The founders of the Free Methodist church were not, as was frequently charged by their opponents, mere religious enthusiasts or zealots. It is true that they were men of pronounced religious convictions; that they believed in, enjoyed and urged upon others an intensely spiritual type of religion; that they believed that the salvation of their own souls and the souls of those among whom they labored was their first and highest concern as ministers of the gospel; and that they not only believed, but constantly insisted that, where men and women were in earnest about their own salvation and the salvation of others, their religious life and exercises would be accompanied by a deep and holy fervor. Because of this they were often, by the advocates of a cold, lifeless, rationalistic type of religion, denounced as mere religious bigots and fanatics.

B. T. Roberts was a graduate of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, and was accorded the highest honors of his class upon his graduation. Throughout his life he was a student and voluminous reader. It is said of him that he read the Bible in seven different languages. W. C. Kendall was his classmate and was graduated at the same time. Loren Stiles, Jr., was a graduate of the Methodist Theological Seminary, Concord, New Hampshire. At the time he first identified himself with the movement he was “celebrated in western New York as a pulpit orator.” The opponents of the work thought to make use of his learning and polish to hinder and cripple it, but were disappointed. He recognized the work of God and threw his whole soul into it. These men represented the intellectual caliber and literary qualifications of those who were active in the movement which resulted in the organization of the Free Methodist church. The principle that “Ignorance is the mother of devotion” has never had any countenance from them or their successors. The founders of the church did not, nor do her leaders now, endorse the doctrine of intellectual supremacy which has engendered the modern spirit of rationalism and destructive criticism and which has filled the faculties of many of our schools, and many of the pulpits of Christendom, with unbelievers. They have always recognized the effectiveness of thorough intellectual culture in connection with definite Christian experience and entire consecration to God, as a factor in qualifying men for the work of saving the lost and in building up the church in righteousness.

As a result of this the work of organizing the church was not yet completed when the question of a school or schools where young people could have the benefit of thorough intellectual culture in the midst of the type of spirituality, and under spiritual influences such as they were seeking to propagate and create, was being agitated. The minutes of the second annual session of the Genesee conference contain the following:

“Resolved, that a committee of two preachers and two laymen be appointed to take measures to secure, if possible, during the coming convention year, a suitable edifice and grounds to be devoted to school purposes.”

The church had its conception and birth in troublesome times and amid difficulties. Its educational work was to be started and carried forward under similar conditions. The first educational institution founded was the Chili Seminary at North Chili, Monroe county, New York. In the fall of 1866 a school was opened in the farm house on a farm near that village which B. T. Roberts had purchased with a view to establishing a school there. The next year a large ball room in the village hotel was rented - and fitted up for school purposes. Miss Delia Jeffries, later Mrs. T. B. Catton, who in these early years was a valuable helper in this work, says of this year, “We had about a many students as we could accommodate in our close quarters.” By the fall of 1869 a new seminary building had been completed on the farm and on November 6 it was dedicated, Dr. M. B. Anderson, president of the Rochester University, delivering the address on the occasion.

The educational work of the church was now fairly launched. At this time there were less than six thousand members in the church and they were widely scattered over eight states of the union. Less than one-half of them were within reasonable patronizing distance of the school. God alone knows all the burdens borne by its founder before the seminary was placed on a secure financial basis. Eternity alone will reveal the worth to the church of this school established as the result of so much labor and sacrifice. Under the name of “A. M. Chesbrough Seminary” it is still doing a good work for God and the church.

The next school to be founded was Spring Arbor Seminary at Spring Arbor, Michigan. Some time during the conference year 1869-70, the attention of the Rev. E. P. Hart was called to some vacant school buildings at the above place. The Michigan conference was held at Spring Arbor in September, 1871. At this time steps were taken preparatory to the purchase of this property for school purposes. No material progress was made during that year. At the next session of the conference held at Delta, Ohio, in September, 1872, it was decided to continue the negotiations for the above property. Soon after conference the citizens of Spring Arbor heartily cooperating with the committee the buildings were secured and in May, 1873, they were dedicated and the school opened. The school has passed through testing times but has survived them all. Since its doors were first opened about fifteen hundred young men and women at different times have been enrolled as students. Two hundred and twenty-five of these have completed different courses and have been graduated. There are three buildings, a frame Ladies’ Hall, one of the original buildings remodeled and enlarged, a three-story brick, and an artificial stone Administration Building. The school owns two farms containing one hundred and thirty acres of land and has a 6,000 nucleus for an endowment fund. The present accommodations and equipment enable the school to offer up-to-date advantages and meet the requirements of the present day educational system. The enrolment for the past year was two hundred.

The Evansville Seminary at Evansville, Wisconsin, was the third in order of the schools founded in connection with the development of our educational work. In 1879 some buildings which had originally belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church, and which had been used by them for school purposes, but which had passed into the hands of the Free Will Baptists’, were acquired by our people and in 1880 the school was opened with Professor J. E. Coleman as principal. From that time until the present Evansville Seminary has been one of the potent influences in building up Free Methodism, especially in the Middle West. Many young men and women in its halls have been brought to Christ, many others built up and strengthened in Christian character, while young men have here found both spiritual and intellectual training to fit them for the work of the ministry.

Wessington Springs Seminary, Wessington Springs, South Dakota, was opened for the reception of students in 1884. Like all of our schools it was born of self-denial and hard labor upon the part of those who felt the necessity of the work laid upon their hearts. The school building is beautifully situated at the foot of the range of hills known as Wessington hills which rise from the surrounding prairie and just a short distance from the famous “Wessington Springs” from which the town takes its name. Although widely remote from the center of our work the school has enjoyed a fair degree of prosperity and has done and is doing good work.

It is now about twenty-five years since the founding of what was then known as Orleans College, at Orleans, in Harlan county, Nebraska. Because of protracted drought in the patronizing territory of the school those who had subscribed toward the erection and furnishing of the buildings were unable to pay their subscriptions, patronage fell off and for several years the school passed out of our hands. About ten years ago, the Methodist people having failed to make a success of the school, it again came back into the hands of our people. Since then it has been making steady progress, reporting last year a total enrolment of about one hundred and seventy-five. The school is now known as Orleans Seminary. At this time Rev. A. J. Damon, son of Rev. C. M. Damon, founder of the original school is principal.

Seattle Seminary was opened for school work in 1893. Beginning her course in the midst of the financially troublous times of that year the existence of the school seemed imperiled for a time, but through the Herculean labors of her financial agent, A. Beers and the earnest, united and self-denying support of those interested in the school, indebtedness was cancelled, current expenses met and the school placed on a safe basis. For several years now Seattle Seminary has been enjoying an era of unexampled prosperity and is to-day one of the best equipped and best supported schools in the church. The objects sought to be accomplished in all our schools are being accomplished there and the entire northwest is feeling the influence of the devoted young men and women who are here being trained for lives of usefulness. Not only so but its range of influence has overflowed into India, China and Japan.

Los Angeles Seminary is’ situated in Hermon, a beautiful suburb of Los Angeles, California. The erection of the seminary buildings was made possible by a generous donation of one hundred town lots in this suburb by Mr. Ralph Rogers of Los Angeles on condition that the seminary be located there. His offer was accepted and about $25,000 was realized from the sale of lots. A substantial building of three stories, one hundred by eighty feet, was erected and furnished. A fund of about $12,000 toward an endowment was left after the building was completed. During the four years the seminary has been in existence it has enjoyed an excellent degree of prosperity. The trustees are planning for the erection of a new building and for enlarged facilities.

Greenville College located at Greenville, Bond county, Illinois, is the only educational institution in the church doing work of college grade. The institution wits first founded in 1855 as a school for young ladies and was known as Almira College. The original building of brick, four stories high, forty-four by one hundred forty-four feet, cost $50,000. In 1892 the property was purchased by the Central Illinois conference of the Free Methodist church for $12,000. The institution was reincorporated under the name of Greenville College and authorized to confer the usual degrees. Since the second year of its existence the school has done college work, the number of students in the collegiate department steadily increasing from year to year. In 1907 a new Auditorium Building was finished at a cost of $20,000. This building is also of brick and contains besides a chapel capable of seating seven hundred, music rooms, recitation rooms, literary society rooms, chemical and physical laboratories, and gymnasium. The attendance has steadily grown from the beginning, the registration in all departments for 1907-8 reaching three hundred forty. Not only has the college prospered financially and in patronage, but God has been pleased in a special manner to honor the school with the frequent outpouring of his Spirit. Revival meetings are held every year and these have been attended by marked displays of the Divine presence and the conversion of many souls. Young men and women from all parts of the church will look back to the college as the place where they were brought under influences which turned their feet heavenward, while others will thank God forever for the training they received which made them better, stronger and more effective Christians. The literary work done is thorough, meeting the approval of the best universities.

No people have ever shown deeper interest in education than the Free Methodists, and were the story of the labor, self-denial and self-sacrifice of those who have toiled and suffered to make our schools what they are to-day written, no more heroic chapter would be found in any period of the history of the work of God in our land.