The Sin of Being Over Fifty [pp. 414-415]

TIeE L.4DIES' REPOSITORY.
the snowy tops of the distant range, we started
for home. WVe had daylight for the worst of
the road, and then the round face of the Sum mer mioon lighlted us on our way. We reached
Central City at 9 o'clock, bade adieu to our
firiends, and pushed on for WValling's Mill, seven
miles beyond. Tired, sleepy, and lame, we lay
ourselves down upon welcome beds in the "wee
sIma' hours ayont the twal." It had been a
day never to be forgotten in after life.
THE SIN OF BEING OVER FIFTY.*
HAVE no wish to deny that instances of a
life-long, ministry, alike honorable to pastor
and people, may not be more numerous than
is commonly supposed. I am also aware that
there are marked men in high position, to whom,
so far as they themselves are concerned, all this
talk about the dead-line of fifty is a mere myth.
And there are, without doubt, many other credit able exceptions to the general custom indicated
in the title of this article. Nor have I designed
to ignore the fact that parishes not unfrequently
have much to bear with in their ministers.
There are some who slight their pulpit, and
some their pastoral duties. One is opinionated
and obstinate; another is quick-tempered and
irritable, while a third has an iron will, and, it
may be, not a wholly sanctified one. One is of
a suspicious temper; another is ung,uarded in
his speech, and, it may be, extravagant in his
habits; and another still, greatly lacking in dis cretion. It must, likewise, be conceded that
there are mediocre men, who find their way into
the pulpit-men who might be useful in some
other calling, but who, by undertaking what is
too high for them, bring contempt upon themselves, and sometimes upon their office. There
are, also, those that enter the sacred profession
who have but little oil in their lamps, and less
in their vessels. They are, perhaps, indolent
men, vlwho tlhoughlt that in the ministry they
should find an easy life. Or they may be ambitious men, dissatisfied with their low estate,
and who fancied that in a black coat and white
cravat, and anointed with clerical oil, they
should become distinguished; and distinguished
they certainly are as solemn men, as unctuous
men, men wX ho can never long feed a hungry
people, and who are off at the report of a vacant
parish as a wvar-horse at the roar of cannon.
Let all those wxho are better fitted for farmners,
or blacksmiths, or shoe-makers, than for minis a Though written from the stand-point of another Church organization than ours, the words of our contributor are also well
suited to our atmosphere.-ED.
ters, go where they belong. Thle wonder is by
no means that they are not tolerated at fifty and
sixty, but that they are tolerated at all.
With the amplest margin, however, for all
these exceptional cases, that a large class of
excellent ministers are virtually discarded-whlen
scarcely past their prime can hardly be denied
by any one who looks into the matter. Indeed
some draw the dead-line as early as forty. In
reply to the assertion that in the law gray hairs
are at a p)remium, it is argued that the chief
business of lawyers is not public speaking, and
that, therefore, there can be no proper com l)arison between their and the ministerial pro fession. There is, undoubtedly, weight in this
consideration, yet, perhaps, not so much as
might at first be supposed; for the mere act of
public speaking is but a small part of a minis ter's work; and if hle speaks well eno,ugh to
makle him acceptalble at thirty, and continues
preaching, his voice is not likely to fail him at
fifty; yet the mere fact of hLis being fifty is often
sure to turn the scales against him.
"Such is the pressure of feeling in most of
our Chl)urchles on this subject," writes a clergy man of extensive acquaintance, "that many an
excellent miniister is out of employ. I have in
mind in my own State above sixty such men men of more than average ability, and who lhave
occupied important fields, but who now find it
difficult to get employment, simply because they
are no longer young men. The parishes wvill
not have thlem."
Not long since there appeared an account of
a faithfull pastor, who had labored with a small
parish several years for the pitiful stipend of
two hundred dollars; but having reached the
age of sixty-thlree, the parish decided that he
was too old to answer their purpose. Yet the
society had prospered under his ministry, and
there we're additions to the Church the very last
year of his labor among them; and he was not
too old to preach twice every Sabbath, to superintend the Sunday-schlool, and then to go out
two or three miles to perform a third service;
nor was he too old to assist in shingling the
roof of the church, and in relaying the stone
foundations. But after all this he was shut out
from the pulpit, while not even a pew was appropriated to his use. With bruised and bleeding hearts were he and his wife obliged to go
forth, conscious of no other crime than that of
age. Indeed, no other was laid to their charge.
Do these facts need any comment?
Says Dr. Spear: "It is a general rule in the
American Church to turn off aged ministers for
youuger and more active ones, and leave them
to shift for themselves as best they can." In a
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