Pentecostal Possibilities or "The Story of My Life"
by Milton Lorenzo (M. L.) Haney
CHAPTER 25
The Battle in Peoria
In the fall of 1856 we were sent by Bishop Janes to Peoria, to form, if possible, a second Methodist Church in that city. The Bishop expected, as he said to me, a number from first church would form the nucleus for the second. We had no church lot, and no special finger pointings to locality in the city. A small group were soon gathered, mostly from the old church, among whom were Brother and Sister Robinson and their family. These were a great blessing to me, and a first-class beginning so far as it went. Dr. Hunter, the pastor of the first church, had just come into the Conference, and was fearful about losing members of his flock. Methodism in Peoria had not succeeded in proportion to the population, as in other cities.
The First Church was comparatively weak in a strong city, and it was natural the Doctor should be nervous concerning any drain on his forces. We put up a temporary building, with much difficulty, and had a place for worship. This increased the trend from the old to the new, and in that proportion intensified the spirit and action of their pastor, who increased the barriers in our way. At last I appealed to Bishop Janes, who sustained me in the grounds I had taken, and by having his letter read the elements were purified and calmness succeeded the storm. In the years which have followed I have noticed there is a strong tendency to painful relations between the parties wherever a new church has to lay its base with a swarm from the old hive! In our fallen condition we are not even yet as nicely adjusted as the bees.
We had a gracious meeting and God gave us sufficient increase by conversions to make the church largely self-sustaining till the present day. I was painfully embarrassed financially, which made it a year of more than ordinary trial, but great grace was given from God and we yet live! Our fourth child was born here, and for the first time we had two children in our home together. It is better to have one child in a home than none, but incomparably better to have six or eight than one. The avoidance of children in American homes is a fruitful source of the divorce curse, the ground of unspeakable heartaches, and must bring the curse of God in time and wailing in eternity. The intentional avoidance of child-bearing as a rule spoils the purity of the married relation, decreases real love between husband and wife, robs the home of its God-ordained glory, and is an open gateway to vileness.
The example of so called fashionable people in this respect, set before mankind, is a curse to the race, and the destruction of incipient life is filling the land with murder! The murder of unborn infants is the highway to the shedding of blood! The speedy return to the teachings of the New Testament, as to woman and her mission, on the part of strong minded American ladies, would change the destiny of the American Republic, and save millions in the future from wreckage and despair! Pulpit and press are waking to this widespread and devastating evil, and every good man and woman should, in some way, put the weight of their life against it.