St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-11-15

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the First church ever knew. 1t was
more important than the disciples in
the First church realized. The year had
made history so fast and SO serious that
the people were not yet able to grasp
its significance, and the day itself,
which marked the completion Of
whole year of such discipleship, was
characterized by such revelations and
confessions that the immediate actors
in the events themselves could not I'M
derstand the value of what had been
done or the relation Of their trial to the
rest of the churches and cities in the
country.
1t happened that the week before
that anniversary Sunday the Rev. Cal
vim Bruce, d. D., of the Nazareth Az
enue church, Chicago was in Ray
mond where he had come on visit to
some old friends and incidentally to sec
his old seminary classmate, Henry Max
we'll He was present at the First
church and was an exceedingly atten-
tive and interested spectator. His ac-
count of events in Raymond, and espe-
cially Of that Sunday, may throw more
light on the entire situation than any
description or record from other sources.
DR.. Bruce statement is therefore here
given
Letter from Rev. Calvin Bruce, D.
D., of the Nazareth Avenue church,
Chicago, to Rev. Philip S. Caxton, d.
D., New York ethyl
my DEAR CAXToN-It is late Sun
day night, but am so intensely awake
and SO overlooking with what | have
seen and heard that | feel driven to
write you now some account Of the
stu alton in Raymond as | have Eeen
studying it and as it has apparently
come to climax today So this is my
only excuse for writing so extended a
letter at this time.
"You remember Henry Maxwell in
the seminary. | think you said the last
time | visited you in New York that
you had not seen him since we gradu-
ated. He was refined, scholarly fellow,
You remember. and when he was called
to the First church of Raymond within
year after leaving the seminary said
10 my wife. Raymond has made a
good choice. Maxwell will satisfy them
as sermonizer. He has been here II
years, and | understand that up to a
year ago he had gone on in the regular
course of the ministry, giving good sat
;nfo nd 6ra xuipn q OOpd
tion to his morning preaching service
His church was counted the largest,
most wealthy church in Raymond All
the best people attended it. and most
of them belonged The quartet choir
was famous for its music, especially for
its soprano, Miss Winslow, of whom |
shall have more to say, and, on the
whole, as | understand the fact Max
well was in q comfortable berth, with a
very good salary, pleasant surround
ings, not very exacting parish of re-
fined, rich. respectable people, such a
church and parish as nearly all the
young men in the seminary in our time
looked forward to as very desirable.
but year ago today Maxwell came
) into his church on Sunday morning and
at the close of his service made the
astounding proposition that the mem
\ bers of his church volunteer for veal
t not to do anything without first asking
1 the question, What would Jesus dor
and. after answering it, to do what il
g their honest judgment he would do, re
a CARELESS of what the result might be Il
8 them
@ 1.-THE effect of this proposition as i
has been met and obeyed by humble
!, of the members of the First church o
e Raymond has been so remarkable that
It as you know, the attention Of the who'll
" country has been directed to the move
}, ment call it movement becaus
8 from the action taken today it seem
), probable that what has been tried her
y in the First church in Raymond will
% reach out into the other churches an
n cause a revolution in church methods
n but more especially in a new definition
he of Christian discipleship
IS "In the first place, Maxwell tells m
Y he was astonished at the response mad
t. to his proposition Some of the mos
e prominent members in the church mad
W the promise to do as Jesus would
p Among them We're Edward Norman
ID the editor of The Daily News, whic
a. has made such a sensation in the news
i'd paper world; Milton Wright, one c
lie the leading merchants in Raymond
W Alexander Powers, whose action in til
IN matter of the railroads against the il
A. terstate commerce laws made such
of stir about n year ago; Miss Page, on
~ of Raymond's leading society heiresse'
rs who has lately dedicated her entire fol-
l. tune. as | understand, to the Christia
n daily paper and the work of reform /
T. the slum district known as the Rec
ne tangle, and Miss Winslow, whose repr
at tation as u singer is now national, bu
up who, in obedience to what she has d,
c. cided to be Jesus probable action, hs
SO devoted her talent to volunteer wor
to among the girls and women who max
III up large part of the city's worst an
On most abandoned population
I'm addition to these well know
1t people has been a gradually increasin
to number of Christians from the Fir,
er church and lately from other church,
be in Raymond A large proportion {
of these volunteers who pledge themselv,
mt to do as Jesus would comes from I'll
on Endeavor societies The young peop
se say that they have already embodied