"MONEY, money, money! That's the everlasting cry! I'll give up mypew. I won't go to church. I'll stay at home and read the Bible. Notthat I care for a few dollars more than I do for the dust that blowsin the wind; but this selling of salvation for gold disgusts me. I'msick to death of it!"
"But hear, first, Mr. Larkin, what we want money for," said Mr.Elder, one of the vestrymen of the church to which the formerbelonged. "You know that our minister's salary is very small; infact, entirely insufficient for the maintenance of his family. Hehas, as might be supposed, fallen into debt, and we are making aneffort to raise a sufficient sum to relieve him from his unpleasantembarrassment."
"But what business has he to go in debt, Mr. Elder? He knows theamount of his income, and, as an honest man, should not let hisexpenses exceed it."
"But you know as well as I do that he cannot live on four hundreddollars a year."
"I don't know any such thing, friend Elder. But I do know, thatthere are hundreds and thousands who live on much less, and save alittle into the bargain. That, however, is neither here nor there.Four hundred dollars a year is all this parish can afford to pay aminister, and that Mr. Malcolm was distinctly told before he came.If he could not live on the salary offered, why did he come? Mr.Pelton never received more."
"Beg your pardon, Mr. Larkin. Mr. Pelton never received less thanseven hundred dollars a year. There were always extra subscriptionsmade for him."
"I never gave any thing more than my regular subscription andpew-rent."
"It is more than I can say, then. In presents of one kind andanother and in money it never cost me less than from fifty toseventy-five dollars a year extra. Having been in the vestry for thelast ten years, I happen to know that there was always something tomake up at the end of the year, and it generally came out of thepockets of a few."
"Well, it isn't right, that is all I have to say," returned Mr.Larkin. "A minister has no business to saddle himself upon acongregation in that way for less than his real weight. It's animposition, and one that I am not going to stand. I'm opposed to allthese forced levies, from principle."
"I rather think the first error is on the side of the congregation,"said Mr. Elder. "I think they are not only to blame, but reallydishonest, in fixing upon a sum for the support of a minister thatis plainly inadequate to his maintenance. Here, in our parish, forinstance, a thousand dollars might be paid to a minister with thegreatest ease in the world, and no one be oppressed by hissubscription. And yet, we are very content and self-complacent inour niggardly tender of four hundred dollars."
"A thousand dollars! I don't believe any minister ought to receivesuch a salary. I have no notion of tempting, by inducements likethat, money-lovers into the sacred office."
"Pardon me, Mr. Larkin, but how much does it cost you to live? Notless than two thousand five hundred dollars a year, I presume."
"But I don't put my expenses alongside of the minister's. I canafford to spend all that it costs me. I have honestly made what Ipossess, and have a right to enjoy it."
"I didn't question that, Mr. Larkin. I only turned your thoughts inthis direction, that you might realize in your own mind how hard itmust be for a man with a family of three children, just the numberthat you have, to live on four hundred dollars a year."
But the allusion to matters personal to Mr. Larkin gave thatgentleman a fine opportunity to feel offended; which he did not failto embrace, and thus close the interview.
This was Mr. Elder's first effort to obtain a subscription forpaying off the minister's debt. It quite disheartened him. He hadintended making three calls on his way to his store that morning,for the purpose of trying to raise something for Mr. Malcolm; but hefelt so discouraged by the reception he had met with from Mr.Larkin, that he passed on without doing so. Near his store was acarriage repository. The owner of it put his hand upon his shoulderas he was going by, and said, "Just step in, I want to show yousomething beautiful."
Mr. Elder went in, and was shown a very handsome andfashionably-made carriage, with all the modern improvements.
"This is something very elegant, certainly. Who is it for?"
"One of the members of your church."
"Ah?"
"Yes. It is for Larkin."
"Indeed! How much does it cost him?"
"Eight hundred dollars."
"He ought to have a fine pair of horses for so fine a carriage."
"And so he has. He bought a noble span, last week, for a thousanddollars."
Mr. Elder said what he could in praise of the elegant carriage; buthe couldn't say much, for he had no heart to do so. He felt worsethan ever about the deficiency in Mr. Malcolm's salary. On the nextday he was in better spirits, and called in upon one of the membersof the church, as he passed to his store. He stated his errand, andreceived this reply--
"I'll tell you what, Mr. Elder, I am of Larkin's opinion in thismatter. If our minister agreed to come for four hundred dollars, heshould stick to his contract. He's no business to go in debt, andthen call upon us to get him out of his difficulties. It isn't theclean thing. I don't mind a few dollars any more than you do; but Ilike principle. I like to see all men, especially ministers, stickto their text. Malcolm knew before he came here what we could affordto give him, and if he couldn't live upon that, he had no businessto come. That's what I think of it, and I always speak out my mindplainly."
Mr. Elder made no more begging calls on that day. But he tried itagain on the next, and found that Larkin had been over the groundbefore him, and said so much about "the imposition of the thing,"that he could do little or nothing. There was a speciousness aboutLarkin's manner of alluding to the subject, that carried people awaywith him; particularly as what he said favoured their inclination tokeep a tight hold on their purse-strings. He was piqued with Elder,and this set him to talking, and doing more mischief than he thoughtfor.
The Rev. Mr. Malcolm was a man of about thirty years of age. He hadtaken orders a couple of years previous to the date of his call tothe parish where he now preached. At the time of doing so, he wasengaged in teaching a school; from which he received a verycomfortable income. The bishop who ordained him recommended theparish at C--, when Mr. Pelton left there, to apply for Mr.Malcolm; which was done. The latter was an honest, conscientiousman, and sincere in his desire to do good in the sacred office towhich he believed himself called. When the invitation to settle atC--came, he left home and visited the parish, in order that hemight determine whether it was his duty to go there or not. On hisreturn, his wife inquired, with a good deal of interest, how heliked the place, and if he thought he would go there.
"I think I shall accept the call," said he. This was not spoken withmuch warmth.
"Don't you like the people?" inquired Mrs. Malcolm.
"Yes; as far as I saw them, they were very pleasant, good sort ofpeople. But the salary is entirely too small."
"How much?"
"Four hundred dollars a year, and the parsonage--a little affair,that would rent for about a hundred dollars."
"We can't live on that," said Mrs. Malcolm, in a disappointed tone;"it is out of the question."
"No, certainly not. But I am assured that at least seven or eighthundred will be made up during the year. This has always been donefor Mr. Pelton and will be done for me, if I accept the call."
"That might do, if we practised close economy. But why do they notmake the salary seven or eight hundred dollars at once? It would bejust the same to them, and make the minister feel a great deal moreindependent."
"True; but we must let people do things in their own way. We canlive on seven hundred dollars, and I therefore think it my duty togive up my school, and accept the call."
"No one, certainly, can charge you with sordid views in doing so,for your school yields you now over a thousand dollars, and isincreasing."
"I will try and keep my mind free from all thought of what peoplemay say or think," returned Mr. Malcolm, "and endeavour to do rightfor the sake of right."
The wife of the Rev. Mr. Malcolm fully sympathized with her husbandin his wish to enter upon the duties of his sacred calling, and wasready to make any sacrifice that could be made in order to see himin the position he so much desired to occupy. She did not,therefore, make any objection to giving up their pleasant home andsufficient income, but went with him cheerfully to C--, and theremade every effort to reduce all their expenses to their reducedmeans of living.
It is a much easier thing to increase our expenses than to reducethem. We get used to a certain free way of living, and it is one ofthe most difficult things in the world to give up this littleluxury, and that pleasant indulgence, and come right down to themeagre necessaries of life. This fact was soon apparent to Mr. andMrs. Malcolm; but they were in earnest in what they were about, andpractised the required self-denial. Their expenses were kept withinthe limits of seven hundred dollars, the lowest sum that had beennamed.
At the end of the first three months, one hundred dollars were paidto the minister. When he gave up his school, he sold it out to aperson who wished to succeed him, for two hundred dollars. Theexpense of removing to C--, and living there for three months, hadquite exhausted this sum. Mr. Malcolm paid away his last dollarbefore the quarter's salary was due, and was forced to let hisbread-bill and his meat-bill run on for a couple of weeks; thesewere paid the moment he received his salary.
"I don't like these bills at all," said he to his wife, after theywere paid. "A minister should never owe a dollar; it does him nogood. Above all things, his mind should live in a region above theanxieties that a deficient income and consequent debt alwaysoccasion. We must husband what we have, and make it go as far aspossible."
By the end of two months, the hundred dollars were all expended; butnot a word had been said about the additional three or four hundredthat had been promised, or that Mr. Malcolm fully believed had beenpromised. Bills had now to be run up with the baker, grocer, andbutcher, which amounted to nearly fifty dollars when the nextquarter's salary was paid.
Mr. Malcolm did not doubt but the additional amount promised when heconsented to accept the call would be made up; still he could nothelp feeling troubled. If things went on as they were going, by theend of the year he would be in debt at least two hundred dollars;and, of all things in the world, he had a horror of debt.
During this time, he was in familiar intercourse with the principalmembers of his church, and especially with the leading vestrymen whoheld out inducements to him beyond the fixed salary; but no allusionwas made to the subject, and he had too much delicacy to introduceit.
At last, matters approached a climax. The minister was about twohundred dollars in debt, and bills were presented almost every week,and their settlement politely urged. This was a condition of thingsnot to be endured by a man of Mr. Malcolm's high sense of right andpeculiar delicacy of feeling. At length, after lying awake for halfof the night, thinking over what was to be done, he came to thereluctant conclusion that it was his imperative duty to those heowed, to mention the necessities of his case to the vestry, andlearn from them, without further delay, whether he had any thingbeyond the four hundred dollars to expect.
The hardest task Mr. Malcolm had ever performed was now before him,and he shrunk from it with painful reluctance. But the path of dutywas plain, and he was not a man to hold back when he saw his wayclear. If there had been any hesitation, an imperative dun receivedbefore he sat down to breakfast, and another before nine o'clock,would have effectually dispelled it.
Mr. Malcolm went to the store of Mr. Elder, one of the vestrymen,and found him quite busy with customers. He waited for half an hourfor him to be disengaged, and then went out, saying, as he passedhim at the counter, that he would call in again.
"Oh, dear!" he murmured to himself, with a long-drawn sigh, as heemerged upon the street, "is not this humiliating? If I had engagedfor only four hundred dollars a year, I would have lived on breadand water rather than have exceeded my income; but at least sevenhundred were promised. It was, however, an informal promise; and Iwas wrong, perhaps, in trusting to any thing so unsettled as this.Of course, it will be paid to me when I make known my presentsituation; but the doing of that I shrink from."
"Mr. T--was here again for his bill," were the first words thatsaluted the ears of the minister when he returned home.
"What did you say to him?" he asked.
"I told him that you would settle it very soon. He said he hoped youwould, for he wanted money badly, and it had been running for sometime."
"He was rude, then!"
"A little so," replied the wife, in a meek voice.
Mr. Malcolm paced the floor with rapid steps; he felt deeplydisturbed.
An hour afterwards, he entered the store of Mr. Elder, and found theowner disengaged. He did not linger in preliminaries, but approachedthe subject thus:--
"You remember, Mr. Elder, that in the interview I had with you andtwo of the vestry previous to my accepting the call of this parish,you stated that my income would not be limited to the four hundreddollars named as the minister's salary, which I then told you was asmaller sum than I could possibly live upon?"
Mr. Elder exhibited a momentary confusion when the minister saidthis; but he immediately replied--"Yes, I believe something was saidon that subject, though I have not thought of it since. We alwayshad to make up something for Mr. Pelton, and I suppose we must dothe same for you, if it is necessary. Do you find your salaryinadequate?"
"Entirely so; and I knew it would be inadequate from the first. Itis impossible for me to support my family on four hundred dollars;and had I not been assured that at least three or four hundreddollars extra would be made up during the year, I never would havedreamed of accepting the call. It has been a principle with me notto go in debt; and since I have been a man, I have not, until thistime, owed a dollar; and should not have owed it now, had Ireceived, since I have resided in C--the income I fully expected."
Mr. Malcolm spoke with warmth, for he felt some risings of thenatural man at the indifference with which a promise of so muchconsequence to him had been disregarded.
"How much do you owe?" inquired the vestryman.
"About two hundred dollars."
"Indeed! so much?"
A bitter remark arose to the minister's lips, but he forced himselfto keep silence. He was a man, with all the natural feelings of aman.
"Well, I suppose we must make it for you somehow," said Mr. Elder,the tone in which he spoke showing that the subject worried him."Are any of the demands on you pressing?" he inquired, after apause.
"All of them are pressing," replied the minister. "I am dunned everyday."
"Indeed! That's bad!" returned Mr. Elder, speaking with more realkindness and sympathy than at first. "I am sorry you have beenpermitted to get into so unpleasant a situation."
"It certainly is very unpleasant, and entirely destroys my peace.Were I not thus unhappily situated, I should not have said a word toyou on the subject of my salary."
"Don't let it distress you so much, Mr. Malcolm. I will see that theamount you need is at once made up."
The minister returned home, disturbed, mortified, and humiliated.
"If this is the way they pay their minister," he remarked to hiswife, after relating to her what had happened, "it is the last yearthat I shall enjoy the benefits of their peculiar system. But littlegood will my preaching or that of any one else do them, while theydisregard the first and plainest principles of honesty. There is nolack of ability to give a minister the support he needs; and thewithholding of that support, or the supplying of it by constraint,shows a moral obtuseness that argues but poorly for their love ofany thing but themselves. I believe that the labourer is worthy ofhis hire; that when men build a church and call a minister for theirown spiritual good, they are bound to supply his natural wants; andthat, if they fail to do so, it is a sign to the minister that heought to leave them. Some may call this a selfish doctrine, andunworthy of a minister of God; but I believe it to be the truedoctrine, and shall act up to it. It does men no good to let themquietly go on, year after year, starving their ministers, while theyhave abundant means to make them comfortable. If they prize theirwealth higher than they do spiritual riches, it is but castingpearls before swine to scatter even the most brilliant gems ofwisdom before them; and in this unprofitable task I am the last manto engage. I gave up all hope of worldly good, in order to preachthe everlasting gospel for the salvation of men. In order to do thissuccessfully, my mind must be kept free from the depressing cares oflife, and there must be something reciprocal in those to whom Iminister in heavenly things. If this be not the case, all my labourwill be in vain."
On the next day, as the minister was walking down the street, he metMr. Larkin. The allusion to this gentleman's personal matters, whichthe vestryman had made, still caused him to feel sore; it touchedhim in a vulnerable part. He had been talking quite freely, sincethen, to every member of the church he happened to meet about thecoolness with which Mr. Malcolm, after running himself in debt, athing he had no business to do, called upon the church to raise himmore money. He for one he said, was not going to stand any suchnonsense, and he hoped every member of the church would as firmlyset his face against all such impositions. If they were to pay offthis debt, they would have another twice as large to settle in a fewmonths. It was the principle of the thing he went against; not thathe cared about a few dollars. As soon as Mr. Larkin saw the ministera little ahead of him, he determined to give him a piece of hismind. So when they paused, face to face, and while their hands werelocked in a friendly clasp, he said--
"Look here, friend Malcolm, I have got something against you; and asI am an independent plain-spoken man, you must not be offended withme for telling you my mind freely."
"The truth never offends me, Mr. Larkin," said the minister, with asmile. "I am not faultless, though willing to correct my faults whenI see them."
"Very well." Mr. Larkin spoke in a resolute voice, and seemed tofeel pleasure rather than pain in what he was doing. "In the firstplace, then, I am sorry to find that you possess one very bad fault,common to most ministers, and that is, a disposition to live beyondyour means, and then come down upon the parish to pay your debts."
The blood came rushing to the face of the minister, which hismonitor took to be the plainest kind of evidence that he had hit thenail fully upon the head. He went on more confidently.
"Now, this, Mr. Malcolm, I consider to be very wrong--very wrong,indeed!--and especially so in a young minister in his first year,and in his first parish. If such things are in the green tree, whatare we to expect in the dry? You accepted our call, and were plainlyinformed that the salary would be four hundred dollars and rentfree. Upon this our former minister had lived quite comfortably. Ifyou thought the salary too little, you should not have accepted thecall--accepting it, you should have lived upon it, if you had livedon bread and water."
Mr. Larkin paused. The minister stood with his eyes cast upon thepavement, but made no answer. Mr. Larkin resumed--
"It is such things as this that bring scandal upon the church, anddrive right thinking men out of it. It isn't that I value a fewdollars more than I do the wind; but I like to see principle; andhate all imposition. You are a young man, Mr. Malcolm, and I speakthus plainly to you for your good. I hope you will not feeloffended."
Mr. Larkin paused, thinking, perhaps, that he had said enough. Theminister's eyes were still upon the pavement, from which he liftedthem as soon as his monitor was done speaking. The flush had lefthis cheeks, that were now pale.
"I thank you for your honesty in speaking so plainly, and will tryto profit by what you have told me," said he, calmly. "The best ofus are liable to err."
There was something in the words, voice, and manner of the ministerthat Mr. Larkin did not clearly comprehend. He had spoken harshly,and, he now felt, with some rudeness; but, while there was nothingin the air with which his reproof was received that evidenced theconviction of error there was no resentment. A moment before, hefelt like a superior severely reprimanding an inferior; but now hestood in the presence of one whose calmness and dignity oppressedhim. He was about commencing a confused apology for his apparentharshness, when Mr. Malcolm bowed and passed on.
Larkin did not feel very comfortable as he walked away. He soon morethan half repented of what he had done, and before night, by way ofatonement for his error, called upon Mr. Elder, and handed him acheck for twenty-five dollars, to help pay off the minister's debt.So much for the principle concerned.
On the next Sabbath, to his great surprise, when the text wasannounced, it was in the following unexpected words--
"Owe no man any thing."
The sermon was didactive and narrative. In the didactic portion, theminister was exceedingly close in laying down the principles ofhonesty in all transactions between man and man, and showed that fora man to live beyond his known income, when that was sufficient tosupply his actual wants, was dishonest. Then he gave sundry examplesof very common but dishonest practices in those who withhold fromothers what is justly their due, and concluded this portion of hisdiscourse, by plainly stating the glaring dishonesty of which toomany congregations were guilty, in owing their ministers thedifference between their regular and fixed income, and what theyactually needed for their comfortable support and freedom from care.This, he said, was but a poor commentary upon their love for thechurch, and showed too plainly its sordid and selfish quality.
This was felt by many to be quite too pointed and out of place; andfor a young man, like him, very bold and immodest. One member tookout his box and struck the lid a smart, emphatic rap before taking apinch of snuff,--another coughed--and three or four of the olderones gave several loud "a-h-h-hems!" Throughout the church there wasan uneasy movement. But soon all was still again, for the ministerhad commenced the narrative of something which he said had occurredin a parish at no great distance. For a narrative, introduced in asermon, all ears are open.
Very deliberately and very minutely did Mr. Malcolm give the leadingfacts which we have already placed before the reader, even down tothe sound lecture he had received from Mr. Larkin, and then closedhis sermon, after a few words of application, with a firm repetitionof his text:
"My brethren, 'Owe no man any thing.'"
Of course, there was a buzzing in the hive after this. One madeinquiries of another, and it was soon pretty well understoodthroughout, that seven or eight hundred dollars had actually beenpromised to the minister instead of the four, which all were verycontent that he should receive, thinking little and caring littlewhether he lived well or ill upon it. But who was it that had ratedhim so soundly? That was the next question. But nobody knew. Some ofthose most familiar with Mr. Malcolm boldly asked him the question,but he declined giving an answer. Poor Mr. Larkin trembled but theminister kept his own counsel.
On the Tuesday following this pointed discourse, Mr. Malcolmreceived his last quarter's salary four weeks in advance, and threehundred dollars besides. Two hundred of this had been loaned by Mr.Larkin until such time as it could be collected.
At the next meeting of the vestry, the resignation of Mr. Malcolm asminister of the parish was received. Before acting upon it, achurch-meeting was called, at which it was unanimously voted todouble the ministers salary. That is, make it eight hundred. Muchwas said in his favour as a man of fine talents and sincere piety.In fact, the congregation generally had become much attached to him,and could not bear to think of his leaving them. Money was noconsideration now.
The vote of the meeting was conveyed to Mr. Malcolm. He expressedhis thanks for the liberal offer, but again declined remaining.Another church-meeting was called, and a thousand dollarsunhesitatingly named as the minister's salary, if he would stay.Many doubled their subscriptions, and said that, if necessary, theywould quadruple them.
When Mr. Malcolm determined to leave C--, he had no parish inview; but he did not think it would be useful for him to remain. Norhad he any in view when he declined accepting the offer of eighthundred dollars. But it was different when the offer of a thousanddollars came, for then he held in his hand a call to a neighbouringparish, where the salary was the same.
The committee to wait upon him, and urge him to accept the stillbetter terms offered, was composed of Messrs. Elder, Larkin, andthree others among the oldest and most influential members. Heanswered their renewed application by handing them the letter he hadjust received. It was read aloud.
"If money is any object, Mr. Malcolm," said Larkin, promptly, "youneed not leave us. Twelve hundred can be as easily made up to you asa thousand."
The minister was slightly disturbed at this. He replied in a low,unsteady voice:
"Money has no influence with me in this matter. All I ask is acomfortable maintenance for my family. This, your first offer ofeight hundred dollars would have given; but I declined it, with noother place in view, because I thought it best for both you and methat we should separate. I have tried only to look to the good ofthe church in my decisions, and I will still endeavour to keep thatend before my eyes."
"Have you accepted the call?" asked Mr. Elder.
"No, I have but just received it!"
"Have you positively determined that you will not remain with us?"
"I should not like to say positively."
"Very well. Now, let me say that the desire to have you remain isgeneral, and that the few who have the management of the churchaffairs, and not the many who make up the congregation, are to blamefor previously existing wrongs and errors. From the many comes astrong desire to have you stay. They say that your ministrationshave been of great spiritual benefit to them, and that if you goaway, they will suffer loss. Under these circumstances, Mr. Malcolm,are you willing to break your present connection?"
"Give me a few hours to reflect," replied the minister, a good dealaffected by this unlooked-for appeal. "I wish to do right; and indoing it, am ready to cut off the right hand and pluck out the righteye. As Heaven is my witness, I set before me no earthly reward. IfI do consent to remain, I will not receive more than your firstoffer of eight hundred dollars, for on that I can live comfortably."
When the committee again waited on Mr. Malcolm, to receive hisanswer, it was in the affirmative; but he was decided in hisresolution not to receive more than eight hundred dollars. But thecongregation was just as much decided on the other side, andalthough only two hundred dollars a quarter were paid to theirminister by the treasurer, more than fifty dollars flowed in to himduring the same period in presents of one useful thing and another,from friends known and unknown.
The parish of C--had quite reformed its mode of paying theminister.
THE END.
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