NOT long ago a clergyman of a "respectable parish," not being in full harmony with his wife, seduced a young girl, ran away with her to the Pacific Coast, and is now working at a trade for the support of the poor girl and the illegitimate child. They have been in dire need for some time, and kind neighbors have pitied them for the poor, deceived girl's sake. He has recently been giving the story of his life to the world thru the daily press. He half excuses the desertion of his wife and talks as tho he did an honorable sort of thing in staying by the girl, when he might have hidden his betrayal of her young confidence, and gone on heaping up honors and success. But he "sacrificed" these for the girl's sake—after he had ruined her; and he thinks he did what the world would not do, "but I [he] differed from the world." But there are many in the world who would have done better—they would not have betrayed the girl. He has nothing of which to boast, nothing to defend.
When in his ministry, he tells us he studied human life in every phase, even in the "tenderloin" district. It does not seem to have helped his morals; but he thus defends himself:
"The physician is allowed to study all the horrors of disease; the lawyer must understand the baseness of the human mind; the man of business must be acquainted with the trickery of a dishonest rival; but the minister must be ignorant of sinners and their ways. He must lead his flock from the snares of sin, and yet know less about sin than do those in his spiritual care. Should he dare to investigate, should he examine mankind for himself, he is damned on the spot. Lies and rumors assail him at every turn, and the net result is that while some ministers of the Gospel know nothing of sin, others know far too much."
The above clearly shows that this man—and he represents others not a few—knows nothing about Christianity. Even in purely worldly conceptions of common employment in life he is wrong. The first business of the physician is to study and know the normal functions of mankind. He can better understand disease, that which is not in harmony with the normal. It is the duty of the man of business to be exactly honest, and do all things honestly. With dishonesty he should have naught to do. The lawyer should understand the law, its right construction, meaning, and its proper enforcement, for the good of the commonwealth. If the positive side were studied more, we would have less disease, less complicated laws, more honorable business. "Evil companionships corrupt good morals."
But if there is the shadow of an excuse in his argument for the physician, the lawyer, the merchant, there is absolutely none for the minister of Jesus Christ. If he believes God's word, he knows that the heart of the human is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Jer. 17:9. He knows from the word of God that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Both Jew and Gentile stand equally condemned before God. And if this minister-that-was, and others like him, would but let the word of God shine down into his own heart, he would have seen the depths of depravity which would have sufficiently horrified him. That word also declares that there is but one remedy, even Jesus Christ—an all-sufficient Remedy and Healer for all mankind.
The mighty Paul did not need to visit the "tenderloins" of Athens or Corinth or Ephesus or Rome to learn that the hearts of mankind are sinful and vile. Neither did John nor James. It is not man's knowledge which reveals the sinner to himself; it is the mighty word of God which illumines his soul and pierces his heart. It is a denial of God's plan of salvation to say that God's minister must dabble in sin or go down among the flesh-pots and muck heaps to behold its viciousness and nastiness and breathe its atmosphere.
Jesus Christ is our Example. The word of God is the revealer of God's will. "Preach the word." The Holy Spirit will convict of sin.