Contributed
"PLAY FAIR!"
Rev. M. 13. Lambdin.
It's the only right way to play the game
of life; whether it be in the arena of busi
ness, politics, athletics, or what not, and even
in the domain of the Church.
Taking advantage, then, of the virile ring
of this familiar and up-to-date phrasing,
it may serve a worthy purpose to cite the at
tention of our beloved Church to a matter in
which this tine principle of fair play has
gone too long already by sad default. A se
rious neglect, we hold, that should have
prompt attention and immediate correction.
To come at once to the point in question:
We mean the routine way in which those of
our ministers who have reached the sunset pe
riod of their lives, in its three score years and
ten, are tied down to follow, in seeking as
sistance from the relief funds of the Church,
by reason of their lack of the necessities ot'
life. Adequate or inadequate, as the case may
be in the relief afforded, this source of help
is only available through the agency of 44 Rule
7" of the Manual, under which the Executive
Committee of Ministerial Relief functions in
looking after the interests of this class of
men in the ministry of our Church.
As it is pretty nigh certain that the great
body of our membership are in entire ignor
ance of such a thing as 44 Rule 7," it may not
be amiss to reproduce it in its substantial en
tirety.
It reads as follows: 44 Every honorably re
tired minister over seventy years of age, who
is in need and who has served our Church for
a period in the aggregate not less than thirty
years, shall he entitled by such service to draw
from the Executive Committee of Ministerial
Relief an annual sum for his support with
out the necessity of being annually recom
mended therefor by the Presbytery. When
such a minister shall certify to the Presby
tery the fact and the amount of his need, it
shall be the duty of the Stated Clerk to for
ward the application to the Committee, with
his endorsement thereon as to the years of
service such minister has rendered; his field,
or fields, of labor, with the term of service
in each. ... It shall then be the duty
of the Committee to pay such annual amount
so long as the applicant shall live, if able to
do so with the funds in hand. . . ."
The intent of "Hide 7," as is clearly evident,
is to safeguard these aged servants of the
Lord against future want, and to assure them
of a measurable degree of support and com
fort during the few remaining years of their
lives, and to prevent their being thrown out
upon the cold charity of an indifferent world.
While the spirit of 44 Rule 7" is admittedly
sympathetic and praiseworthy, we beg leave
to submit, that the manner in which its pro
visions are carried out are open to grave ob
jections, by reason of a gratuitous infliction
of a species of self-depreciation and painful
humiliation on the part of those who come un
der its operation.
This is a severe indictment, we are fully
aware, and may arouse strenuous denial, be
fore, however, we present the facts to support
the charge, let me make a partial break at the
outset of our analytic dissection of ;<Rule 7,"
and the way in which its provisions are carried
out, in the blunt remark ? read Prov. 14:20 in
point ? that no one, neither you nor I, would
enjoy being rated as a "pauper" or tagged
as "a down and out." And, yet, virtually,
that is just what "Rule 7" lists the aged
"Beneficiary," who is driven by his " needs''
to apply at the door of the Ministerial Relief
Committee for a hoped-for dole or hand out..
You hesitate to believe the statement? 1
am not surprised that you do. Really, it seems
incredible that the Southern Presbyterian
Church should permit, the lives of their aged
ministers, who happen to be without indepen
dent means for their support, to end up their
days in such a shabby fashion. But let us
face the facts as T detail them.
At the very start, "Rule 7" prescribes that,
''lie shall certify to the Presbytery the fact
and the amount of his need."
"lie shall," however reluctant and heart
lacerating for the "Beneficiary" to do. "He
shall!" Nolens volens. No choice in the ex
cruciating demand.
And he is compelled to register, or confess,
himself a "pauper," a veritable "down and
out." among his ministerial brethren ? a spe
cialized mendicant class ? by putting his name
to a printed application blank, that doesn't
demand a high-powered intellectual perceptive
faculty to grasp the full force and meaning of.
This enforced statement is further supple
mented and confirmed by a physician this
time, filled out "on the dotted lines" at the
bottom of the application sheet, that he has
subjected the Rev. Mr. Blank to a physical
examination ? just as a veterinary surgeon
would examine a poor. old. worn-out work
animal, whose enfeebled strength is no longer
able to stand the severe strain of cart or plow
? and that he finds the aforesaid minister in
capacitated for the discharge of the work
of the ministry by reason ot certain ailments
and disabilities. As though this varied mental
and physical-racking process was not enough
to eviscerate every fragmentary element of
self-respect yet remaining in the breast of
the unhappy victim who has been caught in
the dragnets of "Rule 7" and the application
blank, the appeal for "help" must be venti
lated upon the open floor of Presbytery, th<*
story of which is well-nigh certain to be car
ried back to their homes as choice bits of
gossip by the delegates and visitors to Pres
bytery.
Having run the gauntlet of a formal vote
iu his favor by t ho court and attested by the
Stated Clerk, the application is then forwarded
to the Committee of Ministerial Relief to be
further thrashed out.
This is the conventional, red-tape process
laid down by "Rule 7," as it is worked under
the application blank. And if all this doesn't
dub the applicant, for the relief funds of the
Church a self-confessed "pauper," a minis
terial old-age ''down and out," I'd like some
one to "speak right out in meetin' " and tell
us just what it does mean. And it puts many
a minister on the rolls of the Assembly minutes,
though young and active at present, in the
spotlight as a potential beggar, should he hap
pen, in the coming days when out of the pas
torate, to be caught between the grinding cogs
of "Rule 7." What do you think of it? And
how would you, "gentle reader," like to be
put through such a gruelling (erueling) mill?
Honestly, now, do you think it squares in
with the spirit of "play fair" toward these
venerable servants of the Master, who have
given the very best of their lives in long years
of self-denying labors for the Church?
And don't you think that they are worthy
of better treatment?
What is fair play, after all, in its essential
nature, but a practiced interpretation and ap
plication of the fundamental plan of Christ,
"Whatsoever ye would that man should you
to you, do ye even so to them."
We have a conviction, and wc arc going to
share it with you, too, that this cruel and un?
necessary way in which the provisions of
"Rule 7" have been carried out, is going to
be "scrapped," and the sooner the better.
For there is an awakening sentiment abroad
in the Church like "the sound of a going in
the tops of the mulberry trees," that regis
ters a newer and a finer regime of "play
fair!" towards these honored ambassadors of
of the Lord, in a humane, gracious and graceful
way.
It has its start in the several overtures that
went up to the General Assembly of last year
on the subject, "Great Bodies Move Slowly."
And we know how hard it is 1o break away
suddenly from the traditions and age-encrusted
customs of the past. Hut the Assembly did
make a break in its arrow point of a new di
rection, as it changed the term "Honorably
Retired Ministers" into "The Ministers' Roll
of Honor."
So far, so good. Additional overtures will
go up to the coming Assembly, to meet, in
Charleston, \V. Va., in May, asking it to com
plete the recast of "Rule 7" to the etVec.t that
when a minister lias reached the age of seventy
years, and has given at least thirty years of
service to the Church in the aggregate, his
name shall be placed upon the "Honor Roll"
of the Church, and automatically, solely and
entirely by reason of that act, and without
any further action there or thereafter, and
without being compelled to sign application
blanks as heretofore, but entirely upon the
clear-cut and self-respecting ground of a right,
not of a need, in return for faithful service
rendered to the Church, he be entitled to an
nuity or allowance, to the extent of the re
sources of the treasury of the Ministerial Re
lief Committee, .just as it is done by the gov
ernment, the various corporations and business
institutions of the land, a personal right for
personal service rendered.
This is what this article champions in the
way of "fair play." Don't you agree with it?
By the way, why not drop relief and substi
tute service, so as to change the name of . tin1
Committee into "Committee of Christian Edu
cation and Ministerial Service Funds?"
Montgomery, W. Ya.
A WISE PLAN.
Hy Rev C. F. Rankin.
I am aware that an eiTort is being made to
have the Presbyteries send np overtures to
the next General Assembly, to instruet the
Executive Committee of Ministerial Relief *o
place all ministers on the "Ministerial Roll
of Honor," that is those who have reached
the age of seventy, with thirty years of ser
vice in our Church, on the list of beneficiaries
of this fund, to the full extent of the resources
of the Treasury of the Ministerial Relief Com
mittee. This is to be done without the formal
ity of the minister's signing even an applica
tion blank, or making an appeal for help upon
the plea of need, but solely and simply by
reason of the prescribed service rendered to
the Church.
It is claimed by those asking for such an
overture, as is revealed by such a communi
cation before me, that the present method oi
placing an old minister on the beneficiary list
of this fund, where the minister has to make
application with a statement of his need, en
dorsed by a physician, and approved by his
Presbytery, is cumbered with too much "red
tape," and is a needless and cruel laceration
to a refined and sensitive nature, and should
give place to a more humane and self-resped
ing method. I have never known of such a
case.
I appreciate the motives of any one who
would seek in any way to protect the feelings