From the Easy Chair, Volume 3Curtis, George William
General
From the Easy Chair, Volume 3
Curtis, George William
American essays
they will be the objects of intrigue and chicanery. What has that to do
with a society giving their minister part of the money that he makes for
them?
If Mrs. Candour insists that the money should not be made, and that the
preaching should be free, the argument is still against her, because
infinitely more good can be done by the charitable organizations which
the money supports than by mere free preaching. Besides, the money to
which she objects founds free churches and sustains free preaching. If
she will fall back upon the other system, and have the churches built
and the pulpits supported by established funds, then, at least, she will
be consistent. But does she think it desirable for the welfare of
society that there should be huge ecclesiastical funds? Would she
restore the dead hand? Upon the whole, is it better that the priesthood,
or the Church as such, should hold great properties, and dispose of
unlimited money? The voluntary system has, at least, this advantage,
that the money is not ecclesiastically held, and while it is the system
of her choice, Mrs. Candour has no right to complain of those who are
willing to pay to hear a great preacher, and thereby enable countless
others to hear preaching, and to be taught and succored for nothing.
Her position, indeed, is that of those who sometimes invite a speaker to
lecture for the benefit of a charity, who agree to pay the lecturer what
he asks, and then ask him to take half as much, giving the rest to the
charity. They either think that the lecture is not worth the price
agreed upon, or that it is the lecturer's duty to bestow a sum equal to
half his fee. The reply to such gentlemen is short: It was a fair
bargain; you have profited by it; and what the lecturer does with his
part is none of your business. And there really is no other reply to
Mrs. Candour: Madam, the minister and his friends have made a fine sum
of money; and what they will do with it is none of your business, unless
they fall to corrupting the public.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account