Consult the Expert.
I have received a letter written evidently by a clergyman, in which he asks me to emphasize the wisdom" of all church-members' consulting with their pastors whenever some new form of religious or philosophical belief is presented to them for their acceptance, "Often," says my correspondent, "the pastor is an expert concerning many false phases of belief, and he could make things very plain to them in their own interests and often save them from a world of needless concern. The failure to consult a pastor has often resulted in great disaster on many questions."
Undoubtedly my correspondent is right. What is the use of paying a salary to an expert, and then, on the occasions when you have chief need of him, relying solely on your own devices?
When you erect a building of brick or wood you call in the architect and the builder. You know what a botch you would make of it if you should attempt to build it yourself, with your crude notions and untrained powers. But when you are engaged in erecting the far more important edifice of your mental and religious beliefs you think that you can get along without study, without training, without skilled assistance. Where is the consistency in this?
If it is a question of the purity of milk, you go to a chemist for an analysis; but if it is a question of the purity of thought, a matter that concerns not the stomach but the soul, in that you are your own chemist. Is that wise or safe?
The lack of economy in this procedure is as evident as its folly. In a sense the minister is your servant, paid to help you in just such difficulties. In a better sense he is your friend, eager to serve you in the most important ways. When you do not use this help you are throwing your money away, and you are losing one of the chief opportunities for testing the value of his friendship.
If it cost as much to consult clergymen as a lawyer or a doctor, perhaps their advice on such matters would be more anxiously sought and more carefully heeded. Perhaps it would be a good plan for the ministers to have a scale of fees for consultation, and regular office hours. I doubt whether even then their services would be valued as they should be, for here it is not a matter of the body or the pocketbook, but only of our immortal souls!