The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-11-12
PAUPERlAT|ON OF
MINISTRY RU|NOUS
Rev. Or. James A. Duncan Pre-
sents View on Subject
THE SYSTEM Is FALSE
When a Man Is Regarded as Object Of
Charity He Has Begun to
Lower His Dignity
Of Manhood.

The Rev. Dr. James A. Duncan occupied
his pulpit at the First Methodist church
yesterday morning at the IL o'clock SER
vices, preaching on the subject Of the
"Pauperizing of the Ministry"
He spoke in part as follows:
In the early ages the church was con-
fessedly a pauper. Mendicant friars went
about soliciting aims 1t was rather proud
of its poverty, and men took an oath of
apoverty. chastity and obedience" The
result was that as time advanced every
dollar contributed to the church was re-
garded as an act of charity. Later than
this 1t came to pass in Protestant
churches that men looked upon their con-
tributions to the support of the church
as ''giving to the preacher" The very
term is really an insult. No one l dare
say, has ever considered it as such, and
few have ever regarded it as such, even
among the ministry itself.
"Giving to the Preacher.
The term giving to the preacher, as
sumes that there is no adequate return.
No man ever speaks of giving to the man
from whom he buys his potatoes or his
meat. Railroads give preachers half rates,
not really because they think that the
preachers are going to do them good,
but rather because 1t is a general plan
to give some sort of a reduction to
preachers. Stores advertise that they give
10 per cent discount to preachers Why
in the name of all that is good should
a man sell a preacher a suit of clothes
more cheaply than he sells to another. eX-
cept that he expects that preacher to be
his agent, and insofar buys him.
The whole system is damaging and cor
rupting, because it is pauperizing. Just
as soon as a man is regarded by the
public as an object Of charity and allows
that charity to express itself toward him,
he has begun to lower the dignity of his
own manhood. l know men pretty well.
I know that to many of them the very
name of preacher, while no term of re-
proach, Is none the less a name for a
kind of creature that they do not care TO
know. They feel so about no other pro-
fession. They do not feel so because
they are guilty of wickedness, and expect
to be lectured for it, They simply feel it
because they have gotten the idea in
some sort that he is not quite man,
and not a little Of it is because they have
been asked to help to give him some-
thing.
Practical Example.
No man who is a man would like for
any man to walk the streets of this city
and ask donations, small and large, to
buy him suit of clothes. Yet it can be
done for the preacher with impunity, be-
cause it is a custom. The preacher him.
self has been brought up with the idea,
and he is not to blame. His own parents
have given donation parties. and done all
the balance. How would Won ike for a
lot of people wnom you barely knew to
assume that you had nothing to eat, and
pour all over your house as though it
belonged to them, and bring you bundles
of crackers and sugar and flour and
stuff. 1t is done to the preacher, and done
by kind-hearted people who meant it kind
ly, and it is published in the papers of the
church as an illustration of the generos-
ity of the people of that church.
They mean it generously enough, but
at the bottom of their hearts, perhaps
hardly conscious q their own belief, they
feel that the preacher is not quite a
man, nor expected to be one.
System of Beggary Is False.
Nobody ever held Jesus Christ in con-
tempt. They loved Him; they hated Him;
they feared Him, but no one ever thought
of Him as less than man. St. Paul,
fearing lest men should think that he was
self-seeking. took to his trade as a tent
maker, and supported himself, proud of
his own manhood, and no one ever ac-
cused him of being less. The svr+arn of
beggary is false system. I believe that
there never was time in the history of
Christianity that the church needed men
as it does today 1t needs men whom
the world will recognize as men, although
they may differ widely from them in both
doctrine and theory of life. They may
think their scheme of life impractical,
but they will never say that there are
three sexes: linen. women and priests"
The Only Remedy.
II these preachers are worth anything
to you. then pay them for their work,
and do not regard them or even let them
regard themselves as objects of charity
When a man holds out his hand to an
Individual or to az Organization, and
asks for aims Of any SORT, he that very
| moment loses smah portion of his
manhood. A. fen he begins ~ ssi, he
| begins to -rinse. and he canno. for the
life of him keep from gro wing small. Ours
is a great church, and it can Go great
things. We are numbered by millions. 1t
is often necessary for men to go into the
waste places of the earth where they can
find no livelihood. Let the church provide
for this, and provide so that it will not
be necessary for these men to appeal even
to the church in charity.
Let the merchant and the railroad
charge the preacher as though he were
a man, and let his individual congrega-