FIVE or six weeks ago Maurice came to me in some excitement. "Mr. Laicus," said he, "is it true that ten of you gentlemen have to contribute thirty dollars a piece this year to make up my salary?"
"No," said I.
"Why, John," said Jennie.
"We didn't have to do it," I continued. But in point of fact we do it."
"I don't like that," said he soberly. "If the church can't pay me fifteen hundred dollars a year I do not want to receive it. I thought the church was strong and well able to do all it professed1 to do."
"My dear Mr. Mapleson," said I, "you attend to the spiritual interests of the church and leave its finances to us. If we cannot pay you all we have promised, we will come and beg off. Till then you just take it for granted that it's all right."
Maurice shook his head.
"Why, my dear friend," said I, "how much do you suppose I pay for pew rent?"
"I haven't the least idea," said he.
"Fifty dollars," said I. "That provides myself and wife and Harry2 with a pew in church twice on the Sabbath if we want it. It pays for Harry's Sabbath-school instruction and for your service as a pastor3 to me and to mine. But we will make no account of that. Fifty dollars a Sabbath is a dollar a week, fifty cents a service, twenty cents a head. Harry half price, and the Sabbath-school, and the prayer-meetings, and the pastoral work thrown in. It is cheaper than any lecturer would give it to us, and a great deal better quality too. My pew rent isn't what I pay for the support of the Gospel. It is what I pay for my own spiritual bread and butter. It won't hurt me, nor Deacon Goodsole, nor Mr. Wheaton, nor Mr. Gowett, nor any one else on that list to contribute thirty dollars more for the cause of Christ and the good of the community."
Maurice shook his head thoughtfully, but said nothing more about it then, and the matter dropped.
The last week in December we have our annual meeting. It is generally rather a stupid affair. The nine or ten gentlemen who constitute the board of trustees meet in the capacity of an ecclesiastical society. In the capacity of a board of trustees they report to themselves in the capacity of a society. In the capacity of a society they accept the report which they have presented in the capacity of a board of trustees, and pass unanimously a resolution of thanks to the board, i. e. themselves, for the efficient and energetic manner in which they have discharged their duties. They then ballot4 in a solemn manner for themselves for the ensuing year and elect the ticket without opposition5. And the annual meeting is over.
But this year our annual meeting was a very different affair. The Sabbath preceding, the parson preached a sermon on the text: "The poor have the Gospel preached to them." In this sermon he advocated a free-pew system. His arguments were not very fresh or new (there is not much that is new to be said on the subject) till he came to the close. Then he startled us all by making the following proposition:
"The chief objection," said he, "to the free-pew system is the question, 'Where shall the money come from?' From God, I answer. I believe if we feed his poor, he will feed us. I, for one, am willing to trust Him, at least for one year."
It slipped out very naturally, and there was a little laugh in the congregation at the preacher's expense. But he was very much in earnest.
"I propose to the society to throw open the doors of this church, and declare all the pews free. Provide envelopes and papers, and scatter6 them through the pews. Let each man write thereon what he is willing to pay for the support of the Gospel, and whether he will pay it weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-quarterly or annually7. Give these sealed envelopes to me. No one shall know what they contain but myself and the treasurer8. I will pay out of the proceeds all the current expenses of the church, except the interest. Whatever remains9, I will take as my salary. The interest, the trustees will provide out of the plate collections and with the aid of the ladies. This is my proposition. Consider it seriously, earnestly, prayerfully, and come together next Wednesday night to act intelligently upon it."
I hardly think the minister's eloquence10 would have sufficed to carry this plan, but the treasurer's balance-sheet helped his case amazingly.
I supposed there would be a small deficit11, but thought I knew it could not be very great. But I had not reckoned on the genius for incapacity which characterises church boards. To have the unusual deficit, which was involved by the increase of the parson's salary, provided for by a special subscription12 was more than they could bear. They had regarded it as their duty, made plain by the example of their predecessors13 in office for many years, to bring the church in debt, and nobly had they fulfilled their duty. On the strength of that extraordinary subscription they had rushed into extraordinary expenditures14 with a looseness that was marvellous to behold16.
Here is the annual exhibit as it appears in the treasurer's report:
BALANCE SHEET.
Cr.
Pew-rents $1,250.00
Sunday Collections 325.25
Received by a Ladies' Fair 113.34
Special Subscription 300.00
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$1,988.59
Dr.
Minister's Salary . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,500.00
Organist (a new expenditure15 advocated by
Mr. Wheaton because of the Special
Subscription), Six months' salary . . . . . . . 100.00
Church Repairs, (a new fence and new
blinds, &c., advocated by Mr. Wheaton
because of the Special Subscription) . . . . . 134.75
Reed Organ for the Sabbath-School
(advocated by Mr. Wheaton because of the
Special Subscription) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00
Interest on Mortgage . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315.00
Sexton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00
Fire, lights and incidentals . . . . . . . . . 225.00
Commission for collecting pew-rents. . . . . . . 55.75
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$2,680.50
1,988.59
Deficit $691.91
Of course, the minister's salary was behind; and, of course, the minister was behind to the grocer, and the baker17, and the butcher, and the dry-goods dealer18; and, of course, everybody felt blue. There was a good deal of informal discussion before the parson's proposition was taken up. Mr. Hardcap wanted to decrease the minister's salary. Mr. Wheaton wanted to raise the pew rents. Mr. Leacock thought Mr. Wheaton could afford to give up his mortgage on the church. Mr. Line proposed to take up a subscription, pay the balance off on the spot, and begin the new year afresh. Mr. Gazbag thought it ought to be left to the ladies to clear off the debt with a concert or something of that sort. Mr. Cerulian thought (though he said it very quietly) that if we had a minister who could draw better, we shouldn't have any difficulty.
The parson kept his own counsel till these various plans had been, one after another, proposed and abandoned. Then he again proposed his own.
"I do not want," he said, "any more salary than this church and congregation can well afford to give. I am willing if it is poor to share its poverty. I believe if it is prosperous it will be willing to share with me its prosperity. I have studied this matter a good deal; I believe the pew rent system to be thoroughly19 bad. It excludes the poor. What is more to the purpose it excludes those whom we most need to reach. The men who most need the Gospel will not pay for it. The law of supply and demand does not apply. No man pays a pew rent who does not already at least respect religion, if he does not personally practise it. The influence within the church of selling the Gospel in open market is as deadly as its influence without. It creates a caste system. Practically our pews are classified. We have a parquette, a dress circle, a family circle, and an amphitheatre. The rich and poor do not meet together. We are not one in Christ Jesus. Moreover I believe it to be as bad financially as it is morally. When an American makes a bargain he wants to make a good one. What he buys he wants to get as cheap as his neighbor. If you rent your pews, every renter expects to get his seat at the lowest rates. But Americans are liberal in giving. If they contributed to the support of the Gospel, if what they gave the church was a free gift, I believe they would give with a free hand. At all events I would like to try the experiment. It can be no worse than it has been this year. The trustees can have no difficulty in raising interest money from the plate collections and a special subscription. There can be no injustice20 in requiring them to secure a special fund for any special expenditures. And all the other expenditures I will provide for myself out of the free gifts of the congregation. I am willing to run all the risks. It may do good. It can do the church no harm."
A long discussion followed this proposal.
Mr. Wheaton was at first utterly21 opposed to the plan. He thought it was tempting22 Providence23 to make no more adequate provision for our debts. Six of us quietly agreed to assume the mortgage debt, that is to say to insure him that the plate collections and the ladies together would pay the interest promptly24. That changed his view. He said that if the minister had a mind to risk his salary on such a crazy scheme, very well. And at the last he voted for it.
Mr. Hardcap thought it was a first-rate plan. It was noticed afterward25 that he moved from a plain seat in the gallery to a cushioned and carpeted seat in the center aisle26. Whether he paid any more contribution than he had before paid of pew rent, nobody but the parson knows. But nobody suspects him of doing so.
Mrs. Potiphar thought it was horrid27. What was to prevent any common, low-born fellow, any carpenter's son, right from his shop, coming and sitting right alongside her Lillian? She couldn't sanction such communist notions in the church.
Deacon Goodsole warmly favored the minister's idea-was its most earnest advocate, and was the man who first started the plan for buying Mr. Wheaton's acquiescence28.
Mr. Line hadn't a great deal of faith in it. This was not the way the church used to raise money when he was a boy. Still, he wanted to support the minister, and he wanted to have the poor reached, and he hadn't anything to say against it.
Squire29 Rawlins said, "Go ahead. The minister takes all the risk, don't you see? He's a big fool in my opinion. But there's no law agin a man makin' a fool of himself, ef he wants ter."
Miss Moore organized that very night a double force to carry the plan into effect. One was a ladies' society to pay the interest; the other was a band of workers, young men and young women, to go out on Sunday afternoons and invite the people who now do not go anywhere to church, to come to ours.
On the final vote the plan was carried without a dissenting31 voice. I beg Mrs. Potiphar's pardon. Her voice was heard in very decided32 dissent30 as the meeting broke up. But as the ladies do not vote in the Calvary Presbyterian Church, her protest did not prevent the vote from being unanimous.
Maurice Mapleson is sanguine33 of results, I am not. I am afraid he will come out bankrupt himself at the end of the year. I wanted to raise a special subscription quietly to ensure his salary. But he would not hear of it. He replied to my suggestion, "I said I would trust the Lord, and I will. If you want to add to your envelope contribution, very well. But I do not want any more than that will give me."
But one thing I notice and record here. Our congregation have increased from ten to twenty per cent. Miss Moore's invitations have met with far greater success than I anticipated. I never could get any of the boys from the Mill village to come to church at all regularly under the old system. When this change was made I gave notice of it, and now over half my Bible-class are in the congregation. But I can get no intimation from Maurice how the plan is prospering34 financially. All he will say is, "We shall all know at the close of the year."
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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pastor
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| n.牧师，牧人 | |
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ballot
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| n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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scatter
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| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
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annually
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| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
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treasurer
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| n.司库，财务主管 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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deficit
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| n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差 | |
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subscription
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| n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方） | |
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predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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expenditures
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| n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 )；使用；（尤指金钱的）支出额；（精力、时间、材料等的）耗费 | |
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expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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dealer
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| n.商人，贩子 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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aisle
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| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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dissenting
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| adj.不同意的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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prospering
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的现在分词 ) | |
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