There was an unspoken comradeship such as they had never known.  It was present with them while Virginia was speaking, and during the silence that followed.  If it had been defined by any of them it would perhaps have taken some such shape as this:  “If I shall, in the course of my obedience to my promise, meet with loss or trouble in the world, I can depend upon the genuine, practical sympathy and fellowship of any other Christian in this room who has, with me, made the pledge to do all things by the rule, ’What would Jesus do?’”

All this, the distinct wave of spiritual power emphasized.  It had the effect that a physical miracle may have had on the early disciples in giving them a feeling of confidence in the Lord that helped them to face loss and martyrdom with courage and even joy.

Before they went away this time there were several confidences like those of Edward Norman’s.  Some of the young men told of loss of places owing to their honest obedience to their promise.  Alexander Powers spoke briefly of the fact that the Commission had promised to take action on his evidence at the earliest date possible.

Chapter Fourteen

But more than any other feeling at this meeting rose the tide of fellowship for one another.  Maxwell watched it, trembling for its climax which he knew was not yet reached.  When it was, where would it lead them?  He did not know, but he was not unduly alarmed about it.  Only he watched with growing wonder the results of that simple promise as it was being obeyed in these various lives.  Those results were already being felt all over the city.  Who could measure their influence at the end of a year?

One practical form of this fellowship showed itself in the assurances which Edward Norman received of support for his paper.  There was a general flocking toward him when the meeting closed, and the response to his appeal for help from the Christian disciples in Raymond was fully understood by this little company.  The value of such a paper in the homes and in behalf of good citizenship, especially at the present crisis in the city, could not be measured.  It remained to be seen what could be done now that the paper was endowed so liberally.  But it still was true, as Norman insisted, that money alone could not make the paper a power.  It must receive the support and sympathy of the Christians in Raymond before it could be counted as one of the great forces of the city.

The week that followed this Sunday meeting was one of great excitement in Raymond.  It was the week of the election.  President Marsh, true to his promise, took up his cross and bore it manfully, but with shuddering, with groans and even tears, for his deepest conviction was touched, and he tore himself out of the scholarly seclusion of years with a pain and anguish that cost him more than anything he had ever done as a follower of Christ.  With him were