Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1924-02-01

private prayer services" are dan.
gerous pursuits, if We are to credit
the testimony Of Mrs. Charlotte lie
land who declares that she has suf-
fered UNNECESSARILY through intimacy
with her pastor, the Rev. Carl D.
Case, minister of a prominent Oak
Park church. If her testimony at the
divorce trial in which her husband
figures prominently is to be credited
as true even in small measure, we
are compelled to believe that prayer
is not always a blessing. In her case
the private prayer services with her
pastor led to relations that are not in
keeping with the better social Gus
toms. At least her confession so inn
plies.
From the Oak Park incident we are
led to understand that prayers are
not necessarily a good thing for the
soul unless backed up by proper
motives.
Perhaps the stories of Mrs. Leland
are untrue. Perhaps she is a very
imaginative woman; yet it is hard to
believe that any woman in her right
mind would SO diseredit her own
character and blight the future of her
children by confession that has not
a word of truth in it. 1t is therefore
doubly hard to discredit her story and
for this reason the eminent pastor
will find it practically impossible to
convince the public of his moral
goodness, even though he may win his
case at court.
The world is ever ready to believe
evil of its servants, because its SER
wants, like all others, are prone to
evil. Public officials, pastors, teach
ers and professors who guide the
public morals and establish legisla-
ton are of the same human mixture
as the rest of us and quite as likely
to sidestep the bounds of propriety.
That they do frequently sidetsep is
not surprising. That they are made
to pay the penalty through loss of
prestige is a necessary factor in the
maintenance of our moral and social
standards.
The occupation Of a minister de-
mands a higher standard of morals
than any other. A minister must walk
a straight line and keep himself above
reproach. 1t is not that we care par
ticularly whether he is better than
his parishioner. We are interested in
maintaining a standard that is some
what higher than most of us expect to
live. We want him to bear the ensign
and not drag it in the mire.
We have formed habit of reading
our standards of morals into the
lives of our leaders and when one of
them sidesteps we are inclined to be-
lieve that he has willfully dragged
our standard down to the level of the
common herd. Consequently we seek
revenge and proceed to make him an
outcast--a profaner of the temple.
There is no remedy for this. The
man who presumes to lead must not
stumble. He must not compromise
the standard. In case he does he
must give place to another.
When ministers are immoral, when
policemen do not obey the law, when
judges corrupt the courts and govern
ment is thereby perverted to selfish
ends and when public servants trail
our standards of citizenship and NOR.
ais in the dust Christian civilization
may be said to have failed of its
supreme end.
In the course of history many gov
ernments have failed; many ecclesias
teal orders have deteriorated; many
races have become degenerate, bu
never until leadership has trailed tn,
| Sorial standards in tho duct with in,