hitherto received, the time has fully come for reconsidering this whole matter, and for making a fresh appeal to the Congregations of the Church regarding it.

II. That, having respect to the greatly increased cost of living, to the immense additions that have been made to the wealth of the country, and to the extensive rise in the remuneration of service in all other departments of human labour which have taken place since 1843, the minimum stipend for her Ministers, at which the Church should now aim, ought not to be less than £200.

III. That the first and fundamental object of the Sustentation Fund shall be, as heretofore, to secure for all her Ministers, who shall be entitled by the laws of the Church to receive it, an equal dividend of £150; and that the revenue of the Fund shall be so appropriated accordingly, to the whole extent necessary for this purpose.

IV. That the surplus of the annual revenue of the Sustentation Fund, beyond what is required for payment of the above equal dividend and other necessary charges, shall be distributed in accordance with the following regulations:

1. That all Congregations which shall be found, at the close of the financial year of the Sustentation Fund, to have contributed to that Fund at and above a certain average amount per member, shall be entitled to participate in the Surplus Fund; and that the average amount of these contributions shall be 10s. or more per member; and 7s. 6d. and under 10s. per member. *

2. That the Ministers of all Congregations which shall annually contribute the average amount per member of 10s. or more, shall receive an equal share of the Surplus Fund; and that the Ministers of all Congregations which shall annually contribute the average amount of 7s. 6d., or any greater amount under 10s., shall also receive an equal share of the Surplus Fund; and the share to be received by the Ministers of the Congregations which contribute at this second average amount shall be one-half of the share to be received by the Ministers of the Congregations which contribute at the first and higher average amount-as thus:

* In Highland Congregations the number of members will be estimated at two-thirds of the sitters.

Suppose the Surplus Fund in any given year to amount to £18,000, and that 300 Congregations have contributed at the higher average, and 300 Congregations at the lower average above stated, each Minister of the former class of Congregations, in addition to the equal dividend of £150, would receive £40 from the Surplus Fund; and each Minister of the latter class of Congregations, in addition to the equal dividend of £150, would receive from the Surplus Fund £20.

3. That no Minister shall receive from the Surplus Fund a greater sum than £50. Any balance that may accrue after the surplus has been allocated as above provided, shall be employed in raising the Equal Dividend.

4. That no Congregation, whose contribution to the Sustentation Fund amounts to less than £60, shall be entitled to participate in the Surplus Fund, except as above provided.

5. That the Sustentation Fund Committee shall report periodically to the General Assembly, as to the working of the whole Scheme, with a view to the adoption of such alterations and improvements as experience may show to be necessary or expedient.

V. That these Resolutions be laid by the Convener before the ensuing General Assembly, and that, if approved, the Committee be authorized and instructed to make an earnest appeal in behalf of this movement to all the Office-bearers and Members of the Church, and to use all suitable and competent means to insure its

success.

Advantages of the proposed scheme

1. In proportion as it succeeds, it will secure and perpetuate, what all the measures hitherto adopted have failed to realize, an equal dividend of not less than £150 to all the Ministers of the Church.

2. It will present a powerful stimulus to all the Congregations so to increase the average per member of their contributions to the Sustentation Fund, as to entitle them to share in the benefits of the Surplus Fund.

3. By making the right to participate in the Surplus Fund dependent not on the aggregate amount of a Congregation's contributions, but on a certain minimum average rate of contribution per member, it puts the smaller country congregations on nearly as favourable a footing as the larger and wealthier ones. If there be a limited number of Congregations that cannot rise to the minimum in question, it may be a fact to be regretted; but it cannot reasonably be regarded as presenting any sufficient reason for rejecting a scheme fitted to be so highly advantageous to the Church at large. Even their Ministers will derive this important benefit from the scheme, that it will give them a larger equal dividend than they at present enjoy, and one much less liable to fall off. It is believed, however, that there are very few indeed, if there be any at all, of the Congregations, whose aggregate contribu tion to the Fund amounts to £60 or upwards, that are not able to reach the limit of 7s. 6d. as the average contribution per member. To do so requires only the very moderate average of 73d. per month; that is, less than 2d. a week. To reach even the higher minimum of 10s. as the average contribution per member, and thereby to become entitled to the higher share of the Surplus Dividend, would require only 10d. a month, or 24d. a week.

4. It will afford to Congregations a ready and fitting mode of increasing, in a way more satisfactory and more effectual than by the smaller and more fluctuating class of supplements, the stipends of their Ministers, and of thereby giving expression to the sense they entertain of the value of a faithful and devoted Minister's labours among them. Under the present arrangements connected with the Sustentation Fund, too little facility and encouragement are afforded, in the case of the rural and less wealthy classes of Congregations, for calling forth this feeling of attachment to their own individual Ministers, however much they may have commended themselves by the earnestness and efficiency of their pulpit and pastoral services to their people's esteem and love.

ROBERT BUCHANAN, Convener.

Free Church of Scotland.

REPORT

OF THE

TRUSTEES OF THE FREE CHURCH MINISTERS' WIDOWS' AND ORPHANS' FUND

TO THE

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

TO BE HELD AT EDINBURGH, THE 23D MAY 1867.

EDINBURGH PRINTED BY THOMAS CONSTABLE,
PRINTER TO THE QUEEN, AND TO THE UNIVERSITY.

Communications to be addressed to Mr. MARTIN, at the Office of the Fund,
No. 49, Castle Street, Edinburgh.

FORM OF BEQUEST TO THE FUND.

I leave and bequeath the sum of

pounds

(the amount being written in words, not in figures), to 'THE FREE CHURCH MINISTERS' WIDOWS' AND ORPHANS' FUND;' and I appoint the same to be paid at the first term of Whitsunday or Martinmas after my death.