Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-01-23
RELIGYON AND HYpOCRIsY.


According to a dispatch in our tele-
graphic columns yesterday, the Rever-
end James c. Machines, of the Congre-
: gational Chapel of Oakland, Gala, gives
the following reasons for his retire
ment from the ministry:
II believe IN dancing and a long list of
other things that are tabooed by church.
goers when INDUCED in by ministers. If a
man needs a drink he has the right to take
1t. When / meet a man on the street l
like to slap him ON the back and say:
Hello there, Billy, in a good hearty voice.
/ believe in God and Christianity, but the
church is burdened with false ideas and
full of sinful hypocrites, and some of my
friends who might be called lushers' are
infinitely better than these frauds of piety.
THE ministry is no place for a young
man who wants his personal liberty. He
must practice too much hypocrisy himself
and overlook too much hypocrisy in 9TH
ers."
At first blush one may be struck
with the supposed manly frankness of
this statement and be inclined to adj
mire the reverend, or ex-reverend, gen.
tleman for his fearless honesty. But
the Rev. MacInnes's complaint against
the cloth will not stand the test of
scrutiny in the light of common
The amount of personal liberty a
clergyman should permit himself is
largely a matter of individual taste
and preference. But a minister of the
gospel has other things to take into
account, not the least of which is that
his flock, having confidence in his
teachings born largely of personal faith
In himself, look to him to furnish in
his own person an example of upright
Christian living. And in this he must
avoid even certain appearances, which,
though innocent enough in themselves,
possibly, may be liable to misconstruc-
ton in the minds of others. A min
lister who is not prepared to make so
small a personal sacrifice certainly has
no business in the ministry, and we
congratulate Mr.. Machines on his re-
IL " q StslAiA5 lOi IN hO 4
evidently quite unfit.
We all know ministers of the gospel
who do not hesitate to greet their
friends in public according to the de-
gree of intimacy that may exist be-
tween them. We have often known
gentlemen of the cloth to slap their
friends on the back and call them by
a~ffectionate nicknames. without sacri-
ficing one iota of dignity or self-respect
or losing the respect or love of any
one else. Mr.. Machines must live
among a ~puritanical set, indeed, if such
conduct is considered ungodly there,
and we do not blame him for seeking
relief from such sanctimonious re-
~straint.
Other points of objection in Mr.. Mac
Innes's complaint are not well taken.
Does he hold, for example, that a
minister of God would act with proper
decorum or set a good example to
members of his flock, young or old, if
he should frequent barrooms, regard
less of what his individual views might
be with regard to the use of intoxi-
cants? How long would a bank cashier
retain the public's or his banks conf
dence after he had become a barroom
"lusher?" Does Mr.. Machines hold that
q minister of God should be less cir
cumspect in his behavior than a mere
employee of a bank or business house?
And in exercising a proper degree CT
circumspection and decorum in his
everyday life a minister need not,
therefore, be open to the charge of
hypocrisy. Such general accusation
against ministers could only emanate
from ! small and narrow mind
4 ~ Machines desires to exercise