in two schools that had organized strong departments 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 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 situation 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 accessions to the profession or prospective candidates. Moreover, while these efforts to enlist students for the ministry have their value and are necessary, we must remember that there is a vast difference between a lad in the academy or college, promising to go where the Master wants him to go, to enter the ministry if God reveals it to him as duty, and actually entering the ministry. It is a far cry from high school or freshman year in college to the ordaining council, 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 campaigns cannot produce immediate fruitage. Some decisions to enter the ministry are made by young men after they 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 missionary 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 ultimately give to the church the workers it 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 CHAPTER II DISCOURAGEMENTS TO THE MINISTRY The question inevitably arises :-Why is the ministry failing 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. 1. 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 economic pressure is felt in every home, and nowhere 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 |