The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1900-01-17
THE W wATCHMA AN AND sOUrHRON, JANUARY II. 1900.

this earth. he'll when FOR every soEi
rescHe1 by their sacrifice the saloon
u1ade two more tllat needed rescacz
He could not escape the question. L
was the same that Virginia had pat q
Rachel in her statement that. III her
opinion. noellins really would eyer !.e
done anti the saloon Wss:s taken o1l1 Of
the Rectangle Henry Maxwell wei2t
back to his parish work fha1 aftcrnooa
VITA added convictions on the license
business
But. if the saloon were a factor IA
the problem OF the life Of Raymond. no
less were tie First church ana Is little
company Of disciples who had pledged
themselves to do as Jesus World do
Henry Maxwell standing at the very
center cf t!le movement. was rot in a
position TO judge OF its power as some
one from tae outside might have done,
but Raymond itself felt the touch of
this new discipleship and was changed
in very many ways. not knowing all
the reasons for the change
The winter had gone. and the year
was ended the year which Henry Max
well had fixed as the time during
which the pledge should be Kept to do
as Jesus would do. Sunday, the ami
versarv Of that one a year ago. was IN
many ways the most remarkable day
the First church ever knew. 1t was
more important than the disciples in
the First church realized The year had
made history SO fast and SO serious that
the people were not Yet able to grasp
its significance, and the day itself.
which marked the completion of a
whole year Of such discipleship, was
characterized by such revelations and
confessions that the immediate actors
in the events themselves could not un-
derstand the value cf what had been
done or the relation of their trial to the
rest of the churches and cities in the
country.
It happened that the week before
that anniversary Sunday the Rev. Cal
vim Bruce, D. D., of the Nazareth Av-
enue church, Chicago, was in Ray
mond, where he had come on visit to
some old friends and incidentally to see
his old seminary classmate, Henry Max
well. He was present at the First
church and was an exceedingly atten-
tive and interested spectator. His ac-
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 soarces.
DR.. Bruce 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 C!AxToN-It is late Sun
dav night. but am so intensely awake
and so overfowing with what I have
seen and heard that I feel driven to
write you now some account of the
situation in Raymond as ! have teen
,tudying it and as it has apparently
,ome to climax today. So this is my
only excuse for writing so extended
letter at this time.
sSYdu remember Henry Maxwell in
the seminary. I think you said the last
time visited you in New York that
YOU had not seen him since we gradu-
ated. He was refined. scholarly fellow.
YOU remember and when he was called
70 the First church of RAYMOND within
q year after leaving the seminary SAID
to my wife: Raymond has made
good choice. Maxwell will satisfy them
as a ser1nonizer. He has been here II
years. and l understand that up to a
year ago he had gone on in the regular
course of the ministry. giving Good SIT
isfaction and drawing good conSreSa-
tion to his morning preaching service
His church was cornted the largest.
most wealthy church in Raymond Al
the best people attended it. and n18st
of them belonged The quartet choir
was famous for its music. especially Tor
its soprano. Miss Winslow. OF whom l
shall have more to say. and. on the
whole. as understand the fact. Max
vel! was in comfortable berth. with
very good salary pleasant surround
ings. not d very e:zacting parish OF re-
fined. rich. respectable people. such q
church and parish as nearly all the
Young men in the seminary IN our time
looked forward ) as very desirable
But yearago today Maxwell came
into his ch.rch on Sunday morning ard
at the close of his service made the
astounding proposition that tne mem
bers of his church volunteer for a year
not to Go ANYTHING without FIST ASKING
the question What wonld jesus DO:
and. after answering it. 10 do what III
their honest Judgment lie wo1la Co re-
gardless OF what the result might be to
them
The effect of this proposition as it
has been met and oleyed by number
of tie 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 a movement because