(4) The Rev. Ewen Macqueen moved that the following Committees be appointed:—Financial Committee—Revs. J. R. Mackay, Neil Cameron, and Alexander Macrae, Messrs. Angus Clunas, Inverness, and Murdo Urquhart, Dingwall, elders; with Mr. Clunas as Convener, Canadian Committee—Revs. D. Macfarlane, Ewen Macqueen, and Mr. A. Gray, elder; with Mr. Macqueen as Convener. Theological Committee—Revs. D. Beaton, A. Sutherland, and Mr. A. Fraser, elder; with Mr. Beaton as Convener. Sustentation Fund Committee—Revs. J. R. Mackay, J. S. Sinclair, and Mr. Neil Mackinnon, elder; with Mr. Mackay as Convener. Foreign Mission Committee—Revs. Neil Cameron, J. R. Mackay, and D. Beaton, and Mr. John Auld, elder; with Mr. Cameron as Convener. Mission to Fishermen Committee—Revs. A. Macrae, Neil Macintyre, E. Macqueen, D. Mackenzie, and Mr. John Macdonald, Stornoway, elder. Magazine Committee—Revs. Neil Cameron, D. Beaton, and J. S. Sinclair, and Mr. A. Fraser, elder; with Mr. Sinclair as Convener. Mr. Macqueen, in submitting his motion, said that there was one name which had to be left out owing to the messenger of death, namely, that of the late Mr. Duncan Crawford, Oban, who had been a member of two of these Committees. They all regretted the great loss of one who was an ornament to the Church and Church Courts with which he had been connected. They were missing him, but he was not missing them, they believed, in the place where sin or sorrow never entered. Rev. J. R. Mackay, who seconded the motion, also made affecting reference to the death of Mr. Crawford. Two of the loveliest men, he said, he had ever known were Archibald Crawford, Tighnabrauich, and his nephew, Duncan Crawford, Oban. The loss sustained by the Church and the community was a great one. He expressed the earnest prayer that the Lord would bless the family of Mr. Duncan Crawford, and enable them to be followers of those who now, through faith and patience, were inheriting the promises.
ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT.
(5) Mr. Angus Clunas, treasurer, presented the Annual Report of the Church Funds. Rev. D. Macfarlane, in moving the adoption of the report, submitted the following motion:—”The Synod adopt the Treasurer’s Report, as now read, acknowledge the Lord’s goodness in supplying the material necessities of the ministers and missionaries of this Church during the past year, commend anew to the generous sympathy of all members and adherents of the Church all the Church’s schemes, especially that of the Sustentation Fund, offer the Synod’s thanks to the Treasurer and Auditor for their valuable services, and re-appoint the same Auditors for the current year.” In support of the motion, Mr. Macfarlane spoke substantially as follows:—”The Financial Report submitted by the Treasurer contains two departments of the finances of the Church, viz., the Sustentation Fund and the Schemes of the Church. The Missionaries’ and Catechists’ Fund is included in the Sustentation Fund, and if this fund falls behind, the Sustentation Fund suffers loss in proportion. I mention this that congregations might make an effort to contribute more liberally to the Missionaries’ and Catechists’ Fund, so as to bring it up to a figure that would make it independent of the Sustentation Fund.
“The motion asks the Synod to acknowledge the goodness of the Lord in supplying us so liberally with funds to enable us to carry on His work in all our congregations without let or hindrance for want of money. This is a wonder, and a cause of thankfulness. When we took up a separate position in defence of God’s truth nineteen years ago, we began our work as a Church without a penny. Indeed, it did not cost us one anxious thought as to how we might be provided for. We believed that the Lord, whose name is Jehovah-jireh, would provide for us, and we were not disappointed. Some, who were of ‘little faith’ or no faith, predicted that our Church would become extinct in a few years for want of money, and that our ministers would starve for want of food. But these were false prophets. We had only two ministers to begin with, and we now have fourteen; and as our ministers have increased, our funds have increased, on the whole very favourably. Instead of our ministers dying of hunger, as some seemed to anticipate, they are as healthy as the ministers who chose to remain with the ‘flesh pots.’ Although our ministers should increase a hundredfold—as we hope they shall—He who multiplied the few loaves to feed the thousands will, I believe, make provision for them all if they continue faithful.
“The motion commends that our people should continue their liberality, that the work of the Lord might go on increasingly, till ‘the vine’ that was ‘brought out of Egypt’ spreads its branches far and wide, and covers the land from sea to sea. To enforce the duty of our people to continue their liberality, I may relate what I read about a converted heathen who became a missionary.
Having gathered a congregation, he resolved to build a church, and he appealed to the people for contributions to meet the cost, and appointed a day on which they were to give in their contributions. He laid down three rules, according to which they should give: (1) that every one should give something; (2) that every one should give according to ability; and (3) that every one should give cheerfully and ungrudgingly. These were scriptural rules. On the appointed day the congregation gathered, and the missionary stood at the plate, and saw what was put into it. He knew the circumstances of the people, and was satisfied with their givings till a wealthy chief came forward, who put a very small piece of gold into the plate. The missionary said to him, ‘I will not accept of that small contribution from you, who are a wealthy man. That is according to the first rule, but not according to the second—that every one should give according to ability. Take it back.’ The chief took back his contribution, and then in an angry way, threw a large piece of gold into the plate. ‘I will not take that either,’ said the missionary, ‘for it is not given according to the third rule—that every one should give cheerfully.’ The chief lifted his large contribution, and placed it again in the plate with a smiling face. ‘I am satisfied now,’ said the missionary. ‘You have conformed to the three rules; you have given something, you have given according to your ability, and you have given cheerfully.’ Now, what I would like is that our people should contribute to the funds of the Church according to the three rules laid down by that missionary. As a rule, they have done so in the past, but there is such a thing as perseverance and ‘abounding in the work of the Lord.’ I am not sure that the children contribute to the funds though the parents do. That is not according to the first rule—that every one should give something. Children should be taught by their parents to give something, however small, so as to train them in their youth in the duty of giving of their means to support the cause of the Redeemer.
“The last thing in the motion is that the Synod thank the Treasurer and the Auditors for their labour in connection with the Financial Statement. The work of the Auditors is to be thankfully acknowledged as given heartily from the first. Among the many benefits the Lord conferred upon us as a Church, He provided us with a Treasurer who is in every respect qualified for the post, and who has served the Church most faithfully since we took up a separate position in 1893. He well deserves not only the cordial thanks of the Synod, but also to be more fully remunerated for his work than he has been hitherto. I have much pleasure in moving the adoption of the Financial Report.”
Rev. John R. Mackay seconded this motion. He was glad to say that all the funds seemed at the end of their financial year to be in a sound and healthy state. This was markedly the case with respect to the Sustentation Fund, where the balance at the
end of the year was, with the possible exception of one other year, better than in any previous year, notwithstanding the fact that the payments to ministers and missionaries for the same period amounted to a larger sum than ever before with us. In the case of almost all the schemes on behalf of which collections are appointed by the Synod, the balance at the end of the year was better than at the end of the previous year. The Organisation Fund shewed a slight falling off, and even in the case of the Jewish and Foreign Mission Fund the like remark had to be made. At the same time the falling off was but slight, and in regard to the very important Jewish and Foreign Mission Fund it is the case that their income was larger than their expenditure. At the same time, that these things were facts, he learned from the Treasurer’s books as kept since 31st May, 1912, that a word of exhortation to ministers, missionaries, and people was necessary if they were not to get into low water with the Sustentation Fund again. He regretted to find that the response to the last appeal for the Missionaries’ and Catechists’ Collection was considerably below that given at the same date last year. Thirteen of the congregations that responded at this time last year failed to make the collection altogether this year, and with regard to a good few of the congregations that did make the collection the amount collected was below last year’s amount. Now, this was a very serious state of affairs. It was, so to say, comparatively easy to keep the fund up when it was up, but if, through carelessness, they allowed it to go much down, it would be a hard pull to bring it back again to a healthy state. They had to remember that the number of their ministers was increasing, and that therefore it would not do to be getting slack about this matter. He was not pleading for something extravagant. If their congregations would only maintain the interest that was shewn within the year ending 31st March, 1912, they should be quite able to maintain the present salaries of ministers and missionaries. But with a less interest in this scheme the thing could not be done. The motion was unanimously agreed to.