Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-12-07


service here | want all those member
Of the church who are willing 70 joi
such a company 70 remain. and W
VIII talk over the details II the plan
Our motto viii be What would Jesu
dor Our aim viii D.. 10 act lust a. h
would II he We're in our places. regard
less Of immediate results. In othe
words, we propose 20 follow Jesus step
as closely and as literally as we believ
n taught his disciples 70 do And tho-o
who volunteer 70 DO this viii pledge
themselves for Gn entire year, begin
ming with today. so t. act
Henry Maxwell paused again and
looked over his church Ii is not easy
to describe the sensation that such a
simple proposition apparently made
Men glanced at one another in aston
iShment. 1t was not like Hesry Max
well to define Christian disciple=hip in
this way. There was evident confusion
Of thought over his proposition Ii was
understood well enough. but there was
apparently a great difference Of opinion
as 10 the application of Jesus teaching
and example.
Henry Maxwell calmly closed the
service with brief prayer. The organ
ist began his postlude Immediately aft
er the benediction. and the people be
gan 10 20 ont. There was a great Deal
of conversation. Animated groups stood
all over the church discussing the min
ister's proposition. IL was evidently
y,r,,,-a l-ipo, e-r,o- d;a-r,sas,, AF..- 60
eral minutes Henry Maxwell asked all
who expected b remain 10 pass into
the lecture room on the side He him
self was detained nj the front Of the
church talking with several persons
there. and when he finally turned around
the church was empty. He walked over
to the lecture room entrance and went
in. He was almost startled to see the peo-
pie who were there. He had not made
up his mind about any of his members.
but he had hardly expected that so
many were ready to enter into such n
literal testing of their discipleship as
now awaited them. There were perhaps
90 members present. Ameng them were
Rachel Win.low and Virginia Page.
Mr. Norman. President Marsh. Alex
ander Powers. the railroad superintend-
ent Milton Wright, DR. West and Jas
per Chase.
The pastor closed the door of the lee
ture room and stood before the little
group. His face was pale. and his lips
trembled with emotion. 1t was TO him
a genuine crisis in his owh life and that
of his parish. No man can tell until he
is moved by the Divine Spirit what he
may do or how he may change the cur
rent of lifetime Of fixed habits Of
thought and speech and action. Henry
Maxwell did not. az we have said. vet
know himself all that he was passing
through. but he was conscious Of
great upheaval in his definitions Of
Christian discipleship, and he was
moved with a depth Of feeling he could
not measure as he looked into the faces
of these men and women on this occa-
sion.
1t seemed to him that the most fitting
word to be spoken first was that Of
prayer. He asked them all to pray with
him, and almost with the first syllable
he uttered there was distinct presence
prayer yeF Vent Vent on this presence grew in
power. They all felt il. The room was
filed with ii as plainly as if it had been
visible When the prayer closed. there
was q silence that lasted several mo-
ments. All the heads were bowed
Henry Maxwell's face was wet with
tears If an audible voice from heaven
had sanctioned their pledge to follow
the Masters steps, not one person pres
ent could have felt more certain Of the
Divine blessing And SO the most seri-
ous movement ever started in the First
church of Raymond was begun.
1--WE all understand, said Henry
Maxwell, speaking very quietly. what
we have undertaken to do We pledge
ourselves TO do everything in our daily
lives after asking the question. What
would Jesus dor regardless Of what
may be the result to MS. Some time |
shall be able to tell you what a marvel
ous change has come over my life with
in weeks time. cannot now. But
the experience ! have been through
since last Sunday has left me 50 dissat-
isfed with my previous definition Of
that / have been compelled
to take this action. did not dare be
gin it alone / know that / am being
led by the hand of Divine love in all
this. The same Divine impulse must
have led you also. Do we understand
fully what we have undertaken"
81 want to ask question. said
Rachel Winslow
Every one turned toward her. Her
face glowed with a beauty that no love
illness could ever create.
al am a little in doubt as to the
source of our knowledge concerning
what Jesus would do. Who is 20 decide
for me just what he would do in my
case3 1t is n different age. There are
many perplexing questions in our civil
lization that are not mentioned in the
teaching of Jesus. How am going TO
tell what he would dot"
"There is no way that l know of. "
replied Mr. Maxwell. except as we
study Jesus through the medium OF the
Holy Spirit You remember what Christ
said speaking TO his disciples about the
Holy Spirit:
'Howbeit. when he. the Spirit Of
Truth is come he shall guide you into
all the truth. for he shall not speak
from himself But what things soever
be shall hear. these shall he speak. and
he shall declare unto you the things
that are TO come. He shall glorify me.
for he shall take Of mine and shall de-
clare it unto you. All things whatso-
ever the Father hath are mine; there
fore said l that he taketh Of mine and
shall declare it unto you.
"There is no other test that / know
Of We shall all have 10 decide what
Jesus would do after going TO that
source of knowledge.
what if others say of us when we
10 certain things that Jesus would not
10 so2' asked the superintendent Of
-ailroads
1--WE cannot prevent that. but we
must be absolutely honest with our
elves The standard Of Christian action
,annot vary in most Of our acts -
"And yet what one church member
kinks Jesus would do another refuses
o accept rs his possible course Of ac-
ion What is to render our conduct
Christlikel VIII il be posi-
,le TO reach the same conclusions al |
Ways in all cases - asked President |
Harsh.
Henry Maxwell was silent some time.
Then hs answered.
"No. ] don't know that we can ex-
,cct that But when il comes TO n gen