Pauper Clergy.

Hastings Standard, Issue 155, 26 October 1896, Page 4

Pauper Clergy.

Asx>:U V< ;i.r ii >.-nl ill id Whs ln-tug in Vi,.*'>■ i'i of :je novei\ystriflfii fundi-, i- :i of so!:it» of fito Church of Kin !•:! •"> !•!. r-.:y in the foil.: try d:-ttv; - m" th:>t (■ <>l•;': v. Son a' c\c 'tdingly pathetic cn««'S wen l recotmUnl of th; 1 lur.lship.s undergone tit ther-e " u'-iij) • • of til...- Church," a ; tl:i v were called. and nnn-h sympathy w;?s excited hy the t :!•- of want which were i >•>!. L'rn.-iieally i•;« same thing is now ]». i?r_ r said of the clergy in |-I;•«_'!.iiid. Such i- ; the condition of a:?atr.< th.it :i <orivseond-nt of The Tine"--:. v. 1. • tir.t >r- ; 't- to the matter. said if thing- \\vr» allowed to Lf.» oji as il.ey v/»-r»s tlic richest nation in jhf w.c.\ i vv..!11«I have the p. c'erirv. A ! >nv i-.ir:-- -;>• •i:il>'U:.'' follow 1. in t; <i» tour-*- of which sonif extraordinary statements wit.' mad-'. One writer said that he itd'.vrtiM-'il in the Church Times for a servant and most of his answer.-, v.. n• from clergymen's daughters. One said •• X v f it!st ris t?i• ■ \icarof this parish." An* tiif-i." r.tti •• I sua the rector's ,lriii«r!|t r" ; a third said, '• I have had no . duration, a; my father costld not afford ii, so 1 can only hope to get a place as servant." Another writer Mill -h ; for finir ea-vs of severe clerical di>tr:-s in his own iv-i'fhhorhoood.

•• The \icar of one ji:iri-!i d: d a year eg.> in what viis generally alleged to he a'h »!till' *.v;tnt. i lis iln'-'or, when called in. found the i .«r :;e in a wretched i ;. i-i of . r;v, v. (tit not coal ii to m die a Sire. Tiii; viesir had 1" i :.t:. rof a W-*ll-kno\vn school, I 1 tl -.pent all his savings in educating his family. In a second case the vie*>r'> wife and da;hter wev doing the housework themselves, and had to le •ji ii;> a position of r- -p ct and inthcnce on a pound a week. The third \icar i - hr.-k; n ■ • 'V.n with an incur,ihle tliscj-and ii-o -on '.'MX) a. year with an luniuirriesFsi.-i-T, who i> advanced in age. In the fourth ca e the cl-rir-man's .k.ii- hi- r va - ii! : !■••: -.h-- would not hear of h:i vimlt a d''• ' for >!ie e,,iil<l not aliord it.' A fri nd --'. Nt in hi- own doetur, hat the )u«or 'lied not fi'Oiii want of |'iiy-i'"- l";t of food. A clergyman write. i(i. t mncli «>t the poverty in* c.;JI-'"d i-V i.ee I ■ 1 in titif-i, whitdt are if.nv I'i eer e.-ut. than they v.-re t ii;h!e« nuv - av». and tieinc.wne of the an<:!' ill hvint'S has liecreas..'.i l.y one third. Many remedi-s w: i'.-. of ceir-e, ;:.--•.•■d. <>if \:.i< lliat lie* IJ<lll j|< -hould h.tve |io',vt.-r to ivfine to i.i-ciutte a clenrymnn to a i-eiieiife ni ;i i>r.i[.' r pro.i>i«»n we - neeSe for - .-.r.iij.eri. Anotle r tlir.-w e.ur a hint that the clerv-y of Italy, Spain, and though hj" was r.-aiind'-d iii.it the,-v.-ere eelihates. The Celibacy of ihe c'eiv V w,: - stl.'U'e.-ted as a.solution of th*,' difiicidty, hut did not find K' i"d aeceptane ■. A redntrihutionof clerifjl revt'iiues was another remedy propose.s. '* Xohody," remark-; a contemporary, '•seem-; to think of [he conLrn-Rations," and it ;, r 0..-s on to point out thai in the coloniis. in the ("nited States, and anions the vast body of dissenter-. the (:!• i -JV are almo-t wholly - .<>rt. d hy the free .'_rift< of the p. c.i|>!e. Wlien the Cimrch aji[»ea!s t > town congregations for support no complaints of clerical poverty aiv !):■;>rd. Why. it is a-:<"d. do not the con;_*tvg;;tions in tiie oari-h churches follow the example of thox- who go to chapel " ar.d give of their aliumkmce, as these often give of their poverty, to the support of their inini-t- r and the good order of their - nic •Only in tins direction, apparetitly. c;ni relief come to the piniper clergy of the Church of England in England.