In His Steps

With the start of Chapter 16, a year has passed since the pledge was first made at the church, a year that “had made history so quickly that few people were able to grasp its significance” (165), and a group of new characters begin to appear in the narrative. During this time, the Reverend Calvin Bruce of Nazareth Avenue Church in Chicago (an old friend of Rev. Maxwell from their seminary days) visits Raymond and is astounded by what he finds. Writing home to a friend, he relates that he is “overflowing with what [he has] seen” (165). In the letter, he relates everything that he has seen and heard concerning the pledge and the work done by some of the more industrious citizens. When his time in Raymond comes to an end, he takes a train back home, “little realizing that the greatest crisis of his Christian ministry was about to break irresistibly upon him” (183).

Shifting the narrative away from Raymond to Chicago, Rose and Felicia Sterling attend a Saturday matinee together and afterwards speak together about the constant differences that are always appearing between the two of them. Rose remarks that Felicia is constantly concerned with what is happening in the lives of others less fortunate than she when she should keep to herself: “Felicia, you can never reform the world. What’s the use? We’re not to blame for the poverty and misery” (186). Arriving home, Felicia receives a letter from Rachel that tells, in part, of Rev. Bruce’s visit to the Raymond church.

At a play that Rose and Felicia attend that evening, Felicia has an experience that startles her out of a complacency with which she has been wrestling: Seeing a depiction of poverty and misery on the stage puts her into a mood for the rest of the evening. Upon returning home, Felicia has another curious encounter, this time with her mother. Going up to visit with her mother before going to bed, Mrs. Sterling asks Felicia if she will pray for her, intimating that something is wrong and hinting that it has something to do with Felicia’s father. Without saying any more, Felicia prays and then leaves the room in tears.

The next morning Rose and Felicia attend church in Chicago while their parents stay at home, and while attending they are met with the same challenge that was issued over a year ago in Raymond. Dr. Bruce, convicted by his time spent with the community in Raymond, asks his own congregation to take the same pledge and to change their manner of life as a genuine test of discipleship. As in Raymond, the few who are interested stay for a meeting after church, and Rose returns home alone. Upon reaching home, Rose is confronted by her father who inquires about Felicia’s whereabouts, suspecting the truth of what happened at the Nazareth Church that Sunday. When Felicia returns home she tells the family of her decision, experiencing a new kind of freedom in her heart that had been absent up to that point.

That very night, Dr. Bruce receives a visit from Bishop Edward Hampton, who questions Dr. Bruce about the pledge and about the reasons for issuing it. Without revealing too much of his own feelings at first, the Bishop assesses the spiritual state of the community of which he is in charge: “Martyrdom is a lost art with us. Our Christianity loves its ease and comfort too well to take up anything so rough and heavy as a cross” (202-03). In the midst of their discussion, however, the pair receive the terrible news that Mr. Sterling has died by suicide. They quickly rush to the Sterling house.

Upon arriving, Dr. Bruce and the Bishop are confronted with not one but two deaths; not only has Mr. Sterling died by suicide, but Mrs. Sterling has also died, apparently from shock and a broken heart. This death comes as a personally painful wound to the Bishop, who long ago had courted Camilla Rolfe before she became Mrs. Sterling. During their time in the Sterling household, they discover that Mr. Sterling had just learned of his impending financial ruin after a series of imprudent and illicit business ventures. In the wake of the tragic events, Rose and Felicia go to Raymond to stay with their cousin Rachel Winslow. While Rose spends her days in a stupor, Felicia begins to thrive in the Raymond community, becoming the designated cook for the project at the Rectangle.

Three months go by, and Dr. Bruce and the Bishop once again gather together for discussion, and the two share with each other the fact that they have reached the same conclusion about their own circumstances. “In order to fulfill my pledge,” says Dr. Bruce, “I shall be obliged to resign from Nazareth Avenue Church.” “I knew you would,” replied the bishop quietly (212-13). “And I came this evening to say that I shall be obliged to do the same with my charge” (212-13). Their shared love for their people—and the conviction that they must suffer in some way to demonstrate their love—drives them to step down from public ministry to enter into personal ministry in the heart of the city of Chicago.

The plan that Dr. Bruce and the Bishop devise, as introduced in Chapter 20, is to rent out a large, abandoned warehouse in the midst of the tenement housing and saloons to evangelize and serve the needs of those in poverty and misery. Both men were in possession of considerable sums of money, and they determine to use a majority of that wealth to fund the work of the Settlement House that they establish. While working, the Bishop encounters Felicia Sterling by surprise and spends an afternoon with her, being served her finest cooking and sharing fellowship and stories of the work they have been doing most recently.

The following week the Bishop undergoes a harrowing experience when he is robbed at gunpoint, but instead of being injured or killed, he ends up having a conversation with the men since he recognizes one of them. Many years ago the Bishop helped one of them after his family died in a fire, and the Bishop tried to help the man find a job and give up alcohol. While the man now admits that he has since lapsed back into alcohol use, he never forgot what the Bishop did and wants to return the favor now. Recalling the man’s name—Burns—the Bishop once again offers to be of assistance and takes the two men in, finding them jobs.

Grateful for the job and the new place in life, Burns takes to his new position well, but not for long. He soon finds himself drawn to the local saloon and nearly relapses. During another trying time, Burns starts towards the saloon but is instead met with the presence of the Bishop who comes around the corner. As the Bishop attempts to keep Burns away from the saloon, Burns strikes the Bishop, but Burns is immediately horrified and repents, begging the Bishop for forgiveness and crying out for prayer.