CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 17
The next day Virginia went down to the News office to see Edward Norman and Mr. Maxwell and arrange the details of her part in the establishment of the paper on its new foundation.
“I have written down some of the things that it has seemed to me Jesus would do,” said Edward Norman. He read from a paper lying on his desk.
“I have headed this ‘What would Jesus do as editor of a daily newspaper in Raymond?’
“1. He would never allow anything in His paper that could be called bad or coarse or impure.
“2. He would conduct the political part of the paper from the standpoint of the advancement of the kingdom of God on earth.”
Edward Norman looked up from the reading a moment. “You understand that I am simply trying to answer honestly.
“3. Jesus’ aim of a daily paper would be to do the will of God, not to make money or gain political influence.
“4. All questionable advertisements would be impossible.
“5. Jesus’ relations to the employees on the paper would be of the most loving character.
“So far as I have gone,” said Norman, again looking up, “I am of the opinion that Jesus would use some form of cooperation that represented the idea of a mutual interest in a business where all worked together for the same great end, and expressed not only in personal love and sympathy for the other employees but also in a sharing of the profits of the business.
“6. Jesus would give large space to the work of the Christian world—devoting space to the facts of reform, sociological problems, institutional church work, and similar movements.
“7. He would do all in His power in His paper to fight the saloon as an enemy of the human race and an unnecessary part of our civilization, regardless of public sentiment and regardless of its effect upon His subscription list.”
Again Edward Norman looked up. “I state my honest conviction on this point. I believe He would use the influence of His paper to remove the saloon entirely from the political and social life of the nation.
“8. Jesus would not issue a Sunday edition.
“9. He would print the news of the world that people ought to know, but nothing which in any way would conflict with the first point in this outline.
“10. Jesus would secure the best and strongest Christian men and women to cooperate with Him in the matter of contributions.
“11. The main principle that guides the paper is the establishment of the kingdom of God in the world. This large general principle would necessarily shape all the detail.
“This is merely a faint outline. I have a hundred ideas for making the paper powerful that I have not thought out fully as yet. As I have talked it over with other newspapermen, some of them say I will have a weak, namby-pamby Sunday school sheet. If I get out something as good as a Sunday school, it will be pretty good. But the paper will not necessarily be weak because it is good. Good things are more powerful than bad. The question with me is largely one of support from the Christian people of Raymond. There are over twenty thousand church members here in this city. If half of them will stand by the News, its life is assured. What do you think, Maxwell, of the probability of such support?”
“I don’t know enough about it to give an intelligent answer. The great thing will be to issue such a paper, as near as we can judge, as Jesus probably would. Put into it all the elements of Christian brains, strength, intelligence, and sense, and command respect for freedom from bigotry, fanaticism, narrowness, and anything else that is contrary to the spirit of Jesus.”
“Yes.” Edward Norman spoke humbly. “I shall make a great many mistakes, no doubt. I need a great deal of wisdom. So I shall continue to ask the question and abide by the results.”
“I think we are beginning to understand,” said Virginia, “the meaning of that command, ‘Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’ I am sure I do not know all that He would do in detail until I know Him better.”
“That is very true,” said Henry Maxwell. “I cannot interpret the probable action of Jesus until I know better what His Spirit is. The greatest question in all of human life is summed up when we ask, ‘What would Jesus do?’ if we also try to answer it from a growth in knowledge of Jesus Himself. We must know Jesus before we can imitate Him.”
Virginia and Edward Norman worked out the details of their arrangement, and Norman found himself in possession of the sum of five hundred thousand dollars to use for the establishment of a Christian daily paper. When Virginia and Maxwell left, Norman closed his door and, alone with the Divine Presence, asked like a child for help from his all-powerful Father.
Early one afternoon in August, after a day of refreshing coolness following a long period of heat, Jasper Chase walked to his window in the apartment house on the avenue and looked out.
On his desk lay a pile of manuscript. Since that evening when he had spoken to Rachel Winslow, he had not met her. His singularly sensitive nature served to thrust him into an isolation intensified by his habits as an author.
All through the heat of summer he wrote. His book was nearly done now. He threw himself into its construction with a feverish strength that threatened at any moment to desert him and leave him helpless.
He had not forgotten his pledge made with the other church members at the First Church. It forced itself upon his notice all through his writing. “Would Jesus do this? Would He write this story?” It was a social novel, written in a style that had proved popular. It had no purpose except to amuse. Its moral teaching was not bad, but neither was it Christian in any positive way. Jasper Chase knew that such a story would probably sell. But he felt that Jesus would never write such a book.
The question obtruded on him at the most inopportune times. He became irascible over it. The standard of Jesus for an author was too ideal. Of course Jesus would use His powers to produce something useful or helpful, or with a purpose. But Jasper wrote for the same reason nearly every writer wrote for—money, money, and fame as a writer. He had no need to write for money. But his desire for fame urged him on. He must write this kind of matter. What would Jesus do? The question plagued him even more than Rachel’s refusal.
As he stood at the window, Rollin Page came out of the clubhouse just opposite. Jasper noted his handsome face and noble figure as he started down the street. He went back to his desk and turned over some papers there, then came back to the window. Rollin now walked with Rachel Winslow. Rollin must have overtaken her as she was coming from Virginia’s that afternoon.
Jasper watched the two figures until they disappeared in the crowd on the walk. Then he turned to his desk and began to write. When he had finished the last page of the last chapter of his book, it was nearly dark. “What would Jesus do?” He had finally answered the question by denying his Lord, deliberately choosing his course, urged on by his disappointment and loss.