Clarksville evening chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn) 1886-1890, 1888-10-18
PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD.
Synod Net at the Presbyter-
ian Church at 7:so Last Night.

The Synod OF Nashville met in the
Presbyterian church last night, when
the opening sermon was preached by
DIR. j. A. Wallace, of Sweetwater,
Tenn, the moderator, from Luke,
IT,, II, and was as follows:
WHERE ARE TIKI NINE.
The human heart is exceedingly unthank-
full We all receive Gods mercles every day
and how many go on enjoying them without
ever returning thanks therefor.
on one occasion Christ was passing through
Samaria and Galilee, on his way to Jerusa-
lem, "and as he entered into certain village
there met him ten men that were lepers,
which stood afar off, and lifted up their voices
and said: Jesus, MASTER have mercy on us.
And when he saw them he said unto them:
60 show yourselves unto the priests And 1t
came to pass that as they went they were
| cleansed. And one of them, when he saw
that he was healed, turned back, and with a
| loud voice gorif1ed God and fell down on his
face at his feet, giving him thanks, and he
was Samaritan. and Jesus said, Were there
not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?
These are not found to give glory to God, save
this stranger"
The ungrateful nine, in this lesson, repre-
sent the ungrateful many who to-day do not
return to give glory to God for mercies re-
ceived.
They went on their way cleansed, but I'M
thankful. One to his farm, one to his trade,
one to his profession and one to his mer-
chandise. On to their various engagements
or occupations, perhaps not unwilling, but
unthinking or neglecting to acknowledge or
perform their obligations to God. And just
so 1t is to-day-many cleansed, but few giving
glory to God.
While God has blessed us, as q church, dur
Ing the past year, revived his work in our
midst and graciously healed and cleansed
many, so that we have added TO our Southern
church 1851 souls, yet 1t is a fact that there
has not been corresponding increase in the
number of candidates for the Gospel minis
try.
In the Sunday -school and in almost every
department in our churches there has been
an encouraging growth. Yet 1t is sad fact
that in the Gospel ministry there has been an
increase of only one per cent. "Where are the
nine?" And we are told that this is about
the uniform rate of increase for the past tif-
teen years. Says one writer: cat this rate,
and according to the average death rate, it
would take our church about one hundred
years to double its preaching force.'
With the small per cent who are giving
themselves to the Gospel ministry, and the
present death rate depicting our rankS-in
1885, thirty-one Deaths in 1886, thirty-three.
and in 1887, thirty -one-it becomes a grave
question for us as Individuals, and for our
phnrp1 tn consider II 10 a nnpStiOn
whether we can even continue TO grow at the
rate of one per cent, even though we have
greater number of candidates (2S5) to-day
than we have ever had before. II there is, as
we are told and as believe, failure ON the
part of our yonng men to devote themselves
to the ministry correspondingly with the
growth and demands of the church, is it not
pertinent for us to inquire the reasons? II
our church has been prospered and is growing
In almost every other direction rapidly, and
If the increased per cent in the ministry is
only one, should we not inquire, "Where are
the miner" II of the number of pious young
men in our church only one, now and then,
returns to give God the glory By preaching
his Gospel, / repeat, had not we, to whom
God has committed these things, better in
quire where are those whom, Judging from
human standpoint at least, should preach the
Gospel, and what are they doing?
True, "the kings heart is in the hands of
the Lord, 9 the rivers Of water; he turneth it
whithersoever he will" And no one but the
same power can properly call and bring
man into the ministry. Yet we are co-work-
ers with him, and he works largely by human
fundamentally, a large per cent of those at
present brought in being in this way, and 1t
is eminently proper for us to inquire where
these young men are, what they are dong,
and why they have not returned to glorl1y
God by preaching the Gospel.
Where are our young men, and why this, at
least, apparent aversion to the ministry? l
an aware that this is a difficult question TO
answer intelligently, for there are number
of causes all working, and doubtless many of
them are working together to prevent. Satan
Is exceedingly willy.
The Christian ministry, moro than any
other calling or profession, is constantly maxi
ing urgent appeals for recruits to its ranks.
Help is needed in every part of the now al
ready-whitening fields of harvest. Prayers OF
Christian men and women are ascending all
over the land to the Lord of the harvest to
send forth more laborers. Calls are ringing
loudly throughout the whole of Christendom'
but the response is weak, One responds, per-
Eaps while nine hold back and fail to come.
Where are the nine?
l. In the first place tits estimated that only
about ten per cent of our young men are
within the pale of the church, or that about
ninety per cent of the young men OF our land
have never been cleansed and many are
never brought into the church until after
they pass that time CT life in which profess
sions or callings are usually chosen. While
there may be something in this, yet it is not
entirely satisfactory to my mind.
But we do need a more general and special
endeavor on the part of the church to reach
our young men. II is all well enough for our
General Assembly to ask us once year, upon
certain day, to meet and pray for our
schools of learning and the young men of our
land but that don't reach the case Parental
training is being too sadly neglected. Home
instruction has been too largely done away
with, or relocated to the Sunday schools and
churches; they are kept and cared for after
fashion some of them well and some not so
well-until they begin to approach the years
OF manhood. Then they in large mum bcIs are
turned loose or allowed to go loose, many of