Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-11-14

Rotations of oIergymen 10 women,

recent events have gwen rise TO
fresh discussion Of the relations of CLERGY
i'i.n 10 women, some of which have beer
WISE an ! some widely otherwise. hi
sHpPoseu 10y many that the pastor is
n"n p cuilarly subjected TO tcmpfation
10 uhcihste conversation" with the fp
male m mOrrs of his flock. IT is undonht
edly and delightfully."- true that a noOni,,
| preacher is the object OF genuine afFsc,inr l,,
and adnraliOn To the women vino CT w.,
!rr his ministry. A true woman resnect
brains and commanding masculine ps
'ure; liu If there is one thing which sh,
naturally chooses 10 hide from her past o
il is her own tcmpialions-if she she ha
any-to illicit qualifications. She natur
ally desires 10 appear well to him upol
his own ground of Christian purity. T,
expose herself to his contempt or cOndem
nation would he forbidden by all her pre-
tensions, professional and natural in
stincls. A bad woman might undertake
10 atone for, or to cover up, her outside
pecadilos by the most friendly an con
sidrrate treatment of her pastor, but she
would not naturally take him for her vic
tim. 1t is precisely with this man that
she wishes to appear at her best ANY
man with the slightest knO aledge of hu-
man naturt can see that her selfish as we'll
as her Christian interests are against anv
exhibitions of immodest or unceaste de.
sire in the presence of her spiritual teach.
er
There are only two classes of women
with which minister is liable to have
what, in the language Of the world
would be called dangerous intimacies
The first consists of discontented wives
dlscontented through any cause connected
with their husbands or themselves. A
woman finds herself married to a 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 one man who is-tO her
guide, teacher, inspirer and friend. He
gives her the best counsel of which he is
capable, comforts her if he can, sympa-
thizes with her, treats her with kindness
and consideration. That a woman should
in many instances, look upon such man
as little less than God, and come to 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 her heart and selfrespect than
the miserable years of her bondage to a
cruel master-is also entirely natural. He
cannot help it, nor can he find tempta-
ton in it, unless he chooses to do so. Wo-
men, under the circumstances, do not go
to their pastors either to tempt or to be
tempted.
There is another class of women who
are thrown, or who throw themselves, in
to what may be called an intimate asso-
citation with the clergy. II is a class who
have nothing else to do so pleasant as to
be petting some nice man, to whose pres
ence and society circumstances give them
admission. They are a very harmless set
gushing maiden ladies, aged and dis
Greet widows with nice houses, sentimen-
tai married women who, with no brains
to lend, are fond of borrowing them for
the ornamentation of all possible social
occasions. Apopular minister receives
great deal of worship from this class, at
which, when it is moi too irksome, we
have no doubt he quietly laughs. The
good old female paTishioner who declar-
ed that her pastors cup of tea would be
none too good if it were all molasses, was
fair type of these sentimental creatures,
10 MHOIu CNNlJ DOSSG6SluR luC
grace of courtesy, IS fair game. To sup
pose that pastor sufficiently manly 10
be bored by it, Is in a field of temptauon
to unchastity, is simply absurd. One IS
too feminine for such temptation, and tue
other altogether 200 masculine.
When these two classes are set aside,
what have we leftg Virtuous and con-
tented mothers of Virtuous daughters
i ho han in th nir in
fancy. trains them in his Sunday-school,
marries them when they are married, and
buries with sympathetic tears when they
die. In such families as these his presence
is a benediction, 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 is certainly no class surrounded
on every side with such dissuasiVes from
unchaste conduct To a clergyman, in
luence and good name are inestimable
treasures. To stand before confding au-
diences Sunday after Sunday, and preach
that which he knows condemns himself
in the eyes of a single member Oh. MS
flock, must be a crucifxion from whose
tortures 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 min
listers for lovers, nor do ministers, as
class, find themselves subjected to great
temptations by them. If min sters are
tempted by the circumstances OF their
office, they may be sure that they are
moved by their own lust and enticed, and
that their Office may very proftably spare
their services.
As class, the Chistian ministers of
the country are the purest men we have.
We believe 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 one deYll IN
a hundred. In any scandal connected
with the name of clergyman ana ie
male member of his flock, the prooaoill-
ties are all and always in favor oI ms ln-
nocence. The man of the world VINO
keens his mistress, the sensualist, who
does not believe in the purity of any man,
the great community of scamps and seal
Iaw9gs. are always ready to believe any
Thing rejecting upon a clergyman's chas
tiTv. 1t only remains for clergYmen
themselves to be careful to AVOID the ap-
pearance of evil. Nothing can be more
sure and terrible than their punishment
when guilty of prostituting their Office,
and nothing is so valuable to them as an
unsullied name. To preserve this, no
can be too fatiguing, no self
denial too expensive, no wedding oufoi
all untoward associations too exactIS.
DR.. j. g.. Holland, IN Ser0i'eF'