he building and enlargement in the gospel, see to it that the mind of your pastor is free, entirely free from every species of worldly embarrassment. Never have him distracted, as goes into his study, with the recollection of bills unpaid, or domestic necessities unprovided for. Keep him unincumbered with any thing of this sort; for this, by awakening his gratitude, and exciting his ardour, will prove to be good and profitable to yourselves. Deal out in your supplies to him, "good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over," and then expect him to enter the pulpit with sermons that shall enlarge your minds, and warm your hearts. This is emphatically one of those cases in which "as a man sows, so shall he also reap." No kind of outlay yields such a return as that employed in sustaining the Gospel. There are very few congregations too poor to support a minister, but there are hundreds too poor to be without one. The process of remuneration here is very plain. Besides those habits of industry, sobriety, and economy, which a church-going people so generally acquire, there is an immense saving by "keeping the Sabbath and reverencing the sanctuary." What if a family, in moderate circumstances, should be under the necessity of paying thirty, or even forty dollars a year, to support the Gospel? Had they no church, and no minister, this amount twice told would be likely to be squandered in idle visits on the Lord's day, or rides for pleasure. The gain here is all on the side of godliness. Tavern bills, and not the charges of the Gospel, impoverish men. But as a last remark, IV. CONGREGATIONS ARE UNDER THE OBLIGATION OF A FAIR CONTRACT TO SUPPORT THEIR MINISTER WELL. This places the subject in a form, which as honest and honourable men, Christian congregations must surely feel. Common justice demands that, if there be a stipulation between the people and their minister, they should perform their part, as well as he his. To the full benefit of all his time and talents they have a right, and he has a right to expect a comfortable maintenance. This is as much the plain dictate of equity between man and man, as it is the injunction of the word of God. But what is thus proper in itself, is rendered imperative by having been made the subject of a solemn contract. Under circumstances too deeply interesting ever to be forgotten, the ministry promise on their part, to discharge to their people all the duties of faithful pastors, so far as God shall give them strength. But this, like every other contract, is so constructed as to bind both parties. At the time that the ministry pledge themselves before God and his Church to labour for the spiritual good of their congregations, the peo ple on their part pledge themselves with equal distinctness and solemnity, to "afford them all necessary aid and encouragement in the Lord." Nor is this the whole. Besides engaging to raise for their pastor a specified sum, they come under a distinct obligation to "supply him with whatever else they may see needful for the honour of religion and his comfort among them." This may be looking at the matter, in some sense, in a secular light. But while the pastoral relation involves the high interests of the soul, and of the eternal world, these interests themselves never can be properly secured unless the people are punctual to their engagements. The minister cannot be expected to discharge his duty faithfully, if theirs is neglected. the It is clear then, that the vows of God are upon the people, just as distinctly and just as sacredly as they are upon pastor. "He has sworn unto the Most High, the possessor of heaven and earth, and must perform his oath; and they have lifted up their hands unto the Lord, and cannot go back." The obligation is equal, and the guilt of wilful failure is equal also. Let the contract made with a pastor at his settlement be examined; let the instrument be examined as recorded in the "Confession of Faith," and the "Call" made to him, and what is the import of the pledge to supply him with whatever the honour of religion, and his comfort shall require? These were not intended to be idle words. The framers of our excellent book of discipline never threw them in as phrases to finish a sentence, or to round off a period. They were put there to represent a duty, over and above the mere payment of the stipulated salary, provided the minister's comfort and usefulness should require more. these words mean any thing, they mean that the people should act nobly and generously in this matter. To this they are pledged not simply by the formalities of ordinary commercial transactions, but by the hallowed services of religion, and the solemn sanctions of the coming world. If But what is often the fact in relation to this business? Instead of those thousand little tokens of Christian affection, so cheap to the giver and so encouraging to the receiver, the bare salary of the pastor is not punctually paid, perhaps, one year out of ten. It is not the hire of the man who reaps the harvest field that is kept back, but the hire of him who labours to save souls. This is the person whose mind is harassed, and whose hands hang down through neglect. In addition to all his struggles with sin in his own bosom, and all his discouragement arising from the prevalence of depravity around him, he is compelled to submit to the anxiety of an insufficient, and a precarious income. Can this be right? Is it as men in other instances fulfil their contracts with each other? Cases of this sort are constantly occurring. Instead of a punctual payment of the salary quarterly or half-yearly, as pledged in the "Call," at the end of twelve months a deficiency of one-fourth, perhaps, is found to exist. This is carried forward to increase the burden, and augment the difficulty of the coming year. Thus things are suffered to go on until the church property is seriously encumbered, the people become uneasy, the minister is disheartened, and the pastoral relation is dissolved. This is a true account of what is taking place often, in every part of the land. To prevent this, all should feel bound. The deficiency of half a dozen, is the deficiency of the church itself. Nothing is perfectly done, while any thing remains undone. The congregation, as such, ought to see to it that the pastor is comfortably and honourably supported. It is a responsibility upon all, and from which none are free till all are free. The "call" to a minister does not contemplate that he shall be treated hardly. It was not intended that he should subsist on a bare pittance, and what is still more annoying, have this pittance doled out to him in such small and tardy parcels as to lessen its nominal value by one quarter or one eighth. Justice, the Bible, and fair contract, forbid it. If it be a cheap minister that is wanted, such can doubtless be found. But let it be remembered that a stinted salary will not be likely to bring a man in whose labours there can be joy, and under whose influence the church will "wax stronger and stronger." There is a withholding that tends to poverty. The way to prosper is to deal with a generous hand. Above all, let the meanness of keeping back what is due to a minister, under the common, though false idea, that to surround him with poverty, is the way to make him preach better, be scorned. There is something almost despicable in trying to render a man heavenly minded by shortening his allowance of food. Had it any such tendency, it is no part of the duty of the people thus to usurp the prerogatives of heaven, for the sake of clothing their pastor with humility, or filling him with meekness. But such is not the effect of measures of this sort. Ministers do not preach better when they rise up before a people to whose wilful neglect they must trace it that their "barrel of meal has wasted and their cruise of oil failed." They may break their hearts in this way; but if they would have them enter the pulpit with freedom, and life, and confidence, there should be no room in their minds for recollections of an unfulfilled contract. There is a noble experiment now trying in this country, in church as well as in state. We are yet only in the process of proving, whether religion can be sustained by the power of its influences upon the public mind, unaided alike by political patronage and civil benefactions. The old world is looking upon us with an envious eye, and amidst all their cumbersome arrangements for sustaining the Gospel, they predict the failure of the plan. Let us falsify their prophecies. It becomes every American citizen, and especially every member of a denomination so entirely republican in its character as is ours, to see to it that nothing is left undone, in this free country, to secure the full operation of the great principles of religious liberty. We have no state tax to support the church, and let us resolve that there shall never be any need of such a tax. Now let the reader review the positions which have been established. 1. It is equitable and right, that ministers who labour for the welfare of the community, should receive from that community a full and liberal maintenance. 2. God, in both the Old and New Testaments, has laid it down as a great principle in his arrangements for the church, that "they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel." 3. No people can more effectually promote their own interests, than by making generous efforts so to provide for their pastor, as to relieve his mind of all worldly care. And, 4. To this, and nothing short of this, is every congregation bound by the contract which they have made with their minister, and which was ratified on the day of his installation. This is the ground assumed in urging the churches to the faithful performance of their duty. "Finally-whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report-if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." |