The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-10-02
SPORTS OF 4 PREACHER.
NAV the Gentlemen Who Wear the
Cloth Indulge in Horse
Racing7
One Dominic Who Speeded q Nag
Another Who Played
Base Ball

/ Preachers who Go to the Playhouse,
d Hunt, Ride Bicycles-Ons Who Never
+ Gambled ON Sunday.
I The question of the limits within which
i propriety and respect for the sacred profes-
sion require minister to keep his walk and
conversation has been brought up of late IN
|. two Methodist churches, says the New York
Sun.
\ The Rev. Mr.. Arney, the pastor OF the
Methodist church at Saranac in Michigan.
ia great lover of horsedesh, especially
when it is fast. This was born in him. he
Jaws. and, in his view it is not manifesto
ton of the original sin of which he needs
to be rid of as proof of his spiritual regen-
er,tion. But some of his brethren were of
I a different opinion when Mr.. Arney car
ried his taste SO far as to engage in horse
trading aud horse racing. They were
shocked by his proceedings, and council
called to investigate his conduct brought
him in guilty of conduct unbecoming
Christian minister. Consequently he was
obliged to promise to race horses no more.
+ Yet it seems that his forbidden passion
has only strengthened him in the affections
of many of his flock, and several other
Methodist congregations have petitioned
the presiding elder to send him to them as
pastor. They like him all the better be-
cause of his liking for horses.
The Rev. Mr.. Forsythe Of Rockland in
Pennsylvania is an ardent lover of the great
American game of base ball and he thought
it no wrong to train nine and to manage
match games in which they took part. At
first his team was badly beaten by 20 to 8;
but this result onlv melted him to further
efforts to correct their faults, and the next
time they went into match they came oil
victors with the handsome score Of 10 to 2.
His congregation did not share his exulta-
stion over the triumph and Indignantly re-
fused to attend game played BY Mr. For
sythe's team for the benefit of the church.
| They locked him out of the meeting house,
as unworthy to enter the sacred precincts,
and they were sustained by the elders But
Mr.. Forsythe, like Mr.. Arney, found many
the more enthusiastically because of his
taste for sport and he organized flourish
ing congregation of his supporters and
started out Independently.
\ The exhibition Of such tastes on the part
plete change in tho attitude Of even SO
strict body as Methodists toward worldly
sports and recreati0ns. It is not very
many years since the religious community
generally looked upon horse racing espe-
with gambling and tho other amusements
/ in which no church member could take
part without forfeiting his title to Christian
y Fellowship. In the Methodist, Baptist and
! Presbyterian view it ia even worse than
theater going, card playing and Dancing,
vices Of the devil to ruin the souls Of men.
Base ball, a. now played in match over
| which there is betting, would have been no
| less sinful in their eyes than horse racing,
+ and on the same moral plane. lit is for
hidden to a minister to take part in the one
it is not for him to engage in the other, and
if either is sinful, the other is fully as sin
!, full for any Christian.
y OF course, the ministry should set an ex-
ample Of abstinence from evil. Public
/ requires that they should be above the sus-
picion of evil, and should guard their con-
duct moro scrupulously than the laity.
What is unbecoming in minister cannot
be defined exactly, but the mass Of people
have their prejudioes in the matter. They
had great regard for the dignity Of the
cloth, and their taste was offended when it
yielded to what seemed to them frivolity.
They have always done many things thorn
selves which clergyman cannot do with
II
McGlynn has expressed the wish to see the
| pope walking down Broadway with q stove
n plpe hat on his head, but could the papal
dignity be sustained before the world by q
4 pope so regardless of tradition?
The precise limitations within which the
!. to individuals and the time, and of late
years the restraints have unquestionably
been much relaxed, or at least many of tho
sacred profession have refused to be bound
by them as they were established BY the
\ Bellows, the distinguished Unitarian
preacher, first appeared at the opera, the
innovation gave some shock to the sensi-
bilities of even his very liberal communion.
Now there are orthodox olergymen who do
they are 30 inclined, and If their conduct
provokes some discussion, it does not seem
to arouse any damaging criticism. They
still remain honored and influential pas
h tors.
I The fo1-hunting parsons of England
I. of great multitudes Of the pious, but clerical
sportsmen are numerous now. and they are
found in oommunions once noted for pur-
itanical strictness - to all worldly amuse-
ments. A clerical bicycle club are enthusi-
astic in the pursuit of that new recreation
and when few years ago they wheeled
themselves through Canada, some of tho
clergy varied the sport with Sunday ser
mons BY the way: An Episcopal clergy
man of eminence il distinguished also az Q
hunter of large game in the far west. The
Rev. Mr.. Murray, once noted a. a Boston
! preacher. was 40 fond of fast horses and %
|. fond of speeding horses as Mr.. Arney him
self. Three or four years ago the Rev. MI.
Thornton, clergyman of the church of
England, came over here as . member of q
| cricket team which travelled about to meet
|. our home teams, playing for gate money in
+. the usual course. Skillful tennis players
are numerous among the clergy. There are
many first-rate whips among them. Some
\ of them are known to their aequaintances
| as capital boxers, and Mr.. Forsythe has
many clerical sympathizers in his admira-
ton for the great American game of base
ball. Very good hands at whist can be
found in the clerical ranks, though proba-
bly, none of them would draw the line Of
propriety 20 far of as it was drawn by the
English clergyman Who satisfied his ecru-
| Piles, whom sitting down TO Sunday rubber
It Geneva, by the preliminary announce
IL