The Newtown bee., 1909-10-01
WHY THE MINISTRY IS FAILING TO
 ATTRACT MEN OF FORCE.
By Rev Stanley Bloomfield of Montpelier,
 Vt., Formerly of Woodbury.

By implication then the men in the
 ministry are not forceful men. They are milk ard water sort of fellows, the Key 1 Dr Cream-Cneese is tie usual name in
 the directory; his opinions are the color
 of skim milk and a vigorous world, to (quote Kingsleys famous expression says \. hates these dapper young lady
 preachers like the devil From time i'm
 memorial there have been these critics i of the priest and there always will be, | but I submit after listening to the men i in this conference that the allegation is
 not proven. There are men of fierce in i the ministry. Ministers have the repu- i tation of being poor business men, yet l if Here is a church to be bl ildad or any ] to be carried on you will find a minister at the head, usually the only man in the community that can make bricks with
 out straw. Moreover it requires con siderable energy to enthuse the 60 mem paid workers in the average church. churches were never such hives of aC tivity as now and the motive power keeps everyone at work, usually eman-
 ates from the minister Yet the theme
 is timely. Consider the conditions. Our
 Seminaries are grauuating less than d
 third enough students to man our pull
 pits. There are more men entering the
 ministry without full preparation than
 any other calling. New England has
 ministry In 1903, Drew Theological
 Seminary, located in Madison. Y. J., had
 los students, but OnIy three came from
 East of Jersey City. In the same year
 Newton Seminary had only three stu
 dents from all New England. While the
 graduates of Yale have more thaa dou-
 bled in the last 40 years. the actual
 m lY11h nf Hl1o
 Divinity school have decreased G0 per cent. In general it may Ee said that
 the number of trained men entering the ministry has decreased. while the scope of the church work has enlarged. Here is anotner fact. E. J. TOmlinsOn wrote to the presidents of our prominent edu- catiOnal institutions asking them of the isterial students. the almost unanimous verdict seems to have been that the quality of the men studying for the ministry was not as strong as that of men studying law. journalism or medi- cine. This is serious statement. If churches decreases. surely her influence will be limited. Churches are judged by what they accomplish.
 So much for the conditions. Now what are the causes? First the church is failing to attract men of force be- cause the men do not receive sufficient salary, and because too often the small stipend is paid i'll so miserable fash
 ion as to be most unattractive to manly men. The average minister's salary in New England is sS25. In the country at large it is smaller. Seventy three per cent of our men earn less than 5000 a year. That is to say that we pay our ministers relatively less than a stone cutter, bricklayer or a mason. seventy three per cent of the men entering the may certainly expect life of genteel poverty, often a grinding struggle to keep up appearances. Nor is it to be forgotten that the period of service only averages twenty years. and tben there is niggardly penslOn of $150. But this is not the worst. The manner in which certain churches pay the pastors salary must make his life almost uncomfortable. Or January 1 of this year a certain Vermont pastor re- ported his salary paid in this way. Re ceived January, s20: February s9; March. S17; and so on through the year. On December 31 his church was in debt to him s135 of the S400 they had pledged and l may add he donated part of that