Evening star., 1923-08-05
BY THOMAS X. MARSHALL.
Former Vice President of the Unite

Former Vice President of the United
States.
IN HE conveniences and luxuries
OF modern life have so crept
into the imagination of every
man that the inquiry will
It pay" has become nigh universal.
1t has been many years now since
| heard a great divine remark that
no man ought to preach the gospel
who was not so thoroughly saturated
with his sense of duty to do so that
although every soul on earth had
become a Christian. save a single
benighted heather in the heart of
Africa, he would feel impelled to
carry the gospel there.
That was idealistic Christianity.
More and more the cry comes from
the church that young men are not
entering the ministry; that even now
a shortage exists in the clergy.
Reasons for this unusual situation
are being sought. II is not argued
that young men no longer hear the
are so focused on the pleasures of
this world that their ears have ceased
to respond. God is calling just as
loudly as He ever did for the right
kind of young men to preach His
gospel and do His work, but His call
nounceS how much He is going to
pay in the coin Of the realm for the
service He seeks.
In an effort to meet the exigencies
OF the times, Protestant denomina-
tions are raising endowment funds
to assure the comforts if not the
luxuries Of life to their aged min
listers. This. in my opinion. is very
laudable, but | hold it important that
it should be clearly explained that
each dollar of every proposed en-
dowment is a free-will offering to
men who have helped to make the
world better. Endowment benefac-
tions should not be urged on young
men as inducements to enter the min
istry. 1t Is most proper that the
aged clergyman and his family
should be kept in comfort by the
members of his faith. This is merely
proof of genuine belief in the
communion of the saints. but induce
ment should not be held out to any
young man that If he will enter
the ministry he need never fear want.
Rhe young man who puts his trust
more in an endowment fund than
he does in the promises of that
gospel which he proposes to preach
will not add much to the sum of
Christian faith. Unless he can say,
Woe is me il, / preach not the
gospel" he would better stay out of
it, From the beginning he becomes
continuous applicant for assistance
out OF the beneficiary fund. He has
turned a profession into a trade.
observing, as he does, species of
industrial insurance in the ministry.
Let these funds be raised, but let
it be understood that they are a re-
ward for service done and not a
secration.
Those who were at ease in Zion glad
ly turned over to the state many of the
functions Of the church. They en-
couraged the state TO take over the
solution Of sociological problems. They
assisted in supplementing by state aid.
both in money and service, what they
themselves could do. These activities
originally fell under the direct control
OF churchmen. and Il was exclusively
a question OF livelihood with them Their
hearts burned within them to do some
thing for suffering humanity, to allevf-
ate distress, to put men upon their feet
and guide them in a better way. AS the
need and vastness of this labor grew.
appeal more and more was made to the
state or assistance. Step by step the
church withdrew and step by step the
state advanced. And as the years have
come and gone the understudies of
the laborers have more and more gotten
away from the original conception of