and benevolent contributions, taxes, travelling expenses, medicine and medical attendance, repairs-(we think it unnecessary to go farther in our enumeration of items), and observe the apostolic rule of owing no man anything, we confess ourselves utterly unable to comprehend. Such an income must either doom the pastor's household to the condition, in many respects, of that of a common labourer (for it can be clearly shown that after deducting the expenditure imposed on a minister by the necessities of his position, what is left as income, properly so called, from a stipend of L.100, does not exceed the earnings of the humblest artisan who works for two shillings per day), or it must consign him to all the miseries of debt; or if, without getting into embarrassment, he maintains his family in a way somewhat suitable to his position, he must draw on private resources which are independent of his official emoluments. And lightly as the church may think or speak of this last-mentioned case, we maintain that those of our ministry who do this, are among the largest and most liberal donors to our church funds. They give their time, their strength, their youth, their manhood, their talents, their learning, their influence, to the service of the church; and instead of receiving the "hire" of which "the labourer is worthy," they supplement the donation of what they are with the devotement of what they have. Doing the church's work they eat bread which they get, not from her, but from another quarter.

Let the church have a care, lest, willing to let a portion of her ministry be starved, she bring leanness into her own soul. An insufficient ministerial maintenance, arising out of a low standard of Christian giving, argues an unhealthy state of things in a church; and its continuance must react unfavourably on its piety. It is both an effect and a cause of religious declension. Besides, the man who is in straits-who is perpetually harassed by pecuniary obligations which he knows not how to meet-who pursues his studies while the wolf of penury is at the door, and the vulture of care is preying at his heart, is not the man to arrest and enchain an audience by his eloquent utterances, or train a people skilfully in the knowledge of Divine truth by his enlightened, earnest, and carefully prepared teachings. A sufficient maintenance, and an efficient ministry, are more closely connected than is dreamed of by many. "The situation of that man," says Dr Guthrie of Edinburgh, " is far from enviable who is expected to maintain certain appearances in society and has not the power of doing so; who is thrown with a large and generous heart into scenes of distress only to have it wounded by his inability to relieve them; who often feels himself exposed to the suspicion of meanness, when, in point of fact, he and his partner pass many a bitter hour considering how they shall not disgrace the manse, the ministry, and their Master, by standing debtor in the world's books; and whose steps to the house of sorrow, to bridal and to burial scenes, to his study and his very pulpit, are haunted by a spectre-that spectre, debt. The man who has his back loaded with the burden of debt, or the energies of a once elastic mind pressed down by the fear of it; who is called to be respectable in appearances, to be generous in his charities, and hospitable at home, and is denied the means of being so, is cruelly used; he is called to make bricks and refused straw. Feeling that if he had carried to any other market, devoted to any other profession, his industry and unblemished character, his long years and weary nights of study, the genius and talents which God has given him, he would have secured for himself both comforts and affluence; that man may be ready, with God's grace, to carry his Master's cross, yet harassed and distressed, the black shadow of

debt upon his path, with accounts on his table he does not know how to meet, and with children around him, happy in their ignorance of a father's difficulties, whom he does not well know how to feed, and clothe, and get out into the world. Believe me, that such a man is not in the fittest state to write a sermon, or meditate a prayer, or go with sympathising mind to kneel by the bed of death, and weep with them that weep. It is wrong to conceal it. I know there is a great deal of suffering of this kind the world never hears of. You have not heard of it, because there are men, let me tell you, who bring to a better work than his the courage of the Spartan boy, who, rather than expose his shame, suffered the fox that he had stolen and wrapped in his cloak to devour his vitals."

We do not ask that our ministry shall be placed in affluence, or surrounded with the temptations and indulgences of luxury. But we wish to see them lifted above the degradation of poverty. If they struggle with difficulties, they must be degraded in the eyes of the country; and, what is of more consequence, in the eyes of the outstanding population of the neighbourhood in which their lot is cast, and from amongst whom their converts must be gathered. Their poverty must mar their usefulness even among their own flocks--for a degraded ministry cannot be an influential one-nor can that church prosper which does not think it worth her while to raise her spiritual teachers above the contempt of embarrassment.

Let the baneful influence of inadequate ministerial support in deterring youths of talent and respectable connections from entering on the sacred office, and thus diminishing or lowering the quality of the church's future supplies be duly weighed. Dr Guthrie puts this view of the case no less truthfully than graphically, when he says:-"There are dangers in poverty as well as snares in riches, and it is possible to scare away fit and worthy men from this office by offers of a poor and inadequate maintenance. Make a minister's life one prolonged and painful struggle with straitened circumstances, and you will find that talents, though associated with piety, will set in in another direction away from the pulpit; and that the parents who would otherwise have reared some hopeful youth for the church, will shrink from devoting their Samuel to a life of hopeless hardship, satisfying their consciences with this-that he may serve God in another profession. They are shortsighted, indeed, who fancy that poverty provides any protection against unworthy ministers. When you have reduced the stipend down to the wages, or as some of them, in point of fact, may be shown to be, below the wages, of an expert tradesman, what have you gained? What is your security worth? Do you forget that there is a class beneath the

status of a tradesman, beneath even the condition of a common labourer? To these the most miserable provision for the ministry promises advantage. The meaner you make a provision for the ministry, you come the nearer to verify the weighty saying of Matthew Henry, A scandalous maintenance makes a scandalous ministry.""

This question of a proper minimum of stipend is the complement of important measures to which the church is committed, and which should command her warm interest and hearty approval. We refer more especially to her plans of theological training, and the encouragements held out to deserving students. The presbyterial supervision of the members of our theological hall has of late years become increasingly stringent and careful throughout the entire church, so as to ensure the possession by entrants into the ministry of the requisite professional qualifications; and we wish it to be understood that, for the better maintenance of any other than an educated

So.

and thoroughly competent class of men, we do not and will not plead. Our students are also aided by scholarships; and it is right that they should be But to insist on a high rate of qualification, and then reward it with indigence; to pamper the boy, and leave him perhaps to battle with genteel beggary through a laborious manhood, and end his days in penury, seems to us to be the climax of inconsistency. Let us have our church schemes all of a piece, and let us eschew a policy which would lay us open to the merited reproach and ridicule of the world.*

If we are asked by what machinery we would provide the means of effecting this improvement in our financial system, we point in reply to the measure sketched in outline in a report given in to the Synod in 1850, by the Committee on the Support of the Gospel Ministry. In the scheme then recommended we have the elements of such a reform as would in our view meet the case. And here we would take leave to remark, that it is to be regretted that this admirable document, and the other, to which repeated allusion has been made, did not obtain some degree of publicity, so as to be brought more generally before the eye of the church. The report of 1850, containing a most judicious view of the whole subject, was consigned, with all due pomp, to the decent sepulchre of the appendix to the Synod minutes; and we doubt not that it was laid in its resting-place with the wish on the part of some, which bids fair not to be gratified, "requiescat in pace." The other document, which was quoted at the commencement of this paper, was not even honoured with these funeral obsequies. It has not, so far as we know, been sent down to the church in any form. The writer feels himself at liberty to make this passing reference to these valuable documents, as, not having had the honour to belong to either of the committees by whom they were prepared, and never having until now employed his pen on the subject under consideration, he may claim credit for giving an unbiassed and unprejudiced opinion respecting them.

A really adequate measure will include the following things:-It will seek to train the members of our churches to the principle and the habit of regarding the maintenance of Gospel ordinances in the light of a Christian duty. It will contemplate the fixing by our people of the rate of their yearly contributions, under the guidance of Christian motives, and the apportioning of their givings throughout the year, in the twofold shape of seat-rent and Sabbath collection, so as to reach the specified sum. It will propose the enlisting of our elders and managers in the work of applying personally to each member once a-year, for the purpose of ascertaining the rate at which he intends, as one under law to Christ, to contribute for the

* The measure for which we plead would, in the opinion of many, be a better guarantee for a regular supply of deserving students than the best-managed system of scholarships is likely to be without it. This we say with the warmest wishes for the permanence and prosperity of our bursary scheme, to whose promoters, with the able convener of the committee at their head, the church owes a heavy debt of gratitude.

"To secure the systematic development of the resources of congregations for the support of Gospel ordinances, and more especially of the Gospel ministry, it is indispensably necessary-1. That congregations should have an average annual rate of contribution for the members, bearing a proportion to the amount of their expenditure. 2. That the members, as a whole, should make up this average rate among them, in proportion to their means-the necessary deficiency in the case of the poor being supplemented by the larger contributions of the rich. 3. Those having the charge of the financial affairs of congregations should afford an opportunity to each member to say what annual sum he shall contribute for the support of Gospel ordinances, at the rate of so much per week in the form of collection, and so much per quarter or half-year, where the prac.. tice prevails of letting seats, in the form of seat-rents."-Extract from Report.

maintenance of Christian ordinances. It will proceed on the principle that a duly regulated proportion of these contributions, varying of course according to circumstances, shall be applied to the supplementing of stipends which fall below the minimum, and the carrying forward of the other departments of our home mission work. It will prescribe certain presbyterial as well as synodical arrangements, by which a check will be applied against unequal exertion on the part of congregations. Such provisions as these will be the pith and marrow of any scheme which fully meets the exigency. We would fix attention on this consideration, that if all the congregations of the body were to contribute towards the maintenance of Gospel ordinances at the average rate at which a number of our smallest and poorest churches contribute for that purpose-and, in the case of the wealthier portion of the body, might not this be greatly exceeded?—not only would many of those churches which give a stipend less than the contemplated minimum have their income so improved as to be able easily to reach this point, but there would be such a surplus above the expenditure of our wealthier congregations, as would form a fund amply sufficient to lift the minimum stipend of our smallest churches to the proposed sum.*

We would thus have two great religious objects systematically kept before the minds of the Christian people, so as to engage their solicitude and employ their energies—first, the maintenance of Gospel institutions at home; and second, the extension of the Gospel abroad. We would spread the interest of each member of the body beyond the narrow limits of his own congregation, so as to include the entire church, which would come to be viewed, as it ought, in the light of a great home mission for the evangelisation, in connection with other religious bodies, of our land. We would greatly elevate the character, and augment the results of Christian giving among our people. We would practically recognise the connection of a pastor not merely with his own charge, but with the church as a whole. And while inequalities in ministerial income must always exist, arising as they do out of diversities of gifts and other circumstances, yet, by the application of the Scripture principle, that "the abundance of those who have abundance should be a supply for the want of those who have little,” such a measure of "equality" would be ensured as would consolidate the denomination, and make it an impregnable tower of strength.

We are aware that to some this subject is offensive. But the circumstance that there are individuals of illiberal views and feelings in our denomination does not prove that the question should not be considered, or that action should not be taken upon it. Those are the best friends of our church who would rouse her to a sense of her duty in this matter; and we are persuaded that all the sound-hearted among our people, if appealed to on the subject, would say that the time for action has come.

The Voluntary principle is in a special manner committed to our defence and advocacy; and the pursuance of a twopenny-halfpenny policy in the maintenance of the Christian ministry, will never commend it to those sections of the church by which it is repudiated. By all means let there be

* There are several of our smallest and poorest congregations which contribute an average of 20s. per member towards the support of the gospel. The average contribution of each member of the church, as reported in last year's statistics, for the maintenance of ordinances, including all ordinary congregational expenditure, was somewhat less than 15s. Supposing that there are 250 stipends which require to be raised from L.100 to L.150, this would be accomplished by raising the average 1s. 8d. higher. Is it hopeless to attempt this by leading the members of our large congregations to emulate the liberality of the feeblest churches?

discussion and argument in support of the principle; but we submit, that if we aim at the conviction of the gainsayer, we may spare our arguments, unless they be illustrated by our actions. The voluntary practice is the best exponent of the voluntary principle. We are not in the infelicitous position of subsisting on a principle which we distrust and disparage; but we are in the discreditable position of working imperfectly a principle which we honour as scriptural and divinc. We seem to have reached a crisis in the history of dissent, or rather of a self-supporting system of church order and government. Should our denomination prove unequal to it, she must of necessity decline in strength, influence, and usefulness. But we do not doubt that she will, by the grace of her Divine Lord, arise and shake herself from the dust, and by exemplifying better than she has ever yet done the elasticity and energy of his own law in reference to the support of his cause, enter on a career of advancing activity and honour.

T.

THE SLOTHFUL HUNTER-ILLUSTRATION OF PROVERBS XII. 27. PERMIT me, Sir, to offer for the consideration of your readers, a very simple but sufficient illustration of a text which is not made very clear by any of the commentators that I have seen. Proverbs xii. 27-"The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting." On reading this verse one is inclined to ask-what strange form of indolence is this which disinclines a man to the cooking of his food? Is there any man who, from mere slothfulness, would rather eat his meat raw than take the trouble of dressing it at the fire? especially when he had not been too slothful to hunt, and catch, or ensnare it? Every one knows that, in fact, there is nothing a lazy fellow likes better, than sitting at the fire cooking his food. If he could he would spend far more time in that way than in providing it.

Without particularising or criticising the views of others, I proceed to offer my own explanation derived from observation at Calabar. There almost all fish or flesh meat that comes to market, or is stored up for house use, is smoke-dried, in fact, partially roasted, and as black and hard as drying over the fire can make it. When the fishing ground or hunting ground is far from the family residence or market, this mode of preserving the meat becomes absolutely necessary in such a climate; and it is generally more convenient, cheaper, and more effectual than salting would be, in countries where salt is scarce and dear, and the climate both hot and moist.

Now, imagine a slothful man under the pressure of want, or a servant sent by his master, going into the wilds to hunt, to provide food for the family. He snares, or shoots, or spears a beast, be it deer or wild pig. So much of the flesh as he does not immediately require for his own use, he should, if he were a diligent and faithful man, perfectly dry over the fire of his woodland hut in the heat and smoke, and then proceed in his hunting operations, curing as fast as he caught, till he had obtained as much as he could carry home. He should do so, and hasten his return with the provisions for the household. But so does not the indolent man. As long as his first beast lasts him he idles his time, eating, sleeping, and lounging about his hut, and probably losing the half of the animal by not quickly or not perfectly smoke-drying it. At last he returns with little to show for the time he has been away, and the little that he has brought is half-rotten, being only half-dried.