The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-03 00:00:00

THE WEST KENT CLERGYMEN.

The clergymen of West Kent seem to have got
very much excited at the elections. Several cases of
clerical influence in the county have been made
public, and there is a strong suspicion that there are
more behind. But the Daily News records one way of
using a church which seems to us slightly indecent.
On Sunday the wife of the vicar appeared there
decked in the Tory colours—orange and purple.
The maids of the vicarage were similarly adorned,
and the menservants and ',the parish clerk wore
orange and purple rosettes. On the following
day, Monday, an anniversary festival was kept
in the church. On this occasion, Mr. Talbot,
the successful Tory candidate, appeared, wearing
a very large orange and purple rosette, leading
in Mrs. Woodhouse, • again adorned with the Tory
colours, as on the previous day, and several members
of the choir wore the party rosettes. If the church
is used for party purposes by those who assert most
strenuously its national character, how will the mass
of the people regard it as national?
A DISIIOP ON THE QUESTION OF THE DAY.
It would be next to impossible for the Bishop of
Oxford to address an unsympathetic audience. At a
recent meeting of the Mechanics' Institution at
Slough, he expressed his confidence in the future of
his country, amidst the applause of his hearers. He
told them that great political power was given to
every class in the land, and reminded them that unless
the masses of the people were leavened by Christian
principle they would be unfitted for the trust. He said:
" Our Constitution is going to be exposed to great
strains. I trust it will bear the strain, and that we
may come out a greater, a richer, and more pros-
perous people than we have ever been yet; but if we
do there must be union in the people, for if not there
cannot be strength." The meeting was held in aid
of the erection of a new church, and the Bishop com-
plained that the poor were often met with the dis-
heartening message that there was no room for theni
in. the House of God. To leave the great masses of
the people outside the parish church was to create a.
disunion of classes and to lay the foundation of after
misery and dissensions which cannot be healed by
any secondary considerations whatever. lie con-
cluded: " Socially as well as religiously, and poli-
tically as well as socially, in every parish that is in
the condition of this parish, growing like a young
giant, and flinging out fresh articulation, as these
human habitations around us are, it is important
that there should be a Church which does not
exclude the poor, but welcomes them." Dr. Wilber-
force has ever desired that his Church should be the
Church of the poor, with no narrow borders or
limited aims, and now age has not dimmed his
vision.

THE FUNCTIONS OF ARCHDEACONS.
The tale is told sometimes of Lord Palmerston,
and sometimes of Bishop Blomfield, that, when
asked what an archdeacon was, he replied, " One who
performs archidiacanal functions." The definition
given by the Lord Chief Justice in the Court of
Queen's Bench the other day was, " It seem that
the chief functions of the archdeacons are to scold
the clergy." Archdeacon Allen, of Salop, now
writes to a contemporary to define the duties :
" Recent legislation (7 and 8 Vic., c. 69, s. 6)
has given special powers to archdeacons. Arch--
deacons should examine candidates for holy orders
(14 Carol. 11., c. 4, s. 2). It is the archdeacons' work
to see that the fabrics of our churches are kept in
repair. The archdeacons should consider the answers
sent to the articles of inquiry yearly issued by them
to each parish." We are painfully reminded by this
that the existence of duties does not always guarantee
the performance of them.