The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-02-15
THE JUR YROOM AND ITS
L ESQ Ms

In an article under the above caption
the Editor of the Christian Weekly (the
beautiful little paper published in New
York by the American Tract Society,"
gives an account of his experience on
jury in the Circuit Court of Brooklyn.
1t was case where Roman Catholic
church in Greenpoint was sued by GER
tain parties on its bonds given for lum-
ber furnished by them, and in which
Gen. Roger A. Pryor was counsel for the
defendants.
recent experience in an otherwise dry and
dull week in the Circuit Court of Brooklyn. was
interesting and valuable in calculating the laws
controlling religious corporations, and in the
arrangement by an eloquent lawyer of the too
common practice Of these corporations. A Ro
man-cathollc church in Greenpont was sued bv
parties who had furnished lumber for its church
edifce, for refusal to pay the bonds it had is
sued, and which those parties held as certificates
of the Indebtedness of the church. The evidence
seemed to be direct, but the counsel for the de-
fence moved for a non suit, on the ground that
religious corporation had no legal right to is
sue negotiable paper that should be put upon
the market like the commercial paper of mercan
eloquent and learned counsel, Gen Roger A.
Pryor. confirmed by copious reference to the
authorities of our State Courts With evident
sincerity and conviction he affirmed that the
duties OF a church were of very different ma.
ture: that 1T was established, not for competing
or Jostling in the market with money. making or
money raising concerns, but for the paramount
obj of making known the Gospel of Christ
and for securing the salvation of souls. At the
same time he said that it was painfully evident
that the churches had forgotten their duties. and
had shown a deplorable facility for running
into debt AS a consequence, scarcely church
is to be found in these cities free from this
calamity; The picture which the eloquent
speaker drew was lamentable, because it was so
Enthusiastically drawn from the life. A church
is formed, he said and secures lot in desirable
and slightly location. They build an elegant
and costly architectural monstrosity and then
put mortgage on top of it. They hire sonrani.
and countralti and tenoril, and bassi that people
may be attracted to their temple. They 90
further, and decorate and fresco the interior.
and then adorn the pulpit with the pagan offer
ings to Flora. Then they hire Rev. Mr. Honey
man at large salary. He takes a text, which
Is too often pretext for sensational sermon on
some absorbing topic of the time. The simple
duty of the preacher to point sinners to the Sa-
viour is overlooked in the desire to draw people
to the church who will help pay the enormous
debt the society has contracted.
1t is no part of our object to pass judgment
upon the merits of the case in question. We
were impressed, as often before, with the fact
that layman should not shun his duty when it
called him to the court and jury room that les.
sons there learned were profitable to business
men, and to those holding relations to literary,
social, and ecclesiastical corporations; and that
much embarrassment and difficulty might be
saved if established laws were more widely un-
derstood We shall not regret that we had tba
opportunity, and we only wish that more church
trustees and pastors could have shared it with
u.s. of listening to the exposition of the law as to
ecclesiastical fnanciering, and to the deserved
censure of a too prevalent abuse, so deliberately
and emphatically pronounced by Gen Pryor.