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they mean soon " to abandon the religion they profess to love , or have their pulpits filled with men whosf services will be irksome to tjiem / ' Verax goes oa to su ppose that the complainant chose the profession of a Dissenting minister
with a view of making ajortuney with what probability I leave yo * ir readers to judge . He" cannot admit it to be true that stipends have lowered , * ' but believes
that in most instances they have been raised : but admitting this , as I sincerely hope it is , to be true in general , though not in the instance of the complainant ; sup .
pose the income of a minister to have been raised a third in the last thirty years , still if the necessities of life are raised two-thirds , which is the least that we can cay ; he who never had more than fi very moderate competence , must now be reduced to a state
bordering upon poverty . Such a situation Verax owns , calls for com .
laiseration / ' but he reminds the sufferer , that the great mass of bis hearers , are from the < g expences of the days in which we live , scarcely able to spare from the wants of their own families , that porttob which they give to their ministers /'
Was instruction in that science , the true knowledge of which is fceyond all price ^ justly regarded by the beads of families , they woufd spate , in many ways , rather than take from the sum which is
necessity for the adequate support of him whom they have chosen as the teacher of themselves , And those dependent upon them . But it js not this doss who are < &iefly tfaflled upoit ; it is , I again Jepeat it , the part of those Wfco ' live at ease * * i *> < j < wne liberally
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On the Dissenting Minister ' s Complaint . 763
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forward , and by placing him in comfortable circumstances With respect to this world ' s goods , leave their pastor ' s mind at liberty td exert its full powers for the spiritual welfare of his flock . At for the •* auxiliary labours' * which
are the usual resources of learned men in narrow circumstances , th& instruction of youth is certainly a most honourable and useful
employ ment } and there are minds of such strength and activity as to render an attention to it in & great degree compatible with the numerous avocations of a zealoufc
and affectionate minister : but the constitution , often fails under such a load of mental occupation , and a valuable life is spent by over exertion , before it has run out
half its natural length . Where fc congregation is able to maintain two ministers , one may well em * ploy a large part of his time in the education of its younger
members ; but where all rests upon one , there must be neglect somewhere , or the melancholy consequence I have just mentioned will generally follow .
Nor is every good and learned man , fitted by inclination and temper for a schoolmaster ; and when that office is undertaken
unwillingly , and from necessity , it is a slavery hardly to be con . ceived , and its important duties can never be properly fulfilled .
I am not pleading for the main , ten a nee of an idle or luxurious ministry : my earnest desire is to see in them and ift their families , that plain simplicity of manners
and appearance , which adorns the holy profession they have chosen , and renders them shining u examples to the flock . " Witt , out ( 1 ms indeed , their exhortation *
