A PARSON-CLERK.
THE congregation of St. James's Church, in Piccadilly, were last Sunday surprised at beholding one of the clergymen, the Reverend Mr. ANDREWS, officiating as Clerk. But" he that humbleth himself shall be exalted ;" and accordingly, when the Parson-Clerk had finished his duty in the Clerk's desk, he proceeded to the altar, there to kneel upon a velvet cushion, and stand face to face with his brother parson, wham but a minute before he had with all due humility sat below. Surely the days of the Apostles are returned again ! But what will be the indignation of our readers, not of St. James's, when they learn that this act of almost unprecedented self-abasement was forced upon the pious Parson by a• Radical Vestry, who refused to allow him enough to pay a deputy! His father, Dean ANDREWS, had bestowed upon him the office of Parish Clerk ; ind a former Vestry (select, of course) had increased the stipend from 301., the isuin fixed by statute, to 1004 for the express purpose of enabling him to hire a substitute. Yet the Radical:Vestry have disallowed' the needful addition ; and this is the result.
The Albion, to which paper we are indebted for the record of this shameful transaction, insinuates that "the Radical Vestry much enjoyed their Christian-like triumph over an unbeneficed clergyman, (poor man!) in driving him to the Clerk's desk, or (dreadful alternative!) the relinquishment of his office." We trust that even Radicals are not so abandoned. They must have been overwhelmed with shame and contrition at a rebuke so meek and gentle, yet so astounding in its effects. The only amends they can make their Reverend Clerk, is to call upon him to resign his humble office, to some person as poor in pocket as the Parson is in spirit. Of course he will not resign unsolicited, lest it might be thought that he disdained the office ; and the Vestry must have hearts of stone to behold unmoved a priest in orders, albeit unbeneficed, officiating as Parish Clerk. " Amen " must stick in their throats, if not in his. Those who would basely insinuate that the love of lucre has any share in influencing the conduct of the Parson-Clerk, are reminded, that if thirty pounds a year, and
the1ms Of timeriages, ttt-stars, and nlItisrenitigs, can stare to tempt the son of a Dean thus to humble 'himself, the value of the income would enable him to pay a deputy.
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