Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1905-01-26
Shortage of New Ministers.
said.

Philadelphia Press (Rep.).
The Presbyterian ministers of the city
on last Monday discussed the problem of
the decrease 10 the number of candidates
for the ministry. They reached no con-
illusions, except the very general ones that
the situation is serious and that pastors
and church members should do whatever
lies in their power to stem this receding
tide.
The condition complained Of appears to
confront all churches on both sides of the
water. The recruits for the ministry are
everywhere falling off. While there are
preachers enough today to man all exist-
ing congregations which are able to sup
port pastors, the supply for the next gen
Grafton is entirely inadequate. Small
wonder that religious leaders and eccle-
siastical bodies are showing alarm, and
that conferences are being quietly held in
the educational centers of the country to
look into the matter thoroughly. No
grsver problem is before the churches
than that of maintaining an adequate
force of properly equipped preachers.
In the face of decade of steady de.
crease in the number of students who
avow the gospel ministry as their goal,
preachers and religious papers and stu-
dents of social conditions are asking why
President Harper, of Chicago university,
has recently made study of the subject,
and he advances six reasons why the
young men of today are less inclined TO
become breaches than the young men of
generation or two past. The In
fiuence of the ministry has dimin-
ished while that Of other professions has
increased. The absence of distinct re-
ligious spirit of from modern homes causes
loss of purpose to enter the sacred call
ing on the part of youths whose earlier
impressions determine their life work.
The uncertainty of the ministerial career,
theologically and financially, is powerful
deterrent. President Harper declares
that the churches demand preaching
that would have been acceptable fifty
years ago, and which is at variance with
present day thought. Ministers who can
not live as ministers should live on beg
CARLY salaries that are common. 81 should
like to propose the statement that the rela-
tive loss of influence of the minister IL
due to the smallness of his salary more
than to all other influences combined"
The low standard Of scholarship of Minis
tiers in certain denominations has injured
the dignity of the Office in the eyes OF ed
ucated> young men. The drift of college
life is antagonistic to the high religious
ideals which are requisite in the student
tor holy orders.
Then President Harper sums up the OBJ
stacles which hinder men from entering
the ministry. All his reasons have force,
but the second and sixth come nearest to
the secret Of the difficulty. If, as he de-
clares, the religious atmosphere OF home
and college is not conducive to the crea-
ton of lofty spiritual aims, then the case
is well-nigh hopeless. For if young men
today were fred, as of old, by an intense
conviction Of the pre-eminent Importance
of sacred concerns, none of the hindrances
named could keep them out of the pulpit
And, after all, perhaps the pulpit is better
vacant than filed by men who have not
this consuming spiritual purpose.