“’The only safe thing for a man of wealth to do is to ask himself, What would Christ do with my money if he had it?

“’Everything a man has is God’s.  On that profound principle the whole of human life should rest.  We are not our own; we have been bought with a price.’

“It would be impossible to describe the effect of the Rev. Mr. Strong’s talk upon the audience.  Once the applause was so long continued that it was a full minute before he could go on.  When he finally closed with a tremendous appeal to the wealth of Milton to use its power for the good of the place, for the tearing down and remodeling of the tenements, for the solution of the problem of no work for thousands of desperate men, the audience rose to its feet and cheered again and again.

“At the close of the meeting the minister was surrounded by a crowd of men, and an after meeting was held, at which steps were taken to form a committee composed of prominent church people and labor leaders to work, if possible, together toward a common end.

“It was rumored yesterday that several of the leading-members of Calvary Church are very much dissatisfied with the way things have been going during these Sunday-evening meetings, and are likely to withdraw if they continue.  They say that Mr. Strong’s utterances are socialistic and tend to inflame the minds of the people to acts of violence.  Since the attack on Mr. Winter nearly every mill-owner in town goes armed and takes extra precautions.  Mr. Strong was much pleased with the result of the Sunday-night meetings and said they had done much to bridge the gulf between the church and the people.  He refused to credit the talk about disaffection in Calvary Church.”

In another column of this same paper were five separate accounts of the desperate condition of affairs in the town.  The midnight hold-up attacks were growing in frequency and in boldness.  Along with all the rest, the sickness in the tenement district had assumed the nature of an epidemic of fever, clearly caused by the lack of sanitary regulations, imperfect drainage, and crowding of families.  Clearly the condition of matters was growing serious.

At this time the minsters[sic] of different churches in Milton held a meeting to determine on a course of action that would relieve some of the distress.  Various plans were submitted.  Some proposed districting the town to ascertain the number of needly[sic] families.  Others proposed a union of benevolent offerings to be given the poor.  Another group suggested something else.  To Philip’s mind not one of the plans submitted went to the root of the matter.  He was not popular with the other ministers.  Most of them thought he was sensational.  However, he made a plea for his own plan, which was radical and as he believed went to the real heart of the subject.  He proposed that every church in town, regardless of its denomination, give itself in its pastor and members to the practical solution of the social troubles