DR. STUART AND THE DAILY TIMES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1162, 7 March 1874, Page 1

DR. STUART AND THE DAILY TIMES.

Ix another column we publMi a letter from Dv Stuart, referring to certain icmarks which have appeared in tin se columns ftom time to lime. In much of what the Doctor says we hpartily agree, and are sorry we should have been so far misunderstood by him as to render the matter at all doubtful. In. the first place, we by no means desired to point the iiugcr of scorn at the miuisti-y ot thn Presbyterian Church only • our remarks were intended io apply equally to all Churches, and by wo means solely to that which the Doctor worthily represents. We iniagno that he would agree with us that very many of the ministers, both of his own and other bodies', are of an inferior stamp, by no means calculated to ensure for the doctrines they preach a fair hearing. Whether the number of these incompetents is so great that they may be said fairly to represent their Churches is another thing 1 . We think they are ; probably Dr Stuakt thinks they are not. It is beside the question to say that many of the ministers, have to work very hard. We are the last to deny the Tact. Kov real painstaking z'al in the cause they serve, for veal hard bodily labour, we believe fevv mvn work harder than the ministers of the Gospel iv Otago. No man can justly hiiy that they eat tho bread of idleness, as Dr Stuajii' \ cry truly points out. Their ministerial labours over the. enormous di.st mces comprised in pome parishes- -distances which are covered only by continual uureinifctiii" energy — would give the lie direct to any such assertion. And yet, when all allowance has been made for this borfc of work, the fact remains behind that it would be possible to reckon on the two hands the number of ministers of all churches who are really capable of directing, adv.sinir, teaching the mote educated members of their flocks. There is — and we la'uont the fact — an evergrowing gap between the cultiviLed intelligence of the community and the accredited exponents of religion. To whatever causa it is owintr, wo conceive that th s fact is patent to everyone. We incline to think that to a very great extent the cause is to be found at last in the extreuvly low rate of stipend offered, and t-i a, less degiee in the extremely largo amount, of physical labour demauded in rolurn. The first causo is one which takes years to operate, but it is admittedly true that it is at work in full swing now. Ask any mai: of the world whether he would like his son io enter the ministry, and the answer is, " [ c >uld not wish him consigned to a oirccr of semi-starvation." How largely this feeling is deterring the Stamp of men who would enter the se rvice of tho Church from choice, if things were otherwise, is of course a matter of opinion, but Dr Stuart must allow that it is very widely spread, and he has probably spoken again, and again to his people about it, and lamented the f.iofc to himself. We are somewhat surprised that ho has said nothing about it in his lottiT, but ho cannot bo unaware of its truth. Considering the advantages offered we will willingly allow that the present

stamp of men is surprisingly good, but that does not militate one atom against our argument that they are very far short indeed of what they ought, in the interests of religion, to be. There is, we fancy, a widespread feeling that it is a wise policy to make ministers of religion poor in order to test their sincerity. We are only beginning to find out that such a policy is a mistake in its inception and futile in its operation, and that ics only effect is to lower the standard of applicants without giving any additional guarantee against hypocrisy. As part and parcel of the same ai'gument we may remark that to demand of those who work with their heads, the same amount of physical toil that a stockman or butcher undergoes, is to sin agains fc all the la ws of physiology. We do not hesitate to say that, except in a very few instances, the twenty miles' ride upon Sunday, of which the Doctor speaks, must tell severely upon the sermon, and render it more jejune in its character than it need be. So, too, the distances ridden during the weel:, must ailect the studies of the rider deleteriously. It is asking too much to expect any minister to gallop round his enormous boundaries all the six days, and yet keep himself au courcmt with all the current literature of the day — the last bright thoughts of "would-be philosophers." Probably we have now found enough excuses to please Dv Stuart ; and when all are said, the plain truth remains that the ministers of Otago are, to a very large, extent, incompetent. Will Dr Stuakt deny it 1 "We think not. Whatever virtues he may show them to possess, they evidently have not got that wide culture, that sagacity and tact begotten of . much reading 1 , thinking, and conversation, which can alone make them competent to uj^hokl advantageously the cause of religion. This gulf of which we speak as existing' between clergy and laity is more especially noticeable between the young men and their minister. There is a want of sympathy between them which is one of the most lamentable signs of the times ■ and it is best to admit the , evil in order to eftect the cure. The same may be said of the whole evil to which we have drawn attention. It is no use shutting one's eyes and hoping to cure it by ait'ecting to ignore its existence. The separation between the clergy and more educated laity cannot be well denied. To bi'idge it over by assertions of the number of miles Mr A. walks, or the acreage over which Mr B. visits, seoms to us an unwise proceeding. It would be better to go to the root of the matter, and see whether men cannot be trained ;ible to cope on more equal grounds with their fellow-men. We have only further to say that while we treat Dr Bjego's certificate of competency with every respect, we take leave to think that his sojourn in Otago was far too short to render him a very safe judge. We are content to abide rather by the vox populi, whether we have not simply stated a plain fact in saying that the ministers of Otngo are in finitely below the mark they could wi>h them to come up to for the sake of religion. I