The sun., 1893-06-30
What Anglican Clergymen Must Look
Forward To.

What Anglican Clergymen Must Look
Forward To.
We have already paid some attention to
the attempts making in England to estab-
lish fund for supplementing the stipends
OF Church Of England clergymen. large
proportion OF whom. even Of the rectors.
ut present have to support themselves and
their families on a few hundred dollars a
year. Many Of the curates arc in still
worse plight. for they have to live on
| such small sums as the rectors. out OF
| their shrinking resources. feel able to
| dole out to them. While these facts are
| notorious. It seems to be acknowledged on
| all hands that the prospect Of providing an
| effective remedy by voluntary subscription
Is not bright.
What. then. are the Anglican clergy to
look forward to2 According to the London
Spectator. either they must become for the
most part celibate. or. II they insist on
marrying. they must resign themselves to
living as artisans live. and to bringing up
their children to various trades. In tho
former case. their position will be assim-
Hated to that OF the Roman Catholic priest;
in the latter. to that OF the dissenting min
lister Of the poorer type. The Spectator
seems to think that this would be griev-
GUS state OF things. and would shock the lay
members OF the Anglican community. Inas-
much, however, as the raising OF a fund ade-
Quate to avert such consequences would
involve shock to his bank account even
more insupportable. the Anglican layman
will have to make the best OF the revolution
which the position OF the clergy in English
society Is about to undergo.
For ourselves. we should be unable to
regard the Church Of England clergyman
as an object Of compassion and OF charity.
even should he find himself placed In
the social conditions OF Catholic priest
upon the one hand. or in those
Of a dissenting minister on the other.
Waving the question whether celibacy is
conducive to clerical usefulness. it is indis-
putable that man whose stipend Is
scarcely sufficient to support himself in de-
cency and comfort. has no business to
marry and thus to condemn wife and chill
dren to inevitable hardship and privation.
When he voluntarily accepts meagre sti-
pend. he should recognize that he has no
right to marry. Neither need he repine over
much at the prospect OF lot Of single bless
edness. which is cheerfuly accepted by
Catholic priest. The truth Is that the rev.
enue Of the most ill-paid Anglican benefce
say from $500 to $500 year-would be con-
sidered riches by many Catholic priest in
Ireland. and he would devise ways of spend
ing considerable part of 1t In almsgiving.
AS for the Methodist and Baptist minis
ters. to whose social level the Spectator
fears that the Anglican clergy may even
tually sink. we seldom hear them whining
about their necesstous condition. Many
Of them live and bring up families on few
hundred dollars year. They do not clamor
for assistance. either; because they cut
their coat according to their cloth, and,
recognizing that their income Is smaller
than that OF most tradesmen and OF many
artisans. they adjust their scale of ex-
penditure to an artisans or tradesman's
standard. They do not start with the as
sumption that their children must be
brought up as so-called gentlemen and
ladies'. and that their boys must be cent
to great public schools and universities.
to swell the multitude OF scramblers for
tho few prizes in the liberal profess
sions They are content that their chill 1
dren should get the soun and serviceable
education procurable gratuitously at the
national schools; and as soon as their boys
are old enough. they are apprenticed to
promising trade. so that. long before they
attain their majority. they are lf-sup-
porting. and perhaps able to extend help
ing hand to younger members Of the fam
lily. We can see nothing regrettable or de-
rogatory In the spectacle. On the con-
trary. 1t contrasts favorably with the
folly and incongruity of the notion
that all the children OF poor Anglican
parson or curate must be brought up in
pursuance OF ideas entirely unsuited to the
resources OF the family. The Socialists
believe that the world owes everybody
living. but nobody imagines that the world
owes every one q lucrative place In some
liberal profession. Yet 1t is the latter pre-
posterous theory which hitherto has been
acted on by Anglican clergyhen. the size OF
whose families Is, II we may trust ANTHONY
TRoLLoPE. In the inverse ratio OF their
means OF subsistence.
1t will probably b0 better in the end for
Anglican clergymen In England. as 1t
proved to be for them In Virginia. II they
should cease to depend on such artificial
props as establishment and endowment.
Then clergyman's income would be an
accurate measure Of the value at
tached to his services by his parishion-