The church of the living waters

J UN : ' 1920

BX 5917 .V8 N4 1920
Neve, Frederick William,

1855-1948.
The church of the living

waters

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THE CHURCH OF THE--.

LIVING WATERS /^^''

f JUN

BY ... V^'V,

FREDERICK W. NEVE

Archdeacon of the Blue Ridge

BOSTON

RICHARD G. BADGER

THE GORHAM PRESS

r n-M,,

^^^7>

V\ 1920

Copyright, 1920, by Frederick W. Neve

All Rights Reserved

Made in the United States of America

The Gorham Press, Boston, U S. A.

"Afterward he brought me again unto the door of
the house, and behold waters issued out from under the
threshold of the house eastward." ******

"Then said he unto me, these waters issue out toward
the East Country, and go down into the desert and go
into the sea; which being brought forth into the sea,
the waters shall be healed, and it shall come to pass
that everything that liveth, which moveth whither-
soever the river shall come shall live/'

Ezek. xlvii: i, 8, 9.

"He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath
said, out of him shall flow rivers of Living Water, but
this spake He of the spirit, which they that believe
on Him shall receive." St. John vii: 38, 39.

"And he showed me a pure river of water of life, as
clear as crystal proceeding out of the Throne of God,
and of the Lamb." "And the Spirit and the Bride say
come, and let him that heareth say come, and whosoever
will, let him come and take of the water of life freely."

Rev. xxii: i, 17.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

9

I A True Story

II Rivers of Living Waters

III A Vision

IV The Meeting of the Waters .

V "Let Him That Is Athirst Come and
Drink of the Water of Life Freely'

VI The Spreading of the Waters

VII A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed

VIII A Little Child Shall Lead Them

IX ''As THE Waters Cover the Sea"

X The Order of the Thousandfold .

13

20

24

30

35
40

43
48

56

THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING WATERS

THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING

WATERS

CHAPTER I

A TRUE STORY

No one can tell how far the influence of a
Church may reach, and it is for the encourage-
ment of those who think perhaps that their
Church is situated in too small or too remote a
community to exert an influence which would reach
far out into the world, that this story is written.

The history of this particular Church goes back
beyond the Civil War to the early forties.

One of its founders, a layman, was so much
interested in matters belonging to the Episcopal
Church, that his only son, brought up in an
atmosphere of reverence and love for the Church,
went into the ministry, and the tradition passed
on to the next generation, as four of his sons be-
came clergymen, and two of them were afterwards
raised to the episcopate, and one of them, a mis-
sionary bishop, was the founder of an entirely new
work in South America. So that, as in the vision

9

lo The Church of the Living Waters

of Ezekiel, a stream of holy influences began to
flow forth from this temple of God in its early
days, a stream which has spread far and wide.

Some years later during the Civil War, it was
decided to move the Church down to the village,
so it was therefore pulled down and rebuilt about
a mile from the original site. For some twenty-
five years it was a blessing to the community in
which it was situated, and through the fact that
many of the young people who received their
religious training within its walls went out into
the world to seek opportunities for success in life,
which were denied them in their native village,
the influence of the Church was extended to dis-
tant parts of the country.

But again the Church was pulled down, rebuilt
and beautified, on account of the unsafe condition
of one of the walls, and the desire of the people
for a more churchly building.

Even before the change had taken place a
spiritual movement had begun in a small way like
a spring of water, which was destined in after
years to grow into a river of blessing. For a
young minister had taken charge of the parish in
1888, and his attention had at once become at-
tracted to the negected condition of the people in
the mountains near by. His predecessor had given
services in a schoolhouse in the mountains, and it
was in taking up this work that he realized how

A True Story ii

much good could be done in this neglected field.
And so he determined to build a Church for the
mountain people, and in about two years suc-
ceeded in doing so, and in building up a congrega-
tion as well. And so a stream of influence flowing
forth from the Mother Church, reached and made
glad the wilderness near by.

As the years passed on the stream of influence
grew stronger and the work prospered, more peo-
ple being, year by year, added to this daughter
Church and the community being more and more
improved.

At the beginning of the new century an ad-
ditional and larger stream of influence began to
flow forth from the Mother Church. The min-
ister had been so much impressed and encouraged
by the good which had been done at the mission
In the mountains near by, and had heard so much
of the great needs of the people in the main Blue
Ridge, he determined to launch out on a new
venture of faith and open up as many new mis-
sions as possible.

So one Sunday in November of 1900, he held
a special service in the Mother Church to in-
augurate this new missionary enterprise, and to
commend to the protection of Almighty God the
first missionary ever sent Into that field.
' He explained to the people his plan for evangel-
izing the Blue Ridge, and expressed his convic-

12 The Church of the Living Waters

tlon that It might be looked upon as a spiritual
movement, which beginning in a small way would
eventually become far reaching in its beneficial
results. This service of inauguration was a very
impressive one and may well be regarded as a
historic event, so far as the influence of the
Mother Church is concerned. The stream of
spiritual influence which then began to flow forth
from the Temple of God, has been growing in
power and volume ever since.

CHAPTER II

RIVERS OF LIVING WATERS

It is not the writer's intention to follow in de-
tail the work which has grown out of that first
venture of faith, as it would fill a large volume.

It must however be borne in mind, that a
spiritual influence has been going forth from the
Mother Church from that day to this, which has
kept it ever in touch with the most remote mission
station in the mountains.

For day by day about noon, the minister, whom
we may now call the missionary, used to go up to
the Church, ring the bell, and hold a solitary serv-
ice, in which the work was commended to the pro-
tection and guidance, and blessing of Almighty
God. And the missionary prayed especially that
the promise given by Christ in St. John VII. 38,
might be abundantly fulfilled in his case, and that
rivers of living water might flow forth from him.

We may, in fact, say that this wonderful prom-
ise has been relied on and its complete fulfilment
'asked for, during the many years which have
elapsed since this Prayer Service was first started.

13

14 The Church of the Living Waters

The too literal translation of the authorized and
revised versions of this passage, has doubtless re-
pelled many from its use in prayer, but the won-
derful nature of the blessing promised, attracted
the attention of the missionary and he was de-
termined that he would gain the full benefit of it.
He read it in this way: "He that believeth on
Me," as the Scripture hath said, "out of him shall
flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of
the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should
receive ; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, be-
cause that Jesus was not yet glorified." And the
pleading of this promise in the Mother Church,
day by day, was having its effect far up in the
mountains and the river of Living Water was
gradually finding its way, farther and farther, into
the dry and thirsty places of the land.

When the first mission teacher was carried up
there by the missionary, there was no schoolhouse
to teach in and no funds to pay the teacher, except
for the first two or three months. The idea was
to gather a few children at a time together in one
of the cabins and make a beginning, in the hope
that a teacher's Influence might make an impres-
sion on the people and open the way for greater
things later on. But on their arrival on the moun-
tain the way seemed to open at once, for the first
man they met, as soon as he understood their er-
rand, placed an empty house, which he had built.

Rivers of Living Waters 15

at the disposal of the teacher, and here for some
months the school was held.

And when this spring dried up, through the
house being no longer available, some one came
forward without any solicitation, and undertook
to supply the needed school room. God certainly
seemed in those early days to be working hand in
hand with the missionaries.

One morning about dawn the missionary, who
was on a visit, awoke, and from the window of
the cabin in which he was sleeping saw a beautiful
sight. It was the Lost Mountain which rose
towering to the clouds on the opposite side of the
valley, and It was glorified with the rays of the
rising sun.

The light blue haze which hung upon Its side
was suffused with the rosy glow of dawn, making
It look like a vision of the New Jerusalem. The
thought which came to the missionary at that
moment was this : — ^Why should not the Sun of
Righteousness arise upon the poor Lost Moun-
tain as well. The vision was soon followed by
the coming of a deputation from the people of
the Lost Mountain to ask him to extend the work
and open a school on their mountain as well.

The call followed the vision just as In the case
of St. Peter and Cornelius, and the river of in-
fluence and blessing reached farther out Into the
desert.

1 6 The Church of the Living Waters

Then came another answer to the prayers going
up day by day in the Mother Church for the
spread of the Living Waters. A boy of sixteen
or seventeen, inspired from childhood with the
desire and longing to be a minister, and brought
up in the same old Church, volunteered to go up
into the Blue Ridge for the summer and do all
the good he could.

At first the people rather despised his youth,
but his earnestness and zeal together with a con-
siderable amount of personal magnetism, won the
hearts of the people, and resulted in large con-
gregations, and a new interest in religion. The
new venture of faith — the work on the Lost
Mountain, received a good share of his time and
attention. As the schoolhouse had only just be-
gun to be built he held services on the mountain-
side, the people sitting on rocks and logs of wood,
while lanterns were hung from branches of trees
when the service was at night. The interest was
intense, and the people were deeply moved. On
one occasion it began to rain and the young mis-
sionary suggested to the people that they should
go home, but this they refused to do, saying that
they would rather stay and listen to him, even if
they did get wet. One morning very early he
had a heart to heart talk by a great rock on the
mountainside with a very old man ninety years of

Rivers of Living Waters 17

age. This man had been a great fighter in his
day, and was notorious for his evil life. But his
heart had softened of late, and this quiet talk
with the boy missionary completed the work of
his conversion, for just as the sun rose on the
mountain, the light of the Sun of Righteousness
seemed to rise in the darkened soul of the old
man, and he rejoiced in the knowledge of the love
of his Savior. And so there came a remarkable
fulfilment of that early morning vision when the
missionary had been inspired with the idea of
bringing the Hght of the Sun of Righteousness to
shine upon the Lost Mountain.

Yet another venture of faith was made about
this time, and a new channel opened for the Liv-
ing Waters to flow through and reach and bless
another spot of desert ground. It came about in
this way, — the boy missionary made his home with
a worthy old couple who sympathized with the
work that was being done and helped it in every
way that they could. One damp and disagree-
able day a poor young woman, who had sunk to
a very low level, came in out of the rain and
damp to find shelter, and while there she ap-
pealed to the young man to come over to a neigh-
boring mountain and hold services for her people.
This appeal was not unheeded, and another mis-
sion was started In this way, though for over a

1 8 The Church of the Living Waters

year there was no building of any kind for the
services, and they had to be held in a grove of
trees in the open air.

At the end of the second summer the people
begged for a school, and a place where services
could be held all the year round. This appeal
could not be refused, as we had already gathered
some of the people into the Church. So the mis-
sionary instructed his young friend to secure the
necessary lumber and arrange with some carpen-
ters to do the work. He also provided him with
a plan for the building. After a while he came
down to see the missionary and told him that the
lumber was secured, and that the carpenters would
begin work on the building the following Monday.

This brought the missionary face to face with
the problem of how to raise the necessary funds
to pay for the work. And here again just as on
former occasions, the Hand of the Lord mani-
fested Itself, for on the very day on which the
carpenters began the work he received a letter
from a friend, saying that the next time he wanted
to build a school-chapel he would be glad to fur-
nish the money. Just as the waters of Jordan
were divided, when the soles of the feet of the
priests touched the water, and not till then, so it
was In this case, the help came just at the hour
when It was needed; for God works hand In hand
with those who work hand In hand with Him.

Rivers of Living Waters 19

THE MAN OF FAITH

All things are possible to him
Who has the faith of those priests of old,
Who halted not on Jordan's brim
Though the raging waters onward rolled.

For they bare the Ark of the Living God
And the path of duty was plain and clear,
Though Moses stood not with uplifted rod
Yet the God of Moses they knew was near.

So the man of faith shall not daunted be.
Though the mountain wall or the raging tide
Seem to bar his way; for by faith he shall see
His Master forever by his side.

CHAPTER III

A VISION

But the river of influence had been flowing and
spreading elsewhere than in the mountains, for
news of the work that was being done for the
mountain people had gone out into the world, and
had its influence there.

An address by the missionary before the Dio-
cesan council had brought the Church in Virginia
face to face with the problem, and the necessity
for doing something for this class of our popula-
tion which had been neglected for generations.

The appeal was not in vain, and the results were
far-reaching. He had also an opportunity of
bringing the matter before a meeting of the Dio-
cesan Auxiliary, made up of representative women
from all over the diocese. A great deal of inter-
est was aroused in this way, and so the rivers of
influence went out in all directions.

With the death of Bishop Whittle, the Chief
Pastor for many years of the Diocese of Virginia,
came the desire on the part of the various auxiliary
branches to provide some memorial to him, and
it was finally decided that it should take the form

20

A Vision 21

of a Church. The question of location was to
be decided at the next annual meeting of the Dio-
cesan Auxiliary, and the missionary made a point
of being present that he might plead the claim
of the mountains to be the beneficiary of their
proposed act of loyalty to the memory of their
beloved bishop.

At first it seemed as if he would be successful,
and he felt confident that if the Church was placed
in the mountains it would mean that the women
of the diocese would be permanently interested
in the work.

Things however did not work out as he had
expected and it seemed as if he was going to lose
the object he had striven so hard to gain. An-
other disappointment befell him at the same time
which it is not necessary to dwell upon. The
result of this double disappointment was great
discouragement, and on the day he left he went
into the chapel close by the Church and kneeling
down he prayed earnestly and commended him-
self to God afresh for the work, though the out-
look was very depressing.

All at once he became conscious of a vision for
which he could give no natural explanation. It
seemed to him that Christ was close to him, that
is to say visibly present, and at the same time
there was impressed upon his mind the words
which our Lord spoke to Joshua outside the city

22 The Church of the Living Waters

of Jericho: — "As Captain of the Lord's Host am
I now come." The Light of the Presence was
gone as in a moment, but he was sure that just as
He took command of the army of Israel, outside
Jericho, so too was he to understand that the
work that he was engaged in was not his but
God's, and that he was merely serving under Him.
Some years after, when the stress of circum-
stances after the great war made him feel a long-
ing to be able to strike some mighty blow for the
Cause of his Master, he wrote the following
poem, the latter part of which is a reminiscence
of this earlier experience, though the vision as
described above was not connected with the dawn.

EXCALIBUR

Lord, give to me Excalibur

That I may strike some blow for Thee
Which in this dark tremendous hour

May help to set Thy people free.
The night is dark, the conflict near

And I have neither sword nor spear.

'Twas said King Arthur would return

When the last dreadful battle came,

When pagan hosts o'erspread the land

And all the world was lit with flame;

But Arthur doth not yet appear

And I have neither sword nor spear!

A Vision 23

A light shone forth from out the dawn,
It glowed as doth a seraph's wing

And near and nearer came until —
It was the Presence of the King.

What recked I then that foes were near
What recked I then of sword or spear!

"Thou dost not need Excalibur

It still may sleep beneath the mere.

The mighty blow Mine Arm shall give,
For I, the Lord of Hosts, am here,

And victory comes when I am near

For I will be thy sword and spear."

CHAPTER IV

THE MEETING OF THE WATERS

It often happens in life that one set of influences
meets and becomes merged in another set of influ-
ences, or one personality is strongly influenced by
another, or the influence may be mutual. And so
it was with the spiritual adventure which has been
described in these pages. There was another in-
fluence at work other than that which flowed
forth from the Church of the Living Waters.
This influence, strangely enough, was hidden and
unperceived till chance revealed its presence and
its source.

It is necessary to go back some years in order
to trace the course of this stream of additional
influence to its beginning.

It seems that a good lady living in one of the
towns in the Valley of Virginia, had come to make
it her special work for God to visit the gaol and
read to the prisoners. In this way she became
very much interested in a certain hollow in the
mountains because there were several men in the
gaol who came from that particular place. One
of the prisoners especially aroused her pity be-

24

The Meeting of the Waters 25

cause he was accused of murder, and when his
trial came off he was condemned to die.

She labored faithfully for his conversion and
had the joy of seeing her work crowned with
success; for before his death he had repented and
become an earnest Christian. He entreated the
good lady to pray earnestly for the people of the
Hollow from which he came, and that God would
send some one there to minister to them. She
gave the promise but at the same time told him
that he must add his prayers to hers, not only
while he was still on earth but in Paradise as well,
and this he pledged himself to do. She kept dp
her faithful ministrations to the end and had the
satisfaction of knowing that she had smoothed the
way through the dark valley for him and brought
him to the Light. The good lady remembered
her promise to the condemned man and to the
day of her death her prayer went up to God for
the people of the Hollow.

Later on there was another man from the same
hollow brought to the gaol and in his case too
the extreme penalty of the law had to be enforced.
Her work of mercy was just as successful in the
case of this second prisoner as it had been in the
case of the first. He was brought to repentance
and to a sincere belief in Jesus Christ as his
Savior.

By this time the good lady had become so much

26 The Church of the Living Waters

interested in the forlorn condition of this moun-
tain hollow that she made a journey there, and
visited the poor man's family, which consisted of
his wife and several children.

Christmas, near at hand, was the time set for
the man's execution; but the good woman was
determined that the children should have some
toys and other things to mark the Holy Season,
which was to be so sad and terrible a time for
them. Among the things purchased was a small
tea set and she took it with her to the gaol when
she went with the clergyman who was to minister
to the condemned man the Holy Communion. She
wished to show the things to the man that he might
know his children were being thought of and their
happiness provided for.

When the Communion was celebrated it was
found that the chalice could not be passed through
the bars of the cell door, and as it was against the
rules to open the door, the difficulty was overcome
by the clergyman pouring some of the wine into
one of the little teacups which was small enough to
be passed through the barrier, and the poor man
received the sign and assurance of his share in
the redeeming blood of Christ in this manner.
The cup used as a chalice was afterwards sent
with the rest of the tea set to the lonely home in
the distant hollow, and doubtless brought joy to

The Meeting of the Waters 27

the hearts of the children. And so, as the niece
of the good lady has since beautifully said, the
Holy Grail came to the Hollow in the Blue Ridge.
That this hidden stream of Influence was min-
gling with the other influences at work was not
known to the missionary till some years later when
the President of the Woman's Auxiliary of the
Diocese told him the following story. It seems
she had been on a visit to a neighboring diocese
and had spoken at a meeting about the work that
was being done in the Virginia Mountains. After
the meeting an old lady came up and spoke to her.
She told her that for years she had been praying

that God would send someone to S Hollow

to help the people as she had become Interested in
that particular hollow through some prison work
she had done years before. One day not long
previous to this meeting she had picked up a copy
of the ''Spirit of Missions," and turning over the
pages her attention was attracted by the picture
of a Church, the Inscription underneath being

W Memorial Chapel, In S Hollow. She

said her eyes filled with tears and the name shone
out as If written In letters of gold, for it was the
very place that she had been praying so earnestly
for through many years, and perhaps her prayers
had been helped by those of the pardoned criminal
'in Paradise.

28 The Church of the Living Waters

At any rate she knew the prayers had been an-
swered, and that God had sent some servant of
His to the Hollow.

The missionary when he heard the story won-
dered; for this was the first time he had ever
suspected the existence of this other stream of
holy influence, and it was not till some years later
that he came into possession of the full story as
related in the early part of this chapter.

What he heard, however, threw light upon the
circumstances under which he had first gone up
into the Hollow and staked out a claim, as it were,
for the Lord Christ. He was In very poor health
and suffered acutely from nervous dyspepsia. But
there seemed to be such an urgency In the call and
he became so possessed with the Idea that work
must be opened up In this particular Hollow, that
he felt as if he must go.

The journey up there was a long one, and was
made In a buggy, part of the way being over a
very rough road. The heat was intense, and he
had suffered from a severe attack the night be-
fore, of the malady from which he was suffering,
and he felt uncertain whether he would live
through the trip. As he looked back upon that
time he realized that there must have been a
mighty Influence at work to constrain him to make
the attempt, but now the secret was revealed. The

The Meeting of the Waters 29

power of prayer was at work and its influence
prevailed.

Other wonders were brought about by the same
means. When the missionary first started his mis-
sion work up there, it was considered unsafe to
hold any Christmas service at all as the only idea
which the people had of this holy season was that
it was a time for drinking and fighting, for as one
person remarked, "The men are very wild up
here."

It may be said, however, that a Christmas tree
was held in spite of the warning.

Some years later, however, a great change had
taken place, as when Christmas Day came some
of the people got up at two o'clock in the morning
and walked three miles through the snow in order
that they might partake of the Body and Blood
of our Lord at the Memorial Church in the
Hollow.

Years before at the same Christmas season, the
condemned criminal from this Hollow had re-
ceived the same Holy Food, and the cup out of
which he had drunk the wine had been sent to
his home in the Hollow to be the forerunner of
the better Christmas to come when his own people
should partake of the same Holy Feast.

CHAPTER V

"let him that is athirst come and drink

OF THE WATER OF LIFE FREELY"

One of the most striking things in connection
with the work has been from the very first, the
thirst of the people for the Living Water which
was brought to them.

On one occasion the missionary was returning
from a visit to the Lost Mountain over twenty
miles from his home, when he overtook a poor
woman who was walking along the road. He
offered her a ride in his buggy, which she gladly
availed herself of. He soon found that she had
been present at a service he had held the day be-
fore and that in order to be there she had walked
for a whole day, and that it would take her a
whole day to walk home.

It seemed she had formerly lived on the Lost
Mountain but had moved away to some distance.
She was, however, anxious to be present at the ser-
vice and so had made the journey on foot.

The missionary had also once had a service
when the people were so loth to leave that he
delivered three addresses, one after the other, be-

30

'^Conie and Drink of the Water of Life^' 31

fore they would go home. It was thirsty desert
soil to which the Living Water was brought, and
it drank it in eagerly.

But this thirst for the knowledge of God was
manifested more particularly, by the coming of
ambassadors from other communities farther off
in the wilderness begging and entreating the mis-
sionary and his helpers to extend their work so
that they and their people might have a share in
the blessing. The spread of the work has been
due in a great measure to this Macedonian cry
of outside communities.

One of the most remarkable of these appeals
was that of an old man living on a remote moun-
tain where there was neither school, nor church,
nor work of any kind.

A summer student of the Virginia Seminary
had found his way to this out-of-the-way place,
and to the home of the old man. He told the
student of a dream he had had, in which it seemed
to him that he was lost in a gloomy forest, and
that he tried to find his way out. Fighting his
way through the thicket of briers and brambles,
and becoming faint and exhausted with his efforts,
he at last saw a light shining, and forcing his way
towards it with his last remaining strength he
came out into the open, and found himself in a
beautiful world, lighted with an unearthly glory,
and filled with music and singing birds.

32 The Church of the Living Waters

He interpreted this dream to mean that he and
his people had been lost in the darkness of sin and
ignorance, and that the light which he had seen
was the light of faith which had brought him to
the Truth, and that the beautiful day was the new
day which was to dawn for him and his people,
through the coming of the missionaries there in
answer to his appeal.

He promised to give land to build a school-
house and to do all in his power to help if the
Church would send a teacher to instruct the chil-
dren. The student was able to hold one service
up there before he returned to the Seminary and
there were between seventy and eighty people pres-
ent. The good man had to wait some consider-
able time before his request could be granted, and
in the meantime he became very ill and thought
he was going to die. There being no minister for
many miles, he told his young daughter, about six-
teen years old, that she must baptize him. She
having been in the habit of walking over to a
mission school some miles distant, had learned
to read, and had been given a prayer book by
the mission teacher. So, as he insisted upon it,
she found the place in the prayer book and read
through the service of Holy Baptism, performing
the rite at the proper place.

Instead of dying, however, he recovered and

^^Come and Drink of the Water of Life" 33

was able to take further steps towards securing a
school.

Hearing that the missionary was expected at
the nearest mission point, on a certain day, he
started out to walk over there from his mountain
so as to be present at the night service, which had
been arranged for. Unexpectedly the missionary
had to change his plans and was not able to come
till the next day. The old man, however, ap-
peared at the mission and was greatly disappointed
to find that the missionary was not there. He
told his story to the workers and begged them
to plead his cause and that of his people and then
sadly turned his face towards home, walking the
long distance through the forest, after nightfall.

When the missionary arrived the next day, the
case was put before him and he was so much
touched by the incident, that he determined to
make this fresh venture of faith and send a teach-
er. If one could be found.

The old man proved his willingness to help by
promising to build a schoolhouse at once, so that
it would be ready when the teacher arrived. A
teacher was found who was willing to go up there
and for three years she worked among the people
and taught the children, but the old man unfortu-
nately died before he could carry out, fully, his
Intentions. From an old deed found among his

34 The Church of the Living Waters

possessions, it was shown that the land on that
mountain was first settled in 1750 and it is almost
certain that there had never been a school up
there, until the missionary was able to open one
as above described.

The lady teacher was succeeded by the same
young student who had held the first service there,
some four years previously, and it is his intention
that, before long, the dream of the old man shall
come true and a new and better day dawn on that
mountain.

The incidents so far recorded, give only a small
part of the history of the work, but they are
sufficient to show its character and to make clear
the wonderful way in which the Living Waters
were spread abroad, bringing blessings wherever
they went.

CHAPTER VI

THE SPREADING OF THE WATERS

One of the most wonderful things about the
work which has been described, is the way in which
it has interested those at a distance, and thus the
Living Waters have been carried to the ends of
the earth.

For, in the first place, there have been not a
few who have received their first training as fish-
ers of men in the Mountain Work, and afterwards
have gone into the more distant mission fields of
the Church.

Mountain missions form one of the very best
schools for the training of missionaries, because
it is a kind of work which brings out into active
exercise and expression, every gift or latent faculty
with which the worker is endowed. There is no
such thing as keeping any talent laid up in a
napkin.

The varied experiences of the mountain mis-
sionary, and the fact that he is called upon to
turn his hand to anything and everything within
the range of human possibility renders it impossi-
ble to hold anything back or in reserve. What-

35

26 The Church of the Living Waters

ever is in him has to come out and be put to use.
The consequence is that when a man or a woman
has had two or three years' experience in the
mountain work he or she is ready to go anywhere
or do anything.

One young clergyman who came direct from the
Seminary to the mountains soon gained a reputa-
tion for knowing everyone in the county. This
feat he accompHshed by penetrating into the re-
cesses of the Blue Ridge, making friends of people
hidden away in lonely hollows, and ministering to
their material needs as well as their spiritual.

After two or three years intensive training in
the mountains, and a short rectorate in a North-
ern city, he went out to help Bishop Brent in the
Philippines, where he spent five years, using in
that far away field the experience he had gained
in the mountains.

Another young man who started in as teacher
of the school on Lost Mountain, and for severaj
years helped in various ways, and at different mis-
sions, later on went to Alaska, where he has
served for some years, and is now Dean of the
Cathedral at Juneau.

One of our most valuable woman workers who
for five years devoted her time and strength, at
her own charge, to the Ragged Mountains, gave
the last two years of her life to work among the

The Spreading of the Waters 37

Indians at Ketchikan in Alaska, where she laid
down her life for the Master, by overtaxing her
strength.

Another young man, a medical student, spent
part of one summer in the mountains, and became
familiar with the conditions existing there. This
experience had such an eliect upon him that he
determined to give himself to the work as soon
as he had graduated. When the time came he
offered his services; but it was in the early days
of the work and we had no funds to support a
doctor, and so he decided to go to China, where
he has been doing immensely valuable work as a
medical missionary, for a number of years.

A couple of instances will be given now of
some indirect influences of the work which have
served to help in spreading the Living Waters in
various directions.

The missionary had been taking part in an
Auxiliary Day at a town some miles distant. Here
he met a lady who told him she had a message
for him from some lady unknown to him. The
message was to the effect that the sender had
heard him speak about the work at the Episcopal
Church at the Virginia Hot Springs, and that what
she had heard had determined her to go home and
open up work for the mountaineers in her own
neighborhood. The message further stated that

38 The Church of the Living Waters

she had carried out her good resolution, and that
she wanted the missionary to know what she was
doing, and that her work had been a success. Her
home lay In a different State, so the Living Waters
had found a new channel of blessing.

Another and more remarkable Incident may be
related as follows : The missionary had a number
of years ago gone to a distant parish In another
State to speak about the work and try to awaken
Interest and secure help. He stayed with a cer-
tain family, and while there made such a deep Im-
pression on the mind of a small boy, through his
story of the work and of what the missionaries
were doing, that the boy, who had been thinking
about the ministry, made up his mind then and
there that he would become a clergyman. Neither
he nor his mother have ever forgotten this Inci-
dent. The last news received by the missionary
was to the effect that the boy, now a man, had
spent a year or more In China doing valuable mis-
sion work, and that now he was taking charge of
the religious work at one of our large Universities,
and that his experience In China had given him a
special aptness for dealing with Individual cases.

In a letter to the missionary he said: — "Two
years in China have just given me new experi-
ences in bringing people one by one to Christ. I

am at P now for a year, working mainly with

individuals. Miracles have happened already.

The Spreading of the Waters 39

Why do we not prove the miraculous in Christian-
ity by having more of them today? My prayers
are always for your success and your work. A
few causes are always with me, and that is one."

CHAPTER VII

A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED

The missionary was fortunate in having, in the
early days of his work in the mountains, the sym-
pathy and help of a young lady who afterwards
was in a position to render very valuable service.
She was a member of one of his parish churches,
and in that way became acquainted with the mis-
sionary work he was doing in the mountains and
became much interested in it.

The first booklet he ever wrote, entitled *'Light
in Dark Places," was intended to be used as a
means by which she could interest her friends at
a distance in the work. And here it may be said
that the literature sent out from time to time, and
more especially the little monthly paper entitled
''Our Mountain Work," has gone all over the
United States, and has been read by many thou-
sands of people. The papers have been read out
at auxiliary meetings, sent to friends, and some-
times copied into other papers and publications.
They have made the work known, and as a result
a great deal of money has been raised for it.

But to return to the good friend of the mission-

40

A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed 41

ary and his work, already mentioned. Her mar-
riage to a man of great wealth, of American
birth but residing in England, enabled her to
render much greater aid than had been possible
formerly. On one occasion when on a visit to
this country, she helped out the missionary in a
large way by getting up some Tableaux in New
York City, with the cooperation of her friends,
and in this way raised a large sum of money, a
considerable part of which was used to start an
Industrial School for the mountain people.

The raising up of this friend to stand by the
work and render it so much assistance was of the
greatest help to the missionary, and an encourage-
ment to him at times when the difficulties were
well-nigh insuperable. For years a considerable
sum of money could be counted upon from Eng-
land, which made the burden of raising the funds
needed to carry on the work, very much easier.

Strange to say this lady who was so closely
identified with the mountain work, and whose old
home is situated near the mountains where it was
first started, has recently been brought before the
eyes of the whole word through her plucky fight
to win a seat in the English House of Commons,
a fight which ended in a great victory.

Prayers have gone forth from the Mother
Church that as she had been a blessing to the
people of the mountains, so too a blessing might

42 The Church of the Living Waters

always rest upon her, and that her efforts for the
good of others, In her position of influence as the
first woman member of the English Parliament,
might be crowned with a great success.

CHAPTER VIII

A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM

Back at the Mother Church the missionary
kept up his Prayer Service for the work, and the
world in general, every day at noon. The bell
sounded forth and was heard for a long way, and
was regarded as a call to prayer, though none ever
came to the Church to join the missionary in his
intercessions. He knew, however, that there were
some, he knew not how many, who made it a prac-
tice to say a prayer when they heard the bell.

A year or so before the war came to a close,
the missionary felt that the time had come to pre-
pare for peace, for he realized that the war after
the war — the Spiritual Armageddon — would be
even more decisive in its effects upon human his-
tory than even the conflict then raging.

In the new civilization which was to take the
place of the old, everything depended upon
whether the principal formative influences were
spiritual or material.

So he boldly started out to do his share In brlng-

'ing in the new Heavens and the new Earth by

trying to build up ideal communities, in the place

43

44 ^^hc Church of the Living Waters

where he lived, and throughout the mountains.

He prayed at his noonday Prayer Service that
he might be made a thousand times more useful
than ever before, reaHzing that the difficulties in
the way of the New Order were very great.

He met with many setbacks and apparent de-
feats, but though discouraged, instead of giving
up he plucked up courage, and prayed earnestly
that his usefulness might be more and more might-
ily increased till at last his prayer had come to
be that he might be made a billion times more
useful than ever before, and he determined that
this prayer should be kept up till the end.

He realized that they were Days of Destiny
through which the world was passing, and that
there was an opportunity for every one to do hero-
ic service in helping to build up the New Order.
But the months went on, and nothing special
happened to show that the prayer was being an-
swered. %

At last one day while he was praying alone in
the chancel of the Church at mid-day after he had
rung the bell, something strange did happen. He
heard the door open and the pattering of feet
up the aisle, and to his surprise he found his lit-
tle girl of four years old kneeling near him; she
had also brought her doll, which was made to
kneel too. So they were all three kneeling in a
row; the missionary, the child, and the doll.

A Little Child Shall Lead Them 45

Strange to say, the central window over the
altar represented the Good Shepherd with a lamb
in His arms; so the Good Shepherd and the lamb
looked down upon the shepherd and his lamb
nestling by his side.

It afterwards seemed to the missionary as if
the child's guardian angel must have brought her
there, and been kneeling there too, for things be-
gan to happen which showed that this strange re-
inforcement was more powerful and effective than
outward appearances would indicate.

The child kept on coming, and when the mis-
sionary was away from home she would go up
with her mother and help her ring the bell, and
would then kneel down, as she was accustomed to
do when her father was there. The doll, however,
soon stopped coming.

The Prayer Service was a simple one; the mis-
sionary and the child kneeled down and first of
all he placed his hand upon her head, and asked
God to bless her and make her a blessing wher-
ever she went and as long as she lived. Then
they prayed for all missionaries everywhere and
the child always repeated the amen fervently after
her father. Then a few simple words were spoken
which she repeated too, such as for the poor
people everywhere, and the sick people, and the
people everywhere who had no one else to pray
for them, and all who asked to be prayed for.

46 The Church of the Living Waters

Then when the prayers were over, they stood up
side by side, and the missionary, holding the
child's hand with his left one, extended his right
hand and blessed all those for whom they had
been praying. This to the child was the ceremony
of Blessing the World.

This incident, a brief sketch of which was pub-
lished in the little mountain paper, afterwards
found its way into a religious weekly which goes
into over three hundred thousand homes, and to
almost every country in the whole world, and
doubtless touched the hearts of all who read it,
and perhaps in many cases revived a desire to
pray. It was copied from this weekly into other
papers, and it is impossible to say how far it has
spread. Letters came too asking that the writers
might be remembered in the noon-tide prayers.
Word came from far away England that an old
lady over ninety years of age just hovering be-
tween this life and the next, heard the story read
during a conscious period. After hearing it she
remarked "that little child will work for God,"
a prophecy which it is hoped will come true in
due time.

The children too, round about, heard the story,
and came to understand that when they heard the
bell ring it was a time to pray, for children as well
as grown people.

One child at the school near by could not be

A Little Child Shall Lead Them 47

Induced by the teacher to say her lessons just after
the bell rang. She kept perfectly quiet and the
teacher afterwards finding out the reason had
noon-tide prayers for the school, and wrote a pray-
er on the blackboard for the children to repeat.
Another child too small to go to school, and liv-
ing some distance from the Church, would listen
for the bell to sound, and then run to tell his
mother it was time to pray.

And thus the coming of the little child to break
the loneliness of the missionary's Prayer Service,
helped to open up, as it were, a new Spring of the
Living Waters and they spread all the farther in
consequence.

CHAPTER IX

"as the waters cover the sea"

One of the results of this Prayer Service and
the desire to be mightily useful, to what might
seem an extravagant degree, was a quickening of
faith, and a belief in the possibility of things which
had seemed, or would have seemed once, beyond
all limits of attainment.

Any chance which presented itself for useful-
ness was gladly taken advantage of, the mission-
ary feeling that he had still left to him only a
few years of service, and that therefore they must
be taken advantage of to the fullest extent.

During the Nation-wide Campaign it did not
seem to him that any hymn had been put forth for
use in the Campaign, and as it was one of the
greatest movements that had taken place in the
Episcopal Church since its commencement In this
country, he thought that it should be marked by
some hymn or battle song which could be used
to help in stirring up enthusiasm.

And so one night he sat down, and taking some
notes which he had already set down, he composed

48

*'As the Waters Cover the Sea^' 49

a hymn which he sent on the next day to his
bishop, then at the General Convention.

To his great pleasure and satisfaction a few
days later he received the news that the hymn had
been welcomed and would be sung at the General
Convention. And so on October 15, 19 19, during
a joint session of both houses in connection with
the Nation-wide Campaign, a session which was
afterwards described as being the most remark-
able that had ever taken place in the history of
the Church in America, the hymn was sung, and
the missionary afterwards hoped that his prayers
had been answered, and that the hymn might have
helped in however slight a measure to give to the
meeting the inspiration by which it seemed to have
been marked. For he had prayed very earnestly
during the night immediately previous to this meet-
ing, that the hymn might be used by God to help
the movement, and his faith in prayer had become
very greatly strengthened by some significant
things which had happened, and which seemed to
him to have grown out of this earnest desire of
his to be made useful to God and His Church.

Many years before, the idea had occurred to
him that just as the utilization of the hidden stores
of natural energy had resulted in a complete trans-
, formation of the outward circumstances of human
life, so too ought it to be possible for the Church
through her members to liberate the vast stores

50 The Church of the Living Waters

of spiritual energy which lay ready to hand, and
use it for the benefit of mankind.

And this idea, which had lain more or less dor-
mant in his mind for years, was revived through
the influence of the Nation-wide Campaign.

These stores of spiritual energy seemed to him
just as illimitable as those of natural energy, and
the promises contained in the New Testament put
them entirely at the disposal of the Christian be-
liever. The "what-so-ever" of Christ placed no
limit upon the utilization or the spiritual resources
of the Kingdom, and as the prayer of faith was
the key which would open the gates of this treas-
ure house, any believer might take advantage of
the opportunity.

It was along these lines that the missionary's
mind worked at this time, and it occurred to him
that there was a chance for him to be of great
and lasting service to the Church and to his fellow
men.

He had been praying for years that the prom-
ise of Christ might be fulfilled In him, that "he
that belleveth on Me," as the Scripture hath said,
"out of him shall flow rivers of living water."
He had also been praying for a year or two that
he might be made a billion times more useful than
ever before, because he had felt that in days like
those through which the world was passing, every-
one ought to do his very utmost to increase the

*^As the Waters Cover the Sea'* 51

measure of his usefulness, and even dare to experi-
ment and test the wiUingness of the Almighty to
use His children to His greater glory, and the
greater good of mankind. The analogy of the
utilization of natural energy and the illimitable
possibilities in this direction, which seemed to be
before men, stimulated his interest in the question
as to whether the same possibilities, only of a
greater and higher kind, did not lie before the
Christian Church.

The answer to the question seemed to depend
upon a venture of faith — a great experiment —
which should not be undertaken for his own ben-
efit or his own glory, but for the good of the
Church and his fellow men.

The Church had been busily engaged in per-
fecting her organization and thus distributing the
spiritual energy of her members in such a way as
to render it as effective as possible. This wiser
and more intelligent direction of the Church's
energy was true statesmanship. But a still more
important need the missionary felt was a great
increase in spiritual power, such as would set for-
ward the Kingdom much more rapidly than ever
before. This power seemed to be certainly avail-
able, as the New Testament promises were really
Invitations to come forward and draw upon the
'Inexhaustible stores of the divine energy.

The missionary therefore determined that the

52 The Church of the Living Waters

rest of his life should be devoted to a great ven-
ture of faith along the lines already laid down.
He realized that so far as doing things was con-
cerned, he had nearly reached the limit of his
strength; but he knew also that God had at His
command, all sorts of means and channels by which
He might make use of his influence so that it
would have far-reaching results.

If it could only be shown and proved that by
the prayer of faith, spiritual power could be
brought into play, on a much larger scale than
ever before, and that just as there are millionaires
and even one or more billionaires, who exert a
powerful influence by means of their material
wealth, so can there also be spiritual millionaires
or even billionaires, so to speak, if men would
gradually exercise their faith, so that it would
grow and increase, until they were willing to set
their minds and wills upon the attainment of this
end.

He realized, however, that there could be no
chance of success unless such persons fully under-
stood that growth in humility must go hand in
hand with the reaching out for the greater and
higher usefulness; and he knew also that another
condition must be the clear realization that any
power gained must be used for the good of the
Church and for the benefit of humanity and not
for any selfish purposes, as for instance, to attract

^^As the Waters Cover the Sea'' 53

attention or to gain distinction among men. For
St. Paul has made clear in the Thirteenth Chapter
of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, that the
seeking for spiritual power for one's own ends
deprives it of its value in God's sight, when he
says: "And though I have all faith so that I could
remove mountains, and have not charity, I am
nothing."

But on the other hand, if with childhke faith
and a humble reaching forth, to open up the stores
of the divine energy for the good of the world, by
the faithful members of the Church throughout
the land, the Living Waters were liberated in full
volume, the words of the old Hebrew prophet
would be fulfilled, and "the knowledge of the Lord
would cover the earth as the waters cover the sea."

HYMN FOR THE NATION-WIDE CAMPAIGN

Dedicated to the Bishop of Virginia
Tune, Aurelia

The Church had lost her vision;

The sheep were scattered wide
Seeking forbidden pastures

On every mountain side;
The world was full of evil.

The nations in dismay
Beheld their hopes fast fading

Of a more perfect day.

54 The Church of the Living Waters

But Christ now sends His Spirit

With power from on high,
And e'en His feeblest servant

Shall feel His presence nigh.
Rise up, ye sons of Zion,

No longer fear your foes !
He hath gone forth before you

Mighty as when He rose.

Lead on, O Christian Bishops!

Apostles called to be.
In the new age now dawning

What visions do ye see?
Fear not to tell the people;

Sound forth a clarion call;
The people look for leaders;

Let not your strength be small.

Lead on, ye priests and prophets !

Prove to the full that grace
Which Christ Himself has given

That ye might show His Face,
That so the people looking

May never fail to see
Some vision of His Glory,

Some Hope that sets them free.

Be glad, be glad, ye people !
The day at last has come,

'*As the Waters Cover the Sea'' 55

The day of Christ's Redemption,

Let not your lips be dumb;
Tell to the worn and weary,

Tell to the slaves of sin: —
The Church at last is wakened;

The Church at last will win.

Be glad, be glad, ye children,

Hosannas once ye sang.
When Jesus came in triumph

And all the city rang.
Be glad! Ye too can follow

Him who was sacrificed.
Be glad! Ye too are striving

To win the world for Christ.

We then in happy chorus

Sing, Christ our Lord to Thee,
With every power awakened

From every sin set free.
We know Thou are before us.

We feel Thy strength within.
Be with us, lead us, help us

The world for Thee to win.

As sung at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church,
Detroit, Mich., Oct. 15, 1919, at a joint session of the House of
Bishops and House of Deputies, in connection with the Nation-
wide Campaign.

CHAPTER X

THE ORDER OF THE THOUSANDFOLD
'^A little one shall become a thousand.^' Is. 60:22.

In meditating upon this subject, the missionary
felt that while many things had happened, in his
own experience, which would fully justify him in
taking courage and going forward with his ven-
ture of faith for the good of the Church, there
was no reason why it should not be carried out
on a larger scale. In scientific research a great
deal of money is generally needed to provide the
necessary equipment, before the investigation and
research work can be carried out; but there is,
perhaps, no better way in which our great philan-
thropists can invest their money.

Many great discoveries have been made in this
way, which have resulted in untold benefit to hu-
manity, especially in connection with medical sci-
ence. The rendering available of the illimitable
stores of spiritual energy for the good of man-
kind, is of an entirely different character, because
man himself is the best instrument for the gen-
eration and use of this energy; he has been created

56

The Order of the Thousandfold 57

by God for this very purpose, and has all the
equipment needed, if he will but exercise and de-
velop it.

Any child of God, no matter how humble his
sphere in life may be, if he will exercise his faith
and seek earnestly to be made an instrument
through which the divine energy can work, may
certainly look for great things to come out of it,
even if only a small part of the influence which
has radiated out from him be ever traced to its
true source. And so it has seemed to him that
others might be glad and willing to associate them-
selves with him in a society, to be called, perhaps,
"The Order of the Thousandfold." The idea
would be that each member would daily, in his
or her prayers, ask earnestly for a thousandfold
increase in usefulness to God and man. This
would not mean, necessarily, any increase in out-
ward activities, for the time of many might be al-
ready filled up, but an increase in spirtual power
and energy, so that what is done or said. might
exert an influence of such power and far-reaching
influence as to really amount to a thousandfold
increase in spiritual efficiency.

It is true that there are a large number of
societies connected with the Church and that peo-
ple are chary of adding to the number of their
responsibilities of this kind; but if this object was
set before any one as something to be earnestly

58 The Church of the Living Waters

desired and prayed for, it would add greatly to
such an one's power and usefulness in the work
of the society, or societies, of which he or she
might be a member.

The Church is busily engaged in developing her
organization, her machinery, in fact; what is need-
ed now is a tremendous increase in power and
God-given energy. This power is lying ready to
hand, at our disposal, just as the natural energy
which once lay unused and undreamed of, was as
accessible and as available as now.

The faith of man is drawing forth from Nature
an ever larger supply and is seeking all the time
to gain a more complete control of this energy.
Just as in the days of Christ, so now, the children
of this world are wiser in their generation than
the Children of Light; but with the same faith
and the same daring spirit of adventure, the
amount of power actually gained and made use
of in the Church of God, could be enormously in-
creased.

"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered
Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him,
also freely give us all things." If this does not
place the full extent of the divine resources at
man's disposal, as far as it is possible for them
to be utilized in this world, and in this life, what
do the words mean?

The advantage of an Order of this kind would

The Order of the Thousandfold 59

be that it would provide for a much larger experi-
ment than would be possible in the case of a soli-
tary individual. It would also, the missionary be-
lieves, result in such clear indications that the
divine blessing was resting upon it, that it would
commend itself to the Church as worthy of a much
larger extension.

It has another advantage, viz. : that it would
be free from all party bias and would not be re-
garded as the child, or protege, of any school of
thought but could be made use of by all.

It was along these lines that the missionary
worked out his plan for the Order of the Thou-
sandfold; and the Mother Church once more be-
came the centre from which he hopes that a new
and greater river of Living Water may flow and
bless the world.

THE CALL TO THE CHURCH OF GOD

O Bride of Christ! beloved by Him,

Why are thine eyes of faith so dim?

Dost thou not know His mighty power
Is thine to use this very hour?

The world In awful anguish lies.

And heavenward lifts Its pleading eyes;

Body of Christ — His Hands and Feet —
Thou must the mighty Issue meet.

6o The Church of the Living Waters

Fullness of Him, Who filleth all,

Who never heedless hears thy call,

His glorious gifts are thine to share
With all His creatures everywhere.

O Church of God! why dost thou deem
His promises an empty dream?

Shake off thine unbelief and be
His Angel to humanity.

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