Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-09-21

OF all tnat Ills great longing to voice
the needs and wants of his people made
him vnmindful of an occasional mis-
take. 1t is certain he had never prayed
80 effectively as he did now.
There are times when a sermon has o
value and power due to conditions in
tAa audience rather than to anything
new or startling or eloquent in the
words or the arguments presented Such
conditions faced Henry Maxwell this
morning rs he preached against the sa-
loon, according to his purpose deter
mined on the week before. He had no
new statements to make about the evil
influence of the saloon in Raymond.
What new facts were there2 He had no
startling illustrations of the power of
the saloon in business or politics. What
could he say that had not been said by
! temperance orators great many times
! The effect of his message this morning
owed its power to the unusual fact Of
| his preaching about the saloon at all,
| together with the events that had stir
red the people. He had never in the
course of his ten years pastorate men
| toned the saloon as something to he re-
| gardcd in the light of an enemy, not
only to the poor and the tempted, hut
/ to the business life of the place and the
church itself He spoke now with a
| freedom that seemed to measure his
complete sense of the conviction that
Jesus would speak So AT the close he
pleaded with the people to remember
| the new life that had begun at the Rec
tangle The regular election of city Off
/ GERS would be an issue in that election.
/ What of the poor creatures surrounded
! by the hell of drink while Just begin
/ ming to feel the JOY of deiverance from
sin? Who could tell what depended on
their environment? Was there one
word to be said by the Christian disci-
pie, business man, professional man,
/ citizen, in favor of continuing to license
/ these crimes and shame producing in
stitutions? Was not the most Christian
| thing they could do to act as citizcns
/ in the matter, fight the saloon at the
| polls. elect good men to the city Offices
and clean the municipality How much
had prayers helped to make Raymond
better while votes and actions had real
ly been on the side of the enemies Of
Jesus? Would not Jesus do thisP What
/ disciple could imagine him refusing to
suffer or take up his cross in the mat
| ter? How much had the members of
! the First church ever suffered in an at
tempt to initiate .Jesusy Was Christian
discipleship thing of convenience, of
custom, of tradition? Where did the
suffering come in? Was it necessary,
in order to follow Jesus steps, to go up
Calvary as wo+l as the Mount of Trans
tiguratiOn?
HIS appeal was stronger at this point
than he knew. 1t is not too much to
say that the spiritual tension of tho
First church reached its highest point
right there. The imitation of Jesus
which had begun with the volunteers
in the church was working like leaven
in tho organization, and Henry Max
well would, even thus early in his new
life, have been amazed if no could have
measured the extent of desire on the
part Of his people to take up the cross
While he was speaking this morning
before he closed with loving appeal to
the discipleship of 1000 years knowl-
edge Of the Master, many man and
woman in the church was saying, as
Rachel had said so passionately to her
mother: Il want to do something that
will cost mo something in the way of
sacrifice. | am hungry to suffer some
thing" Truly, Mazzini was right when
ne said, "No appeal is quite SO power
full in the end as the call. Come and
suffer.
The service was over, the great audi
/ ence had gone, and Henry Maxwell
again faced the company gathered in
tho lecture room as on the two previous
Sundays. He had asked all to remain
who had made the pledge of disciple
ship and any others who wished to be
included. The after service seemed now
to be necessity. AS he went in and
faced the people there his heart trem-
bled There were at least 200 present
The Holy Spirit was never SO manifest
He missed Jasper Chase but all the
others were present He asked Milton
Wright to pray. The very air was
charged with divine possibilities. What
could resist such a baptism Of power ?
How had they lived all these years
without it,
They counseled together, and there
were many prayers. Henry Maxwell
dated from that meeting some Of the
serious events that afterward became a
part of the history Of the First church
Of Raymond. When finally they went
home, all Of them were impressed with
the joy of the Spirits power.
Donald Marsh, president of Lincoln
college, walked home with Henry Max
we'll
II have reached one consclusion,
Maxwell, " said Marsh. speaking slow
ly. II have found my cross, and it is a
heavy one, but shall never be satisfied
until take it up and carry it"
Maxwell was silent, and the presi-
dent went on:
Your sermon today made clear to
me what / have long been feeling l
ought to do. What would Jesus do in
my placer l have asked the question
repeatedly since l made my promise. l
have tried to satisfy myself that he
would simply go on, as have done, at
tending to the duties Of my college,
/ teaching the classes in ethics and phi
losophy. But l have not been able to
avoid the feeling that he would do