"Or what?" he said.
She continued as if she had not heard: "They are valued for their
fidelity to other men's standards, never for the worth of their own
lives. They are hired to give always the opinions of others, and they
are denied the only thing that can make any life of worth--freedom of
self-expression. The surest road to failure for them is to hold or
express opinions of their own. They are held, not as necessities, but as
a luxury, like heaven itself, for which if men have the means to spare,
they pay. They can have no real fellowship with the servants of the race,
for they are set apart by the church not to a ministry but from it. Their
very personal influence is less than the influence of other good men
because the world accepts it as professional. It is the way they earn
their living."
"But do you think that the ministers themselves wish to be so set apart?"
asked Dan. "I--I am sure they must all crave that fellowship with the
workers."
"I think that is true," she answered. "I am sure it is of the many grand,
good men in the ministry whom I have known."
"Oh," he said quickly, "then there are good men in the ministry?"
"Yes," she retorted, "just as there are gold and precious stones
ornamenting heathen gods and pagan temples, and their goodness is as
useless. For whether they wish it or not the facts remain that their
masters set them apart and that they are separated, and I notice that
most of them accept gracefully the special privileges, and wear the
title and all the marks of their calling that emphasize the distinction
between them and their fellow men.
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