St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-12-27


tiers and pass no criticism on others
discipleship, but feel as you do. Into
a closer contact with the sin and shame
and degradation of this great city
must come personally, and | know that
to do that must sever my immediate
connection with Nazareth Avenue
church. do not see any other way for
myself to suffer for his sake as l feel
that / ought to suffer. "
Again that sudden silence fell over
these two men. 1t 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 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 beautifed his face
The bishops face grew in glory now
every day.
"My plan, replied DR.. Bruce slowly,
sis in brief, the putting of myself into
the center Of the greatest human need
| 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.
"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.
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 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
workable fact was in reality nothing
more than the renting of large build
ing 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
flthiest where vice and ignorance and
shame and poverty were congested into
hideous forms. 1t was not new idea.
1t 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 its sin, help to draw hui
mainly apart from its sim The univer-
sity settlement idea is not modern. 1t 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 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 part
of it, as nearly as one man can become
part of anothers miseryH Where was
the suffering to come in unless there
was an actual self denial of some sort
And what was to make that self denia
apparent to themselves or any one els,
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, no
Judging others They were simply keep
ing their own pledge to do as Jesu
would do, as they honestly judged HI
would do. That was what they hat
promised. How could they quarrel will
: the result2 They were irresistibly com
PEELED to do what they were plannin,
to do.
The bishop had money of his own
Every one in Chicago knew that tn
bishop had handsome fortune. DR.
Bruce had acquired and saved by liter
airy work carried on in connection witt
his parish duties more than comforta
BILE competence. This money, a larg
part of it, the two friends agreed to pu
at once into the work, most of it int
the furnishing of a settlement house.
Meanwhile Nazareth Avenue churcl
was experiencing something neve
. known before in all its history. TIL
! simple appeal on the part of its paste
l to his members to do as Jesus would d
i had created q sensation that still con
tinued. The result of that appeal wa
/ very much the same as in Henry Max
4 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 Dr. Bruce cam
t into his pulpit and announced his resie
/ nation the sensation deepened all owe
r the city, although DR.. Bruce had &C
: vised with his board of trustees, and tn
n movement he intended was not maj
d ter of surprise to them.
y But when it became publicly know
t that the bishop also had announced h
t retirement from the position he ha
o held so long in order to go and liy
=. himself in the center of the worst pa
| of Chicago the public astonishmel
V reached its height
d 'But why the bishop replied