"Not far from eighteen hundred dollars."
"And, pray, how," continued I, "was the deficit made up?"
A part, it appears, was made up by a special subscription, and a part is still due as floating debt, and part went in to increase the mortgage. Perhaps I would remember the meeting in the fall at Mr. Wheaton's house.
I did remember it very well. But I was anxious that the other gentlemen should not forget it.
"And now, gentlemen," said I, "you propose to add three hundred dollars to that annual deficit. Where is the money to come from?"
There was a momentary silence. The question was evidently a new one. Apparently not a member of the Board had considered it. At length one gentleman suggested that we must raise the pew rents. This brought an indignant protest from Deacon Goodsole, who is a strong advocate of the free-pew system.
"Never," said he, "with my consent. Any pew-rent is bad enough. Trafficking in the Gospel is abominable at best. It shuts out the poor. Worse than that, it shuts out the godless, the irreligious, the profane—the very men we want to catch. The pew-rents are too high now. We must not raise them."
The Treasurer also added a mild protest. The pew-holders would not stand it.
"What do you say, Mr. Wheaton?" said I.
"Say?" said he: "why, I say you cannot carry on a church on the same principles on which you carry on a railroad or a bank. It is a different affair altogether. You must trust the Lord for something. I think that we can safely trust Him to the amount of three hundred dollars at least. Where's your faith?"