| The Life of Dr. J.R. Miller |
Chapter 5 |
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Nine years at Bethany so exhausted him that he thought it wise to accept the call that came to him from the new Broadway Presbyterian Church of Rock Island, Illinois. He wished greater opportunity for study than he could have in the city parish. For nearly two years he remained in his new field, devoting himself without reserve to the one hundred members who were there to welcome him and the many that were received during his pastorate.
With great skill he adapted himself and his methods to the peculiar conditions of his new field. In order to make headway against dances, tea parties and similar gatherings, which interfered with church work, he organized a library club. This met weekly in different homes. The forty or fifty who attended the meetings were helped and strengthened; many of them were led to take a new interest in the church. He was also a factor of moment in the life of the public school teachers, whom he encouraged in their work with the young people by calling on them and entertaining them in his home. The ministers of the town – who had never worked together very well – were given a vision of the possibilities of cooperation.
In 1880 Westminster College, his alma mater conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Later in the year came the invitation to undertake editorial work for the Presbyterian Board of Publication which led him to Philadelphia. There he became interested in the Hollond Mission; a down town works with a discouraging history. He preached his first sermon in the little chapel of the mission January 2, 1881. A few days later he wrote this message to the people whose invitation to lead them he had accepted:
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