News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1913-04-30
MINISTER AND MAN
Former Preacher Sets Forth
Ideas That Call for Most
Serious Consideration.

We are familiar with the tragic
fall of policemen who urge in extenu-
alton that they are not strong enough
to withstand "the system" lt ap-
pears that this menace to freedom Is
also felt elsewhere in other guises A
Congregational minister writes to his
| pensioners an account of his rea-
sons for quitting the ministry for the
profession of law, which the Christian
| Work New York; publishes. HIS
father and grandfather, he tells u.s.
were Methodist preachers, and his
natural bent would have been toward
that fold, but he found, during his
seminary days, that the Methodist
Organization" hampered the freedom
which he sought and seemed to find
In the denomination he later joined
But here also the System" inter.
vened. We read:
Some of the pastoral tasks came
them. Others were anything but
natural, and l made it my task to ex-
ercise these that / might be an all
around, good minister. Being unmar.
r1ed, | could live with my work. and
that | truly did, and no one ever
guessed that many times l smiled with
false enjoyment. But I was learn
ing slowly that there is a traditional
system, as strong as stone wall,
and far more formidable than the
Methodist organism, which gradually
forces a minister into a certain rut
Unconsciously it walls him in; his
vision, which was large, is stified, and
he will fight in vain, if he fights at all,
for freedom. And the very people
who condemn the minister for his
narrow life are the ones who perpet.
uate the system.
81 am not complaining about the
remuneration of my profession,
will leave that for others who have
felt the pinch of poverty more than ]
have. You have done nobly in finan
cling our church, and have paid me lib |
orally. My complaint is against the |
system which makes the minister |
when publicly spoken of, superman;
when privately spoken of, a weakling |
/ have tried to believe that this isn't |
SO, but it is, and even in this village |
and in this church people by their
conception of the ministry have made
the minister a small man He has
been banqueted and Toasted, and PEG.
pie have prayed that he might be
guided Alright, but seldom has he been
considered as the first creation of
God, a man.
81 didn't think of these things at
first. ! thought that the trouble was
in the ministers themselves, and that
the comments which came to my boy.
ish ears were justified But I have
come to see that many big ministers
have unconsciously fallen victims to
the system. A minister owes his po-
sition to popularity, and popularity
with the average congregation can be
science. We compromise our big
tasks with popularity and we prosti
tute our manhood upon it's altar
These thoughts came to me the more
forcibly when | contemplated matri
mony. A minister's wife is usually of
interest to the whole church. A mer
chant has not got to choose a mate
who knows his business neither does
a doctor have to choose a wife who is
in the practice of medicine.
But a minister must choose as a
wife one who is not only interested in
the work of the church. but one who
is willing to make the sacrifice of a
home that the church may have first
place. Perhaps this isn't unjust.
There may be women who are
equipped for such work and who
would willingly take it up, but the
sacrifice of personality demanded by
the system of the minister's wife is
so great that | could not ask any
woman, particularly the one have in
mind, to make it. All have right
10 ask of any woman is to help me
10 make home.
"The last reason I suggest to you
for leaving your church is a spiritual
one. The thought of these other
things mentioned have strangled the
spiritual freeness which I used to en-.
10y. To myself my sermons no long
or sound as sermons having author
ty. They are crowded and pinched
10 please. and compromise rather
han condemn and inspire l have
with my conscience and
have compromised with my intel
ect. There is always a wide chasm
between my genuine thoughts and
NY words The virtue of an elocu-
ionist may deceive the congregation,
1ut it cannot deceive oneself.
81 believed that l was called to
preach. Perhaps God called me to
preach for few years and then to go
elsewhere. Anyway. ! am going. ]
want freer conscience and a freer
life. | honestly believe that my life
will be efficient. :"
Il am writing at length that you
nay see my attitude and that it may
,e. as have all my acts in your com
nunity been, open and frank. From
he Literary Digest.
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