Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-03-19
Tie COmmeIc ial and Purely Worldly
View Of the Duties OF Christian
Ministers-They are not to For
sake all and follow Christ,
but Run Away and Make
Money as Lecturers or as Itinerants
for any Great Moral Enterprise in
Which Christ Can be Made
Silent Partner, and With
Which He May be
Sold Again.

From the Mem phis Baptist, this week, we
copy the following article:
The pastors who left here during the cpl
demic) are shern of their influence One has had to
resign and others will have to 60 1t is like an Off
cover.-MenlphiS CORRESPONDENT Religious Herald.
BROTHER BUCKNER-Can you tell us correctly
through the Texas Baptist whether Brother ]. r.
Graves remained at his home: In Memphis, during
the time OF yellow-fever in 1878? Baptist family
late from Milan, Tennessee. says that he was ac-
eTssd there Of running from the ye3S fever at the
and let US put doubts to rest. Yours truly.
1t appears that there is a class of men vino
are seeming for the track of those ministers
who may have left this city during the preva-
leoce of the late plague, or in former years,
IN order to create or direct the comment of a
perverted public opinion against them, to
their ruin, if possible; for, says the Memphis
correspondent of the Herald, 'they must
leave" this already half deserted city, and, if
not fit for this place, for what place, pray?
Now, having supreme contempt for these
inquistors, and openly defying the inquisi-
ton they seek to create, so far as we are con-
cerned we will make free confession before
tue instruments of torture are brought forth.
In Nashville We remained through both the
dreadful cholera epidemics, and nursed day
and night. We did the same IN the yellow
fever epidemic of 1867, in this city,
and lost our mother and wife,
and the eldest daughter was given up 10
die by her physician, but recovered, and we
nursed her while suffering from the disease
ourselves. We then decided that we would
never again expose our family to the ravages
of this fell disease, if it was in our power to
remove them; nor expose our own life, an
less obligations to humanity, paramount to
those zee Oloed to our family, pressed upon
us. In 1873 we were filling engagements in
Mississippi, when the fever broke out in
Memphis, and our family physician, Dr.. w.
Z. Rogers, wisely insisted upon our family
leaving the city at once, which was done,
and the house closed. and the clerks suspend
ed the paper and left. When our engage
ments were filed we Joined our families in
Jackson, and !abored In the field to provide
for their necessities. Right here we
would ask our inquirIng ''brother" a
question or two. Does he think it
was incumbent upon US to have left our large
family, helpless and ltnpr0Uided for, or de-
pendent upon the charities of the public, and
returned to Memphis and devoted ourself to
nursing the sick. when there were more ex-
perlenCed nurses DESTROYS of positions at five
or six dollars per day than could be EN-.
ployed? Had not that wife and those chill
dren paramount claims upon our life and
servicesP Would he have felt it his duty to
contribute ten or twenty dollars per annunl,
the rest of his lite, to support and educate
them, had we fallen a victim to the feVer?"
Two years before the breaking out of the late
epidemic, we had removed some three miles
into the country, that our family might be
exempt from all danger, should the fever ever
revisit the city. Three months before it made
its appearance, we had engaged to deliver
ten courses of lectures in California, and the
appointments had been published all over
- 49,
the city some ten days before 1t was time for
Us to leave, but the physicians believed it
would be eight" and confined to the neigh
borhood In which it had appeared, and cur
physician gave it as his opinion that, should
1t become severe, as formerly, our family
would be as safe IN the country where they
were as anywhere in Tennessee; and pelieV-
ing it our duty-as the paper was forced to
suspend-with the full consent of our wife,
we concluded to go; and it seemed the more
our duty now, since we might by our labors
support them during the prevalence of the
fever, as all other means of subsistence were
now cut off. The brother" may be disap-
pointed to learn that during the plague our
house was free asylum to as many as could
be sheltered, and by our labors In California
we provided bread for the family and for
the refugees. The question here to be
settled by our brother, and the class
he represents, is, whether we should
charity of the Howard association and gone
into the city and devoted ourselt to nursing
the sick? Were the claims of those who
saw ht to remain in the city-to preserue
their property tCIen the opportunity to leaUe
Was altered and pressed upon hem-greater
than those of cur own dependent family,
upon our life and services? Was it more in
cumbent upon US to leave our family unpro-
vlded for and go into the city and imperil
our life IN nursing the sick-IOho could hare
left if they had seen Jft-than it was upon
this lnquirlng brother in Texas, or any other
person IN Tennessee or Missouri, who has
felt 1t his Cuty to censure US for our course"
Is there not Scripture that might have
been quoted against us-''lf any one provide
not for his OWn, and especially for his own
family, he has denied the faith, and is worse
than an infdel." This naturally opens
up the question of the duties of min
listers of Christ in connection with a
plague-infected district The two diseases IN
the south that, under certain conditions of
| the atmosphere and the hygienic state OF q
| city, become epidemic, are cholera and yell
| low-fever. When once under Roadway, they
mock the skill of the physician, as the swol
| len river its artificial banks. The only effec-
| tual remedy is the immediate dispersion of
| the entire population from the infected dis
| Irict or city. So far as concerns the cities
| and towns of the south, this can be readily
done. The country is thickly inhabited, and
| then the forests and pure springs invite forth
| those who cannot bear the expense of Jour-
ney. In the late plague in Memphis this
! course was decided upon as affording any
| hope to arrest the disease. 1t was most
urgently urged upon the people, and the most
| ample provisions were made for all by the
| general government and municipal authori-
ties, in the way of tents and provisions. No
one had any excuse for remaining under the
breath OF the pestilence and in the in
tected atmosphere of the city, save
| the protection of property and
| personal interests. To the credit
of the authorities at Washington, the city
| government and Howard association of Mem
| phls, this should be said and well understood
| by all-all, the poorest, could have left the
| city. The first and paramount duty the pas
tors of this city owed to their congregations,
and the poor within their gates" was to
close their churches, aid, by every means,
| induce them, one and all, to leave the city,
and go to their friends in the country, to the
| woods, or to the camps. Their duty to their
people, as human beings, demanded this of
them. Said the venerable Archibald Wright
to US upon the sidewalk, the day before the
fever was declared epidemic IN Memphis:
"Dr. Graves, do you know what l think is
your duty, as a minister and man of influence
with the people, as to this fever? 1t is to use
all your influence to get the people to leave
this city-tor the goods, if nowhere else.
Scatter the material, and the FIRE will go
out. We replied that we should most
certainly do so, by precept, and by example
also. 10 these crowds in camp and country
| towns, ministers could preach the gospel and