that we need men who will come and reside with us in our parishes for, say a year, before they are ordained, and in the course of that year they should be thoroughly instructed in the different branches of the work which they will have to do afterwards. From five years' experience in a large parish in the Black Country, I am of opinion that it is impossible for a vicar to be continually educating junior curates. We lose a large amount of the force which we might throw into our parishes, from the fact that again and again a man comes to us, remains for about two years, and then leaves us. We ought to have men of more experience when they come to us, and therefore I think that one of the best things to be done in the way of probation is to take care that men shall learn the exact character of the people amongst whom they will have to work as curates, and who will therefore know how to deal with them when they go forth as pastors. The second question is one which has a very important bearing--How are the sons of the clergy to be educated in the future? If it be true (and I speak as the father of many sons) that the sizarships and exhibitions which were originally founded for the benefit of the sons of the clergy are now thrown open to competition, and carried off by the sons of rich men and well-to-do tradesmen, what are our clergy to do with their narrow incomes? No men ought to be more fitted for the ministry of the Church than the sons of the clergy. I would introduce to the notice of this Congress a fund which is yet only in its infancy the Ordination Exhibition Fund-as to which information can be obtained from Mr Ingram, of 7 Whitehall. It is a fund which provides needy young men with the means of obtaining some education for the ministry; and although, as I have told you, it is a young society, it is none the less a most useful means of assisting in the most important work of increasing the supply of fit men for the work.

REV. W. HARDING GIRDLESTONE, D.D., Hon. Canon of the Cathedral, and Principal of the Theological College, Gloucester.

THE first difficulty in providing a requisite number of young men for the ministry is the financial one; and, with all deference to those speakers who have spoken on the proba tioner system, I do not think it fully meets the difficulty. It only results, as it seems to me, in substituting a bad or inferior training in a country parish for two years in place of a year's good training at a college. As to this financial difficulty, we might take a good lesson from the practice of Nonconformist bodies. "Fas est et ab hoste doceri." While they train, they at the same time support, their candidates for the ministry at their colleges; they have no competitive examination for scholarships, but deserving poverty is that which causes these young men to be selected, sent up to college, and supported there. That is an important element. The training we can give at the theological colleges is only short at the best; but even so, the financial difficulty stares us in the face. Let the laity recognise this, and meet the difficulty, either by patronising this Ordination Fund; or let congregations select deserving men, and send them to our colleges and support them there; then the Principals would be paid by results, and the young men would be helped and encouraged. I have application after application always commencing in this way-"Will you kindly tell me the expenses at your college-how much, or how little, it will cost a man to get through?" A second detriment from which these colleges suffer is that the bishops, as a rule, with the exception of the bishop in whose particular diocese the college may be situated, look

coldly upon the men who are trained in them, whilst they receive any graduate, however ignorant of theology. In illustration of this let me tell you a story, which I know to be true, and which is not six months old: A young man who had taken his degree at one of the universities was speaking to one of the students of my college at Gloucester, asking him questions about the sort of work done there, and so on. At last he said, “You have spoken over and over again of the Thirty-nine Articles; what are they?" And yet within a month's time the university man was ordained, whereas I believe the student of the theological college would have had difficulty in obtaining holy orders from the bishop. I think it is only fair that persons should know the discouragements under which we labour who devote our best energies to training men for the service of the Church.

REV. SAMUEL ANDREW.

SOME years ago I had the honour to propose and forward to the Bishop of Lichfield a resolution from four united deaneries in the Peak of Derbyshire, praying for the establishment of what is known as the probationer system in this diocese. The bishop received the resolution with great joy, and proceeded at once to establish the system which we have now at work. I desire, as a clergyman in a large parish, to detail the steps taken in the introduction of a candidate for holy orders under this system. I ought perhaps to remark at once, that it does not in the least preclude the going to the university or a theological college after the probation is over, but it naturally leads on to that. It is most important that the parochial minister should be careful in the choice of the right man. He should get all the recommendations possible, and then have a personal interview. After that he would do well to have his candidate for a month with him, in his own house, as a probationer, in order to form an opinion as to whether he will be likely to suit the parish, and what state he is in with regard to learning and character. When the month is over it will be necessary for him to make up his mind as to the means of his maintenance. I have given £50, £60, and in one instance £70 a year. In two of these cases they proceeded to holy orders, and they are now labouring with success in this diocese. In the next place, it is necessary for a clergyman to be very careful as to the way of introducing candidates to their work. He must be careful how he introduces them into his school; they may do mischief instead of good, they may do a great deal of good, as I have seen. He must be very careful also about introducing them into the solemn matter of preaching in cottages and schoolrooms, or weekly lectures in the church, and he must be still more careful in introducing them into the work of parochial visiting; otherwise they may do more harm than good. At every step he must be careful what he is about. Then there are many difficulties connected with training them—I mean, overlooking their studies and preparing them for the college. In this diocese, after a candidate has been with a clergyman for some time, he goes to Lichfield to the "Probationers' Theological Examination," and the clergyman who sends a candidate always receives a detailed report of the manner in which he has acquitted himself at his preliminary examination, and the clergyman would do well to be guided very much by that report.* I recommend a long probation for candidates

* The probationers' examinations are held in the bishop's palace twice every year, near the time of the Lent and September examination for holy orders. The probationers' examination board consists of the bishop and assistant bishops, the dean and canons of the cathedral, the principal of the theological college, and the diocesan inspectors of schools. One-half only of the usual term at the theological college is required for holy orders from successful probationers, thus reducing the expense. Probationers are also eligible for exhibitions at the college.

The

two or three years, and then I would have them go to a theological college. longer you keep them under supervision, the more thoroughly you can initiate them into their work, the more likely you are to have trustworthy and valuable results.

The VEN. ARCHD. FFOULKES.

If we would wish to succeed in inducing a larger number of men to seek holy orders, we must appeal to them at an earlier age than we generally do. I would strongly advise that we should appeal to boys at the time of their confirmation, for two reasons; first, because at that age they are generally thinking about choosing their future profession, and next, because they have been under special religious teaching at the time, and may more readily be inclined for God's service. There are many boys who would at that age be very willing to prepare themselves for holy orders if they thought it possible that their parents could find the means to educate them for the ministry; and if we consider further how schools are improving the quality of the education they give, and how, in consequence, the time necessary to be spent at a university is shortening itself, I think it would be wise to offer to ordain men as deacons at the age of twentyone instead of twenty-three, which, I believe, our bishops could do if the archbishops would give the necessary dispensing power.* I know by experience that a number of boys at the age of fifteen have a strong desire to study for holy orders, but give up the idea as hopeless. Their parents say, "We cannot maintain you at school and college till you are twenty-three." Therefore I think it might be a wise experiment that deacons might be ordained at twenty-one for curacies where they should not be called upon to preach, and that they should obtain their licence to preach, after due probation, at a subsequent examination. They might assist the priest in various ways, such as cottage lectures, and in the schools, and visitation of the parish. At the end of a year they might go before the bishop to be examined as to their preaching powers, and at twenty-four years of age they might be admitted to priest's orders. This final examination, I think, should be confined chiefly to their knowledge of pastoral work and duties. As a rule, I fear that the great bulk of our clergy do not remain more than one year in deacon's orders, and during that time, having before their minds the prospect of another examination in a year's time, they are kept back from doing the work they ought to do as deacons. I think if they were told that they would have no further examination at which they could be plucked, for three years after they were ordained deacons, they would have plenty of time to learn their work as clergymen, and to come up for priests' orders in a very different state from that in which so many do come up at the present time. I hope the standard of examination for orders will never be lowered, except in special cases. For though I thoroughly agree with the admission of non-graduates to the ministry, of course I wish that men should be as highly educated as possible. Still I know that some of the most devoted of our clergy are men who have never received a university education, and I feel ashamed to think that such men should not be as highly honoured as they deserve. There are numbers of men who would come to us if we would open the ministry to them; and I rejoice that the bishop of this diocese has by his "Probationer System" opened the door to all who feel they have a call for the ministry. It has been a bold yet successful effort. I would venture upon one step further. Nothing strengthens the influence of the Church amongst the working classes so much as the fact that many of them can say they have a brother or a near

"None shall be admitted a deacon, except he be twenty-three years of age, unless he have a faculty."-Preface to Ordination Service.

relative who is a clergyman. I can venture to say that in the principality with which I am connected, it does much to soften the asperities between Churchmen and Dis. senters when a Dissenter can say, "I have a son or a brother who is a parson."

REV. WM. CAINE, M. A.

THE scarcity in the supply of clergymen is a very painful truth. I have had great experience in the education of clergymen. More than a hundred of my pupils are clergymen in all parts of the kingdom; I therefore feel a great interest in this subject, and wish to state a fact which I believe is one of the causes of this scarcity. There is a feeling of dissatisfaction among the young clergy with regard to promotion. I can bear testimony to the fact that the most ignorant of my pupils are those who are placed the highest in the Church. That is a great disgrace. Men of merit and learning ought to be promoted over ignorant men who happen to be related to patrons. I know sons and relatives of Lord Chancellors and bishops who are raised to canonries and other high positions in the Church, who are far inferior to men who have never been promoted beyond a curacy. Young men, of course, ought to enter the ministry from the highest and holiest motives, but we cannot help seeing that great injustice is done by patrons, and I wish to raise a protest against it at this Congress, as I did at Nottingham some years ago, when I had more time than I have this afternoon. Mention has been made of young men being taken as probationers into parishes. Now I think, as the result of long experience, that a man who is employed as a probationer or Scripture reader in a parish ought not to be made the curate of that parish, because we know that our Saviour has said that "a prophet has no honour in his own country." It is far better that a curate should come into the parish who has not laboured there before. He is received with much greater respect-not that he deserves it, perhaps-than the Scripture reader. Again, I think that a young man ought to be kept reading his Greek Testament and books of theology as much as possible before his ordination. We want more learning amongst the clergy at this critical period in the history of the Church. A number of young men at the present day are ordained who know very little of the Greek Testament or of theology, and I think the more they devote themselves to the study of theology, and at least the Greek Testament, if not the Hebrew Bible, the better they will be fitted for the office of a clergyman. I quite appreciate Mr Christopher's admir. able paper, and heartily agree with him; but there are other motives that must be taken into consideration.

The proceedings closed with the Benediction.

THURSDAY EVENING, 7th OCTOBER.

The RIGHT REV. the PRESIDENT took the Chair at Seven o'Clock.

RECENT EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN BIBLE

LANDS.

PAPERS.

The REV. F. W. HOLLAND, M.A., Vicar of Evesham,

Worcestershire.

66

"EXPLORATIONS in Bible Lands" formed one of the subjects discussed at the Church Congress, held at Liverpool in 1869, and it seems fitting therefore in the present instance to confine the somewhat vague term recent explorations and discoveries" to those that have been made since that time. I have been assigned the duty of describing to you the explorations and discoveries made in those Bible lands which are connected with the history of the Exodus, viz., the land of Egypt, and the peninsula of Sinai.

I have not myself had an opportunity of visiting those lands, since I returned in 1869 from the Sinai Ordnance Survey Expedition, but I have gained by several visits a knowledge of them which has enabled me to follow out what has been done by others, and to express an independent opinion upon the various points to which their attention has been directed.

In the autumn of 1869, Professor Palmer, who had been one of the members of the Sinai Survey Expedition, set out again for the peninsula, accompanied by the late Mr C. F. Tyrwhitt-Drake, under the auspices of the Palestine Exploration Fund, with the object of exploring the Wilderness of the Tíh, or Wanderings, which lies to the south of Palestine, and also the Land of Moab, to which attention had been especially drawn by the discovery of the famous Moabite stone.

They were directed to explore on their way the district lying at the head of Wády Gharandel, and that to the north of 'Ain Hudherah, including the line of mountains which forms the southern edge of the Tíh plateau.

A knowledge of these tracts of country was essential to the completion of the map of the peninsula, and might, it was thought, throw some additional light upon the route of the children of Israel.

Wády Wutah, at the head of Wády Gharandel, had been mentioned as a pass by which the Israelites might have journeyed towards Mount