[To the Editor of the SracrsTon.] Sia,—If there was a
forum at which the voices of many plain men could be heard, the volume of approval of the two articles from the Rev. P. B. Clayton, and of the views expressed by the Hon. Stephen Coleridge and your other correspondents, would be so great that the Established Church of England would be compelled to take heed and to act on it.
The country vicar cited by ." a Village Helper" bravely admitted that he had -1.` not got -a way- with men or boys.",
"A. J." also points to the urgent need of personal leadership. In a village known to me the old vicar is extremely eccentric— others use another epithet—and through no fault of his he is quite incapable of leading anyone at all.
The Generals during the War did not ask battalions to serve under men known to be incapable. Are the Bishops satisfied to ask members of the Church of England to do so So long as the archaic system of livings is allowed to con- tinue, it would seem that the qualities of leadership and efficiency are minor factors in the eyes of the Bishops and the Church Assembly.
The layman's sympathy must be with the young man who offers himself for the ministry eager to imitate the noble and practical service of the Chaplains in the War. Latent in him is the power of leadership, but is there not a grave risk of it being swamped out by a flood of traditional shortsightedness ? The training could well include courses under such men as the Chief Scout, " Tubby " Clayton, Colonel Ronald Campbell, the Dean of Canterbury, and many others who have the knowledge of men's actual needs and how to meet them. And afterwards should not efficiency be maintained through " refresher courses " and tests from time to time ? The ineffi- cient men cannot continue to hold their appointments in other professions. They have to go.
Can there be any hope of a real revival or beginning until the Church of England has decided to break away from tradition so far as it handicaps its powers to meet the urgent needs of the present day ?—I am, Sir, &c., Woolaconthe, N. Devon.
STUART SHEPPARD.
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