up over the sermon, and would probably make it
uncomfortable for the reverend gentleman." Philip wondered, as he read,
at the unusual stir made because a preacher of Christ had denounced an
undoubted evil.

"Is it, then," he asked himself, "such a remarkable piece of news that a
minister of the gospel has preached from his own pulpit against what is
without question an unchristian use of property? What is the meaning of
the church in society unless it is just that? Is it possible that the
public is so little accustomed to hear anything on this subject that
when they do hear it it is in the nature of sensational news?"

He pondered over these questions as he quietly but rapidly went along
with his work. He was conscious as the days went on that trouble was
brewing for him. This hurt him in a way hard to explain; but his
sensitive spirit felt the cut like a lash on a sore place.

When Sunday came he went into his pulpit and faced the largest audience
he had yet seen in Calvary Church. As is often the case, people who had
heard of his previous sermon on Sunday thought he would preach another
like it again. Instead of that he preached a sermon on the love of God
for the world. In one way the large audience was disappointed. It had
come to have its love of sensation fed, and Philip had not given it
anything of the kind. In another way it was profoundly moved by the
power and sweetness of Philip's unfolding of the great subject. Men who
had not been inside of a church for years went away thoughtfully
impressed with the old truth of God's love, and asked themselves what
they had done to deserve it--the very thing that Philip wanted them to
ask. The property owners in the church who had felt offended by Philip's
sermon of the Sunday before went away from the service acknowledging
that the new pastor was an eloquent preacher and a man of large gifts.
In the evening Philip preached again from the same theme, using it in an
entirely different way. His audience nearly filled the church, and was
evidently deeply impressed.

In spite of all this, Philip felt that a certain element in the church
had arrayed itself against him. Mr. Winter did not appear at either
service. There were certain other absences on the part of men who had
been constant attendants on the Sunday services. He felt, without
hearing it, that a great deal was being said in opposition to him; but,
with the burden of it beginning to wear a little on him, he saw n