cluse is fatal to his success. He is brought in close contact, in the course of years, with a very large number of persons, much larger than the ordinary settled pastor can reach. By this his knowledge of human nature is greatly enlarged. For this wis dom cannot be acquired in the closet; and by it alone men of limited acquirements frequently attain to the front rank in every sphere of public life, while where it is deficient the greatest erudition is comparatively useless.

It promotes physical vigor. To say nothing of the healthful influence of changes of climate and scenery, after preaching for two or three years to the same congregation the vital force of many men becomes exhausted. In such a state three months' labor may confirm a consumption, or permanently shatter the nervous system. The delivery of sermons, except when the vocal organs are diseased, is not unhealthy, but the mental and nervous exhaustion produced by their preparation often is. Could the failing minister be relieved from that for a few months, though still preaching, his powers would recuperate, but if settled he fears lest his resignation should be construed into a want of ability; he does not wish to ask for a long furlough because he cannot do without his salary, or lest his people should fancy that they are to have an invalid fastened upon them; and so many struggle on and break down. In the itineracy the periodic changes allow this rest, the necessity of making new acquaintances takes him out in the open air, and gives the stimulus to healthful exercise. If worn with a heavy city charge, a quiet rural station can be assigned him, or wherever he may be sent his pulpit preparations previously accumulated are for a time available.

Under this plan no minister is ever required to "candidate." If committees, self-constituted or official, go to hear him or ask him to preach on trial, he may be entirely inactive if he possess the requisite spirit. While in other systems, except in rare instances, voluntary and conscious "candidating," frequently not followed by "effectual calling," and always attended by humiliating anxiety, is unavoidable.

Many, if not most, ministers require the stimulus of variety to keep them at their best. This a new Church, congregation, Sabbath-school and community, furnish; and they place the minister under the necessity of making a new reputation for

himself. There is, to noble minds, a powerful incitement in the fact of having a position already achieved to sustain; but human nature is weak, and very many are tempted to rely on a reputation already established for permanent consideration, and thus relax effort. Under the plan of regular transfers the minister is ever under the conviction that his influence is to be gained, and that he has no time to waste. That evils may hence arise is obvious, but their examination belongs to another part of the subject.

The wide circle of attached friends which the minister forms in his changes contributes greatly to his happiness, and the relief he feels in being removed from some who have done all in their power to harass him, even though he may have had great general success, is not to be despised. The comfort which the certainty that as long as he is able to toil there will be a place for him, however humble, provided by the Church, is greater than that furnished by an endowment policy of many thousands in the best life assurance company in the world. For that could give only money; this insures friends, the opportunity to labor for Christ and humanity, and the necessaries, if not the luxuries, of existence. The support, also, in the discharge of duty when opposed by the narrow, the worldly, or the sinful, afforded by the thought that the struggle will soon end by removal, and that these foes will not be able to prevent another appointment, may with great force be contrasted with the sinking of heart which the settled minister must feel when he perceives that if he is faithful he cannot stay, and if he is dislodged by opposition it will debar him from receiving another call.

But there is one capital advantage which the itinerant enjoys that few seem to have weighed. It is the opportunity of correcting and avoiding any errors into which he may have fallen, without jeoparding or ruining his influence. To depart from a policy already adopted, and strenuously supported, by the minister, in the same Church, is always difficult even in small things, and most dangerous in great matters; but in the discharge of his functions in another place he may, after mature reflection, deem it wise to adopt the very plan he had rejected. And he can do this without humiliation or controversy.

4. For the whole Church the distribution of different gifts in nearly equal proportions is desirable. Marked individuality

in ministers settled for many years has a tendency to stamp "their image and superscription" on their devoted parishion

As the symmetrical unfolding of nature and grace gives the ideal type of the Christian, so the ideal Christian minister is one who, devoted to Christ, is argumentative and discriminating enough to instruct the Church, imaginative enough to attract and inspire with hope, and emotional enough to affect the heart with suitable feelings. But where is that ideal man? In one, logic predominates; in another, poetry; in a third, pathos. The best statement on this subject is from the pen of Abel Stevens:

Many men of fervid spirit and deep piety have little talent for disciplining the Church. Their discourses are chiefly hortative; they are instrumental in great revivals and additions to the membership. It is obvious that such talents need rapid distribution. The soul must not only be converted, but trained in piety. By an itinerant system such men are changed from position to position, arousing dull Churches, breaking up new ground, invading and reclaiming ungodly neighborhoods. By the same system prudent men, with talents for instructing and edifying the converted masses, follow the former, gathering up and securing the fruits of their labors. Some pastors are addicted chiefly to experimental and practical preaching, others to the illustration and defense of doctrinal truth. Some are more effectual in the social services, others in the ministration of the pulpit. Some have ability only for spiritual labors; others are skillful in managing and invigorating the fiscal resources of the Church, in erecting new chapels, and promoting the benevolent enterprises of the times.

Further: Changes in the pastorate under any system are inevitable. Most men are not able to sustain themselves in the same charge for more than two or three years. All things considered, there must be an increase of attractiveness to preserve a given degree of interest, for it is the same voice, manner, man, addressing the same congregation from one hundred to one hundred and fifty times a year. If the pastor succeeds he will receive a call to some more desirable field of labor. Death makes vacancies, and disturbances from unforeseen causes are liable at any time to arise. There is under other systems an interval between the removal of one pastor and the settlement of another. And frequently no settlement can be effected without the secret or open dissatisfaction of a large minority. When a pastor is disliked from any cause, and his friends are numerous or strong, the dissatisfied are driven to do one of

three things to hear a man whom they do not like, to leave the Church, or to create such a disturbance that he must resign. The average Church member will not do the first, and is not likely to do the second; hence the worst passions are aroused, and Churches are rent into hostile factions. Such a conflict over a minister works immeasurable evil in a community. It is, however, in proportion to the great number of Societies, of unfrequent occurrence in the Methodist Episcopal Church; and this, not because its members and ministers are more patient or less excitable and persistent than others, but because it is obviously irrational and useless to risk the ruin of the Church on account of a minister, when at the best he can be enjoyed, or at the worst he must be endured, for but a short time. Whatever, then, has a strong general tendency to preserve the peace of the Church is of great value. It also exerts a great influence over the spirit of unity in the denomination. This is so obvious as to require but the briefest statement. In twenty years the same minister will have been pastor of more than six Churches in different parts of a State. His friends in them all observe his career and note with sympathy and interest his various changes, and thus, through him, become informed concerning other Churches. It is this which accounts, in great part, for the interest which Methodists feel in the dedicating of new churches, and for the great interest which the laity feel in the Annual Conferences, and the pleasure they derive from attending their sessions. Every member of the Church, of any considerable age, has the personal acquaintance of many ministers, and has heard others spoken of as likely, some day, to be his pastor. The pleasure which most Methodist laymen feel in the friendship of the various ministers with whom they have been brought into close relations, and whom they could never have intimately known but for the itineracy, is greater than they sometimes think, unless their attention is directed to it. In a word, the Methodist has more inducements and opportunities to become acquainted with the ministers, and societies, and general enterprises of the Denomination to which he belongs, than others can have.

Nor should the membership of the Church forget the relief it has from the disturbances incident to the trial of ministers on charges of doctrinal unsoundness or moral delinquency. The

suitableness of the candidate for the ministry is first passed on by the laity, but not with reference to his being the pastor of those who recommend him; the Annual Conference decides whether to receive him on trial. After admission a yearly opportunity is given to bring any charge against him; his trial does not take place in the Church of which he is pastor, nor, if innocent and yet damaged, does his failure to be reappointed permanently embarrass him or the Society he leaves.

If during the year accusations are made, investigation may be had at once, and its place may be located at a distance from his station. All this depends on the itineracy. Contrast its operation with the uncertainty, confusion, fierce excitement, heartburnings, and public scandal attending the trials of ministers. under other systems; especially where the laity of the Church of which the accused is the pastor are of necessity his judges; or where the lay members and permanent pastors of neighboring Churches are involved either as counsel, witnesses, or judges.

5. But it is as the bulwark of sound doctrine that the itineracy commends itself to every sincere believer in the doctrines. and lover of the spirit of Methodism. Most of the heresies and errors which have rent the Church in all ages have been introduced by ministers and teachers of theology, and by them disseminated among the people. When a heretical minister is long settled in one place, if a man of force, he impresses his errors upon the people. It was in this manner that the Unitarian secession in New England arose, which took a third of the Congregational Churches. Ministers preached these sentiments until they gained sufficient adherents to take the Church with them. This could never be done in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The preacher of false doctrines remains at the longest but three years the pastor of one congregation. It is impossible for him to eradicate in so short a time the seeds of truth planted by his predecessors. And on his departure a man both sound in doctrine and able to defend and establish the truth may be appointed to fill his place.

Hence secessions of heretical ministers, accompanied by their Churches, are unknown among us. The heretic may go, but he goes alone, and if, like Robert Laird Collier, he return to the vicinity of his former pastorate, he finds his old pulpit occupied by a shepherd able to protect the fold. Or he may stay,