St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1875-12-24


have the pleasure of giving as well as
receiving. truly hope you will en-
Joy the merry, merry Christmas the
better for little Christian Union.
Weekly Offerings for the Support of
the Gospel
As this is subject now being quite
generally discussed, we give below the
experience of some churches in the mat
ter. The Rev. j. G. Johnson, pastor.
gives the following result of the expert
ment III the Congregational Church
AT RUTLAND:
Our method had ALWAYS been TO Sup-
piement the sum laiSrd 10y pew rentals
with Il subscriptions. This had never
been difficult matter III theory. as our
society was both large and willing
enough, but IN practice it is vexatinus.
and leads to disappointmentS and dcti-
clencleS. Therefore at the annual meet
ing "f the society. i'll September. ISL.
the prudential committee secured the
adoption of Il resolutions. to The effect
that, on and after the Ist of january.
$50. the ''envclope system" should he
put III operation that the members of
the congregation should be requested
To name the sum which they wer. will
ing to give each week for the work of
the church; that this should hc collect
ed each Sabbath: that the amount
should he reported quarterly to com
mlttcc consisting of the pastor and dca-
cons of the church. and that this amount
should he divided 10y them aS follows ::
First. they should pay the current eN-
ptn>cS of the Soricty: second. they
should divide the remainder anon" the
various benevolent objects to which the
society had formerly contributed. and
III the same proportion ;is they had for
mcrlN given.
Previous to the first of January. the
committee called upon the members of
the congregation, and gave them an op-
portunitN to make their pledges. They
were told that mo- other collection would
hc made. that this pledge would cover
everything except a> they chose to
give independently. Some signed Il
weekly amount tor church expenses on
ly. choosing to wait until the close at
the quarter. and then make thcir "itts
t" he objects of their preferences Some
preferred to remain on the book as be
fore. and make their gifts for church
expenses once Il wear. Some thought
the weekly gift Troublesome. and signed
for Il quarterly subscription. But the
great majority were glad of the change.
In most cases they pledged more than
they had ever given before and very
many signed Il small sum per week. W no
had before given nothing.
ON the first of April. at the end of
the tilSt quarter, the pastor and dcacnns
came together to receive the rcpoIt of
the treasurer of the society aS to the
amount raised. and us to the general
working of the plan. 1t WAS found that
= ,;E3-.l 10 had been received. The cx-
pcnsc> of the quarter had been 81 .I5U.
which left SISS.I5 to he appnrtioned
among the causes of church work. The
plan had proved a perfect success.
Church expenses had been met with
greater ease than ever before. and as
large Il sum WAS given to benevolent
objects, when special gifts were omitted.
and these special gifts would he made
the same as before. Indeed. special
contributions were now reported -thir-
ty-one dollars dollars to one object. and
toIty-tive to another. Beside. the com
mittec had found it impossible to call
on all the members of the congregations
The other quarterly reports have been
as good. There has been no failure to
meet the pledges, and the number of
them has increased. So much for our
plan which we think is good-and for
its success, which we are sure is COM
plete.
The plan has been criticised on the
ground that it places the minister's sal
AIRY, payment of which is IL ..duty," on
the same basis with gifts to missions.
which are "charity." The only response
to which is, that one is no more .'duty,"
or no less a .'charity," than the other.
The work of Christ on earth is one. and
has many departments. The first duty
i'll the order Of Importance is at home
Preaching the gospel must he sustained
there. The second is to the rest of man
kind. One should never exclude the
Othel, though there may be different
degrees of pressure of the claims If
the cost of maintaining the gospel at
home ever gets so great ;is to exclude
the assistance we ought to give others,
we should reduce home expenses until
we can help others.
Members of our congregations should
he encouraged to decide how much they
can give to the work of Christ OH earth,
and then to lay by on the first day of
the week such sum. And this church
has no hesitation in urging them to give
it in the order named-tirst, to the main
tenance of the gospel at home; next to
the work of the church elsewehere-al
ways being sure that the first does not
exclude the second. lfany special ~ M
pathies incline the giver to devote an
unusual proportion of his money to IL
certain cause. every facility should be
afforded him for obeying his inclination.
1t will he seen, of course. that this
church would consider its plan failure,
and would change it, the moment the
sum raised fell below OF just to the
point of church expenses.
1t should he added that the success
of this depends very greatly on the
treasurer. This church is signalIy ia
vOred in that respect. His book is a
model of accuracy. 1t is so ruled that
titty-two spaces. bearing the date of
each Sunday in the year, are against
each name. His weekly pledge is nam