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diff --git a/31323-h/31323-h.htm b/31323-h/31323-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e60a25 --- /dev/null +++ b/31323-h/31323-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1034 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Demand and the Supply of Increased Efficiency in the Negro Ministry, by Jesse E. Moorland. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + body {margin-left: 12%; margin-right: 12%;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Demand and the Supply of Increased +Efficiency in the Negro Ministry, by Jesse E. Moorland + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Demand and the Supply of Increased Efficiency in the Negro Ministry + The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 13 + +Author: Jesse E. Moorland + +Release Date: February 18, 2010 [EBook #31323] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INCREASED EFFICIENCY--NEGRO MINISTRY *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Stephanie Eason, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<h3>Occasional Papers, No. 13.</h3> +<h3><span class="smcap">The American Negro Academy.</span></h3> +<h4>(FOUNDED BY ALEXANDER CRUMMELL)</h4> +<p> </p><p> </p> +<h1>The Demand and the Supply of Increased<br />Efficiency in the Negro Ministry.</h1> +<p> </p> +<h3>BY JESSE E. MOORLAND.</h3> +<p> </p><p> </p> +<h4>Price 15 Cts.</h4> +<h4>WASHINGTON, D. C.<br />PUBLISHED BY THE ACADEMY,<br />1909.</h4> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<h4>Press of R. L. Pendleton<br />609 F St. N. W.<br />Washington, D. C.<br />1909</h4> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<h2>The Demand and the Supply of Increased Efficiency in the Negro Ministry.</h2> +<h3>BY JESSE E. MOORLAND.</h3> + +<p>In the discussion of this subject I fully recognize the opportunity men +have to serve God in any honorable vocation. The Christian lawyer or +physician is called of God as truly as a minister. Such men are putting +the emphasis on service and not on getting. The condition confronting us +is alarming and this warrants the earnest plea in this paper for a greater +number of efficient ministers.</p> + +<p>This is probably the most important question confronting the colored +people to-day. After all, a race or a nation is measured by its religion, +and the greatest fact about a people is its religion. The efficiency of a +nation depends in a large degree upon the character of its religious +principles. When the good Queen Victoria was asked what made her realm so +great, it was expected that she might point to her well-equipped navy or +her efficient army, but she modestly held up a little book, called the +Bible, and said: “By adhering to the principles contained in this Book, +greatness has come to Great Britain.” China is what she is to-day because +she adheres to certain principles taught by her religious teachers, and +Africa is still in darkness because led by blind, superstitious, religious +teachers.</p> + +<p>In a larger sense than many people are willing to give credit the Negro +minister has been responsible for the progress of our race and is also +responsible for much that cannot be counted as progress, for no other +single class of individuals has had, and still has, so large and +far-reaching an influence as our ministers. You have only to go to a +community where there is a well-trained, honorable, upright, and efficient +minister to see the marked improvement among the people along every line. +On the other hand, when you find a community where there is an immoral, +ignorant minister, wielding a large influence, you will find a community +that is full of despair.</p> + +<p>It is pleasant to read the short story written by Paul Laurence Dunbar +some years ago, entitled “The Ordeal at Mt. Hope.” This story possibly +gives one of the most vivid pictures of real, genuine service rendered by +a man of splendid parts in a needy section of the South, bearing out the +practical demonstration of the power the minister has over a community.</p> + +<p>It is one thing to lay down principles; it is another thing to show that +these principles are correct and true by the practical work which is based +upon these principles. It is no hard thing to see how true it is that of +all men throughout the history of the world, none have had greater +influence than the religious teachers of a people, and it is just as true +to-day, and it is a waste of time to argue that a race or nation can be +lifted any higher than the religious principles of that race or nation +will allow it to go. History fails to record an instance of this sort, and +it is very evident there never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> will be an instance of the kind. Man is +bound by his religion. He may not profess it, but he has a belief; even +though he may declare that he believes nothing, the very fact of his +declaration proves him to have a dogma. You had as well expect to find +lions without courage as to find men without some form of religious +conviction. It is a something in man that has to be reckoned with, and +where it is most wisely directed and cultivated, there we find the highest +culture and development along every line. Hence the great importance to a +new race like ours in America that the most careful attention be given to +this very important phase of our development.</p> + +<p>This is no time for mere fault-finding. It is a time, however, for sober, +considerate thought. It is a time when the best of the clergy and the best + +of the laity of every denomination need seriously to face a question which +is not alone common to themselves but is a serious one confronting the +entire Protestant Church. In some ways our churches are suffering, (and it +seems will suffer more for sometime than others), for the reason that we +have not had, and have not now, so large a number of trained men to draw +upon as others who have had better advantages than ourselves. With an +honest purpose, it is our business to courageously take this matter up and +get at the facts, and then find a way to remedy the alarming condition. We +are at a crisis, and the future of our race is involved,—yea, the future +of our nation, for one-eighth of the population of any land has a +tremendous influence upon the whole.</p> + +<p>In the first place, the demand for increased efficiency is emphasized by +increased intelligence of the people. Forty years ago we were just +entering school as a race; to-day we have the second generation in our +public schools, secondary schools, and colleges. These parents and +children read the daily papers, read the magazines, buy some books, and +are beginning to think, and as soon as an individual begins to think +independently all sorts of problems rapidly crowd in on the mind and put +it in an attitude of questioning many of the things which have always +beforehand been taken for granted as correct and true. Along with this +goes the fact that much of the literature of to-day, (including newspaper +editorials and many magazine articles), has a tendency to undermine +Christian faith rather than help it. Much of it comes from brains well +saturated with Pagan philosophy rather than the principles laid down in +the Holy Book. The swing away from Puritanism to what is called liberty +has the effect of loosening many of the well-fixed principles of morality +and right-living, and makes splendid soil for just such practices as we +are constantly reminded of by the glaring headlines in our newspapers +giving every detail of murders, and lax family relations and divorces, and +every conceivable thing that human nature can devise for the uprooting of +many of the essentials of real progress and decent living. This brings a +spirit of unrest and doubt, and the question whether life pays, and +whether it is worth while to make an effort, and whether the Church is of +any effect. The minister is looked upon as a professional parasite drawing +a salary and having a good time, and in the thought of many is cast aside +as of but little consequence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>To meet such conditions as mentioned above, there must be increased +efficiency in the ministry, the demand to meet which is greater to-day +than ever before. I am finding no fault with the efficient men we now have +at work. Many are doing valiant service. They are heroes on the home field +in the same sense that Carey, Judson, Livingstone, Pitkin, Lott Carey and +others were heroes on the foreign field. Some of these men are laying +their lives down in the great work to which they have been called. All +honor to these men! But their numbers are too few. The disproportion is +too great in our professional schools. For example, when a medical school +can boast of four hundred young men preparing to care for the physical +life of the people and the theological school in the same institution can +report barely one hundred men preparing to care for the moral and +spiritual life of the same people, it is time to stop and consider whither +are we tending. Then at a closer glance we see something else which is +worse still. With all due respect to the men in the theological school, it +is an alarming fact that the men in the medical school, in most cases, +have a higher average in scholarship and natural force than the men in the +theological school. Why is this? It is because the training in our +colleges, the teaching from the platform, and the training in most of our +homes is such that our boys to-day are led to believe that the route to +greatest success is along the material highway. It is a current saying now +that the quickest way for a colored man of ability, at this time, to get +out of the reach of immediate want, materially, is to study medicine. +There may not be too many men entering medicine, but certainly not enough +are entering the ministry. In some cases well-meaning men have been +disgusted with certain types of ministers which they have met and have +cast the whole profession aside, giving it no respectful consideration, +and have felt that they could better themselves, socially as well as +materially, by entering some profession other than the ministry. I am well +acquainted with not a few men who entered college with the express purpose +of preparing themselves to enter the ministry, who turned aside to some +other calling for the reason mentioned. Sad to say, very few of the most +capable men in our colleges to-day are looking forward to the ministry as +a life work.</p> + +<p>In order that we may cope with such conditions as those just mentioned, +none can gainsay the great need of greater efficiency in the ministry, +that we do not cut the tap-root of all our progress and become of none +effect in the world. The wisest leaders of Japan to-day are deeply +concerned about the propagation of Christian principles among the people. +The recent past has changed a nation in a day, and while the people have +taken on the ways of western civilization, the larger number of them have +not accepted the principles which have made western civilization great, +and these far-seeing prophets of the Sunrise kingdom well understand that +their glory will be ephemeral unless they are able to plant their feet +firmly upon the eternal Rock of Ages. As lightly as it may be regarded, +there is a similar danger confronting the rising young race of colored men +in this land. It is not reassuring that our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> strongest men, who are able +to make their way through northern universities, have in some cases come +out of these institutions with a shattered faith and are not found in +places of leadership either as ministers or laymen, in our churches and +other religious institutions. A man cannot excuse himself by saying that +he spends his time during the week in the schoolroom, in the law office, +or in the sickroom. The great men of the world and the great races and +nations of the world have done all these things but did not leave the +other undone. To meet this condition a larger number of efficient men must +be led into the ministry.</p> + +<p>In order that the supply may be commensurate with the demand, it is +necessary to ask the question where and how shall we begin to meet the +demand for an increased efficiency in the ministry? First, with Christian +parents. It is interesting to note that Paul, in his second letter to his +beloved son, Timothy, 1st chapter, 5th verse, makes use of these words: +“When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which +dwelt first in thy grandmother, Lois, and thy mother, Eunice, and I am +persuaded that in thee also,” and he thus shows his belief in spiritual +heredity.</p> + +<p>The foregoing passage teaches that we must not shut our eyes to the +responsibility of Christian parents in this matter. Many of the great +preachers of the world were consecrated to this service by godly mothers, +in some cases before they were born, even as Hannah, Samuel’s mother, +consecrated him to the Lord before his birth.</p> + +<p>Forty years ago, it was a passion with many Christian parents to have at +least one son enter the ministry, and yet I am sorry to say to-day I have +many, many times made inquiry of ministers’ sons and have found very few +of them who were willing to give even a respectful hearing to the claim of +the ministry and few parents of such sons who seemed concerned about the +matter.</p> + +<p>The first remedy is to go back to first principles and let the people who +claim to love the Lord and His Christ be willing to make an offering of +the very flower of their families to this, the highest and noblest service +ever given to man to perform.</p> + +<p>Then our various churches must take a larger interest in leading the most +promising young men into this great service. Some churches have done nobly +at this and have stood by their spiritual sons by furnishing the means by +which they might attend college and fit themselves for service, and have +taken peculiar interest and pride in seeing them return to the mother +church and in listening to them, and in bidding them God speed; but most +of our churches, though able, have paid hardly any attention to this +important phase of service at all, and many of our churches cannot mention +a single successful minister who commands the respect of any large +community because of his ability and power, which they have sent out. On +the other hand, many times men are allowed to come into the ministry +through our churches who are always calculated to do more injury than +good,—men with no preparation and no chance of getting proper training.</p> + +<p>God never calls a man to preach unless He also provides the way for him to +make due preparation for that service. This is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> principle which cannot +successfully be disputed. When God called Moses He led him out of the land +of Egypt, and he spent years and years communing with God under the canopy +of heaven; and Paul spent three years somewhere in preparation for his +great work, and even the Father’s own Son for thirty years was in +preparation to do three years’ work.</p> + +<p>It is a harmful thing to have a church full of inefficient, licensed +preachers with no hope of ever entering actively into the ministry, but in +most cases are just a worry of the flesh to a progressive pastor. When a +man comes before a board for a license he ought to be given to understand +that this license will be granted only on condition that he prepare +himself intellectually as well as spiritually for the great work of the +ministry, and when prepared that he will enter into the field which is +white and ready and waiting for the reaper.</p> + +<p>Possibly the Church has no larger opportunity for advancing the Lord’s +kingdom than in just this phase of service. Sometimes a narrow-minded +minister is to blame. He fails to encourage the promising young man for +fear some day he will come back as a rival too much for him. I wish it +were possible to utter these words with sufficient emphasis to arouse many +of our dormant, sleeping churches to a sense of their duty.</p> + +<p>One organization in our colleges has the largest opportunity over any +other to help furnish an increased supply from our college men, and that +is the Student Department of the Young Men’s Christian Association. +Already the leader of this Department, Mr. John R. Mott, has written a +book, “The Future Leadership of the Church,” published by the +International Committee, 124 East 28th Street, New York. In this volume +Mr. Mott takes up this whole question of the supply of leaders in our +churches. Though a layman himself, for some years, he has been lecturing +in the leading colleges of our land and calling the strong men (as only a +true leader can call men) to consider the calling of the ministry, facing +squarely all of the difficulties connected therewith, problems of faith, +problems of training, and the problem of support, which is entirely too +meagre to-day; but with a strong purpose he has been making an effort to +lead some of the best and ablest men into this, the highest of all +callings. The same thing is being done in many of our colored colleges by +our colored International Secretaries; some time during the year the claim +of the ministry is presented to the students. We feel sure that in due +time results will be seen. Capable ministers among us and college +professors also need covet the opportunity, in a larger way than they have +been doing, to appear before bodies of students, to mingle with them, to +impress them with the importance of at least considering this calling, in +order that we may get the supply which is so greatly needed.</p> + +<p>Do you wonder at my urgency when I tell you that Bishops and presiding +elders have many times sadly declared to me that few men of any class are +applying for admission to the many annual conferences, and in many cases +not a single candidate applies in a single year; and when they do, +oftentimes they are weak men. In one case eighteen men applied for +admission to an annual conference in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> a certain State and not one of them +was intellectually qualified to pursue the course of study prescribed for +the first year, and to the credit of the conference they were not +admitted. Certainly the Baptist brethren are not more blessed than their +Methodist friends. The smaller denominations are confronted with a similar +lack of men to pioneer the enterprises which are theirs to do. The +Master’s words are as true to-day as ever they were: “The harvest is +great, but the laborers are few.” The pastors of training and vision are +themselves alarmed; the best of the laity are overwhelmed with the +magnitude of their task when it is theirs to call a pastor. There was a +time when the most choice men of the race entered the ministry. No other +door was open, but to-day practically every door open to anybody else is +open to the man of ability of the Negro race. This of course depletes the +number from which the supply must come.</p> + +<p>Even in the days of slavery the great leaders on the plantations were +generally preachers, and they were in many cases feared and respected by +both white and black. If this preacher chose to be, he was a dangerous man +to the institution of slavery and ofttimes was sold. On the other hand, he +was usually the source of great blessing to large communities, so much so +that there were instances where some such men were given their freedom and +commissioned to preach from plantation to plantation, not only to colored +people, but oftentimes to white people. The story of the lives of these +men reads like romance, and they were the men at the close of the Civil +War, who were ready to welcome the school and did their best to lead the +people into the ways of true progress. They had great power and +influence,—not always sufficient intelligence for their arduous tasks, +but they were giants in their day and deserve well-merited praise. To meet +the demands of these modern times other giants must be raised up, who can +hold the respect of the best trained portion of our people, and at the +same time may maintain the confidence of the most humble of every +community. We have some men like this. They stand like giant oaks in the +forest, towering above the shrubs and undergrowth about them. They are +lonely in their work. Here and there, about the great centers of +population, there may be groups of them, but eighty per cent of our people +are not in the great centers but are scattered throughout the length and +breadth of the land in small hamlets and the country districts. These +people are too often as sheep without a shepherd. No doubt not many of the +shepherds there are doing the best they can. Give them credit for all they +do, but the demand is such that a more efficient ministry must enter into +every hamlet, and there lift and inspire the people; and possibly the +greatest thing to be done in this lifting process is to provide a more +efficient and practical training for the men we desire to lead into the +ministry. Merely to have men enter this great work without a training, +which fits them to cope with the problems of the day, is but a waste of +effort. The Negro minister ought to be the best trained man among us in +order that he may be able to assume his rightful place as a leader of the +people. The training needed for the ministry of to-day must be +comprehensive and practical. This will be the means of attracting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> men of +ability and will insure increased efficiency. The emphasis for the +training of the ministry to-day needs to be placed upon teaching; not mere +oratory, but teaching.</p> + +<p>Jesus Christ was a great teacher. Nicodemus said: “We know thou art a +teacher sent from God.” Very seldom is it said that Jesus preached, but it +is commonly said that he taught the people. The minister who is to be His +true representative on earth must also be a teacher, and it is of the +greatest importance that his training be such as shall broaden his views +of life and shall enable him to understand the relations of human society +sufficiently well to warrant his instructing the people in the most +helpful way. Unfortunately a great deal of the training of the past has +been entirely too narrow. Usually the theological seminaries have been +very slow in utilizing the most improved educational methods and have been +very active in maintaining the old order of things. What we need to-day +for our ministers is a training which will put them in possession of the +knowledge of human society just as it is. It is of the greatest importance +that a minister should be given a correct training according to the +principles of Jesus Christ to treat these conditions. The people are +waiting and hungering for this type of leader. There was never a time when +the colored people were so willing to be taught from the pulpit as they +are to-day.</p> + +<p>No ground will be gained by mere denunciation, but what is needed is a +splendid constructive method which will build the people up in every phase +of life and sweeten human relations. All the people demand of such a +teacher is that he should be as good as the doctrine he proclaims and +should fully comprehend what he is about. There certainly is no place +where larger opportunity is offered for service than in the high calling +of the ministry. The average course of study in seminaries provided for +both white and colored candidates for the ministry is not calculated to +bring them in touch with the problems which are to confront them as it +should. The following is a course of study covering three years, and a +fair sample of courses provided by seminaries established for colored +ministers:</p> + +<p>First year: Biblical Introduction; Hebrew Language; Greek Interpretation; +Sacred Rhetoric and Elocution; Vocal Music.</p> + +<p>Second year: Church History; Hebrew Interpretation; Greek Interpretation; +Sacred Rhetoric and Elocution; Vocal Music; Homiletics; Christian +Theology.</p> + +<p>Third year: Pastoral Duties; Theology and Ethics; Biblical Introduction; +Homiletics and Church Polity; Christian Theology; Sacred Rhetoric and +Elocution; Electives.</p> + +<p>There is not much in this course that inspires men with the gravity of the +problems of human society in the beginning of the twentieth century. Too +many times in our seminaries men speculate about theories of salvation and +various other things labelled doctrines, which are of little or no value +to men whose business it is to bring the kingdom of Jesus on earth as it +is in heaven. Why spend a term on the theory of salvation when Jesus said, +“He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” One man with faith in +this and a comprehensive training will do more to save the world than a +dozen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> men can possibly do battling over the theories which have grown up +with the church during the past ages. It is unfortunate that many of our +ministers have had no systematic training at all, and it is surprising +that so much has been accomplished with such poorly equipped men as many +of them have been. They are not to be too severely censured. Again I +repeat, no band of men in our race has been more self-sacrificing and more +desirous on the whole for race uplift and development than these men, and +there is no intention at this time to do anything more than to call +attention to the great need of a better trained ministry to reenforce the +present ranks in an effective way for good. It is encouraging to note a +new departure in two leading theological seminaries. Yale Divinity School +changed its course very much a year ago. It strengthened the old course, +leading to the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, known as historical, also +adding a philosophical and lastly a practical course, both of which lead +to the B.D. degree. “The practical course will emphasize the relation of +the minister to the problems of modern society, giving special attention +to Christian sociology, ethics, and methods of Christian activity. As a +preliminary discipline students who take this course will receive in the +junior year special instruction in sociology and instruction in elementary +law in one of the courses furnished by the University for law students.”</p> + +<p>The Chicago Theological Seminary has made a similar change and says in a +recent catalogue: “The subjects for instruction are those directly +relating to the work of the ministry, and courses in the English Bible, +the psychology of Christian living, religious pedagogy, evangelism, +missions, Christian sociology and citizenship are included in both the +prescribed and elective work. Hebrew and Greek have been made almost +entirely elective, and much that is traditional in systematic theology, +church history, and other departments has had to make room for new +subjects. But the seminary authorities, believing that such changes are +necessary, hold that the mere fact that a subject has a traditional place +in the curriculum of the divinity school should not be a sufficient reason +for retaining it. Each subject must continually prove anew its right to be +taught and justify itself under modern conditions.” This does not mean +less study or a less scholarly man as the finished product; but it does +mean that the seminary is to take its place along with other professional +schools in fitting men to meet present needs.</p> + +<p>The action of the above schools is most encouraging, and no doubt before a +great while many other seminaries will follow the same course. This will +do for the minister what our medical schools are doing for the physician; +it will bring him in daily contact with the conditions which he must meet +out in the world. Who would think of running a medical school without a +laboratory and a clinic? Young men might know all the books have to say +about the property of drugs or the symptoms of diseases, but such men will +be handicapped if they are to wait until they go out into actual life +before seeing these drugs tried, or the peculiar manifestation of diseases +as they make their inroads on the human system. A thorough knowledge of +sociology makes it possible for young men who are in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> our theological +seminaries to get some practical knowledge of human relations and +conditions of the present time and thereby be better able to apply the +potent Gospel as a remedy.</p> + +<p>What is needed is a greater breadth of view possessed by the leaders of +our seminaries and in many cases more practical men, such as our great and +successful preachers are, ought to be on the teaching staff rather than +some men who could not succeed in any eminent way as pastors; example has +its effect on theologies as well as medicos and the man with the green +bag. Every provision should be made for ministers to be well-equipped +teachers and leaders of the people. Such training will make our ministers +able to place the emphasis on their work where it belongs. Such men will +as carefully consider the financial strength of their people as a +physician considers the physical strength of a patient; and no more should +we see churches built which are out of all proportion to the financial +ability of the people who worship in them. We should not see a great debt +hanging over the heads of a poor people, the most of whom do not own their +own homes but live in narrow streets and alleys under very unsanitary +conditions. But we should see neat houses of worship arranged so as to +meet the needs of a given parish in its largest way and within the reach +of the people’s financial ability. Further, we should see radiating from +this center influences which will inspire people to own their own homes, +to take proper care of their children, and to realize what it means to +walk with God as men of old here on earth.</p> + +<p>This training will enable men to be brought near enough to see that it is +a waste of time merely to preach narrow denominationalism, but good men of +all denominations will unite in combatting evil and in making a given +community a desirable place for the habitation of the children of men. +Greater care will be taken of the poor and orphans and more energy will be +spent in building up the moral life of the young men and women of the +community. This will be done by these trained men who will come fully as +well equipped to discern what these problems of society are as the +physician who comes to heal our bodies and who must necessarily understand +disease and remedy. Such a minister’s thought will not be centered on +making a great name for himself at the expense of an ignorant people. It +will not matter to him whether he has the name of having built the largest +church or the finest church, or whether he has the biggest congregation in +his church, but it will be centered upon the most important thing, and +that is the establishing of the kingdom of Jesus Christ among men on +earth. His efforts will be to lift the burdens from the poor and +unfortunate and make their lives happy and sweet and pleasant. He will be +a leader in devising ways and means to get our people out of the crowded +alleys into the bright sunshine of life that they may be where their +little children may have a chance for true development. He will gather +around him a band of faithful, trained men and women, who will visit the +jail, the sick, the poor, and the oppressed. And he will call to mind the +requirements which Jesus Christ laid down for all men who wish to walk +with Jesus here and to enter with Him in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> eternal rest. “For I was +hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was +a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and +ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the +righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, and fed +thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and +took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in +prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, +Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least +of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”</p> + +<p>The above words are from the Master’s own lips and make plain and clear +the duty of the church, the duty of Christian society as well as that of +the individual. It is a clear indication that Jesus meant for his +followers to acquaint themselves thoroughly with the conditions of society +as He did himself. He was thoroughly familiar with all the evils and the +needs of humanity which surrounded Him. And His work was the healing of +every ill. Too long have men talked about the Father in such a cold, +metaphysical way as to forget their brethren who are next door to them. +Too long have men thought merely of individualistic religion. Our religion +must be more effectively social in its aim and practice. It must so act +and react on society that the whole lump will be leavened. Christianity +has done more for the world than any other religion or principle and yet +it has never been given the chance it should be given to do its complete +work among men. When you look about you and behold the suffering and +misery, the sin and shame, can you but offer a prayer that the day will +soon come when a large number of our strong men shall receive a training +for the ministry which shall fit them to battle effectively with these +great problems which confront us in this modern age? Unless it is done we +go backward. Here is the Negro’s great opportunity, viz: To let +Christianity have a chance through him. Will he lose it?</p> + +<p>The great reformers of the church have always been men of the broadest +training. Luther and Calvin were not only preachers as we think of +preachers, but also were men of splendid legal training. Dr. F. J. Grimke, +(who is highly esteemed and respected as a minister), not only is a high +honor man of the Divinity School of Princeton University, but also is a +graduate in law as well. Henry Ward Beecher, the greatest preacher America +ever produced, had a law library that any young lawyer would be glad to +have, and a medical library that would be a credit to any young physician. +There was not a phase of knowledge with which he did not have some +acquaintance. The broad training these men had gave them the mastery of +difficult problems. When we shall have a large number of thoroughly +trained men of unquestioned character whose hearts are warm with the love +of God and whose eyes behold the true condition of their people, and whose +hands shall be ready to work for the good of an inspiring race, then we +shall see the kingdom of God come among men in a larger way than it is +possible for us now even to imagine. While many have not had the privilege +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> securing the training which fits us to understand in the most +comprehensive way many of the problems which are round about us, it is +still possible for every minister to qualify himself so that he may be a +workman which needeth not to be ashamed. Unfortunately a great many of our +ministers do not do what they might. For some cause they do not purchase +books at all, or do not purchase them as wisely as they should. It is a +poor plan to spend money for books which agents carry about from place to +place. They are generally high-priced and little used after they are +bought. Find out what you ought to buy by reading reviews and by +consulting with men who certainly know. Every preacher should own, read, +and ponder the following books and extend his reading as he may see fit: +“The Social Crisis” by Rauschenbusch (published by Macmillan, New York); +“The Social Message of the Modern Pulpit” by Brown (Scribner, New York); +“The Religion of a Mature Mind” and “The Spiritual Life” by Coe (Revell, +New York); “The Psychology of Religion” by Starbuck (Scribner, New York); +“Elements of Sociology” by Giddings (Macmillan, New York); “United States +Census Bulletin No. 8” (Washington, D. C.); “Proceedings of the Religious +Education Association” (153 La Salle Street, Chicago); “Charities and +Commons” (153 East 22nd Street, New York); “U. S. Census Bulletin on +Religious Bodies.”</p> + +<p>Again: Is it too much to urge those in charge of the training of our +ministers to consider seriously the compelling need of so recasting the +course of study that a higher grade of men shall be attracted to the +ministry and that a thorough, comprehensive, yet practical, training shall +be given which shall fit men to preach the Gospel of Christ with real +meaning to men in the twentieth century? We ought to stop putting the good +new wine in old skins. The hopeful sign is that there are picked men in +seminary faculties, in the pulpit, and among laymen all over the country +who are thinking about this most important question. May these thinkers +soon crystallize their thoughts in a forceful movement which shall ever +bless the people.</p> + +<p>After many years of observation and of contact with almost every class of +men and some different races, I come to the conclusion that there is +nothing quite so interesting to the people as religion. People will go in +crowds to hear a man like Gypsy Smith talk to them about their every day +problems and will hear respectfully what Jesus Christ taught about these +problems and their relations one with the other. In no place in life does +a man of parts have so large opportunity to wield a helpful influence with +his fellowmen as in the ministry. When we can show the great army of +college men that they can be natural men, real men, with natural voice and +methods, in the ministry, when they can be made to understand that it is +the man under the garb and not the garb which designates the real minister +to men, and that they have a chance and a right to go everywhere, finding +out the conditions of society, touching it at its highest and at its +lowest level, and that they will be supported in their work, morally and +materially, there will be a larger supply than we have to-day, if not +sufficient to meet the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> demands of the times. I have not dealt in +statistics. This I leave for a future study. I have been as one crying in +the wilderness, sounding the alarm, calling attention to our most vital +need, to a problem which is worrying our best men. I plead with Christian +parents to lay their promising sons on the Master’s altar, and to the +Church and college I cry awake! and behold ruin of home and country if you +fail to lead many of the ablest and best of those under you into the +Master’s service.</p> + +<p>Can we do better than carry away with us the words of the chief Shepherd +of the sheep, the Master and Teacher of men, when he said: “Pray ye, +therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into +His harvest.”</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Demand and the Supply of Increased +Efficiency in the Negro Ministry, by Jesse E. 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