People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1900-02-01

his old seminary classmate, Henry Max
well He was present at the First
church and was an exceedingly atten-
= tive and interested spectator His &C
count of events in Raymond, and espe-
cially of that Sunday, may throw more
light on the entire situation than any
description or record from other sources
DR. Bruce's statement is therefore here
given
Letter from Rev Calvin Bruce, D
D.. of the Nazareth Avenue church.
Chicago, to Rev Philip S Caxton. D
D.. New York city
"MY DEAR CAXTON-It is late Sun
day night. but am so intensely awake
and 50 overlooking with what have
seen and heard that feel driven to
write you now some account of the
situation in Raymond as | have Eeen
studying it and as it has apparently
come To a climax today So this is my
only excuse for writing so extended a
letter at this time.
"You remember Henry Maxwell in
the seminary. think you said the last
time | visited you in New York that
you had not seen him since we gradu-
ated He was arefned. scholarly fellow,
you remember, and when he was called
10 the First church of Raymond within
year after leaving the seminary said
to my wife Raymond has made
good choice. Maxwell will satisfy them
as a sermonizer. He has been here /
years, and understand that up to
/ year ago he had gone on in the regular
course of the ministry, giving good sat
isfaction and drawing a good cOngrega-
ton to his morning preaching service
His church was counted the largest,
most wealthy church in Raymond All
the best people attended it, and most
of them belonged The quartet choir
was famous for its music, especially for
its soprano, Miss Winslow, of whom !
shall have more to say, and, on the
whole, as ! understand the fact Max
well was in a comfortable berth, with a
very good salary. pleasant surround
ings, not a very exacting parish Of re-
fined rich, respectable people such a
rhurch and parish as nearly all the
young men in the seminary in our time
looked forward to as very desirable
But a year ago today Maxwell came
into his church on Sunday morning and
at the close of his service made the
astounding proposition that the mem
bers of his church volunteer for a year
not to do anything without first asking
the question. What would Jesus dor
and, after answering it, to do what in
their honest Judgment he would do, re-
gardless of what the result might be to
them.
THE effect Of this proposition as it
has been met and obeyed by number
of the members of the First church of
Raymond has been so remarkable that,
as you know, the attention of the whole
country has been directed to the move
ment | call it movement because
from the action taken today it seems
probable that what has been tried here
in tho First church in Raymond will
reach out into the other churches and
cause a revolution in church methods,
but more especially in a new definition
of Christian discipleship
"In the first place. Maxwell tells me
he was astonished at the response made
to his proposition. Some of the most
prominent members in the church made
the promise to do as Jesus would
Among them were Edward Norman,
the editor of The Daily News which
has made such sensation in the news
paper world; Milton Wright, one of
the leading merchants in Raymond;
Alexander Powers. whose action in the
matter Of the railroads against the in
terstate commerce laws made such a
stir about a year ago; Miss Page, one
of Raymond's leading society heiresses,
who has lately dedicated her entire for
tune, as | understand. to the Christian
daily paper and the work of reform in
the Stun district known as the Rec.
tangle. and Miss Winslow, whose repu-
tation as a singer is now national. but
vino, in obedience to what she has de
cided to be Jesus probable action, has
devoted her talent to volunteer work
among the girls and women who make
up large part Of the city's worst and
most abandoned population
In addition to these well known
people has been a gradually increasing
number of Christians from the First
church and lately from other churches
in Raymond A large proportion Of
these volunteers who pledge themselves
to do as Jesus would comes from the
Endeavor societies The young people
say that they have already embodied in
their society pledge the same principle
in the words. Il promise him that will
strive to do whatever he would have
me do This is not exactly what is in
cluded in Maxwell's proposition, which
is that the disciples shall try to do what
Jesus would probably do in the disci-
pies place, but the result of an honest
obedience TO either pledge, he claims,
will be practically the same, and he is
not surprised that the largest numbers
have Joined the new discipleship from
the Endeavor society.
81 am sure the first question you will
ask is. What has been the result of