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 are beginning 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 America and Europe, but also in other continents, continents that we call pagan.

The groanings 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

new age. America of all the nations has the men and the means, the reserves that are able to control conditions.

The signs of the times point to a glorious daybreak, 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 standpoint 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 are the issues of life for the race. Never before has he had such opportunities to lay foundations of faith; to build temples of worship 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

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 ministry, 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 leadership 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 general heads-the attraction of a great call, the

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 are 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.