The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-11

ducible minimum and the certainty
that the payment of his '!rreducible
minimum will be prompt? These
are the utterances either of n wholly
unworthy ambassador OF the Kingdom
Of Heaven or OF a base impostor. A
minister who i'm the country IL too
much concerned with what he shall
eat and drink; in Suburbia distressed
over what he shall put on. and in n
middle Western metropolis with the
reconciliation Of God and Mammon Is
not the beau ideal OF n minister.
An elder in the brotherhood seeks to
settle the doubts of the scrupulous
neophyte about aid: Take every
copper you can get: it's n demand for
the return you deserve for letting the
church catch you young, as 1t insists
on doing. and for facing the risk VI
getting awfully fieeced by and by"
The discreetly anonymous author
says: ITO this day I feel I am doing
something %virtuous when I paw a
bill" Who shall say that the paying
of bills is not ~'vlrtuous"? Righteous
claims are Jumped" by those who's
virtue has no existence; too often by
the ministers.
As q country preacher. we read.
the prudently anonymous author rom
tracted for $500 a year. OF this s40o
was paid promptly, unfailingly, In
quarterly remittances. by n church
board" The other 5000, represent
ing the difference between debt and
decency," a to be collected by the
church treasurer. The people were
willing to pay; the treasurer "dawdled"
over his collections. IL there were
only seventy-ive persons on the roll
six cents a week from each member
would have made up the deficiency.
II half Of them had paid 1925 n year
the account would have been squared.
II In hard to believe q congregation
of prosperous farmers so delinquent.
unless their employee was grossly so.
Did the preacher have his own hen
house n garden patch? 1t does not
take n large garden to raise vegetables
worth 500 a year. and seventeen
eggs a day at 90 cents n dozen would
supply the other 800. Did the church
! provide a parish house? II so, as so
IL probably was. there was no rent to
pay. If the parson could write. COM
mercially. the problem is further sim
plified. School teachers live on such
terms. in the country. not luxuriously.
but in fat comfort-and raise fami-
lies.
The sensation OF being prosecuted
is no intangible reward for what
the average" parson gives his peo-
pie. and being husband to a woman
brave enough TO marry a preacher Is
no inconsiderable reward for an essay
and "A prayer or two and q few pas
toral calls a week.
After experiencing what may be
called his share OF the trials and tribu-
lations of this transitory life the
Reverend Doctor Anonymous becomes
head OF the Church of st. Crpsus"
in a Mississippi Valley metropolis.
Is II not surprising to find one to
whom is entrusted the cure of souls
so utterly undemocratic. so hopelessly
snobbish. as to think the gates OF
heaven more difficult for a rich man
than for a common person? Many
books may be read without coming
upon anything cheaper" s%ill!er.
nastier than this sarcastic ~srraign-
ment Of those who have nothing
worse against them han success in
the affairs OF this present world.
These worldlings OF mine" were
mighty good material to make other
worldlings out OF. Their pastor
scorns, ridicules. insults them. The
shepherd says Little by little the
groups melted away. and then !
caught sight Of a temptress. laying
for me. She had II IN her eye. And
when she Insisted on rounding up Ger
trude and the youngsters an. loading
us all into her automobile to drag US
off 10 her camp for a Sunday din
ner. | knew she had a pet project up
her sleeve. Women with pet prof.
ects always collar the new parson first
thing. The temptress was the emf
ncnt Mrs. Frank Ellingwood Sears,
and the pet scheme psychotherapy.
She wanted our church made over
into "a clinic"
Wa ever in the world a newly
rich" more revoltingly vulgar than
this? Why notice such a book. cheap,
sensational, coarse and common"
Because. foolish as 1t seems and is.
such books have such power 10 vitiate
She honest thought OF the multitude
as prostitution has to undermine the
honest structure of society, unpro-
duct!ve but rotten.
We don't believe that such a book
was ever written by any true minister
OF the Gospel. The personality Of its au-
thorship is to us a matter Of as COM
plete indifference as the exact num-
Der OF pounds and ounces that Vega
in Lyra weighs. But a graduate OF a
college founded by a religious sec. and
retaining prenatal influence, a person
OF Decentralization many OF whose
friends had one into the ministry.
rural, suburban. metropolitan. and
had written soulful letters TO their
l!t'ry classmate-such n person might
have compiled these Confessions
Who wrote the book is nome OF our
business, except that IL written by
some one not a minister II is a be-
trayal Of the readers honest trust
ana If written actually by an ordained
minister Of any of the branches o.
Christ's church he is an unworthy
ambassador. Falseness and foolish
ness are here equally reprehensible.
some Literary "Devotions."
The combination Of sense and sen
tlment to which the lecture platform
invites its dispensers Of speech is
. well and truly eXemplihed in Vision
and RCtistons &C. Arnold Shaw, New
York;, "a book Of literary devotions,"