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they are the spontaneous offering of an affectionate people, often make, to an otherwise straitened lot, all the difference between penury and comfort. As I have already more than once intimated, the erection of parsonage-houses, the establishment of Parsons' Libraries, and assistance in the education of his children, are three ways of increasing a Pastor's resources, which well deserve attention, and which will often enlist support from those who are unfriendly to a direct increase of salary.

There is another measure which has claims upon our attention, because, while it lifts from a minister's heart a heavy present load of anxiety, it secures, in case of his death, some temporal provision for those of his household,-I allude to Life Assurance. I have had occasion recently to observe, with more care than formerly, the administration of the Society in this Diocese, known as the Corporation for the Relief of the Widows and Children of Deceased Clergymen. I feel bound to express my conviction that there, more safely and profitably than elsewhere, can some prospective investment be made for the benefit of the families of the clergy. In the character of its Trustees, and in the exemplary care and skill with which its funds are invested and managed, the assured have a security against fraud and other sources of loss, which is rarely to be found in institutions of a more secular character. The services of the secretary, treasurer, and other officers, are rendered without charge; claimants find themselves in the hands of friends and brethren, who cherish a generous concern for their welfare; and the sums allowed to annuitants are often increased gratuitously much beyond any amount to which they would have been entitled of right and by law. It is, therefore, to be lamented, that so few congregations make for their Rector's families a provision, which, at slight expense, would form a new and strong bond of union between him and his people, and which, in case of his removal to another parish, might cease, or be transferred to his

successor. In no way can our parishes meet so easily and acceptably the debt which, on the death of a faithful Pastor, they always owe to his destitute widow and orphans. By a generous and thoughtful people, this debt will not be forgotten; and when they come to lay their minister in the grave, it will surely be some consolation to them to remember that they recognized it in good time, and that his labors were lightened from year to year by the assurance that its payment was placed beyond all human contingency.

VII.

INSTABILITY OF THE PASTORAL RELATION.

(From the Address of 1853.)

The instability of the pastoral relation is apparent, not only in the removing of clergymen from one diocese to another, but in the many changes which take place within the same diocese. Twenty-five of our parishes have suffered the loss of their minister or assistant minister since we last met. The evil becomes still more evident and alarming in proportion as we observe its aggregate effect after a series of years. It is now less than nine years since I was first charged with the oversight of this diocese, and during that time, if we except the parishes of Philadelphia County, there are but twelve in the whole diocese, out of more than one hundred, which have not lost their pastor once, twice, or thrice. That the changes in Philadelphia have been vastly less seems to prove that inadequacy of support is the main, though certainly not the only cause of these constant and deplorable vicissitudes. In such a condition of things, it is only wonderful that our progress has not been entirely arrested. It argues much for the hold

which our Church has upon the good will of those without, as it is most creditable to the zeal of those within, that, during the same brief period, more than fifty churches have been erected, most of which are at points not occupied before. But, with such openings before us, what might we not achieve if we had a stable ministry, animated by the consciousness that they have the cordial support of a generous and considerate laity? How many new enterprises would then be conceived and inaugurated, and once begun, how many of them would command early success, under the guidance of the same minds and hands that originated them! Here is a consummation which we ought to keep steadily in view, and which we can reach in due time, if the clergy and laity set their hearts upon it. The former should take positions with the resolute purpose of giving them a full trial, and of submitting, if need be, to a large measure of privation and self-denial. They must consider, that in many a new parish the burden of their support falls almost entirely on a small number of persons of limited means, and they surely ought to be behind none in their economy and thrift, or in their willingness to make sacrifices for Christ and his Church. Where there is ability, but not the will to support them properly, they should strive by affectionate zeal and devotion to their spiritual functions, to warm their people into sympathy, or shame them into consideration; that, so they may be moved to watch over the temporal comfort of their minister with something of the same wakeful solicitude with which it is his pride to watch over the souls which are intrusted to him. And, on the other hand, ought not the congregation to receive him who is over them in the Lord as a permanent pastor and guide-not as a transient visitor, who comes to be the object of their captious criticisms, or the victim of their unrelenting parsimony? Ought they not to resolve from the beginning that it shall not be their fault if his heart is not moved, and his hands encouraged to attempt great

things for God, and for the people more immediately committed to his charge? Ought they not, by delicate and thoughtful considerations for his material wants, and for those of his family, and by the recognition of his many trials and perplexities,-ought they not, by such means, to give him constant assurance that his every effort is observed and appreciated, and that their fond desire is that their interests and his shall be lastingly united.

(From the Address of 1856.)

I cannot record these changes without sadness. Added to others which are determined upon, and which will be effected within the present month, they give the startling fact that nearly one quarter of all the clergy who last year, at this time, were in charge of parishes or missionary stations in this diocese, will have removed from them. Can such a state of things consist with a healthy religious life among our clergy and people? Can it be continued without lamentable effects upon their character and their prosperity? It is a subject which demands, I conceive, our most earnest consideration. Change, carried at this rate over the whole diocese, would empty all our parishes once in every four or five years. The evils are by no means confined to the congregations. The usefulness of the ministry depends much less upon temporary or spasmodic efforts, than upon steady, long-continued, and manifold influences, which adjust themselves to the peculiar condition of a place and congregation, and also to the special character and temperament of individuals. It depends much, too, upon the confidence and affection with which a pastor is regarded, and which rarely grow up without protracted and familiar intercourse, and without a diligent attention on his part, through successive years, to the training of the young. His comfort and happiness-especially as he advances in age-require that he should have

around him known and well-tried friends. As a preacher, he should have studious habits, and a warm interest in the spiritual condition of all his people; but it is evident that neither of these can be promoted by frequent migrations from parish to parish. As a pastor, too, almost everything depends, under God, on his prudence, on his zeal, and self-control; and yet, each of these is more likely to be hindered than advanced by a practice which facilitates the escape of the rash or the remiss from the legitimate consequences of their faults, and darkens, to a faithful minister, his prospect of reaping the rich fruits of patience, meekness, and self-sacrificing toils. Do we need a ministry studious, hopeful, loving, prudent, and energetic? Let us beware how we foster a practice which tends to make men idle, desponding, misanthropic, reckless. I rejoice to know, that in spite of this system, and when subjected to its most unrelenting operation, many of the clergy keep alive their faith and their zeal. We need not wonder that more than a few fail to do so.

How much the prospect of edification and of progressive increase and improvement in congregations, must be impaired by these frequent changes, I need hardly indicate. The hand that sows the seed is the one that can best cherish and train the young or more vigorous plant. He who has watched and prayed, in season and out of season, not only for his collective flock, but for particular families or individuals, is not he, more than a stranger, likely to speak to them in their sorrows and joys, "the word in season," to supply the care and counsel which shall be fitted to their several necessities, and draw them, with an all-persuasive power, to the obedience of the faith? He who takes the child in his arms, and receives it by baptism into the Christian fold, is he not most likely to regard with affectionate interest its early Christian nurture? and he who, full of hope, begins that work of nurturing, is he not the best qualified to carry it forward from stage to stage? Everything which

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