BEGINNING THE SEARCH

It was in the year of 1885 that the railroad was put through the particular corner of Missouri that marks the scene where the events of this narrative took place. With the coming of the railroad, there came an influx of new settlers, who were of various nationalities and conditions in life. There were Swedes from Malmo, Germans from Dresden, and Irishmen from Tyrone, all bent on founding a new home in the new country. Besides these, there were Americans of many kinds and inclinations. All of these settlers brought with them the particular brands of religion in which they had been brought up. The Swedes and Germans were Lutherans, but each nationality was of a different synod and had little agreement or fellowship. The Irishmen were Roman Catholics, while the Americans were divided up among the different denominations. No sooner had these settlers built themselves homes than they started to build chapels and churches; it was a chapel if its builders rebelled at calling a building a church, and it was a church if its builders had no such scruples. No survey was made as an effort to find out how many churches were needed; indeed, each denomination erected a place of worship even if there was only a handful represented in its membership. Those were the days of unleavened bread and bitter herbs, when every denomination was full of sectarian rivalry, and each of them claimed more or less of a monopoly upon the love and power of God. Revival-meetings were held frequently, sometimes contemporaneously, and the “doors of the church” were swung open every Sunday for the admission of new members.

The center of this settlement was Bethany, consisting of a few straggling huts on the north side of the railroad, and the business section and the more pretentious homes of the well-to-do on the south side. There was the usual run of stores. Most of them, however, were what were called “general stores,” which meant that they sold everything from toothpicks to farm wagons and from handkerchiefs to cloaks and suits, besides groceries, shoes, and tinware. And it must be said also, for the sake of telling the truth, that they erected more church-buildings than they needed, because the same sectarian rivalry obtained there as in the country round about. It was common for members of one denomination to tell members of another that the others’ church was a thousand miles farther away from God than was theirs.

Into this corner of Missouri, and into this atmosphere of denominational rivalry came Robert Davis and his wife, Mary. As it was, fortunately, both came of religious parents, and had had some religious teaching at home and in Sunday-school. One of the first things that they did after they were married was to solemnly dedicate their home to God, promising Him that they would follow Christ to the best of their knowledge and understanding. They began to attend church, now here, now there, and as a consequence, began to compare one denomination with another, with the result that they were thrown into confusion about which church to join; for they supposed it was their bounden duty to join one or the other of the denominations represented there.

“Which church do you like best, Robert?” Mary Davis asked one Sunday afternoon after they had come home from a Sunday-school session and service at one of the churches.

“I had not thought of it in that way,” he replied, “but I had been comparing one with another, with the idea of finding which one is right.”

“You are right in that, I feel sure,” said Mary, “for really, what we should strive for is to please God. But which one, then, do you think is right?”

“Really, I do not know,” he replied. “I am puzzled. I feel that we should be identified with some church, and work to extend it, but it seems to me that one church has one Bible truth and emphasizes it, and another has another Bible truth which it emphasizes, and so on, all around. How does it seem to you?”

“That is the way I feel,” said Mary.

“Suppose that we ask each church to give us a summary of its beliefs, and we shall then compare each one with the Bible,” suggested Robert.

“Why, let’s do that,” replied Mary. “I do want the truth.”

“So do I,” Robert said fervently.

That night in prayer, special request was made to God for guidance into truth. “Oh, we must have Thy truth, O God,” they cried, “we will follow it at any cost, if Thou wilt only make it clear. Help us in studying Thy Word. Make it plain to our minds. O Lord, guide us into Thy way.”

The next Sunday they began their investigation by asking the minister of the church that they visited for a brief outline of its doctrinal belief. They then bought a concordance and the search for truth was begun, which was to lead them into paths that they little dreamed of then, and into experiences that they could not at that time foresee.