Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-09-03
Preachers wives.


The New Orleans Christian Adj
vocate (Methodist) says:
Preachers wives are under no
greater obligations 10 serve the
church than are the wives of lay
men. They are private persons, in
no sense pastors or preachers, and
the churches in which their hus-
bands preach have no more claims
upon them than they have upon
other Christian women. Instead of
being at the head of missionary So
cieties and charitable organizations,
it would generally be better that
such POSITIONS should be filed by
those who are permanently identi-
fed with the charge. The preach
er's home and family are not pub
lie property, any more than are the
homes and families Of others. Their
privacy and domestic seclusion are
entitled to respect and protection
the same as others; and because
preachers families are continually
subject TO removal, and to be thrown
among strangers, it would seem
right that they should be guarded
with peculiar delacy and consider
ateness.
The demands made upon the pas
tors wife fan the way OF visiting Is
often most unreasonable. Other
wives have a limited number of
visits to return, but the preachers
wife is expected to visit all the fam
lilies Of the church. This is almost
impossible il home duties are prop
r1s.lr aHNnr,sNn.N - L.
and housekeeping are paramount.
What shall she DO, neglect her
home, or incur reproach for slight
ing those well-meant courtesies she
is not able wholly TO reciprocate
We suppose it cannot be helped
altogether that preachers wives
should be regarded rs the servants
of the church, and as subjects of
criticism, almost as much as the
preachers themselves. And yet we
strongly protest agains the custom.
We would plead for their right to
be considered as private individu-
ais, upon whom the church has no
other claims than she has upon all
Christian women.
The qualifications OF preachers
wife are much the same rs OF the
wives OF merchants or farmers. To
be helpful to their husbands they
may need more grace, more of the
spirit of self-sacrifice for Christ, and
such intelligence and refinement as
will enable them to move in every
sphere Of social life. 1t is inciden-
tai to the PASTORS relation TO his
people, and to the changes in the it.
ineTancy, that his wife needs more
than most other women, certain
gifts and graces. She has TO submit
to many inconvenience, to many
sacrifices, and not seldom to humil-
iating privations. If she can meet
these patiently for Christ's sake, and
perform the ordinary duties of Il
Christian wife and mother, we
should say she is a good preachers
wife. Nearly all that should be
notable about preachers wives, as
distinguishing them from others,
are those qualities which enable
them to accept the most trying stu
atiOns with patience, and to adOrn
it with the grace of meekneSs.
In the inconvenience and
troubles connected with ministerial
changes, our sympathies are mainly
enlisted for the preachers wives.
Social changes are to them more
Onerous than to their husbands,
their local attachments are stronger,
and there is in them a greater long
ing for a settled home. And on
them the labor Of breaking up,
packing and moving, falls with pc
culiar weight. Very justly we eul-
ogiZe the preachers who submit to
the strain of the itinerant system,
but their wives deserve the greater
praise. The hardships OF this min
istry have proved fatal to many
men, but they have killed many
more women. Where the preach
ers have suffered, their wives have
suffered more. In no other position
is greater devotion to Christ exhibit
ted, and in no other has true Chris
tian wOmanhoOd q brighter illustra-
ton. The woman who, with high
Christian motive, ard with a clear
comprehension OF what it Involves
gives herself to God as the preach
er's wife, il entitled to our admira-
ton and respect. She has claim
upon the tenderest regards Of the
people among whom her lot is cast.
1t should be their study and care to
brighten her pathway, to strew it
with flowers, and, as far rs possible
to dispel its shadows.