Systematic Beneficence in the Presbyterian Church [pp. 351-370]

368 SYSTEMATiC BE~EFiCENCE IN THE [April~
ter and institutions of a people that has an influence upon it
Thus the missionary system of the Wesleyans in England is
wholly different from that of the Methodists in this country.
It is the same in regard to the Episcopal Church in the two
countries. The Free Church system grew out of its peculiar
position in 1843; its churches are compact and the country
is small, being little more than one4ialf of the size of ~linois.
A method once inaugurated and permeating the whole body
cannot easily be changed. For these and oil~er reasons, what
may work efficiently in the one Church could not be inaugurated, and if it were, it might not work so smooQly and beneficently as in the other. But we ask is their plan so much
more economical? Vastly! say those who are dissatisfied
with present arrangements, but we affirm, taking tL eir schemes
that correspond to our own, and even leaving out Dr. Duff's salary, which is paid from independent sources, and the service
of others which is given gl~~tuitousiy, the expense for conducting these is still more than one per cent. greater than with
us. With a]I our salaried officers the expense for administration in proportion to our aggregate receipts is smaller than
in the Free Church. T~ien take her foreign missions-she
has them only in India and South Africa, while ours are found
among the Indians, among il~e Chinese; and in New Mexico in
our own country; iii the Vnited States of Colombia, in Brazil,
Japan, China, Siam, the Laos, India, Persia, Syria and Western
Africa. We have more missionaries in India alone ilian she
has in all under her cai~e. [Icr llome Mission wod~ is diminutive compared to our own confined to a small portion of
Scotland. There is, then, no compai4son between the two as
to the amount of labor in the administration of corresponding
schemes, and to suppose it is to have a feeble conception of
their relative dnties. The Free Church has an editor for her
missionary publications, wiiose salary does not appear in the
expenditure for admiuish'ation; all our missionary issues are
edited by executive officers; if this were added tlie per centage would be still more in our favor. It is hme then, that
this groundless plea disappeared from the discussion of this
subject, and that the fact should be remembered il~at our