A TKUE HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 I^IIRST 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 
 
 OF Champaign, Illinois, 
 
 • 
 
 AND WHAT ITS 
 
 I 
 
 Thorough Principles Are and Mean, 
 
 AND A 
 
 Continued Protest 
 
 AGAINST 
 
 Their Continued Innovation. 
 
 BY- 
 
 A. O. HOWELL. 
 
 -o- 
 
 CHAMPAIGN, 
 
 ILLINOIS, 
 
 1889. 
 
 Eaton Bros., Printers. 
 
A True History of the First Con¬ 
 gregational Church of Champaign, 
 Illinois, and what its Thorough 
 Principles Are and ]\Iean, and a 
 
 Continued Protest Against 
 Continued Innovation. 
 
 Their 
 
 HY 
 
 A. O. HOWELL. 
 
 Wiiereas there lias been for tlie 
 past twenty years a very seductive 
 iiiflueiice, intent on the subversion of 
 and destruction of the tliorougli prin 
 ciples of this First Congregational 
 Church of Champaign, 111., I deem it 
 my duty to write a few facts that! am 
 not permitted to speak, because these 
 thorough principles, as well as all the 
 old members, to whose hearts they 
 were, and still are, most dear and 
 Drecious, have been and are now 
 carefully supressed; and also because 
 a recently published history of this 
 Church by persons recently among us 
 is much garbled, and in reference to 
 myself incorrect. 
 
 I tirst came here on the 6th daY of 
 iSovember, 1858, and not 1854, as 
 stated. I bought my present farm 
 TSov. 10, 1858 [as per title]. I soon 
 identified myself with the partly organ¬ 
 ized church then being established [a 
 tew days previously] at Urbana, Ill., 
 under the care of Rev. W. W. Blan¬ 
 chard, near the iirst day of November 
 1858. 
 
 
 56433 
 
There was no house or railroad 
 
 wliere Champaign now stands. I 
 
 returned to Ohio and brouo’ht iny 
 
 family and church letters and Sunday 
 
 school library in the month of Feb- 
 
 €/ 
 
 riiary, 1854. Bro M. A. Barnes and 
 wife arriyed one week preyiously from 
 Plattsburg, N. Y. Bro. Rankin and 
 wife were from Ripley, Ohio. We soon 
 found fi*om further acquaintance, that 
 w^e were all of us most thorough abo¬ 
 litionists, prohibitionists and anti¬ 
 masons. Our yery ardent loye for , 
 each and for these needed reforms, 
 still so bitterly hated, but bmind us 
 the more closely together. 
 
 x\fter yery many days, nights and 
 ^yeeks of most unusual prayer and 
 consecration we unanimously reyised 
 and unanimously adopted, this, our 
 present unrescinded, and as yet, only 
 legal articles of faith, standing rules 
 and coyen ant of this First Congrega¬ 
 tional Church [then of Urbana] now 
 of Champaign, Illinois, and our pres¬ 
 ent manual [a few^ copies of which are 
 still with us] and of which the fore¬ 
 going is a yerbatim copy, except a 
 misprint of *4wo-fifths” in rule 8, 
 which reads in the original'church 
 records, ‘‘x^yo-THiRDS of the entire 
 
 MEMBERSHIP."' 
 
 Our bitter experience in churches 
 east, which were steeped in and ruled 
 by slayery, masonry and whiskey, 
 caused us to oar out all these sins, that 
 we might haye‘ one pure Christian 
 church, free from all these awful sins. 
 Our records show that all of us who 
 thus subscribed to these thorough 
 
rules and took this most sacred cov¬ 
 enant, should constitute the member¬ 
 ship of this church. 
 
 I brought a Sunday school library 
 from Cincinnati, .(^hio, and helped to 
 organize this Sunday school at the old 
 court house in Urbana, on the ninth 
 of April, 1851. 1 was elected 
 
 and re-elected as superintendant an¬ 
 nually for four years, then Ueac-n 
 Barnes was cliosei] annually for four 
 years. I had an unusually intelligent 
 and efficient comi)anion, whose frail 
 body was not equal to her ardor and 
 zeal in this pione(ir church and sab¬ 
 bath school. She died July 2d, 1854. 
 The records of this Sunday school are 
 still in the hands of Mrs. M. A. 
 Barnes, but like our church manual 
 are not wanted by our jjresent Rulers 
 in Israel, who seem very intent that 
 our names, our memory and our 
 work^ which God so signally blessed 
 for the first ten years of our history, 
 shall be blotted out; as demonstrated 
 at every church reunion. 
 
 1 earnestly wish every member of 
 this church would read these original 
 records, tliough of late much muti¬ 
 lated, now in the hands of the clerk, 
 Mr. Frank Balcom. 
 
 Our first minister was Rev. W. W. 
 Blanchard, then Rev. Miinhall, then 
 Rev. A\mi. llallowell, whom we of 
 this [then Chicago] association, with 
 the help of Rev. J E. Roy, suppress¬ 
 ed and silenced from preaching for 
 grossly immoral conduct. My only 
 object in writing these facts is to show 
 our erring brethren and sisters just 
 
what tliese tliorougli priiieipies and 
 rules, as expressed in our original 
 church manuals, are and what they 
 
 t/ 
 
 MEAN, and some of the obvious rea¬ 
 sons 'why our rulers have been and 
 
 •/ 
 
 are still so intent on* destroying them; 
 and also Vvdpy these thorough princi¬ 
 ples are most dear to the hearts'of all 
 of the old members, that originated 
 them for this, our true church manual, 
 and why they are still unrescinded. 
 We had no '^autocratic rulers,’" as is 
 now advocated and ju-acticed. ^ Evan¬ 
 gelical Christian. (Character was the 
 paramount aim and purpose of all. 
 We were opposed to all secret clans— 
 they are now our rulers. 
 
 We purpose to continue to protest 
 and vote XO. and wait God's time 
 when he will hear and answer our 
 prayers for the perpetuity of these 
 true Christian principles. We still 
 cling to this sure foundation rock, the 
 Divine Christy on which this church 
 was founded, and are sure the gates 
 of hell shall never prevail gaainst it. 
 These covenants, the most momentous 
 in which mortals can engage, are still 
 sacred and paramount to all your 
 wicked covenants and oaths with the 
 secret clans. Can any person be a 
 true Bible Christian and advocate 
 . Unitarianism or Universalism^ Can 
 any man be a true follower of (dirist 
 and continue to violate the divine 
 command by taking these hard blas¬ 
 phemous oaths of Masonry ? Whose 
 penalties are so barbarous and who 
 swear to protect and defend a brother 
 mason of the seventh degree, ^"right 
 
or wrong^ niurder and treason not 
 exeepted^'^^ as thousands of masons 
 who have seceeded have attested from 
 from the murder of Morgan down to 
 our present day. We are taught to 
 serve God in these secret clans. 
 Christ’s teaching is: ‘'1 ever taught 
 openly in your streets and synagogues 
 and in secret have I said nothing.'’ 
 ‘^Follow thou me.” Are his commands 
 
 worthV of anv attention, that church 
 
 •/ •/ ’ 
 
 secritists are bound to respect? ^'Ye 
 connot serve God and Mammon,” 
 and ‘‘Except a man forsake all that 
 he hath he cmatiot be my disciple.” 
 
 Can any man be a true Christian 
 temperance prohibitionist and persist¬ 
 ently labor and vote to rescind a plain 
 but thorough temperance prohibition 
 rule in this church, established 36 
 years ago, and then vote for and ad¬ 
 vocate license for saloons, as has been 
 done; theatres or any other bad house? 
 -To say they can and are, is to my 
 mind as incongruous and absurd as to 
 speak of a white black bird, a loyal 
 rebel or a pious fiend. 
 
 Can any man be a consistent 
 Christian minister or deacon, and be 
 owners and directors of opera houses, 
 and rent them for the most obscene 
 and vile plays, wliose public bills and 
 bulletins are not only poisoning our 
 youtli, but are an insult to every de¬ 
 cent woman that walks our streets. 
 
 Our minister and deacon said to me 
 these words^ “To license means to 
 snjpjpvess [the liquor traffic.] Now 
 this is the true common sense mean- 
 ing as given by AVebster’s dictionary. 
 
p) 
 
 namely, to approve, to permit, to 
 sanction, etc.” Plence every vote for 
 license means^ (whether you mean it 
 or not), whether you be minister, 
 deacon or layman; oi* city mayoi, or 
 would be city mayor, or alderman, or 
 any other high official in church, city, 
 state or nation, means and is virtually 
 saying to the destroyer and to the 
 world just this, and nothing less, 
 namely: I sanction, I approve, I per¬ 
 mit, you, the destroyer, to enter my 
 home and my tamily, and tlie homes 
 and families of my neighbors, my 
 church and Sunday school, and take 
 my sons and my daughters; If and 
 provided you pay for it, as he is 
 doing to-day. And if he does not 
 continue to destroy our loved ones it 
 will not be because some of you have 
 not voted for and signed license, and 
 thus given his work of death your 
 a 2 yi)roval !! ! Is not the influence of 
 such ministers and church officials far 
 more pernicious than that of the sa¬ 
 loon. keeper? May the God of mercy 
 awaken you to the enormity of your 
 guilt and crime, and lead you to 
 deepest repentance, ere his just judge¬ 
 ments overtake you. What? license 
 crime for money? The voice of-God 
 is: '\your money perish with you,” 
 ‘^except ye repent ye shall all likewise 
 perish.” 
 
 Your grand and much lauded city 
 buildings and improvements; that are 
 built from license, ‘ds the price of 
 blood.” Oh! that I could induce 
 professing Christians to see these 
 momentous truths, as we shall all 
 
< 
 
 soon realize their importance at the 
 judgment bar. 
 
 Not what men say but what they 
 vote determines their real character. 
 There is not a saloon, or theatre, or 
 secret clan, or any other house whose 
 steps take hold on hell, less than the 
 dear people want. The fi^w preachers, 
 papers and books that faithfully ex¬ 
 pose and denounce all these sins are 
 despised, sentenced and condemned 
 without a hearing. The most bitter 
 and untruthful I'esoiutions have been 
 passed and recorded, without our 
 ever knowing or heaidng of them until 
 recently; while our protestations, en¬ 
 treaties and facts are treated with 
 silent contempt. V/hen you welcome 
 these sics to church, fellowsliip, your 
 vote gives them your highest endorse¬ 
 ment, in violation of Christ’s com¬ 
 mand, ‘‘Have no fellowship with the 
 unfruitful works of darkness but to 
 reprove them.” 
 
 The order of Satan is, ‘'Let us 
 alone.” Oh, this irrepressible con¬ 
 flict would soon end in triumph for 
 Christ, if rulers in Israel obeyed his 
 commands rather than Satan’s. They 
 fail to believe and teach the whole 
 truths of the Bible; hence the vast 
 amount of infidelitv, both in the 
 church and in the world. 
 
 This church and this Sabbath 
 school were the first and not the 
 second in this town. We were pro¬ 
 hibitionists and helped to make this a 
 prohibition town by creating a true 
 public sentiment. Every saloon was 
 legally closed and the liquors of some 
 
8 
 
 of tliem quietly and legally emptied 
 into the street. Bur ^‘while men slept 
 (or were in the army)” ‘'the enemy 
 sowed tares..” 
 
 The creators of public sentiment 
 
 now, are more at fault for every sin 
 
 ' §/ 
 
 and crime than the saloon keepei*s. 
 Our boasted progress is backward and 
 not forward, in numbers, tem])erance, 
 morals, and in true Bible religion, till 
 al most nothing is prohibited except the 
 jpvotesl of an original proliihitwnist. 
 We were abolitionists and disfe!low- 
 shipped all who were not. The war 
 came on us, we gladly took our places 
 at the front, and during four years of 
 suffering and deaths, most of ouV 
 dear, faithful and loved brethren w^ere 
 killed, or died in hospitals, or moved 
 away. We disfellowshipped all known 
 masons, with all their horrid profane 
 oaths and barbarous penalties. Xow 
 the licensed saloon is ap])roved and 
 masonry with all their numerous 
 spawn of of supremely selfish secret 
 clans dominate in every department of 
 civil, political and religious life, 
 instead of true Christian character. 
 
 It is seen that these articles of faitli 
 and rules and covenant are thorough¬ 
 ly scriptural and evangelicah prohibit¬ 
 ing slavery and secret clans and in¬ 
 toxicating drinks, and accepting the 
 great fundamental doctrines of the 
 atonement, death and resurrection of 
 our Divine Redeemer. We accept his 
 word as our only Infallible rule of faith 
 and practice, and not our consciences, 
 (“Often seared as with a hot iron”) 
 Thus showing that this is not merely 
 
9 
 
 % 
 
 a difference ot opinion, as to best 
 nietliods to secure the same ends, but 
 a difference of fundimental principles. 
 
 We are sometimes taught tljat our 
 poor little finite reason, when in con¬ 
 flict with the Almighty ^‘thus saith 
 THE Lord’' is paramount. 
 
 Nnw while these docrines are 
 most dear and precious to our 
 hearts, they are most repulsive to 
 our pastor and deacons, as shown by 
 often saying both in IS unday scliool 
 and prayer meeting by Deacon Beards¬ 
 ley, **I AM NOT Evangelical.” Hence 
 the purpose to destroy these thorough 
 principles and substitute ‘^broad and 
 liberal Christianity.” 
 
 Near seventeen years ago our pas¬ 
 tor, Rev. V^alentine, announced from 
 the pulpit a call for a church meet¬ 
 ing, to revise the articles of faith, 
 standing rules and covenant of this 
 church. No attempt was made at 
 said meeting or since to revise, as 
 announced by Mr. Valentine, but a 
 motion was carried to rescind the en¬ 
 tire manual, and all its thorough prin¬ 
 ciples were and are claimed to be 
 voted down and out- by fourteen of 
 our members, to wdiom they were ana 
 are still obnoxious; against eight dis¬ 
 senting members who voted to retain 
 them. A part of tlie fourteen claimed 
 their action as final and have so 
 claimed ever since. The protest of the 
 minority of eight was never recorded. 
 Now our third rule, reads on the 
 records, thus: ''No change shall be 
 made in the polity of the church but 
 by a vote of two-thirds of the entire 
 
10 
 
 membership.” Puriehard on Congre¬ 
 gationalism. says: ‘^tliese rules we- 
 call polity of tlie church.” 
 
 Now fourteen was not two-thirds ot 
 the entire membership, there being 
 near three hundred members. This 
 rule was not complied with, therefoi-e 
 our original articles of faith, rules and 
 covenant was ai d still is uni*escinded 
 and in force. A resolution by A, O. 
 Howell was carried without a dissent¬ 
 ing vote that two hundred additional 
 copies of this church manual be print¬ 
 ed, and that every member should 
 hav'e a copy, (as our church record at 
 the time still shows). In compliance 
 with the said resolution, this, the onlv 
 legal manual of the First Congrega- 
 itonal Church of Champaign is here¬ 
 with presented. 
 
 At the close of a weekly prayer 
 meeting last November, our past(»r. 
 Rev. John Allender, being cognizant 
 of the foregoing facts presented a new 
 and very different church manual for 
 adoption, leaving out our prohibitory 
 rules, on slaverv and secret clans and 
 temperance, and our sacred covenant. 
 Twenty-seven^voted to adopt, against, 
 one who again voted, no. We again 
 protested and again claimed their 
 action to be invalid and illegal, for 
 • the same reason, namely: that twenty- 
 seven is not two-thirds of our entire 
 membership, as our third standing 
 rule requires. 
 
 The Devil still says through his sub¬ 
 jects, ‘‘let us alone.” “Preach love.” 
 Love what? Sin as well as rightness? 
 Nonsense! Which commander 'are 
 
u 
 
 - 
 
 ' s. ■ r ’ 
 
 you and 1 obeying? are my 
 
 friends if ye do wliatsoever I com¬ 
 mand you,” ''Ye cannot serv^e God 
 and Mammon,” '*ilis servants ye are 
 to whom yon yield yourselves servants 
 to obey.” 
 
 I am very conscious of my own 
 errors and sins, but where I am wrong 
 I pray to be led by God\s word and 
 spirit to repentance and renunciation 
 of every sin. Do you ? 
 
 This protest is to me far from being 
 a pleasurable duty. The ostracism, 
 hatred and contempt, lies and threat- 
 enirm that I have lono’encountered will 
 only be intensified. But in exact 
 proportion as you give these sins your 
 approval, silent or audible, you will 
 receive patronage, positidn, friends 
 and laudation; and visa versa. lean 
 well afford (in this) to be ‘^as the 
 Master” and "not above him,'' but 1 
 cannot afford to .see these thorough 
 principles crushe.d out, that are still 
 most preci<)us to our hearts as they 
 were thirty-five years ago, without 
 another most humble and prayerful 
 protestation. Christ and his followers 
 j)rohibit all sin and license none, 
 never. 
 
 The popular theory and teaching 
 that it is right to stand by and defend 
 OUR political party or our secret clan, 
 "right or • wrong” is equall}^ perni¬ 
 cious when ap])lied to our preacher or 
 OUR church and priest. Such teaching 
 contravenes every principle of justice 
 and rightness taught throughout the 
 Bible. The avowed objects of our 
 
 
12 
 
 rulers is thus expressed: ''I wish to 
 pull down the distinctions between tlie 
 cliurchand tiie world.” 
 
 I am confident that it* all these tacts 
 were known and dui.y coxsideked by 
 all of our members, they would surely 
 never vote to destroy these thorough 
 principles. No member, (to my 
 knowledge,) has ever publicly ex¬ 
 pressed a REASON for wishing them 
 rescinded, but say nothing and vote 
 solid to blot them out, wliich is cliarac- 
 teristic of secret clans. No, my 
 greviously erring brethren, if you 
 must rescind tliese rules and sacred 
 
 covenant do it legallv and in ac- 
 
 •/ 
 
 cord an ce with our third rule, which 
 requires ^ vote, of ‘ two-thiixls of the 
 ^entire membership,” and I will call 
 for my letter and leave you. But 
 remember until you" do, they are still 
 the unrescinded rules, principles and 
 covenant of this church. You may 
 continue to bulldoze them dowm, but 
 wliile there is a God in Heaven, that 
 still lives to hear and answer oiir 
 humble prayer for the purity of tliis 
 church and the perpetuity of these 
 thorough principles, yon have not 
 and NEVER WILL rescind them. I don’t 
 know how or when God will interpose 
 in behalf of, this, his own belored 
 Zion, but 1 only know tliat he does 
 and WILL hear and answer our impor¬ 
 tunities for it. 1 onlv know that the 
 
 c/ 
 
 gates of Hell shall never prevail 
 against it, therefore we will continue 
 to pray and protest and vote no, until 
 he does. 
 
4