his faithfulness has offended some overbearing man of wealth, whose contribution is esteemed by the church more sacred than its moral and legal duty to its pastor.

"Nevertheless, we have not used this power; but suffer the loss of all things, lest we should hinder the Gospel of Christ." So, to their everlasting honor, a multitude of brave ministers have said. And so they will continue to say. "The servant of the Lord should not strive." And though a thousand men have left their pulpits broken-hearted, and have gone out not knowing whither they went, yet they still will go for the sake of peace.

When it is apparent to a church that the time has come for a minister to resign, let the matter be taken to him kindly but plainly, and presented to him by those who love him. And let the church give him time to secure another pastorate, and in the meantime labor loyally with him.

In like manner the minister should be loyal to his church. When the time comes for him to go elsewhere, he should time his removal and the notice of it so as least to injure the church, and should do all things to edifying.

When church and minister have reached a united conclusion that the pastorate shall end, let them call the representatives of sister churches in council or association, that the records of the church may be certified as correct, and the minister be given clean credentials to another church.

The Legal Value of Ministerial Reputation. All that has been said in the chapter on Church Membership concerning the Law of Libel, applies with special force to the minister. In a peculiar sense his reputation is his means of livelihood. To damage a minister's reputation is not merely to hurt his feelings, but

is to incur the gravest responsibility by reason of the financial damage which is involved. If he has been deposed from the ministry the churches have a right to know of it for their own protection; but the - publication must be without malice, and for a manifest need.

A church, ordinarily, has no right to publish in a wholesale fashion its expulsion of a member. It may cause to be read from its own pulpit the vote of excommunication, but that vote should be carefully drawn and free from reckless denunciation. Its withholding of a letter of commendation is usually a discharge of its responsibility to other churches.

The case is otherwise when a minister is deposed. While his right is more sacred, because of the legal value of his reputation, the responsibility of the deposing body to the churches is correspondingly greater. Dr. Charles B. Rice, of the Congregational Board of Pastoral Supply for Massachusetts says:

"When a minister is deposed by a council, or in states permitting it, by an association, the deposing body has a right to publish its findings. Otherwise the deposition might amount to nothing, since no one might know it. A minister has a public function, and his deposition is intended to prohibit his continuing to discharge such a function.

"Here, as everywhere else, wisdom ought to be used, and the bound of right kept in mind. The direct statement of the charge on which the man had been tried and found guilty might be better than a general statement of immorality, and in the published findings, if it were said that the man had been deposed or expelled for theft and falsehood, it would not be well to add and we adjudge him to be wholly unworthy of confidence or respect and unfit to enter into decent society.' However true this might be,

the publication might be an act of wantonness, not wise, and possibly not safe.

"A ministerial bureau has a right to keep a list of unworthy men. It has a right to make use of the material which it has gathered under appropriate limitations. The rule which we follow, stated in somewhat varying forms in our reports, is this: 'Information of an unfavorable nature, if it must ever be given, is given only to those who have a clear official right to its possession.' By 'persons having a clear official right' we mean committees or authorized representatives of churches looking for pastors, secretaries or superintendents of Home Missionary Societies, and (in some cases a little more doubtfully) authorized representatives of ecclesiastical or ministerial bodies having in their keeping matters affecting ministerial standing.

"In all cases, too, we have waited for inquiries to come to us from any quarter, and have never volunteered or put forth any injurious statement, without being asked. Our aim has been to keep far within the bounds of legal right, and our position has been walked about and surveyed with a purpose to find some point of assault by lawyers more than once, as we have had occasion to know.

"A man's reputation in the ministry having a money value, that money value attaching to ministerial reputation cannot be wantonly destroyed, but it may be destroyed or lessened for cause. If a minister throws away his reputation by misbehavior, he has no good claim to the property right which he might have possessed by virtue of that very reputation. The same reason which would justify and require the publication of the fact that a minister had been deposed, or expelled from the ministry, would justify the publication, notwithstanding the fact that his pecuniary

interests would suffer injury. The action in any case, of course, is not taken with the purpose of destroying or lessening anything that has money value, nor at all to that end, but is taken for the purpose of preventing injury to other interests that are involved.'' The Prerogatives of the Pastor. The minister is the pastor and teacher of his church and congregation; and both he and his office are to be held in due honor. He is also the executive head of an important and influential organization; and has the right of initiative and general supervision belonging to that office. The administrative work of the pastorate is increasing, and in many churches forms not the least important third of a minister's duties. Constitutions of churches and of other corporations rarely attempt to define the full powers of their executive head; but a minister ought to have, and usually has, sufficient opportunity for effective leadership. He is by virtue of his office an officer in the Sunday-school, and has a rightful place in all the organizations within the church. But he has no power of veto, and his authority does not entitle him to lord it over the people, but wisely to direct, as the chief servant of the church of which he is the minister.

VI. THE DISTRICT ASSOCIATION.

Uniform Terminology. The term "district association' has not been in common use among us. In our confusion of terminology, we have been accustomed to speak of "the local association" in contradistinction from the state association." " But having now state conferences, we do not need the word "local" to distinguish between the two. Moreover, the word "local" is inaccurate, and is applied to the individual church. In the present work the term "local" is restricted; and reference is made to the local church; the district association; and the state conference.

A Congregational association is composed of ministers and churches, meeting statedly for Christian fellowship, for maintaining ministerial standing and the promotion of the welfare of the churches, and assembling at the call of the churches for the organization of new churches, the licensure and ordination of ministers, and such other duties as the churches may from time to time delegate to these bodies.

The Churches in Association. Congregational churches, while self-governing and subject to no ecclesiastical authority in their local affairs, are more than independent units. They meet unitedly in district, state and national bodies. The development of these bodies, their approach to uniformity of organization, and the increase in the measure of responsibility delegated to them by the churches, constitute one of the most significant facts in recent Congregational history.

Congregational churches are grouped into local or district associations, bodies which formerly existed solely for fellowship. Originally they were purely