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at Ada, Old Harmony, Ashland, and Apple Creek were to be helped, according to the minutes of 1898, which also stressed "heart religion" and the "Spirit-filled life."

Extremes on sanctification, holiness, Christian perfection, and divine healing were warned against in 1899 when the conference convened at the Zion Church near Bluffton, Ohio. Christian Science was opposed, and both the advantages and dangers of education were cited in the annual gathering of ordained men. John F. Funk preached the conference sermon which was followed by reports from ministers on the growth and needs of the churches.

The records of M. S. Steiner give a picture of the Ohio Mennonite Conference in the late 1800's. In his diary for February 24, 1895, he reports a total of sixty churches with only six having no Sunday schools. Fifteen have services every two weeks; three are without a resident minister. The struggle for survival is reflected in this account which cites three churches as having closed: Wood, Seneca, and Walters. Four or five are about to be closed: Culp's, Canton, Ashland, and Dayton. The conference, according to Steiner's diary, had five bishops and twenty-five or more ministers.'

But his account of the conference was more than a factual one. On May 13, 1895, he went on to state:

Our conferences are not what they ought to be. They are poorly managed. The bishops have too much power and usually usurp authority. They select the questions and in some incidents write out the resolutions, then fire them through the session chain-shot fashion. A program should be gotten out and speakers notified six weeks before the conference. Two bishops, two ministers,

and one deacon should compose the program committee.

Steiner's diaries at this time also fault the conference for its preoccupation with restrictions and resolutions. "We discourage essentials and encourage non-essentials." He felt that the ministers were "to blame in part for deplorable conditions" and he lamented what he considered a lack of preparation and qualifications of many of them. All of this reflects the organizing zeal of Steiner which, coupled with his desire to evangelize, made him a forceful conference leader. In contrast to some other church leaders he felt that missions and evangelism should have the primary emphasis. Well-educated for his time (he had studied at both Ohio Normal University and Oberlin College), he differed from some of his contemporaries who appeared to him to favor education above evan-