The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-11-03
which will keep them thin, VIII destroy theil
digestive powers.
THE MODERN PASTOR.


TIE PRESENT AMERICAN CONGREGATION
THE RESIGNATION OF THE REV. MR.. MUIR
RAY, OF BOSTON, AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE
THE CHANGED RELATIONS OF PASTOR AND
CHURCH.
The New York Graphic makes the fol-
lowing comments concerning the recent
resignation of the Rev. w. H. ii. Murray:
The resignation of the Rev. Mr.. Murray,
who has been called the Beecher of Bos-
ton. took the outside world by surprise.
But the grounds of it were reas-
enable enough, and they mark the
change which is taking place in the feelings
and habits of our people. All those small
criticisms about fast driving, keeping seven
horses, having a race-course on his iarm,
hunting and trouting when his good dea-
cons think he should be angling to catch
the souls of some members OF ms
flock may be pushed aside as too petty
for notice. Such cavils are contemplate.
Ministers must exercise in some way. DR..
Beecher used TO saw wood, and had cart
load OF sand dumped into mis- cellar, which
on Sundays he used to shovel from one eno
of the cellar to the other. No one thinks
less of Mr.. HepwOrth for keeping yacht
and manning it admirably. When
DIR. Stone was minister of Park
street his descons complained that he
drove a 2:40 horse, and, after preaching on
Sunday evening, would pass every team on
the Brighton road. But then Dr. stone ola
preach nevertheless, and it is much better
for man to take his recreation by holding
the ribbons than by doing some other
things-sitting on the ragged edges OF
anxiety and despair, for instance
But the fact is, the conditions Of American
society have entirely changed within half a
century. The old parish with It's people
clustered within a short distance of the
church, its families living in the same house
for % il uOt-50 wears, its quiet,
STEADY GOING WAYS
of life. has gone its unreturning way. The
modern parish includes a Westinghouse
and all the rest of the globe. 1t has no out
side, The modern minister breaches TO ev-
ervbodv Those who do not hear him on
SUNDAY read him on Monday. If they have
no taste for his sermons they listen to
his lectures or devour his books. Even the
families who take pews sometimes live ten
miles from the church. The modern
minister can not visit his scattered people in
the old parochial way and do anything
else Moreover, there is no need of his going
every week to catechise tho children since
the Sunday school does the thing in
much better way than he can posi-
bly, do it. The psople of the psriod are
slightly sensitive to clerical oversight. They
do not want to be treated like sheep. How
ever pleasant it may he to have a popular
preacher come into their houses and admire
their upholstery and praise their menu, they
prefer that he shall not inquire to closely
into family secrets, and would sooner not
have him cav much about euchre, nor in
quire for the family Bible before he leaves.
they welcome him a friend, but would
hardly tolerate the priest. They want him
to preach, and if he does that powerfully
and effectually, they will gladly excuse him
from trotting over the city to compliment
people he does not know, and pretend he Is
particularly interested in everyb body.
Mr.. Murray represents the new type of min
ister. He breaches. But he can not do
everything, and if the people want to be
vitited in their homes in the old PASTORAL
way he is perfectly willing they should have
that luxury, and will help paw parson
for doing it. Division of labor is
THE ORDER OF THE DAY,
aud the pulpit is his speciality. This seems
certainly reasonable, but it marks the de-
parture from the old ways. In accepting
his resignation the parish thanked him for
services in the church and out of it.
This is another hint of the vast social
change our community has undergone.
The old walls between the church and
the world have been broken down, and in
many places even the lines have faded out,
so it is difficult to tell where one beings and
and the other ends. The larger part of the
modern minister's work is outside his
church. He is everybody's minister. The
parish does not own him. The church
is merely the candlestick in which light
is set to shed Examinations far and
wide. The modern minister is supported by
a congregation, but more for public than
private benefit. He is the head of the
moral police. He is an organizer of char
itv. He takes the lead in popular re-
forms. he supervises the schools. He
lectures, writes. edits. gives addresses
on public occasions. His field is the
world, and his audience mankind-or all of
them his voice can reach. And it is the
failure to recognize this change in social
conditions that occasion most OF the irri-
tations and MISUNDERSTANDING that occur
The old and the new overlap each other
quite outgrown, and the latter is only par
TALLY realized.
STANLEY IN AFRICA.
ANOTHER EXPLORING EXPEDI1ToN-wHAT