DEAD VICAR'S WILL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21906, 15 September 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)

DEAD VICAR'S WILL

WARNING TO HIS SON "NOT TO TAKE HOLY ORDERS" VIEWS OF MANY YEARS AGO A warning to his son against becoming a priest in the Church of England without Sue consideration is contained in the will of the Rev. John Lionel g D. Bennett, vicar of DoddingtonKent, who left £555. He wrote: "I most earnestly warn my son against Any inclination —which as the descendant of many generations of parsons he is more than likely to inherit strongly—to take Holy Orders in the Church of England, unless on the attainment of the age of 30 he finds himself in possession of such private means as to render him —and possible wife and family—altogether independent of official. stipend; or unless on the attainment of the age of 30 he is absolutely convinced that he has a vocation for a celibate life and ability to endure contentedly the extremest poverty and straitness whilst maintaining that polite appearance of prosperity which Anglican saints expect. " 'Having nothing and yet possessing iall things' may be a virtue in which the 'Apostles could rejoice, but 'possessing nothing whilst seeming to have all things' is a fraud; it is the curse of the Church of England and of thousands of devoted men and women in her parsonages. Arid from this evil —into which the unknowing are lured and trapped—the bishops, with a very few honourable exceptions, have made no faithful effort to redeem their unfortunate clergy. " For a truly wonderful love and good- comradeship that in the darkest hours has kept .our hearts a-singing and our gaze set forward, my Dorothy j(true of God) beloved, be praise to Him. And to you under Him be this my farewell word of simple truth and loving gratitude: ' In the multitude of sorrows'/(and I do not forget the gladness) ' which I had in my heart, thy comforts have refreshed my soul.' The testator added: " A poor man I have lived, a very poor man I die, with Mo cause to be ashamed of the poverty to which my profession has brought me.. Let me then be given a poor man's burial—no flowers, unless perhaps a few wild ones or some simple things from My wife's garden." Mr. George Bennett, son of the testator, referring to his father's will, paid that he was to take Holy Orders in December. " I am surprised and distressed," he remarked, " at the publication of my father's will. '■lt was written many years ago when ho had suffered considerable misfortune. 1 know his views had changed since those days. He knew I was training for entry into the Church and he was quite pleased." Archdeacon Hardcastle, of Canterbury, said that " a most unfair picture" was drawn in the will by Mr. Bennett.' " Some stipends," added the Archdeacon, "are, unfortunately, low. 'As long as a church is endowed it is Very difficult to get the laity to augment the income, and it is quite impossible for the bishops to organise any increase in the endowment of tne clergy."