Middletown transcript., 1900-02-10


Of my church and of this house IN
which / live, and I have hardly Needed
them, the walls have been so thick
have reached a point where ! cannot
endure this any longer. I am not con-
demning the church. love her. l am
not forsaking the church. believe IN
her mission and have no desire to de-
stroy. Least of all, in the step l 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 1 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. I do not see any other way for
myself to suffer for his sake as I feel
that ought to suffer"
Again that sudden silence fell over
these two men. It was no ordinary ac-
ton they were deciding. They had both
reached the same conclusion by the
same reasoning, and they were too
thoughtful, too well accustomed to the
measuring OF conduct, to underestimate
the seriousness of their position.
''What is your planH" 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.
Ny wife is fully in accord with me.
We have already decided to find resi-
dence 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 farreaching
power and possibility that DR.. Bruce,
capable and experienced as he was, felt
amazed at the vision of a greater soul
than his own.
They sat up late and were as eager
and even glad as If they were planning
for 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
il 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 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. It was not new idea.
It 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 miseryf 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, moi
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 resultf 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 tht
bishop had a handsome fortune. DR..
Bruce had acquired and saved by liter
ary work carried on in connection with
his parish duties more than comforta
BILE competence. This money, large
part of it, the two friends agreed to put
at once into the work, most of it intC
the furnishing of a settlement house.
Meanwhile Nazareth Avenue church
was experiencing something nevel
known before in all its history. Tit
simple appeal on the part of it's pastol
to his members to do as Jesus would d.
had created sensation that still con
tinued The result of that appeal wal
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 camt
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 thu
movement he intended was not mat
ter of surprise to them.
! But when it became publicly known
that the bishop also had announced hi
retirement from the position he hat
held so long in order to go and livt
himself in the center Of the worst par
Of Chicago the public astonishment
reached its height
"But why" the bishop replied K
one valued friend who had almost with
tears tried to dissuade him from hi
purpose-'swhy should what Dr.. Bruce
and / propose to do seem SO remarkable
a thing, as if it were unheard of tha
doctor Of divinity and a bishop
should want to save souls in this par
1 EicTIlAr manner IF uo xryara f, raci ory