The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1896-08-25
PLAIN LIVING AN0 HIGH THINKING.
ON How Much OF How Little Ministers
Lived $50 Years Ago.


ON How Much or How Little Ministers
Lived $50 Years Ago.
We have heard a great deal about
plain living and high thinking, with
illustrations from men who had
hardly the wherewithal to keep soul
and body together, but who, in spite
of that. have written books that have
left their impress not only upon
their own time, but upon after gen.
erations. We are little suspicious
of such stories, lest they should be
quoted TO justify the niggardliness
of those who receive of the gospel
in providing for the wants of those
who preach the gospel. But the fol-
lowing instance is too remarkable to
be overlooked, and we give it to our
readers, since we can vouch for its
accuracy, having examined the REQ
ord only Saturday last.
Jonathan Edwards is the greatest
tkeologian that this country has ev-
er produced Robert Hall, the fa-
NOUS English preacher, used to de-
your his books with such amaze
ment at the power of reasoning they
/ showed that he exclaimed, Ed
/ wards is the greatest perhaps he
meant solely in the field of philo-
sophical and theological speculation
-"of the sons of men," Yet this
great man was settled in a country
parish in Northampton, where the
people, who could not appreciate his
/ greatness, fairly drove him away,
after which, as if he would find
lodge in some vast wilderness, he
went over the mountains and took
refuge at Stockbridge, on the banks
/ of the Housatonic, where there was
a mission to the Indians, with few
settlers from eastern Massachusetts,,
and the records tell us that meet
ing of the town (not of the church,
for N those days there was but one
! church, which was established by
law, and the town was to provide
for its supportl held on Feb. %, 1850
Cwhen, perhaps, down in old Vir-
ginia, George Washington was cele-
brating his eighteenth birthday, it
was voted that ''in case Rev. Jona-
than Edwards should settle with
them in the work of the ministry"
he should receive the sum of &c 15s.
i'd. per year-about $35. It is COM
forting to know that he was assured
in the contract that it should be
lawful money"
When read this, confess / could
hardly believe it; yet no rubbing of
eyes or of spectacles could change
the figures. There they stand as
they have stood for lac years, for
the benefit of whosoever may have
a curiosity to read them. The
amount seems indeed incredibly
small, and perhaps was supplement
ed by a contribution from the Eng
lish Society For the Propagation of
the Gospel In Foreign Parts. But so
far as the record goes that was the
salary, and the whole salary, so far
as it was paid in money. But with
this there was also a provision for
keeping the minister warm. If the
people could not supply much to
stimulate him inwardly, they would
ut least keep the blood from freez
ing in his veins by keeping the fire
burning on his hearthstone. And ao-
cordingly, with this munifcent sala-
ry, it was voted also that he should
have 100 sleighloads of firewood, OF
which the Indians were to furnish
so and the white settlers 20, which
they were to chop in the woods and
draw on sleds to his dwelling house.
With this very modest supply OF
that which could buy food and cloth
ing, yet with the fire burning bright
" on his hearth, Jonathan Edwards
wrote books that will be immortal
in the history of his country. Plain
living and high thinking indeed
Henry NJ. Field in New York Evan
gelist,