Why does a man enter the Christian ministry? Why do men preach the
Christian faith? There is some reason for doing so. What is it? We have
been told that the men who adopt the profession of preaching for a living
make a sacrifice of personal advantage by doing so; that these men, had
they entered any other profession, could not only more readily achieve
greatness, but could also make more money. We do not believe it. As a
rule, we believe that the men who are getting a living to-day as
ministers, earn more money and enjoy more fame, than they could get in any
other business or calling. Ministers are not martyrs. That idea needs to
be given up.
There is another idea that people have entertained too long, and that is,
that all the young men who graduate from a divinity school are
intellectual giants. Brains are not the capital of the pulpit. We gladly
acknowledge the exception to what we have stated as a rule, and are not
only willing, but anxious, to testify to the occasional brilliant
preacher. We are speaking of the overwhelming majority and not of the
conspicuous few.
Most men go into the ministry because they think they can get a living
more easily by preaching than by doing anything else. The pulpit is
founded not on spiritual sands, but on an earthly rock. It is the salary
that makes it attractive.
Now, let us look at the facts in the case. The work of the minister is
less than the work of the average laborer, and the pay of the preacher is
more than the pay of the average mechanic or working-man. Here is the key
to the pulpit for a lot of young men. A young man who has a taste for
reading and loafing, and no genius for work, sees a chance to employ what
talent he possesses by studying theology, and we venture to say that nine
out of ten of the candidates for the ministry enter the profession from
purely business, or, if you will, mercenary motives. The Lord does not
pick out preachers. They pick themselves out.
There is just as much striving for the loaves and fishes among ministers
as among other men; and the religious society that pays the largest salary
is the vineyard that has the most applications for the job. We do not say
that preachers are worse than other professional characters, but that they
are human. They preach for money, and where the highest salary is there
will the ministers be most anxious to go.
We do not wish to cut anybody’s wings, but when we read that certain
new-fledged preachers are about to “work for the Lord,” and that they have
“entered upon God’s chosen profession through their love of saving souls,”
we want to correct the statements. They are going to work for themselves
the best they know how, having entered upon their duties, not so much
because they love their fellow-men, as because they love the good things
of this world.
The truth is this, the motive for preaching to-day is the pay, and the
religion of the pulpit is to say nothing that will cause a panic in the
pews.
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Man’s history is below his life, his destiny above it.
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All that secularists ask is that their thoughts be met fairly and
honestly, and that the world accept what will lead it in the highest and
surest way.
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If a person can join the salvation army corps and still be respected by
his fellow-beings, he ought to be at liberty to enlist in the ranks of
reason and common sense and not forfeit respect.
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God has done nothing for men and women except to scare them out of their
wits.