Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-03-20
MEMPHIS APPEAL
THURsDAi, MARCH 20, 1873.
THE RUNAWAY PASTORS AGAIN.

JHURSDAf, MARCH 20, 1873. |
THE RUNAWAY PASTORS AGAIN.
We have no desire to prolong controversy
reopened, no doubt, with the best intentions
in the world, by Rev. Mr.. Barksdale. As we
said in the article calling attention to his
first communication, we believe, so far as the
public Is concerned, that the verdict deiv-
cred during and subsequent to the epidemic
Is lrrevocabie. 1t condemns the pastors who
h-d from their posts, and, as we have shown,
by citations Of the scriptures they preach and
teach, citations that are in the very words of
Christ, the head and chief cornerstone of the
church. This condemnation follows natu-
rally the relation of these pastors to a church
whose rules are arbitrary and lrrepealable
II, as Dir. BIrksdale argues, their observance
is mere matter for the individual con-
science, we hope he will produce the specific
words of the Master Himself upon which he
rests a freedom that, search the scriptures
ever so diligently, we are unable to find;
which the Roman Catholic or Episcopal or
the Presbyterian, Baptist or Methodist
churches have not yet found In the
Wv AAhE Vi IAlcstS III lH6 LplS-
copal church. the bishop reads
to the candidate either part Of the gospel of
Matthew TX. 36, or John X. |. From the las-
ter we quote these words of Christ: 81 am
% the good shepherd; the good shepherd
"giveth his life for the sheep. But he that
g is an hlreling, and not the shepherd, whose
" own the sheep are rot, seeth the wolf
coming, and leaVeth the sheep and feeth
and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth
81 the sheep. The hireliDg feeth because he
81 is an bireling, and careth not for the sheep"
We need not quote here the charge which is
read in the conservation of bishops of tbea
Episcopal church, from the gospel of John
xxi. Is, wherein Jesus asks Peter If he loves
him, repeating the question three times and
each time receiving more and
more positive affirmative in return,
in answer to which He tells the
sturdy apostle to feed His lambs and ulti-
mately to feed His sheep. That this was
understood literally by the apostles, we find
in the first epistle Of James in trese words:
" Pure religion and u15eJfled before God and
" the Father is this: To risit the fatheyless
" and ioidOIeS in their cL75iction, and to keep
I" himself unspOtted from the toorld." This
10 plain language. There is no need for an
interpreter here. There Is nothing here said
of conscientious conviction in times of cpl
demic. The man who deliberately pledges
himself to live up, as pastor, to the scriptures
which he declares contains "all that is re-
quired as necessary for eternal salvation,
through faith in Jesus Christ" has surren-
dered himself wholly and unreservedly to an
implicit obedience to it, and when his con-
science tells him that he should do otherwise
he should say SO to the people and surrender
an office, the most mLortant duty Of which
James declares to be 'true religion and un-
defled." The ministers of the christian
church are not like the professors Of law, of
medicine, of journalism, of architecture, of
music, or of the stage. These are all free to
go and come as they please, their accounta-
billty to their constituencies going only so
far and so long rs that constituency exists, to
be discontinued or resumed at pleasure. The
minister's occupation, more sacred-con-
corning this life in its relation to the next
his line of conduct-as well to himself as to |
the peoples laid down fer him in order |
that there may be no confusion, and to pre-
vent the assumptions of Individual
whim which Mr.. Barksdale seems
to prefer. 1t was to prevent this
assertion Of individual Judgment over
that Of the church that ordination cere-
monies have been instituted by al bodies of
christians-that the good" the real shep.
herds properly commissioned might be known
from those who should set themselves up as
shepherds without license or leave of those
who themselves "are licensed thereto" It is
o1ly in this way that the christian sects can
keep themselves intact, can preserve them
selves from dissolution. These sects are de-
fued t. each other by differences Of dogma,
and, oiar as these dogmas go, tue great Prot
estant doctrine Of 'the right Of private jadg-
meut" is suspended. All members must con-
form, or 60 elsewhere. A Baptist cannot be
a Methodist, and Uice reySa. A minister can
not be a laymap; he cannot put off or on the
cleric as he puts off or on his coat. He must
be one thing or the other, and il he elects to
continue minister, as st. James says, he
must practice pure religion and unde6led.
and visit the fatherless and widows in their
That is at the time, while the
BORROW is fresh upon them, when they are
weeping for loved ones gone beyond recall,
when they are bowed down by weight of woe.
and all about is dark and dreary. Then the
minister Is welcome, not as nurse or visitor,
but as counselor, comforter, friend-ihe anu
bassadCr, If anything, of Christ, commissioned
by him to give assurance and strengthen the
holy hope that the bereavement of to-day is
but the chastenIDg of a divine hand,
which is able to drive the clouds of
night away. by their fruits We
shall know them, know the hIreling or COM
mercial preacher from the good shepherd
who practices pure religion and indebted.
VINO visits the fatherless aud widows in
their siflctiCn;" know the preacher who pre-
fers himself and his own safety to Christ and
his people, ircm the man who like the pastors
and priests who died during the awful epi-
demic Of 1873, who at the last day, as Christ
Himself assures US shall be hailed by the King.
who shall say unto them, ''Come, ye blessed
" of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre-
/" pared for you from the foundation of the
81 world. For | was an hungered and ye
q gave me meat; l was thirsty and ye gave
- me drink; was stranger and ye took me
" In; naked and ye clothed me; | was sick
- and ye VISITED me; l was in prison and We
- came unto me-" And the righteous
thus addressed, questioning when they
did all these things for Him, are
answered: Verify, I say unto Won.
Is inasmuch as ye have done it unto ONE of
" the least Of these, my brethren, We have
g done 1t unto me-" Every just mar, every
good man, be his religious convictions what
they may, must have respect for and desire
to see respected the church of Christ. 1t is