A good deal of discussion took place in the Church
Congress as to the utility of the system of Brotherhoods recently advocated by Archdeacon Farrar, the general consensus being that a community of clergymen who postponed marriage and lived together made an efficient and cheap missionary organisation. There is dispute, however, as to the utility of vows, with apparently this general result,—that the clergy need not vow celibacy, if only they remain celibate during the years devoted to the mission, but that some engagement of obedience is almost indispensable. That seems to be a sensible compromise, as no one can doubt the advantage of organisation and mutual support. Community of life is impossible if the clergy are married, and an engagement not to marry without due notice is no hardship, or interference with the natural life. The obedience must, of course, be limited to obedience for the work, and is exacted in every other profession; while it is especially necessary in mission work for a rather creditable reason. It is found that those who devote themselves to it
are among the most individual of mankind, and that unless their tendency to separate action is corrected, cohesion for any special end is nearly impossible. The water quenches no thirst sufficiently, because it is all in drops of rain.
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