(Jer. viii. 20)—the sermon published in his works. It may be sentimentalism, or that tenderness with which as our years increase upon us we regard old times and places, but whatever may be its origin, I have a feeling of refreshing and revival as I look back upon the brick church. One of our poets has expressed the experience I refer to

"There are in our existence spots of time

That with distinct pre-eminence retain
A renovating virtue.'”*

One more illustration we take from a country parish in East Lothian, as described by Mr. Dodds, partly in prose and partly in verse. "I preached during the whole summer in Humbie Dean, from the tent that was erected every Sabbath morning. The spot where we met was a hollow in the steep bank, formed by the hand of nature, and overshadowed by tall trees. It was a secluded and romantic place, and most convenient for our purpose. Both the people and myself became much attached to it, and it is now famous in the parish of Humbie. †

"In that sweet spot, the summer long,

* History of St. George's, Edinburgh, pp. 90, 91.
+ Disr. Mss. xxxiii. pp. 3-5.

U

"Oh! never let from me depart
The memory of that place,
Where on the worn and weary heart
Fell such sweet showers of grace.
And may we meet before the throne,
Our robes washed white and clean,
Who met as followers of the Lamb

In lovely Humbie Dean."

XXIV. THE SUSTENTATION FUND.

THE first step, then, had been successfully taken-the build

ing of churches was provided for. demand, not less immediately urgent.

But there was another
Incomes must be found

for the hundreds of ministers whose livings had been sacrificed, and religious ordinances must be supplied in answer to those appeals of the people, which came from every district, and from almost every parish in the land. To meet the demands of such an emergency it was evident that some special effort would be required.

The keen discussions of the voluntary controversy had so far prepared the way. There had been laid bare-as was believed -one point of weakness in the system of those Dissenting Churches, where each was left, financially, to stand alone. In not a few weak and struggling congregations there was much that was trying both to minister and people, while in poor and thinly-peopled districts, like those of the Highlands, Dissent had hardly been able to obtain a footing. Now the claim of the Free Church to be the true National Church of Scotland made it necessary to supply ordinances to her adherents all over the country, and nowhere more than in those Highland districts into which Dissent had hitherto been unable to penetrate.

It was to meet the demands of such an undertaking that the Sustentation Fund was instituted-a bold experiment, for which there was really no precedent anywhere in the history of the Christian Church, and which deserves special attention as constituting the peculiar and distinctive feature of Free Church finance. Under God it was due to the marvellous sagacity of Dr. Chalmers, from whose mind it came forth at the time of the Convo

cation, elaborated and complete, down almost to its minutest detail.

The general idea of the scheme was, that for the purposes of this fund the whole Free Church should be combined into one great confederacy, where EACH CONGREGATION SHOULD DO ITS PART IN SUSTAINING THE WHOLE, AND THE WHOLE SHOULD SUSTAIN EACH

CONGREGATION. This grand principle of share and share alike was first announced by Dr. Candlish, in August, 1841, and it came well from his lips as minister of the wealthiest congregation in the Church. No less nobly was the same sentiment uttered by Dr. Chalmers: "It is well that the ministers of our most remote and destitute localities should know that they have the capability of the whole religious public of Scotland to count upon; yea, more, it were one of the most precious fruits of this arrangement, that the very oldest of our ministers, those venerable fathers who have borne the burden and heat of the day, perhaps unable to labour, yet unwilling and ashamed to remain in fellowship with a Church that has bowed the knee to an Erastian domination-it were indeed a heartfelt satisfaction to assure all such that they will not be forsaken by their brethren at large, but that, admitted to the highest place of honour in the Free and unfettered Church of Scotland, they, to the day of their death, will be made to participate equally and alike with them. in the joint-offerings of her children." *

Such was the great principle, the corner-stone on which the Sustentation Fund was built. But it was obvious from the first that much would depend on the practical arrangements by which the scheme was carried out. With marvellous skill on the part of Dr. Chalmers, these were elaborated and adjusted so as to work in harmony with the general principles of our Presbyterian system. In every parish an association was to be formed, of collectors to go the round of the families month by month, or oftener, and to receive such contributions as were offered. These collectors were placed in connection with the deacons and other office-bearers of each congregation, under whose management the whole proceedings were to be conducted; and periodically the amount of these contributions was to be * Assembly Proceedings, 1843, pp. 157, 158.

remitted to the great central treasury of the Church, out of which the ministers were each to receive an equal dividend.

If this had been all, however, it is obvious that an equal dividend would have been the most unequal of all arrangements-the expense of maintaining the social position of a minister in certain localities being so much greater than in others.

Along with the Sustentation Fund, therefore, there was conjoined another-the Congregational Fund-to enable the people in each parish, by collections or otherwise, to supplement the income of their own pastor according to their ability. By means of this twofold arrangement, scope was given for appealing to the most powerful motives, for in contributing to the General Sustentation Fund, men would be acting from the pure and high principle of looking not on their own things but on the things of others-the generous feeling that they were standing side by side with their poorer brethren, in providing the ordin ances of the Gospel throughout the most remote localities in the land. On the other hand, in contributing to the Congregational Fund, men were acting under the motive to which the Apostle appeals-"Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teacheth," &c. The home feeling of affectionate personal regard for their own pastor,-the satisfaction of ministering in carnal things to him who was ministering to them in things spiritual-would thus have free scope, and so these two funds were intended to act as combined forces, each strengthening the other in building up the Church, and fostering the interests of congregations in every separate locality.

Such was the general idea of the fund as announced beforehand. Then came the practical object, to which, with characteristic ardour, Dr. Chalmers directed his energies, the actual setting up and putting in motion of the machinery by which the fund was to be wrought.

First, there was a loud and earnest appeal for men to give their aid as collectors. "In ordinary times, and for ordinary objects, the management of religious appeals is entrusted to a few, and those who are specially invited or appointed to the task of collection go forth on the good errand, while others do not run because they have not been sent.