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14 THE Contributed OUR MINISTERS AND THEIft WORK. Rev. Henry H. Sweets, Secretary. Much has been said about the failure to use some of our ministers, and the unwise use of others. Some of this criticism is without doubt due to a lack of knowledge. It is certain, however, that improvements could be made. Some men of undoubted character and ability are frequently unemployed for a time because they have not been guided to a field for which their gifts qualified them. The establishment of a Bureau of Pastoral Supply such as is successfully conducted by other churches might be of great assistance in bringing churches and pastors together. Many of the duties of the church outside of the pastorate and pulpit seem to demand a man of experience in the field and of training in the seminaries. Doubtless laymen might be found to do some kinds of work now being done by ordained ministers, but the following figures show, I believe, that not many min' isters have been put to an unwise use. Remember that many of those who are teaching, or are otherwise employed, have suffered the loss of voice or some other misfortune that has disqualified them for the pulpit. The Minutes of the General Assembly for 1909 contains the names of 1,660 ministers. Of these 1,291 are pastors, 37 evangelists, and 73 foreign missionaries. 1,401 are, therefore, actively engaged in pastoral and evangelistic work. Eighty-nine are physically unable to work. Some of these are now very old, many of them having passed the three score years and ten. The incessant toil and life of privation have left their marks on these noble men. The remaining 160 are occupied as follows: Presidents, principals and professors in schools and colleges, 48; professors in theological seminaries, 18; superintendents and agents of orphanages, seminaries, colleges, etc., 17; editors, 9; secretaries r?f the General Assemhlv 8: state secretaries of Y. M. C. A., 2. This leaves 68 ministers who are reported without work. Some have declared that we have no need for more ministers because there are so many unemployed. The figures above demonstrate the fallacy of this. 68 ministers out of 1,660 is not a large nroDortion of unemnloved. Manv of these men have sufficient reason both in the sight of God and man for their course of conduct. Doubtless many of these, too, are physically unable to labor regularly, although not reported infirm. In such a large body of men it is impossible but that some unacceptable to the churches should be received. Some of these without employment have been so reported for from ten to twenty years. It would seem then that either they have sufficient reason for their inactivity or the Presbyteries have been derelict in their duty. "JTears ago we find this rec 2 PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU ord: "With reference to ministers not now engaged in their sacred calling, the General Assembly exhorts them, if they do not find fields of labor in their present localities, to seek other places of abode and fields of labor where they may be useful in their appropriate work. It also enjoins the Presbyteries to examine their rolls, and require all ministers who are not thus employed to give an account of themselves, and to proceed against those who are found to be habitual negIGcters of their vows of ordination." There is a great crying need for many more of the brightest and the best of our vnnnf mon in tho minictrv 1 ft1Q phurohoe are now vacant; 200 men could now be put to work In difficult fields with small salaries guaranteed. Many trained men are demanded in opening up other fields and for reaching the peoples of foreign lands who are beginning to throng our shores. The 25,000,000 Christless souls who look alone to us for the light, in mute appeal, call, "Come over and help us!" Our faithful ministers are falling out of the ranks at the rate of forty or more a year. "The fields are white already to the harvest." Let us heed the Saviour's command, "Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest!" Louisville, Ky. THE CENTENNIAL CATALOGUE AND THE CANDIDATES. Rev. Henry H. Sweets, Secretary. More than a year ago there appeared a volume, edited by President Walter W. Moore, D. D., and Rev. Tilden Scherer, under the title, "Centennial General Catalogue of Union Theological Seminary in Virginia." It is a neat book and contains information of interest in the study of the problems of the supply of ministers and candidates. It has been of great assistance in supplying many facts to complete the records which we are carefully compiling in our office. We trust that all the seminaries of our church will in time issue volumes as complete and helpful. Some of the results of our study of this volume may be of general interest and we furnish a few facts in tho hope that they may arouse earnest thought and wise action with regard to our candidates in the present century. During the one hundred years from 1807 to 1907 there^Nere enrolled 1,406 students in Union Seminary. The colleges attended by 1,241 of these are mentioned. Of these 77 attended more than one college and the records fail to show whether the student is a graduate or not. The remaining 1,164 came from the following classes of colleges: Presbyterian, U. S., 721; non-sectarian, 234; state institutions, 131; Baptist, 24; Presbyterian*, U. S. A., 17; Methodist, 7; Lutheran, 8; A. R. P., 4; Disciples, 2; Friends, 2; various unclassified, 16. Our own church colleges furnished the following: Hampden?Sdney, 327; Davidson, 185; King College, 66; Southwestern Presbyterian University, 52; Central Uni TH. October 27, 1909. versty (and Center College), 46; Arkansas, 15; Westminster, 15; Austin, 12; Presbyterian College or South Carolina, 8; Oglethorpe, 3; Davis & Elkins, 1; Fredericksburg, 1. The non-sectarian institutions furnished the following: Washington and Lee (and Washington College), 138; Princeton, 25; Washington and Jefferson (and Jefferson), 23; Yale, G; Dickinson (Pa.), 5; Johns Hopkins, 5; Union, 5; Amherst, 4; Dartmouth, 4; Hanover, 4; George Washington (Columbia), 2; Nashville University, 2; and one each from Bates, Hamilton, Lehigh, Miami, New York City College, Oberlin, Rutgers, Tulane, Vincents, Washington (Tenn.), Williams (Mass.) The majority of our candidates decide to give their lives to the work of the ministry before, they leave the parental roof. Of 410 candidates on our rolls last April, 380 decided before they were twenty-one years of age to give their lives to the work or the ministry; 287 decided before they entered college, 85 while in college, and 35 after leaving college. No influence, therefore, Is more potent than the religion in the home. But many who go to college fully determined to use their lives alone for the glory of God make shipwreck of their faith and aimlessly and hopelessly drift away. The value of our own institutions, under the guiding hand of consecrated men of our own faith can not be overestimated. Almost one-third of the entire number of these students came from 13 of our own Presbyterian colleges, while these and the colleges in other sections were also sending large numbers of students to other seminaries. Almost inva riably the nearer the college to the seminary the greater the number of men contributed. Closer and more constant oversight should be had of Presbyterian students in other institutions. It will doubtless neve*be possible to have all of these in our own institutions. It is the act of wisdom to keep in as close touch with these as possible, The Executive Committee of Ministerial Education is doing all within its power, by correspondence and by the publi-: and private presentation of the claims of uoa upon the lives of young men. The fact that so many in the past have come out of institutions other than our own into our seminaries should arouse us to a sense of gratitude to these colleges an 1 to more faithful oversight lest they fail short of their past helpfulness. A loud call comes to the Executive Committee of Schools and Colleges to press the claims of these useful Institutions and to see that the atmosphere of each one is kept pure and wholesome. Louisville, Ky. % At a recent examination to the question, Who was Esau? the examinee, confounding Esau and Aesop,, writes: "Esau was a hairy man who lived In a wilderness. He wrote a great ro^ny, fahles apd sold the copyright for a 19^,0^ pot*8l},^ j I . -