The Advocate and news., 1898-10-19


people outside Of the churches-thou-
sands Of them, mean-die in tenements
and walk the streets for jobs, and never
have a piano or picture in the house,
and grow up in misery and drunkenness
and sin" The man gave queer lurch
over in the direction Of the communion
table and laid one grimy hand on it.
His hat fell upon the carpet at his feet;
a stir went through the congregation.
DR.. West half rose from his feet, but as
yet the silence was unbroken by any
voice or movement worth mentioning in
the. audience. The man passed his other
hand across his eyes, and then, without
any warning, fell heavily forward on his
face. full length. up the aisle.
Henry Maxwell smoke 1--WE will con-
slider the service dismissed" He was
down the pulpit stairs and kneeling by
the PROSTATE form before any one else.
The audience instantly arose and the
aisle was crowded. DR.. West pro-
nounced the man alive He had tainted
away. "Some heart trouble" the doctor
also muttered as he helped carry him
into the pastors study.
The Sunday morning that dawned on
the city of Raymond was exactly like the
Sunday Of the week before. Henry Max
we'll entered his pulpit 20 face one
of the largest congregations that
had ever crowded First church, He
was haggard and looked as II he
had just risen from long illness.
His wife was at home with the little
girl who had come on the morning train
an hour after her father died He lay in
the spare room, his troubles over and
Henry Maxwell could see the face as he
opened the Bible and arranged his diff
ferent notices on the side Of the desk as
he had been in the habit Of doing for
ten years
The service that morning contained
new element. No one could remember
when the minister had preached in the
morning without notes. AS a matter OF
fact. he had done so occasionally when
he first entered the ministry, but for a
long time he had carefully written out
every word of his morning sermon, and
nearly always his evening discourse as
we'll It cannot be said that his sermon
this morning was very striking or i'm
pressive. He talked with considerable
hesitation. It was evident that some
great idea struggled In his thought for
utterance, but it was not expressed in
the theme he had chosen for his preach
ing. It was near the close Of his SER
mon that he began to gather a certain
strength that had been painfully lacking
at the beginning. He closed the Bible,
and stepping out at the side Of the desk
he faced his people and began to talk to
them about the remarkable scene Of the
week before "Our brother'-somehoW
the words sounded little strange COM
ing from Henry Maxwell's lips-"passed
away this morning. have not yet had
time to learn all his history. He had
one sister living in Chicago. I have
written her and have not yet received
an answer. His little girl is with us and
will remain for the time"
He paused and looked over the house
He thought he had never seen so many
earnest faces during the entire pastorate
He was not yet able to tell his people
his experience, the crisis through which
he was even now moving. But some
thing Of his feeling passed from him to
them, and 1t did not seem to him that he
was acting under a careless impulse at
all to go on and break it to them, this
morning, something of the message he
bore in his heart. So he went on.
"The appearance of this stranger in
the church last Sunday made a very
powerful impression on me. am not
able to conceal from you or myself the
fact that what he said, followed as 1t
has by his death in my house, has COM
PEELED me to ask as l never asked be-
fore, What does following Jesus mean?
l am not in position yet to utter any
condemnation OF this people, or, to a
certain extent, of myself, either in our
Christlike relations to this man or the
number he represents in this world. But
all that does not prevent me from feeling
that much that the man said was so vi