A REVIEW OF THE SITUATION

AT THE CLOSE OF 1886-7. Again we present a synopsis of the situation of our Presbyterian denomination as it regards the relation between churches and ministers indicated in the Minutes of the General Assembly for 1887. This is a matter of great importance for all persons, especially for ministers and elders, to understand, but which few have either time or inclination to explore for themselves. We have, however, done it for them with as much care and exactness as was possible, and invite their earnest consideration to the result.

First, for the churches. The whole number of them, as given in the summary, is 6436-a net gain of 155 over that given under the head of 1886. But this is four more than the number obtained by a different process. The new churches organized are put at 228, a large number showing the zeal of our mission boards. To this we must add three churches received from other bodies, making our fresh acquisitions amount to 231. But from this we must deduct two churches dismissed and 78 dissolved-in all 80. This would leave us 151 for our net gain-four less than the difference between the totals as given above. Which number is correct it is impossible to tell. Either figure shows a good advance.

As to their condition the following facts have to be noted. Of our 6436 churches, 1211 are marked vacant, that is, without pastor or stated supply. How many of these ought to have and might support a regular ministration either in whole or in part may be inferred from the following classification: the membership of 21 churches is over 300; of 6, between 300 and 250; of 19, between 250 and 200; of 20, between 200 and 150; of 83, between 150 and 100making 149 having a membership of 100 and over. They constitute what we might call first-class churches.

Below 100 they range as follows: those of a membership from 100 to 75 number 65; those from 75 to 50 number 131-in all 196 that may be reckoned as second class, and ought to have a minister either with or without assistance.

Below this grade there are 313 churches which have from 50 to 25 members, 190 which have from 25 to 15 members, and 321 which have below 15 down to 1. How many of these are thrifty germs that would pay for the fostering, and how many are declining to extinction, we have no means of knowing. Undoubtedly a goodly number of them, being planted in our growing western towns, promise creditable enlarge

ment.

What chance there is of supplying these 1211 vacancies, or even the 149 vacant churches which report above 100 members, may be seen by looking at the statistics respecting ministers. The whole number of these is 5634, an advance of 108 beyond that of last year. Of these, 88 were received from other bodies, while we gave in return 38, the balance being still heavily against us. But our list, it must be remembered, includes ministers in all positionsnot only those in regular pastoral work at home, but also foreign missionaries, secretaries, professors, teachers, superintendents, agents, editors, all the honorably retired and the unemployed from whatever cause. These amount in all to 1689. Deduct these from the whole number, and there remain 3956 to supply the 6221 churches here at homea difference of 2265.

Of the unemployed, there are three classes, those marked without charge (W. C.) numbering 472, a large proportion of whom are among the oldest in their presbyteries, more or less able to preach, often doing good work as occasional supplies, but too old to be invited to settle. Then there are 242 put down as evangelists (Ev.), many of whom are regularly employed-not all; and lastly

there are 95 marked in transitu. Of these we can say nothing. It may be they have an objective point in view, and it may be they are on the hunt. Taken together, those thus marked amount to 809. How many of these might be available to supply the vacancies above mentioned, who can tell? From what we know, it were safe to say at least one-half. The grand question is, How shall their merits be tested and known, and the churches that are suffering from want of care be induced to employ them? The demand for some expedient to utilize all this educated and ordained force grows more and more imperative as our churches increase and our vacancies and dissolutions multiply.

But doing the best we can in this direction, it must be seen that the present supply of ministers falls far short of the fields to be occupied. Counting in the 400 that might be employed and are not, we have 4356 ministers for 6221 home churches, a disparity still too great, as all must admit. Plain enough is it that the business of raising up ministers requires to be yet more industriously worked up.

The outlook for the future is somewhat brighter. The number of licentiates, most of whom are in the seminaries completing their course, is 357, just twenty more than in the year previous; and the number of candidates under care of presbytery has risen from 906 to 986, a good increase. Of these licentiates and candidates 696 were under care of the Board, scattered over a seven-years course of preparation. This would make our average supply for the future per year 192, so far as known. Of course there will be accessions from the ranks of the undetermined in our college classes from year to year; but will they appear in sufficient numbers to supply the existing and ever-growing need? Certainly these accessions cannot be secured without effort; and this effort should be made proportionate to the efforts made in behalf of our missions; otherwise there is danger that the work pushed in the latter direction prove to too great a degree a failure. Two hundred and eighty-eight churches organized and seventy-eight dissolved in one

year does not indicate steady progress. A net increase of 200 ministers annually is not sufficient to supply 1200 vacancies and match the yearly net increase of 155 churches, besides filling the other positions to which ministers are usually called. Unless greater productiveness is shown there is every prospect that our dissolutions will multiply as our dependence on other bodies for our ministerial supplies continue in increasing ratio.

We have been careful to make this exposition in full because of the tendency manifest in some quarters to draw from one set of facts encouragement to think we are doing satisfactorily well, when a broader survey would show that we are still far from coming up to our proper mark. Much joy was expressed at the increase reported in the number of candidates. But dividing these up by seven shows about eleven per year.

THE COST OF AN EDUCATION.

To correct misapprehensions and furnish the information which many are desiring, we would state what we have been able to learn from various sources on this subject. In some of our western colleges-what particular ones it would not be fair to advertise-it is possible for a student by close economy to get through for all expenses on $300 per year. But the cost increases as we come to our more advanced institutions in the East. At Harvard a careful investigation shows that the expenditure ranged from the lowest at $400 to the highest at $4000. About one fourth of the graduating class spent between $400 and $600 a year during their four-years course. The same would hold good at Princeton and Yale and Am. herst and other colleges of a high grade. But the very lowest expense would be prohibitory for poor boys were it not for scholarship funds that pay for the tuition, and still leave board and clothing and light and fuel and books, etc., to be provided for. But there are other than these absolutely necessary expenses which ought to be incurred if a student is to make most of his

course.

It is the cost of membership in college societies, of subscription to the various college publications, of helping to support gymnastic clubs and things of this sort,

which to refuse would be to ostracise a student from his fellows and cut him off from

many important advantages. Very fitly writes a correspondent in one of our religious journals:

It is a grave error to assume that no expenses in college are necessary but those essential to life and study. Much of the best influence of every college is exerted outside of its lecturerooms. Much of the highest and most lasting

value of its course is due to the mutual relations and intercourse of the students. The interest in athletics, societies, etc., may become extravagant now and then, but this is a much less evil than the absence of such an interest would be. There is no student who does not need-we say it deliberately-to associate with his or her fellow students regularly and sympathetically in some of the many departments of college life outside of mere study. To graduate with a college diploma, even though one take the valedictory itself, without having entered into the true spirit of college life by bearing an active part in its manifold and stimulating experiences during the four years, is to have failed in a very large degree of securing the best results of the course. Each student, therefore, must settle the question for himself, how far it is right for him to spend money for other objects than bare necessities. Neither he nor the college authorities nor his friends should think it wrong for him to allow himself some freedom.

In view of such facts it will be seen that some aid will inevitably be needed even by the most energetic and skillful young men, if devoid of all resources save what is in themselves, to acquire a good education. There is no pampering in the gift of a scholarship of $100 to which the Board has been compelled to reduce its offers to its candidates. They will still be obliged to struggle hard if they are to get through college out of debt, and if, with the burden of being obliged to raise somehow by their own means $200 or $300 per year, they do not stand high in scholarship they can hardly be considered blameworthy. A larger liberality will not hurt.

ARE THERE TOO MANY MINISTERS?

Strange as it may seem, the above question is still under discussion in some of our periodicals. The reason for a diversity of opinion is to be found in the different points of view taken by the disputants. Those who affirm that there are too many ministers look at the number of small churches into which our smaller communities are often split up denominationally, each struggling hard to support its minister adequately, and at once they draw their conclusion of "too many." The fact is, it is the churches that are too many. Evangelical Christians ought in such cases to overlook minor differences and coalesce in one organization. United they would be strong. Divided they are weak. And would they could unite! But as long as they will not, we need the ministers. Or, again, they look at the number of ministers unemployed and imagine the profession crowded. But the proper inference should rather be, either that the men are disqualified in some way for service, or that, if qualified, the vacant churches have not sense enough to see it.

But let us see what is said on the other side. Our quotation is from a western minister writing in the Homiletical Review:

The answer (yes) given to the question "Are there too many ministers ?" in your last number, may do great harm. A few years ago a New York religious weekly raised the cry "Too many ministers." The cry was taken up and echoed over the land, in spite of some vigorous protests, until many felt they had a chronic grievance against the ministry and closed their wallets more tightly. What was the result? Many earnest young men having the ministry in view sorrowfully gave it up, because they thought they were not needed, and there was soon a dearth of ministers; hundreds of churches were left vacant and great loss was experienced. We are just now beginning to recover from the effects of that warning note. We have not enough men yet to supply the churches and mission fields which are calling for help.

And this is just the declaration that comes to us from several of the sister denominations. Especially loud is the call from the

larger churches, where strong men are needed. There are also many other important positions in the church requiring to be filled. Disastrous, therefore, is the intimation, from whatever source it comes, that there is a plethora of ministers. That there should. be greater economy in the organization of churches there can be no doubt. Protestantism is weakening itself by its divisions, and it would seem a wiser policy that in our smaller towns our evangelical denominations should by some agreement consent to worship and work together. But until such agreement is reached duty requires that we follow up our advance in organizing churches with supplies of ministers to care for and sustain them.

INDIVIDUAL SCHOLARSHIPS.

We are happy to state that the persons contributing these now number twelve in all. More are hoped for. When desired the donor is put in communication with his candidate, and can thus ascertain where his money goes and watch the result of his benefaction in the future. This is pleasant and profitable to both parties in this interesting relation.

Clergymen's sore throat, an English surgeon declares, is due to the fact that speaking from an elevation to listeners below irritates and presses the vocal organs. The Living Church, commenting upon this, remarks: "If clergymen would hold the head erect and speak up, they would never have throat trouble; and even if already suffering to some extent, they may cure themselves by speaking in a right position. There are bad habits of phonation, breathing, etc., which a good teacher can easily correct, but the bending forward of the head and hanging over the sermon while reading it is worse than all, and any man can correct himself in it."

Probably this is true; but why make it so difficult by compelling the preacher to speak down from the pulpit to hearers seated on a lower level? The amphitheatrical arrangement of seats in tiers, rapidly rising from the level of the pulpit, making it necessary for the preacher to look up to see his audience, instead of curving his neck like a curb-bitted horse to look down on them, is a real emancipation of the minister's throat.

ARE THE COLORED PEOPLE IMPROVING?

Since their emancipation it is very evident that great changes have come over the colored race, and great improvement. They have been lifted higher. But it is said, while all this is true, there is no change in their morals. If it is meant by this that as a race they have not been lifted up to a higher plane of morality, just as it may be said that the Chinese have not been, after all that missions and missionaries have done

for them, it is true; but if it is meant that there has been no improvement in the morals of families, communities and whole neighborhoods, where intelligent missionary work has been carried on among them, then it is utterly false. As a race they have been only partially reached by missionary and moralizing influences, and consequently the mass of them are still just where slavery left them; but where they have been reached, a man is willfully blind who cannot see a decided improvement in their

morals. It must be remembered that the morals which these people learned under slavery, if any at all, had first to be unlearned and a foundation laid for a true

morality. This has been done with encouraging success where our missions have been planted. Of this there is abundant testimony. Take, for example, our colored Synod of Atlantic, which has in its bounds eighty-four colored ministers and about four hundred ruling elders. Look at their character and morals. We have taken pains to learn from white and colored people how these men stand in the communities in which they live for purity of life and consistent Christian conduct; and with few exceptions I find they have the confidence of both white and colored citizens, and will compare favorably in these respects with the same number of men in any Christian body. There are over fifteen thousand members in the churches under the care of this synod, and among them many men and women of deep and earnest piety.

An intelligent elder in the white Presbyterian church on Edisto Island, S. C., once a large slaveholder, said to me, "To know what you have done among and for this people here, you should have seen them twenty years ago, when your Board commenced its work here. Why," said he, "they live better, they talk and they work better. Many of those cabins you see, once the abode of ignorance and vice, are now Christian homes, in which you will get as good a meal and as clean a bed as you wish, and where you will see the household gathered reverently around the family altar every evening."

Said another southern gentleman in a town in South Carolina where we have a large mission, "Your missionary is doing the best work of any man in this county, white or black. You can trust the colored people who come from his mission."

Another man in Florida, who had noticed the influence of three graduates of our boarding-schools for colored girls, said, "Every such graduate means the regeneration of a home." Yes, and we can give instances where they have been the means

of the "regeneration" of a whole neighborhood. Read "The Colored Teacher and her School," which appeared in a former number of this magazine, as one of a number of such instances.

I draw these facts from the work under our own Board because I know whereof I speak; but similar facts can be given from the missionary work of other denominations substantiating the same truth. Think of it! There are in the fifteen southern states and the District of Columbia 16,759 colored schools, 44 normal schools, 38 colored institutions of secondary instruction, 16 colored universities and colleges, 22 colored schools of theology, 3 colored law schools, 2 medical schools and 2 deaf and dumb and blind asylums. When it is remembered that all this work is the outgrowth of earnest Christian principle, and carried on in faith and prayer by earnest Christian people, is it credible that the morals of those under such influences should remain the same as under slavery? Men prejudiced against the Negroes and opposed to the work of northern Christians among them may think So, but candid and impartial observers of facts cannot. I know there are men who profess to believe that the Negroes are in a worse condition morally than they were in slavery. Some have gone so far as to say that the money spent by northern Christians for their elevation and Christianization “had as well been thrown into the sea." Such men are guilty of willful ignorance or deliberate misrepresentation of facts. There are thousands of the children of the freedmen taught every year to read and write in the schools under this Board alone, and yet the money expended in doing it "had better been cast into the sea." There are not less than fifty thousand of the freedmen brought habitually under the influence of the gospel every month by the missionaries supported by this Board alone, 1923 of whom were hopefully converted during the past year, and yet a minister professing to have some intelligence says the money spent in doing this work "had as well been thrown into the sea." Would it not be as well for the church to throw such men into the sea?