The Archbishop of Canterbury took the opportunity of a meeting
of the Church Building Association of the diocese to warn his • clergy against associating too exclusively with one another,.,-a habit which, in the country, is on the increase :— " I should greatly regret, and I believe every Churchman would regret, if the clergy were to become more than they are at pre- sent a separate caste. In one sense they must be a separate caste, because they have devoted themselves to the service of God, and they must ever bear upon them the stamp of Him whose ministers they are ; but in the other sense of a separate caste, association only with those who are its own members and of its own privileged- clique, it would be certain destruction if the clergy of the Church of England were to become in that sense a class." That is sound sense, but what are the unlucky clergymen to do? Opinion compels them more and more W abstain from all lay amusements, except croquet Dr. Wordsworth tells them they are a chosen Order, with mystical privileges, and Parliament directly incites all Church laymen to bring actions against them. It is vain to talk of the benefit to be gained from lay association, when a clergyman can only feel himself thoroughly safe in a. cellar.
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