Waterbury Democrat., 1901-03-02
Christian Stewardship.
BY CHARLES Nj. SHELDON,

hx,en of Philip Strong, . Robert
 t Hardy's Seven Days" Nal '
 !. COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY ccNGREGArIoSAh i' ! i AND SUNDAY SCHOOL PUBLISHING SOCIETY. [
 39iLoe.-4OO-s-se0t.s 0t.s.s0o-:-s00-sGe
 When he disappeared behind clump
 of frs, Rhena knelt down by the old
 stump and laid her head upon it, and
 her prayer was very much like the
 prayer of that night when Louise had
 called upon her. After awhile she rose
 and went down the trail But she was
 not the same woman. Her heart was
 shaken for the first time in her life by
 the love of a great and good man. An, 1 it is possible if he had said to her, i "Rhena' she might have said, "Stu-
 art!' and given him all. It was dan-
 gerous for her to think of him. She
 felt as never before. And then the
 glove the knowledge of her safety due
 to him-she trembled. There were
 times in her feeling when if Stuart had
 come back she would have said to him:
 T love you. Let us go on our way
 through life together!' And she went
 on into the next cottage, q look in her |
 emotion in her heart that she could not suppress.
 As for Stuart, he went down into
 Champion with feeling that was not
 that of defeat or Encouragement. It l had been crisis with him. He had at
 last spoken. He had nothing to regret 1 in all he had said. And in spite of the 1 fact that his answer had been no some
 ;+ find a
 was the last man in the world to try | to argue the woman he loved into lov-
 ing him. He was not and could not be | pleading suitor for the heart of this
 woman of all persons in the world. He i said to himself the time would come, l although he did not attempt to picture 1 when or how, when she would be his
 as he wanted her to be. With that 1 great thought burning in him he enter- ed upon one of the busiest and most 1 significant weeks of his life.
 In the first place, when Sunday came
 he joined the church. He had already ! two weeks before gone into the pre- l paratory meeting with Andrew and | there recited his experience. 1t seemed | the most necessary act in the world
 that he should identify himself openly 1 and boldly with other Christians in the | organization which Christ loved. There
 was not a moments hesitation in Stu l arts mind about the duty and privilege
 of church membership. That was 1 notable day in his life when Andrew
 asked him to rise and give assent to l the church covenant.
 The news that Stuart Duncan was 1 going to join the church was interest l ing enough to call out a large part of
 the population of Champion. Andrew 1 had never seen such Q congregation. 1 St. Johns was crowded, very largely with the miners and their families. | Stuart was the only person received at this communion. When he rose at An 1 drew's invitation, his face was calm 1 and even beautiful. It was a splendid l sight to see these two men facing each
 other at the communion service. When l Stuart kneeled to receive the baptism, | Andrews voice trembled for second over the words, 'I baptize thee, Stuart, my brother disciple of Jesus,' and many an eye in the audience moisten- | ed. When the bread was passed, Stu 1 art receivcdt it from one of the miners
 who had worked in Champion mines | ever since Stuart was q boy. He was 1 deacon in St. Johns. and Stuart ncv- 1 CT forgot the look on the old mans face
 as he handed the plate in at the end of l the pew. More than half of Andrews
 membership were Cornishmen. It was
 day long remembered by them.
 And to Stuart there came also as he | partook for the first time of the ele- ments q new and serious thought of 1 the fellowship he had begun with i these men. nearly all of whom had | been in his fathers employ. It was l true they were of the rudest, most un- i educated sort. Their type of Chris tianity as church members was not
 very exalted. They were at this very l moment engaged in method of strug
 gle against capital which was contrary l to all StUart's real convictions, but he ] had reached point where he looked
 upon the struggle from a different ba- ! sis. The men in the church were for l the most part prayerful, honest and | above all generous with what they DOS l sessed. Stuart did not know it. but Deacon Sam Penryck, who passed the | bread and wine, had that very morning | given one of the suffering families in | Cornishtown a third of his own say 1 1ngs which he had stored up for the
 winter to take him through the strike.
 But it was not about the type of Chris- tiaHity that Stuart was thinking ss he
 sat; there. It vas about his relations
 T7fthy these men with whom he was
 Eew' associated as member of the
 body of Christ. If he had been grow
 ingtmore and more to believe that he
 wasShis brothers keeper ever since the death of his father, much more DOW,
 especially since his conversion and this
 days communion. Andrews prayer 1 touched on that. The service was very
 impressive. * ...." l F At it's close Stuart asked Andrew if
 he might say word, and very simply
 but strongly he stated his Christian
 faith and asked for the prayers of the