Taylor University - Ilium / Gem Yearbook (Upland, IN)

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I A % BISHOP 1D1LLIAM TAYLOR IN AFRICA IIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIH Page Eighteen

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mm SSa QM The yesterdays and Tomorrows of Taylor Uniuersity Tavlor University claims to be seventy-seven years old. In order to be thus venerable it must date back to its earliest tributary, the Fort Wayne Female College founded in 1846, which united six years later with a younger collegiate institution to form Fort Wayne Methodist College, co-educational. Under the presidency of Dr. Thaddeus C. Reade the name was changed to Taylor University in 1890, and for reasons not clear to us now it was moved from Fort Wayne to Upland, Indiana. Its campus has grown to more than one hun- dred sixty acres, including the farm. The original building, Maria Wright Hall, stands with the newer buildings back in a beautiful grove near the corner of the grounds, one mile south of the Upland station. The surrounding country is dotted by a number of thrifty manufacturing cities, and a typical specimen of America ' s best civilization is found in the adjoining communities. The institution has always been known for its spiritual emphasis. In its early days as Taylor University it was the subject of the prayers and counsels of its illustrious namesake, Bishop William Taylor. Its abundant missionary spirit and its record for educating more students for the ministry and mission field than any other college in proportion to its size have been wholly in keeping with the spirit and example of Bishop William Taylor, the apostle to the whole world. Taylor University like the majority of schools that have been built around an ideal has had a good share of tribulation and trial. However, it has had almost none of that type of fanaticism that splits institutions into factions. It has always held together and gone straight ahead with its work. Its generosity to needy students down through the years seiwed to bring it into financial trouble ; but lately it has been reorganized under the Legal Hundred described elsewhere in this volume, and its policies have been shaped for permanency. Taylor looks out upon this great age of the world read}- to serve, believing in the Bible as the word of God, organized to endure the passing years. Without any phariseeism its supporters believe that the institution has a peculiar mission among the colleges of the nation and the world, and the increasing number of choice young men and women who come to the school from all sections proclaim in the most eloquent terms that the school has its field, reminding us at the same time that in the nature of the case it cannot be a mere provincial affair. The world is its parish. John Paul. | i im i i i m i i uuum m w llllllllllllll3HUHfflfni l! Page Seventeen

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fiBfcffigg bishop lUillidm Taylor Bishop William Taylor has heen called the greatest modern world herald of the Cross, the greatest Methodist since Wesley, and the greatest missionary since Paid. In Angola where there was a terrible water famine he taught them to dig wells, and his name among the Ambundu is still The Well-Digger. The natives of Liberia know him as The Long Walker and the Zulus called him The Flaming Torch. Bishop Taylor began his faith-filled ministry in ' 49, the gold mining days of California. With his mission workers he boldly entered the lowest dives and gambling places to preach the Christ of Calvary. From California William Taylor went to Australia where he continued for two and one-half years, reaping precious harvests of souls. In 1865 he went to the dark continent that David Livingstone so fervently held up to the heart of God. He blazed pathways through the veldt, the jungle, the wilderness. He threw across Africa the first line of defense, the chain of mission stations that today is checking the Moslem hordes that are sweeping down upon that pagan land. At the call of Dr. James M. Thoburn, Bishop Taylor went to India in 1870. He founded self-supporting churches in Calcutta, Lucknow, Bombay, Poona. Madras and Allahabad. Out of his work grew seven strong conferences. i Three great events of William Taylor ' s life occured in May. May 2nd he was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia. On May 21st the General Conference of 1884 recommended the appointment of a Missionary Bishop to Africa. Bishop Taylor was not exactly persona grata to the conservative element of the Confer- ence ; he was too big to be bound by official and ecclesiastical red tape ; but conser- vatism that day bent its will to the flood tide of enthusiasm for William Taylor, and he was elected by a vote of 250 to 44 over his nearest competitor. The last great event of his life occurred also in May. On May 19, 1902. Bishop Taylor died in glory, as the stars die at sunrise, as the black folk said of David Livingstone. For nearly a score of years all that was mortal of him has rested in Mountain View, Calif., the Nebo vale at the foot of the Pisgah from which he surveyed a wider and fairer heritage than Moses ever saw. But William Taylor is not dead : his spirit is vital throughout Christendom. He lives in San Francisco and Sidney and Melbourne and Bombay and Calcutta and Singapore, in Callao and Valpar- aiso, in Capetown and Inhambane, and he will be as much at home in the twenty- fifth as in the twentieth century, for he is a plumed chieftan in the shining com- pany of those who have forgotten themselves into immortalitv. E It is this spirit-crowned ambassador of the cross for whom Taylor University was named. It is said that this world missionary, even in the face of life ' s larger calls, saw fit to pray thrice daily for the little institution that had taken the vows of world conquest in the name of Christ. Like Daniel of old this prophet of full salvation turned his face to the heavenlies to plead divine direction and blessing on the institution that had taken his name. God heard those prayers, answered and is answering. We some way feel that Bishop Taylor is still interested in us for the kind of answers he expected still abound in our midst and give us courage to press on. piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiHii i iiiiiiiiirriM W Page Nineteen