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

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ISaylor University and Tier Predecessor In comparing the Taylor University of today with her predecessor, the Fort Wavne Methodist Episcopal College, one becomes interested in the very early history of our Alma Alater. Thus, it is our purpose to give a short sketch of its early history in order to gain a deeper love for Taylor and a keener appreciation of her progress through the years. In the year 1846 the Fort ' ayne Female College was organized by the Indiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. However, the school did not remain in this condition of single blessedness for many years. In 18?2 it united with the Collegiate Institute of the same place and became the Fort |i ilj Wayne Methodist Episcopal College, a co-educational college. In 1890 it passed under the control of the National Association of Local Preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and its name was changed to Taylor University. The college was named for the first missionary bishop of Africa, one of the greatest mission- aries of modern times. Bishop William Taylor. After personal visitation and ,, | .| examination into the character and work of the university, Bishop Taylor gave it ' ' his hearty endorsement, prayed for it every day, and assisted it by his influence and means. It found a place in his great heart because of its spirituality and its missionary enthusiasm. Among items of interest in the life of Taylor ' s predecessor, the organization of the Philalethean and Thalonian literary societies is of great importance. The Thalonian Society was organized in 1850 by a group of eight young men. In 1853 the society was reorganized to include the gentler sex, and since that time I ! M the Thalonians have been an outstanding and progressive group. The Philalethean Society was not organized until the spring of 1878. Its organization was deemed necessary because of the increase in the enrollment of the institution. Thus the Lovers of Truth began their stable history. The name of Sammy Morris is so intimately connected with the history of . ; the institution during this period that this synopsis would not be complete without mention of him. The black boy with a life dominated by the principle of Truth in God left an influence in the minds and hearts of his classmates and upon the college as a whole, that never shall be removed. His communion and fellowship with his Father was so intimate and sweet that his life was a veritable benedic- tion. Thus He being dead, yet speaketh , and his work is now going on in Taylor University and throughout the whole world. Page Nineteen

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Caylor Yesterday hen the spirit of retrospection lays hold of the man of today and he lives again in his yesterdays, playing with children who are now men and women and mingling with young people whose faces he sees no more, he seems to be another person, living a different life; and were it not for the spirit of introspection re- vealing to him the same personality in both these seeming existences, he might live in these reminiscent days much as one lives in the character of a hero in some book that he has read. Thus it is in recalling the yesterdays of Taylor L ' niversity. The people who controlled her in her childhood days have gone to their reward ; those who were associated with her in her youth of service are aging, and many faces familiar in those days are seen no more. W ' e are sometimes tempted to think that the Taylor of today is a different college ; but the spirit of introspection at once reveals to us the same character and the same loyalty to Bible truths that stamped the Taylor students of former years. When we hear the testimonies of the young persons entrusted to us today, beaming with praise for the blessed truth of Holiness which they have learned at the Taylor of today, we know that it is indeed the spirit of her yester- days still growing. Taylor came to life in Fort Wayne in the year 1890 when the old Fort Wavne College was transferred to the control of the National Association of Local Preachers. It was named after Bishop Taylor because he was the only bishop who rose to that position from the rank of local preacher. In 1893, the buildings having been sold for debt. Dr. Thaddeus C. Reade, then its president, started out to find a more quiet spot. As he neared Upland he felt that the Holy Spirit was leading him to stop there. He obeyed the direction and made satisfactory arrangements for starting the college again on the present campus. Thus from small beginnings, through hard struggles, but with noble purpose, self-denial, and loyalty to the will of God, has Taylor come through the years. It is only through the sacrifice of such men as Thaddeus C. Reade, Burt W. Ayres, John H. Shilling, Monroe ' ayhinger, and John Paul — men who cared not for monetary rewards of more profitable positions — that we we stand today with the spirit of yesterday throbbing in our souls. Page Twenty-one