ibrar;p of ^he t:heolo0ical ^^minavy 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 Gift of Thomas C* Davles 
 
 V 2087 .F37 1911 
 
 enn, Courtenay H. 1866- 
 
 ith you always 
 
»itf) §ou m\s}m 
 
 A SEQUEL TO 
 "OVER AGAINST THE TREASURY' 
 
 BY 
 
 COURTENAY H. FENN, D. D. 
 
 MISSIONARY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD, PEKING, 
 CHINA 
 
 La^mm'fif ^ismnnt^ ^pobement 
 
 I MADISON AVENUE 
 NEW YORK 
 
Copyright, iqii, by 
 
 The Trustees of The Presbyterian Board of 
 
 Publication and Sabbath School Work 
 
 Printed October, 191 1 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 THIS little book is a sequel to "Over Against 
 the Treasury," but is by no means a mere 
 postscript. The unexpectedly kind recep- 
 tion of the former book is the chief reason for the 
 preparation of this volume. Not a few friends 
 have suggested the expansion of the thought; and 
 so varied have been the phases of the great prob- 
 lem presented to the author's attention, first dur- 
 ing his experience as a traveling secretary of the 
 Student Volunteer Movement, and recently dur- 
 ing his ''active furlough" of visitation of churches, 
 presbyterial campaigns and the follow-up work 
 of the Laymen's Missionary Movement, that he 
 has felt constrained to utilize still further that 
 furlough in continuing the story of the West- 
 minster Church in Jaconsett. Let the brevity 
 of the forerunner be the apology for the sequel. 
 "After the Convention comes the Campaign": 
 the former booklet was but the Convention; this 
 is the Campaign. 
 
 To some the developments in the Jaconsett 
 church may seem so idealistic as to give the story 
 somewhat of the nature of a fairy tale. Is it not 
 rather a practical suggestion as to the realization 
 of an ideal which we may never dare to call 
 impracticable because set for every follower of 
 Christ by the Master himself? It is confidently 
 3 
 
WITH YOU ALWA Y S 
 
 believed that there is nothing here which may 
 not be realized in any church, nothing which will 
 not be reaUzed in many a church which adopts 
 in all sincerity the policy herein set forth, and 
 appropriates to itself the promise of the Living 
 Presence of the Master. The church has failed 
 to obey the ''Go" of the Great Commission 
 largely because it has failed to perceive the 
 ''Come" hidden there in the "Lo, I am with you 
 always," of Him to whom is given all authority in 
 heaven and in earth. 
 
 It will be noted that seven of the ten chapters 
 correspond to the "Seven Characteristic Features 
 of the Standard Missionary Church," so con- 
 stantly emphasized by the Laymen's Missionary 
 Movement. To these seven the author has, in 
 his own work, added three others, namely, 
 
 A Missionary Session, 
 
 A Parish Abroad, 
 
 Definite Prayer and Effort to Secure Vol- 
 unteers. 
 This sevenfold, or tenfold, programme is com- 
 mending itself to thousands of churches as so 
 thoroughly scriptural as to be worthy of the title, 
 " The World Programme of God for His Church." 
 As yet no church has been discovered in which 
 its inauguration has not brought about, as never 
 before, the fulfillment of the promises of God. 
 The author is returning to his labors in that land 
 of phenomenal development, the great empire of 
 China, with a faith greatly strengthened by the 
 
WITH YOU ALWA YS 
 
 assurance that the church in America is at last 
 awakening to the realization that, in the beginning 
 of the gospel and ever since, the promise of the 
 Living Presence is only for those who accept 
 the life programme of the great commission. 
 
 f 
 
 Auburn, New York 
 
 August, IQII 
 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 
 
 FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ "OVER 
 AGAINST THE TREASURY" 
 
 THE Reverend John Stanton, the young pas- 
 tor of Westminster Church of Jaconsett, 
 struggHng in preparation for ''Foreign Mis- 
 sion Sunday," slumbers at his desk and dreams. 
 He sees Jesus ^dsibly in his pulpit, but declining 
 to speak to the people otherwise than through 
 the minister. Mr. Stanton, greatly embarrassed, 
 stumbles sadly through the service, breaks down in 
 prayer for forgiveness for his own lack of devotion 
 rather than that of his people; and then, instead 
 of preaching the prepared sermon, confesses his 
 own recreancy to an early call to mission service, 
 and pleads with his church to cease making a play- 
 thing of the church's chief business, the evangeli- 
 zation of the world. Then the Lord again sits 
 "over against the treasury," as his people open 
 their hearts and purses under an entirely new 
 sense of the greatness of the work, its urgency, 
 and their personal responsibility for it. Speech- 
 less, amazed by the strange scene, the pastor is 
 suddenly awakened by his wife's voice, announc- 
 ing the passage of midnight. 
 
 Profoundly moved by the dream, he feels im- 
 pelled to relate it to his people the next day, as 
 his Foreign Mission sermon, and then asks them 
 7 
 
WITH YOU ALWA Y S 
 
 to come again in the evening prepared to place 
 their gifts in the treasury under the influence of 
 the conviction that Jesus Christ sits just as really 
 "over against the treasury" as though seen \nth 
 the eyes of the flesh. 
 
 A large company gathers that evening, many 
 moved by deep feeling, some by curiosity, while a 
 few resolutely remain away. After prayer and a 
 brief statement of the special nature of the service, 
 all are invited to deposit their gifts, and to relate 
 any helpful experiences and resolutions. Mr. 
 Stanton sets the example by offering himself for 
 foreign mission appointment, as he had failed to 
 do at the beginning of his ministry. The senior 
 elder, Mr. Stanhope, ha\dng seen for himself the 
 Christ, confesses himself an unprofitable servant 
 and promises "restitution" and the support of 
 Mr. Stanton on the foreign field, while expressing 
 regret that none of his own children have been 
 trained for the ser\dce. 
 
 Elder Preston, wiry, nervous, close, not so 
 wealthy, sees for the first time the real size of the 
 two dollars a year which he has been giving as his 
 share in the conversion of the world. It had 
 formerly looked Hke two hundred dollars, but 
 now looks Hke ''thirty cents." He promises 
 one thousand dollars a year. 
 
 Elder Austin, whom the pastor had seen in his 
 dream, a disbeliever in foreign missions, has had 
 his eyes opened to the suicidal selfishness of his 
 policy. He has done large things in the past for 
 
WITH YOU ALWA YS 
 
 his alma mater and his own city, but is now 
 impressed with the need of the world and with 
 the pitiful penuriousness of the church's present 
 provision. Convinced that the King's business is 
 not conducted on business principles, he proposes 
 henceforth to spend in that business at least as 
 much as on self and family. To pay some back 
 debts, he will endow a theological seminary in 
 China with one hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 Elder Wentworth, seedy but neat, quiet, 
 spiritual, unselfish, beams with delight as he 
 expresses his thanksgiving for the new spirit 
 which has come to the church, and, for the first 
 time, envies his brethren who "can take from 
 their pockets a missionary or a theological sem- 
 inary for the heathen" at will. He and his wife 
 plan to get along without some new clothes and 
 increase their gifts. 
 
 Elder Ogden, a successful lawyer, a leader 
 socially and in the Sunday school, clean but 
 unspiritual, confesses his unw^orthiness to be an 
 elder, and tells how he was coaxed and flattered 
 by friends to abandon his intention to study for 
 the ministry and to study law instead. Personal 
 ambition had overcome the constraint of the love 
 of Christ, but now he is ready for any call. 
 
 Mrs. Stanton follows the elders with the admis- 
 sion that she had dissuaded her husband from his 
 missionary purpose because her parents, for senti- 
 mental reasons only, were opposed to her going. 
 Arguing for greater conscientiousness in this 
 
10 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 matter, on the part of parents as well as young 
 people, she expresses her glad readiness to go ^^ith 
 her husband wherever the Lord may call him. 
 
 Deacon Ransom, rough and ready, makes good 
 use of his prototype. Deacon Philip, who "served 
 a dish of gospel with every sandwich, and put in 
 all his time between meals doing the evangeHstic 
 jobs that the apostles didn't get round to," and 
 who consequently became a missionary to Samaria 
 and even to Africa, through the Ethiopian eunuch, 
 because "he felt that if the deacons didn't turn 
 foreign missionaries, there was a great lot of 
 people who were going to die in their sins." 
 And "Deacon Philip" Ransom makes himself 
 responsible for at least one apostle to the heathen. 
 
 The son of Elder Austin, also seen in the pastor's 
 dream, rises in much agitation, admits that he 
 had failed to see himself in the vision, as reported, 
 because he had no use for dreams; but he has now 
 realized that Christ has not occupied the first 
 place in his life. He is ashamed of the fact that 
 most of the missionaries are children of the com- 
 paratively poor, the rich as a rule rather despis- 
 ing the work. Renouncing this snobbishness for 
 himself, he will go as a missionary to teach the 
 heathen a higher, purer, better law than any to 
 be found on our statute books, and at his own 
 charges. 
 
 Further reports are deferred until Wednesday 
 evening, and the meeting closes with the dropping 
 of the offerings of all in the treasury. 
 
WITH YOU ALWA Y S 11 
 
 On Wednesday evening the church is crowded, 
 and again opportunity is given for expression of 
 heart experience. 
 
 Mr. Ralph Jackson, a business man with a bur- 
 den both of regret and of joy, formerly a chronic 
 objector, has, in the vision of Christ present, seen 
 all his old objections punctured, and proceeds 
 to puncture several for the congregation, — 
 "It takes ninety-nine cents to send one cent to 
 the heathen"; "The church and country cannot 
 afford such a waste of funds"; "If you send so 
 many men abroad there won't be preachers 
 enough at home " ; "The task is hopeless"; "You 
 can't make a good Christian out of a pagan." 
 He manifests his conversion by giving two 
 hundred times as much as ever before. 
 
 Mr. James Waterson, another objector, has 
 just taken a tour round the world and lost his 
 objections, especially his two criticisms of the 
 boards, the one for supporting the missionaries 
 in too comfortable a style, the other for exercising 
 too little faith in plans and work. He has found 
 it impossible and unwise for the missionary to 
 live Uke the native; and has seen the absurdity 
 of "thinking that, because a man gives up nearly 
 everything in this life to go as a missionary, he 
 should therefore be either required or expected 
 to give up everything else when he gets there, 
 while the man who stays in America is, by that 
 fact, excused from giving up anything." He still 
 believes in faith, "but not in the faith which 
 
12 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 divorces itself from sound judgment and tempts 
 the Lord by going ahead of him." 
 
 A son of the church, a senior in the theological 
 seminary, has been making many excuses, chief 
 among them ''the lack of a special call." Much 
 impressed by a parable seen in a recent paper, 
 entitled "As It Was Not in the Days of Jesus 
 Christ," representing the folly of the disciples, 
 at the feeding of the five thousand, had they 
 first packed baskets for themselves and then 
 confined their ministrations to five hundred old 
 neighbors "for lack of a special call" to others, 
 he proposes to use his "sanctified common sense," 
 and, being free, to go to answer "the special call" 
 of the greatest need. 
 
 Another student of the same seminary, "acci- 
 dentally" present, has been making a hobby of 
 "ethnic religions," and has seen no need of re- 
 placing them with Christianity. But a recent 
 address on "The Non-Christian Religions Inade- 
 quate to Meet the Needs of Men" has shown him 
 the shallowness of his former contentions; and, 
 without dream or vision, Christ has become real 
 to him, and he will no longer deny the lamp of 
 life to the benighted. 
 
 The president of a large manufacturing concern 
 declares that he has found himself robbing God. 
 He has torn down the old house, — a good one, — 
 and built greater, and spared no money in its 
 furnishing, simply for his wife and himself. 
 Then his wife was taken ill and died, and his 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 13 
 
 house was left unto him desolate. Now, realizing 
 that ''a man's life consisteth not in the abundance 
 of the things which he possesseth," he will sell 
 the house and use the proceeds for the evangeliza- 
 tion of the world. 
 
 A young* business man who has been interested 
 in the new "Men's Movement" has admired the 
 enthusiasm, the proposed "business principles in 
 missions," the large sums to be raised; but is 
 troubled by the fact that the missions are still 
 unsupplied with the needed funds, and urges the 
 call for something more manly than a mere 
 childish "interest," even "passion," the passion 
 of the Master himself. 
 
 The whole company is thrilled by the confession 
 of a well-known society woman, who has been 
 overwhelmed by the thought of the number of 
 missionaries and native preachers and teachers 
 that she and her friends have "eaten and drunk 
 and worn, or kept locked up in safe-deposit 
 vaults." Her first duty will be to release some 
 of her own, under the influence of the new vision 
 of the Master. 
 
 Finally the doctors are heard from. Dr. 
 Corson, energetic, successful, yet ashamed to 
 think of the long rows of doctors' signs in Jacon- 
 sett, when distant peoples are living in misery 
 and dying in agony for the lack of a doctor, or 
 through the use of the deadly prescription of a 
 doctor falsely so called, will give up his practice 
 and go to China at his own charges. Two others, 
 
14 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 intimate friends of his, declare the same inten- 
 tion. 
 
 The service closes; the King's business has 
 become the supreme thing in the Jaconsett 
 church. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 A MISSIONARY PASTOR 
 
 A FTER that wonderful week, when, as never 
 J\ before, most of the members of West- 
 minster Church, Jaconsett, had reaUzed 
 the presence of their Lord, not only sitting "over 
 against the treasury" as they offered their gifts, 
 but associated in closest fellowship with them in 
 every interest of Ufe, their pastor, the Reverend 
 John Stanton, his heart full of a joy which made 
 radiant his face, hastened to fulfill his own prom- 
 ise. Not for a moment would he allow the won- 
 derful developments in his congregation so to 
 engross him as even to postpone that offering of 
 the life service of his wife and himself which had 
 come to mean to them not merely restitution 
 for an early dereHction, but also an opportunity 
 and privilege, the greatness of which they had 
 previously failed to comprehend. It was now a 
 fear, rather than a hope, that their forty years 
 of age, with the consequent decreased facility in 
 linguistic acquisition, might prove an insur- 
 mountable obstacle to their appointment as 
 foreign missionaries; and in his appUcation to the 
 Board Mr. Stanton urged as an offset the recent 
 spiritual experiences, which he felt, with great 
 reason, had given them an even more valuable 
 equipment for missionary work. Compelled to 
 15 
 
16 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 wait some time for the decision of the Board, and 
 realizing the necessity for crystallizing impres- 
 sions, he set himself to the pleasant task of conserv- 
 ing that which had already been accompUshed in 
 the church. The presence of his Master and 
 Friend had become so real to him that each day 
 found him more fully entering into the experience 
 of Paul, to whom to live was Christ, and whatever 
 he believed the Christ living in John Stanton 
 would do, that he did. He could not be content 
 to leave Jaconsett while yet one single member 
 of the body of Christ under his pastoral care was 
 without interest in the mission of Christ and the 
 church, the taking of the gospel of salvation to the 
 unevangelized. Certain members of the church 
 had been absent from town on those memorable 
 days; and Mr. Stanton learned that some had 
 heard with rather scornful wonder of the man- 
 ner in which Westminster Church, famous for 
 conservatism and decorum, had been carried off 
 its feet by a dream, and become the talk of the 
 town. A few also of those present at one or more 
 of the services seemed quite unmoved, had ab- 
 sented themselves from later meetings, or, attend- 
 ing, had seen no \ision of the Master, heard 
 no constraining appeal from the Son of God 
 to follow in his train. These various persons, 
 feeling that they no longer had a pastor who was 
 either safe or sane, were inchned to think that it 
 might be just as well if their Mr. Stanton should 
 carr}^ his \-i5ionary enthusiasm to heathen lands, 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 17 
 
 and permit the church in Jaconsett to sober down 
 into the good old ways. iVmong this dissatisfied 
 minority were two of the Board of Trustees, both 
 members of the church, Mr. James Harden and 
 Dr. Hartley Sears. Mr. Harden was president 
 of the Harden Trust Company, and Dr. Sears a 
 leading physician. One of the deacons also, Mr. 
 Henry Thorne, who had been absent in a distant 
 city, on returning to Jaconsett the week following 
 the last of the three meetings, ha\ing heard noth- 
 ing of what had been going on, dropped in at the 
 office of his close friend, Mr. Harden, and found 
 Dr. Sears there in animated conversation with 
 the banker. 
 
 "Hello, Thorne, where did you drop from?" 
 was the greeting with which he was saluted by 
 Dr. Sears as he entered the door. "Our dominie 
 needs you here to steady him. He's taken to 
 seeing visions and dreaming dreams since you've 
 been gone, and the mischief's to pay. There's 
 no more hope for that new organ and paid choir 
 on which you've set your heart so long; and as 
 to the men's clubhouse, that's knocked into a 
 cocked hat. The heathen have come into our 
 inheritance and walked off with mighty near 
 one hundred and fifty thousand dollars inside of 
 ten days. What do you think of that for news?" 
 
 "Do talk a httle plain English, doctor, and give 
 a man a faint idea of what's happened," rephed 
 Deacon Thorne, as he removed his coat and hat, 
 and settled himself in an easy-chair. "I have 
 
18 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 just got in from a western trip, and I haven't 
 heard a word. What's happened to the dominie? 
 And what's all this about the heathen?" 
 
 ''Why, a week ago Sunday, you know, was 
 Foreign Mission Sunday in the church. Mr. 
 Stanton came into the pulpit looking very strange; 
 and all he gave us for a sermon was the story of a 
 dream he'd had the night before, in which he 
 thought he saw Jesus Christ with him in the 
 pulpit to hear him preach his Foreign Mission 
 sermon; and it scared him so that he could hardly 
 say a word, but just beg to be forgiven for being 
 unfaithful, and then urge the congregation to 
 give more than they ever did before. And, in his 
 dream, Jesus went and sat by the treasury; and 
 some of the congregation were all broken up, and 
 there was quite a scene. You know the parson is 
 rather dramatic in his preaching, and he just laid 
 himself out on this as he told it until, lo and 
 behold, all our elders and some of your brother 
 deacons, and a lot of other folks, got hysterical 
 and planked down the cash by the thousand. 
 You'd scarcely have believed your eyes and ears, 
 if you could have seen and heard Elder Stanhope 
 and Elder Preston going on about the sins of the 
 past, and the better things they were going to do 
 in the future. It was livelier than a camp meet- 
 ing; and it didn't stop with one service, but went 
 on Sunday evening and the next Wednesday 
 evening, when the church was packed to the doors, 
 and no end of people in from the other churches 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 19 
 
 to see the Presbyterians get on the mourners' 
 bench and cough up their savings. Elder Austin 
 promised a cool one hundred thousand dollars 
 to endow a theological seminary for the heathen 
 Chinese, and there were a lot of doctors and 
 lawyers and students who said they were going 
 to drop everything and go as missionaries. And 
 our minister's going, if the Board'll have him. 
 I tell you there have been great doings these last 
 ten days. Hard luck that you've missed it all. 
 But there'll be more doing yet, and you'll have a 
 chance to sign away your estate as well as the 
 rest." 
 
 "Well, well, well!" said the deacon. ''Who 
 would have though that such an earthquake 
 could have struck Jaconsett and the Westminster 
 Church, too! Now, if it had been the Methodists, 
 it would not have seemed so strange, for they go 
 more on the emotions. But Elders Stanhope and 
 Preston ! It doesn't seem possible : just plain takes 
 my breath away. And you say Mr. Stanton is 
 going to leave us? Well, I'm mighty sorry to hear 
 that, for it will not be easy to find another who'll 
 do as well all around. But say, that dream of his 
 must have taken a tremendous hold on him to 
 break him up in the pulpit, and lead him to do 
 anything undignified. A pretty strong sense of 
 propriety has Mr. Stanton, even if he is a bit 
 dramatic. Queer that he should have such a 
 dream, wasn't it? I don't wonder that it made 
 him feel rather queer to see Jesus sitting there 
 
20 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 large as life. I declare it would have given me 
 the shakes and made me think of my sins. But 
 then, I don't believe a minister ought to carry his 
 dreams into the pulpit to excite the women and 
 children. He ought to confine himself to the 
 Bible and real human experience, and keep his 
 dreams to himself and his nearest friends. I am 
 surprised that a man with so much good judgment 
 as our pastor should have made this mistake. 
 And as to foreign missions, they're all right after 
 we've gotten our own country converted. I don't 
 believe in offering to clean another man's house 
 w^hen my own is full of dirt and filth, which is 
 only another w^ay of saying what Jesus said, 
 'Cast out first the beam out of thine own eye 
 and then shaft thou see clearly to cast out the 
 mote out of thy brother's eye.' On this trip, 
 I've been seeing some slums that were worse than 
 anything in China, I know. And nearly half our 
 own city is made up of foreigners, and scarcely 
 anyone is doing anything for them. First clean 
 up these places, say I, and then we can begin to 
 think about Africa and the rest of them. And 
 then think of the poor people here at home, too. 
 Our deacons' fund is never half large enough to 
 meet the real, desperate need right among our 
 own people. There are at least a dozen families 
 who, on account of sickness, or lack of employ- 
 ment, have to be helped all the time." 
 
 ''Yes, and the Charity Organization and the 
 Salvation Army, and the Society for the Preven- 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 21 
 
 tion of Cruelty to Children, and the Eye and Ear 
 Hospital and the Maternity Hospital, and a 
 dozen other organizations here in our own town, 
 are around with their subscription papers 
 every few days," said Mr. Harden. "And the 
 Y. M. C. A. needs a new building, and the church 
 parlor wants a new carpet, and the ancient Church 
 of Armenia wants resuscitating, and it's just beg, 
 beg, beg, day after day, week in and week out, 
 until a man feels that he is no longer free to do 
 what he will with his own and there's no more 
 pleasure in hfe. It would almost be a relief not 
 to have any money." Mr. Harden had been 
 sitting Vvith his back to the door, and had not 
 noticed its opening. Hearing a sound, he turned 
 about to behold their pastor, Mr. Stanton, to 
 whom the door had been opened quietly by Dr. 
 Sears, who rather mischievously permitted the 
 minister to hear the last sentences which Mr. 
 Harden had spoken. The latter rose hastily, 
 and, in some confusion, extended his hand to Mr. 
 Stanton, who shook it heartily as he said: 
 
 "Good morning, friends! This is better luck 
 than I had expected. Every last one of you was 
 on my list for this morning; but I never dreamed 
 of finding you together. Deacon Thorne, I can- 
 not tell you how sorry I am that you have been 
 away from town this last week or so. You have 
 missed the richest experience in all the history of 
 Westminster Church. You know we have often 
 prayed that Christ might reveal himself to us, 
 
22 )VITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 that we might see him with the eye of faith; and 
 he has answered our prayers in a very wonderful 
 way. Perhaps you have heard something about 
 it since your return. Although it began with an 
 extraordinary dream of mine on the Saturday eve- 
 ning before Foreign Mission Sunday, yet I don't 
 believe that our Master was any more real to 
 me in that dream than he became next day to 
 scores of the people in our church, to whose minds 
 he was just as clearly present, sitting over against 
 the treasury, as if they had seen him ^ith their 
 eyes and heard his voice. And the beautiful 
 thing about it is that, so far as I can learn, he 
 remains a living presence to every one of those 
 who on that day, or the Wednesday evening 
 following, accepted the fact of his presence as the 
 controlhng factor in their future Hves. The whole 
 spiritual atmosphere of the church has changed; 
 every form of Christian activity has taken on so 
 much new^ Ufe that really my only anxious concern 
 these days is for the men who, Hke 3^ou, were 
 absent from town, and the few who saw no vision." 
 "When you came in, Dr. Sears and Mr. Har- 
 den were telling me what has been going on, Mr. 
 Stanton," replied Mr. Thorne; "and I must say 
 I was surprised to learn that you had been taking 
 a dream into the pulpit. Of course, I know that 
 so-called dreams, hke Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, 
 have been used to do great good; but that was 
 only a make-believe dream, after all. You don't 
 beUeve, do you, that the dreams which come to 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 23 
 
 US in our sleep should guide us in our waking 
 hours, instead of the sober judgment of the day?" 
 "Thank you, Deacon Thome, for that term 
 'sober judgment,' for it will help me to answer 
 you. Suppose a dream of the night brings 
 strikingly to your attention a fact which the 
 'sober judgment of the day' at once approves as 
 one of the most important facts in your Ufe, 
 though long overlooked and neglected. Would 
 you spurn that fact simply because its first sug- 
 gestion came in the form of a dream? Surely you 
 would not." 
 
 "No, Mr. Stanton, that's right, though I 
 hadn't thought of it before in that way. In those 
 circumstances, a minister would certainly be 
 justified in mentioning his dream to his people. 
 But hov/ do you apply the test to tliis dream of 
 yours, of which I have heard but a little? Do you 
 think Jesus Christ is as really present with us as 
 if we could see him?" 
 
 " I assuredly do, and more really," said Mr. Stan- 
 ton; " for his visible presence would confine him to 
 one place ; while his spiritual presence, carrying the 
 whole of his personality and wisdom and power 
 and love, may be with every disciple of his the 
 world around; and, what is better still, not only 
 with, but in. This is exactly what Paul meant 
 when he said, ' To me to Uve is Christ.' Paul was 
 so conscious of his absolute possession by Christ 
 that he knew no other life than that which Christ 
 Hved in him. Theoretically, I believed all this 
 
24 WI TH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 long ago ; but it never became real to me until God, 
 in his yearning over me, and over our church, used 
 the unusual means of a dream or vision of the night 
 to awaken my 'sober judgment of the day.' If 
 you had been with us, Deacon Thorne, I feel very 
 sure that your mind and heart would have yielded 
 assent to the fact, and responded to the compelling 
 claim of that fact. The only thing that was done 
 by anyone on those two great days was to seek 
 voluntarily to square our lives with that newly 
 realized fact of the living presence of Christ." 
 
 "Well, Mr. Stanton, that certainly seems 
 logical, even if it is rather unusual; and I don't 
 wonder our people were pretty well shaken up 
 by the thoughts of that day, for they are already 
 leading me to asking myself some rather uncom- 
 fortable questions. I should have to admit that 
 neither my living nor my giving is just what I 
 should want to make it if I could see Jesus with 
 me all the time. For instance, I am compelled 
 to confess that while I did not go away with that 
 in view, I rather congratulated myself on having 
 missed Foreign Mission Sunday, and so not being 
 likely to be called on for a contribution for another 
 year! That sounds rather bad for a deacon, 
 doesn't it?" 
 
 "O Deacon Thorne, you too are seeing Him 
 who is invisible, or you never would have owned 
 up to that! I can safely leave you to him for 
 further guidance. And now, Mr. Harden, since 
 I have found this unexpectedly large audience 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 25 
 
 here, will you excuse me for making a text of a 
 few words I heard you say as I entered the door? 
 I had no idea that I was overhearing what was 
 not intended for my ears; and I rather think from 
 his looks that our friend, Dr. Sears, was the guilty 
 party. Eh, Dr. Sears?' 
 
 *' As long as confessions are in order, I am afraid 
 that I shall have to admit that I was malicious 
 enough to make no delay or noise about your 
 admission, when I saw you coming up the steps," 
 repHed the doctor. "But Harden was not saying 
 anything worse than the rest of us, merely using 
 a bit more picturesque language, that was all. ' 
 
 "Well, I don't wonder that you men sometimes 
 feel inclined to use 'picturesque language' about 
 the multiplicity of calls for benevolence in these 
 days, for I have felt very much inclined that 
 way myself at times. You know the first man 
 appealed to by almost every one of these organi- 
 zations is the Presbyterian minister, not so much 
 for his money as for his name, for everybody has 
 learned that ' the Presbyterians are God's fooHsh 
 people,' and will give their money to every 
 interdenominational, or undenominational, bene- 
 volence under the sun, while lea\'ing their own 
 denominational work but half provided for. It 
 is a pleasure to think that we have a reputation 
 as a liberal people, and that we have a share in 
 so many broad, philanthropic and Christian 
 efforts, even though so much of our money is given 
 to irresponsible beggars, native and foreign, who 
 
26 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 work upon our feelings, and perhaps come 
 recommended by some prominent man who gave 
 them a dollar or his name — or perhaps both — 
 to get rid of them. But there is all the difference 
 in the world between these outside applications 
 and the call of the church to its own support and 
 to the evangehzation of the world. The former 
 we may do, if we have the means and are con- 
 vinced that they are wise; the latter we must do, 
 if we are to win our Master's ^Well done, good 
 and faithful servant.' But please notice also a 
 marked difference between church support and 
 world evangelization. The former, while it 
 includes a benevolent effort, the providing of a 
 house of worship for strangers, is yet chiefly an 
 honest paying for what you get, the comfortable 
 place of worship, the music of a trained choir, the 
 preaching of an educated minister, a thing which 
 is not benevolent at all. Even local charities 
 and improvements, while they may be in part 
 to help the needy, are also in part to improve 
 one's own surroundings, and make the community 
 more desirable for residence, more attractive for 
 business. The farther you go from any possible 
 advantage to yourself, the nearer you get to pure 
 benevolence. Missions to those with whom we 
 are in no personal relations are conducted solely 
 for Christ's sake and for humanity's, and are the 
 highest manifestation of unselfishness. Isn't it 
 so, doctor? If you should perform an operation 
 for a well-to-do patient and charge him five 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 27 
 
 hundred dollars for it, you wouldn't put that 
 operation down as an exhibition of beneficence, 
 would you? Or if you paid two dollars for a 
 ticket to a lecture by Lieutenant Peary on the 
 discovery of the North Pole, you would not 
 charge that up as an indication of your love for 
 Christ and humanity, would you? But if you 
 performed a five-hundred-dollar operation for a 
 penniless Christian, and charged him nothing 
 for it, or for Christ's sake sent two dollars to a 
 struggling clerk to enable him to attend the lec- 
 ture, you would never hesitate to reckon that as 
 Christian beneficence. Missions are just one 
 degree higher than that; they are not merely the 
 seeking of the physical and intellectual advantage 
 of men who may have no direct human claim 
 upon us, but the exaltation of the spiritual ad- 
 vantage above all; the desire to give them not 
 only some of the good that we have, but the very 
 best, for this life and the life to come. Paul felt 
 himself a debtor to all men. What is a debtor, 
 Dr. Sears?" 
 
 "I beheve he has been defined as 'a man who 
 has something that belongs to some one else,'" 
 replied Dr. Sears, deeply interested in Mr. 
 Stanton's argument. 
 
 "Exactly; and Paul felt that in the gospel of 
 salvation in Jesus Christ he had something which 
 belonged to all men; and that that debt would 
 never be paid until he had given that gospel to 
 everyone whom he could possibly reach," pursued 
 
28 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 Mr. Stanton. "Our Master, Jesus Christ, con- 
 stantly acknowledged the same debt; and when 
 he commissioned his disciples, through all the 
 ages until he should come, he bade them consider 
 this their debt until the gospel had been preached 
 to every creature, and they had been taught to 
 obey all things whatsoever he had commanded 
 them. I am amazed that I never until recently 
 noticed the connection there; it is only to those 
 who undertake this commission that he gives the 
 promise, 'And, lo, I am with you always, even 
 unto the end of the world.' That connection has 
 been finely expressed in a motto of the Men's 
 Missionary Movement, 'The resources of God 
 are promised only to those who adopt the pro- 
 gramme of God.' 
 
 "We sometimes wonder why the church ac- 
 complishes so little here in America. I know now 
 that our weakness and inefficiency are chiefly 
 due to the fact that, forgetful of the lessons of the 
 early days of Christianity, we have stopped at 
 the first division of God's programme, 'Ye shall 
 be my witnesses both in Jerusalem,' and have not 
 even looked after 'all Judaea,' to say nothing of 
 Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth." 
 
 "Have you any proof of that, Mr. Stanton?" 
 inquired Mr. Harden, somewhat skeptically. 
 
 "Yes, indeed, Mr. Harden, and I could furnish 
 it by the volume, if we had the time or patience. 
 Just take two instances. One is that oft-quoted 
 one about the Mission Baptists and the non- 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 29 
 
 Mission Baptists. The denomination split on 
 the question thirty years ago. To-day the Mis- 
 sion Baptists are ten times as numerous as they 
 were, while the non-Mission Baptists stand just 
 where they did thirty years ago. The other is that 
 now famous church in Kansas, which, cumbered 
 with a heavy debt, was just about discouraged. 
 The pastor became possessed of the conviction 
 which I have just stated, and led his amazed 
 people in a foreign mission crusade. In a short 
 time not only were they supporting a missionary 
 of their own, but their debt was paid, their church 
 im.proved, the pastor's salary increased, and the 
 contributions to all the boards of the church 
 greatly enlarged. It is only the fulfillment of the 
 old promise of blessing to those who bring the 
 tithes into the storehouse." 
 
 "Speaking of tithes, Mr. Stanton," said Mr. 
 Harden, "I hope you are not going to introduce 
 that idea into Westminster Church! 'Ye are not 
 under the law, but under grace ' ; and I hate to see 
 a hard and fast rule forced on Christian people. 
 ' God loveth a cheerful giver ' ; and I don't believe 
 he cares very much for what is given grudgingly, 
 or as a matter of rule." 
 
 "You and I are not very far apart there, Mr. 
 Harden, though I think possibly we need a 
 definition of terms. The tithe was the Old 
 Testament legal measure of the Jew's responsi- 
 bility for the maintenance of his own religious 
 worship and of the ministers who performed its 
 
30 W I TH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 rites and taught its laws. The strictly beneficent 
 work of the Jew^s and their special expressions of 
 thanksgiving were a matter of additional free-will 
 offerings, which often amounted to more than 
 another tithe. Being not under the law, but 
 under grace, the Christian's feeling of gratitude 
 for that grace, and its manifestation in a more 
 perfect law of love, would naturally be greater 
 than that of the Jew; and, whatever he might do 
 by tithe or otherwise for the maintenance of his 
 own opportunities for worship, he should certainly 
 be inclined to do more than the Jew under the 
 law in the way of free-will offerings for beneficence. 
 The fact, however, that a man will give 'cheer- 
 fully' one tenth of one per cent of his income, 
 while he would only give 'grudgingly' one tenth 
 of his income, would hardly limit his obligations 
 to the one tenth of one per cent, would it, Mr. 
 Harden? There is another verse in very close 
 connection with that one, w^hich says that 'he 
 that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly.' 
 It is a rule without exceptions; and while God is 
 not satisfied with the grudging gifts, it is his will 
 that every child of his shall so study the pro- 
 gramme of God as to accept it as the expression 
 of infinite wisdom and love, when at once the 
 carrying out of that programme takes first place 
 in heart and life, and not only a tenth, but much 
 more in the case of those who have means, is 
 given 'cheerfully.' 
 
 "We are speaking to one another with the 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 31 
 
 Utmost frankness now," continued Mr. Stanton, 
 "so I am sure you will excuse me if I refer to an- 
 other word which you were saying when I came in. 
 You spoke of being ' no longer free to do what one 
 will with one's own.' Our Master himself used 
 the expression, and in the sense in which he used it, 
 it conveys an important truth. Provided a man 
 does not use what is his own to interfere with or 
 override the rights and liberties of other men, he is 
 free to do what he will with his own. But that is 
 only one side of the truth, for while he is free, he 
 is also responsible. Responsible to whom? To 
 his Master. The Christian is a freeman only be- 
 cause he has heartily accepted the blessed rule 
 of a perfect Master with a perfect law. One is 
 our Master, even Christ. We are not our own; 
 we are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God 
 with your bodies and your spirits, which are 
 God's. If we are not our own, how much less 
 the wealth which we may have, which, as his 
 servants, we hold merely in trust for him, to be 
 used under his direction for his glory! The 
 Christian is always free to do what he will with 
 his own; but what the Christian who realizes the 
 constant presence of Christ wills to do with his 
 own, is neither more nor less than what he believes 
 Christ would like to have done wdth it. 
 
 " Pardon me if I have spoken plainly. The new 
 conditions have taken so strong a hold on me 
 that I long to have every member of the church 
 share with me the beauty, the joy, the power of 
 
32 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 them. Now I must not take more of the time of 
 busy men Hke yourselves; but I believe the day is 
 coming when we shall all think alike on this sub- 
 ject, and it will not stop with us. I bid you all 
 good morning." 
 
 And Mr. Stanton was about to open the door, 
 when Dr. Sears grasped his hand hastily, saying: 
 "Mr. Stanton, that is unanswerable; and I 
 haven't a word to say, except that I am beginning 
 to see the vision too, and wonder w^hy I didn't see 
 it before. You will hear from me again, after I 
 have had time to adjust my eyes to the light." 
 
 Mr. Harden said nothing but " Good morning"; 
 but as soon as the door had closed behind their 
 pastor, he turned about with a dogged, uncon- 
 vinced look on his face, saying: "Well, I never 
 expected to see you two men floored as easily 
 as that. The parson's argument was plausible 
 enough, but just think w^hat it would lead to. 
 A man would have to consider, every time he 
 wanted to buy a cigar, whether Christ would do 
 it or not. It's perfectly absurd. No one would 
 ever get ahead in business or society on that prin- 
 ciple. The kingdom of Christ is not a thing of 
 meat and drink; doesn't the Bible say something 
 of that sort? I've given myself to him, and I 
 don't see why I should have to give all my money, 
 too." 
 
 "Well, Harden, you're certainly in your last 
 ditch when you'll say a thing like that. That's 
 what I call plain crawling, if you'll pardon my 
 
WITH VOU ALWAYS 49 
 
 the treasury, but the abiding and blessed reaUza- 
 tion of the presence of him who sat over against 
 the treasury." 
 
 ''I am a Uttle uncertain who would most 
 naturally fall to me for a first attempt," said Mr. 
 Austin, "though I think possibly it should be my 
 own brother, Samuel. I should decidedly prefer 
 to lay hold of some one else, for my brother has 
 already laid hold of me pretty vigorously, in his 
 amazement that I could be so ' carried away by a 
 dream,' as he expresses it, and that I could give 
 my consent to 'Harry's spoiling his career' by 
 becoming a foreign missionary. I rather think I 
 have as tough a proposition as any of you; but 
 I'm not going to flinch. My brother is a Christian 
 all right; but he's very near-sighted, yet doesn't 
 like to put on glasses because 'they're not 
 natural.'" 
 
 "Well, friends, thus far I feel rather left out 
 of this business, because of my absence on those 
 eventful days," sighed Elder Gilbert, "but what 
 you have told me, and what I have seen here 
 to-night, are the next best thing, and I am ready 
 to join in heartily in all the new plans. You will 
 have to give me the same opportunity that you 
 have had to think over the personal bearings of 
 these new thoughts and convictions. As you 
 know, I am by no means a rich man, but this 
 much is certain, that heretofore the poorest and 
 meanest thing about me has been my interest in 
 taking or sending to other men that which I had 
 4 
 
50 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 declared was the greatest thing in all the world 
 to me. To think that my Lord and Saviour gave 
 his life so unreservedly, so willingly, for me! 
 Yet the farthest thing from my thought has been 
 the idea of giving my life, or even many of its 
 fruits, to Mm. I have thanked him for what he 
 has given, yet I have never heard his instructions, 
 'Occupy till I come,' or perhaps I would better 
 say, I have taken that word 'occupy' in a very 
 different sense from that in which he intended it. 
 To me it has meant 'take possession and use for 
 yourself,' instead of ' take it in trust and use it for 
 me.' It is no excuse for this to say that nine- 
 tenths of the Christians of my acquaintance have 
 been doing the same thing. I ought to have 
 known better. Henceforth, I shall give at least a 
 tenth of my income to beneficence; and I rather 
 think it will be considerably more, especially in 
 view of past delinquencies. And what is more, 
 I want to do my full share in opening the eyes of 
 other Christians to this most vital truth which has 
 been brought home to us, for I do believe that the 
 trouble is not so much a deliberate unwillingness 
 to do the will of God, as it is a sad failure to 
 comprehend that will through lack of informa- 
 tion so presented as to command attention. This 
 is very largely the fault of the officers of the 
 church, who, if they only had had the vision them- 
 selves, would adopt far better methods for educat- 
 ing and inspiring the church. We have had mis- 
 sionary societies in the church for years; the 
 
WITH YOU ALWA Y S 51 
 
 ladies have done nobly nearly all that has been 
 done; the Christian Endeavor Society and the 
 Sunday school have given something, though 
 rather bhndly; but our various organizations are 
 not so coordinated as to be really effective. If 
 the various departments of the business house 
 with which I am connected were operated as 
 independently as the various missionary interests 
 of our church, the stockholders would never see 
 any dividends. An idea has suggested itself to 
 me as I've been sitting here. I believe that it lies 
 with us to change all this by introducing a sort of 
 missionary clearing house plan, a general mission- 
 ary committee for the whole church, appointed 
 by and responsible to the session as the ecclesias- 
 tical governing board, yet representative of every 
 benevolent organization of the church. Suppose 
 we ask our pastor to call a meeting of the session, 
 some evening this week or next, to discuss such a 
 proposition, and also to decide on any other plans 
 which our Master may suggest to us between now 
 and then. As the clerk of the session, I will 
 volunteer to bring the matter to Mr. Stanton's 
 attention, if such be your wish." 
 
 All the other members having heartily assented 
 to the proposal, and expressed their delight that 
 Elder Gilbert also had come into such cordial 
 sympathy with them, Mr. Gilbert added: ''You 
 have all accepted a personal responsibility for 
 some one else who has not yet seen what we have 
 seen. I shall take, as my special object of effort, 
 
52 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 .William Stowell, the broker. Xow you needn't 
 all smile so incredulously, as much as to say, ' Can 
 any good thing come out of Wall Street?' I do 
 not deny that I shall have my hands full; and 
 I do not pretend to any intimacy with the ways 
 even of our local Wall Street; but I know my 
 man pretty well, and am as sure as can be that he is 
 a Christian man. Where there's life there's hope, 
 for it stands to reason that any man who has 
 himself tasted of the redeeming love of God in 
 Christ will desire to have all the world taste that 
 love, if the proposition is only set before him in 
 the right way. When I came here this evening, I 
 should no more have thought of tr\dng to convert 
 William Stowell to an interest in missions than I 
 should have thought of attacking the leopard's 
 spots with Ivory Soap, but I do not mean to 
 attempt anything alone in future, and that makes 
 all the difference." 
 
 Just at this point there came a tap on the door. 
 On opening it, Mr. Austin saw several of the 
 ladies arrayed for the street, and gently inquir- 
 ing whether their respective husbands had any 
 intention of going home that evening. The 
 gentlemen looked at their watches and exclaimed 
 at the discovery that it was already past ten 
 o'clock. 
 
 "Well, ladies, you \\ill appreciate that this has 
 been a momentous occasion," said Elder Austin, 
 ''when you learn that we have organized a 
 'Presbyterian Elders' Reform Club,' and, as the 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 53 
 
 initiatory rite, have with one consent forever 
 renounced the goddess 'Nicotine.'" 
 
 ''Glory, Hallelujah! " fervently ejaculated Mrs. 
 Ogden, while all the other ladies radiantly added 
 "Amen." 
 
 "But that was merely incidental and introduc- 
 tory to the main business of the evening," 
 continued their host. "Brother Gilbert also has 
 seen the vision; and every member of the session 
 has selected a fellow-member of his acquaintance 
 for whom to labor and pray very specially, that 
 there may eventually be none in our church out 
 of sympathy with our new spirit, and failing to 
 share in the blessings which have come to us. 
 We have chosen Messrs. Harden, Seward, 
 Weatherby, Judge Melrose, Broker Stowell and 
 Brother Samuel Austin." 
 
 "Why, how strange!" exclaimed Mrs. Preston. 
 "That is just exactly what we have been doing, 
 and our lists are not very different, either. We 
 have chosen Mrs. Harden, Mrs. Seward, Mrs. Mel- 
 rose, Mrs. Sears, Mrs. Walker and Miss Greene. 
 We certainly must have been moved by one spirit. 
 And we have been doing something else, also. 
 Mrs. Stanhope suggested that now that the men 
 of the church were becoming so interested, there 
 ought not to be the least feeling on the part of us 
 women that the leadership in mission work was 
 being taken out of our hands, or would be if we 
 in any way joined hands with ihe men in this 
 work. We all felt that the new^ spirit which has 
 
54 WITH YOU ALWAY<} 
 
 come into the church would surely express itself 
 in the most cordial cooperation of every mission- 
 ary agency in the church; and we wondered if 
 we might not take the initiative in this matter, 
 and prove that these are our sentiments, by sug- 
 gesting to the session the formation of a represen- 
 tative committee to coordinate all our activities." 
 "Truly the Lord is in this place!" exclaimed 
 Elder Wentworth, ''The very last thing we did 
 was to agree to request Mr. Stanton to call a 
 meeting of the session for the very purpose of 
 forming such a committee. We couldn't have 
 struck out much more nearly the same path if 
 we'd had a joint session. It just serves to illus- 
 trate again the blessedness of having the Great 
 Unifier as the personal companion of every one of 
 us. 'Praise God from whom all blessings flow.'" 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 A MISSIONARY COMMITTEE 
 
 ON the morning following this interesting 
 social meeting of the elders and their wives 
 the Reverend John Stanton was called up 
 on the telephone, at quite an early hour, and found 
 himself addressed by Mrs. Stowell, the lady who 
 had so stirred the meeting of the first Wednesday 
 evening by her confession of absorption in social 
 Hfe. 
 
 "Will it be possible for me to have a half hour 
 of your time, some time to-day, Mr. Stanton?" 
 she asked. "I know that you are very busy; 
 but, after what I said in the meeting the other 
 evening, I am sure that you will regard my call 
 as of some importance, and I have tried to get 
 it in early. Could you come over here some time 
 this afternoon to see me?" 
 
 "Yes, Mrs. Stowell, I shall be very glad to 
 come. Will four o'clock suit your convenience?" 
 
 "Perfectly, thank you. So I shall expect you. 
 Good-by." 
 
 Mr. Stanton had been wondering for some days 
 what was to be the outcome of that strange, 
 impassioned speech of the Wednesday evening, 
 so that he went to meet the appointment of the 
 afternoon with no little curiosity and some trepi- 
 dation. Yet, assured of his Master's presence, 
 55 
 
56 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 he felt that he would be given the right words 
 to say. He soon found, however, that very few 
 words on his part were necessary. He was 
 greatly surprised at the changed appearance of 
 Mrs. Stowell, in whom formerly he had found 
 little to attract. The change from the self- 
 centered to the Christ-centered life had, even 
 in this short time, truly transfigured the always 
 handsome but formerly frivolous face; and the 
 pastor was fairly startled at the blossoming out 
 of a latent capacity for Christian leadership and 
 sacrifice which he had never suspected. Im- 
 pulsive by disposition, she seized both his hands 
 in hers, and, looking frankly into his face, she 
 said: 
 
 "I thank you so much for coming. I meant 
 to ask you days ago; but until yesterday after- 
 noon I was not able to complete the arrange- 
 ments which I wished to make first. And I am 
 rather glad that it is so, for every one of these 
 days has brought me so many new joys that 
 I can make you all the more welcome now, 
 and rejoice your heart with a still better story 
 of what God has done for me. Some of my old 
 friends have come in, looking as if they had come 
 to attend my funeral, or watch with one of those 
 'horror thrills' while I sacrificed my children to 
 Moloch; and I have had to laugh at them, for 
 I never in my life felt less like dying, nor less as 
 if I were burning up my treasures or sacrificing 
 my children. These friends think that I have 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 57 
 
 taken up a new fad, one which they do not 
 approve at all; and they are out of all patience 
 with me because they can't get me out to their 
 bridge parties or the theater. But, I tell you, 
 Mr. Stanton, just now at least, I have something 
 which interests me far more than those things. 
 How it will be after a while I would hardly dare 
 to say; but I have a pecuUar feeling of distaste 
 for them. I have seen so much of the emptiness 
 of them, and their fearful waste of time and 
 money — to say nothing of morals — that I should 
 not weep if I never went again. Perhaps I 
 shall feel that I have to, some day, in order to 
 try to help some of those friends to better things; 
 but, do you know, Mr. Stanton, I've been wonder- 
 ing whether, after all, you can ever save your 
 friends from Sodom by staying with them in 
 Sodom? Now, perhaps that is pretty strong 
 language to use about those things in which I 
 used to find my satisfaction; but it wasn't 
 the site of Sodom, nor the fertility of its plain, 
 nor the abundance of its wealth and beauty, 
 that made it a byword forever, and made it 
 necessary for Lot to flee for his life and look not 
 behind. No; it was what the men of Sodom were 
 living for that made coming out the only hope 
 of a true man. And that is just the trouble with 
 that social world in which I have been living; 
 it is living for self and for this life only. 
 
 "But that was not what I started out to tell 
 you," continued Mrs. Stowell; "it was about the 
 
58 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 result of my resolution to set free my locked-up 
 missionaries. It will not surprise you to learn — 
 what I wish I need not report — that I have re- 
 ceived no sympathy from my husband in the 
 matter. That has been the one sad element in 
 my experience. He was not present when I 
 spoke at the church; but I felt it my duty to 
 tell him at once of my intention. He did not 
 attempt to control my actions in any way, be- 
 cause my fortune is quite independent, an in- 
 heritance from my father; but he used every 
 argument to dissuade me, and secured my prom- 
 ise to do nothing until after a month's delibera- 
 tion. My plans are all made, however, and I am 
 so sure of my purpose that I think you ought to 
 know what I have in view. In confidence, as 
 my pastor, I want to give you the details. They 
 won't weary you too much, will they?" 
 
 "Whatever you feel inclined to tell me, Mrs. 
 Stowell, will be both a matter of interest and of 
 sacred confidence, I assure you." 
 
 ''Well, of course, the surroundings of my home, 
 and the far more than abundant clothing which 
 I now have, are things for which I am not alone 
 responsible, nor can I well do anything but con- 
 tinue to make use of them. But I have far more 
 jewelry than I can ever possibly use. What- 
 ever articles have been given me by my husband 
 I could not think of disposing of; and the same 
 is true of gifts from friends. But much has been 
 handed down to me, or purchased by myself. 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 59 
 
 Those heirlooms which have particularly tender 
 or historical associations I hardly feel justified 
 in parting with. Now, just for my gratification, 
 Mr. Stanton, make a guess as to how much, in 
 the way of precious stones and pearls and jewelry, 
 I have left after all these classes are taken out!" 
 And she laughed with a child's delight. 
 
 "I fear I shall not make a very good guesser 
 in such a matter as that," laughed back the min; 
 ister; "but, just to gratify you, I will make a 
 big guess — one thousand dollars." 
 
 "Ha, ha! I thought you could do better than 
 that, Mr. Stanton! Now don't faint when I 
 tell you that those who have appraised these 
 jewels oft'er me eighty thousand dollars in hard 
 cash for them. You don't wonder now that I 
 needed a safe-deposit box for them, do you? 
 And there most of them have lain for years, not 
 even drawing interest, like the talent wrapped 
 in the napkin. When I decided to sell them, I 
 couldn't help thinking of that old suggestion made 
 to one of the popes, with regard to the silver 
 statues of the Twelve Apostles, 'It would be 
 much better to melt them down and send them 
 out, like their Master, to preach the gospel and 
 do good.' That is what my jewels are to do 
 henceforth, please God. As to the income of 
 my father's estate, I will only say that it is far 
 more than I have ever been able to spend in 
 legitimate ways. As long as my husband lives, 
 and is not in sympathy with me in this matter, 
 
60 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 I have concluded that I would better not touch 
 the principal, though I would gladly do so. But 
 a large share of the income each year I shall give 
 to the benevolent work of the church, and to what 
 I may wish to do privately. I think you may 
 safely count on me for one thousand a year for 
 foreign miissions, and another thousand to be 
 divided among the other boards of the church. 
 As to that eighty thousand, I have been thinking 
 a good deal of the best use to put it to. If I 
 had been in the habit of giving to home missions 
 in the past, I should give it all to foreign missions 
 on account of the immeasurably great need; but 
 as I have never given anything worth mentioning 
 to either, I think I will divide, just as I suggested 
 with regard to my income. That will give forty 
 thousand to the foreign work; and I should like 
 to have it go into some building, which I can think 
 of as my living safe-deposit vaults, training the 
 native Christians for the evangelization of their 
 own people. It doesn't seem as if any other work 
 in the world would do more for the world. The 
 other half I wish you would divide among the 
 other boards according to your judgment of their 
 relative needs. I had no idea how good it was 
 going to feel to have a part in establishing schools 
 and colleges and building churches for other 
 people, and educating the young men without 
 means, and publishing good literature, and sup- 
 porting th-e ministers and pensioning those who 
 have worn themselves out in the service; nor 
 
WITH VOU ALWAYS 61 
 
 how far a little money would go in these directions. 
 I never half enjoyed my money before. First 
 thing you know, Mr. Stanton, you will hear me 
 asking for some poor people to visit, or some sick 
 people to take riding in my automobile. I don't 
 think you fully realize what an amount of future 
 trouble you made for yourself by telling us of 
 that dream of yours ! But at any rate it has made 
 very happy one woman who was suffering from 
 ennui." 
 
 Mr. Stanton went his way, marveling in his 
 heart over the present power of the realized Christ. 
 He had not reached his own door before he met 
 Elder Gilbert, whose enthusiastic greeting quite 
 took him by surprise, as he had heard no report 
 of the previous evening. 
 
 "I was just looking for you, Mr. Stanton, to 
 tell you several pieces of good news, and to offer 
 a suggestion from the session. We were very 
 sorry that you could not be with us last night; 
 but we had the best time we ever had together. 
 You know I have been away from home, so 
 have missed all these wonderful things. But the 
 brethren shared them with me last night, and I 
 too have seen the vision and am another man. 
 The whole thing started with Austin offering his 
 choice cigars, as he always does; and I was the 
 only man who took one. Explanations were in 
 order, and Father Stanhope and Ogden told us 
 about their new conviction that their money had 
 not been given them to burn ; and before we were 
 
62 W ITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 through we all joined hands and agreed to give 
 it up. Then I had to learn all about the new 
 spirit in the church, and I got my share. Then 
 we decided to pick a man each, of those who have 
 not come around, and win him. Finally we 
 agreed to ask you to call a meeting of the session 
 this week or next, for the appointment of a repre- 
 sentative missionary committee, to coordinate 
 all our benevolent work. And when we got 
 through we found that the ladies had been doing 
 almost the same things in another room — except 
 the cigars. But any one could see they were 
 mightily pleased with our Reform Club." 
 
 "Well, Brother Gilbert, you quite take my 
 breath away with all these good things. You 
 men have never known how I regretted the fact 
 that all but one of my elders used tobacco. I 
 congratulate both you and the church with all 
 my heart, as I see that you have indeed seen the 
 \dsion. Tell me whom you have all chosen for 
 special effort, and I will join you in prayer for 
 them. As for the session meeting, by all means 
 let us have one after the prayer meeting on 
 Wednesday evening. There will be no need for 
 a special call, as every elder who can attend the 
 prayer meeting is sure to be there." 
 
 Mr. Gilbert gave him the names chosen by 
 the elders and their wives; then each went his 
 way. 
 
 As anticipated, every elder was in his place at 
 the prayer meeting the following evening. A 
 
WITH VOU ALWAYS 63 
 
 blind stranger would certainly have thought that 
 the Lord Jesus Christ must be visibly present 
 to those who took part in the meeting; and they 
 were many, old and young, men and women, 
 each with some grateful testimony as to recent 
 blessing, or word of simple, earnest prayer for 
 fuller spiritual attainment. The prayer of inter- 
 cession, definite, individual, had come in as the 
 natural expression of the heart longing that others 
 might share in the blessing. Elder Gilbert told 
 of his experience; Dr. Sears related his, and 
 Elder Austin created a profound impression by 
 his story of what had occurred at his home on 
 the Monday evening. The hour was all too short, 
 and the session had to withdraw to another room 
 to secure a quiet place for their meeting. The 
 pastor voiced briefly their desire for guidance : 
 
 ''Thou Great Head of the church, thou hast 
 already given us the assurance that thou art with 
 us. As those whom thou hast honored by making 
 us coworkers with thee and with thy Son Jesus 
 Christ, we accept thy promise of infinite wisdom 
 as we plan together for the interests of this church 
 and of thy kingdom throughout the world. As 
 the governing body of this church we thank thee 
 that thou hast made us of one heart and one 
 mind through our new acquaintance with thee. 
 If this plan for the appointment of a repre- 
 sentative missionary committee be of thee, make 
 thou for us the selection of those best fitted for 
 these responsible duties, and fill them, one and 
 
64 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 all, with thy spirit and with thy passion for souls. 
 In the Master's name, Amen." 
 
 ''Well, brethren," said the pastor to his session, 
 ''I am delighted to see that you are ahead of 
 your pastor in planning for the expansion and 
 the permanence of the w^ork which has been 
 begun among us. I am altogether agreed with 
 you that w^e need to coordinate all our benevolent 
 work, and ought to provide some means of 
 enlisting every member in the work as a w^hole; 
 and I also beUeve that a committee representative 
 of organizations already in existence will be much 
 better than a new^ organization, or than the assum- 
 ing of these responsibilities by the session itself. 
 What is your judgment as to the manner in 
 which the committee should be constituted?" 
 
 "It seems to me," said Elder Stanhope, ''that 
 our pastor ought to be the chairman of the com- 
 mittee, in order to insure regular meetings and 
 systematic activity." 
 
 "I thank you for the compliment, Mr. Stan- 
 hope; but, in my opinion, all the other members 
 of the committee would feel a larger sense of 
 responsibility and do better work if the pastor 
 were not the chairman. He might be ex officio 
 a member of the committee, but keep in the 
 background as much as possible. Suppose we 
 let the committee select its own chairman. But 
 the pastor being only ex officio a member, the 
 session, as the chief benevolent organization in 
 the church, should be represented by one of our 
 
W IT n YOU A LWAYS 33 
 
 frankness. What answer do you suppose our 
 old friend, Colonel Dalford, made to a man who 
 said that to him one day? He turned around on 
 him and said, 'If I were the Lord, I'd say to you, 
 "ten per cent off for cash".'" And leaving Mr. 
 Harden to recover from the shock. Dr. Sears and 
 Deacon Thorne took their departure. Outside 
 the door they separated with a warm hand grasp 
 and a look which meant a new sympathy in the 
 closer fellowship with the Master begun that 
 morning. As for Mr. Harden, cut to the quick 
 by the last word of Dr. Sears, unable to find just 
 cause for offense in his plainness of speech, yet 
 unwilUng to admit the disingenuousness of his 
 own speech and the exceeding aptness of the 
 retort, the banking hours of that day were com- 
 fortable neither for him nor for his associates in 
 the bank, who were not accustomed to seeing their 
 president so distraught. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 A MISSIONARY SESSION 
 
 A DAY or two after this eventful conversa- 
 tion in the ofi&ce of Banker Harden, the 
 session of Westminster Church met infor- 
 mally on invitation of Elder Austin, at his home 
 on Grant Avenue. The pastor was unable to be 
 with them on this occasion, but was not sorry 
 that circumstances had prevented his attending 
 the meeting, for he felt that it was exceedingly 
 desirable that these men should confer with the 
 utmost freedom among themselves with regard to 
 the present and future significance of the events 
 which had so stirred them and the church. More- 
 over, on the principle that pastors may come and 
 pastors may go, but sessions go on forever, he 
 desired greatly that they should see and accept 
 their great responsibihty for the direction of the 
 church in these matters of beneficence, w^hatever 
 might be the decision as to his own future relation 
 to the church. And, heartily as they desired his 
 company, the elders themselves were glad of the 
 opportunity, the first they had secured, to talk 
 freely among themselves. The elders' wives had 
 also been invited to dinner, w^hich proved the most 
 informal and delightful social gathering they had 
 ever enjoyed. At about eight o'clock the elders 
 withdrew to the library, while the ladies found 
 34 
 
w I rn YO u A LWAYS 35 
 
 quite as much to talk about in the parlor. Elder 
 Austin passed his fine Havana cigars, but was 
 surprised at the small demand. ''Stanhope! 
 Preston! what's the matter?" he cried. "I never 
 knew you to refuse a good cigar before, or to be 
 slow about providing them in your own homes, 
 either. Wentworth, I knew, never felt that he 
 could afford to smoke, and he was too proud to 
 accept what he couldn't buy. Here are Ogden 
 and Gilbert, the only ones to keep me company. 
 What, Ogden too refuses? You don't often get 
 a better smoke than these 'Perfectos.' I don't 
 care for the ordinary sorts myself, but I call these 
 cheap at fifteen dollars a hundred." And hardly 
 knowing whether or not to follow the example of 
 Mr. Gilbert and light a cigar. Elder Austin put the 
 box on the table and sat down. Elder Gilbert 
 was the sixth member of the session, and, like 
 Deacon Thorne, had been absent from town 
 during the momentous days. On his return he 
 had learned of what had occurred, and was not 
 unsympathetic, but had not yet come under the 
 transforming inspiration of the movement. 
 
 The venerable Elder Stanhope relieved the 
 awkwardness of the situation by apologizing for 
 any apparent lack of appreciation of their host's 
 hospitality, and remarked: ''Pray beheve that I 
 am not speaking in criticism of our host or of 
 anyone else, or trying to decide questions for 
 anyone else. Having used tobacco freely, and 
 without apparent injury to myself, ever since 
 
36 W ITU YOU A L W A Y S 
 
 I was a boy, I don't suppose the question of 
 giving it up at my age would ever have occurred 
 to me, had it not been for those extraordinary 
 figures of Mr. Ralph Jackson, on Foreign Mission 
 Sunday. They fairly haunted me, and I tried 
 to persuade myself that they were not true. Of 
 course they were given in round numbers; but 
 when I came to look up the details, and discov- 
 ered that our own country spent more than two 
 biUion dollars for wines and hquors and one billion 
 for tobacco during the past year, while it gave only 
 about twelve millions for the evangelization of the 
 world, I began to take notice. As you know, I 
 have alwa3's been a total abstainer from intoxi- 
 cating liquors; and I have often noticed sadly the 
 number of saloons aJong our streets. But it so 
 happened that the next time I went down town, 
 the signs that stared me in the face all read, 
 'Tobacco,' 'Cigars,' and I was amazed to note 
 one, two, three, even four stores in a block, selling 
 nothing else, while the corner drug store was also 
 stocked with the same goods. Those signs, most 
 of them, had a red background with white letters, 
 and as it was evening, they shone out brilliantly. 
 I closed my eyes, but it seemed as if those two 
 words, 'Tobacco,' 'Cigars,' in red and white, had 
 been seared upon my eyeballs. Playing in the 
 streets were boys of ten and twelve, puffing away 
 at cigarettes, and I met a theater party, the 
 women as well as the men hard at it. Up high 
 in the air over the Columbia building shone 
 
WITE YOU ALWAYS 37 
 
 brilliantly over the whole town the monstrous 
 electric sign, 'Egyptian Deities Cigarettes'; and, 
 thought I to myself, 'American Deities would be 
 even more appropriate.' I turned about and 
 hastened home. I tried to read, but my mind 
 kept working away, 'a billion for tobacco, a 
 billion for tobacco; nearly twelve dollars apiece 
 for every man, woman and child in the United 
 States. Probably more than half of them do not 
 smoke; that is twenty-five dollars apiece for those 
 who do, or fifty cents a week. And all the Pres- 
 byterian Church needs to meet its responsibility 
 toward the non-Christian world is five dollars a 
 member, or ten cents a week, ' the price of a good 
 cigar.' In other words, if only one in every five 
 of the members of the Presbyterian Church used 
 tobacco, and should transfer his tobacco money 
 to the Board of Foreign Missions, the six million 
 dollars a year required to meet our responsibility 
 would be in hand, and the other four-fifths of the 
 church could give their money to home missions, 
 or to helping the other churches to meet their 
 responsibility. How about my twenty-five dol- 
 lars? Well, I have not smoked many fifteen- 
 cent cigars, but I have bought chiefly ten-cent 
 cigars and some five-cent ones. I have not 
 averaged more than three a day, which I know 
 is light, and I suppose they have cost me twenty- 
 five cents a day, which is one dollar and seventy- 
 five cents per week and ninety-two dollars and 
 seventy-five cents per year. Including extras. 
 
38 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 it was every bit of one hundred dollars. I did 
 not have to give any attention whatever to the 
 question of physical harm, on w^hich so much stress 
 is laid now by physicians, of example to children, 
 of offensiveness to ladies, though I am compelled 
 to admit that the average smoker loses steadily 
 in gentlemanly regard for the comfort of others, 
 — that sim^ple financial fact, when brought up 
 against the world's great need, at home and 
 abroad, led me to regard smoking as a luxury in 
 which I had no right to indulge, in which I knew 
 that my Master would not indulge, if he were here 
 in the flesh. I had not reahzed what a mastery 
 the habit had obtained with the years, but grace 
 has been given, and I am free." 
 
 "That was, indeed, an interesting and moving 
 experience of yours. Brother Stanhope," said their 
 host, who had held his unlighted cigar during the 
 greater part of the speech, and finally laid it on 
 the table. "But is there not danger in your line 
 of argument? Did not our Lord, w^ho, you think, 
 would not smoke tobacco, drink wine when he 
 was on earth, a form of indulgence w^hich we 
 regard as more dangerous and more expensive?" 
 
 "Are you perfectly sincere. Brother Austin, in 
 advancing that question, or are you half joking? 
 I surely do not need to inform you that the wine 
 which our Lord drank was a common, inexpensive 
 article of daily food, and not a luxury at all, or 
 dangerous, as the Jews were accustomed to drink 
 it," replied Mr. Stanhope. 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 39 
 
 ''I do not know whether you sober, elderly 
 fathers and brethren will believe it or not," spoke 
 up Lawyer Ogden, "but dear old Elder Stanhope's 
 experience wasn't a circumstance to mine. As 
 we want to get to other business, I'll make a long 
 story short by telling you that ever since I've 
 had the means to afford it, as the saying is, I have 
 smoked an average of ten cigars a day, and some 
 cigarettes thrown in. I used to smoke more 
 cigarettes, and my cigars cost but five cents each. 
 But for the last two or three years my tobacco 
 has cost me very close to a dollar a day. The 
 first few days after our wonderful Sunday, I cut 
 it in halves and promised the saving to missions; 
 but it wouldn't do. Then I cut it in halves again; 
 but the more I thought of facts such as Elder 
 Stanhope has been giving us to-night, the more 
 I felt that, as with wine, the time had come when 
 the only effective Christian protest was not 
 moderation but total abstinence. Then, too, I 
 found I hadn't it in me to offer Christ a cigar or 
 to ask him for a light and puff away two or three 
 New Testaments or two days' board of a native 
 student into smoke. I knew it was injuring my 
 own health, making me nervous and irritable; 
 but that was not my reason for quitting. My 
 heavenly Father never put three hundred and 
 sixty-five dollars a year into my hands to be 
 burned up and fly away in smoke wreaths. Pray 
 understand. Elder Austin, that I am not criticising 
 you; my unheard-of refusal of a good cigar had 
 
40 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 to have an explanation, that was all. I have 
 given it to you." 
 
 James Ward Gilbert had been looking from one 
 to another of his fellow-elders during this con- 
 versation, at first with a most quizzical expression 
 on his face, taking an occasional appreciative puff 
 at the ''Perfecto"; but with less and less fre- 
 quency, until an inch or more of ash had accumu- 
 lated, which he knocked off. Then he pressed 
 the end of the cigar in the dish, extinguishing it. 
 When Lawyer Ogden had finished, he, for the 
 first time, raised his voice: "Talk about Rip 
 van Winkle! The changes which he found on 
 awaking after twenty years aren't in it with the 
 revolution that has taken place here in the two 
 weeks I've been away! I heard that there had 
 been great doings in Jaconsett and especially in 
 our church; and when I find that Ned Ogden has 
 completely cut out tobacco inside of ten days, I'm 
 quite ready to believe it. Has the millennium 
 come, friends? or what has happened? I'm 
 almost persuaded to give up tobacco myself; 
 but I can't believe that any anti-tobacco crusade 
 has done all this; indeed, I judge from what you 
 have been saying, that it is something far more 
 radical than that. Even if it is a bit hard on a 
 man's self-indulgence, it sounds good, and I 
 want you to let me inside just as soon as possible." 
 
 Dear old Elder Wentworth's face had been 
 beaming all this time, but he had not said a word. 
 Indeed, he had hardly had a chance to do so. 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 41 
 
 But now he said eagerly: "You are quite right, 
 Brother Gilbert; we have not gathered here to 
 discuss the tobacco question; probably no one 
 had a thought of its emergence, and it was only 
 the unusual refusal of one form of Broiher Austin's 
 bountiful hospitahty which called forth the ex- 
 planation. Indeed we shall be only too glad to 
 let you inside at the earliest possible moment. 
 Jesus Christ has come to Westminster Church; 
 that's all, Brother Gilbert; and has shown himself 
 after so many infallible proofs that we no longer 
 fail to realize that he is here, in this room, in our 
 homes and our offices, as well as in the church; 
 and we have been trying to square our thinking 
 and our living and our talking and our giving with 
 that great fact of his living presence. Our pastor 
 had a wonderful dream on the Saturday night, 
 and saw Jesus in the flesh, with him in the pulpit 
 and sitting over against the treasury; and when 
 he told us about it, it was so real that he was 
 sitting there over against the treasury for each 
 one of us as we made our offerings on quite a new 
 basis. Ah, it was a great day! and the Sunday 
 night and the Wednesday night were all of a 
 piece. Our people gave and gave until they 
 actually seemed to enjoy giving; and our Lord 
 looked more and more happy over it, seeing 
 our elders and Deacon Ransom, and Ralph 
 Jackson and James Waterson, just on fire for 
 missions, and our young lawyers and doctors and 
 theological students offering themselves to go as 
 
42 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 missionaries; I just knew it was warming his 
 heart toward us. And I liear that our pastor has 
 been to see Deacon Thorne, who was away, and 
 Dr. Sears and Mr. Harden; and the deacon and 
 the doctor have seen the vision. But poor Mr. 
 Harden, he just won't open his eyes. He says 
 we may put him out of the church, but he won't 
 give a cent for foreign missions. From all I 
 can hear, it's just a plain case of resisting the 
 Spirit, who's been striving hard with him. I 
 don't believe we can do a better thing, as a session, 
 than to pray much for him and the few others who 
 are just cutting themselves off from the blessing 
 which has been coming to the rest of us. Our 
 pastor, though he now has the strength of ten, 
 can't do it all; and if we can help him to bring 
 this whole church in line, we'll have a real fore- 
 taste of heaven here." 
 
 Elder Austin had been sitting Ustening, yet 
 deep in meditation of his own. At length he 
 spoke, in a tone of sadness yet of resolution: 
 "Friends, you remember on that memorable 
 Sabbath evening, that I was moved as I never 
 was moved before, and spoke with an intensity of 
 feeling, and an abandon, at which you all mar- 
 veled. From a man who did not believe in 
 foreign missions, I had been transformed, in a 
 day, into a foreign mission enthusiast, so that I 
 went so far as to say that from that time forth I 
 proposed to give to the work of missions at least 
 as much as I spent on myself and family. I 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 43 
 
 thought I had gone the whole length of duty and 
 my responsibility, and that, if I was giving as 
 much as I was spending, I was loving my neighbor 
 as myself, and that no more could be asked of 
 me. I forgot that the motive to missions is not 
 merely love for one's neighbor, and that the rest 
 of the command is to love the Lord thy God with 
 all thy heart and soul and strength and mind. 
 I forgot that my Master gave not the half, but 
 the whole, and that, in following him, not merely 
 the part that we give, but also the part that we 
 retain, is to be used always for his glory; and with 
 that also we are to seek first his kingdom and his 
 righteousness; that whether we eat or drink or 
 whatsoever we do, we are to do all to the glory of 
 God. I had a sort of idea that if I gave the half, 
 there would be no more questions asked about the 
 other half, no matter how large it might be; and 
 that, so long as I was not doing anything wrong 
 in itself, no one would question my right to 
 luxuries and self-indulgence. I was all wrong: 
 I had simply said to my Master, 'Here is that 
 seminary endowment to atone for the past, and 
 here is as much for the work as I spend for myself 
 for the future ' ; then to my soul, ' Soul, thou hast 
 much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, 
 eat, drink, be merry,' with never a qualm. In 
 spite of seeing the Lord over against the treasury, 
 and remembering his comparison of the rich men 
 and the poor widow, it never occurred to me that 
 what God looks at is not what a man gives but 
 
44 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 what he keeps for himself. So much money, after 
 all, is only so much m.an. It represents the labor 
 of his past and the power of his future. Gi\ing 
 half the money, and saying to the Lord ' Hands off 
 the rest,' is but half consecration. And so I've 
 seen another vision to-night; and those luxuries 
 which do not make me a distinctly better man, or 
 enable me to make others better, will have to go. 
 I wonder if we, the six elders of this church, are 
 not ready for a unanimous resolution, as the first 
 step in this direction, to cut out the tobacco? It 
 certainly makes us no better men; what it costs 
 would make some others better men." 
 
 The six men rose with one accord, joined hands 
 in a circle, and the senior elder offered a few words 
 of earnest prayer, that each one might welcome 
 this second revelation of duty and privilege, that 
 henceforth the glory of God might be considered 
 not only in the giving, but in the very eating 
 and drinking. 
 
 UTien they resumed their seats. Elder Preston 
 remarked, with a smile, the kind of smile which 
 had not often been seen on his face before that 
 Sunday: "Well, brethren, this sort of Presby- 
 terian Elders' Reform Club, with a love feast 
 attached, wasn't written in the call of our meeting 
 to-night, Hke a good many other things that have 
 happened to us in the last few days; but I feel 
 as if we are far better prepared for the thing for 
 which we did come together by this frank talk 
 and searching of hearts. I'm very sure that 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 45 
 
 there's nothing else in the world that would 
 influence five old smokers inside of two weeks 
 to give up their tobacco, except the vision of 
 Jesus Christ, as constantly and personally present, 
 and to be consulted about every item of their 
 lives. Brother Wentworth there might have 
 lectured and exhorted until doomsday, had he 
 been so inclined, but it wouldn't have done a bit 
 of good. I never had much idea before what 
 Paul meant when he said, 'To me to live is 
 Christ'; but I'm beginning to understand it now, 
 and the smokers' social joys, and the money- 
 makers' joys, simply can't hold a candle to the 
 joys of fellowship in and with Christ, and the 
 joys of blessing the world with the money which 
 one makes. Strange, isn't it, that so many 
 men, — Christian men, too, — think that man's 
 chief end is to make money, instead of realizing 
 that money's chief end is to make men? Yet 
 there are hosts of men who are marred in the 
 making of money, while I never yet heard of any 
 money being marred in the right making of men. 
 But now, to get down to business, there are still 
 a very considerable number of prominent people 
 in our church who are not set right on this matter, 
 and are still inclined, as I used to be, to make a 
 dollar bill for missions cover a multitude of selfish- 
 ness, to say nothing of the many who do not even 
 give the dollar. A church that's had a vision is 
 bound to set an example to other churches also; 
 and I beUeve that we elders, in our personal con- 
 
46 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 tact with the other men of the church, can reach 
 some whom our pastor cannot reach. Take 
 Harden, for example; the kind of treatment that 
 worked with Sears and Thorne has only soured 
 him. The treatment was all right, for many 
 men are hke growing plums — they get most 
 awfully sour in the process of growing sweet. 
 Now, it seems to me Ogden's the man to tackle 
 him. They've always been pretty intimate, and 
 I think for Harden just to rub up against the new 
 Ogden for a while will be as effective a remedy as 
 could be found. My, but won't he stare when 
 Ogden refuses his cigars! I'd hke to see the 
 scene. But I mustn't be assigning these hard 
 cases to other people; I am quite ready to take 
 one myself. There's Cal Weatherby, for example. 
 I've known Cal rain and shine for forty years, 
 and there's not a more generous man hving, in his 
 w^ay. He's been a member of our church almost 
 as long as I've known him, and he's paid his pew 
 rent regularly. He was a teacher in the Sunday 
 school twenty years ago; but gradually dropped 
 out. He can't meet a beggar on the street with- 
 out giving him a dime or a quarter; but I don't 
 believe he ever gave a cent for either home or 
 foreign missions, unless he was caught unawares 
 in church on collection Sunday, and didn't dare 
 let the plate pass unnoticed. What Cal needs, as 
 some one once said, is a good acute case of 
 'information on the brain,' followed by an attack 
 of 'application of the heart'; and he'll come out 
 
WITH YOU ALWA YS 47 
 
 all right. I'll make myself responsible for the 
 hypodermic injections of toxin, and see if we can't 
 get him good and sick, and then ask Dr. Sears to 
 call round and cure him by letting a Uttle blood 
 into the treasury. But, joking aside, we shall 
 find plenty of opportunities to let our new light 
 shine; and I beheve we shall see far better days 
 in our church even than those which we have 
 been enjoying recently." 
 
 ''Suppose we see if we can't fix upon a man 
 apiece before we separate to-night," suggested 
 Elder Wentworth. "It won't do for me to make 
 up to any of the very rich men, for they will 
 think, 'It is easy enough for Wentworth to talk 
 when he doesn't own one hundred dollars of bank 
 stock, or any other for that matter.' There is 
 Russell Seward, chief bookkeeper at Doran and 
 Hutchins.' He's a very good friend of mine, and 
 his income is, I imagine, just about what mine is. 
 But I know one thing, that he doesn't get a tenth 
 part of the enjoyment out of it. He dresses no 
 better and rents no finer house. What he does 
 with his money I don't know. That man has 
 been a trouble of heart to me for a long time. He 
 often seems so depressed. It was rumored a few 
 months ago that he had attempted to commit 
 suicide; but the matter was hushed up, and he 
 has gone on with his work as usual. He was not 
 at church that Sunday morning, — working at his 
 books until one o'clock in the morning, he told me 
 afterward, and just had to sleep late. He came 
 
48 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 out that evening, but he had missed the beginning 
 and did not get kindled. And he couldn't come 
 Wednesday evening. I will take him as my 
 special object of prayer and effort. But speaking 
 of prayer reminds me of one thing we must not 
 forget — that what we are after with these men 
 is not the dollars and cents, but the life touch 
 with the Master. When that is realized, enjoyed 
 and steadily maintained, the money and the life 
 service will never be lacking. I have just been 
 thinking that the keys to God's power house are 
 like those to the safety vaults; it takes all three, 
 the prayer, the gifts, the service, used together, 
 according to each man's assigned combination, to 
 open the lock." 
 
 ''There is one of my particular friends," 
 began Elder Stanhope, with a return to his calm, 
 dignified habit of speech, "who was among those 
 ' who went away sorrowful ' that Sunday morning, 
 because he had 'great possessions.' Although a 
 trustee, he has not been in the church since, and 
 he has appeared to avoid me, as if he feared that 
 I would add to his sorrow by some reference to the 
 events of that day. I have been planning to get 
 in contact with Judge Melrose, but have hesitated 
 to force myself upon him. You may depend upon 
 me, however, to avail myself of the first oppor- 
 tunity to seek to open his eyes to the understand- 
 ing of that fact which Brother Wentworth has so 
 happily expressed, that the great significance of 
 that day was not the pouring of the money into 
 
W ITH YOU A LWAYS 65 
 
 elders. Being already of one mind as to the 
 forming of a committee, we hardly need to take 
 time to-day to discuss the general plan. Who 
 of you all is most on fire for missions?" 
 
 "If you are going to put it that way, Mr. 
 Stanton, I think we'll all have to be members,*' 
 said Mr. Odgen; "but I don't believe there's 
 one of our number who will do better work on 
 this committee than Brother Wentworth, for he 
 was on fire long ago, when we were nothing but 
 shivering icebergs." 
 
 In spite of his modest protest. Elder Went- 
 worth was unanimously chosen to represent the 
 session. 
 
 "What about the deacons?" asked Mr. Preston. 
 "They are certainly one of our benevolent organi- 
 zations, and surely no one could represent them 
 better than our good 'Deacon Philip' Ransom, 
 who, like his original, 'hasn't any finicky no- 
 tions.' He'll not let the committee go to sleep 
 while he is serving tables." 
 
 Again there was no difference of opinion, and 
 down went the name of Deacon Ransom. 
 
 "In order to forestall any suggestion that the 
 Sunday-school superintendent be the repre- 
 sentative of that body on this committee, — not 
 because I am unwilling to work, but because the 
 superintendent has his hands full already, and 
 because we should not have too many elders on 
 the committee, — I want to suggest the name of 
 my assistant, Mr. George Quincy," said Elder 
 5 
 
66 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 Austin. "You remember how earnestly he 
 pleaded, on that Wednesday evening, for some- 
 thing more than mere 'interest' in missions? 
 He is a fine young business man, and I believe 
 will help to secure and maintain effective business 
 methods in our committee." 
 
 This also was regarded by all as a wise selection. 
 
 ''One question occurs to me with regard to what 
 we are doing," said Elder Gilbert. "I was about 
 to make a nomination from the Brotherhood, 
 when it suddenly occurred to me that they ought 
 to have the privilege of making that nomination 
 themselves, and that they would feel far more 
 interest in the work of the committee if allowed to 
 nominate, even though the actual appointment 
 should rest wdth the session. So far as we have 
 gone, I think it is all right, though we might also 
 consult the deacons as to their representative." 
 
 "You are right. Brother Gilbert," said the 
 pastor. " It may cause a few days' delay, but 
 it will pay. Will you then, as our clerk, send a 
 brief statement to the deacons, the Sunday school, 
 the Brotherhood, the Young People's Society, 
 and the Ladies' Missionary Society, asking each 
 of them to nominate* a representative before next 
 Wednesday evening, w^hen we will meet again, 
 appoint the committee and urge an early meeting? 
 In the meantime, let us all give thought to the 
 functions of such a committee, so as to be able 
 to make recommendations next week when the 
 committee is appointed. At that time, too, 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 67 
 
 I expect to have some good news to report to you, 
 which I am not yet at Hberty to divulge. I shall 
 not be surprised if others of you also have good 
 things to report. Is it not simply delightful, 
 the increased interest that is being taken in our 
 church services, and particularly in the prayer 
 meeting? I heard the report of a presbytery, 
 the other day, in which only twenty-three of the 
 fifty-six churches continue to maintain a weekly 
 prayer meeting. What that presbytery needs is 
 the vision which you and I have received. If 
 they should get that, nothing could keep them 
 from the prayer meeting." 
 
 Session adjourned to meet one week later, 
 and again assembled at the close of the midweek 
 meeting. 
 
 "Our clerk will make a report of the work 
 that was committed to him last week," said Mr. 
 Stanton. 
 
 "I am glad to be able to report for the Sunday 
 school and the deacons just the nominations 
 suggested last week," said Mr. Gilbert. ''The 
 Brotherhood nominates Dr. Sears, who has be- 
 come as much of an enthusiast as any of us; the 
 Young People's Society norninates Miss Gertrude 
 Austin, the chairman of its Missionary Com- 
 mittee; the Ladies' Missionary Society nominates 
 Mrs. Preston. One way or another, our session 
 is going to be pretty well represented, I think. 
 I move that we appoint those thus nominated 
 as the Missionary Committee of this church, 
 
68 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 and ask our pastor to convene the committee just 
 as soon as possible." 
 
 The motion was carried unanimously, after 
 which Mr. Stanton said: 
 
 ''You may remember that I half promised you 
 some good news last week. I am free to tell it 
 now, and it is this: Mrs. Stowell meant every 
 word she said that Wednesday night, and went 
 right to work to unlock her missionaries. After 
 making all reservations which loyalty to husband 
 and friends could require, she asked me to guess 
 how much she had to dispose of in the way of 
 jewels, and I guessed a thousand dollars. How 
 she did laugh as she told me that she could sell 
 them for eighty thousand, and proposed to give 
 half to foreign missions and half to home objects ! 
 She has just given me a check for the entire sum, 
 with half of which I am to secure some buildings 
 in the foreign field to act as her 'living safe- 
 deposit vaults' by training up a native ministry. 
 The other half I am to divide among the different 
 boards working at home. In addition, she will 
 contribute a thousand a year each to foreign 
 and home missions out of her private income. 
 And the beauty of it is that her face has become 
 fairly radiant with the joy of it. If this great 
 change does not contribute to the winning of her 
 husband, he must be hard indeed." 
 
 "I had no idea," spoke up Mr. Gilbert, "when 
 I took Mr. Stowell as my 'special object,' that 
 I was going to have any such help, for I had not 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 69 
 
 heard of his wife's speech that evening; but when 
 I made my first attack, I noticed something rather 
 peculiar about him. You know what a phlegmatic 
 temper he has. Well, he actually seemed nervous, 
 fidgeting with his hands and averting his face. I 
 hadn't got any farther than the weather when he 
 broke out: 'You're not in this foolishness up at 
 the church, are you, Gilbert? I can't imagine 
 what's come over our people: there's no living 
 with them any longer. First thing we know 
 they'll be poor as poverty, after giving even the 
 clothes off their backs to the heathen. Now, 
 there's my wife, for example; if ever there was a 
 woman that Hked silks and satins and jewelry and 
 gay society, it was she; and all of a sudden she 
 turns right around; and, if it wasn't for her con- 
 sideration for my feelings, I believe she w^ould sell 
 every blessed thing she owns and turn it into 
 missionaries. I must admit that she has never 
 in her life been half so nice to me as she is now, 
 and she is quite willing to do nothing rashly. 
 She is at home twice as much as she used to be, 
 and she doesn't look like the same woman; but I 
 can't fathom it. Why should an interest in 
 missions turn everything upside down in this 
 fashion? ' 
 
 "It was some time before I could get a word 
 in edgewise," went on Mr. Gilbert; ''but then I 
 said, 'Is it foolishness you call it, Stowell? Not 
 to mention anything else, would you rather your 
 wife would go back to the old ways?' ' No, I can't 
 
70 W ITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 say that I would," he rephed, 'for she's certainly 
 making our home brighter, and the children think 
 themselves in clover because their mother isn't 
 everlastingly away at bridge parties or the theater; 
 but tell me, what does it all mean; and are you in 
 it, Gilbert?' 'Yes, Stowell,' I said, 'I am in it to 
 stay in. I was absent on those interesting days 
 when the thing began; but I got home just in 
 time for a dinner of the elders and their wives at 
 Mr. Austin's. What should happen after dinner 
 but every blessed man except myself refused 
 Austin's " Perfecto " cigars.' ' What, Ogden too?' 
 he exclaimed. 'Yes, Ogden too; and they soon 
 explained that our country's billion dollars for 
 tobacco, the past year, against twelve milUons for 
 foreign missions, was more than they were willing 
 to stand for. Before the meeting was over our 
 session made a clean sweep of the weed, and we're 
 all happier for it to-day. But, to answer your 
 other question and this one together, it is not 
 primarily a question of tobacco or jewels or 
 society, or even of the heathen; it is a question of 
 each man's personal relation to a living and pres- 
 ent Saviour and Master. Once realized, that 
 settles every question. If I think my Friend 
 and Master, Jesus Christ, would smoke in my 
 place, I smoke; if I think he would keep quantities 
 of gold or jewels in cold storage, or on exhibition, 
 I keep them; if I think he would spend his time 
 at bridge and the theater, I spend my time at 
 them; if I think he would let some or all of these 
 
WITB YOU ALWA YS 71 
 
 go, along with his precious blood to save the 
 non-Christian world, I let them go. That's the 
 whole thing in a nutshell, Stowell; and it has made 
 a different man of me, just as it has evidently 
 made a different woman of your wife.' ^Will 
 wonders never cease?' he cried; 'it can't be 
 James Ward Gilbert talking this way to me. If 
 it were the dominie, now, one inight expect it; 
 but Saul is certainly among the prophets this 
 time! But seriously, Gilbert, if it were not so 
 utterly upsetting to the whole system of modern 
 business and society, I should be obliged to say 
 that your logic was pretty straight. But think 
 what it would mean, man : the whole edifice would 
 tumble in ruins. Poor old Wall Street would go 
 into the hands of a receiver, and the Four Hun- 
 dred would be sailing for Africa, and not for 
 diamonds, either — unless it be black ones.' 
 'Well, Stowell,' I said, 'the beautiful thing about 
 it is that a man doesn't have to take one more 
 step along this line than he wishes to take. If 
 a man will just accept the fact once for all, and 
 let the fact do its own work, every overturning 
 that it causes will be an upturning, every revolu- 
 tion a forward movement, and every renunciation 
 will prove an annunciation. I have yet to hear 
 of a man, woman or child who has accepted the 
 fact who would now give it up for anything in the 
 world. The best thing that ever happens to a 
 man is to find Jesus Christ; but most of us, after 
 finding him, thanked him for saving us from 
 
72 WITB YOU ALWA YS 
 
 eternal punishment, and then left him and went 
 about our own business as if he had nothing to do 
 with that. And all his commands and entreaties 
 and invitations and promises have seemed to 
 concern others, but not us. There can be no 
 doubt that if our Master were given his own way 
 in Wall Street, and among the Four Hundred, 
 there w^ould be some exciting times; but the first 
 question for us is, are we going to let him have his 
 own way with us?' After that I just left Stowell 
 to himself, looking more moved than I have ever 
 seen him. If he comes round, it will be his wife's 
 doings." 
 
 After a prayer of thanksgiving, the session 
 adjourned. 
 
 Two days later, on the Friday evening, the 
 persons chosen to form the new Missionary 
 Committee met at the manse, on invitation of the 
 pastor. After prayer Mr. Stanton set before 
 them the purpose of their appointment. Elder 
 Wentworth was selected chairman; Miss Austin, 
 secretary. The new chairman took the seat 
 vacated by Mr. Stanton, and remarked: 
 
 "Pretty poor figurehead I'll make, I'm afraid. 
 Now, we'll just go ahead and forget that we have 
 any chairman while we talk over our plans about 
 the feet of our Lord Jesus. I expect we shall find 
 considerable to do, for a while, at least, so don't 
 you think we would better plan for weekly meet- 
 ings? We can hold them less frequently after a 
 time, if desirable. How will Friday evenings at 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 73 
 
 one of our homes, do? Is there anyone who can- 
 not usually come on Friday night?" 
 
 That evening was adopted as the most conve- 
 nient for all, upon which the chairman remarked: 
 
 "As I understand it, the great aim of all the 
 expanding and coordinating which our committee 
 is to seek to do, is to give efficiency to our church's 
 policy with reference to all its benevolent work. 
 That policy was announced more than seventy 
 years ago by our General Assembly, but seems to 
 have been buried in the archives ever since, so far 
 as our church and many others are concerned. 
 Our chief duty, then, is to devise means to impress 
 upon every member of the church the facts, first, 
 that the Presbyterian Church, by its very consti- 
 tution, and by the solemn and repeated declara- 
 tion of its General Assembly, is a missionary 
 society, the chief object of which is to aid in the 
 evangelization of the world; second, that every 
 member of the church is, therefore, a member for 
 life of a missionary society, and bound to do all 
 in his power for the accomplishment of this object; 
 third, that joining with the rest of the church in 
 the support, by prayer, by gifts, by service, of a 
 parish abroad is as much the privilege and duty of 
 every member of the church as is the support of 
 the parish at home; fourth, that our giving, as 
 an act of worship, should be, according to the 
 Scriptures, individual, systematic and propor- 
 tional. ' Upon the first day of the week let each 
 one of you lay by him in store, as he may 
 
74 WITH YOU ALWA Y S 
 
 prosper.' When we have succeeded in con- 
 vincing everyone that this is the programme of 
 God for him, and that its carrying out, in the 
 reahzation of the presence of the Master himself, 
 is the secret of highest blessing to self and to the 
 world, then our duty as a committee will be 
 accompHshed. Our duty is not to see how much 
 money we can raise, — these last few weeks have 
 taught us that that will almost take care of itself, 
 — but to convince every man that no self -centered 
 life is a complete or a happy hfe. It does my soul 
 good to think how many have discovered this 
 recently; and it is a great privilege which is given 
 to us, as members of this committee, to help in 
 bringing this joy to every last one in the church." 
 
 "Don't you think, Mr. Wentworth, that the 
 great trouble ^^'ith most people is that they don't 
 know about the work, its needs and its oppor- 
 tunities?" asked ]\Iiss Austin. "I know that I 
 myself never imagined a tenth part of the interest 
 of it all as it has come to me these last few weeks 
 through reading and hearing about it. And yet 
 I have been, for more than a year, chairman of 
 our Christian Endeavor Missionary Committee!" 
 
 "Yes, I think that is very true, Gertrude," 
 repHed the elder; " yet information is not always 
 inspiration. There is a great deal of difference 
 between sight and vision. Thousands of tourists, 
 many of them Christians, go round the world 
 every year and see Hhe heathen in his blindness 
 bow down to wood and stone'; but the only 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 75 
 
 desire awakened is to get possession, by fair 
 means or foul, of those same images of wood and 
 stone to carry home as curios ; and they never go 
 near the missionary to see his work, yet many of 
 them return home to report that he is doing noth- 
 ing. No; it is only when we hear what we hear 
 with the Saviour's ears and see what we see with 
 the Saviour's eyes that it serves for inspiration. 
 The other is merely sight-seeing; this is vision- 
 beholding. But what you wished to urge was the 
 need of information, education; and it is a very 
 primary need. What were you thinking of 
 suggesting along that line, Gertrude?" 
 
 ''My thought was that there is now such a 
 great variety of inspiring books and pamphlets to 
 be had that one of our chief duties should be the 
 getting of this literature into the hands of every 
 member of the church. Some of the leaflets 
 might be given away; but I thought of some form 
 of loan library for the books. Only the library 
 will not loan itself, — at least, in the places where 
 it is most needed. So I think that one or two of 
 our number ought to be appointed as a literature 
 committee, to see to the securing and diffusing 
 of Christian missionary books." 
 
 ''The same committee might greatly increase 
 the subscriptions to 'The Missionary Review of 
 the World,' 'The Assembly Herald,' 'Woman's 
 Work,' 'Over Sea and Land' and 'Every Land,' 
 and should always bear in mind that that bright 
 little magazine, 'All the World,' is sent free to all 
 
76 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 contributors of five dollars or more per year to the 
 work of our foreign board," added Mrs. Preston; 
 "and I do not believe that there is on of our 
 number who can do this work more ef^ciently 
 than the one who has proposed it. I m^ve that 
 Gertrude Austin be our Literature Committee." 
 All were in favor. 
 
 " If you're going to treat in that way th ,eople 
 who make suggestions," said Deacon som, 
 
 "I'm going to save myself by nominatin,*, Jeorge 
 Quincy as the Committee on Finance; and he'll 
 have to tell us the best method of collecting our 
 offerings, and boss the job of buttonholing every 
 member of the church by and by with 'Your 
 money or your life for missions.'" 
 
 "I will return the compliment by nominating 
 'Deacon Philip' Ransom as the Committee on 
 the Missionary Meeting, for he can be trusted to 
 keep everyone from going to sleep," retorted Mr. 
 Quincy. 
 
 "I think we can hardly ask the Literature 
 Committee to take charge of mission study, so I 
 will suggest Dr. Sears as a special committee on 
 that subject," said Mr. Stanton, earnestly desirous 
 that the physician himself might search deeply in 
 the mines of missionary lore. 
 
 '\Should we not have a Committee on Corre- 
 spondence, to keep us in touch with those of our 
 young people who are going as missionaries?" 
 suggested the chairman; "I nominate Mrs. 
 Preston." 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 77 
 
 " And I nominate our chairman as a Committee 
 on Prayer," said Mrs. Preston. "There is no 
 one am..)ng us who knows more of its power, or 
 of its vital importance to the work we are under- 
 taking. 
 
 All were in hearty accord as to these nom- 
 inationr, and the appointments were made 
 accor^r' igly. 
 
 "1 meeting was merely for organziation," 
 said U chairman. ''Next week let every com- 
 mittee bring a report of work done and suggestions 
 to offer. And may our ever-present Master bless 
 us abunaantly in our plan-making and our work." 
 
 A new vista of opportunity and possibility had 
 opened before Westminster Church. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 A MISSIONARY SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 BEFORE the Missionary Committee had 
 held its first meeting Elder Austin and 
 his assistant superintendent, Mr. George 
 Quincy, had held an earnest conversation at the 
 office of the latter concerning the relation of the 
 Sunday school to the new missionary interest in 
 the church. 
 
 ''It is no wonder," remarked Mr. Austin, "that 
 those of us who are older have had little interest 
 heretofore in the evangelization of the world, for 
 w^e were not educated to it; and the only w^ay to 
 perpetuate the present interest is to educate our 
 children to it. That seems axiomatic, doesn't it? 
 Yet I don't suppose that one out of three of the 
 Sunday schools of our church gives any attention 
 to the subject, unless it be the perfunctory teach- 
 ing of an occasional missionary lesson in the regu- 
 lar course. I hate to confess it, but I always used 
 to wish that those lessons had been left out. I 
 had no power to teach them myself, and knew that 
 more than half our teachers felt the same way. 
 But now I don't believe that a formal lesson once 
 in three or six months is by any means enough. 
 I want all the members of our school to realize that 
 teaching people to live for others and for Christ is 
 the great purpose of the church school ; and if you 
 78 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 79 
 
 agree with me, and we can enlist the aid of the 
 teachers, we'll have a missionary lesson every 
 Sunday. It need not take long, never more than 
 ten minutes, usually only five; but even though 
 it be necessary to lengthen the school session by 
 so much, it should be done. The children are 
 in the day schools, training body and mind, for 
 twenty-five to thirty hours a week, and it is a 
 pity if they must be positively limited to one hour 
 a week for the training of the spirit." 
 
 "I heartily agree with you, Mr. Austin," 
 responded Quincy. "The evangelization of the 
 world will depend very largely upon those of 
 various ages who are in our Sunday schools to-day; 
 and the interest of the youth, if intelligent and 
 personal, will become passion in the adult. We 
 must certainly see to it that no pupil goes out of 
 our school ignorant of the great facts of the 
 world's need and the principles of its God-planned 
 supply, or insensible of his personal relation to 
 that need and supply. To this end we should 
 have constant missionary instruction, should 
 have a large selection of missionary books in our 
 library, and should create a missionary atmos- 
 phere in the school by mechanical as wtII as other 
 means." 
 
 "You mean by that the display of maps and 
 pictures?" 
 
 "Yes; maps, pictures, charts, banners and 
 mottoes. There are a good many of these last to 
 be had ready-made, I believe. Some of them. 
 
80 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 formulated originally for adults, can easily be 
 modified: for example, 'The resources of God 
 are only for those who undertake the programme 
 of God' might read 'God's promises are only for 
 those who will carry out God's plans. ' It will take 
 quite a little money to decorate the walls of our 
 Sunday-school room in this way; but I think it 
 will pay many times over." 
 
 "Well, Quincy, if you will take the trouble to 
 look up the best of these things to be found and 
 get them, I will agree to foot the bill. As for the 
 books, I think we would better call a meeting of 
 the Library Committee next Sunday, and have 
 a list of recommendations ready for them. Of 
 course, this new feature of the library will require 
 advertising; but I miss my guess if there is not 
 a large demand for those books by a year from 
 no-w. We ought to have books adapted to all 
 grades, and first thing we know we shall have the 
 adult Bible class and the young men's class taking 
 books home to read. In all these matters, 
 Quincy, I think we want to steer clear of one 
 mistake. I imagine there's very Uttle real danger 
 of over-emphasis, but for the sake of the sus- 
 ceptibihties of a few people, and to make clear 
 the oneness of the whole work, we must take 
 pains not to confine our literature, or our charts, 
 or our talks, to foreign missions; give home mis- 
 sions their full share, that our young people may 
 understand from the beginning that to Christ 
 there is no such distinction, for to him 'the field 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 81 
 
 is the world/ the emphasis merely to be laid on 
 the most needy parts. I have just come to 
 notice, for the first time, how many of those who 
 urge the need of home missions as a reason for 
 doing nothing for foreign missions limit their idea 
 of home missions almost exclusively to their own 
 local church, while fully half of them contract it 
 still further to 'me and my wife, my son John, 
 him and his wife, us four and no more.' " 
 
 "That's right, Mr. Austin; I met John Boyce 
 the other day, and got to talking with him about 
 these developments in our church. He said, 
 'The church is mad to be sending all this good 
 money away to foreign lands, with millions of 
 veritable heathen on our frontiers and in the 
 slums of our cities.' I know the man pretty wtII, 
 and could not help asking him, ' Mr. Boyce, par- 
 don a personal question, but since you speak so 
 enthusiastically in behalf of the people without 
 the gospel on our frontiers, would you mind tell- 
 ing me how much you gave to home missions last 
 year?' 'Why — why — why,' he stammered, 'I 
 believe I was away from town when the collection 
 was taken, and I don't know as I gave anything.' 
 'Pray do not regard me as intrusive or unfriendly,' 
 I said, 'if I ask one more question. How much 
 have you given during the last year for the work 
 in the slums of the great cities, or even of our 
 own?' 'Well, 'pon my word, Quincy, you've 
 got me where the hair is short this morning. I 
 haven't done anything directly for these objects; 
 
82 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 but I've contributed for the support of the church, 
 which reaches out a helping hand toward these 
 people, doesn't it?' I was so indignant that I 
 pumped him still farther, until I found out what 
 I had suspected, that his ' support of the church ' 
 was confined to two sittings in a pew for his wife 
 and himself; yet the man's worth every bit of half 
 a milUon. He did confess to a Httle shame before 
 I left him, and said, ' We'll have to look into these 
 things, Quincy.' Poor man! He's living on 
 husks right at the door of the Father's house." 
 
 ''I suppose we shall meet with objection on 
 the part of some of our teachers to taking time 
 from the regular lessons," remarked Mr. Austin, 
 nodding his head sympathetically yet sadly as 
 he recalled his own former attitude; ^'so I hope 
 that we can get the time out of the opening and 
 closing exercises, or by prolonging the hour a few 
 minutes. Yet we must use every means to con- 
 vince teachers and pupils that the new feature 
 we are introducing is not extra-Biblical, but, 
 on the contrary, the very embodiment of the 
 whole spirit and teaching of the Bible, too largely 
 lost sight of in an attention to history and doctrine 
 severed from their practical application, or that 
 application narrowed by defective vision." 
 
 ''Well, we'll try the effect of some 'missionary 
 atmosphere' on that 'defective vision,'" said 
 George Quincy, as Mr. Austin took his departure. 
 
 Every spare moment that he could bestow that 
 week Mr. Quincy gave to the preparation of 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 83 
 
 ''atmosphere," and many were the exclamations 
 of teachers as well as pupils when they entered 
 the Sunday-school room the next Sabbath, and 
 their eyes were greeted with a great map of the 
 world on one side of the room, indicating by 
 colors all the prevailing religions, and by dots all 
 the mission stations. On the other side of the 
 room was another great map of the United States 
 and her colonies, with dots to indicate all the 
 churches, schools and colleges maintained, in 
 whole or in part, by the various boards carrying 
 on the different departments of the home work. 
 There were many charts requiring study for full 
 comprehension, which received that study before 
 and after school for many months to come. In 
 large, bold letters, visible from every part of the 
 room, could be read such mottoes as these, every 
 one supplying food for thought for a week, — 
 or a lifetime: 
 
 ''God's Promises are only for those who will 
 
 CARRY OUT God's Plans." 
 " Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord 
 
 at all." 
 "Partial Obedience means Partial Life." 
 "The Whole Business of the Whole Church is 
 
 to preach the Whole Gospel to the Whole 
 
 World." 
 "Love never asks How much Must I Do, but 
 
 How much Can I Do?" 
 "We cannot serve God and Mammon, but we 
 
 CAN serve God with Mammon." 
 "The more Religion we Export, the more we 
 
 Possess." 
 
84 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 "Not how much of my Money will I give to 
 God, but how much of God's Money will I 
 KEEP FOR Myself?" 
 
 "The Mission of the Church is Missions." 
 
 " God had an Only Son, and He was a Mission- 
 ary." 
 
 "I place no value on anything I have or may 
 possess, except in its relation to the 
 Kingdom of Jesus Christ." 
 
 "The greatest Foes of Missions are Prejudice 
 and Indifference, and Ignorance is the 
 Mother of them both." 
 
 "If I ought, I must: if I must, I w^ll." 
 
 "If God has not free access to my Purse, Satan 
 
 HAS." 
 
 "Not to Consecrate is to Desecrate." 
 "Christ still sits over against the Treasury." 
 
 Suspended wherever the light favored were 
 photographs and prints of famous missionaries, 
 at home and abroad, and scenes from missionary 
 Hfe. 
 
 It cannot be claimed that the teachers were 
 able to hold the undivided attention of their 
 classes that day. The matter had been, perhaps, 
 overdone; and had it been done over again, the 
 "missionary atmosphere" might have been in- 
 troduced by degrees, lest it prove too exhilarat- 
 ing. The superintendent admitted as much when 
 he called the school to order at the close of the 
 lesson study, and thus addressed them : 
 
 "Members of the Sunday school, older and 
 younger, I can see that we have almost taken your 
 breath away to-day with all our new maps and 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 85 
 
 charts and pictures and mottoes; and I am not 
 sure but we owe an apology to your teachers for 
 drawing away considerable attention from the 
 lesson. If so, I trust that the other lesson taught 
 you all by these new adornments of our walls 
 may more than make up for the distraction. 
 These things are not just on exhibition for one 
 day, but are to stay here, for this is no more 
 missionary Sunday than every other Sunday is 
 to be. There is not one of you too young to 
 know something about the change that has come 
 over our church during the last few weeks, and 
 most of you know the reason: we are all trying to 
 live just as we believe we should live if our Lord 
 Jesus Christ were close by our side, morning, noon 
 and night, constantly seen by our eyes and heard 
 by our ears, and we could feel the pressure of his 
 hand. Instead of trying to take him along where- 
 ever we want to go, or leave him behind if he 
 does not wish to go, we ask him to take us along 
 wherever he wishes to go. Instead of asking him 
 to help us carry out our plans, we ask him to 
 make us strong to help him carry out his plans, 
 for, as this motto right up here over the platform 
 says, ' God's promises are only for those who will 
 carry out God's plans. ' We all want his promises, 
 don't we, especially that one, 'Lo, I am with you 
 always, even unto the end of the world'? Do 
 you remember to what people that promise was 
 made? It was made to his disciples just after 
 Jesus had said to them, ' Go ye into all the world, 
 
WITH YOU ALW A Y S 
 
 and preach the gospel to the whole creation.' 
 Did he promise to be with them if they would not 
 go? No; and so we feel sure that we must either 
 ourselves be going to those who do not have 
 the gospel of Jesus, or, if we cannot go ourselves, 
 must be giving all we can to help others to go, 
 and praying for the success of their work. Then 
 we shall be carrying out God's plans, and may 
 with assurance expect him to carry out all his 
 promises to us. 
 
 "Now we older people do not want you boys 
 and girls ever to be so foolish and ignorant and 
 wrong as we have been, and to miss so many of 
 these precious promises; so we are going to have 
 these things here for you to look at, are going to 
 put into the library some of the most interesting 
 books that you have ever read, and are going 
 to take five or ten minutes every Sunday to help 
 you to understand and love the greatest work in 
 the world. You know there are several in our 
 school who are planning to become missionaries, 
 and I am going to ask one of them, Dr. Corson, 
 to plan for the best use of our missionary minutes 
 next Sabbath." 
 
 The school was dismissed after a missionary 
 hymn and the Lord's Prayer, with such strong 
 emphasis on the first sentences of that prayer 
 that some were startled to discover that it was 
 a missionary prayer. So interesting proved the 
 new wall hangings that it was long before the 
 room was deserted. The superintendent, walk- 
 
WITH YOU ALWA Y S 87 
 
 ing a few blocks with his assistant and Dr. 
 Corson, remarked: 
 
 "I have been amazed at the wealth of sugges- 
 tion as to ' Missionary Methods for Sunday-School 
 Workers ' contained in a little book by that name, 
 which I have just run across, written by the Sun- 
 day-school secretary of our foreign board. It 
 will fill our missionary moments for years. I'll 
 pass it on to you for the week, Dr. Corson, 
 though I imagine you will not need much sugges- 
 tion this time." 
 
 Gertrude Austin and Grace Wentworth walked 
 home together as usual, talking animatedly of the 
 impression made by the new "atmosphere." 
 Their class of thirteen girls, from sixteen to 
 eighteen, had voted to meet at the Austin home 
 on Saturday afternoon, to consider their relation 
 to the new order. 
 
 "Oh, I do hope they'll all come!" said Grace, 
 who had inherited her father's enthusiasm and 
 unselfishness. "Did you see Lena Harden, 
 Gertrude? She listened with all her ears to what 
 your father was saying at the close of school; 
 and all through the lesson hour, while she 
 answered questions all right, I could see her 
 looking every now and then at that motto over 
 the desk, which your father used as a text. 
 My, but wouldn't Lena make a fine missionary, 
 though, if she once got the missionary spirit! " 
 
 "Indeed she would," responded Gertrude 
 heartily; "but it will take more than a motto 
 
88 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 to give Lena Harden the missionary spirit; and 
 then, you know, her father wouldn't hsten to it 
 for a minute. She's going to Wynmar College 
 this fall, and when she's through she will surely 
 be a professor somewhere, if she does not marry 
 some man of wealth and position. A few weeks 
 ago I should have felt that Lena was altogether 
 too bright and attractive to go as a missionary; 
 but I am going to tell you, Grace, what I haven't 
 told a soul yet, not even father: that if my brother 
 Henry were not planning to go to the foreign field, 
 I should go myself." 
 
 ''Why, Gertrude Austin, you don't surely 
 mean it! Somehow, dear and sweet as you are, 
 I never thought you would feel that you could 
 leave your beautiful home to go so far, and for 
 life. Now with me it's different: I have always 
 been accustomed to plain living and planning and 
 patching; and I'd just love to go; but with 
 mother a half invalid the past year, and half-a- 
 dozen younger brothers and sisters to look after, 
 I have a louder call, for the present, at least." 
 
 " My duty is not quite so plain as yours, Grace, 
 for father and mother are both strong and well, 
 and there are no younger children to look after; 
 but Henry and I are all father and mother have; 
 and I have seen something of what it means to 
 them to think of letting Henry go; so I don't feel 
 as if it would be right even to mention the matter 
 to them now. And I am only eighteen, and have 
 three years more in college; so I am going to keep 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 89 
 
 my little secret from everyone but you for a long 
 time to come. Pray for me, dear, that I may 
 know God's will very clearly." 
 
 **I will indeed, Gertrude; and we must both 
 pray for Lena and the rest of the class. I am just 
 eager to have Saturday come, for I am sure more 
 than one unexpected thing will happen," replied 
 Grace, as she turned down a side street and was 
 soon at home and singing at the work of setting 
 on the table the simple Sunday lunch for six 
 hungry boys and girls younger than herself, as 
 well as for father and mother. 
 
 Saturday came at length, and with it every 
 last one of the thirteen girls, to the surprise and 
 gratification of Grace and Gertrude. And they 
 were all prompt, which was even more remark- 
 able. For several years the class had main- 
 tained an organization of its own; for two years 
 Gertrude Austin had been the president and 
 Grace Wentw^orth the secretary. In its meet- 
 ings, however, there was little observance of 
 parliamentary rules, nor had the organization 
 any distinct object, save to cultivate an esprit du 
 corps and to make more natural their frequent 
 gatherings. Some of the closest friendships among 
 them, as in the case of Gertrude and Grace, were 
 between girls upon very different social levels. 
 There were, besides Lena Harden, Gertrude and 
 Grace, AUce Stanhope and Julia Marsh, the 
 former the daughter of a multimillionaire, the 
 latter of a poor clerk; yet the two were almost 
 
dO WITH YOU ALWA YS 
 
 inseparable at school or at home: they were but 
 sixteen; the Preston twms, Caroline and Cath- 
 arine, seventeen years old, were full of fun and 
 always to be found together; Beatrice Stowell, 
 strikingly Uke her mother in face and manner; 
 Constance Ogden, the youngest member of the 
 class, not quite sixteen; Anna Sears, short and 
 plump Hke her father; Mary Ransom, quite un- 
 like her father, the deacon, petite and quiet; 
 Helen Talbot, daughter of a popular druggist, 
 and Margery Wilson, the only child of the sexton 
 of the church, completed the circle, which rather 
 prided itself on numbering thirteen. Their dis- 
 positions were as varied as their social conditions. 
 When the meeting had been called to order by 
 the president, she said, with some evident diffi- 
 dence, yet with conviction: '^ Girls, at our 
 meetings we have never been in the habit of 
 opening with prayer, perhaps because our busi- 
 ness has usually been of a kind which didn't 
 seem worth praying about. It is different to-day, 
 and if you don't mind, we will just bow our heads 
 for a minute." Silently all heads were bowed, 
 and then Gertrude said: "Dear Father in heaven, 
 we have almost all acknowledged thee as our 
 Father, and Jesus Christ as our Saviour and 
 Master; and yet somehow we have not realized 
 how much that acknowledgment meant. We 
 fear that we have often thought of thee as only 
 in heaven, and of thy Son as having completed 
 his work on earth and now away off there at 
 
WITH YOU ALWA YS 91 
 
 thy right hand. And so the things which our 
 eyes see and our hands handle have been the chief 
 interests of our Uves; and our following of Jesus 
 has been little more than keeping from great sins, 
 going to church and Sunday school, helping with 
 church suppers and other entertainments, and 
 taking part in Christian Endeavor meetings. We 
 do not need to tell thee for thou knowest all about 
 it; and even yet we do not know ourselves very 
 well. But oh I we do want something better! 
 We cannot be satisfied till every one of our class 
 loves Jesus with her whole heart; and then we 
 want, every one of us, to be so filled with the love 
 of Jesus, and with the vision of Jesus as nearer 
 and dearer than any earthly friend, that the one 
 constant, joyful, determining question shall be, 
 'Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?' We have 
 come here to-day to ask that question, and to be 
 made willing to follow Jesus whithersoever he 
 goes. In his name we ask it. Amen." 
 
 The girls had all heard Gertrude Austin offer 
 a few words of prayer in the young people's 
 meeting without emotion ; but these few sentences, 
 so simple, so genuine, so contrite and so tenderly 
 intimate, brought tears to the eyes of some of the 
 circle, and made an impression upon everyone. 
 
 "Now, I think," said the president, ''that we 
 ought to know one another well enough by this 
 time to be perfectly free and informal in talking 
 about these matters for which we have met to- 
 day, just as we have always been in talking about 
 
92 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 things much less important. I am sure it is not 
 possible that the things which have taken place 
 in our church during these last few weeks should 
 have been entirely without influence upon us 
 'giddy girls,' for we are by no means altogether 
 'giddy.' There are only two of us who have not 
 yet publicly taken Jesus as Lord, and I feel very 
 sure that our circle will be complete some day 
 in that respect, as it is in so many others. I think 
 it would be awfully nice if we could have a regular 
 old-fashioned testimony meeting before we do 
 anything else, so that we can know one another's 
 hearts. What do you say, girls?" 
 
 Beatrice Stowell had been sitting for some time 
 shading her eyes with her hand; but at this ques- 
 tion she rose at once to her feet, glanced about 
 the circle with the tears shining in her eyes, and 
 then startled her friends by saying impetuously: 
 
 "Girls, I can't wait for anyone else to speak, 
 for almost every one of you is so far ahead of me 
 already that I've simply got to catch up a little 
 before you go on another step. You can't 
 imagine what a fight I have had ever since my 
 mother got up in church that night and talked 
 about her 'locked-up missionaries.' You know 
 I've never come to the Lord's Supper, though I 
 have called myself a Christian; and the great 
 reason has been simply that I adored the society 
 life which I had begun to share with mother since 
 I came out a year ago. Miss Bemis has often 
 asked me if I did not believe on Jesus Christ and 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 93 
 
 want to let others know it, and I said, Yes; but 
 I wasn't willing to make public confession and 
 come to the Lord's Supper. Mr. Stanton too has 
 asked me, and so has Gertrude there. I never 
 had any good reason to give; but all the while I 
 knew that there was ringing in my ears a verse 
 from the Bible, 'Ye cannot drink the cup of the 
 Lord, and the cup of demons: ye cannot partake 
 of the table of the Lord, and of the table of 
 demons.' It startled me so, the first time that I 
 noticed it, that I looked it up to see if it had any 
 real appKcation; and I found that it referred to 
 the eating of food offered to idols. So I said to 
 myself, 'You are not thinking of eating food 
 oflfered to idols, so that has nothing to do with 
 you.' But every time I thought of coming to the 
 Lord's table, back would come that verse, and 
 I just couldn't put it out of my mind. Well, 
 when mother made her speech that night, I was 
 awfully put out about it, because I foresaw at a 
 glance that it did not mean merely that idle 
 jewels would be disposed of for missions, but that 
 mother wouldn't ha\'e half the old interest in 
 society. Sure enough, she didn't; and several 
 times I have had to go off with some friend to 
 get what I craved. But that was not the only 
 change I saw in mother : her very face was trans- 
 figured, her step was lighter, her voice was softer, 
 and we children got twice the time and twice the 
 loving from her that we ever had before. Within 
 the last few days a change has been coming over 
 
94 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 father, too. He was very moody for a number of 
 days, and didn't like to have mother consult him 
 about her new plans for the use of her money. 
 'Do what you Uke with your own, my dear,' was 
 all she could get out of him. But the last two 
 or three days he has actually taken an interest 
 in these plans and offered to help her carry them 
 out! Well, the wonder of it has been growing 
 on me, and I have been getting nearer and nearer 
 to the secret, until to-day, when Gertrude was 
 offering that beautiful prayer, it all suddenly 
 flashed over me that the verse which had haunted 
 me had a very real appUcation to me after all, 
 for nine-tenths of my social Hfe was nothing less 
 than a feasting on the meat and drink offered to 
 idols. There's just as real worship of Bacchus 
 and Terpsichore, and a good many other gods, 
 as there ever was in the past, and I have been one 
 of the worshipers. I thank God that he did not 
 let me come to his table. But I've had the last 
 of the cup and the table of demons, and I shall 
 come to the Lord's table at the first opportunity. 
 By the feeling which I now have for you, girls, 
 I am convinced that the society which is best 
 worth while is that society of which our Lord 
 Jesus is the center. Excuse me for talking so 
 long; but I'm a new creature." 
 
 Most loving were the looks with which she was 
 greeted as she took her seat. Giving her friends 
 no chance to catch their breath, up jumped Anna 
 Sears, exclaiming: ''You needn't think I'm going 
 
WITH VOU ALWAYS 95 
 
 to be left all alone, without part or lot in this 
 matter, girls. I just simply haven't realized its 
 importance till the last few days. Neither papa 
 nor mama has ever urged me to join the church, 
 thinking, I suppose, that it would be time enough 
 when I was through with my education and 
 settled down somewhere. The other day, for 
 the first time in my life, papa gathered us all to- 
 gether after breakfast, and said he hardly knew 
 how to do it; we'd have to excuse his blunders; 
 but he felt we ought to have family prayers. 
 Mama dropped the cup she held in her hand crash 
 on the floor; Dick and John stared as if they 
 thought papa must have been 'struck with death,' 
 as his family said about the old deacon in the 
 story; but we all sat down. Papa read a chapter 
 and then made a prayer. Just think, girls, I 
 never before had heard my father pray, though 
 he had been a member of the church ever since 
 he was a boy! It wasn't what you would call 
 an elegant prayer, but it was decidedly eloquent, 
 I can assure you. After confessing all his own 
 sins, he prayed for each one of us by name, 
 that we might be kept from making his mistakes 
 and might everyone take a stand as a faithful 
 follower of Jesus Christ, even unto the uttermost 
 parts of the earth. I never saw my father cry 
 before, either; but there were sobs in his voice 
 as he prayed and tears in his eyes when he arose; 
 and he went to his office without another word 
 to anyone. We didn't say anything to one 
 
96 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 another, either. But I have been thinking ever 
 since; and now here this afternoon, I want to tell 
 you girls, first of all, that I have taken Jesus as my 
 Saviour, and mean to follow him no matter where 
 he leads me." 
 
 As if by one impulse, the other twelve girls 
 rose to their feet, all grasped one another's hands 
 in a circle and sang : 
 
 Blest be the tie that binds 
 
 Our hearts in Christian love: 
 The fellowship of kindred minds 
 
 Is like to that above. 
 
 After they were seated, Lena Harden, the bril- 
 liant, the precise member of the circle, keyed 
 interest to the highest point when she began to 
 speak, saying: 
 
 "The officers of our Sunday school may have 
 interfered somewhat with the study of our regular 
 lesson, last Sunday, by their extensive innovation; 
 but ^^'ith one person at least they succeeded in 
 impressing an irregular lesson in such a w^ay as to 
 change a life. Perhaps it might not be wise, 
 as a rule, to introduce so much that is new to 
 attract the eye at once; but in this case they must 
 have been di\'inely led to do so, for I do not think 
 that any one, or two, or even half dozen, of those 
 new things would have begun to make the im- 
 pression on me that was made by the accumula- 
 tion of testimony, all bearing in the same direc- 
 tion. If I turned my head, and tried to turn my 
 mind, away from one of those mottoes or charts, 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 97 
 
 I immediately met another conveying the same 
 truth, or a different phase of the one truth. 
 Finally your father, Gertrude, called attention 
 to the very motto to which my eyes had been 
 drawn again and again; and by the time he was 
 through, those words had been graven on my very 
 soul. Just as soon as I had reached home and 
 eaten dinner, I went to my room, and never 
 did another thing that afternoon but think, 
 ' God's promises are only for those who will carry 
 out God's plans.' It was plain enough, reason- 
 able enough, and surely must be true. How 
 could anyone ever expect anything else? Yet 
 I was keenly conscious that I had been ex- 
 pecting God to fulfill his promises of good to 
 me, while I scarcely thought to inquire as to his 
 plans for me. I had accepted all his loving-kind- 
 ness as a matter of course; and it had hardly 
 occurred to me to ask what I might do to show my 
 love to him. There ran through my head that 
 line of a hymn, 'You treat no other friend so ill,' 
 and those others, 'Love so amazing, so divine. 
 Demands my soul, my life, my all.' 
 
 ''At the prayer meeting, Wednesday night," 
 continued Lena, '' I was still wondering what it all 
 meant for me, when another of those mottoes, the 
 one on love's expression, looked down from the wall 
 upon me and wove itself into the thought of the 
 meeting: 'Love never asks how much must I do, 
 but how much can I do?' And the answer came, 
 if ever a girl was free to plan for herself, after her 
 7 
 
98 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 education is complete and she is of age, I am. No 
 need to work for the support of my family, or even 
 of myself; plenty of other children to look after our 
 parents if I should be called away; a sound body 
 and a fairly sound mind. Then my eye lighted on 
 that banner of Ian Keith Falconer, ' While vast con- 
 tinents are shrouded in almost utter darkness and 
 hundreds of milHons suffer the horrors of heathen- 
 ism and of Islam, the burden of proof rests on you 
 to show that the circumstances in which God has 
 placed you were meant by God to keep you out of 
 the foreign field.' The only circumstance I could 
 urge was that my parents would be bitterly 
 opposed to my going. I need not settle now my 
 final attitude toward that opposition, as it will 
 be four or five years before I could think of going 
 anyway. Then I looked up and saw, 'If I 
 ought, I must: if I must, I will,' and I said to 
 Jesus, 'If you w^ant me, here am I; send me.' 
 Next day I couldn't keep it from mother, though 
 I thought she would feel dreadfully. She just 
 folded me in her arms and held me close; but 
 between her choking sobs I heard her say, 'My 
 daughter, a week ago I should have forbidden 
 you ever to speak or think of this again; but a 
 few days ago I had a visit from Mrs. Ogden, 
 who revealed my Sa\'iour to me in such a way 
 that, shrink though I do from the unspeakably 
 great sacrifice, I yet can thank God that he has 
 given me a daughter who wishes to consecrate 
 herself absolutely to his service.' I tell you, 
 
W I Til Y O U A L W A Y S 99 
 
 girls, in getting nearer to Jesus, I got nearer to 
 my mother than I ever had in my Ufe before. 
 A hundred things may happen in the next four 
 years, but I am headed toward the mission field." 
 The feeling was growing intense, but the strain 
 was somewhat relieved by the next young speaker, 
 Catharine Preston, who beamed on her com- 
 panions as she said: "This is just heavenly, 
 girls; and it's too bad to come back to earth 
 again so suddenly; but however many of us may 
 be able some day to go as missionaries, — wouldn't 
 dare to say I mayn't go myself, — m.y mind has 
 been running on our present-day responsibilities 
 in this matter of our Lord's work. Of course it 
 goes without saying that there's lots to do right 
 here in our own city for the poor, the neglected 
 and the ignorant; and I think we might offer 
 our services to our deacons for this work of per- 
 sonal ministry now. But there's one of those 
 charts that has kodaked itself on my brain until it 
 fairly makes me reel: do you remember it, girls? 
 
 '"HOW AMERICANS SPEND THEIR MONEY 
 
 Intoxicating liquors $2,000,000,000 
 
 Tobacco 1 ,200,000,000 
 
 Jewelry and plate 800,000,000 
 
 Automobiles 500,000,000 
 
 Church work at home 250,000,000 
 
 Confectionery 200,000,000 
 
 Soft drinks .'. 1 20,000,000 
 
 Tea and coffee 100,000,000 
 
 Millinery 90,000,000 
 
 Patent medicines 80,000,000 
 
 Chewing gum 13,000,000 
 
 Foreign missions 1 2,000,000 
 
100 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 Nothing is said of the necessities, such as food, 
 clothing, houses, lands, education, or of books, 
 even the purely amusing sort, or of theater and 
 opera, or of travel. So it amounts to over five 
 billion dollars a year for what may fairly be 
 called luxuries, a quarter of a billion for the church 
 in America, and only twelve millions for the estab- 
 lishment of Christ's kingdom in all the rest of the 
 world. Yet America is doing better than any 
 other country. Think of it, girls, fifty dollars 
 a year from every man, woman and child for 
 self-indulgence, two dollars and fifty cents for 
 Christ in America, and twelve cents for the saving 
 of the world I Now, I have been wondering how 
 far we girls are responsible for this most humiliat- 
 ing fact. I know some people don't like to have 
 any suggestions made along this line; they call 
 them petty, impertinent, too personal; but I 
 am sure the Devil invented those terms to get us 
 to pay no attention to one of our worst sins. 
 And I am going to propose that we each make up 
 an estimate of our own expenses for the last 
 quarter, and see where we stand; will you do it?" 
 After some shoulder-shrugging and exclama- 
 tions of horror, the novelty of the idea and the 
 real seriousness of the whole question secured a 
 unanimous agreement. With a beautiful prayer 
 of thanksgiving, consecration and assurance of 
 blessing by Grace Wentworth, the meeting came 
 to a close with many still to be heard from. It 
 was an epoch-making meeting for the class. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 A MISSIONARY PRAYER PROGRAMME 
 
 THERE was nothing spasmodic about the 
 new interest in the midweek prayer meet- 
 ing at Westminster Church: it had been 
 too spontaneous for that. On that first notable 
 Wednesday evening curiosity had brought many; 
 but profound interest, and the new reaUzation 
 of the presence of Christ, had brought more. 
 The mere curiosity-seekers, of course, with the 
 exception of those in whose hearts curiosity had 
 turned to conviction, soon ceased to attend; but 
 each recurring week had seen fully two-thirds 
 of the members of the church at the meeting. 
 Other engagements were no longer made for that 
 evening by Christian people; visiting friends 
 were brought along to the meeting as a matter 
 of course; a movement was on foot among the 
 promoters of lectures and concerts to arrange 
 the dates for other evenings than Wednesday, 
 lest they lose the patronage of Westminster 
 Church people. At a meeting of the session, 
 early in the week following the gathering of Miss 
 Bemis' girls just recorded, it had been decided 
 that if the opening up of all the classrooms for 
 the overflow of the prayer meeting did not suffice 
 for the growing company, the meeting should be 
 thereafter held regularly in the main auditorium. 
 101 
 
102 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 Wednesday night was a beautiful night, and the 
 few who came late found only standing room until 
 seats were brought for them from another part 
 of the church. Surely never did pastor, unless 
 it be in Korea, look forth upon a gladder sight 
 than did the Reverend John Stanton on that 
 Wednesday evening. His face fairly beamed 
 with the joy of it as he gave out the first hymn, 
 that dear, old-fashioned " Sweet Hour of Prayer"; 
 and a great volume of praise rolled upward to the 
 Hearer and Answerer of prayer. Then all heads 
 were bowed as the pastor gave expression to the 
 feelings of all: 
 
 ''O Thou to whose immeasurable love we owe 
 this sweet hour of prayer, it is thy children's 
 hour. In no possible way can we thank thee 
 adequately for this privilege, greater than any 
 which the kings of the earth can confer upon their 
 most honored subjects, for thou art King of 
 kings and Lord of lords. Yet thou dost not so 
 much summon us here as thy subjects, but rather 
 in\dte us as thy children, to commune with thee 
 in no formal, ceremonial way, but heart to heart. 
 We have said our prayers in the days of our child- 
 hood; we have made prayers in the days of our 
 manhood; we have offered prayers in the per- 
 formance of ofificial functions: Father, teach us 
 simply to pray, to pour out our hearts before 
 thee in sincere worship, in humble confession, 
 in earnest supplication, in loving intercession, 
 in unquestioning trust. Teach us the simplicity 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 103 
 
 of prayer and the limitless power of prayer. 
 Teach us to pray as our Master prayed, not 
 that thou wouldest do our will, but that thou 
 wouldest enable us to do thy will, because it is 
 the one perfect and altogether beautiful thing 
 in the world. May we pray about the great 
 things of life because nothing is too great for 
 thee; may we pray about the apparently trifling 
 little things of Ufe in the consciousness that even 
 our eating and drinking concern the greatest thing 
 in the world, the glory of God. And more 
 especially to-night we ask thee that thou wilt 
 impress us with the hopelessness of our attempts 
 to work for thee unless we secure for ourselves, 
 and those for whom we pray, the wisdom and 
 power of thy Holy Spirit, given only in answer 
 to believing prayer. May our new life of fellow- 
 ship with thy Son Jesus Christ express itself and 
 perfect itself in prayer, and so, while giving or 
 going, may we 'move the arm that moves the 
 world' on behalf of that work dearest to thy 
 heart — the speedy evangelization of the world. 
 In thy Son's name. Amen." 
 
 Another old familiar hymn, ''The Mercy Seat," 
 was sung, and then the pastor said: 
 
 "More than six hundred men, women and chil- 
 dren of Jaconsett coming together simply to 
 pray! The power of it, the possibility of it, 
 simply thrill one through and through! No 
 urging has brought you here, no compulsion of 
 any kind except the compulsion of a strong desire 
 
104 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 for fellowship with one another and with our 
 Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. You feel with 
 me that, while we are realizing more and more 
 perfectly his constant companionship with each 
 one of us everywhere, yet he comes in special 
 manner, we hear more distinctly the rustle of 
 his seamless robe and the accents of his loving 
 voice, when we are thus gathered in his name, 
 like the disciples in the upper room. Our theme 
 to-night is 'The Potency of Prayer.' I have my 
 chance to talk on Sundays: there are scores 
 here from whom we should like to hear a word 
 of experience or a word of prayer; so I shall do 
 nothing more than start your thought with regard 
 to the relation of prayer to that matter which 
 has come to mean so much to us, the evangeliza- 
 tion of the world. Christ said, 'Pray ye there- 
 fore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth 
 laborers into his harvest.' That means both 
 men and money. But does not God know that 
 the laborers are needed, and that it will take 
 money to send them? What is the use of praying 
 him? Should we not rather pray men to go and 
 men to give, for the men have the wills and the 
 means? And so we do; but the Holy Spirit, 
 in answer to our importunate and passionate 
 prayer to God, can make our prayer to men ten- 
 fold more effective than it would otherwise have 
 been; while the chances are not small that, in 
 the very act of prayer, the question will come 
 pressing home to the one who prays. How is 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 105 
 
 it with your life, your time, your money? Why 
 should you not be among the laborers, or your 
 means supporting them as they go forth to their 
 toil? The personal call has come to many a man 
 while he has been praying in an impersonal way 
 for some one to meet the crying need. 
 
 ''Let us, therefore, Christian friends, recognize 
 the primacy of prayer among the forces which 
 make for the evangelization of the world, as the 
 connecting link through which the weakness and 
 foolishness of man lay hold upon the power and 
 the wisdom of God, and that which is in itself 
 utterly insufficient becomes sufficient for all 
 things. It is the only force which can quicken 
 information into inspiration, transmute interest 
 into passion, crystallize emotion into self-sur- 
 render and coin enthusiasm into dollars and lives. 
 And whatever may be the contribution of any 
 man to the work of Christ in the way of money 
 or service, he has not performed his full duty, 
 exerted his largest influence, nor enjoyed his 
 highest privilege, until he has made definite, 
 believing prayer for the work a part of his daily 
 life. I am hoping that our church will henceforth 
 have a definite programme of prayer for missions. 
 Let us devote one of our prayer meetings each 
 month specifically to this duty and privilege; it 
 shall not be forgotten in the pulpit; let us not 
 forget it in our families and in our closets. To aid 
 in this direction, the Laymen's Missionary Move- 
 ment has prepared a series of topics for special 
 
106 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 prayer for each month, which will be printed 
 hereafter on the backs of the envelopes which we 
 are to use for our regular benevolent offerings. 
 But we need not confine ourselves to these topics. 
 Now, who is the first to have a word for us, or 
 to voice our aspirations?" 
 
 "Well, friends, this is the first time you have 
 ever heard my voice in meeting," spoke up Mr. 
 Samuel Austin, rising briskly to his feet, "unless 
 it was a business meeting to decide on the 
 preacher's salary, or something of that sort. 
 But I got up first to-night because I was afraid 
 that after the rest of you once began there would 
 be no chance for me. Perhaps you will hardly 
 beUeve me, but I rise to testify to the power of 
 prayer. Probably you all know that I have 
 always been rather skeptical with regard to the 
 supernatural, although I have never been able 
 to reason myself away from a behef in the deity 
 of Christ and the reality of his virgin birth and 
 resurrection. But prayer has never seemed to 
 me reasonable, except as an act of worship with a 
 subjective benefit in the preparing of the soul to 
 do and to endure. As you know, too, foreign 
 missions have never appealed to me, because I 
 never thought that we had enough more in our 
 religion than other people had in theirs to justify 
 the great expense; and I shouldn't wonder if it 
 was true as to the kind of Christianity I had; 
 it wasn't of the kind that is worth exporting. I 
 was present on that Foreign Mission Sunday 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 107 
 
 morning, but thought the service hysterical and 
 would not attend the other two meetings. But 
 I heard of my brother's words and pledges, and 
 of my nephew's consecration of himself, with 
 regret amounting to disgust. Perhaps, if I had 
 been there and heard their words, I should have 
 felt differently. At any rate I gave my brother 
 an awful blowing up for losing his head and letting 
 his son sacrifice a brilliant career. All he said 
 was: 'Well, Sam, you'll never be really happy 
 until you lose your head in the same way; and 
 I am praying for you every morning and night 
 that you may lose it soon. And as for careers, 
 there's none higher in this world than that of 
 ambassador for Jesus Christ. You will see it 
 some day, just as surely as I am praying for you.' 
 I turned away, more indignant than ever; but 
 I found that while I could get away from my 
 brother, I could not get away from his prayers. 
 The Spirit of the Lord just laid hold of me and 
 overthrew one of my objections after another, — 
 there is no time to tell it in detail,— until I not 
 only lost my head but my heart also, and all that 
 in me is, to that Great Son of God, who, as he 
 goes forth to war, shall henceforth have me in his 
 train." 
 
 This was news even to the elder brother, who 
 ejaculated fervently, ''Praise the Lord!" 
 
 "I am another of the members of this church 
 who never took part in an 'experience meeting' 
 before," said Mr. Stowell, as he rose from his 
 
108 WITH Y OU ALWAYS 
 
 unaccustomed seat in this midweek meeting, 
 where many had marveled to see him sitting with 
 his wife, their son and two daughters. "And 
 I hardly know how to do it, although there can be 
 no doubt about my having had an experience, 
 and a sufficiently novel one also — for me. Until 
 a few days ago I was the most uncomfortable man 
 in this city, I am sure. I have been fleeing from 
 home to get away from my wife, and fleeing from 
 my office to get away from Elder Gilbert over 
 yonder. Yet the curious thing about it was that 
 neither my wife nor Mr. Gilbert was pursuing me. 
 My wife has never exhorted me at all; and Mr. 
 Gilbert has not talked to me more than five min- 
 utes at any one time in the last two weeks; but 
 from the time I first learned of Mrs. Stowell's 
 remarks at that extraordinary meeting, and 
 began to see the remarkable changes which have 
 come over her, I began to be desperately uncom- 
 fortable at home. The first time I met Elder 
 Gilbert, a few days after he came home, I couldn't 
 tempt him with a cigar, and he talked some most 
 revolutionary philosophy. Two days later I 
 met him again, and he simply said, 'Stowell, 
 you and I have often talked about '' pragmatism"; 
 there's a new kind of pragmatism coming into 
 vogue that has laid hold of me with such a grip 
 that I couldn't shake it off if I would; and I 
 wouldn't if I could, for it is the best ever. Talk 
 about the ''value- judgments" in theology! If 
 men would only be content with God's value- 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 109 
 
 judgments there, and give themselves to the dis- 
 covery of what he says in his word about relative 
 values in e\-eryday life, we should have some 
 pragmatism that is worth while. Two out of 
 three of the members of our churches do not 
 really believe their souls are of more value than 
 their bodies, so how should they beUeve that 
 the soul of another man, especially a far-away 
 heathen, is of more importance than their own 
 physical indulgence? But the change is coming, 
 Stowell; it has begun already in our church; 
 and, as an old friend of yours, I never shall be 
 satisfied until my prayer for you is answered, 
 and you join the new movement heart and soul — 
 and bank account.' With that, off he went; 
 but I kept meeting him everywhere, and though 
 he never said another word on the subject, I 
 knew he was praying for me. Then, one morn- 
 ing after I had started for the office, I returned 
 for a forgotten paper and surprised my \\i(e on 
 her knees praying aloud for me, that my eyes 
 might be opened to see Jesus Christ as she had 
 seen him. I stole avvay without my paper; but 
 the next morning I startled my family by gather- 
 ing them together for family worship, and for the 
 first time in their lives they heard their father's 
 voice in prayer. Elder Gilbert's pragmatism is 
 better than the most gilt-edged stock I know 
 anything about. I have come to realize as never 
 before how often the floating of a stock is the 
 sinking of a man. The stock is all right as the 
 
no WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 means to a higher end, — which it shall henceforth 
 be with me, — but as an end in itself it is just as 
 effective a sinker as a ton of lead. P'riends, just 
 try to forget the old Stowell, and take me into 
 everything that is doing along the new Hne. I 
 am going to follow my wife's example and set 
 free some of the locked-up missionaries. Just 
 keep on praying, and there won't be one of them 
 left in the safe-deposit vaults of Jaconsett." 
 
 "I'll not take many minutes for my testimony," 
 declared Deacon Thorne, as he hastened to take 
 Mr. Stowell's place on the floor; "but a deacon 
 who has not been a man full of faith and of the 
 Holy Ghost certainly needs to set himself right 
 before the people who elected him to the office. 
 There has been little in me of the spirit of Stephen 
 and Philip. I have helped to divide up the offer- 
 ings of the church among the poor; but I know 
 I have made the recipients feel that it was the 
 dole of charity rather than the ministry of love. 
 But for the Samaritans and the Ethiopians I have 
 had no use at all, having a sort of idea that they 
 would be looked after by the ' uncovenanted 
 mercies ' of God, if he thought them worth looking 
 after at all. At any rate, they were no concern 
 of mine, for my field of labor was the poor of 
 Jaconsett; and when the quarterly dole was 
 complete my duty to my fellow-man was done 
 and I need think of nothing but my business and 
 my social engagements. As you know, I was 
 not at home when Christ so remarkably revealed 
 
WITH VOU ALWAYS HI 
 
 himself to our church; but I was so fortunate as 
 to be caught growHng and joking over the matter 
 with some friends, by our pastor, who, with a 
 very few words, opened my eyes to what Mr. 
 Stowell has just been talking about, the real 
 values of life. The poor of our own parish never 
 had half so w^arm a place in my heart before as 
 they have now that I have come to take an inter- 
 est in the Indians and the Esquimaux and the 
 Mormons and the Freedmen and the Mountain 
 Whites and the Chinese and the Africans. It 
 seems as if my heart had not only grown larger 
 and larger as each of these was admitted, but 
 softer and more sympathetic at the same time. 
 Speaking of deacons, what do you think of this 
 advertisement, which I found in the paper to-day: 
 
 " ' St. Stephen's Euchre To-morrow 
 The ladies of St. Stephen's Church 
 will hold a euchre to-morrow evening. 
 The prizes will consist of the articles 
 which were left over from the fair which 
 closed last week. The admission will be 
 taken at the door.' 
 
 What makes you all smile? Don't you think 
 St. Stephen would be delighted to preside as 
 patron saint over a euchre party for the benefit 
 of the church which was named in his honor 
 and which was smart enough to think of such an 
 admirable way to dispose of the unsalable articles 
 from the church fair? Our Romanist friends are 
 just a degree more clever, and establish 'The 
 
112 WITE YOU ALWAYS 
 
 Brewery of the Holy Spirit.' That wouldn't 
 have shocked our fathers, two or three hundred 
 years ago; and 'St. Stephen's Euchre' wouldn't 
 have seriously shocked some of us a few weeks 
 since. But it makes even the printer's devil 
 smile and think thoughts that are not to the glory 
 of God. Yet a good part of my life as deacon 
 has been of a piece with 'St. Stephen's Euchre,' 
 a sacred label on a pretty thoroughly profane 
 thing. Thanks to the efforts of our pastor, and 
 the prayers of Deacon Ransom and the rest of 
 you, that's all gone by." 
 
 "I am glad you mentioned the prayers of 
 Deacon Ransom, rather than his efforts," said 
 that person himself; "for he hasn't ventured 
 to do anything for you except to pray. How 
 you knew I was praying, I am sure I don't know^ 
 unless you kind o' saw it in my face when I 
 wanted to speak but didn't dare to, for fear I 
 should make a botch of it. Well, friends, you've 
 been jokingly calling me 'Deacon Philip' these 
 last weeks, and it has rather pleased me, though 
 I knew I wasn't worthy of it. And now we've 
 got a Deacon Stephen, too; and a right good one 
 he'll make, now that he's come actually to love 
 the widows and the orphans and the heathen. 
 I'm just that full of joy and thanksgiving that I 
 think we'd better pray: Dear Heavenly Father, 
 we can hardly get our breath right natural yet, 
 after all the good news that's been coming to us, 
 to tell thee how much we thank thee for answer- 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 113 
 
 ing our prayers in this perfectly wonderful way. 
 We thought we had a big blessing already; but 
 we knew there were some in our church that 
 hadn't got it; and it tasted so good we wanted 
 them to have some too. And now, bless the 
 Lord! they're a-coming one by one, the men for 
 w^hom we've been praying, the men who with 
 lots of money have been starving, and the men 
 who doled out dollars but not hearts; and thou 
 hast fed them and warmed them and made their 
 hearts glow with a new life. It's just wonderful, 
 wonderful, Lord! But we're not satisfied yet. 
 Thou hast said that if we ask, thou wilt give; 
 and we are going to keep on asking until every 
 member of our church gets the vision of the ever- 
 present Christ, and begins life over again in 
 fellowship with his Lord. Oh, may that happy 
 day come quickly. For Jesus' sake. Amen." 
 
 ''Let us continue in prayer," said Elder Gilbert. 
 ''We are indeed thankful to thee, our Heavenly 
 Father, our blessed Lord Jesus, and our wonder- 
 working Spirit, whose three persons in one great 
 unity seem so much more real to us than they 
 ever did before, because we have felt mightily 
 the power of the Spirit revealing to us in clear 
 vision our Saviour, through whom we have come 
 to know the Father. We thank thee for the 
 increase of our faith, which has led to an increase 
 in our prayer, and given power to our formerly 
 ineffective petitions. Thou hast truly gone 
 beyond our faith ; but we have grown bolder now, 
 
114 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 and will venture to believe that, for the glory of 
 thy holy name, thou wilt permit us to see here 
 a church after thine own heart, one in which our 
 Master has his way in every member, as every 
 mind and body, and all earthly possessions are 
 counted a sacred trust, and held and used subject 
 absolutely to thy call. We will not spend our 
 time in vain regrets over our own past; but, 
 having held an accounting with thee, and set 
 things just as far right as possible, we will give 
 ourselves with joy to the life that is hid with 
 Christ in God, and therefore goes about doing 
 Christ's work in the world. Grant that his joy 
 may be fulfilled in us, that our joy may be full. 
 In his name. Amen." 
 
 ''You may be interested, friends, in knowing 
 that I have been accepted by the Board of 
 Foreign Missions, and am to start for China early 
 in the fall," reported Dr. Corson. "It so hap- 
 pened that there were two urgent vacancies in 
 the same mission, so that my dear friend, Dr. 
 Gage, is to go with me, and, as you may imagine, 
 we are very happy over that. Now, what I 
 want to ask of this church, which seems twice 
 as dear as it ever did before, is that you will 
 keep on praying for us, now, that we may be pre- 
 pared for the new work, and afterward that we 
 may never get so busy about the bodies of men 
 that we shall have no time to prescribe for their 
 souls." 
 
 "And I," spoke up Dr. Winthrop, "have my 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 115 
 
 appointment to go to Korea, the land of present 
 results. But while it will be inspiring to jump 
 right into the harvest, I shall have no higher 
 privilege than Corson and Gage, for, however 
 responsive Korea is now, China is the land of the 
 future. No one of us has any reason to envy 
 another; but we all equally depend upon your 
 prayers to sustain us in the work and the trials. 
 But I reckon that those trials are not to be com- 
 pared with the joy of the service." 
 
 ''I have my appointment also just to hand," 
 joined in CHnton Brill, the first of the two theo- 
 logical students who had offered themselves on 
 that first evening; "and a bit of the old sinful 
 pride came up in my throat when I first learned 
 that I was to be sent to Africa. I wondered if 
 those secretaries had not made a mistake some- 
 where, for you know how general the feeling is 
 that 'anything will do for Africa.' It took but 
 a very few minutes' thought, however, to con- 
 vince me of the absurdity of that idea, as I ran 
 over in my mind the names of Livingstone and 
 Stanley and Moffat and Mackay and Pilkington 
 and Stewart and Good, and many others, not to 
 speak of the men and women who are now ])roving 
 themselves the peers of the best in any land; and 
 I asked myself. Who are you to esteem yourself 
 too good to follow in their train? I have been 
 devouring African literature every spare moment 
 since, and am now ready to give thanks with 
 all my heart that my fine constitution fits mc 
 
116 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 peculiarly well for a most honorable appoint- 
 ment to the land of Livingstone and Mackay, 
 to help make another Uganda in our West Africa 
 Mission. If any of you are looking for inspira- 
 tion, just read some of the recent reports from 
 that field, whose abandonment was seriously pro- 
 posed a few years ago, but which is now bringing 
 forth a hundredfold." 
 
 ''You may wonder," remarked the pastor, 
 "that I do not make report on my application 
 for appointment; but my age is proving more of 
 an obstacle than I thought, and the question 
 has not yet been decided. With all my heart 
 I congratulate these young men of ours who have 
 already received their appointments to the work 
 which has come so near to our hearts during these 
 weeks. Elder Stanhope, will you not offer a 
 special prayer for these young men who are to 
 become the first of our church's living Hnks to 
 the world-wide field?" 
 
 ''Our Heavenly Father," began Mr. Stanhope, 
 "we have long been accustomed to pray, 'Send 
 forth more laborers into thy harvest,' and we found 
 it very easy to do so, for it cost us nothing. It is 
 only very recently that we have been willing to pray, 
 ' Send forth our young people as laborers into thy 
 harvest,' and to use our means to send them forth. 
 But now, by thine own Spirit, we have awakened 
 to the reahzation that we are not our own, but 
 are bought with the most precious of all prices; 
 and that what we possess is truly what we have 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 117 
 
 thoughtlessly called it, 'means,' and not an end. 
 Dear Lord, thou art bringing us into an altogether 
 new relation to thy kingdom in the world, and 
 art showing us that the reason for our frequent 
 discontent is simply that we have not sought 
 first thy kingdom and thy righteousness. And 
 now we gladly give thee our very best, the sons 
 and the daughters of the church, that they may 
 go forth to make thy love known where it is not 
 now known, and to bring the love which we have 
 learned of thee into closest possible touch with 
 the world's greatest need. May that great love 
 of thine fill full their hearts, illumine their minds, 
 make radiant their faces, give unction to their 
 lips, add skill to their hands, and impel their 
 feet in all the varied ministry of consecrated 
 lives. Cheer them in times of loneliness; guard 
 them in times of peril; comfort them in times of 
 trial and sorrow; strengthen them in times of 
 discouragement; keep them humble and thank- 
 ful in times of great success; give them that 
 success in abundant measure, and enable them 
 to make as real to the native of China, Korea 
 and Africa as it has become to us, the abiding, 
 personal presence of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen." 
 
 The meeting was closed promptly; but so many 
 wished to grasp the hands of Deacon Thorne, 
 Mr. Samuel Austin, Mr. Stowell and the young 
 volunteers, that it was long before the sexton 
 had an opportunity to put out the Ughts and close 
 
118 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 the doors. Among the last, yet unable to escape 
 the surprised and curious observation of a few, 
 Henry Austin set off with Lena Harden, who had 
 come alone to the meeting. As Gertrude Austin 
 and Grace Wentworth lingered talking at the 
 last corner, where their ways separated, they 
 were fairly startled by the passing of Henry and 
 Lena, engaged in animated conversation. 
 
 "What does it mean, Gertrude?" whispered 
 Grace, as soon as it was safe to ask the question. 
 
 "I haven't an idea, Grace," responded 
 Gertrude, unable to withdraw her gaze from the 
 two who had just passed by. " I have never seen 
 my brother pay Lena any attention whatever; 
 and it may be merely that he saw her starting 
 off alone and politely offered his escort, knowing 
 that I was going with you; but it may also be 
 that the new missionary interest has drawn them 
 together and developed an interest in each other. 
 I don't know anyone whom I should like better 
 to see Henry interested in than Lena, if it were 
 not for the opposition her father would be sure 
 to offer. However, we would better not build 
 too many air castles on the basis of one walk 
 home from prayer meeting. They both have 
 years of preparation yet before them, and there 
 may be nothing in it. After that meeting to-night 
 I feel as if even Mr. Harden might be brought 
 to see things as we do. I will agree to pray for 
 him every day, if you will. It will mean so much 
 to Lena, as well as to the kingdom of God." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 A MISSIONARY EDUCATION 
 
 THE girls of Miss Bemis' class were all 
 eager for Saturday afternoon to come 
 once more, and again not one of them was 
 absent. They were expecting some interesting 
 disclosures in fulfillment of their agreement as 
 to expense accounts; and, though the making up 
 of those accounts had occasioned no little morti- 
 fication in almost every case, yet all felt that the 
 confession of their faults one to another, with 
 prayer one for another, would be of great assist- 
 ance in the endeavor after better things upon 
 which all were determined. Little did they 
 imagine how widely extended would prove the 
 influence of what they were doing that day. 
 After Lena Harden had led them in an earnest 
 prayer, Gertrude Austin, as president, asked the 
 girls what their wish might be as to the character 
 of the meeting. Catharine Preston at once took 
 the lead, saying : 
 
 ''Since I made the proposal last week that we 
 should make out lists of our expenses, I ought to 
 be the first to present one. I hardly need to 
 say that I am not proud of it ; but frank confes- 
 sion is good for the soul, and I want to have it 
 over with. Our father has given Caroline and 
 me, since we were sixteen, five dollars a week 
 119 
 
120 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 apiece as an allowance. It is to cover gloves and 
 notions, but not clothing, and we can use it just 
 as we like. So my income for three months, 
 has been about sixty-eight dollars, and this is 
 how I have spent it, as nearly as I can remember, 
 for I don't keep accounts: 
 
 Gloves $10.50 Soda water and 
 
 Jewelry 6.00 cream $7.00 
 
 Flowers 9.00 Theater and opera . 10.00 
 
 Concerts 5.00 Church collections . i.oo 
 
 Postage 1.00 Sunday school 0.50 
 
 Notions 4.50 Missions 0.50 
 
 Confectionery i3-oo 
 
 That is, I have spent thirty-three times as much 
 on myself as I have on the kingdom of Christ, 
 and one hundred and thirty-two times as much 
 as on the evangelization of the w^orld! But 
 I tell you, girls, this is the last quarter that I 
 shall have to be ashamed of such a record. In 
 the first place, I am going to try to make up a 
 Httle for the past by giving to the Lord at least 
 one-fifth of my income, which will be thirteen 
 dollars and sixty cents. And it isn't going to 
 mean much self-denial, either. I can easily 
 save at least a dollar and a half on gloves and a 
 dollar on notions. I've jewelry enough, goodness 
 knows, but I'll leave two dollars for the necessary 
 pins and things: that gives me four dollars. 
 Half my candy, half my flowers, half my soda 
 water, no more theater, but a little more for 
 concerts: — why, that gives me just two-fifths 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 121 
 
 to give away, instead of one-fifth! Perhaps I 
 should save some of the money, or buy some 
 books. Well, I'll see; but I am sure I shall not 
 want to spend more on myself when I remember 
 that Jesus is with me." 
 
 CaroUne Preston was a much quieter girl than 
 her twin sister, and it was not so easy for her 
 to speak. Yet she followed her sister at once, 
 saying: ''It is hardly necessary for me to say 
 anything, for, as you all know, Catharine and I 
 very seldom do anything different. When she 
 has a new pair of gloves, I have to have one; 
 likewise jewelry, and all the w^ay down through 
 the list. And when she has reason to be ashamed, 
 I generally have equal reason. I really think 
 it is a mistake to let girls of our age have as much 
 of an allowance as we have, for so much of it is 
 sure to be wasted, — though I know many girls 
 have much more; but I am glad we have learned 
 that, even when we are living on an allow^ance, 
 we are stewardesses of Jesus Christ, and I am 
 going to join my sister in turning over a new leaf." 
 
 ''You girls who have large allowances needn't 
 think that you are the only ones who waste what 
 you have on yourselves," said Julia Marsh. 
 ''My father never felt that he could give me any 
 allowance at all; but because Alice Stanhope 
 had one, I coaxed, and he finally said that he 
 would give me twenty-five cents a week to use 
 just as I liked. I do not have to use any of it 
 for clothing. The gloves and other things that 
 
122 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 I wear are bought by my father, or given me 
 by my Aunt Helen. What I have worn for this 
 quarter would be, about, gloves, two dollars and 
 fifty cents; notions, one dollar. Aly allowance 
 of three dollars and twenty-five cents has gone 
 about this way: 
 
 Candy $1.25 Flowers $0.50 
 
 Soda water 0.75 Church and Sunday 
 
 Chewing gum 0.50 school 0.25 
 
 I didn't give anything to missions because I 
 didn't think I had enough. If I gave a larger 
 proportion of my income to the church than 
 Caroline and Catharine, it was only because I 
 couldn't give less than a cent a Sunday if I gave 
 anything at all. When Catharine was figuring 
 just now, it occurred to me that, with girls Uke 
 us who are not feeding and clothing ourselves, 
 a tenth, or even a fifth, of our income is too small 
 a proportion to give to the Lord. I am going 
 to make a dollar cover the candy and soda water, 
 cut out the silly gum, and that will leave half of 
 my allowance for more sensible things and for the 
 Lord's work." 
 
 "I don't have any allowance at all," said 
 Margery Wilson; ''but my father or my mother 
 gives me something every once in a while, and 
 I have earned quite a little taking care of Mrs. 
 Walker's baby for a few hours at a time; so I 
 suppose I have had altogether as much as five 
 dollars in the last three months. But I always 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 123 
 
 felt that my father was doing so many things for 
 the church, for which he was not paid, that I 
 need not give anything to the church, and that 
 we were too poor to be expected to give anything 
 to missions; so I've spent every cent of it on 
 myself, except ten cents I gave to a poor old 
 woman who was out of work, and a nickel I 
 gave to little Sallie Trimble to replace a broken 
 dish over which I found her crying. My account 
 is very much like the others except that what 
 others have spent on gum I have spent on moving 
 picture shows and postals. I can see now that 
 rny thought about the church was just pure 
 selfishness, because I have a duty to it myself, 
 as a member; and as for giving nothing to mis- 
 sions, I just feel too mean for anything. I don't 
 know that I shall ever get enough education to 
 go myself as a missionary; but I can certainly 
 have some part in the work by giving; and I 
 will." 
 
 ''Well, girls," sighed Gertrude Austin, "though 
 I've been chairman of the Christian Endeavor 
 Missionary Committee, I don't believe my 
 record will show up better than any of the others, 
 — hardly as well, indeed, for I have had so much 
 more than most of you to spend on myself. You 
 all know that when our Aunt Louise died, she 
 left to Henry and me the greater part of her 
 money, so that we each have about fifty thousand 
 dollars, the income of which, two thousand 
 dollars a year, we are allowed to use, though we 
 
124 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 cannot touch the principal until we are twenty- 
 five. Father and mother cannot bear to take 
 anything for our food at home, but we pay for our 
 own clothes and everything else. So I have had 
 five hundred dollars this quarter, and I mean to 
 be just as frank as any of you and tell you just 
 how I have spent it, as nearly as I can recall. 
 
 College expenses, Clothing and shoes . S95.00 
 
 one-fourth year, Jewelry 15.00 
 
 travel, tuition. Postage 3.00 
 
 board, rooms. Cabs and street cars 12.00 
 
 athletics $230.00 Confectionery 17.00 
 
 Millinery 25.00 Theater and opera . 18.00 
 
 Books and papers . . 17.00 Church 3.25 
 
 Picture postals .... 3.00 Sunday school 1.30 
 
 Flowers 20.00 Charity 5.00 
 
 Soda water and Foreign missions .. . 0.75 
 
 cream 9.00 Y. P. S. C. E 1.30 
 
 Concerts and lee- Home missions ... . 2.50 
 
 tures 6.00 Balance on hand ... 15.90 
 
 I have figured that at least a hundred and fifty 
 dollars of that is simply waste on self-indulgence. 
 Doesn't it seem strange that we girls always feel 
 so poor, and a dollar looks so big, when the ques- 
 tion is one of giving, especially to missions, 
 though we treat one another to candy and soda 
 water, and make presents, with great freedom? 
 One dollar for candy, or for a dozen roses, or for 
 a theater ticket, or a cab, has always seemed to 
 me but a trifle. What a difference it makes when 
 we come to look at things with Jesus' eyes!" 
 "My father tells me," said Helen Talbot, the 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 125 
 
 druggist's daughter, " that more than two-thirds 
 of his total sales, and of his profits, are from 
 cigars, confectionery, chewing gum and soda 
 water; and that, of the last three, fully three- 
 fourths are sold to girls and young ladies. And 
 I saw the statement in a paper that at one of the 
 Student Christian Conference places, last summer, 
 the store took in more for confectionery from the 
 young women students at one conference than all 
 the colleges represented by those students were 
 giving to missions in a year. I used to see so 
 much candy in the store, and nibble so much, 
 that I got rather sick of that, and of soda water, 
 too; but I love ice cream, and salted peanuts, 
 and eclairs and such things enough to make up. 
 And I have been foolishly carried away with 
 those moving picture theaters, until I suddenly 
 woke up the other night in the midst of a dream 
 which showed me into how much vain and even 
 bad thinking they were leading me. Then I 
 began to figure the money they had cost me, even 
 at five and ten cents each, and I was scared. I 
 did a Httle watching after that, noticing how many 
 of those places a city Hke ours supports, and find- 
 ing by questioning that thousands of nickels 
 given to children for church and Sunday school 
 go to those places instead, and usually to the 
 worst of them. It is too bad that a good thing 
 has been spoiled in that way, just because there 
 is more money in the bad ones than in the good 
 ones. I am going to keep away from them, for 
 
126 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 I am sure there are very few that Jesus would 
 care to see." 
 
 Helen read her quarterly report, as did all 
 the rest, except Grace Wentworth. There was 
 variety of detail, but an impressive monotony 
 of proportion between self-indulgence and sacri- 
 fice. When all had spoken but Grace, she 
 merely said, with a smile, "Our time is more than 
 up, girls, and there is no use in reading mine." 
 
 ''Oh, but you promised, Grace; and we all 
 want to hear yours," said two or three together, 
 for all suspected that modesty prevented the most 
 unselfish of their number from presenting her 
 statement. With evident reluctance she yielded, 
 saying apologetically: 
 
 ''I must keep my promise, if you insist, girls; 
 but when you hear my account, you must remem- 
 ber that my circumstances from childhood have 
 been different from those of most of you. I 
 have not had the temptations of most of you, 
 because we have always had to practice pretty 
 strict economy at home. But our parents wanted 
 us to learn to use money, so, ever since I can 
 remember, we have had our allowances. Until 
 we are sixteen we have each had a cent a week 
 for every year of our ages, to spend as we liked. 
 After sixteen, the purchase of our clothing, and 
 everything but our food, is turned over to us, — 
 of course always in consultation with our parents 
 until we come of age. Anyone who goes to 
 college is to have food money added; but other 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 127 
 
 extra expenses he must earn. My allowance 
 is now a hundred and fifty dollars a year, or 
 thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents for the quarter, 
 and I have spent it in this way: 
 
 Clothing and shoes . 
 
 $10.00 
 
 Books 
 
 $2.25 
 
 Street cars 
 
 0.50 
 
 Confectionery, etc. . 
 
 0.50 
 
 Concerts and lec- 
 
 
 Y. W. C. A. gym- 
 
 
 tures 
 
 2.00 
 
 nasium, etc 
 
 1.25 
 
 Pictures for room . . 
 
 1. 00 
 
 Chair for room .... 
 
 4.00 
 
 Chair for father .... 
 
 6.00 
 
 Church 
 
 2.60 
 
 Sunday school 
 
 0.65 
 
 Y.P.S.C.E 
 
 0.65 
 
 Charity 
 
 2.00 
 
 Home missions .... 
 
 1.30 
 
 Foreign missions . . . 
 
 2.60 
 
 Balance 
 
 0.20 
 
 You see, I abominate chewing gum, and I don't 
 feel the need of candy and soda water as some 
 girls do ; and I raise my own flowers without any 
 expense. Then I suppose I care more for pic- 
 tures and books than some of you. Father and 
 mother, you know, have never approved of the 
 theater, and I have never been to one in my hfe, 
 and am rather glad of it. They say we can go if 
 we wish after we are twenty-one; but from all I 
 hear, plays, with a few exceptions, are growing 
 worse rather than better, and I do not think I 
 shall ever go. As to my giving, we were always 
 taught to give systematically, and it makes it 
 a lot easier. My item for clothing is rather light, 
 I know; but when I saw those two chairs, one 
 just the thing for father's birthday, and the other 
 just fitting my little room, I let some of the other 
 things I needed wait for another quarter. So, 
 
128 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 you see, I too have been indulging myself this 
 quarter." 
 
 "What do you think, girls, would be the result 
 if all of us should adopt Grace's plan of self- 
 indulgence for the next quarter?" asked the class 
 president. "More than one-fourth of her tiny 
 income has gone straight to the Lord, and fifteen 
 per cent more has gone back in loving remem- 
 brance to her father! Which one of us all, do 
 you suppose, enjoyed her income the most, the 
 past three months?" 
 
 Thoughtfully they had gathered; yet more 
 thoughtfully these girls went their homeward 
 ways. 
 
 It was, of course, well-nigh impossible to keep 
 strictly within the httle circle of thirteen girls 
 the interesting developments of that afternoon. 
 Indeed, several of those girls felt that the ex- 
 perience was likely to prove so profitable to them 
 that they wished their brothers and other friends 
 to know, in a general way, the result of their 
 experiment. Among these was Gertrude Austin, 
 who took advantage of an opportunity that very 
 evening to talk with her brother Henry, between 
 whom and herself a delightful mutual confidence 
 had sprung up in consequence of the new ideals 
 of hfe which both had adopted. She drew him 
 aside into her own room, and sitting down beside 
 him on the couch, began: 
 
 "Henry, we've been having such an interest- 
 ing experience in Miss Bemis' class to-day. I 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 129 
 
 wanted to tell you about it a week ago, but 
 thought I would wait until we had tried it 
 actually. Catharine Preston proposed that we 
 not merely decide that we ought to do more for 
 the kingdom of God, but that we figure up what 
 we were doing for ourselves and then confess our 
 faults one to another. We have just been doing 
 it this afternoon; and though it was one of the 
 most humiliating experiences I have ever been 
 through, I am sure it will be one of the most 
 helpful. We were all conscientious about it and 
 didn't hide anything; and we found that, whether 
 we had three dollars a quarter or five hundred 
 dollars, we were all spending many times as much 
 on fooHsh indulgences, even down to chewing 
 gum with some, as we were using for the kingdom 
 of God, — all of us except Grace Wentworth, dear 
 soul, who was giving away nearly half her pittance 
 right along." 
 
 "What a sweet, unselfish girl she is!" rejoined 
 Henry warmly. "It's been a wonder to me that 
 I haven't fallen in love with her, Gertrude, for 
 she'll certainly make a good man happy some day; 
 but my foolish heart won't go where it ought. 
 But about this scheme of yours; it is certainly 
 quite original, and not by any means a bad idea. 
 I wonder how it would work with the fellows in 
 our class. I've a good notion to propose it on 
 Monday evening when we hold our meeting. 
 We've got something else on foot for that even- 
 ing; but it won't take long to propose this plan, 
 9 
 
130 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 report its success with your class, and see what 
 the fellows think of it." 
 
 ''Some of us were afraid at first that it might 
 seem too personal, too — what w^ould you call it? 
 — 'Sumptuary,' I beheve is the technical term; 
 but it has become perfectly evident to us that 
 one of the greatest troubles w^ith Christians is that 
 we are altogether too careful in cutting down 
 expenses for the kingdom, and not half careful 
 enough when it comes to matters of personal 
 indulgence. So we're very glad we've weighed 
 up our candy and gum, and counted our pennies 
 and dollars." 
 
 "That is wonderfully well put, Gertrude, and 
 will bear quoting to our class. The special object 
 we have in meeting this week is to try to organize 
 a mission study class. We shall not necessarily 
 limit the class to our little circle. Our teacher. 
 Dr. Sears, is, as you know, the Committee on 
 Mission Study, and he felt that we were the best 
 nucleus he could find for the first class to be 
 formed. He is going to meet with us on Monday 
 night; but I do not think that need prevent the 
 broaching of the other matter, for Dr. Sears is 
 now just as much in earnest in this matter as any- 
 one else in the church, and he knows thoroughly 
 how to be a boy with the boys. My I it doesn't 
 seem possible that we are anything but boys 
 yet; yet the youngest member of the class has 
 attained his majority, and Preston is twenty- 
 five! There is a very good spirit in the class just 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 131 
 
 now, and I believe we can have a good study 
 class." 
 
 ''I heartily hope you may, and that we may 
 soon have several others going for different groups 
 in the congregation," replied his sister, as Henry 
 rose to leave the room. 
 
 Dr. Sears' class had been invited to his home 
 for their meeting the next week. So complete 
 had been the change in Dr. Sears; so much had 
 Mrs. Sears, as well as the doctor, been moved by 
 the clear Christian confession and new spirit 
 of their daughter Anna, that Mrs. Wentworth 
 had found the task of winning Mrs. Sears to an 
 interest in the evangelization of the world an 
 exceedingly easy one. Her previous lack of 
 interest had been chiefly the indifference born of 
 ignorance. Like her husband, she had been 
 vexed rather than stirred on the great days which 
 began the movement in the church; but the 
 events in the church and in her own home since 
 those days had been quite sufficient, as she told 
 her friend Mrs. Wentworth, to warm her heart 
 toward the whole world, and make her wish 
 to share the blessings of the gospel with all men. 
 With the help of her daughter, she proposed to 
 have some very attractive refreshments ready in 
 waiting for the members of her husband's class, 
 when they should have finished their business. 
 To judge by their devotion to that business, they 
 were not in the least aware of the treat in store 
 for them. 
 
132 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 When the young men had all arrived, Dr. 
 Sears seated them in his parlor and cordially 
 welcomed them to his home, after which he said : 
 
 "Ten always was a fine unit of numbers; and 
 when one wishes to start a new enterprise, there 
 is no better way to begin than for one man to get 
 ten others to join him in setting the wheels in 
 motion. In a church there is no ten which can 
 make a new enterprise effective through a com- 
 bination of enthusiasm and good common sense 
 like ten young men, not of the callow sort, just 
 beginning to pass out of childhood, but of the 
 vigorous thinking and observing age which you 
 have all attained. A great change has come over 
 our church, as you know; but that change re- 
 quires for its permanence the enhstment of the 
 interest of every young person in the church, 
 and your determination, not merely to get as 
 much good out of the world as possible, but to 
 put all the good into it which may be made 
 possible by seeking first the kingdom of God 
 and his righteousness. If I should ask you to- 
 night seriously to consider for twenty-four hours 
 the world's greatest need, I feel quite confident 
 that you would come back with a unanimous 
 finding that, both at home and abroad, the 
 world's greatest need is not the estabhshing or 
 perfecting of constitutional government, the 
 adoption of universal arbitration, the building 
 of more railway and steamship Unes, the adoption 
 of a universal language, the development of 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 133 
 
 automobiles or aeroplanes; but such a knowledge 
 of God in Christ as shall bring every thought, 
 as well as every word and deed, into glad sub- 
 jection to his perfect will, that the will of God 
 may be done on earth as it is done in heaven. 
 In other words, 'all things are ours' only when 
 'we are Christ's and Christ is God's,' as our 
 pastor said the other day. We see in him, and 
 in the truths which he taught, the only and the 
 absolutely sure panacea for all the wrongs and 
 discords of earth. But, however convinced we 
 may be in our own minds of this as a theoretical 
 proposition, it will take a far more vigorous and 
 compelling grip upon us if we study systematically 
 and persistently the records of the transformations 
 already wrought by the gospel, and the immeas- 
 urably great need which still exists for its proc- 
 lamation and apphcation. When we want to 
 study anything else in this fashion, we form a 
 class for the purpose. The new Missionary Com- 
 mittee of our church is strongly convinced that 
 we should have mission study classes among us; 
 and, having been appointed a sub-committee 
 on this subject, I never have had a doubt that 
 the very best place to begin is in our own Sunday- 
 school class. You have been holding weekly 
 meetings by yourselves, and, possibly, they have 
 been so profitable that you would not care to have 
 other matters give place to mission study; but 
 either on this or some other evening, — for many 
 of you are free at no other time, — I shall be very 
 
134 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 glad to help you organize a mission study class, 
 if you feel inclined to do so. There is a book 
 which I think we ought to study first of all, as it 
 answers in a brief but forceful way the thousand 
 and one questions which everyone is inclined to 
 ask about missions. It is called 'The Why and 
 How of Foreign Missions,' and was specially 
 prepared to ser\^e as a text-book for such classes. 
 Afterward we can take up the study of the various 
 countries of the world and their religions, and the 
 fascinating biographies of the world's great mis- 
 sionaries. What do you say, men? Let each 
 one speak his mind freely." 
 
 "Well, I can say one thing. Dr. Sears," spoke 
 up Henry Austin with energy, "and that is that 
 if we young men do not get to moving pretty 
 soon, we shall find ourselves left far behind by 
 the young ladies of the church, just as the men 
 of the last generation allowed themselves to be 
 entirely outdone by their wives. I know one 
 class in the Sunday school at least, the one to 
 which my sister Gertrude belongs, which has been 
 doing some startling things already, even though 
 they have not organized mission study. They 
 began by confessing their faults one to another, 
 and then they all agreed to make up accounts for 
 the last three months, and tell one another how 
 their gifts to the Lord compared with what they 
 had spent on themselves. The results are said 
 to have been somewhat amazing and humiliating; 
 but not one whit more so, I imagine, than they 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 135 
 
 would be with us if we should try the experiment. 
 My sister made a remark which was so well put 
 that I told her I should repeat it at the first oppor- 
 tunity. She said: 'If anyone thinks this opera- 
 tion too sumptuary, we have come to believe 
 that one of the greatest faults of Christians in 
 general is that we are altogether too sumptu- 
 ary about what we give to the kingdom, and not 
 half sumptuary enough about our selfish in- 
 dulgences. We're very glad we weighed up our 
 candy and gum and counted our pennies and dol- 
 lars.' Now, we may have to substitute something 
 else for the candy and gum; but I think it would 
 be a most wholesome thing for us if we should 
 count up the pennies and the dollars. I fear 
 that, in my own case, most of the pennies have 
 gone to the kingdom and the dollars to myself. 
 Perhaps I ought not to bring this up now; yet 
 I believe the two things will help one another; 
 and I, for one, am heartily in favor of organizing 
 the mission study class. I shall be only too glad 
 to be a member of it." 
 
 "As for the evening," suggested Porter Stan- 
 hope, a young man of twenty-three, the oldest 
 grandson of the elder, and for several years en- 
 gaged with his father and grandfather in the de- 
 partment store in which the elder was still a 
 partner, though no longer a very active one, "I 
 think we might with advantage use the evening 
 which we have been accustomed to take for our 
 meetings. I am sure there have been many 
 
136 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 meetings when the time was spent far less pro- 
 fitably. We have felt that we ought to meet; 
 but have never had any very definite aim in our 
 meetings, and so have wasted a great deal of 
 time. If confessions are in order, there have 
 been two or three occasions when the few who 
 were present spent the time playing cards. If 
 Dr. Sears will teach the class, I shall be delighted 
 to join it, and can hope to attend regularly now 
 that the Merchants' Association has decided on 
 early closing. As to Austin's report of what 
 the girls have been doing, it fairly made my hair 
 stand on end to think of presenting to the rest 
 of you a detailed statement of what I did mth 
 my money the last quarter; yet I don't know 
 that it's any more humiliating to confess to 
 cigarettes than to che^^^ng gum! Some of the 
 bitterest medicines are the most effective, they 
 say; and I don't know but such a dose might 
 prove the best remedy for what is certainly a 
 deplorable state of affairs. I'll do it with the 
 rest of you." 
 
 ''Well, I won't!" scornfully cried Edward 
 Harden, the very image of his father in body 
 and mind, and associated with him in the office. 
 "That sort of thing may do for girls in their 
 'teens; but I think it would be an impertinence 
 for any one to inquire as to the way in which a 
 man spends his money; and, as for volunteering 
 to give an account of it to a lot of other men, 
 with all due apologies to those who suggest it. 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 137 
 
 I think it is simply silly. I agree with my father 
 in thinking that Westminster Church is quite 
 overdoing this foreign mission business; and I 
 hope it will come to its senses before long. I 
 think we could spend our time much more pro- 
 fitably on something else than on studying these 
 goody-goody books about missionaries who have 
 converted and baptized a thousand natives within 
 a month of landing on a savage island, and then 
 have been cooked and eaten by the backsliding 
 cannibals. But, of course, if every other mem- 
 ber of our class wants to study missions, I'm 
 not going to be ugly and stand out. Only, if 
 this thing is not done in moderation, I believe 
 my father and I will both take our letters to some 
 other church." 
 
 "Well, Edw^ard, we are very glad that you are 
 disposed to join the study class with us, even 
 though you do not find yourself in sympathy 
 with all that is going on in the class and the 
 church. Certainly no one will compel, or even 
 urge, you to present a statement of your personal 
 expenditures. That is always strictly a matter 
 between a mature man and his God; and no one 
 else has any right to it unless it is freely offered 
 for the general advantage. Personally, while 
 the idea is novel, and at first bears a faint sug- 
 gestion of the washing of soiled clothes in public, 
 yet, the more I think of it for a little circle like 
 ours, the more I feel inclined to agree with Miss 
 Gertrude Austin in what she so well said. I 
 
138 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 think also, Edward, that if you will take the pains 
 to make a careful comparison between the sum 
 total of the life of our church now and two months 
 ago, you will become convinced that something 
 besides foreign missions has taken possession of 
 us, something which gives the church a larger 
 place in the social and civil life of Jaconsett than 
 it ever had before. That which has made a new 
 man of me, and of many another, is not our 
 interest in foreign missions, but the new concep- 
 tion of a life in close, conscious fellowship with 
 Jesus Christ; and this determines my relation 
 to foreign missions, to this class, and to everything 
 else. If any of you would really rather have me 
 as I was two months ago, please say so." 
 
 This made even Edward Harden smile and put 
 him in a better humor. Charhe Ransom ex- 
 pressed forcibly the general feeling when he said: 
 "We would rather have one Dr. Sears as he is, 
 than ten of Dr. Sears as he was; and I believe 
 we are all agreed on that. I move that we ask 
 our teacher to become the teacher of the first 
 Mission Study Class in Westminster Church, 
 of which class we shall be the charter members; 
 and that as many as feel so incUned shall present, 
 as initiation fee, a 'sumptuary statement' for 
 the last quarter, any not so disposed being ad- 
 mitted ex gratia." 
 
 "I second the motion," said Robert Weatherby, 
 "though I fear I shall be so ashamed that I shall 
 want to steal in under the last clause, for my con- 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 139 
 
 science is already beginning to bring up the ghosts 
 of dead extravagances to haunt me. My account, 
 if I ever present one, will be rather lopsided." 
 
 This unconventional and rather humorous 
 motion was put by Mr. Horace Preston, the 
 oldest member of the class and its president, 
 and carried with no opposing votes, Edward 
 Harden refraining from voting. Dr. Sears had 
 ready at hand copies of "The Why and How of 
 Foreign Missions," that no time might be lost, 
 and he gave a brief outline of the first chapter, 
 afterward assigning a sub-topic to each member of 
 the class for special preparation from the text- 
 book and from any other available sources; 
 and expressing the earnest hope that much 
 material would be brought in which would help 
 in the solving of other questions likely to be 
 suggested by their consideration of the subject 
 together. Even the hasty glancing over of the 
 first chapter that evening made Edward Harden 
 ashamed of the disagreeable things he had said; 
 but he made no admissions save by greater 
 geniality as the class talked of other things and 
 formed some plans for more personal work for 
 the young men of the congregation who had not 
 yet taken a stand as Christians. No reference 
 was made in this conference to the three of their 
 own number who were not known as Christians, 
 who, however, could not but feel that the mem- 
 bers of their class were having them prayerfully 
 in mind. After an hour and a half of more prac- 
 
140 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 tical planning than the class had ever done before, 
 Dr. Sears expressed his great gratification at the 
 results, apparent and prospective, of the meeting, 
 and added: 
 
 "Before we close, I cannot refrain from ex- 
 pressing my longing desire, which I feel sure is 
 shared by every other present, that our class 
 should be an absolute unit in the joyful service 
 of our risen and living Lord. We shall not count 
 as a perfect ten, or even as a full seven-tenths 
 of ten, until every one of us acknowledges Christ 
 as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And 
 I am equally certain that no one of you will 
 ever find his own life complete until he has made 
 the full surrender and accepted the full salvation. 
 In doing so you give up a body prone to increase 
 its own inherited curse, a mind darkened to 
 the real values of life, and a spirit storm-tossed 
 among ambitions and doubts and disappoint- 
 ments; and you receive in return a body which 
 is the sacred and beautiful temple of the Holy 
 Spirit, a mind which finds all the best things in 
 life within the good and acceptable and perfect 
 will of God, and a spirit at rest in the peace of 
 God which passeth understanding, rich for this 
 life and the life which is to come. If I had done 
 my duty by you all years ago, I believe you would 
 all have been in Christ now; but now, not merely 
 in Christ's stead, but in his felt presence, I pray 
 you be reconciled to God." 
 
 And the man who had never led his class in 
 
W ITH YOU ALWAYS 141 
 
 prayer before, closed the meeting with a few 
 words of such earnest personal supplication for 
 these grown young men that more than one of 
 them found it difficult to keep back the tears. 
 When he had finished, he threw open the folding 
 doors which led to the dining room. This room 
 opened widely into the parlor; and the young 
 men w^re astonished to see a well-spread table, 
 with not only Mrs. Sears and Anna smiling a 
 welcome, but also Gertrude and Grace, Lena, 
 Catharine and Caroline, who had been coaxed 
 in to help entertain. There was no need of intro- 
 ductions, and a delightful hour of the most genial 
 Christian sociability closed an evening such as 
 few, if any, of the young men had ever before 
 spent. The bonds between teacher and class had 
 been mightily strengthened; and every man of 
 them knew that he had been brought nearer to 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
D 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 A WEEKLY MISSIONARY OFFERING 
 
 URING the week which followed it was a 
 funny sight to observe the expressions on 
 the faces of the members of Dr. Sears's 
 class as they met one another in various places. 
 The greeting was sure to be, ''Hello, Austin; 
 how's the sumptuary law working?" or, ''How 
 do you do, Weatherby? How's the market for 
 cigars up your way this week?" or, "Well, Pres- 
 ton, what are you cutting out of your dietary?" 
 Yet, with all the joking, it was proving the most 
 serious week in the lives of some of these young 
 men, most of whom were already making their 
 own w^ay, though only Preston and Richard 
 Walker were married. They all saluted one 
 another in very hilarious fashion as they met at 
 the home of Henry Austin, the following Mon- 
 day evening; but it was more as a cover to the 
 serious embarrassment felt by more than one at 
 the self-discovery of the week than as ridicule of 
 the idea. None of them would have been sur- 
 prised by the absence of Edward Harden; but 
 he was there, and brought his text-book with him. 
 Dr. Sears proved as good a teacher of mis- 
 sions as he had recently been of the Bible, and 
 the hour given to study of the subject, "The 
 Foreign Mission Motive and Aim," passed 
 142 
 
W IT H YOU ALWAY S 143 
 
 altogether too quickly. More than one member 
 of the class had been struck by the quotations 
 facing the opening of the first chapter, such as 
 ''The goal of history is the redemption of the 
 world"; "Loyalty to God and Christ, love to 
 man, and the tremendous want, constrain us." 
 Their teacher brought out so clearly and strongly, 
 largely through question and answer, that, ''in 
 proportion as the soul's experience in Christ is 
 genuine and deep, will we desire to communicate 
 it to others; the man who has no religion of his 
 own that he values, of course is not interested in 
 the effort to make it known to others. He who 
 has knowledge that is essential to his fellow-men 
 is under obligation to convey that knowledge 
 to them. There is no worthy reason for being 
 concerned about the salvation of the man next 
 to us which is not equally applicable to the man 
 five thousand miles away. The command of 
 Christ is the bugle call, which to the true soldier 
 never loses its thrilling, response-compelling 
 power. It is not a request, not a suggestion. 
 It leaves nothing to our choice. It is an order, 
 comprehensive, unequivocal, a clear, peremptory, 
 categorical imperative: 'Go!' The evangeliza- 
 tion of the world was the supreme thought of 
 Christ: it is still his supreme thought. Failure 
 to do the will of Christ emasculates the essential 
 idea of the church: if we believe in Christ, we 
 must believe in foreign missions. Christianity 
 is not a lifeboat sent out to a sinking ship to 
 
144 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 rescue a few passengers and let the rest go to the 
 bottom. The missionary is the advance agent 
 of civilization, the greatest philanthropist, the 
 achiever of the largest results. The aim of 
 foreign missions is to present Christ so intelli- 
 gently to men that they will accept him as their 
 personal Saviour, to influence men at every 
 stage of their careers, and to organize the con- 
 verts into self-supporting and self-governing 
 churches." 
 
 It had been expected that Edward Harden 
 would surely contradict and oppose, or at least 
 be cynically critical; but, greatly to the sur- 
 prise of everyone, he appeared interested in the 
 discussion, asked some intelligent questions, 
 and at the close of the hour said that he had 
 become so interested in the first chapter that he 
 had read on through the book; that if every- 
 thing in that book was true he had evidently 
 been misinformed about many things, and that 
 he wished to apologize to Dr. Sears and to the 
 others for his intemperate language the previous 
 week. What had come over Edward Harden? 
 was the wondering thought of all who knew him 
 well. 
 
 "Now that the study is over for the evening," 
 said Dr. Sears, after assigning another chapter 
 and giving out special questions to each one, "I 
 will take my departure, that you may feel greater 
 freedom in whatever else you may wish to do 
 this evening." 
 
WITH YOU ALWAY S 145 
 
 "I am sure that none of us would feel any 
 constraint in your presence, Dr. Sears," pro- 
 tested the class president; "and I think it might 
 be very helpful to us younger men to have you 
 with us while we clean house." 
 
 This being evidently the general sentiment. Dr. 
 Sears did not feel at all averse to remaining, but 
 gave over the leadership to Mr. Horace Preston, 
 who introduced the further programme with 
 the remark: "I have enjoyed the first part of 
 the meeting this evening much more than I 
 expect to enjoy what is yet to come, though the 
 more I study that chapter in our text-book, the 
 more dissatisfied I feel with what I have to report. 
 To save my face, I would gladly be excused, but 
 to satisfy my conscience and stiffen my back- 
 bone, as well as because I am the oldest member 
 of the class, I will confess first. I receive a 
 salary of four thousand dollars a year, and my 
 income from inherited means is about as much 
 more, so that I have an income of about two 
 thousand dollars a quarter. Of the expendi- 
 tures of the last quarter I will give you as ac- 
 curate an account as I can. 
 
 Life insurance $125.00 Furniture, pictures, 
 
 Fire insurance i5-oo etc $50.00 
 
 Servants 180.00 Concerts and lee- 
 Depreciation of tures 15.00 
 
 automobile 130.00 Summer outing, 
 
 Maintenance and one-fourth 160.00 
 
 running automo- Books and peri- 
 bile 100.00 odicals 75-00 
 
 10 
 
146 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 Dental work $55.00 Travel $85.00 
 
 Tobacco 45.00 Medical attendance 35.00 
 
 Confectionery, etc. . 35.00 Club expenses 25.00 
 
 Taxes 80.00 Flowers 3S-oo 
 
 Water, heat and Church support .... 10.00 
 
 electricity 75-00 Sunday school 1.30 
 
 Food for three and P'oreign missions . . . .50 
 
 servants 320.00 Y. M. C. A 2.50 
 
 Insurance on same. 40.00 Home missions. 
 
 Clothing for family 200.00 various 2.50 
 
 Theater and opera. 45.00 Charity 3.00 
 
 Entertaining 50.00 Balance in bank. . . 5.20 
 
 My wife's personal expenditures she has provided 
 from her own means. So you see I have 'lived 
 within my income,' as the saying goes. I have 
 had little left to invest. Perhaps my automobile, 
 insured as it is against all risks, and my Ufe in- 
 surance, might come under the head of invest- 
 ments. Lived within my income? No; I have 
 done nothing of the sort. I have lived within my 
 income plus the Lord's; and have reckoned his 
 at less than twenty dollars, while mine has been 
 nearly two thousand dollars I Do you think he 
 could live on it? Even a Chinaman couldn't do 
 that. And to make it even twenty, I have had to 
 reckon in my poor pay for my own church privi- 
 leges ! I tell you, men, it was a mighty poor sort 
 of partnership the Lord formed when he went 
 into business with me. He put in all the capital 
 and supplied all the brains, only asking me for 
 very modest dividends; and I haven't given him 
 but one per cent — strictly speaking only half of 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 147 
 
 one per cent ! If ever a man felt mean to the tips 
 of his toes, I'm that man; but I'm still young, 
 and there's an opportunity yet to prove a little 
 less like the wicked husbandman. I hereby 
 solemnly promise that I will never again give 
 my Lord less than ten per cent; and I shall try in 
 addition to pay up some of the arrears." 
 
 After a brief period of silence, Henry Austin 
 rose to his feet, saying: ''I presume that Horace 
 Preston has expressed pretty nearly the feeling 
 of the majority of us in view of the discoveries 
 we have made. I suppose we are all account- 
 ing for a quarter previous to the recent great 
 changes in our views of life. No doubt our ac- 
 counts for the last month or so would look 
 better. My account is not unlike Preston's, 
 except that I have no family, keep up no house, 
 and have not ventured on an automobile, as I 
 am just finishing college. From the estate of 
 an aunt I have an income of two thousand dol- 
 lars a year. From some prizes and literary 
 work I have made two hundred dollars more, 
 the past year, so that my income for the quarter 
 has been five hundred and fifty dollars; and I 
 have spent it about as follows: 
 
 College expenses, Conventions $18.00 
 
 one-fourth year. .$255.00 Daily papers 2.00 
 
 Postage and sta- Y. P. S. C. E 1.30 
 
 tionery i3-oo Charity, plus old 
 
 Books and pictures 27.00 clothes 2.50 
 
 Theater, opera and Foreign missions .. . .50 
 
 concerts 30.00 Clothing and shoes. 115.00 
 
148 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 Cabs and cars $15.00 Barber $8.00 
 
 Confectionery, flow- Church and Sunday 
 
 ers and other school 3.00 
 
 amenities 40.00 Y. M. C. A 1.25 
 
 Baseball and foot- Home missions. ... i.oo 
 
 ball games 16.00 Sundries unknown. 1.45 
 
 That is, I have spent every cent, but can't ac- 
 count for quite all of it. Including church 
 support, which is not benevolence, I have given 
 less than ten dollars, or a little less than two 
 per cent of my income, which is really worse than 
 Preston, for I haven't had the home demands 
 that he has had. And all the time I was con- 
 gratulating myself because I was giving twice 
 as much to foreign missions as the average Pres- 
 byterian church member, ignoring the fact that 
 I had more than four times the income, and that 
 averages become deadly whenever they are re- 
 garded as a maximum standard. But even as a 
 minimum, it is no standard at all, for more than 
 half the church is giving nothing, and not more 
 than one in a hundred of the rest treats foreign 
 missions as he does any other feature of his life. 
 Indeed, I am inclined to think that we have not 
 regarded it as a feature of our lives, but as a duty 
 to be done once a year, a little sop to be thrown 
 to our consciences; then the rest of the year, 
 and of the income, may be devoted to other more 
 congenial things. And, notwithstanding all that 
 has taken place in our church, I do not believe 
 that we shall have the matter in the right form 
 
ITB YOU ALWAYS 149 
 
 until the whole church adopts the threefold rule 
 of Scripture, ' Upon the first day of the week let 
 each one of you lay by him in store, as he may 
 prosper,' that is, individual, systematic, propor- 
 tional giving. I know that our pastor is eager to 
 bring this about; and I do not beUeve we could 
 do a better thing than agree among ourselves 
 that we will make our new beginning in that 
 way. It will encourage him and the Missionary 
 Committee very much." 
 
 "You remember, that first week of this new 
 work, how Elder Preston said that his two dollars 
 a year had formerly looked like two hundred, 
 but had come to look Hke the proverbial ' thirty 
 cents'?" spoke up Porter Stanhope. "I heard 
 the other day of a wealthy man who was giving 
 fifteen dollars a year to missions, and thought 
 himself a model, for he was gi\'ing more than any- 
 one else in the church. He was boasting one 
 day to a mission campaigner, when this man 
 turned on him with, 'Mr. Blank, did you ever 
 figure how much that is a w^eek?' 'No, I never 
 did. What's the use?' 'Well, suppose you try, 
 and see if it doesn't look very much Uke thirty 
 cents.' When that wealthy man realized that 
 he had actually been boasting of thirty cents a 
 week, a mere fraction of what he spent any single 
 day on selfish indulgences, given for the greatest 
 business of the church, the evangelization of the 
 world, he was mortally ashamed, and jumped at 
 once to two dollars a week as a starter. I have 
 
150 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 been even more mortified than that, for I have 
 not given the thirty cents, or even an appreciable 
 fraction of it. As my grandfather said, that 
 first Sunday, he has always given something to 
 the support of missions, and so has my father; 
 but I have never been led to think that anything 
 of that sort could be expected of me until I was 
 established in a home and business of my own. 
 Even the support of the church has always been 
 treated as my father's business, not mine; and 
 in none of these things have I done more than 
 drop an occasional coin into the collection. My 
 allowance has been larger than Austin's; my 
 actual college expenses about the same, while 
 the rest of my money has been frittered away 
 much w^orse than his; and I don't believe that 
 I have put two dollars in the quarter into any- 
 thing that was not selfish. We young men pride 
 ourselves on being 'level-headed,' but that term 
 seems to be pretty nearly synonymous with 
 'able to take care of No. i.' If we are liberal 
 in standing treat with the other fellows, that 
 passes for generosity; and if we give away the 
 old clothes that are no longer in fashion, that 
 passes for benevolence. I don't believe you want 
 my accounts in detail: there is too much mo- 
 notony about them. Just write tobacco in place 
 of several items in Austin's account, or, rather, 
 put it in in addition, to the amount of fifty dollars, 
 and you'll not be very far off, except that I have 
 run through more money. My conscience has 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 151 
 
 been telling me to cut out the tobacco, as well as 
 my doctor; but as the latter doesn't cut it out 
 himself, I'm not sure that I should have done it 
 if I hadn't been shamed by the stand taken by 
 my aged grandfather and the rest of the session. 
 That money will certainly do a lot more good 
 in the form of the gospel than in the form of 
 smoke." 
 
 ''I've often wondered," remarked Charlie 
 Ransom, in his whimsical drawl, "what these 
 friends of mine who have lots of money managed 
 to do with it all; and now I've found out. I 
 expected to be able to say a number of big round 
 O's after they had read their accounts; but 
 they've spent their money a lot more sensibly 
 than I supposed they had. About the only 
 difference between them and me is that they've 
 traveled first class, while I've traveled third. 
 It's been pretty much along the same line of 
 railway, and we've stopped off to see just about 
 the same sights. They took a coach and four 
 to see the Falls, while I went in the omnibus. 
 They puffed cigars, wliile I rolled cigarettes. 
 They paid a dollar a pound for their confectionery, 
 while I paid twenty cents for my candy. They 
 sat in the boxes, while I took to the peanut gallery. 
 Their books were bound in half calf; mine in 
 plain cloth. But the principle is all the same — 
 or the lack of principle. For up to the limit of 
 my means I have been living for myself just as 
 much as they have, and the amount that I have 
 
152 Wifn YOU ALWAYS 
 
 given to the Lord is a negligible quantity. I'll 
 read the whole list if you want it; but the big 
 items, of course, are for the playthings, while 
 the pitifully small ones are for life's biggest 
 business. I was afraid the bonbons had spoiled 
 my appetite for the substantial; but I've found 
 to-night, under the coaxing of our study class, 
 the appetite's coming back; and I'm right-down 
 glad that it's so. The amount that I shall have 
 to give will not be very large, but it will bear 
 a more respectable relation to what I spend on 
 myself." 
 
 ''I warned you all last week," said Robert 
 Weatherby, "that I was going to be too much 
 ashamed of my account to present it. It is 
 lopsided, sure enough; but I think I really ought 
 to read it because my circumstances, like Charlie's, 
 are so different from Preston's and Austin's 
 and Stanhope's. From my clerking in Breese 
 and McDowell's I receive sixty dollars a month, 
 which has to cover everything, for, though I 
 live at home, I have paid my board since I began 
 to earn enough. So my hundred and eighty 
 dollars for the quarter went about this way: 
 
 Board $65.00 Barber $ .75 
 
 Books and papers. . . 3.75 Church and Sunday 
 
 Lodge fees 5.00 school 1.50 
 
 Drinks, hard and soft 14.30 Clothing 18.00 
 
 Candy and gum. ... 5.60 Vacation excursion, 
 
 Moving pictures ... . 3.75 one-fourth 7.40 
 
 Washing 6.50 Tobacco 16.50 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 153 
 
 Billiards and pool . . . $8.00 Postage and sta- 
 
 Theater 13-25 tionery $2.65 
 
 Travel, street cars, Jewelry 3.00 
 
 etc 3.20 Charity 1.85 
 
 You will see that it is not merely lopsided, but 
 that I have been, I presume, the only member 
 of our class to spend any of my money on intoxi- 
 cating drink. So I have a double reason to feel 
 ashamed; and I can assure you that it is only 
 because I want to be strictly honest that I bring 
 you my account at all. There is another reason 
 also, and that is that I have made up my mind 
 to 'cut it out.' But I am not so foolish as to 
 believe that I am strong enough for it myself; 
 and so I want the class to pray for me that Jesus 
 Christ, w^hom I now, for the first time, take as 
 m.y Sa\dour, may be also my ever-present friend, 
 to keep me in the hour of temptation, and to 
 teach me to want to give to him the share that 
 he wants of that which he gives me. Perhaps 
 such a move as I am going to propose should not 
 begin with me, as I am just starting my Christian 
 Ufe; but perhaps, for that very reason, I want the 
 more to start right; and I should like to see our 
 whole class a unit in two respects, one a deter- 
 mination never to give less to God's work than 
 the old Jews who did not know the gospel, and 
 the other an adoption of the weekly offering plan. 
 Why, it stands to reason that a plan which works 
 so beautifully in business will work well in the 
 church. We all know that a very large per- 
 
154 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 centage of all the large furniture, pianos, organs, 
 sets of books, houses, land, is being paid for by 
 the week or the month ; and tens of thousands of 
 families own their homes who never could have 
 done so on any other plan. Two thousand 
 dollars seems far out of the workingman's reach; 
 but five dollars a v/eek for ten years is a very 
 moderate rental, and the first thing a man knows, 
 the home is his. Since I made up my mind to 
 start right I've been looking this matter up a bit, 
 and I find that churches which, on the old col- 
 lection plan, were giving twenty-five dollars a 
 year for missions, are now, on the weekly offering 
 plan, giving five hundred dollars, and those which 
 gave five hundred dollars are finding themselves 
 able to give from two to five thousand. I am 
 sure there is no better way to stop some of these 
 wasteful expenditures of ours than to feel that, 
 of our income, so much per week is not ours to 
 waste. Just to get the sense of the class, I make 
 a motion that we agree never to give less than a 
 tenth of our incomes to God's work." 
 
 "I second the motion," said Chester Dan- 
 forth, a close friend of Weatherby. ''It seems 
 to me the most businesslike thing we've ever 
 done, and I need it just as badly as any of you. 
 I won't take the time with my account, but it is 
 like the rest, and very like Weatherby 's." 
 
 "I doubt if this is a matter which can be de- 
 termined by majority vote," remarked the presi- 
 dent; ''for it must be a personal conviction and 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 155 
 
 resolution by each man for himself. We might 
 have an informal show of hands, and then pre- 
 pare a paper for signatures afterward, if it seemed 
 best. I believe there is already organized some- 
 where a 'Tenth Legion,' with which we might 
 associate ourselves. Their pledge is to give not 
 less than a tenth. Just to see how we stand, 
 
 all those who would like to make this pledge " 
 
 "Mr. President, before we take that vote, 
 I should like to say a word," broke in Edward 
 Harden, in a quiet, modest, yet determined way, 
 quite different from his former violent explosions 
 of opinion. "For years I have had the name of 
 living, and have been dead. Jesus Christ has been 
 nothing to me but a name, a doctrine, my ac- 
 knowledgment of which has given me a certain 
 respectability, a degree of freedom from fear 
 with regard to the future, and, I am afraid, more 
 than a degree of freedom from responsibility 
 for the use of my time and money. I have been 
 laboring under the curious, yet common, de- 
 lusion that a Christian is held to a less strict 
 account than a non-Christian, because the latter 
 is to be judged by the law, while the former is 
 under mercy and grace. It never dawned on me 
 until the other day that to presume on the 
 patience and long-suffering of God, and give 
 him less as my Saviour than I would as my ruler 
 and judge, was the height of ingratitude and the 
 depth of cowardice. I was furious last week 
 at the suggestion of rendering an account to the 
 
156 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 other members of the class, just because I really 
 haven't been proposing to render an account to 
 anyone. But when we began to look into that 
 first chapter of our book, the question kept 
 intruding itself upon my mind, if missions have 
 this motive and aim, they are nothing less than 
 the thing for which the church exists, and for 
 which Christ came; and the man who has a part 
 in the church and in Christ, must have a part in 
 missions. When Christ came into the world, 
 it was to free men from responsibility for sin, 
 but surely not from responsibiUty for service. 
 Was not the freedom from sin to be the very 
 producing cause of a far more effective service 
 than ever before? When our Heavenly Father 
 gives to us of this world's goods, or permits us 
 to gain them, how foolish for us to suppose that 
 it is his aim that we may eat and drink and be 
 merry while life lasts! Why have we not seen 
 his intention that by the rational eating and drink- 
 ing of a part we may be the better able to use 
 the rest for the accomplishment of the church's 
 mission? The Bible is clear enough, 'Whether 
 ye eat, or drink, or w^hatsoever ye do, do all to 
 the glory of God.' And one of those mottoes in 
 the Sunday-school room has pinned itself in my 
 memory. Xhrist is either Lord of all, or he 
 is not Lord at all.' I feel inclined to add another 
 couplet to that, 'Christ is either Lord of all, or 
 he is not Sa\iour at all.' I am sure to-night that 
 I have had neither part not lot in Jesus Christ 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 157 
 
 heretofore, though I began to take the sacra- 
 ment when I was fifteen; but I am also sure that, 
 in spite of the dishonor and shame I have brought 
 to his name, he has accepted me; and I have 
 promised him that he shall be my Lord of all to 
 the end of my days. I assured you a week ago 
 that you should get no accounting from me. But 
 I have made up as accurate an account as I 
 could, and, as a wholesome medicine for myself, 
 would read it to you, but for the lateness of the 
 hour. I'll sum it up in a word by saying that 
 I've spent every cent of my income and run in 
 debt a hundred dollars; have next to nothing to 
 show for it in the way of books, pictures, or 
 intellectual uplift; and that I cannot figure up 
 quite tw^o dollars given to the whole range of 
 church and benevolent objects. It could hardly 
 be much worse; but it is positively the last 
 quarter that I shall ever have such an account to 
 be ashamed of. And I say, fellows, I want to 
 ask you to pray not only for me, but also for my 
 father. If ever a man visibly hardened his heart 
 against conviction, he is doing it now, and he's 
 just miserable. Neither Lena nor I can get even 
 a smile out of him. If he laughs, it is in a 
 hollow, cynical fashion. But I do believe prayer 
 will bring him around. Bless you, fellows, for 
 being so patient with my old pig-headedness!" 
 
 "T want a word, too, Mr. President, before 
 that vote is taken," quickly spoke Herbert 
 Thorne, younger brother of the Deacon, a regular 
 
158 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 attendant in the class, but heretofore quite 
 unapproachable on the subject of personal re- 
 ligion. "I have been a good deal of a cynic 
 also, and it has been my cynicism, more than any- 
 thing else, that has kept me out of the church. 
 I saw too many of what I styled hypocrites among 
 the members of Westminster and other churches. 
 I did not think my brother was much of a deacon. 
 Our teacher here was a nice enough man, but no 
 better with rehgion than he would have been 
 without it. Most of our elders smoked, while I 
 abhorred the habit. Our pastor preached good 
 sermons, but was v/ell paid for them and didn't 
 show much inclination for self-denial. You 
 fellows who were church members were using 
 your time and money, I thought, more foolishly 
 and wastefully than I; and I knew hardly a 
 person in the church who didn't have money 
 enough to do anything he really wanted to do, 
 while all were so poor when the church made a 
 call. In fact, I've been one of the most devoted 
 mote-pickers that ever was, and thought that 
 by my own unaided efforts I could be quite as 
 good as the best of you. But with all my picking 
 I couldn't get a mote out. Then recently there 
 has come along One who has spoken a word to 
 the deacon and the doctor and the dominie 
 and the elders and all the rest of you, and the 
 motes have disappeared; while I have suddenly 
 been revealed to myself as almost totally blind 
 by reason of the beam that was in mine own eye, 
 
WITH VOU ALWAYS 159 
 
 the beam of loveless censoriousness. All my 
 righteousnesses have been made to appear as 
 filthy rags; and in these rags I have to-night 
 thrown myself at the feet of Jesus, to be cleansed 
 and clothed, and counted henceforth as one of 
 his humble servants to do his bidding." 
 
 While Herbert Thorne was speaking the last 
 words, Stephen Talbot, the only member of the 
 class who had not yet confessed Christ, rose 
 quietly and left the house, with no word to any- 
 one. When the president of the class called 
 again for a show^ of hands, every right hand in 
 the room, went up, including that of Dr. Sears, 
 who said as they separated: 
 
 "Will wonders never cease? This has been a 
 blessed night in the history of our class, and of the 
 kingdom. Let everyone pray for Stephen Tal- 
 bot: our number must be complete." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 A MISSIONARY CANVASS 
 
 THE Missionary Committee determined at 
 its next meeting, on advice from the 
 session as to the importance of estabhshing 
 the benevolent offerings of the church on the 
 weekly basis, that the most important work 
 before the committee was the institution of an 
 every-member canvass. While it was not pos- 
 sible to determine that every member of the 
 church should give according to his ability, yet 
 both session and Missionary Committee were 
 determined that that ideal should be the standard 
 of whose attainment they would never despair. 
 So great had been the results already attained 
 that they were not without hope that the goal 
 might eventually be reached. When the meet- 
 ing had been opened with prayer, and Mr. 
 Stanton had been called upon for communica- 
 tions from the session, or any word of suggestion, 
 he said: 
 
 "The plan of the session is to have presented 
 to the session next Sunday the great desirability 
 of placing all the gifts of the church on a weekly 
 basis of subscription, whatever be the method of 
 payment, some finding monthly or quarterly 
 payments more convenient. We have done this 
 for some time in the matter of church support, 
 160 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 161 
 
 ever since we gave up the custom of pew-letting 
 because it perpetuated caste distinctions in the 
 house of God. We have unanimously agreed to 
 adopt the 'double envelope,' which provides 
 two attached but readily detachable envelopes, 
 one for church support, the other for benefi- 
 cence, with full opportunity to indicate on the 
 envelope the preference of the giver for particular 
 forms of beneficence, and the organization in 
 the church through which he washes the money 
 to pass. Perhaps the most important of all the 
 functions of this Missionary Committee is the 
 taking of the plea and the pledge to every mem- 
 ber of our church. There will be several hundred 
 whom you will not need to visit because they will 
 have responded to the first request from the 
 session for such pledges. Indeed, it is delightful 
 to think that as many as four-fifths, or even 
 nine-tenths, are Hkely to respond in this way, so 
 that your duties will be lighter than they would 
 be in most churches." 
 
 "How do you think the lists should be divided 
 up, Mr. Stanton?" asked Dr. Sears. 
 
 "I should say that where there is such intimate 
 acquaintance as will make approach easier, you 
 would better pick out old friends; but in the case 
 of others, usually the general fitness of things 
 will indicate. Yet I learn from the experience 
 of others that, while it is not usually wise to send 
 the poor to the rich, because it weakens the 
 appeal, yet it is often very effective to send the 
 
162 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 rich to the poor, as a proof of the fact that the 
 church means business and that the poor are not 
 despised. I notice that some churches are com- 
 pleting the entire canvass in a very short time 
 by increasing the number of canvassers, doing 
 away with one service some Sunday and devoting 
 the half day to a novel 'worshiping of God by 
 offerings ' through the \dsitation of every member 
 of the church before the day is over. I think it 
 may be wise for us to try the slower method first, 
 to give larger opportunity for presenting the 
 matter in each home; but we might wind up the 
 campaign with a second attack by other canvass- 
 ers, on those who fail to respond the first time." 
 
 ''Is it the wish of the session that we should 
 make one canvass for church support and another 
 for beneficence, or combine the two in one can- 
 vass?" asked Mr. George Quincy. 
 
 "We are inclined to make but one canvass, as 
 that will save time and labor, put in service at 
 once the double envelope and emphasize the 
 comparison between what wo are doing for our- 
 selves and for others." 
 
 "I wonder if it would not be a good plan to 
 report the operations of the first week at our next 
 meeting, so that we can all profit by the experi- 
 ence of others, as well as our own," suggested 
 Mr. Quincy. 
 
 "I certainly hope that will be done," cordially 
 assented the pastor. 
 
 "I hope that we shall not attempt this thing 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 163 
 
 single-handed," remarked Elder Wentworth. 
 "You know we are told that one shall chase a 
 thousand but two shall put ten thousand to 
 flight. I heard a man the other day telling how 
 he went into another man's office to get a contri- 
 bution for some good object, and came out again 
 empty-handed and discouraged. Meeting a more 
 plucky friend on the street and bemoaning his 
 failure, the friend offered to go back with him 
 and try again. The two together got a hun- 
 dred dollars out of that man, and made him feel 
 that he had made a good investment. 'At 
 the mouth of two witnesses,' you know, 'shall a 
 matter be established.' It is ten times as hard 
 to turn one's back on duty and say 'No' to two 
 men as it is to one; so I move that we do Uke 
 the disciples, when Jesus sent them out, go two 
 by two." 
 
 "It may take longer to cover the ground that 
 way," said Mr. Stanton; "but I have no doubt 
 that the contributions will be larger, and more 
 intelligent and cheerful. We mil see to it that 
 all the pledge cards, the record sheets, the enve- 
 lopes, and some printed leaflets, are ready to be 
 given out on Sunday, and will meet at the close 
 of the evening service to assign to the members 
 of the committee the names of all those who may 
 not have handed in their pledges during the day, 
 that you may begin work at once." 
 
 "I foresee one difficulty, Mr. Stanton," said 
 Dr. Sears; "and that is that our committee 
 
164 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 represents only the benevolent work of the church. 
 The trustees are not in this at all. Will they not 
 feel this oversight, be out of sympathy with the 
 whole matter, and thus hinder the work?" 
 
 ''That is a matter of which I was just about to 
 speak," rephed the pastor; ''T think we should 
 by all means associate with us in this work the 
 board of trustees. It m^ay prove good for them as 
 well as for those whom they \'i5it. They meet 
 to-morrow evening, and I will see that the matter 
 is brought before them. I beueve that I can 
 demonstrate to them that the canvass for benevo- 
 lence, so far from decreasing the gifts to church 
 support, will largely increase them. It has cer- 
 tainly done so in hundreds of other churches 
 which have tried it." 
 
 All the sub-committees had been actively at 
 work, and had much to report as to the securing 
 of Hterature for a library, the preparation of a 
 special programme for the next missionary meet- 
 ing, and other progressive measures. One of the 
 special features of this next meeting was to be the 
 presentation of a foreign mission topic b}^ one 
 most interested in home missions, and of a home 
 mission topic by a foreign mission enthusiast. 
 
 At the meeting of the trustees the next e^'ening 
 it did not prove difficult to persuade them of the 
 ^\^sdom of joining in the canvass; and they ap- 
 pointed a number of their own members equal to 
 the membership of the Missionary Committee, 
 though one or two of the board were still skeptical 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 165 
 
 as to the effect upon local church support of this 
 great de\Tlopment of interest in missions. 
 
 On the following Sabbath morning Mr. Stan- 
 ton presented to the congregation the plan in 
 its entirety, using I Corinthians i6: 2 as his 
 text. He recounted in a few words the marvelous 
 changes of the past few wTeks in foreign mission 
 interest, and presented also concisely the appeal- 
 ing needs of America, the new towns of the west, 
 Alaska, Porto Rico and Cuba, the foreign commu- 
 nities in our cities and towns, the negroes and the 
 mountain whites, the incoming immigrants, of the 
 denominational schools and colleges, of the publi- 
 cation of good literature and the organization of 
 Sunday schools. Then he appealed for local chari- 
 ties, for the poor, the sick, the disabled and the un- 
 fortunate; and finally appealed for a more univer- 
 sal and systematic contribution to the current 
 expenses of the local church. He illustrated the 
 effect of f ollo\dng the scriptural rule of weekly giv- 
 ing by the example of many churches which had 
 increased their contributions from two to twenty, 
 or even a hundredfold, when weekly offerings 
 were introduced; and expressed the earnest 
 desire of the entire session that each member 
 should base his gifts to these causes upon the 
 manner in which God had prospered him, that 
 is, in proportion to his income, ever bearing in 
 mind that the question is not "How much of my 
 money shall I give to God? " but "How much of 
 God's money shall I keep for myself? " He then 
 
166 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 described the new envelopes and the pledges, the 
 opportunity given, on the latter, to each indi- 
 vidual, for free specification as to the division to 
 be made of his benevolent contributions, any 
 unspecified offerings to be divided according to 
 the judgment of the session. He urged the vol- 
 untary making of these pledges by every member 
 of church and congregation, young and old, so 
 as to render unnecessary any personal solicita- 
 tion. If, however, any felt in need of more light, 
 their failure to pledge would be considered an 
 invitation to the committee appointed for the 
 purpose to wait upon them in their homes. 
 Pledge cards and pencils would be found in the 
 pews, that all might take immediate action; 
 but pledges would also be received at the evening 
 service. The committee would begin its work 
 on Monday. 
 
 Earnestly, tenderly, was that great congrega- 
 tion led in prayer by its pastor, that the business 
 act of that day might be the glad expression of 
 the life in Christ and for Christ of each member 
 of the church, or of the desire for a fuller life on 
 the part of those who had not yet come into that 
 vital relation to him; that the church might 
 become absolutely a unit in its recognition of 
 that Christian stewardship which was not bond- 
 age or hardship, but liberty and delight; and 
 that the windows of heaven might be opened yet 
 more widely to the church thus seeking to bring 
 all the tithes into the storehouse. A few minutes 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 167 
 
 were then given to unhurried, silent prayer and 
 meditation, after which, seeing once more their 
 Lord seated "over against the treasury," the 
 congregation busied themselves for a time with 
 pencils, and then filed past the treasury and de- 
 posited their cards. The service was almost as 
 impressive as those on the Sunday of vision, and 
 few of those present failed to drop their cards 
 into the chest. At the evening service those 
 who had not been present or prepared in the 
 morning were given an opportunity. 
 
 When the committee met to count the cards, 
 it was found that, with a membership of eight 
 hundred and twenty, fifty of whom were non- 
 resident, there were nine hundred and four 
 pledges. Analysis showed that all the resident 
 members except seventeen had made a pledge, 
 though twelve of the number had pledged nothing 
 for benevolence, and five others had excluded 
 foreign missions from their pledges. Thus one 
 hundred and fifty-one non-members had made 
 pledges, one hundred and twenty-three of which 
 included benevolence, though thirty-six of these 
 omitted foreign missions. About two-thirds 
 accepted the session's apportionment of their 
 gifts; many ladies stipulated that their gifts 
 should go through the Women's Society, and 
 young people made the same stipulation as to the 
 Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. 
 The results had exceeded the anticipations of all; 
 and the committee found its task limited to the 
 
168 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 visitation of thirty-four resident members and 
 about eighty regular attendants, sixteen of whom 
 had pledged nothing, the others, having begun to 
 contribute, being regarded as hopeful subjects of 
 personal work. The committee had decided that, 
 as there were so many in the church quite as much 
 in earnest as themselves, they would double the 
 force of \dsitors, so that ten pairs of consecrated 
 Christians divided among themselves the one 
 hundred and fourteen to be visited, determined 
 to do their utmost to complete the work within 
 the week. The pastor agreed to see the odd four 
 himself, especially as there were that number 
 whose circumstances were so pecuhar as to render 
 it wise that he should see them. 
 
 Among these four were an old man and his 
 wdfe, who apparently possessed nothing but 
 their tiny old cottage, some distance out of 
 town. Both were in feeble health, the husband 
 unable to do more than odd jobs, while his wiie 
 took in a little sewing. It was e\'ident to all 
 that they had scarcely enough to keep body and 
 soul together; and when their names were read 
 several of the committee suggested that they be 
 omitted from the hst. The pastor was about to 
 speak, when Elder Wentworth exclaimed: 
 
 "WTiat! you aren't going to deprive them of 
 their Christian privileges just because they're 
 poor, are you? I should call that ' respect of per- 
 sons.' I believe if our pastor should go to them 
 and offer them a share in this newly appreciated 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 169 
 
 privilege of ours, by a very small regular offering, 
 it would brighten their lives amazingly. It may 
 be they're ashamed to offer the two mites because 
 they do not know that they count for more than 
 the rich man's abundance. And I believe it will 
 be fine for the church to know that even these 
 poorest of the people, themselves at times the 
 objects of charity, want a part in the eA-angeliza- 
 tion of the world. After all, every one of us is 
 an object of charity, — God's charity, — and we're 
 just now planning how to use his donations so as 
 to glorify him." 
 
 Again the beloved disciple had fathomed the 
 heart of the Master, and there was none to dis- 
 pute the wisdom of his words. The pastor went, 
 the very next day, to see Mr. and Mrs. Granger, 
 and found them both at home, no work having 
 offered for the man, who was preparing the frugal 
 meal, while his wife stitched away on some cloth- 
 ing sent in to be mended. They welcomed the 
 minister with glad faces, but with many apolo- 
 gies for the Hmited quarters afforded by their one 
 living room: 
 
 ''It's but a poor place in which to receive our 
 minister, Mr. Stanton; but it's glad indeed we 
 are to see you, sir. If it were not for the work 
 you have sent to us, and the clothing and the 
 money that have come now and then from the 
 church, we should never have been able to pull 
 through; for, what with my rheumatism and the 
 wife's neuralgia, we are not good for much. But 
 
170 WITB YOU ALWAYS 
 
 God has been very good to us; and I only wish I 
 was strong and well so that I could have some 
 part in these new doings at the church." 
 
 "Well, why shouldn't you have a part in them, 
 Mr. Granger? Neither rheumatism nor neuralgia 
 can disable the arm of prayer, which, after all, is 
 the greatest power in the evangelization of the 
 world, if it be genuine and backed up with all 
 the power we have. God cannot do much toward 
 answering the lazy man's prayer; but he can do 
 everything for the helpless man who prays. As 
 to the gifts, you know we are told that they are 
 always estimated ' according as a man hath, not 
 according as he hath not.' " 
 
 ''Yes, Mr. Stanton, there's a lot of comfort in 
 that," said Mr. Granger; "yet one doesn't feel 
 right in not gi\ang when other people are gi\dng 
 and when the work needs it so much. I believe 
 we could do something by pinching a little 
 closer. We could give up a cup of tea now and 
 then, and one of our two weekly meals of meat 
 occasionally. They do say that beans are just 
 as nourishing as meat, and they cost less. But 
 what we could save wouldn't be enough to do 
 anything with. And then, too, it doesn't look 
 just right to give anything away when we are 
 objects of charity ourselves." 
 
 " But why not, Mr. Granger? Everything that 
 any of us has comes from God, some of it through 
 his blessing on our work, some of it through other 
 servants of his when we are unable to work; and 
 
WITS YOU ALWA YS 171 
 
 if we choose to deny ourselves in order to have a 
 share in his great, blessed work, do you think he 
 could possibly be displeased?'* 
 
 "No; I wasn't thinking so much of him as of 
 folks, Mr. Stanton. They might think wt were 
 accepting their help when we chdn't need it." 
 
 "If I hear of anyone who thinks that way, I'll 
 invite him to come over here and make you a 
 call, to cure him of any such idea. And as to 
 what you could give not being enough to do any- 
 thing with, do you remember what the Lord said 
 about the poor widow's two mites? I am inclined 
 to think that he meant not only that they counted 
 for more with him than the abundance of the 
 rich, but that they would actually do more. 
 How many of the millions which have since been 
 given by rich and poor do you suppose have been 
 inspired by that woman's example and the Lord's 
 words, or drawn forth by the shame of the com- 
 parison? Those two mites have done the work 
 of millions." 
 
 "I suppose that's true, Mr. Stanton," replied 
 the old man; "and we should like to do a little; 
 but the smallest figure on your pledge card is 
 five cents a week, and I doubt if we could give 
 that much apiece by any hook or crook." 
 
 "But there is a blank space on the card for any 
 amounts other than those mentioned. Make it 
 two cents a week, or five cents between you, if 
 you like." 
 
 "Well, I think we can do that, unless we have 
 
172 WI T H YOU AL W A Y S 
 
 some big set-back; and we'll be so glad to have 
 a part in it all. Wife and I were talking last 
 night about that idea of 'locked-up missionaries.' 
 She has an old breastpin laid away in her drawer: 
 it isn't the style they wear now; but we were 
 wondering if it would sell for anything that we 
 could give to pay up some of our back dues for 
 the Lord's work. We haven't liked to sell her 
 mother's pin for our own uses, but if it will help 
 to save souls it seems a pity to keep it laid away.'' 
 And the old man walked over to the bureau and 
 took out the brooch, handing it first to his wife, 
 who touched it lovingly, and then handed it to 
 the pastor, who took it very reverently as a 
 sacred thing, gave a start of surprise at its beauty, 
 and promised to try to sell it. 
 
 From the cottage of poverty the pastor made 
 his way to the home of wealth, set in the midst of 
 lawns and gardens, the handsome residence of 
 Vincent Schuyler, a retired business man, one of 
 the trustees of the church, and by far the richest 
 man in the city, yet a man of such a peculiar 
 disposition that none of the committee had been 
 \dning to deal ^\ith him, but had begged their 
 pastor to go. No one had much faith that his 
 name could be secured on a pledge for missions. 
 Mr. Stanton found him in his garden, ^^'ith 
 sleeves rolled above the elbow, working himself 
 and superintending the work of his gardeners. 
 
 ''Good morning, Mr. Stanton," he called, as 
 the minister approached. "You see I like to 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 173 
 
 'mingle with the soil.' It's a fine way to pass 
 the time, which hangs rather heavily at times on 
 the hands of a man who has retired from active 
 business. My wife and daughters make it lively 
 enough, in the house and out, goodness knows; 
 but a man like myself gets a bit tired of women's 
 doings. But what brings you here so early in 
 the day, and the v/eek? I thought this was ' blue 
 Monday' with you ministers. You will go away 
 blue enough, I can assure you, if you have come 
 to talk about missions, as I suspect you have. I 
 turned in my pledge yesterday for the support of 
 the church, and it was larger than ever before; 
 but not one cent am I going to subscribe to mis- 
 sions. If I run across any w^orthy objects of 
 charity during the year, I'll give to them w^hat I 
 think is right; and if any public enterprises 
 strike me as deserving of help, I'll put some of my 
 money into them; but I haven't any money to 
 throw away on the rascally Chinese or the beastly 
 Africans; and as for that home mission work out 
 in the west, why it's just a fight of the denomina- 
 tions to crowd or starve one another out. Since 
 I saw six churches, all depending on home mis- 
 sion boards, in a town of five hundred people, I 
 have thrown no more of my money away on 
 home missions. When I give my money for 
 work, I like to see that work done under my own 
 eye, and then I know my money isn't wasted. 
 My money was all earned by hard work, Mr. 
 Stanton, and I propose to see that it isn't frittered 
 
174 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 away. And then, I don't like these pledges, — 
 except for church support, where we have to have 
 a certain amount regularly, — for they take away 
 that spontaneity which is the most beautiful 
 thing about true benevolence. Every appeal 
 ought to stand on its own feet, and if it appeals to 
 me I will give. But I haven't even offered you a 
 seat, Mr. Stanton: come over and sit down in 
 the arbor, where we can talk better." 
 
 Just as they were seating themselves in the 
 arbor, Mr. Stanton much amused at the fashion 
 in which this man had placed himself on the de- 
 fensive without waiting for a word, there came 
 ringing over the lawn a girl's clear voice, calling, 
 "Father! father! where are you?" The father's 
 reply brought the tripping feet and the merry, 
 eager face of a charming girl of nineteen to the 
 arbor. Not in the least disconcerted at sight of 
 the minister, she extended her hand, cr>dng: 
 
 "Oh, good morning, Mr. Stanton; isn't this a 
 lovely day? O father, Mr. Sprague has just come 
 with that new touring car you were going to look 
 at. I'm going for a ride with him now to try it; 
 but I know I shall Hke it; and I just wanted to 
 ask you if I might take it if it works all right. 
 You know our car is two years old, and it's really 
 too shabby for anything except long country tours 
 in muddy weather. This one costs only forty-five 
 hundred dollars; and Mr. Sprague said that for 
 an extra five hundred dollars he would put on 
 some finer lamps and tanks, and an extra top of 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 175 
 
 a different sort, — a new idea, — making it really 
 seem like two cars. Mr. Stanton, when I get to 
 know the new car perfectly, I am coming round 
 some day to take you and Mrs. Stanton and the 
 children for a long ride. The car holds seven. 
 Now do please hurry up and say 'yes,' daddy; 
 and then I'll go away and you two can talk all 
 the business you want to." 
 
 "Well, Lucile, I'd like to see the man who coul^ 
 say no to you, when you once start coaxing. If 
 you hke the car, tell Sprague to charge it to me. 
 And if it's only a matter of five hundred dollars, 
 you'd better have the extras. I tell you, Mr. 
 Stanton," he added, as his daughter tripped joy- 
 fully away, "one of the nicest things about having 
 money is to let a girl Hke that play ducks and 
 drakes with it, — within limits, of course; within 
 Hmits, of course. But now, what I was saying 
 before that whirlwind arrived, was this " 
 
 "If you'll let me say just a word, Mr. Schuy- 
 ler," broke in the minister in desperation, taking 
 the antique brooch from his pocket, "I brought 
 over this morning for your inspection, as a con- 
 noisseur, one of the most attractive Httle curios 
 that I have seen in a long time. Remembering 
 your fine collection of mounted and unmounted 
 jewels, I thought possibly this jewel might find a 
 discriminating purchaser. I am selhng it for 
 the owner"; and he held out the pin to the now 
 eager man, who looked it over and held it to the 
 light with kindling eyes, and finally exclaimed: 
 
17G WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 ''Well, Mr. Stanton, you wouldn't have dared 
 to carry that loose in your pocket if you had 
 known what a treasure it is! The setting is one 
 of Tayler's most unique designs, of the early 
 seventeenth century; the opal is one of the rich- 
 est, most beautiful I have ever seen, and that 
 circle of diamonds, though small, is of the first 
 water. I can tell you right now, without your 
 going any farther, that the pin is worth every bit 
 of two thousand dollars, and I will gladly pay that 
 for it to add to my collection." 
 
 "I felt sure when I saw the brooch that it was 
 worth far more than the owners supposed, per- 
 haps some tens or hundreds of dollars. But if it 
 is worth as much as two thousand, I think I would 
 better consult the owners before I sell." And 
 without referring to the subject of missions, 
 greatly to the surprise of Mr. Schuyler, the pastor 
 took up his hat to go. 
 
 ''You are welcome to inquire anywhere as to 
 its value, Mr. Stanton; but I hope you wdll give 
 me the refusal of it. It is one of my greatest 
 pleasures to put my money into these quaint and 
 beautiful things which cannot be matched else- 
 where. By the way, Mr. Stanton, you haven't 
 seen that Rembrandt I secured last week, have 
 you? Come in and see it before you go." And 
 he led the minister to his spacious art gallery and 
 showed him with pride and reverence his latest 
 acquisition among a host of others. "It was 
 cheap at seventy-five thousand dollars," he said. 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 177 
 
 "for you know a genuine Rembrandt is not often 
 to be had in these days." 
 
 After giving full admiration to the picture, Mr. 
 Stanton hastened first to the chief jeweler of the 
 town, who also went into ecstasies over the 
 brooch and appraised it at twenty-five hundred 
 dollars; then to the cottage of the poor old couple, 
 who were greatly surprised to see him again so 
 soon. 
 
 "I have found a purchaser for your brooch, 
 Mrs. Granger," he said; "but it proves to be so 
 much more \aluable than you supposed that I 
 did not venture to sell until I had consulted you 
 again. It is a very rare piece of jewelry that you 
 have had laid up here so long, and will bring 
 enough to make you comfortable for many a day, 
 and to pro\'ide a handsome contribution for the 
 Lord's work besides. It is worth twenty-five 
 hundred dollars; and if you wish me to sell it for 
 that, you can put the money in the bank, and 
 then make out a check for w^hat you wish to give 
 to the Lord." 
 
 "What's that you say, pastor? My mother's 
 old breastpin worth twenty-five hundred dollars? 
 Well, she never had that to give for it, so it must 
 have come down from richer ancestors." 
 
 "Yes; it was made more than two hundred 
 years ago, so that part of its value is in its age." 
 
 "Well, Mr. Stanton, I never expected to have 
 any such sum of money as that to put into the 
 Lord's work; but it's glad I am to be able to un- 
 
178 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 lock a missionary that I never knew I had locked 
 up here! You just sell the pin for what it will 
 bring, and some day when you have time we'll 
 plan how to put the money into the work in such 
 a way that we shall feel it is doing the Lord's work 
 for us." 
 
 "But, Mrs. Granger, in your circumstances you 
 will surely wish to use some of this money to 
 make yourself and Mr. Granger more comforta- 
 ble. It seems as if God had sent it to make your 
 way easier, and let you have a part in his work 
 besides. I could not think of accepting it all for 
 that work." 
 
 "Well, Mr. Stanton, if you'll excuse my saying 
 it, it's not you I'm asking to do the accepting of 
 it. Mr. Granger and I, we gave that pin to the 
 Lord, and to the Lord it belongs, whatever it may 
 be worth. We'll be none the poorer for parting 
 with it at twenty-five hundred dollars than we 
 would have been at five dollars, and we should 
 feel as if we were robbing God if we said to him, 
 'We were ready to give you our only treasure if it 
 was worth five dollars, but twenty-five hundred is 
 too much for you.' God will provide for us, we 
 are sure of that, and we've no need to begrudge 
 him his good fortune, sir. At the most, it won't 
 go very far toward saving the Chinese from their 
 superstition and the Africans from their degrada- 
 tion. I only wish it was a hundred times that 
 much that we had to give, Mr. Stanton." 
 
 Marveling at the faith and consecration of 
 
WITH YO U A L W A Y S 179 
 
 these poor, despised disciples, whose deep poverty 
 was so abounding unto the riches of their liberal- 
 ity, the minister knelt for a moment of grateful 
 prayer for God's blessing on the gift and on the 
 givers; then, placing the brooch carefully in an 
 inner pocket, he hastened again to the home of 
 Vincent Schuyler, and finding him at leisure, 
 took out the brooch and said: 
 
 " Mr. Schuyler, this proves to be a remarkable 
 gem in more senses than one. Haynes the jew- 
 eler was as interested as you, and after examining 
 the stones, told me, of his own accord, that the 
 pin is worth every cent of twenty-five hundred 
 dollars. But by far the most remarkable thing 
 about it is the wish of its owner concerning it. 
 That owTier is none other than old Mrs. Granger, 
 of whose struggle with poverty, shared with her 
 infirm husband, you already know considerable. 
 Belie\-ing profoundly that no member of our 
 church, or any other, will ever be in right rela- 
 tion to the present world or the world to come, to 
 God our Father or our Lord Jesus Christ, unless 
 he has some part, according as God has prospered 
 him, in the great work of Christ and the church, 
 the gi\ing of the gospel to the whole world, I did 
 not feel that even the poorest members of the 
 church should be denied that privilege; so I 
 went to see what the Grangers would wish to do, 
 and be able to do, in this direction." 
 
 "Why, they're objects of charity themselves!" 
 broke in Mr. Schuyler, contemptuously. "WTio 
 
180 W IT H YOU ALWAYS 
 
 ever heard of going begging of beggars? They 
 laughed at you, didn't they? " 
 
 "No, indeed, they did not laugh. I found that 
 one of their great griefs was their fear that they 
 could never have a part with others in the great 
 work. Did you never read in the Scriptures, Mr. 
 Schuyler, of the poor widow who cast her mites 
 into the treasury, and was commended by our 
 Lord as having given more than all the rich men 
 who had cast in of their abundance? These poor 
 people near you coveted that commendation, and 
 having no money to give, they brought out their 
 only treasure, of the value of which they had no 
 idea, and asked me to sell it for the cause which 
 lay nearest the Master's heart, the seeking and 
 saving of the lost, whether they be rascally 
 Chinese, beastly Africans, or gospel-hardened 
 Americans." 
 
 "Ha! Ha! I guess they changed their minds 
 when you told them you could get twenty-five 
 hundred dollars for their treasure, didn't they? 
 That amount in the bank will relieve their neigh- 
 bors of any responsibility for them for some time 
 to come. I am glad my money will serve so good 
 a purpose. Excellent old people, the Grangers. 
 My, but I should like to have seen their eyes bulge 
 when you told them of their good fortune! " 
 
 "Well, Mr. Schuyler, I just wish you had been 
 there, for I truly think your eyes would have done 
 the bulging. What will you say when I tell you 
 that those people rejected with indignation every 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 181 
 
 proposal of mine for the placing of that money in 
 the bank for their own use, — after giving a sum 
 to missions, — and insisted that that pin had been 
 given to the Lord regardless of its value, and to the 
 Lord it must go? Their faces fairly glowed with 
 the delight of being able to ' unlock ' some mis- 
 sionaries and set them at work. The dear old 
 lady actually rebuked me and said, ' We'll be none 
 the poorer for parting wdth it at twenty-five 
 hundred dollars than we should have been at five, 
 and we should feel that we were robbing God if 
 we said to him, ^'We would give you our only 
 treasure if it was worth but five dollars, but 
 twenty-five hundred is too much for you." God 
 will provide for us, we are sure of that, and we've 
 no need to begrudge him his good fortune, sir. 
 At the most it won't go very far toward saving 
 the Chinese from their superstition and the Afri- 
 cans from their degradation. I wish it was a 
 hundred times as much.' " 
 
 There was no doubt at all about the "bulging" 
 as the minister reported the strange interview. 
 He gazed earhestly, prayerfully, into the face of 
 this rich man, to w^hose past experience such 
 thoughts as those of the Grangers had been totally 
 unknown. Mr. Schuyler had inflated his chest 
 as if about to speak, but had found vent for his 
 feelings only in an explosive expulsion of the pent- 
 up breath. For fully a minute he could only gaze 
 helplessly into the keen 3^et tender eyes of his 
 pastor, who seemed to him for the moment to 
 
182 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 stand in the place of his acknowledged but un- 
 followed Master himself. Then he burst forth in 
 a voice of agitation such as no one had ever heard 
 from him before: 
 
 "Well! That certainly beats anything I ever 
 heard. When you began to tell me of their de- 
 cision, Mr. Stanton, I was on the point of crying 
 out, ' The poor fools ! they don't know^ what they're 
 doing, and will have to have guardians appointed.' 
 But the words did not get out before the convic- 
 tion came upon me, like a bolt from the blue, that 
 it wasn't a case of two poor fools, but of one rich 
 fool, and that I am the man. And to think that 
 I should have to be taught the lesson by the two 
 paupers, to whom I have occasionally, in most 
 cold-blooded fashion, doled out a pittance dis- 
 tinctly labeled ' Charity ' ! Here I have been for 
 years puUing down my barns and building greater, 
 and saying to my soul, 'Soul, thou hast much 
 goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, 
 eat, drink, be merry, buy new automobiles and 
 gems and pictures until thou hast more and finer 
 than anyone else.' And the wonder is that the 
 Lord did not say to me long ago, 'Thou foolish 
 one, this night is thy soul required of thee.' 
 I've never been rich tow^ard God. I've taken a 
 pride in keeping up the church as a most respect- 
 able club with a sort of insurance element in it. 
 For respectability's sake I have contributed to 
 public charities and reform movements; but I 
 have never known the faintest approach to the 
 
WITB YOU ALWAYS 183 
 
 feeling which our poor old friends have expressed 
 and evidently felt. I suppose you will tell me 
 that I never can feel it, because in no imaginable 
 circumstances would I have to practice their self- 
 denial. Well, I'll tell you one thing, Mr. Stan- 
 ton, I'm going to try for at least a taste of it. 
 Just as a beginning, I should like to make the 
 price of that pin five thousand dollars, half of it 
 to start a bank account for those two aged saints. 
 No; that won't work, for they would insist again 
 on giving it all to missions. We must think of 
 some other plan to keep them in comfort, from an 
 anonymous source, while they give their twenty- 
 five hundred to missions. And now for that 
 pledge, wliich I know you have in your pocket, 
 though I did not give you a chance either to con- 
 fess or deny it this morning, let me have one and 
 do a bit of figuring. In my circumstances there 
 is no use trying to compete with the Grangers; 
 but what is the proper rule, Mr. Stanton? You 
 see this is an uncultivated part of my nature, and 
 I don't know just how to go to work. You must 
 tell me." 
 
 "The Apostle Paul laid down an excellent rule, 
 which is sometimes called 'the scriptural rule of 
 three for Christian giving.' It should be in- 
 dividual, systematic and proportional. 'Upon 
 the first day of the week let each one of you lay 
 by him in store, as he may prosper.' " 
 
 "But is there anyone who follows that rule, 
 Mr. Stanton? If they do, it must be a mighty 
 
184 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 small 'proportion' that they've settled on, to 
 judge by the reports of mission boards!" 
 
 ''Yes, Mr. Schuyler, there are many who are 
 now giving according to that rule; but, as you 
 say, even among them many are contented with 
 'a mighty small proportion.' While there are 
 almost im_measurable advantages in adopting a 
 certain percentage of income at the very begin- 
 ning of life, as many now do, yet the great danger 
 of the plan is that men will make that percentage 
 a maximum instead of a minimum, and giving, 
 say, a tenth of their incomes when they earn a 
 thousand dollars a year, will continue to give only 
 a tenth when they receive fifty thousand. Some 
 one has well said that God does not measure our 
 devotion by what we give, but by what we keep 
 for ourselves. The gift of a hundred dollars from 
 the thousand-dollar man means far more self- 
 sacrifice than the gift of five thousand from the 
 fifty-thousand-dollar man. Yet one of the sad- 
 dest facts, Mr. Schuyler, is that the proportion of 
 thousand-dollar men giving a hundred dollars is 
 far larger than that of the fifty-thousand-dollar 
 men giving five thousand dollars. Even Chris- 
 tian men associate sums of four to ten figures with 
 business, with home education, with public works, 
 with scientific research, with war, with amuse- 
 ment, with their own facilities for the luxurious 
 worship of God, but seldom with charitable under- 
 takings at home, and almost never with missions. 
 But the day is coming when the giving of sums 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 185 
 
 of one to twenty millions of dollars by individuals 
 to the work of evangelizing the world will seem 
 as reasonable to the men of wealth in the church 
 as similar gifts to education and research in 
 America have come to seem, and when the church 
 that spends from two to five hundred thousand 
 dollars in the erection and adornment of its own 
 building will feel that it must match the sum with 
 an equal expenditure for world-wide missions 
 in order to prove that it loves God supremely 
 and loves its neighbor as itself. The spirit of the 
 Crusades, but more wisely directed, will some day 
 lay hold on the men and women and children of 
 the church. It will seem no more of a waste to 
 spend millions on equipment and campaigning 
 and devote the richest young life of the church, for 
 the redemption of a world from sin, than it now 
 seems to put millions of the people's money and 
 thousands of young lives into 'Dreadnaughts' 
 and fighting force for the defense of our own bor- 
 ders against a possible foe. Rather will it be 
 seen that the former is vastly the more acceptable 
 to God. The man of means to-day does not stop 
 to count his dollars when he wants something. 
 The day will come when Christian men of means 
 will so want to see the kingdom come in power 
 that they will say to the workers on the field, 
 'Get the thing done, and send the bill to us.' 
 But pardon me for running on in this way, Mr. 
 Schuyler; the experiences of these last few weeks 
 have so transfigured the whole idea of the church 
 
186 WITB YOU ALWA YS 
 
 and of the Christian hfe for me that I have become 
 very enthusiastic and very optimistic. I know 
 without any doubt that when Christian people 
 come to reaHze the personal presence of Jesus 
 Christ as their most intimate friend, the partner 
 of joys and sorrows, of plans and undertakings 
 and expenditures, these things of which I have 
 spoken will most certainly come to pass." 
 
 ''Well, Mr. Stanton, two hours ago you would 
 not have made the slightest impression upon me 
 by that sort of talk, for I should have laid it all 
 to 'the cloth'; but now, if the Lord will be merci- 
 ful to me a sinner against abundant light and 
 above measure, I will take him as a partner for 
 the rest of my life, — or, rather, I will ask him to 
 let me be a partner with him in the work which he 
 wishes to do in the world. I have never believed 
 in hoarding money; but for some years now, even 
 buying automobiles and Rembrandts and precious 
 stones has not used up all my income, and my pile 
 has been growing. For whom? The fifth of it 
 would provide very comfortably for my children. 
 My money has all come honestly, Mr. Stanton, 
 though I must admit, in the light of what has 
 occurred this morning, that I have not l^een 
 making a strictly honest use of it. It will require 
 considerable thinking to know what amends 
 should be made. The giving to these big uni- 
 versities, which already have their tens of mil- 
 lions, strikes me as being a bit overdone, for the 
 smaller colleges, no matter how good their work, 
 
WITE YOU ALWAYS 187 
 
 don't have half a chance, especially now that by 
 one great fund a premium has been put on their 
 secularization. Just the other day I was chuck- 
 ling over one thing, and that is that though there 
 are no other people in the world who insist so 
 vigorously on securing a thoroughly educated, 
 up-to-date ministry as these men of large means, 
 yet scarcely any of them give a second serious 
 thought to the equipment and endowment of our 
 theological seminaries and Bible-training schools. 
 Perhaps that is a good field for me, Mr. Stan- 
 ton?" 
 
 ''A good field it certainly is, Mr. Schuyler, if 
 you pick out the seminaries which are grounding 
 men well in the faith, instead of those which are 
 merely, like the men of Athens, telling or hearing 
 some new thing. The man who has millions to 
 give should certainly do something for the smaller 
 Christian colleges and the seminaries and Bible- 
 training schools." 
 
 ''With reference to your views, expressed a 
 moment ago, as to large gifts for missions, I 
 hardly know what to think. They are rather 
 radical, to say the least. Millions and missions 
 sound rather well together, yet somehow they 
 don't seem to belong together. The heathen 
 have never interested me a little bit; and yet 
 our ancestors must have been once heathen of 
 the heathen. It's a good thing that some one 
 took an interest in heathen in those days, for I 
 am sorely afraid that no ordinary process of evo- 
 
188 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 lution would ever have given us the civilization 
 of to-day. It does seem to stand to reason that if 
 we have a good thing, like those lepers in the camp 
 of the absconded Syrians, we should not simply 
 enjoy it ourselves, but pass it on to others. But 
 if so, why is it that there are so few who are doing 
 it? Who ever heard of anyone giving a milhon 
 to missions? " 
 
 "Twenty years ago no one ever had, Mr. 
 Schuyler; but since then, particularly within the 
 last ten years, quite a number of men have given 
 a milUon or more to missions. The largest gift 
 of all was a recent legacy of two and a quarter 
 millions each to several boards of missions of our 
 own church — some thirty millions, in all, to 
 benevolence and education. My ideas may strike 
 you as radical, but they are not original; and the 
 number of their advocates is steadily and surely 
 increasing as the church is coming to realize that 
 missions are its chief end, and that education and 
 other philanthropies attain their true object only 
 as they contribute to the attainment of that su- 
 preme end, the filling of the world with the saving 
 knowledge of God in Christ. Why, think of it, 
 Mr. Schuyler; while Olympia University, one 
 among many, is asking for another ten million 
 dollars to add to its present tens of millions, in 
 order to give a secular and largely specialized 
 training to some hundreds of students, compara- 
 tively few of whom have really at heart the es- 
 tablishment of the kingdom of God, five million 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 189 
 
 dollars would endow a score of colleges and sem- 
 inaries, in as many lands or as many quarters of 
 huge countries like China or India, to raise up 
 thousands of Christian men as leaders in the 
 making of the new civilizations which are to have 
 far larger parts in the forming of the world's 
 future than they have had in the forming of its 
 past. There is no country in the Occident to-day 
 where history is making so rapidly as it is in China, 
 Japan or Turkey. The great, the absolutely only, 
 adequate defense against the ' yellow peril ' is the 
 speedy evangelization of the Orient, and that 
 calls for thousands of men and millions of money. 
 But what a trifle that would seem to the Christian 
 world if we were only as patriotic for the kingdom 
 of God as we are for our native lands! " 
 
 "Well, you certainly give a man as ignorant as 
 I am of these matters a lot to think about. I 
 never had thought enough about it to have any 
 idea of the magnitude of the task, or of its impor- 
 tance either. According to your argument, it is 
 not only a question of benevolence, but also of 
 self-defense." 
 
 *'It most assuredly is. If wt are apprehensive 
 to-day of what Japan, with her forty or fifty 
 million people only fifty years out of the Middle 
 Ages, may do to us in case of a disagreement, 
 what may we not fear, twenty years from now, 
 from China, with ten times the population, and 
 every whit as virile and intelligent? The gospel 
 is the only thing which can turn that peril into 
 
190 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 a blessing. Nevertheless, the great question 
 after all is the Orient's need of Jesus Christ, and 
 our Master's command to us to meet that need. 
 Never before was there such an opportunity for 
 the church to use to utmost advantage the men 
 and money given her by the Master for this very 
 purpose." 
 
 " Do you think, then, that there is no limit to 
 what should be given for these purposes? Will 
 there be no danger of over-capitalizing the enter- 
 prise, or of pauperizing the natives? " 
 
 John Stanton laughed quietly as he replied: 
 *'You say you know but Httle about these mat- 
 ters, Mr. Schuyler; yet you know enough to have 
 yourself said just now that mighty little was being 
 given; so little, indeed, I might add, that the 
 limit to wise giving about which you inquire may 
 be regarded for the present as a purely academic 
 question. When the church has attained to the 
 gi\dng, on an average, of ten times what she is 
 giving now, it may be time to talk of limits; but 
 at present the work already in operation needs 
 two or three times what it receives, and the yet 
 untouched work is many times that already un- 
 dertaken. Steady progress is making in all 
 mission fields in the direction of native self- 
 support; but it has been forwarded as a matter of 
 wise policy, and not merely under the constraint 
 of necessity. The missions of our own church 
 have made a conservative estimate of the new 
 property required for present work, and it 
 
WITU YOU ALWAYS 191 
 
 amounts to more than three million and a half. 
 Add to that what will be needed for advance work 
 in the next few years and you have about fifteen 
 million dollars — a large sum from the point of 
 view of amounts hitherto given, but a mere trifle 
 when compared with the church's wealth, or its 
 expenditures in other directions. It is just about 
 the sum which one church in New York proposes 
 to put into its single house of worship, a sum well 
 within the power of a dozen or more individual 
 Christians to give; yet it would equip the world- 
 wide missions of a great church like ours with all 
 the schools, colleges, seminaries, hospitals, resi- 
 dences and chapels which it is Hkely to need in 
 fulfilling its responsibility toward the non-Chris- 
 tian world. Some Christian man is going to get 
 the vision some day and demonstrate his belief 
 that this is the greatest work in the world: it's 
 surely coming. Ten years ago those great be- 
 quests of which I spoke would have received little 
 commendation and much criticism from the press. 
 But missions have so largely made good, and have 
 been so fully investigated by so many unpreju- 
 diced men, that the sneering and indifference of 
 years gone by are giving way to a general respect 
 and real interest. While there would, no doubt, 
 be some who would call the giver of twenty mil- 
 lions to missions a fool, a large majority of the 
 men whose opinion is best worth considering 
 would style him a benefactor of the race." 
 
 "Well, when I got up this morning I should 
 
192 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 certainly have been among those to call him a 
 fool, Mr. Stanton; and I feel even now as if you, 
 or the Grangers, or some one, must have be- 
 witched me to convince me of the soundness of 
 your logic." 
 
 ''That is quite scriptural, Mr. Schuyler, for 
 Paul said long ago, ' If any man thinketh that he 
 is wise among you in this world, let him become a 
 fool, that he may become wise.' You will be in- 
 terested to know that our Foreign Mission Board 
 is now not only planning what it might do with 
 gifts of millions, but definitely planning what it 
 will do in that confidently expected early future 
 when the day of small things in giving to missions 
 will give place to the day of large things, when 
 the work will be done on a scale adequate to its 
 vastness and importance. The Home Board too 
 has set forth a programme which calls for and 
 contemplates a similar awakening to liberality." 
 
 ''Well, as I said a moment ago, you have given 
 me much to think about; and I am surprised to 
 find myself grateful to you, to the Grangers and 
 to God, for the new line of thought and interest. 
 Let me draw you a check for the Grangers now, 
 and if you will leave the pledge blanks and en- 
 velopes with me, I will send in my pledge to- 
 morrow." 
 
 Thankful beyond words for the strange provi- 
 dential leading which had brought about such 
 results in a single morning, John Stanton carried 
 the check to the jubilant old couple, who held it 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 193 
 
 reverently for a moment and then handed it 
 back to the pastor for the Lord's treasury. When 
 Mrs. Stanton was told the good news her face 
 grew radiant over the story, and together they 
 poured out full hearts in thanksgiving and in 
 prayer for the man who had so suddenly made 
 up his mind to be rich toward God, as well as for 
 the happy couple who had so lavishly done what 
 they could. When Mr. Schuyler's pledges came 
 in the next day, they found that he had doubled 
 his previous pledge for local support, and prom- 
 ised one hundred dollars a week for benevolence. 
 Three or four weeks afterward the church and 
 community were electrified by the report that, 
 after much reading of missionary literature and 
 correspondence with the boards, Vincent Schuy- 
 ler had become the first Christian to do for mis- 
 sions, during his own lifetime, as liberal things 
 as several were doing for education and research, 
 by giving outright to the Board of Foreign Mis- 
 sions ten million dollars, and dividing between the 
 boards working at home another ten milHon dol- 
 lars. And no longer did time hang heavy on the 
 hands of Mr. Schuyler. 
 
 13 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 A PARISH ABROAD 
 
 A MONG the various experiences of the several 
 J'\ pairs of canvassers none was more striking 
 than that of Elder Ogden and Trustee Wat- 
 erson in their interview with Banker Harden. 
 They had completed their entire round of visits 
 most successfully before they ventured to "beard 
 the lion in his den." But all the week they had 
 made him and their visit to him a matter of earn- 
 est prayer; so that it was in no hopeless mood 
 that they entered his office some time after bank- 
 ing hours on Friday afternoon, Mr. Ogden, as a 
 particularly intimate friend, having agreed to do 
 most of the talking. He had made up his mind 
 just what course to pursue; but on taking up an 
 early afternoon paper had run upon an item which 
 had radically changed his whole purpose. With 
 this paper in his pocket, he greeted the banker 
 with far more assurance than that with which he 
 had started on his rather disagreeable errand. 
 
 "Well, Harden, how's the money market?" 
 he sang out in his cheery, half-quizzical fashion, 
 as he shook hands with the banker, who looked 
 anything but responsive to the cheer of the greet- 
 ing, and replied rather gruffly: 
 
 "If you two men have come to perform your 
 duty by me in the matter of begging pledges for 
 194 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 195 
 
 missions, you've hit on anything but the psycho- 
 logical moment to do it. You wouldn't have 
 got a cent from me at any time, as I have said 
 over and over again; but you might have found 
 me ready to say a more amiable ' No ' if you had 
 come even half an hour ago. Look at that, will 
 you! " And he thrust into Ogden's hands a copy 
 of the paper which the latter had just been read- 
 ing. ''You can't trust anyone these days in 
 the handling of trust funds. Our city hospital 
 stands to lose at least half a million through the 
 rascality of that young Baynes, who has appa- 
 rently been misappropriating trust funds for the 
 last two years, when everyone thought there was 
 no more rehable young man in the city. Rapidly 
 increasing personal luxury, speculation in stocks 
 and real estate, led to suspicion and investigation, 
 with the result that you see. It is perfectly 
 amazing that men cannot see that what has been 
 entrusted to them to use for another is not theirs 
 to use for themselves, except just enough to pay 
 expenses. It would seem as if that principle w^as 
 sufficiently fundamental to prevent such ship- 
 wrecks as this. There was a little more than a 
 million dollars put in Baynes's hands to adminis- 
 ter for the Rinker Hospital, and he has, little by 
 little, helped himself to about half of it. The 
 institution will be just about paralyzed, the man 
 himself is ruined for life, his family blighted and 
 impoverished; and all because he once began 
 keeping what did not belong to him." 
 
196 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 "It's awful, awful!" heartily responded Mr. 
 Ogden. "I'm sorry as can be for the hospital 
 and the family. It reminds me of another case, 
 some time ago, when an estate of many millions 
 was left to the care of a large number of executors, 
 every one of whom gave bond to administer the 
 trust solely for the interest of the only son. The 
 various interests of the estate were divided up 
 among these men, each to look after his own share 
 and make final report at a set time. When it 
 came time for the settlement with the son, it was 
 discovered that all but one of the executors had 
 treated the share of the estate committed to him 
 as his own, spent it as he pleased, and willed 
 most of the balance to his own children, so that 
 not a hundredth part of the estate ever came into 
 the hands of the son." 
 
 "What! Do you mean to say that that sort 
 of thing was ever actually done anywhere in this 
 coimtry of ours, Ogden?" gasped Mr. Harden. 
 " Surely such men could not escape the clutches 
 of the law all that time, and actually have the 
 hardihood to try to pass on another man's estate 
 to their own children!" 
 
 "Yes; and the most amazing thing about it 
 was that the law allowed them to do so, and public 
 opinion commended them as superior financiers; 
 and they are at large as respected citizens in the 
 community to-day." 
 
 "Say, Ogden, what sort of hoax are you giving 
 me? You surely don't expect me to swallow all 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 197 
 
 that? There isn't a state in this country where 
 it could happen." 
 
 ''Nevertheless it has happened, and happened 
 in this state and city, and you are one of the 
 executors. Harden." 
 
 "Have you gone crazy, Ogden, or are you 
 just trying to jolly me in this rather unusual 
 fashion?" 
 
 "No, Harden, I speak forth the words of truth 
 and soberness. And I dare to do it because I 
 was in the same boat with you until a short time 
 ago. God made us executors of his estate for his 
 Son Jesus Christ; and we have called his money 
 our money, have appropriated it to our own self- 
 ish purposes, and what we couldn't use ourselves 
 we have willed to our children; and we have not 
 given him, whose stewards we are, even one per 
 cent of what belongs to him. Talk about young 
 Baynes misappropriating trust funds and score 
 him as he ought to be scored; but the fact of the 
 matter is that we have been just as guilty as he 
 since we first began to plan our lives for our- 
 selves. We have consistently and persistently 
 robbed God, and yet apparently maintained our 
 self-respect and retained the respect of others, — 
 naturally enough, because in condemning us they 
 would but have condemned themselves. I for 
 one am done with this sort of thing, and, aside 
 from a reasonable expense account, shall appro- 
 priate to myself no more of the trust fund com- 
 mitted to me to administer for Jesus Christ. And 
 
198 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 I tell you, Harden, it makes all the difference in 
 the world to feel that one's hands are clean. I 
 have cared too much for you as an old friend 
 quietly to endure seeing you lose all this joy and 
 peace. You need not try to con\ince me that 
 you have had peace of conscience and joy in the 
 Holy Spirit during these past few weeks." 
 
 ''Well, Ogden, I shall have to confess that you 
 have caught me just about as King David was 
 caught by the prophet. I never thought that I 
 was setting a trap for myself by mentioning that 
 item in to-day's paper; but the fact is that I've 
 been 'kicking against the goad' for some time. 
 I wasn't wiUing to acknowledge it; and indeed I 
 never realized that my case was so bad as you 
 have shown it to be this afternoon; but I've been 
 irritable enough, goodness knows, — and you could 
 probably testify. The fact was that the sword 
 entered pretty deeply the day that Dr. Sears made 
 his parting thrust at me in this office, several 
 weeks ago. The change in my wife and daughter 
 has only served to make it rankle; and when you 
 came in this afternoon with a sort of bound-to- win 
 expression on that face of yours, I felt desperate. 
 But my weapon of defense has been turned most 
 skillfully against me, and I shall have to plead 
 guilty to the indictment of having systematically 
 robbed God by misappropriating trust funds. 
 It has always been my money, my time, my 
 strength; if I chose to give any of it to the church, 
 it was my liberality; if I did anything for the poor, 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 199 
 
 or for home missions, it was my kindness and 
 patriotism; and I did nothing for those beyond 
 the seas for whom Christ died because they did not 
 directly appeal to me, and money spent on them 
 seemed wasted. But the other day, before I 
 realized what I was reading, I got into the midst 
 of an article on the revolutionary changes which 
 have taken place during the last few years in 
 China, either directly through missionary effort 
 or in rivalry of it, and it was so interesting I 
 couldn't lay it down. It showed me that I was 
 altogether mistaken about the waste of money 
 when such w^onders have been accomplished with 
 the pittance the church has given for the purpose. 
 Yet I tried still to make myself believe that it was 
 none of my business. But you have been too 
 much for me to-day, Ned, and have caught me 
 with guile. As long as the wisdom of the ser- 
 pent has had in it the harmlessness of the dove, 
 I'll forgive you. But seriously, what's the best 
 way to make good those defalcations of mine? 
 Wouldn't it be a good plan to get you to help 
 me change my will, so that I can leave something 
 to the cause to atone for my delinquencies? 
 Wouldn't it do the work more good to have a 
 large lump sum with which to undertake some 
 large enterprise, rather than have it in smaller 
 sums that would be insufficient for anything im- 
 portant?" 
 
 When the banker got to this point, the lawyer 
 broke into a hearty laugh. 
 
200 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 "Good," he cried; ''this appeals to the lawyer 
 in me, — ^this last proposition, — and tickles my 
 funny-bone as well, though you're by no means 
 the first to make the suggestion. I know you'll 
 excuse me for thinking it funny, when you just 
 turn the thing around for yourself. Carry out 
 our figure: young Baynes is caught red-handed, 
 confesses the whole thing, has considerable of the 
 money in stocks and bonds to make restitution, 
 but asks the judge if he does not think it will be 
 better for the hospital to have him enjoy the pro- 
 ceeds for the rest of his life and will the money to 
 the institution at his death ! There may be more 
 of it by that time, and they can use it for a new 
 building, instead of squandering it now on current 
 expenses ! And it will have the further advantage 
 of giving us lawyers a chance to pull the will to 
 pieces and secure some of that fat sum for the 
 sorrowing widow! By all means. Harden, let it 
 be a post-mortem restitution!" 
 
 Rattled off in jolly raillery of his old friend, who 
 knew well liis genuine good- will, as well as his 
 keen wit, this speech set the banker off into the 
 heartiest laugh in which he had indulged in many 
 a day; and he repHed: 
 
 "I declare, Ogden, you are certainly an adept 
 at turning a man inside out, showing him his own 
 soul, and clearing every mist from before his 
 eyes. Tell the truth, I haven't done much laugh- 
 ing for some time, and it feels good. It's all 
 right : I shall not give you the job of making a new 
 
W ITH YOU ALWAYS 201 
 
 will for me. But, you know, there are lots of men 
 that reason that way, and never get a taste of self- 
 sacrifice themselves, but leave it all to their heirs. 
 I rather think it would be better for those heirs 
 presumptive to see the estate kept so low by the 
 honest payment of debts to God that they couldn't 
 reasonably do so much 'presuming.' Might 
 make some of them indulge a little more in good 
 honest toil, eh? And you are undoubtedly right, 
 too, in thinking that our first great duty is toward 
 our own generation, for we do not know for sure 
 that there will ever be another one; and for lack of 
 my help in connection with this one, the next may 
 be in such a condition that ten times as much 
 help will not save it. But, do you know, there 
 is one thing I don't believe I'm quite equal to yet. 
 I'm more than half afraid that my daughter Lena 
 is feehng her duty toward the present generation 
 in the form of a call to the foreign field herself. 
 She hasn't said a word, but I've seen the look in 
 her eyes. Giving the money and giving one's own 
 daughter are two very different things, Ogden, and 
 I'm not ready to let her go." 
 
 " ' God so loved the world, that he gave his only 
 begotten Son'; and I believe you will be given 
 the grace to give your daughter, if she really feels 
 called of God to go, and you will be proud that 
 you have a daughter so rarely fitted for that great 
 work. But it will be years yet before she would 
 go." 
 
 ''Of course I wouldn't want to fight against 
 
202 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 God; there's no satisfaction in that, as I know 
 too well already; but I hope she'll find her work 
 here at home. I won't think of it any more than 
 I have to. But what about those pledges? Let 
 me see one. That work of restitution for the 
 past I shall certainly do, probably by erecting 
 some new buildings, or endowing some educa- 
 tional institution. That would be Hke leaving 
 the money in my will, except that the money will 
 be working for the Lord instead of for me, and 
 you lawyers won't get your chance. I shall con- 
 sult the boards as to the best thing to do. Let 
 me see: how much am I giving to the support of 
 the local church? Oh, I see; you have my one- 
 sided pledge here. Two dollars a week for the 
 support of minister, choir, sexton, upkeep of 
 church, maintenance of Sunday school, etc., etc., 
 a hundred dollars a year. Humph! my automo- 
 bile costs me a thousand; my house four thousand; 
 my servants another thousand, not counting 
 food. That won't do; let me change it to ten 
 dollars. That will look a little better. Now for 
 the • benevolences. Home missions in all their 
 variety, local, state, national; foreign missions 
 to the church's million heathen. Well, I cer- 
 tainly wouldn't have the face to spend less on 
 the world's evangelization than I do on my auto- 
 mobile. We'll put down twenty dollars a week 
 for the present. That would come pretty close 
 to supporting a missionary in each field, wouldn't 
 it? I'll just make it an even twenty-five, and 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 203 
 
 then we can be sure to have our own missionaries. 
 I Hke to know just what my money is doing. 
 What do you think, you two, with this new con- 
 dition of things in the church, couldn't we have 
 a definite parish assigned to us in the home mis- 
 sion field, and another abroad, in which we could 
 take a very special interest? Some of us might 
 visit them after they were started. I am sure it 
 would make us all feel as if we had a much more 
 real part in the work. You just carry that sug- 
 gestion to your Missionary Committee, with the 
 comphments of Edward Harden, and see if they 
 don't stare! I must excuse myself now for a 
 directors' meering; but I thank you with all my 
 heart for 'bearding the lion in his den.' Good- 
 by." 
 
 "Well, we certainly kept the best for the last 
 this time!" exclaimed Mr. Waterson when they 
 were once more upon the street. ''The appear- 
 ance of that story of young Baynes in the after- 
 noon paper seems almost Hke a special provi- 
 dence." 
 
 "It certainly did make our way easier," replied 
 the jubilant lawyer; "but the Spirit of God had 
 been working mightily with Harden for a long 
 time; and we were directed to 'the psychological 
 moment.' Suppose we keep the secret until our 
 committee gets together, and spring a good big 
 surprise on them." 
 
 "All right; I am agreed. Our work is done, 
 and it has not been half so unpleasant as I ex- 
 
204 WITE YOU ALWAYS 
 
 pected to find it. Isn't it interesting, — almost 
 startling, — to see how the birth of zeal for mis- 
 sions almost invariably increases interest in the 
 support of the local church? " 
 
 ''Yet it is one of the axioms of Christian mathe- 
 matics that scattering increases and withhold- 
 ing impoverishes. But the carnal mind will not 
 accept even ocular demonstration of that fact." 
 
 The two men separated, after their week of 
 association in this work, with a new sense of the 
 power of God and the sacredness of the life of a 
 Christian. 
 
 Elder Wentworth and Ralph Jackson had been 
 paired for the work, and they had met with the 
 varied experience that might have been expected. 
 To them had been assigned, on account of the 
 elder's popularity, and Mr. Jackson's former atti- 
 tude toward missions, a considerable proportion 
 of the members of the congregation not members 
 of the church, who were to be visited; and they 
 were much encouraged with the result. Indeed, 
 two of those whom they visited were so impressed, 
 first, with the world's need of evangeUzation, and 
 then with the incongruity of contributing to that 
 work while themselves possessed of that Gospel 
 'but having denied the power thereof,' that they 
 announced their intention of uniting with the 
 church at the earliest opportunity. In two 
 other cases the visitors were surprised to discover 
 that families which they supposed entirely un- 
 connected were in actual possession of letters from 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 205 
 
 another church which had never been presented. 
 Probably their most interesting experience was 
 their interview with Russell Seward, w^hom 
 Elder Wentworth had chosen as his special ob- 
 ject of prayer and effort. He was among the first 
 whom they visited, choosing an evening when he 
 would be at home, rather than seeking him at 
 Doran and Hutchins', where his time w^as not his 
 own. He had not yet reached home for his supper 
 when they arrived at eight o'clock, and they 
 feared that the time might not prove auspicious; 
 but Mrs. Seward urged them to remain, saying: 
 
 "I would give anything to be able to draw 
 Russell out of himself, for I am very anxious about 
 him. I am quite sure he has no bad habits and 
 is not wasting his money; yet I will say in confi- 
 dence to two old friends like yourselves that he 
 finds it a great deal harder to spend money than 
 he ought with his income. I never used to think 
 him close; but there is certainly something wrong 
 with him, and I cannot find out what it is. He 
 doesn't seem to care to go to church as he used to, 
 and appears depressed most of the time. His 
 work keeps him very closely; but I sometimes 
 wonder if he is not doing extra work. I cannot 
 get his confidence; so if you can, you will be doing 
 me a very great favor." 
 
 "I, too, have been troubled about him, Mrs. 
 Seward," said Elder Wentworth. "I know he 
 is not happy, and when that is so w^ith a Chris- 
 tian, it is sure proof that something is wTong. I'm 
 
206 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 pretty certain that it is congestion of the heart; 
 and there's a remedy for that; so I believe we can 
 help him out, and you'll be very welcome to any 
 help it brings to you." 
 
 Steps were heard at the door, and in walked 
 Russell Seward, looking both weary and gloomy. 
 His face brightened a httle at seeing the two old 
 friends, and he tried to bid them a cheery w^el- 
 come; but it was not much of a success. Mrs. 
 Seward hastened to set on the supper, ha\dng 
 waited for her own that she might keep her hus- 
 band company. As no persuasions could induce 
 the visitors to partake of a second supper, they 
 did their best to enliven the meal with pleasan- 
 tries and items of new^s. When the table had 
 been cleared and Mrs. Seward had withdrawn 
 to the kitchen to wash the dishes, Mr. Seward 
 broke out : 
 
 "I suppose you have come to see m.e about the 
 new plans in the church. Well, anything will be 
 better than going on as I am going now, and your 
 coming here this evening moves me to make a 
 clean breast of my trouble, even if it does drive 
 you away. I cannot take an interest in the 
 church and do for it here, and help to send the 
 gospel abroad, because I'm not a Christian; 
 that's all. You both know that, while my income 
 is not large, yet I am not spending it all. No; 
 the fact is that I have gotten so into the grip of 
 the laying-up habit that I grudge every cent that 
 I spend on the house or our li\dng. I have about 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 207 
 
 ten thousand dollars laid by now where it brings 
 me five per cent interest; and I love that capital 
 and interest more than I love the lost; which 
 cannot mean anything else than that I love it 
 more than I do Jesus Christ. It seems to me 
 clear proof that I'm not a Christian, and I think 
 the best thing I can do is just to have my name 
 dropped from the church roll, and then, perhaps, 
 my conscience won't charge me so often with 
 hypocrisy, and my burden will be a bit lighter." 
 
 Elder Wentworth rose from his seat, went over 
 to where Russell Seward sat with bowed head, 
 put his arm affectionately over his shoulder and 
 said: 
 
 "I feel like saying to you, as Ananias did to 
 Saul, Brother Russell, receive thy sight. You 
 have certainly been stricken down by a revelation 
 of the impossibility of serving two masters; like 
 Saul, you have been the strong man misusing his 
 strength under the influence of an earthly vision; 
 and it is the day of your opportunity to become 
 the strong man glorifying his strength under the 
 influence of a heavenly vision. We won't argue 
 the question as to whether you have been a 
 Christian heretofore or not; your present misery 
 is certainly the best of proof that the Holy Spirit 
 is still laboring with you to be one from this time 
 forth. You cannot drive away that frightful love 
 of money; and it is quite as certain that you can 
 never be happy with it ; but there is nothing more 
 certain than that Jesus Christ can conquer it and 
 
208 WITH VOU ALWAYS 
 
 take its place in your heart, so that henceforth 
 money will always be means and not end. Suppose 
 we all get on our knees and see if the light doesn't 
 come: Dear Heavenly Father, our brother 
 here has lost his vision of the loveliness of Jesus, 
 and has been charmed with the glitter of gold and 
 silver. Open his eyes. Lord, that he may see; 
 clear away all the deluding mists, that he may 
 see Jesus only; and then may all life's values 
 assume their right proportions in his mind and 
 heart." 
 
 For several moments none of the three spoke, 
 as all continued kneeling. Then in broken utter- 
 ance Russell Seward prayed for himself: 
 
 "O Heavenly Father, I am not worthy to be 
 called thy son. I have taken thy bounty and 
 made an idol out of it, which I have worshiped in 
 thy stead. I have done despite to thy spirit of 
 grace, and hghtly esteemed the love of thy Son 
 Jesus Christ. Thou knowest how wretched it has 
 made me, and my wife, and my friends. But 
 thou art merciful, and I plead for thy forgiveness, 
 and for more and more of the vision of Christ's 
 loveliness until I so truly love him ^\^th all my 
 heai t that nothing can ever take his place. Teach 
 me what to do and what to undo, and give me thy 
 peace that it may become my power for a life of 
 humble. Christian service. Only in Jesus' name 
 dare I ask it. Amen." 
 
 As they rose from their knees, Russell Seward 
 lifted a radiant face, from which the clouds had 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 209 
 
 all flown, grasped his friends' hands and thanked 
 them for coming. 
 
 ''Now we're ready for business," said he, going 
 to a little safe in a corner of the room, and taking 
 out some papers. "The first thing to do is to 
 knock off the head of my favorite deity. Mammon, 
 and then we'll make use of his carcass for other 
 purposes than worship. Now, here are two thou- 
 sand dollars in five per cent bonds, which shall be 
 made over to our pastor for proper division among 
 the benevolent agencies of the church. Here are 
 two thousand dollars more, which shall be used 
 in putting this house in livable shape, and getting 
 Mrs. Seward some decent clothes and other 
 things that she needs. The rest we'll lay up 
 for a rainy day; but my love for it is gone, and 
 it will get no more worship. That, with the 
 insurance I carry, will keep my wife from want 
 if I should be taken first. Now, out with your 
 pledges, brethren, and we'll see what we can do. 
 'For Current Expenses,' 'For Ourselves'; yes, 
 that's what it is, paying, not giving: we ought 
 to be able to pay one dollar a week, I think. ' For 
 Benevolences,' 'For Others,' and in the last 
 analysis, for Christ; we certainly can't give less 
 than we do for ourselves. But that includes 
 local charity, mission work all over the United 
 States, and the evangelization of the world. 
 Fifty odd dollars for local church, fifty more for 
 home missions, and fifty for foreign — one hun- 
 dred and fifty in all: why, even at that it isn't a 
 14 
 
210 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 tenth of my income! Well, there'll be some 
 special calls. I'll put down two dollars a week 
 for benevolences, and if I don't give at least a 
 tenth during the year, I'll make a special offering. 
 How does that strike you? " 
 
 The eyes of Elder Wentworth, and even those 
 of the less emotional Ralph Jackson, were moist 
 as they congratulated Russell Seward on his new- 
 found happiness. Mr. Jackson exclaimed that it 
 had just occurred to him that, on the new order 
 of things, the church could support a station at 
 home and one abroad. 
 
 ''In that case," said Mr. Seward, "it would be 
 a great satisfaction to me to have my two thou- 
 sand dollars divided and used for a definite share 
 in the equipment of those new stations. I should 
 Hke to have it put somewhere where it would 
 have to work as hard for the lost as I have 
 worked to earn it." 
 
 Mightily encouraged by this success, the two 
 canvassers went their way to other homes and 
 ofiices, growing themselves in earnestness and 
 sympathy as they found how many were simply 
 waiting for the personal touch, to exhibit a better 
 side to natures apparently quite insensible to the 
 appeal of a world's need. In more than one case 
 they found the new idea of ''a parish abroad," a 
 definite personal responsibihty at home and 
 abroad, a powerful means of securing far larger 
 subscriptions than would otherwise have been 
 forthcoming. At every opportunity they passed 
 
WITH YOU ALW A YS 211 
 
 on the suggestion to other canvassers, who 
 found in it similar effectiveness. The thought 
 of having the portraits of their own missionaries, 
 and the pictures of the buildings, in the parlors 
 of the church, and of hearing the direct reports of 
 the work, gave a reaUty and a zest to the matter 
 which they had never before associated with mis- 
 sions; it began to seem their work, and they were 
 ready to do their share. The idea grew upon the 
 workers, and after the midweek service they 
 held a special meeting for conference with one 
 another and with the pastor. It was already 
 quite evident that the church would be able to un- 
 dertake the entire support of one or more mis- 
 sion stations. Some one ventured the inquiry 
 whether it would not be more broadening to mind 
 and heart to contribute to the general funds of 
 the boards for world-wide work; but it was the 
 general consensus of opinion that, human nature 
 being what it is, the personal touch would add 
 so much keenness to the church's interest as to 
 insure far larger and more universal contribution 
 to the work, and more intelligent prayer for its 
 every need and opportunity. Determining to 
 await only the early conclusion of the canvass, 
 before conferring with the boards as to definite 
 fields, the pastor hailed with thanksgiving this 
 new sign of the presence and power of the living 
 Christ among his people. 
 
 The two ladies of the Missionary Committee 
 naturally made their visits together. Mrs. 
 
212 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 Wentworth loved Gertrude Austin almost as well 
 as she loved her own daughter Grace; and no pair 
 could have been more congenial for this work, 
 the matron to give dignity, the maiden to add 
 winsomeness. Sometimes it was the dignity 
 which won the day, sometimes the winsomeness; 
 but won it was in every case. It required two 
 visits to the home of Miss Greene, whom Mrs. 
 Wentworth had taken as her "special object." 
 At the first visit, during the early part of the 
 week, they had knocked at the door of the httle 
 old cottage tucked away among the more preten- 
 tious houses on the chief residence street, bid- 
 ding defiance to their pretensions in much the 
 same fashion in which the little old lady, its 
 owner, held up her head among the residents of 
 the street, regardless of the faded glories of her 
 once prosperous estate. To hold the place, she 
 really pinched in money and in food, but re- 
 sented every suggestion that the price which her 
 affluent neighbors were eager to give for the 
 unsightly old place would keep her in more than 
 comfort on another street for the rest of her days. 
 As far as she was fond of anyone, she was fond of 
 Mrs. Wentworth; and Gertrude Austin had tried 
 more than once to cheer her loneliness. Both, 
 therefore, were given as cordial a welcome as she 
 ever gave anybody; but they found to their dis- 
 may that it was no easy matter to introduce the 
 object of their visit. Mrs. Wentworth asked Miss 
 Greene how regularly her health had permitted 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 213 
 
 her to attend the church services recently, and 
 received the reply : 
 
 ''Well, I guess I haven't grown so decrepit 
 yet but what I can get out to the house of God. 
 There was a time when I didn't want to go at all, 
 because I always had to sit way back on one side, 
 or else plumb under the preacher's nose. But 
 when the people had the good sense and piety to 
 do away with respect of persons in the house of 
 God by aboUshing those pew rents, I was able to 
 take my old place among the first families of the 
 church, and sit in as good a pew as any of them, 
 if I couldn't any longer pay two hundred dollars 
 for it, as my father used to do. I know they 
 don't like it; but they'll have to learn that I have 
 just as good blood in my veins as they have in 
 theirs; and lots better than some. I can hold my 
 head up yet, if the old estate has gone to grief. 
 Do you know, Mrs. Wentworth, they're still after 
 me for this old place where my father and grand- 
 father were born and died; and they seem to think 
 I'll have to come to it before long — sort o' starved 
 into it, you know. What do you suppose Judge 
 Melrose offered me for the place the other day? 
 Not a cent short of twenty thousand dollars. Of 
 course, the house isn't worth anything to speak of; 
 but he wants the land. I wouldn't let him have 
 it for twice that, just to show him that money isn't 
 everything in this world — that family pride isn't 
 easily crushed." 
 
 " But just think, Miss Greene, how much more 
 
214 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 comfortable you might be in that little vacant 
 house next to ours, for example, living on the 
 interest of that money, and able to do so much 
 more for others than you can now do!" urged 
 Mrs. Wentworth, looking unlimited pity into the 
 eyes of the proud woman. "You know how 
 much we all think of you; but I can't help won- 
 dering sometimes whether family pride is worth 
 everything else in the world put together. For- 
 give me if I speak too plainly in saying that I 
 don't think what our ancestors were or did is half 
 so important to us as what we ourselves are and 
 are doing. Are our good works honoring our 
 ancestors and our God? " 
 
 ''Oh! now I see what you came for: it wasn't 
 to see me and cheer me up, as you used to, but 
 just to try to get me to give to missions. I 
 haven't three hundred dollars a year to keep up 
 this place and feed and clothe myself. I can't 
 bring myself to give up the old family habit of 
 always putting silver in the collection plate for 
 church support, but that five dollars and twenty 
 cents a year is every last cent I can pinch out of 
 my income to give away; so if that's what you've 
 come for, you'll have your labor for your pains." 
 
 "O Miss Greene!" put in Gertrude Austin, 
 "these last few weeks in our church have been 
 bringing us all so much joy that we truly thought 
 we should be addiiig to your joy by telling you 
 how we got ours, and inviting you to try the same 
 plan. It's partnership with Jesus in his redemp- 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 215 
 
 tive work that brings the cheer that is most satis- 
 fying. Don't you believe it? " 
 
 ''It's all very easy for you to talk about it, 
 Gertrude Austin, for you never had to deny your- 
 self anything since you were born. It is very 
 different for one who, like myself, has once had 
 plenty, but is now reduced to grinding poverty." 
 
 ''Are you, Miss Greene?" slowly asked Mrs. 
 Wentworth, rising to take her departure, and 
 again looking searchingly, yet tenderly, into the 
 eyes of the sensitive little woman, whom, after 
 formal farewells, they left standing in her own 
 doorway, gazing miournfully after them. 
 
 "Do you think we shall have to give her up, 
 Mother Wentworth?" asked Gertrude, as they 
 walked away. "She is one of the charter mem- 
 bers of this church, and it seems a great pity to 
 leave her out." 
 
 "We have done our part, Gertie, and we'll just 
 leave the Lord to do his now, dear. I have an 
 idea that he has used us to make an impression, 
 and we must simply keep right on praying. Let 
 me see, the next person on our list is Mrs. Bell, 
 two blocks north and one block east; also a small 
 house, but where small houses look more com- 
 fortable than they do here. Poor Miss Greene, 
 how she is shutting herself out of the joy of her 
 Lord!" 
 
 Mrs. Bell was a widow who supported herself 
 and her daughter, a girl of twelve years, by dress- 
 making. Her services were much in demand 
 
216 WITB YOU ALWAYS 
 
 and she earned a modest competence, realizing 
 to the full that it had been earned and must not 
 be wasted. She had been a faithful member of 
 the congregation, contributing moderately but 
 regularly to the support of the church; but she 
 had never united with the church nor given any- 
 thing to its benevolences, unless it might be an 
 occasional nickel in the collections. On the pre- 
 vious Sabbath she had turned in her pledge for 
 current expenses, leaving the other half blank. 
 She was hard at work with her sewing when the 
 visitors arrived, but welcomed them heartily, 
 and when they were seated apologized for working 
 while she talked, saying: 
 
 "I know you will forgive me if I keep right on 
 with my sewing, for I've promised this work to- 
 night, and it will be as much as I am worth to get 
 it done. But, as you know, my fingers and my 
 tongue are quite independent of one another, and 
 I'm delighted to see you. I hope that last suit 
 I made you has given you good satisfaction, Miss 
 Austin." 
 
 "Oh, yes, Mrs. Bell; you always fit me beauti- 
 fully," replied Gertrude. ''In these days, when 
 it is so hard to find a dressmaker of any kind, I 
 often wonder how you can afford to give so much 
 attention to the little details; but you never seem 
 to slight any of them, and your customers highly 
 appreciate it." 
 
 "Well, Miss Austin, when I was a girl my 
 mother used to say to me over and over again, 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 217 
 
 'Whether you do big things or whether you do 
 Httle, always do your best.' I used to fret a bit 
 over the advice, but it's been my salvation. 
 Whenever I've been tempted to skimp my work 
 mother's words and her own example have always 
 come before me; and whatever success I have 
 made I owe to her. She was a good Christian 
 if there ever was one." 
 
 "I don't suppose that means that you have 
 any doubt as to the existence of such a person, 
 does it?" asked Gertrude, half laughing. 
 
 ''Not exactly, in the presence of yourself and 
 Mrs. Wentworth," replied Mrs. Bell. "There's 
 no doubt about you two ; but I can't say as much 
 for some other members of your church. If they 
 would pay their debts, I should not have to work 
 so hard, and would perhaps be able to indulge in 
 some benevolence, as well as paying my dues for 
 the support of the church. I always beheved in 
 being just before being generous, especially when 
 your injustice may prevent some one else from 
 being generous with what rightly belongs to him. 
 Perhaps you'll hardly believe it, but I have every 
 bit of eight hundred dollars now on my books 
 against members of our church, and some of it 
 has been there for two years or more. I will say 
 this, however, that there was twice that much 
 charged two months ago, and it is wonderful how 
 many have come and paid me recently, some of 
 them making very humble apologies for their neg- 
 lect, too." 
 
218 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 "Wonderful, isn't it, how a realization of the 
 presence of Jesus Christ straightens out all sorts 
 of crooked places in our lives!" exclaimed Mrs. 
 Wentworth. "A few moments' view of him gives 
 us such a view of ourselves as we have never had 
 before, doesn't it? " 
 
 " Do you really think that is what has made the 
 difference, Mrs. Wentworth? I wondered a good 
 deal about it. Certainly, a thing which will do 
 that is worth ha\dng. I don't know much about 
 that sort of thing. My mother, honest and sen- 
 sible as she was, never had it. My husband, 
 straight as an arrow, never had it. They both 
 tried to Hve as well as they knew how, but they 
 never joined the church because they saw lots of 
 folks in the church who were not so straight as 
 they were; but, to tell the truth, I have never 
 been quite satisfied with that idea. The fact 
 that there are paste diamonds doesn't make the 
 real thing a bit less beautiful, or less valuable; 
 and being honest isn't the only thing in Hfe." 
 
 ''O Mrs. Bell! I am so glad to hear you talk 
 this way, for we have been wishing and praying 
 that you might find Jesus Christ all we have 
 found him, and all we are going to find him. Life 
 would be twice as well worth Uving with Jesus as 
 Saviour and Master and ever-present Friend. 
 Honesty then becomes a vastly broader and 
 higher thing, when it glorifies, not merely us, 
 but our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father in 
 heaven. His kingdom and his righteousness 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 219 
 
 become the first thing in our Hves, and his fath- 
 erly care adds every other needful thing. You 
 know the gospel, that Christ died that we might 
 live; it was the great outpouring of the Father's 
 love. Accept it, let it fill you, and it will bring 
 you a joy such as you have never experienced. 
 Christ wants you! We want you! " 
 
 The sewing had ceased for some minutes: the 
 tears began to fall on the strangely idle hands 
 and the quiet work. Mrs. Bell bowed her head 
 on the shoulder of the dear old lady, who had 
 drawn her chair closer to her as she spoke her 
 loving desire; and then and there gave herself 
 to her newly found Lord. After a few moments 
 of silent prayer by all three, the dressmaker 
 raised a smiling face, saying : 
 
 "I can never thank you two dear friends enough 
 for coming to see me this afternoon. I feel that 
 I can love people now: before I merely tried to 
 be just to them, and, of course, I didn't succeed, 
 for I can see now that a part of our just debts is 
 just that very love that we don't give. I feel as 
 if one of the things I must do first is to get back 
 that half pledge I made out on Sunday and fill 
 in the other half, whether people pay their debts 
 to me or not. Do you know who has them in 
 charge? " 
 
 ' Mrs. Wentworth smilingly drew forth Mrs. 
 Bell's pledge and told her of their errand in com- 
 ing to her. A pen was sought, the blank filled 
 out, and shown to Mrs. Wentworth, who ex- 
 
220 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 claimed at the amount — one dollar a week for 
 benevolences : 
 
 "You understand, do you, Mrs. Bell, that that 
 is so much a week? Are you sure you can afford 
 to give that much? " 
 
 "When I find I can't afford it, I'll change it; 
 but, you see, I too have some back debts to pay, 
 Mrs. Wentworth; and for church and benevo- 
 lences I am certainly not going to give less than 
 the old Jews gave. Have you any more of those 
 pledges with you? I want to talk with my little 
 girl about it and try to teach her love as well as 
 honesty." 
 
 The visitors left the house, marveling once more 
 at the power of God's Spirit, and went home to 
 other duties. That evening Mrs. Wentw^orth 
 was greatly surprised to receive a note from Miss 
 Greene, which read as follows : 
 
 "My dear Mrs. Wentworth: After you and Miss 
 Austin had left me this afternoon I felt so ashamed 
 of myself for my treatment of you that I could 
 not sit down quietly to anything, but just paced 
 up and down, realizing more clearly every minute 
 the foolishness and even wickedness of that old 
 family pride, which was making me miserable, 
 disagreeable, ridiculous and useless. When I 
 had sat for a while in sackcloth and ashes, I saw 
 Judge Melrose pass the house and enter his own 
 door. A few minutes later I went over to his 
 house, apologized to him for my very disagreeable 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 221 
 
 behavior in the past, and told him that I would 
 be very glad to accept his offer for my house and 
 land. And what do you suppose he said ? He 
 looked at me in the most amused fashJon for a 
 minute, and then said: 'I guess you must have 
 been struck by the Presbyterian reform move- 
 ment, too, Miss Delia? Their whirlwind cam- 
 paign seems likely to whirl the whole town into 
 line. They've got me, too. I've been dodging 
 them for weeks, but found it was no use and sur- 
 rendered to-day. After they get through with 
 my purse and bank account I don't know that 
 there will be enough left to buy your place; but 
 if it's going to help you also to reform I shall have 
 to manage some way. What do you think? 
 They've got me to build a boarding school and 
 support a missionary teacher at the new station 
 the church is going to start. Ha, ha! it makes 
 me feel as if I was young and just going to work 
 again; so don't be scared at my unwonted levity, 
 Miss DeHa. We'll see about the papers to- 
 morrow.' 
 
 "I have never seen Judge Melrose in such a 
 mood in my Hfe. Now, please forgive me for 
 being so disagreeable to-day and come again 
 to-morrow, both of you, if you have time. Bring 
 your pledges, and we'll see what we can do. 
 "Apologetically yours, 
 "Delia Greene." 
 
 The two ladies gladly found time the next day, 
 
222 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 were given a warm welcome, and carried away 
 with them another pledge of one dollar a week, 
 together with a commission to engage the pretty 
 Uttle cottage next to Mrs. Wentworth's for the 
 early occupation of the woman who had con- 
 cluded that there was much more joy in keeping 
 heart high than head. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 A MISSIONARY BOND 
 
 A WEEK of earnest effort practically com- 
 pleted the canvass. On the last day but 
 one of that week, in the evening, the can- 
 vassers met to confer, and it was found that but 
 five of the resident members of the church had 
 thus far proved recalcitrant. These were reas- 
 signed to other members of the committee for 
 the following morning, and to still others for the 
 afternoon, should the morning appeal prove un- 
 availing. Special prayer was asked for these 
 final efforts, and when the time came on Saturday 
 evening for the final report, there was but one 
 member of the church whose pledge had not been 
 secured, and that was Mr. Talbot, the druggist. 
 
 "Let's go in a body and carry him b}^ storm," 
 suggested Mr. Gilbert. ''It won't do to leave 
 him out, and the fact is that more than a pledge 
 for benevolence hangs on this matter with him." 
 
 The novel idea took with the committee, and 
 the twenty-one visitors, including the pastor, 
 marched two by two in procession to the drug 
 store, where they found a considerable number 
 of Saturday night customers and loungers, some 
 of whom looked on with wonder, while others sus- 
 pected the motive of the visit. It was quite 
 evident that Mr. Talbot more than suspected. 
 223 
 
224 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 He fumbled with the string of the parcel which he 
 was doing up for a customer, but after it was 
 finished, at the request of Mr. Stanton, he in- 
 vited the company into his office in the rear and 
 shut the door on the curious, saying : 
 
 "This is certainly an unusual and an unex- 
 pected pleasure, to have a \dsit from pastor, 
 session, deacons and trustees, all at once, and 
 on Saturday night. What can I do for you, 
 ladies and gentlemen? " 
 
 "We are not seeking any favor for ourselves, 
 Mr. Talbot," replied Mr. Stanton; "but the fact 
 is that our church, with a minority of only one, 
 has voted to do the work for which Christ estab- 
 lished his church in the world, namely, to go or 
 send into all the world to preach the gospel to 
 every creature; and we cannot rest content until 
 that vote is made unanimous. You are now the 
 only resident member of this church \\ithout a 
 share in this work, and we cannot believe that 
 one member can be right and the other eight hun- 
 dred wrong. So we ask you to tell us, the officers 
 of church and congregation, why you are unwill- 
 ing to join with us in carrying out the mission of 
 Christ and his church. We are all friends, as you 
 know, Mr. Talbot, and fellow-members of the body 
 of Christ." 
 
 A minute or two passed before the druggist 
 made any reply; then he said slowly: 
 
 "When you came in this evening, Mr. Stanton 
 and the rest of you, I was strongly inclined to 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 225 
 
 resent the visit as an impertinence. Once early 
 in the week, and twice to-day, I had already re- 
 fused to make any pledge toward the benevo- 
 lences of the church, giving the reason that I did 
 not believe in pledges for such things. But your 
 courteous yet strongly reproving words to-night 
 have brought to a cHmax the inward struggles of 
 several weeks. The reason I gave my visitors 
 was only an excuse. You are all my friends, and 
 I will tell you without fear. The fact of the mat- 
 ter is that my business has been accusing me so 
 severely since that first day when our pastor told 
 his vision that I have never had an easy con- 
 science from that day to this. The drug business 
 looks like a clean business, and, indeed, it may 
 be so, but in too many cases the clean exterior 
 covers a multitude of rottennesses. Look here," 
 and he opened a door in the rear of the room, 
 where they beheld a genteel secret bar. "There 
 is where most of my money has been made. And 
 my soda clerk can take a wink as to a ' stick' in 
 soft drinks as quickly as anyone. And many of 
 my finest confections are filled with liquor. The 
 cigars and cigarettes bought by young people here 
 are impoverishing them financially and physi- 
 cally, and the amount of adulteration now com- 
 mon in the putting up of prescriptions is enough 
 to send a man to prison for life, if discovered. 
 Sunday is one of the busiest days of the week for 
 us; not in medicines, but in cigars, soda water 
 and candy. Do you wonder that I have not re- 
 15 
 
226 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 joiced in the realization of the presence of Christ, 
 or been eager to send the gospel to others? If I 
 am going to be a Christian, I have either got to 
 clean up this business or get out of it. With com- 
 petition what it is, I doubt if I can live on the 
 business when it is cleaned up; but what is a man 
 profited if he gain the whole world and lose his 
 own soul? There will be a dead loss on some 
 perishable things prepared for to-morrow's trade; 
 but I will get ready a notice at once to post on the 
 door, that nothing will be sold here on Sunday 
 except medicines, and those only during limited 
 hours. There will be some disgusted customers 
 to-morrow." 
 
 "I believe the Christians in town will rally to 
 the support of a druggist who takes such a stand 
 as that, and make up to you for some of your 
 losses with increased trade in other Unes," said 
 the pastor, warmly grasping the hand of Mr. 
 Talbot, who, however, smiled grimly, as he re- 
 marked: 
 
 ''What will you say, Mr. Stanton, when I tell 
 you that fully half of my Sunday sales, outside of 
 medicines, are to members of the churches and 
 their children? Why, it is quite common to hear 
 the Sunday-school children, coming in here for 
 candy and soda, joking about their needing these 
 things more than the heathen do missionaries. 
 But what can you expect of children when they 
 see their parents, on the same day, come here for 
 cigars and other unnecessary things? It's the 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 227 
 
 so-called Christians who seem to necessitate most 
 of this Sunday opening, just as it is with the ever- 
 increasing Sunday travel. And the same thing 
 is true of some of the other bad features of our 
 business." 
 
 "Have you seen many of our people in here on 
 Sunday, the last few weeks, Mr. Talbot?" 
 
 "No, Mr. Stanton, I'll have to admit, and I'm 
 glad to admit, that there has been a great falling 
 off in Presbyterian Sunday custom here since that 
 remarkable Sunday, and in the other Unes too; 
 and that has been one of the things which has 
 made my conscience very uneasy. Well, I shall 
 try a clean drug business for a while, and, if I can 
 make a Hving, shall stick to it, for I Hke the busi- 
 ness; but it shall be a question of clean or close. 
 In the uncertainty as to whether we can make a 
 clean store go or not, I can't promise very much 
 for the coming year for benevolences; but I can 
 make it one dollar a week anyway, and perhaps 
 increase it later." 
 
 The list was complete ! A soul was saved from 
 deadly peril! The experiment of a clean drug 
 store in Jaconsett proved a success. Stephen 
 Talbot, working in the store with his father, was 
 so overcome by the revolution which began that 
 Saturday night that he no longer despised the 
 Christian profession on account of the inconsis- 
 tency of his father and other Christians, whose 
 weaknesses he had seen, but came out clearly as 
 a follower of the Master, and thus completed the 
 
228 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 circle of Dr. Sears' class. It was late that night 
 before the committee had its report complete for 
 presentation next day; but all its members slept 
 the sleep of thankful satisfaction, and awoke as- 
 sured that they should have the blessed presence 
 of their Lord yet more fully manifested as they 
 went up to his holy house. 
 
 That house was packed to the doors when the 
 ser\ice began with the doxology, never so fully 
 appreciated before. The note of praise pervaded 
 the entire ser\'ice, and Mr. Stanton took as his 
 text the eleventh verse of the ninth chapter of 
 the Second Epistle to the Corinthians: ''Being 
 enriched in everything unto all liberality, which 
 worketh through us thanksgi\dng to God," and 
 that which he based thereon was rather a thankful 
 account of what the church had been led to ac- 
 compHsh when its whole life had been enriched 
 by the \dsion of its Master's presence, than an 
 exhortation to the fulfillment of an obligation. 
 
 "We may congratulate ourselves," he said, 
 " but rather give praise to our God, that we are the 
 first church of any considerable size in the United 
 States of America to attain to the ideal of a part 
 for every member in the local church support, in 
 the helping of the poor, and in the evangelization 
 of the world. Yet how poor a ground for self- 
 congratulation it seems when we think for a 
 moment that that merely means that we are the 
 first church to be consistent with the very con- 
 stitution and mission of the church, the first to 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 229 
 
 come unanimously to the conclusion that we will 
 take marching orders from the One whom every 
 one of us long ago declared to be the Great Com- 
 mander! Let us be humbly thankful, rather than 
 boastful, as we look over the fruits of the cam- 
 paign, which had to be waged first among our own 
 forces before we were in any condition to wage a 
 victorious campaign against the enemy. For the 
 first time in its history, Westminster Church has, 
 in some adequate sense, realized the power that 
 lies in singleness of aim, unitedness of effort and 
 a holy ambition ; for the first time it has attained 
 to some appreciation of the fact that true riches 
 are not in the things received and held and used 
 for self, but in bountifulness; that a man's Hfe 
 consisteth not in the abundance of the things 
 which he possesseth, not even in the financial 
 measure of the gifts which he gives, but in the 
 loving-kindness of his heart toward all men, and 
 the expression of that loving-kindness in a self- 
 forgetting service, in person or through his 
 means. We have come to these convictions 
 through the only effective way — through the 
 realization that our God is not the God of the 
 dead but the God of the li\'ing, that the visible 
 Master of the Apostles is just as truly our Master 
 and present wdth us, though invisible to the eye 
 of flesh. If we never lose the vision, we shall 
 never lose these most precious of all riches: when 
 we have once tasted of the heavenly gift, who 
 of us could wish to return to the husks? 
 
230 WITE YOU ALWAYS 
 
 "You are all interested in learning of the finan- 
 cial results, though they are, after all, not the 
 matter of chief importance. I rejoice more over 
 the one who has heretofore given nothing and 
 now gives ten cents a week than over the one who 
 has given ten cents and now gives twenty cents, 
 because the former has formerly had no part in 
 the work of his Lord, has accepted no measure of 
 responsibility as his, while now he accepts one. 
 I rejoice more over the child with an income of 
 twenty-five cents a week who gives five cents, than 
 over the man with an income of one hundred dol- 
 lars a week who gives five dollars, because the 
 former involves the larger self-sacrifice. Were 
 it not for the violation of confidences, I should 
 like much to tell you of some of those the abun- 
 dance of whose joy and their deep poverty have 
 abounded unto the riches of their hberality. 
 There are some among us who will some day see 
 a larger vision than they have yet seen, will do 
 larger things and grow more rich toward God, 
 with consequent richer blessings for themselves. 
 But we all have some part in the joy and thanks- 
 giving of this day; and it shall be only a day of 
 thanksgiving for us, except as that thanksgiving 
 may lead — as it always should — to renewed con- 
 secration. 
 
 "Now for the figures: Last year, out of seven 
 hundred and seventy resident members of the 
 church, three hundred and twenty-five gave 
 toward the support of the church, also eighty- 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 231 
 
 three who were not members, making four hun- 
 dred and eight, giving six thousand three hundred 
 and fifty dollars. During this new year seven 
 hundred and seventy members and one hundred 
 and thirty-seven others are to give for this pur- 
 pose a total of eleven thousand four hundred and 
 thirty-five dollars. The fact that, though all are 
 now giving, and many twice as much as before, the 
 total is not twice the former figure, indicates that 
 the non-givers had been, for the most part, those 
 of modest incomes, who felt that the church was 
 well cared for without their assistance; and also 
 that there is considered to be a Hmit to the needs 
 of the local church. They have been convinced 
 that the former is not true, while the latter is. 
 We can, to good advantage, spend on better facili- 
 ties for worship and work the larger sum now at 
 our disposal ; but to put much more than this into 
 the work would be unwise and wrong, in view 
 of the world's need. 
 
 ''For local beneficence there was given, by an 
 unknown number of givers, last year, two hundred 
 and thirty dollars. This year every member of 
 the church and many of the congregation will 
 unite in giving twenty-five hundred dollars, the 
 greater portion of which will, perhaps, be used 
 for the starting of the long-talked-of mission 
 church and Sunday school on Kendall Street. 
 
 " For home missions, approximately two hun- 
 dred and seventy members of the church and 
 fifteen of the congregation gave last year fifteen 
 
232 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 hundred twenty-seven dollars and forty-five 
 cents, not counting what was given at the close 
 of the year by a number in atonement for past 
 shortcomings. This year seven hundred and 
 seventy members of the church and ninety-four 
 of the congregation will gi\-e twehe thousand 
 five hundred dollars. The church can support 
 with this sum eight or ten missionaries and their 
 work, in several difi'erent states, or two or three 
 stations or schools. 
 
 ''For foreign missions, with their almost un- 
 limited needs, during the past year, approxi- 
 mately two hmidred and twenty members of the 
 church and five of the congregation have gixen 
 seven hundred twenty-five dollars and thirty 
 cents. This year seven hundred and seventy 
 members and eighty-five of the congregation have 
 promised to give thirty-seven thousand five hun- 
 dred and forty dollars for this cause; and ^^ith 
 this sum we can either support one large mission 
 station or two or three small ones in the midst of 
 heathenism, with all their varied forms of mis- 
 sionary actiWty, or provide for twenty mis- 
 sionary families in as many different fields. At 
 our next concert of prayer we will consider and 
 determine these questions. 
 
 "Xo doubt the question will arise in the minds 
 of some of you as to whether there is any call 
 for such sums of money for the work. Brief con- 
 sideration will remind us that other churches 
 are not yet gi\'ing in this way, and that, even 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 233 
 
 were we to give ten times as much as this, it 
 would supply but a small fraction of the- increase 
 in annual contributions importunately needed 
 by the Presbyterian Church if it would meet the 
 present opportunity and fulfill in the next few 
 years its measure of responsibihty for the evan- 
 gelization of the world. WTiy do these figures 
 look large? Not by comparison with the other 
 ways in which we spend money; not by com- 
 parison with our means; for, add together all the 
 items I have mentioned, and you still are far 
 below even one-tenth of the aggregate income of 
 the members of the church and congregation. No ; 
 it is by comparison Vvith the pitiful playing with 
 the King's business, to which the church at large 
 has been so long accustomed, that our present 
 figures startle us. Single members of our church 
 have shown themselves able to give more than 
 the entire amount of the church's contribution; 
 and I have no idea that the church will stop with 
 this year's giving, having tasted the supreme joy 
 of gi^dng in scriptural fashion. We have not yet 
 known the full flavor: our gifts are not yet at 
 work, securing for us the personal interest in many 
 fields which will make us feel that we are not only 
 at work here ourselves, but that the labor of our 
 brains and hands is preaching the gospel to the 
 heathen, and teaching men, women and children 
 of many tongues to observe all things whatsoever 
 Christ has commanded them, that while we may 
 ourselves work for but ten hours, or twelve, in the 
 
234 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 day, the sun never sets on the world-wide work of 
 our church. And I feel that the sweetest, tender- 
 est element of our joy is yet to come through the 
 having of our young men and women, who have 
 grown up among us, who belong to the families 
 of our church and to us, as our representatives 
 in these fields. Not a few have already volun- 
 teered, as you know, and you may be disposed to 
 cry, 'Enough: we can spare no more!' But just 
 as surely as the living Christ has revealed himself 
 to us, so surely will there be more of our young 
 people who will say, 'Here am I, Lord; send me.' 
 While it would not require more than one in 
 three hundred and fifty of the members of the 
 entire Church to give the gospel to the unevan- 
 gelized, yet so Uttle has the Church at large seen 
 the vision that we who have seen it must do what 
 we can to make up for the general failure. It 
 should be regarded as a duty and a privilege, in 
 every church, continually to pray and labor and 
 expect that our young people will devote them- 
 selves to the meeting of the world's greatest need, 
 that our Lord may not be kept waiting another 
 nineteen hundred years before the earth shall be 
 filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as 
 the waters cover the sea. The sacrifice of giving 
 a son or a daughter is more than that of giving a 
 million dollars; but the pleasure is proportion- 
 ately greater. Ye who have millions to give, and 
 give them, happy are ye; ye who have sons and 
 daughters to give, and do not withhold them, 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 235 
 
 happier are ye; ye who can and do give both, 
 who shall declare the bounds of the happiness 
 which the Lord God will pour into your bosoms ? 
 Only do it not for the sake of the happiness, but 
 for the sake of him who loved us and who washed 
 us from our sins in his own blood, to whom be 
 glory for ever and ever. Amen." 
 
 This is by no means all that the pastor said to 
 his people on that glad thanksgiving day. He 
 enumerated the largely increased gifts to the other 
 boards of the church, to the Bible and tract 
 societies, and he laid great emphasis on the 
 thought that bountifulness does not consist in 
 abundance, but in the spirit of self-den3dng love. 
 At the close he offered a prayer of thanksgiv- 
 ing and consecration, joyfully acknowledging the 
 Presence which had given the victory, and unre- 
 servedly presenting the church, its members, 
 their children, their means, as a hving sacrifice, 
 holy and acceptable unto God, a spiritual service. 
 And on that day four more of Westminster's 
 young people announced to their pastor that they 
 had said, "Here am I, Lord; send me." Among 
 them was Lena Harden; and not even by a word 
 would her father say her nay. 
 
 It was Henry Austin's idea that found expres- 
 sion in a httle informal organization of the "West- 
 minster Volunteers," which came into being 
 during the following week. It soon became evi- 
 dent that the mutual interest between him and 
 Lena Harden was more than a passing attraction, 
 
236 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 and long before he sailed for his station in China, 
 it was known that they would labor together in 
 the foreign field, though Henry would go in ad- 
 vance, for a start on the language, while Lena 
 finished her college course. Though some of the 
 ''Volunteers" sailed that year, and others were 
 to wait for years to come, yet all drew together in 
 a delightfulness and tenderness of fellowship pos- 
 sible only to those whose consecration is complete, 
 and whose relations to one another form but the 
 expansion of that fellowship ^dth the Father and 
 with his Son Jesus Christ. 
 
 As for John Stanton and his wife, genuine and 
 keen w^as their satisfaction when they received 
 word that, after careful consideration, the board 
 had decided to appoint them to the leadership of 
 the Httle band who would go out that year to 
 China, to gain a few years of experience at one of 
 the estabHshed stations, and then themselves 
 open up a "Westminster Station" among China's 
 milHons, where they might also welcome other 
 recruits from the volimteer band. They had 
 been ready for any decision, either to remain with 
 their more than ever beloved church, to undertake 
 to carry the Westminster spirit to the church at 
 home, or to go in person to the far-away work; 
 but, both as a proof of the genuineness of their 
 devotion, and because of the fewness of the la- 
 borers, they rejoiced in the decision that they 
 should reHnquish to others the abundant com- 
 forts of this flourishing parish and become part 
 
WITH YOU ALWAYS 237 
 
 of the little company who would accept the 
 modest support, the sad separations, the trials, 
 perils and joys of the foreign missionary, in the 
 assurance that the Christ, never before so real, 
 would be with them even unto the end of the 
 world. 
 
 What was the amazement of the church when 
 they heard that George Quincy, after learning 
 that the Stantons were going to China, had been 
 quite unable to get away from the impression 
 that some man from Westminster Church must 
 be found to give himself to the passing on of the 
 Westminster spirit. After much deliberation he 
 had written to the Board of Foreign Missions offer- 
 ing to give up his business, and, at his own charges, 
 become a traveling exponent of the Westminster 
 idea. His offer had been most gratefully accepted, 
 and in a few months he expected to be starting on 
 his new work. Never having married, the lack of 
 home ties made him an ideal man for such a task. 
 Missed indeed he would be at Westminster; but 
 there were many others coming forward to fill his 
 place there. An intimate classmate of Mr. Stan- 
 ton, who had caught the fire from him, was 
 called as his successor in Westminster pulpit, 
 and under his ministrations the church went on 
 to better and ever better things, it becoming a 
 thoroughly understood principle that no one 
 could be received into membership in the church 
 who did not intelligently recognize his duty to 
 contribute regularly, as God had prospered him, 
 
238 WITH YOU ALWAYS 
 
 for the support of the church and the evangeliza- 
 tion of the world, as one of the indispensable 
 evidences of genuine conversion and true accept- 
 ance of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Master. 
 From Westminster Church volunteers were 
 never lacking for the local mission established on 
 Kendall Street, which grew into a flourishing 
 church; and from among her young people some 
 offered themselves for teaching and preaching in 
 the home mission fields, so that, looking upon 
 the world as one great field, the particular call to 
 be determined by needs and adaptation and per- 
 sonal circumstances, the whole church operated 
 as one strong army, ready to endure hardness, 
 never suffering themselves to be entangled with 
 the affairs of this life, that they might please Him 
 who called them to be soldiers. And when any 
 new ideal of consecration presented itself, and 
 faith halted, or the suggestion was raised that the 
 church was doing too much, the one determining 
 question was always. If it will redound yet more 
 to the glory of God, why not ? 
 
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