pastors with fields of labor. In some other denominations, ao cording to their own reports, less than one half the Churches. have settled pastors, the rest having " stated supplies," transient preaching, or being destitute of pulpit ministrations. While this is the case with the Churches, between one third and one fourth of the ministers anxious to preach are without settlements or calls. The following extract is from the "Congrega tionalist" of September 10, 1879:

AN EXPERIENCE MEETING.

Time, Monday, 9 A. M.; place, a corner of the Congregational, Book-store; occasion, a cluster of men discussing vacant pulpits and their method of supply. Though composed of ministers it was a live meeting; perhaps because there was no attempt to preach or theorize, only simply heart felt statement of personal experience and feeling. For obvious reasons other letters have been substituted for the true initials.

Brother B. was speaking. "For my part I must say I am sick of this whole business. I love to preach; it has been my loved vocation for a score of years, and if there were anywhere an open door to a field however humble, where the salary would keep body and soul together, I would gladly work on for the Master; but this coming here week after week to make one of a crowd of disappointed applicants not only disheartens, but humiliates me in a way that I do not believe good for any man.” "True, Brother B., but what can we do?

"Sure enough, what can we? If I knew I would not only tell others, but act for myself. I see and feel the evils of our system, but how to remedy them is another thing."

"There are nine of us," spoke up Brother F., "that came in here last Saturday hoping for a chance to preach somewhere as a supply or candidate. How many of us did preach ?"

Two hands were raised, and their owners explained that in one case it was gratuitous assistance for a friend, and in the other the result of an arrangement made outside the Congregational House. "Well," continued Brother F., "I happen to know of four others who last Saturday made personal application in this building for places to preach. I presume Mr. Sargent could tell us of many others, and then we all know that both here and in the 'bureau' above they have on file a large and increasing list of applications from ministers all over New England, and from the regions beyond."

What success did the four have?"

"Of these four, one was sent out by our good brother in charge of the book-store, in response to the only single, solitary call that came from any Church whatsoever to any party in this building. The other three went, one to a temporary boarding-place he has

hired for himself and wife a few miles out, his goods stored meanwhile a hundred miles from here; one to his home down on the Cape, and the other to his home beyond the Connecticut River. His car fare, I happen to know, was $6 90; he brought his lunch with him, but he spent five cents for a cup of coffee." "How much family has he?"

"Five children and an invalid sister."

"How much salary has he had?"

"Six years ago it was $1,200 and parsonage, then it was cut down to $1,000, again reduced to $800, and last year it was $650, and no vacation. Fifty dollars are still due."

Why did he come so far on an uncertainty?"

"He told me that he was getting desperate; that he had been at home five Sabbaths without employment, and that he felt he must do something or go somewhere, and so he came on to make inquiries in person."

What does the ministerial bureau' accomplish anyway?" Brother S. responded: "It has never done any thing for me except to put my letters on file; but then I do not blame the bureau; it would gladly help us all to places if it could, but when all the applications come from the ministers, and none from the Churches, it makes it a one-sided affair, a market where it is all supply and no demand."

Over against this place the fact that there is not one Methodist Church desiring a pastor, and able to support him, without one, and not one "effective " Methodist preacher "standing all day idle in the vineyard because no man hath hired him."

2. It stimulates the growth of young Churches. It does this by supplying them with men of greater ability than they could without it secure. Many of them could not offer any minister such inducements that he would voluntarily settle there; but under the itineracy the hardship is shared, and the preacher encouraged and sustained "with the assurance of a better appointment next year." By this plan it has been made impossible for the emigrant, the miner, or even the hunter, to get beyond the reach of the Methodist itinerant, "who forms a class and gives notice of preaching wherever two or three can be got together." Except by their missionary efforts, necessarily circumscribed, other denominations can accomplish little in this way, for under the regular operations of the system of settled pastors Societies must first be formed and the minister receive a call.

3. It confers peculiar benefits on the minister. He is compelled to mingle very much in society, for the spirit of a re

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 wisdom 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 furlongh 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 parishioners. 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 a 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