24 REV. I'. D. HUNTINGTON'S 



measure, how that nature displayed itself under certain very 

 peculiar circumstances. 



In my humble experience, I have found that this human 

 nature exhibits itself in all spheres of life, among all per- 

 sons and professions, in a similar way. The very " shrewd- 

 ness " that the reverend gentleman condemns, in wholesale 

 terms, is a part of the system of life, everywhere. The 

 demand, in all markets, regulates both the supply and the 

 price of articles needed or desired. The poor village 

 clergyman, who, for the general service rendered annually 

 to his little flock, receives his stipend of a few hundred 

 dollars per year, cannot compete with his aristocratic 

 brother, who officiates at the silver font, and marble altar, 

 and velvet-cushioned pulpit, in the wealthy city church. 

 The latter has no disposition to exchange places with his 

 humbler brother, however, nor should he do this, in my 

 judgment. And wherefore ? Because his talents are really 

 of a higher quality, his services are of a higher value, he 

 can readily (and deservedly) obtain a higher price for the 

 " marketable commodity" which he hasHo dispose of, in his 

 own way; "the people" desire it, run after it, will enjoy 

 it, are willing to pay for it thus roundly ; and he, appro- 

 priately, SELLS IT for the most he can get for it. Is 

 there any whit of change in the principle here involved ? 

 Not the slightest. 



To carry the argument one point further. Do we not 

 occasionally find, even among the most talented and fortu- 

 nately circumstanced of the city clergy, some man of mark 

 who is willing to exchange his pulpit for the chair of a 

 CoU^ Professorship, because of the preferment involved 



