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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18171.txt b/18171.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..085889c --- /dev/null +++ b/18171.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7362 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Crucifixion of Philip Strong, by Charles M. Sheldon + +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 Crucifixion of Philip Strong + +Author: Charles M. Sheldon + +Release Date: April 14, 2006 [EBook #18171] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUCIFIXION OF PHILIP STRONG *** + + + + +Produced by Carl D. DuBois + + + + +THE CRUCIFIXION OF PHILIP STRONG + +BY + +REV. CHARLES M. SHELDON + +AUTHOR OF + +"In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?" "His Brother's Keeper," "Robert +Hardy's Seven Days," etc. + +NEW YORK AND LONDON + +STREET & SMITH, PUBLISHERS + +Copyright 1899 + +By STREET & SMITH + + + + +THE CRUCIFIXION OF PHILIP STRONG. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Philip Strong could not decide what was best to do. + +The postman that evening had brought him two letters and he had just +finished reading them. He sat with his hands clasped over his knee, +leaning back in his chair and looking out through his study window. He +was evidently thinking very hard and the two letters were the cause of +it. + +Finally he rose, went to his study door and called down the stairs, +"Sarah, I wish you would come up here. I want your help." + +"All right, Philip, I'll be up in a minute," responded a voice from +below, and very soon the minister's wife came upstairs into her +husband's study. + +"What's the matter?" she said, as she came into the room. "It must be +something very serious, for you don't call me up here unless you are in +great distress. You remember the last time you called me, you had shut +the tassel of your dressing-gown under the lid of your writing desk and +I had to cut you loose. You aren't fast anywhere now, are you?" + +Philip smiled quaintly. "Yes, I am. I'm in a strait betwixt two. Let me +read these letters and you will see." So he began at once, and we will +copy the letters, omitting dates. + +CALVARY CHURCH, MILTON. + +REV. PHILIP STRONG. + +DEAR SIR:--At a meeting of the Milton Calvary Church, held last week, it +was voted unanimously to extend you a call to become pastor of this +church at a salary of two thousand dollars a year. We trust that you +will find it in accordance with the will of the Head of the Church to +accept this decision on the part of Calvary Church and become its +pastor. The church is in good condition and has the hearty support of +most of the leading families in the town. It is the strongest in +membership and financially of the seven principal churches here. We +await your reply, confidently hoping you will decide to come to us. We +have been without a settled pastor now for nearly a year, since the +death of Dr. Brown, and we have united upon you as the person most +eminently fitted to fill the pulpit of Calvary Church. The grace of our +Lord be with you. In behalf of the Church, + +WILLIAM WINTER, +_Chairman of the Board of Trustees_. + +"What do you think of that, Sarah?" asked Philip Strong, as he finished +the letter. + +"Two thousand dollars is twice as much as you are getting now, Philip." + +"What, you mercenary little creature, do you think of the salary first?" + +"If I did not think of it once in a while, I doubt if you would have a +decent meal or a good suit of clothes," replied the minister's wife, +looking at him with a smile. + +"Oh, well, that may be, Sarah. But let me read you the other letter," he +went on without discussing the salary matter. + +CHAPEL HILL, CHURCH, ELMDALE + +REV. PHILIP STRONG, + +DEAR BROTHER:--At a meeting of the Elmdale Chapel Hill Church, held last +week Thursday, it was unanimously voted to extend you a call to become +pastor of the church at a salary of $2,000 a year, with two months' +vacation, to be selected at your own convenience. The Chapel Hill Church +is in a prosperous condition, and many of the members recall your career +in the college with much pleasure. This is an especially strong centre +for church work, the proximity of the boys' academy and the university +making the situation one of great power to a man who thoroughly +understands and enjoys young men as we know you do. We most earnestly +hope you will consider this call, not as purely formal, but as from the +hearts of the people. We are, very cordially yours, + +In behalf of the Church, +PROFESSOR WELLMAN, +_Chairman of the Board of Trustees_. + +"What do you think of that?" asked the minister again. + +"The salary is just the same, isn't it?" + +"Now, Sarah," said the minister, "if I didn't know +what a generous, unselfish heart you really have, I should get vexed at +you for talking about the salary as if that was the most important +thing." + +"The salary is very important, though. But you know, Philip, I would be +as willing as you are to live on no salary if the grocer and butcher +would continue to feed us for nothing. I wish from the bottom of my +heart that we could live without money." + +"It is a bother, isn't it?" replied Philip, so gravely that his wife +laughed heartily at his tone. + +"Well, the question is, what to do with the letters," resumed the +minister. + +"Which of the two churches do you prefer?" asked his wife. + +"I would rather go to the Chapel Hill Church as far as my preference is +concerned." + +"Then why not accept their call, if that is the way you feel?" + +"Because, while I should like to go to Elmdale, I feel as if I ought to +go to Milton." + +"Now, Philip, I don't see why, in a choice of this kind, you don't do as +you feel inclined to do, and accept the call that pleases you most. Why +should ministers be doing what they ought instead of what they like? You +never please yourself." + +"Well, Sarah," replied Philip, good-naturedly, "this is the way of it. +The church in Elmdale is in a University town. The atmosphere of the +place is scholastic. You know I passed four years of student life there. +With the exception of the schools, there are not a thousand people in +the village, a quiet, sleepy, dull, retired, studious place. I love the +memory of it. I could go there as the pastor of the Elmdale church and +preach to an audience of college boys eight months in the year and to +about eighty refined, scholarly people the rest of the time. I could +indulge my taste for reading and writing and enjoy a quiet pastorate +there to the end of my days." + +"Then, Philip, I don't see why you don't reply to their call and tell +them you will accept; and we will move at once to Elmdale, and live and +die there. It is a beautiful place, and I am sure we could live very +comfortably on the salary and the vacation. There is no vacation +mentioned in the other call." + +"But, on the other hand," continued the minister, almost as if he were +alone and arguing with himself, and had not heard his wife's words, "on +the other hand, there is Milton, a manufacturing town of fifty thousand +people, mostly operatives. It is the centre of much that belongs to the +stirring life of the times in which we live. The labor question is there +in the lives of those operatives. There are seven churches of different +denominations, to the best of my knowledge, all striving after +popularity and power. There is much hard, stern work to be done in +Milton, by the true Church of Christ, to apply His teachings to men's +needs, and somehow I cannot help hearing a voice say, 'Philip Strong, go +to Milton and work for Christ. Abandon your dream of a parish where you +may indulge your love of scholarship in the quiet atmosphere of a +University town, and plunge into the hard, disagreeable, but necessary +work of this age, in the atmosphere of physical labor, where great +questions are being discussed, and the masses are engrossed in the +terrible struggle for liberty and home, where physical life thrusts +itself out into society, trampling down the spiritual and intellectual, +and demanding of the Church and the preacher the fighting powers of +giants of God to restore in men's souls a more just proportion of the +value of the life of man on earth.' + +"So, you see, Sarah," the minister went on after a little pause, "I want +to go to Elmdale, but the Lord probably wants me to go to Milton." + +Mrs. Strong was silent. She had the utmost faith in her husband that he +would do exactly what he knew he ought to do, when once he decided what +it was. Philip Strong was also silent a moment. At last he said, "Don't +you think so, Sarah?" + +"I don't see how we can always tell exactly what the Lord wants us to +do. How can you tell that He doesn't want you to go to Elmdale? Are +there not great opportunities to influence young student life in a +University town? Will not some one go to Elmdale and become pastor of +that church?" + +"No doubt there is a necessary work to be done there. The only question +is, am I the one to do it, or is the call to Milton more imperative? The +more I think of it, the more I am convinced that I must go to Milton." + +"Then," said the minister's wife, rising suddenly and speaking with a +mock seriousness that her husband fully understood, "I don't see why you +called me up here to decide what you had evidently settled before you +called me. Do you consider that fair treatment, sir? It will serve you +right if those biscuits I put in the oven when you called me are fallen +as completely as Babylon. And I will make you eat half a dozen of them, +sir, to punish you. We cannot afford to waste anything these times." + +"What," cried Philip, slyly, "not on $2,000 a year! But I'll eat the +biscuits. They can't possibly be any worse than those we had a week +after we were married--the ones we bought from the bakery, you +remember," Philip added, hastily. + +"You saved yourself just in time, then," replied the minister's wife. +She came close up to the desk and in a different tone, said, "Philip, +you know I believe in you, don't you?" + +"Yes," said Philip simply; "I am sure you do. I am impulsive and +impractical, but heart and soul, and body and mind, I simply want to do +the will of God. Is it not so?" + +"I know it is," she said, "and if you go to Milton it will be because +you want to do His will more than to please yourself." + +"Yes. Then shall I answer the letter to-night?" + +"Yes, if you have decided, with my help, of course." + +"Of course, you foolish creature, you know I could not settle it without +you. And as for the biscuits--" + +"As for the biscuits," said the minister's wife, "they will be settled +without me, too, if I don't go down and see to them." She hurried +downstairs and Philip Strong, with a smile and a sigh, took up his pen +and wrote replies to the two calls he had received, refusing the call to +Elmdale and accepting the one to Milton. And so the strange story of a +great-hearted man really began. + +When he had finished writing these two letters, he wrote another, which +throws so much light on his character and his purpose in going to +Milton, that we will insert that in this story, as being necessary to +its full understanding. This is the letter:-- + +MY DEAR ALFRED:--Two years ago, when we left the Seminary, you remember +we promised each other, in case either of us left his present parish, he +would let the other know at once. I did not suppose, when I came, that I +should leave so soon, but I have just written a letter which means the +beginning of a new life to me. The Calvary Church in Milton has given me +a call, and I have accepted it. Two months ago my church here +practically went out of existence, through a union with the other church +on the street. The history of that movement is too long for me to relate +here, but since it took place I have been preaching as a supply, pending +the final settlement of affairs, and so I was at liberty to accept a +call elsewhere. I must confess the call from Milton was a surprise to +me. I have never been there (you know I do not believe in candidating +for a place), and so I suppose their church committee came up here to +listen to me. Two years ago nothing would have induced me to go to +Milton. Today it seems perfectly clear that the Lord says to me "Go." +You know my natural inclination is toward a quiet, scholarly pastorate. +Well, Milton is, as you know, a noisy, dirty, manufacturing town, full +of working men, cursed with saloons, and black with coal smoke and +unwashed humanity. The church is quite strong in membership. The Year +Book gives it five hundred members last year, and it is composed almost +entirely of the leading families in the place. What I can do in such a +church remains to be seen. My predecessor there, Dr. Brown, was a +profound sermonizer, and generally liked, I believe. He was a man of the +old school, and made no attempt, I understand, to bring the church into +contact with the masses. You will say that such a church is a poor place +in which to attempt a different work. I do not necessarily think so. The +Church of Christ is, in itself, I believe, a powerful engine to set in +motion against all evil. I have great faith in the membership of almost +any church in this country to accomplish wonderful things for humanity. +And I am going to Milton with that faith very strong in me. I feel as if +a very great work could be done there. Think of it, Alfred! A town of +fifty thousand working men, half of them foreigners, a town with more +than sixty saloons in full blast, a town with seven churches of many +different denominations all situated on one street, and that street the +most fashionable in the place, a town where the police records show an +amount of crime and depravity almost unparalleled in municipal +annals--surely such a place presents an opportunity for the true Church +of Christ to do some splendid work. I hope I do not over-estimate the +needs of the place. I have known the general condition of things in +Milton ever since you and I did our summer work in the neighboring town +of Clifton. If ever there was missionary ground in America, it is there. +I cannot understand just why the call comes to me to go to a place and +take up work that, in many ways, is so distasteful to me. In one sense I +shrink from it with a sensitiveness which no one except my wife and you +could understand. You know what an almost ridiculous excess of +sensibility I have. It seems sometimes impossible for me to do the work +that the active ministry of this age demands of a man. It almost kills +me to know that I am criticised for all that I say and do. And yet I +know that the ministry will always be the target for criticism. I have +an almost morbid shrinking from the thought that people do not like me, +that I am not loved by everybody, and yet I know that if I speak the +truth in my preaching and speak it without regard to consequences some +one is sure to become offended, and in the end dislike me. I think God +never made a man with so intense a craving for the love of his +fellow-men as I possess. And yet I am conscious that I cannot make +myself understood by very many people. They will always say, "How cold +and unapproachable he is." When in reality I love them with yearnings of +heart. Now, then, I am going to Milton with all this complex thought of +myself, and yet, dear chum, there is not the least doubt after all that +I ought to go. I hope that in the rush of the work there I shall be able +to forget myself. And then the work will stand out prominent as it +ought. With all my doubts of myself, I never question the wisdom of +entering the ministry. I have a very positive assurance as I work that I +am doing what I ought to do. And what can a man ask more? I am not +dissatisfied with the ministry, only with my own action within it. It is +the noblest of all professions; I feel proud of it every day. Only, it +is so great that it makes a man feel small when he steps inside. + +Well, my wife is calling me down to tea. Let me know what you do. We +shall move to Milton next week, probably, so, if you write, direct +there. As ever, your old chum, PHILIP STRONG. + +It was characteristic of Philip that in this letter he said nothing +about his call to Elmdale, and did not tell his college chum what salary +was offered him by the church at Milton. As a matter of fact he really +forgot all about everything, except the one important event of his +decision to go to Milton. He regarded it, and rightly so, as the most +serious step of his life; and while he had apparently decided the matter +very quickly, it was, in reality, the result of a deep conviction that +he ought to go. He was in the habit of making his decisions rapidly. +This habit sometimes led him into embarrassing mistakes, and once in a +great while resulted in humiliating reversals of opinion, so that people +who did not know him thought he was fickle and changeable. In the +present case, Philip acted with his customary quickness, and knew very +well that his action was unalterable. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Within a week, Philip Strong had moved to Milton, as the church wished +him to occupy the pulpit at once. The parsonage was a well-planned house +next the church, and his wife soon made everything look very homelike. +The first Sunday evening after Philip preached in Milton, for the first +time, he chatted with his wife over the events of the day as they sat +before a cheerful open fire in the large grate. It was late in the fall +and the nights were sharp and frosty. + +"Are you tired to-night, Philip?" asked his wife. + +"Yes, the day has been rather trying. Did you think I was nervous? Did I +preach well?" Philip was not vain in the least. He simply put the +question to satisfy his own exacting demand on himself in preaching. And +there was not a person in the world to whom he would have put such a +question except his wife. + +"No, I thought you did splendidly. I felt proud of you. You made some +queer gestures, and once you put one of your hands in your pocket. But +your sermons were both strong and effective; I am sure the people were +impressed. It was very still at both services." + +Philip was silent a moment. And his wife went on. + +"I am sure we shall like it here, Philip; what do you think?" + +"I cannot tell yet. There is very much to do." + +"How do you like the church building?" + +"It is an easy audience room for my voice. I don't like the arrangement +of the choir over the front door. I think the choir ought to be down on +the platform in front of the people, by the side of the minister." + +"That's one of your hobbies, Philip. But the singing was good, didn't +you think so?" + +"Yes, the choir is a good one. The congregation didn't seem to sing +much, and I believe in Congregational singing, even when there is a +choir. But we can bring that about in time, I think." + +"Now, Philip," said his wife, in some alarm, "you are not going to +meddle with the singing, are you? It will get you into trouble. There is +a musical committee in the church, and such committees are very +sensitive about any interference." + +"Well," said Philip, rousing up a little, "the singing is a very +important part of the service. And it seems to me I ought to have +something important to say about it. But you need not fear, Sarah. I'm +not going to try to change everything all at once." + +His wife looked at him a little anxiously. She had perfect faith in +Philip's honesty of purpose, but she sometimes had a fear of his +impetuous desire to reform the world. After a little pause she spoke +again, changing the subject. + +"What did you think of the congregation, Philip?" + +"I enjoyed it. I thought it was very attentive. There was a larger +number out this evening than I had expected." + +"Did you like the looks of the people?" + +"They were all very nicely dressed." + +"Now, Philip, you know that isn't what I mean. Did you like the people's +faces?" + +"You know I like all sorts and conditions of men." + +"Yes, but there are audiences, and audiences. Do you think you will +enjoy preaching to this one in Calvary Church?" + +"I think I shall," replied Philip, but he said it in a tone that might +have meant a great deal more. Again there was silence, and again the +minister's wife was the first to break it. + +"There was a place in your sermon to-night, Philip, where you appeared +the least bit embarrassed; as you seem sometimes at home, when you have +some writing or some newspaper article on your mind, and some one +suddenly interrupts you with a question a good way from your thoughts. +What was the matter? Did you forget a point?" + +"No, I'll tell you. From where I stand on the pulpit platform, I can see +through one of the windows over the front door. There is a large +electric lamp burning outside, and the light fell directly on the +sidewalk, across the street. From time to time groups of people went +through that band of light. Of course I could not see their faces very +well, but I soon found out that they were mostly the young men and women +operatives of the mills. They were out strolling through the street, +which, I am told, is a favorite promenade with them. I should think as +many as two hundred passed by the church while I was preaching. Well, +after awhile I began to ask myself whether there was any possible way of +getting those young people to come into the church instead of strolling +past? And then I looked at the people in front of me, and saw how +different they were from those outside, and wondered if it wouldn't be +better to close up the church and go and preach on the street where the +people are. And so, carrying on all that questioning with myself, while +I tried to preach, causing a little 'embarrassment,' as you kindly call +it, in the sermon." + +"I should think so! But how do you know, Philip, that those people +outside were in any need of your preaching?" + +Philip appeared surprised at the question. He looked at his wife, and +her face was serious. + +"Why, doesn't everybody need preaching? They may not stand in need of my +preaching, perhaps, but they ought to have some preaching. And I cannot +help thinking of what is the duty of the church in this place to the +great crowd outside. Something ought to be done." + +"Philip, I am sure your work here will be blessed, don't you think so?" + +"I know it will," replied Philip, with the assurance of a very positive +but spiritually-minded man. He never thought his Master was honored by +asking him for small things, or doubting the power of Christianity to do +great things. + +And always when he said "I," he simply meant, not Philip Strong, but +Christ in Philip Strong. To deny the power and worth of that incarnation +was, to his mind, not humility, but treason. + +The Sunday following, Philip made this announcement to the people:-- + +"Beginning with next Sunday morning, I shall give the first of a series +of monthly talks on Christ and Modern Society. It will be my object in +these talks to suppose Christ Himself as the one speaking to modern +society on its sins, its needs, its opportunities, its responsibilities, +its every-day life. I shall try to be entirely loving and just and +courageous in giving what I believe Christ Himself would give you, if He +were the pastor of Calvary Church in Milton to-day. So, during these +talks, I wish you would, with me, try to see if you think Christ would +actually say what I shall say in His place. If Christ were in Milton +to-day, I believe He would speak to us about a good many things in +Milton, and He would speak very plainly, and in many cases He might seem +to be severe. But it would be for our good. Of course I am but human in +my weakness. I shall make mistakes. I shall probably say things Christ +would not say. But always going to the source of all true help, the +Spirit of Truth, I shall, as best a man may, speak as I truly believe +Christ would if he were your pastor. These talks will be given on the +first Sunday of every month. I cannot announce the subjects, for they +will be chosen as the opportunities arise." + +During the week Philip spent several hours of each day in learning the +facts concerning the town. One of the first things he did was to buy an +accurate map of the place. He hung it up on the wall of his study, and +in after days found occasion to make good use of it. He spent his +afternoons walking over the town. He noted with special interest and +earnestness the great brick mills by the river, five enormous structures +with immense chimneys, out of which poured great volumes of smoke. +Something about the mills fascinated him. They seemed like monsters of +some sort, grim, unfeeling, but terrible. As one walked by them he +seemed to feel the throbbing of the hearts of live creatures. The +unpainted tenements, ugly in their unfailing similarity, affected Philip +with a sense of almost anger. He had a keen and truthful taste in +matters of architecture, and those boxes of houses offended every +artistic and home-like feeling in him. Coming home one day past the +tenements he found himself in an unknown street, and for the curiosity +of it he undertook to count the saloons on the street in one block. +There were over twelve. There was a policeman on the corner as Philip +reached the crossing, and he inquired of the officer if he could tell +him who owned the property in the block containing the saloons. + +"I believe most of the houses belong to Mr. Winter, sir." + +"Mr. William Winter?" asked Philip. + +"Yes, I think that's his name. He is the largest owner in the Ocean Mill +yonder." + +Philip thanked the man and went on toward home. "William Winter!" he +exclaimed. "Is it possible that man will accept a revenue from the +renting of his property to these vestibules of hell? That man! One of +the leading members in my church! Chairman of the board of trustees and +a leading citizen of the place! It does not seem possible!" + +But before the week was out Philip had discovered facts that made his +heart burn with shame and his mind rouse with indignation. Property in +the town which was being used for saloons, gambling-houses, and dens of +wickedness, was owned in large part by several of the most prominent +members of his church. There was no doubt of the fact. Philip, whose +very nature was frankness itself, resolved to go to these men and have a +plain talk with them about it. It seemed to him like a monstrous evil +that a Christian believer, a church-member, should be renting his +property to these dens of vice, and taking the money. He called on Mr. +Winter; but he was out of town and would not be back until Saturday +night. He went to see another member who was a large owner in one of the +mills, and a heavy property owner. It was not a pleasant thing to do, +but Philip boldly stated the precise reason for his call, and asked his +member if it was true that he rented several houses in a certain block +where saloons and gambling-houses were numerous. The man looked at +Philip, turned red, and finally said it was a fact, but none of Philip's +business. + +"My dear brother," said Philip, with a sad but winning smile, "you +cannot imagine what it costs me to come to you about this matter. In one +sense, it may seem to you like an impertinent meddling in your business. +In another sense, it is only what I ought to do as pastor of a church +which is dearer to me than my life. And I have come to you as a brother +in Christ to ask you if it seems to you like a thing which Christ would +approve that you, His disciple, should allow the property which has come +into your hands that you may use it for His glory and the building up of +His kingdom, to be used by the agents of the devil while you reap the +financial benefit. Is it right, my brother?" + +The man to whom the question was put made the usual excuses, that if he +did not rent to these people, other men would, that there was no call +for the property by other parties, and if it were not rented to +objectionable people it would lie empty at a dead loss, and so forth. To +all of which Philip opposed the plain will of God, that all a man has +should be used in clean and honest ways, and He could never sanction the +getting of money through such immoral channels. The man was finally +induced to acknowledge that it was not just the right thing to do, and +especially for a church-member. But, when Philip pressed him to give up +the whole iniquitous revenue, and clear himself of all connection with +it, the property owner looked aghast. + +"Why, Mr. Strong, do you know what you ask? Two-thirds of the most +regular part of my income is derived from these rents. It is out of the +question for me to give them up. You are too nice in the matter. All the +property owners in Milton do the same thing. There isn't a man of any +means in the church who isn't deriving some revenue from this source. +Why, a large part of your salary is paid from these very rents. You will +get into trouble if you try to meddle in this matter. I don't take +offense. I think you have done your duty. And I confess it doesn't seem +exactly the thing. But, as society is organized, I don't see as we can +change the matter. Better not try to do anything about it, Mr. Strong. +The church likes you, and will stand by in giving you a handsome +support; but men are very touchy when their private business is meddled +with." + +Philip sat listening to this speech, and his face grew whiter and he +clenched his hands tighter as the man went on. When he had finished, +Philip spoke in a low voice: + +"Mr. Bentley, you do not know me, if you think any fear of the +consequences will prevent my speaking to the members of my church on any +matter where it seems to me I ought to speak. In this particular matter, +I believe it is not only my right, but my duty to speak. I would be +shamed before my Lord and Master if I did not declare His will in regard +to the uses of property. This question passes over from one of private +business, with which I have no right to meddle, into the domain of +public safety, where I have a right to demand that places which are +fatal to the life and morals of the young men and women of the town, +shall not be encouraged and allowed to subsist through the use of +property owned and controlled by men of influence in the community, and +especially by the members of Christ's body. My brother," Philip went on, +after a painful pause, "before God, in whose presence we shall stand at +last, am I not right in my view of this matter? Would not Christ say to +you just what I am now saying?" + +Mr. Bentley shrugged his shoulders and said something about not trying +to mix up business and religion. Philip sat looking at the man, reading +him through and through, his heart almost bursting in him at the thought +of what a man would do for the sake of money. At last he saw that he +would gain nothing by prolonging the argument. He rose, and with the +same sweet frankness which characterized his opening of the subject, he +said, "Brother, I wish to tell you that it is my intention to speak of +this matter next Sunday, in the first of my talks on Christ and Modern +Society. I believe it is something he would talk about in public, and I +will speak of it as I think he would." + +"You must do your duty, of course, Mr. Strong," replied Mr. Bentley, +somewhat coldly; and Philip went out, feeling as if he had grappled with +his first dragon in Milton, and found him to be a very ugly one and hard +to kill. What hurt him as much as the lack of spiritual fineness of +apprehension of evil in his church-member, was the knowledge that, as +Mr. Bentley so coarsely put it, his salary was largely paid out of the +rentals of those vile abodes. He grew sick at heart as he dwelt upon the +disagreeable fact; and as he came back to the parsonage and went up to +his cosey study, he groaned to think that it was possible through the +price that men paid for souls. + +"And this, because society is as it is!" he exclaimed, as he buried his +face in his hands and leaned his elbows on his desk, while his cheeks +flushed and his heart quivered at the thought of the filth and vileness +the money had seen and heard which paid for the very desk at which he +wrote his sermons. + +But Philip Strong was not one to give way at the first feeling of +seeming defeat. He did not too harshly condemn his members. He wondered +at their lack of spiritual life; but, to his credit be it said, he did +not harshly condemn. Only, as Sunday approached, he grew more clear in +his own mind as to his duty in the matter. Expediency whispered to him, +"Better wait. You have only just come here. The people like you now. It +will only cause unpleasant feelings and do no good for you to launch out +into a crusade against this thing right now. There are so many of your +members involved that it will certainly alienate their support, and +possibly lead to your being compelled to lose your place as pastor, if +it do not drive away the most influential members." + +To all this plea of expediency Philip replied, "Get thee behind me, +Satan!" He said with himself, he might as well let the people know what +he was at the very first. It was not necessary that he should be their +pastor, if they would none of him. It was necessary that he preach the +truth boldly. The one question he asked himself was, "Would Jesus +Christ, if he were pastor of Cavalry[sic] Church in Milton to-day, speak +of the matter next Sunday, and speak regardless of all consequences?" +Philip asked the question honestly; and, after long prayer and much +communion with the Divine, he said, "Yes, I believe he would." It is +possible that he might have gained by waiting or by working with his +members in private. Another man might have pursued that method, and +still have been a courageous, true minister. But this is the story of +Philip Strong, not of another man, and this is what he did. + +When Sunday morning came, he went into his pulpit with the one thought +in mind, that he would simply and frankly, in his presentation of the +subject, use the language and the spirit of his Master. He had seen +other property owners during the week, and his interviews were nearly +all similar to the one with Mr. Bentley. He had not been able to see Mr. +William Winter, the chairman of the trustees, as he had not returned +home until very late Saturday night. Philip saw him come into the church +that morning, just as the choir rose to sing the anthem. He was a large, +fine-looking man. Philip admired his physical appearance as he marched +down the aisle to his pew, which was the third from the front, directly +before the pulpit. + +When the hymn had been sung, the offering taken, the prayer made, Philip +stepped out at one side of the pulpit and reminded the congregation +that, according to his announcement of a week before, he would give the +first of his series of monthly talks on Christ and Modern Society. His +subject this morning, he said, was "The Right and Wrong Uses of +Property." + +He started out with the statement, which he claimed was verified +everywhere in the word of God, that all property that men acquire is +really only in the nature of trust funds, which the property holder is +in duty bound to use as a steward. The gold is God's. The silver is +God's. The cattle on a thousand hills. All land and water privileges and +wealth of the earth and of the seas belong primarily to the Lord of all +the earth. When any of this property comes within the control of a man, +he is not at liberty to use it as if it were his own, and his alone, but +as God would have him use it, to better the condition of life, and make +men and communities happier and more useful. + +From this statement Philip went on to speak of the common idea which men +had, that wealth and houses and lands were their own, to do with as they +pleased; and he showed what misery and trouble had always flowed out of +this great falsehood, and how nations and individuals were to-day in the +greatest distress, because of the wrong uses to which God's property was +put by men who had control of it. It was easy then to narrow the +argument to the condition of affairs in Milton. As he stepped from the +general to the particular, and began to speak of the rental of saloons +and houses of gambling from property owners in Milton, and then +characterized such a use of God's property as wrong and unchristian, it +was curious to note the effect on the congregation. Men who had been +listening complacently to Philip's eloquent but quiet statements, as +long as he confined himself to distant historical facts, suddenly became +aware that the tall, palefaced, resolute and loving young preacher up +there was talking right at them; and more than one mill-owner, merchant, +real estate dealer, and even professional man, writhed inwardlly[sic], +and nervously shifted in his cushioned pew, as Philip spoke in the +plainest terms of the terrible example set the world by the use of +property for purposes which were destructive to all true society, and a +shame to civilization and Christianity. Philip controlled his voice and +his manner admirably, but he drove the truth home and spared not. His +voice at no time rose above a quiet conversational tone, but it was +clear and distinct. The audience sat hushed in the spell of a genuine +sensation, which deepened when, at the close of a tremendous sentence, +which swept through the church like a red-hot flame, Mr. Winter suddenly +arose in his pew, passed out into the aisle, and marched deliberately +down and out of the door. Philip saw him and knew the reason, but +marched straight on with his message, and no one, not even his anxious +wife, who endured martyrdom for him that morning, could detect any +disturbance in Philip from the mill-owner's contemptuous withdrawal. + +When Philip closed with a prayer of tender appeal that the Spirit of +Truth would make all hearts to behold the truth as one soul, the +audience remained seated longer than usual, still under the influence of +the subject and the morning's sensational service. All through the day +Philip felt a certain strain on him, which did not subside even when the +evening service was over. Some of the members, notably several of the +mothers, thanked him, with tears in their eyes, for his morning message. +Very few of the men talked with him. Mr. Winter did not come out to the +evening service, although he was one of the very few men members who +were invariably present. Philip noted his absence, but preached with his +usual enthusiasm. He thought a larger number of strangers was present +than he had seen the Sunday before. He was very tired when the day was +over. + +The next morning, as he was getting ready to go out for a visit to one +of the mills, the bell rang. He was near the door and opened it. There +stood Mr. Winter. "I would like to see you a few moments, Mr. Strong, if +you can spare the time," said the mill-owner, without offering to take +the hand Philip extended. + +"Certainly. Will you come up to my study?" asked Philip, quietly. + +The two men went upstairs, and Philip shut the door, as he motioned Mr. +Winter to a seat, and then sat down opposite. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +"I have come to see you about your sermon of yesterday morning," began +Mr. Winter, abruptly. "I consider what you said was a direct insult to +me personally." + +"Suppose I should say it was not so intended," replied Philip, with a +good-natured smile. + +"Then I should say you lied!" replied Mr. Winter, sharply. + +Philip sat very still. And the two men eyed each other in silence for a +moment. The minister reached out his hand, and laid it on the other's +arm, saying as he did so, "My brother, you certainly did not come into +my house to accuse me unjustly of wronging you? I am willing to talk the +matter over in a friendly spirit, but I will not listen to personal +abuse." + +There was something in the tone and manner of this declaration that +subdued the mill-owner a little. He was an older man than Philip by +twenty years, but a man of quick and ungoverned temper. He had come to +see the minister while in a heat of passion, and the way Philip received +him, the calmness and dignity of his attitude, thwarted his purpose. He +wanted to find a man ready to quarrel. Instead he found a man ready to +talk reason. Mr. Winter replied, after a pause, during which he +controlled himself by a great effort: + +"I consider that you purposely selected me as guilty of conduct unworthy +a church-member and a Christian, and made me the target of your remarks +yesterday. And I wish to say that such preaching will never do in +Calvary Church while I am one of its members." + +"Of course you refer to the matter of renting your property to saloon +men and to halls for gambling and other evil uses," said Philip, +bluntly. "Are you the only member of Calvary Church who lets his +property for such purposes?" + +"It is not a preacher's business to pry into the affairs of his +church-members!" replied Mr. Winter, growing more excited again. "That +is what I object to." + +"In the first place, Mr. Winter," said Philip, steadily, "let us settle +the right and wrongs of the whole business. Is it right for a Christian +man, a church-member, to rent his property for saloons and vicious +resorts, where human life is ruined?" + +"That is not the question." + +"What is?" Philip asked, with his eyes wide open to the other's face. + +Mr. Winter answered sullenly: "The question is whether our business +affairs, those of other men with me, are to be dragged into the Sunday +church-services, and made the occasion of personal attacks upon us. I +for one will not sit and listen to any such preaching." + +"But aside from the matter of private business, Mr. Winter, let us +settle whether what you and others are doing is right. Will you let the +other matter rest a moment, and tell me what is the duty of a Christian +in the use of his property?" + +"It is my property, and if I or my agent choose to rent it to another +man in a legal, business way, that is my affair. I do not recognize that +you have anything to do with it." + +"Not if I am convinced that you are doing what is harmful to the +community and to the church?" + +"You have no business to meddle in our private affairs!" replied Mr. +Winter, angrily. "And if you intend to pursue that method of preaching, +I shall withdraw my support, and most of the influential, paying members +will follow my example." + +It was a cowardly threat on the part of the excited mill-owner, and it +roused Philip more than if he had been physically slapped in the face. +If there was anything in all the world that stirred Philip to his +oceanic depths of feeling, it was an intimation that he was in the +ministry for pay or the salary, and so must be afraid of losing the +support of those members who were able to pay largely. He clenched his +fingers around the arms of his study-chair until his nails bent on the +hard wood. His scorn and indignation burned in his face, although his +voice was calm enough. + +"Mr. Winter, this whole affair is a matter of the most profound +principle with me. As long as I live I shall believe that a Christian +man has no more right to rent his property for a saloon than he has to +run a saloon himself. And as long as I live I shall also believe that it +is a minister's duty to preach to his church plainly upon matters which +bear upon the right and wrong of life, no matter what is involved in +those matters. Are money and houses and lands of such a character that +the use of them has no bearing on moral questions, and they are +therefore to be left out of the preaching material of the pulpit? It is +my conviction that many men of property in this age are coming to regard +their business as separate and removed from God and all relation to Him. +The business men of to-day do not regard their property as God's. They +always speak of it as theirs. And they resent any 'interference,' as you +call it, on the part of the pulpit. Nevertheless, I say it plainly, I +regard the renting of these houses by you, and other business men in the +church, to the whisky men and the corrupters of youth as wholly wrong, +and so wrong that the Christian minister who would keep silent when he +knew the facts would be guilty of unspeakable cowardice and disloyalty +to his Lord. As to your threat of withdrawal of support, sir, do you +suppose I would be in the ministry if I were afraid of the rich men in +my congregation? It shows that you are not yet acquainted with me. It +would not hurt you to know me better!" + +All the time Philip was talking, his manner was that of dignified +indignation. His anger was never coarse or vulgar. But when he was +roused as he was now he spoke with a total disregard for all coming +consequences. For the time being he felt as perhaps one of the old +Hebrew prophets used to feel when the flame of inspired wrath burned up +in the soul of the messenger of God. + +The man who sat opposite was compelled to keep silent until Philip had +said what he had to say. It was impossible for him to interrupt. Also it +was out of the question that a man like Mr. Winter should understand a +nature like that of Philip Strong. The mill-owner sprang to his feet as +soon as Philip finished. He was white to the lips with passion, and so +excited that his hands trembled and his voice shook as he replied to +Philip: + +"You shall answer for these insults, sir. I withdraw my church pledge, +and you will see whether the business men in the church will sustain +such preaching." And Mr. Winter flung himself out of the study and +downstairs, forgetting to take his hat, which he had carried up with +him. Philip caught it up and went downstairs with it, reaching him just +as he was going out of the front door. He said simply, "You forgot your +hat, sir." Mr. Winter took it without a word and went out, slamming the +door hard behind him. + +Philip turned around, and there stood his wife. Her face was very +anxious. + +"Tell me all about it, Philip," she said. Sunday evening they had talked +over the fact of Mr. Winter's walking out of the church during the +service, and had anticipated some trouble. Philip related the facts of +Mr. Winter's visit, telling his wife some things the mill-owner had +said. + +"What did you say, Philip, to make him so angry? Did you give him a +piece of your mind?" + +"I gave him the whole of it," replied Philip, somewhat grimly--"at least +all of it on that particular subject that he could stand." + +"Oh, dear! It seems too bad to have this trouble come so soon! What will +Mr. Winter do? He is very wealthy and influential. Do you think--are you +sure that in this matter you have done just right, just for the best, +Philip? It is going to be very unpleasant for you." + +"Well, Sarah, I would not do differently from what I have done. What +have I done? I have simply preached God's truth, as I plainly see it, to +my church. And if I do not do that, what business have I in the ministry +at all? I regret this personal encounter with Mr. Winter; but I don't +see how I could avoid it." + +"Did you lose your temper?" + +"No." + +"There was some very loud talking. I could hear it away out in the +kitchen." + +"Well, you know, Sarah, the more indignant I get the less inclined I +feel to 'holler.' It was Mr. Winter you heard. He was very much excited +when he came, and nothing that I could conscientiously say would have +made any difference with him." + +"Did you ask him to pray over the matter with you?" + +"No. I do not think he was in a praying mood." + +"Were you?" + +Philip hesitated a moment, and then replied seriously: "Yes, I truly +believe I was--that is, I should not have been ashamed at any part of +the interview to put myself into loving communion with my Heavenly +Father." + +Mrs. Strong still looked disturbed and anxious. She was going over in +her mind the probable result of Mr. Winter's antagonism to the minister. +It looked to her like a very serious thing. Philip was inclined to treat +the affair with calm philosophy, based on the knowledge that his +conscience was clear of all fault in the matter. + +"What do you suppose Mr. Winter will do?" Mrs. Strong asked. + +"He threatened to withdraw his financial support, and said other paying +members would do the same." + +"Do you think they will?" + +"I don't know. I shouldn't wonder if they do." + +"What will you do then? It will be dreadful to have a disturbance in the +church of this kind, Philip; it will ruin your prospects here. You will +not be able to work under all that friction." + +And the minister's wife suddenly broke down and had a good cry; while +Philip comforted her, first by saying two or three funny things, and +secondly by asserting, with a positive cheerfulness which was peculiar +to him when he was hard pressed, that, even if the church withdrew all +support, he (Philip) could probably get a job somewhere on a railroad, +or in a hotel, where there was always a demand for porters who could +walk up several flights of stairs with a good-sized trunk. + +"Sometimes I almost think I missed my calling," said Philip, purposely +talking about himself in order to make his wife come to the defense. "I +ought to have been a locomotive fireman." + +"The idea, Philip Strong! A man who has the gift of reaching people with +preaching the way you do!" + +"The way I reach Mr. Winter, for example!" + +"Yes," said his wife, "the way you reach him. Why, the very fact that +you made such a man angry is pretty good proof that you reached him. +Such men are not touched by any ordinary preaching." + +"So you really think I have a little gift at preaching?" asked Philip, +slyly. + +"A little gift! It is a great deal more than a little, Philip." + +"Aren't you a little prejudiced, Sarah?" + +"No, sir. I am the severest critic you ever have in the congregation. If +you only knew how nervous you sometimes make me!--when you get started +on some exciting passage and make a gesture that would throw a stone +image into a fit, and then begin to speak of something in a different +way, like another person, and the first I know I am caught up and hurled +into the subject, and forget all about you." + +"Thank you," said Philip. + +"What for?" asked his wife, laughing. "For forgetting you?" + +"I would rather be forgotten by you than remembered by any one else," +replied Philip, gallantly. "And you are such a delightful little +flatterer that I feel courage for anything that may happen." + +"It's not flattery; it's truth, Philip. I do believe in you and your +work; and I am only anxious that you should succeed here. I can't bear +to think of trouble in the church. It would almost kill me to go through +such times as we sometimes read about." + +"We must leave results to God. I am sure we are not responsible for more +than our utmost doing and living of necessary truth." Philip spoke +courageously. + +"Then you don't feel disheartened by this morning's work?" + +"No, I don't know that I do. I'm very sensitive, and I feel hurt at Mr. +Winter's threat of withdrawing his support; but I don't feel +disheartened for the work. Why should I? Am I not doing my best?" + +"I believe you are. Only, dear Philip, be wise. Do not try to reform +everything in a week, or expect people to grow their wings before they +have started even pin-feathers. It isn't natural." + +"Well, I won't," replied Philip, with a laugh. "Better trim your wings, +Sarah; they're dragging on the floor." + +He hunted up his hat, which was one of the things Philip could never +find twice in the same place, kissed his wife, and went out to make the +visit at the mill which he was getting ready to make when Mr. Winter +called. + +To his surprise, when he went down through the business part of the +town, he discovered that his sermon of Sunday had roused almost every +one. People were talking about it on the street--an almost unheard-of +thing in Milton. When the evening paper came out it described in +sensational paragraphs the Reverend Mr. Strong's attack on the wealthy +sinners of his own church, and went on to say that the church "was very +much wrought up over the sermon, and would probably make it +uncomfortable for the reverend gentleman." Philip wondered, as he read, +at the unusual stir made because a preacher of Christ had denounced an +undoubted evil. + +"Is it, then," he asked himself, "such a remarkable piece of news that a +minister of the gospel has preached from his own pulpit against what is +without question an unchristian use of property? What is the meaning of +the church in society unless it is just that? Is it possible that the +public is so little accustomed to hear anything on this subject that +when they do hear it it is in the nature of sensational news?" + +He pondered over these questions as he quietly but rapidly went along +with his work. He was conscious as the days went on that trouble was +brewing for him. This hurt him in a way hard to explain; but his +sensitive spirit felt the cut like a lash on a sore place. + +When Sunday came he went into his pulpit and faced the largest audience +he had yet seen in Calvary Church. As is often the case, people who had +heard of his previous sermon on Sunday thought he would preach another +like it again. Instead of that he preached a sermon on the love of God +for the world. In one way the large audience was disappointed. It had +come to have its love of sensation fed, and Philip had not given it +anything of the kind. In another way it was profoundly moved by the +power and sweetness of Philip's unfolding of the great subject. Men who +had not been inside of a church for years went away thoughtfully +impressed with the old truth of God's love, and asked themselves what +they had done to deserve it--the very thing that Philip wanted them to +ask. The property owners in the church who had felt offended by Philip's +sermon of the Sunday before went away from the service acknowledging +that the new pastor was an eloquent preacher and a man of large gifts. +In the evening Philip preached again from the same theme, using it in an +entirely different way. His audience nearly filled the church, and was +evidently deeply impressed. + +In spite of all this, Philip felt that a certain element in the church +had arrayed itself against him. Mr. Winter did not appear at either +service. There were certain other absences on the part of men who had +been constant attendants on the Sunday services. He felt, without +hearing it, that a great deal was being said in opposition to him; but, +with the burden of it beginning to wear a little on him, he saw nothing +better to do than to go on with his work as if nothing unusual had taken +place. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Pursuing the plan he had originally mapped out when he came to Milton, +he spent much of his time in the afternoons studying the social and +civic life of the town. As the first Sunday of the next month drew near, +when he was to speak again on the attitude of Christ to some aspect of +modern society, he determined to select the saloon as one of the +prominent features of modern life that would naturally be noticed by +Christ, and doubtless be denounced by him as a great evil. + +In his study of the saloon question he did a thing which he had never +done before, and then only after very much deliberation and prayer. He +went into the saloons themselves on different occasions. He had never +done such a thing before. He wanted to know from actual knowledge what +sort of places the saloons were. What he saw after a dozen visits to as +many different groggeries added fuel to the flame of indignation that +burned already hot in him. The sight of the vast army of men turning +into beasts in these dens created in him a loathing and a hatred of the +whole iniquitous institution that language failed to express. He +wondered with unspeakable astonishment in his soul that a civilized +community in the nineteenth century would tolerate for one moment the +public sale of an article that led, on the confession of society +itself, to countless crimes against the law of the land and of God. His +indignant astonishment deepened yet more, if that were possible, when he +found that the license of five hundred dollars a year for each saloon +was used by the town to support the public school system. That, to +Philip's mind, was an awful sarcasm on Christian civilization. It seemed +to him like selling a man poison according to law, and then taking the +money from the sale to help the widow to purchase mourning. It was full +as ghastly as that would be. + +He went to see some of the other ministers, hoping to unite them in a +combined attack on the saloon power. It seemed to him that, if the +Church as a whole entered the crusade against the saloon, it could be +driven out even from Milton, where it had been so long established. To +his surprise he found the other churches unwilling to unite in a public +battle against the whisky men. Several of the ministers openly defended +license as the only practicable method of dealing with the saloon. All +of them confessed it was evil, and only evil, but under the +circumstances thought it would do little good to agitate the subject. +Philip came away from several interviews with the ministers, sad and +sick at heart. + +He approached several of the prominent men in the town, hoping to enlist +some of them in the fight against the rum power. Here he met with an +unexpected opposition, coming in a form he had not anticipated. One +prominent citizen said: + +"Mr. Strong, you will ruin your chances here if you attack the saloons +in this savage manner; and I'll tell you why: The whisky men hold a +tremendous influence in Milton in the matter of political power. The +city election comes off the middle of next month. The men up for office +are dependent for election on the votes of the saloon men and their +following. You will cut your head off sure if you come out against them +in public. Why, there's Mr. ----, and so on (he named half a dozen men) +in your church who are up for office in the coming election. They can't +be elected without the votes of the rummies, and they know it. Better +steer clear of it, Mr. Strong. The saloon has been a regular thing in +Milton for over fifty years; it is as much a part of the town as the +churches or schools; and I tell you it is a power!" + +"What!" cried Philip, in unbounded astonishment, "do you tell me, you, a +leading citizen of this town of 50,000 infinite souls, that the saloon +power has its grip to this extent on the civic and social life of the +place, and you are willing to sit down and let this devil of crime and +ruin throttle you, and not raise a finger to expel the monster? Is it +possible! It is not Christian America that such a state of affairs in +our political life should be endured!" + +"Nevertheless," replied the business man, "these are the facts. And you +will simply dash your own life out against a wall of solid rock if you +try to fight this evil. You have my warning." + +"May I not also have your help!" cried Philip, hungry of soul for +companionship in the struggle which he saw was coming. + +"It would ruin my business to come out against the saloon," replied the +man, frankly. + +"And what is that?" cried Philip, earnestly. "It has already ruined far +more than ought to be dear to you. Man, man, what are money and business +compared with your own flesh and blood? Do you know where your own son +was two nights ago? In one of the vilest of the vile holes in this city, +where you, a father, license to another man to destroy the life of your +own child! I saw him there myself; and my heart ached for him and you. +It is the necessary truth. Will you not join with me to wipe out this +curse in society?" + +The merchant trembled and his lips quivered at mention of his son, but +he replied: + +"I cannot do what you want, Mr. Strong. But you can count on my sympathy +if you make the fight." Philip finally went away, his soul tossed on a +wave of mountain proportions, and growing more and more crested with +foam and wrath as the first Sunday of the month drew near, and he +realized that the battle was one that he must wage single-handed in a +town of fifty thousand people. + +He was not so destitute of support as he thought. There were many +mothers' hearts in Milton that had ached and prayed in agony long years +that the Almighty would come with his power and sweep the curse away. +But Philip had not been long enough in Milton to know the entire +sentiment of the people. He had so far touched only the Church, through +its representative pulpits, and a few of the leading business men, and +the result had been almost to convince him that very little help could be +expected from the public generally. He was appalled to find out what a +tremendous hold the whisky men had on the business and politics of the +place. It was a revelation to him of their power. The whole thing seemed +to him like a travesty of free government, and a terrible commentary on +the boasted Christianity of the century. + +So when he walked into the pulpit the first Sunday of the month he felt +his message burning in his heart and on his lips as never before. It +seemed beyond all question that if Christ was pastor of Calvary Church +he would speak out in plain denunciation of the whisky power. And so, +after the opening part of the service, Philip rose to speak, facing an +immense audience that overflowed the galleries and invaded the choir and +even sat upon the pulpit platform. Such a crowd had never been seen in +Calvary Church before. + +Philip had not announced his subject, but there was an expectation on +the part of many that he was going to denounce the saloon. In the two +months that he had been preaching in Milton he had attracted great +attention. His audience this morning represented a great many different +kinds of people. Some came out of curiosity. Others came because the +crowd was going that way. So it happened that Philip faced a truly +representative audience of Milton people. As his eye swept over the +house he saw four of the six members of his church who were up for +office at the coming election in two weeks. + +For an hour Philip spoke as he had never spoken in all his life before. +His subject, the cause it represented, the immense audience, the entire +occasion caught him up in a genuine burst of eloquent fury, and his +sermon swept through the house like a prairie fire driven by a high +gale. At the close, he spoke of the power of the Church compared with +the saloon, and showed how easily it could win the victory against any +kind of evil if it were only united and determined. + +"Men and women of Milton, fathers, mothers and citizens," he said, "this +evil is one which cannot be driven out unless the Christian people of +this place unite to condemn it and fight it, regardless of results. It +is too firmly established. It has its clutch on business, the municipal +life, and even the Church itself. It is a fact that the Church in Milton +have been afraid to take the right stand in this matter. Members of the +churches have become involved in the terrible entanglement of the +long-established rum-power, until to-day you witness a condition of +affairs which ought to stir the righteous indignation of every citizen +and father. What is it you are enduring? An institution which blasts +with its poisonous breath every soul that enters it, which ruins young +manhood, which kills more citizens in times of peace than the most +bloody war ever slew in times of revolution; an institution that has not +one good thing to commend it; an institution that is established for the +open and declared purpose of getting money from the people by the sale +of stuff that creates criminals; an institution that robs the honest +workingman of his savings, and looks with indifference on the tears of +the wife, the sobs of the mother; an institution that never gives one +cent of its enormous wealth to build churches, colleges, or homes for +the needy; an institution that has the brand of the murderer, the +harlot, the gambler burned into it with a brand of the Devil's own +forging in the furnace of his hottest hell--this institution so rules +and governs this town of Milton to-day that honest citizens tremble +before it, business men dare not oppose it for fear of losing money, +church-members fawn before it in order to gain place in politics, and +ministers of the gospel confront its hideous influence and say nothing! +It is high time we faced this monster of iniquity and drove it out of +the stronghold it has occupied so long. + +"I wish you could have gone with me this past week and witnessed some of +the sights I have seen. No! I retract that statement. I would not wish +that any father or mother had had the heartache that I have felt as I +contemplated the ruins of young lives crumbling into the decay of +premature debility, mocking the manhood that God gave them, in the +intoxicating curse of debauchery. What have I seen? Oh ye fathers! O ye +mothers! Do you know what is going on in this place of sixty saloons +licensed by your own act and made legal by your own will? You, madam, +and you, sir, who have covenanted together in the fellowship and +discipleship of the purest institution of God on earth, who have sat +here in front of this pulpit and partaken of the emblems which remind +you of your Redeemer, where are your sons, your brothers, your lovers, +your friends? They are not here this morning. The Church does not have +any hold on them. They are growing up to disregard the duties of good +citizenship. They are walking down the broad avenue of destruction, and +what is this town doing to prevent it? I have seen young men from what +are called the best homes in this town reel in and out of gilded temples +of evil, oaths on their lips and passion in their looks, and the cry of +my soul has gone up to Almighty God that the Church and the Home might +combine their mighty force to drive the whisky demon out of our +municipal life so that we might feel the curse of it again nevermore. + +"I speak to you to-day in the name of my Lord and Master. It is +impossible for me to believe that if that Christ of God were standing +here this morning he would advise the licensing of this corruption as +the most feasible or expedient method of dealing with it. I cannot +imagine him using the argument that the saloon must be licensed for the +revenue that may be gained from it to support the school system. I +cannot imagine Christ taking any other position before the whisky power +than that of uncompromising condemnation. He would say it was evil and +only evil, and therefore to be opposed by every legal and moral +restriction that society could rear against it. In his name, speaking +as I believe he would speak if he were here this moment, I solemnly +declare the necessity on the part of every disciple of Christ in every +church in Milton of placing himself decidedly and persistently and at +once in open battle against the saloon until it is destroyed, until its +power in business, politics, and society is a thing of the past, until +we have rid ourselves of the foul vapor which has so many years trailed +its slimy folds through our homes and our schools. + +"Citizens, Christians, church-members, I call on you to-day to take up +arms against the common foe of that we hold dear in church, home, and +state. I know there are honest business men who have long writhed in +secret at the ignominy of the halter about their necks by which they +have been led. There are citizens who have the best interests of the +community at heart who have hung their heads in shame of American +politics, seeing this brutal whisky element dictating the government of +the towns, and parcelling out their patronage and managing their funds +and enormous stealings of the people's money. I know there are +church-members who have felt in their hearts the deep shame of bowing +the knee to this rum god in order to make advancement in political life. +And I call on all these to-day to rise with me and begin a fight against +the entire saloon business and whisky rule in Milton until by the help +of the Lord of hosts we have gotten us the victory. Men, women, +brothers, sisters in the great family of God on earth, will you sit +tamely down and worship the great beast of this country! Will you not +rather gird your swords upon your thighs and go out to battle against +this blasphemous Philistine who has defied the armies of the living God? +I have spoken my message. Let us ask the wisdom and power of the Divine +to help us." + +Philip's prayer was almost painful in its intensity of feeling and +expression. The audience sat in deathly silence, and when he pronounced +the amen of the benediction it was several moments before any one +stirred to leave the church. + +Philip went home completely exhausted. He had put into his sermon all of +himself and had called up all his reserve power--a thing he was not +often guilty of doing, and for which he condemned himself on this +occasion. But it was past, and he could not recall it. He was not +concerned as to the results of his sermon. He had long believed that if +he spoke the message God gave him he was not to grow anxious over the +outcome of it. + +But the people of Milton were deeply stirred by the address. They were +not in the habit of hearing that kind of preaching. And what was more, +the whisky element was roused. It was not in the habit of having its +authority attacked in that bold, almost savage manner. For years its +sway had been undisturbed. It had insolently established itself in power +until even these citizens who knew its thoroughly evil character were +deceived into the belief that nothing better than licensing it was +possible. The idea that the saloon could be banished, removed, driven +out altogether, had never before been advocated in Milton. The +conviction that whether it could be it ought to be suppressed had never +gained ground with any number of people. They had endured it as a +necessary evil. Philip's sermon, therefore, fell something like a bomb +into the whisky camp. Before night the report of the sermon had spread +all over the town. The saloon men were enraged. Ordinarily they would +have paid no attention to anything a church or a preacher might say or +do. But Philip spoke from the pulpit of the largest church in Milton. +The whisky men knew that if the large churches should all unite to fight +them they would make it very uncomfortable for them and in the end +probably drive them out. Philip went home that Sunday night after the +evening service with several bitter enemies. The whisky men contributed +one element. Some of his own church-members made up another. He had +struck again at the same sore spot which he had wounded the month +before. In his attack on the saloon as an institution he had again +necessarily condemned all those members of his church who rented +property to the whisky element. Again, as a month ago, these property +holders went from the hearing of the sermon angry that they as well as +the saloon power were under indictment. + +As Philip entered on the week's work after that eventful sermon he began +to feel the pressure of public feeling against him. He began to realize +the bitterness of championing a just cause alone. He felt the burden of +the community's sin in the matter, and more than once he felt obliged to +come in from his parish work and go up into his study there to commune +with his Father. He was growing old very fast in these first few weeks +in his new parish. + +Tuesday evening of that week Philip had been writing a little while in +his study, where he had gone immediately after supper. It was nearly +eight o'clock when he happened to remember that he had promised a sick +child in the home of one of his parishioners that he would come and see +him that very day. + +He came downstairs, put on his hat and overcoat, and told his wife where +he was going. + +"It's not far. I shall be back in about half an hour, Sarah." + +He went out, and his wife held the door open until he was down the +steps. She was just on the point of shutting the door as he started down +the sidewalk when a sharp report rang out close by. She screamed and +flung the door open again, as by the light of the street lamp she saw +Philip stagger and then leap into the street toward an elm-tree which +grew almost opposite the parsonage. When he was about in the middle of +the street she was horrified to see a man step out boldly from behind +the tree, raise a gun, and deliberately fire at Philip again. This time +Philip fell and did not rise. His tall form lay where the rays of the +street lamp shone on it and he had fallen so that as his arms stretched +out there he made the figure of a huge and prostrate cross. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +As people waked up in Milton the Wednesday morning after the shooting of +Philip Strong they grew conscious of the fact, as the news came to their +knowledge, that they had been nursing for fifty years one of the most +brutal and cowardly institutions on earth, and licensing it to do the +very thing which at last it had done. For the time being Milton suffered +a genuine shock. Long pent-up feeling against the whisky power burst +out, and public sentiment for once condemned the source of the cowardly +attempt to murder. + +Various rumors were flying about. It was said that Mr. Strong had been +stabbed in the back while out making parish calls in company with his +wife, and that she had been wounded by a pistol-shot herself. It was +also said that he had been shot through the heart and instantly killed. +But all these confused reports were finally set at rest when those +calling at the parsonage brought away the exact truth. + +The first shot fired by the man from behind the tree struck Philip in +the knee, but the ball glanced off. He felt the blow and staggered, but +his next impulse was to rush in the direction of the sound and disarm +his assailant. That was the reason he had leaped into the street. But +the second shot was better aimed and the bullet crashed into his upper +arm and shoulder, shattering the bone and producing an exceedingly +painful though not fatal wound. + +The shock caused Philip to fall, and he fainted away, but not before the +face of the man who had shot him was clearly stamped on his mind. He +knew that he was one of the saloon proprietors whose establishment +Philip had visited the week before. He was a man with a harelip, and +there was no mistaking his countenance. + +When the people of Milton learned that Philip was not fatally wounded +their excitement cooled a little. A wave of indignation, however, swept +over the town when it was learned that the would-be murderer was +recognized by the minister, and it was rumored that he had openly +threatened that he would "fix the cursed preacher so that he would not +be able to preach again." + +Philip, however, felt more full of fight against the rum-devil than +ever. As he lay on the bed the morning after, the shooting he had +nothing to regret or fear. The surgeon had been called at once, as soon +as his wife and the alarmed neighbors had been able to carry him into +the parsonage. The ball had been removed and the wounds dressed. By noon +he had recovered somewhat from the effects of the operation and was +resting, although very weak from the shock and suffering considerable +pain. + +"What is that stain on the floor, Sarah?" he asked as his wife came in +with some article for his comfort. Philip lay where he could see into +the other room. + +"It is your blood, Philip," replied his wife, with a shudder. "It +dripped like a stream from your shoulder as we carried you in last +night. O Philip, it is dreadful! It seems to me like an awful nightmare. +Let us move away from this terrible place. You will be killed if we stay +here!" + +"There isn't much danger if the rest of 'em are as poor shots as this +fellow," replied Philip. "Now, little woman," he went on cheerfully, +"don't worry. I don't believe they'll try it again." + +Mrs. Strong controlled herself. She did not want to break down while +Philip was in his present condition. + +"You must not talk," she said as she smoothed his hair back from the +pale forehead. + +"That's pretty hard on a preacher, don't you think, Sarah? My occupation +is gone if I can't talk." + +"Then I'll talk for two. They say that most women can do that." + +"Will you preach for me next Sunday?" + +"What, and make myself a target for saloon-keepers? No, thank you. I +have half a mind to forbid you ever preaching again. It will be the +death of you." + +"It is the life of me, Sarah. I would not ask anything better than to +die with the armor on, fighting evil. Well, all right. I won't talk any +more. I suppose there's no objection to my thinking a little?" + +"Thinking is the worst thing you can do. You just want to lie there and +do nothing but get well." + +"All right. I'll quit everything except eating and sleeping. Put up a +little placard on the head of the bed saying, 'Biggest curiosity in +Milton! A live minister who has stopped thinking and talking! Admission +ten cents. Proceeds to be devoted to teach saloon-keepers how to shoot +straight.'" Philip was still somewhat under the influence of the +doctor's anaesthetic, and as he faintly murmured this absurd sentence he +fell into a slumber which lasted several hours, from which he awoke very +feeble, and realizing that he would be confined to the house some time, +but feeling in good spirits and thankful out of the depths of his +vigorous nature that he was still spared to do God's will on earth. + +The next day he felt strong enough to receive a few visitors. Among them +was the chief of police, who came to inquire concerning the identity of +the man who had done the shooting. Philip showed some reluctance to +witness against his enemy. It was only when he remembered that he owed a +duty to society as well as to himself that he described the man and +related minutely the entire affair exactly as it occurred. + +"Is the man in town?" asked Philip. "Has he not fled?" + +"I think I know where he is," replied the officer. "He's in hiding, but +I can find him. In fact, we have been hunting for him since the +shooting. He is wanted on several other charges." + +Philip was pondering something in silence. At last he said: + +"When you have arrested him I wish you would bring him here if it can be +done without violating any ordinance or statute." + +The officer stared at the request, and the minister's wife exclaimed: +"Philip, you will not have that man come into the house! Besides, you +are not well enough to endure a meeting with the wretch!" + +"Sarah, I have a good reason for it. Really, I am well enough. You will +bring him, won't you? I do not wish to make any mistake in the matter. +Before the man is really confined under a criminal charge of attempt to +murder I would like to confront him here. There can be no objection to +that, can there?" + +The officer finally promised that, if he could do so without attracting +too much attention, he would comply with the request. It was a thing he +had never done before; he was not quite easy in his mind about it. +Nevertheless, Philip exercised a winning influence over all sorts and +conditions of men, and he felt quite sure that, if the officer could +arrest his man quietly, he would bring him to the parsonage. + +This was Thursday night. The next evening, just after dark, the bell +rang, and one of the church members who had been staying with Mr. Strong +during the day went to the door. There stood two men. One of them was +the chief of police. He inquired how the minister was, and said that he +had a man with him whom the minister was anxious to see. + +Philip heard them talking, and guessed who they were. He sent his wife +out to have the men come in. The officer with his man came into the +bedroom where Philip lay, still weak and suffering, but at his request +propped up a little with pillows. + +"Well, Mr. Strong, I have got the man, and here he is." said the +officer, wondering what Philip could want of him. "I ran him down in the +'crow's nest' below the mills, and we popped him into a hack and drove +right up here with him. And a pretty sweet specimen he is, I can tell +you! Take off your hat and let the gentleman have another look at the +brave chap who fired at him in ambush!" + +The officer spoke almost brutally, forgetting for a moment that the +prisoner's hands were manacled; remembering it the next instant, he +pulled off the man's hat, while Philip looked calmly at the features. +Yes, it was the same hideous, brutal face, with the hare-lip, which had +shone up in the rays of the street-lamp that night; there was no +mistaking it for any other. + +"Why did you want to kill me?" asked Philip, after a significant pause. +"I never did you any harm." + +"I would like to kill all the cursed preachers," replied the man, +hoarsely. + +"You confess, then, that you are the man who fired at me, do you?" + +"I don't confess anything. What are you talking to me for? Take me to +the lock-up if you're going to!" the man exclaimed fiercely, turning to +the officer. + +"Philip!" cried his wife, turning to him with a gesture of appeal, "send +them away. It will do no good to talk to this man." + +Philip raised his hand in a gesture toward the man that made every one +in the room feel a little awed. The officer in speaking of it afterward +said: "I tell you, boys I never felt quite the same, except once, when +the old Catholic priest stepped up on the platform with old man Gower +time he was hanged at Millville. Somehow then I felt as if, when the +priest raised his hand and began to pray, maybe we might all be glad to +have some one pray for us if we get into a tight place." + +Philip spoke directly to the man, whose look fell beneath that of the +minister. + +"You know well enough that you are the man who shot me Tuesday night. I +know you are the man, for I saw your face very plainly by the light of +the street-lamp. Now, all that I wanted to see you here for before you +were taken to jail was to let you know that I do not bear any hatred +toward you. The thing you have done is against the law of God and man. +The injury you have inflicted upon me is very slight compared with that +against your own soul. Oh, my brother man, why should you try to harm me +because I denounced your business? Do you not know in your heart of +hearts that the saloon is so evil in its effects that a man who loves +his home and his country must speak out against it? And yet I love you; +that is possible because you are human. Oh, my Father!" Philip +continued, changing his appeal to the man, by an almost natural manner, +into a petition to the Infinite, "make this soul, dear to thee, to +behold thy love for him, and make him see that it is not against me, a +mere man, that he has sinned, but against thyself--against thy purity +and holiness and affection. Oh, my God, thou who didst come in the +likeness of sinful man to seek and save that which was lost, stretch out +the arms of thy salvation now to this child and save him from himself, +from his own disbelief, his hatred of me, or of what I have said. Thou +art all-merciful and all-loving. We leave all souls of men in the +protecting, enfolding embrace of thy boundless compassion and infinite +mercy." + +There was a moment of entire quiet in the room, and then Philip said +faintly: "Sarah, I cannot say more. Only tell the man I bear him no +hatred, and commend him to the love of God." + +Mrs. Strong was alarmed at Philip's appearance. The scene had been too +much for his strength. She hastily commanded the officer to take his +prisoner away, and with the help of her friend cared for the minister, +who, after the first faintness, rallied, and then gradually sank into +sleep that proved more refreshing than any he had yet enjoyed since the +night of the shooting. + +The next day found Philip improving more rapidly than Mrs. Strong had +thought possible. She forbade him the sight of all callers, however, and +insisted that he must keep quiet. His wounds were healing +satisfactorily, and when the surgeon called he expressed himself much +pleased with his patient's appearance. + +"Say, doctor, do you really think it would set me back any to think a +little?" + +"No. I never heard of thinking hurting people; I have generally +considered it a healthy habit." + +"The reason I asked," continued Philip, gravely, "was because my wife +absolutely forbade it, and I was wondering how long I could keep it up +and fool anybody." + +"That's a specimen of his stubbornness, doctor," said the minister's +wife, smiling. "Why, only a few minutes before you came in he was +insisting that he could preach to-morrow. Think of it!--a man with a +shattered shoulder, who would have to stand on one leg and do all his +gesturing with his left hand; a man who can't preach without the use of +seven or eight arms, and as many pockets, and has to walk up and down +the platform like a lion when he gets started on his delivery! And yet +he wants to preach to-morrow! He's that stubborn that I don't know as I +can keep him at home. You would better leave some powders to put him to +sleep, and we will keep him in a state of unconsciousness until Monday +morning." + +"Now, doctor, just listen to me a while. Mrs. Strong is talking for two +women, as she agreed to do, and that puts me in a hard position. But I +want to know how soon I can get to work again." + +"You will have to lie there a month," said the doctor, bluntly. + +"Impossible! I never lied that time in my life!" said Philip, soberly. + +"It would serve him right to perform a surgical operation on him for +that, wouldn't it, Mrs. Strong?" the surgeon appealed to her. + +"I think he deserves the worst you can do, doctor." + +"But say, dear people, I can't stay here a month. I must be about my +Master's business. What will the church do for supplies?" + +"Don't worry, Philip. The church will take care of that." + +But Philip was already eager to get to work. Only the assurance of the +surgeon that he might possibly get out a little over three weeks +satisfied him. Sunday came and passed. Some one from a neighboring town +who happened to be visiting in Milton occupied the pulpit, and Philip +had a quiet, restful day. He started in the week determined to beat the +doctor's time for recovery; and, having a remarkably strong constitution +and a tremendous will, he bade fair to be limping about the house in two +weeks. His shoulder wound healed very fast. His knee bothered him, and +it seemed likely that he would go lame for a long time. But he was not +concerned about that if only he could go about in any sort of fashion +once more. + +Wednesday of that week he was surprised by an unexpected manner by an +event which did more than anything else to hasten his recovery. He was +still confined to bed downstairs when in the afternoon the bell rang, +and Mrs. Strong went to the door supposing it was one of the church +people come to inquire about the minister. She found instead Alfred +Burke, Philip's old college chum and Seminary classmate. Mrs. Strong +welcomed him heartily, and in answer to his eager inquiry concerning +Philip's condition she brought him into the room, knowing her patient +quite well and feeling sure the sight of his old chum would do him more +good than harm. The first thing Alfred said was: + +"Old man, I hardly expected to see you again this side of heaven. How +does it happen that you are alive here after all the times the papers +have had you killed?" + +"Bad marksmanship, principally. I used to think I was a big man. But +after the shooting I came to the conclusion that I must be rather +small." + +"Your heart is so big it's a wonder to me that you weren't shot through +it, no matter where you were hit. But I tell you it seems good to see +you in the flesh once more." + +"Why didn't you come and preach for me last Sunday?" asked Philip, +quizzically. + +"Why, haven't you heard? I did not get news of the affair until last +Saturday in my Western parish, and I was just in the throes of packing +up to come on to Elmdale." + +"Elmdale?" + +"Yes, I've had a call there. So we shall be neighbors. Mrs. Burke is up +there now getting the house straightened out, and I came right down +here." + +"So you are pastor of the Chapel Hill Church? It's a splendid opening +for a young preacher. Congratulations, Alfred." + +"Thank you, Philip. By the way, I saw by the paper that you had declined +a call to Elmdale, so I suppose they pitched on me for a second choice. +You never wrote me of their call to you," he said, a little +reproachfully. + +"It didn't occur to me," replied Philip, truthfully. "But how are you +going to like it? Isn't it rather a dull old place?" + +"Yes, I suspect it is, compared with Milton. I suppose you couldn't live +without the excitement of dodging assassins and murderers every time you +go out to prayer meeting or make parish calls. How do you like your work +so far?" + +"There is plenty of it," answered Philip, gravely. "A minister must be +made of cast-iron and fire-brick in order to stand the wear and tear of +these times in which we live. I'd like a week to trade ideas with you +and talk over the work, Alfred." + +"You'd get the worst of the bargain." + +"I don't know about that. I'm not doing any thinking lately. But now, as +we're going to be only fifty miles apart, what's to hinder an exchange +once in a while?" + +"I'm agreeable to that," replied Philip's chum; "on condition, however, +that you furnish me with a gun and pay all surgeons' bills when I occupy +your pulpit." + +"Done," said Philip, with a grin; and just then Mrs. Strong forbade any +more talk. Alfred stayed until the evening train, and when he left he +stooped down and kissed Philip's cheek. "It's a custom we learned when +in the German universities together that summer after college, you +know," he explained with the slightest possible blush, when Mrs. Strong +came in and caught him in the act. It seemed to her, however, like an +affecting thing that two big, grown-up men like her husband and his old +chum showed such tender affection for each other. The love of men for +men in the strong friendship of school and college life is one of the +marks of human divinity. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +In spite of his determination to get out and occupy his pulpit the first +Sunday of the next month, Philip was reluctantly obliged to let five +Sundays go by before he was able to preach. During those six weeks his +attention was called to a subject which he felt ought to be made the +theme of one of his talks on Christ and Modern Society. The leisure +which he had for reading opened his eyes to the fact that Sunday in +Milton was terribly desecrated. Shops of all kinds stood wide open. +Excursion trains ran into the large city forty miles away, two theatres +were always running with some variety show, and the saloons, in +violation of an ordinance forbidding it, unblushingly flung their doors +open and did more business on that day than any other. As Philip read +the papers, he noticed that every Monday morning the police court was +more crowded with "drunks" and "disorderlies" than on any other day in +the week, and the plain cause of it was the abuse of the day before. In +the summer time baseball games were played in Milton on Sunday. In the +fall and winter very many people spent their evenings in card-playing or +aimlessly strolling up and down the main street. These facts came to +Philip's knowledge gradually, and he was not long in making up his mind +that Christ would not keep silent before the facts. So he carefully +prepared a plain statement of his belief in Christ's standing on the +modern use of Sunday, and as on the other occasions when he had spoken +the first Sunday in the month, he cast out of his reckoning all thought +of the consequences. His one purpose was to do just as, in his thought +of Christ, He would do with that subject. + +The people in Milton thought that the first Sunday Philip appeared in +his pulpit he would naturally denounce the saloon again. But when he +finally recovered sufficiently to preach, he determined that for a while +he would say nothing in the way of sermons against the whiskey evil. He +had a great horror of seeming to ride a hobby, of being a man of one +idea and making people tired of him because he harped on one string. He +had uttered his denunciation, and he would wait a little before he +spoke again. The whiskey power was not the only bad thing in Milton +that needed to be attacked. There were other things which must be said. +And so Philip limped into his pulpit the third Sunday of the month and +preached on a general theme, to the disappointment of a great crowd, +almost as large as the last one he had faced. And yet his very +appearance was a sermon in itself against the institution he had held up +to public condemnation on that occasion. His knee wound proved very +stubborn, and he limped badly. That in itself spoke eloquently of the +dastardly attempt on his life. His face was pale, and he had grown thin. +His shoulder was stiff and the enforced quietness of his delivery +contrasted strangely with his customary fiery appearance on the platform. +Altogether that first Sunday of his reappearance in his pulpit was a +stronger sermon against the saloon than anything he could have spoken or +written. + +When the first Sunday in the next month came on, Philip was more like +his old self. He had gathered strength enough to go around two Sunday +afternoons and note for himself the desecration of the day as it went on +recklessly. As he saw it all, it seemed to him that the church in Milton +was practically doing nothing to stop the evil. All the ministers +complained of the difficulty of getting an evening congregation. Yet +hundreds of young people walked past all the churches every Sunday +night, bent on pleasure, going to the theatres or concerts or parties, +which seemed to have no trouble in attracting the crowd. Especially was +this true of the foreign population, the working element connected with +the mills. It was a common occurrence for dog fights, cock fights, and +shooting matches of various kinds to be going on in the tenement +district on Sunday, and the police seemed powerless or careless in the +matter. + +All this burned into Philip like molten metal, and when he faced his +people on the Sunday which was becoming a noted Sunday for them, he +quivered with the earnestness and thrill which always came to a +sensitive man when he feels sure he has a sermon which must be preached +and a message which the people must hear for their lives. + +He took for a text Christ's words, "The Sabbath was made for man," and at +once defined its meaning as a special day. + +"The true meaning of our modern Sunday may be summed up in two +words--Rest and Worship. Under the head of Rest may be gathered whatever +is needful for the proper and healthful recuperation of one's physical +and mental powers, always regarding, not simply our own ease and +comfort, but also the same right to rest on the part of the remainder of +the community. Under the head of Worship may be gathered all those facts +which, either through distinct religious service or work or thought tend +to bring men into closer and dearer relation to spiritual life, to teach +men larger, sweeter truths of existence and of God, and leave them +better fitted to take up the duties of every-day business. + +"Now, it is plain to me that if Christ were here to-day, and pastor of +Calvary Church, he would feel compelled to say some very plain words +about the desecration of Sunday in Milton. Take for example the opening +of the fruit stands and cigar stores and meat markets every Sunday +morning. What is the one reason why these places are open this very +minute while I am speaking? There is only one reason--so that the owners +of the places may sell their goods and make money. They are not +satisfied with what they can make six days in the week. Their greed +seizes on the one day which ought to be used for the rest and worship +men need, and turns that also into a day of merchandise. Do we need any +other fact to convince us of the terrible selfishness of the human heart? + +"Or take the case of the saloons. What right have they to open their +doors in direct contradiction to the town ordinance forbidding it? And +yet this ordinance is held by them in such contempt that this very +morning as I came to this church I passed more than half a dozen of +these sections of hell, wide open to any poor sinning soul that might be +enticed therein. Citizens of Milton, where does the responsibility rest +for this violation of law? Does it rest with the churches and the +preachers to see that the few Sunday laws we have are enforced by them, +while the business men and the police lazily dodge the issue and care +not how the matter goes, saying it is none of their business? + +"But suppose you say the saloons are beyond your power. That does not +release you from doing what is in your power, easily, to prevent this +day from being trampled under foot and made like every other day in its +scramble after money and pleasure. Who own these fruit stands and cigar +stores and meat markets, and who patronize them? Is it not true that +church members encourage all these places by purchasing of them on the +Lord's Day? I have been told by one of these fruit dealers with whom I +have talked lately that among his best customers on Sunday are some of +the most respected members of this church. It has also been told me that +in the summer time the heaviest patronage of the Sunday ice-cream +business is from the church members of Milton. Of what value is it that +we place on our ordinance rules forbidding the sale of these things +covered by the law? How far are we responsible by our example for +encouraging the breaking of the day on the part of those who would find +it unprofitable to keep their business going if we did not purchase of +them on this day? + +"It is possible there are very many persons here in this house this +morning who are ready to exclaim: 'This is intolerable bigotry and +puritanical narrowness! This is not the attitude Christ would take on +this question. He was too large-minded. He was too far advanced in +thought to make the day to mean anything of that sort.' + +"But let us consider what is meant by the Sunday of our modern life as +Christ would view it. There is no disputing the fact that the age is +material, mercantile, money-making. For six eager, rushing days it is +absorbed in the pursuit of money or fame or pleasure. Then God +strikes the note of his silence in among the clashing sounds of earth's +Babel and calls mankind to make a day unlike the other days. It is his +merciful thoughtfulness for the race which has created this special day +for men. Is it too much to ask that on this one day men think of +something else besides politics, stocks, business, amusement? Is God +grudging the man the pleasure of life when here He gives the man six +days for labor and then asks for only one day specially set apart for +him? The objection to very many things commonly mentioned by the pulpit +as harmful to Sunday is not an objection necessarily based on the +harmfulness of the things themselves, but upon the fact that these +things are repetitions of the working day, and so are distracting to the +observance of the Sunday as a day of rest and worship, undisturbed by +the things that have already for six days crowded the thought of men. +Let me illustrate. + +"Take for example the case of the Sunday paper, as it pours into Milton +every Sunday morning on the special newspaper train. Now, there may not +be anything in the contents of the Sunday papers that is any worse than +can be found in any weekday edition. Granted, for the sake of the +illustration, that the matter found in the Sunday paper is just like +that in the Saturday issue--politics, locals, fashion, personals, +dramatic and sporting news, literary articles by well-known writers, a +serial story, police record, crime, accident, fatality, etc., anywhere +from twenty to forty pages--an amount of reading matter that will take +the average man a whole forenoon to read. I say, granted all this vast +quantity of material is harmless in itself to moral life, yet here is +the reason why it seems to me Christ would, as I am doing now, advise +this church and the people of Milton to avoid reading the Sunday paper, +because it forces upon the thought of the community the very same things +which have been crowding in upon it all the week, and in doing this +necessarily distracts the man, and makes the elevation of his spiritual +nature exceedingly doubtful or difficult. I defy any preacher in this +town to make much impression on the average man who has come to church +saturated through and through with forty pages of Sunday newspaper; that +is, supposing the man who has read that much is in a frame of mind to go +to church. But that is not the point. It is not a question of press +versus pulpit. The press and the pulpit are units of our modern life +which ought to work hand in hand. And the mere matter of church +attendance might not count, if it was a question with the average man +whether he would go to church and hear a dull sermon or stay at home and +read an interesting newspaper. That is not the point. The point is +whether the day of rest and worship shall be like every other day; +whether we shall let our minds go right on as they have been going, to +the choking up of avenues of spiritual growth and religious service. Is +it right for us to allow in Milton the occurrence of baseball games and +Sunday racing and evening theatres? How far is all this demoralizing to +our better life? What would Christ say, do you think? Even supposing he +would advise this church to take and read the big Sunday daily sent in +on the special Sunday train, that keeps a small army of men at work and +away from all Sunday privileges; even supposing he would say it was all +right to sell fruit and cigars and meat on Sunday, and perfectly proper +for church members to buy those things on that day, what would Christ +say was the real meaning and purpose of this day in the thought of the +Divine Creator when he made the day for man? + +"I cannot conceive that he would say anything else than this to the +people of this town and this church: He would say it was our duty to +make this day different from all other days in the two particulars of +rest and worship. He would say that we owe it to the Father of our souls +in common gratitude for his mighty love toward us that we spend the day +in ways pleasing to him. He would say that the wonderful civilization of +our times should study how to make this day a true rest day to the +workingman of the world, and that all unnecessary carrying of passengers +or merchandise should stop, so as to give all men, if possible, every +seven days, one whole day of rest and communion with something better +than the things that perish with the using. He would say that the Church +and the church-member and the Christian everywhere should do all in his +power to make the day a glad, powerful, useful, restful, anticipated +twenty-four hours, looked forward to with pleasant longing by little +children and laboring men and railroad men and street-car men as the one +day of all the week, the happiest and best because different in its use. +And so different that when Monday's toil begins the man feels refreshed +in body and in soul because he has paused a little while in the mad +whirl of his struggle for bread or fame, and has fellow-shipped with +heavenly things, and heard something diviner than the Jangling discords +of this narrow, selfish earth. + +"If this thought of Sunday is bigotry or narrowness, then I stand +convicted as a bigot living outside of the nineteenth century. But I am +not concerned about that. What I am concerned about is Christ's thought +of this day. If I understand his spirit right I believe he would say +what I have said. He would say that it is not a right use of this day +for the men and women of this generation to buy and sell merchandise, to +attend or countenance places or spectacles of amusement, to engage in +card parties at their homes, to fill their thoughts full of the ordinary +affairs of business or the events of the world. He would say that it was +the Christian's duty and privilege in this age to elevate the uses of +this day so that everything done and said should tend to lift the race +higher, and make it better acquainted with the nature of God and its own +eternal destiny. If Christ would not take that view of this great +question, then I have totally misconceived and misunderstood his +character. 'The Sabbath was made for man.' It was made for him that he +might make of it a shining jewel in the string of pearls which should +adorn all the days of the week, every day speaking of divine things to +the man, but Sunday opening up the beauty and grandeur of the eternal +life a little wider yet. + +"This, dear friends all, has been my message to you this morning. May +God forgive whatever has been spoken contrary to the heart and spirit of +our dear Lord." + +If Philip's sermon two months before made him enemies, this sermon +made even more. He had unconsciously this time struck two of his members +very hard. One of them was part owner in a meat market which his partner +kept open on Sunday. The other leased one of the parks where the +baseball games had been played. Other persons in the congregation felt +more or less hurt by the plain way Philip had spoken, especially the +members who took and read the Sunday paper. They went away feeling that, +while much that he said was true, there was too much strictness in the +minister's view of the whole subject. This feeling grew as days went on. +People said Philip did not know all the facts in regard to people's +business and the complications which necessitated Sunday work, and so +forth. + +These were the beginnings of troublesome times for Philip. The trial of +the saloon-keeper was coming on in a few days, and Philip would be +called to witness in the case. He dreaded it with a nervous dread +peculiar to his sensitive temper. Nevertheless, he went on with his +church work, studying the problem of the town, endearing himself to very +many in and out of his church by his manly, courageous life, and feeling +the heart-ache grow in him as the sin burden of the place weighed +heavier on him. Those were days when Philip did much praying, and his +regular preaching, which grew in power with the common people, told the +story of his night vigils with the Christ he adored. + +It was at this particular time that a special event occurred which put +its mark on Philip's work in Milton and became a part of its web and +woof--a thing hard to tell, but necessary to relate as best one may. + +He came home late one evening from church meeting, letting himself into +the parsonage with his night-key, and, not seeing his wife in the +sitting-room, where she was in the habit of reading and sewing, he walked +on into the small sewing-room, where she sometimes sat at special work, +thinking to find her there. She was not there, and Philip opened the +kitchen door and inquired of the servant, who sat there reading, where +his wife was. + +"I think she went upstairs a little while ago," was the reply. + +Philip went at once upstairs into his study, and, to his alarm, found +that his wife had fainted. She lay on the floor in front of his desk. As +Philip stooped to raise her he noticed two pieces of paper, one of them +addressed to "The Preacher," and the other to "The Preacher's Wife." +They were anonymous scrawls, threatening the lives of the minister and +his wife. On his desk, driven deep into the wood, was a large knife. +Then, said Philip with a prayer: "Verily, an enemy hath done this." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The anonymous letters, or rather scrawls, which Philip found by the side +of his unconscious wife as he stooped to raise her up, read as follows: + +"PREACHER: Better pack up and leave. Milton is not big enough to hold +you alive. Take warning in time." + +"PREACHER'S WIFE: As long as you stay in Milton there is danger of two +funerals. Dynamite kills women as well as men." + +Philip sat by the study lounge holding these scrawls in his hand as his +wife recovered from her fainting fit after he had applied restoratives. +His heart was filled with horror at the thought of the complete +cowardice which could threaten the life of an innocent woman. There was +with it all a feeling of intense contempt of such childish, dime-novel +methods of intimidation as that of sticking a knife into the study desk. +If it had not been for its effect on his wife, Philip would have laughed +at the whole thing. As it was, he was surprised and alarmed that she had +fainted--a thing he had never known her to do; and as soon as she was +able to speak he listened anxiously to her story. + +"It must have been an hour after you had gone, Philip, that I thought I +heard a noise upstairs, and thinking perhaps you had left one of your +windows down at the top and the curtain was flapping, I went right up, +and the minute I stepped into the room I had the feeling that some one +was there." + +"Didn't you carry up a light?" + +"No. The lamp was burning at the end of the upper hall, and so I never +thought of needing more. Well, as I moved over toward the window, still +feeling that strange, unaccountable knowledge of some one there, a man +stepped out from behind your desk, walked right up to me and held out +those letters in one hand, while with the other he threw the light from +a small bull's-eye or burglar's lantern upon them." + +Philip listened in amazement. + +"Sarah, you must have dreamed all that! It isn't likely that any man +would do such a thing!" + +"Philip, I did not dream. I was terribly wide-awake, and so scared that +I couldn't even scream. My tongue seemed to be entirely useless. But I +felt compelled to read what was written, and the man held the papers +there until the words seemed to burn my eyes. He then walked over to the +desk, and with one blow drove the knife down into the wood, and then I +fainted away, and that is all I can remember." + +"And what became of the man?" asked Philip, still inclined to think +that his wife had in some way fallen asleep and dreamed at least a part +of this strange scene, perhaps before she went up to the study and +discovered the letters. + +"I don't know; maybe he is in the house yet. Philip, I am almost dead for +fear--not for myself, but for your life." + +"I never had any fear of anonymous letters or of threats," replied +Philip, contemptuously eyeing the knife, which was still sticking in +the desk. "Evidently the saloon men think I am a child to be frightened +with these bugaboos, which have figured in every sensational story since +the time of Captain Kidd." + +"Then you think this is the work of the saloon men?" + +"Who else can it be? We have no other enemies of this sort in Milton." + +"But they will kill you! Oh, Philip, I cannot bear the thought of living +here in this way. Let us leave this dreadful place!" + +"Little woman," said Philip, while he bravely drove away any slight +anxiety he may have had for himself, "don't you think it would be +cowardly to run away so soon?" + +"Wouldn't it be better to run away so soon than to be killed? Is there +any bravery in staying in a place where you are likely to be murdered by +some coward?" + +"I don't think I shall be," said Philip, confidently. "And I don't want +you to be afraid. They will not dare to harm you." + +"No, Philip!" exclaimed his wife, eagerly; "you must not be mistaken. I +did not faint away to-night because I was afraid for myself. Surely I +have no fear there. It was the thought of the peril in which you +stand daily as you go out among these men, and as you go back and forth +to your meetings in the dark. I am growing nervous and anxious ever +since the shooting; and when I was startled by the man here to-night I +was so weak that I fainted. But I am sure that they do not care to harm +me; you are the object of their hatred. If they strike any one it will +be you. That is the reason I want you to leave this place. Say you will, +Philip. Surely there are other churches where you could preach as you +want to, and still not be in such constant danger." + +It required all of Philip's wisdom and love and consciousness of his +immediate duty to answer his wife's appeal and say no to it. It was one +of the severest struggles he ever had. There was to be taken into the +account not only his own safety, but that of his wife as well. For, +think what he would, he could not shake off the feeling that a man so +cowardly as to resort to the assassination of a man would not be over +particular even if it should chance to be a woman. Philip was man enough +to be entirely unshaken by anonymous threats. A thousand a day would not +have unnerved him in the least. He would have writhed under the sense of +the great sin which they revealed, but that is all the effect they would +have had. + +When it came to his wife, however, that was another question. For a +moment he felt like sending in his resignation and moving out of Milton +as soon as possible. But he finally decided that he ought to remain; and +Mrs. Strong did not oppose his decision when once he had declared his +resolve. She knew Philip must do what to him was the will of his Master, +and with that finally she was content. + +She had overcome her nervousness and dread now that Philip's courageous +presence strengthened her, and she began to tell him that he had better +hunt for the man who had appeared so mysteriously in the study. + +"I haven't convinced myself yet that there is any man. Confess, Sarah, +that you dreamed all that." + +"I did not," replied his wife, a little indignantly. "Do you think I +wrote those letters and stuck that knife into the desk myself?" + +"Of course not. But how could a man get into the study and neither you +nor the girl know it." + +"I did hear a noise, and that is what started me upstairs. And he may be +in the house yet. I shall not rest easy until you look into all the +closets and down cellar and everywhere." + +So Philip, to quiet his wife, searched the house thoroughly, but found +nothing. The servant and the minister's wife followed along at a +respectful distance behind Philip, one armed with the poker and the +other with a fire-shovel, while he pulled open closet doors with +reckless disregard of any possible man hiding within, and pretended to +look into the most unlikely places for him, joking all the while to +reassure his trembling followers. + +They found one of the windows in Philip's study partly open. But that +did not prove anything, although a man might have crawled in and out +again through that window from an ell of the parsonage, the roof of +which ran near enough to the window so that an active person could gain +entrance that way. The whole affair remained more or less a mystery to +Philip. However, the letters and the knife were real. He took them down +town next day to the office of the evening paper, and asked the editor +to publish the letters and describe the knife. It was too good a piece +of news to omit, and Milton people were treated to a genuine sensation +when the article came out. Philip's object in giving the incident +publicity was to show the community what a murderous element it was +fostering in the saloon power. Those threats and the knife preached a +sermon to the thoughtful people of Milton, and citizens who had never +asked the question before began to ask now: "Are we to endure this +saloon monster much longer?" + +As for Philip, he went his way the same as ever. Some of his friends and +church members even advised him to carry a revolver and be careful about +going out alone at night. Philip laughed at the idea of a revolver and +said: "If the saloon men want to get rid of me without the trouble of +shooting me themselves they had better make me a present of a +silver-mounted pistol; then I would manage the shooting myself. And as +for being careful about going out evenings, what is this town thinking +of, that it will continue to license and legalize an institution that +makes its honest citizens advise new-comers to stay at home for fear of +assassination? No. I shall go about my work just as if I lived in the +most law-abiding community in America. And if I am murdered by +the whiskey men, I want the people of Milton to understand that the +citizens are as much to blame for the murder as the saloon men. For a +community that will license such a curse ought to bear the shame of the +legitimate fruits of it." + +The trial of the man with the hare-lip had been postponed for some legal +reason, and Philip felt relieved somewhat. He dreaded the ordeal of the +court scene. And one or two visits made at the jail had not been helpful +to him. The man had refused each time to see the minister, and he had +gone away feeling hungry in his soul for the man's redemption, and +realizing something of the spirit of Christ when he was compelled to cry +out: "They will not come unto me that they might have eternal life." +That always seemed to Philip the most awful feature of the history of +Christ--that the very people he loved and yearned after spit upon him +and finally broke his heart with their hatred. + +He continued his study of the problem of the town, believing that every +place has certain peculiar local characteristics which every church and +preacher ought to study. He was struck by the aspect of the lower part +of the town, where nearly all the poorer people lived. He went down +there and studied the situation thoroughly. It did not take a very great +amount of thinking to convince him that the church power in Milton was +not properly distributed. The seven largest churches in the place were +all on one street, well up in the wealthy residence portion, and not +more than two or three blocks apart. Down in the tenement district there +was not a single church building, and only one or two weak mission +schools which did not touch the problem of the district at all. The +distance from this poor part of the town to the churches was fully a +mile, a distance that certainly stood as a geographical obstacle to the +church attendance of the neighborhood, even supposing the people were +eager to go to the large churches, which was not at all the fact. +Indeed, Philip soon discovered that the people were indifferent in the +matter. The churches on the fashionable street in town meant less than +nothing to them. They never would go to them, and there was little hope +that anything the pastor or members could do would draw the people that +distance to come within church influence. The fact of the matter was, +the seven churches of different denominations in Milton had no living +connection whatever with nearly one-half the population, and that the +most needy half, of the place. + +The longer Philip studied the situation, the more un-Christian it looked +to him, and the more he longed to change it. He went over the ground +again and again very carefully. He talked with the different ministers, +and the most advanced Christians in his own church. There was a variety +of opinion as to what might be done, but no one was ready for the +radical move which Philip advocated when he came to speak on the subject +the first Sunday of the month. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +The first Sunday was beginning to be more or less dreaded or anticipated +by Calvary Church people. They were learning to expect something +radical, sweeping, almost revolutionary in Philip's utterances on Christ +and Modern Society. Some agreed with him as far as he had gone. Very +many had been hurt at his plainness of speech. This was especially true +of the property owners and the fashionable part of the membership. Yet +there was a fascination about Philip's preaching that prevented, so far, +any very serious outbreak or dissension in the church. He was a +recognized leader. In his presentation of truth he was large-minded. He +had the faculty of holding men's respect. There was no mistaking the +situation, however. Mr. Winter, with others, was working against him. +Philip was vaguely conscious of much that did not work out into open, +apparent fact. Nevertheless, when he came up on the first Sunday of the +next month and began to announce his subject, he found an audience that +crowded the house to the doors, and among them were scattered numbers of +men from the working-men's district with whom Philip had talked while +down there. It was, as before, an inspiring congregation, and Philip +faced it feeling sure in his heart that he had a great subject to +unfold, and a message to deliver to the Church of Christ such as he could +not but believe Christ would most certainly present if he were living +to-day in Milton. + +He began by describing the exact condition of affairs in Milton. To +assist this description he had brought with him into the church his map +of the town. + +"Look now," he said, pointing out the different localities, "at B +street, where we now are. Here are seven of the largest churches of the +place on this street. The entire distance between the first of these +church buildings and the last one is a little over a mile. Three of +these churches are only two blocks apart. Then consider the character of +the residences and people in the vicinity of this street. It is what is +called desirable; that is, the homes are the very finest, and the people +almost without exception are refined, respectable, well educated, and +Christian in training. All the wealth of the town centres about B +street. All the society life extends out from it on each side. It is +considered the most fashionable street for drives and promenades. It is +well lighted, well paved, well kept. The people who come out of the +houses on B street are always well dressed. The people who go into these +seven churches are, as a rule, well-dressed and comfortable looking. +Mind you," continued Philip, raising his hand with a significant +gesture, "I do not want to have you think that I consider good clothes +and comfortable looks as unchristian or anything against the people who +present such an appearance. Far from it. I simply mention this fact to +make the contrast I am going to show you all the plainer. For let us +leave B street now and go down into the flats by the river, where nearly +all the mill people have their homes. I wish you would note first the +distance from B street and the churches to this tenement district. It is +nine blocks--that is, a little over a mile. To the edge of the tenement +houses farthest from our own church building it is a mile and +three-quarters. And within that entire district, measuring nearly two by +three miles, there is not a church building. There are two feeble +mission-schools, which are held in plain, unattractive halls, where +every Sunday a handful of children meet; but nothing practically is +being done by the Church of Christ in this place to give the people in +that part of the town the privileges and power of the life of Christ, +the life more abundantly. The houses down there are of the cheapest +description. The people who come out of them are far from well-dressed. +The streets and alleys are dirty and ill-smelling. And no one cares to +promenade for pleasure up and down the sidewalks in that neighborhood. +It is not a safe place to go to at night. The most frequent disturbances +come from that part of the town. All the hard characters find refuge +there. And let me say that I am not now speaking of the working people. +They are almost without exception law-abiding. But in every town like +ours the floating population of vice and crime seeks naturally that part +of a town where the poorest houses are, and the most saloons, and the +greatest darkness, both physically and moral. + +"If there is a part of this town which needs lifting up and cleaning and +healing and inspiring by the presence of the Church of Christ, it is +right there where there is no church. The people on B street and for six +or eight blocks each side know the gospel. They have large numbers of +books and papers and much Christian literature. They have been taught +the Bible truths; they are familiar with them. Of what value is it then +to continue to support on this short street, so near together, seven +churches of as many different denominations which have for their members +the respectable, moral people of the town? I do not mean to say that the +well-to-do, respectable people do not need the influence of the church +and the preaching of the gospel. But they can get these privileges +without such a fearful waste of material and power. If we had only three +or four churches on this street they would be enough. We are wasting +our Christianity with the present arrangement. We are giving the rich +and the educated and well-to-do people seven times as much church as we +are giving the poor, the ignorant, and the struggling workers in the +tenement district. There is no question, there can be no question, that +all this is wrong. It is opposed to every principle that Christ +advocated. And in the face of these plain facts, which no one can +dispute, there is a duty before these churches on this street which +cannot be evaded without denying the very purpose of a church. It is +that duty which I am now going to urge upon this Calvary Church. + +"It has been said by some of the ministers and members of the churches +that we might combine in an effort and build a large and commodious +mission in the tenement district. But that, to my mind, would not settle +the problem at all, as it should be settled. It is an easy and a lazy +thing for church-members to put their hands in their pockets and say to +a few other church-members, 'We will help build a mission, if you will +run it after it is up; we will attend our church up-town here, while the +mission is worked for the poor people down there.' That is not what will +meet the needs of the situation. What that part of Milton needs is the +Church of Christ in its members--the whole Church, on the largest +possible scale. What I am now going to propose, therefore, is something +which I believe Christ would advocate, if not in the exact manner I +shall explain, at least in the same spirit." + +Philip paused a moment and looked over the congregation earnestly. The +expectation of the people was roused almost to the point of a sensation +as he went on. + +"I have consulted competent authorities, and they say that our church +building here could be moved from its present foundation without serious +damage to the structure. A part of it would have to be torn down to +assist the moving, but it could easily be replaced. The expense would +not be more than we could readily meet. We are out of debt, and the +property is free from incumbrance. What I propose, therefore, is a very +simple thing--that we move our church edifice down into the heart of the +tenement district, where we can buy a suitable lot for a comparatively +small sum, and at once begin the work of a Christian Church in the very +neighborhood where such work is most needed. + +"There are certain objections to this plan. I think they can be met by +the exercise of the Christ spirit of sacrifice and love. A great many +members will not be able to go that distance to attend service, any more +than the people there at present can well come up here. But there are +six churches left on B street. What is to hinder any Christian member +of Calvary Church from working and fellowshiping with those churches, +if he cannot put in his service in the tenement district? None of these +churches are crowded; they will welcome the advent of more members. But +the main strength of the plan which I propose lies in the fact that if +it be done, it will be a live illustration of the eagerness of the +Church to reach and save men. The very sight of our church moving down +off from this street to the lower part of town will be an object lesson +to the people, and the Church will at once begin to mean something to +them. Once established there, we can work from it as a centre. The +distance ought to be no discouragement to any healthy person. There is +not a young woman in this church who is in the habit of dancing, who +does not make twice as many steps during an evening dancing party as +would be necessary to take her to the tenement district and back again. +Surely, any Christian church-member is as willing to endure fatigue, and +sacrifice, and to give as much time to help make men and women better, +as he is to have a good time himself. Think for a moment what this move +which I propose would mean to the life of this town, and to our Christian +growth. At present we go to church. We listen to a good choir, we go +home again, we have a pleasant Sunday-school, we are all comfortable and +well clothed here; we enjoy our services, we are not disturbed by the +sight of disagreeable or uncongenial people. But is that Christianity? +Where do the service and the self-denial and the working for men's souls +come in? Ah, my dear brothers and sisters, what is this church really +doing for the salvation of men in this place? Is it Christianity to +have a comfortable church and go to it once or twice a week to enjoy +nice music and listen to preaching, and then go home to a good dinner, +and that is about all? What have we sacrificed? What have we denied +ourselves? What have we done to show the poor or the sinful that we +care anything for their souls, or that Christianity is anything but a +comfortable, select religion for those who can afford the good things of +the world? What has the church in Milton done to make the working-man +here feel that it is an institution that throbs with the brotherhood of +man? But suppose we actually move our church down there and then go +there ourselves weekdays and Sundays to work for the uplift of immortal +beings. Shall we not then have the satisfaction of knowing that we are +at least trying to do something more than enjoy our church all by +ourselves? Shall we not be able to hope that we have at least attempted +to obey the spirit of our sacrificing Lord, who commanded His disciples +to go and disciple the nations? It seems to me that the plan is a +Christian plan. If the churches in this neighborhood were not so +numerous, if the circumstances were different, it might not be wise or +necessary to do what I propose. But as the facts are, I solemnly believe +that this church has an opportunity before it to show Milton and the +other churches and the world, that it is willing to do an unusual thing +that it has within it the spirit of complete willingness to reach and +lift up mankind in the way that will do it best and most speedily. If +individuals are commanded to sacrifice and endure for Christ's sake and +the kingdom's, I do not know why organizations should not do the same. +And in this instance something on a large scale, something that +represents large sacrifice, something that will convince the people of +the love of man for man, is the only thing that will strike deep enough +into the problem of the tenement district in Milton to begin to solve it +in any satisfactory or Christian way. + +"I do not expect the church to act on my plan without due deliberation. +I have arrived at my own conclusions after a careful going over the +entire ground. And in the sight of all the need and degradation of the +people, and in the light of all that Christ has made clear to be our +duty as His disciples, it seems to me there is but one path open to us. +If we neglect to follow him as he beckons us, I believe we shall neglect +the one opportunity of Calvary Church to put itself in the position of +the Church of the crucified Lamb of God, who did not please Himself, who +came to minister to others, who would certainly approve of any steps His +Church on earth in this age might honestly make to reach men and love +them, and become to them the helper and savior and life-giver which the +great Head of the Church truly intended we should be. I leave this plan, +which I have proposed, before you, for your Christian thought and +prayer. And may the Holy Spirit guide us all into all the truth. Amen." + +If Philip had deliberately planned to create a sensation, he could not +have done anything more radical to bring it about. If he had stood on +the platform and fired a gun into the audience, it would not have +startled the members of Calvary Church more than this calm proposal to +them that they move their building a mile away from its aristocratic +surroundings. Nothing that he had said in his previous sermons had +provoked such a spirit of opposition. This time the church was roused. +Feelings of astonishment, indignation, and alarm agitated the members of +Calvary Church. Some of them gathered about Philip at the close of the +service. + +"It will not be possible to do this thing you propose, Brother Strong," +said one of the deacons, a leading member and a man who had defended +Philip once or twice against public criticism. + +"Why not?" asked Philip, simply. He was exhausted with his effort that +morning, but felt that a crisis of some sort had been precipitated by +his message, and so he welcomed this show of interest which his sermon +had aroused. + +"The church will not agree to such a thing." + +"A number of them favor the step," replied Philip, who had talked over +the matter fully with many in the church. + +"A majority will vote against it." + +"Yes, an overwhelming majority!" said one man. "I know a good many who +would not be able to go that distance to attend church, and they +certainly would not join any other church on the street. I know for one +I wouldn't." + +"Not if you thought Christ's kingdom in this town would be advanced by +it?" asked Philip, turning to this man with a directness that was almost +bluntness. + +"I don't see as that would be a test of my Christianity." + +"That is not the question," said one of the trustees, who had the +reputation of being a very shrewd business man. "The question is +concerning the feasibility of moving this property a mile into the +poorest part of the town and then maintaining it there. In my opinion, +it cannot be done. The expenses of the organization cannot be kept up. +We should lose some of our best financial supporters. Mr. Strong's +spirit and purpose spring from a good motive, no doubt, but viewed from +a business point of view, the church in that locality would not be a +success. To my mind it would be a very unwise thing to do. It would +practically destroy our organization here and not really establish +anything there." + +"I do not believe we can tell until we try," said Philip. "I certainly +do not wish the church to destroy itself foolishly. But I do feel that +we ought to do something very positive and very large to define our +attitude as saviors in this community. And moving the house, as I +propose, has the advantage of being a definite, practical step in the +direction of a Christlike use of our powers as a church." + +There was more talk of the same sort, but it was plainly felt by Philip +that the plan he had proposed was distasteful to the greater part of the +church, and if the matter came to a vote it would be defeated. He talked +the plan over with his trustees as he had already done before he spoke +in public. Four of them were decided in their objection to the plan. +Only one fully sustained Philip. During the week he succeeded in finding +out that from his membership of five hundred, less than forty persons +were willing to stand by him in so radical a movement. And yet the more +Philip studied the problem of the town, the more he was persuaded that +the only way for the church to make any impression on the tenement +district was to put itself directly in touch with the neighborhood. To +accomplish that necessity, Philip was not stubborn. He was ready to +adopt any plan that would actually do something, but he grew more eager +every day that he spent in the study of the town to have the church feel +its opportunity and make Christ a reality to those most in need of Him. + +It was at this time that Philip was surprised one evening by a call from +one of the working-men who had been present and heard his sermon on +moving the church into the tenement district. + +"I came to see you particularly, Mr. Strong, about getting you to come +down to our hall some evening next week and give us a talk on some +subject connected with the signs of the times." + +"I'll come if you think I can do any good in that way," replied Philip, +hesitating a little. + +"I believe you can. The men are beginning to take to you, and while they +won't come up to church, they will turn out to hear you down there." + +"All right. When do you want me to come?" + +"Say next Tuesday. You know where the hall is?" + +Philip nodded. He had been by it in his walks through that part of +Milton. + +The spokesman for the workmen expressed his thanks and arose to go, but +Philip asked him to stay a few moments. He wanted to know at first hand +what the man's representative fellows would do if the church should at +any time decide to act after Philip's plan. + +"Well, to tell the truth, Mr. Strong, I don't believe very many of them +would join any church." + +"That is not the question. Would they feel the church any more there +than where it is now?" + +"Yes, I honestly think they would. They would come out to hear you." + +"Well, that would be something, to be sure," replied Philip, smiling. +"But as to the wisdom of my plan--how does it strike you on the whole?" + +"I would like to see it done. I don't believe I shall, though." + +"Why?" + +"Your church won't agree to it." + +"Maybe they will in time." + +"I hope they will. And yet let me tell you, Mr. Strong, if you succeeded +in getting your church and people to come into the tenement district, you +would find plenty of people there who wouldn't go hear you." + +"I suppose that is so. But oh, that we might do something!" Philip +clasped his hand over his knee and gazed earnestly at the man opposite. +The man returned the gaze almost as earnestly. It was the +personification of the Church confronting the laboring man, each in a +certain way asking the other, "What will the Church do?" And it was a +noticeable fact that the minister's look revealed more doubt and anxiety +than the other man's look, which contained more or less of indifference +and distrust. Philip sighed, and his visitor soon after took his leave. + +So it came about that Philip Strong plunged into a work which from the +time he stepped into the dingy little hall and faced the crowd peculiar +to it, had a growing influence on all his strange career, grew in +strangeness rapidly as days came on. + +He was invited again and again to address the men in that part of +Milton. They were almost all of them mill-employes. They had a simple +organization for debate and discussion of questions of the day. +Gradually the crowds increased as Philip continued to come, and +developed a series of talks on Christian Socialism. There was standing +room only. He was beginning to know a number of the men and a strong +affection was growing up in their hearts for him. + +That was just before the time the trouble at the mills broke out. He had +just come back from the hall where he had now been going every Thursday +evening, and where he had spoken on his favorite theme, "the meaning and +responsibility of power, both financial and mental." He had treated the +subject from the Christian point of view entirely. He had several times +roused his rude audience to enthusiasm. Moved by his theme and his +surroundings, he had denounced, with even more than usual vigor, those +men of ease and wealth who did nothing with their money to help their +brothers. He had mentioned, as he went along, what great responsibility +any great power puts on a man, and had dealt in a broad way with the +whole subject of power in men as a thing to be used, and always used for +the common good. + +He did not recall his exact statements, but felt a little uneasy as he +walked home, for fear he might possibly have influenced his particular +audience against the rich as a class. He had not intended anything of +the kind, but had a vague idea that possibly he ought to have guarded +some words or sentences more carefully. + +He had gone up into his study to finish some work, when the bell rang +sharply, and he came down to open the door just as Mrs. Strong came in +from the other room, where she had been giving directions to the girl, +who had gone upstairs through the kitchen. + +The minister and his wife opened the door together, and one of the +neighbors rushed into the hall so excited he could hardly speak. + +"Oh, Mr. Strong, won't you go right down to Mr. Winter's house? You +have more influence with those men than any one around here!" + +"What men?" + +"The men who are going to kill him if some one doesn't stop it!" + +"What!" cried Philip, turning pale, not from fear, but from +self-reproach to think he might have made a mistake. "Who is trying to +kill him--the mill-men?" + +"Yes! No! I do not, cannot tell. But he is in great danger, and you are +the only man in this town who can help to save him. Come!" + +Philip turned to his wife. "Sarah, it is my duty. If anything should +happen to me you know my soul will meet yours at the gates of Paradise." + +He kissed her, and rushed out into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +When Philip reached the residence of Mr. Winter, he found himself at +once in the midst of a mob of howling, angry men, who surged over the +lawn and tramped the light snow that was falling into a muddy mass over +the walks and up the veranda steps. A large electric lamp out in the +street in front of the house threw a light over the strange scene. + +Philip wedged his way in among the men, crying out his name, and asking +for room to be made so that he could see Mr. Winter. The crowd, under +the impulse which sometimes moves excited bodies of men, yielded to his +request. There were cries of, "Let him have a minister if he wants one!" +"Room here for the priest!" "Give the preacher a chance to do some +praying where it's needed mighty bad!" and so on. Philip found a way +opened for him as he struggled toward the house, and he hurried forward +fearing some great trouble, but hardly prepared for what he saw when he +finally reached the steps of the veranda. + +Half a dozen men had the mill-owner in their grasp, having evidently +dragged him out of his dining-room. His coat was half torn off, as if +there had been a struggle. Marks of bloody fingers stained his collar. +His face was white, and his eyes filled with the fear of death. +Within, upon the floor, lay his wife, who had fainted. A son and a +daughter, his two grown-up children, clung terrified to one of the +servants, who kneeled half fainting herself by the side of the +mill-owner's wife. A table overturned and fragments of a late dinner +scattered over the sideboard and on the floor, a broken plate, the print +of a muddy foot on the white tiling before the open fire,--the whole +picture flashed upon Philip like a scene out of the French Revolution, +and he almost rubbed his eyes to know if he was awake and in America in +the nineteenth century. He was intensely practical, however, and the +nature of his duty never for a moment escaped him. He at once advanced +and said calmly:-- + +"What does all this mean? Why this attack on Mr. Winter?" + +The moment Mr. Winter saw Philip and heard his voice he cried out, +trembling: "Is that you, Mr. Strong? Thank God! Save me! They are going +to kill me!" + +"Who talks of killing, or taking human life contrary to law!" exclaimed +Philip, coming up closer and placing his hand on Mr. Winter's arm. "Men, +what are you doing?" + +For a moment the crowd fell back a little from the mill-owner, and one +of the men who had been foremost in the attack replied with some +respect, although in a sullen manner, "Mr. Strong, this is not a case +for your interference. This man has caused the death of one of his +employees and he deserves hanging." + +"And hanging he will get!" yelled another. A great cry arose. In the +midst of it all Mr. Winter shrieked out his innocence. "It is all a +mistake! They do not know! Mr. Strong, tell them they do not know!" + +The crowd closed around Mr. Winter again. Philip knew enough about men +to know that the mill-owner was in genuine danger. Most of his +assailants were the foreign element in the mills. Many of them were +under the influence of liquor. The situation was critical. Mr. Winter +clung to Philip with the frantic clutch of a man who sees only one way +of escape, and clings to that with mad eagerness. Philip turned around +and faced the mob. He raised his voice, hoping to gain a hearing and +reason with it. But he might as well have raised his voice against a +tornado. Some one threw a handful of mud and snow toward the prisoner. +In an instant every hand reached for the nearest missile, and a shower +of stones, muddy snow-balls and limbs torn from the trees on the lawn +was rained upon the house. Most of the windows in the lower story were +broken. All this time Philip was eagerly remonstrating with the few men +who had their hands on Mr. Winter. He thought if he could only plead +with them to let the man go he could slip with him around the end of the +veranda through a side door and take him through the house to a place of +safety. He also knew that every minute was precious, as the police might +arrive at any moment and change the situation. + +But in spite of his pleas, the mill-owner was gradually pushed and +dragged down off the veranda toward the gate. The men tried to get +Philip out of the way. + +"We don't want to harm you, sir. Better get out of danger," said the +same man who had spoken before. + +Philip for answer threw one arm about Mr. Winter, saying: "If you kill +him, you will kill me with him. You shall never do this great sin +against an innocent man. In the name of God, I call on every soul here +to----" + +But his words were drowned in the noise that followed. The mob was +insane with fury. Twice Mr. Winter was dragged off his feet by those +down on the walk. Twice Philip raised him to his feet, feeling sure that +if the crowd once threw him down they would trample him to death. Once +some one threw a rope over the wretched man's head. Both he and Mr. +Winter were struck again and again. Their clothes were torn into +tatters. Mr. Winter was faint and reeling. Only his great terror made +his clutch on Philip like that of a drowning man. + +At last the crowd had dragged the two outside the gate into the street. +Here they paused awhile and Philip again spoke to the mob: + +"Men, made in God's image, listen to me! Do not take innocent life. If +you kill him, you kill me also. For I will never leave his side alive, +and I will not permit such murder if I can prevent it." + +"Kill them both--the bloody coward and the priest!" yelled a voice. +"They both belong to the same church." + +"Yes, hang 'em! hang 'em both!" A tempest of cries went up. Philip +towered up like a giant. In the light of the street lamp he looked out +over the great sea of passionate, brutal faces, crazed with drink and +riot, and a great wave of compassionate feeling swept over him. Those +nearest never forgot that look. It was Christlike in its yearning love +for lost children. His lips moved in prayer. + +And just then the outer circle of the crowd seemed agitated. It had +surged up nearer the light with the evident intention of hanging the +mill-owner on one of the cross pieces of a telegraph pole near by. The +rope had again been thrown over his head. Philip stood with one arm +about Mr. Winter, and with the other hand stretched out in entreaty, +when he heard a pistol-shot, then another. The entire police department +had been summoned, and had finally arrived. There was a skirmishing +rattle of shots. But the crowd began to scatter in the neighborhood of +the police force. Then those nearer Philip began to run as best they +could away from the officers. Philip and the mill-owner were dragged +along with the rest in the growing confusion, until, watching his +opportunity, Philip pulled Mr. Winter behind one of the large poles by +which the lights of the street were suspended. + +Here, sheltered a little, but struck by many a blow, Philip managed to +shield with his own body the man who only a little while before had come +into his own house and called him a liar, and threatened to withdraw his +church support, because of the preaching of Christ's principles. + +When finally the officers reached the two men Mr. Winter was nearly dead +from the fright. Philip was badly bruised, but not seriously, and he +helped Mr. Winter back to the house, while a few of the police remained +on guard the rest of the night. It was while recovering from the effects +of the night's attack that Philip little by little learned of the facts +that led up to the assault. + +There had been a growing feeling of discontent in all the mills, and it +had finally taken shape in the Ocean Mill, which was largely owned and +controlled by Mr. Winter. The discontent arose from a new scale of wages +submitted by the company. It was not satisfactory to the men, and the +afternoon of that evening on which Philip had gone down to the hall a +committee of the mill men had waited on Mr. Winter, and after a long +conference had gone away without getting any satisfaction. They could +not agree on the proposition made by the company and by their own labor +organization. Later in the day one of the committee, under instructions, +went to see Mr. Winter alone, and came away from the interview very much +excited and angry. He spent the first part of the evening in a saloon, +where he related a part of his interview with the mill-owner, and said +that he had finally kicked him out of the office. Still later in the +evening he told several of the men that he was going to see Mr. Winter +again, knowing that on certain evenings he was in the habit of staying +down at the mill office until nearly half-past nine for special +business. The mills were undergoing repairs, and Mr. Winter was away +from home more than usual. + +That was the last that any one saw of the man until, about ten o'clock, +some one going home past the mill office heard a man groaning at the foot +of a new excavation at the end of the building, and climbing down +discovered the man who had been to see Mr. Winter twice that afternoon. +He had a terrible gash in his head, and lived only a few minutes after +he was discovered. To the half-dozen men who stood over him in the +saloon, where he had been carried, he had murmured the name of "Mr. +Winter," and had then expired. + +A very little adds fuel to the brain of men already heated with rum and +hatred. The rumor spread like lightning that the wealthy mill-owner had +killed one of the employees who had gone to see him peaceably and +arrange matters for the men. He had thrown him out of the office into +one of the new mill excavations and left him there to die like a dog in +a ditch. So the story ran all through the tenement district, and in an +incredibly swift time the worst elements in Milton were surging toward +Mr. Winter's house with murder in their hearts, and the means of +accomplishing it in their hands. + +Mr. Winter had finished his work at the office and gone home to sit down +to a late lunch, as his custom was, when he was interrupted by the mob. +The rest of the incident is connected with what has been told. The crowd +seized him with little ceremony, and it was only Philip's timely arrival +and his saving of minutes until the police arrived, that prevented a +lynching in Milton that night. As it was, Mr. Winter received a scare +from which it took a long time to recover. He dreaded to go out alone at +night. He kept on guard a special watchman, and lived in more or less +terror even then. It was satisfactorily proved in a few days that the +man who had gone to see Mr. Winter had never reached the office door. +But, coming around the corner of the building where the new work was +being done, he had fallen off the stone work, striking on a rock in such +a way as to produce a fatal wound. This tempered the feeling of the +workmen toward Mr. Winter; but a wide-spread unrest and discontent had +seized on every man employed in the mills, and as the winter drew on, +affairs reached a crisis. + +The difference between the mills and the men over the scale of wages +could not be settled. The men began to talk about a strike. Philip heard +of it, and at once, with his usual frankness and boldness, spoke with +downright plainness to the men against it. That was at the little hall a +week after the attempt on Mr. Winter's life. Philip's part in that +night's event had added to his reputation and his popularity with the +men. They admired his courage and his grit. Most of them were ashamed of +the whole affair, especially after they had sobered down and it had been +proved that Mr. Winter had not touched the man. So Philip was welcomed +with applause as he came out on the little platform and looked over the +crowded room, seeing many faces there that had glared at him in the mob +a week before. And yet his heart told him he loved these men, and his +reason told him that it was the sinner and the unconverted that God +loved. It was a terrible responsibility to have such men count him +popular, and he prayed that wisdom might be given him in the approaching +crisis, especially as he seemed to have some real influence. + +He had not spoken ten words when some one by the door cried, "Come +outside! Big crowd out here want to get in." It was moonlight and not +very cold, so every one moved out of the hall, and Philip mounted the +steps of a storehouse near by and spoke to a crowd that filled up the +street in front and for a long distance right and left. His speech was +very brief, but it was fortified with telling figures, and at the close +he stood and answered a perfect torrent of questions. His main counsel +was against a strike in the present situation. He had made himself +familiar with the facts on both sides. Strikes, he argued, except in +very rare cases, were demoralizing--an unhealthy, disastrous method of +getting justice done. "Why, just look at that strike in Preston, +England, among the cotton spinners. There were only 660 operatives, but +that strike, before it ended, threw out of employment over 7,800 weavers +and other workmen who had nothing whatever to do with the quarrel of the +660 men. In the recent strike in the cotton trade in Lancashire, at the +end of the first twelve weeks the operatives had lost in wages alone +$4,500,000. Four strikes that occurred in England between 1870 and 1880, +involved a loss in wages of more than $25,000,000. In 22,000 strikes +investigated lately by the National Bureau of Labor, it is estimated +that the employees lost about $51,800,000, while the employers lost only +$30,700,000. Out of 353 strikes in England between 1870 and 1880, 191 +were lost by the strikers, 71 were gained, and 91 com-promised; but in +the strikes that were successful, it took several years to regain in +wages the amount lost by the enforced idleness of the men." + +There were enough hard-thinking, sensible men in the audience that night +to see the force of his argument. The majority, however, were in favor +of a general strike to gain their point in regard to the scale of wages. +When Philip went home he carried with him the conviction that a general +strike in the mills was pending. In spite of the fact that it was the +worst possible season of the year for such action, and in spite of the +fact that the difference demanded by the men was a trifle, compared with +their loss of wages the very first day of idleness, there was a +determination among the leaders that the fifteen thousand men in the +mills should all go out in the course of a few days if the demands of +the men in the Ocean Mill were not granted. + +What was the surprise of every one in Milton, therefore, the very next +day, when it was announced that every mill in the great system had shut +down, and not a man of the fifteen thousand laborers who marched to the +buildings in the early gray of the winter morning found entrance. +Statements were posted up on the doors that the mills were shut down +until further notice. The mill-owners had stolen a march on the +employees, and the big strike was on; but it had been started by +Capital, not by Labor, and Labor went to its tenement or congregated in +the saloon, sullen and gloomy; and, as days went by and the mills showed +no signs of opening, the great army of the unemployed walked the +streets of Milton in growing discontent and fast accumulating debt and +poverty. + +Meanwhile the trial of the man arrested for shooting Philip came on, and +Philip and his wife both appeared as witnesses in the case. The man was +convicted and sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment. It has nothing +special to do with the history of Philip Strong, but may be of interest +to the reader to know that in two years' time he was pardoned out and +returned to Milton to open his old saloon, where he actually told more +than once the story of his attempt on the preacher's life. + +There came also during those stormy times in Milton the trial of several +of the men who were arrested for the assault on Mr. Winter. Philip was +also summoned as a witness in these cases. As always, he frankly +testified to what he knew and saw. Several of the accused were +convicted, and sentenced to short terms. But the mill-owner, probably +fearing revenge on the part of the men, did not push the matter, and +most of the cases went by default for lack of prosecution. + +Mr. Winter's manner toward Philip underwent a change after that +memorable evening when the minister stood by him at the peril of his own +life. There was a feeling of genuine respect, mingled with fear, in his +deportment toward Philip. To say that they were warm friends would be +saying too much. Men as widely different as the minister and the wealthy +mill-man do not come together on that sacred ground of friendship, even +when one is indebted to the other for his life. A man may save another +from hanging and still be unable to save him from selfishness. And Mr. +Winter went his way and Philip went his, on a different basis so far as +common greeting went, but no nearer in the real thing, which makes +heart-to-heart communion impossible. For the time being, Mr. Winter's +hostility was submerged under his indebtedness to Philip. He returned to +his own place in the church and contributed to the financial support. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +One day at the close of a month, Philip came into the cosey parsonage, +and, instead of going right up to his study as his habit was when his +outside work was done for the day, he threw himself down on a couch by +the open fire. His wife was at work in the other room, but she came in, +and, seeing him lying there, inquired what was the matter. + +"Nothing, Sarah, with me. Only I'm sick at heart with the sight and +knowledge of all this wicked town's sin and misery." + +"Do you have to carry it all on your shoulders, Philip?" + +"Yes," replied Philip, almost fiercely. It was not that either. Only, +his reply was like a great sob of conviction that he must bear something +of these burdens. He could not help it. + +Mrs. Strong did not say anything for a moment. Then, + +"Don't you think you take it too seriously, Philip?" + +"What?" + +"Other people's wrongs. You are not responsible." + +"Am I not? I am my brother's keeper. What quantity of guilt may I not +carry into the eternal kingdom if I do not do what I can to save him! +Oh, how can men be so selfish? Yet I am only one person. I cannot +prevent all this suffering alone." + +"Of course you cannot, Philip. You wrong yourself to take yourself to +task so severely for the sins of others. But what has stirred you up so +this time?" Mrs. Strong understood Philip well enough to know that some +particular case had roused his feeling. He seldom yielded to such +despondency without some immediate practical reason. + +Philip sat up on the couch and clasped his hands over his knee with the +eager earnestness that characterized him, when he was roused. + +"Sarah, this town slumbers on the smoking crest of a volcano. There are +more than fifteen thousand people here in Milton out of work. A great +many of them are honest, temperate people who have saved up a little. +But it is nearly gone. The mills are shut down, and, on the authority of +men that ought to know, shut down for all winter. The same condition of +affairs is true in a more or less degree in the entire State and +throughout the country and even the world. People are suffering to-day +in this town for food and clothing and fuel through no fault of their +own. The same thing is true of thousands and even hundreds of thousands +all over the world. It is an age that calls for heroes, martyrs, +servants, saviors. And right here in this town, where distress walks the +streets and actual want already has its clutch on many a poor devil, +society goes on giving its expensive parties and living in its little +round of selfish pleasure just as if the volcano was a downy little bed +of roses for it to go to sleep in whenever it wearies of the pleasure +and wishes to retire to happy dreams. Oh, but the bubble will burst one +of these days, and then----" + +Philip swept his hand upward with a fine gesture, and sunk back upon the +couch, groaning. + +"Don't you exaggerate?" The minister's wife put the question gently. + +"Not a bit! Not a bit! All true. I am not one of the French Revolution +fellows, always lugging in blood and destruction, and prophesying ruin +to the nation and the world if it doesn't gee and haw the way I tell it +to. But I tell you, Sarah, it takes no prophet to see that a man who is +hungry and out of work is a dangerous man to have around. And it takes +no extraordinary-sized heart to swell a little with righteous wrath when +in such times as these people go right on with their useless luxuries of +living, and spend as much on a single evening's entertainment as would +provide a comfortable living for a whole month to some deserving +family." + +"How do you know they do?" + +"Well, I'll tell you. I've figured it out. I will leave it to any one of +good judgment that any one of these projected parties mentioned here in +the evening paper," Philip smoothed the paper on the head of the +couch--"any one of them will cost in the neighborhood of one hundred to +one hundred and fifty dollars. Look here! Here's the Goldens' +party--members of Calvary Church. They will spend at least twenty-five +to thirty dollars in flowers; and refreshments will cost fifty more; and +music another twenty-five; and incidentals twenty-five extra--and so on. +Is that right, Sarah, these times, and as people ought to live now?" + +"But some one gets the benefit of all this money spent. Surely that is a +help to some of the working people." + +"Yes, but how many people are helped by such expenditures? Only a select +few, and they are the very ones who are least in need of it. I say that +Christian people and members of churches have no right to indulge their +selfish pleasures to this extent in these ways. I know that Christ would +not approve of it." + +"You think he would not, Philip." + +"No, I know he would not. There is not a particle of doubt in my mind +about it. What right has a disciple of Jesus Christ to spend for the +gratification of his physical aesthetic pleasures money which ought to +be feeding the hungry bodies of men or providing some useful necessary +labor for their activity?--I mean, of course, the gratification of those +senses which a man can live without. In this age of the world society +ought to dispense with some of its accustomed pleasures and deny itself +for the sake of the great suffering, needy world. Instead of that, the +members of the very Church of Christ on earth spend more in a single +evening's entertainment for people who don't need it than they give to +the salvation of men in a whole year. I protest out of the soul that God +gave me against such wicked selfishness. And I will protest if society +spurn me from it as a bigot, a puritan, and a boor. For society in +Christian America is not Christian in this matter--no, not after the +Christianity of Christ!" + +"What can you do about it, Philip?" His wife asked the question sadly. +She had grown old fast since coming to Milton. And a presentiment of +evil would, in spite of her naturally cheery disposition, cling to her +whenever she considered Philip and his work. + +"I can preach on it, and I will." + +"Be wise, Philip. You tread on difficult ground when you enter society's +realm." + +"Well, dear, I will be as wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove, +although I must confess I never knew just exactly how much that verse +meant. But preach on it I must and will." + +And when the first Sunday of the month came, Philip did preach on it, to +the dismay of several members of his church who were in the habit of +giving entertainments and card parties on a somewhat elaborate scale. + +He had never preached on the subject of amusements, and he stated that +he wished it to be plainly understood that he was not preaching on the +subject now. It was a question which went deeper than that, and took +hold of the very first principles of human society. A single passage in +the sermon will show the drift of it all. + +"We have reached a time in the history of the world when it is the +Christian duty of every man who calls himself a disciple of the Master +to live on a simpler, less extravagant basis. The world has been living +beyond its means. Modern civilization has been exorbitant in its +demands. And every dollar foolishly spent to-day means suffering for +some one who ought to be relieved by that money wisely expended. An +entertainment given by people of means to other people of means in these +hard times, in which money is lavished on flowers, food and dress, is, +in my opinion, an act of which Christ would not approve. I do not mean +to say that he would object to the pleasure which flowers, food and +dress will give. But he would say that it is an unnecessary enjoyment +and expense at this particular crisis through which we are passing. He +would say that money and time should be given where people more in need +of them might have the benefit. He would say that when a town is in the +situation of ours today it is not a time for any selfish use for any +material blessing. Unless I mistake the spirit of the modern Christ, if +he were here he would preach to the whole world the necessity of a far +simpler, less expensive style of living, and, above all, actual +self-denial on the part of society for the Brotherhood of man. What is +society doing now? What sacrifice is it making? When it gives a charity +ball, does it not spend twice as much in getting up the entertainment to +please itself as it makes for the poor in whose behalf the ball is +given? Do you think I am severe? Ask yourself, O member of Calvary +Church, what has been the extent of your sacrifice for the world this +year before you condemn me for being too strict or particular. It is +because we live in such times that the law of service presses upon us +with greater insistence than ever. And now more than during any of the +ages gone, Christ's words ring in our ears with twenty centuries of +reverberation, 'Whosoever will not deny himself and take up his cross, +he cannot be my disciple.'" + +Of all the sermons on Christ and Modern Society which Philip had thus +far preached, none had hit so hard or was applied so personally as this. +The Goldens went home from the service in a towering rage. "That settles +Calvary Church for me," said Mrs. Golden, as she flung herself out of +the building after the service was over. "I consider that the most +insulting sermon I ever heard from any minister. It is simply +outlandish; and how the church can endure such preaching much longer is +a wonder to me. I don't go near it again while Mr. Strong is the +minister!" Philip did not know it yet, but he was destined to find out +that society carries a tremendous power in its use of the word +"outlandish," applied either to persons or things. + +When the evening service was over, Philip, as his habit was, lay down on +the couch in front of the open fire until the day's excitement had +subsided a little. It was almost the only evening in the week when he +gave himself up to complete rest of mind and body. + +He had been lying there about a quarter of an hour when Mrs. Strong, who +had been moving a plant back from one of the front windows and had been +obliged to raise a curtain, stepped back into the room with an +exclamation. + +"Philip! There is some one walking back and forth in front of the house! +I have heard the steps ever since we came home. And just now I saw a man +stop and look in here. Who can it be?" + +"Maybe it's the man with the burglar's lantern come back to get his +knife," said Philip, who had always made a little fun of that incident +as his wife had told it. However, he rose and went over to the window. +Sure enough, there was a man out on the sidewalk looking straight at the +house. He was standing perfectly still. + +Philip and his wife stood by the window looking at the figure outside, +and, as it did not move away, at last Philip grew a little impatient and +went to the door to open it and ask the man what he meant by staring +into people's houses in that fashion. + +"Now, do be careful, won't you?" entreated his wife, anxiously. + +"Yes, I presume it is some tramp or other wanting food. There's no +danger, I know." + +He flung the door wide open and called out in his clear, hearty voice: + +"Anything you want, friend? Come up and ring the bell if you want to get +in and know us, instead of standing there on the walk catching cold and +making us wonder who you are." + +In response to this frank and informal invitation the figure came +forward and slowly mounted the steps of the porch. As the face came into +view more clearly, Philip started and fell back a little. + +It was not because the face was that of an enemy, nor because it was +repulsive, nor because he recognized an old acquaintance. It was a face +he had never to his knowledge seen before. Yet the impulse to start back +before it seemed to spring from the recollection of just such a +countenance moving over his spirit when he was in prayer or in trouble. +It all passed in a second's time and then he confronted the man as a +complete stranger. + +There was nothing remarkable about him. He was poorly dressed and +carried a small bundle. He looked cold and tired. Philip, who never +could resist the mute appeal of distress in any form, reached out his +hand and said kindly, "Come in, my brother, you look cold and weary. +Come in and sit down before the fire, and we'll have a bite of lunch. I +was just beginning to think of having something to eat, myself." + +Philip's wife looked a little remonstrance, but Philip did not see it, +and wheeling an easy chair before the fire he made the man sit down, and +pulling up a rocker he placed himself opposite. + +The stranger seemed a little surprised at the action of the minister, +but made no resistance. He took off his hat and disclosed a head of hair +white as snow, and said, in a voice that sounded singularly sweet and +true: + +"You do me much honor, sir. The fire feels good this chilly evening, and +the food will be very acceptable. And I have no doubt you have a good +warm bed that I could occupy for the night." + +Philip stared hard at his unexpected guest, and his wife who had started +out of the room to get the lunch, shook her head vigorously as she stood +behind the visitor, as a sign that her husband should refuse such a +strange request. He was taken aback a little, and he looked puzzled. The +words were uttered in the utmost simplicity. + +"Why, yes, we can arrange that all right," he said. "There is a spare +room, and--excuse me a moment while I go and help to get our lunch." +Philip's wife was telegraphing to him to come into the other room and he +obediently got up and went. + +"Now, Philip," she whispered when they were out in the dining-room, "you +know that is a risky thing to do. You are all the time inviting all +kinds of characters in here. We can't keep this man all night. Who ever +heard of such a thing as a perfect stranger coming out with a request +like that? I believe the man is crazy. It certainly will not do to let +him stay here all night." + +Philip looked puzzled. + +"I declare it is strange! He doesn't appear like an ordinary tramp. But +somehow I don't think he's crazy. Why shouldn't we let him have the bed +in the room off the east parlor. I can light the fire in the stove there +and make him comfortable." + +"But we don't know who he is. You let your sympathies run away with your +judgment." + +"Well, little woman, let me go in and talk with him a while. You get the +lunch, and we'll see about the rest afterward." + +So he went back and sat down again. He was hardly seated when his +visitor said: + +"If your wife objects to my staying here to-night, of course, I don't +wish to. I don't feel comfortable to remain where I'm not welcome." + +"Oh, you're perfectly welcome," said Philip, hastily, with some +embarrassment, while his strange visitor went on: + +"I'm not crazy, only a little odd, you know. Perfectly harmless. It will +be perfectly safe for you to keep me over night." + +The man spread his thin hands out before the fire, while Philip sat and +watched him with a certain fascination new to his interest in all sorts +and conditions of men. + +Mrs. Strong brought in a substantial lunch of cold meat, bread and +butter, milk and fruit, and then placed it on a table in front of the +open fire, where he and his remarkable guest ate like hungry men. + +It was after this lunch had been eaten and the table removed that a +scene occurred which would be incredible if its reality and truthfulness +did not compel us to record it as a part of the life of Philip Strong. +No one will wish to deny the power and significance of this event as it +is unfolded in the movement of this story. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +"I heard your sermon this morning,' said Philip's guest while Mrs. +Strong was removing the small table to the dining-room. + +"Did you?" asked Philip, because he could not think of anything wiser to +say. + +"Yes," said the strange visitor, simply. He was so silent after saying +this one word that Philip did what he never was in the habit of doing. +He always shrank back sensitively from asking for an opinion of his +preaching from any one except his wife. But now he could not help +saying: + +"What did you think of it?" + +"It was one of the best sermons I ever heard. But somehow it did not +sound sincere." + +"What!" exclaimed Philip, almost angrily. If there was one thing he felt +sure about, it was the sincerity of his preaching. Then he checked his +feeling, as he thought how foolish it would be to get angry at a passing +tramp, who was probably a little out of his mind. Yet the man's remark +had a strange power over him. He tried to shake it off as he looked +harder at him. The man looked over at Philip and repeated gravely, +shaking his head, "Not sincere." + +Mrs. Strong came back into the room, and Philip motioned her to sit down +near him while he said, "And what makes you think I was not sincere?" + +"You said the age in which we lived demanded that people live in a far +simpler, less extravagant style." + +"Yes, that is what I said. I believe it, too," replied Philip, clasping +his hands over his knee and gazing at his singular guest with +earnestness. The man's thick, white hair glistened in the open firelight +like spun glass. + +"And you said that Christ would not approve of people spending money for +flowers, food and dress on those who did not need it, when it could more +wisely be expended for the benefit of those who were in want." + +"Yes; those were not my exact words, but that was my idea." + +"Your idea. Just so. And yet we have had here in this little lunch, or, +as you called it, a 'bite of something,' three different kinds of meat, +two kinds of bread, hothouse grapes, and the richest kind of milk." + +The man said all this in the quietest, calmest manner possible; and +Philip stared at him, more assured than ever that he was a little crazy. +Mrs. Strong looked amused, and said, "You seemed to enjoy the lunch +pretty well." The man had eaten with a zest that was redeemed from +greediness only by a delicacy of manner that no tramp ever possessed. + +"My dear madam," said the man, "perhaps this was a case where the food +was given to one who stood really in need of it." + +Philip started as if he had suddenly caught a meaning from the man's +words which he had not before heard in them. + +"Do you think it was an extravagant lunch, then?" he asked with a very +slight laugh. + +The man looked straight at Philip, and replied slowly, "Yes, for the +times in which we live!" + +A sudden silence fell on the group of three in the parlor of the +parsonage, lighted up by the soft glow of the coal fire. No one except a +person thoroughly familiar with the real character of Philip Strong +could have told why that silence fell on him instead of a careless laugh +at the crazy remark of a half-witted stranger tramp. Just how long the +silence lasted, he did not know. Only, when it was broken he found +himself saying: + +"Man, who are you? Where are you from? And what is your name?" + +His guest turned his head a little, and replied, "When you called me in +here you stretched out your hand and called me 'Brother.' Just now you +called me by the great term, 'Man.' These are my names; you may call me +'Brother Man.'" + +"Well, then, 'Brother Man,'" said Philip, smiling a little to think of +the very strangeness of the whole affair, "your reason for thinking I +was not sincere in my sermon this morning was because of the extravagant +lunch this evening?" + +"Not altogether. There are other reasons." The man suddenly bowed his +head between his hands, and Philip's wife whispered to him, "Philip, +what is the use of talking with a crazy man? You are tired, and it is +time to put out the lights and go to bed. Get him out of the house now +as soon as you can." + +The stranger raised his head and went on talking just as if he had not +broken off abruptly. + +"Other reasons. In your sermon you tell the people they ought to live +less luxuriously. You point them to the situation in this town, where +thousands of men are out of work. You call attention to the great +poverty and distress all over the world, and you say the times demand +that people live far simpler, less extravagant lives. And yet here you +live yourself like a prince. Like a prince," he repeated, after a +peculiar gesture, which seemed to include not only what was in the room +but all that was in the house. + +Philip glanced at his wife as people do when they suspect a third person +being out of his mind, and saw that her expression was very much like +his own feeling, although not exactly. Then they both glanced around the +room. + +It certainly did look luxurious, even if not princely. The parsonage was +an old mansion which had once belonged to a wealthy but eccentric sea +captain. He had built to please himself, something after the colonial +fashion; and large square rooms, generous fireplaces with quaint +mantels, and tiling, and hardwood floors gave the house an appearance of +solid comfort that approached luxury. The church in Milton had purchased +the property from the heirs, who had become involved in ruinous +speculation and parted with the house for a sum little representing its +real worth. It had been changed a little, and modernized, although the +old fireplaces still remained; and one spare room, an annex to the house +proper, had been added recently. There was an air of decided comfort +bordering on luxury in the different pieces of furniture and the whole +appearance of the room. + +"You understand," said Philip, as his glance traveled back to his +visitor, "that this house is not mine. It belongs to my church. It is +the parsonage, and I am simply living in it as the minister." + +"Yes, I understand. You, a minister, are living in this princely house +while other people have not where to lay their heads." + +Again Philip felt the same temptation to anger steal into him, and again +he checked himself at the thought: "The man is certainly insane. The +whole thing is simply absurd. I will get rid of him. And yet----" + +He could not shake off a strange and powerful impression which the +stranger's words had made upon him. Crazy or not, the man had hinted at +the possibility of an insincerity on his part, which made him restless. +He determined to question him and see if he really would develop a +streak of insanity that would justify him in getting rid of him for the +night. + +"Brother Man," he said, using the term his guest had given him, "do you +think I am living to[sic] extravagantly to live as I do?" + +"Yes, in these times and after such a sermon." + +"What would you have me do?" Philip asked the question half seriously, +half amused at himself for asking advice from such a source. + +"Do as you preach that others ought to." + +Again that silence fell over the room. And again Philip felt the same +impression of power in the strange man's words. + +The "Brother Man," as he wished to be called, bowed his head between his +hands again; and Mrs. Strong whispered to her husband: "Now it is +certainly worse than foolish to keep this up any longer. The man is +evidently insane. We cannot keep him here all night. He will certainly +do something terrible. Get rid of him, Philip. This may be a trick on +the part of the whiskey men." + +Never in all his life had Philip been so puzzled to know what to do with +a human being. Here was one, the strangest he had ever met, who had come +into his house; it is true he had been invited, but once within he had +invited himself to stay all night, and then had accused his entertainer +of living too extravagantly and called him an insincere preacher. Add to +all this the singular fact that he had declared his name to be "Brother +Man," and that he spoke with a calmness that was the very incarnation of +peace, and Philip's wonder reached its limit. + +In response to his wife's appeal Philip rose abruptly and went to the +front door; he opened it, and a whirl of snow danced in. The wind had +changed, and the moan of a coming heavy storm was in the air. + +The moment that he opened the door his strange guest also rose, and +putting on his hat he said, as he moved slowly toward the hall, "I must +be going. I thank you for your hospitality, madam." + +Philip stood holding the door partly open. He was perplexed to know just +what to do or say. + +"Where will you stay to-night? Where is your home?" + +"My home is with my friends," replied the man. He laid his hand on the +door, opened it, and had stepped one foot out on the porch, when Philip, +seized with an impulse, laid his hand on his arm, gently but strongly +pulled him back into the hall, shut the door, and placed his back +against it. + +"You cannot go out into this storm until I know whether you have a place +to go to for the night." + +The man hesitated curiously, shuffled his feet on the mat, put his hand +up to his face, and passed it across his eyes with a gesture of great +weariness. There was a look of loneliness and of unknown sorrow about +his whole figure that touched Philip's keenly sensitive spirit +irresistibly. If the man was a little out of his right mind, he was +probably harmless. They could not turn him out into the night if he had +nowhere to go. + +"Brother Man," said Philip, gently, "would you like to stay here +to-night? Have you anywhere else to stay?" + +"You are afraid I will do harm. But no. See. Let us sit down." + +He laid his hat on the table, resumed his seat and asked Philip for a +Bible. Philip handed him one. He opened it and read a chapter from the +Prophet Isaiah, and then; sitting in the chair, bowing his head between +his hands, he offered a prayer of such wonderful beauty and spiritual +refinement of expression that Mr. and Mrs. Strong listened with awed +astonishment. + +When he had uttered the amen Mrs. Strong whispered to Philip, "Surely we +cannot shut him out with the storm. We will give him the spare room." + +Philip said not a word. He at once built up a fire in the room, and in a +few moments invited the man into it. + +"Brother Man," he said simply, "stay here as if this was your own house. +You are welcome for the night." + +"Yes, heartily welcome," said Philip's wife, as if to make amends for +any doubts she had felt before. + +For reply the "Brother Man" raised his hand almost as if in benediction. +And they left him to his rest. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +In the morning Philip knocked at his guest's door to waken him for +breakfast. Not a sound could be heard within. He waited a little while +and then knocked again. It was as still as before. He opened the door +softly and looked in. + +To his amazement there was no one there. The bed was made up neatly, +everything in the room was in its place, but the strange being who had +called himself "Brother Man" was gone. + +Philip exclaimed, and his wife came in. + +"So our queer guest has flown! He must have been very still about it; I +heard no noise. Where do you suppose he is? And who do you suppose he +is?" + +"Are you sure there ever was such a person, Philip? Don't you think you +dreamed all that about the 'Brother Man'?" Mrs. Strong had not quite +forgiven Philip for his sceptical questioning of the reality of the man +with the lantern who had driven the knife into the desk. + +"Yes, it's your turn now, Sarah. Well, if our Brother Man was a dream he +was the most curious dream this family ever had. And if he was crazy he +was the most remarkable insane person I ever saw." + +"Of course he was crazy. All that he said about our living so +extravagantly." + +"Do you think he was crazy in that particular?" asked Philip, in a +strange voice. His wife noticed it at the time, but its true +significance did not become real to her until afterward. He went to the +front door and found it was unlocked. Evidently the guest had gone out +that way. The heavy storm of the night had covered up any possible signs +of footsteps. It was still snowing furiously. + +He went into his study for the forenoon as usual, but he did very little +writing. His wife could hear him pacing the floor restlessly. + +About ten o'clock he came downstairs and declared his intention of going +out into the storm to see if he couldn't settle down to work better. + +He went out and did not return until the middle of the afternoon. Mrs. +Strong was a little alarmed. + +"Where have you been all this time, Philip?--in this terrible storm, +too! You are a monument of snow. Stand out here in the kitchen while I +sweep you off." + +Philip obediently stood still while his wife walked around him with a +broom, and good-naturedly submitted to being swept down, "as if I were +being worked into shape for a snow man," he said. + +"Where have you been? Give an account of yourself." + +"I have been seeing how some other people live. Sarah, the Brother Man +was not so very crazy, after all. He has more than half converted me." + +"Did you find out anything about him?" + +"Yes, several of the older citizens here recognized my description of +him. They say he is harmless and has quite a history; was once a wealthy +mill-owner in Clinton. He wanders about the country, living with any one +who will take him in. It is a queer case; I must find out more about +him. But I'm hungry; can I have a bite of something?" + +"Haven't you had dinner?" + +"No; haven't had time." + +"Where have you been?" + +"Among the tenements." + +"How are the people getting on there?" + +"I cannot tell. It almost chokes me to eat when I think of it." + +"Now, Philip, what makes you take it so seriously? How can you help all +that suffering? You are not to blame for it?" + +"Maybe I am for a part of it. But whether I am or not, there the +suffering is. And I don't know as we ought to ask who is to blame in +such cases. At any rate, supposing the fathers and mothers in the +tenements are to blame themselves by their own sinfulness, does that +make innocent children and helpless babes any warmer or better clothed +and fed? Sarah, I have seen things in these four hours' time that make +me want to join the bomb-throwers of Europe almost." + +Mrs. Strong came up behind his chair as he sat at the table eating, and +placed her hand on his brow. She grew more anxious every day over his +growing personal feeling for others. It seemed to her it was becoming a +passion with him, wearing him out, and she feared its results as winter +deepened and the strike in the mills remained unbroken. + +"You cannot do more than one man, Philip." she said with a sigh. + +"No, but if I can only make the church see its duty at this time and act +the Christlike way a great many persons will be saved." He dropped his +knife and fork, wheeled around abruptly in his chair, and faced her with +the question, "Would you give up this home and be content to live in a +simpler fashion than we have been used to since we came here?" + +"Yes," replied his wife, quietly, "I will go anywhere and suffer +anything with you. What is it you are thinking of now?" + +"I need a little more time. There is a crisis near at hand in my thought +of what Christ would require of me. My dear, I am sure we shall be led +by the spirit of Truth to do what is necessary and for the better saving +of men." + +He kissed his wife tenderly and went upstairs again to his work. All +through the rest of the afternoon and in the evening, as he shaped his +church and pulpit work, the words of the "Brother Man" rang in his ears, +and the situation at the tenements rose in the successive panoramas +before his eyes. As the storm increased in fury with the coming +darkness, he felt that it was typical in a certain sense of his own +condition. He abandoned the work he had been doing at his desk, and, +kneeling down at his couch, he prayed. Mrs. Strong, coming up to the +study to see how his work was getting on, found him kneeling there and +went and kneeled beside him, while together they sought the light +through the storm. + +So the weeks went by and the first Sunday of the next month found +Philip's Christ message even more direct and personal than any he had +brought to his people before. He had spent much of the time going into +the working-men's houses. The tenement district was becoming familiar +territory to him now. He had settled finally what his own action ought +to be. In that action his wife fully concurred. And the members of +Calvary Church, coming in that Sunday morning, were astonished at the +message of their pastor as he spoke to them from the standpoint of +modern Christ. + +"I said a month ago that the age in which we live demands a simpler, +less extravagant style of living. I did not mean by that to condemn the +beauties of art or the marvels of science or the products of +civilization. I merely emphasized what I believe is a mighty but +neglected truth in our modern civilization--that if we would win men to +Christ we must adopt more of his spirit of simple and consecrated +self-denial. I wish it to be distinctly understood as I go on that I do +not condemn any man simply because he is rich or lives in a luxurious +house, enjoying every comfort of modern civilization, every delicacy of +the season, and all physical desires. What I do wish distinctly +understood is the belief which has been burned deep into me ever since +coming to this town, that if the members of this church wish to honor +the Head of the Church and bring men to believe him and save them in +this life and the next, they must be willing to do far more than they +have yet done to make use of the physical comforts and luxuries of their +homes for the blessing and Christianizing of this community. In this +particular I have myself failed to set you an example. The fact that I +have so failed is my only reason for making this matter public this +morning. + +"The situation in Milton to-day is exceedingly serious. I do not need to +prove it to you by figures. If any business man will go through the +tenements he will acknowledge my statements. If any woman will contrast +those dens with her own home, she will, if Christ is a power in her +heart, stand in horror before such a travesty on the sacred thought of +honor. The destitution of the neighborhood is alarming. The number of +men out of work is dangerous. The complete removal of all sympathy +between the Church up here on this street, and the tenement district is +sadder than death. O my beloved!"--Philip stretched out his arms and +uttered a cry that rang in the ears of those who heard it and remained +with some of them a memory for years--"these things ought not so to be! +Where is the Christ spirit with us? Have we not sat in our comfortable +houses and eaten our pleasant food and dressed in the finest clothing +and gone to amusements and entertainments without number, while God's +poor have shivered on the streets, and his sinful ones have sneered at +Christianity as they have walked by our church doors? + +"It is true we have given money to charitable causes. It is true the +town council has organized a bureau for the care and maintenance of +those in want. It is true members of Calvary Church, with other churches +at this time, have done something to relieve the immediate distress of +the town. But how much have we given of ourselves to those in need? Do +we reflect that to reach souls and win them, to bring back humanity to +God and the Christ, the Christian must do something different from the +giving of money now and then? He must give a part of himself. That was +my reason for urging you to move this church building away from this +street into the tenement district, that we might give ourselves to the +people there. The idea is the same in what I now propose. But you will +pardon me if first of all I announce my own action, which I believe is +demanded by the times and would be approved by our Lord." + +Philip stepped up nearer the front of the platform and spoke with an +added earnestness and power which thrilled every hearer. A part of the +great conflict through which he had gone that past month shone out in +his pale face and found partial utterance in his impassioned speech, +especially as he drew near the end. The very abruptness of his +proposition smote the people into breathless attention. + +"The parsonage in which I am living is a large, even a luxurious +dwelling. It has nine large rooms. You are familiar with its +furnishings. The salary this church pays me is $2,000 a year, a sum +which more than provides for my necessary wants. What I have decided to +do is this: I wish this church to reduce this salary one-half and take +the other thousand dollars to the fitting up the parsonage for a refuge +for homeless children, or for some such purpose which will commend +itself to your best judgment. There is money enough in this church alone +to maintain such an institution handsomely, and not a single member of +Calvary suffer any hardship whatever. I will move into a house nearer +the lower part of the town, where I can more easily reach after the +people and live more among them. That is what I propose for myself. It +is not because I believe the rich and the educated do not need the +gospel or the church. The rich and the poor both need the life more +abundantly. But I am firmly convinced that as matters now are, the +church membership through pulpit and pew must give itself more than in +the later ages of the world it has done for the sake of winning men. The +form of self-denial must take a definite, physical, genuinely +sacrificing shape. The Church must get back to the apostolic times in +some particulars and an adaptation of community of goods and a sharing +of certain aspects of civilization must mark the church membership of +the coming twentieth century. An object lesson in self-denial large +enough for men to see, a self-denial that actually gives up luxuries, +money, and even pleasures--this is the only kind that will make much +impression on the people. I believe if Christ was on earth he would +again call for this expression of loyalty to him. He would again say, +'So likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, +he cannot be my disciple?' + +"All this is what I call on the members of this church to do. Do I say +that you ought to abandon your own houses and live somewhere else? No. I +can decide only for myself in a matter of that kind. But this much I do. +Give yourselves in some genuine way to save this town from its evil +wretchedness. It is not so much your money as your own soul that the +sickness of the world needs. This plan has occurred to me. Why could not +every family in this church become a savior to some other family, +interest itself in the other, know the extent of its wants as far as +possible, go to it in person, let the Christian home come into actual +touch with the unchristian, in short, become a natural savior to one +family. There are dozens of families in this church that could do that. +It would take money. It would take time. It would mean real self-denial. +It would call for all your Christian grace and courage. But what does +all this church membership and church life mean if not just such +sacrifice? We cannot give anything to this age of more value than our +own selves. The world of sin and want and despair and disbelief is not +hungering for money or mission-schools or charity balls or state +institutions for the relief of distress, but for live, pulsing, loving +Christian men and women, who reach out live, warm hands, who are willing +to go and give themselves, who will abandon, if necessary, if Christ +calls for it, the luxuries they have these many years enjoyed in order +that the bewildered, disheartened, discontented, unhappy, sinful +creatures of earth may actually learn of the love of God through the +love of man. And that is the only way the world ever has learned of the +love of God. Humanity brought that love to the heart of the race, and it +will continue so to do until this earth's tragedy is all played and the +last light put out. Members of Calvary Church, I call on you in Christ's +name this day to do something for your Master that will really show the +world that you are what you say you are when you claim to be a disciple +of that One who, although he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, +giving up all heaven's glory in exchange for all earth's misery, the end +of which was a cruel and bloody crucifixion. Are we Christ's disciples +unless we are willing to follow him in this particular? We are not our +own. We are bought with a price." + +When that Sunday service closed, Calvary Church was stirred to its +depths. There were more excited people talking together all over the +church than Philip had ever seen before. He greeted several strangers as +usual and was talking with one of them, when one of the trustees came up +and said the Board would like to meet him, if convenient for him, as +soon as he was at liberty. + +Philip accordingly waited in one of the Sunday-school class-rooms with +the trustees, who had met immediately after the sermon, and decided to +have an instant conference with the pastor. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +The door of the class-room was closed and Philip and the trustees were +together. There was a moment of embarrassing silence and then the +spokesman for the Board, a nervous little man, said: + +"Mr. Strong, we hardly know just what to say to this proposition of +yours this morning about going out of the parsonage and turning it into +an orphan asylum. But it is certainly a very remarkable proposition and +we felt as if we ought to meet you at once and talk it over." + +"It's simply impossible," spoke up one of the trustees. "In the first +place, it is impracticable as a business proposition." + +"Do you think so?" asked Philip, quietly. + +"It is out of the question!" said the first speaker, excitedly. "The +church will never listen to it in the world. For my part, if Brother +Strong wishes to----" + +At that moment the sexton knocked at the door and said a man was outside +very anxious to see the minister and have him come down to his house. +There had been an accident, or a fight, or something. Some one was dying +and wanted Mr. Strong at once. So Philip hastily excused himself and +went out, leaving the trustees together. + +The door was hardly shut again when the speaker who had been interrupted +jumped to his feet and exclaimed: + +"As I was saying, for my part, if Brother Strong wishes to indulge in +this eccentric action he will not have the sanction of my vote in the +matter! It certainly is an entirely unheard-of and uncalled-for +proposition." + +"Mr. Strong has, no doubt, a generous motive in this proposed action," +said a third member of the Board; "but the church certainly will not +approve any such step as the giving up of the parsonage. He exaggerates +the need of such a sacrifice. I think we ought to reason him out of the +idea." + +"We called Mr. Strong to the pastorate of Calvary Church," said another; +"and it seems to me he came under the conditions granted in our call. +For the church to allow such an absurd thing as the giving up of the +parsonage to this proposed outside work would be a very unwise move." + +"Yes, and more than that," said the first speaker, "I want to say very +frankly that I am growing tired of the way things have gone since Mr. +Strong came to us. What business has Calvary Church with all these +outside matters, these labor troubles and unemployed men and all the +other matters that have been made the subject of preaching lately? I +want a minister who looks after his own parish. Mr. Strong does not call +on his own people; he has not been inside my house but once since he +came to Milton. Brethren, there is a growing feeling of discontent over +this matter." + +There was a short pause and then one of the members said: + +"Surely, if Mr. Strong feels dissatisfied with his surroundings in the +parsonage or feels as if his work lay in another direction, he is at +liberty to choose another parish. But he is the finest pulpit-minister +we ever had, and no one doubts his entire sincerity. He is a remarkable +man in many respects." + +"Yes, but sincerity may be a very awkward thing if carried too far. And +in this matter of the parsonage I don't see how the trustees can allow +it. Why, what would the other churches think of it? Calvary Church +cannot allow anything of the kind, for the sake of its reputation. But I +would like to hear Mr. Winter's opinion; he has not spoken yet." + +The rest turned to the mill-owner, who as chairman of the Board usually +had much to say, and was regarded as a shrewd and careful business +adviser. In the excitement of the occasion and discussion the usual +formalities of a regular Board-meeting had been ignored. + +Mr. Winter was evidently embarrassed. He had listened to the discussion +of the minister with his head bent down and his thoughts in a whirl of +emotion both for and against the pastor. His naturally inclined business +habits contended against the proposition to give up the parsonage; his +feelings of gratitude to the minister for his personal help the night of +the attack by the mob rose up to defend him. There was with it all an +under-current of self-administered rebuke that the pastor had set the +whole church an example of usefulness. He wondered how many of the +members would voluntarily give up half their incomes for the good of +humanity. He wondered in a confused way how much he would give up +himself. Philip's sermon had made a real impression on him. + +"There is one point we have not discussed yet," he said at last. "And +that is Mr. Strong's offer of half his salary to carry on the work of a +children's refuge or something of that kind." + +"How can we accept such an offer? Calvary Church has always believed in +paying its minister a good salary, and paying it promptly; and we want +our minister to live decently and be able to appear as he should among +the best people," replied the nervous little man who had been first to +speak. + +"Still, we cannot deny that it is a very generous thing for Mr. Strong +to do. He certainly is entitled to credit for his unselfish proposal; no +one can charge him with being worldly-minded," said Mr. Winter, feeling +a new interest in the subject as he found himself defending the minister. + +"Are you in favor of allowing him to do what he proposes in the matter +of the parsonage?" asked another. + +"I don't see that we can hinder Mr. Strong from living anywhere he +pleases if he wants to. The church cannot compel him to live in the +parsonage." + +"No, but it can choose not to have such a minister!" exclaimed the first +speaker again, excitedly; "and I for one am most decidedly opposed to +the whole thing. I do not see how the church can allow it and maintain +its self-respect." + +"Do you think the church is ready to tell Mr. Strong that his services +are not wanted any longer?" asked Mr. Winter coldly. + +"I am, for one of the members, and I know others who feel as I do if +matters go on in this way much longer. I tell you, Brother Winter, +Calvary Church is very near a crisis. Look at the Goldens and the +Malverns and the Albergs. They are all leaving us; and the plain reason +is the nature of the preaching. Why, you know yourself, Brother Winter, +that never has the pulpit of Calvary Church heard such preaching on +people's private affairs." + +Mr. Winter colored and replied angrily, "What has that to do with this +present matter? If the minister wants to live in a simpler style I +don't see what business we have to try to stop it. As to the disposition +of the parsonage, that is a matter of business which rests with the +church to arrange." + +The nervous, irritable little man who had spoken oftenest rose to his +feet and exclaimed, "You can count me out of all this, then! I wash my +hands of the whole affair!" and he went out of the room, leaving the +rest of the Board somewhat surprised at his sudden departure. + +They remained about a quarter of an hour longer, discussing the matter, +and finally, at Mr. Winter's suggestion, a committee was appointed to go +and see the minister the next evening and see if he could not be +persuaded to modify or change his proposition made in the morning +sermon. The rest of the trustees insisted that Mr. Winter himself should +act as chairman of the committee, and after some remonstrance he +finally, with great reluctance, agreed to do so. + +So Philip next evening, as he sat in his study mapping out the week's +work and wondering a little what the church would do in the face of his +proposal, received the committee, welcoming them in his bright, hearty +manner. He had been notified on Sunday evening of the approaching +conference. The committee consisted of Mr. Winter and two other +members of the Board. + +Mr. Winter opened the conversation with considerable embarrassment and +an evident reluctance for his share in the matter. + +"Mr. Strong, we have come, as you are aware, to talk over your +proposition of yesterday morning concerning the parsonage. It was a +great surprise to us all." + +Philip smiled a little. "Mrs. Strong says I act too much on impulse, and +do not prepare people enough for my statements. But one of the greatest +men I ever knew used to say that an impulse was a good thing to obey +instantly if there was no doubt of its being a right one." + +"And do you consider this proposed move of yours a right one, Mr. +Strong?" asked Mr. Winter. + +"I do," replied Philip, with quiet emphasis. "I do not regret making it, +and I believe it is my duty to abide by my original decision." + +"Do you mean that you intend actually to move out of this parsonage?" +asked one of the other members of the committee. + +"Yes." Philip said it so quietly and yet so decidedly that the men were +silent a moment. Then Mr. Winter said: + +"Mr. Strong, this matter is likely to cause trouble in the church, and +we might as well understand it frankly. The trustees believe that as the +parsonage belongs to the church property, and was built for the +minister, he ought to live in it. The church will not understand your +desire to move out." + +"Do you understand it, Mr. Winter?" Philip put the question point blank. + +"No, I don't know that I do, wholly." Mr. Winter colored and replied in +a hesitating manner. + +"I gave my reasons yesterday morning. I do not know that I can make them +plainer. The truth is I cannot go on preaching to my people about living +on a simpler basis while I continue to live in surroundings that on the +face of them contradict my own convictions. In other words, I am living +beyond my necessities here. I have lived all my life surrounded by the +luxuries of civilization. If now I desire to give these benefits to +those who have never enjoyed them, or to know from nearer contact +something of the bitter struggle of the poor, why should I be hindered +from putting that desire into practical form?" + +"The question is, Mr. Strong," said one of the other trustees, "whether +this is the best way to get at it. We do not question your sincerity +nor doubt your honesty; but will your leaving the parsonage and living +in a less expensive house on half your present salary help your church +work or reach more people and save more souls?" + +"I am glad you put it that way," exclaimed Philip, eagerly turning to +the speaker. "That is just it. Will my proposed move result in bringing +the church and the minister into closer and more vital relations with +the people most in need of spiritual and physical uplifting? Out of the +depths of my nature I believe it will. The chasm between the Church and +the people in these days must be bridged by the spirit of sacrifice in +material things. It is in vain for us to preach spiritual truths unless +we live physical truths. What the world is looking for to-day is object +lessons in self-denial on the part of Christian people." + +For a moment no one spoke. Then Mr. Winter said: + +"About your proposal that this house be turned into a refuge or home for +homeless children, Mr. Strong, do you consider that idea practicable? Is +it business? Is it possible?" + +"I believe it is, very decidedly. The number of homeless and vagrant +children at present in Milton would astonish you. This house could be +put into beautiful shape as a detention house until homes could be found +for the children in Christian families." + +"It would take a great deal of money to manage it." + +"Yes," replied Philip, with a sadness which had its cause deep within +him, "it would cost something. But can the world be saved cheaply? Does +not every soul saved cost an immense sum, if not of money at least of an +equivalent? Is it possible for us to get at the heart of the great +social problem without feeling the need of using all our powers to solve +it rightly?" + +Mr. Winter shook his head. He did not understand the minister. His action +and his words were both foreign to the mill-owner's regular business +habits of thought and performance. + +"What will you do, Mr. Strong, if the church refuses to listen to this +proposed plan of yours?" + +"I suppose," answered Philip, after a little pause, "the church will not +object to my living in another house at my own charges?" + +"They have no right to compel you to live here." Mr. Winter turned to +the other members of the committee. "I said so at our previous meeting. +Gentlemen, am I not right in that?" + +"It is not a question of our compelling Mr. Strong to live here," said +one of the others. "It is a question of the church's expecting him to do +so. It is the parsonage and the church home for the minister. In my +opinion it will cause trouble if Mr. Strong moves out. People will not +understand it." + +"That is my belief, too, Mr. Strong," said Mr. Winter. "It would be +better for you to modify or change, or better still, to abandon this +plan. It will not be understood and will cause trouble." + +"Suppose the church should rent the parsonage then," suggested Philip; +"it would then be getting a revenue from the property. That, with the +thousand dollars on my salary, could be wisely and generously used to +relieve much suffering in Milton this winter. The church could easily +rent the house." + +That was true, as the parsonage stood on one of the most desirable parts +of B street, and would command good rental. + +"Then you persist in this plan of yours, do you, Mr. Strong?" asked the +third member of the committee, who had for the most part been silent. + +"Yes, I consider that under the circumstances, local and universal, it +is my duty. Where I propose to go is a house which I can get for eight +dollars a month. It is near the tenement district, and not so far from +the church and this neighborhood that I need be isolated too much from +my church family." + +Mr. Winter looked serious and perplexed. The other trustees looked +dissatisfied. It was evident they regarded the whole thing with disfavor. + +Mr. Winter rose abruptly. He could not avoid a feeling of anger, in +spite of his obligation to the minister. He also had a vivid +recollection of his former interview with the pastor in that study. And +yet he struggled with the vague resistance against the feeling that +Philip was proposing to do a thing that could result in only one way--of +suffering for himself. With all the rest went a suppressed but conscious +emotion of wonder that a man would of his own free will give up a +luxurious home for the sake of any one. + +"The matter of reduction of salary, Mr. Strong, will have to come before +the church. The trustees cannot vote to accept your proposal. I am very +much mistaken if the members of Calvary Church will not oppose the +reduction. You can see how it would place us in an unfavorable light." + +"Not necessarily, Mr. Winter," said Philip, eagerly. "If the church will +simply regard it as my own great desire and as one of the ways by which +we may help forward our work in Milton, I am very sure we need have no +fear of being put in a false light. The church does not propose this +reduction. It comes from me, and in a time of peculiar emergency, both +financial and social. It is a thing which has been done several times by +other ministers." + +"That may be. Still, I am positive that Calvary Church will regard it as +unnecessary and will oppose it." + +"It will not make any difference, practically," replied Philip, with a +smile. "I can easily dispose of a thousand dollars where it is needed by +others more than by me. But I would prefer that the church would +actually pay out the money to them, rather than myself." + +Mr. Winter and the other trustees looked at Philip in wonder; and with a +few words of farewell they left the parsonage. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +The following week Calvary Church held a meeting. It was one of the most +stormiest meetings ever held by the members. In that meeting Mr. Winter +again, to the surprise of nearly all, advised caution, and defended the +minister's action up to a certain point. The result was a condition of +waiting and expectancy, rather than downright condemnation of the +proposed action on Philip's part. It would be presenting the church in +a false light to picture it as entirely opposed, up to this date, to +Philip's preaching and ideas of Christian living. He had built up a +strong buttress of admiring and believing members in the church. This +stood, with Mr. Winter's influence, as a breakwater against the tidal +wave of opposition now beginning to pour in upon him. There was an +element in Calvary Church conservative to a degree, and yet strong in +its growing belief that Christian action and Church work in the world +had reached a certain crisis, which would result either in the death or +life of the Church in America. Philip's preaching had strengthened this +feeling. His last move had startled this element, and it wished to wait +for developments. The proposal of some that the minister be requested to +resign was finally overruled, and it was decided not to oppose his +desertion of the parsonage, while the matter of reduction of salary was +voted upon in the negative. + +But feeling was roused to a high pitch. Many of the members declared +their intention of refusing to attend services. Some said they would not +pay their pledges any longer. A prevailing minority, however, ruled in +favor of Philip, and the action of the meeting was formally sent him by +the clerk. + +Meanwhile Philip moved out of the parsonage into his new quarters. The +daily paper, which had given a sensational account of his sermon, laying +most stress upon his voluntary proposition referring to his salary, now +came out with a column and a half devoted to his carrying out of his +determination to abandon the parsonage and get nearer the people in the +tenements. The article was widely copied and variously commented upon. +In Milton his action was condemned by many, defended by some. Very few +seemed to understand his exact motive. The majority took it as an +eccentric move, and expressed regret in one form and another that a man +of such marked intellectual power as Mr. Strong seemed to possess lacked +balance and good judgment. Some called him a crank. The people in the +tenement district were too much absorbed in their sufferings and +selfishness to show any demonstration. It remained to be seen whether +they would be any better touched by him in his new home. + +So matters stood when the first Sunday of a new month came, and Mr. +Strong again stood before his church with his Christ message. It had +been a wearing month to him. Gradually there had been growing upon him a +sense of almost isolation in his pulpit work. He wondered if he had +interpreted Christ aright. He probed deeper and deeper into the springs +of action that moved the historical Jesus, and again and again put that +resplendently calm, majestic, suffering personality into his own pulpit +in Milton, and then stood off, as it were, to watch what he would, in +all human probability, say. He reviewed all his own sayings on those +first Sundays and tried to tax himself with utmost severity for any +denial of his Master or any false presentation of his spirit; and as he +went over the ground he was almost overwhelmed to think how little had +been really accomplished. This time he came before the church with the +experience of nearly three weeks' hand-to-hand work among the people for +whose sake he had moved out of the parsonage. As usual an immense +congregation thronged the church. + +"The question has come to me lately in different forms," began Philip, +"as to what is church work. I am aware that my attitude on the question +is not shared by many of the members of this church and other churches. +Nevertheless, I stand here to-day, as I have stood on these Sundays, to +declare to you what in deepest humility would seem to me to be the +attitude of Christ in the matter before us. + +"What is a church? It is a body of disciples professing to acknowledge +Christ as Master. What does He want such a body to do? Whatever will +most effectively make God's kingdom come on earth, and His will be done +as in heaven. What is the most necessary work of this church in Milton? +It is to go out and seek and save the lost. It is to take up its cross +and follow the Master. And as I see Him to-day he beckons this church to +follow Him into the tenements and slums of this town and be Christs to +those who do not know Him. As I see Him He stands beckoning with pierced +palms in the direction of suffering and disease and ignorance and vice +and paganism, saying: 'Here is where the work of Calvary Church lies.' +I do not believe the work of this church consists in having so many +meetings and socials and pleasant gatherings and delightful occasions +among its own members; but the real work of this church consists in +getting out of its own little circle in which it has been so many years +moving, and going, in any way most effective to the world's wounded, to +bind up the hurt and be a savior to the lost. If we do not understand +this to be the true meaning of church work, then I believe we miss its +whole meaning. Church work in Milton to-day does not consist in doing +simply what your fathers did before you. It means helping to make a +cleaner town, the purification of our municipal life, the actual +planning and accomplishment of means to relieve physical distress, a +thorough understanding of the problem of labor and capital; in brief, +church work to-day in this town is whatever is most needed to be done to +prove to this town that we are what we profess ourselves to +be--disciples of Jesus Christ. That is the reason I give more time to +the tenement district problem than to calling on families that are well, +and in possession of great comforts and privileges. That is the reason I +call on this church to do Christ's work in His name and give itself to +save that part of our town." + +This is but the briefest of the sketches of Philip's sermon. It was a +part of himself, his experience, his heart belief. He poured it out on +the vast audience with little saving of his vitality. And that Sunday he +went home at night exhausted, with a feeling of weariness partly due to +his work during the week among the people. The calls upon his time and +strength had been incessant, and he did not know where or when to stop. + +It was three weeks after this sermon on church work that Philip was +again surprised by his strange visitor of a month before. He had been +out making some visits in company with his wife. When they came back to +the house, there sat the Brother Man on the door-step. + +At sight of him, Philip felt that same thrill of expectancy which had +passed over him at his former appearance. + +The old man stood up and took off his hat. He looked very tired and +sorrowful. But there breathed from his entire bearing the element of a +perfect peace. + +"Brother Man," said Philip, cheerily, "come in and rest yourself." + +"Can you keep me over night?" + +The question was put wistfully. Philip was struck by the difference +between this almost shrinking request and the self-invitation of a month +before. + +"Yes, indeed! We have one spare room for you. You are welcome. Come in." + +So they went in, and after tea the two sat down together while Mrs. +Strong was busy in the kitchen. A part of this conversation was +afterward related by the minister to his wife; a part of it he afterward +said was unreportable----the manner of tone, the inflection, the gesture +of his remarkable guest no man could reproduce. + +"You have moved since I saw you last," said the visitor. + +"Yes," replied Philip. "You did not expect me to act on your advice so +soon?" + +"My advice?" The question came in a hesitating tone. "Did I advise you +to move? Ah, yes, I remember!" A light like supremest reason flashed +over the man's face, and then died out. "Yes, yes; you are beginning to +live on your simpler basis. You are doing as you preach. That must feel +good." + +"Yes," replied Philip, "it does feel good. Do you think, Brother Man, +that this will help to solve the problem?" + +"What problem?" + +"Why, the problem of the church and the people--winning them, saving +them." + +"Are your church members moving out of their elegant houses and coming +down here to live?" The old man asked the question in utmost simplicity. + +"No; I did not ask them." + +"You ought to." + +"What! Do you believe my people ought literally to leave their +possessions and live among the people?" + +Philip could not help asking the question, and all the time he was +conscious of a strange absurdity mingled with an unaccountable respect +for his visitor, and his opinion. + +"Yes," came the reply, with the calmness of light. "Christ would demand +it if he were pastor of Calvary Church in this age. The church members, +the Christians in this century, must renounce all that they have, or +they cannot be his disciples." + +Philip sat profoundly silent. The words spoken so quietly by this +creature tossed upon his own soul like a vessel in a tempest. He dared +not say anything for a moment. The Brother Man looked over and said at +last: "What have you been preaching about since you came here?" + +"A great many things." + +"What are some of the things you have preached about?" + +"Well," Philip clasped his hands over his knees; "I have preached about +the right and wrong uses of property, the evil of the saloon, the Sunday +as a day of rest and worship, the necessity of moving our church +building down into this neighborhood, the need of living on a simpler +basis, and, lastly, the true work of a church in these days." + +"Has your church done what you have wished?" + +"No," replied Philip, with a sigh. + +"Will it do what you preach ought to be done?" + +"I do not know." + +"Why don't you resign?" + +The question came with perfect simplicity, but it smote Philip almost +like a blow. It was spoken with calmness that hardly rose above a +whisper, but it seemed to the listener almost like a shout. The thought +of giving up his work simply because his church had not yet done what he +wished, or because some of his people did not like him, was the last +thing a man of his nature would do. He looked again at the man and said: + +"Would you resign if you were in my place?" + +"No." It was so quietly spoken that Philip almost doubted if his visitor +had replied. Then he said: "What has been done with the parsonage?" + +"It is empty. The church is waiting to rent it to some one who expects +to move to Milton soon." + +"Are you sorry you came here?" + +"No; I am happy in my work." + +"Do you have enough to eat and wear?" + +"Yes, indeed. The thousand dollars which the church refused to take off +my salary goes to help where most needed; the rest is more than enough +for us." + +"Does your wife think so?" The question from any one else had been +impertinent. From this man it was not. + +"Let us call her in and ask her," replied Philip, with a smile. + +"Sarah, the Brother Man wants to know if you have enough to live on." + +Sarah came in and sat down. It was dark. The year was turning into the +softer months of spring, and all the out-door world had been a +benediction that evening if the sorrow and poverty and sin of the +tenement district so near had not pervaded the very walls and atmosphere +of the entire place. The minister's wife answered bravely: "Yes, we +have food and clothing and life's necessaries. But, oh, Philip! this +life is wearing you out. Yes, Brother Man." she continued, while a tear +rolled over her cheek, "the minister is giving his life blood for these +people, and they do not care. It is a vain sacrifice." She had spoken as +frankly as if the old man had been her father. There was a something in +him which called out such confidence. + +Mr. Strong soothed his wife, clasping her to him tenderly. "There, +Sarah, you are nervous and tired. I am a little discouraged, but strong +and hearty for the work. Brother Man, you must not think we regret your +advice. We have been blessed by following it." + +And then their remarkable guest stretched out his arms through the +gathering gloom in the room and seemed to bless them. Later in the +evening he again called for a Bible, and offered a prayer of wondrous +sweetness. He was shown to his plainly-furnished room. He looked around +and smiled. + +"This is like my old home," he said; "a palace, where the poor die of +hunger." + +Philip started at the odd remark, then recollected that the old man had +once been wealthy, and sometimes in his half-dazed condition Philip +thought probable he confounded the humblest surroundings with his once +luxurious home. He lingered a moment, and the man said, as if speaking +to himself: "If they do not renounce all they have, they cannot be my +disciples." + +"Good-night, Brother Man." cried Philip, as he went out. + +"Good-night, Christ's man," replied his guest. And Philip went to his +rest that night, great questions throbbing in him, and the demands of +the Master more distinctly brought to his attention than ever. + +Again, as before when he rose in the morning, he found that his visitor +was gone. His eccentric movements accounted his sudden disappearances, +but they were disappointed. They wanted to see their guest again and +question him about his history. They promised themselves he would do so +next time. + +The following Sunday Philip preached one of those sermons which come to +a man once or twice in a whole ministry. It was the last Sunday of the +month, and not a special occasion. But there had surged into his thought +the meaning of the Christian life with such uncontrollable power that +his sermon reached hearts never before touched. He remained at the close +of the service to talk with several young men, who seemed moved as never +before. After they had gone away he went into his own room back of the +platform to get something he had left there, and to his surprise found +the church sexton kneeling down by one of the chairs. As the minister +came in the man rose and turned toward him. + +"Mr. Strong, I want to be a Christian. I want to join the church and +lead a different life." + +Philip clasped his hand, while tears rolled over the man's face. He +stayed and talked with him, and prayed with him, and when he finally +went home the minister was convinced it was as strong and true a +conversion as he had ever seen. He at once related the story to his +wife, who had gone on before to get dinner. + +"Why, Philip," she exclaimed, when he said the sexton wanted to be +baptized and unite with the church at the next communion, "Calvary +Church will never allow him to unite with us!" + +"Why not?" asked Philip, in amazement. + +"Because he is a negro," replied his wife. + +Philip stood a moment in silence with his hat in his hand, looking at +his wife as she spoke. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +"Well," said Philip, slowly, as he seemed to grasp the meaning of his +wife's words, "to tell the truth, I never thought of that!" He sat down +and looked troubled. "Do you think, Sarah, that because he is a negro +the church will refuse to receive him to membership? It would not be +Christian to refuse him." + +"There are other things that are Christian which the Church of Christ on +earth does not do, Philip,["] replied his wife, almost bitterly. "But +whatever else Calvary Church may do or not do, I am very certain it will +never consent to admit to membership a black man." + +"But here[sic] are so few negroes in Milton that they have no church. I +cannot counsel him to unite with his own people. Calvary Church must +admit him!" Philip spoke with the quiet determination which always +marked his convictions when they were settled. + +"But suppose the committee refuses to report his name favorably to the +church--what then?" Mrs. Strong spoke with a gleam of hope in her heart +that Philip would be roused to indignation that he would resign and +leave Milton. + +Philip did not reply at once. He was having an inward struggle with his +sensitiveness and his interpretation of his Christ. At last he said: + +"I don't know, Sarah. I shall do what I think He would. What I shall do +afterward will also depend on what Christ would do. I cannot decide it +yet. I have great faith in the Church on earth." + +"And yet what has it done for you so far, Philip? The business men +still own and rent the saloons and gambling houses. The money spent by +the church is all out of proportion to its wealth. Here you give away +half your salary to build up the kingdom of God, and more than a dozen +men in Calvary who are worth fifty and a hundred thousand dollars give +less than a hundredth part of their income to Christian work in +connection with the church. It makes my blood boil, Philip, to see how +you are throwing your life away in these miserable tenements, and +wasting your appeals on a church that plainly does not intend to do, +does not want to do, as Christ would have it. And I don't believe it +ever will." + +"I'm not so sure of that, Sarah," replied Philip, cheerfully. "I believe +I shall win them yet. The only thing that sometimes troubles me is, Am I +doing just as Christ would do? Am I saying what He would say in this age +of the world? There is one thing of which I am certain--I am trying to +do just as I believe He would. The mistakes I make are those which +spring from my failure to interpret His action right. And yet I do feel +deep in me that if He was pastor of this church to-day, He would do most +of the things I have done; He would preach most of the truths I have +proclaimed. Don't you think so, Sarah?" + +"I don't know, Philip. Yes, I think in most things you have made an +honest attempt to interpret Him." + +"And in the matter of the sexton, Sarah, wouldn't Christ tell Calvary +Church that it should admit him to its membership? Would He make any +distinction of persons? If the man is a Christian, thoroughly converted, +and wants to be baptized and unite with Christ's body on earth, would +Christ, as pastor, refuse him admission?" + +"There is a great deal of race prejudice among the people. If you press +the matter, Philip, I feel sure it will meet with great opposition." + +"That is not the question with me. Would Christ tell Calvary Church that +the man ought to be admitted? That is the question. I believe He +would," added Philip, with his sudden grasp of practical action. And +Mrs. Strong knew that settled it with her husband. + +It was the custom in Calvary Church for the church committee on new +names for membership to meet at the minister's house on the Monday +evening preceding the preparatory service. At that service all names +presented by the committee were formally acted upon by the church. The +committee's action was generally considered final, and the voting was in +accordance with the committee's report. + +So when the committee came in that evening following the Sunday that had +witnessed the conversion of the sexton, Philip had ready a list of +names, including several young men. It was a very precious list to him. +It seemed almost for the first time since he came to Milton as if the +growing opposition to him was about to be checked, and finally submerged +beneath a power of the Holy Spirit, which it was Philip's daily prayer +might come and do the work which he alone could not do. That was one +reason he had borne the feeling against himself so calmly. + +Philip read the list over to the committee, saying something briefly +about nearly all the applicants for membership and expressing his joy +that the young men especially were coming into the church family. When +he reached the sexton's name he related, simply, the scene with him +after the morning service. + +There was an awkward pause then. The committee was plainly astonished. +Finally one said: "Brother Strong, I'm afraid the church will object +to receiving the sexton. What is his name?" + +"Henry Roland." + +"Why, he has been sexton of Calvary Church for ten years," said another, +an older member of the committee, Deacon Stearns by name. "He has been +an honest, capable man. I never heard any complaint of him. He has +always minded his own business. However, I don't know how the church +will take it to consider him as an applicant for membership." + +"Why, brethren, how can it take it in any except the Christian way?" +said Philip, eagerly. "Here is a man who gives evidence of being born +again. He cannot be present to-night when the other applicants come in +later, owing to work he must do, but I can say for him that he gave all +evidence of a most sincere and thorough conversion; he wishes to be +baptized; he wants to unite with the church. He is of more than average +intelligence. He is not a person to thrust himself into places where +people do not wish him--a temperate, industrious, modest, quiet workman, +a Christian believer asking us to receive him at the communion table of +our Lord. There is no church for his own people here. On what possible +pretext can the church refuse to admit him?" + +"You do not know some of the members of Calvary Church, Mr. Strong, if +you ask such a question. There is a very strong prejudice against the +negro in many families. This prejudice is especially strong just at this +time, owing to several acts of depredation committed by the negroes +living down near the railroad tracks. I don't believe it would be wise +to present this name just now." Deacon Stearns appeared to speak for the +committee, all of whom murmured assent in one form or another. + +"And yet," said Philip, roused to a sudden heat of indignation; "and +yet what is Calvary Church doing to help to make those men down by the +railroad tracks any better? Are we concerned about them at all except +when our coal or wood or clothing are stolen, or some one is held up +down there? And when one of them knocks at the door of the church, can +we calmly and coldly shut it in his face, simply because God made it a +different color from ours?" Philip stopped and then finished by saying +very quietly: "Brethren, do you think Christ would receive this man into +the church?" + +There was no reply for a moment. Then Deacon Stearns answered: "Brother +Strong, we have to deal with humanity as it is. You cannot make people +all over. This prejudice exists and sometimes we may have to respect it +in order to avoid greater trouble. I know families in the church who +will certainly withdraw if the sexton is voted in as a member. And +still," said the old deacon, with a sigh, "I believe Christ would +receive him into His Church." + +Before much more could be said, the different applicants came, and as +the custom was, after a brief talk with them about their purpose in +uniting with the church, and their discipleship, they withdrew and the +committee formally acted on the names for presentation to the church. +The name of Henry Roland, the sexton, was finally reported unfavorably, +three of the committee voting against it, Deacon Stearns at last voting +with the minister to present the sexton's name with the others. + +"Now, brethren," said Philip, with a sad smile, as they rose to go, "you +know I have always been very frank in all our relations together. And I +am going to present the sexton's name to the church Thursday night and +let the church vote on it in spite of the action here to-night. You know +we have only recommending power. The church is the final authority. And +it may accept or reject any names we present. I cannot rest satisfied +until we know the verdict of the church in the matter." + +"Brother Strong," said one of the committee, who had been opposed to the +sexton, "you are right as to the extent of our authority. But there is +no question in my mind as to the outcome of the matter. It is a question +of expediency. I do not have any feeling against the sexton. But I think it +would be very unwise to receive him into membership, and I do not +believe the church will receive him. If you present the name, you do so +on your own responsibility." + +"With mine," said Deacon Stearns. He was the last to shake hands with +the minister, and his warm, strong grasp gave Philip a sense of +fellowship that thrilled him with a sense of courage and companionship +very much needed. He at once went up to his study after the committee +was gone. Mrs. Strong, coming up to see him later, found him as she +often did now, on his knees in prayer. Ah, thou follower of Jesus in +this century, what but thy prayers shall strengthen thy soul in the +strange days to come? + +Thursday evening was stormy. A heavy rain had set in before dark and a +high wind blew great sheets of water through the streets and rattled +loose boards and shingles about the tenements. Philip would not let his +wife go out; it was too stormy. So he went his way alone, somewhat +sorrowful at heart as he contemplated the prospect of a small attendance +on what he had planned should be an important occasion. + +However, some of the best members of the church were out. The very ones +that were in sympathy with Philip and his methods were in the majority +of those present, and that led to an unexpected result when the names of +the applicants for membership came before the church for action. + +Philip read the list approved by the committee, and then very simply but +powerfully told the sexton's story and the refusal of the committee to +recommend him for membership. + +"Now, I do not see how we can shut this disciple of Jesus out of His +Church," concluded Philip. "And I wish to present him to this church for +its action. He is a Christian; he needs our help and our fellowship; +and, as Christian believers, as disciples of the Man of all the race, as +those who believe that there is to be no distinction of souls hereafter +that shall separate them by prejudice, I hope you will vote to receive +this brother in Christ to our membership." + +The voting on new members was done by ballot. When the ballots were all +in and counted it was announced that all whose names were presented were +unanimously elected except that of the sexton. There were twelve votes +against him, but twenty-six for him, and Philip declared that, according +to the constitution of the church, he was duly elected. The meeting then +went on in the usual manner characteristic of preparatory service. The +sexton had been present in the back part of the room, and at the close +of the meeting, after all the rest had gone, he and Philip had a long +talk together. When Philip reached home he and Sarah had another long +talk on the same subject. What that was we cannot tell until we come to +record the events of the Communion Sunday, a day that stood out in +Philip's memory like one of the bleeding palms of his Master, pierced +with sorrow but eloquent with sacrifice. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +The day was beautiful, and the church as usual crowded to the doors. +There was a feeling of hardly concealed excitement on the part of +Calvary Church. The action of Thursday night had been sharply +criticised. Very many thought Philip had gone beyond his right in +bringing such an important subject before so small a meeting of the +members; and the prospect of the approaching baptism and communion of +the sexton had drawn in a crowd of people who ordinarily stayed away +from that service. + +Philip generally had no preaching on Communion Sunday. This morning he +remained on the platform after the opening exercises, and, in a +stillness which was almost painful in its intensity, he began to speak +in a low but clear and impressive voice. + +"Fellow-disciples of the Church of Christ on earth, we meet to celebrate +the memory of that greatest of all beings, who, on the eve of His own +greatest agony, prayed that His disciples might all be one. In that +prayer He said nothing about color or race or difference of speech or +social surroundings. His prayer was that His disciples might all be +one--one in their aims, in their purposes, their sympathy, their faith, +their hope, their love. + +"An event has happened in this church very recently which makes it +necessary for me to say these words. The Holy Spirit came into this room +last Sunday and touched the hearts of several young men, who gave +themselves then and here to the Lord Jesus Christ. Among the men was one +of another race from the Anglo-Saxon. He was a black man. His heart was +melted by the same love, his mind illuminated by the same truth; he +desired to make confession of his belief, be baptized according to the +commands of Jesus, and unite with this church as a humble disciple of +the lowly Nazarene. His name was presented with the rest at the regular +committee meeting last Monday, and that committee, by a vote of three to +two, refused to present his name with recommendations for membership. On +my own responsibility at the preparatory service Thursday night I asked +the church to act upon this disciple's name. There was a legal quorum of +the church present. By a vote of 26 to 12 the applicant for membership +was received according to the rules of this church. + +"But after that meeting the man came to me and said that he was +unwilling to unite with the church, knowing that some objected to his +membership. It was a natural feeling for him to have. We had a long talk +over the matter. Since then I have learned that if a larger +representation of members had been present at the preparatory meeting, +there is a possibility that the number voting against receiving the +applicant would have been much larger than those who voted for him. + +"Under all these circumstances I have deemed it my duty to say what I +have thus far said, and to ask the church to take the action I now +propose. We are met here this morning in full membership. Here is a soul +just led out of the darkness by the spirit of truth. He is one known to +many of you as an honest, worthy man, for many years faithful in the +discharge of his duties in this house. There is no Christian reason why +he should be denied fellowship around this table. I wish, therefore, to +ask the members of the church to vote again on the acceptance or +rejection of Henry Roland, disciple of Jesus, who has asked for +permission to this body of Christ in His name. Will all those in favor +of thus receiving our brother into the great family of faith signify it +by raising the right hand?" + +For a moment not a person in the church stirred. Every one seemed +smitten into astonished inaction by the sudden proposal of the minister. +Then hands began to go up. Philip counted them, his heart beating with +anguish as he foresaw the coming result. He waited a minute, it seemed +to many like several minutes, and then said: "All those opposed to the +admission of the applicant signify it by the same sign." + +Again there was the same significant, reluctant pause; then half a dozen +hands went up in front of the church. Instantly, from almost every part +of the house, hands went up in numbers that almost doubled those who had +voted in favor of admission. From the gallery on the sides, where +several of Philip's work-men friends sat, a hiss arose. It was slight, +but heard by the entire congregation. Philip glanced up there and it +instantly ceased. + +Without another word he stepped down from the platform and began to read +the list of those who had been received into church membership. He had +almost reached the end of it when a person whose name was called last +rose from his seat near the front, where all the newly received members +were in the habit of sitting together, and, turning partly around so as +to face the congregation and still address Philip, he said: + +"Mr. Strong, I do not feel as if after what has taken place here this +morning that I could unite with this church. This man who has been +excluded from church membership is the son of a woman born into slavery +on the estate of one of my relatives. That slave woman once nursed her +master through a terrible illness and saved his life. This man, her son, +was then a little child. But in the strange changes that have gone on +since the war, the son of the old master has been reduced to poverty and +obliged to work for a living. He is now in this town. He is this very +day lying upon a sick bed in the tenement district. And this black man +has for several weeks out of his small earnings helped the son of his +mother's master and cared for him through his illness with all the +devotion of a friend. + +"I have only lately learned these facts. But, knowing them as I do, and +believing that he is as worthy to sit about this table as any Christian +here, I cannot reconcile the rejection with my own purpose to unite +here. I therefore desire to withdraw my application for membership here. +Mr. Strong, I desire to be baptized and partake of the communion as a +disciple of Christ, simply, not as a member of Calvary Church. Can I do +so?" + +Philip replied in a choking voice: "You can." The man sat down. It was +not the place for any demonstration, but again from the gallery came a +slight but distinct note of applause. As before, it instantly subsided +as Philip looked up. For a moment every one held his breath and waited +for the minister's action. Philip's face was pale and stern. What his +sensitive nature suffered in that moment no one ever knew, not even his +wife, who almost started from her seat, fearing that he was about to +faint. For a moment there was a hesitation about Philip's manner so +unusual with him that some thought he was going to leave the church. But +he quickly called on his will to assert its power, and, taking up the +regular communion service, he calmly took charge of it as if nothing out +of the way had occurred. He did not even allude to the morning's +incident in his prayers. Whatever else the people might think of Philip, +they certainly could find no fault with his self-possession. His conduct +of the service on that memorable Sunday was admirable. + +When it was over he was surrounded by different ones who had taken part +either for or against the sexton. There was much said about the matter. +But all the arguments and excuses and comments on the affair could not +remove the heart-ache from Philip. He could not reconcile the action of +the church with the spirit of the church's Master, Jesus; and when he +finally reached home and calmly reviewed the events of the morning, he +was more and more grieved for the church and for his Master. It seemed +to him that a great mistake had been made, and that Calvary Church had +disgraced the name of Christianity. + +As he had been in the habit of doing since he moved into the +neighborhood of the tenements, Philip went out in the afternoon to visit +the sick and the sorrowful. The shutting down of the mills had resulted +in an immense amount of suffering and trouble. As spring came on some +few of the mills had opened, and men had found work in them at a +reduction of wages. The entire history of the enforced idleness of +thousands of men in Milton during that eventful winter would make a +large volume of thrilling narrative. Philip's story but touches on this +other. He had grown rapidly familiar with the different phases of life +which loafed and idled and drank itself away during that period of +inaction. Hundreds of men had drifted away to other places in search of +work. Almost as many more had taken to the road to swell the +ever-increasing number of professional tramps, and, in time, to develop +into petty thieves and criminals. But those who remained had a desperate +struggle with poverty. Philip grew sick at heart as he went among the +people and saw the complete helplessness, the utter estrangement of +sympathy and community of feeling between the church people and these +representatives of the physical labor of the world. Every time he went +out to do his visiting this feeling deepened in him. This Sunday +afternoon in particular it seemed to him as if the depression and +discouragement of the tenement district weighed on him like a great +burden, bearing him down to the earth with sorrow and heart-ache. + +He had been in the habit of going out to Communion Sunday with the +emblems of Christ to observe the rite by the bedsides of the aged or +ill, or those who could not get out to church. He carried with him this +time a basket containing a part of the communion service. After going to +the homes of one or two invalid church-members, he thought of the person +who had been mentioned by the man in the morning as living in the +tenement district and in a critical condition. He had secured his +address, and after a little inquiry he soon found himself in a part of +the tenements near to him. + +He climbed up three flights of stairs and knocked at the door. It was +opened by the sexton. He greeted Philip with glad surprise. + +The minister smiled sadly. + +"So, my brother, it is true you are serving your Master here? My heart +is grieved at the action of the church this morning." + +"Don't say anything, Mr. Strong. You did all you could. But you are just +in time to see him." The sexton pointed into a small back room. "He is +going fast. I didn't suppose he was so near. I would have asked you to +come, but I didn't think he was failing so." + +Philip followed the sexton into the room. The son of the old +slave-master was sinking rapidly. He was conscious, however, and at +Philip's quiet question concerning his peace with God, a smile passed +over his face and he moved his lips. Philip understood him. A sudden +thought occurred to Philip. He opened the basket, took out the bread and +wine, set them on the small table, and said: + +"Disciple of Jesus, would you like to partake of the blessed communion +once more before you see the King in His glory?" + +The gleam of satisfaction in the man's eyes told Philip enough. The +sexton said in a low voice: "He belonged to the Southern Episcopal +Church in Virginia." Something in the wistful look of the sexton gave +Philip an inspiration for what followed. + +"Brother," he said, turning to the sexton, "what is to hinder your +baptism and partaking of the communion? Yes, this is Christ's Church +wherever His true disciples are." + +Then the sexton brought a basin of water; and as he kneeled down by the +side of the bed, Philip baptized him with the words: "I baptize thee, +Henry, my brother, disciple of Jesus, into the name of the Father and of +the Son and of the Holy Ghost! Amen." + +"Amen," murmured the man on the bed. + +Then Philip, still standing as he was, bowed his head, saying: "Blessed +Lord Jesus, accept these children of Thine, bless this new disciple, and +unite our hearts in love for Thee and Thy kingdom as we remember Thee +now in this service." + +He took the bread and said: "'Take, eat. This is my body, broken for +you.' In the name of the Master who said these words, eat, remembering +His love for us." + +The dying man could not lift his hand to take the bread from the plate. +Philip gently placed a crumb between his lips. The sexton, still +kneeling, partook, and, bowing his head between his hands, sobbed. +Philip poured out the wine and said: "In the name of the Lord Jesus, +this cup is the new testament in His blood shed for all mankind for the +remission of sins." He carried the cup to the lips of the man and then +gave to the sexton. The smile on the dying man's face died. The gray +shadow of the last enemy was projected into the room from the setting +sun of death's approaching twilight. The son of the old slave-master was +going to meet the mother of the man who was born into the darkness of +slavery, but born again into the light of God. Perhaps, perhaps, he +thought, who knows but the first news he would bring to her would be the +news of that communion? Certain it is that his hand moved vaguely over +the blanket. It slipped over the edge of the bed and fell upon the bowed +head of the sexton and remained there as if in benediction. And so the +shadow deepened, and at last it was like unto nothing else known to the +sons of men on earth, and the spirit leaped out of its clay tenement +with the breath of the communion wine still on the lips of the frail, +perishable body. + +Philip reverently raised the arm and laid it on the bed. The sexton +rose, and, while the tears rolled over his face, he gazed long into the +countenance of the son of his old master. No division of race now. No +false and selfish prejudice here. Come! Let the neighbors of the dead +come in to do the last sad offices to the casket. For the soul of this +disciple is in the mansions of glory, and it shall hunger no more, +neither thirst any more, neither shall the darkness of death ever again +smite it; for it shall live forever in the light of that Lamb of God who +gave Himself for the remission of sins and the life everlasting. + +Philip did what he could on such an occasion. It was not an unusual +event altogether; he had prayed by many a poor creature in the clutch of +the last enemy, and he was familiar with his face in the tenements. But +this particular scene had a meaning and left an impression different +from any he had known before. When finally he was at liberty to go home +for a little rest before the evening service, he found himself more than +usually tired and sorrowful. Mrs. Strong noticed it as he came in. She +made him lie down and urged him to give up his evening service. + +"No, no, Sarah! I can't do that! I am prepared; I must preach! I'll get +a nap and then I'll feel better," he said. + +Mrs. Strong shook her head, but Philip was determined. He slept a +little, ate a little lunch, and when the time of service came, he went +up to the church again. As his habit was, just before the hour of +beginning, he went into the little room at the side of the platform to +pray by himself. When he came out and began the service, no one could +have told from his manner that he was suffering physically. Even Mrs. +Strong, who was watching him anxiously, felt relieved to see how quiet +and composed he was. + +He had commenced his sermon and had been preaching with great eloquence +for ten minutes, when he felt a strange dizziness and a pain in his +side, that made him catch his breath and clutch the side of the pulpit +to keep from falling. It passed away and he went on. It was only a +slight hesitation, and no one remarked anything out of the way. For five +minutes he spoke with increasing power and feeling. The church was +filled. It was very quiet. Suddenly, without any warning, he threw up +his arms, uttered a cry of half-suppressed agony, and then fell over +backward. A thrill of excitement ran through the audience. For a moment +no one moved; then every one rose. The men in the front pews rushed up +to the platform. Mrs. Strong was already there. Philip's head was +raised. Philip's old friend, the surgeon, was in the crowd, and he at +once examined him. He was not dead, and the doctor at once directed the +proper movement for his removal from the church. As he was being carried +out into the air he revived and was able to speak. + +"Take me home," he whispered to his wife, who hung over him in a terror +as great as her love for him at that moment. A carriage was called and +he was taken home. The doctor remained until Philip was fully conscious. + +"It was very warm and I was very tired, and I fainted, eh, doctor? First +time I ever did such a thing in my life. I am ashamed; I spoiled the +service." Philip uttered this slowly and feebly, when at last he had +recovered enough to knew where he was. + +The doctor looked at him suspiciously. "You never fainted before, eh? +Well, if I were you I would take care not to faint again. Take good care +of him, Mrs. Strong. He needs rest. Milton could spare a dozen bad men +like me better than one like the Dominie." + +"Doctor!" cried Mrs. Strong, in sudden fear, "what is the matter? Is +this serious?" + +"Not at all. But men like your husband are in need of watching. Take +good care of him." + +"Good care of him! Doctor, he will not mind me! I wanted him to stay at +home to-night, but he wouldn't." + +"Then put a chain and padlock on him, and hold him in!" growled the +surgeon. He prescribed a medicine and went away assuring Mrs. Strong +that Philip would feel much better in the morning. + +The surgeon's prediction came true. Philip found himself weak the next +day, but able to get about. In reply to numerous calls of inquiry for +the minister, Mrs. Strong was able to report that he was much better. +About eleven o'clock, when the postman called, Philip was in his study +lying on his lounge. + +His wife brought up two letters. One of them was from his old chum; he +read that first. He then laid it down and opened the other. + +At that moment Mrs. Strong was called downstairs by a ring at the door. +When she had answered it she came upstairs again. + +As she came into the room, she was surprised at the queer look on +Philip's face. Without a word he handed her the letter he had just +opened, and with the same look, watched her face as she read it. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +The letter which Philip had received, and which his wife now read, was +as follows: + +REV. PHILIP STRONG, + +Pastor Calvary Church, Milton: + +DEAR SIR AND BROTHER:--The Seminary at Fairview has long been +contemplating the addition to its professorship of a chair of Sociology. +The lack of funds and the absolute necessity of sufficient endowment for +such a chair have made it impossible hitherto for the trustees to make +any definite move in this direction. A recent legacy, of which you have +doubtless heard, has made the founding of this new professorship +possible. And now the trustees by unanimous vote, have united upon you +as the man best fitted to fill this chair of Sociology. We have heard of +your work in Milton and know of it personally. We are assured you are +the man for this place. We therefore tender you most heartily the +position of Professor of Sociology at Fairview Seminary at a salary of +twenty-five hundred dollars a year and a preliminary year's absence, +either abroad or in this country, before you begin actual labors with +the Seminary. + +With this formal call on the part of the trustees goes the most earnest +desire on the part of all the professors of the Seminary who remember +you in your marked undergraduate success as a student here. You will +meet with the most loving welcome, and the Seminary will be greatly +strengthened by your presence in this new department. + +We are, in behalf of the Seminary, + +Very cordially yours, THE TRUSTEES. + +Here followed their names, familiar to both Philip and his wife. + +There was a moment of astonished silence and then Sarah said:-- + +"Well, Philip, that's what I call the finger of Providence!" + +"Do you call it the finger of Providence because it points the way you +want to go?" asked Philip, with a smile. But his face instantly grew +sober. He was evidently very much excited by the call to Fairview. It +had come at a time when he was in a condition to be very much moved by +it. + +"Yes, Philip," replied his wife, as she smoothed back his hair from his +forehead, "it is very plain to me that you have done all that any one +can do here in Milton, and this call comes just in time. You are worn +out. The church is opposed to your methods. You need a rest and a +change. And besides, this is the very work that you have always had a +liking for." + +Philip said nothing for a moment. His mind was in a whirl of emotion. +Finally he said, "Yes, I would enjoy such a professorship. It is a very +tempting call. I feel drawn towards it. And yet----" he hesitated--"I +don't know that I ought to leave Milton just now." + +Mrs. Strong was provoked. "Philip Strong, you have lived this kind of +life long enough! All your efforts in Calvary Church are wasted. What +good have all your sermons done? It is all a vain sacrifice, and the end +will be defeat and misery for you. Add to all this the fact that this +new work will call for the best and most Christian labor, and that some +good Christian man will take it if you don't--and I don't see, Philip, +how you can possibly think of such a thing as refusing this +opportunity." + +"It certainly is a splendid opportunity," murmured Philip. "I wonder why +they happened to pitch on me for the place!" + +"That's easy enough. Every one knows that you could fill that chair +better than almost any other man in the country." + +"Do you mean by 'every one' a little woman by the name of Sarah?" asked +Philip, with a brief return of his teasing habit. + +"No, sir, I mean all the professors and people in Fairview and all the +thinking people of Milton and every one who knows you, Philip. Every one +knows that whatever else you lack, it isn't brains." + +"I'd like to borrow a few just now, though, for I seem to have lost most +of mine. Lend me yours, won't you, Sarah, until I settle this question +of the call?" + +"No, sir, if you can't settle a plain question like this with all your +own brains you couldn't do any better with the addition of the little I +have." + +"Then do you really think, do you, Sarah, that I ought to accept this as +the leading of the Spirit of God, and follow without hesitation." + +Mrs. Strong replied with almost tearful earnestness: + +"Philip, it seems to me like the leading of his hand. Surely you have +shown your willingness and your courage and your sacrifice by your work +here. But your methods are distasteful, and your preaching has so far +roused only antagonism. Oh, I dread the thought of this life for you +another day. It looks to me like a suicidal policy, with nothing to show +for it when you have gone through with it." + +Philip spread the letter out on the couch and his face grew more and +more thoughtful as he gazed into the face of his wife, and his mind went +over the ground of his church experience. If, only, he was, perhaps, +thinking, if only the good God had not given him so sensitive and +fine-tempered a spirit of conscientiousness. He almost envied men of +coarse, blunt feelings, of common ideals of duty and service. + +His wife watched him anxiously. She knew it was a crisis with him. At +last he said:-- + +"Well, Sarah, I don't know but you're right. The spirit is willing, but +the flesh is weak. The professorship would be free from the incessant +worry and anxiety of a parish, and then I might be just as useful in the +Seminary as I am here--who knows?" + +"Who knows, indeed!" exclaimed Sarah, joyfully; at the same time she was +almost crying. She picked up the letter and called Philip's attention to +the clause which granted him a year abroad in case he accepted. "Think +of that, Philip! Your dream of foreign travel can come true now." + +"That is," Philip looked out of the window over the dingy roof of a shed +near by to the gloomy tenements, "that is, supposing I decide to +accept." + +"Supposing! But you almost same as said----Oh, Philip, say you will! Be +reasonable! This is the opportunity of a lifetime!" + +"That's true," replied Philip. + +"You may not have another such chance as this as long as you live. You +are young now and with every prospect of success in work of this kind. +It is new work, of the kind you like. You will have leisure and means to +carry on important experiments, and influence for life young men +entering the ministry. Surely, Philip, there is as great opportunity for +usefulness and sacrifice there as anywhere. It must be that the will of +God is in this. It comes without any seeking on your part." + +"Yes, indeed!" Philip spoke with the only touch of pride he ever +exhibited. It was pride in the knowledge that he was absolutely free +from self-glory or self-seeking. + +"Then say you will accept. Say you will, Philip!" + +The appeal, coming from the person dearest to him in all the world, +moved Philip profoundly. He took the letter from her hand, read it over +carefully, and again laid it down on the couch. Then he said:-- + +"Sarah, I must pray over it. I need a little time. You will have +reason----" Philip paused, as his habit sometimes was, and at that +moment the bell rang and Mrs. Strong went downstairs. As she went along +she felt almost persuaded that Philip would yield. Something of his tone +seemed to imply that the struggle in his mind was nearly ended. + +The callers at the door were three men who had been to see Philip +several times to talk with him about the mill troubles and the labor +conflict in general. They wanted to see Philip. Mrs. Strong was anxious +about the condition of Philip's health. She asked the men to come in, +and went upstairs again. + +"Can you see them? Are you strong enough?" she asked. + +"Yes, tell them to come up. I am comfortable now." + +Philip was resting easily, and after a careful look at him, Mrs. Strong +went downstairs. + +To her surprise, two of the men had gone. The one who remained explained +that he thought three persons would excite or tire the minister more +than one; he had stayed and would not trouble Philip very long. But the +business on which he came was of such an important nature that he felt +obliged to see the minister if he could do so without danger to him. + +So the man went up and Philip greeted him with his usual heartiness, +excusing himself for not rising. The man took a chair, moved up near the +couch, and sat down. He seemed a good deal excited, but in a suppressed +and cautious way. + +"I came to see you, Mr. Strong, to tell you about a thing you ought to +know. There is danger of your life here." + +"Where?" asked Philip, calmly. + +"Here, in this neighborhood." + +"Well?" Philip waited for more explanation. + +"I didn't want to tell your wife, for fear of scaring her, but I thought +you ought to know, Mr. Strong, and then you could take steps to protect +yourself or get away." + +"Go on; tell me the worst," said Philip, quietly, as the man paused. + +"Well," the man went on in a low tone, "two others and me overheard a +talk last night by the men who run the Star Saloon and den down by the +Falls. They have a plan to waylay you, rob you and injure you, sir--and +do it in such a way as to make it seem a common hold-up. They seemed to +know about your habit of going around through the alleys and +cross-streets of the tenements. We heard enough to make us sure they +really and truly meant to deal foully by you the first good chance, and +we thought best to put you on your guard. The rummies are down on you, +Mr. Strong, you have been so outspoken against them; and your lecture in +the hall last week has made them mad, I tell you. They hate you worse +than poison, for that's the article they seem to sell and make a living +out of." + +Philip had the week before addressed a large meeting of working-men, and +in the course of his speech he had called attention to the saloon as one +of the greatest foes of the wage-earner. + +"Is that all?" Philip asked. + +"All, man alive!--isn't it enough? What more do you hanker after?" + +"Of course I don't 'hanker after' being held up or attacked, but these +men are mistaken if they think to frighten me." + +"They mean more than frighten, Mr. Strong. They mean business." + +"Why don't you have them arrested, then, for conspiracy? If you +overheard their talk they are guilty and could be convicted." + +"Not in Milton, Mr. Strong. Besides, there was no name mentioned. And +the talk was scattering-like. They are shrewd devils. But we could tell +they meant you plain enough--not to prove anything in court, though." + +"And you came to warn me? That was kind of you, my brother!" Philip +spoke with the winsome affection for men that made his hold on common +people like the grappling vine with loving tendrils. + +"Yes, Mr. Strong, and I tell you the rummies will almost hold a +prayer-meeting when you leave Milton. And they mean to make you trouble +enough until you do leave. If I was you," the man paused, curiously--"if +I was you, I'd get up and leave this God-forsaken town, Mr. Strong." + +"You would?" Philip glanced at the letter which still lay upon the couch +beside him. "Suppose I should say I had about made up my mind to do just +that thing?" + +"Oh, no, Mr. Strong, you don't mean that!" The man made a gesture toward +Philip that revealed a world of longing and of hunger for fellowship +that made Philip's heart throb with a feeling of intense joy, mingled +with an ache of pain. The man at once repressed his emotion. It had been +like a lightning flash out of a summer cloud. + +"Yes," said Philip, as if continuing, "I have been thinking of leaving +Milton." + +"That might be best. You're in danger here. No telling when some harm +may come to you." + +"Well, I'm thinking I might as well leave. My work here has been a +failure, anyway." + +"What! A failure? Mr. Strong, you don't know the facts. There has never +been a minister in Milton who did so much for the poor and the +working-man as yourself! Let me tell you," the man continued, with an +earnestness that concealed an emotion he was trying to subdue, "Mr. +Strong, if you were to leave Milton now, it would be a greater loss to +the common people than you can imagine. You may not know it, but your +influence among us is very great. I have lived in Milton as boy and man +for thirty years, and I never knew so many laboring-men attend church +and the lectures in the hall as during the few months you have been +here. Your work here has not been a failure; it has been a great +success." + +A tear stole out of Philip's eye and rolled down and fell with a warm +splash on the letter which lay beside him. If a $2,500 call could be +drowned by one tear, that professorship in Sociology in Fairview +Seminary was in danger. + +"So you think the people in this neighborhood would miss me a little?" +he asked almost as modestly as if he were asking a great favor. + +"Would they, Mr. Strong! You will never know what you have done for +them. If the mill-men were to hear of your leaving they would come down +here in a body and almost compel you to stay. I cannot bear to think of +your going. And yet the danger you are in, the whiskey men----" + +Philip roused himself up, interrupting his visitor. The old-time flash +of righteous indignation shot out of his eyes as he exclaimed: "I am +more than half-minded to stay on that account! The rummies would think +they had beaten me out if I left!" + +"Oh, Mr. Strong, I can't tell you how glad we would be if you would only +stay! And yet----" + +"And yet," replied Philip, with a sad smile, "there are many things to +take into the account. I thank you out of my heart for the love you have +shown me. It means more than words can express." And Philip leaned back +with a wearied look on his face, which, nevertheless, revealed his deep +satisfaction at the thought of such friendship as this man had for him. + +He was getting exhausted with the interview, following so soon on his +illness of the night before. The visitor was quick to notice it, and +after a warm clasp of hands he went away. Philip, lying there alone +while his wife was busy downstairs, lived an age in a few minutes. All +his life so far in Milton, the events of his preaching and his +experiences in the church, his contact with the workmen, his evident +influence over them, the thought of what they would feel in case he left +Milton to accept this new work, the dissatisfaction at the thought of an +unaccomplished work abandoned, the thought of the exultation of the +whiskey men--all this and much more surged in and out of his mind and +heart like heavy tides of a heaving ocean as it rushes into some deep +fissure and then flows back again with noise and power. He struggled up +into a sitting position, and with pain of body almost fell from the +couch upon his knees, and with his face bowed upon the letter, which he +spread out before him with both hands, he sobbed out a yearning cry to +his Master for light in his darkness. + +It came as he kneeled down; and it did not seem to him at all strange or +absurd that as he kneeled, there came to his thought a picture of the +Brother Man. And he could almost hear the Brother Man say: "Your work is +in Milton, in Calvary Church yet. Except a man shall renounce all that +he hath he cannot be His disciple." It mattered not to Philip that the +answer to his prayer came in this particular way. He was not +superstitious or morbid, or given to yielding to impulse or fancy. He +lay down upon the couch again and knew in his heart that he was at peace +with God and his own conscience in deciding to stay with Calvary Church +and refuse the call to Fairview. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +When, a few minutes later, Mrs. Strong came up, Philip told her exactly +how he had decided. + +"I cannot leave these poor fellows in the tenements yet; my work is just +beginning to count with them. And the church, oh, Sarah, I love it, for +it has such possibilities and it must yield in time; and then the +whiskey men--I cannot bear to have them think me beaten, driven out, +defeated. And in addition to all the rest, I have a feeling that God has +a wonderful blessing in store for me and the church very soon; and I +cannot banish the feeling that if I should accept the call to Fairview, +I should always be haunted by that ghost of Duty murdered and run away +from which would make me unhappy in all my future work. Dear little +woman," Philip went on, as he drew his wife's head down and kissed her +tenderly, while tears of disappointment fell from her--"little woman, +you know you are the dearest of all earthly beings to me. And my soul +tells me the reason you loved me enough to share earth's troubles with +me was that you knew I could not be a coward in the face of my duty, my +conscience, and my God. Is it not so?" + +The answer came in a sob of mingled anguish and happiness: + +"Yes, Philip, but it was only for your sake I wanted you to leave this +work. It is killing you. Yet,"--and she lifted her head with a smile +through all the tears--"yet, Philip, 'whither thou goest I will go, and +where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy +God my God. Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried; the +Lord do so to me and more also if aught but death part thee and me.'" + +There were people in Milton who could not undersatnd[sic] how a person +of such refined and even naturally expensive and luxurious habits as the +minister's wife possessed could endure the life he had planned for +himself, and his idea of Christian living in general. Philip could have +told them if he had been so minded. And this scene could have revealed +it to any one who knew the minister and his wife as they really were. +That was a sacred scene to husband and wife, something that belonged to +them, one of those things which the world did not know and had no +business to know. + +When the first Sunday of another month had come, Mr. Strong felt quite +well again. A rumor of his call to Fairview had gone out, and to the +few intimate friends who asked him about it he did not deny, but he said +little. The time was precious to him. He plunged into the work with an +enthusiasm and a purpose which sprang from his knowledge that he was at +last really gaining some influence in the tenement district. + +The condition of affairs in that neighborhood was growing worse instead +of better. The amount of vice, drunkenness, crime and brutality made his +sensitive heart quiver a hundred times a day as he went his way through +it all. His study of the whole question led him to the conviction that +one of the great needs of the place was a new home life for the people. +The tenements were owned and rented by men of wealth and influence. Many +of these men were in the church. Discouraged as he had so often been in +his endeavor to get the moneyed men of the congregation to consecrate +their property to Christian uses, Philip came up to that first Sunday +with a new phase of the same great subject which pressed so hard for +utterance that he could not keep it back. + +As he faced the church this morning he faced an audience composed of +very conflicting elements. Representatives of labor were conspicuous in +the galleries. People whom he had assisted at one time and another were +scattered through the house, mostly in the back seats under the choir +gallery. His own membership was represented by men who, while opposed to +his idea of the Christian life and his interpretation of Christ, +nevertheless continued to go and hear him preach. The incident of the +sexton's application for membership and his rejection by vote had also +told somewhat in favor of the minister. Many preachers would have +resigned after such a scene. He had said his say about it, and then +refused to speak or be interviewed by the papers on the subject. What it +cost him in suffering was his own secret. But this morning, as he rose +to give his message in the person of Christ, the thought of the +continued suffering and shame and degradation in the tenement district, +the thought of the great wealth in the possession of the church which +might be used almost to transform the lives of thousands of people, if +the men of riches in Calvary Church would only see the kingdom of God in +its demands on them--this voiced his cry to the people, and gave his +sermon the significance and solemnity of a prophet's inspiration. + +"See!" he exclaimed, as he went on after drawing a vivid picture of the +miserable condition of life in the buildings which could not be called +homes, "see what a change could be wrought by the use of a few thousand +dollars down there. And here this morning, in this house, men are +sitting who own very many of those tenements, who are getting the rent +from them every month, who could, without suffering one single sorrow, +without depriving themselves of one necessity or even luxury of life, so +change the surroundings of these people that they would enjoy the +physical life God gave them, and be able to see His love in the lives of +His Disciples. O, my brethren, is not this your opportunity? What is +money compared with humanity? What is the meaning of our discipleship +unless we are using what God has given us to build up His kingdom? The +money represented by this church could rebuild the entire tenement +district. The men who own these buildings," He paused as if he had +suddenly become aware that he might be saying an unwise thing; then, +after a brief hesitation, as if he had satisfied his own doubt, he +repeated, "The men who own these tenements--and members of other +churches besides Calvary are among the owners--are guilty in the sight +of God for allowing human beings made in His image to grow up in such +horrible surroundings when it is in the power of money to stop it. +Therefore, they shall receive greater condemnation at the last, when +Christ sits on the throne of the universe to judge the world. For will +He not say, as He said long years ago, 'I was an hungered and ye gave me +no meat, naked and ye clothed me not, sick and in miserable dwellings +reeking with filth and disease, and ye drew the hire of these places and +visited me not?' For are these men and women and children not our +brethren? Verily, God will require it at our hands, O men of Milton, if, +having the power to use God's property so as to make the world happier +and better, we refused to do so and go our ways careless of our +reponsibility[sic] and selfish in our use of God's money." + +Philip closed his sermon with an account of facts concerning the +condition of some of the people he himself had visited. When the service +closed, more than one property owner went away secretly enraged at the +minister's bold, and, as most of them said and thought, "impertinent +meddling in their business." Was he wise? And yet he had been to more +than one of these men in private with the same message. Did he not have +the right to speak in public? Did not Christ do so? Would he not do so +if he were here on earth again? And Philip, seeing the great need, +seeing the mighty power of money, seeing the indifference of these men +to the whole matter, seeing their determination to conduct their +business for the gain of it without regard to the condition of life, +with his heart sore and his soul indignant at the suffering he had +witnessed came into the church and flung his sword of wrath out of its +scabbard, smiting at the very thing dearest of all things to thousands +of church-members to-day--the money, the property, the gain of +acquisition; and he smote, perhaps, with a somewhat unwise energy of +denunciation, yet with his heart crying out for wisdom with every blow +he struck, "Would Christ say it? Would He say it?" And his sensitive, +keenly suffering spirit heard the answer, "Yes, I believe He would." +Back of that answer he did not go in those days so rapidly drawing to +their tremendous close. He bowed the soul of him to his Master and said, +"Thy will be done!" + +The week following this Sunday was one of the busiest Philip had known. +With the approach of warmer weather, a great deal of sickness came on. +He was going early and late on errands of mercy to the poor souls all +about his own house. The people knew him now and loved him. He comforted +his spirit with that knowledge as he prayed and worked. + +He was going through one of the narrow courts one night on his way home, +with his head bent down and his thoughts on some scene of suffering, +when he was suddenly confronted by a young man who stepped quickly out +from a shadowed corner, threw one arm about Philip's neck and placed his +other hand over his mouth and attempted to throw him over backward. + +It was very late, and there was no one in sight. Philip said to himself: +"This is the attack of which I was warned." He was taken altogether by +surprise, but being active and self-possessed, he sharply threw himself +forward, repelling his assailant's attack, and succeeded in pulling the +man's hand away from his mouth. His first second's instinct was to cry +out for help; his next was to keep still. He suddenly felt the other +giving way. The strength seemed to be leaving him. Philip, calling up +some of his knowledge of wrestling gained while in college, threw his +entire weight upon him, and to his surprise the man offered no +resistance. They both fell heavily upon the ground, the man underneath. +He had not spoken and no one had yet appeared. As the man lay there +motionless, Philip rose and stood over him. By the dim light that partly +illuminated the court from a street lamp farther on, he saw that his +assailant was stunned. There was a pump not far away. Philip went over +and brought some water. After a few moments the man recovered +consciousness. He sat up and looked about in a confused manner. Philip +stood near by, looking at him thoughtfully. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +As the man looked up at Philip in a dazed and uncertain manner, Philip +said slowly: + +"You're not hurt badly, I hope. Why did you attack me?" + +The man seemed too bewildered to answer. Philip leaned over and put one +arm about him to help him rise. He struggled to his feet, and almost +instantly sat down on the curb at the side of the road, holding his head +between his hands. For a moment Philip hesitated. Then he sat down +beside him, and after finding out that he was not seriously hurt, +succeeded in drawing him into a conversation which grew more and more +remarkable as it went on. As he thought back upon it afterward, Philip +was unable to account exactly for the way in which the confidence +between him and his assailant had been brought about. The incident and +all that flowed out of it had such a bearing on the crucifixion that it +belongs to the whole story. + +"Then you say," went on Philip after they had been talking brief in +question and answer for a few minutes, "you say that you meant to rob +me, taking me for another man?" + +"Yes, I thought you was the mill-man--what is his name?--Winter." + +"Why did you want to rob him?" + +The man looked up and said hoarsely, almost savagely, "Because he has +money and I was hungry." + +"How long have you been hungry?" + +"I have not had anything to eat for almost three days." + +"There is food to be had at the Poor Commissioners. Did you know that +fact?" + +The man did not answer, and Philip asked him again. The reply came in a +tone of bitter emphasis that made the minister start: + +"Yes, I knew it! I would strave[sic] before I would go to the Poor +Commissioners for food." + +"Or steal?" asked Philip, gently. + +"Yes, or steal. Wouldn't you?" + +Philip stared out into the darkness of the court and answered honestly: +"I don't know." + +There was a short pause. Then he asked: + +"Can't you get work?" + +It was a hopeless question to put to a man in a town of over two +thousand idle men. The answer was what he knew it would be: + +"Work! Can I pick up a bushel of gold in the street out there? Can a man +get work where there ain't any?" + +"What have you been doing?" + +"I was fireman in the Lake Mills. Good job. Lost it when they closed +down last winter." + +"What have you been doing since?" + +"Anything I could get." + +"Are you a married man?" + +The question affected the other strangely. He trembled all over, put his +head between his knees, and out of his heart's anguish flowed the words, +"I had a wife. She's dead--of consumption. I had a little girl. She's +dead, too. Thank God!" exclaimed the man, with a change from a sob to a +curse. "Thank God!--and curses on all rich men who had it in their power +to prevent the hell on earth for other people, and which they will feel +for themselves in the other world!" + +Philip did not say anything for some time. What could any man say to +another at once under such circumstances? Finally he said: + +"What will you do with money if I give you some?" + +"I don't want your money," replied the man. + +"I thought you did a little while ago." + +"It was the mill-owner's money I wanted. You're the preacher, ain't you +up at Calvary Church?" + +"Yes. How did you know?" + +"I've seen you. Heard you preach once. I never thought I should come to +this--holding up a preacher down here!" And the man laughed a hard, +short laugh. + +"Then you're not----" Philip hardly knew how to say it. He wanted to say +that the man was not connected in any way with the saloon element; +"you're driven to this desperate course on your own account? The reason +I ask is because I have been threatened by the whiskey men, and at first +I supposed you were one of their men." + +"No, sir," was the answer, almost in disgust. "I may be pretty bad, but +I've not got so low as that." + +"Then your only motive was hunger?" + +"That was all. Enough, ain't it?" + +"We can't discuss the matter here," said Philip. He hesitated, rose, and +stood there looking at the man who sat now with his head resting on his +arms, which were folded across his knees. Two or three persons came out +of a street near by and walked past. Philip knew them and said +good-evening. They thought he was helping some drunken man, a thing he +had often done, and they went along without stopping. Again the street +was deserted. + +"What will you do now? Where will you go?" + +"God knows. I am an outcast on His earth!" + +"Have you no home?" + +"Home! Yes; the gutter, the street, the bottom of the river." + +"My brother!" Philip laid his hand on the man's shoulder, "come home +with me, have something to eat, and stay with me for a while." + +The man looked up and stared at Philip through the semi-darkness. + +"What, go home with you! That would be a good one after trying to hold +you up! I'll tell you what you ought to do. Take me to the police +station and have me arrested for attempt at highway robbery. Then I'd +get lodgings and victuals for nothing." + +Philip smiled slightly. "That would not help matters any. And if you +know me at all, you know I would never do any such thing. Come home with +me. No one, except you and myself and my wife need ever know what has +happened to-night. I have food at my home, and you are hungry. We both +belong to the same Father-God. Why should I not help you if I want to?" + +It was all said so calmly, so lovingly, so honestly, that the man +softened under it. A tear rolled over his cheek. He brushed his hand +over his eyes. It had been a long time since any one had called him +"brother." + +"Come!" Philip reached out his hand and helped him to rise. The man +staggered, and might have fallen if Philip had not supported him. "I am +faint and dizzy," he said. + +"Courage, man! My home is not far off; we shall soon be there." His +companion was silent. As they came up to the door Philip said: "I +haven't asked your name, but it might save a little awkwardness if I +knew it." + +"William----" Philip did not hear the last name, it was spoken in such a +low voice. + +"Never mind; I'll call you William if it's all the same to you." And he +went into the house with the man, and at once made him feel at home by +means of that simple and yet powerful spirit of brotherhood which was +ready to level all false distinctions, and which possibly saw in +prophetic vision the coming event in his own career when all +distinctions of title and name would be as worthless as dust in the +scales of eternity. + +Mrs. Strong at once set food upon the table, and then she and Philip +with true delicacy busied themselves in another room so as not to watch +the hungry man while he ate. When he had satisfied his hunger Philip +showed him the little room where the Brother Man had stayed one night. + +"You may make it your own as long as you will," Philip said. "You may +look upon it as simply a part of what has been given us to be used for +the Father's children." + +The man seemed dazed by the result of his encounter with the preacher. +He murmured something about thanks. He was evidently very much worn, and +the excitement of the evening had given place to an appearance of +dejection that alarmed Philip. After a few words he went out and left +the man, who said that he felt very drowsy. + +"I believe he is going to have a fever or something," Mr. Strong said to +his wife as he joined her in the other room. He related his meeting with +the man, making very light of the attack and indeed excusing it on the +ground of his desperate condition. + +"What shall we do with him, Philip?" + +"We must keep him here until he finds work. I believe this is one of the +cases that call for personal care. We cannot send him away; his entire +future depends on our treatment of him. But I don't like his looks; I +fear he is going to be a sick man." + +His fear was realized. The next morning he found his lodger in the +clutch of fever. Before night he was delirious. The doctor came and +pronounced him dangerously ill. And Philip, with the burden of his work +weighing heavier on him every moment, took up this additional load and +prayed his Lord to give him strength to carry it and save another soul. + +It was at the time of this event in Mr. Strong's life that another +occurred which had its special bearing upon the crisis of all his life. + +The church was dear to his thought, loved by him with a love that only +very few of the members understood. In spite of his apparent failure to +rouse them to a conception of their duty as he saw it, he was confident +that the spirit of God would accomplish the miracle which he could not +do. Then there were those in Calvary Church who sympathized heartily +with him and were ready to follow his leadership. He was not without +fellowship, and it gave him courage. Add to that the knowledge that he +had gained a place in the affection of the working-people, and that was +another reason why he kept up good heart and did not let his personal +sensitiveness enter too largely into his work. It was of course +impossible for him to hide from himself the fact that very many members +of the church had been offended by much that he had said and done. But +he was the last man in the world to go about his parish trying to find +out the quantity of opposition that existed. His Sunday congregation +crowded the church. He was popular with the masses. Whenever he lectured +among the working-men the hall was filled to overflowing. He would not +acknowledge even to himself that the church could long withstand the +needs of the age and the place. He had an intense faith in it as an +institution. He firmly believed all that it needed was to have the white +light of truth poured continually on the Christ as he would act to-day +and the church would respond, and at last in a mighty tide of love and +sacrifice throw itself into the work the church was made to do. + +So he began to plan for a series of Sunday-night services different from +anything Milton had ever known. His life in the tenement district and +his growing knowledge of the labor world had convinced him of the fact +that the church was missing its opportunity in not grappling with the +problem as it existed in Milton. It seemed to him that the first step to +a successful solution of that problem was for the church and the +working-man to get together upon some common platform for a better +understanding. He accordingly planned for a series of Sunday-night +services, in which his one great purpose was to unite the church and the +labor unions in a scheme of mutual helpfulness. His plan was very +simple. He invited into the meeting one or two thoughtful leaders of the +mill-men and asked them to state in the plainest terms the exact +condition of affairs in the labor world from their standpoint. Then he, +for the church, took up their statements, their complaints, or the +reasons for their differences with capital, and answered them from the +Christian standpoint: What would Christ advise under the circumstances? +He had different subjects presented on different evenings. One night it +was reasons why the mill-men were not in the church. Another night it +was the demand of men for better houses, and how to get them. Another +night it was the subject of strikes and the attitude of Christ on wages +and the relative value of the wage-earners' product and the capitalists' +intelligence. At each meeting he allowed one or two of the invited +leaders to take the platform and say very plainly what to his mind was +the cause and what the remedy for the poverty and crime and suffering of +the world. Then he closed the evening's discussion by a calm, clear +statement of what was to him the direct application of Jesus' teaching +to the point at issue. + +Finally, as this series drew to a close at the end of the month, a +subject came up which roused intense feeling. It was the subject of +wealth, its power, responsibility, meaning, and Christian use. The +church was jammed in every part of it. The services had been so unusual, +the conduct of them had so often been intensely practical, the points +made had so often told against the existing Church that great mobs of +mill-men filed into the room and for the time took possession of Calvary +Church. For the four Sunday nights of that series Philip faced great +crowds, mostly of grown-up men, crowds that his soul yearned over with +unspeakable emotion, a wonderful audience for Calvary to witness, the +like of which Milton had never seen. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +We cannot do better than give the evening paper account of this last +service in the series. With one or two slight exaggerations the account +was a faithful picture of one of the most remarkable meetings ever held +in Milton. The paper, after speaking of the series as a sensational +departure from the old church methods, went on to say: + +"Last night, it will be safe to say that those who were fortunate enough +to secure standing-room in Rev. Philip Strong's church heard and saw +things that no other church in this town ever witnessed. + +"In the first place, it was a most astonishing crowd of people. Several +of the church-members were present, but they were in the minority. +They[sic] mill-men swarmed in and took possession. It is not exactly +correct to say that they lounged on the easy-cushioned pews of the +Calvary Church, for there was not room enough to lounge, but they filled +up the sanctuary and seemed to enjoy the comfortable luxury of it. + +"The subject of the evening was Wealth, and the President of the Trades +Assembly of Milton made a statement of the view which working-men in +general have of wealth as related to labor of hand or brain. He stated +what to his mind was the reason for the discontent of so many at the +sight of great numbers of rich men in times of suffering, or sickness, +or lack of work. 'Why, just look at the condition of things here and in +every large city all over the world,' he said. 'Men are suffering from +the lack of common necessaries while men of means with money in the bank +continue to live just as luxuriously and spend just as much as they ever +did for things not needful for happiness. It has been in the power of +men of wealth in Milton to prevent almost if not all of the suffering +here last winter and spring. It has been in their power to see that the +tenements were better built and arranged for health and decency. It has +been in their power to do a thousand things that money and money alone +can do, and I believe they will be held to account for not doing some of +those things!' + +"At this point some one in the gallery shouted out, 'Hang the +aristocrats!' Instantly Rev. Mr. Strong rose and stepped to the front of +the platform. Raising his long, sinewy arm and stretching out his open +hand in appeal, he said, while the great audience was perfectly quiet, +'I will not allow any such disturbance at this meeting. We are here, not +to denounce people, but to find the truth. Let every fair-minded man +bear that in mind.' + +"The preacher sat down, and the audience cheered. Then before the +President of the Assembly could go on, a man rose in the body of the +house and asked if he might say a word. + +"Mr. Strong said he might if he would be brief. The man then proceeded +to give a list of people, who, he said, were becoming criminals because +they couldn't get work. After he had spoken a minute Rev. Mr. Strong +asked him to come to the point and show what bearing his facts had on +the subject of the evening. The man seemed to become confused, and +finally his friends or the people near him pulled him down, and the +President of the Trades Assembly resumed the discussion, closing with +the statement that never in the history of the country had there been so +much money in the banks and so little of it in the pockets of the +people; and when that was a fact something was wrong; and it was for the +men who owned the money to right that wrong, for it lay in their power, +not with the poor man. + +"He was followed by a very clear and intensely interesting talk by Rev. +Mr. Strong on the Christian teaching concerning the wealth of the world. +Several times he was interrupted by applause, once with hisses, several +times with questions. He was hissed when he spoke of the great +selfishness of labor unions and trades organizations in their attempts +to dictate to other men in the matter of work. With this one exception, +in which the reverend gentleman spoke with his usual frankness, the +audience cheered his presentation of the subject, and was evidently in +perfect sympathy with his views. Short extracts from his talk will show +the drift of his entire belief on this subject: + +"'Every dollar that a man has should be spent to the glory of God. + +"'The teaching of Christianity about wealth is the same as about +anything else; it all belongs to God, and should be used by the man as +God would use it in the man's place. + +"'It is a great mistake which many people make, church-members among the +rest, that the money they get is their own to do with as they please. +Men have no right to use anything as they please unless God pleases so +too. + +"'The accumulation of vast sums of money by individuals or classes of +men has always been a bad thing for society. A few very rich men and a +great number of very poor men is what gave the world the French +Revolution and the guillotine. + +"'There are certain conditions true of society at certain times when it +is the Christian duty of the rich to use every cent they possess to +relieve the need of society. Such a condition faces us to-day. + +"'The foolish and unnecessary expenditures of society on its trivial +pleasures at a time when men and women are out of work and children are +crying for food is a cruel and unchristian waste of opportunity. + +"'If Christ were here to-day I believe he would tell the rich men of +Milton that every cent they have belongs to Almighty God, and they are +only trustees of his property. + +"'This is the only true use of wealth: that the man who has it recognize +its power and privilege to make others happy, not provide himself +luxury. + +"'The church that thinks more of fine architecture and paid choirs than +of opening its doors to the people that they may hear the gospel, is a +church that is mortgaged for all it is worth to the devil, who will +foreclose at the first opportunity. + +"'The first duty of every man who has money is to ask himself, What +would Christ have me do with it? The second duty is to go and do it, +after hearing the answer. + +"'If the money owned by church-members were all spent to the glory of +God there would be fewer hundred-thousand-dollar churches built and more +model tenements. + +"'If Christ had been a millionaire he would have used his money to build +up character in other people, rather than build a magnificent +brown-stone palace for himself. But we cannot imagine Christ as a +millionaire. + +"'It is just as true now as when Paul said it nearly twenty centuries +ago: "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil;" it is the curse +of our civilization, the greatest god of the human race to-day. + +"'Our civilization is only partly Christian. For Christian civilization +means more comforts; ours means more wants. + +"'If a man's pocket-book is not converted with his soul the man will not +get into heaven with it. + +"'There are certain things that money alone can secure; but among those +things it cannot buy is character. + +"'All wealth, from the Christian standpoint, is in the nature of trust +funds, to be so used as the administrator, God, shall direct. No man +owns the money for himself. The gold is God's, the silver is God's! That +is the plain and repeated teaching of the Bible. + +"'It is not wrong for a man to make money. It is wrong for him to use it +selfishly or foolishly. + +"'The consecrated wealth of the men of Milton could provide work for +every idle man in town. The Christian use of the wealth of the world +would make impossible the cry for bread. + +"'Most of the evils of our present condition flow out of the love of +money. The almighty dollar is the God of Protestant America. + +"'If men loved men as eagerly as they love money the millennium would be +just around the corner. + +"'Wealth is a curse unless the owner of it blesses the world with it. + +"'If any man hath the world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, +and shutteth up his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in +him? + +"'Christian Socialism teaches a man to bear other people's burdens. The +very first principle of Christian Socialism is unselfishness. + +"'We shall never see a better condition of affairs in this country until +the men of wealth realize their responsibility and privilege. + +"'Christ never said anything against the poor. He did speak some +tremendous warnings in the face of the selfish rich. + +"'The only safe thing for a man of wealth to do is to ask himself, What +would Christ do with my money if he had it? + +"'Everything a man has is God's. On that profound principle the whole of +human life should rest. We are not our own; we have been bought with a +price.' + +"It would be impossible to describe the effect of the Rev. Mr. Strong's +talk upon the audience. Once the applause was so long continued that it +was a full minute before he could go on. When he finally closed with a +tremendous appeal to the wealth of Milton to use its power for the good +of the place, for the tearing down and remodeling of the tenements, for +the solution of the problem of no work for thousands of desperate men, +the audience rose to its feet and cheered again and again. + +"At the close of the meeting the minister was surrounded by a crowd of +men, and an after meeting was held, at which steps were taken to form a +committee composed of prominent church people and labor leaders to work, +if possible, together toward a common end. + +"It was rumored yesterday that several of the leading-members of Calvary +Church are very much dissatisfied with the way things have been going +during these Sunday-evening meetings, and are likely to withdraw if they +continue. They say that Mr. Strong's utterances are socialistic and tend +to inflame the minds of the people to acts of violence. Since the attack +on Mr. Winter nearly every mill-owner in town goes armed and takes extra +precautions. Mr. Strong was much pleased with the result of the +Sunday-night meetings and said they had done much to bridge the gulf +between the church and the people. He refused to credit the talk about +disaffection in Calvary Church." + +In another column of this same paper were five separate accounts of the +desperate condition of affairs in the town. The midnight hold-up attacks +were growing in frequency and in boldness. Along with all the rest, the +sickness in the tenement district had assumed the nature of an epidemic +of fever, clearly caused by the lack of sanitary regulations, imperfect +drainage, and crowding of families. Clearly the condition of matters was +growing serious. + +At this time the minsters[sic] of different churches in Milton held a +meeting to determine on a course of action that would relieve some of +the distress. Various plans were submitted. Some proposed districting +the town to ascertain the number of needly[sic] families. Others +proposed a union of benevolent offerings to be given the poor. Another +group suggested something else. To Philip's mind not one of the plans +submitted went to the root of the matter. He was not popular with the +other ministers. Most of them thought he was sensational. However, he +made a plea for his own plan, which was radical and as he believed went +to the real heart of the subject. He proposed that every church in town, +regardless of its denomination, give itself in its pastor and members to +the practical solution of the social troubles by personal contact with +the suffering and sickness in the district; that the churches all throw +open their doors every day in the week, weekdays as well as Sundays, for +the discussion and agitation of the whole matter; that the country and +the State be petitioned to take speedy action toward providing necessary +labor for the unemployed; and that the churches cut down all unnecessary +expenses of paid choirs, do away with pew rents, urge wealthy members to +consecrate their riches to the solving of the problem, and in every way, +by personal sacrifice and common union, let the churches of Milton as a +unit work and pray and sacrifice to make themselves felt as a real power +on the side of the people in their present great need. It was Christian +America, but Philip's plan was not adopted. It was discussed with some +warmth, but declared to be visionary, impracticable, unnecessary, not +for the church to undertake, beyond its function, etc. Philip was +disappointed, but he kept his temper. + +"Well, brethren," he said, "what can we do to help the solution of these +questions? Is the church of America to have no share in the greatest +problem of human life that agitates the world to-day? Is it not true +that the people in this town regard the Church as an insignificant +organization, unable to help at the very point of human crisis, and the +preachers as a lot weak, impractical men, with no knowledge of the real +state of affairs? Are we not divided over our denominational differences +when we ought to be united in one common work for the saving of the +whole man? I do not have any faith in the plan proposed to give our +benevolence or to district the town and visit the poor. All those things +are well enough in their place. But matters are in such shape here now +and all over the country that we must do something larger than that. We +must do as Christ would do if He were here. What would He do? Would He +give anything less than His whole life to it? Would He not give Himself? +The Church as an institution is facing the greatest opportunity it ever +saw. If we do not seize it on the largest possible scale we shall +miserably fail of doing our duty." + +When the meeting adjourned Philip was aware he had simply put himself +out of touch with the majority present. They did not, they could not, +look upon the Church as he did. A committee was appointed to investigate +the matter and propose a plan of action at the next meeting in two +weeks. And Philip went home almost bitterly smiling at the little +bulwark which Milton churches proposed to rear against the tide of +poverty and crime and drunkenness and political demagogy and wealthy +selfishness. To his mind it was a house of paper cards in the face of a +tornado. + +Saturday night he was out calling a little while, but he came home +early. It was the first Sunday of the month on the morrow, and he had +not fully prepared his sermon. He was behind with it. As he came in, his +wife met him with a look of news on her face. + +"Guess who is here?" she said in a whisper. + +"The Brother Man," replied Philip, quickly. + +"Yes, but you never can guess what has happened. He is in there with +William. And the Brother Man--Philip, it seems like a chapter out of a +novel--the Brother Man has discovered that William is his only son, who +cursed his father and deserted him when he gave away his property. They +are in there together. I could not keep the Brother Man out." + +Philip and Sarah stepped to the door of the little room, which was open, +and looked in. + +The Brother Man was kneeling at the side of the bed praying, and his son +was listening, with one hand tight-clasped in his father's, and the +tears rolling over his pale face. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +When the Brother Man had finished his prayer he rose, and stooping over +his son he kissed him. Then he turned about and faced Philip and Sarah, +who almost felt guilty of intrusion in looking at such a scene. But the +Brother Man wore a radiant look. To Philip's surprise he was not +excited. The same ineffable peace breathed from his entire person. To +that peace was now added a fathomless joy. + +"Yes," he said very simply, "I have found my son which was lost. God is +good to me. He is good to all His children. He is the All-Father. He is +Love." + +"Did you know your son was here?" Philip asked. + +"No, I found him here. You have saved his life. That was doing as He +would." + +"It was very little we could do," said Philip, with a sigh. He had seen +so much trouble and suffering that day that his soul was sick within +him. Yet he welcomed this event in his home. It seemed like a little +brightness of heaven on earth. + +The sick man was too feeble to talk much. The tears and the hand-clasp +with his father told the story of his reconciliation, of the bursting +out of the old love, which had not been extinguished, only smothered for +a time. Philip thought best that he should not become excited with the +meeting, and in a little while drew the Brother Man out into the other +room. + +By this time it was nearly ten o'clock. The old man stood hesitating in +a curious fashion when Philip asked him to be seated. And again, as +before, he asked if he could find a place to stay over night. + +"You haven't room to take me in," he said when Philip urged his welcome +upon him. + +"Oh, yes, we have. We'll fix a place for you somewhere. Sit right down, +Brother Man." + +The old man at once accepted the invitation and sat down. Not a trace of +anxiety or hesitation remained. The peacefulness of his demeanor was +restful to the weary Philip. + +"How long has your son," Philip was going to say, "been away from home?" +Then he thought it might offend the old man, or that possibly he might +not wish to talk about it. But he quietly replied: + +"I have not seen him for years. He was my youngest son. We quarreled. +All that is past. He did not know that to give up all that one has was +the will of God. Now he knows. When he is well we will go away +together--yes, together." He spread out his palms in his favorite +gesture, with plentiful content in his face and voice. + +Philip was on the point of asking his strange guest to tell something of +his history, but his great weariness and the knowledge of the strength +needed for his Sunday work checked the questions that rose for answer. +Mrs. Strong also came in and insisted that he should get the rest he so +much needed. She arranged a sleeping-place on the lounge for the Brother +Man, who, after once more looking in upon his son and assuring himself +that he was resting, finally lay down with a look of great content upon +his beautiful face. + +In the morning Philip almost expected to find that his visitor had +mysteriously disappeared, as on the other occasions. And he would not +have been so very much surprised if he had vanished, taking with him in +some strange fashion his newly discovered son. But it was that son who +now kept him there; and in the simplest fashion he stayed on, nursing +the sick man, who recovered very slowly. A month passed by after the +Brother Man had first found the lost at Philip's house, and he was still +a guest there. Within that month great events crowded in upon the +experience of Mr. Strong. To tell them all would be to write another +story. Sometimes into men's lives, under certain conditions of society, +or of men's own mental and spiritual relation to certain causes of +action, time, as reckoned by days or weeks, cuts no figure. A man can +live an eternity in a month. He feels it. It was so with Philip Strong. +We have spoken of the rapidity of his habit in deciding questions of +right or expediency. The same habit of mind caused a possibility in him +of condensed experience. In a few days he reached the conclusion of a +year's thought. That month, while the Brother Man was peacefully +watching by the side of the patient, and relieving Mrs. Strong and a +neighbor who had helped before he came, Philip fought some tremendous +battles with himself, with his thought of the church, and with the world +about. It is necessary to understand something of this in order to +understand something of the meaning of his last Sunday in Milton--a +Sunday that marked an era in the place, from which the people almost +reckoned time itself. + +As spring had blossomed into summer and summer ripened into autumn, +every one had predicted better times. But the predictions did not bring +them. The suffering and sickness and helplessness of the tenement +district grew every day more desperate. To Philip it seemed like the +ulcer of Milton. All the surface remedies proposed and adopted by the +city council and the churches and the benevolent societies had not +touched the problem. The mills were going on part time. Thousands of men +yet lingered in the place hoping to get work. Even if the mills had been +running as usual that would not have diminished one particle of the sin +and vice and drunkenness that saturated the place. And as Philip studied +the matter with brain and soul he came to a conclusion regarding the +duty of the church. He did not pretend to go beyond that, but as the +weeks went by and fall came on and another winter stared the people +coldly in the face, he knew that he must speak out what burned in him. + +He had been a year in Milton now. Every month of that year had impressed +him with the deep and apparently hopeless chasm that yawned between the +working world and the church. There was no point of contact. One was +suspicious, the other was indifferent. Something was radically wrong, +and something radically positive and Christian must be done to right the +condition that faced the churches of Milton. That was in his soul as he +went his way like one of the old prophets, imbued with the love of God +as he saw it in the heart of Christ. With infinite longing he yearned to +bring the church to a sense of her great power and opportunity. So +matters had finally drawn to a point in the month of November. The +Brother Man had come in October. The sick man recovered slowly. Philip +and his wife found room for the father and son, and shared with them +what comforts they had. It should be said that after moving out of the +parsonage into his house in the tenement district, Philip had more than +given the extra thousand dollars the church insisted on paying him. The +demands on him were so urgent, the perfect impossibility of providing +men with work and so relieving them had been such a bar to giving help +in that direction, that out of sheer necessity, as it seemed to him, +Philip had given fully half of the thousand dollars reserved for his own +salary. His entire expenses were reduced to the smallest possible +amount. Everything above that went where it was absolutely needed. He +was literally sharing what he had with the people who did not have +anything. It seemed to him that he could not consistently do anything +less in view of what he had preached and intended to preach. + +One evening in the middle of the month he was invited to a social +gathering at the house of Mr. Winter. The mill-owner had of late been +experiencing a revolution of thought. His attitude toward Philip had +grown more and more friendly. Philip welcomed the rich man's change of +feeling toward him with an honest joy at the thought that the time might +come when he would see his privilege and power, and use both to the +glory of Christ's kingdom. He had more than once helped Philip lately +with sums of money for the relief of destitute cases, and a feeling of +mutual confidence was growing up between the men. + +Philip went to the gathering with the feeling that a change of +surroundings would do him good. Mrs. Strong, who for some reason was +detained at home, urged him to go, thinking the social evening spent in +bright and luxurious surroundings would be a rest to him from his +incessant labors in the depressing atmosphere of poverty and disease. + +It was a gathering of personal friends of Mr. Winter, including some of +the church people. The moment that Philip stepped into the spacious hall +and caught a glimpse of the furnishings of the rooms beyond, the +contrast between all the comfort and brightness of this house and the +last place he had visited in the tenement district smote him with a +sense of pain. He drove it back and blamed himself with an inward +reproach that he was growing narrow and could think of only one idea. + +He could not remember just what brought up the subject, but some one +during the evening, which was passed in conversation and music, +mentioned the rumor going about of increased disturbance in the lower +part of the town, and carelessly wanted to know if the paper did not +exaggerate the facts. Some one turned to Philip and asked him about it +as the one best informed. He had been talking with an intelligent lawyer +who had been reading a popular book which Philip had also reviewed for a +magazine. He was thoroughly enjoying the talk, and for the time being +the human problem which had so long wearied his heart and mind was +forgotten. + +He was roused out of this to answer the question concerning the real +condition of affairs in the lower part of the town. Instantly his mind +sprang back to that which absorbed it in reality more than anything +else. Before he knew it he had not only answered the particular +question, but had gone on to describe the picture of desperate life in +the tenement district. The buzz of conversation in the other rooms +gradually ceased. The group about the minister grew, as others became +aware that something unusual was going on in that particular room. He +unconsciously grew eloquent and his handsome face lighted up with the +fires that raged deep in him at the thought of diseased and depraved +humanity. He did not know how long he talked. He knew there was a great +hush when he had ended. Then before any one could change the stream of +thought some young woman in the music-room who had not known what was +going on began to sing to a new instrumental variation "Home, Sweet +Home." Coming as it did after Philip's vivid description of the +tenements, it seemed like a sob of despair or a mocking hypocrisy. He +drew back into one of the smaller rooms and began to look over some art +prints on a table. As he stood there, again blaming himself for his +impetuous breach of society etiquette in almost preaching on such an +occasion, Mr. Winter came in and said: + +"It does not seem possible that such a state of affairs exists as you +describe, Mr. Strong. Are you sure you do not exaggerate?" + +"Exaggerate! Mr. Winter, you have pardoned my little sermon here +to-night, I know. It was forced on me. But----" He choked, and then with +an energy that was all the stronger for being repressed, he said, +turning full toward the mill-owner, "Mr. Winter, will you go with me and +look at things for yourself? In the name of Christ will you see what +humanity is sinning and suffering not more than a mile from this home of +yours?" + +Mr. Winter hesitated and then said: "Yes, I'll go. When?" + +"Say to-morrow night. Come down to my house early and we will start from +there." + +Mr. Winter agreed, and when Philip went home he glowed with hope. If +once he could get people to know for themselves it seemed to him the +rest of his desire for needed co-operation would follow. + +When Mr. Winter came down the next evening, Philip asked him to come in +and wait a few minutes, as he was detained in his study-room by a +caller. The mill-owner sat down and visited with Mrs. Strong a little +while. Finally she was called into the other room and Mr. Winter was +left alone. The door into the sick man's room was partly open, and he +could not help hearing the conversation between the Brother Man and his +son. Something that was said made him curious, and when Philip came down +he asked him a question concerning his strange boarder. + +"Come in and see him," said Philip. + +He brought Mr. Winter into the little room and introduced him to the +patient. He was able to sit up now. At mention of Mr. Winter's name he +flushed and trembled. It then occurred to Philip for the first time that +it was the mill-owner that his assailant that night had intended to +waylay and rob. For a second he was very much embarrassed. Then he +recovered himself, and after a few quiet words with Brother Man he and +Mr. Winter went out of the room to start on their night visit through +the tenements. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +As they were going out of the house the patient called Philip back. He +went in again and the man said, "Mr. Strong, I wish you would tell Mr. +Winter all about it." + +"Would you feel easier?" Philip asked gently. + +"Yes." + +"All right; I'll tell him--don't worry. Brother Man, take good care of +him. I shall not be back until late." He kissed his wife and joined Mr. +Winter, and together they made the round of the district. + +As they were going through the court near by the place where Philip had +been attacked, he told the mill-owner the story. It affected him +greatly; but as they went on through the tenements the sights that met +him there wiped out the recollection of everything else. + +It was all familiar to Philip; but it always looked to him just as +terrible. The heartache for humanity was just as deep in him at sight of +suffering and injustice as if it was the first instead of the hundredth +time he had ever seen them. But to the mill-owner the whole thing came +like a revelation. He had not dreamed of such a condition possible. + +"How many people are there in our church that know anything about this +plague spot from personal knowledge, Mr. Winter?" Philip asked after +they had been out about two hours. + +"I don't know. Very few, I presume." + +"And yet they ought to know about it. How else shall all this sin and +misery be done away?" + +"I suppose the law could do something," replied Mr. Winter, feebly. + +"The law!" Philip said the two words and then stopped. They stumbled +over a heap of refuse thrown out into the doorway of a miserable +structure. "Oh, what this place needs is not law and ordinances and +statutes so much as live, loving Christian men and women who will give +themselves and a large part of their means to cleanse the souls and +bodies and houses of this wretched district. We have reached a crisis in +Milton when Christians must give themselves to humanity! Mr. Winter, I +am going to tell Calvary Church so next Sunday." + +Mr. Winter was silent. They had come out of the district and were +walking along together toward the upper part of the city. The houses +kept growing larger and better. Finally they came up to the avenue where +the churches were situated--a broad, clean, well-paved street with +magnificent elms and elegant houses on either side and the seven large, +beautiful church-buildings with their spires pointing upward, almost all +of them visible from where the two men stood. They paused there a +moment. The contrast, the physical contrast was overwhelming to Philip, +and to Mr. Winter, coming from the unusual sights of the lower town, it +must have come with a new meaning. + +A door in one of the houses near opened. A group of people passed in. +The glimpse caught by the two men was a glimpse of bright, +flower-decorated rooms, beautiful dresses, glittering jewels, and a +table heaped with luxuries of food. It was the Paradise of Society, the +display of its ease, its soft enjoyment of pretty things, its careless +indifference to humanity's pain in the lower town. The group of +new-comers went in, a strain of music and the echo of a dancing laugh +floated out into the street, and then the door closed. + +The two men went on. Philip had his own reason for accompanying the +other home, and Mr. Winter was secretly glad of his presence, for he was +timid at night alone in Milton. He broke a long silence by saying: + +"Mr. Strong, if you preach to the people to leave such pleasure as that +we have just glanced at to view or suffer such things as are found in +the tenements, you must expect opposition. I doubt if they will +understand your meaning. I know they will not do any such thing. It is +asking too much." + +"And yet the Lord Jesus Christ 'although He was rich, for our sakes +became poor, that we, through His poverty, might be rich.' Mr. Winter, +what this town needs is that kind of Christianity--the kind that will +give up the physical pleasures of life to show the love of Christ to +perishing men. I believe it is just as true now as when Christ lived, +that unless they are willing to renounce all that they have they cannot +be his disciples." + +"Do you mean literally, Mr. Strong?" asked the rich man after a little. + +"Yes, literally, sometimes. I believe the awful condition of things and +souls we have witnessed to-night will not be any better until many, many +of the professing Christians in this town and in Calvary Church are +willing to leave, actually to leave their beautiful homes and spend the +money they now spend in luxuries for the good of the weak and poor and +sinful." + +"Do you think Christ would preach that if he was in Milton?" + +"I do. It has been burned into me that He would. I believe He would say +to the members of Calvary Church, 'If any man love houses and money and +society and power and position more than Me, he cannot be My disciple. +If any man renounceth not all that he hath he cannot be My disciple.' +And then he would test the entire church by its willingness to renounce +all these physical things. And if He found the members willing, if He +found that they loved Him more than the money or the power, He might not +demand a literal giving up. But he would say to them, 'Take My money and +My power, for it is all Mine, and use them for the building up of my +kingdom.' He would not then perhaps command them to leave literally +their beautiful surroundings. But, then, in some cases, I believe He +would. Oh, yes!--sacrifice! sacrifice! What does the Church in America +in this age of the world know about it? How much do church-members give +of themselves nowadays to the Master? That is what we need--self, the +souls of men and women, the living sacrifices for these lost children +down yonder! Oh, God!--to think of what Christ gave up! And then to +think of how little His Church is doing to obey His last command to go +and disciple the nations!" + +Philip strode through the night almost forgetful of his companion. By +this time they had reached Mr. Winter's house. Very little was said by +the mill-owner. A few brief words of good-night, and Philip started for +home. He went back through the avenue on which the churches stood. When +he reached Calvary Church he went up on the steps, and obeying an +instant impulse he kneeled down on the upper step and prayed. Great sobs +shook him. They were sobs without tears--sobs that were articulate here +and there with groans of anguish and desire. He prayed for his loved +church, for the wretched beings in the hell of torment, without God and +without hope in the world, for the spirit of Christ to come again into +the heart of the church and teach it the meaning and extent of +sacrifice. + +When he finally arose and came down the steps it was very late. The +night was cold, but he did not feel it. He went home. He was utterly +exhausted. He felt as if the burden of the place was wearing him out and +crushing him into the earth. He wondered if he was beginning to know +ever so little what a tremendous invitation that was: "Come unto me all +ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." All! The +weary, sinful souls in Milton were more than he could carry. He shrank +back before the amazing spectacle of the mighty Burden-Bearer of the sin +of all the world, and fell down at his feet and breathed out the words, +"My Lord and my God!" before he sank into a heavy sleep. + +When the eventful Sunday came he faced the usual immense concourse. He +did not come out of the little room until the last moment. When he +finally appeared his face bore marks of tears. At last they had flowed +as a relief to his burden, and he gave the people his message with a +courage and a peace and a love born of direct communion with the Spirit +of Truth. + +As he went on, people began to listen in amazement. He had begun by +giving them a statement of facts concerning the sinful, needy, desperate +condition of life in the place. He then rapidly sketched the contrast +between the surroundings of the Christian and the non-Christian people, +between the working-men and the church-members. He stated what was the +fact in regard to the unemployed and the vicious and the ignorant and +the suffering. And then with his heart flinging itself out among the +people, he spoke the words which aroused the most intense astonishment: + +"Disciples of Jesus," he exclaimed, "the time has come when our Master +demands of us some token of our discipleship greater than the giving of +a little money or the giving of a little work and time to the salvation +of the great problem of modern society and of our own city. The time has +come when we must give ourselves. The time has come when we must +renounce, if it is best, if Christ asks it, the things we have so long +counted dear, the money, the luxury, the houses, and go down into the +tenement district to live there and work there with the people. I do not +wish to be misunderstood here. I do not believe our modern civilization +is an absurdity. I do not believe Christ if he were here to-day would +demand of us foolish things. But this I do believe He would +require--ourselves. We must give ourselves in some way that will mean +real, genuine, downright and decided self-sacrifice. If Christ were here +He would say to some of you, as He said to the young man, 'Sell all you +have and give to the poor, and come, follow me.' And if you were +unwilling to do it He would say you could not be His disciples. The test +of discipleship is the same now as then; the price is no less on account +of the lapse of two thousand years. Eternal life is something which has +only one price, and that is the same always. + +"What less can we do than give ourselves and all we have to the +salvation of souls in this city? Have we not enjoyed our pleasant things +long enough? What less would Christ demand of the church to-day than the +giving up of its unnecessary luxuries, the consecration of every dollar +to His glory and the throwing of ourselves on the altar of His service? +Members of Calvary Church, I solemnly believe the time has come when it +is our duty to go into the tenement district and redeem it by the power +of personal sacrifice and personal presence. Nothing less will answer. +To accomplish this great task, to bring back to God this great part of +His kingdom, I believe we ought to spend our time, our money, ourselves. +It is a sin for us to live at our pleasant ease, in enjoyment of all +good things, while men and women and children by the thousand are dying, +body and soul, before our very eyes in need of the blessings of +Christian civilization in our power to share with them. We cannot say it +is not our business. We cannot excuse ourselves on the plea of our own +business. This is our first business, to love God and man with all our +might. This problem before us calls for all our Christian discipleship. +Every heart in this church should cry out this day, 'Lord, what wilt +Thou have me to do?' And each soul must follow the commands that he +honestly hears. Out of the depths of the black abyss of human want and +sin and despair and anguish and rebellion in this place and over the +world rings in my ear a cry for help that by the grace of God I truly +believe cannot be answered by the Church of Christ on earth until the +members of that Church are willing in great numbers to give all their +money and all their time and all their homes and all their luxuries and +all their accomplishments and all their artistic tastes and all +themselves to satisfy the needs of the generation as it looks for the +heart of the bleeding Christ in the members of the Church of Christ. +Yea, truly, except a man is willing to renounce all that he hath, he +cannot be His disciple. Does Christ ask any member of Calvary Church to +renounce all and go down into the tenement district to live Christ +there? Yes, all. + +"My beloved, if Christ speaks so to you to-day, listen and obey. +Service! Self! That is what He wants. And if He asks for all, when all +is needed, what then? Can we sing that hymn with any Christian honesty +of heart unless we interpret it literally?-- + + "'Were the whole realm of nature mine, + That were an offering far too small; + Love so amazing, so divine, + Demands my soul, my life, my all!'" + +It would partly describe the effect of this sermon on Calvary Church to +say what was a fact that when Philip ended and then kneeled down by the +side of the desk to pray, the silence was painful and the intense +feeling provoked by his remarkable statements was felt in the appearance +of the audience as it remained seated after the benediction. But the +final result was yet to show itself; that result was not visible in the +Sunday audience. + +The next day Philip was unexpectedly summoned out of Milton to the +parish of his old college chum. His old friend was thought to be dying. +He had sent for Philip. Philip, whose affection for him was second only +to that which he gave his wife, went at once. His friend was almost +gone. He rallied when Philip came, and then for two weeks his life +swung back and forth between this world and the next. Philip stayed on +and so was gone one Sunday from his pulpit in Milton. Then the week +following, as Alfred gradually came back from the shore of that other +world, Philip, assured that he would live, returned home. + +During that ten days' absence serious events had taken place in Calvary +Church. Philip reached home on Wednesday. He at once went to the house +and greeted his wife and the Brother Man, and William, who was now +sitting up in the large room. + +He had not been home more than an hour when the greatest dizziness came +over him. He sat up so much with his chum that he was entirely worn out. +He went upstairs to lie down on his couch in his small study. He +instantly fell asleep and dreamed that he was standing on the platform +of Calvary Church, preaching. It was the first Sunday of a month. He +thought he said something the people did not like. Suddenly a man in the +audience raised a revolver and fired at him. At once, from over the +house, people aimed revolvers at him and began to fire. The noise was +terrible, and in the midst of it he awoke to feel to his amazement that +his wife was kneeling at the side of his couch, sobbing with a heartache +that was terrible to him; he was instantly wide awake and her dear head +clasped in his arms. And when he prayed her to tell him the matter, she +sobbed out the news to him which her faithful, loving heart had +concealed from him while he was at the bedside of his friend. And even +when the news of what the church had done in his absence had come to him +fully through her broken recital of it, he did not realize it until she +placed in his hands the letter which the church had voted to be written, +asking him to resign his pastorate of Calvary Church. Even then he +fingered the envelope in an absent way, and for an instant his eyes left +the bowed form of his wife and looked out beyond the sheds over to the +tenements. Then he opened the letter and read it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +Philip read the letter through without lifting his eyes from the paper +or making any comment. It was as follows: + +PHILIP STRONG, Calvary Church, Milton: + +As clerk of the church I am instructed to inform you of the action of +the church at a regularly called meeting last Monday night. At that +meeting it was voted by a majority present that you be asked to resign +the pastorate of Calvary Church for the following reasons: + +1. There is a very widespread discontent on the part of the +church-membership on account of the use of the church for Sunday +evening discussions of social, political, and economic questions, and +the introduction into the pulpit of persons whose character and standing +are known to be hostile to the church and its teachings. + +2. The business men of the church, almost without exception, are +agreed, and so expressed themselves at the meeting, that the sermon of +Sunday before last was exceedingly dangerous in its tone, and liable to +lead to the gravest results in acts of lawlessness and anarchy on the +part of people who are already inflamed to deeds of violence against +property and wealth. Such preaching, in the opinion of the majority of +pew-owners and supporters of Calvary Church, cannot be allowed, or the +church will inevitably lose its standing in society. + +3. It is the fixed determination of a majority of the oldest and most +influential members of Calvary Church to withdraw from the organization +all support under the present condition of affairs. The trustees +announced that the pledges for church support had already fallen off +very largely, and last Sunday less than half the regular amount was +received. This was ascribed to the sermon of the first of the month. + +4. The vacation of the parsonage and the removal of the minister into +the region of the tenement district has created an intense feeling on +the part of a large number of families who have for years been firm +supporters and friends of the church. They feel that the action was +altogether uncalled for, and they think it has been the means of +disrupting the church and throwing matters into confusion, besides +placing the church in an unfavorable light with the other churches and +the community at large. + +5. It was the opinion of a majority of the members present that while +much of the spirit exhibited by yourself was highly commendable, yet in +view of all the facts it would be expedient for the pastoral relation to +be severed. The continuance of that relation seemed to promise only +added disturbance and increased antagonism in the church. It was the +wellnigh unanimous verdict that your plans and methods might succeed to +your better satisfaction with a constituency made up of non-church +people, and that possibly your own inclinations would lead you to take +the step which the church has thought wisest and best for all concerned. + +It is my painful duty as the clerk of Calvary Church to write thus +plainly the action of the church and the specific reasons for that +action. A council will be called to review our proceedings and advise +with reference to the same. + +In behalf of the church, +-------- ----------, Clerk. + +Philip finished the letter and lifted his eyes again. And again he +looked out through the window across the sheds to the roofs of the +tenements. From where he sat he could also see, across the city, up on +the rising ground, the spire of Calvary Church. It rose distinct and +cold against the gray December sky. The air was clear and frosty, the +ground was covered with snow, and the roofs of the tenements showed +black and white patches where the thinner snow had melted. He was silent +so long that his wife became frightened. + +"Philip! Philip!" she cried, as she threw her arms about his neck and +drew his head down nearer. "They have broken your heart! They have +killed you! There is no love in the world any more!" + +"No! No!" he cried suddenly. "You must not say that! You make me doubt. +There is the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. But, oh, for the +Church! the Church which he loved and for which he gave himself!" + +"But it is not the Church of Christ that has done this thing." + +"Nevertheless it is the Church in the world," he replied. "Tell me, +Sarah, how this was kept so secret from me." + +"You forget. You were so entirely absorbed in the care of Alfred; and +then the church meeting was held with closed doors. Even the papers did +not know the whole truth at once. I kept it from you as long as I could! +Oh! It was cruel, so cruel." + +"Little woman," spoke Philip, very gently and calmly, "this is a blow to +me. I did not think the church would do it. I hoped----" he paused and +his voice trembled for a brief moment, then grew quiet again. "I hoped I +was gradually overcoming opposition. It seems I was mistaken. It seems I +did not know the feeling in the church." + +He looked out of the window again and was silent. Then he asked, "Are +they all against me? Was there no one to stand up for me?" The question +came with a faint smile that was far more heart-breaking to his wife +than a flood of tears. She burst into a sob. + +"Yes, you have friends. Mr. Winter fought for you--and others." + +"Mr. Winter!--my old enemy! That was good. And there were others?" + +"Yes, quite a number. But nearly all the influential members were +against you. Philip, you have been blind to all this." + +"Do you think so?" he asked simply. "Maybe that is so. I have not +thought of people so much as of the work which needed to be done. I have +tried to do as my Master would have me. But I have lacked wisdom, or +tact, or something." + +"No, it is not that. Do you want to know what I think?" His wife fondly +stroked the hair back from his forehead, as she sat on the couch by him. + +"Yes, little woman, tell me." To his eyes his wife never seemed so +beautiful or dear as now. He knew that they were one in this their hour +of trouble. + +"Well, I have learned to believe since you came to Milton that if Jesus +Christ were to live on the earth in this century and become the pastor +of almost any large and wealthy and influential church and preach as He +would have to, the church would treat Him just as Calvary Church has +treated you. The world would crucify Jesus Christ again even after two +thousand years of historical Christianity." + +Philip did not speak. He looked out again toward the tenements. The +winter day was drawing to its close. The church spire still stood out +sharp cut against the sky. Finally he turned to his wife, and almost +with a groan he uttered the words: "Sarah, I do not to like to believe +it. The world is full of the love of Christ. It is not the same world as +Calvary saw." + +"No. But by what test are nominal Christians and church-members tried +to-day? Is not the church in America and England a church in which the +scribes and pharisees, hypocrites, are just as certainly found as they +were in the old Jewish church? And would not that element crucify Christ +again if He spoke as plainly now as then?" + +Again Philip looked out of the window. His whole nature was shaken to +its foundation. Repeatedly he drove back the thought of the church's +possible action in the face of the Christ of this century. As often it +returned and his soul cried out in anguish at the suggestion of the +truth. Even with the letter of Calvary Church before him he was slow to +believe that the Church as a whole or in a majority of cases would +reject the Master. + +"I have made mistakes. I have been lacking in tact. I have needlessly +offended the people," he said to his wife, yielding almost for the first +time to a great fear and distrust of himself. For the letter asking his +resignation had shaken him as once he thought impossible. "I have tried +to preach and act as Christ would, but I have failed to interpret him +aright. Is it not so, Sarah?" + +His wife was reluctant to speak. But her true heart made answer: "No, +Philip, you have interpreted Him so faithfully. You may have made +mistakes; all ministers do; but I honestly believe you have preached as +Christ would preach against the great selfishness and hypocrisy of this +century. The same thing would have happened to him." + +They talked a little longer, and then Philip said: "Let us go down and +see the Brother Man. Somehow I feel like talking with him." + +So they went downstairs and into the room where the invalid was sitting +with the old man. William was able to walk about now, and had been +saying that he wanted to hear Philip preach as soon as he could get to +church. + +"Well, Brother Man," said Philip, with something like his old heartiness +of manner, "have you heard the news? Othello's occupation's gone." + +The Brother Man seemed to know all about it. Whether he had heard of it +through some of the church people or not, Mrs. Strong did not know. He +looked at Mr. Strong calmly. There was a loving sympathy in his voice, +but no trace of compassion or wonder. Evidently he had not been talking +of the subject to any one. + +"I knew it would happen," he said. "You have offended the rulers." + +"What would you do, Brother Man, in my place? Would you resign?" Philip +thought back to the time when the Brother Man had asked him why he did +not resign. + +"Don't they ask you to?" + +"Yes." + +"Do you think it is the wish of the whole church?" + +"No, there are some who want me to stay." + +"How do you feel about it?" The Brother Man put the question almost +timidly. Philip replied without hesitation: + +"There is only one thing for me to do. It would be impossible for me to +remain after what has been done." + +The Brother Man nodded his head as if in approval. He did not seem +disturbed in the least. His demeanor was the most perfect expression of +peace that Philip ever saw. + +"We shall have to leave Milton, Brother Man," said Philip, thinking that +possibly he did not understand the meaning of the resignation.. + +"Yes, we will go away together. Together." The Brother Man looked at his +son and smiled. + +"Mr. Strong," said William, "we cannot be a burden on you another day. I +am able to get out now, and I will find work somewhere and provide for +my father and myself. It is terrible to me to think how long we have +been living on your slender means." And William gave the minister a look +of gratitude that made his heart warm again. + +"My brother, we will see to that all right. You have been more than +welcome. Just what I shall do, I don't know, but I am sure the way will +be made clear in time, aren't you, Brother Man?" + +"Yes, the road to heaven is always clear," he said, almost singing the +words. + +"We shall have to leave this house, Brother Man," said Sarah, feeling +with Philip that he did not grasp the meaning of the event. + +"Yes, in the Father's house there are many mansions," replied the +Brother Man. Then as Mr. and Mrs. Strong sat there in the gathering +gloom the old man said suddenly, "Let us pray together about it." + +He kneeled down and offered the most remarkable prayer that they had +ever heard. It seemed to them that, however the old man's mind might be +affected, the part of him that touched God in the communion of audible +prayer was absolutely free from any weakness or disease. It was a prayer +that laid its healing balm on the soul of Philip and soothed his trouble +into peace. When the old man finished, Philip felt almost cheerful +again. He went out and helped his wife a few minutes in some work about +the kitchen. And after supper he was just getting ready to go out to +inquire after a sick family near by, when there was a knock at the door. + +It was a messenger boy with a telegram. Philip opened it almost +mechanically and carrying it to the light read: + +"Alfred died at four P. M. Can you come?" + +For a second he did not realize the news. Then as it rushed upon him he +staggered and would have fallen if the table had not been so close. A +faintness and a pain seized him and for a minute he thought he was +falling. Then he pulled himself together and called his wife, who was in +the kitchen. She came in at once, noticing the peculiar tone of his +voice. + +"Alfred is dead!" He was saying the words quietly as he held out the +telegram. + +"Dead! And you left him getting better! How dreadful!" + +"Do you think so? He is at rest. I must go up there at once; they expect +me." He still spoke quietly, stilling the tumult of his heart's anguish +for his wife's sake. This man, his old college chum, was very dear to +him. The news was terrible to him. + +Nevertheless, he made his preparations to go back to his friend's home. +It is what either would have done in the event of the other's death. And +so he was gone from Milton until after the funeral, and did not return +until Saturday. In those three days of absence Milton was stirred by +events that grew out of the action of the church. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +In the first place the minority in the church held a meeting and voted +to ask Philip to remain, pledging him their hearty support in all his +plans and methods. The evening paper, in its report of this meeting, +made the most of the personal remarks that were made, and served up the +whole affair in sensational items that were eagerly read by every one in +Milton. + +But the most important gathering of Philip's friends was that of the +mill-men. They met in the hall where he had so often spoken, and being +crowded out of that by the great numbers, they finally secured the use +of the court house. This was crowded with an excited assembly, and in +the course of very many short speeches in which the action of the church +was severely condemned, a resolution was offered and adopted asking Mr. +Strong to remain in Milton and organize an association or something of a +similar order for the purpose of sociological study and agitation, +pledging whatever financial support could be obtained from the +working-people. This also was caught up and magnified in the paper, and +the town was still roused to excitement by all these reports when Philip +returned home late Saturday afternoon, almost reeling with exhaustion, +and his heart torn with the separation from his old chum. + +However, he tried to conceal his weariness from Sarah, and partly +succeeded. After supper he went up to his study to prepare for the +Sunday. He had fully made up his mind what he would do, and he wanted to +do it in a manner that would cast no reproach on his ministry, which he +respected with sensitive reverence. + +He shut the door and began his preparation by walking up and down, as +his custom was, thinking out the details of the service, his sermon, the +exact wording of certain phrases he wished to make. + +He had been walking thus back and forth half a dozen times when he felt +the same acute pain in his side that had seized him when he fainted in +church at the evening service. It passed away and he resumed his work, +thinking it was only a passing disorder. But before he could turn again +in his walk he felt a dizziness that whirled everything in the room +about him. He clutched at a chair and was conscious of having missed it, +and then he fell forward in such a way that he lay partly on the couch +and on the floor, and was unconscious. + +How long he had been in this condition he did not know when he came to +himself. He was thankful, when he did recover sufficiently to crawl to +his feet and sit down on the couch, that Sarah had not seen him. He +managed to get over to his desk and begin to write something as he heard +her coming upstairs. He did not intend to deceive her. His thought was +that he would not unnecessarily alarm her. He was very tired. It did not +need much urging to persuade him to get to bed. And so, without saying +anything of his second fainting attack, he went downstairs and was soon +sleeping very heavily. + +He awoke Sunday morning feeling strangely calm and refreshed. The +morning prayer with the Brother Man came like a benediction to them all. +Sarah, who had feared for him, owing to the severe strain he had been +enduring, felt relieved as she saw how he appeared. They all prepared to +go to church, the Brother Man and William going out for the first time +since the attack. + +We have mentioned Philip's custom of coming into his pulpit from the +little room at the side door of the platform. This morning he went in at +the side door of the church after parting with Sarah and the others. He +let Brother Man and William go on ahead a little, and then drawing his +wife to him he stooped and kissed her. He turned at the top of the short +flight of steps leading up to the side entrance and saw her still +standing in the same place. Then she went around from the little court +to the front of the church, and went in with the great crowd already +beginning to stream toward Calvary Church. + +No one ever saw so many people in Calvary Church before. Men sat on the +platform and even in the deep window-seats. The spaces under the large +galleries by the walls were filled mostly with men standing there. The +house was crowded long before the hour of service. There were many +beating, excited hearts in that audience. More than one member felt a +shame at the action which had been taken, and might have wished it +recalled. With the great number of working-men and young people in the +church there was only one feeling; it was a feeling of love for Philip +and of sorrow for what had been done. The fact that he had been away +from the city, that he had not talked over the matter with any one, +owing to his absence, the uncertainty as to how he would receive the +whole thing, what he would say on this first Sunday after the letter had +been written--this attracted a certain number of persons who never go +inside a church except for some extraordinary occasion or in hopes of a +sensation. So the audience that memorable day had some cruel people +present--people who narrowly watch the faces of mourners at funerals to +see what ravages grief has made on the countenance. + +The organist played his prelude through and was about to stop, when he +saw from the glass that hung over the keys that Mr. Strong had not yet +appeared. He began again at a certain measure, repeating it, and played +very slowly. By this time the church was entirely filled. There was an +air of expectant waiting as the organ again ceased, and still Philip did +not come out. A great fear came over Mrs. Strong. She had half risen +from her seat near the platform to go up and open the study door, when +it opened and Philip came out. + +Whatever his struggle had been in that little room the closest observer +could not detect any trace of tears or sorrow or shame or humiliation. +He was pale, but that was common; otherwise his face wore a firm, noble, +peaceful look. As he gazed over the congregation it fell under the +fascination of his glances. The first words that he spoke in the service +were strong and clear. Never had the people seen so much to admire in +his appearance, and when, after the opening exercises and the regular +order of service, he rose and came out at one side of the desk to speak, +as his custom was, the people were for the time under the magic sway of +his personality, that never stood out so commanding and loving and +true-hearted as then. + +He began to speak very quietly and simply, as his fashion was, of the +fact that he had been asked to resign his pastorate of Calvary Church. +He made the statement clearly, with no halting or hesitation or +sentiment of tone or gesture. Then, after saying that there was only one +course open to him under the circumstances, he went on to speak, as he +said he ought to speak, in defense of his interpretation of Christ and +His teaching. + +"Members of Calvary Church, I call you to bear witness to-day, that I +have tried to preach to you Christ and Him crucified. I have doubtless +made mistakes; we all make them. I have offended the rich men and the +property-owners in Milton. I could not help it; I was obliged to do so +in order to speak as I this moment solemnly believe my Lord would speak. +I have aroused opposition because I asked men into the church and upon +this platform who do not call themselves Christians, for the purpose of +knowing their reasons for antagonism to the church we love. But the time +has come, O my brothers, when the Church must welcome to its counsels, +in these matters that affect the world's greatest good, all men who have +at heart the fulfilment[sic] of the Christ's teachings. + +"But the cause which more than any other has led to the action of this +church has been, I am fully aware, my demand that the church-members of +this city should leave their possessions and go and live with the poor, +wretched, sinful, hopeless people in the lower town, sharing in wise +ways with them of the good things of the world. But why do I speak of +all this in defense of my action or my preaching?" + +Suddenly Philip seemed to feel a revulsion of attitude toward the whole +of what he had been saying. It was as if there had instantly swept over +him the knowledge that he could never make the people before him +understand either his motive or his Christ. His speech so far had been +quiet, unimpassioned, deliberate. His whole manner now underwent a swift +change. People in the galleries noticed it, and men leaned out far over +the railing, and more than one closed his hands tight in emotion at the +sight and hearing of the tall figure on the platform. + +For the intense love of the people that Philip felt had surged into him +uncontrollably. It swept away all other things. He no longer sought to +justify his ways; he seemed bent on revealing to men the mighty love of +Christ for them and the world. His lip trembled, his voice shook with +the yearning of his soul for the people, and his frame quivered with +longing. + +"Yes," he said, "I love you, people of Milton, beloved members of this +church. I would have opened my arms to every child of humanity here and +shown him, if I could, the boundless love of his heavenly Father! But +oh, ye would not! And yet the love of Christ! What a wonderful thing it +is! How much He wished us to enjoy of peace and hope and fellowship and +service! Yes, service--that is what the world needs to-day; service that +is willing to give all--all to Him who gave all to save us! O Christ, +Master, teach us to do Thy will. Make us servants to the poor and sinful +and hopeless. Make Thy Church on earth more like Thyself!" + +Those nearest Philip saw him suddenly raise his handkerchief to his +lips, and then, when he took it away, it was stained with blood. But the +people did not see that. And then, and then--a remarkable thing took +place. + +On the rear wall of Calvary Church there had been painted, when the +church was built, a Latin cross. This cross had been the source of +almost endless dispute among the church-members. Some said it was +inartistic; others said it was in keeping with the name of the church, +and had a right place there as part of its inner adornment. Once the +dispute had grown so large and serious that the church had voted as to +its removal or retention on the wall. A small majority had voted to +leave it there, and there it remained. It was perfectly white, on a +panel of thin wood, and stood out very conspicuously above the rear of +the platform. It was not directly behind the desk, but several feet at +one side. + +Philip had never made any allusion in his sermons to this feature of +Calvary Church's architecture. People had wondered sometimes that with +his imaginative, poetical temperament he never had done so, especially +once when a sermon on the crucifixion had thrilled the people +wonderfully. It might have been his extreme sensitiveness, his shrinking +from anything like cheap sensation. + +But now he stepped back--it was not far--and turning partly around, with +one long arm extended toward the cross as if in imagination, he saw the +Christ upon it, he exclaimed, "'Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away +the sin of the world!' Yes-- + + "'In the cross of Christ I glory, + Towering o'er the wrecks of time; + All the light of sacred story + Gathers round----'" + +His voice suddenly ceased, he threw his arms up, and as he turned a +little forward toward the congregation he was seen to reel and stagger +back against the wall. For one intense tremendous second of time he +stood there with the whole church smitten into a pitying, horrified, +startled, motionless crowd of blanched staring faces, as his tall, dark +figure towered up with outstretched arms, almost covering the very +outlines of the cross, and then he sank down at its foot. + +A groan went up from the audience. Several men sprang up the platform +steps. Mrs. Strong was the first person to reach her husband. Two or +three helped to bear him to the front of the platform. Sarah kneeled +down by him. She put her head against his breast. Then she raised her +face and said calmly, "He is dead." + +The Brother Man was kneeling on the other side. "No," he said with an +indescribable gesture and untranslatable inflection, "he is not dead. He +is living in the eternal mansions of glory with his Lord!" + +But the news was borne from lip to lip, "He is dead!" And that is the +way men speak of the body. And they were right. The body of Philip was +dead. And the Brother Man was right also. For Philip himself was alive +in glory, and as they bore the tabernacle of his flesh out of Calvary +Church that day, that was all they bore. His soul was out of the reach +of humanity's selfishness and humanity's sorrow. + +They said that when the funeral of Philip Strong's body was held in +Milton, rugged, unfeeling men were seen to cry like children in the +streets. A great procession, largely made up of the poor and sinful, +followed him to his wintry grave. They lingered long about the spot. +Finally, every one withdrew except Sarah, who refused to be led away by +her friends, and William and the Brother Man. They stood looking down +into the grave. + +"He was very young to die so soon," at last Sarah said, with a calmness +that was more terrible than bursts of grief. + +"So was Christ," replied Brother Man, simply. + +"But, oh, Philip, Philip, my beloved, they killed him!" she cried; and +at last, for she had not wept yet, great tears rolled down into the +grave, and uncontrollable anguish seized her. Brother Man did not +attempt to console or interrupt. He knew she was in the arms of God. +After a long time he said: "Yes, they crucified him. But he is with his +Lord now. Let us be glad for him. Let us leave him with the Eternal +Peace." + +. . . . . . . . + +When the snow had melted from the hillside and the first arbutus was +beginning to bud and even blossom, one day some men came out to the +grave and put up a plain stone at the head. After the men had done this +work they went away. One of them lingered. He was the wealthy +mill-owner. He stood with his hat in his hand and his head bent down, +his eyes resting on the words carved into the stone. They were these: + +PHILIP STRONG. +PASTOR OF CALVARY CHURCH. + +"In the cross of Christ I glory, + Towering o'er the wrecks of time; +All the light of sacred story + Gathers round----" + +Mr. Winter looked at the incomplete line and then, as he turned away and +walked slowly back down into Milton he said, "Yes, it is better so. We +must finish the rest for him." + +Ah, Philip Strong! The sacrifice was not in vain! The Resurrection is +not far from the Crucifixion. + +. . . . . . . . + +Near to its close rolls up the century; + And still the Church of Christ upon the earth + Which marks the Christmas of His lowly birth, +Contains the selfish Scribe and Pharisee. + O Christ of God, exchanging gain for loss, + Would men still nail thee to the self-same cross? + +It is the Christendom of Time, and still + Wealth and the love of it hold potent sway; + The heart of man is stubborn to obey, +The Church has yet to do the Master's will. + O Christ of God, we bow our souls to thee; + Hasten the dawning of Thy Church to be way! + +THE END. + + + + +[Transcriber's note: typographic errors in the original are noted within +square brackets.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crucifixion of Philip Strong, by +Charles M. 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