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Secondly, under this head, I would observe, the age of twenty-three is, in these times, far too late in life for the first entry on the ministry. Many a student goes up to College now, at the age of eighteen, with a greater knowledge of divinity and a greater fitness even for Holy Orders than men of twenty-three possessed when the present limiting Canon was made. I would certainly, and immediately, therefore, relax this stringent rule, and accept the age of twenty as sufficient for the diaconate, and twenty-two for the priesthood, if the candidate were found, upon enquiry, in other respects fairly qualified for the office. Graduates of the two old Universities might also be accepted at once on producing a satisfactory testamur from the Theological Professors or examiners as to their attainments and character, with the addition of a slight viva voce examination by the Bishop himself (not his Chaplain).

Thirdly, and lastly, as an encouragement to young men to look forward to possible, if not probable, preferment, I would make it a condition that no one (except in the case of Fellows of Colleges) should be instituted to a living, who had not previously served a five years' apprenticeship (at least) as a curate; this would improve the class of beneficed clergy, and open the way, let us hope, for promoting some of the more deserving Curates in their turn.

*

Many other thoughts suggest themselves, especially that of a REVISION OF THE LITURGY, upon which subject I have enlarged elsewhere, and which I consider second to none in this matter. But I have said enough for the present; and I have only, therefore, in conclusion, to commend the above suggestions to the kind consideration of our rulers both in Church and State. It is undoubtedly high time that something were done;-the case is one of great urgency, as

* See Letter ci., pp. 177-8.

striking at the very root of our Church's well-being, if not

its absolute existence.

I remain, yours, &c.,

Ingoldsby Rectory, March 25, 1877.

JAMES HILDYARD.

POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER CXXXIII.

ON THE DECREASE OF CANDIDATES FOR HOLY ORDERS.

At a meeting of 300 clergymen at Islington, January, 1863, the Rev. J. R. Marsden, in speaking on the subject, whether it is a fact that the supply of candidates for the ministry from our universities is decreasing? and if so, to what is the decrease to be attributed ?-made the following remarks:

In order to obtain the necessary figures, he had applied to friends occupying positions of influence in the Church, archdeacons, examining chaplains, &c., upon whom he could implicitly rely. As to the diminution of candidates for the ministry, he was afraid there could be no question.* In the last charge of the Bishop of Winchester it was stated that the total number of candidates for the Christian ministry ordained throughout the whole of England in 1841 was 606, and that the total number ordained in 1861 was only 570. This showed an actual diminution of nearly 40, and the falling off would have been much greater but for the increase in the number of those who were called literates-that is, persons who were ordained without having obtained degrees. In 1841 the number of gentlemen from Durham was 13, from Dublin 33; while the number of literates-that is, persons who

*Archdeacon Denison, in Notes of his Life, chap. ii., p. 15 (apropos of the decay of Greek and Latin), makes the following observation :-" The race of life in a country where the supply of candidates for all callings, professions, and employments, largely exceeds the demand, has evolved the habit of assigning the early years of life to acquiring the knowledge wanted for particular employments, so that bread-winning may begin the sooner. The only exception that I know of, is that of Holy Orders in the Church of Fngland!" This after an interval of fifteen years since the above was first published by the author-speaks volumes.

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were educated privately-was 38. Twenty years after the number from Durham was 31, from Dublin 80; but the literates had increased to 241. This diminution was calculated to arouse serious apprehensions for the future, unless some remedy could be applied. But it did not represent the whole or the worst part of the case. During the last thirty years the population of England had nearly doubled, and there had been no corresponding increase in the number of clergymen Within the same period 2,000 additional churches had been erected, and yet the supply of ministers, instead of being proportionately increased, exhibited an actual diminution. Taken altogether, this state of things called for serious consideration on the part of those who loved the Established Church, and especially those who desired to see an increase of spiritually-minded men engaged in the ministry.

Another question was, whether there was any falling off in the qualification of the candidates-he meant the mental qualifications. He feared that there was a falling off of mental power in the candidates for the Church. Taking the first-class men at Oxford, in literis humanioribus, he found that, in the ten years from 1831 to 1840, there were 130 first-class men. Of these 92 took orders, and 38 remained laymen; the difference in favour of the clergy being 54. In the ten years from 1851 to 1860 the number of first-class men was 119, as against 130 in the previous ten years. But, of the 119, only 42 took orders, and the rest continued laymen; so that, whereas before there was a difference of 54 in favour of the clergy, there was now a difference of 35 on the side of the laity. It was, therefore, not altogether without reason that the public complained that there were not so many young men of first-rate talent entering the ministry now as there were in former times. There was, it seemed, a deterioration quietly going on, which, though not much perceived at present, would tell seriously by-and-by.* Again, the numbers from Oxford, not first-class men merely, who now took orders, were comparatively few. Cambridge was the grand school from which the Church of England was supplied.

Trinity Sunday was the great ordination day of the year. On Trinity Sunday, 1861, there were in round numbers 300 candidates. Of these 158 were Cambridge men; only about 70 were Oxford men; and the remaining fourth were either literates or men who had gone through the brief education of the theological colleges and schools in various parts of the kingdom. On Trinity Sunday last 400 candidates were ordained. The proportions were about the same; 200 were Cambridge men, 100 were Oxford men, and the remainder came chiefly from the

It may be fairly assumed that much of the infidelity now said to prevail in the kingdom is due to the want of Power in the pulpit to contend successfully with the growing evil. (1878.)

various provincial colleges. On the whole, the conclusion to which he thought they must come was, that fewer men of high talent and education entered the Church now than formerly.

For this state of things various causes have been assigned. One of the chief was the opening afforded by the Government examinations to an immediate and comfortable position in life. As a friend of his put the matter, it was a hard thing for a young fellow to look £100 a year in the face. Even a young man of piety might say to himself, “Is all usefulness confined to the clergy? Might I not serve God and get £500 a year too? A second cause was the poverty of the Church generally. It was not merely curates who suffered from this. The poverty of the Church was a very general, serious, and growing evil, and arose from many causes, among which was the abolition of pluralities (illustrating the fact that there was no good without an attendant evil), the nonendowment of new Churches, and the prohibition in many cases against taking pupils. A third cause was the distressing and unsettled state of mind at the Universities. This was enough to fill one with overwhelming sorrow. Many of those who should be the guides of youth were themselves distracted with doubts as to the cardinal doctrines of the Gospel; some of them did not hold those doctrines in godly simplicity and sincerity; and the number of those who taught the only real, substantial, entire body of the truth, the truth which they called Evangelical, was, he feared, in any of the Universities very small indeed. The consequence was a great disturbance of mind in many young men, and great hesitation on their part about entering the ministry of the Church. Another cause was the apprehension of grinding labour. The labour which young men saw their elders undergo had the effect of discouraging them, and deterring them from seeking ordination.

In conclusion, he would suggest a few remedies for the evil which was proved to exist. On the question of patronage he would say nothing, because nothing that he could say was likely to produce any real change; only he should deprecate exceedingly the popular remedy— namely, that the livings should be open, as Government places were, to those who could pass the best examinations, or that curates should be promoted in a sort of rotation or cycle, according to the number of years they had served. There were remedies, however, within their reach. An archdeacon in a northern diocese thought that clerical societies should be supported, and that they should look out not merely for young men of piety, but also for young men of gentle birth, as candidates for Holy Orders. He thought that all the clergy might do more than they had done in this matter. Clerical families were the nurseries of the Church of England. If they would have their sons grow up for this work, let them magnify their office in their presence, let not their household see them pitifully whining after preferment, and cringing to

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a lord or a rising man in Church and State. Lastly, there was a remedy in prayer. Prayer on this special point was commanded by our Lord himself. "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labourers into His harvest." Let it be their earnest supplication that God would send forth more faithful young men to devote themselves to Christ's service in the ministry.

LETTER CXXXIV.

THE ONLY WAY OF OVERCOMING THE DIFFICULTY.

"Faint, yet pursuing."-Judges viii. 4.

"We have scotched the snake, not killed it;

She'll close and be herself;-whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth."

TO MY READERS.

MACBETH, Act iii., Sc. 2.

ONE more LETTER, and I trust to release you for ever from the tedium of wading through this "hare-brained chatter of irresponsible frivolity."*

That THE LETTERS have run to such an inordinate length is no fault of mine. I would have abridged them, or stopped them altogether, twenty years ago, had I been permitted to do so. The blame, if any, for their continuance up to this date, rests with my opponents. Our ground of controversy still exists, though broken. The grand nut of REVISION remains still to be cracked. The Gordian knot of an "unreformed Book of Common Prayer" is not yet untied; much less is it cut through.

Some fair attempts, indeed, at this last have been made; but I think it will be generally allowed that they have proved upon the whole more or less of a failure; and such possibly would be the case with the simple nostrum I am now about to propose for your kind consideration.

* Lord Beaconsfield at the Mansion House, Nov. 9, 1878.