658
HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
summer, and the "protracted meetings" (revivals), in winter, held sway in their crudest forms. The most materialistic ideas and utterances characterized these assemblages. To the sad-eyed, heavily burdened saint, this earthly life was a "desert dread," a lonely thorny way, "with here and there a traveler;" while to the sinner, it was a gay, delightsome place, a broad and sunny road, "and thousands walked together there." "Righteousness was a 'weary load' and sin was delicious as a 'sweet morsel under the tongue.'" When this brief life terminated, however, then all was absolutely reversed. The wearied saint became a "happy angel" in heaven, a place of delightful reward for sorrows endured on earth; the happy sinner was plunged into hell, a place of excruciating torment, principally by fire, as an endless penalty for the simple enjoyments of life on earth. Death's knell sounded the eternal doom. The Omnipotent Jehovah, bound by irrevocable decrees, looked on mildly indifferent, while Jesus tearfully pleaded with the thoughtless sinner to choose the narrow, grievous way, and Satan laughingly beckoned him to dance along the bright and shining road. Professional exhorters, full of emotional fervor and untrammeled by devotion to truth or reason, enunciated and elaborated such doctrines with consummate energy and ability, and enforced them by sharp illustrations wrought out through months and years of study and practice. On the instant they could change from the most vehement and vengeful denunciation to the most tender and tearful pleading. The effect was often remarkable. When the carefully-planned and well-heralded meeting had been under way a few days, the whole surrounding community became strangely excited. It was the one absorbing theme of thought and speech. The leader did not hesitate to name the individual selected to be "plucked as a brand from the burning;" and, by alternate exhortation, threatening, prayer and pleading, centered the thought and utterance of the whole assembly upon that person with an influence and power almost irresistible. An unaccountable frenzy would sweep intelligent people into utterances and acts of the most ridiculous folly. A leading merchant at a revival, praying the Lord to save a certain sinner "right now," shouted, "Come down through the roof, dear Jesus, and I will pay the damage;" and a calm, sensible father in his normal state, at a camp-meeting stood by and watched his educated daughter of eighteen or twenty, scream and gasp and sob, almost in convulsions, under the mysterious influence of the "power," while he, in almost equal frenzy, clapped his hands and shouted, "Go it Harriet! That is the way to conquer Satan; that is the way Jesus saves." And hundreds of people have many times stood upon the ice on Fox River, and seen converts go down upon steps placed in a hole cut through the ice for that purpose into the freezing water to be immersed. Revival scenes, as they have often been portrayed, were enacted in all their wild completeness in Kane County during the early 'thirties and 'forties. Similar meetings are still occasionally held; and, by many excellent people, are believed to be productive of great good; but the more objectionable features have been largely eliminated.
There is ever a thoughtless inclination to belittle the work of the Christian ministry, and to criticise too severely the speech and action of the clergy; but, in sober truth, it is the church and its ministry that, while imperfect as all human agency and life must always be, is still the great conservator of morality, kindness and virtue, and the inspiring power that raises the minds and souls of men toward nobler and diviner ideals. To the clergymen- Protestants of all denominations, and Catholic as well-perhaps more than to any other class or profession, the people of Kane County are indebted for the high mental and moral culture that has been attained and enjoyed in its happy homes of plenty and content, the orderly peace and kindliness that prevails, and its excellent public and private schools.
Each church organization has its churches, its Sunday schools and classes for Bible study; and now in many churches, kindergartens are held to care for the little children in order that the mothers may attend the church service. The churches have powerful auxiliaries in the various Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations, Christian Endeavor Societies, Young People's Christian Unions, and similar organizations that have enrolled hundreds of the best young men and women of the county in the service for God and humanity. It is said that, in 1850, there were eighteen church edifices in Kane County capable of seating about 5,000 people, and valued at about $30,000. Today, there are one hundred and twenty-six church buildings in the county, with a seating capacity of more than 51,900, and of
Dundee Area History
