People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1900-02-15
Felicia staid some time. When J

Felicia staid some time. When she
was assured that her mother would not
need her any longer, she rose to 90.
Good night, mother. You must LET
Clara call me if you feel bad in the
night"
81 feel better now" Then as Felicia
was moving away Mrs Sterling said
won I you kiss me, Feliciaf"
Felicia went back and bent over her
mother The kiss vas almost as strange
to her as the prayer had been. When
Felicia went out of the room, her cheeks
were wet with tears She had not cried
since she was a little girl
Sunday morning at the Sterling man.
sion was generally very quiet. The girls
usually went to church at II o'clock
service Mr.. Sterling was not a mem
Der, but heavy contributor, and he
generally went to church in the morn.
ing. This time he did not come down
! to breakfast and finally sent word by a
servant that he did not feel well enough
to go out. So Rose and Felicia drove
up to the door of the Nazareth Avenue
church and entered the family pew
alone
| When DR. Bruce walked out of the
room at the rear of the platform and
went up to the pulpit to open the Bible,
as his custom was, those who knew
him best did not detect anything un-
usual in his manner or his expression
He proceeded with the service as usual
He was calm, and his voice was steady
and firm. His prayer was the first init
nation the people had of anything new
or strange in the service. It is safe to
say that the Nazareth Avenue church
had not heard DR.. Bruce offer such
prayer during the ~ years he had been
pastor there. How would minister be
likely to pray who had come out of a
revolution in Christian feeling that had
completely changed his definition of
what was meant by following JesusH
No one in Nazareth Avenue church had
any idea that the Rev. Calvin Bruce,
D. D., the dignifed, cultured, refined
doctor of divinity, had within few
days been crying like little child, on
his knees, asking for strength and cour-
age and Christlikeness to speak his Sun
day message, and yet the prayer was an
unconscious, involuntary disclosure of
the souls experience such as Nazareth
Avenue people seldom heard and never
before from that pulpit
In the hush that succeeded the PRAYER
a distinct wave of spiritual power
moved over the congregation. The most
careless persons in the church felt it.
Felicia, whose sensitive religious nature
responded swiftly to every touch of
emotion, quivered under the passing of
that supernatural power, and when she
lifted her head and looked up at the
minister there was look in her ewes
that announced her intense, eager an
ticipation Of the scene that was to fol.
low.
And she was not alone in her atti-
tude. There was something in the
prayer and the result of it that stirred
many and many disciple in Nazareth
Avenue church. All over the house men
and women leaned forward, and when
DR.. Bruce began to speak of his visit to
Raymond in the opening sentences of
his address, which this morning pre-
coded his sermon, there was an answer.
ing response in the church that came
back to him as he spoke and thrilled |
him with the hope Of spiritual bap.
tism such as he had never during all |
his ministry experienced
II am just back from a visit to Ray.
mond. Dr.. Bruce began. land want |
to tell you something Of my impressions |
of the movement there
He paused, and his look went over |
his people with yearning for them and |
at the same time with a great uncer.
tainty at his heart How many of his |
rich. fashionable, refined, luxury loving |
members would understand the nature |
Of the appeal he was soon to make to |
themt He was altogether in the dark
as to that Nevertheless he had been /
through his desert and had come out of |
it ready to suffer He went on now aft
er that brief pause and told the story
of his stay in Raymond The people al |
ready knew something of that expert
ment in the First church The whole
country had watched the progress Of |
the pledge as it had become history in
so many lives. Henry Maxwell had at |
last decided that the time had come to |
seek the fellowship of other churches
throughout the country. The new dis
cipleship in Raymond had proved to be
so valuable in its results that Henry |
Maxwell wished the church in general
to share with the disciples in Ray
mond Already there had begun a vol |
unteer movement in many of the
churches throughout the country, act.
ing on their own desire to walk closer
in the steps of Jesus The Christian |
Endeavor societies had with enthusiasm
in many churches taken the pledge to
do as Jesus would do, and the result |
was already marked in a deeper spir-
itual life and power in church infu-
ence that was like new birth for the
members
All this Dr.. Bruce told his people
simply and with personal interest that
evidently led the way to his announce
ment, which now followed Felicia had
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