of a caste clergy. I will tell you what we do. First, we tell the clergy they are a class. That they must dress like a class, that they must think and act and speak like a class, they must not go here and go there, and do this and do that, all which things you say that you may do innocently. Why it is the laity, or a portion of the laity, who keep the clergy artificial, priestly and presumptuous; and then, when you have so hedged in the parson and cut him off from your life-thoughts, and life-pleasures, and your life-work, you turn round and find fault with him for showing that he is one of a class, and that he holds views which you have taught him to hold about himself and his office. You bow down before him, and then you object to his putting his yoke upon your neck and claiming 'dominion over your faith!' Well, the other view of the clergy is this: that the clergyman is one placed exactly on the same level with the laity; with the same hopes, the same liability to error, the same fears, the same temptations, and the same aspirations. He in no wise differs from any of you. He is not even a part of an ecclesiastical system divinely ordained. All churches upon earth are in one sense divinely ordained, in another sense none are; the spirit in them is divine, the form is simply human. There is no Apostolical divinely-appointed order for the Church. succession, if real, would be of no value. An episcopal church is not a divine, but a human institution, the Church of England is no more divine than any other body of Christians governed in any other way. All sects are divine just in proportion as they make men better; that is what Christ's Church exists for, and that is what the sects profess to do, and actually do in a measure accomplish. I may feel, having been born and bred in the ecclesiastical order of Episcopacy, that I prefer that order; I think it more liberal, more regular, and more large-hearted and wise, and so I may like to stay there; but I do not say therefore it is divine in the sense of having come down straight from God, like a second law from a new Sinai. I may think there are advantages connected with the State Church, that is my opinion; I may think it is advantageous for my Church to remain connected with the State; but that, again, is not a matter of divine right. The Church, or the Kingdom of God,' as it is called in the New Testament, has been set up by Christ, but its outward form varies, and must vary, from age to age; the Church is set to win over and to ply men in all sorts of ways, and to bring them back by the help of an outward organisation to the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls. And a clergyman, brethren, is one of you set over you in the Church to tell you what you ought all to know beforehand, to inspire you with thoughts and feelings which you ought to have, but which you require constantly to have rekindled in you. He is your representative. All that belongs to the sphere of morality belongs to the clergyman; all that belongs to the sphere of the spiritual life belongs to him; but it does not belong to him more than to you. It is common property. Your joy ought to be his joy; your battles his battles; your victories his victories. And because. you have placed him in the pulpit, and asked him every Sunday to tell you the things which you ought to know and do, you should not feel that there is a hard-andfast line of division between you; you ought not to think he is meddling when he tries to enter into the details of practical life, which are the details of your life and of his life. 107. I said there is a strong feeling in some minds that the clergyman ought to preach doctrines, and not be too personal, the people were to apply the doctrine for themselves. I heard the other day of a young Dissenting minister, who was invited on trial to preach to a new congregation. His first sermon was a fresh, glowing sermon; he believed in the reformation of his fellow-creatures, and now that he had before him a set of men and women whose failures and weaknesses he could pretty well guess, he proposed to set them right; so he told them that they must not drink and must not lie, and they must not backbite; in short, he detailed all the bad things they were doing every day. He had these things on his heart to say, and he said them out boldly, and as he came down from the pulpit, he felt tolerably satisfied with himself and his sermon. But an influential deacon in the vestry sharply reprimanded him, and told him that was not what they wanted, they did not want to be exposed, to be condemned, and this by a presumptuous young man, and the angry senior Christian wound up with a. famous piece of advice: 'Stick to the doctrine, man, stick to the doctrine, that can never do anybody any harm.' He might have added, 'nor any good either;' so long as you are not allowed to show where your doctrines impinge on the practice of daily life, your doctrine will be a windbag, as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. 108. I will now speak particularly of the Practice of the Clergy. I mean by the word 'practice' what you mean when you talk of the practice of the physician; I mean the sphere of his operations. I will remind you that he is a moral and spiritual teacher, so that the instant you come upon moral or spiritual ground, you come upon his ground, and he has a right to speak, whether it be on a political question, or a social or a mercantile question, or any other subject; when you, directly by your actions and words, in any department, come to impinge on the moral sphere he may say, 'Though I know nothing about politics or parties, or commercial or monetary matters, I have a right to pronounce upon certain tendencies and outcomes of your actions, and to tell you that they are wrong, and that you do them at the peril of your soul.' And when the preacher speaks so, he will be no meddler ; he will be a moral and spiritual teacher as he ought to be, he will speak the truth boldly as he ought to speak. And yet he exercises no special prerogative; we may all do as much for ourselves and for others, but the clergyman is bound to do it in church (and you are not bound), he is bound formally and publicly to decide upon the drift and character of certain actions, and draw for you as best he can the lines of right and wrong in your respective spheres; therefore the clergyman does no more and no less than you are bound to do in your own private circles, only he does it officially, in a representative manner for all of you. Then people tell you that this is meddling, that the clergyman ought not to meddle with what he does not understand; what does he know about politics, or the money market, or business, or trade? 109. 1 Perhaps I could not make a loaf if I were to try; it would probably be a bad one, but I know when bread is good. The baker says to me, 'You have no right to have an opinion on these questions.' I say, 'It is quite time you should get that notion out of your head; it may be true that I do not know how much flour, and yeast, and water, go to make a proper loaf; but if you bring me a bad loaf, I know it is bad, and I have a right to tell you so. You impinge on the sphere of my experience, and I have a right to my opinion. You, the baker, may be prejudiced about the quality of your bread; you may try and believe it is good when it is made up of alum and potatoes, and so forth, but I have no interest in believing that; I pay my money, and have a right to tell you when you sell me a bad loaf.' And so you complain of the clergyman because he is an outsider, but that is what makes him a good judge of you and your doings. People may deceive themselves when their interests and prejudices 1 The stars refer to a notice in the Preface. |