The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1884-02-20

to be more sacred than the bonds of
| fraternity. For the Methodists as such,
we have warm brotherly feeling. But,
when the Methodists are put forward as
an argument, they must take their chances
along with other arguments. Christian
charity only receives under the @gis of
her protection persons for arguments she
has no room. Possibly it would be we'll
tor this " Methodist" argument if an ex-
ceptlon could be made in it's favor. In
reality it is very weak. We do not
mean that the Methodists are not strong.
The Methodist Church is a wonderful
organization. But this Methodist ar
gument In the controversy now pending
upon the subject of ministerial education,
Is greatly overrated by those who ad-
vance 1T. 1t seems to us to be "vor ct
pr@tereo m'hat." Let us look at it. The
argument runs thus: The Methodist
Church is doing far greater work for
Chrlst than we, for she unquestionably
has much larger membership than we
she has much larger membership than
we, chiefly because her ministerial force
is larger than ours; her ministerial force
Is larger than ours, because her educa-,
tlonal policy is wiser than ours; hence,
If we would hope to rival Gin a good
sense) her success, we must increase our
Ministerial force, and to this end we must
change our present educational policy.
Ihls tor substance, is the famous Meth
odlst argument used with such telling eff
feet by I'D. w. S." and others We sup
pose 1t might be called sorites The
inference drawn cannot be stronger than
the aOeokeSt link in the chain OF reason
ing. In this case it will be hard to de-
termlne the exact force of the conclusion,
because it is almost impossible to decide
oOhich as the weakest link in this chain.
AS the reasoning is little more than
scarcely be more than a strong assertion
We have not time to examine into all
these assertions. Fortunately it is not
necessary. The superstructure will top
pie and fall of itself when the foundation
is removed. The pith of the argument,
as 1T relates to the matter in hand, is in
the statement that the educational policy
OF the Methodist Church gives her
larger ministerial force, and one better
adapted to the work lowing, we might
almost inter from some things which ID.
w. S." says, to their inferior trainino)
than our educational policy furnishes us.
Now Is this fact? I'D. w. S." cites
figures. We will give figures too. Our
figures will be found in the Schaf- Herzog
Encyclopedias, page 1894, and in the
Virginia Conference Annual of 1882, and
In the Minutes of our own General AS
sembly and Synod.
Let us look at the Methodist and Pres
byterian churches in the city of Rich
mond. The Methodist Church has in
that city pastors and $40 members;
or, she has 385 members to every minis
ter. The Presbyterian Church, while it
only has $40 members, has minister's
or, one minister to every 257 members.
In other words, our ministerial force in
Richmond is stronger, in proportion to
our members, than that of the Methodist
Church. How will I'D. w. S." account
for this? The Methodists outnumber
us in members, though qOe outmuna5er
them IN minister's Will Cd. w. S."
ascrlbe their superiority in membership
to the inferior training of their ministers?
Certainly this is a questionable compli-
ment to the Methodist ministry. Where
Is the reciprocity between ministers and
members, of which cd. w. S." speaks?
If it existed our Church ought to be
gaming ground on the Methodist Church
In Richmond. But is this the fact?
Hardly. How then are we to account
for the fact that with relatively smaller
ministerial force, the Methodist Church
is not only ahead of US, but likely to
keep ahead? Can it be due to the in
ferior training of their ministry? The
question is too delicate one for us to
decide.
Do these figures hold only for Rich
mond? Not at all. If you take the
Synod Of Virginia, the same holds good.
The Virginia Conference of the Metho-
dist Church has more than twice as many
members as the Synod of Virginia. But
the Synod of Virginia has actually 7
more ministers than the Virginia Con-
ference. Where is the reciprocity" of
which we heard AS this reciprocity
vanishes, the superiority of an inferior
ministerial training must loom up into
vast proportions, for, with ministry less
IN numbers than our own, the Methodist
Church more than doubles us in members
But suppose now we compare the
Southern Methodist and the Southern
Presbyterian Churches. They cover very
much the same ground. The Southern
Methodist Church has in round numbers
100000 members and 1000 ministers;
or, she has one minister for every 2l5
mamie Tho Coutbern Presbv+er;a,,