Willmar tribune., 1900-01-03

F.
can make zonr personal 4. llyes count l,1l -,
the most. 8 5s3s
sS.'L Let me suggest . place 8 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 mbarked. He went Son
and unfolded aplan Of such farreaching
power and possibility that DR. Bruce,
capable and experienced as he was. fell
amazed at the vision Of a greater SOU
than his own. II 5ss 5.s5 sl5, Il. :4
They sat up late and were as eager
and even glad as if they were planning
for a trip together to some rare land ot
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, al
if a great burden was taken from him.
BE was exultant. So was DR.. Bruce
from the same cause ST
& Their plan as it finally grew into q
workable fact was in reality nothing
more than the renting of large build.
ing formerly used as a warehouse for q
brewery, reconstructing it and living
in it themselves in the very heart Of q
territory where the saloon ruled with
power, where the tenement was its
flthiest, where vice and ignorance and
shame and poverty were congested into
hideous forms. It was not new idea.
1t was an idea started by Jesus Christ
when he left his Fathers 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-
manity apart from its sin. The univer-
sity settlement idea is not modern. It 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 longing that
amounted to passion to get nearer the
great physical poverty and spiritual
destitution 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's misery? 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 city2
So they reasoned for themselves, not
judging others. They were simply keep
ing their own pledge to do as Jesus
would do. as they honestly judged he
would do. That was what they had
promised. How could they quarrel with
the result? They were irresistibly COM
PEELED to do what they were planning
to do.
The bishop had money of his own.
Every one in Chicago knew that the
bishop had handsome fortune. DR..
Bruce had acquired and saved by liter
ary work carried on in connection with
his parish duties more than comforta.
bic competence. This money, a large
part of it, the two friends agreed to put
at once into the work, most of it into
the furnishing of settlement house.
Meanwhile Nazareth Avenue church
was experiencing something never
known before in all its history. The
simple appeal on the part of its pastor
to his members to do as Jesus would dc
had created sensation that still con-
tinued. The result of that appeal was
very much the same as in Henry Max.
wells church in Raymond, only Naza
reth Avenue church was far more aris.
tocratic, wealthy and conventional.
Nevertheless when one Sunday morn
ing in early summer DR.. Bruce came
into his pulpit and announced his resig.
nation the sensation deepened all ovel
the city, although DR.. Bruce had ad-
vised with his board Of trustees, and the
movement he intended was not mat
ter of surprise to them
But when it became publicly known
that the bishop also had announced his
retirement from the position he had
held SO long in order to go and live
himself in the center of the worst part
of Chicago the public astonishment
reached it's height.
"But why the bishop replied tc
one valued friend who had almost with
tears tried to dissuade him from his
purpose-''why should what DR.. Bruce
and I propose to do seem so remarkable
a thing, as if it were unheard of that
a doctor of divinity and bishop
should want to save souls in this par.
ticular manner. If we were to resign
our charges for the purpose of going tc
Bombay or Hongkong or any place in
Africa, the churches and the people
would exclaim at the heroism of mis-.
sions. Why should it seem SO great q
thing if we have been led to give ou1
lives to help rescue the heathen and the
lost Of our own city in the way we are
going to try? Is it, then, such tire.
mendous event that two Christian min.
listers should be not only willing bat
eager to live close to the misery of the
world in order to know it and realize
it? Is it such a rare thing that love Of
humanity should find this particula.
form Of expression in the rescue Of
souls .. r. .s
However the bishop may have satis-
lied himself that there ought to be moth