The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1899-10-26

uybo1 70 6uHeI KOI HIS sake as u tGel
that I ought to suffer. : $50.
Again that sudden silence fell over
these two men. It was no ordinary ac-
ton they were deciding. They had both
reached the same conclusion BY the
same reasoning, and they were too
thoughtful, too we'll 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 beautifed his face.
The bishops face grew in glory now
every day. assI
my PLAN" replied DR.. Bruce slowly,
lis, 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 resi-
dence in that part of the city where we
can make our personal lives count for
the most - '&ia5.s +
LET me suggest 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 plan of such farreaching
power and possibility that DR.. Bruce,
capable and experienced as he was, felt
amazed at the vision of greater soul
than his own. >13s
They sat up late and were as eager
and even glad as if they were planning
for 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 great burden was taken from him. !.
He was exultant. So was DR.. Bruce
from the same cause
Their plan as it finally grew into
workable fact was in reality nothing
more than the renting of large build
ing formerly used as warehouse for
brewery, reconstructing it and living
in it themselves in the very heart of
territory where the saloon ruled with
power, where the tenement was it's
flthiest, where vice and ignorance and
shame and poverty were congested into
hideous forms. It was not new idea
It was an idea started by Jesus Christ
when he left his Father house and for
sock the riches that were his in order
to get nearer humanity and, by becom-
ing part Of it's sin, help to draw hu
mainly apart from it's sin. The univer-
sity settlement idea is not modern. It is
as old as Bethlehem and Nazareth, and
in this particular case it was the near
est approach to anything that would
satisfy 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 passion to get nearer the
great physical poverty and spiritual
restitution 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 sort?
And what was to make that self denial
apparent to themselves or any one else
unless it took this concrete, actual per-
sonal form Of trying to share the deep
est suffering and sin Of the city,?
So they reasoned for themselves, not
judging Others They were simply keep
ing 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 result2 They were irresistibly COM
PEELED to do what they were planning
to do.
The bishop had money of his own.
Every one in Chicago knew that the
bishop had handsome fortune. DR..
Bruce had acquired and saved by liter
airy work carried on in connection with
his parish duties more than a. comforta-
BILE competence. This money, 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 sensation that still con-
tinued. The result of that appeal was
very much the same as in Henry Max
wells church in Raymond, only Naza-
reth Avenue church was far more aris-
tocratic, wealthy and conventional
Nevertheless when one Sunday morn
ing in early summer DIR. Bruce came
into his pulpit and announced his resig-
nation 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 mat
ter 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 establishment
reached it's height ~ 80 p
''But why" the bishop replied tc
one valued friend who had almost with
tears tried, to dissuade him from his
purpose why should what Dr.. Bruce
and propose to do seem SO remarkable
q thinr 90 - - xuoro ,7rhoo.a 70 xLc4