jn^v, '' A v* *i> V ^»*r ' 
 
 
 
BV 660 .W3 
 
 Webb, Robert Lee. 
 
 The ministry as a life work 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 NKW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO ■ OAIX&S 
 AIXANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO.. Limited 
 
 LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
 MELBOUKNB 
 
 IHE MACMILLAN CO. OP CANADA. Lid. 
 
 1X)KONTO 
 
THE MINISTRY AS 
 A LIFE WORK 
 
 \ 
 \ 
 
 BY 
 
 Rev. ROBERT LEE WEBB, S. T. M. 
 
 CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, 
 THE NORTHERN BAPTIST EDUCATION SOCIETY 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 1922 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 Copyright, 1922, 
 By THi: MACMILLAN COMPANY. 
 
 Set up and elect retyped. Published September, 19?2. 
 
 BROWN brotherj:, linotypers 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I. The Problem of the Ministry ... 1 
 
 II. The Discouragements to the Ministry 9 
 
 III. The Call to the Ministry ... 29 
 
 IV. The Candidate for the Ministry . 35 
 V. The Training for the Ministry . . 48 
 
 VI. The Opportunity for the Ministry . 61 
 
 VII. The Attractions of the Ministry . 73 
 
 VIII, The Rewards of the Ministry . . 82 
 
 IX. The Permanency of the Ministry . 90 
 
The Ministry As a Life Work 
 
 The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers 
 are few. — Matt. 9:37. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE PROBLEM OF THE MINISTRY 
 
 In the progress of the years the Church of 
 Christ has faced many serious problems, — prob- 
 lems that, if they had not been settled rightly, 
 would have subverted the life of the church and 
 prevented it from accomplishing the work for 
 which it was established. 
 
 No problem, however, is more potent with 
 possibilities of good or ill to both the church and 
 the world than the question now confronting it — 
 the adequate supply of well-trained ministerial 
 leaders for the pastorate and other forms of rec- 
 ognized activities in the Christian ministry. 
 
 This is not an altogether new problem in the 
 history of American life. It was prominent in 
 
 1 
 
2 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 the early part of the Nineteenth Century as the 
 tide of population swept over the Alleghanies and 
 flowed down the valley of the Mississippi and 
 its tributaries. 
 
 New settlements sprang up as by magic, and 
 churches were established everywhere, but there 
 were no men to fill their pulpits. The situation 
 at that time was serious, but it was not so acute 
 as the condition that faces the church at the pres- 
 ent hour. 
 
 We may emphasize the worth of lay leader- 
 ship In the church, and recognize the splendid 
 values of the printed page in giving the message 
 of the gospel, and yet we cannot escape the 
 conviction that the success of the church in the 
 present, and its welfare In the future, depends 
 upon the numbers and quality of its ministers. 
 The church, humanly speaking, stands or falls 
 upon Its ability to summon strong young men 
 to its special service in sufficient numbers to meet 
 its needs. 
 
 The comparative failure of the church to 
 thus command its youth at the present time 
 is apparent to everybody, and Is receiving 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 5 
 
 emphasis through current discussions in the public 
 press. 
 
 The chaos and restlessness, so marked in 
 other spheres of human society, are reflected in 
 the religious life of our times. The clanging 
 noises of the world are drowning the still small 
 voice that speaks within the soul summoning it 
 to the divine service of the ministry. The appeal 
 of physical sense threatens to submerge the 
 conscience of the nation. The seriousness of the 
 situation was not appreciated for some time, but 
 church leaders are now awakening to conditions 
 and their possible dangers. 
 
 Great city churches, equally with small country 
 parishes, are having difficulty in securing min- 
 isters, and some of them remain pastorless for 
 long periods of time. 
 
 The Interchurch Survey, made in 1920, tells 
 us that in "One denomination 3,388 congrega- 
 tions did not have regular pastoral care. In 
 another there were 994 fewer ministers than in 
 19 14. In the New England section of one 
 denomination 35 per cent, of the congregations 
 were without regular ministers in 1 915. In a 
 
4 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 denomination having 963 congregations, only 
 627 had settled pastors." 
 
 The Year Book for 1920 of one of the largest 
 denominations reported 456 men ordained and 
 450 men deceased. But this apparent gain of 
 six was changed to a large loss by the retire- 
 ments from active service ensuing from age and 
 physical disability, and above all, from the drift 
 of ministers into other occupations. 
 
 This drift, according to competent observers, 
 amounted in the church as a whole to twenty-five 
 per cent, of those ordained. 
 
 This dearth of ministers is the result of a 
 very serious shortage in the number of men who 
 are preparing themselves for such work. 
 
 At a conference of theological schools held in 
 Cambridge in 19 18, It was asserted that In 19 15 
 there were 1,000 men less preparing for the 
 ministry than in 1895. Fourteen Presbyterian 
 Seminaries reported in 1896, 960 students; In 
 19 1 6, 840 students; and in 192 1 only 639 stu- 
 dents. In 191 1 the Congregational Seminaries 
 reported 434 students and in 192 1, 483 students, 
 an apparent gain of 49. But this gain was largely 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 5 
 
 in two schools that had organized strong depart- 
 ments where large numbers of the students were 
 not preparing for the ordained ministry. The 
 other seminaries, six in number, showed a loss of 
 about 37 per cent. In 1910 nine Baptist 
 theological schools reported 1,258 students, 
 while in 1921 eleven institutions reported only 
 838 students. In 1920 twelve colleges, that 
 usually send large numbers of students into the 
 ministry, had only 27 such graduates. 
 
 Even in the pre-college age the same serious 
 lack of interest in the ministry as a life work 
 seems to exist. One secretary reports that in 
 a week's campaigning, during which he held 
 some ninety personal interviews with boys of 
 High School and Academy age, he found only 
 two boys who had definitely set their minds on 
 becoming ministers. Engineering in its various 
 forms, banking, farming, and mercantile pursuits 
 were largely in the ascendency In their appeal to 
 the boys as worthwhile occupations. 
 
 Such facts as these are simply Indicative of 
 general conditions. They suggest the seriousness 
 of the situation that confronts the church, and 
 
6 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 call for wise action upon the part of religious 
 leaders. 
 
 It is not simply a question of supplying men 
 for the forward work of the church; it is also a 
 question of maintaining the working force at Its 
 present strength and efficiency. 
 
 Sporadic efforts are being put forth to meet 
 the situation, by awakening the churches to the 
 consideration of conditions and by enlisting the 
 young men and women In college and academy 
 for some form of special service. 
 
 In the Southland the attempts to meet the sit- 
 uation have been comparatively successful and 
 promising reports are heard from other sections. 
 It should be noted, however, that these gains are 
 more apparent than real, for large numbers of 
 the new ministerial students in the colleges and 
 theological schools are ordained men, already 
 listed in denominational Year Books as ministers 
 and pastors. They do not represent new acces- 
 sions to the profession or prospective candidates. 
 
 Moreover, while these efforts to enlist stu- 
 dents for the ministry have their value and are 
 necessary, we must remember that there is a vast 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 7 
 
 difference between a lad In the academy or 
 college, promising to go where the Master wants 
 him to go, to enter the ministr}' if God reveals 
 it to him as duty, and actually entering the mln- 
 ist^r^ It is a far cry from high school or 
 freshman year in college to the ordaining coun- 
 cil, and many temptations must be passed before 
 the consecrating hands are laid on the head of 
 the young candidate. 
 
 We must remember, also, that enlistment cam- 
 paigns cannot produce immediate fruitage. Some 
 decisions to enter the ministry are made by 
 young men after tliey enter college, but influences 
 leading them to adopt this calling usually can be 
 traced far back of the college age. 
 
 Ideals and hopes and longings for manhood's 
 occupations begin to Influence our young people 
 in their early 'teens, A mother's prayer, a 
 father's example, the touch of some minister or 
 missionan.' who has appealed to the lad's ideal 
 of heroism, gives the initial direction to dreams 
 and aspirations. 
 
 The effective campaign, the campaign that will 
 ultimatelv give to the church the workers it 
 
8 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 needs, must go back to the home and the lower 
 grades of school. It must sound the knightly 
 call to the boys and girls and cause their hearts 
 to thrill with the longing for the ministry as 
 something worth while, something that has in it 
 the atmosphere of romance and adventure that 
 surrounded the Knights of King Arthur's Court. 
 
Consider him that hath endured such gainsaying 
 of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, 
 fainting in your souls. — Heb. 12:3. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 DISCOURAGEMENTS TO THE MINISTRY 
 
 The question Inevitably arises: — ^Why Is the 
 ministry falling to attract our choice young men, 
 why are so many ignoring this the oldest and 
 the most sacred of the professions? 
 
 Many elements enter into the problem, but 
 they range themselves under a few general 
 principles. 
 
 The first and most obvious reason Is found In 
 the economic situation. 
 
 The time has long since passed when even the 
 village parson could think himself as "passing 
 rich on forty pounds a year," or "supply his 
 simple needs" with any such stipend. The eco- 
 nomic pressure is felt In every home, and no- 
 where more than in the home of the minister. 
 His position forces him to certain high standards 
 of living and public action. Personally he may 
 be content to live in the simplest style, but his 
 
 9 
 
10 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 public position requires him to dress well, to 
 see that his wife and children are respectably 
 clothed, and to conduct his home with an air of 
 prosperity, comfort and hospitality. 
 
 Moreover, he is financially exploited for every 
 good cause, and ofttlmes the church expects his 
 name to head the list of its contributors. 
 
 Sometimes the parsonage is both the minister's 
 house and the center of the social and religious 
 activities of the parish, — a sort of community 
 house. But the minister must maintain these 
 standards and meet these requirements upon a 
 salary that averages $563 less than the minimum 
 set by investigators for the subsistence of the 
 ordinary worklngman's family. 
 
 At the present time, carpenters command $10 
 per day, shoeworkers $75 a week, and machin- 
 ists $3,000 a year. I ich compensations for 
 hand-workers may seem abnormal in contrast 
 with the salaries of brain w ^rkers, but the wages 
 of such workers will never sink to the low levels 
 of present ministerial salaries. The Interchurch 
 Survey presents some startling facts concerning 
 ministerial support. According to that survey, 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 11 
 
 of "the 170,000 clergymen in the United States 
 in 19 1 6, less than one-half of them received 
 more than $700 per year. Only 1,671 ministers, 
 or less than one per cent, had a total income 
 of $3,000 or more. Eighty-four per cent, of 
 the ministers receive less than $1,000 per 
 year." "Out of every hundred ministers only 
 one receives $4,000 or more; two receive 
 $3yOOO or more; seven receive $2,000. or 
 more; sixteen receive $1,500 or more; and 
 eighty-four receive less than $1,000. Thirteen 
 out of every hundred ministers receive less 
 than $500. 
 
 If the incomes of the laymen were propor- 
 tionate to these meagre salaries, the clergy could 
 find no fault. But in the churches themselves, 
 ofttimes we have vast disparity between the 
 physical comfort of tHe pastor and his parish- 
 ioners, the members ^^eeming to forget that the 
 spiritual leader of tfi'e flock should share in the 
 material prosperity that is given to its members. 
 God calls some men to preach and some to make 
 money, but He expects those who make money 
 to share it with those who preach. The beauties 
 
12 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 of sacrifice appear to best advantage when shared 
 alike by all God's people. 
 
 It is obvious that in an age when material 
 influences are so potent, and the very comforts 
 of life so expensive, it is unbrotherly in spirit 
 and unwise in policy to ask any class or profes- 
 sion to make the material sacrifices that are 
 required of the ministry. Such requirements will 
 inevitably react upon the personnel of the min- 
 istry and tend to drive from it the very type of 
 men most needed by the profession. 
 
 In close relation to this limitation of money 
 earning power is the limitation of the earning 
 period. The financial basis of the ministry 
 seems to be different from that of all other pro- 
 fessions. The lawyer and the physician can 
 hope not only to lay up a competence for old 
 age, but to have their earning power extend until 
 physical infirmity lays them aside. Moreover, 
 as long as their physical and mental faculties are 
 maintained, added years of age adds to their 
 supposed value to society, and increases their 
 earning power. 
 
 The minister faces absolutely different condi- 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 13 
 
 tions. He is required to spend In training for 
 his work just as many years as the lawyer or 
 physician or professor, but when they are at 
 their zenith of power and usefulness — honored 
 by reason of their experience — he finds himself 
 discounted, and pulpits closed to him by reason 
 of age. 
 
 Pension systems, nobly devised, help In some 
 measure to alleviate these conditions, but they 
 are not the real answers to this social Injustice 
 practised against the minister. Such schemes are 
 at best only salves to sore hearts and soothing 
 syrups to anxious souls. 
 
 Is it any marvel that experiencing such condi- 
 tions some excellent men lose the fine Idealism 
 that led them to enter the ministry, and either 
 become mercenary in spirit or forsake the work? 
 It is the custom to condemn the minister who 
 leaves the calling and enters business. He Is 
 often criticised both ungraciously and cruelly. 
 But such action may not be a sign of venality, 
 but an indication of mental and moral integrity 
 and high courage. No minister can maintain the 
 splendid fervor necessary for his work, or reach 
 
14 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 any high plane of success, who has lost the noble 
 idealism that enables him to esteem his work as 
 beautiful, as necessary to mankind, as given him 
 of God. 
 
 Some men, painfully conscious of this loss of 
 soul vision and Its Implications, conscientiously 
 turn from the ministry to other occupations. 
 
 A few years since, The Standard of Chicago 
 printed a letter, quoted by Dr. Robertson, from 
 a minister who was leaving the ministry, in which 
 the writer said: "I am tired; tired of being the 
 only one In the church from whom real sacrifice 
 is expected; tired of straining and tugging to get 
 Christian people to live like Christians; tired of 
 planning work for my people and then being 
 compelled to do It myself or see It left undone; 
 tired of dodging my creditors when I would not 
 need to if I had what was due me; tired of the 
 affrighting vision of a penniless old age. I am 
 not leaving Christ, I love Him. I shall still try 
 to serve Him." This may be an extreme In- 
 stance, and yet It does not stand alone. More 
 than one minister, tired of these bitter experi- 
 ences, finds It difficult to conscientiously or 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 15 
 
 joyously summon his own sons, or the sons of 
 his church, to enter the profession that leads 
 through so many Gethsemane experiences. 
 
 Moreover, choice young men looking forward 
 to life's work, inevitably consider these things as 
 factors entering into their decisions. What 
 more natural than to ask — "Why should other 
 men have so much and the minister so little? Is 
 the minister being treated fairly? Why should 
 I sacrifice the material goods of life or demand 
 such denials upon the part of my family?" The 
 truth is, every thoughtful man, whether of the 
 clergy or laity, should face the question: — "Is 
 it right to ask the minister to contribute so 
 much to the welfare of the nation and the 
 uplift of humanity; to brighten the lot of all men, 
 and yet to have for himself or his loved ones 
 no adequate share in the material benefits that 
 flow from these Improved conditions of society?" 
 
 2. The second reason that Is discouraging 
 many excellent young men is the assumption and 
 assertion that the minister has no worthy place 
 In the community; that his contribution to society 
 IS not of any great value; that his task Is not 
 
16 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 a man's sized job. This feeling, widely preva- 
 lent in certain circles of society, has been the 
 subject of discussion and re-emphasis lately in 
 some of our popular magazines. 
 
 In opening his Yale Lectures, Dr. A. J. F. 
 Behrends called attention to the effects upon the 
 individual of such suspicions concerning the 
 worthiness of his vocation, and enforced the 
 necessity of the worker maintaining the convic- 
 tion that his labor was necessary to the welfare 
 of the world. "No man can achieve solid and 
 satisfactory success in any calling, who is not 
 convinced that the services which he renders are 
 of substantial benefit to the public, and that what 
 he gives is a full equivalent for what he receives. 
 He who suspects that he is merely tolerated, or 
 that he occupies the place of a dependent, or 
 who discovers that he is retained when he has 
 ceased to supply a living demand, inevitably 
 suffers in the consciousness of manly independ- 
 ence; and where manhood shrivels, work loses 
 its dignity and power." "To this wholesome 
 law," Dr. Behrends adds, "the pulpit is no 
 exception." 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 17 
 
 The present propaganda of suggestive suspi- 
 cion and distrust concerning the ministry, has 
 resulted in just such mischievous reactions in 
 both men already in the ministry and sturdy 
 youths who have been considering it as a pos- 
 sible calling. Why enter a profession where 
 manly qualities are at discount? Why remain in 
 a calling that is not rendering worthwhile serv- 
 ice — especially when other and more essential 
 occupations yield greater rewards of material 
 good? 
 
 It is perfectly legitimate to ask the reasons 
 for the m.inister's existence in the community, to 
 question what his place is in modern life, and 
 what is his real contribution to the welfare of 
 mankind. 
 
 All trades and professions are subjects for 
 such questioning and must justify themselves to 
 society. 
 
 The danger point in such questioning of the 
 minister's task is in the character of the ques- 
 tioner. Too often, men, who by nature and 
 prejudices are unfitted to pass judgment upon the 
 higher values of life, sit in the seat of the 
 
18 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 judges. They do not understand the nature of 
 the minister's task; they cannot see or realize 
 that he is dealing with intangibles, with processes 
 and results so largely in the realm of the spir- 
 itual that their evaluation is difficult, and to the 
 man who looks for material tokens almost 
 impossible. When the carpenter builds a house, 
 or the shoemaker completes a pair of shoes, you 
 see the thing he has been doing; the finished 
 product is evident; but the minister is working 
 with minds and spirits, — he is molding char- 
 acter, and much of his work must be unseen by 
 human eyes. The passing of time, however, is 
 certain to reveal the comparative values of such 
 occupations. 
 
 The maker of sandals in ancient Capernaum 
 filled an important place, but the fame of that 
 city rests, not upon the maker of sandals, but 
 upon its association with the name of the Naz- 
 arene prophet and teacher. The tent-maker of 
 Corinth, in whose workshop Saul of Tarsus 
 earned his living, did a worthwhile work, but 
 we have forgotten his name, while his employee, 
 the preacher, proclaimed a message whose influ- 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 19 
 
 ence sapped the foundations of Imperial Rome 
 and built a new civilization. 
 
 The Great Teacher said long ago: "Man 
 shall not live by bread alone." Men must have 
 ideals, visions and hopes that they endeavor to 
 realize for themselves and in society. Character 
 is built, not of brick and stone or bread and 
 meat, but of the things we call dreams, visions 
 and ideals. Character is the fruitage of princi- 
 ples, and principles are the blossoming of dreams 
 and ideals. The foundations of a nation, the 
 structure of its society, is not laid in wealth or 
 territory, but in the character of its citizenship. 
 
 The minister's task is to give the people the 
 stuff out of which character Is formed, and to 
 guide and inspire them in the use of this char- 
 acter material. This is not a task that can be 
 esteemed lightly or measured with yardstick or 
 scales. 
 
 It Is far easier to build a cathedral, to erect 
 a factory, to lay an ocean cable, or to construct 
 a railroad, than to mold a life into a thing of 
 beauty and nobility, to regenerate the slum sec- 
 tion of a great city, or to overthrow the igno- 
 
20 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 ranee and bigotry of a false religion and substi- 
 tute in its place Christian conceptions and 
 principles. It is easier to give men jobs to earn 
 bread, than visions of God that satisfy souls, 
 and interpret for them, time and eternity. 
 But as H. G. Wells makes Mr. Brittling say: 
 "Religion is the first thing and the last thing, 
 and until a man has found God and has been 
 found by God, he begins at no beginning, he 
 works to no end. He may have his friendships, 
 his partial loyalties, his scraps of honor. But 
 all these things fall into place and life falls into 
 place only with God." 
 
 The minister's task is really the hardest task 
 given to mortal man, but it is absolutely funda- 
 mental to the perpetuity of the state and nation, 
 and to the welfare of the race. Upon the min- 
 ister's success or failure depends practically all 
 that is valuable in human society. His work 
 controls the dev^elopment of human history in its 
 noblest aspects, and his profession remains a 
 living, burning need of the race until the "king- 
 doms of this world become the kingdoms of our 
 God and His Christ." 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 21 
 
 3. A very potent influence diverting our 
 young men from the regular lines of the ministry 
 is the pressure for workers in benevolent and 
 semi-religious organizations. 
 
 In past days the young man who desired to 
 do religious work found himself limited prac- 
 tically to the pastorate of a single congregation 
 or to missionary service. But our conceptions of 
 what is religious service have been continually 
 widening, and the field of opportunity conse- 
 quently has been broadened. 
 
 Many avenues of endeavor offer outlet to the 
 instinct or desire to serve the race religiously. 
 The Young Men's Christian Association, tem- 
 perance and other reform movements, social 
 uplift societies, benevolent and charitable organ- 
 izations — all of them forms of life where val- 
 uable service to humanity may be rendered — 
 present their claims upon the life and talent of 
 the youth of this generation. And these new 
 fields usually promise two advantages over the 
 regular ministry — they offer better financial re- 
 turns, and are free from many of the limitations 
 that surround the pastor or worker attached to 
 
22 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 the church organization. The call for competent 
 workers in these fields is just as great as the call 
 for men in the regular ministry, and it is not 
 surprising that many choice young men choose 
 such forms of service. As one stalwart youth 
 said to his minister father who was pleading 
 with him to enter the ministry: "I am doing 
 religious service. I am helping to bring in God's 
 kingdom through the organization with which I 
 am working, and at the same time I am getting 
 three times the salary that you have received. 
 Why should I give up the comparative freedom 
 of my place and its comfortable income for the 
 meagre salary and limitations of a church 
 pastorate." 
 
 Of course, the young men who argue thus fail 
 to see that these organizations outside of the 
 church have no future apart from the church; 
 that their continuance is dependent upon the 
 favor and support of the church, and that they 
 can offer careers for men only as the church 
 gives them of its comfort and assistance. Roger 
 W. Babson, in his book, "Religion and Busi- 
 ness," asserts that "religion is the greatest unde- 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 23 
 
 veloped resource of America to-day." But this 
 resource that means so much to the nation and 
 the world will not be tapped by seml-rellglous 
 organizations or Independent prospectors. The 
 church, with its complex and far-reaching organ- 
 ization, its heritage of tradition, and Its centuries 
 of capitalized life and devotion, is the only insti- 
 tution that can successfully make available for 
 the state and society this mighty resource of 
 religion. 
 
 4. A very obvious reason for the failure of 
 our young people to consider the ministry seri- 
 ously lies in the attitude of the church. For a 
 long time the churches have neglected to empha- 
 size the ministry as a divine calling, to pray for 
 the young men to give their lives to it, and tp 
 hold it up to the young people as the great thing 
 to be desired. 
 
 Prayer services are seldom devoted to consid- 
 eration of the claims of the ministry upon the 
 church and its young people; and ministers are 
 singularly reticent about presenting the matter In 
 the pulpit. 
 
 Several years since, a general secretary put the 
 
24 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 question before a series of church associations 
 representing over three hundred churches, and to 
 his surprise only one per cent, of the churches 
 had given any consideration to the matter at 
 prayer meeting or stated service within a year, 
 while representatives of scores of churches could 
 not remember any public presentation to their 
 membership of the work of the ministry and its 
 claims upon the young life of the church. 
 
 A few generations ago It was not unusual for 
 parents to dedicate their new-born sons to this 
 holy work; and when those sons, grown to man- 
 hood, adopted the profession, to rejoice in their 
 boy's choice as the greatest reward that could 
 come to their faith. But these new days have 
 brought a totally different attitude. Many par- 
 ents seem to regard it as a misfortune when 
 their boys want to enter the ministry; and some, 
 when they see signs of interest in the profession 
 upon the part of their sons, deliberately seek to 
 divert the mind to other trades and professions. 
 Perhaps the prevalent critical attitude toward 
 the minister has influenced some of these parents, 
 and certainly It has had a chilling effect upon 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 25 
 
 the enthusiasm and devotion of some of the 
 young people. 
 
 Apparently everybody in the church under- 
 stands how to run the church better than the 
 minister, and does not hesitate to let him know 
 it. Every member, and many who are not mem- 
 bers, feel perfectly competent to instruct the 
 minister in theology, biblical interpretation and 
 other religious subjects. The physician or the 
 lawyer or the engineer is supposed to know his 
 profession better than the layman, but everybody 
 feels abundantly able to pass judgment upon the 
 minister's work, and to teach him the principles 
 of his profession. 
 
 Is it any marvel that high-strung young men 
 resent this attitude and decline to enter a pro- 
 fession where it is possible for them to be sub- 
 jected to such humiliations? 
 
 The red-blooded young man does not want to 
 be glorified because of his profession, but he 
 does want to feel that his work is worth while, 
 that the church at least respects his leadership 
 and service. 
 
 The church must catch a new vision of its 
 
26 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 ministry, place it in a nobler position of honor, 
 and give, to those who adopt it as a profession, 
 the respect and attention given to other pro- 
 fessions. 
 
 The economic situation, the critical attitude 
 concerning the worthiness of the minister's con- 
 tribution to society, the demand for workers in 
 other related occupations, and the apparent 
 unconcern of the church are all evident reasons 
 for the decline In the ministry and its failing 
 appeal to our young men; but they are not final 
 causes. 
 
 The ultimate reasons lie deep in the spirit of 
 man, in the pervading atmosphere of the age, 
 and in the very nature of the call to the min- 
 istry and the minister's work. 
 
 Two things must be remembered. During the 
 last fifty years we have been passing through a 
 tremendous intellectual revolution. Philosophy, 
 history, pedagogy, and theology have all been 
 influenced by the discoveries in biology and other 
 physical sciences. The intellectual attitude for a 
 generation has been that of questioning. The 
 bases of religious faith have therefore come 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 27 
 
 under the microscope of investigation and rea- 
 son. This attitude carried into the classroom 
 of our schools and applied to religious questions 
 without tact or discrimination, has undoubtedly 
 had its harmful reactions upon the young men. 
 The atmosphere of doubt and questioning is not 
 the atmosphere in which preachers are bom and 
 reared. 
 
 It should be noted, also, that lately the spir- 
 itual life of the churches of our land has not 
 been of the type to emphasize the call to the 
 ministry. We have had sporadic revivals in 
 various sections, and a certain kind of ethical 
 quickening that has made us more responsive to 
 social problems and to the appeals of human 
 suffering, but we have not had any great awaken- 
 ing of the spiritual conscience of the nation such 
 as would make our youth feel the divine neces- 
 sity of preaching the gospel. 
 
 The call to the ministry Is born Into the soul 
 on the swelling tide of the spiritual experience 
 of eternal things, and we have had few such 
 tides sweeping over our land in the last half 
 century. 
 
28 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 The young men and women of the present are 
 just as earnest and sincere, just as willing to 
 sacrifice for noble principles and ideals as the 
 young people of the past. They will gladly 
 ignore material benefits and turn from worldly 
 honors if they can be shown the real heroism of 
 the ministry; the knightliness of its work; the 
 worthiness of its achievements. They will gladly 
 cry: "Here we are, send us into service," when 
 the church experiences the spiritual awakening 
 for which so many of the "elect of God" are 
 hoping, praying and laboring. 
 
 In the last analysis the solution of the prob- 
 lem lies in the spiritual atmosphere of the church 
 of God. The supreme duty of the church to-day 
 is to secure such an atmosphere of religious 
 fervor, such a consciousness of the realities of 
 religious life, that it becomes natural for its 
 young men to consider the work of the ministry 
 as the choice occupation, the profession in which 
 they may secure the greatest satisfactions and 
 the largest usefulness possible to mortal man. 
 
Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers 
 of men. — Matt. 4:19. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY 
 
 It is inevitable that the prevailing spirit of 
 our times, that is confessedly material and prac- 
 tical, should influence the young men and women 
 in their ideals and personal spirit, and to a cer- 
 tain extent determine their choices of life occupa- 
 tions. The individual spirit reacts to the larger 
 class or age spirit, and it requires hardy souls, 
 souls of unusual strength, to resist the prevalent 
 spirit of their times. Moreover, much of the 
 evil is clothed with a sweet persuasiveness that 
 charms the unsuspecting and leads astray even 
 the elect. 
 
 The spirit of the times is even reflected in the 
 motives that are presented to our young people 
 for entering the ministry. To be effective, the 
 motive for entering the ministry must be strong 
 enough both to influence the decision in the begin- 
 ning, and to hold the will and purpose afterward 
 — to keep the soul in the day when the tempta- 
 
 29 
 
30 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 tions of ease or pleasure are met, or hardship 
 must be endured either In the minister's own per- 
 son or In the persons of those In his household 
 whom he should love better than his own life. 
 
 An examination of the motives presented to 
 our young people reveals the fact that for some 
 little time the appeals have been based some- 
 what largely on altruistic motives. We have 
 been saying to our young men: "Go into the 
 ministry or some form of religious service 
 because the world needs you so sorely; its heart- 
 aches must be assuaged; its wounds of body and 
 mind must be healed; the wrongs righted and 
 the darkness driven out," or we have placed the 
 emphasis upon the other aspect and said: "In 
 such service you can make your life count for the 
 most, you can aid best in meeting the needs of 
 the race, in building up a new civilization." 
 
 These things are true, the world does need 
 builders of its moral and religious life more than 
 anything else ; It does need men who have caught 
 the vision of service and are willing to minister 
 to its necessities; It Is true that no profession 
 offers a wider field of usefulness than the min- 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 31 
 
 istry with its manifold forms of service; but 
 these are not the ultimates in the call to the min- 
 istry. We need something deeper than these 
 things, something upon which these motives may 
 rest, if the ministry is to have its rightful appeal 
 and rightful place in the thought of the church 
 and the ideals of our young men. 
 
 The simply altruistic motives lose their fresh- 
 ness of appeal after a time; they fail to sustain 
 the minister's courage when his wife and chil- 
 dren are suffering for the common things that 
 give pleasure to life; and they do not furnish 
 companionship and solace for the soul in the 
 loneliness of the strange land. 
 
 The work of the minister and missionary is of 
 such character, and makes such drafts upon the 
 soul, that deep in the heart must be the con- 
 sciousness of an overmastering call; the imperial 
 power of an "I ought," the conviction — "Woe is 
 me if I preach not the gospel." The young man 
 of today may not have the wonderful vision 
 such as summoned Isaiah to service; nor with 
 Ezekiel hear the voice saying: "Before thou 
 camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee"; 
 
32 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 nor yet In trance-like state hear with Paul the 
 message : "Depart, for I will send thee far hence 
 to the Gentiles." Such special forms of calls are 
 given to men who have special missions, but they 
 do suggest the norm of conviction that must 
 enter the soul. The ministry must be, not of 
 man's choosing but God's calling, and the man 
 who elects It must feel the burning of the mes- 
 sage In his soul. 
 
 The man who has such a conviction will not 
 be thwarted by difficulties nor turned aside by 
 temptations. The divine "I must" will drive 
 him on to labor and sacrifice and service. 
 
 At first thought It may seem that to emphasize 
 this aspect of the call would deplete the ranks 
 of the ministry, or at least prevent some young 
 men from enlisting. Of course, one man divinely 
 driven Into the ministry is worth more than a 
 multitude who select it without this overmaster- 
 ing compulsion. 
 
 Perhaps, however, the insistence upon this 
 form of call would really direct attention to the 
 ministry. Make men think, and thought will 
 lead to conviction and conviction to action. 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 33 
 
 This was in the mind of Jesus when he said: 
 "He that loveth father or mother more than me 
 is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or 
 daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 
 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth 
 after me, is not worthy of me." 
 
 It is apparent that the key to the unrest in the 
 younger ministers, and the secret reason that so 
 many students lose their interest and drift away 
 from their purpose of entering the ministry, may 
 be found in the motives that are being pre- 
 sented to them. Men will endure sacrifice and 
 suffering if the motive is potent. If the objective 
 seems worth while. This is true in every realm 
 of life. Peary was willing to endure indescrib- 
 able agony and privation for the honor of being 
 the first man to reach the North Pole. Marcus 
 Whitman gladly braved dangers and toils that he 
 might save the Northwest Territory for his coun- 
 try. The youth of America have never hesi- 
 tated to offer themselves for service when they 
 felt that the country needed them. The suffi- 
 cient motive has never failed to evoke the suffi- 
 cient response. 
 
34 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 The young men and women of the churches 
 are not different from the rest of their age. 
 They will not shrink from the sacrifice and hard- 
 ships of the ministry if the sufficient motive of a 
 worthy service to which they are divinely called 
 is presented to them. The church does not need 
 to reject the motives it has been presenting, but 
 to revise Its points of emphasis; to visualize 
 anew the things that have been growing dim in 
 its thought and ideal, and to stress the divine, 
 the holy nature of the call. 
 
 Modern China stretching out Its famine stricken 
 arms to America, or oppressed Armenia blindly 
 reaching forth her shackled hands, may become 
 the "Macedonian Vision" through which God 
 speaks to the young men and women of today. 
 
 The human cry of need may move the heart 
 and become the messenger of divine impressment 
 — the voice of the passing Christ calling: "Fol- 
 low me, and I will make you fishers of men." 
 
If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desir- 
 eth a good work. — 1 Tim. 3 :1. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE CANDIDATE FOR THE MINISTRY 
 
 It is evident, even to the casual observer, that 
 many men and women have not chosen wisely 
 the occupations or professions in which they are 
 engaged. What may be termed misfits are found 
 in every occupation, — ^lawyers who ought to be 
 farmers, merchants who should be artisans, arti- 
 sans who should be captains of industry, teachers 
 who ought to be anything other than what they 
 are trying to be, men and women in every trade 
 and profession who seem to be poorly fitted for 
 efficient service in the occupation in which they are 
 engaged. 
 
 The ministry is no exception to this statement, 
 for it has its misfits, men who are palpably 
 unfitted to do their best in the work they are 
 striving to do. 
 
 Many times these men are choice souls with 
 holy desire to serve God; but some physical de- 
 fect, some deficiency in education or culture, some 
 
 35 
 
36 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 tendency to mental aberration or astigmatism, 
 handicaps them in the race for success. 
 
 These seemingly unfit men are not always 
 wholly at fault in their choice of the ministry. 
 Sometimes others are blameworthy — an over- 
 zealous mother, an unwise pastor, or unthinking 
 friends have crowded them into the selection of 
 the ministry as their life-work. 
 
 Sometimes these men are conscious of their 
 limitations, but conditions are such that they 
 cannot enter some other calling or they have 
 not quite the courage to acknowledge their 
 mistake and begin over again the work of 
 life. 
 
 The struggles of such men arc ofttimes 
 pathetic as they strive to be faithful to tasks 
 that are distasteful. 
 
 It is true that God has used some strange 
 agents for the glory of his kingdom, servants 
 whose adaptability for their work the world 
 would have seriously questioned. We would not 
 dare to interfere with the calling of men by the 
 Holy Spirit, but it is not fair to our young peo- 
 ple, nor to the church, to fail in frankness in 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 37 
 
 advising with young men who are considering the 
 ministry as a profession. 
 
 The work of the ministry is too serious, and 
 the demands upon the modern minister are too 
 exacting for any young man to enter the work 
 without facing squarely its exactions, limitations 
 and requisites to success. 
 
 One of the fundamental questions for the can- 
 didate is the question of personal health. The 
 young man should ask himself, "Am I physi- 
 cally adapted to the exacting duties of the 
 ministry?" 
 
 We have often been reminded that "The body 
 is not the measure of the soul," and yet as Dr. 
 Behrends tells us, "Preaching is always an ath- 
 letic contest, a close grappling and serious 
 wrestle, and whether the result shall be conquest, 
 or defeat, or a drawn battle, will depend upon 
 the perfect command the preacher has of his 
 thoughts and himself." 
 
 Under the Jewish dispensation, the priest who 
 served in the temple was supposed to be without 
 blemish, physically. The New Testament does 
 not insist upon that canon of perfection for the 
 
38 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 Christian minister, and many noble and fruitful 
 workers have been handicapped in some way. 
 Robert Hall, the supreme master of pulpit style 
 and eloquence; George Matheson, the blind poet 
 whose pathetic hymns have voiced the yearnings 
 of many hearts; Horace Bushnell, the prophet of 
 a new era in theology in New England; the 
 Apostle Paul himself, these, and scores of others 
 like them, have wrought nobly and "worked 
 righteousness" notwithstanding their physical dis- 
 abilities. 
 
 But to-day the anemic, the frail framed ascetic, 
 the man of weak, nervous vitality finds himself 
 under an avalanche of demands that physical 
 strength will not permit him to meet. 
 
 The minister is no longer the "quiet student 
 of past days"; he is a man of affairs, with a 
 multitude of interests demanding his time and 
 tapping his reservoirs of nervous energy. The 
 modern minister must keep fit physically or he 
 cannot meet the conditions of this strenuous age. 
 Possibly the ideal of the present time is not the 
 best, and its requirements may not be of the 
 highest, but we face facts not theories, and are 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 39 
 
 considering conditions as they must be met in this 
 twentieth century. 
 
 It would seem not to be necessary to suggest 
 that men with serious imperfections in the organs 
 of speech, or conspicuous and unsightly blem- 
 ishes in physical appearance, should weigh care- 
 fully such handicaps; but unfortunately, friends 
 are not always frank, and ofttimes we do not 
 "see ourselves as others see us." More than 
 one man suffering from serious physical defects 
 has spent years in preparation for the ministry 
 only to awaken to the bitter consciousness that 
 some one was not frank and friendly and chris- 
 tian in advising him. 
 
 The second canon that should be observed 
 concerns the intellectual power; the minister 
 should not be, mentally, either indolent or 
 erratic. 
 
 The drudgery of the study is irksome to many 
 men, especially to men of brilliant parts who 
 have a gift for language. As the result, words 
 take the place of ideas, and nicely turned phrases 
 the place of golden nuggets of truth. It wasi 
 jokingly said of one brilliant man that "he was 
 
40 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 so indolent that he had not conceived a new idea 
 since he left the seminary." 
 
 But genius is not the substitute for labor. 
 Only the sweat of the brain will keep the mind 
 fresh and furnish a message for the world. God 
 inspires men to preach, but he inspires them 
 through their toils. The great minister must 
 be a great worker or his greatness soon departs. 
 
 But neither genius nor labor are substitutes 
 for mental poise — for the power to hold in right 
 relationships the principles, the truths, and the 
 ideals of revelation. 
 
 It is undeniable that God has sometimes used 
 men of erratic tendencies for the good of the 
 race, but, from the Apostolic days to the pres- 
 ent hour, the Church of Christ has suffered from 
 the unbalanced mentality of leaders who have 
 over-emphasized particular phases of truth and 
 doctrine. 
 
 The history of the church may be written from 
 the story of its struggles with these honest but 
 mentally astigmatised followers. The Apostle 
 Paul, who had suffered acutely from these per- 
 verted thinkers, was thinking of these things 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 41 
 
 when he wrote to Timothy : "God hath not given 
 us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, 
 and of a sound mind. Hold fast the form of 
 sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in 
 faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." 
 
 This soundness of mind, this sanity and poise 
 of mental life is a gift to be both coveted and 
 courted by all, and especially by the minister. 
 Situations are arising continually, both in per- 
 sonal life and public relationships, that require 
 clear thinking and sound judgment on the part 
 of the minister. The present world crisis stresses 
 this requirement. It is so easy to permit the 
 passions and prejudices engendered by the world 
 war to influence the judgment or lead to the mis- 
 reading of the providence of God in his dealing 
 with the nation; or to confuse the desires of our 
 hearts with the clear utterances of revelation. 
 Sanity in thought, balance in judgment, sound- 
 ness of mind has been one of the needs of the 
 ministry in all ages, and it is especially needed 
 in this hour when the world is in chaos, and so 
 many of the nations seem to be passing through 
 the Garden of Sorrows. Everywhere prophets 
 
42 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 are proclaiming their ability to lead the world 
 out of its darkness. The world sadly needs 
 clear heads, and reasoned faith in its leaders. 
 
 Is It unfair for the Church to require such san- 
 ity and wholesome mentality of the men whom 
 It calls into service as teachers and leaders? 
 When so much importance attaches to this char- 
 acteristic, when the peace and success of the 
 church is determined by it, and the happiness and 
 usefulness of the worker is dependent upon it, 
 reason demands that the church examine care- 
 fully the Intellectual fitness of those who apply 
 for induction into its official leadership. 
 
 The ministry was not established to give cre- 
 dentials to every man who thinks himself called 
 to deliver a message, but to supply for the 
 church a leadership sound minded, godly lived 
 and "thoroughly furnished unto all good 
 works." 
 
 The third canon to be observed pertains to 
 the spiritual life — the susceptibility to spiritual 
 forces, the aptitudes of the soul. As the artist 
 is supposed to have some sense of form and 
 color, and the poet an ear for words and 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 43 
 
 rhythm, so the minister is presumed to possess a 
 spirit that reacts to spiritual impulses and ideals. 
 And this presumption is justified, even though in 
 some particular cases it may not seem to be 
 founded on facts. 
 
 The minister has become a man of all work — 
 a business manager, a social organizer, a director 
 of benevolent activities, a functionary of diverse 
 and many times unrelated causes, but these 
 things are not vital to his work. They are inter- 
 esting and valuable, but they are the accidents 
 of his occupation, the parasites that attach 
 themselves to his oifice through the conditions 
 of the times. 
 
 His one supreme business is to minister to the 
 spiritual life of the race, to keep the soul of man 
 "on top"; and all other things must be subjected 
 to this objective. 
 
 But he can do this only as his own soul main- 
 tains its supremacy over the temporal and ma- 
 terial. He must think in the realm of the spirit, 
 speak the language of the spirit, and act in har- 
 mony with spiritual motives and ideals. This 
 means in the last analysis to make spirituality as 
 
44 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 much as possible "a fixed mental and moral 
 habit." 
 
 Of course this is a difficult task, and such an 
 attitude of mind and heart can be attained and 
 maintained only through patient cultivation and 
 experimentation. The initial impulse comes 
 through the action of the Holy Spirit upon the 
 heart, but the continuance of that impulse, the 
 changing of the impulse to a habit, depends 
 largely upon the man himself. It is for him to 
 spiritualize his thinking, feeling, and acting until 
 such condition becomes the norm of his life and 
 he "walks in the Spirit." 
 
 This is the reason back of Paul's words to the 
 Philippians : "Whatsoever things are true, what- 
 soever things are honorable, whatsoever things 
 are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever 
 things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good 
 report: if there be any virtue, and if there be any 
 praise think on these things." Spiritual powers 
 and attainments are achieved only through care- 
 ful attention to the things through which God 
 reveals himself to us, and devotion to the realm 
 of the spirit. 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 45 
 
 But no man will give habitual attention to the 
 media of fellowship with the Eternal, and cer- 
 tainly he will find no joy in such attention, if he 
 has not a certain aptitude for spiritual things, a 
 receptivity to spiritual truth and ideals. 
 
 All men possess a little of this aptitude, but 
 the minister must possess it in large measure, or 
 the formulas of the church become dry and 
 meaningless; the tasks of the ministry, so often 
 small in themselves, become drudgery; and the 
 hopes of Christian faith lose their power to in- 
 spire and compel zeal and devotion. 
 
 God may use, sometimes, an unspirltual man 
 to bring spiritual things to pass, but that is not 
 his usual way of working. God follows the gen- 
 eral law of his universe. Like begets like. 
 Every seed after its kind. This Is the law of 
 the spiritual world just as truly as it is the law 
 of the physical life. 
 
 Young men looking forward to the ministry, 
 and those seeking to influence our youth for this 
 profession, might well ponder this canon of spir- 
 ituality. It may serve as the determining factor 
 in influencing the choice, and either save the 
 
46 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 life from disappointment or lead to joyous 
 service, 
 
 God wants his people to be happy and to find 
 satisfaction in the tasks of life. Only the joyous 
 worker attains the highest usefulness, and the 
 joyous worker is the man whose free spirit and 
 service moves along the line of God given apti- 
 tudes and powers. 
 
 Dr. Elijah Brown of Ram's Horn fame put 
 the matter in Ram's Horn style when he said: 
 
 "Unless a man's born with preach in him I 
 don't believe he can ever get it there. I hold 
 these truths to be self-evident. That God settles 
 some things for eternity before the foundations 
 of the world were laid, and one of them is that 
 a man with no music in his soul can never be- 
 come a Paderewski, and another is that the 
 preacher must be born with his preach in him or 
 no theological institution can ever put it there." 
 
 It must ever be true that preachers are born 
 of God, and not made by man. God must en- 
 dow them with the powers and capacities of 
 body, mind, and soul that destines them for his 
 special service, Man's task Is to discover these 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 47 
 
 potential personalities, aid them to find them- 
 selves, and then encourage and direct them in 
 training for the service to which they are 
 called. 
 
Refuse profane and old wives fables. And exer- 
 cise thyself unto godliness. Neglect not the good 
 gift that is in thee. — 1 Tim. 4:7, 14. 
 
 CRAPTER V 
 
 THE TRAINING OF THE MINISTRY 
 
 John Harvard endowed Harvard University, 
 the first college in America, because he feared 
 that "an illiterate ministry to the churches might 
 arise when our present ministers shall lie in the 
 dust." That fear has been In the minds of the 
 leaders of the church for generations and out 
 of it has come many of those self-sacrificing gifts 
 that established most of our academies and col- 
 leges and all of our seminaries. 
 
 Unfortunately, all members of the churches 
 have not seen with the clear-eyed vision of these 
 founders of our schools. Many of the fathers 
 believed that if God called a man to preach it 
 was his duty to preach, Irrespective of training 
 or educational equipment. In fact some of them 
 thought that education was a hindrance, that It 
 fettered the free movement of the Spirit. Prac- 
 tically applied, this sentiment resulted in forcing 
 
 48 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 49 
 
 into the ministry many ignorant and uncouth 
 men, men whose ignorance was so palpable and 
 whose messages and manners were so grotesque 
 that their audiences were repelled rather than 
 attracted. 
 
 God has used most marvellously some men 
 who have not been trained in the schools. We 
 have abundant reason to venerate such names 
 as John Bunyan, Andrew Fuller and Dwight L. 
 Moody — men who by their piety, energy, com- 
 mon sense and eloquence, have wrought splen- 
 didly for the truth. But the usefulness of these 
 remarkable men does not argue against the need of 
 other men obtaining a thorough scholastic prepara- 
 tion. Such men succeeded in spite of their handi- 
 caps of poor preparation, not because of them. 
 
 We must also recognize the fact that the pro- 
 portion of such leadership has been small, and 
 the strength of the church has been conserved 
 and increased largely by the trained leadership 
 of such educated men as Paul and Augustine, 
 Chrysostom and John Wickliffe, John Huss and 
 Calvin, Edwards, and Beecher and Brooks and 
 Broadus. 
 
50 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 Even the Apostolic Band, so often referred to 
 as consisting of "unlearned and ignorant men," 
 was highly trained, for its members had three 
 years of training under the greatest teacher the 
 world has ever seen. And after that marvelous 
 intellectual and spiritual privilege, they were not 
 permitted to enter on their work until they had 
 received the special gift of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The desirability of thorough training for the 
 men who enter the ministry hardly seems debat- 
 able, and yet, the decline in the number of stu- 
 dents in the standard seminaries, the multiplica- 
 tion of training schools offering short cut courses, 
 and the large numbers of unschooled men pre- 
 senting themselves for ordination have forced the 
 question to the front. 
 
 Is it wise or necessary to train thoroughly can- 
 didates for the ministry? Must the young man 
 undergo a long period of discipline and study? 
 Will not the God who calls him give him the 
 understanding and the power to deliver the 
 message? 
 
 The temptation to make it easy for the young 
 men to enter the work is evident. Some high 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 51 
 
 class institutions have felt the pull of this senti- 
 ment and lowered their requirements or estab- 
 lished departments that meet the needs of students 
 without classical culture. 
 
 The men themselves naturally desire to enter 
 upon their careers as soon as possible, and minis- 
 terial students are not all immune to the germ of 
 indolence. 
 
 The average ministerial student is earnest and 
 devoted, but the short course, the easy course, has 
 many attractions, as is evidenced by the numbers 
 pursuing their studies at short course institutions 
 or selecting easy subjects In those institutions 
 where they have large opportunities for elective 
 topics. The elective system has done much to 
 emancipate the individual, to develop genius and 
 talent, and to give color and interest to modern 
 education, but it has its weaknesses, and its privi- 
 leges are often abused. Shortcomings in educa- 
 tional equipment may be overcome by diligence, 
 but they take heavy toll from the minister's nerve 
 power. 
 
 Greek and Hebrew may not be necessary from 
 our modern viewpoint, but it does seem fitting 
 
52 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 that the man who is to deliver the message of the 
 gospel should have at least a working knowledge 
 of the wonderful language in which that gospel 
 was given to the world. The man unacquainted 
 with Greek is shut out from the beauties and spir- 
 itual suggestions conveyed only through that 
 matchless language. Such a man can never be an 
 independent investigator of the truth, for he must 
 ever be subservient to the judgment and scholar- 
 ship of other men. 
 
 Moreover, the minister needs the intellectual 
 training that come from stiff courses of study, 
 especially in the realm of language. He needs 
 an education that will give a certain hardness to 
 his intellectual and moral fibre; a power to face 
 hard questions, to think them through to satisfy- 
 ing conclusions both for himself and the cultured 
 men and women of his congregation. 
 
 Other professions are steadily increasing their 
 educational demands upon their members, and the 
 ministry cannot afford to fall behind in the char- 
 acter and equipment of its members. 
 
 Remembering the exacting conditions of our 
 times, the many problems that demand wide 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 53 
 
 observation, breadth of knowledge and culture, 
 and clear, accurate thinking; remembering the 
 increase of general education whereby college- 
 bred men and women are found in every congre- 
 gation; remembering the glorious greatness of the 
 gospel message, we can hardly over-emphasize 
 the need of adequate preparation for the men 
 who are to become "stewards of the word of 
 God." 
 
 It is manifest that no man with a just concep- 
 tion of the ministerial office would desire to take 
 upon himself the responsibilities and privileges of 
 the profession without obtaining the best training 
 possible for him under the circumstances of his 
 lot. The work is too vital, too holy, too far- 
 reaching in its effects, too Christ-like, for any 
 human being to enter into it thoughtlessly or to 
 give to it anything less than the best of himself, 
 the highest powers of his body, mind, and spirit. 
 
 The ideal preparation is undoubtedly a full 
 college and seminary course, including at least one 
 of the languages in which the scriptures were 
 written. 
 
 Some years ago in discussing the "Preparation 
 
54 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 for the Ministry," President Alvah Hovey of 
 Newton Theological Institution affirmed: "Those 
 who have thoroughly studied the Word of God 
 and the history of his people ; who have exercised 
 their mental faculties and learned how to lead 
 other minds by a straight line into the very center 
 and heart of religious truth; who have endured 
 the rigors of an intellectual and moral probation 
 before taking the full responsibility of 'stewards 
 of the mysteries of God'; those, in a word, who, 
 at the Master's call, have deliberately prepared 
 themselves in young manhood for the holy office 
 of the Christian ministry, and have then gone 
 forth to spend the best of their days In that serv- 
 ice, — have labored with a success In proportion 
 to their fitness to do the work of their calling, 
 and have achieved results more desirable and 
 permanent than have others of equal native abil- 
 ity and equal devotion to the cause." 
 
 This statement has been confirmed recently in 
 a remarkable way by the investigations of the 
 Committee on Denominational Schools appointed 
 by the Northern Baptist Convention. The report 
 of that committee shows that "combining all the 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 55 
 
 records obtained (405), the graduates of 1901- 
 1905 and of 1911-1915 (two groups whose effi- 
 ciency was investigated covering the period 1916- 
 1920), and comparing this record with that of 
 the 675 not seminary-trained men in the states 
 adjacent to the seminaries, for that same period, 
 1 91 6-1920, it was found that seminary-trained 
 men led their churches to give for denominational 
 benevolences an average of over four and one- 
 half times as much money, secured two and one- 
 half times as many baptisms, and twice as many 
 accessions by letter and Christian experience. 
 These figures include among men not seminary- 
 trained, many of college and partial seminary 
 training. Incomplete as these returns are, they 
 are dependable and strongly argue for full semi- 
 nary preparation." 
 
 The charge has been made recently that the cur- 
 ricula of the seminaries is archaic, that it bears 
 no relation to modern life, that it emphasizes dead 
 languages to the exclusion of living subjects, that 
 it does not prepare men to meet the conditions 
 that prevail in the world in which they live. 
 As a rule, such charges arise out of ignorance 
 
56 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 concerning modern ministerial training. Prac- 
 tically all of the seminaries give wide latitude in 
 the matter of selective courses, and many of them 
 have working agreements with universities where- 
 by the courses of the university become available 
 for the seminary student. Twenty years ago most 
 of the institutions were under the old system that 
 recognized five general departments: Old Testa- 
 ment, New Testament, Theology, Church His- 
 tory, and Homiletics. The school of to-day has 
 these departments, but It also has either other 
 departments or includes under the old classifica- 
 tion subjects that were undreamed of a generation 
 since. One well known institution offers such 
 courses as "The Theology of the Poets," "Ro- 
 manism and Modernism," "The Church and 
 Labor," "The Rural Church and the Commu- 
 nity," "The Family and Child Welfare," "The 
 Church and Internationalism," "Church Music," 
 "The Principles of Education," "The Theory of 
 Education." 
 
 Certainly nothing could be more modern or 
 practical than such courses in sociology and relig- 
 ious education. 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 57 
 
 Moreover, the ability of the schools to develop 
 effective workers seems to be augmenting. The 
 report of the Committee already referred to has 
 this significant statement; "The graduates of 
 1911-1915 led their churches during the period 
 19 1 6-1 920 to give more to denominational benev- 
 olence and secured as many baptisms, and more 
 other accessions to the churches by letter and 
 experience for the same period, 19 16-1920, than 
 seminary graduates ten years earlier. This fact 
 reveals increasing and not decreasing seminary 
 efficiency." 
 
 It Is Inevitable that some worthy men will not 
 be able to pursue full college and seminary 
 courses. They may be called to the ministry too 
 late in life, or when called they may have already 
 assumed the responsibilities of family support. 
 But even these men should aim for the best equip- 
 ment possible, and for them the training school 
 or special courses at the standard institution are 
 available. 
 
 Some denominational bodies are beginning to 
 legislate concerning the training of the ministry, 
 and wisely establishing standards of education as 
 
58 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 prerequisite to ordination. Such legislation Is not 
 for the purpose of keeping men out of the minis- 
 try, but to encourage and Inspire men to enter It; 
 to set Ideals for candidates to surpass; to estab- 
 lish standards that will cause the world to respect 
 and honor the profession; to raise the leadership 
 of the church to the level where its primacy will 
 be universally recognized; and above all, to in- 
 crease Its efficiency that the high purpose of the 
 Great Head of the Church may be quickly 
 achieved. 
 
 The proposal to raise standards of require- 
 ments, and to demand long periods of educational 
 preparation becomes exceedingly serious In view 
 of the steadily mounting cost of education and the 
 fact that the ministry is recruited largely from 
 families of limited financial resources. 
 
 If present economic conditions continue very 
 long, or there should be any marked increase in 
 the number of students, it Is evident that minis- 
 terial education societies and institutions engaged 
 in training the clergy would need to enlarge their 
 resources available for scholarship aid. 
 
 Some excellent men criticise this policy of giv- 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 59 
 
 ing special financial aid to ministerial students, 
 and contend that they should be treated exactly as 
 other professional students. It should be remem- 
 bered, however, that the church calls such men to 
 a special and technical form of service; a service 
 of life-long self-sacrifice In its behalf; and a serv- 
 ice in which they cannot hope to obtain, no matter 
 how diligent or faithful or brilliant, the material 
 rewards that come to the lawyer or physician or 
 engineer. Moreover, if these students should 
 borrow funds to obtain this training, the meagre 
 stipends of the average church would not permit 
 them to pay their debts. 
 
 Nobody considers the boys attending public 
 school or the young men in college as subjects of 
 charity, and yet none of them make adequate 
 financial return for the benefits received. The 
 public contributes to their support and training 
 for citizenship, and expects Its payment in later 
 life values. And no more Is It charity for the 
 young men preparing for the ministry to receive 
 aid. The church contributes to their training, but 
 it expects the laboratory of the schools to add 
 elements of value to their lives. The church an- 
 
60 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 ticipates heavy Interest returns from Its Invest- 
 ment. 
 
 It Is not for the best Interests of either the min- 
 istry or the church to maintain such conditions 
 that the chosen leaders of God's holy work should 
 enter upon their careers harassed with visions of 
 debts that they cannot pay, or with lowered nerv- 
 ous vitality consequent upon overstrain in sup- 
 porting themselves, entirely, during the period of 
 education. 
 
 Ministers are the officers of the church army. 
 As the nation deems it wise to support and direct 
 the training of the officers of Its army and navy, 
 so the church of Christ calling its young men and 
 women to Its special service, and establishing for 
 them high standards of discipline and culture, can 
 do no less than aid them In meeting its require- 
 ments. 
 
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the 
 nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father 
 and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching 
 them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded 
 you.— A/a«. 28:19-20. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE OPPORTUNITY OF THE MINISTRY 
 
 From the business standpoint, the church is 
 probably the greatest industry ever developed by 
 mortal man. There is more capital Invested in it, 
 more workers engaged in advancing its interests, 
 and its concerns are more widespread than any 
 other enterprise that men have undertaken. Its 
 achievements have been so numerous and varied 
 that we are confronted everywhere by its benefits; 
 and the unprejudiced observer soon comes to feel 
 that practically everything essential to happiness 
 in modern civilzatlon owes its debt to the church 
 of Christ. 
 
 This great, going business, unctioning in so 
 many ways, in so many parts of the world, began 
 in weakness nineteen hundred years ago, and has 
 come to its present status only through self-sacri- 
 ficing service upon the part of its adherents. The 
 
 61 
 
62 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 church has been conceived of, sometimes, as a field 
 for service, but it is rather a force for service, an 
 army marshaled to succor a world in need. 
 
 As the leaders of this force, the ministers have 
 always borne burdens, assumed grave responsibil- 
 ities, and challenged opportunities. But no gen- 
 eration of the past has offered so many open 
 doors to the consecrated clergyman, or so sorely 
 needed his ministration as the present age. 
 
 The old opportunities for the demonstration of 
 the power of ministerial leadership are still with 
 us. The rural communities with their decaying 
 churches; the city with its crowding populations; 
 the immigrant with his strange tongue and alien 
 ideal; the child problem; and the labor problem; 
 and the divorce problem ; and a dozen other such 
 questions of long standing still send out their 
 ringing challenge to the church and its leaders. 
 
 But the world has been passing through a 
 strange and terrible experience these last few 
 years; the fountains of life have been broken up, 
 the bulwarks of society have been overthrown, 
 and cruelty and lust and hate have overwhelmed 
 great masses of the race. The world has been 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 63 
 
 surprised in its self-confidence, foolish pride, and 
 undue elation over its progress in material things. 
 The world boasted of its conquests and culture, 
 and in that very moment, the leaders of its intel- 
 lectual life, the organizers of its industry, the 
 captains of its scientific adventures were seized 
 with madness, and plunged it into a maelstrom of 
 hate and destruction. Out of the terrors of the 
 world war the nations have emerged with minds 
 bewildered by conflict, hearts torn with anguish, 
 and hands blindly reaching forth after guidance. 
 New tasks face the minister, for he must be the 
 interpreter of these experiences to men. As ex- 
 President Wilson said in one of his great ad- 
 dresses, "The business of the Christian church, of 
 the Christian minister, is to show the spiritual 
 relations of men to the great world process, 
 whether they be physical or spiritual. It is 
 nothing less than to show the plan of life and 
 man's relation to that plan." 
 
 In this Interpretation of the plan of the ages 
 and the mediation between the world and its 
 bewilderments, between men and their woes, the 
 minister has a veritable sea of sorrows to assuage. 
 
64 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 America has not really tasted the bitter cup that 
 has been pressed to the lips of the nations. Her 
 territory has not been ravaged, her homes have 
 not been destroyed, her sons and daughters have 
 not been slain till the wombs of the mothers could 
 not supply the demand for sacrifices. Europe, 
 however, knows all the bitterness of these sorrows 
 as she contemplates her childless homes, her count- 
 less crosses on Flander's Fields, and her hosts of 
 maimed and blind and sick. At the meeting of 
 the National Federation of Churches in Boston in 
 the autumn of 1920 the Secretary of the Feder- 
 ation stated that "if the dead of France could be 
 marshaled twenty abreast it would take them 
 eleven days, marching day and night, to pass a 
 given point; if to the dead of France could be 
 added the dead of the other nations, it would 
 require three months to pass; if to this mighty 
 procession could be added the maimed and blind 
 and those incapacitated for life's work, the 
 line would be marching from now (from the 
 time of the meeting) till the roses bloom in the 
 spring." 
 
 The world is indeed treading the winepress of 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 65 
 
 sorrow and its only hope, the only light that shines 
 in its dark night, is the light that streams from 
 the face of the "Man of Sorrows," the "Divine 
 Son." 
 
 But the world needs far more than this assuage- 
 ment of its griefs. There must be a moral and 
 spiritual reconstruction of both the foundations 
 and the structure of human society. 
 
 The world war as fought by America and her 
 allies was entered into with splendid idealism; 
 but warfare is always subversive to high moral 
 and religious ideals. Inevitably the safeguards of 
 society have been broken down, and established 
 conventionalities overthrown. Multitudes seem 
 to have lost their convictions of honor, and cher- 
 ished principles have been violated without com- 
 punction. The world has gone mad over the 
 things of physical sense, and does not hesitate to 
 adopt any means in order to obtain its satisfac- 
 tions. Human life is held cheaply, and lawless- 
 ness Is continually bursting through the crusts of 
 well-ordered life. 
 
 The only hope of the world is to rebuild its 
 life by recalling men to the consciousness of the 
 
66 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 reality of the spiritual; by convincing them that 
 men do not live by bread alone; by moralizing the 
 material forces that are subject to man. 
 
 It is strangely significant, perhaps we should 
 say providential, that at this time we are celebrat- 
 ing the three-hundredth anniversary of the settle- 
 ment of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. 
 
 Bradford and Brewster and their fellow-work- 
 ers were few in number, but they were mighty in 
 spirit, and upon their high idealism and lofty 
 principles our nation has builded its structure of 
 a free government freely supported, by a liberty- 
 loving and religious-minded people. We should 
 strive to-day for a rebirth of the Pilgrim ideal, 
 not only in America, but in the nations of the 
 earth. 
 
 Perhaps the element of that ideal most needed 
 in the present hour is its religious reverence and 
 spirit. 
 
 President Harding said in a recent address in 
 Washington : 
 
 "In spite of our complete divorcement of 
 Church and State, quite In harmony with our 
 religious freedom, there is an important relation- 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 67 
 
 ship betwe;en Church and Nation, because no 
 nation can prosper, no nation can survive if it 
 ever forgets Almighty God. I have believed that 
 religious reverence has played a very influential 
 and helpful part in the matchless American 
 achievement, and I wish it ever to abide. If I 
 were to utter a prayer for the republic tonight, it 
 would be to reconsecrate us in religious devotion 
 and make us abidingly a God-fearing, God-loving 
 people." 
 
 Viewing conditions from the business stand- 
 point, Mr. Babson asserts : "The need of the hour 
 is more religion. More religion is needed every- 
 where, from the halls of Congress at Washington 
 to the factories, the mines, the fields and the 
 forests. It is one thing to talk, about plans or 
 policies, but a plan or policy without a religious 
 motive is like a watch without a spring or a body 
 without the breath of life. The security of our 
 investments is absolutely dependent upon faith, 
 the righteousness and the religion of our people. 
 I have stated that the real strength of our invest- 
 ments is due, not to the distinguished bankers of 
 America, but rather to the poor preachers. I now 
 
68 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 go farther than that and say that the development 
 of the country as a whole is due to this something, 
 this indescribable something, this combination of 
 faith, thrift, industry, initiative, integrity and 
 vision, which these preachers have developed in 
 their communities." 
 
 Both statesman and keen-minded statistician 
 have analyzed the situation with exactness and 
 simplicity. The only corrective for the chaos, 
 restlessness and laxity of the present is more 
 religion. It is the task and privilege of the min- 
 ister in this hour of the world's great need to cast 
 into the whirlpool of its life the steadying 
 element, the message of our religious faith. He 
 is In a peculiar manner the representative of the 
 moral and spiritual forces of the nation, the 
 regenerative powers of society, and upon him 
 depends to a large extent the restoration of the 
 world to sanity and healthful Ideals. 
 
 But the reconstruction of the old pillars is not 
 the only need of the world. It is asking and 
 expecting the creation of new temples for its life 
 and faith. 
 
 The great developments of the past century 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 69 
 
 have been along material lines. The resources of 
 nature have been exploited, and man's conquests 
 of natural forces have surpassed the wildest 
 dreams of the ancients. Disciples of Neitsche are 
 now asserting that the cycle of progress has been 
 completed and that the race is entering the path 
 that leads downward. 
 
 Competent observers, who have no sympathy 
 with such decadent philosophy, are also beginning 
 to question concerning the future, and expressing 
 doubts that man can progress much further along 
 material lines. 
 
 Whatever the future may contain for the race, 
 materially, it is evident that just now we need a 
 vast increment to the moral and spiritual resources 
 of mankind. For several generations the moral 
 and spiritual development of the world has not 
 kept pace with its material advances. The prob- 
 lem is to develop spiritual powers adequate to 
 control and direct these gigantic forces that have 
 been called into action by the discoveries of 
 science and the unfolding of nature's storehouses. 
 
 This is undoubtedly the minister's problem, and 
 there are indications that we are entering upon 
 
70 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 the pathway that leads to its solution. The world 
 is growing heartsick and weary. It is awakening 
 to Its need of God. It is becoming conscious of 
 its sorrows, conscious of Its broken idols of human 
 culture and achievements, conscious of its own 
 helplessness. Voices in the wilderness arc begin- 
 ning to cry out, "Give us back our God," "Lead 
 us into the presence of the Holy One," "Show us 
 the fountain of living waters." 
 
 These voices In the night, that reveal the blind 
 gropings of the race, are heard not only in Amer- 
 ica and Europe, but also In other continents, 
 continents that we call pagan. 
 
 The groanlngs of the race, the birth pangs of 
 new ideals and civilizations, are heard In China 
 and Japan, in India and Arabia, in Africa and 
 the Islands of the Sea. Everywhere a new day 
 seems to be dawning on the race. Shall it be a 
 day dark with the clouds of doubt and prejudice 
 and rivalry and hate, or a day bright and glorious 
 because the "sun of righteousness" arises "with 
 healing in Its wings." The Christian forces of 
 America, under the leadership of the ministry 
 will practically determine the character of this 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 71 
 
 new age. America of all the nations has the men 
 and the means, the reserves that are able to con- 
 trol conditions. 
 
 The signs of the times point to a glorious day- 
 break, the ushering in of a new era of spiritual 
 progress. The surprising development of the 
 nineteenth century along material lines will be 
 matched in the twentieth by the nobler conquests 
 of the spirit when the visions of prophets and the 
 dreams of poets shall have their fruition. 
 
 The golden age of the minister from the stand- 
 point of opportunity is in the present generation. 
 He is the key man to the world's future, for he 
 must unlock the treasure house of the spirit. In 
 his hands arc the issues of life for the race. 
 Never before has he had such opportunities to 
 lay foundations of faith; to build temples of wor- 
 ship in the souls of men; to mediate between the 
 human spirit and the eternal God; to re-discover 
 to the consciousness of the race the eternal verities 
 of the Christian religion. 
 
 Like his Master of old, the minister can feel 
 the rising power of his divine mission and exclaim : 
 "He has annointed me to preach good tidings to 
 
72 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 the poor; he has sent me to proclaim release to 
 the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind. 
 To set at liberty them that are bruised. To 
 proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." 
 
Wherefore my brethren beloved and longed for, 
 my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord. — 
 Phil. 4:1. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE ATTRACTIONS OF THE MINISTRY 
 
 There are some obvious attractions to the min- 
 istry, such as the desirable social position accorded 
 the minister, the opportunities it presents for ease 
 and culture, and the command of one's time that 
 it affords. These things do not, however, appeal 
 to any large number of worthy young men. 
 
 A somewhat larger company of candidates are 
 attracted by the approbation of society that the 
 minister is supposed to receive, or by the leader- 
 ship that Is accorded him in certain walks of life, 
 or by the prevalent altruistic emphasis and Its 
 invocation of the romantic emotions of our young 
 people. 
 
 Fundamentally, the attractive appeals to enter 
 upon the work of the minister and to persevere 
 in its labors, range themselves under three gen- 
 eral heads — the attraction of a great call, the. 
 
 73 
 
74 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 attraction of a great work, and the attraction of 
 a great fellowship. 
 
 The attractive power of the ideal call to the 
 ministry can hardly be overestimated. The true 
 minister is born a minister just as the musician 
 is born a musician or the artist is born an artist. 
 But the imperatives that bid the minister express 
 his personality by becoming a minister arc unlike 
 those that exercise dominion over the genius of 
 the sculptor or the painter or the musician. To 
 the instinctive leading of those forces that exercise 
 empire over the spirit is added the summons of 
 a great and glorious God bidding the soul 
 acknowledge his reign and assume his livery of 
 service. 
 
 Somehow in that call there is an authority, a 
 something never seen on land or sea, that grips 
 the soul, and from which it can never quite 
 escape. 
 
 The attraction of the call is, however, matched 
 by the attraction of the work. The work of the 
 minister may be defined in many ways, depending 
 somewhat upon the mental attitude and spiritual 
 experience of the definer. 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 75 
 
 Sometimes men look at the work from the 
 standpoint of a narrow ecclesiasticism, and it is 
 conceived, as the gathering of a congregation and 
 aligning it with some particular denominational 
 group, or the building of a church edifice, or the 
 preaching of a few sermons and administration 
 of the sacraments, or the management of worthy 
 charities. Sometimes the vocation is described in 
 terms of social service, such as "the creation of a 
 new social order," "the establishment of universal 
 brotherhood," or "the building of a new civil- 
 ization." 
 
 All of these worthy objectives are Involved In 
 the clergy's affairs, but it Is possible to have a 
 deeper and richer conception of his mission. 
 From God's point of view — the minister is his 
 representative among men, the heralder of his 
 message of grace and love. As Jesus was the 
 "Word," the expression of the Father's heart and 
 mind, so in some marvelous way the minister is 
 the "word" of his Master, the Christ, manifesting 
 the divine thought and purpose. Paul suggested 
 this idea when he wrote of himself to the Phll- 
 llpplans, "To me to live is Christ." Earlier in 
 
76 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 his career he expressed the same thought to the 
 Galatians, "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in 
 me." For the minister to live among men is for 
 Christ in him and through him to live among men, 
 and the message of the true minister is the mes- 
 sage of God. He may sometimes speak without 
 authority, just as the Apostle Paul sometimes 
 spoke without divine inspiration, but he is ever 
 facing the fact that he is a "consecrated man," 
 set apart for holy service as the messenger of the 
 Most High. 
 
 From the standpoint of man, the minister's 
 mission is to save a lost and ruined world, to drive 
 out darkness and sin, and to usher in the light 
 and holiness of the kingdom of God. He must 
 aid man to discover God, to enter into the spir- 
 itual kingdom. He must grip their souls with 
 the imperatives of divine love and righteousness, 
 until, yielding to his persuasion, they enter the 
 aristocracy of faith, and Jesus Christ becomes the 
 arbiter of life. 
 
 Of course this is a tremendous and perplexing 
 task, and seemingly impossible of accomplishment. 
 The minister could not fulfill this two-fold mis- 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 77 
 
 sion if he were dependent simply upon his own 
 initiative and personality. 
 
 But in the very difficulty of his mission there 
 is an element of satisfaction and an added attrac- 
 tion to his vocation. Men like big jobs. There 
 is no real pleasure in doing the easy thing. The 
 athlete finds relish in his contest only as he faces 
 an opponent worthy of his powers. Men, virile 
 men, like Theodore Roosevelt, find their highest 
 enjoyment in doing the hard thing, and the harder, 
 the more taxing the struggle, the greater the joy, 
 both in contest and victory. 
 
 And that joy, the joy of the Strenuous, the joy 
 of burden bearing, of carrying forward mighty 
 enterprises, belongs to the minister by reason of 
 the nature of his mission. 
 
 Moreover, marvelous as it seems, the minister's 
 objective is not altogether in the realm of the 
 impossible. The word "impossible" ought never 
 to have been coined. There is no such thing as 
 an impossibility. What we call "impossible" to- 
 day may be the commonplace of to-morrow. A 
 generation since, the world said it was impossible 
 for men to converse with their fellow-men across 
 
78 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 this continent, or to fly ten thousand feet in the 
 air in machines heavier than air, or to cross the 
 Atlantic in a submarine. Such things were con- 
 sidered the wild fancies of the romancer. And 
 yet these things, and even more marvelous things, 
 are the everyday happenings of the present. 
 
 In the spiritual realm Jesus ruled out the idea 
 of the "impossible" when he said: "With God all 
 things are possible." And the church has been 
 making through the centuries the seeming "im- 
 possible" the rule of its achievements. What a 
 wild dream for that little band of enthusiasts to 
 attempt to break through the crusts of life in the 
 Roman world and enthrone the religion of the 
 Nazarene ! What effrontery of faith for that 
 Insignificant Baptist Church Association at Kit- 
 tery, England, to resolve that the "time had 
 arrived to attempt to give the gospel to the pagan 
 world"! 
 
 It may seem to the world an Impossibility for 
 the minister to overthrow the walls of modern 
 Jerichos, and to build New Jerusalems of right- 
 eousness; to accomplish the mighty objectives that 
 the race and the Word of God sets for him ; but 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 79 
 
 the regnancy of faith still abides, and the hard 
 thing becomes the joyous venture of his soul. 
 
 The attractions of the call and the work of 
 the ministry are enhanced by the attractions of 
 its fellowships. Men can be faithful to princi- 
 ples and ideals even in loneliness and isolation. 
 Many noble saints have wasted in dungeons, and 
 multitudes have given their bodies to be burned, 
 out of loyalty to conscience and religious senti- 
 ment. 
 
 But even for the strongest and most independ- 
 ent there is something uplifting in the fellow- 
 ships of life. One of the abiding charms of the 
 ministry is its "sweet and noble fellowships." 
 This fellowship is not simply of the minister's 
 own generation. As a spiritual relationship it 
 reaches back through the ages, linking the present- 
 day minister with the choice souls that have 
 labored and wrought in faith. 
 
 The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews sum- 
 moned the men of his generation to courage and 
 consecration by picturing their spiritual fellowship 
 with the fathers who had wrought under the old 
 dispensation, and above all, by the consciousness 
 
80 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 that they were In the same line with the "author 
 and perfector of our faith." The same spiritual 
 alliance Is the inheritance of the minister to-day, 
 and it is a glorious company of prophets and 
 apostles and holy men of which the minister is a 
 member. Paul, the matchless; Chrysostom, the 
 golden-mouthed; Athanasius, the defender of the 
 faith; Hubmaler, the protestant; Wickllffe, the 
 morning star of the reformation; John Robinson, 
 the separatist; Carey, the Inspirer of modern 
 missions; Gordon, the mystic; Lorlmer, the plat- 
 form prince; and a host of others whose names 
 stand for piety, principle, and Christly service, 
 are in the mighty "cloud of witnesses," this spir- 
 itual ancestry. The minister of to-day is one with 
 these, in the temper of his life, the motives of 
 his soul, the objectives of his labor, and the ends 
 of his destiny. The memory of that fellowship 
 thrills his heart, lightens his burdens and encour- 
 ages his soul in the dark hour when the candle of 
 hope burns dimly. He Is of that company of the 
 immortals of whom the Scripture asserts the 
 "world was not worthy." 
 
 The minister may have his heavy burdens, his 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 81 
 
 almost overpowering tasks, but as in the audacity 
 and confidence of faith he attempts to fulfill his 
 commission, he hears the voice of his Captain, — 
 "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of 
 the age." 
 
Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast 
 been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over 
 many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. — 
 Matt. 25:21. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE REWARDS OF THE MINISTRY 
 
 We are told sometimes that the minister should 
 not think of a reward, that it is not in accord with 
 the dignity or idealism of the sacred office. His 
 thought should be of duty, of moral obligation, of 
 divine commands and human needs rather than 
 compensations or personal benefits. But there is 
 no adequate reason for such assertions. The min- 
 ister is of like passions as other men, and very 
 few can be held long to sacrifices and labors by 
 abstruse idealism or abstract principles of right- 
 eous conduct Personality cries out for incarna- 
 tions. Absolute ethics must have embodiments 
 and rest upon sentiments, if its impositions 
 are to have response in the human heart, and 
 evoke the homage of obedience. The "oughts" 
 of life need the persuasions of faith and feeling. 
 
 The scriptures recognize this very clearly, and 
 82 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 83 
 
 their greatest teachings are the teachings that 
 come through the embodiments of principles in 
 the lives of the heroes ; the prophets and wise men 
 and apostles; and above all in the life of the 
 Divine Master. And these great characters, illus- 
 trating the marvelous truths that God desired to 
 teach the race, were not insensible to the prospec- 
 tive rewards of their faithfulness. The writer of 
 Hebrews tells us that Moses "had respect unto 
 the recompense of the; reward"; and the implica- 
 tion is that Abraham and Jacob, Joseph and 
 David, and the other worthies mentioned in the 
 same chapter shared in the expectation of Moses 
 and were inspired to labor and wait for the prom- 
 ised indemnity. 
 
 In his teaching Jesus referred to the matter 
 again and again, making prospective rewards the 
 incentive to faithfulness and zeal. The anticipa- 
 tion of reward is fundamental in such parables as 
 the talents and the pounds, while it is the essential 
 doctrine in the interpretation of our Lord's mar- 
 velous picturing of the final judgment as recorded 
 in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. 
 
 Jesus himself did not hesitate to claim reward 
 
84 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 for his faithful performance of the Father's will, 
 and in his prayer for his disciples, found in the 
 seventeenth of John, petitioned the Father: "I 
 glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the 
 work which thou hast given me to do. And now, 
 Father, glorify thou me (reward me) with thine 
 own self with the glory which I had with thee 
 before the world was." 
 
 The young man looking forward to the min- 
 istry, to the surrender of his life to self-denying 
 and arduous labors, has the right to ask: "What 
 will be the rewards of such a life?" "Is there 
 anything that can justify me in investing my youth, 
 my manhood, my talent, my life, in this occupa- 
 tion?" "Will the investment pay valuable divi- 
 dends?" Livingston asked it as he buried himself 
 in the heart of Africa. Paton asked it as he con- 
 demned himself to the isolation of the islands of 
 the sea. Ashmore asked it as he gave his states- 
 manlike abilities to the uplift of China. Every 
 man who enters this service, at home or abroad, 
 whether his talents fit him for a place of leader- 
 ship in the great swirling currents of the world's 
 life, or for the quiet pursuits of the village pastor- 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 85 
 
 ate, has the right, and ought, to ask concerning 
 the adequacy of the reward. 
 
 Some of the compensations are patent even to 
 the unbelieving, but the richest and best are in 
 those invisible, intangible things that are the most 
 precious possessions of the human heart. The 
 assets of the kingdom of God that become the 
 holdings of the minister are not all visible to the 
 unregenerate. 
 
 Some of these rewards become available almost 
 coincident with the determination to devote the 
 life to divine service, while others await the devel- 
 oping experience of the minister, or the culmina- 
 tion of divine providence in the final judgment. 
 
 Some one has said that the supreme reward 
 that can come to a righteous life is to see itself 
 reproduced in some other life. The joy of this 
 reproduction is seen in both the natural and the 
 spiritual realms. The mother finds abiding happi- 
 ness in the reproducing of herself in the life of 
 her child. The true teacher has satisfaction in 
 the begetting of knowledge and a thirst for knowl- 
 edge in the mind of his pupil, and, the Christian 
 minister is gladdened as he sees faith blossoming 
 
86 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 in the hearts of those to whom he proclaims the 
 word, and a transfiguring power assuming reg- 
 nancy in their lives. The Scriptures suggest, fre- 
 quently, that this experience Is a reward of faith- 
 ful service. The prophet Isaiah pictured the 
 suffering Messiah as requited in this manner for 
 his sufferings: "He shall see his seed. He shall 
 see the travail of his soul and be satisfied." 
 
 The disciples of Jesus were "slow of heart to 
 believe," and were ofttlmes disappointing in the 
 response of faith and loyalty, but Jesus seems to 
 have found satisfaction In the steadily developing 
 power of their faith as they received his message. 
 The joy of reproducing himself in them, colors 
 the thought of his last great prayer as he entrusts 
 them and their future to the Father's care: "As 
 Thou hast sent me Into the world, even so have 
 I also sent them Into the world." — "Holy Father, 
 keep them In Thy name." 
 
 The minister has another source of satisfaction, 
 — and It Is no mean indemnity for his heartaches 
 and self-denials, in the realization that he is 
 devoting himself to the greatest and best things 
 of human life; that he is spending himself in 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 87 
 
 building the noblest of humanity's hopes and 
 dreams. 
 
 Sometimes the world does not appreciate what 
 the minister is contributing to its welfare; some- 
 times it stones its prophets, and its benefactors go 
 down to the grave covered with neglect. The 
 approbation of our fellowmen is precious and 
 cheering to the soul, but it is not a necessity. If 
 need be, the servant of Jesus can ^'endure as see- 
 ing him who is invisible," and can rejoice that 
 even though "despised and rejected of men," his 
 work is hastening the advent of the King. 
 
 But valuable as is the reward that comes from 
 the consciousness of reproducing himself in other 
 lives, and contributing to the highest good of his 
 fellowmen, it is probable that the average min- 
 ister finds his keenest joys in the approval of his 
 own conscience, and his confidence in the Master's 
 final benediction "Well done." 
 
 Ministers are supposedly of tender conscience, 
 and their spirits are susceptible to subtle influ- 
 ences. For many of them there is sweet and 
 blessed reward in the consciousness that they fol- 
 low the path of duty; that they tread in the foot- 
 
88 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 steps of their Lord; that they are obeying the 
 great, inherent purposes for which God created 
 them, called them, into His kingdom, and then 
 inducted them into leadership in His church. 
 
 It is true, a man's mental state is influenced by 
 physical conditions, and many a noble soul has 
 tortured itself with doubts when all that was 
 needed to give poise and joy was a period of rest. 
 Nearly every worker has his seasons when the 
 fires of hope and faith burn low. But somehow 
 God renews his faithful from day to day, and 
 courage takes fresh hold of its tasks as it listens 
 to the voice of the Lord. When Jesus said to 
 his worn and weary disciples, "Come ye apart 
 and rest awhile," he simply acted in harmony with 
 that divine providence whereby the Father pro- 
 vides for the toilers of His kingdom. 
 
 God would have His servants rest in the blessed 
 consciousness of His approval. Perhaps, to the 
 pious imaginations of many, the richest reward is 
 reserved to the last, to be awarded in the king- 
 dom of the future. 
 
 The knight of the olden time esteemed himself 
 richly repaid for his arduous labors or endurance 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 89 
 
 of dangers if, on bended knee, he could enter the 
 presence of his king or press his lips to the finger 
 tips of his queen. 
 
 But the minister has something as much deeper 
 and richer than that experience of those ancient 
 knights, as his King Is greater and more glorious 
 than the monarchs they served. The minister's 
 Lord Is the King of Glory, the Mighty One who 
 walks In the "midst of the golden candlestick." 
 
 Even while in the flesh, the minister, through 
 the eyes of faith, may have a choice and blessed 
 perception of his Lord. It Is true that we see 
 him only as in a "mirror darkly." We could not 
 stand the full effulgence of Llis glory, but in rap- 
 turous moments that he vouchsafes to his faith- 
 ful they catch heavenly visions of his supernal 
 excellence. And these glimpses of his bliss and 
 beauty are simply promises of the felicity that 
 shall be granted to them when, having completed 
 the work assigned to them, they "see him as he 
 is face to face" and hear him saying "ye have 
 been faithful over few things, I will make thee 
 ruler over many. Enter thou into the joy of thy 
 Lord." 
 
And he gave some to be apostles; and some, 
 prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors, 
 and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto 
 the work of ministering, unto the building of the 
 body of Christ; till we all attain unto the unity 
 of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of 
 God, unto a full grown man, unto the measure of 
 the stature of the fullness of Christ. — Ephesi«ns 
 4:11-13. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE PERMANENCY OF THE MINISTRY 
 
 As we consider the present status of the min- 
 istry, and seek the prophet's vision for the future, 
 several convictions force themselves upon us. 
 
 The first of these is the persuasion that the min- 
 istry is not a passing office of the times, but a 
 permanent institution of the church. 
 
 Mankind owes a mighty debt to the Christian 
 ministry. Ministers have been benefactors of the 
 race through all the years since the establishment 
 of the office by the apostolic church. They have 
 been discoverers of continents, pioneers of civil- 
 ization, inspirers of learning, founders of univer- 
 sities, reformers of government, proclaimers of 
 civil and religious liberty, defenders of the op- 
 
 90 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 91 
 
 pressed, and leaders of leagues of pity and peace 
 for the world. They have filled the pages of 
 history with the records of great deeds for the 
 human brotherhood. The glowing deeds of such 
 men as William Brewster, the leader of the Pil- 
 grim Exodus to America; Roger Williams, the 
 pioneer of Religious Liberty in America ; David 
 Livingston, the explorer of Darkest Africa; 
 Marcus Whitman, the savior of the Northwest 
 Territory for the United States; and hundreds of 
 men of like spirit and noble deed, give glory to 
 the profession, and places men and nations and 
 civilizations under everlasting debts of gratitude. 
 
 Notwithstanding these things, we hear the 
 opinion expressed occasionally that the pulpit has 
 become a superfluity, that the preacher's mission 
 has been fulfilled, and that the world no longer 
 needs him or esteems his profession as an essen- 
 tial part of the social body. The growth of ritual- 
 ism, the development of the printing press, and 
 popularization of the newspaper, and the increas- 
 ing number of publicity agents, are supposed to 
 have superceded the voice of the minister. 
 
 But the written word can never make the 
 
92 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 spoken word obsolete, nor a business manager 
 fulfill the functions of the God-called pastor. 
 
 Our social and political organizations are all 
 witnessing for the power of the human voice and 
 personality in matters of propaganda. Political 
 campaign managers and directors of reform 
 movements use the printed page generously; but 
 they depend most on the men with the silver 
 tongues. 
 
 The minister's calling, consisting so largely of 
 the proclamation of the truth by the spoken word, 
 is "rooted in the moral order of human history." 
 You cannot eliminate it or supplant it with some- 
 thing else without impoverishing the church and 
 bringing the world to moral and spiritual bank- 
 ruptcy. The voice of the minister, the work of 
 the clergyman, is needed today just as keenly as 
 when Luther thundered his defiance of Rome ; or 
 Edwards set in motion the moral forces of the 
 Great Awakening; and Whitefield convicted by 
 his eloquence the multitudes of the careless and 
 godless. 
 
 The servant of Christ does not need to offer 
 apology for his being or for his work. He can 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 93 
 
 face men with dignity and assurance under the 
 "profound conviction that what he has to say, 
 the whole world, from prince to beggar, needs to 
 hear and heed." 
 
 A second observation Is that the ministry of 
 today should seek the production of an adequate 
 and nobler ministry for the church of tomorrow. 
 If the church is a permanent institution and its 
 ministry a confirmed and constant factor of Its 
 life, It is obviously a vital matter to conserve and 
 develop the ministerial profession and to per- 
 suade choice souls to consecrate themselves to this 
 form of service. 
 
 It must be confessed that ministers have not 
 always been acutely conscious of this duty. Some- 
 times they have not appraised their profession at 
 Its true worth. To this extent they are responsi- 
 ble for the suspicion that the ministry is of no 
 value to modern society, and the consequent fail- 
 ure of some young men to adopt the profession. 
 Timidity and self-consciousness ofttimes prevent 
 a proper self-assertion, and the assumption of the 
 honorable place that belongs to the preacher of 
 righteousness. The prophet of God has no occa- 
 
94 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 slon to fear the face of man. Of course conceit 
 and vanity and bluster have no place in the 
 preacher's life, but there is a certain self-appre- 
 ciation that is simply manliness. 
 
 This false modesty, the apologetic attitude 
 adopted by some clergymen in the presence of 
 political or social leaders or men of other profes- 
 sions or business, has had harmful reactions upon 
 some of the young men. Moreover, this self- 
 deceiving humility, coupled with the economic 
 handicaps, have made ministers chary of persuad- 
 ing their own sons or other choice young men to 
 enter the profession. The minister must be con- 
 vinced, and act as though he were convinced, that 
 his vocation is manly and his work essential to 
 society. 
 
 In the measure that he adopts this attitude, the 
 minister will find himself begetting spiritual sons 
 who gladly follow in his footsteps and rejoice that 
 his mantle has fallen upon them. 
 
 Another Judgment, and a judgment that is im- 
 pressing itself upon the hearts of many leaders in 
 the church, is, that the church of Christ must seek 
 both to make attractive the conditions that sur- 
 
THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 95 
 
 round the minister, and to obey the Master's 
 injunction: "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the 
 harvest that he send forth laborers into his 
 harvest." 
 
 The amelioration of conditions is a difficult and 
 complex affair, and is in some measure controlled 
 by worldly forces ; but the Christian consecration 
 and wisdom of the laity can accomplish much, if 
 the task is undertaken with any degree of enthu- 
 siasm and unity. It will take time to change the 
 atmosphere, to transfer economic burdens, and to 
 breed large conceptions of liberal treatment; but 
 the clergy will not be impatient if it can feel that 
 the church is treating the problem seriously, and 
 is really determined that its spiritual leaders shall 
 have their modicum of respect, honor, and finan- 
 cial emoluments. 
 
 Tennyson tells us that "more things are 
 wrought by prayer than this world dreams of," 
 and certainly this is true in regard to the possi- 
 bilities of prayer in influencing young men to enter 
 the ministry. President Horr, of Newton Theo- 
 logical Institution, commenting on the Master's 
 injunction to pray that laborers might be sent into 
 
96 THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 the harvest fields, tells us "There is a divine urg- 
 ency, which in answer to prayer, compels men to 
 enter the work of the ministry. There is a call, 
 and the church may expect that call to be heard 
 when she prays as God has directed." 
 
 The church is approaching the climax of its 
 long and marvellous history of benefits conferred 
 upon the race. The ministry is facing its supreme 
 hour of sacrificial service. No man can predict 
 what issues the crisis will present, nor assuredly 
 envision the ensuing results. But this is certain 
 that clergy and laity alike need to pray, and to 
 pray the achieving prayer, that God would so 
 add to the forces of the workers that when the 
 divine hour of opportunity for mankind shall 
 strike, it may not strike in vain. 
 
 "Watchman, what of the night?" "The 
 morning cometh." Yes, the morning of God's 
 great day is coming, for the sons and daughters 
 of the church shall shortly hear the voice of the 
 Master, and thrilling to his command, will lay 
 hold of those powers and forces that are able to 
 subjugate the hearts of men and enthrone the 
 Christ in every realm of human society. 
 

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