, 1877-08-25
FASHIONABLE PREACHERS.
!, sKrrcH As Ir FRoN LIE.

In New York letter to the Hartford
Yimes the salaries and abilities OF New
York preachers are discussed, from which
it appears that DR., John Hall has siO,ooo
! in cold and fine house, rent free Dr
( Potter-of the lucky Potters-Sl2,0O0
and the well-known parsonage adjoining
the church, free and DIR. Morgan Dix,
of Trinity, Sl5, 900, being the highest
paid in New York, and probably IN the
/ United States. There are sixty who re
ceiyed 5000 and over, most OF them be-
( longing TO the Episcopal denomination
Thereare numbers Of comparatively OBJ
scure preachers who receive from Sl0c0to
! $1,000, who are superior in ability to some
I of the sixty. but it has become TACT
pretty wei known to the church-goer n
/ the metropolis that the clergyman is not
paid so much for his theological talent IS
! for something else. There Is one Eplsec-
pal clergyman there for instance who re-
ceives salary of $4,000, whose Perfor-
nance in the pulpit from theological
and literary point Of view, IS anything
but fattering TO the taste and intelligence
of his congregation, and the effect has
f. been to drive away the people of mature
understandings, but his popularity re-
mains undimlnished with the young and
! the mundane.
He possesses the something alluded 10,
which is good, if not better than talent
He has good manners, he dresses well, he
goes TO balls and the most fashionable Wa
/ tering-places, he firts with the young
women, gives them bouquets, toys with
their rings, and behaves all through his
intercourse with them like an accomplish
ed laymm of the Kinckerbocker Club.
Hence the feminine opinion that q he IS
so nice.
This kind OF person has become almost
a typical preacher in all the large cities,
and is growing in popularity throughout
+ the country He is the recipient Of bar
rels of embroidered slippers, braces and
smoking caps He is the lone and favor
ed man in the midst of the sewing circle
and tea-drinking, He is up to the chin
in the fashionable gossip of the meighbor-
/ hood, and the color and texture of the
altar cloths He does not intrude his
religion on any one, but when he speaks
| of it he exhibits care and circumspection
! lest some cause of olfense should appear
in his words. In word, he Is smooth
and unctuous on the subjects which have
! to do with the conscience and his calling.
The strength of this kind of a miniter
lies with the women, and especially the
young ones. He is not apt to be favorite
with the men, for to them he is not wO-
man and hardly man, but sort of
ennuch, whose opinions on the practical
affairs of life are of 10 value.
There are old fashioned people in every
congregation who hold out against this
latest product of fashionable Christianity,
and who make invidious comparisons be-
tween it ond the simplicity and dignity
which marked the lives Of the fishermen
of Galilee, but they are generally III a
minority It would indeed require a
great stretch of the imagination to see
this parson a Ia mode, going about the
hills of Judea In the exercise of his priest
ly calling, administering to the sick and
consoling the afflicted, preaching in the
midst of mobs, and dying on the cross for
/ Tie iiItli II li-CcSSall cuCl al lilCLulC 10
a long way off, viewed from the interior
OF the church now III vogue
The priest, to be effective, should not
look upon life as a comedy, bat as great
drama, in which he appears in the most
eventful scenes-the birth, the marriage,
the sickness Of soul and body, ard the
death-in all of which he Is the spiritual
teacher and consoler The Eadirage Of
the drawing-room and the dinner-table
over the wine, aid the chatf over the
trivial platitudes of routinary existence
are not for HIM. His acceptance OF the
sacred trust confded to him involves :;
complete remuneration Of pleasures, if
they may be so called
When he lives up to this conception Of
his calling he ennoblns it, and when he
speaks from the pulpit, his words have a
value which those of hyacinthian par
son can never have.