Morning journal and courier., 1883-06-22
aanrusI zao Gonrisr.
Friday, June 22, 1888.
On the State of the Ministry.

pointed at our last annual meeting to inquire into the state of the ministry and report to- day as to the existing condition of things. A few replies have received from my minis terial brethren may furnish a basis for subse- quent remarks.
 One faithful and diligent pastor, who has served the churches for more than twenty five years and finds himself poorer than when he began, says that the state of the min istry is one of ''impecuniosity." A popular city pastor, who has good salary, afirms that the ministry is behind the times If they would only remember that they are living in the last half of the nineteenth century, and would deal with live questions and be more liberal in their ideas as to doctrine, and es- pecially as to amusements they would find room for ospel and would not lose their grip on the age. An aged and orthodox father in Israel however, 1aments the fact that so many l clergymen weakly conform to the sinful world and are more ambitious for gain and popularity than to win souls An unsettled minister, weary of candidating, says that the ! ministry is overcro wded whilst the excel
 lent secretary of home missions afirms that
 there is actually a dearth of ministers. |
 largest churches Iaments that the clergy are
 in state of bondage; while one of our
 truest champions mourns over clerical laxity,
 by which the gospel is in danger of being so
 diluted as to lose it's power and inh uence.
 These specimens show what is in mems
 minds; and it is remarkable that, of thirty
 replies given one by one, all were more or less discouraging. Not man says boldly
 "The ministry in this region is what it
 should be, and is doing noble work ID And | yet your committee are inclined to regard l matters more cheerfulIy, and to offer some
 comforting suggestions rather than add to
 the dismal croakings they have heard from | others.
 Look at the complaint of 'timpecuniosity, i. G., of inadequate support. Some of the | reasons for 1t obvious. Ministers are | generally poor when they begin and they stay
 so because they do not know how to make
 money. Usually the same might have been l said of their fathers before them regardless
 of their calling. Many man would get l rich on the average salary of the Connecticut
 might, in many cases, be more
 liberal than it is, and there is
 much narrow selfshness that ought | to be sharply rebuked. The general Law of
 the Lord Is that ''they who preach the gospel
 should live of the gospel" and this should bs
 
 who really love the church are made to see | their duty to provide literally for those who | are their spiritual guides. The test may, at | times, be severe as to their loyalty to 8 par l ticular pastor, but there is satisfaction in | knowing that their real opinion of the value
 of the preached gospel will likewise be tested. The result might be that some of would | have to initiate Paul and betake ourselves to | tent-making to eke out our scanty salaries
 But what then Many pastor, who now
 wastes his energies in grumbling, would be | worth more to himself and the cause of | righteousness, if he did not feel it to be be | heath his clerical dignity to do as many law l yers and physicians have to do, namely, to | carry some respectable secular business along | side his chosen calling.
 Thers was once good old minister who | had grown rich on $4OO a year, and who promised in his farewell sermon to tell his people how the seeming miracle had been | wrought 'I have done so," said he ''by | neglectipg my business to do yours. My bus l mess was to minister to your souls, and yours
 was to support me in doing so. I have had
 ts let you take care of your own souls, while | supported myself, and hence I am very well l eff but how is it with you?"
 It may be delicate matter for pastor to speak to his people for more liberal pecun- | iary recognition, yet they ought somehow to | be made aware that one who is discouraged | by debts, weighted by anxiety and regarded by the public as an object of charity does not l occupy position suitable for ambassador of the Son of God. It is 8 serious matter, affecting not one or two but many ministers who are made to feel that light estimate is set by wealthy professors of religion on the value of pulpit instructions. And yet the matter should be looked at aright, and the evil ought not to be exagger- ated. The cheering fact is that, from the l statistics gathered, 1t appears to be true, in | Connecticut at least, that the average pay of | ministers is gradually increasing While the I calling cannot be said to be lucrative, yet ! there is no occasion for the grumbling one 1 sometimes hears about starvation salaries
 Men who succeed in the ministry have to keep up with the times and deal with living is- sues. To adopt phrase once the watch word Of business men in New York, they must steam and come up to it! We are apt to keep up the seclusion of the study un- til practical men look on us as amiable dream ers, men of fixed ideas, conservative, shrink ing from the conflicts of advanced thought. Men who work hard for living expect us to do the game, and do not realize that brain 1 work cannot be kept up as uninterruptedly as that which taxes the muscles. There is reason in the demand that we should set duty in the fore ground. That pastor who sent word to a dying parishioner that he would call as soon as he had finished his game at croquet merited the rebuke that dying men could not wait for the leisure of pleasure-lovtng parsons"
  general thing, a low standard of piety among ministers, although this is sometimes the charge. Of brilliant preacher it was said that those who knew him intimately thought they saw indications that he had at some time met with change of heart Religion of such an uncertain quality must make it's possessor lose relish for his task. There is no occasion for us to be either apologetic or uncharitable. We must expect to be watched as to our probity, honesty, veracity and gen eral morality, even by men of the world, but those deep inner experiences on which the lasting success of ministerial career de pends are unseen by any eye save that which sees all things.
 Let US be just toward ourselves. Admit ting the existence of inconsistencies and imperfections we claim to speak from con- Viction and to scorn every dlsingenuous utterance whether of doctrinal or ethical views. We deny that the ministry is in bondage We resent with honest indigna- tion the oaricatures so often held up to the public gaze. We affirm that we are free to meet every issue as 1t arises, although we may not judge it our duty to run out of our way to attack every heresy arising in modern life. Bondage is not to be inferred because we regard it as our main work to apply proven gospel to the guidance of believing hearers and the comfort of Gods children. How mistaken the zeal that leaves the needs of the multitude to fight in turn each transatlantic and anti Chris tian theory that floats to our shores. Si- lence often. shows prudence rather than cowardice, and our chief duties are per fsctly tangible and clear. Mooted matters of theology do not interest the people as much practical instruction to how they may lead good lives in a sinful world and how souls ready to perish may be saved. To this important work the majority of our ministers are devoting themselves with ceaseless diligence and deserve that the fact should be recognized by those who love | the Lord.
 . It is customary tO close with list of Con- gregational ministers in this State who have died since our last meeting.
 Rev. Alvan Bond, of the New London as- sociation, died July 18th, 1882, ,aged 90 years.
 Rev. Leverett Griggs, of Hartford Central association, died Jan. 26th, 1883, aged "A years.
 Rev. Edgar Jared Doolittle, of the Mid dlese1 association, died Feb. 1st, 1883, aged 72 years.
 Rev. William M. Birchard. of the New London association, died March 2Oth 1883, |