lation of "the great iron wheel" in contradistinction to snugly squatting at the hub. They understand by itinerancy in ecclesiastical science what the theory of Galileo is in the science of astronomy-the theory which gives orbits to its luminaries "forever moving as they shine," instead of that of Copernicus, which limits them to one spot in the expanse of night. They conceive that any system which confines a preacher all the year to one congregation, though it may be Congregationalism, or Presbyterianism, or Episcopalianism, is not Methodism, and that when its ministers cease to be traveling preachers, or "round preachers," as they have sometimes been styled, they will have abandoned a feature in their work which, though regarded by other sects as a singular eccentricity, is the only implement by which the world can be "turned upside down."

Local preachers in England find their office to be no sinecure. Some are employed every Sunday, and some have nine or ten appointments during the quarter. In many circuits there are only two or three traveling preachers, while there are a score or more of preaching places to be visited, hence it would be impossible to fill the pulpits without lay assistance. But the cooperation they meet with from this quarter is cordially rendered, and as a whole very efficient.

With respect to the amount and the reliableness of income, the Wesleyan preacher has a great advantage over the ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Few preachers in England receive a smaller allowance than £150, ($750.) If he has a family he receives an additional sum of £10 for each boy, and £7 for each girl. Besides this amount, which is considered as quarterage, his house rent, fuel, and medical expenses are paid for him; and as each circuit not only provides a house, but a sufficient outfit of furniture, thus, though constantly on the tramp, he is at least well cared for.

In the American Methodist Church, on the contrary, where a comprehensive and connectional system of finance is wholly lacking, the greatest disparities exist. While some preachers enjoy a larger income than the most favored Wesleyan preacher, the great majority are poorly provided for, and many, it is feared, are in circumstances of great need.

The following is a summary of the sums received for pas toral support by eighty-four circuits in a conference which has

been considered thriving and prosperous, omitting contributions for the support of presiding elders :

It may be objected that in consequence of the grasshopper "raid," the report of the last year's income can scarcely be considered as affording a fair view of the average receipts. The following table, therefore, is supplied, which covers the same ground for the previous year:

Considering that in the whole conference referred to there are only thirty-four parsonages, and that in fifty circuits out of the eighty-four who gave in their reports there were fifty in which the preacher is required to pay house rent, and all other expenses whatsoever out of his income, the preponderance of ministerial comfort indubitably rest with the Wesleyan.

As a financial scheme, the chief source of supply in the Wesleyan Methodist Society is found in the contributions of the members in the various classes; the minimum sum which each is expected to contribute being one penny per week, and one shilling per quarter. Public collections are also made every three months at each preaching place, to afford those an opportunity of contributing to the support of the ministry who, though members of the congregation, are not members of the Society, and do not meet in class. There are every year an increasing number of cases, too, in which chapels become free from debt, and in such cases there is a surplus of income over expenses which is derived from pew rents, which is also brought to the circuit board and assists in paying the salaries of the preachers.

The Auxiliary Preachers and Widows' Fund was established for the purpose of affording a means of subsistence to preachers who through sickness or infirmity were laid aside

from their work, and their widows at their death. It is supported by contributions in the classes, each member being expected to pay at least sixpence annually for this object. According to the last plan sanctioned by the district meetings and conferences, supernumerary preachers receive annuities from this fund in the following proportion:

Those who have traveled 12 years are entitled to £15 annually.

Widows are entitled to the following sums, according to the years named above, namely: £10, £12, £15, £16, £18, £20, £24. The gross receipts for the year 1871 amounted to £17,138 78. The Contingent Fund is also maintained by subscriptions in the classes. From this fund grants are made to circuits which would be unable otherwise to support a preacher. The traveling expenses of preachers who are moved long distances; the purchase of furniture for additional preachers' houses; the relief of special cases of affliction, such as protracted sickness, funerals, etc.; the support of supplies for circuits which may become vacant during the year, are all paid from this useful fund. Its receipts during the year 1871 were £25,787. 6s. 2d. The chief features of diversity between English and American Methodism have now been pointed out. It is right, however, to observe that such diversity does not affect the prosperity of the common cause. Both can point to noble benevolent and educational institutions which they have reared. Both are equally interested in the rising race, and are putting forth strenuous effort to render Sabbath-schools more numerous and effective. Both are equally zealous in propagating the Gospel by domestic and foreign missions. Both are laboring to afford the rising ministry the advantage of instruction in theological seminaries; and by the princely gifts which from time to time are thrown into the treasuries of the Churches by the self-denying devotion which the biographies of each Church commemorates, by the fidelity and spiritual growth of the people. who are brought under their influence, and by the constant extension of the boundaries of the spiritual Zion which is per

ceptible on both sides of the Atlantic, it is evident that the love of Christ is the grand constraining principle in the hearts of each.

There are no human schemes, however carefully devised and conscientiously carried out, which are exempt from imperfection. But the instances are not rare in which what appears to be imperfections are in reality adaptations of providence. So it is with Methodism. Each branch has its own work, and God has conferred on each the implements most suitable for its performance. There is work for the brother with the faultless coat and snowy neckcloth and courteous bearing, who labors in a country where precedent exerts an enormous sway, and where the limits of society are nicely marked and rigidly guarded; and in a country out of whose mighty forests the seats of future empires are being hewed, and on whose boundless prairies the homes of nations are being prepared, there is work for men who, though comparatively careless of conventionalities, are laboring with a stout heart and willing arm. But they have one creed, one object, one Saviour, one eternal home; and by faith they may stretch their arms over the great deep, and grasp each other with the grip of genuine sympathy and affection, for they are brothers in toil, brothers in tribulation, and brothers in triumph.

ART. V.-HUXLEY AND EVOLUTION.

The Direct Evidences of Evolution. Three Lectures in New York, September 18, 20, and 22, 1876. I. The Untenable Hypotheses; II. Circumstantial Evidence of Evolution; III. The Demonstrative Evidence. New York Tribune Extra, No. 36.

FOR the complete, authentic, and accessible form of the lectures cited above we are indebted to a phase of newspaper enterprise which is purely and creditably American. It is a pleasure to make acknowledgment of the great service rendered to science and literature in America by the cultured editorship of the New York Tribune, which discovers so large resources of "news" in the events and utterances of the world of science and letters.

The lectures themselves were widely heralded; every movement of the distinguished foreigner was made a sensation, and the whole country had been lifted to the tiptoe of expectation. The theme announced was one which had already agitated every thinking circle of two continents. Professor Huxley had long been distinguished as a bold leader in the advocacy of an hypothesis which required a reinterpretation of some passages of Scripture; and a vague expectation had been awakened that some sort of a skirmish between science and theology was impending.

It is fair to record the fact, however, that no conflict with the fundamental principles of religious faith was anticipated by any holding representative positions in science; nor were corresponding representatives of theological learning fearful, to the least extent, that any phase of science so sustained by evidence as to be generally accepted by the scientific, could contravene the accepted fundamentals of religious belief. The popular apprehensions existed, as they have always existed, in the minds of one class who have no adequate knowledge of the nature and force of scientific evidence, and of another class who rather enjoy the spectacle when theology gets a pelting, even if with mere "tufts of grass." Undoubtedly it is the depraved heart which prompts to a large share of the satisfaction felt in such a case; but there seems to be, also, a semi-humorous element in our nature which enjoys, as a mild sensation, any discomposure manifested by theology at being even unjustly accused of jealousy toward science.

It is fair also to record the fact that the three lectures of Professor Huxley do not contain a single expression avowing or intimating an atheistic belief; and all assertions to the effect that "he more than suggested that his aim was atheistic," have no other foundation than the opinion of their authors that the doctrine of evolution means atheism. On the contrary, Professor Huxley has expressed himself in such terms as to clearly indicate that he reserves a place for original creative agency. He says:

Though we are quite clear about the constancy of nature at the present time, and in the present order of things, it by no means follows necessarily that we are justified in expanding this generalization into the past, and in denying absolutely that there