Nineveh and cry against its
wickedness; and he feels through every nerve that truth is not a
thing to be carried round as merchandise or peddled out at all to suit
particular tastes, to retain old friends or win new ones, hard as it
may go, to the anguish of his soul, to lose the good-will of those he
loves, and whose distrust is a chronic pang, though they come to love
him again all the more for what he has suffered and said. But if,
passing by discussions of general interest, and exposing himself
to the hint of being behind the times, he grapple with the sins
immediately about him, board the false customs of society and trade,
and strike with the sword of the Lord at private vices and family
faults, he will be blamed as very _personal_, and be apprised of his
insults to those of whom in his delivery he never thought, as he may
never preach _at_ anybody, or even _to_ anybody, in his most direct
thrusting, more than to himself, reaching others only through his own
wounded heart. Meantime, some of his ecclesiastical constituents
will suspect him, in his local ethics, of leniency to wide-spread
corruption; and professed philanthropists will brand him as a trimmer
and coward, recreant, fawning, and dumb,--the term _spaniel_ having
been flung at one of the best men and most conscientious ministers
that ever lived, simply because he could not vituperate as harshly
as some of his neighbors. Some would have him remember only those in
bonds; others say they cannot endure from him even the word _slavery_.
Blessed, if, from all these troubles, he can, for solace, and with a
sense of its significance, bethink himself of Christ's saying to
his disciples, "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you!"
Thrice blessed, if he have an assurance and in that inward certificate
possess the peace which passeth understanding!

I intend not, by my simple story, which has in it no fiction, to add
to the lamentations of the old prophet, nor will allow Jeremiah to
represent all my mood. It is perfectly fit the laity should criticize
the clergy. The minister,--who is he but one of the people, set apart
to particular functions, open to a judgment on the manner of their
discharge, from which no sacred mission or supposed apostolic
succession can exempt, the Apostles having been subject to it
themselves? Under their robes and ordinances, in high-raised desks,
priest and bishop are but men, after all. Ministers should be grateful
for all the