CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 23
“I am just back from a visit to Raymond,” Dr. Bruce began, “and I want to tell you something of my impressions of the movement there.”
He paused, and his look went out over his people with yearning for them but also uncertainty. Nevertheless, he had been through his desert and had come out of it ready to suffer. He went on now after that brief pause and told them the story of his stay in Raymond.
Dr. Bruce told his people simply and with a personal interest that led the way to the announcement that now followed. Felicia listened to every word with strained attention.
“Dear friends,” he said, and for the first time since his prayer, the emotion of the occasion was revealed in his voice and gesture, “I am going to ask that Nazareth Avenue Church take the same pledge that Raymond Church has taken. I know what this will mean to you and me. It will mean what following Jesus meant in the first century, and then it meant suffering, loss, hardship, separation from everything unchristian. Those of us who volunteer in this church to do as Jesus would do simply promise to walk in His steps as He gave us commandment.”
Again he paused, and now the result of his announcement was plainly visible in the stir that went up over the congregation. He added in a quiet voice that all who volunteered to make the pledge to do as Jesus would do were asked to remain after the morning service.
He then proceeded with his sermon. His text was “Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.” The sermon was a revelation to the people of the definition their pastor had been learning. It was such a sermon as a man can preach once in a lifetime, and with enough in it for people to live on all through the rest of their lives.
The service closed in a hush that slowly broke. People rose here and there, a few at a time. Rose, however, walked straight out of the pew, and as she reached the aisle she turned her head and beckoned to Felicia.
“I am going to stay,” she said, and Rose knew that her resolve could not be changed. Nevertheless, she went back into the pew two or three steps and faced her.
“Felicia,” she whispered, and there was a flush of anger on her cheeks, “this is folly. You will bring some disgrace on the family. What will Father say? Come!”
Felicia looked at her but did not answer at once. She shook her head. “No, I am going to stay. I shall take the pledge. I am ready to obey it.”
Rose gave her one look, then turned and went out of the pew and down the aisle.
When Rose reached home, her father stood in his usual attitude before the open fireplace, smoking a cigar.
“Where is Felicia?” he asked as Rose came in.
“She stayed to an after-meeting,” replied Rose shortly. She threw off her wraps and was going upstairs when Mr. Sterling called after her.
“An after-meeting? What do you mean?”
“Dr. Bruce asked the church to take the Raymond pledge.”
Mr. Sterling took his cigar out of his mouth and twirled it nervously between his fingers.
“I didn’t expect that of him. Did many of the members stay?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t,” replied Rose, and she went upstairs, leaving her father standing in the drawing room.
After a few moments he went to the window and stood there looking out at the people driving on the boulevard. His cigar had gone out, but he still fingered it nervously. Then he turned from the window and walked up and down the room. A servant stepped across the hall and announced dinner, and he told her to wait for Felicia. Finally wearied of the walking, he threw himself into a chair and was brooding over something deeply when Felicia came in.
He rose and faced her. Felicia was evidently very much moved by the meeting from which she had just come. At the same time, she did not wish to talk too much about it. Just as she entered the drawing room, Rose came in.
“How many stayed?” Rose asked.
“About a hundred,” replied Felicia gravely.
Mr. Sterling looked surprised. Felicia went out of the room, but he called to her. “Do you really mean to keep the pledge?” he asked.
Felicia colored. “You would not ask such a question, Father, if you had been at the meeting.” She lingered a moment in the room, then asked to be excused from dinner for a while and went up to see her mother.
That same evening, after the Sunday evening service, Dr. Bruce talked over the events of the day with his wife. They were of one heart and mind in the matter and faced their new future with all the faith and courage of new disciples.
The bell rang and Dr. Bruce, going to the door, exclaimed as he opened it, “It is you, Edward! Come in.”
A commanding figure stepped into the hall. The bishop was of extraordinary height and breadth of shoulder but of such good proportions that there was no thought of ungainly or even of unusual size.
He came into the parlor and greeted Mrs. Bruce, who after a few moments was called out of the room, leaving the two men together. The bishop sat in a deep easy chair before the open fire. “Calvin, you have taken a very serious step today,” he finally said, lifting his large dark eyes to his old college classmate’s face. “I heard of it this afternoon. I could not resist the desire to see you about it tonight.”
“I’m glad you came. You understand what this means, Edward?”
“Yes.” The bishop spoke very slowly and thoughtfully. He sat with his hands clasped together. Over his face, marked with lines of consecration and service and the love of men, a shadow crept. Again he lifted his eyes toward his old friend.
“Calvin, we have always understood each other. Ever since our paths led us in different ways in church life, we have walked together in Christian fellowship.”
“It is true,” replied Dr. Bruce with an emotion he made no attempt to conceal or subdue. “Thank God for it. I prize your fellowship more than any other man’s.”
The bishop looked affectionately at his friend. But the shadow still rested on his face. After a pause he spoke again. “The new discipleship means a crisis for you in your work. If you keep this pledge to do all things as Jesus would do—as I know you will—it requires no prophet to predict some remarkable changes in your parish.” The bishop looked wistfully at his friend and then continued. “In fact, I do not see how a perfect upheaval of Christianity, as we now know it, can be prevented if the ministers and churches generally take the Raymond pledge and live it out.” There flashed into Dr. Bruce’s mind a suspicion of the truth. What if the bishop would throw the weight of his great influence on the side of the Raymond movement? Dr. Bruce reached out his hand and, with the familiarity of lifelong friendship, placed it on the bishop’s shoulder. But before he could speak, they were both startled by the violent ringing of the bell.
Mrs. Bruce went to the door and talked with someone in the hall. There was a loud exclamation, and then, as the bishop rose and Bruce stepped toward the curtain that hung before the entrance to the parlor, Mrs. Bruce pushed it aside. Her face was white and she was trembling.
“Oh, Calvin! Such terrible news! Mr. Sterling—oh, I cannot tell it! What a blow to those girls!”
“What is it?” Mr. Bruce advanced with the bishop into the hall and confronted the messenger, a servant from the Sterlings. The man was without his hat and had evidently run over with the news.
“Mr. Sterling shot himself, sir, a few minutes ago. He killed himself in his bedroom. Mrs. Sterling—”
“I will go right over. Edward, will you go with me? The Sterlings are old friends of yours.”
The bishop was very pale but calm as always. “Aye, Calvin, I will go with you, not only to this house of death, but also the whole way of human sin and sorrow, please God.”