CORRESPONDENCE Under no circumstance is the Editor res ponsible for the matter contained in correspondence. CLERGYMEN AND MEN OF OTHER PROFESSIONS.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 102, 16 May 1885, Page 7

CORRESPONDENCE Under no circumstance is the Editor res ponsible for the matter contained in correspondence. CLERGYMEN AND MEN OF OTHER PROFESSIONS.

(to the kditor.) S IR) — We bave lately heard agreatdea* about priestcraft and unwarrantable distinctions created between the clergy ami the laity. Certain mem ers of • the Domain Board have felt in their duty to enter a protect against the Romeward tendencies of the times, and to' show an intelligent public that they at least have escaped the trammels of Popedom, and have risen into all the light and spiritual freedom of this nineteenth century. Unfortunately we have no gauge by, which to measure public pleasure or displeasure produced by thu new advance movement. Some reference, perhaps, would have been ma,de by the Press to the matter, and the action of the Beard | might have been favourably or un- ■ favourably criticised,' "had this been a j question worthy of the notice of v our local leader of public thought. However, the fact remains that while the Thames River Steam Navigation Company are so enslaved as to give ministers of the Gospel free passages, and the blin I superstition of various companies and communities is painfully illustrated by the oiler to the spiritual guidos of the people certain privileges which are not accorded the lawyers, bunkers, etc., the gentlemen of our Domain Board have taken a step far in advance, some of whom have assumed the position of veritable reformers, illustrating their zeal by altogether ignoring considerations which might have influenced other men. The gentlemen in question have not been deterred from the faithful discharge of duty, tven by the, superabun-, dance of delicacy which that body undoubtedly possesses. It was certainly within recollection of the Board that the , clergy never solicited their patronage, and that the bestowment of the freedom of the baths was a development of their own short-lived generosity. But though this new departure might give the whole action of the Board the appearance, of uncouth inconsideration for the feelings of those whom they at j&rst made the subjects of their (as it now appears) kindly paironage, and who must be unavoidably made conspicuous by the change proposed, the Board faltered not. The immense importance this body attached to their former act of condescension would never have been known had it not bf>en deemed nee Iful to make this matter of further legislation. This last movement is the result of a desire to uphold the dignity of anti-Romish Institutions, and to preserve the dignity of Protestant clergymen who are quite incapable of protecting their own personal honour. I am credibly informed that the mover of the resolution has been "often mortified" by the undignified conduct of ministers who allowed themselves to become objects of charity. " They ouyht to be more independent and place themselves on the same footing with other men." I think, however, that it would not be difficult to prove if the soft impeachment applies at all, that the application of it must be to the laity rath 3r than the clergy. What church ever thinks of paying a clergyman for the time, inconvenience, and labour involved, in leaving his own home to leoture in aid of a sister church ? The Rev. A Reid a few years since went to considerable expense in visiting Pales- ! tine, and since his return has brought large sums into the churches by his lectures on what he saw, but not a penny from these lectures has gone into iiis own private coffer. And to come nearer home, we may ask, which of the ministers who have laboured in Te Aroha during the last three years, in any of ihe churches, has .been adequately paid for his arduous labours, and the groat wear and tear his extensive field involves ? I am possessed of the information that my predecessor, though a single gentleman, barely paid his current expenses ; and if rumour speaks truth, some ministers who have left this district have never yet received the stipend agreed upon. It may be a relief to "the reformers" to know that the present writer was in rereipfc of £20 per aiiumn in his last circuit in excess of the stipend he now receives, that he was not consulted concerning the change, and the change took place simply because, in the judgement of the conference, it was to tbe interest of the church that he should be appointed to the Upper Thames Circuit. When these things are so — when, from the nature of things, clergymen cannot be guided very considerably by finaucial considerations, how is it possible to place them on the same footing with other professional men. Place them in the same footing 1 By all means. It would be a boon to the clergy. But our local reformers have commenced in the wrong place. Their first move should have been to convince the laity that the morality of country churc les in reference to the payment of ministers is often not Christian morality. They should have endeavoured to show that there is a wide divergence from the New -Testament injunction, " Let him that is tought in the word, communicate unto him that ,teacheth in all good things," in the modern half-hearted gift of a threepenny piece, aud a quarterly or annual contribution which -would, fn ma'iiy' 'instances, 'suame 1 ' a savage. 1 To monetary uftaiis clurgyuiea sald'ou prefer

■r-they do, their work and nialce tmr best, of <;heir, income, bnt ; w!ien such pitiable narrowness, i^ displayed in -referred to an ill paid < professional c)as^>, whose services are everywhere require*!, <?.ten a mitlistors endnrance finds allimifc. and his sonce of ingratitude exp'fisses itself as bePt it can, Haoiatt nature has a supreme contempt for all intellectual littleness and that,, contem.pt\refusqs to be oonoelled. — I am, <fec, 1* J. Willb. Te Aroba, May Hfch 1885.