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Show Page 16<br><br>[PHOTO: T. C. ILIFF, D. D., Superintendent M. E. Missions.] eling throughout Montana, Idaho and Utah by stage and coach, in sleigh or on horseback, he slept many a bitter night in the mountains with nothing but his blankets to protect him from the adjacent snowdrifts. An evangelist of great success, he is also a born leader of men. The great Li Hung Chang once said to Gen. Grant in words which do not express the idiom "Sir, you were made to order," meaning, of course, "You were born to command." So was Dr. Iliff. Taking a vacation he once visited Egypt, Sinai and the Holy Land, but returned to Utah in 1882 as superintendent, a position he has since held. De Pauw and his alma mater conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. At the National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic at Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Iliff was elected Chaplain in Chief of that patriotic body, he having for some time past occupied the position as commander of the department of Utah. His family consists of three daughters and one son, others having died in infancy. <br><br>Work of the Woman's Home Missionary Society.<br><br> The following report made and adopted by the annual meeting of the Utah Mission in June, 1895, gives an epitome of the work and character of the same as done by the Woman's Home Missionary society in Utah: But little was done by the Woman's Home Missionary Society prior to 1882, but it grew until to date $78,266.32 has been expended. Its purpose has ever been to help the helpless, to aid the needy in every effort to a better condition. This is confirmed by the Utah record. Mrs. Bishop Wiley was the first representative of this body to make a visit to this field; this visit was made on the occasion of the annual meeting of the Mission at Provo in 1883, her now sainted husband being for the last time our presiding officer. Then the society had no buildings in Utah, but the school work was receiving much needed help from that source; since then valuable buildings have been erected at Logan, Salt Lake City (Davis Hall and Spencer Home), Provo, Mt. Pleasant, Moroni, Ephraim, Spring City and Elsinore. Schools have been maintained at all these places. Davis Hall and Spencer Home now co-operate in missionary work through the Deaconess movement. Rev. Mr. Nelson, now the presiding elder of the Oregon district, Western Norwegian and Danish [Mission] conference, for many years supervised and brought it to the standing it now enjoys. This society has been and continues to be a valuable adjunct to the missionary society of our Church. During the past year effective work has been done by this society at Ephraim, Moroni, Mt. Pleasant and Spring City. Deaconess work was first instituted in Utah one year ago. Since that time the following ladies have been employed as deaconesses in Salt Lake City: Misses Edith Smith, Melissa Briggs, Wilma Burton and Marie Jensen; in Provo, Mrs. Jennie M. Hansen. The Mission asked for the following appropriations and received all that was asked for: "Philadelphia Home," Logan, Deaconess, appropriation ............ $200 Ogden, appropriation .............. 200 Salt Lake City, four deaconesses, one of whom shall give her time and work in connection with the Scandinavian church, but shall live at Davis Hall on the same basis with the other deaconesses, appropriation .................. 800 "East Ohio Home," Provo, deaconess, appropriation ................ 200 "Thompson School," Mount Pleasant, appropriation ............... 200 "Gurley Home," Moroni, Teacher, appropriation ................... 360 "Leech Home," Spring City, teacher, appropriation ................. 360 Ephraim missionary, appropriation 300 Richfield missionary, appropriation .... .......................... 300 "Columbus Home," Elsinore, teacher, appropriation ................ 400 Incidental appropriations .......... 260 Total appropriation ........ $3400 Conditional appropriation ........ $300 Grand total ........ $3700 Rev. Francis Hermans, Rev. W. K. Beans, D. D., Rev. G. E. Jayne, Rev. E. G. Hunt. Rev. G. M. Jeffrey, D. D., Rev T. C. Iliff, D. D., Mrs. J. D. Gillilan, Mrs. G. C. Waynick and Mrs. Anna Bruton were elected a deaconess board to have direct control of the Woman's Home missionary work in Utah for the year ending July 1, 1896. Schools are open at the places above mentioned, and the following deaconesses are at work: Salt Lake-Mrs. Spence, Misses Edith Smith, Melissa Briggs, and Mrs. Jennie M. Hansen. Ogden-Miss Randall. Provo-Mrs. Kingsbury. Miss Marie Jensen of Salt Lake- Spencer Home-was married October 17th to Rev. E. E. Mork. This work is under the immediate superintendence of Mrs. B. S. Potter of Bloomington, Ill. <br><br>Deaconess-Mrs. M. E. Spence.<br><br> The order of Deaconesses originated in the primitive Church for humane and charitable purposes; was continued by the Western (Roman Catholic) Church until the eighth century, and by the Eastern (Greek Catholic) until the twelfth. In the Roman Church the order graduated into the conventual or nunnish system. There is a wide difference, however, between the nun and the deaconess. Here are some of the points: The deaconess takes no vows, relinquishes no property, may cease work at any time to marry or go into business. At her death her property, if she has any, goes to the ones she names as beneficiaries or goes to her heir as does the property of others. The Lutheran Church of Germany, under the direction of Theodore Fliedner, is the modern reviver of the work of the deaconesses and was instrumental in opening houses in various parts of Germany, in Jerusalem, in Constantinople and in America. His broad charity suffered him not to stop or flag in his activity so long as suffering could be found. The discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church thus defines the duties and preparation of the deaconesses: 201. The duties of the deaconesses are to minister to the poor, visit the sick, pray with the dying, care for the orphan, seek the wandering, comfort the sorrowing, save the sinning, and relinquishing wholly all other pursuits, devote themselves in a general way to such forms of Christian labor as may be suited to their abilities. 202. No vow shall be exacted from any Deaconess, and any one of their number shall be at liberty to relinquish her position as a Deaconess at any time. Thus it is seen this Protestant system of sisterhood is one of the fullest and completest freedom, having indeed no bond but that of duty based on love. About fifteen years after Pastor Fliedner began his work in. Kaisers-worth, a German Lutheran pastor in Pittsburg became deeply impressed with the needs of a similar work in America, and after repeated solicitation, succeeded in inducing Pastor Fliedner to come to this country, bringing with him four deaconesses. In 1850 an humble German woman was consecrated to the office of deaconess, the first one on this continent. In 1855 the Protestant Episcopal Church established at Baltimore a home with two deaconesses consecrated by the bishop. In 1880 our lamented Bishop Wiley said in regard to the home field: "Two fields present themselves claiming the effort of Christian womanhood, our frontier and our cit- [PHOTO: MRS. M. E. SPENCE, Director Deaconess Work in Utah.] |
