{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_31323/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_31323","id":"gutenberg_31323","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31323","summary":null,"tags":["African American clergy -- Education","Category: History - American","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Sociology","Category: Teaching & Education","Religious education"],"text":"Produced by Suzanne Shell, Stephanie Eason, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  Occasional Papers, No. 13.\n\n  THE AMERICAN NEGRO ACADEMY.\n\n  (FOUNDED BY ALEXANDER CRUMMELL)\n\n\n  The Demand and the Supply\n  of Increased Efficiency in\n  the Negro Ministry.\n\n\n  BY JESSE E. MOORLAND.\n\n\n  Price 15 Cts.\n\n  WASHINGTON, D. C.\n  PUBLISHED BY THE ACADEMY,\n  1909.\n\n\n\n  Press of R. L. Pendleton\n  609 F St. N. W.\n  Washington, D. C.\n  1909\n\n\n\n\nThe Demand and the Supply of Increased Efficiency in the Negro Ministry.\n\nBY JESSE E. MOORLAND.\n\n\nIn the discussion of this subject I fully recognize the opportunity men\nhave to serve God in any honorable vocation. The Christian lawyer or\nphysician is called of God as truly as a minister. Such men are putting\nthe emphasis on service and not on getting. The condition confronting us\nis alarming and this warrants the earnest plea in this paper for a greater\nnumber of efficient ministers.\n\nThis is probably the most important question confronting the colored\npeople to-day. After all, a race or a nation is measured by its religion,\nand the greatest fact about a people is its religion. The efficiency of a\nnation depends in a large degree upon the character of its religious\nprinciples. When the good Queen Victoria was asked what made her realm so\ngreat, it was expected that she might point to her well-equipped navy or\nher efficient army, but she modestly held up a little book, called the\nBible, and said: \"By adhering to the principles contained in this Book,\ngreatness has come to Great Britain.\" China is what she is to-day because\nshe adheres to certain principles taught by her religious teachers, and\nAfrica is still in darkness because led by blind, superstitious, religious\nteachers.\n\nIn a larger sense than many people are willing to give credit the Negro\nminister has been responsible for the progress of our race and is also\nresponsible for much that cannot be counted as progress, for no other\nsingle class of individuals has had, and still has, so large and\nfar-reaching an influence as our ministers. You have only to go to a\ncommunity where there is a well-trained, honorable, upright, and efficient\nminister to see the marked improvement among the people along every line.\nOn the other hand, when you find a community where there is an immoral,\nignorant minister, wielding a large influence, you will find a community\nthat is full of despair.\n\nIt is pleasant to read the short story written by Paul Laurence Dunbar\nsome years ago, entitled \"The Ordeal at Mt. Hope.\" This story possibly\ngives one of the most vivid pictures of real, genuine service rendered by\na man of splendid parts in a needy section of the South, bearing out the\npractical demonstration of the power the minister has over a community.\n\nIt is one thing to lay down principles; it is another thing to show that\nthese principles are correct and true by the practical work which is based\nupon these principles. It is no hard thing to see how true it is that of\nall men throughout the history of the world, none have had greater\ninfluence than the religious teachers of a people, and it is just as true\nto-day, and it is a waste of time to argue that a race or nation can be\nlifted any higher than the religious principles of that race or nation\nwill allow it to go. History fails to record an instance of this sort, and\nit is very evident there never will be an instance of the kind. Man is\nbound by his religion. He may not profess it, but he has a belief; even\nthough he may declare that he believes nothing, the very fact of his\ndeclaration proves him to have a dogma. You had as well expect to find\nlions without courage as to find men without some form of religious\nconviction. It is a something in man that has to be reckoned with, and\nwhere it is most wisely directed and cultivated, there we find the highest\nculture and development along every line. Hence the great importance to a\nnew race like ours in America that the most careful attention be given to\nthis very important phase of our development.\n\nThis is no time for mere fault-finding. It is a time, however, for sober,\nconsiderate thought. It is a time when the best of the clergy and the best\nof the laity of every denomination need seriously to face a question which\nis not alone common to themselves but is a serious one confronting the\nentire Protestant Church. In some ways our churches are suffering, (and it\nseems will suffer more for sometime than others), for the reason that we\nhave not had, and have not now, so large a number of trained men to draw\nupon as others who have had better advantages than ourselves. With an\nhonest purpose, it is our business to courageously take this matter up and\nget at the facts, and then find a way to remedy the alarming condition. We\nare at a crisis, and the future of our race is involved,--yea, the future\nof our nation, for one-eighth of the population of any land has a\ntremendous influence upon the whole.\n\nIn the first place, the demand for increased efficiency is emphasized by\nincreased intelligence of the people. Forty years ago we were just\nentering school as a race; to-day we have the second generation in our\npublic schools, secondary schools, and colleges. These parents and\nchildren read the daily papers, read the magazines, buy some books, and\nare beginning to think, and as soon as an individual begins to think\nindependently all sorts of problems rapidly crowd in on the mind and put\nit in an attitude of questioning many of the things which have always\nbeforehand been taken for granted as correct and true. Along with this\ngoes the fact that much of the literature of to-day, (including newspaper\neditorials and many magazine articles), has a tendency to undermine\nChristian faith rather than help it. Much of it comes from brains well\nsaturated with Pagan philosophy rather than the principles laid down in\nthe Holy Book. The swing away from Puritanism to what is called liberty\nhas the effect of loosening many of the well-fixed principles of morality\nand right-living, and makes splendid soil for just such practices as we\nare constantly reminded of by the glaring headlines in our newspapers\ngiving every detail of murders, and lax family relations and divorces, and\nevery conceivable thing that human nature can devise for the uprooting of\nmany of the essentials of real progress and decent living. This brings a\nspirit of unrest and doubt, and the question whether life pays, and\nwhether it is worth while to make an effort, and whether the Church is of\nany effect. The minister is looked upon as a professional parasite drawing\na salary and having a good time, and in the thought of many is cast aside\nas of but little consequence.\n\nTo meet such conditions as mentioned above, there must be increased\nefficiency in the ministry, the demand to meet which is greater to-day\nthan ever before. I am finding no fault with the efficient men we now have\nat work. Many are doing valiant service. They are heroes on the home field\nin the same sense that Carey, Judson, Livingstone, Pitkin, Lott Carey and\nothers were heroes on the foreign field. Some of these men are laying\ntheir lives down in the great work to which they have been called. All\nhonor to these men! But their numbers are too few. The disproportion is\ntoo great in our professional schools. For example, when a medical school\ncan boast of four hundred young men preparing to care for the physical\nlife of the people and the theological school in the same institution can\nreport barely one hundred men preparing to care for the moral and\nspiritual life of the same people, it is time to stop and consider whither\nare we tending. Then at a closer glance we see something else which is\nworse still. With all due respect to the men in the theological school, it\nis an alarming fact that the men in the medical school, in most cases,\nhave a higher average in scholarship and natural force than the men in the\ntheological school. Why is this? It is because the training in our\ncolleges, the teaching from the platform, and the training in most of our\nhomes is such that our boys to-day are led to believe that the route to\ngreatest success is along the material highway. It is a current saying now\nthat the quickest way for a colored man of ability, at this time, to get\nout of the reach of immediate want, materially, is to study medicine.\nThere may not be too many men entering medicine, but certainly not enough\nare entering the ministry. In some cases well-meaning men have been\ndisgusted with certain types of ministers which they have met and have\ncast the whole profession aside, giving it no respectful consideration,\nand have felt that they could better themselves, socially as well as\nmaterially, by entering some profession other than the ministry. I am well\nacquainted with not a few men who entered college with the express purpose\nof preparing themselves to enter the ministry, who turned aside to some\nother calling for the reason mentioned. Sad to say, very few of the most\ncapable men in our colleges to-day are looking forward to the ministry as\na life work.\n\nIn order that we may cope with such conditions as those just mentioned,\nnone can gainsay the great need of greater efficiency in the ministry,\nthat we do not cut the tap-root of all our progress and become of none\neffect in the world. The wisest leaders of Japan to-day are deeply\nconcerned about the propagation of Christian principles among the people.\nThe recent past has changed a nation in a day, and while the people have\ntaken on the ways of western civilization, the larger number of them have\nnot accepted the principles which have made western civilization great,\nand these far-seeing prophets of the Sunrise kingdom well understand that\ntheir glory will be ephemeral unless they are able to plant their feet\nfirmly upon the eternal Rock of Ages. As lightly as it may be regarded,\nthere is a similar danger confronting the rising young race of colored men\nin this land. It is not reassuring that our strongest men, who are able\nto make their way through northern universities, have in some cases come\nout of these institutions with a shattered faith and are not found in\nplaces of leadership either as ministers or laymen, in our churches and\nother religious institutions. A man cannot excuse himself by saying that\nhe spends his time during the week in the schoolroom, in the law office,\nor in the sickroom. The great men of the world and the great races and\nnations of the world have done all these things but did not leave the\nother undone. To meet this condition a larger number of efficient men must\nbe led into the ministry.\n\nIn order that the supply may be commensurate with the demand, it is\nnecessary to ask the question where and how shall we begin to meet the\ndemand for an increased efficiency in the ministry? First, with Christian\nparents. It is interesting to note that Paul, in his second letter to his\nbeloved son, Timothy, 1st chapter, 5th verse, makes use of these words:\n\"When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which\ndwelt first in thy grandmother, Lois, and thy mother, Eunice, and I am\npersuaded that in thee also,\" and he thus shows his belief in spiritual\nheredity.\n\nThe foregoing passage teaches that we must not shut our eyes to the\nresponsibility of Christian parents in this matter. Many of the great\npreachers of the world were consecrated to this service by godly mothers,\nin some cases before they were born, even as Hannah, Samuel's mother,\nconsecrated him to the Lord before his birth.\n\nForty years ago, it was a passion with many Christian parents to have at\nleast one son enter the ministry, and yet I am sorry to say to-day I have\nmany, many times made inquiry of ministers' sons and have found very few\nof them who were willing to give even a respectful hearing to the claim of\nthe ministry and few parents of such sons who seemed concerned about the\nmatter.\n\nThe first remedy is to go back to first principles and let the people who\nclaim to love the Lord and His Christ be willing to make an offering of\nthe very flower of their families to this, the highest and noblest service\never given to man to perform.\n\nThen our various churches must take a larger interest in leading the most\npromising young men into this great service. Some churches have done nobly\nat this and have stood by their spiritual sons by furnishing the means by\nwhich they might attend college and fit themselves for service, and have\ntaken peculiar interest and pride in seeing them return to the mother\nchurch and in listening to them, and in bidding them God speed; but most\nof our churches, though able, have paid hardly any attention to this\nimportant phase of service at all, and many of our churches cannot mention\na single successful minister who commands the respect of any large\ncommunity because of his ability and power, which they have sent out. On\nthe other hand, many times men are allowed to come into the ministry\nthrough our churches who are always calculated to do more injury than\ngood,--men with no preparation and no chance of getting proper training.\n\nGod never calls a man to preach unless He also provides the way for him to\nmake due preparation for that service. This is a principle which cannot\nsuccessfully be disputed. When God called Moses He led him out of the land\nof Egypt, and he spent years and years communing with God under the canopy\nof heaven; and Paul spent three years somewhere in preparation for his\ngreat work, and even the Father's own Son for thirty years was in\npreparation to do three years' work.\n\nIt is a harmful thing to have a church full of inefficient, licensed\npreachers with no hope of ever entering actively into the ministry, but in\nmost cases are just a worry of the flesh to a progressive pastor. When a\nman comes before a board for a license he ought to be given to understand\nthat this license will be granted only on condition that he prepare\nhimself intellectually as well as spiritually for the great work of the\nministry, and when prepared that he will enter into the field which is\nwhite and ready and waiting for the reaper.\n\nPossibly the Church has no larger opportunity for advancing the Lord's\nkingdom than in just this phase of service. Sometimes a narrow-minded\nminister is to blame. He fails to encourage the promising young man for\nfear some day he will come back as a rival too much for him. I wish it\nwere possible to utter these words with sufficient emphasis to arouse many\nof our dormant, sleeping churches to a sense of their duty.\n\nOne organization in our colleges has the largest opportunity over any\nother to help furnish an increased supply from our college men, and that\nis the Student Department of the Young Men's Christian Association.\nAlready the leader of this Department, Mr. John R. Mott, has written a\nbook, \"The Future Leadership of the Church,\" published by the\nInternational Committee, 124 East 28th Street, New York. In this volume\nMr. Mott takes up this whole question of the supply of leaders in our\nchurches. Though a layman himself, for some years, he has been lecturing\nin the leading colleges of our land and calling the strong men (as only a\ntrue leader can call men) to consider the calling of the ministry, facing\nsquarely all of the difficulties connected therewith, problems of faith,\nproblems of training, and the problem of support, which is entirely too\nmeagre to-day; but with a strong purpose he has been making an effort to\nlead some of the best and ablest men into this, the highest of all\ncallings. The same thing is being done in many of our colored colleges by\nour colored International Secretaries; some time during the year the claim\nof the ministry is presented to the students. We feel sure that in due\ntime results will be seen. Capable ministers among us and college\nprofessors also need covet the opportunity, in a larger way than they have\nbeen doing, to appear before bodies of students, to mingle with them, to\nimpress them with the importance of at least considering this calling, in\norder that we may get the supply which is so greatly needed.\n\nDo you wonder at my urgency when I tell you that Bishops and presiding\nelders have many times sadly declared to me that few men of any class are\napplying for admission to the many annual conferences, and in many cases\nnot a single candidate applies in a single year; and when they do,\noftentimes they are weak men. In one case eighteen men applied for\nadmission to an annual conference in a certain State and not one of them\nwas intellectually qualified to pursue the course of study prescribed for\nthe first year, and to the credit of the conference they were not\nadmitted. Certainly the Baptist brethren are not more blessed than their\nMethodist friends. The smaller denominations are confronted with a similar\nlack of men to pioneer the enterprises which are theirs to do. The\nMaster's words are as true to-day as ever they were: \"The harvest is\ngreat, but the laborers are few.\" The pastors of training and vision are\nthemselves alarmed; the best of the laity are overwhelmed with the\nmagnitude of their task when it is theirs to call a pastor. There was a\ntime when the most choice men of the race entered the ministry. No other\ndoor was open, but to-day practically every door open to anybody else is\nopen to the man of ability of the Negro race. This of course depletes the\nnumber from which the supply must come.\n\nEven in the days of slavery the great leaders on the plantations were\ngenerally preachers, and they were in many cases feared and respected by\nboth white and black. If this preacher chose to be, he was a dangerous man\nto the institution of slavery and ofttimes was sold. On the other hand, he\nwas usually the source of great blessing to large communities, so much so\nthat there were instances where some such men were given their freedom and\ncommissioned to preach from plantation to plantation, not only to colored\npeople, but oftentimes to white people. The story of the lives of these\nmen reads like romance, and they were the men at the close of the Civil\nWar, who were ready to welcome the school and did their best to lead the\npeople into the ways of true progress. They had great power and\ninfluence,--not always sufficient intelligence for their arduous tasks,\nbut they were giants in their day and deserve well-merited praise. To meet\nthe demands of these modern times other giants must be raised up, who can\nhold the respect of the best trained portion of our people, and at the\nsame time may maintain the confidence of the most humble of every\ncommunity. We have some men like this. They stand like giant oaks in the\nforest, towering above the shrubs and undergrowth about them. They are\nlonely in their work. Here and there, about the great centers of\npopulation, there may be groups of them, but eighty per cent of our people\nare not in the great centers but are scattered throughout the length and\nbreadth of the land in small hamlets and the country districts. These\npeople are too often as sheep without a shepherd. No doubt not many of the\nshepherds there are doing the best they can. Give them credit for all they\ndo, but the demand is such that a more efficient ministry must enter into\nevery hamlet, and there lift and inspire the people; and possibly the\ngreatest thing to be done in this lifting process is to provide a more\nefficient and practical training for the men we desire to lead into the\nministry. Merely to have men enter this great work without a training,\nwhich fits them to cope with the problems of the day, is but a waste of\neffort. The Negro minister ought to be the best trained man among us in\norder that he may be able to assume his rightful place as a leader of the\npeople. The training needed for the ministry of to-day must be\ncomprehensive and practical. This will be the means of attracting men of\nability and will insure increased efficiency. The emphasis for the\ntraining of the ministry to-day needs to be placed upon teaching; not mere\noratory, but teaching.\n\nJesus Christ was a great teacher. Nicodemus said: \"We know thou art a\nteacher sent from God.\" Very seldom is it said that Jesus preached, but it\nis commonly said that he taught the people. The minister who is to be His\ntrue representative on earth must also be a teacher, and it is of the\ngreatest importance that his training be such as shall broaden his views\nof life and shall enable him to understand the relations of human society\nsufficiently well to warrant his instructing the people in the most\nhelpful way. Unfortunately a great deal of the training of the past has\nbeen entirely too narrow. Usually the theological seminaries have been\nvery slow in utilizing the most improved educational methods and have been\nvery active in maintaining the old order of things. What we need to-day\nfor our ministers is a training which will put them in possession of the\nknowledge of human society just as it is. It is of the greatest importance\nthat a minister should be given a correct training according to the\nprinciples of Jesus Christ to treat these conditions. The people are\nwaiting and hungering for this type of leader. There was never a time when\nthe colored people were so willing to be taught from the pulpit as they\nare to-day.\n\nNo ground will be gained by mere denunciation, but what is needed is a\nsplendid constructive method which will build the people up in every phase\nof life and sweeten human relations. All the people demand of such a\nteacher is that he should be as good as the doctrine he proclaims and\nshould fully comprehend what he is about. There certainly is no place\nwhere larger opportunity is offered for service than in the high calling\nof the ministry. The average course of study in seminaries provided for\nboth white and colored candidates for the ministry is not calculated to\nbring them in touch with the problems which are to confront them as it\nshould. The following is a course of study covering three years, and a\nfair sample of courses provided by seminaries established for colored\nministers:\n\nFirst year: Biblical Introduction; Hebrew Language; Greek Interpretation;\nSacred Rhetoric and Elocution; Vocal Music.\n\nSecond year: Church History; Hebrew Interpretation; Greek Interpretation;\nSacred Rhetoric and Elocution; Vocal Music; Homiletics; Christian\nTheology.\n\nThird year: Pastoral Duties; Theology and Ethics; Biblical Introduction;\nHomiletics and Church Polity; Christian Theology; Sacred Rhetoric and\nElocution; Electives.\n\nThere is not much in this course that inspires men with the gravity of the\nproblems of human society in the beginning of the twentieth century. Too\nmany times in our seminaries men speculate about theories of salvation and\nvarious other things labelled doctrines, which are of little or no value\nto men whose business it is to bring the kingdom of Jesus on earth as it\nis in heaven. Why spend a term on the theory of salvation when Jesus said,\n\"He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.\" One man with faith in\nthis and a comprehensive training will do more to save the world than a\ndozen men can possibly do battling over the theories which have grown up\nwith the church during the past ages. It is unfortunate that many of our\nministers have had no systematic training at all, and it is surprising\nthat so much has been accomplished with such poorly equipped men as many\nof them have been. They are not to be too severely censured. Again I\nrepeat, no band of men in our race has been more self-sacrificing and more\ndesirous on the whole for race uplift and development than these men, and\nthere is no intention at this time to do anything more than to call\nattention to the great need of a better trained ministry to reenforce the\npresent ranks in an effective way for good. It is encouraging to note a\nnew departure in two leading theological seminaries. Yale Divinity School\nchanged its course very much a year ago. It strengthened the old course,\nleading to the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, known as historical, also\nadding a philosophical and lastly a practical course, both of which lead\nto the B.D. degree. \"The practical course will emphasize the relation of\nthe minister to the problems of modern society, giving special attention\nto Christian sociology, ethics, and methods of Christian activity. As a\npreliminary discipline students who take this course will receive in the\njunior year special instruction in sociology and instruction in elementary\nlaw in one of the courses furnished by the University for law students.\"\n\nThe Chicago Theological Seminary has made a similar change and says in a\nrecent catalogue: \"The subjects for instruction are those directly\nrelating to the work of the ministry, and courses in the English Bible,\nthe psychology of Christian living, religious pedagogy, evangelism,\nmissions, Christian sociology and citizenship are included in both the\nprescribed and elective work. Hebrew and Greek have been made almost\nentirely elective, and much that is traditional in systematic theology,\nchurch history, and other departments has had to make room for new\nsubjects. But the seminary authorities, believing that such changes are\nnecessary, hold that the mere fact that a subject has a traditional place\nin the curriculum of the divinity school should not be a sufficient reason\nfor retaining it. Each subject must continually prove anew its right to be\ntaught and justify itself under modern conditions.\" This does not mean\nless study or a less scholarly man as the finished product; but it does\nmean that the seminary is to take its place along with other professional\nschools in fitting men to meet present needs.\n\nThe action of the above schools is most encouraging, and no doubt before a\ngreat while many other seminaries will follow the same course. This will\ndo for the minister what our medical schools are doing for the physician;\nit will bring him in daily contact with the conditions which he must meet\nout in the world. Who would think of running a medical school without a\nlaboratory and a clinic? Young men might know all the books have to say\nabout the property of drugs or the symptoms of diseases, but such men will\nbe handicapped if they are to wait until they go out into actual life\nbefore seeing these drugs tried, or the peculiar manifestation of diseases\nas they make their inroads on the human system. A thorough knowledge of\nsociology makes it possible for young men who are in our theological\nseminaries to get some practical knowledge of human relations and\nconditions of the present time and thereby be better able to apply the\npotent Gospel as a remedy.\n\nWhat is needed is a greater breadth of view possessed by the leaders of\nour seminaries and in many cases more practical men, such as our great and\nsuccessful preachers are, ought to be on the teaching staff rather than\nsome men who could not succeed in any eminent way as pastors; example has\nits effect on theologies as well as medicos and the man with the green\nbag. Every provision should be made for ministers to be well-equipped\nteachers and leaders of the people. Such training will make our ministers\nable to place the emphasis on their work where it belongs. Such men will\nas carefully consider the financial strength of their people as a\nphysician considers the physical strength of a patient; and no more should\nwe see churches built which are out of all proportion to the financial\nability of the people who worship in them. We should not see a great debt\nhanging over the heads of a poor people, the most of whom do not own their\nown homes but live in narrow streets and alleys under very unsanitary\nconditions. But we should see neat houses of worship arranged so as to\nmeet the needs of a given parish in its largest way and within the reach\nof the people's financial ability. Further, we should see radiating from\nthis center influences which will inspire people to own their own homes,\nto take proper care of their children, and to realize what it means to\nwalk with God as men of old here on earth.\n\nThis training will enable men to be brought near enough to see that it is\na waste of time merely to preach narrow denominationalism, but good men of\nall denominations will unite in combatting evil and in making a given\ncommunity a desirable place for the habitation of the children of men.\nGreater care will be taken of the poor and orphans and more energy will be\nspent in building up the moral life of the young men and women of the\ncommunity. This will be done by these trained men who will come fully as\nwell equipped to discern what these problems of society are as the\nphysician who comes to heal our bodies and who must necessarily understand\ndisease and remedy. Such a minister's thought will not be centered on\nmaking a great name for himself at the expense of an ignorant people. It\nwill not matter to him whether he has the name of having built the largest\nchurch or the finest church, or whether he has the biggest congregation in\nhis church, but it will be centered upon the most important thing, and\nthat is the establishing of the kingdom of Jesus Christ among men on\nearth. His efforts will be to lift the burdens from the poor and\nunfortunate and make their lives happy and sweet and pleasant. He will be\na leader in devising ways and means to get our people out of the crowded\nalleys into the bright sunshine of life that they may be where their\nlittle children may have a chance for true development. He will gather\naround him a band of faithful, trained men and women, who will visit the\njail, the sick, the poor, and the oppressed. And he will call to mind the\nrequirements which Jesus Christ laid down for all men who wish to walk\nwith Jesus here and to enter with Him in eternal rest. \"For I was\nhungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was\na stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and\nye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the\nrighteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, and fed\nthee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and\ntook thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in\nprison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them,\nVerily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least\nof these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.\"\n\nThe above words are from the Master's own lips and make plain and clear\nthe duty of the church, the duty of Christian society as well as that of\nthe individual. It is a clear indication that Jesus meant for his\nfollowers to acquaint themselves thoroughly with the conditions of society\nas He did himself. He was thoroughly familiar with all the evils and the\nneeds of humanity which surrounded Him. And His work was the healing of\nevery ill. Too long have men talked about the Father in such a cold,\nmetaphysical way as to forget their brethren who are next door to them.\nToo long have men thought merely of individualistic religion. Our religion\nmust be more effectively social in its aim and practice. It must so act\nand react on society that the whole lump will be leavened. Christianity\nhas done more for the world than any other religion or principle and yet\nit has never been given the chance it should be given to do its complete\nwork among men. When you look about you and behold the suffering and\nmisery, the sin and shame, can you but offer a prayer that the day will\nsoon come when a large number of our strong men shall receive a training\nfor the ministry which shall fit them to battle effectively with these\ngreat problems which confront us in this modern age? Unless it is done we\ngo backward. Here is the Negro's great opportunity, viz: To let\nChristianity have a chance through him. Will he lose it?\n\nThe great reformers of the church have always been men of the broadest\ntraining. Luther and Calvin were not only preachers as we think of\npreachers, but also were men of splendid legal training. Dr. F. J. Grimke,\n(who is highly esteemed and respected as a minister), not only is a high\nhonor man of the Divinity School of Princeton University, but also is a\ngraduate in law as well. Henry Ward Beecher, the greatest preacher America\never produced, had a law library that any young lawyer would be glad to\nhave, and a medical library that would be a credit to any young physician.\nThere was not a phase of knowledge with which he did not have some\nacquaintance. The broad training these men had gave them the mastery of\ndifficult problems. When we shall have a large number of thoroughly\ntrained men of unquestioned character whose hearts are warm with the love\nof God and whose eyes behold the true condition of their people, and whose\nhands shall be ready to work for the good of an inspiring race, then we\nshall see the kingdom of God come among men in a larger way than it is\npossible for us now even to imagine. While many have not had the privilege\nof securing the training which fits us to understand in the most\ncomprehensive way many of the problems which are round about us, it is\nstill possible for every minister to qualify himself so that he may be a\nworkman which needeth not to be ashamed. Unfortunately a great many of our\nministers do not do what they might. For some cause they do not purchase\nbooks at all, or do not purchase them as wisely as they should. It is a\npoor plan to spend money for books which agents carry about from place to\nplace. They are generally high-priced and little used after they are\nbought. Find out what you ought to buy by reading reviews and by\nconsulting with men who certainly know. Every preacher should own, read,\nand ponder the following books and extend his reading as he may see fit:\n\"The Social Crisis\" by Rauschenbusch (published by Macmillan, New York);\n\"The Social Message of the Modern Pulpit\" by Brown (Scribner, New York);\n\"The Religion of a Mature Mind\" and \"The Spiritual Life\" by Coe (Revell,\nNew York); \"The Psychology of Religion\" by Starbuck (Scribner, New York);\n\"Elements of Sociology\" by Giddings (Macmillan, New York); \"United States\nCensus Bulletin No. 8\" (Washington, D. C.); \"Proceedings of the Religious\nEducation Association\" (153 La Salle Street, Chicago); \"Charities and\nCommons\" (153 East 22nd Street, New York); \"U. S. Census Bulletin on\nReligious Bodies.\"\n\nAgain: Is it too much to urge those in charge of the training of our\nministers to consider seriously the compelling need of so recasting the\ncourse of study that a higher grade of men shall be attracted to the\nministry and that a thorough, comprehensive, yet practical, training shall\nbe given which shall fit men to preach the Gospel of Christ with real\nmeaning to men in the twentieth century? We ought to stop putting the good\nnew wine in old skins. The hopeful sign is that there are picked men in\nseminary faculties, in the pulpit, and among laymen all over the country\nwho are thinking about this most important question. May these thinkers\nsoon crystallize their thoughts in a forceful movement which shall ever\nbless the people.\n\nAfter many years of observation and of contact with almost every class of\nmen and some different races, I come to the conclusion that there is\nnothing quite so interesting to the people as religion. People will go in\ncrowds to hear a man like Gypsy Smith talk to them about their every day\nproblems and will hear respectfully what Jesus Christ taught about these\nproblems and their relations one with the other. In no place in life does\na man of parts have so large opportunity to wield a helpful influence with\nhis fellowmen as in the ministry. When we can show the great army of\ncollege men that they can be natural men, real men, with natural voice and\nmethods, in the ministry, when they can be made to understand that it is\nthe man under the garb and not the garb which designates the real minister\nto men, and that they have a chance and a right to go everywhere, finding\nout the conditions of society, touching it at its highest and at its\nlowest level, and that they will be supported in their work, morally and\nmaterially, there will be a larger supply than we have to-day, if not\nsufficient to meet the demands of the times. I have not dealt in\nstatistics. This I leave for a future study. I have been as one crying in\nthe wilderness, sounding the alarm, calling attention to our most vital\nneed, to a problem which is worrying our best men. I plead with Christian\nparents to lay their promising sons on the Master's altar, and to the\nChurch and college I cry awake! and behold ruin of home and country if you\nfail to lead many of the ablest and best of those under you into the\nMaster's service.\n\nCan we do better than carry away with us the words of the chief Shepherd\nof the sheep, the Master and Teacher of men, when he said: \"Pray ye,\ntherefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into\nHis harvest.\"","title":"The Demand and the Supply of Increased Efficiency in the Negro Ministry: The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 13","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":6587}