The Crucifixion of Philip Strong | Page 3

is, am I the one to do it, or is the call to Milton more
imperative? The more I think of it, the more I am convinced that I must
go to Milton."
"Then," said the minister's wife, rising suddenly and speaking with a
mock seriousness that her husband fully understood, "I don't see why
you called me up here to decide what you had evidently settled before
you called me. Do you consider that fair treatment, sir? It will serve

you right if those biscuits I put in the oven when you called me are
fallen as completely as Babylon. And I will make you eat half a dozen
of them, sir, to punish you. We cannot afford to waste anything these
times."
"What," cried Philip, slyly, "not on $2,000 a year! But I'll eat the
biscuits. They can't possibly be any worse than those we had a week
after we were married--the ones we bought from the bakery, you
remember," Philip added, hastily.
"You saved yourself just in time, then," replied the minister's wife. She
came close up to the desk and in a different tone, said, "Philip, you
know I believe in you, don't you?"
"Yes," said Philip simply; "I am sure you do. I am impulsive and
impractical, but heart and soul, and body and mind, I simply want to do
the will of God. Is it not so?"
"I know it is," she said, "and if you go to Milton it will be because you
want to do His will more than to please yourself."
"Yes. Then shall I answer the letter to-night?"
"Yes, if you have decided, with my help, of course."
"Of course, you foolish creature, you know I could not settle it without
you. And as for the biscuits--"
"As for the biscuits," said the minister's wife, "they will be settled
without me, too, if I don't go down and see to them." She hurried
downstairs and Philip Strong, with a smile and a sigh, took up his pen
and wrote replies to the two calls he had received, refusing the call to
Elmdale and accepting the one to Milton. And so the strange story of a
great-hearted man really began.
When he had finished writing these two letters, he wrote another, which
throws so much light on his character and his purpose in going to
Milton, that we will insert that in this story, as being necessary to its

full understanding. This is the letter:--
MY DEAR ALFRED:--Two years ago, when we left the Seminary, you
remember we promised each other, in case either of us left his present
parish, he would let the other know at once. I did not suppose, when I
came, that I should leave so soon, but I have just written a letter which
means the beginning of a new life to me. The Calvary Church in Milton
has given me a call, and I have accepted it. Two months ago my church
here practically went out of existence, through a union with the other
church on the street. The history of that movement is too long for me to
relate here, but since it took place I have been preaching as a supply,
pending the final settlement of affairs, and so I was at liberty to accept
a call elsewhere. I must confess the call from Milton was a surprise to
me. I have never been there (you know I do not believe in candidating
for a place), and so I suppose their church committee came up here to
listen to me. Two years ago nothing would have induced me to go to
Milton. Today it seems perfectly clear that the Lord says to me "Go."
You know my natural inclination is toward a quiet, scholarly pastorate.
Well, Milton is, as you know, a noisy, dirty, manufacturing town, full
of working men, cursed with saloons, and black with coal smoke and
unwashed humanity. The church is quite strong in membership. The
Year Book gives it five hundred members last year, and it is composed
almost entirely of the leading families in the place. What I can do in
such a church remains to be seen. My predecessor there, Dr. Brown,
was a profound sermonizer, and generally liked, I believe. He was a
man of the old school, and made no attempt, I understand, to bring the
church into contact with the masses. You will say that such a church is
a poor place in which to attempt a different work. I do not necessarily
think so. The Church of Christ is, in itself, I believe, a powerful engine
to set in motion against all evil. I have great faith in the membership of
almost any church in this country to accomplish wonderful things for
humanity. And I