Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1892-03-24
POPULAR INSTRUCTION.
CLERoYMEN AS PUBLIC SERVANTS
AND PUBLIC BENEFACTORS

cLERoYMEN AS PUBLIC SERVANTS
AND PUBLIC BENEFACToRs
Ministers of all Denominations Included In
the Reviewed. Son ofthe Green Mountain
State Furnishes the Living Illustration of
their Work for the Good ofsociety and the
World.
Especial. for the BELLOWS FALLS TIMEs.]
In looking over the field occupied by
the class deemed public benefactors, we
have given examples in proof from the
press, the postal service ard the school,
nor did we forget the commercial class,
and in the present article We note class
whose public services reach nearly every
community, district or hamlet, however
unpretentious or isolated in the whole
civilized world and even in heathendom.
Ever since the days Of prophecy when
the words were uttered, SLOW beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of Him,
that bring good tidings Of good" has
the man of God, the preacher of right
eousness been foremost in all good
works, living always for Others, to
verify the words Of the Master, "he that
loseth his life for my sake shall find 1t
again" he gives up his plans oftentimes
to serve his fellowmen, sitting many a
worthy ambition, setting aside desires
for advancement in the arts, the sciences,
and in literature, or foregoing some
scheme for adding to his worldly stores.
Looking toward the Man of sorrows, he
follows Him into the paths Of them that
are in woe, in want, in wretchedness and
in sin. He stands upon the same level,
as it we're, in order to draw others to a
higher standing, socially, morally and
physically. His is the teachers part, as
one having learned from that Other
who was perfect, and he says to his fell
In the true minister of God, the preacher
than thou" manifestation; we are saved
alike and together, in the same way and
by the same means. No man or woman
is SO poor, so degraded that the minister
passes him by or shuns him mind have
said the true minister of the gospel. There
are some, doubtless, who prove recreant
to their trust but they are comparatively
few. Down into the deeps of human
sorrow, degradation and despair, they
search for the weak, the fallen, the ut
terly degraded and wicked; the poor in
that Indebtedness of poverty hardly i'm
agined by the honest laboring classes,
find the man of God coming to meet
them, to cheer them, to comfort often
times with gift from his own lean
purse experimenting the words and CIV
ing them weight not otherwise obtained.
The consecrated pastor knows of a
truth, the words of the holy Nazarene,
"the poor We have with you always" and
the unuttered cry in the aching depths
Of lonely sorrowing heart is recognized
and in every form of suffering which
fastens itself to humanity he sees the
likeness of a Divine Sufferer who once
said: II was an hungered and We gave
me no meat; was thirsty and We gave
me no drink; sick and in prison and We
visited me not" Knowing this 1 say the
real pastor gives to the hungry, meat !;
to the thirsty, drink and those who are
bound In the prison-hOuse of helpless
degradation he does not scorn to visit,
and knows that voice divine is saying,
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one
of the least Of these, We have done
it unto me-" To say that the
clergy are fully appreciated would
be wide of the truth. Sometimes it
seems that of all public servants they
receive the least sympathy, the smallest
recognition for their constant, untiring
service and the fewest words of praise.
An eminent divine, ZONE who has gained,
like Sturgeon, or Moody or George Mil
Ter, q fame worldwide, does not come
into the category of the thousands of
overworked and half appreciated class
of which 1 write. How often do we
think As we listen to the regular Sunday
sermon what deal of work has been
done by him from whose lips it comes?
When as is often the case, we see him at
the bedside of the sick and the house of
the dead, do we realize what his presence
there Is worth and what it has cost him
in more ways than one, to be there
Does fear of contagion keep him from
giving that comfort the dying need?
Seldom is he deferred from doing his
masters work even though he may have
dear ones at home whom he would shield
from every danger. Never, until the
final summing up by the infallible and
impartial Judge, who knows the hearts
and lives of all men, shall we know what
. glorious work has been done for the
world, for humanity, and for God, by
those who preach the gospel. There
may be, doubtless there are, some COM
munities where a minister or pastor is
not desired where the people would be
rid of hearing anything of evangelical
religion, wherever they are, they are
places to be Stunned, they are plague
spots in the community, akin to which
the island of lepers is an Eden. When
place is found where the church doors
are closedl because the people do not
care to keep the Sabbath inviolate and
will not listen to the tones of the church
bell, there you will find a deadlie1
miasm than that of the great disma
swamp; an atmosphere so poisonous
that no living being can enjoy the exis
lance which the Creator designed for it
Where such place is found the civi
law is disregarded, and the amenities Of
life are overlooked. 1t is a foul ulcel
upon the body polite and is loathsomt
in the sight Of all righteous people. They
realize with horror the moral malaria
arising with its deadly mists to envelol
the young and the would be pure anC
upright, who are forced to ABIDE there
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