Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-12-30


''year Book" gives II 800 members last
yenr. and u IL composed almost entire
iy OF the leading families In the place.
What can do In such a church re-
mains 20 be seen. My predecessor there.
DIR. brown, was a profound scrrnonizcr
and generally liked. | believe. He was
a man OF the old school and made no
attempt. understand. to bring the
church into contract with the masses.
You Will say thnt such n church II n
poor place IN which 20 ATTEMPT diff
ferent work lido not necessarily think
80. The church OF Christ ~ In itself. |
believe. n powerful engine to act In mo-
uon against all evil. have great faith
In the membership Of almost any
church In this country to accomplish
wonderful things for humanity. and
am going to Milton with that faith very
strong In me. I feel na II n very great
work could be done there. Think of IT,
Alfred, a town ~ 10000 wofkingmcn.
half of them foreigners: a town with
more than 80 saloons In full blast, n
town with seven churches of many DIFF
fcrent denominations all situated on
one street and that street the most
fashionable In the place. n town whore
the police records show an amount OF
crime and depravity almost unparal-
lcied In municipal annals--surely such
q place presents an opportunity for the
dld work. hope 7 do not overestimate
the needs Of the place. I have known
the general condition OF things In Mil
ton ever since you and I did our sum
mer work In the nolEhborlng town OF
Clifton. n ever there was missionary
ground In America. II In there. ! cannot
understand Just why the call comes TO
me TO go 20 place and take up work
that In many ways Is 20 distnAteful to
me. II, one sense ! shrink from II with
n sensitiveness which no one except my
vile and YOU could understand. You
know what an almost ridiculous cN-
cess OF senslbility I have. IL seems
sometimes impossible for me to do the
work that the active ministry OF this
age demands OF a man. II almost Kills
me 20 know that am criticised FOR all
that ! say and do. And yet | know
that the ministry VIII always be the
target for criticism. ! have an almost
morbid shrinking from the thought that
people do not like me. that I am not
loved by everybody, and yet | know
that N | speak the truth In my preach
ing and speak II without regard to COM
sequences some one IN sure TO become
offended and In the end dislike me. |
think God never made n man with 80
intense craving for the love OF his
fellow men AS ] possess. and yet ! am
conscious that ! cannot make myself
understood by very many people. They
will always say. "Tiow cold and unap-
proachable he Isl" when In reality I
love them with ycarnlnga OF heart.
Now. then. | am going TO Milton with
all This complex thought of myself. and
yet. dear chum. there II not the least
doubt after all that I ought TO 40. l
hope that In the rush OF the work there
| shall be able to forget myself. and
then the work viii stand out prominent
az II ought with all my doubts Of
myself I never question the wisdom VI
entering the ministry. l have very
positive assurance as ! work that am
doing what | ought to do. And what
cnn man ask morcI am not dissat-
isfcd with the ministry. only with my
own action within II. II II the noblest
OF all professions. J fell proud OF II
every day. only II IN 50 great that II
makes a man feel small when he steps
inside.
Well, my wife Is calling me down to
tea. Let me know what yoii do. We
shall move to Milton next week. proba-
bly,. SO. II you write. direct there. As
PHILIP STRONG.
II was characteristic OF Philip that
In this letter he said nothing about his
call to Elindalc and did not tell his coll
lcge chum what salary was offered him
by the church at Milton. AS "A matter
OF fact, he really forgot all about every
thing. except the one important event
OF his decision to go 10 Milton. He re-
garded II. and rightly so. ms the most
serious step OF his life. and While he
had apparently decided the matter very
quickly II was. In reality the result OF
n deep conviction that he ought TO 10.
He was In the hnbit OF making his de-
cisions rapidly. This habit sometimes
led him into embarrassing mistakes
and once In n great while resulted In
humilintlng rcvcrsnia OF opinion, 10
that people who did not know him
thought he was iicklc and ohangeable.
In the present case Philip acted with
his customary quicknesa and knew very
well that his action was unaltcrable.