CHURCH LIVING SOLD BY AUCTION.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 373, 21 May 1861, Page 4

CHURCH LIVING SOLD BY AUCTION.

So it. came to pass that last week at Garraway's Coffee house, the right of next presentation to the rectory of Shelfanger, in TNorfoik, worth about £500 a-year, was submitted to the biddings of an assemblage of some thirty competitors.

The auctioneer, Mr. Clark, expiated eloquently upon the merits of the article which he was instructed to put up for sale, aud while with charming candour he admitted the existence of some trifling blemishes, he showed that these were so counterbalanced by solid advantages as to be really unworthy of serious consideration. But the crowning charm was this: that the present incumbent is ninety years of age. This fact appears to have been arrived at by an aitful calculation, based on tbe two data that he was born on Easter-day, and that his birthday falls on tbe 13th of March.

The account which Mr. Clark gave of his interview with the venerable pastor is singularly piquant. " I was very much struck," he said " when I saw Mr. Morris yesterday. The first question almost that he put to me wa3, I suppose you have come down to see when I am going to die ? There have been gentlemen for the last four or five years visiting me about every five or six weeks, and at last all I did was to show my nose at the top of the stairs, and say that I was engaged."

The reply of the kuight of the hammer was courteous, but unpleasantly frank. "'Well,' 1 said to him, ' I have really come down for no such purpose, for it is no part of my duty to say when you are going to die, but of course having arrived at your age, beyond the ordinary age of man, you cannot be expected to live very long.' " Highly agreeable this for the Rev. Mr. Morris.

With praiseworthy delicacy Mr. Clark declined to make any observation on the incumbent's present state of health; but his advanced age was the one string upon which he was never tired of harping. He dwelt upon the prospect of immediate possession ; be urged that " it is not often that you get the offer of a living with an incumbent at this advanced age ;" be reiterated, " I can only say that the incumbent is of tbe advanced age of ninety, and you may calculate that any day it may fall in, or it may not fall in for two or three years;" and he supplied an antidote to the unpleasant effect which this latter conjecture may produce upon the mind of the intending purchaser, by intimating that " probably his life is worth from one year to a year and a-hall's puichase according to the tables."

Of course in all this the auctioneer was acting entirely within the limits of his legitimate functions ; and in fact discharging his simple duty to his employers. If the Church will suffer her benefices to be set up to auction, they must be puffed like any common chatties. But we have thought it well to direct attention to this illustration of one of the peculiar features of English State Christianity, entreating our readers to bear in mind that the prize thus exposed to promiscuous competition, and knocked down to tbe highest bidder, was the right of nominating the pastor who is to watch over the spiritual welfare of the parishioners of Shelfanger, and train their |3ulft for Heaven.— Ewjlish Paper.