Untitled article | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York City · June 11, 1896

A CLERGYMAN'S DAY.

[The Journal (New York), June 2, 1896.]

An idea of the present state of the evolution of the clergyman, from a mere adviser in spiritual matters to an active participant in the affairs of the world, is furnished by the following leaf from a chapter of the Rev. Dr. Parkhurst's daily life, published in yesterday's Evening Post.—

The Rev. Dr. Parkhurst, so it happened, had come down to the criminal courts to attend the trial of Roundsman Redner for bribery before Judge Newburger, a case in which the Society for the Prevention of Crime, of which Dr. Parkhurst is the president, figures as complainant. Instead of attending that trial, however, Dr. Parkhurst went into the Recorder's Court and witnessed the trial of Mrs. Fleming for murder. According to his own explanation the clergyman became so interested in this trial that he forgot all about the other and remained there until recess, when he and Recorder Goff went out to luncheon together. After that he went to witness the police parade, as a specially invited guest.

Perhaps if, as we are told, the pulpit is losing its influence, it is just as well that the clergy should find a field of usefulness outside of the church; and there is far more excitement, anyway, in prosecuting criminals, attending murder trials, lunching with judges, and reviewing police parades than in writing sermons, visiting the sick and merely warning sinners, as was the early notion of a clergyman's duties.