The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-12-07

greater than in the Christian ministry.
] There has never been time when a man
of education and real capacity could not
| make more money in some other calling.
| 1t may be that the worldwide craze to
get rich quick is responsible for the
small number of young men who are
entering the ministry today. The love of
money-the desire to make everything
| subservient to the dollar is the para
mount thought of this era. 1t has, in
| greater or less measure, touched every
class and every calling. Even the church
has had its garments touch with this all
| consuming fire, though it alone, in the
main, called men from the worship of the
dollar to the ancient affairs of jehovah
It's voice has often been drowned in the
babel of money hunters and money wor-
shippers. The young men have had their
ears so full of the stories of success-and
success measured by the getting Of
money that they have been deaf to the
call to duty. While that is not the only
| reason, it is the modern idolatry that
| threatens the worship Of all things that
are good. The tendencies toward world
| illness, toward materialism, toward MAX
ing merchandise of the precious things
of life is so powerful that il the church
fails to man it's pulpits with men who
will lead back the hearts of men to the
things that do not perish with the using,
then there is no deliverance.
| WANTED-Young men of brains. of
faith, of courage, of love of their fell
lows, Of conservation, to man the pulpits
in Christendom.
That is the crying want and need of
the church of today.
The dearth Of candidates for the min
istry disproves one idea that some good
men have given expression to in the
past "He has gone into the ministry
because he can get better pay than in
any other calling" is a statement that has
been made, often thoughtlessly of conse-
Grated young men. AS matter of fact,
if the ministry offered better worldly ad-
vantages to young men than other avo-
cations, why is there a falling off in the
ministerial candidates? The truth is that,
with few exceptions, the men who go into
the ministry are impelled to do so by the
divine words which sound in their ears,
"Woe is me if l preach not the gospel"
The years of preparation, the life of
sacrifice many make, the inability to
have any continuing city" as their
abode, the exclusion from gainful pur-
suits, the wear and tear upon the heart
because of the attempt to carry comfort
into the homes of woe, the anguish of
soul when leanness seems to follow their
preaching-all these things make against
choosing the ministry as a profession in
a country where the support of the
preachers is voluntary, even if any young
men could enter the holy order from
the low motive of personal advancement.
No, while there are unworthy men in the
ministry, they are very few in number.
In North Carolina, at least, the induce
ment of worldly prosperity would attract
no man of capacity. The average salary
Of North Carolina Methodist preacher
Is something like 5000 or $500, and the
itinerant plan of moving is in the way Of
the natural AngloSaxon desire to build
a permanent home and become settled In
a fixed abode. The preachers of today do
not have to face the hardships of the past.
Neither do the men of other callings. But
they have their trials, their sacrifices,
their heroic labors common to the age.
The people have grown into more sys-
tematic paying q do not use the mis-
leading word "giving') for the support
of the gospel than formerly, but if you
could know the story of the hardships,
the close economies, the self-denial of
the average North Carolina circuit rider
you would not even think they entered
the ranks of the itinerants for worldly
promotion.
The address of Bishop Coke Smith to
the class of three ministers who were
admitted into the regular ranks today
was worthy of warmer praise than
can write. The class was composed OF
only three-the smallest in the history
of the Conference. The Bishops coun-
sci and admonition was along the general
line of the discipline, but it was chock
full of sound sense and wisdom. The
bishop grows upon you. He has the rare
quality of gentleness and strength, and
the rare gift of saying the common truths
in an uncommon way. He is maker OF
epigrams, his talks are sermons and are
full of maxims of his own making, but no
expression falls from his lips that is not
well matured. He is bright and spark
ling at times, but there is no sting, no
rebukes, no reproofs-everything ne says