New-York tribune., 1880-06-20
TILE cLEEGy y.N.1N- .1EE01n.


In the majority of fashionable churchcS the
no,c of warning for closing has already been
sounded. Services arc either TO be- discontinued
altogether for the Summer, or reduced to The
feeblcst and most nfrcqurnt manifestation, ot
prayer and praise under the conduct Of aa as
sistant The excuse for closing the church
usually is the needed repairs either for the
building or for the Clergyman oyCrtlvcd brain.
Some Of our contemporaries hayo expended
this wepk good deal Of reasoning aud sIrCasn
upOn the subject of the usefulness of the clrr-
gyman's holidays. The drit of their argu-
monts is that the souls Of town~pcoplc need
saving rs much in Juy as in December and
that there is 70 necessity for an eight wees
vacation fcr minister, when lawyer must hc
contcnted with four, and n physician Cmicss be-
be q fashionable spccinlisO with none ~ all
Opposed to these arguments afc the facts that
only QlOse churches are closed in which thc con
gregatlons belong to the class who leave town
In the Summer. It Is hardly worth while
argues the shepherd of this fashionable flock,
to preach to empty benches. lie might, replies
the critic, open his church during the summer
free to the poor who remain in town. Il Is true
that he might, and preach in it his hc-t ser
They arc no fonder of sitting in church on "A hot
Sunday than wel-tO-do people, AMI the poor
man in America has IN obstinate reluctance to
accepting Il privilege granted because he IL
poor. lie will not sit pauper in the pew IN the
dog days to which he Is never asked during
the rest Of the year. If some of tIc pastors of
wealthy churches would spend their vacation
in town, in the novels and haunts of misery
and crime, preaching in poor churches or on the
street. they would find as wholesome change
of scene from their daily life as if they
visited the mountains as new phases in human
nature, as new views Of life would be set before
them, and as strong tOnics offered to their in
tellects and spirits as if they wandered through
Europe or up the Nile. 1t Is true the atmO
sphere might not be good for their bodies in
these ncighbOrhOOds, but what airs from heaven
might not reach their souls as they went about
their Masters work
However, they arc not at all likely to take
advice as to this way of spending the Summer.
Most of the pastors of this class of ,churches are
already off to Europe, or we shall find them
presently at Saratoga, the Virginia springs, or
the Branch. Each man has his own idea Of the
especial kind of air or bathing which will re-
store his overtaxed vitality or strengthen his
nervous system. But the fact is, the most I'M
pOrtant benefits which come to the 'peripatetc
clergyman In his Summer holiday reach him
without his consciousness, and almost against
his will. First among these is that he leaves
Ills congregation behind him, or he ought to
do it. He feels with strange relief that he is
no longer an actor with q critical audience he
has not to play up to the requirements of this
or that member of the vestry. He is himself.
The probability is too, that he will find him
self not to be half as holy an individual as he
heretofore supposed. If he discovers that he
is surly at the hotel table, selfish at pcnics
peevish when the fish do not bite, that his
manner and temper are, In word, not half so
good as those of people who make no pretcnce
to exceptional piety, the discovery will do him
good. The Caliph Haroun al Raschid had
habit of going about sometimes as Il common
man. without his robes of office, and the snubs
and kicks he got taught him for the first time
how very common a man he was. No more
useful lesson could be tanght to any CT our
religious teachers, Protestant or Catholic, than
they will learn by measuring themselves
shoulder to shoulder with their fellow men.
They are never permitted to do this at home
the parson, even under the bands of his
barber, feels the eyes Of his deaconS and flock
uplifted tn him as a Saul among his brethren.
Again, he has chance IN this Summer
vacation to be Il learner, not n teacher. At
home as we said he mectsl only an admrinS,
re ,pectfdl crowd, of which he, wherever he