Tuesday the 19th October, about fifty persons, male and female, assembled. The Rev. George Harris of Glasgow presided, and opened the meeting with prayer. After the Chairman, Mr. Macdonald, and others, had spoken, Resolutions, constituting the persons met together a distinct Congregation for the worship of the One God in the name and as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, were unanimously adopted. A subscription for one year was entered into. The thanks of the meeting were warmly given to Mr. Harris; and Mr. Macdonald closed with prayer. The prospects of this new Society, we think, are good, and perseverance and union will overcome all difficulties. Mr. Harris is to preach three times in Greenock, on the first Sabbath in November. IN our last Number, we stated, that the Letter addressed by Mr. Harris to Mr. Struthers, inserted page 57, had been printed separately, with Remarks to the Inhabitants of Glasgow, added thereto. The matter has excited great attention. Seven editions of the pamphlet have been published. It has called forth a "Letter to Mr. George Harris, Unitarian Minister, by a Trinitarian -"Remarks on the Letter of Mr. Harris, by Ebenezer Wallace' -"An Expostulation, addressed to the Rev. George Harris, by Gavin Struthers"-" Letter to a Trinitarian, with Observations on the Remarks of Mr. Ebenezer Wallace, by William Rowe""Christian Worship, with an Appendix intended as a Reply to the Expostulation of the Rev. Gavin Struthers, by George Harris”—“ An examination of the Observations of Mr. Rowe, in Defence of Mr. Harris and Unitarianism, by Ebenezer Wallace" -"A Few Plain Hints to Mr. Ebenezer Wallace, and his Coadjutors in the Anderston Funeral Controversy, by an Old Independent,"-besides two Satirical Poems, and a Critique in "The Thistle" weekly periodical. Most of the pamphlets have gone through several editions; and the excitement and inquiry they have occasioned, cannot fail to be of great use in the promotion of Christian truth and righteousness. To Correspondents.-Mr. Harris's Sermon on Christian Worship, was preached on Sabbath, Oct. 10, and published on Saturday morning, Oct. 16. A large edition was sold off on that day, and a second edition printed in the evening. Our English friends will be able to procure copies through their Booksellers, at the close of this month, at fourpence each. Individuals and Societies wishing larger quantities, will be supplied at a cheaper rate. "The Unitarian," and "a Convert from Calvinism," have been received. We shall be glad to receive the whole of the communication of the latter. CHRISTIAN PIONEER. No. 52. DECEMBER, 1830. Vol, V. On Methodism.-No. 3. Salaries of Methodist Preachers. If the virtue of patience consists in quietly subjecting one's back to the shearer, we know of no class of Christians who can lay a better claim to merit, than the members of the Methodist connexion. To say that religion is sold amongst them, would be uncharitable; but it is just and true to say, that it is dearly paid for. Liberty, it has been said, must be bought ere it can be valued; certainly, the Methodists pay a high price for whatever liberty they have, and one would hope they value it in proportion to its cost. From what we know of their system, we should imagine that a Methodist can hardly ever have his band out of his pocket; and if, as some authorities assert, taxation is a blessing, how great is the blessedness of the Methodist body! First, the chapels have had to be built, and then to be cleared of debt. As soon as they rise above the soil, and give hope of becoming of value, they are transferred, by a most self-denying generosity on the part of the people, to the shearers of the flock-in other words, the priests. Whatever of debt there is, it concerns not the Conference, but for that, trustees are made answerable. To liquidate this, each party does his share: the priests preach, the people give the priests take, the people lose. Besides the chapels, there is a multiplicity of things to be provided for, and still the people have all the honour, the clergy all the profit, so far, at least, as temporals are concerned. Schools for the young masters and misses of the priesthood, who being of a holy stock, require a superior education, training for embryo preachers and missionaries, support for missionaries engaged in "the work," and the multifarious provisions for the regular clergy, with a host of things "too numerous to be mentioned," the people have to provide. True it is, the clergy are but beggars; but they ask alms like the mendicant mentioned in Gil Blas, who, with hat outheld and musket outstretched, L moved the pity by moving the fears of the way-faring men. So beg the Methodist priesthood: the only difference being, that their arms are generally (not always) spiritual, not carnal. Have our readers ever read or heard of the immense and multifarious masses of eatables given to Chany, who, whatever he may be now, was once an elephant? If they have, they can form some idea of the various good things, which, in various parcels, are handed by their keepers to the consumptive priests of Methodism. The full amount of these cannot be exactly learned, for many a good thing is dropped at the door of the Methodistical parsonage, which, of course, is not published in the newspapers. Truth, however, they say, will out, and something has of late been learned of the receipts of this clergy, and more may, it is fair to presume, in time come to light. The following statement we copy from the Number for May last, of " the Circular addressed to Methodists." "A statement of the average expenditure for one Methodist preacher and family in the London South Circuit, for one year. Paid to the Preacher, under the name of "board money," 27s. per week, 52 weeks, Do. Quarterage for himself, £70 0 0 For 10 Children, levied on the Circuit by a rule of Conference, taking one-third for each Preacher, there being 3 on the Circuit-10 Children at 10 guineas each, £105; one-third is, 21 0 0 2222 21 00 21 0 0 35 0 For House-rent and Taxes, Quarterly House. Bills for small articles, For wear and tear of Furniture, Linen, &c. For Coals and Candles, Allowance for Letters, Medicine and Contingencies, 65 0 0 7 0 21 21 4 4 0 10 0 0 296 8 0 5 12 0 302 0 0 302 0 0 20 0 0 £322 0 0 Four Children over the regular allowance, cost to the Annual cost for one Preacher and Family, exclusive of removals, &c. Average expense of removals-Journeys to Confer In addition to these allowances, the preacher's sons receive a classical education at the Methodist School in Kingswood, or at that called Woodhouse-grove; otherwise the preachers, if it be their choice, receive an annual sum for the education of their sons elsewhere; as also a similar allowance for the education of their daughters. This statement shows that the present income of a Methodist preacher in London, is, at least, £300 per annum, independent of travelling charges, education for sons and daughters; so that a preacher in London, who has a large family, cannot receive, in all, from the pockets of the society, less than £400 a-year, and in, at least one instance now in London, a much larger sum.' From this statement, our readers will be able to see how completely Wesley carried a threat which he uttered, into execution, that "the people both can and shall keep the preachers." Now, we do not say that the sum above mentioned is too large; but we do say, that the preachers have no plea of poverty to prefer, and that the pretensions of this nature, that they and their partizans have made, are groundless-deceptive. And we do also object to the manner in which the income is levied. Government knows the value to themselves of indirect taxation, and the Methodist rulers seem to have taken a lesson of them, raising their ways and means, not in one large sum, but in several small sums, each insignificant in itself, and by its insignificance escaping public notice, especially in a connexion where clouds and darkness rest on almost all money transactions, and where the people are kindly freed from every other trouble but that of paying it. "Thus," adds the writer who furnished the above statement, "by the number of items which make up the aggregate income of a Methodist preacher, the people are kept in the dark and deceived, and not one in ten of those who have even attended quarterly meetings for years, have any correct idea of the actual amount received."-G. C. S. As Jesus explicitly taught his disciples to offer up their prayers to the Father, without mentioning any other object of worship, directing them to ascribe to him eternal and omnipotent power and glory; and in his conversation with the Samaritan woman, characterized such as the only true worshippers (which may indeed be inferred from the palpable improbability of supposing his followers to be in reality false worshippers, whilst implicitly acting upon his instructions); we might here pause, and ask, how can any one dare to worship in a different manner from that authorised by the Saviour? The adoration of the Christian is generally directed to a God composed of three persons, one of which is the Son, although that Son expressly prohibited that prayer should be addressed to him by his disciples. "And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you", John xvi. 23. In the 22d chapter of Revelations, John is forbidden by Christ to worship him, in these words: "See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book. WORSHIP GOD."* But Christian usages are not in unison with Christ's commands, his positive injunctions are disregarded, and his authority superseded by the gradual encroachments and assumptions of a continued succession of fallible councils. If the proper direction of religious worship be indeed important, those tenets popularly called orthodox, need a strict revision, and careful comparison with the Gospel Records. It will be therein discovered, that Christ taught very different sentiments from those now so fashionable. Will he allow his doctrines to be changed, varied, and metamorphosed with impunity? Nor did the example afforded by Jesus, contradict his injunctions. All his prayers were addressed to the Father as the One Supreme Being, the hearer and answerer of prayer. The 17th chapter of John's Gospel, amongst the many instances which might be adduced, breathes throughout, sentiments which it is singular that any Trinitarian can meditate upon, and still retain his opinions. Christ there identifies the one true object of prayer, by offering to him his own petitions; he distinctly ascribes to him superiority" not my will," says he, "but thine be done"-and it might be supposed, had set all contro *See "The Apostle John an Unitarian, a Letter to Dr. Blomfield, &c." by W. J. Fox, p. 48, 49. + Let the orthodox, if they can, reconcile this intimation, of, at least in one instance, two opposing and contradictory wills, with their hypothesis of a divine union (not unity) of persons. If the prayers of Jesus |