The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-07-28

odium arising out of the sin attributed to the
pastor of Plymouth Church onto clergy
men as a class 1t is alone, too, in rebuking
the woman of the country as partakers in
the supposed weakness and criminality of
Mrs. Triton. The most reckless papers,
such as the Chicago Times, while assuming
the guilt of the accused parties, never allow
the shadow of their sin to darken others.
The lesson which the Journal draws from
the course OF the scandal is certainly re.
markable specimen of low minded GINNING
applied to the consideration OF noble things.
In plain words it maintains that American
ministers are not, as class, fit to be trusted
with the privilege of paying what are called
pastoral visits at the houses of their parish
toner's, and that American women are not,
as a class, fit to be trusted with the oppor-
tunity of receiving them. "Whatever,"
says the Journal, "may be the facts or the
ultimate verdict of the public, concerning
tho great scandal which is now convulsing
American society, the general judgment will
demand modification of the social relations
| (which fashion has established between Pro-
'testant cIerymen and the female members
| of their congregations. The pastoral visits
'exacted from ministers of fashionable con-
'gregstions in large cities are productive of
'incalculable harm. and the good they &C.
'complish Is so little in comparison that no
sound reason can be urged in their favor"
1t goes on to dsclare that ministers retain
the passions of ordinary men, noLwithstand-
ing their sacred calling, and that their OPP
To- S;p tod
emily without any added grace to resist
temptation. The result is seen in innumer-
able church scandals in all great cities. The
clergyman should have, therefore, the Jour-
nal holds, precisely the same social privileges
as any other reputable member of his
congregation; and II be desires TO converse
with any woman on religious subjects, he
should procure the company of some dis
Greet third person to be present with him
during the visit. 10 fine, concludes this
pure and liberal censor: "If sociability
must be cultivated, let the congregation
have its social meetings, where all who
choose can go; where the minister can meet
all the members of the church; and il he
and his wife choose to establish more init |
mate social relations with the Pensioners,
let them do as others do; but there is no
sense. there is no propriety in a custom
which gives a clergyman a license to enter
every household of his congregation with
'the opportunity OF establishing dangerous |
'intimacies with its female inmates"
Such a doctrine as this is n insult to
every minister in the community, and what
is far more contemplate, an insult to every |
woman in tue community.
II pre-supposes in the first place a sly |
and peculiar intercourse in the guise Of pas
toral calls, which in reality has no exist
eEce. Ministerial visits are rarely less for |
NAL or more intimate than those of ordinary |
acquaintance. Granting that they are. and
we are asked to believe that the class of men,
who are chosen out to be in their lower
function teachers of morals and in their
higher calling ministers of God, are not wor-
thy to be trusted with free entrance
into a household unless the head OF the
family is present to watch over the visitors |
conduct. We are told that men who have
been specifically educated to virtue, purity
and reciitHde. are not worthy of the conf |
dence that is accorded to ordinary friendship.
Il
it were, b en- consecrated to all good works |
are ready on all favorable occasions to make
use of their opportunities to commit the
mesnest sins. If this degraded estimate be
set upon the clerical character-if ministers
are really men unfit to be trusted into
the homes of their parishioners -
then religion is miserable farce, |
and its servants a set of hypocrites.
The Sentinel is not the champion of any
class of men save these who happen to be
unjustly attacked, but In this case it pro- |
tests against those insinuations as not merely
an outrage on the clerical character but upon
all honorable manhood. The course of the
Journal might be attributed to thoughtless-
ness rather than malice had it not given
previous indications OF the same spirit of
hostility to religion. But paper which
within the present month has spoken of the
ordinary American discharging "his old
minister and employing a new one with as
little restraint he would experience in
renting house or hiring man
of all workn-which declared
in regard to the purposes ofthose founding a
church that no 'greater care for ths public
good is visible in their impelling motive
than in the establishment of pork house
or a neutrality-suspicious. has asserted that
fKingsn's pork house and machine shops
have kept down more outbreaking mischief
and immortality than all the preachers be
tween Irvington and Mount Jackson. "a
paper which has adopted this style of dis
cussion has not aimed its last shaft at
random.
The women OF the community, however,
have right to feel even stronger indignation
than the ministers at the theories of the
Journal The intimation is clear that they
can not be trusted to guard their own honor.
1t is limited that their safety lies not in there