APPEALS FOR CLERGY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3026, 13 March 1917, Page 6

APPEALS FOR CLERGY

A PASTORAL LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF WELLINGTON The folio wine pastoral letter from the Bishop of Wellington (Dr. Sprott) was read in tho Anglican Churches of the Diocese on Sunday:— "Doubtless yon aro aware that I have already made appeal for exemption iu the case of two priests of tho diocese called by ballot to military service. I am now appealing in the case of three others, and it is my intention to appeal in all such cases, I think it right to tell you m.y reasons for so doing. I need not say that I as earnestly desire as any of you can desire that the war shall lie brought to a completely successful issue by the Allied nations; and I am as strongly convinced as you can be that to this end we are hound to use every legitimate means in our power. But on many occasions and in many places since the beginning of the war, I have stated nw conviction that- victory cannot be seI cured by material means alone. Nei- | tlier men nor nations are wholly masI ters of their fate. Enough, indeed, is always within our power to justify 3nd to make obligatory tho most strenuous effort on our part, to compass ends that we deem worthy. Bv such effort- we are discinlined and educated. But when we have done all that men can do, there nVnys remains in human life nn incalculable element which ho insight of ours can penetrate, no foresight control. We may, if we please, see ill this element of mystery the oneratio'i of nothing higher than chance. But if «i. let us clearly understand to what we commit ourselves. We commit onrseh'ps to the view that the universe in which we live is fundamentally irrational. To the Christian man this nivstorious element in human life lies, like all else, within flip living Providence of 0!od. God rules and overrules nil. He, too. is "•■se and has His purposes, and w>'tl: Him the-last word in human affairs ever remains. So r»nl- can we believe the world >n which we live to be a rational world.

"Such, thou, lioinnr the state of man, something more is demanded from him than material effort. however strenuous. There is demanded the prayer of uttermost dependence and trust; tliero is needed humbleness of heart; "the resolute turniucj pway from evil; the moral effort to learn; and, having learnt, to do the will" of God. Tfc is just the function of religion, and of i the Church as organ of relision. to keep this demand and this need ever before the minds of men, and in manifold ways to quicken and strengthen men's hold, always precarious, unoii and the unseen. This being so, a crisis in our history lilto tlio present would seem to be. the very last moment one would choose in which to weaken the agencies of religion, already lamentably weak. CJ»i the one would suppose, that at such a timo everything possiblo would be done to strengthen tlieso agencies. "You will therefore understand why, when at the beginning of tho war the younger clergy consulted nic about volunteering, I gave it my judgment that they could best serve their country by remaining, in face of whatever obloquy, oach at his appointed task. Such judgment I believe to have been entirely in harmony with the mind and intention of Hie Church. You will also understand why. now that the Government has given tlio right of appeal, I count it my duty to exercise that right. I thus bear my testimony not. I think, unneeded at this time, to the presence and operation of spiritual forces in human history. And I the more confidently exercise this right for three reasons: (1) Beijauso tho clergy do servo, and are anxious and willin<* to serve, in their proper capacity as chaplains. It must, be remembered that tho number of chaplains serving is fixed, not by the Church, but by tho Defence Department; and (2"! because notoriously the Church is not overstaffed either in this or in any other diocese in New Zealand'. The 1 average area of a parish or parochial district in this diocese is. roughly _ 070 snuaro miles. As some of our parishes where population is dense are of smaller area, so of others the area is much greater. In seven only of our fifty-three parishes are there at tlio nresent time more than one clerrrvmnn. You will remember thatthe English missioners who visited us in 1310, after tlier had seen tho large areas over which our small band of clergy were working, came to the conclusion that in this countrv the Church was faced with an almost impossible task. And (3) because for some years to come, owing to the volunteering of theological students both in England and New Zealand, it wilt he almost impossible for us to find additional clergy. I may just say that by Eastertirl" next we shall have lost three of our clergy since the beginning of this year. "Such, then, are my reasons for appealing. If my appeals are dismissed I can do no more. Tho responsibility will then rest, not aypou me. but upon the supreme authority of the State."