le
are not in the great centers but are scattered throughout the length and
breadth of the land in small hamlets and the country districts. These
people are too often as sheep without a shepherd. No doubt not many of the
shepherds there are doing the best they can. Give them credit for all they
do, but the demand is such that a more efficient ministry must enter into
every hamlet, and there lift and inspire the people; and possibly the
greatest thing to be done in this lifting process is to provide a more
efficient and practical training for the men we desire to lead into the
ministry. Merely to have men enter this great work without a training,
which fits them to cope with the problems of the day, is but a waste of
effort. The Negro minister ought to be the best trained man among us in
order that he may be able to assume his rightful place as a leader of the
people. The training needed for the ministry of to-day must be
comprehensive and practical. This will be the means of attracting men of
ability and will insure increased efficiency. The emphasis for the
training of the ministry to-day needs to be placed upon teaching; not mere
oratory, but teaching.

Jesus Christ was a great teacher. Nicodemus said: "We know thou art a
teacher sent from God." Very seldom is it said that Jesus preached, but it
is commonly said that he taught the people. The minister who is to be His
true representative on earth must also be a teacher, and it is of the
greatest importance that his training be such as shall broaden his views
of life and shall enable him to understand the relations of human society
sufficiently well to warrant his instructing the people in the most
helpful way. Unfortunately a great deal of the training of the past has
been entirely too narrow. Usually the theological seminaries have been
very slow in utilizing the most improved educational methods and have been
very active in maintaining the old order of things. What we need to-day
for our ministers is a training which will put them in possession of the
knowledge of human society just as it is. It is of the greatest importance
that a minister should be given a correct training according to the
principles of Jesus Christ to treat these conditions. The people are
waiting and hungering for this type of leader. There was never a time when
the colored people were so willing to be taught from the pulpit as they
are to-day.

No ground will be gained by mere denunciation, bu