Notices of Books. A Narrative of the Chamba Mission for customs, needs, and missions. We wish the Years 1864 and 1865. London: J. for them a wide circulation. Nisbet & Co. THIS is a very interesting record of missionary experiences in a district to which, before the end of 1863, the Gospel sound was strange. Chamba is situated in the north of India, in the region of the Himalayas; and its people, while having peculiarities of their own, are subject to the religious and social institutions which prevail throughout India. The writer of the narrative originated, and up to the present time has borne the chief burden of the mission. He entered the vast field alone, and it is astonishing how much he has been able to accomplish in a period so brief, and with resources so slender. Summing up, he says:--"Within little more than two years, not merely has the Chamba Mission been fairly launched, mission property been acquired, suitable dwellings erected, native agents appointed, Christian schools set going, the great news of salvation widely proclaimed, men, women, and children brought under Christian influence, but where Christ was never before preached are now to be seen two congregations of Christian worshippers devoutly listening to the word of life, and singing the song of Zion." We cordially recommend his narrative to the thoughtful perusal of Christians, for while it shows the difficulties and encouragements which the missionary of the Cross meets with in heathen lands, it also handles some important points connected with missionary labour, in regard to which there is difference both of opinion and of practice. Missions to the Women of China. By A. F. S. Edited by Miss WHATELY. London: J. Nisbet & Co. THIS little work is a series of letters written for young people with the view of exciting an interest in the important mission which is being prosecuted by the Society for Promoting Female Education in the East. The letters are well adapted to the purpose they contemplate, being plainly but care fully written, and containing a large amount of varied and use'ul information regarding the customs of the Chinese, and the labours of missionaries among the female portion of the community. They are worthy of the attention of those who wish either to obtain or to diffuse an improved knowledge of China, its WE have read this pamphlet with great pleasure. Mr. Barker, who for so many years was an accepted champion of infidelity, shows how qualified he is, now that he is converted to Christ, to defend the great truths which he former y assailed. He here exposes with great effect the unscripturalness of Unitarian teaching, the deadness of Unitarian spiritual life, and the hollowness of Unitarian pretensions; and it is especially pleasing to notice how firmly he grasps, and how heartily he confides in evangelic truth. It will do both Unitarians and Trinitarians good to read this little work. It has a freshness, and a power, and a thoroughness about it which could only belong to the work of one who had experienced the struggles of Mr. Barker's intellectual and spiritual life. We cannot be too thankful that such men as Joseph Barker and Thomas Cooper have been subdued by the grace of God, and led to preach that Gospel which they once madly opposed; and it is to be hoped that they will be permitted, before their course is run, to do far more for Christianity than they ever did against it. Unity of Creed the Union of the Christian Church. Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot. IN this little pamphlet certain general principles are laid down as a basis on which to hold a conference of evangelical Christians for the purpose of securing a stricter unity in doctrine among the various communities into which the Church of Chr st is now divided. The movement originated in Scotland, and many of the principal ministers and laymen of that portion of the empire have announced themselves as favourable to it. While we are very doub: ful as to whether any pract cal results will spring from it, we cannot but wish well to an effort which, putting sentiment aside, grapples boldly with the ostensible grounds of division in the past, and pursues the only method of securing a satisfactory and permanent union among the churches. Is the time again come for a revision of creeds? This scheme ɛeems to imply an affirmative answer. THE ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN MESSENGER. OCTOBER, 1866. THE HOME MISSION AND SUPPLEMENTAL FUND. THE Home Mission Committee are earnestly endeavouring to give effect to the recommendation of the Synod, to take steps, by means of deputations and otherwise, to raise the stipends of our ministers to a minimum of £150 per annum, and it is most important for the welfare of the Church that this great desideratum be attained as speedily as possible. If we are anxious to raise the standard of our ministry, and to admit none but those who have passed a full curriculum in arts at one of the chartered Universities, if we wish to impose a strict examination on the candidates for our pulpits, which will lengthen the time and increase the expense of preparation for the sacred office, surely we must be prepared to enlarge materially the pecuniary rewards now offered for it, both in town and country. The Civil Service of India, the Bar, the Church of England,* may prescribe the most arduous ordeal for the attainment of place and position; but the prizes within their reach are equally great. One who looks for the highest post in India, the woolsack, or a bishopric, will cheerfully go through any amount of preparation, and candidates for such offices will never be wanting. It is far otherwise, however, when the prospect is not better than receiving a call by a Presbyterian congregation with a stipend of from £100 to £300 per annum. Much, therefore, as we may sympathize with those who are now labouring to fix the standard for admission to college as high as possible, we must not ignore that the first step towards getting really able men in our Church must be a large increase in the stipend of our ministers. The address of Mr. Ross, at Newcastle, on the subject, is earnest and judicious. His appeal is irresistible, and we do hope it may find a ready response. Leaving, however, in such able hands the onerous task of arousing the members of the Church to a sense of duty on this important subject, we shall call attention to another portion of the same remit of the Synod as regards some changes contemplated in the constitution of the Home Mission Committee. And in doing so, it may not be amiss if we revert to the circumstances under which that committee was first constituted, the functions which were assigned to it, and the changes which have since taken place in the different departments of the work of the Church which are more or less under its control. As early as the fourth session of Synod, in 1840, the Presbytery of Lancashire, which had of its own accord undertaken some evangelistic efforts, overtured the Synod, urging the necessity of forming and extending On *The salaries in the Civil Service of India are from 10,000 to 50,000 rupees. their first arrival in India the officers receive about 300 rupees per month. The judges of the Sudder Courts have 50,000 rupees per annum. The Lord Chancellor has £10,000. The law officers of the crown are paid by fees, which amount to not less than £15,000 a year. The Archbishop of Canterbury has £15,000. The Bishop of London £10,000. The Bishops £5,000, and some £4,500 a year. No. 226.-New Series. 19 Home Missions in connection with the several Presbyteries. Thereupon the Synod "recommended the several Presbyteries to use diligence to establish each a Home Mission within its bounds." And the recommendation had a good effect. Year by year in 1841, 1842, and 1843, separate reports were given by the different Presbyteries of what they had done on this important object. Here they saw their way to establish a congregation, there to maintain a missionary, and at another place to organize a house to house visitation. The Church seemed alive to the necessity of great exertions in the great work of warning every man, and teaching every man, so that perishing souls may be saved, and the kingdom of grace may be advanced. In 1844 an overture was received for the institution of a Home Mission, and a committee was then formed to organize the system, and to draw up rules and regulations for the same, and at the same meeting of Synod upon an overture for a Sustentation Fund, it was resolved, "That the Synod adopt the principle of a Sustentation Fund, but that in the present circumstances, owing to the various obligations under which the Synod has already come, it is inexpedient to proceed to details, or to bring the principle into operation." In 1845, the regulations prepared by the Home Mission Committee were approved, the objects being stated to be threefold :-"1. Church Extension, for the purpose of sending, and for a season supporting, in whole or in part, ministers to preach the Gospel in places destitute of the means of grace. 2. A Supplemental Fund, out of which pecuniary assistance may be granted to congregations which are unable to support regular ordinances among themselves. 3. A Fund for Aged Ministers, out of which provision may be made for the support, temporarily or permanently, and in whole or in part, of assistants to ministers disabled by age, or otherwise, for the discharge of their duties, and from which a retiring allowance may be granted to such ministers." It does not appear, however, that much satisfaction had been afforded by such arrangement as regards the provision for the ministry. At the meeting of Synod, held in 1846, two overtures were before the Synod, one for a general Sustentation Fund from the Presbytery of Cumberland, and another for a Supplemental Fund by Mr. Robert Barbour and others when it was agreed "to remit both overtures to a committee, with special instructions to consider the basis of operations set down in the regulations appended to the overture on a Supplemental Fund." A report on the same was presented during the same Synod, and it was thereafter resolved, "That the Synod having already approved of the principle of a Central Sustentation Fund, adhere to that approval; but, inasmuch as it would require a considerable delay to organize the necessary machinery to carry that principle into operation, while the overture on a Supplemental Fund provides a simple machinery, capable of being put into immediate operation, therefore that the overture on a Supplemental Fund be approved of and adopted." The Synod then immediately adopted the regulations, and for the first time it put forth as a desideratum that no ordained minister of the Church, having the charge of a congregation, should receive a stipend of less than £100 per annum, together with a manse for the accommodation of his family." Two years afterwards, in 1848, again the Presbytery of Cumberland overtured" on a Central Sustentation Fund for the Payment of Ministers' Stipends," and a committee was appointed "to consider the matter of increasing the amount of support to the ministry of the Church, to prepare and arrange plans for better working any scheme now in existence, or for framing some scheme likely to accomplish this object, with instructions to frame immediately a plan for the course of their operations, with a view to ripening the whole matter for a definite decision at next meeting of Synod in ; 1849." At the following meeting of Synod in that year, the report was received, but the recommendation of the committee was decided against the proposal for a General Sustentation Fund. The Committee recommended "the continuance of the present plan of supplementing small and insufficient stipends as the best the Church can adopt (they might, perhaps, add, the only practicable plan that can be adopted in present circumstances), and so fully satisfied are the members of this committee, that the present regulations of the Home Mission and Supplemental Fund, with such additions as the committee having charge of it may from time to time, with the sanction of the Synod, recommend and adopt, are, if fully carried out, sufficient for the purpose, that they only recommend that the Synod affirm the principle of supplementing, as being in present circumstances the best, and leave the matter in the hands of the Home Mission and Supplemental Committee, enjoining upon that committee to carry out its detail regulations as fully as possible." In 1856, the question of a Sustentation Fund was again revived by an overture from the Presbytery of Berwick, and it was decided, "That with a view to elevate the financial position of our ministers, the Berwick overture, and the whole question raised therein, be referred to the Home Mission Committee, with instruction to report to next Synod." But in 1857 the committee suggested to remit the whole matter to a general committee authorized to visit the congregations of the Church, with a view of stirring them up to the more faithful and vigorous discharge of their duty in this matter; and this also led only to a partial revision of the regulations. Meanwhile, in 1856 two overtures appeared before the Synod, one from the Presbytery of Lancashire, proposing a scheme of deferred annuities for aged ministers, which in 1860 was adopted by the constitution of a special fund for aged and infirm ministers; and another from the Presbytery of London for church extension, which was discharged in 1858. And in 1862 came the Building and Debt Extinction Fund, a revival of the Central Building Fund Scheme suggested by the Presbytery of Berwick as far back as 1849, which met with so much success at the hand of Dr. Hamilton. In 1863 it was overtured by the writer, and several members of the court, that, for the purpose of bringing more conspicuously before the Church the objects contemplated by the Home Mission Fund, viz., Church Extension and Supplementary Fund for the ministry, it is highly desirable that these two objects be, in all cases, more distinctly specified;" and in 1865, on the motion for the adoption of the report of the Home Mission Committee, it was resolved-" That the committee be instructed to consider and report on the expediency of the division of its work into two parts, and the formation of two committees, one charged with the planting of new churches, and the other with the increase of ministerial support; and, further, to take steps, by means of deputations or otherwise, to raise the stipends of all ministers to a minimum of £150 per annum." And since then, the Presbytery of London has established a London Church Extension Committee, which co-operates with the Building and Debt Extinction Committee, for the erection of churches in and around the metropolis. From the preceding sketch it will be seen that of the three objects originally embraced by the Home Mission Fund, one has been removed from it altogether by the formation of the Aged and Infirm Ministers' Fund; another, Church Extension, is considerably interfered with by the Building and Debt Extinction Committee and London Church Extension Committee, whilst the Supplemental Fund is in a manner lost sight of, it being more an appendage to than a primary object contemplated by the Home Mission Fund. The time has therefore come when the Synod must revise its legislation on the subject, and the question is, whether it would not be wise to separate altogether the Home Mission and Church Extension Fund Committee from that which has reference to the administration of the Supplemental Fund. The primary and natural objects of the Home Mission Committee, suggested by the very title, are the evangelization of the masses, and the extension of the Church. It follows, therefore, that its chief mission should be to organize and support territorial missions, and to provide for ordinances wherever there is an opportunity for so doing. It might, indeed be suggested that the committee have fallen much short of their design, even in this, by the conditions which they require ere they enter into a new place, viz., first, that there be a nucleus of Scotch Presbyterian residents, and second, that there be grounds to warrant the conclusion that the congregation shall, within a reasonable time, be able, without assistance, to maintain Divine ordinances. How far it is wise thus to limit the action of the Church, is a question well worthy of consideration. To withdraw our hands from a place simply because we do not find a certain number of Scotch on the spot seems certainly a questionable practice; and may we not further add that we seem scarcely to realize the maxim, " To the poor the Gospel is preached." There is, therefore, much to be done in the great object of extending the Church in England, which requires the undivided attention of an important committee, with branches in every part of the country. The most important course, moreover, with a view to the increase of the ministers' stipends, is to take that branch of labour altogether out of the Home Mission Committee, and to constitute it into a separate fund, managed by a separate committee. What has rendered the Sustentation Fund of the Free Church of Scotland so successful is certainly the great prominence given to it from the very commencement. That Church felt the need of such a scheme-its existence depended upon it-and she gave herself at once to it. And we must do the same. The title Home Mission does not present to the mind the fact that it provides a Supplemental Fund for the ministry. And the object is practically forgotten. It may be objected that it is not desirable to multiply committees and schemes, but what is wanted is rather the reconstruction of several of them. There is a decided affinity in the scope proposed by the Home Mission and the Building and Debt Extinction Committees, and these might be advantageously amalgamated. But the supplementing of the ministers' stipends is quite a different thing, and it should stand out by itself in bold relief, though with it we might associate the Aged and Infirm Ministers' Fund.* No danger need be apprehended that the object will in any wise suffer by dividing the fund into two branches, viz., "Church Extension and Home Mission Fund," and "Supplemental Fund." We should rather hope and anticipate that the amount may speedily be doubled. In any case, it might easily be provided that so long as the separation is an experiment only, the appropriation of the fund should be made on the same principle as heretofore. We shall not reopen the question of establishing a general Sustentation In the Free Church, the Home Mission and Church Extension constitute one committee. Its duties are to provide for the supply of new stations by paying the salaries of probationers and catechists, and to carry on territorial operations and evangelistic efforts. The Aged and Infirm Ministers' Fund is managed by the Sustentation Fund Committee. In the United Presbyterian Church, the Home Mission Fund has for its object to support missionary stations, and supplement the stipends of the weaker congregations. |