Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-09-28

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 year
not to do anything without first asking
the question. What would Jesus dor
and, after answering it, to do what in
their honest Judgment he would do, re-
CARELESS of what the result might be to
them
1.-THE effect of this proposition as IL
has been met and obeyed by a number
Of the members of the First church Of
Raymond has been so remarkable that,
as you know the attention of the whole
country has been directed to the move
ment. / call it movement because
from the action taken today it seems
probable that what has been tried here
in the First church in Raymond will
reach out into the other churches and
cause a revolution in church methods,
but more especially in a new definition
Of Christian discipleship.
"In the first place, Maxwell tells me
he was astonished at the response made
TO his proposition. Some of the most
prominent mem bers in the church made
the promise to do as Jesus would
Among them were Edward Norman,
the editor of The Daily News, which
has made such n sensation i'll the news
paper world; Milton Wright, one of
the leading merchants in Raymond;
Alexander Powers, whose action in the
matter of the railroads against the in
terstate commerce laws made such a
stir about year ago; Miss Page, one
of Raymond's leading society heiresses,
who has lately dedicated her entire for
| tune, as | understand. to the Christian
daily paper and the work of reform in
| the sum district known as the Rec
tangle, and Miss Winslow, whose repu-
tation as a singer is now national, but
who, in obedience to what she has de-
cided to be Jesus probable action, has
devoted her talent to volunteer work
among the girls and women who make
up large part Of the city's worst and
most abandoned population
I'm addition to these well known
people has been a gradually increasing
number of Christians from the First
church and lately from other churches
In Raymond A large proportion Of
these volunteers who pledge themselves
to do as Jesus would comes from the
Endeavor societies. The young people
say that they have already embodied in
their society pledge the same principle
in the words, Il promise him that will
strive to do whatever he would have
me do This is not exactly what Is in
cluded in Maxwell's proposition, which
is that the disciples shall try to do what
Jesus would probably do in the disci-
pies place, but the result Of an honest
obedience to either pledge, he claims
will be practically the same, and he is
not surprised that the largest numbers
have Joined the new discipleship from
the Endeavor society
81 am sure the first question you will
ask is, What has been the result of
this attempt. what has it accomplished,
or how has it changed in any way the
regular course of the church or the com
munityf
"You already know something from
reports of Raymond that have gone over
the country what the results have been,
but one needs to come here and learn
something of the changes in individual
lives. and especially the change in the
church lif, to realize all that is meant
by this following of Jesus steps so lit
orally To tell all that would be to
write long story or series of stories.
| am not in a position to do that but
car give you some idea perhaps of what
has happened here from what has been
told me by my friends and Henry Max
well himself.
The result Of the pledge upon the
First church has been twofold-it has
brought about spirit of Christian fell
lowship which Maxwell tells me never
before existed and which now impresses
him as being very nearly what the
Christian fellowship Of the apostolic
churches must have been, and it has
divided the church into two distinc'
groups Of mer,bers Those who have
not taken the pledge regard the other
as foolshly literal in their attempts t.
initiate the example of Jesus
"Some of them have drawn out o
the church and no Longer attend O
they have removed their membership
entirely to other churches Some ar
an internal element of strife, and
heard rumors of an attempt on thel
part to force Maxwell's resignation
do not know that this element is yer.
strong in the church 1t has been hell
in check by wonderful continuance O
spiritual power, which dates from tn
first Sunday the pledge was taken
year ago. and also by the fact that s
many of the most prominent member
have been identified with the move
ment
The effect on Henry Maxwell
very marked | heard him preach Q
our state association four years ago. Fl
impressed me at the time as havin
, considerable power in dramatic deli,
cry, of which he himself was somewhs
conscious. His sermon was well wri
ten and abounded in what the seminar
students used to call fine passages
The effect of it was what the averae
congregation would call pleasing TIL
, morning heard Maxwell preach agai
for the fret time since then. / sha
, speak of that further on He is not IL
same man. He gives me the impressio
of one who has passed through Girls
of revolution. He tells me this revolt
tion is simply new definition Of Chri