Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1914-05-01
SHOULD BECLEAN
By G. w. GORDER, d. d.

have read with great deal of
interest an article from the pen of
DR.. w. B. Crumpton on an ideal see
rotary. This article was published in
the Western Recorder. DIR. Crump.
ton has long been secretary of the
State Mission Board of Alabama,
and he has made an ideal secretary.
1t would only be necessary to fol-
low the record that he has made in
order to find out the qualifications of
an ideal secretary.There were a good
many things in that paper, but /
wish to call attention to this para
graph, because l believe it needs en-
phasizing:
"He should be a clean man. He
should be clean of body, no SLOUGH in
his dress. He should be clean of
mouth. Let no filthy communica-
ton proceed out of your mouth
should be an admonition to which he
should give heed. Anything bordering
on vulgarity or coarseness should be
avoided if one would be an ideal sec
rotary. Cleanliness of mouth carries
with it the ideal that the breath Or
clothes of the secretary should not
smell of tobacco.
"a man in general work is more
observed than a pastor; people re-
gard him as holding more exalted
position than the pastor. If he is
user of tobacco, he is criticised more
and his example is more likely to be
initiated by the young preachers and
young men generally. / am sure that
many pastors and some of my broth
err secretaries do not agree with me
in this; but if they will give their
people an opportunity to talk, they
will find growing sentiment among
them against the tobacco habit among
preachers. Many a preacher has Wis
tied a field expecting a call which
never came. Maybe he never knew
hwhy and the committee didn't want
him to know. If the truth were
known, some humble number put in
petition like this: 81 like the broth
err; would enjoy his preaching 1 am
sure, but have boys in my home and
don't want them to have the exam
pie of tobacco-using preacher be-
| fore them"
| l don not know how other breth-
rem feel, but to put it mildly / am
very free to confess that / would
greatly prefer man for the pastor
Of my church whose breath and his
clothes were never defiled by tobac-
co. smoke. l do not think that | am
fanatic, but / am very decidedly of
the opinion that preacher cannot
be the clean man that he should be
if he uses tobacco. He certainly can
not set the example that he should
before the young. / believe that the
sentiment against preachers using
tobacco isgrowing very rapidly.Wher
churches begin to look around for q
pastor they are very apt to inquire
if he uses tobacco.
i Only day or two ago layman
who is a father, was discussing this
subject with me, and he said thai
when he rebuked his boys for smok.
ing cigarettes they confronted hin
with the statement that the pastor Of
his church smoked. OF course hi
found it delicate matter to say K
his sons, whom he wished to do righ
that the pastor was not man who's,
example could not be followed in al
things. Indeed that was something
that he did not want to do. He want
ed to point them to him as an exam
pie in all things, but now could h,
do it? Paul said to Timothy, "B
thou an example of believers, in wor,
in conversation, in charity, in spirit
in faith. in purity"
Sometime since ] met preache
for the first time, of whom / ha,
3 heard great deal, and whom ha'
' every reason TO hold in the highes
: esteem, but / must confess that m.
] feelings was changed very mater
tally very soon after our meeting, TO
in the shortest time he had the room
D in which we were sitting develope
in fog of tobacco smoke. He ap
q peared to be running steam en-
: CINE with his mouth as filthy smok
q stack. cannot keep from having
pangs of regret as think of tn
boys in the Sunday School of tn
It large church of which he is pastor
And, then, there are the other youn
AZ kl.o xt,l,n nat nor