ject was never generally understood before. On Tuesday evening we held a public meeting at Comber. Mr. Lindsay being called to the chair opened the business in a truly excellent speech; and the meeting was afterwards addressed by Mr. Sorsby; Mr. W. Conkey, and Mr. Baggaly.

These services, and the effects of them, both upon our own people and the public, were such as had never been witnessed in this place before. Our last anniversary was very good, and the collections far exceeded those of any provious year, and many thought we should not be able to raise so much again; but, by the blessing of God, we have realized considerably more than last year, and our prospects for the future are still more encouraging. The friends were never so much interested in the cause as now, and never so much disposed to assist in its support. This feeling seems to be general both among the poor with their pence, aud with those who can afford to cast their shillings into the treasury of the Lord. May God's hand be with us for good!

W. SORSBY.

GATESHEAD.-On Sunday, January 19th, sermons in behalf of our Missions were preached in Bethesda Chapel, by the Rev. P. J. Wright; in the morning from 2 Cor. v. 1-4; a sermon replete with evangelical sentiment, and with spiritual unction, and which made a deep and salutary impression on the minds of the people. In the evening, he expatiated on the great doctrine of atonement—a doctrine which, in this neighbourhood, has not only been assailed by insinuation and ingenious sophistry, but broadly and directly denied; this, however, has only induced the real friends of the Redeemer to press more closely round his dear and hallowed cross. Often has it been shown to our people, that this fundamental article of our holy religion is explicitly stated in the plainest terms by the sacred writers-frequently assumed by them as a universally acknowledged doctrine of Christianity, and that we find it interwoven with the inculcation of Christian duties, and the statement of other important truths. On the same day, sermons were preached at Sheriff Hill, by the Revs. W. Cooke, P. J. Wright; and by Mr. Bourne. Also, at Felling Shore, by Mr. J. Rutherford, and the Rev. W. Cooke; and at Winlaton, afternoon and evening, by Mr. J. Jackson. At all these services the congregations were numerous-the collections liberal-and God's blessing evidently rested on the people.

During the following week we held our principal public meetings. On the Monday evening in Bethesda, when the chair was taken by our much esteemed friend, John Allen, Esq. The report was read by the Rev. L. Stoney, and the meeting was addressed by the Revs. Mr. Puller, (Independent), A. Lynn, W. Cooke, and P. J. Wright. Our collections in the town are nearly double those of last year. At Sheriff Hill on Tuesday evening the chair was again taken by John Allen, Esq., and addresses were delivered by Mr. R. Foreman, L. Stoney, J. Andas; and by the Rev. P. J. Wright. This meeting will long be remembered for the deep interest awakened in behalf of Christian Missions, and the ardour of devotional feeling that was manifested. At Winlaton on Wednesday evening; Mr. R. Foreman was called to the chair. The report was read by Mr. B. J. Prockter, and the claims of Missions were urged by the Revds. L. Stoney and P. J. Wright; and on Thursday evening our meeting at Felling Shore was indeed numerously attended. Mr. Armstrong was called upon to preside. The assembly was addressed by Mr. R. Foreman, L. Stoney, and P. J. Wright; and thus closed "three of the most interesting and most profitable Missionary meetings ever held" says no mean judge "in the north of England." And now, Mr. Editor, perhaps you will pardon me if I should step aside from the Missionary cause, to inform your numerous readers (for now they are becoming emphatically numerous), that the friends in this Circuit have shown, during the present Connexional year, much zeal and liberality in raising the respectability and efficiency of our cause in this town; and I hope ere long it will become as much distinguished for success in winning souls to Christ, as it has been notorious as an arena of conflict and agitation; now there is peace, and a fair open field. At the beginning of the year, the Chapel was cleaned, coloured, painted, and much beautified; the expense was manfully met by the friends. After this, a new organ was introduced into the Chapel: this also has been paid for, save about £20. The congregations on Sabbath evenings average four times the number they were eighteen months ago. God in his great mercy is gathering again his scattered sheep. The desires and prayers of the people seem to be embodied in the language of Psalm lxxx. 1, 3-" Give ear O Shepherd of Israel! thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubim shine forth. Before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up thy strength, and come and save us. Turn us again, O God! and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved."

[The preceding communication prompts us most earnestly to request that our res

pected Superintendents will not fail to communicate any decided and manifesl indications of success that may occur in their respective spheres of labour. We are anxious that such facts should be transmitted to us, not only because we wish to have the pages of the Magazine replenished with what we know will both interest and gratify our readers, but because such accounts are calculated to exert a most salutary influence on other parts of the Connexion. The tendency will be to rouse the lukewarm and to encourage the desponding. They act with something infinitely better than a magic power, for they possess that invaluable moral power, by which, under the divine blessing, a spirit of gratitude, prayer, confidence, and zeal, is more widely disseminated. By such statements the kindliest and holiest sympathies of our friends are brought into exercise; the bonds of Connexional union are strengthened, and our Connexional prosperity advanced.-EDITOR.]

THE PATERNAL FUND.

THE principle on which the stipends of our Ministers are regulated, is entirely different from those by which the stipends of the Ministers of Congregational and State Churches are determined. The Pastors of Independent churches receive, it may be, £80 per year, or it may be £800. And in the State Church the stipends vary from a mere pittance to £20,000 per annum. Our "sliding scale," on the contrary, is founded on the principle that, the provision made for every Minister, should correspond with his circumstances and wants; so that the ministry shall not, on the one hand, present temptations to filthy lucre, nor, on the other, expose to temporal privation and suffering. It must be confessed that this principle not fully acted out in our financial arrangements, for, strange as it may appear, those Ministers amongst us who, through the medium of the Paternal Fund, receive the highest amounts, are, in reality,-the necessities of their family being considered-the worst paid.

The stipends of our Ministers, which bear no comparison with those commonly paid by some other denominations, are but barely sufficient for the ordinary comforts of life; and as the respectability befitting their station in society must be maintained, or much of their moral influence be lost; and as they must purchase many standard books, and advance in knowledge with the literature of the day, the most rigid economy is necessary, and even then the pastor's mind cannot be wholly free from secular care. If the humble mechanic or labourer with £50 per year deems his Minister rich with £100, the man with £500 is at a loss to conceive how he can live with honesty and respectability within that sum. The married preacher cannot possibly live on the stipend of the unmarried, and he therefore receives a larger one; but still less can they who, in the order of Providence, become the fathers of families, "provide things honestly in the sight of all men," and "owe no man anything but love," unless the means of comfortable subsistence are provided for them, according to the doctrine and the commandment of God, by those to whom they minister in spiritual things.

The Paternal Fund is essentially an integral part of our financial system. It is founded on the fundamental principle of that system, viz.: that a Minister's stipend shall be proportioned to his wants. Its existence and allowances are absolutely and indispensably necessary. Those allowances are not a bonus, or an addition to the stipend, they are essentially a part of it; and according to every principle of sound policy, of reason, of justice, and of the eternal word of God, they are a part of the debt owing by the churches of Christ to those who, renouncing all earthly and secular pursuits, devote themselves to the work of God for their service. The allowance from the Paternal Fund however, especially in relation to its limited continuance, does not bear a due proportion to the increase of the Minister's wants; so that, even with this allowance, he is in decidedly more straitened circumstances than his brethren who have no rising families. Our frugal system is, however, perhaps as impartial in its operations as circumstances will permit.

The only questions to be considered are,-in what way is it expedient and wise to raise the necessary provision for the little children of our Ministers? I say little children, because the allowance is discontinued soon after they enter into their teens, though their support is then the greatest burden. That the Circuits shall make the necessary provision for the families of their Ministers is not only utterly impracticable, but would be most impolitic and unjust. The same principle that attempts to equalize the stipends of the Ministers, also equalizes the burdens of the people, according to their numbers and their means, When the plan of Circuit support was at first at

tempted to be carried out, it was found to present an insuperable obstacle to the stationing of the preachers, and imposed unequal burdens on the Circuits. Preachers with large families could only be stationed in large and opulent Circuits, whatever reasons might exist to render such an appointment objectionable; and from other Circuits, where their labours might be desirable, they were entirely excluded; while Preachers who had no families, or whose families were small, were confined to another class of Circuits, however necessary it might be that that they should be stationed elsewhere. The stationing of the Ministers had therefore to be regulated, not by their qualifications or by the wishes of the people, but by a necessity productive at times of the most painful consequences both to themselves and to their Circuits So early, therefore, as the year 1801, this plan was abandoned, and the "Children's Fund," as it was then called, was formed. It was from the first regarded with such unanimous approval-it relieved the Connexion of so many difficulties, which no previous expedient had met, and its support, and the distribution of its funds, were regulated so justly, that the Treasurer has generally had a balance in hand. The balance one year amounted to nearly £250. On a few occasions, indeed, when the demands were increased, and when, owing to the difficulties of the times, the supplies were diminished, the Fund has been involved in debt. This circumstance led, in the year 1823, to a reduction in the allowances, and to the entire extinction of the grant-equal to one year's allowance-made when a child went off the Fund. After this, any further reduction is really out of the question. The justice of our people can surely never permit them to propose, nor can the necessities of our Ministers ever permit them to consent to it. Indeed the strong, vehement, and all but unanimous opposition, both of Laymen and Ministers, to the bare idea of such a reduction, at the last Conference, showed that such a project can never be entertained. It would degrade and impoverish those of our Ministers who most need support, and plunge their minds into multitudes of harassing cares, and subject them to unjust and cruel privations, greatly to the injury of their usefulness, and to the dishonour of the Connexion. Since our Ministers are quite precluded from embarking in those secular pursuits in which many of the most gifted of them, at least, might secure a handsome competency, the word of God requires the churches to provide their ministers with sufficient and even liberal pecuniary support; and it is worthy of remark, that rightly minded men ever feel a pleasure in contributing "their carnal things to those who sow unto them in spiritual things."

The present state of the Paternal Fund claims our most serious attention. Owing to the very same causes that rendered the Relief Fund necessary, and that have embarrassed some of our Chapel Trusts, the ordinary income of this Fund was last year nearly £350 short of meeting the ordinary demands upon it. Unless some extraordinary exertions be immediately made in every Circuit, that deficiency may be doubled at the approaching Conference; and by the end of another year, if the existing state of things continues, the debt will amount to £1000. Let us fairly look the evil in the face, and fearlessly calculate on the consequences which, under given circumstances, must necessarily arise. Let us neither exaggerate nor overlook the danger, but impartially investigate the actual state of the case.

At the last Conference, when the deficiency was announced, it excited some degree of alarm, and a long and animated discussion took place. All the brethren felt and acknowledged that the Fund must be supported. It was suggested, indeed, that the grants should be reduced; but when they who made that suggestion heard the debate in Conference, they deeply regretted having even given a hint that might lead to the reduction of the stipends of those Ministers whose necessities were the most numerous and imperative. The Conference unanimously resolved that an appeal should be made in the Circuits, by the Ministers and Representatives, on behalf of the Paternal Fund, "showing the deficiency which has taken place in meeting this portion of the Preacher's salary, and the absolute necessity of greatly increased contributions to this Fund during the coming year." The Conference also declared that, " If when vigorous exertions have been made, and all available resources have been applied, the Paternal Fund should be found insufficient to meet its demands, it will be the duty of Conference either to reduce the payments an expedient which the Conference declared it believed the Connexion would not allow-or to call upon those Circuits whose contributions are deficient, to make good that deficiency, the Conference being determined to redeem the pledge which has been given, of keeping the Connexion clear of debt." We are now within little more than two months of the Conference. A crisis-not the first which the Paternal Fund has sustained-is at hand. Have these "vigorous exertions," which it was directed should be made, and to which the members of Conference pledged themselves, been made? Has any circular on the subject been addressed to the Connexion, according to the 33rd resolution of the Conference? Have any plans been devised by the Committee appointed in the 34th.resolution, who were :

desired to "carry out" the plans they might devise, as well as report them and their proceedings to the ensuing Conference? Has the state of this Fund, its debt, the claims upon it during the current year, and its necessities and its danger been once referred to in the Magazine during the year? Are our Ministers and Lay-representatives fulfilling the pledge which they reciprocally gave to each other by unanimously adopting the 35th resolution? No voice has sought the Connexional ear on behalf of the Paternal Fund since the Conference, though our sympathies have been properly invoked on behalf of other objects, and though three months have elapsed since the period when, according to rule, the public collections and private contributions should have been paid into the Treasurer's hands. Let us hope that, although nothing has been said, much has been done, and that the required "vigorous exertions" have been or are being made.

The writer is not without serious apprehensions that the Connexion is not sufficiently awake to the danger that one Minister and one Circuit will be trusting to another, and that the debt already sufficiently heavy will be increased still more. It is not yet too late, however. We may retrieve ourselves by the time of Conference, if all our Friends and all our Ministers will only do their best, for it appears that the Ministers must serve tables, as well as attend to the word of God and prayer, or their own tables will be unserved-making all the personal applications they can, and in the most affectionate and urgent manner. But how much better it would be if our worthy people would, in their willingness and liberality, save their Pastors this trouble, and render it unnecessary for them to become applicants for the Paternal Fund, by subscribing from Christian principle, and Christian love, rather than from the force of mere importunity and example! Such was the conduct of the first disciples after the descent of the Holy Ghost; they brought their munificent and unsolicited gifts, and laid them at the apostles' feet. Let us not despair because of existing debts. We have had them before, and have swept them away; and by the blessing of God and combined exertions in these improved times, we shall be able to sweep them away again. But let us all set to work, and do all that wants doing before we sit down to rest. Indeed we shall have rest only in heaven. Our work will only end with our lives. In connection with the Paternal Fund we have two things to do: the entire liquidation of the debt, and the adequate support of the Fund year by year. Can the former object be accomplished without a special effort? That special effort the Conference directed to be made; and it would look well of our more opulent friends, whom Providence has favoured above their brethren, to come forward and at once pay off the debt of the last Conference, by placing in the hands of their Superintendents, special donations, over and above their usual contributions. They might easily subscribe £350, and be no poorer, and thus relieve the minds of the preachers, and sustain the character, and promote the returning prosperity of the Connexion. This may be done without being done in concert, if each one will but do what he can, apart from what others may do, or may leave undone. To raise the ordinary income we must not only make vigorous but well sustained exertions, but each of us must devote our influence and time to the great work, as though the result depended individually upon ourselves. If this be not done, the consequences must as certainly come upon us, as an effect must of necessity follow its cause. We must not be satisfied with raising the same sum which we raised in our respective circuits last year, but must set before us, and before our people, a higher standard, and raise contributions equal to the wants and difficulties of the Fund. Some of our friends, though Divine providence has blessed them with increased means, continue to pay their contributions as a "fixed duty," instead of abounding in liberality, as God has abounded towards them in goodness, and although "it is more blessed to give than to receive." While adversity disables some of our beloved friends from contributing as they once did, and as they gladly would do now if they could, and while death removes others from the militant to the triumphant church, should not those who remain, and whose worldly substance is increased, render to God, through the medium of his church and ministry, according as he has rendered to them? In some instances, dereliction of Christian duty has arisen from inattention, more than from a want of inclination; but in others it unquestionably arises from a want of a correct appreciation of the true standard of duty; this standard is the opportunity and ability to do good. Our whole scale of contributions is, in the judgment of the writer, too low. The Minutes of 1844 present only two contributions to this Fund of £5; only two of £3; only eight of £2; and only sixty-three of £1. Many friends have their names printed in connection with shillings who might reasonably be expected to contribute sovereigns, and others give but units to whom we justly look for greater liberality. Some of our poorer members, who can but just provide things honestly in the world, in giving their five shillings and half-crowns, do what they can, and will have their reward; but in many instances our friends need a clearer and more solemn sense of duty on this

matter. Let our Lay-representatives aid their Ministers in the efforts of this year, and our Lay friends provoke each other to love and good works, and not leave the work entirely to those whose undivided attention ought to be devoted to their purely spiritual functions.

There is a spirit in the Connexion, and an ability equal to its exigencies and responsibilities; and that spirit and ability only want bringing out, by candid statements of facts, and of our duty in relation to them, and by proper appeals to conscience, and denominational attachment and principle. The men who have been called upon by the church to minister at its altar, and whose whole powers are devoted to the salvation of immortal souls, who are the Lord's witnesses to the world, who renounce all opportunities of securing carnal ease and earthly goods, and who visit the sick, and minister to the dying, and of whom the Son of God hath said, "The labourer is WORTHY of his hire," will surely never be permitted to be harassed with pecuniary embarrassments, We often speak of the claims of benevolence, but we must now speak of the claims of justice. The support of the ministry is not an act of charity, but of equity and of right, and obedience to the injunctions to provide for that proper and sufficient support, is voluntary only so far, and precisely in the same sense, as obedience to any other Christian precept. In looking at our present deficiency, the love which our people bear to their Ministers, their obedient regard to the laws of God, their jealousy for the honour of his church, and their zeal in every good work, forbid us to despond. Let us pay off our present debt, and all unite to augment the annual income, until it shall rise to a level with the expenditure, and thus prevent the recurrence of difficulties. This work has yet to be done.

JUSTITIA.

[We have given insertion to the preceding communication, notwithstanding that in consequence of its late arrival, we have been under the necessity of altering our arrangements for this part of the Magazine, when no light matter could have justified the delay that may thereby be occasioned. But the very great importance of the subject invests it, in our opinion, with a prior claim, and impels us to the course we have adopted.

Most gladly should we have given our utmost and earliest aid to the object proposed by the respected writer, had we not considered that it had been entrusted to a Committee, who, we believed, would promptly and efficiently discharge their duty. We therefore dismissed from our minds every feeling of Editorial responsibility and anxiety on the matter.

It may somewhat assist our Brethren in their efforts to rise the requisite supplies for the Paternal Fund, to remind them that an average of one shilling and seven-pence for each member throughout the Connexion in England and Guernsey, would raise £1251 15s. 8d., which would, it may be hoped, be fully adequate to the demands that may come upon the Fund next Conference, including the balance due to the Treasurer. And is it impossible for each Circuit to raise the proportion of this amount? Surely the public collections and private subscriptions will more than realize it, provided they be contributed with that spirit of liberality which the Connexion has, on past occasions, manifested, and which we do not believe to be extinct.

Considering the sacrifices which the Preachers so spontaneously and generously offered, in order to rescue the Connexion from its late difficulties, our people, we are persuaded, will not, cannot permit any reduction to be made in those allowances which, after all, bear but a small proportion to the expenses they are intended to meet. On the contrary, now that commerce is improving, and as we hope the dawn of a brighter day rising on our beloved Community, we cannot but indulge the hope that our friends, on examining the case fairly, will feel ashamed that the grants from this Fund should be small, and will determine to render it that vigorous support, which will afford if not an increase of the grants, at least a longer continuance of them-a continuance during that period when they are most pressingly and painfully needed.

In order in future, to prevent these serious deficiencies, it may be well for each Conference to ascertain the probable amount that may be needed for this Fund for each ensuing year, and to state in the Minutes the average sum per member; thus the proportion which each Circuit ought to raise will be known in due time, and measures can be adopted accordingly. This plan, too, would more perfectly equalize the pressure, and render that pressure less difficult to bear.-EDITOR.]

CITY STEAM PRESS, LONG LANE: D. A. DOUDNEY.