The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-05-12
MONEY AND THE GOSPEL.

MONG AND ] ne SOSPEL.
/ Mr.. Rockefeller's pastor. Dr. Charles
F. Aked. caused some comment on
SUNDAY by a sermon on the Alleged
Decay of Christianity in New York. 3"
Discussing the shortage of students for
the ministry, he declared the pulpit
was out of touch with the times and
apparently attributed it to the lack of
opportunity the pulpit affords for MAX
ing money, so that young men are
driven TO other callings
Thinking churchmen have been dis
cussing this very question for some
time. Statistics of the Methodist
church collected by various conferences
show that in the most prosperous of
the middle-west states clergymen are
paid salaries that would hardly sup
port a man alone in poverty. let alone
providing for a man and family in de-
cent comfort. other denominations re-
port parallel conditions. so that the
charge of DIR. Aked that the earning
capacity of a preacher is inadequate
may be taken for granted as true.
But there is another side to the ques-
ton. When Wesley. for instance,
founded what is now the great Meth
odist church he paid little attention to
his earning capacity. Filled with a
zeal uncommon nowadays, he and his
followers in the pulpit worked like
slaves and trusted to the Almighty for
their recOmpense. The old circuit
riders, trayersing wildernesses under
great leadership, counted themselves
fortunate TO earn food and eomforta-
BILE lodging. Theirs was a life almost
literal in its fulfillment of the spiritual
injunction to take no thought of the
morrow. Yet they had no cause for
complaint as to the lack of congrega-
tons or of waning influence of the pull
pit On the contrary they awakened
such enthusiasm, such a wave of deep
religious conviction that il almost
amounted 10 a revolution in the life
of a nation
Long before Wesleys time Jesuits
trod this American continent-not in
search of wealth, not looking for big
congrega tions; their habitat was usu-
ally hut or a tent among the In
dams; fortunate they if they survived
the hardships of their work to middle
age. Often, as history shows, they
were done to death by the very people
they had sought TO save Suffering.
torture, death itself. had no terrors for
them so long as they could serve the
Master
1t isn't altogether the lack of money
i'm the ministry that has weakened the
influence of the pulpit the lack of fer
vent devout belief in the call of God
to go and preach the gospel traces
back further than that. The homes.
where religion finds it's origin and in
spiratiOn. where men used TO find en-
couragement TO enter the ministry. are
centers of more materialistic things
nowadays. Men are measured, not by
their influence for good or by their
achievements in spiritual influence, so
power to accumulate goods.
The colleges. which used to be foun-
tains of religious inspiration, kick now
for great endowments, splendid equip
ment. facilities for original research;r
and in the large proportion of them
the spirit of the instruction is material
istic in tendency. DR.. Aked is Mr..
Rockefeller's pastor Does he think
university endowed by Mr.. Rockefeller
and crystallizing his doctrines of life
as he has practiced them is likely to
contribute much to the growth of
devout ministry? Doesn't Jane
Adams do more for the cause of
Christ than any well-paid minister in
America? Isn't her life of sacrifice
among her poor. her devotion to the