Year: 1875

| Mr.. Randall, membeio { Congress. is


reported in the papers as saying 10 the


House Of Representatives, on Thurs


day last, that he thought this had been


bad year for Christian ministers.
| Such light. contemptuous remarks


as these are not confined to the halls Of


Congress; they are not unusual even


in the carefully conducted columns Of


the newspaper of the d y, where We


look only for matured and we'll diges-


ted comments upon the times. Is there


any propriety In the insinuati0n? 1t


implies that ministers of late have


been coming to grief, and that the


year past has been signalized by their


fall. We do not know the facts that
justify the implication.


One swallow does not make sum-


mer. Nor two, nor three. Because
the whole country has been excited


by the shocking details of one allega-
ton of crime, it is easy to leap to the
conclusion that this one case is a type
of many, the index of state of morals
in whole class or profession, and so
to assume, without evidence, that this
Is "a bad year for ministers.


The mistake is two-fOld. In the
first place, we are not prepared to
affirm that the one notable case is
proved to be what MIR. Randall as
sumes to be true of ministers" Wait
till the case is all in. Hear both sides
is good old rule. Men are wont to
forget it, for there is In almost every
human heart q pr0neness to believe
the evil to be true, when first man
or woman is accused. of wrong. 1t is,
therefore, in very bad taste for MEM
Der of Congress, having the ear of the
nation, to taunt the whole Of the purest
and most useful profession with such
an implied charge of wrong, when the
chief occasion of the suspicion is still
sub judice, and the public is waiting
for the result.


But this is a small matter compared
with the injustice done to the profess
sion by the intimation that this Is a
bad year for them; as if one, two or
three falls we're to prove that they are
all, or many of them, in danger. There
was once wide spread impression that
ministers children are the worst in
the parish" 1nquiry-eareful eOllec-
ton of facts-proved beyond all doubt
that there was no basis Of truth for
the proyerb. But it was plainly re-.
vealed that a dozen children of the
people might turn out to be bad men,
and no one would lay it to heart, or
make il the subject of remark. But If
the pastors boy went Ito the bad, it
was the talk of the toED, and tho
scandal spread far and wide to prove
the proverb.


1t is just so, and more so, in the
case of pastors themselves. We read
in the morning paper, this very day of
writing, that a lawyer has been dis
barred for crime, another arrested for
embezzlement, and another charged
with fraud. The three cases excite no
comment; no one is surprised. The
cases will not be remembered to-mOr-
row, unless brought into court again.
But had these three men been minis
ters of the gospel, charged with crime,
the papers would have given voice to
the general conviction that the clergy
were in a bad way.


Members Of Congress are sometimes
charged with being subject to corrupt
influences; suspected OF being bribed
to grant subsidies, or charters, or to
pass bills in the interest of private ln-
dividuals or corporations. Yet the
public suffers no startling surprise
when such accusations were made.
But if the Episcopal Convention were
accused of being approached by cor
rupt influences to make bishop or to
erect diocese, the moral sense ofthe
public would be outraged by the abb
surdity and wickedness of the charge.
And why? Simply because the trorld
knows that the clergy, as a class, is
above suspicion of evil intents. and
incapable of being reached by the
same influences which are naturally
associated with the legislation Of Con-
gress.


Perhaps Mr.. Randall may find in
this suggestion such food for reflection
as to induce him to reconsider his in
considerate insinuatiOn. If he will
pursue the inquiry Git will not require
a Congressional committee of investi-
gation) he will find that the year has
not been peculiarly bad for minis
ters." One great ease has aided in
making others conspicuous. The fail
ure of one church TO do justice to itself
has prompted others to wise aud
swifter measures when evil was sus-
pected, and so it has come to pass that
the Church has been reused to holier
jealousy of its reputation, and to
higher sense of its responsibilities.


But there was never a period in the
history of Christ's Church when her
members, as a class, presented TO the
world more elevated, pure and un-
suspected host; there was never a time
when moral uprightness was more in
to standing in the pulpit;
never a year when the ministers ofthe
gospel could, with more safety to them
selves challenge comparison with the
members of any other profession, not