The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-03-12
The Unfortunate Clergy,

ianu NcryLOIten meet Win copy OF the Port
land Adcertiser. The paper is one which Is
e nardiy likely to find place in any of their
nousenoids. The same kind of instructive
: recognition of opposites which separates a
+. moral man from an immoral one, a loyal citi-
!, zen rom rebel, is likely to put bar between
tne clergy and any special acquaintance with
the utterances of the Adrert;aer
!, This being the case, probablv vorv fa,, IS
the members of the body spoken of will ever
De aware, unless otherwise informed. of The
. existence OF recent delivcrance of that ;o,r.
nal, designed to set forth the tact and tho
causes OF the present humiliated condition Of
the clergy, and the possible means of their ra-
covery from it,
That this Class of our fellow-eitizens NAV
not, however, wholly lose the benefit of so
wel-intentioned an effort in their behalf. we
Wouid state the fact that such an article did
appear Thursday morning last. We give the
gls' OIL IT, tso tar as relates to the reality and
tne cause OF the depressed estate of the min
inlsTy') In the following extract:
Inc clergymen of New England are oon-
,SI::euy, at tnis Time, lew down in the scale Of
.euSiouS nnuence over the people comnared
VA MAsu % wnat tnat influence was, in the davs Of
sne westminster catechisms, and even IN tbe
eariy usys OF the passing generation. The de-
chne OF religious sentiment, in fact. Is so orsat
that clergyman after clergyman in oId Pnr;.a,
new England is being actually starred cart
aLu INC popular voice is sounding unceremoni,
ouSty IN their ears, root hog or die.D This
| sau condition arises from the yerv peneraI
loss oi popular respect which the clergy have
naI sn,i upon themselves by negIccting spirit
ass anu needlessly meddling with secular af-
| iairS-tak1ng out of the pulpit and preach.
ing politics in the pulLit. and sbow;nc
more concern for these, than for the RELIGIONS
'nterests m their congregations. The mssses
| VI the people have become sickened, and dis
gusted with this common place vocation. and
tnese common place politicians to which fine
clergy have descended; and the neonIe No
longer feel that the clergy are entitled IN on1
respect beyond that which attaches to the or,
dlnary caliings OF life The sacredness Of tha
pulpit mas thus departed, and the man in n
Is regarded as the no less fit subject of dis
trust with the stump speakers out of IL. or
Inc pot house howlers OF politics.
NOW this would probably be very solemn in
its instruction to our clerical readers were IL
not Tor one thing. 1t is told them that their
present sad condition" is owing to their
preaching politics." and meddling with ssec.
uiar affairs" And it is affirmed that there "a
q great contrast between the influence of the
clergy now, and their influence at the era of
tne westminster catechism," or seven in the
early days OF the passing generation, ). and that
tnis contrast is owing to the increasing promi-
nence of politics in the pulpit.
NOW IL VIII occur to every tolerabIv read
schooi-boy, that this reference to the davs os
glfsh pulpit at the per15d when IT assemureu,
knows that what is called preaching politics"
was never more rife in any age. There were
men in that Assembly by scores whose names
have come frasrantly down to us, whose
churches rang from Sabbath to Sabbath with
what was then as now called preaching pol
tics" Their searching applications of religion
to secular affairs," made demagogues vince
and howl, as such applications do now. Stu
art tyranny in state and church alike, found
in them its doughtiest foes. 1t is only neces-
sary to mention the names oil Goodwin, Cat
aker, Vines, Burgess, Lightfoot, Twisse aud
Nye, to show that whatever cause gave them
their influence, or preserves their memory, it
was not their re6,aining from speaking of civil
| affairs in sacred places. They did it continu-
ally.
Baxter is name somewhat known in the
religious world. He may be regarded as q
man of some Influence" in his own day and
in later times. Probably he may be consider
ed as a minister who stands well in popular
respect" But there were men in his day who
could not abide his political "preaching."-
James II. and Judge Jeffreys were among the
A Tba late haI hafn
him, and rated the prisoner at the bar with q
luxuriance of vocabulary which even the Ad-
3 uertiser, in Speaking of Baxter's successors,
cannot surpass. "Snivelling parson," "fanatic
al villain," and "old knave," which Jeffreys
applied to Baxter, compares favorably in point
of force even at this late day, with the @com-
mon place politicians" and "sly grinning"
professors" by which the Advertiser charac-
terizes the clergy of New England.
A man by the name of John Knox was
! once known somewhat fayorably in Scotland
: and some other parts of the world. Froude
. in his History of England says: "In the year
1905, in the suburbs of Haddington, there was
born into the world an infant who became
perhaps in that extraordinary age its most ex-
: traordinary man, and whose character became
the mould in which the later fortunes of his
country were cast" That was John Knox.
. the divine and the Political Preacher. OF him
Principal Tulloch says: The movement which
he headed, and which practically he carried
forward to triumph, assumed from the begin
; ing marked political aspect, and sought to
guarantee itself in new modes of political as
Il Il well as spiritual action"
y How unfortunate With what deeper re-
spect in popular estimation would John Knox
have stood among his countrymen of his own
day, and in the eyes of posterity, had he new
er "meddled with politics?"
'Luther and Calvin" are two creditable
names in religious and ministerial biography.
Sos 1t is believed they are in "good and regular
IS, standing" in public estimation as godly CHRIS
- tian cergymen. But their whole lives were
wrestle in secular as well spiritual conflicts
n. .Preaching politicsp why the alphabet Of
on tb,+ science has never been learned in Ameri-
M N o,i Our New England pastors know rot the
zen ,,aon;ng of the word, as it was weekly and
w ,r;-,veeklv Illustrated in the preachings of the
!, poformer of Geneva, and the quondam Monl
. of Wirtemburg. lH as54
ll But to come down nearer to our own times
7 DIR. Jonathan Mayhem, of Boston, Dr. Lang
: don, President OF Hayard College, DIR. Samue
West, of New bedford, and DR.. Ezra Stiles
p; President of Yale College, were eminent cler
BY 4 gymen of our revolutionary days. Ii an
n men stood higher in public estimation, we hav
failed to discover the fact. These were anon
the leodino diyines of the period. But ever
y one of them lives connected in history wit
~ memorable political sermons. Their words wei
ood moulding forces in the civil conflict OF thu