A Preacher's Wages

Nothing more cruel to a preacher, or disastrous to his work, can be done than to force upon him a feeling of dependence upon the charities of his flock. He is the creature of a popular schism, and a preacher without influence to those who do not respect him or his office sufficiently to pay him the wages due to a man who devotes his life to them. Manliness can not live in such a man, except it be a torture—a torture endured, simply because there are others who depend upon the charity doled out to him. Good, manly preachers do not want gifts; they want wages. They need them, and the people owe them; but they take to themselves the credit of benefactors, and place their preachers in an awkward and false position. If Christians do not sufficiently recognize the legitimacy of the preacher's calling to render him fully his wages, and to assist him to maintain his manly independence before the world, they must not blame the world for looking upon him with a contempt that forbids and precludes influence. The world will be quite ready to take the preacher at the valuation of his friends, and the religion he teaches at the price its professors are willing to pay in a business way for its ministry.--Anon