Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-07-06
ZEAL IN THE CLERGY.

the moral philosophers to determine.
ZEAL IN THE CLERGY.
Preach tho word; be instant in season. ont
of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long
suffering and doctrine.-lI. TIMOTHY Iv:2.
The SUNDAY GLOBE is disposed to credit
the clergy with sincerity. The ministry
differs from other professions in one essen
tial respect-it demands from it's followers
strong, fixed belief in the doctrines advocat-
ed. A lawyer may plead the cause of man
whom he believes to be in the wrong with
out doing violence to his conscience or to
any moral principle, or an editor may advo-
cate political ideas with which he may not
agree, but aclergyman cannot, without moral
perjury, preach doctrines that he does
not sincerely believe to be true. Other men
work for the temporal needs of their patrons:
the clergyman ministers to spiritual and
eternal wants. He believes-or processes to
believe-that unless the doctrines he preach
ca are accepted by mankind, there will be an
eternity of pain and misery, of torture and
torment, besides which all the suffering
that can be endured in this life are nothing
# ia natural, therefore, that we should look
for zeal in the clergy of an exceptional sort
"a zeal amounting to fervor or enthusiasm,
Yet who, of late years, has been able to dis
tinguish this trait in the clergy, except in
the case of few mountebank evangelists
who, like quack doctors, peregrinate the
49,,
A comparison: A vessel during storm
is hurled upon reef short distance from
the shore, and hundred lives are imperilled.
The men who witness the disaster NAV save
all on board. The scene is one of the great
est excitement. Men who never worked be-
fore work now with a strength and energy
almost superhuman. There are no drones
in the crowd. Each man who can hold a
rope is where he can be of the greatest SER
vice, and no effort is spared to rescue the
perishing. Not until the last hope is ex-
tinguished does the vigilance flag, and he
who quits the scene on pretense of WEAKNESS
is denominated coward or worse. All this
is done to save human life. There is body
of men, exceptionally honored in our ooun-
try. who profess to believe the whole world
is shipwrecked, and that the people are in
danger of eternal death. Their rescue, it is
argued, depends upon the acceptance of Ger
tain theories. These theories are vaguely
expounded and enforced by example, but
the business appears to be only half-hearted.
The clergy do not appear to be infected with
the enthusiasm to save those who are in dan
ger of being lost that infect the people who
labor to save the sea tossed voyagers. They
do not 90 abroad and cry with loud voice.
warning the people of the wrath to come
They do not act as though they believed the
doctrines they preach. Only once week
do they open their mouths to warn their
hearers of impending Judgment. They dis
course, sometimes, upon the plan
of salvation, but oftener on some
topic of only temporal interest
for which they are indebted to the news
papers. They exhibit little solicitude fol
the salvation of souls-far less than thew
ought to exhibit if their sincerity is admit
ted. Though they affect to believe that
people are perishing daily by thousands, they
do not raise hand to save them. They
preach a sermon and think their duty is &C.
complished. Their voice is heard occasion
ally at meetings held to advance the cause
of moral reform, but in the main do not
exert themselves further than is necessary.
The inevitable conclusion to which the dis
interested observer comes is that the preach
or does not believe his own doctrine. 1t is
unreasonable to think that man, fully
convinced that more than half of the people
of the world are doomed to perdition, would
rest supinely. Such q conviction ought to
stimulate him to prodigious exertions in
their behalf, just as the enlargement Of
human life stimulates ordinary mortals.
Until the clergy show by their acts that
they believe the doctrines they preach, they
cannot expect the general public to take a
great deal of stock in their utterances. If
they believe the world is perishing, they
must make more effort to save dying mortals
than they now do, or their sincerity will
be gravely doubted by men who are the
most charitable in their construction of
human actions. W..