SUSTENTATION FUND, a fund provided in the Free church of Scotland for the sup port of the ministers of the church. The idea of such a fund was probably derived by Dr. Chalmers from the system of the Wesleyan Methodists, and a scheme devised by lum was made public before the disruption, so that arrangements had been made, and a small sum already collected, when that event took place. The scheme was afterward carried into operation throughout the whole of Scotland, and continues unmodified to the present time. The members of the church are called upon to contribute, according to their own will and ability, to a common fund; of which, after payment of expenses, payments to a fund for widows and orphans, pensions to retired ministers, etc., an equal division is made among the ministers of the church, with a few exceptions, chiefly in the case of newly formed congregations. The amount of the fund has gradually increased from £68,704 in 1843-44, to £166,427 in 1877-78, when 776 out of 1075 ministers received an equal dividend of £157, the surplus being divided among the ministers (724) of those charges whose contributions amounted to a certain average sum per member.
Congregations are permitted to supplement the stipends of their own ministers, and if able are expected to do so. The supplement in some congregations in towns much exceeds the dividend from the fund; but i n many parts of the country, the whole, or almost the whole stipends of the ministers are derived from it. The question had been much discussed, whether an equal dividend ought to be made, or a proportion estab lished between the liberality of a congregation and the amount paid to its minister. The subject of the sustentation fund is of interest, not only to the Free church of Scot land, but to all unendowed churches.