The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. MONDAY, MAY 9, 1892.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 109, 9 May 1892, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

MONDAY, MAY 9, 1892.

For tie cau39 that lacks as3lstanse, For tlio vroES that needs resistance, For tho fsturo in tho diaUaoo, Asd the ko:& that r r ß caa it.

A curious departure from the old, time-honoured methods of raising funds for church purposes was sanctioned by the New Zealand Wesleyan Conference a few weeks ago. The idea is not an original one, for it has been carried out by the Salvation Army throughout the world for several years past. The scheme is simplicity itself. It is that the first week in May should be set apart as a week of self-denial by the Methodists of the colony. The money that can be saved by cutting off luxuries in eating, amusement, and other ordinary expenditure, is to be placed by each one in a separate envelope, marked "Selfdenial." Care is. to be taken to keep the amount in the self-denial envelope distinct from the ordinary contribution, and the money thus especially raised is to form a distinct fund to meet extraordinary cases of spiritual destitution that cannot be dealt with in the regular way. In the present instance, if the amount subscribed permits, the passages of two young ministers from England will also be paid from the fund.

It is rather startling to find a comparatively wealthy body like the Wesleyans resorting to methods of this kind for raising the wind. Not that we object to "the general principle, which is at the foundation of the Christian religion. The Conference deserves credit in these days, when nearly every form of raising funds for church purpose; has been worn threadbare, for striking upon a plan which seems to take one back to the simplicity of the early Christian ages. One of the complaints frequently made is that few persons care sufficiently for their religious convictions to make sacrifices for them. They never dream of supporting a religious enterprise at the cost of self-denial to themselves. Hence in many wealthy churches it is matter of common complaint that the contributions are painfully small. This arises not altogether from a spirit of penuriousness on the part of the

wealthy, but from a general feeling o! indifference.

In the Wesleyan body there are comparatively few poor persone; the members and adherents are largely made up of the mercantile and trading classes. In many respects they compare favourably to the members of other religious bodies as contributors. The Wesleyan ministers, as a body, are better paid than their brethren of the other large Protestant denominations. While engaged in active duty, special grants are made for the education and support of the minister's children, and when he retires from duty he receives a superannuation allowance far larger than that enjoyed by the retired ministers of other sects. The Wesleyan Methodists possess noble resources, represented by the Loan Fund, Supernumerary Fund, and Mission Fund. In addition, they have valuable endowments at Three Kings, New Plymouth, Wanganui, and other places granted by the State, and which form sources of considerable revenue. That in so short

a lime they have accumulated so large an amount of ecclesiastical property speaks volumes for the liberality of Methodists. There is, however, even in that body, a general feeling that often finds expression in Conference, that large numbers of their adherents givevverty t sparingly to the funds; it is to stimulate this class, no doubt, that the Conference wishes to inaugurate a system of giving upon the basis of personal self-denial.

With the reasonableness of sucli a proposal few persons will disagree. There is room for much difference of opinion as to whether a church is more fittingly supported by endowment or by voluntary subscription. But there can hardly be two opinions on the question that any system of support which does not call for a direct appeal to the generosity of the people must, sooner or later, be a comparative failure. In theory, no doubt, the ancient custom of endowing churches had much to recommend it. It relieves the minister from becoming servilely dependent on the people, and in poor districts it relieves the people from expense in maintaining church services they can very ill afford. But in practice the principle breaks down ; it is all very well while there is community of feeling between the clergy and the people of a country, but when that ceases to exist, and endowments have to be raised by distraining on the effects of a reluctant peasantry, the system becomes a curse instead of a blessing. The history of the Church of Ireland previous to the disestablishment is fraught with these evils, and the history of the Church of Wales at the present time, when, in many instances, owing to the resistance to tithe collection, the stipend of a clergyman can only be raised by selling the produce of tithe - resisting farmers amidst the hooting and curses of excited crowds, is a. scandal to any Christian community. There are many other evils connected with an exclusive system of endowment, from which the clergy of the English Church suffer. The deterioration in the value of landed endowments of late years has reduced many of them to grinding poverty, while the effect of the system upon the people is so paralysing that it is a common complaint of the bishops in the colonies, that owing to their defective training, Anglicans are distinguished above all others for their ill support of a voluntary system.

In the colonies the endowment system never has prevailed, and, from the nature of things, never can prevail to any great extent. Each church has been thrown uDon its own resources to maintain its distinctive services. The vast sums that have been raised are attested by the numerous churches and organisations throughout the land. It is often a matter of complaint, that, in order to keep pace with competitors, churches resort to very questionable methods of raising funds. Cake and apron (airs and doll shows for church purposes have for years past formed inexhaustible subjects of wit to the humourist. There is, no doubt, something to be said on behalf ot these agencies, but the practices with which they have been associated it is almost impossible to defend. Church gambling at bazaars has become so accepted as a matter of fact, that religious bodies hardly take the trouble to defend themselves from this charge of inconsistency. We have, on" different occasions, named other objectionable methods resorted to for raising church moneys, and it is not necessary to pro ovei: the record again. The pernicious effects of gambling in the colonies are in themselves sufficient to induce the churches to eliminate from their bazaars and fancy fairs for ever this objectionable practice.

It is evident that the clergy of this colony can never be supported by endowment as their brethren in England, nor can they be State stipendanes like the clergy of France. The voluntary system is the one that must prevail here. Stripped of such excrescences as we have named, there is no reason why voluntaryism should not be a healthy institution. It is not likely to fail where it has a fair field. Of course, if three or four ministers are located where there is only support for one, difficulties must arise. People are not likely to value their religion less if they make a. personal sacrifice for it. It is a poor state of things when money cannot be drawn out of people for the Church unless they receive ior it a quid pro quo in the shape of amusement. The Conference idea of self-denial in giving is based on a far sounder principle. If the adherents of churches would, as a rule, contribute on principle rather than , on impulse or for the sake of amusement,"complaints about church financial difficulties wouid sooa be exceedingly rare.