Decatur Democrat, Volume 44, Number 2, Decatur, Adams County, 22 March 1900 — Page 7

H HIS STEPS. “Wli.'it Would Jcrus Do?” jy CZA3LES M. E—LDON. ~n tt. ,l raid publish*’ I»" b** *™ b? m vr ’" . 1( ... PuWtahli* . ut Chicago.] the Three months had gone by since the cnday morning when Dr Druce came t his pulpit with the message of the pieship Nev r before had the Rev. Calvin Brnee realized how deep i feeiin of his members flowed. He hnnibly confessed that the appeal he h i made met with an unexpected reW nse from men and women who. like Fdicia were hungry for something in their lives that the conventional type of church membership and fellowship had f-. ; led to gi'’ e them. But Dr Bruce was not yet satisfied ~ himself. We cannot tell t hat his Ling was or what led to the move ‘ nt be finally made, to the great astonishment of all who knew him. better tl „ in by relating a conversation between him and the bishop at this time ir, the history of the pledge in Nazareth /venue church. The two friends were, -bffere. in Dr Brace’s house, seated in his study ••You know what I have come in this evening fort" the bishop was saying ,fter the friends had been talking some bate about the results of the pledge ..' th \ -areth Avenue people Dr Bruce looked over at the bishop and shook his head. •‘I have come to confess.’' went on thebishep. "that 1 have not yet kept ■./ promise to walk in his steps in the wav that 1 believe 1 shall be obliged to if 1 satisfy my thought of what it means to walk in his steps. Dr. Bruce had risen and was pacing I his study The bishop remained in the I deep easy <♦ air. with his hands clasped. I but his eye burned with the glow that always belonged to him before he made seme great resolve "Edward" —Dr Bruce spoke abruptly—"l have not yet been abia to satisfy myself, either, in obeying my promise, but I have at last decided on my course In order to follow it, 1 shall be obliged to resign from Nazareth Avenue church ” "I knew you would,” replied the bishop quietly, “and I came in this •vening to say that I shall be obliged to do the same with my charge. ” Dr. Bruce turned and walked np to his friend. They were both laboring under repressed excitement. “Is it necessary in your case?” asked Bruce "Yes. Let me state my reasons. Probably they are the same as yours. In fact, I am sure they are.” The bishop paused a moment, then went on with increasing feeling: “Calvin, you know how many years I have been doing the work of my position. and you know something of the responsibility and the care of it. Ido not mean to say that my life has been free from burden bearing or sorrow, but I have certainly led what the poor and desperate of this sinful city would call a very comfortable—yes, a very luxurious—life. I have a beautiful house to live in. the most expensive food, clothing and physical pleasures. I have been able to go abroad at least a dozen times and have enjoyed for years the beautiful companionship of art and letters and music and all the rest of the very best. I have never known what it meant to be without money or its equivalent, and I have been unable to silence the question of late. ‘What have I suffered for the sake of Christ?’ Paul was told what great things he must suffer for the sake of his Lord. Maxwell s position at Raymond is well taken when he insists that to walk in the steps of Christ means to suffer. Where h: - my suffering come in ? The petty trialsand annoyances of my clerical life are not worth mentioning as sorrows or E T- ring. Compared with Paul or any the Christian martyrs or early disciples, I have lived a luxurious, sinful life, full of ease and pleasure. I cannot endure this any longer I have that V’.thin me which of late rises in cvervlr Iming condemnation of such a following of Je snß . i h ave no t been walking in his steps. Under the present syseiu of church and social life I see no e-ot’ o from this condemnation except . give the rest of my life personally to i“ actual physical and soul needs of ’c wretched people in the worst part of this city." The bishop had risen now and walked t ' le window. The street in front the house was as light as day, and .* ooked out at the crowds passing, -tn turned, and, with a passionate ntlancethat showed how deep the volup ,? ' n ' l ’ ln burned, he exclaimed alvin. this is a terrible city in J,! c , We bve. Its misery, its sin, its • s ness, appal] my heart, and I have 1 r - f ' ars ■W’ith the sickening “ » of the time when I should be - Ce „ l .° ' eave the pleasant luxury of position to pnt my life into tl/ aCt tbe modern paganism of ih e C ® nt . n U The awful condition of girls in the great department stores. . se^®s buess of the insolent soil! th and wealth that ignores 'r.r«. f ßori ' oWS the fearful he vL L'' drillk and gambling hell, , of unemployed, the hatred D the \ nrc h by countless men who see tone , C \ nrch on ly great piles of costly j. t d n l J b°lstered furniture and the r, r V a 'Hvurions idler, all the °. f this vast torrent of huts an d its true ideas. i B( ; .“station of evils in the church he resnk t l enieSß and shame ll;at are his»« o many complex causes —all h“ < ; ' d act ’ ’ n its contrast with ills ni ?L° mfortable life 1 have lived, ninvles <° re and more with a sense of iav e heJ tOr and accusation. I hues laMv n® W ° rds of Jesps n:any . - Inasmuch as ye did it not

unto one of these least, my brethren, ye did it not to mq. And when have I personally visited the prisoner or the desperate or tho sinful in any way that has actually caused me suffering? Rather I have followed the conventional. soft habits of my posit n and have lived in the society of the rich, refined, aristocratic members of i ' congregations. Where has the m1,".-ring come in ? What have I suffered for Jesus’ sake? Do you know, Calvin’’ — the bishop turned abruptly toward his friend—"! have been tempted of late to lash myself with a scourge. If I had lived in Martin Luther’s time. I would have bared my back to a self inflicted torture. ” Dr. Bruce was very pale. Never had he seen the bishop or heard him when under the influence of such a passion. There was a sudden silence in the room. The bishop had sat down again and bowed his head. Dr. Bruce spoke at last “Edward. 1 do not need to say that you have expressed my feelings also. I have been in a similar position for years My life has been one of comparative luxury Ido not. of course, mean to say that 1 have not hard trials and discouragements and burdens in my church ministry, but I cannot say that I have suffered any for Jesus. That verse in Peter haunts me. ‘Christ also suffered for you. leaving you an example that ye should follow his steps. ’ 1 have lived in luxury. Ido not know what it means towant. 1 also have had my leisure for travel and beautiful companionship. I have been surrounded by soft, easy comforts of civilization. The sin and misery of this great city have beat like waves against the stone walls of my church and of this house in which I live, and I have hardly heeded them, the walls have been so thick. I have reached a point where I cannot endure this any longer. lam not condemning the church. I love her. lam not Jorsaking the church. I believe in her mission and have no desire to destroy Least of all. in the step I am about to take, do I desire to be chatged with abandoning the Christian fellowship. but 1 feel I must resign my place as pastor of Nazareth Avenue church In order to satisfy myself that I am walking as I ought to walk in his steps. In this action I judge no other ministers and pass no criticism on others’ discipleship, but I feel as you do. Into a closer contact with the sin and shame and degradation of this great city 1 must come personally, and I know that to do that I must sever my immediate connection with Nazareth A venue church. Ido not see any other way for inyself to suffer for his sake as I feel that I ought to suffer. ” Again that sudden silence fell over these two men. It was no ordinary action they were deciding. They had both reached the same conclusion by the same reasoning, and they were too thoughtful, too well accustomed to the measuring of conduct, to underestimate the seriousness of their position. “What is your plan?” The bishop at last spoke gently, looking up with his smile that always beautified his face. The bishop’s face grew in glory now every day. “My plan.” replied Dr. Bruce slowly, “is, in brief, the putting of myself into the center of the greatest human need I can find in this city and living there. My wife is fully in accord with me We have already decided to find a residence in that part of the city where we can make our personal lives count for the most. ” ' “Let me suggest a place. ” The bishop was on fire now. His fine face actually glowed with the enthusiasm of the movement in which he and his friend were inevitably embarked. He went on and unfolded a plan of such farreaching power and possibility that Dr. Bruce, capable and experienced as he was. felt amazed at the vision of a greater soul than his own. They sat up late and were as eager and even glad as if they were planning for a trip together to some rare land of unexplored travel. Indeed the bishop said many times afterward that the moment his decision was reached to live the life of personal sacrifice he had chosen he suddenly felt an uplifting, as if a great burden was taken from him. He was exultant. So was Dr Bruce from the same cause. Their plan as it finally grew into a workable fact was in reality nothing more than the renting of a large building formerly used as a warehouse for a brewery, reconstructing it and living in it themselves in the very heart of a territory where the saloon ruled with power, where the tenement was its filthiest, where vice and ignorance and shame and poverty were congested into hideous forms. It was not a new idea. It was an idea started by Jesus Christ when he left his Father’s house and forsook the riches that were his in order to get nearer humanity and. by becoming a part of its sin. help to draw humanity apart from its sin. The university settlement idea is not modern It is as old as Bethlehem and Nazareth, and in this particular case it was the nearest approach to anything that would satisfv the hunger of these two men to suffer for Christ There had sprung up in them at the same time a longing that amounted to a passion to get nearer the great physical poverty and spiritual destitution of the mighty city that throbbed around them. How could they do this except as they became a part of it. as nearly as one man can become a part of another's misery? Where was the suffering to come in unless there was an actual self denial of some sori • And what was to make that self denial apparent to themselves or any one ei«e unless it took this concrete, actu.fl. I - sonal form of trying to share the deepest suffering and sin of the city ■ So they reasoned for themselves, not judging others. They were simply keeping their own pledge to do as Jesus would do. as they honestly judged he would do. That was what they had promised. How could they quarrel with the result? They were irresistibly compelled to do what they were planning to do.

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The bishop had money of his <>v,-n Every one in Chicago knew that the bishop had a handsome fortune Dr Bruce Lad_aequired arid saved by literary work carried on in connection with his parish duties more than a comfortable competence. This money, a large part of it. the two friends agreed to put at once into the work, most of it into the furnishing of a settlement house. Meanwhile Nazareth Avenue church was experiencing something never known before in all its history The simple appeal on the part of its pastor to his members to do as Jesus would do had created a sensation that still continued. The result of that appeal was very much the same as in Henry Maxwell’s church in Raymond, only Nazareth Avenue church was far more aristocratic. wealthy and conventional Nevertheless when one Sunday morning in early summer Dr. Bruce came into his pulpit and announced his resignation the sensation deepened all over the city, although Dr. Bruce had ad vised with his board of trustees, and the movement he intended was not a matter of surprise to them. But when it became publicly known that the bishop also had announced his retirement from the position he had held so long in order to go and live himself in the center of the worst part of Chicago the public astonishment reached its height. “But why." tho bishop replied to one valued friend who had almost with tears tried to dissuade him from his purpose —“why should what Dr. Bi*uce and I propose to do seem so remarkable a thing, as if it were unheard of that a doctor of divinity and a bishop should want- to save souls in this particular manner. If we were to resign our charges for the purpose of going to Bombay or Hongkong or any place in Africa, the churches and the people would exclaim at the heroism of missions. Why should it seem so great a thing if we have been led to give our lives to help rescue the beatbin and the lost of our own city in the way we are going to try? Is it. then, such a tremendous event that two Christian ministers should be not only willing but

eager to live close to the misery of the world in order to know it and realize it? Is it such a rare thing that love of humanity should find this particular form of expression in the rescue of 1 souls?' , ’ However the bishop may have satisfied himself that there ought to be noth- , ing so remarkable about it all. the pttbj lie continued to talk and the churches t i to record their astonishment that two . such men, so prominent in the ministry. , should leave their comfortable homes, voluntarily resign their pleasant social , ! positions and enter upon a life of hard- . j ship, of self denial and actual suffering, j Chiretian America! Is it a reproach upon the form of cur discipleship that the exhibition of actual suffering for | Jesus on the part of those who walk in i his steps always provokes astonishment, j as at 'the sight of something very un- , ; usual ? Nazareth Avenue church parted from ■! its pastor with regret for the most part, I although the regret was modified by . j some relief on the part of those who had I refused to take the pledge. Dr. Bruce ; carried with him the respect of men , who. entangled in business in such a ; way that obedience to the pledge won Id j have ruined them, still held in their .! deeper, better natures a genuine admiration for courage and consistency. They I had known Dr. Bruce many years as a ’ kindly, safe man. but the thought of him in the light of sacrifice of this sort j was not familiar to them. As fast as they understood it they gave their pastor the credit of being absolutely true ; to his recent convictions as to what following Jesus meant Nazareth Avenue church has never lost the impulse of ■ that movement started by Dr. Bruce, j Those who went with him in making the promise breathed into the church the very breath of divine life and are continuing that life giving work at the j present time. It was fall again, and the city faced another hard winter. The bishop one i afternoon came out of the settlement i and walked around the block, intending to go on a visit to one of his new friends in the district. He had walked about four blocks when he was attracted by a

shop that looked different from the others. The neighborhood was still quite new to the bishop, and every day he discovered some strange spot or stumbled upon some unexpected humanity. The place that attracted his notice was a small house close by a Chinese laundry. There were two windows in the front, very clean, and that was remarkable. to begin with. Then inside the window was a tempting display of cookery, with prices attached to the various articles, that made the bishop wonder somewhat, for he was familiar by this time with many facts in the life of the people once unknown to him As he stood looking at the windows the door between them opened, and Felicia Sterling came out. “Felicia!" said the bishop. “When did you move into my- parish without my knowledge?" “How did you find me so soon?' asked Felicia. “Why. don’t you know? These are tho only clean windows in the block. " “I believe they are." replied Felicia, with a laugh that did the bishop good to hear “But why have you dared to come to Chicago without telling me. and how have you entered my diocese without my knowledge?" asked the bishop, and Felicia looked so like that beautiful, clean, educated, refined world he once knew that be might be pardoned for seeing in her someth: ng of the old paradise. although, to speak truth for the bishop, he had no desire to go back to it again “Well, dear bishop." said Felicia, who had always called him so whenever they had met. “I know how overwhelmed you were with your work. I did not vw.nt to burden you with my plans, and. besides. I am going to offer you my services Indeed 1 was just on my way to see you and ask your advice. I am settled here for the present with Mrs Bascom, a saleswoman who rents our three rooms, and with one of Rachel’s music pupils, who is being helped to a course in violin by Virginia Page She is from the people." continued Felicia. using the words “from the-peo-ple" so gravely and unconsciously that

the bishop smiled, “and I am keeping house for her ar.d at the same time beginning an experiment in pure food for the macr.es I am an expert, and I have a plan 1 want you to admire and develop Will you. dear bishop?" “Indeed I will." replied the bishop. The sight of Felicia and her remarkable vitality, enthusiasm and evident purpose almost bewildered him. “Martha can help at the settlement with her violin, and I will help with my messes. You see. 1 thought I would get settled first and workout something and then come with some real thing to offer. I'm able to earn my own living now." “You are?” The bishop said it a little incredulously. “How? Making those things?" “ ‘Those things!’ ” said Felicia, with a show of indignation. "I would have you know. sir. that ‘those things’ are the best cooked, purest food products in this whole city. " “1 don't doubt it." said the bishop hastily, while his eyes twinkled. “Still, the ‘proof of the pudding'— Y< u know the rest. “Come in and try some." exclaimed Felicia “You poor bishop! You look as if you hadn't had a good meal for a month. " She insisted on the bishop’s entering the little front room where Martha, a wide awake girl with short curly hair and an unmistakable air of music about her. was busy with practice. “Go right on. Martha This is the bishop You have heard me speak of him so often Sit down here and let mo give you a taste of the fleshpots of Egypt, for i believe you have been actually fasting." f r.l BE CONTINUED.]

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