The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1900-02-28

III DIuCc WAS very pdle NtNeI Hdu
he seen the bishop or heard him when
under the influence of such a passion
There was sudden silence in the room.
The bishop had sat down again and
bowed his head. DR.. Bruce spoke at last
Edward. / do not need to say that
you have expressed my feelings also. i
have been in similar position for
years. My life has been one of compar
alive luxury. do not. of course, mean
TO say that ! have not hard trials and
discouragements and burdens in my
church ministry. but cannot say that
/ have suffered any for Jesus. That
verse in Peter haunts me. Christ also
suffered for you, leaving you an exam
pie that We should follow his steps. i
have lived in luxury. | do not know
what it means to want / also have had
my leisure for travel and beautiful COM
partnership. have been surrounded by
soft, easy comforts Of civilization The
sin and misery of this great city have
beat like waves against the stone walls
of my church and OK this house in
which live. and have hardly needed
them. the walls have been SO thick. |
have reached a point where | cannot
endure this any longer. l am not con-
demning the church. love her am
not forsaking the church. / believe in
her mission and have no desire TO de-
stroy. Least Of all. in the step | am
about TO take, do | desire to be charged
with abandoning the Christian fellow
ship, but feel / must resign my place
as pastor of Nazareth Avenue church
in order TO satisfy myself that | am
walking as ! ought to walk in his steps.
/ In this action ] judge no other minis
/ 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 | feel
/ that ought 10 suffer. =
/ Again that sudden silence fell over
I these two men 1t was no ordinary ac-
lion they were deciding. They had both
reached the same conclusion by the
same reasoning, and they were too
/ thoughtful too well accustomed 10 the
measuring of conduct, TO underestimate
The seriousness of their position.
"What is your planY" The bishop at
last spoke gently, looking up with his
smile that always beautified his face
/ The bishops face grew in glory now
every day.
"My plan, >" replied Dr. Bruce slowly,
''is, 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-
1ence 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 farreacning
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 a 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 great burden was taken from him.
He was exultant So was DR. Bruce
from the same cause.
Their plan as it finally grew into a
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
filthiest. 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 a part of its sin. help to draw hu-
mainly apart from its sin. 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 a 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 a part
Of it, as nearly as one man can become
part of another miseryS Where was
the suffering to come in unless there
was an actual self denial of some sort
And what was TO make that self denial
apparent to themselves or any one else
unless it took this concrete. actual, per-
sonal form of trying to share the deep
est suffering and sin of the cityf
So they reasoned for themselves. not