The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-13

his ofioe to his son in these words: ct am CIV
ing my rogulatorship Of priestly orders TO my
son, Mery's son Anteb, called Insenb. as old
man's-staff,' even as I grow old; let him DO pro-
noted thereto at this instant" What exactly,
one wonders, was q regulator Of priestly or
ders I" But no one can fail to see tho poetry In
the phrase Of old.man's-staff'' as applied 10 q
son taking on his fathers duty, when the old
man is too advanced in years TO go on laboring
himself. Then this old-time archdeacon goes on
to dispose of his property. and incidentally we
find out that his wife was the daughter OF q
"land-surveyor's" attendant.
priest named Yah was evidently o devoted
husband. for In his will he leaves TO his wife
Tota all his property. "She shall give It to any
sho desires of her children that she has borne
me. I am giving to her tho Eastern slaves, four
persons that my brother. the devoted servant Of
the superintendent of works, Aukhren. gave to
me. She shall give them to whomsoever she
will of her children" Other property he men.
tions, all for hor. and commands that he shall
be buried In his tomb with her. Finally he ap-
points one Gebu, to be "child-educator" to his
young son. and the whole document is witnessed
by two doorkeepers of the temple and q pollsher
OF columns.
Two extraordinary utterances by two repre-
sentatives Of the Church Of England. who prob
1uiy COuinuhnu u WluoT luHuonCo man any Otn0r
members of the clergy Of this country, are
attracting the attention of all England at this
moment Few who know or read Dean Farrar
have credited him with a mastery Of invective.
His style Is forcible, strong, convincing, some
times eloquent. but not many have suspected
that he has at command n fiery denunciation.
q ruthless satire as overwhelming as any
Of the blood-curdling curses OF the priests Of
the middle ages. Dean Farrar's righteous wrath
has been aroused by the bigotry displayed in a
recent clerical discussion in the religious press
Of theatregoing. The old intolerance Of the
stage still survives In some corners Of England.
and 1t has given voice perhaps for the last time
just now. Dean Farrar gives n counterblast
in the last number Of the Christian Globe. 1t Is
not worth while to quote his arguments on q
threadbare subject, but just as an example of
strong language his summing up is well worth
reading:
Incredible is the extent to which men who
think themselves to be religious ~contrive to
hinder the spread of the Kingdom OF God. Their
opinionated ignorance, which is n sea without a
bottom and without q shore; their lack Of all
graciousness, large-heartedness, and charity;
the verminiferous l~ittleness of their misrepre-
sentationso of those who differ from them; the
conceit which makes them take their nescience
for knowledge, and bitterly denounce what they
cannot understand; the enormous arrogance
with which they take their post upon their
petty attitudes of self-importence. and calmly
~criticise those who, in comparison with them,
are as mountains among the mole hills, and as
cedars among the forest tree; the envy. hatred.
malice. and all uncharitableness, Of which they
present SO many crying ex~amples-these vices,
to which the so-called religious world is liable.
do the deadliest harm. They constitute the
chief elements in the Pharisaism which Christ,
in His holy Indignation. subjected to the seven
fold lightning fash Of His terrible inveotive.
1t would be well II such reliRionists sometimes
turned upon themselves the searching light
which. with concentrated malice, they often
turn upon their moral superiors."
The other outspoken clergyman is tho Bishop
Of London, DR.. Creighton. This 10 the frank
way in which he has boon discussing tho duties
and difficulties of his high office:
There could not possibly be anything more
ghastly from G human point of view than being
a Bishop. You can never please anybody.
When / was offered Peterborough I went to DR..
Hort. He said: You are strong and wiry. and
you'll make q good Bishop; take it. I went to
a dear old Bishop at Oxford. He peered up at
me and said: You will be good at organization
and will be a good Bishop; take it, I had been
given a canonry at Windsor. where I could
have had intellectual work at Oxford. and prac-
tical work at the same time. But 1 went to
PETERBOROUGH. thlnk England the most extra
ordinary country in the world, and Its clergy the
most extraordinary people in it. They do an
immense amount of work. but they really are
tho most self-centred. undisciplined. and diff
cult people / ever came across"
Asked IL he liked them, DR.. Creighton replied:
"oh, yes. I am very fond of them; that is one of
the functions of q Bishop. to love his clergy;
but, with your true British spirit, each man
thinks that the entire organization of the dio.
cese is central around his particular parish, and
each thinks that his own particular trouble or
grievance must be settled by the Bishop. so as
to put him to as little Inconvenience as possible:
that his particular line Of service is
the only one the Catholic Church has ever used;
that he knows something about Canon law
whereas hardly any one knows what Ca.on law
is. and that the Bishop exists solely for the pur-
pose OF preaching in his church."
Perhaps the feature Of the interview which
Nil most astonish and perhaps shock the good
Bishops American co-religionists is the inter
his lordship rolled land presumably smoked)
no fewer than nineteen cigarettes. 1t is we'll
known, / presume. that smoking Is well nigh
universal among the English clergy, but per
haps even lovers of tobacco might suggest that
nineteen cigarettes in the course of an hours
conversation 10 a liberal allowance even for the
Bishop of London. II. r. C.