Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-05-29
GaiI HnmlI1on on Preachsr..

life?
Gail Hamilton ON Preachers.
The gay and festive Gail Hamil-
ton, having got done kni6ng edi-
tors, has turned her Stlletto on the
preachers. She opens out a two
column article on the Rev. James
Freeman Clarke with the following
preface on clergymen
When a clergyman steps outside
of the ordinary sphere OF the pul.
pit into the domain Of politics, we
infer that he believes himself COM
missioned to deliver some special
gospel, and feels, like his Master,
" How am | straitened till it be &C.
complished !" His eminence in the
Christian ministry gives to the
words Of the Rev. James Freeman
Clarke an especial weight. and we
gladly hail the purer and clearer
light from the upper world which
he may draw down upon the tan
gled pathways of this.
What, then, is our chagrin to see
the theologian leave his via sacra
only to limp, and stagger, and
stumble along the high road trod-
den by the most ignorant and the
most abandoned Of politicians !
Where shall we bestow our rever-
ence when a man, venerable, emf
nent, consecrated in holy orders,
rises at the altar where he ministers,
and solemnly delivers for the ever
lasting gospel al alienation of the
feeblest platitudes with the most
canseless and reckless ISLANDERS Is
there then no balm in Gilead ? Is
there no physician there !? Have
we indeed fallen upon the days fore
told by Jeremiah the prophet, the
son of Hllkiah, when every neigh
Dor will walk with ISLANDERS, and
they will deceive every one bis
neighbor, and will not speak the
truth The prophets prophesy
falsely. Shall | not visit for these
things ? saith the Lord: shall not
my soul be avenged on such a ma
tion as this?
A clergyman isapparently so un-
accustomed to deal with demon
strable facts thatwhen he does come
into their realm he skipS about
among them like young hart upon
the hills, with no more apprehen-
sion of their real nature than the
young hart has of the corn and
vines which his young feet trample
down. 1t would require a superhu-
man agility to follow Mr., Clarke
across lots and repair all the mis-
chief of his raids. A clergyman
can knot more fallacy into a half
hour sermon than an octave volume
can disentangle. But | do propose
to examine two or three paragraphs
of this extraordinary " Discourse" !"
and to show thence the superficial
nature of its authors observation,
the truly marvellous extent of his
ignorance, and the wide scope Of
his SANDER.
Will intelligent laymen believe
that this clergyman comes to the
door of his tabernacle and cries to
them: "Behold, turn in, l pray
you, | have a message from God
unto thee," and that this message
is cribbed bodily from every morn
ing journal and every evening post
in the country? "What the nation
asks of congress-" he says, briskly
tripping into Newcastle with his
basket of Goals, "is a stable cur
rencv, a reformed civil service and
peace between all parts of the
Unionw He breaches sermon
and prints a pamphlet to repeat
the hack and hacked and haokneycd
platforms of the political parties
and conventions and newspapers
hundred times promised 1t is a
sad hindrace to the correct conduct
of life that when Sir Oracle opens
his mouth in the pulpit no dog in
the pew can bark without throw
ing organized society into confusion.
1t is a stumbling-block in the way
Of national progress that the clergy
has been permitted to take out a
perpetual charter of immunity from
contradiction, and may preach any
amount of sacred or secular un-
truth from the pulpit without the
smallest risk of being taken to task
for it. The first impression regard
ing a man who should speak out in
meeting would be that he was a
lunatic, and it is generally acorrect
one Aclergyman's evil utterances
have consequently full course torun
and be gloriied. Had Mr., Clarke
spoken his piece" in the board Of
trade, legislative assembly, or any
tariff caucus, he would have been
Instantly brought to book, chal