"Well," said Philip, slowly, as he seemed to grasp the meaning of his
wife's words, "to tell the truth, I never thought of that!" He sat down
and looked troubled. "Do you think, Sarah, that because he is a negro
the church will refuse to receive him to membership? It would not be
Christian to refuse him."

"There are other things that are Christian which the Church of Christ on
earth does not do, Philip,["] replied his wife, almost bitterly. "But
whatever else Calvary Church may do or not do, I am very certain it will
never consent to admit to membership a black man."

"But here[sic] are so few negroes in Milton that they have no church. I
cannot counsel him to unite with his own people. Calvary Church must
admit him!" Philip spoke with the quiet determination which always
marked his convictions when they were settled.

"But suppose the committee refuses to report his name favorably to the
church--what then?" Mrs. Strong spoke with a gleam of hope in her heart
that Philip would be roused to indignation that he would resign and
leave Milton.

Philip did not reply at once. He was having an inward struggle with his
sensitiveness and his interpretation of his Christ. At last he said:

"I don't know, Sarah. I shall do what I think He would. What I shall do
afterward will also depend on what Christ would do. I cannot decide it
yet. I have great faith in the Church on earth."

"And yet what has it done for you so far, Philip? The business men
still own and rent the saloons and gambling houses. The money spent by
the church is all out of proportion to its wealth. Here you give away
half your salary to build up the kingdom of God, and more than a dozen
men in Calvary who are worth fifty and a hundred thousand dollars give
less than a hundredth part of their income to Christian work in
connection with the church. It makes my blood boil, Philip, to see how
you are throwing your life away in these miserable tenements, and
wasting your appeals on a church that plainly does not intend to do,
does not want to do, as Christ would have it. And I don't believe it
ever will."

"I'm not so sure of that, Sarah," replied Philip, cheerfully. "I believe
I shall win them yet. The only thing that sometimes troubles me is, Am I
doing just as Christ would do? Am I saying what He would say in this age
of the world? There is one thing of which I am certain--I am trying to
do just as I believe He would. The mistakes I make are those which