Watts, Susanna Wesley, Daniel De Foe, Henry Cromwell, the notorious John Wilkes, and a long line of others renowned in English annals.

On either side of the chapel stands a modest three-story brick house for the use of the circuit preachers. That on the right is known as Wesley's house. He occupied the suite of plain rooms on the second floor, consisting of a small front room used as a parlor; back of this was his bedroom, not more than 12x14 feet, and beyond this a narrow room, 6x10 feet, used as a study. A few pieces of his furniture are in the rooms, sacredly preserved; among these is his arm-chair, used during the Ecumenical Conference by the presidents of that. body, a little writing-table and a book-case with paneled doors, on the inside of which may be seen the engraved faces of some: of his leading preachers, such as adorned the pages of the old Methodist Magazine, pasted there by Wesley's own hands. In this book-case is kept the huge china tea-pot, a present to Wesley from the celebrated Wedgewood, in which tea was made for the Sunday breakfast of the preachers whenever a large company of them met there, as they often did-never for Wesley himself, as he was no tea-drinker. In these modest little rooms Wesley showed in the smallest matters that love of order and neatness that so strongly marked his character.

In his chamber and study not a book nor a scrap of paper was ever allowed to be out of place. He was always ready to move, and lived like a man who had only an hour to stay in one place. Beyond any man of his day he knew the value of small things, and so caught them up and bound each in its proper place as to build a system of aggressive spiritual warfare second to none in the history of the world.

If a man may be remembered by germinal plans of benevolence that come to him as inspirations from heaven as he stands on higher summits and gazes farther into the future than others of his times, then will John Wesley and his works. live forever in the memory of mankind. Cheap literature is the boast of this age, but Wesley wrote for the million a hundred years ago; we boast of our dispensaries that give free medicine to the sick and helpless poor, but Wesley had a dispensary in the old Foundry, and actually studied medicine that he might prescribe for body as well as soul. What a grand FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XXXV.-45

institution the Sunday-school is! But Wesley had such schools in Savannah; Miss Ball, a Methodist, held them at High Wycomb, in England, long before Raikes opened his school at Gloucester, and even to him the idea was suggested by a Methodist girl.

Though once despised and ridiculed, John Wesley is now recognized as in the front rank of the great benefactors of mankind. And so, when the pilgrim tires of looking at the lowly historic places of Methodism, he may rest him in Westminster Abbey, and thank God that the life-work of the Wesleys is now deemed worthy of record in monumental marble in the national mausoleum among England's noblest sons.

ART. V.-SUPPORT OF CONFERENCE CLAIMANTS. THE proper support of an itinerant ministry, called of God to the exclusive work of preaching the Gospel, is one of the most important problems of our Methodist economy. To secure the best results, the preachers must be free from all care except. that of soul-saving. When the people detect the outcroppings of a secular spirit in the pulpit, they become jealous and mistrustful. Pastors who seem to doubt the willingness or ability of their flock to provide the necessary sustenance are sure to suffer loss, even in the meager allowances origi nally offered. Our ministers cannot supplement their salaries by engaging in any secular pursuits without being suspected of neglecting the chief of all concerns, the redemption of human souls. However, if the preachers are to be preserved from temptations to secularity, it is plain that the Church must remove all occasions of fear that an adequate living will not be furnished when conscientious and competent service has been rendered.

It may be comparatively easy to command a fair living for a pastor and his family while he is vigorous in health and efficient in service. So long as he can maintain the interests of a charge-in our system always so dependent on the minister's work-he is reasonably sure of some kind of temporal support; but by and by his power of acceptability wanes, and there is

no more reliable prognostic of his decline than that which is indicated in the increasing deficiencies on the annual claim. While others increase he must decrease, and soon, too often, "lost to sight and to memory dear," he must pine in neglect for material and social enjoyments and necessities. Such a prospect does not inspire the self-sacrificing toiler with either confidence or encouragement. The members of our traveling connection are required to submit themselves to episcopal authority; to go where sent; to remove their family where appointed, thereby losing all opportunity of local accumulations; and to accept the risks of ill-health, poverty, lack of appreciation, and all other disadvantages of a systematic itinerancy. Had the heroic apostle chosen his own appointment, according to the plan of call and contract, he could demand no expression of sympathy or proffer of aid from a connectional source when the inevitable superannuation should arrive. He must take his chances when "no man hath hired" him, but he who waives his immediate interest for the permanent commonweal, is certainly entitled to constant recognition and equitable compensation.

Our care for the Conference claimant has seemed to smack more of sentiment than of principle. We have, too often, apparently regarded the support of the superannuated preachers and the ministerial widows and orphans as a benevolence rather than as a claim. Quite frequently the younger ministers give but little attention to the matter, while those on the ragged edge of retirement set up a whine. The solicitude of the older preachers would strike us as very unbecoming if actual penury did not stare them in the face. The amounts reported to the Annual Conferences by the active and promising are in many instances lamentably small, while the returns of those advanced, or advancing, in years are often largely out of proportion with the regular benevolent collections. This condition of affairs is a source of embarrassment and shame. The system which characterizes our effort in other directions must be practical and reliable in the permanent support of the ministry.

It must be conceded that, if a man sacrifice his hope of worldly gain for the care of souls, he is entitled to a fair living until God removes him from the earth, or until he forfeits his

claim by immorality or demerit. A faithful minister should be made to understand that, if he devotes himself wholly to the work of the Church, he may relieve his mind from consuming anxieties in regard to the bread that perisheth. "Bread shall be given him; his water shall be sure." It is a wise economy for the Church to command the undivided attention of one called to the work of the ministry and pre-eminently successful in winning souls, while others who excel in temporal pursuits contribute a portion of their gains to the maintenance of the Lord's chosen evangelist. Every man to his work. Money-getting may be a part of Gospel effort, and the Lord has some of his servants engaged in this duty; but let the priests remain at the altar, lest they attempt that for which they are unfitted, and to which they were never appointed.

Exclusive devotion to the work of the ministry may henceforth disqualify a preacher for most, if not all, of the secular vocations. By long continuance in the pastorate, he has been weaned from the tastes and adaptations of a life which is financially remunerative. Even if he were physically able for the task, and by nature inclined to it, he would find that the commercial world in the last quarter of a century had gone ahead of him, so that he could make but a very low score in the race for wealth. His time, if profitably employed, must be devoted still to matters more or less ecclesiastical. Though he is no longer able for pastoral duty, his usefulness as a laborer in the vineyard is not at an end. He may yet render valuable assistance in revival efforts, occasional preaching, writing or selling books, distributing tracts, or visiting from house to house. Leisure hours may be advantageously occupied with such bodily exercises as will return a small profit; but from all of these a competent support cannot be obtained. His efforts must be subsidized by the special offerings of the Church.

The preacher's family is a recognized force in Methodism. The wife is expected to be a prominent factor in social and religious life, and must devote much of her time and energy in visiting the sick and well, and in attendance on all public services. Withal, there are the children, usually in considerable numbers, who add to the influence, power, and sympathy of the pastor. On the circuits especially his visits are hardly counted as such unless he is attended by the entire household.

Large families in the ministry have tended to develop the liberality of the Church, and therefore have been an important missionary agency. Many charges would never have grown into the habit of giving a respectable salary had they not been compelled first to do so from an acknowledgment of the needs of a numerous household thrown upon them for a support which they dared not repudiate. The children of a minister can do very little toward their own maintenance. Their father's occupation is such that he cannot accompany or instruct them in lucrative employments. His is a work that none other can do. Wife and children, by indiscretions and improprieties, may prevent the collection of the full claim, but they cannot, except in an indirect way, bring anything more than what salary commands for the larder or wardrobe. Frequent removals interfere with profitable investments in real estate for future use. If the head of the house is taken away before some, at least, have reached adult age, dependency, if not destitution, follows. Against such a painful emergency it is the duty of the Church to provide.

Inasmuch as individuality, both in ministers and societies, is to a very great extent merged in the connectional idea of Episcopal Methodism, the responsibility for the perpetual support of accredited itinerants and their needy families is thereby centralized. In a limited sense, all must fare alike, both "he that goeth down to the battle, and he that tarrieth by the stuff." By this reasoning, the worn-out veteran is as justly entitled to his stipend as the younger minister in the tenth or fifteenth year of his extending work and usefulness. The widow and orphan have claims that demand a hearing fully as much as the wife and daughter of the still living itinerant. The Discipline recognizes the correct theory in providing for statistical and Quarterly Conference blanks which call for the reports of the Conference claimants' collections under the head of "Support of the Ministry." A few years ago the Bishops' fund was treated by some as a benevolence, but all now admit the propriety of dividends for this purpose from collections for the ministry in general. The symmetry will be complete when the rightful share of the so-called Conference claimants is included in the scheme of distribution. Such an arrangement may be liable to gross abuse, or, from the added