National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-10-27
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THE RELATIONS OF CbERG YAEY 70

" OMEAs
Recent events have givenrise TO a fresh dis
eussion of the relations of eleYgymen to
women, some Of which have been wise and
some widely otherwise. Il is supposed By
many that the pastor is a man peculiarly sub
jected to temptations to unchaste s'cOnyersa-
ton" with the female members Of his flock. Il is
undoubtedly and delightfully."- true that a popu-
lar preacher is the object Of genuine affection
and admiration to the women who sit ynder
his ministry A true woman respects bsains
and commanding masculine nature; but if
there is one thing which she naturally chooses
to hide from her pastor it is her own tempta-
tions-if she has any-to Illicit Qualifications.
She naturally desires to appear well to him
upon his own ground of Christian purity To
expose herself to his contempt or condemns
ton would be forbidden by all her pretensiOns,
professions and natural instincts. A bad
woman might undertake to atone for, or to
cover up, her outside pecadillOs by the most
friendly and considerable treatment of her
pastor, but she would not naturally take him
for her victim. 1t is precisely with this man
that she wishes to appear at her best. Any
man with the slightest knowledge of human
nature can see that her selfish as well as her
Christian interests are against any exhibitions
of immodest and unehaste desire in the pres
ence of her spiritual teacher.
There are only two classes of women with
whom minister is liable to have what, in the
language of the world, would be called "dan-
gerOHs intimaeies." The first consists of dis
COMMENTED wives-discOnteRted through any
cause connected with their husbands or them
selves A woman finds herself married to q
brute. She suffers long in silence; her heart is
broken or weary, and she wants counsel, and
is dying for sympathy. She tells her story to
the " hn is-tO har IL
inspirer and friend. He gives her the best
counsel of which he is capable, comforts her
if he can, sympsthizes with her, treats her with
kindness and consideration That a woman
should in many instances, look upon such
man as little less than a God, and come 10 re-
gard him as almost her only solace amid the
daily accumulating trials Of her life, is as
natural as it is for water to run down hill.
That she should respect him more than she
can brutal husband-that half an hour of his
society should be worth more to Ter heart and
self-respect than the miserable years of her
bondage to a cruel masters also entirely
natural. He cannot help it, nOr can he lind
temptation in it, unless he chooses to do so.
Women, under these circumstances, do not 90
to their pastors either to tempt or be tempted.
There is another class of women who are
thrown, or who throw themselves, into what
may be called an intimate association with the
clergy. 1t is a class that have nothing else to
w ~ pltd6duL Us U Dc DtLLlLlg some Hlcc man,
to whose presence and society circumstances
give them admission They are q very harm
less set-gushing maiden ladies, aged and dis
Greet widows with nice houses, sentimental
married women who, with no brains to lend,
are fond of borrowing them for the ornamen-
tation of all possible social occasions. A pop
ulsr minister receives great deal of worship
from this class, at which, when it Is not too
irksome, We have no doubt he quietly laughs.
The good old female parisho1er who declared
that her pastors cup Of tea would be 'inOne to
good If 1t were all mOiasses, /" was fair type
of these sentimental creatures, to whom every
minister possessing the grace of courtesy is
fair game To suppose that q pastor sufi-
GENTLY manly to be bored by it, is in field of
temptation to unchastity, is simply absurd.
One is too feminine for such temptation, and
the other altogether too masculine.
When these two classes are set aside, what
have we leftl Nirtuous and cOUtented mothers
of VirtuOus daughters-daHghLers whom he
baptizes in their infancy, trains in his Sunday
school, marries when they arc married, and
buries with sympathetic tears when they die.
In such families as these his presence is bene-
diction, and to suppose that he is tempted here
is to suppose him brute and to deny the facts
Of human nature We verify believe there is
no class in the community so little tempted as
the clergy, and there certainly is no class sur
rounded on every side with such dissuaSiVes
from unchaSte conduct. To clergyman infiu-
ence and q good name are inestimable treas
ures. To stand before eO1hding audiences,
Sunday after Sunday, and preach that which
he knows condemns himself in the eyes of q
single member of his flock, must be a cruei6x-
ion from whose fortunes the bravest man
would shrink. There are bad men in the pulpit
without doubt. There is now and then a
woman who would not shrink from an intrigue
with such, but women do not choose ministers
for lovers, nor do ministers, as a class, find
themselves subjected to great temptations by
them. If ministers are tempted by the cir
cumstanees of their Office, they may be sure
that they are moved by their own lust and en-
tieed, and that their office may very proftably
spare their services.
- A. -~l---~y 49, S'L-;-si~-> --i->istarS of th4a
country are the purest men we have. we be-
ieye they average better than the Apostles did
at the first. Jesus, in his little company Of
twelve, found one that was devil. The world
has improved until, we believe, there is not
more than one devil in hundred. In any scan
dial connected with the name of clergyman
and a female member of his flock, the prOba-
bilities are all and always in favor of his limo
cence. The man of the world who keeps his
mistress, the sensualist who does not believe in
the purity of any man, the great eommnnityOf
scamps and Scalawags, are always ready to be-
lieye anything rejecting upon a clergyman's
chastity. It only remains for clergymen them
selves to he careful to avoid the appearance Of
evil. Nothing can be more sure and terrible
than their punishment when guilty of prosti-
tuting their Office, and nothing is so valuable to
them as an unsullied name. To preserve this,
no painstaking can be too fatiguing, no self
denial too expensive, no wedding out of all IN
toward associations too exacting.-Dr. J. G..
BOlla1sd, 10 SeI'i61seT'S for November.