£ihtavy of 1:he t:heolo0ical ^tminavy 
 
 PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 A . G . Cameron, Ph . D . 
 
 "B^/O 
 
THE 
 
 HIRELING PREACHER 
 
 A SERMON ON JOHN X. 13. 
 
 BEING AN EFFORT TO TRACE THE REAL DISTINCTION BETWEEN 
 THE GOOD MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE HIRELING. 
 
 BY ONE WHO HAS GIVEN HIMSELF '-CONTINUALLY TO PRAYER 
 
 AND THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD" FOR THESE 
 
 LAST EIGHTEEN YEARS. 
 
 15 
 
 Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. — Favl to Timotht. 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 
 i^UBLlSHED FOR THE AUTHOR. 
 1847, 
 
SERMON. 
 
 "The hireling fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep."— 
 
 John x, 13. 
 
 Our text is a part of that well-known parable called the Sheepfold, 
 which was designed to illustrate the nature, duties, and responsibilities 
 of the gospel ministry. In the first place the church of God is com- 
 pared to a sheepfold, where the sheep are to find their greatest comfort 
 and security. In the second place, the children of God are compared 
 to sheep— because they are supposed to be harmless, meek, patient, 
 tame, and tractable. In the third place, the faithful minister of the 
 gospel is compared to a good shepherd— because he has entered 
 the ministry through a divine call, and under the influence of sound 
 motives, and the spirit of sacrifice : "He enteroth in hy the door"— 
 because the Spirit of God opens his way into the hearts of his 
 hearers so that he becomes the instrument of their salvation : " to him 
 the porter openeth "—because he instructs the people, does not take 
 the fat and fleece without doing the work : " the sheep hear his voice "— 
 because he is well acquainted with his people, he knoweth them byname; 
 ho acquaints himself with their spiritual condition, and thus he is able 
 to build them up in the faith : " he calleth his own sheep by name "— 
 because he leadeth them out, does not lord it over God's heritage— 
 because he goeth before them ; that is, he shows a good example, ex- 
 plains the depths of experimental religion : " the sheep know his voice, 
 look up, and find their food. 
 
 In the fourth place, the bad minister, who enters upon, or endeavors 
 to prosecute this calling through motives of ease, honor, or avarice, is 
 here compared to a hireling shepherd, whose interest lies in the fleece 
 and the fat. To describe this character, draw the distinction between 
 a good and a bad minister, and remove impressions under which the 
 innocent have suffered in common with the guilty, are the chief designs 
 of this discourse. However, before we undertake to carry out these 
 designs in detail, we shall ofler the following thoughts as antecedent 
 
 thereunto: — _ , ■ ^^ 
 
 Hire according to the usual application of that term, implies money; 
 and yet there are other unworthy motives which influence worldly- 
 minded ministers besides those derived merely from the love of money. 
 The love of money, though in many cases the ruhng passion, is not so 
 
in all ; indeed, we are far from thinking that its influence, in this case, 
 is as great as that of some other passions. A desire to live at ease, to 
 provide against want, to be distinguished from the crowd, &c., are much 
 greater. 
 
 Any one of these desires may predominate to the partial exclusion 
 of all the others. The minister may sigh for distinction, for ease, for 
 a competency, for fame, for power— either of these—while money may 
 be no consideration ; and as a remuneration for ministerial services may 
 be considered sinful. 
 
 The man who is ruled by any one of these desires, manifests a dis- 
 position similar to that from which the other desires arise : they are all 
 "of the earth earthy." It follows, therefore, that he who has the 
 disposition, whatever may be the modes of its development, is virtually 
 and really the hireling. Keeping the above in view we shall first 
 inquire, 
 
 I. From what does the hireling flee ? John Wesley, in conversing 
 with his preachers respecting their duty to God, to themselves, and to 
 one another, says, " O let us herein foll(jw the example of St. Paul. 
 (1.) For our general business : " Serving the Lord with all humility of 
 mind.^' (2.) Our special work : ' Take heed to yourselves and to all the 
 flock.' (3.) Our doctrine : ' Repentance toward God, and faith in our 
 Lord Jesus Christ.' (4.) The place : ' I have taught you publicly, and 
 from house to house.' The object and manner of teaching : ' I ceased 
 not to warn every one, night and day, with tears.' (5.) His innocence 
 and self-denial herein: 'I have coveted no man's silver or gold.' 
 (6.) His patience : ' Neither count I my life dear unto myself.' And 
 among all our motives let these be ever before our eyes: (1.) The 
 
 church of God which he has purchased with his own blood. 
 
 (2.) ' Grievous wolves shall enter : yea, of yourselves shall men arise 
 speaking perverse things.' Write this upon your hearts, and it will 
 do you more good than twenty years' study. Then you will have no 
 time to spare : you will have work enough. Then, likewise, no 
 preacher will stay with us who is as salt that has lost its savor. ' He 
 ' fleeth.' " John Wesley was a true prophet ; for these are the duties 
 and responsibilities from which scores have fled, to take refuge in posts 
 or places where duties and sacrifices are smaller, and emoluments are 
 greater — and still they flee. 
 
 L He fleeth from the self-denial of his ofiice. "If any man will 
 come after me," says Christ, "let him deny himself !" let him not live 
 to himself, follow his own desires, or suff'er his own will to be the 
 rule of action. Many desire, and some try to follow Christ, who do 
 it, not in the way of self-denial, but of self-pleasing. Now all that is 
 required to make a good man is required to make a good minister, and 
 - much more ; for if he takes one step into the world his people will 
 take two: he has both a personal and an official character to sustain. 
 A good minister— forgetting himself, his interest, convenience, ease, 
 and comfort— labors for the welfare and salvation of others. " Not 
 seeking mine own profit," says Paul, " but the profit of many, that they 
 may be saved." But " a bad minister, or a hireling, is sure to ob- 
 serve what the other forgets, and to forget what the other observes." 
 
2. He fleetli from the labor of his office. Few are willing to admit, 
 at first thought, that the office of a gospel minister is one of labor, owing, 
 perhaps, to the circumstance that it is a labor more excluded from 
 public gaze than that of other occupations. But, though it be laborious, 
 it does not necessarily follow that every professed minister is a laborer. 
 Such is the spirituality that attaches to the duties of this sacred office 
 that no man who is otherwise than spiritually-minded will, or 
 can discharge them. As one of the holiest and most faithful ministers 
 of modern times has observed, " To such this employment would be 
 mere drudgery." Hence every minister who possesses the characteris- 
 tics of a hireling, shrinks with instinctive dread from those toils and 
 trials for which he has neither capacity nor inclination. 
 
 3. He fleeth from the sacrifices of his office. It is a common 
 opinion among those who on this subject think superficially, that on 
 entering the ministry there is more of this world to gain than to lose : 
 certainly this was not the case when it was instituted, or Peter never 
 would have said, " Lo, we have left all and followed thee." The spirit 
 of the ministry is truly and emphatically a spirit of sacrifice : hence, 
 inspired with this spirit, the man of God leaves all, whatever that all 
 may be. But, alas, what room still for the apostolic remark: "All 
 seek their own, and not the things of Jesus Christ !" 
 
 4. He fleeth from the reproaches of his office. Evangelical religion 
 almost as necessarily implies reproach as an efl'ect does a cause : the 
 same remark is true of an evangelical ministry — to such the reproaches 
 of Christ, and the treasures of Egypt, are as incompatible now as they 
 were in the days of Moses. They, therefore, who choose the treasures 
 of Egypt, or, in other words, the wealth and fame of this world, must, 
 from the nature of the case, shim the reproaches of Christ. It is the 
 true minister alone who can sing, 
 
 " The love of Christ doth me constrain 
 To seek the wandering souls of men, 
 With cries, entreaties, tears to save, 
 To snatch them from a gaping grave, 
 For this let men revile my name. 
 No cross I shun,'! fear no shame." 
 
 5. He fleeth from the responsibilites of his office. " When I say 
 unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die ; and thou givest him not warn- 
 ing, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his 
 life ; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will 
 I require at thy hand" Ezek. iii, 18. To this doctrine the hireling is 
 an entire stranger — he is " not his brother's keeper ;" having been care- 
 less about his own salvation, he thinks less about the salvation of 
 others. Not being commissioned by Christ, and never having been 
 instrumental in bringing souls to Christ, he has no gospel affinity for 
 nor interest in the flock; he is the shepherd "whose own the sheep 
 are not !" 
 
 6. He fleeth from the cares and anxieties of his office. " He careth 
 not for the sheep." He who loves the great Shepherd, will on that 
 account love the sheep; and he who loves the sheep, will in the 
 
6 
 
 same proportion care for them : thus the apostle considered " the care 
 of all the churches" his greatest burden. But he who does not love 
 his work does not care for his work ; he may perform a certain amount 
 of labor, and yet be careless about its results; he may exercise his 
 pastoral office over many souls, and yet care little for the peace, 
 purity, and growth of those souls. In short, he is, as a quaint author 
 says, " a self-seeker, a time-server, a pleasure-taker, an enem.y to God, 
 a traducer of souls, a wolf in sheep's clothing, a thief, and a murderer, 
 who ' cometh not but to kill and to destroy.' " 
 
 " worthless and hapless men," says Adam Clarke, "better for you 
 had ye never been born! Vain is your boast of apostolic authority, 
 while ye do not the work of apostles. Vain your boast of orthodoxy, 
 while ye neither show nor know the way of salvation. Vain your 
 pretensions to a divine call, when ye do not the work of evangelists. 
 The state of the most wretched of the human race is enviable com- 
 pared to that of such ministers, pastors, teachers, or preachers." 
 
 II. Why the hireling fleeth. " Because he is a hireling." The 
 term hireling is to be understood in this ipart of our subject as we 
 have already described it ; and as bad principles may always be con- 
 sidered the origin of bad practice, when we see the one we may 
 reasonably anticipate the other. " What," says one, " makes those 
 who have the charge of souls in trying times to betray their trust, and 
 in quiet times not to mind it ? What makes them false, and trifling, 
 and self-seeking?" 
 
 1. Not because they are supported by the flock. Some contend 
 that the simple circumstance of a minister being supported by his 
 people must necessarily make him a hireling ; they can see the trans- 
 action in no other light than that of a quid pro quo. This is the view 
 which it is supposed the society of Friends, or Quakers, so called, take 
 of it. The present race of Friends do to a great extent believe thus, 
 holding that no minister is entitled to a support who has wherewith to 
 maintain himself. The Friends of Robert Barclay's day did not deny 
 the justice and propriety of providing for those who labored in the 
 ministry : they restricted it, however, to the time that the minister is 
 actually engaged in traveling and preaching, so as to be entirely taken 
 from secular labors ; for their belief in a special inspiration in public 
 speaking leading them to consider all previous study as unlawful, they 
 of course concluded that no more time was occupied in the ministry 
 than that consumed simply in traveling and preaching. Who, then, 
 in denying to the faithful minister his right, would shelter themselves 
 behind this example, unless they hold to the same belief of a special 
 inspiration in public speaking that has always distinguished the 
 Friends ? 
 
 2. Not because they receive a salary from the flock. There are 
 those whose consciences are so exceedingly tender about paying 
 money to ministers, and whose minds are so discriminating in their 
 reflections upon the subject, that they can see a great difl'erence between 
 the iniquity of receiving a support, and that of receiving a stipulated 
 sum as a salary ; but the difl^erence lies more in the sound of the 
 fcerms than the thing. The only probable difference is, that a salary 
 
may be more than a support ; and even this probability is greatly 
 weakened from the fact that in most cases it is loss. But even 
 supposing it should be more than a support, who is more suitable to 
 appropriate a surplus than he who teaches us " to do good and to com- 
 municate ?" None, certainly. In fact the salary of every ministerought 
 to enable him to be an "example to his flock" in hospitality and 
 benevolence as well as other good deeds. So much negatively ; or, in 
 other words, so much to show that receiving and using a salary do 
 not make a minister a hireling in the sense of our text : it is not this 
 that makes him flee. He fleeih, as the text tells us, " because he is 
 a hireling, and careth not for the sheep." The reason for his conduct 
 lies in his character. The man acts like himself. 
 
 (1.) He fleeth because he entered the ministry as a trade, or as a 
 road to wealth and honors. Motives of self-interest, influencing men 
 to provide for themselves and family, are regarded as innocent and 
 laudable in the afi^airs of this life ; but for a man to enter the Christian 
 ministry, under the predominance of such motives, is a desecration, 
 and shows an utter destitution of those benevolent and disinterested 
 feelings which are regarded as an essential qualification for a 
 gospel minister : it follows, therefore, of necessity, that a man with 
 such motives will and must either neglect his work or fly from it. 
 
 (2.) He fleeth because a hireling has not that interest in, or 
 attachment for, the flock which a proprietor is supposed to have. 
 This is the principal point which distinguishes the hireling from all 
 faithful ministers ; for if the bad minister may be styled a hireling, 
 from a parity of reasoning the good minister may be styled a proprietor: 
 not because he is absolute owner, and disposer of the flock, but because 
 his principles are analogous to those that influenced Jesus Christ, that 
 great Shepherd of the sheep, who laid down his life for the sheep, 
 that he (the good minister) might know how to lay down his life for 
 the brethren. 
 
 The hireling feels no interest in or attachment for the flock, because 
 it was not his by a regular transfer. 
 
 " He was a wolf, in clothing of the lamb. 
 That stole into the fold of God, and on 
 The blood of souls, which he did sell to death, 
 Grew fat !" 
 
 The hireling feels no interest in, or attachment ybr, the flock, because 
 the sheep are not the fruit of his faith and prayer. And besides this, 
 he knows not how to appreciate such fruit. He is not able to say, 
 " Are ye not my work in the Lord ?" 1 Cor. ix, 1. 
 
 The hireling has no interest in, or attachment /or, the flock, because 
 he has not those bosvels of compassion which lead the good shepherd 
 to " gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom." 
 " The love of Christ constraineth us !" Without this incentive a minis- 
 ter will tire without labor, in the midst of care be careless, and flee 
 when no man pursueth. It is not in such a man, nor does it belong to 
 such a man, to do better. 
 
8 
 
 From the train of reflection into which we have been led by the 
 language of our text, the following conclusions maj'^ be drawn : — 
 
 First. That, according to the appointinent of God, a gospel minister 
 may receive a salary, or " wages ^ from the church, vnthout being a hire- 
 lino- in the sense of our text. Nothing can be more conclusive than this : 
 what God appoints must be right ; and although abused by man, can- 
 not, on that account, be considered wrong. 
 
 " Under the Mosaic economy God enjoined that the ministers of 
 religion should be supported. In appealing to the law, it is not our 
 design to do more than introduce a principle which it recognized, 
 and which Christ and the apostles acknowledged to be of equal force 
 under the gospel economy. Hence Paul said to the Corinthians, 
 ' Who goetli a warfare any time at his ov/n charges ? who planteth a 
 vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, 
 and eateth not of the milk of the flock ? Say I these things as a man ? 
 or saith not the law the same things also ? For it is written in the 
 law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth 
 out the corn. Doth God take care for oxefi ? Or saith he it altogether 
 for our sakes ? For our sakes no doubt this is written : that he that 
 plougheth should plough in hope ; and that he that thresheth in hope 
 should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual 
 things, is it a great thing i^ we shall reap your carnal things ? If 
 others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather ? Never- 
 theless we have not used this power : but suffer all things, lest we 
 should hinder the gospel of Christ. Do ye not know that they which 
 minister about holy things live of the things of the temple ? and they 
 who wait at the ahar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the 
 Lord ordained tha; they which preach the gospel should live of the 
 gospel.' 1 Cor. ix, 7-14. 
 
 " It is enjoined by the example of Jesus Christ. It is supposed by 
 most persons tha', our Lord wrought at the trade of a carpenter 
 previous to* his entering upon the public ministry; but there is no 
 record of his using this occupation or any other ever after : he deemed 
 it proper to discontinue this employment from the time he was anointed, 
 by the Holy Spirit, to preach the gospel of the kingdom. As he came 
 not ' to be ministered unto, but to minister,' we might have expected 
 that he would rather give than receive : and to him who wrought mira- 
 cles to meet the exigencies of the starving thousands who attended his 
 ministry, it had been easy to create all that was necessary for him and 
 his attendant band. He chose however to cast himself on the liberality of 
 his hearers, to live upon the contributions of those whom he was serv- 
 ing ; for in additioa to the entertainment which he received wherever 
 he went, preaching the gospel, certain women who followed ' ministered 
 to him of their substance.' Luke v'm, 3. When he sent his apostles a 
 short excursion, while he was yet with them, he charged them thus : 
 * As ye go preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the 
 sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely ye have 
 received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in 
 your purses ; nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither 
 shoes, nor yet staves ; for the workman is worthy of his meat.'' Matt. 
 
X, 7-10. Why send them without scrip or purse? Why 1 Doubtless 
 because he intended that those to whom ihey ministered should enter- 
 tain and support them. It is enjoined also by apostolic precept and 
 example. After the Spirit had descended on the day of Pentecost, the 
 apostles gave themselves up so completely to the work of the ministry 
 that the alms of the iaithful were not sufficiently spiritual for their 
 hands. They said, therefore, * It is not reason that we should leave 
 the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out 
 among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and 
 wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give 
 ourselves continttally to prayer and the ministry of the word.'' Acts 
 vi, 2-4. 
 
 " In those letters to the ministers Timothy and Titus, in which Paul 
 portrays the character and describes the duties of the Christian pastor, 
 he says, ' Give thyself wholly to these things, that thy profiting may 
 appear to all.' ' No man that warreth entangleth himself with the 
 affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a 
 soldier.' 2 Tim. ii, 4. It is objected that Paul himself is an exception 
 to this rule. But the objection admits that the rule is, that ministers 
 should be supported by the people of their charge. How strange, then, 
 is the perversion whicli makes the exception the rule, and the rule an 
 exception ? And for v/hat reason did Paul make himself an exception 
 to that which he declared the Lord ordained should be the general 
 practice? Because there were some, among the first churches, who, 
 being ill-affected to his person, his ministry, and doctrine, M'ould gladly 
 have seized any opportunity to charge him with sinister motives. He 
 determined, therefore, to cut off all occasion, ' from them who desire 
 occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.' 
 2 Cor. xi, 12. Who, therefore, can require their minister to imitate 
 the apostle in thus abstaining to receive support from those to whom 
 he ministered, without mnking the unenviable admission, that they im- 
 itate the ill-disposed persons who view the ministry with an evil eye? 
 For this reason our missionaries among the heathen are obliged, at first, 
 to support themselves, or to be assisted by the churches at home ; be- 
 cause we cannot expect idolaters to contribute to the support of a 
 religion, the truth and value of which they have yet to learn. 
 
 " But, after all, it was only at certain intervals, and in particular 
 places, that Paul labored, v/orking with his own hands to minister to 
 his wants ; for we read most distinctly of the contributions made to 
 his support by the disciples of Christ. One beautiful acknowledg- 
 ment of their liberality may well suffice : ' In Thessalonica, ye Philip- 
 pians sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a 
 gift ; but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have 
 ail and abound; I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things 
 which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice 
 acceptable, well pleasing to God ; but my God shall supply all your 
 need accordingto his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.' Phil, iv, 16-19. 
 Even in Corinth, where the apostle received nothing from the church 
 he served, he was assisted by churches at a distance : ' And when I 
 was present with you and wanted, I was chargeable to no man ; for that 
 
10 
 
 which was lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia 
 supplied ; and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome 
 unto yon, and so will I keep myself.' 2 Cor. xi, 9."* 
 
 In the chapter immediately following the one from which the pre- 
 ceding is quoted, he says : " I am become a fool in glorying ; ye have 
 compelled me ; for I ought to have been commended of you ; for in 
 nothing am 1 behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. 
 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you, in all patience, 
 in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. For what is it wherein ye 
 were inferior to other churches, except it he that I myself was not bur- 
 densome to you? FORGIVE ME THIS WRONG !" 2 Cor. xii, 11-13. And 
 a wrong it certainly was, inflicted upon their reputation, in holding 
 them up to the world as a church receiving the services of a minister 
 without yielding him a support. Their case, however, was relieved by 
 this circumstance — what they lost in their own reputation they gained 
 in that of their minister; because the course of the apostle served to 
 silence the objections and inuendoes of his calumniators. 
 
 The original Quakers, so called — and* already referred to, as differ- 
 ing from the society which now bears that name — delivered this testi- 
 mony on the subject in question : " We fully acknowledge that there 
 is an obligation upon such to whom God sends, or among whom he 
 raiseth up a minister, that, if need be, they minister to his necessities. 
 Secondly. That it is lawful for him to receive what is necessary and 
 convenient." This language, as we understand it, teaches the doctrine 
 that Paul taught, and that all evangelical Christians believe, upon this 
 subject. The words necessity and convenience, however, are rather, 
 convertible terms when it comes to money, and none the less so for 
 being found in the vocabulary of a Quaker, so called ; and, for aught we 
 can see, a preacher, or even a preacheress, among Quakers, so 
 called, might degenerate into hirelings on the plea of necessity and con- 
 venience. 
 
 Secondly. We conclude that a minister may have the disposition, or 
 leading characteristics of a hireling, vnthout receiving a salary or a support 
 from the church. This may seem like a contradiction in terms — to be 
 a hireling without receiving a hire ; and yet who does not discover 
 that if a minister may serve the church from secular inducements, he 
 may refuse that service from the same cause ? We are greatly mis- 
 taken in our estimate, if, in this day, there cannot be found the greater 
 number who have relinquished the active duties of the minister, or been 
 prevented from beginning them, by a belter prospect of worldly gain 
 from some other quarter than can be found in the funds of the church. 
 Yes, indeed, we seriously apprehend iha'. the love of money and ease 
 keeps more men out of the gospel ministry than it spoils in it ; one goes 
 to his farm and another to his merchandise, and their ministerial office 
 becomes a mere secondary matter — its functions going on and off with 
 their first-day coats. "They are greedy dogs which can never have 
 enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand; they all look 
 to their ow7i way, every one for his gain from, his quarter." Isaiah 
 Ivi, 11. 
 
 » See Bennett's Sermon on the obligations of the church to support its ministers. 
 
11 
 
 Thirdly. If a minister may possess the leading characteristics of a 
 hireling with or loithout a salary or support, then ive conclude that those 
 ivho are in the practice of applying the opprobrious epithet, " a hireling 
 priest," ought to learn to distinguish between those who use the office well, 
 and those who abuse it. Let a minister be supported by a si'ipend, or 
 salary, and, in the estimation of some, there needs no further proof I'hat 
 he is a hireling ; he m:iy preach Uke Peter, labor and siiHer like Paul, 
 have innumerable seals to his ministry, l;iy down his life for the sheep' 
 and yet in the estimation of such he must be a hireling. But, on the 
 other hand, a minister may love the world, grasp after the world nioht 
 and day, preach from the impulse of the moment, live at ease in Zion, 
 let the people go quietly to the devil, but because he receives no 
 salary (and indeed he deserves none) he is the " true shepherd that 
 careth for the sheep." " Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, for ye pay 
 tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weio-htier 
 matters of the law— judgment, mercy, and faith: ye blind guides, 
 which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." Matt, xxiii, 23, 24. 
 
 Those who class all salaried ministers indiscriminately with hire- 
 lings, try to tread in the footsteps, and actually adopt the phraseology, 
 of Fox, Barclay, Penn, and other primitive Quakers, upon this subject, 
 as though the religious abuses of their age and country were precisely 
 the same now: whereas there can be no coi^.iparisnn. They bore their 
 testimony against hirelings, in the seventeenth century, during a general 
 decay of religion, when the clergy were supported by tiUies^ when 
 their salaries were enormous, and their covetousness, luxury, and 
 wickedness, without a parallel. But now we are near the middle of the 
 nineteenth century, in a land of civil and religious liberty, amid a 
 glfrious revival of evangelical religion, where ministerial support 
 is voluntary, when the salaries of ministers are as small as they were 
 then large, and when luxury in the iamily of a minister may be con- 
 sidered an anomaly. 'J'he testimony of Fox, Barclay, Penn, and others, 
 may have done well in England during the reign of Charles the Second, 
 and his contemporary Cromwell ; but if those valiant men were living 
 now they would see more to approve than condemn, and we are con- 
 fidently of opinion, if many of their followers understood their principles 
 better, they would know better how those principles should be 
 applied. 
 
 Fourthly. As our Lord has said, " Beware of false prophets which 
 come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves, ye 
 shall know them by their fruits," we conclude that the whole affair is nar- 
 rowed down to this : — who has the best fruit ? 
 
 1. How will those gospel ministers who gain their subsistence from 
 some secular calling compare in ability with those who are supported 
 by the church ? Observation could answer this question with an array 
 of facts which no one could gainsay ; but common sense could give 
 the answer if observation were silent ; for, in the nature of things, a man 
 can better qualify himself for one pursuit, than for two ; especially if 
 those pursuits are utterly wanting in affinity, as is preaching the gospel 
 and merchandising, farming, the practice of physic, or law, or any other 
 " affair of this life ;" they are all entangling. The head is liable to be 
 
12 
 
 filled with schemes for gain, the best affections of the heart paralyzed 
 with covetoiisness, and the apostolic precept, " Study to show thyself 
 approved unto God, a workman that needeih not to be ashamed, righily 
 dividing the word of truth," (2 '^I'im. ii, 15,) lost in the jingle of dollars 
 and cents. 
 
 There is nothing in the nature and workings of this high and holy 
 calling more apparent than this : — he that devotes himself to it should 
 be a man of one work. God has evidently so ordered it ; and attempts 
 to divide the time, or mind, or heart of any man, between two callings, 
 especially those which are adverse in their natures, is met and mocked 
 by failure in the duties and obligations of one or the other. So that 
 the remark, " He is a good farmer, a good mechanic, a good merchant, 
 &c., but he is a poor preacher," is an illustration of what we consider a 
 self-evident truth. " I am astonished at thee," said a Quaker preacher, so 
 called, to one who had departed from the " testimony of Friends," touch- 
 ing hirelings, " that thou shouldest pay thy money to support hirelings ! 
 I would as soon think of taking ray neighbor's money from his pocket, as 
 to take money for preaching." " It would be as bad in thee," was the 
 reply, " but in the case of a man called and qualified it is perfectly 
 correct." The same man, and we are under the impression at the 
 same time, boasted that all his reading was confined to the Bible, the 
 economy of human life, and the village newspaper. Although a 
 boast, it would seem to have sounded well, because the Bible was in it; 
 and yet not so well either, if by the Bible he meant a secondary rule of 
 faith and practice. 
 
 But another and by no means an uncommon result, in trying to unite 
 the service of tables and the ministry of the word, is to fail in both. 
 The mind being kept in a state ofvacilkincy — application, constancy, and 
 perseverance, are out of the question : the two pursuits entrenching alter- 
 nately upon each other, they are, in fact, devoured one of another. 
 
 2. what have they done in the cause of evangelization who have 
 been carrying on a crusade for two centuries against those they are 
 pleased to denominate hirelings ? In addition to the flood of light shed 
 upon the world respecting those wicked men called hireling priests, 
 that is, salaried ministers, they have taught, in a singular and mystical 
 phraseology, what the church of Christ had never before learned. 
 First, that the Holy Scriptures are not the " adequate primary rule of 
 faith and manners," " but a secondary rule ;" " the Spirit is the first 
 and principal leader ;" thus making the Spirit our rule, and not the 
 sacred Scriptures. Secondly. That all forms of prayer, singing 
 psalms or hymns, preaching and praying at set limes, are superstitious 
 and abominably idolatrous. Thirdly. That "silence is a principal 
 part of God's worship ; that is, men's silting silently together, ceasing 
 from all outward forms — from their own words and actings, in the natu- 
 ral will and comprehension, and feeling after the inward seed of life." 
 Fourthly. That " the breaking of bread by Christ was but a figure, 
 and ceases in such as have obtained the subtance," theieby making 
 void the very words of our Lord. 
 
 They have borne a steady and uniform testimony against those 
 wicked things called steeple houses ; against the use of titles, such as 
 sir, your honor, most noble, the reverend, &c. Also against kneeling, 
 
13 
 
 prostrating or bowing the body, or uncovering the head to men, using 
 the plural, you, instead ol the singular, thee ; against too many buttons 
 on the coat; its cut, color, &c, &c. ^ 
 
 The thing in which they appear to have failed most signally, was in 
 se ting forth clearly and lorcibly the doctrines of repcnt.lcejauh, and 
 hobness; and in this respect they failed m the firft instance, not so 
 
 Z^I^Jnl "T\ "TT '" P'"'^^^''^^ ^^^^«^' ^« ^ consecutive Scrip- 
 tural understandmg of them ; and this was, perhaps, attributable more 
 to the Ignorance and errors of the times than to anything else. And 
 coming as they did from the bosom of the English Church, where the 
 leaven of Popery was still hid, (that is, justification by works,) it required 
 a mighty struggle with self to escape its pernicious influence-many 
 never did : even Barclay, the great expounder of Quakerism, so called 
 t a s under this imputation. And would it be any marvel if those who' 
 folow the theology of his Apology should be found in the slme 
 dilemma? This being the case, what excellence in word, or deed 
 vvould constitute an offset to this great fundamental ? in fact, without it 
 tnere is no gospel excellence. 
 
 The man may be a good, plausible, moral lecturer, who can 
 address himself with force to the understanding, or whose eloquence 
 may fall with mehing strains upon the heart ; he may devote his time, 
 his goods, and his life, to the service: but without an experimenta 
 knowledge of justifying faith he cannot be an evangelist ; he canno 
 preach the gospel, and gospel fruit cannot follow ; uifidels, skeptics 
 and formalists, may admire, but the real sheep of the fold will neither 
 follow him, nor hear his vdice. 
 
 3. What has been done by the hirelings, " so called '" Or, in other 
 words, what have the salaried ministers done, in contradistinction to 
 hose who, on that account, condemn them ? Have they fled ? have 
 they shunned truth or duty ? We are far from pronouncing an unquali- 
 fied euloguim upon this or any class of men, knowing that most rules 
 have then- exceptions. Too many, we fear, have rendered the minis- 
 try a mere emolument, and some have reduced it to a do wnriaht sinecure • 
 our object is rather to inquire what has resulted from the labors of 
 tnese men as a body. 
 
 With whom do we find in our own land, and under our own obser- 
 vation, the most uniform and efiectual gospel instrumentality ? We micrht 
 reply, with those who acknowledge the principle that "the laborer" is 
 worthy of his hire " and have the most uniform and effectual system 
 for the support of their ministers. The men of God have gone 
 forth, not as some would vainly teach, with "their own money " in 
 their pockets biit " without purse or scrip," to cast themselves upon the 
 providence of God, and the solemn obligations of those whom in word 
 and doctrine they serve. This plan being founded on the word, and 
 in the wisdom of God, has been signally owned and blessed of God. 
 whenever and by whomsoever adopted. Before this divinely-originated 
 and heaven-favored plan " the mountains and the hills have broke forth 
 into singing. 
 
 Who in our day is found leaving the ninety and nine, and going into 
 the widerness ?— the hireling, " so called." Who, on the confines of 
 
14 
 
 civilization, far from lionie and kindred, declares to the rude and uncul* 
 tivated the unsearchable riches of Christ? — the hireling, "so called." 
 Who hears from a distant dreary land the Macedonian cry, and hastes 
 responsive to the call? — the hireling, "so called." Who is most 
 active in producing men and means to carry the gospel to heathen 
 lands, and in spreading its genial influence amid the withering curse of 
 paganism ? — the hireling, " so called." 
 
 And should we view this subject in retrospect, what a long line of 
 holy, devoted, self-sacrilicing, and useful men stand up before us : 
 whose memory, though more than doubly honored for their labors, 
 must be assaulted by the reproaches of fanaticism for having " taken 
 money for preaching ;" or what is regarded as the same thing, for 
 suffering themselves to be supported by a salary. That great evangelist 
 of the last century, who devoted sixty-five years, out of eighty- 
 eight, to the sacred ministry — preached forty thousand sermons — gave 
 away one hundred and fifty thousand dollars — traveled two hundred 
 and twenty-five thousand miles — left at his decease nearly one million 
 of souls as the fruit, directly or indirectly, of his toil, and declared 
 with his lips and with his pen, through that long life, that if he died 
 worth more than ten pounds the world might call him a thief and 
 a robber — I say that man falls under the ban of this uncompromising 
 and invincible prejudice — he too was a hireling, " so called." Indeed 
 all the great evangelists of the last century were hirelings ; so also were 
 those bold and daring spirits of the sixteenth century, that broke the 
 iron yoke of the Papacy, and brought the Christian church back to 
 first principles : — yes, they were all hirelings, "so called." 
 
 Paul the apostle, the same, the identical man who said to the 
 Corinthians, " I have preached to you the gospel of God freely," says 
 also at the same time, and in the same sentence, " I robbed other 
 churches, taking wages of them." Ah ! Paul, how couldst thou 
 do so carnal, so doubtful a thing as to "take money for preaching?" 
 Alas for thee ! thy lot was cast in an age when Christianity was in 
 its infancy ! If thou hadst lived in our day of increased light and 
 knowledge, we could have pointed thee to men so spiritual, so refined, 
 so sublimated, as to regard the crime of a minister in taking wages from 
 the church as kindred to that of a thief. 
 
 When the original twelve — Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, 
 Bartholomew, &c. — went out to preach the gospel, they left at home 
 their extra raiment, their scrip of bread, with their purses of gold, and 
 silver, and brass, because the mouth that said, " Freely ye have 
 received, freely give," said also, " The laborer is worthy of his hire." 
 Luke X, 7. And yet there was nothing in the fact of their being wor- 
 thy of a hire, or receiving a hire, calculated necessarily to vitiate their 
 motives, or render less efl^ectual their toils ; they nevertheless healed 
 the sick, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead, cast out devils — and 
 actually laid the foundation of the primitive church. 
 
 Thus those hirelings, " so called," have toiled ever since the day 
 that Christ said, " Go ye into all the world and preach my gospel," 
 and thus has God owned their labors ; and although a Judas now and 
 then appears, who, loving neither the work nor the wages, soon ceases 
 
15 
 
 to join those kindred spirits, who from the same motives never began : 
 we say, notwithstanding all this, the work goes on— the hireh^ngs^ 
 " so called," preach and pray, souls are awakened and converted, hell 
 trembles, the kingdom of Christ advances ; and the time is not far in 
 the future when ye shall "return and discern between" the man who 
 uses the office well, and he who uses it ill — between the man who re- 
 ceives the salary and does the work of a minister, and the man who 
 refuses both. He who will " preach the word, be instant in season and 
 out of season," salary or no salary, " serveth Christ, is acceptable to 
 God, and approved of men." 
 
 But as for the doctrine of preaching from impulse ; which means 
 once in a week, once a month, or once a year, according as one may 
 "feel free to it ;" and its kindred doctrine, that of making the gospel free, 
 as some are pleased to call it; they may be proved from the "tradition 
 of the elders," alias " the testimony of (modern) Friends," but not 
 from the word of God. As well might it be proved that the gospel 
 ministry was an emolument without study, without pastoral care, or 
 public instruction. 
 
ICI