third contributor to the first large gift to the institution was Mr. W. W. Cook, of White- hall, N. Y.

The next great need of the Seminary was books, and Dr. Everts was a prime mover in the acquisition in turn of the E. W. Hengstenberg, George B. Ide, and American Bible Union Libraries, which together constitute one of the most complete collections of the sources of theology in the world. In June, 1869, Dr. Everts received in Liverpool the following letter from his son, who was in Berlin :

" Sitting down to finish this letter, whose late conclusion may prove providential, I am very much wrought up on account of our Theological Seminary. May my enthusiasm not be helpless. May you be better, so as to bear it, even happy and well enough to favor it, and that quickly, or you can never. Hengstenberg's library is the matter that excites me, and well it may, for Prof. Steinmeyer just told me that proba- bly no finer theological library was ever collected by or for a private person. Prof Dorner is moving to secure it for the University. Perhaps I may stir up a little of your Chicago loyalty by saying that the Neander library, now at Rochester, can stand no comparison with this. You have weighed, while reading this, what this library might be worth to Chicago and to our Baptist name. I will add no airy flights, only this : America would thereby find its Christian scientific centre in its material and artificial middle-point. Oh that you dared, with your far-sighted wisdom and faith, to write to me to secure its refusal, or the permission, perhaps, to bid such and such a sum for it. Do you think Chicago would reject it, or do you fear she would not share in purchasing it ? Dear

THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT CHICAGO. 113

father, do as you please about all this. If the burden is too heavy for you to bear, if your crowns are already enough, do not wear yourself out, even for the Seminary." To this he replied on the 16th of June : " If there is time and the pro- fessors are in Chicago, possibly they might authorize the pur- chase and send on one thousand dollars as first payment. Write immediately to Professor Northrup or Jackson, stating the case to them, so that they could answer by letter or tele- graph." On June 25, a letter addressed to the Board of the Seminary leaves Berlin. " According to the will, the library should be sold to a Lutheran institution, but the brother of Dr. Hengstenberg is eager to seek my acquaint- ance. Dr. Dorner is confident the collection could not have cost less than twenty thousand thalers, and could not be col- lected for that to-day. There are shelves of folios that cost five or ten dollars a volume. Can you calculate the imme- diate and possible value, gentlemen, of such a library in our opening Seminary? It would dignify your more material preparation for the school. Scholars would be drawn to our halls and spread our fame. Chicago Baptists are like the pools of Solomon, — never empty. I am assured, too, that, taken together, they are as wise as Solomon. I might as well explain a political fact to Solon as the expediency of this theological purchase to you. My selfish services will naturally be at your disposal as long as the matter is on hand. Excuse my bold- ness, which you may refer to the hearty interest I feel in this affair."

On the 7th of July, Dr. Everts writes from Chicago : " Pro- fessor Northrup and myself have taken the responsibility of purchasing the Hengstenberg library, if not already disposed of. Hence the telegram of July 5 ordering the purchase, and two thousand dollars accompanying this sheet." (The cablegram, costing seventeen dollars, was sent at Dr. North-

8

114 THE LIFE OF REV. AV. W. EVERTS, D.D.

rup's expense, so eager was he for the purchase.) " Act with commensurate tact and shrewdness, and get the library as cheaply as possible. Brother Northrup and myself are not able to take the responsibility we have assumed, and it should be made as light to us as possible. You may agree to pay the balance in sixty or ninety days. Let there be no blunder or slip in the purchase." July 30 : " All feel the importance of the library, but know not how we shall pay for it in these distressed times." September 19 : " Collect notices of press and testimonies of scholars. If allowed to be depreciated by incompetent or envious criticism, it would greatly hinder raising money to purchase it." October 1 : " We are glad you have taken refusal rather than complete purchase. Our finances are so straightened that many of the Board deemed it folly to undertake the purchase. Some Western educators question the value of the library to a poor Seminary unable to purchase many newer books. This increases our difficulty. To protect ourselves against these objections and awaken sympathy, letters have been sent to Drs. Hovey and Galusha Anderson, of Newton, to Williams and Conant, of New York, and others, inquiring whether they deem it wise for us on general principles to attempt the purchase. While waiting their answers, Mr. J. Young Scammon has proposed the founding of a general free theological library and purchasing the German library as a nucleus. This might be just as well for us, and pledge earlier and greater enlargement of the en- terprise. Mr. Scammon might do much for it himself in that case." Upon receiving notice that the refusal would be withdrawn at a near date, Mr. James E. Tyler went with Dr. Everts to Mr. Scammon's office and induced him to ad- vance the additional four thousand dollars needed, and thus the library was secured, the contributors, excepting Mr. Scammon and Dr. Northrup, being members of the congre-

THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT CHICAGO. 115

gation of the First Baptist Church. The library was kept in the University building until the year 1874, when the claim of Mr. Scammon's estate was purchased by Mr. E. Nelson Blake, and this wealth of learning thus came into the full and permanent possession of the Seminary.

Meanwhile the library of Dr. George B. Ide, of Spring- field, Mass., had been secured. This collection of three thousand books, which were written chiefly in the English language, was a much-needed supplement to the Hengsten- berg library, whose ten thousand volumes were almost en- tirely in other languages. Dr. Everts sent his son to Spring- field to examine the books upon the shelves, and then to Philadelphia to negotiate with the heirs. The following extracts from letters tell the story of the purchase. June 26, 1872 : " It is a rare treasure for our Seminary if we obtain it. God grant we may." July 2 : " We must buy these books ; we ought to have every one of them (except the ' Church Fathers,' which are in the Hengstenberg library), or we will have to pay large prices for them in poor or no bindings. But how in the world can you get up determina tion to try to raise any more money for any other object ? What's done must be done quickly. Mr. Keen was about to advertise it." July 3 : '' The library is of such excellent character, containing so many works we must have, so few we will not need, most of them very recent, that we would never regret the purchase." August 9 : Mr. Charles B. Keen writes from Philadelphia, " Messrs. Smith and English have examined the library for me, and Mr. English says, ' I am free to say I never saw a library of its size in such good condition, so free from poor books, and in every way so de- sirable for a clergyman of culture and studious habits.' He expresses the opinion that they are very cheap at four thou- sand dollars. As you had the refusal from me, I want to

116 THE LIFE OF REV- W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

know very soon wliether you are likely to buy them." When the matter came before the Seminary Board, Dr. Everts ex- pressed such confidence that the churches would contribute towards the purchase of such a valuable collection of books, that the trustees were persuaded to purchase this treasure of literature.

In those early days the Seminary rested for its financial support upon four laymen, Messrs. Goodyear and Holden, of the Second Church, and Sheldon and Tyler, of the First. In November, 1874, Dr. Everts visited Cleveland, where he had dedicated the Euclid Avenue Church, and drawn out large contributions from Mr. John D. Rockefeller, and sought to interest the coming benefactor of Chicago in the educational interests centring there. Six years later he persuaded Cap- tain Ebenezer Morgan to purchase the American Bible Union library, with the idea of presenting it to a theological institu- tion either at Hamilton or at Chicago. Through a business transaction with Bev. Dr. Col well, of Lowell, Mass., this library, under the name of the Colwell library, came into the possession of the Theological Seminary at Chicago. It is an exhaustive collection of editions and versions of the Bible and of dic- tionaries, grammars, and commentaries, gathered at an esti- mated cost of seventy-five thousand dollars, for the use of the revisers of the English Bible.

LABORS IN BEHALr OF PURE VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 117

CHAPTER IX.

LABORS IN BEHALF OF PURE VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE.

Though nearing his sixty- j&fth birthday, and overwhelmed by financial diflBculties in which his enterprise or generosity had involved him, his superb health and buoyant spirits did not forsake him. The First Baptist Church in San Francisco for the third time in vain sought his services. The unani- mous call extended on January 29, 1879, by the Bergen Church in Jersey City was accepted. " They would consider your coming an act of condescension of which they felt them- selves unworthy, in which I join." Such were the senti- ments of a leading member of the New Jersey church. The enthusiasm produced by the new pastor was at once turned to account by the successful removal of a debt of thirty-five thousand dollars. In a service of five years harmony was restored to a sadly-distracted chufch, one hundred and seventy-five members were added to its roll, and everything was done to make its prosperity permanent. After his resig- nation of the pastorate, which was tearfully accepted, he con- tinued to reside in Jersey City, and was happy in assisting his young succes^br by every means in his power. But the providence of God in his settlement in Jersey City was spe- cially marked in the revolution of sentiment of Northern Baptists that took place under his leadership with regard to the publication of what had been derisively called a " Baptist Bible."

This question of a complete translation of the Bible into

118 THE LIFE OP REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

English naturally arose out of the question or making accurate versions of the Word of God into other languages. When Baptist missionaries began to translate the Bible into the vari- ous languages of India, they were invited to co-operate with the British and Foreign Bible Society. As early as the year 1813, they were asked by the corresponding secretary of that society whether in the versions they had made they had trans- lated the Greek word " haptizo^^^ immerse, or had transliter- ated it, that is, transferred it bodily. As the missionary en- terprise was in its infancy at that time, and translations were few, the versions made by these missionaries, on the principle of translating every word that can be translated, were adopted by the society and widely circulated. But at length, through these pure versions. Baptist ideas were found to be spreading rapidly throughout India. Consequently the society decided adversely the petition of Messrs. Pierce and Yates for assist- ance in printing a new addition of the Bengali New Testament. These Baptist missionaries, having been refused help in Eng- land, then appealed to the American Bible Society. Mean- time, in April 1833, the American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions instructed their missionaries " to make their transla- tions as exact a representation of the mind of the Holy Spirit as may be possible ; to endeavor by earnest prayer and diligent study to ascertain the precise meaning of the original text ; to express that meaning as exactly as the nature of the lan- guage into which they shall translate the Bible will permit, and to transfer no words which are capable of being literally translated." Thereupon, October 1, 1835, the Board of the American Bible Society favorably considered a resolution that it was " inexpedient to appropriate any funds in aid of trans- lating or distributing the aforesaid Bengali New Testament." However, the offer was made to contribute the amount asked for if the translation of the Greek word for baptism was

LABORS IN BEHALF OF PURE VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 119

corrected. Dr. S. H. Cone, one of the Board, objected to the injustice of demanding a correction before the translation had been proved to be incorrect. " The Board of Managers have no right to forbid the translation of baptize or of any other word, the meaning of which is satisfactorily ascertained, or the missionary hereafter, in the work of translation, instead of making it his single aim to please God, must consult primarily the view and wishes of earthly patrons. The idea suggested that the versions to be approved must not materially diflfer from ' the sense of the authorized English version ' is most strange. We have been taught to believe that the sense of the Holy Ghost is to be invariably and most critically pre- served. Had the principle been candidly stated and uniformly acted upon by the society in the appropriation of its funds for foreign distribution, the Baptists never could have been guilty of the folly or duplicity of soliciting aid for translations made by their missionaries."

Deacon William Colgate likewise protested against the pro- posed action : " I plainly see we are kindling a fire in this room that is destined to burn in every city, town, and village throughout the United States. I must think the resolution before you is quite uncalled for. Heretofore each denomina- tion had the responsibility of its own translations, and it has worked well. Let each one continue to do so. I can assure you the Baptists will take the responsibility of theirs, and will not covet a share in the responsibility of others. But, sir, the resolution is aimed at the Baptists, and at them only. Let not this noble institution be severed on this question ; for we have never on this question used deception. We have maintained in our pulpits and by the press and beside all waters that the meaning of this word is immersion, and im- mersion only, and I believe no Baptist ever did or ever will translate it differently. Would it not, sir, be very unreason-

120 THE LIFE OP REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

able to expect us to surrender the authority of God's Word to the behest of this society?"

On April 27, 1836, it was determined by leading Baptists that, if the American Bible Society sustained the action of the majority of its Board, a convention of delegates from all Baptist churches should be summoned to meet in Philadelphia for counsel. This action was taken in response to the offer of the Board of the American Bible Society of five thousand dollars for translations made by Baptist missionaries, provided they were conformed in the principles of their translation to the common English version," that is, provided the Greek word " haptizo''^ was transferred into other languages as it had been into English, untranslated. When Adoniram Judson heard of the new condition imposed on Baptist missionaries, he said, *' I would rather lose my right hand than tamper with the Word of God." This utterance voiced the sentiments of the delegates who assembled at Philadelphia, April 26, 1837; to deliberate as to the duty of the hour. In the opinion of Professor Knowles, it was " the largest and most intelligent assembly of Baptist ministers and laymen that has ever been held. There was a display of talent, eloquence, and piety which we venture to say no other ecclesiastical body in our country could surpass." There was unanimity as to the principle of translation ; but as to the best way of raising money for translations, there was dif- ference of opinion. Wayland and Sharp, AVilliams, Brantley, and Ide thought that funds might be raised through the Foreign Mission Board, but the great majority of the convention fol- lowed Cone, Welch, McClay, Kendrick, and Cushman, who, on the ground that the American Bible Society had forfeited the confidence of the denomination, insisted upon the neces- sity of another Bible Society. The scope of the work of such a society was a question that caused another division in the convention. Whether the revision of the English

LABORS IN BEHALF OF PURE VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 121

Scriptures should be included in the programme or not was, for the sake of harmony, held in abeyance, and the Board of the new society were instructed to confine their attention to versions in foreign languages until otherwise ordered by the society.

Dr. Everts was one of the youngest delegates to this con- vention. " I have always felt an elation of joy in being thus early and from principle associated in a humble way with a movement destined to reflect such honor upon the Baptist denomination. I became convinced at the outset of my public life that pure versions of the Scriptures are the true point of departure in all future reformation and reunion of Christian churches ; that the restoration of the divine organic laws of the Church in the constitution, the Bible of the people, would do more to popularize and champion the Baptist faith than all the books ever written. When we set forth in the Bible what we do in the pulpit, people may believe us. Preaching, and not printing, is inconsistent."

During his settlement in New York City he was a member of the Board of the new " American and Foreign Bible Society," and drafted the appeal to the Legislature for the charter that was so bitterly opposed by the old society. Year after year the question, Has not the time come for English revision ? was raised in the meetin2;s of the Board.

Dr. Everts secured the passage of a resolution at an associa- tional gathering in Putnam County, N. Y., in favor of such action, and at an anniversary meeting of the society in Phila- delphia he advocated the appointment of a court of critical scholars to take into consideration the alleged faults of the re- ceived version, and to be continued from year to year till the English Bible should be as nearly perfected as the best scholar- ship could make it. A few years later Dr. A. C. Kendrick and a few others prepared, at the request of the president,

122 THE LIFE OP REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

and at the expense of the treasurer of the society, a tentative revision of the New Testament. This was sent out to the mem- bers of the society to prepare them for enlightened action at the annual meeting, but it was regarded as an attempt to fore- stall action and as a usurpation of authority by a few men who would rule the denomination. When the anniversary arrived, the tentative revision was repudiated, the administration of the society was overturned, and the most bitter and destructive controversy in the history of the Baptist denomination began.

Dr. Cone and Deacon Colgate, who had separated from the Pedobaptists for the cause of a pure Bible, now separated from their own brethren for the same reason, and, with other friends of English revision, formed the American Bible Union.

It was formed in New York in the summer of 1850, on the day after Dr. Everts had arrived in New York from a sojourn in Europe. He found at his house old friends who were in the new movement, and offering him the vice-presidency of the society that was to be formed on the morrow. But they had been anticipated by the deacons of his church, who had met him on ship-board and entreated him not to attend the meeting. Out of regard to their wishes he declined the office tendered him, but he assured his visitors that he would sup- port the new enterprise.

" He was quick to see the right," writes Dr. J. W. Sarles, " and was quick to do it without stopping to count the per- sonal cost of it to himself. When he committed himself to English revision with the enthusiasm that belonged to him, it was likely to blast the reputation of a young man like him- self. He conferred not with flesh and blood. But the Lord saw that a commanding reputation was given to him in spite of it."

In the spring of 1879, after a long absence in the far

LABORS IN BEHALF OF PURE VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 123

West, he returned to the scene of his early labors. The sentiment concerning the revision of the English Scriptures had, in the meantime, completely changed, for England and America were awaiting the appearance of the Canterbury version. But both the Baptist Bible Societies had become exhausted by their " thirty years' war." The American Bible Union was on the verge of bankruptcy, and the other had sought, on several occasions, to merge its existence in that of some other organization, and had become as unpopular as its rival. Twelve of the leading Baptist educators and divines recommended that the denomination return to the American Bible Society, allegiance to which had been broken with such righteous indignation fifty years before. Such were the conditions when, in April, 1879, Dr. Everts attended meetings of the Boards of the two Baptist Bible Societies. He was at once elected a director of both societies, and be- came a peacemaker between the two, and urged immediate union of Baptist forces for the better prosecution of the work of each society. As the right to revise the English Scriptures had been generally conceded, there was nothing left to divide the denomination any longer. The moment was auspicious to complete the Bible Union version. " Save the cargo, the principle of pure versions, if one or both of the crafts go down," he said. " Remove the scandal of divi- sion and together appeal to the denomination once more." Both bodies appointed committees of conference.

Meanwhile, to popularize the new movement. Dr. Everts arranged for a mass-meeting at Martha's Vineyard that summer, and a sermon on the fundamental importance of " Divine Ordinances," which he preached there, was circu- lated in an edition of ten thousand copies. Friends of both societies were encouraged to assemble at Saratoga just before the Baptist anniversaries of the year 1880. These, twenty-

124 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

seven in number, prepared by Dr. Everts, were discussed by the convention, and all but two of them were adopted. Dr. Everts, whom E. Thresher in the Journal and Messenger' described as " the all-inspiring genius of the occasion," preached the sermon Sunday morning, at the close of which the moderator, Captain Ebenezer Morgan, of Groton, Conn., arose and said, " This great question lies at my heart, and takes the pre-eminence over all other calls under heaven, the pure word of God to all the nations. If we owe anything to our Divine Master we owe this, since it was given to us in its purity, by Him to the apostles, by the apostles to us. ' He that lacketh wisdom, let him ask.' I have only to ask and I feel to do without another word ; the real necessity is upon me, the privilege of bearing the burden in this great work. I have had it upon my mind. I appreciate it. To-day I would make an offering : in your presence I guarantee in five years to pay twenty-five thousand dollars." This great gift secured once more the long-suspended service of Dr. T. J. Conant upon the revision of the Old Testament. It did more. The whole denomination were compelled to commend the gift, and thus, indirectly, the cause of English revision.

When Captain Morgan and Dr. Everts, as representatives of the convention, in June visited Philadelphia and Boston to secure a joint conference of representatives of the Boards of the Publication Society and the Missionary Union, to confer with like committees of the Bible Societies upon the best methods of magnifying, and if possible of unifying, Baptist Bible work, they were promised the desired co-operation, and the conference was actually held in November. Thus the Bible question had gained a hearing and soon became the chief topic in the denominational papers. To make the most of this new interest in the denomination, and to provide an organ to advocate the new movement, Dr. Everts, in Decem-

LABORS IN BEHALF OF PURE VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE. 125

ber, induced his old friend, Captain Morgan, and members of his church in Jersey City, to purchase the Watch- Tower, and •to publish it in behalf of pure translations of the Bible everywhere. Free copies of the paper were sent to the mis- sionaries, many of whom wrote back in favor of the rehabilir tation of a Bible Society. The Baptist Missionary Union felt the effects of this agitation and increased its appropria- tions for Bible work. Dr. Dean wrote from Siam, " It may be said to the Missionary Union, thy brother, the Bible So- ciety, is not dead, thy brother shall rise again." On the 5th of May, 1881, the change in the constitution of the Ameri- can and Foreign Bible Society, which Dr. Everts had been urging for two years, was effected by the passage of a vote that the constitution be and now is amended by striking out the words '' and that in the distribution of the Scrip- tures in the English language, the commonly received version will be used until otherwise directed by the society." The gradual enlightenment of the denomination was apparent at the anniversaries at Indianapolis that year, when the chief address before the Publication Society took strong ground in favor of a pure English version. The very dread mani- fested towards the friends of the Bible Society was a con- fession of its rising power.

With the view of furnishing head-quarters for the Bible Society and a location for the Bible Union Library, Dr. Everts, in July, 1881, encouraged the two chief stockholders in the Watch-Toioer to purchase an elegant church property on Fifty-third Street. Here Dr. Gr. W. Samson conducted for a time a Bible- Workers' College, and the edifice was held by the friends of the Bible Society until the Baptist City Mission Society secured it for a colored church.

As soon as the constitution of the American and Foreign Bible Society had been changed, arrangements were at once

126 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

made to revise and perfect the American Bible Union Testa- ment. This work was placed under the general direction of Dr. J. C. Wightman, of Taunton, Mass. " May you, my dear brother," Dr. Wightman writes, February 9, 1882, " to whom I owe this high honor, never have occasion to regret the kindly recommendations which you have given me." At the Baptist anniversaries of the year 1882, the Bible Society had recovered its former place among the great denomina- tional societies. Jubilantly Dr. Everts writes, " The attempt to bury the Bible Society, assuming its death or moribund condition, has met with such resistance as to show it is still throbbing with a vigorous, though obstructed, life. To pro- ceed further with the funeral, considering the numbers de- voted to the society, would be like burying a hundred persons alive. Such premature pageant, longer persisted in, will fill the land with scandal, discredit the undertakers^ and be fol- lowed by a resurrection to a prolonged and effective life."

In response to a New York correspondent of the Religious Herald^ of Richmond, Ya., who remarked, with irritation, " But for the energy, resources, and persistency of Dr. Everts, the Bible question would have been settled ere this," he said. " The championship of the truth is the only leadership a Christian should covet. Its fruit may spring up along the path and over the graves of God's servants. We are not ready to exchange places with our critics in the history and final judg- ment of the great Baptist Bible movements." At the sug- gestion of the Bible Society, concurrent action was taken by the other denominational societies to arrange for a general Bible Convention. The effort to secure a representation from the churches in this convention, as in that of 1837, failed, as did the plan to secure delegations from the Southern States, by meeting in Cincinnati. The result was, " We went to Saratoga with the rope around our necks, ready to be hung."

LABORS IN BEHALF OP PURE VERSIONS OP THE BIBLE. 127

But Dr. Everts secured the passage by the Bible Society of this ultimatum to the convention : The American and Foreign Bible Society will not dissolve unless " the continuance of the revision of the English Scriptures on the basis of the Bible Union revision of the New Testament and Dr. Conant's revision of the Old Testament be provided for."

Captain Morgan had planned to complete the revision of the Old Testament at his own expense, and had made ar- rangements with Harper Brothers to publish the work when completed by Dr. Conant. After expending nine thousand dollars on the operation, the plan failed on account of an in- junction threatened by a member of the American Bible Union. In spite of determined opposition, the Publication Society has sacredly honored the ultimatum of the Bible So- ciety, and is now completing the revision of both the Old and the New Testaments. Thus the cargo, the principle of a pure English version, has been saved, though the crafts, the American Bible Union and the American and Foreign Bible Society, have both gone down. As Dr. G. W. Samson says, " Many a cause that he loved — Bible, mission, and col- lege work — took a shape unlike what he had conceived ; but the Master of Assemblies was overseeing His own work, marshalling His builders, giving every one his place to drive a nail, but allowing no one to comprehend His plans as the great Architect."

" Sometimes, in the crisis of a great battle," wrote Dr. Everts, " through misapprehension of orders amid the din, smoke, and hasty movements, the line of an army is thrown into confusion, and divisions and battalions are found attack- ing and slaughtering each other rather than a common enemy. At length the smoke of battle clears away, the common banner is seen floating over terrific and tumultuous scenes, and each corps, battalion, regiment, and company hastens to fall into

128 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

line in its proper place, facing and fighting the common foe. So Christendom, misapprehending the order of the Great Commander of the sacramental host of God's elect, and fol- lowing unauthorized standards, spends more of her resources of culture, piety, and official organization in mutual rivalries and antagonisms than in the spiritual conquest of the unbe- lieving world. But when above the Babel of sects they hear the one majestic voice of the one Lord of all, and, uplifted above the standards of the sects, they see floating in serene majesty the exclusive banner of the Christian faith, they will disengage themselves from all partisan alliances and unite in the simple order and discipline of the one apostolic church of Christ, answering the prayer of the Messiah for His church, ' that they may be one.' "

THE JOURNEYS END. 129

CHAPTER X.

THE journey's END.

After the termination of his successful labors in uniting the Bible Societies and in leading the denomination to more aggressive work in the distribution of a pure Bible, he natu- rally found his way back to kindred and friends in Chicago. The winter of 1886 and 1887 was spent in the South under appointment of the Missionary Union. The specific purpose of this tour among the home mission schools was to arouse an interest among the colored people in the Congo mission- field. " My men have of their own spontaneous promptings prayed for you in the meetings," wrote Principal Ayer, of Jackson, Miss., " and they have a certain reverence for you which I have never seen in them for another." The students at Spellman Seminary at Atlanta expressed the hope that '' the near future will show a beautiful harvest in the sending forth of missionaries to the dark continent."

Dr. Everts's reception in Chicago and Illinois, on his return to the West in the fall of 1886, was exceedingly gratifying. The following clipping from the church paper tells the story of the reunion with his old people : " Welcome home. At our last communion, on December 5, among the number of those who received the right hand of fellowship were Dr. W. W. Everts and his wife. The whole church, as the pastor extended his hand, rose to their feet in token of the hearti- ness of their welcome. There were many wet eyes as the pastor in appropriate words referred to the noble work which

9

130 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

Dr. Everts had done during his long and laborious ministry in Chicago, to the eminent sagacity he displayed in the choice of the church's present location, and the broad and deep foundations that he laid, upon which the church now so solidly rests, for all of which his successors in ofl&ce should never cease to be profoundly thankful. Dr. Everts, himself, was deeply moved, as well he might be, and all felt that the occasion was one of very deep and tender interest."

Then, at the next meeting of the State Convention at Rock Island, to his surprise he was elected Moderator of that body. To this honor at the hands of his own denomination was added another from others in the presidency of the Illinois Sabbath Association. But he was not content with honors, for his restless energy sought an outlet in ministering to strug- gling city missions and suburban churches. His pen was kept busy in furnishing optimistic articles for the press, and especially in putting in prominent form the ideas and principles to which his life had been devoted. This was done in a volume entitled " The Christian Apostolate," and as he finished the last page he exclaimed " I have an impression I will finish my life with my book."

The heart which had inspired so many was now incapable of sustaining the life of one, and, according to his predic- tion, life and book were finished together, September 25, 1890. With eye undimmed, with faith undaunted, with hope that never questioned the ultimate realization of the principles to which his life had been so ardently devoted, he heard the knocking of his Master at the door, and as a watchful servant he arose to let him in. " If true of any man since the author of the sentence, ' I have finished my course, I have kept the faith,' it is true of Dr. Everts." So wrote Mr. Arthur Peter, from Louisville.

On the following Sabbath afternoon a great concourse of

THE journey's end. 131

people gathered to his burial. There was the silver-haired clerk who wrote the letter inviting him to Chicago in 1852, a deacon who had served with him in Louisville, pastors whom he had helped at dedications and in revivals, brethren from the feeble churches who were always stronger after meeting him, many whom he had baptized, representatives of other denom- inations, rabbis, priests, leaders in reform, and noble women not a few. " Though more than a decade had passed since he ceased his active ministrations in this city, he seems to be as vividly and gratefully remembered as though he had vacated the pastoral office only yesterday. And that this should be the fact in a city so changeful as Chicago speaks volumes as to the depth and permanence of the im- pression left by his life and labors."

The Rev. Dr. P. S. Henson delivered the following beauti- ful eulogy : " ' May my death be that of the righteous, and may my last end be like his.' It seems to be appropriate that his own pastor should lay the first wreath upon this coffin. And yet not a wreath, but just a few flowers of memory fragrant at least with love, however lacking they may be in beauty. It was my privilege to be his pastor. He had been my predecessor. It is not commonly counted by a pastor a privilege to be the pastor of his predecessor, and yet out of the depths of my heart I want to say that no pastor ever had a truer yoke-fellow, ever had a more earnest co-laborer, ever had a more faithful counsellor or a truer friend, and, as Jacob said, ' If I am bereaved, I am bereaved indeed.' My arm is weaker and my heart is fainter and my way is lonelier be- cause he is gone, and this church is poorer, and this city and this world. I honored and revered him, I loved him, and he was worthy of it all. He was a man every inch, an honest man, a Christian man, a noble man, a man of convic- tion,— as you know and as all know, — deep-rooted, intense,

132 THE LIFE OF REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

a part of his being ; and he had the courage of his con- victions.

" If you look for his prototype in God's book, you will find it in Caleb. Caleb said, ' Let us go up and possess the land. Let us at once go up and possess the land, for we are able to overcome it.' So spake. Caleb, and so spake William Wallace Everts. They said he was visionary — so they said of Caleb ; impracticable — so they said of Caleb. And when Caleb was now an old man he crossed the Jordan with his fellow-patriot, Joshua, and they asked him what he would take as his choice, what should be the portion of his inheritance, and he said, ' I am not so young as I used to be, but there is still some fire in my bones. I said we could thresh the sons of Anak, and I see them now. They are insolent yonder amid the crags of that stronghold of theirs in this mountain. Give me this moun- tain ! Not some fair, fat valley, far toward yonder sea, but give me this mountain !' And he stormed that mountain, he threshed the sons of Anak out, and made it his strong- hold. Our beloved brother was a warrior, A hero of DAUNTLESS COURAGE. He never sighed for a soft place, but evermore his language was, ' Give me this mountain,' and many a mountain did he storm, many a stronghold did he take. An intrepid leader, and God blessed him with intrepid followers. You know how he carried himself among you here. You know, like Henry of Navarre, he led in battle, and where the plume of your chieftain waved you followed in the ranks of war. A soldier, courageous, with convictions, having faith in God and faith in the future of God's cause in the world.

" And while he had convictions, and the courage of his con- victions, he had a charity as broad as humanity. The most chivalrous of warriors was he ; no trace of unkindness, mag- nanimous, generous. He fought when principle was at stake, and yet even to a foe he showed generousness and love. No

THE journey's END. 133

malice bore he to any living man, nor did I ever hear those now sealed lips utter a word of bitterness. I have listened to him when, with tongue of fire, trumpet-tongued, he thun- dered his convictions, but never were those lips defiled with words of bitterness that ever I heard. He was a man op GREAT BREADTH. He loved the world. He longed for the salvation of the world. He loved this church. God only knows how he loved it. He laid its foundation-stone, its top- stone. He rejoiced over it as a father over a child. He wrought his love into these walls, and they resounded with his eloquence. He loved this church. But he was not bounded by this church. He loved this city. He believed in Chicago. But he was larger than Chicago. He loved this country. He believed in America. If ever a patri- otic heart beat in a human bosom, it was that heart in that bosom. But he was broader than America. His field was the world. For it he prayed. He was a foreign mis- sionary. His sympathies went out to the ends of the earth. He loved his denomination. He was a Baptist out and out, through and through, on conviction. He had the courage of his convictions, and in no presence did he hesitate to utter his conviction. But he loved all that loved the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and the presence on this platform of the rep- resentatives of other denominations, the presence in this audi- ence of the representatives of all denominations, declares how, in spite of the thoroughness of his denominational beliefs and his fearlessness in their proclamation, he impressed himself upon all this great community as a man of the broadest and most CATHOLIC Christian sympathies. A more unselfish man never lived. His last thought was of himself.

" There were some things that he dearly loved, and that he thoroughly believed in. First of all, in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose loyal, devoted servant he was through all

134 THE LIFE OF REV- W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

these years of battle. And he loved the old book (point- ing to the great Bible on the desk). If there was anything on earth that he loved, it was that book ; anything in this world that he believed in, it was that book. The great pur- pose of his life and desire was to give that book to the world. You remember how devoted he was to the interests of the Bible Society, whose purpose it was to give that word in its absolute purity to all the world. He loved that book. He believed that if salvation is to come to this world it is to come out of that book. And so he hugged it to his heart, and cherished it as his life-blood.

" He was full of enthusiasm. A characteristic thing about him was conviction, courage, faith in God, a faith so strong that he was inspired with enthusiasm in pursuit of it, and even to life's latest hour so joyous, exuberant, bounding, buoyant, full of zeal, full of that spirit of spontaneous, gushing, hearty sympathy with all things beautiful and noble, that it was a refreshment and an inspiration to commune with him. His eye was not dimmed nor his natural force abated. Only yesterday, it seems to me, I saw him as he marched the streets like a soldier. We walked together, arm in arm, and his invincible buoyancy asserted itself. As we neared his home he said, ' I feel better now.'

" I thank God that he was spared to see the dawn of a new day. If there was anything that came nearer than all other things to breaking his heart, it was the terrible disaster that overtook our educational interest. The Theological Seminary had its origin in his study. To the work of education he was devoted all through life, and when the University, the old University, toppled to its fall, he bowed his head like Eli in the gate when the ark of God was taken. But when the new day dawned he was exultant and jubilant ; he felt like Simeon when he said, ' Now, Lord, lettest Thou Thy servant

THE JOURNEY S END. 135

depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.' And in his home, when the last million crowned the noble benefioence of Mr. Rockefeller, he could scarcely refrain from shoutiog, such was his exultant joy. The day before his death he put the last touches to his life's crowning work, ' The Christian Apostle.' ' It seems to be finished,' he said, * that I should go now. My life work is done. My book is done. My work is done.' And the next day he closed his eyes. God said. It is enough, it is enough ; come up higher. A great man has fallen in Israel. May his mantle fall on his unworthy successor."

The following poem, written by his life friend. Dr. W. C. Richards, was then read by the author :

When at the dawn I learned that thou wast dead, A numbness seized this heart of mine ;

Its strength, its joy, its consciousness had fled ; It failed, but only not like thine.

Thou dead ! and since the sun of yesterday

Had in the western sky declined, My half-bewildered senses gone astray — I queried had it ever shined.

How could I less than seem with thee to die, — Thou but some short, quick steps in front, —

And always brave and strong with conflict nigh, To shrink not from the battle's brunt.

Thou wert a warrior from thine ardent youth,

Yet never gentler soul drew breath ; Thy zeal was that for God, and man and truth,

And loyal to thy Lord to death !

Schoolmates, companions, comrades, friends, Our hands nigh sixty years had grasped ;

Nor faithful memory one glance backward sends. Where only hands — not hearts — were clasped.

136 THE LIFE OP REV. W. W. EVERTS, D.D.

My "brother bt a fatherhood divine,

So near me then, I saw thy face. And pressed thy hand, — thy summons was not mine ;

And thou alone hast done the race.

And it is mine still less to say, " Well done !" "

And if I might, mute yet these lips ; As stars fade out before the shining sun,

Thy Master's words must mine eclipse.

And His ""Well done !" has greeted now thine ear

And rapt thy soul to ecstasy ; My faith the marvellous echo seems to hear

KoU softly o'er the jasper sea.

Who called thee from us, "doeth all things well,"

And He in perfect time and way Eent thy pure spirit from its mortal spell,

And to a crown transformed its clay.

" Well done of heaven in this" — my faint lips sigh —

To take thee ere I saw the sign ; Farewell, sweet, sainted soul, now throned on high,

Till I shall share thy bliss divine.

If such my faith, O widow, daughters, son. Who droop and weep beneath Death's pall,

Kestrain your tears. His life is just begun; In God's great home he waits you all !

THE END.

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Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library

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