The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-06-04
Ministerial Crowding.
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 preach in Congregational pulpits, That, like ordination, is logically the exclusive prerogative of the churches, and they should be made to attend to it.
 By having the same conference which selected the candidate, and encouraged him to prepare for the ministry attend to his licensure as far as possible, the work and the responsibility in the case would be normally distributed among all the churches as they should be. The undue concentration of that work and responsibility upon a few central associations in the immediate vicinity of our six theological seminaries would in this way be effectually and perma- nently prevented, as it should be, for tt is clearly an abuse. Furthermore, the charge suggested would be beneficial to the churches as well as to the candi
 dates.
 The examination of one of it's own approved candidates for the Christian ministry, as to his knowledge of the truth, and his ability to preach it, would impart great importance to the y where, and would make some people as eager to attend it as they now seem to be to not to attend it.
 But the final application of the reme- dy suggested would lie with the ordain- ing council Mistakes made at any of the preceding points of approach to the sacred office of the Christian ministry can be corrected by the ordaining council if it's members are intelligent and loyal to their duty. For it is the council that officially declares the can- Gldate to be "a minister of the gospel" The theological seminary only under took to teach him what and how to preach provided he should ever get an opportunity to do so. And the "li- cense" which he received from the as soc,ation was simply 8 recommenda- tion that the bearer be given an oppor- tunity to exercise his supposed ability to preach the gospel. It did not pos sess, hence it did not convey to him the shadow of any sort of authority ec- clesiastical or otherwise.
 But ordination makes man a min ister of the gospel" The council should for that reason proceed with great care, and be sure that the candi- date is a fit person by nature, history, culture and grace to be thus set apart.
 One of the most important questions
 that can possibly come before an or-
 daining council is this, Gan this man so preach the gospel, and so discharge the duties of pastor as to justify us in ordaining him?"
 dat tl a L. ous, and he may be a superior scholar even the valedictorian of his class in the greatest university in the land, and still be wholly lacking in those natural, personal qualities which are found by experience to be indispensable to real success in the Christian ministry. The council should therefore insist on being fully satisfied on that point; all its members should religiously withhold their hands until they are fully satis- fled that the candidate has already re- ceived a divine ordination to the sacred office by virtue of his natural and gra-
 cious endowments.
 Finally, there should be more care exercised in admitting men from other denominations. A very large number | of our present force of ordained minis | ters and licentiates have come to us | in that way While this fact demon- strates our liberality as a denomina- | ton, it also admonishes us of possi- ble peril. If we welcome "all corners" we shall probably be overstocked with l mediocrity, but men of genius and, to whom we have been attractive by rea- son of our culture and liberality, in the past, will carefully avoid us.
 It behooves us therefore, to be wisely careful of our denominational door,
 not in any form of denominational ex- clusiveness, however, but in the form
 of fixed, impartial demand for high
 CT grade of ability, natural and ac-
 quired, in every candidate for the ,nin- isterial office whether he comes from our own household of faith or from some other. We certainly ought to re- auire evidence of at least as much nat ural and acquired fitness for the Chris l tian ministry in those who come to us from other denominations as we do | from those born and nurtured in our own homes. Proper self-regard, and l fairness by our own demand that much, and will not be satisfied with less. | T. E. DAVIS.