IF a man, or a certain body of men, wish to control the labors of a farmer or mechanic, and apply them as they may see proper, it is but the voice of reason and Scripture that they give him a reasonable compensation to support him while performing his labor. In precisely the same way, if any man, church or co-operation, wish to control and appropriate the labors of the preacher of the Word, they should give him a reasonable compensation. But when the question is under advisement, of employing a man at a certain point, and for a certain amount, the question is not whether he will preach, but whether he will preach at that point and for that amount. He is bound in his covenant with the Lord to preach, but the Lord has left him to select his own field of labor. He selects his field, performs his labor, and looks to the Lord for his support. But all this does not say, that his brethren should not promise him a certain amount, and with the utmost punctuality fulfill their promise.
“I do not think it is right to promise a certain amount,” says one, “we can not tell what we shall be able to give.” Did you hire that man to work on your farm without promising him a “certain amount?” Did you buy that farm that you are in debt for without promising a certain amount? We judge not, and not a small amount at that. Why, then, should men, constantly in the habit of promising certain amounts for everything else, be so cautious about promising the poor preacher of the word of God—the man to whom society is more indebted than any other man, for all that is pure and good, a certain amount to subsist upon while he sojourns in this life?
“I thought you said the preacher should trust to the Lord for his support,” says one? Certainly he should, just as you trust to the Lord for his preaching. You trust to the Lord to enable him to perform his preaching according to arrangements, and he trusts in the Lord that you will be enabled to support him as promised, the same as your hired man trusts in the Lord for what you promised him, or as you trust in the Lord for the products of your farm. Yet the preacher knows not the ability the Lord may give him, nor what amount of money he may need. It may be more or less, but it is not his reward for his labor, but merely his support—or, if you prefer it, his board while he labors for the Lord. But he does not intend to spend the whole reward of his labor in this life, but is laying up a good foundation against the time to come. They are prodigals who run through all their earnings as fast as earned. The Lord does not intend his servants to do this. He gives them a subsistence as they pass along, or money for their expenses, but the main bulk of their wages is laid up in heaven, and can not be estimated by dollars and cents. May God put it into the hearts of the children of God to look to the temporal wants of the young men who have entered this great work.