The Globe. MONDAY, MAY 8, 1876.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 588, 8 May 1876, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, MAY 8, 1876.

We must confess that it is with some reluctance that we have again to allude to church differences. From the correspondence which has passed between the vestry and the Incumbent of Sb Michail and All Angelp, published elsewhere, it is to be plainly seen that this unseemly feud is not to be allowed to slumber. Certain of the vestrymen have addressed a most guarded letter to the Incumbent, in which it is stated that they " hereby " undertake to appropriate and pay " you a sum of two hundred pounds " in the event of your complying " within seven days from this date with " the resolution suggesting your re- " signation, &c," and " this proposal " must be understood to be withdrawn " if not accepted within seven days." There are points in this document which are worthy of consideration. First, out of what fund can these gentlemen " appropriate" the sum named. Secondly, what penalty is the Incumbent to have imposed upon him, if he does not 'clear out' within the specified time. Magisterial instincts must have hovered over the pen of him who indicted this apostolic epistle. The idea of offering a clergyman of the Church of Eugland —who would tell them that he was called of God to the cure —a sum of money to resign, is worthy of perpetuated in all the conic journals of the day. To ordained

pastor oi a district as a rogue and a vagabond, and offer him the magisterial mercy of seven days in which to leave the parish is one of those rarities in the shape of a joke that Joe Miller would have held high jubilee over. But what the public should be made acquainted with is the reason for these extraordinary shifts to which the vestry are forced. What has the Incumbent done? All that we can learn is that he cannot work harmoniously with the vestrymen, surely this is not a criminal offence of so serious a character as to justify the vestrymen in attempting to oust him from the parish. We learn that it is the intention of these gentlemen to declare the Church a free Church for the purpose of depriving the Incumbent of the pew rents, and that there is to be great supervision exercised over the offertories ; what can all this be for but for the purpose of starving out the man of God; truly this is Christianity with a vengeance. If the Incumbent has been guilty of any remissness in the performance of his duties ; if be has been in the habit of saying unorthodox things, why not impeach him and let the Primate decide. We are sure that it must grieve his Lordship when he has to witness to what lengths such matters as these are carried. However we have the Incumbent's reply declining to accept the offering of the £200; it is not for us to enquire whether the Incumbent feels that the sum is too small or that the position of being a servant of our Lord would not permit of his takiug money as a bribe to leave the care of the souls entrusted to him, but we have faith in the latter supposition being the correct one. In conclusion we must say that we consider the offer of a monetary consideration to a clergyclergyman of the Church of England to retire from his position as an insult to the servant of Him we worship and that the impending threat which is to be discerned in the seven days' notice is a disgraceful attempt at coercion on the part of the vestry.