A Monitory LETTER About the MAINTENANCE Of an Able and Faithful Ministry.  
Directed Unto those People, who Sin against, & Sin away the Gospel, by not Supporting the Worthy Preachers of the Gospel.  
A Decree of a National Synod of Reformed Churches at Paris.  
All the Churches shall be desired to shun Ingratitude unto their Ministers, (a Sin too rife among us) & take special care, that they be more Respected, and their Labours better Rewarded, not to Enrich & Fatten them, but to give them a Becoming & Sufficient maintenance.  Duriter profecto et Misere viverent Evangelij Ministri, si ex Libera Populi Contributione ossent Sustentands. Luther. 
Boston, in N. E. Printed in the Year, 1700.   

To J. F. Esq.  
SIR,  
A Famous Ruler in Israel gives us that Report of his own Conduct, Neh. 13 10. 11. I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them; Then I contended for them, and said, why is the House of God forsaken? God has made you a Ruler, even one of the Counsellors & Justices, in our little Israel; and tho', I know, nothing is more distasteful to you, than a Worldly, Slothful, Ambitious Clergy, & you are as far as any man I know, from the Character of, Priest ridden; yet you count no sort of men, more Highly to be Esteemed, than Holy, Prayerful, Watchful, Painful, Humble, & Learned Ministers of the Gospel Because when you were informed, that in many Towns, those Men of God, have not their Portions duly given them, you hoped, that among other ways of helping it, some Good might be done, by a Monitory Letter to the Negligent; you desired one, who has the least occasion for your Cares about him, to compose it, and are your seif at the charge to Publish it, & Scatter it. The Worthy Ministers, whom you thus desire to see well Supported, have their Graces tried by their Temptations, & Live by Faith, Eving the Providence of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Provision that He strangely makes for them What if You should now be an Instrument of some Advantage to them, & because to them, to their Flocks also? You will at least meet with this Recompense; while you Speak comfortably unto them, who teach the Good Knowledge of the Lord, they will in their Secret Prayers before the Lord, Remember You & your Family; And whom they Bless, their God will Bless!   

A Monitory LETTER, about the Maintenance of an Able and Faithful MINISTRY.  
Brethren,  
IF ever you arrive to Blessedness, it must be by Faith, in the Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, who is Revealed and Offered unto you, in the Glorious Gospel of God: And if ever you Enjoy the Offers of the Gospel, it must be by the Preachers of it: Even by the Ministry of men set apart, for the Work of Explaining and Applying, the Great Mystery of Godliness among you.  
A Ministry cannot be upheld without a Maintenance. Now, while some of your Ministers, choose to leave their Salaries unto the voluntary Contributions of the People, there are others, who (sensible of what the Great Voetius writes, Hominum saepe tanta est Injustitia, Fallaeia, Lubricita, ac profanitas, ut Expediat, Contractum intercedere,) do make their Contracts with their people, for their Stipends. But it is well known. That tho' the Maintenance promised unto the Ministers among us, be ordinarily very small, scarce a Competency: and our Ministers are mostly of calvin's mind in this point, (as in all other they are Calvinests,) Consilium dedimus ut Ministris tantum Erogaretur, quantum ad Fragalitatem Ordine suo dignam, sufficeret, non quod ad Luxum redundaret; Enough to supply them, in a credible and suitable Frugality would suffice them: nevertheless, they are often cheated of much, out of that Little, that has been promised unto them. The Ministers not rarely are put off with a Pay, called sometimes by the Name of, Synecdochical Pay, wherein by a certain Figure of Avaricious & Sacrilegious Rhetoric, the part goes for the whole. There are multitudes, who from one end of the year unto the other, do nothing, towards the Support of the Evangelical Ministry; and tho' a Levy do in most places Compel some to do something, yet that something is done grudgingly, as upon Compulsion, & the whole comes not up to all that had been Engaged. If the Ministers now should go to take the Remedy which the Law gives them, for the Recovery of their Arrearages, they would find the Remedy worse than the Disease, and by using the Law, wound the future success of the Gospel While they have been, by the Acts of Assemblies, Exempted from Taxes, they have in reality been Taxed above any one Rank of men whatsoever. Nor does any but the Lord Jesus Christ, who in his Infinite Wisdom order His Holy Servants to Preach under the Cross, know the Temptation that many of them have endured, when they have been defrauded of the Deuce Vowed unto them, & when a, Res angusta Domi, has broken their Spirits, and hindered their Studies, & ruin'd the Liberal Education of their Families. It is their comfort indeed, that the Lord Jesus Christ says to the Angels of the Churches, I know thy Works, & thy Poverty, & thy Patience.  
Now, Sirs, give leave unto one, who tho' he cannot be called, as Rabbi Tarphon was among the Jews of old, The Wealthy Priest, yet is at this Time, as little a Sufferer in this case, as perhaps any man in the Country, to Expostulare the Case a little with you, on the behalf of his more Suffering Brethren throughout the Country.  
In the first place, Although your Ministers rarely, if ever, touch upon it (because they would Preach the Lord Jesus Christ, & not Themselves,) yet I hope, you are not ignorant, That there is the plain, and clear Commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the Maintenance of His Evangelical-Ministry. I pray, Do your Ministers the Right for once, yourselves to Read, without putting Them to Read, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, the Ninth Chapter, from the fourth verse, to the Fourteenth. You shall here find an Inspired Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, with six or seven irrefragrable Reasons, in about nine or ten verses, proving This, which he makes his conclusion, The Lord hath ordained, that they which preach the Gospel, should live of the Gospel. It is then incontestably evident, That if you do not your part, that your Ministers may Live comfortably, you Sin against the Ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ I am astonished, that many a man, who calls himself a Christian, can invent any way to quiet his Conscience, before that positive word of the Lord Jesus Christ, Gal. 6. 6. Let him that is taught in the Word, Communicate unto him that reacheth in all good things. Now because the Deceitful Hearts of men will plead in their own Excuse, I can't afford these Expenses, my Family will want, all that I shall spend that way; the Apostle adds, Be not deceived, God is not mocked. q. d. God knows, that you throw away upon your needless vanities, what you might much better have communicated unto your Teachers. When our Lord sent forth His Ministers, he directed them to expect a Subsistence from those to whom He sent them: And that upon this consideration, Mat. 10. 10 For the Workman is worthy of his meat: & Luk. 10. 7. For the Labourer is worthy of his Hire. What horrid impudence is it now, for the Wolves to bark at the Shepherds, of our Flocks, by the Name of Hirelings, merely because they accept a Maintenance from them? Those Pagans, [for none worthy the Name of Christians, would so directly & expressly contradict our Glorious Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory!] They have certainly forgot what the Apostle Paul writes, a Cor. 11 8 about his Taking Wages (or Hire) of other Churches; tho' he forbore to demand any thing of that at Corinth. That Great Minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, receiving the money, that the Philippians gathered for him, says, Phil. 4 18. It was a Sacrifice, acceptable, well pleasing to God. God required a Maintenance for his Ministers under the Old Testament; yea, tho' their Tribe, was hardly a Fortieth part of the people, yet they had, by computation, as much Maintenance as Three of the Twelve Tribes beside. And when they had part of their Maintenance detained from them, the Almighty God Thundered upon it, Malipiero 3. 9, 10 Ye are cursed with a Cuase, for ye have Rob me: Let there be meat in my House, and prove me now herewith, if I do not pour you out a Blessing. Now the Apostle counted it no weak Argument, that was to be fetched from the Maintenance of Ministers under the Old Testament, for the Maintenance of Ministers under the New. Says he, 1 Cor 9 13 Do ye not know, that they which Minister about Holy Things, Live of the Things of the Temple! And they which wait at the Altar, are partakers with the Altar? Even so they which preach the Gospel should Live of the Gospel. The Ministers of the New Testament, are as worthy of a Maintenance, as those of the Old. And yet they don't ask of you, your Tithes, which was but part of the Levitical Maintenance: but if they might have so much as a Tenth part of what the Levites had, I am yerily persuaded, it would richly content many of them. If Moses took such care for his Ministers, will any man dream, that Jesus (the Son over his House) takes no care at all for His? The word of the Lord Jesus Christ requires of a Minister, 1 Tim 36 That he be given to Hospitality: How is it possible for him to be so, if you be given to Covetousness, and given to Dishonesty, and Cheat him of his Maintenance!  
I beseech you, Sirs, Let Reason and Justice be a little heard, pleading the cause of your Neglected Ministers. Your Ministers demand not their Maintenance, as making a Lucre of Prayers, and Sermons, and Sacraments, and Spiritual Benefits: They are not the Sons of Simon Magus, to make a merchandise of things that are Spiritual; nor are they unmindful of Simon Peter's caution, about, Filthy Lucre. But while they apply themselves unto Spiritual Services, first, it is a vast Labour which they undergo. The Ministry is a most Laborious Employmens', unto all that have any sense of the Account, that they must give of their Stewardship. And sure, a Maintenance is one Thing, in the Honour, belonging to them, that Labour in the Word and Doctrine. And then, they are unavoidably taken off all other ways of nourishing themselves and their Families. Had they been brought up unto another Calling, or, would they yet betake themselves to a meaner Calling, they would probably grow Rich as fast as you. But they confine themselves to their Ministry; because the Lord has Commanded them to give themselves unto it, and, Be wholly in it. It is therefore Barbarous to deny them an agreeable Maintenance.  
Briefly, Your Ministers are desirous to follow their Studies closely; and indeed, if they be not Hard Students, it is impossible they should be Able Ministers of the New Testament. In their Public Discourses, they are not fond of an Off hand Preaching; they be not for Spitting of Sermons; they would not give the Lord that which cost them nothing; they would compose well Studied Meat-Offerings, not only for You O People of the Lord, but also for the Lord of Hosts Himself, that Great King, whose Name is dreadful. It is needful, they should have good Libraries, which, I assure you, are Costly Things: And it is needful, they should not be like the Clerks, who having large Libraries which they seldom looked into, were by the K. of France compared unto men with Crooked Backs, which carried a load they never looked upon; but they must sit much in their Libraries, until they become themselves walking Libraries. Besides all this; the Government of their Churches, takes up no little share of their Time. And they must Visit their Flocks, to pray over the Sick, & Comfort the Bereft, & Instruct the Ignorant, & Relieve the Tempted. & give their best Advice unto the Unadvised. Yea, they must on frequent occasions give themselves to Fasting & Praying in their own Retirements, lest the Devices of Satan (who Desires to Sift them) should in any thing prevail against themselves, & their Flocks. Now, Sirs, are any so forsaken of all Reason, that they will not confess it an inestimable Benefit unto a Town, for to have a Minister, (a Good man, and full of the Holy Spirit, & Faith,) devoting himself unto these Divine Services, for them? Or, Is it Reason, that a man of worth, so Devoted, should by the unworthy Niggardliness, of those, whom he serves, be left wholly to sink under his encumbrances? Or, Is all Reason gone out of the world?  
If your Ministers are prudently Thoughtful about their Maintenance, 'tis because they have Read that Word, 1 Tim 5. 8 If any provide not for his own, he is worse than in Infidel. And those men are truly worse than Infidels, who clamour against an Honourable Provision for the Ministry; the worst of Infidels do honourably Maintain those that are set apart, for the supposed Service of their Souls.  
And that which may make the Reproof to those men, who Rob their Ministers of their Deuce, the more pungent is This; That there is a Sacrilege in the Robbery. 'tis a Robbing of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, in Heaven says, Ye did it unto me.  
Yea, You must allow me, to Advance this Assertion. Every man owes a Portion of his Estate, unto Pious Uses; he owes it unto the Lord: the Great Lord is abused, if that Quitrent be not rendered unto Him. But what Portion of his Estate is it, that every man must Separate, and Consecrate unto Pious Uses, that so all the rest may be clean unto him. I should think, That something about a Tenth part seems the Lest that can be. I know very well, that many do and must give more than such a Portion; and I know the Business of many to Lie so that they can't exactly give just this portion. However, something about this portion, seems a Good proportion. I find our Father Jacob, saying, Gen. 28 21, 22. The Lord shall be my God, & of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the Tenth unto thee. (Sirs, This was a long while before Moses was born!) It seems, That man does not enough own the Lord for his God, who is not willing to give so much as the Tenth unto Him. Say, Will you not be the Seed of Jacob? They who beguile the Lord of this, are not so much as they should be, True Israelites. I could never yet see an Answer, to that Argument; If the Tithes of Abraham, were the Rights of Melchizedek, than the Tithes of Christians, (the Seed of Abraham) are the Rights of the Lord Jesus Christ: For I am certain, That the Lord Jesus Christ is, A Priest after the Order of Melchizelek. It may be, I have a little surprised you with some Fear, that I am going to challenge your Tithes, as due to the Clergy. But I'll put you out of pain as to That; I do not so! The Lord Jesus Christ has expressly provided others, as well as His Ministers, to be the Receivers of His Rents. The Improvement which I am to make of the Argument, is This. Let your Industrious, and Selfdenying Ministers have but One Half, of what one would judge proper to pay to the Glorious Antitype of Melchizedek in Pious Uses, and I will undertake, it shall satisfy them. It will be but Righteousness in you; & you'll enjoy more than a little peace in it. Yea, 'Tis possible, in many Towns, if you would permit your Ministers, to single out only some Two Species, (perhaps, One) of the many Blessings that make up your Harvest, and receive only a Tenth part of those Things, their Maintenance would be better than it is; they would gladly take up with it. This indeed I don't propound, but only argue. Whereas now, they are Exposed unto strange Hardships; and they have over & above given unto them, to study upon, that clause in the Lamentations, Our Wood is Sold unto us!  
Yea, I have been told, That when some of our Ministers, have been visited by the Hand of God with Sickness, and mourning for two or three months together, with the Sighs of Heman, I am shut up, and I cannot come forth! the people have gone to Subtract so much of their yearly Maintenance, as their Sickly months would have come to. Alas, my Friends, common Ingenuity would cry, Shame, upon such do: And Christianity would have bespoke rather an Addition to, than a Substraction from the Maintenance of your Ministers, who are in your Service, and only by the Calamity of Sickness interrupted in the Service  
But, Sirs; what can you imagine to get, by thus withholding more than is meet? Oh, That you would Believe that word of God, Prov. 11. 24, 25. There is that withaldeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to Poverty; whereas, The liberal Soul shall be made Fat If the Spirit of Judas, cause you, to begrutch, all that is laid out upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and His Ministers, it is time for you, to consider, what Spirit ye are of. And if the Impiety of Pinching and Starving your Ministers, be aggravated, by your breaking your Covenants with them, [for oftentimes, men are so much worse than the Pharisees, that they neither pay Tithes nor keep Faith!] I entreat you, to ponder seriously on that awful Word, Jam. 5. 4. Behold, the Hire of the Labourers which is of you kept back by Fraud, Cryeth: and their Cries are entered into the Ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 'Tis a Crime, you see that Cries to God for Vengeance: And I am astonished, That the Impovershing Dispensations of God, which have been upon us, do no more put us, upon doing as that People, of old were called upon, Hag 1 5, 6, 9 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways: ye have sown much, & bring in little: ye looked for much, & lo, it came to little: why? saith the Lord of Hosts: Because of mine House that is waste Your injured Ministers, especially the more Deserving one's, do make as little Complaint as ever they can, against their Neighbours, or unto them. They say with Job, As for me, is my Complaint unto man? If it be, is to little purpose. But, when they see Debts oppressing of them, & the Necessaries of Life hardly allowed unto them & their Families, while their People can throw away upon Pride, & upon Drink, and upon their Diversions, the Money that would have been a thousand times better assigned unto any Virtuous Uses in the world, Then they are Overwhelmed, & they pour out their complaint before the Lord. They mourn before the Lord, in Secret places, & cry out, Lord, I am Oppressed, undertake for me! But an incredible wrath from the Jealous & Wronged Lord Jesus Christ, breaks forth against the People, that are guilty of so great an Oppression▪ I tell you truly, Except it be the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Crying against a People, I know not, whether any Cry more terrible can go up to Heaven, than the Crying wants & Straits of His Holy Ministers. I have been told, That if the Tavern-keepers in many Towns, would bring in true Accounts, of what Money they have received in the Needless visits of their Neighbours to the Taverns, the Sum would vastly exceed all that is in those Towns laid out upon the House of God. This is a Thing that Cries to Heaven, for the Removal of a Despised Gospel; Believe it, Sirs, Believe it.  
'tis a wonderful Damage, that you do yourselves, if it were no more than This; That by taking off your Ministers from their Studies, you Stunt their Abilities, & Cramp their Accomplishments, & lose the vast Good that would thereby accrue unto yourselves. It seems, you would have your Ministers to be the Stars, rather than the Lamps of the Churches, & like Stars, to Shine, without the supply of any Earthly Contributions: But they are Lamps; and how should they do any other than Burn Dim, if you don't supply them? Antigonus admiring to see, the Diligent Philosopher Cleanthes, grinding his own Corn at the Mill, Cleanthes told him, I must either grind or Starve: whereupon Antigonus noted it as a great Indignity, that the Hands whereby Excellent Things had been written, should be galled with Mechanic Labours. But how often do the people cause the Hands which have Baptised them, and which break the Bread of Life unto them, to be Galled with Inferior Labours, for the getting of Bread? They must either Plough, or Starve. This must needs render their Ministry, less Edifying, to you, than it would have been. Yea, your Unrighteousness towards your Ministers may be punished by the Righteous God with Spiritual Plagues; and God may give you up to such a Spirit of Slumber, that their Ministry shall never more be Profitable to you: for the most Lively Ministry in the world, will do good no further than that the Blessing of God accompanies it. When people are called upon to Maintain their Ministers, 'tis added, Gal. 6. 8. He that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life Everlasting. If you begrutch a small Pittance of of your Estates, for the Maintenance of them that are to Feed your Spirits, God may be so provoked, as to Resolve, that you shall Reap no Spiritual Advantages from their Ministry, but remain Barren Figtrees, till you are Cut down for the Fire of His Burning Indignation. Yea, Sirs, If ever you did get Good by your Ministers, one would think, you could not think any thing too Good for them! And what if the provocation should have this Effect also, That God will Take away your Excellent Ministers, & then, either leave you a long while Destitute, & perhaps Divided; or send Successors, that shall not be men of such Good Principles & Properties, as those men of God, that went before them? National Synods of the French Churches complained, That the Ingratitude of people refusing to Contribute unto the Subsistence of their Minister, threatened the Churches with a total Dissipution; and they Ordered, The Sacraments to be Denied unto the Ungrateful, if they remained Obstinate. And the Primitive Churches, I find passed their Consures on such Offenders. We have no such Method of proceeding in our Churches: But the Lord Jesus Christ, after a dreadful mann●r takes the work into His own Hand: He Chastises an Ungrateful people, with Depriving them of Sacraments; and of Ministers too. And, as the French Churches 〈◊〉 Suffered a Total Dissipation, Let us beware left Our Churches also do for their Ingratitude, come under a Total Dissipation This I remember▪ 'twas the complaint of Austin 〈◊〉 his Time, That the Parsimonious Coldness of the Christians, which disposed them to Rob God, & withdraw the Maintenance of His Ministers, was a grand Presage of the Calamities coming by Wars, upon the African Churches: With Soldiers, he says, Rapine will take, what was grudged for the Lord Jesus Christ, and His Ministers. God Avert the Omen.  
But you, Brethren, who in Maintaining your worthy Ministers, will Do justly, & love mercy, & walk humbly with your God, shall find your 〈◊〉 no loser's by your Equity Do but make an Impartial Observation, of others, whether those persons & those places, which Do best for the Maintenance of the Evangelical Ministry, do not Thrive most, under a very senseble Benediction of God, Yea, Do but make a Critical Experiment on yourselves, whether if you'll Do more the next ye● towards the Maintenance of the Evangelical Ministry, y●● don't at the years End, find that you Have more, than you ha● before. However, you may hope, that God will Eminently Prosper unto you, that Ministry, which you Liberally Sustain; & by that Ministry, He will convey to your Souls, those Benefits, the Gain whereof is better than fine Gold. God will strangely Hear the Prayers of your Obliged Ministers for you, on frequent occasion, in this world. And in the world to come, you are likely to be the Crown of your Ministers, & They your Joy, before the Lord Jesus C●●●●t, in those Fruit●●●s, which Eye hath not seen, & Ear hath not heard. With these Intimations, I remain,  
An Unknown, but Hearty, Servant of the Churches.