Disappearing Clergy.
SIR,—The opinions of my former pupil, Mr. Martin Southwold, are always worthy of respect ; but in the present case he may perhaps be willing to review them in the light of the following considerations.
1. When he says that " the Church is failing because the religion it teaches [i.e., ' orthodox Christianity 1 is not acceptable to our times," he is surely forgetting that it never has been acceptable to any times, even when presented by our Lord himself. AU/that we clergy are concerned with is the,ztituth. That truth, of course, can be presented in varying ways ; and when I consider the diversities that exist in our ranks I am amazed"ffiat Mr. Southwold has been able to discover a norm—which I take it is what he means by " orthodoxy." I do not myself believe that a man will ever be attracted in the first place by moral teaching: indeed; I would go so far as to say that no man's conversion ever begins through intellectual -easoning, any more than he ever falls in, love thereby. First the instinct says, " Lord, I believe " ; then the brain' comes along to " help our unbelief." If, therefore, at any stage we' preach Christ as being anything less than divine, what- ever we may be preaching will not be Christianity.
2. Mr. Southwold does not want the clergy to " take thought for the morrow." But do we ? I know many of my clerical friends well enough to be quite certain that they would now be earning two, three, or four times their present salary if they had gone into some other profession. Many would be suite willing to accept an even greater austerity ; but the great majority of parishes almost insist on the parson being married, and he is surely not entitled to condemn his wife and children to a poverty which might content him as a single man. Mr. Southwold probably has in mind the " brothers ", of certain religious orders. I would be among the first to testify to the value of their ministry, especially as conductors of retreats and missions, or in specialised work ; but they are not, in general, the type of men of whom parish priests are made.—Yours faithfully,
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