Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1900-07-12
The Crucifxion of
Philip Strong,
By REV. CHARLES M. SHELDON
Copyright 1899, BY The Advance Pub shlng Col
CHAPTER XXI.


his prayer, he rose, and, STOPPING over
his son, he kissed him. Then he turn
ed about and faced Philip and Sarah,
who almost felt guilty Of intrusion in
looking at such a scene. But the Broth
er Man wore a radiant look. To Phil
ips surprise he was not excited. The
same ineffable peace breathed from his
entire person. To that peace was now
added a fathomless joy.
Yes" he said very simply, Il have
found my son which was lost. God is
good to me. He is good to all his chill
dren. He is the All Father. He is
Love"
did you know your son was here"
Philip asked
"No; I found him here. You have
saved his life. That was doing as He
would"
at was very little we could do" said
Philip, with a sigh. He had seen so
much trouble and suffering that day
that his soul was sick within him.
Yet he welcomed this event in his
home. It seemed like a little bright
ness Of heaven on earth.
Il have not seen him for years. He
was my youngest son. We quarreled.
All that is past. He did not know that
TO give up all that one has was the
will OF God. Now he knows. When
he is well, we viii go away together
yes, together" He spread out his
palms in his favOrite gesture, with
plentiful content in his face and voice.
As spring had blOSomed into sum
mer and summer ripened into autumn
every one had predicted better times.
But the predictions did not bring them.
The suffering and sickness and help
lessncss of the tenement district grew
every day more desperate. To Philip
II seemed like the ulcer Of Milton. All
the surface remedies proposed and
adopted by the city council and the
churches and the benevolent societies
had not touched the problem The
mills were going on part time. Thou
sands Of men yet fingered in the place
hoping to get work. Even if the mills
had been running as usual that would
not have diminished one particle Of the
sin and vice and drunkenness that
saturated the place And as Philip
studied the matter with brain and soul
he came to a conclusion regarding the
duty Of the church. He did not pre-
tend to go beyond that, but rs the
weeks went by and fall came on and
another winter stared the people cold
I Iv In the face he knew that he must
speak out what burned In him.
He had been a year In Milton. Every
month Of that year had impressed him
with the deep and apparently hopeless
chasm that yawned between the work
ing world and the church. There was
/ no point Of contact one was suspi-
cious, the other was Indifferent. Some
thing was radically wrong, and some
thing radically positive and Christian
must be done TO right the condition
that faced the churches of Milton.
| That was in his soul as he went his
way like one of the old prophets, inn
bued with the love Of God as he saw it
in the heart Of Christ, With infinite
longing he yearned to bring the church
to a sense Of her great power and OPP
portunity. So matters had finally
drawn TO a point in the month of No
yember. The Brother Man had come
in October. The sick man recovered
SLOWLY. Philip and his wife found
room for the father and son and shared
with them what comforts they had. II
should be said that after moving out
Of the parsonage into his house in the
tenement district Philip had more than
given the extra thousand dollars the
church insisted on paying him. Inc
demands on him were so urgent the
perfect impossibility Of providing men
with work AID SO relieving them mao
been such a bar 10 giving help in that
direction. that out of sheer necessity
rs il seemed to him, Philip had given
fully half Of the thousand dollars re-
served for his own salary. His entire
svpeuses were reduced 10 the smallest
nossible amount. Everything above
| thar went where It was absolutely
needed. He was literally sharing what
ne had with the people who did not
have anything. 1t seemed to him that
he could not consistently do anything
less in view of what he had preached
and intended to preach.
one evening in the middle or the
month he was invited TO a social gath
arinr Mt the house Of Mr.. Winter. The
mill owner had Of late been experience
inc a revolution of thought His atu
indie toward Philip had grown more
and more friendly.
II was a gathering Of personal
Friends Of Mr.. Winter including some
of the church people. The moment tina,
pbillp stepped into the spacious hal
and caught a glimpse Of the furnish
ms of the rooms beyond, the contrast
between all the comfort and bright
nos Of this house and the last place ne
had visited in the tenement district
smote him with a sense of pain. ht
5rove it back and blamed himself VIII
an inward reproach that he was grow
inc narrow and could think of only one
idea. ,. -,