CHAPTER VI.

DIVISION.

A history of the Church of the Brethren or of any of her leading men during the last half of the nineteenth century would be incomplete without reference to the division that came to a head in the early eighties. However painful it may be to relate, most of the attention of the church for many years was directed toward those questions upon which the church divided.

The division extended in two directions. One faction was dissatisfied with innovations that were gradually creeping into the church. They seemed to place methods of doing work on an equality with fundamental principles. And so, when the Sunday-school method of instructing children was introduced, they were as much alarmed as if the very principle itself of instructing the children in the truths of God's Word had been denied them. It made no difference to them about the spirit of the times, or the environment in which they were placed: the methods of the fathers was the only right course to pursue.

The other faction was impatient with the slow progress which the church, through her Annual Meeting, was making in adopting new methods of work. They did not realize the fact that while many things may be lawful, it is not always expedient to try to force them too quickly upon a body of people who have, for generations, thought otherwise. They cared little about

the opinion of the body of the church, but determined to go ahead whether the body could be taken along or not.

THE OLD ORDER BRETHREN.

The first faction to leave the church is known as the Old Order Brethren. The chief sources of information concerning their grievances are the Annual Meeting Minutes and a fifty-three page pamphlet entitled "The Brethren's Reasons." The latter was published by a committee who stated in the preface that "The object and purpose of this pamphlet is to show how frequently the brethren did petition the Annual Meeting to put away the new and fast movement in the church, and to explain and set forth the reasons and grounds for producing and adopting the resolutions of August 24, 1881."

The first petition presented by the brethren dissatisfied with innovations was at the Annual Meeting held in Roanoke County, Va., in 1869. The original petition was framed at a meeting held in the Stillwater church, Ohio, November 13, 1868. It contained three grievances that the brethren desired to have corrected.

First, they objected to choosing the Standing Committee from different States "like our Representatives in Congress," and would not have the names of the committee appear on the Minutes. They wanted this committee to consist of "six or eight of the old, experienced and established brethren selected from the elders present at the place of Annual Meeting." These brethren were to receive queries and present them in order before the meeting, but no brother was to be

selected as moderator," rather submitting that office to the dictations of the Holy Spirit." Second, they objected to the Annual Meeting sending committees to settle difficulties in local churches. This work should be done by the home church, assisted by elders of adjoining congregations, while the work of Annual Meeting was to be confined to questions or ordinances and doctrine. Third, they desired more care exercised on the part of the editors and contributors of the Gospel Visitor and Christian Family Companion, that there be "nothing in their periodicals that disputes the practice of the precepts and ordinances of the Gospel as handed down to us from Christ and the apostles, through and by the forefathers of the church."

At the close of the petition a hint was given that unless the grievances were corrected a division could not long be delayed. Some of the brethren thought the petition ought to contain references to other changes from the established order. So, at a meeting held in the Bear Creek church near Dayton, Ohio, March 29, 1869, a supplement was prepared to the former petition. The purpose of the meeting as stated in the supplement was to adopt "measures consistent with the Gospel, whereby the church may be cleansed, if possible, from the doctrines and principles of the popular religion of the day, and to prevent the further introduction of said doctrines and principles into our fraternity"; also to name a few items" for the sake of those of our dear brethren who have not had the age and experience, and perhaps have never had the opportunity of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the fundamental principles of our church."

The items mentioned were as follows: First, Protracted meetings. While advocating an active and industrious ministry, they objected to getting members in the church by "working upon the passions of the people, without giving them sufficient time to reflect and consider the cost." Nor did they think it right to sound through the church papers, in a half-boastful way, the success in number of additions that attended the preaching. Second, While they recognized the Christian duty of parents to teach moral and religious lessons to their children at home, they objected to Sabbath schools, which "in themselves present a very harmless and innocent appearance, but in reality their tendency is to pride and self-praise." Third, they found no Scripture authority for "Prayer meetings, social meetings and Bible classes."

The supplement goes on to show how that little by little these things had crept into the church and "that most generally where the brethren have these new orders among them, fashionable dressing and pride are a natural consequence." Other denominations had started plain but had gone worldlyward. The Brethren church was following in the same channel. She was "too grasping and contending wonderfully for an easy, pleasant and popular religion, in which there is less sacrifice and self-denial."

The Annual Meeting of 1869 treated the above petition and its supplement with due respect and gave an answer that dealt with every grievance presented. While the Conference would not do away with the things objected to, yet it did advise that the umost care be taken that all objectionable features of the inno

vations referred to be eliminated. This answer was far from satisfying the plaintiffs, who characterized it as a compromise at best; but it did not put off for a decade the threatened division.

During these years other questions were constantly coming up that tended still further to separate the brethren. Sunday schools, academies, protracted meetings, and the single mode of feet-washing were becoming more and more common. The progressive part of the church was taking more liberty every year. On the subject of feet-washing especially, there were many bitter disputes. "It is remarkable," says H. R. Holsinger, “that an intelligent body of such devoted people should suffer themselves to become alienated from each other in regard to the manner of observing an ordinance which was instituted for the special purpose of uniting them more closely, by inculcating the spirit of self-abnegation and humility."

When the Old Order Brethren could no longer endure the growth of what they considered contrary to the Gospel, they once more appealed to Annual Meeting. As before, the elders of Southern Ohio were in the lead. In November, 1879, most of the elders of the Miami Valley met in the Salem church and framed the famous Miami Valley Petition. Their list of grievances now included highschools, Sunday schools, protracted meetings and single-mode feet-washing. The closing appeal of these elders shows their earnestness in regard to the evils of the church as they saw them. The district meeting of Southern Ohio did not fully indorse this petition, but sent it to the Annual Meeting of 1880. The Stand