■■S54. u James M'Gosh. The Duty of Irish Presbyterians to their church at the present crisis in the sustenption of the Gospel Ministry • BX 9060 ,M2 1868 McCosh, James 1811-1894 The duty of Irish Presbyterians to their Clj£ giitj 0f |ri4 Iresljierians TO THEIR CHURCH AT THE PRESENT CRISIS SUSTENTATION OF THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. ^ BY JAMES M'COSH, LL.D., D.D., AUTHOR OF "THE METHOD OF DIVINE GOVERNMENT ;" "INTUITIONS OF THE MIND;" "EXAMINATION OF MR. J. S. MILL'S PHILOSOPHY," &C. BELFAST : C. AITCHISON, 12, CASTLE PLACE; A. S. MAYNE; PHILLIPS & SONS; and HENRY GREER. 1868. Parties desirous of circulating this Pamphlet caf supplied with packets, coritaifiing 60 copies for distribm at Jfl^, or 5/6 free by post, on remittance of the ami to C. AiTCHisoN, 12, Castle Place, Belfast. C THE DUTY OF IRISH PRESBYTERIANS. I THINK it right to say at once, that I am not to enter on the dis- cussion of my subject in a spirit of controversy. The time has come for true Presbyterians forgetting their past quarrels, and in- quiring what they can do for the good of their Church. I was not afraid, as the public knows, to give my opinion on disputed (questions in London, Scotland, and Ulster, when a purpose was to be served by it in the way of stopping the promiscuous endow- ment of all sects. But I am awed by the crisis to which we have come, and have no heart to fight old battles. I feel that we have a great work to do, and I am not to be tempted to come down to miserable wrangling. We have all a responsible part to act ; and I tremble lest I take a false step. Fortunately we are now beyond theoretical discussion, and have to face a great practical question, fitted not to divide, but to combine us. It must surely be very satisfactory to Presbyterians in Ire- land to find that they are shut up into a well-defined path of duty at this particular time — in fact, that there is a way hedged in for them, as it were, by thorns, so that they cannot turn to either side without danger. In 1867. the alternative was before the nation. Are we to endow all sects in Ireland, or endow none ? The na- tional representatives for a time hesitated between the tvvo. But when Earl Russell formally announced that he had a plan of en- dowing all, the constituents in England and Scotland spoke out plainly to their members, and told them that the time for this was over; and now in 1868, a decided majority of the House of Com- mons representing, no doubt, the sentiments of the people before whom, as they know, they must soon appear, has thrice declared that they are peacefully but firmly to disestabhsh all religious bodies in Ireland. True, there is a powerful minority prepared to resist this ; but Earl Mayo has declared plainly for them that they can do so only by placing all denominations in Ireland on the san" level* There is thus no choice left us but the two : endow Romai ism alongside of Protestantism, or, preserving existing person rights, let every Church be thrown upon its own resources. And surely no Evangelical Protestant pleading the name c Luther,orof Ussher,no orthodox Presbyterian claiming an ecclesia^ tical descent from Knox, will hesitate between the two. By taking th one side, we are avoiding " much transgression," — we are placini ourselves in the same position as the Church was for the firs three centuries, as the churches are in the United States, ii Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, in all of which religion is ii quite as healthy state, in respect both of purity and zeal, as in thi country ; in the same position as the Free Church of Scotland and as the Nonconformist churches in Great Britain. By taking the other side, we are identifying ourselves with error, and becomt "partakers of other men's sins;" we are allowing the nation tc put truth and error on the same footing (we may seem to be levelling up the churches, but we are levelling down the truth) ; we are bringing our statesmen into circumstances of great tempta- tion, in which it will not be easy for them to maintain a clear conscience ; we are reducing our Protestant churches to the same condition as the dead state-endowed churches on the Continent of Europe ; and doing as much as in us lies to slacken their zeal, in opposing infidelity on the one hand, and an enslaving super- stition on the other. I am aware that there are persons to be found in Ulster who have reasoned themselves into the belief that a third course is possible. They would reform and keep up the Established Church, and retain and increase the Reghwi Donu??i, and yet keep Catho- lics in their present position of inferiority. But of the 650 repre- sentatives of the nation, certainly not 100, perhaps nor 50, would patiently listen to such a proposal in these times. Presbyterians should be on their guard lest, in throwing the weight of their in- fluence into this third and now impossible alternative, they be not, without meaning it, helping the side that would endow all ; lest they be not virtually saying to statesmen, *' Go on with your plan and we will be silent;" and find, when their eyes are opened, that ♦ Lord Mayo said, "There would not, I believe, be any objection to make all churches alike ; but that result must be secured by elevation, not by confiscation." 5 they have been led by knowing men to save the thus degraded Church of Ireland, and a Domm- on which no blessing can then rest, by endowing popety. I can perfectly understand how there should be persons who conscientiously deplore the tide of occurrences which has been flowing so rapidly these last few months, and who look on the coming events with apprehension, and pray that they may not come in theii day. As having been the minister of an Established Church, with glorious historical recollections of heroic deeds and noble martyrs, I can enter into the feelings of those who, whether in the Presbyterian or Episcopal Churches, shrink from the very thought of snapping asunder the cord that binds them to the State, reckoned by them as a fostering mother. That there should be country ministers who, with their congregations, are timid, and per- haps alarmed, in present circumstances, I can easily apprehend; and I do most thoroughly sympathise with them in consequence of having passed through a like experience of anxiety and of fear, when, at the call of principle, I gave up all that I had from the Government, without any assurance that the people would support me. I can comprehend how there should be many afraid lest the Gospel ministry should not be adequately supported on the volun- tary principle — only they must take care that this does not arise from any fault of theirs. I can conceive Protestants grieving that our nation should seem to be abandoning its testimony in behalf of Bible truth — only they will surely be so far pleased that it is not allowed to go a step farther and countenance anti-scriptural error. On the other hand, I know that there are not a few who are rejoicing in tjhese events, and blessing God that their lot has been cast in such times: when they may have a part to act worthy of the Protestant and Presbyterian blood that is in them ; as be- heving that the churches will be set free to enter upon a new and a noble career ; and that one other chance is to be opened for the advance of Protestantism in Ireland, by the removal of a stumbling- block in the breasts of Catholics — only I would have such persons mingle trembling with their mirth, lest, after all, we suffer a ship- wreck in the storm. But, whether sorry or glad, all Presbyterians may thank God that in His providence he has determined our position for us, without, I may add, our being very much con- sulted. Our duty is a practical, and I think a very clear one, not so much to consider whether the circumstances in which we find ourselves, without, perhaps, much fault or much credit on our pari are for good or for evil, but what we should do in the circum stances, and in particular what we should do to secure that ther be an adequate support for the Gospel ministry in the land. It so happens that in the Providence of God I have beei] called to consider the way in which the ministry of the Word i^ supported in various countries. First, from having travelled rathe: extensively in the United States of America, I know how the public ordinances of religion are sustained in that country, On one poini I am able to give a satisfactory testimony. The voluntary principle seems perfectly capable of supplying the ordinances of religion in the most remote regions of that wide continent. I remember entering a village with about 400 or 500 people 130 miles beyond the Mississippi, and at least 1600 miles from the eastern seaboard, and away on the very outskirts of civilization, and I found there! '^ not one, but four or five churches belonging to different denomin- ations, each ready to do the Master's work in new districts. This may, no doubt, seem so far an evil in the first instance, as the congregations instead of helping Avere rather hindering each other. But the evil is only temporary; in the meantime the ministers are going out as missionaries, into the still more thinly inhabited regions beyond, and five years hence the place will contain as many thousands as it does hundreds at present, and there will be room for all the laborers. What I saw there is general in all the distant parts of America. It is of importance to mention this, as there are some terrifying us with the thought that, if our endowments be withdrawn, the remote parts of Ireland will be left without a gospel ministry, and in a state of spiritual destitution. %I am prepared to declare that this has not taken place in America, where the zeal of the churches has kept pace with the rapidly-increasing population • and I am confident that it will not be allowed to occur in our country, where the field is so much narrower, and where the energy of the churches in Ireland, backed by the churches in England and in Scotland, will not allow a single church or station to go down, or the most thinly scattered population to be without the means of grace. This, however, is all the lesson I can draw from America. Otherwise I was not very favorably impressed with the system adopted there. In the wealthy congregations of the great cities, ihe ministers are highly remunerated, some of them having as much 1 J as £1000 or ;^i5oo a year. But in the villages the ordinary stipend seems to be between 800 and 1000 dollars, that is, from \£'^S^ to ;£"2oo a year, which is a small sum in that country; and very many have a much smaller salary, being in fact not so well paid as an ordinary skilled mechanic. It is a favorable circum- tance that the churches are alive to the evil, and are seeking to remedy it : and I was asked on all hands to give information as to the system of the Free Church of Scotland. The Old School Presbyterian Church (consisting of 2400 congregations) in particular asked me to address them on the subject, and appointed a com- mittee which, so far as I know, is yet sitting to consider the whole subject. The method adopted by the Dissenters of England and Scotland labors under the same defects as the American plan — that is, overfeeds some and starves others. I am glad to find that the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland has consented, in the event of a union being consummated between it and the Free Church, to fall in with the principle of a common Central Fund. When so many Christian Churches are looking towards the method in operation in the Scottish Free Church, it may not be impertinent in me to give some account of it to those who have to consider what should be done for the decent maintenance of the Presby- terian ministers in Ireland. It is because I wish the Presbyterian Church here to avoid the evils of the old Dissenting plan in Great Britain, and of the American plan, that I am anxious to have an opportunity of speaking of a better way. The old plan leaves every congregation to provide the ordinances of religion for itself, the poor congrega- tions being in some cases helped, often in an eleemosynary and rather a degrading way, by a fund subscribed by the wealthier congregations. But it is surely more in accordance with the spirit of Christianity in general, and of Presbyterianism in particular, that the ministers of the Word should be more on a footing of equahty, and that they should be put in a position to " bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." I confess that I have a fear that, unless our ministers and our more intelligent mem- bers come forward at this time to enlighten and prepare the people, our Church, to the great loss of the country brethren, will be thrown upon the old Dissenting and American plan, instead of the new and better way to which so many free churches throughout the world are now looking. I am sorry to find that at this present time there are some proposing that when the Donum is gone, tl Assembly, instead of favoring the share-and-share-alike system a General Sustentation Fund, should simply pass an imperati-^ Act requiring every congregation to raise £,<^o instead of £,^0, a condition of qualification, and add this £,^0 to the sum left t each minister by the State — eking out the sum in poor congregatior by a Fund for weak congregations called by a dignified namt Now, I cannot conceive a more inexpedient measure than thi: one more likely to arrest the liberality of the people at a certai point, that is at ;^5o, and thus keep down the stipends at th present low level, when we have a tide which might be made t raise them to a higher. But let me not be misunderstood, as to the object which have in view in describing the method and management of th' General Sustentation Fund of the Free Church of Scotland. I an not to insist that the scheme should be followed implicitly by thi Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Nor am I at this stage to la; down a plan cut and dry for sustaining the ministry of our Church All that I aim at, is to give a clear account of an organised systen: which, wath the blessing of Heaven, has been thoroughly successful. At the crisis to which we have come, we are at liberty, nay, we are required, to look at what other churches have done When the Disruption in the Church of Scotland was impending. Dr. Chalmers, I happen to know, consulted with Dr. Bunting, the able leader of the Wesleyan body, as to how they kept up the spirit of liberality among the Methodists. We are surely entitled in like manner to inquire what our sister Church in Scotland has done, and we may profit by the very valuable experience through which she has passed. And, as to a fixed plan, it is to be devised and sanctioned, not by individuals, but by the General Assembly, after it knows the circumstances in which it is to be placed, and has all available information before it. The General Sustentation Fund of the Free Church of Scot- land was instituted to meet a great emergency, the Disruption of the Church of Scotland in 1843. I^ was devised by the states- manlike genius of Dr. Chalmers ; and for many years past has been administered by the Rev. Dr. Buchanan, of Glasgow, a man of great wisdom and admirable judgment. It seems, if properly wrought, to be capable of accomplishing all the purposes of an Established Church without the evils which have always, in fact, clung to such an institution. The mode of raising the Fund is easily understood. Every J congregation has a Deacon's Court, corresponding to the Congre- gational Committee in the Irish Presbyterian Church, only it em- braces the ministers and all the elders, as well as others elected by the members. The office of this Court is to take charge of the secular affairs of the congregation, very specially the gathering of the money for the general fund. This Court takes steps to have every member of the Church waited on, and invited to say what ' he or she will engage to give to the General Fund ; and then each E Deacon, or some person for him — very frequently a female — goes ; round the district, and waits on the contributors, to take up their subscriptions weekly, monthly, or quarterly, as they may prefer — the weekly visits being found commonly to be more effective with work- ing people, and the monthly or quarterly with persons of a higher status. The sum thus raised is transmitted monthly to the Church's office in Edinburgh. It is astonishing with what regularity the moneys come in, first to the Deacon's Court, and then to the Central Fund — in fact, the Chancellor of the Exchequer does not get his taxes by the arm of the law nearly so regularly as the Con- vener of the Sustentation Fund gets his gifts by the trained liber- ality of the people. It is understood that in every congregation the first effort and the main effort should be directed in the way of supporting this great Church fund. If.it fails in its duty in this respect, the Pres- bytery, and, if need be, the General Sustentation Fund Committee, deals with it, always, however, by moral means, fitted to be ad- dressed to Christian men and women, and never by ecclesiastical excision. Of course, if a congregation resists all these appeals, it is apt to be reproached by its neighbours, and sinks in public es- timation, and may find itself in difficulties in the event of a vacancy created by the minister removing or dying. In the years 1843-44, the total Sustentation Fund raised was ;^6i,5i3, out of which 470 Disruption ministers drew the full divi- dend of^io5,and other ministers joining the Church a smaller sum. Since that time the Fund has gradually, and, upon the whole, steadily increased. In 1867, the sum amounted to ;^i 20,000, that is nearly double what it was in 1844, giving ;£"i44 to every minister ; and it is certain that this year it will be ;2£^i 30,000, yielding ^150 to every minister, with a surplus divided in a manner to be after- wards explained. The total raised for the Sustentation Fund since TO 1843 amounts to the sum of ;^2,S35,o67 : an enormous sum to be given by about one-third of the population of Scotland. Down till this year, every minister, whether belonging to a pooi or a rich congregation, received his equal dividend. This has tended greatly to keep up a presbyterial equality among the minis- ters, and a cheerful spirit among the congregations. There have been discussions from time to time, as to whether the more liberal aid-giving congregations should not get back more than others, as an encouragement and a stimulus to exertion. When I was in the Free Church, I always stuck stiffly by the principle of an equal dividend, which has been sustained by the general voice of the Church. It is a happy circumstance that it has been so ; for we have now, in perfect consistency with the principle of an equal dividend, a scheme for increasing the Sustentation Fund, sanc- tioned by last Assembly, and already in operation, apparently with the most satisfactory results. Every congregation, be it poor or be it rich, is to receive £1$^ for its minister; but, to keep the con- tributions from becoming stereotyped, and to encourage more liberal congregations, it is arranged that the surplus of the annual revenue, over and above what may be necessary to give ;^i5o to each other minister, shall be so distributed that congregations, which shall contribute the average amount of los. or more per member, shall receive an equal share of that surplus; while those who contribute from 7s. 6d. to los. per member, shall receive half a share ; while those contributing less than 7s. 6d. get nothing beyond the ;£i5o. I need not enter into farther details as to this scheme, as it must be some time before the Irish Church can be in circumstances to take advantage of it. It is enough to say that the new rule has given such a spring to the Fund that it is now certain that, in INIay, 1868, every minister will receive;^! 50, and that there will remain a considerable surplus to be divided among the ministers of liberal congregations. In many poor congregations the people find that they can do nothing in the way of supporting the ministry beyond contributing to this general fund, and keeping up the decent worship of God in their churches by means of the ordinary Sabbath collections. But in the wealthier congregations the people, after subscribing duly to the central fund, add a supplement to the stipend of their minis- ters— in some cases very small, in others very considerable — to so much, in a few cases as ;£'5oo. The whole sum paid a year ago it in the form of supplementary stipends, was ^^40,3 3 2 : the average stipend in the 178 town congregations is ;^3i6 ; and the average stipend over 'the whole church is fully ;^2 00 a-year, equal, I be- lieve, to that of the Church of Scotland. These supplementary stipends being reported to the church, and carefully watched, are not found to be injurious to the grand central fund. I have to add that, in the country congregations, the ministers have manses and gardens, and in some cases glebes, sufficient to keep a horse to enable them to do their work, and a cow for the benefit of their families. In the meanwhile, the effort made in this direction has not lessened their liberality in any other; on the contrary, the hearts of the people have thereby been opened, and their gifts have flowed out in every channel in which the generosity of a Christian people should flow. Every congregation has Sabbath-schools sustained by it, and nearly every congregation has one or more ordinary week-day schools ; and not a few congregations keep a Scripture-reader or a missionary. I remember that we were told, by people who wished to have a pretext for remaining in the Established Church, that, if we gave up our State revenues, there could be nothing left for missions ; but we found, instead, that our missions at home and abroad were sustained more liberally than ever. We were told, too, by men who affected to be wise and deeply interested in the welfare of the Church, that, though we might keep what we had, we should never be able to extend our operations. Well, there were 470 ministers who came out at the Disruption, and now, in 1868, the number of congregations is 930, including 54 congre- gations not yet sanctioned as ministerial charges. The total sum raised by the Free Church in the twenty-five years of its existence is upwards of eig/i^ millions, being, I venture to say, one of the noblest gifts ever laid by a people on the altar of Him who, /* though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor." And I am here to testify, what I know from my residence among them for years, and my occasional visits to them since I left, that all this has been contributed cheerfully — and ''the Lord loveth a cheerful giver." I never yet met any man, woman, or child among my old people who expressed a regret at the part we had taken together. Most of them, when we meet, break out in thanks to God for the share He enabled them to take in what they believe has turned out eminently for the glory of God and the good of His Church. 12 They part with no money so cheerfully as that which they give to the support of the ministry in their Church ; and the servant women, and the weavers, and the day laborers, tell me that they have never, in consequence of supporting this cause, been deprived of a single necessary, or even comfort of life, or felt themselves poorer. And, now that a new race has sprung up, the parents belonging to the former generation assure me that it has been greatly for the good of their children that they have been taught to give their spare money to good objects, instead of vanity and intemperance ; that thereby they have been saved from man) temptations and from much evil ; and been trained to good habits, and surrounded by high and elevating associations, historical, social, and religious, which have raised them to a standard of character which they could never otherwise have attained, and are handing down the best characteristics of the country to future generations. We had to do all our work in the midst of difficulties, which were often felt by us to be almost overwhelming. First, as a more urgent work than even the support of the ministry, we had to build in one year 500 churches in which to house our congrega- tions— the Free Church has had to erect in all about 1,000 churches. Then, we had to deal with a peoj^le who were accustomed to have the ordinances of religion paid for them by the State, and many of whom had never given anything to the cause of Christ, except, perhaps, the smallest silver coin once a year for missions. We had thrown upon us small country congregations, consisting, per- haps, of a few small farmers and farm servants, coming out with, perhaps, their aged minister on the ground of principle, and right- eously— yes, righteously — claiming to be sustained by us. We had a still greater burden — and yet it was one of our honors, I had almost said our very crown. We had a host of Gaelic congrega- tions (the number is at present 168), with a poor people scattered in remote glens, and over heather mountains, but standing reso- lutely— like their rocks — to their principles, in opposition to their chieftains, and often with all the large tenant-farmers frowning upon them. We bore all this cheerfully, for it was one of our triumphs that the poor, as a general rule, stuck by us. But we had sorer trials to test our patience, and the great heart of Dr. Chalmers was at times almost ready to sink under them. We had selfish people among the rich, who would not contribute according to their wealth, and who kept down the standard of giving in their whole neighbourhood. We had hosts of poor who leaned on the rich, and who, because they could not do much, ex- cused themselves from doing anything. We had selfish congre- gations lavishing their wealth on themselves, on their ministers, on their churches, and in keeping up a shewy and expensive public worship : and we had selfish ministers who allowed and encouraged all this. Then we had poor congregations who expected the wealthy congregations to bear them up while they did little or nothing. This was the great difticulty felt by Dr. Chalmers a year or two after the Disruption. He had succeeded in exciting a spirit of giving both among the rich and poor in our towns; but not a few country congregations, away from the means of information and the stimulus of public opinion, were dragging down others, by hanging on them as a dead weight: and the rich were threatening to curtail their gifts, because they saw that the poor were trusting to them instead of exerting themselves. I remember a conversation which took place between him and a Highland minister about that time. "You must," said the minister, "get the people in towns to give, for we people in the country can do nothing." The Doctor allowed the conversation to pass away to another topic for a time and then addressed the Highlandman. "I suppose nearly your whole people have come out." The minister was proud to be able to report that of a thousand people not a score had remained behind, and the Doctor congratulated him. "But how many public-houses have you in your parish?" "Oh, too many," was the reply. "But how many?" asked the catechizer, and drew out reluctantly that there were three, mainly supported by the 980 members of the Free Church. "Well," said Dr. Chalmers "these must cost the people annually from ^50 to ^100 a piece. "And don't they chew, and smoke, and snuft"," and was answered that they did. "Then it is clear that your people give at least ^200 for such stimulants. How much do they give for ministerial support," and was answered some ^20 or £t,o. "Go home," said Dr. Chalmers "to your people and ask them to give half as much for Christ as they give for whiskey and •tobacco, and then come and ask others to do something for you." People looking now and from a distance at the success of the Free Church are apt to feel as if the work must have been accomplished easily and pleasantly. But this is an entire mistake. The work of INIoses in the desert was scarcely a more diflicult one than that of those who had to conduct such a mixed multitude, often in the midst of fears and unbelief, doubts and disputes, out of one statt and spirit into another, and a totally difterent. I mention these things, because there are persons in Ulstei who, perceiving that any -like movement in Ulster must meet witl: great difficulties, are quite alarmed at the idea of grappling witl them. Every day I hear the objection urged that the Scotch arc wealthier than the Irish. I know that man for man they are; anc I believe they are so mainly because, with soil and climate againsi them, they have been trained by a Church which has called forth their intelligence and their industry. But those who urge the objection, forget that the wealthy, as a whole, did not join the Free Church, The landlords have been gradually seduced b> (what is not commonly observed) their education at English school and universities, to embrace fashionable episcopacy; and the large farmers, lawyers, and merchants were in too many cases afraid tc cast in their lot with a people that were so obnoxious to many, and were, in fact, at the time denounced as rebels, because the) could not submit in spiritual matters to the decisions of the civil courts. In very niany districts the people were, as a whole, of the same grade of society as embraced the gospel in the early ages oi the Church. " For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things ol the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to mighty things that are." Then, our people in Scotland had to deal with many hard questions of conscience; our peasants and our servant lasses had to determine whether Lord Aberdeen's plausible Bill did or did not cover the spiritual independence of the Church, and were often perplexed and misled. We had in every district to carry on our work in the midst of sore divisions — the servant often going against his master, and the tenant against his landlord, and the wife or sister going one way, and the husband or brother another. Now, there is no reason why we should have such distractions in Ulster; no reason why we should not march shoulder to shoulder. True, there are not in our Presbyterian community very many wealthy people. But we have a very great number of well-condi- 15 h'oned, well to do, honest, industrious people, who owe no man any- thing, who have stock on their farms and in their shops and ware- rooms, who have brawny arms and stout hearts; and these are the very people, who — rather than the noble and wealthy, generally pre-occupied with keeping up their status — have, in all ages and countries, done most for the spread of the Gospel at home and abroad. I have great faith in the leal-hearted farmers of Ulster, when they are led to see that the time for action has come. Have they not stood bravely by the Presbyterian Church in spite of all sort of landlord and church influence brought to bear against them ? Two hundred years they faced and conquered difficulties and dangers, in comparison to which any that may assail us in our day are nothing. It is a curious fact, that the farming class in Scotland were the last to catch the spirit of giving at the Disruption, but when the heather kindled it blazed with a steady flame. Like their Scottish forefathers, the present race of Ulster farmers may not readily be roused; but when roused, we shall see the old perfervidu77i ingenium Scotonnn, with the addition of the fire of Ireland, and their march shall be irresistible — like the "march of the Cameron men." I am not afraid of the ministry being neglected in a Church which has a membership like that of the Presbyterians in Ulster. I acknowledge that the Scottish Free Church is, as a whole, somewhat wealthier than the Irish Church. But then the Free Church has to maintain upwards of 900 congregations, whereas the Irish Church has not 600. Then the Scottish Church, with its 168 Gaelic congregations, and 50 more congregations with a very small membership, has a greater number of poor congregations than the sister Church in Ireland. And of this I am sure, that the Irish Presbyterian Church is a wealthier body than the United Presbyterian Church in Scotland, which during the past year has raised ;^io3,465 for stipend to its ministers, and ;^265,56i for all purposes. Of its 597 ministers, considerably upwards of 500 have ^150 or more of stipend; only some sixty or seventy have under ^150; and vigorous efforts, certain to be crowned with success, are being made to have no minister with less. I confess that I am apt to entertain a feeling of shame when, on stating this, I find persons coming to me, and saying, " But the Irish are not like you Scotch." Surely if such a reproach had come from Scotchmen, the Irish would very properly have thrown it back t6 with indignation. I am vexed that it should be left to me, Scotchman, to answer it. I am sure that if Irishmen fail in the duty at this time, it is because those who ought to encourage an stimulate them are fiUing them with fears and doubts. And I ai still more ashamed of those who, when we show them that th Catholics of Ireland give some ;^2oo or ;i^30o to each of their paris priests, tell us that we cannot do what they do ; as if, forsooth, wit all the appeals addressed to the understanding, the conscience, an the heart, by the Word of God, and with the grace of God to giv life and force to them, we had not a far greater power than can b found in any earthly motives or in any superstition. But I find that some good ministers still urge, '^For years pas we have done all we could in the way of stirring up the generosit of the people, and yet we have been unsuccessful. How littl has come of our Ministerial Support Fund and our Sustentatio Fund !" Now, to all this I reply, first, that there has been a cor siderable amount of liberality called forth, of late years, in th Presbyterian Church — witness our Foreign Missions, and ou Home Missions, and our two Manse Funds. The sum contri buted by the Church for all purposes last year was ^£^3,7^0, o £\ OS. 7 5^ d. per family, or 13s. 7)^d. per communicant. Ian able to prove that the Irish Presbyterian Church is bette prepared for giving than the Church of Scotland was a quarter 0 a century ago. The Ministerial Support Committee has not dom so much as could be wished ; but it has done something. It ha pulled up a great many of our best congregations, and these wil gradually pull up the others. In 1854, according to Governmen Returns, 463 congregations contributed for the support of thei; ministers ;£ 18,699, being an average of only ;2^4o 7s. 9}^d. t( each, and making the whole stipend, including £6^ 4s. 8d. Royalf Bounty, under p^iio. The Ministerial Support Committee begaij its operations in 1856, and in 1864 it was able to report that 487 congregations had paid ^£"29,878 to their ministers, or £61 tc each; in all, with the Donwn, ;£i3ij or ^^^ increase oi £,20 in r few years. Since that time the energies and the expectations o: the Church have been directed towards the increase of the Bounty which, as every one now sees, has come to nothing (except it be that in trying to patch the old house, they have pulled it down about their ears — I hope that we may get a better), and the in- crease in voluntary support by the people has been slow ; still, \ in 1867, the average sum reported as paid to the mniisters was £^(i(i 9s. 2 }^d., and this year about ;^68; and the whole stipend about ;^i38, or an increase of {1,2% since the movement began. The Sustentation Fund for aiding poor ministers, has not been supported as it ought ; still, it raises upwards of ^^2,000 a-year, and it supplements the incomes of seventy-five ministers. This I acknowledge is only "the day of small things;" but, like the buds and blossoms appearing in early spring, it augurs a day of great things as approaching. We can give a reason for their being so small. The illustrious Bacon, when he held out such confident hopes, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, of an advance in science, was met by the objection that so little had been done in time past. He answered this by shewing that he could give a reason why so little had been accomplished ; it was because men had followed a wrong mode of inquiry ; and he argued that when they took to the right method, there would be instant and rapid and continual progress : and his ardent anticipations have been more than realized in the strides which physical science has taken since his day. I give a like answer to a like objection drawn from the want of success in raising a large sum in the Presbyterian Church in time past. It was because the people did not feel that they needed to exert themselves ; they were satisfied with doing as their fathers had done, and with what the State did for them. But let it be seen clearly that they can no longer do as their grandfathers did, because State support is withdrawn, and I am persuaded they will be roused to think and act in a manner worthy of their ancestors. Then, it is the opinion of some of the best friends of our Church that these repeated attempts to get the Government to increase the Royal Bounty have had a most discouraging effect on the liberality of the people ; that it has kept some of our most generous people from giving as they would otherwise have done, because they felt annoyed at the whole proceeding ; and it has at the same time kept our selfish people from giving, as they were led to look to other quarters, instead of trusting to their own ex- ertions. I remember a companion of mine at school who had been taught to swim by bladders, and, though he swam pretty well, he was ever afraid to go beyond his depth. But one day an older brother flung him without his bladders into the deep sea, and ever after he braved the waves most courageously. I knew a lady who had long been delicate and unable to walk, till her physician c i8 drove her out one day two miles from her dweUing, took her ou' from the carriage, and then leaping in himself, left her on the roac to find her way home as best she could — which she found herself with the help of a little anger at the doctor, quite able to do ; and in a month after she could walk ten miles. I am by this com= parison casting no reproaches on the Domini, or any means which may have aided the Presbyterian Church in time past ; but when the time comes for these helps being withdra\vn, I am not afraid of her. I believe she is prepared to walk and run as other churches have done and are doing. I am not in the secrets of statesmen, and I am not sure what plan will be followed in the final allocation of the present endow- ments. I asked a statesman the other day what they now meant to do, and he answered that they were waitiiig instructio?is fro7n the cou?it?y. But on one point all are agreed, and it is already em- bodied in the resolutions of the House of Commons : the personal rights of all who have endowments are to be rigidly preserved; and these in disputed cases are to be interpreted in a liberal spirit. In particular all ministers (I hope also assistant ministers) and pro- fessors will have their stipends or salaries continued to tbem all their lives. I have sometimes thought that the Presbyterian Church might find this not a very unfavorable state of things in which to; start a General Su^tentation Fund. The church would have to make provision, in the way of making up for the withdrawal of govern- ment support, for only about a dozen new ministers every year — for the last seven years the average deaths seem to be under ii annually. Beginning in this position the Church would, I hope, start at once with a high standard — which I reckon of very great moment — with a minimum stipend of ^^150 to each minister: to the new ministers, but also to the old by means of supplementing, and m order to place all the present ministers and the new ones on a footing of equality. It would be one advantage of this system, that while it commenced with a high standard it would not be felt at first to be a burden : and as endowed ministers died out, and a larger sum was required, the liberality of the people would be in- creasing, and would ever be ready to meet our wants. I believe the system is a workable one, and if our statesmen say that the Donum shall be paid to the ministers individually all their lives, I believe the Church might accommodate itself to this state of things. But in saying so, I am bound to add, that I see not a few incon= J9 veniences, more particularly in the circumstance that there would be no want felt immediately and universally in our congregations, and consequently no felt need of instant and general exertion, and in the end the church would have to provide an equivalent to the whole Donum, for ever lost. And I think it proper at this place to say, that I entertain no partiaHty for the plan proposed by some, of making the present age provide a provision for the payment of the stipends in future ages, by insuring the lives of ministers or otherwise. There would be a difficulty in making many of our congregations to fall into such a system, except by a compulsion such as a Church of Christ cannot command; and there would be a risk, amounting almost to a certainty, that congregations would keep down to the low level of the present Donum, and that a large Sustentation Fund would be impossible. It appears to me that the true plan is to make our people do their dut}^ — which I believe they will cheerfully — to their church in their own day, and leave posterity to do theirs in their day. So far as present appearances go, our statesmen, I be- lieve, would prefer paying a given sum to the denominations in lieu of personal rights, and have done for ever with all negociations with churches in our distracted land — while they leave them to full freedom of action ; in other words, w^ould prefer capitalising the revenues. Mr. W. D. Henderson, of the Scottish Amicable Life Assurance Society, calculates that the Regium Doinmi and grants to professors, amounting to ,^44,000, would, assuming the average age of recipients to be 45, if capitalised at 4. per cent, come to .^616,000 — that is, to the Presbyterian churches, Sub- scribing and Non-Subscribing. Let us suppose that the State allotted a capitalised sum of ^600,000 to the Assembly for its ministers, not including its professors and the Non-Subscribing Church.- The present number of congregations is 560; but it is hoped that they will increase — and provision from the beginning should be made for this — say to 600. The interest of the ,^600,000 would, let me suppose, be .^24,000 or ,^26,000 : this divided among the 600 congregations would give upwards of ^43, say ^■'40 or ^^^45 to each for ever. The business of the Church would now be vigorously, and at once by a great effort to which the whole energy of its ministers, elders, and people should be directed, to raise this, by means of a General Sustentation Fund, to an adequate provision for our ministers. And surely we should t6 never think of aiming at less than ^loo for each of our ministers in addition to the ^40 or ^45 left us by the State. If the Fret Church has raised ^150 for each of its ministers, and the Unitec Presbyterian Church nearly as much, the Irish Presbyterian Churcl:| would be ashamed of any proposal to raise a smaller sum thar ^100. To secure this would require, in the meanwhile, onl) ^56,000 a year. The number of her members, communicants (122,000) and adult adherents, is about 150,000. Let these give on an average 2d. a week, and we have ^65,000, more than the sum required. Some, I am aware, might not be able to give 2d.' a week, and more might not be willing ; but there would be tens of thousands both able and willing to give more — say, 3d. or 4d. a week, thousands able to give fiom 6d. to is., hundreds 2s. 6d.j scores 5s., and dozens los., without feeling themselves in the least impoverished. There must be some great want of management, or, more probably, want of faith, if the sum is not realised within a year from the time that the State sets us free to act as we choose. Some are expecting that, in order to buy off, or procure the good- will, of the Presbyterians, a sum beyond the personal rights of individuals will be granted to the church. This is a subject which requires to be discussed with great delicacy. Care must be taken, in the first place, to secure that the sum thus allowed, which will be a paltry one at the best, does not practically interfere with the generosity of the people. I know that the most far-sighted friends of the Sustentation Fund in Scotland would reckon it a great calamity if the Government, or even a private individual, were to give ;^i 00,000 to the Fund. The success of the scheme depends on every member — the ploughman, the w^eaver, the servant-girl — being made to feel that the successof the whole depends on his or her individual exertions, and that the ship might be lost if a single hole were left unstopped. If the idea gets abroad among the Presbyterian people of Ireland that there is a great reserve fund for providing to every minister what might seem to them a high sustenance, I believe it will be vain to attempt to start a General Voluntary Fund. We are in imminent danger of a still greater evil, and we must be on our special guard against it. Every man of common shrewdness sees that if a bcmus be given to Presbyterians, a like bonus, and this in proportion to their numbers, must be offered to the Catho- lics. I have made it a matter of duty in these important times to put myself in communication Avith some of those who have been 21 '^Heading and guiding the movement for disendowment, and they one '^md all assure me that, the principle of the equality of all sects '"^3eing now adopted in Ireland, they must, if any sum is given to 3ne sect, give a like sum to all in proportion to their population. Thus : if there be 6 millions left after paying personal rights to the y Established Church, the Presbyterian Church, and to the Catholics for Maynooth, then 4^ millions must go to the Catholics, leaving 1^2 for the various Protestant bodies, Episcopalian and others. The Catholics will not accept it for their parish priests, but they may take it for other purposes. They say it belongs to the poor ; and they may claim it for their alms-houses — which will be indefi- nitely multipHed, for their hospitals, for their university, for their Christian Brothers' and other schools, all taught by the monastic orders, and all under the absolute control of the hierarchy. The effect of this will evidently be to destroy our National System of Education ; and I fear, also, still farther to pauperize our people, instead of making them independent Presbyterians must be 'on their guard against being led to play into the hands of those who are plotting all this, but who can succeed in this only by Protestant concurrence — a concurrence which would greatly damage the Pro- testant churches in the view of their own people and in the view of the world. I am happy to learn that there are intelligent members of the Church of England seriously pondering this subject, and ready to act a noble part, by declaring that, rather than see their church revenues so desecrated, they would prefer to have them secularized, and devoted to the education and social elevation of the people, irrespective of religious denomination. This is the grave question to be settled in the coming year, as the question of endow all or endow none was settled in the past ; and I do trust that Great Britain will determine the second question on the same righteous principles as it has determined the first. If only we can resist such temptations, and follow the straight- forward course, I am not afraid of the issue. There are, indeed, conceivable circumstances in which the attempt to establish a Central Fund would be a failure : and that is in the event of the office-bearers of the Church in town or country failing to enlighten the people; or seeming to distrust the liberaHty of their congrega- tions; or pertinaciously clinging to state pay, when the country has declared that we must have done with it for ever. In such a state of things, our wealthy members would close up their hearts and button up their pockets ; and the common people would fe that the cause was not one for which it was worth while maki sacrifices; and in the shipwreck every one would throw the blar on his neighbour, the ministers on the people, and the people < their ministers. The tOA\Ti congregations might not care, but would be a day of fearful calamity to the country brethren. M; God preserve us from such a lamentable issue! '' But then," says a Christian minister to me, " you had muc enthusiasm to carry you on in the Free Church, on the part ladies and gentlemen, young men and maidens." I acknowledr that we had; but why should there not be the same in Irelanc Are the Scotch alone, of all people on the earth, susceptible « enthusiasm? Are the Irish incapable of it? This certainly is n( the common theory of the Irish character, and is not one which am inclined to adopt. I am ready to testify, after a sixteen year residence among them, that they are susceptible of every generoi impulse. " But how," asks my brother, " are we to raise thi enthusiasm?" I say to him, " seek first to catch it thyself." An^ if he asks, "how may I get it," I say "from the altar of God i; heaven; and let it burn on thy heart as an altar; and incens may be kindled from it to be diffused among thy people; and a: like fires are kindled in others, and other incense inflamed, yoi will find the service in which you engage pleasant to yourself anc others, and accepted of God in Christ the Beloved." One thing is certain, we must face the crisis whether we wilii or no. And so we must beware of encouraging fears which are apt to propagate themselves in others ; we must repress faintness of heart, which, in the day of battle, is very infectious and terribly depressing. In reading history, I have often been struck with amazement to find how comparatively few were the persons who took an active part in the great struggles of which all succeeding ages have been proud. It was so in the Great Reformation in the sixteenth century ; in the great Covenanting Struggle in Scot- land ; in the great Puritan Movement in England ; in the Dis- ruption Exodus in Scotland. The great body of the people stuck by their farms and their shops, leaving the nobler men of the country to fight for them. We may expect it to be the same in this epoch, reckoned by the Times newspaper, no bad judge of the characteristics of the age, as the most important since the Refor- mation, and not too highly estimated by a great statesman, " a «3 ime this which, so far as I can measure, is by far the gravest vhich we have seen for a quarter of a century." Worldly wisdom, ooking so sagacious and far-sighted, will be seen to be dribbling oily ; and our miserable earthlings, waiting till they have ight, will realize none of those rewards which are reaped by those ivho have faith in a good cause. But there will be heroic men ■aised up to lead on the contest, and there will be timid women vaxing valiant in the fight, and turning to flight the armies of the iliens. In the heart of this battle terror, even caution, may be a :rime ; and boldness, decision, and courage the highest prudence, \s the vessel is shaken, it is to be hoped that the cream will rise 0 the top, that is, the unselfishness, the piety, the liberality ; and hat the scum and mire, that is, the earthliness and carnality, will link to the bottom. The order is now given by our Great Cap- ain, " Grenadiers to the front ;" and the grenadiers in His army ire not your men of worldly wisdom, your men who fight with car- lal weapons, but our liberal givers, our Sabbath-school teachers, )ur praying men and women — these are the true children of Israel, md have power with God and prevail. This is a question lying in a heavenly sphere, far above the :loudy and troubled region of party politics. There will be plau- ible cries raised to gain the ignorant. There will be the cry of ' Protestantism in danger " raised by knowing men, prepared to ndow popery to save certain class interests of their own. But if here be politicians ready to sacrifice the higher interests of reli- ;ion to gain their party ends, then we have only one resource — the ^resbyterian Church must just sacrifice them ; and they may find , few years hence — as others are doing at this present time — that hey have lost more than their church has done ty their defalcation, rhe time has come for testing the professed friends, and knowing ^'ho are the true friends, of our church ; who they are that flatter t to gain selfish and party objects, and have made it a political 001 for the accomplishment of their own purposes ; and who they re that love it for what is good in it, for what is spiritual, and i^ho favour it as promoting the high ends which a genuine Church »f Christ can accomplish in our land and throughout the world. But you may now be asking what steps do I recommend? 5ut before answering this question, I have to answer another, what teps do I not recommend? I, I do not think that this is the time for discussing eagerly f ittte 0 24 and keenly the establishment and voluntary controversy. The;, of us Irish Presbyterians who hold the abstract principle establishments, cannot approve of any existing National Chur( Romanist, Anglican, or Scottish. We do, indeed, maintain tl: ; it is quite lawful for a State, in certain circumstances, to give mon to the Church, and for the Church to receive it; but we are cc vinced that the certain circumstances in which it is expedient, or ev' lawful to do this, or concur in this, are becoming fewer every ye^ now that statesmen avow that they can rule a country only on tj condition of making all denominations alike, so that in a divide nation we can have any one sect endowed only on the conditic of endowing all — which we believe to be wrong. I can concei\ an enlightened friend of the establishment principle almost wishin that all existing establishments should be swept away, that at som future time men may be in a position to establish a Nations Church, disencumbered of all the abuses that have gathered aroun them in mediaeval times, in Great Britain and on the Continent < Europe. And surely our voluntary friends will feel that the preser duty devolving on them, is to show what voluntary liberality ca do in sustaining the Church of Christ in decent dignity ani independence, now that it is about to be thrown upon its ow: resources. The majority of the representatives of the nation ar' proposing to disestablish all sects in Ireland, not on the voluntan principle, but on the ground that in so divided and distracted ; community it is not expedient, in fact not for the interests o religion, to select one sect as the recipient of State favour, anc place the others in a position of felt inferiority. It has been ir fact after this manner that the Churches have ceased to b( established in the United States and in our wide British Colonies and, providentially, in all cases they have been ready to meet the emergency, and would not return if they could to their formei condition. With such histories as we have before us, to instruct us as to the way in which the tide of events is running, it is altogether out of place and out of time to be fighting old battles ; to be stirring the embers of fires that have died out; to be indulg- ing in reflections and reproaches; and bringing charges ofi inconsistency and dishonesty, when our aim should be to com- bme for the accomplishment of a work, which the Head of the^ Church is devolving upon us, the greatest, I apprehend, which has been laid on the Church for ages, 2S (2.) I do not think that it is expedient for the Presbyterian Church to be seen engaged in a mean scramble to secure as much ,s possible of the spoil of the Established Church. Every one al- ows that our churches, our manses, our schools, and our glebes, as hey were not given by the State, so they cannot be seized by the ;tate. Every one declares that all the personal 'rights of our ministers and professors are to be allowed to them for their lives, ir to their church for perpetuity, and that these rights are to be in- erpreted in the most liberal spirit. There is no use in persons naking a fight for this, and claiming credit for gaining it : for it is reely conceded without a contest. I am honestly of opinion that t is not by any seemingly selfish grasping at gain that we are likely 0 obtain a larger allowance from the high-minded statesmen of 5^ngland. The Catholics have, I know, gained considerable ap- )robation in Great Britain by their plainly declaring, from the be- ginning and throughout, that they are seeking nothing for themselves n this contest. Let ms keep them to their zvord, and not give them L reason or pretext from departing from it by any procedure of ours. X may be all proper in our General Assembly to appoint a large md impartial committee of its members to watch over the public nterests of the church in this emergency ; but let that committee )eware of degrading our Church, in its own eyes and the eyes of he community at large, by unseemly contests about money ; of )laying into the hands of a far-sighted and wily enemy, which would lIIow us half a million if it got eight times as much ; and of doing mything to turn aside the energy of the Church from the great work, 0 which it is now called, of calling forth the warm sympathies of :he Christian people. Even on the supposition that in the scramble t could get ten or tv\^enty pounds a-year more for each of our ninisters, what could this avail if, in the meanwhile, we were there- by digging a channel to draw off the living stream of Christian iberality, and losing the chance of establishing a large central "ountain, as a constant and never-failing supply for our ministers md the ordinances of religion. The red hand, placed on our public buildings as an emblem Df our Province, has a lesson for us at this time. The fact or fable cells how the broad acres of Shane's Castle and the Kingdom of Ulster came into the possession of O'Neill. That eager man was all but losing the prize, and gained it only by cutting off his right hand and casting it on the shore, which became his in consequence D a6 The Presbyterian Church is in like manner sorely beset in 1 waters at this time; but I verily believe if she have but courage part, with what some value as if it were their right hand, she mk gain possession of a territory in comparison of which the rich earthly inheritance is of little value, gain possession of Ulster place it under Christ as King. 3. I rather think that the time has scarcely yet come : actually instituting a General Sustentation Fund. The minds our people are, I believe, not yet prepared for this. And, then, t Church, before she can establish a system likely to be permane must know a little more about what our statesmen mean to do w us and for us. But, meanwhile, let us keep steadily before us t fixed idea that the work of reconstruction must be undertaken us; that we must be seeking after information on all hands; tt we should be welcoming such generous gifts as a distinguish nobleman in our neighbourhood has been proffering to us — the fii gift offered to us, and a token that others will follow from m( following the example; and that we must be ready to launch a w< concocted Sustentation Fund, the moment the time for acti( comes. But, on the other hand, this is a time for action — for promj for immediate, for present action. I. // is a time in luhich Christians should he much in prayt This is our first and our last duty, one in comparison of whi( every other sinks into insignificance. We have primarily to pn for ourselves that we may be guided aright; that we may be pi served from selfishness, from party spirit ecclesiastical or poli cal, from prejudice personal or hereditary, and from adherii against our convictions to a false consistency; that we may 1 swayed by love to Christ, and love to souls ; and that we may s< the path of duty clearly defined before us. Then we must pray f our ministers, and elders, and church courts, that they may be h to act in the Spirit of Christ, and with a single desire to promo the good of the country and the Church. We must thus, individual Christians, daily besiege the throne of grace, and gi God no rest till he make Jerusalem a praise on the earth. N- only so, there should be frequent meetings for prayer among £ God's praying people ; in particular, on the part of our ministe and elders and Sabbath-school teachers, and of all who feel i interest in the spreading and purity of Christ's kingdom. 27 II. There should he conferences in our sessions and committees^ in towns and districts where people of like mind and spirit can be conve7iiently brought together. Care must of course be taken that in these meetmgs political differences be not allowed to appear, and that harsh language and disparaging reflections of every kind be avoided. When Christians, jealous for the honor of their Church, can meet in the unity of the Spirit, great good may arise from conferring freely together on the present state and coming prospects of the Church. III. There seems to be a special propriety in the laity coming forward at this ti??ie and giving a public expression of their sentiments. The time has come for them to say that they will stand by their Church in its difficulties, and that they will support practically, when the time comes, a well-devised scheme for the sustenance of the ministry in the poorer districts of our country. This is a duty specially devolving on our wealthier congregations. It may likewise be the duty of the members to utter a solemn protest against the promiscuous endowment of truth and error, whether out of new funds or old church funds; and to declare that they will not concur in the election of any member of parliament, whether Conservative or Liberal, who will not commit himself against every measure tending in this direction. IV. Pains must be taken to keep our congregations informed as to what is going on. Next to prayer this is the most important duty lying on us; and it specially devolves on ministers, elders, and others, who themselves appreciate the importance of the time in which our lot has been cast. I do not intend in this address to lessen the difficulties, the perplexities of our position; on the con- trary, it is because I am so impressed with these that I am anxious that the Church should awake to a sense of the awful significance of our situation. I do fear that in certain quarters our people be left in ignorance of what is happening, and that they be not in the least prepared for action when the time for action cannot be put off any longer. Some, I know, imagine that they may stick to the State Endowments pertinaciously and to the last, and teach the people to do so; and when that resource fails turn to the congre gations and say, w^e are now to trust in you. But there are men esteemed wise in the Church and in the world, who are overwise and will be seen in the end to be fools. There is believed to be such a thing in the world as falling between two stools. We may n 28 stick to the old vessel so long, that the life-boat which has come d our aid may weary waiting for us, and move off leaving us to s^k in the waters. When there has been so marked a preference gi^ to a more showy wooer, the people, when we are driven jcjci address them and court them, may tell us ''you have come to only when you have been refused by another." Is there not a r that a people thus trained may turn out as shrewd as those ^^ have been trying to educate them? They may say "you taught to think that we were so poor and niggardly that we could not, would not support you, and we believed you; and we are now act on our belief and yours, and shew practically that you W' right." In the name of prudence, not to speak of reason a principle, there must be an end for ever of all that talk which has years past been rung in the ears of our statesmen, and in the cc munity, about our people being so poor that they cannot give to cause of Christ; whereas every one knows that they are not so p( r as to be unable to give to the cause of intemperance, and that tl y u have only to expend one-tenth of what they lavish in the sin £ : article of ardent spirits,'to provide amply for their ministers home, and decently for the missionaries in foreign parts. Our de] tations must now be not so much to statesmen, as to our Christb ^ congregations, to rouse them from their lethargy and instruct th< 1 in their duty. For this purpose we must turn to the law and to the testimoi We must bring clearly and forcibly before our people what the N jv Testament says as to the obligations under which they lie to supp the ministrations of the gospel. We must call their attention to 1 grand principle laid down by our Lord in sending out the sevei disciples to teach and to preach, Luke x. 7 — "The laborer is wort^' of his hire." We must ring in their ears the appeals of the Apost as they addressed the churches planted by them, Gal. vi. 6 — " ]jt hmi that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacln in all good things." Such passages as i Cor. ix. 7 — 14 must carefully expounded — "Who goeth a warfare any time at his o charges, or who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fr thereof? or who feedeth a flock and eateth not of the milk of 1 flock?" . . . ''We have sown unto you spiritual things, is a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things." . . . Do not know that they which minister about holy things live of l^r things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partaktt :ei( in ri: d^ 29 i^ith the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which •reach the gospel should live of the gospel." I hear men saying every day " the time for action has not yet ome ; when it does come we are prepared to act a noble part ; lut the crisis has not yet arrived." I tell such that in an impor- ant sense the crisis has already come. " Oh, ye hypocrites, ye an discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs f the times ?" Verily, if there were such signs in the sky, the irmer would begin to look after his crops. If a commercial crisis -ere as imminent, our mercantile men would look sharply after their oods and the purchasers. I do not say that it is time to take the nal step, but it is time for us to make preparation. We may not ist be required to commence building the new house ; but there an be nothing wrong in looking out for a site, and inquiring how nd where we are to get materials. We must accustom the miinds f our people habitually to contemplate the new state of things, nd estimate the greatness of the emergency. There is a risk that le event arrives and finds us altogether unprepared to meet it, by ur people being left uninstructed. It is certainly possible that le crisis may come and go, and our people continue satisfied with leir present low state of giving, and our ministers be left as inade- uately supported as ever. Prior to the crisis in Scotland, to ^hich I have so often referred, there was a preparation for it : for ears in the discussion of great public principles, and for months 1 deputations visiting every district and almost every congregation, t is only by such a preparation that our people can be made ready D meet the occasion, and to float on the tide that has risen, instead f being left high and dry on the beach from which the waters ave receded. I have hopes of much incidental good likely to arise from this risis, if only we have faith and act a faithful part. The event 1 Providence will call forth a spirit of zeal and liberality in the rish Episcopal Churches and the Irish Presbyterian Churches such ^ they have never exhibited before. I speak of the Irish Episco- al Church, because I have an excessive longing to see a church, mbracing a large body of the upper classes, working a General ustentation Fund, and using its ample resources, and putting ?rth its full energies, for the voluntary support of its clergy. I have b idea that such a Church will exhibit some noble features which annot be expected in the poorer and more struggling Churches ; 30 more especially in the way of encouraging a higher refinemei mind, and tone, and manners in the ministers of religion, sue are supposed to be found only in established Churches; and while it has all the zeal of nonconformist communities. We for ever taunted with the vulgarity of Dissenters, but the per who reproach us, forget that this' vulgarity, real or supposed, arisen not from their being non-established, but simply bee the highest offices in our universities and upper schools have I studiously denied them; and because the upper classes 1 abandoned them, as being taught that they would thereby pror. the cause of social order — and not being sufficiently shrew( perceive that a Church promotes social order not because i endowed, but because it is a Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, |i of the New Testament which contains His laws and His prece I have an idea that a Free Church, containing within it Jli| educated and our refined classes, may tend to raise all o Churches to a higher social status, possibly even to a higher 1 of liberality. I cherish a higher hope. I have an expectation that, |i barriers which at present separate them being broken down, Churches of Christ in our land will be brought to a better unh standing; and Protestantism will exhibit before our Roman Cath population a visible unity such as she has not been able hith^ to display. I believe, indeed, that " Presbyterianism is foun on the Word of God, and is agreeable thereto:" but I believ the same time in the " Holy Catholic Church and in the c munion of saints." I do trust that the time is at hand w Presbyterians will feel themselves at liberty to join more freel; prayer and in many works of usefulness with that active " peoj who have planted so magnificent a college in the midst of us, . called so catholic-minded a man as the Rev. William Arthur tc its President. I entertain, what may seem to some, a m unlikely idea. I have never cherished any feeHng of antipathy f the Estabhshed Episcopal Church of this country: though at tii^ provoked, I have never uttered a bitter word against her. ^^ little rationalism, little ritualism, and much evangelistic zeal on part on many of her ministers — with all her faults, she is certail one of the best Established Churches in the world. I believe ta some of her faults, in particular her haughty treatment of Pre terianism, which has been so irritating, have arisen from I 3t osition, and will disappear when her position is changed. I elieve that Presbyterians are required to overlook the wrongs, !al or supposed, of the past; for it is clear that the circumstances ' the future will no longer admit of a repetition of them. I do ing to the hope that in a very few years hence you will see .piscopalians and Presbyterians, at present standing at a distance om each other, meeting for prayer and for conference, and for the Dread of the free Gospel of Jesus Christ, north and east, and south id west, in Ireland. The banns of marriage between the Churches ere proclaimed many years ago at Hillsborough, by our now iteran Presbyterian general — of whom we are all so fond, and of hom we are all so proud : but the parties quarreled about the mtract, and the marriage did not take place. Last year, the mns were proclaimed a second time, at the same place; but vers' quarrels intervened, and the marriage has not yet been con- mimated. But that " old man eloquent" is " a prophet of our vn," notwithstanding; and his words will yet come to pass — ay he be spared to. see it, and he will rejoice in it, though it has )t just come about in the way he expected — when the banns will be ■oclaimed a third time; and with the parties brought to a footing ■ equality, and their jealousies and misunderstandings all removed, ey will be joined in a hearty and a holy marriage union, which ) man can put asunder. I look for still more important and still more pleasing results. ^ believe that a short time ago the Irish Presbyterian Church ran me little risk of falling out of fellowship with all nonconformist ^ urches, without getting into closer communion with any endowed } urch. The prospect has suddenly brightened. Surely we will i*on be brought into closest fellowship with all the free Presbyterian ' lurches in the world. First, I hope that we will be brought into mmunion with our scattered Presbyterian Churches, Covenanting d Seceding, in Ireland. The bodies referred to are, I am aware, all in the number of their membership; but if we weigh, instead numbering them, and cast into the scale their stedfastness to nciple, and the sacrifices they have made, it will be found that iy bring vast moral power with them. I reckon myself as of no ;an descent, as being sprung from men who fought at Drumclog t|d Bothwell Brig, and were hunted like deer upon the mountains Scotland — which always look to me as if they had been dyed o their lovely crimson hue by the blood of the martyrs who 3« fought and bled upon them; and it will be a proud day to me, and I believe for Ulster, when the men who fled for a time with the flag of the covenant into the wilderness will come out from their fastnesses with that blue flag 'floating over them and untarnished. Then, every obstacle being removed, we will feel ourselves mem- bers of a large family; and find ourselves in loving friendship with every Free Presbyterian Church in the world, in Scotland, in England, on the Continent of Europe, in distant Canada, in the United States, and in Australia. The great event in the history of the Presbyterian Church in our day was that Convention held in Philadelphia last autumn, which brought six thousand Presbyterian congregations to a visible unity in the United States. The next grevat event in the history of the Presbyterian Church will be the meeting of all the Free Presbyterian Churches in Great Britain, with the Irish sister sitting among them, and holding out her hands to the best ministers of the Established Church of Scotland, and say- ing to them, "come with us and we will do thee good." In these eventful times we are engaged in a greater work than that of reading history — we are making history. I do confess that I should like to see our Church taking a position and acting a part which will make her stand high in the view of the churches of Christ throughout the world; nay, which will call forth the admiration of the world itself. All eyes are at present directed towards her, and I know that in every land in which are Christian communities, there are persons praying for her and trusting that she may rise to the greatness of the emergency. I do hope that when some future Dr. Reid or Dr. Killen writes the history of these critical years, 1868, 1869, and 1870, we will give them ground to record, in the chapter devoted to the period, that we acted a noble and disinterested part, worthy of our ancestors and^ of our Church's history, and so that our children may say to their children, and their children to the generation following, " go and do hkewise." ARCHER AND SONS, PRINTERS, BELFAST, ^li!}^.^,\Sll,,J,j^^P^OQica\ Seminary Libraries 1 1012 01217 9992 •'.>