The Crucifixion of Philip Strong | Page 8

saying?"
Mr. Bentley shrugged his shoulders and said something about not

trying to mix up business and religion. Philip sat looking at the man,
reading him through and through, his heart almost bursting in him at
the thought of what a man would do for the sake of money. At last he
saw that he would gain nothing by prolonging the argument. He rose,
and with the same sweet frankness which characterized his opening of
the subject, he said, "Brother, I wish to tell you that it is my intention to
speak of this matter next Sunday, in the first of my talks on Christ and
Modern Society. I believe it is something he would talk about in public,
and I will speak of it as I think he would."
"You must do your duty, of course, Mr. Strong," replied Mr. Bentley,
somewhat coldly; and Philip went out, feeling as if he had grappled
with his first dragon in Milton, and found him to be a very ugly one and
hard to kill. What hurt him as much as the lack of spiritual fineness of
apprehension of evil in his church-member, was the knowledge that, as
Mr. Bentley so coarsely put it, his salary was largely paid out of the
rentals of those vile abodes. He grew sick at heart as he dwelt upon the
disagreeable fact; and as he came back to the parsonage and went up to
his cosey study, he groaned to think that it was possible through the
price that men paid for souls.
"And this, because society is as it is!" he exclaimed, as he buried his
face in his hands and leaned his elbows on his desk, while his cheeks
flushed and his heart quivered at the thought of the filth and vileness
the money had seen and heard which paid for the very desk at which he
wrote his sermons.
But Philip Strong was not one to give way at the first feeling of
seeming defeat. He did not too harshly condemn his members. He
wondered at their lack of spiritual life; but, to his credit be it said, he
did not harshly condemn. Only, as Sunday approached, he grew more
clear in his own mind as to his duty in the matter. Expediency
whispered to him, "Better wait. You have only just come here. The
people like you now. It will only cause unpleasant feelings and do no
good for you to launch out into a crusade against this thing right now.
There are so many of your members involved that it will certainly
alienate their support, and possibly lead to your being compelled to lose

your place as pastor, if it do not drive away the most influential
members."
To all this plea of expediency Philip replied, "Get thee behind me,
Satan!" He said with himself, he might as well let the people know
what he was at the very first. It was not necessary that he should be
their pastor, if they would none of him. It was necessary that he preach
the truth boldly. The one question he asked himself was, "Would Jesus
Christ, if he were pastor of Cavalry[sic] Church in Milton to-day, speak
of the matter next Sunday, and speak regardless of all consequences?"
Philip asked the question honestly; and, after long prayer and much
communion with the Divine, he said, "Yes, I believe he would." It is
possible that he might have gained by waiting or by working with his
members in private. Another man might have pursued that method, and
still have been a courageous, true minister. But this is the story of
Philip Strong, not of another man, and this is what he did.
When Sunday morning came, he went into his pulpit with the one
thought in mind, that he would simply and frankly, in his presentation
of the subject, use the language and the spirit of his Master. He had
seen other property owners during the week, and his interviews were
nearly all similar to the one with Mr. Bentley. He had not been able to
see Mr. William Winter, the chairman of the trustees, as he had not
returned home until very late Saturday night. Philip saw him come into
the church that morning, just as the choir rose to sing the anthem. He
was a large, fine-looking man. Philip admired his physical appearance
as he marched down the aisle to his pew, which was the third from the
front, directly before the pulpit.
When the hymn had been sung, the offering taken, the prayer made,
Philip stepped out at one side of the pulpit and reminded the
congregation that, according to his announcement of a week before, he
would give the first of his series of monthly talks on Christ and Modern