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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The First Soprano, by Mary Hitchcock
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The First Soprano
+
+
+Author: Mary Hitchcock
+
+Release Date: March 26, 2005  [eBook #15467]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIRST SOPRANO***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
+
+
+THE FIRST SOPRANO
+
+by
+
+MARY HITCHCOCK
+
+Author of _One Christmas_
+
+Union Gospel Press
+Cleveland, Ohio
+
+1912
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+     I  IN THE CHURCH
+    II  THE HOUSE OF GRAY
+   III  THE CONFESSION
+    IV  ADELE
+     V  IS GOD DEMONSTRABLE?
+    VI  MR. FROTHINGHAM AND THE CHOIR REHEARSAL
+   VII  A NEW SUNDAY
+  VIII  "NOT OF THE WORLD"
+    IX  "TWO OF ME"
+     X  THE CHURCH SOCIAL
+    XI  MR. BOND'S LECTURE
+   XII  THE SOUL HEARS A CAUSE
+  XIII  EXPERIENCE
+   XIV  A "WITLESS, WORTHLESS LAMB"
+    XV  "SELL THAT YE HAVE"
+   XVI  THE MISSIONARY MEETING
+  XVII  LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD
+ XVIII  GOD, MY EXCEEDING JOY
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+IN THE CHURCH
+
+It was Sunday morning in a church at New Laodicea.  The bell had ceased
+pealing and the great organ began its prelude with deep bass notes that
+vibrated through the stately building.  The members of the choir were
+all in their places in the rear gallery, and prepared in order their
+music in the racks before them.  Below the worshipers poured in steady,
+quiet streams down the carpeted aisles to their places, and there was a
+gentle murmur of silk as ladies settled in their pews and bowed their
+heads for the conventional moment of prayer.  Exquisitely stained
+windows challenged the too garish daylight, but permitted to enter
+subdued rays in azure, violet and crimson tints which fell athwart the
+eastern pews and garnished the marble font and the finely carved
+pulpit.  They fell upon the silvering hair of the Reverend Doctor
+Schoolman as he pronounced the invocation and read the opening hymn,
+but they failed to reach the young stranger, seated behind, who
+accompanied him this morning.
+
+Faultlessly in their usual current ran the services until the time for
+the anthem by the choir, and then the people settled themselves
+comfortably in their pews with expectant faces and ears slightly turned
+to catch every strain from the well-trained voices in the gallery
+behind.  This time the selection was from Mendelssohn and a soprano
+voice began alone:
+
+  "Oh, for the wings, for the wings of a dove!
+  Far away, far away would I rove!"
+
+Clear, pure and true, the sweet voice floated through the church.  With
+dramatic sympathy it yielded to the spirit of the melody and the pathos
+of the words.  It touched hearts with a sense of undefined sorrow and
+longing.  Madame Chapeau, the French milliner, who rented a sitting in
+the church of her patrons, sat with eyes filled with tears that
+threatened to plough pale furrows through the roses of her cheeks.
+
+  "In the wilderness build me a nest,"
+
+suggested the sweet voice.  Two weeks in a lonely country place had
+been far too long the summer before for Madame, and a wilderness was
+the last place she desired.  But the plaintive song touched a
+sentimental chord and answered every purpose.  Mr. Stockman, who sat
+midway of the center aisle, grasping his gold-headed cane, suffered the
+keen business lines of his face to relax and looked palpably pleased.
+He recalled the money contributed to the expense of the choir, and
+reflected that he would not withdraw a dollar of it.  To be sure, he
+remembered that the services of this soprano, daughter of Robert Gray,
+the iron merchant and elder of the church, were gratuitous; but still
+he was glad to associate the thought of his money with the choir that
+could render such music.  And presently the chorus joined in the song,
+and many voices added their harmony, to the increasing passion of the
+cry:
+
+  "In the wilderness build me a nest,
+  And remain there forever at rest!"
+
+Sensitive souls thrilled to the music, which unquestionably always
+added the capstone to the aesthetic enjoyment of this, the most elegant
+church at New Laodicea.  The minister sat with a studied expression of
+approbation and subdued enjoyment.  The young stranger at his side sat
+with eyes shaded by his hand.
+
+The choir seated themselves with pleased relief, for there had been no
+noticeable flaw in the production.  The leader's sensitive face looked
+as nearly satisfied as it ever became over any performance.  The
+organist slid off his bench and dropped into his chair to listen to the
+sermon--or, perhaps not to listen.  But he had done his part well,
+faithfully filling in all the interstices of time between numbers of
+the program, so that the congregation had been bored by no moments of
+silence nor thrust back upon the necessity of meditation.
+
+There were a few words of introduction, and it was found that the
+stranger was to speak.  He was just a trifle surprising in appearance,
+for his coat had no ministerial cut, and was even a bit more suggestive
+of business than of the profession of divinity.  But he was soon
+forgiven this; for his voice was even and pleasant, and he looked at
+his congregation with a pair of frank blue eyes, while he spoke with
+the simplicity of a man who has somewhat to say to his fellowmen and
+says it honestly.  His text excited no curiosity, for it was this:
+"_The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship
+the Father in spirit and in truth_."
+
+In the choir Miss Winifred Gray had composed herself to listen.
+Fortunately she was at the rear of her admiring hearers and had not to
+confront their faces as she sat down.  She had enjoyed her part
+exceedingly.  She loved her music, and the greater its pathos the
+keener her enjoyment in rendering it.  There was a subtle sense of
+power, too, which she did not analyze, in moving a whole congregation
+to admiration and sympathy.  With her whole heart she had entered into
+her musical work, in which the church divided attention with the
+drawing-room and an occasional concert.  She sat now in pleased triumph
+and had no ears for the opening words of the young man's sermon.  But
+it dawned upon her gradually that he was speaking from the words, "in
+spirit and in truth."  He spoke of the former worship which dealt with
+externals of place and method--with "carnal ordinances imposed until a
+time of reformation"; and then of a new era of worship which Christ had
+brought in, wherein true worshipers draw nigh to God, not with sensuous
+offerings, but "in spirit and in truth."
+
+Winifred could not follow all that he said, for it seemed a new and
+strange language for the most part, but she gathered this: that somehow
+Christ had opened the way for all believers into the very spiritual
+presence of God, into a holy place not made with hands (and the more
+real because it was not, being God-made and eternal), and that there
+worshipers stood before eyes of perfect discernment, unclothed by
+outward semblance, and offered "spiritual sacrifices" unto Him.  It was
+a beautiful picture, but awful.  Winifred shuddered as she thought of
+the august Presence that inhabited the Holiest of All that the minister
+spoke of, and wondered if she would dare approach it.  To stand in
+naked spirit before eyes of flame and to be read through and through,
+daring to speak no unmeant word, but only that which the heart
+designed, in absolute sincerity!  Was worship in spirit such a real
+thing as that?  Was she a true worshiper?  Why was she there that
+morning?  She glanced about the building, with its arches and columns,
+its stained windows, and almost perfect arrangement of form and color.
+But the minister was saying:
+
+"This material structure is not the house of God.  No longer is God
+localized to our faith as in the days of symbol and shadow, when surely
+Jerusalem was 'the place where men ought to worship.'  For the symbol
+has given place to the 'truth,' and in that, 'in spirit,' men worship.
+But while in every place, or, better still, without reference to
+place--'neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem'--true worshipers
+shall find Him, still His spiritual people form a temple for His
+manifestation, wherever they are gathered, and there is He.  'In the
+midst' He takes His rightful place, and that place we must accord
+Him--the center of our heart's attention and worship."
+
+Winifred resumed her question.  Why had she come?  Was it to meet that
+One, to gaze in spirit upon His pierced hands and side, as the minister
+was saying, and to rejoice in Him as the risen Lord?  She did not quite
+know what he meant.  She went back over the morning's experience,
+beginning with her dressing-room, when before her mirror she donned her
+new and very pretty silk dress and arranged all her faultless toilet,
+adjusting the modish hat that became so well her own type of beauty,
+fitted on the fresh, dainty gloves that should clasp her beloved music
+when she should open her throat and sing like a glad bird, delighting
+in its song, however plaintive.  And then she had gone.  Had she
+thought of Him in all this?  Winifred's honest soul said, No.  But
+church?  She had thought of "church," with all that it stood for of
+building, and congregation, and set order of things, and there had been
+a sort of subconscious satisfaction in the fact that going to church
+was a religious thing to do, and that to sing in the choir (especially
+for no pay, as she did) was very meritorious.  But was it so?
+
+The minister was saying:
+
+"If worship is not sincere, it becomes, spiritually, an abomination.
+If, for instance, our singing, instead of being a true sacrifice of
+praise to God degenerates into the sensuous enjoyment of a 'concourse
+of sweet sounds,' it is no longer worship, and it is not even an
+innocent employment.  However fine it may be as a musical
+entertainment, if offered as a _substitute for worship_ it may be
+likened to the offering of 'strange fire,' which met such instant
+judgment in the time of Moses."
+
+Winifred winced under the clear, bold words.  There was a little
+well-bred stir in the congregation.  Doctor Schoolman's disciplined
+countenance betrayed a startled moment and then relapsed into an
+expression of bland, but non-committal interest.  Winifred glanced
+about to see how her neighbors were taking it.  She looked first at
+George Frothingham, for he and she were unusually good friends.  His
+handsome face showed only abstraction, and she knew he had not heard a
+word that was said.  She glanced warily back toward the organ and saw
+the player in his chair, but he was indulging in a few winks of sleep.
+His duties at the theater the night before had illy prepared him for
+very wakeful attention to the sermon, and other influences were telling
+upon him, too, for the man of music knew the taste of wines.  The
+leader of the choir was listening.  His penetrating eyes were fixed
+upon the calm-faced man in the pulpit, and an unconscious scowl bent
+his dark brows.  Yet it was not an angry frown, but simply intent.  He
+looked half defensive, half convicted.
+
+The minister went on:
+
+"I fear that this is an unusual way of looking at it, and that we are
+all too accustomed to pass unchallenged our professed worship.  Vice
+may be so habitual and under such common sanction as to be mistaken for
+virtue.  But surely in the most vital matter of our intercourse with
+God we do well to let every act be tested by the truth.  It shall be so
+tested eventually, whether we will or no; and even now in the midst of
+the churches the Son of Man is walking, still with eyes of flame, and
+still He is saying: 'I know thy works.'"
+
+Winifred's next excursion in thought away from the sermon led her to
+review her part of the morning program, and she wondered if the
+minister thought of it too.  The hymns?--she had forgotten what they
+were.  But the anthem--was it unto the Lord she sang her part?  Was
+there an atom of sincerity in the sentiment she sang?  The words were
+from a Psalm, she thought, and she did not really understand what David
+meant.  Had she any clearer ideas as to what Winifred Gray might mean?
+She surely did not wish the wings of a dove, literally, nor to fly away
+into the wilderness.  She loved her home and many friends and had no
+desire to escape from them or her surroundings.  If it meant to fly
+away to heaven--?  Surely she did not wish that!  The world and "the
+things that are in the world" were very attractive to the young
+soprano.  She had no wish for heaven save as an alternative from hell.
+What did it mean?  Was it a heart-rest that David longed for?  But she
+had been conscious of no unrest--until just now.  Honestly, the truth
+was that she had not meant anything!  Was it worship?  But her friends
+would tell her she sang it with feeling, she argued defensively, and
+then asked herself candidly, what sort of feeling?  She had sung
+Mignon's song with equal sympathy the night before.  She confessed the
+truth; it was dramatic instinct that led her in both songs, and the
+Spirit of God in neither.
+
+"I am a hypocrite," she cried within herself, "and no true worshiper!"
+
+Then she thought of the positive side of her action.  While there was
+no offering to God, she had received in her own heart the subtle
+incense of the people's praise.  Enveloped in its cloud she had sat
+until the sermon disturbed her.  She wished the young stranger had not
+come to preach.  Doctor Schoolman's sermons were nice, and learned, and
+elevating, and never gave her such uncomfortable thoughts!  Had he
+preached this morning all might have gone on as before so pleasantly.
+
+And now?--should it not go on?  Could she think for a moment of
+stopping it all?  Impossible!  But to go on with it was--"abomination!"
+That was what the preacher said.  Perhaps he was wrong, or she
+misunderstood.  Doctor Schoolman would know.  But what said her own
+conscience?  After all, she knew the battle must be fought out there.
+Was it not sin to take sacred words on her lips and not mean them?  How
+many times had she taken God's name in vain, pouring out pretended
+invocation to Him, while her heart addressed only the congregation for
+their approval!  But it had been so thoughtless!  He would surely
+forgive.  But now she had thought about it, and it could never be the
+same again.
+
+By this time Winifred was thoroughly miserable.  She pondered over and
+again what she should do, at times in imagination resigning her
+position in the choir; then saying:
+
+"Impossible!  It is absurd!  Who ever heard of its being wicked to sing
+in the choir?  How could I explain myself?"
+
+Then she reflected that she would study to be earnest, that she would
+school herself to think of Him and sing to Him.  She took her hymn-book
+and found the place of the last hymn, resolved to put sincerity in
+practice at once.  It was chosen, without reference to the unexpected
+sermon, and was the well-known psalm of love and longing which earnest
+souls have sung for many years:
+
+  "For thee, O dear, dear country,
+  Mine eyes their vigils keep;
+  For very love, beholding
+  Thy happy name they weep.
+  The mention of Thy glory
+  Is unction to the breast,
+  And medicine in sickness,
+  And love, and life, and rest."
+
+"I cannot sing it!" Winifred almost sobbed to herself.  "It is not
+true--to me."
+
+Then she read on.  Before, she would have been carried away with the
+rhythm and the graceful thought.  But now as she read:
+
+"Oh, sweet and blessed country That eager hearts expect!"
+
+"It's not true--it's not true!" she thought.  "I cannot sing these
+songs.  I know nothing of their sentiment.  I am not a true worshiper
+of the Father.  I do not believe I know Him!"
+
+Then Winifred covered her eyes with her hand.  "'Thou desirest truth in
+the inward parts,'" the preacher was quoting.
+
+The words sent a pang through her heart.  "God has found no truth in
+me," she thought, "I have been a lie."
+
+Then she sat in wretchedness, fighting back the tears that struggled to
+escape--tears of shame, remorse, wounded self-love, and grief that her
+favorite idol, a god whom she did know and had served well, was to be
+taken down from its niche in the house of the Lord and cast out.  She
+heard little of the remainder of the sermon, and what she heard added
+to her misery; for it told of the joy of true worshipers when at last
+they should stand face to face with Him whom, having not seen, they
+love,--
+
+  "All rapture through and through
+  In God's most holy sight."
+
+The sense of isolation, of exclusion from it all, was very painful; and
+Winifred did not know that this very knowledge of exclusion, and its
+grief, were harbingers of eternally better things.  She stood with the
+others as they sang the closing hymn, and her own silence was
+unobserved, as she did not always join the chorus.  She had recovered
+her composure by the time the benediction was pronounced and the organ
+was yielding an unusually lively postlude to whose strains she and
+George Frothingham descended the stairs together.
+
+"The old chap is almost waltzing us out to-day," that gentleman
+remarked, referring to the organist.  "Winifred, you outdid yourself
+to-day on that lovely thing."
+
+Winifred smiled faintly.  "Did you hear the sermon to-day, George?" she
+asked.
+
+"Did I hear it?  Well, that's good.  Do I hear sermons when I go to
+church?  But I confess to a little absentmindedness; not to equal that
+of our friend at the organ, however," and George laughed.  Then he
+caught sight of a group of people in the vestibule below and exclaimed:
+
+"Hello!  There's your father and the preacher!  I believe he is going
+to take him home to dinner.  Don't look for me under your hospitable
+roof to-day, Winifred."
+
+"Why?" she began.
+
+"I have no taste for parsons.  He'll talk the backs off the chairs.
+See if he doesn't.  Good-by."  And the young man strode carelessly away.
+
+Winifred joined her mother in the vestibule, and they held a whispered
+consultation as to the probabilities of the young minister's going home
+with them.  It seemed evident that Mr. Gray had taken him captive.
+
+"Take him in the carriage and let me walk, mother," Winifred said, "I
+would much rather."  So she slipped away and did not meet the minister
+until dinner.
+
+
+Hubert Gray, Winifred's only brother, had also been at church that
+morning.  This was somewhat unusual, for Hubert was a sceptic, and he
+did not like to appear what he was not.  But occasionally he went to
+hear what might be said and turn it over in his questioning brain.  He
+was a young man of strong aversions, and one of his special dislikes
+happened to be the unfortunate Doctor Schoolman.
+
+"I hate cant," he declared.  "His very tones are studied and unnatural.
+His voice quavers to order, and if I should see tears on his face I
+should think he had pumped them up someway for effect.  I don't like to
+be practiced on.  I should like a man to believe something earnestly
+and say it honestly."
+
+And so he stayed away for the most part, but like many a man who is a
+sceptic, found that the subject of the Christ would not down, and he
+could not let it alone.  So after absences he would go again to hear,
+though it should be only to gain fresh occasion for his doubts or
+cynical criticisms.  To-day he was the first to arrive at home and met
+Winifred in the hall as she came in.
+
+"The spiritual priesthood did very well to-day, Winnie," he said, by
+way of greeting.  "I hope you all sang 'with grace in your hearts unto
+the Lord.'  I am sure Frothingham did.  I saw him--eh, Winnie, what's
+the matter?"
+
+For Winifred had turned a quivering face toward her brother.
+
+"I didn't, Hubert," she said.  "There was no grace in my heart."  And
+then she hastened up the stairs to her room.
+
+"Hm-m!" said Hubert reflectively, and repeated the observation at
+intervals until dinner was served.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE HOUSE OF GRAY
+
+The family gathered for dinner with its usual decorum.  Winifred sat
+opposite the young minister, and Hubert was beside him.  Mr. Robert
+Gray carved the turkey with his usual skill and the sharpest of knives.
+He began his anticipated discussion with the preacher:
+
+"Your sermon fitted pretty closely to-day, Mr. Bond," he said, as he
+separated a joint successfully.
+
+"Did it really?" said Mr. Bond, with a smile that lit up a singularly
+pleasant face.  "I am glad to hear it.  That is what sermons are for, I
+believe?"
+
+"Just so," said Mr. Gray, and he added with a little chuckle of
+enjoyment, "I like it--I like it.  We need it, I assure you.  There is
+no question about that.  Why, Winnie, not a bit of the fowl?  You are
+losing your appetite, child.  Yes, sir, we need to be stirred up.  If
+there is anything I believe in, it is sincerity.  But now, don't you
+think, Mr. Bond, that you put it just a little grain too stiff?"
+
+"In what way, Mr. Gray?"
+
+"Well, now, I say the Apostles' Creed.  I know it by heart.  I don't
+know how many hundreds of times I have said it.  It says itself.
+Perhaps that is why I don't always stop to think what it does say.  But
+I do not suppose there is a word in it that I do not believe.  Now if
+my mind happens to wander while I am, saying it--if it happens, mind
+you--"
+
+"Father, Julia is waiting for Mr. Bond's plate," interposed Mrs. Gray
+softly from the other end of the table.
+
+"I beg your pardon."  Then, as the delinquent plate went to its
+destination, "If my mind happens to wander to some little matter of
+business, or something or other, while I say the Creed--_am I a
+hypocrite_?"
+
+The merchant propounded the question with a note of triumph, as though
+the bold-spoken minister were rather cornered now.  Mr. Bond answered
+respectfully, but with subdued amusement:
+
+"I think, Mr. Gray, that the Lord would recognize the absence of
+insincere intent, but that so far as worship goes, you might as well
+set some Tibetan prayer-wheels going."
+
+A gleam of enjoyment shot from Hubert's eyes, and a laugh almost
+escaped him.
+
+"Ah, just so--just so!" said Mr. Gray, a little discomfited.  "But
+would it be better not to say it?"
+
+"It would be better to mean it," said Mr. Bond.
+
+"He parries well," thought Hubert.
+
+"Winifred," said Mrs. Gray, off whose smooth nature these discussions
+rolled harmlessly, "the music was very fine this morning."
+
+Winifred, who would have preferred almost any subject to this, cast an
+appealing glance at her mother, but it was unheeded.  She had hoped Mr.
+Bond would not recognize her as the singer.
+
+Mrs. Gray went on: "Mrs. Butterworth, who sits just the other side of
+the partition from us, you know, was quite carried away.  She looked
+volumes at me, but she just whispered 'heavenly!'  She said after
+church she hoped you would come to her party next week and bring your
+songs.  You have such a gift, she said."
+
+And Mrs. Gray herself sighed religiously at the thought of Winnie's
+"gift."  Winnie could have sighed, too, but it was with torture.
+
+Mrs. Gray was a comfortable lady, absorbed in the quiet machinery of a
+conventionally proper life.  She loved her family, her church, and a
+moderate amount of society.  She loved things.  Quiet satisfaction
+beamed from the gentle eyes on the choice silver of the dining-room, on
+her blue antique china, on the costly, tasteful accessories of the
+drawing-room, and, indeed, on all the well chosen appointments of the
+quietly elegant home.  Interest in her own person and its adornment had
+been gradually diverted toward Winifred, whose beauty, grace of manner,
+and accomplishments, were an unfailing joy.  Now she sighed in quiet
+gratitude to the vague deity known as Providence for Winifred's
+peculiarly sweet gift.  As to the sermon of the morning, she was one of
+those hearers in whose mind a sermon and its application do not
+necessarily go together.
+
+Winifred felt two pairs of eyes upon her from across the table as her
+mother talked to her in a voice not intended to interrupt the gentlemen
+in their conversation.  There were Hubert's eyes of darker brown than
+her own and very searching, and the preacher's blue eyes that looked
+inquiringly through rimless eye-glasses.  She could think of no answer
+to her mother, and so bent her eyes silently upon her plate, while a
+flush rose to her temples.  Mrs. Butterworth's rapturous "heavenly" was
+in strong contrast to the conviction of godless insincerity which
+filled her own heart.
+
+Mercifully to her embarrassment her father began again:
+
+"But do you not think, Mr. Bond, that we must take things as they are?
+Granted that there is a great deal of unreality in the church, what are
+we going to do about it?  Can one man who sees the point work a
+revolution in the whole church?  Must we not just take conditions as
+they are and make the best of them?"
+
+"Perhaps we may not hope to revolutionize a whole church," replied Mr.
+Bond, "but," and his face grew stern with an expression that told of a
+battlefield already fought for and won, "he may refuse to add one unit
+to the aggregation of untrue worshipers, or to uphold an organized
+system of unreality.  I sometimes fear, Mr. Gray," and there was a ring
+of sadness in his voice, "that we too readily take conditions as they
+are, and make the worst of them!"
+
+"Yes, I am afraid you are right--you are right," said the merchant
+slowly.  Then he added, "but so far you have given us only a negative
+remedy.  My son here could go so far with you.  He washes his hands of
+the whole matter."
+
+Mr. Bond turned to Hubert inquiringly.
+
+"Really?" he questioned.
+
+"Yes," said Hubert, thus thrust unwillingly into the discussion, "I am
+no worshiper at all."
+
+"And may I ask why?" queried Mr. Bond.
+
+"Your book says that whoever comes to God must believe that He is, and
+that He rewards those who seek Him.  I am not sure of either
+proposition, and so I do not pretend to come to Him."
+
+The frank eyes looked through the eyeglasses pleasantly.  "Are you sure
+of the contrary?" he asked.
+
+"No," said Hubert honestly.
+
+"Admitting the supposition that He is, and is a rewarder of them that
+seek Him, does it cover the ground of responsibility to ignore Him
+because you are not sure?"
+
+"Perhaps not," said Hubert.  "But," he added doggedly, "if He is, and
+wishes to be known and worshiped, He ought to be demonstrable."
+
+Mrs. Gray looked a little frightened.  She never liked to hear Hubert
+talk about those things, and it was so mortifying to have him take such
+a stand against the church and everything everybody--at least most
+respectable people--believed.  She was sure he was saying something
+dreadful now.  Mr. Gray looked apprehensive, too.  Winifred's
+self-revelation of the morning made her feel like casting no stones at
+her brother.
+
+Mr. Bond looked at Hubert mildly.
+
+"I think you are quite right," he said.
+
+Here the discussion seemed to end.  Hubert could make no reply to the
+man who agreed with him.  An instinct to fight for his position had
+sprung up, but he was disarmed by Mr. Bond's assent to his proposition.
+He was not accustomed to being met like that.  His father's loyal
+policy had been to protect his household from infidel talk, and he had
+not taken too much pains to ascertain his son's point of view, and if
+possible, to lead him from it into light.  Hubert had found some
+Christian people ready to argue with him who would admit no position he
+held, however logical, believing that every arrow from the sceptic's
+quiver must be a poisoned one.  He withdrew in bitterness from such
+encounters.  To-day Mr. Bond's honest sympathy with his outspoken
+conviction found a sensitive chord in the young man's stout-seeming
+heart.
+
+Conversation drifted to lesser things until the ample meal was
+finished, and the little company broke up.  Mr. Gray was sure his guest
+would wish a little rest and quiet in preparation for the evening
+service, which assurance happily freed himself for the usual nap which
+his soul coveted after the Sunday early dinner.  Mrs. Gray departed for
+her own pretty room, her dainty dressing gown, silk draperies, and
+gentle doze.  Winifred went to her room to resume the battle that was
+on, Hubert betook himself to his accustomed walk.
+
+Walking down the avenue graced by his own home, Hubert glanced across
+the street and saw, to his regret, the handsome figure and airy step of
+George Frothingham.  He hoped that gentleman did not see him, for he
+disliked him and did not wish to be bored by a conversation.  Hubert
+disliked Frothingham on two separate counts: first, because he was not
+the sterling quality of man Hubert thought he ought to be, and secondly
+because, being such a man as he was, he still dared raise his miserable
+eyes toward Winifred.  More than any other object in the world Hubert
+loved his sister, and his grief was very hot and sore when it became
+apparent that she and George were "as good as engaged," as all their
+circle of friends affirmed.  They were not actually so, the "George"
+and "Winifred" terms resulting from an acquaintance since childhood,
+and had Hubert been a praying man he would have prayed that such a
+consummation might never occur.  He voiced his sentiments unmistakably
+to Winifred, but on this point they could not agree.
+
+"It is one of your unreasonable dislikes," she said, and so they came
+perilously near a serious difference.
+
+"He isn't genuine--he isn't manly," said Hubert, "there is nothing to
+him.  His name ought to have stopped with the first syllable."
+
+Winifred had looked her indignation, and mourned that Hubert could not
+see the charming qualities that made Frothingham popular with many.
+
+Hubert's wish that the young man should not see him was unrealized, and
+he was speedily joined by him.
+
+"Hello, Gray," said Mr. Frothingham, affably.  He was always affable to
+Hubert for obvious reasons.  "I wonder if you are going to hear the
+Reverend Professor Cutting's lecture on the Higher Criticism?  That's
+rather in your line, isn't it?  You know they have found that a good
+lot of the Bible is all rot."
+
+"I think they are a pack of asses," said Hubert, savagely, his opinions
+accentuated by dislike of his questioner.  "Indeed I am not going."
+
+"Whew-w!  You surprise me, Hubert.  I thought you were a bit of a
+sceptic yourself?"
+
+"So I am, but I am not proud of the fact.  My doubts are quite enough
+for my own enjoyment without listening to Prof. Cutting's unbeliefs."
+
+"But you know he talks from the Christian standpoint.  He is not an
+unbeliever."
+
+"Isn't he!  That's just what I object to in those men.  If they would
+confess themselves companions of the sceptical writers whom I have read
+and speak from a Free Thinkers' platform, I would have some respect for
+them.  What do they believe that they did not?  They respected the life
+and teachings of Jesus, but did not believe in His inerrant knowledge
+nor assumption of divinity.  I do not see how any man can claim to be a
+_Christian_ and not believe that what Jesus claimed for Himself was
+true.  If not true, He was either a deluded man and so unfit to lead
+others into absolute truth, or He was a liar and morally unfit to
+teach.  I wonder that these men can't see through a ladder, for all
+their learned research."
+
+"You are pretty hard on them, Hubert."
+
+"I am saying the simple truth.  I tell you I have no respect for those
+men.  To profess to be Christians and from within the fort batter down
+its fortifications isn't honest."
+
+"That's right," said Frothingham, who, having no certain convictions of
+his own, was prepared to enjoy a racy tirade from either side.
+
+"So you are wrong, you see," said Hubert, "in thinking Prof. Cutting's
+lecture in my line.  When I get ready to open a broadside against the
+Christian religion, I'll not put on a ministerial coat and collar to do
+it in.  You'd be shot in war if the enemy caught you in their
+clothes--and you'd deserve it!"
+
+"That's right," laughed George again.  "Tell me when you are going to
+deliver your broadside."
+
+"It will not be very soon," said Hubert.  "I do not find such comfort
+in my doubts as to give me a missionary call to spread them."
+
+They came to a turn in the road and parted.  Hubert had had a more
+animated conversation with his sister's friend than he remembered ever
+to have had before.  He strode on alone through the park whither his
+steps had taken him, still pursuing the same line of thought.
+
+"No," he reflected, "why should I seek to communicate my doubts?  I
+never knew a man to be worse for believing in Jesus Christ.  I believe
+some men have been better for it.  Certainly I do not admire the
+company I am in."
+
+His mind reviewed a company such as would be called together by an
+infidel cause, and he recoiled from it.  He saw socialist faces of the
+baser type, ready but for the occasion to blossom into anarchism; he
+saw clever women whose bold loosening of the yoke of conventional
+religion had relaxed also the hold of conventional morals, and he was
+glad Winifred was not among them; he saw the face of Doctor Bossman,
+the leader of the cause, tall, massive-browed, handsome, with bold,
+full, outstanding eyes, a man of defiant words, of jovial popularity,
+and egregiously self-centered.  Into the young man's mind, in contrast
+to the proud face, there flashed fragments of the words of the
+Nazarene: "Except ye be converted, and become as little children!"  He
+saw other faces not so typical, and found himself seated amongst them,
+and abhorred the fraternity cemented by a common unbelief--a cold
+negation.  He was unhappy.  He found no territory on which to stand.
+He hated the cant and formalism that chilled him in the fashionable
+church.  He hated the insolent creed of the deist, and the ignorance of
+the agnostic.  He seemed to be hating almost all things with himself
+included.  If he had been sure there was a God who heard mortals pray,
+he would have cried to Him to deliver him from so wretched a position.
+But he roused himself from his reverie and sought to throw to the winds
+his unhappy feelings.  He walked back to the house endeavoring to think
+of to-morrow's business, and determining to give himself to an
+interesting book when he got there.
+
+
+Winifred had a headache which was opportune.  By it she excused herself
+from tea and from church that evening.  Her father carried her
+apologies to the leader of the choir.  Mr. Gray alone of the family
+listened to the evening discourse, and he listened well, for the young
+minister spoke again with truth and earnestness.  The machinery of the
+meeting moved smoothly, and George Frothingham sang with much feeling,
+"If with all your hearts ye truly seek Him."
+
+
+In Winifred's room the light burned late.  The battle waged there saw
+many tears and the confirmation of the edict put forth in the morning
+service that the false god must be taken from its niche in the house of
+the Lord.
+
+"I will not be a hypocrite," Winifred said to herself.  "I will not go
+through a theatrical display, however refined and solemn, and call it
+worship.  I am no true worshiper."
+
+Then she burst into fresh tears, in which mingled grief that she was
+not a worshiper, and sorrow that she must leave an occupation and
+associations so dear.  It seemed like taking out a good part of her
+life, for Winifred was young, and things loved were ardently loved.
+
+There was one who contested the ground with her in her room that night,
+and told her she was no worse than others, that they were as
+thoughtless and insincere as she; that her course and theirs passed
+under the common sanction of churches everywhere, and that there was no
+reason why she should be singular amongst all others.  Why should she
+be disturbed from the commonly accepted course by a single sermon
+preached by a stranger, and he a young man?  Doctor Schoolman had never
+said such things.  She might at least wait and talk it over with him or
+some wise person.  He might be able to show her that God did not really
+care whether people quite meant what they said in singing, and that it
+was a meritorious thing, as she had always thought, to sing about Him
+to other people and to sing well.  It might do people good.  Some
+people had actually wept sometimes!
+
+The last thought was very striking, for Winifred did not know well the
+Word which is able to discriminate between soul and spirit, and she
+mistook emotion for some sign of spirituality.  These arguments pressed
+hard, and had in their favor the natural leaning of the heart that
+longed to go on with the loved employment.  But there was another
+longing too, and it was to be honest.  And underneath all was the true
+beginning of wisdom--the fear of God.
+
+"The minister told the truth," she said.  "And if everybody else goes
+on with the farce I will do as he said to father at dinner: 'refuse to
+add one unit to the aggregation of untrue worshipers.'  I'll join
+Hubert outside of it all before I will go on!"
+
+Then she wept afresh, for the vision of isolation "outside of it all"
+was too painful.  The presence of God had grown awesome and the light
+of His eyes intolerable, but outside was darkness unbearable.  She
+flung herself down beside the bed where many a time she had "said
+prayers" at night, and sobbed:
+
+"O God, I am not a true worshiper, but I wish I were!  I have drawn
+nigh to Thee with my lips while my heart was far from Thee.  I have
+been a lie.  Oh, make me true! make me true!"
+
+After this outburst of prayer she was calmer, but remained silently
+upon her knees by the bedside.  Gradually there came to her memory the
+substance of other words the minister had said;
+
+"Into the presence and unto the very heart of God there is a
+blood-bought way opened by our blessed Christ for the most wicked one
+who wishes to take it."
+
+"Is there a way for me," she prayed, "a way to come to Thee just as I
+am?"  And the sound of her own words brought back the memory of the old
+song, familiar since her childhood:
+
+  "Just as I am without one plea,
+  But that Thy blood was shed for me,
+  And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
+    O Lamb of God, I come!"
+
+"O God," she cried, "I can sing that!  I do come, just as I am--I do
+come!"
+
+A sweet sense of rest, such as she had never known, stole into
+Winifred's heart.  Some One seemed to be welcoming her with ineffable
+tenderness.  She was not out in the dark, but was at home with God.
+The awful presence she had dreaded was infinitely sweet.  At last she
+stood in the Holy Place, still foolish, weak, unworthy, but with the
+glory of Another's name covering her as with priestly robes, and she
+worshiped.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE CONFESSION
+
+When Winifred awoke the nest morning it was to wonder if it were really
+true--if she had come to God and He had received her.  A sweet rest
+still in her heart testified to a burden lifted.  Her Bible lay open on
+the little table where she had found the minister's text while fighting
+her battle the day before.  A leaf or two had blown over, and she
+looked down on the sixth chapter of John and read,
+
+"Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out."
+
+Renewed assurance came with the words.
+
+"I believe it," she said to herself.  "I have been very false, but He
+is true.  He says the truth.  I believe it."
+
+The thought of the choir scarcely entered her mind now in her new-found
+joy.  The question, to sing or not to sing, had shifted to the deeper
+one of relationship to God, and the peace that came with its settlement
+overshadowed everything else.  She went down to breakfast with a light
+heart and very cheerful countenance.  Hubert looked at her in surprise
+from under gloomy brows.  His own had been a restless night.
+
+"Has your headache gone, dear?" asked her mother solicitously.
+
+"Oh, long ago, Mother," said Winifred.  She wanted to tell her mother
+the better news than of a headache gone, but did not know how to begin.
+
+They talked of ordinary things until breakfast was nearly over.  Then
+Mr. Gray said:
+
+"Mr. Mercer was sorry to miss you from the choir last night, Winnie,
+and hoped you were not going to be ill."
+
+"Thank you, Father.  Mr. Mercer is always very kind."
+
+"He hopes you will surely be at the rehearsal Friday night, as he
+expects to take up some specially fine music."
+
+Winifred's heart heat violently as she summoned courage to say:
+
+"I do not think I shall sing in the choir any more, Father."
+
+"Why--what, Winnie?  What's that you are saying?  You not sing in the
+choir any more?"
+
+"What are you saying, Winifred," added Mrs. Gray.
+
+Winifred nerved herself for the statement.  It might as well he said
+now as ever, while they were all together.
+
+"Yes, Father," she said, "I do not think I can sing in the choir any
+longer.  I saw very clearly yesterday that I had never been a true
+worshiper.  I have never meant the words that I sang.  I have scarcely
+thought about God while I sang words about Him or addressed to Him.
+Many of them I could not say honestly.  It has all been for effect, and
+to--to please you all.  So I--I concluded--I--couldn't go on any
+longer."
+
+It had been a very difficult speech, and Winifred's voice sank at the
+end.
+
+Mr. Gray looked very grave.
+
+"You surprise me, Winnie," he said.  "You surprise me very much.  You
+should be conscientious, surely, but you will let me say I think you
+are taking the matter too seriously,"
+
+Silent Hubert shot a reproachful glance at his father.  In his
+estimation here was a case of downright honesty that called for
+applause, not repression.
+
+"I think your father is right, Winifred," said Mrs. Gray faintly, and
+then she added, rather illogically, "but I do not understand just what
+you mean."
+
+"Can I take the truth too seriously, Father?" asked Winifred, still
+speaking with an effort.  It was an ingenuous question, but Robert Gray
+found it hard to answer.
+
+"No," he said, after a moment's hesitation, "not truth itself, but we
+may get wrong ideas of it.  But, Winnie," he added, with real sorrow in
+his voice, "I hope you do not mean to tell us that you will not
+hereafter try to worship God, since the past has been so unsatisfactory
+to you?"
+
+"Oh, no, Father," said Winifred quickly, with rising courage as her
+experience of the night before came vividly to her.  "I have more to
+tell.  I was very unhappy about it all last night, and--I prayed--she
+blushed, for it was new to speak of such things--I prayed, and it came
+to me that there was a way to come to God just as I was, and He would
+make me a true worshiper; and I came."
+
+Winifred's embarrassment could not quite cover her joy as she made her
+confession.  The father looked relieved.
+
+"I am thankful,--very thankful, Winnie," he said.  "You did nobly.
+That was quite right--quite right.  But now I do not see that you need
+give up your singing, but that you might go on sincerely where you have
+failed before."
+
+He looked a little anxious, for her singing in the church was very dear
+to him.
+
+Winifred's brow clouded.  "I fear I cannot, Father.  Not now, at least."
+
+"No?  Well, we'll talk about it later," he said kindly, and they left
+the breakfast table.
+
+In the hall Hubert waited for Winifred with his own form of benediction:
+
+"You're a brick, Winnie," he said, and planted a kiss upon her fair
+forehead.
+
+She smiled and returned his kiss with an affectionate caress.  Hubert's
+slangy praise was dearer to her than any polished compliment from
+another source.
+
+Hubert did not understand why he hated the world and things a little
+less as he walked to business that morning, the stone walk answering to
+his usual sharp, decisive step.  He did not know that it was a gleam of
+something pure and true, of a religion not in word but in deed, that
+had flashed across his path and mitigated its darkness.
+
+Winifred had a long talk alone with her father in the library later in
+the day.  She had thought out her reasons, and understood better,
+herself, the instinctive feeling that led her not to resume her place
+in the choir under the altered conditions.
+
+"I am just beginning to worship, Father," she said, "and I feel I could
+do so better out of sight--for awhile, at least.  You do not know the
+temptation it would be to fall back into the old way.  I am afraid I
+could not stand it.  I would rather just slip into the congregation
+beside you, Father, and sing to God when my heart sings, and keep still
+when it doesn't."
+
+So her father yielded the point to her conscience.
+
+"God bless you, Winnie," he said with glistening eyes, as he stroked
+her chestnut locks.  "It may be I have been a bit of an idolater,
+myself."
+
+Poor Mrs. Gray sighed, and quite gave up trying to understand
+Winifred's strange position.  She hoped she would be able to give some
+suitable reason for withdrawing, and not set the whole church talking
+about her peculiar views.  She remembered hopefully that her daughter
+had suffered from laryngitis not long ago, and she mentally nursed the
+almost vanished trouble into proportions that would forbid her singing
+much.  She was sure Dr. Lansing would give an opinion to that effect
+now.  But, dear me! as for herself, she did not know how she should
+ever sit in that church and hear anyone else sing in Winifred's place!
+
+It was to be feared that there were many others who would find it
+difficult to sit in that church if their own natural wishes and tastes
+were not gratified there.  What it was to be gathered "in My name," as
+the Lord Jesus had said,--into the name of Him whose flesh with its
+longing and loves had been carried pitilessly to the cross, that from
+its death there might spring forth for all His own life in the Spirit
+unto God--what this was, few at New Laodicea knew; nor what it was, so
+gathered, to behold Him in the midst.  Oh, lonely heart without the
+door of His own house!  He knocks patiently, not in the hope that the
+whole household will hear Him, but for "any man" who has ears to hear
+and will open to Him.
+
+
+Winifred had another task before her that day, and she did it promptly.
+She did not know how really in her ready obedience she was walking in
+the steps of "the father of all them that believe," who, when Isaac was
+to be offered, rose early in the morning to go about the sacrifice.
+She went straight to Mr. Mercer, the leader of the choir, and told him
+of her withdrawal.  She told her story with simplicity and dignity, and
+it commanded his respect.
+
+"I honor your convictions, Miss Gray," he said.  "We shall find it hard
+to fill your place, and I am very sorry you are going.  But I would not
+for a moment urge you to remain.  As I say, I honor your convictions.
+I only wish I had the courage of them myself."
+
+His face grew heavy.  He knew well the deity that led him to that
+place, and the anxious care that governed each Sunday's work.  To bring
+his choir to the perfect standard of musical merit which his artist
+soul craved was his ambition.  He knew pleasure as he approximated to
+that goal, and vexation almost to despair when he fell far short.  He
+knew it was not before God but at another shrine he poured out his
+soul's libation.
+
+"I know I am not a worshiper," he said.  "I have never professed to be
+a Christian--oh, I am not a Mohammedan or a Hindu!--but I do not
+profess to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I should not like,"
+he said reflectively, "to add to a life indifferent to my Creator the
+insult of a mock worship."
+
+He bent his brows heavily to consider if such a course were really his.
+"I would leave the whole thing to-day," he said vehemently, "as you are
+doing, Miss Gray, if I could.  I would follow other lines in my
+profession, but I am in this now and it is my living.  It means bread
+and butter to those dependent on me."
+
+He paused, and Winifred said nothing but looked at him with strong
+sympathy.  He went on:
+
+"It will not excuse me, I suppose, but whose is the greater sin?  Is it
+mine, or theirs who hired me?  I thought of it professionally.  If one
+honest man had met me with the question, 'Can you lead that part of our
+worship to God in spirit and in truth?' I should have known that I
+could not, and said so.  Then I should have turned my attention to
+secular paths where secular men belong.  But there's the rub!  Not one
+of them thought of it, I suppose.  What a farce it is!  The minister
+yesterday talked of incense rising to God.  It doesn't get beyond their
+nostrils, I think.  You know that man--what's his name?--he's a stock
+broker, who sits down the right aisle?  Well, you know there was a talk
+once of dismissing the quartette, and retaining only the chorus (under
+my direction) to reduce expenses.  That man declared if the quartette
+were dismissed he would leave the church.  He is not a member anyway, I
+think, but he pays!  There is worship for you!  I tell you, the people
+glut their own souls with good music, and go home thinking they have
+worshiped God.  Oh, I wish there were reality in the world!"
+
+Mr. Mercer threw his head back and ran his fingers nervously through
+his wavy locks.  His eyes were burning and there was a bright red spot
+on either cheek.
+
+Winifred spoke out impulsively:
+
+"Oh, Mr. Mercer, there is reality!  I know there is somewhere, and I--I
+am just beginning--but I mean to be a true worshiper, myself."
+
+He looked at her, and the gleam in his dark eyes softened.
+
+"Forgive me," he said, "I spoke too strongly.  Yes, I believe there is
+reality--a little--somewhere," and he smiled.  Something in her soft
+brown eyes as he looked in them carried him many years back, when eyes
+something like them looked down on him, while a voice sang sacred words
+which he knew the heart loved well.  Yes, there was reality somewhere.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ADELE
+
+Winifred awoke Tuesday morning with melody in her heart.  She moved
+about her room with the exhilaration of a fresh joy in living.  She
+took her Bible, which still wore the genteel, unsullied dress of a
+stranger, and turned to the place she wished to read.  She had not got
+beyond the text of Sunday:
+
+"The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshiper shall worship the
+Father in spirit and in truth."
+
+She pondered the text.  "Shall worship the Father," she mused.  "Oh,
+how sweet!  That august One whom I feared is '_the Father_.'  He loves
+me!"
+
+She went with her book to the open window and stood, a fair priestess
+in her white morning dress, and looked out over a portion of her
+Father's wide domain.  Oh, how warm and bright the sunlight that lit
+all things with glory!  How fair were the distant hills beyond the
+city, with their varied dress of wood and meadow!  In the garden below,
+how each group of flowers and the green sward answered with joy to the
+caress of the sun.  How exultantly the lilies stood, and she could
+catch the incense from the bed of tiny clustering flowers nearest her
+window.  She lifted her face toward the sky of melting summer blue, and
+sang softly:
+
+  "Holy, holy, holy; Lord God Almighty!
+  All Thy works shall praise Thy name,
+        in earth and sky and sea;
+  Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty;
+  God in three persons, blessed Trinity!"
+
+She looked again at the words whose entrance had given light, and read
+farther: "For the Father seeketh such to worship Him."
+
+"He has been seeking me!" she cried, and some glimmering apprehension
+of the great love of the Father which seeks the fellowship of sincere
+and simple children, made her bosom heave and her eyes fill with tears,
+"_He loves me_," she repeated as before, and her heart nestled itself
+in the great truth like a bird that has found its nest.
+
+Presently she looked again from her window and saw Hubert walking in
+the garden.
+
+"Dear Hubert!" she said to herself.  "I wish he knew."
+
+With an impulse she laid her book hastily down and ran down the stairs
+and into the garden.  She flew noiselessly across the soft grass and
+surprised Hubert from behind, clasping his arm with a cheerful "Good
+morning!"
+
+He looked down on her glowing face and kissed it.
+
+"How bright you look," he said.  "Were you up with the birds?  I heard
+you singing your matins with them."
+
+"Did you hear me?" said Winifred, with a blush at being overheard.
+
+"Yes.  What makes you so happy, Winnie?"
+
+"Oh, Hubert," she cried, and she clasped his arm more tightly, "My
+heart is almost breaking with joy!  I think I have begun--to know God!"
+
+He looked at her with a surprised hunger in his dark eyes.
+
+"And do you find the knowledge such a joy?" he asked, with deep sadness
+in his own voice.
+
+"Oh, yes, Hubert," she said.  "He is so good!"
+
+Later in the day a small breeze swept in the front door of the Gray
+Mansion, past the maid, up the stairway, and to the door of Winifred's
+little sitting-room.  It came with the person of Miss Adèle Forrester.
+
+"Hello," said a bright voice.  "Anybody here?"
+
+Winifred rose from her quaint little window-seat with an expression of
+pleasure.
+
+"Oh, Adèle!  I am so glad to see you."
+
+The two young ladies kissed each other and sat down to talk with the
+easy familiarity of old friends.
+
+"Dear!" cried exclamatory Miss Forrester.  "I am out of breath!--I have
+raced so!  I left home an hour ago, but was beguiled by some
+fascinating bargains in Butterworth's windows.  Do see that love of a
+thing for ninety-eight cents.  Did you ever see such a bargain?  I
+wouldn't let them send it for I wanted you to see it."
+
+The fascinating trifle was admired, and then Miss Forrester flew at the
+chief matter of her visit enthusiastically.
+
+"Do you know what is in the wind, Winifred?  Professor Black, who leads
+the choir in the Linden Street church, is going to get up a comic opera
+with a cast from the various choirs, and I am invited.  We are to go to
+Northville and give it in the little one-horse theater there.  Won't it
+be gay?  We shall astonish the natives of that small town!  Have you
+had your invitation?"
+
+Winifred shook her head.
+
+"How calm you are.  I am very much excited about it already.  You know
+I like that sort of thing.  It isn't decided what we shall give, but
+probably Pinafore, or Patience, or some old thing.  They won't care at
+Northville.  Do say what you think of it, Winifred?  Don't be so
+unecstatic."
+
+Winifred smiled, not very merrily.  "I can't get ecstatic," she said.
+"I shall not be in it."
+
+"You will not be in it!" Adèle cried.  "Oh, why not?"--coaxingly.
+"Doesn't your father approve of it?--or your mother?--of going off like
+that, I mean?  It will be perfectly proper.  We shall be chaperoned."
+
+"Oh, that's not it," said Winifred.  "I have left the choir."
+
+Adèle opened her bright eyes wide in astonishment.
+
+"Left the choir!" she exclaimed under her breath, and then leaned back
+in her chair with a gesture of comical despair of expressing herself.
+
+Winifred could not help laughing at her friend's dismay.  She said
+nothing and Adèle soon recovered herself.
+
+"A little tiff with the leader or somebody?" she queried.  "Such things
+are not unknown to us.  I am prepared to take your part, Winnie, right
+or wrong.  But you don't mean you've left for good?  Oh, come and sing
+with us at St. John's--that would be lovely!"
+
+Winifred girded herself mentally for her task.  She and lively Miss
+Forrester had never discussed spiritual things together.  They spoke
+freely of their choirs and of church, but that never seemed dissonant
+with the most frivolous social things.  Now as Winifred thought of the
+real Holy Place and the worship there "in spirit and in truth," it
+seemed difficult to speak of it.  She began bravely, and began at the
+beginning, with Mr. Bond's sermon.  She rehearsed many of the things
+that he said, and told frankly of her own conviction of the truth and
+how it troubled her.  Adèle listened gravely and with a sympathetic
+moisture in her eyes as Winifred told, with little hitches in her voice
+and evident effort at self-control, of her determination to leave the
+theater of her unreal worship, and then of the way she had found into
+the real presence of God and of His forgiveness.  She paused here, and
+Adèle put her arms impulsively about her and kissed her.
+
+"Winnie," she said, "you know I always loved you.  I love you better
+than ever now."
+
+Then they both cried, though they could not have explained to each
+other why.  Adèle was the first to recover herself.
+
+"I am such a goose," she said.  "I always cry.  But now, Winnie," she
+added, "are you not going to keep on singing, only 'in spirit and in
+truth,' as you say?"
+
+"I hope I shall keep on singing," said Winifred, slowly, "but I dare
+not trust myself, just now anyhow, to go on with the choir.  I am so
+used to singing for applause"--and she blushed at the remembrance of
+such a motive in the house of the Lord--"or for music's sake, I am
+afraid I should find myself doing so still.  I mean to worship God
+truly," and a look of determination settled the sensitive face into
+resolute lines; "and I shall try to do that which will help me most to
+that end.  It seems to me now that that will be to join the others
+unobserved.  Perhaps I shall see it differently some day, but now I
+feel it safer to put my poor, vain, little self as far out of sight as
+possible and try to think of God."
+
+"You are a dear, honest little thing!" cried Adèle affectionately.
+Then she added very seriously, "but it almost seems to me that if your
+objections are right they might apply to the whole system."
+
+Winifred looked perplexed.  She had dimly thought of that.  The word
+"system" recalled Mr. Bond's phrase, "an organized system of
+unreality," which she had turned over in her mind a number of times.
+Would he call the choir that?  She thought of the leader, who professed
+nothing as a Christian; of the organist, who, she must admit, was a
+drunkard; of George Frothingham with his careless indifference; and of
+herself of two days ago.  Perhaps there were others--very likely there
+were--who sang with grace in their hearts unto the Lord, but it
+certainly looked as though that were no object in their selection.  But
+she thought of Doctor Schoolman, who raised no objections and always
+sat with such an expression of bland repose while they sang.  She
+thought of the elders--her own father among them--and, indeed, of
+common consent everywhere in all the churches; at least, all she knew.
+Who was she, who was only "just beginning to worship," that she should
+entertain ideas contrary to them all?
+
+"I don't know," she said hesitatingly to Adèle, "I hope you will not
+think my ideas revolutionary.  I can't judge for others--others so much
+wiser than I.  But, for myself, I think I see the way I ought to take."
+And so she settled the matter for herself, on her own convictions.
+
+"Perhaps you are right," Adèle said.
+
+She could not speak further of the opera which seemed awkwardly out of
+place in the light of what Winifred had said.  After a pause she said:
+
+"I'm afraid we are all hypocrites more or less, but it is a wonder we
+had not thought of it before.  But, do you know, I've sometimes thought
+it rather queer that Mr. Francis should sing in our choir?  He is a
+confessed infidel.  I do not believe our rector knows it.  I do not
+think he would allow it.  Mr. Francis just drifted into the choir when
+we needed a basso very much.  But, when you think of it, isn't it
+blasphemy to take the name of the Lord, whom he professes not to
+believe in, so solemnly upon his lips in church?"
+
+Winifred consented that so it seemed to her.
+
+Then a sudden recollection amused Miss Forrester.  "Speaking of
+worshipers," she said, "now there is my precious Cousin Dick.  How do
+you think he occupied himself in the midst of Morning Prayer a couple
+of Sundays ago?  The rogue!  I certainly was keeping the run of the
+service, but it was edifying to see his head bowed so devoutly until he
+passed a slip of paper over to me.  What do you think was on it?  Not a
+suddenly inspired hymn, but some doggerel lines about
+
+  "'A certain young woman
+  Who sang high soprano.'
+
+"I looked daggers at him, but of course he saw I wanted to laugh.  Then
+he looked such a picture of rapt piety!  Oh, he is a _case_!"  And
+Adèle gave way to the laughter she had smothered in church.
+
+Winifred smiled, too, as she thought of the irrepressibly merry youth.
+But her pleasure was not as unmixed as it would have been three days
+before.  Henceforth, any jest to be quite enjoyed must be free from
+taint of irreverence toward holy things.  She had "begun to know God,"
+and the knowledge gave a sensitiveness to the honor of His name and the
+things of His house.
+
+Adèle recovered from her mirth and resumed the subject seriously.
+
+"I am afraid we are sorry worshipers, when you come to look at it," she
+said.  "If our office is really such a sacred one--and I see it must
+be, if we take it seriously--why, then, we ought to be pretty good
+people; earnest, and reverent, and all that, I mean.  But it doesn't
+seem to be our distinguishing trait," and she smiled.  "Not mine, at
+least.  I ought not to generalize too much.  I am sure there are
+persons in our choirs who live beautiful, devoted lives; but the lot I
+fraternize with mostly are not likely to go to the stake just yet for
+their piety.  What awfully jolly dances the Emmanuel church choir gave
+last winter!  I was invited two or three times and went.  But you know
+it has struck me once or twice as a little odd that we church singers,
+_as such_, should go into that sort of thing.  If some of us should
+stray into it individually it's nothing remarkable, I suppose.  But
+isn't it a bit queer that, as a company, we should lead off in those
+things?  I suppose," with a twinkle of malicious enjoyment in her eyes,
+"our Emmanuel church neighbors could not find vent for their joy in the
+Lord in Hosannas on Sunday, and had to work it off at their heels on
+week days."
+
+Adèle enjoyed her own satire, but Winifred was too repentant to laugh.
+
+"Oh, Adèle," she said, "it is dreadful that there has been no 'joy in
+the Lord' about it.  At least, I never knew it in the choir.  Christ
+was never the center of our thoughts" (she was thinking of Mr. Bond's
+sermon), "the object of devotion.  If we worshiped anybody or anything
+outside of ourselves it was Music."
+
+"Orpheus?" suggested Adèle.
+
+"Yes," said Winifred, "we were pagans, I suppose.  But oh, Adèle, God
+is so good to forgive!  It seems as though He were not looking at it at
+all--as if it had never been."
+
+Adèle looked at her friend narrowly.  "Winnie," she said at length,
+solemnly, "I know what has happened.  You are converted."
+
+Winifred opened her eyes in surprise.  She had not thought to so define
+her new experience.  Adèle went on:
+
+"We don't talk much about it in our church, you know.  But I used to go
+sometimes with old Auntie Bloom--she was so blind she couldn't see the
+sidewalk--to a little Methodist church of some sort, Free, or Reformed,
+or something, and they made a great deal of that.  Auntie Bloom used to
+get rather excited over it herself sometimes when she 'testified.'  I
+used to duck my head when she waved her arms about.  'A new creature!'
+she used to shout.  'There's nothing like being a new creature!'"  And
+Adèle quoted the old lady with good-natured mimicry.
+
+Winifred's face glowed.  "No," she said, "there's nothing like it!--if
+that is what has happened to me."
+
+Adèle looked at the happy face covetously.  "You look as though it were
+good, Winnie," she said, and added meditatively: "I think it is all
+true about it.  But you know, Winnie, when I was confirmed I really
+meant to be good.  It was so solemn, and I thought I never should
+forget that dear old bishop's hand on my head.  But I haven't turned
+out much of a saint, you know, dear."
+
+"I never thought you were wicked, Adèle," said Winifred.
+
+"Well, I never robbed a bank," said Adèle, "but there's no question
+about my being 'this worldly' enough."
+
+Winifred did not know just how to answer this.  It seemed a charge that
+would cover both their previous lives.  In a moment's silence a
+sweet-toned clock on the mantel softly struck a half hour.
+
+"Oh, I must be gone!" cried Miss Forrester, "and we haven't talked
+about half--"
+
+"Do stay to lunch," interrupted Winifred.
+
+"Impossible, dear.  I am due at home--half an hour ago!" and she
+laughed at the discrepancy between her appointment and appearance.
+"Good-by, Winnie."  And she was off.
+
+The two, very opposite in temperament, were very warm friends.
+Winifred saw beneath a light exterior a quantity of good, sound sense
+and a warm heart.  She was a frequent guest at their house.  Mrs. Gray
+liked her, though deploring her occasional indulgence in slang.  Mr.
+Gray enjoyed her racy conversation, and Hubert professed a dislike of
+her volatile qualities.  This last fact grieved Winifred, who liked her
+friend to be appreciated.
+
+"She has a rather frivolous exterior," she once explained to Hubert,
+"but she is really very sensible."
+
+"One would like to hear from the sensible interior occasionally," he
+replied, and Winifred withdrew from the defense.  She was the more
+grieved by his indifference to her friend because, with her quick
+intuition, she had half guessed at a secret liking in Adèle for her
+cynical brother.
+
+To-day at luncheon Winifred ventured to offer him the information:
+
+"Adèle Forrester was in to see me this morning."
+
+"I heard her giggle," he replied laconically, and Winifred subsided
+into silence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+IS GOD DEMONSTRABLE?
+
+The scene of the morning in the garden haunted Hubert during the hours
+of business that day.  Matters were attended to with his accustomed
+skill, but always an undercurrent of memory presented to him Winifred's
+beaming face and her announcement, "I think I have begun to know God."
+
+"I wish I knew Him.  I wish I knew the truth," he repeated to himself
+again and again.
+
+Hubert had entered with heartiness into his father's business, and
+though still young had already attained a partnership in it.  "Robert
+Gray & Son," read the clear, uncompromising sign, and the name of no
+firm in the city was more respected.  Hubert's devotion to business,
+rather than to more scholarly pursuits, was a deep gratification to the
+father, who enjoyed his son's fellowship and found help in his fresh
+enterprise and keen foresight.
+
+To-day Hubert was glad when the last matters were attended to and he
+was able to go home.  At dinner he was abstracted and silent, and
+retired to his own apartments.  Just off his sleeping room was a
+smaller one which constituted his laboratory, for Hubert was a man of
+science in his leisure hours.  This room was the one discomfort of poor
+Mrs. Gray, who feared explosions or electric shocks, and sighed many a
+time as she heard the door close after the entering form of her son.
+To-night it closed firmly, and had not opened again before slumber
+muffled the ears of the apprehensive mother, nor had the light from the
+single gas burner ceased to throw out its yellow challenge to the
+mellow, midnight moonlight without.  Could Mrs. Gray have looked
+within, she would have seen Hubert sunk in the depths of a leather
+covered chair, with his dark, frowning face leaning upon his hand.  He
+was thinking.
+
+Something like this was the matter of his thoughts:
+
+In this little room questions had been asked and answered.  From the
+standpoint of the known, or even from the conjectured, excursions into
+the unknown had been undertaken, and the explorer returned with
+trophies of ascertained fact.  How had it come to pass?  Obedience to
+the laws of force revealed had brought its recompense of further
+revelation.  How humbly, with what child-likeness, he had followed
+those subtle laws propounded to him by others; laws whose deep mystery
+he could in no wise understand, but which he believed, and, believing,
+demonstrated.  Were there such principles to be observed in the
+spiritual realm?  Were there laws of the unseen kingdom, which, if
+obeyed, brought demonstration?  He gave a little gesture of impatience
+as he thought of the unthinking assertion of some that they would
+believe nought they could not understand!
+
+"Stupid!" he muttered, and remembered an effort of his own, when a
+school-boy, to illuminate the mind of the gardener with a few
+scientific facts, only to be met with a loud guffaw of unbelief.
+Surely science had never yielded her treasures to sneering unbelief,
+but to humble, patient faith.  Must he so find out God?
+
+Again he pondered: Could God, if there were a God, be expected to be
+less mysterious, less wonderful, less unsearchable than the subtle
+forces found in nature, and actually utilized, but never understood?
+
+"What is electricity?" he asked himself.  "I do not know, but I can use
+it.  I know it is.  So may not God be, invisible, uncomprehended, but
+real, and demonstrable to the man who applies himself to know Him?"
+
+Hubert was very near a determination to thus apply himself.  But should
+God be sought for as a force or as a personality?  The old argument,
+hackneyed but true, spoke to him: The presence of design argues a
+designer.  No blind force ever clasped the petals of a lily together,
+to say nothing of the arrangement of a universe.  Had Hubert known it,
+there was a passage of Inspiration which read:
+
+"The invisible things of him from the creation or the world are clearly
+seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his
+everlasting power and Godhead."
+
+Now how to address himself to God--how to conduct this new
+experiment--was the question.  He remembered the conditions of
+discipleship to science, and determined that he would follow them.
+First, there was child-likeness.  A fragment of Scripture, words of
+Jesus Christ, came to him:
+
+"Except ye . . . become as little children ye shall not enter into the
+kingdom of heaven."
+
+How simple the principle.  No pride of supposed knowledge, no dogmatism
+of unbelief might be brought to the door of this mysterious kingdom by
+the man who would enter in.  Then, he must follow the things revealed
+if he would know more.  What did he know about God?  Or what must be
+true of Him, granted that He is?
+
+"If He is," thought Hubert, "and is my Creator, then He must know me
+altogether."
+
+"Thou God seest me."
+
+It was a text--he did not know its connection--learned years before in
+Sunday-school, before his independence of spirit had withdrawn his neck
+from an unloved yoke.  Now it spoke to him clearly.  Surely God (if He
+were) must see him, and surely He must hear him.  He did not
+consciously remember the words, "he that planted the ear, shall he not
+hear?  He that formed the eye, shall He not see?"  But thoughts of like
+nature passed through his mind.  A creator who could bestow such
+marvelous faculties must Himself possess them in infinite measure.  And
+a God who had given to His creatures such powers of communication, must
+surely have means to make Himself understood.
+
+"If He is," said Hubert, "then He is great!  He is infinite.  I cannot
+measure His power in any line.  Surely He can reveal Himself to me if
+He will.  Is He willing?"
+
+In the contemplation of God the man grew less and less in his own
+esteem.  Would God reveal Himself to such an atom in the wide universe
+as he?  Did He care for him or about him?
+
+"God is Love," whispered memory, from the Book, and the suggestion beat
+upon the unarmored heart of the seeker, and was not unwelcome.
+
+"I will put it to the test," he said to himself.  "I will ask Him."
+
+He rose from his chair and thought to fall upon his knees, but was
+resisted.  An unlooked for struggle arose within him.
+
+He had said to Frothingham that he was not proud of his scepticism, but
+now his independent thought arose before him, an image not willing to
+be crucified.  He saw the sneers of his fellow unbelievers, should he
+join the ranks of the religious.  Suppose God should reveal Himself?
+Would he not be bound to serve Him?  A vision of the Man who called
+Himself the Son of God arose dim and wraith-like, sorrowful, homeless,
+poor--crucified!  If God revealed Himself, perhaps he must follow that
+Man!  Was it worth it?  Was it not better to go on as he was, rich,
+independent, self-governed?  If he asked for light, was he ready to
+follow the light?
+
+His hands clenched themselves in the struggle.  The vision of
+self-abnegation was so real that it sickened him.  Home, possessions,
+friendships, and his own life also, seemed demanded by the vision of
+that Man.  But to turn back from the light that might be gained was to
+fall into a darkness more damnable and more desolate than before.
+
+"Buy the truth and sell it not," urged a voice, and some glimmer of
+encouragement seemed in his imagination to smile from the face of the
+Man of Sorrows.  In his decision the sweat broke from his brow and the
+veins stood in cords of agony.  He fell upon his knees, and said aloud:
+
+"O God, if Thou art, reveal Thyself to me, and I will serve Thee."
+
+The solitary gas jet still flickered in the room, the moonlight shone
+without, the silent household slept.  No voice answered the young man's
+prayer, nor sensible Presence wrapped him about; but a crisis was
+marked in one life that night and the result was to be light and peace.
+
+Hubert had not imagined what sort of a response should be made to his
+request, and it was well he had not.  But he felt a sense of relief at
+a decision gained after he had uttered his prayer to God, and soon
+retired to his bed.  It was not to enjoy much sleep, however, for still
+the vision of the Man of Calvary haunted him, and with it a sense that
+it was in His footsteps he must tread, if the truth should really be
+revealed to him.  In the slow hours of the night he counted the cost of
+the tower he should build, and wondered if he would be able to finish
+it.  To him it was granted at the outset of the way to know something
+of the rugged terms of true discipleship.
+
+     *     *     *     *     *     *
+
+The next morning dawned murky and cool.  A thin, struggling rain beat
+against the windows of Hubert's room when he woke.  Things look
+different by the cold light of day, especially if the day be rainy,
+from the same things seen by gaslight.  With Hubert's instant memory of
+the night before, came the temptation to dismiss its happenings as a
+dream and go back to his former way of living.  But he could not do so
+in honesty.  He had made a pledge to a supposed Being, whom he must now
+treat as a reality until the most honest experiment proved Him not to
+he, or to be inaccessible.  Clearly a line of procedure formed itself
+in his mind.  He must seek to know those laws, or principles, that
+governed the new realm which he sought to enter, and endeavor to adjust
+himself to them.
+
+So he took from its place on the shelves the Book that was most likely
+of all to give the suggestions he needed, because it dealt specifically
+with the matter in hand.  Of all those who bore witness in the Book the
+most remarkable one was Jesus Christ.  So he turned to the New
+Testament, and to the Gospels.  He was none too familiar with their
+teachings, but he believed that of them all the Gospel of John
+contained the fullest statement of abstract principles.  He would read
+it.
+
+It was still early, and he settled himself for an hour's study.  It
+occurred to him to invoke afresh that One whom he was seeking for light
+upon His own law.  An impulse of pride almost deterred him, but he
+thought,
+
+"If He is, and I am His creature, I can afford to be humble.  Indeed,
+it is the only fitting thing."
+
+So he bowed his head and said:
+
+"O God, I am seeking Thee.  Help me to understand the truth."
+
+He found the Gospel of John, and began at the beginning.  He read the
+sublime statements concerning the Word, and wondered if they were true.
+If true, it was the most wonderful fact in the world.  If untrue--oh,
+what darkness lay in the shadow of so great light's negation!  He read
+the twelfth verse, and the thirteenth, and pondered them in the light
+of the foregoing statement.  If they were true, then He who was "with
+God," who "was God"--he paused to consider the mysterious relationship;
+mysterious, yet not thereby incredible; he would not repeat the folly
+of the gardener by too ready unbelief!  If true, then God, that eternal
+Word, came down to man, and "as many as received Him," to them it was
+granted to become the sons of God!  They were translated into the realm
+whence He came forth.
+
+The stupendous fact--if fact?--glowed like a sun-lit prism and awoke an
+ardent longing that it might be so.  Ah, to escape the limits of this
+petty life!  How mean and small it seemed.  Man at his best, his
+grandest, but to live out a brief day, and then go out into the
+uncertain darkness forever!  If God had ordained a way into His own
+infinite realm, surely it was worth the finding.
+
+But what was it to "receive" Him?  In what sense did they in the days
+of His fleshly life receive Him?  Was it in a more physical, tangible
+way than would he possible to man now?  Evidently not; for of those
+among whom He moved in bodily presence, the majority "received Him
+not."  Certainly His mission to the earth was not for that generation
+only, but for all men.  Perhaps the receiving was explained by the
+companion statement, "even to them that believe on His name."
+
+But to "believe" was not less difficult to Hubert than to "receive."
+He had boasted his inability to believe that which was unsupported by
+evidence, and had found bitter fault with evangelical doctrine, which,
+he supposed, put a high premium upon blind credulity,--an attitude of
+mind, he contended, which would render a man as open to receive the
+teachings of Buddha, or Mahomet if he happened to hear them, as those
+of Jesus Christ.  He might have added, or the teachings of a Payne, or
+an Ingersoll, or, as a remoter example, of the serpent in Eden who
+beguiled a credulous woman.
+
+Hubert's search had become so earnest that he did not now pause to
+nurse his rancor against the defenseless word "believe," and it even
+flashed into his thought that, should he study diligently its use, he
+might discover in it a further or different meaning than he had
+credited it with.  At this point he wished for a Greek Testament, but
+there was none in the house.  Later in the day, however, he surprised a
+book dealer by the purchase of one, and prepared himself for further
+studies in the "believes" of John's Gospel.
+
+For the present he contented himself with reading on, striving to note
+all the story and its argument, passing over much, undoubtedly, that
+would have spoken volumes had he had ears to hear, but still finding
+much that spoke pointedly and clearly to him.  He pondered the
+testimony of John the Baptist to "the Lamb of God, which taketh away
+the sin of the world," and did not understand it.  But a feeling almost
+of jealous envy stole into his heart toward the two disciples of the
+Baptist, who, hearing the witness, followed Jesus.  His hungry soul
+echoed their "Where dwellest Thou?" in the mystical sense in which he
+instinctively read it, and he felt it would be joy indeed to hear that
+One say, "Come and see."  Would he not come, indeed, if he were bidden!
+
+Hubert read until the breakfast bell sounded, and then went down to
+pursue his study in Winifred's bright face, and wonder how much she
+really knew of the matter he was trying to search out.
+
+"Winnie," he said to her after breakfast, "do you still think you have
+begun to know God?"
+
+"Yes," she said placidly, "I am sure of it."
+
+"How do you know?" said he.  "How does He manifest Himself?"
+
+"I don't know," she answered.  "I can't explain it, but He seems very
+real."
+
+"How did you find Him?  What did you do?" he questioned further.
+
+"Oh, I just came to Him," she answered.  "And," as she reflected of
+that night's compact, "I gave myself up to Him."
+
+So that was the way Winifred found Him.  Was that the way to "believe"?
+But Winifred had none of his doubts about God.  She believed that He
+was, and the mental assent led to the heart surrender.  But if he
+should _do_ her act of faith--?  If a man with doubts should give
+himself up would he be received?  With such reflections Hubert went out
+into his day's work.
+
+Again he accomplished the day's business with faithfulness to all
+details, but with the consciousness every hour of a perplexity
+unsolved--a burden unlifted.  Again he was glad when the office door
+closed behind him and he turned his face homeward, striding beneath his
+umbrella through the now settled rain, with the Greek Testament grasped
+in his hand.
+
+An attractive wood fire burned in the drawing-room grate that evening,
+but Hubert resisted its invitation and retired to his "scientific den,"
+as Winifred called it, to pursue his new studies.  He set himself to
+read again in the Greek that which he had read in English.  He was
+struck by the fact that the word translated "believe" was also rendered
+"commit" in a passage in the second chapter.  That seemed somewhat more
+practical to his apprehension.
+
+He lingered long on the interview with Nicodemus, and as the rain beat
+upon the roof and window pane he listened to the words uttered on a
+Judean night, so long ago, to a man who like himself sought the truth.
+In the first chapter of the Gospel, in its introduction, he had caught
+a glimpse of infinite stretches and light unapproachable, and it seemed
+no marvel that a man, if he would enter that kingdom, _must be born
+into it_!  Marvel, indeed, it might be, that such a birth were
+possible, but not that it was needful.  For how could he transgress the
+boundaries of the human sphere into which he had been born, and lift
+himself into the higher?  It was impossible.  No, that life must
+somehow come forth to him.  He must be "born from above."
+
+As he read on into the book, still bearing in mind the character
+ascribed to Jesus Christ in its beginning, he could not wonder that He
+spoke with such authority.  Not "Thus saith the Lord," but "Verily,
+verily, I say unto you," the new Prophet declared.  What wonder, if He
+were such a Being as described, that He should offer living water to
+the Samaritan woman, since "in Him was life," nor that "the work of
+God" for obtaining eternal life should be narrowed down to a belief
+in--a committal unto--Himself?
+
+As he considered these things, the emphasis shifted from "believe" to
+the Person in whom to believe; and it seemed to him that the teaching
+must be not so much that faith was in itself a way of salvation, as
+that it was a simple necessity to the taking of the Way--the One sent
+forth from God; in short, that its own value was purely relative to the
+One believed in.  This seemed to settle a very important question, and
+drew the sceptic's attention away from his own capabilities of belief
+to the claims of the proposed object of his faith.  He read His words
+with an interest that was painfully intense, and almost groaned his
+prayerful longing to know if they were true.
+
+"After all," thought he, "be a man credulous or doubting, absolute
+knowledge waits upon revelation--upon demonstration."
+
+"O God," he cried finally, "if Thou art, and if Jesus Christ is, and is
+such an One as described here, give me evidence!  Let me know Him and
+Thee."
+
+He lifted his book again, and this time he read:
+
+"If any man is willing to do his will, he shall know of the teaching,
+whether it be of God, or whether I speak from myself."
+
+If a voice had spoken aloud the words it would not have conveyed the
+message more directly to his heart.  He paused, as before a pivotal
+moment of destiny.
+
+"'Willing to do His will!'"
+
+His face whitened.  The agony of the night before was upon him.  The
+way of the cross--the picture of the Man who like no other had done the
+will of God, rose before him and demanded all things.
+
+As drowning men are said to have pass in review the events of a
+lifetime before them, so in a moment's time the strategic elements of
+his life appeared before him, and the finger of God pressed the most
+sensitive points in his nature.  He pointed to the counting room of the
+keen business man, and Hubert saw himself poor for the Kingdom of God's
+sake.  He pointed to the beautiful home and its inmates, and he saw
+himself homeless, having "hated" father and mother and sister--ah,
+sharpest pang of all!--for the sake of discipleship to the sorrowful
+Son of Man.  An invisible attraction drew him after Him, and with ashen
+lips but with fixed heart Hubert Gray took up his cross.
+
+"I am willing to do Thy will," he said.  "Only let me know the
+teaching."
+
+The immediate result of Hubert's work of faith cannot be written.  It
+is incommunicable.  One may point to after effects in a life
+transformed, but of that supernatural witness which comes to men's
+souls, stamping the words of God as very truth indeed, no description
+can be given.  As jealously guarded as the crown jewels in the Tower of
+London is the secret of the Lord which is revealed or hidden at His
+will.  To the foolish one who "in his heart" says, "There is no God,"
+no glorious revelation comes; and often even the patent fact of His
+divine creatorship is not observed.  But, given a hungry soul, he shall
+be filled with good things.  And the Spirit waits to charge with
+electric certainty the teaching of God's truth to the man who in
+meekness adjusts himself to it.
+
+Cold and colorless glows the transparent prism in the shadow.  But let
+the sun shine through it, and lo! it is alive with all the colors of
+glory and beauty.  So the sunlight shone in the laboratory of Hubert
+Gray that night and lit up with many rays of refracted glory the
+doctrine of Jesus Christ.  Light focused itself upon the Person, and
+Hubert saw, as years of painful study would not have taught him without
+that light, the mysterious merging of his own identity with His; saw
+mistily, what afterward he should discern more clearly, his own
+worthless, sinful life vanished in the dying of the One "lifted up";
+saw radiantly his own triumph and everlasting life together with the
+living Christ.  To the secret abode where lives are "hid with Christ in
+God," he came and saw.  The unspeakable gladness of the revelation
+turned the rugged cross into a crown of glory.
+
+The fragrance of a flower stole from his bedroom into the laboratory.
+He smiled as he recognized it.
+
+"I have not seen the flower," he said, "but its undoubted witness is
+here.  I do not see Thee, Jesus, my Lord and my God, but I believe
+Thee!--Thou art here."  And he worshiped Him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+MR. FROTHINGHAM AND THE CHOIR REHEARSAL
+
+Unsympathetic Nature was still in tears when the next morning broke
+upon Hubert's new-found joy.  But so ardent was it that no weather
+could dampen it.  His first waking thoughts were of the marvelous
+treasure he had found.  A new life stretched out before him.  He was a
+new man.  He had entered into a new world whose center of gravity was
+in heaven, "where Christ is," and an indescribable, exultant gladness
+filled his soul.  He had received Him, the divine Visitant from that
+other world, and his own soul was quickened with the life He brought.
+Henceforth he claimed kinship with Him and with the Father.  A new
+motive power of living had entered into his being.  He was not
+conscious of prayer, but it was in his heart, making response to the
+revelation which had come to him, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"
+The new realm must have its own laws of living, very contrary to those
+of this world, and he would know them.
+
+First of all there was a simple, straightforward task before him and he
+was eager to discharge it.  So after a hasty toilet he went down to the
+library where he rightly surmised he should find his father--also an
+early riser--and presented himself at the other side of the table
+before him.
+
+"Eh! Good morning, Hubert," said Mr. Gray, as he looked up from his
+reading.
+
+"Good morning, father," said Hubert.  And he added, "I have something
+to tell you."
+
+"Really?  I hope there is no ill news?"  Mr. Gray's first thought was
+of business, but a second glance at Hubert's face showed there was no
+unpleasant message to communicate.  And there was a strange expression
+on his son's face.  He had never seen it before--not, at least, since
+Hubert was a boy.  No, not even then.  What was it?
+
+Hubert answered his father's questions of word and searching look.
+
+"No, father," he said, "it is far from ill news.  It is this: I am no
+longer a sceptic.  I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ."
+
+"Eh?  What?  Hubert!"
+
+The older man's face passed in lightning changes from stages of wonder
+to joy, and he sprang from his chair.  He grasped his son's hand across
+the table.
+
+"Hubert!" he repeated, "my dear boy!"
+
+His voice choked on the last word.  A certain strain of Scottish blood
+forbade a warmer demonstration, but the two men's hand-clasp was
+eloquent.  Presently Mr. Gray asked Hubert to be seated and tell him
+all about it, wondering much meanwhile at the change very often sighed
+for but seldom expected.
+
+Hubert told his story as directly as possible, but minus many details
+of his heart struggle of which his reserved nature made it impossible
+to speak.  But, bare of all embellishment, the story gave great joy to
+his father.  His own example as a Christian had not been a brilliant
+one.  His principles were just, as men count equity, and his life
+irreproachable by their standards.  But the business man seemed often
+to hold the ascendency over the disciple of Jesus Christ, and Hubert
+had sometimes wondered cynically wherein his father differed from
+himself except in his attendance upon outward religious forms.  But the
+spark of life, dull and smoldering, answered to the breath of Hubert's
+good news of salvation, and he was unfeignedly glad.
+
+They started together for the dining-room when the bell rang, but met
+Winifred in the hall.  She had just come in from the garden, clad in
+rain-coat and cap, roses glowing in her cheeks from the keen, damp air,
+and a big bouquet of flame-colored flowers in her hands.
+
+"We shall have sunshine without the sun," she cried to Hubert.  "These
+flowers have caught his color."
+
+"That is a parable," he answered quickly.
+
+"Expound it please," she said.
+
+Mr. Gray went on into the dining-room, and Hubert explained to Winifred
+her mystic text.
+
+"These flowers," he said, "give indisputable evidence of the sun's
+existence, even though we cannot see it.  They could not have their
+color without it.  There is a sweet soul in this house who caught the
+beams of the Sun before I quite knew that He was, and she testified of
+Him, reflecting His glory when I was in great darkness.  It helped me
+to suppose that He existed and to try to find out for myself."
+
+Winifred looked deeply in Hubert's dark eyes and saw the hunger gone
+from them.  He smiled on her.
+
+"Hubert," she said, "have you found Him?"
+
+"Yes," he said.
+
+Her flowers fell to the floor.  She threw her arms about his neck with
+a sob of joy.
+
+"Oh, Hubert, I am so glad!" she cried.  "I prayed--" and her voice
+broke.
+
+Breakfast waited in the dining-room, but Mr. Gray improved the time by
+trying to explain to his wife the great change that had come to their
+son.  She could not understand the phenomenon, and the process that led
+to it was exceedingly misty, but she was glad if Hubert had come to see
+things differently, and hoped he would join the church at once, and the
+reproach of his sceptical views be wiped out forever.  She felt a
+little nervous and excited at the announcement, and wondered just what
+acknowledgment of it she should make.  A pink flush had stolen into her
+fair face by the time Hubert and Winifred entered.  He walked straight
+across the room to where she was standing and took her soft, white hand
+in both his.
+
+"Has father told you my news, mother?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, dear Hubert," she said, and kissed him.  "I am very glad.  It has
+been a grief--" and she hesitated.  She thought to say, "that you have
+not been with us," but he finished the sentence for her.
+
+"That I have not been a Christian?  I know it must have been.  Forgive
+me for all the pain it has given you.  I have been wrong and blind."
+
+The maid peered in, and Mrs. Gray was glad of the interruption and to
+propose that they sit down at once.  She was glad of breakfast, too.
+She saw no reason why the coffee should spoil, even though the son and
+heir of the house had just now come into an inheritance exceeding the
+most fabulous fortunes of earth.
+
+The blessing was asked less formally than usual, and Mr. Gray thanked
+the Lord also for the Bread of Life which had visited them.  Later in
+the course of conversation he remarked:
+
+"By the way, you will all be interested to hear that Mr. Bond, who
+preached for us last Sunday, is to give a series of Bible Lectures in
+the Y.M.C.A. Hall, beginning in about a fortnight.  Mr. Selton is
+bringing it about.  It was through him that we had the privilege of
+hearing Mr. Bond last Sunday."
+
+"Then it was not upon Doctor Schoolman's invitation?" queried Hubert.
+
+"Oh, he invited him, of course, but it was at Mr. Selton's wish.  He is
+very influential, you know.  He heard Mr. Bond when he was in New York
+last winter and was much interested in his teaching.  So he suggested
+having him here for a Sunday, and himself undertook the expense."
+
+Fortunately for this instance Mr. Selton possessed the two
+qualifications, so often united in church life, of influence and wealth.
+
+"Later," went on Mr. Gray, "he spoke with several men, including
+myself, about the advisability of the Bible Lectures, having secured
+Mr. Bond's consent before he left on Monday.  We saw no objection.  I
+think, myself, that we need a little stirring up now and then."
+
+"And the lectures are to be in the Y.M.C.A. Hall?" asked Hubert, with
+interest.
+
+"Yes, that is a central point, and we wish to make them union meetings."
+
+"I am very glad to hear about it," said Hubert.
+
+
+The rainy day passed, its somberness meanwhile lightened by a greater
+glow than that of Winifred's flame-colored flowers, and Friday came,
+radiant with sunshine.  It was passed without special incident until
+evening, which was the time of the weekly choir rehearsal.  Then Mr.
+George Frothingham called, as had become his wont, to escort Winifred
+to the church.  That had once been Hubert's task, and bitterly he had
+resented it when gradually the change came about.  Now he need have no
+fear, for his sister was not going.  She had not seen Frothingham since
+Sunday, and during the day had looked forward with a little unpleasant
+dread to the interview that must be.  She imagined various ways in
+which she should break to him the news that she had left the choir, but
+none seemed satisfactory.  All her little speeches left her as the time
+drew near.
+
+He found her at the piano, where improvised melodies had been working
+off her nervous apprehension.
+
+"Not ready?" he asked, after the usual salutations.
+
+"I am not going."
+
+"Really?  You are not ill, I hope?"
+
+"Oh, no!  I never was better," confessed Winifred.
+
+"You should go above all things to-night," he said.  "Mr. Mercer is
+going to give us parts of the Redemption."
+
+The music was certainly alluring.
+
+"I have left the choir," said Winifred faintly.
+
+Mr. Frothingham never lost his easy self-poise over anything which this
+jestingly tolerated world offered him, but he allowed himself to be
+surprised now.
+
+"You are surely not in earnest?" he said.  "You of all persons!  I
+thought you were devoted to the choir.  You are not going to desert us
+for some other field of conquest?"
+
+"Oh, no!" said Winifred.
+
+"Have you quarreled with Mercer?" he persisted.  "He _is_ cranky
+sometimes.  Shall I fight him?"
+
+Winifred had to laugh at the thought of the handsome, immaculate young
+man before her in a pugilistic encounter with Mr. Mercer.
+
+"No, you needn't do that," she said; and added, "you would get the
+worst of it, I think."
+
+"Oh, really!  Thanks very much!  Perhaps you do not know my prowess in
+those lines?  But on the whole I should prefer a smaller man than
+Mercer.  He shall be spared if you say so."
+
+"You relieve me," said Winifred, laughing.
+
+But how was she to explain the truth to Frothingham?  It was easier to
+jest with him than to speak earnestly, and Winifred had an instinctive
+feeling, not definitely acknowledged, that to make him understand a
+spiritual idea would be impossible.
+
+"But really, Winifred," he went on, "if it is not rude to ask, I should
+like to know what great reason makes you desert us now in the very
+height of your success, and, I should think, enjoyment?"
+
+Smiles left her face, and a flush of embarrassment deepened in her
+cheeks.  It was very hard to speak to him of these things--harder than
+it had been to any other.
+
+"That is just it," she said slowly.  "It has been a success for me,
+artistically, and a great enjoyment.  But there has been nothing in it
+for--for--Christ."  She hesitated before the sacred name.  Why was it
+so hard to speak it before him?
+
+He was silent.  They were already by the simple mention of that name in
+deeper water, conversationally, than he was accustomed to.  She had to
+go on.
+
+"I have been convinced," she said, "that it has all been very wrong.  I
+have been offering to God a pretended worship, when it has really been
+the worship of our Art.  That must be idolatry, I think.  I can't go on
+with it."
+
+Winifred stopped decisively, and Frothingham found words to reply with
+just a tinge of irony:
+
+"I am afraid you are a bit too metaphysical for me, Winifred.  I don't
+quite understand you.  Do you mean to say singing in the choir is
+wrong?  If it is, it is a pretty common sin and quite generally
+approved of."
+
+"No, it isn't wrong," said Winifred desperately; "at least, it would be
+the loveliest thing in the world, I think, if we were all _true
+worshipers_, and meant what we sang, and sang to God.  But you know it
+hasn't been anything of the sort.  We have sung for our own pleasure
+and the applause of the people."
+
+"And the money, some of us," asserted Frothingham with indifferent
+candor.  "But I don't see why we should be troubled about it.  It's a
+part of the machine.  It goes to make up the church worship, and a
+considerable part of it.  I suppose they offer it to the Lord--or
+whatever you call it--whether we individual performers mean anything or
+not."
+
+Winifred thought of the prayer-wheels.  Did the church turn the machine
+and grind out praises by proxy?  How much merit did they accumulate
+thereby in the eyes of God who is a Spirit, and would be worshiped "in
+spirit and in truth"?  It was very perplexing.  She could not argue it
+all out with him, but she said:
+
+"If the individual worshipers are insincere, I should think the total
+result" (she had a little of her father's business logic) "would be
+insincerity."
+
+He smiled at her reasoning.  "Let the clergy thrash that out," he said.
+"When they or the church find fault it will be time enough for my
+conscience to twinge."
+
+"I think one of the clergy did find fault in the sermon Sunday
+morning," ventured Winifred.
+
+"Oh, that young fellow?" said Frothingham carelessly.  "I didn't find
+out what he was getting at.  Doctor Schoolman always looks beatific
+when we sing.  While he continues to beam I shall still consider that
+singing in the choir is about the most pious act I do."
+
+Mr. Frothingham was rather vain of the brevity of his list of pious
+deeds.
+
+"Oh, come on, Winifred," he continued, grasping her hand coaxingly,
+"don't bother your head about such mystical things.  Come on and sing.
+Think of the Redemption."
+
+She did think of it, and tears struggled to come with the thought.
+
+"I am not going," she said, without looking in his eyes.  "Don't ask
+me, George."
+
+"And you have no pity on poor me, going without you?"
+
+"No," she answered, smiling.  "You will survive it."
+
+"Cruel lady!" he said dramatically, and bore her slender fingers to his
+lips.
+
+She withdrew her hand with a slight flush, and he bethought him to look
+at his watch.
+
+"Oh," he exclaimed, "it's late.  Mercer will think he has lost me, too."
+
+He made hasty adieux and was off, his light, swinging step sounding
+pleasantly down the walk.
+
+Winifred stood where he had left her, with a conflict of emotions in
+her heart.  She still felt the tingle of his lips upon her hand, and
+still smiled at the airy nothings he said.  But there was pain in the
+compound of her thoughts; pain at a difference between them that
+proclaimed its power to grow wider; pain at defeat in making a
+principle understood and appreciated; pain most of all from the subtle
+sense of something pure and sweet now sullied, as though too rude a
+breath had blown upon a sensitive flower, or as though pearls had been
+ignorantly trodden upon.
+
+Meanwhile Frothingham, on his way to the handsome church, indulged in
+characteristic meditations of his own regarding Winifred's strange
+freak.  He heartily hoped she would get over it.  It was a stupid turn
+for affairs to take as regarded himself; for perpetual meetings at the
+choir, with the pleasant walks attached, and frequent private
+rehearsals in the Gray drawing-room had furnished admirable facilities
+for the courtship of whose issue he had not a doubt.  But it was far
+from a misfortune that could not be mended.  He should miss her
+immensely, of course, but there were other pleasant people in the choir
+and he held an easy popularity among them.  Then he was too well
+ingratiated in her favor and as a frequent guest at her house to be
+displaced by this matter.  He should still do the attentive in every
+available way.  But he hoped she was not getting fanatical.  It would
+be inexpressibly stupid to have a wife over pious, with extreme views
+about things.  He should like her to be religious up to a certain
+point.  He thought women ought to be that.  It was a good thing to have
+somebody in a house who knew something about those things in case of
+trouble.  Mr. Frothingham was himself in the insurance business--at the
+head of a prominent company's office for that city--and he was
+accustomed to take business-like account of life risks, and to
+recognize death as a hard factor to be dealt with.  Just now he
+unconsciously erected a kind of spiritual lightning rod against his
+future house in the piety of its expected mistress.  But he hoped she
+would not get too religious--not enough so to interfere with the life
+of gayety which he expected to continue for many a year.  But it did
+not occur to him to relinquish her even if she should begin to show
+symptoms of extreme views.  He was rather fond of Winifred--quite so,
+in fact; and he was not indifferent to "the old man's ducats," as he
+had confided to himself and to one or two most intimate friends.  On
+the whole he congratulated himself on pleasant prospects ahead, and was
+not too much disconcerted by his own appearance alone at the rehearsal.
+
+
+Winifred spent the evening rather ill at ease.  Its pleasant habit was
+broken up.  Had she been foolish?  Was she not taking an unheard-of
+stand?  Would it have been better to go along and conform her course to
+the popular conscience instead of her own, perhaps very silly, one?
+She should be laughed at, and it was miserable to be laughed at or
+thought eccentric.  She tried to play the piano, but imagined strains
+from the Redemption interrupted her.  She went to talk with her mother,
+but found her seated beside the library table with her embroidery while
+her father read aloud.
+
+Mrs. Gray managed to utter an aside:
+
+"I had forgotten, child, that you were not going to the rehearsal.  How
+strange it seems!"
+
+Winifred drifted away again, unable to listen to what her father was
+reading.  Hubert was nowhere to be found.  She went at last to her own
+room and did the best thing possible.  She poured out her heart before
+God, telling Him with the simplicity that had characterized her first
+coming to Him her perplexity and unhappiness.
+
+"I am miserable," she said to Him.  "I don't know whether I have done
+right or not, and I miss the music so much.  Please let me know if it
+is right to give it up? I do wish to worship Thee."
+
+No flood of revelation poured at once upon her, but she took her Bible
+and read.  She had learned no method of study, but read where she
+chanced to open.  The portion did not say anything about choirs or
+rehearsals, but it led her mind away and soothed her.  And its
+atmosphere was so pure and fragrant that when the debated thing rose
+again it was instantly judged by contrast.  Very different was the
+spiritual air of her choir experience, as in imagination she stepped
+back into it; and the fellowship of George Frothingham, Mr. Mercer, and
+the drink-sodden organist, did not seem like the communion of the
+saints as she found it in the Acts of the Apostles.
+
+With the vanishing of her doubts as to the wisdom of her course came
+back the gentle peace that she had known for five blessed days, and its
+price was above all musical delights.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A NEW SUNDAY
+
+Sunday morning found four people seated in the comfortable pew which
+the iron merchant was able to pay for.  And, by the way, what a
+comfortable thing is wealth in the various ramifications of life, even
+to one's church relationships!  No fear of the unwelcome bidding, "Sit
+thou here under my footstool"--in the undesirable front seats where
+one's neck must be craned backward to admit of seeing the minister; nor
+of being relegated to the back pews when ears have become a little dull
+with age.  How thankful should one be whose lot in life is thus
+favorably cast!  But we have not admitted to our consciousness a
+thankfulness that the Epistle of James is not often read; or, if read,
+too literally dwelt upon.  We have found a grateful oil to pour upon
+any rising waters of ill conscience in reflecting upon the beneficent
+adjustment of social relationships by a wise Providence and the divine
+right of money-kings.
+
+Mrs. Gray and her neighbor, Mrs. Butterworth, exchanged serene glances
+of recognition across the shallow partition that separated them, but
+the latter added a look of inquiry as it was observed that Winifred was
+with her family.  Mrs. Gray's heart sank at the thought of having to
+explain the phenomenon when once the service should be over.  Winifred
+felt that many eyes must note her presence there instead of in the
+choir, and the embarrassment of the thought almost dissipated the
+spirit of true worship for which she had longed and prayed.  But she
+had soon forgotten to a considerable degree the people about her, and
+gave herself diligently to the service.  It was not altogether without
+self-consciousness, however, that she joined in the hymns, fearing lest
+her own voice should be heard above others.  Mrs. Gray, too, wished
+that she would not sing quite so loudly, lest it should destroy the
+convenient fiction of the laryngitis.
+
+Hubert realized that he took his place in the congregation on an
+entirely new basis this day, and he endeavored earnestly to put away
+all spirit of his former prejudice and to receive in meekness anything
+which his Lord might say to him from His place in the midst.  He tried
+to forget how utterly hollow and meaningless the formalities of the
+service had heretofore seemed to him, and to discern, if possible,
+within the mold of man's fashioning the operation of the Spirit of God.
+With his own heart at peace with God and charged with His joy, it was
+easy to look upon all about him more kindly, with an eye as critical to
+find good and honor it as to discover evil.  Upon even his long-time
+aversion, Doctor Schoolman, he looked with expectancy, for had he not,
+after all, known for these many years Him whom he--Hubert--had but just
+"begun to know," as Winifred would put it?  With ears now open, should
+he not hear much which would cause his heart to burn within him?
+
+Hubert and Winifred shared the same hymn-book, and together sang with
+deep gladness hymns which ascribe praises to Christ.  But, intent upon
+truthfulness, Winifred paused before sentiments not understood, or the
+profession of experiences quite unfelt, and let the congregation sing
+on without her.  The privilege of doing so gave her keen satisfaction,
+even though it was difficult to stop in the midst of a pleasant melody.
+
+"Better a break in the melody than in sincerity," she said to herself,
+"since the Lord is here and taking note of everything."
+
+The thought of His presence was very sweet; not at all the vision of
+terror which it had seemed to her a week ago.  She found the fear of
+Him not incompatible with the purest confidence and love.
+
+The choir rendered their accustomed service, and a new soprano, on
+trial, exploited her skill in solo parts.  She sang without Winifred's
+refinement of artistic sense, but sang fashionably.  She sang
+dramatically, and cast languishing glances at the unresponsive backs of
+the congregation, blinking over her notes as though invisible
+footlights dazzled her eyes.  It was not easy to find the sentiment
+sung in the midst of the quavering notes, so the poor worshipers below
+could scarcely offer "amens" in their hearts; but they might perhaps
+consider thankfully that some sort of noise, "joyful" or otherwise, had
+been made unto the Lord by their paid proxy.
+
+Doctor Schoolman's sermon was a typical one.  Finished and elegant, his
+polished sentences reached his congregation gently; not like swift
+arrows from a tense bow, but rather like harmless darts taken from the
+preacher's quiver and laid without violence against the hearts of his
+listeners.  Very good arrows they often were from the philosophic
+standpoint, but seldom fashioned from the rugged essential truths of
+the doctrine of Christ.
+
+He had a text from Scripture certainly.  But no slavish adherence to
+its evident meaning, as seen by its setting, hampered the orator in his
+thought.  Indeed, was it not a kindness to the old Book that still
+somewhat from its pages was thought worthy to act as a peg upon which
+to hang the ripe and cultivated ideas of the twentieth century?
+
+Hubert did not find his soul much fed by the discourse, but, keen and
+discriminating as his mind might be, he was not yet a Bible student and
+able to disentangle the original thoughts of the preacher from the
+teachings of revelation.  He found much to assent to ethically, but,
+compared with the revelation in his laboratory when the pure light of
+heaven shone upon the pages of John's Gospel, the rhetorical utterances
+of Doctor Schoolman were as water unto wine.  They were not so
+commanding but that he at last found time to glance at his neighbors to
+see how they were taking the sermon.  Winifred was too near him to be
+looked at, likewise his father; but he could see his mother.  Very
+elegant, very composed, very approving she looked.  A calm contentment
+beamed upon her mobile face, and Hubert could not help it that his
+sharp eye, formed to detect minutiae, printed upon his mind even the
+details of the picture she made, sitting so quietly there.  Soft,
+lustrous, black silk became well the figure which a life of gentle
+inactivity caused to incline to corpulence, while a modest show of
+exquisite lace relieved its somberness.  There was just a tiny glitter
+of costly gems, not too vulgarly showy for church, and the most
+suitable of bonnets crowned the graceful head, whose waves of soft
+brown hair still repudiated silver.
+
+The minister's text led him to heaven at this point, and he drew it in
+sentimental lines; a place whose essential light was not so much the
+Lamb as other things; a place of reunited friends, of congenial
+occupations, of tastes gratified, and of knowledge ever widening.  He
+offered no uncomfortable suggestion that any of his hearers might fail
+of entering there.
+
+Hubert saw among his hearers abstracted faces not a few; interested,
+studious faces; and hungry faces which looked their longing for meat
+not found as yet in the Lord's house.  Among the last class he noticed
+in one of the front pews a man, evidently an artisan, whose deep, large
+eyes looked yearningly toward the pulpit with an appeal for bread,
+while from it there came, through fine and learned discourse, to his
+untutored mind a stone.  His face smote Hubert with a sudden pity, and
+a hunger crept into his own heart, not alone to know Christ, but to
+make Him known.  He wondered if this man had ever seen Him as he had.
+Oh, if he could only tell him of Him, and turn the misery of those
+longing eyes into joy!
+
+The sermon ended.  It was never very long; for Doctor Schoolman well
+knew that patience, that sits good-naturedly for hours at games or
+races, or in the seats of a packed theater, has very short limits at
+church.  He never taxed it, nor himself, too far.  So the closing hymn
+was punctually sung, and the benediction was pronounced in tender tones
+upon the congregation.
+
+Mrs. Butterworth's curiosity blossomed afresh when the meeting was over
+and she had the opportunity of speaking with Winifred and her mother.
+She addressed herself to the former, to Mrs. Gray's mingled relief and
+terror; relief that she herself was not called upon to find excuses,
+and terror lest Winifred should make herself ridiculous.
+
+"You were not in the choir this morning?" she said with a "why" in her
+voice.
+
+"No," said Winifred, "I have left the choir."
+
+"Really!" exclaimed Mrs. Butterworth in a shocked voice.  "I hope not
+for good?"
+
+"Yes--I think it is for good," Winifred confessed.
+
+"Oh, please do not say so!" cried Mrs. Butterworth, but in a suppressed
+voice, for they had not yet left the church.  "What shall we do?  We
+have enjoyed your singing so very much!"
+
+"I am afraid I have been too conscious of that fact," said Winifred
+frankly, while her mother looked alarmed.  "I think I shall be able to
+worship God more sincerely in the congregation."
+
+Mrs. Gray felt that the worst had come, now that Winifred had declared
+her position.  She almost turned faint as she heard her speak to Mrs.
+Butterworth so simply and directly of worshiping God.  To be sure they
+were still in the building supposably dedicated to that end, but to
+speak aloud of it in so many words seemed very bad form.  Her daughter
+might sing protests of adoration in the ears of the whole congregation,
+with the loudest of affected fervor, and she found no fault with it.
+But the comfort of that was that nobody believed she meant it!
+
+Mrs. Butterworth looked at Winifred keenly, and partially grasped her
+meaning.
+
+"Oh, I hope you'll not look at it that way," she said half soothingly.
+"It might suit your own feelings better, but what about ours?  I have
+often said," and her eyebrows arched plaintively, "that your singing
+did me more good than the sermon!"
+
+Winifred looked at the worldly, fashionable woman and wondered, not at
+all cynically, how much good her combined efforts with Doctor
+Schoolman's had done toward a life-transformation.
+
+"I am sorry not to sing," she said sympathetically, "since you enjoyed
+it so much, I would gladly continue if I could.  I cannot.  But there
+is already someone in my place--"
+
+Mrs. Butterworth lifted her hand in silent protest.  She looked at
+Winifred reproachfully, and settled her lips as one who should say
+nothing of the new singer in contrast with her favorite.  She shook her
+head resignedly, and at this moment they were joined by someone else
+who proffered greetings.  Winifred was glad to join Hubert and to slip
+out as quickly as possible, they both as usual preferring the walk home
+to the carriage.  Frothingham saw them from afar, and inwardly
+commented upon Hubert's unwonted appearance at church for two
+consecutive Sundays, and his own consequent loss.  He had no mind to
+join Winifred with Hubert for a third.
+
+The two exchanged views of the sermon on the way home.  It seemed very
+strange to hear Hubert speak of it sympathetically.  He mentioned some
+admirable points which he found in the minister's reasoning, and
+refrained from saying that the change of heart he had himself
+experienced had not made less hateful to him Doctor Schoolman's
+affected style.
+
+"How did you like the sermon?" he asked Winifred when he had expressed
+his own opinion.
+
+"Oh, I don't know," said Winifred hesitatingly.  "He said some lovely
+things.  That illustration from Greek mythology was beautiful.  I am
+sure I shall remember that.  But I wish," she added innocently, "that
+he had said more about the Lord."
+
+"So do I," said Hubert decidedly.
+
+They walked on in silence for awhile and then Hubert spoke.
+
+"I am not a qualified judge of sermons," he said, "but I would a
+hundred times rather read the Gospel of John."
+
+"Are you still reading it?" said Winifred,
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I wish we might read it together," she said wistfully.
+
+"We might," he said.  "Shall we begin to-day?"
+
+"By all means.  But I can't read Greek," she added doubtfully.  She had
+observed the Greek Testament with its fresh markings.
+
+He laughed.  "But fortunately I can read English," he said.  And so it
+was arranged.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+NOT OF THE WORLD
+
+That afternoon found Hubert and Winifred with their books, looking
+about for the most suitable place to read.  Somnolent sounds from the
+couch in the library warned them not to locate there.  They decided on
+a cool window-seat in the drawing-room overlooking the garden.  There
+they settled themselves and found their places.  It was decided to
+begin at the point Hubert had reached, which was the seventeenth
+chapter.  Before beginning to read Hubert shaded his eyes with his hand
+for a moment to ask, as had become his wont since he first sought to
+know God, for light upon the Word.  Winifred understood the act and
+joined him silently.
+
+He began reading reverently and slowly.  The simple, stately words fell
+very sweetly upon their ears.  They paused often, so as to understand
+more fully what they read.  They read with the intent earnestness of
+those who explore new territory, and who have immense interests in
+things discovered.  They lingered first over the second verse:
+
+"As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give
+eternal life to as many as Thou hast given him."
+
+"'As many as thou hast given him,'" repeated Winifred.  "What do you
+think that means, Hubert?"
+
+Hubert gazed into vacancy meditatively.  "I don't know," he announced,
+very slowly; "there is a profound mystery here which I have seen in
+earlier chapters.  I do not see the point of meeting between two laws
+that seem almost contradictory.  But one point seems very clear, and it
+meets us very simply on our human side: that is, that the one who 'is
+willing to do His will' is the one whom the Father 'gives' to Jesus
+Christ."
+
+"It is very sweet," said Winifred, "to think of being given by the
+Father to Him.  It seems surer, somehow, than to just give oneself."
+
+Hubert's deep eyes kindled and glowed with a liquid fire.  "Yes," he
+said in a suppressed voice, "it is wonderful."  He was standing on
+ground that had not by long habit grown coldly theological, but was
+instinct with life to him through a new and vital experience.
+
+They read on:
+
+"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true
+God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent."
+
+They paused to meditate, and Winifred was the first to break the
+silence.
+
+"Hubert," she said in a low voice, "it must be we have entered upon
+eternal life.  We have begun to know Him."
+
+Her voice sank upon the last word, and her lips trembled.
+Instinctively she held out her hand to her brother, and he clasped it
+in his.  Tears streamed down upon her book, and Hubert was not ashamed
+that his own eyes were moist.  They were silent for some moments, while
+the young man beheld afresh that eternal, infinite realm out of which
+the Word had come forth, and he knew himself born into it.  Earth
+seemed illusory--but the scene of a moment--in the glory of that vision.
+
+They read on and Hubert explained to his sister what he saw in the
+request of the Lord Jesus to be given again the glory which He had with
+the Father "before the world was."  Never in his reading of the Gospel
+had he lost sight of its beginning, and he read these words, as he had
+others, in its light.  He turned back and read the opening verses of
+the first chapter to Winifred in explanation of the glory to be given
+back, and the very fact of its being asked for, as though having been
+surrendered for the time, shed a light upon passages poorly understood
+before, which had shown clearly His humanity and His subjection to the
+Father.
+
+Again they read on, pondering as they read, but paused over the ninth
+verse:
+
+"I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou
+hast given Me; for they are Thine."
+
+"Do you think that means, Hubert," said Winifred, "that He does not
+pray for the world?  It seems very exclusive.  But we know that God
+loves the world?"
+
+"I think," said Hubert, "that the discrimination is not _against_ the
+world, but rather _for_ those given Him out of it.  He must care
+specially for them.  Perhaps if we read on we shall see the special
+character of this prayer for us."
+
+The words "for us" slipped out very naturally, and he did not recall
+them, so sweet and sure was the confidence of having been given into
+the hands of Jesus Christ.
+
+So they read on, and noted the petitions of the priestly prayer for His
+own.  They did not sound the depths of meaning in them, for they were
+yet but babes; but they observed the strong line of enclosure which
+separated them from the world and the Lord's reiterated statement that
+they were not of it, even as He.
+
+"It is very strange," remarked Winifred to Hubert, "that Doctor
+Schoolman has never told us about this."  But she amended quickly,
+"Perhaps he has many times and I have not listened.  But I have always
+thought we were all very much alike, only that some people were better
+than others; never that there was such a sharp line drawn between those
+who are given to Christ and the rest of the world."
+
+"I do not think we have heard much about it," said Hubert.  "I have not
+been much of a church-goer, but I think for the most part we have been
+talked to as though we were all on the same plane as regards
+relationship to God and Jesus Christ."
+
+"But this line is so very exclusive," said Winifred almost regretfully.
+
+"So very _inclusive_, you mean," said Hubert, smiling.
+
+"An inclusive line must be exclusive also, must it not?" she persisted.
+
+"I suppose it must," he admitted.  "The same walls that shut us in this
+house shut everybody else out.  But there is a way in," he added,
+intent upon the doctrine of God's free grace found true by his own
+experiment.
+
+"Yes," said Winifred, "'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast
+out.'  That gave me great comfort when I read it, Hubert.  But I was
+thinking now that if I had not come to know that I was outside, I
+should never have come inside."
+
+They finished the chapter, dwelling upon the words:
+
+"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me
+where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me;
+for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world."
+
+Their hearts burned at the love that longed for them to be with Him and
+to see His glory.  And they should see it!  The distant scene glowed
+with reality and seemed near.  There was One with them whom they did
+not see, One who still draws near when loved disciples commune
+concerning Him, and it was He who made the Scriptures an open, radiant
+page.  Very pure and fragrant was the spiritual air they breathed then,
+and it prepared them to judge of baser atmosphere.  "Sanctify them
+through Thy truth," the Lord Jesus had asked, and as they pondered the
+Word of Truth the answer to His prayer began.
+
+When they finished their reading Winifred surprised Hubert by what
+seemed an irrelevant remark.
+
+"I do not think I shall go to Mrs. Butterworth's party, Hubert," she
+said.
+
+Her brother had no need to add, "Nor shall I," for he was not a society
+man.  But he looked at her inquiringly.
+
+"I don't know why," she replied to his look, "but it seems very
+different from this.  Don't you think so?"
+
+"I do indeed," he answered, understanding what she meant by "this."
+
+Winifred had not arrived at analytical reasons, but had intuitively
+reached a conclusion.  Just a mental picture of the coming brilliant
+event at Mrs. Butterworth's; the gay scene, the intoxicating music, the
+hollow courtesies, flattering words and glances, the dancing--just an
+instant vision of the scene that arose in sheer contrast against the
+pure holiness of the things they had been considering, and Winifred
+turned from it quickly.  To have spoken her impression, and Hubert's
+evident approval, helped her to hold to it in later hours of temptation.
+
+The Japanese gong sounded musically for Sunday evening tea before they
+were aware that time had flown.  They assembled with their elders who
+looked not so much refreshed by their slumbers as our young friends by
+their study.  The repast over, Hubert, who wished to do all things
+required of a Christian, but who felt a secret repugnance to listening
+again to Doctor Schoolman, sounded Winifred's mind on the matter.
+
+"Are you going to hear Doctor Schoolman?" he asked.
+
+"Why, I suppose so," said she.  "What else should one do?"
+
+"What is he going to preach about?" he asked evasively.
+
+"I don't know.  Let's look in the paper and see."
+
+So they found Saturday's paper and saw that this evening was to have
+the first of a series of discourses on "Poets and Their Teachings,"
+with Tennyson as the first subject.
+
+"I am not hungering for a literary lecture," said Hubert.  "I should
+like to hear something clearly about Christ."
+
+"We might go somewhere else," said Winifred, giving the suggestion
+which he wished.
+
+They looked at the paper again to see the advertised subjects at
+various churches.  They found some sensational, that might bear
+reference to the Lord or might not; some very promising, but at
+churches too far away; and finally they decided upon a little church in
+a street near them, whose modest announcement told simply of "preaching
+at 7:30."
+
+It was with something of a spirit of adventure and an almost troubled
+conscience that Winifred deserted her usual place of attendance.  They
+turned down a less fashionable street than their own and came to the
+church, a small brick structure, very fresh and new looking.  A few
+young people still lingered about the door, loath to go in from the
+summer twilight.  Within the newness rivaled that without.  The pew
+backs shone with varnish, and the aisles glowed with fresh, red carpet.
+The simple pulpit was carefully polished and a bright bookmark hung
+from the gilt-edged leaves of the Bible.  The choir occupied a platform
+at the right of the minister, facing the congregation, and each member
+held the visitors in view as they were shown to a seat.  The evening
+congregation was scattering, so their advent was the more noticeable.
+They were early also, which gave the young girl organist some time to
+look at them fixedly across the back of the cabinet organ at which she
+was seated, before beginning her voluntary.  Then she played "Alice,
+Where Art Thou?" with loud and ill-assorted stops.  Had Winifred been
+less bent on sincere worship, or their quest for Christ-preaching been
+less serious, she would have found it difficult to keep from laughing
+with the sudden sense of humor which assailed her.
+
+The service was nearly as elaborate as the statelier neighbor-church
+could boast.  The choir rendered an anthem in process of time, and
+Winifred studied their faces earnestly, wondering if any thought of
+reality was in their hearts as they sang.  They were nearly all young,
+with thoughtless, unspiritual faces, but they sang the sentiments of
+discipline and sorrow.  There was no artistic value in their singing,
+and Winifred thought with a sigh, "It does not help any that the music
+should be poor.  They have no more heart in it than had we with our
+trained skill."
+
+The minister was a man of moderate abilities and somewhat ungraceful
+appearance.  He was tall, sandy-haired, with a half-anxious
+countenance, as though the cares of the shining new edifice and of the
+flock rather troubled him.  He preached with no striking originality,
+but with evident earnestness, mingled with abortive efforts at
+rhetoric.  He spoke good words for Christ, extolling His power to save
+sinners; and the simple statements, however trite they may have sounded
+to others, were music in the eager ears of those who had just come to
+know Him.
+
+At the close of the meeting he made his way to the door to shake hands
+with the departing hearers, and Hubert gave him his with a cordial
+grasp, and with thanks for his "excellent sermon."  The minister's face
+brightened and he looked after his appreciative visitors with hope that
+they might come again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+"TWO OF ME"
+
+Affairs moved quietly in the Gray household as the week advanced.  Mr.
+Frothingham called one evening and made himself very entertaining to
+the two ladies.  Mrs. Gray laughed gently at his jokes, for he was a
+tireless jester (sometimes a tiresome one), and he enjoyed seeing the
+serious light in Winifred's eyes change to mirth under his curious
+speeches.
+
+The two sang together, and after that she played dreamy snatches from
+Beethoven while he leaned back in an easy chair and listened.  What a
+harmonious and pleasant life stretched before the two together!  Mrs.
+Gray lived over again through her daughter's heart days when Robert
+Gray and she were learning that life was sweetest when they were
+together, and she sighed in a pensive mingling of emotions as she
+mentally gave Winifred up to the reign of the ancient conqueror.  She
+fell asleep over the fleecy shawl she was knitting as her daughter
+played, and was not aroused when Mr. Frothingham rose to go.  Winifred
+and he exchanged smiling glances as they saw her closed eyes, and spoke
+in low tones together.  Mr. Frothingham lingered just a perceptible
+moment over Winifred's hand in parting, and looked down into her face
+with an unspoken question she had never read before so clearly.  Her
+eyes fell, and the flush in her fair face deepened into lovelier red.
+
+"Good night," each said softly, and he went away.
+
+Winifred drank in the luxury of her own sweet thoughts until his step
+ceased to sound, and then went over to her mother's chair.  She stooped
+and kissed her forehead.  Mrs. Gray opened her eyes.
+
+"Dear me!  I lost myself for a moment," she said.  Then, "Is George
+gone?" she added.
+
+"Yes, mother."
+
+Mrs. Gray looked at the clock.  "And it's time," she said with parental
+duty.  "You must go to bed at once, dear."
+
+Winifred had had a happy evening, and the reflection that looked back
+at her from the glass in her dressing-room was radiant.  But, after
+all, in the depths of her heart there was a tinge of something sad, an
+unsatisfied sense of some good thing wanting.  What was it that the
+evening lacked?  A little book upon the table suggested the answer with
+a mute reproach.  In all the evening's pleasure there had been no sweet
+savor of Jesus Christ.  Now as she took the book and tried to read her
+heart beat coldly toward Him.  The words did not speak to her, but
+seemed like misty voices far away, spoken for other ears.  The tide of
+another love had come sweeping in, strong and insistent.  George
+Frothingham's face smiled before her, and instead of the words she was
+reading she heard his voice as they sang together:
+
+  "I would that my love could silently
+  Flow in a single word."
+
+She looked away from the book and gave herself to dreaming until the
+little clock reminded her of the hour.  Then she roused from her
+reverie.
+
+"It is too late," she thought.  "I will not try to read now.  In the
+morning I will make up for it."
+
+She knelt beside the bed for her customary evening prayer, and found
+herself "saying" it as in former days.  She stopped abruptly.
+
+"Forgive me, Lord," she said, "I did not think what I was saying."
+
+Then a feeling of remorse, of real unhappiness, seized her.  Where was
+the true worship she had coveted and found?  It had flown like a bird
+from her windows.  In distress she prayed:
+
+"O Lord, I have missed Thee!  I cannot see Thy face, I do not hear
+Thee.  Do not let me lose Thee!"
+
+Her wandering thoughts came back to the supreme need.  She was not
+versed in the theology of any school, and could not have stated her
+case to suit any.  But her sensitive soul barometer registered danger
+in the atmosphere, and she had no rest until it changed.  Being blessed
+with the grace of honesty--with "truth in the inward parts"--she poured
+out her heart before God, and found much relief in so doing.  The whole
+subject did not clear at once.  A process was required for that.  But a
+simple understanding with her Lord that He was to be first at any cost
+was re-affirmed, and it gave rest.  With the restored sense of His
+fellowship she slept.
+
+Morning dawned with the sweet twittering of birds, the breath of
+syringas and roses, and a faultless sky.  It was a joy to live.
+
+Hubert was out for an early ride, and his black horse Sahib's satin
+coat shone brightly in the morning sunlight.  He took the shortest way
+out of the city and was soon cantering gently down the country road
+beside a singing brook, filling his eyes with the beauty everywhere,
+worshiping its Maker, and wondering how he might best serve Him.
+
+Winifred sang morning psalms to the Lord, with a corresponding melody
+in her heart.  But sometimes the shadow of a question fell athwart the
+prospect that seemed so shining.  It was about Mrs. Butterworth's
+party.  Sunday it had seemed very clear that she should not go, but
+since, with the seventeenth of John not so fresh in her mind, the
+matter seemed not so settled.  How should she excuse herself at this
+late day?  What would Mrs. Butterworth think?  More than that, what
+would her mother think?  Would she not be much annoyed?  There was
+another factor, too.  When George Frothingham was there last evening
+she was so glad the party was not mentioned.  How could she have told
+him she was not going?  And when she thought of him she wished to go.
+He would be there, looking especially handsome in most careful evening
+dress.  She could almost hear the strains of Werner's orchestra as she
+imagined herself floating over the polished floor with the best of
+dancers.  There was still another factor.  Hanging in her wardrobe,
+sheathed carefully in a protecting sheet, was the loveliest of white
+dresses.  It had been worn but once, and that in another town.  Both
+her mother and she agreed that it was the very thing for Mrs.
+Butterworth's party.  What a pity not to wear it!  And if staying away
+from Mrs. Butterworth's were a precedent to be followed, where should
+she ever wear it?  A very small reason this, say you.  But you are
+mistaken.  Deeply intrenched in the feminine heart is the desire to be
+beautiful, and though "holy women" since the days of old have learned
+the supreme excellence of the inward adornment over the outward, the
+latter is slow to lose its appeal.  Not yet, at least, had Winifred
+become indifferent to it.
+
+This morning before descending the stairs she was beguiled into taking
+down the dress, just to look at it, spreading it out in fleecy, shining
+folds upon the bed.  How beautiful it was!  She had not learned for her
+soul's comfort that the wise man's counsel is very profound when he
+instructs, "Look not upon the wine when it is red"!  Even in the
+daylight tiny brilliants flashed out from their setting in foamy lace
+about the neck.  Well Winifred knew what a radiant picture would stand
+within her mirror-frame when the dress should be donned, and eyes
+bright with excited anticipation should rival the glow of diamonds.  If
+she went, she should wear the slender gold necklace with its single
+pendant of diamonds which her father had given her.  But she was not
+going--and for what an intangible reason!
+
+Hubert had returned from his ride, and Winifred met him in the upper
+hall and confided to him her perplexity.
+
+"I feel as though there were two of me instead of one," she said.  "One
+of us would like to go to Mrs. Butterworth's party."
+
+"And the other one?" asked Hubert.
+
+"Decided last Sunday not to go," she answered.
+
+"Which one do you think is on the Lord's side?" he queried.
+
+"The one that says not to go," she replied, without hesitation.
+
+"I should stand by that one if I were you," he advised.
+
+"I will," she said, and slipped her hand in his as they went down the
+stairs.
+
+At the breakfast table the dreaded discussion was precipitated.  Mrs.
+Gray addressed her daughter.
+
+"Winifred, dear," she said, "have you looked at your new white dress to
+see if it requires anything to be done before Mrs. Butterworth's party?
+Did we not think the girdle should be altered slightly?"
+
+"I was looking at it this morning, mother," faltered Winifred, and
+Hubert shot a sympathetic glance across the table.
+
+"Will it need altering, do you think?"
+
+"N--no," she hesitated, "I think it is all right."  Then she girded the
+loins of her intention and added: "But I think, mother, if you do not
+mind, I should prefer not to go to Mrs. Butterworth's party."
+
+"Why, Winifred!" exclaimed her mother in surprise.  "What can you be
+thinking of?  The invitations were accepted long ago.  You are not ill,
+certainly?"
+
+"Oh, no!" said Winifred.  "But I think I can excuse myself to Mrs.
+Butterworth so that she will not be offended.  My chief regret will be
+if it disappoints you, mother."
+
+"But what can be your reasons?" said Mrs. Gray.  "They must be very
+good if you would decline the invitation at this late day.  It will be
+very rude unless you are positively hindered."
+
+"I know it," said Winifred humbly.  "But the reasons seem very strong
+to me."
+
+She was of a sympathetic nature, and it was easy to look at things
+through another's eyes.  She saw the case clearly from her mother's
+standpoint, and it was difficult to muster her own defense.  But she
+prayed inwardly that the One she sought to please would come to her
+aid, and He did.  It was no small help, also, that Hubert,
+strong-minded and firm as a rock, was on her side.  She went on
+bravely, but in a low voice and with downcast eyes:
+
+"You know I have begun to try to worship God, mother; and to know Him
+just a little is the sweetest thing I ever knew.  Hubert and I were
+reading the Bible together Sunday"--she glanced across at him
+appealingly, and his face encouraged her--"and we read some of the
+words of Jesus to His Father.  He said that we--that is, those who were
+given to Him--were 'not of the world,' just as He is not.  It impressed
+me very much.  I could not help seeing Mrs. Butterworth's party, and it
+seemed to me like 'the world,' and that perhaps I did not belong there.
+It seemed so very, very different from what we were reading, that I
+thought I never could go again to such a place.  I shall be very glad,
+if you don't mind it too much, mother, if I may stay at home?"
+
+She stopped and waited for her answer.  There was silence for a moment,
+and then Mrs. Gray, who had passed through various stages of
+apprehension and distress as her daughter spoke, replied as calmly as
+possible:
+
+"I am sure I ought to be very glad, Winifred, to have you religiously
+inclined.  But I should be extremely sorry to have you get any
+fanatical ideas.  I never thought you were given to eccentric things,
+and I hope you will not become so.  It seems to me that you and
+Hubert"--she hesitated to include her son in the remark, but ventured
+it--"are rather young Christians to decide such things for yourselves
+in such an extraordinary way.  You should look at older persons.  I
+suppose I am not an example"--and her tone was just a trifle icy for
+such a gentle lady--"but Mrs. Schoolman will be there with her
+daughters, and so will many of the most prominent members of our
+church.  I really cannot approve of such an extraordinary
+idea!--extraordinary!" and she repeated the word which usually
+indicated the high water mark of her well-bred disapproval.
+
+Winifred looked silently at her plate, and Mrs. Gray spoke again,
+looking at her husband.
+
+"I wish, father," she said, "that you would try and set Winifred right
+on this matter.  We cannot let her go on in such a mistake.  Where will
+it lead to?" and with real distress she considered the calamity of her
+beautiful daughter's withdrawal from society, and the dashing her own
+fond pride to the ground.
+
+Mr. Gray had been listening thoughtfully.  Now, being appealed to, he
+spoke.
+
+"To tell the truth, mother," he said, "I do not think the idea quite so
+extraordinary as you do.  When I was a boy, where I lived, if young
+people were converted it made all sorts of difference as to the things
+they did and the places they went to.  We didn't expect to see them at
+dances, or at the theater, or any such places.  If we did, everybody
+reckoned that they had backslidden.  Those things were called
+'worldly.'  We have almost lost the word now, but it must be
+descriptive of something, I should say.  If Winifred instinctively
+takes a stand against such things, without being talked to about it, I
+shall think it is the old sort of religion that she has somehow
+discovered, and shall not be sorry.  I would really prefer it to be a
+kind that can be distinguished without reference to the church records.
+That variety is scarce enough, in all conscience!"
+
+Winifred was surprised at her father's defense, and it unnerved her.
+Tears sprang to her eyes, and she nearly choked over the coffee with
+which she sought to hide her quivering lips.  Hubert looked gratefully
+at his father.  Mrs. Gray looked much depressed.  She expected wise
+words of reproach that would settle the matter with Winifred and
+perhaps save much trouble in the future.  And now he really inclined to
+her view of the case!  It was disappointing.  But men, after all, did
+not always see social matters as women did.  She was not accustomed to
+arguing with her husband, but this case required more resistance than
+usual.
+
+"I am surprised, father," she said sorrowfully, "to hear you put it
+that way.  I do not think you can realize what it means for a young
+woman to drop out of society.  And I do not see how you can compare
+those times you speak of with the present.  I am sure Doctor Schoolman
+frequently tells us what remarkable advance we have made over those
+times in every way.  I hope you do not wish to go backward!" and Mrs.
+Gray felt a little flutter of triumph at her own unusual skill in
+argument.  Nobody responded at once and she gathered courage to go on.
+
+"I quite agree with that young man who spoke at our church in behalf of
+the Y.M.C.A. Gymnasium.  You remember he said that the days had quite
+gone by for a 'long-faced Christianity.'  I thought it a very sensible
+remark."
+
+"Winifred has not troubled us with a very long face lately," remarked
+her father, glancing at her.  "It has lengthened somewhat since we
+began our discussion, but I think it has been unusually cheerful for a
+week or so."
+
+Winifred colored under these personal observations.
+
+"I do not know what it will become," said her mother, "if she denies
+herself all gayety like those young persons you tell about."
+
+"My memory of those young persons," said Mr. Gray, smiling, "is not a
+very melancholy one.  Some of them were pretty severe upon themselves
+and other people too, I will admit.  But the most of them seemed to
+have found something so very satisfactory that these diversions were
+not required.  I think Winifred is like the latter sort.  I hope so.
+But, Hubert," turning to his son, "you look very much interested in
+this matter, but have said nothing.  I suppose you agree with Winifred?"
+
+"I do, sir," said Hubert readily.
+
+"I thought so--I thought so," said his father, far from displeased with
+the reply.  He did not explain to the little company that he, himself,
+had been one of the "young persons" referred to, and that great had
+been his comfort in the early days of the new life; but that a series
+of decoys had gradually led him back to the world's excitements and
+ambitions, until his professed Christianity had crystallized into the
+formal, eminently respectable, but powerless mold of conventional
+religion.  His memory of early, ardent days was stirred, and he gladly
+warmed himself by its fires.
+
+"But, Hubert," he went on, "you are a thoughtful young man--how do you
+account for the fact that Christ, Himself, attended social functions?
+He was not a recluse.  He was at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, at a
+dinner in the house of Simon the Pharisee, at a feast in Bethany, and I
+do not know at how many other social gatherings.  Indeed it was charged
+against Him that He received sinners and ate with them.  What do you
+make of it?"
+
+"It is a difficult question, father," said Hubert.  "But I should think
+if we consider in what capacity He went to those places, and what He
+did when He got there, it might give us light."
+
+"That is so," said Mr. Gray.  "In what capacity do you think He went?"
+
+"He had come to give life to men," said Hubert with kindling eyes.  "He
+must go wherever He might find them--wherever occasion presented
+itself.  I do not think He sought His own gratification."
+
+"Nor do I," said Mr. Gray.  "What about 'what He did when He got
+there'?"
+
+"He performed a miracle, for one thing, at Cana," replied Hubert, whose
+diligent study of the Gospel of John now served him well.
+
+"So He did," assented Mr. Gray.  "If our little girl could do that,
+now, it might do to let her go," and he glanced at her fondly.
+
+"Yes," said Hubert, "and He evidently became the central figure there,
+manifesting His glory.  If one of His followers could capture Mrs.
+Butterworth's ball for Him it would surely pay to go.  If I thought
+Winnie were to do that I would certainly put on a dress suit and go
+myself."
+
+Hubert could not resist a teasing glance at his mother.  That lady was
+plainly horrified.  The thought of Winifred's "preaching," as she
+mentally called it, to anyone at the party, or doing any other
+eccentric thing, was far more shocking than her staying away.
+
+Mr. Gray secretly enjoyed the look upon his wife's face.
+
+"And the other places?" he went on.
+
+"I am not familiar with the incident in the house of Simon the
+Pharisee," said Hubert.
+
+"It is very striking and beautiful," said Mr. Gray.  "Christ forgave a
+sinner--a woman of the city--and He had somewhat to say to His host,
+the Pharisee, about it.  He spoke a very telling parable at that
+dinner."
+
+Mrs. Gray again looked uneasy.  She hoped Winifred would not feel it
+her duty, finally, to go, if it involved a religious errand.
+
+"And at Bethany?" Mr. Gray continued.
+
+"He was anointed for His burial," said Hubert, gravely.
+
+"Ah, yes!" said his father in a subdued voice.
+
+Both men thought reverently of the scene when one who had been raised
+from the dead sat at meat with Him who, for his sake and for all
+others, was Himself to die; and where one of the company poured upon
+His blessed feet love's grateful, costly sacrifice.  To such a feast
+the true worshiper might indeed gladly go.
+
+It was tacitly agreed that Winifred was to follow her own inclination
+with regard to the party.  Mrs. Gray was far too loyal and amiable a
+wife to seriously oppose her husband's wish, and the sudden fear that
+Winifred, if she went to the party, might feel called upon to bear some
+sort of unusual testimony to her Lord affected the case strongly.  But
+she grieved much over her daughter's prospective withdrawal from the
+assemblies of the "best people."
+
+Winifred wrote a simple, truthful note to Mrs. Butterworth, and was
+relieved when it was dispatched.  A sensitive dread of criticism and of
+doing an unusual thing was offset by the sweet consciousness of a happy
+fellowship conserved.  No rude breath from the gay assembly's sensuous
+delights was to blow upon this flower of communion, so pure, so
+fragrant.  So Winifred rejoiced, only an occasional shadow falling
+athwart her peace when she thought of one whose increasingly intimate
+fellowship threatened the life of the fair flower as surely as could
+Mrs. Butterworth's party.  It was an uneasy suggestion, not a
+recognized fact, and she put it hastily from her when it arose.
+
+The evening of the party came and Mrs. Gray prepared herself and went,
+not too early and not too foolishly late.  She had a faculty of
+striking the happy mean in life's proprieties.  Winifred looked at her
+admiringly, with the candid conviction that no better dressed nor finer
+looking woman of her years would be there.  She felt a pang of sorrow,
+too, in her mother's disappointment at leaving her behind, as she
+kissed her good-night.  The carriage rolled away and presently bore its
+fair passenger to the door of her friend's brilliantly lighted house,
+where we will leave her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE CHURCH SOCIAL
+
+Another social event followed hard on the heels of Mrs. Butterworth's
+party, and this Mrs. Gray succeeded in inducing both her son and
+daughter to attend, it being no less sacred a function than the
+quarterly Church Social.  Hubert was not familiar with the institution,
+but so ardently burned his love for the Lord Jesus Christ that he now
+sought rather than avoided the company of those who knew Him, if so be
+some word of Him might be spoken.  He longed for the fellowship of joy
+with those who, like himself, had been called out of darkness into "His
+marvelous light."  This was denied in the formal services of the
+church, but surely the pent up devotion of the worshipers would find
+some avenue of expression when they met together socially without those
+restraints.  Hubert was disposed to discount his own former estimate of
+church-members' sincerity, and did not doubt that many had found an
+experience as genuine as his own of the grace of God.
+
+Mr. Gray did not care to go, preferring the library and the new number
+with its fascinating leaves uncut of a magazine, religio-worldly, that
+had solved for last days the problem beyond the Saviour's ken of how to
+serve God and mammon.  Three went, however, in the comfortable
+carriage, to Mrs. Gray's great satisfaction, and drew up before the
+side entrance to the handsome church.
+
+Bright light streamed from the parlor windows, illuminating exquisitely
+stained pictures of the Apostles.  Strains from a select orchestra
+greeted them as they entered the house, and Hubert recognized with a
+queer feeling of incongruity the overture from a well-known opera.  The
+appealing notes of the violins drew his memory instantly to the
+production he had lately enjoyed, but he thrust the mental vision from
+him as unworthy of Christ, and tried not to listen to the seductive
+strains.
+
+"A very poor selection for a Christian gathering," he thought to
+himself.  Hubert was inexperienced, and to him a gathering of
+Christians meant a "Christian gathering."
+
+The parlors presented a gayly attractive scene.  They were decorated in
+red and white.  Flowers and foliage were profuse, and the handsome
+toilettes of the ladies added much to the brilliant effect.  Doctor
+Schoolman and his wife were receiving, and our party joined the line of
+guests making their orderly way toward them.  Doctor Schoolman was very
+amiable, and his wife, a vivacious little lady in satin and artificial
+curls, chatted volubly with the members of the flock as they were
+dutifully presented.
+
+"You naughty child!" she cried playfully to Winifred.  "How could you
+desert us with your charming voice?  Dear Mrs. Gray, you really should
+chastise your daughter--you really should!"  And she shook the false
+curls with mock severity.
+
+Mrs. Gray began her own lament and disclaimer of any responsibility in
+Winifred's apostasy.
+
+"But the dear child's voice," she said extenuatingly, "has really been
+very much taxed."
+
+"It's not that," said Winifred, honestly.  But Mrs. Schoolman's eye was
+caught by the guest next in line and further explanations were
+unnecessary.
+
+Meanwhile Doctor Schoolman had been greeting Hubert.
+
+"Mr. Hubert Gray!" he exclaimed, very blandly.  "Really this is a
+pleasure.  I am glad to see you."
+
+"I am glad to come," said Hubert, looking in the Doctor's face frankly.
+He wished to tell him how the Lord's people had become so vitally his.
+But the reverend gentleman did not note his earnest look.
+
+"We are honored if you can give us some of your valuable time.  You are
+such a man of business, your father tells me; and of scientific
+research, too, as we all know.  It is kind to let us tear you away a
+little while from stocks and bonds and experiments."
+
+"I have concluded, Doctor Schoolman," said Hubert gravely, "that there
+are interests more important than business or science."
+
+"Quite so--quite so," said Doctor Schoolman.  "I am glad you see it.
+We cannot afford to give all our attention to the graver pursuits of
+life.  We need relaxation.  'All work and no play'--you know the old
+adage, eh?  Ha, ha!"
+
+And the minister laughed an easy, social laugh, not at all boisterous,
+but of a mirth well in hand and suited to the occasion.
+
+Hubert looked at him almost with a frown.  But we of wider experience
+are prepared to forgive the Doctor that he did not recognize the
+spiritual as the more important interests which might lead a young man
+to a church social.  While Hubert debated a reply which should
+illuminate Doctor Schoolman as to his real motive, others were pressing
+up to take the hand of the minister, and he passed on with his mother
+and Winifred.  They drifted not far away, and Hubert glanced frequently
+at Doctor Schoolman, watching his suave smile, almost catching the
+smooth pleasantries that fell from his accustomed tongue--mild,
+clerical jests, wherewith he of the pulpit assures him of the pew, "I
+am as thou art."  Very nice and proper it might all be, but to the one
+who longed to hear some word of Him whom he loved with such fresh,
+intense earnestness, it was as gall and wormwood.
+
+He turned away and reviewed the whole scene about him.  Mrs. Gray and
+Winifred were already in conversation with a group of people near him,
+and he heard his mother's soft, deprecating voice, as in reply to an
+eager storm of questioning.  A flush was rising in his sister's face,
+and just a touch of iron determination, not unknown to the house of
+Gray, settled her shapely lips.
+
+"Brave little soul!" he said to himself as he thought of the offenses,
+anent Mrs. Butterworth's party and the choir, for which she must answer
+in the court of popular opinion.
+
+Not far from him a group of girls, very smartly dressed, standing in
+interesting proximity to a corresponding group of youths, flirted and
+giggled with evident enjoyment.  A soberer group farther on Hubert
+found to be discussing the war situation in the East, as he drew near
+in a spirit of investigation.  Some one in the party kindly drew him
+into their midst, where he joined the conversation for a time.  Then
+there was a diversion, the new soprano having consented to sing.  The
+murmur of voices subsided for the most part, save from a party of
+elderly people, hard of hearing, who continued their absorbing
+conversation throughout.  Miss Trilling sang a love song with much
+expression, and responded to an encore with a humorous selection.  The
+young people applauded loudly, and their elders smiled with indiligent
+pleasure.  Hubert continued his search, now rather despairing, for that
+for which he had come.  This time he proceeded under the guidance of a
+man who offered to introduce him to some whom he did not know.  They
+passed a quiet little wall-flower in a sober dress and he looked at her
+wistfully, seeing something in her face which made him think she knew
+his Lord and would talk of Him if there were hut a chance.  But his
+guide drew him on.  He listened to bits of conversation, straining his
+ears in vain to hear one reference to Christ.  The conversations were
+sometimes serious, more often gay, but none spoke of their Lord.
+
+Hubert's heart withdrew within him, and he had no further inclination
+to speak to any of his new-found hope.  A bitter theory was forming
+itself in his mind.  This company was no different from any other in
+the world.  Were they not all as he thought them in the days of his
+scepticism? If they knew Him whom he had come to see as the supremest
+Object of devotion in all the universe, could they forbear to speak of
+Him when they met together?  Would they not be like flaming brands,
+igniting one another in their fervent zeal?  He was not acquainted with
+the book of Malachi, and had perhaps never read the words: "Then they
+that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened
+and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them
+that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name."  Had he known the
+words they would have seemed a satire in this company.
+
+"They do not know Him," he thought passionately, "and I--am I under a
+delusion?  Is it all a farce?"
+
+The suggestion was intense pain, and he put it from him.  No, that One
+whom he had seen in his laboratory, the Man of the cross and of the
+glory, was no delusion.  To admit Him to be such would be blackest
+midnight.  He held on to his revelation with an iron clasp, but he
+longed to escape from an atmosphere that now stifled him.  He made his
+way to his mother and Winifred.
+
+"Shall I take you to the refreshment room?" he asked in a cold,
+strained voice.
+
+Winifred looked at him anxiously, with eyes almost as troubled as his
+own.
+
+"Yes," she said in an undertone, "and let us get away as soon as
+possible."
+
+Mrs. Gray consented genially to be escorted to the room, elaborately
+decorated, where charmingly-gowned young women dispensed elegant
+refreshments.  Several gentlemen, among whom Hubert recognized elders
+of the church, with their wives and other ladies, passed gay bandinage
+one to another as they sipped cooling ices.  Hubert took nothing, but
+stood, silent and stern, while his mother, unconscious of the tempest
+in his breast, leisurely and daintily enjoyed her refreshment.
+
+"Where are the poor people?" Hubert asked Winifred in something of his
+old sarcastic tone, as they left the room.
+
+"I am afraid they are not here," said she, gently.  Then she glanced
+around.  "Yes, there are some, I see.  There is Madge Nichol, that
+young woman in the stylish blue dress.  She has done sewing for me, and
+seemed to need the money very much.  But see how she is dressed!  It
+must be much beyond her means."
+
+Then a womanly intuition smote her, and she looked down at her own
+costly dress.
+
+"I see how it is, Hubert," she said.  "I think we are to blame.  No
+girl would like to meet us in this way unless she were well dressed."
+
+"I should advise them to stay away," said Hubert.  "They would lose
+nothing valuable."
+
+"That is what I shall do, I think," said Winifred with a sigh.  "Do let
+us get away as soon as mother is ready."
+
+"Shall I see if the carriage is waiting, mother?" said Hubert,
+interrupting when he could a discussion of the best places in which to
+spend the coming heated term.
+
+"You might," Mrs. Gray replied, "I did not wish to stay late."
+
+Hubert went out with alacrity to signal the faithful coachman, already
+in waiting.
+
+They had soon departed, and both young people were glad to get out
+under the pure, gleaming stars and hasten the carriage to the dear home
+where the face of the Lord had first been seen by each, and was yet to
+be seen in increasing loveliness.
+
+Hubert found his father still in the library, but asleep.  He awoke as
+his son entered.
+
+"Well, Hubert," he said, "did you have a good time?"
+
+"No, sir," Hubert replied, "I had a wretched time."
+
+"How was that?" his father asked.  "What happened?"
+
+"Nothing happened that I expected.  I thought there would be some there
+who knew and loved Jesus Christ, and would wish to talk of Him.  I did
+not hear Him mentioned.  I might as well have been at Mrs.
+Butterworth's ball so far as that goes."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Gray, apologetically, "it was a social time, you know."
+
+"Yes, I know it, father.  That is why I went.  Are not people usually
+most sociable about the things that interest them most?  There was a
+company of people, professedly born from above and expecting soon to
+see the very glory of God.  They take it very coolly, at all events.  I
+believe it is a sham."
+
+"Oh, Hubert," groaned his father, "don't say that."
+
+"I don't mean," said Hubert quickly, "that Jesus is a sham.  I
+believe," and his deep eyes softened, "that He is the most real fact in
+the universe.  But the belief of those people, father!  That sort of
+gathering is what Doctor Schoolman calls 'relaxation,' and I think he
+is right.  I am convinced that Christ is irksome to them; a subject to
+be endured on Sundays, but to enjoy relaxation from at other times.  Am
+I right?"
+
+"Hubert," said Mr. Gray, slowly, "I believe you are partly right.  But
+be deliberate and generous in your conclusions.  Do not judge us too
+hastily or hotly."
+
+Hubert winced as his father included himself in his own sweeping
+indictment.  Mr. Gray went on:
+
+"Some of us have known Him, even as you do, in earlier days.  But we
+have lost the brightness of our vision through"--he hesitated--"through
+sin.  We have followed afar off, and are very poor representatives now.
+Be patient, and it may be the warm zeal of such as you will quicken us
+again."
+
+He looked at his son appealingly.  Hubert's generous heart melted.
+
+"Forgive me, father," he said humbly.  "I have no right to judge
+anybody.  Forget my tirade if you can.  And I," he added with a faint
+smile, "will try to forget the Social."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MR. BOND'S LECTURE
+
+Hubert recovered from the cold bath into which he had been thrown like
+a Spartan babe by his first contact with church sociability.  His, as a
+new creature, was a vigorous constitution, and was destined to out-live
+many a shock incident to the earthly career of a heaven-born man.  Both
+he and Winifred returned to their joy and calm, and were looking
+forward eagerly to Mr. Bond's lectures.
+
+On the day of his arrival Mr. Gray came home to luncheon with an
+announcement.
+
+"My dear," he said to his wife, "Mr. Selton tells me that his wife has
+unexpectedly been called to Chicago by her mother's illness, and they
+will be unable to entertain Mr. Bond.  He suggested that we might like
+to do so."
+
+Winifred and Hubert looked up with animation.
+
+"Indeed!  And you told him?" asked Mrs. Gray, with a housewifely
+instinct of defense against invasion.
+
+"I told him," said Mr. Gray, "that I knew no reason why we could not do
+so, and that it would be a great pleasure.  I told him, however, that I
+should ask you about it, and 'phone him if there were any arrangement
+to prevent it."
+
+Mrs. Gray considered.  The chief guest room stood ready, immaculate in
+yellow and white, since the spring cleaning.  There was no reason why
+it should be denied, but she had hoped that its repose would not be
+broken until Miss Virginia White, her most aristocratic friend, should
+make her promised visit.  However, it would be manifestly unreasonable
+to refuse to receive Mr. Bond, and she could not offer him another room
+while that stood empty.  Yes, the yellow-and-white room must be
+sacrificed.
+
+"No, Father," she said amiably, "there is no reason why we cannot take
+him.  When will he come?"
+
+"He arrives this evening by the eight o'clock train from New York.
+Hubert, perhaps you would like to meet him?"
+
+"I should," said Hubert.  "I am glad he is coming here."
+
+"So am I," said Winifred.  "It will be lovely."
+
+That afternoon Winifred "called up" her friend Adèle, and the telephone
+transmitted a lively conversation.  The result of it was that Adèle
+promised to go with Winifred to Mr. Bond's Bible lectures; at least to
+one, to see if she liked it.
+
+In the evening Hubert met Mr. Bond at the station.  They were scarcely
+seated in the light trap and facing toward home when the young minister
+said:
+
+"Well, Mr. Gray, have you found God demonstrable?"
+
+"Yes!" Hubert almost shouted, and the two grasped each other's hands in
+the strong grip of a fraternity never formed by man.
+
+"I thought so," said Mr. Bond.
+
+"How did you know?" said Hubert.
+
+"I thought it would be so," said the other, "and I saw it in your face
+as we met.  Thank God for it."
+
+"Amen," said Hubert fervently.
+
+Mr. Bond led Hubert on with keen interest to tell of the process of his
+search after God, and of the illumination brighter than the light of
+day, that came to him when the Spirit shone with such clear luster on
+the Word.  To Hubert it seemed the happiest hour of his life, as he
+conversed with a man who seemed to understand the processes of his own
+heart, and to be thoroughly at home in the new world into which he
+himself had entered.
+
+The drive was all too brief, but later in the evening, when good-night
+had been spoken to the rest of the household, the two men sat in the
+unlighted veranda and talked until midnight of Christ and the matters
+of His realm.
+
+
+The _tout ensemble_ of the company gathered to hear Mr. Bond's first
+lecture was somewhat curious.  It was not a large congregation, but it
+was representative, being drawn from the interested or curious of
+nearly every kind of church or religious coterie in the city.  Keen
+Bible students were there, notebooks in hand, prepared to capture any
+new suggestion which might help them.  The critical were there,
+representing various shades of belief and prejudice, from the quiet
+repressionist, who, disdaining emotion, views with dispassionate
+coldness the great tenets of the faith, to the irrepressible enthusiast
+whose spiritual understanding is often lost beneath a foam of feeling;
+from the instructed brother who reads his title clear with logical
+accuracy in the Scriptures and glories in his standing with belieing
+indifference to his state, to the anxious soul whose hope of heaven
+veers with every changing wind of fitful emotion.  Each critic was bent
+on discovering if the stranger would hew faithfully to the line of his
+own demarcation.
+
+There were Mr. Selton's friends, people of his own station, who
+responded to his personal invitation to come, prepared to listen
+courteously, to express polite thanks at the end for the pleasure
+conferred, and, for the most part, to find various lions in the way of
+attending again, profound as were their regrets!
+
+Mr. Gray and Hubert both succeeded in getting the hour away from
+business, and the latter arrived at the hall just as his mother, with
+Winifred and Adèle, was entering and joined them.  Adèle formed a
+singular figure in the midst of the assembly.  No thought of unusual
+sobriety had toned down her usually stylish and somewhat striking
+costume, and a large red hat of the milliner's finest skill shaded
+becomingly her piquant face.  Her keen, merry eyes studied the
+congregation, and she could not resist whispering a few impressions to
+Winifred before the lecture began.
+
+"Isn't this a funny crowd?" she asked.  "Such a combination!  Look at
+that meek little body in the front row and the fat dowager behind her.
+And do see that anarchist-looking man at the side who is looking at Mr.
+Bond as though he would eat him up.  Do you know who he is?  I hope he
+hasn't a bomb in his pocket."
+
+"I don't know him, but I'll ask Hubert," said Winifred, and she passed
+the question along.
+
+"Hubert, who is that man yonder--the one with the high shoulders.
+Adèle thinks he is an anarchist."
+
+"I think so, too," said Hubert.  "At least he is a socialist of a very
+virulent type.  He has come as a critic, I suppose.  He professes to
+study religionists, and writes scornful letters about them to a
+socialist paper."
+
+Winifred communicated this intelligence to Adèle, who was much pleased
+with her own acumen.  Presently she resumed:
+
+"Do look at that woman ahead of us!--the one in the little bonnet, and
+so distressingly neat.  She has been surveying us.  She doesn't approve
+of me, but she commiserates me.  That's plain enough.  Well, I am a
+sinner, no doubt, and she has found me out!  If she looks around again
+do see what you think of her."
+
+Mrs. Bland did look around again, and both young ladies observed her.
+A rather shapely mouth was settled in an expression of studied repose,
+and her eyes rested approvingly, or with patient toleration, on others
+who were minded to come to the Bible lecture.  Her hair was parted with
+conscientious exactness, and upon her whole appearance there sat the
+picture of conscious piety.
+
+"Oh, I can't stand her!" whispered Adèle in an ecstasy of dislike.  "I
+should fly if I had to look at her long!  Sister Saint Serena--the
+Salubrious!"
+
+Winifred choked down a laugh at Adèle's suddenly inspired alliteration,
+while Hubert looked a dignified reproach.  It was a poor preparation,
+certainly, for what was to follow.  Adèle's face straightened
+innocently, while Winifred still struggled to suppress her risibility.
+
+There were few preliminaries before Mr. Bond proceeded to speak.  His
+subject dealt with vital matters, with underlying truth upon which
+rests all lesser fact, and he spoke with a calm certainty, unlike "the
+Scribes."  His lecture betrayed a familiarity with the Scriptures such
+as his auditors had seldom met with before, and a reverence for them
+born not of superstition but of some apprehension of their unfathomed
+depths.  Our little party listened with fascinated interest.
+Especially was Hubert delighted when from the portions that had been
+the favorite debating ground of his sceptical friends riches of meaning
+were discovered that stamped unmistakably the divine imprimatur upon
+them.  Winifred and Adèle forgot Mrs. Bland and every one else
+listening; the one with sweet content in hearing anything that
+concerned the One she loved, and the other with an awakened interest in
+lines of thought she had never pursued before.
+
+"He is _splendid_!" said Adèle at the close of the lecture.  "I am
+coming every day.  Unless--there's that bothersome card party Thursday!
+Stupid affair!  But I won't go.  What's the use?"
+
+And so Mr. Bond secured a regular attendant.
+
+Many were the expressions of interest, some of them very genuine.  Mrs.
+Gray had listened to her guest with valorous attempts to resist the
+habitual afternoon nap, and told him later how very good indeed the
+lecture was and hoped he would quite understand how manifold were the
+cares of a household, and how unavoidable her hindrances, should she be
+unable to be present every day.  And Mr. Bond did understand his gentle
+hostess very well, and often as he saw her in her home his meditative
+eye rested upon her fair mother-face with an expression of chivalrous
+pity and of earnest longing.
+
+The second day's lecture found the audience sifted to some degree of
+the idly curious and of a part of the critics unto whose standards the
+speaker had failed to attain.  As Mr. Bond's language was remarkably
+free from the current phraseology of the schools of teaching, it was
+difficult for theological birds to discover at once whether indeed he
+were of their feather, and a second hearing, at least, was needed.  But
+no uncertain note was sounded to the alarm of any advocate of the most
+orthodox written creed or of the severest unwritten code of belief, in
+answer to the pivotal question of all theology: Jesus, the Son of
+Man--_Who is He_?  None gave more ardent honor to that Mystery of
+godliness, who
+
+  "Was manifested in the flesh,
+    Justified in the spirit,
+    Seen of the angels,
+      Preached among the Gentiles,
+        Believed on in the world,
+          Received up in glory."
+
+If some fell away from the gathering, there were new hearers, brought
+through the good report of those interested, and the company numbered
+rather more than before.  Adèle's "anarchist" was again there,
+fastening his pale, strange eyes upon the face of the lecturer whether
+he spoke or was quietly sitting; at times half crediting its look of
+candor, then relapsing into sneering hopelessness of finding an honest
+man among his class.  He determined to try his favorite test of a
+benevolent scheme before Mr. Bond should go away, and see if he would
+abide by the Sermon on the Mount.
+
+To-day the lecturer's theme was Redemption, and from all the cardinal
+divisions of the Scriptures he drew illustrations of their one
+consistent theme.  It was when he reached the Day of Atonement under
+the Levitical institution, that Adèle Forrester's interest reached its
+height.  He drew a vivid, simple picture, as a teacher might present an
+object lesson to a child, of the offering, the priest, the waiting
+congregation, the presentation in the Holiest of All, and the blessing
+of the people.
+
+Adèle leaned forward in her seat as he proceeded.  She had never seen
+it just like that before.  She imagined herself one of the Jewish
+congregation, with a guilty score against her which needed to be wiped
+out.  What if there were a flaw in the offering?  What if the priest
+were not acceptable, and she were to go back with the debt
+uncanceled--with reconciliation not effected?  Her mind leaped forward
+before the speaker could reach the point to the Lamb without spot or
+blemish and the High Priest who "ever liveth to make intercession" for
+His people.  Was that what it meant?  And was it already accomplished?
+The speaker was saying:
+
+"There is both correspondence and contrast here.  In the first case
+there was indeed remission of sins, because the Lord had covenanted to
+meet His people upon that ground.  But it was temporary, and the work
+imperfect.  The _taking away of sins_ was not actual, but pictorial,
+each sacrifice pointing forward to the effective one to come.  There
+was no vital relationship between the victim and the worshiper, and the
+death of one could not be made actually good to the other.  Nor could a
+new life of righteousness be imparted.  So the work was imperfect,
+unfinished, always looking forward to the perfect, eternal redemption
+which should be wrought by the One who has power to impart the virtue
+of His death and the power of His endless life."
+
+Before Adèle's mind there came the vision of a vain, empty, earthward
+life.  But clearer still she saw the Lamb bearing away all offenses and
+her hopeless coming short, and the High Priest who with perfect
+acceptance presented the offering of His blood for her.  Why had she
+never seen it before?
+
+Oh, what grace!  Oh, what a lightened soul!--to be free as a child
+unborn of any guilt of sins!  She caught her breath with a little
+convulsive sob and sank back in her seat, grasping Winifred's hand with
+a tight, expressive grip.  She trusted herself with no words when the
+meeting ended, but blinking back the tears that sparkled in her eyes
+made a hasty exit from the hall.
+
+The days of Mr. Gerald Bond's visit to the Grays were all happy ones.
+Hubert and Winifred were living in a new world of revelation, and
+delighted exceedingly in the help one well instructed and "apt to
+teach" was able to give them in the mystery of the faith.  Mr. Gray,
+too, enjoyed his guest's presence and brought knotty questions to him
+daily for solution.  Mrs. Gray recognized the excellent spirit that was
+in him, and found herself quietly wondering more than once why the
+other ministers she knew did not seem equally interested in the matters
+of their calling when off duty, so to speak, but were so much at home
+in all the affairs of the world.  Gerald Bond seemed to live in the
+atmosphere of the holy things in which he ministered, and Mrs. Gray
+looked upon him with an admiration akin to awe.  But he was
+nevertheless so thoroughly a man, of finest sympathy, courteous,
+gentle, and withal possessed of a genial, penetrating wit which all
+enjoyed, that Mrs. Gray could not simply admire him from afar, but took
+him into her heart with a warm liking.  She looked forward with real
+regret to the day when the yellow-and-white room would be without its
+occupant.
+
+Hubert came in for the greater share of the young man's leisure hours,
+and evening often saw them pacing the garden walks, or lingering
+meditatively by its fountain, in deepest conversation.  In Hubert's
+soul still the question was burning, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to
+do?" and beyond a thin veil of time the answer was waiting him.
+"God . . . hath appointed thee to know His will, and to see the
+Righteous One, and to hear a voice from His mouth.  For thou shalt be a
+witness for Him."
+
+
+The Bible lectures came and went, having no more rapt listener than
+Adèle Forrester, who marveled at the light that had come to her,
+illuminating all truth that she had formally learned and recited, and
+adding wondrous things out of the Law never hinted at before.  When
+Sunday came she went to church a true worshiper, and sang with all her
+heart:
+
+  "O sing unto the Lord a new song
+  For He hath done marvellous things."
+
+She did not follow Winifred's course in retiring from the choir, and
+explained to her afterwards:
+
+"It did not seem the right thing for me, dear, although I think you did
+just right.  You see, I am not a star singer, for one thing, and never
+sing solos.  So my temptation to show off would not be like yours with
+your exquisite voice.  Though I do believe, Winifred," she said
+earnestly, "that one might do that some day--sing solos, I mean--with a
+sincere heart to the Lord, and not be vain about it.  And oh, it would
+be so sweet!  To praise Him with one's whole heart 'in the great
+congregation'--to try and tell about Him!--but, after all, there is no
+verse chaste enough and no melody sweet enough to describe Him!  Oh,
+Winifred, when I see _His wounds_," and Adèle covered her eyes as
+though, shutting out other things, she could see Him, while her voice
+sank to a sob--"it breaks my heart!  What a silly girl I have been--and
+it was for me!"
+
+Presently she resumed: "When I sang Sunday, I remembered something that
+Mr. Bond had said.  I was afraid lest some inattention or failure to
+just grasp and mean the sentiments I sang might make my worship
+unacceptable.  But I remembered that in the Tabernacle service after
+the priest had done all he could--at the brazen altar, and the laver,
+you know, having his heart set right and his conduct cleansed--still
+there was provided blood on the horns of the altar of incense beside
+which he worshiped.  After all he could do he might still need it, I
+suppose.  So I thought that although my poor service is very imperfect,
+and must come far short of what it ought to be, at best, still there
+will always be the blood and I shall take refuge in that."
+
+Winifred looked at her friend wonderingly.
+
+"That is very beautiful, Adèle," she said.  "I am glad to see it."
+
+Adèle's words had opened a dim vista of possibility, very precious, and
+had suggested arms wherewith to resist any shrinking self-fear or
+accusation that might attack her by the way.  But though her "gift," as
+Mrs. Butterworth and her mother called it, might some day be transmuted
+into a true gift of the Spirit, she felt with instinctive spiritual
+repugnance that its sphere of use would not be the former theater of
+her vanity.  Adèle might still sing in the chancel the canticles of the
+church, but as for her the associations of the choir of Doctor
+Schoolman's church were far too unhallowed to admit of a return to
+them.  To her it was so clear that she wondered a little why Adèle and
+she should take no nearer ground as to their respective action.
+
+"I suppose," she said aloud with a little perplexity, "that we must
+each do what seems right, according to the clearest light we have.  We
+may not both see all the truth about anything at the same time."
+
+"No," said Adèle with a decisive shake of her head, "and we can't walk
+by each other's consciences.  But talking about seeing 'all the truth'
+makes me think of something.  You know I was in the Berkshire Hills
+last summer?  Well, I saw Greylock from several points of view.  From
+one it seemed a rather sharp spur; from another it was long and obtuse;
+and from the last,--when somebody pointed out an ordinary, featureless
+ascent and said: 'That's Greylock,' I could scarcely believe it.  I
+imagine our views of the truth are somewhat like that.  It will take
+time to walk all around it, I think."
+
+"I think so," said Winifred reflectively.  "Then if somebody had met
+you when you had seen but one view of the mountain, and had described
+simply another--"
+
+"We should have quarreled!" said Adèle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE SOUL HEARS A CAUSE
+
+Midsummer heat was advancing and the fashionable residents of the city
+where our story is located--a city not too large, cleanly, healthful,
+and beautiful for situation--found it necessary to leave town.  Mrs.
+Gray was among the number whose constitution demanded a change from the
+accustomed air and scene, and from the round of conventional home life
+to the equally conventional routine of life in a summer hotel.  At
+least, she supposed she required it.  And was it not the regular thing
+to do?  And had she not arranged with Mrs. Dr. Greene long ago that
+they should secure quarters together in the Loftimore House overlooking
+the blue waters of Silverguile Lake?  But when the last trunks were
+packed and, gone, and she looked around in the cool quiet of her own
+home, the soft eyes were troubled and she said to Winifred:
+
+"I wish I were not going, dear.  It is a trouble, after all.  And you
+are not going!  You will come for a little while, won't you, child?"
+And she gave her an already homesick caress.
+
+Winifred promised, if it could be arranged.  Mr. Gray and Hubert both
+found it impossible to leave but for a short time, and Winifred was
+glad of an excuse to stay with them, presiding in the quiet house with
+its summer lack of visitors and improved opportunity for her new and
+engrossing pursuit.  She would go on to know God better, as she found
+Him mirrored in the clear, still waters of His Word.
+
+The days sped by all too rapidly.  Adèle did not leave for the summer,
+and the two spent hours together, comparing impressions and experiences
+and the light gained upon the Scripture portions which they were
+reading simultaneously.  Then Winifred rehearsed to Hubert at night
+their discoveries and difficulties, and he added the wisdom given to
+him to their own.  Sometimes his sister quoted to him surprisingly
+original and apt comments from Adèle and he wondered silently.  If he
+had wished to hear from the "sensible interior," he now did so, and it
+spoke from the depths of a new spiritual insight.
+
+
+George Frothingham continued to pay occasional court to his ladye
+faire.  The time for his customary holidays drew near, and as he
+arranged for a flying European trip which he had promised himself this
+year, it entered his heart to close the anticipated compact with
+Winifred for the life journey together.  Very sweet were the hopes
+which mingled with shrewd business calculations, and he congratulated
+himself on assured prospects.
+
+But Winifred was not happy when she thought of him.  His coming gave
+her pleasure always, and it was anticipated with a shy new
+consciousness since the night they had read each other's hearts more
+certainly through the tell-tale windows of their eyes.  But though his
+coming gave her pleasure, it left her always with a disappointment.
+Concerning the one thing that had come to be the most vital interest in
+her life they were not in sympathy.  Sometimes when the beauties in
+Christ Jesus seemed most patent to her own soul, it seemed that he must
+surely see them if represented to him.  But the mention of that Name
+froze upon her lips when met with the usual bantering jest, or
+indifferent acquiescence, accompanied by a look at his watch or the
+sudden memory of an engagement.  The conviction could not be denied
+that a wall as thick as that of a tomb stood between them in matters of
+the spirit.
+
+"He is dead," she confessed to herself in honest grief, "as dead as I
+was before my quickening--just as it says in the Ephesians.  He makes
+no more response to spiritual things than would one of the people in
+their graves in the cemetery if I talked to them.  And what fellowship
+can life have with death?  But--but--I love him!"
+
+The Flesh cried out for the sovereignty of human love, but the Spirit
+argued for the reign of Christ.  Between the two the Soul stood, a
+tortured arbiter, and heard the cause.
+
+The Spirit pleaded:
+
+"O Soul, if to you to live is Christ, why do you bring into your life's
+closest fellowship an alien to Him?  Why do you give the supremest
+place of earthly relationship, pledging life-long loyalty and
+obedience, to one whose mind is foreign--even 'enmity'--to the law of
+Christ?  Can you follow the course of life he would plan, and still
+serve Christ?  Can two walk together except they be agreed?"
+
+"You might win him," the Flesh pleaded.  "A woman's power is very
+great.  Remember he loves you."
+
+"I have no power now," the Soul ruled.
+
+"You might have eventually," the Flesh persisted.  "The example of a
+godly life will win."
+
+"You cannot live a godly life while you walk with him," interposed the
+Spirit.  "'The friendship of the world is enmity with God.'"
+
+Winifred was startled.  "That is a very strong text," she thought.
+"But it probably doesn't mean that.  Godly women have lived Christian
+lives with very ungodly husbands."
+
+"But they did not walk together," argued a voice.  "They were only in
+part united.  In the realm of the spirit--the realm that should
+lead--they were divided."
+
+"There is encouragement held out to believing wives in the Scripture,"
+suggested one who knows how to quote Scripture for his purpose, "that
+they may win their unbelieving husbands by their chaste behavior."
+
+"There is no encouragement given to believing women to marry
+unbelieving men," said the Spirit defensively.  "A woman whose faith
+finds her so united may have hope.  But can you expect the favor of God
+upon a mission undertaken in disobedience?"
+
+"Is it quite disobedience?" pondered Winifred weakly.  "I must look in
+the Bible to find all I can about it."
+
+The Flesh resisted this course and suggested delay, at least in
+searching the Scriptures about it.  She might not understand the
+Scriptures.  It would be better to ask some Christian friend.
+
+So the matter was delayed, but not for long.  For the Soul grew unhappy
+with the weight of a matter withheld from the clear light of the Word,
+and a mist rose between it and the face of Christ.  Any sorrow could be
+borne rather than lose vision of His face, and Winifred brought her
+cause at last with sobs and tears to the feet of Him who had been
+crucified, determined that His word should end the case at any cost.
+Then she searched the Book with what result each Bible student knows.
+She found permission for a Christian's marriage "in the Lord."  But the
+whole testimony of the Scripture frowned darkly upon a yoking together
+with unbelievers; and what yoke was closer than the one she
+contemplated?
+
+The Spirit said amen; and Winifred remembered how all her interviews
+with George Frothingham had left her not helped at all in the way of
+the spirit, but rather hindered.  What would be a lifelong fellowship?
+She cast to the winds all thought of inaugurating a dubious mission for
+the young man's salvation through means of a forbidden fellowship, and
+so the Soul, led by the Spirit, took wood and fire and repaired to the
+mount of sacrifice.
+
+
+The decisive evening came, and Frothingham, never more elegant nor more
+winning, appeared.  He was not dismayed by Winifred's unusual
+constraint, for he had noticed a growing shyness and drew his own happy
+conclusion from it.  He had brought a roll of music--a new love song,
+into which he poured the richness of his mellow voice while Winifred
+accompanied him.  But her fingers trembled over the keys and she struck
+a false note occasionally.
+
+Later they were standing beneath the chandelier, the light falling upon
+Winifred's pale face, as she answered words he had been speaking.
+
+"No, I cannot marry you," she said, and her voice shrank from the words
+as ranch for the pain they must cause him as for her own.  "It is
+impossible."
+
+His handsome face clouded with surprise and alarm.  He pleaded,
+expostulated, reasoned, but in vain.  Winifred was firm, and a certain
+womanly dignity hid the grief that she felt, lest its display should
+afterward bring humiliating regret.  She told him as clearly as she
+could the reason why she could not become his wife, and to his
+unspiritual judgment it seemed a petty cause.  He was accustomed to
+seeing a type of religion that could exist in harmony with the world,
+and he did not see why the fact that Winifred was a Christian and had
+become uncommonly interested in that sort of thing should hinder her
+being the best of wives to a worldly man like himself.  They need not
+quarrel about it.  As to any scruples that might be entertained in her
+conscientious little head about all the gaiety he cared for, he
+inwardly credited himself with skill to overcome them when once she
+should be his.  But Winifred made it clear to him at last that the
+matter was unmistakably and finally settled, and deep was his chagrin.
+Wounded pride rose with a sense of his rejection, and he straightened
+his fine figure in haughty coldness.
+
+"Very well," he said.  "I must abide by your decision, and we will
+part."
+
+"We shall still be friends?" she asked timidly.
+
+He did not look at the little hand she outstretched.  "If we cannot be
+more than friends, we must be less now," he answered coldly.
+
+He bade her an abrupt good-night and she watched him depart.  Still
+standing where he had left her she looked through the graceful palms
+that from their setting of marble partially veiled the drawing-room
+from the hall and saw him standing, never so handsome as now in his
+pale sternness, fastidiously drawing on his gloves according to his
+wont.
+
+Her heart made a final appeal.  Was she mad, that she should drive him
+away when _she loved him_?  Let her call him back!  Love is sovereign.
+Let it rule.
+
+As a very tiny object may blot out the widest view if it be near enough
+to the vision, so this glittering treasure of an earthly love swung
+before her eyes, and it hid the broader prospect of fair and eternal
+joys in Christ.  "Command that these stones be made bread," one had
+said to her Lord when he hungered, and the same strong and subtle one
+counseled now: "Take the joy that is offered!  Your heart will be
+starved and desolate if you let it go.  Call him back!"
+
+Almost her weak heart assented.
+
+"George!" the cry rose, but it died, mercifully, in a whisper upon her
+dry lips.
+
+Frothingham had quite prepared himself to emerge from the house--for
+the last time, probably--and he passed out, giving no backward glance
+at the figure that stood beneath the light in the drawing-room.
+
+Winifred roused from her statue-like stillness as the door closed
+behind him.  The heavy breath of odorous flowers stole in through an
+open window and sickened her.  For years after she could not dissociate
+their fragrance from the sorrow of that hour.  She turned to the piano.
+He had left his music--and he would never come back for it!  She turned
+away and climbed the stairs with heavy steps to her own room.  And
+there we will leave her, where, after the battle, a heavenly Visitor
+was to come forth with bread and wine for her refreshing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+EXPERIENCE
+
+Winifred's heart did not break.  Or, if it broke, it was quickly
+healed, for there dwelt in the house One whose office it is to bind up
+the broken-hearted.  It was not that she did not grieve, or that no
+void cried out again and again to be filled.  But she learned a paradox
+as the days went on: of an inexplicable peace beneath the sharpest
+pain, and of a buoyant joy that would not be held down by sorrow.
+Hubert looked on, making mental notes as to what had happened, but
+asking no questions.
+
+Our trio of young people who had entered a life of worship found their
+hearts impelling them toward fields of service also.  Winifred sought
+in many quiet ways to make known to others Him whom she had come to
+know with such delight, and a casual visit from Adèle one day threw
+light upon the occupation of the others.
+
+"By the way, Winifred," Miss Forrester said, apropos of some topic
+discussed, "your brother gave a splendid talk at the Cleary Street
+Mission last night.  Oh, you ought to have heard him!  It was fine!"
+
+Winifred opened her eyes widely.  "Hubert at the Mission last night?
+He never told me."
+
+"I suspect he doesn't let his left hand know what his right hand is
+doing," suggested Adèle.  "But he certainly was there.  And when Mr.
+McBride asked him to speak he promptly did so.  It was splendid!  Not
+simply what he said, you know, but the fact that he said it--a business
+man talking in a matter-of-fact, business way to other men of something
+he evidently thought the most important matter in the world.  Of course
+most of the people were of a far different class from his, but you
+would never guess it from his words.  He didn't patronize them a bit.
+I liked that so much.  And you should have seen how those men fastened
+their eyes on him and listened to what he said."
+
+"How lovely!" cried Winifred.  "I wish I had been there.  But pray tell
+me, Adèle, how happens it that you were there?"
+
+"Oh, I am a regular attendant in Cleary Street," said Adèle laughing.
+"At least I go regularly on certain nights in the week and play the
+organ--a wretched, squeaky, little thing--and raise my voice on Sankey
+hymns also."
+
+"You do!" cried Winifred with a mixture of amusement, dismay and
+admiration in her voice.  "Well, I declare!"
+
+"I don't see why you should be so shocked," said Adèle, enjoying her
+friend's astonishment.  "Pray, why shouldn't I go?  Do you doubt my
+qualifications?  I am not the musician you are, dear, but my skill is
+quite up to those tunes, I assure you."
+
+"I hope you don't wear that red hat of yours and your usual stunning
+costumes, Adèle?"
+
+"It occurred to me after I had gone a few times," said Adèle quietly,
+"that it might be well to modify my gear.  I think you would approve of
+my revised toilet.  It is very simple."
+
+"Adèle, I know you can't help looking well, whatever you wear," said
+Winifred, who suddenly observed a somewhat altered "gear" in evidence.
+"If you should put on a Salvation Army bonnet it would look stylish.
+It couldn't help itself.  But please tell me more about the Mission.
+How happened you to go at all?"
+
+"I heard Mr. McBride speak at a meeting.  He told of the work of the
+Mission, and of the need of helpers--especially of somebody to help in
+the music.  It occurred to me that that was the kind of assistance I
+might give, and that it would be very nice to contribute in some small
+way, at least, to the work of the Mission.  And," she continued very
+gravely, "I volunteered and was gladly accepted."
+
+"That is very noble, I think," said Winifred.  "But what did your
+friends think?"
+
+"I did not ask them," Adèle answered coolly.  "I have fallen from
+caste, anyhow, and it doesn't matter much.  You know since I have seen
+the Lord"--it was Adèle's way of putting it--"I have tried to--to
+witness to Him in some way or other to my old friends; and the result
+has been a pretty liberal letting alone from them.  His name does not
+seem a very welcome one--outside of a church!"  Then she went on with a
+gleam of indignant sorrow in her bright eyes: "That is what breaks
+one's heart!  That these very people may kneel beside you in church and
+recite His holy name as glibly as possible; but outside--it is
+unwelcome!  Winifred, can it be a Christian life at all into any avenue
+of which Christ is an intrusion?  Oh, if they loved Him--if they had
+ever seen Him at all!--they would be so glad of any mention of Him!"
+
+After a moment a gleam of amused memory succeeded Adèle's pained
+outburst.  She went on:
+
+"The other night I think I reached the climax of my fall into disfavor.
+You know these summer evenings at the Mission we take the organ and
+hymn books and go out before the door and have a street meeting.  Well,
+on this occasion our open-air meeting was in full swing and our usual
+score of auditors were lined up in the gutters and everywhere to hear.
+Mr. McBride had announced 'The best Friend to have is Jesus,' and was
+himself swinging his arms and singing lustily, while I played and
+pumped the panting little instrument and sang as loudly as I could,
+too.  Suddenly there turned down the street a handsome automobile (I
+don't know why, for they never go down that street) and in it the
+Misses Steele and Miss Proudfeather from Baltimore.  To crown it all,
+with them was seated my precious Cousin Dick!  Our poor little crowd
+huddled aside to let them pass.  They all saw me and Dick took off his
+hat with great ceremony; but the ladies evidently thought they would
+spare me the mortification of a recognition under the circumstances.  I
+couldn't help laughing within myself, though it was a bit embarrassing.
+Dick was hilarious over it.  He evidently sees nothing improper in it,
+but a very good joke.  He says he expects to hear me preaching there
+yet.  I told him it might be to his benefit if he did."
+
+Both laughed.  "But just think, Adèle," said Winifred, "how infinitely
+better to be in that little street crowd _with the Lord_, than driving
+about in the finest motor car without Him!"
+
+"Yes!" cried Adèle, "I wouldn't trade places for worlds!"
+
+"I should think not," said Winifred, with scorn of the idea.
+
+Adèle was finding out, like her friend, that the way of the cross
+brings separation, and she had her own peculiar tests as to faithful
+witnessing.  Her merry-hearted cousin drew her out in words more
+frequently than any other, and plied her with questions concerning this
+new type of religion.
+
+"It's no new sort of religion at all," she insisted.  "It's just the
+old sort you read of in the New Testament--and the prayer-book!  Only I
+am afraid I never really had it before--or it had not really got me.
+If people would only be sincere, Dick, you would find it is the same
+sort."
+
+"I do not think the ordinary sort is much good," said Dick, with the
+air of a connoisseur in religions.
+
+It was to be lamented that the present incumbent at St. John's had not
+met with the young man's very hearty favor.  The freshly introduced
+intoning struck him humorously.  He imitated it in ordinary remarks
+about the house.
+
+"Where's--my--hat?" he inquired in a whining chant, after the manner of
+the unfortunate rector's plaintively intoned "Let us pray."
+
+Adèle, always alive to the ridiculous, laughed; but still she wished he
+would not be irreverent.
+
+"The way we go through the service," said Dick, "is so as to relieve it
+of as much sense as possible.  No wonder some of us turn out
+hypocrites.  But you don't, Adèle.  However, I'll reserve my estimate
+of your case till we see how you hold out at your new gait."
+
+So Dick watched the "new gait," and Adèle prayed that it might be a
+walk worthy of the Lord.
+
+
+Meantime Hubert was pursuing his study of divinity in a normal
+way--with an open Bible and the Spirit of the Author to interpret.  He
+sought also the fellowship of His people and deep was his perplexity as
+he found into how many countless sects the "one body" had been divided.
+Very contrary to the Bible it seemed, but very helplessly he stood
+before the fact that seemed as hopeless of remedy as of denial.  What
+ought he, one unit among the whole, to do about it?  Kindly people
+sought to draw him into their various fellowships, and he peered into
+their folds and sought to find the place where his Lord was most
+honored and His presence most manifest.  He found old churches, great
+and cold, whose service moved with slumbrous calm, and his ardent soul
+was chilled.  He found others where activity bristled and cheerfulness
+prevailed, but where the world held court as obvious as in the market
+square; and from these he turned away with a still sharper grief.  He
+found other congregations built in strife and schism, but with some
+fragrance still of the name of Jesus Christ, and rejoiced that He was
+preached.
+
+"'They feared the Lord and served their own gods,'" he said to himself,
+as almost everywhere he saw the strange mingling of worship of the true
+God with the too patent service of the gods of pleasure and of wealth.
+
+He found little companies, gathered in protest from shameless
+worldliness or infidel denial of the Lord, and with them he had
+sympathy, but still looked hungrily for a fuller expression of the
+truth than they offered.  He found himself in companies where correct,
+punctilious statements of the truth abounded, and where the most
+careful zeal sought to restore an apostolic order of worship.  But he
+found that the statements grew dry and juiceless in their formal
+exactness, and that prescribed form could not insure the animating
+Spirit without which it was as useless as the phylacteries of the
+Pharisees.  He concluded that truth was deeper and fresher than any
+definitions of it, as the fountain excels the cistern; and that life
+was sovereign over form, though in form it embody itself.
+
+He found perfection nowhere.  After a disappointing meeting, the climax
+of a series of experiences in which arguments from various schools of
+doctrine had jostled against each other, and the varying phases of
+practice, emotional, anti-emotional, informal and ritualistic, with the
+intervening shades of difference, had presented themselves, he stood in
+the veranda at home with Winifred and described to her the procession
+of rival claims which a divided church presents to a Christian man's
+adherence, and ended with the question:
+
+"Where shall we find the truth, Winifred?"
+
+"In Christ," she answered simply.
+
+"You are right, wise little sister," he said admiringly.  "And there we
+will look for it."
+
+He turned from his quest for perfection in any detachment of the church
+and sought the place where God would have him, not alone for the green
+pasture to be found but for the testimony to be given.  Deeper lessons
+were learned as time advanced--lessons of "grace" as well as "truth."
+Keen discrimination was tempered by love toward that Body which, though
+distorted and maimed, was still beloved by her Lord, and though
+besieged by error was still "the pillar and ground of the truth."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+A "WITLESS, WORTHLESS LAMB"
+
+The air at Silverguile Lake did not altogether agree with Mrs. Gray.
+Rheumatic damps rose from the water, and the mornings were chilly and
+uncomfortable.  The inane round of dressing, eating, appearing in the
+veranda, taking the daily drive, and other mild etcetera, grew irksome;
+and, beyond all, the faces of the dear ones at home were longed for.
+Winifred came for a few days, and then the place brightened like a
+cloudy day that surprises the world with sunshine at its close.
+
+Mrs. Gray was far from well when the home journey was undertaken, and
+Winifred looked at her with apprehension.  But they traveled
+comfortably and reached home in the evening where welcome waited.  But
+an alarming chill overtook the mother before she had retired that
+night, and the doctor was hastily summoned.  The chill was a harbinger
+of serious illness, and the cheerful house became shrouded in dread of
+coming sorrow.  Winifred devoted herself eagerly to her mother, but
+professional skill was needed also.  The telephone rang frequent calls
+from the office during the anxious days to inquire for the loved
+patient, and life for the time was enveloped in the one painful query:
+Will mother live?
+
+The doctor gave sparing reports, but careful directions.  Winifred
+moved about the house with a pale face and frightened eyes, until the
+doctor told her that she evidently needed his services also, and that
+she must not let her mother see her with that face.  Then she fled to
+her room and poured out her pitiful need to God, and begged His grace
+for calm and cheerfulness.  With unfailing faithfulness He gave her
+what she asked, and she went back to minister with Him at hand to help.
+
+"Winnie, dear, is that you?" said a faint voice from the bed.
+
+"Yes, mother."
+
+"Come here, dear, let me look at you."
+
+Winifred went and sat beside her where they could look into each
+other's faces.
+
+"Dear, do you think I am very ill?  Does the doctor say so?"
+
+"He has not said much, mother.  But he is taking every care."
+
+"Yes, I see.  What do you think, child?"
+
+"I do not know, mother.  But we hope you are getting on as well as
+possible."
+
+"Winnie," said she again, and her voice came with difficulty, "I think
+I am very ill.  I have had sickness before, but not like this.  Things
+seem slipping away."
+
+Winifred's eyes filled with tears, but she forced them back.  "Do not
+think that, mother," she pleaded.
+
+"They are all slipping away," insisted the sick woman.  "Every
+one--father, Hubert, you--everyone--everything I know--all slipping
+away."
+
+Winifred looked to her invisible Companion in an agony of entreaty for
+her mother.  Presently Mrs. Gray's voice again arose plaintively from
+the pillow:
+
+"I am afraid--I am afraid, Winnie.  I don't know--the things ahead!
+These,"--and her poor hands closed themselves over the counterpane as
+though they would try to hold the tangible, known things--"are slipping
+away, and I--am afraid."
+
+"God never slips away," whispered Winifred.
+
+"No?" queried the mother.  "But I--can't--see Him!  I don't--know Him."
+
+So the secret, before unconfessed and unrealized, came out at last.
+She did not know Him.  The church, the service, the minister,--the
+external routine of a nominally Christian life, all was slipping away
+into a mist of past that could not be retained.  And now the soul
+stood, a terror-stricken stranger, before the things not known.
+
+"I am afraid," repeated the faint voice.
+
+Winifred longed for words of comfort, but they did not seem at hand.
+
+The white-robed nurse came into the room with a little air of
+professional authority.  "I think our patient should not talk any more
+just now," she said, and Winifred retired.
+
+She met Hubert in the hall and drew him to her own little sitting-room,
+where they pleaded with God together for the eternal comfort of the
+beloved sufferer.
+
+Evening came and Winifred was again by her mother's side.
+
+"Winifred," said the gentle voice, stronger to-night for the increased
+fever.
+
+"Yes, dear mother?"
+
+"Winnie, dear, would you be afraid if--if you were ill--like me?--if
+you were going to--"
+
+"To die," she was about to say, but she could not speak the word.  She
+shivered instead, as though a cold wind had struck her.
+
+Winifred did not wait for the unwelcome word.
+
+"No--I think not, mother," she said simply.
+
+"Why not?  Is it not dark--what we do not know?"
+
+"But I know God," said Winifred earnestly, "and Jesus Christ.  And they
+are there--in the things we cannot see.  The Apostle Paul said, 'For me
+to live is Christ; _to die is gain_.'"
+
+The words brought no comfort.  "'To live is Christ,'" repeated the sick
+one musingly.  "If that were so--?" she was silent for a few moments,
+and then broke out hopelessly: "No, no!  To live has not been Christ!
+It has been myself, and you all, and these things!  It is not gain to
+die!  It is loss!--loss!--loss of everything I know!"
+
+Her voice rose excitedly, and her glistening fevered eyes looked about
+restlessly.  Winifred feared that the nurse would come, and finding her
+worse, end the interview.  So she prayed that God would calm the dear
+patient and give them both His needed grace for the hour.  And He heard.
+
+"Let me straighten your pillow, mother dear," she said, and suited the
+action to the word.  Her mother clasped the deft hands that arranged
+things so comfortably, and looked long with yearning fondness into her
+daughter's face.
+
+"Winnie," she said finally, "could you sing just a little for me?"
+
+Winifred choked back a sob that tried to escape.  "I will try," she
+said.
+
+She brought a little stringed instrument that her mother loved, with
+which she sometimes accompanied her songs.
+
+"What shall I sing?" she asked, seating herself beside the bed.
+
+"I don't know," hesitated her mother.
+
+"Would you like that little Scotch song from Sankey's book?"
+
+"Oh, yes.  That is very sweet."
+
+So Winifred began the plaintive words:
+
+  "I am far frae my hame, an' I'm weary aftenwhiles
+  For the langed-for hame bringin' an' my Faither's welcome
+smiles."
+
+She began with a stern watch upon her own emotions.  But, as she
+proceeded, from the sadness of the hour rose a longing in her soul for
+the "ain countrie" where no blight of death and tears are known, and it
+poured itself out in the song.  She sang two of the long stanzas.
+
+  "I've His guid word o' promise that some gladsome day the King
+  To His ain royal palace His banished hame will bring.
+  Wi' heart and wi' een rinnin' ower we shall see
+  The King in a' His beauty in oor ain countrie.
+  Like a bairn to its mither, a wee birdie to its nest,
+  I wad fain be agangin' noo unto my Saviour's breast;
+  For He gathers in His bosom witless, worthless lambs like me,
+  An' carries them Himself to His ain countrie."
+
+Mrs. Gray had been lying with closed eyes through which the tears
+forced their way.  Now she interrupted:
+
+"What does it say, Winifred?  'He gathers in His bosom?'  Please sing
+those lines again."
+
+So Winifred repeated:
+
+  "'For He gathers in His bosom witless, worthless lambs like me,
+  And carries them Himsel' to His ain countrie.'"
+
+"Thank you!" murmured the invalid with a sigh.  "Is it true, Winnie?"
+
+"Yes, mother, it is quite true."
+
+"That is what--I have been."  She was speaking again with difficulty,
+and her voice was very low, so that Winifred leaned forward to listen.
+"I've been--a 'witless, worthless lamb!'  Will He--gather--me?"
+
+"I know He will--if you trust Him!"
+
+"How do you know, Winnie?"
+
+"There is the Scripture, mother.  There is the parable of the lost
+sheep, and then there is another word; 'All we, like sheep, have gone
+astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid
+on Him the iniquity of us all.'"
+
+After a moment the weak voice spoke again:
+
+"Winnie, _you_ know Him; will you pray?  Tell Him--I've taken--my own
+way,--a 'witless, worthless lamb!'"
+
+Winifred slipped to her knees beside the bed and prayed; prayed with
+the greatest thankfulness she had ever known because she knew God, and
+prayed for the dearest object for which she had made request.  She
+reminded God with great simplicity that He had laid the iniquity of us
+all who have wandered on His Anointed One, and begged Him to make good
+the virtue of that act to her poor mother.  And the dying lady
+listened, and believed.
+
+"Dear mother," said Winifred fondly, "do you not see that He will
+gather you?"
+
+Mrs. Gray's head had sunk back contentedly in the pillows.  She smiled
+faintly.
+
+"Yes, I see it now," she said.  "It is very true."
+
+In a few moments she was asleep, and the nurse resumed her watch.  But
+later in the night a quiet alarm summoned the little household to her
+chamber, and they watched for the moment of parting between the spirit
+and its fair tenement.  Before it came she opened her eyes, and looked
+at them placidly.  Her lips moved, and Winifred bent forward eagerly to
+catch their words.
+
+"I--am--not--afraid'" they pronounced, and then closed their witness
+for this world forever.
+
+The death of Mrs. Gray brought the first great sorrow to the house of
+Robert Gray.  It did its work in the heart of each who remained.  It
+smote the husband with a conviction of misspent years, of a united
+fellowship in the things that perish so miserably instead of in those
+things which remain when all else is shaken.  Had he but led his gentle
+wife, as was his opportunity, in ways of the Spirit, how different
+might have been their record together.  And now the end had come for
+one, with no "abundant entrance," no glad prospect of long-anticipated
+joys,
+
+  "Where the eye at last beholdeth
+  What the heart has loved so long,"
+
+but with the negative testimony of a fear relieved--of wrath averted,
+through the grace of a longsuffering God.  They had been guilty
+together of the capital sin of an earth-centered life; and now the iron
+merchant, elder of the church though he was, awoke from his long dream
+of money getting and of earthly comfort to the reality of God, and of
+his obligation as a redeemed soul to Him.  There crept an unfamiliar
+note of yearning sincerity into the prayers wherewith he took his
+heretofore formal part in the church prayer meeting, and it almost
+perceptibly thinned the frozen crust of the "icily regular" service.
+The men in his business noticed a new softness in his manner, and
+sometimes it emboldened them to speak to him of their own cares and
+sorrows, and they found sympathy.
+
+Hubert grieved for his mother with the strength of an intense, reticent
+nature.  But, as did also his sister, he found solace in God.
+
+Winifred felt very keenly her mother's loss, missing the vanished hand
+from every part of the house where she now assumed her place, seeing
+everywhere reminders of her dainty touch and quiet taste, and longing
+for her voice yet more and more as the days went by.  This great
+bereavement came so closely on the separation from one whom she never
+mentioned now, but who was far from forgotten, that often her heart
+seemed torn between the two sorrows.  Sometimes waves of disheartenment
+came on cloudy days of testing, when the sun was hidden and life looked
+cheerless and hard.  But anon the face of Jesus Christ broke through
+the clouds, and with the vision came always joy.
+
+The three who were left drew more closely to each other, and despite
+their sorrow found a sweetness of comfort together never known before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+"SELL THAT YE HAVE"
+
+Three years had passed, and the snows of winter had lain heavily for
+weeks upon all the region surrounding New Laodicea.  It spread soft
+mantles over lawns and roofs in the city, and only in the streets was
+its white purity turned by the traffic of man into vileness.  On a
+sharp, clear morning Hubert Gray walked through the cutting air toward
+his office, and meditated thus:
+
+"What am I doing?  What is the occupation that employs so much of my
+waking time and the powers that God has given me?  'Diligent in
+business,' the Scripture says.  Yes, I am certainly that, but what is
+it all for?  I am trading in iron, as my father has done, and laying up
+treasure on earth.  That is something--the laying up treasure on
+earth--that the Lord Jesus said not to do.  But did He really mean it?
+Nobody takes it very literally, I suppose.
+
+"'Sell that ye have and give alms.'  That is what I read this morning.
+'Make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure in the
+heavens that faileth not.'
+
+"How much does it mean?  We cannot always press the words of the Lord
+to their utmost literal meaning.  I suppose He used language a great
+deal as we do, to be taken at its face value, and not screwed and
+pressed and tortured into literal exactness until all the spirit is
+taken out of it?  But these words sound very bald and unequivocal.  I
+wish I knew what they meant.  Would I act on them if I did?  There's
+the rub.  It is undoubtedly hard for a man with money to look at the
+matter disinterestedly.  And Jesus said, 'How hardly shall they that
+have riches enter into the kingdom of God!'
+
+"But if a man wishes to know how to interpret these words, I suppose he
+may consider other words of the Lord and their evident interpretation
+and find a rule.  For instance, He said, 'Labor not for the meat which
+perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.'  He
+evidently did not literally mean not to labor for daily bread, for that
+is something we are told to do.  'Work with your hands, that ye
+may . . . have need of nothing,' it says.  And, 'If any will not work,
+neither let him eat'; and again, 'That with quietness they work, and
+eat their own bread.'  So that is clear enough.  Apparently what He
+meant was to emphasize the supreme need of the other kind of food--'the
+meat that endures unto everlasting life.'  The one pales into such
+insignificance--into nothingness!--compared with the other, that He
+puts His hand over it--He puts it out of sight completely, and says,
+'Look at this!  This is the supreme thing, the one thing needful!'"
+
+Hubert grew enthusiastic as he meditated the meaning of the text and
+the supreme need.  He walked faster, and trod the snowy walk
+emphatically.
+
+"What a splendid text!" he thought.  "If I go to the mission to-night
+perhaps I shall speak from it.  'Labor not . . . but for'--ah! that
+word 'labor,' as applied in the second phrase needs explaining also,
+and Jesus did explain it.  '_This is the work of God, that ye believe
+on Him whom He hath sent_.'  That is 'labor' for the living bread--to
+believe on Him!"
+
+But he returned to his former consideration.  "'Sell that ye have and
+give alms.'  I wonder if the principle in the other text will apply to
+that?  Did He mean, not literally that they were to sell all and give,
+but rather to emphasize the supreme importance of the treasure in
+heaven?  Did He push aside one and bring forward the other, saying,
+'Look at _this_!  Let go the other, and lay hold of this.  Lift up your
+eyes to the kingdom it is your Father's good pleasure to give you.
+Take stock in that.  Little flock, you are so very rich yonder, you can
+afford to give up what you have here.  Give to the poor that have no
+treasure here, and perhaps none yonder.'  Ah, but my paraphrasing has
+not led me far from the literalness of the text!  And how beautiful it
+is!  That Man of Glory, 'Heir of all things,' poor for a little while
+for our sakes, counseling His little flock to follow for a brief season
+in the steps of His poverty, laying up more abundant treasure in His
+eternal kingdom!"
+
+By this time Hubert had reached his place of business and was stumbling
+over the office boy in the hall.  When alone in his office, at his
+desk, he leaned his head upon his hands and prayed:
+
+"O Lord, teach me what those Scriptures mean that I may obey them.
+Save me from the bias of self-interest.  Help me to live by the
+understanding I had with Thee at the outset of our walk together.  What
+may I do to please Thee?  My time and my energies are Thine, for I am
+bought with a price.  Thou seest my possessions.  What shall I do with
+them?"
+
+He lifted his head with a lightened heart.  "He will show me what to
+do," he thought.
+
+That day at lunch Hubert propounded a question to his father.
+
+"Father," said he, "what do you think Jesus meant by saying, 'Sell that
+ye have and give alms?'"
+
+Mr. Gray reflected.  "Hm!" he observed, "eh--well--" then, with a sly
+twinkle as though rather enjoying a coat that fitted tightly, "it
+doesn't sound very obscure, does it?  The language is simple.  What
+would you think it meant?"
+
+"That is a point I am studying.  If a man came to it without prejudice
+or self-interest, it would seem very simple, I imagine.  But I am not
+sure that it should be pressed to absolute literalness.  But, granted
+that it means _something_, was it of limited application, or would
+Christ say the same thing to His followers to-day?"
+
+"Well," said Mr. Gray, whose theological studies had been greatly
+stimulated in recent months, and who had fallen into the hands of a
+variety of teachers, "you know some people draw pretty fine
+distinctions now-a-days.  They may tell us that that does not belong to
+the church.  I shouldn't wonder a bit if some of them would slip this
+over our heads and let it fall on some other people.  But I should say,
+if you ask me, that such a principle, if it applied to anybody, might
+certainly to us; that if heavenly-mindeduess could be enjoined upon any
+it might certainly upon those who are raised and seated with Christ in
+heavenly places.'"
+
+"I think you are right, father.  But now, just what is the
+principle--what is the true spirit of the text?  In short, what are we
+_to do_ about it?"
+
+Mr. Gray looked at his son curiously before replying.  Was it for the
+sake of _doing the word_ that he pondered its meaning?  To expound a
+text and to act upon it were two separate things.  The former was
+sometimes the pleasanter task.  But he answered honestly:
+
+"I suppose the true way to understand a Scripture is to read it in its
+relation to other Scripture--in the light of every other Scripture.  I
+confess I have not so studied it.  And," he added cautiously, "one must
+be very sure of the meaning of a word before he acts upon it."
+
+"Certainly," said Hubert.  Then he added privately that they had not
+waited to understand the text before proceeding to pile up treasure
+upon earth in abundance.  "I intend to look up the subject," he said
+aloud, "and see what the Bible really does teach about it; that is,
+what the New Testament says.  I suppose if we searched the Old
+Testament we should find earthly prosperity guaranteed the Lord's
+people on the ground of obedience.  But we are under the new covenant,
+with heavenly riches assured."
+
+"Just so--just so," murmured Mr. Gray.
+
+The next morning the subject was renewed.
+
+"I have found, father," said Hubert, "that the apostolic church did
+precisely what Jesus had told His flock to do.  They sold what they
+had.  It was an effect of the coming of the Holy Spirit.  I suppose the
+heavens were so opened through that illumination that earthly
+possessions shriveled into nothingness by comparison.  What precept
+alone could never have power to do the entrance of the Spirit did.  It
+turned out the love of the world and 'the things that are in the
+world.'"
+
+An enthusiastic light glowed in Hubert's face as he spoke.  His father
+eyed him curiously as on the day before.
+
+"Just so--just so," he replied, absently.
+
+Presently, however, he rallied to the discussion.  "But, Hubert," he
+said, "do you remember what they did with the proceeds of their sales?"
+
+"Yes," said Hubert, "they laid them at the feet of the Apostles, and
+distribution was made to the needs of all the company."
+
+"That was not an indiscriminate alms-giving," said Mr. Gray.
+
+"No," replied Hubert.  "But the parting with their possessions of those
+who had property supplied the need of those who had none.  That could
+be called alms-giving, I should think."
+
+"That seemed to be confined to the church," said Mr. Gray meditatively.
+
+"Yes," said Hubert, "and when a beggar solicited alms of Peter and
+John, they had nothing to give him!  No--I beg pardon--they had much to
+give him, through the 'riches in glory.'  They gave him ability to make
+his own living, which was far better than an alms.  But is there not
+some other Scripture that will tell us the relative positions of the
+church and the world to us in our giving?"
+
+"I think so," said Mr. Gray.  "How is this?  'As we have opportunity
+let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the
+household of faith.'"
+
+"That is to the point," said Hubert.
+
+"But to return to the Pentecostal precedent," said Mr. Gray; "if we
+were to sell out, at whose feet would you propose laying the proceeds?"
+He looked slyly at Hubert.  "At Doctor Schoolman's?"
+
+"Never," said Hubert, and then he laughed.  "I beg the gentleman's
+pardon for my emphasis," he said, "but it never would occur to me to
+turn over my money to him."
+
+Mr. Gray smiled.  He felt that he had scored a good point against any
+rash procedure in the matter of possessions.
+
+"At whose feet, then," he persisted, "would you think to lay it down?"
+
+"There's the rub," said Hubert grimly.
+
+"Ah, just so," said his father.
+
+There was silence for a few moments and then Mr. Gray began again:
+
+"Those early conditions at Jerusalem have never been reproduced since
+they were broken up by the scattering of the church, and I do not
+remember any hint in the Epistles to the Churches that there should be
+an effort to establish a similar communism in any place."
+
+"No?" said Hubert.  "I shall search farther and see what they do say."
+
+And he did.  A less disinterested disciple would not have pressed such
+a vigorous search toward an end that might mean his own monetary
+disadvantage.  But a supreme longing to know the will of God and to do
+it was master of the situation.  Moreover he remembered the vision of
+the cross that stood at the outset of his Christian way, and the terms
+of complete abandonment of himself and his circumstances to which he
+consented in his heart.
+
+He pursued diligent and business-like methods in his study.  With the
+aid of a concordance he found and tabulated what the Gospels had to say
+about "money," "gold," "silver," "goods," "riches" and "treasure,"
+words that might serve as clews to discover the mind of God in the
+matter he searched out.  Also he read carefully the Epistles to see
+what, in the more settled state of the church, was enjoined after the
+dissolving of the community at Jerusalem.
+
+His thoughtful study involved the spare hours of many days, and he
+emerged from it with certain convictions which were not likely soon to
+be shaken.  He set his arguments in order with a deliberation and logic
+with which a lawyer might prepare his brief.  His leading conclusions
+as to the teaching of the Scriptures on the subject were somewhat as
+follows:
+
+First, that the possession of riches is a disadvantage to a man as to
+his entering the kingdom of heaven.  Indeed, that it would render it
+impossible but for the grace of God with whom all things are possible.
+
+Second, that the teaching of the Lord Jesus placed the seeking of
+worldly goods in utter contempt and disregard as compared with heavenly
+riches.  Indeed, they might well be abandoned for the sake of that
+treasure.  That even the necessities of life were not the things to be
+anxiously sought, but were guaranteed by God in response to the
+diligent, first-in-order, whole-hearted seeking of His kingdom and
+righteousness.  That this teaching, however, was guarded against
+misinterpretation by practical instructions in the Epistles to work for
+honest support and in order to have to give.
+
+Third, that an instant effect of the coming of the Holy Spirit was a
+practical illustration of that disdain of earthly goods inculcated by
+the teaching of the Lord Jesus; and the result was not the want of any,
+for "neither was there among them any that lacked."
+
+Fourth, that that striking example, set at the head of the age as an
+object-lesson for its entire course, was not literally followed by the
+Churches subsequently formed, but its principle was carried forward to
+them also, Paul enjoining an "equality," saying to the Corinthians,
+"Your abundance being a supply at this present time for their want,
+that their abundance also may become a supply for your want; that there
+may be equality."
+
+Fifth, that the giving up of possessions at Pentecost was spontaneous
+and voluntary, not forced; and the subsequent giving was to be not a
+legal necessity, but as the heart inclined.  The flavor of delight to
+God would be lost if otherwise.  The giving would have value in His
+eyes only as it was done, not of necessity, but cheerfully.
+
+Hubert reviewed the articles of his newly formed financial creed,
+feeling that it was far from exhaustive, but that its principles must
+help to clear his vision as to the attitude a Christian man should take
+toward this world's gain.  From the whole trend of the teaching he
+gathered that the true Gospel of Christ demanded a complete reversal of
+the generally accepted rudiments of worldly thrift, and that its key
+word for the use of money was not "get," but "give."  Sometimes he
+hesitated and turned pale before a radical step which he found his
+heart prompting, and again he looked at the possessions now in his own
+right and was glad he had so much to place at the absolute disposal of
+the Lord he loved.
+
+"It is not a necessity," he said.  "I may do as I will.  And I will to
+do that which will serve Him best."
+
+He read the text, "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that,
+though he was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through
+His poverty might be rich."  Tears, to which his eyes were unused, made
+them glisten for a moment.  "Ah, if through my poverty some might be
+made forever rich!" he thought.
+
+How to put in practice what he desired to do became a problem.  He went
+to his office with the sense of a new relationship to its business.  A
+new Proprietor sat at the desk with him, and, afraid to act rashly, on
+Him he wisely waited for the clear instructions which should show how
+best His interests might be served.
+
+The new Proprietor looked on him and saw a man triumphing where the
+multitude of essaying disciples fail: not in lofty ideals, not in
+emotional experiences, not in grand works undertaken; but in the
+prosiest, hardest spot--albeit the touchstone of many a man's
+consecration--the _money question_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE MISSIONARY MEETING
+
+It was early summer when the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of Doctor
+Schoolman's church was to have a public meeting.  On Sunday the faithful
+calendar announced it, and Doctor Schoolman made special mention of it,
+urging attendance.  A missionary home on furlough was to exercise a part
+of his "well-earned rest" in addressing the meeting.  It was to be held
+in the afternoon, but it was suggested that as many men of the
+congregation as possible unite with the ladies in giving welcome to one
+who had distinguished himself by faithful and valuable service on the
+foreign field.
+
+The announcement was discussed in the Gray household and Hubert
+determined to join Winifred in attendance.
+
+"Not that I believe much in it," he said, "when here all about us, and
+especially in our large cities, there are plenty of objects for our
+commiseration quite as wretched, undoubtedly, as those in foreign
+countries."
+
+"No doubt," said Winifred.  "It always seemed to me to be looking rather
+far afield for something to do."
+
+However, the two determined to hear the voice from China.
+
+Wednesday, the day for the meeting, came, and Hubert left work in time to
+join Winifred on her way.  They found the lecture-room of the church
+rather better filled than was usual at a missionary meeting, but only a
+few gentlemen were present.  Winifred had time to observe some of the
+faces about her before the meeting began.  She knew the Secretary, a
+woman with a keen, earnest face, always active in good works, and
+indefatigable in her efforts to excite a generally indifferent church
+into some glow of interest in the missionary cause.  There were a few
+other faces as interested as her own.  Hubert saw the plain little body
+he had singled out at the church social as one who perhaps would find it
+a pleasure to talk about the Lord.  Her eyes looked expectantly toward
+the quiet looking man who came in with Doctor Schoolman.
+
+The President, rather new to her office, fingered her jeweled watch-chain
+nervously as she opened the meeting.  The company sang "From Greenland's
+Icy Mountains," and Doctor Schoolman offered prayer.  The Secretary read
+the minutes of the previous meeting--a "Thank-offering meeting"--and it
+was discovered that the sum of $90 had been realized.  The ladies
+exchanged glances of satisfaction at the amount.
+
+"Hm-m!  Their combined thanks foot up to that," thought Hubert.  He was a
+business man and must be forgiven such a practical view of the case.
+"The Lord must be gratified!"
+
+"I feel, ladies," said the President, pushing a diamond ring up and down
+upon her finger anxiously, "very much pleased that our poor gifts have
+amounted to so much.  We cannot all do what we would, but we may give our
+mites, and together they will count for something in the work.  We cannot
+tell what these ninety dollars may mean to the heathen."
+
+"Their mites!" thought Hubert, with something of his old-time irony.  He
+was freshly instructed on the subject of money, and knew well the story
+of the widows' mites.  "If Mrs. Greenman herself had given the ninety
+dollars, I should think she was beginning to feel a tinge of gratitude
+for something."
+
+Winifred had fastened her brown eyes musingly upon the President.  She
+was wondering if money might express thanks, and, if so, how much would
+appropriately suggest her own gratitude to God for His "unspeakable gift."
+
+"No gift would be large enough," she thought, and then the familiar lines
+came to her mind:
+
+  "Were the whole realm of nature mine,
+  That were a present far too small;
+  Love so amazing, so divine,
+  Demands my soul, my life, my all."
+
+"How true that is," she thought.  "But I suppose it is nice to give some
+token, even though one cannot adequately express one's thanks."
+
+There were some other reports and then the leading alto from the choir
+sang:
+
+  "There is a green hill far away."
+
+"I am sure we are all glad," said the President, "to have with us Mr.
+Hugh Carew from China, who has labored for years among the heathen there.
+We shall be pleased to hear him tell us something of his work."
+
+And Mr. Hugh Carew began.  He was a man uninteresting to look upon, save
+that his face wore a certain indefinable expression of a man who has been
+a stranger in many places; a man habituated to loneliness and to silence.
+But he was evidently a man also accustomed to speak, for he addressed his
+audience with easy grace.
+
+"The pleasure is mine," he said, "in being able to present to your
+interest and sympathy the dearest object of the heart of God."
+
+Hubert started to hear the man's work, as he thought, thus spoken of.
+Mr. Carew went on:
+
+"Of course I refer not to my simple share in it, but to God's great work
+of salvation in all lands."
+
+"Ah, that is what he means," thought Hubert, and repeated to
+himself--"the dearest object of God's heart!"
+
+"You may question my definition of that work," said Mr. Carew, "but a
+moment's reflection will convince you that it is true.  We may measure
+the object's value by the price expended for it.  For what other than the
+dearest object would God have been willing to give His most priceless
+treasure--the Son of His love?  You will pardon my giving some attention
+to the fundamental facts of our common salvation before speaking
+specifically of the work in which I have had a part for some years in
+China.  My apology is this: that wherever the returned missionary goes,
+even among God's people, he finds himself obliged to defend his work to
+some who regard it as an impractical and self-devised effort at doing
+good, rather than the simple carrying out of the expressed will of God.
+We have to go back to first principles and inquire afresh: '_What is the
+will of God_?'"
+
+"That sounds sensible," thought Hubert, who loved to hear vital
+principles discussed.
+
+"Some very simple, well-worn texts will serve for our brief study," said
+Mr. Carew.  "First there is that comprehensive passage, familiarly known
+and quoted in all evangelical circles: '_For God so loved the world that
+He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
+perish, but have everlasting life_.'  The words that I wish to emphasize
+especially are two:--'_the world_.'  They show you the scope of God's
+love and gift.  He loved 'the world,' not some favored race within it.
+And love, which cannot rest inactive, _gave_; gave according to its own
+measure--'His only begotten Son.'  We cannot be otherwise than agreed
+that this love and this gift were for all, and so must include my poor
+China.  Indeed, could you divide God's love arithmetically (it is a
+foolish way to put it--you cannot divide infinity!) then my friends over
+there might claim about one-fifth of it, I suppose, as they number about
+that proportion of the world's population."
+
+The ladies smiled indulgently at the curious way of putting it, but were
+not yet persuaded in their hearts that so considerable a portion of the
+love of God could be diverted from their own delightfully engrossing
+race, not to China alone, but to other peoples also, as would follow by
+that kind of arithmetic.  Let the missionary talk.  It would still be as
+obvious to their consciousness as the glittering pompon on Mrs.
+Greenman's bonnet that themselves were the consistent and natural
+monopolists of the favor of their Creator!
+
+But Mr. Carew went on: "We may find our two very illuminating little
+words in another text almost equally familiar.  It is this: '_Behold the
+Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world_.'  This lets us
+farther into God's attitude and purpose concerning 'the world.'  Loving
+all His creatures, He still saw that they were involved in ruin brought
+on by sin.  If He brought them to Himself--the only event that could
+satisfy love--it must be by a great and costly Redemption.  One emanating
+from Himself must be projected into the ruin and death of the world and
+come back to Him, spotless and unsullied, bringing with Him 'many sons'
+unto the glory.  But He must purge their sins.  So He gave Him to be a
+Lamb of sacrifice; that He taking the sins of the world upon Him, might
+work in Himself a death unto sin that should be made good to all that
+become united to Him.  Potentially, then, the sin of '_the world_' is
+taken away.  If we wish to support further this point in our study
+concerning 'the world' we may turn to Paul and hear, 'God was in Christ,
+reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
+them.'  Or the Apostle John will tell us that 'He is the propitiation for
+our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of _the whole
+world_.'
+
+"Now that we have reminded ourselves of the love, and of the gift
+embracing redemption, it occurs to us to ask how are our poor brothers in
+China to avail themselves of the gift or to hear of the love.  Another
+well-known test, containing our two words again, tells us very clearly.
+It offers the only logical answer to the question, and it is this: '_Go
+ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature_.'  Love
+has devised its gift and prepared it at unspeakable cost, and now
+commands our feet that we may bear it to all habitable parts of the
+earth.  Wherever the objects of God's love are, there the gift must be
+borne.  Do we not all see that the work which we call 'Foreign Missions'
+is in the direct, simple carrying out of the purpose of God, bearing the
+knowledge of the gift to all for whom it is intended, that they may avail
+themselves of it?  What object could be dearer to the heart of God?  What
+He has Himself done shows us of what moment the matter is to Him.  How
+can we ever excuse ourselves that it has been a matter of such
+indifference to us?  He has limited Himself to human instruments for the
+carrying to the lips of dying ones whom He loves the water from the
+smitten Rock, and how have we responded?  Are we indeed His sons and
+daughters, that His supreme wish should be our last concern?"
+
+The speaker's eyes had deepened in color as he spoke.  Now they burned
+with intense feeling.  His long, tenacious hands were clenched
+repressively.  He went on:
+
+"I imagine I hear an objection that the same work is being done at home,
+and that there is ample field here still.  We may not trust our own
+understanding to argue the case as to the value of confining our efforts
+to the home field, but let the Scriptures, always ready to instruct us,
+give us light.  Probably we will agree that Paul, the apostle-missionary,
+is in his life an exponent of the theory of Gospel preaching.  He had an
+ambition.  Hear how he expresses it: 'Yea, being ambitious so to preach
+the Gospel, _not where Christ was already named_, that I might not build
+upon another man's foundation; but, as it is written
+
+  "'They shall see, to whom no tidings of him came,
+  And they who have not heard shall understand.'
+
+"He shows his Roman readers his method; telling them that from Jerusalem
+unto Illyricum (just across the Adriatic Sea from Italy) he had 'fully
+preached the Gospel of Christ.'  Now he was ready to look farther, his
+task to those regions being accomplished.  What did he mean?  Was he
+leaving behind him converted areas, whose every inhabitant magnified God
+in Christ Jesus?  Far from it.  'Fully preached' though he had,
+communities were still heathen, but for the lights that he had kindled
+from place to place in his persecuted journeyings.  Remembering that he
+is in his life the model for Gospel preaching, as he is in his writings
+the messenger of Christian doctrine, must we not see that the Gospel is
+for _broadcast sowing_, not for close gardening, save by the careful
+hands that God will raise up in the wake of the evangelist.  Or, to use
+another figure, it is the _notification, to lost heirs_, of a fortune
+bequeathed them; and the responsibility of the ones entrusted with the
+carrying out of the will is not so much to persuade heirs to receive
+their inheritance as to notify them of it.  So the Apostle preached 'not
+where Christ was named,' having a zeal to discharge his debtorship of
+making known to all nations God's gift of grace.  Now over into
+Spain--far, far afield, as distances then were gauged--the eager eyes of
+the Apostle looked and longed for a crown of rejoicing from that land
+also in the day of Christ.  In him we see the faithful exposition of the
+missionary idea."
+
+By this time Hubert was looking at the speaker very intently, with
+widened, almost startled, eyes that were opening to a new idea.  Winifred
+also sat with riveted gaze, her cheeks slightly paling beneath the
+deepening conviction of a tremendous truth.  True worshiper that she was,
+to know the truth must be to shape her life in consonance with it, and a
+voice at her heart gave warning that to be conformed to this newly
+revealed will of God would be pain.  But where was the theory that had
+seemed so clear and sensible to both Hubert and herself when they came to
+the meeting?  Hubert always had clear ideas.  What would he say to this?
+Now Mr. Carew was saying:
+
+"I have frequently heard it objected to foreign missions that there are
+works of philanthropy still to be done here.  The objection is absolutely
+irrelevant.  The work of missions is not an indefinite 'doing good.'  It
+is the bearing of a _specific good_ to those who have not received it.
+It is not, _per se_, the bettering of temporal conditions.  It is the
+securing to those who believe its message the _best eternal conditions_.
+It is not a matter of 'elevation'--it is a matter of translation.  Not
+into a bettered life, but into a _new_ life with an eternal outlook--into
+a new realm altogether, and that divine--the Gospel we carry ushers its
+believers!  How would the poor, irrelevant argument I have quoted have
+affected Paul?  Looking across the sea to Spain, and to Rome by the way,
+he was leaving behind him in Judea, in Asia--in all the region unto
+Illyricum, hungry people still unfed and the naked still unclothed.  Want
+and misery still stretched out their hands to be relieved.  But they
+could not stay the feet of the Apostle.  He had heard _the supreme call_!
+God had a supreme gift to bestow; the world had a supreme need; and to
+bring the need and the gift together was his absorbing, constraining
+zeal.  Would God it were ours also!  Friends, my plea for China is not
+for its temporal needs; it is not that its women's feet are bound, that
+its men are opium-stupefied, or that it needs our Western ideas, as it is
+waking from its Eastern way.  It is this: _God has an unspeakable gift
+for its people, and we must bear it to them_."
+
+His tall figure was leaning forward and his burning eyes chanced to rest
+fully upon Hubert.  The latter started, and a half audible groan burst
+from his lips.  Was it the burden of a new motive, or the sudden smiting
+of a chord he knew right well?  The "unspeakable gift!"  Yes, he knew it;
+and its glory was ineffable beyond the highest earthly good he had known.
+Happy the man under commission to bear such a treasure, though it be to
+the uttermost parts of the earth!  And the great Giver longed to bestow
+it on the millions of His creatures, but waited the unwilling feet of His
+messengers!  It was heart-breaking!  But was there no other way?  Why
+should an infinite God limit Himself to finite man in carrying out His
+great design?  Mr. Carew continued:
+
+"You may ask why does God restrict Himself to the human instrument in
+bearing the tidings, and _through the tidings the effective result_, of
+the Redemption?  I cannot tell you why, but I see that it is so.  A light
+from heaven may overpower a Saul of Tarsus, and he may hear words
+straight from the ascended Christ.  But a Christian _man_--Ananias--must
+be sent to tell him how to wash away his sins, and to minister the Holy
+Spirit to him.  An angel may communicate with Cornelius, the Centurion,
+but he stays his lips from uttering the Gospel of Christ.  That privilege
+is reserved for the _human_ lips of Peter.  Is it not sufficient that the
+Commander has said, 'Go _ye_'?  Had the task been set for angels, it
+would have been accomplished long since, for _they_ do His pleasure.  But
+He trusted it to us, who might be expected to be so bound by ties of
+gratitude to His will that we would eagerly spring to do His bidding.
+And we have miserably failed.  'Is there not another way?' we languidly
+ask in the face of the command.  I do not see another way.  But the Lord
+has most clearly outlined _this_ way: _That the Gospel should be preached
+in all the world to every creature, and that the one who believes and is
+baptized should be saved_.  To sit and philosophically consider that an
+infinite God must surely find some other way if we fail in this, is not
+reverence for His wisdom.  It is mutiny."
+
+Some of the ladies looked startled at this bold setting forth of the
+case, and remembered how, privately, they had given voice to the
+sentiments under criticism before coming to the meeting.  The Secretary's
+keen face betrayed thorough assent to what the speaker was saying, and
+the President was glad that she held such a relation as she did to a
+cause so evidently right, with a reverse side so evidently wrong.  The
+plain little body of the Church Social beamed thorough sympathy.
+
+"Do you say," continued Mr. Carew, "that God will be merciful to the
+heathen because of their ignorance?  I believe He will, and do not doubt
+that it will be 'more tolerable' for those who have never heard than for
+those in this country (heathen also, in the Scriptural sense) who, having
+often heard, are still rejectors of the Gospel.  But there is a greater
+question involved than that of lessened stripes or mitigated woe.  Do you
+say that men will be _saved_ by lack of knowledge?  The prophet said his
+people _perished_ for lack of it!  Ah, if God had ordained ignorance to
+be the way of salvation He might have spared Himself great cost!--cost of
+the redemption sacrifice, and of its proclamation, often in martyr blood.
+But He confers His boon to faith and 'faith cometh by _hearing_.'
+
+"You say it will increase the responsibility of the heathen if they hear,
+and put them in worse case if they reject the message?  Very true.  But
+had that been a sufficient reason it would have silenced our Lord's 'Go
+ye' at the outset of the age.  Never would the Gospel have traveled to
+our barbaric fathers, and we should be without hope to-day.  But the
+treasure was too great which the Saviour sought.  No thought of deeper
+shadows cast by the very brightness of the light could deter Him from
+holding it forth.  Beyond all cost of difficulty, danger, or the deepened
+condemnation of the lost, was the value of the Church He sought--the
+pearl of great price for which all other possessions might be forfeited!
+Ah, friends, since the object is so dear to Him, where are our hearts
+that we think of it so coldly!  The burden of my plea is _for Him_; not
+for the missionary, not for philanthropy, not even so much for the
+heathen themselves, as _for Him_, because He loves and longs to give but
+lacks the human vessels through which to give!"
+
+The speaker paused, and absently pushed back the hair from his flushed
+forehead.  An almost tragic yearning shone in his deepset eyes.  There
+was one in the congregation whose heart burned in a fellowship of grief
+over the Saviour's unmet longing.  Mr. Carew continued more slowly, in a
+voice intensely sad and almost broken:
+
+"Do you sometimes quote softly for _your_ comfort, 'I will guide thee
+with mine eye'?  You have thought of His eye upon you--and that is
+right--to care for, protect and lead.  But have you ever watched the
+glance of His eye with another thought, not for yourself, but _for Him_?
+Not to see in it provision and help for you; but to see to what He is
+looking, for what He is longing--what it is that will give joy to Him?
+When I look in His eyes," and the speaker was looking far away from his
+congregation and spoke as though half forgetting them, "I seem to hear
+Him saying, 'I have other sheep--I _must bring them_!'"
+
+His voice sank to a whisper.  Hubert felt a little convulsive movement
+beside him and Winifred's hand was shading her eyes.  Mr. Carew recovered
+from the emotion that nearly mastered him, and remembered his hearers and
+their probable wishes.  He began again:
+
+"But perhaps I am neglecting to tell you that which you came especially
+to hear--some details concerning the actual work of God in China.  You
+will pardon me, but I cannot forbear speaking wherever I go concerning
+the principles underlying our work, as well as of the work itself.  One
+might describe the people and their ways--and all that is valuable in
+making them more real to us--and might present a score of curious things
+which would perhaps beguile an hour very pleasantly, but still leave an
+indifferent heart unchanged as to the real motive of missions.  However,
+all that I have said will gain and not lose by our turning attention for
+a time to the practical outworking of the theory."
+
+Then the speaker gave illustrations of the way lost souls are found in
+China.  Very pathetic were some of the incidents, and again and again
+Winifred's eyes were dim, and an unspeakable pain gnawed at Hubert's
+heart.  Fervently he thanked God for those whose darkness He had turned
+to light, but sad beyond expression seemed the repeated instances which
+had occurred in Mr. Carew's experience of earnest pleadings for
+missionaries to be sent to various places and his absolute inability to
+answer the cry.  But broader than the fact of the _wish_ of some stood
+the _need_ of all!  Populous cities without one witness to the grace of
+God!  Wide regions untraversed by the feet of His messengers!  Hubert had
+thought New Laodicea a place of desperate need; and so it was in the
+matter of vital, fruit-bearing piety.  But as he thought of the inky
+darkness in which China's millions dwelt this seemed a place of light.
+
+The meeting came to an end.  But first the President expressed the thanks
+of those who had listened to the lecture, and hoped all had been stirred
+to greater zeal and effort for the future in helping so good a cause.
+She suggested that the mite-boxes should be redistributed.
+
+"'Mite-boxes!'" thought Hubert and squirmed in his seat impatiently.
+Then an inward voice reproved him for his contempt of small things.  He
+thought of the poor that might deposit from time to time small coins that
+meant much from their slender incomes.  Yes, "mites" were all right, if
+they were like the "widow's," and not the meager drippings from a selfish
+superfluity.  But suppose _he_ take a mite-box?  How many of them would
+be required to hold the hoarded, unnecessary, unused wealth at his
+command?  He could not insult the Lord and the "dearest object of His
+heart" by an offering unworthy of his resources.
+
+There was a pleasant buzz of voices at the close of the meeting and
+nobody seemed to be going.  Doctor Schoolman was shaking hands with Mr.
+Carew.  Doors were opened into the parlor and there was the fragrant odor
+of a collation prepared.  For the benevolences of New Laodicea were
+nothing like certain reluctant pumps that will give nothing until they
+have been given to.  To whet an interest in such meetings as this, and to
+cajole small sums from unwilling purses, it was found necessary to make a
+gastronomic appeal.
+
+Hubert and Winifred moved forward to personally express to the lecturer
+their appreciation of his words.  Doctor Schoolman greeted them warmly
+and introduced them to him.  Mr. Carew had noticed the two among his
+hearers, and looked at them now with an unconsciously appealing glance.
+His face was still flushed and the hand Hubert took was hot.
+
+"You are not well," said the latter involuntarily.
+
+"No," said Mr. Carew, rather absently, "I suppose not."
+
+"I should not think this work you are doing would tend to recovery?"
+
+"No, perhaps not," said the missionary.
+
+Hubert looked at him inquiringly.  "Then why do you do it?" he wished to
+ask, but refrained.
+
+Mr. Carew answered his questioning look.
+
+"I am not to be pitied," he said with a smile, "even if I should not
+recover as I hope to do.  Some men are sick and die for pure folly's
+sake, or for business.  They are to be pitied.  But if it were given a
+man to be spent for Christ's sake--to know some faint shadow of suffering
+for the same cause for which _He_ suffered as we never may--that man is
+happy, I think."
+
+"He is," said Hubert earnestly, "he is."
+
+Mr. Carew was struck by the sincerity of Hubert's tones.  He looked at
+him with a searching, yearning expression; somewhat, it may be, as the
+Lord Jesus looked on the rich young man and "loved him."  Would this one
+stand the test of love's requirement?
+
+Some ladies were taking Winifred away to the parlors for refreshments,
+and someone invited Mr. Carew and Hubert also.  They both accepted with
+the mutual wish to prolong the conversation.  As they ate they talked of
+the Living Bread which must be borne to men.
+
+In the course of their conversation Hubert confessed: "You will be
+astonished, but I have never before seen the matter as you presented it
+to-day, and yet I have been a Christian for three years."
+
+"A good many men have been Christians for many years, and yet have not
+come to see the true motive of missions," said Mr. Carew.  "It is
+singular how the most fundamental principles may be most ignored; I
+suppose somewhat as a man thinks less of the foundation stones of his
+house than of what he finds inside it.  But in spite of this if a man has
+really a heart for God, when the matter is clearly presented to him he
+responds to it.  God's purpose must find an 'amen' in his heart."
+
+"That is true," said Hubert.
+
+Presently they left the parlor, still talking together earnestly of God's
+will, and inadvertently drifted into the great auditorium.  Mr. Carew
+glanced about at its finished elegance.
+
+"Perhaps," he said to Hubert, "they think _this_ instead, is doing the
+will of God.  I daresay they have read that the house Solomon builds for
+God must be 'exceeding magnifical,' and they think so must this be.  And,
+indeed, the spiritual antitype of that house must be beautiful!  It
+'groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.'  And the work of missions is
+gathering its 'living stones.'  But _this_--the New Testament breathes no
+word of instruction concerning this material house!  Ah, if I were to
+write a general confession for our church I should say: 'We have left
+undone the things we were told to do, and we have done the things we were
+not told to do, and there is very little health in us!'"
+
+Hubert smiled at Mr. Carew's words, but felt their force.  He ventured to
+remark: "This building does not look as though there were lack of money
+among us."
+
+"Oh, no!" said Mr. Carew.  "Oh, no!"  He repressed his lips, as though
+fearing to say more than would be courteous.  But presently he spoke
+again in general terms.
+
+"The church at home," he said, "has largely forgotten her pilgrim
+character.  She has put off her sandals, and loosened her robes for
+luxurious living instead of girding them for service and pilgrimage.  As
+to display and indulgence at home, she says plainly, 'I am rich,' but as
+to the carrying out the will of God entrusted to her for the world, she
+is pitifully poor."
+
+They were emerging from the stately auditorium, and Hubert bethought him
+to look for Winifred.  They met her in one of the rooms with Mrs.
+Greenman.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Carew," said the latter, "I was looking for you.  Our ladies
+appreciate so very much your talk to us!  I hope--"
+
+Winifred and Hubert were now speaking together and did not hear more of
+the President's remarks.  But before they left the place Hubert had
+sought Mr. Carew again and had asked him to call at his office the
+following day.
+
+"I should like to talk with you further concerning your business," he
+said.
+
+He used the word "business" absent-mindedly, and Mr. Carew smiled, not at
+all illy pleased with it.  Hubert was thinking of an investment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD
+
+Winifred and Hubert walked a part of the way home in silence.  At
+length the former spoke.
+
+"It seems to me we have been rather blind concerning the object of
+missions," she said.  "What do you think of it now, Hubert?"
+
+"I am convinced that I have taken a very shallow view of it," Hubert
+replied.  "It is a marvel to me now that I could have missed so
+completely the true motive of missions.  It is as clear as daylight in
+the Bible.  It is humiliating to think one has been so contentedly
+provincial in thoughts of God's salvation.  I am ashamed of it."
+
+"So am I," agreed Winifred, and then they walked on in silence.  An
+uneasy thought was gnawing at her heart that hardly found expression.
+Had it been put in words it would have been something like this:
+
+"How are we _to act_ with reference to new light on the will of God?
+If Hubert and I are really His children, called into His fellowship,
+then we must be sympathetic with His wish and do what we can to forward
+it.  What would that be?"
+
+Soon they reached the door of their home.  Home!  What a pleasant word
+it is.  How easily the accustomed key turned in the latch, and how
+familiarly the house belongings greeted them as they entered.  Ay,
+"there's no place like home," and its cords wind themselves about us
+silently, certainly, until it seems almost a sacrilege to think of
+leaving it.
+
+Hubert went at once to his room, to the spot where questions were wont
+to be settled, and when dinner was announced he begged to be excused.
+
+Winifred and her father sat alone at the table.  He inquired concerning
+the missionary meeting, and she rehearsed to him much of what Mr. Carew
+had said.
+
+"Ah, very good--very good," Mr. Gray said.  "Very conclusive, I should
+think."
+
+But it did not occur to him how a conclusive argument and a life action
+might stand related.  Theories cost nothing when only the mind assents
+to them.  But wrought in the heart, they mold lives after them.
+
+In Hubert's room a painful heart process was going on.  Sunk in a deep,
+capacious chair, with head resting upon his hand, he set in order
+before himself the axiomatic truths he had heard.
+
+"God's supreme work is salvation," he meditated.  "The field for this
+work is the world--the whole world.  Salvation is wrought--as to man's
+part--through faith in a message preached.  The message requires a
+messenger.  In vast proportions of the field the messengers are
+wanting.  What should be done about it?  Clearly, the messengers should
+rally at the command of God.  But it must be at His command.  Men
+cannot go self-sent."
+
+This thought gave a brief respite to the haunting sense of a
+responsibility.
+
+"_Whom shall I send and who will go for us_?" The double questions
+heard by Isaiah in the temple repeated itself now in Hubert's mind.
+
+"There are two questions there," he said.  "'Whom shall _I send_, and
+who will go for us?'  A man can only answer, finally, the second.  God
+must answer His own first query,--although Isaiah did suggest, 'send
+me.'  Must not any loyal child _if he hear_ his Father's appeal say,
+'Here am I'?"
+
+Hubert's head sank lower upon his hand.
+
+"Have I heard the voice of His need?" he asked, but hesitated to answer
+his own question.  "Yes," he said finally, aloud, in a strained voice,
+"I have heard.  I can never un-hear His words.  I may disregard them,
+make myself forget them, but I can never go back to the place of twelve
+hours ago and be as though I had never known His mind.  I have been in
+His temple--I, a worshiper purged by His infinite grace, I have seen a
+vision of His will, and have heard the voice of His need.  I can never
+undo the fact."
+
+Lines that somebody had written repeated themselves in his mind:
+
+  "Light obeyed increaseth light;
+   Light rejected bringeth night.
+   Who shall give me power to choose,
+   If the love of light I lose?"
+
+Why did he still hesitate?  Why did his "here am I" linger for hours
+unsaid?  A sense of the reality of present things and of home
+surroundings swept over him.  These were the possible things.  But
+those--?  He shuddered.  Dim, misty, in a veil of unreality lay China,
+a distant land.  What relation had he with it?  There were
+missionaries, a strange, separated, unusual folk, specially created for
+the purpose, no doubt; but _he_, a practical, everyday, intensely real
+sort of being--what had he to do with things so far away?  Oh, no!  It
+was not for him.  Let him put aside the overwrought fancies of the day,
+and return to practical life again.
+
+He almost rose from his seat as though to emphasize his sober thought,
+but an impression restrained him.
+
+"And so I lose My witnesses!" he imagined his Lord saying with grief.
+"They are walking by sight and not by faith, and the seen, tangible
+things hold them.  Who will stretch out his hands to lay hold upon the
+things of eternal life?"
+
+Hubert sank in rebuked silence under the spell of the afternoon's
+disclosure.  It was reality, if he were a Christian.  It must be faced.
+But how the seen things wrestled with the heavenly vision!  Habit, long
+association, and tender love mingled a cup of sacrifice that he must
+drink.  Could he leave all these for the sake of the joyful message of
+his Lord?
+
+Now imagination pictured the leavetaking.  How the familiar scenes of
+his home and native city remonstrated with his choice!  In fancy he
+wrung for the last time his father's hand, he bade one last farewell to
+the flower-dressed grave of his gentle mother, and--and _Winifred_!
+
+A dry, tearless sob shook him.  O sweet sister, loved most of all since
+the days when, her jealous-eyed protector, he walked beside her to the
+school, shared sturdily but keenly her childish woes and fought all
+battles for her!  Loved now with a closer, spiritual tie in their
+mutual devotion to their blessed Lord!  How could he give her up?  How
+could he leave her undefended now by his watchful love?
+
+The scene of three years ago when he handed the sword of his
+self-served and self-defended life to Jesus Christ, and purposed in His
+heart to follow Him at any cost, was vividly rehearsed in his memory.
+Possessions, home, kindred, all things, were nominated in the bond of
+the whole-hearted surrender to his Lord.  The time had come to hold to
+those honest terms.
+
+Hubert rose from his seat with a pale face, and a death-like sinking at
+his heart.  "Yes, Lord Jesus," he uttered with dry lips, "I am at Thy
+command.  Forgive my coward halting.  If Thou wilt send me, I will go."
+
+
+On the other side of the hall, in her pretty room, Winifred had prayed:
+"We have seen the glance of Thine eye, O Lord, and know Thy longing.
+Open our eyes to see how we may serve Thee, and strengthen our hearts
+to bear--nay, to love!--Thy will.  If we must give each other up"--a
+long pause, broken by storms of weeping, intervened--"then let us
+see--oh, _let us see Thy face_!"
+
+
+When Winifred and Hubert first met in the hall next morning some gleams
+of comfort had already stolen into both their hearts.  He put his arm
+about her as they descended the stairs together, and at the foot they
+paused.
+
+"Dear little sister!" he said caressingly.
+
+Her eyes filled at his unusual tenderness; for Hubert's love, however
+fervent and well believed-in, was not demonstrative.  She looked up in
+his face with a long, serious question.  He answered it by asking:
+
+"Shall I go?--for Him, Winnie?"
+
+"Yes, Hubert," she said earnestly, "oh, yes!"  But the color flickered
+in her cheeks and her lips grew white.
+
+They stood for a moment together but neither spoke.  Together they
+presented afresh their offering to God, and He knew that it was costly.
+
+At breakfast neither spoke of the matter that was uppermost in their
+hearts.  But later Hubert sought his father in the library and made
+known to him the step he had taken.
+
+Grief, dismay, and almost anger, struggled in the older man's heart.
+He looked at his son with sorrowful sternness.
+
+"Then--then, Hubert," he said very slowly, "you have concluded to leave
+me."
+
+A pang shot through Hubert's heart, keener than any thought of his own
+pain, but he answered steadily:
+
+"I have concluded, father, to follow Christ."
+
+Mr. Gray frowned.  He was not conscious of frowning at the name of
+Christ, or at so pure a sentiment as that uttered, but grief made him
+insensible to what he did.
+
+"And is that," he asked with some irony, "the only way you can find of
+following Him?  Can no one follow Him at home?"
+
+"I do not see that he can if he is called abroad, father."
+
+"And are you called?" he asked sharply, still the pain at his heart
+dulling any sense of shame that he could speak unsympathetically of
+such a thing.
+
+Hubert answered gently.
+
+"I believe I am, father," he said.
+
+Mr. Gray stared at his son silently.  His face grew ashen and the hand
+upon the table before him trembled visibly.  Hubert stood in an agony
+of mute sympathy.  At last the father rose without a word and prepared
+to leave the room.  His face looked older by a decade than an hour
+before.  Hubert made a movement to detain him and opened his lips to
+speak; but the other waved him aside with a quick gesture of the
+trembling hand.  And so they parted.
+
+Hubert looked after his father with a breaking heart.  He had thought
+the crisis of his grief was passed when alone in his room he wrestled
+out the problem for his own heart.  But now a heavier weight rested
+upon his soul.  Must he break his father's heart?  Must the hope of
+happy comradeship in future years be put aside, and with the
+disappointment his father age and weaken irrecoverably?  He saw him
+walk down the path slowly and heavily, and a feeling of awful guilt
+swept over him.  Was he his father's murderer?  Was he following a
+delusion that would make himself an exile and lay his father
+prematurely in his grave?  The thought overpowered him.  He sank
+helplessly in a chair and groaned out his burden to the Lord.
+
+"O Lord," he prayed, "am I walking in Thy footsteps, or am I a deluded
+wretch, bringing sorrow, and it may be death, to those I love most?"
+He paused, and his head sank deeply.  "Lord, this is grief," he
+groaned.  "This is grief.  I have not known it before."
+
+And so it seemed.  Thoughts of his own loneliness and possible
+hardships seemed light compared with this.
+
+"Grief!" he repeated, as though he found relief in the pitiful uttering
+of the word whose depths he was sounding.  Then memory framed a passage
+which held the same word.  "A man of sorrows," it repeated, "and
+_acquainted with grief_!"
+
+How sweet the words sounded!  And how dear the imagined face of Him of
+whom they were spoken!
+
+"Tell me of Thy grief," he whispered.  "Didst Thou cause grief?"
+
+Words of Scripture again came to his help.
+
+"Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul," he heard Simeon say
+to the mother of his Lord, and it dawned upon him that when Jesus faced
+the cross with its agony He must have felt through His tenderest of
+hearts the sword-piercing of His Mother's sorrow.  Ah, yes!  He caused
+grief.  And as He took His own way to the cross He raised a standard
+for those who follow of pitiless separations and of broken ties, if
+need be, for His kingdom's sake.  "_If any man cometh unto Me, and,
+hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and
+brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My
+disciple_."
+
+Texts that Hubert had passed lightly before were now illuminated with
+meaning and power as the occasion rose for them to be translated into
+life.  He found a rare sweetness of comfort in those which assured him
+that he need not fear he was out of the path of the Saviour's
+footprints, though he found them blood-marked or washed with many
+tears.  He turned to some familiar words which he wished to see before
+him again in plain black and white.  They were found toward the end of
+the ninth chapter of Luke.
+
+"Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father," said one in response
+to his Lord's "follow me."  And said Jesus, "_Let the dead bury their
+dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God_."
+
+"Let the dead bury their dead!"  What a strange expression, and what
+could it mean!  Hubert pondered the text, no longer in keen agony of
+mind, for his distress had lightened as he saw even on the painful way
+the light of God's will shining.  Anything could be borne, if the face
+of the Lord still shone upon it!
+
+"What does it mean?" he queried in deep meditation.
+
+Slowly a meaning, not the full one, doubtless, but suited to his need,
+dawned upon him.  Let the spiritually dead attend to the affairs of
+death.  Let them follow the conventional, natural round, and answer
+always to the cries of human love and longing.  Let them keep to
+earthly ties and earthly work.  But let the living be about the affairs
+of life!  A ministry waits that only living hands can serve.  Let
+filial hearts render unto earthly love that which is due, but see that
+_thou_, child of God, render also unto God the things which are God's.
+
+"There are a thousand things," thought Hubert, "that unregenerated men
+can do quite as well as any.  Indeed, they have an affinity with
+earthly things that is lacking in the heaven-born man.  To trade in
+iron and amass wealth does not require a living man.  I will let others
+do it.  The supreme business of my Father calls, and I must be about
+it.  But my earthly father?  Shall I wait first to bury him?  The Lord
+says, No."
+
+Hubert studied his pattern in His life as well as words.
+
+"He was subject to His parents," he reflected, "until the time came for
+His ministry and He had reached mature years of responsibility.  Then,
+when He had entered upon His task, not even His mother's voice could
+turn Him from it.  When His friends thought Him beside Himself, and she
+with them sought to take Him away from His work, He said, 'Who is My
+mother? . . .  Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my
+brother and sister and mother.'  But He still was not unfilial.  When
+not even the thought of the sword through her heart could take Him from
+the cross, He made provision for her, commending her to John's faithful
+love."
+
+Hubert's eyes grew soft again with thoughts of his father.  There was
+no need to think of provision for him, for he had enough.  But he
+longed to give him always the joy of a son's tender love and
+companionship.  Still the supreme call was inexorable, and another
+Father's business demanded filial fellowship.
+
+"Thou must care for him, Lord," he said, and with a sudden impulse he
+knelt beside the library table and prayed that God would take away all
+the sting of his father's grief, and give him joy instead; joy in
+fellowship with the great Father in His giving.
+
+After prayer he was much relieved and went to his work as usual,
+admitting to his office soon after his arrival Mr. Carew, who called in
+response to his wish of the day before.  Hubert had more to offer than
+the financial gift contemplated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+GOD, MY EXCEEDING JOY
+
+A heavy cloud hung over the house for days.  Mr. Gray was silent and
+sad.  All attempts to renew the conversation of that painful Thursday
+morning were waived aside.  Hubert was at a loss to know how to proceed
+with his project, but he and Winifred gave themselves to diligent
+prayer.  As to the latter, sharp as was her grief at the thought of
+parting with her brother, her love for God was stronger, and she did
+not hesitate for a moment in her consent that he should go.
+
+"I do not know any other answer to give to God," she said.  "Surely I
+have nothing too precious for Him, when He has given all to me.  And
+you know," she said with a radiant smile, "Hubert and I can never lose
+each other!  We cannot lose what is in Christ!"
+
+She made these remarks to Adèle Forrester, to whom the matter of
+Hubert's call to foreign service was communicated.  Her friend listened
+very quietly.
+
+Adèle had been steadily growing in God's grace since the day when His
+way of salvation dawned so brightly upon her.  She was the same
+merry-hearted young woman as before, but a certain womanly sweetness,
+never really lacking beneath the gay exterior, developed in
+ever-increasing winsomeness.  A capacity for intense enjoyment found
+new sources for its filling in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and she
+pursued faithfully and happily the ways she saw of serving Him.  To-day
+she received Winifred's news with evident sympathy, but with a reserve
+of feeling not expressed.
+
+"Our Bishop preached a splendid missionary sermon two weeks ago," she
+remarked.  "He made things very plain indeed.  I think we all felt that
+we had been almost traitors in not rallying to the Lord's standard
+better than we had done.  Even Dick paid some attention, for he said
+after church--you know what a tease he is--'_now_ I hope you see where
+you ought to be!'"
+
+"Oh, Adèle," said Winifred, "I haven't thought to ask you in months how
+the choir is getting along.  The mention of Dick reminds me.  Do you
+still enjoy your singing?"
+
+Adèle laughed.  "My 'occupation's gone,'" she said.  "We are supplanted
+by a boy choir.  The present minister likes that better.  A saucy
+little fellow who brings our evening paper and fights his business
+competitors once in a while is one of our successors.  He looks quite
+cherubic in a surplice."
+
+"And you?"
+
+"I sing praises in the congregation, and what is left over I sometimes
+offer in the mission."
+
+"So you still keep up your service at the mission?"
+
+"Oh, yes!"
+
+Adèle did not add how much appreciated were those services, nor how she
+had added visitation amongst the families represented at the mission to
+the evident blessing of not a few.
+
+Their conversation drifted back to the subject of Hubert's leaving, and
+Adèle entered a compact of prayer for the right development of all
+things relating to it.
+
+Gradually the Spirit of God wrought in the heart of Robert Gray.  He
+was led to think of the darkness of unbelief out of which his son had
+been brought, and to consider how fitting a thing it was that a life
+thus renewed should be held at the command of God.  But it was hard to
+think of him as a foreign missionary!  Mr. Gray had believed
+theoretically in the cause of missions and had given a yearly
+subscription to the society representing it.  But to give his son--ah,
+that was a different matter!  At the first shock of the thought he had
+recoiled, and a naturally stubborn heart kept the question at bay for a
+time.  But he could not long fight with God.  The fellowship lost while
+he steeled his heart against the unwelcome demand was too great a price
+to pay.  Gradually it came to him that the greater weight that bowed
+his soul and took the joyous spring from life was not Hubert's proposed
+leaving, but the hiding of God's face.
+
+"In thy favor is life," he prayed.  "Any bereavement would be better
+than for Thee to hide Thy face from me."
+
+And the Face shone out again as his softened will loosened its
+tenacious grip of that it held.  But still he was a man of strong
+opinions, and slow to be convinced that his clear-headed, business-like
+son was the one to follow the still hazy-seeming, far-off life of a
+missionary.
+
+It was a happy day when the ban was lifted from the subject and Hubert
+was free to discuss it with his father and arrange business matters for
+a separation.  A new element in the matter taxed the sympathy of the
+hard-headed business man, when it became apparent that his hitherto
+practical son intended not only withdrawing his active partnership from
+the firm of Robert Gray & Son, but to sell his interest in the concern,
+liberating the proceeds for the use of God.
+
+"What folly!" said the elder man frankly.
+
+"Do you remember our discussion of the Scripture about it?" replied
+Hubert, smiling.  "I think I submitted to you the conclusions drawn
+from a study concerning it.  I might as well act upon my convictions,
+or I shall lose them.  You know what James says about the 'hearers
+only' of the word?"
+
+"Yes, I know what he says," said his father a little testily.  "But
+about this money question there must be a sensible middle course
+somewhere between a fanatical giving away everything you have and a
+close-fisted holding on to it all.  Give to the Lord of your first
+fruits, certainly.  That is a good thing.  But a man ought to look out
+for himself."
+
+"Yes," said Hubert, "I believe there is a rational course to be
+followed, and perhaps the Lord may not wish to hereafter provide for me
+miraculously that which I now have in hand naturally.  I do not see all
+the details clearly yet.  But certainly over and above my own
+necessities--which will be simple--there is something to lay at once at
+the feet of the Lord.  I am glad I have so much for Him."
+
+"Don't let your enthusiasm run away with your common sense.  Try to be
+practical."
+
+"I think I am practical," said Hubert, smiling again, "although it is
+hard for a man to judge his own actions.  It seems to me the practical
+way to give is to give.  The people whom I consider impractical are
+those who, having an abundance for themselves, dole out pittances for
+the Lord and regret they are so little!  The poor, perplexed ladies in
+the missionary society vex their brains in planning how to 'raise'
+something for Him.  They take mite-boxes themselves, and they encourage
+the gifts of the poor, the children, the babies--and even the dolls, I
+am told!  It is very pathetic.  But why does it never occur to them--to
+those who can afford it, I mean--to _give_?  That is what I should call
+practical.  I suppose Mrs. Greenman did not find much difficulty in
+'raising' enough money to pay for her swell reception the day after the
+missionary meeting, I saw the street lined with carriages and heard an
+orchestra playing inside as I passed.  We can imagine the decorations
+and the fine gowning.  Now that was practical.  What she wanted was a
+fine display, and she practically put her hand in her pocket and paid
+for it.  But she says they cannot all do what they would like for
+missions!  Why do they plead poverty there?  Mrs. Greenman would not
+like to have her husband poorly rated in Bradstreet's, and I am sure
+she did not wish to have her guests the other day think of poverty.
+But before the Lord--ah, maybe that is what they think it is to be
+'_poor in spirit_!'  But if they would be honest!  If she should say,
+now, in the missionary meeting: 'The amount raised is not what we might
+have given, but it is all we really wish to give in view of the
+luncheon parties, fine dresses, and all that sort of thing, that we
+find more important,'  I think that way of putting it would be
+practical, and honest withal."
+
+Mr. Gray actually laughed, and the sound was music to his son's ears.
+
+"Very good, Hubert," he said.  "You had better give them a lecture."
+
+"Had I not better give them an object lesson?" Hubert suggested instead.
+
+"There is one thing you cannot do," Mr. Gray said with a sly triumph.
+Hubert looked at him inquiringly.  "You cannot give away your mother's
+legacy.  The terms of the will provide for that.  The property cannot
+be alienated."
+
+Hubert looked at his father blankly for a moment.  The fact stated he
+had quite forgotten.
+
+"You are right," he exclaimed.  Then his brow cleared of its blank
+surprise and he laughed.  "That settles it about the rest," he said.
+"The income from that property will amply support me and any poor
+interests a humble missionary may have."
+
+"Just so," said his father.  "Or it might maintain a poor fool who had
+missed his calling and was sent home."
+
+Hubert laughed again.  "Quite so," he assented.
+
+And so the clouds broke away from over the house of Gray.  A restored
+mutual understanding gave relief amounting to joy even in the face of
+coming separation.
+
+Hubert's enterprise, like a great ship, could not be launched hastily.
+Months of preparation passed in which the business matter was finally
+settled and other affairs adjusted.  It was finally concluded that the
+entire business of Robert Gray & Son should be sold, as the senior
+partner did not wish to carry it on without his son.
+
+"It is not a question of the poor-house if you do give it up now,
+father," Hubert said to him, and he assented.
+
+The missionary-to-be found himself called to many places to speak on
+behalf of the cause, and he did so with great readiness.  His intense
+ardor caused his words to burn their way into many hearts.  Again and
+again his own heart was overwhelmed within him by the greatness of his
+theme.  Cold figures became burning facts as he looked at the wide
+areas untouched by the Gospel.  The slighted wish of his Lord became an
+anguish in his soul.  That men and women should call themselves by His
+name and still live unto themselves, never grieved by His message
+undelivered, His errand of love undone, was a shame intolerable.
+Sometimes when the passion for his Lord's will swept his soul, and he
+beheld in contrast the idle hands of the church, paralyzed by pleasure
+or filled with self-interests, in secret he cast himself upon his face
+and wept as only a strong man, unused to tears, can weep.
+
+The heart of Robert Gray turned with increasing fondness to his
+daughter who still saw her place to be at his side.  A great comfort
+was she to him in these days of trial.  For herself, Winifred was
+finding out afresh "the sweetness of an accepted sorrow."  The joy of
+the Lord was inexpressible.  She could scarcely understand the gladness
+that filled her soul after sacrifice "more than when their corn and
+their wine increased."
+
+"Why are you so radiant?" Adèle asked in one of their many conferences.
+
+"I do not know," she answered, blushing at being surveyed so
+admiringly.  "But do you remember that Psalm, Adèle, that says:
+
+  "'O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me,
+  Let them bring me unto thy holy hill'--
+
+"that is getting very near to God, Adèle--
+
+  "'And to thy tabernacles.
+
+"That is nearer still; but listen to that that comes next:
+
+  "'Then will I go unto the altar of God,
+  Unto God my exceeding joy.'
+
+"I think this is the reason why I am so happy.  His light and His truth
+have led me to His holy precincts and I have gone to His altar--to the
+altar of burnt offering.  And, Adèle,"--her eyes filled with tears of
+an inexpressible gladness--"it is _there_ we find Him to be our
+'exceeding joy.'  I cannot explain it--I cannot even tell it--but He is
+'_my exceeding joy_!'"
+
+"I know," said Adèle, her own eyes filling.  "I have found Him there.
+And I think one reason why so many Christians seem to have no joy is
+because they have not come to His altar in the sense you mean.  Perhaps
+they have seen Christ there for them in some sense, but have never
+quite taken their place there with Him.  Do you remember, too,
+Winifred, that it was when the burnt offering began on that great
+occasion in Hezekiah's time that 'the song of the Lord began also?'"
+
+"Oh, yes!" Winifred responded.  "'The song of the Lord!'  It has surely
+begun here, Adèle."
+
+And so it had, indeed.  That evening as Hubert returned from a busy day
+in town he found his sister singing;
+
+  "'O joy that seekest me through pain,
+  I cannot close my heart to thee;
+  I trace the rainbow through the rain,
+  And feel the promise is not vain
+  That morn shall tearless be.'"
+
+"Singing, little sister?" was his greeting.
+
+"Yes, Hubert.  That has been much of my occupation to-day."
+
+"That is good," he replied.  "By the way, I heard some news in town
+to-day."  He endeavored to speak carelessly, but looked at her
+apprehensively.
+
+"Yes?  What is it?"
+
+He walked to the window and examined a flower with apparent interest.
+
+"I hear that George Frothingham's engagement to Miss Randolph, the
+banker's daughter, is announced."
+
+"Yes," said Winifred calmly, "I saw that in the morning paper.  You
+need not have been afraid to tell me, Hubert.  His engagement is a
+matter of perfect indifference to me."
+
+"Thank the Lord!" Hubert exclaimed impulsively.
+
+"Amen," she responded, still calmly.
+
+On another evening Hubert returned with still another piece of news.
+He had gone to the Cleary Street Mission to speak, and was late in
+returning.  Winifred, who loved to hear accounts of all his meetings,
+waited up for him.  She was in her little sitting-room when he
+returned.  He came straight to her door and answered her ready "come
+in" with a light step and glowing face.  He plunged at the special
+matter of joy at once.
+
+"Winifred," he said, "I am not going to China alone."
+
+The color changed in her face at the sudden announcement.
+
+"Who--who is it, Hubert?  Is it--?"
+
+"Adèle."
+
+"Oh, Hubert, I am so glad!" she cried joyfully, and kissed him in warm
+congratulation.
+
+Then suddenly the thought of her own loss intruded.  Must she give her
+up also?  Her eager gladness turned to a burst of tears.  How swept of
+all whom she had loved, except her dear father, seemed the home scenes
+now.  She would gladly have restrained herself for Hubert's sake, but
+the sudden grief was uncontrollable.  She sobbed convulsively, as when
+years ago some childish grief had broken in storms upon her and Hubert
+had stood by in tearless but painful sympathy, suggesting boyish
+consolations, ready to sacrifice any plaything or possession that might
+mend her broken heart.  Now he stood helplessly before this passionate
+outburst.
+
+"Forgive me, Winifred," he said contritely, "it is cruel of me to take
+her away."
+
+"No, it isn't," sobbed Winifred.  "It is just--what I--wished.  Only--I
+shall--miss her so!"
+
+"Of course," he replied pitifully.
+
+The storm subsided, and Winifred looked at her brother apologetically.
+
+"I am ashamed," she said, still with long catches in her breath.  "I
+couldn't help it.  I am not sorry--she is going--I am very glad!"
+
+"You are very brave," he said.
+
+"But it's true," she persisted.  "It's all over now, Hubert.  I shall
+not cry like that again.  Let us talk about it."
+
+They talked about it till the small hours came.  Winifred's face
+cleared of every trace of sorrow, and she loved to think of the cheer
+and help that Hubert would have in the far-off land.  No braver heart
+of all they knew could have been found to share his pilgrimage; and
+they imagined how Adèle's keen sense of humor might turn many a sorry
+happening into mirth.  Also she had served an apprenticeship here among
+the poor and outcast whom she had come to love and who loved her well.
+
+"Winifred," said Hubert suddenly in the midst of their conversation,
+"Gerald Bond is to preach for Dr. Schoolman next Sunday."
+
+For some reason best known to himself he watched her countenance
+narrowly as he made the announcement.  But her fair face showed only
+sweet unconsciousness.
+
+"Really?" she said.  "I am very glad."
+
+"We must have him with us if we can.  I long to talk with him about
+these new things."
+
+"Certainly.  You must invite him, Hubert."
+
+"Winnie," said her brother, "I seem to have a spirit of prophesy upon
+me to-night.  Almost I can see the path before us with some of its
+lights and shadows.  Oh, there will be compensations for all sorrows!"
+
+"I know it," she said earnestly.
+
+"You will say it is my own great joy that God has given that makes me
+prophesy.  Perhaps it is.  But I see this, Winnie; He will never be in
+our debt when we yield our all to Him.  Sweet surprises, unlooked for
+joys, will be thrown in all the way.  Goodness and mercy shall follow
+us all our days!"
+
+"I believe it, Hubert, and then--we shall dwell in the house of the
+Lord forever!"
+
+He drew her to the low open window, and they stepped together into the
+balcony.  The lights of the city were still burning, but in the east a
+flickering star was proclaiming the not distant advent of a greater
+light.
+
+"Do you see the parable in lights, Winnie?  See how brightly the street
+is lighted.  No one need lose his way or bemoan the darkness, though it
+is night.  But yonder is a prophet of a fuller light.  He is saying,
+'The sun will come.'  Here is my parable: It is night, surely, while
+our Lord is still away.  But He gives us light.  No way will ever be
+cheerless for you and me, little sister.  I know He will give me as I
+go numberless pleasures, fresh interests, and boundless consolation in
+Himself for all that is left behind.  And for you, Winifred, I almost
+see some rare, sweet blessings over your dear head, just ready to fall
+upon it."
+
+"Yes," said Winifred, "I am sure it's true.  I have been singing to-day,
+
+  "'Glory to Thee for all the grace
+  I have not tasted yet!'"
+
+"These are like the lights in the city, Winnie, but there is a day-star
+in our hearts that is foretelling the perfect day.  Presently the grace
+of the journeying shall give way to the eternal glory--to the
+homecoming!  Look, sister, do you see that impulse of the dawn, as
+though the darkness pulsated with premonition of its coming?"
+
+"Yes," said Winifred, with deep gladness in her voice.  "The coming of
+the Lord draweth nigh."
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The First Soprano, by Mary Hitchcock
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The First Soprano
+
+
+Author: Mary Hitchcock
+
+Release Date: March 26, 2005  [eBook #15467]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIRST SOPRANO***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
+
+
+THE FIRST SOPRANO
+
+by
+
+MARY HITCHCOCK
+
+Author of _One Christmas_
+
+Union Gospel Press
+Cleveland, Ohio
+
+1912
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+     I  IN THE CHURCH
+    II  THE HOUSE OF GRAY
+   III  THE CONFESSION
+    IV  ADELE
+     V  IS GOD DEMONSTRABLE?
+    VI  MR. FROTHINGHAM AND THE CHOIR REHEARSAL
+   VII  A NEW SUNDAY
+  VIII  "NOT OF THE WORLD"
+    IX  "TWO OF ME"
+     X  THE CHURCH SOCIAL
+    XI  MR. BOND'S LECTURE
+   XII  THE SOUL HEARS A CAUSE
+  XIII  EXPERIENCE
+   XIV  A "WITLESS, WORTHLESS LAMB"
+    XV  "SELL THAT YE HAVE"
+   XVI  THE MISSIONARY MEETING
+  XVII  LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD
+ XVIII  GOD, MY EXCEEDING JOY
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+IN THE CHURCH
+
+It was Sunday morning in a church at New Laodicea.  The bell had ceased
+pealing and the great organ began its prelude with deep bass notes that
+vibrated through the stately building.  The members of the choir were
+all in their places in the rear gallery, and prepared in order their
+music in the racks before them.  Below the worshipers poured in steady,
+quiet streams down the carpeted aisles to their places, and there was a
+gentle murmur of silk as ladies settled in their pews and bowed their
+heads for the conventional moment of prayer.  Exquisitely stained
+windows challenged the too garish daylight, but permitted to enter
+subdued rays in azure, violet and crimson tints which fell athwart the
+eastern pews and garnished the marble font and the finely carved
+pulpit.  They fell upon the silvering hair of the Reverend Doctor
+Schoolman as he pronounced the invocation and read the opening hymn,
+but they failed to reach the young stranger, seated behind, who
+accompanied him this morning.
+
+Faultlessly in their usual current ran the services until the time for
+the anthem by the choir, and then the people settled themselves
+comfortably in their pews with expectant faces and ears slightly turned
+to catch every strain from the well-trained voices in the gallery
+behind.  This time the selection was from Mendelssohn and a soprano
+voice began alone:
+
+  "Oh, for the wings, for the wings of a dove!
+  Far away, far away would I rove!"
+
+Clear, pure and true, the sweet voice floated through the church.  With
+dramatic sympathy it yielded to the spirit of the melody and the pathos
+of the words.  It touched hearts with a sense of undefined sorrow and
+longing.  Madame Chapeau, the French milliner, who rented a sitting in
+the church of her patrons, sat with eyes filled with tears that
+threatened to plough pale furrows through the roses of her cheeks.
+
+  "In the wilderness build me a nest,"
+
+suggested the sweet voice.  Two weeks in a lonely country place had
+been far too long the summer before for Madame, and a wilderness was
+the last place she desired.  But the plaintive song touched a
+sentimental chord and answered every purpose.  Mr. Stockman, who sat
+midway of the center aisle, grasping his gold-headed cane, suffered the
+keen business lines of his face to relax and looked palpably pleased.
+He recalled the money contributed to the expense of the choir, and
+reflected that he would not withdraw a dollar of it.  To be sure, he
+remembered that the services of this soprano, daughter of Robert Gray,
+the iron merchant and elder of the church, were gratuitous; but still
+he was glad to associate the thought of his money with the choir that
+could render such music.  And presently the chorus joined in the song,
+and many voices added their harmony, to the increasing passion of the
+cry:
+
+  "In the wilderness build me a nest,
+  And remain there forever at rest!"
+
+Sensitive souls thrilled to the music, which unquestionably always
+added the capstone to the aesthetic enjoyment of this, the most elegant
+church at New Laodicea.  The minister sat with a studied expression of
+approbation and subdued enjoyment.  The young stranger at his side sat
+with eyes shaded by his hand.
+
+The choir seated themselves with pleased relief, for there had been no
+noticeable flaw in the production.  The leader's sensitive face looked
+as nearly satisfied as it ever became over any performance.  The
+organist slid off his bench and dropped into his chair to listen to the
+sermon--or, perhaps not to listen.  But he had done his part well,
+faithfully filling in all the interstices of time between numbers of
+the program, so that the congregation had been bored by no moments of
+silence nor thrust back upon the necessity of meditation.
+
+There were a few words of introduction, and it was found that the
+stranger was to speak.  He was just a trifle surprising in appearance,
+for his coat had no ministerial cut, and was even a bit more suggestive
+of business than of the profession of divinity.  But he was soon
+forgiven this; for his voice was even and pleasant, and he looked at
+his congregation with a pair of frank blue eyes, while he spoke with
+the simplicity of a man who has somewhat to say to his fellowmen and
+says it honestly.  His text excited no curiosity, for it was this:
+"_The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship
+the Father in spirit and in truth_."
+
+In the choir Miss Winifred Gray had composed herself to listen.
+Fortunately she was at the rear of her admiring hearers and had not to
+confront their faces as she sat down.  She had enjoyed her part
+exceedingly.  She loved her music, and the greater its pathos the
+keener her enjoyment in rendering it.  There was a subtle sense of
+power, too, which she did not analyze, in moving a whole congregation
+to admiration and sympathy.  With her whole heart she had entered into
+her musical work, in which the church divided attention with the
+drawing-room and an occasional concert.  She sat now in pleased triumph
+and had no ears for the opening words of the young man's sermon.  But
+it dawned upon her gradually that he was speaking from the words, "in
+spirit and in truth."  He spoke of the former worship which dealt with
+externals of place and method--with "carnal ordinances imposed until a
+time of reformation"; and then of a new era of worship which Christ had
+brought in, wherein true worshipers draw nigh to God, not with sensuous
+offerings, but "in spirit and in truth."
+
+Winifred could not follow all that he said, for it seemed a new and
+strange language for the most part, but she gathered this: that somehow
+Christ had opened the way for all believers into the very spiritual
+presence of God, into a holy place not made with hands (and the more
+real because it was not, being God-made and eternal), and that there
+worshipers stood before eyes of perfect discernment, unclothed by
+outward semblance, and offered "spiritual sacrifices" unto Him.  It was
+a beautiful picture, but awful.  Winifred shuddered as she thought of
+the august Presence that inhabited the Holiest of All that the minister
+spoke of, and wondered if she would dare approach it.  To stand in
+naked spirit before eyes of flame and to be read through and through,
+daring to speak no unmeant word, but only that which the heart
+designed, in absolute sincerity!  Was worship in spirit such a real
+thing as that?  Was she a true worshiper?  Why was she there that
+morning?  She glanced about the building, with its arches and columns,
+its stained windows, and almost perfect arrangement of form and color.
+But the minister was saying:
+
+"This material structure is not the house of God.  No longer is God
+localized to our faith as in the days of symbol and shadow, when surely
+Jerusalem was 'the place where men ought to worship.'  For the symbol
+has given place to the 'truth,' and in that, 'in spirit,' men worship.
+But while in every place, or, better still, without reference to
+place--'neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem'--true worshipers
+shall find Him, still His spiritual people form a temple for His
+manifestation, wherever they are gathered, and there is He.  'In the
+midst' He takes His rightful place, and that place we must accord
+Him--the center of our heart's attention and worship."
+
+Winifred resumed her question.  Why had she come?  Was it to meet that
+One, to gaze in spirit upon His pierced hands and side, as the minister
+was saying, and to rejoice in Him as the risen Lord?  She did not quite
+know what he meant.  She went back over the morning's experience,
+beginning with her dressing-room, when before her mirror she donned her
+new and very pretty silk dress and arranged all her faultless toilet,
+adjusting the modish hat that became so well her own type of beauty,
+fitted on the fresh, dainty gloves that should clasp her beloved music
+when she should open her throat and sing like a glad bird, delighting
+in its song, however plaintive.  And then she had gone.  Had she
+thought of Him in all this?  Winifred's honest soul said, No.  But
+church?  She had thought of "church," with all that it stood for of
+building, and congregation, and set order of things, and there had been
+a sort of subconscious satisfaction in the fact that going to church
+was a religious thing to do, and that to sing in the choir (especially
+for no pay, as she did) was very meritorious.  But was it so?
+
+The minister was saying:
+
+"If worship is not sincere, it becomes, spiritually, an abomination.
+If, for instance, our singing, instead of being a true sacrifice of
+praise to God degenerates into the sensuous enjoyment of a 'concourse
+of sweet sounds,' it is no longer worship, and it is not even an
+innocent employment.  However fine it may be as a musical
+entertainment, if offered as a _substitute for worship_ it may be
+likened to the offering of 'strange fire,' which met such instant
+judgment in the time of Moses."
+
+Winifred winced under the clear, bold words.  There was a little
+well-bred stir in the congregation.  Doctor Schoolman's disciplined
+countenance betrayed a startled moment and then relapsed into an
+expression of bland, but non-committal interest.  Winifred glanced
+about to see how her neighbors were taking it.  She looked first at
+George Frothingham, for he and she were unusually good friends.  His
+handsome face showed only abstraction, and she knew he had not heard a
+word that was said.  She glanced warily back toward the organ and saw
+the player in his chair, but he was indulging in a few winks of sleep.
+His duties at the theater the night before had illy prepared him for
+very wakeful attention to the sermon, and other influences were telling
+upon him, too, for the man of music knew the taste of wines.  The
+leader of the choir was listening.  His penetrating eyes were fixed
+upon the calm-faced man in the pulpit, and an unconscious scowl bent
+his dark brows.  Yet it was not an angry frown, but simply intent.  He
+looked half defensive, half convicted.
+
+The minister went on:
+
+"I fear that this is an unusual way of looking at it, and that we are
+all too accustomed to pass unchallenged our professed worship.  Vice
+may be so habitual and under such common sanction as to be mistaken for
+virtue.  But surely in the most vital matter of our intercourse with
+God we do well to let every act be tested by the truth.  It shall be so
+tested eventually, whether we will or no; and even now in the midst of
+the churches the Son of Man is walking, still with eyes of flame, and
+still He is saying: 'I know thy works.'"
+
+Winifred's next excursion in thought away from the sermon led her to
+review her part of the morning program, and she wondered if the
+minister thought of it too.  The hymns?--she had forgotten what they
+were.  But the anthem--was it unto the Lord she sang her part?  Was
+there an atom of sincerity in the sentiment she sang?  The words were
+from a Psalm, she thought, and she did not really understand what David
+meant.  Had she any clearer ideas as to what Winifred Gray might mean?
+She surely did not wish the wings of a dove, literally, nor to fly away
+into the wilderness.  She loved her home and many friends and had no
+desire to escape from them or her surroundings.  If it meant to fly
+away to heaven--?  Surely she did not wish that!  The world and "the
+things that are in the world" were very attractive to the young
+soprano.  She had no wish for heaven save as an alternative from hell.
+What did it mean?  Was it a heart-rest that David longed for?  But she
+had been conscious of no unrest--until just now.  Honestly, the truth
+was that she had not meant anything!  Was it worship?  But her friends
+would tell her she sang it with feeling, she argued defensively, and
+then asked herself candidly, what sort of feeling?  She had sung
+Mignon's song with equal sympathy the night before.  She confessed the
+truth; it was dramatic instinct that led her in both songs, and the
+Spirit of God in neither.
+
+"I am a hypocrite," she cried within herself, "and no true worshiper!"
+
+Then she thought of the positive side of her action.  While there was
+no offering to God, she had received in her own heart the subtle
+incense of the people's praise.  Enveloped in its cloud she had sat
+until the sermon disturbed her.  She wished the young stranger had not
+come to preach.  Doctor Schoolman's sermons were nice, and learned, and
+elevating, and never gave her such uncomfortable thoughts!  Had he
+preached this morning all might have gone on as before so pleasantly.
+
+And now?--should it not go on?  Could she think for a moment of
+stopping it all?  Impossible!  But to go on with it was--"abomination!"
+That was what the preacher said.  Perhaps he was wrong, or she
+misunderstood.  Doctor Schoolman would know.  But what said her own
+conscience?  After all, she knew the battle must be fought out there.
+Was it not sin to take sacred words on her lips and not mean them?  How
+many times had she taken God's name in vain, pouring out pretended
+invocation to Him, while her heart addressed only the congregation for
+their approval!  But it had been so thoughtless!  He would surely
+forgive.  But now she had thought about it, and it could never be the
+same again.
+
+By this time Winifred was thoroughly miserable.  She pondered over and
+again what she should do, at times in imagination resigning her
+position in the choir; then saying:
+
+"Impossible!  It is absurd!  Who ever heard of its being wicked to sing
+in the choir?  How could I explain myself?"
+
+Then she reflected that she would study to be earnest, that she would
+school herself to think of Him and sing to Him.  She took her hymn-book
+and found the place of the last hymn, resolved to put sincerity in
+practice at once.  It was chosen, without reference to the unexpected
+sermon, and was the well-known psalm of love and longing which earnest
+souls have sung for many years:
+
+  "For thee, O dear, dear country,
+  Mine eyes their vigils keep;
+  For very love, beholding
+  Thy happy name they weep.
+  The mention of Thy glory
+  Is unction to the breast,
+  And medicine in sickness,
+  And love, and life, and rest."
+
+"I cannot sing it!" Winifred almost sobbed to herself.  "It is not
+true--to me."
+
+Then she read on.  Before, she would have been carried away with the
+rhythm and the graceful thought.  But now as she read:
+
+"Oh, sweet and blessed country That eager hearts expect!"
+
+"It's not true--it's not true!" she thought.  "I cannot sing these
+songs.  I know nothing of their sentiment.  I am not a true worshiper
+of the Father.  I do not believe I know Him!"
+
+Then Winifred covered her eyes with her hand.  "'Thou desirest truth in
+the inward parts,'" the preacher was quoting.
+
+The words sent a pang through her heart.  "God has found no truth in
+me," she thought, "I have been a lie."
+
+Then she sat in wretchedness, fighting back the tears that struggled to
+escape--tears of shame, remorse, wounded self-love, and grief that her
+favorite idol, a god whom she did know and had served well, was to be
+taken down from its niche in the house of the Lord and cast out.  She
+heard little of the remainder of the sermon, and what she heard added
+to her misery; for it told of the joy of true worshipers when at last
+they should stand face to face with Him whom, having not seen, they
+love,--
+
+  "All rapture through and through
+  In God's most holy sight."
+
+The sense of isolation, of exclusion from it all, was very painful; and
+Winifred did not know that this very knowledge of exclusion, and its
+grief, were harbingers of eternally better things.  She stood with the
+others as they sang the closing hymn, and her own silence was
+unobserved, as she did not always join the chorus.  She had recovered
+her composure by the time the benediction was pronounced and the organ
+was yielding an unusually lively postlude to whose strains she and
+George Frothingham descended the stairs together.
+
+"The old chap is almost waltzing us out to-day," that gentleman
+remarked, referring to the organist.  "Winifred, you outdid yourself
+to-day on that lovely thing."
+
+Winifred smiled faintly.  "Did you hear the sermon to-day, George?" she
+asked.
+
+"Did I hear it?  Well, that's good.  Do I hear sermons when I go to
+church?  But I confess to a little absentmindedness; not to equal that
+of our friend at the organ, however," and George laughed.  Then he
+caught sight of a group of people in the vestibule below and exclaimed:
+
+"Hello!  There's your father and the preacher!  I believe he is going
+to take him home to dinner.  Don't look for me under your hospitable
+roof to-day, Winifred."
+
+"Why?" she began.
+
+"I have no taste for parsons.  He'll talk the backs off the chairs.
+See if he doesn't.  Good-by."  And the young man strode carelessly away.
+
+Winifred joined her mother in the vestibule, and they held a whispered
+consultation as to the probabilities of the young minister's going home
+with them.  It seemed evident that Mr. Gray had taken him captive.
+
+"Take him in the carriage and let me walk, mother," Winifred said, "I
+would much rather."  So she slipped away and did not meet the minister
+until dinner.
+
+
+Hubert Gray, Winifred's only brother, had also been at church that
+morning.  This was somewhat unusual, for Hubert was a sceptic, and he
+did not like to appear what he was not.  But occasionally he went to
+hear what might be said and turn it over in his questioning brain.  He
+was a young man of strong aversions, and one of his special dislikes
+happened to be the unfortunate Doctor Schoolman.
+
+"I hate cant," he declared.  "His very tones are studied and unnatural.
+His voice quavers to order, and if I should see tears on his face I
+should think he had pumped them up someway for effect.  I don't like to
+be practiced on.  I should like a man to believe something earnestly
+and say it honestly."
+
+And so he stayed away for the most part, but like many a man who is a
+sceptic, found that the subject of the Christ would not down, and he
+could not let it alone.  So after absences he would go again to hear,
+though it should be only to gain fresh occasion for his doubts or
+cynical criticisms.  To-day he was the first to arrive at home and met
+Winifred in the hall as she came in.
+
+"The spiritual priesthood did very well to-day, Winnie," he said, by
+way of greeting.  "I hope you all sang 'with grace in your hearts unto
+the Lord.'  I am sure Frothingham did.  I saw him--eh, Winnie, what's
+the matter?"
+
+For Winifred had turned a quivering face toward her brother.
+
+"I didn't, Hubert," she said.  "There was no grace in my heart."  And
+then she hastened up the stairs to her room.
+
+"Hm-m!" said Hubert reflectively, and repeated the observation at
+intervals until dinner was served.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE HOUSE OF GRAY
+
+The family gathered for dinner with its usual decorum.  Winifred sat
+opposite the young minister, and Hubert was beside him.  Mr. Robert
+Gray carved the turkey with his usual skill and the sharpest of knives.
+He began his anticipated discussion with the preacher:
+
+"Your sermon fitted pretty closely to-day, Mr. Bond," he said, as he
+separated a joint successfully.
+
+"Did it really?" said Mr. Bond, with a smile that lit up a singularly
+pleasant face.  "I am glad to hear it.  That is what sermons are for, I
+believe?"
+
+"Just so," said Mr. Gray, and he added with a little chuckle of
+enjoyment, "I like it--I like it.  We need it, I assure you.  There is
+no question about that.  Why, Winnie, not a bit of the fowl?  You are
+losing your appetite, child.  Yes, sir, we need to be stirred up.  If
+there is anything I believe in, it is sincerity.  But now, don't you
+think, Mr. Bond, that you put it just a little grain too stiff?"
+
+"In what way, Mr. Gray?"
+
+"Well, now, I say the Apostles' Creed.  I know it by heart.  I don't
+know how many hundreds of times I have said it.  It says itself.
+Perhaps that is why I don't always stop to think what it does say.  But
+I do not suppose there is a word in it that I do not believe.  Now if
+my mind happens to wander while I am, saying it--if it happens, mind
+you--"
+
+"Father, Julia is waiting for Mr. Bond's plate," interposed Mrs. Gray
+softly from the other end of the table.
+
+"I beg your pardon."  Then, as the delinquent plate went to its
+destination, "If my mind happens to wander to some little matter of
+business, or something or other, while I say the Creed--_am I a
+hypocrite_?"
+
+The merchant propounded the question with a note of triumph, as though
+the bold-spoken minister were rather cornered now.  Mr. Bond answered
+respectfully, but with subdued amusement:
+
+"I think, Mr. Gray, that the Lord would recognize the absence of
+insincere intent, but that so far as worship goes, you might as well
+set some Tibetan prayer-wheels going."
+
+A gleam of enjoyment shot from Hubert's eyes, and a laugh almost
+escaped him.
+
+"Ah, just so--just so!" said Mr. Gray, a little discomfited.  "But
+would it be better not to say it?"
+
+"It would be better to mean it," said Mr. Bond.
+
+"He parries well," thought Hubert.
+
+"Winifred," said Mrs. Gray, off whose smooth nature these discussions
+rolled harmlessly, "the music was very fine this morning."
+
+Winifred, who would have preferred almost any subject to this, cast an
+appealing glance at her mother, but it was unheeded.  She had hoped Mr.
+Bond would not recognize her as the singer.
+
+Mrs. Gray went on: "Mrs. Butterworth, who sits just the other side of
+the partition from us, you know, was quite carried away.  She looked
+volumes at me, but she just whispered 'heavenly!'  She said after
+church she hoped you would come to her party next week and bring your
+songs.  You have such a gift, she said."
+
+And Mrs. Gray herself sighed religiously at the thought of Winnie's
+"gift."  Winnie could have sighed, too, but it was with torture.
+
+Mrs. Gray was a comfortable lady, absorbed in the quiet machinery of a
+conventionally proper life.  She loved her family, her church, and a
+moderate amount of society.  She loved things.  Quiet satisfaction
+beamed from the gentle eyes on the choice silver of the dining-room, on
+her blue antique china, on the costly, tasteful accessories of the
+drawing-room, and, indeed, on all the well chosen appointments of the
+quietly elegant home.  Interest in her own person and its adornment had
+been gradually diverted toward Winifred, whose beauty, grace of manner,
+and accomplishments, were an unfailing joy.  Now she sighed in quiet
+gratitude to the vague deity known as Providence for Winifred's
+peculiarly sweet gift.  As to the sermon of the morning, she was one of
+those hearers in whose mind a sermon and its application do not
+necessarily go together.
+
+Winifred felt two pairs of eyes upon her from across the table as her
+mother talked to her in a voice not intended to interrupt the gentlemen
+in their conversation.  There were Hubert's eyes of darker brown than
+her own and very searching, and the preacher's blue eyes that looked
+inquiringly through rimless eye-glasses.  She could think of no answer
+to her mother, and so bent her eyes silently upon her plate, while a
+flush rose to her temples.  Mrs. Butterworth's rapturous "heavenly" was
+in strong contrast to the conviction of godless insincerity which
+filled her own heart.
+
+Mercifully to her embarrassment her father began again:
+
+"But do you not think, Mr. Bond, that we must take things as they are?
+Granted that there is a great deal of unreality in the church, what are
+we going to do about it?  Can one man who sees the point work a
+revolution in the whole church?  Must we not just take conditions as
+they are and make the best of them?"
+
+"Perhaps we may not hope to revolutionize a whole church," replied Mr.
+Bond, "but," and his face grew stern with an expression that told of a
+battlefield already fought for and won, "he may refuse to add one unit
+to the aggregation of untrue worshipers, or to uphold an organized
+system of unreality.  I sometimes fear, Mr. Gray," and there was a ring
+of sadness in his voice, "that we too readily take conditions as they
+are, and make the worst of them!"
+
+"Yes, I am afraid you are right--you are right," said the merchant
+slowly.  Then he added, "but so far you have given us only a negative
+remedy.  My son here could go so far with you.  He washes his hands of
+the whole matter."
+
+Mr. Bond turned to Hubert inquiringly.
+
+"Really?" he questioned.
+
+"Yes," said Hubert, thus thrust unwillingly into the discussion, "I am
+no worshiper at all."
+
+"And may I ask why?" queried Mr. Bond.
+
+"Your book says that whoever comes to God must believe that He is, and
+that He rewards those who seek Him.  I am not sure of either
+proposition, and so I do not pretend to come to Him."
+
+The frank eyes looked through the eyeglasses pleasantly.  "Are you sure
+of the contrary?" he asked.
+
+"No," said Hubert honestly.
+
+"Admitting the supposition that He is, and is a rewarder of them that
+seek Him, does it cover the ground of responsibility to ignore Him
+because you are not sure?"
+
+"Perhaps not," said Hubert.  "But," he added doggedly, "if He is, and
+wishes to be known and worshiped, He ought to be demonstrable."
+
+Mrs. Gray looked a little frightened.  She never liked to hear Hubert
+talk about those things, and it was so mortifying to have him take such
+a stand against the church and everything everybody--at least most
+respectable people--believed.  She was sure he was saying something
+dreadful now.  Mr. Gray looked apprehensive, too.  Winifred's
+self-revelation of the morning made her feel like casting no stones at
+her brother.
+
+Mr. Bond looked at Hubert mildly.
+
+"I think you are quite right," he said.
+
+Here the discussion seemed to end.  Hubert could make no reply to the
+man who agreed with him.  An instinct to fight for his position had
+sprung up, but he was disarmed by Mr. Bond's assent to his proposition.
+He was not accustomed to being met like that.  His father's loyal
+policy had been to protect his household from infidel talk, and he had
+not taken too much pains to ascertain his son's point of view, and if
+possible, to lead him from it into light.  Hubert had found some
+Christian people ready to argue with him who would admit no position he
+held, however logical, believing that every arrow from the sceptic's
+quiver must be a poisoned one.  He withdrew in bitterness from such
+encounters.  To-day Mr. Bond's honest sympathy with his outspoken
+conviction found a sensitive chord in the young man's stout-seeming
+heart.
+
+Conversation drifted to lesser things until the ample meal was
+finished, and the little company broke up.  Mr. Gray was sure his guest
+would wish a little rest and quiet in preparation for the evening
+service, which assurance happily freed himself for the usual nap which
+his soul coveted after the Sunday early dinner.  Mrs. Gray departed for
+her own pretty room, her dainty dressing gown, silk draperies, and
+gentle doze.  Winifred went to her room to resume the battle that was
+on, Hubert betook himself to his accustomed walk.
+
+Walking down the avenue graced by his own home, Hubert glanced across
+the street and saw, to his regret, the handsome figure and airy step of
+George Frothingham.  He hoped that gentleman did not see him, for he
+disliked him and did not wish to be bored by a conversation.  Hubert
+disliked Frothingham on two separate counts: first, because he was not
+the sterling quality of man Hubert thought he ought to be, and secondly
+because, being such a man as he was, he still dared raise his miserable
+eyes toward Winifred.  More than any other object in the world Hubert
+loved his sister, and his grief was very hot and sore when it became
+apparent that she and George were "as good as engaged," as all their
+circle of friends affirmed.  They were not actually so, the "George"
+and "Winifred" terms resulting from an acquaintance since childhood,
+and had Hubert been a praying man he would have prayed that such a
+consummation might never occur.  He voiced his sentiments unmistakably
+to Winifred, but on this point they could not agree.
+
+"It is one of your unreasonable dislikes," she said, and so they came
+perilously near a serious difference.
+
+"He isn't genuine--he isn't manly," said Hubert, "there is nothing to
+him.  His name ought to have stopped with the first syllable."
+
+Winifred had looked her indignation, and mourned that Hubert could not
+see the charming qualities that made Frothingham popular with many.
+
+Hubert's wish that the young man should not see him was unrealized, and
+he was speedily joined by him.
+
+"Hello, Gray," said Mr. Frothingham, affably.  He was always affable to
+Hubert for obvious reasons.  "I wonder if you are going to hear the
+Reverend Professor Cutting's lecture on the Higher Criticism?  That's
+rather in your line, isn't it?  You know they have found that a good
+lot of the Bible is all rot."
+
+"I think they are a pack of asses," said Hubert, savagely, his opinions
+accentuated by dislike of his questioner.  "Indeed I am not going."
+
+"Whew-w!  You surprise me, Hubert.  I thought you were a bit of a
+sceptic yourself?"
+
+"So I am, but I am not proud of the fact.  My doubts are quite enough
+for my own enjoyment without listening to Prof. Cutting's unbeliefs."
+
+"But you know he talks from the Christian standpoint.  He is not an
+unbeliever."
+
+"Isn't he!  That's just what I object to in those men.  If they would
+confess themselves companions of the sceptical writers whom I have read
+and speak from a Free Thinkers' platform, I would have some respect for
+them.  What do they believe that they did not?  They respected the life
+and teachings of Jesus, but did not believe in His inerrant knowledge
+nor assumption of divinity.  I do not see how any man can claim to be a
+_Christian_ and not believe that what Jesus claimed for Himself was
+true.  If not true, He was either a deluded man and so unfit to lead
+others into absolute truth, or He was a liar and morally unfit to
+teach.  I wonder that these men can't see through a ladder, for all
+their learned research."
+
+"You are pretty hard on them, Hubert."
+
+"I am saying the simple truth.  I tell you I have no respect for those
+men.  To profess to be Christians and from within the fort batter down
+its fortifications isn't honest."
+
+"That's right," said Frothingham, who, having no certain convictions of
+his own, was prepared to enjoy a racy tirade from either side.
+
+"So you are wrong, you see," said Hubert, "in thinking Prof. Cutting's
+lecture in my line.  When I get ready to open a broadside against the
+Christian religion, I'll not put on a ministerial coat and collar to do
+it in.  You'd be shot in war if the enemy caught you in their
+clothes--and you'd deserve it!"
+
+"That's right," laughed George again.  "Tell me when you are going to
+deliver your broadside."
+
+"It will not be very soon," said Hubert.  "I do not find such comfort
+in my doubts as to give me a missionary call to spread them."
+
+They came to a turn in the road and parted.  Hubert had had a more
+animated conversation with his sister's friend than he remembered ever
+to have had before.  He strode on alone through the park whither his
+steps had taken him, still pursuing the same line of thought.
+
+"No," he reflected, "why should I seek to communicate my doubts?  I
+never knew a man to be worse for believing in Jesus Christ.  I believe
+some men have been better for it.  Certainly I do not admire the
+company I am in."
+
+His mind reviewed a company such as would be called together by an
+infidel cause, and he recoiled from it.  He saw socialist faces of the
+baser type, ready but for the occasion to blossom into anarchism; he
+saw clever women whose bold loosening of the yoke of conventional
+religion had relaxed also the hold of conventional morals, and he was
+glad Winifred was not among them; he saw the face of Doctor Bossman,
+the leader of the cause, tall, massive-browed, handsome, with bold,
+full, outstanding eyes, a man of defiant words, of jovial popularity,
+and egregiously self-centered.  Into the young man's mind, in contrast
+to the proud face, there flashed fragments of the words of the
+Nazarene: "Except ye be converted, and become as little children!"  He
+saw other faces not so typical, and found himself seated amongst them,
+and abhorred the fraternity cemented by a common unbelief--a cold
+negation.  He was unhappy.  He found no territory on which to stand.
+He hated the cant and formalism that chilled him in the fashionable
+church.  He hated the insolent creed of the deist, and the ignorance of
+the agnostic.  He seemed to be hating almost all things with himself
+included.  If he had been sure there was a God who heard mortals pray,
+he would have cried to Him to deliver him from so wretched a position.
+But he roused himself from his reverie and sought to throw to the winds
+his unhappy feelings.  He walked back to the house endeavoring to think
+of to-morrow's business, and determining to give himself to an
+interesting book when he got there.
+
+
+Winifred had a headache which was opportune.  By it she excused herself
+from tea and from church that evening.  Her father carried her
+apologies to the leader of the choir.  Mr. Gray alone of the family
+listened to the evening discourse, and he listened well, for the young
+minister spoke again with truth and earnestness.  The machinery of the
+meeting moved smoothly, and George Frothingham sang with much feeling,
+"If with all your hearts ye truly seek Him."
+
+
+In Winifred's room the light burned late.  The battle waged there saw
+many tears and the confirmation of the edict put forth in the morning
+service that the false god must be taken from its niche in the house of
+the Lord.
+
+"I will not be a hypocrite," Winifred said to herself.  "I will not go
+through a theatrical display, however refined and solemn, and call it
+worship.  I am no true worshiper."
+
+Then she burst into fresh tears, in which mingled grief that she was
+not a worshiper, and sorrow that she must leave an occupation and
+associations so dear.  It seemed like taking out a good part of her
+life, for Winifred was young, and things loved were ardently loved.
+
+There was one who contested the ground with her in her room that night,
+and told her she was no worse than others, that they were as
+thoughtless and insincere as she; that her course and theirs passed
+under the common sanction of churches everywhere, and that there was no
+reason why she should be singular amongst all others.  Why should she
+be disturbed from the commonly accepted course by a single sermon
+preached by a stranger, and he a young man?  Doctor Schoolman had never
+said such things.  She might at least wait and talk it over with him or
+some wise person.  He might be able to show her that God did not really
+care whether people quite meant what they said in singing, and that it
+was a meritorious thing, as she had always thought, to sing about Him
+to other people and to sing well.  It might do people good.  Some
+people had actually wept sometimes!
+
+The last thought was very striking, for Winifred did not know well the
+Word which is able to discriminate between soul and spirit, and she
+mistook emotion for some sign of spirituality.  These arguments pressed
+hard, and had in their favor the natural leaning of the heart that
+longed to go on with the loved employment.  But there was another
+longing too, and it was to be honest.  And underneath all was the true
+beginning of wisdom--the fear of God.
+
+"The minister told the truth," she said.  "And if everybody else goes
+on with the farce I will do as he said to father at dinner: 'refuse to
+add one unit to the aggregation of untrue worshipers.'  I'll join
+Hubert outside of it all before I will go on!"
+
+Then she wept afresh, for the vision of isolation "outside of it all"
+was too painful.  The presence of God had grown awesome and the light
+of His eyes intolerable, but outside was darkness unbearable.  She
+flung herself down beside the bed where many a time she had "said
+prayers" at night, and sobbed:
+
+"O God, I am not a true worshiper, but I wish I were!  I have drawn
+nigh to Thee with my lips while my heart was far from Thee.  I have
+been a lie.  Oh, make me true! make me true!"
+
+After this outburst of prayer she was calmer, but remained silently
+upon her knees by the bedside.  Gradually there came to her memory the
+substance of other words the minister had said;
+
+"Into the presence and unto the very heart of God there is a
+blood-bought way opened by our blessed Christ for the most wicked one
+who wishes to take it."
+
+"Is there a way for me," she prayed, "a way to come to Thee just as I
+am?"  And the sound of her own words brought back the memory of the old
+song, familiar since her childhood:
+
+  "Just as I am without one plea,
+  But that Thy blood was shed for me,
+  And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
+    O Lamb of God, I come!"
+
+"O God," she cried, "I can sing that!  I do come, just as I am--I do
+come!"
+
+A sweet sense of rest, such as she had never known, stole into
+Winifred's heart.  Some One seemed to be welcoming her with ineffable
+tenderness.  She was not out in the dark, but was at home with God.
+The awful presence she had dreaded was infinitely sweet.  At last she
+stood in the Holy Place, still foolish, weak, unworthy, but with the
+glory of Another's name covering her as with priestly robes, and she
+worshiped.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE CONFESSION
+
+When Winifred awoke the nest morning it was to wonder if it were really
+true--if she had come to God and He had received her.  A sweet rest
+still in her heart testified to a burden lifted.  Her Bible lay open on
+the little table where she had found the minister's text while fighting
+her battle the day before.  A leaf or two had blown over, and she
+looked down on the sixth chapter of John and read,
+
+"Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out."
+
+Renewed assurance came with the words.
+
+"I believe it," she said to herself.  "I have been very false, but He
+is true.  He says the truth.  I believe it."
+
+The thought of the choir scarcely entered her mind now in her new-found
+joy.  The question, to sing or not to sing, had shifted to the deeper
+one of relationship to God, and the peace that came with its settlement
+overshadowed everything else.  She went down to breakfast with a light
+heart and very cheerful countenance.  Hubert looked at her in surprise
+from under gloomy brows.  His own had been a restless night.
+
+"Has your headache gone, dear?" asked her mother solicitously.
+
+"Oh, long ago, Mother," said Winifred.  She wanted to tell her mother
+the better news than of a headache gone, but did not know how to begin.
+
+They talked of ordinary things until breakfast was nearly over.  Then
+Mr. Gray said:
+
+"Mr. Mercer was sorry to miss you from the choir last night, Winnie,
+and hoped you were not going to be ill."
+
+"Thank you, Father.  Mr. Mercer is always very kind."
+
+"He hopes you will surely be at the rehearsal Friday night, as he
+expects to take up some specially fine music."
+
+Winifred's heart heat violently as she summoned courage to say:
+
+"I do not think I shall sing in the choir any more, Father."
+
+"Why--what, Winnie?  What's that you are saying?  You not sing in the
+choir any more?"
+
+"What are you saying, Winifred," added Mrs. Gray.
+
+Winifred nerved herself for the statement.  It might as well he said
+now as ever, while they were all together.
+
+"Yes, Father," she said, "I do not think I can sing in the choir any
+longer.  I saw very clearly yesterday that I had never been a true
+worshiper.  I have never meant the words that I sang.  I have scarcely
+thought about God while I sang words about Him or addressed to Him.
+Many of them I could not say honestly.  It has all been for effect, and
+to--to please you all.  So I--I concluded--I--couldn't go on any
+longer."
+
+It had been a very difficult speech, and Winifred's voice sank at the
+end.
+
+Mr. Gray looked very grave.
+
+"You surprise me, Winnie," he said.  "You surprise me very much.  You
+should be conscientious, surely, but you will let me say I think you
+are taking the matter too seriously,"
+
+Silent Hubert shot a reproachful glance at his father.  In his
+estimation here was a case of downright honesty that called for
+applause, not repression.
+
+"I think your father is right, Winifred," said Mrs. Gray faintly, and
+then she added, rather illogically, "but I do not understand just what
+you mean."
+
+"Can I take the truth too seriously, Father?" asked Winifred, still
+speaking with an effort.  It was an ingenuous question, but Robert Gray
+found it hard to answer.
+
+"No," he said, after a moment's hesitation, "not truth itself, but we
+may get wrong ideas of it.  But, Winnie," he added, with real sorrow in
+his voice, "I hope you do not mean to tell us that you will not
+hereafter try to worship God, since the past has been so unsatisfactory
+to you?"
+
+"Oh, no, Father," said Winifred quickly, with rising courage as her
+experience of the night before came vividly to her.  "I have more to
+tell.  I was very unhappy about it all last night, and--I prayed--she
+blushed, for it was new to speak of such things--I prayed, and it came
+to me that there was a way to come to God just as I was, and He would
+make me a true worshiper; and I came."
+
+Winifred's embarrassment could not quite cover her joy as she made her
+confession.  The father looked relieved.
+
+"I am thankful,--very thankful, Winnie," he said.  "You did nobly.
+That was quite right--quite right.  But now I do not see that you need
+give up your singing, but that you might go on sincerely where you have
+failed before."
+
+He looked a little anxious, for her singing in the church was very dear
+to him.
+
+Winifred's brow clouded.  "I fear I cannot, Father.  Not now, at least."
+
+"No?  Well, we'll talk about it later," he said kindly, and they left
+the breakfast table.
+
+In the hall Hubert waited for Winifred with his own form of benediction:
+
+"You're a brick, Winnie," he said, and planted a kiss upon her fair
+forehead.
+
+She smiled and returned his kiss with an affectionate caress.  Hubert's
+slangy praise was dearer to her than any polished compliment from
+another source.
+
+Hubert did not understand why he hated the world and things a little
+less as he walked to business that morning, the stone walk answering to
+his usual sharp, decisive step.  He did not know that it was a gleam of
+something pure and true, of a religion not in word but in deed, that
+had flashed across his path and mitigated its darkness.
+
+Winifred had a long talk alone with her father in the library later in
+the day.  She had thought out her reasons, and understood better,
+herself, the instinctive feeling that led her not to resume her place
+in the choir under the altered conditions.
+
+"I am just beginning to worship, Father," she said, "and I feel I could
+do so better out of sight--for awhile, at least.  You do not know the
+temptation it would be to fall back into the old way.  I am afraid I
+could not stand it.  I would rather just slip into the congregation
+beside you, Father, and sing to God when my heart sings, and keep still
+when it doesn't."
+
+So her father yielded the point to her conscience.
+
+"God bless you, Winnie," he said with glistening eyes, as he stroked
+her chestnut locks.  "It may be I have been a bit of an idolater,
+myself."
+
+Poor Mrs. Gray sighed, and quite gave up trying to understand
+Winifred's strange position.  She hoped she would be able to give some
+suitable reason for withdrawing, and not set the whole church talking
+about her peculiar views.  She remembered hopefully that her daughter
+had suffered from laryngitis not long ago, and she mentally nursed the
+almost vanished trouble into proportions that would forbid her singing
+much.  She was sure Dr. Lansing would give an opinion to that effect
+now.  But, dear me! as for herself, she did not know how she should
+ever sit in that church and hear anyone else sing in Winifred's place!
+
+It was to be feared that there were many others who would find it
+difficult to sit in that church if their own natural wishes and tastes
+were not gratified there.  What it was to be gathered "in My name," as
+the Lord Jesus had said,--into the name of Him whose flesh with its
+longing and loves had been carried pitilessly to the cross, that from
+its death there might spring forth for all His own life in the Spirit
+unto God--what this was, few at New Laodicea knew; nor what it was, so
+gathered, to behold Him in the midst.  Oh, lonely heart without the
+door of His own house!  He knocks patiently, not in the hope that the
+whole household will hear Him, but for "any man" who has ears to hear
+and will open to Him.
+
+
+Winifred had another task before her that day, and she did it promptly.
+She did not know how really in her ready obedience she was walking in
+the steps of "the father of all them that believe," who, when Isaac was
+to be offered, rose early in the morning to go about the sacrifice.
+She went straight to Mr. Mercer, the leader of the choir, and told him
+of her withdrawal.  She told her story with simplicity and dignity, and
+it commanded his respect.
+
+"I honor your convictions, Miss Gray," he said.  "We shall find it hard
+to fill your place, and I am very sorry you are going.  But I would not
+for a moment urge you to remain.  As I say, I honor your convictions.
+I only wish I had the courage of them myself."
+
+His face grew heavy.  He knew well the deity that led him to that
+place, and the anxious care that governed each Sunday's work.  To bring
+his choir to the perfect standard of musical merit which his artist
+soul craved was his ambition.  He knew pleasure as he approximated to
+that goal, and vexation almost to despair when he fell far short.  He
+knew it was not before God but at another shrine he poured out his
+soul's libation.
+
+"I know I am not a worshiper," he said.  "I have never professed to be
+a Christian--oh, I am not a Mohammedan or a Hindu!--but I do not
+profess to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I should not like,"
+he said reflectively, "to add to a life indifferent to my Creator the
+insult of a mock worship."
+
+He bent his brows heavily to consider if such a course were really his.
+"I would leave the whole thing to-day," he said vehemently, "as you are
+doing, Miss Gray, if I could.  I would follow other lines in my
+profession, but I am in this now and it is my living.  It means bread
+and butter to those dependent on me."
+
+He paused, and Winifred said nothing but looked at him with strong
+sympathy.  He went on:
+
+"It will not excuse me, I suppose, but whose is the greater sin?  Is it
+mine, or theirs who hired me?  I thought of it professionally.  If one
+honest man had met me with the question, 'Can you lead that part of our
+worship to God in spirit and in truth?' I should have known that I
+could not, and said so.  Then I should have turned my attention to
+secular paths where secular men belong.  But there's the rub!  Not one
+of them thought of it, I suppose.  What a farce it is!  The minister
+yesterday talked of incense rising to God.  It doesn't get beyond their
+nostrils, I think.  You know that man--what's his name?--he's a stock
+broker, who sits down the right aisle?  Well, you know there was a talk
+once of dismissing the quartette, and retaining only the chorus (under
+my direction) to reduce expenses.  That man declared if the quartette
+were dismissed he would leave the church.  He is not a member anyway, I
+think, but he pays!  There is worship for you!  I tell you, the people
+glut their own souls with good music, and go home thinking they have
+worshiped God.  Oh, I wish there were reality in the world!"
+
+Mr. Mercer threw his head back and ran his fingers nervously through
+his wavy locks.  His eyes were burning and there was a bright red spot
+on either cheek.
+
+Winifred spoke out impulsively:
+
+"Oh, Mr. Mercer, there is reality!  I know there is somewhere, and I--I
+am just beginning--but I mean to be a true worshiper, myself."
+
+He looked at her, and the gleam in his dark eyes softened.
+
+"Forgive me," he said, "I spoke too strongly.  Yes, I believe there is
+reality--a little--somewhere," and he smiled.  Something in her soft
+brown eyes as he looked in them carried him many years back, when eyes
+something like them looked down on him, while a voice sang sacred words
+which he knew the heart loved well.  Yes, there was reality somewhere.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ADELE
+
+Winifred awoke Tuesday morning with melody in her heart.  She moved
+about her room with the exhilaration of a fresh joy in living.  She
+took her Bible, which still wore the genteel, unsullied dress of a
+stranger, and turned to the place she wished to read.  She had not got
+beyond the text of Sunday:
+
+"The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshiper shall worship the
+Father in spirit and in truth."
+
+She pondered the text.  "Shall worship the Father," she mused.  "Oh,
+how sweet!  That august One whom I feared is '_the Father_.'  He loves
+me!"
+
+She went with her book to the open window and stood, a fair priestess
+in her white morning dress, and looked out over a portion of her
+Father's wide domain.  Oh, how warm and bright the sunlight that lit
+all things with glory!  How fair were the distant hills beyond the
+city, with their varied dress of wood and meadow!  In the garden below,
+how each group of flowers and the green sward answered with joy to the
+caress of the sun.  How exultantly the lilies stood, and she could
+catch the incense from the bed of tiny clustering flowers nearest her
+window.  She lifted her face toward the sky of melting summer blue, and
+sang softly:
+
+  "Holy, holy, holy; Lord God Almighty!
+  All Thy works shall praise Thy name,
+        in earth and sky and sea;
+  Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty;
+  God in three persons, blessed Trinity!"
+
+She looked again at the words whose entrance had given light, and read
+farther: "For the Father seeketh such to worship Him."
+
+"He has been seeking me!" she cried, and some glimmering apprehension
+of the great love of the Father which seeks the fellowship of sincere
+and simple children, made her bosom heave and her eyes fill with tears,
+"_He loves me_," she repeated as before, and her heart nestled itself
+in the great truth like a bird that has found its nest.
+
+Presently she looked again from her window and saw Hubert walking in
+the garden.
+
+"Dear Hubert!" she said to herself.  "I wish he knew."
+
+With an impulse she laid her book hastily down and ran down the stairs
+and into the garden.  She flew noiselessly across the soft grass and
+surprised Hubert from behind, clasping his arm with a cheerful "Good
+morning!"
+
+He looked down on her glowing face and kissed it.
+
+"How bright you look," he said.  "Were you up with the birds?  I heard
+you singing your matins with them."
+
+"Did you hear me?" said Winifred, with a blush at being overheard.
+
+"Yes.  What makes you so happy, Winnie?"
+
+"Oh, Hubert," she cried, and she clasped his arm more tightly, "My
+heart is almost breaking with joy!  I think I have begun--to know God!"
+
+He looked at her with a surprised hunger in his dark eyes.
+
+"And do you find the knowledge such a joy?" he asked, with deep sadness
+in his own voice.
+
+"Oh, yes, Hubert," she said.  "He is so good!"
+
+Later in the day a small breeze swept in the front door of the Gray
+Mansion, past the maid, up the stairway, and to the door of Winifred's
+little sitting-room.  It came with the person of Miss Adele Forrester.
+
+"Hello," said a bright voice.  "Anybody here?"
+
+Winifred rose from her quaint little window-seat with an expression of
+pleasure.
+
+"Oh, Adele!  I am so glad to see you."
+
+The two young ladies kissed each other and sat down to talk with the
+easy familiarity of old friends.
+
+"Dear!" cried exclamatory Miss Forrester.  "I am out of breath!--I have
+raced so!  I left home an hour ago, but was beguiled by some
+fascinating bargains in Butterworth's windows.  Do see that love of a
+thing for ninety-eight cents.  Did you ever see such a bargain?  I
+wouldn't let them send it for I wanted you to see it."
+
+The fascinating trifle was admired, and then Miss Forrester flew at the
+chief matter of her visit enthusiastically.
+
+"Do you know what is in the wind, Winifred?  Professor Black, who leads
+the choir in the Linden Street church, is going to get up a comic opera
+with a cast from the various choirs, and I am invited.  We are to go to
+Northville and give it in the little one-horse theater there.  Won't it
+be gay?  We shall astonish the natives of that small town!  Have you
+had your invitation?"
+
+Winifred shook her head.
+
+"How calm you are.  I am very much excited about it already.  You know
+I like that sort of thing.  It isn't decided what we shall give, but
+probably Pinafore, or Patience, or some old thing.  They won't care at
+Northville.  Do say what you think of it, Winifred?  Don't be so
+unecstatic."
+
+Winifred smiled, not very merrily.  "I can't get ecstatic," she said.
+"I shall not be in it."
+
+"You will not be in it!" Adele cried.  "Oh, why not?"--coaxingly.
+"Doesn't your father approve of it?--or your mother?--of going off like
+that, I mean?  It will be perfectly proper.  We shall be chaperoned."
+
+"Oh, that's not it," said Winifred.  "I have left the choir."
+
+Adele opened her bright eyes wide in astonishment.
+
+"Left the choir!" she exclaimed under her breath, and then leaned back
+in her chair with a gesture of comical despair of expressing herself.
+
+Winifred could not help laughing at her friend's dismay.  She said
+nothing and Adele soon recovered herself.
+
+"A little tiff with the leader or somebody?" she queried.  "Such things
+are not unknown to us.  I am prepared to take your part, Winnie, right
+or wrong.  But you don't mean you've left for good?  Oh, come and sing
+with us at St. John's--that would be lovely!"
+
+Winifred girded herself mentally for her task.  She and lively Miss
+Forrester had never discussed spiritual things together.  They spoke
+freely of their choirs and of church, but that never seemed dissonant
+with the most frivolous social things.  Now as Winifred thought of the
+real Holy Place and the worship there "in spirit and in truth," it
+seemed difficult to speak of it.  She began bravely, and began at the
+beginning, with Mr. Bond's sermon.  She rehearsed many of the things
+that he said, and told frankly of her own conviction of the truth and
+how it troubled her.  Adele listened gravely and with a sympathetic
+moisture in her eyes as Winifred told, with little hitches in her voice
+and evident effort at self-control, of her determination to leave the
+theater of her unreal worship, and then of the way she had found into
+the real presence of God and of His forgiveness.  She paused here, and
+Adele put her arms impulsively about her and kissed her.
+
+"Winnie," she said, "you know I always loved you.  I love you better
+than ever now."
+
+Then they both cried, though they could not have explained to each
+other why.  Adele was the first to recover herself.
+
+"I am such a goose," she said.  "I always cry.  But now, Winnie," she
+added, "are you not going to keep on singing, only 'in spirit and in
+truth,' as you say?"
+
+"I hope I shall keep on singing," said Winifred, slowly, "but I dare
+not trust myself, just now anyhow, to go on with the choir.  I am so
+used to singing for applause"--and she blushed at the remembrance of
+such a motive in the house of the Lord--"or for music's sake, I am
+afraid I should find myself doing so still.  I mean to worship God
+truly," and a look of determination settled the sensitive face into
+resolute lines; "and I shall try to do that which will help me most to
+that end.  It seems to me now that that will be to join the others
+unobserved.  Perhaps I shall see it differently some day, but now I
+feel it safer to put my poor, vain, little self as far out of sight as
+possible and try to think of God."
+
+"You are a dear, honest little thing!" cried Adele affectionately.
+Then she added very seriously, "but it almost seems to me that if your
+objections are right they might apply to the whole system."
+
+Winifred looked perplexed.  She had dimly thought of that.  The word
+"system" recalled Mr. Bond's phrase, "an organized system of
+unreality," which she had turned over in her mind a number of times.
+Would he call the choir that?  She thought of the leader, who professed
+nothing as a Christian; of the organist, who, she must admit, was a
+drunkard; of George Frothingham with his careless indifference; and of
+herself of two days ago.  Perhaps there were others--very likely there
+were--who sang with grace in their hearts unto the Lord, but it
+certainly looked as though that were no object in their selection.  But
+she thought of Doctor Schoolman, who raised no objections and always
+sat with such an expression of bland repose while they sang.  She
+thought of the elders--her own father among them--and, indeed, of
+common consent everywhere in all the churches; at least, all she knew.
+Who was she, who was only "just beginning to worship," that she should
+entertain ideas contrary to them all?
+
+"I don't know," she said hesitatingly to Adele, "I hope you will not
+think my ideas revolutionary.  I can't judge for others--others so much
+wiser than I.  But, for myself, I think I see the way I ought to take."
+And so she settled the matter for herself, on her own convictions.
+
+"Perhaps you are right," Adele said.
+
+She could not speak further of the opera which seemed awkwardly out of
+place in the light of what Winifred had said.  After a pause she said:
+
+"I'm afraid we are all hypocrites more or less, but it is a wonder we
+had not thought of it before.  But, do you know, I've sometimes thought
+it rather queer that Mr. Francis should sing in our choir?  He is a
+confessed infidel.  I do not believe our rector knows it.  I do not
+think he would allow it.  Mr. Francis just drifted into the choir when
+we needed a basso very much.  But, when you think of it, isn't it
+blasphemy to take the name of the Lord, whom he professes not to
+believe in, so solemnly upon his lips in church?"
+
+Winifred consented that so it seemed to her.
+
+Then a sudden recollection amused Miss Forrester.  "Speaking of
+worshipers," she said, "now there is my precious Cousin Dick.  How do
+you think he occupied himself in the midst of Morning Prayer a couple
+of Sundays ago?  The rogue!  I certainly was keeping the run of the
+service, but it was edifying to see his head bowed so devoutly until he
+passed a slip of paper over to me.  What do you think was on it?  Not a
+suddenly inspired hymn, but some doggerel lines about
+
+  "'A certain young woman
+  Who sang high soprano.'
+
+"I looked daggers at him, but of course he saw I wanted to laugh.  Then
+he looked such a picture of rapt piety!  Oh, he is a _case_!"  And
+Adele gave way to the laughter she had smothered in church.
+
+Winifred smiled, too, as she thought of the irrepressibly merry youth.
+But her pleasure was not as unmixed as it would have been three days
+before.  Henceforth, any jest to be quite enjoyed must be free from
+taint of irreverence toward holy things.  She had "begun to know God,"
+and the knowledge gave a sensitiveness to the honor of His name and the
+things of His house.
+
+Adele recovered from her mirth and resumed the subject seriously.
+
+"I am afraid we are sorry worshipers, when you come to look at it," she
+said.  "If our office is really such a sacred one--and I see it must
+be, if we take it seriously--why, then, we ought to be pretty good
+people; earnest, and reverent, and all that, I mean.  But it doesn't
+seem to be our distinguishing trait," and she smiled.  "Not mine, at
+least.  I ought not to generalize too much.  I am sure there are
+persons in our choirs who live beautiful, devoted lives; but the lot I
+fraternize with mostly are not likely to go to the stake just yet for
+their piety.  What awfully jolly dances the Emmanuel church choir gave
+last winter!  I was invited two or three times and went.  But you know
+it has struck me once or twice as a little odd that we church singers,
+_as such_, should go into that sort of thing.  If some of us should
+stray into it individually it's nothing remarkable, I suppose.  But
+isn't it a bit queer that, as a company, we should lead off in those
+things?  I suppose," with a twinkle of malicious enjoyment in her eyes,
+"our Emmanuel church neighbors could not find vent for their joy in the
+Lord in Hosannas on Sunday, and had to work it off at their heels on
+week days."
+
+Adele enjoyed her own satire, but Winifred was too repentant to laugh.
+
+"Oh, Adele," she said, "it is dreadful that there has been no 'joy in
+the Lord' about it.  At least, I never knew it in the choir.  Christ
+was never the center of our thoughts" (she was thinking of Mr. Bond's
+sermon), "the object of devotion.  If we worshiped anybody or anything
+outside of ourselves it was Music."
+
+"Orpheus?" suggested Adele.
+
+"Yes," said Winifred, "we were pagans, I suppose.  But oh, Adele, God
+is so good to forgive!  It seems as though He were not looking at it at
+all--as if it had never been."
+
+Adele looked at her friend narrowly.  "Winnie," she said at length,
+solemnly, "I know what has happened.  You are converted."
+
+Winifred opened her eyes in surprise.  She had not thought to so define
+her new experience.  Adele went on:
+
+"We don't talk much about it in our church, you know.  But I used to go
+sometimes with old Auntie Bloom--she was so blind she couldn't see the
+sidewalk--to a little Methodist church of some sort, Free, or Reformed,
+or something, and they made a great deal of that.  Auntie Bloom used to
+get rather excited over it herself sometimes when she 'testified.'  I
+used to duck my head when she waved her arms about.  'A new creature!'
+she used to shout.  'There's nothing like being a new creature!'"  And
+Adele quoted the old lady with good-natured mimicry.
+
+Winifred's face glowed.  "No," she said, "there's nothing like it!--if
+that is what has happened to me."
+
+Adele looked at the happy face covetously.  "You look as though it were
+good, Winnie," she said, and added meditatively: "I think it is all
+true about it.  But you know, Winnie, when I was confirmed I really
+meant to be good.  It was so solemn, and I thought I never should
+forget that dear old bishop's hand on my head.  But I haven't turned
+out much of a saint, you know, dear."
+
+"I never thought you were wicked, Adele," said Winifred.
+
+"Well, I never robbed a bank," said Adele, "but there's no question
+about my being 'this worldly' enough."
+
+Winifred did not know just how to answer this.  It seemed a charge that
+would cover both their previous lives.  In a moment's silence a
+sweet-toned clock on the mantel softly struck a half hour.
+
+"Oh, I must be gone!" cried Miss Forrester, "and we haven't talked
+about half--"
+
+"Do stay to lunch," interrupted Winifred.
+
+"Impossible, dear.  I am due at home--half an hour ago!" and she
+laughed at the discrepancy between her appointment and appearance.
+"Good-by, Winnie."  And she was off.
+
+The two, very opposite in temperament, were very warm friends.
+Winifred saw beneath a light exterior a quantity of good, sound sense
+and a warm heart.  She was a frequent guest at their house.  Mrs. Gray
+liked her, though deploring her occasional indulgence in slang.  Mr.
+Gray enjoyed her racy conversation, and Hubert professed a dislike of
+her volatile qualities.  This last fact grieved Winifred, who liked her
+friend to be appreciated.
+
+"She has a rather frivolous exterior," she once explained to Hubert,
+"but she is really very sensible."
+
+"One would like to hear from the sensible interior occasionally," he
+replied, and Winifred withdrew from the defense.  She was the more
+grieved by his indifference to her friend because, with her quick
+intuition, she had half guessed at a secret liking in Adele for her
+cynical brother.
+
+To-day at luncheon Winifred ventured to offer him the information:
+
+"Adele Forrester was in to see me this morning."
+
+"I heard her giggle," he replied laconically, and Winifred subsided
+into silence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+IS GOD DEMONSTRABLE?
+
+The scene of the morning in the garden haunted Hubert during the hours
+of business that day.  Matters were attended to with his accustomed
+skill, but always an undercurrent of memory presented to him Winifred's
+beaming face and her announcement, "I think I have begun to know God."
+
+"I wish I knew Him.  I wish I knew the truth," he repeated to himself
+again and again.
+
+Hubert had entered with heartiness into his father's business, and
+though still young had already attained a partnership in it.  "Robert
+Gray & Son," read the clear, uncompromising sign, and the name of no
+firm in the city was more respected.  Hubert's devotion to business,
+rather than to more scholarly pursuits, was a deep gratification to the
+father, who enjoyed his son's fellowship and found help in his fresh
+enterprise and keen foresight.
+
+To-day Hubert was glad when the last matters were attended to and he
+was able to go home.  At dinner he was abstracted and silent, and
+retired to his own apartments.  Just off his sleeping room was a
+smaller one which constituted his laboratory, for Hubert was a man of
+science in his leisure hours.  This room was the one discomfort of poor
+Mrs. Gray, who feared explosions or electric shocks, and sighed many a
+time as she heard the door close after the entering form of her son.
+To-night it closed firmly, and had not opened again before slumber
+muffled the ears of the apprehensive mother, nor had the light from the
+single gas burner ceased to throw out its yellow challenge to the
+mellow, midnight moonlight without.  Could Mrs. Gray have looked
+within, she would have seen Hubert sunk in the depths of a leather
+covered chair, with his dark, frowning face leaning upon his hand.  He
+was thinking.
+
+Something like this was the matter of his thoughts:
+
+In this little room questions had been asked and answered.  From the
+standpoint of the known, or even from the conjectured, excursions into
+the unknown had been undertaken, and the explorer returned with
+trophies of ascertained fact.  How had it come to pass?  Obedience to
+the laws of force revealed had brought its recompense of further
+revelation.  How humbly, with what child-likeness, he had followed
+those subtle laws propounded to him by others; laws whose deep mystery
+he could in no wise understand, but which he believed, and, believing,
+demonstrated.  Were there such principles to be observed in the
+spiritual realm?  Were there laws of the unseen kingdom, which, if
+obeyed, brought demonstration?  He gave a little gesture of impatience
+as he thought of the unthinking assertion of some that they would
+believe nought they could not understand!
+
+"Stupid!" he muttered, and remembered an effort of his own, when a
+school-boy, to illuminate the mind of the gardener with a few
+scientific facts, only to be met with a loud guffaw of unbelief.
+Surely science had never yielded her treasures to sneering unbelief,
+but to humble, patient faith.  Must he so find out God?
+
+Again he pondered: Could God, if there were a God, be expected to be
+less mysterious, less wonderful, less unsearchable than the subtle
+forces found in nature, and actually utilized, but never understood?
+
+"What is electricity?" he asked himself.  "I do not know, but I can use
+it.  I know it is.  So may not God be, invisible, uncomprehended, but
+real, and demonstrable to the man who applies himself to know Him?"
+
+Hubert was very near a determination to thus apply himself.  But should
+God be sought for as a force or as a personality?  The old argument,
+hackneyed but true, spoke to him: The presence of design argues a
+designer.  No blind force ever clasped the petals of a lily together,
+to say nothing of the arrangement of a universe.  Had Hubert known it,
+there was a passage of Inspiration which read:
+
+"The invisible things of him from the creation or the world are clearly
+seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his
+everlasting power and Godhead."
+
+Now how to address himself to God--how to conduct this new
+experiment--was the question.  He remembered the conditions of
+discipleship to science, and determined that he would follow them.
+First, there was child-likeness.  A fragment of Scripture, words of
+Jesus Christ, came to him:
+
+"Except ye . . . become as little children ye shall not enter into the
+kingdom of heaven."
+
+How simple the principle.  No pride of supposed knowledge, no dogmatism
+of unbelief might be brought to the door of this mysterious kingdom by
+the man who would enter in.  Then, he must follow the things revealed
+if he would know more.  What did he know about God?  Or what must be
+true of Him, granted that He is?
+
+"If He is," thought Hubert, "and is my Creator, then He must know me
+altogether."
+
+"Thou God seest me."
+
+It was a text--he did not know its connection--learned years before in
+Sunday-school, before his independence of spirit had withdrawn his neck
+from an unloved yoke.  Now it spoke to him clearly.  Surely God (if He
+were) must see him, and surely He must hear him.  He did not
+consciously remember the words, "he that planted the ear, shall he not
+hear?  He that formed the eye, shall He not see?"  But thoughts of like
+nature passed through his mind.  A creator who could bestow such
+marvelous faculties must Himself possess them in infinite measure.  And
+a God who had given to His creatures such powers of communication, must
+surely have means to make Himself understood.
+
+"If He is," said Hubert, "then He is great!  He is infinite.  I cannot
+measure His power in any line.  Surely He can reveal Himself to me if
+He will.  Is He willing?"
+
+In the contemplation of God the man grew less and less in his own
+esteem.  Would God reveal Himself to such an atom in the wide universe
+as he?  Did He care for him or about him?
+
+"God is Love," whispered memory, from the Book, and the suggestion beat
+upon the unarmored heart of the seeker, and was not unwelcome.
+
+"I will put it to the test," he said to himself.  "I will ask Him."
+
+He rose from his chair and thought to fall upon his knees, but was
+resisted.  An unlooked for struggle arose within him.
+
+He had said to Frothingham that he was not proud of his scepticism, but
+now his independent thought arose before him, an image not willing to
+be crucified.  He saw the sneers of his fellow unbelievers, should he
+join the ranks of the religious.  Suppose God should reveal Himself?
+Would he not be bound to serve Him?  A vision of the Man who called
+Himself the Son of God arose dim and wraith-like, sorrowful, homeless,
+poor--crucified!  If God revealed Himself, perhaps he must follow that
+Man!  Was it worth it?  Was it not better to go on as he was, rich,
+independent, self-governed?  If he asked for light, was he ready to
+follow the light?
+
+His hands clenched themselves in the struggle.  The vision of
+self-abnegation was so real that it sickened him.  Home, possessions,
+friendships, and his own life also, seemed demanded by the vision of
+that Man.  But to turn back from the light that might be gained was to
+fall into a darkness more damnable and more desolate than before.
+
+"Buy the truth and sell it not," urged a voice, and some glimmer of
+encouragement seemed in his imagination to smile from the face of the
+Man of Sorrows.  In his decision the sweat broke from his brow and the
+veins stood in cords of agony.  He fell upon his knees, and said aloud:
+
+"O God, if Thou art, reveal Thyself to me, and I will serve Thee."
+
+The solitary gas jet still flickered in the room, the moonlight shone
+without, the silent household slept.  No voice answered the young man's
+prayer, nor sensible Presence wrapped him about; but a crisis was
+marked in one life that night and the result was to be light and peace.
+
+Hubert had not imagined what sort of a response should be made to his
+request, and it was well he had not.  But he felt a sense of relief at
+a decision gained after he had uttered his prayer to God, and soon
+retired to his bed.  It was not to enjoy much sleep, however, for still
+the vision of the Man of Calvary haunted him, and with it a sense that
+it was in His footsteps he must tread, if the truth should really be
+revealed to him.  In the slow hours of the night he counted the cost of
+the tower he should build, and wondered if he would be able to finish
+it.  To him it was granted at the outset of the way to know something
+of the rugged terms of true discipleship.
+
+     *     *     *     *     *     *
+
+The next morning dawned murky and cool.  A thin, struggling rain beat
+against the windows of Hubert's room when he woke.  Things look
+different by the cold light of day, especially if the day be rainy,
+from the same things seen by gaslight.  With Hubert's instant memory of
+the night before, came the temptation to dismiss its happenings as a
+dream and go back to his former way of living.  But he could not do so
+in honesty.  He had made a pledge to a supposed Being, whom he must now
+treat as a reality until the most honest experiment proved Him not to
+he, or to be inaccessible.  Clearly a line of procedure formed itself
+in his mind.  He must seek to know those laws, or principles, that
+governed the new realm which he sought to enter, and endeavor to adjust
+himself to them.
+
+So he took from its place on the shelves the Book that was most likely
+of all to give the suggestions he needed, because it dealt specifically
+with the matter in hand.  Of all those who bore witness in the Book the
+most remarkable one was Jesus Christ.  So he turned to the New
+Testament, and to the Gospels.  He was none too familiar with their
+teachings, but he believed that of them all the Gospel of John
+contained the fullest statement of abstract principles.  He would read
+it.
+
+It was still early, and he settled himself for an hour's study.  It
+occurred to him to invoke afresh that One whom he was seeking for light
+upon His own law.  An impulse of pride almost deterred him, but he
+thought,
+
+"If He is, and I am His creature, I can afford to be humble.  Indeed,
+it is the only fitting thing."
+
+So he bowed his head and said:
+
+"O God, I am seeking Thee.  Help me to understand the truth."
+
+He found the Gospel of John, and began at the beginning.  He read the
+sublime statements concerning the Word, and wondered if they were true.
+If true, it was the most wonderful fact in the world.  If untrue--oh,
+what darkness lay in the shadow of so great light's negation!  He read
+the twelfth verse, and the thirteenth, and pondered them in the light
+of the foregoing statement.  If they were true, then He who was "with
+God," who "was God"--he paused to consider the mysterious relationship;
+mysterious, yet not thereby incredible; he would not repeat the folly
+of the gardener by too ready unbelief!  If true, then God, that eternal
+Word, came down to man, and "as many as received Him," to them it was
+granted to become the sons of God!  They were translated into the realm
+whence He came forth.
+
+The stupendous fact--if fact?--glowed like a sun-lit prism and awoke an
+ardent longing that it might be so.  Ah, to escape the limits of this
+petty life!  How mean and small it seemed.  Man at his best, his
+grandest, but to live out a brief day, and then go out into the
+uncertain darkness forever!  If God had ordained a way into His own
+infinite realm, surely it was worth the finding.
+
+But what was it to "receive" Him?  In what sense did they in the days
+of His fleshly life receive Him?  Was it in a more physical, tangible
+way than would he possible to man now?  Evidently not; for of those
+among whom He moved in bodily presence, the majority "received Him
+not."  Certainly His mission to the earth was not for that generation
+only, but for all men.  Perhaps the receiving was explained by the
+companion statement, "even to them that believe on His name."
+
+But to "believe" was not less difficult to Hubert than to "receive."
+He had boasted his inability to believe that which was unsupported by
+evidence, and had found bitter fault with evangelical doctrine, which,
+he supposed, put a high premium upon blind credulity,--an attitude of
+mind, he contended, which would render a man as open to receive the
+teachings of Buddha, or Mahomet if he happened to hear them, as those
+of Jesus Christ.  He might have added, or the teachings of a Payne, or
+an Ingersoll, or, as a remoter example, of the serpent in Eden who
+beguiled a credulous woman.
+
+Hubert's search had become so earnest that he did not now pause to
+nurse his rancor against the defenseless word "believe," and it even
+flashed into his thought that, should he study diligently its use, he
+might discover in it a further or different meaning than he had
+credited it with.  At this point he wished for a Greek Testament, but
+there was none in the house.  Later in the day, however, he surprised a
+book dealer by the purchase of one, and prepared himself for further
+studies in the "believes" of John's Gospel.
+
+For the present he contented himself with reading on, striving to note
+all the story and its argument, passing over much, undoubtedly, that
+would have spoken volumes had he had ears to hear, but still finding
+much that spoke pointedly and clearly to him.  He pondered the
+testimony of John the Baptist to "the Lamb of God, which taketh away
+the sin of the world," and did not understand it.  But a feeling almost
+of jealous envy stole into his heart toward the two disciples of the
+Baptist, who, hearing the witness, followed Jesus.  His hungry soul
+echoed their "Where dwellest Thou?" in the mystical sense in which he
+instinctively read it, and he felt it would be joy indeed to hear that
+One say, "Come and see."  Would he not come, indeed, if he were bidden!
+
+Hubert read until the breakfast bell sounded, and then went down to
+pursue his study in Winifred's bright face, and wonder how much she
+really knew of the matter he was trying to search out.
+
+"Winnie," he said to her after breakfast, "do you still think you have
+begun to know God?"
+
+"Yes," she said placidly, "I am sure of it."
+
+"How do you know?" said he.  "How does He manifest Himself?"
+
+"I don't know," she answered.  "I can't explain it, but He seems very
+real."
+
+"How did you find Him?  What did you do?" he questioned further.
+
+"Oh, I just came to Him," she answered.  "And," as she reflected of
+that night's compact, "I gave myself up to Him."
+
+So that was the way Winifred found Him.  Was that the way to "believe"?
+But Winifred had none of his doubts about God.  She believed that He
+was, and the mental assent led to the heart surrender.  But if he
+should _do_ her act of faith--?  If a man with doubts should give
+himself up would he be received?  With such reflections Hubert went out
+into his day's work.
+
+Again he accomplished the day's business with faithfulness to all
+details, but with the consciousness every hour of a perplexity
+unsolved--a burden unlifted.  Again he was glad when the office door
+closed behind him and he turned his face homeward, striding beneath his
+umbrella through the now settled rain, with the Greek Testament grasped
+in his hand.
+
+An attractive wood fire burned in the drawing-room grate that evening,
+but Hubert resisted its invitation and retired to his "scientific den,"
+as Winifred called it, to pursue his new studies.  He set himself to
+read again in the Greek that which he had read in English.  He was
+struck by the fact that the word translated "believe" was also rendered
+"commit" in a passage in the second chapter.  That seemed somewhat more
+practical to his apprehension.
+
+He lingered long on the interview with Nicodemus, and as the rain beat
+upon the roof and window pane he listened to the words uttered on a
+Judean night, so long ago, to a man who like himself sought the truth.
+In the first chapter of the Gospel, in its introduction, he had caught
+a glimpse of infinite stretches and light unapproachable, and it seemed
+no marvel that a man, if he would enter that kingdom, _must be born
+into it_!  Marvel, indeed, it might be, that such a birth were
+possible, but not that it was needful.  For how could he transgress the
+boundaries of the human sphere into which he had been born, and lift
+himself into the higher?  It was impossible.  No, that life must
+somehow come forth to him.  He must be "born from above."
+
+As he read on into the book, still bearing in mind the character
+ascribed to Jesus Christ in its beginning, he could not wonder that He
+spoke with such authority.  Not "Thus saith the Lord," but "Verily,
+verily, I say unto you," the new Prophet declared.  What wonder, if He
+were such a Being as described, that He should offer living water to
+the Samaritan woman, since "in Him was life," nor that "the work of
+God" for obtaining eternal life should be narrowed down to a belief
+in--a committal unto--Himself?
+
+As he considered these things, the emphasis shifted from "believe" to
+the Person in whom to believe; and it seemed to him that the teaching
+must be not so much that faith was in itself a way of salvation, as
+that it was a simple necessity to the taking of the Way--the One sent
+forth from God; in short, that its own value was purely relative to the
+One believed in.  This seemed to settle a very important question, and
+drew the sceptic's attention away from his own capabilities of belief
+to the claims of the proposed object of his faith.  He read His words
+with an interest that was painfully intense, and almost groaned his
+prayerful longing to know if they were true.
+
+"After all," thought he, "be a man credulous or doubting, absolute
+knowledge waits upon revelation--upon demonstration."
+
+"O God," he cried finally, "if Thou art, and if Jesus Christ is, and is
+such an One as described here, give me evidence!  Let me know Him and
+Thee."
+
+He lifted his book again, and this time he read:
+
+"If any man is willing to do his will, he shall know of the teaching,
+whether it be of God, or whether I speak from myself."
+
+If a voice had spoken aloud the words it would not have conveyed the
+message more directly to his heart.  He paused, as before a pivotal
+moment of destiny.
+
+"'Willing to do His will!'"
+
+His face whitened.  The agony of the night before was upon him.  The
+way of the cross--the picture of the Man who like no other had done the
+will of God, rose before him and demanded all things.
+
+As drowning men are said to have pass in review the events of a
+lifetime before them, so in a moment's time the strategic elements of
+his life appeared before him, and the finger of God pressed the most
+sensitive points in his nature.  He pointed to the counting room of the
+keen business man, and Hubert saw himself poor for the Kingdom of God's
+sake.  He pointed to the beautiful home and its inmates, and he saw
+himself homeless, having "hated" father and mother and sister--ah,
+sharpest pang of all!--for the sake of discipleship to the sorrowful
+Son of Man.  An invisible attraction drew him after Him, and with ashen
+lips but with fixed heart Hubert Gray took up his cross.
+
+"I am willing to do Thy will," he said.  "Only let me know the
+teaching."
+
+The immediate result of Hubert's work of faith cannot be written.  It
+is incommunicable.  One may point to after effects in a life
+transformed, but of that supernatural witness which comes to men's
+souls, stamping the words of God as very truth indeed, no description
+can be given.  As jealously guarded as the crown jewels in the Tower of
+London is the secret of the Lord which is revealed or hidden at His
+will.  To the foolish one who "in his heart" says, "There is no God,"
+no glorious revelation comes; and often even the patent fact of His
+divine creatorship is not observed.  But, given a hungry soul, he shall
+be filled with good things.  And the Spirit waits to charge with
+electric certainty the teaching of God's truth to the man who in
+meekness adjusts himself to it.
+
+Cold and colorless glows the transparent prism in the shadow.  But let
+the sun shine through it, and lo! it is alive with all the colors of
+glory and beauty.  So the sunlight shone in the laboratory of Hubert
+Gray that night and lit up with many rays of refracted glory the
+doctrine of Jesus Christ.  Light focused itself upon the Person, and
+Hubert saw, as years of painful study would not have taught him without
+that light, the mysterious merging of his own identity with His; saw
+mistily, what afterward he should discern more clearly, his own
+worthless, sinful life vanished in the dying of the One "lifted up";
+saw radiantly his own triumph and everlasting life together with the
+living Christ.  To the secret abode where lives are "hid with Christ in
+God," he came and saw.  The unspeakable gladness of the revelation
+turned the rugged cross into a crown of glory.
+
+The fragrance of a flower stole from his bedroom into the laboratory.
+He smiled as he recognized it.
+
+"I have not seen the flower," he said, "but its undoubted witness is
+here.  I do not see Thee, Jesus, my Lord and my God, but I believe
+Thee!--Thou art here."  And he worshiped Him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+MR. FROTHINGHAM AND THE CHOIR REHEARSAL
+
+Unsympathetic Nature was still in tears when the next morning broke
+upon Hubert's new-found joy.  But so ardent was it that no weather
+could dampen it.  His first waking thoughts were of the marvelous
+treasure he had found.  A new life stretched out before him.  He was a
+new man.  He had entered into a new world whose center of gravity was
+in heaven, "where Christ is," and an indescribable, exultant gladness
+filled his soul.  He had received Him, the divine Visitant from that
+other world, and his own soul was quickened with the life He brought.
+Henceforth he claimed kinship with Him and with the Father.  A new
+motive power of living had entered into his being.  He was not
+conscious of prayer, but it was in his heart, making response to the
+revelation which had come to him, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"
+The new realm must have its own laws of living, very contrary to those
+of this world, and he would know them.
+
+First of all there was a simple, straightforward task before him and he
+was eager to discharge it.  So after a hasty toilet he went down to the
+library where he rightly surmised he should find his father--also an
+early riser--and presented himself at the other side of the table
+before him.
+
+"Eh! Good morning, Hubert," said Mr. Gray, as he looked up from his
+reading.
+
+"Good morning, father," said Hubert.  And he added, "I have something
+to tell you."
+
+"Really?  I hope there is no ill news?"  Mr. Gray's first thought was
+of business, but a second glance at Hubert's face showed there was no
+unpleasant message to communicate.  And there was a strange expression
+on his son's face.  He had never seen it before--not, at least, since
+Hubert was a boy.  No, not even then.  What was it?
+
+Hubert answered his father's questions of word and searching look.
+
+"No, father," he said, "it is far from ill news.  It is this: I am no
+longer a sceptic.  I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ."
+
+"Eh?  What?  Hubert!"
+
+The older man's face passed in lightning changes from stages of wonder
+to joy, and he sprang from his chair.  He grasped his son's hand across
+the table.
+
+"Hubert!" he repeated, "my dear boy!"
+
+His voice choked on the last word.  A certain strain of Scottish blood
+forbade a warmer demonstration, but the two men's hand-clasp was
+eloquent.  Presently Mr. Gray asked Hubert to be seated and tell him
+all about it, wondering much meanwhile at the change very often sighed
+for but seldom expected.
+
+Hubert told his story as directly as possible, but minus many details
+of his heart struggle of which his reserved nature made it impossible
+to speak.  But, bare of all embellishment, the story gave great joy to
+his father.  His own example as a Christian had not been a brilliant
+one.  His principles were just, as men count equity, and his life
+irreproachable by their standards.  But the business man seemed often
+to hold the ascendency over the disciple of Jesus Christ, and Hubert
+had sometimes wondered cynically wherein his father differed from
+himself except in his attendance upon outward religious forms.  But the
+spark of life, dull and smoldering, answered to the breath of Hubert's
+good news of salvation, and he was unfeignedly glad.
+
+They started together for the dining-room when the bell rang, but met
+Winifred in the hall.  She had just come in from the garden, clad in
+rain-coat and cap, roses glowing in her cheeks from the keen, damp air,
+and a big bouquet of flame-colored flowers in her hands.
+
+"We shall have sunshine without the sun," she cried to Hubert.  "These
+flowers have caught his color."
+
+"That is a parable," he answered quickly.
+
+"Expound it please," she said.
+
+Mr. Gray went on into the dining-room, and Hubert explained to Winifred
+her mystic text.
+
+"These flowers," he said, "give indisputable evidence of the sun's
+existence, even though we cannot see it.  They could not have their
+color without it.  There is a sweet soul in this house who caught the
+beams of the Sun before I quite knew that He was, and she testified of
+Him, reflecting His glory when I was in great darkness.  It helped me
+to suppose that He existed and to try to find out for myself."
+
+Winifred looked deeply in Hubert's dark eyes and saw the hunger gone
+from them.  He smiled on her.
+
+"Hubert," she said, "have you found Him?"
+
+"Yes," he said.
+
+Her flowers fell to the floor.  She threw her arms about his neck with
+a sob of joy.
+
+"Oh, Hubert, I am so glad!" she cried.  "I prayed--" and her voice
+broke.
+
+Breakfast waited in the dining-room, but Mr. Gray improved the time by
+trying to explain to his wife the great change that had come to their
+son.  She could not understand the phenomenon, and the process that led
+to it was exceedingly misty, but she was glad if Hubert had come to see
+things differently, and hoped he would join the church at once, and the
+reproach of his sceptical views be wiped out forever.  She felt a
+little nervous and excited at the announcement, and wondered just what
+acknowledgment of it she should make.  A pink flush had stolen into her
+fair face by the time Hubert and Winifred entered.  He walked straight
+across the room to where she was standing and took her soft, white hand
+in both his.
+
+"Has father told you my news, mother?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, dear Hubert," she said, and kissed him.  "I am very glad.  It has
+been a grief--" and she hesitated.  She thought to say, "that you have
+not been with us," but he finished the sentence for her.
+
+"That I have not been a Christian?  I know it must have been.  Forgive
+me for all the pain it has given you.  I have been wrong and blind."
+
+The maid peered in, and Mrs. Gray was glad of the interruption and to
+propose that they sit down at once.  She was glad of breakfast, too.
+She saw no reason why the coffee should spoil, even though the son and
+heir of the house had just now come into an inheritance exceeding the
+most fabulous fortunes of earth.
+
+The blessing was asked less formally than usual, and Mr. Gray thanked
+the Lord also for the Bread of Life which had visited them.  Later in
+the course of conversation he remarked:
+
+"By the way, you will all be interested to hear that Mr. Bond, who
+preached for us last Sunday, is to give a series of Bible Lectures in
+the Y.M.C.A. Hall, beginning in about a fortnight.  Mr. Selton is
+bringing it about.  It was through him that we had the privilege of
+hearing Mr. Bond last Sunday."
+
+"Then it was not upon Doctor Schoolman's invitation?" queried Hubert.
+
+"Oh, he invited him, of course, but it was at Mr. Selton's wish.  He is
+very influential, you know.  He heard Mr. Bond when he was in New York
+last winter and was much interested in his teaching.  So he suggested
+having him here for a Sunday, and himself undertook the expense."
+
+Fortunately for this instance Mr. Selton possessed the two
+qualifications, so often united in church life, of influence and wealth.
+
+"Later," went on Mr. Gray, "he spoke with several men, including
+myself, about the advisability of the Bible Lectures, having secured
+Mr. Bond's consent before he left on Monday.  We saw no objection.  I
+think, myself, that we need a little stirring up now and then."
+
+"And the lectures are to be in the Y.M.C.A. Hall?" asked Hubert, with
+interest.
+
+"Yes, that is a central point, and we wish to make them union meetings."
+
+"I am very glad to hear about it," said Hubert.
+
+
+The rainy day passed, its somberness meanwhile lightened by a greater
+glow than that of Winifred's flame-colored flowers, and Friday came,
+radiant with sunshine.  It was passed without special incident until
+evening, which was the time of the weekly choir rehearsal.  Then Mr.
+George Frothingham called, as had become his wont, to escort Winifred
+to the church.  That had once been Hubert's task, and bitterly he had
+resented it when gradually the change came about.  Now he need have no
+fear, for his sister was not going.  She had not seen Frothingham since
+Sunday, and during the day had looked forward with a little unpleasant
+dread to the interview that must be.  She imagined various ways in
+which she should break to him the news that she had left the choir, but
+none seemed satisfactory.  All her little speeches left her as the time
+drew near.
+
+He found her at the piano, where improvised melodies had been working
+off her nervous apprehension.
+
+"Not ready?" he asked, after the usual salutations.
+
+"I am not going."
+
+"Really?  You are not ill, I hope?"
+
+"Oh, no!  I never was better," confessed Winifred.
+
+"You should go above all things to-night," he said.  "Mr. Mercer is
+going to give us parts of the Redemption."
+
+The music was certainly alluring.
+
+"I have left the choir," said Winifred faintly.
+
+Mr. Frothingham never lost his easy self-poise over anything which this
+jestingly tolerated world offered him, but he allowed himself to be
+surprised now.
+
+"You are surely not in earnest?" he said.  "You of all persons!  I
+thought you were devoted to the choir.  You are not going to desert us
+for some other field of conquest?"
+
+"Oh, no!" said Winifred.
+
+"Have you quarreled with Mercer?" he persisted.  "He _is_ cranky
+sometimes.  Shall I fight him?"
+
+Winifred had to laugh at the thought of the handsome, immaculate young
+man before her in a pugilistic encounter with Mr. Mercer.
+
+"No, you needn't do that," she said; and added, "you would get the
+worst of it, I think."
+
+"Oh, really!  Thanks very much!  Perhaps you do not know my prowess in
+those lines?  But on the whole I should prefer a smaller man than
+Mercer.  He shall be spared if you say so."
+
+"You relieve me," said Winifred, laughing.
+
+But how was she to explain the truth to Frothingham?  It was easier to
+jest with him than to speak earnestly, and Winifred had an instinctive
+feeling, not definitely acknowledged, that to make him understand a
+spiritual idea would be impossible.
+
+"But really, Winifred," he went on, "if it is not rude to ask, I should
+like to know what great reason makes you desert us now in the very
+height of your success, and, I should think, enjoyment?"
+
+Smiles left her face, and a flush of embarrassment deepened in her
+cheeks.  It was very hard to speak to him of these things--harder than
+it had been to any other.
+
+"That is just it," she said slowly.  "It has been a success for me,
+artistically, and a great enjoyment.  But there has been nothing in it
+for--for--Christ."  She hesitated before the sacred name.  Why was it
+so hard to speak it before him?
+
+He was silent.  They were already by the simple mention of that name in
+deeper water, conversationally, than he was accustomed to.  She had to
+go on.
+
+"I have been convinced," she said, "that it has all been very wrong.  I
+have been offering to God a pretended worship, when it has really been
+the worship of our Art.  That must be idolatry, I think.  I can't go on
+with it."
+
+Winifred stopped decisively, and Frothingham found words to reply with
+just a tinge of irony:
+
+"I am afraid you are a bit too metaphysical for me, Winifred.  I don't
+quite understand you.  Do you mean to say singing in the choir is
+wrong?  If it is, it is a pretty common sin and quite generally
+approved of."
+
+"No, it isn't wrong," said Winifred desperately; "at least, it would be
+the loveliest thing in the world, I think, if we were all _true
+worshipers_, and meant what we sang, and sang to God.  But you know it
+hasn't been anything of the sort.  We have sung for our own pleasure
+and the applause of the people."
+
+"And the money, some of us," asserted Frothingham with indifferent
+candor.  "But I don't see why we should be troubled about it.  It's a
+part of the machine.  It goes to make up the church worship, and a
+considerable part of it.  I suppose they offer it to the Lord--or
+whatever you call it--whether we individual performers mean anything or
+not."
+
+Winifred thought of the prayer-wheels.  Did the church turn the machine
+and grind out praises by proxy?  How much merit did they accumulate
+thereby in the eyes of God who is a Spirit, and would be worshiped "in
+spirit and in truth"?  It was very perplexing.  She could not argue it
+all out with him, but she said:
+
+"If the individual worshipers are insincere, I should think the total
+result" (she had a little of her father's business logic) "would be
+insincerity."
+
+He smiled at her reasoning.  "Let the clergy thrash that out," he said.
+"When they or the church find fault it will be time enough for my
+conscience to twinge."
+
+"I think one of the clergy did find fault in the sermon Sunday
+morning," ventured Winifred.
+
+"Oh, that young fellow?" said Frothingham carelessly.  "I didn't find
+out what he was getting at.  Doctor Schoolman always looks beatific
+when we sing.  While he continues to beam I shall still consider that
+singing in the choir is about the most pious act I do."
+
+Mr. Frothingham was rather vain of the brevity of his list of pious
+deeds.
+
+"Oh, come on, Winifred," he continued, grasping her hand coaxingly,
+"don't bother your head about such mystical things.  Come on and sing.
+Think of the Redemption."
+
+She did think of it, and tears struggled to come with the thought.
+
+"I am not going," she said, without looking in his eyes.  "Don't ask
+me, George."
+
+"And you have no pity on poor me, going without you?"
+
+"No," she answered, smiling.  "You will survive it."
+
+"Cruel lady!" he said dramatically, and bore her slender fingers to his
+lips.
+
+She withdrew her hand with a slight flush, and he bethought him to look
+at his watch.
+
+"Oh," he exclaimed, "it's late.  Mercer will think he has lost me, too."
+
+He made hasty adieux and was off, his light, swinging step sounding
+pleasantly down the walk.
+
+Winifred stood where he had left her, with a conflict of emotions in
+her heart.  She still felt the tingle of his lips upon her hand, and
+still smiled at the airy nothings he said.  But there was pain in the
+compound of her thoughts; pain at a difference between them that
+proclaimed its power to grow wider; pain at defeat in making a
+principle understood and appreciated; pain most of all from the subtle
+sense of something pure and sweet now sullied, as though too rude a
+breath had blown upon a sensitive flower, or as though pearls had been
+ignorantly trodden upon.
+
+Meanwhile Frothingham, on his way to the handsome church, indulged in
+characteristic meditations of his own regarding Winifred's strange
+freak.  He heartily hoped she would get over it.  It was a stupid turn
+for affairs to take as regarded himself; for perpetual meetings at the
+choir, with the pleasant walks attached, and frequent private
+rehearsals in the Gray drawing-room had furnished admirable facilities
+for the courtship of whose issue he had not a doubt.  But it was far
+from a misfortune that could not be mended.  He should miss her
+immensely, of course, but there were other pleasant people in the choir
+and he held an easy popularity among them.  Then he was too well
+ingratiated in her favor and as a frequent guest at her house to be
+displaced by this matter.  He should still do the attentive in every
+available way.  But he hoped she was not getting fanatical.  It would
+be inexpressibly stupid to have a wife over pious, with extreme views
+about things.  He should like her to be religious up to a certain
+point.  He thought women ought to be that.  It was a good thing to have
+somebody in a house who knew something about those things in case of
+trouble.  Mr. Frothingham was himself in the insurance business--at the
+head of a prominent company's office for that city--and he was
+accustomed to take business-like account of life risks, and to
+recognize death as a hard factor to be dealt with.  Just now he
+unconsciously erected a kind of spiritual lightning rod against his
+future house in the piety of its expected mistress.  But he hoped she
+would not get too religious--not enough so to interfere with the life
+of gayety which he expected to continue for many a year.  But it did
+not occur to him to relinquish her even if she should begin to show
+symptoms of extreme views.  He was rather fond of Winifred--quite so,
+in fact; and he was not indifferent to "the old man's ducats," as he
+had confided to himself and to one or two most intimate friends.  On
+the whole he congratulated himself on pleasant prospects ahead, and was
+not too much disconcerted by his own appearance alone at the rehearsal.
+
+
+Winifred spent the evening rather ill at ease.  Its pleasant habit was
+broken up.  Had she been foolish?  Was she not taking an unheard-of
+stand?  Would it have been better to go along and conform her course to
+the popular conscience instead of her own, perhaps very silly, one?
+She should be laughed at, and it was miserable to be laughed at or
+thought eccentric.  She tried to play the piano, but imagined strains
+from the Redemption interrupted her.  She went to talk with her mother,
+but found her seated beside the library table with her embroidery while
+her father read aloud.
+
+Mrs. Gray managed to utter an aside:
+
+"I had forgotten, child, that you were not going to the rehearsal.  How
+strange it seems!"
+
+Winifred drifted away again, unable to listen to what her father was
+reading.  Hubert was nowhere to be found.  She went at last to her own
+room and did the best thing possible.  She poured out her heart before
+God, telling Him with the simplicity that had characterized her first
+coming to Him her perplexity and unhappiness.
+
+"I am miserable," she said to Him.  "I don't know whether I have done
+right or not, and I miss the music so much.  Please let me know if it
+is right to give it up? I do wish to worship Thee."
+
+No flood of revelation poured at once upon her, but she took her Bible
+and read.  She had learned no method of study, but read where she
+chanced to open.  The portion did not say anything about choirs or
+rehearsals, but it led her mind away and soothed her.  And its
+atmosphere was so pure and fragrant that when the debated thing rose
+again it was instantly judged by contrast.  Very different was the
+spiritual air of her choir experience, as in imagination she stepped
+back into it; and the fellowship of George Frothingham, Mr. Mercer, and
+the drink-sodden organist, did not seem like the communion of the
+saints as she found it in the Acts of the Apostles.
+
+With the vanishing of her doubts as to the wisdom of her course came
+back the gentle peace that she had known for five blessed days, and its
+price was above all musical delights.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A NEW SUNDAY
+
+Sunday morning found four people seated in the comfortable pew which
+the iron merchant was able to pay for.  And, by the way, what a
+comfortable thing is wealth in the various ramifications of life, even
+to one's church relationships!  No fear of the unwelcome bidding, "Sit
+thou here under my footstool"--in the undesirable front seats where
+one's neck must be craned backward to admit of seeing the minister; nor
+of being relegated to the back pews when ears have become a little dull
+with age.  How thankful should one be whose lot in life is thus
+favorably cast!  But we have not admitted to our consciousness a
+thankfulness that the Epistle of James is not often read; or, if read,
+too literally dwelt upon.  We have found a grateful oil to pour upon
+any rising waters of ill conscience in reflecting upon the beneficent
+adjustment of social relationships by a wise Providence and the divine
+right of money-kings.
+
+Mrs. Gray and her neighbor, Mrs. Butterworth, exchanged serene glances
+of recognition across the shallow partition that separated them, but
+the latter added a look of inquiry as it was observed that Winifred was
+with her family.  Mrs. Gray's heart sank at the thought of having to
+explain the phenomenon when once the service should be over.  Winifred
+felt that many eyes must note her presence there instead of in the
+choir, and the embarrassment of the thought almost dissipated the
+spirit of true worship for which she had longed and prayed.  But she
+had soon forgotten to a considerable degree the people about her, and
+gave herself diligently to the service.  It was not altogether without
+self-consciousness, however, that she joined in the hymns, fearing lest
+her own voice should be heard above others.  Mrs. Gray, too, wished
+that she would not sing quite so loudly, lest it should destroy the
+convenient fiction of the laryngitis.
+
+Hubert realized that he took his place in the congregation on an
+entirely new basis this day, and he endeavored earnestly to put away
+all spirit of his former prejudice and to receive in meekness anything
+which his Lord might say to him from His place in the midst.  He tried
+to forget how utterly hollow and meaningless the formalities of the
+service had heretofore seemed to him, and to discern, if possible,
+within the mold of man's fashioning the operation of the Spirit of God.
+With his own heart at peace with God and charged with His joy, it was
+easy to look upon all about him more kindly, with an eye as critical to
+find good and honor it as to discover evil.  Upon even his long-time
+aversion, Doctor Schoolman, he looked with expectancy, for had he not,
+after all, known for these many years Him whom he--Hubert--had but just
+"begun to know," as Winifred would put it?  With ears now open, should
+he not hear much which would cause his heart to burn within him?
+
+Hubert and Winifred shared the same hymn-book, and together sang with
+deep gladness hymns which ascribe praises to Christ.  But, intent upon
+truthfulness, Winifred paused before sentiments not understood, or the
+profession of experiences quite unfelt, and let the congregation sing
+on without her.  The privilege of doing so gave her keen satisfaction,
+even though it was difficult to stop in the midst of a pleasant melody.
+
+"Better a break in the melody than in sincerity," she said to herself,
+"since the Lord is here and taking note of everything."
+
+The thought of His presence was very sweet; not at all the vision of
+terror which it had seemed to her a week ago.  She found the fear of
+Him not incompatible with the purest confidence and love.
+
+The choir rendered their accustomed service, and a new soprano, on
+trial, exploited her skill in solo parts.  She sang without Winifred's
+refinement of artistic sense, but sang fashionably.  She sang
+dramatically, and cast languishing glances at the unresponsive backs of
+the congregation, blinking over her notes as though invisible
+footlights dazzled her eyes.  It was not easy to find the sentiment
+sung in the midst of the quavering notes, so the poor worshipers below
+could scarcely offer "amens" in their hearts; but they might perhaps
+consider thankfully that some sort of noise, "joyful" or otherwise, had
+been made unto the Lord by their paid proxy.
+
+Doctor Schoolman's sermon was a typical one.  Finished and elegant, his
+polished sentences reached his congregation gently; not like swift
+arrows from a tense bow, but rather like harmless darts taken from the
+preacher's quiver and laid without violence against the hearts of his
+listeners.  Very good arrows they often were from the philosophic
+standpoint, but seldom fashioned from the rugged essential truths of
+the doctrine of Christ.
+
+He had a text from Scripture certainly.  But no slavish adherence to
+its evident meaning, as seen by its setting, hampered the orator in his
+thought.  Indeed, was it not a kindness to the old Book that still
+somewhat from its pages was thought worthy to act as a peg upon which
+to hang the ripe and cultivated ideas of the twentieth century?
+
+Hubert did not find his soul much fed by the discourse, but, keen and
+discriminating as his mind might be, he was not yet a Bible student and
+able to disentangle the original thoughts of the preacher from the
+teachings of revelation.  He found much to assent to ethically, but,
+compared with the revelation in his laboratory when the pure light of
+heaven shone upon the pages of John's Gospel, the rhetorical utterances
+of Doctor Schoolman were as water unto wine.  They were not so
+commanding but that he at last found time to glance at his neighbors to
+see how they were taking the sermon.  Winifred was too near him to be
+looked at, likewise his father; but he could see his mother.  Very
+elegant, very composed, very approving she looked.  A calm contentment
+beamed upon her mobile face, and Hubert could not help it that his
+sharp eye, formed to detect minutiae, printed upon his mind even the
+details of the picture she made, sitting so quietly there.  Soft,
+lustrous, black silk became well the figure which a life of gentle
+inactivity caused to incline to corpulence, while a modest show of
+exquisite lace relieved its somberness.  There was just a tiny glitter
+of costly gems, not too vulgarly showy for church, and the most
+suitable of bonnets crowned the graceful head, whose waves of soft
+brown hair still repudiated silver.
+
+The minister's text led him to heaven at this point, and he drew it in
+sentimental lines; a place whose essential light was not so much the
+Lamb as other things; a place of reunited friends, of congenial
+occupations, of tastes gratified, and of knowledge ever widening.  He
+offered no uncomfortable suggestion that any of his hearers might fail
+of entering there.
+
+Hubert saw among his hearers abstracted faces not a few; interested,
+studious faces; and hungry faces which looked their longing for meat
+not found as yet in the Lord's house.  Among the last class he noticed
+in one of the front pews a man, evidently an artisan, whose deep, large
+eyes looked yearningly toward the pulpit with an appeal for bread,
+while from it there came, through fine and learned discourse, to his
+untutored mind a stone.  His face smote Hubert with a sudden pity, and
+a hunger crept into his own heart, not alone to know Christ, but to
+make Him known.  He wondered if this man had ever seen Him as he had.
+Oh, if he could only tell him of Him, and turn the misery of those
+longing eyes into joy!
+
+The sermon ended.  It was never very long; for Doctor Schoolman well
+knew that patience, that sits good-naturedly for hours at games or
+races, or in the seats of a packed theater, has very short limits at
+church.  He never taxed it, nor himself, too far.  So the closing hymn
+was punctually sung, and the benediction was pronounced in tender tones
+upon the congregation.
+
+Mrs. Butterworth's curiosity blossomed afresh when the meeting was over
+and she had the opportunity of speaking with Winifred and her mother.
+She addressed herself to the former, to Mrs. Gray's mingled relief and
+terror; relief that she herself was not called upon to find excuses,
+and terror lest Winifred should make herself ridiculous.
+
+"You were not in the choir this morning?" she said with a "why" in her
+voice.
+
+"No," said Winifred, "I have left the choir."
+
+"Really!" exclaimed Mrs. Butterworth in a shocked voice.  "I hope not
+for good?"
+
+"Yes--I think it is for good," Winifred confessed.
+
+"Oh, please do not say so!" cried Mrs. Butterworth, but in a suppressed
+voice, for they had not yet left the church.  "What shall we do?  We
+have enjoyed your singing so very much!"
+
+"I am afraid I have been too conscious of that fact," said Winifred
+frankly, while her mother looked alarmed.  "I think I shall be able to
+worship God more sincerely in the congregation."
+
+Mrs. Gray felt that the worst had come, now that Winifred had declared
+her position.  She almost turned faint as she heard her speak to Mrs.
+Butterworth so simply and directly of worshiping God.  To be sure they
+were still in the building supposably dedicated to that end, but to
+speak aloud of it in so many words seemed very bad form.  Her daughter
+might sing protests of adoration in the ears of the whole congregation,
+with the loudest of affected fervor, and she found no fault with it.
+But the comfort of that was that nobody believed she meant it!
+
+Mrs. Butterworth looked at Winifred keenly, and partially grasped her
+meaning.
+
+"Oh, I hope you'll not look at it that way," she said half soothingly.
+"It might suit your own feelings better, but what about ours?  I have
+often said," and her eyebrows arched plaintively, "that your singing
+did me more good than the sermon!"
+
+Winifred looked at the worldly, fashionable woman and wondered, not at
+all cynically, how much good her combined efforts with Doctor
+Schoolman's had done toward a life-transformation.
+
+"I am sorry not to sing," she said sympathetically, "since you enjoyed
+it so much, I would gladly continue if I could.  I cannot.  But there
+is already someone in my place--"
+
+Mrs. Butterworth lifted her hand in silent protest.  She looked at
+Winifred reproachfully, and settled her lips as one who should say
+nothing of the new singer in contrast with her favorite.  She shook her
+head resignedly, and at this moment they were joined by someone else
+who proffered greetings.  Winifred was glad to join Hubert and to slip
+out as quickly as possible, they both as usual preferring the walk home
+to the carriage.  Frothingham saw them from afar, and inwardly
+commented upon Hubert's unwonted appearance at church for two
+consecutive Sundays, and his own consequent loss.  He had no mind to
+join Winifred with Hubert for a third.
+
+The two exchanged views of the sermon on the way home.  It seemed very
+strange to hear Hubert speak of it sympathetically.  He mentioned some
+admirable points which he found in the minister's reasoning, and
+refrained from saying that the change of heart he had himself
+experienced had not made less hateful to him Doctor Schoolman's
+affected style.
+
+"How did you like the sermon?" he asked Winifred when he had expressed
+his own opinion.
+
+"Oh, I don't know," said Winifred hesitatingly.  "He said some lovely
+things.  That illustration from Greek mythology was beautiful.  I am
+sure I shall remember that.  But I wish," she added innocently, "that
+he had said more about the Lord."
+
+"So do I," said Hubert decidedly.
+
+They walked on in silence for awhile and then Hubert spoke.
+
+"I am not a qualified judge of sermons," he said, "but I would a
+hundred times rather read the Gospel of John."
+
+"Are you still reading it?" said Winifred,
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I wish we might read it together," she said wistfully.
+
+"We might," he said.  "Shall we begin to-day?"
+
+"By all means.  But I can't read Greek," she added doubtfully.  She had
+observed the Greek Testament with its fresh markings.
+
+He laughed.  "But fortunately I can read English," he said.  And so it
+was arranged.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+NOT OF THE WORLD
+
+That afternoon found Hubert and Winifred with their books, looking
+about for the most suitable place to read.  Somnolent sounds from the
+couch in the library warned them not to locate there.  They decided on
+a cool window-seat in the drawing-room overlooking the garden.  There
+they settled themselves and found their places.  It was decided to
+begin at the point Hubert had reached, which was the seventeenth
+chapter.  Before beginning to read Hubert shaded his eyes with his hand
+for a moment to ask, as had become his wont since he first sought to
+know God, for light upon the Word.  Winifred understood the act and
+joined him silently.
+
+He began reading reverently and slowly.  The simple, stately words fell
+very sweetly upon their ears.  They paused often, so as to understand
+more fully what they read.  They read with the intent earnestness of
+those who explore new territory, and who have immense interests in
+things discovered.  They lingered first over the second verse:
+
+"As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give
+eternal life to as many as Thou hast given him."
+
+"'As many as thou hast given him,'" repeated Winifred.  "What do you
+think that means, Hubert?"
+
+Hubert gazed into vacancy meditatively.  "I don't know," he announced,
+very slowly; "there is a profound mystery here which I have seen in
+earlier chapters.  I do not see the point of meeting between two laws
+that seem almost contradictory.  But one point seems very clear, and it
+meets us very simply on our human side: that is, that the one who 'is
+willing to do His will' is the one whom the Father 'gives' to Jesus
+Christ."
+
+"It is very sweet," said Winifred, "to think of being given by the
+Father to Him.  It seems surer, somehow, than to just give oneself."
+
+Hubert's deep eyes kindled and glowed with a liquid fire.  "Yes," he
+said in a suppressed voice, "it is wonderful."  He was standing on
+ground that had not by long habit grown coldly theological, but was
+instinct with life to him through a new and vital experience.
+
+They read on:
+
+"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true
+God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent."
+
+They paused to meditate, and Winifred was the first to break the
+silence.
+
+"Hubert," she said in a low voice, "it must be we have entered upon
+eternal life.  We have begun to know Him."
+
+Her voice sank upon the last word, and her lips trembled.
+Instinctively she held out her hand to her brother, and he clasped it
+in his.  Tears streamed down upon her book, and Hubert was not ashamed
+that his own eyes were moist.  They were silent for some moments, while
+the young man beheld afresh that eternal, infinite realm out of which
+the Word had come forth, and he knew himself born into it.  Earth
+seemed illusory--but the scene of a moment--in the glory of that vision.
+
+They read on and Hubert explained to his sister what he saw in the
+request of the Lord Jesus to be given again the glory which He had with
+the Father "before the world was."  Never in his reading of the Gospel
+had he lost sight of its beginning, and he read these words, as he had
+others, in its light.  He turned back and read the opening verses of
+the first chapter to Winifred in explanation of the glory to be given
+back, and the very fact of its being asked for, as though having been
+surrendered for the time, shed a light upon passages poorly understood
+before, which had shown clearly His humanity and His subjection to the
+Father.
+
+Again they read on, pondering as they read, but paused over the ninth
+verse:
+
+"I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou
+hast given Me; for they are Thine."
+
+"Do you think that means, Hubert," said Winifred, "that He does not
+pray for the world?  It seems very exclusive.  But we know that God
+loves the world?"
+
+"I think," said Hubert, "that the discrimination is not _against_ the
+world, but rather _for_ those given Him out of it.  He must care
+specially for them.  Perhaps if we read on we shall see the special
+character of this prayer for us."
+
+The words "for us" slipped out very naturally, and he did not recall
+them, so sweet and sure was the confidence of having been given into
+the hands of Jesus Christ.
+
+So they read on, and noted the petitions of the priestly prayer for His
+own.  They did not sound the depths of meaning in them, for they were
+yet but babes; but they observed the strong line of enclosure which
+separated them from the world and the Lord's reiterated statement that
+they were not of it, even as He.
+
+"It is very strange," remarked Winifred to Hubert, "that Doctor
+Schoolman has never told us about this."  But she amended quickly,
+"Perhaps he has many times and I have not listened.  But I have always
+thought we were all very much alike, only that some people were better
+than others; never that there was such a sharp line drawn between those
+who are given to Christ and the rest of the world."
+
+"I do not think we have heard much about it," said Hubert.  "I have not
+been much of a church-goer, but I think for the most part we have been
+talked to as though we were all on the same plane as regards
+relationship to God and Jesus Christ."
+
+"But this line is so very exclusive," said Winifred almost regretfully.
+
+"So very _inclusive_, you mean," said Hubert, smiling.
+
+"An inclusive line must be exclusive also, must it not?" she persisted.
+
+"I suppose it must," he admitted.  "The same walls that shut us in this
+house shut everybody else out.  But there is a way in," he added,
+intent upon the doctrine of God's free grace found true by his own
+experiment.
+
+"Yes," said Winifred, "'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast
+out.'  That gave me great comfort when I read it, Hubert.  But I was
+thinking now that if I had not come to know that I was outside, I
+should never have come inside."
+
+They finished the chapter, dwelling upon the words:
+
+"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me
+where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me;
+for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world."
+
+Their hearts burned at the love that longed for them to be with Him and
+to see His glory.  And they should see it!  The distant scene glowed
+with reality and seemed near.  There was One with them whom they did
+not see, One who still draws near when loved disciples commune
+concerning Him, and it was He who made the Scriptures an open, radiant
+page.  Very pure and fragrant was the spiritual air they breathed then,
+and it prepared them to judge of baser atmosphere.  "Sanctify them
+through Thy truth," the Lord Jesus had asked, and as they pondered the
+Word of Truth the answer to His prayer began.
+
+When they finished their reading Winifred surprised Hubert by what
+seemed an irrelevant remark.
+
+"I do not think I shall go to Mrs. Butterworth's party, Hubert," she
+said.
+
+Her brother had no need to add, "Nor shall I," for he was not a society
+man.  But he looked at her inquiringly.
+
+"I don't know why," she replied to his look, "but it seems very
+different from this.  Don't you think so?"
+
+"I do indeed," he answered, understanding what she meant by "this."
+
+Winifred had not arrived at analytical reasons, but had intuitively
+reached a conclusion.  Just a mental picture of the coming brilliant
+event at Mrs. Butterworth's; the gay scene, the intoxicating music, the
+hollow courtesies, flattering words and glances, the dancing--just an
+instant vision of the scene that arose in sheer contrast against the
+pure holiness of the things they had been considering, and Winifred
+turned from it quickly.  To have spoken her impression, and Hubert's
+evident approval, helped her to hold to it in later hours of temptation.
+
+The Japanese gong sounded musically for Sunday evening tea before they
+were aware that time had flown.  They assembled with their elders who
+looked not so much refreshed by their slumbers as our young friends by
+their study.  The repast over, Hubert, who wished to do all things
+required of a Christian, but who felt a secret repugnance to listening
+again to Doctor Schoolman, sounded Winifred's mind on the matter.
+
+"Are you going to hear Doctor Schoolman?" he asked.
+
+"Why, I suppose so," said she.  "What else should one do?"
+
+"What is he going to preach about?" he asked evasively.
+
+"I don't know.  Let's look in the paper and see."
+
+So they found Saturday's paper and saw that this evening was to have
+the first of a series of discourses on "Poets and Their Teachings,"
+with Tennyson as the first subject.
+
+"I am not hungering for a literary lecture," said Hubert.  "I should
+like to hear something clearly about Christ."
+
+"We might go somewhere else," said Winifred, giving the suggestion
+which he wished.
+
+They looked at the paper again to see the advertised subjects at
+various churches.  They found some sensational, that might bear
+reference to the Lord or might not; some very promising, but at
+churches too far away; and finally they decided upon a little church in
+a street near them, whose modest announcement told simply of "preaching
+at 7:30."
+
+It was with something of a spirit of adventure and an almost troubled
+conscience that Winifred deserted her usual place of attendance.  They
+turned down a less fashionable street than their own and came to the
+church, a small brick structure, very fresh and new looking.  A few
+young people still lingered about the door, loath to go in from the
+summer twilight.  Within the newness rivaled that without.  The pew
+backs shone with varnish, and the aisles glowed with fresh, red carpet.
+The simple pulpit was carefully polished and a bright bookmark hung
+from the gilt-edged leaves of the Bible.  The choir occupied a platform
+at the right of the minister, facing the congregation, and each member
+held the visitors in view as they were shown to a seat.  The evening
+congregation was scattering, so their advent was the more noticeable.
+They were early also, which gave the young girl organist some time to
+look at them fixedly across the back of the cabinet organ at which she
+was seated, before beginning her voluntary.  Then she played "Alice,
+Where Art Thou?" with loud and ill-assorted stops.  Had Winifred been
+less bent on sincere worship, or their quest for Christ-preaching been
+less serious, she would have found it difficult to keep from laughing
+with the sudden sense of humor which assailed her.
+
+The service was nearly as elaborate as the statelier neighbor-church
+could boast.  The choir rendered an anthem in process of time, and
+Winifred studied their faces earnestly, wondering if any thought of
+reality was in their hearts as they sang.  They were nearly all young,
+with thoughtless, unspiritual faces, but they sang the sentiments of
+discipline and sorrow.  There was no artistic value in their singing,
+and Winifred thought with a sigh, "It does not help any that the music
+should be poor.  They have no more heart in it than had we with our
+trained skill."
+
+The minister was a man of moderate abilities and somewhat ungraceful
+appearance.  He was tall, sandy-haired, with a half-anxious
+countenance, as though the cares of the shining new edifice and of the
+flock rather troubled him.  He preached with no striking originality,
+but with evident earnestness, mingled with abortive efforts at
+rhetoric.  He spoke good words for Christ, extolling His power to save
+sinners; and the simple statements, however trite they may have sounded
+to others, were music in the eager ears of those who had just come to
+know Him.
+
+At the close of the meeting he made his way to the door to shake hands
+with the departing hearers, and Hubert gave him his with a cordial
+grasp, and with thanks for his "excellent sermon."  The minister's face
+brightened and he looked after his appreciative visitors with hope that
+they might come again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+"TWO OF ME"
+
+Affairs moved quietly in the Gray household as the week advanced.  Mr.
+Frothingham called one evening and made himself very entertaining to
+the two ladies.  Mrs. Gray laughed gently at his jokes, for he was a
+tireless jester (sometimes a tiresome one), and he enjoyed seeing the
+serious light in Winifred's eyes change to mirth under his curious
+speeches.
+
+The two sang together, and after that she played dreamy snatches from
+Beethoven while he leaned back in an easy chair and listened.  What a
+harmonious and pleasant life stretched before the two together!  Mrs.
+Gray lived over again through her daughter's heart days when Robert
+Gray and she were learning that life was sweetest when they were
+together, and she sighed in a pensive mingling of emotions as she
+mentally gave Winifred up to the reign of the ancient conqueror.  She
+fell asleep over the fleecy shawl she was knitting as her daughter
+played, and was not aroused when Mr. Frothingham rose to go.  Winifred
+and he exchanged smiling glances as they saw her closed eyes, and spoke
+in low tones together.  Mr. Frothingham lingered just a perceptible
+moment over Winifred's hand in parting, and looked down into her face
+with an unspoken question she had never read before so clearly.  Her
+eyes fell, and the flush in her fair face deepened into lovelier red.
+
+"Good night," each said softly, and he went away.
+
+Winifred drank in the luxury of her own sweet thoughts until his step
+ceased to sound, and then went over to her mother's chair.  She stooped
+and kissed her forehead.  Mrs. Gray opened her eyes.
+
+"Dear me!  I lost myself for a moment," she said.  Then, "Is George
+gone?" she added.
+
+"Yes, mother."
+
+Mrs. Gray looked at the clock.  "And it's time," she said with parental
+duty.  "You must go to bed at once, dear."
+
+Winifred had had a happy evening, and the reflection that looked back
+at her from the glass in her dressing-room was radiant.  But, after
+all, in the depths of her heart there was a tinge of something sad, an
+unsatisfied sense of some good thing wanting.  What was it that the
+evening lacked?  A little book upon the table suggested the answer with
+a mute reproach.  In all the evening's pleasure there had been no sweet
+savor of Jesus Christ.  Now as she took the book and tried to read her
+heart beat coldly toward Him.  The words did not speak to her, but
+seemed like misty voices far away, spoken for other ears.  The tide of
+another love had come sweeping in, strong and insistent.  George
+Frothingham's face smiled before her, and instead of the words she was
+reading she heard his voice as they sang together:
+
+  "I would that my love could silently
+  Flow in a single word."
+
+She looked away from the book and gave herself to dreaming until the
+little clock reminded her of the hour.  Then she roused from her
+reverie.
+
+"It is too late," she thought.  "I will not try to read now.  In the
+morning I will make up for it."
+
+She knelt beside the bed for her customary evening prayer, and found
+herself "saying" it as in former days.  She stopped abruptly.
+
+"Forgive me, Lord," she said, "I did not think what I was saying."
+
+Then a feeling of remorse, of real unhappiness, seized her.  Where was
+the true worship she had coveted and found?  It had flown like a bird
+from her windows.  In distress she prayed:
+
+"O Lord, I have missed Thee!  I cannot see Thy face, I do not hear
+Thee.  Do not let me lose Thee!"
+
+Her wandering thoughts came back to the supreme need.  She was not
+versed in the theology of any school, and could not have stated her
+case to suit any.  But her sensitive soul barometer registered danger
+in the atmosphere, and she had no rest until it changed.  Being blessed
+with the grace of honesty--with "truth in the inward parts"--she poured
+out her heart before God, and found much relief in so doing.  The whole
+subject did not clear at once.  A process was required for that.  But a
+simple understanding with her Lord that He was to be first at any cost
+was re-affirmed, and it gave rest.  With the restored sense of His
+fellowship she slept.
+
+Morning dawned with the sweet twittering of birds, the breath of
+syringas and roses, and a faultless sky.  It was a joy to live.
+
+Hubert was out for an early ride, and his black horse Sahib's satin
+coat shone brightly in the morning sunlight.  He took the shortest way
+out of the city and was soon cantering gently down the country road
+beside a singing brook, filling his eyes with the beauty everywhere,
+worshiping its Maker, and wondering how he might best serve Him.
+
+Winifred sang morning psalms to the Lord, with a corresponding melody
+in her heart.  But sometimes the shadow of a question fell athwart the
+prospect that seemed so shining.  It was about Mrs. Butterworth's
+party.  Sunday it had seemed very clear that she should not go, but
+since, with the seventeenth of John not so fresh in her mind, the
+matter seemed not so settled.  How should she excuse herself at this
+late day?  What would Mrs. Butterworth think?  More than that, what
+would her mother think?  Would she not be much annoyed?  There was
+another factor, too.  When George Frothingham was there last evening
+she was so glad the party was not mentioned.  How could she have told
+him she was not going?  And when she thought of him she wished to go.
+He would be there, looking especially handsome in most careful evening
+dress.  She could almost hear the strains of Werner's orchestra as she
+imagined herself floating over the polished floor with the best of
+dancers.  There was still another factor.  Hanging in her wardrobe,
+sheathed carefully in a protecting sheet, was the loveliest of white
+dresses.  It had been worn but once, and that in another town.  Both
+her mother and she agreed that it was the very thing for Mrs.
+Butterworth's party.  What a pity not to wear it!  And if staying away
+from Mrs. Butterworth's were a precedent to be followed, where should
+she ever wear it?  A very small reason this, say you.  But you are
+mistaken.  Deeply intrenched in the feminine heart is the desire to be
+beautiful, and though "holy women" since the days of old have learned
+the supreme excellence of the inward adornment over the outward, the
+latter is slow to lose its appeal.  Not yet, at least, had Winifred
+become indifferent to it.
+
+This morning before descending the stairs she was beguiled into taking
+down the dress, just to look at it, spreading it out in fleecy, shining
+folds upon the bed.  How beautiful it was!  She had not learned for her
+soul's comfort that the wise man's counsel is very profound when he
+instructs, "Look not upon the wine when it is red"!  Even in the
+daylight tiny brilliants flashed out from their setting in foamy lace
+about the neck.  Well Winifred knew what a radiant picture would stand
+within her mirror-frame when the dress should be donned, and eyes
+bright with excited anticipation should rival the glow of diamonds.  If
+she went, she should wear the slender gold necklace with its single
+pendant of diamonds which her father had given her.  But she was not
+going--and for what an intangible reason!
+
+Hubert had returned from his ride, and Winifred met him in the upper
+hall and confided to him her perplexity.
+
+"I feel as though there were two of me instead of one," she said.  "One
+of us would like to go to Mrs. Butterworth's party."
+
+"And the other one?" asked Hubert.
+
+"Decided last Sunday not to go," she answered.
+
+"Which one do you think is on the Lord's side?" he queried.
+
+"The one that says not to go," she replied, without hesitation.
+
+"I should stand by that one if I were you," he advised.
+
+"I will," she said, and slipped her hand in his as they went down the
+stairs.
+
+At the breakfast table the dreaded discussion was precipitated.  Mrs.
+Gray addressed her daughter.
+
+"Winifred, dear," she said, "have you looked at your new white dress to
+see if it requires anything to be done before Mrs. Butterworth's party?
+Did we not think the girdle should be altered slightly?"
+
+"I was looking at it this morning, mother," faltered Winifred, and
+Hubert shot a sympathetic glance across the table.
+
+"Will it need altering, do you think?"
+
+"N--no," she hesitated, "I think it is all right."  Then she girded the
+loins of her intention and added: "But I think, mother, if you do not
+mind, I should prefer not to go to Mrs. Butterworth's party."
+
+"Why, Winifred!" exclaimed her mother in surprise.  "What can you be
+thinking of?  The invitations were accepted long ago.  You are not ill,
+certainly?"
+
+"Oh, no!" said Winifred.  "But I think I can excuse myself to Mrs.
+Butterworth so that she will not be offended.  My chief regret will be
+if it disappoints you, mother."
+
+"But what can be your reasons?" said Mrs. Gray.  "They must be very
+good if you would decline the invitation at this late day.  It will be
+very rude unless you are positively hindered."
+
+"I know it," said Winifred humbly.  "But the reasons seem very strong
+to me."
+
+She was of a sympathetic nature, and it was easy to look at things
+through another's eyes.  She saw the case clearly from her mother's
+standpoint, and it was difficult to muster her own defense.  But she
+prayed inwardly that the One she sought to please would come to her
+aid, and He did.  It was no small help, also, that Hubert,
+strong-minded and firm as a rock, was on her side.  She went on
+bravely, but in a low voice and with downcast eyes:
+
+"You know I have begun to try to worship God, mother; and to know Him
+just a little is the sweetest thing I ever knew.  Hubert and I were
+reading the Bible together Sunday"--she glanced across at him
+appealingly, and his face encouraged her--"and we read some of the
+words of Jesus to His Father.  He said that we--that is, those who were
+given to Him--were 'not of the world,' just as He is not.  It impressed
+me very much.  I could not help seeing Mrs. Butterworth's party, and it
+seemed to me like 'the world,' and that perhaps I did not belong there.
+It seemed so very, very different from what we were reading, that I
+thought I never could go again to such a place.  I shall be very glad,
+if you don't mind it too much, mother, if I may stay at home?"
+
+She stopped and waited for her answer.  There was silence for a moment,
+and then Mrs. Gray, who had passed through various stages of
+apprehension and distress as her daughter spoke, replied as calmly as
+possible:
+
+"I am sure I ought to be very glad, Winifred, to have you religiously
+inclined.  But I should be extremely sorry to have you get any
+fanatical ideas.  I never thought you were given to eccentric things,
+and I hope you will not become so.  It seems to me that you and
+Hubert"--she hesitated to include her son in the remark, but ventured
+it--"are rather young Christians to decide such things for yourselves
+in such an extraordinary way.  You should look at older persons.  I
+suppose I am not an example"--and her tone was just a trifle icy for
+such a gentle lady--"but Mrs. Schoolman will be there with her
+daughters, and so will many of the most prominent members of our
+church.  I really cannot approve of such an extraordinary
+idea!--extraordinary!" and she repeated the word which usually
+indicated the high water mark of her well-bred disapproval.
+
+Winifred looked silently at her plate, and Mrs. Gray spoke again,
+looking at her husband.
+
+"I wish, father," she said, "that you would try and set Winifred right
+on this matter.  We cannot let her go on in such a mistake.  Where will
+it lead to?" and with real distress she considered the calamity of her
+beautiful daughter's withdrawal from society, and the dashing her own
+fond pride to the ground.
+
+Mr. Gray had been listening thoughtfully.  Now, being appealed to, he
+spoke.
+
+"To tell the truth, mother," he said, "I do not think the idea quite so
+extraordinary as you do.  When I was a boy, where I lived, if young
+people were converted it made all sorts of difference as to the things
+they did and the places they went to.  We didn't expect to see them at
+dances, or at the theater, or any such places.  If we did, everybody
+reckoned that they had backslidden.  Those things were called
+'worldly.'  We have almost lost the word now, but it must be
+descriptive of something, I should say.  If Winifred instinctively
+takes a stand against such things, without being talked to about it, I
+shall think it is the old sort of religion that she has somehow
+discovered, and shall not be sorry.  I would really prefer it to be a
+kind that can be distinguished without reference to the church records.
+That variety is scarce enough, in all conscience!"
+
+Winifred was surprised at her father's defense, and it unnerved her.
+Tears sprang to her eyes, and she nearly choked over the coffee with
+which she sought to hide her quivering lips.  Hubert looked gratefully
+at his father.  Mrs. Gray looked much depressed.  She expected wise
+words of reproach that would settle the matter with Winifred and
+perhaps save much trouble in the future.  And now he really inclined to
+her view of the case!  It was disappointing.  But men, after all, did
+not always see social matters as women did.  She was not accustomed to
+arguing with her husband, but this case required more resistance than
+usual.
+
+"I am surprised, father," she said sorrowfully, "to hear you put it
+that way.  I do not think you can realize what it means for a young
+woman to drop out of society.  And I do not see how you can compare
+those times you speak of with the present.  I am sure Doctor Schoolman
+frequently tells us what remarkable advance we have made over those
+times in every way.  I hope you do not wish to go backward!" and Mrs.
+Gray felt a little flutter of triumph at her own unusual skill in
+argument.  Nobody responded at once and she gathered courage to go on.
+
+"I quite agree with that young man who spoke at our church in behalf of
+the Y.M.C.A. Gymnasium.  You remember he said that the days had quite
+gone by for a 'long-faced Christianity.'  I thought it a very sensible
+remark."
+
+"Winifred has not troubled us with a very long face lately," remarked
+her father, glancing at her.  "It has lengthened somewhat since we
+began our discussion, but I think it has been unusually cheerful for a
+week or so."
+
+Winifred colored under these personal observations.
+
+"I do not know what it will become," said her mother, "if she denies
+herself all gayety like those young persons you tell about."
+
+"My memory of those young persons," said Mr. Gray, smiling, "is not a
+very melancholy one.  Some of them were pretty severe upon themselves
+and other people too, I will admit.  But the most of them seemed to
+have found something so very satisfactory that these diversions were
+not required.  I think Winifred is like the latter sort.  I hope so.
+But, Hubert," turning to his son, "you look very much interested in
+this matter, but have said nothing.  I suppose you agree with Winifred?"
+
+"I do, sir," said Hubert readily.
+
+"I thought so--I thought so," said his father, far from displeased with
+the reply.  He did not explain to the little company that he, himself,
+had been one of the "young persons" referred to, and that great had
+been his comfort in the early days of the new life; but that a series
+of decoys had gradually led him back to the world's excitements and
+ambitions, until his professed Christianity had crystallized into the
+formal, eminently respectable, but powerless mold of conventional
+religion.  His memory of early, ardent days was stirred, and he gladly
+warmed himself by its fires.
+
+"But, Hubert," he went on, "you are a thoughtful young man--how do you
+account for the fact that Christ, Himself, attended social functions?
+He was not a recluse.  He was at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, at a
+dinner in the house of Simon the Pharisee, at a feast in Bethany, and I
+do not know at how many other social gatherings.  Indeed it was charged
+against Him that He received sinners and ate with them.  What do you
+make of it?"
+
+"It is a difficult question, father," said Hubert.  "But I should think
+if we consider in what capacity He went to those places, and what He
+did when He got there, it might give us light."
+
+"That is so," said Mr. Gray.  "In what capacity do you think He went?"
+
+"He had come to give life to men," said Hubert with kindling eyes.  "He
+must go wherever He might find them--wherever occasion presented
+itself.  I do not think He sought His own gratification."
+
+"Nor do I," said Mr. Gray.  "What about 'what He did when He got
+there'?"
+
+"He performed a miracle, for one thing, at Cana," replied Hubert, whose
+diligent study of the Gospel of John now served him well.
+
+"So He did," assented Mr. Gray.  "If our little girl could do that,
+now, it might do to let her go," and he glanced at her fondly.
+
+"Yes," said Hubert, "and He evidently became the central figure there,
+manifesting His glory.  If one of His followers could capture Mrs.
+Butterworth's ball for Him it would surely pay to go.  If I thought
+Winnie were to do that I would certainly put on a dress suit and go
+myself."
+
+Hubert could not resist a teasing glance at his mother.  That lady was
+plainly horrified.  The thought of Winifred's "preaching," as she
+mentally called it, to anyone at the party, or doing any other
+eccentric thing, was far more shocking than her staying away.
+
+Mr. Gray secretly enjoyed the look upon his wife's face.
+
+"And the other places?" he went on.
+
+"I am not familiar with the incident in the house of Simon the
+Pharisee," said Hubert.
+
+"It is very striking and beautiful," said Mr. Gray.  "Christ forgave a
+sinner--a woman of the city--and He had somewhat to say to His host,
+the Pharisee, about it.  He spoke a very telling parable at that
+dinner."
+
+Mrs. Gray again looked uneasy.  She hoped Winifred would not feel it
+her duty, finally, to go, if it involved a religious errand.
+
+"And at Bethany?" Mr. Gray continued.
+
+"He was anointed for His burial," said Hubert, gravely.
+
+"Ah, yes!" said his father in a subdued voice.
+
+Both men thought reverently of the scene when one who had been raised
+from the dead sat at meat with Him who, for his sake and for all
+others, was Himself to die; and where one of the company poured upon
+His blessed feet love's grateful, costly sacrifice.  To such a feast
+the true worshiper might indeed gladly go.
+
+It was tacitly agreed that Winifred was to follow her own inclination
+with regard to the party.  Mrs. Gray was far too loyal and amiable a
+wife to seriously oppose her husband's wish, and the sudden fear that
+Winifred, if she went to the party, might feel called upon to bear some
+sort of unusual testimony to her Lord affected the case strongly.  But
+she grieved much over her daughter's prospective withdrawal from the
+assemblies of the "best people."
+
+Winifred wrote a simple, truthful note to Mrs. Butterworth, and was
+relieved when it was dispatched.  A sensitive dread of criticism and of
+doing an unusual thing was offset by the sweet consciousness of a happy
+fellowship conserved.  No rude breath from the gay assembly's sensuous
+delights was to blow upon this flower of communion, so pure, so
+fragrant.  So Winifred rejoiced, only an occasional shadow falling
+athwart her peace when she thought of one whose increasingly intimate
+fellowship threatened the life of the fair flower as surely as could
+Mrs. Butterworth's party.  It was an uneasy suggestion, not a
+recognized fact, and she put it hastily from her when it arose.
+
+The evening of the party came and Mrs. Gray prepared herself and went,
+not too early and not too foolishly late.  She had a faculty of
+striking the happy mean in life's proprieties.  Winifred looked at her
+admiringly, with the candid conviction that no better dressed nor finer
+looking woman of her years would be there.  She felt a pang of sorrow,
+too, in her mother's disappointment at leaving her behind, as she
+kissed her good-night.  The carriage rolled away and presently bore its
+fair passenger to the door of her friend's brilliantly lighted house,
+where we will leave her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE CHURCH SOCIAL
+
+Another social event followed hard on the heels of Mrs. Butterworth's
+party, and this Mrs. Gray succeeded in inducing both her son and
+daughter to attend, it being no less sacred a function than the
+quarterly Church Social.  Hubert was not familiar with the institution,
+but so ardently burned his love for the Lord Jesus Christ that he now
+sought rather than avoided the company of those who knew Him, if so be
+some word of Him might be spoken.  He longed for the fellowship of joy
+with those who, like himself, had been called out of darkness into "His
+marvelous light."  This was denied in the formal services of the
+church, but surely the pent up devotion of the worshipers would find
+some avenue of expression when they met together socially without those
+restraints.  Hubert was disposed to discount his own former estimate of
+church-members' sincerity, and did not doubt that many had found an
+experience as genuine as his own of the grace of God.
+
+Mr. Gray did not care to go, preferring the library and the new number
+with its fascinating leaves uncut of a magazine, religio-worldly, that
+had solved for last days the problem beyond the Saviour's ken of how to
+serve God and mammon.  Three went, however, in the comfortable
+carriage, to Mrs. Gray's great satisfaction, and drew up before the
+side entrance to the handsome church.
+
+Bright light streamed from the parlor windows, illuminating exquisitely
+stained pictures of the Apostles.  Strains from a select orchestra
+greeted them as they entered the house, and Hubert recognized with a
+queer feeling of incongruity the overture from a well-known opera.  The
+appealing notes of the violins drew his memory instantly to the
+production he had lately enjoyed, but he thrust the mental vision from
+him as unworthy of Christ, and tried not to listen to the seductive
+strains.
+
+"A very poor selection for a Christian gathering," he thought to
+himself.  Hubert was inexperienced, and to him a gathering of
+Christians meant a "Christian gathering."
+
+The parlors presented a gayly attractive scene.  They were decorated in
+red and white.  Flowers and foliage were profuse, and the handsome
+toilettes of the ladies added much to the brilliant effect.  Doctor
+Schoolman and his wife were receiving, and our party joined the line of
+guests making their orderly way toward them.  Doctor Schoolman was very
+amiable, and his wife, a vivacious little lady in satin and artificial
+curls, chatted volubly with the members of the flock as they were
+dutifully presented.
+
+"You naughty child!" she cried playfully to Winifred.  "How could you
+desert us with your charming voice?  Dear Mrs. Gray, you really should
+chastise your daughter--you really should!"  And she shook the false
+curls with mock severity.
+
+Mrs. Gray began her own lament and disclaimer of any responsibility in
+Winifred's apostasy.
+
+"But the dear child's voice," she said extenuatingly, "has really been
+very much taxed."
+
+"It's not that," said Winifred, honestly.  But Mrs. Schoolman's eye was
+caught by the guest next in line and further explanations were
+unnecessary.
+
+Meanwhile Doctor Schoolman had been greeting Hubert.
+
+"Mr. Hubert Gray!" he exclaimed, very blandly.  "Really this is a
+pleasure.  I am glad to see you."
+
+"I am glad to come," said Hubert, looking in the Doctor's face frankly.
+He wished to tell him how the Lord's people had become so vitally his.
+But the reverend gentleman did not note his earnest look.
+
+"We are honored if you can give us some of your valuable time.  You are
+such a man of business, your father tells me; and of scientific
+research, too, as we all know.  It is kind to let us tear you away a
+little while from stocks and bonds and experiments."
+
+"I have concluded, Doctor Schoolman," said Hubert gravely, "that there
+are interests more important than business or science."
+
+"Quite so--quite so," said Doctor Schoolman.  "I am glad you see it.
+We cannot afford to give all our attention to the graver pursuits of
+life.  We need relaxation.  'All work and no play'--you know the old
+adage, eh?  Ha, ha!"
+
+And the minister laughed an easy, social laugh, not at all boisterous,
+but of a mirth well in hand and suited to the occasion.
+
+Hubert looked at him almost with a frown.  But we of wider experience
+are prepared to forgive the Doctor that he did not recognize the
+spiritual as the more important interests which might lead a young man
+to a church social.  While Hubert debated a reply which should
+illuminate Doctor Schoolman as to his real motive, others were pressing
+up to take the hand of the minister, and he passed on with his mother
+and Winifred.  They drifted not far away, and Hubert glanced frequently
+at Doctor Schoolman, watching his suave smile, almost catching the
+smooth pleasantries that fell from his accustomed tongue--mild,
+clerical jests, wherewith he of the pulpit assures him of the pew, "I
+am as thou art."  Very nice and proper it might all be, but to the one
+who longed to hear some word of Him whom he loved with such fresh,
+intense earnestness, it was as gall and wormwood.
+
+He turned away and reviewed the whole scene about him.  Mrs. Gray and
+Winifred were already in conversation with a group of people near him,
+and he heard his mother's soft, deprecating voice, as in reply to an
+eager storm of questioning.  A flush was rising in his sister's face,
+and just a touch of iron determination, not unknown to the house of
+Gray, settled her shapely lips.
+
+"Brave little soul!" he said to himself as he thought of the offenses,
+anent Mrs. Butterworth's party and the choir, for which she must answer
+in the court of popular opinion.
+
+Not far from him a group of girls, very smartly dressed, standing in
+interesting proximity to a corresponding group of youths, flirted and
+giggled with evident enjoyment.  A soberer group farther on Hubert
+found to be discussing the war situation in the East, as he drew near
+in a spirit of investigation.  Some one in the party kindly drew him
+into their midst, where he joined the conversation for a time.  Then
+there was a diversion, the new soprano having consented to sing.  The
+murmur of voices subsided for the most part, save from a party of
+elderly people, hard of hearing, who continued their absorbing
+conversation throughout.  Miss Trilling sang a love song with much
+expression, and responded to an encore with a humorous selection.  The
+young people applauded loudly, and their elders smiled with indiligent
+pleasure.  Hubert continued his search, now rather despairing, for that
+for which he had come.  This time he proceeded under the guidance of a
+man who offered to introduce him to some whom he did not know.  They
+passed a quiet little wall-flower in a sober dress and he looked at her
+wistfully, seeing something in her face which made him think she knew
+his Lord and would talk of Him if there were hut a chance.  But his
+guide drew him on.  He listened to bits of conversation, straining his
+ears in vain to hear one reference to Christ.  The conversations were
+sometimes serious, more often gay, but none spoke of their Lord.
+
+Hubert's heart withdrew within him, and he had no further inclination
+to speak to any of his new-found hope.  A bitter theory was forming
+itself in his mind.  This company was no different from any other in
+the world.  Were they not all as he thought them in the days of his
+scepticism? If they knew Him whom he had come to see as the supremest
+Object of devotion in all the universe, could they forbear to speak of
+Him when they met together?  Would they not be like flaming brands,
+igniting one another in their fervent zeal?  He was not acquainted with
+the book of Malachi, and had perhaps never read the words: "Then they
+that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened
+and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them
+that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name."  Had he known the
+words they would have seemed a satire in this company.
+
+"They do not know Him," he thought passionately, "and I--am I under a
+delusion?  Is it all a farce?"
+
+The suggestion was intense pain, and he put it from him.  No, that One
+whom he had seen in his laboratory, the Man of the cross and of the
+glory, was no delusion.  To admit Him to be such would be blackest
+midnight.  He held on to his revelation with an iron clasp, but he
+longed to escape from an atmosphere that now stifled him.  He made his
+way to his mother and Winifred.
+
+"Shall I take you to the refreshment room?" he asked in a cold,
+strained voice.
+
+Winifred looked at him anxiously, with eyes almost as troubled as his
+own.
+
+"Yes," she said in an undertone, "and let us get away as soon as
+possible."
+
+Mrs. Gray consented genially to be escorted to the room, elaborately
+decorated, where charmingly-gowned young women dispensed elegant
+refreshments.  Several gentlemen, among whom Hubert recognized elders
+of the church, with their wives and other ladies, passed gay bandinage
+one to another as they sipped cooling ices.  Hubert took nothing, but
+stood, silent and stern, while his mother, unconscious of the tempest
+in his breast, leisurely and daintily enjoyed her refreshment.
+
+"Where are the poor people?" Hubert asked Winifred in something of his
+old sarcastic tone, as they left the room.
+
+"I am afraid they are not here," said she, gently.  Then she glanced
+around.  "Yes, there are some, I see.  There is Madge Nichol, that
+young woman in the stylish blue dress.  She has done sewing for me, and
+seemed to need the money very much.  But see how she is dressed!  It
+must be much beyond her means."
+
+Then a womanly intuition smote her, and she looked down at her own
+costly dress.
+
+"I see how it is, Hubert," she said.  "I think we are to blame.  No
+girl would like to meet us in this way unless she were well dressed."
+
+"I should advise them to stay away," said Hubert.  "They would lose
+nothing valuable."
+
+"That is what I shall do, I think," said Winifred with a sigh.  "Do let
+us get away as soon as mother is ready."
+
+"Shall I see if the carriage is waiting, mother?" said Hubert,
+interrupting when he could a discussion of the best places in which to
+spend the coming heated term.
+
+"You might," Mrs. Gray replied, "I did not wish to stay late."
+
+Hubert went out with alacrity to signal the faithful coachman, already
+in waiting.
+
+They had soon departed, and both young people were glad to get out
+under the pure, gleaming stars and hasten the carriage to the dear home
+where the face of the Lord had first been seen by each, and was yet to
+be seen in increasing loveliness.
+
+Hubert found his father still in the library, but asleep.  He awoke as
+his son entered.
+
+"Well, Hubert," he said, "did you have a good time?"
+
+"No, sir," Hubert replied, "I had a wretched time."
+
+"How was that?" his father asked.  "What happened?"
+
+"Nothing happened that I expected.  I thought there would be some there
+who knew and loved Jesus Christ, and would wish to talk of Him.  I did
+not hear Him mentioned.  I might as well have been at Mrs.
+Butterworth's ball so far as that goes."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Gray, apologetically, "it was a social time, you know."
+
+"Yes, I know it, father.  That is why I went.  Are not people usually
+most sociable about the things that interest them most?  There was a
+company of people, professedly born from above and expecting soon to
+see the very glory of God.  They take it very coolly, at all events.  I
+believe it is a sham."
+
+"Oh, Hubert," groaned his father, "don't say that."
+
+"I don't mean," said Hubert quickly, "that Jesus is a sham.  I
+believe," and his deep eyes softened, "that He is the most real fact in
+the universe.  But the belief of those people, father!  That sort of
+gathering is what Doctor Schoolman calls 'relaxation,' and I think he
+is right.  I am convinced that Christ is irksome to them; a subject to
+be endured on Sundays, but to enjoy relaxation from at other times.  Am
+I right?"
+
+"Hubert," said Mr. Gray, slowly, "I believe you are partly right.  But
+be deliberate and generous in your conclusions.  Do not judge us too
+hastily or hotly."
+
+Hubert winced as his father included himself in his own sweeping
+indictment.  Mr. Gray went on:
+
+"Some of us have known Him, even as you do, in earlier days.  But we
+have lost the brightness of our vision through"--he hesitated--"through
+sin.  We have followed afar off, and are very poor representatives now.
+Be patient, and it may be the warm zeal of such as you will quicken us
+again."
+
+He looked at his son appealingly.  Hubert's generous heart melted.
+
+"Forgive me, father," he said humbly.  "I have no right to judge
+anybody.  Forget my tirade if you can.  And I," he added with a faint
+smile, "will try to forget the Social."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MR. BOND'S LECTURE
+
+Hubert recovered from the cold bath into which he had been thrown like
+a Spartan babe by his first contact with church sociability.  His, as a
+new creature, was a vigorous constitution, and was destined to out-live
+many a shock incident to the earthly career of a heaven-born man.  Both
+he and Winifred returned to their joy and calm, and were looking
+forward eagerly to Mr. Bond's lectures.
+
+On the day of his arrival Mr. Gray came home to luncheon with an
+announcement.
+
+"My dear," he said to his wife, "Mr. Selton tells me that his wife has
+unexpectedly been called to Chicago by her mother's illness, and they
+will be unable to entertain Mr. Bond.  He suggested that we might like
+to do so."
+
+Winifred and Hubert looked up with animation.
+
+"Indeed!  And you told him?" asked Mrs. Gray, with a housewifely
+instinct of defense against invasion.
+
+"I told him," said Mr. Gray, "that I knew no reason why we could not do
+so, and that it would be a great pleasure.  I told him, however, that I
+should ask you about it, and 'phone him if there were any arrangement
+to prevent it."
+
+Mrs. Gray considered.  The chief guest room stood ready, immaculate in
+yellow and white, since the spring cleaning.  There was no reason why
+it should be denied, but she had hoped that its repose would not be
+broken until Miss Virginia White, her most aristocratic friend, should
+make her promised visit.  However, it would be manifestly unreasonable
+to refuse to receive Mr. Bond, and she could not offer him another room
+while that stood empty.  Yes, the yellow-and-white room must be
+sacrificed.
+
+"No, Father," she said amiably, "there is no reason why we cannot take
+him.  When will he come?"
+
+"He arrives this evening by the eight o'clock train from New York.
+Hubert, perhaps you would like to meet him?"
+
+"I should," said Hubert.  "I am glad he is coming here."
+
+"So am I," said Winifred.  "It will be lovely."
+
+That afternoon Winifred "called up" her friend Adele, and the telephone
+transmitted a lively conversation.  The result of it was that Adele
+promised to go with Winifred to Mr. Bond's Bible lectures; at least to
+one, to see if she liked it.
+
+In the evening Hubert met Mr. Bond at the station.  They were scarcely
+seated in the light trap and facing toward home when the young minister
+said:
+
+"Well, Mr. Gray, have you found God demonstrable?"
+
+"Yes!" Hubert almost shouted, and the two grasped each other's hands in
+the strong grip of a fraternity never formed by man.
+
+"I thought so," said Mr. Bond.
+
+"How did you know?" said Hubert.
+
+"I thought it would be so," said the other, "and I saw it in your face
+as we met.  Thank God for it."
+
+"Amen," said Hubert fervently.
+
+Mr. Bond led Hubert on with keen interest to tell of the process of his
+search after God, and of the illumination brighter than the light of
+day, that came to him when the Spirit shone with such clear luster on
+the Word.  To Hubert it seemed the happiest hour of his life, as he
+conversed with a man who seemed to understand the processes of his own
+heart, and to be thoroughly at home in the new world into which he
+himself had entered.
+
+The drive was all too brief, but later in the evening, when good-night
+had been spoken to the rest of the household, the two men sat in the
+unlighted veranda and talked until midnight of Christ and the matters
+of His realm.
+
+
+The _tout ensemble_ of the company gathered to hear Mr. Bond's first
+lecture was somewhat curious.  It was not a large congregation, but it
+was representative, being drawn from the interested or curious of
+nearly every kind of church or religious coterie in the city.  Keen
+Bible students were there, notebooks in hand, prepared to capture any
+new suggestion which might help them.  The critical were there,
+representing various shades of belief and prejudice, from the quiet
+repressionist, who, disdaining emotion, views with dispassionate
+coldness the great tenets of the faith, to the irrepressible enthusiast
+whose spiritual understanding is often lost beneath a foam of feeling;
+from the instructed brother who reads his title clear with logical
+accuracy in the Scriptures and glories in his standing with belieing
+indifference to his state, to the anxious soul whose hope of heaven
+veers with every changing wind of fitful emotion.  Each critic was bent
+on discovering if the stranger would hew faithfully to the line of his
+own demarcation.
+
+There were Mr. Selton's friends, people of his own station, who
+responded to his personal invitation to come, prepared to listen
+courteously, to express polite thanks at the end for the pleasure
+conferred, and, for the most part, to find various lions in the way of
+attending again, profound as were their regrets!
+
+Mr. Gray and Hubert both succeeded in getting the hour away from
+business, and the latter arrived at the hall just as his mother, with
+Winifred and Adele, was entering and joined them.  Adele formed a
+singular figure in the midst of the assembly.  No thought of unusual
+sobriety had toned down her usually stylish and somewhat striking
+costume, and a large red hat of the milliner's finest skill shaded
+becomingly her piquant face.  Her keen, merry eyes studied the
+congregation, and she could not resist whispering a few impressions to
+Winifred before the lecture began.
+
+"Isn't this a funny crowd?" she asked.  "Such a combination!  Look at
+that meek little body in the front row and the fat dowager behind her.
+And do see that anarchist-looking man at the side who is looking at Mr.
+Bond as though he would eat him up.  Do you know who he is?  I hope he
+hasn't a bomb in his pocket."
+
+"I don't know him, but I'll ask Hubert," said Winifred, and she passed
+the question along.
+
+"Hubert, who is that man yonder--the one with the high shoulders.
+Adele thinks he is an anarchist."
+
+"I think so, too," said Hubert.  "At least he is a socialist of a very
+virulent type.  He has come as a critic, I suppose.  He professes to
+study religionists, and writes scornful letters about them to a
+socialist paper."
+
+Winifred communicated this intelligence to Adele, who was much pleased
+with her own acumen.  Presently she resumed:
+
+"Do look at that woman ahead of us!--the one in the little bonnet, and
+so distressingly neat.  She has been surveying us.  She doesn't approve
+of me, but she commiserates me.  That's plain enough.  Well, I am a
+sinner, no doubt, and she has found me out!  If she looks around again
+do see what you think of her."
+
+Mrs. Bland did look around again, and both young ladies observed her.
+A rather shapely mouth was settled in an expression of studied repose,
+and her eyes rested approvingly, or with patient toleration, on others
+who were minded to come to the Bible lecture.  Her hair was parted with
+conscientious exactness, and upon her whole appearance there sat the
+picture of conscious piety.
+
+"Oh, I can't stand her!" whispered Adele in an ecstasy of dislike.  "I
+should fly if I had to look at her long!  Sister Saint Serena--the
+Salubrious!"
+
+Winifred choked down a laugh at Adele's suddenly inspired alliteration,
+while Hubert looked a dignified reproach.  It was a poor preparation,
+certainly, for what was to follow.  Adele's face straightened
+innocently, while Winifred still struggled to suppress her risibility.
+
+There were few preliminaries before Mr. Bond proceeded to speak.  His
+subject dealt with vital matters, with underlying truth upon which
+rests all lesser fact, and he spoke with a calm certainty, unlike "the
+Scribes."  His lecture betrayed a familiarity with the Scriptures such
+as his auditors had seldom met with before, and a reverence for them
+born not of superstition but of some apprehension of their unfathomed
+depths.  Our little party listened with fascinated interest.
+Especially was Hubert delighted when from the portions that had been
+the favorite debating ground of his sceptical friends riches of meaning
+were discovered that stamped unmistakably the divine imprimatur upon
+them.  Winifred and Adele forgot Mrs. Bland and every one else
+listening; the one with sweet content in hearing anything that
+concerned the One she loved, and the other with an awakened interest in
+lines of thought she had never pursued before.
+
+"He is _splendid_!" said Adele at the close of the lecture.  "I am
+coming every day.  Unless--there's that bothersome card party Thursday!
+Stupid affair!  But I won't go.  What's the use?"
+
+And so Mr. Bond secured a regular attendant.
+
+Many were the expressions of interest, some of them very genuine.  Mrs.
+Gray had listened to her guest with valorous attempts to resist the
+habitual afternoon nap, and told him later how very good indeed the
+lecture was and hoped he would quite understand how manifold were the
+cares of a household, and how unavoidable her hindrances, should she be
+unable to be present every day.  And Mr. Bond did understand his gentle
+hostess very well, and often as he saw her in her home his meditative
+eye rested upon her fair mother-face with an expression of chivalrous
+pity and of earnest longing.
+
+The second day's lecture found the audience sifted to some degree of
+the idly curious and of a part of the critics unto whose standards the
+speaker had failed to attain.  As Mr. Bond's language was remarkably
+free from the current phraseology of the schools of teaching, it was
+difficult for theological birds to discover at once whether indeed he
+were of their feather, and a second hearing, at least, was needed.  But
+no uncertain note was sounded to the alarm of any advocate of the most
+orthodox written creed or of the severest unwritten code of belief, in
+answer to the pivotal question of all theology: Jesus, the Son of
+Man--_Who is He_?  None gave more ardent honor to that Mystery of
+godliness, who
+
+  "Was manifested in the flesh,
+    Justified in the spirit,
+    Seen of the angels,
+      Preached among the Gentiles,
+        Believed on in the world,
+          Received up in glory."
+
+If some fell away from the gathering, there were new hearers, brought
+through the good report of those interested, and the company numbered
+rather more than before.  Adele's "anarchist" was again there,
+fastening his pale, strange eyes upon the face of the lecturer whether
+he spoke or was quietly sitting; at times half crediting its look of
+candor, then relapsing into sneering hopelessness of finding an honest
+man among his class.  He determined to try his favorite test of a
+benevolent scheme before Mr. Bond should go away, and see if he would
+abide by the Sermon on the Mount.
+
+To-day the lecturer's theme was Redemption, and from all the cardinal
+divisions of the Scriptures he drew illustrations of their one
+consistent theme.  It was when he reached the Day of Atonement under
+the Levitical institution, that Adele Forrester's interest reached its
+height.  He drew a vivid, simple picture, as a teacher might present an
+object lesson to a child, of the offering, the priest, the waiting
+congregation, the presentation in the Holiest of All, and the blessing
+of the people.
+
+Adele leaned forward in her seat as he proceeded.  She had never seen
+it just like that before.  She imagined herself one of the Jewish
+congregation, with a guilty score against her which needed to be wiped
+out.  What if there were a flaw in the offering?  What if the priest
+were not acceptable, and she were to go back with the debt
+uncanceled--with reconciliation not effected?  Her mind leaped forward
+before the speaker could reach the point to the Lamb without spot or
+blemish and the High Priest who "ever liveth to make intercession" for
+His people.  Was that what it meant?  And was it already accomplished?
+The speaker was saying:
+
+"There is both correspondence and contrast here.  In the first case
+there was indeed remission of sins, because the Lord had covenanted to
+meet His people upon that ground.  But it was temporary, and the work
+imperfect.  The _taking away of sins_ was not actual, but pictorial,
+each sacrifice pointing forward to the effective one to come.  There
+was no vital relationship between the victim and the worshiper, and the
+death of one could not be made actually good to the other.  Nor could a
+new life of righteousness be imparted.  So the work was imperfect,
+unfinished, always looking forward to the perfect, eternal redemption
+which should be wrought by the One who has power to impart the virtue
+of His death and the power of His endless life."
+
+Before Adele's mind there came the vision of a vain, empty, earthward
+life.  But clearer still she saw the Lamb bearing away all offenses and
+her hopeless coming short, and the High Priest who with perfect
+acceptance presented the offering of His blood for her.  Why had she
+never seen it before?
+
+Oh, what grace!  Oh, what a lightened soul!--to be free as a child
+unborn of any guilt of sins!  She caught her breath with a little
+convulsive sob and sank back in her seat, grasping Winifred's hand with
+a tight, expressive grip.  She trusted herself with no words when the
+meeting ended, but blinking back the tears that sparkled in her eyes
+made a hasty exit from the hall.
+
+The days of Mr. Gerald Bond's visit to the Grays were all happy ones.
+Hubert and Winifred were living in a new world of revelation, and
+delighted exceedingly in the help one well instructed and "apt to
+teach" was able to give them in the mystery of the faith.  Mr. Gray,
+too, enjoyed his guest's presence and brought knotty questions to him
+daily for solution.  Mrs. Gray recognized the excellent spirit that was
+in him, and found herself quietly wondering more than once why the
+other ministers she knew did not seem equally interested in the matters
+of their calling when off duty, so to speak, but were so much at home
+in all the affairs of the world.  Gerald Bond seemed to live in the
+atmosphere of the holy things in which he ministered, and Mrs. Gray
+looked upon him with an admiration akin to awe.  But he was
+nevertheless so thoroughly a man, of finest sympathy, courteous,
+gentle, and withal possessed of a genial, penetrating wit which all
+enjoyed, that Mrs. Gray could not simply admire him from afar, but took
+him into her heart with a warm liking.  She looked forward with real
+regret to the day when the yellow-and-white room would be without its
+occupant.
+
+Hubert came in for the greater share of the young man's leisure hours,
+and evening often saw them pacing the garden walks, or lingering
+meditatively by its fountain, in deepest conversation.  In Hubert's
+soul still the question was burning, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to
+do?" and beyond a thin veil of time the answer was waiting him.
+"God . . . hath appointed thee to know His will, and to see the
+Righteous One, and to hear a voice from His mouth.  For thou shalt be a
+witness for Him."
+
+
+The Bible lectures came and went, having no more rapt listener than
+Adele Forrester, who marveled at the light that had come to her,
+illuminating all truth that she had formally learned and recited, and
+adding wondrous things out of the Law never hinted at before.  When
+Sunday came she went to church a true worshiper, and sang with all her
+heart:
+
+  "O sing unto the Lord a new song
+  For He hath done marvellous things."
+
+She did not follow Winifred's course in retiring from the choir, and
+explained to her afterwards:
+
+"It did not seem the right thing for me, dear, although I think you did
+just right.  You see, I am not a star singer, for one thing, and never
+sing solos.  So my temptation to show off would not be like yours with
+your exquisite voice.  Though I do believe, Winifred," she said
+earnestly, "that one might do that some day--sing solos, I mean--with a
+sincere heart to the Lord, and not be vain about it.  And oh, it would
+be so sweet!  To praise Him with one's whole heart 'in the great
+congregation'--to try and tell about Him!--but, after all, there is no
+verse chaste enough and no melody sweet enough to describe Him!  Oh,
+Winifred, when I see _His wounds_," and Adele covered her eyes as
+though, shutting out other things, she could see Him, while her voice
+sank to a sob--"it breaks my heart!  What a silly girl I have been--and
+it was for me!"
+
+Presently she resumed: "When I sang Sunday, I remembered something that
+Mr. Bond had said.  I was afraid lest some inattention or failure to
+just grasp and mean the sentiments I sang might make my worship
+unacceptable.  But I remembered that in the Tabernacle service after
+the priest had done all he could--at the brazen altar, and the laver,
+you know, having his heart set right and his conduct cleansed--still
+there was provided blood on the horns of the altar of incense beside
+which he worshiped.  After all he could do he might still need it, I
+suppose.  So I thought that although my poor service is very imperfect,
+and must come far short of what it ought to be, at best, still there
+will always be the blood and I shall take refuge in that."
+
+Winifred looked at her friend wonderingly.
+
+"That is very beautiful, Adele," she said.  "I am glad to see it."
+
+Adele's words had opened a dim vista of possibility, very precious, and
+had suggested arms wherewith to resist any shrinking self-fear or
+accusation that might attack her by the way.  But though her "gift," as
+Mrs. Butterworth and her mother called it, might some day be transmuted
+into a true gift of the Spirit, she felt with instinctive spiritual
+repugnance that its sphere of use would not be the former theater of
+her vanity.  Adele might still sing in the chancel the canticles of the
+church, but as for her the associations of the choir of Doctor
+Schoolman's church were far too unhallowed to admit of a return to
+them.  To her it was so clear that she wondered a little why Adele and
+she should take no nearer ground as to their respective action.
+
+"I suppose," she said aloud with a little perplexity, "that we must
+each do what seems right, according to the clearest light we have.  We
+may not both see all the truth about anything at the same time."
+
+"No," said Adele with a decisive shake of her head, "and we can't walk
+by each other's consciences.  But talking about seeing 'all the truth'
+makes me think of something.  You know I was in the Berkshire Hills
+last summer?  Well, I saw Greylock from several points of view.  From
+one it seemed a rather sharp spur; from another it was long and obtuse;
+and from the last,--when somebody pointed out an ordinary, featureless
+ascent and said: 'That's Greylock,' I could scarcely believe it.  I
+imagine our views of the truth are somewhat like that.  It will take
+time to walk all around it, I think."
+
+"I think so," said Winifred reflectively.  "Then if somebody had met
+you when you had seen but one view of the mountain, and had described
+simply another--"
+
+"We should have quarreled!" said Adele.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE SOUL HEARS A CAUSE
+
+Midsummer heat was advancing and the fashionable residents of the city
+where our story is located--a city not too large, cleanly, healthful,
+and beautiful for situation--found it necessary to leave town.  Mrs.
+Gray was among the number whose constitution demanded a change from the
+accustomed air and scene, and from the round of conventional home life
+to the equally conventional routine of life in a summer hotel.  At
+least, she supposed she required it.  And was it not the regular thing
+to do?  And had she not arranged with Mrs. Dr. Greene long ago that
+they should secure quarters together in the Loftimore House overlooking
+the blue waters of Silverguile Lake?  But when the last trunks were
+packed and, gone, and she looked around in the cool quiet of her own
+home, the soft eyes were troubled and she said to Winifred:
+
+"I wish I were not going, dear.  It is a trouble, after all.  And you
+are not going!  You will come for a little while, won't you, child?"
+And she gave her an already homesick caress.
+
+Winifred promised, if it could be arranged.  Mr. Gray and Hubert both
+found it impossible to leave but for a short time, and Winifred was
+glad of an excuse to stay with them, presiding in the quiet house with
+its summer lack of visitors and improved opportunity for her new and
+engrossing pursuit.  She would go on to know God better, as she found
+Him mirrored in the clear, still waters of His Word.
+
+The days sped by all too rapidly.  Adele did not leave for the summer,
+and the two spent hours together, comparing impressions and experiences
+and the light gained upon the Scripture portions which they were
+reading simultaneously.  Then Winifred rehearsed to Hubert at night
+their discoveries and difficulties, and he added the wisdom given to
+him to their own.  Sometimes his sister quoted to him surprisingly
+original and apt comments from Adele and he wondered silently.  If he
+had wished to hear from the "sensible interior," he now did so, and it
+spoke from the depths of a new spiritual insight.
+
+
+George Frothingham continued to pay occasional court to his ladye
+faire.  The time for his customary holidays drew near, and as he
+arranged for a flying European trip which he had promised himself this
+year, it entered his heart to close the anticipated compact with
+Winifred for the life journey together.  Very sweet were the hopes
+which mingled with shrewd business calculations, and he congratulated
+himself on assured prospects.
+
+But Winifred was not happy when she thought of him.  His coming gave
+her pleasure always, and it was anticipated with a shy new
+consciousness since the night they had read each other's hearts more
+certainly through the tell-tale windows of their eyes.  But though his
+coming gave her pleasure, it left her always with a disappointment.
+Concerning the one thing that had come to be the most vital interest in
+her life they were not in sympathy.  Sometimes when the beauties in
+Christ Jesus seemed most patent to her own soul, it seemed that he must
+surely see them if represented to him.  But the mention of that Name
+froze upon her lips when met with the usual bantering jest, or
+indifferent acquiescence, accompanied by a look at his watch or the
+sudden memory of an engagement.  The conviction could not be denied
+that a wall as thick as that of a tomb stood between them in matters of
+the spirit.
+
+"He is dead," she confessed to herself in honest grief, "as dead as I
+was before my quickening--just as it says in the Ephesians.  He makes
+no more response to spiritual things than would one of the people in
+their graves in the cemetery if I talked to them.  And what fellowship
+can life have with death?  But--but--I love him!"
+
+The Flesh cried out for the sovereignty of human love, but the Spirit
+argued for the reign of Christ.  Between the two the Soul stood, a
+tortured arbiter, and heard the cause.
+
+The Spirit pleaded:
+
+"O Soul, if to you to live is Christ, why do you bring into your life's
+closest fellowship an alien to Him?  Why do you give the supremest
+place of earthly relationship, pledging life-long loyalty and
+obedience, to one whose mind is foreign--even 'enmity'--to the law of
+Christ?  Can you follow the course of life he would plan, and still
+serve Christ?  Can two walk together except they be agreed?"
+
+"You might win him," the Flesh pleaded.  "A woman's power is very
+great.  Remember he loves you."
+
+"I have no power now," the Soul ruled.
+
+"You might have eventually," the Flesh persisted.  "The example of a
+godly life will win."
+
+"You cannot live a godly life while you walk with him," interposed the
+Spirit.  "'The friendship of the world is enmity with God.'"
+
+Winifred was startled.  "That is a very strong text," she thought.
+"But it probably doesn't mean that.  Godly women have lived Christian
+lives with very ungodly husbands."
+
+"But they did not walk together," argued a voice.  "They were only in
+part united.  In the realm of the spirit--the realm that should
+lead--they were divided."
+
+"There is encouragement held out to believing wives in the Scripture,"
+suggested one who knows how to quote Scripture for his purpose, "that
+they may win their unbelieving husbands by their chaste behavior."
+
+"There is no encouragement given to believing women to marry
+unbelieving men," said the Spirit defensively.  "A woman whose faith
+finds her so united may have hope.  But can you expect the favor of God
+upon a mission undertaken in disobedience?"
+
+"Is it quite disobedience?" pondered Winifred weakly.  "I must look in
+the Bible to find all I can about it."
+
+The Flesh resisted this course and suggested delay, at least in
+searching the Scriptures about it.  She might not understand the
+Scriptures.  It would be better to ask some Christian friend.
+
+So the matter was delayed, but not for long.  For the Soul grew unhappy
+with the weight of a matter withheld from the clear light of the Word,
+and a mist rose between it and the face of Christ.  Any sorrow could be
+borne rather than lose vision of His face, and Winifred brought her
+cause at last with sobs and tears to the feet of Him who had been
+crucified, determined that His word should end the case at any cost.
+Then she searched the Book with what result each Bible student knows.
+She found permission for a Christian's marriage "in the Lord."  But the
+whole testimony of the Scripture frowned darkly upon a yoking together
+with unbelievers; and what yoke was closer than the one she
+contemplated?
+
+The Spirit said amen; and Winifred remembered how all her interviews
+with George Frothingham had left her not helped at all in the way of
+the spirit, but rather hindered.  What would be a lifelong fellowship?
+She cast to the winds all thought of inaugurating a dubious mission for
+the young man's salvation through means of a forbidden fellowship, and
+so the Soul, led by the Spirit, took wood and fire and repaired to the
+mount of sacrifice.
+
+
+The decisive evening came, and Frothingham, never more elegant nor more
+winning, appeared.  He was not dismayed by Winifred's unusual
+constraint, for he had noticed a growing shyness and drew his own happy
+conclusion from it.  He had brought a roll of music--a new love song,
+into which he poured the richness of his mellow voice while Winifred
+accompanied him.  But her fingers trembled over the keys and she struck
+a false note occasionally.
+
+Later they were standing beneath the chandelier, the light falling upon
+Winifred's pale face, as she answered words he had been speaking.
+
+"No, I cannot marry you," she said, and her voice shrank from the words
+as ranch for the pain they must cause him as for her own.  "It is
+impossible."
+
+His handsome face clouded with surprise and alarm.  He pleaded,
+expostulated, reasoned, but in vain.  Winifred was firm, and a certain
+womanly dignity hid the grief that she felt, lest its display should
+afterward bring humiliating regret.  She told him as clearly as she
+could the reason why she could not become his wife, and to his
+unspiritual judgment it seemed a petty cause.  He was accustomed to
+seeing a type of religion that could exist in harmony with the world,
+and he did not see why the fact that Winifred was a Christian and had
+become uncommonly interested in that sort of thing should hinder her
+being the best of wives to a worldly man like himself.  They need not
+quarrel about it.  As to any scruples that might be entertained in her
+conscientious little head about all the gaiety he cared for, he
+inwardly credited himself with skill to overcome them when once she
+should be his.  But Winifred made it clear to him at last that the
+matter was unmistakably and finally settled, and deep was his chagrin.
+Wounded pride rose with a sense of his rejection, and he straightened
+his fine figure in haughty coldness.
+
+"Very well," he said.  "I must abide by your decision, and we will
+part."
+
+"We shall still be friends?" she asked timidly.
+
+He did not look at the little hand she outstretched.  "If we cannot be
+more than friends, we must be less now," he answered coldly.
+
+He bade her an abrupt good-night and she watched him depart.  Still
+standing where he had left her she looked through the graceful palms
+that from their setting of marble partially veiled the drawing-room
+from the hall and saw him standing, never so handsome as now in his
+pale sternness, fastidiously drawing on his gloves according to his
+wont.
+
+Her heart made a final appeal.  Was she mad, that she should drive him
+away when _she loved him_?  Let her call him back!  Love is sovereign.
+Let it rule.
+
+As a very tiny object may blot out the widest view if it be near enough
+to the vision, so this glittering treasure of an earthly love swung
+before her eyes, and it hid the broader prospect of fair and eternal
+joys in Christ.  "Command that these stones be made bread," one had
+said to her Lord when he hungered, and the same strong and subtle one
+counseled now: "Take the joy that is offered!  Your heart will be
+starved and desolate if you let it go.  Call him back!"
+
+Almost her weak heart assented.
+
+"George!" the cry rose, but it died, mercifully, in a whisper upon her
+dry lips.
+
+Frothingham had quite prepared himself to emerge from the house--for
+the last time, probably--and he passed out, giving no backward glance
+at the figure that stood beneath the light in the drawing-room.
+
+Winifred roused from her statue-like stillness as the door closed
+behind him.  The heavy breath of odorous flowers stole in through an
+open window and sickened her.  For years after she could not dissociate
+their fragrance from the sorrow of that hour.  She turned to the piano.
+He had left his music--and he would never come back for it!  She turned
+away and climbed the stairs with heavy steps to her own room.  And
+there we will leave her, where, after the battle, a heavenly Visitor
+was to come forth with bread and wine for her refreshing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+EXPERIENCE
+
+Winifred's heart did not break.  Or, if it broke, it was quickly
+healed, for there dwelt in the house One whose office it is to bind up
+the broken-hearted.  It was not that she did not grieve, or that no
+void cried out again and again to be filled.  But she learned a paradox
+as the days went on: of an inexplicable peace beneath the sharpest
+pain, and of a buoyant joy that would not be held down by sorrow.
+Hubert looked on, making mental notes as to what had happened, but
+asking no questions.
+
+Our trio of young people who had entered a life of worship found their
+hearts impelling them toward fields of service also.  Winifred sought
+in many quiet ways to make known to others Him whom she had come to
+know with such delight, and a casual visit from Adele one day threw
+light upon the occupation of the others.
+
+"By the way, Winifred," Miss Forrester said, apropos of some topic
+discussed, "your brother gave a splendid talk at the Cleary Street
+Mission last night.  Oh, you ought to have heard him!  It was fine!"
+
+Winifred opened her eyes widely.  "Hubert at the Mission last night?
+He never told me."
+
+"I suspect he doesn't let his left hand know what his right hand is
+doing," suggested Adele.  "But he certainly was there.  And when Mr.
+McBride asked him to speak he promptly did so.  It was splendid!  Not
+simply what he said, you know, but the fact that he said it--a business
+man talking in a matter-of-fact, business way to other men of something
+he evidently thought the most important matter in the world.  Of course
+most of the people were of a far different class from his, but you
+would never guess it from his words.  He didn't patronize them a bit.
+I liked that so much.  And you should have seen how those men fastened
+their eyes on him and listened to what he said."
+
+"How lovely!" cried Winifred.  "I wish I had been there.  But pray tell
+me, Adele, how happens it that you were there?"
+
+"Oh, I am a regular attendant in Cleary Street," said Adele laughing.
+"At least I go regularly on certain nights in the week and play the
+organ--a wretched, squeaky, little thing--and raise my voice on Sankey
+hymns also."
+
+"You do!" cried Winifred with a mixture of amusement, dismay and
+admiration in her voice.  "Well, I declare!"
+
+"I don't see why you should be so shocked," said Adele, enjoying her
+friend's astonishment.  "Pray, why shouldn't I go?  Do you doubt my
+qualifications?  I am not the musician you are, dear, but my skill is
+quite up to those tunes, I assure you."
+
+"I hope you don't wear that red hat of yours and your usual stunning
+costumes, Adele?"
+
+"It occurred to me after I had gone a few times," said Adele quietly,
+"that it might be well to modify my gear.  I think you would approve of
+my revised toilet.  It is very simple."
+
+"Adele, I know you can't help looking well, whatever you wear," said
+Winifred, who suddenly observed a somewhat altered "gear" in evidence.
+"If you should put on a Salvation Army bonnet it would look stylish.
+It couldn't help itself.  But please tell me more about the Mission.
+How happened you to go at all?"
+
+"I heard Mr. McBride speak at a meeting.  He told of the work of the
+Mission, and of the need of helpers--especially of somebody to help in
+the music.  It occurred to me that that was the kind of assistance I
+might give, and that it would be very nice to contribute in some small
+way, at least, to the work of the Mission.  And," she continued very
+gravely, "I volunteered and was gladly accepted."
+
+"That is very noble, I think," said Winifred.  "But what did your
+friends think?"
+
+"I did not ask them," Adele answered coolly.  "I have fallen from
+caste, anyhow, and it doesn't matter much.  You know since I have seen
+the Lord"--it was Adele's way of putting it--"I have tried to--to
+witness to Him in some way or other to my old friends; and the result
+has been a pretty liberal letting alone from them.  His name does not
+seem a very welcome one--outside of a church!"  Then she went on with a
+gleam of indignant sorrow in her bright eyes: "That is what breaks
+one's heart!  That these very people may kneel beside you in church and
+recite His holy name as glibly as possible; but outside--it is
+unwelcome!  Winifred, can it be a Christian life at all into any avenue
+of which Christ is an intrusion?  Oh, if they loved Him--if they had
+ever seen Him at all!--they would be so glad of any mention of Him!"
+
+After a moment a gleam of amused memory succeeded Adele's pained
+outburst.  She went on:
+
+"The other night I think I reached the climax of my fall into disfavor.
+You know these summer evenings at the Mission we take the organ and
+hymn books and go out before the door and have a street meeting.  Well,
+on this occasion our open-air meeting was in full swing and our usual
+score of auditors were lined up in the gutters and everywhere to hear.
+Mr. McBride had announced 'The best Friend to have is Jesus,' and was
+himself swinging his arms and singing lustily, while I played and
+pumped the panting little instrument and sang as loudly as I could,
+too.  Suddenly there turned down the street a handsome automobile (I
+don't know why, for they never go down that street) and in it the
+Misses Steele and Miss Proudfeather from Baltimore.  To crown it all,
+with them was seated my precious Cousin Dick!  Our poor little crowd
+huddled aside to let them pass.  They all saw me and Dick took off his
+hat with great ceremony; but the ladies evidently thought they would
+spare me the mortification of a recognition under the circumstances.  I
+couldn't help laughing within myself, though it was a bit embarrassing.
+Dick was hilarious over it.  He evidently sees nothing improper in it,
+but a very good joke.  He says he expects to hear me preaching there
+yet.  I told him it might be to his benefit if he did."
+
+Both laughed.  "But just think, Adele," said Winifred, "how infinitely
+better to be in that little street crowd _with the Lord_, than driving
+about in the finest motor car without Him!"
+
+"Yes!" cried Adele, "I wouldn't trade places for worlds!"
+
+"I should think not," said Winifred, with scorn of the idea.
+
+Adele was finding out, like her friend, that the way of the cross
+brings separation, and she had her own peculiar tests as to faithful
+witnessing.  Her merry-hearted cousin drew her out in words more
+frequently than any other, and plied her with questions concerning this
+new type of religion.
+
+"It's no new sort of religion at all," she insisted.  "It's just the
+old sort you read of in the New Testament--and the prayer-book!  Only I
+am afraid I never really had it before--or it had not really got me.
+If people would only be sincere, Dick, you would find it is the same
+sort."
+
+"I do not think the ordinary sort is much good," said Dick, with the
+air of a connoisseur in religions.
+
+It was to be lamented that the present incumbent at St. John's had not
+met with the young man's very hearty favor.  The freshly introduced
+intoning struck him humorously.  He imitated it in ordinary remarks
+about the house.
+
+"Where's--my--hat?" he inquired in a whining chant, after the manner of
+the unfortunate rector's plaintively intoned "Let us pray."
+
+Adele, always alive to the ridiculous, laughed; but still she wished he
+would not be irreverent.
+
+"The way we go through the service," said Dick, "is so as to relieve it
+of as much sense as possible.  No wonder some of us turn out
+hypocrites.  But you don't, Adele.  However, I'll reserve my estimate
+of your case till we see how you hold out at your new gait."
+
+So Dick watched the "new gait," and Adele prayed that it might be a
+walk worthy of the Lord.
+
+
+Meantime Hubert was pursuing his study of divinity in a normal
+way--with an open Bible and the Spirit of the Author to interpret.  He
+sought also the fellowship of His people and deep was his perplexity as
+he found into how many countless sects the "one body" had been divided.
+Very contrary to the Bible it seemed, but very helplessly he stood
+before the fact that seemed as hopeless of remedy as of denial.  What
+ought he, one unit among the whole, to do about it?  Kindly people
+sought to draw him into their various fellowships, and he peered into
+their folds and sought to find the place where his Lord was most
+honored and His presence most manifest.  He found old churches, great
+and cold, whose service moved with slumbrous calm, and his ardent soul
+was chilled.  He found others where activity bristled and cheerfulness
+prevailed, but where the world held court as obvious as in the market
+square; and from these he turned away with a still sharper grief.  He
+found other congregations built in strife and schism, but with some
+fragrance still of the name of Jesus Christ, and rejoiced that He was
+preached.
+
+"'They feared the Lord and served their own gods,'" he said to himself,
+as almost everywhere he saw the strange mingling of worship of the true
+God with the too patent service of the gods of pleasure and of wealth.
+
+He found little companies, gathered in protest from shameless
+worldliness or infidel denial of the Lord, and with them he had
+sympathy, but still looked hungrily for a fuller expression of the
+truth than they offered.  He found himself in companies where correct,
+punctilious statements of the truth abounded, and where the most
+careful zeal sought to restore an apostolic order of worship.  But he
+found that the statements grew dry and juiceless in their formal
+exactness, and that prescribed form could not insure the animating
+Spirit without which it was as useless as the phylacteries of the
+Pharisees.  He concluded that truth was deeper and fresher than any
+definitions of it, as the fountain excels the cistern; and that life
+was sovereign over form, though in form it embody itself.
+
+He found perfection nowhere.  After a disappointing meeting, the climax
+of a series of experiences in which arguments from various schools of
+doctrine had jostled against each other, and the varying phases of
+practice, emotional, anti-emotional, informal and ritualistic, with the
+intervening shades of difference, had presented themselves, he stood in
+the veranda at home with Winifred and described to her the procession
+of rival claims which a divided church presents to a Christian man's
+adherence, and ended with the question:
+
+"Where shall we find the truth, Winifred?"
+
+"In Christ," she answered simply.
+
+"You are right, wise little sister," he said admiringly.  "And there we
+will look for it."
+
+He turned from his quest for perfection in any detachment of the church
+and sought the place where God would have him, not alone for the green
+pasture to be found but for the testimony to be given.  Deeper lessons
+were learned as time advanced--lessons of "grace" as well as "truth."
+Keen discrimination was tempered by love toward that Body which, though
+distorted and maimed, was still beloved by her Lord, and though
+besieged by error was still "the pillar and ground of the truth."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+A "WITLESS, WORTHLESS LAMB"
+
+The air at Silverguile Lake did not altogether agree with Mrs. Gray.
+Rheumatic damps rose from the water, and the mornings were chilly and
+uncomfortable.  The inane round of dressing, eating, appearing in the
+veranda, taking the daily drive, and other mild etcetera, grew irksome;
+and, beyond all, the faces of the dear ones at home were longed for.
+Winifred came for a few days, and then the place brightened like a
+cloudy day that surprises the world with sunshine at its close.
+
+Mrs. Gray was far from well when the home journey was undertaken, and
+Winifred looked at her with apprehension.  But they traveled
+comfortably and reached home in the evening where welcome waited.  But
+an alarming chill overtook the mother before she had retired that
+night, and the doctor was hastily summoned.  The chill was a harbinger
+of serious illness, and the cheerful house became shrouded in dread of
+coming sorrow.  Winifred devoted herself eagerly to her mother, but
+professional skill was needed also.  The telephone rang frequent calls
+from the office during the anxious days to inquire for the loved
+patient, and life for the time was enveloped in the one painful query:
+Will mother live?
+
+The doctor gave sparing reports, but careful directions.  Winifred
+moved about the house with a pale face and frightened eyes, until the
+doctor told her that she evidently needed his services also, and that
+she must not let her mother see her with that face.  Then she fled to
+her room and poured out her pitiful need to God, and begged His grace
+for calm and cheerfulness.  With unfailing faithfulness He gave her
+what she asked, and she went back to minister with Him at hand to help.
+
+"Winnie, dear, is that you?" said a faint voice from the bed.
+
+"Yes, mother."
+
+"Come here, dear, let me look at you."
+
+Winifred went and sat beside her where they could look into each
+other's faces.
+
+"Dear, do you think I am very ill?  Does the doctor say so?"
+
+"He has not said much, mother.  But he is taking every care."
+
+"Yes, I see.  What do you think, child?"
+
+"I do not know, mother.  But we hope you are getting on as well as
+possible."
+
+"Winnie," said she again, and her voice came with difficulty, "I think
+I am very ill.  I have had sickness before, but not like this.  Things
+seem slipping away."
+
+Winifred's eyes filled with tears, but she forced them back.  "Do not
+think that, mother," she pleaded.
+
+"They are all slipping away," insisted the sick woman.  "Every
+one--father, Hubert, you--everyone--everything I know--all slipping
+away."
+
+Winifred looked to her invisible Companion in an agony of entreaty for
+her mother.  Presently Mrs. Gray's voice again arose plaintively from
+the pillow:
+
+"I am afraid--I am afraid, Winnie.  I don't know--the things ahead!
+These,"--and her poor hands closed themselves over the counterpane as
+though they would try to hold the tangible, known things--"are slipping
+away, and I--am afraid."
+
+"God never slips away," whispered Winifred.
+
+"No?" queried the mother.  "But I--can't--see Him!  I don't--know Him."
+
+So the secret, before unconfessed and unrealized, came out at last.
+She did not know Him.  The church, the service, the minister,--the
+external routine of a nominally Christian life, all was slipping away
+into a mist of past that could not be retained.  And now the soul
+stood, a terror-stricken stranger, before the things not known.
+
+"I am afraid," repeated the faint voice.
+
+Winifred longed for words of comfort, but they did not seem at hand.
+
+The white-robed nurse came into the room with a little air of
+professional authority.  "I think our patient should not talk any more
+just now," she said, and Winifred retired.
+
+She met Hubert in the hall and drew him to her own little sitting-room,
+where they pleaded with God together for the eternal comfort of the
+beloved sufferer.
+
+Evening came and Winifred was again by her mother's side.
+
+"Winifred," said the gentle voice, stronger to-night for the increased
+fever.
+
+"Yes, dear mother?"
+
+"Winnie, dear, would you be afraid if--if you were ill--like me?--if
+you were going to--"
+
+"To die," she was about to say, but she could not speak the word.  She
+shivered instead, as though a cold wind had struck her.
+
+Winifred did not wait for the unwelcome word.
+
+"No--I think not, mother," she said simply.
+
+"Why not?  Is it not dark--what we do not know?"
+
+"But I know God," said Winifred earnestly, "and Jesus Christ.  And they
+are there--in the things we cannot see.  The Apostle Paul said, 'For me
+to live is Christ; _to die is gain_.'"
+
+The words brought no comfort.  "'To live is Christ,'" repeated the sick
+one musingly.  "If that were so--?" she was silent for a few moments,
+and then broke out hopelessly: "No, no!  To live has not been Christ!
+It has been myself, and you all, and these things!  It is not gain to
+die!  It is loss!--loss!--loss of everything I know!"
+
+Her voice rose excitedly, and her glistening fevered eyes looked about
+restlessly.  Winifred feared that the nurse would come, and finding her
+worse, end the interview.  So she prayed that God would calm the dear
+patient and give them both His needed grace for the hour.  And He heard.
+
+"Let me straighten your pillow, mother dear," she said, and suited the
+action to the word.  Her mother clasped the deft hands that arranged
+things so comfortably, and looked long with yearning fondness into her
+daughter's face.
+
+"Winnie," she said finally, "could you sing just a little for me?"
+
+Winifred choked back a sob that tried to escape.  "I will try," she
+said.
+
+She brought a little stringed instrument that her mother loved, with
+which she sometimes accompanied her songs.
+
+"What shall I sing?" she asked, seating herself beside the bed.
+
+"I don't know," hesitated her mother.
+
+"Would you like that little Scotch song from Sankey's book?"
+
+"Oh, yes.  That is very sweet."
+
+So Winifred began the plaintive words:
+
+  "I am far frae my hame, an' I'm weary aftenwhiles
+  For the langed-for hame bringin' an' my Faither's welcome
+smiles."
+
+She began with a stern watch upon her own emotions.  But, as she
+proceeded, from the sadness of the hour rose a longing in her soul for
+the "ain countrie" where no blight of death and tears are known, and it
+poured itself out in the song.  She sang two of the long stanzas.
+
+  "I've His guid word o' promise that some gladsome day the King
+  To His ain royal palace His banished hame will bring.
+  Wi' heart and wi' een rinnin' ower we shall see
+  The King in a' His beauty in oor ain countrie.
+  Like a bairn to its mither, a wee birdie to its nest,
+  I wad fain be agangin' noo unto my Saviour's breast;
+  For He gathers in His bosom witless, worthless lambs like me,
+  An' carries them Himself to His ain countrie."
+
+Mrs. Gray had been lying with closed eyes through which the tears
+forced their way.  Now she interrupted:
+
+"What does it say, Winifred?  'He gathers in His bosom?'  Please sing
+those lines again."
+
+So Winifred repeated:
+
+  "'For He gathers in His bosom witless, worthless lambs like me,
+  And carries them Himsel' to His ain countrie.'"
+
+"Thank you!" murmured the invalid with a sigh.  "Is it true, Winnie?"
+
+"Yes, mother, it is quite true."
+
+"That is what--I have been."  She was speaking again with difficulty,
+and her voice was very low, so that Winifred leaned forward to listen.
+"I've been--a 'witless, worthless lamb!'  Will He--gather--me?"
+
+"I know He will--if you trust Him!"
+
+"How do you know, Winnie?"
+
+"There is the Scripture, mother.  There is the parable of the lost
+sheep, and then there is another word; 'All we, like sheep, have gone
+astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid
+on Him the iniquity of us all.'"
+
+After a moment the weak voice spoke again:
+
+"Winnie, _you_ know Him; will you pray?  Tell Him--I've taken--my own
+way,--a 'witless, worthless lamb!'"
+
+Winifred slipped to her knees beside the bed and prayed; prayed with
+the greatest thankfulness she had ever known because she knew God, and
+prayed for the dearest object for which she had made request.  She
+reminded God with great simplicity that He had laid the iniquity of us
+all who have wandered on His Anointed One, and begged Him to make good
+the virtue of that act to her poor mother.  And the dying lady
+listened, and believed.
+
+"Dear mother," said Winifred fondly, "do you not see that He will
+gather you?"
+
+Mrs. Gray's head had sunk back contentedly in the pillows.  She smiled
+faintly.
+
+"Yes, I see it now," she said.  "It is very true."
+
+In a few moments she was asleep, and the nurse resumed her watch.  But
+later in the night a quiet alarm summoned the little household to her
+chamber, and they watched for the moment of parting between the spirit
+and its fair tenement.  Before it came she opened her eyes, and looked
+at them placidly.  Her lips moved, and Winifred bent forward eagerly to
+catch their words.
+
+"I--am--not--afraid'" they pronounced, and then closed their witness
+for this world forever.
+
+The death of Mrs. Gray brought the first great sorrow to the house of
+Robert Gray.  It did its work in the heart of each who remained.  It
+smote the husband with a conviction of misspent years, of a united
+fellowship in the things that perish so miserably instead of in those
+things which remain when all else is shaken.  Had he but led his gentle
+wife, as was his opportunity, in ways of the Spirit, how different
+might have been their record together.  And now the end had come for
+one, with no "abundant entrance," no glad prospect of long-anticipated
+joys,
+
+  "Where the eye at last beholdeth
+  What the heart has loved so long,"
+
+but with the negative testimony of a fear relieved--of wrath averted,
+through the grace of a longsuffering God.  They had been guilty
+together of the capital sin of an earth-centered life; and now the iron
+merchant, elder of the church though he was, awoke from his long dream
+of money getting and of earthly comfort to the reality of God, and of
+his obligation as a redeemed soul to Him.  There crept an unfamiliar
+note of yearning sincerity into the prayers wherewith he took his
+heretofore formal part in the church prayer meeting, and it almost
+perceptibly thinned the frozen crust of the "icily regular" service.
+The men in his business noticed a new softness in his manner, and
+sometimes it emboldened them to speak to him of their own cares and
+sorrows, and they found sympathy.
+
+Hubert grieved for his mother with the strength of an intense, reticent
+nature.  But, as did also his sister, he found solace in God.
+
+Winifred felt very keenly her mother's loss, missing the vanished hand
+from every part of the house where she now assumed her place, seeing
+everywhere reminders of her dainty touch and quiet taste, and longing
+for her voice yet more and more as the days went by.  This great
+bereavement came so closely on the separation from one whom she never
+mentioned now, but who was far from forgotten, that often her heart
+seemed torn between the two sorrows.  Sometimes waves of disheartenment
+came on cloudy days of testing, when the sun was hidden and life looked
+cheerless and hard.  But anon the face of Jesus Christ broke through
+the clouds, and with the vision came always joy.
+
+The three who were left drew more closely to each other, and despite
+their sorrow found a sweetness of comfort together never known before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+"SELL THAT YE HAVE"
+
+Three years had passed, and the snows of winter had lain heavily for
+weeks upon all the region surrounding New Laodicea.  It spread soft
+mantles over lawns and roofs in the city, and only in the streets was
+its white purity turned by the traffic of man into vileness.  On a
+sharp, clear morning Hubert Gray walked through the cutting air toward
+his office, and meditated thus:
+
+"What am I doing?  What is the occupation that employs so much of my
+waking time and the powers that God has given me?  'Diligent in
+business,' the Scripture says.  Yes, I am certainly that, but what is
+it all for?  I am trading in iron, as my father has done, and laying up
+treasure on earth.  That is something--the laying up treasure on
+earth--that the Lord Jesus said not to do.  But did He really mean it?
+Nobody takes it very literally, I suppose.
+
+"'Sell that ye have and give alms.'  That is what I read this morning.
+'Make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure in the
+heavens that faileth not.'
+
+"How much does it mean?  We cannot always press the words of the Lord
+to their utmost literal meaning.  I suppose He used language a great
+deal as we do, to be taken at its face value, and not screwed and
+pressed and tortured into literal exactness until all the spirit is
+taken out of it?  But these words sound very bald and unequivocal.  I
+wish I knew what they meant.  Would I act on them if I did?  There's
+the rub.  It is undoubtedly hard for a man with money to look at the
+matter disinterestedly.  And Jesus said, 'How hardly shall they that
+have riches enter into the kingdom of God!'
+
+"But if a man wishes to know how to interpret these words, I suppose he
+may consider other words of the Lord and their evident interpretation
+and find a rule.  For instance, He said, 'Labor not for the meat which
+perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.'  He
+evidently did not literally mean not to labor for daily bread, for that
+is something we are told to do.  'Work with your hands, that ye
+may . . . have need of nothing,' it says.  And, 'If any will not work,
+neither let him eat'; and again, 'That with quietness they work, and
+eat their own bread.'  So that is clear enough.  Apparently what He
+meant was to emphasize the supreme need of the other kind of food--'the
+meat that endures unto everlasting life.'  The one pales into such
+insignificance--into nothingness!--compared with the other, that He
+puts His hand over it--He puts it out of sight completely, and says,
+'Look at this!  This is the supreme thing, the one thing needful!'"
+
+Hubert grew enthusiastic as he meditated the meaning of the text and
+the supreme need.  He walked faster, and trod the snowy walk
+emphatically.
+
+"What a splendid text!" he thought.  "If I go to the mission to-night
+perhaps I shall speak from it.  'Labor not . . . but for'--ah! that
+word 'labor,' as applied in the second phrase needs explaining also,
+and Jesus did explain it.  '_This is the work of God, that ye believe
+on Him whom He hath sent_.'  That is 'labor' for the living bread--to
+believe on Him!"
+
+But he returned to his former consideration.  "'Sell that ye have and
+give alms.'  I wonder if the principle in the other text will apply to
+that?  Did He mean, not literally that they were to sell all and give,
+but rather to emphasize the supreme importance of the treasure in
+heaven?  Did He push aside one and bring forward the other, saying,
+'Look at _this_!  Let go the other, and lay hold of this.  Lift up your
+eyes to the kingdom it is your Father's good pleasure to give you.
+Take stock in that.  Little flock, you are so very rich yonder, you can
+afford to give up what you have here.  Give to the poor that have no
+treasure here, and perhaps none yonder.'  Ah, but my paraphrasing has
+not led me far from the literalness of the text!  And how beautiful it
+is!  That Man of Glory, 'Heir of all things,' poor for a little while
+for our sakes, counseling His little flock to follow for a brief season
+in the steps of His poverty, laying up more abundant treasure in His
+eternal kingdom!"
+
+By this time Hubert had reached his place of business and was stumbling
+over the office boy in the hall.  When alone in his office, at his
+desk, he leaned his head upon his hands and prayed:
+
+"O Lord, teach me what those Scriptures mean that I may obey them.
+Save me from the bias of self-interest.  Help me to live by the
+understanding I had with Thee at the outset of our walk together.  What
+may I do to please Thee?  My time and my energies are Thine, for I am
+bought with a price.  Thou seest my possessions.  What shall I do with
+them?"
+
+He lifted his head with a lightened heart.  "He will show me what to
+do," he thought.
+
+That day at lunch Hubert propounded a question to his father.
+
+"Father," said he, "what do you think Jesus meant by saying, 'Sell that
+ye have and give alms?'"
+
+Mr. Gray reflected.  "Hm!" he observed, "eh--well--" then, with a sly
+twinkle as though rather enjoying a coat that fitted tightly, "it
+doesn't sound very obscure, does it?  The language is simple.  What
+would you think it meant?"
+
+"That is a point I am studying.  If a man came to it without prejudice
+or self-interest, it would seem very simple, I imagine.  But I am not
+sure that it should be pressed to absolute literalness.  But, granted
+that it means _something_, was it of limited application, or would
+Christ say the same thing to His followers to-day?"
+
+"Well," said Mr. Gray, whose theological studies had been greatly
+stimulated in recent months, and who had fallen into the hands of a
+variety of teachers, "you know some people draw pretty fine
+distinctions now-a-days.  They may tell us that that does not belong to
+the church.  I shouldn't wonder a bit if some of them would slip this
+over our heads and let it fall on some other people.  But I should say,
+if you ask me, that such a principle, if it applied to anybody, might
+certainly to us; that if heavenly-mindeduess could be enjoined upon any
+it might certainly upon those who are raised and seated with Christ in
+heavenly places.'"
+
+"I think you are right, father.  But now, just what is the
+principle--what is the true spirit of the text?  In short, what are we
+_to do_ about it?"
+
+Mr. Gray looked at his son curiously before replying.  Was it for the
+sake of _doing the word_ that he pondered its meaning?  To expound a
+text and to act upon it were two separate things.  The former was
+sometimes the pleasanter task.  But he answered honestly:
+
+"I suppose the true way to understand a Scripture is to read it in its
+relation to other Scripture--in the light of every other Scripture.  I
+confess I have not so studied it.  And," he added cautiously, "one must
+be very sure of the meaning of a word before he acts upon it."
+
+"Certainly," said Hubert.  Then he added privately that they had not
+waited to understand the text before proceeding to pile up treasure
+upon earth in abundance.  "I intend to look up the subject," he said
+aloud, "and see what the Bible really does teach about it; that is,
+what the New Testament says.  I suppose if we searched the Old
+Testament we should find earthly prosperity guaranteed the Lord's
+people on the ground of obedience.  But we are under the new covenant,
+with heavenly riches assured."
+
+"Just so--just so," murmured Mr. Gray.
+
+The next morning the subject was renewed.
+
+"I have found, father," said Hubert, "that the apostolic church did
+precisely what Jesus had told His flock to do.  They sold what they
+had.  It was an effect of the coming of the Holy Spirit.  I suppose the
+heavens were so opened through that illumination that earthly
+possessions shriveled into nothingness by comparison.  What precept
+alone could never have power to do the entrance of the Spirit did.  It
+turned out the love of the world and 'the things that are in the
+world.'"
+
+An enthusiastic light glowed in Hubert's face as he spoke.  His father
+eyed him curiously as on the day before.
+
+"Just so--just so," he replied, absently.
+
+Presently, however, he rallied to the discussion.  "But, Hubert," he
+said, "do you remember what they did with the proceeds of their sales?"
+
+"Yes," said Hubert, "they laid them at the feet of the Apostles, and
+distribution was made to the needs of all the company."
+
+"That was not an indiscriminate alms-giving," said Mr. Gray.
+
+"No," replied Hubert.  "But the parting with their possessions of those
+who had property supplied the need of those who had none.  That could
+be called alms-giving, I should think."
+
+"That seemed to be confined to the church," said Mr. Gray meditatively.
+
+"Yes," said Hubert, "and when a beggar solicited alms of Peter and
+John, they had nothing to give him!  No--I beg pardon--they had much to
+give him, through the 'riches in glory.'  They gave him ability to make
+his own living, which was far better than an alms.  But is there not
+some other Scripture that will tell us the relative positions of the
+church and the world to us in our giving?"
+
+"I think so," said Mr. Gray.  "How is this?  'As we have opportunity
+let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the
+household of faith.'"
+
+"That is to the point," said Hubert.
+
+"But to return to the Pentecostal precedent," said Mr. Gray; "if we
+were to sell out, at whose feet would you propose laying the proceeds?"
+He looked slyly at Hubert.  "At Doctor Schoolman's?"
+
+"Never," said Hubert, and then he laughed.  "I beg the gentleman's
+pardon for my emphasis," he said, "but it never would occur to me to
+turn over my money to him."
+
+Mr. Gray smiled.  He felt that he had scored a good point against any
+rash procedure in the matter of possessions.
+
+"At whose feet, then," he persisted, "would you think to lay it down?"
+
+"There's the rub," said Hubert grimly.
+
+"Ah, just so," said his father.
+
+There was silence for a few moments and then Mr. Gray began again:
+
+"Those early conditions at Jerusalem have never been reproduced since
+they were broken up by the scattering of the church, and I do not
+remember any hint in the Epistles to the Churches that there should be
+an effort to establish a similar communism in any place."
+
+"No?" said Hubert.  "I shall search farther and see what they do say."
+
+And he did.  A less disinterested disciple would not have pressed such
+a vigorous search toward an end that might mean his own monetary
+disadvantage.  But a supreme longing to know the will of God and to do
+it was master of the situation.  Moreover he remembered the vision of
+the cross that stood at the outset of his Christian way, and the terms
+of complete abandonment of himself and his circumstances to which he
+consented in his heart.
+
+He pursued diligent and business-like methods in his study.  With the
+aid of a concordance he found and tabulated what the Gospels had to say
+about "money," "gold," "silver," "goods," "riches" and "treasure,"
+words that might serve as clews to discover the mind of God in the
+matter he searched out.  Also he read carefully the Epistles to see
+what, in the more settled state of the church, was enjoined after the
+dissolving of the community at Jerusalem.
+
+His thoughtful study involved the spare hours of many days, and he
+emerged from it with certain convictions which were not likely soon to
+be shaken.  He set his arguments in order with a deliberation and logic
+with which a lawyer might prepare his brief.  His leading conclusions
+as to the teaching of the Scriptures on the subject were somewhat as
+follows:
+
+First, that the possession of riches is a disadvantage to a man as to
+his entering the kingdom of heaven.  Indeed, that it would render it
+impossible but for the grace of God with whom all things are possible.
+
+Second, that the teaching of the Lord Jesus placed the seeking of
+worldly goods in utter contempt and disregard as compared with heavenly
+riches.  Indeed, they might well be abandoned for the sake of that
+treasure.  That even the necessities of life were not the things to be
+anxiously sought, but were guaranteed by God in response to the
+diligent, first-in-order, whole-hearted seeking of His kingdom and
+righteousness.  That this teaching, however, was guarded against
+misinterpretation by practical instructions in the Epistles to work for
+honest support and in order to have to give.
+
+Third, that an instant effect of the coming of the Holy Spirit was a
+practical illustration of that disdain of earthly goods inculcated by
+the teaching of the Lord Jesus; and the result was not the want of any,
+for "neither was there among them any that lacked."
+
+Fourth, that that striking example, set at the head of the age as an
+object-lesson for its entire course, was not literally followed by the
+Churches subsequently formed, but its principle was carried forward to
+them also, Paul enjoining an "equality," saying to the Corinthians,
+"Your abundance being a supply at this present time for their want,
+that their abundance also may become a supply for your want; that there
+may be equality."
+
+Fifth, that the giving up of possessions at Pentecost was spontaneous
+and voluntary, not forced; and the subsequent giving was to be not a
+legal necessity, but as the heart inclined.  The flavor of delight to
+God would be lost if otherwise.  The giving would have value in His
+eyes only as it was done, not of necessity, but cheerfully.
+
+Hubert reviewed the articles of his newly formed financial creed,
+feeling that it was far from exhaustive, but that its principles must
+help to clear his vision as to the attitude a Christian man should take
+toward this world's gain.  From the whole trend of the teaching he
+gathered that the true Gospel of Christ demanded a complete reversal of
+the generally accepted rudiments of worldly thrift, and that its key
+word for the use of money was not "get," but "give."  Sometimes he
+hesitated and turned pale before a radical step which he found his
+heart prompting, and again he looked at the possessions now in his own
+right and was glad he had so much to place at the absolute disposal of
+the Lord he loved.
+
+"It is not a necessity," he said.  "I may do as I will.  And I will to
+do that which will serve Him best."
+
+He read the text, "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that,
+though he was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through
+His poverty might be rich."  Tears, to which his eyes were unused, made
+them glisten for a moment.  "Ah, if through my poverty some might be
+made forever rich!" he thought.
+
+How to put in practice what he desired to do became a problem.  He went
+to his office with the sense of a new relationship to its business.  A
+new Proprietor sat at the desk with him, and, afraid to act rashly, on
+Him he wisely waited for the clear instructions which should show how
+best His interests might be served.
+
+The new Proprietor looked on him and saw a man triumphing where the
+multitude of essaying disciples fail: not in lofty ideals, not in
+emotional experiences, not in grand works undertaken; but in the
+prosiest, hardest spot--albeit the touchstone of many a man's
+consecration--the _money question_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE MISSIONARY MEETING
+
+It was early summer when the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of Doctor
+Schoolman's church was to have a public meeting.  On Sunday the faithful
+calendar announced it, and Doctor Schoolman made special mention of it,
+urging attendance.  A missionary home on furlough was to exercise a part
+of his "well-earned rest" in addressing the meeting.  It was to be held
+in the afternoon, but it was suggested that as many men of the
+congregation as possible unite with the ladies in giving welcome to one
+who had distinguished himself by faithful and valuable service on the
+foreign field.
+
+The announcement was discussed in the Gray household and Hubert
+determined to join Winifred in attendance.
+
+"Not that I believe much in it," he said, "when here all about us, and
+especially in our large cities, there are plenty of objects for our
+commiseration quite as wretched, undoubtedly, as those in foreign
+countries."
+
+"No doubt," said Winifred.  "It always seemed to me to be looking rather
+far afield for something to do."
+
+However, the two determined to hear the voice from China.
+
+Wednesday, the day for the meeting, came, and Hubert left work in time to
+join Winifred on her way.  They found the lecture-room of the church
+rather better filled than was usual at a missionary meeting, but only a
+few gentlemen were present.  Winifred had time to observe some of the
+faces about her before the meeting began.  She knew the Secretary, a
+woman with a keen, earnest face, always active in good works, and
+indefatigable in her efforts to excite a generally indifferent church
+into some glow of interest in the missionary cause.  There were a few
+other faces as interested as her own.  Hubert saw the plain little body
+he had singled out at the church social as one who perhaps would find it
+a pleasure to talk about the Lord.  Her eyes looked expectantly toward
+the quiet looking man who came in with Doctor Schoolman.
+
+The President, rather new to her office, fingered her jeweled watch-chain
+nervously as she opened the meeting.  The company sang "From Greenland's
+Icy Mountains," and Doctor Schoolman offered prayer.  The Secretary read
+the minutes of the previous meeting--a "Thank-offering meeting"--and it
+was discovered that the sum of $90 had been realized.  The ladies
+exchanged glances of satisfaction at the amount.
+
+"Hm-m!  Their combined thanks foot up to that," thought Hubert.  He was a
+business man and must be forgiven such a practical view of the case.
+"The Lord must be gratified!"
+
+"I feel, ladies," said the President, pushing a diamond ring up and down
+upon her finger anxiously, "very much pleased that our poor gifts have
+amounted to so much.  We cannot all do what we would, but we may give our
+mites, and together they will count for something in the work.  We cannot
+tell what these ninety dollars may mean to the heathen."
+
+"Their mites!" thought Hubert, with something of his old-time irony.  He
+was freshly instructed on the subject of money, and knew well the story
+of the widows' mites.  "If Mrs. Greenman herself had given the ninety
+dollars, I should think she was beginning to feel a tinge of gratitude
+for something."
+
+Winifred had fastened her brown eyes musingly upon the President.  She
+was wondering if money might express thanks, and, if so, how much would
+appropriately suggest her own gratitude to God for His "unspeakable gift."
+
+"No gift would be large enough," she thought, and then the familiar lines
+came to her mind:
+
+  "Were the whole realm of nature mine,
+  That were a present far too small;
+  Love so amazing, so divine,
+  Demands my soul, my life, my all."
+
+"How true that is," she thought.  "But I suppose it is nice to give some
+token, even though one cannot adequately express one's thanks."
+
+There were some other reports and then the leading alto from the choir
+sang:
+
+  "There is a green hill far away."
+
+"I am sure we are all glad," said the President, "to have with us Mr.
+Hugh Carew from China, who has labored for years among the heathen there.
+We shall be pleased to hear him tell us something of his work."
+
+And Mr. Hugh Carew began.  He was a man uninteresting to look upon, save
+that his face wore a certain indefinable expression of a man who has been
+a stranger in many places; a man habituated to loneliness and to silence.
+But he was evidently a man also accustomed to speak, for he addressed his
+audience with easy grace.
+
+"The pleasure is mine," he said, "in being able to present to your
+interest and sympathy the dearest object of the heart of God."
+
+Hubert started to hear the man's work, as he thought, thus spoken of.
+Mr. Carew went on:
+
+"Of course I refer not to my simple share in it, but to God's great work
+of salvation in all lands."
+
+"Ah, that is what he means," thought Hubert, and repeated to
+himself--"the dearest object of God's heart!"
+
+"You may question my definition of that work," said Mr. Carew, "but a
+moment's reflection will convince you that it is true.  We may measure
+the object's value by the price expended for it.  For what other than the
+dearest object would God have been willing to give His most priceless
+treasure--the Son of His love?  You will pardon my giving some attention
+to the fundamental facts of our common salvation before speaking
+specifically of the work in which I have had a part for some years in
+China.  My apology is this: that wherever the returned missionary goes,
+even among God's people, he finds himself obliged to defend his work to
+some who regard it as an impractical and self-devised effort at doing
+good, rather than the simple carrying out of the expressed will of God.
+We have to go back to first principles and inquire afresh: '_What is the
+will of God_?'"
+
+"That sounds sensible," thought Hubert, who loved to hear vital
+principles discussed.
+
+"Some very simple, well-worn texts will serve for our brief study," said
+Mr. Carew.  "First there is that comprehensive passage, familiarly known
+and quoted in all evangelical circles: '_For God so loved the world that
+He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
+perish, but have everlasting life_.'  The words that I wish to emphasize
+especially are two:--'_the world_.'  They show you the scope of God's
+love and gift.  He loved 'the world,' not some favored race within it.
+And love, which cannot rest inactive, _gave_; gave according to its own
+measure--'His only begotten Son.'  We cannot be otherwise than agreed
+that this love and this gift were for all, and so must include my poor
+China.  Indeed, could you divide God's love arithmetically (it is a
+foolish way to put it--you cannot divide infinity!) then my friends over
+there might claim about one-fifth of it, I suppose, as they number about
+that proportion of the world's population."
+
+The ladies smiled indulgently at the curious way of putting it, but were
+not yet persuaded in their hearts that so considerable a portion of the
+love of God could be diverted from their own delightfully engrossing
+race, not to China alone, but to other peoples also, as would follow by
+that kind of arithmetic.  Let the missionary talk.  It would still be as
+obvious to their consciousness as the glittering pompon on Mrs.
+Greenman's bonnet that themselves were the consistent and natural
+monopolists of the favor of their Creator!
+
+But Mr. Carew went on: "We may find our two very illuminating little
+words in another text almost equally familiar.  It is this: '_Behold the
+Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world_.'  This lets us
+farther into God's attitude and purpose concerning 'the world.'  Loving
+all His creatures, He still saw that they were involved in ruin brought
+on by sin.  If He brought them to Himself--the only event that could
+satisfy love--it must be by a great and costly Redemption.  One emanating
+from Himself must be projected into the ruin and death of the world and
+come back to Him, spotless and unsullied, bringing with Him 'many sons'
+unto the glory.  But He must purge their sins.  So He gave Him to be a
+Lamb of sacrifice; that He taking the sins of the world upon Him, might
+work in Himself a death unto sin that should be made good to all that
+become united to Him.  Potentially, then, the sin of '_the world_' is
+taken away.  If we wish to support further this point in our study
+concerning 'the world' we may turn to Paul and hear, 'God was in Christ,
+reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
+them.'  Or the Apostle John will tell us that 'He is the propitiation for
+our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of _the whole
+world_.'
+
+"Now that we have reminded ourselves of the love, and of the gift
+embracing redemption, it occurs to us to ask how are our poor brothers in
+China to avail themselves of the gift or to hear of the love.  Another
+well-known test, containing our two words again, tells us very clearly.
+It offers the only logical answer to the question, and it is this: '_Go
+ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature_.'  Love
+has devised its gift and prepared it at unspeakable cost, and now
+commands our feet that we may bear it to all habitable parts of the
+earth.  Wherever the objects of God's love are, there the gift must be
+borne.  Do we not all see that the work which we call 'Foreign Missions'
+is in the direct, simple carrying out of the purpose of God, bearing the
+knowledge of the gift to all for whom it is intended, that they may avail
+themselves of it?  What object could be dearer to the heart of God?  What
+He has Himself done shows us of what moment the matter is to Him.  How
+can we ever excuse ourselves that it has been a matter of such
+indifference to us?  He has limited Himself to human instruments for the
+carrying to the lips of dying ones whom He loves the water from the
+smitten Rock, and how have we responded?  Are we indeed His sons and
+daughters, that His supreme wish should be our last concern?"
+
+The speaker's eyes had deepened in color as he spoke.  Now they burned
+with intense feeling.  His long, tenacious hands were clenched
+repressively.  He went on:
+
+"I imagine I hear an objection that the same work is being done at home,
+and that there is ample field here still.  We may not trust our own
+understanding to argue the case as to the value of confining our efforts
+to the home field, but let the Scriptures, always ready to instruct us,
+give us light.  Probably we will agree that Paul, the apostle-missionary,
+is in his life an exponent of the theory of Gospel preaching.  He had an
+ambition.  Hear how he expresses it: 'Yea, being ambitious so to preach
+the Gospel, _not where Christ was already named_, that I might not build
+upon another man's foundation; but, as it is written
+
+  "'They shall see, to whom no tidings of him came,
+  And they who have not heard shall understand.'
+
+"He shows his Roman readers his method; telling them that from Jerusalem
+unto Illyricum (just across the Adriatic Sea from Italy) he had 'fully
+preached the Gospel of Christ.'  Now he was ready to look farther, his
+task to those regions being accomplished.  What did he mean?  Was he
+leaving behind him converted areas, whose every inhabitant magnified God
+in Christ Jesus?  Far from it.  'Fully preached' though he had,
+communities were still heathen, but for the lights that he had kindled
+from place to place in his persecuted journeyings.  Remembering that he
+is in his life the model for Gospel preaching, as he is in his writings
+the messenger of Christian doctrine, must we not see that the Gospel is
+for _broadcast sowing_, not for close gardening, save by the careful
+hands that God will raise up in the wake of the evangelist.  Or, to use
+another figure, it is the _notification, to lost heirs_, of a fortune
+bequeathed them; and the responsibility of the ones entrusted with the
+carrying out of the will is not so much to persuade heirs to receive
+their inheritance as to notify them of it.  So the Apostle preached 'not
+where Christ was named,' having a zeal to discharge his debtorship of
+making known to all nations God's gift of grace.  Now over into
+Spain--far, far afield, as distances then were gauged--the eager eyes of
+the Apostle looked and longed for a crown of rejoicing from that land
+also in the day of Christ.  In him we see the faithful exposition of the
+missionary idea."
+
+By this time Hubert was looking at the speaker very intently, with
+widened, almost startled, eyes that were opening to a new idea.  Winifred
+also sat with riveted gaze, her cheeks slightly paling beneath the
+deepening conviction of a tremendous truth.  True worshiper that she was,
+to know the truth must be to shape her life in consonance with it, and a
+voice at her heart gave warning that to be conformed to this newly
+revealed will of God would be pain.  But where was the theory that had
+seemed so clear and sensible to both Hubert and herself when they came to
+the meeting?  Hubert always had clear ideas.  What would he say to this?
+Now Mr. Carew was saying:
+
+"I have frequently heard it objected to foreign missions that there are
+works of philanthropy still to be done here.  The objection is absolutely
+irrelevant.  The work of missions is not an indefinite 'doing good.'  It
+is the bearing of a _specific good_ to those who have not received it.
+It is not, _per se_, the bettering of temporal conditions.  It is the
+securing to those who believe its message the _best eternal conditions_.
+It is not a matter of 'elevation'--it is a matter of translation.  Not
+into a bettered life, but into a _new_ life with an eternal outlook--into
+a new realm altogether, and that divine--the Gospel we carry ushers its
+believers!  How would the poor, irrelevant argument I have quoted have
+affected Paul?  Looking across the sea to Spain, and to Rome by the way,
+he was leaving behind him in Judea, in Asia--in all the region unto
+Illyricum, hungry people still unfed and the naked still unclothed.  Want
+and misery still stretched out their hands to be relieved.  But they
+could not stay the feet of the Apostle.  He had heard _the supreme call_!
+God had a supreme gift to bestow; the world had a supreme need; and to
+bring the need and the gift together was his absorbing, constraining
+zeal.  Would God it were ours also!  Friends, my plea for China is not
+for its temporal needs; it is not that its women's feet are bound, that
+its men are opium-stupefied, or that it needs our Western ideas, as it is
+waking from its Eastern way.  It is this: _God has an unspeakable gift
+for its people, and we must bear it to them_."
+
+His tall figure was leaning forward and his burning eyes chanced to rest
+fully upon Hubert.  The latter started, and a half audible groan burst
+from his lips.  Was it the burden of a new motive, or the sudden smiting
+of a chord he knew right well?  The "unspeakable gift!"  Yes, he knew it;
+and its glory was ineffable beyond the highest earthly good he had known.
+Happy the man under commission to bear such a treasure, though it be to
+the uttermost parts of the earth!  And the great Giver longed to bestow
+it on the millions of His creatures, but waited the unwilling feet of His
+messengers!  It was heart-breaking!  But was there no other way?  Why
+should an infinite God limit Himself to finite man in carrying out His
+great design?  Mr. Carew continued:
+
+"You may ask why does God restrict Himself to the human instrument in
+bearing the tidings, and _through the tidings the effective result_, of
+the Redemption?  I cannot tell you why, but I see that it is so.  A light
+from heaven may overpower a Saul of Tarsus, and he may hear words
+straight from the ascended Christ.  But a Christian _man_--Ananias--must
+be sent to tell him how to wash away his sins, and to minister the Holy
+Spirit to him.  An angel may communicate with Cornelius, the Centurion,
+but he stays his lips from uttering the Gospel of Christ.  That privilege
+is reserved for the _human_ lips of Peter.  Is it not sufficient that the
+Commander has said, 'Go _ye_'?  Had the task been set for angels, it
+would have been accomplished long since, for _they_ do His pleasure.  But
+He trusted it to us, who might be expected to be so bound by ties of
+gratitude to His will that we would eagerly spring to do His bidding.
+And we have miserably failed.  'Is there not another way?' we languidly
+ask in the face of the command.  I do not see another way.  But the Lord
+has most clearly outlined _this_ way: _That the Gospel should be preached
+in all the world to every creature, and that the one who believes and is
+baptized should be saved_.  To sit and philosophically consider that an
+infinite God must surely find some other way if we fail in this, is not
+reverence for His wisdom.  It is mutiny."
+
+Some of the ladies looked startled at this bold setting forth of the
+case, and remembered how, privately, they had given voice to the
+sentiments under criticism before coming to the meeting.  The Secretary's
+keen face betrayed thorough assent to what the speaker was saying, and
+the President was glad that she held such a relation as she did to a
+cause so evidently right, with a reverse side so evidently wrong.  The
+plain little body of the Church Social beamed thorough sympathy.
+
+"Do you say," continued Mr. Carew, "that God will be merciful to the
+heathen because of their ignorance?  I believe He will, and do not doubt
+that it will be 'more tolerable' for those who have never heard than for
+those in this country (heathen also, in the Scriptural sense) who, having
+often heard, are still rejectors of the Gospel.  But there is a greater
+question involved than that of lessened stripes or mitigated woe.  Do you
+say that men will be _saved_ by lack of knowledge?  The prophet said his
+people _perished_ for lack of it!  Ah, if God had ordained ignorance to
+be the way of salvation He might have spared Himself great cost!--cost of
+the redemption sacrifice, and of its proclamation, often in martyr blood.
+But He confers His boon to faith and 'faith cometh by _hearing_.'
+
+"You say it will increase the responsibility of the heathen if they hear,
+and put them in worse case if they reject the message?  Very true.  But
+had that been a sufficient reason it would have silenced our Lord's 'Go
+ye' at the outset of the age.  Never would the Gospel have traveled to
+our barbaric fathers, and we should be without hope to-day.  But the
+treasure was too great which the Saviour sought.  No thought of deeper
+shadows cast by the very brightness of the light could deter Him from
+holding it forth.  Beyond all cost of difficulty, danger, or the deepened
+condemnation of the lost, was the value of the Church He sought--the
+pearl of great price for which all other possessions might be forfeited!
+Ah, friends, since the object is so dear to Him, where are our hearts
+that we think of it so coldly!  The burden of my plea is _for Him_; not
+for the missionary, not for philanthropy, not even so much for the
+heathen themselves, as _for Him_, because He loves and longs to give but
+lacks the human vessels through which to give!"
+
+The speaker paused, and absently pushed back the hair from his flushed
+forehead.  An almost tragic yearning shone in his deepset eyes.  There
+was one in the congregation whose heart burned in a fellowship of grief
+over the Saviour's unmet longing.  Mr. Carew continued more slowly, in a
+voice intensely sad and almost broken:
+
+"Do you sometimes quote softly for _your_ comfort, 'I will guide thee
+with mine eye'?  You have thought of His eye upon you--and that is
+right--to care for, protect and lead.  But have you ever watched the
+glance of His eye with another thought, not for yourself, but _for Him_?
+Not to see in it provision and help for you; but to see to what He is
+looking, for what He is longing--what it is that will give joy to Him?
+When I look in His eyes," and the speaker was looking far away from his
+congregation and spoke as though half forgetting them, "I seem to hear
+Him saying, 'I have other sheep--I _must bring them_!'"
+
+His voice sank to a whisper.  Hubert felt a little convulsive movement
+beside him and Winifred's hand was shading her eyes.  Mr. Carew recovered
+from the emotion that nearly mastered him, and remembered his hearers and
+their probable wishes.  He began again:
+
+"But perhaps I am neglecting to tell you that which you came especially
+to hear--some details concerning the actual work of God in China.  You
+will pardon me, but I cannot forbear speaking wherever I go concerning
+the principles underlying our work, as well as of the work itself.  One
+might describe the people and their ways--and all that is valuable in
+making them more real to us--and might present a score of curious things
+which would perhaps beguile an hour very pleasantly, but still leave an
+indifferent heart unchanged as to the real motive of missions.  However,
+all that I have said will gain and not lose by our turning attention for
+a time to the practical outworking of the theory."
+
+Then the speaker gave illustrations of the way lost souls are found in
+China.  Very pathetic were some of the incidents, and again and again
+Winifred's eyes were dim, and an unspeakable pain gnawed at Hubert's
+heart.  Fervently he thanked God for those whose darkness He had turned
+to light, but sad beyond expression seemed the repeated instances which
+had occurred in Mr. Carew's experience of earnest pleadings for
+missionaries to be sent to various places and his absolute inability to
+answer the cry.  But broader than the fact of the _wish_ of some stood
+the _need_ of all!  Populous cities without one witness to the grace of
+God!  Wide regions untraversed by the feet of His messengers!  Hubert had
+thought New Laodicea a place of desperate need; and so it was in the
+matter of vital, fruit-bearing piety.  But as he thought of the inky
+darkness in which China's millions dwelt this seemed a place of light.
+
+The meeting came to an end.  But first the President expressed the thanks
+of those who had listened to the lecture, and hoped all had been stirred
+to greater zeal and effort for the future in helping so good a cause.
+She suggested that the mite-boxes should be redistributed.
+
+"'Mite-boxes!'" thought Hubert and squirmed in his seat impatiently.
+Then an inward voice reproved him for his contempt of small things.  He
+thought of the poor that might deposit from time to time small coins that
+meant much from their slender incomes.  Yes, "mites" were all right, if
+they were like the "widow's," and not the meager drippings from a selfish
+superfluity.  But suppose _he_ take a mite-box?  How many of them would
+be required to hold the hoarded, unnecessary, unused wealth at his
+command?  He could not insult the Lord and the "dearest object of His
+heart" by an offering unworthy of his resources.
+
+There was a pleasant buzz of voices at the close of the meeting and
+nobody seemed to be going.  Doctor Schoolman was shaking hands with Mr.
+Carew.  Doors were opened into the parlor and there was the fragrant odor
+of a collation prepared.  For the benevolences of New Laodicea were
+nothing like certain reluctant pumps that will give nothing until they
+have been given to.  To whet an interest in such meetings as this, and to
+cajole small sums from unwilling purses, it was found necessary to make a
+gastronomic appeal.
+
+Hubert and Winifred moved forward to personally express to the lecturer
+their appreciation of his words.  Doctor Schoolman greeted them warmly
+and introduced them to him.  Mr. Carew had noticed the two among his
+hearers, and looked at them now with an unconsciously appealing glance.
+His face was still flushed and the hand Hubert took was hot.
+
+"You are not well," said the latter involuntarily.
+
+"No," said Mr. Carew, rather absently, "I suppose not."
+
+"I should not think this work you are doing would tend to recovery?"
+
+"No, perhaps not," said the missionary.
+
+Hubert looked at him inquiringly.  "Then why do you do it?" he wished to
+ask, but refrained.
+
+Mr. Carew answered his questioning look.
+
+"I am not to be pitied," he said with a smile, "even if I should not
+recover as I hope to do.  Some men are sick and die for pure folly's
+sake, or for business.  They are to be pitied.  But if it were given a
+man to be spent for Christ's sake--to know some faint shadow of suffering
+for the same cause for which _He_ suffered as we never may--that man is
+happy, I think."
+
+"He is," said Hubert earnestly, "he is."
+
+Mr. Carew was struck by the sincerity of Hubert's tones.  He looked at
+him with a searching, yearning expression; somewhat, it may be, as the
+Lord Jesus looked on the rich young man and "loved him."  Would this one
+stand the test of love's requirement?
+
+Some ladies were taking Winifred away to the parlors for refreshments,
+and someone invited Mr. Carew and Hubert also.  They both accepted with
+the mutual wish to prolong the conversation.  As they ate they talked of
+the Living Bread which must be borne to men.
+
+In the course of their conversation Hubert confessed: "You will be
+astonished, but I have never before seen the matter as you presented it
+to-day, and yet I have been a Christian for three years."
+
+"A good many men have been Christians for many years, and yet have not
+come to see the true motive of missions," said Mr. Carew.  "It is
+singular how the most fundamental principles may be most ignored; I
+suppose somewhat as a man thinks less of the foundation stones of his
+house than of what he finds inside it.  But in spite of this if a man has
+really a heart for God, when the matter is clearly presented to him he
+responds to it.  God's purpose must find an 'amen' in his heart."
+
+"That is true," said Hubert.
+
+Presently they left the parlor, still talking together earnestly of God's
+will, and inadvertently drifted into the great auditorium.  Mr. Carew
+glanced about at its finished elegance.
+
+"Perhaps," he said to Hubert, "they think _this_ instead, is doing the
+will of God.  I daresay they have read that the house Solomon builds for
+God must be 'exceeding magnifical,' and they think so must this be.  And,
+indeed, the spiritual antitype of that house must be beautiful!  It
+'groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.'  And the work of missions is
+gathering its 'living stones.'  But _this_--the New Testament breathes no
+word of instruction concerning this material house!  Ah, if I were to
+write a general confession for our church I should say: 'We have left
+undone the things we were told to do, and we have done the things we were
+not told to do, and there is very little health in us!'"
+
+Hubert smiled at Mr. Carew's words, but felt their force.  He ventured to
+remark: "This building does not look as though there were lack of money
+among us."
+
+"Oh, no!" said Mr. Carew.  "Oh, no!"  He repressed his lips, as though
+fearing to say more than would be courteous.  But presently he spoke
+again in general terms.
+
+"The church at home," he said, "has largely forgotten her pilgrim
+character.  She has put off her sandals, and loosened her robes for
+luxurious living instead of girding them for service and pilgrimage.  As
+to display and indulgence at home, she says plainly, 'I am rich,' but as
+to the carrying out the will of God entrusted to her for the world, she
+is pitifully poor."
+
+They were emerging from the stately auditorium, and Hubert bethought him
+to look for Winifred.  They met her in one of the rooms with Mrs.
+Greenman.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Carew," said the latter, "I was looking for you.  Our ladies
+appreciate so very much your talk to us!  I hope--"
+
+Winifred and Hubert were now speaking together and did not hear more of
+the President's remarks.  But before they left the place Hubert had
+sought Mr. Carew again and had asked him to call at his office the
+following day.
+
+"I should like to talk with you further concerning your business," he
+said.
+
+He used the word "business" absent-mindedly, and Mr. Carew smiled, not at
+all illy pleased with it.  Hubert was thinking of an investment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD
+
+Winifred and Hubert walked a part of the way home in silence.  At
+length the former spoke.
+
+"It seems to me we have been rather blind concerning the object of
+missions," she said.  "What do you think of it now, Hubert?"
+
+"I am convinced that I have taken a very shallow view of it," Hubert
+replied.  "It is a marvel to me now that I could have missed so
+completely the true motive of missions.  It is as clear as daylight in
+the Bible.  It is humiliating to think one has been so contentedly
+provincial in thoughts of God's salvation.  I am ashamed of it."
+
+"So am I," agreed Winifred, and then they walked on in silence.  An
+uneasy thought was gnawing at her heart that hardly found expression.
+Had it been put in words it would have been something like this:
+
+"How are we _to act_ with reference to new light on the will of God?
+If Hubert and I are really His children, called into His fellowship,
+then we must be sympathetic with His wish and do what we can to forward
+it.  What would that be?"
+
+Soon they reached the door of their home.  Home!  What a pleasant word
+it is.  How easily the accustomed key turned in the latch, and how
+familiarly the house belongings greeted them as they entered.  Ay,
+"there's no place like home," and its cords wind themselves about us
+silently, certainly, until it seems almost a sacrilege to think of
+leaving it.
+
+Hubert went at once to his room, to the spot where questions were wont
+to be settled, and when dinner was announced he begged to be excused.
+
+Winifred and her father sat alone at the table.  He inquired concerning
+the missionary meeting, and she rehearsed to him much of what Mr. Carew
+had said.
+
+"Ah, very good--very good," Mr. Gray said.  "Very conclusive, I should
+think."
+
+But it did not occur to him how a conclusive argument and a life action
+might stand related.  Theories cost nothing when only the mind assents
+to them.  But wrought in the heart, they mold lives after them.
+
+In Hubert's room a painful heart process was going on.  Sunk in a deep,
+capacious chair, with head resting upon his hand, he set in order
+before himself the axiomatic truths he had heard.
+
+"God's supreme work is salvation," he meditated.  "The field for this
+work is the world--the whole world.  Salvation is wrought--as to man's
+part--through faith in a message preached.  The message requires a
+messenger.  In vast proportions of the field the messengers are
+wanting.  What should be done about it?  Clearly, the messengers should
+rally at the command of God.  But it must be at His command.  Men
+cannot go self-sent."
+
+This thought gave a brief respite to the haunting sense of a
+responsibility.
+
+"_Whom shall I send and who will go for us_?" The double questions
+heard by Isaiah in the temple repeated itself now in Hubert's mind.
+
+"There are two questions there," he said.  "'Whom shall _I send_, and
+who will go for us?'  A man can only answer, finally, the second.  God
+must answer His own first query,--although Isaiah did suggest, 'send
+me.'  Must not any loyal child _if he hear_ his Father's appeal say,
+'Here am I'?"
+
+Hubert's head sank lower upon his hand.
+
+"Have I heard the voice of His need?" he asked, but hesitated to answer
+his own question.  "Yes," he said finally, aloud, in a strained voice,
+"I have heard.  I can never un-hear His words.  I may disregard them,
+make myself forget them, but I can never go back to the place of twelve
+hours ago and be as though I had never known His mind.  I have been in
+His temple--I, a worshiper purged by His infinite grace, I have seen a
+vision of His will, and have heard the voice of His need.  I can never
+undo the fact."
+
+Lines that somebody had written repeated themselves in his mind:
+
+  "Light obeyed increaseth light;
+   Light rejected bringeth night.
+   Who shall give me power to choose,
+   If the love of light I lose?"
+
+Why did he still hesitate?  Why did his "here am I" linger for hours
+unsaid?  A sense of the reality of present things and of home
+surroundings swept over him.  These were the possible things.  But
+those--?  He shuddered.  Dim, misty, in a veil of unreality lay China,
+a distant land.  What relation had he with it?  There were
+missionaries, a strange, separated, unusual folk, specially created for
+the purpose, no doubt; but _he_, a practical, everyday, intensely real
+sort of being--what had he to do with things so far away?  Oh, no!  It
+was not for him.  Let him put aside the overwrought fancies of the day,
+and return to practical life again.
+
+He almost rose from his seat as though to emphasize his sober thought,
+but an impression restrained him.
+
+"And so I lose My witnesses!" he imagined his Lord saying with grief.
+"They are walking by sight and not by faith, and the seen, tangible
+things hold them.  Who will stretch out his hands to lay hold upon the
+things of eternal life?"
+
+Hubert sank in rebuked silence under the spell of the afternoon's
+disclosure.  It was reality, if he were a Christian.  It must be faced.
+But how the seen things wrestled with the heavenly vision!  Habit, long
+association, and tender love mingled a cup of sacrifice that he must
+drink.  Could he leave all these for the sake of the joyful message of
+his Lord?
+
+Now imagination pictured the leavetaking.  How the familiar scenes of
+his home and native city remonstrated with his choice!  In fancy he
+wrung for the last time his father's hand, he bade one last farewell to
+the flower-dressed grave of his gentle mother, and--and _Winifred_!
+
+A dry, tearless sob shook him.  O sweet sister, loved most of all since
+the days when, her jealous-eyed protector, he walked beside her to the
+school, shared sturdily but keenly her childish woes and fought all
+battles for her!  Loved now with a closer, spiritual tie in their
+mutual devotion to their blessed Lord!  How could he give her up?  How
+could he leave her undefended now by his watchful love?
+
+The scene of three years ago when he handed the sword of his
+self-served and self-defended life to Jesus Christ, and purposed in His
+heart to follow Him at any cost, was vividly rehearsed in his memory.
+Possessions, home, kindred, all things, were nominated in the bond of
+the whole-hearted surrender to his Lord.  The time had come to hold to
+those honest terms.
+
+Hubert rose from his seat with a pale face, and a death-like sinking at
+his heart.  "Yes, Lord Jesus," he uttered with dry lips, "I am at Thy
+command.  Forgive my coward halting.  If Thou wilt send me, I will go."
+
+
+On the other side of the hall, in her pretty room, Winifred had prayed:
+"We have seen the glance of Thine eye, O Lord, and know Thy longing.
+Open our eyes to see how we may serve Thee, and strengthen our hearts
+to bear--nay, to love!--Thy will.  If we must give each other up"--a
+long pause, broken by storms of weeping, intervened--"then let us
+see--oh, _let us see Thy face_!"
+
+
+When Winifred and Hubert first met in the hall next morning some gleams
+of comfort had already stolen into both their hearts.  He put his arm
+about her as they descended the stairs together, and at the foot they
+paused.
+
+"Dear little sister!" he said caressingly.
+
+Her eyes filled at his unusual tenderness; for Hubert's love, however
+fervent and well believed-in, was not demonstrative.  She looked up in
+his face with a long, serious question.  He answered it by asking:
+
+"Shall I go?--for Him, Winnie?"
+
+"Yes, Hubert," she said earnestly, "oh, yes!"  But the color flickered
+in her cheeks and her lips grew white.
+
+They stood for a moment together but neither spoke.  Together they
+presented afresh their offering to God, and He knew that it was costly.
+
+At breakfast neither spoke of the matter that was uppermost in their
+hearts.  But later Hubert sought his father in the library and made
+known to him the step he had taken.
+
+Grief, dismay, and almost anger, struggled in the older man's heart.
+He looked at his son with sorrowful sternness.
+
+"Then--then, Hubert," he said very slowly, "you have concluded to leave
+me."
+
+A pang shot through Hubert's heart, keener than any thought of his own
+pain, but he answered steadily:
+
+"I have concluded, father, to follow Christ."
+
+Mr. Gray frowned.  He was not conscious of frowning at the name of
+Christ, or at so pure a sentiment as that uttered, but grief made him
+insensible to what he did.
+
+"And is that," he asked with some irony, "the only way you can find of
+following Him?  Can no one follow Him at home?"
+
+"I do not see that he can if he is called abroad, father."
+
+"And are you called?" he asked sharply, still the pain at his heart
+dulling any sense of shame that he could speak unsympathetically of
+such a thing.
+
+Hubert answered gently.
+
+"I believe I am, father," he said.
+
+Mr. Gray stared at his son silently.  His face grew ashen and the hand
+upon the table before him trembled visibly.  Hubert stood in an agony
+of mute sympathy.  At last the father rose without a word and prepared
+to leave the room.  His face looked older by a decade than an hour
+before.  Hubert made a movement to detain him and opened his lips to
+speak; but the other waved him aside with a quick gesture of the
+trembling hand.  And so they parted.
+
+Hubert looked after his father with a breaking heart.  He had thought
+the crisis of his grief was passed when alone in his room he wrestled
+out the problem for his own heart.  But now a heavier weight rested
+upon his soul.  Must he break his father's heart?  Must the hope of
+happy comradeship in future years be put aside, and with the
+disappointment his father age and weaken irrecoverably?  He saw him
+walk down the path slowly and heavily, and a feeling of awful guilt
+swept over him.  Was he his father's murderer?  Was he following a
+delusion that would make himself an exile and lay his father
+prematurely in his grave?  The thought overpowered him.  He sank
+helplessly in a chair and groaned out his burden to the Lord.
+
+"O Lord," he prayed, "am I walking in Thy footsteps, or am I a deluded
+wretch, bringing sorrow, and it may be death, to those I love most?"
+He paused, and his head sank deeply.  "Lord, this is grief," he
+groaned.  "This is grief.  I have not known it before."
+
+And so it seemed.  Thoughts of his own loneliness and possible
+hardships seemed light compared with this.
+
+"Grief!" he repeated, as though he found relief in the pitiful uttering
+of the word whose depths he was sounding.  Then memory framed a passage
+which held the same word.  "A man of sorrows," it repeated, "and
+_acquainted with grief_!"
+
+How sweet the words sounded!  And how dear the imagined face of Him of
+whom they were spoken!
+
+"Tell me of Thy grief," he whispered.  "Didst Thou cause grief?"
+
+Words of Scripture again came to his help.
+
+"Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul," he heard Simeon say
+to the mother of his Lord, and it dawned upon him that when Jesus faced
+the cross with its agony He must have felt through His tenderest of
+hearts the sword-piercing of His Mother's sorrow.  Ah, yes!  He caused
+grief.  And as He took His own way to the cross He raised a standard
+for those who follow of pitiless separations and of broken ties, if
+need be, for His kingdom's sake.  "_If any man cometh unto Me, and,
+hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and
+brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My
+disciple_."
+
+Texts that Hubert had passed lightly before were now illuminated with
+meaning and power as the occasion rose for them to be translated into
+life.  He found a rare sweetness of comfort in those which assured him
+that he need not fear he was out of the path of the Saviour's
+footprints, though he found them blood-marked or washed with many
+tears.  He turned to some familiar words which he wished to see before
+him again in plain black and white.  They were found toward the end of
+the ninth chapter of Luke.
+
+"Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father," said one in response
+to his Lord's "follow me."  And said Jesus, "_Let the dead bury their
+dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God_."
+
+"Let the dead bury their dead!"  What a strange expression, and what
+could it mean!  Hubert pondered the text, no longer in keen agony of
+mind, for his distress had lightened as he saw even on the painful way
+the light of God's will shining.  Anything could be borne, if the face
+of the Lord still shone upon it!
+
+"What does it mean?" he queried in deep meditation.
+
+Slowly a meaning, not the full one, doubtless, but suited to his need,
+dawned upon him.  Let the spiritually dead attend to the affairs of
+death.  Let them follow the conventional, natural round, and answer
+always to the cries of human love and longing.  Let them keep to
+earthly ties and earthly work.  But let the living be about the affairs
+of life!  A ministry waits that only living hands can serve.  Let
+filial hearts render unto earthly love that which is due, but see that
+_thou_, child of God, render also unto God the things which are God's.
+
+"There are a thousand things," thought Hubert, "that unregenerated men
+can do quite as well as any.  Indeed, they have an affinity with
+earthly things that is lacking in the heaven-born man.  To trade in
+iron and amass wealth does not require a living man.  I will let others
+do it.  The supreme business of my Father calls, and I must be about
+it.  But my earthly father?  Shall I wait first to bury him?  The Lord
+says, No."
+
+Hubert studied his pattern in His life as well as words.
+
+"He was subject to His parents," he reflected, "until the time came for
+His ministry and He had reached mature years of responsibility.  Then,
+when He had entered upon His task, not even His mother's voice could
+turn Him from it.  When His friends thought Him beside Himself, and she
+with them sought to take Him away from His work, He said, 'Who is My
+mother? . . .  Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my
+brother and sister and mother.'  But He still was not unfilial.  When
+not even the thought of the sword through her heart could take Him from
+the cross, He made provision for her, commending her to John's faithful
+love."
+
+Hubert's eyes grew soft again with thoughts of his father.  There was
+no need to think of provision for him, for he had enough.  But he
+longed to give him always the joy of a son's tender love and
+companionship.  Still the supreme call was inexorable, and another
+Father's business demanded filial fellowship.
+
+"Thou must care for him, Lord," he said, and with a sudden impulse he
+knelt beside the library table and prayed that God would take away all
+the sting of his father's grief, and give him joy instead; joy in
+fellowship with the great Father in His giving.
+
+After prayer he was much relieved and went to his work as usual,
+admitting to his office soon after his arrival Mr. Carew, who called in
+response to his wish of the day before.  Hubert had more to offer than
+the financial gift contemplated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+GOD, MY EXCEEDING JOY
+
+A heavy cloud hung over the house for days.  Mr. Gray was silent and
+sad.  All attempts to renew the conversation of that painful Thursday
+morning were waived aside.  Hubert was at a loss to know how to proceed
+with his project, but he and Winifred gave themselves to diligent
+prayer.  As to the latter, sharp as was her grief at the thought of
+parting with her brother, her love for God was stronger, and she did
+not hesitate for a moment in her consent that he should go.
+
+"I do not know any other answer to give to God," she said.  "Surely I
+have nothing too precious for Him, when He has given all to me.  And
+you know," she said with a radiant smile, "Hubert and I can never lose
+each other!  We cannot lose what is in Christ!"
+
+She made these remarks to Adele Forrester, to whom the matter of
+Hubert's call to foreign service was communicated.  Her friend listened
+very quietly.
+
+Adele had been steadily growing in God's grace since the day when His
+way of salvation dawned so brightly upon her.  She was the same
+merry-hearted young woman as before, but a certain womanly sweetness,
+never really lacking beneath the gay exterior, developed in
+ever-increasing winsomeness.  A capacity for intense enjoyment found
+new sources for its filling in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and she
+pursued faithfully and happily the ways she saw of serving Him.  To-day
+she received Winifred's news with evident sympathy, but with a reserve
+of feeling not expressed.
+
+"Our Bishop preached a splendid missionary sermon two weeks ago," she
+remarked.  "He made things very plain indeed.  I think we all felt that
+we had been almost traitors in not rallying to the Lord's standard
+better than we had done.  Even Dick paid some attention, for he said
+after church--you know what a tease he is--'_now_ I hope you see where
+you ought to be!'"
+
+"Oh, Adele," said Winifred, "I haven't thought to ask you in months how
+the choir is getting along.  The mention of Dick reminds me.  Do you
+still enjoy your singing?"
+
+Adele laughed.  "My 'occupation's gone,'" she said.  "We are supplanted
+by a boy choir.  The present minister likes that better.  A saucy
+little fellow who brings our evening paper and fights his business
+competitors once in a while is one of our successors.  He looks quite
+cherubic in a surplice."
+
+"And you?"
+
+"I sing praises in the congregation, and what is left over I sometimes
+offer in the mission."
+
+"So you still keep up your service at the mission?"
+
+"Oh, yes!"
+
+Adele did not add how much appreciated were those services, nor how she
+had added visitation amongst the families represented at the mission to
+the evident blessing of not a few.
+
+Their conversation drifted back to the subject of Hubert's leaving, and
+Adele entered a compact of prayer for the right development of all
+things relating to it.
+
+Gradually the Spirit of God wrought in the heart of Robert Gray.  He
+was led to think of the darkness of unbelief out of which his son had
+been brought, and to consider how fitting a thing it was that a life
+thus renewed should be held at the command of God.  But it was hard to
+think of him as a foreign missionary!  Mr. Gray had believed
+theoretically in the cause of missions and had given a yearly
+subscription to the society representing it.  But to give his son--ah,
+that was a different matter!  At the first shock of the thought he had
+recoiled, and a naturally stubborn heart kept the question at bay for a
+time.  But he could not long fight with God.  The fellowship lost while
+he steeled his heart against the unwelcome demand was too great a price
+to pay.  Gradually it came to him that the greater weight that bowed
+his soul and took the joyous spring from life was not Hubert's proposed
+leaving, but the hiding of God's face.
+
+"In thy favor is life," he prayed.  "Any bereavement would be better
+than for Thee to hide Thy face from me."
+
+And the Face shone out again as his softened will loosened its
+tenacious grip of that it held.  But still he was a man of strong
+opinions, and slow to be convinced that his clear-headed, business-like
+son was the one to follow the still hazy-seeming, far-off life of a
+missionary.
+
+It was a happy day when the ban was lifted from the subject and Hubert
+was free to discuss it with his father and arrange business matters for
+a separation.  A new element in the matter taxed the sympathy of the
+hard-headed business man, when it became apparent that his hitherto
+practical son intended not only withdrawing his active partnership from
+the firm of Robert Gray & Son, but to sell his interest in the concern,
+liberating the proceeds for the use of God.
+
+"What folly!" said the elder man frankly.
+
+"Do you remember our discussion of the Scripture about it?" replied
+Hubert, smiling.  "I think I submitted to you the conclusions drawn
+from a study concerning it.  I might as well act upon my convictions,
+or I shall lose them.  You know what James says about the 'hearers
+only' of the word?"
+
+"Yes, I know what he says," said his father a little testily.  "But
+about this money question there must be a sensible middle course
+somewhere between a fanatical giving away everything you have and a
+close-fisted holding on to it all.  Give to the Lord of your first
+fruits, certainly.  That is a good thing.  But a man ought to look out
+for himself."
+
+"Yes," said Hubert, "I believe there is a rational course to be
+followed, and perhaps the Lord may not wish to hereafter provide for me
+miraculously that which I now have in hand naturally.  I do not see all
+the details clearly yet.  But certainly over and above my own
+necessities--which will be simple--there is something to lay at once at
+the feet of the Lord.  I am glad I have so much for Him."
+
+"Don't let your enthusiasm run away with your common sense.  Try to be
+practical."
+
+"I think I am practical," said Hubert, smiling again, "although it is
+hard for a man to judge his own actions.  It seems to me the practical
+way to give is to give.  The people whom I consider impractical are
+those who, having an abundance for themselves, dole out pittances for
+the Lord and regret they are so little!  The poor, perplexed ladies in
+the missionary society vex their brains in planning how to 'raise'
+something for Him.  They take mite-boxes themselves, and they encourage
+the gifts of the poor, the children, the babies--and even the dolls, I
+am told!  It is very pathetic.  But why does it never occur to them--to
+those who can afford it, I mean--to _give_?  That is what I should call
+practical.  I suppose Mrs. Greenman did not find much difficulty in
+'raising' enough money to pay for her swell reception the day after the
+missionary meeting, I saw the street lined with carriages and heard an
+orchestra playing inside as I passed.  We can imagine the decorations
+and the fine gowning.  Now that was practical.  What she wanted was a
+fine display, and she practically put her hand in her pocket and paid
+for it.  But she says they cannot all do what they would like for
+missions!  Why do they plead poverty there?  Mrs. Greenman would not
+like to have her husband poorly rated in Bradstreet's, and I am sure
+she did not wish to have her guests the other day think of poverty.
+But before the Lord--ah, maybe that is what they think it is to be
+'_poor in spirit_!'  But if they would be honest!  If she should say,
+now, in the missionary meeting: 'The amount raised is not what we might
+have given, but it is all we really wish to give in view of the
+luncheon parties, fine dresses, and all that sort of thing, that we
+find more important,'  I think that way of putting it would be
+practical, and honest withal."
+
+Mr. Gray actually laughed, and the sound was music to his son's ears.
+
+"Very good, Hubert," he said.  "You had better give them a lecture."
+
+"Had I not better give them an object lesson?" Hubert suggested instead.
+
+"There is one thing you cannot do," Mr. Gray said with a sly triumph.
+Hubert looked at him inquiringly.  "You cannot give away your mother's
+legacy.  The terms of the will provide for that.  The property cannot
+be alienated."
+
+Hubert looked at his father blankly for a moment.  The fact stated he
+had quite forgotten.
+
+"You are right," he exclaimed.  Then his brow cleared of its blank
+surprise and he laughed.  "That settles it about the rest," he said.
+"The income from that property will amply support me and any poor
+interests a humble missionary may have."
+
+"Just so," said his father.  "Or it might maintain a poor fool who had
+missed his calling and was sent home."
+
+Hubert laughed again.  "Quite so," he assented.
+
+And so the clouds broke away from over the house of Gray.  A restored
+mutual understanding gave relief amounting to joy even in the face of
+coming separation.
+
+Hubert's enterprise, like a great ship, could not be launched hastily.
+Months of preparation passed in which the business matter was finally
+settled and other affairs adjusted.  It was finally concluded that the
+entire business of Robert Gray & Son should be sold, as the senior
+partner did not wish to carry it on without his son.
+
+"It is not a question of the poor-house if you do give it up now,
+father," Hubert said to him, and he assented.
+
+The missionary-to-be found himself called to many places to speak on
+behalf of the cause, and he did so with great readiness.  His intense
+ardor caused his words to burn their way into many hearts.  Again and
+again his own heart was overwhelmed within him by the greatness of his
+theme.  Cold figures became burning facts as he looked at the wide
+areas untouched by the Gospel.  The slighted wish of his Lord became an
+anguish in his soul.  That men and women should call themselves by His
+name and still live unto themselves, never grieved by His message
+undelivered, His errand of love undone, was a shame intolerable.
+Sometimes when the passion for his Lord's will swept his soul, and he
+beheld in contrast the idle hands of the church, paralyzed by pleasure
+or filled with self-interests, in secret he cast himself upon his face
+and wept as only a strong man, unused to tears, can weep.
+
+The heart of Robert Gray turned with increasing fondness to his
+daughter who still saw her place to be at his side.  A great comfort
+was she to him in these days of trial.  For herself, Winifred was
+finding out afresh "the sweetness of an accepted sorrow."  The joy of
+the Lord was inexpressible.  She could scarcely understand the gladness
+that filled her soul after sacrifice "more than when their corn and
+their wine increased."
+
+"Why are you so radiant?" Adele asked in one of their many conferences.
+
+"I do not know," she answered, blushing at being surveyed so
+admiringly.  "But do you remember that Psalm, Adele, that says:
+
+  "'O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me,
+  Let them bring me unto thy holy hill'--
+
+"that is getting very near to God, Adele--
+
+  "'And to thy tabernacles.
+
+"That is nearer still; but listen to that that comes next:
+
+  "'Then will I go unto the altar of God,
+  Unto God my exceeding joy.'
+
+"I think this is the reason why I am so happy.  His light and His truth
+have led me to His holy precincts and I have gone to His altar--to the
+altar of burnt offering.  And, Adele,"--her eyes filled with tears of
+an inexpressible gladness--"it is _there_ we find Him to be our
+'exceeding joy.'  I cannot explain it--I cannot even tell it--but He is
+'_my exceeding joy_!'"
+
+"I know," said Adele, her own eyes filling.  "I have found Him there.
+And I think one reason why so many Christians seem to have no joy is
+because they have not come to His altar in the sense you mean.  Perhaps
+they have seen Christ there for them in some sense, but have never
+quite taken their place there with Him.  Do you remember, too,
+Winifred, that it was when the burnt offering began on that great
+occasion in Hezekiah's time that 'the song of the Lord began also?'"
+
+"Oh, yes!" Winifred responded.  "'The song of the Lord!'  It has surely
+begun here, Adele."
+
+And so it had, indeed.  That evening as Hubert returned from a busy day
+in town he found his sister singing;
+
+  "'O joy that seekest me through pain,
+  I cannot close my heart to thee;
+  I trace the rainbow through the rain,
+  And feel the promise is not vain
+  That morn shall tearless be.'"
+
+"Singing, little sister?" was his greeting.
+
+"Yes, Hubert.  That has been much of my occupation to-day."
+
+"That is good," he replied.  "By the way, I heard some news in town
+to-day."  He endeavored to speak carelessly, but looked at her
+apprehensively.
+
+"Yes?  What is it?"
+
+He walked to the window and examined a flower with apparent interest.
+
+"I hear that George Frothingham's engagement to Miss Randolph, the
+banker's daughter, is announced."
+
+"Yes," said Winifred calmly, "I saw that in the morning paper.  You
+need not have been afraid to tell me, Hubert.  His engagement is a
+matter of perfect indifference to me."
+
+"Thank the Lord!" Hubert exclaimed impulsively.
+
+"Amen," she responded, still calmly.
+
+On another evening Hubert returned with still another piece of news.
+He had gone to the Cleary Street Mission to speak, and was late in
+returning.  Winifred, who loved to hear accounts of all his meetings,
+waited up for him.  She was in her little sitting-room when he
+returned.  He came straight to her door and answered her ready "come
+in" with a light step and glowing face.  He plunged at the special
+matter of joy at once.
+
+"Winifred," he said, "I am not going to China alone."
+
+The color changed in her face at the sudden announcement.
+
+"Who--who is it, Hubert?  Is it--?"
+
+"Adele."
+
+"Oh, Hubert, I am so glad!" she cried joyfully, and kissed him in warm
+congratulation.
+
+Then suddenly the thought of her own loss intruded.  Must she give her
+up also?  Her eager gladness turned to a burst of tears.  How swept of
+all whom she had loved, except her dear father, seemed the home scenes
+now.  She would gladly have restrained herself for Hubert's sake, but
+the sudden grief was uncontrollable.  She sobbed convulsively, as when
+years ago some childish grief had broken in storms upon her and Hubert
+had stood by in tearless but painful sympathy, suggesting boyish
+consolations, ready to sacrifice any plaything or possession that might
+mend her broken heart.  Now he stood helplessly before this passionate
+outburst.
+
+"Forgive me, Winifred," he said contritely, "it is cruel of me to take
+her away."
+
+"No, it isn't," sobbed Winifred.  "It is just--what I--wished.  Only--I
+shall--miss her so!"
+
+"Of course," he replied pitifully.
+
+The storm subsided, and Winifred looked at her brother apologetically.
+
+"I am ashamed," she said, still with long catches in her breath.  "I
+couldn't help it.  I am not sorry--she is going--I am very glad!"
+
+"You are very brave," he said.
+
+"But it's true," she persisted.  "It's all over now, Hubert.  I shall
+not cry like that again.  Let us talk about it."
+
+They talked about it till the small hours came.  Winifred's face
+cleared of every trace of sorrow, and she loved to think of the cheer
+and help that Hubert would have in the far-off land.  No braver heart
+of all they knew could have been found to share his pilgrimage; and
+they imagined how Adele's keen sense of humor might turn many a sorry
+happening into mirth.  Also she had served an apprenticeship here among
+the poor and outcast whom she had come to love and who loved her well.
+
+"Winifred," said Hubert suddenly in the midst of their conversation,
+"Gerald Bond is to preach for Dr. Schoolman next Sunday."
+
+For some reason best known to himself he watched her countenance
+narrowly as he made the announcement.  But her fair face showed only
+sweet unconsciousness.
+
+"Really?" she said.  "I am very glad."
+
+"We must have him with us if we can.  I long to talk with him about
+these new things."
+
+"Certainly.  You must invite him, Hubert."
+
+"Winnie," said her brother, "I seem to have a spirit of prophesy upon
+me to-night.  Almost I can see the path before us with some of its
+lights and shadows.  Oh, there will be compensations for all sorrows!"
+
+"I know it," she said earnestly.
+
+"You will say it is my own great joy that God has given that makes me
+prophesy.  Perhaps it is.  But I see this, Winnie; He will never be in
+our debt when we yield our all to Him.  Sweet surprises, unlooked for
+joys, will be thrown in all the way.  Goodness and mercy shall follow
+us all our days!"
+
+"I believe it, Hubert, and then--we shall dwell in the house of the
+Lord forever!"
+
+He drew her to the low open window, and they stepped together into the
+balcony.  The lights of the city were still burning, but in the east a
+flickering star was proclaiming the not distant advent of a greater
+light.
+
+"Do you see the parable in lights, Winnie?  See how brightly the street
+is lighted.  No one need lose his way or bemoan the darkness, though it
+is night.  But yonder is a prophet of a fuller light.  He is saying,
+'The sun will come.'  Here is my parable: It is night, surely, while
+our Lord is still away.  But He gives us light.  No way will ever be
+cheerless for you and me, little sister.  I know He will give me as I
+go numberless pleasures, fresh interests, and boundless consolation in
+Himself for all that is left behind.  And for you, Winifred, I almost
+see some rare, sweet blessings over your dear head, just ready to fall
+upon it."
+
+"Yes," said Winifred, "I am sure it's true.  I have been singing to-day,
+
+  "'Glory to Thee for all the grace
+  I have not tasted yet!'"
+
+"These are like the lights in the city, Winnie, but there is a day-star
+in our hearts that is foretelling the perfect day.  Presently the grace
+of the journeying shall give way to the eternal glory--to the
+homecoming!  Look, sister, do you see that impulse of the dawn, as
+though the darkness pulsated with premonition of its coming?"
+
+"Yes," said Winifred, with deep gladness in her voice.  "The coming of
+the Lord draweth nigh."
+
+
+
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