The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1872-02-14
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byterian Conference. They take tn
same text, but their handling Of it il
different. one takes an inside view o
the subject, while the other looks at il
on the outside. This is another Proc
lof the, often expressed fact, that there
Eare at least two sides, to every question
This seems to have three and ask yol
permission to saya few words on my
|;side. There are doubtless many in the
l,church who dislike to see SO much
I;prominence given to money, and would
|rejoice to see what "Ws" calls the, "dis,
agreeable necessity removed r but this
will never be the case until the subject is
brought fully to the notice. Of the whole
church, and every member comes
squarely up to the performance of his
duty. It was with this view that /
made the remark, and tits with hope
that by-as friendly interchange Of ideas
we may De able to strike out plan upon
which we can all agree, and by united
effort carry the church over her present
difficulties, and plant the matter eoi
church finances upon more solid ground.
i'W.n traces our present troubles to the
too great love of money by the members
of the church. If this be the true cause
1t is reproach to us, and the sooner we
get clesrof it the better He is not very
sanguine, but says we must "contlnne
to give prominence to it," Inoney 10 the
church, J until this excessive love for 1t
lby the meinbers) is abated, and money
pours more liberally into the, treasury Of
the Lord; then will our hearts 'be-warm-
cd with the love of God and this disa-
greeable;; necessity will, cease.l This is
a 'cOnsummatiOn devoutly to be wish
ed :" but is there any hope of its speedy
accomplishment? Does not the prom
inence now given to the subject rather
irritate and keep the church in fever
ish state of excitement, causing it at
times to put forth spasmouic, efforts
which arc, however, no evidences of
health-end dear brother, may it not
become so prominentas to endanger our
very faith? Itis said that human ma
ture is the same in all ages, and, if it !is
a love of our nature to speak of those
we not come TO love this thing of which
we so often speak? If the Apostle Paul
felt it incumbent on him to admonish
his son Timothy of the dangerous pow
or of money in the church, Of how
much greater force should the admoni-
ton press on US in! these money loving
days. There surely is q better a1ld
safer way of getting at this thing, than
10y continually dinging il ini eur eafs and
threaping it down our throats.N ! do
not believe that the private members Of
the church are "stingy" or;"close asted.n y
There maybe some such among them,
as there may be '"miscrlyn Elders and
Careless Deaeons among the officers,
butthe larger portion Of the members
only want to he taught their duty and
they will do it. AS to the stingy, the
close fsted, sid the miserly parts q
the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, have you
forgot the fable of the sun, the wind, and
the man with cioak:, .Do you seriously Y,
think that you can blow money out Of
their flnty hearts? No, no, the harder
you blow, the more closely will they
button Their cloak over their pocket,
hooksald i hearts which Ge,closes ,tog14ksx
el' under its impenctrabIe folds.
The effect may be TO make the truly
liberal (undcr 4 sense Of the churches
wants. more liberal still. But the only
way 10 get anything out Of these ''hard
casesn is to work, it out. Let US, then,
drive this. "disorgan'Zablc majority"
from the church let our hearts be
warmed with the love Of God; then
money will flow into the treasuary Of
the Lord. 80.
"W" deyotes much the longer portion
Of his remarks to what he calls the Dee
cons position, which is .:tnat whenever
q Pastors salary is not promptly paid he
ought to cease preaching, the doors Of
his church should be shut,n, &c, and
asks, as it not the correct principle?'
This is direct question in four words.
| will answer it as directly, and III
fewer words, 1t is not3 Let itne see if /
now understand the Deacon's position,
for those words III palenthesis-"t0 his
particular congregation''--scem to indi-
cate change. On looking over tie
printed minutes of the last Session Of
Presbytery, I observe in the statistical
report made to Synod that, among other
things, Prcsbytery organizes churches,
ordains and installS Pastors, and dis
solves the PASTORAL relation. Now, if
the Oeacon's position is that Whenever
the pastors salary is not promptly paid,
he may apply to Presbytery to dissolve
the relation, the principle is correct. -
But if it is meant that he should retain
bis pastOr&te, but cease preaching, it is
wrong. independent Of the serious
doubts in my mind whether q conScen-
tious Pastor could do this, have strong
convictions that he should not; and III
he is truly called to preach the gos-
pei. I think he cannot. So long as he'is
the Pastor there rs nothing the congre-
CATION may do, or leave undone. which
can release him from his ordination
VOWS. Ifhis grievances become too great
to be borne, he must'not take the law in
bis own hauds, but seek his remedy
through the regularly constituted tri5u-
mails OF the church. The principle .is-de-
fective in another point. Presbytery has
ordained aud installed him Pastor off,
church. If he ceases, in that irregular
way. to, do the work, which, with his
own consent, has been imposed upon
him, does he not fly in the face Of au-
thority?s If, under the circumstances
why not for a ycar--why not altogether?
portart point: The necessity which is
laid on every minister Of the gospel to
preach that gospel, is far above all con-
sideration Of dollars and cents but here
I dare not trc;rl. ,., s,-..'... f-.--E~F
20. S.''.says the pastors salary should
be paid, but saying SO does not pay it.
true, but here is Il specific which will
fetch it. Let the Pastor play dumhy
awhile This will not only bring the
blush. of shame to the cheeks of the
"niserly old eider'' and the 'close-iist-
ed member" but it will bring money
one as the other. L rather think they
will congratulate themselves upon the
] turn the affairs has taken, and feel they
had made good thing out OF 1t, for one
who is mean enough to cheat his preach.
er, is insensibie to shame. The subject
of ministerial support, with all the re-