The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-06-07

should do to be saved, was handed over for
instruction to any penniless cousin or stran-
ger who could quietly pay qu5d pro quo for
the place. 1t was expedient that the recipient
of the favor should be gentleman and an
agreeable visitor at the Hall; and if no tongue
of fire sat upon his head, or rushing, mighty
wind from heaven filed the place where he
spake, it was rather a cause for congratula-
ton. Such things doubtless suited Apostolic
times, but would be rather 0utTe nowadays,
and out of place in society whose creed, as
Emerson says, is "By taste ye are saved"
Lately, however, gentlemen with livings in
their gift, the incumbents of which were
creeping near their graves from old age or
disease, have made a practice of ad-
vertising the sales of next presepta-
tions in TIE Ecclesiastical Gazette,
which serves as the Bishops official organ,
urging young men of means to invest in this
manner, grading the price by the probable
chances of the incumbents early death, and
mentioning also as additional inducements to
undertake the service of God at such and
such places, and drawing of souls to Christ,
the modern convsniences of the parsonage,
its nearness to good game preserves or a
trout stream on the glebe land. The adver-
tisements might have been written by Mrs.
farley herself. "Walk up, gentlemen. The
dutys very light and genteel the company
particularly select. There is none of yoar
open-air wagrancy here there is no tarpau-
lin or sawdust. Remember that the price of
admission is only sixpence, and the opportu.
nifty may never occur again"
Now q certain Mr.. Cross in the House of
Commons had vague remembrance of other
servants of the same master, who undertook
long ago to preach to hungry souls His glad
tidings of great Joy. There were no advow-
so ms in that case; no dead mems shoes to
wait for; instead of trout streams and packs
of hounds, he remembered that they were
beaten with rods, they worked in hunger and
thirst, in cold and nakedness, until a cross or
the stake ended all. Mr.. Cross, with these
old fashioned and low-bred notions of Christi
anity, has brought in bill to peremptorily
stop the sale of next presentations, as a scan
dal to decency and civilization, and has
raised tempest of wrath among the bishops
only equalled by that in the Gcumencal
Council the other day when a charitable
word was spoken for Protestants ''HGreti-
CetS, hGTeticuS, Onl7les ddnanGn1uS peuna !"
prelates and bishops cry together. Westmin-
ster sends back sonorous echo to the thun-
ders of Rome.
The SATURDAY Regieeo settles the question
with an amusing complacency. If the prac-
tice of the English gentry and Christianity
differ, it has little doubt as to which party
ought properly to go under. "These are not
Apostolic days, and our clerical coat, it says,
''ought to be adapted to our social cloth" 4"
The ReDie1o then brings the "Church of
Christ up to the bar, and condescends to in
struct it as to its proper place in society, very
much in the manner of Dogberry with the
watch. 1t is true, it comedies loftily that
there are great scandals in the giving of
patronage but it should be remembered that
these matters concern the nobility and gentry
of England. eff Christianity cannot adapt
itself to society as it is, it forfeits its imposing
claim to be an institution for all times and
conditions of the world" "Gods good
man." says Dogberry. "But an two men
| ride of horse, one must ride behind. "
| So ludicrous position In journal
| which processes to represent the most
cultured and foremost thought in England
will astonish and amuse our primitive Ameri-
| can churches. They verge perhaps to the
other extreme. Outside of the great city con-
gregations the laborer in spiritual fields is
| thought worthy of such exceedingly small
| hire that it would be better to pay him moth
| ing at all and give him the credit of working
for the glory of God. So low are the average
| salaries of most clergymen that almost all
| the churches provide beneficiary funds for
superannuated ministers for their widows and
| orphans, course which to secular eyes ap-
| pears both unjust and impolitic. A clergy
man has the same human nature as lawyer
or blacksmith, and will give his best work
| when free from pecuniary anxiety and con-
| scious that he is to be paid fair living price,
and that neither he nor his children will be-
come paupers. The Presbyterian General
Assembly last week, among its other good
works, set about righting this error in its
limits There is wide gulf in this matter
between the practice of our churches and the
English laity, and nothing but sound com
mon sense and pure Christianity can bridge
it over.