They are but a partial and
imperfect representative of the priesthood, and must not be taken
as exhibiting the sacerdotal scheme of life in an authentic and
competent manner. The clergy of the sects and denominations might
be characterized as a half-caste priesthood, or a priesthood in
process of becoming or of reconstitution. Such a priesthood may
be expected to show the characteristics of the sacerdotal office
only as blended and obscured with alien motives and traditions,
due to the disturbing presence of other factors than those of
animism and status in the purposes of the organizations to which
this non-conforming fraction of the priesthood belongs.
Appeal may be taken direct to the taste of any person with a
discriminating and cultivated sense of the sacerdotal
proprieties, or to the prevalent sense of what constitutes
clerical decorum in any community at all accustomed to think or
to pass criticism on what a clergyman may or may not do without
blame. Even in the most extremely secularized denominations,
there is some sense of a distinction that should be observed
between the sacerdotal and the lay scheme of life. There is no
person of sensibility but feels that where the members of this
denominational or sectarian clergy depart from traditional usage,
in the direction of a less austere or less archaic demeanor and
apparel, they are departing from the ideal of priestly decorum.
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