The sun., 1902-02-23
HAND LOT or MIDDLE-AGED
CLERGY.
No Chance for Them In New Piaces-Pice
Paid for Independent Preachins-h hich
Men Alone Can Preach without Fear.

Men Alone Can Preach without Fear
TO THE EDITOR OF THE sUS--Sir: vii
YOU permit a constant reader or TIE SUE
10 proffer some extended comments OF
certain statements made by clergymer
contributing TO your symposium OF las'
Sunday ON the abundance OF young minis
ters' For some years have been collect
ing information bearing on the question
OF ministerial supply and demand and
have given no small degree OF attention "a
the general problems confronting the
clergy of to-day. The result Of my in
vestigations leads me to dissent in toto
from the position taken by the Rev. Percy
stickney Grant and other clergymen OF
like convictions that there is a comfortable
living for lifetime for a clergyman who
does his duty Even when he is old and
worn out says Mr. Grant, there is
always some niche he can fll TO the church s
benefit and his own And further. TO the
same purport, For tho clergyman who
has done his work we'll the Church will
always find a living
I am more familiar with conditions in
churches other than Episcopal. but know
that this statement from a high source is
quite beyond the facts on any general
Episcopal communion we have heard many
lamentations respecting the fate of the
unhappy rector In middle life suddenly de-
prived Of his living. Some time ago DR..
Mcconnell OF Brooklyn wrote TO every
Bishop Of a diocese or missionary jurls-
diction In this country, asking II there was a
place for clergyman In every way eligible
that would give him 81 900 year without
q house for his family of wife and two
children. The candidate was only IS. a
good preacher. and had been successful in
two previous charges. Fifty-seven Bishops
replied that there was not any such
opening. Two Bishops replied that there
was one vacancy in each diocese, but many
candidates were applying for them. II is
possible that DR.. Mcconnell has modified
hts statements In tho Churchmdn. II so,
have not heard of il. And who does not
recall the desperate though iocular appeal
Of -Micawber" in the official organ of the
Church, the appeal of a man Of so In good
and regular standing. with twenty-five
years experience rs a priest, who finds
his ago an insuperable barrier to employ
ment In his profession7 Was DR.. Van De
Water wide Of the mark when he wrote,
apropos of this case: Something ought to
be done at once to stop increasing the
ministry or give abled-bodied ministers a
proper support He then contrasts the
facts in the case Of -Micawbe with ad-
vertised solicitation Of funds for the increase
OF the ministry and remarks: Would not
society for the multiplication Of parishes
be more TO the point?'
III we turn our attention to other bodies
OF believers, the fsllacy Of Mr. Grants
reasoning is more apparent still The
pressure upon vacant churches by good
men Is painful, discouraging and abhorrent
to those who hold the ministry In high
esteem. II Is a veritabls struggle for
bread-and-butter places in the pit OF un-
hallowed competition. We are not dis
cussing causes. We are merely stating
facts. We are wholly concerned with the |
affirmation that there is a comfortable |
living for lifetime for a clergyman who |
does his duty He may. indeed, get a
comfortable living" in other pursuits
but out Of parish for any cause at As or
20 II will require an extraordinary COM
bination OF favoring circumstances to
reinstate that man. writer in the Forum
who covers his ground thoroughly urges |
that "a time arrives when a man can neither |
stay In the ministry nor get out OF it He !
cannot stay in the profession because he |
has reached the dead line He cannot |
get out Of it because the clerical routine
has untitled him for successful endeayor
in other directions yet at the very
time when the dead line Is drawn with |
cruelest stringency, behold our theological
eeminaries thronged with ambitious stu
dents.
What can possibly tempt them TO
hazard their all in so periious n venture
as a ministerial careeri" This may be
but have yet to be convinced
Of it's essential error. The organ Of great
tion frankly declared: THE present
system practically rules out every minister
from the pastorate who Is over 50 or IS
years Of age (Rules out in the sense
that he finds much difficulty in getting
back IL for good reason he surrenders his
post) The Boston Consregdtlondlist, in an
editorial article dealing with the Year
Book OF that denomination, states that
out OF 5,4s2 parishes LAS have less than
forty members each. A large number
had less than 10. And for those churches
Of forty members competition for place
Is keen and wearing. On the very best
could the incumbent with wife
and family be assured OF comfortable
living unless he CHANGED 10 be n man of
Spartan ideals, to say nothing of the still
uncertainty of his tenure? One
who has written much on this question
boldly declares 1T is not possible for the
theological seminaries to introduce young
men into the ministry without driving
out an equal number OF men who are at
work. We have not begun 10 draw on
lrsenals Of facts with which TO s,lpport
the above statements, and on high Presby-
ferian authority the writer was assured
some years ago that his then presentation
Of the case in the EpeninO Post was alto
Nether under the truth in regard to the
status of the Presbyterian ministry. If
the statement of Mr.. Grant holds good as
10 prospects for comfortable living
how does 1t happen that Ian Maclaren,
who ought to know, formulates the inquiry,
Should the old minister be shot?" This
utterance came from the pen of a sunny
hearted. optimistic preacher. 1t was half
lronical. half-serious, but on any view
pungently suggestive of deplorable exist
Ing conditions.
The truth is, say what we WILL the
ministry follows the laws of any bread
occupation. This NAV be
grossly materialistic; IL is none the less
the hard fact. Except in cases of excep-
tional ability and men Of exceptional ability
are not as many in seminaries as one could
wish, the man who Is past so Is not wanted
ln any vocation. Railroad companies and
large manufacturing establishments fire.
quently refuse TO hire a man more than IS.
Robust men In their prime resort to all