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Money Order, Draft or Bank Check, and should be made payable to the AMERICAN CHURCH REVIEW. Address all communications to the AMERICAN CHURCH REVIEW, NEW YORK, N. Y. GENERAL AGENTS: NEW YORK: JAMES POTT, 12 ASTOR PLACE. INCREASE OF THE MINISTRY. But At the late session of our General Convention an attempt was made to procure the addition of the following to the suffrages of the Litany: That it may please Thee, O Lord of the harvest, to send forth laborers into Thy harvest. The proposition was at length conveniently, and, perhaps, wisely disposed of, for the time being, by referring it to the new Committee on Liturgical Enrichment. whatever action might otherwise have been taken npon it, the discussion which it occasioned elicited no expressions of doubt as to the present and urgent need of an increased number of Clergy in our own branch of the Church. It would seem, therefore, that such doubt, though honestly felt by some, cannot be widely prevalent among us. the question is not so simple as, at first, it may appear to be. On the one hand, the facts that, counting our entire list of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, we have but a single Clergyman to about fifteen thousand of the population of the country, and that the ratio of increase, for the last decade, has been much smaller than for any other during fifty years, seem conclusively to indicate a serious deficiency. But, on the other hand, it is estimated that the present number of our Clergy is as one to five hundred of those having any Ecclesiastical connection with us, or in Yet any way looking to us for spiritual care and instruction ;and hence it is argued that were our present clerical force fully utilized, none of its members would be over-burdened, nor any actual demands upon them left unsatisfied. Moreover, it is notoriously true that of the Clergy unemployed and vainly seeking employment, at any given time, not a few are men who have approved themselves in the work of the Ministry, according to the terms of their Ordination Vows, and that the average income of those engaged in parochial or missionary work is inadequate to their comfortable support. If this presentation does not quite convince us that the numerical increase of the Clergy has been rather too fast than too slow, it will at least suggest some of the causes which must affect unfavorably our lists of Candidates for Holy Orders. And there are other considerations which should be taken into account by those who are amazed that the whole Church is not filled with alarm, in view of the inadequate number of our Clergy at the present time, and does not hasten to the support of certain special organizations, founded and laboring to supply the great need. Can it be said that we are all quite agreed, even now, as to what is the true mission of our Church in this land, and the special importance of that mission? what, and of how much value, are the peculiar functions of its Ministry? and what reckoning should be made of the undertakings, labors, and institutions of other religious organizations? We are all agreed that, on the whole, ours is the better way, and therefore that its prevalence would be, in a greater or less degree, to the advantage of the highest interests of the community. In the measure then that such unanimity can inspire to action, we may reasonably expect united action. But it is manifest that while there continues to be a great diversity of views among us concerning the measure of our responsibility, as a Church, for the spiritual welfare of the Nation, and, again, concerning the functions of the Clergy in fulfilling our obligation, whatever it may be, there will appear a like diversity of opinions respecting the number of Clergy required, and a corresponding interest or want of interest in meeting that requirement. Without considering then that the modus operandi of particular societies for the increase of the Ministry may fail to commend itself to all, it should not be expected that any appeal for concerted action to fill up the ranks of the Ministry will meet with an equally hearty response from all quarters. Yet we be lieve the general conviction to be that here is a real and very grave want: which conviction would express itself, however, not precisely in these terms-We want more men in Holy Orders; but rather thus-We want more ordained men, who are competent to take up and carry on successfully the parochial and missionary work of the Church, under existing conditions. Those conditions, hard at the best, are often made much harder by the supineness, the niggardliness, or the cavils of brethren, whose bounden duty it is to "remember them who are over them in the Lord, and esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake." I do not now refer, however, to the needless and exceptional hardnesses which the worthiest of our Clergy are too frequently called to endure, but to conditions which environ us everywhere and which cannot soon be essentially changed, nor greatly modified by such changes of our internal economy as have been sometimes proposed. Bishops are reproached for inconsistency because, while joining in the cry for more Clergy, and, it may be, promoting organized efforts for the increase of the Ministry, they answer negatively to the appeals of various Clergymen for employment. But, as the case now stands, the charge is, to say the least, not quite fair, nor is the inference wholly unavoidable, either that the Bishop so answering has no sympathy with the brother appealing to him, or no need of more Clergy in his jurisdiction. These appeals usually come at the time when the Rectorship of some important Parish has fallen vacant. But who does not know that, under our Canons, the Bishop has not the function of appointing to a Rectorship? And is it not the experience of every Bishop that whenever his aid is invoked to fill the Rectorship even of the most inconsiderable Parish, the application is coupled with such a presentation of qualities and endowments absolutely requisite in the future Rector, as, first of all, to suggest the query whether this Church can actually have reared such a phenomenal man,-Paul and Apollos, and Cephas all in one, and therefore competent to heal all carnal divisions, and arouse the lukewarm, and gather in the scattered, and attract the indifferent, and, in a word, "build up the Parish"? But were the case quite otherwise, and the responsibility of filling vacant Rectorships thrown wholly upon the Bishop, what would be his duty in the premises? Of the Clergy possibly available, should he not seek the most efficient? And, certainly, he must not invite or assign to any charge one respecting whose ability to meet its real requirements he is either uninformed or doubtful. It would be sheer folly in him, as an administrator, to proceed on the theory that every Priest, having due authority to administer the Word and Sacraments, is therefore qualified to serve efficiently in every Parish. No doubt his judgment in such a matter would be greatly influenced by other considerations, and his appointments made on other principles than those which often govern the action of vestries when "giving a call." He would, for example, lay more stress upon soundness and thoroughness of teaching, than upon readiness or brilliancy of speech, upon excellence of character, than upon popular social qualities; upon an ability to develop the internal resources of a Parish, arouse its dormant consciences, quicken its energies, and thus enlarge and intensify its influence as a spiritual agency, than upon a facility of devising means to "attract the outsiders" with the view of lightening, for shoulders too easily wearied, the burden of parochial support. Nevertheless a Bishop, confronting the same problem which vestries now face when a rectorship falls vacant, would find himself obliged, both by the interests of the Parish, which he is bound first to consider, and by his regard for the happiness of the brother to whom they might be entrusted to give heed to many of those considerations, and to ask many of those questions which are often referred to as illustrating one of the chief evils of our present parochial system. They cannot be ignored under any system of clerical appointments. Even were our Parishes generally endowed, or were the support of the Clergy provided from a general fund, still they could not be ignored without detriment to the cause of the Church; and while rectors whether they are appointed or elected, are dependent for their support upon the good-will of the people, the stability of their tenure, which for them certainly is a prime desideratum, as well as the progress of the cause of the Church under their administration, will require other guarantees than mere official competency and faithfulness. But it may be necesary to consider more particularly some of these general conditions to which I have referred, in order to exhibit more clearly the importance of the personal element in the prosecution of our work, and therefore of, at least, a more comprehensive training of our Clergy for that work. Should it be affirmed that these conditions are not essentially different here, in our nominally Christian land, from those which our Lord |