Australia, its history and present condition: containing an account both of the bush and of the colonies,; with their respective inhabitantsPridden, W. (William)
History
Australia, its history and present condition: containing an account both of the bush and of the colonies,; with their respective inhabitants
Pridden, W. (William)
Australia -- Description and travel
All allowances towards the expense of the passage,
or residence, or means of support for any additional clergymen, were
refused. During five years, from 1832 to 1836, the number of chaplains
continued to be the same, except in 1833, when there were only fifteen
instead of sixteen in the estimates; and this was not because no
increase was needful,--for when an outfit of 150_l._, and a yearly
salary of 50_l._ were generously furnished to twenty clergymen by the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in consequence of the extreme
necessity of the case, every one of these were instantly employed. A
subscription, amounting to 3,000_l._ was at this time raised in England
in behalf of the Church in Australia, and when the Government perceived
that public opinion was awakened in its favour, and that they had
succeeded in giving their friends and supporters a tolerably good start,
they at length agreed, with the tact peculiar to them, to place the
Church of England (at least nominally) upon the same footing with the
two other "grand divisions of Christians."
[215] Bishop of Australia's Letter to the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel, August 18, 1838.
Now, therefore, the same assistance in outfit, and the same amount of
salary proportioned to the numbers of the congregation, are awarded,
according to the Act, to the teachers of each of these three divisions.
And thus, as Sir R. Bourke informs Lord Glenelg, in 1837, ministers
of the Church of England have been forthcoming to "answer (in many
instances) the calls of congregations of their communion;" while, as a
matter of course, where no call is heard, no answer is attempted to be
given. How very opposite is this modern idea of _the sheep calling the
shepherd to them_, from that pattern set before us by the good Shepherd,
who "came to seek and to save that which was lost!" But still, though
nominally upon an equality with the others, it is distressing to find
how hard a measure has been dealt to the Church in New South Wales; how
studiously every petty advantage that could be taken has been taken of
it by a Government calling itself liberal and impartial. A few instances
of this shall be given, which may serve to show how our brethren in the
colonies have been treated, and how we should ourselves be treated, if
dissent and Romanism could get the upper-hand in our native country; for
then, at the very best, the clergy would be placed, as they now are in
Australia, "in a state of dependence upon two unstable supports;--the
will of Government, and the disposition of the people."[216] At present,
the latter is favourable enough in Australia; but the good-will of the
Government towards the Church has been indeed strangely shown within the
last few years. When the other communions and persuasions in the colony
had nearly, if not altogether, provided themselves with the number of
ministers that the law would allow them, while the wants of the Church
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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