|
Henry Maxwell and a group of his church members remained some time in the study.
The man lay on the couch there and breathed heavily. When the question of what to do with
him came up, the minister insisted on taking the man to his own house. He lived near by and
had an extra room. Rachel Winslow said: "Mother has no company at present. I am sure we
would be glad to give him a place with us." She looked strongly agitated. No one noticed it particularly. They were all excited over the
strange event, the strangest that First Church people could remember. But the minister
insisted on taking charge of the man, and, when a carriage came, the unconscious but living
form was carried to his house, and with the entrance of that humanity into the minister's
spare room a new chapter in Henry Maxwell's life began, and yet no one, himself least of
all, dreamed of the remarkable change it was destined to make in all his after definition of
the Christian discipleship.
The event created a great sensation in the First Church parish.
People talked of nothing else for a week. It was the general impression that the man had
wandered into the church in a condition of mental disturbance caused by his troubles, and
that all the time he was talking he was in a strange delirium of fever and really ignorant of
his surroundings. That was the most charitable construction to put upon his action; it was the
general agreement also that there was a singular absence of anything bitter or complaining in
what the man had said. He had, throughout, spoken in a mild, apologetic tone, almost as if
he were one of the congregation seeking for light on a very difficult subject.
The third day after his removal to the minister's house there was a marked change in his
condition. The doctor spoke of it but offered no hope. Saturday morning he still lingered,
although he had rapidly failed as the week drew near its close. Sunday morning, just before
the clock struck one, he rallied and asked if his child had come. The minister had sent for
her at once as soon as he had been able to secure her address from some letters found in the
man's pocket. He had been conscious and able to talk coherently only a few moments since
his attack. "The child is coming. She will be here," Mr. Maxwell said as he sat there, his face showing
marks of the strain of the week's vigil. For he had insisted on sitting up nearly every night.
"I shall never see her in this world," the man whispered. Then he uttered with great
difficulty the words, "You have been good to me. Somehow I feel as if it was what Jesus
would do." After a few minutes he turned his head slightly, and before Mr. Maxwell could realize the
fact, the doctor said quietly, "He is gone."
The Sunday morning that dawned on the city of Raymond was exactly like the Sunday of a
week before. Mr. Maxwell entered his pulpit to face one of the largest congregations that
had ever crowded the First Church. He was haggard and looked as if he had just risen from
a long illness. His wife was at home with the little girl, who had come on the morning train
an hour after her father had died. He lay in that spare room, his troubles over, and the
minister could see the face as he opened the Bible and arranged his different notices on the
side of the desk as he had been in the habit of doing for ten years.
The service that morning contained a new element. No one could remember when Henry
Maxwell had preached in the morning without notes. As a matter of fact he had done so
occasionally when he first entered the ministry, but for a long time he had carefully written every word of his morning sermon, and nearly always his
evening discourse as well. It cannot be said that his sermon this morning was striking or
impressive. He talked with considerable hesitation. It was evident that some great idea
struggled in his thought for utterance, but it was not expressed in the theme he had chosen
for his preaching. It was near the close of his sermon that he began to gather a certain
strength that had been painfully lacking at the beginning. He closed the Bible and, stepping out at the side of the desk, faced his people and began to
talk to them about the remarkable scene of the week before.
"Our brother," somehow the words sounded a little strange coming from his lips, "passed
away this morning. I have not yet had time to learn all his history. He had one sister in
Chicago. I have written her and have not yet received an answer. His little girl is with us
and will remain for the time."
He paused and looked over the house. He thought he had never seen so many earnest faces
during his entire pastorate. He was not able yet to tell his people his experience, the crisis
through which he was even now moving. But some of his feeling passed from him to them,
and it did not seem to him that he was acting under a careless impulse at all to go on and break to
them this morning something of the message he bore in his heart. So he went on.
"The appearance and words of this stranger in the church last Sunday made a very powerful
impression on me. I am not able to conceal from you or myself the fact that what he said,
followed as it has been by his death in my house, has compelled me to ask as I never asked
before, 'What does following Jesus mean?' I am not in a position yet to utter any
condemnation of this people or, to a certain extent, of myself, either in our Christlike
relations to this man or the numbers that he represents in the world. But all that does not
prevent me from feeling that much that the man said was so vitally true that we must face it in an attempt to answer it or else stand condemned as Christian
disciples. A good deal that was said here last Sunday was in the nature of a challenge to
Christianity as it is seen and felt in our churches. I have felt this with increasing emphasis
every day since. And I do not know that any time is more appropriate than the present for me to propose a
plan, or a purpose, which has been forming in my mind as a satisfactory reply to much that
was said here last Sunday."
Again Henry Maxwell paused and looked into the faces of his people. There were some
strong, earnest men and women in the First Church. He could see Edward Norman, editor of the Raymond "Daily News." He had been a
member of the First Church for ten years. No man was more honored in the community. There was Alexander Powers, superintendent
of the great railroad shops in Raymond, a typical railroad man, one who had been born into
the business. There sat Donald Marsh, president of Lincoln College, situated in the suburbs
of Raymond. There was Milton Wright, one of the great merchants of Raymond, having in
his employ at least one hundred men in various shops. There was Dr. West, who, although
still comparatively young, was quoted as authority in special surgical cases. There was young
Jasper Chase, the author, who had written one successful book, and was said to be at work on
a new novel. There was Miss Virginia Page, the heiress, who through the recent death of her
father had inherited a million, at least, and was gifted with unusual attractions of person and
intellect. And not least of all, Rachel Winslow, from her seat in the choir, glowed with her
peculiar beauty of light this morning because she was so intensely interested in the whole
scene.
There was some reason, perhaps, in view of such material in the First Church, for Henry
Maxwell's feeling of satisfaction whenever he considered his parish as he had the previous
Sunday. There was an unusually large number of strong individual characters who claimed membership there. But as he noted their faces this
morning he was simply wondering how many of them would respond to the strange
proposition he was about to make. He continued slowly, taking time to choose his words
carefully, and giving the people an impression they had never felt before, even when he was
at his best with his most dramatic delivery.
"What I am going to propose now is something which ought not to appear unusual or at all
impossible of execution. Yet I am aware that it will be so regarded by a large number, perhaps, of the members of this church. But in order that we may have a
thorough understanding of what we are considering, I will put my proposition very plainly,
perhaps bluntly. I want volunteers from the First Church who will pledge themselves,
earnestly and honestly for an entire year, not to do anything without first asking the question,
'What would Jesus do?' And after asking that question, each one will follow Jesus as exactly
as he knows how, no matter what the result may be. I will of course include myself in this
company of volunteers, and shall take for granted that my church here will not be surprised
at my future conduct, as based upon this standard of action, and will not oppose whatever is done
if they think Christ would do it. Have I made my meaning clear? At the close of the service
I want all those members who are willing to join such a company to remain and we will over
the details of the plan. Our motto will be, 'What would Jesus do?' Our aim will be to act just
as he would if he in our places, regardless of immediate results. In other words, we propose
to follow Jesus' steps as closely and as literally as we believe he taught his disciples to do.
And those who volunteer to do this will pledge themselves for an entire year, beginning with
to-day, so to act."
Henry Maxwell paused again and looked out over his people. It is not easy to describe the
sensation that such a simple proposition apparently made. Men glanced at one another in
astonishment. It was not like Henry Maxwell to define Christian discipleship in this way. There was evident confusion of thought over his
proposition. It was understood well enough, but there was, apparently, a great difference of
opinion as to the application of Jesus' teaching and example.
He calmly closed the service with a brief prayer. The organist began his postlude
immediately after the benediction and the people began to go out. There was a great deal of
conversation. Animated groups stood all over the church discussing the minister's
proposition. It was evidently provoking great discussion. After several minutes he asked all
who expected to remain to pass into the lecture room, which joined the large room, on the
side. He was himself detained at the front of the church talking with several persons there,
and when he finally turned around, the church was empty. He walked over to the
lecture room entrance and went in. He was almost startled to see the people who were there.
He had not made up his mind about any of his members, but he had hardly expected that so
many were ready to enter into such a literal testing of their Christian discipleship as now
awaited him. There were perhaps fifty present. Among them Rachel Winslow and Virginia
Page, Mr. Norman, President Marsh, Alexander Powers the railroad superintendent, Milton
Wright, Dr. West and Jasper Chase.
He closed the door of the lecture room and went and stood before the little group. His face
was pale and his lips trembled with genuine emotion. It was to him a genuine crisis in his
own life and that of his parish. No man can tell until he is moved by the Divine Spirit what
he may do, or how he may change the current of a lifetime of fixed habits of thought and
speech and action. Henry Maxwell did not, as we have said, yet know himself all that he was
passing through, but he was conscious of a great upheaval in his definition of Christian
discipleship, and he was moved with a depth of feeling he could not measure as he looked
into the faces of those men and women on this occasion.
It seemed to him that the most fitting word to be spoken first was that of prayer. He asked them all to pray with him. And almost with the first
syllable he uttered there was a distinct presence of the Spirit felt by them all. As the prayer
went on, this presence grew in power. They all felt it. The room was filled with it as plainly
as if it had been visible. When the prayer closed there was a silence that lasted several
moments. All the heads were bowed. Henry Maxwell's face was wet with tears. If an audible
voice from heaven had sanctioned their pledge to follow the Master's steps, not one person
present could have felt more certain of the divine blessing. And so the most serious
movement ever started in the First Church of Raymond was begun.
"We all understand," said he, speaking very quietly, "what we have undertaken to do. We
pledge ourselves to do everything thing in our daily lives after asking the question, 'What
would Jesus do?' regardless of what may be the result to us. Some time I shall be able to tell
you what a marvelous change has come over my life within a week's time. I cannot now.
But the experience I have been through since last Sunday has me so dissatisfied with my
previous definition of Christian discipleship that I have been compelled to take this action. I
did not dare begin it alone. I know that I am being led by the hand of divine love in all this.
The same divine impulse must have led you also. Do we understand fully what we have undertaken?"
"I want to ask a question," said Rachel Winslow.
Everyone turned towards her. Her face
glowed with a beauty that no physical loveliness could ever create.
"I am a little in doubt as to the source of our knowledge concerning what Jesus would do.
Who is to decide for me just what He would do in my case? It is a different age. There are
many perplexing questions in our civilization that are not mentioned in the teachings of
Jesus. How am I going to tell what He would do?"
"There is no way that I know of," replied the pastor, "except as we study Jesus through the
medium of the Holy Spirit. You remember what Christ said speaking to His disciples about the Holy Spirit:
"'Howbeit
when He, the Spirit of Truth is come. He shall guide you into all the truth; for He shall not
speak from Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, there shall He speak; and He shall
declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify me; for He shall take of mine
and shall declare it unto you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine; therefore said I that
He taketh of mine and shall declare it unto you.'
"There is no other test that I know of. We
shall all have to decide what Jesus would do after going to that source of knowledge."
"What if others say of us, when we do certain things, that Jesus would not do so?" asked the
superintendent of railroads.
"We cannot prevent that. But we must be absolutely honest with ourselves. The standard of
Christian action cannot vary in most of our acts."
"And yet what one church member thinks Jesus would do, another refuses to accept as His
probable course of action. What is to render our conduct uniformly Christlike? Will it be
possible to reach the same conclusions always in all cases?" asked President Marsh.
Mr. Maxwell was silent some time. Then he answered:
"No; I don't know that we can
expect that. But when it comes to a genuine, honest, enlightened following of Jesus' steps, I
cannot believe there will be any confusion either in our own minds or in the judgment of
others. We must be free from fanaticism on one hand and too much caution on the other. If
Jesus' example is the example for the world to follow, it certainly must be feasible to follow
it. But we need to remember this great fact. After we have asked the Spirit to tell us what
Jesus would do and have received an answer to it, we are to act regardless of the results to
ourselves. Is that understood?"
All the faces in the room were raised towards the minister in solemn assent. There was no
misunderstanding the proposition. Henry Maxwell's face quivered again as he noted the
president of the Endeavor Society, with several members, back of the older men and women.
They remained a little longer talking over details and asking questions, and agreed to report
to one another every week at a regular meeting the result of their experiences in following
Jesus this way. Henry Maxwell prayed again. And again as before the Spirit made Himself
manifest. Every head remained bowed a long time. They went away finally in silence. There
was a feeling that prevented speech. The pastor shook hands with them all as they went out. Then
he went in his own study room back of the pulpit and kneeled. He remained there alone
nearly half an hour. When he went home, he went into the room where the dead body lay. As
he looked at the face, he cried in his heart again for strength and wisdom. But not even yet
did he realize that a movement had begun which would lead to the most remarkable series of
events that the city of Raymond had ever known.
| 
